On the same day that Han Yunhua's troops won the first battle, the tide of the battle south of the Yangtze River reversed. After nearly a month of preparation, the Ninth Theater of the Nationalist Axe concentrated its army and launched a counteroffensive against Nanchang. After the army captured Nanchang, it maintained a confrontation with China's Third and Ninth Theaters along the southeast shore of Poyang Lake in the east, Xiangtang in the south, and Gao'an, Fengxin, and Wuning in the west. Judging that although the army occupied Nanchang, it had consumed a lot of money, had not yet been reorganized, and the garrison was insufficient, and decided to launch a counteroffensive when the army was not firmly established. At the same time, all theaters were ordered to launch the "April Offensive" (also known as the "Spring Offensive") to harass and contain the Japanese army and prevent it from continuing to invade Changsha to the west.

The Military Commission ordered the Ninth and Third Theaters to plan a counteroffensive against Nanchang. The number of troops to be used is scheduled to be: the 1st Group, the 19th Group, and the 30th Group Army of the Ninth Theater and the 32nd Group Army of the Third Theater, with a total of about 10 divisions and 160,000 troops, under the unified command of Luo Zhuoying, commander-in-chief of the 19th Group Army. In addition to the new victory, the army did not expect that China was intensively preparing a counteroffensive aimed at recovering Nanchang, so it did not carry out a tight garrison of Nanchang and its surrounding areas at all, so that the war began to suffer a big loss.

As early as the day when Nanchang City was occupied by the Yue army, the [***] team began to brew a counteroffensive campaign. As early as April 17, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed his "Plan for Attacking Nanchang" to Bai Chongxi, director of the Guilin camp, and solicited his opinions. The operational policy was: "First attack the enemy along the Nanxun line with the main force, cut off the enemy's contact, and then take Nanchang directly with one section." The timing of the start of the attack is scheduled for April 24. "The main content of its troop deployment is: to order the 1st Group Army (Commander-in-Chief Gao Yinhuai), the 19th Group Army and the 74th Army (Army Commander Yu Jishi) to advance to the Nanxun Railway between Xiushui and Nanchang through the Fengxin and Dacheng areas respectively, completely destroy communications, cut off enemy reinforcements, and cooperate to attack Nanchang; ordered the 19th Army of the 49th Army (Army Commander Liu Duoquan) to advance to Gao'an one by one as the general reserve; ordered the 32nd Group Army (Commander-in-Chief Shangguan Yunxiang) to attack Nanchang from the east of the Ganjiang River with the strength of 3 divisions, and organized 1 regiment of troops to attack Nanchang by surprise attack; Ordered the 30th Army (Commander-in-Chief Wang Lingji) to attack Wuning. Bai Chongxi replied to Chiang Kai-shek, putting forward his own suggestions on the deployment of troops, with slight changes, emphasizing the need to carry out surprise attacks and "sabotage and disrupt the enemy's communications and rear" and "cut off the enemy's lines of communication," and held that "the time of the attack should be advanced and carried out as soon as possible, and it should be around 22 days at the latest."

On April 27, the counteroffensive was officially launched, and the main force of the [***] team launched a surprise attack on Nanchang, which temporarily disrupted the enemy's position and connected the outer positions of Nanchang. On April 29, it was successively advanced to the city of Nanchang. However, because the [***] team of the other line failed to complete the task of cutting off the reinforcements of the Yue army, the marines of the Yue army rushed to support. The squadron launched a fierce attack on the Yue army for nearly a week, but failed to make progress.

On May 1, Chiang Kai-shek had to capture Nanchang within a time limit. After Chiang Kai-shek's order to capture Nanchang was issued on 5 May, Xue Yue, acting commander of the Ninth Theater, held that it was impossible to capture Nanchang at a subjectively determined time given the troops that had not yet been replenished after the Nanchang War and whose weapons and equipment were far inferior to those of the enemy.

But Xue Yue knew Chiang Kai-shek's surname, and at this juncture, whoever raised his opinion would frown. Therefore, he did not dare to directly raise different opinions with Chiang Kai-shek, so he had no choice but to call Chen Cheng on 3 May to state his views. Xue Yue said in the telegram: "It has been 11 days since the attack on Nanchang and Fengxin began on April 23. Because the equipment of our army is not as good as that of the enemy, and the enemy's heavy weapons, mechanized troops, and aircraft, etc., can cooperate with the enemy's army in operations everywhere. Therefore, it was difficult to destroy the enemy's strong position. Now I have a telegram order: Our army's combat strategy is to consume the enemy, not to be consumed by the enemy, to avoid the real and attack the weak, and to create a protracted war of resistance. Therefore, the attack on Nanchang this time was to set up an ambush in advance under the principle of consuming the enemy and avoiding the real and attacking the weak, and the method of surprise attack was adopted to attack from all sides, hoping to recapture Nanchang by the most rapid and agile means. Although the enemy is weak, it is difficult to achieve the task if it wants to conquer Nanchang before 5 May. In addition to strictly ordering all the departments to overcome all difficulties and continue the onslaught despite all odds, the above situation was politely stated in the telephone conversation with the commissioner. ”

At that time, Bai Chongxi, the director of the Guilin camp, also thought that the order to conquer Nanchang within a time limit was unrealistic, so he called Chiang Kai-shek and He Yingqin and tactfully put forward different suggestions. At the same time, Chen Cheng also sent a telegram, hoping that Chiang Kai-shek would change the battle order. The intention of the two telegrams was to "use the spear of the son and the shield of the son" to hope that Chiang Kai-shek would change his order to conquer Nanchang within a time limit on the grounds that the operational guidance did not conform to the strategic policy. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek received a telegram, which was sent by Luo Zhuoying, the supreme commander of the front, in which he mentioned to Chiang Kai-shek the report of the death of Commander Chen Anbao and the heavy casualties of the attacking troops.

When the news of the unsuccessful attack of the national political axe was forwarded to Han Yunhua by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Han Yunhua was educating the prisoners who had been recruited back on Jingyanggang. After reading the telegram sent by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Han Yunhua felt depressed for a while. He knew that the Battle of Nanchang could be said to have ended with the crushing defeat of the Chinese [***] team, and although the war in the south was still going on, it would not take a few days for Chiang Kai-shek to give an order to stop attacking Nanchang.

In Han Yunhua's view, the defeat of the Battle of Nanchang was inevitable. At this time, apart from being able to fight to the death with the army for a while, the national political axe really did not have much new ideas in terms of strategy and tactics. It can be said that the national political axe at this time had first-class soldiers, second-rate non-commissioned officers, third-rate generals and unpopular commanders.

Chinese soldiers are undoubtedly the world's first-class soldiers, and they were able to persist in fighting even though their weaponry, equipment, and logistical support were far behind the Chinese army, and finally won the final victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. At the same time, China's non-commissioned officers are also very good, the middle and lower officers of the [***] team have never lacked courage and blood surnames, even if the last person still holds the position, there are many people, as junior officers, they have done their best. Although the Chinese generals did not have any wonderful performances, they still persevered, although as a soldier they have been worthy of their hearts, but as a general they are still far from good, so there is still a certain gap between the Chinese generals and the officers of Germany, Britain and other countries at the same time. As for China's supreme commander-in-chief, he is indeed a good hand in the right aspect, but at the level of military strategic command, it is simply a joke, and not only can he not help in a general battle in which only one infantry battalion commander has to command millions of troops in battle, but his overstepping of command and unrealistic orders will only make things worse. This can be seen from the fact that there is always a big rout after every great victory, so the Chinese commander-in-chief is not in the stream.

In Han Yunhua's view, the reason why the Battle of Nanchang was coming to an end so quickly was due to many reasons, first of all, there was a contradiction between the operational guidance and the strategic principle: Before the Battle of Nanchang began, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly verbally claimed that "we will no longer fight with the enemy for a single point and a line," and that "our army's combat strategy is to consume the enemy without being consumed by the enemy, to avoid the real and attack the weak, and to create a protracted war of resistance." This strategy and tactics were originally very correct. However, in the counterattack on Nanchang, when the surprise attack was unsuccessful and a strong enemy had already been attacked, he ignored the actual situation on the battlefield and still ordered Nanchang to be captured by 5 May, with the result that not only did Nanchang fail to conquer according to his subjective wishes, but also the troops suffered a large number of unnecessary casualties, which was a serious dereliction of duty on his part as the supreme commander. The second is the misjudgment of the enemy's situation and the lack of tenacity in the defensive position: the main defensive direction selected by the Ninth Theater to defend Nanchang is the Nanxun Railway, while the main direction of the Yue Army is west of Xiushui, which is far from the same. Some armies (the 79th and 49th armies, etc.) that were on the defensives had only one division deployed in the front line with a frontage of 15 kilometers, while the main force of the army was deployed in the rear of the first line. Thirdly, there was a lack of positive and enterprising spirit and ineffective execution of orders: The main content of the counteroffensive Nanchang operational plan was to attack the enemy along the Nanxun Road with the main force, completely disrupt communications, cut off the reinforcements and contacts of the Japanese army, and attack Nanchang with one unit. However, the 1st Army and the 74th Army, which were responsible for this main task, were blocked by several strongholds of the Chinese army that were far apart, and none of their troops advanced to the Nanxun Road, which had an extremely adverse impact on the campaign.

In addition, an important reason for the failure of the Battle of Nanchang was that the army used a large amount of poison gas in the Battle of Nanchang, and the scale of the gas bombs was so large that the types of poison gas bombs were rare in history. In the last 10 minutes between 19:20 and 30, more than 3,000 rounds of poison gas shells were fired. Immediately afterwards, the field gas team of the Japanese army released 15,000 medium-sized gas canisters on the 12-kilometer offensive front, of which 5,000 were fired by the 101st Division and 10,000 by the 106th Division. The 2-kilometer depth of the Chinese defenders' positions at the Xiushui River was completely enveloped in poison gas, and the defenders suffered heavy casualties. At that time, the officers above the regimental level who were poisoned included Wang Lingyun, commander of the 26th Division, Gong Chuanwen, brigade commander, Tang Jiji, commander of the regiment, and Yu Yuyuan, commander of the 105th Division. The troops lacked anti-poison means and measures, were in a state of panic, and their command was out of order, resulting in the close loss of combat effectiveness, and the army was able to smoothly cross the Xiushui River. At the same time, when the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division of the Chinese Army attacked the position of the Wuning Zhong [***] team, it also used a large number of 12 special chimneys containing suffocating poisonous gas, causing 500 officers and soldiers of the defending army to be injured by the poisonous gas and the position was captured. Because the army stipulates that "the area where special tobacco is carried out, the Chinese army will be annihilated within a certain period of time, and the Chinese army will be annihilated." Therefore, according to the confession of the captured senior soldier of the Yue army, Ye Shang Jinchao Xiong, all the Chinese officers and soldiers who were poisoned in Wuning were assassinated by the Yue army.

However, Han Yunhua also knew that the war in the south was really far away from him, and he only had 1,800 people in his hands now, so even if he wanted to help, he would not be able to implement it. So his attention quickly shifted from the Battle of Nanchang to Shandong, and several other troops under Han Yunhua's department also planned new battles, of course, Han Yunhua himself was not idle.

Due to the two consecutive years of war, not only did the Chinese political axe tighten its belt, but even the political axe officials and the vast majority of officers could only receive half of the national disaster salary, of course, those who were corrupt [***] were not among them. Even the salaries of the officers were stopped at the beginning of this year, and the base camp ordered the defenders in various localities to raise money and food on the spot.

This gave Han Yunhua a great opportunity, so in addition to leaving a special operations team to train those newly recruited prisoners, the rest of the troops were all scattered to attack the money and grain teams that were transported to the county seat of Yanggu County. With the combat effectiveness of the special combat units, not to mention the armed forces of the Han and the landlords who escorted the vehicles, they often even suffered heavy losses from the regular field units of the Chinese army who came to meet them. For a time, the casualties of the defenders in Yanggu County skyrocketed, which only made An Pei Shaozo anxious.

"Report Shaozuo, the transport team in Anle Town was attacked by the Chinese guerrillas, and the Imperial Association army lost forty-five people and fifteen truckloads of grain."

"Report Shaozuo, Yanlou Town was attacked by the China guerrillas, all the Imperial Allied troops escorting the convoy were killed, and an infantry squadron of the Imperial Army that went to meet was ambushed by the China people and suffered heavy losses."

"Report Shaozo, the transport convoy in Shifo Town was ambushed, and the second squadron of the Imperial Army and the cavalry squad that went to the rescue were ambushed by the Shina guerrillas in Yamanashi Village, Captain Yamada was broken, and 121 soldiers were lost at the same time."

"Report Shaozuo, the stronghold of Jindouying Township was attacked by a large number of Chinese guerrillas, and the defenders suffered heavy losses, so I asked for support ......"

"Report Shaozuo, the town of Litai was besieged by the Chinese guerrillas, the enemy number exceeded 1,000 people, and was equipped with individual heavy weapons such as mortars and grenadiers, and the defenders suffered heavy losses and requested support......"

…………………… Ampeiichiro is now going crazy, and in just two or three days, the situation in Yanggu County has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Bandits, guerrillas, and the regular army of the National Axe of China jumped out and attacked the convoys of transports heading to the county seat and the strongholds of the Imperial Army in remote towns and villages. In just two days, nine convoys were attacked and three towns were besieged, and these rebels did not seem to be afraid of the retaliation of the Imperial Army, and from time to time ambushed and attacked the Imperial reinforcements. In just two days, the imperial army lost more than 300 people, which really made Ampeiichiro feel distressed for a while.

You must know that now all the defenders in Yanggu County have more than 1,300 people, but they have lost so many troops in just a few days, plus the ten people lost by Zhang Qiuzhen, and the defenders of Yanggu County have lost a total of one-third. If it is the dry of the noodles, the troops who have lost a lot will not say anything. But before even the most basic situation of the enemy could be figured out, a third of the troops were knocked out, and Abeichiro really couldn't figure it out.

However, whether he figured it out or not, Han Yunhua's current life is indeed very nourishing. By May 7, in addition to Han Yunhua's original old troops, nearly 1,000 people had gathered on Jingyang Gang. The vast majority of them were captured puppet soldiers, and of course, some of them were poor people who came to join Guo Da's family.

Han Yunhua's own principle is that as long as there is no major stain, he will not refuse to come. Now Han Yunhua divided all the newly recruited people into six squadrons of one hundred and sixty-five people, and all of them were handed over to the special combat team for training. Due to the complexity of the situation in Shandong, there was not much time left for Han Yunhua to train his troops, so except for the most basic queue formation, Han Yunhua pulled all the rest to the battlefield to practice in battle.

Of course, the puppet army is not stupid, especially the combat effectiveness of the army cannot be used for training at all, otherwise the military training will be caused by scratching the whole body. Therefore, Han Yunhua can only practice with those Han annihilation puppet troops, although the soldiers trained by these people are really not good, and they can't compete with the field troops of the Yue Army at all, even if they are far from being able to compete with the second-line troops of the Yue Army. But at the moment, Han Yunhua has no other way, who let them first arrive in your place, they are not familiar with the place, and they don't know who to find if they want to find something to add.

The direct result of Han Yunhua's frequent attacks was to completely anger An Pei Ichiro, and the irascible An Pei Ichiro couldn't find Han Yunhua's department, but he had to find some people to pay for the dead and wounded defenders in Yanggu County, so the bandits and Daomen forces in Yanggu County could be regarded as suffering.

Originally, when Abeichiro arrived, he had promised these Daomen forces that as long as they did not resist the rule of the Great Empire, the Great Empire would recognize their existence, and the Imperial Army would not exterminate them. However, the frequent appearance of bandits and rogues during this period, as well as the guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army, and even the regular army of the Chinese political axe, made Abeichiro feel a deep fear. This is okay, how can the imperial army even be helpless against the bandits and rogues in China. Ampei Shaozuo, unwilling to admit this fact, in his opinion, the reason why the resistance forces in China are so rampant is probably because the underground forces in Yanggu County are helping these people, otherwise after suffering a heavy blow from the Imperial Army, the people of China would not have recovered so quickly.

And there are only a few underground forces in Yanggu County that can give the strength of the Chinese resistance, so An Pei Ichiro strictly ordered the three avenues of Yanggu County to hand over the Chinese people who rebelled against the imperial army, otherwise the imperial army will crush them all. At the same time, Apeiichiro also sent a large number of troops to sweep the known large and small bandit cottages in Yanggu County, and for a time the entire Yanggu County was in chaos. There are wars everywhere, there are firefights everywhere.

(To be continued)