Thunder roared. The rain was pouring down, and the muddy road was almost an inch On the muddy road, a four-wheeled carriage sank into the mud, and no matter how much he beat the four sturdy Mongolian horses pulling the cart, the cart did not move, which made the coachman anxious. So a greeting, a dozen soldiers in raincoats walked out of the team that passed by the carriage, and everyone pulled, pushed, pushed, and pushed, and in the sound of the trumpet, finally pushed the trapped carriage up, and then the carriage moved forward with difficulty.

Wang Jintang stood on the side of the road, looked at the heavy carriage and went away, raised his hand to wipe the rain on his face. Then he turned his head and glanced at the soldiers who were walking silently.

Rainwater trickles down the hillsides on either side of the road and pools into streams on the mountain road, turning the entire avenue into a muddy pool. The march here was a test for all, and in order to facilitate the advance, many officers and soldiers took off their cloth shoes and marched barefoot, and even so, both feet were often trapped in the mud, which seriously affected the march.

"Company Commander Wang! Company Commander Wang! ”

A staff officer rushed up the team from behind, and caught up with Wang Jintang like a Yangge.

Now Wang Jintang is already the acting company commander, but the staff officer is not his subordinate, but a staff officer of the battalion headquarters.

"What's the matter?"

Wang Jintang also shouted at the top of his voice, now the sky is thundering, the rain is falling all around, talking face-to-face, it is not possible not to raise his voice. The staff officer was shouting the same way.

"The battalion commander called you!"

The staff officer shouted loudly, Wang Jintang nodded, followed the staff officer to the back of the team, and a few minutes later, met with the battalion commander.

Like Wang Jintang, the battalion commander was also covered in muddy water, barefoot, and there were several staff officers standing beside him. When Wang Jintang arrived, the battalion commander was studying the map with the staff officers, and several soldiers had set up a tent with their hands to shield them from the rain.

"Battalion commander, your name is groove"

Wang Jintang walked into the tent and asked loudly.

"There was a flash flood on the other side of the mountain, and the original march plan was revised. Company Commander Wang, just now the regimental headquarters came with an order, telling us to change the route of the march, detour from the trail here, and then establish a position here."

The battalion commander said on the side. While pulling Wang Jintang to his side, he raised his hand and pointed to the map.

Wang Jintang followed the battalion commander's finger. On the map, he saw a hill that had just been marked. But the hill had no name, and no elevation was known, so the distance could only be roughly calculated on a scale, and the place was not very far from their present position, more than twenty miles at most.

"Company Commander Wang, I will send Staff Officer Tian to follow you. You are in the front and act as the vanguard. Since I don't know if the Japanese have already occupied this place, you should be careful when you go over, if the Japanese army has already occupied this mountain, you don't have to storm it, just choose another position near the trail to defend it, and wait for the main force to rush over to support you. I sent artillerymen with some mortars to strengthen you, and you told the soldiers to stop their advance and bring two more shells each. ”

The battalion commander's order was clear, Wang Jintang nodded, and rushed back to the company with Nawakata Staff Officer. After replenishing the shells, the order was given. The troops were transferred to a mountain road and moved lightly.

The avenue is difficult to walk, and the trail is even more difficult to move forward. Because the rain flowed down the mountain, the trail was very slippery, and Wang Jintang and his subordinates had to use their hands and feet to crawl on the trail, and from time to time someone slipped and fell, and then was pulled up by his comrades. In a short time, all the officers and men of this infantry company were covered in mud, and even the weapons were covered with mud.

On this road, Wang Jintang and his subordinates were all stumbling, because they were wearing raincoats, and the road was slippery, their march was very slow, but only twenty miles away, they actually walked all morning, until it was almost noon. only to get close to the goal.

Out of prudence, Wang Jintang did not lead his troops straight to the top of the mountain, but stopped in a valley a mile away from the top of the mountain, and ordered the officers and men to rest on the spot, eat dry food, and clean up the mud-stained weapons. They did not follow the trail, but directly climbed over a mountain ridge and bypassed it from behind, and as for the company, they handed it over to the deputy commander of the company, agreed on the time, and rushed from the trail.

Because the rain was still falling, it took more than an hour to climb the mountain, and Wang Jintang led two squads to finally reach the mountain, but there was no enemy, so the mountain was occupied by him.

Staff Officer Tian took out the barometric altimeter. Looked at the readings.

"At an altitude of 590 meters, it is called "Zhuhaigao." All right. ”

Wang Jintang had no objection to Staff Officer Tian's suggestion, anyway, it was just a code name, and what he was concerned about now was how to defend here.

The Quan Heights are located directly in front of a ridge. In front of the three sides is a steep slope, only the north side is connected to the ridge, the terrain is very dangerous, and the mountain is sparsely wooded, and the horizon is open, you can look down on the path to the south, as long as you establish a firm position on the high ground. That trail is a situation where one husband is at a loss and ten thousand people cannot be opened.

It is not accurate to say that it is a trail, the mountain trail is wider than the average trail, and you can walk several people side by side, because it is a dry riverbed, and it is raining. Several inches of rainwater had accumulated on the riverbed. But it wasn't enough to stop the mountain. It can still be used as a road.

Wang Jintang chose the artillery position at the first time, this time he was ordered to act as the vanguard, his company brought a total of nine light mortars, and a lot of artillery shells, relying on these mortars, you can easily block the front of the path, if you dig out infantry bunkers on the top of the mountain, this high ground is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Although the main force behind had not yet followed, Wang Jintang still decided to dig the trench immediately. So at the sound of the order, the soldiers of the two squads brandished the sapper shovels and iron manuscripts that they carried with them. Dig up the slopes and summits of the mountains full of mud and mud.

An hour later, several foxholes had been dug up. At this time, the company deputy also led the infantry company behind to catch up, and the troops were all together. The excavation of the two trenches began immediately, and Wang Jintang personally led some soldiers to the top of the hill to cut down trees, one to clear the horizon, and the other to collect timber. Build an anti-artillery bunker as a company headquarters.

The sky was still thundering and torrential rain. This made construction more difficult, the fortifications on the heights were built slowly, and the dug foxholes and trenches quickly accumulated rainwater half a man's depth, and the officers and men had to find ways to build some drainage tunnels, and in these weather conditions, it became very difficult to lay mines.

At almost five o'clock in the afternoon, the sentry assigned by Wang Jintang at the foot of the mountain suddenly reported that the enemy had come at the foot of the mountain, at least several hundred people, and they were also dragging mountain artillery.

Wang Jintang immediately made a decision and ordered the troops to immediately end the construction of fortifications, enter the position, and hide themselves. Prepare to intercept that enemy force.

After more than ten minutes, the Japanese army finally came into sight, Wang Jintang carefully observed the Japanese army with a telescope, obviously, they were planning to advance east through that trail, and it was likely to be the forward force that was ahead of the main force.

The Japanese army had come along the dry riverbed, as it approached the heights. The commanders of the Japanese army were apparently aware of the importance of the high ground. So the troops were ordered to stop, and a few soldiers were sent to reconnoiter the hillside.

"***, it's quite cunning."

Wang Jintang took a sip, put the telescope on the ammunition box beside him, and then whispered the order to go down, and the troops were ready for battle. And specially instructed the artillery and sniper Japanese commanders.

The Japanese soldiers who had gone up the mountain to search for them soon approached the hillside, and because of the steepness of the mountain, they could not just climb to the top of the mountain, but stood at the foot of the mountain and looked at the top of the mountain through the heavy rain curtain for a moment, and then walked back again.

Seeing this scene, Wang Jintang did not give the order to open fire, he raised the telescope again and observed the Japanese army.

The Japanese scouts apparently reported to their superiors that there was no sign of the enemy on the mountain. The Japanese commander ordered the troops to continue eastward along the dry riverbed, but before they could go over, the Japanese commander ordered a few mountain artillery shells to be fired on the high ground.

A shell fell not far from Wang Jintang, and the dirt that was blown up flew everywhere, Wang Jintang hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to let this small unit go, and the battalion headquarters Tian staff officer also supported his decision, so a battle that should have started immediately was postponed.

However, it was not delayed for long, just half an hour after the advance force had passed. The main force of the Japanese army drove over, and thousands of people crowded into the riverbed, lined up in columns, and made a difficult trek to the east.

This Japanese army was obviously planning to retreat to the east, and Wang Jintang's troops were tasked with preventing them from retreating, which was directly related to the outcome of this battle, and Wang Jintang was now under great pressure, and he had to lead his troops to jam this Japanese retreat road.

At noon yesterday, the East Route Column commanded by Zhou Daogang had joined forces with the West Route Column commanded by Wu Luzhen, and had surrounded the main Japanese force that had arrived from the direction of Dagushan from the east and west directions.

The commander of the Japanese army, seeing that the situation was not good, immediately ordered a retreat after making contact with the squadron. However, the commander of the squadron would not let the Japanese army jump out of the encirclement like this.

Wang Jintang's troops were a small unit in the North Route Column that was ordered to carry out the northern interspersed mission, and their task was simple, that is, to prevent the Japanese army from retreating from the north to the east.

"Fortunately, there was no ground in the riverbed just now."

Wang Jintang secretly rejoiced that he was a big fish. However, he was also a little worried, after all, the battalion commander had not yet led the main force to rush to reinforcements, and his current infantry company was a little weak against thousands of Japanese troops. "Staff Officer Tian, can we fight?

Wang Jintang asked the Tian staff officer from the battalion headquarters, but as soon as the words came out, he immediately regretted it.

"I see, it's better to fight." Wang Jintang immediately answered his own question.

Staff Officer Tian also smiled and nodded. Stretched out his hand and patted Wang Jintang's shoulder, and said:

"That's right.

Beat! ”

"Tom! Tong! ”

A few dull cannon shots came from the artillery array, and the blocking battle began.