It's easy to come when it's hard to go, because the back road is cut off, and it's impossible to return to Tangshan, the old nest, so Asada Fujiro Osaku commanded the troops to retreat in the direction of Qian'an, and he wanted to retreat to Qian'an to join the defenders there, and he planned to be new.

However, as if they already knew that they were going to escape, the troops in the opposite position ignored the bullets of the Imperial soldiers and brazenly launched a counterattack on their own troops, which had been on the attacking side.

This time, the charge of the Shina army was quickly repulsed, but Asada Fujiro Daisa's heart was even more panicked, which proved that the other unit of the Shina army was not far from them, and the encirclement seemed to be about to close.

Thinking of this, Asada Fujiro Dazuo did not dare to slack off, and immediately issued a clear combat guidance to the North China Front Headquarters, and at the same time ordered the troops to get rid of the Shina troops behind them as soon as possible and break through in the direction of Qian'an.

At this time, the time had already reached July 4, and the fighting in the three battlefields of Chahar was in a state of stalemate, and all units of the North China Front Army were attacking Han Yunhua's headquarters in Chahar with all their might, and at the same time, there were still a large number of troops to contain the other units of the Eighth Route Army, and there was no way and could not send troops to rescue the Matian Wing. But Terauchi Shouichi absolutely couldn't watch a complete integrated wing being wiped out by the Shina troops like this, and it was also annihilated by the bandits of Shina, this must not happen. In desperation, Terauchi Shouichi ordered the Baoding Air Group to send a bombing squadron to meet Asada Fujiro Daisa and escort them to Qian'an.

The Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Advance Detachment and Wu Yongjiang's Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps were both units that had just been expanded, not to mention the complexity of the composition of the troops, the uneven combat effectiveness, and the extreme lack of heavy weapons.

The Inner Mongolia Military Region has developed to the present, in terms of weapons and equipment, especially in the allocation of heavy weapons, gradually began to decline, from the original company had more than a dozen light and heavy machine guns, to now a battalion is at most about 20, and later the newly formed troops are even more scarce, like the two supplementary corps under Han Yunhua, each corps has more than 15,000 people, but the total number of light and heavy machine guns in each supplementary corps is less than 200, although compared with other units of the Eighth Route Army, such a weapon configuration is already luxurious enough, However, compared with the veteran troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, such weapons and equipment are obviously not enough.

In addition, since its establishment, the Inner Mongolia Military Region has grown up in the continuous offensive of the Yue Army, so this unit has a special hobby and strong possession of weapons and equipment from the commander Han Yunhua down to the ordinary soldiers.

However, with the rapid expansion of the troops, there is no shortage of personnel, but the Inner Mongolia Military Region cannot produce weapons and equipment by itself, so as far as the entire military region is concerned, what is most lacking is weapons and equipment, especially heavy weapons.

The planes of the Yue army are still very combat-effective, and on the battlefield in China, the air force of the Yue army basically does not pose much of a threat. Although China also has its own air force, China's air force has only more than 600 fighters, and less than 400 are actually capable of taking off and fighting. Although China's air force combat technology and fighting spirit are difficult for military pilots to match. However, the gap in the country's industrial productivity is simply not something that one or a few space heroes can make up for.

Looking at the Matian Wing, which was calmly retreating under the escort of the plane, Li Dingguo and Wu Yongjiang had no choice but to shake their heads helplessly. This sweep of the Yue Army officially opened the prelude to the Eastern Hebei Incident, and the war began to develop in favor of the Eighth Route Army.

When the war in eastern Hebei was in full swing, the Chahar region had become a purgatory on earth. On July 7, the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the western battlefield in the Chahar region ushered in a new round of artillery fire.

Under the city of Jining, the Yue army was stubbornly resisted by the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and the Eighth Route Army used the pillboxes that had already been built to inflict huge casualties on the Yue army, forcing Gu Shoufu to use two poison gas bombs in one day. Fortunately, Han Yunhua had been prepared, and the poisonous gas of the Yue Army had almost no effect, but instead allowed the Eighth Route Army's trick to lure the enemy and eliminate a squadron of soldiers.

At the same time, a new change also took place in the battle situation in Zhangbei County, Yang Chengwu organized a large number of troops, and with the full cooperation of the guard brigade, the form of the entire central battlefield began to improve markedly, and on July 8 alone, Yang Chengwu's troops wiped out more than 2,400 troops. First of all, the joint rapid reaction force composed of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade successfully won the paddock after a long-distance attack of one day and one night, completely annihilating a squadron of the defenders, and won a lot.

Han Yunhua personally sat in Fengning to command the battles of various units, and after the Second Assault Brigade, the First Supplementary Corps and the First Artillery Regiment marched east to occupy Fengning, the troops pointed directly at Longhua, an important military town in northern Hebei, threatening Chengde. Under the personal command of Han Yunhua, the Second Supplementary Corps swept through all the devil strongholds in Chicheng County in a very short period of time, formally completely occupying Chicheng County.

After Han Yunhua arrived in Fengning, the main force of the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region began to move eastward. In view of the powerful offensive of Han Yunhua's headquarters, Terauchi Shouichi mobilized a brigade from Qinhuangdao and a wing from Qian'an, and mobilized three divisions of the Imperial Alliance Army to urgently go to Chengde. At the same time, General Terauchi Shouichi ordered the main force of the Chengde garrison brigade to move westward, and it was necessary to contain the offensive of Han Yunhua's headquarters on the front line of Longhua and Luanping......... As long as your troops can hold out for more than three days under the attack of Han Yunhua's troops, reinforcements will arrive, and Han Yunhua will no longer pose any threat to Chengde, but will probably be wiped out under the attack of my imperial army. At that time, Hiraizumi-kun will be the biggest contributor to this campaign........."

The Chengde Garrison Brigade is a newly formed second-line garrison brigade with two infantry wings, a cavalry wing, an artillery brigade, a field hospital, and a military police brigade, and the total strength of the entire brigade has reached a terrifying 11,000 people, which is almost the same as a third-class division.

However, the combat effectiveness of this garrison brigade is not very strong, although this garrison brigade is formed by the reserve force of the first division, but because of the short training time and the fact that it has not experienced any major battles, it can be said that this unit is a unit composed of new recruits. If it is said that it is okay to take on some defense work in the rear, but to fight to the death in the field with the famous Han Yunhua Department in the Chinese army, not only Major General Junichi Hiraizumi is not confident, but even Terauchi Shouichi is also very worried, after all, the combat effectiveness shown by Han Yunhua's department is almost not inferior to the first-class division of the empire. Using a brigade that is not even as good as a third-class division to block one, or even several first-class divisions, can be imagined.

But now the offensive strength of Han Yunhua's department far exceeded Terauchi Shouichi's expectations, and Terauchi Shouichi began to find that fighting with Han Yunhua seemed to be an unwise choice, if Liu Shengjun's mission failed, then the North China Front would be disgraced and thrown home. If the main force of Han Yunhua's ministry is not effectively contained, I am afraid that in less than a month, the entire eastern Hebei region will become Han Yunhua's sphere of influence.

On the evening of 8 July, Major General Junichi Hiraizumi personally led more than 10,000 troops under his command and a wing of Qian'an, together with an infantry division of the Imperial Allied Army, to enter the county seat of Longhua, while the defense of Chengde was taken over by the military police brigade directly under the brigade and the remaining two infantry divisions of the Imperial Allied Army. After being stationed in Longhua, Major General Junichi Hiraizumi ordered the First Infantry Wing, the Second Wing, and the 41st Infantry Division of the Imperial Allied Army to fortify along the areas of Lanqi, Taipingzhuang, Fengshan, and Tangtougou, while the remaining troops focused on building the city defense of Longhua County.

At about 10 o'clock in the evening of July 8, Han Yunhua commanded the main force of the Second Assault Brigade, the First Supplementary Corps, and the Second Supplementary Corps to launch an attack on Longhua County, while the main force of the Second Supplementary Corps launched an offensive against Luanping County.

In the face of the attack of the Eighth Route Army, Junichi Hiraizumi appeared very calm, in order to boost morale, Major General Junichi Hiraizumi even moved the headquarters to the front line, although it was still outside the range of the artillery shells of the Eighth Route Army, but the arrival of Junichi Hiraizumi still made the morale of the army have been significantly improved.

After the offensive began, Han Yunhua's troops successively placed an infantry regiment and an artillery battalion in each of the four places where the army had set up positions. The battle entered a white-hot battle at the beginning, and the fierceness of the Eighth Route Army's attack was far beyond the expectations of Major General Junichi Hiraizumi, and the weapons and equipment of Han Yunhua's department gave Major General Junichi Hiraizumi a glimpse of what the real [***] team is.

However, the resistance of the Yue army was also extremely tenacious, and the two group attacks of Han Yunhua's troops were severely beaten down by the Yue army, and the troops suffered heavy casualties. Major General Junichi Hiraizumi did not know how many troops Han Yunhua's troops had deployed on the periphery of Longhua, but Junichi Hiraizumi did not dare to be careless at all, and in just one hour, the positions heavily defended by his three infantry wings and an infantry division of the Imperial Allied Army changed hands several times in a row, although in the end they all successfully counterattacked and recaptured the position from the Eighth Route Army. However, Junichi Hiraizumi knew that the morale of the troops had dropped to a dangerous level, and if the Shina troops attacked at this intensity for another three hours, then his reinforced brigade would definitely collapse.

Thinking of the task that General Shouichi Terauchi ordered them to block for more than three days, Junichi Hiraizumi's head was a little big. He originally thought that with more than 15,000 troops in his hand, even if he could not necessarily defeat this arrogant Chinese army, he would definitely be able to stop them on the outskirts of Longhua City.

However, only now did Major General Junichi Hiraizumi know how difficult his task was, let alone three days, and his troops could not hold out for even three hours at such a level of attack.

(To be continued)