As the chairman of the Central Army, Qin Zhongxiao has always looked down on the local miscellaneous armed forces, Shanxi's Jin Sui army sequence, except for Fu Zuoyi's old Suiyuan department made him a little admired, Yan Xishan's Jin army's combat effectiveness in Qin Zhongxiao's mind, is simply not worth showing. This was the case in last year's Battle of Northern Jin and the Battle of Xinkou, and the cowardly performance of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army in this year's Fengdian Defense Battle deepened this prejudice of the colonel of the Central Army.

"I thought that the two regiments of the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade had long been frightened by the Japanese and fled to pieces, but I really didn't expect that these turtle grandchildren would still exist in formation!"

His eyes were fixed on the point of Pingquan County marked on the military map on the table, and Qin Zhongxiao's face turned pale.

Zhang Hong, the chief of staff on the side, said in a very indifferent tone, saying that since Chief Yan had recently lost the location of the Second World War Zone Headquarters, he was afraid that he would not have the energy and heart to punish the few brigade commanders and regiment commanders under his command by military law.

"After Tian Mingda's 570th Regiment escaped from Fengdian, he went directly to Wencheng to find the main force of their brigade, and then Wencheng was quickly lost without a fight; Now it seems that after the 12th Brigade joined forces, it fled south along Tongpu Road, all the way to Pingquan County. While analyzing, Qin Zhongxiao poked the three words of Pingquan County on the map with his thick fingers.

Pingquan County is located about 30 miles east of Hanxinling on Tongpu Road, and its county seat is 70 miles to the north, which is Xiping Village at the foot of Guanmen Mountain.

"Report! Zhu Xingyun, the commander of the sixth company of the second battalion, returned from Hekou Village, Guanmenshan, and brought two people from the Eighth Route Army to visit their cavalry. ”

Zhu Xingyun in the report of the star officer on duty was the liaison officer sent by the 391st Regiment to the garrison of the Eighth Route Army in Guanmen Mountain a few days ago, Qin Zhongxiao couldn't help but look up to the sky and laughed, and bluntly said that today is a "angelica" day; In his loud laughter, Captain Zhu Xingyun, commander of the sixth company of the second battalion, strode into the regiment headquarters.

Compared with the information brought back from Pingquan County by the soldier under the commander of the special agent company, the information of Liaison Officer Zhu is obviously richer and more eye-catching. Qin Zhongxiao only listened to a few points, and then ordered to convene a meeting of the battalion and company-level officers of the whole regiment to collectively listen to the latest intelligence summary outside the mountain.

According to the information gathered from various parties, the main force of the Sena Division of the Japanese Army fighting along Nantongpu Road was the Kato Brigade, with the help of field artillery, railway troops, and cavalry, and it is reported that the tank (tank and armored vehicle) unit was newly added. The second theater of the national army suffered successive defeats, and the main force of the Central Army of Chief Wei had retreated to the line of Yuncheng in southern Jin, while the main force of the Jin army of Chief Yan retreated to the southwest corner of Jin and prepared to cross the Yellow River in Shaanxi.

The Otsuka Wing of the Hagiwara Brigade of the Sena Division is now stationed in Tunfengdian, Little Elm Mountain, and Wencheng.

The 570th Regiment of the 12th Independent Brigade of the Jin Army, which had assisted in the defense of Fengdian and escaped from the battle, joined forces with the main force of the brigade in Wencheng, and after losing Wencheng, it is now ascertained that it has retreated to Pingquan County, south of Jinnan, east of the Tongpu Railway Line, and the main force still exists.

The 2nd Battalion of the Forest Division of the Eighth Route Army was attacked by the Japanese puppet army at night and suffered heavy losses, but it has now begun to regain control of the two garrisons of Hekou Village and Xiping Village.

"Gentlemen, in summing up, the following conclusions may be drawn;" Qin Zhongxiao stood in front of the large map hanging on the wall of the regiment headquarters and began to lecture: "The main force of the Sena Division of the Japanese Army has basically defeated the main force of our second theater of operations, and is about to control most of Shanxi, especially its operation along the Nantongpu Road is extremely rapid, and it can be judged that its ultimate goal is Fenglingdu, the southernmost part of Shanxi, so as to open up the Tongpu Railway and realize the opening of the entire line of the Tongpu Road. ”

The colonel of the Central Army, wielding a slender command baton in his hand, repeatedly sketched from top to bottom along the long Tongpu railway line on the map of the wall; More than a dozen subordinate officers sitting opposite him followed the movement of the command baton, and soon, a company commander couldn't help but blurt out:

"Tuanza, is Shanxi finally dying?"

The room fell silent, and there was a silence of embarrassment and shame.

Qin Zhongxiao glanced at his chief of staff, who was restlessly twisting his body with his head bowed in his seat; The other battalion commanders and company commanders mostly looked directly at themselves, waiting for his response.

"Well, you can't simply generalize," Qin Zhongxiao put the command stick in the palm of his hand and played: "In other words, you can't judge the victory or defeat of a big battle based on the gains and losses on the surface. Although the Sena Division of the Japanese Army will soon occupy the entire Tongpu Road, I have long said that the Japanese have only deployed two divisions and more than 40,000 soldiers and horses in Shanxi, and with these forces, they will not be able to effectively control the entire territory of Shanxi. ”

As he spoke, Qin Zhongxiao pointed his baton to the large map behind him again: "Just take the Great Elm Mountain where we are located, for example, my 391st Regiment is stationed in the Great Elm Mountain, and at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, more than 30 miles to the south, there is the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division; Pingquan County, 70 miles to the south, has just discovered the relocation of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army. You see, within a hundred miles of the parallel to the Nantongpu Railway Line, there is a regiment of the Central Army, a battalion of the Eighth Route Army, and a brigade of the Jin Army, and that's not counting the other places——"

"Tuanzao, Yan Laoxi's 12th Brigade, can it still be counted as an army?"

The commander of the first battalion, who had not recovered from his injuries, suddenly interrupted the words of the colonel of the Central Army in a puff.

The room fell silent again, and this time, the embarrassment was written on Qin Zhongxiao's face: Indeed, with the embarrassing behavior of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army in Fengdian and Wencheng, it is indeed no longer worthy of being called a soldier.

The chief of staff, who was sitting next to the battalion commander, patted the other party's thigh at this time, signaling him to listen to the regimental seat with peace of mind first.

Qin Zhongxiao coughed deliberately contrivedly, but did not avoid the first battalion commander's questioning: "The 12th Brigade of the Independent 12th Brigade escaped from the battle in the two battles to defend the city, and was even refuted by domestic news organizations, which is really a shame for our soldiers in the War of Resistance. However, at the moment of the Japanese invasion, as long as the 12th Independent Brigade has not surrendered to the enemy, this unit will still be in the sequence of our second theater of operations; According to the local observation of our personnel in Pingquan County, the current strength of the brigade should be above 2,000 guns, and Pingquan County is an important town in the south of Jin, and the existence of this force will pose a threat to the nearby Nantongpu Road, which is a reality that the Japanese army has to distract himself from. ”

"The situation of the Anti-Japanese War in Shanxi is tense, and at this moment, any Chinese army should become a friendly army that we can rely on." The one who interjected was Captain Zhu Xingyun, the commander of the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion, who had just returned from contacting the Eighth Route Army in Hekou Village, Guanmen Mountain.

Hearing this, Chief of Staff Zhang Hong frowned imperceptibly, he had never advocated too close intersections with the Communist army, which did not conform to the meaning of the upper peak and the upper peak of the upper peak. Wu Zijian glanced at Zhu Xingyun with appreciation, and continued:

"That's right, the 2nd Battalion of the Eighth Route Army's Forest Division stationed at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain won a great victory at Pingxingguan in northern Shanxi last year, and the whole battalion participated in the attack on the 1st Brigade of the Miura Brigade of the Itagaki Division; Also, during the Spring Festival of this year, when our regiment fought a bloody battle with the Japanese Otsuka Wing in Fengdian, the battalion ambushed the cavalry wing of the Sena Division in the valley of Xiaoyushu Mountain west of Fengdian; After arriving in the area of Guanmen Mountain, they beat the cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army, and when our regiment counterattacked Fengdian, they attacked the first part of the Otsuka Wing. Therefore, the Japanese puppet army in this area held a grudge against it and launched a night attack on the Eighth Route Army Defense Area of Guanmen Mountain. ”

The commander of the first battalion interjected again at this time: "Tuanzao, listen to the sixth company commander, the morale of this Eighth Route Army is still there, should we join forces with them, go to Fengdian, or simply go to the Tongpu Railway in the Wencheng area, and do it alone!?" ”

The officers came alive and the atmosphere became somewhat warm; Obviously, the proposal of the first battalion commander made these elites of the Central Army, who had been dormant for a long time, feel excited.

Qin Zhongxiao was very satisfied with the fighting spirit of the officers under him, which was undoubtedly what he needed the most at the moment. Of course, he also noticed the hesitant look of Chief of Staff Zhang Hong, who was sitting in the first row, but he ignored it; From the bottom of his heart, he also understood the precautionary precautions of the upper peaks against the communist army, but now that the 391st Regiment was separated from the main force and hung alone behind the enemy, as Zhu Xingyun, the commander of the sixth company, said, any Chinese friendly army is worth relying on. What's more, the Second Battalion of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division is really a strong force.

"The second battalion of the Lin Division, we have established a good relationship with it, and the two armies have cooperated for a short time, and the results are good, if it were not for the change in military conditions, we would have been ready to carry out a planned coalition operation. As long as the time is ripe in the coming days, the 391st Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the Forest Division will definitely cooperate again. Therefore, whether it is about the overall situation of Shanxi or the current situation of our regiment, you should not be pessimistic. ”

Qin Zhongxiao said this in front of more than a dozen middle-level officers under him, naturally he had his own plan. As soon as the meeting ended, he asked the chief of staff, the commander of the first battalion, and the liaison officer Zhu Xingyun to stay, and the four of them continued to hold a small meeting around the sand table of the regiment headquarters.

Zhu Xingyun, the liaison officer who returned from the foot of Guanmen Mountain, brought back a topographic map of Xiaoyushu Mountain delivered by Wu Zijian, deputy commander of the second battalion of the Forestry Division; Through Zhu Xingyun's retelling, the colonel of the Central Army learned that Wu Zijian had actually fulfilled the contract and led his troops to lurk into Little Elm Mountain, and it was only because the 391st Regiment was forced to withdraw from the county seat when the Japanese heavy troops suddenly returned to Shifengdian, which led to the abortion of the joint attack plan of the two armies. At that time, Wang Suihua, a female major at the Shanxi Station of the Military Command, was still supervising the battle at the regimental headquarters.

The deputy battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army not only hand-painted the topography map of the interior of Xiaoyushu Mountain, but also verbally described to Zhu Xingyun the Japanese army's strong transformation and strict vigilance of the roads in the valley, and although the ambush troops led by Wu Zijian did not launch an attack on the Japanese troops in the mountain, they witnessed the scene of the Japanese army using the widened and repaired roads in the valley to transport troops on a large scale.

Qin Zhongxiao's expression became grim, and he faintly realized that what Wu Zijian saw in Little Elm Mountain coincided with the idea of the female major of the Shanxi Station of the Military Commander insisting that the 391st Regiment attack Little Elm Mountain: The Japanese must be making some big moves in the mountain, so they attracted the attention of the military commander. In the past, Qin Zhongxiao had guessed with the chief of staff, but now with the evidence of the Eighth Route Army, it is more and more solid.

Do you want to re-plan the attack on Little Elm Mountain?

As soon as Qin Zhongxiao's idea was spoken, Chief of Staff Zhang Hong immediately expressed his opposition, for very simple reasons: first, the 391st Regiment had already abandoned Fengdian County and reshrunk into Big Elm Mountain. Second, the Second Battalion of the Eighth Route Army's Forest Division has just suffered a new defeat, and its combat effectiveness will definitely be greatly reduced.

The commander of the first battalion couldn't help but nod, admiring the quick analysis made by the chief of staff; The reason why Qin Zhongxiao left the commander of the first battalion to participate in the small meeting was that he wanted to use the first battalion to carry out the next step of the mountain operation; But seeing that the commander of the first battalion also lacked confidence in attacking Little Elm Mountain, he suddenly hesitated. Unexpectedly, before he could speak again, the telecommunications staff officer of the regimental headquarters suddenly ran forward:

"Report, Major Wang, the military commander, is calling from Wencheng!"