Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

Moreover, this time the 389th Brigade encircled and annihilated the 108th Division, which completely hit the Japanese army's lungs. It is possible that the Japanese army will abandon the plan to attack southern Shanxi and go straight for the 389th Brigade.

After discussion, it was decided to organize the militia guerrillas and other troops in Wuxiang, Xiangheng, Licheng, Pingshun and Shexian into local garrison regiments, namely the 129th, 130th, 131st, 132nd and 133rd Regiments. The list was then discussed as follows:

The 129th Regiment was headed by Huang Mianchang and its political commissar was Yu Ruixiang;

The 130th Regiment was headed by Lü Guanying and had its political commissar Wang Yifu;

The 131st Regiment was headed by Wang Huaide and had its political commissar Wu Xiezhong;

The 132nd Regiment was headed by Tan Su and had its political commissar, Jia Mingzhong;

The commander of the 133rd Regiment was Wu Huchen, and the political commissar was Qiu Hongchi.

At the same time, in order to have more room for maneuver later, it was decided to transfer most of the troops to the southern part of Hebei Province after the summer to develop and establish a base in southern Hebei Province. Therefore, except for leaving behind three directly affiliated regiments and one artillery regiment, the remaining main regiments of the Jindongnan region were to move to the southern part of Hebei Province.

The southern part of Hebei mainly includes the vast areas of Handan and Xingtai, with nearly 30 counties and cities and a large population. Once the 389th Brigade survives the anti-mopping-up campaign and takes root, it will be time to increase the number of troops.

After everyone finished discussing, they dispersed and started to get busy with various things.

More than half a month passed, time flew by, and soon it was mid-April.

Several major events occurred during this period, and one of them was beyond Zeng Jiwen's expectations. One of them was something Zeng Jiwen knew about, the Battle of Xuzhou and the victory of Taierzhuang. Especially at the end of March, when Zeng Jiwen and others annihilated the 108th Division in the Battle of Changzhi, the enthusiasm of the entire Chinese war of resistance became more intense and reached a climax.

In less than half a month, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties in the Jin battlefield and the Xuzhou battlefield, which really hit the arrogance of the Japanese army. It even led to doubts within the Japanese army about whether to continue to expand the war, but they were immediately suppressed by the hardliners and prepared to continue to expand the war.

Another incident shocked the entire Shanxi area. After the Japanese 108th Division attacked Changzhi and was completely annihilated, the new commander of the First Army, Naosaburo Okabe, the former chief of staff of the First Army, quietly took advantage of the night to rush the 14th Division stationed in Handan to the south, and then suddenly captured Xinxiang and directly attacked Jincheng from northern Henan.

A regiment of the 47th Army of the Sichuan Army defending Jincheng was defeated unexpectedly and fled to Changzhi. After occupying Jincheng, the Japanese army immediately attacked Changzhi without giving the 47th Army much response.

The Japanese 14th Division launched a fierce attack on Changzhi under the cover of aircraft and tanks. The 47th Army suffered heavy casualties and had to evacuate from the north gate to the defense zone of the 389th Brigade.

When Zeng Jiwen learned the news, he was also shocked that the Japanese army had kept this operation so secret. The local troops operating in Handan at the time only saw the main force of the 14th Division heading towards the Xuzhou battlefield. They did not expect that the 14th Division would make a surprise attack and bypass western Shandong and northern Henan to directly attack Jincheng.

Without thinking too much, Zeng Jiwen immediately ordered the 783rd Regiment to rush to Changzhi to support the 47th Army. After the 783rd Regiment contacted the commander of the 47th Army, Li, at night, it immediately opened a passage in the north of the city to cover the evacuation of the 47th Army.

After occupying Changzhi, the Japanese army immediately moved westward through Hongdong and headed towards Yuncheng, and finally occupied Yuncheng together with the 20th Division on April 10.

The battle situation in southern Shanxi changed too quickly. The Japanese army acted swiftly this time. The entire division set up camp at night, and the range of the scouts was more than ten kilometers. During the day, they began to march rapidly under the escort of the air force. Zeng Jiwen felt it was difficult after receiving the intelligence. This time, this group of Japanese troops was completely a hedgehog, and Zeng Jiwen had no way to deal with it.

Zeng Jiwen couldn't help but sigh that the Japanese army had learned their lesson after being hurt. Zhou Shi even joked with a smile, "How could they not change? Any small unit that dared to come was eaten up directly. This time, every time they rested, they were like an iron turtle and could not be knocked down."