The battle in Ewhapu did not interfere too much with the pace of preparation of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Lin Division, especially after learning that the joint operation plan of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army had been completed, they more consciously accelerated the pace of their fierce troops.

However, this time, the rapid maneuvering action of the Japanese army (which has been ascertained to be from the Otsuka Wing of the Sena Division of the old enemy Sena) swept through five villages in one afternoon with only one infantry squadron in a car, but it gave Wu Zijian great stimulation and inspiration from the other side, and he felt that it was necessary to free his team from the current situation of dividing troops and defending them, and strengthen some of the mobile combat capabilities.

For this reason, Wu Zijian temporarily made a relatively bold plan to adjust the defense area, and decided to change Wang Shuanglong's 6th Company into an exclusive defense force in two base areas at the foot of Guanmen Mountain: two platoons stayed in Xiping Village, and two platoons were transferred to Hekou Village to take over the defense; The 5th Company was pulled out as a whole and stationed in Xiping Village, where it became a mobile unit together with the 7th Company.

Hekou Village, because of its proximity to Fengdian County, which was occupied by the Japanese army, could be called the defensive outpost of the Second Battalion, and Wu Zijian was most worried about it in the past; But at present, they have united with the 391st Central Army, and the regiment is stationed on the side of Fengdian, which constitutes a strong containment of the combat strength of the Japanese puppet army in the county; Therefore, as far as Hekou Village is concerned, the current defensive pressure should be mostly resolved, and it is obviously not cost-effective to leave the 5th Company, the most elite company of the battalion, there.

The deputy commander of the second battalion specially did Wang Shuanglong's ideological work. The reason for this choice was that he also took a fancy to the defensive combat capabilities of Wang Shuanglong and the 6th Company: in the last anti-night raid battle, the 6th Company almost single-handedly supported the frontal defense line of Xiping Village, winning valuable time and space for the safe transfer of the battalion headquarters. This time, he asked the deputy company commander of the 6th Company to lead two platoons and stay in charge of the outer defense of Xiping Village; The commander of the 6th Company and the company instructor personally led two platoons into Hekou, and deployed one platoon each in Guanmen Mountain Pass and Hekou Village, with the focus on defending Guanmen Mountain Pass. Wu Zijian's idea was that Hekou Village was small in scale and lacked a strategic barrier, so it would not be used as a necessary defense area in the future, so that the people in the village would be as little affected by the war as possible.

However, the pass of Guanmen Mountain must be strictly guarded, because it is the gate to the Hongxingxia base in the mountain, and there is absolutely no room for failure. Wang Shuanglong himself personally took charge of the mountain pass, and the heavy machine gun platoon of the battalion headquarters that had just been established was abolished, and the two Japanese-style 92 heavy machine guns that had been erected at the fortifications at the mountain pass were all assigned to the command of the 6th Company. The other two heavy machine guns, the Maxim and the newly repaired Min 24, were assigned to the 5th and 7th companies, respectively.

In this way, the second battalion took out one company to guard the defense area, but freed up two whole companies as a future mobile combat force. Wang Shuanglong once expressed concern about such an arrangement, believing that Xiping Village was a vast area, and he was afraid that he would not be able to support it by relying only on his deputy company commander to lead two platoons to carry out defensive tasks. Wu Zijian wanted him to rest assured that the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, which had just been contacted, had already controlled the area of Pingquan County south of Xiping Village, and could be used as a friendly and neighboring barrier in that direction. What's more, the 5th and 7th companies of the 2nd Battalion, the cavalry company, the battalion headquarters, and the artillery platoon directly under it were all stationed in Xiping and could participate in defensive operations at any time.

This just-adjusted deployment has greatly stimulated the troops' desire to fight; In particular, Li Tianlin was tired of the step-by-step guard tasks of the 5th Company, which had escaped from the defense, and now all the infantry of the six platoons of his company were armed with Type 38 and medium formal rifles, and had three Czech-style light machine guns and a Makqin heavy machine gun, and Wu Zijian even assigned the only grenadier and two shooters that originally belonged to the artillery platoon to the 5th Company.

"Company Commander Li, I'm sorry, this grenadier is gone." Zhao Yejiao, the new artillery platoon commander, explained to Li Tianlin with a smile when he handed over the equipment and personnel; Now his artillery platoon has sent away two grenadiers and cleanly left three mortars, which makes him, who is an authentic artilleryman of the Central Army, feel very happy.

"It's okay, just have a tube," Li Tianlin was of course happier, and couldn't put it down rubbing the half-new Japanese-style grenadier that he called the tube: "As long as the war starts, Lao Tzu will have a way to get * from the Japanese!" ”

Looking at the strong 5th Company around him, Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, of course, had to be jealous. Only half of the infantry in the four platoons of the 7th Company used the 38 Dagai and Zhongcheng, and the rest were still made by Hanyang and Gongxian; There was only one Czech-style light machine gun, and the other was a Japanese-style crooked handle that was not very clever to use; Although the heavy machine gun was the same as the 5th Company, the opponent finally had an extra grenadier.

There is no way - Wei Xin swallowed his saliva stupidly, he knew that the 5th Company had always been the sharp knife of the 2nd Battalion, not to mention that Wu Zijian was still the former commander of the 5th Company. However, just when the commander of the 7th Company was depressed, an unexpected thing happened: his sister-in-law Liu Wumei suddenly appeared in Xiping Village with a few subordinates.

The trip of the female bandit leader of the Black Stone Cliff to the mountain was by no means a whim. Because she had been repaired with the second battalion of Lin Shixu Brigade, Liu Wumei no longer had to worry about avoiding the Eighth Route Army, this time, she took her master, three bodyguards and her cousin Xiaoju, swaggered forward to the mountain pass near Hekou Village at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, and carried the deputy commander of the second battalion and the 7th company commander to her as a "road". She first went to Xiping Village to meet the commander of the Eighth Route Army and her brother-in-law, and then the party went to Wencheng.

Wang Shuanglong, the commander of the 6th Company, who had just taken over the defense at Guanmen Mountain Pass and Hekou Village, was already aware of a series of grievances between this female bandit leader and the 2nd Battalion, and out of prudence, he still sent someone to "escort" Liu Wumei and her party to Xiping.

Wu Zijian's battalion headquarters received the report first, and the deputy battalion commander, who was quite surprised, thought for a moment and felt that it would be better to be received by Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company: You can first probe the tone of these uninvited guests, and then decide whether to come forward in person.

Wei Xin, who was originally blushing at the excellent equipment of the brothers' company, couldn't help but be surprised and delighted when he learned that the "righteous sister" in the Black Stone Cliff bandits' lair had arrived. What is surprising is that since I recognized this righteous sister, there have been troubles one after another, and it is easy to calm down recently, but she came to the door uninvited. The good news is that Wu Zijian, the deputy battalion commander, has clearly ordered him to be responsible for persuading the adoption of this green * suit in the future, and according to his current mastery, Liu Wumei's men have more than 100 people, half a hundred long and short guns of military standard, two earthen cannons, two light machine guns, and some civilian firearms such as shotguns and birds, and it is reported that the ammunition is very abundant - there is no doubt that this is a strong armament; If it can really be successfully integrated, not only can the ranks of the second battalion be expanded, but the 7th company under his command will also be able to take the opportunity to improve the equipment level.

With such a mentality, Wei Xin, as the eldest brother, met with his little sister.

Before coming to the camp of the Eighth Route Army, the master of the Black Stone Cliff Cottage once warned the big boss without worry, mentioning that the two exchanges of fire between the two sides had caused the Eighth Route Army to be quite damaged, and the people in the cottage could defend the danger before, and they could not do anything to Liu Wumei; However, today's big boss has to go deep into the opponent's camp lightly, and once the Eighth Route Army remembers the old grudges, the situation will be quite dangerous.

Liu Wumei naturally knew the risks mentioned by her master, but she relied on the handwritten letters written by Wu Zijian and Wei Xin, and she also knew very well that this small group of people of the Eighth Route Army, who had penetrated deep into the hinterland of central and southern Jin, was currently in a very difficult situation of internal and external troubles.

Sure enough, in Xiping Village, the female bandit leader saw the smiling brother and company commander, and served wine and food in his headquarters for the first time, although it was not rich, but for the Eighth Route Army, which had always been thrifty, it was quite rare.

After some greetings, the sharp-eyed Liu Wumei found that Wei Xin's coat had a cowhide armed belt tied around his waist, but he was not wearing any weapons, so she blurted out and asked:

"Big brother, where is the German mirror box that my little sister gave you? Why don't you see you wearing it? ”

Of course, Wei Xin would not say that he was given to the instructor by the deputy battalion commander Shunshui, but he couldn't bear to deceive this righteous sister who sincerely gave him such a valuable gift: "The battalion has to carry out secret tasks, and the short guns are not enough, so they will all be collected again." It is the duty of a soldier to obey orders. ”

Liu Wumei couldn't help but feel a little melancholy, the Mauser military box gun was a new product from the factory in recent years, and she herself loved it very much, and the original intention was to give it to the eldest brother and let him also have the scenery in the team, but unexpectedly it still failed to stay in the hands of the eldest brother.

"Are you going to Wencheng for a few more days?" Sensing the loss of his sister-in-law, Wei Xin hurriedly changed the topic: "Now that the army is in chaos, it's best not to stay there for too long and return to the cottage as soon as possible." ”

The master sitting on the side keenly felt a hint of strangeness from the words of the company commander of the Eighth Route Army, and pretended to ask casually: Is there any news from Chief Wei? Is there going to be a war over there?

Wei Xin couldn't help but be surprised, he didn't expect this thin old man to be so sensitive, and hurriedly covered it up: Of course the war is to be fought, the Japanese occupy Wencheng, and our Eighth Route Army is an anti-Japanese team, and sooner or later we will have to pull the team over and confront them.

The master glanced at Wei Xin meaningfully, and did not answer again.

At this moment, both sides ambushed each other with their own hearts: the people of Heishi Cliff did not tell the Eighth Route Army that they opened a famous Baoyuan restaurant in Wencheng, and the second owner was the shopkeeper of the restaurant, and they went to Wencheng to go to the restaurant; Of course, Wei Xin can't leak the combat operation with the 391st Regiment of the Central Army to jointly attack the Nantongpu railway line to the other party, he can only hope that Liu Wumei and her party will return as soon as possible, so as not to catch up with this war.

After eating and drinking for a while, Wei Xin cautiously re-mentioned the matter of the integration of the cottage armed forces, and asked Liu Wumei what her intentions were. In front of the master, the female bandit leader of the Black Stone Cliff was also refreshed, admitting that this matter was not something that could be done with his subordinates, most of them still liked to occupy the mountain as the king, especially a group of people led by the black donkey of the three masters - the last time after the fierce conflict between the cottage and the Eighth Route Army, Liu Wumei taught the unruly black donkey a hard lesson, but in order to maintain the overall situation of the cottage, she couldn't punish the black donkey too much after all, so as not to get out of control.

When it comes to the black donkey of the three masters, the company commander of the Eighth Route Army is angry, if it wasn't for the efforts of that guy last time, the situation would definitely not have developed to that sinister point. It seems that the current control ability of this righteous sister over the entire Black Stone Cliff Armed Forces has not yet reached the level of arbitrariness, and the matter of incorporation can only be done slowly step by step.

This will inevitably disappoint Deputy Battalion Commander Wu!