Han Yunhua's authorization by the head of the headquarters to give Han Yunhua full command of this retreat did not surprise Han Yunhua, after all, the deputy chief of staff of the left was indeed inferior to Han Yunhua in commanding operations, and the most important thing was that Han Yunhua had already established his prestige in the operation of the large corps. Among the many generals of the Eighth Route Army, except for Division Commander Lin, an expert who likes positional warfare, no one is more accomplished in this area than Han Yunhua.

Although the rank of the left deputy chief of staff is a little higher than Han Yunhua's, but in this kind of matter related to the life and death of more than 100,000 people, the head of the headquarters does not dare to be sloppy in the slightest, and Han Yunhua should have full authority to command the retreat as early as Han Yunhua expected.

Han Yunhua got up and asked Li Yunchang to report on the situation of the uprising troops in eastern Hebei, so that he could do the dispatch of the troops. Li Yunchang was not hypocritical, got up and said: "There are a total of 76 armed uprising troops in eastern Hebei, and the number varies, but most of them are between 1,000 and 10,000 people. Due to the urgency of time, the various units have not yet been reorganized, and the total number of troops withdrawn to Chengde is about 130,000, and in addition to the fourth column led by Comrades Deng Hua and Song Shilun, there are a total of 15 temporary headquarters of the uprising troops in eastern Hebei, and the basic situation is probably like this. ”

Han Yunhua asked again: "What about the equipment, morale, and combat effectiveness of the troops?" ”

"The equipment is very poor, most of the rifles are equipped with Zhongzheng, Hanyang-made and a small number of old sleeves that we captured from the puppet army, but even so, the gap is still very large. Basically, only two people can have one gun, and some troops even have three or four people with one gun. Ammunition is also very scarce, each rifle can only be equipped with twenty rounds, there is no ammunition in storage. There is an even greater shortage of machine guns, with less than 10 heavy machine guns and more than 20 light machine guns in a corps of more than 8,000 people, a total of only a dozen mortars, and less than 200 shells. The morale of the soldiers was a little low, mainly because they heard that they were going to evacuate to Chahar, and they were a little worried about their fathers and fellow villagers in their hometown, as well as their relatives and friends at home. The combat effectiveness of the troops is also a weakness, and the weapons and equipment are inferior to those of the people, and most of the soldiers were peasants and ordinary workers before joining the army, and few of them had received formal military education, nor had they participated in any military training, and their military quality was very poor, and of course their combat effectiveness was very poor. Against a large number of devils, if there is no Deng Hua's fourth column or your cavalry brigade to participate in the battle, there is almost no defeat. But against the puppet army, the soldiers are not bad, although they may not be able to be completely annihilated, but it is still no problem to defeat them. Li Yunchang responded.

Han Yunhua thought for a while and said: "This will not work, there is a little accident in the process of retreating, then this peasant army that has revolted is likely to collapse, and there will be few results left in the great anti-Japanese uprising of the people in eastern Hebei, and our troops will be reorganized." Those with few weapons and equipment should also be replenished in a timely manner, and we must ensure that these troops, which have been pulled up with great difficulty, are brought back to Chahar and handed over to the Party Central Committee. ”

The left deputy chief of staff said: "Yunhua, time is limited, and there are not so many weapons and equipment." When we have reorganized, the devils should also come, and after a big battle, these peasant uprising troops will also collapse. ”

"Time is indeed a bit tight, but it is not impossible, what is lacking in the reorganized troops is officers, especially middle- and lower-ranking officers with combat qualities and tenacious will, so we must carefully select military cadres when reorganizing the troops. However, this is not a problem, and our Inner Mongolia Military Region has always had a tradition, that is, the troops have adopted the system of double deputy officers, and each military unit has set up more than two deputy officers, including deputy brigade commanders. You are not unaware that our military region has grown from 400 to more than 100,000 in just one year, and it will not work without an effective officer training system. Secondly, the problem of lack of weapons and equipment can also be solved, when we captured the city of Chengde, we captured a large number of weapons and equipment, Chengde, as the capital city of Rehe Province, was originally the center of the Japanese army's rule in eastern Hebei. The Japanese army stored a large amount of weapons and equipment, medicine and food here, especially a large part of the large number of light and heavy weapons lost by the Nationalist Government in the northern battlefield were also concentrated in eastern Hebei, and the puppet army that was ready to be used to equip Yin Rugeng has now become the trophies of our military region, which is just used to supplement the armed forces of the uprising in eastern Hebei. Han Yunhua replied.

Li Yunchang said urgently: "Then how many guns and ammunition can you take out now, you don't know how hard we have been fighting during this time, it's okay for two people to use one gun, three or four people are waiting for a rifle, it's difficult",

Han Yunhua said with a smile: "Although I have secretly transported some of the weapons away before you came, but because the number of weapons left by the Japanese army in Chengde is too large, there is no problem at all to equip seventy or eighty thousand people, plus other weapons captured during this time, there is no problem at all in achieving one rifle per person." Secretary Li, please rest assured."

At ten o'clock in the evening, the meeting finally ended, and Han Yunhua and the others didn't care about eating. Han Yunhua, Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo, Li Yunchang, Song Shilun, and Deng Hua each led a working group to reorganize the rebel troops stationed in the east, west, north, south, and north of Chengde City, as well as in the center of the city. The principle of this reorganization was formulated by Han Yunhua in accordance with the experience of the Inner Mongolia Military Region in dealing with the puppet army, and he did not look at the soldiers, the situation of weapons and equipment, or the officers, and everything was disrupted.

At more than 12 o'clock in the evening, the whole city's armed forces were completely reorganized, and Han Yunhua unified the entire city's armed forces into 16 brigades, except for the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, including the fourth column of Deng Hua and Song Shilun. Each brigade has two infantry regiments of 3,000 men, an engineer transport regiment of 1,200 men, and a guard battalion of 500 men, with a total strength of more than 7,700 troops.

At the same time, Han Yunhua replenished the remaining 30,000 people to other units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, especially the 1st and 2nd Supplementary Corps, which suffered heavy losses during this period.

After the reorganization of the troops, almost all the units lacked officers, and some brigades not only did not have brigade commanders and deputy brigade commanders, but even regiment commanders had a shortfall of nearly half. There is also a huge shortage of weapons, ammunition, food, and medicine. Han Yunhua removed more than 300 people from the saber special combat team and sent them to the army as officers, and at the same time transferred more than 30 deputy officers from his guard battalion.

This is not that the Inner Mongolia Military Region really lacks officers to such a point, but on the contrary, there are still many deputy officers in other departments of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and Han Yunhua has not transferred any of them. On the one hand, Han Yunhua knew that the main force covering this retreat must be the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and other troops did not have this ability, of course, including the fourth column of Deng Hua and Song Shilun, which was also the main reason why Han Yunhua also disrupted and reorganized the fourth column at the same time. In this way, Han Yunhua would not dare to let alone mess with the original troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, in case any accident would happen at that time.

After the reorganization of the troops, Han Yunhua ordered the Saber Special Operations Brigade to open all the arsenals in Chengde City, first with 5,000 rifles, 120 light machine guns, 50 heavy machine guns, 30 mortars, and 100 grenadiers for each brigade. Subsequently, Han Yunhua distributed all the remaining weapons and ammunition to the brigades, which were kept by the engineer transport regiments of each brigade.

After completing these preparations, Han Yunhua ordered the telegraph operator to send a report, ordering all units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region to quickly end the battle in front of them and move closer to Chengde, preparing to cover the retreat of the large army.

Although Han Yunhua and Jidong's troops both belong to the troops under the leadership of the **, they are not subordinate to each other, and Han Yunhua's ability to leave his troops behind to cover the rear did move the deputy chief of staff and others.

After the order was issued, Han Yunhua divided the 16 brigades in Chengde City into four route armies: the First Route Army was commanded by Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Brigades of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese War and the 1st Field Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Inner Mongolia Military Region were under its jurisdiction. The task of the First Route Army is to attack north from Chengde, and then enter the eastern part of Suiyuan from the archway and Laowopu, and return to Huade through Duolun, Blue Flag, and White Flag. The Second Route Army was commanded by Deng Hua and was under the jurisdiction of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Brigades of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese War, the Third Artillery Regiment, the Fourth Artillery Regiment, and the Second Field Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Inner Mongolia Military Region. The Second Route Army attacked westward from Chengde, and after converging with the First Supplementary Corps of the Inner Mongolia Military Region on the periphery of Fengning, it captured Fengning as the vanguard of the large army. Then enter and occupy Guyuan County from Fengning, and build permanent fortifications in Guyuan, and at the same time be prepared to meet several other armies. The Third Route Army was commanded by Song Shilun, and the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Brigades of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese War were under its jurisdiction. The Fourth Route Army was commanded by Li Yunchang, under the jurisdiction of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Brigades of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Resistance, and the task of the Third Route Army and the Fourth Route Army was to be responsible for demolishing and destroying the offices, industrial plants, machinery and equipment, and bunkers and warehouses of the Japanese puppet army in various counties and cities in eastern Hebei. Some people want to give all of them away, such as tables, chairs, benches, pots and pans, etc., all of which are given to the people in Chengde City. For a time, the city of Chengde was full of explosions, and according to the investigation by the Japanese authorities, after the destruction of Han Yunhua's department, the economic development rate of the eastern Hebei region was set back by 20 years. The removal of rubble from the city of Chengde alone has been going on for nearly two years. ,

As for Han Yunhua himself, he personally commanded the remaining troops in eastern Hebei, mainly the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, to cover the retreat of the various units after the large army was broken, especially to block the attack of the various units of the Kwantung Army.

By 3 August, the 77 th Independent Brigade, the Second Assault Brigade, the Second Supplementary Corps, the First Artillery Regiment, the Second Artillery Regiment, the Fire Support Regiment, the Engineer Regiment, and the First and Second Cavalry Brigades under the jurisdiction of the Inner Mongolia Military Region had all reached the periphery of Chengde.

According to the report of the forward observation outpost, a brigade of the 2nd Division of the Kwantung Army had already arrived in Kuancheng and was expected to reach Chengde in three days.

After reading the report, Han Yunhua turned to Wang Jian and the others and asked, "How is the progress of the Third and Fourth Route Armies?" ”

"Song Shilun and Secretary Li Yunchang have been walking for more than two days, but there are too many things they have to bring, and the marching speed of the troops is very slow, and they have only reached Luanping until now. Even if they were given another three days, they might not be able to reach Fengning, and I heard that these two armies carried more than 13,000 carts of supplies, and because there were not enough mules and horses, most of the carriages were pulled by manpower. Wang Jian responded.

Han Yunhua said angrily: "Nonsense, when will such a marching speed be able to withdraw to Chahar, the devil's bayonet is about to reach Lao Tzu's nose, they still care about those altars and jars, one more day Lao Tzu will still have a battalion inside, and Lao Tzu still can't afford it." Li Dingguo, you tell me Song Shilun, let them dispose of those useless things on the spot, bury them on the spot for later use, and give them away, but dispose of them for me as soon as possible, except for the machines and equipment I named, other things can be disposed of as much as possible. The troops should advance lightly and quickly, and they should be allowed to reach Fengning within three days. ”

Then Han Yunhua asked again: "What is the situation of our troops, and what are the losses of personnel?" ”

This time, Wang Jian and the others didn't speak, and they didn't know what to say. Han Yunhua said angrily: "What's the matter, this can't be bearable, how can you fight without dying, Wanguoquan, tell me about the situation of your brigade, tell the truth." ”

Wan Guoquan stood up and said: "Report to the commander, our second assault brigade originally had two infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, and several independent battalions, with a total strength of 7,842 people. As the main force of our military region's Eastern Crusade, our brigade successively exchanged fire with the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, the Chengde Garrison Brigade, the 11th Army of the Puppet Army, the Guyuan Garrison Brigade, and the Paddock Garrison Brigade. In the nearly month-long continuous operation, our unit suffered tremendous losses, and although the exchange of fire with the 6th Division alone was not long, our unit lost two battalions. Now there are less than 3,000 veterans left of our 2nd Assault Brigade, and the losses are more than 50%. More importantly, four of the three regiment commanders and six deputy regiment commanders of our brigade were killed. Of the 30 battalion commanders, 12 were lost, and the platoon commanders were killed or wounded. A lot of light and heavy weapons were also lost, especially the heavy weapons were almost completely destroyed by the devil's artillery fire, fortunately they had just been replenished, otherwise they would have been suspended. ”

There was silence in the conference room, and they all knew that the casualties in this battle would definitely be very large, but no one thought that a random brigade would suffer nearly 60% casualties, and Han Yunhua was also sour in his heart. He knew that just this year the situation in Europe would develop in favor of China, and Nazi Germany would begin to extend its claws to the surrounding countries, and Europe would be enveloped in war within a year. It was also a war of extermination, but although the European teams were much stronger than the troops of Asian countries in terms of combat effectiveness. However, the armies of the European countries could not be compared with the troops on the Asian battlefield in terms of their will to fight or their fierceness.

There is a consensus in Europe that once a force has suffered more than 40% casualties, then the force can be called incapacitated and can surrender to the enemy without being sanctioned by the laws of the country. However, in the Asian theater, there are many troops that have lost more than half of their troops and still maintain a tenacious fighting spirit and strong combat effectiveness, just like the current Second Assault Brigade.

The Second Assault Brigade can only be regarded as a relatively capable unit among all the units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, but it is definitely not the most capable of fighting, and there is still a considerable distance compared with the independent 77th Brigade and the First Assault Brigade. However, the tenacious will to fight and strong combat effectiveness displayed by the Second Assault Brigade in this battle surprised everyone, and Han Yunhua was especially moved.

Han Yunhua motioned for Wan Guoquan to sit down, and then Wang Jian got up and said: "Report to the commander, our independent 77th Brigade also suffered great losses in this battle, and the day before yesterday just finished counting, our brigade sacrificed a total of 1,324 soldiers, and nearly 1,000 people were seriously wounded. Half of the brigade's troops have lost more than 40 percent, but no regiment has suffered more than 50 percent casualties; in addition, during this period our brigade has incorporated a part of the local armed forces, and its combat effectiveness has been restored, basically returning to the original 90 percent combat effectiveness. ”,

Han Yunhua nodded with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "It's still you kid ghost, Lao Wan is really this person, the captured puppet army and the recovered local armed forces have all been handed over to the military region to deal with, you kid is good, digest it on the spot." ”

Wang Jian scratched his head embarrassedly, and said with a smile: "I didn't learn it from you, the commander, but I followed you all the way from Yan'an, and our military region has captured at least 350,000 puppet soldiers so far, but I haven't seen you hand it over to the head of the headquarters to deal with.

There was a burst of laughter in the conference room, in general, the results of the Eastern Expedition of the Inner Mongolia Military Region were still brilliant, although the losses were a bit heavy, but compared with the achievements achieved, this loss was very necessary.

Maybe he was used to seeing life and death, so the officers in the conference room quickly recovered, and seeing that the mood of the chief and deputy brigade commanders of each brigade had recovered, Han Yunhua said loudly: "Now listen to my order: the 77th Independent Brigade and the Fire Support Regiment will stay in Chengde City, and your task is to block the main force of the Kwantung Army for more than three days, and the camera will break through after three days." The 2nd Assault Brigade and the 1st Artillery Regiment retreated to the west and were responsible for covering the flanks for the 77th Independent Brigade, especially paying attention to the counterattack of the Japanese troops returning to Zhangjiakou. The 2nd Supplementary Corps and the 2nd Artillery Regiment retreated from the direction of Longhua to Guyuan County, not too quickly, and your colleagues were to be responsible for the security of the northern defense line of the 77th Independent Brigade. The cavalry brigades of Boilleg and Bart were led by me, and the saber special forces team cooperated with us, and our mission was to teach the devils another unforgettable lesson. ”

Under Han Yunhua's dispatch, the final sequence of the retreat of the Inner Mongolia Military Region was finally finalized, and the big war, which lasted more than a month, was finally coming to an end.