Although the mountain road is dark, a three-bunching headlight with a flashlight is enough to allow the driver to see the mountain road 15 meters away, and the speed can basically be increased to 15 kilometers per hour.

Liu Lang said that it would take two and a half hours, which was also considering that if there was any emergency on the road, otherwise, it would only take more than two hours to arrive at the Xuehua Mountain area on the outskirts of Jingcheng County.

Niu Er's special detachment had already reconnoitred, and because of the shortage of troops, the Japanese army had already given up the defense of Donkey Ridge and Xuehua Mountain, and most of its forces were reduced back to Jingcheng County.

It took thousands of casualties for the Japanese to attack such an important place as Donkey Ridge, and by the time 3,000 reinforcements set out in the morning, most of the infantry squadron stationed there also set out, leaving only one infantry squad to garrison the former mountain peak position.

Such a force is not so much a defense as it is only a vigilance. As for the Xuehuashan position near the county seat, the Japanese army simply did not let go of even an infantry squad.

The position, which cost nearly 2,000 casualties, was defended by an infantry squad.

It can be seen from this that the current embarrassment of the front-line infantry of the Japanese army has become.

Just like the commander of the baggage wing of the 20th Division of the 20th Division and the Jingcheng County Garrison Command, the commander of the baggage wing Harada Shinichisa, who was walking around anxiously in the office, because of the lack of defensive forces, he didn't want to be dry.

"Yaga! Ryo Ikeda, bastard, haven't you sent a telegram yet? Shinichi Harada rubbed his head in pain and asked the deputy who was standing opposite him with a helpless face.

As his deputy, Deputy Wing Captain Takeda Hara Tai Shaozo is also a little weak, and this is the tenth time that His Excellency the Wing Captain has repeated the same question.

However, as the commander of the infantry brigade of the 40th Infantry Brigade, Ryo Ikeda did not even reply to the division headquarters, so how could he take such an auxiliary branch as the baggage wing in his eyes? He, the deputy wing captain, has to pay a smile when he sees someone like the captain of the front-line main infantry brigade, okay? According to the co-captain's request, he has sent at least ten telegrams to Ikeda, and he has not seen a single one of them.

As if he also knew the answer that the deputy was about to shake his head, Harada Shinichi frowned and asked again: "Did the defenders on the Lack of Donkey Ridge call back?" ”

"Five minutes ago, everything worked fine when the callback was called."

"That's good, in the name of the Jingxian County Garrison Command, order them to be vigilant tonight to prevent a sneak attack by the Chinese." All entered the garrison position, and did not slack off. Harada Shinichi's heart was slightly lowered, but his face was still serious.

No way, without this name, the infantry squad belonging to the 40th Infantry Brigade may not be the captain of the baggage wing, even if he is a big Zuo.

But he had to press them to raise their defenses.

Ever since Ryo Ikeda set out with an infantry brigade and four baggage squadrons of his baggage wing, there has been a faint sense of anxiety in Harada's heart. As a soldier who was promoted from the captain of the infantry brigade to the commander of the baggage wing for the transition, Shinichi Harada actually had a relatively clear judgment of the battle situation.

He was not worried about how the 40th Infantry Brigade and its reinforcements would be treated by the Chinese, that is, the problem of large losses and small losses, with the combat effectiveness of their one and a half infantry brigades, the Chinese army that could eat them in one bite had not yet been born. Even from the morning to now, the two armies seemed to have entered the belly of the devil and disappeared completely.

What he is worried about is the county seat of Jingcheng, and the current strength of the county seat is really empty. As the most important supply base on the Niangziguan front, the warehouses and platforms at the railway station could supply all kinds of baggage for the two infantry brigades and regiments to fight on the 15th, and even a large number of spare guns, accounting for almost 60 percent of the total amount of the North China Dispatch Army transported to the 20th Division.

If the Chinese knew that they would send troops from the flank of Niangzi Pass to sneak attack, not to mention that they could capture the county town, or destroy that batch of materials with artillery fire, it would also be an unbearable pain for the entire 20th Division.

However, even if he knew the important role of Jingcheng County, from the division headquarters to himself, he could only stare at it and had nothing to do, because now the 20th Division could not spare a single soldier to protect this important material base.

You must know that since the beginning of the war, a cavalry wing has been designed by Liu Lang for a full pot first, and no one or a horse has run away; Then the Jiuguan continued to fight, and the 39th Brigade commanded by Yoshito Takagi, who was eager for merit, ran into a bloody encounter at the Jiuguan Pass, and a fully equipped infantry wing was directly beaten and half-crippled after several days of fighting, almost setting the record of the worst casualties of the Japanese army since entering North China.

Of course, the worse is naturally the unlucky guy who has been roasted into a roast pig by his subordinates last month, the 40th Infantry Brigade was originally in the Donkey Ridge and the Seventh Division fought in tears, and more than 7,000 people in a brigade were beaten to 6,000, and finally borrowed a mountain artillery brigade to re-strengthen the horses, and were beaten to them by Liu Lang and the Red Army in Qiqian Village, and they were beaten to death with a stick. Coupled with the more than 3,200 people who were fooled by their request for help, the rest of the 40th Infantry Brigade, except for those who were injured and transferred to the field hospital of the Shijiazhuang Division Headquarters, have become fertilizer in the Taihang Mountains of China.

It is also a trouble to dispose of more than 9,000 Japanese corpses! For this reason, Liu Lang and the two leaders had to mobilize a part of the front-line commanders and fighters of the red army to temporarily act as battlefield scavengers, not to participate in the battle, but to dig pits and bury the corpses, and there were many captures and military exploits.

This is not a simple job, it is not easy to dig a big pit that can bury 9,000 people in the Taihang Mountains, and don't look at it is late autumn, but there are too many corpses, once the outbreak of plague disease is also fatal, it must be far away from the place of residence and the location with water sources, and it has to be dug and buried deeply.

Before the departure of the independent regiment, an infantry battalion was dispatched, but only a sixth of the work of burying the corpses of the Japanese soldiers was carried out.

And how many main infantry were there in a permanent division of more than 20,000 people in the Japanese army? Excluding the personnel of the divisional headquarters, the communications squadron, the field hospital, the maintenance of equipment, and the four wings of cavalry, artillery, engineering, and baggage, the 20th Division mainly participated in offensive and defensive operations, that is, more than 15,000 people from two infantry brigades.

By now, the 40th Infantry Brigade has almost been wiped out, and the 39th Infantry Brigade is only 5,500, and that is the only remaining infantry of the 20th Division.

But those more than 5,000 people are facing an army of more than three divisions of the Chinese, and if it were not for the dozens of cannons of the 26th Artillery Wing as a killer weapon, then whether the more than 5,000 people could continue to stay where or two words?

Even the more than 3,300 people of the baggage wing, which was used as a supplement for the infantry brigade, were also dealt with more than 2,000 in the previous battle of the river valley, and it is estimated that the remaining 1,000 people will be unable to escape after tonight.

Of course, all this is what Harada Shinichi can't know, he only knows now that tonight and even in the next few days, he has to rely on the thousands of people under his hands to guard the county seat and supplies, if something goes wrong, his only end is to use a knife to cut his belly and apologize to His Majesty the Emperor.

For the sake of his own life, he also has to work hard to guard the county seat, even if he stays up for a few nights without sleeping. For this reason, he had already issued a curfew in the afternoon, and no Chinese could go out on the streets after 7 p.m., and violators would be killed.

He even sent four small teams to block the main intersection of Xicheng District, where a large number of Chinese civilians lived, to prevent Chinese from appearing in the area of Dongcheng Railway Station, where supplies were most concentrated, and all Chinese laborers were dismissed in the afternoon.

Those who can appear in Dongcheng District are no one else except the Japanese soldiers themselves, the rich Chinese who took the initiative to take refuge as soon as the Japanese army entered Jingcheng County.

This somewhat reassured the somewhat restless Harada Shinichi, who knew very well the thoughts of the rich Chinese who had come to take refuge with their belongings and beauties as soon as the Imperial Army occupied the county, no matter who ruled the country, as long as they continued to enjoy the fun, as long as they were given a small benefit, the chances of their rebellion were much smaller than those ordinary Chinese civilians who were submissive on the surface but had a glint of hatred in their eyes.

"Order to defend the city gates, during the closing of the city gates, without the order of the headquarters, they must not be opened easily, even if it is the headquarters of our imperial army, they need to report to the wing headquarters by telephone. Takeda-kun, tonight, you're on duty. Shinichi Harada continued to order.

"Hey!" Takeda Shaoza put his legs together and bowed his head.

After arranging all this, Shinichi Harada did not say that he was really going to perform his duties without sleeping for a few nights as he thought, but left the wing headquarters with a guard detachment and went straight to the mansion of a wealthy Chinese man two miles away from the headquarters.

As if knowing his thoughts, the wealthy Chinese businessman personally came to him yesterday evening and sent him an invitation to a banquet in his mansion today, and his words even hinted that he could do whatever he wanted tonight. The thought of being able to crush the woman with white skin and all kinds of styles that he had seen two days ago in the mansion of a Chinese merchant dealing in leather goods and timber under him, Harada's heart couldn't help but become even more restless. It was much more restless than the danger that might come.

It can be said that if it weren't for the dignity of the imperial army, this one would hate to have to ride a horse and walk slowly, but trotted all the way to the rich merchants of China.

If his gaze could penetrate the void of more than twenty miles and see a team of black shadows quietly touching the defenders of Lack Donkey Ridge who had reported to the wing headquarters five minutes ago that they had completed their safety, I don't know if his heart would still be restless?

I guess it's going to be dry, don't want it.