Yang Zhen didn't know that he was discussing with Guo Bingxun how to eliminate the impact of this matter. And when the final preparations for the follow-up operation were made, an interrogation was also going on in the 25th Division of the Junde Japanese Army located at the throat of the Jiahe railway line. The person who was interrogated was the squad leader who defected with a gun last night in Liu Changshun's department.

When the confession of the interrogation was handed over to Nemoto, Nemoto could not help but be taken aback when he found the march route of more than 10,000 people marked by the division and regimental staff officers according to the confession on the map.

If this confession is true, then not only his current weak flanks have been completely exposed to the guns of this more than 10,000 anti-Japanese armed forces that do not know when they appeared. Even their own entire divisions are in danger of being cut off by their opponents.

Looking at the gloomy face of His Excellency the Division Commander, the Chief of Staff on the side, Kikutaro Aotsu, said: "Your Excellency the Division Commander, whether this person's confession is true or not, what we must do now is to immediately withdraw the Forty Wing. Otherwise, once this confession is true, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Hearing the words of the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Nemoto Bo frowned slightly, and said with some doubts: "Qingjinjun, do you think this person will be a delaying tactic sent by the opponent?" Convey false news to confuse our army and delay our army's attack on the front line of General Stone. ”

"Judging from today's battle situation, the opponent's blocking position on the front line of General Stone has been gradually declining under the attack of our imperial army's superior firepower. Its defensive positions are on the verge of collapsing. As long as we give them one last heavy blow, we will completely take down the first line of General Stone and open the passage to Luobei in the north. ”

"And judging from the intelligence from the Kwantung Army Headquarters, the main forces of the opponent are on the front line of Jiangjunshi, and on the Western Front, they still have to deploy part of their forces to guard against the 25th Division, where they still have more than 10,000 troops to mobilize? The troop of more than 10,000 people is enough for two divisions according to the structure of the government army in Kannechina. How many troops did they have? ”

In the opinion of Lieutenant General Fundamental, who had served as a military attache in China for a long time and was also a Chinese expert, this person's message could neither be disbelieved nor fully believed. In his opinion, it is very likely that this is a deliberate and suspicious tactic by an opponent who has shown signs of decline, in order to gain a chance to breathe.

Regarding the strength of this sudden anti-Manchurian armed force, the Kwantung Army did not have any information at all. At least the approximate strength of the troops can still be known. According to the information transmitted by the General Headquarters of the Kwantung Army before the war, the total strength of the opponent was only more than 20,000 troops.

And their main force of more than 10,000 people is concentrated on the front line of General Shi in front of them, and the rest have to deal with the 25th Division. Where did they go and there were more than 10,000 troops? Could it be that they will not succeed in the mythical spell of sprinkling beans into soldiers? Unless the people in the intelligence services of the Kwantung Army are idiots, this is absolutely impossible.

Moreover, even if the intelligence of the Kwantung Army is wrong, it is impossible for such a large troop movement without a trace. The fact that the air force hovering in the sky all day long did not receive any relevant information, which really made it difficult for the chief of staff who had been serving for a long time to believe in the fundamental knowledge of comprehensive intelligence analysis.

Regarding the skeptical attitude of the fundamental Bo Biao, Aotsu Kikuro Dazuo shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, I don't think this is the opponent's suspicious plan, this should be true." According to my analysis, the credibility is at least about 80 percent.

True. ”

"Since the 70th Wing of the Yilan River crossed the river occupied the county town of Tangyuan, it has been several days since it lost contact with Lieutenant General Kuwabara of the 25th Division, and it is very likely that it has suffered misfortune."

"Even if the Seventy Wing is a bunch of straw bales, it is a complete infantry artillery coordination wing after all. What's more, they also have a brigade of the Manchukuo Army to fight together, with a strength of up to 7,000 troops. If this anti-Manchurian force wants to attack them, even if it is calculated according to the treatment of the elite of the central army in Guanneichina, it must at least concentrate several times the superior forces. ”

"If the Seventy Wing is really completely wiped out by now, then the strength of the anti-Manchu forces besieging him should be at least more than 20,000 people, where are the anti-Manchu forces now? You can't just disappear into thin air, can you? And Lieutenant General Kuwabara Shiro didn't find anything unusual there. This means that the adversary is likely to use the freed forces against us. ”

"Of course, unless the opponent wants to attack him first, according to the current position of Lieutenant General Kuwabara Shiro, who has been cowering on the line of the Haoliang River for a few days without moving, he will not find anything abnormal."

"Under the premise that the 32nd Wing and the 89th Wing suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, and the 22nd Wing is still circling in the northeast of Tangyuan, the 40th Wing is the only wing of our division that still has combat effectiveness. Your Excellency, Division Commander, in fact, our current strength is not very strong.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, I don't know if you have found it. Since we crossed the river, we have been led by the nose by our opponents. The 24th Division now seems to have an absolute advantage, but in fact we have been in a passive position. The initiative has always been in the hands of the opponent. ”

"This person who surrendered to sincerity is a person from the former Xuanfu class of Tangyuan County. The strength of the empire in Manchuria still has a certain foundation, and I don't think this person will tell lies to deceive us. After all, we still have an absolute advantage in Manchuria. The Manchurians were cowardly and had an innate fear of those who conquered them. So I think this confession should be true, at least for the time being. ”

Aotsu Kikuro Daisa's words made Lieutenant General Nemoto Hiroshi fall into deep thought. Indeed, the 24th Division does not have an absolute advantage at the moment. If you are more serious, it can even be said that there is actually only one 40th Wing left and the 24th Division is still in combat power, and it can even be said that it has fallen into passivity.

But when General Shi was about to make a breakthrough, he was really unwilling to let Lieutenant General Gen Bo give up. And without being obviously threatened and having already paid a lot of price, he gave up the results that were almost within his reach, and General Umezu Mijiro would not agree to himself.

After hesitating for a long time, Lieutenant General Nemoto decided to take a gamble. He raised his head and said to Aotsu Kikuro Daisa: "Aotsu-kun, we must believe in the combat effectiveness and will of the imperial army. Even if the opponent really still has more than 10,000 troops, we can retreat with all our bodies. ”

"But your concerns are not unfounded. In my opinion, you personally drafted an order for the 22nd Wing to move closer to the main force of the division at any cost. In addition, for the sake of safety, the division headquarters will withdraw south to the Dong'an area early tomorrow morning. ”

"Your telegram to the 22nd Wing must be stern. I don't care what kind of difficulties they encounter, but I must arrive at the front line of Hongxiang and Yongyi before 12 o'clock tomorrow noon to meet the main force of the division. How many days can a mere swamp make an elite of the Imperial Japanese Army turn around, and he hasn't been able to get out of it, is he an idiot? ”

Looking at Lieutenant General Nemoto's attitude that could not be changed, Kikuro Aotsu opened his mouth, but he did not persuade him any further. Although he has not been a partner for a long time, he already has a certain understanding of the character of Hiroshi Nemoto, and knows that Hiroshi Nemoto is a person who is difficult to change as long as he makes up his mind, but he is very stubborn.

Let's take a look tomorrow for a day, if the main force of the 22nd Wing can really get to the designated place within the scheduled time, maybe the shape may not be as bad as he expected. Even if the Seventy Wing is a straw bale, it is a fully equipped and well-equipped integrated wing after all. Even if the opponent has the strength to eat the Seventy United, maybe this loss should not be small.

The opponent may have just put on a threatening posture and wanted to force the 24th Division to retreat from the general's stone line on its own. Aotsu Kikuro Osa, who has been in the army for so many years, is the first time to use so many maybes. Although he knew that militarily, he could never use the word maybe to make up his mind. But the division commander has already put on an attitude that cannot be changed, and he can only think so.

After drafting the telegram to the 22nd Wing, Kikuro Aotsu, who suddenly felt that he had no reason to feel depressed, walked out of the headquarters, looked at the black pressure outside, looked very gloomy, and could not see a little starlight.

Just when Kikuro Aozu was wondering if something was wrong, a thunderous cannon suddenly sounded not far away. The sound of the cannon was so close that Kikuro Aotsu thought that he was standing on the artillery position. With the sound of this cannon, a dense rain of bullets smashed into the small mountain village of Junde, where the regimental headquarters of the 24th Division was located.

When the first shell exploded near the headquarters of the 24th Division, Kikuro Osa finally found the source of his unease. That person ran out last night, he was rushing to the front line of the General Stone, and the opponent's troops were also rushing towards the front line of the General Stone. He didn't dare to stop, and neither did his opponent. He didn't dare to walk during the day for fear of being discovered, but his opponent didn't have much rest during the day.

The man who surrendered to Cheng has arrived, and the opponent's army should not be far away. It had been four hours since the field detachment on guard had sent that man over, and the main force of the opponent who should have arrived with him should have arrived at this time, and it was even possible to arrive earlier.

Aotsu Kikuro Osa, who was pounced on by the guards and protected by his body as a meat shield, escaped, but Nehiro, who was still in the house, was not so lucky. The opponent's artillery fire was so accurate that it hit with almost no correction of the landing point. The house where the division headquarters was located, together with all the communication equipment inside, His Excellency the lieutenant general, and all the operational staff officers of the 24th division headquarters, were directly hit in the first wave of artillery fire and exploded into the sky.

The high radio antenna erected by the regimental headquarters of the 24th Division in order to communicate with Jiamusi and even Xinjing has almost become the best coordinates. Under the guidance of the reconnaissance battalion, which had already infiltrated the vicinity of Junde, Liu Changshun, who was in charge of the first-line attack on Junde, accurately hit the headquarters of the 24th Division in the first round of artillery fire.

Liu Changshun still understands the principle of beating a snake and hitting seven inches. When the reconnaissance battalion found out that the headquarters of the 24th Division was set up on the front line of Junde, he chose the first wave of attack here. Breaking the opponent's head, so that the opponent lost his unified command at the first time, and could only fight on his own, this was what Yang Zhen repeatedly explained before he went to battle.

In order to destroy the headquarters of the 24th Division at the first time, Liu Changshun not only used a field artillery battalion and his own brigade mountain artillery battalion. He also placed the battalion with the strongest combat effectiveness in the entire Second Brigade and a platoon assigned to him by the reconnaissance battalion in an effort to succeed in one blow. If it weren't for the rocket artillery regiment being transferred to deal with the devil's artillery, I'm afraid he wouldn't mind taking a rocket artillery regiment over to deal with the regimental headquarters of the 24th Division.

After receiving a report from the reconnaissance unit that the artillery fire had accurately hit the target, Liu Changshun put down the binoculars in his hand, thought for a while, grabbed the phone and wanted to get through and move with the Second Brigade.

For the sake of safety, he asked Ma Qichang to replenish some incendiary bombs for the regimental headquarters of the 24th Division. In Liu Changshun's opinion, since you have already started, you should do it cleanly, and it is best not to leave anything. Incendiary shells were not available in the mountain artillery battalion of his brigade, only the field artillery regiment reinforced by the headquarters had such shells.

After receiving his order, Ma Qichang, who had been leading the main artillery force to follow the activities of the Second Brigade, was not ambiguous, and directly ordered Xiang Junde, a small mountain village that had been bombed into ruins by his own artillery, to fire half a base number of incendiary bombs. This small mountain village, which had been bombed into ruins at this time, was completely set on fire.

Looking at the raging fire that burned in the direction of Junde, half of the sky was red, and Liu Changshun ordered the troops that had been prepared long ago to launch an all-out attack on the regimental headquarters of the 24th Junde Division, which consisted of a complete infantry squadron of the field detachment and two engineer squadrons as guards.

When Kikuro Aotsu, who was crushed to the ground by the guards, finally stayed up until the cannon stopped and stood up, he even had the heart to cry. The regimental headquarters of the 24th Division was now left with nothing but a bunch of burning houses. The radio, the map, the battle plan, and almost none of the operational staff officers of the division and regiment escaped from the radio, maps, and battle plans.

The opponent did it so thoroughly, and after accurate artillery fire coverage, dozens of incendiary bombs were replenished, so that the regimental headquarters of the 24th Division could not even salvage a piece of paper. Kikuro Aotsu, the chief of staff of a dignified division and regiment who once had tens of thousands of troops, now has only two engineer squadron leaders left with officers around him who are full of calculations and can be drawn.

The captain of the guard squadron, drawn from the field detachment, died in the first wave of shelling, and ascended to heaven with the division commander. The guard unit, which had an infantry squadron and two engineer squadrons, except for half of the squadron that was on guard duty, and one squadron of engineers who lived in tents outside the village, the rest of the troops who lived in the village also suffered heavy casualties in the shelling.

Kikuro Aotsu, who had not yet waited for the burning division headquarters to cry without tears, woke up from his daze, and was made by the loud charging horn and the sound of rushing and killing outside the village, fearing that the only remaining chief of staff of the division headquarters would set up the two engineer squadron leaders who had died in battle, and under the desperate cover of the only remaining engineer squadron, he took the surviving half of the guard squadron and ran all the way in the direction of the 40th Wing.