Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

There are two sides to everything! The Eighth Route Army's forces blocked the enemy on the periphery, but what about the other side? Since the main force of the Eighth Route Army was fighting on the periphery, the defense of the Eighth Route Army headquarters in the hinterland was empty. After all, the Eighth Route Army had limited forces, but they were spread over such a large area as North China! Therefore, even if there were losses in the forces, and they were not small, Okamura Neiji still ordered all units to continue the attack and not to retreat a step!
To this end, he even mobilized an artillery battalion and an imperial army battalion from the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade to fill the position in Yangyi, so that the Japanese troops along the way became two infantry battalions, one mountain artillery battalion, and two imperial army battalions! The original force reached more than 5500, which was more than 2000 more than the independent regiment and the new regiment.

Of course, this is based on all the troops at the time of the initial attack. In the two days of fighting, the Japs lost more than 300 people, and the puppet army lost more than 500 people. But even so, the Japs are still very strong!
Because the follow-up troops were newly dispatched, the headquarters had not yet grasped the movements of the Japanese in time, and did not tell Li Yunlong and his men. Of course, this was not a problem, as everyone still had confidence in Li Yunlong! Li Yunlong could cause trouble, but he could also handle it! No matter what difficult task was given to him, Li Yunlong could complete it well! What's more, there was Ding Wei to help.

At this point in the battle, many newly formed brigade-level units of the 129th Division are actively defending and blocking the enemy everywhere. Because they all have their own tasks, there are not many teams that can be transferred to Southeast Shanxi to help defend. The Independent Regiment and the New 386st Regiment are probably the two best main regiments. You ask what the th Brigade is doing? They are in the Taiyue area. The key is that they are still fighting the enemy's mopping-up team...

How can this be explained? The Eighth Route Army was constantly developing its base and competing with the devils for survival space, which led to the continuous dispersion and sacrifice of troops, and the dispersion of combat resources. In addition to the various restrictions on preserved fruits, the Eighth Route Army also implemented a policy of streamlining the military and government, and there was a shortage of troops! After all, the total force was not as good as the Japanese army in North China, and was physically dispersed in various corners.

In fact, if Hu Zongnan had not brought more than 120 elite troops of the Central Army to the coveted Xi'an, with the intention of attacking northward at any time, the Eighth Route Army would have been able to mobilize more troops! For example, the main force of the th Division was guarding the safety of northern Shaanxi.

Baicaoping is a village in the Nanming River Valley. It is located on the west side of the Nanming River Valley, occupying a small road heading west. There is a pointed hill to the north, and the village is located in the angle between the two hills.

After seeing off the division commander and learning the latest situation, Li Yunlong ordered that Baicaoping be used as the position of Zhang Dabiao's first battalion, the second battalion build a position on the northern hill, and the third battalion serve as a reserve in the western mountains. As for the New 1st Regiment, it could not compete with Li Yunlong, so Ding Wei led the main force of the New 1st Regiment along the Nanming River Valley to the north, selected a hill, and built a second line of defense to the west to lay the foundation for the independent regiment!

At the same time, the heavy troops assigned to the independent regiment by the headquarters and the division were pulled by Li Yunlong to the mountain behind the first battalion as the strategic artillery force of the entire battlefield. For this reason, Li Yunlong personally instructed Captain Qi, who was in charge of the artillery, to control the artillery unit and conduct actual measurement work.

While Li Yunlong was arranging the positions, Political Commissar Zhao was also busy. He chose a village northwest of the battlefield to house the medical team supported by the headquarters. During this period, he also sent a transport team to the south to transport supplies and pass on intelligence. The independent regiment did not have much time to prepare. By then, the pressure of the entire battlefield would be on the independent regiment and the new first regiment.

On the river bank near Baicaoping, Zhang Dabiao led a battalion of soldiers, waving shovels vigorously, filling sacks one by one, and then transported them back to the village to build a new line of defense outside the village wall.

At the same time, the original village wall had several openings in the middle as traffic ports for the front and rear positions, and heavy machine guns were directly deployed in the village wall, with a capped top. When the Eighth Route Army popularized tunnel warfare, it shared the Liangjia Village defense system with other villages.

The most important part is the village wall built with bluestone or rammed earth. The village wall must be thick and high enough, and it is best to have two steps suitable for climbing to the top. There should be enough single-soldier or double-soldier combat pits in the middle of the wall... and the village defense fortifications in Baicaoping are the best studied ones. "Comrades, the regiment commander put us in the village at the foot of the mountain. Does that mean he values ​​us? The Japanese are coming from the south, and our main position is on the mountain. We are the flank! If the Japanese attack our main position, we can tie down a large number of Japanese and prevent them from deploying their forces! By the same token, if the Japanese attack us with all their strength, our main position should come into play!"

"Alright, the arrangements are almost done. The first company will stay in the village wall fortifications, and the second company will go around to the southern cliff and tie a rope to the cliff as our second commanding height! Give all the snipers and precision shooters in our battalion to the second company, so that they can control the river valley outside the village from a high position! Give more grenade launchers to the second company as well, as they have a commanding position and a wide field of vision!"

"Yes, battalion commander!" After the two company commanders stood at attention, they went their separate ways, leaving only the third company commander waiting there.

"Captain of the Third Company, your mission is not easy! The regiment commander has placed the heavy artillery unit that controls the entire battlefield on the hill in the northwest corner of our city, but he has only assigned a platoon of soldiers to guard it! This won't do. I plan to have your company build new fortifications around this hill. On one hand, you will protect the heavy artillery unit, and on the other hand, you will be another line of defense if Baicaoping is lost!"

"Battalion Commander, I understand!" The third company commander knew his mission, so he dragged his exhausted body and took the equally exhausted soldiers to the important position.

Not long after the third company commander left, Zhang Dabiao ran to the west side of the hill where the main position was located, found Li Yunlong, and asked to borrow the engineers from the regiment headquarters to help set up directional mines.

"Zhang Dabiao, you have a good idea. Although it is a bit troublesome to deploy directional mines, the engineers are familiar with them and can deploy them in an hour! I agree. I will deploy directional mines in the pond outside your village! You go directly to Cui Mingli and ask him to take people there!" Li Yunlong agreed to Zhang Dabiao's request.

In fact, from the deployment of troops and positions, it can be seen that Li Yunlong's fighting this time was a bit conservative, which was very unlike his fearless style! But what was the actual situation? The independent regiment and the new regiment had just fought a decisive battle, and the comrades' physical energy consumption was already very large! Then the soldiers who finished the battle did not get a timely rest, and marched 6 or 70 miles of mountain roads in succession.

It can be said that the two groups are now exhausted and no longer have enough physical strength to continue attacking! Therefore, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei tacitly chose to build a defense system on the mountain.

And there is another point, that is, when these two regiments were urgently transferred, not all of them came here, and they left a team of several hundred people in Songyan Town to guard the captured and prisoners. Among them, there were also their own wounded, who also needed to be taken care of. With the wounded, the two regiments could not move so fast... (End of this chapter)