Chapter 45: The sound of cannons in Qili River

The terrain of Qili River is not suitable for ambushing, and this is also for small troops.

The river water is very shallow and clear. Standing on the bridge, you can clearly see the pebbles at the bottom of the river. If you observe carefully, you can also be lucky enough to see small fish hiding under the stones and occasionally appearing.

There are almost no water plants at the bottom of the river. There are open land on both sides of the river bank, and large flat land. Only a small small slope suddenly appears in sight.

When Fumisaburo Kawakishiro saw such a terrain, he was naturally calm. What kind of obstacles could such a place besides burying landmines, so he could set up his army? "Order the troops to pass quickly."

Fumisaburo Kawakishi was still worried about the situation of the 20th Division. He was so embarrassed that he thought about it that he would ask the plane to reconnaise. The Yangming Fort Field Airport, which had just been established, was also destroyed by unknown troops. The 24 planes were burned to death, which made him very worried.

The combat aircraft in the entire southeastern Shanxi need reinforcements from Baoding and Peiping, which makes it difficult for aircraft with a small combat radius to support the 20th Division.

"Tele to the general of the Temple, that our 20th Division has successfully approached Shouyang, and the 20th Division was not resisted by the Chinese team during the march. In just two days, the entire 20th Division will be able to approach Taiyuan and assist the 5th Division in Xinkou. In order to enable our army to master the comprehensive defense forces of the Shanxi-Sui Army, we requested the Front to send reconnaissance aircraft to conduct detailed low-altitude reconnaissance in this area. On October 30, the 20th Division, the division commander of Kawakishisaburo came on."

The telegram was soon sent to the Japanese Army Command in Beijing. Sora Teraen was happy when he saw the telegram.

He immediately contacted the flight division, Lieutenant General Tokugawa Yotoshi, and asked him to send his free reconnaissance plane.

Tokugawa was also in a panic. After the war started, in three months, his nine flight brigades not only lost three flight brigades that were reorganized, but also the long-term air strikes, and the old combat aircraft suffered heavy losses due to mechanical failures.

There were less than 50 aircraft that could be used. Moreover, Seishiro Itagaki did not even let go of his reconnaissance plane and asked to fly to Xinkou with a 120-pound suspension aircraft to be used as a bomber.

After collecting the hangar, I found the planes used by the two coaches, and was put into the battlefield as reconnaissance planes.

After the order of the 20th Division to cross the river with all its might, the division headquarters sent troops to ride on the Eastern Yang horses and contact the corps commanders of each company.

There is only one railway bridge that can pass through the entire Qili River, not like a highway. When such a bridge is designed, it is just to save money. The road surface is very narrow, and the undulating sleepers also cause some trouble for the passage of the baggage troops.

Soon, soldiers affiliated with the 20th Engineer Regiment drove a bridge car into the river. The river like stagnant water didn't care whether it was intercepted. The water surface did not even stir for a long time, and soon returned to the static like ice.

The Japanese troops gathered more and more on the shore, and many Japanese troops were still standing on the railway bridge, posing exaggeratedly, asking war correspondents with cameras to take photos.

The Japanese army's relaxed situation made the 40th Army soldiers lying on the mound very confused. Could this Japanese man be here to travel?

The mentality is so good that it is like an outing, and the formation of the entire army is scattered.

At the command post of the 40th Army, Zeng Yiyang received the news that the Japanese army had already walked Qilihe. He smiled knowingly, saying that the Japanese were not lucky. He was sure that Shanxi Zhongzhang team did not have heavy artillery troops and was not worried about being attacked in the open area.

I thought there that the two artillery regiments of the 40th Army were waiting for them here.

Compared to ambush, many heavy weapons are not used, and annihilation wars often become positional wars, which is the result of insufficient firepower for individual soldiers. It is also because of the lack of a large number of heavy firepower in platoon-level weapons in this era.

"Order the artillery to debug the logistics and artillery of the target Japanese army, and prepare to launch an attack as soon as possible after the Japanese army crossed the river."

"Order the 2nd Regiment of the 115th Brigade to speed up the marching speed, follow the Japanese army into the east bank of Qili River, and cut off the Japanese army's escape route. The main force is ready to press up at the artillery suppression attack port, occupy the positions set up in the early stage, and surround the 20th Division of the Japanese Army in Qili River, river beach..."

Seeing that the time was ripe, Zeng Yiyang immediately issued a combat order.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun also lost its vitality in the northern sky and hung half-dead on the horizon.

More than an hour later, the entire logistics and artillery crossed the Qili River. In fact, during the dry season, the Qili River could not become a river at all, and it might be more appropriate to call it a stream.

The river valley area formed mainly over the years has made cars and cannons unable to pass through, and such trenches cannot stop the Japanese infantry.

The infantry were preparing food by the river. After eating, the large army could not stop. They rode the night and crossed Shouyang without knowing it.

But what they didn't know was that the Jinsui Army in Shouyang City was just a security regiment, and even a second-rate army could not be called a second-rate army. However, in Qilihe, a fully equipped and vigorous reorganized army was waiting for them.

The issue of the number of the 40th Army has always been the focus of negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but Chiang Kai-shek just did not speak out and maintained the original number.

One division, two brigades in three regiments, and the army directly belongs to two regiments, that's all.

But if that person is confused by these superficial data, it is a big mistake.

In order to gather the field capabilities of the 40th Army, Zeng Yiyang arranged two main brigades of the 115 and 116th Brigades directly under the brigade, and they were also built according to the organization of the regiment. One and three main corpses, plus the supplementary regiment, and the direct regiment, had already surpassed one division of the Central Army in the battle of Xinkou.

Half an hour passed, and the two field infantry regiments of 20 were preparing to set off one after another, and subsequent artillery and baggage troops also followed one after another.

At 16:30 in the afternoon, the mules and horses of the logistics troops of the 20th Division who were fed with water became much more energetic, at least they were very happy.

Under the resounding whip, he began to form formations and rushed to the main road.

On the 40th Army artillery position 6 kilometers away, Liu Zhidan stared at the pocket watch in his hand without blinking, and the mechanical pointer was slowly approaching the direction of the Roman numeral 12.

When the pointer overlaps 12, Liu Zhidan issued an order to the contact staff behind him: "All gun groups open fire at the predetermined target-"

Not far away, the flag-speaking soldiers immediately ran to a dirt slope, waving the red and blue flag-speaking. A minute later, the first rumble of the cannon volley broke the tranquility of this unknown small Taihang Mountain village.

The volley of more than forty cannons was flying, dust was flying, and shells were flying in the air, making shrill screams-

The Japanese army on the banks of Qili River felt the breath of death.

The shells drilled into the soil, exploded underground, shaking the mountains. The Japanese artillery of the 20th Division did not know what had happened, but they were all shrouded in a hellish tragic image.

There were the wailing sounds of panicked mules and horses everywhere. The frame of the cart was lifted up by the explosion of airflow, breaking in the air, and supplies were scattered all over the ground. The car was surrounded by balls of fire, and the ammunition on the car also exploded shortly after it burned, shaking the earth.

Fumisaburo Kawakishiki who followed the infantry did not go far. He could even clearly see his artillery in his glasses, being torn apart and swallowed in a sea of ​​fire...

"Order the 78th Regiment to support the artillery corps quickly-" Fumisaburo Kawakishi could no longer calm down. He immediately let the troops around him start to organize all the forces that could gather and advance to the Qilihe River beach.

The journey of one kilometer is so clear on the empty flat ground.

"Chief of Staff, where is the Chief of Staff?"

"Colonel Kuzo Kitsumura was worried about the logistics unit, and led a squadron of soldiers to operate with the logistics unit..."

"What--"

"Let the cavalry and cavalry go to rescue the logistics and supplies corps forces at all costs." Kawakiri's face shook, and he no longer dared to do so. If he lost the supplies of the supplies, what else could his division do?

More than half of the supplies for the six-day battle are located in the baggage troops, and baggage is the slowest-moving troops, and for combat troops, the combat effectiveness of baggage troops is negligible.

"Report to the division commander, to the west, to my west, Chinese cavalry and infantry appeared, with no less than one infantry division." Captain Kobayashi hurriedly ran to the division commander, who brought a squad of soldiers to defend the division troops.

"What are you here?" Kawakiri cursed angrily: "Your mission is to break through, lead your subordinates to break through the west, and pass through the open land as soon as possible to occupy the highlands around the forest."

"The brigade commander has taken a three infantry brigade to take over the surrounding highlands and cover the passage of the division headquarters and logistics. However, there were unknown Chinese troops in the west, with strong combat power and stronger firepower than us. The brigade commander Takagi suspected that he was the main force of the Central Army." Captain Kobayashi said in panic.

After losing a large number of mules, horses and supplies, the Japanese army finally escaped from the open ground.

When the two thousand men returned, less than half of the cannons only snatched back three gates, and most of the mules and horses were frightened and fled.

Kawakihiro looked at everything in front of him, his chest was as if he was hit hard, and he shouted in despair: "Conspiracy, this is a conspiracy--"

The river beach was not safe either. At least 4,000 teams appeared on the other side of the Qili River and were shooting at the Japanese army who were still not fleeing on the river beach.

The attitude of the Zhongzhang team to guard the river bank made Kawakichi, who had been in the army for more than 30 years, understand that this was to cut off all his escape routes.

The 40th Army headquarters and the 115th Brigade's communications staff rushed to the military headquarters and reported on the situation on the front line.

"Reporting to the head of the report, our 115th Brigade and the cavalry regiment directly under the military headquarters have firmly controlled all entry and exit passages. The 20th Division of the Japanese Army was surrounded by all along the Qili River at 5 pm, on land less than five miles in a radius."

Chen Guang heard the news and laughed: "Okay, in order to cooperate with the general attack at dawn tomorrow, I suggest that the 116th Brigade and the 1st Brigade also participate in the battle to prevent the 20th Japanese Division from breaking through the night."
Chapter completed!