It turned out that according to Xu Dalong's previous understanding, there were no large groups of Japanese and puppet troops in this area, and the number of Japanese and puppet troops in Guancheng County was not enough to pose a threat to the Mawushan guerrillas.
If major changes occur in advance, Zhou Mingde will definitely send someone to contact him. Unexpectedly, the enemy came so suddenly. Thanks to the observation post of the intelligence team at the mouth of Qiligou, we would not encounter a sneak attack by the Japanese and puppet troops.
The guerrillas were not prepared in advance and it was too late to lay mines in the valley.
The reason why the situation is urgent is because if there are only guerrillas here, Xu Dalong and others only need to take them into the mountains to fight guerrillas, and the Japanese and puppet troops basically have nothing to do with them. However, following the lessons learned from Dahuang Village, the guerrillas must cover the relocation of the villagers in Qiligou Village. There are also a large number of weapons, ammunition and materials hoarded by the guerrillas. Since they have not found a better storage location for the time being, they are also hoarded in In Qiligou Village, all this takes a considerable amount of time.
Xu Dalong immediately sent people to find Sun Desheng, Wang Chengzhu and others for emergency combat deployment.
After a brief discussion, Xu Dalong ordered Wang Xiaohu to lead the logistics team with most of the new recruits who had just joined the army to transport supplies and help the villagers in Qiligou Village evacuate.
Sun Desheng and Wang Chengzhu led the guerrilla infantry squad, artillery squad, and some trained new soldiers to block the attack on the hills near Qiligou Village to buy time for Wang Xiaohu and others to retreat.
Xu Dalong led the first and second cavalry squads to take the mountain ridge north of Qiligou, detour out of the mountain, and conduct mobile operations from the rear of the Japanese and puppet troops.
After the task was assigned, Wang Xiaohu said: "Captain, it is very difficult to carry so much of our supplies. In addition, the mountain roads are rugged, so moving with the supplies will definitely be very slow. In this case, it is very likely that the Japanese and puppet troops will catch up. , what do you think we should do?”
Xu Dalong thought for a while and said: "Let's do this. The bandit's stronghold on Qilin Peak has a good formation and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. You move all the villagers, weapons, ammunition, and supplies to that stronghold.
Now I have decided to change the combat deployment just now. Sun Desheng, Wang Chengzhu, you go directly to the mountain and give all the horses to you to take away. After entering the village, rush to repair the fortifications and hold on to the danger.
Zheng Xirong, Wei Monk and I led the first and second cavalry teams to contain the enemy and conduct mobile operations. This time we fought a real mountain guerrilla war with them. "
Everyone had no objections and nodded in agreement.
Xu Dalong said: "Then execute it."
Everyone immediately took action.
The villagers in Qiligou Village had their houses burned down by the Japanese and puppet troops last time, and they heard about the tragedy in Dahuangzhuang. This time, they did not need to mobilize at all for the transfer. When the villagers heard the guerrillas saying that the Japanese were coming, they immediately packed up their things. Under the arrangements of the guerrillas, they moved to the mountains.
Su Xiaoyan, Huang Wanqiu and Lin Xueying were also helping the villagers move. They helped the oldest grandmother in the village out of the yard, and were about to help her get on the cart at the door, but the grandmother refused to leave.
She looked at the newly built house and said reluctantly: "It's such a pity for such a good house."
Huang Wanqiu smiled and said: "Grandma Wang, don't worry, after the Japanese are beaten away, the guerrillas will build you a newer and better house."
Grandma Wang said angrily: "These damn devils know how to harm people, and God won't accept them." After that, she got into the carriage with the help of Su Xiaoyan and others.
The folks in Qiligou Village already had the experience of the last transfer. They walked up the mountain silently without making any noise.
Wang Xiaohu looked at the mountains of weapons, ammunition and various materials piled up in the yard, and kept urging the team members to load the trucks quickly. After loading one truck, he took one away.
Soldiers from the infantry squad and artillery squad led by Sun Desheng and Wang Chengzhu also joined the ranks of carrying supplies.
Seeing that the car could no longer be loaded, they each shouldered their guns and carried ammunition boxes on their shoulders.
Li Jinzhu led the militiamen of Qiligou Village and some young adults from the village also rushed over to help, and finally moved all the supplies.
Xu Dalong and Wei Monk each led a guerrilla team to both sides of the Qiligou Valley, preparing to harass the Japanese and puppet troops.
The large group of Japanese and puppet troops came to the mouth of Qiligou and stopped.
Also accompanying him this time was the puppet army commander from last time. After learning the lesson from last time, he said to Heng Jiukuan with lingering fear: "Your Excellency, Captain, this valley becomes narrower as we go inside, and it is easy to be ambushed by the enemy. I suggest that we don't go through the valley this time, and start from both sides. Go up the side of the mountain to outflank the enemy’s lair.”
The infantry brigade Heng Jiukuan brought this time, although the garrison force was smaller than the field force, still had more than 800 people. The information he received was that there were only a hundred and ten people in the guerrillas on the mountain, and he didn't take the guerrillas seriously at all.
He was not afraid of guerrilla attacks because what he was worried about was not the guerrilla attacks but the fear that the guerrillas would hide in the mountains and he would not be able to find them.
He was hoping that the guerrillas would attack and then send troops to bite them and annihilate them.
So he decided to let the large group of people go into the valley.
Heng Jiukuan despised the leader of the puppet army and said to him: "You are afraid of death. If the guerrillas dare to come to this small area, they will destroy them all to work."
The commander of the puppet army was already used to being scolded by the Japs. Even a small squadron leader of the Japanese army dared to frown at him, let alone a captain of the Japanese army.
He was very thick-skinned and said with a smile: "Captain, do you think this is okay? You lead the Yellow Army's troops into the valley, and I will lead people to outflank the hillsides on both sides, which can also provide cover for the Yellow Army. role."
Another reason why Heng Jiukuan made the decision to go into the valley with a large group of troops was that the Japanese soldiers wore leather shoes, and the officers wore riding boots. Mountain climbing was an absolute chore for them. , they are not willing to do this.
Heng Jiukuan saw that the puppet troops were not afraid of hard work, and what the commander of the puppet army said was reasonable, so he agreed to the request of the commander of the puppet army and asked the puppet troops to divide into two groups and bypass both sides of the valley.
Soon, the Japanese and puppet troops divided into three groups and continued to march towards Qiligou Village.
On the mountain ridge south of Qiligou Village, the guerrillas were carrying weapons and ammunition to cover the transfer of fellow villagers to the Qilin Peak Bandit Village.
Li Jinzhu still remembered the power of Shi Lei in the last battle.
He looked at the three carriages of stone mines and said to Sun Desheng: "Vice Captain Sun, this mountain ridge is the only way for the Japs to go up the mountain. Should we bury these stone mines on the road and blow up those bastards?" "
It was not that Sun Desheng had not thought about this problem. He said: "Look at the ground here. It is full of rocks and there is no soil at all. It is very difficult to dig a hole. How can we bury landmines?"
Li Jinzhu had already thought about this problem. He said: "Because there are rocks everywhere here, our mines are made of rocks. We put these mines on the roadside and mix them with other rocks." Together, the Japs won’t notice.”
Sun Desheng asked: "How to detonate it?"
Li Jinzhu said: "We can use ropes to pull the mines to explode. Although mines cannot be buried here, we can still do it by hiding the ropes. I will lead the militiamen of our village to pull the mines."
Sun Desheng looked at both sides of the ridge and found that there were several places where people could hide.
He said: "Well, be careful. After detonating the mine, run away quickly. Don't let the Japanese bite you."
Seeing that Sun Desheng agreed, Li Jinzhu said excitedly: "Vice Captain Sun, don't worry."
After saying that, he led the militiamen from Qiligou Village, pulling the carts filled with stone mines, and laying stone mines on the road as they walked.
Xu Dalong and Zheng Xirong led the soldiers of the first cavalry team to the top of the mountain east of Qiligou. Soon they saw the top soldiers of the Japanese army appearing in the valley.
Hundreds of miles away, on Niutoushan Mountain northwest of Zhaojiayu, Li Yunlong was commanding the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment to build a position.
The Japanese army has launched a large-scale sweep of the Eighth Route Army base areas. The independent regiment's task is to cover the headquarters agencies and logistics transfers.
Soon after, the phone in the command post rang.
Zhang Dabiao grabbed the phone, listened to the report, and said to Li Yunlong: "Captain, the Japs are coming up. They are the vanguard of the Japanese independent mixed fourth brigade."
Li Yunlong pulled out his shell gun and shouted loudly: "Brothers, the little devils are coming up. Our independent regiment has been resting for several months. You guys are all so fat that they can hardly walk. If we don't fight another battle, , the mother-in-law will dislike you for not being able to work in the fields.
Now that the little devils have arrived, let's teach them a lesson and let them know how powerful our wild wolf group is. "
After listening to Li Yunlong's words, the soldiers all laughed, and their nervousness was reduced a lot.
Zhao Gang had discovered a long time ago that even though Li Yunlong was uneducated and spoke very crudely, the soldiers liked to hear it. The effect of pre-war mobilization was more effective than the great principles he preached as a political commissar.
The vanguard of the Japanese army came up, and the first they approached was the position of the Second Battalion of the Independent Regiment. The commander of the Second Battalion, Shen Kuan, took the lead in firing, and the battle began.
