The encirclement began at midnight on November 2, 1941. At that time, Luo Ronghuan led the headquarters of the 115th Division and the organs of the Shandong Branch, under the cover of the special service battalion, and was heading north from the coastal area, preparing to join up with the Shandong column to form a unified headquarters against the "sweeping."

When the Shandong column counterattacked the enemy's sweep in the north, Luo Ronghuan and they suddenly encountered a heavy siege by the enemy in the south. After several days of fighting, the enemy in Lin, Fei, Meng, Yi, and Ju, with the cooperation of seven planes, more than 30 artillery pieces, and 12 tanks, surrounded the small mountain villages of Liutian and Niujiagou, which are 43 kilometers away from Linyi, from the north border lake, the southwest Qingtuo Temple, Heyang in the east, and Tangtou in the south. The 115th Division was surrounded by the enemy's iron barrels.

Niujiagou is a small mountain villa that cannot be found on the map. People set up houses according to the slope, uneven stone houses, thatched houses, every house has a fence woven by tree branches, and the stone road is winding and winding.

On the afternoon of the 5th of the same month, a high-level military meeting was held in a grass hut in the village. This was a meeting that had a bearing on the survival of the Yimeng Mountain Base Area, on the survival of hundreds of thousands of people, and on the outcome of the anti-sweeping campaign. The hut was packed with people.

The leaders of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Luo Ronghuan, Chen Guang, Xiao Hua, and Chen Shiyu, the staff officers of the headquarters, the ministers of the Political Department, and the battalion commanders and instructors of the special service battalion, listened attentively to the chief of staff's report on the enemy situation. The hostility is very serious. On the morning of that day, four companies of the special service battalion fought against the devils at the same time on the hills and passes around Rutian, and because the special service battalion had made preparations in advance, the position was firmly in our hands.

However, the situation is indeed critical, and looking down from the mountain, the main roads, paths, hillsides, and fields can be seen everywhere with the devil soldiers being mobilized. The plane above is buzzing and circling like a fly, the cannon below is roaring like a drum, and the devil is compressing step by step, really like a big net that is tightening step by step.

Attack after attack, like a murky wave crashing against the reef, shattering, rolling back with white foam, brewing higher waves again, but the reef still stands. From morning to noon, the special battalion did not let the devils break through the position one step, but let the devils leave a corpse in front of the position. But the devil also sensed the location of my leading organ from such stubborn resistance and fierce firepower, so he clung to it.

By noon, the enemy's main force of more than 20,000 had encircled our troops gathered in the Rutian area. The nearest is only two or three miles away from Liutian, and the enemy of Sima in the northeast of Liutian is only five miles away. There are also enemies in the area around Shuanghou in the west. The critical situation does not lie in the heavy pressure of troops, but the headache is that the division headquarters has only one special service battalion of combat troops, but it is burdened with about 3,000 non-combatants, including the divisional organs and some local district standing committees.

Although these people can also be armed, after all, they are cramming for a while. The adversity sees the true friendship, and the general is known in danger. On the one hand, the streamlining of local organs has not been done well; On the other hand, everyone believes in the main force, relies on the main force, and moves closer to the main force, so the more it rolls, the bigger it gets. This is indeed a burden that cannot be discarded and can only be desperately protected.

However, the difference in strength is too great, and the combat effectiveness is 1 to 300, that is, everyone can take up arms, and it is also 1 to 6 in a desperate duel, not to mention that the enemy is a modern combat unit armed with aircraft and artillery! How to preserve this huge contingent is a difficult problem for every commander to rack his brains.

"I just received the latest information," Chief of Staff Chen Shiyu finished introducing the enemy's situation, pointed to the map on the wall in 50,000, and found two black circles from the blue arrows indicating the direction of the enemy's 11th attack, and added, "The commander-in-chief of the Japanese army, Yan Jun, and the commander of the 10th Division, Pinglin, have already arrived on the front line of Tangtou and Yishui, and they are only forty-one miles away from Liutian. ”

"Okay, hit them a shit!" Song Jiliu on the side said.

"The enemy has made up his mind and spent blood to deal with our thousands of people with 20,000 people this time, and they called this large-scale 'sweep' the 'Iron Cylinder Encirclement Array', the purpose of which is to destroy the Yimeng Mountain base area and destroy the main force of our army. Therefore we must break out this evening, and if we delay until tomorrow, we will be completely annihilated. The Chief of Staff's tone was grim, making the atmosphere in the room even more tense.

"Hahaha......" With a hearty laugh, everyone heard a Hunan accent say: "Yan Junliu still leaves a way back for himself, and prepares to lose the battle in the future, so that he can report to the Japanese emperor!" ”

The speaker was a middle-aged man, about forty, of medium height, with a sturdy physique, dressed in a gray cotton military uniform, with a yellow belt, a cotton hat with ear protection, herringbone leggings, and a pair of straw sandals made of old cloth strips, and yellowed white cloth socks. He is none other than Luo Ronghuan, political commissar of the 115th Division.

Political Commissar Luo ridiculed Yan Junliu's laughter, which made the tense atmosphere in the grass hut suddenly relaxed, and everyone couldn't help laughing. Political Commissar Luo took over the words of the chief of staff and said: "The situation is indeed serious, and we must break through tonight." Let's study, from which direction is it more advantageous to break through? Where is the right place to jump? ”

How to jump over the enemy's "iron wall"? When will you jump over the enemy's "iron wall"? This is an important practical art of warfare for commanders of guerrilla warfare, and if they do not know or know how to use this art of warfare, they will find themselves in a predicament or even a desperate situation. The first condition for mastering this art of warfare is that commanders are bold and careful, flexible, and unmistakable in judging the situation of the "line of change of interests and interests." Not early, not too late, advancing, getting close to get rid of the enemy.

If we see the enemy coming up from all sides, we cannot hold our breath and calmly wait for the opportunity to move prematurely, so that it is easy to expose the target and be perceived by the enemy, and the enemy will temporarily change his determination and deployment, and instead of advancing towards the old target, he will organize a joint attack on the new target again.

The result of such a premature action is that jumping is equal to not jumping, the troops are tired, and they are surrounded by a new enemy. But on the other hand, if you don't jump when it's time to jump, you are slow, the enemy's "iron wall" has been closed, you lose a good opportunity to jump over the enemy, you will be bitten by the enemy, it will be difficult to get out, you will be in a passive position, and you will have to pay the price of blood.

Jumping out of the gap between the enemy's joints and jumping to the outside line to strike at the enemy without early or late is a kind of elusive art of war in guerrilla warfare. Commanders who have mastered this art of warfare must be bold and meticulous in their knowledge of the terrain and the enemy's situation.

When the enemy's circle of attack has been formed, but it has not yet been completely closed, we take a counterpoint with the enemy, that is, the enemy is coming towards us, and when we come to a certain distance, we withdraw towards the place where the enemy came. This kind of oppositional movement must be very close to the enemy, but not perceived by the enemy. This kind of "flanging tactic" of getting close to the enemy and swapping positions with the enemy will always make the enemy's "iron wall" fall into the air again and again!

The people in the room all pondered, this is a major event related to the life and death of thousands of people, and it is also a major matter related to the survival of the Yimeng base area! Everyone has to think carefully. The sound of rumbling airplanes was heard in the distance, and Political Commissar Luo immediately asked the staff officer on duty to convey the order, asking the troops to hide well and not to expose the objectives of the command organ. The staff officer went out, and the grass hut became quieter, and the planes outside the grass hut became louder and louder, flying low overhead every few moments.

"Isn't it better to surround the **?" A timid voice broke the silence in the hut. The speaker was a chief of staff, who looked at Political Commissar Luo as he spoke. Political Commissar Luo motioned for him to speak boldly. "I see that the enemy's forces in the east are relatively weak, and the blockade line has not yet been formed. After we broke out of the encirclement, we moved southeast to the coastal area, where conditions were more favorable in all respects. ”

His words had a great tendency to throw bricks and lead to jade, and everyone immediately joined in the discussion, expressing their opinions, some in favor and some against. Some were in favor of going west to the Baoqingu Mountains to deal with the enemy, which was the old base of the 115th Division. Those who were in favor of going north thought that they could join up with the 1st Brigade of the Mountain Column and get their assistance. Only a few people believe that the appearance of the east side is real and false, and it cannot be ruled out that the enemy's trick of focusing on the deployment of defenses in accordance with the previous laws of our army and luring us into the battle.

Political Commissar Luo did not express his position on the controversy, and listened carefully to everyone's speeches and arguments. He also frowned and pondered, "A war instructor, when planning a strategic stage, should be calculated to the next stage, at least to the next stage. Although the future is unpredictable, and the farther you go, the more vague it becomes, the general plan is possible. ”

To retreat, we must think of the counteroffensive, the counteroffensive must think of the offensive, and the offensive must think of the retreat stage. He turned his mind to tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Look at what everyone has said about it, it's time to make a decision.

So, Luo Ronghuan stood up and said solemnly and peacefully: "Comrades! Everyone discussed how to break through and how to save themselves, and this is right. But that's not enough, we should now think about how we can save ourselves and crush the enemy's sweep and keep our base. ”

"Good!" The Way.

Luo Ronghuan turned around and pointed to the map: "Many comrades advocate moving to the coastal area. According to the information obtained by the reconnaissance group, the enemy's 22nd Division, Uchida, and Yamada brigades were assembled on the front line of Yishui and Juxian in the east. ”

"What Political Commissar Luo said is extremely true! Some comrades judged that this was the pocket of the enemy, and I thought that this was correct. The enemy has figured out our laws. Although the clouds in the east are dense and rainy, it is a sign of thunderstorms, and the reconnaissance group has found the armored troops of the devils on the Taiwei Highway, and there are cavalry in the Yihe and Muhe plains, so the pockets in the east cannot be drilled! ”

At this time, Luo Ronghuan showed a look of firm confidence, and he said: "I agree with the comrades' opinions, you can't go to the north or west. In the north, there were not only Japanese troops, but also stubborn Kuomintang troops, and to the north they were vulnerable to the enemy's stubborn attack. ”

"That's what happened!" Li Yu continued: "The west side is close to the Jinpu Road, and the enemy is easy to maneuver, so it is difficult to break through the blockade. Moreover, as soon as these areas break through and stay away from the Yimeng Mountains, and the masses of the people and the main force are separated from each other, the enemy will be free to carry out the 'three lights' policy of burning, killing, and robbing all of them, and destroy our base areas. Speaking of this, Deputy Political Commissar Li Yu raised his voice: "I advocate breaking through to the south!" ”

"Break south?" It was a surprising decision that surprised everyone present, because the south was the base camp of the devils, with the largest number of troops and the strictest blockade.

"Yes! To the south! Luo Ronghuan continued in an accentuated tone: "According to the latest intelligence of the reconnaissance team, the enemy in Linyi has poured out, pressed towards Liutian, and concentrated his forces to surround our central area, creating an emptiness in the enemy's rear, which has flashed a gap for us to break through. If you pound my chest, I will pound your ass, and if we take the opportunity to insert ourselves into the enemy's base camp, we will be able to change from passive to active, and we can lead the enemy by the nose and smash their big 'sweep'. ”

Luo Ronghuan's words opened the skylight in everyone's hearts. This is the unique tactics of political commissar Luo. In accordance with the principle of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, Luo Rongxing summed up the experience of previous anti-"sweeping" campaigns and created the flanging tactic of "the enemy advancing and we advance," which has become a magic weapon for dealing with the enemy's "sweeping." The direction is clear, but everyone is still worried about how the more than 3,000 people will break out of the encirclement. There is no bottom, because this is a break into the tiger's den!

As a result, Chief of Staff Chen said comfortingly: "Everyone must be worried that the south is the enemy's base camp, with a large number of troops, and three blockade lines have been formed, but according to reconnaissance, the enemy's blockade line is not an iron barrel, and there are still seams. ”

"Yes! There are loopholes to exploit, first of all, psychological loopholes. Everyone's not thinking about the road to the south, what about our enemies? He couldn't even think of it. Secondly, there was a gap in the armament, and our scouts returned safely from the junction of the two divisions. Xiao Hua, director of the Political Department, also comforted everyone.

Luo Ronghuan nodded and said: "The soldiers mainly talk about a strange word, we just want to surprise and hit the enemy's psychological and defensive loopholes. A place that everyone thinks is dangerous is relatively safe under certain conditions, and this is the reason why it is dark under the lights. The enemy's attention was on Rutian, and the heavy troops were also transferred to Rutian, and the heart was empty, which was an accident. ”

Meticulous analysis, insight into the fire. The firm and resolute tone was full of confidence in victory, and there was nothing more precious than the kind of trust in the commander that had been established by the practice of the long-term revolutionary war.

Judging from the experience of fighting with Political Commissar Luo in the past, everyone knows that he had to go through detailed investigation and careful thinking before making a decision, and every time he was able to lead his troops to break through the stormy seas and overcome all kinds of difficulties and march to victory step by step. The senior commanders all admired Political Commissar Luo's views, and objectively no one could have made a more thoughtful move.

The consensus was reached, and the chief of staff, Chen Shiyu, asked him to give an order for action. Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan picked up a red and blue pencil and first drew three arc-shaped blue lines on the map to mark the enemy's three blockade lines. Then he drew a red circle, drew a red line, crossed the three arc-shaped blue lines, turned from south to west, stopped, and said, "This is our breakthrough route." From Liutian through Zhangzhuang, bypass Gaoli, turn southwest, and then cross the Meng (Yin) Lin (Yi) Highway to the south of Zhuman, and stop at Wanggou. ”

Everyone's eyes followed the political commissar's pen, and it was estimated that Wanggou was only forty or fifty miles from Linyi, and it was really under Yan Junliu's nose. Only at this time did everyone truly understand the true meaning of Political Commissar Luo's organization of a big trip to the base area.