The garrison Japanese army in Lingshi County reported to the headquarters of the Hagiwara Brigade in Wencheng that the attacking enemy army carried a number of large-caliber heavy artillery, and the artillery fire was very fierce! This information immediately aroused attention and even panic at the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters.

Although it was difficult for the defenders to see clearly and distinguish the equipment model of the enemy's large-caliber heavy artillery in the darkness of the night, dozens of miles away, the brigade commander Hagiwara Akira and the chief of staff Kawabe Osaku both thought of one thing: the artillery bombardment of Junling County a few days ago!

After many verifications after the war, it has been learned that the Zhina Army that shelled Junling County is the remnants of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army hiding in the Great Elm Mountain-Could it be that the enemy who is shelling Lingshi County at the moment is this stubborn bandit!?

The chief of staff of the river, who hurried from the railway station to the brigade headquarters, looked up at the military map on the wall with the brigade commander Major General full of suspicion: "General, is this remnant of the Chinese army crazy?" Why repeatedly jumped on the railway line to harass the Imperial Army? What is their true purpose? ”

Hagiwara Akira noticed that his chief of staff was using the word "harassment", and he frowned and asked, "Do you think that the Chinese army outside Lingshi County at this moment is making a harassing attack?" ”

"I'm afraid so, General," Kawabe Osa withdrew his gaze from the map and turned to look at the brigade commander, "The last time they bombarded the city outside Junling City, didn't they also slip away after firing a few shells?" With the strength of the remnants of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army, they should not have the guts to really seize the towns under our control. ”

"But the garrison reported that the invading enemy army is using infantry to attack the city, this should be different from the harassment in Junling County, right?"

Before Hagiwara Akira's voice fell, a staff officer of the brigade headquarters suddenly ran to report that the telephone with Lingshi County was no longer available, and it was very likely that the enemy had destroyed the telephone line between the two places!

At this time, the faces of the two Japanese chiefs instantly became grim.

On the Tongpu Railway, the Japanese army had maintained telephone communication between the towns along the line, and with the smooth advance of the Sena Division to the south, the telephone line was about to be set up at the terminal of the Tongpu Road. Even the last time the 391st Regiment of the Zhina Army shelled Junling County, the telephone communication between Junling and Taiyuan, and between Junling and Wencheng was always intact.

The chief of staff of the riverside immediately ordered the use of radio to contact the Lingshi garrison to further find out the true movements of the enemy forces outside the city.

"No more illusions!" The brigade commander, Major General, said in an extremely solemn tone: "This army is not good, since they have destroyed the telephone line, it is very likely that they will also demolish the railroad tracks - Tongpu Road is the main supply artery of the main force of our division's front, once it cannot be opened to traffic, the consequences will be unimaginable!" ”

Hagiwara Akira ordered the combat staff officer to immediately order the entire Nara Infantry Brigade of the Otsuka Wing stationed in the eastern suburbs of Bunjo to be on alert, first dispatch a squadron of infantry, and then strengthen the machine gun squadron and artillery squad directly under the brigade headquarters, led by the deputy brigade leader, and quickly transport the train into the city to the railway station, ready to take the train to help Lingshi County. The rest of the Nara Brigade maintained a combat posture and stood by in the barracks. At the same time, the communications team of the brigade headquarters boarded the vehicle with the combat units to inspect and repair the telephone lines along the way.

"You immediately go back to the headquarters of the train station, specifically command the dispatch of reinforcements, and keep in touch with me." After the arrangement, the brigade commander, Major General, waved his hand to his chief of staff.

Hebian Dazuo paused for a moment, and then suggested with some hesitation that the enemy was attacking and attacking the city from the east of Lingshi County, which may be seen as their coming from the direction of Guanmen Mountain and Da Yushu Mountain; In addition to sending reinforcements from the railway line, should our army also send another detachment of men and horses to outflank the rear of the Chinese army?

As the chief of staff, Kawabe, hesitated when he said this because he knew very well in his heart the dilemma of the brigade commander, Major General: the Nara Infantry Brigade stationed in the eastern suburbs of Bunjo was now the only mobile force of the entire brigade, and its first task was undoubtedly to defend the external security of the comfort women camp in Little Elm Mountain; In addition, a squadron of the brigade has been transferred to the southern suburbs of Wencheng to establish a temporary barracks as an armed support for the secret capture of women's operations in China; Just now, the brigade commander has mobilized an infantry squadron and a machine gun squadron and artillery squad directly under the brigade to prepare to reinforce the defenders of Lingshi County. This meant that half of the strength of the Nara Infantry Brigade had been requisitioned, and if it really had to send another part of its forces to outflank the rear of the Shina Army as he had just proposed, the defense force left outside Little Elm Mountain would be extremely weak. This is obviously something that the general himself is extremely unwilling to see.

However, the remnants of the Shina Army, which had continuously attacked the local law and order, had been on the list of extermination of the Hagiwara Brigade, and it would be unwillingly unwilling, if they were allowed to slip away again tonight.

Sure enough, the brigade commander, Major General, who had always been decisive, stood there thoughtfully, neither vetoing nor nodding at the chief of staff's proposal.

At this moment, the telecommunications staff officer came running with a message from the defenders of Lingshi County: The besieging enemy army repeatedly attacked the east gate of the county seat, and the garrison team desperately defended, but it was difficult to support it for too long, and asked for reinforcements to be sent quickly.

Hagiwara Akira let out a low roar: Damn! He immediately ordered Riverside Dazuo to immediately rush to the railway station and command the deployment of military trains to carry out support operations; As for whether or not to send additional troops to intercept the rear road of the Chinese army, it will be decided after further observation of the battle situation.

Seeing his chief of staff leaving, Major General Hagiwara instructed the telecommunications staff officers to immediately contact the Kato Brigade Headquarters in Linfen and the Division Headquarters in Yuncheng to report the sudden battle situation in Lingshi County; In view of the fact that the telephone lines had been damaged by the Chinese army, communication between the two places had to be carried out by wireless telegraphy. Hagiwara Akira himself took up the phone and directly spoke to Kosuke Otsuka, the co-commander of Fengdian County, asking him to strengthen his vigilance and mobilize the cavalry regiment of the Mongolian Xinjiang Army to prepare for battle overnight, intending to search in the direction of the southern foot of Little Elm Mountain.

When Kawabe Osaku called the brigade commander from the railway station, informing him that everything was ready and asking for instructions to send troops along the railway, nearly an hour had passed since the Lingshi defenders first reported an attack. Hagiwara Akira ordered the reinforcement train to depart, and at the same time reminded the strict defense that the Shina army had damaged the railroad tracks, and asked the army to stop near the northern suburbs of Lingshi County, and sent stragglers to search and advance until the track was confirmed to be safe before considering entering the county station.

When Zhang Hong, chief of staff of the 391st Regiment, commanded the artillery and infantry to launch a feint attack on Lingshi County, next to the Tongpu railway line, about five miles north of the county seat, the regiment commander Qin Zhongxiao had already led five infantry companies and a heavy machine gun company to set up an ambush on both sides of the railway.

Two companies of the 1st Battalion were ambushed on the west side of the tracks, and two companies of the 2nd Battalion were ambushed on the east side of the tracks; Qin Zhongxiao himself led the third company of the 1st Battalion as the general reserve; The four Min 24 heavy machine guns of the heavy machine gun company were arranged in the ambush positions on the east and west sides, and the other two Japanese Type 92 heavy machine guns followed the general reserve.

The position of the General Reserve was located on the east side of the railway line, behind the ambush position of the 2nd Battalion; At the same time, it is also an artillery position, and the two Japanese guns of the artillery company: the 41-type 75-mountain gun and the 92-type infantry gun are all erected here at this moment, and the two Krupp mountain guns that participated in the feint attack on Lingshi County will also be quickly transferred to the artillery position here after completing the powerful intimidation of the defenders; These large-caliber heavy artillery pieces were used against convoys of trains and trucks that might have rushed to the aid of the Japanese army from railroads and roads.

The colonel of the Central Army was standing next to the 92 infantry gun at the moment, one hand subconsciously rubbing the short and thick cannon body - that was the unique shape of the 92 infantry gun - at the same time, frequently raising his left wrist to look at his watch, the chief of staff had been on the fire feint of Lingshi County for nearly half an hour, and the rumbling sound of the cannon from five miles away in the south had just disappeared, and there was no doubt that the two Krupp mountain guns were moving here.

There was still no news from the Secret Service Company, and they were sent to the railroad line further north to monitor the Japanese reinforcements that might be coming from the direction of Bunjo, and they would report to the area by walkie-talkie if there was any movement.

The colonel of the Central Army secretly prayed that the Japanese reinforcements in Wencheng must appear, otherwise, this painstakingly designed railway line operation would lose most of its meaning: they could only dismantle some of the railroad tracks on the basis of the telephone lines that had already been cut, and then return to the camp in a stupid manner. He even regretted that he had transferred back the two mountain guns that had feinted to attack Lingshi County—he should have left one to continue firing and continue to put pressure on the defenders of the county town to force them to ask for help from the Japanese army in Wencheng.

Time is passing calmly. The two Krupp mountain guns arrived, and immediately entered the artillery preset position and began to set up, looking at the row of guns pointed at the railway line in a black hole, the excitement and anxiety of the colonel of the Central Army increased with each passing day: such a powerful artillery firepower, if there is no chance to use it tonight, it is really a blind sky!

Zhang Hong, the chief of staff in the walkie-talkie, also became more and more desperate, the feint attack carried out by the infantry of a company under his command had been performed to the extreme, and if the fight continued, the feint attack would become a real siege: in the battle plan, they had no intention of really capturing Lingshi County!

Another point is a miscalculation that Qin Zhongxiao only realizes now, he should arrange for a walkie-talkie equipment company of his regiment to go to the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army before the battle, so that the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in the southernmost part can directly maintain smooth communication with the headquarters of the 391st Regiment at the first time. In the battle plan, the Eighth Route Army relied on cavalry to communicate with friendly forces on the flanks, and no matter how fast the horses ran, they could not match the speed of the radio waves.

But then again, the means of communication of the Eighth Route Army are too backward!

Qin Zhongxiao's mind was messy, and he used to pass the time waiting for the Japanese reinforcements to appear. Gunshots could still be faintly heard from the direction of Lingshi County in the south, which was the chief of staff dutifully playing the role of a sieger. Further south, the Eighth Route Army's blocking position was not heard from.

Just when the colonel's stuffed chest of the Central Army was about to explode, the walkie-talkie of the special service company finally came with the long-awaited news one after another:

- There is a train coming from the direction of Wencheng!

- Confirm that the train is a Japanese military train!

- The train carries eight passenger and freight carriages, the situation in the passenger car is unknown, and the freight car has been confirmed to be loaded with military artillery!

The ambush position of the entire 391 regiment immediately entered the final state of readiness.

The eight carriages of the narrow-gauge train, excluding the wagon carriages loaded with firearms, meant that the number of Japanese reinforcements would not exceed two infantry squadrons.