"Battalion commander, this is a good solution!"

Liu Ziming, the commander of the first company, agreed: "Our battalion is also a veteran in blowing up the city wall, and it is absolutely guaranteed that the explosives planted under the city wall can blow up the city wall." ”。

"This thing."

Zhang Dabiao bowed his head and said to Liu Ziming and Xu Jiayou: "You immediately command the troops to hurry up and dig and pay attention to secrecy!" ”。

"Dig a few tunnels under the city walls, and plant explosives that can blow up the walls."

"When we attack Shuocheng again for the third time, this will be our backhand!"

Liu Ziming and Xu Jiayou nodded, and said in unison: "Understand, battalion commander!" ”。

"Good !!"

Zhang Dabiao nodded, then stood up and said in a condensed voice: "Without further ado, act immediately." ”。

"Yes, Battalion Commander."

Liu Ziming and Xu Jiayou stood up and saluted, and then immediately went out to carry out the plan.

And Zhang Dabiao also continued to command a battalion of soldiers in the city, and seized the time to transport all the captures that could be taken back to Dulong Village.

At this time, the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 73rd Infantry Wing, which was returning to Shuocheng along the mountain road, under the leadership of Captain Ishikawa Saburo, returned east at the speed of a rapid march.

Along the way, this brigade, more than 1,100 devils, ran vomiting blood.

In particular, Ishikawa Saburo's brigade didn't even fight much, and even if it was the return journey, it was about to run more than 20 kilometers of mountain roads, which was simply a crime.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Ishikawa Saburo rode a war horse with the chief of staff, Taro Hirota, and he didn't suffer any major crimes, but just urged the devil soldiers under his command to march.

The chief of staff, Taro Hirota, was on horseback and said to Ishikawa Saburo: "Captain, the troops have marched almost six kilometers away. ”。

"It's too difficult to march on a mountain road, do you want to stop and rest."

After a pause, Taro Hirota continued, "Anyway, Shuocheng has already been lost, and if we march back to Shuocheng in a hurry, we will have to face the enemy army that has captured Shuocheng again, and the gains outweigh the losses!" ”

The last sentence, Taro Hirota said in a low voice.

Ishikawa Saburo said helplessly, "But if we return to Shuocheng so slowly, the brigade commander will know about it, and he will not be able to skin me Ishikawa Saburo alive." ”

"But now there is no longer a situation for the rapid march to return to reinforce Shuocheng, and even if we return to Shuocheng in a hurry, we will have to face the enemy army that is very likely to be still in Shuocheng alone."

Taro Hirota said in a low voice, "The casualties of the brigade are too great, and they are all veterans of losses. ”

"Captain! There are too many veterans to lose, and the next ones to be added are some new recruits! ”

"The veterans of the imperial army now, the loss is one by one, and the supplements are all recruits from the mainland, and they have very little combat experience."

Hearing this, Saburo Ishikawa couldn't help but nod secretly.

So far, there are not many veterans of the imperial army.

The additional soldiers are all new recruits, and their combat effectiveness and combat experience are very small.

Especially for Ishikawa Saburo, he knew that because the Imperial Army occupied a vast area, the forces were scattered, and some of these elite troops needed to be stationed in the transportation town.

As a result, there are fewer and fewer mobile troops!

For Ishikawa Saburo, if his troops were missing so many veterans, it would indeed cause his troops to lose extremely important combat effectiveness.

Thinking of this, even if the rapid march returns to Shuocheng now, and wants to attack the enemy army that captured Shuocheng again, his own casualties will not be few.

In particular, the losses were all veterans of the infantry brigade.

In particular, on the way south of the 15th Brigade, it was only able to reach Shuocheng at about nine o'clock in the evening.

If the enemy army that ambushed His Highness Boyan and captured Shuocheng again did not withdraw from Shuocheng, he would also besiege it.

However, in terms of troop strength, his own infantry brigade is even less than others!

After thinking about it, Ishikawa Saburo saw that the devil soldiers under his command who were returning from the eastward march on the mountain road were running out of breath one by one, and immediately gritted his teeth and said to the chief of staff, Hirota Taro: "Order the troops to stop advancing and rest in place for five minutes before continuing to march eastward." ”。

"After continuing the journey, there is no need to march in a hurry, just follow the usual marching speed!"

When Taro Hirota heard this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately said, "Yes, Captain." ”。

Subsequently, Taro Hirota ordered the devil communication soldiers to convey the order!

Soon, the devil soldiers of the Ishikawa Brigade, who were marching to the east, sat down one by one, drank water, and rested on the spot.

At the same time, after withdrawing one kilometer from Liujia Town, Major General Okamoto Youyi, the commander of the 15th Devil Brigade who was also going south along the mountain road, also quickly received a telegram from Nakamura Zhenxiong.

"Brigade commander, your Excellency's urgent telegram!"

Speaking to Okamoto's right hand was his brigade chief of staff, Komori Jiro Osa, who saw this devil walk quickly to Okamoto's right side and hand over a telegram in his hand.

Okamoto frowned when he heard this, and took the telegram from the hand of the chief of staff, Jiro Komori, and quickly began to read it.

"Hiss!!"

After reading the telegram, Okamoto Youichi couldn't help but gasp and said: "Unexpectedly, Li Yunlong's troops actually captured Shuocheng again, and Kenzaburo Tabe, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Wing under Yoshikawa Shojiro, actually fell in battle. ”。

"Incredible, incredible!"

Komori Jiro also nodded and said in a condensed voice: "Shuocheng has been lost again, and the imperial army under Qingzhou City has been cut off. ”。

"Although the Imperial Army has transport planes that can airdrop supplies to the front-line army, the food, grass, ammunition and other materials that so many armies need to consume cannot stand just by airdropping."

Okamoto said in a condensed voice, "The point is that the back road of the army is cut off, and the impact on the imperial army under the city of Qingzhou is very great. ”

"Brigade commander, Your Excellency the General has ordered us to recapture Shuocheng at that time."

Jiro Komori said: "It should not be a problem to recapture, after all, there are still more than 6,700 people in our 15th Brigade, plus the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 73rd Wing that returned from Qingzhou City, a total of nearly 8,000 people. ”。

"It shouldn't be a problem to recapture Shuocheng!"

Okamoto Youyi was not very optimistic, and said: "But our opponent this time is Li Yunlong's Eighth Route Army Independent Regiment. ”。

"The battle of Liujiazhen, Komori-kun, you saw the other party's combat power, right?"

When Jiro Komori heard this, his face suddenly became serious, and he said, "Of course." ”。

"Although the second battalion of the independent regiment in Liujiazhen is the defending side, supported by more than a dozen solid reinforced concrete pillbox fortifications, it is undeniable that the battalions under the command of the independent regiment of the Eighth Route Army are indeed very strong in combat effectiveness."

After a pause, Jiro Komori said in a condensed voice, "Otherwise, my 15th Brigade, as the elite unit of the imperial army, would not have lost more than 2,300 troops east of Liujia Town. ”

"Not bad."

Okamoto pinched the telegram on the right and said with a solemn face: "In Qingzhou City, according to the previous call from His Excellency the General, there are only more than 2,000 defenders in Qingzhou City, where Li Yunlong personally sits. ”。

"It was this bit of strength that could withstand so many heavy attacks of the imperial army under the command of His Excellency the General, so I had to order the 7th Brigade to transfer two brigades to bypass Qingzhou City and go north to attack the first line of heaven, in an attempt to make a breakthrough from the first line of heaven."

After a few seconds of pause, Okamoto Yokaichi continued to condense after taking a breath, "And now the enemy army that has captured Shuocheng again is about the strength of a regiment. ”

"If the other party stubbornly defends Shuocheng, I'm afraid we will have to waste some effort to recapture Shuocheng."

Komori Jiro thought for a moment and said, "But after we will join the 73rd Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Wing, the total strength will be nearly 8,000. ”。

"And these situations, the enemy army should know. Will the other party wait in Shuocheng to be surrounded by us? ”

Okamoto shook his head and said, "It's hard to say. ”。

"But Komori-kun, we need to prepare for the siege of Shuocheng, and order all the departments under the jurisdiction of the brigade, and prepare to attack Shuocheng once we arrive in Shuocheng!"

Jiro Komori nodded and said, "Yes, brigade commander." ”。

"Hmm!"

Okamoto bowed his head to the right, and then waved his big hand: "Pass the order, and the troops will speed up and advance towards Shuocheng." ”。

"Before nine o'clock in the evening, we must rush to Shuocheng, otherwise, there will be many long nights and dreams!"

Jiro Komori immediately paused and said, "Hai, brigade commander." ”。

Subsequently, Jiro Komori sent a herald to immediately deliver the order.

The devils under the jurisdiction of the 15th Brigade of the Devils, who were marching south, accelerated a little faster.

However, Okamoto Youichi and Ishikawa Saburo, the two devil commanders who commanded their respective troops to rush back to Shuocheng, did not know that Zhang Dabiao had decided to withdraw the troops from Shuocheng according to Li Yunlong's suggestion.

After all, waiting for the devil soldiers to come to the city to encircle in Shuocheng, it's not that Zhang Dabiao is really arrogant and waiting to be beaten!

And the gaze turns to the direction of the sky!

As time passed, night fell.

At 8:01 p.m., the 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades of the 72nd Infantry Wing of the Japanese Army, under the command of Wing Commander Kazuo Sugita, finally reached the south of the first line of sky.

It's just that Kazuo Sugita who killed to the south of the first-line sky looked at the first-line sky when Kazuo was the first line of heaven, and he wanted to cry without tears.

A line of sky is a line in the middle of the mountain, as if it has been split by someone, and the road is narrow.

The fourth company of the first battalion of the independent regiment stayed on the front line at this time, and the total strength was only about 500 people.

More than a hundred people on the front are enough, enough to withstand the enemy army who is attacking head-on!

After the two brigades of the command post wing of Kazuo Sugida reached the south of the first line of heaven, they found that the entrance road to the south of the first line of heaven had been covered by fortifications.

If you want to break through the first line of sky, I'm afraid it will be very difficult!

"Captain, this line is not easy to fight. In a frontal attack, we can only devote less than one squadron of troops at a time, but this frontal attack is very vulnerable to the enemy's machine-gun fire. The casualties will be significant! ”

Standing next to Kazuo Sugida and talking was Kazuo Minamino, the chief of staff of the wing.

"I saw it!"

Kazuo Sugitda, who was holding a telescope on a small hill to observe the situation in the mountain pass, a place south of the first line of heaven, said helplessly: "Nanno-kun is right, a frontal attack, and the troops we can put into it at one time are less than the strength of one squadron. ”。

"Even if there is artillery bombardment by the artillery belonging to the wing, I am afraid that the effect will not be great, and the breakthrough that can be achieved on the front is very small."

Kazuo Minamino therefore suggested, "Captain, you can only send troops to attack on both flanks. ”

"That's right."

Kazuo Sugita nodded, and then said to Kazuo Minamino: "Order the 1st Infantry Brigade to send a small force to carry out continuous attacks and harassment on the enemy defenders in the mountain pass south of the first line of heaven, and the 2nd Infantry Brigade will send two squadrons to each divide their troops and detour to the east and west flanks of the first line of the sky. ”。

"I can only attack from the wings!"

Kazuo Minamino reminded, "It's just the co-captain, the east and west wings of the first line of heaven are lofty mountains, I'm afraid it's not easy to take a detour!" ”

"There's no way to do that, a frontal attack, it's unlikely that our two brigades will be able to take it, and the terrain of the first line of sky is very conducive to the opponent's defense."

Kazuo Sugita was also helpless, and within a few minutes of observing after visiting the front line, Kazuo Sugita knew that the strong attack could only be a way to kill himself, and it was impossible to break through the first line of heaven and kill the possibility of killing the county seat of Ping'an.

The only way to break the game is to send troops to attack the flank of the enemy defenders in a roundabout way as before.

"Yes, Captain!"

Kazuo Minamino paused heavily, and then immediately went to deploy.

Just when Kazuo Sugita was about to start fighting, it was the fourth company of the first battalion of the independent regiment that stayed on the front line, and the deputy commander of the first battalion, Leng Xiu, commanded the defense of the fourth company.

At this time, Leng Xiu had already received a report from the defenders of the mountain pass south of the first line of heaven, and immediately rushed to the mountain pass south of the first line of heaven, climbed to the top of the mountain on the other side of the mountain pass, and condescendingly observed the devils of the southern soldiers facing the first line of heaven.

"My good man, it's really two brigades of devils!"

Leng Xiu looked at it for a while, and couldn't help but be amazed, but the people around Leng Xiu felt very relaxed.

This should be because the terrain advantage of the first-line sky is too great, otherwise Zhang Dabiao would not have been able to leave only one battalion and one company, and the actual strength of more than 500 troops would defend the first-line sky!

"Hey, company commander, there seems to be movement behind the little devil!"

Speaking to Leng Xiu is a platoon commander under the command of the fourth company, and Leng Xiu is not only the deputy commander of the first battalion, but also the company commander of the fourth company, so it is not wrong for the platoon commander of the fourth company to say this to Leng Xiu.

"This is a division of troops, a detour to the east and west wings!"

Leng Xiu's eyes are also very sharp, although there are not many devil troops who are on the front line, and the main force is hidden in the mountains and forests on both sides of the mountain road south of the mountain pass south of the first line of heaven to rest and recuperate.

However, Leng Xiu still saw the movement of the devil's large army behind.

"Let the brothers ......."

Just as Leng Xiu ordered all units of the Fourth Company to prepare for battle, a signal soldier ran up from behind, and then rushed to Leng Xiu's side and squatted down and whispered: "Company commander, the political commissar is here." ”。

"What? The commissar is coming? ”

When Leng Xiu heard this, he asked in surprise.

(End of chapter)

Lewen