After the battle to capture Shouyang, without waiting to clean up the battlefield, Xiao Siming ordered Yuan Gang, the instructor of the first company, to lead the battalion guard platoon, a Gaoping dual-purpose artillery squad and a heavy machine gun squad to reinforce Baijiazhuang to fight, use Gaoping dual-purpose artillery to knock out the Japanese pillboxes and turrets, and after annihilating the enemy in Baijiazhuang, deploy defenses on the spot, guard to the west, mobilize the masses, and expand the troops. After the engineer team and the recruit team completed their tasks, they each transferred a platoon to Yuan Gang's command, and the others quickly withdrew to the county seat to serve as the county garrison.

After Yuan Gang led the troops to leave, the troops hurriedly cleaned up the battlefield, Xiao Siming ordered a company to command two Gaoping dual-purpose artillery squads and two heavy machine gun squads, out of Shouyang County, along the Zhengtai Road to the southwest attack, after seizing the Japanese stronghold of Chaoyang, Mashou stronghold, Shangxiang stronghold, along the road from Xiyang through Shouyang to Yuci in Jinzhong to turn east, capture the Japanese Yangtouya stronghold, control the highway from Xiyang to Yuci in Jinzhong, and open up the connection with the base areas on both sides of the Xiaohe River.

These four strongholds, each stronghold should have only one squad of Japanese troops, added together, that is, the strength of a squadron, plus the strength of a company of the pseudo-Shouyang garrison, as long as a company seizes the time and breaks through each one, it can complete the task.

As long as the first company controls the road from Xiyang to Yuci via Shouyang, the independent battalion will have a channel to communicate with the 129th Division, the 344th Brigade, and the five detachments in the south, and it can get the support of these main forces at any time.

The 2nd Company was assigned to command two Gaoping dual-purpose artillery squads and two heavy machine gun squads, attacked eastward along Zhengtai Road, and after capturing the Qinquan stronghold, continued to attack the Shishi Railway Station and the Jiujie area in Binh Dinh to the east, deployed a guard on the spot, mobilized the masses, and expanded the troops.

The 3rd Company was assigned to command two Gaoping dual-purpose artillery squads and two heavy machine gun squads to attack along the road from Shouyang to Yuxian, and they had to attack all the way to the junction of Shouyang and Yuxian, and on the spot to the north, mobilize the masses on the spot, and expand the troops.

As long as the three companies hit the junction of Shouyang and Yuxian, they can completely control the road from Shouyang to Yuxian, as long as the independent battalion has another way out, once the passage to the southeast of Shanxi is cut off, the independent battalion can also enter the Jin-Cha-Ji border area north!

The fierce 16th Division of the Japanese army was deployed on the front line of Gaoyi, Zhangde, Linqing, and Puyang at this time, and if the battle situation required it, it could send troops to press to the southeast of Jin at any time and block the passage of the independent battalion to the southeast. Moreover, this 16th Division was the main culprit of the Nanjing Massacre, and from the Battle of Songhu and the capture of Nanjing to the Battle of Xuzhou and Wuhan, the 16th Division was invincible and extremely strong in combat. If the Japanese army relentlessly and let the 16th Division devote all its strength to besiege the independent battalion, once they are found and targeted, the independent battalion will be unable to escape!

Xiao Siming knows this very well!

Taking one step, looking at two steps, and thinking about three steps are the basic qualities that an excellent general must have.

It is precisely because of this that Xiao Siming left the baggage team in Zongai Town, one is to undertake the task of defending to the north, but in case the enemy situation in the south changes, the baggage team carrying all the belongings of the independent battalion can quickly enter the Jinchaji border area!

Three squads of the reconnaissance platoon carried out reconnaissance in three directions and coordinated the actions of the three combat companies.

When the three combat companies set out, Xiao Siming specially told Qiu Wei, Cao Ming'an, and Wang Meng that they could not divide their troops, and that every time they attacked a stronghold, they had to use artillery fire to open the way and make a quick decision. Special attention should be paid to capturing more soldiers of the puppet garrison, striving to join our army after education and transformation, and to increase the strength of our army. But we must eliminate the company commanders, platoon commanders, and squad leaders of the pseudo-garrison without mercy, these guys are all habitual bandits, ruffians, and hooligans, and there are big hidden dangers in staying in the troops, so don't let any of them go!

Xiao Siming is not talking nonsense, because the puppet garrison is different from the regular puppet army, those company commanders, platoon commanders, and squad leaders can be the first batch to run out to be puppet soldiers after the Japanese invaders occupy Shouyang. If they are deceived by the disguise of raising their hands to surrender at the moment of life and death, it will definitely be a hidden danger to be included in our army!

In this battle, the battle was quickly resolved, and none of the enemies in Shouyang County slipped through the net, and all of them died under the powerful firepower of the independent battalion. Xiao Siming judged that the Japanese army would not get the news that the independent battalion had captured Shouyang County and completely annihilated the enemy in Shouyang. For the time being, the movement of all companies is safe. The soldiers are fast, and what they need now is to rush to kill these strongholds before the Japanese army finds out. In this way, the independent battalion will have a large space for maneuver in Shouyang, and it will be relatively safe.

Shouyang City is the base camp of the 36th Brigade of the 109th Division of the Japanese Army after entering Shanxi, hoarding a large number of weapons and equipment and ammunition, food, socks and heavy supplies, which must be transported away and take time, which requires the independent battalion and each company to fight continuously to defeat the main stronghold of the Japanese puppet army in Shouyang and win the time and space for transferring materials.

The troops set out from Huangling, and after capturing Zongai Town, they didn't even drink saliva, and went directly south to ambush, and then stormed the county seat. But under the great victory, the morale of the troops was high, and Xiao Siming used his troops ruthlessly, and it was logical to divide his troops to sweep away the isolated Japanese puppet army strongholds in Shouyang.

The attack of the independent battalion came too suddenly, and the Japanese troops stationed in Shouyang did not have time to gather their troops, and the Japanese puppet troops in other strongholds should not know that the county town was occupied by the Eighth Route Army. Moreover, after actual combat testing, the Japanese army's Gaoping dual-purpose gun is a sharp weapon against the Japanese army's pillboxes, turrets, tanks, and armored vehicles.

In this way, the soldiers rested for a while, ate dry rations, drank saliva from the military kettle, and set off in the night.

After the companies set out, Xiao Siming ordered Zhao Xiuchuan, the captain of the artillery team, and Li Hubao, the instructor, to command the remaining units of the artillery team and the heavy machine gun team, undertake the task of guarding the county, quickly occupy the Japanese puppet organs, eliminate the remnants of the enemy, rescue the people captured by the Japanese puppet, mobilize the masses, and expand the troops.

Xiao Siming's orders to the various combat detachments included the mobilization of the masses and the expansion of the troops, because he now deeply felt that the troops were insufficient. If nothing else, someone has to use the captured weapons, right? You can't always put it on a pack horse and carry it, right?

As for the high composition of recruits and the dilution of the combat effectiveness of the troops, Xiao Siming is not worried, but he has no choice but to train while recruiting and expanding the army. As long as you anticipate the enemy's opportunities and command well, you can make up for a little.

After the companies set out, Zhao Xiuchuan and Li Hubao led the remaining personnel of the artillery team and the heavy machine gun team to set up defenses in the city to search for and suppress the remnants of the enemy, and the communications platoon quickly took control of the Shouyang County Post and Telecommunications Bureau and took over the Shouyang Post and Telecommunications Bureau's sending, receiving, and telephony business.

Xiao Siming and Mou Guangyao, the leader of the heavy machine gun team, went to the headquarters of the 36th Brigade of the Japanese Army in Shouyang County, which is now the headquarters of the Japanese army, and the first thing they did was to order the radio to turn on and report to the division headquarters the news of our army's capture of Shouyang.

The spirit of the original order of the division headquarters was to let the independent battalion move to the area of Niangzi Pass to fight guerrillas, in order to prevent the Japanese army from pursuing and retaliating after discovering the independent battalion. Unexpectedly, after learning that Chen Yisheng had died and his body was hung on the city wall of Zongai Town, Xiao Siming was eager to take revenge, and took advantage of the weakness of the Japanese army's inability to figure out the number of the independent battalion and the strength of the troops, and brazenly waved his troops south, taking Zongai in one battle, and then seizing the county seat, and then he was about to divide his troops and sweep Shouyang!

It is the basic common sense of military personnel to report to their superiors in a timely manner, so that their superiors can grasp the dynamics of various units at the first time, and to understand the situation of the enemy on the battlefield more accurately. However, Xiao Siming reminded the division headquarters in the telegram that it was best not to announce the results of our army's capture of Shouyang for the time being, so as to gain some time for the independent battalion to capture the small strongholds of the surrounding Japanese army and sweep away the Japanese puppet regime in Shouyang, and to buy time for the next move of the independent battalion.

From Huangling to Zong Ai, from Zong Ai to the ambush point leading to Baijiazhuang, and then from the ambush point to the county seat, although the distance between each other is not far, it is more than an hour away, and the battle is very smooth, not a minute or a second of time is wasted, but time still flies, when Xiao Siming sent a report to the division headquarters, it was already 12 o'clock at night.

As soon as the radio station was turned on, Xiao Siming ordered Chen Qiang, the director of the radio station, to turn on the radio station early tomorrow morning and use the Japanese army's password seized from the Taiyuan airport to listen to the Japanese army's radio signals and find out the movements of the devils so that he could report to the division headquarters so that the headquarters and the second theater could grasp the battlefield situation.

If the radio station is turned on tomorrow morning, it may be discovered by the little devils who are eager to capture the intelligence of the independent battalion, thus inviting the Japanese to retaliate. But Xiao Siming can't take care of it so much, it is now the early morning of the 2nd and 26th, the 27th of the first month, our army on the front line of Han Xinling is fighting with the Japanese army, and the little devil will soon sacrifice the killing weapon to attack the southwest of Jin, the battlefield situation will soon change greatly, Xiao Siming does not want to see the tragic situation of the hasty retreat in the late stage of the Han Xinling Resistance War in history!

After sending the telegram, Xiao Siming picked up the phone and called Zheng Xiuchuan, the deputy battalion commander who was still in Zongai Town, to inquire about the deployment of the baggage team.

Zheng Xiuchuan was very excited on the phone when he heard that Xiao Siming led the troops to conquer Shouyang City, and reported that the local comrades were very effective in their work, leading the troops to mobilize the masses from house to house, and the villagers in Zongai Town and the surrounding villages were mobilized, several tailor shops in the town were working overtime to produce military uniforms, women were steaming steamed buns and pancakes overnight to make military shoes, and the young students were very enthusiastic about signing up for the army, and they all lined up in a long line, and it was estimated that 200 recruits could be recruited in Zongai Town alone!

Zheng Xiuchuan also reported that he could not imagine that the merchants of the Zongai Merchant Gang were still making arms deals! After mobilization, the janitor of a large merchant who fled to Tianjin led the troops, and in the underground warehouse of this merchant, a batch of Jin-made weapons were seized, with a total of 100 Jin-made rifles, six Jin-made Czech-style light machine guns, 20 Jin-made submachine guns, 10 Jin-made shell guns, 100,000 bullets, and 2,000 Jin-made grenades. It is said that this batch of weapons was originally intended to be sold to a prince in Inner Mongolia at a high price, because the Japanese army attacked Shanxi, so it could only be placed in an underground warehouse.

Zheng Xiuchuan also suggested that it was better to report to the division headquarters that the independent battalion would create a base between Shouyang, Yuxian, and Yangqu, and the villagers were afraid that the troops would be transferred. (To be continued.) )