Devil's Army

Soon, Brigade Commander Li also entered Hengshui City with a large force.

The west gate, north gate and south gate of Hengshui City were bombarded with artillery fire, causing considerable damage.

Brigade Commanders Li and Gao respectively commanded their troops to clear the city gates, streets, and repair the collapsed houses.

At this time, the scout brought an Eighth Route Army soldier to report to Li, the brigade commander, that the newly formed 129th Brigade of the th Division of the Eighth Route Army was surrounded by a large Japanese force in Suzhengsuyi area of ​​Wuyi County, not far west of Hengshui City. He hoped that the First Anti-Japanese Army could help.

Li Guozhu asked the Eighth Route Army soldier:

"How many troops did the Japanese send out?"

"It's all over the mountains, there's no way to tell."

"No wonder the Japanese army didn't rush to reinforce Hengshui City even though they were so close. It turns out that their main forces were all surrounding and suppressing the main forces of the Eighth Route Army. Brigade Commander Gao, should your Jidong Independent Brigade go to reinforce or should our Sixth Brigade go?"

Li Guozhu thought that the Yidong Independent Brigade had just fought a fierce battle and needed to rest. They only blocked the reinforcements from Shijiazhuang and fought a small battle, so they could immediately go into combat. But with Brigade Commander Gao's personality, he would definitely rush to go, so he did a favor and asked.

Sure enough, Brigade Commander Gao immediately responded:

"We go, we are, we go."

Brigade Commander Gao originally wanted to say that we are originally a unit of the Eighth Route Army, but then he felt that it was inappropriate to say this and swallowed the words back.

"You just took over Hengshui City and need to rest for a while. Should we go?"

"It's okay. As long as we can beat the devils and capture cities and strongholds one after another, it won't be a problem for us."

"Well, you can bring all the troops over. There shouldn't be a small number of Japanese troops this time. The defense of Hengshui City, Shide Railway and nearby towns will be handed over to our Sixth Brigade."

"Xiao Guo, you guys go with Brigade Commander Gao."

Brigade Commander Li ordered their brigade's Golden Eagle drones to cooperate with the Jidong Independent Brigade.

Brigade Commander Gao immediately assembled his troops and set off for Wuyi County.

At that time, the newly formed 129th Brigade of the th Division of the Eighth Route Army was fighting fiercely with the Japanese army in Wuyi area.

Wuyi area is a plain area with an unobstructed terrain, which is not suitable for troop transfer and concealment.

When the newly formed 129th Brigade of the th Division of the Eighth Route Army moved to the Wuyi area, it was surrounded by highly mobile Japanese troops.

The newly formed 9th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army moved to the Suzheng Suyi area while fighting and retreating.

The Suzheng Suyi area is located on the west bank of the Xinhe River in Fuyang. There are many ditches and dams, which are suitable for hiding troops and ambushes.

At this time, Brigade Commander Gui received an order from Division Commander Liu that the Jidong Independent Brigade and the Sixth Brigade of the First Anti-Japanese Army had already fought to the vicinity of Hengshui City and were currently attacking Hengshui City. He ordered them to break out to the southeast and join the First Anti-Japanese Army.

The Japanese were obviously also wary of them joining up with the Devil's troops, and the southeast direction was a direction they were guarding very tightly, so there was no way for them to break out.

Brigade Commander Gui could only make a feint to the east and attack in the west, ordering the first regiment to attack fiercely in the northeast direction to attract the main force of the Japanese army to come back for support. He took the remaining main force and prepared to break out in the southeast direction.

Although the First Regiment fought fiercely, it created the illusion that the main force was breaking out to the northeast, and also attracted some of the surrounding Japanese troops to come to reinforce. However, because the number of Japanese troops surrounding them was too large this time, the number of Japanese troops in the southeast did not decrease much.

If we break through the Suzheng and Suyi areas now, the terrain ahead will be visible. The main force of the newly formed 129th Brigade of the th Division of the Eighth Route Army will be exposed to the sight of the Japanese army. Then they will be besieged by a large Japanese force.

Although Brigade Commander Gui was extremely anxious, he did not order his troops to break out.

In desperation, he called a communicator to break through the siege and ask for help from the First Anti-Japanese Army in Hengshui City.

The Eighth Route Army signalman carried the order from Brigade Commander Gao and trotted towards the Jidong Independent Brigade. He wanted to rescue their newly formed Ninth Brigade from the predicament as soon as possible.

Soon, the signalman led the Jidong Independent Brigade to the outskirts of the Japanese army.

The Japanese scouts apparently also discovered the arrival of the Jidong Independent Brigade and immediately reported it to the commander.

The commander of the 20th Division of the Japanese Army, Ichiro Nanada, was also shocked when he heard this. He had been worried that the Eighth Route Army would join forces with the Devil Army, but he did not expect that the Devil Army would take the initiative to come to reinforce.

Division Commander Ichiro Shichida immediately arranged for his troops to intercept the Jidong Independent Brigade.

Brigade Commander Gao ordered his direct regiment to attack the Japanese troops in the front, and the soldiers of the second regiment attacked the two wings respectively.

When Commander Gui heard fierce gunfire coming from the direction of Hengshui City, he knew that the First Anti-Japanese Army was coming to reinforce them, and immediately launched a fierce attack on the Japanese 20th Division from behind.

At the same time, he ordered the regiment that was making a feint attack in the northeast direction to move closer to them and break out from the southeast direction.

The commander of a regiment left behind a company to occupy the advantageous terrain and block the Japanese attack, and he led the large force to retreat quickly to the southeast.