Although Meng Qingshan, Lu Zhengying, and Chen Guang were aware of the great danger, they still underestimated the danger. Because the army advanced very quickly, the 1st Division, the 7th Division, the 40th Division, and the Manchurian Defense Army, under the cover of aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery, formed four major attack groups, like swarms of locusts, which swept through the layers of our army's blockade and pounced on Hejian, Suning, Lixian, Boye, and other county seats.

In the face of the devil's large-scale attack, our army was not afraid, although it was rushed into battle, but now our army in central Hebei has completed the regular training, plus the old Red Army backbone of the 115th Division has been enriched, and the combat effectiveness has risen sharply. In order to delay the attack speed of the devils, regiments, battalions, and companies took advantage of the renovated trenches and tunnels in various villages in Jizhong to take the initiative to meet the devils. In particular, those county brigades, district squads, and militiamen, knowing that they were not the opponents of the devils, in order to defend their homeland and defend the fruits of victory, moths threw at the devils' attack arrows like fire, and fought with the devils for their lives and never stopped. The little devils suffered in the face of mines and tunnels, and had to open the way with heavy artillery, tanks and planes, and poured tons and tons of steel on the land of Jizhong.

In the evening, Chen Guang, Meng Qingshan, and Lu Zhengying synthesized the battle reports of various units and came to the conclusion that the purpose of the army's current operation was to completely destroy our army in central Hebei. Because the number of the devil's attack force has been clarified: the first division and the seventh division of the Kwantung Army of the Yue Army and a new unit numbered the 40th Division of the Kwantung Army from the south of Baoda Road were attacked, and tens of thousands of elite Manchurian Defense Forces cooperated in the attack; The troops attacking Cangshi Road on the southern front were the 23rd Division stationed in Shijiazhuang and the 24th Division stationed in Cangxian, and the total strength should be more than 100,000. Moreover, our army's reconnaissance troops attacked and reconnoitred the Pinghan line and the Jinpu line respectively, and found that the defenders of the Cangxian section had been replaced by the 32nd Division, and the defenders of the Shijiazhuang-Baoding section had been replaced by the 39th Division.

Therefore, Chen Guang, Meng Qingshan, and Lu Zhengying decided to attack and harass the Yue army with local troops, concentrate all the Chen Brigade and the eight main regiments of the Jizhong Military Region, fight the enemy all the way, and smash the enemy's encirclement and suppression of Jizhong. After making up their minds, the three of them ordered the troops to concentrate on Anping and Raoyang on the one hand, and reported to Lin, Nie and the headquarters on the other.

After receiving Chen Guang's report on the army's large-scale siege of our army in Jizhong in the morning, Mr. Zhu and Mr. Peng were both taken aback.

After receiving the telegram, he was also surprised, feeling that this army must have a greater plan, but the enemy's situation is not clear, and it is not easy to make a decision, so he can only fight a dozen first, and beat out the army's attempt, and then make a decision. Therefore, the chairman and the general headquarters instructed Jizhong at noon to concentrate the main forces, organize some troops to resist step by step, and be sure to find out the truth of the puppet army.

At that time, it was not clear how to judge the strength of the army, and the headquarters and Lin and Nie also thought that there was a first-class main force of our army, Chen Brigade, and it was still certain to fight the devils all the way. After the telegram arrived in the evening in Jizhong, Mr. Zhu, Mr. Peng, and Zuo Quan's eyebrows were all tangled together, the first division and the seventh division were all permanent divisions of the army, with a strength of about 28,000 people, advanced equipment, and aircraft to cooperate, I don't know how the combat effectiveness of the 40th Division is, but the combat effectiveness of the 23rd Division and the 24th Division is very strong. Although they have suffered a big loss at the hands of the instructor, they are the instructor, and their firepower is stronger than that of the army! Although Brigade Chen is the first-class main force of our army, its heavy firepower cannot be compared with that of the instructor. If they are entangled by the heavy army group, once the devil's attack is frustrated, it will inevitably be heavy artillery, aircraft, and poison gas together, and then the Chen Brigade and the main force of Jizhong will be in danger. There is a great plain, and although our army has built tunnels, it is difficult to say how useful the tunnels can be in the face of such a huge group of heavy troops. We have tunnels, won't the army explode?

After discussing with Mr. Peng and Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo, Mr. Zhu proposed that the main force in central Hebei should break through and move behind enemy lines, and if it was really not possible, it could break through the Cangshi Road and turn into southern Hebei, join forces with our army in southern Hebei, rely on Luxi, and cooperate with the Second Brigade to fight and strive to annihilate the enemy all the way.

In order to cooperate with the operation in central Hebei, the general headquarters proposed to attack Deshi Road and Cangshi Road with troops from southern Hebei, Jinpu Road between Cangxian and Dexian with troops from Hebei and Lubian, Dexian with the main force of Luxi, Pinghan Line with troops from western Hebei, and various units of our army in Shanxi to attack the Zhengtai Line and Tongpu Line, forming a trend of attacking from all sides, containing the Yue Army, and cooperating with the transfer of troops from central Hebei.

After the three people agreed on their opinions, they immediately reported to the central authorities and notified Lin Nie, Liu Luo, Xu Yang, Liu Deng, and He Guan to solicit opinions. Because once the main force of our army in Jizhong is transferred, it means that Jizhong will fall again, and the matter is very high, and it is necessary to solicit opinions from all sides.

Liu Yimin did not receive a briefing on the battle situation in central Hebei in the morning, and he was still pondering the true intention of the army to bomb Qingdao. When I received a report on the battle situation in Jizhong in the evening, I was surprised, and the army really made a move to Jizhong first. However, the main attack in Jizhong was the Kwantung Army and the Manchurian Defense Army, so where did the heavy army group in eastern Henan go? Where did the North China Security Army go? Why didn't the North China Security Army cooperate with the Kwantung Army to attack Jizhong? What is the enemy situation on the front line of Xuzhou? Why did the army increase such a strong force on Jinpu Road and Pinghan Road and not join the battle in Jizhong?

If these mysteries are not solved, I am afraid that a hasty decision on a major strategic action will fall into the trap of the Chinese army!

This night, Liu Yimin stayed awake all night.

At dawn, Liu Yimin received an urgent telegram from Zhang Hongtao on the Hebei and Shandong borders, saying that the reconnaissance troops had reported that the army was attacking the Hebei and Shandong borders by two routes, north and south. The North Route Army attacked from Cangxian to Xinhai and Qingcheng, and the troops were numbered as the Second Division, the Third Cavalry Brigade, the 35th Division, the 41st Division, and the North China Public Security Army, and the Southern Route was the 10th Division from Dexian. Now that the main force of the Sixth Brigade has been highly concentrated, please ask if it is possible to train the Second Brigade and the Luxi Garrison Brigade to advance eastward, join forces with the Sixth Brigade, and annihilate the 10th Division.

After receiving Zhang Hongtao's telegram, Liu Yimin immediately reported to the chairman and the headquarters and asked the southern Hebei side to report on the enemy situation.

Sure enough, the intelligence department of the Southern Hebei Military Region also discovered the enemy's situation, and the 5th, 6th, 14th, and 16th Divisions of the army had already arrived at the front line of Handan and Cixian. In addition to these four divisions, there are still the first brigade and the newly arrived 38th Division.

At this point, Liu Yimin has made the enemy situation clear, and the intention of Shouyi in the temple is clearly revealed, saying that the army is to quickly eliminate our army in central Hebei and Hebei and Lubian, and then jointly attack southern Hebei and western Luxi, and finally the heavy troops will be directed to the hinterland of Shandong, and the Shandong troops of the Eighth Route Army will be eliminated in one fell swoop. Although the strength of the Xuzhou front-line army is not yet clear, it goes without saying that it must be a big trap dug by Terauchi Shouichi for himself, and the 3rd, 9th, and 13th divisions transferred back from eastern Henan must be waiting there for him to go south, and maybe there are also the 15th Division, 17th Division, 106th Division, and 116th Division that should have been strengthened in history for the Central China Front.

Counting the number of the army that appeared in North China, Liu Yimin couldn't help but laugh dumbly, the old devil Shouyi in the temple must have transferred the 36th Division and the 37th Division newly formed from the mainland to Yudong, and together with the 27th Division, pretended to be the heavy army group of the Yue Army to deal with [***]. In this way, the devil is tantamount to pouring the country's strength into dealing with the Eighth Route Army.

It is one thing to understand the enemy's situation, and it is another thing to break the encirclement and suppression of the devils, it is obvious that this time the army has made a bloody investment, and it is impossible to fight against the heavy army group of the army with the troops of central Hebei, Hebei and southern Hebei, and the more fierce the resistance of the troops, the more they fall into the hands of the devils, and they wish that the main force of our army would fight a decisive battle with them!

It is necessary to defeat the devils all the way, and at the very least, to curb the offensive momentum of the devils all the way, so that they do not dare to attack quickly. Otherwise, not only will Jizhong fall immediately, but in a few days, the border areas of Hebei and Lubian, southern Hebei, and western Luxi will also fall completely, and all the fruits of half a year's struggle will be lost, and the puppet army of 6 to 700,000 will follow one after another, and it will be completely slaughtered into the hinterland of Shandong, and Shandong will not be protected.

Now there is a fighter plane, that is, the 10th Division of the Yue Army, which is attacking the Jilu border. The ministry is responsible for the task of responding to the southern route, and it is a lonely army. It may be that Terauchi Shouichi saw that the terrain in the Hebei-Lu border area was narrow, divided by the Jinpu Road and the Yellow River, and the east was the sea, which was strategically dead, and it was impossible for there to be many Eighth Route Army, so he arrogantly let the 10th Division alone undertake the task of intercepting the retreat of our army on the Jilu border by the southern route. Now that Lao Tzu knows, if the murderous devils of the 10th Division are allowed to leave China alive, it will really be a time for Bai to cross over, and Bai has such an elite army!

Liu Yimin immediately sent a telegram back to the chairman and the headquarters: "I received a report this morning that the Yue Army began to raid the Jilu border area on the north and south routes, with the Second Division of the Kwantung Army, the Third Cavalry Brigade, the 35th Division, the 41st Division, and the Qi Kuiyuan North China Public Security Army on the north road, and the 10th Division of the Yue Army on the south road. The intelligence department of the Southern Hebei Military Region has detected that the Fifth Division, Sixth Division, 14th Division, and 16th Division of the Chinese Army have arrived at the front line of Handan. It was judged that the army should have seven divisions and regiments on the front line of Xuzhou, including the 3rd, 9th, and 13th divisions of the Central China Front, and the 15th, 17th, 106th, and 110th Divisions of the Central China Front. In addition to the five divisions and regiments of the 1st Division, the 7th Division, the 40th Division, the 23rd Division, and the 24th Division, which participated in the battle in central Hebei, plus the 39th Division, the 38th Division, the 22nd Division, the 1st Brigade and the 110th Division of Reading Mixed Formation, and the 32nd Division, 33rd Division, 34th Division, 108th Division, 114th Division, Reading Power Mixed into the 7th Brigade, and Reading Power Mixed into 13th Brigade and Regiment responsible for the defense of the Jinpu Line, There are also the 27th, 36th, and 37th divisions of the Kuomintang army that stayed in eastern Henan to monitor the Kuomintang army, and this time the army used a total of 32 divisions, three mixed brigades, and one cavalry brigade to encircle and suppress our Eighth Route Army, and then counting the puppet Manchurian National Defense Army and the puppet North China Public Security Army, the total strength of the puppet army is as high as 700,000. It was tantamount to the mobilization of the whole army and the operation of the Eighth Route Army, and the strategic attempt was to wipe out all the Eighth Route Army in the North China Plain and Shandong in one fell swoop, and to completely restore law and order in the occupied areas of North China. Judging from the above-mentioned enemy situation, the enemy has formed four major attack groups and two major defensive groups, and the final goal must be to compress our army in central Hebei, Hebei, and southern Hebei, and then compress our army from Luxi to the Yellow River, force our army to cross the river and march eastward, gather and annihilate our army in the southwest Lu Plain or Taixi area, and then concentrate the main force to kill in the hinterland of Shandong, advance head to head, compress the main force of our instructor to the Jiaolai Plain or the Jiaodong area, and use its air superiority to completely annihilate our army. ”

"For the large-scale encirclement and suppression of the Yue army, it is unrealistic to defeat the Yue army and attack all the way by relying only on our army in central Hebei, southern Hebei, Hebei and Lubian, and Luxi. Because the enemy not only has a strong attack corps, but also a very strong defending corps on the Jinpu Line and the Pinghan Line, it is difficult for our army to break through. The only way is to clear the wilderness, get out of the way, and occupy both sides. The main force of our army in central Hebei should quickly transfer to tunnel fortifications and let devils occupy the county seat and transportation arteries, and our army in southern Hebei and western Luxi should do the same. After the heavy army group of the Chinese army pounced on Shandong, our army in central and southern Hebei was still behind enemy lines, waging a protracted struggle and contention with the enemy. Our army in Jizhong can even go north to threaten the Pingjin region and force the enemy to divide his troops to defend it. In addition to leaving the 10th detachment to persist in the struggle, the main forces of the 2nd Brigade and the Luxi Garrison Brigade should go south before the enemy, hide and wait in southwestern Luxi, and at the appropriate time lead the Southwest Luxi Garrison Brigade to break through the Longhai Road and enter the Luzhou-Anhui Soviet border area, prepare to seize Lianyungang, force the enemy to come to the rescue, and direct the enemy's attention to the Lu-Anhui Soviet border area. The first step was to immediately go north to the Jilu border to participate in the battle, eliminate the enemy's lone outstanding 10th Division, and direct the enemy's attention to the Jilu border. Then he abandoned the Jilu border and withdrew to Shandong. In the second step, the enemy will occupy Jiaoji Road, and the main force of our army will rely on the mountainous land of Lu to fight against the enemy for a long time, and then seek an opportunity to destroy the enemy. At this point in the battle, the army will capture a large area of base areas, and the troops will inevitably be scattered. At this time, our army should advance into the northeast region with a strong part to support the anti-coalition operation, and advance into eastern Hebei and launch it in eastern Hebei, Pingbei, and Pingxi to launch a mass uprising and disrupt the order in the enemy's rear. The New Fourth Army should cooperate with the Second Brigade Group of the Sect of China, which is heading south, and deploy it on a large scale behind enemy lines in central China. In this way, the Kwantung Army, which attacked Shandong, will inevitably return to its organizational structure, the North China troops will inevitably have to transfer troops to stabilize the rear, and the Central China Front Army will inevitably return to restore law and order on the Jinpu South Road, and the offensive of the Yue Army on Shandong will naturally disintegrate. Of course, if we can win the cooperation of the Kuomintang army, seize the opportunity of the main force of the Chinese army to move north, and launch offensive operations in eastern Henan and on both sides of the Yangtze River, the results will be even better. However, you can't get your hopes up too much for [***]. In short, the stakes in this battle are very important, our army does not care about the gains and losses of one city or one place, shows the enemy that it is weak, and when the enemy attacks, we go behind the enemy, and when the enemy retreats, I take advantage of the situation to regain the lost ground, so that the army is tired of running for its life, fighting fires everywhere, and taking the enemy's division of troops as the greatest victory. ”

(To be continued)