The Japanese army was now unable to advance or retreat, and its supplies were insufficient, so it had to stop the pursuit and retreat to Zhangjiakou. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

At the time of the retreat, the problem came, and after two days of walking, the Japanese army ran out of food.

Day 3. The Japanese army saw a Mongol family in the valley and surrounded it.

This family had more than 50 sheep and more than a dozen horses, all of which were stolen by the Japanese army. There were two elderly people, two middle-aged people, and four children in the Mongolian family, all of whom were killed. The livestock grabbed this time gave the Japanese army two days of provisions.

After two days, however, the herders were no longer to be found. The herdsmen along the way seem to have been informed by someone, even the cattle and sheep, and the tents with the population, all left.

Walking further on, on the way back, drinking water became a big problem.

This is a grassland, there is a small river, but in winter the river is dry. There are puddles in some places on the creek, and the herdsmen drink their horses. This winter is bitterly cold, with not much water, not even ice. Horse manure is thrown into almost all watered puddles, and horses don't drink the water, and people can't drink it.

The Japanese had no choice but to dig wells to find water in each place they visited.

In this way, the Japanese army moved more slowly.

After the Japanese army ran out of food, they contacted Zhangjiakou. Zhangjiakou made great efforts to mobilize a transport plane and use the plane to airdrop grain.

After holding out for a few days, the Japanese finally came to the vicinity of the yellow flag. The results of the plane's reconnaissance also came, saying that the people with yellow flags had fled, and the town was almost empty.

I haven't seen the Japanese soldiers in the villages and towns for a long time, and I want to go in and rest too much.

The vanguard of the Japanese army marched into the town, and at first it was cautious, but soon found that there was no one in the town and relaxed.

It's even better if you can find something to eat. So, the Japanese army began to knock on the door. If they don't open, they will smash it with the butt of their gun.

Suddenly, the guns went off and bullets were fired in every house. The people in the house suddenly opened fire, and the devils in front of the door were caught off guard and were hit squarely, and most of them died before the guns could be reached.

After less than 20 minutes of fighting, the Japanese army entered the town, the gunfire stopped, and after searching, it was found that there was no one in the town, and the well was also thrown with dung, which was human feces.

It was freezing on this day, and I had to dig a well.

The Japanese army had a way to dig wells in people's houses. But he couldn't find a grain of food, so he continued to starve.

The Japanese waited until the planes dropped food, repaired for the day, and left the yellow flag.

After leaving the yellow flag, the front to the hilly area, before walking twenty miles, was ambushed, the platoon guns on the earthen hills on both sides were dense and urgent, two rows of guns down, immediately retreated, and when the Japanese army returned fire, rushed up, the other party had already ridden away.

On this section of the road, the Japanese army felt a huge pressure, as if they were being targeted by wolves, and every time they didn't go far, someone always attacked, and every time they attacked, they must die. At night, the attacks became more frequent, and it seemed that several thousand people took turns attacking them.

In the past two days, the number of opposing troops has been much larger, and each attack has a thousand people, all of them cavalry, who have laid an ambush on the mountain beam, and they will run away after fighting. The casualties of the Japanese troops, who had lost their combat effectiveness due to hunger and thirst, increased dramatically.

The Japanese army walked for another three days before reaching Huade County. In Huade County, they suffered another street battle, this time the street battle was fierce, nearly 1,000 people were ambushed in the county town, and the weapons were more advanced, and they retreated after an ambush.

This time the Japanese again suffered huge losses, killing almost three hundred people and wounding five hundred.

The Japanese army left Huade County, and along the way there were ambushes again, ambushes again and again. He was beaten more than ten times a day, and dozens of people were killed each time.

By the time the Japanese army returned to Zhangbei to join the receiving troops, less than 1,000 of the 3,000-strong troops remained, and half of the living were wounded. The psychology of the living people has been cast a huge shadow, and they are not only afraid of the Eighth Route Army on the grassland, but also afraid of the grassland.

This fear soon spread among the Japanese army.

Later, the Japanese army summed up a report that for the Mongolian steppe, the Japanese army should not go deep, and only need to control the county seat. Outside the county seat, it is neither necessary nor safe.

The Jinzhou column also paid a big price this time.

This campaign was completely designed by the Jinzhou Column itself, and it took a lot of police force to prepare for this campaign

Although the Japanese troops were lured in front of them by small units, many people were required to reconnoiter the enemy's situation for them, and they did not transmit information and provide them with supplies. These people also had to inform the Mongolian people along the way to leave quickly, and once they were not notified in time, and a Mongolian family died. For this incident, a Mongolian squad leader was warned and punished.

On the way to collect the Japanese troops, Wang Wenbin and Du Xigang took turns to ambush and fight street battles, and each time it was a small force attack. At this time, although the rest of the Japanese army was hungry, its combat effectiveness was still very strong. In every battle, the casualties of the Jinzhou column were relatively large, and it was really difficult to transport the corpses and wounded soldiers every time.

These days, the entire Jinzhou column has suffered more than 500 casualties, consumed a large amount of food and ammunition, a large number of soldiers suffered frostbite, and consumed a large amount of medicine.

The most difficult thing is that the soldiers have to run desperately on different roads, and they have to rush to the front to ambush them, so the physical exertion is huge, and many soldiers have been tired and vomited blood. Fortunately, the Jinzhou column ate well and had sufficient physical strength, which could surpass the weak Japanese army.

This campaign was a tremendous exercise for the Jinzhou Column. Later, the Jinzhou Column became a unit that was good at long-distance raids and bad battles.

Since then, the vast grasslands in the hinterland of Inner Mongolia have been controlled by the Jinzhou Column. The Japanese were only able to control a small number of towns. In remote pastoral areas, and even in Outer Mongolia, the Jinzhou column came and went freely.

When Xiao Lu was examining the propaganda draft of this campaign, he sent a review telegram to Zhu Pengzuo, saying that our army's combat effectiveness is not very strong for three reasons: First, the quality of the soldiers is low, including cultural and political quality. Many people are uneducated, and after simply eliminating illiteracy after enlisting in the army, their quality has improved, but they are still inferior to the Japanese army.

Second, our military quality is not high, and this is relatively easy to solve, and it can be solved through training.

Thirdly, the equipment is not good, which is difficult because we do not have a high income and cannot afford to buy good weapons.

Therefore, we are not at all suitable for fighting a tough battle, and we need to immerse ourselves in hard work, fight guerrilla warfare, and do a good job in production.

In addition, Xiaolu also sent a secret telegram to Mao Zhou, Zhu Pengzuo and others, mainly to discuss sending more cadres and even senior cadres into the Northeast to lead the anti-Japanese resistance in the Northeast; Send a part of the Eighth Route Army into the Northeast Inner Mongolia and other base areas, so as to expand the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area and the Pingxi base area; Some refugees were relocated to Inner Mongolia and Northeast China. It is hoped that starting in the early spring of this year, cadres, a group of troops, and a group of displaced people will be moved.

This was later known as the Northeast Issue.

This matter has long been reported for discussion and has been agreed, but because the war is imminent, it has not yet been discussed and implemented. This time, the trail came up with a schedule.

However, I am afraid that this matter will have to be delayed, and Yan'an has a bigger matter to deal with, that is, the matter of the New Fourth Army. The ninth volume of the hundred regiments is over.