The deputy commander of the first battalion of the 391st Regiment is surnamed Liu, and he is a major who was promoted after the Battle of Xinkou last year, and he can be called a fierce general like his battalion commander. Just now he received an order from the regimental seat, asking him to lead the first battalion and three companies to support the fifth company of the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. Then he learned from the mouth of the deputy company commander of the special service company that the Japanese army on the railway line was really counterattacking, and the deputy battalion commander Liu immediately commanded the third company to pull out.

Before approaching the main position of the Eighth Route Army, the thrilling sound of gunfire was already clearly visible. Deputy Battalion Commander Liu made a visual inspection, and the front line of the exchange of fire between the two sides was about several hundred meters long, and both the offensive and defensive sides had depth, and they were both using artillery fire to attack the depth of the other side. In order to prevent misunderstanding, he stopped the team and sent a squad leader to the position of the Eighth Route Army to contact first.

Knowing that the 391st Regiment had sent reinforcements, Wu Zijian was surprised. At this time, he was commanding the first line of defense side by side with Li Tianlin, the commander of the 5th Company, because his own side also carried out artillery bombardment on the enemy, and the Makqin heavy machine gun erected on the second line of defense also began to fire fiercely, and the momentum of the Japanese charge on the opposite side was contained.

"A company?!" Li Tianlin looked at his deputy battalion commander in disbelief: "The Central Army gives face like this? Send a company to help us break the back? ”

Wu Zijian also felt a little unbelievable, after all, their people had just withdrawn and handed over this unobstructed so-called position to the hands of the Eighth Route Army, how could they send another company back in the blink of an eye?

"Tianlin, you resist here, I'll go back and see what's going on. Be careful to save bullets with machine guns, and don't fire continuously when the devil doesn't get too close. ”

Wu Zijian commanded, turned around and ran back to the rearmost line of defense. Seeing the liaison squad leader sent by the 391st Regiment, he asked him to lead the way and went directly to the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 391st Regiment who was on standby behind the Eighth Route Army Defense Area.

The two deputy battalion commanders of the friendly army met, and Wu Zijian finally understood the reason. Deputy Battalion Commander Liu conveyed to him a message from Qin Zhongxiao, commander of the 391st Regiment: After the current comprehensive intelligence judgment, the Japanese army continues to send reinforcements from Wencheng and Fengdian County, and it currently has the appearance of the main force of the encircled national army; The troops of the Eighth Route Army are requested to immediately and cautiously deploy a retreat plan after the break-up.

Wu Zijian expressed his gratitude from the bottom of his heart, and in front of Deputy Battalion Commander Liu, he praised the colonel of the Central Army for being a friend and sending a team to help in an emergency. He said that the offensive just launched by the Japanese army on the opposite side was indeed extraordinary, and it was not like a perfunctory pursuit of an ordinary nature. It seems that Qin Tuanzuo did not expect badly, the Japanese army did not simply come to solve the dilemma of the spirit stone, but wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to attack and surround the 391st Regiment and the second battalion of the Xu Brigade from the east and west.

"The little devil thinks beautifully!" Deputy Battalion Commander Liu spat on the wasteland: "Our two families together have almost a thousand guns, and we also have an artillery company and four large-caliber guns. The little devil just wants to swallow us in such a bite?! It's not afraid to die! ”

Wu Zijian admired the fearless momentum of the commander of the national army, who was also the deputy battalion commander, but still stretched out his hand and patted the other party's arm: "Don't take it lightly, these devils act quickly, and they should all be the elite of the Sena Division." Our side is now in the retreat phase, and its morale is not as strong as the other side. ”

Next, the two quickly discussed the plan of coordinated operations, and decided to adopt the method of alternate cover, and fight and retreat. Deputy Battalion Commander Liu proposed that his company could choose two directions to attack first: one was to sneak out from the right flank of the Eighth Route Army's position and rush onto the railway line and highway to flank the Japanese army; The second is to simply go forward again to attack the east gate of Lingshi County, forcing the Japanese army to retreat from the existing offensive in order to defend the county. Once they succeeded, the Eighth Route Army could retreat from its frontal position. Subsequently, the Central Army also withdrew, and if the Japanese pursued the Central Army, the Eighth Route Army stopped retreating and attacked forward to cover. This alternately repeatedly, fighting and walking along the retreat route of the main force of the 391st Regiment.

Wu Zijian pondered for a moment and suggested that Deputy Battalion Commander Liu choose the first plan, sneak out of the right flank of the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade, and attack the Japanese army's ribs from the flank.

"Near the east gate of Lingshi County, there is currently a cavalry company of our battalion on patrol, and you can rest assured in that direction."

"Oh? That should be Commander Xia's centaurs! Wu Zijian was very pleased that Deputy Battalion Commander Liu knew about Xia Lianshan. Last time, the 391st Regiment of the Central Army rescued the cavalry company of the Second Battalion of the Xu Brigade, so Xia Lianshan took the remnants to recuperate in the Great Elm Mountain for a period of time, and got along with the regiment quite happily.

"That's right, it's them! Tonight, we were supposed to monitor the railway line south of Lingshi County, preparing to block the Japanese reinforcements that might come from the direction of Hanshinling. Now I have transferred here with the 5th Company, and the cavalry company has followed to the city of Lingshi County. ”

Deputy Battalion Commander Liu didn't know much about the Second Battalion of the Xu Brigade, but because he had spent some time with Xia Lianshan and his cavalry, he was very interested in the unique cavalry company structure of the Eighth Route Army. Although the Central Army is well-equipped, the special forces under the jurisdiction of the 391 Regiment are only artillery and machine gunners, and the whole regiment is directly under the jurisdiction of the regimental headquarters for a mortar company and a combat defense artillery company, in addition to each infantry battalion also has a heavy machine gun company under its jurisdiction. All this, except for the absence of cavalry.

When Xia Lianshan was recuperating from his wounds at the headquarters of the 391st Regiment, he once chatted with the officers of the regiment about the formation of the cavalry company. Knowing that the second battalion of the Xu Brigade had ambushed the cavalry wing of the Japanese army and the cavalry regiment of the puppet Mongolian army, horses, cavalry guns, knives and other equipment came from this, and even the cavalry instructors were from the puppet Mongolian officers and soldiers who were captured anyway, many commanders of the Central Army were very impressed, and Deputy Battalion Commander Liu was one of them.

"Okay, your cavalry is very powerful, with Commander Xia on the left flank of the position, it should be fine!"

The two hurriedly ended the discussion about the cavalry, Wu Zijian stayed in place to command, and Deputy Battalion Commander Liu took his third company and touched Tongpu Road on the right flank of the position. Until this moment, the two deputy battalion commanders of the friendly army did not know that Xia Lianshan's cavalry company had actually missed an excellent opportunity to kill.

When Wu Zijian and Li Tianlin led the 5th Company to withdraw from the initial preset position, Xia Lianshan's cavalry company was still cruising several miles away, monitoring the movement of the railway line in the direction of Han Xinling. Subsequently, the cavalry connected to the order, asking them to gradually move outside the eastern city of Lingshi County to assist the 5th Company in carrying out the task of breaking off.

Tonight, Xia Lianshan also felt very depressed, wandering around idly for half a night beside the cold and windy railway line, and even the war horse under his crotch became impatient. I heard the guns and cannons in the direction of Lingshi County, but I didn't even see the shadow of a devil on my side. finally received an order from Wu Zijian, the deputy battalion commander, but the content was still to retreat and break off! A few cavalrymen finally couldn't bear the loneliness and disappointment, and said cool things, saying that the Central Army was eating meat and gnawing bones, and the Eighth Route Army was trembling and didn't even have a bowl of hot soup to drink.

The cavalry company commander, who was listening to the anger and laughter on the sidelines, had the heart to stop it, but after thinking about it, he didn't make a sound - he, who was the company commander, was not disappointed at this moment!

Wu Zijian's order to the cavalry company was to first retreat to the area of the 5th Company's original preset position and continue to monitor the movement of the railway line; When the invincible situation was discovered, the whole company continued to move north and moved to the eastern suburbs of Lingshi County. As a result, Xia Lianshan first saw the blocking position destroyed by the comrades of the 5th Company, as well as the trees and boulders stacked on the railroad tracks; The cavalry lamented and at the same time were indignant at the waste of huge manpower.

At this time, there was no sound of crossfire inside and outside Lingshi County, and the feint attack of the Central Army had already ended. Xia Lianshan ordered the cavalry to dismount and temporarily rest on the abandoned position of the 5th Company. In his judgment, there should not be any situation in the direction of Han Xinling tonight, and he led his subordinates to just maintain the momentum of relying on each other with the 5th Company.

Unexpectedly, the cavalry company of the Eighth Route Army, which "put the horse in Nanshan", suddenly encountered a surprise enemy situation in this slack atmosphere.

On the highway adjacent to the Tongpu Railway, the roar of automobile motors sounded from far and near, and then a long series of lights appeared. Xia Lianshan was taken aback, and hurriedly ordered the cavalry to mount their horses and prepare for battle. Through the reflection of the front and rear lights, it can be seen that it is the Japanese army's 94-style truck, but this team of trucks turned their backs to Lingshi County and drove south, which made the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army puzzled: Could it be that the Japanese army guarding Lingshi abandoned the city and fled south?

But after thinking about it, it doesn't seem to be: pre-war intelligence showed that there was only an infantry squad stationed in Lingshi City, and this Japanese automobile team had more than a dozen large trucks, obviously not carrying Lingshi defenders. In a panic, Xia Lianshan did not give the order to attack after all: with more than 30 horsemen and horses on hand, attacking the huge Japanese convoy in front of him was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. Fortunately, no matter who the Japanese troops were carrying in the car, they would all leave the main battlefield tonight and would not pose a threat to the Eighth Route Army of the Central Army, which was engaged in joint operations.

One after another, the big trucks rushed under the noses of the cavalry company of the second battalion of the Xu Brigade with their headlights lit up and quickly disappeared into the night. Seeing this scene, Xia Lianshan just decided to stay here for a while to prevent any changes. He never expected that letting go of this team of trucks would cause what kind of disaster would be done to the Kuomintang and Communist armies that were fighting together tonight!

This group of Japanese trucks was formed and dispatched by order of the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters in Wencheng, and the purpose was to go to the Nantongpu railway line to meet the two infantry squadrons rushing from the direction of Linfen. Part of the truck was ridden by the reinforcements sent by Wencheng along the highway just now, and the other part came from Lingshi County. This was an action taken by the brigade commander of the Japanese army after adjusting the plan for encircling and annihilating the Chinese army tonight. Prepare to let the Linfen reinforcements get off halfway, and take this team of trucks to the direction of Guanmen Mountain in advance. The whole team of trucks had almost no escort troops except for the personnel of the automatic convoy of the Hagiwara Brigade and Regiment Station, in order to move forward empty, so as to carry as many Linfen reinforcements as possible from the train.

If the cavalry company of the Eighth Route Army had understood the emptiness on the trucks and had struck a blow with all its might, it would have been able to kill most of the drivers and paralyze the trucks, then the course of tonight's battle would have changed dramatically. Sadly, this did not happen!