This new condition proposed by the bandit master made the commander and chief of staff of the 570th Regiment of the Jin Army feel hesitant for a while - compared to the fact that the bandits just now wanted to hold Tian Mingda hostage all the way to the southern foot of Guanmen Mountain, the practice of releasing the hostages after leaving Longwan Village is obviously more tempting.

But Tian Tuanza was still very afraid, with his subordinates facing each other around him, and he still had some bottom in his heart, and if the bandits were allowed to leave as a hostage, the situation would be extremely unpredictable. However, the sudden enemy situation on the front brought by the chief of staff is also imminent, and it must be reported to the brigade headquarters as soon as possible, but before reporting to the brigade headquarters, he must get out safely!

The chief of staff of the regiment was the first to lose patience, he brandished the pistol in his hand, and once again sharply shouted at the bandits to release the regiment seat immediately, otherwise it would be impossible to get out of this small village alive.

As if to match the words of the chief of staff of the Jin army, sporadic gunfire rang out not far away - it was some officers and soldiers of the first battalion of the 570th regiment, who were rounding up other Black Rock Cliff bandits scattered in the village.

Liu Wumei was also anxious, she was willing to take the risk this time to go deep into the Jin army defense area, in order to be able to rescue the brothers of the Black Stone Cliff intact, if there was a situation of fighting with the officers and soldiers or even suffering heavy casualties, then her trip was tantamount to going to danger in vain.

"Tian Tuanzuo, you are a colonel of the national army, a hero who resisted Japan and killed the enemy, and you must not be untrustworthy in front of the public!" Liu Wumei, who had made up her mind, shouted at Tian Mingda and the surrounding Jin officers and soldiers at the same time: "Okay, little girl, according to what you said, let the adults return to the army on the spot." Please also raise your noble hand, stop all sieges on us, as long as we are released from this village, everything will have nothing to do with Danza! Offended Huwei today, the little woman will definitely have a satisfactory explanation to Tian Tuanzuo in the future! ”

As he spoke, he began to explain the cow tendons that bound Tian Mingda's hands.

The Jin Legion Commander did not expect the other party to hand over the initiative so easily, and he savored the last words of the female bandit leader, as if there was still room for dealing between him and this beautiful woman in the future. Immediately, he went down the slope and said loudly: "Very good, you are a great master, you are benevolent and righteous, and I will no longer worry about you!" Chief of Staff, immediately send an order to go down, not to round up the people in the Black Rock Cliff Cottage, and to monitor and escort them out of the headquarters defense area! ”

Since Liu Wumei said to do it, it was too late for the master on the side to stop it. This unexpected confrontation quickly dissipated, and the female bandit leader and her party retreated vigilantly in the direction of the east of the village, whistling and shouting cuts, gathering their brothers along the way.

After getting out of trouble, Tian Mingda looked at Liu Wumei and them who were drifting away unwillingly, and forgot to make the next deployment for a while. Seeing this, the chief of staff immediately leaned down and said: Tuanza, I will quietly mobilize the men and horses to go outside the village and reunite with this gang of bandits!

The Jin Commander shook his head - it wasn't that he didn't want to do this, but the military situation in front of him was urgent, and he really didn't have time to worry about women's affairs: "The people sent by the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army, are the enemy situations reported reliable?" Did the Japanese really dispatch thousands of people? ”

The chief of staff poked the brim of his military hat with a pistol that had closed the safe, and nodded with a little hesitation: "It should be reliable, our forward post can clearly hear the sound of gunfire from the direction of Ewhapo, which is said to be quite dense." The number of people watching the crossfire cannot be small. ”

Tian Mingda knew that the so-called frontier post was a small hill about ten miles north of Longwan Village at his feet, next to another medium-sized village on the banks of the Qinglong River: Zhaojia Village. The 4th Company of the 1st Battalion of the 570th Regiment had a squad of troops built a lookout post and an improvised position on the hills, which could also be called the forefront of the defense of the entire 12th Brigade of the Jin Army to the north.

Tian Mingda also knew that further north from Zhaojia Village, many of the scattered villages were now almost all part of the territory of the Eighth Route Army, and they more or less stationed paraarmed forces called working groups and task forces in various villages. He was about to follow the order of the brigade commander and send part of his troops to those villages to infiltrate and even drive away, but the Japanese actually came to the door!

"Immediately call the brigade headquarters in the city and tell the brigade commander that the Japanese army is chasing the Eighth Route and is moving towards our defense area, and ask for instructions."

"Tuanzao, then should we send troops to the front of Zhaojia Village first?" The chief of staff immediately asked. To put it bluntly, the so-called forward position on the hill next to Zhaojia Village is just an observation post, and the garrison of a squad is not equipped with even a light machine gun, so it can be said that it has no combat effectiveness at all.

"Ridiculous!" The commander of the Jin Army blurted out a reprimand: "You really plan to let Lao Tzu's troops be cannon fodder and block bullets for the Eighth Route Army!" ”

"That's not true," the chief of staff hurriedly defended: "I think that once the Eighth Route Army can't withstand the Japanese offensive in the area of Ewhapo, it will definitely withdraw to our side; At that time, if we did not help, we must also resist the position and not allow the Eighth Route Army to enter and attack our defense area. ”

Tian Mingda, who was in the night, rolled his eyes and thought that what the chief of staff said had some truth. At this moment, one of the four companies of the 1st Battalion under his personal command was scattered in several villages north of Longwan Village (which he had imitated the Eighth Route Army), including a squad on the hill post next to Zhaojia Village. The remaining three companies are all deployed near Longwan Village as the core. Therefore, he ordered a company to be dispatched immediately and rushed towards the direction of the hills of Zhaojia Village, with the task of occupying Zhaojia Village, strengthening the hilly positions, and blocking the remnants of the Eighth Route Army that might be defeated and retreated.

After giving this order, the Jin Corps Commander suddenly moved in his heart, and pulled his chief of staff to ask in a low voice: Among the grain requisition troops sent by the 569th Regiment, the bearded platoon commander Li Mancang, who was temporarily stationed in Maicun, is still guarding there with his subordinates?

The chief of staff was stunned for a moment, and said that he did not know very well - since the last time he personally visited Maicun and coaxed and frightened the prisoners of the Black Stone Cliff bandits from the hands of Li Mancang, the bearded platoon commander of the brother unit, the chief of staff himself has never returned to Maicun.

"You will send someone to ride to Mai Village, and if the platoon commander surnamed Li is still there, inform him that the captives of the Black Stone Cliff Bandit Gang have escaped while they are in chaos, and ask them to intercept them in the area of the mountain pass!"

Listening to the instructions of the Lord Tuanzuo, the chief of staff couldn't help but be a little puzzled by the second monk: Tuanzuo had obviously let go of the female bandit leader and his party just now, and he also clearly ordered himself not to chase after him, why did he make this scene now?

And Tian Mingda's wishful thinking is: let the people of the 569 regiment come forward to intercept Liu Wumei and his party without knowing it, if they can intercept it successfully, this account will not be credited to his head - it is best to be able to capture the female bandit leader alive! This little girl dared to suddenly use a black hand in the "Flower Candle in the Cave Room" and hurt her face in front of her subordinates, so she couldn't just let her go so cheaply. Thinking of this, the Jin army commander suddenly became angry in his heart, flew up and kicked at the guard platoon commander who stood beside him at some point; As the platoon leader of the group, Tian Platoon Commander was hurt by this kick, but he knew that he was derelict in his duty and caused trouble, so he could only grit his teeth and dare not say anything.

"Order the deputy of the first battalion to personally lead the third company to Zhaojia Village to fortify," After venting his anger, Tian Mingda began to raise his legs and walk in the direction of the regiment headquarters, and continued to roar in his mouth: "Without my order, not a single soldier of the Eighth Route Army is allowed to enter our defense area!" ”

The chief of staff, who followed closely, blurted out another question: "What about the Japanese?" When the Japanese came up, should they open fire? ”

The commander of the Jin Army stopped with a snort and shouted to the chief of staff who was close at hand: "The Japanese soldiers are chasing the Eighth Route Army!" If we don't let the Eighth Route Army in, how can the Japanese follow? ”

Under the lantern light held by the guards, Tian Mingda's face looked quite hideous, and although the chief of staff was a little afraid, he still stubbornly continued to ask: "If the Eighth Route Army does not listen to our orders and insists on withdrawing into our defense area, then let the three consecutive fights or not?" ”

This sentence finally made Tian Mingda dumb - now the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are still cooperating, the Eighth Route Army is a friendly army in the absolute sense, and the commander of the 570th Regiment can verbally not allow the Eighth Route Army to enter his territory, but when it comes to firing at friendly troops, he does not have the courage. If he doesn't get it right, he will definitely not be able to eat and walk around if he is charged with sabotaging the situation of the joint anti-Japanese war and creating friction.

"I ...... You immediately deploy a battalion deputy to lead people to rush over to block the defense line and send away the cavalry sent by the Eighth Route Army, and I will ask the brigade commander for instructions. ”

In fact, far away from the front line of the Jin army more than ten miles away, the two cavalrymen of the Eighth Route Army had already left without sending them away.

They returned to Ewhapo and returned to the company commander Xia Lianshan. At that time, Xia Lianshan was commanding the cavalry company to cross the shallow Qinglong River and turn to the west bank of the river, and he wanted to use the cover of a few small woods on the west bank to make a detour to pursue the flank of the Japanese army to carry out a surprise attack.

On the east bank of the Qinglong River, the first battalion of the Guanmenshan detachment of the Xu Brigade, under the deployment of the battalion commander Wang Shuanglong, took advantage of the topography of the village of Lihuapu to block the Japanese troops who were chasing after them all the way.

Whether it was Wang Shuanglong or Xia Lianshan, they did not expect that there would be reinforcements from the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army in Pingquan County, which was in the direction behind them. The strength of the Eighth Route Army's infantry battalion and a cavalry company was precisely to take the initiative to lure the enemy and purposefully lead the Japanese pursuers into the defense area of the 12th Independent Brigade.

Xia Lianshan had personally dealt with the officers of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, and he was also very aware of the current situation of this army. With 2,000 guns but always cowering in Pingquan County, he was a soldier of the Three Jin Dynasty, and this kind of cowardice and fear of the enemy was really despicable. The plan formulated by the detachment commander Wu Zijian before the war was obviously to drag the 12th Independent Brigade into the battle.

After arriving in Lihuapu, the commander of the first battalion of the Eighth Route Army urgently communicated with the commander of the cavalry company who was familiar with the terrain in this area, and further confirmed the distance between Lihuapu and the defense area of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army. Wang Shuanglong pointed out that before dawn, the headquarters should try its best to block the pace of the Japanese and delay the pace of the Japanese's advance; When it was almost dawn, the Japanese army would be led to the Jin army and the Jin army troops would be exposed, so that even if the 12th Brigade did not want to fight, it could not help it!

So, under this combat idea, the fierce Ewhapo blocking battle broke out in full swing in the dark night.