It was already impossible to assassinate Wang Jingwei, but the early establishment of Wang's puppet regime did sound the alarm for Han Yunhua, and he couldn't help but think of another major event that was about to happen, and his opinion was a major event related to the Chinese nation and the whole world. In comparison, the current battle of North China is much inferior. Therefore, Han Yunhua ordered Qian Zhuangfei to immediately dispatch elite forces to pay attention to the situation in Europe, collect information on Europe from various sources, and ensure that major events in Europe were reported to Han Yunhua's desk as soon as possible.

But no matter what happens in the outside world, you still have to live your own life. Now the situation of the Battle of North China has gradually become clear, and in eastern Hebei, more than 80,000 people, including the 10th Division and the cavalry group, were blocked by Li Dayong's troops in the Qian'an area, and they did not advance an inch. Although the army used all the means at its disposal, it was stunned that it could not tear through the defense line of Li Dayong's department. Although there was the support of the 10th Regiment of the 2nd Division, they did not dare to go too deep into the defense area of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and both sides had been fighting in Zhangbei, Xinghe, and the first line, but both sides were very restrained, and almost all of them fought on a regimental and below the regimental level. In the north of Jin, the army mobilized troops of two brigades and regiments to contain and attack the defense line in the south of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, but it was blocked by the Yanbei detachment of the 120th Division and the Fengzhen Security Regiment and Qianqi Security Regiment of the Inner Mongolia Military Region in the area south of Fengzhen and north of Datong. In Jizhong, the Yue army was tragically besieged by the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region and the Jizhong Military Region, and most of the second brigade was annihilated, and even the brigade commander of the brigade, Lieutenant General Abe Guixiu, was also killed. Although it is said that there are still more than 10,000 troops in the Jizhong Military Region, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region together have more than 60,000 troops, and now it is not a question of whether the army will fight the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, but a question of Commander Nie Rongzhen's inability to find trouble with the army. Therefore, Abe's successor had no choice but to order the troops to be deployed on the spot to strictly prevent the sneak attack of the [***] team.

However, the situation in southern Hebei is still unclear, in the previous period of operations, the army only took a short week to defeat Gao Shuxun's troops, not only lost an infantry division, but also an infantry division was surrounded by the army in Wu'an, in addition to the new sixth division defending Yong'an County also suffered heavy losses, whether it was Chiang Kai-shek who was far away in Yucheng and the commander of the second theater Yan Xishan had already seen clearly, the new Eighth Army and the 69th Army had reached the countdown to destruction.

However, Han Yunhua knew that although the battle situation in southern Hebei had an absolute advantage on the surface, there was a fatal loophole in the army, that is, they did not know the true strength of the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei, let alone that the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei had reached a secret agreement with Gao Shuxun. At present, the distribution of the strength of the two infantry divisions and two infantry brigades of the Southern Hebei Attack Group is as follows: The Yue Army in Wu'an has two infantry brigades, the Yongan front line is the 32nd Division of the Yue Army led by Kimura Hyotaro, the supreme commander of the southward attack group, and the 35th Infantry Division is divided into two parts by Kimura Hyotaro and stationed in Shimen and Shahe respectively to ensure that the rear road of the southbound troops will not be cut off by the [***] team.

In Wu'an, the 3rd and 4th Read-Force Mixed Brigades of the Japanese Army, under the command of Major General Sasaki Toichi, fiercely attacked the county town of Wu'an, which was defended by the 181st Division of the 69th Army. Although the 181st Division, which had strong combat effectiveness, had a lot of combat effectiveness due to internal strife, it still supported for a full week under the attack of Sasaki to the first division, and caused heavy casualties to Sasaki to the first division. However, this is already the limit of the 181st Division, now there are only more than 3,000 people left in the 181st Division, and there is little ammunition left, in the 181st Division's telegram to Gao Shuxun asking for help, Division Commander Zhang Yuting made it clear that Wu'an would be captured by the Yue Army in two days at most, and the end of the 181st Division was also annihilated. The 32nd Division of the Chinese Army is now continuing to attack the defense line of the New Sixth Division on the Yongan front, and has achieved major results, the division headquarters of the New Sixth Division was detected by the artillery of the Japanese Army, so Kimura Hyotaro concentrated all the artillery to the location of the New Sixth Division's division headquarters for a full ten minutes.

Although it is said that the headquarters of the new Sixth Division was built underground, and a lot of reinforced concrete was used, it could not withstand such wanton and indiscriminate bombardment, and soon the top floor of the division headquarters collapsed, and all the officers of the entire division headquarters were buried in the ground. Fortunately, Ma Runchang was not in the division headquarters at that time, so he escaped by luck. However, there was a brief period of confusion in the command system of the entire New Sixth Division, and it was for such a short period of time that the army seized the opportunity to open the way with a large artillery and chariots, and finally tore a big hole in the right flank position of the New Sixth Division. In order not to be surrounded by the army, Ma Runchang decisively ordered the troops to retreat, and the county seat of Yongan was lost.

The loss of Yong'an County is definitely not good news for Gao Shuxun, but he has no way to save it at this point, he also knows that the troops on the front line have done their best, although the 32nd Division of the army is only a newly formed force, but with the 8,000 troops of the new Sixth Division, it is extremely rare to block the 32nd Division for 6 days.

The Yong'an defense line was lost, the northern gateway of Handan was opened, and Handan City became a stripped beauty, waiting for the ravages of the mob. However, Gao Shuxun also knew that no matter how hard it was, he would have to defend Handan City, because the main force of the Eighth Route Army had already set off for Wu'an, and it would not be long before Wu'an's army would withdraw, and then the troops of the Eighth Route Army would detour back to the back of the 32nd Division.

Now the key to the turning point of the war situation in southern Hebei is in his hands Gao Shuxun, as long as he can defend Handan City well, at least within a week without being broken through by the army, then the next battle will have a great change, and it will change in the direction of the new Eighth Army.

But it is not easy to defend Handan City, Handan City is not a city that is conducive to defense, and the city defense fortifications are in disrepair, although Gao Shuxun has mobilized a large number of troops and civilians to repair the city fortifications after taking over Handan City, and has also urgently built a lot of pillboxes and trenches, but it is impossible to raise the defense level of a city in less than half a month. And the biggest problem is that the number of troops is limited, but there are less than 10,000 people in the hands of Gao Shuxun in the big city of Nuo, and almost everyone in the new Sixth Division withdrawn from Yong'an County is wounded, and the pressure to defend Handan City is not ordinarily great.

Handan is different from Yong'an, Yong'an is a small county town, both the urban area and the urban population are far less than Handan, just such a small place, although the army used an infantry division, but in fact there is less than an infantry wing that can open fire, and the others cannot intervene.

But Handan City is different, let alone an infantry division, if Kimura Hyotaro wants to take Handan at all costs, the eight directions of Handan can be used as the main direction of attack, let alone an infantry division, even if it is three infantry divisions. Moreover, although the 32nd Division is only a C-class division that has just been formed, there are more than 14,000 people, which is only four or five thousand fewer than the miscellaneous army of the New Eighth Army.

However, soon Gao Shuxun no longer worried about the defense of Handan City, and just received a telegram from Chen Guang, saying that about six regiments of the Eighth Route Army were rushing to Handan to help Gao Shuxun's headquarters defend Handan City, and all the strength of these six regiments was under the command of Gao Shuxun. However, in order to reduce Chiang Kai-shek's suspicion of [***] and Gao Shuxun himself, Chen Guang hoped that Gao Shuxun could support the Eighth Route Army's 9,000 sets of [***] military uniforms, so that all the soldiers of these six regiments would change into [***] uniforms to fight.

For the requirements of the Eighth Route Army, Gao Shuxun was grateful, and he could still say no, the Eighth Route Army did not only help him defend Handan City, but also help him reduce Chairman Jiang's suspicions. Such an ally is a real ally, and the Eighth Route Army has really done a good job in buying people's hearts, Gao Shuxun thought in his heart.

Kimura Hyotaro is a commander with a lot of combat experience, he knows very well that the battlefield can decide the outcome of the war in one minute, and this is what the soldiers are quick to say, so after occupying Yong'an County, he did not stop more, but only left an infantry squadron to defend Yong'an County, and after protecting the wounded soldiers and baggage ammunition left in Yong'an, the large army continued to chase along the traces of the retreat of the New Sixth Division.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of August 25, the 32nd Division of the Chinese Army finally rushed to the front of the outer defense line of Handan. With the support of the Eighth Route Army, Gao Shuxun had more than 20,000 troops in his hands, while the 32nd Division's long-distance journey and the attrition in the previous period of combat showed that only less than 12,000 people could rush to the city of Handan.

Because of the relatively sufficient soldiers, Gao Shuxun was not hypocritical, and he was stunned to arrange four lines of defense between Xiaoyue Mountain, five kilometers outside Handan City, and Handan City, and he also built a lot of street fortifications in Handan City, and was ready to fight street battles with the army.

Gao Shuxun's intention was very simple, he wanted to take advantage of the geographical terrain to resist the attack of the Yue army, and when it was impossible for all the defense lines to be broken by the Yue army, he would also use the urban area to fight street battles with the Yue army. Do your best to stall for time and create conditions for the battle on Wu'an's side.

Gao Shuxun's performance was immediately reported to the former enemy headquarters in southern Hebei by Yang Shufeng, the supreme leader of [***], who supported the defenders of Handan. After Chen Guang received the telegram from Yang Shufeng, on the one hand, he secretly praised Han Yunhua's wisdom in knowing people, and on the other hand, he secretly said that this Gao Shuxun was indeed a real soldier who could be selfless before the national righteousness.

Kimura Hyotaro will not give Gao Shuxun time to prepare, because Kimura Hyotaro knows the preciousness of time better than Gao Shuxun, and every minute and second he is now in southern Hebei is won by the army of northern Henan, southern Lunan, and northern Jiangsu, compared to the garbage of Sun Liangcheng and Sun Dianying in northern Henan, the second group army is undoubtedly powerful, although the second group army does not belong to the most elite troops of the national political axe, but the second group army from the commander Sun Lianzhong to the soldiers has a kind of ruthlessness, This kind of second group army was formed in early August 1937 by the 26th Route Army, which was composed of the former Northwest Army, as the chief editor-in-chief, Liu Zhi, deputy commander-in-chief Sun Lianzhong, and the 27th, 30th, and 31st divisions of the group army were the basic units of the group army, which were under the command and jurisdiction of the First Theater, and the 52nd, 32nd, and Third armies all joined the battle sequence of the group army.

The group army was the first squadron to march into North China to reinforce the 29th Army after the 77 Incident, and fought against the Yue army in Liulihe, Liangxiang and other areas. Later, he was ordered to be transferred to the command of the Second War Zone and participated in the battle of guarding the Niangzi Pass of the Hebei and Jin Provinces. At the beginning of 1938, the group army was transferred to the command and jurisdiction of the Fifth Theater, and Sun Lianzhong succeeded as the commander-in-chief of the group army, and its basic troops were organized into the 30th Army and the 42nd Army. The 31st Division, which served as the defender of Chichengfeng in Taierzhuang, was Sun Lianzhong's troops. The 55th Army of Cao Fulin, the old department of Han Fuyu, and the 68th Army of the National Revolutionary Army of Liu Ruming, the old department of Song Zheyuan, also joined the battle sequence of the group army. Although the Second Army could not arrive as expected, Sun Lianzhong understood that the more fiercely he and the Yue Army fought in northern Jiangsu and southern Lunan, the more it meant that he needed to support, so he gave the order to attack in a very stern tone, which was a death order. Therefore, the pressure on the front of the Fifth Division was extremely great, and although the Fifth Division was one of the few elites in the army, it could not withstand the siege of the four armies of the Second Army.

In addition, Binshan Yuan transferred most of Shandong's Yue army, and even the first brigade of field heavy artillery was also transferred, and the direct result was that Shandong's defense was empty, and this time the Fifth Division went south to fight, and Shandong really did not have many troops, even the defensive strength of the provincial capital city of Jinan was only an infantry wing, and as for Jining, Heze, Liaocheng, Dezhou and other places, it was even more pitiful.

On the night of August 25, Tong Jiayong led his 3,000 troops to attack the Liaocheng Railway Station, and more than 100 special combat personnel hijacked a military train halfway, and secretly took this military train all the way to break through the defense lines of the Yue army, and finally entered Liaocheng smoothly. As the most important strategic point in Liaocheng, the army stationed a reinforced infantry squadron at the railway station, as well as a heavy machine gun squad. But how could these troops stop the footsteps of the special combat team, in just half an hour, the special combat team occupied the entire railway station, and cooperated with the large army to open the gate of Liaocheng, and occupied the entire Liaocheng under the cooperation of the inside and outside.

Although Tong Jiayong only occupied a small Liaocheng this time, its strategic significance was extremely significant, first of all, the Yue army realized that there was still a resistance force in Shandong China that they did not know about the existence of, and it seemed that the strength should be very strong, otherwise it would be impossible to wipe out the defenders of a brigade of the Yue army in just one night. You must know that although the army guarding Liaocheng is not elite, it is after all the regular army of the army, and it is an armed force equipped with all kinds of equipment. Usually, such a brigade is already a force to be reckoned with in Shandong, but Lieutenant General Ren Wei Gao Kaizo never thought that at this critical juncture, since the [***] team still has a powerful hidden force lurking in Shandong, it will stab him in the soft underbelly at once.

Tong Jiayong knows his own strength, no matter how badly the outside world blows him, but he knows the situation of his own family, he now has less than 3,000 troops in his hands, aside from the more than 100 trump cards of the special combat team, the troops in his hands are only more than 2,700 people, and counting the more than 400 people lost when he captured Liaocheng, he now only has more than 2,300 people in his hands with combat effectiveness. Don't send an infantry wing with the so-called army, even if you send two reinforced brigades over, he won't be able to eat and walk around.

And the most important thing is that this time he took a big advantage, and the entire two military columns of 28 carriages of arms and a large number of military uniforms were hoarded in Liaocheng, and he didn't leave now. Tong Jiayong is a senior officer trained by Han Yunhua himself, don't look at his current size, he is also a brigade commander, and he is at least a major general on the side of the national political axe. But this guy doesn't act like a wrist at all, but eats people and leaves without spitting out bones, sneak attacks, assassinations and other things.

Although the Yue army had long known that there was still a resistance force in the Liaocheng area, this guy was very good at camouflage, and was stunned to let Tegaoke report to Lieutenant General Ogao Kamizo in the telegram saying that the Chinese army in Liaocheng was only an infantry squadron (company), and there were less than 200 people, so it was not a problem at all, and the local defense force in Liaocheng was enough to remove the threat of this Chinese army.

Seeing so many good things at the train station, Tong Jiayong knew that he had sent it, and at the same time, he also knew that he had stabbed a hornet's nest this time, and the army would definitely eliminate him as a "fly" at all costs. However, if there is a bargain, he and his leaders are upright cadres of the Eighth Route Army, how can they be bastards, hehe, then I'm embarrassed, in order not to be a bastard, he Tong Jiayong had to reluctantly accept this batch of arms.

How to transport a large batch of munitions for two whole military trains is a big problem, with this little force in his hand, let alone fourteen carriages, even if it is four models, it can't be transported, but Tong Jiayong has a way, he sent a letter to the head of the fairy road and Anlemen in Yangxian County, hoping that they can help, Tong Jiayong knows that these two local Daomen forces have been suppressed by the army for several years, and they look crumbling, but in fact, the people's heritage is very deep, and waving thousands of people is just a small meaning.

Immortal Dao and Anle Men now have a large number of disciples serving in Han Yunhua's mentorship, so even these two Daomen forces are tied to the chariot of the Eighth Route Army, which is both glory and loss, so after receiving Tong Jiayong's letter, Wude Daoist and Scribe Xing did not dare to slack off, and immediately gathered a large number of believers to the place designated by Tong Jiayong to help Tong Jiayong transport supplies.

Tong Jiayong is also capable, he did not use the traditional people's army to help transport supplies, but let all the soldiers get on the two military trains, and the whole army left Liaocheng by train, leaving only Lieutenant General Otaka Kamizo a mess.

(To be continued)