The remaining troops on the southern front of the army were the 106th Division and the 116th Division. Among them, the 116th Division is responsible for the defense from Lianyungang to Pixian, and the 106th Division is responsible for the defense between Pixian and Dangshan. The two divisions relied on the Longhai Road to build three lines of defense, and the task was to prevent the Shandong Eighth Route Army from breaking through and moving south.

Lieutenant General Kiyono Kishishige, commander of the 116th Division, was a native of Ehime Prefecture, graduated from Lu University, and served as a military attache in the East Palace, squad leader of the combat squad of the Operations Section of the General Staff Headquarters, director of the Research Department of the Army Infantry School, commander of the 3rd Guards Infantry Wing, chief of the War History Section of the General Staff Headquarters, commander of the 33rd Infantry Brigade, officer of the Army Noncommissioned Officer School and head of the Professor Department, chief of staff of the Taiwan Army, commander of the Yuliang Fortress, commander of the 4th Reading Force Garrison, commander of the 12th Division, and attached to the General Staff Headquarters. In May, he was transferred to the commander of the 116th Division.

The 116th Division, like the 106th Division, the 108th Division, the 109th Division, and the 110th Division, is a 37-system ad hoc division, under the jurisdiction of the 119th and 130th infantry brigades, a cavalry brigade, a field artillery wing, an engineer wing, a baggage wing, etc., and the two infantry brigades each have jurisdiction over two wings, each wing is equipped with 3 Type 41 mountain guns, 6 92 rifle guns, and 8 heavy machine guns. The total strength is 21,902 people.

The ad hoc corps belongs to the three types of units in the establishment of the army, but their combat effectiveness is relatively low, because the soldiers of these divisions and regiments are all composed of reservists from various divisions and districts, and the average age is older. These guys don't want to fight for their lives, but they are ruthless when it comes to harming the common people, and what they are best at doing is forcible annihilation, robbery and the like.

Due to the successive defeats of the Yue Army, especially after the Eighth Route Army infiltrated Jinan City and exerted its might, all the troops of the devils were trembling and vigilant. In particular, a general like Lieutenant General Kishige Shimizu, who is proficient in the history of warfare, intensively studies tactics, and has experience in leading troops in grassroots units, stared at every move of the instructor of the Eighth Route Army with a pair of frightened eyes. Although the battle report said that the Heavy Army Group had pressed the Eighth Route Army to Jiaodong, the old devil Qing Shui Xizhong knew in his heart that there was the Eighth Route Army in the Lunan area, and it was still blocking and containing the Heavy Army Group some time ago, and these Eighth Route Army might suddenly appear in front of his 116th Division at any time and catch him off guard. Therefore, he strictly implemented the order of Terauchi Shouichi, relied on the Longhai line to build a defensive line, and put on a posture of strict defense to the north. Among them, the 119th Brigade of Major General Ishihara Tsunetaro was stationed in Donghai County, the 130th Division of Major General Takahashi was stationed in Pixian County, and Lieutenant Lieutenant Shimizu Kishige set up his division headquarters in Xin'an Ancient Town between Donghai and Pi County, and commanded the field artillery wing, cavalry brigade, and engineer wing to reinforce the two brigades at any time. An infantry brigade of the 119th Brigade was stationed at Lianyungang Port and was responsible for the task of defending the port.

Although they were deployed in this way, the 116th Division and the 106th Division were still tasked with transporting heavy supplies to the Tadajun group, and troops had to be dispatched to protect the lines of communication. Therefore, in addition to leaving one brigade in Lianyungang to manage the supplies transported by the Yue army from the mainland, the other two brigades were responsible for sending the baggage of the Duotianjun group from Lianyungang to Xuzhou, and the 10th and 6th Divisions were responsible for sending them to Yanzhou, and the 114th Division of Yanzhou was responsible for transferring them to Tai'an. Although the army has now joined forces in Qingdao, Tadajun's southern front group troops belong to the Central China Front, and many supplies have been transferred from Central China, and the logistical task is still very heavy.

Shimizu Kishige, the old devil, knew that the Eighth Route Army was particularly good at camouflaging the sneak attack of the Japanese army, so he specially formulated a method to deal with the sneak attack of the Eighth Route Army, and asked the chief of staff of the division, Yoshiichiro Mihata, to inform the troops of the movement of their division and the passing troops of the army three times a day in the morning, noon and evening. As soon as the units found a soldier who was not their own unit, and the password was incorrect, they immediately opened fire, and it was strictly forbidden to approach the positions and sentry posts. That's not all, the old devil Shimizu also asked all units to conduct anti-sneak attack combat training, and even set up a combination of light and dark firepower points, in an attempt to deal with the camouflage sneak attack of the Eighth Route Army.

Although Liu Yimin did not know about Qing Shui Xizhong's precautionary measures, the information fed back by the investigators showed that the army was extremely vigilant and could not get close to observe. Therefore, when drawing up the battle plan, Liu Yimin took into account that the army's defense line was stable, the vigilance was high, and the vigilance and search range was large, and it was impossible to quietly enter the city as he did when he attacked and occupied Tianjin and Qingdao, so he asked Liu Jianli to command the superior forces of the three brigades to capture Lianyungang Port, and he himself led the main force to concentrate on solving the 119th Brigade of the Yue Army stationed in the East China Sea, and then selected a battlefield between the East China Sea and Pixian, and waited for the enemy in Pixian and Xuzhou to come to help.

Although the army is the strength of a division or regiment, they are engaged in a blockade line, which needs to connect the dots to form a line, and it is a three-line blockade line. In this way, the forces are relatively scattered, and there are not many troops at each point. Therefore, Liu Yimin's tactics are very simple, that is, to give full play to his military superiority, surprise at multiple points, and advance rapidly.

After receiving Liu Yimin's order to capture Lianyungang, Liu Jianjian, the commander of the Second Brigade and the commander of the Luxi Military Region, excitedly took off his military hat, threw it on the table, and shouted loudly: "Grandma is a bear, it's finally the turn of the Second Brigade to play!" ”

Zeng Chunjian, the new political commissar of the Second Brigade, was the head of the old Red Eighteenth Regiment, and was directly appointed as the political commissar of the Second Brigade after arriving in Luxi, because the cadres and soldiers who survived the war in Gulingtou of the original Red Eighteenth Regiment have now become the backbone of the instructor, and when Xiangjiang was reorganized, most of the soldiers of the old Eighteenth Regiment were concentrated in the old first battalion and the second battalion, and the second brigade was developed with the old second battalion as the backbone. Soon he got along with his comrades.

However, after this period of running-in, Zeng Chunjian found that his old subordinates seemed to have become intellectuals, and they rarely burst into foul language when they opened and closed, and Liu Jianli was even more like a Confucian general, according to the soldiers, this was all learning the demeanor of the teacher. Hearing Liu Jianjian's foul language, Zeng Chunjian couldn't help laughing: "Brigade commander, when will you learn to say that grandma is a bear?" ”

When Liu Jianli heard this, he felt a little embarrassed, his face turned slightly red, and then he said: "Political commissar, my Second Brigade is the three main brigades of the Eighth Route Army that go hand in hand with the First Brigade and the Third Brigade. If we don't fight a big battle, not to mention that we will be left behind by the First Brigade and the Third Brigade, and even the Fourth Brigade and the Fifth Brigade may surpass us. Is this worth it? This time, I have made up my mind, I want to quickly capture Lianyungang, and then I want to move westward, and meet the Xuzhou defenders with the main force to see if it is the marksmanship of my second battalion or the bayonet of the little devil! ”

A soldier can't be without a competitive spirit at any time. Zeng Chunjian, who was also a general of the Red Army, knew this, and couldn't help but be arrogant, rolled up his sleeves, and shouted: "The brigade commander is right, you are in command, and I will lead the fourth regiment to fight for the vanguard of the whole brigade and ensure the capture of Lianyungang in one fell swoop." ”

When Li Congmin, the director of the political department next to him, heard this, he immediately said: "Brigade commander, political commissar, none of you can rob me, if my old Li doesn't fight a brilliant battle, the division commander will forget to teach the instructor and Li Congmin!" I didn't say it, I will teach the four regiments to be pioneers, you will listen to it in the back, and ensure that you take Lianyungang on time! If you can't complete the task, I, Lao Li, am willing to accept the punishment! ”

Li Congmin's statement, Liu Jianli and Zeng Chunjian no longer said it, because Li Congmin has always been the political commissar of the second battalion and the second regiment, and since the establishment of the Red Seventh Army, he has been staying in the position of director of the political department and has not moved. Although Li Congmin didn't say it, he really should let the division commander know about it.

As a result, Li Congmin naturally happily went to the Fourth Regiment.

After Li Congmin left, Liu Jianli found Zhou Chunru and asked about the situation in Lianyungang for the last time.

This Zhou Chunru, formerly known as Zhou Fangzeng, was born in 1901, a native of Xijiawei, Yibei Township, Guanyun County, and graduated from the sculpture major of Shanghai Art College. During the Northern Expedition, the propaganda revolution began, and at this time, an anti-Japanese propaganda team was organized in his hometown, with more than 20 members, including Sun Haiguang, Feng Guozhu, Zhu Buying, Shi Shoumin, Cheng Tongmo, Zhu Ke, and Wang Lanying. He has successively performed in Zhongji, Yishan, Zhubu, Xin'an Town, Zhangdian, Du Dayang, Yang Wei, Yangji, Tongxing and other places, teaching and singing salvation songs.

After the Eighth Route Army arrived in Guanyun County, although it was in a state of concealment and standby, such a large-scale force could hide it from the people, but it could not hide it from the people. Zhou Chunru's anti-propaganda team was behind enemy lines at this time, and had not yet been disbanded by the Nationalist regime, and was propagating the anti-propaganda in the countryside.

Liu Jianli was overjoyed to see Zhou Chunru, and immediately entrusted Zhou Chunru to organize young and middle-aged people who had been to Lianyungang to reconnoiter the company and carry out reconnaissance of Lianyungang.

Zhou Chunru is very famous in Guanyun, he was once assigned by the party organization, participated in the work of the Kuomintang regime in Guanyun, and exposed the crimes of the county magistrate at that time with cartoons, which was very influential in all walks of life in Guanyun. The county magistrate is looking forward to the stars and the moon, and finally looking forward to the main force, what else to say? He first gave Liu Jianli a general introduction to the situation in Lianyungang, and then sent all the propaganda teams out to find young adults who were familiar with Lianyungang to lead the way for the troops.

Now, the investigators have already fed back the situation, and what Liu Jianli wants to ask is no longer a military issue, but the customs and customs of Lianyungang.

Hearing that Liu Jianli wanted to understand these situations, Zhou Chunru opened the conversation box and made it clear what he knew.

The port of Lianyungang was originally in Dapu Port, but in 1933, Dapu Port was silted up and the port was moved to Laoyao. This old kiln is actually the kiln mouth where the mountain people burned charcoal, and after a long time, the old kiln was built by the new kiln, and then slowly developed into a fishing village, with more than 1,000 fishermen and more than 300 fishing boats. The big boats are yellow boats and remote net boats, which can go to the open sea to fish, and fishermen are commonly known as "going to the ocean". Small boats mostly fish offshore at their doorstep. Fishermen catch yellow croaker, hairtail, pomfret, flounder, crucian carp, sea crabs, prawns, squid, etc., in spring and autumn every year, with a total output of 1560,000 quintals. A small amount of fresh goods are sold on the spot, and the yellow croaker and hairtail caught in large quantities are all brought to the sea with salt, pickled with the catch, and then sold to Haikou City.

During the spring flood season, the streets and alleys of Xinpu are full of seafood, and the price is very cheap, which is about the same as the price of green vegetables. At this time, every household is busy drying "spring fish", washing and removing intestinal miscellaneous from the yellow croaker bought, wearing it with a rope and putting it in the patio to dry, and it is dozens of catties and hundreds of catties when it is dried. In addition to being easy to eat at any time in the future, dried spring fish is also a favorite snack for children. They wrapped the dried spring fish in straw paper, soaked it in water, and then buried it in the ashes of the pot, and it was cooked in about half an hour. Throwing away the ashes and straw paper, tearing them up piece by piece in their hands and eating them, the "garlic clove meat" is fragrant and chewy.

There are more shrimp in the seafood, the price is also quite cheap, when the peak production is the first knife leek on the market, the leek fried shrimp has become the fresh dish of ordinary people. When the child is crying, grab a cooked prawn and give it to them to eat and play, so they don't cry.

The fresh prawns in the market cannot be sold for a while, and soon they will [***]. The fish shop boils it in a large pot and sets up a bamboo curtain in front of the door to dry, and the streets are full of red prawns on both sides, and the smell of umami and fishy fills the air, and pedestrians are like strolling on the wharf of a fishing village.

Later, his fishing boat also came here to fish, and their boat had great horsepower, fast movements, and advanced fishing gear, and found that large schools of fish were caught first, and the fresh fish were frozen and packed into boxes, and transported to various places for sale.

What Zhou Chunru said, Liu Jianli listened to it with relish, and couldn't help but take Zhou Chunru's hand and say: "Old Zhou, when Lianyungang is defeated, I will invite you to eat seafood." ”

Zhou Chunru saw Liu Jianjian's eager look, so he said: "Brigade Commander Liu, don't think that the fishing village is beautiful when you hear it, in fact, it turns out that it is very poor, and the fishermen are illiterate. Not to mention the boat owners, they are naturally rich, and ordinary fishermen are exploited by fishmongers and are very poor. The most pitiful thing is that those who don't even have a small boat, all rely on the time they go to the ocean every year to carry fishing gear on the boat for a short period of time, and at the end of the season, they get a small amount of salted fish as a reward. They usually have to rely on fishing for jellyfish on the beach, pushing shrimp skin, and picking cockles to mix a few dollars to make a living. ”

Liu Jianli nodded: "That's right, the world is as black as a crow, and there are many poor people everywhere." ”

Zhou Chunru continued: "The fame of this old kiln was a few years ago. When the Longhai Railway was repaired, it was repaired from Xuzhou all the way to the east, and it was repaired to the old kiln town by the sea. The stationmaster disliked the name of the old kiln, and saw that the port was between Liandao and Yuntai Mountain, so he named it Lianyungang. As soon as the railway was opened, two wharves were built, and the sea and railway transportation were connected together, and immediately the wind and water flourished, and the dignitaries, merchants, and martial artists all flocked to the city, and they all rushed to build buildings, and the fishing village that was said to be dilapidated in the past was actually called a port town full of western-style buildings. It is said that after the occupation by the Japanese army, because of the need to rely on the port to transport munitions and materials, they quickly restored the wharf facilities that they had blown up, and expanded the wharf into three wharves and nine berthing areas. ”

Hearing this, the time for the troops to set off was approaching, and Liu Jianli didn't listen to it, so he asked Zhou Chunru to follow the army and go to Lianyungang to carry out work. Then he ordered the Second Brigade, the Luxi Garrison Brigade, and the Southwest Luxi Garrison Brigade to start the operation.

The Lianyungang area belongs to the humid monsoon climate on the southern edge of the warm zone, which is in the transition zone between the warm zone and the northern subtropics, and has the dual characteristics of marine climate and continental climate. At this time, it was the rainy season, but unfortunately most of them were showers, and there was no continuous rainy day, otherwise, the instructor would have been able to maneuver on a large scale and no longer worry about the air superiority of the army.

On the evening of 2 July, the Second Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, the Luxi Garrison Brigade, and the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade arrived at the outskirts of Lianyungang after a secret movement, and then immediately plunged north along the valley between the Yaoxiang River and the Danhe River. After that, the whole line was unfolded, forming a multi-way assault group, which quickly interspersed attacks on the Longhai Railway in the north and Lianyungang in the east.

At the same time as Liu Jianli commanded the troops to move, Liu Yimin led the main force of the instructor from the northern area of Ganyu County to the south and directly pounced on Donghai County. The 1st Brigade, the 3rd Brigade, the 4th Brigade, the 6th Brigade, the 8th Brigade, and the Cavalry Brigade formed six attack arrows, and under the cover of the artillery brigade and the artillery regiments of each brigade, they launched an overwhelming offensive against the 119th Brigade of the 116th Division.

In addition to a brigade of the 119th Infantry Brigade, there is also a brigade of the 116th Division's Baggage Wing. The Devil Infantry Brigade was mainly responsible for the garrison of Lianyungang, and the Baggage Brigade was responsible for managing the port affairs. The barracks of the Devil Infantry Brigade are in the lotus pond of Sunjiashan, and the barracks of the baggage brigade is in the thirteenth room of the old kiln. At the same time, in order to ensure the safety of the port, the devils built fortifications on Houyuntai Mountain, and defended it closely according to the orders of Shimizu Kishige.

At this time, the Lianyungang to Xuzhou section of the Longhai Railway has been repaired by devils, but there is no train running. Because during the Battle of Xuzhou, Li Zongren listened to Liu Yimin's suggestion and ordered all the trains to be removed and all the railways to be demolished. It is said that they are ready to order locomotives from China and ship them to China. But it hasn't arrived yet. On this Longhai Railway, only a few ironclad cars urgently transported by the devils are tossing back and forth, cooperating with the army to deploy and patrol.

The battle first started at Xincun Station at the foot of Yuntai Mountain, which was later known as Yuntai Mountain Station.

The little devil's defense line is to defend to the north, and the Eighth Route Army is now attacking from the south to the north, which is tantamount to stabbing the devil in the back.

Defending the new village is a battalion headquarters and a squadron of devils. It should be said that the devil is indeed very vigilant, and when the military dog barks wildly, the devil sentry pulls the bolt of the gun and looks around. The machine gun crews, grenadiers, and infantry guns on the devil's position also entered combat mode.

It's a pity that these devils who burned, killed and looted in the surrounding villages and did all kinds of evil didn't know that they had met the nemesis of their lives, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army, the Second Brigade and the Fourth Regiment, came to settle the bill with them.

Teng Xinxing, commander of the third battalion and the first company of the Fourth Regiment, has been in a state of rest and training since he eliminated the 21st Division and participated in the battle to recover Jizhong. The last time I broke through Longhai Road, I was full of hope to have a big fight and have a good time. As a result, the passage of troops is a strategic action, and it cannot be entangled too much with devils, which can be regarded as cheap little devils. This time, it's a war of annihilation, and you can let go of your hands and feet.

Just when the devil sentry at Xincun Station was awakened by the barking of military dogs and looked around vigilantly, Teng Xinxing led his company to quietly hide 200 meters away from the station.

This distance is still a bit far for the infantry charge, and the troops can easily become the target of the army. Of course, Teng Xinxing would not do such a stupid thing, let alone let the soldiers charge blindly. He was waiting for the devil's firepower reconnaissance, waiting for the devil to expose the firepower.

Sure enough, the little devil couldn't bear it anymore and began to conduct fire reconnaissance, and the machine-gun bullets hit the hillside at night, fluttering and ranging.

After a while, but there was no movement, the little devil stopped shooting. More than a dozen devils led the military dogs out of the position and searched for the ambush place of the third battalion and one company.

Seeing that they were only forty or fifty meters away from Teng Xinxing, the devil's military dog barked even more happily, Teng Xinxing waved his hand, and more than a dozen crisp gunshots rang out, and more than a dozen devils who came to search fell to the ground in unison, and even the military dog that barked incessantly fell to the ground softly and never made a sound again.

At this time, the devil no longer cared about whether the firing point would be exposed, and even the searchlight was turned on, illuminating the station, and then the infantry guns, grenadiers, light and heavy machine guns were fired.

The devil's firepower was fired, and the support firepower of the Fourth Regiment of the Eighth Route Army naturally also fired, and the most effective at this time were infantry artillery, mortars, and flying thunder artillery. In particular, the flying thunder cannon, after technical improvement, the firing range is longer, the accuracy has also improved, the explosive package flies over, and after the explosion, the gunners and machine gunners of the little devils are soft to the ground. The devil's searchlight was also hit by the shells of the Eighth Route Army, and the Sinchon station fell into darkness again.

Taking advantage of the fact that the devil was stunned, Teng Xinxing made another gesture, and the heavy machine guns and grenadiers of the fire support company began to suppress the fire, and the whole company divided into several roads and quickly touched the devil's position.

When the little devil's position was covered by the firepower of the Fourth Regiment, the captain of the devil brigade stationed at Xincun Station had already woken up, and when he saw the power of the firepower of the Eighth Route Army, he knew that he had encountered a large-scale attack by the [***] team, and hurriedly issued a battle alarm, and ordered to send a report to the commander of the wing and the brigade commander, 100,000 were in a hurry, and they encountered a large-scale attack by the [***] team, and asked for urgent tactical guidance.

In fact, the Eighth Route Army's favorite thing is for the little devils to ask for help, in which case the devils will leave the position to reinforce, so that the Eighth Route Army can annihilate them in the field, and also reduce the casualties of the troops.

To say that the will of the little devils of the 16th Division to resist is still relatively strong, when the heavy fire was destroyed, the devil stragglers did not panic and began to shoot back. However, this counterattack was very limited, because the devil's troops were too small, and the Eighth Route Army used the most elite troops, with the intention of tearing apart the devil's defense line in one fell swoop and severing the connection between the Lianyungang port army and the East China Sea army.

(To be continued)