By the time General Terauchi Shouichi's order reached Lieutenant General Michitaro Komatsubara, the vicinity of Shinji had already been beaten into a pot of porridge.

It took only more than an hour for the troops from all walks of life to break through from Xinlitou to Xinji. At this time, the 12th Regiment and the New Fourth Regiment had already caught fire with the devils who had come up with reinforcements from the east and west.

Since Lei Ming had ordered the engineer battalion to lay mines on the east and west sides, the battle was not fierce, and the devils circled around in the mine array, pressing on anti-tank mines from time to time to contribute tanks or armored vehicles, as for the infantry, it was even worse, it was better to encounter land mines, but it was a big deal to break a leg or something, and end up crippled for life. When you encounter an anti-infantry mine, you will be in trouble, and you will fall into a large piece.

The sappers began to carefully raise mines, which, needless to say, were filled with explosives from crockpots, porcelain jars, and other utensils, which could not be detected by mine detectors. The iron mines have all been technically treated, and they are all sub-mother mines, which are smashed at the slightest move, causing heavy casualties among the devil sappers.

When the devils started a thunderstorm, the 12th Regiment and the New 4th Regiment held a shooting competition, and the soldiers all shot with rifles to compete in the shooting level. The angry devil commander kept ordering the artillery to be fired, trying to use artillery fire to stop the unilateral hunt from the [***] team.

The perceptions of the various units in central Hebei that crossed the Deshi line and entered the southern Hebei border were different: After the People's Self-Defense Army, the units of the Hebei Guerrilla Army, and the Eighth Route Army took over, they quickly drove to the rear under the guidance of the small units of the Eighth Route Army. The troops of various local forces were told that southern Hebei was the base area of the Eighth Route Army, and that after arriving in southern Hebei, they must abide by the discipline of the Eighth Route Army, and that the grain and grass needed should be arranged by the Eighth Route Army in a unified manner, and that they must not disturb the masses or interfere with the normal work of local political axes. If you violate discipline, you will be held accountable. Of course, the officers of the Eighth Route Army were very polite and told Zhao Yunxiang, Duan Haizhou, Fan Zixia, and Qiao Mingli that they were welcome to come to southern Hebei to persist in the War of Resistance with the Eighth Route Army, and hoped that after they would rest and recuperate, they would return to the battlefield as soon as possible.

Zhao Yunxiang, Duan Haizhou, Fan Zixia, and Qiao Mingli were all shocked by the great military might of the Eighth Route Army. However, their mentality is different, Zhao Yunxiang, Duan Haizhou, and Qiao Mingli are shocked and surprised, they don't know much about the Eighth Route Army, and they don't know much about [***] people. Seeing that the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei was so mighty, when he compared his own troops with the Eighth Route Army, he felt a little ashamed of himself, and felt that in the future, the North China Plain might never be like before, and he was afraid that the Eighth Route Army would have the final say.

Fan Zixia is bent on fighting devils, and he also knows some [***] people, and has a certain understanding of [***], and when he saw the military appearance and military might of the tutor, he felt a sense of closeness and belonging in his heart. Therefore, he repeatedly asked the cadres of the Eighth Route Army to lead his troops to participate in the battle, even if it was to transport ammunition and carry the wounded.

In any case, the local troops from all walks of life, from officers to soldiers, who escaped from the tiger's mouth, were grateful to the Eighth Route Army.

After the Jizhong breakthrough troops went down, Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng led the Sixth Brigade and the Eighth Brigade of Jiao, the Second Field Artillery Regiment and the Mountain Artillery Regiment to catch up.

After listening to the thunderous report, Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng immediately decided that Zhao Shan and Zhao Jie would lead the Eighth Brigade to take over the deployment of the Fourth Brigade along the Deshi Line, resolutely block the enemy, and allocate troops in accordance with the principle of putting the firepower in the front and the troops in the back, so as to avoid causing heavy losses to the troops due to the devil's heavy firepower being too strong. Once the main force of the devils is all pressed, the Eighth Brigade should be taught to abandon its position in due course and lead the devils to the ambush circle. He then retreated outside the ambush circle and served as a reserve.

The 4th and 6th Brigades set up a circular ambush circle along the Wangzhuang Battalion, Tianjiazhuang, and Nanxianqiu on the south side of the Deshi Line, and Wang Shanzhu, political commissar of the artillery brigade, and Ding Zhuodong, deputy political commissar of the artillery brigade, commanded the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, the Mountain Artillery Regiment, and the artillery of each brigade to establish artillery positions and ensure that the artillery fire fully covered the ambush site. Among them, the Second Field Artillery Regiment and the Mountain Artillery Regiment were not allowed to open fire first, and they had to wait for the artillery group of the Japanese army to open fire before destroying the artillery positions of the Japanese army in one fell swoop.

As soon as the deployment was completed, Wang Nanhu, Cao Shengli, and Li Lingfeng led the 10th and 11th regiments and the special combat team to withdraw. Seeing that the main force had arrived, Wang Nanhu said to Zeng Zhongsheng with a little regret: "It would be nice if the main force arrived an hour earlier, just now there was a fighter plane that defeated the main force of the devil in one fell swoop, if the main force is there, the situation in central and southern Hebei can be decided in a battle." ”

Zeng Zhongsheng smiled and said: "Lao Wang, the field artillery regiment and the mountain artillery regiment have exhausted several war horses, this is already our limit. There's no regret, didn't the division commander say it, there are many opportunities to fight devils, as long as we don't do it brutally, one day, the little devils will surrender to us. ”

After Zeng Zhongsheng finished speaking, Cao Shengli reported on the firepower of the devil's artillery. Zeng Zhongsheng immediately asked Cao Shengli to go directly to the artillery position, report the situation to Wang Shanzhu and Ding Zhuodong, and assist the two in commanding to destroy the enemy's heavy firepower. At the same time, Zeng Zhongsheng asked Wang Nanhu to go to the Eighth Brigade to assist Zhao Shan and Zhao Jie in commanding the troops, and he must not let the heavy firepower of the devils cripple the Eighth Brigade.

After Wang Nanhu and Cao Shengli left, Liu Yimin's telegram arrived, informing him of the situation of the Fourth Brigade of the whole annihilation of the Reading Force, and asking how the Western Front Group had completed the task of breaking through the concentrated troops.

Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng reported that they had completed the task of receiving and breaking through, and were now setting up an ambush position near Xinji on the Deshi Line, preparing to inflict heavy damage on the devils.

Liu Yimin's reply soon arrived: "If the devil crosses the Deshi line, resolutely strike." If the devil sticks to the German stone line, he must not attack, so as not to be stuck by the devil, and the main force will be passive after dawn. No matter what the method of attack, the main force must be transferred at night to prevent large-scale retaliation by military planes during the day tomorrow. In addition, cavalry units were sent to make a feint in the direction of Shijiazhuang, creating the false impression that our army was carrying out reconnaissance on Shijiazhuang, and urging the enemy to divide his troops and return to defense. ”

After reading the telegram, Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng sent correspondents to tell Zhao Shan, Zhao Jie, and Wang Nanhu that the first wave of blocking should be fierce and ruthless, and that they would withdraw from their positions after the fighting, and then go to the position to block the attack after the devil's heavy artillery fire. After the second wave of blockade is over, you can evacuate and let the devil cross the Deshi line.

By the time Wang Shuyou, the commander of the cavalry battalion of the Fourth Brigade, and Shi Qianli, the instructor, led the cavalry battalion to retreat, the devil cavalry unit had already caught up.

This time, the devils learned well, all of them were in battle formation, and when they were 500 meters away from the Deshi line, the devil cavalry actually divided into two sides and went to carry out the vigilance mission, so that the infantry could take on the task of attacking the Deshi line.

The same is true for the devil infantry, 500 meters away from the Deshi line, all the devils actually stopped at the same time and began to build a position, and the posture made people know at a glance that they were preparing to fight steadily.

As soon as Zhao Shan saw this situation, he knew that the devil was serious, and started the regular offensive and defensive battle, and immediately ordered the troops to immediately withdraw from the position.

As soon as this side evacuated its position, the shells of the devil's artillery flew over, covering the railway line in the Xinji area.

As soon as the devil's artillery fire stopped, the troops of the Eighth Brigade quickly pounced on the roadbed of the Deshi Railway, set up machine guns and set them on fire. Because taking advantage of the cover of artillery fire, the devil infantry has already touched it. In some sections, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and the devils actually came face to face. Fortunately, the instructor's troops had strong automatic firepower and had an advantage, so they pressed the devil down. However, the devils are indeed well-trained, and the light and heavy machine guns and grenadiers used as cover are steady and ruthless, and while covering the retreat of the devil's infantry, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who also fight cannot raise their heads.

Zhao Shan is a general who is both offensive and defensive, and the characteristics of the old fifth battalion brought out by him are obvious. Although the Eighth Brigade was established for a short time, the grassroots cadres were all readjusted from the cadres of the old Fifth Battalion and inherited the tactical characteristics of the old Fifth Battalion.

Seeing that the devil played like this, Zhao Shan secretly rejoiced, fortunately it was night, if there was a devil's plane bombing during the day, this battle would not be able to be fought. Since the devil is playing evil, Zhao Shan, who was born in the old Red Army, naturally has a way. He ordered all troops to evacuate the railway line, hide 200 meters from the railway line, and wait for the devil's artillery fire to stop and the infantry to come up, and concentrate their fire on him. In that case, the results should be even greater.

As soon as the troops withdrew, the devil's artillery fire began to cover the shelling again, blowing up the stones on the railway.

Since the devil is a heavy artillery, the distance is long, and the mortars of the Eighth Brigade are simply out of reach, if the artillery is opened rashly, with the artillery technology of the devil, it will inevitably be destroyed by the devil's heavy artillery in the shortest possible time. Zhao Shan accepted Wang Nanhu's suggestion, concentrated the artillery of the whole brigade, marked the firing area within 50 meters north of the railway, and when the devil infantry poured in, carried out indiscriminate artillery bombardment, and retreated after each artillery shot 10 shells, attracting the devil's heavy artillery to move forward and creating conditions for the field artillery regiment and the mountain artillery regiment to destroy them.

After the shelling stopped, the devil infantry touched it again. This time, the Eighth Route Army did not shoot, and the devils who rushed to the railway first thought that they had made the first contribution, and stood up excitedly and screamed.

Soon, the devil infantry poured onto the railway. The long railway line was full of devils standing and cheering. The devil artillerymen, who served as fire support, thought that the Eighth Route Army had run away, and began to move their positions forward.

By the time some calmer devils found that there seemed to be countless figures 200 meters ahead, Zhao Shan had already given the order to open fire, and all the light and heavy machine guns, rifles, submachine guns, Bayi automatic rifles, mortars, and grenadiers in the brigade were fired, and the target was the devils on the railway.

The mutation happened too suddenly, the devils were completely defenseless, and the firepower of the Eighth Brigade was too dense, and the devils on the railway didn't even have a chance to escape, so they were hit by bullets and fell backwards one by one.

The devils who were still running on the railroad immediately realized that this was a trap and quickly lay down on guard. But the shells did not spare them, and the mortars and grenadiers of the Eighth Brigade were aimed at the area within 50 meters of the north side of the railway, and the devils in this area received another baptism of artillery.

Seeing that the expected goal was achieved, Zhao Shan was not greedy for merit, and directly ordered the troops to retreat, preparing to wait for the devil to come up again, and then give him a complete retreat to attract the devil into the ambush circle.

Annoyed and angry, the devil artillery immediately returned the favor and directly bombarded the area within 500 meters of the south side of the railway in the Xinji section indiscriminately, and the ground was covered with craters.

At this time, Lieutenant General Michitaro Komatsubara, who had already crooked his nose several times, was determined to press all the main forces and completely deal with this cunning and despicable Shina army. Just as he was about to give the order, the staff officer sent an order from General Shouichi Terauchi. As soon as Lieutenant General Michitaro Komatsubara telegraphed the words of Admiral Terauchi, he ordered the artillery to extend the shelling again, and the infantry quickly built up positions along the railway line after occupying the railway, but they were not allowed to cross the Tokushi line to attack southward, and those who violated the order were to enforce battlefield discipline.

Zhao Shan waited and waited, in addition to waiting for the devil's artillery fire to extend the fire, he didn't wait for the devil's infantry to pursue, feeling strange, so he sent a reconnaissance company to reconnoiter closely, and the result was that he learned that the devil was building fortifications along the railway, and there was no sign of pursuing south.

Zhao Shan did not give up and sent a small force to the side of the railway to attack and harass, but as a result, in addition to using machine gun grenadiers to strafe and drive away, none of the devil's cavalry and infantry pursued south. Helpless, Zhao Shan had no choice but to report the situation to Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng.

Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng led tens of thousands of troops to finally run such a long way to get here, and set up an ambush circle, waiting for the devil to be fooled. Seeing that the devil doesn't pursue, how can he be willing to give up in his heart? But they knew that a series of blows tonight had already made the devil angry, and now they didn't even pursue it, which means that the devil also received a strict order to defend and not attack. In this case, there is no point in wasting time here, the devil is a heavy army group, he has to be determined to defend, with his own Western Front group forces, there is no way to take them, a strong attack can only bring heavy casualties to the troops, and it may not be able to attack. Now the only option is to withdraw the troops and transfer.

Before the transfer, in accordance with Liu Yimin's instructions, Zeng Zhongsheng ordered the cavalry battalion of the Fourth Brigade to make a feint in the direction of Shijiazhuang to create the false impression that our army was about to capture Shijiazhuang, and ordered the cavalry of the Sixth Brigade and the Eighth Brigade to stay on the railway line to attack and harass the devils. After the arrangement was made, Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng led the main force to transfer overnight.

The battle that took place in Xinlitou and Xinji to meet the breakthrough of the Jizhong troops has since become an unsolved case in military history, and the reason is that the enemy and us have inconsistent announcements on the number of enemies to be destroyed. The army claimed to have achieved major results in the public security operation in central Hebei, annihilating 60,000 resistance forces from all walks of life in central Hebei, especially in Xinbeitou and Xinji, which severely damaged the instructors of the ace troops of the Chinese army, killing and wounding more than 3,500 instructors and 670 casualties of the imperial army. The National Political Axe War Report claimed that the Jizhong Breakout Battle had achieved a great victory, and all our troops in Jizhong had broken through, especially in the Jizhong Breakout Battle, our hero's instructor annihilated 5,720 devils. The two sides insisted on their own words, accusing each other of falsely reporting the results of the war and exaggerating their statements on the radio and in the newspapers.

A few years later, the accounts of the senior generals of the two sides were declassified, and the leaders of the Jizhong troops of the Eighth Route Army wrote in the notes: "In this Jizhong breakthrough battle, the Hebei guerrilla army fought desperately with the enemy. Of the 80,000 guerrilla troops, only 40,000 of them reached the base area in southern Hebei, and suffered heavy casualties. Every inch of land in Jizhong has been sprinkled with the blood of martyrs. ”

Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo, chief of staff of the North China Front Army, wrote in his account: "In the first public security battle in central Hebei, our army fought for three days, and the casualties were very small and negligible. Only in the Xinbeitou section of Cangshi Road and the Xinji section of the Deshi Line, they encountered the troops of the ace instructor of China and were heavily damaged by the enemy, and the total casualties of the participating troops were as high as 7,634. After the war, the emergency transportation of supplementary troops from the mainland restored the combat effectiveness of the troops. The number of casualties among the instructors of the Shina Sect is still uncertain, because no enemy bodies were found on the battlefield, and no prisoners were captured. ”

After receiving a report from Lieutenant General Michitaro Komatsubara about the occupation of the Tokushi Line, General Terauchi Shouichi personally drafted a secret telegram to the base camp. In the secret telegram, General Shouichi Terauchi wrote: "The strength of the instructor of the Liu Yimin Sect in Shina is amazing. The department was formed in the Xiangjiang Campaign during the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Previously, Liu Yimin was unknown, just the son of an old pedant in the mountainous area of western Henan, because of the bandits slaughtering the village, except for Liu Yimin, all the people in the village were killed. After Liu Yimin sought revenge on the bandit leader, he went south to find the Red Army of [***], joined the Red Army by the Xiangjiang River, and became famous in the first battle. Relying on the backbone of the Red Army, which was scattered, the Red Eighteenth Regiment was raised, and after that, the troops grew rapidly. The reason why the army has today's strength is inseparable from the contribution of this person. This person is different from ordinary [***] generals, and all the prisoners captured by the political axe army will not be released, and all the education will be included in the troops, and the strength will swell. Before the July 7 Incident, the ministry already had more than 70,000 well-trained elite troops. After fighting with the imperial army, they successively captured the weapons of our army, and their combat effectiveness improved significantly. The division should now be the most combat-ready mobile corps in China, and it may attack in any direction at any time and at any time. In this southern Hebei operation, the troops of this division were divided into two routes, one way led to the main force of the 21st Division and Reading Power mixed into the fourth brigade and the jade fragmentation, and all the way to the encircled resistance armed breakthrough in Jizhong, and led to heavy casualties of the imperial army. Judging from the current situation, attacking the department with one or two divisions will be in danger at any time. Therefore, the front army was determined to defend the Jinpu Line, the Pinghan Line, the Deshi Line, and the Handji Highway with heavy troops, and bomb the areas under its control with high density of aviation troops, destroy its economy, and trap it in southern Hebei. Concentrate all efforts on the Shanxi and Xuzhou operations. After the campaign goal is achieved, the heavy troops will be concentrated to completely encircle and annihilate Liu Yimin's instructor. At the same time, seize the time to form the North China Public Security Army, let them assist the imperial army to guard the lines of communication, and free up the mobile forces of the imperial army for strategic operations. It is suggested that more garrison divisions and brigades should be set up in the base camp to control the occupied areas, restore public order and economy in the occupied areas as soon as possible, and achieve the goal of nourishing the war with war as soon as possible. ”

After sending the secret telegram, Terauchi Shouichi ordered Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe to send a secret telegram to the commanders of the First Army, the Second Army, and the divisions, informing them of the news of the 21st Division, the Fourth Division of the Reading Division, and the news that the encirclement and suppression troops in Jizhong had suffered heavy losses, and strictly ordered all units to strengthen liaison and cooperation to prevent similar unfortunate incidents from occurring.

After dealing with these, Terauchi Shouichi felt exhausted, his back hurt, and he couldn't support it anymore, so he went back to his bedroom to rest.

(To be continued)