Chapter 103 Attacking Shiquan County
After Li Yunlong received the message sent by the communicator overnight, he began to discuss the battle plan with everyone.
When they first attacked Linyuan County, everyone was planning to gradually nibble away at Shiquan County.
Although they were planning to storm Shiquan County later, Li Yunlong hoped that the brigade headquarters could provide support and help fight the reinforcements.
However, we have now received a notice from the brigade headquarters that not only can the brigade not help the independent regiment fight the reinforcements, but the brigade also hopes that the independent regiment can delay the Japanese reinforcements coming from the Shangdang area.
The difficulty of the task is directly doubled.
Li Yunlong had no choice but to urgently modify the battle plan and assign the task of delaying the Japanese reinforcements in Shangdang area to the strongest vanguard battalion.
"Xiao Qin, your vanguard camp's mission this time is the heaviest and most difficult, even more difficult than siege.
The Vanguard Battalion has 2,000 troops and needs to hold off at least one elite field regiment of the Japanese for at least two days.
We also need to consume the Japanese troops as much as possible."
When Li Yunlong reached this point, he looked at Qin Yangming with a heavy expression and asked.
"Xiao Qin, tell me, do you have the confidence to stop the Japanese army?"
Qin Yangming nodded without hesitation.
"Captain, don't worry. Even if I'm the only one left in the Vanguard Battalion, I promise to hold off the Japanese for at least two days!"
"Well, you can take the vanguard battalion to build fortifications here first. The anti-aircraft machine gun platoon will be left to you. I will take half of the artillery company with me to use for attacking the city."
Li Yunlong knew how difficult it would be to fight the Japanese head-on on the plains, and he couldn't bring himself to leave all of Qin Yangming's artillery company and anti-aircraft machine gun platoon behind to attack the city.
The importance of whether or not we can capture Shiquan County this time is not as high as delaying the Japanese reinforcements from Shangdang.
If the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shangdang area were not delayed, the Japanese would attack from both sides. Even if Shiquan County was captured, the Independent Regiment would not be able to build sufficient defensive fortifications.
Without sufficient defensive fortifications, the independent regiment could not defend Shiquan County with its own strength.
So Li Yunlong's first thought was to take over the relatively unimportant Linyuan County as quickly as possible, and then slowly attack Shiquan County.
"Fortunately, we told the brigade commander about our battle plan. Otherwise, with the strength of our independent regiment, we wouldn't be able to hold on to Shiquan County even if we took it by force."
"Not only will our independent group suffer heavy losses, but we won't gain anything either. It will be a complete loss-making business."
Kong Jie looked at the battle plan sent by the brigade and felt a little scared.
He indeed did not consider the importance of Shiquan County to the Japanese.
What he started thinking was that after the independent regiment quickly captured Shiquan County, even if there were reinforcements from his sister-in-law, Shiquan County had already been captured by the Eighth Route Army.
It's just a slightly larger county town, so the Japanese don't need to fight to the death with the Eighth Route Army here.
Listening to what Kong Jie said, Li Yunlong chuckled.
"I was the first to think of this possibility. Ding Wei also took a look at it and said that the Japanese might be more important to Shiquan County than we thought."
"When I came here, Ding Wei told me that if we want to attack Shiquan County,
So the best way is not to get entangled with other Japanese devils, but to concentrate all forces and take over Shiquan County as quickly as possible.
Then they robbed the Japanese of their supplies in Shiquan County, blew up the railway in Shiquan County, and then ran back to Linyuan County. "
"But now the brigade wants our independent regiment to defend Shiquan County, so the plan of grabbing a wave and leaving is not feasible."
After Qin Yangming received the order to block the Japanese reinforcements from the Shangdang area, he immediately led the assault platoon to attack the Japanese strongholds and artillery towers built in the south of Shiquan County and collect the Japanese trucks.
There is a small plain on this side of Shiquan County.
When fighting on the plains, the mobility of the troops is essential. In terms of mobility, the Japanese were far more mobile than the Eighth Route Army.
Especially in areas like the plains, the Eighth Route Army's two legs could not catch up with the Japanese's huge trucks.
Therefore, Qin Yangming needs to bridge this gap as much as possible.
After a busy day, Qin Yangming returned to the vicinity of Baihuling with five of the Japanese trucks.
Including the trucks obtained from Linyuan County, there are more than ten vehicles in total.
Li Yunlong waved his hand and directly gave ten large trucks to the vanguard battalion.
After arranging for the assault platoon to rest well, Qin Yangming led the vanguard battalion to the designated area overnight to build defensive fortifications.
Similarly, Li Yunlong also planned to take advantage of the night when the Japanese planes were unable to take off to attack Shiquan County.
After learning about the actions of the independent regiment, Ding Wei, under pressure, withdrew the new recruit battalion, the fourth battalion and the cavalry company from the new first regiment and handed them over to Li Yunlong.
A mighty army of 7,000 people left Baihu Ridge and began to attack Shiquan County.
Such a big move by the Independent Regiment and the New 1st Regiment naturally could not be hidden from the Japanese.
The Japanese Shanxi Command issued an order to move the mobile force in the Shangdang area, the Korean Regiment, to the vicinity of Shiquan County.
At the same time, he ordered the Japanese soldiers in Dagu County and those who retreated from Linyuan County to form a large team and move towards Shiquan County.
After Qin Yangming and Li Yunlong discussed, Qin Yangming chose Tongshi Town, south of Shiquan County, to be responsible for sniping the Japanese Korean Regiment.
With the help of local troops, the people in Tongshi Town evacuated to Linyuan County in the west as quickly as possible.
In the entire Tongshi Town, there were only the Pioneer Battalion and some civilians and Eighth Route Army soldiers who volunteered to stay and help the Pioneer Battalion transport the wounded and build fortifications. There was no one else left.
After Zhangye arrived at Tongshi Town, he saw that the area around Tongshi Town was flat and not suitable for an ambush at all.
Seeing this situation, Zhangye hurried to the Tongshi Town stronghold, which is now the temporary headquarters of the Pioneer Battalion.
"Captain, why did you choose to snipe the Japanese reinforcements in Tongshi Town?"
“Why not go to the nearby town of Yuxi?
There are some small hills over there. Aren’t they easier to defend?
Tongshi Town is a place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend. Isn't it suitable for defense?"
Zhangye's face was full of confusion.
He really didn't understand why Qin Yangming chose such a place.
Qin Yangming is obviously a person who attaches great importance to terrain advantages and would not make such a small mistake.
Qin Yangming listened to Zhangye's doubts and smiled mysteriously.
"The mountain man has his own clever plan."
"No, Captain, this is urgent, you still have the mind to tease me?"
"Hahaha, come on, come here. I'll show you why I chose Tongshi Town."
Qin Yangming put down the work in his hands, took Zhangye out of the bunker, and walked towards the warehouse behind the stronghold.
On the flat ground outside the warehouse, there were three small hills covered with tarpaulins, with several pieces of tarpaulins piled next to them.
(End of this chapter)
