Faced with the battle situation, Li Ziyuan gritted his teeth and ordered He Sanliang to fight and retreat in the direction of Hechuan. He took the second company and the district squad that was assigned to fight, and immediately plunged into the southwest direction and pounced on the flank of the Japanese puppet army in the direction of Qiaokou to Pingchuan. Li Ziyuan's idea is very simple, since he has already fought to this point, he will fight completely.

However, before the roundabout troops led by Li Ziyuan arrived at the battlefield, they encountered the Japanese puppet army that was outflanking and blocking the flanks of two companies on the Pingchuan line. Because of the terrain, when the two divisions, who were in a hurry, found the opponent on the opposite side, they were less than 100 meters apart. No one could react much at this distance, and a mountain melee broke out directly.

Li Ziyuan personally commanded the second company, desperately fighting with the Japanese puppet army in front of him. Butts, bayonets, pistols, and even teeth were used at this time. And the two infantry squads of the Japanese army in front of them, and a squadron of the pseudo-garrison also resisted desperately. After a scuffle, although under the cover of He Huizhang's mortar, Li Ziyuan crushed the Japanese puppet army in front of him.

If it weren't for the seizure of the Hechuan stronghold, a batch of Jin-made submachine gun shells was captured, and more than a dozen Jin-made submachine guns were captured on the Hechuan battlefield. This kind of Jin-made firearms, the number of equipment of the Jinnan Jianguo Army is quite large, and Li Ziyuan also captured a lot in this battle. The main thing is that there was a shortage of Jin-made submachine gun bullets, and this time it was basically a replenishment.

When this Jinnan Jianguo Army surrendered to the enemy, it had a secret arsenal set up by the Jin Sui Army in the southeast of Jin. There are quite a few of these arsenals in the hands of the Jin Sui army, and almost the entire Shanxi region has them. Although after the continuous battle on the frontal battlefield in Shanxi, in order to make up for the loss of the arsenal and the losses in the war, the Shanxi New Army was formed.

Most of the weapons and equipment have already been taken out. Most of the rest were also transported to western Jin, as well as the rear of the Jin Sui army in Shaanxi. There are not many weapons and equipment in this secret arsenal, but there is a lot of ammunition for Jin-made weapons. This secret arsenal, which the Japanese did not know, became the largest source of wealth for the puppet Jinnan Founding Army.

This puppet Jinnan Founding Army, which mainly focuses on Jin-made light weapons, is equipped with a lot of Jin-made submachine guns. Even in some troops, the proportion of Jin-made submachine guns is more than that of the current Jin Sui army. In the battle of Hechuan, Li Ziyuan also replenished part of this unique ammunition in the country.

It is also relying on the Jin-made submachine gun that has strong firepower in close combat. In the face of the bolt-action rifles of the Japanese army, Li Ziyuan took a big advantage. More than a dozen cross-firing Jin-made submachine guns, plus a few light machine guns, brutally defeated the Japanese puppet army that had an advantage in strength.

If it weren't for these dozen Jin-made submachine guns, it is estimated that with one company against two Japanese squads, plus a squadron of more than 100 people in the puppet garrison, it would be impossible for Li Ziyuan's company to be defeated by the fierce charge of the Japanese army, and the squadron of the puppet garrison that was also a little playful under the supervision of the Japanese army.

More than ten Jinzao submachine guns, strengthening the cross-coordination of machine guns and grenades, allowed Li Ziyuan to take a big advantage in this mountain melee. The Japanese squad that rushed over first was basically killed or wounded in his fire net composed of submachine guns and several fast and slow machines.

But even in this melee, Li Ziyuan relied on the melee firepower in his hands to finally defeat the roundabout Japanese army. But his entire second company also suffered two-thirds of the casualties, which means that the second company was basically disabled. Not only did Qian Defu, the commander of the second company, die on the spot, but even Li Ziyuan's own arm was cut by a Japanese bayonet that was attacked by a cold attack.

More than half of the casualties of the second company were already powerless to fight again, and Li Ziyuan's strength was lost by one-fifth at once. Coupled with the casualties of the blocking troops on both flanks, Li Ziyuan's troops had suffered nearly one-third of the casualties by this time. However, the surrounding Japanese puppet army is gathering more and more, and the pressure on the blocking troops in both directions is also increasing.

Especially on He Sanliang's side, small detour units of the Japanese army have appeared on both flanks many times. Moreover, the amount of artillery invested by the Japanese army is gradually increasing. From the original mountain artillery and infantry artillery, a mortar squadron was added. The blocking troops commanded by He Sanliang were so hit by Japanese artillery that they couldn't even lift their heads.

Faced with an already extremely unfavorable situation, Li Ziyuan, who knew that if he didn't withdraw, he might not be able to withdraw at all. Despite some reluctance, the order for a general retreat could only be given. Blocking forces in all directions were ordered, alternately covering the retreat to the northeast. The militia and district armed forces participating in the battle withdrew first, and the troops broke off and then took cover.

Although after receiving Li Ziyuan's order, the troops in the two battlefields immediately adopted the method of alternate cover and tried to gradually withdraw from the battlefield, but the Japanese puppet army in front of them was stubbornly biting. Especially the Japanese puppet army in the direction of the fallen horse, almost all the way to He Sanliang, who was retreating to the east, was pursuing.

The Japanese puppet army on the line from Pingchuan to Qiaokou also tried to bite the two companies in front of them, and at the same time, they constantly organized part of their forces to try to outflank the blocking troops. Faced with the threat of being flanked from both sides, the two companies participating in the battle could not get rid of the bite of the Japanese army, although they relied on the terrain to resist layer by layer.

The battle was like this, which put Li Ziyuan in a predicament for a while. Faced with the face-to-face situation, Li Ziyuan, who knew that if the Japanese puppet army was not mobilized, he would not be able to withdraw no matter what. Gritting his teeth, he reduced the second company into a platoon, merged the three district squads that participated in the battle into the second company, and added all the firepower platoons of He Huizhang, avoiding the frontal Japanese army and detouring the small road and directly killing the Qiaokou stronghold.

When Li Ziyuan led his team to the periphery of the Qiaokou stronghold, he immediately launched a feint attack on the Qiaokou stronghold, regardless of the danger of being attacked by the enemy on his belly and back. Li Ziyuan's hand stabbed the Japanese puppet army in the sore spot, and received a telegram of attack from a small number of Japanese puppet troops left behind in Qiaokou. The Japanese puppet army dispatched from Pingchuan and Qiaokou immediately broke away from the contact with the Eighth Route in front of them and quickly returned to reinforce them.

At present, although the Japanese puppet army has been mobilized to relieve the predicament, Li Ziyuan has fallen into a situation of being attacked by the enemy. The retreating enemy at Qiaokou was quite fast, and before Li Ziyuan could get out of contact with the enemy defending Qiaokou, the vanguard of the Japanese army that had returned there had already arrived north of Qiaokou.

Faced with a predicament, Li Ziyuan ordered He Huizhang to smash all the remaining mortar shells on the heads of the Japanese vanguard who returned to help. And the two heavy machine guns were all transferred to the northeast of the Qiaokou stronghold to block the road for the Japanese puppet army to return to help. He commanded the troops at hand, and made every effort to get out of contact with the enemy defending Qiaokou.

After receiving Li Ziyuan's order, although he was a little distressed that there were already few shells left, He Huizhang still carried out the order without any hesitation. After more than a dozen shells were fired, the speed of the return of Japanese reinforcements was delayed. The troops finally rushed to get rid of the entanglement of the enemy defending Qiaokou before the arrival of the Japanese puppet army to reinforce the Japanese and withdrew.

After breaking away from contact with the enemy, facing the danger of being surrounded, Li Ziyuan did not dare to have any delay, and immediately led the team to retreat into the Taihang Mountain. Under Li Ziyuan's risky strategy, the Japanese puppet army on the front line of Qiaokou and Pingchuan retreated, and the two companies that were bitten by him finally withdrew.

After the enemy retreated at Pingchuan, the Japanese puppet army in the direction of the fallen horse did not dare to continue the pursuit alone, and finally withdrew to the stronghold of the fallen horse. He Sanliang, who was bitten by the Japanese army all the way, finally let go of his heart. With two companies, he alternately covered the mountainous area at the junction of Ludong and Hubei, and withdrew to the line of Lijiawa to rest.

This battle was fought so chaotically, and the speed from occupying the active to the passive reversal on the battlefield made Li Ziyuan suffer a big loss. The speed and strength of the reinforcements of the Japanese puppet army made him a little puzzled by how these Japanese troops could be so fast, as if they were coming out of the ground.

Unless information was obtained in advance, even if the Japanese mobile unit had trucks, it would not be possible to have such a fast speed from Hubei County to Luoma. In particular, this mobile unit of the Japanese army has always been mainly controlled in the western part of Hubei and the eastern part of Changzhi.

Unless they arrived at Hubei County last night, this mobile unit set off from Hubei County this morning before they could reach the battlefield so quickly. Otherwise, in terms of the conditions of the simple roads in the mountainous areas around Luoma, even if the Japanese troops set off immediately after receiving the report of the attack, it would take at least four to five hours to arrive.

It was only after withdrawing to the rear that Li Ziyuan learned from Ma Yongcheng, who had interrogated the prisoners, that the Japanese army's concentration of troops had been planned for a long time, and that it had secretly mobilized a large number of troops by taking advantage of the progress made in the previous encroachment tactics, and was preparing to carry out a large-scale sweep of the mountainous areas in the eastern part of Hubei.

And after defeating Li Ziyuan's department, he directly carried out a penetrating sabotage operation against the rear organs and arsenals of the Eighth Route Army in Licheng. The Japanese squadron ambushed by Li Ziyuan not only undertook the heavy task of making a detour all the way, but was also responsible for escorting and distributing ammunition to the two puppet armies participating in the war to the Hechuan stronghold.

Before this operation, in order to control the ammunition of the puppet army, the Japanese army had been insufficient to distribute ammunition to the puppet army. In this sweep of the mountainous area in the eastern part of Hubei, the Japanese army dispatched two infantry brigades, and all the mobile troops deployed at the junction of the western part of Hubei and Changzhi, still felt that some troops were insufficient, so it was decided to increase the distribution of ammunition to the puppet army.

As a result, he didn't expect that the sweep in preparation this time had not yet been implemented, and the battle launched with Li Ziyuan became a cross battle. Although Li Ziyuan was quite passive on the battlefield, he was almost surrounded by him, and even had the danger of annihilation of the whole army, but he also exposed his entire strategic intention in advance.

And all this was kept strictly secret by the Japanese army, and the entire puppet military and political system did not know about it until the arrival of the Japanese army. It was only this morning that the intention of the sweep was conveyed to the various departments of the puppet army. As a result, the Japanese army did not expect that the plan for the sweep had just been conveyed here. Over there, Li Ziyuan took advantage of the fact that the Japanese puppet army had not yet been finally deployed to fight an ambush before the Japanese army.

The speed and intensity of the reinforcements of the surrounding Japanese troops directly exposed the entire sweeping plan of the Japanese army. This was something that the Japanese army did not think of at all at the beginning of the development of the entire sweeping plan. It can be said that in this battle, both Li Ziyuan and the Japanese army perfectly achieved tactical concealment.

But as soon as this happened, the problem came, and everyone fought a battle with the opponent in advance under the situation of mistake. Let the opponent figure out their tactical intentions, as well as the forces and strength that can be invested. The Japanese army exposed its strategic intentions in advance, which gave Tsuruta Numanan a headache when he made the sweeping plan.

But in the face of this information, Li Ziyuan's brows over there were also furrowed. In this accidental collision, although he was in disguise to find out in advance the intentions of the Japanese army's sweep and the troops that might be invested. But his own casualty figures also made him a little uncomfortable.