On August 18, 1937, Chen Cheng arrived in Nanjing by Chiang Kai-shek's telegram to formulate the plan and battle sequence of the Anti-Japanese War. The next day, he and Xiong Tianyi went to Shanghai to inspect and returned to Nanjing on the 20th. Chiang immediately announced Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the Third Theater and the commander-in-chief of the 15th Group Army, and sent additional troops to Shanghai to participate in the war.

On the evening of August 22, the Japanese army, with General Matsui Ishine as the commander, led the 3rd and 11th Divisions and other units to forcibly land at Wusong and Chuansha. Chen Cheng led the 15th Group Army to block the attack.

He used a unit of the 87th Division, a regiment of the Teaching Corps, and a regiment of the Shanghai Security Corps to attack the enemy who had landed at Zhanghuabang, ordered the 11th Division on the Wufu Line and the 98th Division on the Yanghang and Baoshan sides to turn to attack the enemy in the Shizilin and Chuanshakou directions, transported the 67th Division assembled near Kunshan and Wuxian by car to advance to Luodian, and urgently transferred the 14th Division, which was advancing towards Changshu and Fushan, to advance to Taicang and Luodian, in order to annihilate the enemy who had landed.

However, when the units arrived at the battlefield, the main force of the Japanese army had successfully landed. Seeing that the enemy army was constantly reinforcing and could not be annihilated by pressing the enemy in the middle of the river, and had lost the initiative in the early stage of the campaign, he suggested that he change his position and resist one by one. On September 17, the Chinese army retreated to the first line of Beizhan, Jiangwan, Miaohang, Luodian, and Liuhekou and turned to the defense.

On September 21, 1937, the Central Military Commission adjusted the combat units of the Third Theater. Chen Cheng led the 15th and 19th Group Armies to form the Left Wing Combat Army. The next day, in order to ensure the safety of its flank, the Japanese army swooped down on the Liuluo Highway under the cover of chariots and artillery. The Chinese defenders put up a fierce resistance and suffered heavy casualties.

On October 11, 1937, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Yunzaobin Central Combat Army to control Dachang and Nanxiang and cut off the return route of the Zhabei, Jiangwan and Miaohang Central Combat Army. At this time, the Fifth Army of the Chinese Army, as well as the 171st, 173rd, 174th, and 176th Divisions, were successively being transported to Shanghai.

Therefore, Chen Cheng put forward three opinions on this operation: First, the Fifth Route Army should be used to attack from the north bank of Yunzaobin, and at the same time, two divisions should be used to attack from the south bank and north of the Luojia Highway, so as to carry out a war of annihilation against the enemy.

The second is to use the Fifth Route Army to defend the south bank of Yunzaobin, with the 16th Army and one part of the 66th Army, and then transfer several divisions to attack from the north bank of Yunzaobin, and encircle and annihilate the enemy who crossed the south bank of Yunzaobin.

The third is to temporarily take the defensive, and after the Fifth Route Army is concentrated, then attack with cameras. Article 3 was adopted by the decision of the High Command. However, due to the compulsion of the situation, it was decided to take advantage of the fatigue of the enemy's attack and make a sudden attack, in order to defeat the enemy who had crossed the southern shore of Yunzao.

On the evening of October 25, 1937, the general offensive began. After three days of fierce fighting, it was defeated and withdrew to the south bank of Suzhou Creek to the line of Xiaonanxiang.

In January 1938, the Nanjing government moved to Wuhan, and Hubei became the gateway to the rear of Sichuan, and Chen Cheng served as the chairman of Hubei Province, the commander of the Wuhan garrison, and the commander of the Sixth Theater, responsible for the defense of Wuhan. In the anti-Japanese united front of the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Chen Cheng concurrently served as the head of the Political Department of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Wuhan Central Government, and Zhou Enlai was the vice minister at that time.

After the fall of Nanjing, most of the Kuomintang's military and political leadership moved to Wuhan. In the spring of this year, the Wuhan Garrison General Headquarters was established, with Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief. At the same time, he was also ordered to concurrently serve as director of the General Political Department of the Military Commission, chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee, member of the Aviation Commission, chairman of the Central Training Commission, secretary general of the Central Youth League Department of the Three People's Youth League, and director of education of the Central Training Corps. The Kuomintang internally called him "Chiang Kai-shek's stand-in" and "No. 2 man".

After the fall of Wuhan, Chen Cheng handed over the military of the Ninth Theater to Xue Yue as an agent and went to Chongqing for training. He reported to Chiang Kai-shek: "Taking too many part-time jobs not only leads to material criticism, but also misconducts. Please be full-time as possible, or there may be no major mistakes. Immediately received an order from Jiang: "Mainly to handle the affairs of the Political Department, the chairman of Hubei Province ordered Yan Lisan to serve as the third representative." But in fact, he was still sent to Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou and other places from time to time to direct the war.

In September 1939, the Japanese army responded to the main force of northern Hunan with the two routes of northern Jiangxi and southern Hunan, and attacked Changsha. Chen Cheng was ordered to arrive in Hunan with Bai Chongxi to assist Xue Yue in commanding the battle. Before leaving, he proposed that Changsha "guard" and "not keep", and was criticized for "not keeping".

Therefore, as soon as he arrived at Lukou, he conveyed Chiang Kai-shek's will to Xue Yue. Xue Yue disagreed, and said: "If Changsha is not guarded, what is the duty of a soldier?" Although overnight, nine times called Xue to withdraw from Changsha, but Xue Yue did not listen. Chen Cheng was afraid that arguing with each other for too long would hinder the opportunity, so after asking Xue Yue about the situation of the troops, he agreed with Bai Chongxi on the one hand and ordered Xue Yue to counterattack; On the one hand, he reported Xue's determination and the situation at that time to Chiang Kai-shek, and achieved the first victory of the Anti-Japanese War in northern Hunan......

Throughout this period of Chen Cheng's history, he is also a general who fought from the grassroots soldiers layer by layer, with both the glory of victory and the lessons of defeat, as well as the history of fighting against the Red Army. Now is the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and the previous things can no longer be mentioned, what Han Xing wants is to hope to cooperate with Chen Cheng and fight the Yichang defensive war.

After layers of interrogation by the guards, Han Xing came to Chen Cheng's office. Chen Cheng's current office is Bai Huoshui's original office. Bai Huoshui's level and Chen Cheng's level are not known to be many times worse, of course, Bai Huoshui vacated the office early, and only poured tea and water on the side.

As soon as Chen Cheng heard that it was Han Xing from the Southern Expeditionary Army, he hurriedly greeted him from the office in person. When he saw Han Xing, he also smiled slightly: "There is a saying in China that since ancient times, heroes have been born as teenagers, and I am young enough, I can't imagine that Commander Han is younger than me." ”

Han Xing's first impression when he saw Chen Cheng was that he was forty years old, not tall, straight, dressed in a military uniform, with a typical southern face shape, angular and high cheekbones, big eyes and thick eyebrows, which was somewhat similar to Li Zongren's appearance.

At this level, Chen Cheng can joke with Han Xing, but Han Xing does not have the qualifications to joke with Chen Cheng. Han Xing had no choice but to give a military salute to Chen Cheng and said, "Report to Commander-in-Chief Chen, Han Xing of the Southern Expeditionary Army has been ordered to report to you." ”

Han Xing said that he was ordered, and he was also polite to him.

Chen Cheng gave Han Xing a military salute back, and said politely: "Where, I don't have the ability to command you!" Your Southern Expeditionary Army has fought well, especially now, at the most critical place and at the most critical time in Yichang, which is really a great blessing for our National Revolutionary Army! ”

Chen Cheng was also quite knowledgeable when he spoke, he first said that he had no ability to command the Southern Expeditionary Army, but in fact, he said that the Southern Expeditionary Army had an independent way of fighting, and he had no right to interfere. The second is to praise the Southern Expeditionary Army, so as to create conditions for the next step of commanding the Southern Expeditionary Army.

Chen Cheng asked again: "How many troops do you have in the Southern Expeditionary Army?" ”

Han Xing said: "We now have the strength of three regiments, which is equivalent to a brigade of the national army. ”

Chen Cheng closed his eyes, shook his head slightly, and said to himself, "It's a little less." Then he said: "But I have long heard of your Southern Expeditionary Army, and it has played a great role, always winning more with less, and defeating the Japanese army." Moreover, your equipment is also first-class, the air force, artillery, tank units, everything, and even if it is infantry, our Central Army series is not as good. ”

Han Xing was a little alert, afraid to put himself in the next step. I had no choice but to stop talking and say: "Compared with the large army of the national army, our little strength is really a drop in the barrel, and there is no comparison. ”

At this time, Bai Huoshui, who had been pouring water next to him, spoke, he not only praised Han Xing to Chen Cheng, but also showed off his own merits, saying: "As soon as Commander Han came, he actively organized the people, vigorously publicized the Yichang war, and also organized two militia groups, and now some of them have fired guns and are actively assisting the defense of Yichang." ”

Hearing this, Chen Cheng was very happy, nodded and said, "Okay!" Good! Two more regiments, now five regiments of troops to defend Yichang, is much better than an empty city. ”

When Han Xing heard what he meant, why didn't he mention a word about the national army, and hurriedly asked, "I don't know how many troops of the national army Commander-in-Chief Chen brought with him?" ”

Chen Cheng didn't speak for a while, and it took a long time before he said: "That's right, the chairman has ordered the elite of the 18th Army, the 2nd Army, the 11th Army and other Central Army to immediately rush to Yichang for reinforcements, and at present, they are already on the way. ”

Han Xing was not so easy to fool, and hurriedly chased after him:

"But at the moment we have not seen a single soldier of the national army. The Japanese troops are arriving in a blink of an eye, and the war is just around the corner. In the past, how many people in the national army could resist a wing of the Japanese army, Commander-in-Chief Chen did not know. Now that the 70,000 troops of the Japanese army are gathered, with our three miscellaneous regiments and two civilians who have just picked up guns, whether they can resist the well-trained 70,000 troops of the Japanese army, Commander-in-Chief Chen can't figure it out! ”

Han Xing took Chen Cheng's army, and Chen Cheng stopped talking. It took a long time for him to say heavily:

"The situation is indeed serious, the Japanese army will arrive in a blink of an eye, but the large army of the national army will not be able to catch up here for a while. The situation in Yichang is as dangerous as an egg, but you have to defend it! In this way, General Han Xing, your responsibility is greater than the sky, and I have appointed you as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in Yichang City, responsible for the defense strategy of Yichang City. ”

Han Xing sneered, if he really threw the burden of this former enemy commander-in-chief on himself, he would really become a cannon fodder, if he didn't increase his army, it would be useless to just give this empty commander.

Han Xing shook his head and said, "Forgive me for taking the liberty of being subordinate, my subordinates are really not capable of taking on this heavy responsibility. With these five regiments, the 70,000 tiger and wolf division that can resist the Japanese can resist for a few hours, and you, Commander-in-Chief Chen, have counted it. ”

Han Xing refused, but Chen Cheng had to buckle this black gauze hat to Han Xing. Chen Cheng also knew that now was the time to use troops, and Yichang City was the Southern Expeditionary Army with three regiments in Han Xing's hands, and its combat effectiveness and equipment were by no means comparable to those of ordinary national troops. If you really expect the national army to pounce and go through the Yichang war, the cucumber vegetables will also be cold.