After Liu Yu returned to the headquarters, he and everyone discussed the details throughout the afternoon and finally decided on a specific combat plan.
The next day, four o'clock in the morning.
All members of the independent column assembled.
After political commissar Song Renqiong completed the final pre-war mobilization, Chief of Staff Wang Zhitao led a temporarily reinforced battalion of 830 people and took the lead in setting up a blocking position at Lianhua Mountain.
Immediately, Liu Yu and Xu Liqing led the main force to the Phoenix Temple.
The remaining more than 2,000 newly recruited personnel, led by Song Renqiong and Wu Hongbo, carried the remaining weapons and went to Wangjiazhuang north of Phoenix Temple to hide, ready to reinforce the two battlefields at any time.
It is said to be reinforcements, that is to say, to start the battle, or if the battle ahead is unfavorable, more than 2,000 people can intimidate the Japanese, thereby giving the main force a chance to retreat.
At five o'clock in the morning, Wang Zhitao led his team to Lianhua Mountain and directed the soldiers to dig trenches in the dark and build positions.
The pressure on his side is much greater than that of Liu Yu and the others.
More than half of Liu Yu's men were veterans and cadres, and the rest were soldiers from the original county brigade who had been trained by Liu Yu for several months and had fought the Japanese at Mianhe Bridge.
As for Wang Zhitao, except for the hundred cadres, the rest are all members of the local armed forces of our party, or the independent anti-Japanese armed forces, or members of the Kuomintang security corps. Although they have all carried guns, in terms of discipline and combat effectiveness, , are far inferior to the 500 people on Liu Yu's side.
Fortunately, the weapons and equipment were sophisticated enough. This time Liu Yu gave them 20 light machine guns, 10 heavy machine guns, and 10 mortars.
With this firepower, the main regiments of the Eighth Route Army were overwhelmed in no time!
Wang Zhitao's mission this time was to ambush the transport team and block the transport team, Zhangzhuang stronghold, and even the Japanese from the Yangquan direction who might go south for reinforcements for more than 4 hours.
The original combat time limit was 2 hours because of concerns about reinforcements from the Japanese garrison in Yangquan and Liao County. If Liu Yu can't defeat Xi Yang in 2 hours, he must retreat!
However, after consulting the 129th Division Headquarters yesterday, Liu Shuai expressed that Liu and Song could fight with confidence and that they would help contain the enemy forces in Liao County and Yangquan.
Originally, the 129th Division headquarters did not agree with the independent column's combat plan, but this was based on the Japanese army's perspective and believed that it was completely unnecessary to attack Xiyang County.
But Liu Shuai's vision is obviously broader. He believes that the Japanese army has lost the ability to conduct large-scale offensives on the frontal battlefield, so the next step will definitely be to consolidate the existing occupied areas.
The location of Xiyang County seems inconspicuous now, but if one day the Japanese troops from Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang directions follow the Zhengtai Line to gather in Yangquan, and then go south along the Pingliao Highway, then the Japanese troops from the Handan direction will then follow the Handan (Handan to Changzhi) The highway runs directly into the east side of Liao County, so the Eighth Route Army in this area will be directly surrounded by then!
At present, the main pressure on the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region comes from the 108th Division in Xingtai, east of Liao County. It is difficult to deal with this division alone. If the above-mentioned two-pronged attack really occurs, the base area will be quite large. It's dangerous!
This is also true. In the future, the Japanese used this strategy to send troops from multiple directions and surrounded the Eighth Route Army headquarters that was located in Liao County. Although most of the headquarters agencies broke out at that time, our left chief of staff died in Liao County. Cross Ridge!
Liu Shuai is not a time traveler, and he does not know that one of his old comrades will be sacrificed on this road in the future, but in terms of strategic and tactical vision, he is second to none in the entire world. Therefore, with a wave of his hand, he overcame all objections and agreed to the independent column's battle plan.
If there is no support from the division headquarters and Liu Yu cannot resolve the battle within 2 hours, then he can only lead his troops to withdraw from the battlefield in despair. But now the enemies in Liao County and Yangquan direction have brother troops to help contain them, and the pressure will instantly Much smaller.
The original estimate of 2 hours was because we could only fight for 2 hours. Now, naturally, we must reduce the casualties of the main force as much as possible.
. . . . . .
At 7 o'clock in the morning, it was already dark, and Wang Zhitao was walking among the trenches, constantly urging.
There are many rocks in Lianhua Mountain, and many soldiers dug down half a meter before being too lazy to dig any more.
With just this little depth, even squatting down and taking a pee would be difficult to say the least.
Originally, an ambush was mainly about concealment and surprise, but Liu Yu repeatedly emphasized the control of casualties in the meeting. Since casualties must be controlled, the traditional method of fighting with a bayonet seeing red will definitely not work, so we can only build a simple ambush while ambush. field fortifications, and then camouflage the fortifications.
If the fortifications are not repaired, the Japanese will be able to charge into our position with the help of mortars and grenade launchers. If this is really the case, with the quality of the soldiers currently in Wang Zhitao's hands, how many will be left after fighting with more than 200 Japanese veterans with bayonets?
Some people may say, "Compassion does not control soldiers." But why make unnecessary sacrifices when it is not necessary?
The materials allocated to two squadrons for the Chinese New Year are distributed to more than 3,000 people and can be eaten for a few meals at most. Why do so many lives need to be exchanged?
Wang Zhitao also agreed with Liu Yu's point of view.
Wang Zhitao took Ye Fei, who Liu Yu temporarily transferred to him as a guard, to patrol around and check. If he saw anyone who was lazy, he would go up and talk to them. Some people who refused to listen would get angry and kick him.
Finally, several cadres were called to form a supervision group, and the problem of digging trenches was solved.
Things that could have been done in less than an hour if replaced by the main force, took a full three hours in the hands of these people.
Finally, the soldiers had to cut down trees and grass to camouflage their positions. By the time all the work was done, it was already 12 noon.
Standing in the distance, Wang Zhitao breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the ambush position that could barely see any problems in the telescope.
In the past, he was in the rear and had to go to the front line to lead troops. Now he has finally fulfilled his dream, but why does he feel so tired?
"I really want to start training as soon as possible. These new recruits are really annoying!"
Putting down the telescope, Wang Zhitao complained, then looked at Ye Fei beside him and asked: "How long did it take to repair the fortifications you fought at the Mianhe Bridge last time?"
Ye Fei curled his lips: "I was exhausted from running last time. How can I still have the energy to build trenches?"
"That's true!" Wang Zhitao nodded and praised: "It took more than 3 hours to run more than 40 kilometers, and it was still a mountainous road. You are all doing well!"
Ye Fei said carelessly: "It's not bad, we get up every morning and carry weights for 5 kilometers, and then do 30 kilometers of cross-country in the evening. We are used to running."
"You run like this every day, and the soldiers don't complain?" Wang Zhitao was obviously interested.
"Why not? At the beginning, everyone was making a fuss, but then the commander accompanied us on the run and said that if we finished the run within the specified time, we would have extra meat for the day. The original dishes for those who had not finished the run were gone. I could only eat pickles, so everyone ran very hard. Later, I got used to running, and even if there was no meat to eat, I was still happy to run. Everyone said that if I don’t run 5 kilometers one day, I will feel exhausted. .”
After listening to Ye Fei's words, Wang Zhitao also laughed out loud, and at the same time he was feeling emotional in his heart. Liu Yu was indeed good at training soldiers.
"Let's go back to our position."
When I returned to the position, I found that all the soldiers were paralyzed in the trenches, and the cadres were urging them to eat.
Wang Zhitao shook his head and said nothing more.
I have been shouting all morning, and my voice is already weak.
Fortunately, it was an ambush. If they were to fight the Japanese with gongs and drums in front of them, he would be scared to think about this group of people.
I hope that after this battle, they can change.
After all, actual combat is the best way to train troops, but the price is too high.
Time passed slowly as everyone waited, until at 1:30 in the afternoon, the scouts reported that the Japanese transport team had passed the Zhangzhuang stronghold and was at most 20 minutes away from the ambush circle.
Wang Zhitao issued the order to "prepare for battle", and the cadres were busy again, waking up those who were asleep, and urging the personnel under their respective jurisdictions to check weapons and ammunition.
. . . . . .
At the same time, Phoenix Temple.
As mentioned before, the group of people led by Liu Yu built an ambush position and camouflaged it not long after arriving in the morning. At this time, the guys were lying in the haystacks in the trenches, enjoying the warmth of winter. Positive.
Liu Yu stood on a high place and looked towards Xiyang County with a telescope, his expression serious.
Xu Liqing stood beside Liu Yu, also looking at the head of Xiyang City with a telescope.
From the perspective of the telescope, the Japanese and puppet troops on the top of the city were eating at this time. The focus was on the heavy machine guns on the north wall facing Liu Yu. This section of the wall alone, which was about 800 meters long, had a total of 4 Yes, there are also 8 light machine guns.
"The little devil is really rich. With such strong firepower, if we really fight hard, a brigade of ordinary troops would be enough!" Xu Liqing said with emotion.
"Yes, but we have 4 infantry cannons, a dozen mortars, and enough artillery shells. If we don't consider the enemy's reinforcements, we can win by force, but the casualties will be huge."
Liu Yu put down the telescope, then continued with a smile: "If the Japanese take the bait later, and we can kill the Japanese garrison in the city well, then the next step will not be a big problem."
With that said, Liu Yu looked at Ma Chao next to him: "Go and call Luo Haiming and Wang Erdou over!"
"yes!"
Ma Chao saluted and left.
After a while, Ma Chao quickly ran to Liu Yu with the commander of the artillery regiment Luo Haiming and the commander of the mortar company Wang Erdou.
"Commander! Director Xu!" The two saluted the two chiefs.
After returning the military salute, Liu Yu pointed to the road below and said: "Lao Luo, Er Dou, the Japanese will be ambushed later and may retreat back to Xiyang City. At that time, I will lead a team to pursue them. Your artillery shells will be Continue to extend forward along with the Japanese team, and finally focus on bombing the top of the city, suppressing the light and heavy machine guns above, until we enter the city!"
Wang Erdou's eyes widened when he heard this: "Commander, this is too dangerous. The team is pursuing at full speed. If I don't pay attention, one of our own people will be blown up!"
"You also said that is what happens if you don't pay attention, so just pay more attention!"
Liu Yu patted Wang Erdou on the shoulder: "It's not too difficult. Every time a round is fired, the muzzle will be adjusted a little. Your task is to use the shells to disperse the retreating Japanese soldiers. Don't let them organize a counterattack on the spot. Give us As long as the pursuit causes too many casualties."
Wang Erdou lowered his head and thought for a moment, and finally looked at each other with Luo Haiming.
After the two made eye contact, they nodded resolutely towards Liu Yu: "Yes, I promise to complete the task!"
