Taiyuan.

The headquarters of the First Army.

"Yamamoto-kun, it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of the movements of the independent regiment, and similar intelligence mistakes must not be allowed to happen again."

Sadachi Yoshimoto showed considerable dissatisfaction with Yamamoto's intelligence work.

The independent regiment, which the First Army focused on, mobilized more than 3,000 troops to carry a large number of transport vehicles to the Zhengtai Railway during the day, and he did not receive any news from such a huge operation, and he waited for the other party to report to the front-line troops near the railway line.

This made Gibbon angry.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head, his face was sincere, and he had an attitude of admitting his mistake and resolutely changing it.

But my heart was full of complaints.

Also strengthened?

Now the entire intelligence system of the First Army revolves around the independent regiment.

Half of the professional intelligence personnel lurked in the vicinity of the Independent Regiment, collecting all kinds of intelligence on the Independent Regiment day and night, and tried their best to secretly bribe the people of the Independent Regiment.

The same is true for the reconnaissance squadron of the flight brigade, as long as the weather is suitable for flight reconnaissance, it will go to the airspace of the independent regiment for reconnaissance and shooting, and the rest, the arsenal in the Taihang Mountain area, and the Jinsui army on the edge of Shanxi do not care.

After learning that Li Yunlong had a radio station, the telecommunications monitoring department also began to go all out to monitor the telegrams of the independent regiment, and even secretly set up a radio listening station in Ping'an County at a huge cost.

As a result, what returned was the extremely boring plain-code telegrams and voice calls of the three regiment commanders.

Did you smoke today? What kind of cigarettes do you smoke? Have you drunk? What kind of alcohol do you drink?

At first, Yamamoto thought it was a code, and each one was recorded, summarizing the rules, but later I found out that these three guys were really just idle and boring, but they still had to pinch their noses and record every day.

Once confidential information is involved, the other party either uses password communication or manual communication, and the password management of the Eighth Route Army is very strict, and the update frequency is also very fast, which is extremely difficult to crack.

In addition, the radio station used by Li Yunlong is also very advanced, with fast frequency modulation, many communication channels, and even some kind of voice encryption technology, and the other party's radio operators are also very experienced, so it is very difficult to monitor.

The only role that this radio listening station has played at present is that a forward monitoring point has received a call from the two reconnaissance planes not long ago before they fell, and has learned that the independent regiment's anti-aircraft firepower has been greatly strengthened and that it is equipped with a large number of twin or even quadruple 40 antiaircraft guns.

It's already like this, how can it be strengthened?

"However, after this battle, Li Yunlong will know that he can jump up and down in the northwest region of Shanxi, not that he is so strong that the imperial army is helpless, but he can't draw enough strength to eliminate him for the time being."

Yoshimoto was smiling and confident.

More than 5,000 to more than 2,000 people, although a large part of them are recruits, but they are also recruits who have undergone several months of military training, and their combat effectiveness is not weak, and he has also deliberately strengthened the strength of artillery, and it is impossible to completely annihilate Li Yunlong's force, but there is absolutely no problem in containing and encircling him, and when the plane takes off after dawn, Li Yunlong will pay the price of blood for his arrogance.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head and agreed, but he couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Is there a difference between these two?

Jingle bells····

At this time, the phone in the headquarters rang, Yoshimoto took the phone leisurely, the call was from Yuxian Shimakawa Daisa, after a while, Yoshimoto's face stiffened, and the corners of his mouth gradually disappeared:

"Nani?"

"A train transporting grain and ore was stopped by Li Yunlong?"

Hanging up the phone, Yoshimoto scolded:

"Yaga."

Grain and ore don't matter, a train is just that, Yoshimoto doesn't care.

Take a moment to replenish it.

But the locomotive that was stopped will definitely be blown up by Li Yunlong, and the locomotive head and carriage are estimated to be gone, which makes Yoshimoto very distressed, and now the North China Front is very short of locomotive heads, it is difficult to replenish, and even maintenance parts are lacking.

After being blown up, it can only provide parts for other locomotive repairs.

Oh, by the way, the rails that were destroyed by Li Yunlong have to be replaced.

Yoshimoto couldn't help but rub his forehead.

······

Yu County.

Inside the headquarters.

"Hey..."

Shimakawa Osa hung up the phone, reached out and touched his face, and sighed helplessly.

A train full of ore and grain, plus a locomotive and ten carriages, this loss is not small, plus the rails, he can't run after being scolded, and if he doesn't get it, he will have to be slapped in the face.

Yes, a slap in the face, not one.

Although the problem is not with him, who made him the person in charge of the Zhengtai Railway Security in Yuxian County? The problem is in his jurisdiction.

If there is anger on it, he will have to be beaten obediently, and even applaud loudly.

"Order the 1st, 2nd, and 5th brigades to rush to the scene of the incident as soon as possible to expel the Eighth Route Army that sabotaged the railway."

Shimakawa gritted his teeth.

The locomotive must have been destroyed, and there must be losses on the rails, judging from the ability of the other party to steal the rails last time, the loss of the rails may not be small, but if the major teams can rush to the vicinity of the incident as soon as possible to drive the independent regiment away, then they can recover some losses and save him a few slaps.

"Hey."

The staff officers of the headquarters hurriedly went to send the report.

At the same time, a staff officer ran in, holding a telegram in his hand:

"Dazuo, the front line is urgent."

"Urgent?"

Shimakawa frowned.

Electricity is never a good thing.

According to the time, the troops he sent have not yet arrived at the place of the incident, so at this time, sending a telegram to him should have encountered the enemy's blockade, but Li Yunlong has a total of more than 3,000 people, how many can be sent to stop him?

How can an emergency power be generated?

"Read!"

Shimakawa looked at the staff officer who had just entered the door.

·····

Yuxian leads to Chawan, in the direction of Yejia Village.

At night.

Three brigades, totaling 2,000 devils, marched along the railway.

The devil commanders of these three brigades are obviously veterans, well versed in the power of independent regiments, and while marching cautiously, the formation is also quite targeted.

Even during the march, the 2,000-strong devils advanced in a straggler line in detachments, and the spacing between the detachments was wide, so that such a formation could suffer the least casualties in the face of artillery fire.

At the front of the line, a large number of livestock dragged flat plows to clear mines.

On both flanks, the cavalry reconnaissance devils spread to a distance of 900 meters from the queue, probing the flanks for all possible ambushes.

The three artillery squadrons, with a total of eight mountain guns, were at the rear of the ranks.

Boom Boom...

Along the way, from time to time, a preset mine of a battalion reconnaissance company was detonated.

"This little devil is really..."

Listening to the formation of the devils marching in the reconnaissance company, looking at the mines that were detonated, Zhang Dabiao sighed.

The devils had obviously gathered in a hurry, and judging from the speed of the march, they had received a dead order for the fastest support, but even so, the preparations were still very adequate and targeted.

Livestock were demined, large skirmish lines were marched to reduce artillery casualties, and cavalry units on both flanks were reconnoitred to prevent ambushes. It was completely in accordance with the routine of the independent regiment.

"But..."

Zhang Dabiao snorted, and his face suddenly became murderous:

"Ready."

"Fire."

As a shining flare rose into the air, a total of thirty mortars of various calibers opened fire at the same time, and more than 300 shells of various calibers rained down on the devil's team every minute.

Boom Boom...

A series of explosions rose abruptly in the devil's formation, sweeping away, and the shock wave was mixed with shrapnel, like a sickle, efficiently harvesting the lives of the devils around them.

In the face of such ferocious artillery fire, even the devil team of the large skirmish line suffered heavy losses at the first time.

The night obscured the smoke of gunfire, but it also made the explosion fireworks shine brighter. Illuminated by the fireworks that burst out again and again, you can see the devils being blown away or even shattered.

"Nani..."

The commander at the rear of the devil's team looked at the sudden outbreak of heavy artillery fire, and was stunned for a moment before he said a word of Nani in horror.

This artillery firepower far exceeded that of a wing of the Imperial Army, and as far as he knew, they faced only about 3,000 enemies, and the most they could send to stop him was 1,500.

Is this independent regiment so ferocious?

There are six of these heavy mortars, right? There are also more than a dozen medium-caliber mortars...

Are half of their troops artillery?

Looking at the movements on the battlefield, the devil commander guessed the amount of enemy artillery fire, but this made him even more incredulous.

He had long heard that the artillery fire of the Independent Regiment was very fierce, and he had also experienced that he had been blocked by two 120-heavy artillery fire once, and this time he was also fully prepared to deal with the fierce artillery fire, and the new division and regiment from China had all conducted training in preparing for artillery bombardment.

But the raining shells in front of him still far exceeded his expectations, and also exceeded the ability of his troops to deal with them.

The old devils who have experienced actual combat are okay, and they look for cover to avoid the flying shrapnel for the first time, but the new devils, although they have had corresponding training, the explosive fireworks around them are like explosive shock waves rushing from all directions, making many new devils crash like headless flies.

The quality of the devil recruits recruited during this period was not good, and those assigned to the railway garrison division were still relatively poor, and the hasty expansion of the army led to a great reduction in the training time of recruits, and this situation is normal.

Fortunately, there were plenty of devil officers, and under the command of the veteran officers, the recruits got out of the panic.

The devil commander also reacted quickly from the shock:

"Artillery squadrons deployed, suppressing the opposing artillery."

"The 1st and 2nd Battalions attacked, and the 3rd Battalion detoured from the flanks."

Although the artillery fire of this independent regiment was unexpected, he was not without a chance, it was night, and it was impossible to effectively observe the impact point, the efficiency of the artillery was greatly reduced, and the advantage of firepower would be canceled out by the night.

As soon as he thought of this, the devil commander found that there were suddenly more than a dozen burning little suns in the sky, and bright white light sprinkled onto the ground, illuminating the entire battlefield, as if it were day.

"Flares."

The devil commander's pupils shrank and he let out a shocked voice.

"The first and second teams stop attacking, retreat, retreat..."

The moment he saw the flares, the devil commander realized that he absolutely could not continue the attack, otherwise with the ferocious firepower of the independent regiment and a large number of large-caliber flares, his attacking troops would probably suffer more than half of the casualties in one shot.

But it was too late.

Zhang Dabiao smiled and ordered the fire to be gathered, and suddenly, thirty mortars, five large-caliber heavy machine guns, dozens of light machine guns, and hundreds of rifles opened fire on the rushing devil brigade.

Dense artillery fire and a rain of bullets enveloped the two devil brigades that rushed up.

The lack of strong bunkers around the railway, the gentle slopes along the tracks, and the wide protective trenches, were ineffective against the curved mortars, and the retreat was met with machine-gun fire.

The devils fell again in pieces.

During this time, another flare was lifted into the air.

A battalion and a company, which had been hidden on the flank, made a sortie and rushed from the flank to the artillery position at the end of the devil's ranks.

In order to avoid the detection of the devil, the company commander Xu Husheng led a company of more than 200 soldiers to go around in a big circle and sneak to the rear of the devil's side.

This attack completely disrupted the formation of the devils, and the artillery positions that had just been built were forced to move urgently before they had time to open fire, but fortunately, there were quite a few devils guarding the artillery, and only two of the six mountain guns were lost, and the rest were saved by the devils.

"Report to Shimakawa Daisa..."

While controlling the situation that was almost collapsing, the devil commander reported the situation to Shimakawa telegraph.

With the advantage of troops, the devils retreated, and the situation gradually stabilized.

After all, his main task is to stop the devils, and he doesn't have many troops in his hands.

·····

Inside the Yu County Headquarters.

"Blocked by the Separate Regiment, the enemy fired extremely fiercely, with more than thirty artillery pieces, including six heavy ones····· Our troops have suffered heavy losses, and the situation is currently in a state of anxiety. ”

Hearing the telegram read by the staff officer, Shimakawa stood up sharply and stared at the first staff officer with wide eyes.

Then he snatched the telegram and read it again, before finally believing the news.

"Thirty guns, six heavy guns."

Taking a deep breath, Shimakawa struggled to digest the shocking situation.

The units sent by the Independent Regiment to block the reinforcements from Yuxian were equipped with artillery fire beyond the wing level.

Shimakawa quickly thought of a way to break the game.

Thirty artillery pieces, although they are all mortars, including six heavy guns, including ammunition transport, also require at least five hundred people, plus infantry, that is to say, Li Yunlong sent about 1,500 people to block his troops in Yu County, in this way, Li Yunlong does not have enough troops to block the reinforcements at the Niangziguan Railway Station, and there are also three brigades with a total of 2,000 troops.

"Telegraph to the garrison of Niangziguan Railway Station..."

It's just that Shimakawa's telegram hasn't been sent yet, and another staff officer rushes in in a hurry:

"Dazuo, Niangziguan Railway Station has been fiercely attacked by a large number of Eighth Route Army, with about two thousand people, and the troops supporting the subway route in Xicun have retreated to rescue the railway station."

"Nani?"

"Where are their troops attacking Niangziguan Railway Station?"

Shimakawa yelled in disbelief.

Although the Independent Regiment had more than 6,000 troops, it had dispatched more than 3,000 people in total, and this news had been verified by Taiyuan in many ways, and the Imperial intelligence officers lurking near the Independent Regiment had even risked being exposed.

So, where did the two thousand Eighth Route Army who attacked the railway station come from?

"Dazuo."

Another staff officer rushed in:

"Panxian emergency electricity!"