The moon is dark and the wind is high, and on the Junling, an important town on the Tongpu railway line, about two miles away from the eastern city wall, a large number of swarthy people, with rifles on their backs and all kinds of digging tools, are tiptoeing up. At this moment, looking at Junling County from them, they could only see a few faint lights at the corner of the tall city wall. But everyone knew that there would still be invisible Japanese soldiers on the city walls guarding all night.

The information about Junling City obtained by Qin Zhongxiao, a colonel of the Central Army, is absolutely true: at present, only one infantry squad of the Japanese army is responsible for garrisoning Junling County. This small group of Japanese troops belonged to the Motokawa Brigade of the Yamaoka Heavy Division.

Of course, Qin Zhongxiao didn't bring people to attack this famous historical ancient city, all his interests were focused on the wasteland under his feet, even if the ancient city of Junling that was within reach not far away was almost in an extremely empty defensive situation, it still couldn't distract him.

As a key station along the Tongpu Railway, there is a natural reason why the garrison of the Japanese army is so weak.

Just over a month ago, while the Sena Division was moving south along the Tongpu Railway to attack the remnants of the main force of the Second Theater of the Nationalist Army, the Shangang Division stationed in the Jinzhong region also launched an offensive against western and northwestern Shanxi, and it was also coordinated with a newly formed division of the Kwantung Army stationed in northern Jinbei, the Harem Division. The targets of their joint attack were Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, which was stationed in western Shanxi, and the main force of the He Division of the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi.

The Shangang Division could be regarded as a spout this time, and only left less than one wing in Taiyuan, and the distribution of garrison forces in several counties along the Tongpu Railway south of Taiyuan was even symbolic.

This was also something that the division commander, Lieutenant General Yamaoka, had to do, because he really couldn't spare more troops at hand to deploy the county towns along the Tongpu Railway south of Taiyuan. Moreover, in addition to the Tongpu Railway near Taiyuan, his division was also responsible for the safety of the Zhengtai Railway running east-west, because it was an important channel for the Shanxi garrison to connect with the main force of the North China Front Army in Hebei.

At the same time, Shigehou Yamaoka also believed that after last year's Battle of Xinkou and the Battle of Taiyuan, the Jinzhong region with Taiyuan as the center, the Chinese army was basically wiped out, and a small number of remnants of troops were not enough to pose any threat to the towns along the Tongpu Railway, including Taiyuan.

And what made this Lieutenant General Yamaoka even more reassuring was that his colleague Lieutenant General Sena's attack on Jinnan was unusually smooth, and he was now nearing the end of the campaign to completely expel the remnants of Jinnan's Shina Army from Shanxi; To a certain extent, this has increasingly eased the pressure on public security in the central part of Shanxi. Therefore, he sent the main force of his division to the west and northwest of Shanxi in order to complete the goal of purging the Chinese army in Shanxi given by the North China Front Headquarters. As a result, Taigu, Qixian and Junling, the county towns of the railway line south of Taiyuan, are now facing the status quo of only keeping a small garrison.

The 391st Regiment of the Central Army led by Qin Zhongxiao shrank in the Great Elm Mountain, and its telecommunications with the Second Theater were basically cut off. Otherwise, with his temperament, if he had learned that the area of central Shanxi controlled by the Shangang Division had been empty for some time before, he would have led his men and horses to Taiyuan a long time ago.

This is also the point that Zhang Hong, chief of staff of the 391st Regiment, was particularly worried about, he was afraid that his regiment would go to the outskirts of Junling to get the munitions, so he was itchy for a while, and ordered to attack the county seat. This Tuanzuo lord from Huangpu, since he retreated to Fengdian, has threatened to "counterattack Taiyuan" more than once! If the counterattack on Taiyuan is still too big, then with the current strength of the 391st Regiment and the Japanese garrison in Junling County, it is still very close to the regimental counterattack on Junling.

In order to prevent this from happening, Zhang Hong insisted that the second battalion of the 391st Regiment should not participate in the operation of transporting munitions at the same time, but only asked the second battalion to send a company to follow the path of the first battalion and the machine gun company to the vicinity of the mountain pass at the northern foot of the Great Elm Mountain after the departure of the first battalion and the machine gun company to carry out the response strategy.

Of course, the colonel of the Central Army knew this from his chief of staff, so he did not quarrel with him more. In this way, on this night, he and the chief of staff led a battalion and a machine gun company, and under the leadership of the 15th Army's routs, they touched the place where the munitions were buried in the eastern suburbs of Junling County.

They saw the vaguely outlined walls of the city two miles away, and the wasteland beneath their feet was hidden among the low hills that rose and fell. Qin Zhongxiao ordered the excavation to begin, and at the same time, with the excavation site as the center, a straggler cordon was dispatched to the outer edge of a radius of about one mile, focusing on monitoring the direction of the monarch's tomb.

It was spring, and after the bitter cold of winter, the permafrost was showing signs of thawing. Therefore, the excavation work progressed relatively quickly, and the 15th Army at the time of the rout last year was not buried deep in a hurry, so in the second half of the night, the first batch of munitions hastily wrapped in tarpaulin surfaced.

Sure enough, it's a heavy weapon! Qin Zhongxiao, who was excited, ordered the adventure to light a number of horse lanterns and torches, and under the light of the lights, he first saw the mountain artillery, and the veterans of the machine gun company recognized it as the Krupp mountain cannon at a glance, which was an old-fashioned imitation of the domestic goods of the German Krupp Arsenal; Immediately, one heavy machine gun after another also showed their swarthy faces from under the tarpaulin. There are also boxes of shells, heavy machine gun bullets, and even boxes of *.

The colonel of the Central Army despised the escape, but at this time, he couldn't help but express his admiration for the fifteenth army:

"Fortunately, the brethren of the 15th Army did not throw these things to the Japanese, and if they are buried here, they will eventually see the light of day. Now that it's in the hands of my 391st regiment, God help me! ”

After the excavation, after statistics, there were two imitation German Krupp 75 mountain guns and nine boxes of shells; One Japanese 41-type 75 mountain cannon with six shells; The Republic of China Type 24 heavy machine gun (that is, the Jinling Arsenal's imitation of Makqin) five, 17 boxes of ammunition. There were also thirteen boxes*, as well as a small number of rifle cartridges and maintenance supplies for heavy weapons.

According to the recollections of the 15th Army, when the 64th Division fled outside the city of Junling last year, the munitions ordered by the commander to be buried were all big guys that were not easy to carry, and due to the serious congestion of the Tongpu Railway caused by the great retreat at that time, a large number of the routed troops of the Central Army and the Jin Army fled along the railway line and moved slowly; From time to time, it was rumored that the Japanese pursuers were approaching immediately, so the commander ordered everyone to keep only the light weapons they had with them, and all heavy weapons to be buried nearby. That's where we get today.

The officers and men of the 391 regiment's machine gun company, who came empty-handed, were the most excited; according to the regimental seat, the machine gun company can be redivided into an artillery company and a heavy machine gun company from today, and this is also the structure they have regained after the bloody battle of Fengdian. Although they were cold and hungry, excitement filled the faces of every officer and soldier.

The excavation began in the second half of the night, and by the time all the digging was completed and careful cleaning was done, the sky was already slightly bright. Chief of Staff Zhang Hong was worried that after dawn, these hundreds of men carrying bright heavy weapons marched to the northern foot of the Great Elm Mountain, which was dozens of miles long, and once exposed to the Japanese army's vision, the situation would become bad. Therefore, from time to time, Qin Zhongxiao was urged to evacuate as soon as possible.

Qin Zhongxiao disagreed. He felt that the first battalion and the machine gun company were all dressed in civilian clothing, and there were no traces of the army in the chariots and horses accompanying him, so he only had to cover the mountain artillery and heavy machine guns with tarpaulins and branches and weeds that he picked up at any time on the way, which was enough to deceive the eyes of ordinary people.

The most important thing is that according to the information provided by the people of the special service company before, there was no heavy patrol of the Japanese army on the road between Junling and Fengdian for nearly 100 miles. Although there is a part of the Otsuka United in Fengdian Castle, the 391st Regiment will enter the mountainous area at the northern foot of the Great Elm Mountain, which is far away from Fengdian. So there is no need to worry about the Japanese attack.

"Chief of Staff, I'm even thinking about it now, not only to return from here with a swagger, but also to set up mountain artillery and fire a few cannons at the head of Junling County before evacuating, so as to kill the prestige of Little Japan."

The colonel of the Central Army looked at the city wall of the Junling Tomb that was gradually becoming clear in the morning light, and said proudly. When Zhang Hong heard this, he immediately complained bitterly and spoke out on the spot to express his opposition. Qin Zhongxiao retorted with a smile: Anyway, there are only dozens of Japanese people in Junling City, even if they dare to chase them out, I am sure that they will not return! It's decided, set up a cannon!

The officers and men of the machine gun company were busy all night around these mountain guns and heavy machine guns unearthed one by one. Because the men of the 15th Army came and went in a hurry when they buried them, and hurriedly put them into the ground without completely dismantling them, and wrapped tarpaulins or tarpaulins around the outside of all the heavy weapons, so that they were not corroded too much, and at the same time reduced the trouble of reassembling them, the officers and men simply wiped and maintained these mountain guns and heavy machine guns on the spot. By daybreak, there was at least one Krupp mountain gun and three heavy machine guns, which were ready for immediate combat.

The company commander of the machine gun company, who was originally the commander of the mortar company directly under the 391 Regiment, and several officers and soldiers of the machine gun company received professional artillery training from the German military advisory group before the Anti-Japanese War, and were involved in various main battle types of guns existing in China in recent years; Therefore, although the 391st Regiment is fiddling with mortars all the year round, they are not blind to the imitation Krupp 75 mountain cannon in front of them. At this time, when he heard that the regimental seat suddenly asked for a cannon, he was really surprised and delighted, and immediately acted vigorously and resolutely.

Chief of Staff Zhang Hong was so angry that he stomped his feet, but because Qin Zhongxiao's order had been issued, it was not good to forcibly oppose and block it.

"Chief of Staff Zhang, you lead the brigade to evacuate immediately, I will command the artillery here, and it is enough to leave me two platoons of a battalion! After the shot, I will immediately chase after you. Qin Zhongxiao said happily, as if what was about to be fought was not a battle, but a marriage to a daughter-in-law into the cave room.

Observing the brighter and brighter sky and the clearer and clearer Junling City, Zhang Hong sighed, in the vision of the telescope, the Japanese soldiers on duty on the city wall had obviously discovered and nervously monitored this side: "Tuanzao, I hope you put the overall situation of the whole regiment first, don't fall in love here, finish firing, and evacuate quickly - by the way, how many shells are you going to let them fire?" ”

Qin Zhongxiao swept the commander of the machine gun company who was nervously commanding and arranging: "Let's shoot five or six rounds, if it is too few, it will not have a deterrent effect on the Japanese." ”

"Three shots! Three shots is enough! The Chief of Staff stared almost pleadingly at the Lord in front of him, and a sense of foreboding crept up into his heart.