Major General Honda feels that he has finally made the right decision.

As long as there is no problem with the Zhengtai Railway and the road repair team will repair the railway line on time, the current crisis will be overcome.

At around 1:00 p.m., Major General Honda was closing his eyes and resting, the communications officer hurriedly appeared in front of him again: "General, Taiyuan Command is in urgent need of telegram!"

"The Jingxing Coal Mine was captured by the Eighth Route Army at around 11:00 a.m. and then bombed into ruins."

"All the Eighth Route Army attacking the coal mines evacuated the battlefield and disappeared into the surrounding mountains. The Front Command was very furious and asked us to strengthen our vigilance. If the Eighth Route Army enters our defense zone, we will resolutely eliminate them!"

Major General Honda waved his hand: "The troops attacking the coal mine are not the Eighth Route Army that are operating in our defense zone. Why did they come to our defense zone? Tell everyone not to be nervous, what should we do or what to do. The opening time given by the military headquarters is almost here. The Honda United and the Railway Guard must cooperate with the road repair team to repair the Zhengtai Railway on time. This is our top priority. If the task cannot be completed, everyone, including me, will be punished!"

The communications officer also felt that the telegram from the Front Army Command was a bit too worrying and wanted to take revenge and was crazy.

The Eighth Route Army attacking the coal mine really wanted to retreat and run back to its own defense zone. How could it run to Yangquan, which was unfamiliar with people? Wasn’t it because I couldn’t get along with myself and came over to seek death?

I agreed with the decision of the brigade commander and immediately replied: "Don't worry, General, I will pass on your instructions just now and urge the road construction team to repair the Zhengtai Railway on time."

In the thick smoke mine area of ​​Jingxing Coal Mine, Zhou Cheng's long-awaited retreat time has finally come.

More than an hour ago, Jiro Ida threw all the aviation bombs he brought into a forest five kilometers away. Apart from blowing up a large number of forest resources, he did not injure a soldier of the National Salvation Army or the Eighth Route Army.

Although Zhou Cheng couldn't see the expression of Ida Jiro at that time, he could guess a rough idea.

He must have been very angry and frustrated at that time.

In order to retaliate against the troops that destroyed the coal mine, they threw all the bombs brought by the plane into the empty forest without any discretion.

Seeing that the Japanese plane evacuated the battlefield as soon as they threw the bomb, Zhou Cheng felt that his goal had been achieved.

"Regiment Commander, all the Eighth Route Army that blocked the reinforcements of the Japanese and puppet troops from the battlefield will be able to reach here in one hour after our closest Japanese and puppet troops." The reconnaissance squad leader of the spy company hurried over to report.

"All the explosives on the railway are arranged!" Zhou Cheng looked at Shen Liwen and asked!

Shen Liwen nodded: "The railways in the mining area are buried with explosives. As soon as the train leaves, they immediately detonate. The Japanese who arrived here must have thought that we were retreating from the railway!"

"That's good!" Zhou Cheng glanced at his watch and began to give orders: "All troops get on the bus and are ready to set off and go home..."

"Boom..."

Amid the huge roar, the front of the car with thick smoke began to start, pulling six carriages and four carriages with absenteeism and soldiers slowly left the mine area.

The driving speed was very slow at the beginning, and it took almost five minutes to leave the smoke-filled mining area...

After walking forward for another half a minute, a series of explosions rang out behind the train...

Lizhuang is a small village that relies solely on the railway line. In order to protect the safety of the railway, all the people who were too close to the railway were moved away by the Japanese and their houses were demolished to ensure that there were no places for hiding within 500 meters on both sides of the railway.

In addition to demolishing the houses, the Japanese army also built a artillery tower next to the railway, stationed more than 50 Japanese and a platoon of puppet troops, protecting the railway line twenty-four hours a day to prevent anyone from destroying the railway.

At 3:30 p.m., more than a dozen Japanese and puppet troops were guarding the roof of the artillery tower and several shooting holes as usual, staring at the surroundings without blinking.

A roar of trains suddenly reached their ears. At first, the sound was very small, and it was almost impossible to notice if you didn't pay attention. As you listened, the sound began to grow louder and became closer and closer to the cannon tower.

The commander of the artillery tower raised his telescope and saw a white smoke column coming out of the front of the steam locomotive, and then his eyebrows twisted into a big Sichuan character.

The Zhengtai Railway has not been reopened to traffic yet. According to principles, there shouldn't be a train on it, but now a train is driving towards Yangquan.

Is this a train carrying out an emergency mission?

The commander analyzed in his mind that he could not have imagined that the trains on the railway would belong to the National Salvation Army.

But it is impossible to make a judgment on this matter based on your own guesses. You must ask for instructions from above and ask for clarity.

If the train passes through the artillery tower that he is defending and there is something unexpected happening in front of him and he does not report this to the higher authorities, his superiors will definitely hold him accountable.

He decisively put down his telescope and quickly walked into his own room on the second floor of the artillery tower, preparing to call and report the matter to the above.

But no matter how he called on the phone, there was no response on the other end of the phone.

"Is the phone broken?" The commander frowned even deeper and shouted to the door: "The telephone soldier will go out to check the line immediately, I want to contact my superiors immediately..."

"Others are on the alert and carefully observe the trains on the railway to see if there is any problem?"

A minute later, before the phone number of the superior was connected, the roar of the train became louder and louder, and it was already very close to the artillery tower.

"Sir, the train is coming soon, it seems like a military train that brings supplies. The front of the car is dragged all over the tank car..." A voice from Cao Cao came from the roof of the artillery tower.

When the commander returned to the roof of the artillery again, the train whizzed past his eyes.

The train was very fast, and there was no point in stopping, and it passed through in an instant.

Although the commander's eyes were wide open, he still didn't see it clearly and found nothing unusual!

Seeing the train walking away, the commander returned to the room: "Have the phone number to the superior been connected yet? The trains have all left in front of us!"

The scolded telephone soldier reported nervously: "Sir, there is no problem with the telephone line in the artillery tower, and there is no problem with the telephone. It must be that the telephone line outside has been cut off. It takes time to go outside to check the line before finding out the reason..."

"Is ten minutes enough?" the commander asked back with dissatisfaction.

The telephone soldier shook his head: "I don't know either. If the phone line with the problem is far away from us, we will not be able to find the problem in half an hour, let alone fix it."

The commander became increasingly dissatisfied and cursed without hesitation: "When you fix the phone line, the train that passed through us just now has arrived and settled. What else can I report on..."

"The messenger, run to the stronghold nearest to us immediately, and use their phone number to report to the superiors that the military line is heading to Yangquan to prevent any accidents in the military line on the railway in front of us?"

Two messengers rushed out of the artillery tower one by one and the other, and ran towards a stronghold seven or eight kilometers away.

When they were almost five kilometers away from the stronghold, several "monsters" covered with thatch suddenly rushed out of the grass on both sides of the Guanguan Road.

The two messengers were exhausted and panting, so their reaction speed was naturally much slower.

When they put the rifle on their backs in their hands and wanted to fight back, several "monsters" had already rushed to them, each holding a dagger, and in groups of three or four, they stabbed them...

At Jingxing Coal Mine, a Japanese and puppet army finally arrived here.

Many places in the mining area are still burning, and a lot of black smoke is coming out.

The bodies of guard soldiers were everywhere in the middle of the ruins, and many soldiers were blown into minced meat... It looked terrible.

The Japanese in the vanguard of the forward team quickly dispersed, hoping to find a few live-actions in the mining area and confirm the specific losses in the mining area by the way.

When the team leader rushed to the mining area, the vanguard team had just completed the investigation: "Sir, the mining area was blown up by the Eighth Route Army, and the two mine caves were also blown up. We searched the entire mining area but found no living person!"

This result was as expected by the captain, and the expression on his face did not change at all. Instead, he asked anxiously: "Have you found the traces left by the Eighth Route Army when they retreated and determine their retreat direction."

The team leader nodded: "The railways leading to the outside world in the mining area were all bombed, and there was no place for Tibetans around the railway, so they would definitely not be able to retreat along the railway."

"Some traces of retreat were found in the southeast of the mining area. Beizhi judged that the Eighth Route Army had retreated from there!"

The captain made a quick decision: "Send a telegram to the command center, the Jingxing coal mine was completely destroyed by the Eighth Route Army, and all the mine caves and equipment were blown up, which would take at least half a year to recover."

"The investigation found that the Eighth Route Army that was attacking the coal mine was retreating in the southeast. Our department decided to assemble all troops to pursue. Please order other reinforcements to attack the southeast of the coal mine. The artillery towers and strongholds in the southeast direction should be strengthened. We will immediately notify us after discovering the Eighth Route Army!"

The command center of the Yangquan Japanese Army Brigade did not receive news of military columns passing through the railway until 4:30 pm.

Others don’t know if there are military officers performing emergency tasks, Major General Honda is clear.

After listening to the report, he made a judgment: "There is something wrong with this train!"

"If the army is from the Imperial Army, the superiors will definitely notify me before the army sets off, so that we can prepare for the army to prevent accidents caused by railway interruption, but I have no news about this army here."

The deputy chief of staff asked in confusion: "If this army is not ours, then whose is it?"

"Did a train accidentally hit the Zhengtai Railway?"

Honda shook his head: "Do you think this is possible?"

After saying this, Major General Honda suddenly felt a bad premonition in his mind. He quickly looked at the sand table, trying to see some clues from it!

While looking, he asked: "Which artillery tower was the first to discover this military lineup!"

"Lizhuang Artillery Tower!" The combat staff pointed to a point on the railway to report.

"Have you seen this army in the artillery tower and stronghold in front!" Major General Honda seemed to have thought of something and continued to ask.

Seeing the combat staff shaking their heads, Honda immediately made a judgment: "This means that the military train they saw suddenly appeared on the section of the railway in front of the Lizhuang artillery Tower."

"The army line cannot emerge out of thin air, and there is a fork on this section of the road. If I guess correctly, the army line drove from this branch railway, then boarded the Zhengtai Railway and headed straight to Pingding!"
Chapter completed!