Song Zhenheng, secretary of the Shenze County Party Committee, listened to the speeches of Liu Yimin and Luo Ronghuan in Nangong together with the cadres of the Jizhong Army in Nangong and was inspired. After the main force of the instructor repelled the devils in one fell swoop, and our army reoccupied Jizhong, Song Zhenheng devoted himself to the construction of political power and local armed forces in Shenze, and the Shenze County brigade has grown to more than 500 people.

At this time, due to the reorganization of the troops in central Hebei, the Fifth Route Army pulled up by Zhang Zhengshen and Ma Yutang in Gaocheng suffered heavy losses in the last breakthrough in central Hebei, and directly stayed in southern Hebei to supplement training and was incorporated into the sequence of the 129th Division of the Southern Hebei Military Region, and the backbone of party members in Gaocheng County also stayed in southern Hebei with the army. In view of the fact that Gaocheng was too close to Shijiazhuang and that the situation of the struggle was complicated, the Jizhong Military Region transferred the brigades of Song Zhenheng, He Kunshan, and Shenze County to Gaocheng to carry out raids and guerrilla operations against the Shijiazhuang army.

After Song Zhenheng arrived in Gaocheng, the work was carried out smoothly. The people of Jizhong are highly motivated, the mass foundation is good, and our army has won successive battles, so Jizhong is basically controlled by our army, and all walks of life in Gaocheng naturally welcome the arrival of our army. On the basis of the county brigade, Song Zhenheng trained the militia, organized a political power, and launched a campaign of digging tunnels, digging trenches, laying mines, and firing cold guns, constantly infiltrating the tentacles of guerrilla warfare into the periphery of Shijiazhuang, causing the little devils in Shijiazhuang to live in peace every day.

Last night, Song Zhenheng and He Kunshan arrived at the post with the county brigade, and the task was to protect the summer harvest and prevent the little devils in Shijiazhuang from suddenly coming out to sweep and grab grain.

Gaocheng is located in the alluvial plain of the Hutuo River, with fertile land and beautiful water, rich in products, and is a large grain-producing county in central Hebei. At this time, although it was a war era, Gaocheng had experienced the blood and fire test of the last sweep of the army, but because it was a plain area, the soil was fertile, the irrigation was developed, and the wheat grew well, this year should be a bumper harvest year. In addition, with the backing of the Eighth Route Army, the common people have been living a stable life for a period of time recently, every household is smiling, and the fields and wheat fields are full of people's shouts and the shouts of livestock.

When he got up in the morning, Song Zhenheng washed his face, and together with He Kunshan, went to the entrance of the village to check the deployment of the county brigade.

Since the brief training in southern Hebei, Song Zhenheng has completely understood that the combat effectiveness of the troops comes from training. Therefore, after returning to Jizhong, he reported to the political commissar Nie who was still in Jizhong at that time, and stubbornly fought hard, insisting on a platoon from the entourage of the political commissar Nie, and using this as the backbone to pull up the Shenze County Brigade, which is now the Gaocheng County Brigade. With the weapons and ammunition supported by the instructors and the old Eighth Road as the backbone, the training of the county brigade soon became regular, and its combat effectiveness rose rapidly.

After arriving at Gangshang Town last night, the county brigade quickly laid down a defensive line in accordance with the tradition of the Eighth Route Army, and sent the latent post to five miles away.

Song Zhenheng and He Kunshan were both from the underground party and were not military cadres, but Xie Guangtang, the deputy captain of the county brigade, was an out-and-out red ghost, who was originally going to serve as the security guard of Nie's political commissar, but at the request of Song Zhenheng, he was sent to Shenze to help establish the county brigade. The soldiers of a platoon brought by Xie Guangtang were born in the 115th Division, and naturally had a deep understanding of our army's training and combat skills. Not bad, this post is a big town, just on the side of Deshi Road and Cangshi Road, more than 20 miles away from Shijiazhuang, where you can closely monitor the movements of the Shijiazhuang army. A militia has also been set up in the village, and in case of fighting, the militia can also help the county brigade to fight. The fly in the ointment is that due to the short time, the tunnels in the village have not yet fully formed a network, and it is not enough to only hide people and hide grain, but not for warfare.

According to Xie Guangtang's idea, it was necessary to quickly organize forces to dig tunnels. It's a pity that it's a busy farming period, and the villagers can't take care of it, and besides, it's not something that can be dug in a day or two. In desperation, the county brigade had no choice but to rely on the village to build a position.

When Song Zhenheng and He Kunshan arrived at the entrance of the village, most of the soldiers of the county brigade were resting in the open space around the village, leaving only the sentry to stand guard.

Song Zhenkun just wanted to go to Xie Guangtang to discuss the matter of asking the soldiers to help the villagers to grab the harvest in the morning, but there was a gunshot from afar, and his heart was tight, could it be that the devils in Shijiazhuang really came out to grab food?

Hearing the gunshots, the soldiers of the county brigade were all awakened, and after Xie Guangtang woke up, he pulled out his shell gun, looked around, and ordered the soldiers to enter the position and prepare for battle.

Song Zhenheng and He Kunshan found Xie Guangtang and asked if the latent post had discovered the devil.

Xie Guangtang is a native of Daxian County, Sichuan, and his mouth is full of Sichuan dialect: "The lurking posts are all melon babies, run back to report thi, shoot a shotgun!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the two lurking posts ran back, and with them were a dozen soldiers from the reconnaissance company of the military region.

When Xie Guangtang asked, he realized that it was not the gun fired by the latent sentry, and as soon as they found the devil, they ran back to report that it must have been the devil who shot at the people who were collecting wheat.

Xie Guangtang asked anxiously, "Have you figured it out?" How many devils? ”

The squad leader of the reconnaissance company of the military region reported that there were many devils, including tanks, armored vehicles, and cavalry, and that they should be a large unit of the 23rd Division in Shijiazhuang. The county brigade has to move quickly, it's too late.

When a few people were talking, there was a buzz overhead, Song Zhenheng looked up and saw four planes passing overhead, so he exclaimed: "The little devil even sent out the plane, is this here to grab food?" ”

He Kunshan said: "Old Song, Captain Xie, things are not simple, this posture is a bit like the posture of the devil last time. At that time, the 23rd Division used the strength of one wing and one wing of the 24th Division to advance east and west to open up the Deshi Road and the Cangshi Road. ”

Before a few more people could say more, one of the soldiers shouted: "Captain, the devil has come up." ”

Xie Guangtang raised the binoculars and looked at it, obediently, what are the devils doing? At the head was a squadron of spearheads, behind which was a large force of devils, four tanks and six armored vehicles in front, behind which were invisible, and cavalry on both sides. The road has been dug up, and the devil's tanks, armored vehicles, and cars can't run, so they simply rampage through the wheat fields.

Xie Guangtang turned around and said to Song Zhenheng and He Kunshan: "Political commissar, county magistrate, the devil is not sweeping and stealing grain, but to completely eliminate our Eighth Route Army in Jizhong, or at least to eliminate the resistance force of our Gaocheng." The two of you immediately led the 3rd Squadron and the 4th Squadron to withdraw to the county seat of Gaoxian County, notified the villagers to transfer, and let the squads and militias in each district quickly lay mines on the main road, and use the tunnels to attack and disturb the devils and delay the devil's attack speed. The reconnaissance squad hurriedly reported to the military district, and another big sweep of the devils began. I led the 1st Squadron and the 2nd Squadron to use the positions here to block the enemy, and cover the villagers on the post to move and go down the tunnel. Then use the trench to retreat to the county seat of Gaoxian, where we will meet, maybe this time we will fight with the devil. ”

Song Zhenheng experienced the last sweep and rolled out of the pile of dead people, knowing that he couldn't be a mother-in-law at this time, and he would live a few more lives for one more minute! However, the county brigade is here, the first squadron and the second corps are the main force, and Xie Guangtang is the military commander of the whole brigade, so if something happens, the loss will be great. immediately said: "I led the first squadron to leave cover, and County Magistrate He and Captain Xie led the main force back to Gaoxian County." ”

Xie Guangtang's eyes widened: "If you want you to withdraw, you can withdraw, what's the wordy?" Lao Tzu can run out if he stays, but if you stay, you have to die here. Remove! ”

Song Zhenheng stopped arguing at this time, because he knew that Xie Guangtang was born as a red ghost and was old in war, he said that if he could run out, he would definitely be able to run out, turned around and shouted, "The third squadron and the fourth squadron follow me", and took the lead in running to the trench at the edge of the village.

Xie Guangtang saw Song Zhenheng, He Kunshan, and the 3rd and 4th squadrons get out of the trenches, so he ordered a squad of soldiers to quickly return to the town, gather the militia, and organize the villagers to move. He turned around and ordered the soldiers not to raise their heads, and waited for the devils to hear the order within 50 meters before shooting, and they must hit the devils unguarded. After giving the order, Xie Guangtang pushed away the heavy machine gun shooter, grabbed the heavy machine gun grip himself, and stared at the devil with both eyes.

The squadron of devil spearheads came up. These man-eating beasts, because they were beaten by the main force of the instructor when they swept Jizhong last time, were a little less arrogant this time, and they were in groups of three or five, wearing short-sleeved military uniforms, wearing steel helmets, and carrying guns, forming a battle search formation and walking towards Gangshang Village.

Seeing that the devil arrived in front of him, even the black hair and rotten spots on his face could be seen clearly, Xie Guangtang shouted, "Fight!" The heavy machine gun in his hand roared away, interrupting the three devils in front of him at once.

The county brigade is not the main force, and the firepower is naturally incomparable with the main force. However, the basis of this Gaoxian County Brigade is a platoon of the troops accompanying Nie Rongzhen when he arrived in Jizhong, plus it was formed relatively early, and it was stained with the light of the instructor, in addition to the heavy machine guns, each squadron also has two light machine guns, and the soldiers also have one gun each. In addition, many times they attacked the enemy on the periphery of Shijiazhuang, and many of them were captured, although the firepower was far worse than the main force of the Eighth Route Army now, it was not bad at all compared with the firepower of the Red Army in those years. This is also the fundamental reason why Xie Guangtang dared to fight and block.

The first squadron and the second squadron suddenly opened fire, and the results of the battle came out immediately, and the devil's spearhead squadron gave dozens of lives in a daze, and the rest fell down one after another and began to shoot at the county brigade.

Xie Guangtang secretly shouted in his heart that it was a pity, if only he had known that the devils were coming, it would have been good to plant mines in front of the position, and at this time he could blow them up. But what's the use of sighing? This part of the devils must be repulsed, otherwise they will be completely glued. Alas, how nice it would be if the main forces were the main forces! It was an ambush, and the troops were twice as many as the little devils, and if it was the main force, the little devils would probably not have a few people left, and they would have run away a long time ago. However, Xie Guangtang knew that for the county brigade, it was already good to fight like this!

Xie Guangtang ordered the squad to shoot a platoon of guns, concentrate firepower to eliminate the devils, and force the devils to retreat. the crane gun yourself, keep shooting, and clean up the devils who are resisting.

With this platoon of guns, the casualties of the devils were large, and they finally began to cover the retreat alternately.

After the devil retreated, Xie Guangtang checked it, and the county brigade sacrificed a total of 9 soldiers, 21 hanging flowers, and 30 casualties were added together.

Xie Guangtang scolded "the dog's marksmanship is strangely accurate", so he ordered the remains of the martyrs to be buried, and the lightly wounded were bandaged and then withdrawn to the village, where they joined the squad that had entered the village in advance, and went to the east of the village to lay mines and deploy defenses, preparing to meet the retreat of the troops. The seriously wounded moved into the tunnels and hidden.

As soon as this side was arranged, the devil brigade came up, and soon the shells fell, blowing up the walls of Gangshang Town. As soon as the first round of shelling by the devils ended, the heavenly machine came to drop bombs again, drowning the whole town in smoke.

Xie Guangtang understood now, the devil is going to fight a big battle, his own number of people is not enough to stuff people's teeth, and if he fights here for a while, the devil may destroy the entire town, so he hurriedly ordered the troops to retreat, and went to the east of the village to meet with the militia and the team that organized the transfer, and hurriedly went down the road trench to transfer.

After withdrawing from Gangshang Town, Xie Guangtang turned around and held up the binoculars to see that it was indeed the main force of the little devils coming up, the fields were full of devils, and the devils on the left and right were making a detour to Gangshang Town, and if it was a little later, he couldn't withdraw if he wanted to.

At the same time as the Gaocheng County Brigade and the 23rd Division were fighting, the 24th Division dispatched by Cangxian County and the main force of the devils on the Baoda Road also began to assault, and the entire Jizhong was surrounded by wolf smoke. By noon, the Jizhong Military Region had already determined that the devils were using the 23rd and 24th divisions to open up the Cangshi Road this time, and the main force was the heavy army group heading south from Baoda Road, but the strange thing was that it was not clear the number of the devil's heavy army group. Because judging from the number, they are both the 23rd Division and the 24th Division, but these two divisions are obviously attacking the Cangshi Road.

After realizing the seriousness of the problem, Meng Qingshan and Lu Zhengyan did not dare to slack off, and while strictly ordering the local armed forces and militia to set up a minefield formation, using the tunnels to resist and delay the devil's attack, they quickly gathered the main force and prepared to fight the devil to see if they could repel the devil's attack. At the same time, it quickly reported to the Chen Guang Brigade of the 115th Division in Jizhong, reported the enemy situation, and requested the Chen Brigade to take unified command of the operation in Jizhong.

Chen Guang's military experience was much richer than that of Meng Qingshan and Lu Zhengying, and he immediately smelled a peculiar smell from the report of the Jizhong Military Region, for no other reason, the crow-like plane in the sky exposed the devil's intentions. Besides, although the little devil started smoothly at the beginning of the heavy encirclement and suppression of Jizhong last time, he was later beaten by the main force of the instructor and lost his armor and fell thousands of miles. This time, if they dare to encircle and suppress Jizhong again, they must be fully prepared, and their troops are definitely much larger than last time. In this way, it is necessary to consider a comprehensive battle plan, otherwise, Jizhong may fall again.

(To be continued)