Chapter 411

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Once Lv Muzhi's mechanized unit crossed the Yellow River, broke through Fenglingdu, this first gate, and completed landing and assembly,

Hanyang Town still could not play the role of the second gate.

On this flat Jinnan Basin, facing the Youth Army's armored offensive, his Thirty-Seventh Division simply could not hold!

To put it with an idiom, it was a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Once Shanxi was lost, what barrier was there to speak of in all of North China?

By then Lv Muzhi could take the Zhengding Railway Line, pass Niangzi Pass, go straight to Hebei, and reach south of Beiping City.

Or he could clear out the Suiyuan area, take Datong, go through Zhang Jia Kou, pass Juyong Pass, and reach north of Beiping City.

That is to say, Lv Muzhi now had multiple routes to conquer North China!

Any one of them would be a fatal blow.

"If Lv Muzhi enters Shanxi, the entire First Army's defensive line will collapse, Commander Xiao Zhong will never let us off......

Not...... even Commander Xiao Zhong will be held accountable!"

Hirata Kenbu's words had just fallen when the telephone on the table rang urgently.

He picked up the phone, and from the receiver came the voice of Xiao Zhong Yi Nan, Commander of the 1st Army Stationed in Shanxi.

"Division Commander Hirata, I don't care what methods you use, even if you throw the entire Thirty-Seventh Division in, you must retake Hanyang Town!"

"I have already ordered the Forty-First Division at Linfen to rush south urgently, reinforcing along the Tongpu Railway at full speed."

"The Thirty-Sixth Division at Changzhi will also come to support!"

"If Lv Muzhi's tanks start running around inside Shanxi, you and I will only be able to commit seppuku to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Before he could even say "Hai," the phone was hung up.

Hirata Kenbu turned around and let out a hysterical roar at the officers filling the room.

"Everyone, sortie! I don't care which unit of the Chinese army is defending Hanyang Town, we must take it!

Launch a total attack on Hanyang Town! Then reinforce Fenglingdu!"

The Japanese army moved at the order, on the earth south of Taiyuan.

The devils' ranks came killing in a mighty throng.

There was only one purpose: retake Hanyang Town, reinforce Fenglingdu, and press Lv Muzhi's Youth Army down hard!

At the same time, Jin Southwest, Kunnanpo.

This was the headquarters of the Second War Zone Commander, and also Yan Laoxi's base.

Inside the cave dwelling, Yan Laoxi, wrapped in a thick fur robe, frowned tightly at the telegram on the table.

This winter counteroffensive, the commotion Lv Muzhi and Wei Lihuang had stirred up was really too great, great enough to frighten him.

He had thought it was just small-scale skirmishing, just for show, unexpectedly these two were actually serious!

According to the original plan.

As soon as the guns at Fenglingdu sounded, all troops of the Second War Zone would do their utmost to attack the Japanese within their defense zone.

This order, Yan Laoxi faithfully passed on to the Eighth Route Army headquarters under the Second War Zone.

Whether the Eighth Route Army obeyed or not was none of his business, but whether the Jinsui Army would sortie, Yan Laoxi was truly in a dilemma.

"Fight or not fight?" Yan Laoxi sat on the kang, muttering to himself.

If he coordinated with Lv Muzhi to launch a full-scale offensive against the little devils nearby, if they ultimately did not win, the Japanese would surely settle accounts with him when they turned back.

By then there was an eighty percent chance they would raze Kunnanpo to the ground, he himself would be completely driven out of Shanxi, and the Jinsui Army in his hands would be annihilated by the Japanese.

With no troops left in hand, what hope did he have of continuing as this Second War Zone Commander?

But if he sat by and did nothing, watched the tigers fight from the mountain, and saw Lv Muzhi's Youth Army recover Shanxi,

friendlies in trouble, remaining motionless like a mountain, in the end he might also be held accountable by the Central Government.

This calculation of surviving in the cracks made this old fox who had run Shanxi for decades feel a deep weariness.

Yan Laoxi was painstakingly thinking.

Elder Zhao Daiwen rushed into the cave dwelling in a flurry.

Zhao Daiwen was Yan Laoxi's military advisor, and also an old fellow from the same hometown; the two had a close relationship.

"Bai Chuan (Yan Laoxi)! Something big has happened! How can you still sit there!"

Zhao Daiwen walked to the table panting, leaning on his cane, and slapped a just-received intelligence report in front of Yan Laoxi.

"The Eighth Route Army side has completely kicked up a fuss! On the Lv Liangshan side, they are making big raids on the northern section of the Tongpu Line, the devils' railway is all cut!

And on the Jin Dongnan side, whether it is the Taihang Mountains or the Taiyue Mountain, the Eighth Route has all come down from the mountains, all supporting Lv Weiyue."

Yan Laoxi shook his head helplessly, and had Zhao Daiwen sit down: "I know, let me think again."

Zhao Daiwen, upon hearing this, stood up again with a swish.

"What is there to think about? The First War Zone somehow sent out a surprise force, went around behind Fenglingdu, and directly took Hanyang Town!"

Yan Laoxi was like he had been pricked by a needle, and likewise stood up with a swish, his fur robe sliding onto the kang.

"What did you say? Hanyang Town was taken? Then what about Fenglingdu? Was Fenglingdu also recovered?"

Zhao Daiwen wiped his sweat and said in a grave tone: "Fenglingdu hasn't been lost yet, but it has also been beaten to a sorry state.

The Shaanxi Army troops of Sun Weiru on Zhongtiao Mountain are fighting even more actively than us; with their help, I think this battle really is hard to say!"

Yan Laoxi paced back and forth in the cave dwelling: "Hanyang Town is such important news, why didn't the adjutant report it earlier?!"

"Damn it! Where's the adjutant?!"

The adjutant walked in, stammering: "Commander Yan, you ordered that even if the sky falls, don't bother you unless Mr. Zhao arrives, so I..."

Saying this, the adjutant looked at Zhao Daiwen.

"Baichuan, now is not the time to hesitate. The Central Army doesn't know which hole they crawled into Shanxi from, and I think that gate at Fenglingdu can't stop Lv Muzhi's main force."

"If our Jinsui Army doesn't move out now, not to mention whether Shanxi will still bear the Yan name in the future, even whether we can survive is not guaranteed!"

Yan Laoxi finally made up his mind: "We must move, even if just for show."

"Pass the order: mobilize three divisions to attack the Japanese 41st Division coming out of Linfen, and stop them from approaching Fenglingdu!"

"Also, go investigate clearly: where exactly did the troops occupying Hanyang Town come from?"

"Could there still be a passage I don't know about, allowing two thousand people to silently appear behind Fenglingdu?"

——————

"So satisfying! So satisfying!"

On the Zhengtai Railway Line, Kong Jie, regimental commander of the Independent Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, laughed with hands on his hips.

Kong Jie had just ambushed the Japanese military train, directly blowing up its locomotive.

This greatly delayed the speed at which the Japanese garrisoned in Yangquan sent the Independent Mixed 4th Brigade to reinforce Fenglingdu.

"Too bad there are too many Japanese on the train; we're no match for them, otherwise I'd definitely make a killing on this roadside fortune!"

Political Commissar Li Wen Ying comforted him: "We're just getting started? The Youth Army set a fire at Fenglingdu, and almost all the Japanese in Shanxi have been stirred up."

"Fighting the Japanese, there are plenty of opportunities to seize spoils. Taking advantage of this opportunity, let's hurry to the next ambush spot!"

Kong Jie mounted his war horse: "Good! Too bad Li Yunlong isn't here; only I can enjoy this thrill!"

Li Yunlong, the regimental commander of the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army mentioned by Kong Jie, since attaching himself to Chu Yunfei, this "big moneybags," hadn't returned home (referring to his original base) again.

Li Yunlong is now directly garrisoned at Wang Mang Ling on the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi, about fifty kilometers from Xinxiang.

Whenever Chu Yunfei moves out, Li Yunlong follows to pick up the leftovers, always ending up with a full haul.

Simply put, Li Yunlong camping near Chu Yunfei has quite the flavor of being too happy to think of Shu.

Brigade Commander Chen Geng had tried many times to recall Li Yunlong, but seeing Li Yunlong from time to time "offering up" some good things, he gave up that idea.

Just as Lv Muzhi was fiercely attacking Fenglingdu, Li Yunlong's radio had activity again.

"Regimental Commander, Commander Chu of the Corps is on the move again!"

"They want to attack Hui Xian and Wei Hui, ordering us to hurry out to provide reinforcements and seize strongholds!"

Li Yunlong adjusted his belt: "Oh my, this brother Yunfei of mine is truly generous; normally calling each other brothers wasn't in vain. Assemble the troops!"

"Whoever is fighting the Japanese, I, Li Yunlong, will go help out!"