Hong Chaoyuan only learned the news of the great changes in the city when he arrived in Linqing City.

The distance from Xiabao Temple to Linqing County is not very far, and the Fifth Brigade has no heavy artillery, and the marching speed is very fast. Soon, the intelligence of a series of changes in the city was gathered in front of Hong Chaoyuan, the commander of the Fifth Brigade, Hu Xuerong, the political commissar, and Zhang Yicheng, the chief of staff.

As soon as he heard that Wang Laixian's First Route People's Army dared to besiege Linqing County to resist the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yicheng, the chief of staff of the Fifth Brigade of the Sect, who had always been elegant and elegant, gritted his teeth and roared loudly: "Grandma is a bear, the turtle king is bullied to the head!" Illiterate and touching signboards, daring to use knives and guns in the base of the instructor, Lao Tzu has seen it for the first time since the breakthrough of the Xiangjiang River. Brigade commander, give the order, I will lead a regiment first, disarm all these guys, whoever dares to resist, Lao Tzu will kill him! ”

Political Commissar Hu Xuerong thought about it for a moment and said: "This matter is very important, and we must resolutely fight back!" Wang Laixian's move is undoubtedly an example for many people who want to be Han Annihilation, and our army must resolutely defeat Wang Laixian, so that those who want to be Han Annihilation are afraid and dare not openly surrender to the enemy. ”

Hong Chaoyuan was a regiment-level cadre when he was in the Soviet area, and he has been tested in the past few years and has become a first-class general under Liu Yimin, how can he not know how to deal with this group of stragglers? He immediately ordered: "The chief of staff will lead the first regiment to detour to the east gate, the political commissar will lead the second regiment to enter the city from the north gate, the third regiment will enter the city from the south gate, and the brigade direct troops, the new fourth regiment, and the supplementary regiment will enter the city from the west gate, and encircle Wang Laixian's first road people's army and the 16th detachment of Ji Zhanao, and disarm them all." Those who dare to resist will be wiped out! ”

After giving the order, Hong Chaoyuan pointed his horsewhip in the direction of Linqing: "Attack Linqing and eliminate all Han annihilation and reactionary forces!" After speaking, he took the New Fourth Regiment, the Supplementary Regiment and the brigade direct troops to the west gate of Linqing.

After Zhang Linzhi went to the headquarters of Wang Laixian's First Route People's Army, Xu Yunbei, Li Kuiyuan, and Shi Lieguang, who were actually in charge of the specific work of the Northwest Shandong Special Committee, quickly organized the county brigade and the 10 detachments to control the key points in the county town and make preparations for contingencies. After Zhang Linzhi's guards came back to report the situation, several people raised their vigilance, and Xu Yunbei went directly to the 10th detachment, commanded the troops together with the detachment leader Zhang Weihan, and prepared to counterattack Wang Laixian's attack and provocation. Li Kuiyuan and Shi Lieguang gathered the county brigade and guarded the four city gates and the county political axe. By the time Wang Laixian's troops came violently, our army was already in full swing and opened fire directly.

Wang Laixian's troops mainly rely on strong troops, but in fact, the battle is still a bandit style, that is, they rush up, there is no rule at all, and several of them have also received key education from the special committee of northwest Lu, and they have quite a view on Wang Laixian's open and [***] and the Eighth Route Army's tearing face as a Han annihilation. In this way, the battle besieging our army was almost child's play.

After the main force of the Fifth Brigade entered the city, several main regiments quickly launched firepower, which immediately beat the morale of the First Route Army.

Although Wang Laixian's first people's army was a bandit team, the vast majority of them were recruits recruited by Wang Laixian after he raised the banner of resistance. These soldiers were all local youths, and the purpose of joining the army was to resist the war. After receiving Wang Laixian's order to attack the Eighth Route Army, many people couldn't figure it out, and they didn't want to fight, not to mention that they had no formal military training and their combat quality was extremely poor. When the main force of the Fifth Brigade wearing steel helmets came over, except for those bandits who were desperate, the vast majority of the soldiers of the First Route People's Army automatically laid down their weapons and waited for the Eighth Route Army to deal with them. As a result, the troops of the First Route People's Army quickly collapsed.

The departments of the Fifth Brigade were not polite and directly began to capture prisoners. The 10 detachments and county brigades that were holding on were overjoyed when they saw the arrival of the main force, and they fought their way out of the position and guided the main force to encircle and suppress the backbone bandits of the First Route Army who were stubbornly resisting.

Wang Laixian never dreamed that as soon as he ordered the siege of the county brigade and the ten detachments, he ran head-on into the main force of the Eighth Route Army that had just arrived, and the troops collapsed in less than a round. Therefore, when the signal corps reported that the main force of the Eighth Route Army had entered the city and defeated the First Route People's Army in one fell swoop, Wang Laixian still didn't believe it, grabbed the signal corps, and shouted: "You fucking lied about the military situation, Lao Tzu killed you!" ”

Before the signal corps could defend itself, Liu Guanqian ran back in a rage, and shouted when he opened his mouth: "Commander Wang, the main force of the Eighth Route Army is back, and the troops have been dispersed, so run quickly!" ”

Only then did Wang Laixian understand that the main force of the Eighth Route Army had really returned, and as soon as his hand was released, the signal soldier sat on the ground with his buttocks.

Seeing Wang Laixian's performance like this, Zhang Linzhi laughed in his heart and said: "Commander Wang, the main force of our army has arrived in Linqing, I think you should be captured!" ”

Wang Laixian had already become a gambler who had lost his gambling at this time, his face was blue and he was sweating profusely. Hearing Zhang Linzhi say this, he realized that he was completely planted this time. Fortunately, the people who are willing to be Han annihilation are relatively thick-skinned, Wang Laixian immediately hugged Zhang Linzhi's fists, and even said that he was confused for a while, and asked Director Zhang to do a lot, don't care, quickly contact the head of the Eighth Route Army, stop attacking the First Route People's Army, avoid accidental injury, and weaken the resistance force.

Zhang Linzhi was thinking about how to answer, when he heard a sound of footsteps, and a group of cadres and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army walked into Wang Laixian's headquarters. The first person was medium-talented, black and thin, with a fierce face, and his eyes flashed, and he knew at a glance that he was a fierce general who had been in battle for a long time. Behind him were two white-faced scholar-like figures: one with a round face and thin eyes, full of smiles; A tall, thin and suave one. Xu Yunbei, Zhang Weihan, Li Kuiyuan, and Shi Lieguang followed behind them. Zhang Linzhi knew that the head of the main force of our army to reinforce Linqing had arrived.

Naturally, it was Hong Chaoyuan, commander of the Fifth Brigade, Hu Xuerong, political commissar, and Zhang Yicheng, chief of staff, who came in. Seeing Zhang Linzhi, Shi Lieguang cheered and directly pulled Zhang Linzhi to his side.

Hong Chaoyuan's voice was cold: "Which one is Wang Laixian, Commander Wang?" ”

Zhang Linzhi was about to introduce to Hong Chaoyuan, when he saw Wang Laixian trembling and saying: "Contemptible people, dare to ask the head of your army your surname?" ”

Hong Chaoyuan's voice became even colder: "You don't deserve to know my name!" You are so bold, you dare to rebel and surrender to the enemy in the county town of Linqing controlled by our army, and dare to attack our left-behind troops and detain senior cadres of our party, I think you are tired of life! Grab it! ”

As soon as the words fell, several soldiers rushed up, knocked Wang Laixian and Liu Guanqian to the ground, and tied them up after dividing five by two.

After the soldiers escorted Wang Laixian and Liu Guanqian down, several people introduced each other. Zhang Linzhi didn't know the situation outside, and anxiously asked how the situation was with the 16th detachment and Ji Zhanao, but Hong Chaoyuan's voice was still so cold, and he replied directly that the 16th detachment had been disarmed, and Ji Zhanao, like Wang Laixian, had been arrested.

Zhang Linzhi felt that the policy should be relatively lenient in dealing with Ji Zhanao and the 16th detachment, so he said whether to release Ji Zhanao and assist our army in rectifying the 16th detachment, and let the 16th detachment help our army defend the city.

Hong Chaoyuan directly told him that it was impossible, and there were rules for dealing with these bandit-born guys. We must find out the crimes and evils committed in the past and give an explanation to the common people. You can't once kill people and overdo goods, commit a lot of crimes, and become a soldier of resistance, who can fight against the water or escape anytime and anywhere. Our army wants loyal, elite and strong troops, and this kind of non-mainstream unit must be reformed before it can be included in the training of new recruits. Our army does not need such troops with extremely low combat effectiveness to assist in defending the city, and if they are assisted, they will have to send troops to monitor them and affect the combat of the troops.

Zhang Linzhi saw Hong Chaoyuan say this, knowing that Wang Laixian and Ji Zhanao would not be able to fall under the mentor, so he didn't say more, and directly introduced to Hong Chaoyuan the information that the army would attack from two ways.

After listening to the information, Hong Chaoyuan said: "Don't think about the 21st Division from Dexian, they have been completely annihilated by our army. Our task is to deal with the 4th Brigade of the Reading Force, to attract them, not to let them run away. Gain time for the main forces of our army to rush to annihilate them. In view of the fact that the Yue army was attacking during the day and the enemy's planes could assist in the battle, our army had to make use of the tunnels in Linqing City and nearby villages to engage in mine warfare and tunnel warfare on a large scale, so that the Yue army would not only be beaten everywhere, but would also not be able to give full play to its air superiority. Therefore, Secretary Zhang and Secretary Xu are requested to lead the 10 detachments, the guard company and the baggage battalion of our brigade to take immediate action to escort the prisoners of the 1st Route People's Army and the 16th detachment to Nangong in southern Hebei, and go to Nangong to carry out ideological transformation and adaptation of these prisoners. Secretary Li and County Magistrate Shi led the county brigade and district team to immediately arrange for the people in Linqing County and the surrounding areas to be transferred overnight, and the transfer location was west of the canal. Our army is going to meet the Fourth Brigade of Reading Power Mixed Brigades here, and tomorrow this Linqing City will be the battlefield, and the masses must not be allowed to suffer losses. ”

As soon as they heard that the main force of the 21st Division of the Chinese Army was completely annihilated by our army, Zhang Linzhi and others were so shocked that they couldn't keep their mouths shut. However, time was pressed and there was no opportunity to inquire about the battle situation in detail, so several people immediately acted separately according to Hong Chaoyuan's deployment.

When parting, Zhang Linzhi took Hong Chaoyuan's hand and said: "Brigade Commander Hong, although our army has strong combat effectiveness, it is really difficult to deal with the army, so if it doesn't work, give up Linqing." lest they be surrounded by the army and cause heavy losses to the troops. ”

Hong Chaoyuan laughed: "Secretary Zhang is too worried!" A brigade of devils has come to the hands of our instructor, and it is too late to escape for his life, where is the need for us to give up Linqing! You can leave with confidence, after arriving in Nangong, our army's training headquarters will quickly transform and reorganize these troops. You go there and wait for the triumph of our army! ”

After Zhang Linzhi and Xu Yunbei led the county brigade and ten detachments to escort the prisoners away, Hong Chaoyuan, Hu Xuerong, and Zhang Yicheng seized the time to inspect the tunnels and fortifications of Linqing City. In the end, the three of them reached an agreement, and after planting mines and explosives bags at the city gate to severely damage the enemy, they put the devils into the city, relying on the tunnels and courtyards in the county town to fight with the enemy in the streets, and stir up with them, so that the devils' planes could not play a role.

Zhang Yicheng was the chief of staff of the former instructor, and he was very good at formulating operational plans, and he quickly came up with operational plans.

Hong Chaoyuan saw that Zhang Yicheng divided the troops into three parts according to the structure of the brick city and the earth city of Linqing City, teaching the 13th regiment to defend the earth city, the 14th regiment and the new fifth regiment to guard the brick city, and teaching the 15th regiment, the supplementary regiment and the brigade direct troops to guard Longshan.

After reading the battle plan, Hong Chaoyuan proposed that Longshan was just an artificial earth hill formed by clearing the silt accumulated in the canal, which was not dangerous to defend, and it was easy to expose the troops to the enemy's aircraft and artillery fire, causing unnecessary losses. It should be directly abandoned to defend Longshan, and all the troops should be hidden in the city, with Phoenix Ridge, Aotouji, mosque, Daning Temple, Jingning Temple, Tianning Temple, Manning Temple, etc. as the core positions, open up various courtyards, and use tunnels as connecting channels to consume the enemy in the city.

As soon as Hu Xuerong and Zhang Yicheng heard this, they knew that the brigade commander's proposal was reasonable, and as soon as the three of them discussed it, they immediately adjusted their deployments, with Zhang Yicheng commanding the 13th Regiment and the New Fifth Regiment to defend Tucheng, and Hong Chaoyuan and Hu Xuerong commanding the 14th Regiment, the 15th Regiment, the Supplementary Regiment, and the brigade direct troops to defend the Brick City. The whole brigade immediately took action, quickly set up positions, planted mines and explosives packages, and paid special attention to guarding against devils and dogs jumping over walls and discharging poison gas.

After the order to fight was issued, the regiments moved quickly and began earthwork. Telephone lines from the brigade headquarters to the regimental positions were connected by the communications link, the engineer battalions were responsible for laying mines and explosive packs, and the regiments were familiarizing themselves with the tunnels, opening up the communication between the compounds, and constructing bunkers and barricades. There was a hot atmosphere in Linqing City.

After Hong Chaoyuan arranged the battle deployment, he sent a telegram to Liu Yimin, reporting in detail the terrain of Linqing City and the deployment he had made. In particular, on the disposition of Wang Laixian's First Route People's Army and the 16th Detachment of Ji Zhanao, Hong Chaoyuan made a detailed report and asked for instructions.

After receiving the telegram, Liu Yimin, who was on the march, sent a telegram agreeing to Hong Chaoyuan's deployment, pointing out that if necessary, he could abandon the Tucheng and attract all the enemies to the brick city for street fighting. Tomorrow said that one day, the Fifth Brigade of the Jiao will be tested by blood and fire, and I believe that the heroic Fifth Brigade will definitely be able to defeat the frantic attack of the Fourth Brigade of the Reading Power Mixed Brigade, and create conditions for the main force to rush to Linqing at night and completely annihilate the devils.

As for the handling of Wang Laixian's First Route People's Army and the 16 th Detachment of Ji Zhanao, Liu Yimin made it clear that the handling was correct, and he explicitly ordered that all miscellaneous armed forces should be taught the Fifth Brigade method in the future, that all the motley armed forces should be disarmed first and then reorganized, that the backbone reactionary elements should be eliminated, and that they should be dispersed and incorporated into all units of our army. It is necessary to transform the various motley armed forces into a real Eighth Route Army through complaints and three investigations, resolutely avoid the mistake of blindly recruiting and recruiting in order to expand the size of the contingent, and ensure the purity of our army, its cohesion, and its combat effectiveness.

At the end of the telegram, Liu Yimin once again stressed the need to make solid preparations to guard against the use of poison gas by devils, that every soldier should prepare a wet towel, and that the cadres should check each person to ensure that it is implemented.

(To be continued)