At noon, Lie said that the green bricks and blue tiles of Zhou Village were smoked.

In the command post of the 21st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, the staff officers held several telephones and kept asking the forward observation posts to understand the movements of the devils.

Cao Jin, commander of the 21st Regiment, and Wu Jiasheng, political commissar of the 21 st Regiment, spread out the Zhoucun city defense map drawn by the staff office on the table, and kept comparing them with pencils to study the defense problem.

It has been the second day since the 21 st Regiment attacked the Fifth Division head-on, and in this day and a half, although the 21 st Regiment has adopted the tactics of resisting step by step, alternately covering, and attacking at night, inflicting heavy casualties on the devils, after all, there are groups of enemy planes in the sky, and on the ground are the elite Fifth Division, and the troops cannot hold on to every position for a long time, and they must fight and leave, otherwise they will be overwhelmed by the powerful firepower of the devils.

Of course, the 21st Regiment is well-trained and advanced, but the little devils are not vegetarians, especially the air superiority of the devils, which made the soldiers suffer a lot, but fortunately, since the pilots of the little devils suffered a big loss in Binxian on the border of Hebei and Shandong, they have a kind of fear of the instructors, and they dare not dive and strafe, so they can only drop bombs. For the instructors and cadres at all levels who have only taken advantage of the situation and have not suffered losses since the reorganization of the army along the Xiangjiang River, this kind of casualties is simply unacceptable, and this tactic is even more unacceptable.

Cao Jin really understood the power of the devil's firepower this time. Since it was fighting in the base area and the fortifications were very complete, Cao Jin originally thought that with the strength of the 21st Regiment, not to mention holding on for a day or two, it would be no problem to hold on for ten days and a half months. The result surprised Cao Jin, as long as the Eighth Route Army dared to hold on to any village, the little devil would find the target of the attack, and the plane bombed, the artillery bombed, and then the poison gas bomb, until the entire village was razed to the ground. In this way, the Eighth Route Army will not dare to hold on anymore, and it must not let the little devils destroy all the villages and houses! In that case, how will the villagers live?

When he retreated all the way from around Wangcun to Zhoucun Town, Cao Jin couldn't help but send a telegram to Zeng Zhongsheng, bluntly saying that it was not a way to resist the main force of the devils like this, and if he continued to fight like this, not only would the troops be exhausted, but the lives of the common people after the war would be a big problem, and no village and no house would be equivalent to completely losing their homes. I would like to ask the chief of staff to consider whether it is possible to give an order to disengage from contact with the enemy, preserve the vital forces, and find another fighter.

Zeng Zhongsheng naturally knew that the troops suffered heavy casualties in this way, and the 21st Regiment suffered heavy casualties, and the casualties of other troops were also heavy. However, if we do not fight like this, it will be impossible to attract the devils to the north of the heavy army group in Lunan, and it will be impossible for the main force of the division to complete the task of destroying the enemy on the southern front, so we must grit our teeth and persevere. Besides, it is impossible for the troops to retreat on all fronts in broad daylight, so that the troops can only become the target of the devil's air firepower and ground heavy firepower.

Therefore, after withdrawing into Zhoucun, the 21st Regiment received an order from Zeng Zhongsheng, commander-in-chief of the Ludong Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and chief of staff of the instructor, to teach the 21st Regiment to hold out in Zhoucun until 12 o'clock at night, so as to further attract devils and cover the retreat of all troops. At the same time, it is necessary to fight with the little devils in Zhoucun, and the devils' aircraft and artillery must not be allowed to blow up Zhoucun.

With this order, Cao Jin and Wu Jiasheng's idea of using the strong city walls of Zhou Village to block the little devils outside the city vanished. After thinking about it, the chief of staff's order is reasonable, and the devil can't be allowed to destroy Zhou Village, this is a courtyard with blue bricks and blue tiles, and it would be a pity if it was destroyed in the war. Besides, it's better to let the devils into the city than to keep the devils out of the city, and get mixed up with the devils, at least the little devils can't bomb and gas indiscriminately.

However, they can't just let the little devils into the city so easily, they have to pay the price. There are many methods, but the most effective ones are electric explosive kits, anti-infantry mines, and anti-tank mines.

Considering that the little devils could not be bombarded with aircraft and artillery, Cao Jin's idea was to plant explosives at the city gates on all sides, and after letting some of the devils enter the city, they would use explosives to blow up the follow-up troops of the devils. Such. Because there are devils in the city, the devils outside the city will not concentrate planes, heavy artillery bombardment, or poison gassing. As for the city wall, it can't be occupied by the little devils in vain, mines and explosives packages must be buried on it, and flying thunder cannons, infantry guns, mortars and grenadiers must be arranged in advance, and the little devils will definitely climb the city wall to plant flags and cheer after entering the city, and there is their grave. Anyway, it doesn't matter if the city wall is broken, it's easy to repair.

This week the village was occupied by the Eighth Route Army for a period of time, it turned out to be the fulcrum of the Eighth Route Army's defense of Jinan, the sappers had already built part of the fortifications in the city, plus there were many large merchants in the city's ticket number banks, each family had a basement as a treasury, after the implementation of the strong wall clearing, there was no one in the city anymore, the Eighth Route Army soon opened up the courtyard, and the city defense fortifications were built completely. When the 21st Regiment entered Zhou Village, the village and town had become a strong fortress.

Cao Jin and Wu Jiasheng deployed troops around the main street, Silk Market Street, Cotton Market Street, Kuixing Pavilion, Thousand Buddha Temple, Guanhailou and other important streets and temples, and asked all troops to retreat into the courtyard after killing and wounding the enemy, fight with the devils courtyard by courtyard, and be sure to hold out until 12 o'clock at night, and then retreat from the north gate.

As soon as the 21st Regiment entered Zhou Village, the devils followed one after another and pursued them outside the city of Zhou Village. However, the little devils already have a sense of fear of the town, and they have suffered a lot at the city gate, knowing that all the towns guarded by the Eighth Route Army are traps, and the city gate must be filled with dead people.

It was when the little devils were hesitating and waiting for the big army that the 21st Regiment completed the deployment in Zhoucun, and all the troops entered the designated positions, waiting for the little devils to fight.

The Fifth Division suffered the hardships of the Eighth Route Army along the way, and the troops suffered heavy casualties. Seeing that the Eighth Route Army entered Zhoucun Town, he did not dare to follow the pursuit, for fear of falling into the hands of the Eighth Route Army again.

After waiting for the large army to come up, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi personally made a close observation of Zhou Village, and found that the gate of Zhou Village was wide open, like an empty city. But Ando Toshiyoshi just didn't dare to send troops into the city easily, because he knew that the Eighth Route Army in the village and city was extremely difficult to deal with, the tactical quality was very high, and there were sharp weapons that could restrain his chariots and armored vehicles, and rash entry into the city would inevitably cause heavy casualties.

Lieutenant General Toshiyoshi Anto, commander of the Fifth Division, was one of the key generals of the army, and immediately ordered the artillery observers to be hoisted by planes so that they could observe movements in the city and indicate the direction of attack for the artillery.

Unexpectedly, after the artillery observers took to the air, they reported that the prosperous Zhou Village was already an empty city, and there was not a single figure on the streets. It seems that the Eighth Route Army slipped away.

Toshiyoshi Ando scolded the artillery observers who rose into the air for being stupider than pigs, will the Eighth Route Army slip away? With such a strong city, if the Eighth Route Army did not hold on, it would be a joke.

Ando Toshiki, who was irritated by the corpses of the soldiers along the way, knew that there was the main force of the Eighth Route Army hidden in the city, so Suo surnamed Suo did not stop doing anything, and ordered a large-scale launch of special smoke in Zhoucun City, wanting to use poison gas to solve the battle in one fell swoop.

The devil's trick was a big surprise to Cao Jin and Wu Jiasheng, the reason why they wanted to let the devil go into the city to fight was not only because they didn't want the devil to blow up Zhoucun into ruins, but also because they wanted to get into a mess with the devil and prevent the little devil from emitting poison gas. However, after the Red Seventh Army captured Xi'an, all units began to conduct anti-gas training, and after occupying Tianjin and Qingdao and eliminating several divisions and regiments of devils, all units of the instructor were equipped with gas masks, although the number did not reach one per person, but it was basically enough.

From the very beginning of this battle, the tactics adopted by the Eighth Route Army made the little devils not have the opportunity to use poison gas in large quantities, but when they held on to the village, the little devils had already used poison gas many times in a small area, and the soldiers also had experience. Some people who do not have gas masks immediately cover their mouths and noses with wet towels to avoid inhaling toxic gases.

Cao Jin wore a mask while cursing the little devil for his lack of morality, and he didn't dare to attack, but he used this method of exterminating people's surnames. Originally, he wanted to order the regimental artillery to take revenge on the devils and fire poison gas bombs at the devils, but seeing that the wind was not in the right direction, he had to give up.

After Ando Toshiyoshi gave the order to launch special cigarettes, he waited patiently for an hour, feeling that when the time came, the Eighth Route Army would lose its resistance if it did not die, so he ordered all units to send search teams to enter the city from the south gate, east gate, and west gate. As for the north gate, one is that he has to make a detour for half a day, and the other is that Ando Toshikichi is afraid that the Eighth Route Army will not all die, and will stubbornly resist the city, bringing unnecessary harm to his Fifth Division. Or leave them a way, drive them out of the city, and destroy them in the wilderness.

The devil soldiers began to enter the city. However, the little devils are very cunning, they have suffered too much loss, and their vigilance is high, and they are still in an attack formation, with cats on their waists and guns, and when they run quickly to the city gate, they carefully stick to the wall and attack the city step by step.

Fortunately, it was safe, the Eighth Route Army did not shoot, and Ando Toshiyoshi became emboldened and ordered the Ninth Brigade and the Konoe Reading Mixed Brigade to send a brigade each into the city.

The devils of the advanced city did not enter the courtyard, they had to quickly advance along the streets and quickly control the key points. The second group of devils is different, they first have to seize the city wall, plant plaster flags, cheer, and condescendingly monitor the movements of the whole city.

Seeing the plaster flag planted on the city wall, Ando Rikichi was a little relieved, and ordered the commander of the 11th Infantry Wing, the commander of the 9th Brigade, Yuichiro Nagano, to command the 11th Wing to enter the city from the south gate and be responsible for clearing the remnants of the Eighth Route Army in the city. The rest of the troops are on standby for the time being.

Yuichiro Nagano is one of the people in the Fifth Division who hates the instructor of the Eighth Route Army the most, the reason is very simple, officers with qualifications like him have basically been promoted to major general, only he and the 41st Wing of the Ninth Brigade and the Yamada Tetsujiro Osa, two people have not been promoted, the main reason is that the Fifth Division has suffered a great defeat, and the 21st Brigade, the Cavalry Wing, and the Field Artillery Wing are all broken, resulting in the military headquarters not approving the promotion of Yuichiro Nagano and Yamada Tetsujiro Osa, who have made outstanding achievements in battle. Therefore, Yuichiro Nagano hated the Eighth Route Army to the core, wrote down the three words of Liu Yimin, pasted them on his war knife, and split them a thousand times every time, shouting "Liu Yimin, dead, dead!" ”

When he came to the city of Zhoucun, Yuichiro Nagano was already a little crazy, he was beaten by the Eighth Route Army along the way, as the vanguard of the whole division, his eleventh wing suffered heavy losses, although the major teams were not eliminated in formation, but the attrition was very powerful, His Excellency the division commander has given him three times to replenish the troops, and if he continues to replenish it, the division and regiment will replenish the infantry to him.

Now it's okay, the old opponent has retracted into Zhoucun City, and the commander of the Eighth Route Army seems to have his brain burned out, and he can't even see that this small Zhoucun City is dead.

When Toshikichi Ando ordered the launch of a special smoke just now, Yuichiro Osa Nagano was eager to try by Toshiyoshi Ando's side, and asked for battle several times, asking to attack first. Considering that the 11th Wing had fought a deceitful battle along the way, the losses were too great, and it was necessary to let them advance the city several times in order to help maintain the morale and attack power of the 11th Wing, so he agreed.

After receiving the order to enter the city, Yuichiro Nagano couldn't wait to pull out his command knife and ordered the entire Quan Wing to enter the city under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles.

Seeing the third batch of devils entering the city, Wu Jiasheng reminded Cao Jin that he could act. Because you can't let too many little devils enter the city, you have to let them go in slowly, batch by batch.

Cao Jin was impatient to wait, so he directly ordered the sappers to detonate the explosives at the south gate, and ordered the fire support battalion to cover the devils who climbed the city wall.

Lu Sicheng, the leader of the No. 9 squad of the third platoon, who taught the engineer company of the 21st Regiment to be responsible for the detonation of explosives at the south gate, was a college student who joined the army in Tianjin, studied chemistry and studied explosives blasting and other things. After joining the army, he was supposed to stay in the logistics command and prepare to replenish the military factory. Unexpectedly, after meeting with Ren Chaoran, the commander of the engineer regiment, he was attracted by the fighter plane that Ren Chaoran said about the sappers participating in the battle, and stayed in the engineer corps for a month. In this daze, he found that the combat methods of the Eighth Route Army's instructor engineer regiment were so advanced, and he became more and more fascinated, and he wanted to be an engineer in life or death. After a period of training, he was transferred to the 21st Regiment Engineer Company.

In order to ensure that the buried explosive package could be detonated on time, Lu Sicheng buried the wires, and then took the soldiers of his squad to hide in the cellar of a shop near the city gate, pulled the wires in through the ventilation holes in the cellar, and let the two soldiers hide in the attic of the shop to observe the signal flare that ordered the detonation.

After receiving the order, Lu Sicheng pressed the detonator fiercely, and in an instant, there was a continuous explosion sound from the south gate that shook the ground and the mountains.

Lu Sicheng shouted to leave, then lifted the wooden plank on the entrance of the cellar, and led the soldiers to run to the next courtyard. No way, this place is too close to the city gate, and the little devils will search here soon. Fortunately, the courtyard wall has been opened, and the bricks are all left alive, just push them away.

The fierce explosion made Yuichiro Nagano wake up when he was a big Saden, and he immediately realized that there was indeed an Eighth Route Army in the city, and it was a very elite Eighth Route Army. I don't know why the special smoke just now didn't smoke them to death, allowing them to use such despicable means against the imperial army.

Yuichiro Nagano didn't have time to count the casualties, and something even more shocking happened, the Eighth Route Army actually carried out artillery strikes on the imperial soldiers on the city wall, and it seems that the Eighth Route Army used the kind of launcher that can throw explosive packets, and there were explosive packs that exploded on the city wall with shells, and some fell outside the city wall, so frightened that the soldiers who were waiting outside the city gate were all lying down in a hurry, pouting their buttocks one by one, looking disgusting and disgusting.

The violent explosion also woke Lieutenant General Toshikichi Ando, but he vomited at once, because the explosion blew out the eyeballs of a ghost soldier and landed squarely on the head of Toshikichi Ando, who was surrounded by guards.

After spitting up, Ando Toshikichi raised his head and glanced at the South Gate Tower that had been blown up, his eyes were full of confusion, and he couldn't understand why the Eighth Route Army could survive after emitting so many special smokes. If you want to launch now, you have to withdraw the troops that have entered the city, otherwise you will have to sacrifice them.

Toshiyoshi Ando had not yet gone crazy to such an extent, and he immediately ordered the artillery wing to prepare for the shelling. As a result, the artillery wing reported that the artillery observers hoisted by the aircraft could not be contacted and could not give accurate directions to the shelling. Please ask Your Excellency the division commander to make it clear whether he wants to contact the aviation forces and destroy the small city in front of him in one fell swoop.

Ando Toshiyoshi did not give the order to destroy the small city in front of him, because he received an order that this Zhou village was the richest place in Shandong, and there were many shops in it, not only the materials urgently needed by the imperial army, but also a large amount of money, and the Zhengjin Bank in Qingdao was looted by Liu Yimin, and the empire urgently needed to use the money of the merchants of Zhou Village to fill the deficit. Let him dig three feet into the ground in Zhou Village, peel the skin and cramp the merchants, and get the money. Otherwise, Zhengjin Bank may go out of business.

For the sake of the Zhengjin Bank and the economy of the empire, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi gritted his teeth and began to issue a series of orders to wave a large army into the city and completely destroy this hateful Eighth Route Army, so as to relieve the hatred in his heart.

At this time, the Eighth Route Army and the Yue Army in Zhoucun City had already become a pot of porridge.

It is said that the army is victorious because of the strong troops, and the reinforcements are pouring in; The Eighth Route Army took the lead and built street fortifications. At the beginning, the Yue army did suffer a big loss, but as the large army entered the city and began to fight with the Eighth Route Army one by one, it slowly gained a firm foothold and began to establish an attack position, relying on the position to attack the Eighth Route Army. Slowly, the army began to occupy the initiative on the battlefield.

Cao Jin and Wu Jiasheng felt that the situation on the battlefield had changed obviously, of course, they also knew in their hearts that it was simply unrealistic to block the attack of the Fifth Division with one regiment of their own, so their purpose was very clear, that is, to resolutely hold the north gate, retain the retreat and break through the passage, and then fight with the devils, striving to drag the time until the evening. It's easy to do in the evening!

(To be continued)