It's not dawn yet.

Changzhi, the headquarters of the Japanese army.

"Report to the division commander, the Eighth Road has arrived outside Changzhi City..."

"Report to the division commander, Wangcun Airport has been lost..."

"Report to the division commander, the Eighth Route is encircling Changzhi..."

One news after another, Hirata Kenyoshi was a little panicked, and the movements of the eight roads were too fast, they almost reached Changzhi with the front foot, and the back foot of the eight roads followed.

Chief of Staff Ishida Jinzo suggested: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, while the Eighth Route has not yet completed the encirclement, the division headquarters can break through and go to Jincheng to command the troops to fight. ”

"It's too late."

Hirata Kenyoshi sighed: "Don't you see, Li Yunlong is coming to the division and regiment headquarters, once the division and regiment headquarters leave Changzhi, Li Yunlong's cavalry will be able to keep up." ”

In fact, Hirata Kenkichi guessed correctly, Li Yunlong's cavalry had already been prepared, and if Hirata Kenyoshi escaped, Li Yunlong would order the cavalry to press up.

In all four directions of the city wall, there are members of the Sword Squadron, carrying high-power walkie-talkies, staring.

No matter which gate Kenkichi Hirata escaped from, Li Yunlong would get the news as soon as possible.

After a pause, Hirata Kenkichi asked, "How many Imperial Army troops are there in the city now?" ”

Ishida Jinzo said: "The Imperial Army has about 2,300 infantry and 2,200 artillery, and there are more than 1,000 Imperial Cooperative Army. ”

At present, the strength of the Japanese army in Changzhi is mainly a brigade of the 226th Wing, the headquarters of the division, and a squadron and a mountain artillery wing that originally defended the county town.

The old devil Hirata Kenyoshi is still very cautious, and has always let the mountain artillery wing follow the division headquarters.

"Yo Xi!"

Hearing that there were still more than 5,500 people in the total force, Hirata Kenyoshi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the field combat effectiveness of the Imperial Allied Army is not good, the Imperial Allied Army can still help in this kind of defensive warfare.

The Eighth Route had to mobilize at least 15,000 troops to have a chance to conquer Changzhi.

"Our defense is divided into street battles outside the city, city walls and inside the city, a total of three lines of defense, the main purpose is to delay the offensive of the eight routes, and wait for reinforcements to arrive."

Ishida said, "At present, the fortifications such as trenches and foxholes outside the city have been repaired overnight. ”

"Judging from the current situation, Li Yunlong wants to capture the thief and capture the king first, concentrate on eating our division and regimental headquarters, and then attack the two county towns of Xiangyuan and Licheng."

"Wishful thinking!" Hirata Kenji snorted coldly, "Changzhi is the burial place of his Li Yunlong." ”

"Immediately send a report to the 226th and 227th Wings, ordering them to be ready to rush to the aid of Changzhi at any time."

"In addition, send a report to Commander Shinozuka that the 37th Division has attracted the Li Yunlong Corps of the Eighth Route to Changzhi, and ask Commander Shinozuka to quickly send troops to surround Li Yunlong's Corps."

"Hey!" Ishida Kanzo shook his head.

……

Taiyuan.

The headquarters of the 1st Army of the Japanese Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama only slept for a while before waking up.

Then the two immediately went to the communications room and asked the communications staff officer on duty about the battle situation.

At this time, Ishida Kanzo's telegram happened to be sent, and the decoder translated it into a message and handed it to Yoshio Shinozuka.

"Li Yunlong's movements are so fast." After reading the telegram, Yoshio Shinozuka's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Your Excellency Commander, what's wrong with Li Yunlong?" Seeing this, Kusuyama Hideyoshi asked on the side.

Yoshio Shinozuka handed the telegram to Ishida Kinzo in an unkind tone: "Li Yunlong... has arrived at Changzhi County, and is encircling Changzhi City. ”

After reading the telegram, Kusuyama Hideyoshi's eyelids jumped, which was really unexpected.

He also thought that Li Yunlong was going to attack Xiangyuan or Licheng first, but he didn't expect that Changzhi would be the first to fight?

Yoshio Shinozuka asked, "How many Imperial Army soldiers are there with Lieutenant General Hirata?" ”

Nanshan Hideyoshi said: "The imperial army should have more than 2,000 people, as well as the 37th Artillery Wing, and the imperial army of more than 1,000 people, and there should be no problem holding on for three days." ”

"Yo Xi!" Yoshio Shinozuka said, "Order the 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade to speed up, and the garrisons of Jincheng and Qinxian will immediately rush to the aid of Changzhi." ”

"In addition, immediately apply to the North China Front Army Command for the transfer of aviation to attack and besiege the Eighth Route of Changzhi."

"Hey!" Kusuyama Hideyoshi paused suddenly.

……

"Lao Li, commander-in-chief?"

Kong Jie held the telescope in his hand and hurriedly walked into the headquarters.

Li Yunlong woke up with a stirring spirit, and he didn't have time to recall the contents of the dream, and asked, "Lao Kong, is the artillery unit here?" ”

"Yes, the artillery unit has arrived." Kong Jie said, "When will the siege begin?" ”

Although there were some artillery towers and strongholds on the highway from Xiangyuan to Changzhi, they were quickly wiped out under the front of the Eighth Route Army.

The new regiment and one battalion were the vanguard troops, and more than 10,000 troops were pressed behind, and Zhang Dabiao commanded more than a dozen artillery tower strongholds at the end of the company.

Swept all the way.

Li Yunlong looked at the sky, the sky was already white, and it was about to dawn.

"Lao Kong, pass on my order to place an artillery battalion outside the east, west, north and south cities, with 3 howitzers in each direction."

"When the artillery is all set, we can start attacking."

"Yes!" Kong Jie straightened up and prepared to walk out.

Li Yunlong looked up at the sky again, stopped Kong Jie and said: "Wait, today we have to make air defense preparations, when I came, I saw a lot of caves, you can put mountain artillery into the caves, use the precise method to carry out shelling, if you can't find the caves, you must pull more camouflage nets, in a word, we must make air defense preparations." ”

"Yes!" Kong Jie's expression was solemn, and he turned around and picked up the high-power walkie-talkie to give orders to the artillery troops.

Li Yunlong asked Huang Erhu again: "Huzi, that old devil in Pingtian didn't run, right?" ”

"Nope." Huang Erhu said, "The sword squadron is staring at it, and there are no devils escaping at present." ”

Li Yunlong stared at the map for a while and said, "Huzi, immediately call Sun Desheng and Zhou Chunyu to me." ”

"Yes!" Huang Erhu immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and called.

In just a few minutes, Sun Desheng and Zhou Chunyu rode to the headquarters.

Zhou Chunyu was the commander of the brigade cavalry regiment, that is, the one who shouted at Niangzi Pass for the Communist Party members to gather.

"Sun Desheng, your cavalry battalion will take the cavalry battalion of the new second regiment to block the devil reinforcements in the direction of Jincheng."

"Commander Zhou, your cavalry regiment will take the cavalry battalion of the independent regiment to block the devil reinforcements in the direction of Qinxian County."

Li Yunlong pointed to Jincheng and Qinxian and said:

"I don't insist that you two hold a certain hill, cavalry tactics are more flexible than infantry, no matter how you fight, just block the reinforcements."

"The task requirement is that within 2 days, if a devil reinforcement arrives in Changzhi County, I will ask you two."

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!" Sun Desheng and Zhou Chunyu stepped forward and turned to leave.

……

About an hour and a half later, Kong Jie returned to the headquarters.

As soon as he entered the headquarters, he reported: "Commander-in-chief, the artillery battalions are ready, and the attacking troops are also ready. ”

"Good!" Li Yunlong nodded.

Li Yunlong raised his wrist and looked at the time, it was exactly 8 o'clock in the morning.

Raising the binoculars and looking in the direction of the Changzhi City Wall, there are many devils and puppet armies on the city wall.

Pulling his gaze down, the devil puppet army under the city wall has built a lot of fortifications.

At this time, the city gate opened, and there were devils and puppet soldiers who were carrying breakfast out with a flat shoulder to feed the devils and puppet soldiers in the trenches.

"Damn, my life is dying, and I still want to eat breakfast?"

Li Yunlong's eyes flashed: "Old Kong, start shelling!" ”

"Yes!" Kong Jie turned around and picked up the high-power walkie-talkie, turned on the call, and shouted loudly: "Attention to all gun positions, attention to all gun positions, I am Kong Jie, I am Kong Jie, immediately shell, immediately shell!" ”

Not long after Kong Jie's words fell, Li Yunlong heard a sharp whistling sound overhead.

The artillery group in the rear opened fire, and it was still accurate to determine the shooting of Zhu Yuan, and each artillery position was several kilometers away from the city wall, so that the devils on the city wall could not see the position of the cannon.

The target of the artillery battalions was the position of the devil's puppet army outside the city.

Boom, boom...

A series of shells fell on the positions of the devils outside the city walls.

Because it was covered by artillery fire, there was no need to test fire in advance, and the devil puppet army who was about to have breakfast was blown up before they had time to hide, and they were blown to pieces by the shells.

The trench position of the devil puppet army outside the city was immediately enveloped by fireballs and turned into a sea of fire.

After the mountain artillery battalion shelled the position of the devil's puppet army for five rounds, the artillery fire extended forward and began to shell the already devastated Changzhi city wall.

Changzhi has fallen twice, the first fall was on February 21, 1938, the city was defended by the 331 Brigade of the Sichuan Army, the battle was very tragic, at the cost of the annihilation of the whole army, nearly 1,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, and the second time of the fall was May 1939.

"Boom!" As a 105-caliber artillery shell landed on the North City Tower, the City Tower was instantly torn apart, with broken bricks and rubble flying sideways and smoke and dust.

Immediately afterward, shells of 75 mm caliber and 105 caliber fell on the city wall one after another, and an earth-shattering sound erupted.

A city wall that can be blown down with only a 75mm mountain gun, not to mention a 105 caliber howitzer, is even more powerful.

However, because it is not aimed at direct fire, it is a little worse on the spot, and it is difficult for the shells to hit the same point, so it takes some more time and shells.

Li Yunlong turned the field of vision of the artillery mirror in the command headquarters, and successively looked in the direction of the other Changzhi city wall, and in the midst of the loud boom, gunpowder smoke rose into the sky.

"Lao Li, it's on!"

Zhao Gang, who had been busy with logistics, was finally busy at this time, walked into the headquarters, walked to Li Yunlong and Kong Jie's side, raised his binoculars and looked at the city wall.

Kong Jie said: "My deployment is to wait for the mountain artillery and howitzers to collapse the city wall, and then use 60mm mortars to cover the devil fortifications on the outer city wall before the infantry attack, and finally the infantry charge." ”

Li Yunlong nodded and asked, "The ladders are all ready, right?" ”

"Ready!" Kong Jie said, "Now let's see how long it will take to collapse the city wall." ”

……

Meanwhile.

In the city of Changzhi, the headquarters of the 37th Division of the Japanese Army.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the artillery of the Eighth Route is shelling the positions and city walls of the Imperial Army outside the city."

Ishida Jinzo reported, and his tone was hurried: "Judging from the sound of artillery, in addition to the 75 mm mountain artillery, the Eighth Road also used 105 mm caliber howitzers, which is quite a lot. ”

Hirata Kenkichi frowned when he heard this, and his face was gloomy: "Where did the Eighth Road get so many 105 mm caliber howitzers?" ”

(End of chapter)