At the north gate of Yi County, grenades and shells fired from devil grenadiers and mortars flew one after another, followed by a loud and violent explosion.

Several militiamen could not dodge, were hit by shrapnel and shock waves, and fell down on the spot, screaming.

A regular army platoon commander was furious when he saw this, picked up the general-purpose machine gun in his hand, and fired wildly at the outside of the city, and the dense bullets whistled towards the crowd of devil cavalry below, and shot the three devil cavalry to the ground.

However, the disparity between the enemy and our forces, coupled with the enemy's superiority in artillery fire and the sudden appearance, made the defenders not fully prepared.

So, soon, the defenders of the North Gate were heavily attacked by the Japanese and their firepower was suppressed by the Japanese, and although the regular army and militia fighters tried desperately to resist, the situation was tilted against them.

The most fatal thing is not the north gate, but the other three gates, because the regular army is basically gathered at the north gate, so the other three gates are only guarded by some militia, and the other more than 500 devil cavalry soldiers are divided into three ways and suddenly launched an attack.

The militiamen, who were not very well equipped with few troops, could not resist and were broken through the city gate by the devils, but without exception, none of them retreated, and they all fought to the last moment, living and dying with the city gate.

After the devils entered the city from the east, west and south gates, the defenders of the north gate fell into the enemy's encirclement on all sides.

The devils swarmed from inside the city, and at the critical moment, a militia captain ran to the company commander of the regular army, and hurriedly said to him who was firing outside the city: "Chief, it's not good, the devils have attacked from behind us, and we are surrounded, what should we do?" ”

The captain and company commander had actually heard the gunshots coming from the city behind him, gritted his teeth and said sharply: "Brothers, we have no way to retreat, we can only swear to live and die with the people of Yi County, and fight with the little devils to the last soldier!" Fight to the death! ”

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!" The remaining militia and regular army soldiers in the city echoed in unison.

In the end, they were outnumbered and all died heroically, but their sacrifice was not in vain, and the devils also paid more than 300 casualties for this, and it was precisely because of this that just after the battle, the angry Japanese commander gave the order to slaughter the city.

Soon, the remaining more than 600 devil cavalry turned into inhumane beasts, causing a terrible massacre here.

…………

"Commander, something is wrong." On the front line of Bazhou, the headquarters of the middle army, Liu Ruhan, the head of the confidential department, frowned slightly, and came to Qiao Youhua with a dignified face and reported to him.

Qiao Youhua rarely saw Liu Ruhan like this, after all, she had followed her to fight in the south and north for several years, and she was used to seeing strong winds and waves, so Qiao Youhua sighed in her heart, and she had already vaguely sensed that it was not good.

However, after years of military career, he has developed a quiet character, and Qiao Youhua asked with an unchanged face: "What's wrong?" What happened? ”

A look of sadness appeared on Liu Ruhan's beautiful cheeks, and said: "I just got the news that Yixian was suddenly attacked by the Japanese cavalry, and after a fierce battle, our defenders finally died heroically because they were outnumbered, but after the city was broken, the frenzied Japanese devils actually launched a wanton and reckless massacre in the city.

After the massacre, they also set fire to the entire city of Yi County, and the entire Yi County can be said to be a chicken and dog, as miserable as purgatory on earth, which makes people dare not face it. ”

Qiao Youhua was sad and indignant when he heard this, and a pair of fists suddenly clenched and gurgled, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has reached this point, and this kind of thing can still happen, and it is still within the scope of his own base, which is simply a provocation and a huge shame for all the anti-Japanese soldiers of the Dragon Tooth Column.

At this moment, Zuo Quan also came to the command headquarters, seeing that Qiao Youhua's face was not very good-looking, he hurriedly asked what was going on, and after listening to Liu Ruhan's story, Zuo Quan was also indignant, and his face turned pale with anger, but in addition to being angry, he also calmed down and began to analyze the enemy's intentions, as a chief of staff, this is his professional instinct.

So after some speculation, he analyzed Qiao Youhua: "Youhua, I think that the devil's raid on Yixian should be a dangerous move taken by our army under the pressure of continuous victory on the frontal battlefield, and the goal is very clear, to attract our army to come back to help, so as to reduce the pressure on its frontal defense line." ”

Just as Qiao Youhua was about to say something, another rush and slight footsteps came, and the three of them turned their heads to look up, but it was Wan Ying'er, the deputy director of the Confidential Division, who also hurriedly walked over with a telegram.

"Ying'er, what's wrong?" Liu Ruhan saw that Ying'er also looked solemn, and asked at the moment.

"I just got three more news, several towns in Renqiu, Xiongxian, and Dacheng counties have been attacked by devil cavalry, although the local militia resisted hard, but they were outnumbered, and finally the whole army was annihilated.

After killing some civilians and destroying some of our temporary transfer points for military supplies in the area, the devil cavalry disappeared. Wan Yinger said what Qiao Youhua was most worried about.

Because, the perception told Qiao Youhua that if the devil sent cavalry deep behind enemy lines to carry out a roundabout sabotage battle, it would never be the only way in Yi County, and even the attack on Yi County was only a small part of it. More devil cavalry, fearing that they had secretly passed through the base area far from the main road of the highway and railway, and advanced to the rear of the dragon's tooth column.

After all, the cavalry's requirements for roads are very low compared to tanks and armored vehicles, and even some terrain people can't get through guò, and cavalry can get through guò quickly.

So, Qiao Youhua pondered for a while, and immediately said: "Chief of Staff, we must be aware of the severity of the situation, whether it is to ensure our logistics supply lines, or the safety of the villagers and elders in the base area, I think we must mobilize troops to encircle and suppress the devil cavalry that infiltrates our base area." ”

Zuo Quan nodded and said, "Well, but in this way, I'm afraid the attack on the frontal battlefield will have to be postponed." ”

"That's also a matter of no choice, the devil will definitely not sit back and watch the last line of defense of Zhuozhou, Bazhou, and Jinghai be broken through by us, so sending cavalry to carry out a roundabout attack is also the proper meaning of the question, we must go all out to face it, in other words, if we want to agree to this Northern Expedition battle and recover Pingjin, the first task at the moment is to thwart the devil's cavalry roundabout troops." Qiao Youhua said.

"Do you have any good ideas? The devil cavalry is highly mobile, and even if we transfer back all the tanks and armored units of each department, I am afraid it will be difficult to form an effective encirclement! After all, the wheels of tanks and trucks are more demanding on the road, and in terms of mobility alone, they are certainly inferior to cavalry. Zuo Quan was a little worried.