When Sasaki was formulating this attack plan, the reason why the Japanese 8th Division that arrived on the north route only dispatched one infantry brigade was actually used by him as a card to find out the details of the opponent. It is even hidden to use this Japanese brigade as a bait to attract opponents to be fooled in order to gather and annihilate them.

After the Battle of Lake Gyopo, a prisoner of war captured by Tong Guò at the Halba Ridge, Sasaki had an approximate idea of how many troops his difficult opponent had at this time. However, he never believed that although the opponent now had more than 10,000 troops, he still dared to face the Japanese Imperial Army face to face in the face of lack of guns and ammunition, especially lack of training.

Although I don't believe that my opponent will have the courage to go head-to-head with the Imperial Japanese Army. But Sasaki, who knew that the opponent was in urgent need of supplies, knew that even if the opponent didn't want to fight anymore, the current shape could only force him to fight.

Needless to say, the weapons and ammunition of more than 10,000 people alone are the most direct needs faced by the opponent. Without weapons and ammunition, what will he take to arm his troops? Is it just a few broken guns that have been captured by self-defense groups in various places?

This opponent of his own is cunning and cautious, but he is also very bold at times. He didn't necessarily dare to take such a risk when necessary. You must know that there is no stupid thing in the world that any commander with a little brain would do to take a unit that is not trained and equipped to fight hard against an opponent who is well-trained and well-equipped.

Although the average commander would not do this, judging by the few battles his opponent has had since he came out again, this guy has never lacked adventure. When necessary, he was bold.

In the first battle in the northern part of Dunhua, he had no more than 1,000 troops, so he dared to attack an integrated brigade of the imperial army with the cooperation of the Manchukuo army. Now that he has tens of thousands of soldiers, he may not have the courage to fight against a lone imperial army brigade that is in urgent need of supplies.

Therefore, when he was deployed into the mountains to clear the crackdown, he made a big deal and used an infantry brigade as a bait. Try to lure your opponent into taking the bait and make them think that they have a chance to fish in troubled waters. Lure it to the plains or low hills and hills, and give yourself a chance to annihilate them all. After all, it is much easier to fight in the plains than to go into the mountains and find them in the primeval forests of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains.

Moreover, the northern part of Tangyuan has been completed and merged into the tun, and if these people want to get food and material supplies, they can only go out of the mountains. As a graduate of the Imperial Army University, more than 10,000 troops, how much food is needed every day, Sasaki can still estimate it.

He did not believe that the grain seized by his opponent from Jingpo Lake would last too long. So Sasaki made a dozen bets, and the opponent knew that this was a hard walnut that could not be bitten, and in order to survive, he could only bite hard.

However, judging from the firepower of the opponents encountered by the two Japanese troops on the two telegrams, they all looked like their main forces. In particular, the telegram sent by the 17th Wing even stated in detail how many heavy machine guns and several mortars the opponent had.

From this point of view, the anti-Manchu forces encountered by the 17th Wing seem to be the main force. But the telegram sent by the 24th Wing with similar content, Sasaki didn't dare to ignore it.

Which one is the real opponent along the way? And if both are deliberately released smoke bombs? So what are their real intentions? If the other side's weapons are really as the telegram says, then where did they get so many weapons?

Of course, Sasaki didn't know that Takeda Shou, who had never met his opponent head-on, said that he had encountered the main force of the anti-Manchu anti-Japanese forces, which was calculated from the density of mortar shells that fell on his head and the number of heavy machine guns used by the opponent.

For Sasaki Toichi, the calmest thing now was that he was most worried about the Japanese troops on the southern route who were ambushed because most of the marching routes were in the mountains. Although this route is the most hidden, it is also the most vulnerable to ambushes due to the limited terrain.

After observing the map for a long time, Sasaki called his adjutant over and said, "Is there a telegram from Takayo Murata Osa?" ”

Hearing Sasaki's inquiry, his adjutant hurriedly stood up and said, "Your Excellency, there is no news from Murata Osa's side yet. Moreover, the scheduled contact time with them has not yet arrived. They were on the march and could not set up a radio station at all. So we haven't been able to get any reports from them before the allotted contact time. ”

After listening to the adjutant's report, Sasaki pondered for a moment and said, "You don't have to wait with me, go to the telegraph room." If there is a telegram from Daisa Murata, send it to me immediately. ”

Sasaki Toichi, who put his hopes on the Japanese army on the South Road, didn't know that the two brigades of Takashi Murata who he was looking forward to as a surprise soldier had been wiped out under Yang Zhen's intensive firepower at this moment.

Murata's dying throes did not turn the situation around. The remaining Japanese troops, who had suffered heavy casualties under artillery fire, were knocked down by the enemy's dense machine-gun fire when they tried to open a way to break out.

During the battle, Takao Murata, who had fought against the most elite so-called German armor division of the Shina government army in Kannai, was the first time he had seen that Shina army had so many machine guns, mortars, and even mountain artillery. You must know that even the German armorer, who was known as the most elite and well-equipped in the Chinese army, was not equipped with as many light and heavy machine guns as here.

The successive attacks failed, but instead of opening a way to break through, the remnants of their own troops were killed and wounded by the dense fire from the front and flanks. By the time Yang Zhen gave the order for the general attack, less than one squadron of the two Japanese troops could stand up.

Looking at the remaining squadron, seeing the Japanese army whose opponent was rushing up and preparing for a white-knuckle battle, Yang Zhen was willing to fight with them with bayonets? Concentrated all the fast and slow machines swept away, and even the Murata Takayo Daisa, who was holding a saber and ready to defend his honor as an officer, became a hornet's nest.

This ambush battle, in addition to the consumption of ammunition is a little excessive, the fight is painful. With less than 100 casualties, two brigades of the Japanese army and one regiment of the puppet Manchu army were annihilated. Killed one of the captains of the Dazuo Wing and captured more than 300 puppet Manchu soldiers. For the wounded of the Japanese army, Yang Zhen was naturally not polite, and with a gesture, each of them made up a bayonet.

And Sasaki Zhiyi, who didn't know that the Japanese puppet army on the southern front had been completely wiped out, didn't know that when he gave orders to his adjutant, Yang Zhen had already completed the turn, except for leaving Liu Changshun to lead a battalion with the cooperation of the engineer battalion to prepare for a large-scale sabotage attack on the section between Haolianghe and Chenming on the Jiasui Railway, which had not yet been fully completed. And the target is the Taipingchuan area where he is located.

Of course, Yang Zhen didn't know that Sasaki was in command in Taipingchuan. The reason why Yang Zhen changed his battle plan was to choose the Taipingchuan River, which was only 15 kilometers away from the county seat of Tangyuan and located on the Sanjiang Plain.

It was because he received a report from Dong Ping, who was deployed by Wang Guangyu, to stay with a reconnaissance platoon and a five-watt radio station to continue reconnaissance near Taipingchuan. After the main force of the Japanese army began to sweep along the Liangzi River line, the Japanese army actually left two Japanese squadrons on the Taipingchuan line. This situation caught Yang Zhen's attention.

After receiving a report that the 43rd Wing of the Japanese Army had not all entered the mountains and left two squadrons in the Taipingchuan area, Yang Zhen's brows furrowed. Although the Japanese army was divided into three routes, the Liangzi River on the southern slope of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains was densely forested, and there was a great room for maneuver.

For such a large mountain forest, the strength of a wing is really not sufficient even if it adds an infantry regiment of 800 puppet Manchurians. You must know that last year, when the Japanese army cleared the Third Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Union that was active in the area of Tangyuan and Luobei, it used more than 20,000 puppet troops. Among them, three of the Japanese army's integrated wings were used.

And why did the Japanese army leave two field squadrons on the Taipingchuan line when its strength was not sufficient, and what was the reason? Is it careless? Or is there a hidden meaning in the difference between Taiping and Sichuan? Could it be that this is where the supply point of the Japanese army is located this time?

After pondering for a while, Yang Zhen decided to find out what the situation was here. If it is really a supply point for the Japanese army, then getting it here is equivalent to cutting off the lifeline of the entire Japanese army entering the mountain.

And the reason why Yang Zhen made up his mind to touch the Taiping River located in the plain area was that there was still a faint worry in his heart. The Japanese army had many precedents of using poison gas against the United Qing Dynasty. Who can guarantee that the Japanese army will enter the mountain and lay down the butcher's knife this time?

If it is said that the Japanese army is preparing to use poison gas in this entry into the mountain, then the deployment of so many Japanese troops in this Taipingchuan area is likely to be a poison gas reserve point for the Japanese army. As long as this place is defeated, it can virtually reduce the casualties of the troops in the battle.

So although Yang Zhen hesitated for a moment, he finally decided to touch the real situation here. Although this place is very close to the Jiamusi area, where an entire division of the Japanese army is stationed, Yang Zhen believes that as long as he moves fast enough, he should be able to get him before the Jiamusi Fourth Division reacts.

After making up his mind, Yang Zhen led the team to set off immediately. Avoiding the Japanese troops on the middle road who had already arrived at the first line of Bajiazi, from the north of Tangyuan County, along the north side of the mountain and the Jingchuntun line, it went straight to the Taiping River. Now Yang Zhen's department, in addition to not having a military rank and collar badge, including weapons, is almost a full set of Japanese military equipment. This made several groups of Japanese planes flying westward in the sky not have the slightest suspicion about the army troops below.

In addition to the Japanese army's general trend in the Yubara area, most of the people in the entire Yubara area were concentrated in a few large group tribes. There weren't many people along the way. Even if there were, I saw so many Japanese soldiers at once, and I dared to ask carefully. It's been avoided far away.

As for the various pioneering groups, Yang Zhen carefully avoided them. For these pioneering groups, Yang Zhen doesn't want to touch them for the time being. The equipment and military uniforms on his body, coupled with Yang Zhen's own caution, before attracting the attention of the enemy, Yang Zhen quietly led his army to meet Dong Ping in a forest on the Xin'an front line southeast of Taiping River after dusk.

After seeing Dong Ping, Yang Zhen didn't care about other things, and the first thing he did was to order him to report the situation immediately.

Hearing Yang Zhen's order, Dong Ping was not ambiguous, and immediately made a detailed report to Yang Zhen on the situation he had detected: "Commander, early this morning, Deputy Chief of Staff Wang mobilized part of the battalion and regimental mortars of a regiment to launch an artillery attack on the Japanese troops that were assembling in Taipingchuan. ”

"Although we don't know the results of this period of artillery fire, it is estimated that at least one squadron of the Japanese army has lost its combat effectiveness from the strength of the Japanese army after its departure. After the departure of the Japanese marching brigade, Deputy Chief of Staff Wang ordered me to continue to stay here to monitor the follow-up troops of the Japanese army. Because the number of Japanese troops who set out and the number of troops who arrived here were very different, almost a whole brigade of troops was missing. ”

"After the main force of the Japanese army departs, I am going to get closer and observe how many troops the Japanese army has left here. But the Japanese were so heavily guarded that we couldn't get close. Telescopes can only be relied upon for long-range reconnaissance. ”

"However, although we have not been able to find out the exact number of Japanese troops here, we have found the antenna of a high-power radio station in Taipingchuan Village. Judging by the appearance of the antenna, the radio here is at least fifty watts or more. And in terms of the number of antennas, there is not only one such high-power radio. ”

"After observing these antennas, I always felt that this should be the headquarters of at least one wing of the Japanese army. So I tried all kinds of ways to sneak in and reconnoiter carefully, but unfortunately I gave up because the Japanese army was too vigilant. ”

"However, we caught a puppet Manchurian policeman from the Tangyuan County Police Station stationed at the Taipingchuan Police Station in Xin'an. According to his confession, after the Japanese army arrived at Taipingchuan, they temporarily drove all the people of the group tribes there to the Shuangtaitun group in the north. ”

"Moreover, all the Manchurian police were also moved there. He heard that it was a devil's official who was going to use Taipingchuan as a headquarters. In order to ensure confidentiality, the Japanese relocated all the people here. Even the puppet Manchurian police did not leave any behind. ”

It was because his mother, who lived in Xin'an, was ill that he took leave from Shuangtaitun to visit his mother. Before leaving, the Manchu director of the puppet Manchurian police station in Taipingchuan repeatedly told him not to go from Taipingchuan and to walk around Jinjiatun in the east. Otherwise, once the Japanese find out, they will definitely use him as a spy to spy on the military situation and cut off his head. ”

"With the confession of this puppet Manchurian policeman, coupled with the high-power radio antenna observed from inside the telescope, I wonder if this could be the headquarters of Sasaki Toichi? At this time, the Japanese troops in Taiping Chun should be about two squadrons.

"Because I observed through my telescope that after the shelling in the early morning, the Japanese burned at least 70 bodies outside the village. According to this death figure, the little devil lost at least one squadron in that period of shelling. According to the calculation that when the Japanese army set off, there was one less brigade of troops, which means that there are still two Japanese squadrons in Taipingchuan Village. ”

After listening to Dong Ping's report, Yang Zhen's fingers tapped on the map, pondered for a long time, looked up at the sky, but asked Wang Guangyu about the situation: "How is Deputy Chief of Staff Wang?" Can you hold back the devil's twenty-four wing? ”

"There should be no problem. Deputy Chief of Staff Wang used the tactics you taught yesterday to use the tactics of cold guns, cold guns, mines, and traps to make the devil miserable. Most of the day passed, and I didn't even take the twenty-mile route. ”

"An hour ago, when I was in contact with Deputy Chief of Staff Wang for the last time, the Japanese army had just arrived on the front line of Jianshanzi. This is still the result of the Japanese army pulling a large number of planes to cover it, otherwise they would have been secretly happy if they could reach the Xinwang line now. And the Japanese troops who set out from Heli on the northern route have not yet crossed the Faji River under the tactical confusion of the chief of staff. ”

"Now the distance between the Japanese army on the middle route and the Japanese army on the north route is getting bigger and bigger. Unless they march overnight, at the current pace of marching, it is impossible for them to reach the line of the Liangzi River before midnight today. ”

Regarding Dong Ping's report, Yang Zhen calmed down and pondered a little: "You see that the sky has darkened now, and it is impossible for the devil's plane to appear." No matter what the little devil is doing here? If we concentrate all our firepower and take advantage of the fact that the devil has driven away all the people on the front line of the entire Taiping River, how about messing with him? ”

Dong Ping looked at Yang Zhen's eyes staring at him, pondered for a while, and said, "In this way, commander, don't you still have the strength of two platoons of the reconnaissance battalion in your hands now?" I still have a platoon in my hand. I wonder if we can take advantage of the cover of night to get as close to the Taiping River as possible. ”

"One is to indicate the target for artillery fire. Second, if we have the opportunity, we can take advantage of the mess with him and thoroughly touch the devil here. What do you think? ”

"Okay, that's it. But if you go to the night screw, a reconnaissance company is not enough. So I'm picking a company for you, reinforcing two heavy machine guns, under your command. But if you have a chance, you can get him. There was no chance, and we withdrew as soon as our artillery fire stopped. Regarding Dong Ping's idea of taking the opportunity to engage with him, Yang Zhen agreed without thinking.

And at this moment, Sasaki Toichi, who did not know that his opponent had hung his sword high above his head, was being destroyed by unknown forces in order to receive the line from Haoliang River to Chenming, which was under construction. Nearly 10,000 laborers who were preparing to build the Jiasui Railway and the branch line to the hinterland of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains were robbed by unknown armed forces.

The severance of the Jiasui Railway, the inability to get in touch with the Japanese troops on the southern route, and the reports of dense artillery fire coming from the mountains to the north from the Koragawa Railway Police, made Sasaki have an extremely ominous premonition about the two infantry brigades on the southern front as surprise soldiers.

Before dusk, after receiving the large-scale damage to the Jiasui Railway, Sasaki was sent back from Jiamusi to find the Japanese plane on the south road, and found traces of fierce battles south of Yuntou Lizi, and at the same time found a large number of reports of the corpses of imperial soldiers in the local area, which made Sasaki Zhiichi fall into shock.

What this report meant, Sasaki knew very well in his heart. He understood that the two brigades he had used as a surprise soldier had been completely wiped out. At this time, he realized that his opponent was no longer the original Wuxia Ameng.

Sasaki Toichi, who was thunderous by the annihilation of the Japanese army on the South Road, said angrily to the adjutant beside him: "Yaga, where did these people get so many weapons and equipment? You immediately send a telegram to the Kwantung Army command asking if there has been an attack on that secret warehouse recently. In particular, all the arms warehouses located in Tangyuan County, Luobei, and Foyun should be asked. If it doesn't work, send someone to check it out in person. I want results in the shortest possible time. ”

"Telegraph to the Yilan gendarmerie and ask them to conduct a thorough inventory of the territory of Yilan. I want to know who leaked the route of the southern route of the march, so that those anti-Manchu elements could feel our deployment so precisely? ”

"In addition, send a telegram to Takeda Shoudai, ordering him to immediately stop advancing and prepare for battle. At the same time, he sent a telegram to Kawada Takeshi, telling him that he was surrounded by small anti-Manchu forces. Let him not entangle with him, and immediately go south to the Jianshanzi line to join the 24th Wing. ”