When Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo and Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji were relatively speechless, mortar shells rained down like hailstones, and the wing of the Second Division besieging Chengde Ximen was suddenly torn apart, and many of the soldiers lost their lives in their sleep.

The camps built by the army were all canvas tents, and under the attack of artillery fire, there was almost no protection at all, and it was very easy to catch fire, and the shelling of the artillery battalion of the 77th Brigade just now caused more than half of the tents of the army to catch fire. It was the dry season, the fire was out of control, and the army had no time to extinguish the fire. Because at this time, more than 1,500 soldiers of the fire support regiment rushed up with hundreds of light and heavy machine guns in their hands and carts (heavy machine guns), and these harvesters with tongues of fire quickly harvested the lives of devils.

Because the mortar battalion and the fire support regiment appeared so suddenly, less than one-fifth of the entire wing of the Japanese army was able to enter the battle as soon as the battle began, and the rest hurried out of the barracks to join the battle after the artillery bombardment had passed.

Before the bombardment had completely passed, the 77th Brigade of Reading Force, which had long been on standby in the city, rushed out, flanked the 2nd Division inside and outside, and soon crushed the infantry wing of the 2nd Division that was blocking the west of Chengde City.

After breaking the encirclement of the Yue army, Wang Jian commanded the troops to immediately move westward, bypassing the main road and taking the mountain path that was impassable by the mechanized troops.

Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo wanted to pursue, but the wing besieging the west gate of the city had already collapsed, with losses of more than 1,000 men in just ten minutes, and even the arsenal was destroyed by the cunning Eighth Route Army, and this wing could not recover its combat effectiveness without three or two days.

After troops from several other directions rushed over to reinforce him, Hideki Tojo ordered his troops to pursue in the direction of the retreat of the 77th Brigade of Yoriki. It's a pity that in the mountains and forests, the speed of the Yue army is far from keeping up with the speed of the retreat of the Eighth Route Army. The 2nd Division pursued for two hours before they found out that they had lost the enemy, and at this time, Akamine's "garrison" sent a telegram saying that it had been attacked by a large number of Shina troops, and that Akamine was in danger, and asked Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo to send troops to support.

Hideki Tojo, who had already entered Chengde City, hurriedly spread out the military map on a table of eight immortals that the soldiers had finally found, and carefully studied it. After a while, Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo raised his head and said angrily: "Yaga, the great cunning of the Chinese people, transfer the tiger away from the mountains to the west. Then he sighed and said, "Ah! The military strategist of China more than 2,000 years ago said well, if you attack the enemy, you will be saved, even if we know what attention the people of China are fighting, but we can't help but send troops to rescue. This branch commander is not simple, I really want to meet him! ”

Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji said on the side: "Tojo-kun, do you think it could be Han Yunhua's troops?" You must know that although there are quite a few Chinese troops who have just escaped from Chengde City, they definitely do not exceed 10,000 people, and the troops that respond outside the city do not exceed 12,000 at most. However, the news from His Excellency General Terauchi Shouichi said that Han Yunhua's troops in the eastern Hebei region were at least 100,000 or more, including the rebels in the eastern Hebei region, and His Excellency Terauchi judged that Han Yunhua now had at least 200,000 troops in his hands. I think that with the sixth, twenty-first, and twenty-sixth divisions, the fourth brigade mixed with reading power, the Chengde garrison reinforcement brigade, and tens of thousands of imperial troops who cooperated with the battle, Han Yunhua was helpless, and even if the judgment of Shouichi in the temple was not very accurate, it would not deviate anywhere. Even if the Eighth Route Army in eastern Hebei is less than 200,000, there must be more than 100,000. But we only saw about 10,000 enemy troops, and it is a mystery where the others went. I think that it is very likely that this Han Yunhua's troops are attacking Chifeng, and it is likely to be his main force, otherwise the defenders of Chifeng will not ask us for help. ”

"Well, what the Gangcun Army said is reasonable, in eastern Hebei we encountered very little resistance, although the initial Zhina troops were not very effective, even our reserve troops were more than ten times stronger than them, but those troops that seemed to be formed by the Zhina farmers were quite numerous. However, in the last two or three days we have hardly encountered similar resistance, and we thought that we had all taken refuge under the strong pressure of our second division, but now it seems that things are far from so simple. Gangmura-kun, who is the garrison commander of Chifeng? Do you know this person? Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo asked in a condensed voice.

Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji thought for a while and said: "The commander of the Chifeng garrison is Major General Jiang Ying Jijiro, who was transferred to Chifeng from the Eighth Wing of the Fourth Division last year. ”

"Fourth Division? Are you sure? Hideki Tojo asked unhappily.

Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji nodded with a wry smile and said, "It's the Fourth Division, and Major General Jiang Ying Jijiro was originally the captain of the Eighth Wing of the Fourth Division, and later he was promoted to Major General Garrison Commander." Now stationed in Chifeng is a garrison formed by part of the main force of the Fourth Division plus reserve soldiers, and the formation seems to be a brigade, but I don't know how many people there are in practice. ”

It's no wonder that Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo is distressed, this Fourth Division is really too famous, and it is the favorite field division of the Chinese [***] team. The Fourth Division, like the First, Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Divisions, was one of the first divisions formed by the Fourth Division, but this Fourth Division can be said to be an alternative in the Yue Army, and its nest is just as famous for the brutality of the Sixth Division and the toughness of the Fifth Division. The Yuben army in World War II was all brave and tenacious, and would rather die than an elite division, and it is better to be a Chinese or should be called "all outlaws". However, this is not all, at least there is a unit in the army, which is not known for its combat bravery and combat effectiveness and tenacious will to fight, but is known as the "nest" in the earthquake area, which is the Osaka Fourth Division, which is known as "the first nest of abandoned divisions in the imperial army".

The actions of the soldiers in World War II make us think of nothing more than "brutality", "extreme ferocity", and "killing people without blinking", and then think of the "allegiance to the emperor" and "bushido" that they often shout in their mouths, and so on, all of them seem to be outlaws. However, few people know that at that time, among the "Imperial Army," which was at the world's leading level in terms of equipment and military quality, there was an alternative unit that was "famous" for its extremely poor combat effectiveness, and it was the Osaka Fourth Division, which was known as "the first abandoned division in the Imperial Army."

The Fourth Division, also known as the "Osaka Division" and the "Merchant Division", was established in 1888 and was one of the 17 standing divisions formed by the Chinese Army before the outbreak of World War II. The formation was located in Osaka, and the soldiers were mainly composed of Osaka vegetable vendors and traveling merchants. Osaka's Fourth Division, the name "Yodo" -- this code name can be described as ingenious, and other army division code names have many symbols of martial spirit, such as the second division is "brave", the ninth division is "Wu", etc., the fourth division of the word "Yodo" comes from because there is a Yodo River that crosses the most prosperous Umeda business district in Osaka, and this code name is really both local and auspicious. However, this auspicious code name did not arouse the fighting spirit of the Fourth Division, which has been known in military circles for its lack of fighting spirit, lax discipline, and weak combat effectiveness since its establishment.

It's no wonder that Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo was so out of shape when he knew that the garrison commander stationed in Chifeng was the Fourth Division, because this Fourth Division was too famous. And when he knew that this commander was Major General Jiang Ying, who was a "big name" in the military circles, Hideki Tojo's heart was about to sink to the bottom.

Not for anything else, just because there are several outstanding figures in the Fourth Division, the most famous of which is Jiang Ying, the commander of the Eighth Wing. Jiang Ying Jiro Dazuo was born in a samurai family, and received a strict bushido education since he was a child, but unfortunately this Jiang Ying Jijiro doesn't like to dance with knives and guns, he likes to be a teacher or a painter.

His father was an old-timer in the military circles and a fierce general, so despite Jiang Ying's opposition to Jiro, he was directly conscripted into the army and sent to the military academy. After graduating from the military academy, when Jiang Ying chose the army according to Jiro, he applied for transfer to the notorious Fourth Division despite his father's dissuasion and the ridicule of his classmates. A series of absurd things were staged, which quickly became anecdotes in the military circles.

Jiang Ying couldn't stand even the commander of the Fourth Division, Lieutenant General Matsui, who was acting according to Jiro, but in order not to offend Jiang Ying's father, Matsui finally thought of a way to promote Jiang Ying to Jiro.

Now that the relevant situation of Chifeng has been figured out, then Tojo Hideki will not dare to slack off, if others are okay, but the fourth division is not from him, I really can't believe it. Besides, those Osaka merchants are now masters, and if none of them can think of surrendering to the hateful Shina people, then the face of the Great Empire will be completely lost. Think about what it would be like for an integrated brigade to surrender to the local forces in China. He was sure that if something happened to the Chifeng Garrison Brigade, the commander of General Terauchi Shouichi would definitely be dismissed immediately.

In desperation, Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo hurriedly organized troops to urgently rescue the defenders of Chifeng. At the same time, Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo ordered the Japanese army around Chifeng to reinforce Chifeng City at all costs, with the goal of not allowing the Chifeng Garrison Brigade to surrender to the Shina army.

Of course, Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo did not forget to coerce and lure Major General "Jiang Ying Jijiro", telling him to resist it, and the defenders would arrive soon.

Han Yunhua, who had not been in the city for a long time, did not care about his tired body, and immediately organized troops to clean up the battlefield, and at the same time ordered the Saber Special Operations Brigade to use the radio of the Yue Army to lure the Second Division of the Yue Army to reinforce Chifeng.

Half an hour later, a call back from the 2nd Division finally came, and Hideki Tojo ordered him to "hold on", "resist", and "do whatever it takes...... After reading the telegram, Han Yunhua turned to Li Dingguo and said, "Dingguo, I'll go and rest for a while, and you organize the troops to hurry up and transport supplies." Remember that we must transport all the shells in the devil's warehouse back to Chahar, and we must also transport back the grain at all, our base area is now seriously short of food, and with this batch of food, we should be able to alleviate the plight of the base area. ”

"Okay, Commander, then you can rest! You haven't closed your eyes in three days, be careful to wear your body out. After speaking, Li Dingguo turned around and went out with a few guards.

Lying on the bed, Han Yunhua didn't feel sleepy at all, maybe he was tired to the limit, Han Yunhua didn't know how to make himself sleep. As soon as he lay down, a weak figure involuntarily flashed in Han Yunhua's mind. Han Yunhua muttered, "Yuhan, where are you?" Where am I going to save you? No matter what happens, you have to live, I, Han Yunhua, care about you........."

In a daze, Han Yunhua didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he knew that it must have been a while. Although he subconsciously reminded himself that he should wake up, he was so tired that he didn't even have the strength to open his eyes.

But the sleepiness was still driven away by the responsibility in his heart, and Han Yunhua finally opened his eyes with difficulty. My head hurt a little, but fortunately, it wasn't bad, I turned over and got out of bed, and put on the military boots.

Out of the house, Han Yunhua said to the guards standing at the door: "Xiao Liu, how long have I been asleep?" Where did Li Dingguo and Shilie go? ”

Xiao Liu is the second batch of graduates of the special combat team, and because he is clever, he was transferred to Han Yunhua's side by Huzi to serve as Han Yunhua's guard battalion. Seeing Han Yunhua asking him, Xiao Liu hurriedly replied: "Report to the commander, you have been sleeping for nearly fifteen hours, and the instructor (Li Dingguo) ordered not to disturb your rest if it is not a particularly major and urgent matter." He, Brigadier Leg, and Brigadier Bart were directing the troops to rush supplies, and the instructor had just come over to say that they had found a large number of supplies in the military camp and had captured more than 300 devils. Under the guidance of these captives, we found the collection of Major General Devil and officers such as Osa, and seized a large number of property and antiques, which is a list of the items that have been counted and shipped back to the base area, and the instructor told me to wait for the commander to wake up and hand over this list to you. ”

Han Yunhua took the list handed over by Xiao Liu, opened it and saw that Han Yunhua's consciousness, which was still a little sleepy, suddenly became excited: "There are 3,498 gold bars, each about half a catty, more than 300 catties of scattered gold and ingots, 110,000 taels of silver ingots, 5.96 million yuan of oceans, and tens of millions of various bills, including a large part of the military tickets issued by the soldiers. In addition, the soldiers seized more than one million tons of various materials in the secret warehouses of the army, most of which were grain, gold and silver. According to the prisoner's military logistics officer, this was the tax money to be transported to Beiping, and it was the property collected by the Chifeng Garrison Brigade in the Chifeng area over the past year. What made Han Yunhua feel most incredible was that he found a large number of goods and more than 300 military trucks in the barracks of the Yue army, which were not at all equipped by a garrison brigade. The army did not have the luxury of equipping the local garrisons with so many military vehicles, and they were still equipped with heavy military trucks imported from Britain and the United States. ”

This is only a part of the items seized by Han Yunhua's department from Chifeng, not even a quarter of all the harvest this time, which makes Han Yunhua almost can't believe that all this is true, this Chifeng City is so rich? Han Yunhua knew that Shen Yuquan and the others did not have so much property seized in Guisui, Baotou and Zhangjiakou, and besides, Guisui and Zhangjiakou were both provincial capitals, far from being comparable to a small prefecture-level city like Chifeng.

Han Yunhua immediately interrogated several captured officers of the Yue Army, and when Han Yunhua knew that the Chifeng Garrison Brigade was originally transferred from the Fourth Division of the Kwantung Army, he understood everything. In addition to being happy, he also felt helpless for a while, it turned out that he had encountered the troops of the famous merchant division and the wrecked division, or more precisely, the scum troops who were unwilling to accept even the fourth division, no wonder the battle went so smoothly.

It is not surprising that so many have been captured, but Han Yunhua knows that every member of the Fourth Division has an almost instinctive habit, that is, he has to trade the goods he brings with the locals wherever he goes, and the real surnames of the Osaka traders are vividly expressed. In the Fourth Division, both officers and soldiers were doing their old jobs in addition to the battle, and the officers even formed their own chambers of commerce, and these military cars were purchased by them, specifically for transporting goods, which happened to be cheaper than Han Yunhua.

Han Yunhua shook his head helplessly, turned around and asked the guards to send these prisoners who were not qualified soldiers in the first place, and said to the soldiers who escorted the prisoners by the way: "These people should stay, we will send these people to Yan'an." ”

It stands to reason that at such a short time from last night to now, the devil's reinforcements will definitely not be in time, but it is strange that the planes of the army will not come to reconnoitre, could it be that the devil has found something. But this is impossible, the devil's code book is now in Han Yunhua's hands, and what he translates with his level of speaking should not be wrong.

In fact, it is no wonder that Han Yunhua is too careful, because the usual tricks used by the army to deal with the [***] team are aircraft, combat vehicles, field heavy artillery and special smoke (artillery shells). Han Yunhua is also accustomed to the combat mode of the army, and it is really a little uncomfortable to suddenly see the plane of the army.

The army sent out reconnaissance planes as early as dawn, but unfortunately they were attacked by the saber special combat team in the mountainous area outside Chifeng, and hundreds of machine guns opened fire at the same time when the army was unprepared, and two of the three enemy planes were destroyed at the first time, and the remaining one also fled in a hurry, not daring to stay here any longer.

The Chinese army that attacked Chifeng actually had anti-aircraft weapons, which really frightened Tojo Hideki, and made him sure that it must be Han Yunhua's main force that attacked Chifeng. If you want to say who has the best equipment and the strongest combat effectiveness of the troops in northern China, it is undoubtedly the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region led by Han Yunhua.

(To be continued)