The welcome dinner lasted for almost two hours before it dispersed, and Zhao Mutou, who had been away from the military camp for a long time, was quickly dragged away by the people of the spy company, Qin Zhongxiao knew that they must still have to drink at night, so he didn't stop him much.

Looking at the back of the spy company commander who was surrounded and walked away, the female major of the military commander, who had a sense of alcohol, immediately showed Qin Zhongxiao that when she returned to Wencheng, she still needed to take Company Commander Zhao with her.

Without waiting for the colonel of the Central Army to express his position, Chief of Staff Zhang Hong immediately agreed without saying a word, and offered to propose that in view of the fact that a soldier of the special service company had died heroically while performing his mission in Wencheng, a new person could be selected to return with Wang Suihua.

Qin Zhongxiao, who was on the side, also said on the spot that as long as Major Wang employs people, the elite soldiers of the special service company can be dispatched at any time.

The two commanders of the 391st regiment, of course, knew the importance of the female major of the military commander to them at the moment, so they did not dare to slack off at all.

Wang Suihua was very satisfied, and took advantage of the other party's great expression of loyalty to put forward a request that was inconvenient to say at the wine table just now: send troops to carry out a comprehensive reconnaissance of the small elm mountain that was heavily defended by the Japanese army.

The colonel of the Central Army, who had already made preparations, immediately asked Major Wang to move to the war room of the regiment headquarters, prepare tea, fruits and vegetables, and retreat left and right, leaving only the chief of staff to stay for discussion.

On the sand table in the war room, Qin Zhongxiao personally gave Wang Suihua an explanation of the reconnaissance deployment that had been planned.

According to the intelligence collected and controlled by the 391st Regiment for a long time, the Hagiwara Brigade of the Sena Division of the Japanese Army has a whole wing stationed on the line from Bunjo to Fengdian, which is the Otsuka Infantry Wing. At present, it can be observed that there are three infantry brigades under the jurisdiction of the wing, the first brigade is stationed in Fengdian City, and the third brigade is stationed in the eastern suburbs of Wencheng.

What is more strange is that the whereabouts of its second brigade are unknown. Therefore, it is speculated that the large number of Japanese troops stationed in the Little Elm Mountain that the Eighth Route Army accidentally discovered was most likely the second brigade of the Otsuka Wing.

At this time, Zhang Hong, the chief of staff, picked up the command pole and drew a straight line from east to west on the sand table for the female major of the military commander, which started from Wencheng on Tongpu Road in the east, Fengdian in the west, and crossed the Little Elm Mountain in the middle.

Wang Suihua held a cup of tea in her hand and held it in the air, letting the heat of the tea steam up her cheeks - the mountains in spring were dry and dry, and the woman's pink face always felt extremely uncomfortable - looking down on the sand table so condescendingly, she could make a clear idea: the Japanese Sena Division, which was originally short of troops and could only rely on the north-south direction of the Tongpu Railway Line, actually left the railway line strangely, stretched out a long leg to the east, and kicked straight to Fengdian County on tiptoe. The long legs were put on the little-known Little Elm Mountain.

A sneer appeared on the face of the female major of the military commander, who was surrounded by water vapor: she has become more and more sure, must the Japanese be engaged in some conspiracy in Little Elm Mountain - "Wind Plan"?

"Tuanzao, chief of staff, come and see," Wang Suihua stretched out a jade finger and dotted the long legs in her mind: "If the intelligence is true, then the Japanese army deployed two infantry brigades of the Otsuka Wing in a mountain and a county town far away from the railway line, which cannot but be said to be extremely abnormal." ”

"I'm afraid it's not more than that," Qin Zhongxiao pointed to Wencheng on the railway line and said, "The intelligence from my people has reconnoitred that the troops currently garrisoned in Wencheng City are an independent infantry brigade and a small number of cavalry transferred from Hebei by the Japanese army; The third brigade of the Otsuka United is stationed in the eastern suburbs outside the city of Wencheng, and if you look at it from another angle, this third brigade can also be said to be stationed in the west of Little Elm Mountain! ”

The conclusion made Wang Suihua's heart move suddenly, and he couldn't help but glance at the other party: This point of view is indeed too sharp, so look at it, the three infantry brigades of the Otsuka Wing, one is hiding in the Little Elm Mountain, and the other two are guarding the east and west passes of the Little Elm Mountain on the left and the right respectively! - If there are no secrets in this mountain, no fool will believe it!

"Brothers of the spy company assigned to me, one of whom I have placed in the northern suburbs of Wencheng to guard a branch line of the Tongpu Railway into Little Elm Mountain, has once run a Japanese military train with mysterious whereabouts; I suspect it may one day re-enter Little Elm Mountain. Wang Suihua stared at the center of Little Elm Mountain with her eyes and said unhurriedly.

Zhang Hong nodded thoughtfully: "Since Major Wang is very sure that such a Japanese military column has entered Little Elm Mountain, it is very likely that the location where it stops is the station on the Songjiagou Coal Mine." I have reached a consensus with Tuanzuo that this time we will send people into the mountains to reconnoitre, focusing on the Songjiagou Coal Mine and the area around the railway station. ”

"Very good!"

The female major of the military commander showed a charming smile towards the two commanders of the Central Army. She was already confident that this armed reconnaissance trip would certainly yield great successes.

On the second day after the female major of the military commander left Wencheng, a Japanese military train along the Zhengtai Railway from Hebei to Shanxi arrived in Taiyuan; After adding coal and water at the Taiyuan Railway Station and resting for a while, the military train turned to the Tongpu Iron Road and went straight south, and entered the Wencheng Railway Station in the evening.

The chief of staff of the Hagiwara Brigade of the Sena Division, Kawabe Daisa, was in his headquarters near the train station and summoned six commanders on the military column: the chief and deputy captains of a supplementary infantry brigade, and four squadron leaders.

This supplementary infantry brigade from the North China Front Army has now been officially assigned to the Sena Division in Shanxi. However, according to the plan of the commander of the Hagiwara Akira Brigade, who received the brigade, they did not provide personnel for the two wings of the Hagiwara Brigade, but as an independent garrison, they entered the four railway line counties and towns south of Wencheng in turn to garrison them, and each county and town deployed an infantry squadron, and the brigade headquarters was located in Hanxinling Town.

Therefore, this military train, which was full of 1,000 Japanese troops, only made a short stop at the Wencheng railway station, and the six commanders on the train quickly returned to board the train after receiving an interview from the chief of staff of the brigade and regiment; The military train with the carriage immediately whistled and set off, heading for Lingshi County, Hanxinling Town, Huo County, and Hongdong County. The four infantry squadrons were stationed in four counties and towns in turn to change their defenses, and the troops that had been stationed there were concentrated in the Kato Brigade of the Sena Division in Linfen.

Standing on the platform of the railway station, watching the departure of this extended military train, the chief of staff on the riverside sighed not easily: from now on, the garrison of the four counties and towns along the Tongpu Railway from Hongdong County in the south to Lingshi County in the north has become a new mission that he needs to control and command—a supplementary infantry brigade, except for more than 20 adjutants and lieutenants who have combat experience, the rest are all recruits who have not been on the front line; Such a team will be guarding a hundred-mile-long railway line!

The chief of staff on the riverside had not yet been relieved of this worry, and suddenly, a military three-wheeled motorcycle was speeding along the platform, and one of his staff officers sitting in the car body hurriedly reported to him before he could completely jump out of the car: General Hagiwara had called urgently, asking Osa to go to the brigade headquarters immediately without delay!

The head of the brigade chief of staff couldn't help buzzing, and he realized that something must be quite serious, so he immediately jumped on his three-wheeled motorcycle, and the two cars roared into action, frightening several civilian passengers who had just appeared on the platform in a panic.

The atmosphere in the brigade headquarters was already quite tense, and Kawabe Osa ignored the others and went straight to the office of the brigade commander, Major General. As soon as he entered the door, Hagiwara pointed to a telegram on the table, which was read immediately by his chief of staff.

The telegram was forwarded from the Sena Division Headquarters in Yuncheng, and Kawabe Osa understood after reading a few lines that this was actually a front-line battle report sent by the North China Front Command to the commander of the First Army; The so-called front line is the operation that the Second Army of the Front Army is carrying out in the area of Xuzhou. The report was sent a few days earlier, on April 3.

Reading this long battle report, the brigade chief of staff gradually had a feeling of panic, and at the same time, he could also sense the anxiety of Major General Hagiwara who was pacing around.

"The battle situation in Linyi will slip into such an unbearable situation?!" Kawabe Daisa, who finally raised his head from the message, blurted out a word to his brigade commander.

Hagiwara stomped the floor angrily with his heavy leather boots and roared in a low voice: "Two weeks ago, we held a military seminar in this room to analyze the situation of the Second Army on the battlefield in Shandong; At that time, the battle report showed that the Sakamoto detachment of the Itagaki Division was in Linyi, an important town of the southern Shina Army's defensive line, and although it was blocked, it was at least still taking the offensive. But I never expected that after more than ten days, Linyi not only failed to take it, but the department was heavily damaged by the Chinese army and was forced to retreat! ”

While listening to Hagiwara Akira's complaints, Kawabe Osa lowered his head and flipped through the telegram again: "In a month, the total casualties of the Sakamoto detachment exceeded 3,000, and in the battles of Yihe and Liujiahu alone, one wing captain Dazuo and one team leader Nakazo were killed. What a shame! ”

As soon as the riverside Dazuo finished speaking, the agitated brigade commander Major General actually stepped forward and snatched the telegram from his hand, and said with some trembling trembling on the thin paper: "Of course, it is a great shame for the Imperial Army!" And this is not the first time that the Itagaki Division has suffered such humiliation, think about last year's Pingxingguan! ”

With that, the brigade commander, Major General, raised his hand and threw a three-page message into the air. Seeing this, Dazuo hurriedly leaned down and picked them up one by one.

The Sakamoto detachment that the two men just mentioned was a temporary assault detachment formed by the Itagaki Division of the Second Army of the North China Front, and the detachment leader was the brigade commander of the Sakamoto Brigade of the division: Major General Shun Sakamoto. In addition to an infantry wing of the Sakamoto Brigade, the detachment was also incorporated into the Nagano Wing of the Kunisaki Brigade of the Itagaki Division (the commander of the fallen wing reported in the telegram, that is, Saichiro Nagano of the wing), and the field artillery wing and the mountain artillery squadron were also attached.

However, it was such a powerful Sakamoto detachment, but in the end they fled under the saddle of Linyi City. Of course, this made Akira Hagiwara, who was also the brigade commander and major general, deeply humiliated and angry.

"This battle report is only about the Sakamoto detachment of the Itagaki Division," Hagiwara Akira soothed his emotions and continued to say to his chief of staff: "Just before you came, Lieutenant General Sena specially spoke with me on the phone from Yuncheng, saying that the attack of the Second Army in the direction of Taierzhuang was actually just as difficult, and the Seya detachment of the Isoya Division was making weak progress, and maybe in the next day or two, there would be a battle report from the detachment. Lieutenant General Sena's opinion is already quite pessimistic. ”

Riverside Dazuo's heart suddenly moved, looked at his brigade commander, and asked with some hesitation: "If the situation on the battlefield in Xuzhou goes bad, will the Front Army Headquarters transfer troops from our First Army and rush to the direction of Shandong?" ”

Hagiwara Akira, whose face was grim, did not answer—this is exactly what he and the division commander were most worried about on the phone just now!