It is not the first time for the 391st Regiment of the Central Army to fight against the Japanese puppet army on this Junfeng Highway - the cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army who camouflaged and set up an ambush and captured a company, and the Nomura Infantry Brigade of the Otsuka Wing are all commendable examples.

However, tonight's situation is clearly quite different from the past. In order to respond to the reconnaissance team that rescued Zhao Mutou's spy company from infiltrating Little Elm Mountain, the colonel of the Central Army sent troops on a large scale in a hurry, causing the main force of the whole regiment and the artillery company to gather on the Junfeng Highway in a short period of time. The west side is the Little Elm Mountain, the east is the Big Elm Mountain, this simple road with dozens of zhang high cliffs on both sides looks like a narrow bellows, once the two ends of the road are cut off, the people and horses trapped in it are tantamount to rats that have drilled into the bellows, and there is almost no possibility of escape.

At present, the southern end of the highway: Fengdian County and its northern suburbs have been heavily furnished by the Japanese army and cannot be broken through; If there were any more unexpected enemy troops on the north side of the road, the 391st Regiment of the Central Army would be suspended.

Of course, the head of the regiment, Qin Zhongxiao, is very aware of this. At this time, Chen Hao, the commander of his second battalion, was leading the fifth company to set up a temporary position five miles north on this road to prevent the Japanese army from being killed at the northern foot of Xiaoyushu Mountain and the direction of Junling County.

But this is also the contradiction that makes the colonel of the Central Army feel thorny: it stands to reason that the second battalion and the fifth company led by Chen Hao must stay in place and protect the safety of the rear wing of the whole regiment. At the same time, however, Chief of Staff Zhang Hong led the Second Battalion and the Fourth Company to carry out the battle of breaking off, which was destined to fight and retreat, and finally break away from the battlefield, follow in the footsteps of the main force, and hide from the mountain pass on the side of the highway into the Great Elm Mountain. This means that before the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion completes its retreat, the 5th Company must first withdraw from the temporary position on the rear flank, otherwise it will be cut off by the Japanese pursuers in the direction of Fengdian. However, as soon as the fifth company withdrew, the safety support surface of the rear flank of the 391st Regiment naturally became smaller - this undoubtedly violated the taboo of the soldiers.

"Tuanzuo, why don't I transfer a company from the first battalion and replace Chen Hao and them?" Seeing that Qin Zhongxiao was in a dilemma, Li Jiayu, the commander of the first battalion beside him, suggested.

"What's the point of that!? The palms and backs of the hands are full of meat. The colonel of the Central Army threw a foolish sentence to the commander of the first battalion.

Now they had withdrawn to a pass in the Great Elm Hill beside the road, and walked into a gentle mountain road that could be called wide; The 391st Regiment entered and exited this pass twice, once to set up an ambush and attack the cavalry company of the puppet Mongolian army in Fengdian, and the other to return to the garrison with heavy weapons seized from the outskirts of Junling City.

Seeing that the artillery company and its equipment were the first to hide into the mountain pass, and then the first battalion rushed in, Qin Zhongxiao looked up at the moonlight that appeared and disappeared from time to time, and knew that at this moment, the chief of staff, Zhang Hong, was already calling the second battalion commander Chen Hao to lead his troops to move closer to him through the walkie-talkie—the most dangerous moment was getting closer and closer.

"You just have to withdraw first, Tuanza, if you don't feel at ease here, I'll stay and respond." Li Jiayu began to urge the hesitant Qin Zhongxiao. The latter thought about it and did not agree to the other party's request to stay; But it was necessary to ambush troops at the mountain pass.

"Let the commander of the third company bring a platoon of nails here, and at any time plan to respond to the men and horses of the second battalion withdrawn from the north and south ends of the road;" The colonel of the Central Army made up his mind: "The rest of the men immediately withdraw to the mountain pass and return to the garrison, leaving room for the broken troops." ”

Indeed, although this mountain pass is quite spacious, if hundreds of people gather at once, it will be congested.

"Regiment commander, if you leave a platoon, why don't you let me take the brothers of the special service company to guard here and answer the chief of staff." It was Zhao Mutou, the commander of the spy company who had just rushed to Qin Zhongxiao's side, who spoke: "My people are well armed and equipped, and they are more sure after the break." ”

"No way!" Qin Zhongxiao immediately vetoed categorically: "You and all the people in the spy company who participated in the reconnaissance of the Little Elm Mountain operation, immediately rush back to the Xiaozhai regiment headquarters - Major Wang Suihua is waiting for you with the stars and the moon!" ”

Since the thrilling reception of Zhao Mutou's reconnaissance team, the colonel of the Central Army has been busy and briefly inquired about the situation. Obviously, they have gained something in Xiaoyushu Mountain, and next, the female major of the military commander who is guarding the regimental headquarters in Xiaozhai will have countless questions to ask; If valuable information can be found from it, then tonight's move of the 391st Regiment almost pouring out of the nest will be worth the trip!

While the 4th and 5th Companies of the 2nd Battalion of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army were still blocking the Japanese army on the Junfeng Highway and guarding the rear flank, the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion marched into the battlefield of the Eighth Route Army at the foot of Guanmen Mountain under the command of the company commander Captain Zhu Xingyun.

Zhu Xingyun's second battalion and sixth company were ordered by Qin Zhongxiao to sneak out of the Great Elm Mountain station and make a special trip to Guanmen Mountain Hekou Village to support friendly troops - at that time, the colonel of the Central Army had just learned that the Japanese army was sweeping Xiping Village at the foot of Guanmen Mountain through the flying pigeon of the Eighth Route Army, and at that moment his own spy company reconnaissance team had not yet been exposed in Little Elm Mountain, Qin Zhongxiao did not expect that the 391st Regiment would face a fierce battle next, so he sent the sixth company of the second battalion to the defense area of the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army to provide support.

Under the cover of night, Zhu Xingyun took the second battalion and the sixth company to bypass Fengdian County with a familiar car, went straight to the west foot of Guanmen Mountain, and first arrived at Hekou Village. Their unexpected arrival surprised Li Tianlin, the supreme commander stationed in the local area and the chief of staff of the Guanmenshan Detachment of the Xu Brigade.

Before this, Li Tianlin's emotions could be said to have experienced severe suffering—Hekou Village and Xiping Village were only a dozen miles apart, and the rumbling sound of artillery from there since the afternoon was like an explosion in his heart. After learning about the battle situation, he offered to send a part of his troops to Xiping for reinforcements, but was categorically rejected by Wu Zijian, the detachment leader who commanded in Xiping Village.

Li Tianlin, who was already in the important post of chief of staff of the detachment, certainly did not dare to disobey the order. So I can only go around in my own headquarters in a hurry; So when he suddenly saw a whole company of reinforcements sent by Qin Zhongxiao from Great Elm Mountain, and saw his old acquaintance, Captain Zhu Xingyun, he was so excited that he couldn't help himself:

"Enough friends, Colonel Qin is really enough friends! Our Xu Brigade detachment and your 391st Regiment are really friends in distress! ”

Soon, the commanders of the friendly forces sat down to study the battle situation in Xiping Village, according to the latest battle report sent by the signal corps, the outer defense line of Xiping Village has been broken through by the Japanese army, and at present, Wu Zijian commands a total of three companies of the second and third battalions, which are stationed on the east bank of the Qinglong River in the village; It formed a confrontation across the river with the Japanese army that had pressed to the west bank.

"Qinglong River? It shouldn't be that deep, right? Can you stop the Japanese? The company commander of the Central Army looked at a hand-drawn map of Xiping Village and couldn't help but ask worriedly.

"I'm worried about that, too!" The worry of the chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army detachment was all written on his face: "Before the battle, Captain Wu deliberately transferred the most elite first battalion and cavalry company from Xiping Village, and let them jump to the outside line to fight and attack the Japanese flank in the lower reaches of the Qinglong River. In this way, the frontal defense force remaining in Xiping Village will be even weaker. I guess that they were unable to withstand the Japanese offensive and retreated to the banks of the Qinglong River in the village. It's hard to say how long it can hold on to the shallow river......"

When Zhu Xingyun heard this, he suddenly stood up from the table: "Then what are we waiting for?" Just rush over and stick a knife in the side of the little devil! ”

Li Tianlin's face showed a look of joy and embarrassment at the same time, and after hesitating for a moment, he stammered and explained to the commander of the friendly company that he, the chief of staff, had been given a death order by the detachment commander, and every soldier who was not allowed to mobilize the troops around Hekou Village rushed to Xiping Village for reinforcements!

The captain of the Central Army was stunned for a moment, and then he reacted, and at the same time, he understood everything from the eager eyes of the chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army standing opposite.

"It's okay!" Under the gaze of several commanders of the Eighth Route Army, Zhu Xingyun slapped the table arrogantly: "Your commander doesn't allow you to divide your troops over, my commander sent me here just to support you in the battle!" I didn't say anything, I rushed over alone with the sixth company! ”

This sincere and generous statement almost made Li Tianlin shed tears, he ran over excitedly and grabbed Zhu Xingyun's hands, and shook them vigorously: "Okay, good, I, Li Tianlin, owe you a favor, and the entire Xu Brigade detachment owes you a favor!" ”

Lu Dajiang, the commander of the third battalion of the Xu Brigade Detachment, also stepped forward excitedly and grabbed the shoulders of the captain of the Central Army: "Brother, don't worry, we will send someone to guide your army and send you to Xiping Village all the way!" ”

In the end, the Eighth Route Army sent a whole platoon of troops to lead the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army to dispatch in a hurry. This was also carried out under the tremendous pressure of the detachment commander's order that "not a single soldier or soldier shall be sent," and for this reason, Chief of Staff Li Tianlin obviously also let go.

In the corresponding plan formulated before leaving, two situations were taken into account: first, when the reinforcements of the Central Army arrived, Wu Zijian had already led the troops to abandon the east bank of the Qinglong River and completely retreat into the Guanmen Mountain behind him; In this case, Zhu Xingyun's troops must immediately withdraw to Hekou Village. Second, if the Chinese and Japanese armies were still fighting in the village at that time, the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 391st Regiment would judge the situation, look for the weaknesses of the Japanese rear, and launch a surprise attack.

Considering that this friendly reinforcement was not familiar with Xiping Village, a platoon sent by Li Tianlin to guide the way was selected from the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade Detachment (coincidentally, the number was the same as the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion), because the entire 2nd Battalion had been stationed in Xiping Village before. Li Tianlin told the platoon commander that once a battle broke out, he must guide the friendly troops to find the most favorable terrain to rely on, and if necessary, he could also guide them to join forces with the troops of the detachment leader Wu Zijian. In short, it is necessary to let the reinforcements of friendly forces play a role, but not to put friendly forces in danger.

Just in case, Li Tianlin also sent two communications cavalry to Xiping Village in advance, not only to inquire about the battle situation, but also to inform the detachment commander to make preparations.

And just halfway through the rapid march towards Xiping Village, the captain of the Central Army received a report from the two communication cavalrymen: the Japanese army has stopped firing artillery, but the confrontation and exchange of fire on both sides of the Qinglong River are still raging!

Zhu Xingyun waved his arm and ordered his subordinates to move forward at full speed to give the arrogant Japanese army a front and rear attack!