In the afternoon, Liu Yu, led by Geng Wanzi, took a small road to Tumen Pass.
After looking at the terrain around Tumen Pass, Liu Yu shouted thankfully.
If the little Japanese were not arrogant and underestimated the enemy, and if they had used their troops to the limit, if they deployed a brigade here, then Liu Yu would not kick this steel plate even if he had a division in his hands!
Of course, the image of the Eighth Route Army also had something to do with it. They had always attacked communication lines or attacked some insignificant cities. They had never attacked strategically important places guarded by the Japanese on a large scale.
As for the Tumen Pass area, about thirty kilometers to the east is Zhengding. There is a full regiment stationed near the Zhengding Railway Station. The surrounding area is vast and there are no organized anti-Japanese troops at all. They ignored the defense of Tumen Pass. It makes sense.
Now, as Zhou Wangcai said, there is only one small group of Japanese troops in Tumen Pass, and then there is a battalion of puppet troops in the hands of Zhou Wangcai.
The puppet army is scum to begin with, and coupled with the idiot commander Zhou Wangcai, the combat effectiveness of this battalion is not even third-rate!
If God does not take it, he will suffer the consequences!
What I didn’t say, fuck you little devil!
On the afternoon of March 7, Liu Yu returned to the Niangziguan area, met with Wang Zhitao and others, and returned to Xiyang overnight.
Another day later, on March 8, in the early morning, a telegram from the Independent Column requesting war was sent to the headquarters of the 129th Division, and a reply was quickly received.
Immediately, Liu Yu held a military meeting, in which all officers above the battalion commander level attended.
The meeting decided that the two regiments, except for the two regiments, one battalion and one company, who stayed at Xilai Temple, the remaining troops were divided into companies and platoons, dispersed and concealed, and marched to Niangziguan, Tumenguan and Jingxing Station to assemble around the station. At 2 a.m. on March 11, attacks on these locations were launched simultaneously.
As for the two brigades in hometown and Jingzhuang Town, the division headquarters has agreed to dispatch the 385th Brigade First Division, the 772nd Regiment, the Division Direct Teaching Group, the Taihang Guerrilla Detachment, the 16th Regiment, the 17th Regiment and other units, under the unified command of Brigadier Chen Geng , eat them all in one go.
Because Liu Yu has already said that after the war, all the weapons and ammunition lost can be reimbursed by him. Therefore, Commander Liu acted like "I can't do anything better" and transferred all the troops that could be mobilized. The total strength reached more than 14,000 people.
On the other side, the main force of the 115th Division appeared in the Yuxian area, directly threatening Yangquan.
Such a large-scale mobilization of forces by the Eighth Route Army in other areas must not have been concealed from the Japanese army. Hyakutake Haruyoshi, who had already prepared to go south along the Ping-Liao Highway and recapture Liao County, was confused for a while.
But facing the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, a powerful force that had defeated the Sakagaki Division, he could only temporarily shelve the plan to attack Xiyang, and at the same time ordered the two brigades in his hometown and Jingzhuang to be more vigilant.
Being more vigilant means not to go out and wander around, lest you get ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.
Originally, Hyakutake Harukichi thought that his intention to attack Liao County was exposed, and the Eighth Route Army responded. They wanted to allow the 115th Division to take the opportunity to attack Yangquan while he was being held back by the 129th Division when he went south.
He immediately sent a brigade to the Yuxian area to block the 115th Division's southward path. The remaining two brigade were stationed in Pingding to maintain pressure on the Eighth Route Army.
The movement of the Japanese army was naturally detected by the Eighth Route Army, which made Liu Yu deeply appreciate the benefits of "not being famous".
In his eyes, only Deputy Commander Nie of the 115th Division and Commander Liu of the 129th Division were in his eyes. He didn't even bother to know who Liu Yu was.
. . . . . .
Two days later, at 1:30 a.m. on March 10.
To the east of Jingxing, there is Tumen Pass and Baodugu.
Liu Yu stood on a cliff and looked at the Tumen Pass Wall in the distance, which was about one kilometer away in a straight line under the moonlight.
The road here is not widened as it was in later generations, but is still very narrow.
This road is actually a canyon formed between Baodu Mountain and Hailuo Mountain on the opposite side. The lowest point is a small river formed by mountain springs, called Taiping River. The only flat land beside the river has been built into the current Shitai Highway and Shota Railway.
Even though it has been widened now, only one car can pass through the narrowest spots.
The Baodu Mountain here is divided into Baodu Gu and Lianhua Mountain. In the middle is a narrower mountain gap, which is called a line of sky. The narrowest place can only allow one person to pass.
As time passed by, Liu Yu looked at the pocket watch in his hand from time to time.
He was very nervous inside.
The Niangzi Pass was handed over to Yuan Xuekai, Jingxing City was handed over to Huang Zhentang and his regiment and battalion, and Tumen Pass was left to him to lead the second and third battalions of the regiment to attack in person.
It's not that he doesn't have the confidence to take down Tumen Pass. There are only about 30 Japanese and more than 200 Ergouzi here. If he still can't defeat the 1,000 people from the two battalions in his hand, he can kill himself on the spot by swallowing a gun.
The difficult thing is to defend against the Japanese counterattack later.
After all, the total strength of two Japanese divisions was stationed in Shimen, Xingtai, Handan and other places to the east and south!
The regiment on the Niangziguan side is already stretched thin, and it is impossible to mobilize troops here. In other words, Liu Yu has to use one regiment to defend against the enemy's attack by possibly two divisions with nearly 50,000 troops.
It was really stressful.
There are still more than 3,000 new soldiers in Zhangzhuang Town, but they are short of cadres, making them difficult to use. The reason why the two regiments of the original independent column were able to take shape quickly was mainly due to the presence of more than 500 veterans and cadres.
After thinking about it, the time came to 2 o'clock sharp.
At this time, another report was received from the scouts, saying that the telephone lines between the Tumenguan garrison and the outside world had been cut off.
Liu Yu put aside his distracting thoughts, put away his pocket watch, and ordered in a deep voice: "Start!"
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
"Tum!" "Tum!"
On Baodugu, three red flares were launched into the air, followed by two illumination flares.
The next moment, the loud charge tore through the silent night.
For a moment, a group of soldiers from an independent column who had been silently lurking on the mountains on both sides jumped up, holding rifles, and rushed towards Tumen Pass like tigers descending the mountain!
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Two test-fired mortars hit Tumen Village behind the customs.
There are only a few people on guard duty on the wall, and large troops are stationed in the villages under the pass.
All the people inside had already fled, and those who hadn't escaped were slaughtered by the Japanese, so Liu Yu was not afraid of accidental injuries.
As soon as the two shells fell, Tumen Village exploded, and the Japanese and traitors stationed there got up from their beds one after another.
The sound of the bugle was okay. After all, it was far away and it wasn't too loud when it reached here.
But cannonballs are different.
Zhou Wangcai was also awakened, pushed away the two kiln ladies who were pressing on him, and put on clothes indiscriminately.
However, it was late at night, and these days there were no electric lights that could be turned on as easily as later generations. It took me a long time to distinguish between clothes and trousers.
The Japanese lieutenant stationed at Tumenguan over there was much calmer than Zhou Wangcai. He first lit the kerosene lamp and then put on his clothes, but he quickly got him dressed.
After leaving the dormitory door, he immediately ran towards the telegraph room. However, before he could take a few steps, there was a sound in the sky.
"call out!"
"boom!"
The Japanese Lieutenant was directly blown away by a mortar bomb that fell next to him, and a piece of shrapnel was embedded directly in the back of his head.
As he was dying, he saw another artillery shell just falling into the telegraph room, passing through the roof of the telegraph room and exploding inside. Then with a "boom!" the windows of the telegraph room were blown out.
At this moment, even if the personnel on duty inside were not killed, the radio station was probably destroyed.
The Japanese lieutenant stared desperately, looking at the mortar shells falling continuously in the station, his consciousness gradually dissipated, and he could not rest in peace.
He couldn't figure it out. Was he the one who dared to attack Tumen Pass without fear of death and who was not afraid of the imperial army's revenge?
. . . . . .
At the same time, Brigadier Chen also led his troops to launch an attack on his hometown and Jingzhuang on time.
2:15 am, Yangquan.
The headquarters of the 4th independent mixed brigade.
Hyakutake Harukichi, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by the guards and hurried to the combat conference room. Chief of Staff Mitake Tsuda immediately reported the situation to him.
"Nani?" Hyakutake Harukichi was confused after hearing this, "The Eighth Route Army launched attacks on his hometown and Jingzhuang at the same time?"
"Hi!"
Hyakutake Harukichi was a little unbelievable: "Are they crazy? Those are two field brigades of the 108th Division!"
Then he asked: "How is the situation over there, and what is the strength of the Eighth Route Army?"
"It is said that the situation is not bad. Each Eighth Route Army has about two regiments of troops, but the firepower is insufficient. They can still cope with it." Mitake Tsuda said, handing two telegrams to Hyakutake Haruyoshi.
"Yoshi!"
Hyakutake Harukichi took the telegram and after reading it he smiled and said: "The Eighth Route Army overestimated its capabilities. With their few broken guns, they dared to besiege two field brigades of the Imperial Army at the same time? Send them a telegram and tell them that it is necessary When the time comes, you can take the initiative to attack, and be sure to contain the enemy in front of you! Then order the 4th and 5th Brigade to assemble, and I will personally lead the team to reinforce! This time, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army I want to fight will never dare to show up again!"
"Hi!"
Just when Mitake Tsuda was about to turn around and leave, a telegraph operator came closer: "Report! Telegram for help from Niangziguan!"
"Niangziguan?!" Tsuda Mitake was shocked.
Hyakutake Harukichi grabbed the telegram and became furious after reading it: "Bagaya! What on earth is the Eighth Route Army going to do?"
Just after he finished cursing, another telegraph operator ran in: "Report! Farewell telegram from Niangziguan!"
Then, the phone rang.
Tsuda Mitake hurriedly ran over and picked up the phone.
"Moses Moses?"
"Nani?"
"Bagaya Road! Can't retreat! You must hold on, reinforcements will be here soon! Moses, Moses? Moses, Moses?!"
Tsuda Mitake put down the phone angrily and said to Momotake Haruyoshi: "Brigade commander? There was a call from the Jiuguan stronghold. They were also attacked there. The Eighth Route Army's firepower was very powerful, and there was even a mortar group!"
Baiwu Qingyoshi forced himself to calm down and asked in a deep voice: "How many people are there in the Eighth Route Army in the direction of Jiuguan?"
"I don't know. The phone only said that the Eighth Route Army had a large number of people and fierce firepower, and then the phone line seemed to have been blown up!"
Baiwu Qingyoshi walked to the map and pointed to Jiuguan, Niangziguan and other places.
Finally, a punch hits the map.
"Bang!"
"The Eighth Route Army is trying to block our reinforcement route so that it can eat up the two brigades in Jingxing without fear of breaking their teeth!"
After saying that, he immediately gave the order: "Order! The 1st, 4th, and 5th Brigades must gather immediately, march along the Shitai Highway, and retake Jiuguan! The order was given to the 7th Brigade of the 108th Division in his hometown, and the 7th Brigade of Jingzhuang. Brigade 2 is waiting for reinforcements!"
The situation is different, and the orders are naturally different. The previous Jiuguan Pass has not been lost. Momotake Haruyoshi's 4th Mixed Brigade can pacify and march along the Shitai Highway along Guguan, Jiuguan and Walnut Garden. After arriving at Walnut Garden , there are mountain roads that can directly reach your hometown.
But now that the old pass is lost, Guguan is not much better, so the 4th Brigade will not be able to provide reinforcements to the 7th Brigade in the hometown in a short time.
If one of them makes trouble, the two brigades over there may be severely damaged!
After the order was issued, Hyakutake Harukichi made a sound and continued: "Report the situation to the First Army Headquarters and ask the 108th Division of Xingtai to go to Jingxing Road to reinforce their hometown!"
There was such a big flaw in his defense area and he had to remedy it in time. Otherwise, if the two brigades of his hometown and Jingzhuang were in crisis before he reported it, the commander of the 108th Division, Motojiro Taniguchi, would probably kill him alive.
Before he took office, Jingxing had been attacked by a sneak attack. That time it was because Sato Kazuo was self-righteous and failed to report it in time, which resulted in the loss of more than half of the 5th Battalion and the loss of a large amount of ordnance.
There is also a chain of contempt within the Japanese Army. The permanent divisions despise the ad hoc divisions, and the ad hoc divisions are, after all, Type B divisions. They also despise the three-unit Type C divisions, but Type C divisions are also field troops after all. , so they also despise the mixed brigades specially used to defend places.
It was because Jingxing was attacked by surprise last time and Kazuo Sato committed another crime that several field divisions no longer trusted the railway garrison brigade, so two brigades were sent to Jingxing.
Unexpectedly, there was another big flaw in the fourth independent brigade. In order to go south to attack Liao County, Baimu Haruyoshi gathered most of his troops in Yangquan, leaving Niangziguan and other places empty of defenses. The Eighth Route Army took the opportunity to sneak attack. This blocked the retreat of the two brigades of the 108th Division.
Faced with this situation, Hyakutake Harukichi was so angry that he wanted to draw his sword.
. . . . . .
The efficiency of the Japanese army was quite high. In just one hour, all the Japanese troops in Yangquan were assembled, with the 5th Brigade of the 4th Duhun Brigade as the vanguard and marched towards Pingding City.
Hyakutake Harukichi doesn't even care about the 115th Division in the direction of Yu County. If they want to attack Yu County, let them do it. If they have the guts, they can finish Yu County and then attack Yangquan!
He did not care about the direction of Niangziguan for the time being. He believed that as long as the 7th Brigade of the 108th Division in his hometown was rescued, the Eighth Route Army in the direction of Niangziguan would evacuate.
The key is the direction of Guguan and Jiuguan, which is the key for the Eighth Route Army to block enemy reinforcements. Baiwu Qingyoshi believes that they will definitely defend to the death.
But it’s not a big problem, because the First Army has ordered the 117th Regiment of the 108th Division to take the train north and divert from Shimen. After passing Jingxing, the troops are divided into two groups. One will attack Jiuguan along the Shitai Highway, and the other will Attack Niangzi Pass along the Zhengtai Railway.
The main force of Hyakutake Harukichi's independent 4th Brigade attacked Guguan along Shitai Road and cooperated with the 117th Regiment to encircle and annihilate the Eighth Route Army in that area.
However, just as the 5th Brigade walked out of Shimen Township outside Pingding City and reached Baijing Town, it stopped.
Because there are all mines ahead, and they are the kind that cannot be detected by metal detectors.
Now Liu Yu no longer needs to redeem the explosives for landmines made by the independent column from the system. With Zhang Wanyu, a small expert in chemical blasting, many waste products can be turned into explosives in her hands.
Although the current inventory of ceramic landmines in the independent column is not large, it is enough for a little devil to drink a pot.
As soon as the 5th Brigade reached the Baijing Town section, it was blown up and turned upside down. At least one squadron was lost without even seeing the shadow of the Eighth Route Army.
Let the engineers go up and clear the mines. Even if they can't be cleared, fewer and fewer engineers will be bombed.
Hyakutake Harukichi was so angry that he gritted his teeth and immediately ordered his subordinates to disperse and catch the common people.
With this delay, the time came to around 6 o'clock in the morning.
Finally, when they captured more than 200 civilians, Hyakutake Harukichi received another bad news.
The 117th Regiment, which was traveling by train from Zhengding all the way to Jingxing, was ambushed at Tumenguan and the train was blown over. Not only did the entire regiment suffer heavy losses, the remaining members were blocked by the Eighth Route Army in a block that was no more than 100 meters wide and no longer than 100 meters wide. Within a narrow area of 1000 meters.
