In the mind of Kosuke Otsuka, the commander of the Japanese army, the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, which once defended Wencheng, was really not a qualified army. At that time, after his wing conquered Fengdian County, he quickly followed the mountain road of Xiaoyushu Mountain and went out to the Tongpu railway line and launched an attack on Wencheng. In my memory, the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, which defended the city, only fought with the strikers of the Otsuka United outside the city for one round, and then began an uncontrolled rout; They even foolishly set up a dense formation of people in the unsheltered wilderness on the eastern outskirts of Wencheng, only to be bombarded by the artillery fire of the imperial army, and immediately suffered heavy casualties. Subsequently, the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade hurriedly abandoned Wencheng and fled along the railway line. It can be said that the Otsuka United's acquisition of Wencheng can be called bloodless.

From this point of view, it seems that the only advantage of this ragtag army of Yan Xishan is the large number of people - after ending the call with Kosuke Otsuka, the commander of the Japanese brigade and the head of the secret service analyzed it again. According to previous intelligence, the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army belongs to the local troops that the Military Commission of the Chinese government has not yet had time to reorganize, and the establishment is relatively bloated and huge, with two regiments and six battalions under the jurisdiction of the brigade, with a total strength of nearly 3,000 people; Although it has suffered several battle losses, the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade, which has retreated to Pingquan County, still has nearly 2,000 people.

"The advantage of having a large number of people should not be underestimated," Hagiwara Akira looked at Masao Kojima and said slowly: "The army of the Shina people is good at grabbing territory, and the large number of people just provides support for grabbing territory. If this 12th Brigade of the Jin Army takes Pingquan County as its old nest and sends a small force to expand its territory in our direction, do you think what kind of threat it will pose to us? ”

Kojima Masao was a little puzzled for a while, he thought, since the combat effectiveness of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army is average, even if they move stupidly out of Pingquan County and seize some rural territory, as long as the imperial army sends troops to sweep it, when it can be defeated anytime and anywhere, what is the threat?

Suddenly, the head of the secret service felt a chill in his heart, and his eyes met the brigade commander Major General who was sitting behind a wide desk, and with this look, he immediately determined that the brigade commander was thinking of the same problem as him: the secret arrest of comfort women!

Previously, they had just drawn up a plan for a capture team led by the head of the gendarmerie, Teriichi Hirai, to search for and arrest Shina women in the countryside south of Bunjo; Although Pingquan County is separated from Wencheng by 100 miles, if the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army sends troops to expand northward, it will be just in front of Pingjing Temple's southward action. A few days ago, the unfavorable arrest team encountered a small unit of the Eighth Route Army, and in the future, will they encounter a small unit of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army?!

The "small force" of the Shina Army must not be underestimated, because out of secrecy, Hirai Tereichi's arrest team also acted in the form of a small force, and once it encountered the other party, under the premise that the number was not superior, it was difficult to say that the dangerous scene in Ewhapo would not be repeated.

Kojima Masao expressed his concerns, and the brigade commander, Major General, asked him to immediately send people out of Pingquan County to reconnoiter the number and size of villages between Wencheng and Pingquan County, and to confirm whether the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army had expanded northward. From the point of view of pure military common sense, Hagiwara Akira should not be able to accommodate an infantry brigade of more than 2,000 people stationed in a mere Pingquan county town, and it is almost inevitable to expand the defense area outward.

If the misfortune is to be said by oneself, then this kind of expansion will never be allowed - all elements that threaten the implementation of the "Wind Plan" must be removed!

The small unit of the Eighth Route Army, which was remembered by the Japanese chieftains of Wencheng, had already left Lihuapu.

Xia Lianshan, commander of the cavalry company of the second battalion of the Lin Division, of course, could not have known that a group of Japanese soldiers in plainclothes encountered in Lihuapu were actually doing a shocking scandal that lost their conscience. On the premise that he did not catch a live mouth and the specific situation was unknown, he decided not to be disturbed by accident and led the team to continue southward.

During the exchange of fire in the village, one of the soldiers of the infantry squad of the task force was wounded, and was injured by the blast* that flew from the flank and rear, but fortunately the injury was not serious. However, the * killed another one and injured three villagers. This small village of Ewhapo, which has always been peaceful, was suddenly attacked by the flames of war, which brought a great shock to the entire village. Xia Lianshan, who had failed to pursue the enemy, ordered the soldiers to be on guard while organizing the rescue of the wounded.

The female soldier Zhang Xiu found Xia Lianshan and asked about the enemy's situation. When it was determined that the attacker was a Japanese soldier in civilian clothes, Zhang Xiu spread the news among the villagers as soon as possible. The grief of the dead and wounded is now permeating Ewha Pu, which gives Zhang Xiu an unexpected publicity opportunity. She exposed to the villagers the atrocities of the Japanese invading army in various parts of Shanxi, including the massacre in Fengdian County; At the same time, he vigorously preached the program of the Eighth Route Army to resist Japan and save the country, and called on the school-age people among the villagers to actively participate in the Eighth Route Army to protect their families and defend the country.

In just one day's work, the team of the second battalion of the forest division set up a village protection team in Lihuapu Village, and more than 20 young adults from the village joined. Xia Lianshan decided to leave two cavalry and three infantry (including the wounded) to guide the training of the village guard team at the beginning of its establishment. At the same time, two of the three enemy workers were left behind, so that the enemy situation that had just emerged could be ascertained as soon as possible. He himself led the team out of Ewhapo and south to Pingquan County.

Along the way before arriving in Pingquan County, the cavalry company commander chose three relatively large villages for Zhang Xiu and others to carry out propaganda work, and each village set up a village protection team, leaving infantry cavalry on duty. When they finally saw the city of Pingquan County from a distance, there were only thirteen cavalry cavalry and a large cart left by Xia Lianshan's side, and on the cart were Zhang Xiu and three other male and female work team members, as well as a member of the enemy labor team.

Xia Lianshan carried a handwritten letter from Wu Zijian, deputy commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Lin Division, to the commander of the 12th Independent Brigade of the Jin Army, requesting the establishment of military liaison with the 12th Independent Brigade in the tone of friendly forces in the Second World War Zone. Before leaving, Wu Zijian specially told his cavalry company commander that he would go to Pingquan County to meet the commander of the 12th Brigade of Dudu, and he would act cheaply as a liaison officer of friendly forces, but for the time being, he would never reveal any of Xiao Junping's whereabouts - the former intelligence staff officer of the 12th Brigade Headquarters of the Independent Brigade has now turned into the enemy engineer captain of the Eighth Route Army, and now he is going deep into the heart of Nantongpu Road in disguise to spy on the enemy; Therefore, it is inconvenient to mention these to Xiao Junping's old employer. It will be notified when the conditions are ripe in the future.

"Company Commander Xia, look," the female soldier Zhang Xiu looked at the city wall of Pingquan County, which was already clearly visible, and said excitedly: "Has the city wall of your hometown changed anything?" ”

The cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army was excited, and he couldn't find the right words to answer for a while: It's been five years since I left home, and I'm about to see my father and mother, and perhaps, my sister and brother-in-law! He was about to give the order to speed up, when suddenly, in a courtyard on the side of the road, more than a dozen soldiers dressed in Jin army uniforms flashed out, blocking their direction head-on, and shouted with loaded guns and ammunition: What person? Dismount!

At present, the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army should be said to have escaped from the state of panic. Tian Mingda, the head of the 570th Regiment, is an example.

From Fengdian in the first month of the first month to leave the 391st Regiment of the friendly Central Army to escape, to the later melee with the Japanese Otsuka Wing on the outskirts of Wencheng, and then to the later southward rush all the way to Pingquan County; Finally away from the fighting. Pingquan County is not located along the Tongpu Road (highway), so its geographical location is not important, and the armed forces are only a local security force under the jurisdiction of the county government, with more than 200 people, half of whom have guns. Tian Mingda swarmed over with less than 1,000 troops from the 570th Regiment of the 12th Brigade, and the defense of the county immediately became dominated by the Jin army.

Relying on the soldiers and guns, Tian Mingda didn't even pay attention to the county magistrate at first, and even directly ordered the regimental headquarters of the 570 Regiment to be set up in the county government, bluffing the civilian county magistrate into making promises and not daring to say a word. However, the situation changed soon after, and Zheng Yuan, the commander of the 12th Independent Brigade, personally led the main force of the brigade to escape from the railway line of Nantongpu Road and arrived in Pingquan County.

When the brigade commander arrived, it was not the turn of Tian Mingda, the regiment commander, to be presumptuous. Zheng Yuan was full of resentment and anger against the deserter commander under his command: in Fengdian, he fled with his troops without receiving an order from the brigade headquarters, which indirectly caused the loss of the county seat, and then the atrocities of the Japanese army in the city shocked the whole country after being reported and exaggerated by domestic news media, and the notoriety of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army spread throughout the north and south overnight. After escaping to Wencheng, Zheng Yuan originally arranged the 570th Regiment to fortify in the eastern suburbs of Wencheng to resist the Japanese army chasing from Fengdian; However, just over half an hour after the actual battle began, Tian Mingda and the 570th Regiment fled again, almost causing the brigade headquarters and the 569th Regiment to be surrounded by the Japanese army in Wencheng.

Of course, the main force of the brigade led by the brigade commander Zheng Yuan did not have any heroic achievements, not only did they not, but they also made an escape move, from Lingshi County, an important town on the Nantongpu Road, to Pingquan County. As a result, the two fleeing divisions met in Jinnan, far away from the war.

Zheng Yuan naturally would not let go of Tian Mingda and his 570 regiment, who repeatedly escaped without permission. Arriving at Pingquan, his brigade headquarters took over everything in the county government, and after scolding the commander of the deserting regiment, he expelled the 570th Regiment from the city again and stationed it in the northwest suburbs outside the county to prevent the Japanese attack.

Tian Mingda, who dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, had no choice but to swallow his anger and carry out the order. Pingquan is a plain county town, and it cannot be compared with the big city Wencheng on the railway line. Without the gold nest, Tian Mingda has a lot of energy to make defensive deployments. He laid out his three battalions in the shape of "Pin", with one battalion in front and two battalions in the back as left and right supports.

However, the first batch of armed forces ushered in by his "Pin" character defense camp was not the imaginary Japanese army, but the cavalry of the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army