readx; Later, Yu Feipeng asked the "deputy director of the telecommunications department" and the director of the Capital Telephone Bureau to "take immediate measures," so he set up a "military telephone line" for Chiang Kai-shek. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info by 3 people on duty 24 hours a day.

After that, this "military telephone special line" followed Chiang Kai-shek to Wuhan, Changsha, Guilin and finally Yucheng.

Because during the Battle of Songhu, the female operator could not hear Chiang Kai-shek's Ningbo official dialect clearly, and always had to ask more questions when answering the phone, and there were frequent mistakes and delays, he was very annoyed. Therefore, the staff on duty at the military telephone line station are all male surnames.

Cheng Qian knew that Chiang Kai-shek liked to use telephones, and before he came to Zhengzhou, he had sent someone to install an automatic telephone in the basement. However, this automatic telephone was later replaced by the communications personnel brought by Chiang Kai-shek from Wuhan with a "Siemens" hand-cranked magnetic telephone. Because Chiang Kai-shek would not use an automatic phone. The first is that he does not know how to distinguish between empty and non-empty lines according to the ringing of the telephone, and the second is the five-digit phone number, he often only dials four digits, and he lets go before he can dial large numbers such as "9" and "8". So when he used the robophone, he either couldn't get through or made the wrong call. And when he couldn't get through, he would lose his temper, throw the microphone, or ask the guard officer to go to the telephone chief. Later, Chiang Kai-shek simply ordered all the automatic telephones on the desk to be removed and replaced with hand-cranked telephones.

This time, Chiang Kai-shek came to Zhengzhou to command the operation, and he could not afford to miss the slightest omission in the requirements for communications equipment. The room next to him was equipped with a radio transmitter, the bedroom was equipped with a telephone, and the military telephone station was put into operation on the night of the chairman's arrival in Zheng. His bedroom is like an operational command post, with a large military map hanging on the wall, a map of the deployment of troops of various units on the front line on the table, and of course, a telephone that can be directly connected to the headquarters of various armies and divisions.

During the week from the evening of the 12th to the 18th, Chiang Kai-shek was constantly enraged by the bad news that came one after another, and at the same time he was busy preparing for the "Battle of Lanfeng".

Beginning on 13 July, Song Xilian, commander of the 71st Army, Qiu Qingquan, deputy commander of the 200th Division, Gui Yongqing, commander of the 27th Army, Hu Zongnan, commander of the 17th Army, Liang Kai, commander of the 195th Division, and even some brigade commanders passed through Zhengzhou one after another and came to meet the chairman of the committee. Chiang Kai-shek had to repeat his plan for the battle to these generals one by one, and to give them words of encouragement in different tones but similar in content, depending on the proximity of their relations.

Just when Chiang Kai-shek dispatched troops and sent generals, and the First War Zone was in full swing to actively prepare for the "Battle of Lanfeng", Xuzhou was in a hurry:

On the 15th, the first brigade of the army attacked Dangshan. Hundreds of enemy planes bombed Xuzhou. Yang Lou, Xiao County, 50 miles away from Xuzhou, found traces of the enemy.

On the 16th, the enemy plainclothes team was found in Xiguan, Xuzhou. The headquarters of the commander of the Fifth Theater was transferred to the office of Duanjia Garden outside the city.

On the 17th, the enemy of Fengxian County invaded and occupied He Lizhuang and Huangkou stations on the Longhai Line. In the evening, the army shelled the city of Xuzhou, and the citizens avoided the countryside.

On the 18th, it was the worst day for Chiang Kai-shek, and in the afternoon, Lin Wei telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek that Li Zongren had ordered the abandonment of Xuzhou. Then, there was news that the main force of the Tufeiyuan Division had captured Lanfeng, Neihuangji, Yifeng, Yejigang and other strongholds of our army between Minquan.

Chiang Kai-shek couldn't sleep at night and walked out of the basement in his clothes. The chief of the guard, Wang Shihe, followed without saying a word. He knew that the turmoil in the leader's heart could not be soothed by the poor language of a guard officer.

In the courtyard, the moonlight is like water, the trees are black and white, the night breeze is blowing, and the air is fresher than the basement, but it is not cool. There was silence all around, and the whole Zhengzhou was silent. Chiang Kai-shek looked to the east and saw that the nebula was connected to the roof in the distance, and the darkness was boundless. However, he can imagine that Xuzhou City is rumbling with artillery and firelight. The Battle of Xuzhou, which invested 600,000 troops and fought fiercely with the enemy for five months, and had achieved the victory of Taierzhuang, which was famous at home and abroad, ended like this. Whether the hundreds of thousands of troops will be spared doom is still difficult to predict.

As soon as Xuzhou was lost, eastern Henan became the front-line battlefield of resistance, and the annihilation of the Tufeiyuan Division was imminent. Otherwise, once the Xuzhou army invades on a large scale, the Tufeiyuan Division can just form a flank attack on us. The Battle of Lanfeng may also end in failure.

Once the Battle of Lanfeng failed, the consequences would be unimaginable, and at that time, the Yue army could drive westward, seize Zhengzhou, and then move south along the Pinghan Road, and then spy on Wuhan, the political and military center

Chiang Kai-shek didn't want to think about it anymore, he didn't want to retreat again and again, and let Wuhan become a second Nanjing.

He clenched his fists, waved it in the darkness slightly, and said to himself, "The battle of Lanfeng must not fail!"

"What did you say?" Wang Shihe stepped forward and asked.

"Nothing." Chiang Kai-shek said coldly.

At this time, the window of the office of the prefect's department was still lit, and Chiang Kai-shek was eager to talk to Cheng Qian and ask him what he thought of the prospects for the Battle of Lanfeng. However, he eventually dismissed this idea, and he did not want his subordinates to see his lack of confidence in the Battle of Lanfeng and the uneasiness caused by the loss of Xuzhou.

At the critical moment, he should maintain the overall situation and be as stable as the supreme commander of Mount Tai.

Back in the basement, it was early in the morning, and he still couldn't sleep. His thoughts are still lingering on the front line of Lanfeng and Guide. He paced back and forth in the bedroom a few times, then stood still in front of the military map. On the map, the positions of the armies on the front line are marked, as well as the locations where the Tuhihara Department is entrenched. He watched, and a specific and detailed battle plan was formed in his mind. For a while, he seemed to see the Tufeiyuan Division like a group of lost dogs, besieged by the various armies he personally transferred to the front line, rushing in all directions, desperate. Two days ago, Cheng Qian's words rang in his ears: "There are more than 100,000 front-line troops that can be invested in Kaifeng and Guide, even if you eat him, you can eat him!" ”

He smashed his fist on the railway line between Lanfeng and Minquan in the map, and shouted loudly: "Wang Shihe." ”

The chief of the guard entered in response and asked, "Commission, what are your orders?" ”

"Go get some supper."

As soon as Wang Shihe turned around, he said to himself: "Cheng Songyun is right, even if you eat, you can eat him!" ”

"What did you say?" Wang Shihe asked inexplicably.

Chiang Kai-shek smiled and did not answer, but waved his hand to signal him to get supper.

For the first time in a few days, he felt that he had such a strong appetite.

Before the main force of the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan entered the Lanfeng and Minquanjian areas, the armies dispatched by Chiang Kai-shek in Wuhan had arrived at the designated places one after another.

Huang Jie's Eighth Army, Li Hansoul's 64th Army, and Yu Jishi's 74th Army arrived in the Guide area around May 11; Song Xilian's 71st Army, 195th Division, and 106th Division had arrived in the vicinity of Lanfeng around the 15th. However, Tu Feiyuan dared to rush south, and went deep alone, ignoring the possibility of being besieged by the [***] team. This is inseparable from the arrogance and arrogance of the generals of the army. After the "77" incident, some large and medium-sized cities in the north, as well as Shanghai and Nanjing, were lost one after another, and the army did not take the squadron in their eyes at all, and some generals openly said that as long as they had a tactical unit mixed with infantry and artillery, they could go on a rampage and achieve the goal of attacking and defending. And Tu Fei's original combat experience also made him have the arrogance of taking risks and advancing lightly.

In mid-August 1937, Tu Hihara led the 14th Division to cross west by boat from Osaka Port and arrived at Tanggu on August 20. After the troops landed, they took a train to Yanjing, and after a short rest at the old barracks of Song Zheyuan, commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang First Group Army, outside Xizhimen, they waved their divisions south. The 14th Division successfully crossed the Yongding River, Juma River, and Daqing River, and then captured Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan, Cixian, Daming, Anyang, and Xinxiang all the way. It is said that the pseudo-newspaper broadcasts continuously reported on the rapid advance of Tufeiyuan, and the military circles praised Tufeiyuan as a "star" on the battlefield in North China. All this has made him a little carried away.

On the night of May 17, after the main force of the 14th Division of the Yue Army entered the area near Neihuangji, the attacks were successful one after another, and Tufeiyuan was quite proud. However, by the 19th, the attack of the 14th Division encountered strong resistance from the [***] squadron, and suffered heavy casualties.

In the next 10 days, the Tufeiyuan Division will be heavily surrounded by the [***] team, the "star of the North China Battlefield" will almost fall, and the 14th Division, an elite unit of the Chinese army, will also be almost wiped out.

On May 17, Xue Yue ordered the 64th and 74th armies to advance to the line of Jiu Kaocheng and Minquan to attack the enemy who was moving south from Heze, and the 71st Army and the 106th Division and other units attacked the enemy who had fled to the vicinity of Neihuang and Yifeng while securing Lanfeng.

The 1st and 74th Armies of the 64th Army took a train from Guide to the vicinity of Liuheji and Minquan that night, and then advanced northwest along both sides of the railway to occupy positions. The 71st Army and the 106th Division and other units have engaged in fierce battles with the enemy on the front line east of Lanfeng.

On 20 May, Chiang Kai-shek talked to Cheng Qian about his operational guidance for the Battle of Lanfeng, and asked him to telegraph to Xue Yue, commander-in-chief of the First Corps. Chiang Kai-shek's operational instructions were:

A. With the main forces of Yu Jishi and Li Hanxun as the Eastern Route Army, advance along the areas on both sides of the railway, keep the main force north of the railway, encircle and attack the enemy's left flank, and take civil rights as the focus of the attack, especially to ensure it; B. With the two armies of Song Xilian and Gui Yongqing as the Western Route Army, the Song Army on the left, the main force of the Western Route Army pointed to Yifeng and Neihuang to attack, and attacked from the south side of the railway to Neihuang with a powerful part, and indeed occupied it, in order to cut off the communication between Yifeng and the Neihuang enemy, the left column of the Western Route Army, Gui Yongqing's army, sent a powerful part to occupy the line of Guozhuang and Yangqiao, cut off the enemy's rear contact, and the main force attacked and advanced from Hongmiao to Mawangzhai; C. Wang Jinzai's division should attack Zhuzhuang and Zhifangji; The Shang Zhen army of Ding, Dongming, and Kaocheng should send a unit to occupy Dahuangji and Zhouji; The first part of the E and Yu armies and the Guan Lin Expeditionary Army were the general reserves of the Eastern Route Army, located in the area north of Minquan, and the 78th Division was the general reserve of the Western Route Army, located near Yang Qiji.

Precautions:

1. Special attention must be paid to the enemies of Inner Yellow; 2. Avoid attacking fortifications to avoid major damage; 3. The stakes are of great importance in this battle, and it is imperative to encircle and annihilate the enemy, and it is hoped that the deployment will be adapted to the enemy's situation in accordance with the points mentioned above.

On the same day, Xue Yue, in accordance with Chiang Kai-shek's operational guidance, issued an order to the armies on the east and west routes, and was scheduled to launch a full-scale attack on the Tufeiyuan Division on May 21.

At dawn on the 21st, the two armies of Li Hansoul and Yu Jishi launched attacks on the enemy in Yejigang, Neihuangji, Chuzhuangzhai, Hecun and other places.

Gui Yongqing of the Western Route Army led the 46th Division to Mawangzhai, while Song Xilian led the 87th Division to continue the attack on Yifeng.

On the 18th, Song Xilian received a call from Chiang Kai-shek: The 71st Army should annihilate the enemy in front of Lanfeng, and the 106th Division, the 200th Division Search Battalion, the 195th Division, and the 61st Division should all be placed under the command of the 71st Army.

The 71st Army originally belonged to the battle sequence of the First Theater, and the headquarters of the Commander of the First Theater was also located in Zhengzhou, so the army should have returned to the command of Cheng Qian. However, it was Chiang Kai-shek's consistent style to often disrespect the command system, and sometimes even to directly command divisions, brigades, regiments, and other combat units.

On the afternoon of 19 May, Song Xilian called Chiang Kai-shek at the military headquarters and asked Chiang Kai-shek to send planes to assist in attacking the enemy's stronghold. Chiang Kai-shek hesitated for a moment and said: "Xilian, no one has made this request yet, our planes are too few, and we have only made two sorties during the Battle of Xuzhou." ”

"Chairman, I don't want to rely on the Air Force, it's just that in the past few days, our army has been bombed by enemy planes, but our Air Force has not even seen a shadow. The commission can send a few planes to go around the enemy's head twice and drop a few bombs, so as to boost morale. Song Xilian suggested.

"Okay, okay, I'll meet your requirements, and you can start making the attack deployment." Chiang Kai-shek nodded.

"Thank you, Chairman." Song Xilian was suddenly in high spirits.

Song Xilian immediately convened a meeting of the commanders of the main attack force and the artillery to arrange the attack mission, and told everyone the news that the chairman of the committee would send the air force to help in the war.

20 In the early morning, the sun has not yet risen, the sky is like a brocade, the faint clear blue is shrouded in the wheat fields that are about to ripen, and the large and small villages show clear outlines in the morning light. The attacking units of the 71st Army, which had arrived at their designated positions before dawn, found nine planes coming from the south in a three-three formation. When the plane flew near Lanfeng, it lowered its flight altitude, and the blue sky and white national emblem under the wings were faintly visible. The officers and men of the 71st raised their guns in the trenches and cheered, waving towels and hats in greeting.

But the funny thing is that when the Yue army in Yifeng and its surrounding strongholds spotted the plane, they also got out of the bunker, waved the military flag, and screamed to show their position—because of the one-sided situation of the Chinese air power, the Chinese air force actually regarded the bombers of the Chinese Air Force as their planes. It wasn't until the first bombs exploded in their positions that they left behind a corpse and scurried around with their heads in search of shelter.

The smoke of gunfire rose from Yifeng and the outlying strongholds, and the army was like a nest of rats that had been stabbed with sticks, some ran out of the fortifications, and some got into the fortifications from the outside, and the position was in chaos.

Unexpectedly, not long after the Chinese Air Force began bombing Yifeng, a group of destroyers of the Yue Army suddenly appeared. The air force then launched a fierce battle in the sky over Yang Qiji, south of Lanfeng.

At this time, the sun had already risen, the sky turned blue, and more than 10 planes of the enemy and us were taking off and competing in the sun, firing at each other, and fierce gunfire rang out in bursts, shaking in the clear sky. After a fierce battle, one enemy plane was shot down and two were damaged, while the rest of the enemy planes took cover and fled north with the wounded enemy planes dragging white smoke. The aircraft of the Chinese Air Force was also shot down by the enemy.

Without waiting for the end of the air battle, Song Xilian immediately ordered the heavy artillery, field artillery, and mountain artillery positions displayed in the east and west Gangtou and the Han battalion to concentrate their fire on the artillery positions of the Yue army in Yifeng and their outlying strongholds of Dongmaogu and Yangzhuang. Naturally, the artillery of the army will not remain silent.

So after the end of the air battle, another artillery battle followed.

As soon as the artillery fire of the two sides stopped, Song Xilian immediately led the necessary staff to drive from the command post of the Xigangtou Army and personally went to the front line of Donggangtou to direct the operation.

The attacking forces attacked on all fronts and advanced to the strongholds on the periphery of Yifeng. Song Xilian also ordered the artillery to extend the fire to cut off the support of the enemy's outlying strongholds.

Due to the appearance of the air force, the morale of the officers and men of the 71st was greatly boosted, and the infantry of all walks of life fought bravely to be the first, one after another, and launched many charges against the stronghold of the army, and by 12 noon, the left wing troops had captured Dongmaogu, and the right wing troops had conquered Lizhuang, and Yifeng was already in sight.

However, when Song Xilian was making coordinated progress with his artillery and preparing to launch a siege on the Yifeng Army, Gui Yongqing, commander of the 27th Army, and Qiu Qingquan, deputy commander of the 200th Division, drove over. Their arrival made the battle against Yifeng abandoned.

Gui Yongqing, whose words are true, was born in 1900 in Guijia Village, Loudi, Yingtan Town, Guixi County, Jiangxi Province. In the early 20s, Gui Yongqing and two other young people from Guixi County, Huang Wei and He Ji, applied for the Whampoa Military Academy at the same time and were admitted as the first batch of students of the Whampoa Military Academy. Gui Yongqing was Chiang Kai-shek's trusted general, in 1927 as the head of the regiment with the National Revolutionary Army East Route Army General Headquarters in Hangzhou, Gui Yongqing married Ms. He Xiangyin, He Yingqin as a witness, Chiang Kai-shek specially sent a congratulatory gift of 500 silver dollars.

In 1930, Gui Yongqing was sent by Chiang Kai-shek to Germany to study military affairs. Studying in Germany became a major turning point in Gui Yongqing's life. After returning to China, he has been valued by Chiang Kai-shek, which has made his military career shine many times since then. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Gui Yongqing was appointed commander-in-chief of the navy by the Kuomintang political axe.

In 1949, after Gui Yongqing went to Taiwan, he resigned as commander of the navy and was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as chief of staff of the second-class general of the "Presidential Palace", and later promoted to chief of staff of the first-class general.

Qiu Qingquan, whose name is Yu'an, was born in 1902 in Puzhou Township, Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province. Chiang Kai-shek's cronies and generals. In the autumn of 1922, Qiu Qingquan was admitted to Shanghai University, where he was deeply influenced by the president and Kuomintang veteran Yu Youren and some teachers with bourgeois revolutionary ideas, and also advocated a "national revolution". In the summer of 1924, under the instigation of the slogan "Revolution to Huangpu", Qiu Qingquan abandoned school and joined Rong, was admitted to the second phase of the Huangpu Military Academy, and was assigned to the engineering department.

In 1934, Qiu Qingquan went to Germany to study with the qualification of first place in the examination, first entered the engineering college, and the following year entered the Berlin Army University to study military theory. After returning to China in May 1937, he was appointed chief of staff of the Central Teaching Corps, and the captain of the corps was Gui Yongqing, who returned from studying in Germany.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Qiu Qingquan assisted the commander Gui Yongqing to participate in the defense of Nanjing. In 1938, the Kuomintang army was expanded with the original Army Armored Corps to form the 200th Division, with Du Yuming as the division commander and Qiu Qingquan promoted to deputy division commander and concurrently served as the commander of the division.

In September of that year, the 200th Division was expanded into the Fifth Army, and the commanders Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan were promoted to the commanders of the 22nd Division of the army.

In September 1939, the Fifth Army was ordered to block the Yue Army at Kunlun Pass. Qiu Qingquan led his troops to attack the army at Wuyuan south of Kunlun Pass, cutting off the enemy's rear route.

Then, the main force set up an ambush circle in the mountainous area on the north side, lured the enemy into depth with a regiment, gave full play to the might of the mechanized troops, quickly surrounded and intercepted, and attacked from all sides.

During the battle, Masao Nakamura, commander of the 12th Brigade of the Chinese Army, and two wing commanders were killed, and more than 200 tanks, armored vehicles, and automobiles, as well as countless light and heavy weapons, were abandoned, and the casualties were very heavy.

(To be continued)