The final heavy artillery bombardment was personally commanded by the colonel of the Central Army.

The 92nd rifle gun, which had been firing at the Japanese army, had almost run out of shells and was dragged down, and the shield on the gun had even been pierced by the bullets of the heavy machine guns of the Japanese, and the soldiers operating the rifle had also suffered more than a dozen casualties. Qin Zhongxiao ordered the infantry artillery that had made the first contribution to retreat immediately with the second battalion, and the commander of the artillery company stayed behind to coordinate the heavy artillery.

Now, Qin Zhongxiao is counting on these three heavy cannons! The infantry that flanked the Japanese army on both sides had all been withdrawn, and there was no longer the restraint of the rat trap, and the 75 mountain artillery smashed the head and covered the face, and if the military column (of course, including the railroad tracks and roadbed) could be destroyed in one fell swoop, it would not be a trip in vain.

However, the dark night and the lack of experience of the officers and men of the artillery company in operating large-caliber mountain artillery once again disappointed the colonel of the Central Army. Two German Krupp mountain guns and a Japanese four-one mountain gun flew most of the shells in front of Qin Zhongxiao, and from time to time there was a dull explosion and faintly visible fire in front of the distant front, and even the infantry could see that the explosion point was not in the direction of the Japanese army column at all.

Only one shell actually hit one of the carriages of the military train, and in the light of the fire, the carriage arched upward, and some people even saw the bodies of Japanese soldiers who had been blown away from the carriage.

The commander of the artillery company, who was extremely unwilling, roared in a hoarse voice, and shouted again and again to order the artillery to continue to reload, and at this moment he would rather use up all the ammunition in exchange for the destruction of the Japanese army.

Finally, Qin Zhongxiao sighed, stopped the madness of the commander of the artillery company, and ordered all the troops to be withdrawn, and the artillery company withdrew from the existing position together with the regimental headquarters, and chased the footsteps of the second battalion to retreat in the direction of Guanmen Mountain.

Soon, Deng Shoushan, deputy commander of the spy company, led his subordinates and came panting. Qin Zhongxiao briefly inquired to him about the battle situation next to the right flank road, and then ordered the special service company to be divided into two, and a platoon to protect the regimental headquarters and the artillery company to withdraw immediately; Deng Shoushan personally led another platoon to stay in the existing position and monitor the Japanese troops in the direction of the frontal railway line.

"Shoushan, you have to understand that the left and right flanks of this position, our people are retreating one after another, but they will not withdraw to you, but will withdraw directly in the direction of Guanmen Mountain;" The colonel of the Central Army put one hand on the shoulder of the deputy commander of the special service company, and explained to him with a stern expression: "So from now on, you have no support and friendly neighbors, and you must defend this bulge alone until the troops of the Eighth Route Army come to change the guard!" ”

"Tuanza, are you sure that the Eighth Route Army will move over?"

Deng Shoushan's tone was marked with obvious suspicion, which made Qin Zhongxiao stunned - so far, the 391st Regiment and the Second Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army have never had a real coordinated operation! Before this, the two armies had agreed to jointly attack the Japanese army in the Little Elm Mountain, but the planned operation was aborted due to the sudden counterattack of the Japanese army on Fengdian County and the forced withdrawal of the 391st Regiment into the mountains. However, according to his liaison officer Zhu Xingyun afterwards, Wu Zijian had indeed fulfilled the agreement and led the troops to sneak into the mountain from the northern foot of Xiaoyushu Mountain.

"There's nothing to question about that!" The colonel of the Central Army quickly regained his demeanor and began to reassure his subordinates: "The 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade is a strong force that has fought the Battle of Pingxingguan, and its military discipline is quite strict, and it will definitely act in unity according to the plan of this joint operation." Just now, I have asked the commander of the sixth company to pass on the order to them, and your troops can only hold their positions and wait for the friendly forces to change their defenses! ”

Looking at the figure of the deputy company commander of the special service company turning around and leaving to deploy the defense line, Qin Zhongxiao swallowed back a sentence that came to his lips: The second battalion of the friendly Xu Brigade not only came here to pick up the defense, but their other part even started a blocking battle in the area of Guanmen Mountain earlier!

On the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army, five miles northwest of Hekou Village, Guanmenshan, the sound of gunfire subsided again, and the choking smoke of gunpowder lurked in the night. The 7th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade had just repelled an attack by the Japanese puppet army in Fengdian.

This was the third attack of the enemy.

Three attacks, each charge frenzied and the firepower fiercer and fiercer. All the commanders of the 7th Company resisted desperately and finally held their positions in a thrilling way.

Fortunately, there were three light and heavy machine guns that were strong in the formation, otherwise, the improvised position hastily built in this open wilderness could be destroyed in one fell swoop by the collective impact of hundreds of cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army.

Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th company, gasped and kept shouting loudly on the position, reminding his subordinates to hurry up and check the guns and ammunition. There was a gap of about 15 minutes between the second attack and the first, but the third attack was less than eight minutes away from the second!

Grandma's, the Japanese puppet army on the opposite side is simply crazy, maybe they received a death order from the upper peak, and they are determined to break through from here; The target, of course, is the Tongpu railway line behind your own position. Wei Xin thought in his heart, and at the same time guessed the progress of the battle situation on the railway line, praying that the Central Army would finish the work quickly.

"Company commander, there are not many bullets left in the crooked handle, I'm afraid it won't last long."

A platoon commander came to report to Wei Xin that the crooked handle he was talking about was a Taisho 11 machine gun captured from the puppet Mongolian army earlier. At present, most of the rifles, Czech light machine guns, and the Min-24 heavy machine guns of the 7th Company are all 7.92 calibers, and they have the same bullets as each other, and the ammunition is relatively sufficient; However, as a trophy of the Japanese machine gun, the bullet can only be used with the Type 38 rifle, and the 38 cover in the hands of the officers and men of the 7th Company is really not much.

"Don't worry about it so much," Wei Xin waved his hand worriedly: "We have no room for maneuver, let's count the enemy's attack back once, and at the last moment, I will take you to live and die together!" ”

The company commander's tragic confession infected the platoon commander, he stomped his foot, sighed and walked away.

Wei Xin's tragedy is not unreasonable. When he first set up his position here, he even doubted whether there was really a battle to be fought in this direction, but as soon as the curtain of battle opened tonight, it was enough to describe it as fierce.

The first attack of the puppet Mongol army was actually unintentional, when their vanguard cavalry was moving forward in a search posture and crashed into the blocking position of the 7th Company in a daze. In the dark night, Wei Xin gave the order to fire completely by relying on the sound of the horse's hooves approaching in front of him.

This blocking position of the 7th Company was arranged linearly, and there was no depth to speak of. The front of the position was faced with the gap between Little Elm Mountain and Guanmen Mountain, which was almost in the shape of a bell-mouth: from between the two mountains, there was a wider and wider wilderness, and the position of the 7th Company was set on the outer edge of this horn.

A few days ago, when surveying the position of the position, Wei Xin and Wang Shuanglong, the commander of the 6th Company, who came to help with advice, both raised the issue of defensive depth, advocating the establishment of two or three lines of defense here, but in the end they were reluctantly vetoed by Wu Zijian. The reason of the deputy battalion commander is also very simple, that is, there are only more than 150 people in the 7th Company, and the outer edge of this bell mouth is quite long, and only the arc-shaped linear arming can completely block this bell mouth.

Wu Zijian bet on precisely the three light and heavy machine guns of the 7th Company. He arranged the Min-24 heavy machine guns in the center of the arc-shaped position, and the two light machine guns at both ends of the arc, and specially emphasized that the light machine guns at both ends must not fire directly forward, but must fire at each other, forming a firepower network with the heavy machine guns.

This design of the deputy commander of the second battalion proved to be quite effective in actual combat. The cavalry front of the puppet Mongol army was crushed at the touch of a powerful net of fire, and after a little return fire, they retreated back in a disorderly manner. At that moment, Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, was still very excited, and even a little proud.

However, the real bloody battle ensued.

Because the puppet Mongolian army had already begun to hunt down the small group of the Eighth Route Army that suddenly appeared, the vigilance of the front team was still relatively high, but they never expected that the Eighth Route Army would set up a blocking position on this wasteland wilderness.

The commander of a cavalry battalion in the vanguard immediately made a report to the rear, and the footsteps of the entire cavalry regiment came to a standstill again. This finally made the Japanese wing commander sitting in the back car furious, and his truck roared all the way up, and the front of the car almost hit the head of the horse of the puppet Mongolian cavalry commander.

"Baga! Du, I have repeatedly ordered you not to entangle with the Eighth Route Army and attack in the direction of the railway line with all your might, do you want me to cut off your disobedient head?! ”

Kosuke Otsuka's unpleasant scolding echoed in the wilderness on a cold night, and the headlights of the car reflected the silent figure of the Mongol cavalry.

Du Dongqiang, who was trembling, tried his best to explain what he had just heard from the subordinate battalion commander: It was no longer the small unit of the Eighth Route Army that was blocking the front just now, they had machine guns, and they had heavy machine guns!

Heavy machine guns!? The Japanese wing commander was taken aback, and for a while, he was dizzy after being reprimanded by the brigade commander and major general tonight, and suddenly jumped out of a clear thought: The appearance of the small group of eight roads just now was not accidental, and the people of China should be making a big move - the army that attacked them here may be directly related to the battle that is going on on the railway line!

"Report the information to the brigade headquarters immediately! The infantry squadron quickly followed up and got off here to assemble! The cavalry regiment of the Mongolian Xinjiang Army formed in situ and prepared to charge again! ”

The infantry squadron brought out by Otsuka, itself equipped with two mortars, had been assembled before departure and mounted on trucks. Now he ordered the two mortars to unload the car and follow behind the cavalry regiment on foot - since Du Dongqiang's men claimed that the Zhina army in front had heavy machine guns, let the mortars deal with them!

If as expected, it should still be the Eighth Route Army that stands in the way, and sure enough, the road is narrow, maybe this is the Eighth Route Army that fought with him when he led his troops to attack Hekou Village at night. Maybe the last night attack failed to completely annihilate them, so let's make a real break tonight!

Kosuke Otsuka closed his eyes and meditated, a hideous look on his face. The battle of the night attack on Hekou Village is still fresh in my memory, and in all fairness, the combat power of the Eighth Route Army is by no means idle, and the Mongolian Xinjiang Army is definitely not their opponent. However, in the last night attack, the Eighth Route Army had strong village bunkers and dangerous mountain pass fortifications to rely on, but tonight they came to the flat wasteland, and the advantages of the Mongolian cavalry could be brought into full play, and it was difficult to predict who would die.

The Japanese commander had already made up his mind, let the Mongolian cavalry storm the defense line of the Eighth Route Army first, and if it didn't succeed, the infantry squadron of the Imperial Army would finally charge and crush the frontal enemy in one fell swoop!