The commander of the North China Front, Terauchi Shouichi, and the chief of staff, Okabe Naosaburo, were indeed famous Japanese generals, and they were very spicy, and they immediately thought that the Luokou Yellow River Railway Bridge was the lifeline of the Battle of Dezhou, and hurriedly ordered the two brigades of the Second Wing of the North China Garrison Army to urgently gather their troops and rush to the aid of the Luokou Yellow River Bridge. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 It's a pity that they can see this, and Xiao Siming, who single-handedly planned to capture Texas, can see this even more.

At this time, there were very few bridges on the Yellow River, and modern bridges were only built when the railway was being built.

The status of the Luokou Yellow River Railway Bridge can be imagined!

control of the Luokou Yellow River Railway Bridge, which can threaten Jinan and enter the mountainous area of Luzhong; If you retreat, you can blow up the bridge and block the east-west traffic of the Yellow River, even if the Japanese army sends the most powerful Fifth Division and the Sixth Division, it can only sigh across the river and be at a loss.

In other words, as long as the Yellow River Bridge at Luokou of the Yellow River is controlled, if the Japanese army wants to recapture Dezhou, open up the Jinpu Road, and encircle and annihilate the advance detachment of the eastward advance, it can only think of forcibly crossing the river by boat.

If the Japanese army can cross the river by boat, as long as the Eighth Route Army's position is firmly and skillfully constructed, it will be no problem to block the Japanese army for a period of time. In the end, the Japanese army could only cross the river from the lower reaches of the Yellow River by detour, so as to buy precious time for the base areas that were in the summer harvest season, and they could harvest the ripe wheat.

Texas was too important to the Japanese army, and they would definitely send a large army to pursue and attack the advance detachment advancing eastward. When the time comes, the Japanese tanks, armored vehicles, cavalry, and infantry will be maneuvering on the Great Plains, where will they care whether the common people will harvest wheat or not, and what they will eat this winter and next spring? The loss must have been big, big!

During the Anti-Japanese War, the people were struggling to make a living, and what was fought was food! Without food, not to mention that the army cannot survive, even the common people cannot survive either.

With a population of 6 million in the Jilu Border Region, if the ripe wheat of the common people cannot be harvested because of the occupation of Dezhou, then the price paid for fighting this battle will be too great.

Of course, this kind of cost is still much, much smaller than the cost of the Nationalist army digging the Yellow River embankment and diverting the Yellow River water to repel the enemy, resulting in so many deaths and so many displacements. If the lesser of two evils is to capture Texas to mobilize the Japanese army, it is indeed the best policy!

There is also one of the most important reasons, that is, Xiao Siming knows very well in his heart that due to the annihilation of the Japanese army in Dezhou City, the annihilation of the Fourth Brigade of the Railway Independence, and the annihilation of the Second Brigade of the Second Wing of the North China Garrison Army, the Japanese army will overestimate the strength and combat effectiveness of the eastward advance brigade. Therefore, he had to strike first and take control of the Luokou Bridge first, further shake the Japanese army, and at the same time delay the speed of the Japanese army's attack, so as to win valuable time for the next move of the eastward advance detachment and the seizure of the base area and the clearing of the fortified wall.

On this night, the eastward advance detachment was divided into three attack groups and pounced on the plains, Yucheng, and Qihe, and Xiao Siming personally led an armored battalion, a cavalry battalion, a heavy machine gun battalion, a regiment and a battalion, and an artillery regiment, with cavalry in front and tanks, armored vehicles, and automobiles behind, and fired towards the Luokou Bridge.

The 100 cars of the Japanese army captured in Texas were all loaded with arms and supplies and transported to Wudi. It's just that the speed of the cars is fast, and before dark, 50 cars were ordered to rush to the assembly area of the eastward advance detachment, which can carry a regiment and a battalion, a heavy machine gun battalion, and an infantry artillery battalion of an artillery regiment to advance quickly.

It is equivalent to saying that Xiao Siming used the captured Japanese army cars in Texas to form a rapid reaction force!

Such a force is in line with Xiao Siming's mind of soul crossing.

Xiao Siming did not take the car, but rode his night jade lion horse, led the cavalry battalion, stepped on the moonlight, and galloped in front of the team!

Behind him, there was a flurry of tanks, armored cars, and cars with big headlights, galloping along the road!

On the night of late May, the wind finally had a hint of coolness, and sent the heat and dryness of the day to the Laojian River, the Maji River, and the Yellow River. The frogs and cicadas were silent as the army was dispatched, except for the sound of horses' hooves and the motors of the vehicles echoing in the night.

Xiao Siming, who was riding on a horse, leaned forward, holding the reins with one hand and grasping the saddle with the other, his lips were closed, his eyes seemed to be open and closed, and his body was up and down on the jade lion horse in the night.

When Han Fuqu retreated in a hurry, he once destroyed the Luokou Railway Bridge, but he abandoned such a dangerous Yellow River defense line. When the Japanese army captured Jinan, it crossed the river to attack, and Han Fuqu did not have heavy troops to defend the Yellow River, and did not attack it halfway as the art of war said, so that the Japanese army named the city Jinan without a fight.

After the Japanese army occupied Jinan, because the Luokou Yellow River Bridge was an iron bridge, the Japanese army concentrated on repairing it, and soon the bridge was repaired and opened to traffic.

As soon as the Luokou Bridge was opened to traffic, Pingjin, Hebei, and Shandong were connected, and the Japanese army could transport troops by rail, greatly enhancing its mobility capability.

If the Japanese army builds the Tongde-Shi Railway in the future and connects Dezhou and Shijiazhuang by railway, the North China Front will be able to connect the entire North China with the Pingsui Line, Tongpu Road, Zhengtai Road, Pinghan Road, Deshi Road, Jinpu Road, and Jiaoji Road, and not only can the various base areas of the Eighth Route Army be blockaded and divided by rail and highway, but it can also mobilize and concentrate troops at any time to carry out a large-scale sweep of the base areas of the Eighth Route Army and break them down individually.

If that is the case, the base areas behind enemy lines will enter a difficult time.

In fact, after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the stage of strategic stalemate, the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army in North China fought over railway lines and highway lines.

After the Japanese occupied the Luokou Bridge, the 10th Division was responsible for garrisoning this area. After the 10th Division went to the battlefield of the Battle of Xuzhou, at the request of General Terauchi Shouyi, commander of the North China Front, the Third Railway Wing was transferred from the mainland, and five new independent railway brigades were formed, all of which were sent to North China to be responsible for the garrison of the Jinpu Road and the Jiaoji Railway.

Garrisoning the section from Jinpu Lude County to Luokou Bridge is the Fifth Independent Railway Brigade of the Japanese Army.

Although the war of aggression against China led to a sharp increase in Japan's military spending, generally speaking, because the Japanese army conquered cities and fought very beautifully, the Japanese people's voices in support of the invasion of China rose wave after wave, Japan's economy was stimulated by the war, and the Japanese economy developed abnormally, and with the puppet state of Manchukuo as the supply base of the Japanese army, the Japanese army's equipment supply was very good. At this time, the gap in the weapons and equipment of the newly formed units of the Japanese army was not very large.

The Japanese army's independent railway brigade and field infantry brigade are the same, if there are four infantry squadrons, and there are also infantry gun squadrons, machine gun squadrons, and transport squadrons, each squadron has four squadrons, with a total strength of about 1,100 people. There are even a small number of cars, armored vehicles. It's just that the machine gun squadron of the Tie Zhi Ah Independent Brigade has only eight heavy machine guns, and the light machine guns used by each infantry squad are not the latest Type 96 light machine guns with 30-round magazines that have been replaced by field divisions, but Taisho 11-year light machine guns that have been eliminated by field divisions, that is, what is often referred to as crooked handle machine guns.

The gap between the armament of the Japanese garrison and the field divisions and regiments gradually widened as the battle losses widened and more and more new troops were formed.

The Fifth Independent Brigade of the Japanese Railway with four infantry squadrons is guarding such a long railway line from Huangheya Station in Dexian County to Luokou Bridge, and also undertakes the garrison tasks of the three county towns of Pingyuan County, Yucheng County, and Qihe County.

When the Luokou Bridge was just repaired and opened to traffic, the Japanese army stationed an infantry brigade at both ends of the Luokou Bridge for fear of the Chinese Air Force's air raid on the bridge, and was also equipped with an antiaircraft artillery squadron and an anti-aircraft machine gun squadron. Later, the Japanese army found that the Chinese air force did not have the strength to attack such a target as the Luokou Bridge, and the Japanese army's front continued to advance, and the newly built temporary forward airfield needed more protection from the air defense forces, so the air defense units guarding the Luokou Bridge were transferred. Later, after the 10th Division of the Japanese Army was transferred to the Xuzhou battlefield, the 5th Independent Brigade of the Railway that took over the defense put an infantry squad Du Ze at the west end of the Luokou Bridge to garrison. The east end of the Luokou Bridge was guarded by a team from the Third Independent Brigade of the Railway.

Don't look at the weakness of a squad, this is in the rear of the Japanese army, and a squad is not small.

This is still a vital part of the Jinpu Railway, the main artery of transportation, didn't you see that when Xiao Siming commanded the troops to capture Deping County, there were only 5 little devils in the city?

Which squad of the 3rd Independent Brigade of the Japanese Railway at the east end of the Luokou Bridge is equipped with a puppet army squadron, which must not only guard the Luokou Bridge, but also guard the Yellow River crossing.

Because the Luokou Bridge is a railway bridge, not a highway bridge. Cars and carts passing by the highway have to board the ferry and cross the river by ferry.

It can be said that the errand of guarding the Luokou Bridge is an absolute fat errand! It's just that at this time, there are fierce battles everywhere, the trade routes are blocked, and all industries are depressed.

Xiao Siming, who was galloping on a horse, was thinking about speed, speed, speed at this time!

The Eighth Route Army captured Dezhou, and the Japanese troops along the Jinpu Road must have been on high alert. However, it is obviously not enough for the two infantry squads on the east and west sides of the bridge to garrison such a strategically important point as the Luokou Bridge. The captains of the Japanese army may not have increased the garrison of the Luokou Bridge because of the lack of cases, or because they did not have such strategic vision. However, the commander of the North China Front, Terauchi Toshiichi, and the chief of staff, Okabe Naosaburo, were not weak people, and they would see the significance of the Luokou Bridge. Maybe the Japanese army is sending troops to Luokou Bridge! Not to mention the transfer of other troops, that is, to transfer a brigade from the troops of the Second Wing of the North China Garrison Army in Jinan to defend the west end of the Luokou Bridge, it will be a vicious battle!

Don't look at how cool Xiao Siming fought so well in the morning when he led the eastward advance detachment to eliminate the second brigade of the second wing of the mixed brigade of the North China garrison army, it was because the little devil was ignorant and fell into the trap and was swallowed up by the powerful firepower net of the eastward advance detachment. If the infantry brigade really built fortifications to hold on, the eastward advance detachment would not be able to attack it, and even if it could be captured, the casualties would be too large for Xiao Siming to bear.

Therefore, now Xiao Siming only has two words in his mind: speed!

It was necessary to take the Luokou Bridge before the Japanese reinforcements rushed to the Luokou Bridge. If it is not good, it must be arrived before the Japanese reinforcements have built the fortifications, otherwise, this trip will be in vain. (To be continued.) )