"Haha, great, our tank armored regiment can finally live up to its name!" Wu Ming was stunned at first when he heard this, and then laughed heartily and was very happy.

Previously, because of the problem of the production capacity of the arsenal, and the tank armored brigades directly under several other divisions and columns were going to participate in the Northern Expedition and recover Pingjin, Qiao Youhua gave priority to the tank combat vehicles equipped with the above-mentioned departments.

As a result, the tank and air defense regiments of the Third Division, because of the lack of necessary weapons and equipment, are called tank air defense, which are actually infantry regiments, and have always been used as infantry by the Third Division, responsible for the garrison of the Yellow River defense line.

Now the tank regiment lives up to its name, and the armored troops have finally returned to their old ways, and the most important thing is that with this armored assault force, the combat capability of the third division will be greatly enhanced, and Wu Ming will have greater self-confidence in breaking through the Japanese army's defense line along the river on the east bank and attacking Jinan.

As for the air defense regiment, because the Japanese army in Shandong basically does not have much land-based air force at present, and only some reconnaissance planes are used to monitor the traces of the Chinese anti-Japanese troops around Shandong, it is not so urgently needed for the time being.

It can also be used as an infantry regiment to make up for the disadvantage of insufficient troops when necessary.

Deputy division commander Zhao Youde, commander of the third regiment and chief of staff of the division Li Wen and others were also very happy, especially Sun Mingzhuang, commander of the tank regiment directly under the division headquarters, and said excitedly: "Division commander, is our attack slow?" Wait for the tanks and tanks to arrive, and then implement the attack plan? ”

Chief of Staff Li Wen immediately said loudly: "By all means, the soldiers are expensive and fast, we have mobilized on a large scale in the base area, and the traces of the Japanese puppet army have been discovered by the Japanese puppet army spies, if we wait any longer, it will only give the Japanese puppet army on the other side of the strait time to calmly strengthen its defense, and at that time, although the tanks are in place, the Japanese army has strengthened its defense, and the difficulty of the attack has increased, and for us, the gains outweigh the losses." ”

Zhao Youde also nodded in agreement and said: "The chief of staff is reasonable, in my opinion, how to fight and how to fight, can it be said that without tanks, we will not fight?" Do you think that at the beginning of the establishment of our Dragon Tooth Column, there were no tanks and artillery, so we didn't just beat Little Japan all over the ground to find teeth, lose armor and abandon armor? ”

"The chief of staff and the deputy division commander are right." Wu Ming happily bowed his head and said: "We don't wait for tanks, but Sun Mingzhuang, your tank regiment will not participate in the battle for the time being, stay in Texas and prepare to receive tank combat vehicles, and then wait for my instructions!" ”

Sun Mingzhuang hurriedly straightened up and raised his head and said loudly: "Yes!" ”

Wu Ming immediately ordered: "Chief of Staff, you lead the three regiments to join the 10,000 friendly troops in Binzhou, cross the Yellow River to the east, march to Zichuan County, and after capturing Zichuan, depending on the local enemy situation, leave appropriate troops to hold this place, and then lead the main force to the west to detour to Jinan."

Cooperate with our frontal main attack force to recover Jinan, and then we will join forces to attack Tai'an and break through the natural danger of Mount Tai. ”

After a pause, Wu Ming continued to instruct the others: "The rest of the regiments, gather troops to follow me to storm the Japanese defense line along the river and recover Jinan!" ”

Deputy Division Commander Zhao Youde, Chief of Staff and Commander of the Third Regiment Li Wen, Commander of the First Regiment Zhao Erniu, Commander of the Second Regiment Wu Mingshan, Commander of the Tank Regiment directly under the Division Headquarters Sun Mingzhuang, Commander of the Air Defense Regiment Ma Fang, Commander of the Artillery Regiment Wang Daniu, Commander of the Baggage Regiment Wei Yu, Commander of the Guard Company Zhou Wu and others responded in unison: "Yes!" ”

The meeting then dissolved, and each of them gathered his troops and went.

It is worth mentioning that Chief of Staff Li Wen also concurrently holds the post of political commissar of the Third Division, and he himself is from the old Red Army, so he has rich combat experience.

Li Wen is a tiger general who is both civil and military, and can fight well, and he was born in the old Red Army, so it is more convenient and handy to command other friendly troops of the Eighth Route. Wu Ming chose him as the coach of the partial division, mainly for this reason.

…………

At the same time that Wu Ming's Third Division was frequently mobilized and urgently assembled, the baggage transport troops organized by the Logistics Department also sent all kinds of combat materials and resources to Dezhou and Binzhou in a steady stream.

These two places can be regarded as the base camp of the Third Division on the southern front, and they are perfect as bases for material advances.

With the strong support of materials from the rear, the mobilization efficiency of the Third Division became very fast, after all, they had no worries.

In just one day, the three main infantry regiments of the First Division, the four regiments directly under the division headquarters, and other troops, totaling more than 30,000 troops, have all been assembled.

In addition to them, there are also 20,000 brother troops of the Eighth Route Army, which have also completed their assembly in Binzhou and Dezhou, and are on standby.

Among them, the defense area of the third regiment is in Binzhou, so it is just in Binzhou to assemble and standby.

Chief of Staff Li Wen rode away with a group of guards and hurried to Binzhou day and night.

Wu Ming and Zhao Youde left the tank regiment to garrison Dezhou, and by the way, they waited to receive the tank fighting vehicles, so they took the first regiment, the second regiment, the air defense regiment, the artillery regiment, the baggage regiment, as well as the division headquarters guard company, communication company, plus more than 10,000 regular troops of the Eighth Route Army, and thousands of local militiamen trained by the third division.

A total of nearly 40,000 troops rushed towards Qihe County, the county seat along the river, and in Qihe County, a battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 3rd Division was facing the Japanese troops on the opposite bank.

The defense area of the 3rd Division was configured in echelons and depth, and the real defense center was in Texas and Binzhou.

Along the road, the main force of the 1st Regiment, which served as the advance force, arrived in Qihe County in less than half a day and successfully rendezvoused with one of their battalions.

And this battalion has received orders in advance, and has prepared hundreds of large and small ships to prepare to force the crossing of the Yellow River, in case the railway bridge is blown up by the Japanese army, they will have to force the crossing by boat.

…………

The movement of the Dragon's Tooth Column was so big, it was naturally impossible to hide it from the ears and eyes of the Japanese puppet army, and the news quickly spread to the Japanese army headquarters in Jinan.

In fact, since the Dragon's Tooth Column annihilated all the main forces of the North China Front at the Tianjin wharf and recovered the entire Hebei and Pingjin regions, the Japanese troops in Shandong could not sleep well.

Naturally, the monitoring of the Hebei Longya Column and the Eighth Route Army was strengthened.

In the city of Jinan, in the headquarters of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army.

The current commander of the 10th Division, Lieutenant General Sasaki Zhiyi, urgently convened a military meeting, and he stood in front of the battle map with a sad face on his face, propped up the conference table with both hands and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, now the activities of the Tuba Road in Shandong are rampant, constantly attacking the transportation arteries and strongholds of the imperial army in various places.

According to reliable sources, the Eighth Route Army in Hebei, especially the Dragon's Tooth Column, which was a great danger to the empire, had been secretly assembling and uniting with the various actions of the Eighth Route guerrillas in Shandong, and it was not difficult to judge that the enemy should be preparing to march south into Shandong! ”

"As you all know, this is the most difficult moment for our Empire of Japan on the battlefield in China, and I can say without hesitation that we have reached the point of life and death, and I wonder what you can do?"