People are shining their swords, secretly helping the Iron Triangle in Northwest Shanxi

The three lieutenant general division commanders of the 21st Division, the 27th Division, and the 33rd Division held a combat meeting overnight.

They discussed how to quickly break through the Hengling Pass defensive position and completely annihilate the defenders here.

The 21st Division Lieutenant General Tanaka Jiuichi, the division commander, is in charge of presiding over this battle. Tanaka Jiuichi attaches great importance to this battle.

After all, the front army headquarters authorized him to command the three divisions in a unified manner. As long as the results are obtained, the military exploits will definitely belong to him.

With such military exploits, it is enough for Tanaka Jiuichi to improve his position.

Therefore, he was very active in combat and prepared to carry out night attacks to obtain results.

It was at this time that the puppet troops also held a combat meeting in the Yuanqu City area.

Xu Chengpu, the puppet commander of the Second Division of the Imperial Association Army, established direct contact with various ministries.

The three independent brigades of the Imperial Association Army were directly reorganized by him into two independent brigades, each with more than 4000 troops.

Of course, the Second Division of the Royal Association Army has continued to attack, and they have also suffered casualties. Their 1-strong force has suffered more than 2000 casualties.

"Taijun is very dissatisfied with our performance. There are at most three to four thousand Jinsui Army troops here in Yuanqu City, and they are not regular field troops."

"But we have an absolute advantage and have never been able to break through the defenses. We have not even made any progress. Taijun is very dissatisfied with this."

"They asked us to organize troops to launch an attack. No matter what, we must capture Yuanqu City in the shortest possible time."

"The time Taijun gave us is that before ten o'clock in the evening on July [-]th, no matter what, we must end the fight here."

"Everyone, you all know Taijun's temper. If we fail to complete the battle, Taijun will definitely be held accountable."

"We have no other choice but to fight to the death to capture Yuanqu City."

Xu Chengpu has now summoned the main officers together. He looked at these officers and said with a serious expression on his face.

When these officers heard Xu Chengpu's words, they showed thoughtful expressions on their faces.

The brigade commanders of two independent brigades were naturally unwilling to inflict too many casualties on their troops.

After all, they had more than 1 troops before, but now there are only more than 8000 left.

If Xu Chengpu wants to use them to attack Yuanqu City, they will definitely not agree.

The Second Division of the Xu Cheng Pu Huang Alliance Army also suffered more than 2000 casualties and losses, with only more than 7000 troops remaining.

However, among the more than 7000 troops, there are also some non-combatants.

These personnel include baggage troops, engineering troops and other troops. Of course, these engineering troops of the puppet army are all just make-up and have no strength whatsoever.

Xu Chengpu was also unwilling to let his troops continue to undertake attack tasks to avoid greater casualties.

He wanted to consume the two independent brigades and let them take the lead, while his own troops followed behind.

So until now they have not made any progress and have not taken Yuanqu City.

In fact, if these more than 1 puppet troops attack with all their strength, even if they cannot seize the position, they will pose a huge threat to the two field supplementary regiments.

"Commander Xu, your troops have been hiding in the rear. You want us to be cannon fodder. This is not acceptable."

"We are not without brains. You want to use us to consume the Jinsui Army in Yuanqu City and reap the benefits for yourself. We will not agree."

"You also know Taijun's order. Now the situation is obvious. We can either attack together, or we can all conserve our strength and wait for Taijun's punishment."

"Our two independent brigades must be united together. Please consider carefully what choice Master Xu makes."

The two puppet commanders of the independent brigade stood up directly. They looked at Xu Chengpu in front of them and said.

Xu Chengpu Huang's Second Division of the Alliance Army was completely used as cannon fodder by the little devils.

The 21st Division arranged for them to continue to storm Yuanqu City, and these puppet troops had to launch an attack, which ultimately caused them to pay heavy casualties.

However, as the 21st Division went to attack Hengling Pass, Xu Chengpu, commander of the Second Division of the Royal Association Army, was responsible for unified command of the puppet troops for combat.

He had an idea in mind and was ready to consume two independent brigade troops.

But these two independent brigades are also troops carefully trained by the Kwantung Army, even if they are fighting here in Jin Province.

But they were in a group and did not follow Xu Chengpu's orders.

By now, the little devil was furious and sent a message directly, asking them to quickly capture Yuanqu City.

Xu Chengpu also wanted to use the Japanese army to suppress the two brigade commanders, but he did not expect the two brigade commanders to directly express their attitude.

"You two, you have misunderstood. Yuanqu City must be taken by our joint efforts."

"Let's do this. After daybreak, you are responsible for attacking from the east, and we will attack from the west."

"If either side is unable to fight effectively, you can contact Taijun directly and ask Taijun to come forward."

"You also know that Taijun attaches great importance to fighting here. If we preserve our strength, they will definitely be very angry."

"So if anyone doesn't fight with all his life, he will offend the Taijun completely. Once the Taijun is held accountable, we will not be able to bear it."

Looking at the two brigade commanders in front of him, Xu Chengpu said with a smile on his face.

"That's great. If that's the case, let's go back and make preparations."

"Mr. Xu, if we work together to capture Yuanqu City, Taijun will definitely reward us heavily."

"But if you and I continue to preserve our strength and fail to take Yuanqu City, we are all aware of the consequences."

Two brigade commanders, Xu Chengpu, said with a serious expression on his face.

Faced with such a situation, Xu Chengpu could only agree.

After all, if they continue to preserve their strength and cannot take Yuanqu City, the Japanese army will have no way to explain.

There are quite a lot of puppet troops in Yuanqu City. Currently, they still have [-] people.

But they belong to different puppet armies, so they are not monolithic.

Moreover, these puppet troops did not know that Chen Ziyun's commanding troops had returned overnight.

Chen Ziyun came back this time specifically to fight against these puppet troops.

Time passed. At ten o'clock in the evening, the Japanese and puppet troops ended their meeting and they began to make preparations.

At this time, although the 21st Division, 27th Division, and 33rd Division continued to attack and suffered casualties, their main force still remained.

After repeated discussions among the three division commanders, they planned to launch an attack at four o'clock in the morning on July [-]th.

This time they will mobilize all their troops and quickly advance towards Hengling Pass to break through the position and annihilate the first brigade.

In order to carry out effective combat strikes, various departments of the Little Devils have already launched operations.

Their engineering wing secretly built various positions so that the troops could better launch attacks.

Their artillery regiment also secretly advanced towards the front, preparing for artillery attacks at close range.

At this time, here at the North China Front Army Headquarters, General Commander Okamura Neiji had not rested yet.

He stood in front of the map and looked at the Zhongtiao Mountain area with a solemn expression on his face.

News from various frontline units was gradually passed back, and the three divisions of the Imperial Alliance Army of the Sakuma Corps were annihilated.

The northern Henan region lost Hanoi County and Huaiqing City one after another, and even Chen Ziyun and Li Yunlong's troops threatened Muye City.

Here in Zhongtiao Mountain, the Imperial Army's more than 1 troops had an absolute advantage, but they were unable to capture Yuanqu City.

Hengling Pass was attacked by three divisions of the Japanese army, but Hengling Pass was still in the hands of the Shanxi-Sui Army.

Fighting at such a level is almost unimaginable by Neji Okamura.

After all, just three years ago, when he served as the commander of the 11th Army, the Japanese troops were able to attack cities and demolish villages one after another.

The Sixth Division under the 11th Army advanced along the north bank of the Yangtze River and directly challenged the Fifth Theater.

With the cooperation of the 106th Division, the Botian detachment continued to seize important Jiang defense towns and fought all the way to Gan Province.

However, now, the troops of three divisions could not win a single Hengling Pass, which made him unbelievable.

Even Okamura Neiji once thought that there was an error in reporting from the front line.

"Your Excellency, Commander, the 21st Division and other troops are ready, and they will quickly organize troops to launch an attack."

"Fighting here in Zhongtiao Mountain, all ministries will completely capture Yuanqu City and Hengling Pass before [-] o'clock in the evening on the [-]th."

"At the same time, they will also deploy the absolute main force and continue to carry out operations, striving to completely eliminate the enemy forces in Zhongtiao Mountain in the shortest possible time."

Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe came to Okamura Neji and reported softly.

After hearing this, Neji Okamura nodded, but he did not think that these troops could end the battle so quickly.

"The Third Aviation Regiment will fully support the operations in the Zhongtiao Mountain area and focus on bombing the Hengling Pass."

"Contact all frontline departments participating in the war and ask them to reduce their own casualties as much as possible and avoid excessive casualties."

"And here in the northern Henan region, we can no longer allow enemy troops to regain the towns. Sakuma Shigemori must contain the enemy attacks." "The difficulty of combat here exceeds our imagination. It is so difficult for a 201st Division and an independent detachment. Taming.”

"If we cannot completely annihilate them, it will be almost difficult for us to maintain security in North China."

"So in this battle, we must completely annihilate them and gain complete control of Zhongtiao Mountain."

With a serious expression on his face, Okamura Neji pointed at the location of Mount Nakajo on the map and said.

"Hi, Commander." Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake immediately agreed.

The front army headquarters began to convey combat orders, and after receiving the orders, all ministries immediately made preparations.

Currently, the Little Devils have a third flight group in North China, which has the first and third flight groups under it.

But now, the First Flying Regiment has been transferred back to the Kwantung Army.

Therefore, they only have two teams, the Third Flying Regiment, and the number of aircraft in these two teams has also been reduced.

Each team has only 36 aircraft.

It is worth mentioning that at this time, not to mention the North China region, even in other battlefields, there were very few air force units participating.

The Little Devils have complete control of the air. When their bombers perform combat missions, they hardly need to dispatch fighter jets to escort them.

Even some little devil commanders will not send aviation troops to participate in the battle in order to reduce unnecessary consumption.

After all, if these aviation forces participated in the war, the consumption in all aspects would be staggering.

The little devil has limited resources, especially since the base camp is currently focusing on organizing the Southern Army.

In this case, they save what they can.

However, in order to quickly deal with the troops here in Nakatiao Mountain, Okamura Neiji arranged for the Third Flying Regiment to conduct support operations.

The Japanese and puppet troops were actively preparing, but they did not know that at three o'clock in the morning on July [-], Chen Ziyun commanded the troops to return to Xicheng Mountain.

After arriving at Xicheng Mountain, Chen Ziyun quickly met with Ding Wei, Kong Jie and others.

"Commander Chen, Lao Li has contacted us and asked us to obey your command."

"You say how to fight, we completely obey your arrangements and deployment."

"We haven't found an opportunity during this period, and now we can finally reap some benefits."

"This old Li is now the captain of the detachment. Whenever something good happens, I will always think of his new regiment."

"The new group went to the northern Henan area to eat meat. We can't even drink soup here."

"That's right, he, Lao Li, also said that he was just making a little fortune and there was no benefit."

"But there have been many victorious battles in the northern Henan region, and many puppet troops have been killed. He has to expand his troops anyway."

"The new regiment can stay alone in the northern Henan region to deal with tens of thousands of puppet cavalry troops. This new regiment must have 4000 people at present."

"If I had known earlier, it would have been better to let our independent group pass. There would be no benefit in staying here."

Ding Wei and Kong Jie said excitedly after seeing Chen Ziyun.

Chen Ziyun did not tell the new group's situation in detail, otherwise, their emotions would definitely get out of control.

Everything in the Eighth Route Army must be obtained through combat capture. The new regiment fought fiercely in the northern Henan area, but they gained a lot.

The New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment did not engage in large-scale battles here at Xicheng Mountain, so they never gained anything.

On the contrary, during several defensive operations, weapons and ammunition were still consumed to a certain extent.

Such things made them very depressed.

Now that they heard that Chen Ziyun was coming back with his troops to carry out annihilation operations, Kong Jie and Ding Wei were very active.

They can't wait to fight with Chen Ziyun now and get results.

"Captain Kong and Commander Ding cannot be said to have unified command of the operations. Let's discuss anything we have to do."

"There are more than 1 Japanese Japs in Yuanqu City. We have to cripple them no matter what, so that they completely lose their fighting ability."

"But Xicheng Mountain is still very important. You have to leave your troops behind to hold on, otherwise they will all come out."

"Look at which regiment is staying at Xicheng Mountain to defend, and the other troops are following us to attack?"

Chen Ziyun looked at Ding Wei and Kong Jie in front of him and asked, there must be no accidents here in Xicheng Mountain.

Therefore, all the defense forces here cannot be dispatched. Chen Ziyun plans to deploy the artillery troops to fight near Xicheng Mountain.

As for Xicheng Mountain, at least one regiment of troops must be deployed for defense.

"Old Ding, your New Second Regiment should stay in Xicheng Mountain to defend. Your New Second Regiment is good at fighting defensive battles."

"Lao Kong, it is best for your independent regiment to stay here. You are not good at attacking."

"Don't worry, our old man is not Li Yunlong. I will definitely give you a sip of soup when I eat meat."

"Go, go, go. Who wants to drink a sip of your soup? Our independent group wants to eat meat."

The two captains quarreled, and neither of them wanted to stay here at Xicheng Mountain.

In the end, Chen Ziyun made a concession and deployed the Xu Yuan 603 Regiment of the Second Brigade for defense.

As for the New Second Regiment, the Independent Regiment and the 602nd Regiment, they are responsible for the attack mission.

The Liyangshan Artillery Regiment, as well as the independent detachment artillery regiment, are deployed in different areas of Xicheng Mountain to conduct support operations.

Chen Ziyun, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie discussed a detailed battle plan.

At the same time, they also contacted Chu Yunfei, and after receiving approval, they began to make preparations.

At four o'clock in the morning on July [-], the little Japanese troops began combat operations.

The 21st Division, 27th Division, and 33rd Division launched an all-out offensive.

The three divisions assembled six infantry regiments, three engineering regiments, and three artillery regiments to fight from different areas.

The First Division of the Imperial Association Army assembled in Jiangcheng, Yangcheng, and Jincheng areas also launched operations.

Huang Daofeng mobilized a reinforced regiment of more than [-] troops and began to attack Lishan in a containment operation.

For a time, the troops from both sides launched fierce battles in the Hengling Pass and Lishan areas.

At five o'clock, as the sky gradually became brighter, the Little Japanese Air Force was dispatched.

Bombers came one after another over Hengling Pass, and they launched carpet bombing.

Aerial bombs fell on the position one after another, and deafening explosions continued to sound.

With the support of the aviation force, the Little Japanese troops continued to launch offensive operations.

The 358th Regiment and the 601st Regiment under the First Brigade held their positions with all their strength. They defended desperately with the support of the field artillery regiment.

These two regiments are Chu Yunfei's old base troops. The regiment leaders Wu Ziqiang and Shi Yujie are both Chu Yunfei's old subordinates.

Although their abilities are not very outstanding, they are able to obey orders completely.

Moreover, Chu Yunfei asked them to hold on to their position, and they would never give up easily.

The Japs are attacking with such intensity that some positions are in danger and may collapse at any time.

On one position, dozens of people from a platoon were stationed here, but only a few soldiers were beaten.

A deputy squad leader directed the troops to fight, and a large number of little devils continued to attack the position.

The soldiers had run out of ammunition and gathered their grenades together.

The continuous fighting left them with many injuries, and by this time they were exhausted.

Four soldiers sat together, lit a cigarette and passed it to each other.

A large number of little devils rushed over and directly surrounded the four warriors.

A kid pulled the bolt of his gun and prepared to shoot directly.

But a lieutenant scolded him and came directly to the four soldiers.

The Japs aimed their rifles at the four warriors but did not pull the trigger.

"We are the Third Battalion of the 27st Infantry Regiment of the [-]th Division directly under the North China Front. I am the squadron deputy of the [-]th Squadron of the [-]rd Battalion."

"Our squadron leader was injured in the battle with you and is still being treated in the field hospital. We admire your performance very much!"

"Now that you have completed your combat mission, you can choose to give up resistance, as long as you put down your weapons and surrender to us."

"I guarantee in the name of the Imperial Force Lieutenant that we will ensure your lives are safe."

Lieutenant Little Devil looked at the four soldiers and said with a serious expression. (End of chapter)