On the simple airport in Zhiyuan County, four bombers from the Taohua Mountain guerrillas were parked, which came in handy at this time. They flew over the Cross Slope and bombed the Japanese army.

The commander of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army also asked for help from his superiors, hoping that the Japanese Second Air Force would come to reinforce. As a result, those who awaited them were also disappointed. They also reported what happened here to the Seventh Army Command.

The commander and chief of staff of the Japanese Seventh Army were very depressed. They had always looked down on the troops of the army and the Eighth Route Army. Unexpectedly, the guo army and the Eighth Route Army they encountered in the Iron Triangle area were so powerful. At this time, the 39th Division, which attacked Nanyang, had tried all its might and could not break the enemy's blockade.

The 38th Division is now surrounded, and the 40th Division looks like it is in a bad situation.

The commander of the Seventh Army personally sent a telegram to the commander of the 12th Army, hoping that the reinforcements of the 12th Army would launch an attack towards Zhiyuan County as soon as possible.

The 138th Division and the chariot corps stationed in Lu County have already made up their minds and will not participate in this battle in southwestern Shandong. They said that they were also besieged by the Anti-Japanese Army, and it was difficult to protect themselves and had no strength to reinforce the 40th Division of the Japanese Army.

The Seventh Japanese Army sent the only reinforcements to rescue the 38th Division, but was bombed by enemy planes flying from Nanyang City on the way, with heavy casualties.

After attacking the airport of the Japanese Second Air Force, the Taohuashan guerrillas led by Zhang Quan also rushed over and harassed the Japanese reinforcements, blowing up two bridges on the Japanese reinforcements line, basically blocking the Japanese reinforcements line.

Gao Jiu was at any time in control of the situation of various battlefields in the Iron Triangle area. When he learned that all the battlefields had stabilized, he made up his mind to launch a general attack on the 38th Division of the Japanese army.

There are only more than 7,000 people left in the 38th Division of the Japanese Army. After being bombed on the road, most of the artillery, equipment and supplies have been lost. They are surrounded in a narrow area of ​​less than ten square kilometers. The mountains are full of stones. They cannot dig trenches, so they can only hide behind a bunker built with stones to fight back. They have many wounded soldiers, weapons and ammunition, and the situation is quite difficult.

Gao Jiu and Wang Jindong commanded the troops of the three divisions to gradually narrow the encirclement. After completing the offensive preparations, they ordered an attack on the Japanese army.

The 41st Army's troops were rich and powerful. This time they brought the army's direct artillery regiment. Each division also had a reinforced artillery battalion, each regiment also had a reinforced artillery company, and every infantry battalion company also had artillery. At this time, the total number of artillery of various calibers on the front line exceeded 500. They had ammunition sufficient. Before the infantry launched a charge, they bombed the Japanese army on the mountain for 40 minutes and fired more than 13,000 artillery shells.

The troops of the 38th Division of the Japanese Army were exposed to the hillside and had nowhere to hide. Under the care of two shells per person on average, the direct losses exceeded 80% and their resistance was greatly weakened.

Wang Jindong issued an order to attack the troops. Tens of thousands of national troops rushed up with countless machine guns and submachine guns, and soon compressed the remaining Japanese troops to a hill less than one square kilometer.

This mountain is the highest terrain in this area. The Japanese army defended the enemy with a dangerous position and repelled an attack from the Guo army.

Wang Jindong tasted the sweetness of using artillery on a large scale. He ordered the troops to suspend the attack, and then continued to push the artillery forward, preparing to use artillery to flatten the hill.

At this moment, the Japanese army on the mountain raised a white flag and demanded to surrender to the guo army.

It turned out that the commander of the 38th Division of the Japanese Army survived the fierce artillery bombardment, relying on his body to cover the guards under his command. After retreating to the mountain, he found that there were only more than 1,100 people left. As the enemy troops approached step by step, many artillery were set up again.

He knew that if he continued to fight, he would definitely be wiped out. At this time, he already knew that Gao Jiu had arrived in Nanyang City, which undoubtedly brought him some hope of life. Seeing that the cannons of the Guo army were about to fire again, he didn't care about asking his superiors for instructions and hurriedly asked his soldiers to raise a white flag.

Wang Jindong was in high spirits, and he said, "Brother Gao, what are you talking about to them? You can kill them all in one round of bombing."

Gao Jiu stopped him and said, "Brother Wang, you can't do this. As long as the Japanese want to surrender, let them surrender. This will be beneficial to our future war. Besides, there is no need to waste shells. This is not shells, but it is all money."

Wang Jindong agreed with Gao Jiu's opinion and sent Han Zhihao to contact the Japanese commander, and then accepted the Japanese surrender.

The 38th Division of the Japanese Army was destroyed. After hearing the news, the commander of the 37th Division of the Japanese Army said to the Chief of Staff Kuanchang with great gratitude: "Thanks to follow your advice, we did not go to this muddy water. Otherwise, what we are waiting for us may end up like the 38th Division."

Kuan Changqian was a little grateful, and even said proudly: "It's a pity that I had a little friendship with Gao Jiu in the past. Otherwise, Gao Jiu's target of attack would probably be put on us."

At this time, the two of them no longer hesitated, and they did not ask the Sixth Army Command for instructions, and immediately ordered the troops to retreat to Xiangyang.

After receiving the news of the destruction of the 38th Division, the Japanese army's 39th Division hurriedly left the battlefield and retreated towards Kaifeng.

Of course, the chief of staff of the 41st Army refused to let the 39th Division of the Japanese Army leave. He commanded the troops to chase after him. As a result, the 39th Division of the Japanese Army was worried that they would be surrounded. When they arrived at Kaifeng City, they did not dare to enter the city and retreated directly. The guo army occupied Kaifeng again.

Gao Jiu and others annihilated the 38th Division of the Japanese army and immediately rushed north to attack Zhengzhou.

The left-behind troops of the 38th Division of the Japanese Army in Zhengzhou also gave up and fled. The Japanese and puppet troops in the counties around Zhengzhou and Kaifeng also gave up the county town and fled to northern Henan.

Just as Gao Jiu and others surrounded and annihilated the 38th Division of the Japanese Army, the troops from the Southwest Shandong Military Sub-district were fighting fiercely with the 40th Division of the Japanese Army.

Gao Hong and Huang Shuigen commanded the troops of the Independent Brigade, repelled the seven Japanese attacks and firmly defended the position.

The independent regiments and county brigades under the Military Sub-district also rushed from all over the place and launched a siege to the 40th Division of the Japanese army.

At the beginning, the commander of the 40th Division of the Japanese army was very happy because he was the least willing to fight guerrilla war with the Eighth Route Army, so he hoped that the Eighth Route Army in southwestern Shandong would gather here so that he could annihilate it in one fell swoop.

But after the war started, he realized that the Eighth Route Army and guerrillas here were not the equipment they encountered elsewhere, and their training was very backward. Each person had only a few bullets. They were well-equipped and their bullets were like they didn't have money to fight, and their firepower was not inferior to the Japanese troops.

The 40th Division fought for a long time, and not only failed to quickly defeat these Eighth Route Army, but the troops suffered great losses.

What's even more outrageous is that the Eighth Route Army in southwestern Shandong was able to get support from the Air Force. Bombers flew from Zhiyuan County, Taohua Mountain and Nanyang came to throw bombs from time to time, but the Japanese army did not get support from the Air Force.

The division commander of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army was very depressed and had already begun to think of retreating.

At this moment, news of the destruction of the entire Japanese 38th Division came, and the troops of the 41st Army of the Guo Army were driving towards southwest Shandong.

The division commander of the 40th Division didn't care about continuing to fight the Eighth Route Army, nor did he ask the Seventh Army Command. He commanded his troops to launch a feint attack on the Eighth Route Army units, and then turned around and ran away.

It was not that easy to run away, Gao Hong and Huang Shuigen immediately commanded the troops to press forward.

The troops of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army finally fled to the side of Lanxi River. At this time, they were stunned.

The ferries by the river had already been burned by the guerrillas, and even the guards were annihilated by the guerrillas. Seeing the Eighth Route Army and the guerrillas chasing them all over the mountains, the Japanese army simply threw away all the heavy weapons and other supplies, and jumped into the river and swam to the other side.

Since Japan is an island country, most Japanese can swim. Therefore, before the Eighth Route Army troops arrived, the main force of the 40th Division escaped the Lanxi River.

Gao Hong, Huang Shuigen and others came to the Lanxi River and were worried that they would be attacked while crossing the river, so they stopped chasing.

In this battle, the Eighth Route Army of the Southwest Shandong Military Sub-district wiped out more than 5,100 Japanese 40th Division and seized all the heavy weapons, equipment and supplies of the 40th Division, which can be said to be a complete victory.

The 138th Japanese Division and the chariot corps stationed in the Lu County area immediately left Lu County and retreated to Jinan City after hearing the news.

At this point, the victory of the Iron Triangle Defense Battle ended. This battle annihilated more than 28,000 Japanese troops and other units. It destroyed two Japanese airports, recovered Kaifeng City, and captured a vast area of ​​Zhengzhou and its seven surrounding counties.

The great victory achieved in the Iron Triangle region caused a sensation across the country. Major media in the rear rushed to report on the news of the great victory. The government commended the 41st Army and rewarded the 41st Army with 1 million French currency.

For several consecutive days, the 41st Army celebrated the victory and the entire Nanyang City fell into joy.

Gao Jiu said goodbye and left after attending several celebration banquets.

This battle captured a large number of Japanese weapons and equipment. Of course, these weapons and equipment are no longer popular now.

Gao Jiu took all these weapons over and handed them over to the Southwest Shandong Military Sub-district, and asked them to give them to troops from other parts of the Eighth Route Army.

Gao Jiu left Nanyang City and flew to Zhiyuan County by transport plane. He had heard that Jiang Xiaomei was injured, so he came to visit her.

Gao Jiu came to the field hospital in the Southwest Shandong Military Sub-district. Ning Wen, Ning Wu and the sisters saw Gao Jiu and hurriedly came up to meet him.

Gao Jiu asked, "How is my sister like me?"

The sister among the sisters said, "Mr. Jiu, Minister Jiang is asleep."

At this moment, Jiang Xiaomei's voice came from the ward, and she said in surprise: "Brother Jiu, are you here?"

Just now, Jiang Xiaomei was indeed asleep. She had been dreaming that Gao Jiu came to visit her and couldn't help but scream.

Gao Jiu pushed the door and said, "I'm here, sister."

Jiang Xiaomei opened her eyes and looked at the kind and familiar face in front of her. She thought she was still in a dream. She wiped her eyes in disbelief and said, "Brother Jiu, is it really you?"

Gao Jiu walked to her side, held her hand and said, "Girl, I'm here."

Jiang Xiaomei hasn't seen Gao Jiu for a long time. She has seen Gao Jiu visit her in her dreams many times. At this moment, she saw her beloved lover standing in front of her. She couldn't help crying, and then threw herself into Gao Jiu's arms.

She forgot the wounds on her body. These violent movements made her wounds hurt and her body trembled for a moment.

Gao Jiu hurriedly helped her lie down again and said, "Girl, be careful."

More than twenty minutes later, Gao Hong, Chen Johan, Huang Shuigen, Yang Jiong and others heard that Gao Jiu was coming, and they all rushed to the hospital.

When they saw Ning Wen, Ning Wu and others in the hospital corridor, they knew that Gao Jiu was accompanying Jiang Xiaomei. They did not disturb Gao Jiu, but just waited in the hospital duty room.

They waited for 40 minutes before Gao Jiu came out. He said to Ning Wen, who was guarding the door, and Ning Wu: "Go and call the doctor and check my sister's health."

Ning Wen said: "Master Jiu, Commander Gao and the others have come here, waiting for you in the duty room."

Gao Hong, Chen Johan and others heard Gao Jiu's voice, walked out of the duty room, exchanged a few greetings with Gao Jiu, and then came to visit Jiang Xiaomei together.

At this time, Jiang Xiaomei had recovered her calmness, her face was rosy and her face looked happy.

In the next few days, Gao Jiu stayed in Zhiyuan County to accompany Jiang Xiaomei.

On this day, they talked about the repair problem after the arsenal was bombed. Jiang Xiaomei hoped that Gao Jiu could help her solve the funds for the restoration of the factory.

Gao Jiu said, "Girl, don't worry, I will ask the Japanese for this money. If they dare to hurt my girl, I will make them pay a heavy price."

Jiang Xiaomei likes Gao Jiu's domineering look, and she said, "Brother Jiu, you are so nice." After that, she leaned her head on Gao Jiu's shoulder.

In this battle to defend the Iron Triangle region, Zhou Mingshan provided intelligence at the beginning and assisted Gao Jiu in contact with the 37th Division of the Japanese Army. He made contributions in these matters and was commended by the Military Command Headquarters. He himself received a bonus of 20,000 French currency.

Over the years, he has made a lot of money in the Nanyang area. Although he does not value the 20,000 French currency, this also represents the affirmation of the Military Commission headquarters to him, and he is still very happy.

On that day, he received a telegram from Gao Jiu, asking him to rush to Zhiyuan County.
Chapter completed!