Whether it is the enemy-occupied area, the rear, or the underground party base, people are paying attention to this matter. Through the clear telegram, everyone is looking forward to watching this life-and-death duel tomorrow at 10 am.

The night was hazy, and Jiang Xiaomei knew that 10 am tomorrow is the time for Gao Jiu to compete with Sanpu Jun. She was still on the road at this time, and it was more than 100 kilometers away from Tai'an. Although she knew that she could not help Gao Jiu if she rushed there, she just wanted to rush over before Gao Jiu and Sanpu Jun competed and stay with Gao Jiu.

"Driving." Jiang Xiaomei kept waving her horse and whipping her horse. Although the soldiers who were escorting her were already very tired, they all cheered up and guarded her tightly when they saw the leader rushing on like this.

At 9:30 pm, Jiang Xiaomei felt that she was very tired. They didn't eat dinner, and even her stomach felt hungry. Although she still wanted to continue rushing, she could understand the fatigue of the soldiers, so she tied the reins of the horse and let the soldiers dismount and rest.

Everyone sat on the grass and ate dry food to recover their energy.

Jiang Xiaomei asked, “Brothers, are you tired?”

The officers and soldiers were all young and strong men. In front of the leader, especially in front of a beautiful leader, they were not willing to be outdone. They shook their heads and said, "Chief, we are not tired."

Jiang Xiaomei knew that everyone was telling lies because although she was a woman, she was a martial arts practitioner. Even she felt very tired. You can think that these young men were also very tired.

However, she still wanted to get to Gao Jiu's side as soon as possible, so she still had to continue rushing after dinner.

Jiang Xiaomei is a soldier who is familiar with the methods of boosting morale.

She asked, "What kind of person do you think Jiu Ye is?"

Gao Jiu's reputation is so famous that he has never been stingy with the help of the underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces. Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces admire him very much and feel very close to him.

The platoon leader of the guard duty said respectfully: "Master Gao Jiu is a famous anti-Japanese hero, it's amazing."

Jiang Xiaomei said: "Tomorrow is the day when Master Gao Jiu competes with the Japanese. Do you want to see with your own eyes how Master Jiu dealt with the Japanese?"

The army is a world of strong people, and the soldiers are most interested in things like martial arts competitions, let alone the famous Jiu Ye competes with the Japanese.

Jiang Xiaomei's words suddenly aroused the strong interest of the soldiers, and they all said, "We do."

Jiang Xiaomei said, "That's good. If you want to see Master Jiu deal with the Japanese with your own eyes, everyone will have to work hard tonight. Let's go to Tai'an City as soon as possible. How about it, have you persevered?"

The soldiers said one after another: "The chief can persist, we are fine."

Jiang Xiaomei nodded with satisfaction and said, "It's great. After the meal, let's rest for another 20 minutes and then continue to set off."

Not long after, Jiang Xiaomei and others continued to rush.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, they were approaching Shoucheng County. When Jiang Xiaomei was fighting guerrillas in this area, she was very familiar with the terrain here. However, after all, so many years have passed, and she is not very familiar with the enemy situation. In order to avoid encountering the enemy, they tried their best to bypass the villages and towns and walk through the fields.

At 10:00 in the middle of the night, Jiang Xiaomei and others saw a light flashing in front of them, and a river lies in front of them.

She knew that this small river was called Shaxi River, which was a tributary of the Daqing River. Although the river water was not deep, due to the terrain, the riverbed was deep below, and it was difficult for war horses to pass through. When she thought about crossing the river, she would either go around the lower reaches of the river dozens of kilometers away and pass through the shallows; or she had to pass through a stone arch bridge. Because this bridge was far away from the villages and towns, it was not guarded by the enemy before. However, so many years have passed, Jiang Xiaomei didn't know what the situation is now, so before approaching the bridge, Jiang Xiaomei ordered everyone to dismount and the platoon leader took two soldiers to reconnaissance.

In order to avoid exposing the target, the platoon leader and others did not go directly to the bridge along the road, but came from the fields to the river first, slowly approaching the bridge and observing.

Jiang Xiaomei patiently waited for the scouts to come back to report the situation. Soon after, she saw the platoon leader coming back.

He said to Jiang Xiaomei: "Report to the leader, there is a situation on the other side of the bridge. We saw a cannon tower on the other side of the bridge, and there were people shaking. There were roadblocks on the bridge, so there must be Japanese and puppet troops guarding it."

Jiang Xiaomei said to the platoon leader: "Come with me."

She said to the other soldiers: "You stay here and wait for my order."

After saying that, she took the platoon leader to the vicinity of the bridge and observed it.

Under the moonlight, Jiang Xiaomei saw that there was indeed a cannon tower across the river. The cannon tower was three stories high and there was a row of bungalows under the cannon. Based on her experience, it can be judged that the strength of the Japanese and puppet troops guarding here was about one platoon.

There are thirteen people in total, including Jiang Xiaomei, and it is impossible to attack forcefully.

Jiang Xiaomei looked at her watch and felt that if she took a detour to the downstream, she would have to walk at least more than 100 kilometers more. She would probably not be able to arrive at Tai'an City on time and witness the duel between the Jiu Ge and the Japanese invaders with her own eyes.

She whispered to the platoon leader: "We are going to take down this enemy's stronghold."

The platoon leader was anxious when he heard this. You should know that Jiang Xiaomei is a senior cadre and a chief commander. Before leaving, the battalion commander personally told him that even if they all sacrificed, they should protect the safety of the chief. Hearing that the chief was going to take the risk to attack the enemy's stronghold, the platoon leader was naturally very worried.

The platoon leader lowered his voice and said, "Chief, this is not possible. We have so few people and are not familiar with the situation in the Japanese stronghold. It is too dangerous to do so. The superior ordered me to protect your safety and not take the risk of attacking. Let's cross the river in a different place."

Jiang Xiaomei said: "If you want to cross the river, you must walk more than 60 kilometers downstream. After crossing the river, you have to walk more than 60 kilometers. If you walk more than 100 kilometers, it is too late. Don't you want to witness the Ninth Master competing with the Japanese invaders with your own eyes?"

The platoon leader said: "Of course I'm willing, but the chief's safety..."

Before he could finish his words, Jiang Xiaomei said, "I'm not afraid of being a lesbian. Are you afraid?"

The platoon leader was a young man, so he could not stand such words. He immediately said, "Chief, I'm not afraid."

"That's right to think about it. Now let's go back and discuss with the soldiers and see how to take down this stronghold." Jiang Xiaomei said.

Jiang Xiaomei and the platoon leader returned to the hidden place of the soldiers, and the platoon leader announced to the soldiers the decision of the leader to take down the enemy's stronghold on the other side of the bridge.

The soldiers who came to escort Jiang Xiaomei were affiliated with the Binhai Military Region Guard Battalion. All of them were good guys, elite soldiers drawn from various troops. Since they were transferred to the Guard Battalion, they have been on guard duty. They have been unable to get a war and have been suffocated.

When they heard that they were going to fight the Japanese strongholds, they all became excited and ready to do a big fight.

Jiang Xiaomei originally wanted to do some pre-war mobilization. Seeing the mental state of these young men, she was very satisfied, so she stopped talking and started to assign combat missions directly.

I heard that Jiang Xiaomei was going to take down the enemy's post in person, but the young men were unwilling to do so. How could they dare to let such a big leader take risks?

Jiang Xiaomei said, "Don't worry, I have practiced martial arts since I was a child, and have been a guerrilla captain, regiment commander and brigade commander. In the past, I followed Jiu Ye to attack the Japanese and puppet troops many times. In terms of experience, there are much more than you."

The platoon leader and the soldiers had heard of Jiang Xiaomei fighting side by side with Gao Jiu. They admired the beautiful leader very much, trusted her very much, and were willing to fight side by side with her.

However, the platoon leader was still a little worried. After all, Jiang Xiaomei was the chief leader and could not let her take risks in person.

He said, "Chief, I know you are very skilled in martial arts, but you are the chief leader after all, so let us do such a thing."

The soldiers didn't want Jiang Xiaomei to take risks in person, and they all said, "Yes, Chief, let's leave it to us."

Jiang Xiaomei was originally planning to take action herself. Seeing the soldiers' fighting spirit, she also believed that with the elite level of these soldiers, ordinary Japanese and puppet troops were no match for them at all.

So she nodded and said, "Okay, I believe you will be able to complete the task well."

Jiang Xiaomei's words: "I believe you." This made these young men even more passionate. They simply discussed it and then started to act.

The platoon leader asked the guard squad leader to lead a soldier to guard Jiang Xiaomei. He led the rest of the soldiers to the riverside, got off the riverbed, then swam across the river, and quietly approached the enemy's artillery tower.

About 40 minutes later, a figure appeared on the bridge, which was the deputy squad leader of the guard squad. After seeing Jiang Xiaomei, he said excitedly and proudly: "Report to the leader, the stronghold was taken down, and there was a platoon of puppet troops inside, all of which were wiped out by us. Now please cross the river."

Jiang Xiaomei and others took all the war horses left by the soldiers and walked across the river.

When I arrived at the enemy's stronghold, I saw the platoon leader and the group of soldiers, all of whom were full of excitement.

After seeing Jiang Xiaomei, the soldiers all raised their chests.

The platoon leader said excitedly: "Report to the leader, the guard platoon has taken down the enemy's stronghold and wiped out a platoon of the defenders. Please instruct."

Jiang Xiaomei said happily: "You are so good. I did not misunderstand the person. You did a beautiful job. After I go back, I will report to the head of the military region to ask for merit for you."

The soldiers were all affiliated with the guard battalion. According to the saying, the guard battalion should report it step by step. Jiang Xiaomei said she wanted to directly ask the military chief for their merits. The soldiers were even happier. They said together: "Thank you, Chief."

The guard platoon leader looked at the more than 20 puppet soldiers squatting aside and said, "Chief, what should these puppet soldiers be captives?"

Jiang Xiaomei said, "I don't have time to pay attention to them. Release them on the spot."

"I understand." said the platoon leader.

He walked to the prisoners of the puppet army and cursed: "You traitors, you recognize thieves as your father and follow the Japanese to do bad things. If we hadn't had policies and preferential treatment for the prisoners, all of them would have killed you. Remember to me that you can't bully our people with the Japanese in the future, otherwise, if I catch you next time, I will never spare you."

The puppet soldiers were all silent and agreed.

The squad leader said, "The chief said, let you go now, get out of here!"

As if the puppet soldiers encountered a general amnesty, they ran into the darkness of the night and soon disappeared.

The soldiers had already carried all the weapons of the captured puppet army on their bodies, and followed Jiang Xiaomei to get on the horse and continue on the road.

In Tai'an City, Japanese artillery soldiers were setting up artillery.

The Japanese army was also worried that Gao Jiuhui would send people to monitor, so they arranged artillery in secret places near the city wall. Some were arranged in the city tower, some were arranged in the yard below the city wall, and some were arranged in the house, with only the muzzle sticking out of the window.

Some artillery is arranged in small alleys. Since the range of artillery can easily reach a distance of 500 meters, there are many places where artillery can be hidden. Although there are certain restrictions to avoid enemy discovery, the scattered artillery combined have reached more than 100.

The artillery was set up at two o'clock this morning.

The artillery commander did not sleep all night and urged his subordinates to set up shooting orders for all artillery. When the division commander got up in the morning, he came to report.

The division commander asked, "How are you prepared? Are you sure?"

The artillery commander said: "Please rest assured, Commander of the Division. Beiyi has prepared 12 240mm. Heavy mortars, 22 Type 92 infantry artillery, 60mm mortars. The guns are located at all. Telephones have been installed. With just one order, hundreds of shells can be fired within one minute. The covered area can reach thousands of square meters. No one can survive such fierce artillery fire."

"Yoxi, you did a good job. If you can kill that hateful Gao Jiu this time, I will definitely reward you heavily." The division commander said with satisfaction.

"Hayi, thank you, Commander of the Division." The artillery commander said happily.

The head of the underground party almost didn't sleep all night. He was worried that the Japanese were playing tricks, so he sent a telegram to the underground party intelligence personnel in Tai'an City, asking them to monitor the Japanese army's actions, and then kept waiting for news from the city.

The underground party intelligence officer in the city sent a telegram saying that the Japanese army had blocked the entire XC area and that the streets were full of Japanese and puppet troops, and they could not get close to them at all. They could not detect whether any Japanese army had secretly set up artillery.
Chapter completed!