A beggar who had lost his legs supported his body with his hands, dragged the stump wrapped in old leather, crawled over, gently and incessantly pulled Wu Jinsuo's trouser legs, and cried like a child, "The cripples caused by the war. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info no siblings, no parents. Crippled by the war, unable to work, without brothers......"

Wu Jinsuo sighed silently, he had seen a lot of this situation, took out a few copper plates from his pocket, and did not throw them into the beggar's iron can, but put them into his hands.

In the beggar's continuous thanks, Wu Jinsuo turned to leave. But a crowd of silent but staring beggars gathered around, some women, some old, and some children. They followed, but they didn't dare to reach out and touch Wu Jin's lock, as if they were surrounding a holy object.

Wu Jin locked his pocket and groped, and then looked at Xiao Wenzhong not far away as if asking for help. Xiao Wenzhong rolled his eyes a little complainingly, walked over slowly, and handed more than a dozen copper plates to Wu Jinsuo. Wu Jinsuo smiled bitterly and carefully put the copper plates into the waiting hands one by one.

At this time, a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a thick beard walked over and greeted Xiao Wenzhong, "Mr. Feng, hello. ”

Yu Wenzhong looked up and down, déjà vu, but he didn't remember where he had seen it all of a sudden? Wu Jinsuo was a little vigilant, and stepped forward vigilantly, not directly blocking anyone, but on the side between the two.

The person who came smiled faintly, and then said the joint code, "Mr. Feng is really forgetful, on August 15 last year, we were still eating braised pork ribs at the mainland restaurant!" ”

Ah, ah, I don't know if Yu Wenzhong really recognized it, or if he reacted to the code, he laughed heartily and patted his head, "Look at my memory, I actually forgot." Mr. Xu, I'm really sorry! ”

Mr. Xu smiled generously and stretched out his hand to give way, "Let's go, let's go, it's better to meet by chance, we haven't seen each other for more than half a year, find a place to chat." ”

"Less than half a year!" Yu Wenzhong followed and said with a smile: "The family is good, I heard that Ling Mei has returned to China after completing her studies, which is really gratifying." ”

"Coincidentally, my sister is outside." Mr. Hu replied, led Xiao Wenzhong and Wu Jinsuo out of the temple, turned a corner, saw a small café, and walked straight over.

Entering the café, Mr. Hu continued to lead them to a seat, and greeted him, "Xiaoping, see who my brother has met?" ”

"Who?" With a lazy response, a woman rose from her seat.

Wu Jinsuo was stunned, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and he slammed into his chest. He never dreamed that he would meet her in Shanghai, the woman who often appeared in his mind and memory - Xu Ping.

……………

The fields are full of the smell of spring. The earth seems to have reawakened and resurrected, and the old plants and trees have sprouted wild buds and grown under the caress of the wind and rain and the sun.

After nearly two months of rapid training in the mountains, the independent brigade marched out of the mountainous areas in batches and marched to western Henan with regiments as units, thus opening the curtain on the northern Henan campaign.

Lifting the curtain did not mean the beginning of a major war, because Yang Tianfeng and the General Staff Department conducted many detailed studies, and the determined battle plan was not to rush forward and advance, but to infiltrate, attrition, and gradually weaken the enemy, and finally to carry out a decisive battle with a large corps according to the situation.

The moist breeze blows, and the smell of wild flowers and grass goes straight to people's hearts. People can't help but open their mouths wide and breathe deeply, feeling intoxicated and refreshing as if they were drinking nectar.

Lu Peng rode on a horse, parallel to Chief of Staff Gao Rongli, exchanging comprehensions and opinions on the battle plan as they walked.

"In addition to Lao Guo's 25th Division, we are the second unit to go out and fight independently, but we have to make an appearance to live up to Boss Yang's expectations and values!" Lu Peng gently slapped his boots with a horsewhip, and said with emotion: "It's just that this battle plan is more time-consuming, I'm afraid it's not enjoyable!" ”

"It's not a problem to be time-consuming, it's important to be safe." Gao Rongli pointed to the neatly advancing queue and said, "These are all trained elites, and the casualties are large, I'm sorry Boss Yang, and I'm sorry for these officers and soldiers." ”

Lu Peng was silent, nodded lightly for a while, and said, "Yes, these soldiers are almost all familiar, and many of them can be named." I feel sorry for one of the war losses. After a pause, he straightened his back proudly, "With this elite man, as well as training and equipment, we will definitely be able to win in Yojizaka, and let the devil know the strength of our mountain brigade." ”

"Boss Yang just said it casually, and you changed your name." Gao Rongli smiled: "However, this mountain brigade is much better than the independent brigade. ”

"It's called the Mountain Brigade." Lu Peng said stubbornly: "If there are other mountain troops, we are also the first brigade in the mountains." ”

Sheep intestine is the name of the ancient saka road, because it is rugged and winding in the mountains, twists and turns, and resembles a sheep intestine, so it is named. It starts from Changping Village, Qinyang City, Jiaozuo, Henan Province in the south, and reaches Wancheng Village, Zezhou County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province in the north, with a total length of about four kilometers. This is the most dangerous section of Taihang, the throat of the ancient Jingluo road, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, it has always been a place for soldiers to fight, and has an important strategic position.

In 1939, during the Battle of Western Henan, the First Division of the Eighth Route Army and the 40th Army of the Kuomintang worked together to hold on to the danger for more than 20 days, inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese army, and effectively coping with the final victory of the Battle of Western Henan.

Infiltrating the periphery of Jiaozuo and fighting around Yangjiban can not only block the connection between the Japanese army in northern Henan and the invading Japanese army, but also attract the enemy in Xinxiang and make it fall into continuous attrition, laying a good foundation for the final launch of the Northern Henan Campaign.

The Battle of Northern Henan was the main opponent of the 35th Division in Xinxiang, but it was first launched in Jiaozuo, which had the meaning of attacking the east and the west, but also grasped the weakness of the Japanese army. The area defended by the 35th Division was not small, and the strength was scattered, which also caused the fighters to be consumed or broken one by one.

If you don't hit the enemy, you will weaken the enemy first. A division seems to be strong, but it is not invincible to try to attrition and weaken it.

"There are coal mines in Jiaozuo, which is also a key area defended by the Japanese army, so we must stand firm, avoid the real and attack the false, in order to seek the long-term; Or do you want to get off to a good start and open up the situation? Lu Peng had already made up his mind in his heart, but he was a little hesitant when Gao Rongli talked about reducing casualties.

"It's better to open up the situation first." Gao Rongli groaned and said: "Although the boss has given us relatively flexible space to play tactics, but from the analysis of his words, he still hopes that we can gain a firm foothold as soon as possible." One of Zhou Zunshi's regiments trained later than ours, and it should be over in another month. Isn't the Third Army also sending troops to conduct training in mountain warfare, which can be used as our backup? ”

"Although we are the vanguard, we are actually assisting Sun Tongxuan, and he must work hard to open up contact with the Taihang Mountain base area." Lu Peng thought about it and said: "Borrow a division from him, and we will have the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the enemy of Jiaozuo, so as to leap into Yangjiban." ”

"It's better for the boss to propose to Sun Tongxuan to borrow troops." Gao Rongli was more careful and said: "Let's go to western Henan first, reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and then mobilize friendly troops through the boss to cooperate in the battle." ”

"Or are you thoughtful." Lu Peng nodded again and again and said, "The boss also reminded me, but I forgot about it." ”

Gao Rongli smiled and said, "Let's go, let's go ahead and take a look, we're going to cross the county seat." ”

Lu Peng answered, pinched the horse's belly, and sped up.

……………

Divide the battle into several battles, divide the battle into multiple battles, and turn the battle into small or sporadic attrition.

At the military meeting, Yang Tianfeng set the tone for the operation of the New Seventh Army, readjusted its deployment, and carried out continuous strikes against the Japanese puppet army under the goal of vigorously protecting the base areas, so that the enemy would continue to bleed and weaken.

At the same time, in order to make up for the vacancy that would be continuously transferred due to the Northern Henan Campaign, Yang Tianfeng asked the Military Commission and the Theater Command to order Gao Shuxun's New Eighth Army to move south from Liuxiatun in Puyang and be placed under the jurisdiction and command of the Shandong-Henan-Anhui Guerrilla Command.

As a team of anti-Japanese wars behind enemy lines sent by the government, Gao Shuxun's headquarters should be controlled by Shi Yousan, but Shi Yousan was heavily damaged by the Eighth Route Army, and the contradiction with Gao Shuxun was very deep. Yang Tianfeng asked Gao Shuxun to be transferred to his department, but Pang Bingxun, commander of the Jicha Theater of Operations, did not object, and the Military Commission also gave him the green light.

As long as Gao Shuxun's headquarters is not more than the Yellow River, transferring to the war zone is just a trivial matter. Of course, this was the idea of the Central Military Commission and Chairman Chiang, but for Yang Tianfeng, it strengthened his strength and gave him more capital to adopt-for-tat tactics in order to undermine the Japanese army's siege instead of attack and encroachment.

With the improvement of the overall strength of the base areas and the increase in the amount of materials allocated by the state government and the theater, Yang Tianfeng began to adopt new tactics to expand the recovery area.

In fact, this method of warfare is neither new nor new, and it has been used in Kaifeng and Sucheng. It's just that at that time, it was to protect the people from being slaughtered by the devil's revenge.

However, the subsequent results made Yang Tianfeng realize that the relocation of the people played a considerable role in weakening the Japanese army, and also had a deeper understanding of the Japanese army's strategy of "fighting to feed the war".

The so-called "feeding war with war" means using the human, material, and financial resources obtained in the war to continue the war. In the past, Yang Tianfeng did not regard the manpower as an important factor, and he understood that the manpower that could be used by the Japanese army was nothing more than the puppet army and forced labor.

Since the subsequent recovery of Kaifeng, and the fact that the enemy of Sucheng has been at a relatively weak level, Yang Tianfeng realized that the people in the occupied areas are also a source of Japanese devils "feeding war with war". Without the people to oppress and enslave, how can the devils rule, and how can the established strongholds be stable?

The casualties caused by the capture of Pei County made Yang Tianfeng's heart ache and decided to avoid attacking the fortification as much as possible. With such considerations, Yang Tianfeng discussed with the General Staff Department, communicated with the government affairs department, and began to implement siege and squeeze tactics against the enemy.

This siege and squeeze tactic was used by the Eighth Route Army, the most famous being the Siege of Qinyuan. During this siege war, which lasted two and a half years, the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in Qinyuan carried out a large-scale operation to clear the wilderness, filling up wells, grinding and blowing them up, transporting grain, and hiding in the deep mountains and old forests to deal with the enemy, so that the Japanese army lost the material conditions on which it depended for survival.

After the enemy occupied Qinyuan County, he could not see anyone, could not eat, and could not drink, and all supplies were transported from abroad. Some regular troops and guerrilla units also worked closely together to intercept and attack the enemy's convoys everywhere, while the militia and other local armed forces laid more than 15,000 mines at the city pass and various road crossings, causing the enemy's actions to grab food and rush people in vain. In the end, after paying a heavy price, the enemy had no choice but to withdraw from the empty city of Qinyuan.

Despite the successful examples, Yang Tianfeng did not copy them, but made considerable improvements based on the equipment and combat strength of the New Seventh Army and its subordinate guerrillas.

Naturally, there was no need for the small and medium-sized strongholds to be besieged and squeezed, and the guerrillas not only had the weapons to attack the fortifications, but also had the vigorous cooperation of the main force. Pulling out strongholds or encircling points to send reinforcements is already a mature tactic, and the enemy has also been repeatedly attacked.

Yang Tianfeng wanted to besiege the county seat, and the first targets were Cao County and Chengwu County in the Heze area, which were close to the base area. First, the 25th and 27th Divisions formed a semi-circular offensive posture from Jinxiang, Shanxian, and Shangqiu, uprooted the strongholds, and slowly advanced to carry out coercion; At the same time, a number of guerrilla units were dispatched to block the highway leading from the county seat to the outside, and the main force was even sent to penetrate in depth to strike at the large number of enemies dispatched.

The Japanese puppet army in the Heze area has increased to more than 15,000 people, but the places to be defended are also very large, including Heze, Dingtao, Caoxian, Chengwu, Shanxian, Juye, and Yuncheng. As a result, its forces are diluted, and although its territory is large, it is not stable. For an opponent like the New Seventh Army, the enemy was quite worried about the division of troops, and did not dare to easily dispatch with too small a force.

The strongholds were continuously uprooted, and the enemy could only shrink to secure the county as the goal. However, the villages around the county town have become no-man's land, and road transportation has been frequently attacked and ambushed, and the troops of a squadron do not dare to go out of the city to fight easily, and it is inevitable to fall into a dilemma.

You must know that the guerrillas to which the New Seventh Army belongs are not weaker than the main forces in terms of equipment, and they are even strengthened in some respects. For example, the frequently used electrically detonated mines have a long control distance, and they are blown up accurately and ruthlessly; Equipped with burst weapons, in close range ambushes and attacks, the lethality is amazing; A sniper kills with one shot, and it is impossible to prevent it......

The commander of the Japanese army in Heze, Nagayama Daisa, was quite troubled by this, and the situation in Caoxian and Chengwu was getting worse and worse, and in less than a month, the battle damage had exceeded 1,000 people, but the traffic was still intermittent. As the backing of the two counties and the intermediate station connecting Heze, the location of Dingtao County can be said to be very important.

Therefore, after weighing it, Yongshan decided to launch a sweep and attack first when the opponent had just infiltrated into Dingtao, his strength was not strong, and his foothold was not stable. It is better to be able to capture the opponent, and if it can't be captured, the other anti-Japanese forces in Dingtao County will be eliminated, and then reinforcements will be sent to Cao County and Chengwu after the Tao is stabilized. (To be continued.) )