When Xu Fang and Zhao Fengwu successfully took Suiyuan, almost the same scene as what happened to Suiyuan also appeared in Lingqiu.

After receiving Song Zhewu's order to "seize the nest", Xiao Guodong and Tao Rong, who had already prepared to stop, ordered Xu Fang and Zhao Fengwu to quickly seize Suiyuan and go south, and at the same time ordered the troops that had been concentrated in Laiyuan to start the "Turtledove Plan".

The specific operational arrangements of the troops in Laiyuan were: With Zhang Yafeijun as the vanguard, all the 700 trucks concentrated in Laiyuan were allocated to him, and Zhang Yafei not only had to quickly take Lingqiu, Fanzhi, and Daixian, the three strategic points from Laiyuan into Shanxi, and open the way for the army. It is also necessary to go south to Taiyuan as quickly as possible to help the troops led by Li Wentian in Taiyuan defeat the Jin Sui army in Taiyuan and control the situation in Taiyuan. Then go south, as much as possible to seize Linfen, Changzhi, Jincheng and other important towns in southern Jin, not only to meet the two armies led by Song Zhewu Zhang Tao and Liang Zhongjia smoothly enter Jin, but also to cooperate with other troops to prevent the Jin Sui army and the Northwest Army from chasing back to Shanxi.

Zhang Yafei's army followed up with Liang Fang's fifteenth army. Liang Fang's task was to quickly take over the defense of Lingqiu, Fanzhi, and Daixian, and together with Zhao Fengwu, put pressure on the Jin Sui army in the Datong area, and cover the follow-up troops in Laiyuan to advance to Taiyuan.

When Song Zhewu went to Taiyuan last time, Shi Ming, who was disguised as an officer of Song Zhewu's guard battalion, was tasked with familiarizing himself with the terrain along the way from Jinglingqiu and Fanzhi to Taiyuan, just to prepare for the attack on Taiyuan.

At that time, Shi Ming had just been promoted to regiment commander, but because of Song Zhewu's expansion after returning to Laiyuan, he was now the division commander. However, although the officer was promoted, he still had to do the task of leading the leading regiment, and Shi Ming temporarily handed over the command of the whole division to the deputy division commander to act as an agent, and he himself came to the vanguard regiment to personally command.

The transport troops of the Fourth Route Army, which had been prepared for a long time, took advantage of every opportunity very early on to frequently travel between Laiyuan and Lingqiu, and were very familiar with the defenders of Lingqiu and Fanzhi for a long time, and even the location of their city fortifications and headquarters, as well as the terrain, personnel, and weapon configuration of various important parts, were also clearly understood. The city was also in charge of Xiao Guodong and Ye Changgui as early as a year ago, and the hidden personnel were arranged, and the sneak attack on Lingqiu in the middle of the night was successful, which is self-evident.

During this period, the Jin Sui Army, even the Central Army at the brigade and regiment level, was not equipped with a radio station, which is still a "high-tech technology", the Jin Sui Army had only one brigade in Fanzhi and Lingqiu, and only one regiment in Lingqiu, and the rest of the troops originally stationed in northern Jin had already opened to Datong, and the troops in these two places did not have a radio station, so they could only rely on telephone to keep in touch with Yang Cheng's former military headquarters in Datong and the division headquarters that had been concentrated in Datong.

Feng Yuxiang sent Zheng Dazhang to lead all the cavalry units of the Northwest Army to guerrilla in the rear of the Central Army between Longhai Road and Pinghan Road, and there was no radio station, otherwise, if Zheng Dazhang could get information in time at that time, he would probably have captured Chiang Kai-shek and completely rewrote history.

However, Yan Xishan has been operating in Shanxi for many years, and he has made great efforts to communicate in Shanxi, and now all major and medium-sized cities in Shanxi have telephone connectivity.

In order to prevent accidents, let the Jin Suijun in Lingqiu report to Taiyuan, Datong and the surrounding Jin Suijun by phone that the personnel of the special brigade had cut all the telephone lines leading from Lingqiu to the outside before Shi Ming attacked Lingqiu. Even in Fanzhi and Dai County, there are already personnel of the special brigade lurking, and as soon as the troops of the Fourth Route Army arrive, they will cut off the connection between the defenders and the outside.

After occupying Lingqiu, Shi Ming took his regiment in front, and the deputy division commander took his division behind, and immediately took a car and went straight to Fanzhi. Zhang Yafeijun, Liang Fangjun, and Gao Zongbaojun followed closely, and behind them was the headquarters of the Fourth Route Army under the protection of the guard division led by Xiao Guodong and Tao Rong, then the Air Force Corps, and then the teaching corps guarding all the non-combatants of the Fourth Route Army, and the newly established 19th Army, headed by Li Wentian, served as the rear guard of the whole army under the leadership of deputy commander Xu Zheng.

Although the total number of these troops, including non-combatants, is more than 200,000, they are well prepared, and the actions of many units are almost a copy of the exercises and drills they have repeatedly conducted, and the troops have assembled and marched in an orderly and chaotic manner.

And, despite the large number of people, the speed of travel is not slow. Because Wei Guanghui had been operating in Inner and Outer Mongolia for several years, the Fourth Route Army had always been short of horses, and it should be said that the transportation of the troops had long been carried out as pack horses. Each unit was equipped with a large number of mules and horses to carry supplies and ammunition.

At the same time, half a month ago, Xiao Guodong concentrated all the large and small carts in the Taihang Administration to various troops near Laiyuan on the pretext of transporting a large number of supplies to Jingcheng. Therefore, as soon as the troops began to operate, all the supplies that had not yet been delivered to Taiyuan, as well as these non-combatants, got on the bus in a short time, and with the help of a large number of people, began to march towards Shanxi in batches and according to plan.

In the direction of Jingcheng, the Jin Sui Army stationed the 38th Division of Liu Fengji, the third security column of the former Zhou Shilian, which had just been expanded into an army, in Niangziguan, Yangquan and Jinzhong, and the divisional establishment of the four security columns that were expanded later were all under the jurisdiction of one brigade and one regiment, the brigade had only two regiments, and the whole division had only more than 7,000 people, which could be said to be an empty shelf. Among them, there was a regiment behind Niangzi Pass, and the brigade headquarters led the rest of the regiment to Yangquan. Liu Fengji led a regiment and troops directly under the division headquarters to be stationed in Jinzhong.

Dealing with a regiment of less than 2,000 people is just a piece of cake for Li Sichi's army and Li Ruifang's mountain division of tens of thousands of people, even if this regiment takes advantage of the terrain of Niangzi Pass to defend it, it is not a problem for them to take it down. However, it will take time. If you hit all the way to Taiyuan, although it is only more than 100 kilometers, it will not be possible to do it without five or six days.

Therefore, in the original plan, Song Zhewu, Xiao Guodong, and Tao Rong decided to outwit in this direction. Among them, Li Ruifang's mountain division training near Jingcheng is part of the plan.

The people of the special brigade have long been mixed in the mountain division and have figured out the way to pass the Niangzi Pass. However, there are many places on this "road" where you have to climb cliffs and cross streams, and it is impossible for untrained troops to pass through. However, this is not difficult for the soldiers of Li Ruifang's mountain division, climbing mountains and crossing mountains is their usual training content.

After receiving the order, Li Sichi and Li Ruifang immediately ordered the 1st Brigade of the Mountain Division, which had already moved to the Niangzi Pass, in the afternoon, and secretly surrounded the town behind the Pass before 10 o'clock at night. At the same time, a squadron of the special brigade temporarily under their command was ordered to secretly control 22 stations, including Nanyu, Niangziguan, Chengjialongdi, Xiapanshi, Yanhui, Chaoliu, Baiyangshu, Yangquan, Saiyu, Potou, Shishiyi, Qinquan, Shouyang, Guocun, Shanghu, Lujiazhuang, Duanting, Dongzhaocun, Beiheliu, Yuci, Mingli, and Beiying, between Jingcheng and Taiyuan before 10 o'clock.

Because this is the rear of the Jin Sui army, and it is hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest battlefield, no one would have thought that there would be a war here. Therefore, there were no Jin Suijun people in these stations, and at the same time, because the Zhengtai Railway was still under the control of the French, there were no Yan Xishan people on the railway.

Except for the three larger stations of Yangquan, Yuci, and Beiying, where there are more than a dozen station personnel on duty at night, there are only three or five people in the rest of the small stations, and there is no big problem for the personnel of the special brigade to control these stations.

The first to be controlled was the Jingcheng station, because Li Sichi's army was nominally going to Shijiazhuang via Zhengtai Road, and then to Pinghan Road to Zhengzhou, and was waiting in Jingcheng to receive food and ammunition from Taiyuan, so his troops had already deliberately stationed at the station, and also controlled the surrounding Jingcheng mining area and other areas.

At 9:30 a.m., the grain on a special grain train from the direction of Taiyuan had been hastily unloaded and piled on the platform, and many heavily armed troops were assembling on the platform. The actions of these troops puzzled the stationmaster, and according to the operation plan he obtained, the military rations were to be transported directly to Shijiazhuang and then to Zhengzhou via the Pinghan line. However, these soldiers insisted on unloading part of the food in Jingcheng on the grounds that the troops stationed in Jingcheng needed food.

However, they clearly said that the troops stationed in Jingcheng would immediately leave for Henan, and they had already asked the Zhengtai Road Railway Bureau in Shijiazhuang to send an additional special train to Jingcheng tonight, and now two special trains have stopped at the station. Since the troops are about to leave, why are they still unloading the grain here, and not only a part of it, which is obviously unloaded?

The stationmaster looked at the watch, because the unloading in the station, has made the train late, fortunately the transportation of Zhengtai Road is not very busy, he and Shijiazhuang French general dispatch has reported the situation, because at 9:50 p.m., there are two passenger cars from the direction of Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan direction to meet in Jingcheng, the general dispatch requires him to get out of the way after 9:30.

The stationmaster stood in front of the window of the dispatch room, and ordered the dispatcher behind him without looking back: "Call Adjutant Zhou and tell him that this train will be transferred to the freight line immediately and give way to the passenger car." ”

"No need to tune it." However, the stationmaster could hear that it was not his dispatcher who was speaking.

The stationmaster turned around in surprise, and standing behind him were Adjutant Zhou, five or six soldiers with guns, and the dispatcher, who was already pale with fright.

Although the stationmaster was also a little surprised, he had been working on this Zhengtai Road for more than ten years, and he had dealt with the troops of the Beiyang Army, the Feng Army, the Northwest Army, and the Gui Department, and knew that although these soldiers were a little arbitrary, they were not too unreasonable. A smile appeared on his face and said: "Immediately, there are two buses that will meet in the station, and if you don't get out of the way, not only the buses can't pass, but now this truck can't go, I'm afraid of delaying your affairs." ”

"You don't care about this, I inform you now, now we officially take over the station, without my consent, you can't contact the Zhengtai Road Railway Bureau in Shijiazhuang and the stations along Zhengtai Road."

After speaking, Adjutant Zhou waved his hand, and immediately two soldiers with guns stood behind him, and the other two came behind the dispatcher.

Navy bows and thanks the Polar Boys for the tip! And thank you again for the great amount of information provided by qinshiyue book friends!

(To be continued)