Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

"Which unit are you from?"

"Sir, I'm from the 12th Division of the 3rd Army!"

"General Tang Huaiyuan's troops, I've also read the battle report from Zhongtiao Mountain. General Tang led your Third Army in a bloody battle with the Japanese in Zhongtiao Mountain, but eventually ran out of ammunition and food. General Tang committed suicide at Xuanshan Mountain. Division Commander Cun Xingqi also chose to commit suicide after being injured. Although your Third Army was defeated, you did a great job!"

Hearing these words, many prisoners of the Third Army smiled. Having been captured by the devils and now rescued, they felt somewhat inferior in their hearts. Zhao Gang's words restored some of their confidence.

"Sir, we lost so quickly, do you really think we're not a disgrace?"

"Which unit are you from?"

"I'm from the 169th Division of the 98th Army."

"The 98th Army, General Wu Shimin's troops, you considered the overall situation and did not participate in the December Incident. For this, I, Zhao Gang, admire you. In this Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, your 98th Army and the Japanese surrounded Dongyu and Xiyu in Qinshui County, but you still fought desperately. General Fang even shouted to fight to the end. If you fail, you will die. You are just like that!"

Hearing these words, many soldiers of the 98th Army lowered their heads in shame, tears streaming down their faces. The commander had died for his country, but they were still trying to survive.

"Sir, but we've been captured. I think we..."

"What about you? Which unit are you from?"

Zhao Gang once again asked the soldier who spoke. He said that he had received the details of the Zhongtiaoshan Battle in the evening and spent three hours memorizing it in order to win the hearts of these national army soldiers, shorten the distance, and then pull them into the independent column.

"Sir, I am from the 165th Division of the 36th Army."

"..."

After hearing the division's name, Zhao Gang was stunned for a moment before smiling and saying, "You're not bad, you, you... If it weren't for you, well, our independent column wouldn't have been able to capture Ping'an County and Datong. Let's eat first, and I'll tell you what's going to happen next..."

Chapter 212: Political Commissar Zhao, I am the Logistics Director of the 165th Division

"Political Commissar Zhao, Political Commissar Zhao, I, I, I, do you still remember me?"

Among the crowd of Kuomintang prisoners, one man raised his hands high and motioned Zhao Gang to look at him.

Zhao Gang looked over and thought the person looked unfamiliar. Xing Zhiguo shone a flashlight over and recognized who the person was at a glance.

"The political commissar is the logistics director of the 165th Division. His name seems to be Zhang Dazhi. We used to purchase weapons and ammunition from the Nationalist Army through him. He made a lot of money from our heavy artillery. I think he saw you when he came to Ping'an County to deliver the goods."

After hearing this, Zhao Gang looked at Zhang Dazhi and pretended to think for a moment before saying, "Zhang Dazhi?"

Zhang Dazhi immediately became excited after hearing what Zhao Gang said. He squeezed to the front of the crowd and said, "Political Commissar Zhao, I didn't expect you to still remember me."

"Remember, remember, thanks to your support of weapons, we were able to capture Ping'an County. Let's eat first, and you follow me."

After Zhao Gang winked at Xing Zhiguo, Zhang Dazhi was immediately brought out and came to Zhao Gang's side, constantly saying compliments: "Political Commissar Zhao, thank you. If it weren't for your suspicion, me and these brothers might have..."

Zhao Gang immediately laughed and said, "We're all fighting the Japs, no one is better than the other. How did you get captured?"

Zhang Dazhi blushed slightly and said, "We took the wrong road when we were retreating, and ended up running into the Japanese..."

"Where's Commander Wang?"

"My uncle successfully crossed the Yellow River."

Zhang Dazhi was clever and told Zhao Gang about his background, telling him that he was valuable and different from those soldiers.

Hearing this, Zhao Gang's smile grew wider. If Commander Wang of the 165th Division had died, Zhang Dazhi would be of no use. But as long as Commander Wang was still alive, Zhang Dazhi could be of great use.

If we continue to buy things from the National Army in the future, we will still need these people to act as middlemen.

Although the Independent Column seized a large amount of supplies in Datong, it also had to continue doing business with the National Army. After all, the National Army had a lot of good things that Li Yunlong could not produce for the time being, such as medicines, heavy weapons, anti-aircraft guns, etc.

"Director Zhang, do you want to stay in our army or return to Commander Wang?"

Zhang Dazhi's mind raced, and he hesitated before saying, "Commissar Zhao, I personally want to stay in the Eighth Route Army, but Commander Wang, who is also my uncle, only has me as his relative. I'm afraid he'll be worried if I'm not by his side. I think..."

Zhao Gang never thought of keeping Zhang Dazhi and his group. After all, these people were basically black sheep and would sooner or later become a disaster if they stayed in the army.

"I understand, I understand. When we return to the base, I will arrange for someone to send you back to the National Army."

After hearing this, Zhang Dazhi's eyes immediately lit up. At this time, Xing Zhiguo stood by and handed over a can of Japanese beef, saying, "Director Zhang, next time I come to you to buy weapons, you have to give me a discount!"

Hearing this, Zhang Dazhi immediately patted his chest and assured: "Don't worry, it's definitely a discount!"

As he spoke, he couldn't wait to pick up the can and start gobbling it up.

After the first group of soldiers finished their meal, the second train also arrived at Datong Railway Station. The four Japanese trains carrying prisoners all departed at about the same time, so their arrival times were not much different.

Like the first train, the carriages were still packed like sardines in a can, with more than 200 Kuomintang prisoners of war crammed into one carriage.

There were still more than 8,000 National Army soldiers. During the transportation, hundreds of them were unable to reach Datong due to various problems. In the end, only more than 7,800 National Army soldiers survived.

The third and fourth trains were actually similar. On each train, about seven or eight hundred people died, and the death toll was close to ten percent.

This death toll is not high for the Japanese escorting prisoners of war. Compared with several death marches in which the Japanese escorted prisoners of war, this proportion is already very low. This is mainly due to railway transportation. If they had to rely on walking, it is estimated that half of the Kuomintang prisoners of war would have died on the road.

"Old Li, the number of prisoners has been counted. There are a total of 32,764."

The Japanese army camp was already overcrowded, but most of the prisoners were arranged to rest on the spot after eating.

Now this group of national army soldiers is relatively stable, but Zhao Gang knows that as time goes by, various emotions will definitely arise among these prisoners, and they need to be dealt with early.

"Let them choose for themselves. If they are willing to follow us, we will take them back to the base. If they are unwilling to leave, we will leave them some food and let them find a way out on their own. But we cannot let them enter Datong, otherwise the people of Datong will suffer."

It’s not that Li Yunlong didn’t want to take all these Kuomintang prisoners away, but he didn’t have time to mobilize this group of people. Using guns to force them could indeed make them follow the main force, but these people would also run away on the way.

It would be better to let them choose whether to leave or stay. Besides, Li Yunlong did not plan to transport this group of people back by train, but let them walk back to the base with the main force.

The purpose of doing this was to eliminate those who had poor physical fitness and weak will in the National Army. If they could follow the main force from Wutai Mountain to the Taihang Mountain base, Li Yunlong would accept all of them and incorporate them into the independent column.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away!"

"The train leaves at three o'clock!"

Li Yunlong glanced at his watch and told Zhao Gang the time, then immediately began to make final preparations.

There are still seven detachments of the Independent Column in Datong. The artillery battalion, rocket artillery company, cavalry battalion and five newly formed battalions have started to march towards the base with some important supplies last night.

At 2:30 in the morning, 30 kilometers northeast of Datong, Shen Quan led the Second Detachment and the Daqingshan Cavalry Detachment to ambush on both sides of the railway, waiting for the Japanese support troops.

"coming!"

On the railway in the distance, a train was heading towards Datong. There was a huge searchlight in front of the locomotive, which illuminated the tracks ahead clearly. The train was not going very fast, about 25 kilometers per hour.

The train was carrying three infantry battalions of the Second Mixed Brigade of the Mengjiang Garrison Army and was heading towards Datong.

On the front of the train, the observer was observing the situation on the railway with a telescope. When the Japanese train was running at night, the searchlight would be turned on most of the time to prevent the railway guerrillas from destroying the railway.

"Tian Shanjun, we're only thirty kilometers away from Datong. I'm finally done with my work. I can have a good rest for two days in Datong."

"Yes, I hope nothing happens in the next thirty kilometers. I heard that the Eighth Route Army guerrillas are in Datong. All these imperial warriors we transported are going to support Datong."

"It shouldn't be a problem. Datong has been in contact with us and has sent people to inspect the railway. There's nothing damaged!"

The Japanese soldier in charge of observing the railway situation continued to inspect the railway carefully while speaking.

Soon his brow furrowed, "Huh?"

"What's wrong, Koizumi-kun?"

"Nothing, there was a section of railway ahead that I thought looked a little strange."

"Slow down?"

"That's not necessary. The track is intact, but the rails look a little crooked. They probably need to be replaced."

"Okay, let's talk to the people responsible for railway maintenance when we get to Datong. Those bastards must have been slacking off again."

In the train carriage, several Japanese officers sat together, and Japanese soldiers were busy preparing hot pot for them.

Chapter 213: Eating hot pot and singing songs, the train overturned

"coming!"

Shen Quan was rubbing his hands excitedly. Ever since he came up with the idea of ​​attacking the railway and Li Yunlong praised him, saying, "Shen Quan, you are such a genius," Shen Quan had always wanted to put this method into actual combat.

Unfortunately, the last time we were in Tanyaoyu, we waited for the Japanese for several hours, but no reinforcements arrived, so we couldn’t test whether this trick worked.

At this time on the train, Noyamaji, the captain of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Japanese, was eating hot pot in the carriage with the captains of the 2nd Infantry Battalion and the 3rd Infantry Battalion.

"Mr. Yeshan, this is top-quality mutton. My troops found it among the Zhina herdsmen during a raid a while ago. They had just been killed when we arrived, so I happened to bring it with me."

"Pingshui Jun, you are indeed the best eater among our Mengjiang Garrison Army. We are in for a treat today!"

"We'll arrive in Datong in two hours. Let's eat first, then we'll go and destroy the guerrillas of the Zhina Army."

"Noyama-kun is right. Only when you are well fed can you have the strength to fight."

"The water is boiling, come, eat meat, eat meat!"

"It's really delicious! It reminds me of my mother's taste. Everyone, let me sing a song..."

"Then let's sing a folk song. We need victory, sheep, hot pot and wine."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Three Japanese captains and a deputy captain, a total of six people, were eating hot pot and singing in the carriage.

This train to Datong did not slow down and continued to move forward along the tracks. At the current speed, it can arrive in Datong about two hours earlier.

As the searchlight continued to move forward with the train to check whether the railway was safe, the Japanese train driver frowned and asked, "Koizumi-kun, why is there no reflection on this section of railway ahead?"

Hearing this, the observer named Koizumi once again looked at the railway in front of him.

Just now, under the illumination of the searchlight, you can clearly see that this section of railway has not been damaged and the tracks are there. But without the illumination of the searchlight, you can't see anything on this section of railway. Unlike other tracks that can reflect light, you can barely see the track lines of the two rails. The railway in front of you is pitch black.

"Koizumi-kun, are you sure there are railroad tracks here?"

The train driver was about to apply the brakes, but Koizumi, who was in charge of observation, said confidently, "Hayi, I just looked carefully, and the railway here is intact. It may be because the moon is not bright enough today. I have observed it with my own eyes, and there will be no problem."

"Well, I hope I'm overthinking it..."

In fact, the train driver also knew that it was too late to apply the brakes now. This section of dark railway was right in front of him, and the train driver could only bite the bullet and continue to drive forward.

"Besides, besides, besides..."

The sound of train wheels rolling over rails was heard, and then the moving train ran onto the wooden tracks. The wooden tracks could not bear the weight of the locomotive at all. The locomotive of the train rushed out of the track uncontrollably and rushed towards the open space outside the track.

"Cheating!"

The train driver realized that something had happened the moment the train shook violently, and immediately grabbed the handrail next to the driver's seat tightly.

After the locomotive rushed off the track, it still relied on inertia to continue rushing forward, and the carriages behind it also derailed along with the locomotive.