The Nantongpu Railway in the vicinity of Lingshi County and Huo County, which had been attacked at night, was quickly restored to traffic thanks to the all-out repair of the Engineer Wing and the Heavy Infantry Wing of the Sena Division; Damaged telephone lines along the way were also reconnected.

When the communication between Yuncheng on the Jinnan front and Wencheng in the rear resumed, the first long-distance call that the commander of the Hagiwara Akira Brigade received was from the division commander, Lieutenant General Sena.

The phone call lasted nearly 20 minutes, during which many messages were simultaneously sent from the division headquarters in Yuncheng to the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters in Wencheng.

When the call was finally over, Brigade Commander Hagiwara Akira noticed that a number of telecommunications and operational staff officers were already standing at the door waiting for their orders—the staff officers had learned from the telegrams they had just received that a large-scale operation in Shanxi was imminent.

Major General Hagiwara ignored these staff officers for the first time, he slowly paced to the mahogany table clock by the wall, took out his delicate general's saber from the knife holder also made of mahogany, slowly drew half of it, and then turned to look at the subordinates at the door.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Hagiwara said, pulling the saber out of its sheath completely, and the blade was facing everyone, "Once a soldier's sword is unsheathed, it must be stained with the blood of the enemy, and now, it's time for the Imperial Army to show its blade!" ”

The staff officers standing at the door stomped their feet almost at the same time, and mustered up all their strength to shout: Hey!

This is a large-scale siege campaign that is about to affect the strength of four divisions. Lieutenant General Sena, who had just called from the headquarters of the Yuncheng Division, was only one of the executors, and the commander-in-chief who really instigated this battle was the North China Front Headquarters in Beiping.

This can be regarded as a thunderous decision made by the Front Army Command under shock and anger-

Since the beginning of March, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army of the Zhina Army and Xu Division have crossed the Zhengtai Road in a big way and entered the Taihang Mountains in a big way, with Qin County and Wuxiang County as the center, and the forward has gone as far as Xiangyuan County in southern Jinnan, directly threatening the main road connecting the front army with Hebei and Shanxi: the Handan (Dan) Chang (Zhi) Highway. At the same time, the main force of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division also followed the Xu Division into the Taihang Mountains and deployed in the areas of Liao County and Yushe County, not only as the rear wing escort of the Xu Division, but also to return to attack the Zhengtai Railway at any time.

The Handan-Chang Highway and the Zhengtai Railway were the two only routes from Hebei to Shanxi, and the front army relied on these two routes for the supply of the Shangang Division, the Sena Division, and the Xiayuan Division sent by the First Army to garrison Shanxi. Therefore, in response to this movement of the Eighth Route Army, the Front Army Command has been paying close attention to it; It was also preliminarily decided to concentrate relevant forces in April to expel and annihilate the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains to prevent future troubles.

However, the most feared thing still happened one step ahead: in mid-March, the main force of the Xu Division of the Eighth Route Army adopted cunning siege tactics to attack the city and send reinforcements, and in the Shentouling area of Changzhi County, Handchang Highway, vile the detachment sent by the Xiayuan Division, causing more than 1,000 officers and soldiers of the imperial army to be shattered;

Then, at the end of March, in the Xiangtangpu area of Licheng County, Handchang Highway, there was another vicious incident in which the Xu Division of the Eighth Route Army attacked the baggage transport unit of the Front Army;

Only one day later, Lingshi County and Huo County on the Nantongpu Railway were attacked by the Zhina Army that was wandering nearby, and the communication facilities along the Tongpu Railway and along the line were destroyed to varying degrees.

-- In a short period of half a month, the public order situation in the southeastern and south-central parts of Shanxi has deteriorated sharply, and the rapid progress of the breakthrough of the Chinese Army has taken the headquarters of the front army by surprise. Not only is the main road transport artery connecting Hebei and Shanxi in danger of being cut off, but the secret camp in Little Elm Mountain, which is secretly carrying out the plan to forcibly recruit comfort women, is also potentially seriously threatened.

For this reason, the North China Front Army Command urgently deployed an operational plan to the First Army Command in Taiyuan, ordering the army to mobilize its four divisions and regiments to concentrate on besieging the Taihang Mountains in the southeast of Shanxi and eliminating the main force of the Eighth Route Army of the China Army and some remnants of the Central Army in that area. The operational plan brooks no delay, and the unified implementation will begin on 4 April.

After receiving the order, Lieutenant General Kiyoshi Kazuki, commander of the First Army, immediately drew up a specific siege plan in accordance with the operational objectives of the front army, decided to carry out the attack in nine directions from four directions, and communicated it to the commanders of the four divisions under his command to deploy separately.

According to the siege plan of the First Army, the 1st Tufeiyuan Division attacked west from Pinghan Road in Hebei, the 1st Xiayuan Division attacked north from Hanchang Road, the 1st Shangang Division attacked south from Zhengtai Road, and the 1st Sena Division attacked east from Tongpu Road.

Three of these four-way siege plans were to directly occupy the Taihang Mountains, with the task of eliminating the main force of the Eighth Route Army and the rest of the Central Army in the mountainous areas. Only Sena's division was given a special task: to annihilate the remnants of the Shina Army in the area of Guanmen Mountain and Daeyushu Mountain, so as to completely clean up the law and order in the vicinity of Xiaoyushu Mountain, and ensure the absolute safety of the comfort women's camp and the Namtongpu railway line.

The Sena Division Headquarters naturally entrusted this task to the commander of the Hagiwara Brigade, who was sitting in Bunjo.

Just now, on the phone, Lieutenant General Sena focused on listening to Akira Hagiwara's assessment of the strength of the Shina Army in the area of Guanmen Mountain and Mt. Oyushu, which was a new assessment made by Hagiwara's brigade after the attack on Lingshi and Huo counties on the Tongpu railway line. However, since most of the intelligence and reconnaissance personnel just dispatched by the brigade headquarters had not yet returned, Major General Hagiwara could only make a rough deduction by summarizing the battlefield of the various units that participated in the battle after the night battle.

Although the division commander lieutenant general was not satisfied with this kind of deduction, he had no choice but to accept the hasty incident.

"Hagiwara-kun, you must know that both the Front Army Headquarters and the First Army Headquarters attach great importance to the safety around Little Elm Mountain;" Lieutenant General Sena admonished anxiously: "For this reason, I do not hesitate to order the main force of our division to suspend the general attack that will be launched in the direction of Nakajo Mountain, transfer the powerful troops of the front line back to the division Wencheng, and give priority to destroying the Shina Army on Guanmen Mountain and Great Elm Mountain." ”

Hearing this, Hagiwara Akira was excited, this was undoubtedly an exciting news: "General, has Your Excellency already considered the formation of the troops to be transferred?" ”

Hearing such a question from the commander of the Hagiwara Brigade, Lieutenant General Sena's heart moved, he had already planned to transfer one or two infantry brigades from the Kato Brigade in Linfen, and then deliver them to Hagiwara Akira together with the two squadrons that are still stranded in the county seat of Huoxian; At this time, he asked the other party what kind of troop transfer suggestion he had.

Sure enough, the commander of the Hagiwara Brigade had Naritake in his chest, and immediately proposed to request that the Saijo Wing, to which the brigade belongs, be transferred to the establishment!

The division commander, Lieutenant General, hesitated: The Saijo Wing is not currently used on the Jinnan front, but the Jin army that is attacking Yan Xishan in the southwest of Shanxi. Under the command of the Third Major General of Benchuan Province, the regiment attacked the areas of Laochao Xi County, Pu County, and Xiangning County in the southwest of Shanxi Province, but the progress was extremely unsmooth. At this time, if the Saijo Wing was transferred to the Hagiwara Brigade to be rebuilt, it would be tantamount to taking a salary from the bottom of the kettle for Major General Motokawa, who was already in trouble.

However, Hagiwara Akira has his own reasoning: the southwest region of Shanxi Province is surrounded by mountains and mountains, and the mountains are high and the water is dangerous, which is not conducive to the participation of troops from the horse-pulling system (suitable for plain operations) divisions like the Saijo Wing; In addition, in addition to a large number of descendants of Yan Xishan, there are also the main guerrilla attacks of the Chen Brigade of the Eighth Route Army's Forest Division, and the time, place, and people are all in the hands of the enemy, and it is difficult to deal with. Since the beginning of the offensive of the mixed brigade led by Major General Motokawa in mid-February, it has fallen into a tug-of-war in which it has been exhausted, and it has become deeper and deeper, and the battle losses and attrition have continued to intensify, and it has become the most passive part of the entire Shanxi battlefield.

"Your Excellency General, I think that in this big chess game in Shanxi, the corners of southwest Shanxi have become an endless series of catastrophes, and in the case of the shortage of troops in our division, we should resolutely consider abandoning the son - transfer our Saijo Wing to be rebuilt immediately, and strengthen and consolidate the law and order in the area of Wencheng and Xiaoyushu Mountain!"

Hagiwara Akira put forward this idea, the commander of the Sena Division did not fail to consider it, but first, the southwest Jin operation involved cooperation with brother divisions; Second, if the southwestern Shanxi region is unstable, Yan Xishan's Jin army, including the Eighth Route Army Forestry Division, may at any time invade the adjacent Nantongpu railway line, and the main force of the elbow division will fight on the front of Zhongtiao Mountain. Therefore, although the war situation in that area had become a chicken rib, Lieutenant General Sena still gritted his teeth to support, and even did not hesitate to squeeze out the heavy transportation tasks of the Nantongpu railway line and provide secondary supplies of heavy food and ammunition to the mixed brigade commanded by General Motokawa.

However, the current situation has changed drastically, and the remnants of the Chinese Army in the vicinity of Guanmen Mountain and Da Yushu Mountain not only threaten the safety of the comfort women's secret camp in Xiaoyu Mountain, but have also fled to the Nantongpu Railway to carry out attacks and harassment a few days ago, and the rear of the entire division and the transportation lifeline are in danger.

Lieutenant General Sena, who had two evils in his hand and had a telephone receiver in his hand, finally made up his mind to agree to the proposal of the commander of the Hagiwara Brigade on the other end of the phone: to transfer the Saijo Wing from southwest Shanxi to Jianbunjo Castle to deal with the sudden crisis.

Hagiwara was thrilled when he heard this, and said that he would live up to the support and high hopes of His Excellency the division commander, completely exterminate the remnants of the enemy at Guanmen Mountain and Great Elm Mountain, and correct the security in the rear of the division and regiment.

However, Lieutenant General Sena also added to the task of the brigade commander under his command: after the withdrawal of the Saijo Wing from the southwest of Shanxi, it will be divided into a brigade to be responsible for the garrison of the counties and towns along the Tongpu Road north of Linfen, and the four infantry squadrons of the brigade will be stationed in Hongdong County, Huo County, Hanxinling and Lingshi County in turn; On this basis, the main force of the Saijo Wing returned to Shibunjo Castle as a mobile force for the Hagiwara Brigade. The four prefectures and towns mentioned above were originally garrisoned by a small number of troops from the division's Kato Brigade, and each county and town had only one or two infantry squads, and the defensive strength was weak.

The commander of the Hagiwara Brigade, in a hurry to promise and promise, put down the phone of the division commander, Lieutenant General. Now, he confidently drew his saber and aimed it at the Zhina army on Guanmen Mountain and Great Elm Mountain.

The entire brigade headquarters smelled the smell of bloody rain and bloody wind.