Age of Rebirth

Chapter 570: The Siege of She County ([-])

The troops of the Kwantung Army going south were full of vigor, and they were no small threat to the independent divisions on various battlefields. Tang Qiuli, who learned the information about the Kwantung Army going south, immediately adjusted his battle plan. For any use, in other words, Yamaguchi has completed his historical mission, and using him to catch [-] Japanese soldiers is already superfluous interest. Tang Qiuli gave Tang Qiusheng, who was at the Xiadian and Wuyang front lines, an order to wipe out the remaining Yamaguchi troops. total attack order.

On the evening of January 6th, the general attack of the encircling troops began. The artillery fire was fired in unison. The cannons were as dense as migratory locusts. Shining, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and the snow blown up, mixed with the corpses of Japanese soldiers, flew into the air, like a boiling furnace of molten iron, pouring on the heads of more than [-] Japanese soldiers.

This is different from the previous few days. The shelling was to create a tense atmosphere and force Yamaguchi to ask for help from the Japanese headquarters to complete Tang Qiuli's next battle plan. The shelling of the general attack was all-round coverage. There were no dead ends in the encirclement. Cannons flew from all directions, with screams that made the Japanese soldiers terrified, and landed in the narrow encirclement.

Having been out of food for several days, the hungry, dizzy, and exhausted Japanese soldiers struggled and ran around in vain. Wherever they went, they were bombarded with artillery fire like a volcanic eruption. The corpses of soldiers were covered in the filthy encirclement. [

Yamaguchi, who was already numb, realized at this time that he was being used as a bait. Ever since he received the telegram that the Second Army was defeated and retreated to Shexian County, he knew that his fate was doomed. There was a horn announcing his death, and the flames exploded all over the place, reflecting his pale face and dull eyes.

With the faint light of the flashlight, he tremblingly took out a pen and paper, and was about to write a suicide note. Just as he started, a large-caliber gun fell, and a ball of flames rose with smoke. The mountain pass had disappeared, only one The severed hand holding the pen was lying helplessly on the snow. The snow-white letter paper was blown into the sky by the shock wave of the cannon explosion, and drifted into the distance with the cold night wind of Taihang Mountain.

The Japanese soldiers who were facing desperation spontaneously organized themselves and rushed to the outside of the encirclement in despair. The smooth ice surface suddenly stopped their footsteps. The Japanese soldiers took out grenades and prepared to blast a gap, hoping to escape from this horrible place. Before their grenade was thrown out, behind the ice wall, several black dots flew, and there was an explosion that was no less than shelling, and the Japanese soldiers who rushed to the encirclement became lifeless bodies. corpse.

At dawn, the troops rushed into the encirclement. There was not a single Japanese soldier alive. The artillerymen of the Independent Division plowed this small area many times. Every inch of the land was turned upside down by the exploding cannon. Blocks, mixed with large blocks of frozen soil, spread all over the ground, the thick smoke and bloody smell stimulated the soldiers to nausea, there was no need to clean the battlefield at all, everything was shattered into pieces under the artillery fire .

Entering the Taihang Mountain base area on November [-]th, the last remnants of the Japanese army under the Yamaguchi Station, which had been rampant in the base area for two months, were annihilated in one fell swoop. They did all kinds of bad things and turned the Taihang Mountain base area into a scorched earth. Their due fate, including the Seiichi Matsushita team that caused the Sucheng massacre.

After the battle, according to the order of the division commander Tang Qiuli, Tang Qiusheng led the troops and quickly went northward, passed through Liaoyang and Yixing and went straight to Dingyukou, threatening the flanks of the Japanese army in front of Niangziguan, and prepared to cooperate with Feng Jiwu's Niangziguan garrison. Take down Jingxing Pass, and beat back the Japanese troops who restrained Feng Jiwu's troops back to Shijiazhuang.

The sound of artillery in the siege of Xiangyuan had just stopped, and the battle to attack Shexian County started at [-]:[-] a.m. on January [-]. Tang Qiuli commanded the troops to bombard the three gates of the west, north, and south of Shexian County with fierce artillery fire. The tactics adopted by Tang Qiuli were exactly the same as the tactics used to encircle the mountain pass, resulting in a general offensive, forcing the surrounded Hirano Hiroshi to call for emergency help, luring the rescued Kwantung Army troops to go deep alone, and attack him again in an ambush.

It had been more than two years since he had fought against the Kwantung Army. Tang Qiuli's palms were itchy for the old opponent who came to his door. If the Kwantung Army's southward corps came in full force, Tang Qiuli would only have to withdraw from Shexian County. Now, only A division of the Japanese army, he has the strength to fight another ambush like Xiangtangpu, giving the Kwantung Army a disarm.

For this reason, last night, he dispatched the Sun Zhenbang Department of the Yellow River Defense Force, the Ma Chaoyang Department of the Second Independent Brigade, and the Liu Chun Department of the First Cavalry Brigade, with a total of more than [-] troops. Commander, he went to the Cishan and Yangwu lines between Handan and Shexian County. He gave Sun Zhenbang a task to find a suitable ambush site and wipe out the Kwantung Army troops.

As for She County, he had no real intention of attacking it. Unlike the Japanese army under Yamaguchi, the Second Army did not move to fight in the mountains for more than two months. The city is a head-to-head battle, annihilating a thousand enemies, inflicting [-] self-inflicted losses, and fighting the Japanese army for consumption. The current Tang Qiuli does not have such a large capital. If necessary, he will not take this kind of attack with heavy casualties. Method.

Furthermore, Shexian County is located forward, next to Handan. For Shexian County, which is wedged into the depths of the Japanese defense, the Japanese army in North China will definitely fight repeatedly, and a large part of their own forces will be involved in this. Strategically speaking, Defending a county that is not very important is not worth the loss, so he just ordered the artillery to violently bombard the Japanese army in the city.

In the north of Shexian County, he ambushed Tong Batu's Second Cavalry Brigade, the so-called "surrounded by three and lacked one". He hoped that Hirano Hiroshi's Second Army would break through from the north gate and attack with cavalry, which would give the panic retreating Japanese troops With the greatest damage, and the troops that went out between Handan and Shexian County, they would also deal the biggest blow to the defeated Japanese army.

If the Japanese army is determined not to break through, then Sun Zhenbang's troops will try their best to ambush the Kwantung Army troops who came to aid them. If the Japanese troops in Shexian County break through, Sun Zhenbang's troops will attack the one that arrives first. After this battle, the Japanese army in North China will launch a new offensive in a short period of time, so they can re-adjust their deployment and prepare to meet the newly arrived southward corps of the Kwantung Army.

The violent artillery fire exploded the bricks and rocks on the city wall of Shexian County, and the smoke filled the air. Hirano Hiroyoshi really panicked. He ordered some troops to withdraw from the city wall and prepare for street fighting. The troops were all concentrated on the city wall. It was too violent, and the city wall was seen to be bombarded in several places, and the defenders suffered heavy casualties. Immediately, he sent an urgent telegram to Xiangyue Kiyoshi.

However, he didn't intend to break out of the encirclement. This guy saw cunningly that Tang Qiuli had set the trap for him because the North Gate was not attacked. For the sake of attack, if the independent division troops use cavalry, the consequences will be even more disastrous for him. With the city defense fortifications in Shexian County, he is confident that he will persist until the moment when the reinforcements arrive.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, the troops of the Independent Division carried out several tentative attacks at several gaps in the bombed-out city walls, and were met with violent counterattacks from the Japanese army. On the way of the troops' attack, the blocked independent division troops retreated quickly.

After repelling the attack of the Independent Division troops, Hirano Hiroshi and all the Japanese soldiers became more confident. How could they know that they did not wait for a long time to be happy? The artillery of the Independent Division launched a fierce shelling on all the exposed Japanese firepower points, and the corpses of the Japanese soldiers And the weapons that were blown into parts flew into the air along with the bricks.

Only then did Hirano Haoliang realize that he had been fooled by Tang Qiuli again. However, he did not dare to withdraw his troops, knowing that it was a real attack by the Chinese army. When it got dark, the shelling of the independent division gradually stopped. Hirano Hiroshi breathed a sigh of relief and survived another day. There was one more thing he didn't expect. This was Tang Qiuli's intention to put pressure on him, and Hirano Hiroshi really did Several more urgent telegrams were sent in a row.

In the evening, after receiving intelligence from the reconnaissance troops, the division of the Kwantung Army entered Handan and sent a regiment of troops to leave Handan overnight and head towards Shexian County. Tang Qiuli was greatly surprised. The Japanese army changed their habit of not fighting at night. , Is it arrogance to dominate the action, or is there another conspiracy, what role can a regiment of troops play?He ordered the reconnaissance troops to pay close attention to all the roads leading to Shexian County in Handan, and report immediately if the Japanese army made any other moves. [

Although the Japanese army only sent one regiment, it was better than that. He sent a telegram to Sun Zhenbang to prepare for an ambush. Now, the situation is very clear. The Japanese army in Shexian County has no plans to break through, so they will do their best to deal with the Kwantung Army troops.

The roaring artillery fire stopped, and the smoky battlefield also fell silent. Only the occasional sporadic gunshots made the night even quieter. Those were the army's snipers, who were killing the hapless Japanese soldiers. During daytime battles, they used The land of martial arts, at night, is the world of these hunters. Tang Qiuli smiled. This night, I don’t know how many Japanese soldiers can’t see the sun tomorrow.

Tang Qiuli leaned on the medicine box and filtered the entire situation in the war zone in his mind. The current situation is already the best result. The sound of footsteps coming and going, the ticking of the radio station, seemed to come from a very far away place, which gave him a sense of tranquility on the battlefield.

Suddenly felt someone calling him, opened his eyes, it was Chen Feng, Director of Communications, "Teacher, urgent call from Haozhou!" Tang Qiuli was slightly taken aback, Haozhou?Isn't the Sulu Garrison Corps resting there?Is there something urgent, calling late at night?

(To be continued)