Wang Haitao moved with the rear army, and the troops marched for most of the day, and after walking 40 kilometers, a staff officer ran to Wang Haitao and stood up straight and said: "Report to the commander, the commander of the third reconnaissance regiment, Yao, is in an emergency. After speaking, he handed a telegram to Wang Haitao. Wang Haitao took the telegram and saw that the reconnaissance team under Yao Yuanbao had discovered Japanese troops in Xingan County, 120 kilometers north of Zhangshu County.

Wang Haitao immediately ordered the whole army to stop advancing and stand by, and then opened the map on the front of the jeep. As can be seen from the map, his troops have just passed through Jishui Town, which is still nearly 200 kilometers away from the county seat of Xingan. If you rush at full speed, you can arrive in a day and a half, but the strength and arrangement of the Japanese troops have not yet been figured out, and there are too many unknown factors to rush over now, so it is definitely not a good idea.

After thinking about the map for a long time, Wang Haitao ordered the troops to continue to advance at a speed of five kilometers per hour, and at the same time called Yao Yuanbao back, ordering the reconnaissance troops to make every effort to find out the situation of the Japanese army's strength in Xingan County and the specific arrangement. After the telegram was sent to Yao Yuanbao, the troops continued to advance, but the marching speed of five kilometers per hour was about the same as walking for this highly mechanized unit.

In the evening, Wang Haitao ordered the troops to camp on the spot, and the troops had left Ji'an less than 100 kilometers by this time. After it got dark, Wang Haitao received telegrams from Wang Weikuan, Xu Qun, and Yao Yuanbao respectively. Yao Yuanbao's telegram was the first to be sent, reporting that the Japanese army was stationed in the county seat of Xingan County, with four infantry brigades, one mountain artillery brigade, and one engineer squadron, and the commander was Major General Takeshi Kono, the commander of the brigade.

Xu Qun's telegram was to report that a Japanese infantry squadron and a regiment of the puppet army had been stationed in Xiajiang County, and Xu Qun asked Wang Haitao whether the reconnaissance group would launch an attack on Xiajiang County and take the county seat in one fell swoop. Wang Haitao thought about it for a while, and Xu Qun agreed to allow the reconnaissance group to launch an attack on Xiajiang County, but asked Xu Qun to be more careful to avoid excessive casualties among the troops.

In the telegram, Wang Weikuan pointed out that the section from Xiajiang County to Zhangshu County was mountainous and the Japanese army could have many ambush sites, and now his subordinates found a large number of Japanese troops ambushing in Ma'ao Mountain and Nantouling Mountain near Xingan County, and looking at the number of the Japanese army, it was the 84th Infantry Wing of the 22nd Division that was ambushed in Ma'ao Mountain, and the 85th Infantry Wing and the 86th Wing of the 22nd Division were ambushed in Nantouling Mountain, and Japanese artillery units were found at the foot of Nantouling Mountain, equipped with 48 mountain guns of 75 mm caliber。

With Wang Weikuan's telegram and a look at the map, Wang Haitao understood the layout of the Japanese army. The Japanese army held Xingan County with the Kono Brigade, which was surrounded by the Ganjiang River to the west, and the other three sides were also hilly and mountainous, so it was difficult for a large army to deploy, which meant that Xingan County was very difficult to attack. When Wang Haitao's troops attacked Xingan County with all their might, as long as the attack was not resisted, the Japanese 22nd Division would immediately attack from the rear and flank.

The mountain artillery troops ambushed at the foot of Nantouling Mountain can also use artillery fire to fully cover the Chinese troops that are besieging the city, so that the Chinese troops besieging the city will definitely suffer heavy losses in the attack on three sides without defense, and there is a danger of being severely damaged or even completely annihilated. Seeing the conspiracy of the Japanese army, Wang Haitao sneered and asked his subordinates to notify all the officers above the regiment to come to the temporary headquarters for a meeting.

An hour passed, and the officers of the whole regiment gathered at Wang Haitao's temporary headquarters, Wang Haitao sat on the main seat, saw that everyone had arrived, glanced around, and then said: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the latest information, the Japanese army has set up an ambush circle in Xingan County and its surroundings, just waiting for our unit to fall into the net. ”

Then Wang Haitao told everyone about the layout of the Japanese army and the situation of the troops in various places, and after speaking, he said: "Now that we know the plan of Little Japan, then we will accompany them to have a good time." If you have any ideas, you can discuss them with each other and talk about them. After speaking, Wang Haitao stared at everyone present. Everyone started talking about each other.

After a while, Wang Haitao knocked lightly on the table, and the room fell silent. Wang Haitao asked: "What's the discussion? Who will talk about it first?" Li Changwu was the first to stand up and said: "Commander, I think that the Japanese army's mountain artillery position at the foot of Nantouling has the greatest threat to us, and we must first solve it. As long as this mountain artillery position is solved first, the other Japanese troops will not be in much danger to us. ”

After listening to Li Changwu's speech, Wang Haitao asked: "Then have you thought of a specific plan of action?" Li Changwu called Wang Haitao's question, knowing that Wang Haitao had already agreed with his idea, and he couldn't help but lift his spirits. Before he spoke, he had discussed with several of his regimental commanders for a while, and now he had a general plan of action in mind.

Li Changwu quickly went through the action plan again in his mind, Wang Haitao was still looking at him while waiting for his answer, it was too late for him to think about it carefully, Li Changwu replied: "My plan is that the main force of our army will march slowly to attract the attention of the Japanese army, and then send a regiment of troops to quietly detour to the vicinity of the Japanese artillery position under the south head. After this regiment was in place, our army came to the city of Xingan County again, and at the same time launched an attack on Xingan County, it also attacked the Japanese artillery positions. If the Japanese army in ambush comes out to attack our army, our army can use armored forces and infantry to defeat the Japanese ambush. ”

Li Changwu said all the plans in his mind in one go, and then looked at Wang Haitao with expectant eyes, while Wang Haitao stared at the map on the table and was silent, and the officers present also whispered about Li Changwu's proposal. After a long while, Wang Haitao finished his contemplation and raised his head to look at Li Changwu, who was already a little uneasy.

After Wang Haitao raised his head, the conference room was quiet again, only to hear Wang Haitao say: "The plan is good, although there are still places where you don't need to think about everything, but it is also rare, and you can see that you are attentive." One of your plans is that you didn't take into account that the main force of our army reached the city of Xinganxian County, and the Japanese army opened fire in advance before the attack was launched? There are also two ambushes of the Japanese army, but there are more than 15,000 people in three wings, and the guard regiment of our army company under the city is only more than 8,000 people in three regiments, if more than 10,000 Japanese troops in the city are killed out of the city again, under the attack from both sides, it will be difficult for our army to defeat the Japanese army even if it has armored troops, and even if it defeats the Japanese army, it will be heavy casualties, so can we still have the ability to defeat the more than 30,000 Japanese troops in Zhangshu and rescue the 210th Division?"

Li Changwu, who asked Wang Haitao's question, broke out in a cold sweat, and the officers present also nodded yes. Wang Haitao then said: "I'll change the plan, and everyone will discuss it again." First of all, our army is not in a hurry to advance, and I plan to rush to Xingan County in two more days, and in these two days, let the anti-Japanese brigade of the Chinese communists attack and harass the Japanese troops in ambush day and night, so that they can not rest sufficiently. Secondly, two days later, our vanguard troops rushed to Xingan County and immediately launched a feint attack on Xingan County.

At this time, the main force of our army had to open a distance of more than 10 kilometers from the vanguard troops, because our army had not yet been concentrated together, and the Japanese artillery would not easily open fire, so at that time, the reconnaissance regiment of the 211th Division and the anti-Japanese brigade would cooperate with each other to take the Japanese artillery positions in one fell swoop. At this time, the Japanese troops in ambush knew that they had been exposed and had to attack our army.

At this time, our heavy artillery came into play, and the 130 heavy artillery regiment concentrated on dealing with the Japanese troops rushing out of Ma Brain Mountain, and I sent the 2nd Regiment of the 462nd Brigade and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Mixed Armored Brigade to attack and defeat the Japanese army wing in Ma Brain Mountain. As for the Japanese troops who came out of Nantouling, I will let the self-propelled howitzer, artillery regiment and rocket artillery battalion of the 211th Division strike at them first, and finally attack them with the guard regiment and the 3rd Regiment of the 462nd Brigade plus the light armored regiment of the 211th Division, so as to defeat the Japanese troops of these two wings. After defeating the 22nd Division of the Japanese Army, we concentrated our forces to take the county town of Xingan. ”

Wang Haitao's battle plan is much more rigorous than Li Changwu's, and it is also a truly feasible plan. The officers present, including Li Changwu, all nodded at Wang Haitao's battle plan. After Wang Haitao discussed some details with everyone, he decided to implement this plan. Wang Haitao finally said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will issue combat missions to all units tomorrow night, and this is the end of today's meeting. ”

After the meeting ended, everyone scattered while discussing, but Wang Haitao sat in the conference room and lit a cigarette. Tang Longzai did not leave, and when he saw that Wang Haitao had lit a cigarette, he knew that Wang Haitao was in a bad mood, so he came over and sat down beside Wang Haitao and said: "Brother-in-law, don't worry too much about the 210th Division, I believe they can hold Zhangshu County." ”

Wang Haitao spit out a puff of cigarette, extinguished the cigarette butt and sighed and said: "Long Zai, I'm not too worried about the 210th Division, even if they have a lot of losses, but the number and combat effectiveness are there, and it is not so easy for Little Japan to eat them in one bite." I'm just thinking about Tang Hongming, Tang Hongming should be your cousin, right? Since the establishment of the 210th Division, he has fought a lot of battles big and small, and has made a lot of contributions, and I originally planned to wait for him to capture Nanchang and then appoint him to be the deputy commander of the 91st Army, but I didn't expect him to make such a big mistake this time. ”

Although Tang Hongming is Tang Longzai's cousin, the two families are not close, and Tang Hongming's ability to become the commander of the 210th Division was also favored and cultivated by German instructors in training with his own ability. After the establishment of the 91st Army, Tang Hongming became Tang Longzai's subordinate, but the two did not spend much time together, and Tang Longzai in the 91st Army paid more attention to Li Changwu, who he cultivated and promoted.

But how to say that Tang Hongming is also his subordinate and relative, and he still has to say good things. So, Tang Longzai said to Wang Haitao: "Brother-in-law, this time can be regarded as a profound lesson to Hongming, I think he will not make such a mistake again, can he show mercy to his subordinates this time, after all, it will be easy to get a thousand troops, and it is difficult to find a general! Not to mention that the 210th Division is an all-German armament division, and it is not easy to find a division commander who can command the whole division." ”