Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Washzu Songpei himself, only to find that he could not be contacted, so he hurriedly sent a telegram to the wings and brigades of the 21st Division that were acting with Lieutenant General Washizsu Songpei, but the result was that they could not be contacted. Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo immediately made a decision, and immediately sent a report to the troops of the 21st Division who remained in Tokuxian, ordering them to report the time of the last contact with Lieutenant General Washizu Songpei, and after receiving the answer, Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo felt like he had fallen into a lump of ice, and his nerves twitched together, and he stumbled to report to General Terauchi Shouichi.

When General Terauchi Shouichi heard that he had lost contact with the main force of the 21st Division led by Lieutenant General Washizu Songhei last night, he angrily scolded "Baga" and swept all the things on his desk to the ground. When it was over, he grabbed his chair and lifted it high, and fell to the ground with hatred.

After the fall, General Terauchi Shouichi became more and more angry, completely forgetting the bearing of the Imperial Earl and Army General, and no longer had the demeanor of talking and laughing at the luncheon, staring at Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo with a pair of blood-red eyes, and scared Okabe Naosaburo to the point that his whole body was trembling slightly, for fear that His Excellency the General would be angry and take himself under the knife.

After staring at Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo for 10 minutes, General Terauchi Shouichi said in a hoarse voice: "Lieutenant General Washizu Songpei must have reported to the Yasukuni Shrine, and this must be Liu Yimin's masterpiece." The Fourth Brigade of Reading Power Mixed into Readings is in danger, Liu Yimin must use a force to firmly attract Reading Mixed Fourth Brigade in Linqing City, and tonight is the time for Liu Yimin's instructor to surround and annihilate them. Now that it is already dark, it is impossible for the aviation to be dispatched, and it is too late for other rescues, so the fourth brigade can only be mixed up by reading power. Referring to our judgment and the intelligence that the main force of the 21st Division might all be shattered, he ordered Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo of the Second Army to directly report to the base camp the reason why the main forces of the 21st Division, the Jade Shatter and the Fourth Brigade of the Reading Mixed Brigade, were in a desperate situation, and ordered him to mobilize heavy troops to rescue the Reading Mixed Fourth Brigade with all his might. Ordered Kawamura Dong, a fool, to give up all his baggage and make every effort to break through in the direction of the Jinpu line. The troops tasked with the task of clearing and suppressing Jizhong were ordered to quickly clear the remnants of Jizhong and cross the Deshi Road to attack southern Hebei with all their might. All the defenders of the Jinpu Line and the Pinghan Line were ordered to mobilize immediately, strictly block the outward passage from southern Hebei, and strictly prevent Liu Yimin's troops from flowing to other places. ”

After giving a series of orders, General Terauchi seemed to have exhausted all his strength, and his face turned pale.

Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo cautiously asked, "Your Excellency Commander, can you order the 22nd Division stationed in Handan to also quickly dispatch and attack the hinterland of southern Hebei to contain the main force of Liu Yimin's Instructor so that it does not dare to concentrate all its strength on attacking the Fourth Brigade of Reading Mixed Brigade?" In addition, can you let the reading power mix into the fourth brigade and stick to the spot, as long as you can hold on until dawn, it will be easy to do. ”

Shouichi Terauchi took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his face, nodded, and then asked Okabe Naosaburo coldly: "How long did it take for the 21st Brigade to break jade last time?" How long did it take for the three brigades of the Chahar Dispatch Army to shatter? How long did it take for Tianjin to fall? You can check how long it took for the main force of the 21st Brigade to break jade? The Fourth Reading Force Mixed Brigade can only break through the encirclement, and holding on to the spot can only lead to the annihilation of the entire army. ”

Okabe Naosaburo didn't say anything more, and hurriedly went to issue orders and mobilize troops.

General Shouichi Terauchi sat down on his chair alone, silently thinking about the map.

For the current battle situation, General Terauchi Shouichi felt a little powerless. Originally, it was a good situation for the three-way army to come together, but I didn't expect Nishio Shouzao to divide his troops and sweep away, intending to completely wipe out the resistance forces in Shandong, the idea was good, but Nishio Shouzao forgot that there was also a Liu Yimin tutor hiding on the side and staring at the imperial army, leaving all his warnings behind. It's okay now, the jade of the 21st Division is broken, and I am afraid that the 4th Brigade will be broken soon. This Liu Yimin is really the nemesis of the imperial army, and he dares to eat the imperial army troops one division after another. If this continues, then what is there to talk about occupying China?

Terauchi Shouichi had the intention to transfer back the troops that attacked Shanxi and concentrate all his efforts to eliminate the instructor, but the Shanxi war was a critical period, and if the troops were withdrawn at this time, the previous efforts would be wasted. Now we can only hope that the troops in central Hebei will move south, and the main force of the Shandong Second Army will go north to encircle Luxi and southern Hebei. There is another force that can be used, and that is the 14th Division of Tu Feiyuan. If Tu Feiyuan commanded the 14th Division and the 22nd Division to attack from south to north, it would definitely be a surprise army. In this way, the three-way army was all pressed towards southern Hebei and Luxi, and Liu Yimin could not escape being caught even if he had three heads and six arms.

However, in this way, the main forces of the national political axe in the direction of Xuzhou and northern Henan may get a chance to breathe, or even make a comeback, and the situation in the entire North China will deteriorate rapidly.

Another method is to build fortifications on the Jinpu Line, the Pinghan Line, the Deshi Line, and the Handji Highway, defend them heavily, and use the air force to bomb southern Hebei and Luxi every day, encircle all the instructors of Liu Yimin's teachings in this circle, and adopt a double economic and military blockade to trap and kill him. After the battles in Shanxi and Xuzhou achieved the goal of the campaign, he returned to the division and concentrated all his efforts to exterminate the instructor.

The stakes are so high that Terauchi Shouichi himself didn't dare to call the shots, so he called Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo again, told his two plans, and asked Okabe Naosaburo to sort them out and send them to the base camp for a decision from the base camp.

Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo received several orders in a while, and he was already dizzy, thinking to himself, he didn't know what kind of order he should carry out in front of the commander, let alone the troops below? This is even better, the commander kicked the ball directly to the base camp, which is simply wonderful. The provincial headquarters held the commander accountable and made him disembowelment or transferred to the reserves.

Thinking about it in my heart, Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo still had that sincere and frightened look on his face, and after the record, he went to send a report.

General Terauchi Shouichi judged it accurately, and as soon as it got dark, Major General Kawamura Dong felt the pressure. Countless Eighth Route Corps seemed to have come out of the ground and launched an active attack on the Fourth Brigade of Reading Mixed Brigade, which had already occupied most of the streets and buildings in Linqing. At this time, the Fourth Brigade of Reading Power Mixed Formation couldn't withstand it, and one courtyard and one courtyard retreated. Kawamura Dong had no choice but to order the troops serving as reserves outside the city to enter the city to support, and reluctantly stabilized the situation.

When Kawamura was thinking about how to defeat the squadron defending the city, a telegram from General Terauchi Shouichi arrived, crossed the Second Army, and directly ordered the Yomito Mixed Fourth Brigade to abandon all baggage and quickly break through. And explained that it was not Fan Zhuxian's troops guarding Linqing, but Liu Yimin's troops, the 21st Division is estimated to have been shattered, and the 4th Brigade is already a standard lone army.

Only then did Kawamura Dong realize that he had really fallen into the trap of the instructor of the Eighth Route Army, judging from the situation of destroying his own tanks and armored vehicles, this army was fully capable of holding Linqing, and the reason why they let themselves attack Linqing was to use Linqing City to tie themselves, and then destroy their reading power to mix into the Fourth Brigade when night came.

After carefully recalling the combat situation over the past day, Kawamura became more and more convinced that General Terauchi Shouichi's judgment was correct. Because after a day of fighting, he didn't catch a single prisoner of the other party, and even the wounded and corpses did not fall into his own hands, which shows that the other party is very calm, controls the rhythm of the battlefield, and even the corpses can be transferred smoothly.

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, he didn't dare to hesitate anymore, and kept cursing the cunning Zhina people and the cunning Eighth Route Army, who dared to disguise Fan Zhuxian's troops to deceive himself, and at the same time ordered the artillery brigade outside the city to immediately fire on the plot controlled by the Eighth Route Army in the city, covering the retreat of the troops, and preparing to shell and intercept the pursuers. The cavalry brigade was ordered to be the vanguard, and all units in the city quickly withdrew from the city and broke through to Liaocheng. He also telegraphed to Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo, imploring the Second Army to give tactical guidance and send powerful troops to advance in the direction of Liaocheng to meet his own breakthrough.

As soon as the order to retreat was given, the troops shrank their forces and rushed towards the city gates.

Kawamura Dong thought too beautifully, and it was a bit wishful thinking to want to withdraw from Linqing at this time.

After the start of the Linqing defense battle, Hong Chaoyuan, in order to firmly attract the Yue army, did not carry out a strong counterattack against the attack of the Yue army, on the contrary, he also ordered all troops to carry out a round battle, each regiment only left one battalion on the ground to fight with the enemy, and the other troops entered the tunnel for battlefield rest. In this way, the Fourth Brigade was able to capture most of the buildings and streets of Linqing relatively smoothly, and the casualties were not particularly huge.

As soon as it was dark, Hong Chaoyuan ordered all troops to increase their counterattack forces and compress the enemy. However, Hong Chao was far from being brutal, and knew that it was impossible for his own division to completely annihilate the Fourth Brigade and Regiment, and if he forced the enemy to be in a hurry, it was estimated that his Fifth Brigade would suffer very heavy casualties. Therefore, when Kawamura Dong organized the troops to counterattack in an attempt to stabilize the situation on the battlefield, Hong Chaoyuan ordered the troops to reduce the intensity of the attack, so that the enemy was confident that he could completely occupy Linqing and win time for the main force to arrive.

As soon as the river village Dong ordered the retreat, the devil's artillery launched a fierce artillery attack on the position of the Fifth Brigade under the guidance of the observer according to the situation of reconnaissance during the day.

The enemy's abnormal behavior immediately attracted Hong Chaoyuan's attention, because since the main force of the Yue army entered Linqing City, the enemy and us were intertwined, probably for fear of causing accidental damage, the enemy's artillery rarely fired, and even the planes rarely dropped bombs. Now it's dark, and the effect of shelling is definitely not as good as during the day, but the enemy is shelling on such a large scale, everything is abnormal, and everything is a demon, and the devil is going to fucking play tricks!

Sure enough, the troops reported that the army was disengaging from us and attempting to retreat.

Hong Chaoyuan sneered: "What did you do earlier, if you want to retreat at this time, you have to ask Lao Tzu if you agree!" "Immediately ordered the troops to attack on all fronts, resolutely hold back the Fourth Brigade of the Reading Force, and create conditions for the final annihilation of it.

Teaching the Fifth Brigade to attack with all his might, Kawamura Dong realized how wrong he was, this unit actually had so many infantry guns, mortars, grenadiers, and light and heavy machine guns, chasing his troops to the death, and everywhere there were the wails of Imperial soldiers who had been shot and shot.

Look at it if it's not a play, if you continue like this, it is equivalent to selling your back to the Eighth Route Army, or it won't be long before the troops will run out. The offensive of the Eighth Route Army must be resolutely defeated so that the troops can calmly retreat. Otherwise, even if you withdraw from the city, the Fourth Brigade will also disappear. Therefore, Kawamura Dong ordered the troops to stop retreating, concentrate on counterattacking, and be sure to counterattack the attack of the Eighth Route Army, and then retreat quickly.

In order to increase the counterattack force, Kawamura Dong even ordered the cavalry brigade that had taken the lead in retreating in the direction of Liaocheng to return immediately and enter the city to support the operation and ensure the smooth breakthrough of the main force.

The combat effectiveness of the little devils cannot be ignored, and if they stubbornly defend on the spot and fight back with all their might, the offensive of the Fifth Brigade will be stagnant. There is no way, our army is well-trained, and the army is even more famous for its well-trained. The grenadiers, machine guns, and 38 canopies of the little devil infantry squadrons and squads were fought with great precision and accuracy, and the dark night was not only conducive to the night and close combat of our army, but also conducive to the night combat and close combat of the Japanese army, and as soon as the troops left the courtyard and fortifications, the casualties immediately came up. After all, bullets don't recognize people, and anyone who stops them has to be sacrificed.

This is still a mentor unit built by Liu Yimin, if it encounters [***] other troops, the full counterattack of the Fourth Brigade and the Fourth Brigade will probably be defeated immediately.

The first battalion of the 13th Regiment of the Sect of Qi Fengnian, after the devils entered Linqing City, entangled with the enemy for a while, using the tunnels and courtyard fortifications to make the devils dizzy, and there were almost no casualties themselves. Then he was ordered to go to the tunnel to rest. Now that the devil is about to run, the brigade commander ordered the whole line to counterattack, and as the sharp knife of the Fifth Brigade, the 1st Battalion of the 13th Regiment naturally took the lead in attacking.

Qi Fengnian's mission is very clear, and the head of the regiment, Shen Nantang, ordered him to use the tunnel to detour to the south gate of Tucheng, seize the city gate, and block the retreat of the little devil.

Shen Nantang's order was difficult for the first battalion. At this time, the devil is organizing a retreat, and the south gate is the gate of life and death for the retreat of the army attacking Tucheng, and the army must be heavily gathered. At this time, a counterattack was launched towards the south gate, and the first battalion was in great danger. However, the first battalion is the sharp knife battalion of the 5th Brigade, and when the enemy is about to slip away, which one is not used by the first battalion?

Qi Fengnian led a battalion to advance along the tunnel, and when he reached the vicinity of the south gate, he found that the exit had been blocked by devils. Qi Fengnian had no choice but to turn into an exit on the left and exit the tunnel.

As soon as he got out of the tunnel, Qi Fengnian found that he was near Aotouji, so he had to take advantage of the night to quietly return to the south gate of Tucheng to ambush. Looking from a distance, I saw a large group of devil cavalry rushing towards the south gate of Tucheng with flashlights, needless to say that they were coming to reinforce the army in the city and meet the breakthrough.

Qi Fengnian called the instructor and several company commanders together and whispered, "Comrades, this team of devil cavalry has been sent to the door. The cavalry is not easy to fight, but the cavalryman's saber is very good, and I want to equip the whole battalion with a devil cavalry saber. Do you have confidence? ”

Several cadres nodded silently.

The deployment began in the year of prayer.

(To be continued)