Dawenkou Town is 30 kilometers away from Tai'an.

The Muwen River, Yingwen River, Chaiwen River, Shiwen River and Panwen River, which originate in the Taiyi Mountains, converge in the southwest of Beiteng Village in the northeast of Dawenkou to form the Dawen River that flows backwards due to the topography. Dawenkou is located at the confluence of the water of the five Wen, so it is named.

After the liberation, archaeologists discovered the Dawenkou cultural site on the south bank of the Dawen River, and Dawenkou became famous all over the world. But at this time, the reason why Dawenkou is famous is mainly due to the Yunting Mountain about 10 miles north of Dawenkou. This mountain is not high, the geographical coordinates are in the middle of Yanjing to Nanjing, 1200 miles away from Yanjing in the north, 1200 miles away from Nanjing in the south, there is the center of the north and south Beijing. In ancient times, the Zen Mount Tai was sealed, all of them were sacrificed to the sky in Mount Tai, sacrificed to the ground in Yunting Mountain, built soil on Mount Tai for the altar to sacrifice to the heavens, and said Zen in the Yunting Mountain in addition to the ground for the altar sacrifice. Emperor Taishan Feng Zen is to sacrifice the sky in Mount Tai and sacrifice the ground in Yunting Mountain.

For ordinary people in central and southern Shandong, the reputation of Dawenkou mainly comes from the fact that it is located in the main traffic road and is a distribution center for local products. Especially after the opening of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway in 1913, Dawenkou Station was the busiest station in the north to Jinan Prefecture in the north and Yanzhou in the south. Peanuts, peanut oil, ginger, hemp and other goods from Feixian, Surabaya, Ningyang in the south, Xintai and Laiwu in the east, and Feicheng in the west are transported to Dawenkou Railway Station day and night. The creaking of the wheelbarrow, the sound of the second-in-command big wooden wheeler, the call of the donkey carrying the goods, and the shouting of the shoulder-carrying people are playing the prosperous tune of the ancient town of Dawenkou.

This ancient town of Dawenkou is not only the north-south thoroughfare, the main road of water and land, the ancient town itself is also very distinctive, the city wall is built with random stones, and the middle is tamped with sand and lime. The city wall is in the shape of a turtle, with the head extending northwest and the tail swinging southeast. The town has a total of northwest gate, north gate, northeast gate, east gate, southeast gate, south gate, southwest gate, west gate and other eight city gates, the city gate is built on the city tower, there are battlements on the city wall, so as to look, there is a moat outside the city wall, and the water is drawn to protect the city. There are three mountains and one well in the city, seven temples at a glance, Sanguan Temple, Kuixing Tower, Jade Emperor Temple, Shanxi Guild Hall, mosque and other places of interest.

Before the Qiqi Incident, there were many warehouses and shops in the ancient town, and all walks of life were very prosperous, and there were three bathhouses for bathing alone. After the devils occupied Tai'an, they dispatched planes to bomb Dawenkou indiscriminately, killing and injuring the residents of the ancient town, and the merchants and shops fled one after another. Later, the leading merchants in the town came forward to negotiate with the devils and set up a maintenance association, and the fleeing talents slowly returned, but the ancient town no longer had the kind of prosperous and prosperous atmosphere that it used to be, and it was lifeless.

Liu Peiyi was born on July 8, 1921 in Dongdawu Village, Dawenkou Town, and his nickname was Sanbang. After graduating from the national primary school in the village, he successively went to the upper primary class of Shencun School, the railway children's primary school in Dawenkou Town, and the No. 4 Rural Normal School in Ziyang County.

At this time, in order to turn the Ziyang Township Division into an officer training regiment, Han Fuqu sent a colonel, two lieutenant colonels, and two colonels to serve as military instructors. In addition to cultural classes, students are organized to study military technology and conduct military training. It was at this time that Liu Zhenhua mastered the three major techniques of bomb throwing, shooting, and earthwork, as well as individual offensive and defensive tactics and infantry squad offensive and defensive tactics.

The Shandong Provincial Party Committee organized and launched the Culai Mountain Uprising, and Liu Peiyi and several young people from Dawenkou Town went to join the Fourth Detachment of the Eighth Route Army. It's a pity that he was too low and not as tall as a rifle, so he had to go home to run a night school to publicize the protests, go to the streets to raise funds to support the Eighth Route Army, and became a volunteer liaison and propagandist of the Eighth Route Army.

On the afternoon of the 24th, Li Zhengyu, an underground party member and secret liaison of the Eighth Route Army in Dawenkou Town, found him and told him that he could join the Eighth Route Army, and that he would gather at the east end of the village in the evening to carry out his tasks.

In the evening, Liu Pei ran a few times and filled the water tank at home, and then he walked up to his mother and said, "Mother, I'm leaving, go to our team." ”

As soon as his mother heard this, tears flowed down, crying and complaining: "You kid, why didn't you say it earlier, and let your mother take care of you." After speaking, the mother went to open the suitcase, found him a few changes of clothes, stuffed the only three silver dollars at the bottom of the box into his pocket, and nagged while cleaning up: "You have done so many things for the Eighth Route Army in the village, and the devil will arrest you when he comes." Let's go, go to the team and do a good job, and have time to carry a letter. ”

Liu Pei didn't say much to his mother, and ran out of the house with his clothes bag and a cigarette. When I went to the east of the village, I saw that Comrade Li Zhengyu had already arrived, and there were two youths from his own village and two youths from other villages.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Li Zhengyu said: "Comrades, I will send you to be the Eighth Route Army." However, we have a task to carry out tonight, which is to lead the way for the Eighth Route Army and enter the town of Dawenkou. Are you afraid? ”

Several young people are newborn calves who are not afraid of tigers, and they are full of expectations to join the army at the moment, so they naturally say in unison that they are not afraid.

Li Zhengyu nodded, and led a few young people to take advantage of the dark night to walk towards the top of Yunting Mountain.

When I went to the top of the mountain, I saw that on both sides of the road were the army, with bright bayonets and bright steel helmets, and the frightened five young men turned around and were about to run. Li Zhengyu hurriedly grabbed them and told them that this was a regular unit of the Eighth Route Army, and they were wearing military uniforms.

Liu Peiyi was a little suspicious, ran to a soldier and said, "Brother, your surname?" ”

The warrior grinned and whispered, "Don't be expensive, your surname is Zhang." ”

Liu Zhenhua was relieved and followed Li Zhengyu to meet the head of the army and accept the task.

After meditating on the Lai Mountain, Liu Yimin decided to take immediate action to stop the Yue army from reinforcing the front line of Taierzhuang, and ensure that [***] could inflict a heavy blow on the Yue army in Taierzhuang and achieve a big victory, so as to boost the spirit of the Anti-Japanese War.

After returning to the station, Liu Yimin called Luo Yan and inquired in detail about the enemy situation in Dawenkou.

Since Luo Yan met Liu Yimin in the Sharp Knife Company, his reconnaissance ability has improved rapidly, and he has played the role of Liu Yimin's eyes and ears in all battles. Now that he is the deputy chief of the instructor's staff office, the head of the reconnaissance section, and the commander of the reconnaissance battalion, he is no longer at the level he was at when he was a reconnaissance squad leader or reconnaissance platoon commander. The division headquarters and the newly established Shandong Bureau and the organs of the Shandong Military Region were stationed in the Culai Mountains, and Luo Yan naturally had to find out the surrounding enemy situation clearly, and his scouts had already spread it out. Not to mention the small town of Culai, it is the deployment of the devils in Tai'an City, and Luo Yan also knows it well.

Seeing Liu Yimin asking about the enemy situation in Dawenkou, Luo Yan immediately knew that the death time of the devil in Dawenkou had arrived, because since he knew Liu Yimin, Luo Yan had never seen any enemy who was worried about Liu Yimin able to escape from him. Including the commander of the North China Front Army, General Terauchi Shouichi, who did not know whether he was alive or dead, Luo Yan had already made a bet with Li Lingfeng in private, betting on whether Terauchi Shouichi would survive until the end of the year. If Shouichi Terauchi can live until the end of the year, Li Lingfeng will invite all the soldiers in the reconnaissance battalion to drink sorghum burning; If Terauchi Shouichi does not live until the end of the year, Luo Yan invites all the soldiers of the special operations brigade to drink mutton soup. Moreover, the two people also gambled on the future death of Terauchi Shouichi, Luo Yan said that he must have been shot in the head by the division commander, Li Lingfeng said that the division commander repeatedly said that he wanted to play against Terauchi Shouichi, it is estimated that when Terauchi Shouichi surrendered to defeat, the division commander carelessly grabbed a handful of black and white sons, and used the method of turning the sky into rain to beat Terauchi Shouichi a thousand holes to avenge the dead Chinese.

Anyway, Luo Yan and Li Lingfeng both thought that General Terauchi Shouichi was already a dead man, and it just depended on how and when he died. Therefore, the two of them made a bet that if it was a headshot, Li Lingfeng would be responsible for going to the division commander to get a can of Moutai wine for Luo Yan, and let Tang Xingying personally cook four dishes for Luo Yan; If he was killed by martial arts techniques, Luo Yan was responsible for going to the division commander to get a can of Moutai wine for Li Lingfeng, and asked Zhao Xiaoman to personally sing 10 northern Shaanxi folk songs to Li Lingfeng. Of course, the difficulty of realizing this latter bet was too great, and neither of them was sure that it would be realized, so they quietly prayed for the kind of death that Terauchi Shouichi had envisioned for himself, and regarded the bet as a secret between the two people, unlike the bet on whether Terauchi Shouichi could live until the end of the year, so that the soldiers of the two armies knew about it, and from time to time asked when to drink sorghum roast and mutton soup.

Luo Yan made a detailed report on the enemy situation he had mastered.

It turned out that after the Lugou Bridge Incident, [***] rushed to repair an airfield here to prepare to support the Pingjin operation. As a result, before it was used, the [***] on the front line collapsed, and the army was cheapened in vain. Some of the military planes that are now supporting operations on the southern section of the Jinpu Line took off from here. In addition, this Dawenkou is a key point of railway and land transportation, not only connecting Jinan, Tai'an, Yanzhou, and Jining, but also controlling the role of the Culai Mountains and the Taixi region, the army attaches great importance to the defense of Dawenkou and has built Dawenkou into an important stronghold.

The devil has a gendarmerie team in Xinjie below the Dawenkou station, and the captain is called Hamano, a short and fat man with glasses, who is mainly responsible for the security of Dawenkou and the arrest of protesters.

The regular troops of the devils in Dawenkou are now a brigade of the 10th Wing of the Reading Power Mix, one of which is stationed in Ciyao Town, Ningyang County, one squadron is stationed at Beijipo Station, and the brigade headquarters leads two squadrons to garrison Dawenkou, and the barracks are set up in the Railway Children's Primary School, called the Red Division. In the courtyard, a six-storey round turret was built with flat stones, with gun holes on all sides, battlements on the top, and a round roof, like a tortoise shell. There are searchlights on the top of the turret, lookout posts are set up, there are patrolmen on the wall, there are thistles around the wall, and there are devils standing guard at the door.

The airport is in the west of the station between the Weijiazhuang, the delivery of the village, and the turtle monument, and the square garden is six or seven miles. The ground air defense units and guard units where devils are stationed are unknown, because they cannot enter.

The Dawenkou Devil Railway Garrison is a squadron whose main task is railway patrol, guarding the railway station and the Dawen River railway bridge. In Baotou Village, south of the railway bridge and on the bank of the Dawen River, the devils built a stronghold and built a bunker building, and the task was to protect the railway bridge. There is a squad of devils and a squadron of puppet soldiers stationed in this stronghold. Originally, the devil's ironclad train and railway armored patrol car regularly patrolled the railway, but since our army destroyed the devil's ironclad train and armored patrol car at the first station of the Jieshou station, the devil's patrol of the railway has been changed to infantry patrol.

The railway station is garrisoned by the Devil's Railway Garrison, with about two squads of troops. The stationmaster's name is Nishimura, tall, with a long face, his eyes are squinted, he has a mustache under his nose, he doesn't smile on his face, he wears a railway uniform, and often beats and scolds those who carry big ones and smash pickaxes.

Liu Yimin didn't understand what it meant to carry the big one and smash the pickaxe, Luo Yan explained that it was the train porter who carried the big one, and the one who smashed the pickaxe was the railway maintenance worker.

Liu Yimin let out an "oh" and motioned for Luo Yan to continue.

Luo Yan said: "Since the battle of our army's Jinpu Road severely damaged the 13th Brigade of the Reading Power Mixed Army, the newly arrived Reading Power Mixed 10th Brigade Regiment has been particularly vigilant, and the strongholds along the line are equipped with military dogs, and our scouts cannot easily approach. If the division commander wants to attack Dawenkou, he will probably have to attack it. However, the devils were very concentrated, and six of the original eight gates of the town were sealed, leaving only the north gate and the south gate. ”

Seeing that Luo Yan not only introduced the enemy situation clearly, but also considered the way to occupy Dawenkou, Liu Yimin was very satisfied, and after waving his hand to let Luo Yan go, he began to think about how to take Dawenkou Town and use Dawenkou Town to do a good job of serial articles.

In the evening, Liu Yimin called Luo Ronghuan, Zeng Zhongsheng, Guo Hongtao, Zhu Rui, Li Yu, and Cai Zhong, and put forward his plan to support the southern section of Jinpu Road in the operation, attack and occupy Dawenkou, and then attack and occupy Yanzhou.

Liu Yimin's plan was to take two steps, the first step of which was to attack and occupy Dawenkou, which would be carried out by the special operations brigade, the sniper brigade, and the Tai'an detachment. After the attack on Dawenkou, the plane was flown back to Shaanxi to strengthen the strength of the Eighth Route Army's air force. Later, the Tai'an detachment disguised the special brigade of the National Revolutionary Army to capture Ciyao Town, sabotaged the railway between Dawenkou and Sixian, causing the Third Army to counterattack the Jinpu line, and quickly and secretly withdrew to the Culai Mountains after mobilizing the enemy. The second step is to occupy Yanzhou, that is, Ziyang County. When the special operations brigade was preparing to attack and occupy Dawenkou, it ordered the 1st Brigade to quickly and secretly move towards Yanzhou under the guise of Sun Tongxuan's Third Army, and after the special operations brigade occupied Dawenkou, it intercepted the train of the Japanese army, disguised the Japanese army to go south to Yanzhou, occupied the Yanzhou station, opened the gate for the 1st Brigade to enter Yanzhou, and controlled Yanzhou before the main force of the 114th Division of the Chinese Army entered Yanzhou, and destroyed various organs and logistics supply bases of the Chinese army in Yanzhou. After completing the mission, the units of the 1st Brigade withdrew to their original places of residence. The Special Operations Brigade and the Sniper Brigade traveled with the instructor.

After talking about his own idea, Liu Yimin analyzed the basis for the establishment of this idea: First, Yanzhou is the starting point for the offensive of the Fifth and Tenth Divisions of the Chinese Army, and it is also the logistics supply base for these two divisions, where there are field hospitals, gun repair shops, and sick horse farms for these two divisions. Since the last battle of the Jinpu Line, a brigade of the vanguard of the 114th Division of the Yue Army was wiped out in the carriage of the derailment of the Jietou. Its main force has not yet been transported to Yanzhou because the railway has just been built. At present, the garrison strength of Yanzhou is only the remaining troops of the Fifth Division and the Tenth Division, and the strength is weak. With the strength of the 1st Brigade and the Special Operations Brigade and the Sniper Brigade, Yanzhou can be easily taken. Second, in order to cooperate with the operation on the southern section of the Jinpu Road, Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater, would inevitably order Sun Tongxuan's Third Army in the Heze area to cooperate with the troops of the First Theater to block the Fifth Division and send troops north to attack Yanzhou or the Jinpu Railway between Yanzhou and Tai'an. Our army disguised itself as the Third Army, and the army could not tell the truth from the false in the short term, even Chiang Kai-shek, and he might not be able to receive the real battle report. Third, as long as our army attacks and occupies Yanzhou, the 5th and 10th Divisions of the Chinese Army will inevitably return to the rescue, and even the 16th Division, which is ready to be used to support Linyi, will also advance westward to support. In this way, it was possible to ensure that the Seya detachment of the 10th Division in the direction of Xuzhou would become a lone army, so that [***] would encircle and annihilate it. Xuzhou can be consolidated in the short term.

Of course, Liu Yimin knew in his heart that during the Battle of Taierzhuang in history, the Third Army did attack Dawenkou Airport and blew up eight planes. However, now the situation has changed, and all the main forces of the Fifth Division of the Third Army are sweeping in southwest Lu, and the Third Army is too busy to take care of itself, and I am afraid that if Li Zongren gives another order, the Third Army will not have the spare strength to attack the Jinpu Road north of Yanzhou. When the 114th Division of the Japanese Army is stationed in Yanzhou, all opportunities will be lost.

After saying all this, Liu Yimin directly proposed that he and Cai Zhong lead the special operations brigade, sniper brigade, Tai'an detachment, and the 1st Brigade to carry out this operation. Luo Ronghuan and Zeng Zhongsheng are temporarily presiding over the work of the Shandong Bureau and the Shandong Military Region, and their current task is to implement the resolutions formulated at the inaugural meeting of the Shandong Bureau and to create a solid and consolidated base area for resistance behind enemy lines in Shandong. The Shandong Bureau and the Military Region led the troops directly under the instructor to move to the hinterland of Yimeng Mountain and build a central base area in Yimeng Mountain.

After Liu Yimin finished speaking, several people present did not speak. Liu Yimin knew what everyone thought, took out a cigarette and took two puffs, and said with a smile: "This person, you have to do it when it's time to make a move." If you don't practice, your hands will itch and your skills will decrease after a long time. This time, I decided to go to Yanzhou to meet Lieutenant General Ryosuke Isoya, the commander of the 10th Division, this guy is a China expert, and I have to talk to him to see if the cherry blossoms in Ueno are more beautiful than the blood of the samurai when they are in full bloom. ”

Before he finished speaking, Luo Ronghuan said: "Division Commander Liu, I want to draw your attention to the fact that you are now the secretary of the [***] Central Northern Bureau and the commander of the Shandong Military Region, not the head of the Red Eighteenth Regiment and the commander of the Central Guard Division. This battle is well conceived, and it will definitely be fought well. But it shouldn't be you who is directing this battle. This is just a tactical battle aimed at mobilizing the enemy and supporting friendly forces, I believe that if you don't participate, Li Lingfeng will still be able to take Dawenkou, and it will not be too much of a problem for Li Lingfeng to take Yanzhou on the plateau. If you are really not at ease, you can send Comrade Zeng Zhongsheng or Comrade Zhu Rui to go, even Lao Cai and I estimate that any person can do it. When we first arrived in Shandong, how many important matters were waiting for you to guide and decide, and how could we stay away from the Shandong Bureau and the Military Region at this time in order to fight an attack war? ”

When Luo Ronghuan said this, Zeng Zhongsheng and Zhu Rui immediately expressed their willingness to lead the troops into action. Please rest assured that No. 1 will resolutely complete the task.

Guo Hongtao said slowly: "I heard that the No. 1 leader bravely crowned the three armies, but now I heard about the deployment of the No. 1 leader, and I know that this is indeed the case. This kind of deployment has a plan, one chain after another. I estimate that after taking Yanzhou, the No. 1 leader must want to stay in southwest Lu to travel with the 1st Brigade and cavalry, and maybe there are bigger plans. However, I think the political commissar is right: we are now full of talented people and the combat effectiveness of the troops is very strong, so as long as the decision is correct, we can send a competent cadre to carry it out. It is better for the No. 1 leader to stay in Yimeng Mountain. ”

Cai Zhong naturally knew that Liu Yimin was indeed itching, the size of the army was getting bigger and bigger, and as the commander of the army, it was obviously impossible to charge into battle like in the past. And Liu Yimin's skills are so good, everyone must understand his eagerness to go to the battlefield, but for the instructor who has won consecutive battles and has achieved more and more results, a battle of this scale no longer needs Liu Yimin to make a move.

Thinking of this, Cai Zhong looked at Liu Yimin with a little sympathy and persuaded: "Everyone understands the feeling that you want to go to the battlefield. In fact, it is the same whether you go or the chief of staff, as long as you have a solid battle plan. In addition, I would like to remind you that we launched this attack in order to support the operation in the direction of Xuzhou, and it is okay for our army to fight guerrilla attacks and sabotage communications in the name of guerrilla detachments, but if Yanzhou is captured, it will not be possible to disguise it in any way, whether it is myself or Chiang Kai-shek, we will immediately understand that the main force of our army has arrived in Shandong. This reason is very simple, Yanzhou is empty, but the combat effectiveness of the army is strong, whether it is the [***] special force or the third group army, no one can recapture Yanzhou from the hands of the army. If they had that ability, Yanzhou wouldn't have lost it! Only the main instructor can do this. When the time comes, not only will the army make large-scale transfers against our army, but even Chairman Chiang may not accept our feelings. You should think about this carefully. ”

Guo Hongtao continued Cai Zhong's words and said: "The effect of capturing Yanzhou is obvious, as long as our army stays in Yanzhou for three days, the Jinpu Road will immediately turn upside down, and the armies from all walks of life will inevitably go all out to rescue, and its offensive will naturally be resolved." However, in the occupation of Yanzhou, we will not only face the attack of the Japanese army, but also the suspicion of the ultra-right forces within the Kuomintang. This Yanzhou is different from Tianjin, [***] many people know that it is difficult to recover Tianjin, and we can't hold it even if we occupy it. And Yanzhou is the defense area of the Fifth War Zone, although it has fallen, many people will think that this is a temporary fall, and once the Fifth War Zone wins a big battle, it can be recovered immediately. I think we need to be cautious. ”

This said, and several people fell into deep thought.

Seeing that his plan to directly lead the troops to fight was about to be aborted, Liu Yimin's eyes were almost green, but he couldn't say that the purpose of his trip to southwest Lu was to stop the Huayuankou incident that was about to happen in the future and avoid a major disaster, so he could only keep smoking with a blushing face.

After thinking about it carefully, I knew that everyone's suggestions were meritorious, and it was impossible for me to directly lead the team to command. Also, to fight a Dawenkou garrisoned by only one brigade of devils, where is it necessary to do it yourself. As for Yanzhou, they could only seize the opportunity to sneak attack, and when the 114th Division arrived, there was no chance of a sneak attack. After occupying Dawenkou, Li Lingfeng led the special operations brigade south to Yanzhou, and the battle to capture Yanzhou was under the unified command of the plateau, but the Second Regiment was not allowed to be used.

So, as soon as Liu Pei was in Yunting Mountain, he met the Eighth Route Army wearing the uniform of the Yue Army.

(To be continued)