Chapter 412

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The artillery fire at Fenglingdu not only shook the land of Sanjin.

It also ignited a sky full of fireworks along the Pinghan Railway within Henan.

Within Henan, Qixian.

This small county town guarding the artery of the Pinghan Railway is now at the center of the storm.

Chu Yunfei put the communication device to his mouth and held the headphones to his ear.

"Right! Just like that!"

"The artillery group must not spare shells, take Qixian!"

"Let the Japanese Army in Henan and Hebei see that if they dare advance a single step into Shanxi, my Guerrilla Corps will keep pushing north without stopping!"

With Chu Yunfei's order, the 105mm howitzers and rocket artillery roared simultaneously.

Immediately after, the engine sounds of dozens of T26 tanks boomed forth.

The tracks mercilessly crushed the remaining snow in the fields, the tank turrets turned, spraying deadly tongues of fire as they advanced.

A regiment of the Japanese Army's 20th Division stationed at Qixian, facing this armored offensive, could only keep calling for support.

"Yoshi! Who provoked Chu Yunfei?!"

"Half a year of peace and quiet, why suddenly mobilize forces today?! Requesting tactical support!"

Just as Chu Yunfei was fighting fiercely, Li Yunlong tilted his head listening to the rumbling cannon fire, grinning happily.

"Da Biao, hear that? This kid Chu Yunfei has money to burn, those shells are falling like they're free."

Li Yunlong stuffed half a captured Japanese canned food into his mouth while directing the soldiers of the New 1st Regiment to dig pits on the road.

"Our New 1st Regiment has a hard life, no tanks, no big cannons, but we have our own way of surviving."

"Bury all those landmines Chu Yunfei sent."

"Chu Yunfei is eating meat up front, we'll chop those little devils who want to cause trouble into pieces back here!"

Just as Li Yunlong predicted, a mixed force of Japanese and puppet troops came down the road, rushing to reinforce, numbering over eight hundred.

They hurriedly drove trucks along the road at full speed, but halfway there they plunged headlong into the trap Li Yunlong had prepared.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a series of earth-shaking explosions, the lead few Japanese trucks were blown into scrap steel.

"Fight! Hit them hard for me!"

Li Yunlong held a brand-new M1 Garand in his hand and opened fire on the Japanese Army in the distance.

This Garand was given to Lao Li by Chu Yunfei, the only one, kept as a memorial.

Relying on Chu Yunfei's development, the equipment of the New 1st Regiment was also quite good.

Although the weapons were mixed, there were Type 38 Rifles, Hanyang 88s, and Zhongzheng Rifles, but at least there would be no situation of wielding big broadswords.

Light and heavy machine guns were also equipped, and firepower was relatively sufficient.

The whole battlefield was fought until the sky darkened.

The little devils and puppet troops resisted with all their might.

"Collaborationist Army 2nd Squadron! Move to the left front to encircle! Wipe out this group of Taoist Eight Route!!!"

The Japanese Squadron Leader shouted loudly.

After a while, a unit of puppet troops broke away from the main force to go encircle the flank of Li Yunlong's New 1st Regiment.

Among the encircling puppet troops, a machine gunner held a light machine gun and strafed the flank of the New 1st Regiment desperately.

A puppet Squad Leader next to him kicked him: "Want to die? Fighting so hard for the Xia Guo people?!"

"I heard your cousin is in the opposite force, aren't you afraid of hitting him?!"

The machine gunner was stunned: "Squad Leader, my cousin joined Chu Yunfei's Guerrilla Corps, the opposite side is the Eighth Route Army!"

"Cut the crap, if you make the Eighth Route Army desperate, don't blame them for being ruthless!"

"Brothers, listen to me, ten o'clock direction, aim at that crooked-neck tree and fire!"

The puppet troops obeyed one after another, opening fire with all their might at the crooked-neck tree in the distance.

The Japanese Squadron Leader heard the puppet troops' firepower on the flank was very dense, and felt slightly relieved in his heart: "Yoshi, hope attacking the Eighth Route Army's flank can ease our crisis."

However, although that puppet squadron fought hard, it had no effect at all.

Li Yunlong directed the troops, opening fire with all their might at the Japanese Army before them, and finally charged down, disarming all the enemies.

When sweeping the battlefield, Li Yunlong counted, there were only over a hundred devils here, almost all dead;

The other several hundred were all puppet troops, and among these puppet troops, most surrendered and fled.

"Haha! Now Lao Li has struck it rich! Too bad Commander Jiang Xiangyun was transferred back to Shanxi to fight, otherwise he could also make a small fortune."

"Zhang Da Biao! Take these captured guns, pick fifty rifles, then ten horses, five light machine guns, one heavy machine gun, ten boxes of bullets, send them to the Brigade Headquarters!"

"The troops in our old home are also expanding, weapons are severely lacking!"

"Let the Brigade Commander see! Although I, Li Yunlong, am a general away from home, I've always kept him in my heart!"

——————

Shanxi and Henan have already become a mess.

Actually not just these two places, the entire war situation in Xia Guo can be described as one move affecting the whole body.

Inside the North China Area Army Headquarters, General Sugiyama Moto was exhausted.

Since taking office, first Chu Yunfei crossed the Yellow River and successively captured the two major cities of Jiaozuo and Xinxiang.

To guard against the Youth Army using Chu Yunfei as a pivot to counterattack North China.

Sugimoto Gen then extensively built fortifications in the Xingtai area of Hebei, with anti-tank trenches stretching over a hundred kilometers.

In the Xingtai area there were deep ditches and ramparts, with bunkers built high.

All to block the passage for the Youth Army's mechanized units to counterattack North China from Henan.

Who would have thought that Chu Yunfei's actions in Jiaozuo and Xinxiang were completely a feint against the Japanese Army.

Lv Muzhi led the main force, crossed Fenglingdu by force, and marched into Shanxi!

Once Shanxi is taken, one can overlook all of North China.

Even worse, Lv Muzhi also sent a force to attack Xuzhou.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese Army divisions in the Xuzhou area absolutely cannot be mobilized, and along with Jinan north of Xuzhou, the Japanese Army there must also be kept as reserves.

In this situation, the Shanxi garrison truly finds itself in a desperate plight!

Once Shanxi falls.

By then, the routes by which the Youth Army can reach Beijing will have many options.

For example, Chu Yunfei can choose to follow the Pinghan Railway, from Henan to Hebei, until beneath Beiping City.

Lv Muzhi leading the Youth First and Second Armies can enter Hebei via the Zhengding Line and press directly on Beiping City; or continue northward, via the Pingsui Railway, to bring troops to the gates of Beiping City.

Also, Zhang Fei and Liao Yaoxiang's Youth Third and Fourth Armies in the Xuzhou area can go north via the Tianjin-Pukou Railway and likewise reach the North China Area Army Headquarters in Beiping!

It can be said that Lv Muzhi's forces have split into three prongs, all ultimately aimed at the North China Area Army's Beiping Headquarters!

With such a dire situation, North China Area Army Chief of Staff Yamashita Tomoyuki truly wanted to resign.

When he first took office as North China Area Army Chief of Staff, North China was still a place of good fortune.

But in the blink of an eye, the position of Chief of Staff had directly become a hot potato.

Right now Lv Muzhi has a tendency to charge to beneath Beiping City and overturn the pot, which makes him unable to sit or stand in peace.

Chief of Staff Yamashita Tomoyuki asked Commander Sugimoto Gen: "Your Excellency Commander, what should be done now?"

"All of North China has already become a pot of porridge!"

Sugimoto Gen looked at Yamashita Tomoyuki in disbelief: "You ask me what to do? Aren't you the Chief of Staff? You don't devise strategies for me, but instead ask me what to do?!"

Yamashita Tomoyuki said nothing, pondering that he hadn't suggested large-scale equipment improvements for tanks? Nor had he seen them adopted?

The Imperial General Headquarters finally deliberated and decided to save the funding for large-scale equipped tanks, and could first field one or two tank divisions to hold the line.

The main funding was spent on anti-tank fortifications in the Xingtai area of the North China Plain, increasing the quantity of anti-tank cannon equipment.

General Sugimoto Gen glared at Yamashita Tomoyuki, then ordered: "Send a telegram to Lieutenant General Meijing Meijiro, telling him to hurry and move the Kwantung Army's Seventh Division and Eighth Division out of Shanhaiguan, leaving them here at my disposal!"

The Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria had already begun a large mobilization at this time.

The Kwantung Army's forces swelled, in order to cope with the increasingly deteriorating situation outside the Pass and the threat of the old hairies.

Lieutenant General Meijing Meijiro received the telegram from General Sugimoto Gen of North China, and scolded:

"That idiot Sugimoto Gen, besides knowing how to say 'request support,' what use is he! The telegram he sent is also so impolite!

I'm busy expanding the army in the Kwantung Army, and it's all being used to fill the holes of the North China Area Army!"

The Kwantung Army Chief of Staff said: "Your Excellency, quickly send support, North China is in critical danger right now.

The Imperial General Headquarters' strategy is also to use Manchuria to support North China."

Lieutenant General Meijing Meijiro gritted his teeth: "Forget it, forget it, hope that idiot Sugimoto Gen can stop that madman Lv Muzhi!"

At this moment, in the Central China region downstream of the Yangtze River.

In a corner no one cared about, the Eleventh Army Commander Gangcun Ningci, fighting an isolated battle, was numb: "Who will come save me!"

"Report! Tang Enbo's Thirty-first Army Group has already reached the gates of Hefei!"

"Report! Li Zongren's forces are launching an attack on Anqing!"

The communications staff officer also ran over: "General Sugimoto Gen's urgent telegram, please go north to support Xuzhou!"

Gangcun Ningci was furious: "Tell Sugimoto Gen to get lost! That idiot! If I go help him, who will help me?!"