After receiving the order, Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang immediately held a cadre meeting.

Chen Shiqu has a straight temper, but it does not mean that he has no wisdom. He is a descendant of Chen Youliang, the leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and his grandfather and father were both born in the army. Since following the [***] Autumn Harvest Uprising to Jinggang Mountain, he has always been [***]'s confidant. Under the teaching of words and deeds, he has already had a thousand strategies in his chest. When he was in Xi'an, he also went to the Red Army University to study, and when he combined Liu Yimin's tactical thinking with his rich combat experience, his progress was naturally faster.

At the cadre meeting, Chen Shiqu was elated, dancing, and shouted at the regiment commander, battalion commander, and company commander under his command with a mouth missing a front tooth: "What does the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade do? It is to defend the southwest of Lu. Now that the army is wreaking havoc in southwest Lu, it is bullying our southwest Lu garrison brigade to fight in combat effectiveness. In the end, it is still the words of Master Liu, whether the mule is the horse leading it out and slipping, and it is better to speak than after it. Now that the opportunity has come, Division Commander Liu did not despise our Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade and entrusted us with an arduous task. What is this task? We have heard the common people often say that they hit the snake and hit the seven inches, and our task is to directly hit the seven inches of the 14th Division of the Chinese Army and hit its dead hole. Division Commander Liu said that he would use this battle to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for our Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade. My old Chen has a straight temper and speaks straightly, in this battle, which unit can't fight well, I will get out of the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade with Lao Tzu. Don't be soft here! ”

Tang Liang has always been engaged in political work, and when he saw that Chen Shiqu had sold all the battlefield agitation tricks he had learned from the Red Army University, he said with a smile: "The words of the brigade commander are very good combat mobilization, although we are a newly formed unit, but the cadres are all the foundation of the Red Army, and although the weapons and equipment are not as good as the main brigade of the instructors, they are also the same color equipment. Not to mention that it is much stronger than the Red Army period, it is much stronger than the [***] brother troops who stick to Linyi and Taierzhuang. Although our soldiers are all new fighters who have been reorganized into the People's Army, they have a certain training foundation when they are in the People's Army. In particular, after the grievance campaign, everyone knew why and for whom they were fighting, and their mental outlook was completely renewed. If such a troop pulls up, it is a newborn calf that is not afraid of tigers, and it will definitely be a blockbuster. I would like to stress that in this long-distance attack of our army, all cadres and party members must do ideological work to make the soldiers understand that we are fighting to defend our fathers and villagers in Shandong and to defend our homeland. During the march, it is also necessary to carry forward the fine traditions of our army, help the soldiers carry guns, wash their feet and carry blisters, so that the soldiers can truly feel the warmth of our army's big family. ”

After Tang Liang finished speaking, Chen Shiqu made specific arrangements. But where the troops were going, Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang didn't say, they just ordered the troops to march in order.

On May 22, Chen and Tang led the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade to march day and night, and finally arrived at the line of Nianzhuang and Xinzhuang, which were not far from Guantai.

At this time, it is the beginning of summer, and the reeds on the beach of the Yellow River have grown, looking from afar, like a green ocean, the wind blows, waving layers of green waves. It's a delightful look.

Even on the march, the soldiers did not eat a single hot meal, but in order to keep it secret, Chen and Tang insisted on hiding all the troops in the reeds.

Chen Shiqu's father was a veteran engineer, and he also has a lot of experience with engineers. Seeing that the terrain was low-lying, he asked the troops to dig pits in the ground with sappers and shovels, draw groundwater for drinking, eat dry food with cold water, and rest in the reeds. A reconnaissance unit was dispatched to conduct a detailed reconnaissance around Guantai.

The Yellow River in this hilly area is calm because of the flat terrain, flocks of waterfowl circling and flying on the water, and flocks of wild ducks in the reeds. Don't think about it, there must be a lot of fresh and fat Yellow River carp in the reeds with water near the Yellow River. It's a pity that in order to conceal their combat intentions, the warriors looked at the flocks of wild ducks and couldn't move their hands, thinking about the carp in the river and drooling. I don't know who came up with the solution, pull up the reed roots, wash them with water, and put them in the mouth, sweet and silky, both quenching thirst and refreshing. As soon as this method came up with it, soon all 10,000 people in the three regiments of the brigade had reed roots in their mouths. Now the soldiers wore straw hats made of reeds on their heads, and with reed roots in their mouths, they quietly lurked, just waiting for the battle order.

At the crossing of the Yellow River west of Guantai, Shi Jianfei, commander of the reconnaissance platoon of the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade, had been climbing among the reeds for a long time.

This Shi Jianfei is 26 years old this year, he was originally the platoon commander of the division's reconnaissance battalion, and when three garrison brigades were established, Liu Yimin ordered Luo Yan to draw three platoons from the reconnaissance battalion and assign them to the Luxi Garrison Brigade, the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade and the Taixi Garrison Brigade, and Shi Jianfei took his reconnaissance platoon to the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade.

At the beginning, Shi Jianfei was very reluctant, the main force was about to start a big war, but he asked him to come to this local garrison, and wanted to talk to Luo Yan several times, but he didn't dare to go. Because he is a veteran soldier and knows the discipline of the Eighth Route Army.

As soon as he heard that the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade also had combat missions, Shi Jianfei was very energetic. All the way to the march, his reconnaissance platoon acted as a vanguard, guiding the whole traveling army.

Now, Shi Jianfei's hands holding up the binoculars were a little sleepy, he couldn't figure out what kind of ferry was this, there was no fleet on the huge water, only two wooden boats that looked very dilapidated were tied to a quiet inlet by ropes, and there was not even a captain. Two fortresses were built alone on the embankment, where a few listless devils stood guard. This place is so desolate, I really can't understand why the division commander would send tens of thousands of horses to this place where birds don't pull to death, is it to let the troops train through long marches?

Shi Jianfei, who was a little disheartened, really wanted to retreat, and reported to the brigade commander that there were only a few devils standing guard here, and he didn't find the activities of the large army, and asked if he was in the wrong place.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the 23rd that Shi Jianfei came to his senses, because a large army of the Yue army suddenly appeared on the ferry. The first to arrive was the devil cavalry of the 100th people, and after reconnoitring and searching the ferry, they launched a search for the embankments on both sides. Then the devil's motorcycles and cars arrived, and a large group of devil soldiers were transported. When the group arrived, they immediately began to deploy their defenses to the south and dug up the fortifications. It didn't take long for the devil's convoy to arrive, with cars, horse-drawn carts, ox carts, and wheelbarrows, all of which began to unload by the river.

Shi Jianfei looked at it, good guy, gasoline barrels, ammunition boxes, sacks of rice and sacks of flour, everything.

After the devil convoy was unloaded, it left. It didn't take long for the second devil baggage convoy to arrive. This time, it was accompanied by another devil infantry brigade, and as soon as it arrived, it began to force the captured people to dig fortifications and deploy defenses to the north. Immediately there was a panic on the ferry, and the voices of people, motors, and cattle were mixed.

Devils began to appear on the other side of the river, and there were also cavalry, automobiles, and everything, and the scale was very large. Shi Jianfei only understood at this time that the devils were going to provide supplies to the devils on the south bank here. It is likely that after a while, the devil will have to think of building bridges.

Shi Jianfei didn't dare to slack off, and ordered two squads to monitor on the spot, and he took one squad to hurry back to report.

In fact, the movement of the ferry also fell into the eyes of Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang, who had already brought the cadres up to see the terrain. When the two met, Shi Jianfei led the leaders to the location where the reconnaissance platoon was lurking, which was easier to observe.

When Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang arrived at the location where the reconnaissance platoon was, they were surprised, and they really responded to the judgment of the division commander, the devil really regarded this place as a supply point for baggage. The piles of supplies at the ferry are like hills, and from a distance, they look like a big grave.

The devil sappers on the opposite side arrived, unloaded more than a hundred folding boats, motorboats and canvas boats from their cars, and soon began to drive towards the opposite shore.

Chen Shiqu saw that this devil was so fucking good, he even saved the pontoon bridge, and directly used the boat to dry. I can't wait any longer, if I wait any longer, the daylilies will be cold.

Chen Shiqu, who regretted it, pulled Tang Liang to make a combat deployment on the spot, and decided that the first regiment of the Lunan garrison would detour back to the north of the ferry, the second regiment would detour to the east of the ferry, and the third regiment would be in the south, forming three attack arrows. The grenadiers and infantry guns of each regiment were concentrated and used in a unified manner, and under my personal command, first the artillery positions and machine-gun positions of the devil defenders were eliminated, and then the infantry artillery was used to suppress the supporting fire of the devils on the other side of the river.

Chen Shiqu glanced at the cadres and said in a low voice: "All regiments set up all the light and heavy machine guns, and the troops used the reeds to cover and get as close to the enemy as possible. In the unlikely event that the attack is frustrated, the artillerymen will aim at the devil's gasoline barrels and ammunition boxes and beat them in an effort to ignite the gasoline barrels or detonate the ammunition boxes. If the artillery attack was ineffective, the regiments should organize their troops to rush forward and set fire to the baggage supplies. Withdraw when you burn it, don't fall in love with war. With such a big operation, the devil must still have reinforcements. Do you understand? ”

The cadres all nodded.

Tang Liang explained in a low voice: "We are a new army, we can only win battles but cannot defeat battles, and once we defeat the battle, the team will easily collapse." It is necessary to organize troops to use platoons as units to fire platoon guns and concentrate on dropping bombs, so as to win with firepower. When the devils can't support it, listen to the charge to launch a group charge and crush the enemy in one fell swoop. I want to tell the soldiers that there are less than 2,000 devils, and our army is 10,000 people, and if five fights one, we will win. Do you understand? ”

The cadres nodded again, and Chen Shiqu waved his hand, asking the cadres to go back and lead the troops, move quickly, and launch an attack in half an hour at the latest.

After the cadres left, Chen Shiqu told Tang Liang that after the troops directly under him came up after a while, he personally led them to be the reserve of the whole brigade. Then he ordered the reconnaissance platoon to cut the reeds, vacate the empty field, and make artillery positions.

During the period of waiting for the troops, the folding boats, motorboats, and canvas boats of the Japanese army docked one after another. The first to arrive was the motorboat, which ploughed the water surface under the setting sun into golden waves, which looked very spectacular. The soldiers on the shore cheered, and then began to force the people to load the boats. Which one moves slower, and the butt of the devil's gun comes up.

Seeing that the first batch of supplies of the devil was safely loaded onto the motorboat, and drove steadily to the other side, and the folding boat and sailboat also began to be loaded, Chen Shiqu's eyes were about to bleed. But there is no way, the troops are not in place, and it is useless to say anything.

After the devil's motorboat arrived on the opposite shore, it hurriedly unloaded its cargo, loaded it into a few cars and pulled it away, and then drove to the opposite shore again.

At this time, the artillery of the Lunan Reading Brigade came up.

Although the Lunan Reading Brigade is equipped with a Japanese type, it has very few guns, only six infantry guns, an average of two per regiment. This made Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang very happy, back then, how many guns did the entire Central Red Army have? Fortunately, there are quite a few grenadiers, each battalion has three, and the three regiments of the brigade have 27.

Seeing the artillery coming up, Chen Shiqu immediately ordered the artillery position to be erected immediately and prepared to open fire. Fortunately, although most of these artillery officers are novices, the artillery cadres are the backbone of the artillery brigade, and in a short time, they have already measured the firing range and adjusted the shelling of Zhuyuan.

Waiting for the signals from the regiments to send the troops in place, Chen Shiqu, who was in a hurry, couldn't wait any longer and immediately ordered the artillery to be fired.

The devil, who was still busy loading and unloading supplies just now, suddenly heard the explosion of shells, turned his head and looked, my mother, why did so many shells fly out of the reeds, and smashed straight into the position of the garrison on the river embankment, blowing up the river embankment into dust, and I couldn't see anything clearly.

As the cannon sounded, the crisp shouts of the Type 92 heavy machine gun and the crooked light machine gun rang out from the east, south, and north at the same time, and the dense barrage rolled up against the ground of the devil's infantry position, and immediately beat the devil soldiers on the position who did not have time to lie down.

The ferry was messed up all at once. The devil soldiers on the shore lay down one after another, and the captured civilians fled in all directions. The folding boats and canvas boats loaded with goods fled from the ferry in a hurry, and the ships that were not loaded did not know what to do with them, and they became a pot of porridge.

Chen Shiqu only had time to fire three salvos at the defensive position of the devil closest to him, and then he had to shell the defensive position to the north, because he saw through the telescope that the artillery position of the devil there had already raised its muzzle, and if he didn't fire the artillery, the devil's shells would fall. However, at such a distance, the grenadiers could not reach it, and they could only be shelled with infantry artillery, and the grenadiers were used to continue to ravage the devils in the defensive positions in the south.

After Chen Shiqu fired five salvos at the devil's artillery position in the north, he immediately ordered the infantry artillery to turn its muzzle and shell at the opposite bank, because the devils there had already opened fire, and the heavy machine-gun bullets had hit the reeds by the river, and the artillery had also been erected, and if he hesitated, his artillery position would be in danger of being destroyed. As for the effect of the shelling just now, Chen Shiqu didn't care to observe, he was confident that even if the artillery was not accurate, there was still light and heavy machine gun fire of each regiment!

Fortunately, Chen Shiqu had rich combat experience, and his command was like a smooth flow, which shortened the turning time of the infantry artillery. As soon as the devil artillery on the other side got the cannon off the car and set it up, the shells of the Eighth Route Army arrived here. Although the first salvo of six guns did not work, it was also so frightened that the devil artillery could not fire normally, and when the second salvo was fired, the shells with adjusted parameters fell on the devil artillery positions on the opposite bank. Chen Shiqu saw it through the telescope, and one of the devil's cannons was directly overturned.

Chen Shiqu shouted and fought well, ordered five salvos, and then ordered the grenadier position to move forward to cover the infantry attack.

After five salvos of infantry artillery, the devil artillery positions on the opposite bank were dumbfired. You know, when they crossed the Yellow River at Dongkou, Zhencheng County, there was a regiment of Kuomintang defenders on the west bank, but they were hit by the planes and cannons of the imperial army, and the main force of the division crossed the river and only killed eight soldiers. Because the arrogant devils did not expect to encounter a sneak attack by the Eighth Route Army in their control area, they relaxed their vigilance, and when they came, they did not bring field artillery, but also infantry artillery, and they were busy unloading ships and sending ships, and did not establish artillery positions in time.

After the six infantry guns knocked out the heavy machine-gun positions of the army on the opposite bank, Chen Shiqu ordered the trumpeters to blow the trumpet.

The nine trumpeters lined up behind Chen Shiqu, and the sound of the trumpets became clearer and clearer, echoing in the reeds, echoing on the surface of the Yellow River flowing eastward, echoing in the hearts of every soldier of the Eighth Route Army, and also frightened the soul of the dying little devil at the ferry, and drifted straight to the east.

The artillery bombardment just now and the strafing of light and heavy machine guns made the blood boil for the soldiers hidden in the reeds, and when they heard the horn of the charge, under the leadership of the cadres, tens of thousands of soldiers of the Eighth Route Army rushed out of the reeds and rushed towards the army.

Although it is a newly formed unit, after all, the soldiers have gone through the intensive training of the training headquarters, and the cadres are the old combat backbones of the first brigade, according to the requirements of the Tang political commissar, leading the soldiers to follow the infantry squad combat formation during training, alternately covering, rolling and leaping forward, platoon guns and concentrated bomb throwing in turn, playing a row of guns, throwing a grenade, with the help of the dust and fog caused by the grenade explosion to cover the jump, and then lying down to play a row of guns and throwing bombs, actually hit a nose and eyes, and Chen Shiqu applauded repeatedly, It is good to keep praising the cadres who teach the instructors, and the recruits can also play such a prestige.

Chen Shiqu saw that the troops were progressing smoothly, so he wanted to seize the devil's materials and replenish the combat losses, so he ordered the infantry artillery to fire at the devil's ships and sink the supplies to the bottom of the river as much as possible; Order all grenadiers to fire at the devil's machine-gun positions and infantry dense areas to provide fire cover for the infantry charge.

At this time, those ships that had not yet been loaded with goods did not dare to linger at the ferry port anymore, and hurriedly turned around and fled, and even those motorboats did not dare to come to the east coast, and hurriedly drove downstream or upstream.

(To be continued)