The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army instructed that in North China, the "Hundred Regiment Campaign" should be expanded to the enemy who has not yet been attacked, so as to shrink the enemy-occupied area, expand the base area, and open up the blockade line.

The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army immediately issued the second phase of the operational order, pointing out that the purpose of the operation was to expand the results of the operation, and the basic policy of the operation was to continue to sabotage the enemy's communications and destroy the strongholds deep into the base areas.

It didn't take long for the 129th Division to launch the Yuliao Campaign.

The task of the 386th Brigade was to attack the county seat of Yushe and its surrounding strongholds.

Although the strongholds on the Yuliao Highway have been uprooted by the new regiment, there are still many devil strongholds around Yushe County.

Moreover, because Li Yunlong has been doing things on the Yuliao Highway and the Baijin Railway, the devils in the two county towns of Yushe and Liao County are so frightened that they rebuild the surrounding strongholds and turrets.

The rebuilt stronghold and turret were all made of reinforced concrete and were specially reinforced.

However, these reinforced concrete strongholds and turrets are no different from papier-mâché in front of 75mm American mountain guns.

After the intelligence determined that the devils had no air support, the 386th Brigade, under the leadership of Brigade Commander Chen, surrounded Yushe County in broad daylight.

Yushe County was an important town for the Japanese army to hoard food and ammunition, even if the Zhengtai Railway was destroyed and Yangquan and Shouyang County were captured, the Eighth Route Army had the strength to attack the county seat.

The Japanese army was also unwilling to abandon this county seat, which was based on the Eighth Route Army.

With the brigade commander's order to attack generally, the New Second Regiment, the Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment immediately rushed towards Yushe County from three directions.

Brigade Commander Chen's command style is bold and resolute, maneuverable and flexible, and he is good at grasping the battle situation, capturing fighters, and never fighting to the death.

He had already reconnoitred the enemy situation in Yushe County twice and found out the enemy's firepower and fortifications deployment.

There is a dirt slope outside the Xiguan city wall, which is convenient for attacking the city, so the brigade commander ordered a mountain artillery battalion to be erected outside the Xiguan city wall, and pulled dozens of camouflage nets to cooperate with the main attack of the 772nd Regiment.

Ding Wei's new second regiment and Kong Jie's independent regiment feinted to attack the Nanguan and Beiguan city walls respectively.

Zhang Xianyong's new third regiment was ambushed outside the city wall of Dongguan.

Li Yunlong's new regiment served as a reserve.

Just over half an hour after the start of the battle, the communications troops came one after another with good news.

"Report to the brigade commander, the 772nd Regiment has cleared the strongholds and turrets outside the Xiguan city wall."

"The Independent Regiment has killed all the devils outside the Nanguan City Wall."

"The new second regiment has taken Beiguan to the devil's position outside the walls of Beiguan."

When the brigade commander heard this, he gave a loud order: "Pass my order and start the siege!" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou picked up the phone, quickly shook the handle, and then put the phone to his ear: "Start attacking the city!" ”

A red flare was raised high outside the walls of Xiguan.

The artillery regiment of the 386th Brigade had already marked the shooting of Zhuyuan, and the artillery who received the order immediately opened fire, and the shells rained down on the Xiguan city wall.

After the general offensive began, Ding Wei and Kong Jie's respective mountain artillery batteries also began to exert their strength.

Before the Battle of Zhengtai, the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment each received a 75 mm caliber gun from Li Yunlong.

After the capture of Shouyang County, the two men each received 1 infantry gun and 1 75mm gun.

Some time ago, Li Yunlong gave him two or three mountain cannons, and now the new second regiment and the independent regiment are the richest among the Eighth Route Legion-level units, except for the new regiment.

In the sound of continuous rapid explosions like thunder, the brigade commander was in the headquarters, stepping on the ladder and raising his binoculars to look at the city wall.

I saw cannonballs raining down on the city, and fireballs and smoke continued to rise in the terrifying explosions.

As the ground shook, the entire city wall seemed to tremble.

"Here we go." Deputy Brigade Commander Han walked up to the brigade commander and said.

"Well, here we go." The brigade commander nodded.

At this moment, Li Yunlong and guard Huang Erhu appeared at the door of the brigade headquarters with a large gas mask in their hands, and shouted loudly: "Report!" ”

"Come in!" Hearing that it was Li Yunlong's voice, the brigade commander was slightly stunned, and then shouted loudly.

"Brigadier Commander, I'm here to see you."

Before entering the brigade headquarters, Li Yunlong's voice came in first, and then Li Yunlong and Huang Erhu walked into the brigade headquarters.

The brigade commander turned around and came down from the ladder and saw the gas masks in the hands of Li Yunlong and Huang Erhu.

"What are you doing with it?" The brigade commander asked, "Don't you fight for the main attack when you should have done it, and now that you have started to attack the city, you only remembered to do this?" ”

Li Yunlong said: "Yo, brigade commander, then you can misunderstand me, I came to send gas masks to the leaders of the brigade headquarters." ”

When Yangquan was first laid, Li Yunlong remembered that there were more than 1,000 gas masks in the Japanese munitions warehouse, and all of them were handed over to the brigade headquarters.

But Li Yunlong knew the brigade commander's character very well, and he must have given all the gas masks to the soldiers besieging the city.

The brigade commander also liked to go to the forward position to observe the enemy situation and direct the battle, and he was afraid that the brigade commander would be poisoned by the little devil, so Li Yunlong sent a gas mask.

Li Yunlong patted the gas mask in his hand: "Brigade commander, this is an American product, and the anti-poison effect is much stronger than that of the little devil's gas mask." ”

"You kid has a heart." The brigade commander was a little moved in his heart, but his expression was always resolute, he nodded and pointed to the table and said, "Put it there." ”

Li Yunlong and Huang Erhu put more than 20 gas masks on the table.

This table is a table of eight immortals, with things like maps, magnifying glasses, and kettles on it.

However, since it was the brigade commander who ordered it to be placed on it, Li Yunlong didn't say much, and filled the table of the eight immortals at once.

Then the brigade commander said: "Guards, send out all the gas masks, one for each person in the brigade headquarters." ”

The brigade commander's guards issued gas masks to the brigade commander, Deputy Brigade Commander Han and Chief of Staff Zhou, as well as the operational staff officers and the security personnel of the brigade headquarters.

Li Yunlong glanced at Huang Erhu, and Huang Erhu immediately withdrew from the command headquarters and waited outside.

Then he pretended to come to the brigade commander's side, raised his binoculars and glanced at Yushe County.

Li Yunlong sighed in his mouth: "It's such a strong artillery fire, according to this firepower, I estimate that I will be able to take the county town in front of me before dark." ”

"Li Yunlong, do you have anything else?"

Seeing that Li Yunlong had not left after sending the gas mask, the brigade commander gave an order to evict the passengers.

"Brigadier Commander, I still have some business." Li Yunlong said, "Can we slow down the siege?" ”

"Slow down, why?" After a pause, the brigade commander instantly became alert again: "You kid won't make me any more moths, will you?" ”

Li Yunlong said: "Let's take the county here too quickly, what should we do if the devil reinforcements receive the news and return halfway?" ”

This is the purpose of Li Yunlong's visit to the brigade headquarters to deliver gas masks.

If the 386th Brigade had not strengthened its equipment, it would have taken two or three days to gnaw down the Yushe County in front of it.

After the firepower was enhanced, the 386th Brigade, which had a large number of machine guns, Bazooka, and artillery regiments, had enough shells and bullets, and it could be taken in less than a day.

It is only morning, and it is estimated that the battle will be over before dark, and it is useless for the devils to gas it, because the siege troops of the 386 Brigade are well prepared, and the fighters of the main attack battalions of each regiment are equipped with gas masks.

Li Yunlong is also preparing to send reinforcements to the devils who are rushing to the aid of Yushe County, if he defeats Yushe County too early, then he will have nothing to do.

Because of being a reserve, Li Yunlong could not have led his troops to leave without orders from his superiors.

The brigade commander instantly understood what Li Yunlong meant, and turned his head to look at him with a smile.

Seeing it like this by the brigade commander, Li Yunlong's heart suddenly went up and down, and he hurriedly squeezed out a smile on his face: "Brigade commander, the time limit given by the headquarters for our brigade is to take Yushe County within 2 days, and to take it in half a day, isn't that a waste of time?" ”

Waste of time? The brigade commander was amused: "How can you count like this?" ”

……

In the city of Yushe County, the command of the Japanese army.

The Fourth Brigade of the Itazu Naochun Osa, when he heard the continuous and ferocious sound of artillery, he was sitting on pins and needles, like a man's back, and like a fish in his throat.

Yushe County was an important hub for the operation of ammunition and materials for the Japanese army, and was garrisoned by a battalion of puppet troops from the Banjin Brigade.

In addition to using the fortified buildings in the county as the core of its defense, 4 strongholds, 8 gun towers and pillboxes were built.

It is also equipped with heavy firepower such as mountain artillery, mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and grenadiers, and has also stockpiled enough ammunition and grass for one year.

However, Itazu Naochun never expected that the artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army was so terrifying that it cleared the outlying strongholds and artillery towers and other fortifications in less than an hour.

The speed of the Eighth Route Army's attack and its ability to attack fortified positions were greatly beyond his expectations.

This was only the result of the brigade commander using only one of the mountain artillery battalions of the mountain artillery regiment directly under the brigade headquarters.

If the brigade commander's artillery regiment was fully fired, the fire would be even more terrifying.

In the command post, Itazu Naojun wiped a cold sweat and called the leader of the communications team to the front: "Immediately give Major General Mitake Tsuda..."

Before he finished speaking, Itazu Naojun thought that Major General Mitake Tsuda had broken jade, and a moment of sadness appeared between his eyebrows.

Then he returned to his cold expression, looked at the leader of the communication team and said: "Immediately send a telegram to General Shinozuka, Yushe County is besieged by five thousand people from eight roads, and the enemy has cleared my outlying strongholds within half an hour, and now I am bombarding the city wall with mountain artillery, requesting tactical guidance from the headquarters!" ”

The leader of the communication team wrote down the message on the folder with a pen, and his tone was puzzled: "Captain, why don't you report more troops from the Eighth Road, such as 10,000 people, so that it is easier to get help from the headquarters!" ”

Itazu Naochun said: "Now that the Eighth Route is doing things everywhere, launching attacks on the various lines of communication of the Imperial Army, there are not many troops that can be used to rush to help, if I report 10,000 Eight Routes, do you think His Excellency the Commander will send troops to save us?" ”

"No!" The squad leader said, "In that case, the commander will definitely give up sending troops to help, the captain is wise, my admiration!" ”

"Send the telegram out at once, quickly!"

"Hey!" The captain of the devil squad paused, pinched the folder and walked out quickly.

The 129th Brigade of the 385th Division was not idle, the division commander transferred a mountain artillery battalion to the 385th Brigade, and while the 386th Brigade attacked Yushe County, the 385th Brigade was also attacking the county seat of Liaoxian.

Not long after, Yoshio Shinozuka, the commander of the First Army who was far away in Taiyuan, received a telegram for help from Naojun Itazu and Takeo Honda at the same time.

Looking at the two urgent telegrams that were almost identical requesting tactical guidance, Yoshio Shinozuka suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.