When Han Fuyu's troops retreated, the gate of the northern section of the Jinpu Road was opened, and if the Yue army seized the favorable opportunity of the complete emptiness of the Jinpu Road defense line and the emptiness of the Weitai defense line due to Shen Honglie's non-resistance, and took advantage of the unstable foothold of the vanguard of the Sichuan army and the arrival of the main force, and concentrated the main force to move south and west, Xuzhou would be at your fingertips.

Of course, history does not have so many assumptions, and the Yue army did not take advantage of the situation to move south and west, but pursued Han Fuqu's troops in the direction of Jining. At this time, Liu Yimin led his troops to attack Tianjin, and the army had to stop the attack and return to the division to rescue Tianjin. If the army wants to capture Xuzhou again, it must go through a big war.

At this time, the 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th Brigades, as well as the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment under the command of the 6th Brigade and the medium-sized mortar regiment under the command of the 7th Brigade, had been resting in Jingxian and Fuping for a period of time.

In accordance with the order of the division headquarters, Zhang Hongtao commanded the 6th Brigade to command the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment to march with the goal of establishing the Lubei Military Region in the areas east of Jinpu Road, south of Cangxian, and north of the Yellow River, and to create a base area in Lubei. After receiving the task, Zhang Hongtao discussed with political commissar Fu Zhuting and chief of staff He Mingliang, and believed that this area was a place of four wars that was easy to attack and difficult to defend because it was bordered by the Bohai Sea in the east, the Jinpu line in the west, the Yellow River in the south, and Pingjin in the north. The reason why the division commander arranged for the Sixth Brigade to develop in this area and sent the Second Field Artillery Regiment to command it was probably the main purpose of teaching the Sixth Brigade to threaten the Jinpu Road at any time, to support the Jizhong operation at any time, and even to go north and knock directly at the Tianjin Gate at any time. After figuring out this section, the three of them were overjoyed, believing that the division commander really had the foresight to put the Sixth Brigade in this position, which was to treat the Sixth Brigade on an equal footing with the First Brigade, the Second Brigade, and the Third Brigade, and to use it as a strategic strike force of our army.

Zhang Hongtao, commander of the second battalion and commander of the second regiment, even imagined that if the second brigade was in Luxi and the sixth brigade was in northern Lubei, as long as the division commander was happy, he could wave the iron tongs composed of the two main forces to cut the Jinpu Road at any time, so that the Second Army of the Chinese Army and the Chinese army in the direction of Pingjin would be cut off. When the time is ripe, he can compete with the Yue army for control of the whole of North China.

Therefore, Zhang Hongtao issued a call to the whole brigade to "cross the Jinpu Road and create a Bohai District," urging the whole brigade to quickly mobilize, establish the idea of striving to be the first-class main force of instructors, and go to the Bohai Sea to open up a new world. At the same time, Zhang Hongtao sent a telegram to Liu Yimin, demanding that the Lubei Military Region and the Lubei Administrative Region be changed to the Hebei-Lubian Military Region and the Hebei-Shandong Border Administrative Region, and that the Sixth Brigade be granted the right to cross Cangxian County and develop to southern Jinnan.

After Liu Yimin received the report, he was very happy in his heart, thinking that Zhang Hongtao was worthy of being a first-class general of the instructor, and the commander of the second battalion had been tempered, had the overall situation in mind, and had a unique vision, and gave Zhang Haitao a poem in Liaocheng: "Standing in the Bohai Sea and looking at the Tianjin Gate, listen carefully to the surging water of the canal." Wielding the long tassel to bind the dragon, smiling at the middle moon in the distance. After finishing the poem, he inscribed with vigorous and powerful pen and ink "Shandong Anti-Ming Boiled Political Axe Hebei Lu Border Administration" and "Eighth Route Army Shandong Military Region Hebei Lu Border Military Region", and sent someone to send it to Zhang Hongtao.

At this time, Zhang Hongtao was even more proud, and wrote Liu Yimin's inscription poem neatly on the title page of his study book. Fu Zhuting couldn't stop laughing at him, saying that it was such a big brigade commander, like a schoolboy who had just enlightened.

Zhang Hongtao said seriously: "The teacher is my mentor, and I have carefully recorded his words and pondered them repeatedly. Besides, which brigade commander and political commissar did you see the division commander inscribe a poem to? Our Sixth Brigade is the first one, and we can't live up to the trust of the division commander. ”

When Li Qing, commander of the 3rd Teaching Brigade, Chen Dazhong, political commissar, Chen Dayong, commander of the 7th Teaching Brigade, Liu Yi, political commissar, Zhao Shan, commander of the 8th Teaching Brigade, Zhao Jie, political commissar, and Wang Laohu, captain of the 1st Special Operations Squadron who traveled with the 3rd Brigade, all rode over on horseback to ask Zhang Hongtao for the division commander's inscription, saying that they wanted to observe and observe.

Zhang Hongtao said that these people are too melons, and the division commander is on the way to the army, and the inscription of the poem is also on the way, but the telegram says all the contents, if you want to see it, comrade brother is welcome to come to the Bohai Naval Region as a guest.

As soon as Wang Laohu heard this, he said that in the past, he always felt that the division commander was eccentric, but now that he knows that he is so biased, why didn't he write poems and inscriptions for the special operations team? It's just eccentric to the Qinling Mountains.

Li Qing on the side said that the division commander was indeed eccentric, and he went to stand guard for the special operations brigade before dawn on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and this heart was not biased to Qinling, but to Helan Mountain.

After a few people frolicked for a while, Li Qing presided over a meeting to discuss the issue of several brigades advancing eastward.

According to the division's plan for advancing eastward, the 3rd, 7th, and 8th Brigades will cross the Yellow River and continue eastward after crossing the Jinpu Road, and the 7th and 8th Brigades will continue to advance to Jiaodong. It's better to cross the railway, it's best to pass quietly, but if you can't do it, tear open a hole and force it through. Of course, with Wang Laohu's No. 1 Special Operations Squadron here, if you can't pass by quietly, it will become a joke.

It was very difficult to cross the Yellow River, and the telegrams sent back by the advance teams of the various brigades that set out in advance all said that although the army did not control the river defense, the temperature was rising at this time, and the ice of the Yellow River was no longer so strong, and the passage of infantry and cavalry was not a big problem, and the artillery was afraid that it would not be able to pass.

As soon as this question came out, several people were anxious. It is clear that the longer it drags on, the higher the temperature, and when the Yellow River ice is said to be thawed or not, it is dangerous to use boats or build pontoon bridges.

Li Qing immediately decided that all brigades should immediately complete all the handovers with the Jizhong troops, and on the night of 6 March, the troops moved to a distance of 10 kilometers on the Jinpu Road to conceal themselves. From 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock in the morning on the night of 7 March, the reconnaissance battalions of each brigade cooperated with the three squads of the No. 1 Special Operations Squadron, commanded by Wang Laohu, and took the regiment as a unit to secretly pass through the railway at Lianzhen 10 places south of Wuqiao in accordance with the reconnaissance passing points. Teach the 3rd Brigade to make combat preparations for forcibly breaking through the Jinpu Road, and be ready to cover the other 3 brigades at any time to forcibly cross the road. After crossing the road, the Sixth Brigade quickly deployed. The 3rd, 7th, and 8th Brigades marched eastward along the route of the advance team.

During this time, Wang Laohu led the No. 1 Special Operations Squadron to have a very clear understanding of the patrol and defense of the devils on the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and he also went around the county seat of Dexian County and Dongguang County a few times, and was very familiar with the security situation of the devils. He also got in touch with the rescue [***] and Dongguang County brigades led by the Lubei Special Committee, which had just been established for a short time, and the advance teams of the four brigades were all sent by them.

Choosing to pass through Lianzhen, Wang Laohu was carefully considered. Lianzhen Station is a small station, usually only one class of puppet troops stationed, and there is also a small bank. Now the army is focused on defending the Jinpu Railway, and the defenders of Lianzhen have been greatly strengthened, and there is a squadron of devils and a platoon of puppet troops. This squadron of devils is scattered in several villages around Lianzhen, and their sentry posts and the location of their stations are clear to Wang Laohu. Take control of Lianzhen, not only will you be able to get a large army through quickly, but you will also be able to get rid of small banks along the way and make a small fortune. If you're lucky, you might even cause a train rollover accident after the troops pass, so that the little devil will bleed a little more.

Of course, there is a risk of passing through Lianzhen, and if the devils in Dongguang City are alarmed, there may be a fierce battle. However, Wang Laohu is not afraid of this, could it be that the Second Field Artillery Regiment, the Medium Mortar Regiment and the Third Brigade Artillery Regiment followed the troops to visit the scenery? Fighting, it's best to be able to pass the road in concealment, and if you can't pass the road in concealment, fuck the fucking guy, anyway, the little devils are afraid that the instructor will die of fear, and they don't dare to pursue our army!

After Wang Laohu's opinion was adopted by Li Qing, Li Qing's decision just now was formed. Li Qing sent a report to Liu Yimin at the Sixth Brigade, reporting the detailed plan for the passage.

Liu Yimin's call back was very simple: "Conceal the road, the sooner the better." After the main force crosses the road, the No. 1 Special Warfare Squadron can carry out sabotage operations on the Jinpu Road, but it must make the devils believe that it is an accident, and must not expose the intention of the main force to advance eastward because of a small mistake. ”

On the evening of March 7, as if God was also helping to cover the whereabouts of the Eighth Route Army, snowflakes began to flutter one after another, and the Tianjin-Pudong Railway became more and more like a frozen long snake, lying on the ground in North China.

When Wang Laohu lurked near Lianzhen Station with the No. 1 Special Operations Squadron, the leader of the devil squadron stationed in Lianzhen had not yet slept and was listening to the bragging of the platoon commander of the puppet army.

This puppet army platoon commander is a native of Beiping, and his father came back from studying in Yueben, and he has learned to speak Mandarin since he was a child. It was also his Han annihilation father's ghost obsession, after being jealous and defeated by one of Qi Kuiyuan's subordinates, he suddenly realized that nothing was as important as a gun in troubled times, and he went to the Zhutun Military Brigade, which was the 27th Division that had just been established, to be a translator, and forced his son to go to Qi Kuiyuan's military academy for training. For this matter, the father and son of Han Jian also went to the ancestors to burn incense and pray, asking the ancestors to bless their father and son from now on.

At this moment, the small platoon commander of the puppet army was foaming at the mouth, talking about the past in the early days of the construction of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway: "Then Li Hongzhang wanted to build the railway, and he didn't dare to say it to the old Empress Dowager Cixi, so he asked his general Liu Ming to pass on a "Preparing for the Railway in an attempt to strengthen himself", which unexpectedly attracted the opposition of the diehard ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, saying that Liu Mingchuan's suggestion was for the sake of foreigners, not for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, and there was no need to discuss it again. This Li Hongzhang's suggestion failed, and he ended up disgraced, where would he give up? This time, he thought of a way to cut first and then play, and asked the Beiyang Navy to secretly build a 10-kilometer coal transportation railway from the Tangshan section of the Kaiping Coal Mine to Xugezhuang, and then accumulated more than 100 kilometers little by little. After the imperial court knew that it could not pick up the built railway, it made it difficult for Li Hongzhang, saying that the appearance and sound of the steam locomotive were like a monster, so Li Hongzhang found a large group of mules to pull the train. Your Excellency Squadron Leader, the Navy repairs railways, mules pull trains, this kind of strange thing is said that the people can't even think of it, do you think that this China should have perished a long time ago? ”

The leader of the devil squadron listened with relish, and when he saw the platoon commander of the puppet army asking him, he nodded yes. Then he asked the puppet army platoon commander if the Empress Dowager Cixi was really beautiful? Are the eunuchs in the palace really having a leg with the queen mother and queen?

As soon as the small platoon commander of the puppet army heard this, he knew that Taijun wanted to flower girls, and he was busy saying that the women in the palace were all selected, and they were naturally beautiful. If Taijun wants to be a flower girl, he will go out and catch one in a while. Taijun didn't know that at this time, the flower girls were sleeping at home, and the quilt was hot. When you touch it, it's all a ball of cotton. How beautiful it tastes.

The devil squadron leader was drooling when he heard this, and he was about to encourage the puppet platoon commander to continue, when he saw that guy looked frightened, and his eyes were straight.

As soon as the leader of the devil squadron turned his head, he felt a cold chill on his neck, as if he had been scratched by something. As soon as he turned his neck again, he fell down with a thud.

The platoon commander of the puppet army was so frightened that he forgot to kowtow and beg for mercy, and watched the dagger of the Eighth Route Army slash across his throat.

After dealing with the devils and the defenders of the puppet army, Wang Laohu contacted the squads, and when he learned that the operation was over, he sent a signal to the large army, and Li Qing immediately ordered the Sixth Brigade, the Seventh Brigade, and the Eighth Brigade to quickly pass through the railway in order.

By the time Li Qing led the Third Brigade to cross the railway, Wang Laohu had already found 200,000 yuan in banknotes from his bank.

Wang Laohu didn't know that in history, the Dongguang County Brigade once attacked Lianzhen Station, and the soldiers of a squad did not fire a single shot, killed the puppet army guarding the station, and searched 130,000 yuan from the devil's bank, which solved the financial problem for the newly-born Jilu border resistance regime.

After the large army passed, Wang Laohu asked several soldiers to stand guard in Lianzhen disguised as devils, checked the name of the platoon commander of the puppet army, and wrote a letter to the devil in his name, meaning that as a Chinese, he could not bear the heinous crimes committed by the Yue army in invading China, and took the soldiers anyway, and went south to Lunan to find [***]. These killed devil soldiers should have died a long time ago, let them pay for the lives of the Chinese who died! A manly man, one person does things and one person does, and the little devil is a kind of see him on the battlefield, and he is not allowed to embarrass his family.

After writing the letter, Wang Laohu asked the bodies of the puppet army platoon commander and the dead puppet army soldiers to be dug and buried on the spot, and the prisoners and money were taken away by the troops. He led the soldiers to cut off the rails, and then walked away.

At 2 o'clock in the evening, a train from Tianjin to Jinan passed through Lianzhen Station under the escort of two ironclad cars. After the first ironclad car derailed, it was hit hard by the train behind it, tumbling and rolling in the station, making a mess of the small Lianzhen station.

At this moment, the devils of Dongguang, Cangxian, and Dexian were all alarmed, and cars and motorcycles braved the heavy snow to rush to Lianzhen.

After careful investigation, the gendarmerie of the devil living in Dongguang found the letter of the puppet army platoon commander, and the truth was revealed. The Devil's Gendarmerie Corps, the Railway Garrison, and the garrison of the 24th Division respectively reported to their superiors, saying that the Lianzhen incident was a vicious accident deliberately created by the public security forces after their defection, and suggested that the public security forces should be immediately purged and the hidden anti-Japanese elements should be investigated and dealt with. As for the puppet army platoon commander's father, Han Jian, he was naturally unlucky at the first time.

It wasn't until the summer that the devils stationed in Lian Town were plagued by a foul smell, and brought in the military dogs of the gendarmerie to find out the bodies of the puppet platoon commander and others who were buried too shallowly, and the devils knew that they had been fooled. However, it was too late to say anything at that time, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army was already in full swing in Shandong and had taken deep roots.

(To be continued)