The commander of the sixth company and his subordinates of the 2nd Battalion of the 391st Regiment said that they risked their lives to run from Guanmen Mountain to report the letter, which is not an exaggeration at all, because in order to save time, they did not enter the mountain from the southern end of Da Yushu Mountain again, but ran back from Xishankou directly to the periphery of Fengdian County. Along this road, there are patrols of the Japanese puppet army cavalry stationed in Tun County from time to time, and tonight it may encounter the rear of the enemy army from Fengdian to attack the garrison of the Eighth Route Army at any time.

Rao was like this, and when the sixth company commander ran into the regimental headquarters in Xiaozhai, it was already four o'clock in the morning. The officers and men of the entire 391st Regiment, except for the sentries arranged at several checkpoints into the mountain and outside various camps, were all asleep.

The commander of the 6th company of the 391st regiment, the last time he visited the garrison of the Eighth Route Army as Qin Zhongxiao's liaison officer, he was warmly entertained by Wu Zijian and Li Tianlin, especially the 5th company commander Li Tianlin, who had a bold personality and an amazing amount of alcohol, which can be said to be like a familiar friend with him at first sight. The two of them talked about the history of the military and talked very deeply, although the meeting time was short, but there was a sense of sympathy; What's more, it was also agreed to come to Japan to fight together and resist foreign aggression.

Out of these feelings, the commander of the sixth company was shocked to see the Japanese puppet army attacking Hekou Village at night at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, and he was immediately anxious. From the last talks, we learned that the Second Battalion of the Eighth Route Army's Forestry Division now has two camps at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, and only one company has been placed in Hekou Village, and the company commander is Li Tianlin. But at this moment, the Japanese puppet army that participated in the attack on Hekou Village in the night was only afraid that it was several times larger than the Eighth Route Army. The commander of the sixth company entered Hekou Village and found that the Eighth Road had built a lot of fortifications using the courtyards of the village houses, but after all, this place was a flat river, and how could a small village with no danger to defend withstand the artillery fire and impact of the Japanese army? !

At the regimental headquarters in Xiaozhai, the commander of the sixth company woke up the staff officer on duty who was lying on the table and napping in a daze - Qin Zhongxiao is strict in governing the army, even if there is no war period, there must be a staff officer of the regiment headquarters who is on duty all night every night.

However, the staff officer on duty blocked the sixth company commander's move to wake up the regimental seat immediately:

"Dude, I know it's not easy for you to run back with the stars and the moon, but at this hour, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to wake up the chief, right? It's not that there is a problem with the military affairs of our regiment, the Eighth Route Army is fighting with the Japanese at the station, and it is not worth it for us to be in such a hurry. ”

The commander of the sixth company didn't dare to use force with the people at the regiment headquarters, so he had no choice but to look at the time, there was still an hour or two left before dawn, so let's wait. The habit of the group seat is to get up before six o'clock.

Qin Zhongxiao had already judged last night that the Japanese puppet army in Fengdian was very likely to attack the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army's Forest Division at night, and the reason why he moved the idea of fighting Fengdian County again at that time was also out of wanting to support friendly troops. But with the Chief of Staff in the driver's thus, he decided to wait and see—after all, there was no definite news from the foot of Guanmen Mountain. The spies who stayed on the periphery of Fengdian had no new information.

When he got up in the morning and received a report from the staff officer on duty, he couldn't help but be shocked and angry, and kicked the staff officer when he raised his leg: "Bastard thing!" The commander of the sixth company brought back 100,000 urgent military information, you little rabbit cub dared to suppress it, what is the use of asking you to be a star! The head wanted to move, didn't it!? ”

The staff officer on duty was so frightened that he didn't dare to come out, and his bloodshot eyes stared at Tuanzao's hand crossed around his waist, lest Qin Zhongxiao pull out Browning in anger and kill him.

The headquarters of the 391st regiment immediately convened an emergency response meeting.

After listening to the brief account of the sixth company commander at the meeting, Qin Zhongxiao waved his hand at the officers: "The situation has become clear, the Japanese army and the cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army attacked the camp of the Eighth Route Army at night, and it is more than eight hours away from now; It is very difficult to predict whether a company of the Lin Division can withstand the heavy forces of the enemy. We have an alliance with Deputy Battalion Commander Wu Zijian, and since we know that they are being attacked, we have no reason to stand by and watch! ”

When the colonel of the Central Army made an impassioned speech, he slashed the chief of staff Zhang Hong a few times with his eyes, and Zhang Hong, who had followed Qin Zhongxiao for many years, certainly knew that this revealed that the regiment had made up its mind and would not allow him to interfere anymore, and immediately swallowed the objections he was about to put forward into his stomach.

Qin Zhongxiao's rapid deployment is as follows:

-- Two companies of the second battalion, equipped with two infantry guns and mortars belonging to the regimental machine gun company, immediately dispatched an open march to the north city of Fengdian, and when they reached the bottom of the city, they launched a large-scale feint attack aimed at the two gaps in the north city wall, so as to seize the opportunity with momentum and strive to mobilize the main force of the Japanese army to return to reinforcements;

- The 1st Battalion, with an additional company of the 2nd Battalion, equipped with heavy machine guns from the regimental machine gun company, maneuvered towards the south gate of Fengdian, and a selective feint attack on the south gate could be considered, but the main force should be deployed in echelons in the direction of Guanmen Mountain further south;

-- The spy company immediately searched and advanced to Hekou Village at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain.

The intention of the colonel of the Central Army was very clear: to send a force to oppress the defenders of Fengdian, prompt them to move forward to ask for help from the men and horses of Guanmen Mountain, and relieve the pressure of the attacked Eighth Route Army; The main force of the regiment was ready to directly flank the Japanese puppet army in the area of Hekou Village. All in all, we must go all out to help the Eighth Route Army.

So far, the contest between the 391st Regiment and the Otsuka Wing and the Puppet Mongolian Army Cavalry Regiment has been around Fengdian County. Now that the Japanese puppet army has left the county seat and gone out to the foot of Guanmen Mountain, Qin Zhongxiao intends to show his elite and fight with his opponent in the wilderness!

At this moment, in Hekou Village, at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, where the sky was overcast, the two sides of the firefight had entered the end of a white-hot decisive battle.

At night, at the urging of the furious Japanese wing commander Kosuke Otsuka, two battalions of the Mongolian Frontier Army Cavalry Regiment, one attacked the head of Hekou Village in an infantry posture, and the other attacked the narrow western section of Kawaguchi Village in a cavalry posture. The battle had several ups and downs, and it was quite tragic. At dawn, Captain Otsuka, who felt that the time had come, ordered two infantry squadrons of the Nara Brigade to launch a general attack.

Kosuke Otsuka was furious at night for two reasons.

First of all, the machine gun squad he quietly ambushed at the foot of the Guanmen Mountain Pass was accurately attacked by the Zhi Na Army, and together with an infantry squad of the escort machine gun squad, they were all killed and wounded by a large number of * thrown by the other side, and half of the shooters of the 92 heavy machine guns were killed and forced to retreat. Fortunately, the purpose of the attackers seems to be only to sabotage, and not to launch a large-scale attack, otherwise, these two squads that are too close to the front of the Chinese army are in danger of being completely annihilated.

Immediately, the commander of Hagiwara's Akira Brigade sent several urgent telegrams, one informing him that the night attack on Xiping Village had fallen into an unfavorable situation of all-out fierce fighting, and the other was questioning and reprimanding the battle situation of the Otsuka Wing.

The commander of the Japanese army was annoyed and angry, and immediately gave a death order to Du Dongqiang, the commander of the cavalry regiment of the Mongolian Xinjiang Army, to storm Hekou Village all night at any cost.

In fact, Kosuke Otsuka, who couldn't see the terrain clearly at night, was still a little too cautious, especially after the machine gun squad was attacked, he was worried that the two squadrons of the Nara Brigade would suffer more casualties in the night battle, so he refused to join the attack queue; It was only ordered that all infantry artillery and mortars should bombard the direction of Hekou Village in stages to cover the offensive of the cavalry regiment of the Mongolian Army. However, if he could see that the defending Shina army in the entire night battle had reached the end of its strength, he would undoubtedly have let the Nara brigade deliver the fatal blow earlier.

The Eighth Route Army in Hekou Village has indeed reached the point of being at the end of the crossbow.

In one night, although the Japanese artillery fire was inaccurate, a considerable number of shells hit the fortifications at the front of the village, causing a lot of damage and casualties to both the fortifications and the defenders. And when the cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army launched a charge to the west of the village, Wu Zijian had to divide his energy to fight on two fronts.

The two platoons of Lu Dajiang's 8th Company were responsible for guarding the entire western defense line of the village, which was personally commanded by the deputy company commander. However, in the face of the sudden earth-shattering sound of horses' hooves, the 8th Commander Fighters who were lying in the corners of the house and behind the wall felt overwhelmed. They had never had a record of a confrontation with a cavalry, and for a while they were confused by the sound of horses' hooves getting closer and closer, until someone shouted in shock: It's the devil cavalry coming up! Some of them suddenly came to their senses and picked up their guns and shot indiscriminately at the opposite side.

When the infantry fights the cavalry in the position, it is absolutely impossible to pursue shooting at people, because the opponent's target is small and moves quickly; And only by lowering the muzzle of the gun to shoot a larger horse is it easier to hit, and once the horse is shot and overturned, the cavalry on horseback will naturally be killed and wounded. The commanders and fighters of the 8th Company had no experience in this situation, so they were fighting fiercely with their rifles at this moment, but under the rain of bullets, they felt that the sound boom of the horses' hooves not only did not weaken, but was getting closer and closer. On the position of the 8th Company in the night, the commanders and fighters who could not see the opposite side clearly suddenly panicked.

Xia Lianshan came to the position west of the village later, when he found the deputy commander of the 8th company and was helping him inspect the fortifications one by one. When the cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army urged the horses to kill, the experienced cavalry company commander Xia Lianshan hurriedly reminded loudly, but the front in the west of the village was narrow and long, and only a few soldiers around him understood that the people who were far away from Xia Lianshan were still confused.

The situation suddenly became critical, and more than 200 horsemen and puppet Mongolian troops first slowed down and stepped across the frozen Qinglong River (a point they had already learned bitterly in their last battle), and then urged a fierce attack. Some of the cavalry used to charge with their swords, while others took up their horses and fired with their rifles. The range of the Type 38 cavalry gun was not as far as that of the rifle, but the collective fire at such a close position also formed a lot of pressure on the defense line of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side.

Fortunately, Wu Zijian arrived with a platoon of the 5th Company as a reserve, and the only Czech machine gun in the village quickly joined the battle group. The vast majority of the men of the 5th Company participated in the last battle against the puppet Mongolian army, and they were very good at fighting cavalry. These more than 40 new troops suddenly entered the battle, and finally withstood the iron hooves of the advance of the puppet Mongolian army at the last moment.

Du Dongqiang helplessly watched his men and horses being pushed back by the Eighth Route Army, and while sorting out the formation, he sent someone to report to the captain of the Otsuka Wing, saying that there was a "large force of eight roads" resisting in the west of the village, and asked the captain to send troops to support. Of course, the wing commander could not send him any support, but urged the cavalry battalion to attack again more harshly. Du Dongqiang had no choice but to respect the order, so the cavalry shouted and strengthened each other's courage, and pounced on the west of Hekou Village again.

Wu Zijian had already expected that the enemy's cavalry would make a comeback, so he gave Xia Lianshan an order to return to the cavalry company at the end of the village, leaving a few people to defend, and then lead sixty cavalry out of the village, go around the flank of the puppet Mongolian cavalry, and wait for an opportunity to attack.

"Deputy battalion commander, just leave a dozen people to guard the end of the village, will it be too few? I'll take fifty men and attack. ”

Xia Lianshan witnessed the frontal attack of the puppet Mongolian cavalry just now, and was worried that after his attack, the defensive force at the end of the village would be too weak.

"Don't worry," Wu Zijian waved his hand: "You just attack, and I'll transfer another class from here to the end of the village." The cavalry horse is fast, you have to quickly insert it into the enemy's flank and give him a blow! These traitors, only if they hurt them, will they completely retract! ”

Xia Lianshan took the order and left. Soon, the cavalry company galloped out of the village and into the night. The first cavalry duel in the history of the second battalion of the Lin Division began.