At the same time that Kiyoshi Kazuki and Yamaguchi planned to sweep the Taihang Mountains on a large scale, in order to relieve the cavalry units of the independent division that were constantly threatening the security of the rear in the Pingjin-Baozhou triangle area, the troops stationed in Pingjin were also sent out, and a huge net was to be formed in the plain area to encircle and annihilate the cavalry of the independent division that had penetrated into the hinterland of the Japanese army in the Pingjin-Baozhou triangle area.

Liu Chun, commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Independent Division, and Tong Batu, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, achieved a series of victories after a few days of fighting, causing the rear of the Japanese army to be unstable, especially the Japanese army's transportation lines and supply depots, which were repeatedly attacked.

In view of the situation they were facing, in accordance with the strategy formulated by the division commander, before the Japanese encirclement was still formidable, they violently attacked the Jinghai area on the outskirts of Tianjin with sudden movements, attracted the two divisions of the Japanese army that were chasing after them to this area, and then turned around and retreated westward into the Taihang Mountains according to the original plan.

The Japanese army found that the cavalry units of the independent division had gone out of the net, and they were in hot pursuit, and along the trail, the Japanese troops of the two divisions followed into the Taihang Mountains, so that the troops that entered the Taihang Mountain base area had reached six divisions and more than 200,000 troops.

On the Dezhou battlefield at the junction of Shandong and Hebei, Liu Tiehan Dong pointed to eight infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade, and two artillery brigades with a total of 140,000 horses, and the Japanese army of 300,000 people who went south from Cangzhou, Hebei, were inseparable.

Even so, Liu Tiehan is also facing tremendous pressure, the difference in strength is too great, if it is not for the superior firepower, Liu Tiehan really does not know how to fight with the swarming Japanese army, the Japanese army took Dezhou, the determination to open the northeast gate of the mountain is so great, after the shelling, the Japanese soldiers of the whole division began to charge, after being repulsed, it was shelled again, and then charged again.

On the battlefield on the outskirts of Texas, the sound of artillery shook the sky, the smoke of gunpowder covered the sky and the sun, and the defensive positions of the Dongzhi troops were changed by the Japanese artillery fire, which changed the terrain and landform, and even Liu Tiehan's command headquarters suffered a few shells.

The troops of the East Finger, the artillery strength is not as strong as other field troops, and the Japanese artillery battle, can only be in a guerrilla state, fortunately a batch of infantry weapons have been supplemented, the ability of close combat has been greatly improved, can withstand the Japanese army's crazy attack, fierce fighting for three days, the Texas defense line staggered and finally withheld, the Japanese army's sharpness, not as strong as the first day of the attack, Liu Tiehan, who has not closed his eyes for three days and three nights, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

His troops, adapted from the former Northeast Army, fought bravely, that is not self-sufficient, his hometown was occupied by little devils, he carried the infamy of non-resistance, he was exiled, suffered all the white eyes, everyone was holding a fire in their hearts, they all had the idea of returning to their hometown, fighting to the most critical juncture, in the face of the impact of Japanese tanks, the forward positions lacked direct-aim artillery and anti-tank weapons, and the few anti-tank guns could only be used in the main direction.

So, the soldiers who rushed to the Japanese tank with a cluster grenade, the young body, with an explosion, and the Japanese tank perished, turned into a wisp of green smoke over the land of Qilu, before rushing out, they all left the address of their hometown and the names of their relatives to the platoon commander.

With such a momentum in his heart, he went into battle with the Japanese army, and he was red-eyed at that time, and the soldiers were playing with their lives, and several brigade commanders went to the forward position in person, holding machine guns, gritting their teeth, and shooting fiercely, as a result, several people were slightly injured, and Liu Tiehan had to strictly order that the brigade commander was strictly forbidden to go to the front line to participate in the battle in person, and if he had to go, he could hand over the command.

On the day of the fierce battle, more than seven Japanese cadres were killed and wounded, and the troops also suffered nearly 4,000 casualties, for the 300,000 Japanese troops, this casualty was a little bit of a loss of skin, and for the troops in the east fingers, the proportion of casualties was already very large, and the Dezhou Campaign would not end soon, and Liu Tiehan could not bear such attrition.

After a few days of fighting, Liu Tiehan has been thinking about a question, if it is a few brigades of the independent division, if they fight such a battle, the casualties will definitely be much smaller, and the Japanese army will suffer a greater blow, the soldiers of the East Finger are impeccable in their bravery and tenacious spirit, but they lack such an internal thing, right! That is, flexibility, including the grasp and insight of the brigade commander on the battlefield, compared with the old brigade commanders of the independent division, it looks mechanical and stiff, and there are obvious traces of the Northeast Army on the 1st.

There is no way, this is not something that can be changed overnight, the temperament and combat characteristics of a unit need to go through countless bloody battles, Liu Tiehan only hopes that this Dezhou campaign will inject a new vitality into the troops of Dongzhi, and grow into a fist force of an independent division.

Holding the defense line of Wuqiao on the periphery of Dezhou, it is the troops of Zhao Yi of the first brigade of the east finger, blocking the front is eight kilometers wide, the terrain is flat, there is no danger to defend, Wuqiao is located in the main road of Jilu traffic, close to the South Canal, the Japanese army is along Cangzhou to attack Shandong in the south, Wuqiao is the only way, and it is also the bridgehead and support point of the defensive line of Dezhou.

Liu Tiehan put Zhao Yi's brigade here, and what he valued was that when the Dongzhi troops were training in Shaanxi, the temperament of this brigade was obviously different from other brigades, and it may have something to do with the character of the brigade commander Zhao Yi, who was calm, restrained, and ruthless, and had one more pursuit artillery battalion than other brigades, and the firepower advantage was obvious.

And Zhao Yi did not disappoint the commander, the Battle of Texas was first fought in Wuqiao, and when the vanguard of the Japanese army appeared in Zhao Yi's telescope, his heart beat violently a few times, there was excitement, expectation, and a little nervousness.

There are too many Japanese troops, on the endless plain, the black Japanese army can't see the tail, the dust rolled up by the march, covering the sky and the sun, with such an arrogant and domineering momentum, and the Japanese soldiers face to face, or six years ago, one of their own whole divisions, was chased by a large group of Japanese soldiers for hundreds of miles, thinking about it, I feel ashamed to throw it to my grandmother's house.

He stabilized his mind and ordered the troops in the front line, no one was allowed to shoot without an order from the brigade headquarters, and he wanted to give a surprise blow to the unsuspecting Japanese soldiers who came from afar, and then, ordering the pursuit artillery battalion to move covertly to the forward position, and the infantry to withdraw to the second line of defense, after firing ten shells from each mortar, immediately retreat to the second line of defense, and the artillery of the little devils did not eat dry food.

Ignoring the dissuasion of the deputy brigade commander, he followed the mortar battalion to the forward position, more than 100 pursuit guns, lined up along the trenches, the soldiers held the shells, just waiting for the brigade commander to give an order, and smashed the shells on the top of the little devil's head.

The shadow of the 918 incident made these Northeast soldiers who fought the Japanese army for the first time very nervous, they were all survivors, and they couldn't forget the tragic scene of being pursued and beaten thousands of miles by the Japanese army, and running away from their hometown and mother, the more nervous they were, the more dry their mouths became, and the commotion began on the battlefield, all of which were the sound of lowering their voices and looking for water.

Zhao Yi felt it, to be honest, he was also a little nervous, and whispered to stop the commotion of the soldiers, and he could already hear the sound of the Japanese army's big leather shoes and donkey hooves digging the ground, close, four hundred meters, Zhao Yi shouted, shelling! Some soldiers were too nervous, their hands trembled, and the shells fell to the ground, so they quickly picked them up and stuffed them into the barrels, and no one laughed at them, all of them were attracted by the Japanese troops who were getting closer and closer.

The Japanese troops, which were marching in a hurry, were a wing of the Ninth Division of the North China Dispatch Army, and along with the Ninth Division, they were transferred from Korea to North China for a short time. They received an order to occupy Wuqiao before 11 o'clock in the afternoon today, and open the road to Texas for the follow-up troops.

Murderous and brutal, on the Korean Peninsula, there was a criminal record of slaughtering more than 4,000 Korean civilians and burning dozens of villages in one day, and after setting foot on Chinese soil, the same is true, starting from Cangzhou, as the vanguard of the division, burning and raping and plundering all the way, countless beautiful and quiet villages were completely destroyed, in the eyes of this island, except for the people of the Japanese Empire, other Asians are inferior people, and do not deserve to enjoy the right to live.

There is only one way to deal with it, to destroy miè from the **, this kind of brutal practice has been reprimanded many times by his superiors, not how kind the division commander of the ninth division is, the civilians of the branch have been killed, who will serve the imperial army, however, the devil of this island, if he does not change his original intention, he has not suffered the blow of the independent division, and he is very arrogant.

In front of Wuqiao, the island took the military map and carefully compared, confirmed, Wuqiao quietly, there is no sign of human activity, and there is no shadow of the defenders of China, in his opinion, this is normal, all the way to burn and kill, the people of China have not run away when they hear the news, as for the troops of China, they are running faster than the people.

He ordered the troops, in a normal march, to occupy the Wu Bridge, and send a telegram to the headquarters, Wu Qiao can be safely passed, and the chief of staff reminded him that according to the regulations, whether to send a small group of top soldiers to the town to reconnoitre, so as not to be ambushed by the Shina army, the island sneered disdainfully.

The ambushed Chinese army has not yet been born, he looks down on his chief of staff a little, this guy was a businessman before the war, and he lacks the fearlessness and bravery of a lot of imperial warriors in his bones, and he likes to use his businessman's head to calculate anything, and he really doesn't know how to climb to the position of chief of staff of the wing.

"Get out of the way!" The island gave a rude shout, touched the gray chief of staff, and stepped aside, he knew his situation, and he didn't invite this co-captain who was thinking about the problem with his ass to see him, it was useless to say more, and he would not be driven away that day.

The Japanese soldiers who received the order did not even take off their guns, and rushed directly to Wuqiao, and suddenly there was a strange sound in the calm sky.