Of course, as an old and cunning traitor, knowing that he has no way out, Wang Tieshi will not just wield carrots. On the first day, the overseer team composed of his special service battalion, equipped with broadswords and machine guns, also followed the puppet army that launched the attack to supervise the battle.

Wang Tieshi knew that these Chongqing prisoners who came in as a supplement were not of the same mind as him. This is not a dish drawn into a bowl, the quality of the Central Army is indeed high, but the loyalty to Chongqing is self-evident. Therefore, when he received these people, the officers tried not to do anything about them.

Especially the cadets who graduated from the Central Military Academy, basically don't want any of them. Only a few people who were forcibly stuffed by the Japanese were also left in the officer training team by him, and he did not dare to let go and lead the troops. He knew that the more people from the Central Army, especially those who graduated from the Central Military Academy, the higher the anti-Japanese sentiment in their bones, and at the same time, they would not be at ease to serve themselves.

At the same time, in my heart, I also look down on the miscellaneous cards like myself. Therefore, he has to use the prisoners of war over there, but he is more defensive in his heart. He prefers to have a motley army of inferior quality, especially officers and soldiers who do not have a motley army behind the scenes.

Such officers and soldiers are not very loyal to the Chongqing side. In contrast, their loyalty is more to their military commanders. As long as they are given a lot of money and the pull of their positions, it is still easy for these people to be dragged over completely. After receiving the notice from the Japanese, he personally went to the prisoner of war camp set up by the Japanese army in Luoyang several times.

It's just a pity that the Japanese don't give him many options. But he still made a certain choice, such as the company-platoon-level officers of the 15th Army who were reorganized from the old Zhensong Army captured in Luoyang, and they were all asked by him. But the soldiers didn't have much choice but to ask for what the Japanese wanted.

As for the shortage of officers, in addition to selecting some people from the army from among the captured personnel, the rest was to fill them with his own henchmen, or to select veterans and squad leaders from there. The people he selected were all as low as possible with a lower level of education. It's just that this suspicious person doesn't trust those people as much, and he is simple-minded and only knows that it is best to fight.

Just like the purge of the Jinnan Jianguo Army after he annexed the puppet Jinnan Jianguo Army. Some of the officers were sent home, and some of the unreliable people in his eyes disappeared directly, and the people he stayed behind to use were some people who were born in the army and did not have a high level of education.

And despite the repeated expansion of his troops, the highest officer of the former Jinnan Jianguo Army was only a deputy battalion commander. It is his suspicious personality that makes him not only expect a brave man to be rewarded when attacking, but also use the Warlord as a stick. In other words, in order to force his subordinates to attack, he brandished a Union Bank coupon in one hand and a broadsword and machine gun in the other.

Stimulated by carrots and sticks, the puppet army, which was originally extremely demoralized, also mustered up courage when it launched an attack. After its remaining artillery joined, in order to support the infantry attack, it suppressed the machine gun fire of the Eighth Route Army in front, and even advanced the mountain artillery to a place less than a thousand meters away from the first-line position.

Maybe it's to urge the puppet army to attack, maybe it's trying to fight for something. Or the pressure from above is too much, urging him to speed up. The commander of the 243rd Independent Infantry Group, who also mobilized two Japanese squadrons, joined the battlefield in the next day's battle and took over the attack from the south.

As Li Ziyuan judged, the entire Qiaokou defense was under great pressure the next day. The gunfire on the periphery of Qiaokou has hardly subsided for a whole day, especially the superior artillery fire of the Japanese puppet army has brought great trouble to the defense. In the face of the offensive launched by the superior puppet army in turn, Li Ziyuan's defense line was in critical situations many times.

Under Li Ziyuan's tactics of never repeatedly fighting for any position, Li Ziyuan's use of troops this time can even be described as stingy, and most of the peripheral positions were lost. In particular, the outer positions in the south were almost all missed. By dusk, the Japanese puppet army in the south could already see Qiaokou Village.

In the afternoon, a Japanese puppet army that had infiltrated from the junction of the second and third battalions was almost about to hit Li Ziyuan's headquarters, and the distance was only more than 70 meters at the nearest time. Even Li Ziyuan personally took the machine gun and led the guard company into battle, and fought melee and hand-to-hand combat with the infiltrated Japanese puppet army.

One-third of the casualties of the guard company were carried out, and the sacrifice of the deputy chief of staff of the regiment and the commander of the guard company was simply solved by the infiltrated Japanese puppet army. More than 50 Japanese soldiers plus more than 100 puppet soldiers, except for more than 70 people captured by the puppet army, all the rest were killed and none of them escaped the net.

And Qian Peng, who was sitting in the third battalion, asked to bring troops over to support, but Li Ziyuan refused without hesitation. Li Ziyuan was on the phone, and directly told Qian Peng to hold his position. On the side of the regiment headquarters, there is no need for rescue for the time being. However, Li Ziyuan explained to Liu Haishan and Qian Peng, who had strengthened their command, that they must pay attention to the joint in the battle.

But no matter how dangerous the situation was at the front, Li Ziyuan did not use the reserves in his hands. Even the artillery company was never sent into battle by him. Li Ziyuan, who has been closely observing the battle situation in front, believes that at least for the time being, it is far from a situation where the cauldron is broken.

Although today's puppet army is already in full force, the biggest progress is only to seize most of the peripheral positions in the south, and its own front is generally stable. Although some Japanese troops have joined in, at least so far, the number of casualties and the stability of the battle line are still within the capacity to bear.

Telegrams were received from the military region and sub-districts, informing them that Li Ziyuan's peripheral troops had advanced to the designated place, and that a unit had been inserted between Hubei County and Pingchuan. The first regiment of the division has secretly lurked on the outskirts of Pingchuan, ready to attack at any time. Another unit of troops was already in the border area between Hubei and Ludong, and there was a fierce battle with the Japanese army.

The commander of the military region directly asked Li Ziyuan on the telegram whether it was time to launch a general attack on the whole front. Of course, there is no need for the commander of the military region to ask Li Ziyuan, but after all, as a front-line commander, the commander of the military region still has to listen to Li Ziyuan's opinions.

Especially the whole operational idea, Li Ziyuan is the initiator. Moreover, the development of the battle situation in front of him, especially whether the main force of the puppet army in front of him has become tired, is what the commander of the military region needs to know the most. That's why there was this telegram from the head of the military region with an inquiry.

Regarding this handwritten telegram from the commander of the military region, Li Ziyuan directly replied that it was not yet the best time. The puppet army still has some remaining strength, and Pingchuan is too close to Qiaokou, and once it starts now, it is easy to startle the snake. Once the main force of the puppet army retreats back to Pingchuan and relies on the strong fortifications of Pingchuan, then this battle will not be easy to fight.

Li Ziyuan's meaning is very clear, he still has to hold on for some time, and strive to completely entangle this puppet army, which is the best time. At the same time, Li Ziyuan sent a telegram to the former commander of the military region and the sub-division, proposing that if the various units that are now in place have not yet engaged the enemy, they should do a good job of concealing them as much as possible and must not be easily exposed.

And the troops that are making feins around the entire battlefield are moving as loud as possible. Even on the telegram, Li Ziyuan suggested that this feint should start with the Japanese army. As much as possible, the target is to lock on the Japanese army, so as to contain the Japanese army to the greatest extent.

After the telegram was sent away, He Sanliang put down the pencil in his hand and said to Li Ziyuan: "Commander, I'm a little worried now. This Wang Tieshi has always been cunning and cunning, although today's one-day attack has not yet reached the point of the end of the crossbow, but the actual progress is obviously not large, will this guy retreat now? ”

"Especially on the periphery, our army has already exchanged fire with the Japanese puppet army, although it is still quite far from us. But I'm afraid that this guy will throw a stab at the end of the storm and retreat to Pyongchon before our reinforcements arrive. At that time, our whole plan will be a bamboo basket for water. ”

"The most important thing is that our current front is still in a situation of front-line flat push under the oppression of the Japanese puppet army. It has not yet been able to form a dog-tooth situation on the entire front. In this way, the depth of entanglement between our army and the enemy in front of us has not yet reached the point where this guy cannot turn around. ”

Speaking of this, He Sanliang circled the pencil in his hand on a few points on the periphery of Qiaokou before saying to Li Ziyuan: "Since the failure of last night's sneak attack and the failure of this afternoon's infiltration, this guy is not doing any interspersing now, but just blindly attacking our east and south directions, putting on a steady and steady posture. ”

This shows that his loss should be close to the limit of what this guy can accept. This also means that if there is no big breakthrough tonight, this guy will most likely retreat in the early hours of tomorrow morning. At present, the two armies of the enemy and ours have not yet formed a situation of dogs and teeth. ”

"Once this guy escapes, we can only passively follow and pursue, which is not good for us. I wonder if the 610 Heights to the east of Qiaokou will be abandoned, and the 1st Battalion on the east side will be reduced to the last line of defense east of Qiaokou, that is, 724, the high ground? ”

"The 724 Highlands is an independent highland, and it is not connected to the surrounding mountains except for a narrow ridge that connects it to Qiaokou. However, this 724 Heights is a barrier to the east of Qiaokou, and the five hills and a number of ridges extending outward can become the positions of our army. ”

"The most important thing is that the overall terrain of this 724 highland is relatively messy, with ravines between various ridges. No matter how the Japanese puppet army attacks that ridge, it will not form a complete front. Moreover, in order to prevent our army from counterattacking along the ravine, they must set up a large number of guard positions, so that their forces will be further dispersed. ”

"Also on the southern front, I propose to shrink the position as well. Except for the two highlands of 433 and 516, the rest of the highlands were all abandoned. In this way, we have abandoned almost all of our outlying positions to the east and south of Qiaokou. And to keep these three heights is equivalent to leaving a few wedges in their positions. ”

"In this way, even if this guy retreats, it will be difficult to get rid of our entanglement in a short time. And judging from today's battle, although we have lost most of our forward positions, the core positions of the entire Qiaokou battlefield are still firmly controlled by us. ”

"My suggestion is to telegraph to the military sub-districts and military districts, and approve us to fight one night and tomorrow morning. Moreover, the regimental commander, I suggest that the reserves be pulled up this evening and launch several counterattacks against the 579 heights in the right front of the 516 heights to the south. It's best if you can take it, and it doesn't matter if you can't take it down. ”