What made Chiang Kai-shek feel most incredible was that at the Luoyang Operational Conference, the two commanders of the Eighth Route Army, Zhu De and Peng Dehuai, proposed that the troops of the First Theater should strengthen the river defense, actively carry out offensive operations against the 14th Division, and strictly prevent the 14th Division of the 2nd and 14th Divisions of Tufeiyuan Xian from crossing the river and attacking the Longhai Railway. In Xuzhou, Liu Yimin even judged very clearly the general area where the 14th Division might march eastward to cross the river, but as a result, the 14th Division of Tu Fei Yuan Xian 2 still crossed the river and went south in two ways.

On May 15, just when Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Xuzhou defenders to retreat on all fronts, a group of devil cavalry of the Sakai Detachment of the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan suddenly rushed into the vicinity of Neihuangji and Yejigang and blew up the Longhai Railway. Then, the frontline alarms continued. According to information from all directions, the Military Commission has determined that after the 14th Division of Tohihara crossed the river, it actually divided its troops into three routes, and the main force of the Sakai detachment, the right column of Toshima Botaro, and the main force of the division led by Kenji Tohihara were like three arrows, pointing to the section of the Longhai Railway east of Lanfeng.

At this point, Chiang Kai-shek completely understood that the army really wanted to use Xuzhou to fish, if it wasn't for Liu Yimin's reminder, according to his original idea, to mobilize a large army to fight a decisive battle with the army in Xuzhou, it would really fall into the trap of the army. At present, although there are still a large number of troops around Xuzhou fighting fiercely with the Yue army, the troops that were originally planned to be transferred to Xuzhou have not been transferred after all, and strategically speaking, our army has taken the initiative more.

Fortunately, Chiang Kai-shek was secretly frightened, this soil and fertilizer plain deserved to be China's expert, and he was extremely ruthless as soon as he made a move, he wanted to completely cut off the Longhai Road and block the retreat of our army in Xuzhou, and his intentions were extremely sinister. Niang Xipi, the front of Xuzhou, the south of the army are several divisions in a group to attack and advance, Lao Tzu has no way to take you, the 14th division said that the good point is the big depth and detour, and the ugly point is that the lone army is in danger, since you dare to send it to the door, Lao Tzu will call you to have no return.

After Chiang Kai-shek made up his mind, he held an operational meeting at the headquarters of the commander of the First Theater in Zhengzhou to plan for the Battle of Lanfeng, and decided to take Cheng Qian, commander of the First Theater, as the commander-in-chief, and Xue Yue as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, to mobilize a large army to encircle and annihilate the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan.

Chiang Kai-shek said to Cheng Qian, Xue Yue, and the commanders of the units in the First Theater: "This Tohihara Kenji graduated from the Army University and is the first of the three major Chinese experts in the army. To say that he is a general is not so much to say that he is a spy, a politician, a conspirator. The reason why our country is where it is today is because of him. He single-handedly planned the September 18 Incident, the North China Incident, and he also planned to get Pu Yi to the northeast to establish the puppet state of Manchukuo. It can be said that for the people of our country, this official is a mortal enemy, and he must be captured and punished in order to pay tribute to the dead compatriots. ”

At that time, information was blocked, and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression reached this level, and many [***] generals did not know about the various units of the army and their leading generals, and many people did not know what he had done as an executioner like Tu Feiyuan. On the contrary, because Tu Feiyuan has been in China for a long time, he speaks Mandarin much better than that of ordinary Chinese, and this big-headed, short-legged guy is full of resourcefulness, not only reluctantly promising the Han annihilists, but also basically doing what he says about other Chinese officials and generals he wants to woo, and even famous anti-Japanese generals such as Ma Zhanshan and Fu Zuoyi think that Tu Feiyuan is credible, and can be delivered. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek spoke out about the evil of Tu Feiyuan, and the officers in the room were full of righteous indignation, and they were eager to immediately arrest Tu Feiyuan and let the chairman of the committee take his leave.

Xue Yue followed the Red Army behind the pursuit on the Long March, and suffered from Liu Yimin, and later the strange troops entered Qinghai and Gansu, which can be regarded as saving a little face. However, Xue Yue slowly thought it through, and Liu Yimin was afraid that he didn't really want to kill him at all, because Liu Yimin said several times that he was willing to fight side by side with him on the battlefield of resistance. Later, with the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Chiang Kai-shek sent additional troops to garrison Qinghai and Gansu, and Ma Bufang's forces slowly recovered. Now, seeing that Liu Yimin defended Taiyuan and captured Tianjin, made great achievements, and made a great name, Xue Yue's competitive spirit rose again, and he wanted to fight a big battle with Liu Yimin. It's okay now, just when I want to sleep, someone will send a pillow, Tu Feiyuan, the old devil, took the initiative to send it to the door, if you let this guy run away again, the word Xue Yue will be rewritten!

The generals have been mobilized to seek war, and the troops are basically in place, so it is said that with the strength of our army in eastern Henan, we should be able to encircle and annihilate Tufeiyuan, but things are not so simple. The 14th Division of Tufeiyuan was not originally a mechanized unit like the Fifth Division, but in order to compete with the Second Army, Lieutenant General Kazuki Kiyoshi set the goal of the 14th Division to seize Kaifeng, the capital of Henan Province and the historical city. To this end, Kazuki Kiyoji strengthened the three field heavy artillery wings of the First Army and the Second Field Heavy Artillery Brigade to the 14th Division, and also temporarily strengthened the 14th Infantry Wing, the Funahashi Engineer Unit, an armored vehicle brigade, and an antiaircraft artillery brigade of the First Army to the 14th Division. Although it was a battle against the 14th Division, it was actually basically fighting against the heavy firepower of the Second Army behind the 14th Division. In this way, it will be easy to succeed in the mobile operations carried out by Tufeiyuan, because the army is a mechanized unit, its firepower is extremely strong, and there are planes in the sky to cover it, so it can fight if it wants and leave if it wants to. Unable to catch up or stop, the 14th Division became a mad cow out of the slaughter, rampaging on the East Henan Plain.

On May 16, Li Zongren issued an order for all armies in Xuzhou to retreat, and on the 18th, Lieutenant General Tohihara Kenji led the main force of the 14th Division to the Neihuang, Yejigang, and Chuzhuang Zhai areas, and fought with the Sakai detachment. The right column led by Toshima Botaro of the division reached the vicinity of Yifeng. At this point, the Tufeiyuan Division had reached the predetermined area, cut off the Longhai Railway, and completed its preliminary plan.

At dawn on May 19, the 13th Division of the Yue Army launched a general attack on the Woniu Mountain position, the last position of Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army, which served as the cover of the palace, on the periphery of Xuzhou, and our army waged a desperate struggle with the enemy, fighting until 6:20, under the cover of fierce artillery fire, the army finally captured the Woniu Mountain position, and the enemy immediately rushed to Xuzhou City across the flat field, and carried out artillery fire and explosives blasting on the west wall of Xuzhou City, tearing a hole, and Liu Ruming's troops guarding Xuzhou City launched a tragic hand-to-hand combat with the Yue army on both sides of the city wall. At about 9:10 a.m., the Tanabe death squad of the 65th Infantry Wing of the Yue Army (Wing Commander Liangjiao Yezuo) occupied the west gate of Xuzhou, and the defenders desperately threw grenades at the Yue troops who rushed into the city, and resisted desperately with red-hot machine gun barrels. The fighter group of the army carried out low-altitude strafing on the defending officers and men who counterattacked, and the defenders, who had no air defense heavy weapons, had no choice but to retreat. At the same time as the fierce battle at the West Gate, Watanabe's Department also launched an offensive at the North Gate. At 11 o'clock in the morning, the offensive and defensive battles in the city reached the first level, the enemy and us fought and smeared, blood and gunpowder smoke were intertwined, the sound of killing was endless, gunfights, street battles, white-edged battles, scorched earth battles, and the tragic scenes were staged in the streets and alleys of the ancient city of Xuzhou. At one o'clock in the afternoon, all divisions of the army flocked to capture the Xuzhou Railway Station and the Camel Mountain Airport, and the strategic points of Xuzhou were lost on all fronts, and Liu Ruming ordered the defenders in the city to retreat to the southeast.

[***] withdrew from Xuzhou, and the 13th Division of the Chinese Army successfully occupied Xuzhou. The soldier's account records the situation in Xuzhou after the war as follows: "There is hardly a single house in complete shape on the street, some of the roofs of the houses have been blown off, some have collapsed, and some have no longer taken shape. The road was littered with wood chips and broken bricks, and huge craters were visible everywhere, wide open like close-ups, like giants clenching their fists and smashing them into the ground. Yes, it was the giant of war that smashed the streets of Xuzhou, and there is not a single stone that can show the peace and prosperity that once existed. Under the ruined roof, the sentries of the 13th Division stood guard in the moonlight, their bayonets on their rifles glowing with silver. The moonlight shone coldly and bleakly on the ruins, echoing the shadows of the ruined walls, very desolate. In the silence of the night, under the bright moonlight, the black holes and shell craters, broken tiles and bricks, broken pillars and broken walls, and bare furniture were all in shambles. ”

Although the people had already been mobilized before the evacuation of the Fifth War Zone, the majority of the people still did not retreat. The army that captured Xuzhou was bent on gathering and annihilating the main force of the Xuzhou army because of the fierce battle with [***] on the periphery of Xuzhou, and as a result, the bamboo basket was empty, and under the annoyance and anger, the army opened a killing ring in Xuzhou, not only slaughtering more than 3,700 Chinese people in the city, but also creating a series of tragedies such as the appalling Yanwo tragedy and the Han King tragedy around Xuzhou, and owed a lot of blood debts.

After the army was defeated in Xuzhou, the demons in the base camp were disappointed, and strictly ordered the troops to pursue to the west, and ordered the 14th Division to quickly advance to the southeast, capture Shangqiu, and block the retreat of the Xuzhou breakthrough troops.

At this time, the commander of the First Army in Taiyuan, Xiangyue Qingsi, was stupid, he felt that the Second Army had taken Xuzhou, and the limelight had overshadowed the First Army, and he had to think of ways to earn back this face. It is a pity that the 6th Division of the First Army is on the outskirts of Xuzhou at this time, except for the 14th Division, the other troops are in Shanxi, and the whip is beyond the reach of the whip. Xiang Yueqing, who had always been gloomy and shrewd, thought about it and felt that it was better to order the 14th Division to attack Kaifeng westward. Therefore, he sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Kenji Dohihara, strictly ordering the 14th Division to attack Lanfeng to the west, and the combat goal was to capture Kaifeng.

On the day of the fall of Xuzhou, Tufeiyuan's division captured Neihuang, Mazhuang Village, Renhe and Jiyi, and its armored troops raided Luowang Station.

On the 20th, 10 fighters of the Chinese Air Force [***] bombed the heavy artillery position of the Lanfeng Army, and were surrounded and suppressed by 24 planes of the Chinese Army.

On the 21st, Xue Yue commanded an army of 100,000 to attack from the east, west, and south, and carried out the Battle of Lanfeng, which encircled and annihilated the 14th Division. Unexpectedly, the attack did not go well, and Tu Feiyuan found that the [***] team was menacing, and immediately ordered the troops to rely on the village and strong firepower to hold on. In this way, [***] is like hitting an iron plate, and only the casualties are not visible.

On the 23rd, the battle situation finally made a breakthrough, and the 64th Army of Li Hansoul on the East Road broke through the peripheral positions of the Yue Army after filling in the strength of 2 regiments, and had joined forces with the 71st Army of Song Xilian on the West Road, and captured the key places of Neihuang and Yejigang, and the Tufeiyuan Division had all fallen into heavy encirclement. Xue Yue, who was in Kaifeng, was busy reporting to Chiang Kai-shek, who was overjoyed when he heard the news, sent a telegram to encourage his generals, and asked all armies to work hard to annihilate the 14th Division.

Tu Feiyuan fought for three days, although it caused great casualties to the [***] team, and its own losses were not small. This old devil has seen the situation clearly at this time, knowing that he is in a heavy encirclement, breaking through to the east, although he can meet the reinforcements in the direction of Xuzhou as soon as possible, but he will collide with the elite of the Central Army head-on. Moreover, as soon as he ran, not only could he not explain to Lieutenant General Kazuki Qingsi, the commander of the First Army, but also to the North China Front Army and the base camp, because his task was to cut off the retreat of the Central [***] team, and the responsibility for this run would inevitably fall on him in the future.

This old devil is indeed a wise general, full of cunning. At this time, he ordered the right column to join him, and on the other hand, he commanded the troops to draw an arc in Lanfeng, and went directly to Lanfeng.

The East Henan Plain, unsheltered, Tufeiyuan's force, heavy artillery, field artillery, and tanks went into battle together, and several divisions defending the Lanfeng area were scattered. As soon as Gui Yongqingfu engaged, a division was defeated, and the three brigade commanders of the 46th Division were killed and wounded, two regiment commanders were killed and two were killed, nine battalion commanders were killed, and more than 5,000 officers and men below the company level were killed or wounded. Qiu Qingquan's chariot battalion, which he commanded, also suffered heavy casualties.

At this time, if you are replaced with [***] generals like Zhang Lingfu and Zhang Zizhong, you will definitely ignore the casualties, stick to the Lan Sealed City, attract the main force of Tufeiyuan to the fortified city, and let the main force calmly encircle and annihilate. It's a pity that Gui Yongqing is not Zhang Lingfu, Zhang Zizhong, nor Pang Bingxun who defended Linyi and Sun Lianzhong who defended Taierzhuang, this German student in the first phase of Whampoa, relied on Chiang Kai-shek's favor rather than the military exploits in the blood and fire, and at a critical time, he gave the principal a drop of the chain, and even ran away with a division and a brigade under his control, so that Long Muhan, the commander of the 88th Division, who had only one brigade at hand, as a scapegoat and insisted on Lanfeng.

This Long Muhan is also a descendant of the Central Army, where will he defend the Lanfeng for Gui Yongqing. Besides, at this time, Lan Fengcheng was full of holes, and he couldn't hold it with his troops alone, so he also anointed the soles of his feet.

In this way, Tu Feiyuan swaggered and occupied Lanfeng, and stabbed Xue Yue's carefully prepared net into a big funnel. Since then, four wings of each of the Tufei Yuanbu Artillery Corps have joined forces in Lanfeng, and the thousand-mile attack has been a complete success, and the advance position of attacking Kaifeng has been obtained.

In fact, Tufeiyuan was eager to capture Lanfeng and had another meaning, that is, to control the crossing of the Yellow River, establish contact with the army on the north bank of the Yellow River, and obtain supplies.

At this time when the battle developed, not to mention that Xue Yue was so angry that he fell headlong, and even Chiang Kai-shek was trembling with anger, and strictly ordered the first war zone to recapture Lanfeng and block the retreat of Tufeiyuan.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek remembered Liu Yimin and sent a 100,000-strong telegram to Zhu De, commander of the 18th Group Army, and strictly ordered all units of the 18th Group Army to act quickly to contain the army. He ordered Liu Yimin, the instructor and division commander of the 18th Group Army, to immediately launch an attack on Jinan, forcing the enemy to return to help, and planning for the Battle of Lanfeng.

Chiang Kai-shek also sent a telegram to Liu Yimin at the same time, which actually said: "As a lieutenant general of the monarch, Liu was awarded the Blue Sky and White Medal, and he has elite soldiers, why didn't he take the initiative to attack the enemy?" Now the first line of Lanfeng [***] is fighting fiercely with the enemy, and the enemy's reinforcements from the direction of Xuzhou are ready to arrive at any time, and the battle situation is extremely dangerous. If the enemy's attempt is allowed to succeed, not only Kaifeng will not be guaranteed, the two communication lines of Longhai and Jinghan will not be guaranteed, and Wuhan will also be unprotected, and China's War of Resistance will be in an unprecedented crisis. At this critical juncture, Division Commander Liu should carry forward the spirit of unity and struggle of revolutionary soldiers, quickly dispatch to attack Jinan, and save the war situation in one battle. After success, the country will never lose meritorious people; In selfishness, he lives up to the infatuation of his beloved daughter Yaoguang who died for the king! ”

At this time, Liu Yimin had already rushed to the territory of Weixian County and was about to command the troops to launch the Luzhong Campaign.

After receiving Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, Liu Yimin couldn't cry or laugh, and he couldn't imagine that the chairman of the Standing Committee would talk about Chen Yaoguang again, as if his poor beloved wife was really Chiang Kai-shek's righteous daughter. I am bent on fighting devils, where do you need Chiang Kai-shek to order! However, it is also good that Chiang Kai-shek ordered himself to attack Jinan, and the matter of marching into Shandong was justified.

Although he didn't think so, Liu Yimin still sent a telegram to the headquarters, asking the headquarters to truthfully announce the battle report of the battle of Xiazhuang Town and the battle of conquering Tai'an, and to inspire the [***] troops who were fighting Lanfeng with their achievements, and to send a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, reporting that the instructor would launch a fatal blow to the army and save the war.

For the battle that took place in Lanfeng, Liu Yimin had actually made arrangements. His original plan was to use the 1st Brigade to capture the crossing of the Yellow River, cut off the supply line of Tufeiyuan, and leave his car without gas and shells and bullets. However, since it was necessary to mobilize the most elite Jiaoyi Brigade in order to launch the Luzhong Battle, he directly ordered the newly formed Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade to go south in concealment, enter Fengqiu County along the Yellow River, monitor the movement of the Guantai Ferry Army, and be sure to capture the Guantai Ferry before 12 o'clock on the night of the 23rd and burn all the materials of the Yue Army.

In order to motivate Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang, Liu Yimin specially sent a telegram to the two, emphasizing the importance of capturing the Guantai ferry, demanding that the Southwest Lu Detachment carry out in-depth mobilization, must win the battle of Guantai, and hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the establishment of the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade.

Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang are both generals of our army, and they have always been worried about not fighting, where would they have thought about what it means to be difficult. Besides, no matter how difficult it is now, can it be compared to the difficulty of the Long March?

(To be continued)