At this time, Zhang Cheng was keeping an eye on the battle situation in Taierzhuang, and he didn't realize that the brigade commander under him was holding back his big move and wanted to make a big news. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

On April 3, Li Zongren issued a general attack order. The 52nd, 85th, and 75th armies launched a fierce offensive against the enemy near Taierzhuang. The Japanese fought hard and occupied most of the markets. The Kuomintang army engaged in barricade battles, counterattacking one after another, clearing out the enemy and recapturing the market occupied by the Japanese.

On the 4th, the Kuomintang Air Force bombed the Japanese positions in the northeast and northwest of Taierzhuang with 27 planes. That night, the Japanese Seya detachment was overwhelmed, blew up the materials that were not easy to move, and fled to Yixian.

At 1 a.m. on 7 April, the Kuomintang Army sounded the clarion call for a counteroffensive, and the left-wing corps composed of Sun Lianzhong's 2nd Group Army and the right-wing corps composed of Tang Enbo and Feng Yizhong's 20th Army Corps launched a large-scale counteroffensive in Taierzhuang and its vicinity.

Sun Lianzhong, who had been defending and being attacked, heard that the counterattack was uplifted, and gave an order, and the sound of killing shook the sky. The two sides launched street battles and hand-to-hand combat, and for a time, the guns and bullets in Taierzhuang City rained down, and blood flowed like a river.

For the first time, the Japanese army was so stubbornly attacked by the Kuomintang army that it was quickly crushed. To the north of Taierzhuang, the sound of gunfire was getting thicker, and the Tang Enbo regiment had opened fire on the enemy.

Isoya had fallen into a counter-encirclement and began to waver, ordering the troops to retreat on all fronts. At this time, the enemy army had become the end of the crossbow, the ammunition and gasoline had run out, many motor vehicles had been destroyed, and the whole army was devastated and fled in confusion. Li Zongren ordered the troops to chase fiercely, the corpses of the enemy soldiers were all over the field, all kinds of baggage were everywhere, and Isoya himself led the remnants to desperately break through.

After 4 days of fierce fighting, the Kuomintang army inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese Seya detachment and Sakamoto detachment, and the rest of the Japanese remnants retreated to Yicheng and Zaozhuang on the 7th. So far, the Battle of Taierzhuang has been won.

The Battle of Taierzhuang, under the personal command of Li Zongren, defeated the main forces of the 5th and 10th elite divisions of the Japanese army, annihilated more than 20,000 Japanese troops, captured a large number of weapons and ammunition, seriously dampened the arrogance of the Japanese army, and was the first great victory of the Kuomintang army on the frontal battlefield. It has invigorated the spirit of the whole nation in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and strengthened the belief of the Chinese people in the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

The victory in the Battle of Taierzhuang was over, but what was surprising was that Chang Kaishen was not very happy after the Kuomintang army won its first victory in the war against Japan.

In the first battle of Taierzhuang, the Kuomintang army lost 30,000 and annihilated 10,000 enemies, which can be said to be a "crushing victory" fought by flesh and blood.

In fact, Li Zongren's command of a "motley army" to fight bloody battles is itself an amazing tactic. When Li Zongren won a great victory in Taierzhuang, Chang Kaishen said in surprise: "You can still command a miscellaneous army?"

Li Zongren recalled this past with pride in his later years: "In Mr. Chang's view, this is really an incredible miracle, and he himself can't do it." ”

The factions and factions have always been the most troublesome problem for the KMT army. Chang Kaishen's solution to this problem is usually to push non-descendant troops to the front line, while resisting the enemy and weakening dissidents. Li Zongren was the opposite, he always sent his own descendants to play the vanguard, and tried to be as fair as possible to the troops of other factions in terms of military salaries and supplies, and even gave special treatment.

Li Zongren is a neighbor, and the people of the time respectfully call him "Degong", which is a well-deserved title. The difference in personality determines that Li has not been Chiang's opponent in the political arena all his life, but on the battlefield, Degong's generosity gives him a special ability to unite people's hearts.

It is not surprising that the "motley army" has shrunk in other theaters, but it is not surprising that the Fifth Theater under the command of Li Zongren did not hesitate to fight to the end.

Taierzhuang good news came, the people's hearts were greatly boosted, people have to the street to cheer, set off firecrackers to celebrate, Chang Kaishen heard the noise on the street in the Wuchang residence, his face was displeased, said: "What is there to celebrate? Tell them to stay away and don't mess around here. ”

In fact, at the beginning, Chang Kaishen was very happy to see the Eighth Route Army and the miscellaneous army successively winning battles against Japan, but when he found that the Eighth Route Army and the miscellaneous army gradually had a tail-ending trend, the haze in his heart became deeper and deeper, fortunately at this time, the Japanese army still occupied the upper hand in the Sino-Japanese all-out war, and Chang Kaishen could only bury this haze in his heart, only waiting for it to break out at some point.

After the victory of the Battle of Taierzhuang, the Battle of Xuzhou entered the final stage. However, Zhang Cheng didn't have much energy to pay attention to, and the news of the big fight in the base area along the Jilu border had faintly spread to the Qilu Military Region.

Zhang Cheng was also shocked when he first heard the news, but he did not interfere too much in the operations of the Eighth Brigade. The instructor has developed to the present, and now there are more than 100,000 troops, and they are still expanding rapidly, this strength has made Zhang Cheng a little more confident, and he began to change his concept, thinking that even if the devil launches a sweep against the Qilu base area, it is not a big deal, it is nothing more than a soldier to block the water and cover the earth.

Moreover, the Battle of Lanfeng between the Japanese army and the Kuomintang army is about to start, and the Japanese army will not be able to draw much troops to sweep North China, which is a good opportunity for the Qilu base area to flourish!

Thinking of this, Zhang Cheng sent a telegram to Deng Hua, which said: "Victory is forgivable, but it is not successful; If you lose, you will be punished, and the official will be demoted by three levels to set an example. ”

The meaning of Zhang Cheng's message is very simple, as long as you win, you can say anything, and if you lose the battle, you will be demoted. After Deng Hua received Zhang Cheng's telegram order, although he didn't say anything, he was still relieved in his heart. Now that a big stone in my heart has been put down, there is nothing to say, just try to win.

At the same time, the Japanese army independently mixed the 13th Brigade Regiment of 5,000 Japanese troops and 3,000 puppet troops were marching all the way to the west towards the Guancheng battlefield.

"Damn the Shina people! The military column that attacked the imperial army did not stop, and dared to ambush the warriors of the imperial army, what a boldness! This time, if we catch the people who dare to touch the tiger's whiskers of the imperial army, we must cut down their population and build a Jingguan to set an example! "The commander of the 13th Independent Mixed Brigade, Major General Yoshizawa Tadayu, sat in the cab of a rickety truck, thinking resentfully about how to concoct them after defeating the Eighth Route Army.

Unexpectedly, at this time, the chief of staff, Matsumoto Kazuken, rushed over, stopped the truck in a hurry, and reported to Major General Yoshizawa Tadayu: "Your Excellency Brigade Commander, our department sends a telegram every half an hour to inquire about the battle situation of the 25th Wing, but now that two hours have passed, the 25th Wing still has not heard back. ”