The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region Headquarters ordered Lei Jian's only regiment to attack Laiyuan County, not for the purpose of conquering, but mainly to contain the enemy in Laiyuan, and to cooperate with Commander Deng of the Third Division to fight on the front line of Lingqiu to block the enemy reinforcements in Laiyuan.

Lei Jian led the only regiment that had taken a short rest to immediately go to the outskirts of Laiyuan City, and ordered the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th battalions of the main battalion to attack Dongguan, Nanguan, Beiguan, and Xiguan respectively, break through the city gate to occupy the enemy's position, block the enemy in the city, and strictly prohibit the troops from advancing in depth.

Ordered the commander of the assault company to lie in ambush on the west bank of the Juma River in the east of the city to block the enemy reinforcements from the direction of Sanjia Village.

Order the cavalry battalion to set up an ambush in Jiguan Mountain in the north of the city, and once the enemy in Zhongzhuang is reinforced, it will be completely encircled and suppressed, and strive to be completely annihilated.

Ordered the spy company to raid Sangou Bay, five miles west of the city, surround Sangou Bay, completely annihilate the puppet army of a company in the village, and fortify it on the spot to block the enemy reinforcements from the west.

Ordered the reconnaissance company Qu Jiaming to lead the troops to guard the enemy in Liujiazui in the south, and found that the enemy was reinforcing Laiyuan City, and to block it with the most fierce firepower, but not to pursue and break the fleeing enemy, so as not to be ambushed and the troops were damaged.

After Lei Jian gave the order, he ordered the troops to quickly rush to their respective positions and make all preparations for battle.

The night slowly darkened, the entire Laiyuan City has been lit up, and the enemy puppet army in the city learned that there was a large army of the Eighth Route Army lurking at the four gates of the city for one thousand meters through the investigation, and the formation was no less than the strength of one regiment.

The commander of the Japanese army, Sakata Daisa, who was holding on to Laiyuan City, ordered the captain of the town guarding the city: "Hold the four city gates, pay close attention to the sneak attack launched by the Tuba Road at night, once the Tuba Road attacks the four city gates, you must use the fiercest firepower to block the enemy from outside the city gate, and you will immediately deploy defenses." ”

The commander of the Japanese army in the city, who had become a frightened bird, constantly patrolled the city gates, closely monitored the movements of the Eighth Route Army outside the four city gates, did not dare to slack off at all, and was ready to counterattack with the fiercest firepower at any time.

An hour passed, and the soldiers of the various battalions who had already prepared for the siege of the city would immediately storm the city gate after waiting for their Lei Regiment Commander to give an order.

It was already past midnight, the Eighth Route Army outside the city had not moved, and the highly tense Japanese troops defending the city still did not dare to slack off, held their positions, increased their vigilance a hundred times, and watched the black curtain outside the city, afraid of the guns of the Eighth Route Army, and suddenly launched a fire strike, piercing the dark night outside the city.

At three o'clock in the morning, Lei Jian has not moved, the nerves that the soldiers have been tense are really unbearable, even the company and platoon commanders of each battalion don't know their Lei Regiment Commander, what kind of medicine is sold in this gourd, it will be dawn soon, why has there been no movement, is the baby Lei Jian asleep?

Lei Jian didn't sleep, his eyes were bloodshot, and the political commissar Ma Mingshan, who was sitting on the side, asked in a low voice: "Commander Lei, it will be dawn in more than two hours, when are you going to launch an attack on Laiyuan County?" ”

Wang Xiaoliang also asked suspiciously: "Captain Lei, if you say something, you won't fall asleep, right?" ”

"I really want to sleep now, don't you all want to?"

"Think, I can't open my eyes for a long time, but the big war is coming, even if I want to sleep, I don't dare to close my eyes, hey, I said Commander Lei, now the battalion soldiers who are preparing to attack the county must be tired and want to sleep, if they don't fight again, the soldiers will really not be able to sleep." Wang Xiaoliang shook his head in the night and said again.

Lei Jian stretched his waist and said to Xiao Liu, the correspondent beside him: "Pass my order, order the battalions that attack the four city gates, retreat a thousand meters, leave some soldiers on guard, and fall to sleep on the spot." ”

The battalions of the only regiment have been strengthening their vigilance, ready to attack Laiyuan City at any time, seeing that it is almost three o'clock in the morning, Lei Jian has not yet issued an attack order, and the battalions besieging the four city gates suddenly received an order from the cavalry company of the guard platoon, ordering the troops to retreat one thousand meters and sleep on the spot.

The battalion commanders led the troops to retreat a thousand meters, ordered to sleep on the spot, leaving a platoon on guard, because of the unsteady, the four battalion commanders ran to Lei Jian's side almost at the same time, and saw Lei Jian lying under a tree sleeping, they were anxious to ask, and they were afraid of waking up the Lei Jian regiment commander who had been very tired in the past few days.

Zhang Ting couldn't hold it back, squatted in front of the head of the thunder sword, gently pushed the thunder sword, and asked in a low voice: "Captain Lei, Captain Lei?" What the hell is going on? ”

Lei Jian was awakened, sat up with his eyes rubbed, and looked at a few figures around him, and he recognized from the vague figures that they were the four battalion commanders of the only regiment, as well as Ma Mingshan, Wang Xiaoliang and Li Gang.

He was dissatisfied and said, "Didn't you get the order? ”

"I just received the order and had doubts in my heart, so I ran over to find out." Several battalion commanders said with some dissatisfaction.

"You people, in the face of the great enemy, you must first ensure that you have enough spirit to recover from fatigue in order to exert the maximum energy in the fight against the enemy, don't you understand this?"

"Commander Lei, we don't understand, we want to ask why the troops are all deployed, and they are ready to attack Laiyuan City at any time, and seeing that it is about to be the time for action, they suddenly ordered to retreat a thousand meters and fall to sleep, this, this ......." The first battalion commander Zhang Ting asked puzzled.

Lei Jian became serious, and said in a sharp tone: "You are all commanders, according to the orders of your superiors and the specific situation of the attacking enemy, you have already issued orders that have not yet been executed, and you can adjust them at any time according to the situation, do you understand?" ”

"I don't understand." The commanders of the four main attack battalions said almost simultaneously.

"Okay, let me give you a few simple words, first, Commander Nie of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and Commander Yang of the right column, ordered me to surround Laiyuan City with a single regiment, and take the attack on the four gates of the county seat.

The second is the enemy in the city, has discovered that our only regiment will surround Laiyuan City, through the information transmitted by the underground anti-Japanese organization in the city, the Japanese commander Sakata Wing Commander, has deployed the troops at the four city gates, ready to fight, just waiting for our only regiment to attack the city. ”

"So what? Could it be that we just want to surround Laiyuan City, so we won't fight? Zhang Ting asked puzzled.

"It's not that you don't fight, but how to fight, according to the two points I said, if you delay the attack time, there will be two effects, one is that the enemy puppet army in the city is all soldiers, and it has been in intense preparations, and it does not dare to slack off, so it will consume the enemy's will, and once you grasp the right time to attack, it will have the effect of hitting the tired army.

In this way, it not only delayed the enemy puppet army in the city, strongly counterattacked the attack of our army, and attempted to reinforce the outer line, but also contained the enemy and besieged the enemy in the city as scheduled, and completed the tasks assigned by the superiors.

The second effect is that our troops have been repaired in wartime, restored to the fatigue of long-term combat, and improved the combat ability of soldiers when launching an offensive. ”

At this time, the regiment leaders and battalion commanders who were sitting around Lei Jian, listening to Lei Jian's explanation, said convincingly: "Commander Lei, you are really becoming more and more convincing, how many brains do you have, why do you always see a few steps more than others when analyzing the enemy situation, you are too godly." ”

"You're talking about nice again, right? Let me tell you, Laiyuan City must be fought, but depending on how to fight, in order to wear down the enemy's will and consume the weapons and ammunition of the devils defending the city, you have to use your brains. ”

Lei Jian was in the night, and although he couldn't see everyone's facial expressions clearly, he could conclude that they were all waiting for him to continue.

Wang Xiaoliang couldn't hold back and asked, "Captain Lei, you don't want it, don't ......." ”

"Don't pretend to be mysterious, do you? Okay, I give a new order, order the battalions responsible for attacking the four city gates, now there are two hours before dawn, you run back and sleep for an hour and a half, at 4057 in the morning, when the east is just gray, each battalion sends a company, to attack the four city gates, and once you find that the enemy is holding the city gates with fierce fire, immediately withdraw from the battle.

The other two companies of each battalion were in ambush a kilometer from the city, and if the enemy opened the city gate and pursued the attacking company, led the enemy into an ambush circle, and beat me hard, and the devils fled back to the city, do you understand now? ”

At 4:57 a.m., the Japanese army defending the city of Laiyuan City was already very sleepy and tired, and guarded the city tower all night, and the Eighth Route Army did not launch a night attack at all.

(End of chapter)