Just when the army was conducting a large-scale air raid on southern Hebei, Lieutenant General Xiangyue Qingsi, commander of the First Army of the North China Front, commanded the 1st, 6th, 8th, 20th, and 109th Divisions and attacked the Jinzhong base area of the Eighth Route Army's Reading Division.

According to the battle plan of the Yue Army, the 22nd Division of the Yue Army stationed in Handan was to launch an attack on Shexian and Licheng, attract the attention of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the southeast of Jinzhong, and cover the sweeping operation in Jinzhong. However, due to the collapse of the 21st Division and the 4th Brigade of the Reading Force, fearing for the safety of the Pinghan Line, and Terauchi Shou wanted to mobilize heavy troops to encircle and suppress southern Hebei at the beginning, the 22nd Division was urgently transferred back on the way to Shexian to sweep and was assigned to the command of Lieutenant General Kenji Dohihara, the commander of the 14th Division. In this way, Xiangyue Qingsi had to rely on the strength of the First Army to carry out the Jinzhong sweeping operation.

Without the 22nd Division as a flank attack cover, Xiangyue Qingsi was not afraid, after all, he had six elite divisions in his hands, in addition to the 25th Division to defend northern Jin, there were five divisions. Among them, the 1st Division, the 6th Division, the 8th Division, and the 20th Division are all elite units of the Chinese army. Therefore, after driving the main force of the Eighth Route Army out of the areas east of the Fen River, west of the Taihang Mountain, north of the Zhengtai Road, and south of the Wutai Mountain, Xiangyue Qingsi ordered the second step of the first phase of the campaign to clear the Jinzhong area.

Gao Erhua was a native of Faku, Liaoning, participated in the "129" movement, and was assigned to Taiyuan by the underground party in the spring of 1937, and later participated in the Sacrifice League. After the army invaded Shanxi, this beautiful girl picked up a gun and stood on the front line of the resistance. After the Eighth Route Army instructor recovered Taiyuan, Gao Erhua went to work in the Eighth Route Army's Reading Force Division and served as the instructor of the Sixth Detachment of the Jinzhong Guerrilla Detachment of the Reading Division.

On the morning of the 29th day of the first month, Gao Erhua, who was hiding near the Jin Temple to monitor the movements of the Taiyuan army, suddenly found that a large number of the army poured out of Taiyuan and drove south. If you look closely, it should be the 20th Division of the Army. Gao Erhua felt a pang in his heart, saying that the army had just occupied the Xinkou area, could it be that he was going to fight south so soon?

Gao Erhua hurriedly led the 6th guerrilla detachment to evacuate the Jin Ancestral Hall, and reported to his superiors by radio: The 20th Division of the Yue Army attacked Qingxu.

Since the main force of the Yue Army marched north and captured Xinkou, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the Reading Division, and the 129th Division were all watching the movements of the Yue Army. The main force of the Reading Division even moved to the vicinity of the Zhengtai Line, preparing to attack the Zhengtai Line and support the 115th and 120th Divisions in the battle. However, no one in the Eighth Route Army expected that the army would move so quickly, and as soon as it occupied the Xinkou area, it would immediately return to attack the Jinzhong area.

At the same time as receiving Gao Erhua's report, all units of our army on the Zhengtai Line began to contact the army. The intelligence was soon gathered at the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the headquarters of the Reading Division. It can be seen from the intelligence that the actions of the Yue army this time are the same as the actions of capturing Xinkou, and they are both heavy army groups attacking and advancing. Among them, the 6th Division of the Army led the 10th and 9th Divisions out of Yangquan and began to attack Pingding in a roundabout way, and the 20th Division of the Army went south along the Tongpu Road and directly killed Qingxu near Taiyuan, and the 1st Division and the 8th Division of the Army went south from Zhengtai Road, and the troops pointed directly at Jinzhong.

Mr. Zhu and Xu Xiangqian pondered on the map for a long time, and immediately understood that the army wanted to form the first encirclement east of the Tongpu Railway, west of Taihang Mountain, south of the Zhengtai Line, north of Pingyao, Yushe, and Liaoxian, so as to completely wipe out the main force of the Eighth Route Army in our Jinzhong base area.

Judging that the army's attempt does not mean that the army can be eliminated, with the lesson of Xinkou's loss, Mr. Zhu understands that relying on the reader alone will not be able to hold the Jinzhong base area.

After a quick telegram communication with the chairman in Xi'an, Mr. Zhu immediately sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, asking the troops of the First Theater to launch a diversionary attack on the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan Xian 2 in northern Henan, so that it could not reinforce the Shanxi side on a large scale; sent a report to Yan Xishan, asking the main force of the Jin Sui Army to attack the west side of Tongpu Road, contain the 20th Division of the Yue Army, and make it unable to smoothly capture the section from Taiyuan to Pingyao on Tongpu Road; sent a report to Wei Lihuang, asking him to prepare for reinforcements in Jinzhong if possible; He sent a report to Mr. Peng, asking all units of the 120th and 115th Divisions to seize the fighters of the main force of the Yue Army moving south and actively restore the base areas captured by the Yue Army. The main force of the 115th Division should move quickly and prepare to attack the Zhengtai Line and force the enemy to return reinforcements; The main force of the 129th Division was immediately mobilized and prepared to reinforce the Reading Division for operation.

Although Mr. Zhu knew that it was purely a fool's dream to count on Yan Xishan and his ilk to reinforce the Eighth Route Army and contain the enemy, he still didn't expect that Yan Xishan's mentality had changed a lot at this time. He had already begun to ponder again the question of "the United States must prepare for the United Propaganda, the United Communist Party must prepare for [***], and the Ying Chiang must prepare to reject Chiang."

It is no wonder that after the Eighth Route Army entered Shanxi, its strength developed too fast, turning central Jin, northern Jin, and southeastern Jin into its own base areas. In addition to controlling the western part of the Jin Dynasty, Shanxi is about to become the world of the Eighth Route Army. This made Yan Xishan, who regarded Shanxi as his own one-third of an acre, very uncomfortable. Of course, now is the critical period of the Anti-Japanese War, and Yan Xishan knows that without the Eighth Route Army, he will not be able to hold Shanxi. However, the truth is reasonable, as soon as he thought that those young descendants followed the Eighth Route Army, Yan Xishan's heart was very uncomfortable. Therefore, when he learned that the Yue army had captured the Xinkou area and driven out the 115th Division, the main force of the Eighth Route Army, Yan Xishan's mood was very complicated, and he couldn't tell what kind of flavor it was. If Mr. Zhu knew that Yan Xishan's mentality was so complicated, I am afraid he would not have wasted time and energy sending telegrams everywhere.

After deploying reinforcements from the periphery and drawing up the battle, Mr. Zhu ordered the Reading Division to immediately engage in anti-sweeping operations, resisting layer by layer, and delaying the enemy's offensive speed. The political axes at all levels in the Jinzhong base area immediately organized the fortified walls to clear the wilderness, and organized and covered the transfer of the masses. The guerrilla detachments, county brigades, district squads, and militias urgently mobilized to lay mines, harass the enemy, and cooperate with the main forces in operations to gain time for the mass transfer.

For a time, the land of Jinzhong was full of smoke.

Unlike the aggressive offensive operations of the commander of the First Army of the Shanxi Battlefield, Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo, commander of the Second Army of the Japanese Army in the Shandong direction, is now in a dilemma.

Originally, according to Nishio Shouzo's campaign concept, after sweeping away all the resistance forces in Shandong, he immediately waved his army south, captured Xuzhou, and completed the task entrusted by the front army to return to the division with the Central China Front. It's a pity that the division was unfavorable, and the main force of the 21st Division and the Fourth Brigade were annihilated by the instructors of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop. It turned out that Nishio Shouzao relied on the 24th Division to defend the Jinpu line, and used the 21st Division and the Fourth Brigade to sweep the vast areas northwest of the Yellow River and on both sides of the Jinpu Road, and now the 24th Division has joined the Jizhong Combat Group, and the main force of the 21st Division and the Fourth Brigade of the Reading Force are all broken, this time, the defense line between Jinan and Dexian is all open due to the weakness of the troops, if Liu Yimin attacks the Jinpu line at this time, Nishio Shouzao knows that he can't hold it.

Therefore, when General Terauchi Shouichi strictly ordered Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo to explain to the base camp the reason for the main force of the 21st Division, and mobilized heavy troops to rescue the Fourth Brigade, Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo's eyebrows were tangled together, and while feeling uncomfortable for Lieutenant General Washizu Songpei, he secretly cursed the damned Terauchi Shouichi, so quickly played the trick of shirking responsibility, and just made Lieutenant General Itagaki Seishiro as a scapegoat, and now he has his own idea again. This old horseman, illiterate and touching the signboard, how can I Nishio Shouzao be at the mercy of your temple Shouichi?

After scolding Terauchi Shouichi, Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo scolded Major General Kazumura Dong again, this arrogant guy, the last telegram has already attacked Linqing City, asking the aircraft to bomb the resistance forces in Linqing City, how did he fall into the trap of Liu Yimin's tutor in a blink of an eye? If this pig can't be beaten, won't it run? If you can't even run, you're really stupid!

With hatred and scolding in his heart, Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo immediately ordered the Fifth Division and the Tenth Division to stop attacking to the south and defend on the spot; The 16th Division stopped the sweeping operation, and the main force immediately assembled, and together with the 13th Brigade of Reading Li from Tai'an and the 108th Division from Jinan, they transported to Dexian County by car to strengthen the defense line of Jinpu Road, rescue Reading Li and mix it into the 4th Brigade, and eliminate the instructors of the Zhina Sect.

After giving the order, Nishio Shouzo sat down honestly and drafted a general report to the base camp on the garrison of the 21st Division in Dexian County and the general situation of the battle. To tell the truth, how did the 21st Division break, where can Nishio Shouzo know, he just said the task he gave to the 21st Division.

Who knew that before the troops had completed their assembly, the second order of General Terauchi Shouichi arrived, saying that the fourth brigade of the Reading Force Mixed Brigade had been collectively broken, and ordered him to strengthen the defense of the Jinpu line, and said that if the sweep was carried out in the western direction of Luxi, it must not be carried out by a single division or brigade, and more than three permanent divisions and regiments must be concentrated at the same time.

After reading Terauchi Shouichi's telegram, Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzao no longer blindly resents Terauchi Shouichi, he understands that he can make Terauchi Shouichi so jealous, which shows that Liu Yimin's mentor is very strong. He really couldn't understand when China had such a force that even the commanders of the North China Front feared. If such a force had been discovered earlier, what kind of North China incident had been carried out, and the Chinese had fought themselves, perhaps their civil war would have exhausted this army.

However, there is one thing that makes Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo entangled in his heart, that is, the responsibility of reading power to become the jade crush of the fourth division. The main force of the 21st Division was broken, and the reason was mainly due to the arbitrary behavior of Lieutenant General Songping of Eagle Tsujin, who ordered him to mainly clear the area north of the Yellow River, east of Jinpu Road, and south of Cangxian. The matter of Reading Li being mixed into the Fourth Brigade is different, the attack on Liaocheng and the capture of Linqing are all out of their own orders, and they will be charged with a command error, not to mention that they will be charged with a command error. Seeing that he was about to be promoted to general, it would be troublesome to fall into such a charge.

The more Nishio Shouzo thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and he couldn't care about the affairs of the troops, so he sat down again, and honestly wrote down why he ordered the Fourth Brigade to attack Liaocheng and capture Linqing, and clearly explained the responsibility for the unclear intelligence and command mistakes that he should bear, and then sent it to the headquarters and base camp of the North China Front.

After dealing with this matter, Nishio Shouzao felt relieved for a while, and felt that it was time to ask Liu Yimin's tutor Xingshi for the crime, so he called the chief of staff, Major General Suzuki, to ask where the 10th and 8th Division, the 13th Brigade and the 16th Division were now.

Major General Suzuki reported that the 10th and 8th Divisions had been transported to Dexian County by car and deployed along the Jinpu Line, that the 13th Brigade was rushing to Jinan by car, and that the 16th Division was assembling troops.

Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo interrupted Major General Suzuki's report and directly accused the 16th Division of being too slow to move and to step up its actions, and ordered the 10th Division and the 5th Division to each set aside a brigade from the railway line and transport it to Jinan by car to unify the heavy artillery brigades, armored units, cavalry, engineers, and baggage units directly under the Second Army.

After Lieutenant General Nishio gave the order, he urged all units to hurry up their actions. After the battle plan was reported to the headquarters of the North China Front, he received an order from General Terauchi Shouichi in the evening, saying that the second army's operational direction was still Xuzhou, that the 108th Division and the railway wing should be responsible for the security of the Jinpu line, and that the 24th Division stationed in Cangxian County was still responsible for the north of Dexian. The Second Army should be stationed in Jinan with the 13th Brigade and be the support force of the 10th and 8th Divisions.

Nishio Shouzo didn't know what General Terauchi Shouyi thought, and he kept shouting to eliminate Liu Yimin's tutor, but now he finally found the position of the tutor, but he was indecisive, and even said that the second army's combat direction was still Xuzhou, which is simply incredible!

Nishio Shouzo already knew that Prince Zaihito of the Idle Yuan Palace called Terauchi Shouichi an unlucky man, and he began to curse the old unlucky man in his heart, purely blindly commanding, making the army run on the road every day and not be able to do anything. He just moved his mouth, and his second army didn't know what to do. Attack Rousey, the order does not allow it. Let's not attack, the troops have been assembled and are walking on the railway! This unlucky general Shouichi Terauchi is simply inexplicable!

At this moment, Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo's sense of respect for General Terauchi Shouichi had completely disappeared.

Nishio Shouzo didn't know that General Terauchi Shouichi only did not approve the Second Army's battle plan because he had already reported his strategic intentions to the base camp. And at this time, General Shouichi Terauchi had a new idea.

General Terauchi Shouichi received the content of the broadcast of the Eighth Route Army's South Hebei Radio Station in the evening.

(To be continued)