Before retreating, Wu Zijian had ordered the signal soldier sent by the cavalry company to return quickly, and informed his company commander Xia Lianshan: The 5th Company was ready to withdraw from the existing blocking position and turn in the direction of Guanmen Mountain; On the premise that there was still no enemy in sending people to monitor the direction of Han Xinling, the cavalry company later broke away from the eastern suburbs of Lingshi County and retreated straight east to Guanmen Mountain.

The commander of the cavalry company who received this news was a little dazed for a while. Knowing that the Japanese troops on the railway line had suddenly launched a counteroffensive, Xia Lianshan certainly understood the reason why the gunfire in that direction was becoming more and more intense, but the fact that the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade abandoned its position so quickly seemed to be contrary to the task of breaking off the rear cover given to the Eighth Route Army in the joint operation plan. In addition, although the deputy battalion commander gave instructions on the presence of a large number of Japanese southbound trucks on the Tongpu Road road, he apparently did not pay attention to this obviously unusual movement of the Japanese army.

Hesitation turned to hesitation, Xia Lianshan immediately sent five cavalrymen to the original ambush position of the 5th Company, which had been demolished, and after confirming that there were no Japanese troops in that direction, he returned the same way. As soon as they returned, the cavalry company set out for the journey.

"The company commander and deputy battalion commander particularly emphasized that the retreat route of the cavalry company should be as parallel as possible to the 5th company, and if necessary, a messenger can be sent to communicate horizontally at any time."

Xia Lianshan nodded, it seems that the deputy battalion commander has realized that the next retreat may not be smooth sailing, if the Japanese army follows and pursues, the two companies of the second battalion of the Xu Brigade must support each other and fight together.

"Any news on the 7th Company?" Xia Lianshan knew that Wei Xin's 7th Company, which was responsible for blocking the attack in the direction of Fengdian, had already started, but the specific battle situation was unknown.

The correspondent shook his head awkwardly and said that it was not clear - he did not ask himself just now, and the deputy battalion commander did not take the initiative to tell him. Xia Lianshan didn't care much about this, in his opinion, even if the Japanese puppet army guarding Fengdian was dispatched, it would not have too strong troops, after all, they had to take care of the safety of the county first. What's more, Lao Qi's blocking position is not far from Hekou Village, and he will definitely get the full help of Lao Liuwang Shuanglong at the critical moment. There shouldn't be any major problems. Thinking of these close comrades-in-arms who were also company commanders, the corners of the cavalry company commander's mouth couldn't help but smile a little.

Of course, there is also the fifth Li Tianlin. Xia Lianshan turned the reins of his horse and looked at his right flank - before he became the commander of the cavalry company, he was the deputy company commander of the 5th company - Li Tianlin and the deputy battalion commander were about to withdraw, and they seemed to have more trouble than Lao Qi, who was also serving as a blocker. However, these cavalry under his command are not decorations, if the 5th company is bitten by the Japanese when it retreats, the cavalry company will definitely hit it on the side!

It can be said that until now, Xia Lianshan's judgment of the entire battle situation tonight is still optimistic. But then the cruel reality will shatter his optimism.

The seventeen Japanese trucks that were marching away under the watchful eye of the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army drove to a place about twenty miles south of Lingshi County and finally stopped. Before tonight, he had been directing ten trucks to be stationed in Lingshi County, which belonged to a transfer link for transporting baggage from Wencheng to the Jinnan front line from the Hagiwara Brigade and Regiment Station. Tonight's battle was all together, and the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters, which was far away in Wencheng, finally made the decision to send trucks inside and outside Lingshi County to meet reinforcements from the direction of Linfen. So, the ten trucks belonging to the military station, plus seven of the nine trucks that arrived from Wencheng tonight for reinforcements (two of which were destroyed by the ambush of the Central Army), took advantage of the night to drive onto the Tongpu Road.

The decision of the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters to let the 17 cars go on the road empty, can be described as a risky gamble. Brigade commander Akira Hagiwara and his staff officers also considered the serious consequences of the truck team being attacked by the Shina Army along the way, but in order to be able to carry as many Linfen reinforcements as possible from the train, they still chose to make a desperate bet. The cab of each truck was filled with three people, and in addition to the chief and co-pilot of the automatic convoy at the station, only one soldier was responsible for the armed escort.

The brigade commander of the Japanese army was not blindly risky - from the previous battle report, he noticed that the battle was only fought on the railway road north of Lingshi County. The only attack that threatened the main city of Lingshi County was limited to the east gate, and was judged by the front-line commander to be a feint attack by the Chinese army to besiege the city and send reinforcements. Based on this analysis, Major General Hagiwara analyzed that the Shina Army may not have deployed troops in the direction south of Lingshi County. As a result, the seven trucks from Wencheng quietly drove into the north gate of Lingshi County, and then drove out from the south gate with ten trucks in the city.

This risky bet, the Japanese eventually won. Although the cavalry company of the Eighth Route Army, which was in charge of surveillance, saw the truck driving through the fish, it never thought that this huge convoy was singing an empty city plan!

The Japanese reinforcements who departed from Linfen received a telegram from the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters on the train that arrived to inform them of the approximate location of getting off the train in advance. The two infantry squadrons of the Kato Brigade left only one squad to guard the train, and the rest got on the truck and drove to the direction of Lingshi County, but only five or six miles away on the road, the truck team got off the road, drove east to the wasteland, and stabbed into the 391st Regiment of the Central Army on the way home. The order given to them by the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters was to directly intercept and kill the main force of the Shina Army retreating in the direction of Kanmon Mountain, bypassing the broken rear attack of the Senna Army.

The Kato Brigade Headquarters in Linfen specially assigned a commander to the reinforcements of the two squadrons: Kikuchi Shaosa, the combat staff officer of the Brigade and Regiment Headquarters. And reinforced a Type 92 heavy machine gun. At this moment, Kikuchi Shaosa was sitting in the bumpy cab of a truck, nervously thinking about the attack plan. Through the mapping of the truck's headlights, he could see that the plains along the way were basically empty, and he had already learned about the topography outside Lingshi County before setting off from Linfen, and the scenery outside the car window confirmed this.

The Chinese army is really crazy, in such an unobstructed wilderness, they dare to mobilize a large army to attack the county town on the railway line! The Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters did not elaborate on the origin of this Chinese army, but it obviously belonged to the remnants of the defeated army who were left in this area after the defeat in the Battle of Taiyuan last year.

In the galloping train carriage just now, Kikuchi Shaozo had summoned two infantry squadron leaders to consult the military map from Lingshi to the western foot of Guanmen Mountain. When the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters ordered the middle of the car to get off and change to a car to intersperse, Kikuchi Shaosa was surprised, but he quickly clarified General Hagiwara's combat intentions through the deduction on the map: the Shina Army had deployed a more thorough retreat plan, and if the reinforcements led by himself rushed to Lingshi County and joined the direction of the frontal pursuit, it was very likely to be blocked by the troops after the Shina Army was cut off. At this moment, his own team is located on the edge of the battlefield, and from here it quietly enters diagonally, and can directly pounce on the main force of the Chinese army.

Kikuchi Shaosa was secretly excited, and the desire to fight was circulating in his body. The chief of staff of the brigade has recently promised that he will be sent to the subordinate wing as a deputy at the right time, and if it comes true, the rank will also be promoted to Zhongzuo! Tonight, he was ordered to temporarily lead his troops to the battle, which was quite a final test of experience.

"Advance at full speed, be sure to launch an attack before the main force of the Chinese army retreats back to Guanmen Mountain!"

Kikuchi Shaosa gave instructions to one of the squadron leaders of the front team through the walkie-talkie. In the thick of the night, a convoy of trucks loaded with more than 300 Japanese soldiers roared and struggled forward.

At this time, Qin Zhongxiao still didn't realize that a huge danger was approaching. Sitting in the command car converted from a carriage, he could feel the slowness of the march, and his mind was all focused on the two blocking positions of the Eighth Route Army. Deng Shoushan, the deputy commander of the spy company, had already run back, and learned from his mouth that the Japanese army on the railway line was fighting back very fiercely, and it didn't seem like a symbolic pursuit; For this reason, the deputy commander of the first battalion had already returned with three consecutive kills to help the troops of the Eighth Route Army.

At this time, the commander of the second battalion sent someone to ask for help, claiming that the Eighth Route Army had lost its blocking position near Hekou Village in Guanmen Mountain, and the main force of the second battalion was confronting the large cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army that had assaulted it, and the Japanese reinforcements would arrive later!

The colonel of the Central Army couldn't help but be secretly frightened: The Japanese puppet army in Fengdian County was not good, and the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army collapsed so quickly, which could only show that the opponent's attack force was extremely strong. The second battalion commander asked to transfer an infantry gun or two heavy machine guns, Qin Zhongxiao thought for a moment and decided to transfer a Makqin to him. Prior to this operation, the 391st Regiment had re-established a heavy machine gun company with four heavy machine guns. They brought out two mackins tonight, but they didn't come in handy yet. When attacking the Japanese military column on the railway line just now, the heavy machine guns had been erected near the artillery positions and had not opened fire.

"Tell the second battalion commander that the defense line must be pointed diagonally in the direction of Guanmen Mountain!"

Qin Zhongxiao instructed his adjutant to escort the heavy machine gun to run the second battalion in person, and guide the second battalion to set up the formation according to the marks on the map. If the main force of the second battalion only cares about blocking head-on, the Japanese puppet army is very likely to bypass them, and if it is not good, it will directly collide with the main force of the retreating 391 regiment.

Qin Zhongxiao quickly sent away the adjutant and his party, and Qin Zhongxiao called the chief of staff Zhang Hong and the commander of the first battalion, and he asked the commander of the first battalion to lead the main force of the battalion, as well as the regimental headquarters and artillery company, to advance to Xiping Village in front of him at full speed, and strive to enter Xiping Village in the shortest possible time, and send sharp soldiers in advance to get in touch with the Eighth Route Army defending the village.

"Chief of Staff, you and I will take the second battalion and six companies to establish a defensive line on this ground to the north, our front is the main force of the second battalion, if they fail to block the Japanese puppet army coming out of Fengdian, this defense line must ensure that it is foolproof, and we must not let the enemy's soldiers pass!" The colonel of the Central Army said categorically.

"Tuanzao, it's enough to have me here, you hurry up and move to Xiping Village with the regimental headquarters!"