Junling County is located 100 miles south of Taiyuan, on the Tongpu railway line. Out of Taiyuan to the south, first through Yuci, Taigu, Qi County, and then to Junling. The county has a population of about 20,000 and is an important station on the Tongpu Railway. After Qin Zhongxiao led the 391st Regiment of the Central Army to retreat to Fengdian last year, the advance of the Otsuka Wing, the Japanese army's pursuing force, stopped its advance precisely after it went to Junling, and began to occupy and ravage Junling.

This time, the people of the special service company of the 391st Regiment met by chance with the rout of the 15th Army of the Central Army Liu Maoen near Junling, and the two sides talked about the route of the retreat from Taiyuan last year, and the 15th Army retreated south along the Tongpu Railway. When the 15th Army and the 64th Division retreated to Junling, they thought that the heavy weapons they were carrying were too cumbersome, so the commander ordered some mountain artillery, heavy machine guns, and ammunition to be buried in a hill in the east of Junling City.

The officers and men of the 64th Division who met with the 391st Regiment were the same people who participated in the burial of munitions at that time. However, by the time they had finished burying and returned to the Tongpu Railway to catch up with the troops, the main force of the 64th Division had already retreated far to the south in great strides. Liu Maoen's 15th Army was nominally the Central Army, but in fact it was the Henan Army from Henan, which was transferred to Shanxi by Chairman Chiang to participate in the Anti-Japanese War, so he was not familiar with the local geography; This part of the officers and soldiers who were abandoned by the main force soon lost their way and scattered as birds and beasts. These few who were scattered near Junling finally met the spies of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army and were brought back to the headquarters of the 391st Regiment.

The path of the 391st Regiment's retreat to the south after withdrawing from Taiyuan last year was to avoid the Tongpu railway line and take the road from Junling to Fengdian. The reason why this path was chosen was because the 391st Regiment was ordered to be responsible for containing the Japanese troops besieging the city in the mountains east of Taiyuan, and to cooperate with Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army guarding Taiyuan. Therefore, after the ministry withdrew from the mountainous area, it took this path to Fengdian County.

After being stationed in Fengdian County, because the county was only less than 100 miles away from Junling, according to intelligence, the vanguard of the Japanese pursuit stopped after occupying Junling, thus forming a forward confrontation with the 391st Regiment and the Wencheng defenders on the Tongpu Railway. For this reason, Qin Zhongxiao had repeatedly sent spies to Junling to spy on the Japanese army, so he was quite familiar with the terrain in that area.

"O Chief of Staff! It seems that I, Qin, still have a great fate with Junling. Originally, I was thinking about whether to send heavy troops and go there to seize the county seat, but after being vetoed by you, now such a thing suddenly popped up! Now it's okay, I won't go to Junling County, but it's still okay to dig up a batch of arms in the mountains outside the county! ”

In the regiment headquarters of Xiaozhai, Qin Zhongxiao said to his chief of staff excitedly and proudly.

Chief of Staff Zhang Hong frowned, nodded with a wry smile. Indeed, this is a great thing that fell from the sky, since the 391st Regiment captured a number of war horses of the puppet Mongolian army and exchanged them for necessary living materials, although it has been improved in terms of supplies, but there has never been an effective replenishment channel for the consumption of weapons, equipment and ammunition. Now this batch of arms of Liu Maoen's 15th Army has appeared out of thin air, and it is said that they are all heavy weapons, and there is no reason to take them.

Seeing Qin Zhongxiao's eyebrows fluttering, Chief of Staff Zhang Hongna's heart suddenly moved, and he turned to him and said, "Tuanzao, this time you go to the outside of Junling City to transport arms, you don't have to do it yourself, right?" The commander of the first battalion and I brought a battalion over, and it was enough. ”

Qin Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "How could I not do such an important thing myself?" This big elm mountain nest makes me feel so angry, if I don't take this opportunity to go out to breathe, I'm really going to suffocate! ”

In fact, Zhang Hong was not worried about the danger of Qin Zhongxiao's trip, but he was afraid that the Tuanzuo Lord, who had always been obsessed with seizing Junling City, was very likely to take advantage of the batch of heavy weapons that had just been taken out to attack the county seat, which was where his real faint worry was. However, the colonel of the Central Army had already made up his mind, and the chief of staff had no choice but to be ordered to start deploying the troops that would travel concretely.

Eventually, the 1st Battalion and the Machine Gun Company were assigned to Junling. The reason why the machine gun company was allowed to participate was that the information obtained from the rout of Liu Maoen's 15 th Army was that most of the buried munitions were heavy weapons, and the personnel of the machine gun company were of course more familiar with and proficient in heavy weapons, which was conducive to the capture and operation.

After some careful planning, it was finally decided that the men of the first battalion and the machine gun company should all change into civilian clothes, carry light weapons with them, and march north through the mountain road in the Great Elm Mountain, until they have completely exited the mountain from the exit at the northern foot of the Great Elm Mountain, and then take advantage of the night to approach the outside of Junling City covertly. At the same time, a part of the carriage and horses were carried along as a means of transportation for carrying heavy weapons.

The colonel of the Central Army had already mastered that there were not many garrisons of the Japanese puppet army inside and outside Junling City, and this trip only needed to successfully avoid the garrison Japanese troops in Fengdian County, which was close at hand, and it was enough to reach the eastern suburbs of Junling City safely. Unless during this period, the Japanese army in Fengdian suddenly moved to the front line of Junling, otherwise, there would be no trouble or accidents along the way to transport arms.

Just as Qin Zhongxiao was leading his troops to the north from the Great Elm Mountain, in the nearby town of Fengdian County, the commander of the garrison Japanese army, Kosuke Otsuka, was also planning nervously. He had just received a call from the headquarters of the Hagiwara Brigade in Bunjo, and the brigade commander, Major General Kosuke Otsuka, had ordered Kosuke Otsuka to step up reconnaissance of the intelligence of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army.

According to the unified deployment of the brigade and regiment headquarters, it is very likely that another operation will be launched in the near future to clean up the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army's forestry division at the foot of Guanmen Mountain. As soon as this clean-up operation is over, Kosuke Otsuka's target will be the remnants of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army in Great Elm Mountain. Therefore, taking precautions, the brigade commander asked Otsuka to get a good grasp of the defense area of the 391st Regiment nearby.

However, Kosuke Otsuka didn't know anything about the Great Elm Mountain, which towered just east of Toyodian County. He had conceived of sending a small force of scouts into the mountains from the two nearest mountain passes, but in the end he gave up; Because he knows very well the 391st Regiment of the Central Army that fled into the mountains, it is quite strong. If the other side sets up an ambush in the mountain, I am afraid that his reconnaissance troops will suffer heavy losses.

Because he had personally participated in the deployment of troops in the Little Elm Mountain, including the comprehensive reconstruction of the Songjiagou Railway Station, the Japanese wing commander had a fairly good grasp of the situation in the Little Elm Mountain. According to local residents, Big Elm Mountain is at least twice as large as Little Elm Mountain, steeper and denser. In view of this, Kosuke Otsuka became more and more jealous of the entrenchment of the Central Army in the Great Elm Mountain.

At present, the three infantry brigades of the Otsuka Wing are divided into three, which are stationed in Wencheng, Xiaoyushushan, and Fengdian, where he personally sits, and the wing headquarters is located in Wencheng. In Fengdian, in addition to Nomura Shaosa's 1st Infantry Brigade, there was also a crippled cavalry regiment of the Mongolian Army. Fortunately, in the previous stage, the North China Front Headquarters handed over five supplementary infantry brigades to the Sena Division in a timely manner, and the division commander, Lieutenant General Sena, decided to give priority to the Otsuka Wing on the front line of Wencheng, Xiaoyushushan, and Fengdian to replenish it, so that the current Otsuka Wing was fully manned; This is also the most gratifying thing for the commander of the Japanese army.

Rao was so, and Otsuka Kosuke still believed that an infantry brigade and the strength of the Mongolian Frontier Army's cavalry regiment were not enough to launch an attack on the far-reaching Great Elm Mountain. The 391st Regiment of the Central Army may still have nearly 1,000 troops at least in terms of troops, and relying on the favorable terrain, it is absolutely unwise for the Imperial Army to rush into the mountains without more than two brigades.

As for the attack on the 2nd Battalion of the Eighth Route Army's Forest Division at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, which was mentioned by the brigade commander Major General and may be launched in the near future, Otsuka did not know the specific operational deployment; It is estimated that it is highly likely that the commander from Wencheng will be fully responsible for the attack. The role of the offensive force is undoubtedly the Nara Infantry Brigade, the only mobile force.

In view of the fact that the front-line operations in Jinnan are relatively smooth at present, the division commander, Lieutenant General Sena, does not rule out that he will send a part of his troops back to Wencheng to assist the local garrison in jointly launching an attack on the Eighth Route Army at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, just as it was during the last night attack. Of course, he also hoped that after the attack on the Eighth Route Army, the main force of the division would also be able to give him strong help and support when attacking the Great Elm Mountain.

In the minds of the Japanese commanders, whether it is the 391st Regiment of the Central Army in the Great Elm Mountain, or the 2nd Battalion of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, they all belong to the more brave troops in the Chinese Army; This has been confirmed in the previous encounters with them. Therefore, as far as the current situation is concerned, he very much hopes that the battle against the above two Zhina armies can be delayed as far back as possible, until the end of the war on the Jinnan front.

Speaking of the tactical purpose of the two attacks that the brigade commander gave him, Kosuke Otsuka was still clear in his heart, that is, to continue to clear the obstacles for the hidden "wind plan" in Little Elm Mountain. He had already been informed that the second step of the "Wind Plan" had begun to be carried out in an intensified manner, and that the head of the secret service in Wencheng and the captain of the gendarmerie in Little Elm Mountain were working it.

The Battle of Xuzhou is imminent, and it seems that the North China Front Command still attaches great importance to the "wind plan" to recruit comfort women. The thirty or so women who were safely sent out last time must have begun to serve the warriors of the Imperial Army on the front line. Thinking of this, Kosuke Otsuka's spirit was a little slippery, and he still regretted that he and his subordinates could not personally use that group of comfort women. Let's see the opportunities in the future!

Retracting from the comfort women, Kosuke Otsuka still decided not to send a small reconnaissance force into the Great Elm Mountain for preliminary reconnaissance for the time being, but to order the troops stationed in the eastern part of the county town to closely monitor the movements of the Great Elm Mountain Pass throughout the day with the help of the height of the city wall. In his opinion, the main exit of this high and densely forested Elm Mountain is on this side of Fengdian, and as long as this direction is monitored, the 391st Regiment of the Central Army will not be able to fly anywhere.

But the wing commander of the Japanese army clearly miscalculated. He didn't know much about Big Elm Mountain, and he didn't know that this mountain still had a rather hidden exit at the northern foot far away from Fengdian. And at this moment, the elite part of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army is moving at full speed towards that exit. Neither the commander of the Japanese army nor the colonel of the Central Army would have imagined that this change would once again trigger a fierce confrontation between the two armies.