The puppet army, who was ordered to launch an attack, was the unit of the Seventh Division of the Peace Army. These days, they were often attacked by special forces led by Wang Zhankui. The enemy was very small, but their combat power was super strong. They rode fast horses, came and went like the wind, had a magical marksmanship, and had strong firepower. The officers and soldiers of the Peace Army basically had to be beaten.

They now know that these people are the famous Taohua Mountain guerrillas.

Not long ago, Tian Chuan and others had only 20 people, and they forced themselves to eat a company of the Peace Army, which further deepened the fear of the Peace Army's officers and soldiers towards the Taohua Mountain guerrillas.

Just now, they saw the situation of the Japanese attack on the county town of Cangxian. The fierce Japanese carried so many artillery and so many troops. When they launched an attack, they could not even be able to rely on the edge of the city wall. The officers and soldiers of the Peace Army had already developed a deep fear of the Taohua Mountain guerrillas.

At this moment, they were forced to attack the county town, and they were extremely angry with the Japanese, but they had no choice but to rush up.

The attack began, and the officers and soldiers of the Peace Army rushed up to the city wall. From a distance of more than 200 meters, the officers and soldiers of the Peace Army began to be killed and injured. Their already very low morale quickly disappeared. When they rushed to 150 meters, all the grassroots officers of the Peace Army who were rushing in front were basically killed. The combat literacy of the Peace Army was not as good as that of the Japanese. In this case, everyone turned around and ran back.

The Japanese were so cruel that they deployed many supervisory teams behind the Peace Army. Seeing that the officers and soldiers of the Peace Army retreated, the Japanese set up machine guns and fired frantically at them.

The officers and soldiers of the Peace Army had no choice but to turn around and rush towards the city wall again.

Gao Jiu and others continued to attack the enemy. Seeing the puppet army rushing closer and closer, when they arrived 120 meters away from the city wall, they issued an order to climb the city to counterattack against the anti-Japanese army that had already hidden under the city.

The anti-Japanese soldiers were bombarded by the enemy for a long time and hid under the city wall for so long, and were already full of anger. After they climbed the city wall, they entered the position according to the pre-determined defensive position and fired fiercely at the puppet troops rushing towards them.

The puppet troops were very large, and despite being constantly attacked by the Taohua Mountain guerrillas, they were barely able to support them. Now countless muzzles suddenly appeared on the city wall, and fierce firepower knocked them to the ground in pieces.

The puppet soldiers were in a mess, and they couldn't move forward and didn't dare to retreat. So they lay on the ground, exposing the Japanese behind them. Gao Jiu issued an order to let go of the puppet soldiers in front and spill all their firepower on the Japanese behind them.

The Japanese were also suffering heavy casualties, and they also lay on the ground and shot at the Anti-Japanese Army on the city wall.

At this time, the mortars of the Taohua Mountain guerrillas also began to fire, and the artillery fire continued to fall into the enemy group. The Japanese army suffered heavy casualties and were finally forced to retreat.

When the officers and soldiers of the Peace Army saw the Japanese retreat, they finally breathed a sigh of relief and retreated with the Japanese.

When Gao Jiu saw the Japanese army retreating, he immediately ordered a small number of personnel to be left on the city wall to monitor the movements of the Japanese and puppet troops, and the others looked for cover to guard against the Japanese and puppet troops' artillery attacks.

The joint attack of the Japanese and puppet troops in the east of the city was repelled. Soon after, news came from the other three sides of the county town that their attack was also repelled, and the troops suffered heavy casualties.

The division commander of the 132nd Division was in a bad mood. In anger, he ordered the artillery to bombard him again. The officers and soldiers of the Anti-Japanese Army still did not suffer any major casualties due to timely evasion.

The Japanese division commander was an experienced general and was also good at thinking when fighting. During the attack just now, he saw that the Anti-Japanese Army on the city wall let go of the puppet troops and used firepower mainly to attack the Japanese army. He came up with a plan to let the Japanese soldiers put on the puppet troops' clothes and pretended to be the Peace Army to prepare to launch another attack.

Under the fierce bombardment just now, the original gap in the city wall was wider. Immediately afterwards, the Peace Army was still in front and the Japanese soldiers were behind, and launched another attack.

Gao Jiu didn't know that the Japanese and puppet soldiers were playing tricks, so he still made combat arrangements according to the tactics just now.

Based on the last battle situation, he knew that the morale of the puppet troops was low, so this time he did not focus on the puppet troops. He believed that as long as the Japanese were defeated, the puppet troops would naturally retreat.

After the puppet soldiers rushed over, Gao Jiu and others were unwilling to waste more bullets on them, so they fired at the Japanese soldiers following them.

After the puppet troops were hit, they immediately lay on the ground. While the anti-Japanese troops on the city wall were working hard to deal with the Japanese troops behind, they began to crawl on the ground and continued to approach the west city wall.

After fighting for a while, Gao Jiu and others found that the situation was a bit strange. The Japanese who were fighting were panicked one by one, which was obviously far from the Japanese who were usually seen with tenacious combat power. When Gao Jiu was wondering, he found that the puppet troops were only a few dozen meters away from the city wall.

Gao Jiu suddenly realized that he had been fooled. Those who were wearing Japanese military uniforms should be puppet soldiers, and those who were wearing puppet army uniforms were real Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese suddenly jumped up and rushed towards the gap in the city wall.

Because all the city walls on all sides were attacked by the Japanese army, the Anti-Japanese Army had to divide their troops to guard them. The Taohua Mountain guerrillas guarding the east wall were only more than 50 people led by Gao Jiu. The other anti-Japanese troops were the guerrillas of Jiang Xinshan and his son and the underground anti-Japanese army of two companies.

The enemy army had a large number of troops. The number of Japanese officers and soldiers who were dressed up as puppet troops exceeded 500, and a large number of Japanese and puppet troops behind them also continued to rush up.

The Japanese soldiers were approaching the gap on the city wall at this time. They howled and rushed towards the gap frantically, regardless of the blows on the city wall.

At this time, both the enemy and us were focused on the gap. Everyone knew that as long as this Japanese army rushed into the gap, the county town of Cang County would not be able to defend it.

Gao Jiu was anxious and led the special forces members on the city wall and the guerrillas of Jiang Xinshan and his son to run towards the gap.

Just as the Japanese army was about to enter the gap, Gao Jiu and others rushed to the gap. They didn't care about saving ammunition and fired wildly at the Japanese army with a large number of machine guns.

The firepower of the Anti-Japanese Army was too strong, and the Japanese army fell down in large numbers.

As they were about to attack the city, the Japanese were all crazy. Although they suffered heavy losses, the living Japanese still rushed forward.

The Taohuashan guerrillas were equipped with a large number of machine guns, and there were dozens of them in the hands of Jiang Xinshan and his son. They were just reluctant to fire, and they were too busy.

Now at the critical moment of life and death, Gao Jiu and others didn't care about so many. A large number of machine guns fired together, and countless bullets swept over almost airtightly.

Although the Japanese army was tenacious, they were all flesh and blood. Under such fierce firepower, the 500 Japanese officers and soldiers who rushed in front were basically killed or injured. The remaining Japanese army finally could not withstand such a violent attack and were forced to retreat.

Gao Jiu and others immediately used firepower to attack the Japanese and puppet troops rushing up from behind.

The fierce firepower of the anti-Japanese army exceeded the imagination of the Japanese and puppet troops. When they saw that the Japanese in front were killed and injured, the people behind were already scared. When the anti-Japanese army pointed the firepower at them and caused a large number of casualties, they retreated again.

Gao Jiu finally repelled the enemy's attack, but he was in a bad mood.

Although this battle repelled the enemy's attack, the anti-Japanese armed forces also suffered great losses. Six people were killed and four people were injured in the Taohuashan guerrillas. More than a dozen people were killed and injured in Jiang Xinshan, and more than sixty people were killed or injured in the underground party.

This is not the most critical. Due to the sudden situation that disrupted Gao Jiu's deployment, the ammunition was consumed a lot this time. If the Japanese and puppet troops launch such an attack next time, they will not be able to maintain such powerful firepower.

Faced with such a situation, Gao Jiu readjusted the deployment and only arranged some machine gunners near the gap. In other places on the city wall, everyone was not allowed to use machine guns and used rifles as much as possible to kill the enemy.

The Japanese army launched three consecutive attacks, and they were also very tired. They decided to suspend the attack tonight and wait for the troops to rest and launch another attack tomorrow.

Faced with the powerful enemy, the Japanese army was constantly summarizing experiences and lessons.

The Chief of Staff of the 132nd Division of the Japanese Army put forward several suggestions on the situation of the three offensive operations:

First, we must send artillery troops to continue bombarding the city walls and strive to blow up more gaps. The existing gaps will be continuously widened to increase the difficulty of the Anti-Japanese Army in defending the county town.

Secondly, he believed that the Anti-Japanese Army could not have a lot of ammunition, and they could not be replenished, and the fierce counterattack like before would not last long. He suggested that the puppet army continue to launch attacks and use human lives to consume the enemy's ammunition.

The division commander thought the Chief of Staff had made sense, so he adopted his suggestion and added some more on the basis of this suggestion.

Regarding how to consume the ammunition of the Anti-Japanese Army, he ordered the puppet troops to launch continuous attacks from all sides, and they would not stop even at night. This not only consumes the ammunition of the enemy, but also makes the enemy guarding the city very tired.

He believed that in a few days, Gao Jiu and others who were guarding the city would be out of ammunition and food. At that time, the Huang army launched a large-scale attack and would definitely be able to break through the county town and eliminate Gao Jiu and others.

In the next two days, the Japanese and puppet troops continued to launch attacks. The anti-Japanese army was very tired, casualties continued to increase, and ammunition consumption had reached a very dangerous level.

Gao Jiu had to start thinking about leading the troops to break through.

The battle in Cangxian County touched the hearts of the people. The anti-Japanese military and civilians in the rear were all worried about Gao Jiu. The government did not make any prior arrangements behind enemy lines and lacked armed forces. They basically couldn't help much, and could only support the military commander in intelligence.

In terms of the underground party, because Gao Jiu and others attracted the main force of the enemy in the northeastern Hebei region, the anti-Japanese military and civilians who participated in the riots were intercepted by a small number of enemy troops, and the retreat was quite smooth. Now there are only more than 20,000 people left without being out of danger. Therefore, they told Gao Jiu that as long as they hold on for another two days, they could evacuate themselves. At the same time, the underground party asked the troops of the Hebei Central Military Region to speed up the marching speed and arrive at Cang County as soon as possible, cooperate with Gao Jiu and others inside and outside to help Gao Jiu and others break through the siege.

For Gao Jiu, although he encountered difficulties in ammunition, he still had some confidence in holding on for another two days. However, holding on for another two days was the limit of the time he could hold on to the county town.

Gao Jiu came to the house in the southeast of the city again to inspect the excavation of the tunnel.

So far, the excavation of the tunnel has been progressing very smoothly. According to the current excavation speed, at most two days, they can dig to the location they selected in advance.

Gao Jiu praised Huang Wei and others again.

Binhai County.

That night, Jiang Xiaomei sat in front of the door, staring silently in the northeast direction. At this time, there was her father, brother, and her beloved lover there. They were fighting the Japanese and puppet troops under the heavy siege of the enemy. She wanted to help, but she was powerless, so she could only pray for them silently here.

As a political worker, Yang Jiong, in addition to doing ideological work for the soldiers, more importantly, he should do ideological work for the commander. He and Jiang Xiaomei are comrades who share life and death, and know her mood very well. He saw that the lights in Jiang Xiaomei's room were on, so he put on his clothes and walked over. He saw Jiang Xiaomei sitting in front of the door, sitting next to her, and silently accompanying her.

Under the bright moonlight, Yang Jiong saw Jiang Xiaomei's beautiful face full of worry. He smiled and said in a relaxed tone as possible: "Brave Commander Jiang, in fact, you don't have to worry at all. Master Jiu is a god, and the Japanese devils can't do anything to him at all. Your father and brother are with Master Jiu, are you still worried?"

Hearing such words, Jiang Xiaomei felt much better. She nodded and said, "I believe Brother Jiu, but I still can't help but worry about them."

Yang Jiong understood her mood. This is human nature. If anyone else is worried about her relatives. In order to attract Jiang Xiaomei's attention, Yang Jiong asked: "Brig Commander, when will your marriage be done with Jiu Ye? This time I found your father and brother. I think the time is ripe. They are also with Jiu Ye. They should take this opportunity to ask them to propose marriage to Jiu Ye.

If you find this matter inconvenient, I will tell your father and brother. If you agree, Commander Gao and I can also go to Master Jiu to propose marriage to you."

Yang Jiong is Jiang Xiaomei's close comrade-in-arms and knows her best. He knows that Jiang Xiaomei has always been looking forward to being able to marry Gao Jiusheng. He believes that this topic will definitely divert Jiang Xiaomei's attention.

Sure enough, Jiang Xiaomei's thoughts were hit by Yang Jiong. She had the idea of ​​asking someone to propose marriage to Gao Jiu, but she couldn't find her father and brother, and she had been in a difficult war environment, so she had to drag it down. She also heard some rumors that Gao Jiu had contact with other women. She hoped to take the lead and settle the marriage with Gao Jiu.

Jiang Xiaomei likes Gao Jiu, and she knows that Gao Jiu likes her too. But there is something in her heart that makes her feel a little stressed. She said: "Political Commissar Yang, I like Brother Jiu and I hope to be a couple with him. However, I am an underground party member, but Brother Jiu is unwilling to join the underground party. Will this matter be troubled in the organization?"

In fact, Yang Jiong was also a little worried. Although Gao Jiu was a famous anti-Japanese hero, his style of conduct was a bit strange. Some things were probably unacceptable to the underground party. For example, while he was fighting against Japan, he also left room for the Japanese and puppet troops, and even engaged in private transactions with the Japanese and puppet troops. Such behaviors are intolerable by the underground party’s discipline.

Now it is a cooperation in the fight against Japan, and the main goal is to fight against Japan, so no one will say anything. However, if the underground party members like Jiang Xiaomei, who hold heavy troops, marry a bandit armed leader with unknown political tendencies, Shandong's underground party organizations should not have too much problem with Jiang Xiaomei and Gao Jiu. However, those superior underground party organizations who do not understand the real situation may not be able to agree to their marriage.

However, Yang Jiong did not express his concerns. He smiled and said, "You are too worried. Jiu Ye is a well-known anti-Japanese hero in the world. The underground party has always had a good cooperative relationship with him. Just like this time, Jiu Ye took the Taohuashan guerrillas and sacrificed his life to cover the evacuation of the underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces in northeastern Hebei. Such a noble righteous act will definitely be recognized by the superior organizations of the underground party. I think there will be no obstacles in your marriage."

After all, Jiang Xiaomei is a young girl, and she is looking forward to being with Gao Jiu. Yang Jiong's words gave her great comfort and her mood improved a lot.

She said embarrassedly: "Political Commissar Yang, if it is convenient for you, let my father explain this matter and ask them to propose marriage to Brother Jiu." After that, she felt shy and a fever broke out on her face.

The ammunition of Gao Jiu and others was getting scarce. In the face of the Japanese attack, they saved bullets as much as possible. The snipers only dealt with the Japanese and puppet troops coming to harass them.

Other ordinary soldiers no longer participated in the battle. They just hid near the gap in the city wall to guard against the Japanese and puppet troops rushing in.

The Japanese and puppet troops saw the weakness of Gao Jiu and others lacking ammunition. They organized a large number of troops and launched an attack on the county town with rotating warfare, constantly consuming less and less ammunition of Gao Jiu and others.

The situation in Cang County is getting more and more critical.

Tomorrow is the last day for Gao Jiu and others to defend the county town. What they didn't know was that the Japanese army also set the time for launching the general attack tomorrow.
Chapter completed!