February 25, 1938, Zhaojia Village, Qinxian Township, southern suburbs of Taiyuan, Shanxi. A middle-aged man in a top hat was hurrying from outside the village, but as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the village, he was stopped by several strong men.

The first one shouted, "Stop! What for? ”

The middle-aged man hurriedly took off his top hat, bowed down and said, "Come to my third brother!" ”

Several strong men looked at each other and smiled, and then asked, "What is your third brother's surname?" ”

The middle-aged man replied, "The surname is Zheng!" ”

The leader asked, "Who asked you to come?" ”

The middle-aged man said, "It's the eighth master!" ”

The man said happily: "You are Comrade Xu Jinyang, right?" I am Zhang Changgui, commander of the 33rd Division Supplementary Regiment, and I am here to pick you up on the order of the division. ”

Xu Jinyang hurriedly stretched out his hand and said, "It turned out to be Head Zhang, and Xu has been looking up for a long time!" Commander Zhang, I don't know where Master Zheng is? There were situations where I had to report to him in person. ”

Zhang Changgui shook hands with him and said, "Our division seat is in the village. Please come inside, the master seat is waiting for you! ”

Xu Jinyang smiled: "Okay! ”

The group soon arrived at a compound in the village, which was the temporary headquarters of the 33rd Division. There are two big men standing guard at the gate of the compound, looking like they are dressed as ordinary people, but they are actually guards from the division headquarters. Zhang Changgui pointed to Xu Jinyang and said: "This is a guest of the master's seat, I will take him to see the master's seat, you go and report it." ”

The sentry said, "Commander Zhang, go in quickly!" The master has instructed that as soon as you come, you can go in directly, and you don't need to be informed. ”

Head Zhang said: "Okay! Mr. Continued, please! ”

The group went straight to the backyard and saw two people playing chess, and some people watching. One person picked up a chess piece and slammed it on the chessboard, shouting: "Draw the car and eat the car!" The onlookers praised one after another, saying that the chief of staff had made a good move.

The other patted his head in annoyance and said, "Oops! Why didn't you prevent this hand? No, no, Lao Zhou, this step has to be repeated! ”

Lao Zhou said with a smile: "Master, playing chess is like fighting a war, how can there be a chance for you to do it again!" You are now losing your troops, and half of the country is lost. I advise you to surrender quickly! ”

The crowd followed and said, "That's it, that's it!" Surrender quickly, surrender your guns, and don't kill them! As he spoke, he laughed.

The division seat is naturally Zheng Weiguo. He looked unconvinced and said, "I don't have the word surrender in Zheng Weiguo's dictionary!" You see, I still have a back hand, General Groove! As he spoke, he took a horse and slapped it directly, and he actually killed Lao Zhou in one fell swoop.

Everyone was stunned, and then Da Lu laughed and laughed: "Master, how can there be a horse like you, it is about to fly to Taiyuan City!" "It turns out that this horse is not in this position at all, not to mention lame, and there is a long way in between!

Zheng Weiguo said proudly: "Not convinced? That's how Lao Tzu's horse goes! "There is a way that there is no father and son in the chess field. Everyone didn't buy his division commander's account, and they laughed at him for playing tricks and demanded that he be replaced to fight again.

Seeing that the first game was over, Head Zhang hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Master, Mr. Xu is here!" ”

Zheng Weiguo hurriedly pushed the ping up and said, "Where is it?" Please! ”

Xu Jinyang hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Master Zheng, I am Xu Jinyang." Headquarters ordered me to come here to contact you, and asked our underground party organization to follow your arrangements at the next time. ”

Zheng Weiguo said happily: "Okay, great! Mr. Xu, let's go inside and talk. ”

When a few people arrived at the study, Zheng Weiguo couldn't wait to ask as soon as they sat down: "Mr. Xu, have you brought the deployment map of the Japanese puppet army inside and outside Taiyuan City?" ”

Mr. Xu said with some humility: "The picture is too conspicuous, and I didn't bring it with me if it wasn't safe on the road." But I've got it all in my head, and if you have a map here, I can compare and mark it! ”

Zheng Weiguo said happily: "This is very good, Chief of Staff, quickly find a map of Taiyuan!" ”

Director Xiong of the General Staff Office had already brought the map and said, "No need to look for it, here it is!" As he spoke, he asked people to put together the two Eight Immortal Tables, and then spread out all the maps.

Mr. Xu walked over and smiled, "Yo, this is a good thing!" There are no such elaborate maps in the Japanese. I'd better write it on a slip of paper and stick it on it so I don't break the map. ”

Zheng Weiguo said: "If you don't have anything to do, you can write it, there are several copies of such a map!" "This kind of map was given by Commander-in-Chief Fu when he came to Taiyuan last time, and I thought it was useless, so I almost threw it away. Fortunately, Zheng Weiguo felt that there was still some historical value and preserved it, otherwise it would not be easy to find such a detailed map.

Mr. Xu said hello, and then introduced it to everyone while marking, and soon reported all the enemy situations in the Taiyuan area. From the barracks and headquarters of the Japanese garrison brigade stationed in Taiyuan, to the various police stations of the Jingxiang Public Security Bureau in Taiyuan City (a puppet police agency set up after the Japanese army invaded and occupied Taiyuan), and some relatively hidden spy agencies, all of which were marked on the map. None of its troops, equipment, or fortifications were missing. Everyone was amazed when they saw it.

According to Mr. Xu's briefing, Japan's armed forces in Taiyuan mainly include four categories: military, police, constitutional, and special. The army is mainly the Taiyuan Garrison Brigade under the Garrison Command, which has only more than 500 people, and also undertakes the defense of Taiyuan, Jinyuan, Qingxu, Xiaodian and other places, and there are only 100 people in Taiyuan City.

In addition to this, there is a station of the 109th Division, with a total strength of about one squadron. However, this squadron is actually a merchant with the army, and has little combat effectiveness. They are generally not regarded as soldiers within the Japanese army.

The police are mainly members of the Jingxiang Public Security Bureau of Taiyuan City, with more than 100 pseudo-police officers and more than 300 chief police officers (ordinary policemen with long guns).

Xian means gendarme. Taiyuan has a military police with a squadron of about 180 people. These guys are basically stationed in Taiyuan City, and they are the biggest trouble in the siege.

The special is the Japanese spy agency set up in Taiyuan, which is divided into several systems, but the number of people is not large, less than 100 people in total.

Chief of Staff Zhou counted it and said with some surprise: "Taiyuan is really empty, and the Japanese troops inside and outside the city add up to less than nine hundred!" ”

Mr. Xu said with a smile: "That's a coincidence that your army came, and the city was crowded with devils some time ago. The enemy's 20th and 109th divisions were active in this area. Until a few days ago, the 109th Division of the natural enemy went to Jinxi, and there was only one military station left in the city. The enemy's 20th Division went to Jinnan, and the military stations were moved to Taigu. This defense is empty. ”

After the start of the Jinnan operation, the 109th Division attacked westward from Taiyuan, and on February 11, Qingxu southeast of Taiyuan was divided into two roads, north and south, and the south road advanced westward along the direction of Jiaocheng, Wenshui, and Xinghua, and captured Fenyang on the 21st, and then passed through Nanbiancheng and Zhihe, and occupied Zhongyang on February 24, and is currently marching to Jundu on the east bank of the Yellow River; The north road started from Jiaocheng and Kaizha, and continued to advance westward after being resisted in the Dongshe area, and now it has occupied Huili and is attacking in the direction of Lishi.

The 20th Division launched an attack from the vicinity of Taigu on February 11, reached Pingyao on the 13th, and then marched south in two ways to defeat the national army and retreat, and now it has reached Xixian County, which is about 100 kilometers away from Xiaoyi.

The North China Front Army was in a hurry to take Xuzhou, and all the troops under its jurisdiction were transferred to the Jinpu line, resulting in a serious shortage of troops in Shanxi. It is precisely because of this that after the two major field units of the 20th Division and the 109th Division were transferred, Kazuki Kiyoji (commander of the North China Front) failed to transfer troops in time to fill the gap, which caused a huge loophole in the defense of the Taiyuan area.

Both the Military Commission and the Second War Zone saw this very clearly, but they have not been able to make up their minds. Historically, the Chinese military has hesitated and ultimately missed the opportunity. In order to make up for this eternal regret, Zheng Weiguo led his troops to attack thousands of miles southeast of Jin Province and vowed to seize the famous city. Since there were no Japanese troops blocking this line, the road was very smooth.

It's just that the distance is too far, and you have to pay attention to secrecy on the way, and it took nearly a week to arrive at the outskirts of Taiyuan. At this time, it was too late to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, because the enemy's 109th Division was likely to return to help. When Zheng Weiguo was at a loss, he suddenly thought of the underground party, so he hurriedly asked the Eighth Route Army for help. Fortunately, the Eighth Route Army was very happy, and immediately sent the person in charge of the Taiyuan Intelligence Station. This is the opening scene in the article.

In order to formulate an action plan, Zheng Weiguo carefully looked at the enemy's deployment. He found that the Taiyuan airfield only marked the strength of one squad, and said strangely: "Is the Japanese army only deploying one squad at such an important location as the airfield?" ”

Mr. Xu explained: "Master Zheng didn't know anything. This airfield is currently vacant and very few planes come. Taiyuan Airport was originally an important stronghold of the Japanese army's army aviation, and it was classified as a "basis" airport (the Japanese army's airfield in the customs was divided into two types: base and mobile). At the end of 37, the army aviation also transferred a flight squadron to be stationed here, but with the development of the war, this squadron was transferred to Zhangde. Taiyuan Airport is empty, with only the occasional plane transiting.

Zheng Weiguo nodded and said, "So that's the case!" He felt a little disappointed and a little relieved. The disappointment is that it is basically impossible to kill the devil's plane, and it is easy to take Taiyuan City with some more certainty.

Everyone asked several questions in a row, and this Mr. Xu answered them fluently, and there was almost no one he didn't know.

Director Xiong said in surprise: "Mr. Xu, you are really a strange person, I am afraid that the commander of the Taiyuan garrison is not as familiar as you know." ”

Zheng Weiguo was also very curious, and said, "Mr. Xu, how did you get this information, is it reliable?" ”

Mr. Xu said: "Absolutely reliable. And explained the source of the intelligence. It turned out that his current public identity was the head of the Material Supply Division of the Garrison Headquarters (pseudo-position), and the logistics supply of the Japanese puppet army garrison in the Taiyuan area had to be accounted for from him. Although the field troops had independent military stations and logistics, he also installed his subordinates in the past, becoming the manager of a certain factory to which the division belonged, and he was also the "red man" in front of the manager of the 109th Division's military station.

Zheng Weiguo smiled: "If it weren't for you saying it yourself, I wouldn't have believed it." Your underground party is amazing. ”

Mr. Xu smiled reservedly and said, "It's nothing. It's great to have a real knife and a real gun like you to do with devils, and we can get information or something. He probably thought of some past events, and said sadly: "I watch devils do evil every day, but nothing can stop them." ”

Zheng Weiguo said: "Mr. Xu is too modest, your intelligence is enough to top a division!" He thought for a moment and then asked, "How much armed power does your army have around Taiyuan?" ”

Mr. Xu said: "It is mainly the guerrilla first column under the General Association of War Operations, with a total of more than 1,000 people. However, most of them are new recruits and poorly equipped, so don't expect them to attack the city. ”

The First Route Column of the Guerrilla General Association of War Movement is a guerrilla force belonging to the Shanxi New Army, which has been operating in Taiyuan and the surrounding areas, and the commander of the column is Tan Gongqiang. This force, known as the Forces nouvelles, was effectively under the control of the Red Party.

Zheng Weiguo said happily: "It's good that the troops are sufficient, and they don't need to do the siege of the city." ”

Mr. Xu said: "If Master Zheng is short of people, I have another way. ”

Zheng Weiguo hurriedly said: "Please speak!" ”

Mr. Xu pointed to the northeast corner of Taiyuan City and said: "At the beginning of the year, the devil built a prisoner of war camp here, and in order to hide people's eyes, it was called the Taiyuan Engineering Team. This prisoner of war camp held thousands of prisoners of war from the Central Army and the Jin Sui Army, and some comrades of our Eighth Route Army were also captured by them. ”

Zheng Weiguo said: "How are these prisoners of war in good health? ”

Mr. Xu said: "The Japanese army killed all those who were unable to work, and the rest were strong men, who had to do physical work for a long time every day, and their bodies should not be a problem." ”

Zheng Weiguo nodded, thinking about planning carefully and trying to absorb these prisoners of war into the army.

Just thinking about it, Zhang Changgui suddenly shouted outside the door: "Division, there is an urgent military situation!" ”

Zheng Weiguo hurriedly said: "Come in!" What's the situation? ”

Zhang Changgui said: "A regiment of scouts reported that the Japanese army in Zhangdian had suddenly made a move, and one of the squads was rushing towards our station, and it was very likely that they were coming at us!" ”