Although accurate information had not yet reached the former enemy headquarters of the Independent Regiment, a sudden burst of cheers on the battlefield was heard.

Cheng Xiao looked at Wang Ping, and since he was surprised and didn't believe it, he asked, "Leader!" Is this a win? ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a rush of footsteps came into the command headquarters, and then he saw Zhang Qing's excited and excited figure rushing in.

"Commander, commissar! Win, we win. More than 3,000 puppet troops, all of them were wiped out by us, and no one escaped the net! ”

"Whew!" Wang Ping's heart, which had been tense all night, was completely relaxed, and he replied after taking a long breath.

"Finally won, commissar, order the troops to clean up the battlefield immediately, take everything they can with them, and they must leave here before dark and return to the station! Don't forget, the little devils still have planes, don't want a battle that we have already won and lose a few hundred more people because of the little devil planes! We can't afford to lose! ”

"Yes, Captain!" Cheng Xiao said a superfluous nonsense and went directly to give an order.

At this time, a telegram from Chief of Staff Zeng Quan was also sent: "Regiment commander, telegram from Chief of Staff!" ”

"The Japanese puppet army that reinforced Loess Ridge suddenly withdrew more than an hour ago."

The political commissar who had just returned from the order frowned and asked: "Withdraw, what kind of trick are the devils playing, have they already calculated that the Loess Ridge will be taken by us, and they know that it is useless to work hard to reinforce them, it is better to go back and sleep!" ”

Wang Ping shook his head and replied: "Devil commander, to be precise, our old opponent, Major General Ono, is very smart!" ”

"After the reinforcements crossing the bridge were blown up by us, it would be at least dawn before they could reach the village of Huangtuling. And after dawn, their planes can come at all. We are definitely more afraid of their planes than the infantry. Rather than having the infantry work hard overnight to reinforce the Loess Ridge, it is better to send planes after dawn and come over in an hour. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Ping's face became unprecedentedly serious, and he couldn't see the joy after winning the battle just now.

"It's three o'clock in the morning, political commissar, contact the troops immediately, and I'll give them an hour to clean up the battlefield. An hour later, regardless of the outcome? We must retreat and return to our station! ”

"Why is it so urgent? Commander, did you think of something? Cheng Xiao asked rhetorically with a frown.

The battlefield is so big, and the losses of the independent regiment are also very large, it takes a lot of time just to collect the remains of the sacrificed soldiers, an hour, and nothing can be done at all?

Wang Ping nodded and replied with a serious face: "Not bad!" In our plan, after eating the devil's two-way sweeping troops in one bite, the devil's remaining two-way sweeping troops will definitely retreat! But now, that doesn't seem to be the case! ”

"Eating so many Japanese puppet troops in one bite, even if we use the trick, the loss of the independent regiment is very large, and the devil must know this truth."

"In terms of strength, not to mention that the devil still has two sweeping troops left, even if there is only one sweeping force, the overall strength is still above us."

"Ono ordered the reinforcements to go back halfway, on the one hand, because it was too late, and on the other hand, he was preparing for the continued encirclement and suppression tomorrow and accumulating physical strength!"

Cheng Xiao's face also became serious, and he frowned and replied, "I'll give the order right away!" ”

An hour later, the separate regiment, dragging a large number of lightly and seriously wounded, began to retreat.

The regiment commander Wang Ping retreated with the second battalion, and before he had gone far, Cheng Xiao rushed over with a heavy face with a few pieces of paper.

"Regiment commander, the losses and casualties have been counted, even if we have the advantage in firepower, the losses are very large, especially in the battle to eliminate a thousand devils in the end, the casualty ratio is almost one to one!"

"The regiment lost a total of 592 people, 219 were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness, more than 800 were slightly injured, and the direct loss of a battalion was more than that!"

"The casualties on the Chief of Staff's side are not yet known, but there are certainly any. I estimate that tonight we lost more than a thousand people directly! ”

Wang Ping's brows furrowed and he asked, "In other words, there are only about a thousand people left in the combat strength of the main force!" ”

"Yes, Commander!" Cheng Xiao replied with a melancholy face.

There are still about 1,000 people left, but there are still more than 6,000 people in the Japanese puppet army. What's more, the 6,000-day puppet army is not only equipped with a mountain artillery brigade and a field artillery brigade, but also specially strengthened an independent heavy artillery brigade!

In the face of such a huge disparity in strength, Wang Ping's bad premonition in his heart was even stronger.

Then he ordered Cheng Xiao: "The troops speed up and quickly retreat to the station!" ”

The reconnaissance platoon immediately set off, bringing a radio station, to reconnoiter the movements of the remaining two sweeping troops of the Japanese puppet army. If they do not retreat and continue to sweep towards the station, they must cooperate with the local troops and guerrillas to hold them back, and delay them for as long as they can. ”

At the headquarters of the Japanese army brigade in Laiyuan City, Major General Ono, who was anxiously waiting, finally received a piece of information forwarded by Nakamura, which was about Aoba Nakasa in Hongqiao Village.

"General, that's all there is to the telegram. Because the Eighth Route Army was everywhere around Hongqiao Village, the reconnaissance troops did not dare to get too close, and could only see the traces of Hongqiao Village being blown up everywhere and the Eighth Route of the Earth transporting materials and equipment from Hongqiao Village. ”

"However, this can already prove that Aoba Nakasa, who is stationed in Hongqiao Village, and his troops have met with an accident!"

"More than a thousand imperial troops, two thousand imperial troops, and a large number of artillery! Such a powerful force is gone! Rear Admiral Ono still had a look of disbelief.

After a full minute, the deputy chief of staff asked in a loud voice, "Can any of you tell me how the Dirt Eight Roads did it?" ”

Seeing that his subordinates either lowered their heads and didn't speak or shook their heads to indicate that they didn't know, Major General Ono suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness that he had never felt before, and then the whole person was like an angry lion, and scolded loudly.

"Eight Geyalu, I don't know, what is the empire feeding you for? Eat! Don't go check it out yet, I want the staff and intelligence department to give me an explanation after dawn! ”

"And! Contact Kato Osa immediately and ask him how the situation is there? ”

"Hey!" The subordinates did not dare to stay in the war room for one more minute, and immediately rushed out with orders.

Today is destined to be a tragic day for Ono.

The communications staff officer came back a few minutes after leaving, with a heavy face, standing in front of Ono and slurking, not knowing how to report.

"If you have something to say, you can say it, what kind of system will it become!" Major General Ono was already in a bad mood, and the reaction of the communications staff officer directly made his anger rise up, and then glared at the other party fiercely and scolded.

"Hey! It's a telegram from Daisa Kato, and it's a farewell telegram! The communications staff officer replied with a look of emptiness.