"Great news, Boss!" Chief of Staff Zhou happily brought a telegram and reported: "The little devil's army was blown up by our army when he crossed the Shahe Bridge, and the railway bridge was also completely destroyed. The enemy army was broken into several columns and capsized in the river, and a whole brigade of Japanese troops was annihilated! ”

"Oh?" Zheng Weiguo was surprised and delighted, hurriedly took the telegram and read it, read it three times in a row from beginning to end, and stroked his palm and smiled: "Okay, good fight, good fight!" Chief of Staff, which unit did this? The leading officers and all the commanders and fighters should be specially commended! When the battle is over, I'm going to meet this heroic unit in person! ”

Chief of Staff Zhou said regretfully: "The task of blowing up the bridge was completed by the Seventh Demolition Team, which was temporarily formed by the Fifth Company of the Second Battalion of the Demolition Regiment of the Engineer Brigade. It's a pity that the captain Huang Yuming unfortunately encountered the enemy search force after completing the mission and died heroically on the spot. ”

Hearing this, Zheng Weiguo sighed lightly, then took off his military hat and proposed: "Everyone, let us observe a minute of silence for the soldiers who died bravely in the counterattack operation!" ”

The officers and soldiers present stood up, took off their military hats, bowed their heads, and saw off the brothers whose souls had returned to heaven. After a while, Zheng Weiguo looked at his watch and said, "The time has come, the ceremony is over." He also said to everyone: "Everyone, the soldiers shed blood and sacrificed in the front, and we must not slack off in the rear, I hope that you will encourage you to defend the country!" ”

All the soldiers said in unison: "I respect the teachings of the general seat!" ”

Zheng Weiguo nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well, now that the situation is very good, each of them should hurry up and take action to completely defeat the enemy of the Pinghan Line!" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou took the opportunity to report: "General seat." We had prepared a division of troops to ambush the enemy's brigade between Xinle and Dingxian. The Eighth Route Army also dispatched three regiments to prepare to cooperate with our army. Now that these two troops are no longer needed, I think they can be strengthened on other battlefields! ”

Zheng Weiguo bowed his head and said: "Of course so many troops can't be idle, where do you plan to strengthen it?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou walked quickly to the map, pointed at Shahe with a wooden stick and said, "Please look at the general seat, this is Shahe, Xinle County to the south, and Cihe River to the south." At present, the larger bridges on the Cihe River have been planted with explosives by our army, which can be destroyed at any time, and the back road of the Japanese army rushing from Shijiazhuang to reinforce has been cut off, and it is just time to concentrate troops to annihilate it! ”

Zheng Weiguo also walked over. Asked: "How many troops does the enemy have in this area?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou replied: "It has been ascertained. The Japanese army had an infantry wing, the number was the 110th Infantry Wing, and the wing leader was Yanagawa Shinichisa. In addition to the infantry, there is also a cavalry artillery worker. Among them, the artillery is the second brigade of the 110th Wing of field artillery. It has jurisdiction over 12 Type 38 75mm field guns. The rest of the troops were not numerous. Can be ignored. ”

He glanced back at Zheng Weiguo and continued: "On the other hand, our army has the two main forces of the 33rd Division and the 91st Division that can be transferred, and the three main regiments of the First Army Division can also be put in if necessary. Besides. We also have a mountain artillery brigade operating with the 33rd Division, and a heavy artillery brigade and an air defense brigade are also assembled in the first division and ready for reinforcements at any time. ”

There are more than 30,000 troops in the two main divisions plus one division, and this is only a combat unit. If the Eighth Route Army could devote another 20,000 to 30,000 troops to the battlefield, the total strength would exceed 50,000.

Not only is there a large number of troops, but the heavy firepower is also not bad, and the mountain artillery brigade directly under the 41st Group Army has 36 Skoda C6 mountain guns. After the collection of various divisions, there were more than 80 guns with a barrel of more than 75 mm. And that's not counting a large number of mortars, flying thunder guns, anti-aircraft guns, etc.

On the other hand, the Japanese army had only one infantry wing and field artillery brigade between the Shahe River and the Cihe River, plus a small number of garrison troops in Xinle County, totaling less than 5,000 people. The 75 mm or more body barrel artillery is 12 Type 38 field guns, 4 Type 41 mountain guns, and only 16 guns.

In this way, the ratio of forces between the two sides is 10:1, and the ratio of heavy fire is 5:1 (if you include mortars and heavy machine guns, it is much more). The Chinese army will form an absolute superiority in this area, and it is entirely possible to eat this enemy force.

Although the previous plan was only to annihilate one or two enemy brigades, the previous battles were enough to prove that the gap between the 41st Group Army and the Japanese army after the training and rearmament was no longer obvious, and it was fully capable of concentrating its forces to fight a war of annihilation.

Under such a disparity in strength, Zheng Weiguo's appetite inevitably became bigger. His heart moved, and he asked in a deep voice: "Chief of Staff, is your intelligence reliable?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou explained: "After the enemy crossed the Hutuo River, he was under the supervision of our army's reconnaissance unit, and his number and troops could be clearly seen. The infiltrators of the underground party in Shijiazhuang and other places have also sent back a large amount of information, which is corroborated by the two sides, and even if there are mistakes and omissions, it will not be too big. ”

Hutuo River is between Shijiazhuang and Zhengding County, flows eastward, crosses Jizhong, and Fuyang River confluence is called Ziya River, is an important tributary of Haihe River. Hutuo River, Ci River, Sha River, Tang River, these four rivers from south to north will be Shijiazhuang and Baoding between the natural division of five strip-shaped areas. This is also the greatest reliance of the Jizhong Military Region for daring to take the initiative to attack.

The stakes are very high, Zheng Weiguo finally made up his mind after thinking for a while, nodded and said: "Okay, since the timing and the situation are favorable to me, I support this battle!" Chief of Staff, tell me about your plan! ”

Chief of Staff Zhou pointed to the map and said: "We plan to have the main force of the Eighth Route Army of 20,000 people march east from Xingtang County, the 33rd Division of our army will advance west from Handai and Dongwang (both town names, east of Xinle and belong to a sub-district), and the 91st Division will cross the Shahe River and move south to flank the enemy on three sides. As he spoke, he put his hands together, as if he was going to crush the enemy of Xinle with heavy troops.

Zheng Weiguo's gaze stayed on the Cihe River in the south of Xinle, and asked, "What about the south!" Although the flow of this river is large, it is not a natural hazard, and just blowing up the bridge cannot completely stop the Japanese army, at most slow down their reinforcements. ”

"The general seat is taught!" Chief of Staff Zhou readily admitted the shortcomings in the plan and explained: "According to the previous plan, we did not plan to fight such a large-scale war of annihilation, so the troop preparation was insufficient. But the difficulties that we have, the Japanese army also exists. It's even more serious than us, so I think it's time to overcome the odds and destroy this enemy force! ”

After speaking, he listed several remedial measures, such as continuing to destroy the bridge over the Hutuo River and preventing the enemy in Shijiazhuang from sending supplies and troops to the north. At the same time, local troops were interspersed between the Hutuo River and the Cihe River to harass them, so that the Japanese army could not rescue them with all their might.

Zheng Weiguo bowed his head slightly in agreement and replied, "Okay, I can sign the order." However, this campaign was a joint operation between us and the Eighth Route Army, and the battle plan changed so much that we had to get their consent. Have you consulted Commander Nie of the Eighth Route Army? ”

Chief of Staff Zhou was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "I forgot about this stubble." Thankfully, the head seat reminds me! However, Commander Liu of the 129th Division also agreed to fight this battle. There should be no problem. ”

Zheng Weiguo said with a smile: "Well, with Senior Commander Liu as a guarantor, it is more likely to pass through Mr. Nie." Then you should contact us immediately and try to work out a specific battle plan as soon as possible. ”

Chief of Staff Zhou saluted happily. Say, "Yes." Total seat! ”

Since the counterattack operation on the Pinghan line. The 41st Group Army successively annihilated one infantry brigade, one engineer wing, and two puppet army brigades of the Japanese army in Baoding. The prestige is great. This time, it blew up the Japanese army's military column, annihilated a Japanese army brigade at a relatively small cost, and exceeded the scheduled task.

The results of the battle were brilliant, so that the Eighth Route Army was not envious, and many generals of the Eighth Route Army asked Commander Nie to fight, asking for "expansion of the scale". Although Commander Nie has always advocated not fighting uncertain battles, he could not withstand the instigation of his subordinates, and in addition Chief of Staff Zhou and Division Commander Liu lobbied hard, he finally agreed to "fight and see."

As a result, the 41st Group Army concentrated the 33rd and 91st Divisions, the Mountain Artillery Brigade, the Heavy Artillery Brigade, and the Air Defense Brigade to quickly put into the Xinle Battlefield. Not to be outdone, the Eighth Route Army concentrated the main forces of the Third and Fourth Divisions, with a total of more than 20,000 main forces advancing west of Xinle.

At this time, the Xinle Japanese army had just received the news that the Shahe Bridge had been blown up. The reason why the news spread so slowly was because Jizhong and the Eighth Route Army joined forces to shield the battlefield on both sides of the Shahe River. Most of the Japanese scouts and spies were wiped out, and it was extremely difficult for the few fish that slipped through the net to transmit information.

The commander of the 110th Wing of the Japanese Army, Shinichi Yanagawa was sitting in a four-wheeled passenger car, enjoying the beautiful scenery on both sides of the road. His wing had three brigades, the first of which was the one that was blown up at the Shahe Bridge. The second brigade also took the train to the north and had just arrived in Xinle County.

Yanagawa himself did not take the train, but personally led the wing headquarters and the 3rd Infantry Brigade to the north by car. In addition to reinforcements, they also had one task, which was to protect the 110th Brigade of the 110th Field Artillery Wing, which accompanied them.

"Your Excellency, Captain!" Chief of Staff Komatsu Ichiro hurried from behind on a tricycle, waved anxiously, and shouted: "There is an urgent military situation to report to you!" ”

Yanagawa Daisa's face changed slightly, and he said to the driver, "Stop on the side of the road!" ”

The driver nodded and said, "Hello! "A dozen steering wheels, squeaked to a stop on the side of the road.

Seeing this, Komatsu Ichiro also hurriedly asked the motorcycle to stop, and jumped out of the car without waiting for it to stop, and hurriedly ran over.

Yanagawa said a little unhappily: "Komatsu-kun, what's the alarm!" ”

Komatsu Ichiro hurriedly bowed his head and said, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency Wing Commander. But something really happened! You know, we lost contact with the First Brigade just an hour ago. ”

Yanagawa said disapprerovingly: "What's so strange about this, anything can happen on the march." You don't think the First Brigade is all destroyed, do you? ”

Komatsu Ichiro trembled all over, and said with a sad face: "Your Excellency, Wing Captain, they may really have all the jade shattered!" ”

"Nonsense!" Yanagawa Osa angrily reprimanded: "Komatsu Ichiro, do you think that you can talk nonsense if you are the chief of staff? If you say this kind of confusing words again, I will punish you with military law! With a snort, he drew his saber.

"Your Excellency, please calm your anger!" Komatsu Ichiro hurriedly explained: "Just now, the Xinle County garrison reported that the Shahe Bridge in the north was blown up by the Shina people, and some people seemed to see the military train being blown into the river. ”

Yanagawa Dazuo was shocked and angry, and asked: "What seems to see, didn't the Xinle garrison send troops to the field to investigate?" ”

Komatsu Ichiro explained: "A large number of Shina troops appeared on the Shahe line, and the new garrison was intercepted by the enemy several times. However, the second brigade has just arrived in Xinle County, and has already sent troops to search and advance in the direction of Shahe Bridge. ”

Yanagawa Osa glanced at the soldiers around him with a dark face, and ordered: "Don't leak the slightest bit of what you said just now." Otherwise, you will be severely punished! ”

"Hello!" The soldiers answered, but their hearts were flustered.

"Let's go!" Liu Chuan immediately ordered: "No matter what, you must arrive at Xinle County first." ”

The long convoy continued north, and soon arrived at Xinle County. It's just that on the way, there were several landmines in a row, and four or five cars were damaged, but because of the protection of cars, there were not many casualties. Liu Chuan was so anxious at this time that he couldn't care about it anymore.

As the 2nd Brigade of the 110th Wing had already searched and advanced in the direction of the Shahe Bridge. In Xinle County, only the brigade attached to the second brigade (that is, the deputy captain, the national army also has a similar name, it is estimated that it was learned from the Japanese army) Takeda Yoshitomi Shaosa and the garrison squadron leader Sasaki Shiro greeted at the city gate.

Shinichi Yanagawa jumped out of the car with a black face. Drink asked, "Gentlemen." What happened to the North Side? ”

Takeda Yoshitomi said bitterly: "Your Excellency, Wing Commander, it is almost certain that all the officers and men of the 1st Brigade were killed in the accident. As he spoke, he called another plainclothes officer and introduced, "Your Excellency, this is Matsumoto Yahara, an agent from the Special High School. He personally went to the river shortly after the accident to observe. The river was filled with the corpses of Imperial soldiers. The military column also overturned in the ......"

"Enough!" Yanagawa interrupted angrily, "Why did this happen? This is simply an unprecedented shame in the history of the empire! Then he said to Matsumoto Yahara, "Tell me exactly what you have seen." Don't hide a word! ”

Matsumoto Yahara hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Hello! Then he told him what he had seen.

These plainclothes are highly trained and have a good understanding of China's customs. Whether it is the clothes on the body or the conversation is no different from the Chinese. Therefore, he was able to smoothly enter the vicinity of the bridge to observe without being discovered by the vigilant troops. Of course, Matsumoto arrived after a long time after the explosion, and he didn't know a lot about it. For example, if he didn't find out in advance what military column he was doing, he couldn't say.

After listening for a while, Yanagawa closed his eyes in pain, waved his hand and said, "You go down first!" ”

Chief of Staff Komatsu Ichiro hurriedly stepped forward and comforted: "Your Excellency, Wing Commander, please mourn!" It's just an accident, not a war crime, and you don't have to blame yourself. ”

According to the habits of the Japanese army, if you die during the march, it is generally counted as "accidental death", such as overturning a car, stepping on a landmine, and falling to death are not counted as deaths. If you are wounded in battle and hospitalized, and then die, it is generally counted as "war sickness death" and is not counted in the list of the dead. Although it is just self-deception, it can somewhat shirk responsibility.

Yanagawa suddenly rebuked angrily: "Yaga! Stretching out his hand was a slap in the face, which made Chief of Staff Komatsu Ichiro dizzy. After the fight, Wu Zi was angry, his face was blue for a while, and he didn't know what Lu Dao was thinking for a while. Seeing this, the rest of the officers dared to persuade again, so they had to stand in place and accompany Yanagawa to sulk all his life.

"Report!" A three-wheeled motorcycle suddenly drove out of the city and stopped in front of the crowd. An officer in charge of communications hurriedly jumped out of the car to salute, apparently with an urgent military situation.

Seeing that several officers didn't mean to speak, Takeda Yoshichen Shaozo had no choice but to ask, "What's the situation?" ”

The officer hurriedly reported: "The defenders of Dingxian County have called for help, saying that they have lost contact with the Second Brigade of the 139th Wing that crossed the Tang River to the north. In addition, unknown armed forces were also found outside the county, and it seemed that there was an intention to seize the city. At present, there is only one squad in Dingxian to defend, and immediate reinforcements are requested. ”

"Dingxian, Tanghe, Shahe......" Yanagawa Dazuo rushed to the car to find a military map, gestured on it with his hand, and suddenly shouted: "It's not good, the second brigade is in danger, let them stop advancing immediately!" Quick, get in touch with them right away. ”

Komatsu Ichiro covered his face and asked cautiously, "Your Excellency Wing Commander, do you mean that it is possible for the Shina Army to encircle and annihilate the Second Brigade of the 139th Wing?" ”

Yanagawa Shinichi shouted, "Yaga! Don't you understand? The 139th Wing is dead, dead! I'm talking about us, our 110th Wing! The Kumano Plains are heading for a dead end! Contact immediately, and the troops will immediately go out of the city for reinforcements! ”

Kumano Hirahara is the captain of the 2nd Brigade of the 110th Wing, and is currently leading his troops to search and advance in the direction of the Shahe Bridge. The 91st Division, which belonged to the 41st Group Army, was moving south from Shahe. Although Yanagawa Shinichi did not know the exact information of Lu Dao, his years of military experience still made him keenly aware of the strategic intentions of the Chinese army. After all, there is a problem in the north of Dingxian, and it is impossible to be calm in the south.

Although Komatsu Ichiro was very dissatisfied, he did not dare to argue and hurriedly ran to the telecommunications detachment. Since the distance from the county seat to the Shahe Bridge was less than ten kilometers, Komatsu Ichiro made contact with the Kumamoto Brigade directly through the loudspeaker.

"Moximoxi!" From time to time, there was a dense sound of gunfire from inside the earpiece.

Komatsu Ichiro was afraid that the other party would not hear him, so he hurriedly said loudly: "I am Komatsu Ichiro, the chief of staff of the wing, please pick up Captain Kumano quickly." ”

Kumano Shaosa quickly rushed over and said, "Your Excellency Komatsu, I'm Kumano Plain, what are your orders!" ”

Komatsu Ichiro hurriedly said: "Your Excellency the Wing Commander thinks that your department is in danger of being ambushed, please return immediately, please return immediately!" ”

Kumano Shaosa hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Excellency, we have encountered some resistance, but it is not strong. Our department will soon arrive at the Shahe Bridge, do you want to wait for the remains of the soldiers to be collected and then return? ”

Komatsu Ichiro thought to himself that the other party didn't feel dangerous when he was on the front line, so it must not be a big problem. Besides, the collection of the remains of the soldiers is also a very legitimate reason, and there is no reason to refuse them. So he asked Kumano Shaosa not to hang up first, and ran to ask Captain Yanagawa for instructions at the risk of being slapped again.

"Yaga! Isn't my order clear enough? Yanagawa shouted angrily: "Gather the remains!" If Kumano doesn't retreat, we'll risk our lives to collect the bodies for them! ”

Komatsu Ichiro had no choice but to run back in a gray manner, pick up the microphone and say, "Moxi Moxi!" ”

Toot toot, toot toot, the call was interrupted at some point, and the only answer to him was a busy tone.

Komatsu Ichiro was very annoyed, thinking that I risked being beaten to intercede on your behalf, and you actually hung up on me! So I connected again.

"Moximoxi! I'm Ichiro Komatsu! ”

Doodle, doodle, doodle, failed to connect.

"Moximoxi!"

Toot dood, dood, dood, dood......

Komatsu Ichiro's anger instantly turned into horror, and his lips trembled and he couldn't speak. (To be continued......)