Wu Zijian, deputy commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army's Forestry Division, officially received a joint operation plan from the 391st Regiment of the Central Army from Dayushu Mountain, and this plan was delivered by a liaison officer sent by the 391st Regiment. The core content of the battle plan is as follows: the 391st Regiment will send the main force to the Tongpu railway line south of Wencheng and north of Lingshi County, and demolish the railway tracks and roadbed; At the same time, a feint was used to attack Lingshi County, where the garrison was weak, to attract the Japanese army in Wencheng to come to help, and to annihilate the enemy who came to help.

In the plan, the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade was requested to dispatch elites to ensure the safety of the 391st Regiment's flank, and to implement broken rear cover when the 391st Regiment moved to Big Elm Mountain after completing the above operations.

Wu Zijian was both surprised and excited, he did not expect Qin Zhongxiao to seize a batch of heavy arms in such a short period of time, and he asked the liaison officer and old acquaintance Captain Zhu Xingyun in detail.

"Good fellows! You Colonel Qin have made a fortune, three mountain guns and four heavy machine guns, can you digest it in one regiment? ”

When he asked this, the deputy battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army had obvious admiration on his face, and the corners of his mouth were about to drool again. Zhu Xingyun, the commander of the sixth company of the 391st regiment, had dealt with Wu Zijian many times, and knew that this alumnus of the regimental seat had a special hobby for weapons and equipment, so he smiled but did not answer.

The place where they met at the moment was Hekou Village at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, so Li Tianlin, the company commander of the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion, was able to accompany him on the spot, and the 5th Company Commander was not so subtle.

Wu Zijian pretended to stop Li Tianlin's words, saying that the War of Resistance was a game of chess for the whole country, how could he fight for benefits! However, the vitality of the Second Battalion of the Xu Brigade has not yet recovered, and the lack of weapons and ammunition has indeed had a great impact on its combat effectiveness.

The commander of the sixth company of the 391st Regiment was obedient and listened to the sound, and it was naturally clear from the singing and harmony of their superiors and subordinates. In fact, before coming, Qin Tuanzuo had already made arrangements for this, that is, to give a faulty Min 24 heavy machine gun and some bullets to the second battalion of the Xu Brigade for free; In addition, a Japanese Type 94 mortar and more than 30 shells were exchanged for a grenadier of the Eighth Route Army plus *.

"Broken heavy machine gun?!" Li Tianlin jumped up when he heard this: "Are you taking our Eighth Route Army as a flower child?" Use a pile of scrap copper and rotten iron to sell favors! ”

"Where, where!" Zhu Xingyun hurriedly stood up from the table: "The damage to the 24-style people is not serious, but no one in our army will repair it for the time being; Qin Tuanzuo took into account that Deputy Battalion Commander Wu of your army was from the Firearms Department of the Whampoa Military Academy, so he should be sure to repair it. ”

Wu Zijian, who was silent on the side, nodded when he heard this, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "My old classmate looks up to me, okay, I have won this gift on behalf of Xu Lu's second income!" So what is the way to say that you exchange mortars for grenadiers? ”

When the captain of the Central Army heard Wu Zijian say this, he was relieved, sat down and continued to explain: The artillery companies directly under the 391st Regiment have now been replaced by anti-aircraft guns, and another mortar and five grenadiers captured by the Japanese army are planned to be assigned to all six companies of the first and second battalions; Qin Tuanzuo knew that the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army had mortars and grenadiers, so he prepared to send the mortar he had at hand to the Eighth Route Army in exchange for a grenadier canister, so as to realize the unified allocation of one grenadier for each of the six main companies of the 391st Regiment.

Small cannon for big cannon, this is a good deal, Wu Zijian and Li Tianlin both laughed heartily at this time, and couldn't stop praising Colonel Qin for being a friend.

"You only have one mortar, how come there are more than 30 shells?" The commander of the 5th company of the Eighth Route Army laughed and asked the commander of the 6th company of the Central Army.

"The mortar company of our regiment originally had a total of six guns, but after the battle of Xinkou, all the guns were damaged and lost, but the shells were always carried on the march. Last time, a Japanese mortar was captured in Fengdian, and our shells can be loaded into it. ”

Li Tianlin slapped the table excitedly: "That's right! There is an artillery squad in the second battalion, and the squad leader Zhao Yejiao used to be an artillery officer of the 14th Army of the Central Army. He told us that the mortars in service in China and Japan are all imitations of French goods, but our arsenal has kept an eye on it, and made the muzzle thicker than the Japanese, and the shells are one size larger than theirs, so that if they pick up our shells, they will not be able to stuff them into their own muzzles, and in turn, we can take their shells and use them directly. ”

This theory was also the first time that the liaison officer of the Central Army learned about this theory, and his eyes lit up when he listened to it, and he couldn't help but be amazed. The two sides are talking more and more into the alley.

Wu Zijian called out and the correspondent took out the map he had with him -- a military map of Shanxi Province with a very high scale that Xia Lianshan, the commander of the cavalry company, had just obtained from the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army in Pingquan County -- from the map, if Lingshi County and Wencheng on the Tongpu Railway were connected with Hekou Village, one of the base areas of the Eighth Route Army at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, a triangular composition would be obtained, and Hekou Village would be the top corner of this triangle.

Lingshi County is about 40 miles away from Wencheng in the north and less than 30 miles away from Hanxinling Town in the south. Intelligence shows that many counties and towns south of Lingshi, including Han Xinling, are currently only left with small units of the Japanese Sena Division, usually one or two infantry squads. Captain Zhu Xingyun said that Qin Zhongxiao's regiment believed that an infantry squad of the Japanese army guarding Hanxinling Town only wanted to defend itself, and was unable to go north to support Lingshi; Therefore, once the feint attack of the 391st Regiment against Lingshi County was launched, the defenders of less than two squads were bound to ask for help from the Japanese army in Wencheng in the north: besieging the city and sending reinforcements, it was the reinforcements from Wencheng that were fighting.

"Are you sure that a large number of enemy reinforcements will not come from the south? In that direction, there was the main force of the Sena Division of the Japanese Army. Wu Zijian stared cautiously at the map and asked.

"That's for sure. Fifty miles further south of Han Xinling is Huoxian, the next stop of the railway line, and the Japanese troops guarding there do not exceed two infantry squads, even if they dare to divide a part of their forces to rush over, they are only a few dozen people, and I believe that your army is fully capable of blocking it. ”

Li Tianlin's eyebrows jumped, looked at the liaison officer of the 391st Regiment and said, "So, your Qin regiment asked the Eighth Route Army to ensure the safety of its flank, referring to the direction of Han Xinling?" ”

"Exactly!" Zhu Xingyun gave a thumbs up to the other party: "The first priority of your army's dispatch is to monitor the direction of Han Xinling, if there is an enemy army from there, be sure to block it to the south of Lingshi County; The second priority is to break the cover when the army withdraws. ”

"The appetite of the Central Army is big, the big drama of besieging the city and sending reinforcements, he Qin Zhongxiao will cover it alone! Our second battalion of the Xu Brigade is just cooperating with the tricks. Wu Zijian commented lightly.

Zhu Xingyun heard the obvious displeasure from the tone of the deputy battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army, and hurriedly explained: There is absolutely no intention of despising friendly troops, because the 391st Regiment has just established a heavy artillery company and a heavy machine gun company, it is more suitable to fight the Japanese army in terms of firepower configuration.

The commander of the 5th company was also quite unconvinced and wanted to argue something, but was stopped by Wu Zijian with his eyes: the second battalion of the Xu Brigade, which was poor and short-sighted, had not fully recovered from the night attack of the Japanese puppet army, and it was indeed not suitable to confront the main force of the Japanese army at this time. Qin Zhongxiao invited them to guard the flanks and break off, which was not inconsiderate.

The information transmitted by Xiao Junping, the captain of the enemy engineering team who infiltrated Wencheng, indicated that the brigade headquarters of the Hagiwara Brigade of the Sena Division and the Otsuka Wing under the brigade were stationed in Wencheng; In terms of troops, there was an independent infantry brigade transferred from Hebei Province that was responsible for the defense of the city of Bunjo, including the railway station, and in the eastern suburbs outside the city, the Nara Infantry Brigade of the Otsuka Wing was stationed as a mobile force.

"The meaning of Qin Tuanzuo is to use two companies of infantry and artillery fire to violently feint Lingshi and blast the Tongpu railway line; In this way, it is possible that the Japanese army in Wencheng will send troops to rush to the aid by train, and at that time, our regiment will concentrate mountain artillery fire to bombard the train, and then use four companies to fight for encirclement and annihilation; Immediately evacuated to Hekou Village, from where it was transferred back to Big Elm Mountain. Zhu Xingyun pointed to a few points on the military map and talked eloquently.

The deputy battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army secretly applauded the colonel of the Central Army's battle plan, and at the same time secretly sighed with regret: It's a pity that it was not the second battalion of the Xu Brigade that carried out this plan to take the initiative!

The liaison officer of the 391st Regiment finally stated that the most risky part of the battle plan was the retreat after leaving the railway line: from Lingshi to Hekou Village were all plains, and if the Japanese army sent heavy troops to pursue and cover the 391st Regiment on foot, carrying artillery, I am afraid that something would happen. At this time, it was necessary to rely on the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army to flank the enemy's pursuers and ensure that the 391st Regiment was out of the battlefield.

Wu Zijian and Li Tianlin glanced at each other, and at this moment both of them were keenly aware that if the Japanese army sent a large army to carry out the pursuit, then the simple action that was originally only responsible for guarding the flanks of friendly troops would really turn into participating in the battle - there is no doubt that once the Japanese army could not catch up with the 391st Regiment, it would undoubtedly point the gun of retaliation at the Eighth Route Army that was acting as a blocker, and even if the war was ignited to Hekou Village again, it was unknown - if the instructor Liu Shu was there, he would definitely not agree to participate in this battle plan of the Central Army.

But Wu Zijian agreed: the Central Army dared to attack, and the Eighth Route Army must help support this scene.

"The Japanese army in Fengdian County, will they take action at that time? Have you considered this? After determining the overall situation, Li Tianlin suddenly burst out. Since the 391st Regiment was bound to pass through the periphery of Fengdian on its way home, the company commander of the Eighth Route Army was a little worried.

"The group has taken it into account," Zhu Xingyun replied, "Our group plans to leave the Great Elm Mountain at night and assemble in Hekou Village, but the devils in Fengdian County will not notice this; After the battle on the Tongpu railway line began, it was possible that the Japanese troops in Fengdian would receive a notification from the Japanese troops in Wencheng, but since they could not guess the behavior of the 391st Regiment, it was extremely unlikely that they would go out of the city and intercept our regiment on the way back; In order to prevent accidents, the regiment also arranged two companies of the third battalion to ambush outside the east and north gates of Fengdian County in advance when the main force of our regiment returned. ”

This time, it was Li Tianlin's turn to give the other party a thumbs up: The bureau laid out by the colonel of the Central Army can be called a drip. This upcoming big war has a good show!