Du Kaishan's old face was slightly red when he was slapped by Yang Zhen, although he was a superior who picked himself up with one hand. But it's not a good feeling to be tapped on the shoulder by someone who is several years younger than me and say that I have finally matured.

Looking at Du Kaishan, who was slightly embarrassed, Yang Zhen smiled and said, "You go back and discuss with your team as soon as possible, I'm going to rest." I set off from Luobei in the middle of the night before, and I rode horses all the way to drive continuously, but I was tired. I'll take a break, and I'll meet someone later. ”

Yang Zhen's words reminded Du Kaishan of the person Yang Zhen asked Xiaohuzi to find just now, and suddenly had a somewhat strange feeling in his heart. I always feel that the person is six points similar to the commander. I just opened my mouth, hesitated for a long time, and didn't know whether to say it or not.

Seeing that this guy had some ink, Yang Zhen said with some displeasure: "Just say what comes to mind." I just praised you, why did you start spitting again? ”

When Du Kaishan heard this, he gritted his teeth and said, "One zero one, I said it, don't be angry." Don't you feel that Yang Ji's finance minister, this is somewhat similar to you? It's not that look-alike, but the eyebrows and eyes look a little similar. If I hadn't known that you joined the army in Kannai, I would have thought you were brothers. ”

Yang Zhen was a college student who joined the 18th Group Army, and the whole army knew about it. However, he is a native of Northeast China and a student in exile, and this point is not known to anyone except a few members of the Standing Committee of the Military Region for the sake of secrecy. Yang Zhen's hometown is in the military district and is the No. 1 top secret. That's why Du Kaishan asked.

After listening to Du Kaishan's question, Yang Zhen shook his head slightly and said, "Go ahead, arrange the candidates early, and you will rest early." Don't have too many people with you, except for my personal guard platoon, you bring your training section chief. Bring another old comrade from the Fifth Army. ”

Seeing that Yang Zhen was unwilling to answer his question, Du Kaishan did not ask. Nodding and turning around, he was about to step out of the threshold, but he heard Yang Zhen behind him say, "Old Du, don't think too much." I have telegraphed to the central government to pick up your child when the route opens. At least reunite your father and son first. ”

Yang Zhen's words made Du Kaishan slightly stunned, and he didn't turn around to answer Yang Zhen's words, but slowly shook his head, sighed and went out. Looking at Du Kaishan's back, Yang Zhen could only shake his head and smile bitterly. At the beginning, I was depressed because of Zhang Ting's sacrifice, and I was qualified to persuade others. On the contrary, Du Kaishan's psychological endurance in this regard is much better and stronger than himself.

Yang Zhen did not dare to sue Du Kaishan, the whole matter was not what he saw on the telegram. The telegram that Yang Zhen asked Tao Jingfei to forward to Du Kaishan was abridged.

After Du Kaishan's wife's younger brother learned that Du Kaishan was still alive from the mouth of the Eighth Office to pick up the child, he immediately secretly told his hard-working sister. When the woman heard the news that her husband was still alive, she immediately ran out of the salt merchant and went to the office of the 18th Group Army in Chengdu to ask to go to Yan'an and reunite with her husband.

But Du Kaishan's wife was persuaded to go back by the staff of the Chengdu office. The reason is very simple, her step-husband is the key work object of the Eighteenth Group Army Office in Chengdu. Once she is accepted, the relationship that the Chengdu office has built up with great difficulty is in danger of collapsing.

And this stubborn woman, after being politely rejected by the office staff, did not return to the salt merchant's house, nor did she return to the home of the mother who hurt her, and lost her trace. Although the two families dispatched a large number of people to search, they were never able to find it.

Yang Zhen was very dissatisfied with this result, and was extremely disgusted and even angry at the actions of the staff of the Chengdu office, but he was helpless. Although the central government severely criticized the Chengdu Eighth Route Army Office because of this matter, and even removed the relevant personnel of the office from handling the matter. But it doesn't change any of the results. Yang Zhen only hopes that the poor woman is still alive now.

After Du Kaishan left, Yang Zhen turned around and looked at the map. His fingers kept moving along the map along the front line of the staggered positions of friend and foe. Raohe, Baoqing, Boli, Yilan, Fangzheng, Fengshan, Tieli, Suileng, Tonghe, and Wuyun went around in a big circle. Only then did they stop in the areas of Dedu, Tongbei and Kedong. And this area was the guerrilla zone of the former Third Route Army.

Yang Zhen looked at the current guerrilla area of the Third Route Army on the map, but he thought that in the last battle, he had hoped that the Third Route Army would cooperate with him in Lingxi several times, but he did not get any response from the Third Route Army.

Regarding the situation of the Third Route Army since the beginning of the summer, due to the intermittent radio contact, Yang Zhen is not very clear. It wasn't until after the war that he saw the troops of the Third Route Army retreating into the base area that he didn't know what kind of situation the Third Route Army had encountered in the past six months. It's not that they don't cooperate with themselves, but that the Third Route Army has fallen into a situation where it is difficult to protect itself.

In the previous period, although the Japanese army focused on itself, it did not give up on the liquidation of other anti-Japanese units. Even before September, in order to fully prepare for their own attack and stabilize the rear of the Battle of Normenhan, the Japanese army increased its efforts to clear it.

In order to ensure the stability of the rear, since the beginning of the summer, the Kwantung Army has transferred a large number of puppet Manchurian troops and local independent garrisons to the remaining troops of the First Route Army in South Manchuria and the Third Route Army in West Manchuria. The puppet Manchurian military and police were the mainstay, with a small number of local Japanese garrisons participating in and supervising the battle, and a sweep was carried out in all directions and like a net. The focus is on the Third Route Army.

This move of the Japanese puppet army was to defeat all the troops that could cooperate with Yang Zhen in wartime. The intention of the Kwantung Army is obvious, I can't do anything with you now, but I can knock out the troops that cooperate with you and cut off your wings. Puts you in a situation where you are alone.

After the westward retreat, in order to carry out guerrilla warfare more flexibly and mobilely, and to strike at the Japanese army, the Third Route Army adjusted its establishment. The original 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 11th armies were abolished and reorganized into four independent detachments. The reduction of the establishment, the enrichment of the organization, and the large amount of equipment and ammunition provided by Yang Zhen once restored the vitality of the Third Route Army.

The number of people has also grown from a few hundred to nearly 2,000, and the equipment has also been greatly improved. Although it has not yet completely restored the scale of more than 3,000 people in its heyday, it is still a little rejuvenated. Activities were very frequent in Lingxi, and several large-scale guerrilla base areas were opened up on the basis of mountainous areas. It even once captured several county towns such as Keshan, Zhaoyuan, and Nehe.

It's just that the good times didn't last long, and in the dragnet sweep adopted by the Japanese puppet army this time, the Third Route Army, which had just recovered its vitality, suffered another setback. In just one month of August, the troops suffered casualties and fled a third under the all-out attack of the Japanese puppet army.

barely supported until the beginning of autumn, and did not wait for the Third Route Army to take a breath. After the Japanese puppet army launched an offensive against the Xiajiang area. In order to cooperate with the Kwantung Army's attack on Yang Zhen's headquarters, on the basis of the original clearing and suppression troops, a large number of troops were increased, and a larger scale of liquidation operations was continuously launched against the Third Route Army.

In order to completely eliminate the Third Route Army, the Kwantung Army except for the original two mixed brigades, the puppet Manchurian police forces in various counties and districts, and some forest police units. Two regiments of the Hung Yen Army, two brigades of the White Russian Railway Garrison, and three of them had just been reorganized, and they were composed of Koreans in Manchuria, and although they were in the puppet Manchurian army, they were so-called special regiments directly under the Kwantung Army Headquarters. As a result, the strength of the Japanese puppet army in Lingxi increased dramatically to nearly 30,000.

Under the large-scale siege of the superior Japanese puppet army, the Third Route Army has fought hard several times since the beginning of autumn, but it has never been able to change its situation. Not only did the troops suffer heavy casualties, but all the newly opened guerrilla zones were lost. The troops were divided by the Japanese puppet army in Dedu, Tongbei, Hailun, Baiquan, and Nehe counties, and they could only fight separately and lost the ability to respond to each other.

After two months of hard fighting, except for the sixth detachment active in Tongbei, Hailun, and Wangkui, it suffered one-third casualties and was no longer able to fight again. Under the command of detachment commander Guo Tiejian and political commissar Yu Tianfang, they took the initiative to retreat westward, and retreated into the base area under the guidance of the Second Division and the First Route Army, except for the relatively small losses.

Only the 12 detachments, which were active in the Bayan, Wangkui, Suihua, and Qingcheng areas, and were fought and withdrawn by detachment commander Zhang Guangdi and political commissar Zhang Yunsheng under the cover of the troops sent by the three sub-divisions, and even retreated into Fengshan territory after even throwing away the wounded.

However, the 3rd and 9th detachments in the areas of Ximannehe, Gannan, Zhalantun, Arongqi, and Jingxing suffered heavy losses under the heavy blows of the Japanese puppet army, and commanders at all levels died one after another, and their situation became increasingly difficult.

The former commander of the 11th Army, who returned from Jiangbei with Zhao Shangzhi, and Qi Zhizhong, who served as the commander of the 3rd Detachment after returning to the Third Route Army, died in Gannan. Zhao Jingfu, the political commissar of the three detachments, was seriously wounded and captured in the cover headquarters and the North Manchurian Provincial Party Committee in Dedu, and because he swore not to surrender, he was thrown into the wolf-dog pen by the Japanese German-capital gendarmerie and fed to the wolf-dog alive.

When Lei Yan, the leader of the Ninth Detachment, led two companies of more than 100 people to raise food in the territory of the Nehe River, he was surrounded by more than 1,000 people from the Japanese puppet Nehe River Raid Team and the Belarusian Railway Police Team at the junction of the Nehe River and Gannan because of a traitor's informant. After a day and a night of hard fighting, they were never able to break through the siege and the whole army was annihilated. After the detachment leader Lei Yan sacrificed, his head was cut off by the Japanese puppet army and hung at the gate of the Nehe River for public display.

After the death of the senior commanders one after another, the remnants of the two detachments of the 39th detachment were under the command of Wang Jun, the political commissar of the 9th detachment, and Wang Minggui, the successor leader of the 3rd detachment, fought and retreated, and only after several hard battles did they break out of the encirclement. By the time they entered the mountainous area north of Bei'an and joined up with the headquarters of the Third Route Army and the North Manchurian Provincial Party Committee, the number of the two detachments that had once had troops had been sharply reduced to less than 300 people.

By the beginning of winter, the troops trapped by the Japanese puppet army in the Third Route Army and remaining in Lingxi, including the headquarters guard troops, organ staff, and the wounded, had been drastically reduced to less than 500 people. The troops trapped in the mountainous areas were in dire need of all kinds of supplies, not only were they deprived of winter clothes and medicines, but they were also short of food and ammunition.

Moreover, not only did the detachments suffer heavy losses under the crazy attacks of the Japanese puppet army, but even the headquarters of the Third Route Army and the North Manchurian Provincial Party Committee, which were operating in the Dedu Mountains, were surrounded by the Japanese puppet army several times. Xu Hengzhi, chief of staff of the headquarters of the Third Route Army, and Zhang Zhongfu, secretary general of the headquarters, were killed when the headquarters in the rear of Chaoyang Mountain in Dedu broke through.

Zhang Wenlian, secretary of the Longjiang Working Committee, and more than a dozen staff members of the North Manchurian Provincial Party Committee, after being captured and escorted to Qiqihar, were forced into the ice caves dug into the already frozen Nenjiang River by the Japanese army because they refused to surrender.

After receiving a telegram from the North Manchurian Provincial Party Committee asking for help, Yang Zhen transferred six reconnaissance companies from the original three field brigades to form a detachment when the reconnaissance battalion of the military region was conducting parachute training in Jiangbei and could not be immediately transferred back. Led by Han Renhe, a staff officer of the headquarters guard, with the cooperation of a company of the First Route Army, a large number of winter clothes, ammunition, and food rushed to Bei'an to meet the Third Route Army.

After several encounters with the Japanese puppet army that entered the mountains to clear and suppress, and paid a lot of price, he found the headquarters of the Third Route Army, which had been withdrawn to hide and rest there, in the mountainous area north of Bei'an. At this time, the troops trapped in the mountainous areas north of Bei'an had been frostbitten for nearly half and had been without food for two days.

However, what made Yang Zhen arrive to his surprise was that when the shape was already difficult, the leaders of the Third Route Army refused to retreat west to rest. After replenishing winter clothing, ammunition and food, it headed northwest into the Ilhuli Mountains in the northern part of the Nenjiang River.

When Han Renhe returned, he only brought back the wounded handed over by the Third Route Army, some non-combatants of the North Manchurian Provincial Party Committee, and all the female soldiers. In addition to bringing back these personnel, Han Renhe, who returned, handed Yang Zhen a handwritten letter from the commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army.

In addition to expressing his gratitude to Yang Zhen for his support and entrusting him to take care of the wounded who had withdrawn to the base area, the commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army also explained to Yang Zhen the reason why he could not retreat west at the moment.

The commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army told Yang Zhen in a letter that if he also withdrew westward, the Japanese puppet army west of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains would completely lose its containment power. In the future war situation, these Japanese puppet armies will pose a considerable threat to the flanks of the entire Jidong Military Region. Although the Third Route Army is in a predicament at the moment, it is better not to withdraw westward for the time being from the perspective of the overall battle situation.

Originally, according to the plan, the three route armies of the Anti-Japanese Union formed a horn with each other, cooperated with each other, and fought in response. Now that the main force of the First Army has withdrawn to the base area for rest, it can be said that South Manchuria has lost its containment force. Although he can get a certain respite when he retreats to the west, the Japanese puppet army in the entire northeast will be suppressed by the Jidong Military Region. This is extremely unfavorable to the Jidong Military Region.

Although the Kwantung Army has stopped its offensive in the Xiajiang area, the current calm situation will not last long. Once the Japanese puppet army launches an offensive in the Xiajiang area again, the Third Route Army will remain in the Lingxi area, which can contain part of the strength of the Japanese puppet army and relieve the pressure on the flanks of the Jidong Military Region.

It's just that these words, in Yang Zhen's view, are just a pretext for not wanting to withdraw to the base area. In Yang Zhen's opinion, with less than 400 people left in the Third Route Army, less than a battalion of troops, how much effect can it play? is how much cooperation can you give yourself if you stay in Lingxi.

The commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army was obviously a little cautious, that is, he was unwilling to be subordinate, and he was not at ease with himself, and he didn't want to face Zhao Shangzhi, who was currently the deputy commander of the military region. Yang Zhen was very disgusted by his character of being scheming and taking the army as a bet. Fighting together, I can't count on him anymore.

It's just that for the sake of the commander-in-chief's face, Yang Zhen didn't say much about the loss of the Third Route Army. Just in the reply call, he told the commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army that he must keep the radio unblocked. When necessary, the Jidong Military Region can airdrop part of the supplies to the Third Route Army. In addition, the Jidong Military Region will go all out to reorganize and train the troops entering the base area. In due course, the Third Route Army will be returned.