In fact, as early as the second day after the Japanese sweep began, Li Ziyuan felt that the way the Japanese army swept this time was very different from the past. Moreover, the speed and strength of the Japanese army's advance are also quite fast, and the Japanese puppet army in all directions is also quite meticulously connected, so that it is almost impossible to find a gap that can be used.

In the face of the unprecedented scale of the Japanese puppet army's sweep, Li Ziyuan took the reorganized Hubei Independent Battalion and cooperated with the divisional troops who entered the Hubei battlefield, avoiding the real and constantly looking for fighters to attack the transportation lines and small units of the Japanese puppet army, so as to cooperate with the delayed actions of the divisional troops.

However, the Japanese army's desperate approach made the military division, which was somewhat caught off guard by the new tactics of the Japanese army, still have to face the wolf-like attack of other Japanese puppet troops in Hubei. Whether it is Li Ziyuan or the military division, they are a little at a loss. He could only continue to urge the organs in Li Cheng to move quickly to the east.

Moreover, Li Ziyuan faintly felt that the Japanese army's sweep of the Taihang base area this time was not clear about other directions for the time being. However, the entire battle plan of the Japanese puppet army in the southeast of Jin should have been formulated by his old opponent, Tsuruta Numa. In other directions, the Japanese puppet army has basically completed the encirclement of the Taihang base area.

The Japanese army suddenly dispatched heavy troops from Changzhi, and under the cover of the Japanese puppet army in Hubei, suddenly advanced in the direction of Licheng through Hubei. The Japanese army wanted to take the mountainous area in the eastern part of Hubei and the junction of Licheng as the last battlefield. He was ready to boil himself and the rear organs in Licheng, together with the main forces of the army division.

Otherwise, the Japanese puppet army in other directions would not have all started operations, and most of the Japanese puppet army in Hubei suddenly began to intersperse operations to the east. This tactical deployment of the Japanese army cannot be described as unintentional. First of all, he deliberately showed weakness in the southwest, steadily fought in the mountainous area in the eastern part of Hubei, and gradually compressed his troops to the junction of Hubei and Licheng.

Then he suddenly concentrated heavy troops and went straight into the territory of Licheng, not only caught himself off guard. He also used this hand to firmly nail himself to the mountainous area in the eastern part of Hubei. It even attracted the main force of the entire Ludong Army Division here. Use the rear organs in the territory of Li Cheng to force the main force of the military division and its own independent battalion to conduct a final decisive battle with it.

The Japanese army's hand cannot but be said to be well-intentioned, which is to completely solve the problem of Hubei and even the entire Taihang Mountain. In the face of the entire sweeping situation of the Japanese army, not only Li Ziyuan's frowning brows never let go. Several leaders of military sub-divisions are also at a loss.

At present, behind the Ludong Military Division, to be precise, behind the Hubei Battlefield, is the core of the entire Taihang Base Area. A large number of institutions and non-combatants there have not yet been completely cleared and transferred. If the blocking forces on this side are withdrawn, there will be no barrier on that side.

At this moment, in the entire anti-sweeping operation, the Ludong Army Division, which was in the most critical position, could only block the Japanese army's interspersed operations under the condition that it still had to bear considerable pressure on itself, so as to buy enough time for the higher-level organs. Fortunately, in two days, a certain amount of time was finally bought for the higher-level organs.

On the fifth day of the launch of the Japanese sweep, the Japanese army had been blocked for two days, and it was the exhausted Li Ziyuan who studied with the deputy commander of the division in charge of the command, preparing to complete the tasks assigned by the superiors. In the current situation that the fighter plane cannot be found, the troops are ready to operate in two directions.

Li Ziyuan led the Hubei Independent Battalion to persist in fighting on the inner line in Hubei, and the commander of the military sub-division was preparing to move westward, and when he joined up with the sub-district command organ and jumped out of the outer line to look for fighters, he was found by the divisional correspondent covered in blood.

Seeing that he was covered in blood, after seeing the deputy commander of the division and Li Ziyuan, the correspondent who was almost dismounted, and the deputy commander of the division who was present glanced at Li Ziyuan and Ma Yongcheng, knowing that there was a new order this time. And this command will change its original deployment.

When he was wounded in seven places, and even the horses had multiple wounds, it was obvious that he struggled to find this correspondent from Li Ziyuan's department, and after taking out a joint letter from the commander and political commissar from his shoulder bag with difficulty, he stopped breathing. After receiving the letter, Li Ziyuan couldn't care about being sad, and immediately opened the letter and read it.

The order above is a letter signed by the commander of the military subdivision and the political commissar. Let him take the Hubei Independent Battalion and immediately march to Liao County, go to the northwest of Liao County to find the division headquarters, and receive the latest orders from the division headquarters. The anti-sweeping operations in Hubei were taken over by the troops of the military sub-divisions.

After ordering the commander and political commissar of the army division, he directly told Li Ziyuan that he should take the troops back to the division headquarters to report This was the division commander's repeated orders, requiring him to rush to the territory of Liao County to find the division headquarters within the specified time, even if he ran away, and received the task from the division commander. From now on, this battalion of his will be directly under the command of the division headquarters.

After receiving an order from the military division, after opening the map and roughly measuring the distance of the march. Li Ziyuan didn't dare to have any delay. Immediately with the troops turned to the direction of Liaoxian. Although he didn't know what the real intention of the division headquarters was to mobilize his independent battalion at this time, Li Ziyuan knew that the division commander would definitely not invite him to dinner by naming him at this time.

Originally, it was basically impossible to find the fighters, and the order given by the superior to delay the Japanese army for two days had been completed. Li Ziyuan is preparing to jump out of the outside line to fight, there is no way to do this tactic of the Japanese puppet army at the moment, and Li Ziyuan will not be given the slightest chance to exploit loopholes.

There is a steady stream of replenishment of the Japanese puppet army, but whether it is the Ludong Army Division or Li Ziyuan himself, it is difficult to bear a large amount of consumption. Under the careful cooperation of the Japanese puppet army, there were no fighters and no capture. Once the limited ammunition on hand is exhausted, the situation that the troops will have to face will be even more difficult.

Their own troops are better, relying on last year's continuous operations to get some old stocks. The troops that can be partitioned have an average of only 10 rounds of ammunition per person. Of this little ammunition, a considerable part of it is made by the base itself, and the quality is very poor and completely unsuitable for machine guns.

Although the military sub-district had exhausted almost all its resources, the troops participating in the battle had only three heavy machine guns and seventeen light machine guns. The number of light machine guns was less than double that of Li Ziyuan's independent battalion. The number of grenadiers was slightly higher, but less than twenty.

And half of it is made by the base itself, and the amount of ammunition is no better than the situation with bullets. You must know that the troops of the military divisions participating in the war are nearly two regiments. Even the inferior grenades made by the base areas themselves are less than two per person on average.

Ammunition was scarce, and with most of the ammunition still needed to ensure the use of machine guns, some fighters had to put their guns away and prepare to re-engage with the Japanese * blades. After the two days of blockade, the only bullets were basically gone, and the troops participating in the battle suffered heavy losses.

Because his own troops have always served as flank cover, the casualties are not large. However, one-third of the casualties of the troops participating in the battle in the military sub-divisions were formed, and all the units were formed into companies that were completely destroyed. In the absence of ammunition, although relying on favorable terrain. But most of the battles were fought with bayonets and blades, and it would be strange if the casualties of the troops were light.

The entire unit almost relied on willpower to complete the two-day blocking mission deployed by the superiors. But in the next anti-sweeping operation, the heart is already weak. If the fight continues like this, I don't know if the Japanese puppet army will collapse, but the own troops participating in the war will collapse.

Although Li Ziyuan also gave the divisional troops some ammunition, after all, the inventory was quite limited. If you can't find any more fighters, the situation will be more and more difficult. Therefore, Li Ziyuan discussed with the commander of the military sub-division and prepared the Hubei Independent Battalion to give full play to the advantages of being familiar with the terrain to rely on the inner line, while the divisional troops jumped to the outer line to fight and breathe.

But now this order from the superiors made Li Ziyuan have all his thoughts thrown out. Although Li Ziyuan didn't know what the division headquarters was doing at this time, he was transferring his own local armament. But as a military man, an order is an order. The military order is like a mountain, and there is nothing to negotiate about this.

However, Li Ziyuan saw a clause in the order of the military sub-division that he was not allowed to contact any troops before arriving at the division headquarters, and he was not allowed to reveal the order if he encountered brother troops. The most important thing is that the military division clearly writes in the order to avoid all fraternal troops as much as possible.

Looking at Ma Yongcheng, who was confused, Li Ziyuan was very strange in his heart, but he still strictly implemented the order. But before meeting the superior leaders, Li Ziyuan didn't dare to speculate. The troops could only be urged to speed up the march and strictly follow the orders of their superiors and not greet any fraternal troops on the way to the division headquarters.

Li Ziyuan led his troops up the Qingzhang River, avoiding the Japanese puppet army everywhere along the way, ignoring the resistance of a small group of Japanese puppet troops along the way, looking for gaps After a day and a night of forced marching, he ran for hundreds of miles in one go. Finally, within the time limit of the order, they rushed to the southeast direction of Liao County, that is, the approximate location of the division headquarters on the command.

It's just that before Li Ziyuan found the division headquarters, he received a report from Liu Lianming, who led the reconnaissance in front, and found an unidentified brother force. After receiving this report, thinking of the plainclothes spies he encountered when he returned from the party school, Li Ziyuan immediately ordered the troops to hide, and he rushed to the location where Liu Lianming found his brother's troops with binoculars.

When Li Ziyuan held the binoculars, he looked at the group on the opposite hill that was marching, all wearing the uniforms of the Eighth Route Army. The guys in their hands are also all after the so-called brother troops of the standard Eighth Route Army weapons. Li Ziyuan observed for a long time, and said to Liu Lianming beside him: "The brother troops on the opposite mountain, found that you don't have any?" ”

Hearing Li Ziyuan's inquiry, Liu Lianming shook his head and said, "There shouldn't be." As we march, we strictly follow your orders, do not greet the small group of brothers, and avoid them as long as they do not spot us. ”

Liu Lianming's answer obviously made Li Ziyuan very satisfied. But after pondering for a while, Li Ziyuan raised the telescope again to observe. After a long while, he said to Liu Lianming: "You take the platoon directly under you, and follow them carefully." Remember, you must not let them find out. ”

Li Ziyuan's order made Liu Lianming stunned: "Battalion commander, this is our brother army, what are you doing with them?" The distance between here and the division headquarters is not too far, and this force should be the peripheral alert force of our division headquarters. Should we get in touch with them so that we can find the division headquarters as soon as possible? ”