After Liu Yimin, Luo Ronghuan, and Cai Zhong led their divisions out of Weicheng, because it was night, it was impossible for the planes to come to bomb, and all the cars had big headlights and rushed towards Jinan.

After capturing Weicheng, he seized the sedan of Xia Yuan Xiongmi, the commander of the 10th Eighth Division, which could have been used as a car for Liu and Luo, but Liu Yimin thought that the sedan was not a jeep, had poor off-road ability, and was not suitable for use by operational commands, so he ordered it to be allocated to a field hospital to serve the doctors that Ni Hua brought back from the United States. In this way, Liu Yimin and Luo Ronghuan each took three trucks, and they sat in the passenger seat of the cab, and in the compartment were staff officers, confidential personnel, and guard soldiers.

Liu Yimin: They left late. The 1st Jiao Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade had already returned from Hancun in the afternoon, and together with the Artillery Brigade and the Air Defense Brigade, with the help of smoke cover, they directly marched westward, and only the 6th Jiao Brigade, which had set out from Pingdu, was still behind the division headquarters.

Because they were concerned about the war, Liu Yimin, Luo Ronghuan, and Cai Zhong drove lightly, crossed the troops that were marching rapidly along the way, galloped all the way, and at one o'clock in the morning, they rushed to the jujube garden in the central part of Zhangqiu County, and joined Zeng Zhongsheng, who had already arrived here.

At the Hu Di Catholic Church in Zaoyuan, Liu Yimin listened to Zeng Zhongsheng's detailed arrangements for the capture of Jinan.

Zeng Zhongsheng reported that according to the original intelligence of the Jinan Work Committee and the map drawn up by Wang Laohu after making a big disturbance in Jinan, Jinan City is divided into three parts: the inner city, the outer city, and the commercial port, and the army takes the inner city of Jinan as the core defensive position, the outer city and the commercial port as the basic position, and the commanding heights on the periphery of Jinan constitute the outer position. Among them, the eastern barrier of Jinan is Maoling Mountain, Yanchi Mountain and Huilongling, the southern barrier is Qianfoshan Mountain and Ma'anshan, and the northern barrier is the Yellow River. The airfield is in Zhangzhuang in the west.

Judging from the current enemy situation, the 34 th Division of the Chinese Army was attacked by our air brigade, and the number of casualties should be between 20,000 and 4,000; in this way, the total strength of the 34 th Division of the Chinese Army in Jinan, the Jinan garrison, the infantry brigade withdrawn from Zhoucun by the 108th Division, and the puppet Shandong garrison should be about 20,000 to 22,000 when combined.

It may be that the strength of the army is limited, and the army has arranged a loose peripheral defensive position from Luokou in the north, through Wangshe Renzhuang in Chengxian County, Maoling Mountain, Yanchi Mountain, and Huilongling in the east of the city to Qianfoshan Mountain and Ma'anshan in the south of the city. After the reconnaissance of the Teachers' Brigade Reconnaissance Company, the total strength of the entire periphery of the army, including the airfield and the Yellow River defense, did not exceed one wing. However, the army should have wanted to use Wangshe Renzhuang as a fulcrum to hold the Jiqing Highway and the Jiaoji Railway, and was stepping up the construction of a defensive line. Although the other peripheral commanding heights do not have a large number of troops, as long as the fortifications are completed, they can form support points that can be read for combat.

As for the deployment of the army in the inner city, outer city, and commercial port of Jinan, since the reconnaissance company of the Fourth Brigade arrived in a very short time, it could not reach close for reconnaissance, so it could only rely on the map of the city defense fortifications of the army of the Jinan Work Committee and the map drawn by Wang Laohu to deploy the operation.

After talking about the enemy's situation, Zeng Zhongsheng reported: "Division commander and political commissar, according to the enemy's situation, I plan to adjust the deployment, and I am determined to use the 1st Brigade as the arrow, the 3rd Brigade and the 7th Brigade as the two flanks, concentrate the artillery group, capture Wangshe Renzhuang, and gather and annihilate the enemy who is entrenched there. After the attack was successful, the 1st Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade made a detour from the south of Jinan City, quickly captured the airfield, and then attacked from west to east. The 3rd and 7th Brigades attacked from east to west along the Jiqing Highway. The mission of the 2nd Brigade to capture the airfield was cancelled, and the unit attacked from north to south after seizing Luokou. The 4th Brigade was responsible for dividing and annihilating the enemy in Maoling Mountain, Yanchi Mountain, Huilongling, Qianfoshan, and Ma'anshan, and the 6th Brigade was the general reserve. The artillery brigade commands all the artillery of the Eastern Group in a unified manner, and is responsible for the task of tearing apart the city defense and the outer defense line of the devil. The air defense brigade is responsible for air defense operations. In this way, we have formed a situation of encirclement on all sides and attack on three sides of Jinan City. Jinan City, this time it's back to us. ”

After listening to Zeng Zhongsheng's deployment, Liu Yimin thought about it, and it was similar to Huaye's deployment to capture Jinan in history. The difference is that Wang Yaowu used 100,000 troops to defend Jinan, Huaye used 140,000 troops to attack the city, and 180,000 troops to fight and reinforce, but this time the army only defended the city with about 20,000 people, and our army used to attack the city There are six infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade, one artillery brigade, and one air defense brigade, one cavalry brigade, one artillery brigade, and one air defense brigade. In particular, except for a few uprisings, Wang Yaowu's troops defending the city were all troops that had been baptized by the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and had rich combat experience, but the current army was a garrison division and garrison, and its combat effectiveness was relatively weak. In addition, the mountains around Jinan are not big mountains, and the altitude is not high, and during the Jinan Campaign, a regiment of the Ninth Column captured Maoling Mountain with reinforced concrete fortifications built by Wang Yaowu in one hour, turning it into the headquarters of the Ninth Column, and the Fourth Brigade should also be able to quickly capture the peripheral positions of these armies. You must know that the Fourth Brigade has six infantry regiments, including the 10th Regiment, the 11th Regiment, the 12th Regiment, the New Fourth Regiment, the Supplementary Regiment, and the Luzhong Reading Regiment, as well as the main brigade of the artillery regiment, the cavalry battalion, the engineer battalion, the baggage battalion, and the guard battalion.

After thinking clearly, Liu Yimin told Zeng Zhongsheng that the first brigade would no longer have to make a detour to the airport, and this task would be handed over to the cavalry brigade, so that the cavalry brigade would not capture the airport first, and set up an ambush around the airport, leaving a way for the little devils to retreat, and see if they would escape to the west gate and get into the ambush circle of the cavalry brigade. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 7th Brigades were all used for siege operations. There are more than a dozen city gates in this Jinan, and there is a moat, and the attack must be fast, and the little devil must attack the city before blowing up the bridge over the moat. The tanks and armored vehicles of the 1st Brigade, 1st Regiment, and 2nd Regiment are all siege weapons, so there is no need to wait for a while? As long as the city is broken, it is not terrible for the little devils to run out, and they can't outrun our tank tracks, car tires and war horses outside Jinan.

Cai Zhong interjected: "That's it, with the Jiqing Highway as the main line of attack, the main force of the siege bypasses the commanding heights in the east and south of the city, and breaks through the Wangshe Village and goes straight to Jinan City, this is the Black Tiger digging out of the heart." Maybe as soon as we see the momentum of our army, the little devils will immediately shrink towards Jinan City, and the Fourth Brigade will not need to make much effort to break through the commanding heights of the devils. ”

Luo Ronghuan looked at Cai Zhong and said, "Director Cai's judgment has a basis for validity. However, the order given to the Fourth Brigade must not give them any luck and the idea of underestimating the enemy, that they will have to pay the price of blood. You have to tell them that they must carefully reconnoiter and prepare for a bloody battle, powerful artillery fire cannot cover everything, and the little devil will definitely have a strong will to fight when he has a position to rely on. With such a big action of ours, it is impossible not to let the little devils know. All units must be fully mobilized and ready to fight a tough and bloody battle. Chief of Staff, you revise the specific operational plan according to the division commander's opinions, and after the division commander approves it, you will convene an operational meeting and send it to all units for implementation. ”

Liu Yimin looked at his watch and said to Zeng Zhongsheng: "Our army has just finished the second phase of the Jiaoji Road Campaign, and it is too late to rest. All troops were ordered to immediately move to concealment and recuperate those who had arrived, and to speed up when they were on the way. During the day today, all units must smoke and do a good job of air defense vigilance. An operational meeting was held here at 2 p.m., and an attack on all fronts was launched at 6 p.m., and Jinan must be taken before dawn tomorrow, so as to end the battle and turn to covert rest and air defense operations. ”

After speaking, Liu Yimin said to Cai Zhong again: "Gather the cars of the 1st Brigade and the Heavy Regiment, and immediately return the same way to pick up the 6th Brigade, they are too far away, and when the soldiers arrive, I am afraid that the Battle of Jinan will be over." In that case, Zhang Hongtao will scold his mother! It should be noted that the convoy must take strict prevention and control measures to strictly prevent the detection and bombing of the little devil aircraft during the day tomorrow. ”

Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng went separately, and Liu Yimin and Luo Ronghuan sat down in front of the map and began to carefully consider the combat deployment again. That look is just like two old monks who have entered the meditation.

After dawn, the army dispatched a large number of planes to conduct a close search and reconnaissance of the vast area between Jinan and Qingdao. It's a pity that when you look down from the air, the ground is full of smoke, and you can't see the ground target clearly. There was no way, so the little devil plane had no choice but to send more reconnaissance planes to monitor and reconnoitre, and the aircraft group flew in the direction of the attack of the puppet army in Xuzhou, Lunan and the retreat direction of the 13th Brigade of Taixi Reading Force.

To the surprise of the Yue Army, both the Lunan Group and the Taixi Group of the Eighth Route Army received telegrams from the special air defense teams, and they did the same thing, making smoke to cover the battlefield, rushing to make kites and Kong Ming lanterns overnight, and laying up airborne mine arrays, so that the planes of the little devils could not drop bombs or dive strafing at low altitudes at all, and could only drop bombs at high altitudes, thus greatly reducing the bombing effect.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Jingjing finally completed the task given by Liu Yimin, and came to Liu Yimin with the press release of "Welcome, Your Excellency in the Temple" written by herself.

When I entered the Hudi Catholic Church, I saw that the cadres of the General Staff Office and the Intelligence Analysis Office were busy, and the ticking telegram was non-stop, Liu Yimin, Political Commissar Luo, Director Cai, and Chief of Staff Zeng gathered in front of the map, and Zhu Zhexiao, deputy director of the General Staff Office, and [***] Feng, one with a ruler in one hand and a pencil in the other, were working on the map.

Jingjing knew that it was unfortunate that the chiefs were studying the operational deployment, so they handed the manuscript to a staff officer, walked over and lifted the sizzling kettle, found three tea jars, poured them one by one, picked one up and walked to Luo Ronghuan's side, called "Political Commissar Luo, please drink water", and handed the water tank over.

Luo Ronghuan heard the shout, turned around and took the water tank, took a sip, looked up, and saw that it was Jingjing, so he smiled and said, "Our talented girl is here, and she knows that she has poured water for me." Yes, it's really sensible. ”

Jingjing pursed her lips and smiled, said "Thank you for the compliment, political commissar", and went to bring the other two tea jars and handed them to Cai Zhong and Liu Yimin.

Liu Yimin was watching Zhu Zhexiao and [***] Feng work on the map, marking the devil's position, firepower points, troop strength indications and the attack routes of our army's troops, and his mind was highly concentrated. Is it important to fight a war or to drink water? ”

Jingjing was full of expectations in exchange for a scolding, and she was stupid, and after a while, she couldn't hold back her tears, and she fluttered and dripped down.

Cai Zhong knew that Liu Yimin's spirit was overconcentrated, and he might not know that it was Jingjing who came to deliver the manuscript, so he hurriedly said: "Division commander, it is Comrade Jingjing who is here to deliver the manuscript." ”

After saying this, Liu Yimin came back to his senses, looked up and saw that the little girl was crying, and reached out to help her wipe her tears. How's it going, is the manuscript ready? Show me. ”

Jingjing was still wiping her tears just now, Liu Yimin helped her wipe her tears, and when she didn't shed tears, the whole person was petrified, standing dumbfounded, and soon her face was flushed, and even her slender white neck was dyed red. Hearing Liu Yimin say that he wanted to read the manuscript, he quickly glanced at Liu Yimin, and hurriedly ran to get the manuscript from the staff officer and handed it to Liu Yimin.

Liu Yimin also had a strange feeling in his heart, and when he looked up after taking the manuscript, Luo Ronghuan and Cai Zhong were staring at him, feeling more and more weird, and hurriedly pulled a stool and sat down to read the manuscript.

Jingjing, this girl deserves to be a graduate of Peking University, and her pen kung fu is indeed good, and this press release is written, which is called a good one. not only embodies all the meanings of Liu Yimin's confession, but also has a flying style, writing Liu Yimin's heroism and the laughter and scolding of Shouyi in the temple vividly. After Liu Yimin saw it, he only made slight revisions in a few places, which aggravated the misleading of Shouichi in the temple, and asked Jingjing to take it as a draft for public auction.

When Jingjing was about to leave with the manuscript, Cai Zhong said: "Comrade Jingjing, you are here, where is Comrade Zhao Xiaoman?" Has she arrived? ”

Jingjing looked ashamed at this time, and her voice was so low that she was about to catch up with the mosquitoes buzzing: "Report Director Cai, Xiao Man has also arrived, and we arrived with the guard regiment together." ”

Cai Zhong continued: "Comrade Jingjing, after entering Jinan City, you must not only do a good job of interviewing, but also pay attention to safety. The manuscript you wrote was brought to me to show before it was published, and some of the manuscripts with strong policy surnames still need to be discussed. This time in Jinan is different from Tianjin and Qingdao, if we play well, we may need to seriously study the city policy. What do you think? ”

Jingjing hurriedly saluted and reported: "Thank you Director Cai for your concern, I will definitely carry out the order." ”

Luo Ronghuan interjected: "Tell Comrade Zhao Xiaoman that after entering Jinan City, we must do a good job in literary and artistic propaganda work, so that the people of Jinan can understand our army's policies as soon as possible." Let her come and report on their preparations. In the future, if you are free, you can come to see us often, the girl is diligent, and she knows how to pour a few water for us, which is much better than those brigade commanders and political commissars. ”

Jingjing's face turned even redder when she said that.

After Jingjing left, Liu Yimin was embarrassed to say Luo Ronghuan, so he asked Cai Zhong: "Director Cai, what's the matter with you?" Didn't your political department come up with this city policy a long time ago? What else needs to be studied? ”

Cai Zhong said: "Senior brother, this Jinan is a big city, and the policies we have set will inevitably have places that cannot be improved, and they need to be supplemented and improved. Let's talk about it when we get into town. ”

Liu Yimin stopped talking and continued to work.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the instructor held an operational meeting, which was attended by cadres at and above the regimental level of the units participating in the Eastern Group. At the meeting, Zeng Zhongsheng made detailed arrangements for the entire campaign on the map, and clearly explained the combat tasks and attack routes of each brigade.

After Zeng Zhongsheng made the deployment, Luo Ronghuan carried out the pre-war mobilization, requiring all troops to strictly abide by discipline, and the people of Jinan had been enslaved by the Kou for such a long time, and the Eighth Route Army must let them experience the happiness of liberation. After completing the combat mission, except for the troops that are responsible for the garrison task in Jinan, the other units should quickly withdraw and rest in concealment.

Liu Yimin stood up amid the applause of the cadres and began to speak: "Comrades, we have just finished the second phase of the Jiaoji Road Campaign, captured three devil lieutenant generals, and eliminated two divisions. It is said that at this time the whole army should be transferred to rest and recuperate, but we cannot rest and recuperate, we must fight continuously. Because once the fighter plane was missed, the devil consolidated and perfected Jinan's defense. It will be difficult for us to take Jinan again. I know that the comrades are very tired and sleepy, there is no way, there are so many little devils, waiting for us to kill them! Everyone said, can we give up the opportunity to kill devils? ”

Naturally, the cadres shouted in unison, "No!" ”

Liu Yimin continued: "Jinan is a good place, the two railways of Jinpu and Jiaoji meet here, the Yellow River in the north and Mount Tai in the south, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Under normal circumstances, the army never dreamed that our army would dare to break ground on Tai Sui's head and attack Jinan's idea, but we don't believe in evil, so we have to take Jinan as a knife. Why? This is because our army has won successive battles, is well-armed, and well-trained, and the current situation in Jinan is that the strength of the enemy and our weakness has shifted, and the army is a garrison division and garrison, and they are all rubbish. The 100,000 elites of our army will attack Jinan, and we are strong and weak. It can be said that Jinan Mansion is a ripe persimmon, waiting for us to pick it! ”

The cadres laughed, and several brigade commanders began to demand orders to attack.

Liu Yimin also said: "Although our army has strong firepower, we have a great grasp of capturing Jinan City. But I must tell the comrades that little devils are not muddy. The guns in their hands are not burning sticks, but they can still kill people. After returning home, the commanders of each unit must conduct a rehearsal of their respective attack missions and carefully allocate their firepower to ensure that they can succeed in one attack. I am here to make it clear to the comrades, the bloody battle of Zhoucun gave birth to the Zhoucun Hero Regiment, this time to capture Jinan, which unit fought well, fought bravely and tenaciously, it will be awarded the title of Jinan Hero Regiment. Did you hear me clearly? ”

Liu Yimin is the best at agitation, and he burns the fire of the troops before every war, so that the morale and fighting spirit are raised to the extreme. No, as soon as he finished speaking, several regiment commanders stood up and shouted ahead of time that we are the Jinan Hero Regiment.

Liu Yimin waved his hand and announced the adjournment of the meeting.

(To be continued)