The surrounding guards and soldiers also followed the trigger, and for a while, there was another burst of gunfire outside the south gate of Cangzhou, and the remaining dozens of devil remnants fell one after another under the dense rain of bullets, and were all wiped out, including several devil officers, and that devil Dazuo was also among them.

After dealing with the remnants of the enemy, Zheng Yunshan said to a battalion commander: "First battalion commander, you lead the brothers to continue the attack, and cooperate with the brothers' troops to completely destroy the remnants of the enemy in the city!" Regain Cangzhou City. ”

The burly commander of the first battalion suddenly agreed, and immediately led the officers and soldiers to take advantage of the situation to enter the city from the south gate, and as the guard regiment also joined the attack in the city, the puppet defenders in the city retreated more quickly.

It didn't take long for the gunfire in the city to gradually stop, and only in the north of the city as the Dragon's Tooth Column continued to pursue the Japanese army, the gunfire gradually faded away.

Zheng Yunshan's guard regiment did not participate in the pursuit, but counted and guarded the prisoners in the city and received the city defenses of each gate.

Qiao Youhua, accompanied by Li Yansan and others, entered this thousand-year-old city, and moved the command post to the city, the headquarters of the former 14th Division of the Japanese Army.

About an hour later, Wu Ming and Ma Biao also returned to Cangzhou, came to Qiao Youhua's command room together, and saluted Qiao Youhua: "Commander, the thieves of the 14th Division are running fast, and there are Japanese fighters on the way, so the results of our pursuit are not great."

Now that the 14th Division, under the support of the defenders of Qingcheng, has withdrawn into the city of Qingcheng County, our pursuing troops have now stopped advancing, waiting for your instructions! ”

As soon as Ma Biao and Wu Ming's words fell, a communication soldier hurriedly ran in from outside, and seeing that Ma Biao and the others were there, the communication soldier glanced at them with some surprise, so he went straight to Qiao Youhua and saluted: "Commander, I just received an urgent telegram from the tank regiment, and the devils in Cangxian County have retreated!" ”

Qiao Youhua had a premonition, so he said with a firm expression: "Did the tank regiment pursue?" The result? ”

"The tank regiment said in the telegram that they tried to pursue the Japanese army, but because of the blockage of the canal and the air raid interception of the devil fighters, they were unsuccessful, but now Cangxian has been recovered by our army." The communications soldier replied.

Qiao Youhua nodded and said, "I know, call Liu Jianhua back and tell him, temporarily stationed in Cangxian County to rest, and wait for my order." ”

The communications soldier answered yes and turned to leave.

Ma Biao said: "Commander, although we failed to completely annihilate the 14th Division in this battle, we also recovered Cangzhou and Cangxian, and now the morale is booming, is it taking advantage of the situation to continue to attack Qingcheng County north?" ”

Qiao Youhua pondered and said, "No, it's not appropriate to continue attacking north for the time being." ”

"Why, Commander? Great opportunity, isn't it a bit of a pity to give up like this? Ma Biao was a little unwilling.

"There is no pity, you should know the truth of being greedy and chewing too much, we have now hit Cangzhou on the eastern front, and the western front has also reached the vicinity of Baoding, and the sphere of influence has expanded to the north by five or six hundred miles, if we count the depth of the east and west, our base area has expanded by at least a thousand miles.

Coupled with the original area of our base area, such a large area, and our total strength plus the newly recruited 30,000 puppet army prisoners, it is only 60,000 or 70,000.

If you don't count the 30,000 puppet army captives, the total strength is only about 30,000 people, which is really pitiful.

Our logistical supply lines have been strictly extended, and in the newly expanded sphere of influence of 500 miles to the north, many people have been displaced and relocated, and the mass base cannot be compared with our four county base areas.

If we continue to advance further north, the situation may be reversed by the Japanese if any of our forces fails, and if we lose any of our current gains, we may lose all the gains we have made.

Because we lack sufficient reserves, we also lack war potential.

In addition, if we really continue to fight northward, force the little devils into a hurry, and send troops from Shanxi and Shandong to the north to attack us in spite of a single force, then we will face the difficult situation of fighting on two fronts in a battlefield hundreds of miles apart from the north and the south.

At that time, it will be extremely passive, so it is time to take a break and give ourselves a time to consolidate the gains and expand the military industry.

Not to mention anything else, let's first absorb all the puppet army prisoners captured and recruited in this battle, and then let's talk about it. ”

Ma Biao and Wu Ming are both traversers, although some were carried away by the previous series of victories, but after Qiao Youhua's analysis, they also suddenly came to their senses.

Realizing that the current Dragon Tooth Column is a potential threat under the big victory, it is indeed impossible to continue the counterattack, and it is time to stop in moderation, because the existing strength of the Dragon Tooth Column is not enough to support them to counterattack Pingjin. 、

Next, Qiao Youhua ordered all troops to immediately stop the offensive and consolidate the existing area, and after discussion, Qiao Youhua decided to leave Ma Biao's second brigade, plus Liu Jianhua's tank regiment and Ma Yunlong's air defense regiment stationed in Cangzhou, Cangxian and Hejian. 、

The infantry of the three regiments of the Second Brigade was responsible for the defense of the three cities, while the troops directly under the brigade remained in Cangzhou, and the air defense regiment was stationed in the area of Nanpi and Botou in the south of Cangzhou, responsible for local security.

Liu Jianhua's tank regiment was stationed in Hejian as a mobile unit, and the cavalry battalion was responsible for maneuvering back and forth between the three cities in case of a possible Japanese surprise attack.

After the main force of Jiang Haidong's first brigade was withdrawn from Hejian, Qiao Youhua deployed them to Suning, Raoyang Anguo and other places south of Hejian as second-line troops in case of emergency.

In addition, the first brigade is also responsible for the defense of Dingzhou, but fortunately, after the 30,000 Northeast puppet troops have been recruited, the actual strength of each brigade has reached nearly 20,000, and one regiment is equivalent to two regiments in the past.

Therefore, Jiang Haidong only needed to send a regiment or so to Dingzhou to mix with the first regiment of Scarface.

The main force of Wu Ming's Third Brigade returned to defend Hengshui and Dezhou, and took into account the defense of Shimen, Luquan and other counties in the rear.

After Qiao Youhua himself withdrew to Hengshui along the canal with the guard regiment and some of the puppet army prisoners, and then withdrew to Shimen along the railway line, when he arrived at Shimen, it was already dark.

Today's Shimen is already the hinterland of the anti-Japanese base area of the Dragon's Tooth Column, and the absolute rear, so Qiao Youhua was not in a hurry, and decided to let the troops rest temporarily in Shimen for one night, and then return to the Pingshan base camp tomorrow.

Remaining behind in Shimen was a militia unit belonging to the Third Brigade, numbering more than 300 people, equipped with Japanese-style weapons that had been eliminated and replaced by the Dragon's Tooth Column, and this kind of weaponry was not worse than other anti-Japanese armed regular armies.

After Qiao Youhua led the guard regiment into the city, only one company was arranged to participate in the city defense, and all the other battalions and companies entered various barracks in the city to rest, and they continued to fight and march for nearly a month.

Even though the guards are all elites, they are all tired, so they need to rest urgently.

After briefly eating the dinner prepared by the militia for himself, Qiao Youhua said to Li Yansan and Zheng Yunshan: "Let's go, go out with me to check the night, and then come back to rest." ”

Zheng Yunshan said: "Commander, it's so late, you should be tired of continuous marching, or I'll check it, you can rest early." "All along, Qiao Youhua has the habit of checking the sentry before going to bed, no matter when and where, so Zheng Yunshan did not dare to directly persuade Qiao Youhua not to go, but asked Ying to do it for him.

Qiao Youhua smiled and waved his hand and said, "If you want to say tired, you are more tired than me, no matter how tired you are, it's not a big problem to check a sentry, let's go." With that, Qiao Youhua took the lead and walked outside.

Li Yansan and Zheng Yunshan looked at each other and smiled, so they had to follow out closely, and when they left the courtyard, Zheng Yunshan arranged for a guard squad to accompany him with a loaded gun.

In the dark night, two guard soldiers walked in front of the road with guns in their hands, and the other soldiers followed Qiao Youhua and the three of them, and along the Shimen street, they began to patrol the Simen City Defense Posts.

From time to time, mobile patrols composed of militia and guard regiments would pass by on the streets, and when they saw Qiao Youhua, they all stopped and saluted and shouted: "Commander Qiao! ”

Qiao Youhua smiled and nodded, waved his hand, and said, "Brothers, it's hard work. ”

After passing shoulders with the patrol, Qiao Youhua smiled and said to Zheng Yunshan and Li Yansan: "When we go back this time, we will expand your guard regiment again, in addition, other brigades will also be expanded, now our base area is large, but the number of regular troops is too small."

These militia reserves can be incorporated into front-line troops to augment our forces at that time. ”

Zheng Yunshan was a little excited when he heard that the army was going to be expanded again, but he didn't come out, but continued to listen to Qiao Youhua's speech.

Qiao Youhua said as he walked: "In addition to the expansion of troops, we will also find ways to expand our arsenal this time, increase production capacity, and strive to unify and standardize the weapons and equipment of all units as soon as possible."

In addition, we also need to improve some weapons and equipment to improve our combat effectiveness! ”

Li Yansan said: "Commander, you are wise and powerful, our dragon tooth column will definitely grow stronger and stronger under your command!" ”

For Li Yansan's compliment, Qiao Youhua smiled indifferently and did not deny it, and while the group was talking, it didn't take long for them to arrive at the north gate.

At the gates of the city, militiamen with rifles and guards armed with submachine guns are standing guard, in addition to special mobile sentry posts, which can be described as well-guarded and extremely vigilant.

Seeing this scene, Qiao Youhua nodded with satisfaction and said: "That's right, you can't be slack off just because Shimen is the hinterland of our base and the big rear, and something will happen sooner or later."

We have repeatedly penetrated behind enemy lines and succeeded in sneaking up on important towns in the enemy's rear, which is the best lesson from the past, and we must learn from it to avoid the same thing from happening in our defense area! ”

Zheng Yunshan nodded and said, "The lesson of the commander is that the guard regiment has never relaxed its vigilance because of any place or situation, and has always maintained a high level of vigilance. ”