After the devil plane was done, it finally flapped its wings and flew away.

Zhai Jinjie saw that in just a moment, the troops had sacrificed more than 70 people, and many soldiers were injured, which was considered a heavy casualty.

hastily buried the remains of the martyrs, let the wounded bandage the wounds simply, and Zhai Jinjie quickly transferred with his troops.

At this time, the main force of the People's Self-Defense Army living in Anping had received a warning signal, and Lu Zhengying and Lu Ben, who had been sent by the 115th Division to serve as secretary of the party committee of the Central Hebei District, ordered the troops to urgently assemble and make preparations for battle, and at the same time reported the situation to the Hebei Guerrilla Army Headquarters stationed in Suning, and at the same time reported the situation to the 115th Division and the party committee of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area, and asked the higher authorities to help find out the enemy's situation and give instructions on the strategy.

When receiving a report on the enemy situation from the headquarters of the People's Self-Defense Army, Meng Qingshan, commander of the Hebei guerrilla army, received a report of a large-scale attack by devils.

Because the main force of Lu Zhengying's People's Self-Defense Army had just returned from Fuping training, the intelligence was not as comprehensive as Meng Qingshan's. Judging from the current reports from various places, Meng Qingshan has judged that the enemy is encircled on all sides this time, intending to completely extinguish the anti-Japanese forces in the central Hebei region.

During this period, Meng Qingshan commanded the guerrilla army to fight many battles, not only incorporating many local forces, but also waging several tough resistances with the Yue army, and the combat effectiveness of the three main divisions of the guerrilla army was somewhat enhanced, and the 12th Route Army and the guerrilla division were newly organized, with a total strength of 70,000 to 80,000 troops, known as the 100,000 guerrilla army. However, Meng Qingshan, who was born in the old Red Army, knew that the backbone of his guerrilla army was only 20,000 people, and they were all newly formed units, and those road armies and guerrilla divisions were different in strength, and they lacked training and training. If they encounter the main Red Army, I am afraid that two regiments will be able to beat these 70,000 or 80,000 people to a pulp. In a large-scale encirclement like the one that the army is now encircling and begging the guerrillas or the people's self-defense army, as long as they are surrounded by devils, they will be in trouble. Therefore, Meng Qingshan immediately discussed with the leaders of the provincial party committee of Bao and went to meet with Lu Zhengying and Lu Ben, first, to listen to the instructions of the Northern Bureau and the 115th Division, but to pay close attention to studying the issue of anti-sweeping operations.

At this time, although the Hebei Guerrilla Army and the People's Self-Defense Army were both under the leadership of [***], they belonged to two systems, and some issues had to be communicated in a timely manner. For example, the reorganization of the Eighth Route Army of the Hebei Guerrilla Army by the main force of the People's Self-Defense Army on the way back to central Hebei, and the question of Meng Qingshan's plan to demolish the city and dig roads while the director of the Political Department of the Self-Defense Army who stayed behind to reserve his opinion need to be met and discussed in detail.

After Meng Qingshan's telegram requesting a detailed meeting was sent, Lu Zhengying and Lu Ben immediately called back and agreed, and in order to shorten the distance and save time, the two sides agreed to set off at the same time and hold a meeting halfway.

At 5 p.m., Meng Qingshan, commander of the Hebei guerrilla army, and Lu Zhengying, commander of the People's Self-Defense Army, met in a small village on the Hutuo River on the border between Anping and Suning.

Lu Ben conveyed the decision of the party committee of the 115 th Division and the party committee of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region to reorganize the strength of our army in central Hebei with the people's self-defense army as the mainstay.

To be honest, on the occasion of the Great War, it is not very appropriate to convey this decision. However, Lu Ben believed that in order to cope with the current complicated situation, it was necessary to unify the command of our army in central Hebei, and only in this way could we coordinate the combat operations of the People's Self-Defense Army and the Hebei guerrilla army and break the enemy's large-scale encirclement and suppression.

Lu Ben was also a veteran of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi and had rich experience, and the decision of the Northern Bureau on abolishing the provincial party committee and establishing the provincial party committee of the central Hebei district was not conveyed for the time being, because if it was conveyed, it would be necessary to convene a meeting of the provincial party committee immediately, which was impossible to achieve at present. Therefore, after conveying the decision, Lu Ben held a heart-to-heart talk with Meng Qingshan and the comrades of the provincial party committee, explaining that the reason why the central authorities are mainly reorganizing the people's self-defense army is that first, this army has relatively strong combat effectiveness, and second, it is now stressing the united front and uniting and developing the people's self-defense army. We are all veteran party members and comrades, and we must not make mistakes on this issue.

It was not until Meng Qingshan and the responsible comrades of the Baojia Provincial Party Committee expressed their support for the decision of the higher authorities that Lu Ben called Lu Zhengying, explaining that the war was urgent, and that the troops would not be reorganized for the time being, and that after the enemy's encirclement and suppression were broken, the army would be unified and reorganized in central Hebei. The pressing task at the moment is to set up a joint command headquarters and get a good grasp of studying and formulating an anti-sweeping operation plan. Therefore, he has already reported to his superiors that the 115th Division and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region have decided to set up a joint headquarters for the anti-sweeping operations in central Hebei, appointing Lu Ben as political commissar, Lu Zhengying as commander, and Meng Qingshan as deputy commander to coordinate and command this anti-sweeping operation.

After Lu Ben finished speaking, the responsible comrades of the Baozhi Provincial Party Committee, Lu Zhengying, and Meng Qingshan all expressed their resolute obedience to the decision of their superiors, and the Eighth Route Army's Jizhong Anti-Sweeping Joint Command was formally established.

During the meeting, cavalry scouts kept coming to deliver information. Therefore, as soon as the meeting ended, several people began to study the current situation of friend and foe. Judging from the information received so far, the devils are menacing this time, there is a main force of devils on Cangshi Road, and the devils on the Jinpu line and Pinghan line are also actively attacking, and the devils on the Gaoyang and Renqiu lines in the north seem to have received a large number of reinforcements and have also begun to dispatch. The surrounding Han annihilation forces acted as accomplices, guiding the devils to attack, and within a day, the guerrilla troops operating in various places retreated one after another. The surrounding local armed forces belonging to the [***] factions have basically collapsed, and they are retreating towards Hejian, Suning, Anping, and Raoyang.

After understanding the general situation of the enemy, the three unanimously decided to immediately shrink their troops, carry out mobilization, concentrate the main forces of the guerrilla army and the self-defense army, and operate in Hejian, Suning, and Anping, striving to defeat the enemy all the way and break the enemy's encirclement and suppression.

After the resolution was formed, Lu Ben immediately reported the overall plan for the operation to the 115th Division and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the 115th Division and Lin Nie, the head of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, sent a top-secret telegram to Lu, Lu, and Meng, pointing out: The strength of the devil's sweeping force this time is the only time since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The central Hebei region is the granary of our army, and we must defend it. However, in view of the fact that the current situation of the encirclement of the army has appeared, it is preliminarily judged that the strength of the army should be about 50,000 people, and our army in central Hebei should not fight hard with the enemy, but should seize the moment when the enemy has not yet closed the encirclement, gather the main force, jump out of the enemy's encirclement, and attack the enemy on the outer line. put forward two options for selection, one is to break through in the direction of Youding County, drive the team to the western Hebei region, or pull into the Taihang Mountain, and counter-sweep while rectifying training; The second is to break through in the direction of southern Hebei and persist in the struggle in southern Hebei. Although the Cangshi Road and the Deshi Line are controlled by the enemy, there is a strong main force of our army hidden in southern Hebei, and when the situation is extremely critical, Lin Nie can report to the Military Commission and the General Headquarters, and request the department to open the Deshi Line and Cangshi Road, flank the army, and respond to the breakthrough of our army in central Hebei. If our troops in central Hebei can read and open the passage for breaking through to the south, try not to use the hidden main force of our army in southern Hebei, so as not to expose the position of the unit.

After reading the telegram, Lu Ben, Lu Zhengying, and Meng Qingshan were all dumbfounded; first, they did not expect that the strength of the army was so huge this time, and with the strength of the troops in Jizhong, they were not the enemy's opponents at all, and the original operational plan of concentrating the main force to annihilate them all the way was no longer advisable, and now we had to consider how to break out of the enemy's encirclement. Second, I didn't expect that there would be a powerful unit of our army in southern Hebei that was extremely trusted by Chief Lin Nie, needless to say, this force must be the first-class main instructor of our army who disappeared from Tianjin. With this force here, there is nothing to fear from the 50,000 little devils.

Lu Zhengyan opened his mouth and said: "Mother, let's just attract the devils to the south, let them crash into the powerful firepower network of the instructor, and destroy it, and this North China Plain will be all ours!" ”

Meng Qingshan came all the way with the main force of the Red Army, and naturally knew the heroic and legendary instructors, and knew that this army had no normal situation in fighting, and they must have a major strategic purpose in hiding in southern Hebei, and they must have dealt him a fatal blow when they were at their craziest.

Thinking of this, Meng Qingshan said: "Chief Lin Nie said, under normal circumstances, we can't affect the strategic intentions of this main force. Based on my understanding of this force, it must be a part of their strength that is developing in southern Hebei. It is difficult to say where their main force is hidden and where the direction of the attack is, and it is estimated that Chief Lin Nie only knows a general direction. However, if they move, the little devil must be unlucky. I think that since there are such elite troops of our army in southern Hebei, as long as we can jump out of the encirclement of the devils, we will not be afraid of them, fight with them, and cover the actions of the main force of our army in southern Hebei. Once the main force in southern Hebei moves, it is estimated that the enemy's sweep will collapse immediately. ”

Listening to Meng Qingshan's words, Lu Ben and Lu Zhengying both had great confidence. In the end, it was decided to immediately concentrate on mobilizing the main forces, temporarily holding out in Hejian, Suning, and Anping, gathering the troops that had retreated from all sides, and jumping out of the enemy's encirclement by different routes, going behind enemy lines to fight guerrillas, sabotaging the enemy's communications, attacking the enemy's transport troops and the troops behind the palace, and launching a battle with the enemy in Jizhong. In this way, we can avoid the complete fall of Jizhong as soon as our army withdraws, and the armed forces of local forces will be reduced to Han annihilation troops.

Finally, for the sake of safety, the Jizhong Anti-Sweeping Joint Command decided to report to the 115th Division and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, requesting a report to the Central Committee and approving the communication between the Jizhong troops and the southern Hebei base area.

Unexpectedly, after this telegram was sent, not only Chief Lin Nie sent a reply, but even the headquarters also sent a reply, with the same meaning: our army in Jizhong does not have the ability to confront the large army for the time being, and must throw away all illusions and immediately deploy to break through. Otherwise, when it is too late for the large army to surround and regret it, even if the central government orders the instructor and the 115th Division to come to the rescue, it will not be too late.

A telegram from headquarters also sent contact information to the instructors.

After reading the telegram, Lu Ben, Lu Zhengying, and Meng Qingshan made up their minds and immediately deployed to break through. He also sent a telegram to the instructor, reporting the situation in central Hebei, asking for a breakthrough to southern Hebei, and requesting guidance from the head of the instructor.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, the communication squad sent by Zhai Jinjie finally arrived at the headquarters of the Anping People's Self-Defense Army and reported the situation of Wuji and Shenze. The headquarters of the Self-Defense Forces immediately telegraphed to Lu Zhengying that this was the first piece of information that Lu Zhengying had received from our army's combat units, and several people attached great importance to it and quickly issued an order to stipulate the route for each unit to break through to southern Hebei.

(To be continued)