Liu Yimin calculated that it was only more than 30 kilometers away from the vicinity of the northwest where the army camped tonight to the military attache village. After the sniper brigade broke away from contact with the enemy last night, the enemy should not be able to touch the reality of our army for the time being, and it is estimated that it will sweep south along the west bank of the canal. It was necessary to let the cavalry regiment rush to the town of Qinghan, where it would block the enemy, and then take the battalion as a unit, alternately cover it, lure the enemy and delay the enemy, and lure the enemy to the military attache village at about 7 o'clock in the evening. At that time, the main force of the 21st Division will be annihilated around the military attache village.

The combat meeting began, and Luo Ronghuan conveyed [***], the original text of Commander-in-Chief Zhu's telegram, and the battle order issued by the division headquarters. Then, Liu Yimin began to make combat deployments.

At this time, before dawn, several lanterns were lit in the compound of the military attache village office where the division headquarters was located, which illuminated the venue.

Liu Yimin's tone was full of heroism: "At present, the war of resistance against Japanese aggression is generally strong and we are weak, the enemy is carrying out strategic offensives on multiple points and lines, and our army is on the defensive. However, in local areas and on local battlefields, it is difficult to say whether the strength of the enemy or the enemy is strong or weak. For example, in the current Wucheng Yunxi area, the main force of the 21st Division of the army is 10,000 people, while our army has three elite infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade, one artillery brigade, and troops directly under the division, with a total strength of 60,000 people. Even the weapons and equipment are significantly higher than those of the 21st Division, which belongs to the garrison division. Therefore, I made up my mind to take out the main force of the 21st Division here. Then, using the code book that might have been captured, he disguised the 21st Division to ask for help, and tried to lure other units of the 21st Division stationed in Dexian County and the enemy's reading force that was sweeping in the Liaocheng area to form the Fourth Brigade to come to their aid, and annihilated them in the Yunxi area in one fell swoop. If possible, the 24th Division, which was stationed in Cangxian and was sweeping in Jizhong, should be lured to come to the aid and annihilate it. In the final analysis, we must use the destruction of the 21st Division as a bait, go fishing on a large scale, and use the powerful firepower of our army to transfer as many enemies as possible to Yunxi and bury them here. ”

After pausing for a moment and looking at the cadres who were already excited, Liu Yimin continued: "The key point in this battle is to lure the enemy, as long as the 21st Division can be lured to the military attache village after dark, then they will die." The specific arrangements are as follows: 1. The 1st Cavalry Regiment should take up the task of luring the enemy, pay attention to the fact that the initial battle should give the devils the false impression that the local garrison unit of our army is encountering the enemy, and you can hit the banner of the cavalry regiment of the Hebei guerrilla detachment, take the battalion as a unit, alternately cover it, resist and harass you step by step, so that the enemy hates you to the core, and pursues you to the death, especially to grasp the rhythm of the attack, and be sure to lead the main force of the army to the military attache village after 7 o'clock in the evening. After arriving at the military attache village, the cavalry regiment should bypass the military attache village and continue to the south, and go to Dongliangzhuang to stand by. If it's too early, the planes will take aim at us. Special attention should be paid to air defense, the use of trench movement troops, the reduction of unnecessary losses. 2. The 1st Brigade and the 1st Field Artillery Regiment were concealed in the villages on the first line of Xianglupo on the west side of the military attache village, the 2nd Brigade, the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, the Mountain Artillery Regiment, and the heavy machine gun regiment were concealed on the line of Yangliuzhuang on the east side of the military attache village, the 3rd Brigade was concealed on the line of Zhaohang on the east side of the military attache village, and the cavalry brigade was concealed on the line of Wuzhuang and Caozhuang. The Guard Regiment and the First Squadron of the Special Operations Brigade, the Engineer Regiment, and the Flying Thunder Artillery Regiment were concealed in the Military Attache Village. 3. Beginning at half past five o'clock in the evening, the guard regiment, the engineer regiment, and the flying thunder artillery regiment defended the military attache village, and Wang Laohu's No. 1 Special Operations Squadron was responsible for killing the enemy's search spearhead soldiers who entered the military attache village. The engineering regiment will start building fortifications in the military attache village now. Once the battle begins, try to attract the enemy's vanguard to the town, which will be dealt with by the special operations brigade and the guard regiment. After the enemy discovers it, the engineer regiment and the guard regiment should rely on the fortifications and fight with light weapons, so that the enemy will think that this is an ordinary army holding on, attract the enemy from all walks of life to concentrate around the military attache village, and provide convenience for our army to exert its firepower. Teach the 1st Brigade and its command unit to establish a concealed ambush position on the west side of the military attache village, teach the 2nd Brigade and its command unit to establish a concealed ambush position on the east side of the military attache village, and teach the 3rd Brigade and the cavalry brigade to take up the task of collecting the net. Fourth, the communications battalion set up telephone lines from the division headquarters to the positions of the brigades in advance, and after the battle began, all eight artillery regiments opened fire, firing at least 10 rounds per gun, covering the entire area where the main force of the 21 st Division was located. Then the brigades surrounded the enemy from all sides and struck centripetally. Teach the Second Regiment to turn on all the lights to illuminate the battlefield, and not let a single devil slip through the net. 5. During the day, except for the 1st Cavalry Regiment to lure the enemy, all other units will rest in concealment and enter the ambush position after dark at 5 p.m. ”

At present, the cadres of the various units who teach and teach have grown up after being tempered and trained in many wars. Therefore, Liu Yimin only made a rough deployment, and as for how the various units were connected, how the positions were established, and how the troops were hidden, those were all the business of the brigade commander, regiment commander, and staff office, and Liu Yimin did not need to make overly detailed deployments. Therefore, Liu Yimin quickly ended the deployment, changed the conversation, and said: "The elimination of the 21st Division is not a great achievement, the key is to see the follow-up development of the campaign. Therefore, all units should pay special attention to the complete capture of the enemy's radio codebook as much as possible. The cordon of the 3rd Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade should be kept as far away as possible, and all the enemy's rearguard units must be included in the net, so that the enemy must not know the truth about the annihilation of the main force of the 21 st Division. ”

After finishing speaking, Liu Yimin waved his big hand: "Comrades, the devils are currently rampant, they have forgotten the lessons of Taiyuan and Tianjin, and they dare to brazenly besiege the base of our Eighth Route Army. Through this battle, we must fight the devils and make them understand that wherever my mentor has fallen, they can no longer encircle and suppress them, otherwise it will be one word: death! ”

After the combat meeting, Liu Yimin handed over to Zhu Zhexiao, led the staff of the staff office to change into civilian clothes, and carefully surveyed and divided the positions of each brigade, leaving no gaps or blind spots. It is also necessary to transfer all the common people in all villages in the combat area, so that the masses must not suffer heavy losses.

Zhu Zhexiao, as the first deputy director of the General Staff Office, only records orders every day, and he has long been very upset, and he can't wait to go down to the combat unit and put what he has learned into practice. As soon as he heard that the division commander asked him to go directly to inspect and arrange the positions of the brigades, he happily saluted the division commander and left with a group of staff officers.

After Zhu Zhexiao left, Luo Ronghuan asked Liu Yimin to hurry up and rest, Liu Yimin said with a smile: "Before the war, I was excited and it was not easy to fall asleep. Let's just pass the time here with a cup of tea while resting! ”

When Luo Ronghuan heard this, he pushed him away, saying that there was still one day, how could he wait here? It's still serious to rest early. forced Liu Yimin to rest.

Just when instructor Liu Yimin was making careful arrangements and preparing to completely annihilate the main force of the 21st Division, the various units of the Shandong Army also accelerated the pace of sweeping.

Major General Kawamura Dong, commander of the 4th Brigade of the Army's Reading Power Mixed Brigade, accepted the task of cooperating with the 21st Division to thoroughly clear the northwest of the Yellow River and the southwest of the Jinpu Road. After accepting the task, Kawamura asked Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo for advice. Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo told him that the main forces of the Chinese political axe army on the ground in Shandong had already fled with Han Fuqu, and only one Fan Zhuxian, the inspector of the Sixth Administrative Region, the magistrate of Liaocheng County, and the commander of the Sixth Guerrilla District, disobeyed Han Fuqu's orders and insisted on resisting in northwest Lu. This time, when the reading force was mixed into the Fourth Brigade to clean up, Fan Zhuxian's troops must be eliminated.

After listening to Commander Nishio Toshizo's explanation, Kawamura Dong went to meet with Nakano Hidemitsu, the head of the secret service, and consulted in detail the information about Fan Zhuxian's department, and learned that Fan Zhuxian, with the help of [***], organized a training class for anti-Japanese military and political cadres in northwestern Shandong, organized anti-Japanese mass organizations, established local political power, and raised troops. The headquarters is in Liaocheng.

After receiving this information, Kawamura Dong analyzed it and believed that although Fan Zhuxian's troops claimed to be tens of thousands of people, they belonged to newly formed troops, and most of the troops only superficially obeyed Fan Zhuxian's orders, and their combat effectiveness was very average. Hecun Dong then decided to attack Liaocheng and eliminate Fan Zhuxian's troops in one fell swoop.

On the 25th of January, the day after the end of the operational meeting of the Second Army of the Chinese Army, Kawamura Dong led the Fourth Brigade of the Reading Force to set off.

Kawamura Dong this guy is extremely cunning, since he has made up his mind to make a surprise attack, he simply does not do two things, and after reporting to Lieutenant General Nishio Shouzo, he transferred a part of the military uniforms that the captured Han Fuqu troops did not have time to take away, and asked the surname to let the vanguard change their clothes and disguise themselves as the squadron [***], and the large army then followed up, under the leadership of Han Jian, day and night, and killed Liaocheng.

Fan Zhuxian is a native of Guantao County, Shandong Province, born in 1882, formerly known as Jinbiao, the word Zhuxian. In his early years, he served in the Beiyang Army, and later served as a major general in the Northwest Army of Feng Yuxiang and the Third Route Army of Han Fuqu. In November 1936, he went to Liaocheng and served as the administrative inspector and security commander of the sixth district of Shandong Province and the county magistrate of Liaocheng County.

In May 1937, Comrade Peng Xuefeng went to Liaocheng under the pretext of visiting his classmates and had several in-depth talks with Fan Zhuxian, so that he could accept our party's proposal to establish a united front against Japan. Subsequently, Fan Zhuxian appointed Yao Dihong, a member of the [***], as the special secretary, and invited [***] to send cadres to Liaocheng to assist in the anti-Japanese war. In October 1937, the Shandong Provincial Party Committee selected 12 major officers and 240 captains and attendants from the political training class of the Third Group Army, with [***] members and "Minxian" members as the backbone, to Liaocheng to assist Fan Zhuxian in forming troops. Then, Zhang Linzhi, director of the organization department of the provincial party committee, was sent to Liaocheng to lead the party's work and united front work in northwest Shandong as a representative of the provincial party committee.

When the army attacked Shandong, Han Fuqu was about to collapse with the enemy in Dexian County, and was broken by the Yue Kou, leading the Shandong defenders and officials at all levels to escape in a hurry. At this time, in the entire military and political sequence in Shandong, only Fan Zhuxian insisted on not withdrawing and resisted the war on the spot.

Han Fuqu sent several telegrams, ordering Fan Zhuxian to lead his troops and political axe organs to retreat. At this time, in order to encourage Fan Zhuxian to stay and resist, Zhang Linzhi had many long talks with him, and Fan Zhuxian sent a telegram to the whole country on November 19: "All since the Japanese slaves entered the Kou, trapped in North China, the iron hooves have arrived, and the territory has changed color." Now our army crosses to the south, north of the Yellow River, and waits to sink. Mourning my people, trapped in fire and water, wandering at midnight, crying blood and heart. The governor is the district, and it is the responsibility to defend the land, and he will never cross to the south. I swore to lead my guerrilla fighters and armed people to deal with the Japanese slaves. Success or failure is blunt, regardless of it, and it is not hesitated to do its best. I hope that the money will be paid, and the time will be helped. If you can resist the war to the end, you will be all loyal. Looking south, it is overwhelming. ”

Zheng Zheng's iron bones jumped on the paper, and Qilu boy's true face was ashamed and ashamed of Han Fuqu.

In fact, Fan Zhuxian's backbone force consisted of a security battalion of less than 1,000 men. But at this time, Shandong was in turmoil and entered a state of no political axe, and there were many stragglers. In addition, Fan Zhuxian's identity can call on the people, and this banner of resistance has grown to 35 detachments and three road armies in just a few months, with a total of about 60,000 people.

On the one hand, the Luxi Special Committee supported Fan Zhuxian in developing troops and establishing a resistance regime, and on the other hand, it was directly under the armed forces under the leadership of our party.

When the instructor established the Luxi Military Region and established the Luxi Agency, Fan Zhuxian and the [***] Luxi Special Committee had already gained a preliminary foothold in the northwest of Luxi. As soon as the main force came, it was even more powerful. It is a pity that the Luxi Military Region was established for too short a time, and in addition to Fan Zhuxian's special status, and the fact that some units have elements of our party, Liu Jianjian, commander of the Luxi Military Region, did not have time to reorganize Fan Zhuxian's 60,000 horses, which are complex, otherwise, it would really be a force to be reckoned with.

On the morning of the 27th, Fan Zhuxian was urgently woken up by Yao Dihong, who reported that the army was coming, led by a small army disguised as [***], and it would soon arrive in Liaocheng. Please ask the commander to hurry up and deploy for combat.

When Fan Zhuxian heard this, he immediately got up, and asked where the army came from while getting dressed.

Yao Dihong didn't know the specific situation, he only heard the reported troops say that they came from the direction of the Qi River, and at first thought it was [***], but later found that the large army followed by the army, tanks, armored vehicles, cars, carts, and cavalry, so he hurriedly reported it.

Fan Zhu was born in the army first, and knew that this Liaocheng was surrounded by water on three sides, and there was no danger to be collected, so he immediately ordered Yao Dihong to notify Zheng Zuoheng, deputy commander of the city defense, and Wang Jinxiang, chief of staff, to come to discuss the military situation.

Yao Dihong hurriedly called Zheng Zuoheng and Wang Jinxiang to inform them, and after the two arrived, Fan Zhuxian had a brief discussion with Wang Jinxiang and decided to withdraw from Liaocheng and move to Linqing. The First Route Army was ordered to deploy at Chengdong Pass, ten detachments to be deployed at Chengbei Pass, and the guerrilla battalion was responsible for guarding the four city gates and covering the transfer of political axe organs, schools, and people.

After Wang Jinxiang went to convey the order, Fan Zhuxian arranged for his wife and children to withdraw from the city with the orderly.

During this period of time, Fan Zhuxian had already received a notice from the Luxi Military Region on the sweep of the army, and had already organized the transfer of most of the schools, institutions, and people. There are not many people left in Liaocheng. So the transfer speed was very fast, and by 9 o'clock, there were basically only defenders in Liaocheng County.

Seeing that the transfer task was completed, the reconnaissance unit also reported that the army was only a few kilometers away from Liaocheng, so Fan Zhuxian ordered the troops to withdraw.

Just as he was about to leave the headquarters, he received a report that the First Route People's Army defending Chengdongguan had fled.

Fan Zhuxian was so angry that his beard floated up, and he scolded the bad seeds. After scolding, I looked for Chief of Staff Wang Jinxiang again, and found that I couldn't find this person. When I asked, I found out that Wang Jinxiang had already slipped away with a company of the guerrilla battalion.

At this moment, Fan Zhuxian was angry and sad in his heart, and cursed the coward in his mouth. I thought in my heart that the main force of the Luxi Military Region established by [***] was an old Red Army unit, and after withdrawing to Linqing this time, I must ask [***] to help reorganize and train my own troops, and if it really didn't work, I would hand over the team to the Luxi Military Region for reorganization and training.

At this time, gunshots had already sounded all around Liaocheng. Fan Zhu knew that he had to retreat immediately, and if he didn't leave, it would be too late.

Fan Zhuxian led the guerrilla battalion to the West Gate, but only after arriving at the West Gate did he know that it was too late, and the devil's army had arrived. Machine guns have blocked the city gates and cannot get out.

Only then did Fan Zhuxian understand that the army was prepared, and the cars and cavalry used marched fast, and they arrived quickly after a distance of several kilometers. Coupled with the fact that the first route of the people's army fled, Liaocheng was already exposed to the guns of the Yue army.

After Fan Zhuxian retreated to the city, he ordered the eastern, southern, and northern gates to be blocked, and called Zheng Zuoheng, deputy commander of the city defense, Lin Jintang, commander of the guerrilla battalion, Zhang Yuguang, a representative of the city, and Yao Dihong, a member of the special office, to study the deployment of the Liaocheng defense war.

After several people discussed, they decided to seize the opportunity to break through after fighting with the enemy at the city gate.

Fan Zhu first looked at these young comrades-in-arms and said, "I'm old, it's okay to die." You are young, and it depends on you to save the country. You must find an opportunity to stand out, and you must defeat the devil! ”

After speaking, he carried his beloved Longquan sword, held a pistol, and led everyone to the city wall to observe the battle situation.

Seeing this, everyone was secretly frightened, the devils were densely packed, all the city gates were surrounded, artillery was also erected, tanks and armored vehicles were also driven to the front, and it seemed that they were about to attack.

Fan Zhuxian knew that the martyrdom for the country was now over, and immediately ordered Zheng Zuoheng, the guerrilla battalion commanders Lin Jintang, Zhang Yuguang, and Yao Dihong to each go to a city gate, supervise the troops to fight with the enemy, and be sure to defeat the Yuekou attack.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the already ready army began to attack the city, and the artillery concentrated on bombarding the east gate.

The shelling blew up the east gate, and the soldiers shouted and rushed towards the east gate under the cover of tanks. Yao Dihong, who rushed to the east gate, immediately ordered the soldiers to concentrate their fire on the devil's infantry and use grenades to blow up the devil's tank.

Although the guerrilla battalion is the backbone of Fan Zhuxian's troops, it is a local security team in its own right, and its fighting qualities are limited, and the fighters are fighting the enemy with enthusiasm. Where can you stop the attack of devil tanks and armored vehicles? Seeing the soldiers around him sacrifice one by one, and no one fired again, Yao Dihong, who was a student, smiled sadly, grabbed five grenades and tied them together, and dodged the side of the collapsed city gate.

The devil's tank came up, Yao Dihong had already heard the chattering of the devils behind the tank, and Yao Dihong, who knew a little bit of language, knew that the devils were shouting to press up, press up. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the devil tank was rolling towards the bodies of the martyrs.

Yao Dihong was furious, jumped out in a flash, pulled the grenade, and threw it under the tank.

In the explosion of the grenade, the bullets of the devil infantry also hit Yao Dihong. The east gate of the city was lost.

(To be continued)