To the south of Laiwu, on the main peak of the Xishan Mountain, the atmosphere in the command center, covered by layers of branches, was heavy. The sound of gunfire and cannons from afar made everyone feel tight. Everyone was busy, the phone kept ringing, and the staff kept marking the map. Zhang Zizhong was wearing a gray coat, with no expression on his black and thin face, and his hands were supported on the trench wall, and his eyes were straight at the firelight coming out of Lotus Mountain.

Give up Laiwu because of the original plan, but it was the result of the breakthrough of the defense line. Xiwei Shouzao quietly transferred the 4th Brigade of the Mixed Brigade, which was left in Jiaodong to encircle the local anti-Japanese armed forces and the 38th Division in Jinan, Texas to the front line, accurately attacking the flank of the 40th Army. The 40th Army was originally one of the weakest troops in the fifth war zone, and it was already doing its best to block the attack of a division. Xiwei Shouzao's vision was very vicious. The 38th Division and the 4th Mixed Brigade joined and immediately broke through the left wing of the 40th Army. Pang Bingxun personally led the military guard battalion to counterattack and failed to block the breakthrough. The front collapsed. Zhang Zizhong urgently sent the 4th Brigade 4th Brigade to reinforce, but the Japanese army had already achieved momentum and the 4th Brigade was unable to restore its position, but the counterattack of the 4th Brigade won Zhang Zizhong retreat time.

Zhang Zizhong gave up the defense line north of Laiwu, crossed Laiwu, and formed a second line of defense in Bijia Mountain, Wangjiayu, and Mutou Mountain. This line of defense was all served by the 59th Army, and the 40th Army rectified the second line of defense with Lianhua Mountain as the core.

The Forty Army should be considered a new force. Most of the casualties in the last battle of Linyi were killed and most of the troops were recruits. As soon as the front line was broken, these recruits were a little panicked. When they retreated, the troops ran apart. Pang Bingxun took the boss's efforts to gather the troops.

The danger still did not pass. The Japanese army successfully attacked and continued to pursue after occupying Laiwu. They quickly launched an attack on Bijia Mountain. Fierce battles were fierce on the front line. The casualties of the 59th Army rose sharply. The commander of the 2nd Brigade Li Jinzhen was seriously injured. The commander of the three main regiments was killed. Only Li Jiusi, the commander of the new regiments, could only be replaced by Li Jiusi, the commander of the three regiments of the 3rd Brigade, two were seriously injured, and one was seriously injured, and one was killed and two were injured. The battalion commander was countless casualties. Almost all platoon-level officers of the company were replaced.

On the afternoon of the third day of the battle, the Bijia Mountain defense line was finally broken. The 59th Army retreated to the second line of defense and joined forces with the 40th Army. The Japanese army immediately launched an attack on Lianhua Mountain, but the main force circled to the left-wing Quaogelou Mountain and continued to attack the 59th Army.

"Don't retreat! I'll go back again, don't retreat! I'll lose my position, I'll shoot you!" Chief of Staff Zhang Kexia yelled at the phone, and then threw the phone heavily on the landline. The battle was not easy, and everyone was very angry.

Footsteps sounded, and Deputy Commander Li Wentian rushed into the command center from outside, and when he entered the door, he shouted: "Commander! Did the command reply? When will the reinforcements arrive?"

Zhang Zizhong did not answer, Li Wentian was a little anxious and grabbed the cup on the table. No matter who it belonged, he took a big sip, and then put the cup on the table with a bang.

"Why haven't you replied yet?" Li Wentian came to him without hearing Zhang Zizhong's words. Zhang Kexia, Zhang Kexia smiled bitterly and handed a telegram. Li Wentian hesitated to take it.

"The New 22nd Division has been ordered to come for reinforcements, and you can reach Laiwu within one day. At present, all fronts are fighting fiercely. Sixty-year-olds are adding troops to several fronts, three divisions are added on the northern front, and two divisions are added on the southern front, and one division is added here. The encirclement and annihilation of Honma on the northern front is about to be launched. You must persist until after annihilation of Honma. I hope you will improve your tactics. The New 22nd Division is the last force I can send to the eastern front. I hope you are careful."

Li Wentian breathed heavily, and cursed with some anger: "What can we send troops to the end, hold on, hold on, hold on. The Japanese have nearly doubled. We are just preparing to deal with the two divisions here. He must be capable, why don't we try it!"

"Deputy Commander Li!" Zhang Zizhong turned around and said in a very stern tone: "We do our own business, and the others did not lose the defense line. It was me, Zhang Zizhong, and it was my 59th Army who lost the defense line. Don't complain about others."

"Deputy Commander, don't be excited. Commander Zhuang is probably helpless," Zhang Kexia advised: "Besides, there is no reinforcements, the combat effectiveness of the New 22nd Division is not weak."

Li Wentian sprayed a thick air heavily from his nostrils. He was very dissatisfied. Before the war, he had objections to let the 59th Army and the 40th Army block the two Japanese divisions. Yes, the number of the two armies increased. The 59th Army also obtained a reorganized division. However, in the last battle in Linyi, there were only one-third of the two armies left, and the 40th Army did not even have one-third. The two armies added a large number of new recruits, so there was not enough low-level cadres. The entire army was reorganized once, and the combat effectiveness did not increase but decreased. Besides, the reorganized division and three brigades of the reorganized division actually only reached the equipment of two brigades, and the equipment of the remaining brigade had not arrived, so it would have to wait for three months. Zhang Zizhong knew about these, and the theater command was not unaware of them. However, when assigned tasks, they still asked them to block the two divisions. Zhang Zizhong agreed without saying anything. He came down to complain to him for a long time.

"I went to the Forty Army to take a look. Pang Cleizi's place was in trouble. Nearly half of the casualties of the Forty Army were killed and killed. Ma Fawu personally guarded the main peak of Lianhua Mountain." Li Wentian took a deep breath, suppressed his unhappiness, and reported to Zhang Zizhong the results of the Forty Army.

Zhang Zizhong still didn't say anything. He walked to the table and grabbed the map. The situation is worse than that of Linyi. At that time, the strength of the enemy and us were similar. Now the Japanese army is obviously dominant. They must block the Japanese army at a disadvantage in their troops.

"Look, I plan to let the Ninth Cavalry Division fight back from here." Zhang Zizhong drew a line on the map, which set off from north of Jiangshan and rushed to Laiwu County along the south bank of the Mouwen River.

"The Ninth Cavalry Division?" Zhang Kexia hesitated for a while, and the Ninth Division was not idle either. He dismounted several times to participate in defense, and the troops suffered 30% casualties. At this time, using them to counterattack will not only weaken the frontal defense, but also the counterattack effect is difficult to say.

"Yes, only counterattack can weaken the frontal pressure and gain time." Zhang Zizhong said calmly, his eyes still focused on the map.

"Xu Chen, Zhang Deshun's losses are also considerable. Moreover, the Japanese army also had cavalry, three divisions and at least two cavalry regiments. Zhang Deshun's strength is not enough, so it may be difficult to achieve it." Li Wentian had no worries and immediately raised objections, but only took into account Zhang Zizhong's face and did not directly refute it.

"Brother Canxuan, Brother Kexia, passive defense. Not only can the Japanese mobilize their troops calmly, we cannot find out the reality of the Japanese. It is better to burn the boat and fight to the death. It's just like that." Zhang Zizhong did not hesitate at all, and his expression was firm.

"Order Zhang Deshun to lead the 9th Cavalry Division to launch a counterattack," said Zhang Zizhong: "After the 9th Cavalry Division counterattack, the front must also be adjusted. The 38th Division guards the Yagelou Mountain, Nanling, Wanzhang Cliff. The 180th Division is responsible for the first Ningpu Peak, Baiyunling, and the right wing is connected with the 39th Division of the 40th Army, the main peak of Lianhua Mountain. The 40th Army is responsible for defending the main peak of Lianhua Mountain, the 18 Pan, Xiaobei Peak, and Weng Shanzi. The terrain in this area is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The 40th Army should be able to defend."

"I went to the 38th Division to supervise the battle. The deputy commander stayed at the military headquarters to command the overall situation. The chief of staff assisted. Liu Zhensan, the commander of the 180th Division, must go to the front line to supervise the battle. Ma Fawu, the commander of the 39th Division, must go to Lianhua Peak to supervise the battle. Commander Pang must go to Wengshanzi to supervise the battle. This battle is not allowed to retreat at all. Be sure to stick to the arrival of the new 22nd Division."

The Chinese team launched a counterattack, and Zhang Deshun led the 9th Cavalry Division to the Chongshan, bypassed Niuquan Town, and encountered the 26th Japanese Cavalry Regiment east of Niuquan Town.

The horse's hooves hit the ground heavily, and the sabers shone brightly under the cold wind. The galloping horses rolled up yellow dust repeatedly, forming yellow clouds in the sky. Thousands of war horses spread their four hooves in the river valley and rushed to the opposite side in a turbulent manner. The knight on the horse raised his sword and stared at the front, and his ferocious face was getting closer and closer.

"Dada." Skeletons of bullets flew out of the horses, and the horses neighed, and blood began to spread in the air. "Kill!" The two battle groups collided together, and cold weapons collided with each other. Screams came out of the crowd from time to time, and blood became thicker.

Suddenly, all fronts became nervous. On the eastern front, Zhang Zizhong was forced to give up Laiwu, and Sun Lianzhong retreated step by step in Tai'an. After Laiwu fell, Tang Enbo could not stay in Ju County. Tang Enbo gave up Ju County and retreated westward.

Haneda commanded the 9th Division and the 13th Division and forced the crossing of the Seihe River again. The Chinese defenders who lacked the support of the air force were completely exposed. The 9th Division concentrated its forces opposite the 68th Army on the left wing, and the 13th Division attacked with all its might on the center line and right wing, attracting the attention of the 46th Army and the 51st Army; Li Pinxian saw through Haneda's purpose and resisted the 13th Division with the 51st Army and the 92nd Division, while the 27th and 49th Divisions made every effort to assist the West, cooperated with the 68th Army to block the 9th Division. The two sides fought fiercely across the river, and the Japanese army entered the north bank of the Seihe River again. Li Pinxian urgently dispatched the 41st Army to launch a counterattack. The 41st Army fought hard for one day and finally drove the Japanese army crossing the Seihe River.

The reinforcements mobilized by Shinji Hata finally arrived at the Seihe front line. As soon as the Zero Division arrived at the front line, it launched an attack on the 51st Army without stopping, breaking through the Seihe defense line on the left wing of the 51st Army and occupying Xiaoyu Town. The Seihe defense line was lost.

The 21st Army and the Second Army continued to put pressure on Fujita. Shinro Hata was unmoved. Fujita retreated step by step, abandoned Huainan and retreated towards Dingyuan. The 106th Division on the southern line escaped from Li Xianzhou and retreated to Dingyuan.

Gu Shoufu, Lu Han and Deng Xihou fought fiercely across the Fei River. The 58th Army and the 45th Army blocked the Japanese army south of the Fei River.

The only good news is probably that the Forty-Nine Group Army arrived in Heze and began to attack Honma.
Chapter completed!