Rise from eight hundred.

Tang Dao set off early the next morning.

This time Tang Dao Qingchao Jian Cong took Ming Xin, Pang Zilong and Uncle Han with him.

Xia Dayu originally wanted to follow, but Tang Dao blocked it with rare sternness. Although this trip to the mountain city was not a dragon's pool or a tiger's den, the dangers were readily apparent. Naturally, Xia Dayu was wise not to hold Tang Tuanzuo back. .

Mingxin is currently the second most powerful cold weapon in the Four Elements Regiment, and Pang Zilong is a rising star among snipers. In the battle of Zishan, he even had a terrifying performance of sniping hundreds of meters at night, and he has the potential to chase Niu Er. , having the two of them follow Tang Dao will also be a great supplement to Tang Dao's own combat power, and the other chief officers of the Four Elements Regiment can also feel more at ease.

Uncle Han, on the other hand, is getting older. He was hit by a bullet in the battle of Zishan and his vitality was damaged. His combat strength is not as good as before. He himself has also vaguely wanted to retire, but his hometown is still in the Japanese-occupied area and he cannot return.

Tang Dao had an idea and asked Uncle Han to go to the Tang family's old house to temporarily serve as the guard commander of the inner house. He would be responsible for teaching the guard team martial arts and return to his hometown after the war.

Uncle Han was originally a bit torn about whether to retreat or not. When he heard that he could continue to use his remaining energy without occupying a position in the group, he naturally agreed happily.

Since Tang Dao's departure was a top secret, except for a few people in the regiment who knew that Tang Dao was going to the mountain city, the rest only thought that Tang Dao was going to the war zone to report on his duties. Therefore, except for Lei Xiong, Shangguan Yun and Zhuang Shisan who were stationed at the station, they all Send it away to no one else.

"Team members, it's a long journey here, so be sure to take care!" Seeing Tang Dao and others getting on their horses, the three people who were seeing each other off stood at attention and saluted.

"Don't worry, I will pay you back within three months!" Tang Dao grinned and raised his hand to return the favor.

"Drive!" With a low roar, the green horse under Tang Dao's seat began to trot and gradually accelerated, and the four people and four horses disappeared from the sight of the three.

"Commander of the regiment, it's really uncertain whether the situation will be good or bad when you go to the mountain city!" Shangguan Yun's face was full of gloom.

Shangguan Yun had been in the 88th Division for a long time, and he knew a thing or two about the nastiness among high-level officials, but he understood the cruel methods of those big shots.

This time Tang Dao was ordered to return to the Ministry of Military Affairs to report on his duties. In his opinion, it was as dangerous as when Yue Wumu returned to Beijing after receiving twelve gold medals. Personally, he would rather Tang Dao pretended to be sick than go to that dangerous mountain city. Nice place.

"Don't worry! Shangguan, have you forgotten the situation when a member of the regiment was escorted into the warehouse? Don't say that he said a wrong word at that time. If he shows a little timidity, I'm afraid he will be treated as a deserter and executed on the spot. In that kind of dangerous situation , he can gain Commander Xie's trust and advance two levels in a row on the battlefield." Lei Xiong, however, was not worried about Shangguan Yun. He looked up and looked around, his eyes sparkling.

"If things really come to the stage that you are worried about, Shangguan, let alone whether they can kill the regiment leader, our Four Elements Corps is definitely not the Yue Family Army. If anyone dares to be our leader, we will dig up his family's ancestral graves."

"Be careful! Deputy Lei Tuan, you are the supreme commander designated by the group before leaving. Your decision is related to the lives of more than 10,000 brothers in our Si Xing Tuan!" Zhuang Shisan reminded in a low voice.

Before Tang Dao left, he made arrangements for the command structure of the Four Lines Regiment. Gong Shaoxun was not in charge of intelligence and did not participate in the management of other affairs within the regiment. The remaining members of the regiment were deputy commander Lei Xiong, director of the political department Ye Chenghuan, and chief of staff Shangguan. There are four people including Yun and Zhuang Shi, the director of the logistics department. Important matters are decided by a vote of the four. If there is a disagreement between two votes and two votes, Lei Xiong's opinion will prevail.

This is the best way Tang Dao can think of. It is both democratic and centralized. It will not allow Lei Xiong's personal power to be too concentrated and make misjudgments, and it will not affect efficiency.

"You are the boss! The team leader's evaluation of you is absolutely correct. You are good at everything, but you are too cautious. OK, you are the butler who feeds tens of thousands of people! No more, let's go!" Lei Xiong returned in the lead.

Zhuang Shisan and Shangguan Yun looked at each other silently, both smiled bitterly and shook their heads.

Deputy Commander Lei was brave in combat and had great tactical thinking. He was originally an outstanding commander, but compared with Tang Dao, he lacked something, although they couldn't tell what it was.

This is the effect of Tang Dao on the Four Elements Group. Normally, everyone is used to it and doesn't feel anything at all. Suddenly, when he left, although the chief officers were all very capable, they always felt that they were missing a backbone.

However, 3 months is still worth waiting, especially during this period of time, the Japanese North China Front Army has also become much more honest. The newly appointed commander of the Japanese North China Front Army, Okamura Koji, has nothing but shouting slogans of "China-Japan Goodwill". Big move.

It won't be long before the chief officers of the Four Elements Regiment will realize the power of the man who was once known as the "most sinister commander of the North China Front".

Tang Dao and the other two took the shortest and safest route, all the way from Taihang Mountain to Wangwu, and secretly arrived at the 38th Army station on the third day.

Commander Zhao of the 15th Army personally led a guard company to welcome Tang Dao and his party miles away. He entertained Tang Dao and his party at the military headquarters, and led his personal guard platoon to send Tang Dao through his defense area to the Yellow River Ferry early the next morning.

The four of them temporarily stored their horses with a regiment of the 17th Division of the th Army, and crossed the river on a sheepskin raft at dusk. On the other side of the Yellow River, five miles away from the ferry, four trucks were waiting in the woods.

After the two sides exchanged passwords, in the darkness, the four of Tang Dao got into the car and drove straight to Chang'an under the escort of 120 fully armed soldiers.

The 120 soldiers were all from the Guard Regiment of the Tenth Theater Headquarters. Before meeting Tang Dao, none of them knew who they were going to pick up. They only knew that he was an important person who had returned from the front line in North China.

It can be seen that the mountain city intelligence department attaches great importance to Tang Dao's return to the mountain city to report his work this time, which is close to the treatment of a commander of a theater group army.

No, to be more precise, it’s more than that.

The four Tang Dao people stayed in an official residence in Chang'an City for four days. Except that they couldn't go out on the street, everything else was arranged properly.

Chang'an is not far from the Qinling Mountains, and there are only all kinds of delicacies, including seafood, but this shocked Pang Zilong, a 'bumpkin' who had never been far away, for a hundred years.

But Pang Zilong still underestimated the extravagance of those so-called upper class people. In addition to all kinds of delicacies, an accompanying army colonel even brought a group of Yinggeyanwu for Tang Dao and several people in the secret room to choose. Tang Dao naturally refused without hesitation.

"What kind of monsters are these?" Mingxin carefully buttered her sword and commented disdainfully.

There is no one in this world who can harm his Taoist heart except those teachers who have not yet returned!

Young Pang Zilong thought about it carefully. It seemed that compared with the heroic female soldiers in the regiment, the faces of these women were too pale, as if they had lost too much blood.

Uncle Han, who had gone through many ups and downs in life, was not surprised by this, but he just smiled and said nothing. Some things can only be experienced by young people themselves, and that is their own life.

"What does it mean that the Zhumen's wine and meat are so stinky that the bones will freeze to death? This is it." Tang Dao sighed slightly.

No wonder it is said that the commander of the Tenth War Zone is one of the five tiger generals under his command. This is a lot of thought! However, if this is his method of corroding the spirit, then he really underestimates his Tang Dao!

Finally, I saw that the four Tang Dao people were not refusing to eat and drink, and they were not interested in women. After they were full, they had a fighting training in the back garden of the secret official residence. The four people were not satisfied with the fight, and they even called over the elite war zone security company responsible for the security of the official residence. During the sparring, Tang Dao didn't even take action. Just a young man and a white-haired old man beat the most elite guards in the war zone to submission. If they wait any longer, the two men of the Four Lines Regiment will beat them all. The guard regiment was invincible, so the commander surnamed Jiang had no choice but to show up.

"Brother Tang, I have heard about my name for a long time but never got a chance to meet him. This time, because there are countless tiger generals in our army of one million, the officers and soldiers of my war zone security company are all impressed by it after experiencing it for themselves!" The commander of the 10th war zone Bi said. Tang Dao imagined that he was more direct. Although he was not arrogant, the pressure of the commander of the theater was clearly visible to the naked eye.

It has to be said that although this commander did not perform well in the war against Japan, he still had the magnanimity of a commander.

"Hello, Sir Jiang! Tang Dao has been in the army for a long time and has become a habit. The commander is so kind to him. Tang Dao dare not say goodbye. He can only use this to lose a lot of fat. I hope the commander will forgive me!" Tang Dao stood at attention in a dignified manner! Salute, he replied neither humble nor arrogantly.

"Haha! Brother Tang is really a wonderful person. No wonder Minister He specially called me and said that you will become a great person in the future and let me treat you well." The commander of the 10th War Zone laughed loudly.

The probing between the two parties was just a taste, and this man also took the opportunity to convey the goodwill of his immediate boss to Tang Dao.

Next, it’s down to business. It turns out that Tang Dao's stay in the official residence for a few extra days was not entirely a deliberate arrangement. It was also the secret plan of Director Dai.

After Tang Dao arrived at the 38th Army station, the number of transport planes from Shancheng to Chang'an was increased, and this was done for several consecutive days. First, it was to test the reaction of the Japanese intelligence department, and second, it was to confuse the Japanese army so that they did not expect it. An important person arrived in the mountain city on a return transport plane.

After all, the air control over North China is now completely in the hands of the Japanese army, and the mountain city cannot send fighter planes to protect this more than a thousand kilometers of defense line.

Lei Xiong did not regard the Four Lines Regiment as the Yue Family Army. The same was true for Shancheng. According to the analysis of the intelligence department, if something happened to Tang Dao, the chance of the Four Lines Regiment surrendering to the 80th Army would be as high as 70%. The same would definitely be true for the generals of the Sichuan Army. The reaction was strong.

Tang Dao could even have an accident in Shancheng, but he could never have an accident on a plane. The man in Shancheng had specially sent someone to warn the military commander.

This was really not in vain. A few months later, a Japanese spy lurking next to a lieutenant general and counselor was captured. Following the clues, he captured an army colonel of the Military and Political Department. Director Dai invented the 'October Pregnancy' and 'Tianji Horse Racing'. , "leech bath" and other strange but extremely cruel punishments, few Japanese spies could withstand them.

This explanation revealed the Japanese military action plan for Tang Dao's arrival in the mountain city in June.

It turned out that the Japanese North China Front had known for a long time that Tang Dao had returned to the mountain city to report on his duties on the order of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. However, the military and political department's army colonel was not high enough. He only knew that Tang Dao was going to return to the mountain city, but did not know how he was going to return, let alone Knowing that the Ministry of Military Affairs would let Tang Dao return on a special plane.

For this reason, the Intelligence Section of the North China Front of Japan formulated several assassination plans for Tang Dao who returned to the mountain city all the way.

There were land routes, water routes, and air routes were also considered. The Army Aviation Corps of the Japanese North China Front was even secretly ordered to dispatch four 4 fighter planes to prepare for air interception.

It's just that the military command has spread suspicions. Materials have been transported to Chang'an by transport planes for several days. According to inside information, they are urgently needed medicines and military pay for the Yellow River and Zhongtiao Mountain defense lines. This is naturally far less important to the Japanese army than the assassination of Tang Dao. , in order not to alert the enemy, the Japanese army voluntarily gave up the plan to assassinate Tang Dao from the air, and concentrated a large amount of manpower and material resources on several roads that must be passed into Sichuan.

Naturally, it was a lonely wait, and Tang Dao, who was sitting on the machine, arrived at the mountain city in only three hours.

Director Dai Da, who discovered this information, was said to have broken down in a cold sweat at the time. If Tang Dao was really assassinated by the deliberately deliberate Japanese army, according to the report of a secret agent he placed inside the Four Lines Group, the Four Lines Group would definitely rebel! Seventy percent of the report he gave to that person before was just to calm that person's heart.

With this military commander who had world-wide visibility personally escorted them, the four of Tang Dao boarded a transport plane on the afternoon of the 6th day after arriving in Chang'an, and arrived at Shancheng Airport in a bumpy ride.

Pang Zilong, who was fearless and fearless, looked pale. He was sitting on a plane far away from the ground. It was really a nightmare for the elite of the army to no longer control his life and death.

Even the very nervous Mingxin, despite his unchanged expression, actually had veins popping out on the back of his hand holding the handle of the big sword. The feeling of weightlessness caused by the plane falling hundreds of meters when it encountered the turbulence also affected him the same way. There is great oppression.

Not to mention the two young people, even Uncle Han sighed with a long sigh of relief when he got off the plane: "It's really not easy to be a pilot!"

"That's right. I would rather fight a hundred battles with the Japanese than take another flight. I always feel like I'm going to be smashed into a meat pie at any time." Pang Zilong complained with lingering fear.

The faces of the two foreign pilots who accompanied him off the plane were full of ridicule. They had seen many such army bumpkins.

The only thing that surprised them was probably the young man carrying the colonel's lapel badge. His expression was as normal and he even smoked two cigarettes in the cabin. He didn't take precision instruments like airplanes seriously at all.

They may not have imagined that in Tang Dao's eyes, the only reason why this old-fashioned Yak 6 transport aircraft supported by Mao Xiong could be cherished was because it was an antique, and precision instruments were not at all relevant.

Tang Dao did not accept the words of his subordinates, but turned his attention to the city several kilometers away.

It was already dark at this time, but the city was still shrouded in darkness. It was obviously not because the mountain city had not enough population.

Mountain cities are originally large cities in the southwest. Before the Anti-Japanese War, the population was as high as 40, and the population density reached more than 5000 people per square kilometer. Due to the defeat in the Central China Campaign, most of the various agencies and factories in the southeast retreated to mountain cities, and the population surged to more than one million. , in this era, it cannot be considered a proper super city.

There are few lights after dark, naturally because the Japanese army wanted to shake the Chinese government's determination to resist the war and force the Chinese government to surrender. During the five years from 1938 to 1943, the Japanese army dispatched a large number of aircraft to carry out brutal and inhumane strategic bombing of the mountain city.

"Zilong, I wonder if your marksmanship, no matter how accurate it is, can shoot down a plane flying at an altitude of 3000 meters!" Tang Dao asked in a deep metallic voice while standing on the runway of the airport.

"Of course this won't work!" Pang Zilong stood up straight.

"Do you know? This city has withstood indiscriminate attacks by more than 10,000 bombs in the past two years. Schools, hospitals, factories, residential areas, military camps, and even the Western embassy district are all within the attack range." Tang Dao's eyes were as sharp as a knife in the night mist.

What he said was more like a knife, stabbing hard into the hearts of the two army elites.

In Zishan, the Japanese army used hundreds of fighter planes to drop hundreds of bombs at a time, which already gave the elites hiding in the tunnels a feeling of the end of the world, and they also had hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons desperately fighting back.

But this city, which is basically composed of civilians, actually withstood the bombing of tens of thousands of bombs. How much damage must be caused? They can't imagine.

Tang Dao was not alarmist.

According to records: In the past five years, the Japanese army conducted 218 air raids on mountain cities, dispatched 9513 aircraft sorties, dropped 21593 bombs, killed 11889 citizens, injured 14100 people, destroyed more than 3 houses, and destroyed more than 30 universities and middle schools. bombing.

Among these bombings, three major bombings were the most tragic, namely the May 354 bombing, the August 19th bombing, and the June 5th tunnel tragedy.

May 1939 bombing: On May 5 and May 3, 5, the Japanese army switched to naval bombing. Taking off from Jianghan, they continuously bombed the central area of ​​Shancheng City and used a large number of incendiary bombs. The fire burned in the center of Shancheng City for two days, and the commercial street was burned to rubble. The total number of bombing deaths was 4 and 3991 were injured. 2323 buildings were destroyed and nearly 4889 people were made homeless. Even foreign churches, embassies of Britain, France and other countries in China, and German embassies were not spared.

August 1940th Bombing: In May 5, the Japanese base camp launched "Operation 101", and the army and navy began to bomb the rear of our army at the same time. The army was based in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, and the navy was based in Hankou. Japanese planes bombed the mountain city more than 2000 times. The bombing on August 8 of the same year was extremely tragic. More than 19 residences in the mountain city were destroyed that day. At the end of 2000, the Japanese army dropped a total of 1940 tons of bombs on the mountain city.

June 1941th Tunnel Massacre: In early 102, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States, they launched "Operation 1" in China to concentrate their air strikes on China. From January to August, more than 8 aircraft raided the mountainous city, including night raids.

Among them, on June 6, the Japanese army bombed the mountain city continuously for 5 hours from evening to midnight. There was a major air-raid shelter in Shancheng City where many refugees took refuge. The soldiers guarding the shelter did not allow anyone to enter or exit. Part of the vents in a major air-raid shelter were blown down, resulting in insufficient ventilation in the cave. People in the cave had difficulty breathing and crowded towards the entrance, causing trampling on each other and suffocation of a large number of refugees. It is estimated that thousands of people died.

According to survivors, there were Japanese traitors who sent signals for Japanese aircraft, and the Japanese bombed holes and vents in a targeted manner. It resulted in the horrific air defense tunnel tragedy, known as the "Big Tunnel Massacre" in history, and was one of the three major tragedies in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War.

Listening to Tang Dao talking about the Japanese bombings in the past two years, Pang Zilong's eyes grew increasingly angry. He glanced at the sparse fighter planes on the runway, and sadness appeared in his eyes again: "We in China, why don't we have planes?"

Mingxin also clenched her fists tightly, a little tighter than on the plane.

"Yes, we will have it sooner or later. Sooner or later, we will return everything the little devil gave us." Tang Dao said softly.

This Chinese colonel has a pretty good attitude. With China's current industrial level, we can build airplanes and wait until the next century! Two foreign pilots who have been in China for nearly a year defined Tang Tuanzuo.

At this time, there was a roar of engines on the runway, and a truck came speeding from the other end of the runway.

Apparently, the people to pick them up arrived. (End of chapter)