Liu Hong led the main force of the martial arts team to the woods near Xiaoji Village, Liu Hong observed the surrounding situation, and found that this forest was very large and full of trees, enough to hide all the soldiers of the martial arts team, plus the nearby area was already remote.

Judging from all factors, this place should be considered relatively safe, so Liu Hong ordered the troops to stop and recuperate for the time being. But even so, in order to avoid exposure, the troops still did not dare to make a fire to cook, and could only eat the dry rations they carried.

Fortunately, the soldiers have become accustomed to this, and they do not feel bitter, as long as they can have a full bite to eat, the soldiers are already quite satisfied. And at the thought that the battle was about to start, the soldiers were not afraid, but were very excited.

When they set out, the soldiers only carried three days' dry rations with them, but this time the task could not be completed in three days, and after three days, the soldiers could only raise food on the spot. The local people were relatively poor, and many of them did not even have enough to eat, so in this case, it was naturally difficult to provide enough food for the troops.

Therefore, the only way for the military engineering team to obtain food is to fight devils and obtain supplies from devils, not only food, but also weapons and ammunition, because when the troops set off, they only carried enough ammunition to support a large-scale battle, and if they want to continue fighting, they can only seize ammunition from the little devils to feed the war.

After driving for such a long time, Liu Hong was also a little tired, and after eating some dry food, he leaned on a big tree and began to take a nap.

However, Liu Hong only slept for three or four hours, and then he had no intention of saying more, and came to a nearby tree, where a simple tent had been set up, in which two radio stations were placed, and several correspondents were busy inside.

Liu Hong asked casually: "Is there any news from the headquarters?" ”

One of the soldiers hurriedly handed Liu Hong several telegrams that he had sorted out, and said, "Captain, these are the telegrams just sent by the headquarters, all of which are the latest intelligence and battle situation. ”

Liu Hong read these telegrams one by one, and couldn't help frowning, according to the information provided by the headquarters, the situation in the Hebei-Shandong Border Military Region is very bad.

As a result of Shaou's defection to the enemy, the organs of the military region were severely damaged and almost no longer functional, and the various units suffered heavy losses and could only fight on their own. However, the little devils are moving step by step, constantly compressing the Yanshan area from all directions, the encirclement is getting smaller and smaller, and the encircled Eighth Route Army is becoming more and more dangerous.

At this time, Wu Feng walked over and asked with a frown, "What's the situation?" ”

Liu Hong shook his head, handed the telegram in his hand to Wu Feng, and then asked someone to bring a map and spread it on the ground.

Liu Hong squatted on the ground, frowning and carefully studying the map, falling into deep thought.

Wu Feng read the contents of the telegram roughly, and his brows were also furrowed, worried about the current situation.

Wu Feng frowned and said, "This Watanabe Brigade of the Second Wing is advancing too fast!" It's almost near the old city. ”

Liu Hong nodded and said: "This Watanabe brigade started from Qingxian and advanced to the southeast, basically did not encounter any decent resistance along the way, and the speed was naturally faster. ”

Wu Feng nodded, while looking at the telegram in his hand, he glanced at the map from time to time, and said thoughtfully: "But this Watanabe Brigade is advancing so fast, it has been out of touch with several other little devils, and this Watanabe Brigade is greedy for merit, but it has given us a chance." ”

Liu Hong glanced up at Wu Feng and asked with a smile, "It seems that you also want to take this Watanabe brigade?" ”

Wu Feng said with a smile: "Isn't the captain thinking so?" With our current capabilities, it will definitely not be a problem to deal with a large group of little devils. If we defeat this Watanabe brigade, there will be a gap in the encirclement of the little devils, so that the little devils will have to adjust their deployment to plug this gap, so that their advance speed will be much slower, so as to buy enough time for us and the surrounded friendly forces. ”

"That's a good point!" Liu Hong smiled and nodded and said, "This is the first battle of our eastward march, and it is also a crucial battle, and it must be fought well." The old town is about forty miles from where we are now, and judging by the speed of the Watanabe brigade's advance, they will be able to reach the old town this afternoon, and I estimate that they will rest for the night again. ”

Wu Feng frowned and asked, "You don't want to travel forty miles to attack the old city, do you?" ”

Liu Hong smiled and waved his hand and said, "I'm not that stupid!" If the little devils are stationed in the old city, even if we sneak attack at night, we don't have much chance of winning. ”

Liu Hong paused, and then said: "And the little devil dispatched a large number of reconnaissance planes to reconnoiter the situation in the vicinity, if we march during the day, it is easy to be discovered by the devil's reconnaissance plane." Our biggest advantage now is that the little devils don't know that we have rushed to the vicinity of Salt Mountain, and once it is exposed, this advantage of ours will no longer exist. ”

Wu Feng nodded and said, "In that case, it will be a little troublesome." It is impossible for us to reach the old city before the devils, and if we storm the old city, the odds of victory are not great, and this battle will not be easy to fight. Knowing this, we should have ended the airport in Cangzhou before, so that the little devil would not have so many planes. ”

Liu Hong waved his hand and said, "The devil's planes don't all take off from Cangzhou Airport, but also from Tianjin and Dezhou airports. Just knocking out a Cangzhou airport will not solve the problem. What's more, the devil's airport is heavily guarded, and it is not so good. ”

Wu Feng frowned and thought about it, and said thoughtfully: "In this way, you can only lure the little devil out and fight." ”

Liu Hong nodded and said: "Under the premise that there is no chance of winning by storming the old town, it is the only way to lure this little devil out to fight." Annihilating the enemy in the field can effectively reduce the casualties of our army, and our martial arts team only has such a little family background, but we can't afford to consume it! ”

Wu Feng nodded and said: "This little devil is searching for the traces of my Eighth Route Army, after starting from Qingxian, he has never encountered the formed Eighth Route Army troops, this Watanabe must be in a hurry, otherwise his troops would not have advanced so fast." In this way, it is not difficult for us to lure them out. ”

Liu Hong nodded, stretched out a finger, dotted on the map, and said with a smile: "See here, I plan to lure the little devil here, and then defeat him." ”

"Gaozhai?" Wu Feng asked with a frown.

"It's Gaozhai." Liu Hong said with great certainty.

(End of chapter)