Unless Li Ziyuan planned to exhaust his entire army here, he would not be able to deal with such a large mass of Japanese puppet troops before the Japanese troops from other directions rushed over in the face of the Japanese army, which was not only superior in firepower but also superior in numbers. The two Japanese squadrons that rushed out in advance were just the vanguard of the Japanese army dispatched from Qiaokou.

After Qiaokou dispatched two squadrons, three infantry squadrons were dispatched to force and quickly penetrate from the right flank of Qiaokou to Li Ziyuan's flank with the cooperation of more than 500 puppet troops. The Japanese army, which tried to cooperate with the frontal counterattack, completed the encirclement of Li Ziyuan's department.

And the two squadrons of the Japanese army that were dispatched from the front, the dense covering artillery fire also made Li Ziyuan a little jealous. Li Ziyuan could only reluctantly give up the idea of ambush. At the moment, he didn't have such a good appetite at all, full of five Japanese infantry squadrons and one mountain artillery squadron in strength and firepower.

Coupled with more than 500 puppet troops, not to mention that the first battalion has now lost most of its combat effectiveness. Even if the first battalion is still complete, Li Ziyuan thinks that he doesn't have such a good appetite. And the most important thing is that the Japanese troops who are trying to encircle him at the moment are not limited to this part of the Qiaokou sortie.

The troops who withdrew from the direction of the fallen horse clearly told Li Ziyuan that the Japanese puppet army that was dispatched from the fallen horse was at least about 1,000 people. The 2,000-day puppet army dispatched from the direction of Huguan was also less than 20 kilometers away from the ambush circle he had set up. The Japanese troops with a large number of artillery on both flanks advanced extremely fast, and the blocking troops sent by Li Ziyuan could only rely on the terrain to resist.

However, the Japanese troops on both flanks rarely entangled with Li Ziyuan's blocking troops on both flanks, and once they encountered an interception, they did not hesitate to open the way with artillery shells to cover the passage of the interspersed troops at full speed. In addition to the disadvantage in troops, the blocking troops in both directions were unable to block the Japanese puppet army that quickly surrounded the two wings on the periphery.

That is to say, there will be a maximum of three hours, and the Japanese puppet army will march in parallel with the north and south. With a large number of Japanese puppet troops dispatched from the front, he will be surrounded here. Therefore, even if there is no Japanese puppet army dispatched by Qiaokou in the follow-up, and the Japanese army, which is advancing quite fast on both sides, it is impossible to give him time to calmly set up an ambush.

In desperation, Li Ziyuan could only give up all his attempts, and led his troops to fight and withdraw all the way, leading the Japanese army behind him to the border area between Hubei and Huguan. The terrain over there is complicated, and you may be able to find a fighter plane and get rid of the Japanese puppet army that is biting you behind you.

However, although Li Ziyuan retracted and retreated quite quickly, not only did a large number of Japanese puppet troops dispatch from Qiaokou behind him and on both flanks bite him, but the outflanking actions of the Japanese troops on both flanks were also quite fast. When Li Ziyuan retreated, he repeatedly encountered small Japanese troops who were trying to outflank him.

The small units of the Japanese army interspersed with each other had quite clear tactical intentions. is to use harassing tactics to constantly entangle with Li Ziyuan, slow down Li Ziyuan's retreat, and capture the stragglers of Li Ziyuan's department. Gather the big forces behind you, buy time and create fighters.

These small units of the Japanese army were generally formed in detachments or squads under the leadership of a plainclothes agent. Carrying one or two Type 96 light machine guns and a grenadier canister, each of them was issued with a pistol and four*. In terms of weapons and equipment, they are all typical light equipment.

The situation was extremely dangerous, and in order to avoid being entangled by these small Japanese troops, Li Ziyuan could only encounter these small Japanese troops. They can only concentrate their firepower along the way to get rid of the entanglement of these Japanese troops as soon as possible. Fortunately, although the speed of these small Japanese troops was far beyond Li Ziyuan's expectations, they were far away from the main force behind them.

After several small units were defeated by Li Ziyuan's concentrated firepower, the rest of the Japanese army's small interspersed troops generally did not have a hard top with Li Ziyuan, but continued to adopt harassment and entanglement tactics. Once Li Ziyuan concentrated the maximum firepower at his disposal, these small groups of Japanese troops basically retreated quickly.

However, as long as Li Ziyuan was a little slack, these small groups of Japanese soldiers came up and took a bite. Faced with this situation, Li Ziyuan simply scattered Liu Lianming's reconnaissance company and used a small force to deal with the small force of the Japanese army. Only then did they curb the harassment and entanglement of these small forces, and ensure the speed and efficiency of their own transfer.

Liu Lianming's reconnaissance company now has a Czech-style rifle for each person, and each squad has a light machine gun and a grenadier canister, plus two shell guns and a miscellaneous brand for the chief and deputy squad leaders. And the ammunition base of the reconnaissance company, each of which is a hundred rifle rounds. Even a squad can compete with a detachment of the Japanese army, and it will definitely not suffer.

Moreover, this reconnaissance company, under his painstaking efforts*, is now proficient in mountain warfare, especially in surprise attacks and ambush warfare. Under the circumstance that dealing with these small Japanese troops was a headache for Li Ziyuan, he simply transferred the reconnaissance company to the front and specially cleaned up the small Japanese troops in front when the troops were transferred.

After Liu Lianming made a move, the sneak attack momentum of the small units of the Japanese army slowed down. Otherwise, it would be enough for Li Ziyuan to deal with these small units of Japanese troops like flies. In particular, the wounded who have strayed behind have a great impact on the morale of the troops.

Just as the situation facing Li Ziyuan himself is deteriorating rapidly, the situation in the entire Ludong area is also abrupt. At the same time that a large number of Japanese puppet troops dispatched from Qiaokou chased Li Ziyuan all the way. At the same time, heavy troops were mobilized and the tactics of multi-way encirclement of Li Ziyuan's troops were adopted in an attempt to completely solve Li Ziyuan's simultaneously.

More than 3,000 Japanese troops, who had been carrying out a sweep in the Taihang base area before, also suddenly turned to the Ludong area from several directions in Licheng and Liaoxian, and began to sweep from east to west. The Japanese army in Changzhi also dispatched a large number of troops at the same time, with the cooperation of a large number of puppet troops. From west to east along the Baijin Railway, an unprecedented sweep was launched into the territory of Ludong.

Just from the front of the Baijin Railway, there were about 3,000 Japanese troops and more than 2,000 puppet troops in front of and behind the military sub-division and the hinterland of Ludong. In addition to the more than 3,000 Japanese troops who entered Ludong in Licheng, the Japanese army in the east and west directions alone invested more than 6,000 Japanese troops and more than 2,000 puppet troops.

This does not include the subsequent accessions, which began to advance south from the area north of Ludong. Starting from the Handchang Highway, more than 4,000 Japanese troops were advanced from south to north, as well as a large number of puppet troops were successively drawn from the surrounding areas of Ludong. A large number of Japanese puppet troops turned to the Ludong area, causing the situation to deteriorate rapidly and sharply.

At this time, the sweep of other parts of the Taihang Mountains, the Japanese army, which had basically been roughly over, successively invested in the Ludong area, and finally swept more than 10,000 people, with a large number of artillery heavy troops, as well as a puppet garrison in more than a dozen counties. With the assistance of the puppet army, the Japanese troops of all divisions took the reinforcement brigade as the backbone, interspersed and encircled in multiple ways, and repeatedly pulled the net to sweep.

The puppet army in the entire surrounding area of Ludong was almost completely withdrawn, and even the Japanese army transferred a puppet army from Henan to build a tight blockade along the Hanchang Avenue. Under the supervision of the Japanese army, they launched a sweep from the south to the north, and undertook the main blockade mission.

On the Handan-Chang Highway in the south of the Ludong area, a large number of Japanese vehicles, escorted by armored vehicles and light tanks, continued to transport supplies from Handan to various strongholds along the Hand-Chang Highway. They formed a fast force based on cavalry, tanks, and trucks to patrol back and forth along the Handan Long Highway.

The Japanese army invested unprecedented strength this time, obviously intending to contact this Eighth Route Barrier, which threatened the integrity of Changzhi, and eliminate the Eighth Route Army that retreated here. Cut off the connection between the two major military regions of Taihang and Taiyue, and ensure strict control over the main grain-producing areas in the southeast of Shanxi.

With the successive arrival of various units of the Japanese army, the Ludong area, which was relatively calm before, suddenly became full of wolves. A large number of Japanese puppet troops surrounded the base areas of the counties under the Ludong area on all sides, sweeping and sorting out one by one. In addition to the cliffs that could not be climbed, almost every mountainous area in the base area of Ludong was repeatedly swept by the Japanese army.

All of a sudden, the entire territory of Ludong was almost full of Japanese puppet troops. The entire Ludong Army sub-district area is surrounded by water. The connection between the Ludong area and other sub-districts was also cut off by the Japanese puppet army. More than a dozen planes were dispatched during the day and circled over the Ludong area all day. At night, a considerable number of blockade troops were deployed on all external roads.

In the previous sweeps of the Japanese army, it is probably the first time that the Japanese army has invested such a large number of troops in the armed forces of a divisional level of the Eighth Route Army. Even if most of the main forces of the Japanese army were transferred, the more than 10,000 Japanese troops and a considerable number of puppet troops were not something that a Ludong Army subdivision could contend with.

Although there had been some preparations for the Japanese army's move for a long time, the entire military division faced the Japanese puppet army that was swarming from almost all directions. Even with the addition of part of the main force that withdrew to the Ludong area for rest, it was still unable to compete with the Japanese puppet army, and the difference in strength and firepower between the two sides was too great.

The Ludong Army Sub-district was subordinate to only two main regiments, plus independent battalions or basic guerrillas in several counties, and the total strength was only more than 5,000 people. Moreover, the independent battalions and basic guerrillas in each county are very poorly armed and equipped, and the amount of ammunition is extremely insufficient. The Ludong Independent Battalion had only two light machine guns, as well as one British machine gun allocated by the superiors.

Only half of the soldiers used Jin-made 38-style rifles or Hanyang-made rifles. As for the rest of the troops, they are still dominated by old sleeves and old guns such as Kuaili. The battalion's ammunition combined, averaged less than 10 rounds per rifle. The weapons of the Hubei County Brigade were better under Li Ziyuan's full efforts.

But the old-fashioned Murata 22 rifle also accounted for one-third of the number. Several other county brigades or independent battalions are not as well equipped as these two counties. The role that these local armed forces can play is to cover the movement of the masses. As for the ones that can really be used, there are only two main regiments.

Even if you add several regiments that retreated to the main force in Ludong, the difference in strength is still unusually large. As for the weapons and equipment, there is no way to compare, and all the light and heavy machine guns in the whole division are combined, which is comparable to the Japanese puppet army all the way. Not to mention the vastly different supply capabilities of the two sides, as well as the disparity in proportion of artillery.

The Japanese army also dispatched a large number of automobiles, armored vehicles, and aircraft, which were weapons that the Eighth Route Army did not have. In the course of the battle, if the Japanese army consumed a lot of ammunition and needed to be replenished urgently, their cars could be transported and replenished in the shortest possible time. Even if necessary, planes can be dispatched for airdrops.

And once the Eighth Route has exhausted the limited ammunition at hand, if there is no captured ammunition, then there will be no replenishment at all. There is no other way to fight with bayonets, or to annihilate the whole army, or to quickly disengage. The only ones that are sufficient, that is, those made in the base, are not so powerful that they can't even blow up people*.