Early the morning of the second day after the pre-war meeting, the 1st Battalion of the Reconnaissance Regiment of the 211th Division and the 1st Battalion of the Light Armored Vehicle Regiment of the Armored Brigade took the lead in opening the south gate of Lang Son City. The light armored battalion was followed by the 877th Regiment of the 462nd Brigade, followed by the other two regiments of the 462nd Brigade also leaving the city. Behind the 211th Division was the armored brigade, the army headquarters, the heavy artillery brigade, and at the back of the team was the heavy armored vehicle battalion.

After Li Yuanhong, Huang Gang and other officers of the 93rd Division sent Wang Haitao out of Langshan City, Wang Haitao told them again, and then he got into his jeep and caught up with the troops. The road from Lang Son to Hanoi is relatively easy to walk, and there are not many mountain roads. However, too much rain made the roads very muddy, and the troops did not advance quickly.

In the afternoon of the second day, the sound of gunfire was faintly heard in front of the troops, and the team stopped. Wang Haitao, who was sitting in the jeep thinking about things, was also interrupted. Wang Haitao looked out the car window, and the light rain was still falling. After Wang Haitao stepped out of the jeep, a signal soldier trotted in front of Wang Haitao. The signal soldier stood up and saluted and reported loudly: "Report to the military seat, the 211th Division reports that the front is Wanling County, and there is an infantry squadron of the Japanese army stationed in the county seat, and now the 877th Regiment of the 462nd Brigade is engaged in battle with the garrison Japanese army. ”

Wang Haitao nodded, and said to the signal soldier: "Tell Tang Longzai to take the county seat as soon as possible and fight quickly!" The signal soldier replied loudly: "Yes, military seat!" Salute and leave. Wang Haitao stood in the rain and observed around with a telescope, and Tang Fu hurriedly opened his umbrella to block the rain for Wang Haitao. The road is surrounded by sparse woods, some grass huts are scattered in the distance, and occasionally one or two people look at the road from afar.

Here in the county town of Jianling, an infantry squadron of the Japanese army defended the city wall, the city wall of the county town was dilapidated, and the Japanese army forced the local people to repair the city wall, but it was far from being compared with the city wall of the big city. The 1st Battalion of the 211th Division's Reconnaissance Regiment, which served as the vanguard of the whole army, was discovered by the Japanese troops defending the city when it was approaching Wanling County, and as soon as a dozen Japanese soldiers at the gate of the city exchanged fire with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, they were knocked down by the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion with dense firepower.

The soldiers of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion were ready to blow open the city gate with a bang, and the Japanese troops on the city wall set up several machine guns and desperately strafed the outside of the city, and the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion had to stop temporarily after suffering several casualties. The 1st Reconnaissance Battalion was just about to inform the troops behind it when 18 light armored vehicles from the 1st Battalion of the Light Armored Regiment rushed up, followed by officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the 877th Regiment.

After learning about the small number of Japanese troops in the city, Wu Zhijun, the commander of the first battalion of the 877th Regiment, reported the situation to Wei Ye, the commander of the regiment behind, and organized the soldiers to attack together with the armored vehicles. The strength of this Japanese squadron was limited, and the heavy weapons were only four mortars and four heavy machine guns, and the commander of the Japanese squadron under his command saw that the Chinese army had sent combat vehicles to attack, and hurriedly set up four mortars on the city wall.

Light armored vehicles will be damaged if they are hit exactly by *, and if they are unlucky, they may be destroyed. But the Japanese only had four mortars, and the accuracy was not very good, and the shelling of the four guns was next to the armored car, and the armored car was fine, but the soldiers of the battalion who attacked with the armored car suffered casualties.

The sound of artillery alarmed Wei Ye, the commander of the 877th Regiment, and the second battalion led by Wei Ye was behind the first battalion, originally heard that there was only one squadron of Japanese troops in the county, and Wei Ye didn't pay attention to it, but when he heard the sound of artillery on the city wall, Wei Ye was a little anxious. He hurriedly asked the signal corps to give an order to Yu Mingren, the commander of the heavy firepower battalion, to set up artillery to bombard the city wall.

The 211th Division is now the only regimental division in the whole army equipped with 12 Japanese-style mountain artillery. Originally, when starting from Longzhou City, each regiment was equipped with ten Japanese-style mountain guns, but in the counterattack battle in Pingxiang, because the Japanese army was pursued all the way, the troops participating in the battle did not carry these mountain guns in order to advance lightly. When the 93rd Division attacked Lang Son, it thought that the firepower of these mountain guns was too weak, so it did not use them.

When the 211th Division was replenishing at Zhennan Pass, Tang Longzai remembered these Japanese-style mountain artillery, so he asked the baggage regiment to pull the artillery from Pingxiang to Zhennan Pass. After conquering Langshan City, the road ahead was easier to walk, and Tang Longzai added twelve Japanese-style mountain guns in each regiment, and the extra ones were left in Zhennanguan and handed over to the 271st Brigade for use.

The 877th Regiment set up 12 Japanese-style mountain guns and 18 100-caliber heavy mortars to fire at the city wall, not to mention the mortars on the city wall, there were not even a few soldiers left, and the Japanese squadron leader was also blown into the air by artillery fire and was killed on the spot. Without the help of mortars and heavy machine guns, the armored vehicles rushed to the city gate with all their might, and rushed into the city with all their might, and the officers and men of the 877th Regiment also rushed in behind them.

In only one and a half hours, the 877th Regiment and the armored battalion captured Wanling County. Wang Haitao considered that after more than a day of marching in the rain and the soldiers were relatively tired, he ordered the whole army to stop advancing and camp in Wanling County tonight. The county town was too small to accommodate so many troops, and most of the troops had barracks outside the city, but everyone could finally have a hot meal, which also made the soldiers a lot easier.

After a night's rest, the spirits of the officers and men were basically restored, and after dawn, the rain that had been falling for several days stopped, and a red sun rose in the east, which made all the people feel a lot more excited. Wang Haitao gave an order, and the troops continued to advance in the same formation as yesterday. According to the map, the distance from the road in Bac Giang City is only 70 kilometers, and if it goes well, it can be reached in one day.

The road situation, although still not ideal, was generally better than in the previous two days, and the pace of the troops' advance was accelerating. After a day's march, in the evening, the vanguard was still five kilometers away from Bac Giang City, and the reconnaissance battalion that served as the vanguard sent someone to report that a defensive position built by the Japanese army had been found on the outskirts of Bac Giang City, and about an infantry brigade was stationed on the position.

Wang Haitao received the information, ordered the troops to be stationed on the spot, and asked all the troops to raise the alert level to prevent the Japanese army from attacking at night. The military department also selected the place to set up, and Wang Haitao asked the guards to find Tang Longzai, Li Changwu, and Wei Erxi. After the three of them entered Wang Haitao's tent, they stood up and saluted, Wang Haitao sat down and asked: "Long Zai, tomorrow we will launch an attack on the enemy in Beijiang, is your division ready? Which brigade will attack the city, and which brigade will block the reinforcements?"

Tang Longzai replied: "Report to the military seat, the enemy attacking Beijiang City is in charge of the 462nd Brigade, and Brigade Commander Li Changwu is in charge. The 463rd Brigade was responsible for the 463rd Brigade to block the reinforcements in Beining County, and Brigade Commander Wei Erxi was in charge. Wang Haitao nodded and asked, "Is there only one brigade of the 463rd Brigade going over?" Tang Longzai hesitated for a moment and replied: "Originally, I was going to let the self-propelled * artillery regiment also send a battalion over, but I was worried that the siege support firepower would be insufficient, so I didn't send it." However, I transferred all three regiments of the 462nd Brigade to the 463rd Brigade, so that the 463rd Brigade would have 72 Japanese-style mountain guns, and the firepower should be sufficient. ”

Wang Haitao thought for a while and said: "Long Zai, the self-propelled * artillery of this battalion is still brought by the 463rd Brigade, and I will let the heavy artillery brigade give you fire support during the siege of the city. Tang Longzai nodded and replied: "Yes, military seat, find and prepare as you tell you to do immediately." Wang Haitao added: "In addition, I also plan to have the armored brigade send 10 light tanks, 10 heavy armored vehicles, 15 light armored vehicles and the 463rd Brigade to operate together." If the Japanese reinforcements can be annihilated, these armored units can come in handy. ”

Then Wang Haitao said to Wei Erxi: "Erxi, your brigade will start to act in the middle of the night, try not to let the Japanese army in Beijiang find out, I will telegraph Tang Xiaoshan to take action against Beining County in the middle of the night, your brigade must rush to Beining County at dawn, on the one hand, be prepared to deal with the reinforcements in Hanoi, and on the other hand, be prepared to deal with the Japanese troops withdrawn from Beijiang City." ”

Wei Erxi stood up and replied: "Please rest assured, the 463rd Brigade will guarantee the completion of the mission!" Wang Haitao motioned for Wei Erxi to sit down, and then said: "I am still relieved of your second happiness, but you must be bold and careful, judge the situation according to the intelligence of the reconnaissance brigade, and correctly judge whether to block the reinforcements or eat the reinforcements, but don't come hard, to reduce casualties as much as possible, after all, dealing with the Japanese army in Hanoi is the most important task." ”

Wei Erxi nodded in response to Wang Haitao's instructions, Wang Haitao turned his head and said to Li Changwu: "Changwu, don't rush forward in tomorrow's attack, you must fight steadily and steadily, step by step." The casualties must not be excessive. Li Changwu also responded to Wang Haitao's instructions. Wang Haitao asked about the reserves of weapons and ammunition and the mental condition of the soldiers before asking them to go back to prepare.

As soon as Tang Longzai and the others left, Wang Haitao called the confidential officer and asked him to send a telegram to Tang Xiaoshan, ordering Tang Xiaoshan to take the county seat of Bac Ninh before dawn tomorrow without alarming the defenders of Hanoi, so as to welcome the arrival of the 463rd Brigade and cooperate with the 463rd Brigade in the later battle. The confidential officer recorded the contents of the telegram, and after Wang Haitao signed it, he asked the confidential officer to send it immediately.

At dawn the next day, Wang Haitao received a telegram from Tang Xiaoshan and Wei Erxi, in which Tang Xiaoshan reported that the soldiers of the two battalions sent by the reconnaissance brigade had seized the county seat of Beining, and that all the soldiers of a squadron of the Japanese army in the county town had been annihilated, and none of them had escaped the net. Wei Erxi's telegram reported that Wang Haitao's 463rd Brigade and armored troops had all arrived in Bac Ninh County at dawn, and had taken over the city defense of Bac Ninh County from the reconnaissance brigade, and were now making preparations to deal with the reinforcements in Hanoi and the defeat of Bac Giang.

After receiving the second telegram, Wang Haitao was determined that everything that should be done now had been done, and it was up to him to see how the attack on the Japanese army in Beijiang City unfolded. Wang Haitao walked out of the tent and saw that dozens of artillery pieces of two heavy artillery battalions and a field artillery regiment of the heavy artillery brigade had been deployed on the position, the alert troops around the artillery position were making defensive preparations, and all the antiaircraft guns were distributed next to the artillery position.