Jiang Xiaomei, Zhang Quan, Yang Jiong, Wang Zhankui and others are all familiar with Gao Jiu. They have never seen him so nervous since they have known him for so long.

Jiang Xiaomei was infected by Gao Jiu's emotions. She asked nervously: "Brother Jiu, what happened? Has the main force of the Japanese really gone to Taohua Mountain?"

Zhang Quan also became nervous and said, "Jiu Ye, our Taohua Mountain now has only the second squadron of the Third Head of the Army. In addition, the guards are less than 100 people, so more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers can't stop them. Let's go back quickly."

Yang Jiong and Wang Zhankui also expressed their willingness to go to rescue Taohua Mountain together.

Gao Jiu shook his head and said, "The situation is much more serious than this. The main force of the Japanese did not go to Taohua Mountain. They went to Zhiyuan County."

Everyone was still a little confused and looked at Gao Jiu with confusion. Wang Zhankui asked, "Master Jiu, isn't it possible?"

Gao Jiu said: "The main force of the 115th Regiment of the Japanese Regiment must be to perform more important tasks if they don't come to fight Taohua Mountain. Think about it, how important is the task they would rather abandon the Yamaguchi infantry brigade than to perform?

In southwestern Shandong, what else is worth their price?”

Wang Zhankui said with some confusion: "What you said makes sense, but the newly formed 187th Division has a large number of troops, and behind it is the 69th Division of our 41st Army. It turns out that when the Japanese 63rd Regiment was stationed in Lu County, it was always confronting the 792nd Regiment and did not attack Zhiyuan County because they were not strong enough.

Now the 115th Regiment of the Japanese only sent two brigades to support the county town, which is unlikely."

Gao Jiu said: "It's not just the 115th Regiment, but the entire 128th Brigade. You see, the telegram says that the 128th Brigade did not stay in Tai'an, but continued to move south."

According to Gao Jiu's information, the 114th Division of the Japanese army did not participate in the Wuhan Battle, and the 128th Brigade has been operating in southwestern Shandong. They have no reason to go south to Xuzhou.

In southwestern Shandong, it is impossible for the Japanese army to use such a large-scale troops as the 128th Brigade to target a small Taohuashan guerrillas and Jiang Xiaomei's independent battalion. Their goals are self-evident.

When Gao Jiu said this, he took out the map from his backpack.

He pointed to a small station between Tai'an and Zaozhuang and said, "Look, if the Japanese 128th Brigade gets off here, and follows this highway, passes through Yuanyao, Dingning and other counties, and follows Daqing River, you can go around behind the newly formed 187th Division. As long as you occupy the Daqing River Bridge, you can cut off the reinforcements of the 69th Division.

The main force of the 128th Brigade launched an attack from behind Zhiyuan County, and the 115th General Commander attacked from the northeast, which could just form an encirclement of Zhiyuan County."

"Oh, it's true, this is too bad." Wang Zhankui said anxiously.

He knew very well that the new 187th Division, which has just been formed, was at its weakest time. The strength of the Japanese 128th Brigade was the same as the new 187th Division. With the same force, the new 187th Division is definitely not the opponent of the Japanese.

This matter is very important to Wang Zhankui. His foundation is now in the newly compiled 187th Division. The 187th Division collapsed, and the future of him and his brothers in the cavalry battalion will be over.

To some extent, Gao Jiu was even more nervous than Wang Zhankui.

The reason why Gao Jiu's Taohua Mountain Guerrillas were able to gain a foothold in Taohua Mountain is that he tried his best to create a relatively stable environment around Taohua Mountain.

However, this small environment is based on the overall environment of the entire southwestern Shandong region.

Wang Jindong's newly formed 187th Division is the largest anti-Japanese armed force in southwestern Shandong. Behind him is the powerful 41st Army. Therefore, the Japanese and puppet troops' control over southwestern Shandong has been relatively relaxed.

If Wang Jindong's new 187th Division had not been formed, the entire southwestern Shandong region would have completely fallen into the sphere of influence of the Japanese army. They could calmly and do their best to deal with the Taohua Mountain guerrillas.

Such a life will be very miserable.

Not only that, without the newly formed 187th Division of Wang Jindong, Zhiyuan County, the passage between Taohua Mountain and the Great Rear was completely cut off. In the future, it would be much more difficult to transport supplies from the Great Rear to Taohua Mountain than now.

In any case, we must also save Wang Jindong's new 187th Division.

Jiang Xiaomei and Yang Jiong are now independent commanders, and they also have basic judgments on the situation in the entire southwestern Shandong region. In addition, Gao Jiu has talked to them about the importance of the Southwestern Shandong Iron Triangle to them many times, and they also feel that the problem is very serious.

After thinking it through, Gao Jiu made up his mind. He immediately ordered the radio to turn on and sent a telegram to Wang Jindong himself.

Zhiyuan County Town.

As a regular field force, the radio stations in the confidential department of the newly formed 187th Division Division will be on duty at any time. The telegram sent by Gao Jiu was immediately received.

The telegram communication between Gao Jiu and Wang Jindong can be received by the newly compiled 187th Division's radio operators. According to the telegram header, they knew that this was sent by Gao Jiu from Taohua Mountain, but the content must be translated by Wang Jindong himself.

The radio operator saw the expedited symbol marked on the back of the telegram and hurriedly woke up the director of the confidential office. The director of the confidential office hurriedly went to report to Wang Jindong.

It is 5:30 in the morning, and Wang Jindong was woken up by an emergency knock on the door. The director of the confidential office shouted outside: "Master's seat, Master's seat, there is an emergency telegram from Master Jiu of Taohuashan."

Wang Jindong woke up from his dream and heard clearly what the director of the confidential room said. His first feeling was that Taohua Mountain was in danger and came to ask for help from him urgently.

He felt a little depressed. He had strong support for Taohua Mountain. He had asked Wang Zhankui, the commander of the newly compiled 24th Regiment, to personally lead the main force of the original cavalry battalion to rescue Taohua Mountain. Even if there were any problems there, he might not be able to help.

He took the telegram and asked the director of the confidential office to wait outside the door. He took off a Kangxi dictionary from the bookshelf and started to translate it. As soon as he translated the first line of words, cold sweat broke out on Wang Jindong's forehead.

He quickly flipped through the Kangxi dictionary and finally translated the entire telegram. His hands trembled and the telegram fell on the table.

While putting on his clothes, he called the director and the adjutant who were waiting outside the door. He asked the adjutant to inform the officers above the battalion commander in the city to have a meeting in the division headquarters war room.

Ask the director of the confidential office to send a telegram to the troops of the 23rd Regiment in Lanxi County to inform them to strengthen their defenses. Send a telegram to the 69th Division, asking them to send troops to rescue the Daqinghe Bridge as soon as possible.

Divisional War Room.

The officers of the 187th Division all came to the war room nervously. Wang Jindong took out Gao Jiu's call and told everyone the content of the telegram.

The officers now trust Gao Jiu very much and immediately began to discuss countermeasures.

At this moment, Beihuan Village, 15 miles south of Zhiyuan County, called, where there was a company of the 792nd Regiment.

The company commander discovered the enemy situation and according to regulations, he should report to the battalion, and then the battalion would report to the regiment and the division step by step. However, he found that the telephone line leading to the battalion had been cut off.

There is a communication line buried underground left by Shandong local troops during the National Government period, which came in handy at this time.

Wang Jindong took the phone and heard the sound of gunfire from inside. The company commander said in a panic: "According to the division seat, a large number of Japanese troops were found in the southeast, and they have already attacked the village."

Wang Jindong asked: "How many enemies are there? What number?"

The company commander said, "I don't know, there are too many Japanese. They...boom!"

Before he could finish speaking, there was a violent explosion of shells on the phone, and the phone was cut off.

Almost at the same time, the battalion commander of a battalion of the 23rd Regiment stationed in Lanxi County also called and said that a large number of Japanese troops appeared outside the city, and the entire county town was surrounded. Fierce gunfire and explosions could also be heard on the phone.

Wang Jindong said, "Defend the county town to the death, stand firm and wait for help." Then he hung up the phone.

The situation was very urgent, chaotic, and the enemy was unclear. The officers of the 187th Division were all nervous. They all looked at Wang Jindong and waited for his decision.

After all, Wang Jindong is an experienced general. Seeing the nervous look of his officers, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down first.

He said: "Don't panic. The Japanese army dispatched a whole brigade and had huge forces. All we can do now is to stay waiting for assistance and immediately order all troops to defend on the spot.

The Japanese had not arrived yet, and there was still time to strengthen their defense. They immediately ordered all the troops around the county to shrink back to the vicinity of the county and defended the fortifications around the county.

If the outer positions are lost, the troops will withdraw into the city and defend the county town to the death.

Report to the military headquarters immediately, and at the same time, send a telegram to Commander Song of the 69th Division, asking them to send troops to reinforce."

Wang Jindong issued a series of orders and saw the officers nervous. He smiled and said, "

Don’t be afraid, the Japanese are nothing great. The telegram sent by Gao Jiu and the Regiment Commander Wang said that they had eaten the Yamaguchi Infantry Brigade of the 115th Japanese Regiment and annihilated a thousand enemies."

After hearing the news, the officers were indeed shocked. They believed that conveying this good news to their officers and soldiers at this time would greatly improve the morale of the officers and soldiers.

Wang Jindong was very satisfied when he saw the morale of the officers. He continued to encourage: "Brothers! Brother Gao and others can defeat the Japanese. Our 187th Division is not easy to bully. Let's fight with the Japanese here to let them know how powerful our Chinese soldiers are.

Time is tight. Let’s start taking action now!”

"Yes!" The officers hurriedly left after receiving the order.

Seeing the officers leaving, Chief Liu said with some heart, "Teacher, the Japanese came here with a good time this time, and I'm afraid that Commander Song and his reinforcements would not be able to count on."

Wang Jindong sighed and said, "You are right. I just deliberately concealed the news that the Japanese army might seize the Daqinghe Bridge in advance, but they just didn't want to cause panic. Fortunately, most of the main forces of our 187th Division are concentrated around Zhiyuan County, and they should be able to hold on for a while. As for how to regain the Daqinghe Bridge and reinforce Zhiyuan County, we can only rely on Commander Song and others."

Chief of Staff Liu said: "Fortunately, our 187th Division has established a joint combat system with the Taohuashan Guerrillas, and Brother Gao and others will not stand by."

Wang Jindongliang said with relief: "You are right, this is the main reason why I decided to stick to the waiting for help. I believe that as long as we can defend Zhiyuan County, brothers Gao and brothers Zhan Kui arrive, we will definitely have a solution."

At this moment, Gao Jiu's telegram arrived again. The telegram was sent jointly by Gao Jiu and Wang Zhankui. The telegram said that Wang Jindong, who had not arrived in Linchuan Town, had withdrawn the troops of the two battalions of Wang Zhankui's 24th Regiment back to Zhiyuan County, strengthen the garrisoning force of Zhiyuan County, and prevent the enemy from defeating each one.

Wang Zhankui's cavalry battalion, Gao Jiu's Taohuashan guerrillas and Jiang Xiaomei's independent battalion are coming to the rescue with all their might.

After reading the telegram, Wang Jindong smiled and said, "Brother Gao is a lucky general. I believe we will definitely turn the danger into safety."

Chief Liu also felt comfort in his heart, and a trace of blood returned to his pale face.

The enemy situation soon became clear:

The Japanese army has surrounded Lanxi County, and the main force is surrounding Zhiyuan County.

Commander Song of the 69th Division sent a telegram saying that the Japanese army had occupied the Daqinghe Bridge and that he was organizing two regiments of troops. After recapturing the Daqinghe Bridge, he immediately reinforced Zhiyuan County.

Chief of Staff Liu said with gratitude: "Fortunately, Brother Gao sent a telegram in time to buy us time to strengthen our defense. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable."
Chapter completed!