Zhengzhou, the headquarters of the army in the north.

Lieutenant General Tada Jun is furious, because he has just received the news that the Yellow River Railway Bridge has actually been blown up!

Although this was just an accident, it was just a group of dirt roads that accidentally detonated a wagon of munitions, but the worst thing is that this wagon was detonated on the Yellow River railway bridge!

Now that the Yellow River railway bridge has been blown up, don't think about repairing it without half a month.

What's even worse is that in order to quickly transport the more than 40,000 personnel and equipment of the 6th and 13th divisions to southern Hebei, all the wagons that can be mobilized have already gathered at the Zhengzhou railway station.

To cross the Yellow River, you have to build a pontoon bridge, and it must be a large pontoon bridge that can be used for heavy equipment.

Although the 6th and 13th divisions each have an engineer wing, they do not have the equipment to build a large pontoon bridge, and it will take three days to transfer equipment from Xuzhou to build a pontoon bridge! Crossing the Yellow River and then to Shimen, there are still nearly 400 kilometers, and the rapid march will take at least eight days, and if you take into account the harassment of the Tuba Road along the way, the time will only be longer!

Thinking of this, Tada Jun couldn't help but feel anxious, if the 6th and 13th divisions wanted to rush to Shimen, it would take 11 days at the earliest, and the time given to him by General Shun Hata was only fifteen days in total!

These fifteen days are not given casually, but are exquisite.

Because the ammunition reserves of the Wuhan battlefield are only enough to maintain half a month of continuous operations, once the time exceeds half a month and it is impossible to obtain supplies from the rear, then the nearly 20 divisions and regiments of the main force of the Wuhan battlefield will fall into the predicament of running out of ammunition and food.

The base camp of the army and Shunroku Hata bet all their treasures on the Pinghan line and Tada Jun.

Tada Jun originally thought that it would be easy to open the Pinghan Line within half a month, but now, he is not so optimistic.

Although the 6th and 13th Divisions marching north were strong, they might not be able to reach Shimen within half a month, and although the 20th Division was only 200 kilometers away from Shimen, the activities of the Tuba Road there were very rampant, and the terrain of the Taihang Mountains was also very unfavorable to the rapid mobility of the mechanized troops of the Chinese army.

But now, Tada Jun can only count on Kawagishi Bunzaburo's 20th Division.

…………

Shanxi, Shouyang County.

The armored car in which Kawagishi Bunzaburo was riding slowly drove past the county seat.

The 6th and 13th Divisions of the Army made slow progress, but the 20th Division made rapid progress.

On the afternoon of the day when the reorganization of the Baoshan Division was completed, the main force of the 20th Division had already entered Shouyang, and the 39th Infantry Brigade of its forward unit had already advanced to Yangquan, which was less than 100 kilometers away from Shimen! If all goes well, by tomorrow evening, the 39th Infantry Brigade will be able to reach Shimen City.

Of course, that's just if.

In the carriage, Kawagishi Fumizaburo was playing against the chief of staff of the 20th Division, Kimura Kuzo Daisa.

As one of the quintessence of Han culture, Go is quite popular in the country, and there are many middle and senior generals in the army who are obsessed with chess.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo is indeed in a good mood right now.

So far, the progress of the 20th Division has been very smooth, although the Tuba Road has done its best to obstruct along the way, but their equipment is too poor, and there is no suitable terrain for them to ambush from Taiyuan to Yangquan, and several forcible interceptions not only failed to stop the advance of the 20th Division, but suffered a lot of losses.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo dropped a son on the chessboard and inadvertently asked, "It's past Shouyang, right?" ”

"Hello." Kimura Kuzo instinctively lowered his head and said loudly, "I will definitely be able to reach Yangquan before dark." ”

"Hmm." Kawagishi Bunzaburo bowed his head lightly and said, "The 39th Brigade of the Infantry Order, stationed in Yangquan tonight, don't go any further, from Yangquan to Niangzi Pass, the road over there is not easy to walk, it is likely to be ambushed by the Baoshan Division, wait until dawn tomorrow, and it is not too late to advance after the aviation aerial reconnaissance confirms that there is no ambush." ”

"Hello." Hisazo Kisamura bowed his head suddenly, and was about to get up when the car suddenly stopped.

When the door opened, a junior officer from the communications office was already standing outside the door of the armored car.

"General!" Officer Shaozo suddenly straightened his feet and said to Kawagishi Fumizaburo, "General Tada Jun has sent an urgent telegram asking my 20th Division to seize Shimen within ten days!" ”

"Call back to General Tada." Kawagishi Bunzaburo said indifferently, "Within three days, the 20th Division will restore Shimen, and within five days, the Hebei section of the Pinghan Railway will be restored to the whole line." ”

"Hello." Officer Shao Zuo bowed his head suddenly, and immediately took the order.

…………

At the foot of Taihang Mountain, the headquarters of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

Division Commander Liu was carefully examining the military map with a magnifying glass, and Political Commissar Zhang of the 129th Division was helping to smooth out the map.

This map was captured by the Eighth Route Army from the hands of Yue Kou, the accuracy is very high, and the military reference value is also very high, unlike the map sent by Yan Xishan, which is an old map drawn during the Beiyang period, not only the annotation is rough, the error is tens of miles, and there is no military value at all.

Division Commander Liu was born in the Sichuan Army, brave and good at fighting and proficient in the art of war, he can be called a great military strategist!

In terms of military literacy alone, there are really few people in modern Chinese history who are better than Commander Liu.

But what does the saying come about? Although Division Commander Liu's military literacy and tactical command ability are unmatched, the equipment of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army is really poor! Among the various factions, the Sichuan Army has always been known for its poor equipment, but the equipment of the Eighth Route Army is much worse than that of the Sichuan Army.

In modern warfare, the quality of equipment undoubtedly has a great impact on the outcome of a war.

The 25,000 old Red Army soldiers from the snow-capped mountains and meadows are all kings of soldiers, all of them are outstanding people, whether it is physical fitness, technical and tactical ability, or the will to fight, compared with the old devil soldiers of the 17 permanent divisions of the army, but when they reach the front line of the Anti-Japanese War, they still can't confront the army head-on, why? Because the old Red Army was so poorly equipped!

The soldiers armed with the spirit of bushido regard death as if they were at home, and their individual soldier quality and fighting will are by no means comparable to that of American GIs, but in the battle for islands in the Pacific Ocean, they are still beaten by American GIs and cannot find the north, why? Because the equipment of the army is compared with the US army, it is scum!

Of course, the impact of the quality of equipment on the outcome of a war is not determined.

For example, in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese People's Volunteers were stunned to draw with the 17-nation coalition army armed to the teeth with their rudimentary infantry light weapons.

Of course, although the equipment of the volunteers is inferior to that of the 17-nation coalition army, there is no shortage of a rifle per person, and the bullets for killing people can be enough, but the current 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army is far behind, and an average of two people can get a rifle, many of which are still old sleeves, not even rifling, and the bullets are less than five rounds per person.

The 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army has to hold back the 20th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which has been recuperating for a long time, with such poor equipment and such small ammunition reserves, and the difficulty can be imagined!

The only thing that the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army can rely on is the mountainous terrain on the Shanxi-Hebei border.

However, from Taiyuan to Yangquan, there is no terrain that is too suitable for guerrillas.

However, it is different after Yangquan, which is the border between the two provinces of Shanxi and Hebei, and is also the intersection of the Taihang Mountains and the Jizhong Plain, the terrain is complex and changeable, and the altitude difference is very large, which is very suitable for guerrillas.

What Master Liu observed was the topography of the section east of Yangquan until Niangzi Pass.

As for the area east of Niangzi Pass, it is now the sphere of influence of the Baoshan Division, so in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army will not enter this area to operate.

When Division Commander Liu was silently inspecting the map, Political Commissar Zhang suddenly said worriedly: "Old Liu, I just got the news that the 39th Infantry Brigade, the vanguard of the 20th Division of the Chinese Army, has entered Yangquan, although the terrain from Yangquan to Niangzi Pass is good, but the distance is only a few dozen kilometers after all, and it may not be easy to hold the 20th Division of the Chinese Army for ten days." ”

"Ten days?" Division Commander Liu shook his head and said disapprerovitically, "No, it's enough for us to hold the army for three days." ”

"Three days?" Political Commissar Zhang was stunned and said, "But the order from the headquarters is for us to delay the army for ten days at any cost." ”

"The headquarters only issued this order at the invitation of the Baoshan Division." Division Commander Liu waved his hand and said indifferently, "However, in less than three days, the Baoshan Division will definitely ask us to get out of the way and let the army pass, if nothing else, the Baoshan Division should also invite us to cut off the retreat of the 20th Division." ”

"Huh?" Political Commissar Zhang was puzzled, "Why is this?" ”

Division Commander Liu patted the map and said with a smile: "Because three days is enough time for the Baoshan Division to complete the training and restore its combat effectiveness, if I were Yue Weihan, I would definitely take the 20th Division!" Because the terrain along the Shizheng Highway, especially the terrain east of Niangzi Pass to Jingcheng County, is too suitable for large-scale ambush warfare. ”

Political Commissar Zhang said awe-inspiringly: "Lao Liu, are you saying that the Baoshan Division really has the ability to eat the 20th Division?" ”

Division Commander Liu groaned and said: "I don't know what the strength of the Baoshan Division is, but since they can easily annihilate the two reading mixed brigades of the Yue Army in Qinghe and Shimen, they can almost confront the 20th Division of the Yue Army head-on, and if they use the terrain to fight an ambush, it is still possible to eat the 20th Division." ”

As a great military strategist, Division Commander Liu's words were not nonsense.

However, since Division Commander Liu said so, it means that the Baoshan Division really has the strength to eat the 20th Division of the Yue Army!

(To be continued)