Along the way, I witnessed the tragic situation of natural and man-made disasters, and the people were in dire straits.
Although Shen Wenyue and Xiao Wu sympathized with the victims and wanted to help, they were unable to do anything.
When passing a large group of refugees, Xiao Wu tightened the package containing dry food, touched the shell gun worn on his waist with his right hand, and paid careful attention to his surroundings.
As a farmer's child, I also experienced hunger.
Xiao Wu knows very well that under the influence of hunger, human nature does not exist at all.
He and Reporter Shen brought this week's dry food. If this was exposed to the victims, these anxious victims would definitely swarm them and cause unnecessary riots.
"Folks, if you continue walking north, you will encounter some shelter stations along the way. Those are the shelter stations set up along the way by our Eighth Route Army's First Anti-Japanese Detachment in Northwest Shanxi.
The comrades there will tell you how to get there.
As long as we cross the Yellow River and enter the Three Jin Dynasties, our Eighth Route Army will definitely find ways to help everyone overcome the difficulties."
At this time, a voice came from not far away. Shen Wenyue and Xiao Wu heard the words and looked around. It turned out that they encountered a shelter built by the independent group.
The comrades at the shelter are making publicity to the victims in the aisle.
"Captain Kong's measures to help the victims have been extended to here!" Shen Wenyue said with emotion when she saw this scene.
Xiao Wu smiled and said: "Yes, our group leader has always thought more long-term than others. He has long said that he would build these shelters along the way to help the fleeing people.
The leader said that as long as everyone works together and persists, the difficulties will pass sooner or later."
Shen Wenyue nodded.
She also has ways to help the victims.
Along the way, she encountered people who were fleeing collectively. They were all emaciated and sallow, and corpses of people who died of starvation could be seen everywhere on both sides of the official road.
She tried to take pictures with the camera in her hand.
In her words: "The military and governments everywhere are only focusing on the war against Japan. Who has noticed the tragedy happening right now?
If the scenes here were captured and preserved without a camera, who would believe it?
I hope that the information obtained through this in-depth interview, as well as the photos taken and the subsequent reports will attract the attention of the government and focus on helping the victims."
To this end, Shen Wenyue also interviewed some disaster victims along the way.
While Xiao Wu watched eagerly from the side, he explained for Shen Wenyue: "Fellow, this is a reporter. He can report the suffering happening here and let all places know about it. Then the government can pay attention and help
Everyone, if Reporter Shen asks anything, please cooperate and answer truthfully!"
The old man who was being questioned nodded after hearing this.
Shen Wenyue asked: "Fellow, where did you come from?"
The old man spoke with a Henan accent and said: "I came all the way from Henan."
"Yuzhong, the road is not that close!"
"Hey, who can say otherwise? Seven or eight people traveling with me starved to death along the way!"
"Why do you want to escape? I heard that there is a drought in central Henan, but hasn't the government taken some rescue measures?"
When the old man heard this, he showed an expression of indignation and cursed: "Eh--, can those dogs survive?
Originally, many of our households in the key areas had some food saved, but those white dogs came to the village every day to collect food.
Usually when the harvest is good, every household of ours eats cereals and wild vegetables, which is fine.
Once there is a natural disaster and the harvest is not good, even the wild vegetables cannot be eaten, and the bark of the elm trees around my village has been eaten up.
The children were very hungry and went to eat Guanyin soil. They had a lot of stomachaches and it hurt to death.
We want to find a way to survive, so we can only escape.
Those who have the strength to run away, and those who are too old to run, can only stay in the village and wait to starve to death..."
When it came to the sad part, the old man choked with sobs and could not speak.
After hearing what the old man said, Shen Wenyue, with a heavy heart, quickly recorded it in her notebook. She wanted to report exactly what the old man said.
In this way, we continue to go deeper in the direction of Yuzhong.
Shen Wenyue's notebooks are getting better and better, and she is taking more and more photos.
……
……
At this time, the battle situation in Zhongtiao Mountain was also quietly evolving.
Uchida Nobuya, the Japanese Kwantung Army commander who is personally in charge of the Ji County headquarters, is currently complacent.
After the first confrontation with the Fourth Independent Regiment, the failure was caused by carelessness and after learning the lesson.
Nobuya Uchida immediately adjusted his combat deployment and enemy strategy, struck steadily, and used the merging policy to gradually encroach on the guerrilla zone of the Fourth Independent Regiment.
During this period of time, the Eighth Route Army did not seem to have a good response to the Japanese army's gradual encroachment. It just passively chose to defend.
Just some harassment along the way did not successfully stop the Japanese army from merging.
All this was expected by the old devil Uchida Shinya.
"Gradually erode the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla zones, advance strongholds and fortifications, compress the Eighth Route Army's living space within a limited range, and then wipe it out in one fell swoop with a final sweep."
Five days.
In the military meeting at the headquarters, Nobuya Uchida talked about his plan to destroy the Fourth Independent Regiment.
Then the communications troops arrived and reported to Uchida Xingyehui:
"Reporting to your Excellency, Captain, there is news from the ancient town that a large number of main combat troops of the Eighth Route Army suddenly appeared and are attacking the ancient town!"
"Nani?"
Nobu Uchida was also a little dumbfounded. Just now, he had confidently analyzed that the Eighth Route Army could only passively defend at the moment and had no power to fight back.
Who would have thought that by turning around, the Eighth Route Army would dare to attack the towns?
Uchida Nobu also pondered for a moment, and for a while he couldn't figure out what these eight ways meant.
But the ancient town could not ignore it. He immediately issued an order to send additional reinforcements to the ancient town.
..."Reporting to your Excellency, Captain, Qingxiang was suddenly attacked by the Eighth Route Army troops. The city gate was almost breached. A message requesting for help has been sent from the Qingxiang headquarters!"
"Baga! What do these damn Tubal Road people want to do?"
Uchida Nobuya was furious.
At this time, we usually wanted to find a decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army had been relying on the mountainous areas to fight guerrillas with the Japanese army, and did not give the Japanese army a chance for a decisive battle.
At the moment, Uchida Nobuya no longer expects a decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army.
Instead, they attempted to use the policy of annexation to gradually encroach on the guerrilla areas of the Eighth Route Army, and finally encircle the Eighth Route Army.
Who would have thought that at this juncture, the Eighth Route Army would take the initiative to launch an attack.
Although the intentions of the Eighth Route Army are unclear, the strength of the Japanese army in the Zhongtiao Mountain area is obviously much greater than that of the Fourth Independent Regiment.
After Uchida Nobuya calmed down, he immediately issued a combat deployment, and a large number of troops surrounded Qingxiang and the ancient town.
……
Guzhen and Qingxiang, although the attack of the Fourth Independent Regiment was huge.
Even the city gates of Qingxiang were captured.
The Japanese troops stationed in Qingxiang and Guzhen did not hesitate to believe that the Eighth Route Army launched a rebellion in an attempt to capture Qingxiang and Guzhen.
But actually...
"It's just a feint!"
"Don't stop the attacks of all the troops. Use the artillery shells when they are needed. We must start the battle and make the little devils believe that we are just coming to Qingxiang."
Outside Qingxiang.
The commander of the first battalion of the Fourth Independent Regiment, who was commanding the operation, gave orders repeatedly.
Soon after, the reconnaissance troops returned and reported again: "Report to the battalion commander, the Japanese troops are encircling us from the west, east, and north. The nearest place is less than two kilometers away from us."
The first battalion commander looked at the watch in his hand and calculated the time. It had been nearly an hour since the attack on Qingxiang was launched.
The purpose of the feint attack was achieved, and staying any longer would only put the troops into crisis. He issued the order without hesitation:
"The main force of the battalion immediately retreated, leaving half of the company to continue the feint attack, and then retreated through the mountain path."
"Yes!"
……
Fourth Independent Regiment Headquarters.
News from all parties is continuously transmitted back through communication troops.
For the Fourth Independent Regiment fighting in Zhongtiao Mountain, Kong Jiena spent a lot of money.
The equipment uses the best equipment, and now it has even become an all-round art equipment team.
The communication equipment is not bad at all. Kong Jie sent a lot of small radio stations and walkie-talkies.
These convenient communication channels will undoubtedly enhance the combat effectiveness of the fourth regiment.
Looking at the combat map in front of him, Wang Huaibao analyzed: "Qingxiang and Guzhen have successfully attracted the attention of the Japanese army."
"The Japanese army mobilized a large number of troops to encircle Qingxiang and Guzhen, which gave the four battalions led by Han Feng the opportunity to make a roundabout move."
The deputy commander added from the side: "Duan Peng has also taken the opportunity to set off with the commando team. It is estimated that it will not be long before they can reach Guizi County."
"We have all the preparations in place, and we are just waiting for that little devil to get angry with us and launch a big sweep!"
"Yes!" Wang Huaibao said with a smile: "This is really interesting. We are actually watching the Japanese raids coming!"
...afternoon on the 5th.
The Eighth Route Army troops came like a tide and quickly attacked Qingxiang and Guzhen. After a large number of Japanese troops surrounded them, they disappeared.
The arriving Japanese troops blocked a dozen miles around Qingxiang and the ancient town, but still failed to block the retreating Eighth Route Army troops.
The nose of the old devil Uchida Shinya is almost crooked with anger.
Baga——
"It's the same thing again!"
"What these damn idiots like most is to pretend to be gods and ghosts."
However, we must be on guard against the Eighth Route Army troops that appear in large numbers and suddenly launch a surprise attack.
Considering that this is a critical period for the policy of merging villages.
Whether we can successfully encroach on the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla zones and completely lock the Eighth Route Army's activity space in a small local area depends entirely on how the situation will be controlled.
Uchida Nobu was also worried that as the policy of merging villages continued, these Eighth Route Army troops would emerge to cause chaos.
Therefore, after analysis by the staff department, Nobuya Uchida decided to repeat the same trick.
He ordered all forces to launch a steady sweep of the Eighth Route Army in Zhongtiao Mountain.
This kind of sweep is different from ordinary sweeps.
The Japanese army will not rush into the mountainous areas, let alone advance alone to prevent being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army troops.
The little devils will rely on the villages along the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla area to gradually advance.
In addition, the terrain of Zhongtiao Mountain is long and narrow, unlike Taihang, which has a broad depth.
The Japanese army can even ensure the distance between the mopping up troops and the mopping up troops, so they can reinforce each other at any time.
Therefore, Nobu Uchida never worried that during the sweep, a certain unit would be suddenly killed by the Eighth Route Army.
The Eighth Route Army does not have this strength at all.
Even with this strength, it would be too late to quickly eliminate a certain Japanese mopping up force.
Early morning on the 6th.
The Japanese army launched a gradual sweep.
The entire mopping up net was connected, and the Japanese army deployed a large number of reconnaissance troops along the way. There were even Japanese reconnaissance planes circling and roaring back and forth above Zhongtiao Mountain.
The Fourth Independent Regiment was not given a chance to break out.
Uchida Nobuya also arranged additional security forces, and along with the progressive sweeps, they quickly encroached on the villages in the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla zones.
Inside the headquarters of the brigade advancing with the army.
As the commander-in-chief of the vanguard force, Uchida Shinya looked confident.
The large-scale raid he launched this time was his revenge on the Eighth Route Army's raid on Qingxiang and Ancient Town.
In Uchida Nobuya's opinion, this is the Eighth Route Army playing with fire and self-immolation. If they dare to anger the Empire of Japan, they must be prepared to be destroyed.
"Instruct all ministries to search carefully and move forward to ensure that no fish slips through the net!"
"Hi!"
……
It's a pity that the fish that slipped through the net did not appear.
However, the commandos and soldiers from the fourth battalion had already penetrated into the rear of the Japanese army while the fourth regiment was pretending to attack Qingxiang and Guzhen.
It was not included in the Japanese army's sweeping net.
Han Feng divided the four battalions and companies into separate combat units and divided them into four interleaved teams.
Under the leadership of Duan Peng, the commando team has successfully sneaked into Ji County, the important city of the Japanese army in Zhongtiao Mountain.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, under the unified mobilization of the regiment commander Wang Huaibao, contained the Japanese army's large-scale raids from the front.
All parties are ready.
9 a.m. on the 6th.
The forward troops commanded by Nobuya Uchida took the lead in fighting the combat troops of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Independent Regiment.
But this time, the fierce firepower displayed by the soldiers of the first battalion really shocked the old Japanese Nobuya Uchida.
The forward observation post reported: "The Eighth Route Army is well-equipped and even possesses a large amount of American equipment, including Garand plate automatic rifles, M2 60mm mortars, and some Browning heavy machine guns...
The forward troops suffered heavy casualties and were temporarily unable to break through the Eighth Route Army's defenses."
Uchida Nobuya was secretly surprised.
Only now did he realize that he had underestimated the Fourth Independent Regiment in Zhongtiao Mountain.
A lot of American equipment...
He couldn't figure out where the Eighth Route Army obtained these equipment.
In this confrontation, the courage shown by the Eighth Route Army was completely different from the previous times.
In the past few times, the Eighth Route Army mainly focused on blocking and harassing. They would not directly open up the battle line and use fortifications to engage in head-on confrontations like now.
This made Nobuya Uchida undecided for a moment.
After Uchida Nobuya had no choice but to send the news back to the rear headquarters.
The Japanese rear command issued an order for Nobuya Uchida to eat this main force of the Eighth Route Army.
The Japs at the headquarters are worried that if such a powerful and well-equipped Eighth Route Army is not eliminated by the opportunity, it will definitely cause endless troubles in the future.
After receiving the order, Uchida Nobu no longer hesitated. He was confident that although the Eighth Route Army had powerful firepower and well-equipped equipment.
However, our own firepower is not bad either. In addition, we have an absolute advantage in terms of military strength. Even if we are wasted, we can kill this main force of the Eighth Route Army.
"Notify the forward troops and continue the attack!"
"Hi!"
"The Communications Department immediately contacted the General Headquarters and requested air support!"
"Hi!"
The battle between the two sides intensified, and with the arrival of the Japanese flying squadron, it quickly became intense...