The commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army hesitated so much that he had already made Liu Wumei, the female bandit leader, guess the approximately. But she didn't feel guilty about this: this guy Tie Hand is the henchman of the black donkey of the three masters, and he usually doesn't control himself very much; And a few days ago, it was precisely because Tie Shou took more than 20 brothers out of the mountains to plunder without authorization that he formed a great bond with the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army; Before he could settle this old account with him, this bastard actually broke away from the brigade tonight and ran to Ewhapo to take advantage of the fire and rob, and ended up with his life in the west. It can be regarded as more than innocent!

Thinking of this, Liu Wumei took the initiative to give Wei Xin, the eldest brother of the alliance, a relief pill, and whispered to the other party that there was no need to be too entangled in this, even if it was really someone from the Eighth Route Army who killed the iron hand, it was not a big deal. The most important thing at the moment is how to find a way to clean up the devil in the return carbine, and second, how to get out of the two families safely after this battle.

Seeing that Sister Jieyi was so open-minded and generous, the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army no longer concealed it, and truthfully gave Liu Wumei many of the speculations he had just thought of.

"But then again," Wei Xin also lowered his voice and said, "If what the little minions you escaped back said are true, I still don't believe that it will be our people who did it—it is impossible for the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route to casually shoot at the people wearing ordinary people's clothes!" ”

With all kinds of suspicions, Wei Xin and Liu Wumei commanded this mixed army, dragging their tired footsteps towards Lihuapu Village.

But they were a step slower—when they were still three or four miles away from their destination, they could hear the incessant sound of gunfire in front of them, which was part of the Japanese Saijo Wing, and under the personal leadership of Wing Commander Shigehei Saijo, they retreated into Ewhaura.

Long before this, Wei Xin had already sent a communication force in advance, and rushed to the downstream area along the Qinglong River, looking for the first battalion to contact Wang Shuanglong and the cavalry company of Xia Lianshan, and informed the headquarters that it was heading south along the Qinglong River to seek joint operations. At this moment, after hearing the increasingly dense gunfire in front of him, Wei Xin immediately sent sharp soldiers forward to search and investigate.

Soon, the spearheads reported that Ewhapo had been occupied by the Japanese, and the Japanese were all firing in the village in the direction of the south, indicating that our troops were chasing and attacking.

"It's the dragons!" The commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army excitedly gave a conclusion.

Sure enough, before he could make specific arrangements, the communication soldiers sent before ran back out of breath, accompanied by a soldier from the first battalion headquarters of the Xu Brigade Detachment. They brought with them the operational intentions of the first battalion commander Wang Shuanglong: at present, the first battalion is pursuing the rear flank of a large group of retreating Japanese troops, and has launched an attack and defense around Lihuapu Village; The Xia Lianshan cavalry company had just bypassed the west side of the village, preparing to outflank the volley. The purpose was to hold back this Japanese army so that it would not return to Xiping Village.

"Battalion Commander Wei, our battalion commander specially asked me to instruct you," The soldier at the headquarters of the first battalion was very short, and at this time he looked up at the tall second battalion commander and reported: "This large group of devils in front of you, the total strength should be about four or five hundred, there are a large number of ninety-two rifle guns, and a fleet of trucks, they must not be underestimated!" ”

"Huh? Is it that strong? ”

Wei Xin couldn't help but be surprised, he originally thought that the number of Japanese troops who could be repelled with an infantry battalion and a cavalry company of the Eighth Route Army should not be very large. If what Dalong said is true, then this group of devils who are now guarding in Lihuapu Village have the strength to confront Wang Shuanglong and Xia Lianshan's men and horses head-on and be able to gain the upper hand, how can they actually take the initiative to retreat?

Of course, the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army did not understand that the first division of the Japanese Saijo Wing in front of him actually received an urgent telegram from the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters in Wencheng, and took the initiative to shrink in order to avoid the battle line being stretched too long.

Since this is the case, the plan he had just planned to encircle and annihilate this Japanese army is probably very unrealistic-Wei Xin only has two platoons from the first and second battalions on hand, and as for the fifty or so people of the Black Rock Cliff bandits, they really dare not entrust them with important tasks.

From the current point of view, the retreating Japanese army seems to have a posture of occupying Ewhapo and waiting for reinforcements.

"Have the troops of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army been dispatched?" Wei Xin asked the soldier from the first battalion headquarters.

"No, the commander of the 570th Regiment Tian of the Jin Army, who is in charge of the forward command, has clearly informed our battalion commander that he will not send troops to pursue the Japanese army from the Zhaojiacun defense line."

"Grandma's!" When the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army heard this, he cursed: "It is said that it is a joint operation, but they will not suffer any losses." ”

"It's better if they don't come, just rely on the Eighth Route Army and our brothers in the Black Stone Cliff Cottage, don't worry about fighting or winning the devil!" It was Liu Wumei, the female bandit leader, who spoke, and was very relieved to learn that the Jin army did not attack.

Wei Xin no longer hesitated at the moment, and began to arrange troops - according to the meaning of Wang Shuanglong, the commander of the first battalion, as long as he can drag this big piece of devil and prevent him from returning to Xiping Village quickly, it will be a victory. From this point of view, the attack of the first battalion in the direction of the south of Ewhapo should not be very urgent, so there is no need to rush to attack on his own side. It is best to stand still, wait until the Japanese withdraw from the village and continue to retreat in the direction of Xiping Village, and then surprise the other side to give a head-on attack, and the actual combat effect may be better.

He ordered the soldier from the headquarters of the 1st Battalion to return immediately, informing the 1st Battalion Commander of his strength and tactical intentions so that the other side could act on camera.

Wei Xin decided to completely deploy the two platoons of the Eighth Route Army to the north of Lihuapu Village, about one and a half miles away from the village, to block the Japanese army's retreat from the front; At the same time, Liu Wumei's Black Stone Cliff armed forces were all ambushed to the east bank of the Qinglong River, and they were lined up along the riverbank; Once the Japanese troops left the village and engaged in an exchange of fire with the two platoons of the Eighth Route Army, they could suddenly launch a flank attack across the Qinglong River.

These two fronts are located next to each other at an angle of 90 degrees, and they are connected to each other.

"Girl, can your subordinates restrain you?" After all this was deployed, the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army asked Liu Wumei without worry: "Marching and fighting is not child's play, once the fire is fired, you must not leave the position without an order......

What Wei Xin was worried about was that when the Black Stone Cliff bandits began to flank the Japanese army out of the village, the Japanese should send a strong force to attack them on the other side of the river, although there was a wide river as a barrier, but the bandits who lacked combat experience and discipline and courage were very likely to scatter in a hurry if they could not withstand the Japanese army's field battle. In that case, this 90-degree angle defense system that he has carefully constructed will not only collapse immediately, but after the Japanese army succeeds in the direction of the river bank, it will also intersperse and outflank its flanks from there!

"Big brother, don't worry!" Unexpectedly, the female bandit leader confidently made a guarantee: "It is true that my brothers have never fought with the regular army, but there are no less than twenty or thirty people with good marksmanship among them, and many brothers have also killed people, so they will definitely not be frightened." ”

When the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army heard this, he opened his mouth and did not speak again, but he was very disapprehensive in his heart: Killing people does not prove anything, especially as bandits, the people killed are obviously almost unarmed civilians, which is obviously not the same thing as facing the Japanese soldiers who are armed to the teeth.

But now, it is ready to be sent and has to be sent, and it can only be a dead horse as a live horse doctor. I hope that these bandits, who showed fierceness when they robbed homes and houses, will be able to grit their teeth and withstand the rain of bullets from the Japanese army's 38 big cover and even light and heavy machine guns.

"I'll send you five people over, all of them are veterans of our Xu Brigade detachment, when it's time to fire, listen to their commands!"

In the end, the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army came up with this plan and ordered a squad leader of the second battalion to ambush four of his subordinates into the front line of the Black Stone Cliff bandits. Of course, he was embarrassed to explicitly say that these five veterans of the Eighth Route Army would command the entire team of bandits - that was too sensitive, and it was not only possible to arouse the disgust of the bandits, including the master, but also the righteous sister in front of him, I am afraid that she would also feel embarrassed.

"Okay, I'll listen to you, big brother!" The female bandit leader agreed quite happily: "We still have a machine gun, and we will definitely not hold you back!" ”

"Good! Speaking of machine guns, you ordered to arrange the guns and shooters to the squad leader I sent over, and listen to his instructions - with machine guns, our regular army is more experienced. At this point, Wei Xin was not polite at all.

At this time, the exchange of fire from inside and outside the village of Ewhapo seemed to be louder, or it was a sign that Wang Shuanglong's first battalion had intensified its attack. Wei Xin looked in the direction of the Tongpu Railway, and the soldiers of the battalion headquarters of the first battalion just now reported that the cavalry company was coming from the west side of the village, and if nothing else, the front he had set up in the direction of the north of Lihuapu would soon see or hear their movements. So he ordered to send three soldiers to form a search group, and in that direction to go out to meet the cavalry of Xia Lianshan—with the help of the cavalry company, the certainty of intercepting the Japanese was one more point.

"Big brother, I want to send a few brothers to the north end of the village now, and quietly get back their corpses of Iron Hand - after all, they are brothers, and the cottage can't watch them expose their corpses in the wilderness."

The female bandit leader, who was already preparing to leave and go to the ambush position on the east bank of the Qinglong River to command, suddenly turned back and said to the eldest brother.

This suddenly made Wei Xin difficult: the righteous sister's request was reasonable, and it seemed that it should not be vetoed; It's just that the whole village has been occupied by the Japanese, and the place where the two Iron Hands were shot is precisely the northern edge of the village, and now although the focus of the overall defense of the Japanese army is to the south, the Japanese army, which is rigorous in combat, must have deployed guards around the village. How good is that?

"Sister, listen to me, Iron Hand and their corpses must be brought back - you are out of morality, and I also want to carefully check what kind of gun his corpse was shot against. But not right now. ”

As soon as Wei Xin's voice fell, Liu Wumei was anxious: "If you don't get it back now, the guns will be a pot of porridge for a while, where is the chance?!" ”

"That's not going to work either!" The commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army gritted his teeth and ruthlessly lowered his heart: "If you can't bear it, you will make a big plan, sister, you must obey my command for this!" ”

The pair of sworn brothers and sisters instantly fell into a brief stalemate.