The deputy battalion commander of the first battalion of the 570th Regiment of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army is surnamed He, and he is not a ruthless character in terms of combat - the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade from the brigade commander to the regiment commander did not dare to confront the Japanese army head-on, which of course had to affect the officers at the battalion and company level below.

On this chaotic night in Longwan Village, Deputy Battalion Commander He finally received the order of the commander of the 570th Regiment Tian and led the third company of the 1st Battalion to rush to Zhaojia Village, an outpost in the defense area ten miles away.

In addition, Deputy Battalion Commander He was also given the task of quickly informing and reinforcing the Fourth Company of the 1st Battalion along the way, which was stationed in five or six villages north of Longwan Village and south of Zhaojia Village (inclusive) in squad or platoon formations on weekdays. In this way, Deputy Battalion Commander He will command the troops of the two companies to be fully deployed to the forefront of the front line in Zhaojiacun to prevent the Eighth Route Army, which had just sent a signal corps to ask for help, from moving into the regiment's defense area.

At the same time, Tian Mingda, the commander of the 570th Regiment, ran back to his regimental headquarters in Longwan Village and dialed the telephone number of the Pingquan County Brigade Headquarters, and he had to ask the brigade commander whether the troops should open fire decisively to block the Eighth Route Army once the Japanese army chased it to the front of the regiment's defense area and tried to force its way in? If you fire at the so-called friendly forces, this is an out-and-out friction, and once the Second World War Zone Command of Chief Yan is blamed in the future, he Tian Mingda will not carry this black pot - however, if the Eighth Route Army is not stopped, it is very likely to be burned, and the 570th Regiment and even the entire 12th Brigade will face the danger of fierce attacks by the Japanese army. Where to go, please ask the brigade commander Zheng Yuan to make up his mind quickly.

The major general and brigade commander of the Jin army in Pingquan County had already turned off the lights and went to bed, but after being woken up by this emergency call, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.

"The liaison soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, did you say what size the Japanese army pursued their troops was?" Major General Zheng Yuan, who was holding the telephone receiver, asked the key to the crisis in one sentence.

On the other end of the phone, Tian Mingda couldn't answer—a few minutes ago, he was still in the middle of another unspeakable peachy crisis, and it was the imminent invasion of the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army that gave him a chance to escape. Therefore, he really didn't have time to know how many friendly and enemy troops would appear on the front line of Zhaojia Village, ten miles away.

At the critical moment, the regimental chief of staff who followed his ass reminded him: the liaison officer of the Eighth Route Army claimed that he was from the cavalry company of the Guanmenshan detachment of the Xu Brigade, and if nothing else, at least one company of cavalry and an equal number of infantry were fleeing towards the defense area of the 12th Independent Brigade; If this is inferred, then the Japanese pursuing this infantry cavalry of the Eighth Route Army should be no less than one squadron. According to the liaison soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, their main force was setting up defenses in the village of Ewhapo to block the enemy army.

Hearing these reports, the commander of the 12th Brigade of the Du Brigade quickly flashed in his mind the concept of a Japanese infantry squadron - it should be a team of less than 200 people; If there were only 200 people pursuing the Eighth Route Army, then what harm would it do to stop the Japanese army by yourself? After all, there are two regiments in hand, and the brigade headquarters also has an artillery company directly under its jurisdiction, and six 82-caliber * medicines are sufficient; If the superiority of more than ten times the enemy's strength is displayed, it seems that it is not indispensable!

A few days ago, the headquarters of Wei Lihuang in the Second War Zone sent a telegram to commend the three national armies that bravely attacked the Tongpu Railway in the central and southern areas of Shanxi, the 391st Regiment of the Central Army in Da Yushu Mountain, the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in Guanmen Mountain (it had not been renamed a detachment at that time), and the 84th Division of the Central Army in Qinyuan County. Looking around, there are four national armies stationed in this area, and the only one that has not been commended is the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army in Pingquan County, which makes him, a major general, a brigade commander, feel somewhat uncomfortable.

And now there is an opportunity for the 12th Brigade to show its face at the doorstep: just 200 devils (the Japanese army that attacked Wencheng at the beginning was almost a wing!) I don't know where the hell is the place to work far away and cover up, if you send an infantry regiment with a mortar company, you can completely fight with it with the help of the right time and place - not to mention, there is also a Eighth Route Army that takes the initiative to come to the door can act as cannon fodder first!

The mood of the brigade commander of the Jin army suddenly became excited, if this battle is fought well, it can be called a benefit and no expense, so that he can also ask for credit from the headquarters of Chief Yan in the Second War Zone! And a snow independence 12th Brigade before the escape notoriety.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yuan immediately ordered the brigade headquarters to hold an emergency combat meeting, and summoned Tian Mingda, the commander of the 570th Regiment, to rush into the city to attend the meeting.

This was another meeting that made Tian Mingda extremely annoyed, and the brigade commander, Major General, made a righteous and awe-inspiring deployment of the battle plan for the front line of the defense zone, which planned to mobilize a total of one regiment of infantry, plus a mortar company directly under the brigade headquarters to participate in the battle. And for the infantry of this regiment, Tian Mingda's 570th Regiment will dispatch two battalions, and the 569th Regiment will dispatch one battalion. Moreover, the two battalions of the 570 regiment will also be the first to enter the battle as the front team!

Zheng Guangqi, the commander of the 569th Regiment, is the nephew of the brigade commander Zheng Yuan, and he sat in the position of colonel at the age of 33, which is known to everyone in the 12th Brigade. And what Tian Mingda, the commander of the 570th regiment, resented the most was that the brigade commander was uneven in the bowl of water between the two regiments, and it was a serious unevenness.

As early as when he retreated to Wencheng to set up defenses, Zheng Yuan let the 570 Regiment be deployed alone on the outskirts of the city to resist the main force of the Japanese army's elite Otsuka Wing. When withdrawing from Wencheng, the brigade headquarters took the main force of the 569th Regiment to the south along the Tongpu Railway by train, but Tian Mingda had to retreat on foot with the 570th Regiment by road. The Pingquan county seat at the foot was obviously the first to arrive and occupy by someone from his field, but it didn't take long for the brigade commander to flee from the battlefield in Lingshi County with the 569th regiment, and immediately took the county seat as his own, and the 570th regiment was once again expelled to the outside of the city for defense. All of this made Tian Mingda feel ashamed and angry, but his arms couldn't twist his thighs, so he had to swallow his anger again and again.

Tonight, the brigade commander Major General took the initiative to fight the Japanese army, but the seemingly heroic and resolute battle plan was to let the 570 Regiment dispatch the main force to the front!

With Tian Tuanzuo, who was full of resentment and dared not speak out, he rode back to the regimental headquarters of Longwan Village from Pingquan County, and ordered the chief of staff to call the second battalion currently stationed in the western suburbs of the county and order its battalion commander to immediately lead the whole battalion to assemble, and set off for the forward defense line of Zhaojia Village in the north 20 minutes later.

Tian Mingda himself gathered the remaining two companies of the first battalion, followed in the footsteps of the deputy commander of the first battalion, and rushed to the same destination.

Behind them, the deputy commander of the 12th Brigade personally led the second battalion of the 569th Regiment (the third battalion is currently carrying out the task of collecting grain in villages near and far, and the first battalion is to stay in the county seat), as well as mortar companies have been dispatched to follow up.

Brigade Commander Zheng Yuan, Deputy Brigade Commander, Chief of Staff, and two regiment commanders urgently formulated the following deployment plan:

- The 1st Battalion of the 570th Regiment rushed to the front line of Zhaojia Village at full speed to control the entire defense line and become the main position of the center;

- When the first detachment of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army retreated, it was ordered to move to the right flank of the main position, that is, to deploy on the bank of the Qinglong River;

——After the second battalion of the 570th Regiment was dispatched from the western suburbs of Pingquan County, it went directly to the left flank of the main central position of the front of Zhaojia Village.

In this way, an inverted triangle defense can be built at the front line. The mortar company directly under the brigade headquarters was stationed in the central main position, and the second battalion of the 569th regiment was deployed behind the central main position as a general reserve to provide support at any time.

The central main position (including the mortar position) was commanded by Tian Mingda, the commander of the 570th Regiment, the left flank position was commanded by the chief of staff of the 570th Regiment, and the right flank position was commanded by the officers of the Eighth Route Army. The rear general reserve is under the command of the deputy commander of the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade (taking into account the coordination of the combat orders of the troops of the Eighth Route Army).

The operational plan is as follows: after the Japanese pursuit reaches the predetermined position, the mortar series of mortars in the central main position will first carry out a fire strike; Immediately, the troops of the left and right positions launched a flank attack from both flanks; After that, the infantry units of the central position carried out a frontal attack; Eventually, the reserves took the opportunity to launch a general offensive to annihilate or defeat the invading Japanese army.

It should be said that the battle plan, which was hastily introduced overnight, has been reached to the limit. The only thing that brigade commander Zheng Yuan was worried about was that the retreating Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army would not obey the unified military order, which would undoubtedly lead to the lack of the entire battle plan or even paralysis.

He specially instructed his deputy brigade commander that once the above situation occurred, he would immediately cancel all active offensive plans, turn the troops of the 12th Brigade into defense with all their might, and resolutely expel the Eighth Route Army from its own defense area, and if the other side did not cooperate, it could decisively open fire by force.

However, this concern of the major general and brigade commander of the Jin army was quickly proven to be unnecessary.

After the deployment of the central position commanded by Tian Mingda on the front line of Zhaojia Village, the cavalry company of the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army took the lead in retreating. The cavalry company commander Xia Lianshan and the commander of the 570th regiment Tian are also old acquaintances, and when they learned that the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade made a big move in the starry night to fight a battle with the Japanese at the front of Zhaojia Village, the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army was pleasantly surprised and excited, and Xia Lianshan agreed to the other party's request to accept the unified command of the Jin army and go to the right flank of the central position to deploy defense and attack, and immediately sent a signal corps to report the situation to his follow-up troops who were still on the way to retreat.

Tian Mingda learned two new situations from Xia Lianshan's mouth, which can be described as one happy and one worried. Happily, in addition to a cavalry company, the troops withdrawn by the Eighth Route Army also had a fully equipped main battalion, which was much more than the previously expected strength of the Eighth Route Army. The worry was that the Japanese army chasing this Eighth Route should be close to the size of two infantry squadrons, and there should be artillery and automobile troops to help; Again, this is a lot more than expected.

Taking advantage of the fact that the cavalry company of the Eighth Route Army turned to the banks of the Qinglong River to build a position on the right flank, Tian Mingda immediately ran to the deputy brigade commander behind to report the above changes.

The deputy brigade commander was really timid - the Eighth Route Army had more troops than expected, which was good, but it did not seem to be able to cushion the threat of the increase in Japanese troops.

Just when the deputy brigade commander of the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade picked up the phone of the forward position and was about to make an urgent report to the brigade lord, the sound of dense firefighting suddenly came from the front.

They didn't know that it was a truck team temporarily sent by the Japanese pursuers carrying two infantry squads, quickly moving forward, successfully bypassing the back of the first battalion of the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, which had withdrawn from Lihuapu and fighting and leaving, and suddenly launched a volley. The battle broke out in full swing five or six miles away from the front of the 12th Brigade Defense Area of the Jin Army.

This made the battle plan presided over by the brigade commander of the Jin army tonight fail from the beginning.