The little devil who was lying on the spot at the edge of the woods of the Eighth Route Army's position on the northern slope received the squad leader's order to 'shoot and fire reconnaissance', and a light machine gun kept swinging, spitting out tongues of fire and sweeping towards the woods.

The other devils picked up the 38 big cover and pulled the trigger, and 'pop, pop, pop, ......' and shot at the woods, and for a moment the branches of the trees were broken by the flying bullets, and the leaves fell down.

The soldiers hidden in the woods lowered their bodies and clenched their hands to grab them, waiting for Wang Xiaoliang to issue an order to strike with firepower, and eliminate these dozen arrogant little devils at the first time to relieve the grievances in their hearts.

Zhou Peng, the chief of staff of the only regiment who led the four battalions to ambush here, said to Wang Xiaoliang, who led the three battalions together: "Deputy Regiment Commander Wang, do you say that the little devil is shooting aimlessly, is he engaged in fire reconnaissance?" ”

"Needless to say? This group of little devils is very cunning, I led the third battalion to receive an order from the commander of the Lei Jian regiment, withdraw from the position in the west mountain of Sangtou Town and retreat to the woods halfway up the mountain, if you don't leave the woods in time, you will be surrounded by the cunning devil brigade there, tsk, now I think about it and I'm a little afraid. Wang Xiaoliang said that he didn't know if he was really afraid, or acting in front of Zhou Peng, and trembled suddenly.

Zhou Peng said with a low voice and a smile: "Deputy Head Wang, are you really trembling?" Not really, right? ”

He frowned, looking at a squad of little devils outside the woods, still continuing to carry out fire reconnaissance, and the large army of devils behind was catching up at the fastest speed, Zhou Peng not only whispered to Wang Xiaoliang: "Deputy Commander Wang, these dozen little devils have been firing and have not stopped, if the large army of devils keeps up, will they search the woods on the north slope where we are ambushed?" ”

"It's hard to say, now as long as this devil squad of fire reconnaissance stops fire and continues to move forward with the large army, the Japanese army will not search the woods position where we are ambushed, don't speak, the little devil brigade will follow."

Wang Xiaoliang nervously whispered orders to Song Chun, the commander of the fourth battalion, and Duan Zhiquan, the commander of the third battalion: "Order the troops to prepare for battle, and once the battle starts, they must use the most fierce firepower to destroy the vanguard of the enemy's Matsumoto Wing." ”

The soldiers of the fourth and third battalions were lying on the position, and they didn't dare to raise their heads because they were reconnoitred by the fire of the devil search team, and scolded in their hearts: "First tell you dozen little devils to jump for a while, and when Lao Tzu receives the order, he will destroy your group of mongrels as soon as possible." ”

The captain of the vanguard of the Japanese army rode a war horse and came to the front of the devil search team to reconnoiter the position of the woods on the northern slope with firepower, and shouted with a horsewhip: "Is there anything suspicious in the woods you have found?" ”

The leader of the devil squad hurriedly got up and ran to the captain of the Japanese army and stood up and reported: "Report to Your Excellency, Your Excellency, after more than a dozen soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army led by me to reconnoiter here, they did not find that there was an ambush on the Tuba Road inside, and the large army could pass through safely. ”

In this way, the Japanese commander sent a small force to reconnoiter the woods on the way forward and the hills near the Wufu Highway, mainly because it was three or four miles from Sangtou Town to Qingshui Bridge, and only through Qingshui Bridge safely could Fuping City be reached.

Regarding the Qingshui Bridge on this necessary road, the cunning Matsumoto Wing Captain analyzed that in order to ensure the safety of the Qingshui Bridge a few miles from the east bank of the Qingshui Bridge, the Eighth Route Army would not easily relax its defense on the road from Qingshui Bridge to Sangtou Town, and the ambush position of the Eighth Route Army appeared on the west mountain of Sangtou Town, which illustrated this point.

Commander Matsumoto, who acted cautiously, ordered the commander of the advance guard unit to send a number of reconnaissance teams on the way of the large force to Shimizu Bridge, and to carefully search the woods and hills that appeared on both sides of the Wufu Highway and, if necessary, conduct fire reconnaissance.

The captain of the Japanese army, who served as the commander of the avant-garde unit, saw that the fire reconnaissance team found no trace of the ambush of the Eighth Route Army in the woods on the northern slope, and waved the horsewhip in his hand and ordered: "The avant-garde brigade is advancing quickly towards the Qingshui Bridge." ”

When the vanguard of the Japanese army was almost halfway over, Wang Xiaoliang ordered the two mortar platoons of the fourth and third battalions: "Adjust the gun position, aim the muzzle at the devil troops in the central cluster of the Japanese army, and all light and heavy weapons will hit the little devils on the march with the most fierce firepower." ”

......More than a dozen shells flew out of their disembowels and fell into the place where the devil's large army gathered with a roar, and the violent explosion made the little devil man turn over on his back, and the little devil who was caught off guard by the sudden burst of dense firepower was shot and fell on the Wufu road, this well-trained Japanese elite unit, under the rapid reaction of the commander, immediately organized the troops to find hidden objects on the spot to carry out a fire counterattack.

The enemy and us engaged in the most fierce battle on the northern slope of Sangtou Town, which is more than 800 meters away from the Qingshui Bridge.

Although the elite units of a wing were pinned down by the third regiment and a rearguard brigade, the well-trained devils of these two brigades immediately formed a fierce fire counterattack position, and under the enemy's powerful firepower, the fourth and third battalions of the only regiment ambushed in the Beishan position showed a situation of being outnumbered and passively restrained in less than half an hour of fierce fighting.

On the way to Sangtou Town, Wing Commander Matsumoto was successively bitten by the tail and followed by the Third Regiment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, which could not be shaken off, and was blocked by the fire of a battalion of the Eighth Route Army in the west mountain of Sangtou Town.

The enraged Captain Matsumoto roared: "Order the troops to suppress the Dirt Eight Road hiding in the woods on the north slope with the most fierce firepower, and the large army will launch an encirclement of this forest, and this large army of the Dirt Eight Road must be wiped out. ”

As soon as Wang Xiaoliang saw that the Japanese army had launched an encirclement of the position on the northern slope, he ordered the third battalion to act as the main force of the position to block the attacking enemy, and ordered the fourth battalion to deploy positions from both flanks to block the devils who surrounded him, and the firepower to cover the main force of the Japanese army that the third battalion was attacking and attacking.

The soldiers of the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the One Regiment, under the command of Wang Xiaoliang, blocked the attacking little devils with the greatest firepower, but this group of fierce Japanese troops, like a group of mad dogs, howled and pounced on the position of the only regiment.

At this time, Lei Jian, who was standing on the west bank of the Qingshui Bridge and 500 meters away from the bridgehead, was holding a telescope with a frown, observing the battlefield on the northern slope of the nearly 1,000-meter front.

Lei Jian said to Li Gang beside him: "Order Deputy Commander Ma Ming to lead the cavalry battalion to abandon the ambush set up in the woods five hundred meters away from the Qingshui Bridge, and covertly find the location of the mixed artillery squadron carried by the Japanese Matsumoto Wing, and destroy the enemy's artillery squadron with the fastest action." ”

He also ordered Zhang Ting, the deputy regiment commander beside him: "You lead the first battalion as a reserve to immediately pass through the Qingshui Bridge, occupy the forest where the cavalry battalion has withdrawn at the fastest marching speed, and wait for the opportunity to move." ”

Li Gang saw that Lei Jian had changed his previous deployment, placing the main position on the east bank of Qingshui Bridge, and even a battalion as a reserve had been sent to the front line, and couldn't help but ask worriedly: "Commander Lei, I don't know why you suddenly changed your battle plan, and now you put all the reserves into the front line to fight, what should you do if the enemy situation is discovered on the west bank of Qingshui Bridge?" By then, we won't have a mobile force. ”

Lei Jian looked at Li Gang, Lao Sun, and Ma Mingshan and said: "I just observed the location where the enemy and us are fighting on the northern slope of Sangtou Town at this time, and I think that by placing the main battlefield on the northern slope, first, we can use the terrain to open up the fight against the Matsumoto United, and gradually consume the enemy's strength and firepower in the battle, so as to achieve the purpose of blocking the enemy's march to Fuping City."

The most important thing about this change of battle plan is that if the enemy is placed on the east and west sides of the Kiyomizu Bridge as the main battlefield according to the original battle plan, the panicked Matsumoto Wing will take revenge like a mad mad if it learns that the Ikeda squadron has been destroyed, that is, destroy the Kiyomizu Bridge at all costs, so as to prevent our only regiment from crossing the bridge and continuing the pursuit.

And the Matsumoto Wing will concentrate its forces and firepower to encircle and suppress the Third Regiment, and the Third Regiment will definitely be defeated by the Matsumoto Wing, which has strong strength and fierce firepower, and if it is not good, it will be surrounded and fought to the last man, and the entire Third Regiment will be annihilated. ”

Lei Jian said this, looked at Li Gang, Lao Sun and Ma Mingshan again, and then said: "There is also the most important one, that is, once the Qingshui Bridge is destroyed by the artillery fire of the Matsumoto Wing, then the organs of the Jinchaji Military Region that are transferred to Fuping City, as well as the main force that marches to the Kengri Base Area in Beiyue District, will be blocked on the east bank of the Qingshui River. ”

Li Gang listened to Lei Jian's analysis so thoroughly, not only did he say in his heart: "Commander Lei, I didn't expect you to think so far-reaching, if you don't adjust the battle plan in time, I really don't know what the result of the battle will be in the end."

Now I understand, hey, I really feel that the distance between me and Captain Lei is not a star and a half, and I am ashamed. Commander Lei, let's change the battle plan, will the pre-war command post also advance to the east bank of the Qingshui Bridge? ”

(End of chapter)