In the middle of the night, it snowed heavily.

The heavy snow soon covered the road, and the sky and earth soon became one. Dozens of miles outside Jinzhou, a marching procession stretching for dozens of miles was heading north in the snow, and this team was different from the usual marching procession, with almost no foot marching in the ranks, and all the personnel were traveling in trucks and tanks. The outside of the tanks and trucks are covered with layers of snow, and if it weren't for the roar of the machines, you would hardly have seen such a procession that stretched for dozens of miles.

"Brigade seat, there are still more than 30 miles ahead to reach the Liao River, and further north is the area where the Japanese Kwantung Army is heavily assembled, and the aerial reconnaissance was not carried out because of the university, but yesterday afternoon, their reconnaissance report said that many divisions of the Japanese army have completed the assembly, and their vanguard has also crossed the Liao River."

At the front of the team, in a Yellow River jeep, Lei Zhenfei, commander of the 316th Brigade of the Fifth Army, sat in the back seat and closed his eyes to recuperate, he was not asleep, he was still listening to the report of Zheng Yongguo, chief of staff of the 136th Brigade, the co-pilot.

In order to avoid exposure, there were no lights on in the cabin, and only the front guide car in the entire fleet had the lights on, and the other vehicles were turned off the lights.

Fortunately, the snow is reflective, and the road is not dark, and driving tanks and cars in such road conditions is not a problem for those veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time.

The convoy drove smoothly forward, and at this speed, they could reach the bank of the Liao River in less than an hour. Lei Zhenfei glanced at the heavy snow outside: "According to the predetermined plan, after arriving at the north bank of the Liao River, the vanguard will be sent to reconnoiter first, if it is not expected, they should cross the river at this time today and tomorrow, this is a good time to attack!" ”

"Crossing the river on a snowy night?" Zheng Yongguo had some doubts.

"Yes, take advantage of the heavy snow to cross the Liao River with the main force." Lei Hengfei continued: "Itagaki Seishiro is a guy who doesn't play cards according to common sense, he provoked conflicts many times when he was in Shenyang before, which made Zhang Xueliang think that the Northeast Incident was also an ordinary conflict, but he didn't expect them to want to swallow the entire Northeast. In the past, he used to win steadily when he sent troops, but this time he attacked Jinzhou, I think he will definitely play his cards out of common sense. ”

Zheng Yongguo nodded, and at the same time opened the notebook in his hand to swipe down Lei Zhenfei's instructions.

Lei Zhenfei looked at the scene outside and pondered, there is no doubt that this battle is the most stressful battle since he joined the army, but he can't show it, because the officers and soldiers of the whole brigade need victory at this time, because this victory is of great significance both tactically and morale, and the reason why Commander Lin named his general is to value his courage to fight and dare to rush.

True, of all the brigade commanders in the Fifth Army, he was the youngest, but it also meant that he was the least senior. After graduating from Yenching University, he has only been in the army for more than ten years, and when Yining fought with the Soviet Red Eighth Regiment, he was only a special battalion commander of the motorized infantry brigade, and in just a few years, he was promoted to the brigade commander of a mechanized infantry brigade, which can be said to be unique in the whole army.

He knew that in addition to some good luck, more important was his excellent command skills and madman's fighting passion. In the battle with the Red Eighth Regiment, he led the special service battalion to fight a bloody battle with the elite of the Soviet army several times his size, and most importantly, he also defeated the other party.

From then on, Lei Zhenfei entered the field of vision of Lin Zuoda, the commander of the Fifth Army, and he began to appreciate this young and straightforward officer, and took it as a key training object. Later, in the military reform of the division to the brigade, Lei Zhenfei was promoted to serve in the newly formed 318 Brigade, and before this war, he had just been promoted to the post of commander of the 31st Brigade.

The 316 Brigade is a newly formed unit, a new brigade added to the Fifth Army under the condition of expansion. Although it is a new number, but this army is not raised by the mother, at the beginning of its formation, the Ministry of Defense approved the intention of building a fist force.

There is no doubt that this is a fully mechanized mixed unit, and the 316 Brigade has five motorized infantry regiments, four tank and armored battalions, a three-battalion air defense regiment, an artillery regiment, and five automobile battalions, as well as a reconnaissance brigade directly under the brigade, with a strength of more than 10,000 troops, which is equivalent to the size of a previous integrated division, and its combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.

At this time, Lin Zuo beat this fist out, definitely to hit the meat.

Lei Zhenfei remembered very clearly that before setting out for the expedition, Lin Zuoda asked him, "Do you know Yuan Chonghuan?" ”

Lei Zhenfei naturally knew, and he nodded.

"Then have you ever heard of Guan Ning Tieqi?" Lin Zuoda asked again.

"Hmm!" Lei Zhenfei nodded again.

Lin Zuoda clasped his hands behind his back, and his vision turned to the vast snow outside Jinzhou City: "The questions I just asked you are the questions that Commander-in-Chief Huang asked me a day ago. My answer is the same as yours. ”

"After listening to my answer, Commander-in-Chief Huang said to me, 'Yuan Chonghuan led the Guanning Iron Cavalry to guard the Ningjin line, and what they faced at that time was similar to what you are facing today, but all your backing is different. Zhu Youzhen was suspicious of Yuan Chonghuan, and many people in the imperial court slandered Yuan Chonghuan, he was in internal and external difficulties. But you are different, the Ministry of National Defense and I myself have the greatest trust in you, we will not speculate about your behavior at will, let alone do anything that makes the front-line soldiers feel cold, but we ask you to be like the Guanning Iron Cavalry and Yuan Chonghuan back then, to keep the Japanese army out of the pass, and not allow them to step half a step through Jinzhou! When he had said that, the Commander-in-Chief asked me if I could do it. The commander said that he didn't need me to answer, and he said that he wanted me to answer in actual battles, because he didn't like to listen to empty words. I will now send you the original words of the commander-in-chief, and now it is up to you to answer them! ”

Lei Zhenfei naturally knew how to answer, so he attached great importance to this battle.

Before the departure of the troops, the slower artillery regiment and some baggage units were removed from the ranks of the operation team, and these troops were still stationed near the Jinzhou defense line. As for the officers and soldiers who went to the battlefield, he asked the officers and men to travel lightly, and they even reduced the number of men who carried, and each of the officers and soldiers gave out a large number of fried noodles and canned food, so that they could be eaten when they were born and cooked in ordinary times.

In the northeast, dripping water turns into ice, and canned beef frozen into ice cubes makes it difficult to swallow, and the officers and soldiers are eager to eat a hot meal, but at this time it is even more difficult than climbing to the sky. They can't light a fire so as not to expose their target, and they do so for the simple reason that they will be taken by surprise and unprepared.

And this kind of mechanized surprise soldier launched a surprise attack, he was not the first practitioner, the earliest practitioner was Xue Boling.

The fully mechanized troops were indeed moving fast, and in less than an hour, the troops had arrived at their intended positions on the Liaohe front. Lei Zhenfei ordered to stop advancing and deploy on the spot, tanks and armored vehicles also quickly began to make combat deployments, and officers and soldiers began to eat in tents in truck compartments.

Lei Zhenfei pushed the car door, a cold wind rushed towards him, he buttoned the tweed army coat on his body, put the collar of the coat up, stepped on the creaking snow and walked forward, Zheng Yongguo and the guards immediately followed.

"Did the reconnaissance force send out?" Lei Zhenfei asked without turning his head.

"Sent out, Commander Zu has already gone out with the reconnaissance battalion." Zheng Yongguo replied.

"Okay, let's go to the commanding heights in front of us and take a look, from that place we should be able to see the situation of the Liao River in the distance." As he spoke, he quickened his pace.

"Brigade, the snow is too big and your vision is affected." Deputy Brigade Commander Chen Da suggested.

Lei Zhenfei smiled: "There are dates and no dates, and there are three rods!" Just move your muscles and bones, and maybe you can see something else. ”

When the brigade commander said this, the others naturally didn't have much to say, so everyone had to follow. Soon, everyone was on that commanding height. At this time, although the snow was a little lighter, it was still falling.

Lei Zhenfei and the others all raised their binoculars to observe, because of the heavy snow and the dark night, the visibility was so close that they couldn't even see the place where their team was stationed, everyone gave up this idea, and everyone had to run down again.

"Okza, why don't you eat something while this is here?" The chief of the guard walked over and asked.

Lei Zhenfei nodded, and after a moment he added, "Don't make a fire." ”

The guards went to tell the man to prepare the brigade commander's meal, but he was not allowed to light a fire. You can't let the brigade commander really eat cold canned food.

The guy thought about it and said, it's better to get some hot water to soak than to eat cold.

The guards thought it was a good idea, but where to find hot water became a new problem. The guys only carry marching pots and fuel, where will they carry hot water?

"Go to the car water tank and put some in it, there is hot water in the water tank, just soak it in hot water." After the guard finished speaking, the two suddenly realized, and then went to the tank to draw hot water and cans.

The cans have been frozen into ice cubes and have only begun to dissolve gradually under the influence of hot water, although they are not completely heated, but they are already somewhat warm.

The guard immediately brought the can to Lei Hengfei, and as soon as Lei Hengfei took it and touched it with some temperature, he asked what was going on? The guard told what happened, Lei Hengfei took a spoon and stirred the beef inside, and after thinking for a while, he smiled and said: "Good way, the car's water tank was originally used to dissipate heat, and some of the hot water in it is more conducive to heat dissipation, and it can also heat the can." Quickly, tell the platoons to heat the cans in this way, so that the brethren can have a bite to eat. ”

The brigade commander's order was quickly given, and the platoons began to drain hot water from the truck's diesel tanks to heat the cans. The officers and men took advantage of this gap to eat a mouthful of hot canned food, and their originally frozen bodies were stretched out at this time.

"Here's one more chance of winning!" Lei Hengfei said with a smile: "The chief secretary and the chief of the guard will take the lead!" ”