Chapter 565: There is no way to escape

Yamaguchi commanded 90,000 troops, anxious to withdraw from the Taihang Mountains, regardless of the fatigue of the Japanese soldiers marching in the snow and night, did not make any stops along the way, according to Yamaguchi's ideas, to be able to withdraw from the Taihang Mountains and reach Handan safely, which was the greatest victory.

The Japanese army of the brigade rushed along the road from Wuxiang to Xiangyuan and Lucheng like a turbid current, and rushed towards Lucheng, except for the encounter in Xiangyuan and a small unit of the independent division, there was no resistance along the way, which made Yamaguchi feel a lot more relieved.

At about 2 o'clock in the morning of January 4, the vanguard of the Japanese army could already be faintly seen, in the dark and gloomy night, the vague outline of Lucheng, and the situation was immediately reported to the mountain pass under the command of the center, and he issued an order that the vanguard immediately occupy Lucheng, and the main force did not make any stops, passed through the city, and continued to advance.

This order caused a commotion among the Japanese soldiers, who set out on the morning of January 3, clearing the heavy snow along the way, clearing the roads, marching in the cold wind, walking for a day and most of the night, resting for less than two hours in total, and only eating three meals, all of which were cold meals with ice ballast.

By now, it was exhausted, hungry, the cold wind was biting, and the feet seemed to be dragging a thousand pounds of heavy burden, Lucheng did not let them stay, and they had to continue to walk, these Japanese soldiers complained bitterly, complaining, however, the absolute obedience of the Japanese soldiers was commendable, although they were unwilling to do so in their hearts, they continued to drag the lead filled legs and moved forward mechanically.

There were only countless pairs of feet, the sound of stepping on the snow, suddenly added to other movements, on the calm road, blooming firelight, the Japanese army stepped into the minefield, the mines exploded one after another, in the night, the fire flashed, shrapnel whistled sideways, with a puff of blood, throwing the corpses of the Japanese soldiers on the white snow.

The sudden explosion made the vanguard of the Japanese army confused, and they left the road one after another to avoid these deadly killing weapons, there was no safe place, there were mines everywhere, where the Japanese soldiers hid, flowers bloomed under their feet, and clusters of firelight constantly flashed in the night.

Yamaguchi, who was startled by the sudden explosion, hurriedly asked the avant-garde troops what had happened, and whether it was blocked by the Shina army? After receiving the report, Yamaguchi's cold sweat fell, and he instinctively realized that the situation was not good, if it was the blocking of the Shina army, he could also use the sudden and fierce attack to break through the opponent's defensive position, and now it was a mine, which can only show one point, the troops of the independent division were ready to block, and the mine was just to prevent himself from continuing to advance.

There must be troops of an independent division waiting for him in front, Yamaguchi was confused, he didn't understand his very ingenious strategy, why did it fail, where were the flaws, let him want to break his head, and he didn't come to a conclusion, so he stopped? He immediately rejected this idea, that would be a faster and more miserable death, let it go, maybe there was a way to live, but I hoped to block his own independent division troops, the number of troops was not very large, but I hoped it was just an accidental encounter.

The sappers sent out began to clear mines in the dark night, the mines produced by the Huangyadong Arsenal themselves have the function of anti-elimination, the mine detectors used by the Japanese sappers, most of the false targets found, and the anti-engineer mines that exploded at the touch of a button, in the case of killing most of the sappers, it took more than two hours to clear a passage on the road, during this period, Yamaguchi's head kept sweating, he knew very well, what did these two hours mean to him?

The signs all over the snow made the Japanese soldiers frightened, dancing like dodging and continuing to march, this time it was lively, obviously said that it was a safe area, but stepped on the ghost gate, there were constantly mine explosions, and the Japanese soldiers in the back, stepping on the road that their companions in front of them had waded out with corpses, and slowly continued to force their way forward.

To put it bluntly, it is to use the lives of soldiers to wade out of a passage, more than 90,000 people, and thousands of people will die, which will not affect the overall situation.

Hiding in the trenches, looking at the firelight that flashed from time to time, listening to the rumbling explosions, the soldiers of the independent division were happy, the deputy division commander had enough for the little devil to drink a pot of landmines, and when they got closer, they were beaten again, and several soldiers argued, focusing on the most concentrated area of the explosion, and they all said that they were buried by their own squad, until the company commander came over and whispered to stop, then stuck out his tongue, and agreed to go to the field to find out after the battle.

Huang Nian, more than 10 kilometers north of Lucheng, after Xiadian and Wuyang, on the main road from Chowu Township to Lucheng, the acting commander of the field corps in the Taihang Mountains, Tang Qiusheng's Lucheng Campaign Headquarters is located here, look at the watch, it is already 4:30 a.m. on 4 January, and in another 30 minutes, the battle of the Japanese troops in the area of the mountain pass is about to start, he called again to ask the location of the various units participating in the battle, and the troops in the other three directions, called back, has entered the attack position, and is making preparations before the attack.

Tang Qiusheng nodded with satisfaction, the troops of the independent division, the execution of the order is absolutely unambiguous, Tang Qiuli escaped safely, and it also made him feel reassured, the front report, the vanguard of the Japanese army, has entered the minefield, he couldn't help but smile and shook his head, if there is no Xiaoqiu's advance alarm, the troops of the five brigades under his command will definitely start a sudden encounter with the Japanese army, even if the Japanese army is prevented from continuing to escape, the casualties of the troops will be beyond imagination.

Now it is possible, there is no need to block for a few hours, just a mine can delay the Japanese army for several hours, thinking of his brother, his smile is more and more peaceful, and his eyes are full of love.

At 4:50 a.m., the Japanese army finally used thousands of corpses to wade out of a passage and reach the line from Xiadian to Wuyang, and the time wasted amounted to more than two hours.

At this time, Yamaguchi's mood became more and more heavy, he knew that things were not so simple, after the landmine, what would greet him? Anyway, it won't be the people of China with a steaming meal.

The answer was soon revealed, and ten minutes later, at five o'clock in the morning of the 4th, a string of colorful signal flares suddenly rose around the Japanese army column under Yamaguchi, and then, with a loud thunderous sound, countless shells, with dark red tail flames, roared and smashed on the heads of the Japanese soldiers, and the encirclement of the Japanese troops under Yamaguchi began on time.

The 230,000 troops of the Independent Division surrounded more than 90,000 Japanese troops from all directions like iron buckets, and more than 1,000 artillery pieces were constantly pouring out shells.

All, despite the fierce eruption of the artillery volcano, the infantry only needed to hold their respective positions and strictly prevent the Japanese from breaking through, and the Japanese troops trapped in the wilderness were in a catastrophe, the shells exploded into clouds of snow and mist, and the shrapnel flew sideways, screaming and spinning, with ominous notes, cutting the bodies of the Japanese soldiers, a rain of blood, accompanied by fragmented corpses, polluting the white snow.

The artillery fire was fired from three directions, after the initial panic of the Japanese soldiers, instinctively broke through in the direction of the non-fatal shells, that direction, it happened to be the defensive position of Tang Qiusheng's troops, what he wanted was for the Japanese army to break through from this direction, five artillery regiments, already prepared, just waiting for the Japanese soldiers to rush in a panic, the other three directions of the position, were built in a hurry, and could not bear the desperate breakthrough of the Japanese army, which is also the modern version of "three missing one." ”

The first round of shelling made Yamaguchi's heart fall into the ice cellar as cold, thousands of calculations, hurriedly left, tried all his strength, still did not escape the fate of being surrounded, just listening to the sound of this artillery, at least more than eight artillery wings are firing in a salvo, you know how many troops Tang Qiuli used, but, with so many troops, how did this branch of the devil mobilize, and how did he ambush himself on the road he had to pass in advance?

He couldn't figure it out, he couldn't figure it out until he died, while the command system had not been disrupted, he issued an order to break through, as for which direction to break through, the construction given by his subordinates was in the direction of Lucheng, only in which direction, there was no cannon sound, the encirclement troops of the independent division should have arrived in a hurry, Yamaguchi instinctively felt that things were not so simple, and Tang Qiuli was not stupid enough to do this.

He sadly found that in the open snowfield, under such fierce shelling, the fate of himself, the chief of staff of the major general of the North China Dispatch Army, like ordinary soldiers, no one had any safety guarantee, and when he was hesitating, a shell exploded in front of him, and several staff officers who were shouting hoarsely at the walkie-talkie fell in a pool of blood.

He couldn't help but hesitate any longer, the Japanese army broke through in the direction of Lucheng like a tide, the strange thing is that the Chinese army did not pursue, but used endless shells, chasing the Japanese bombing, in the night, the shells fell like meteors in the Japanese brigade that fled the road, more than 90,000 Japanese troops, completely in a passive situation.

The Japanese soldiers who were running for their lives looked at the fire meteors flying in the sky in horror, and for a while, they were stunned, this was Tang Qiusheng's unit, five artillery regiments carried out blocking shots, the shells exploded, and a wall of fire was punched in front of the Japanese army, and then, the deafening explosion of the explosion rumbled in the field.

The head-on blow suddenly stopped the footsteps of the Japanese soldiers, and also achieved Tang Qiusheng's goal, giving the Japanese army the greatest damage, the Japanese soldiers who were knocked unconscious, turned around and ran back, there were explosive flames everywhere, and there were shrapnel of death everywhere, it cannot be said that the Japanese soldiers had no combat effectiveness, but the opponents they encountered were too strong, and the firepower exceeded them by several times, and they couldn't even find the desperate opponents, only endless shells, whistling and falling overhead.

As a result, the fate of more than 90,000 Japanese soldiers was destined to stay in this snowy Taihang Mountains, a flat area that could not be defended.

(To be continued)