In order to protect the flank of the main force that was entangled with the Japanese puppet army in front of him, and to cover the more than 20,000 villagers in Jiuding Mountain who had retreated to the core area, as well as the cadres who had not yet come and transferred from the prefectural committee and sub-district. Zhang Zijian and Qian Peng had no way to retreat, so they could only concentrate all the forces at hand, seize several highlands in Jiuding Pass, and desperately resist there.

In the end, it is a cadre who was born in the old Red Army and fought at the first level. Although both in terms of strength and firepower, they are at an absolute disadvantage. However, in the face of the Japanese puppet army's concentrated artillery fire cover and launched fierce attacks in turns, Zhang Zijian did not flinch at all, commanded the limited number of troops in his hands, and launched a fierce battle with the Japanese puppet army.

Considering that the troops in hand are two formed infantry companies, and a county brigade with poor combat effectiveness and equipment. If you resist hard, in the face of the absolutely superior Japanese puppet army, even if you fight all out, you won't be able to hold out for too long. General Zhang Zijian's troops were formed with squad platoons as the system, and adopted the road into the mountains as the core, with the surrounding mountains as the support.

He adopted the tactics of fighting for the ground one by one on several hills under his control, delaying the attack of the Japanese puppet army as much as possible, and buying time for the transfer of fellow villagers and local cadres behind him. and sent a number of messengers to break out of the blockade formed by the Japanese puppet army around the Jiuding Mountains to find Li Ziyuan's main force.

As the oldest unit in the division, the two companies under his command were quite tenacious. Although the Japanese puppet army covered the artillery fire at any cost, they blew their positions into ruins. The hastily planted minefield was also destroyed by the Japanese puppet army's artillery fire.

The blocking troops relied on the only two heavy machine guns in their hands, two grenadiers, plus light machine guns and rifles, as well as a large number of * allocated by Li Ziyuan before his departure, relying on the craters to desperately block the attack. When the fighters ran out, the squad and platoon commander went up. The combatants were gone, and the lightly wounded carried the heavily wounded on their backs.

The lightly wounded were gone, and the remaining seriously wounded rolled down the hill with a bang*, and perished with the Japanese puppet army that rushed up. When the bullets ran out, they fought with the Japanese puppet army with bayonets. The bayonet was broken, and he fought the enemy with stones and *. Every position, even if it was controlled by the combat group, would fall into the hands of the Japanese puppet army after all the defenders were killed.

The Japanese puppet army in front of him had to pay a heavy price for almost every step of their advance. However, the Japanese puppet army has a strong force, and the loss of a company will not be taken seriously. But the combatants on Zhang Zijian's side sacrificed one less one, and if the weapon was blown up, there was one less one. In order to gain as much time as possible, Zhang Zijian could only resist one by one, and constantly shrink his defensive position.

After Li Ziyuan's side eliminated the enemy artillery in front of him, and almost eliminated all the Japanese troops who cooperated with the puppet army's actions. It was time to move to a new location to recuperate and prepare to study the next phase of action. I happened to receive the third one sent by Zhang Zijian, and it was also the only one messenger who broke out of the fire blockade line of the Japanese puppet army, and he sent the information desperately.

Seeing the information, Li Ziyuan couldn't help but be stunned. Seeing the information in his hand, Li Ziyuan immediately understood. Although he said that he succeeded in two consecutive battles against the Japanese puppet army in front of him, he did achieve a tactical victory, and it can even be said to be a brilliant victory. But in terms of the overall strategic situation, he has fallen into extreme passivity, and it can even be said that he has failed.

The purpose of the Japanese puppet army's sweep this time is not only to eliminate the Eighth Route in the Ludong area. At the same time, it is necessary to completely destroy and disintegrate the entire Ludong base area. That is to say, the first sweep launched by the Japanese puppet army against the Ludong area this time was to destroy the Ludong area from the root, the western gateway of the entire Taihang Mountain base area behind enemy lines.

And the entire Taihang Mountain base area will be cut off, and the traffic line from the southeast of Shanxi to the southwest of Hebei will be completely opened. Once the Ludong area is controlled by the Japanese puppet army, then they can intercept and cut off the entire Taihang base area to the east. To the west, you can cut off the connection between the two major bases of Taihang and Taiyue.

Moreover, once the Ludong area is controlled by the Japanese puppet army, the Japanese puppet army can sneak attack the core area of the Taihang base area at any time to the east, and threaten the headquarters of the 18th Group Army, as well as the security of the 129th Division and the headquarters of the Taihang Military Region. To the west, the Japanese puppet army could enter the core area of the Taiyue base area at any time.

Therefore, the real goal of the Japanese puppet army's sweep this time is not mainly aimed at the Eighth Route Army here as in the past. Instead, they came directly to the local government in Ludong and the key masses here. These are the foundation of the survival of the Eighth Route Army in the Ludong area, and they are also the basis for the activities of the Eighth Route Army in the entire Ludong area.

It is no wonder that when he first attacked the Japanese puppet army advancing head-on, the Japanese puppet army that had already entered the junction of Hubei and Licheng on the flanks was slow to move. Even at the junction of Hubei and Licheng, it stayed for more than a day. They only sent troops everywhere to grab food, but did not take any action.

Now it seems that the real intention of the Japanese puppet army commander is to use their allies as bait to drag him and confuse his superiors and himself. They also took advantage of the situation in Ludong to adopt a disguised method of driving the masses and most of the local cadres who could not follow the troops' actions to the Jiuding Mountains, so that they could directly solve the problem in one go.

Looking at the information sent by the messenger at the risk of death, Li Ziyuan smashed his fist on the map. Grandma's, she played eagle all day long, but she didn't expect that one day she would be beaten away from the mountain by the Japanese puppet army. Although the Jiuding Mountains are the most complicated areas in the entire Ludong base area, they are only more than 30 kilometers long from east to west and only more than 20 kilometers wide from north to south.

That is to say, although the terrain of the entire Jiuding Mountain area is dangerous, it can accommodate such a large number of people and local cadres, and there is not enough room for maneuver. Coupled with the Japanese puppet army that is advancing in other directions, if this Japanese puppet army breaks through Zhang Zijian's thin defense line, the entire Jiuding Mountain area will be completely surrounded.

And once these Japanese puppet troops enter the Jiuding Mountains, the tens of thousands of villagers and a large number of local cadres hidden there will be at a point where there is nowhere to move. These people are the foundation of the existence of the entire Ludong base area, and they are also the essence of the entire Ludong area. Even if he was captured by the Japanese puppet army, it was a serious dereliction of duty.

Thinking of this, a cold sweat broke out on Li Ziyuan's back. Because for him, if this situation arises, then the task entrusted to him by his superiors to attract two Japanese puppet armies in the eastern mountains will not only fail completely, but also mean that the Ludong base area will suffer a devastating blow.

At that moment, Li Ziyuan did not dare to have any delay, and immediately commanded the troops to move in to the direction of Jiuding Mountain for rapid reinforcements. However, when Li Ziyuan was reinforced, since the Japanese puppet army launched this sweep in the Ludong area, the Japanese air force, which had not appeared for a long time, dispatched more than ten planes to carry out reconnaissance and bombing around the Jiuding Mountains.

When Li Ziyuan's troops were still more than 30 kilometers away from Jiuding Mountain, they were bombed and intercepted by Japanese planes. Although the Japanese dispatched only a few reconnaissance planes and light bombers, these bombers continued to bomb and strafe, which brought endless trouble to Li Ziyuan's reinforcements.

Looking at the Japanese planes constantly circling overhead, He Sanliang put down the binoculars in his hand, turned his head to Li Ziyuan and said, "Regiment commander, we have to think of some way." In this way, not only our troops will have to pay a great price under the fire of Japanese aircraft. Moreover, the direction of our actions will also be completely exposed to the noses of the Japanese puppet army. ”

"It's better to wait until it's dark before we act. Otherwise, if we continue like this, we will be very easily discovered by the Japanese puppet army. With the strength we have at hand now, there is no way to fight against the Japanese puppet army. Now that we encounter the main force of the Japanese puppet army, we can only fall into a more passive situation. ”

He Sanliang's voice fell, but Li Ziyuan did not answer him directly. Instead, he stared at the map and pondered for a while, and then said: "Tell the troops to organize light and heavy machine gun fire to form an anti-aircraft fire network." We don't need to actually shoot down enemy planes, as long as they don't pose a threat to our operations. ”

"In addition, tell the troops that as long as the devil's * does not fall on the top of their heads, they will march at full speed to the Jiuding Mountains. Lao He, the Japanese puppet army will not leave us too much time. Zhang Zijian's situation there is critical, and he really fights hard, even if he runs out of troops at hand, he can't hold out for too long. ”

"That's tens of thousands of basic people, as well as a large number of local cadres, as well as the logistics organs and hospitals of military sub-districts. If we allow the Japanese puppet army to enter the Jiuding Mountains, then our roots in the Ludong base area will be completely destroyed by the Japanese puppet army. These tens of thousands of people and a large number of local cadres are the root of our entire Ludong Military Sub-district. ”

"The Japanese puppet army is a fist that hits us in the soft underbelly and attacks the place we must save. Even if we know that there is a trap ahead, we can only drill into it. Grandma's, the little devil's hand is quite ruthless. Lao He, give the order, we have no choice now. ”

"Besides, if our actions are really discovered by the Japanese puppet army, it won't be a big deal. The Japanese puppet army will definitely draw troops to deal with us, so that Lao Zhang can greatly reduce the pressure. As long as he doesn't have problems there, everything else will be fine. If there is a problem with him, Lao He, we will not be able to atone for our sins. ”

He Sanliang, who was categorical about Li Ziyuan and knew that the situation had forced Li Ziyuan to have no way out, could only shake his head and smile bitterly: "I will give an order to the troops, regardless of the bombing of enemy planes and fatigue, and march at full speed to the Jiuding Mountains." As long as one sentence, arriving in Jiuding Mountain is a victory. But Commander, I want you to think again tactically. ”

"If we stick to it like this, even if we run out, how much time can we buy over there? Moreover, once we are bombed by enemy planes and disrupt the formation, I am afraid that we will rush to Lao Zhang's side, and without a buffer and adjustment of troops, it will be difficult to start a battle with the enemy army. ”

He Sanliang's concerns, how Li Ziyuan didn't understand. But at the moment, no matter what kind of tactical changes and applications are made for him, there is not much time to think about it. The problem now is to attract the puppet 38th Division and the Japanese infantry artillery at all costs at the Jiuding Pass.

Looking at the Japanese planes hovering in the sky, Li Ziyuan gritted his teeth and said to He Sanliang: "Old He, the current situation has changed, so that we have no other way to choose except to break the kettle and sink the boat." Fortunately, in our hands, it is not without the capital to fight. As for the rest, let's talk about the fight. ”

"Also, tell the artillery that you must not fall behind. What can't be taken away, there is no time to build a wall now. You told Zhou Tong that all but the two mountain cannons were thrown away. Gather all the mules and horses and take all the captured shells with you. Also, tell He Huizhang that the cannonballs have been enough for Lao Tzu. ”