However, by the time Zhang Mingyu jumped out of the car with a few guards and ran quickly to the gate of the compound, Chiaki Shigeto was already too dead to die.

When Lai Changqing, the commander of the First Brigade, saw Zhang Mingyu coming, he hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile: "General seat!" You're here! It's all solved! ”

"Slap" Zhang Mingyu slapped Lai Changqing's steel helmet and scolded: "Lu said! Who asked you to beat this old devil Chiaki Shigedo to death! Didn't I say that Lao Tzu was going to chop him alive! ”

"Total seat! When this situation was at that time, the brothers fought and the rise of the fight, they forgot it, hehe, don't be angry! ”； Lai Changqing hurriedly smiled.

"If you didn't say it, you will be deducted from your military salary for one month!" Zhang Mingyu strode away without looking back.

After hearing this, Lai Changqing couldn't help but look at Zhang Mingyu's back with a bitter face: "General seat, don't!" I'm still waiting to pick up girls this month! Whining...! Xiaohong, I can't afford to buy a bracelet this month. ”

Lai Changqing's funny expression caused everyone present to burst into laughter, and Lai Changqing suddenly darkened his face and roared: "Travel! What are you laughing at, don't go and clean up the battlefield quickly, you will be robbed by other brigades, and if you laugh at the fuck, Lao Tzu will deduct your military salary for a month.

When the people heard this, they immediately scattered as beasts and birds. Lai Changqing couldn't help but laugh twice, to be honest, except for Zhang Mingyu, who dared to deduct other people's salaries in the 42nd Group Army, the rest of the officers at all levels, even Zhang Biao, did not dare to deduct the salaries of soldiers without permission. He Lai Changqing was just talking, and when he saw that everyone under his command was hurriedly frightened, he couldn't help laughing.

That night, Zhang Mingyu moved the headquarters into Xinxiang City, although this station was more damaging to Xinxiang City, but it was still worth it, the city could be built after it was destroyed, because this city has been surnamed Zhongming Guo again from today, and she can finally stand up and face future generations.

In the headquarters, all the officers at or above the brigade level of the three infantry divisions were present.

Zhang Mingyu put on a general's uniform, strode in, and seeing that everyone was about to get up, Zhang Mingyu hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Brothers, you don't have to be polite, you have won a battle today, don't be so restrained, I have ordered the room to prepare wine and food, after the meeting, you can have a good meal and drink, everyone has worked hard for so many days, sit down!" ”

"Yes!" The crowd erupted in astonishment. They all sat down, these days they have been fighting, they are indeed a little tired, and the high level of mental tension is indeed a little unbearable.

After Zhang Mingyu also sat down, he lit a cigarette for himself: "Chief of Staff Peng, now I announce that you will temporarily serve as the deputy chief of staff of my 42nd Group Army, responsible for assisting me in presiding over this southward battle." ”

"Yes!" Bloomberg stood up happily and said.

"Okay, Chief of Staff Peng, you can first inform everyone of the losses of our army and the annihilation of the enemy in this battle." Zhang Mingyu waved his hand.

"Yes!" Peng Bo picked up a document in front of him, glanced at the people present, and read: "According to preliminary statistics, in this battle, our Third Division suffered more than 1,200 casualties, including more than 400 killed, more than 200 seriously wounded, and more than 600 lightly wounded. The Second Division suffered more than 700 casualties, more than 300 killed, more than 100 seriously wounded, and more than 200 lightly wounded. The Fourth Division suffered 1,300 casualties, of which more than 400 were killed, more than 500 were lightly wounded, and 300 were seriously wounded! This is the casualty of our troops.

The following is the number of enemies destroyed by our army, and the situation of captured materials and weapons and equipment. Peng Bo paused and said: "According to preliminary statistics, our army annihilated all the Shigetsu detachment of the Yue Army in this battle, totaling more than 8,700 people, and annihilated more than 2,000 reserve troops composed of overseas Chinese, of which more than 1,800 enemies were killed and more than 100 were captured.

In addition, more than 5,000 Type 38 rifles, 200 pistols, 14 heavy machine guns, 36 light machine guns, a batch of bullets, and a batch of grenades were seized. That's all for it. Bloomberg glanced at Zhang Mingyu after speaking, and then sat down.

"Okay, let's not talk about business today, in addition to the necessary vigilance, the regiments can rest for a good night, and continue to go south tomorrow! Let's adjourn! Zhang Mingyu waved his hand.

"Okay!" Everyone got up one after another, and in a blink of an eye, Zhang Mingyu couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly when he saw this, his subordinates were the most unproductive, and when they saw wine, they were closer than seeing their mothers.

………

Station on the south bank of the Yellow River.

After learning that Xinxiang was lost and all the jade of the Shigetsu detachment was broken, Muto Zhang first organized a remote sacrifice, and sacrificed thousands of imperial warriors of the Shigeto detachment on the side of the Yellow River to the north of the Yellow River, and then Muto Zhang returned to the headquarters with everyone, and he wanted to prepare for a real battle with Zhang Mingyu on the bank of the Yellow River.

As early as when Muto Zhang was serving as deputy staff officer of the Central China Front Command, he was already silently studying Zhang Mingyu and his advantages and disadvantages, and he even spent time studying Zhang Mingyu's tactical command.

It is no exaggeration to say that he knows all the battles and battles that Zhang Mingyu commanded and participated in, and even he knows every detail.

Muto Zhang has been waiting for this day in his heart, an opportunity that he has been brewing in his heart for a long time, a plan that he thinks is enough to defeat Zhang Mingyu, and he specially formulated a set of combat plans to deal with the 42nd Group Army according to Zhang Mingyu's characteristics.

In the headquarters, two large square tables were piled together to form a large conference table three meters wide and nearly six meters long. Although Akira Muto has the rank of major general, since he is the commander assigned by General Tada, he naturally sits at the top of the big conference table.

The other lieutenant generals and division commanders were sitting at the bottom of him, and Muto Zhang sat straight, looked at the people present with an awe-inspiring expression, and said, "Everyone! At present, I say that the situation facing this imperial army is extremely unoptimistic, and I need your full help! to reverse this unfavorable situation! Please! With that, Muto stood up, and then bowed respectfully to everyone.

Everyone's expressions moved slightly, and they hurriedly got up and said in unison: "I also work for His Majesty the Emperor, Muto-kun, please rest assured!" We're going to do our best! ”

"Hay! Thank you! After speaking, Muto Zhang waved his hand and motioned for everyone to sit down. After watching everyone sit down, Muto Akira immediately regained a cold facial expression.

He said with a cold expression: "Ladies and gentlemen, at present, the people of China have captured most of the areas north of the Yellow River, so I think that the imperial army north of the Yellow River should immediately withdraw east to Shandong, and cooperate with the Shandong Imperial Army to defend Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Jining and other large and medium-sized cities.

The four divisions south of the Yellow River concentrated their forces and fought against the 42nd Group Army of the China Army in the Zhengzhou area! If they can defeat the 42nd Army in one fell swoop, the morale of the people will definitely plummet, and the counteroffensive they launched this time will also end in failure. We say that this imperial army will win the final victory. ”

"General, do you have any specific battle plans? You must know that the 42nd Group Army of the China Army has nearly 100,000 people in three full-strength divisions, while we only have more than 80,000 people in four divisions, and we are at a disadvantage in terms of troops. Major General Suzuki, the acting commander of the Sixth Division, said.

Since Hatohiko Asakanomiya flew to Shanghai, he was promoted from the head of the division to the acting head of the division, and it was obvious that he was very dissatisfied with his old boss being squeezed away, and he was also dissatisfied with Muto Zhang.

Muto Zhang waved his hand slightly, "Suzuki-kun, please sit down and listen to me patiently!" After finishing speaking, Muto Zhang suddenly got up, picked up the command pole and walked to the giant map hanging on the wall, pointed to the map and said: "Everyone, please see, this is the Yellow River Railway Bridge, although it was destroyed by the air force of the 42nd Group Army of the Chinese Army, which indirectly caused the loss of Qinyang and Xinxiang and the two cities, and also caused the entire jade fragmentation of the Airborne Brigade and the Shigeto Detachment, but on the other hand, the destruction of the Yellow River Railway Bridge is also beneficial to us."

After the capture of Xinxiang, the people of China were relieved of their worries, and they must continue to go south to cooperate with the counteroffensive operations carried out by their political axe army! However, due to the destruction of the Yellow River railway bridge, the Chinese people could not cross the Yellow River without warships and boats, let alone launch an attack on Zhengzhou, Kaifeng and other places.

This natural danger has already made a big difference for me, and this imperial army has blocked the 100,000 male soldiers of the Zhina army! ”

"Hmm!" Including Nakajima Kawaji and others, they nodded again and again.

But Suzuki was clearly not going to give up easily, and he continued to ask, "Shogun, so what?" Could it be that our sect was able to defeat and defeat the 42nd Group Army by relying only on the natural danger of the Yellow River? Don't forget that although the Yellow River cannot be crossed within a radius of hundreds of miles in Zhengzhou, there are some narrow channels that can be easily crossed hundreds of miles away. ”

"Suzuki-kun, please listen to me!" Obviously, Muto Akira was not angry at Suzuki Ichi's interruption, and he continued to point to the map and said, "Everyone, please see, in our rear, the troops of the third theater of the Chinese army have already faced Anhui. The two provinces of Jiangsu launched a counteroffensive, and our garrison troops were defeated and retreated one after another due to insufficient troops! The threat posed by the Third Theater is extremely great, and it has a bearing on the gains and losses of the Songhu and Nanjing areas, and there is absolutely no room for loss in these two areas.

So I plan to leave the 6th Division to garrison Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, and Luoyang, and I will personally lead the main force to support the rear immediately! After defeating the troops of the 3rd Theater of Operations, they turned north to meet the 42nd Army of the Chinans. ”

"General, I'm afraid this matter is inappropriate! Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang and other places are separated by nearly 200 kilometers in the middle, and such a long defense line, although we can take a train, but leaving nearly 20,000 troops to guard such a long defense line still seems a little stretched. Moreover, we will reserve a part of our troops to patrol along the banks of the Yellow River to prevent the people of China from thinking of any way to cross the river quietly. Suzuki immediately stood up and said.

"Suzuki-kun, don't worry, the warships sent by the Third Fleet are about to arrive, and the patrol tasks along the Yellow River will be carried out by them to send ships to patrol, and your Sixth Division only needs to divide its troops to guard Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, and Luoyang, once there is any situation, I will lead the main force to rush to help!"

"Oh!" Although Suzuki Ichichi was reluctant to accept this beauty difference, there was really no reason to refuse. In fact; The reason why Suzuki did not want to take over the garrison task in the Zhengzhou area was very simple, because the Sixth Division, an old division, had already fallen to Zhang Mingyu and the 42nd Group Army twice.

Both times the whole army was annihilated, which made the officers and men of the Sixth Division formed later a little phobia, of course, this phobia was only for the 42nd Group Army.

But because of the honor of the soldier and the glory of the samurai, he had to take on this task head-on.

"That's it! Ladies and gentlemen, if you have no opinions, go down and prepare! The 17th Division and the 21st Division set off immediately with me! Send another telegram to the 101st Division in Luoyang, and let them set off immediately and follow me! Proceed to Xuchang for rendezvous. Muto Akira turned around and walked over to the table.

"Hay!" Everyone got up and bowed their heads suddenly, and then turned around and walked away quickly.

………

On the north bank of the Yellow River, Laotianan Station.

Zhang Mingyu, accompanied by Lai San and others, was inspecting the position of the guard regiment, due to the destruction of the Yellow River Railway Bridge, Zhang Mingyu was also worried about how to cross the river at this time, and he did not come up with any good way to cross the river for a while! Suo asked the troops to rest for a few more days.

Just as everyone had just returned to the regimental headquarters of the guard regiment in the station, there was a rattle of jeep brakes at the gate of the regimental headquarters.

Immediately after that, a rush of footsteps sounded in the compound outside the regiment headquarters, and Zhang Mingyu and the others looked back and saw that Peng Bo, the deputy chief of staff, had already walked in in a hurry.

Peng Bo panted and stood upright: "General, according to the news from the south bank of the Ministry of Security, the 17th and 21st Divisions of the Japanese army in Zhengzhou and the 101st Division in Luoyang suddenly moved south today and rushed towards Xuchang!" ”

"What? Go south to Xuchang? Zhang Mingyu and the others were puzzled, and immediately walked quickly to the big map hanging on the wall, Zhang Mingyu looked at the map with his hands behind his back, and said secretly: Xuchang, do the devils want to go south to reinforce the devils in Anhui and Jiangsu?

"General seat, what is the little devil doing in Xuchang? Aren't they afraid that we will cross the Yellow River and take Zhengzhou in one fell swoop? Lai San asked puzzled.

Zhang Mingyu turned around slowly, and said indifferently: "It seems that the third war zone has played a role." ”

"Third War Zone?"

"Yes, it is the third theater, if it weren't for the third theater launching a large-scale counteroffensive against Jiangsu and Anhui and other places, the devils would never have risked transferring the main force to the south." Zhang Mingyu said firmly.

"Total seat! That's not a great opportunity! As long as we can cross the Yellow River now, it will not be easy to take Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, and even Luoyang? Lai San immediately rubbed his palms and rubbed his fists, and he was eager to try.

"It's not that simple! The Yellow River Railway Bridge in front of us was blown up by us, although it blocked the devil's reinforcements from going north, and also blocked our way to the south.

In this way, the third theater of war is probably going to be defeated! Ay! Zhang Mingyu couldn't help frowning.

"Total seat! Don't be so pessimistic, there will always be a way to cross the river, we can think slowly, anyway, for a while and a half, the devils will not want to defeat the troops of the third theater! Bloomberg reassured.

"Hmmm! That's all there is to it! Zhang Mingyu said indifferently.

………

Yucheng, the War Hall of the Military Commission, will be star-studded.

Chairman Chiang was convening all the generals to discuss the military situation on the front line, and saw that the real mountains and rivers on a huge sand table in the war hall seemed to reappear on this sand table.

I saw that the small blue flag representing [***] had occupied most of the area, and the small white flag representing the army was changing, retreating and retreating.

Chairman Jiang looked at the sand table happily, and said to Chief Bai beside him: "Jiansheng! Tell us about the current situation between us and the enemy. ”

"Yes!" General Bai immediately stepped forward, took the command rod from a staff officer, and said with a false finger: "At present, all units of our army are progressing smoothly, especially the First Theater has recovered most of the area north of the Yellow River. The Ninth and Sixth Theaters have also made rapid progress, with the Sixth Theater recovering Shaoguan, an important town in Guangdong, and is advancing toward the Qingyuan area.

The Ninth War Zone has taken Yichun and is rushing towards Nanchang! ”

"Oh! How is the third theater of operations going? Chairman Jiang nodded slightly and asked.

"The progress of the Third Theater is not slow, and the units of the Third Theater have launched counteroffensives against the Japanese army in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, and have successively recovered dozens of large and small county towns and vast rural villages and towns." Mr. Bai pointed to some local roads on the sand table representing Anhui and Jiangsu.

However, as soon as General Bai's words fell, he saw a colonel staff officer striding in hurriedly, and stood up and said: "There is an urgent call from the Third Theater Commander's Department!" ”

"Read!" Chairman Jiang frowned suddenly, because he had already seen the bad message in the eyes of the colonel's staff officer.

Sure enough, the colonel's staff officer opened the telegram in his hand and read: "According to the report of the scouts, nearly 90,000 people from the four divisions of the Chinese Army, which had been confronting the 42nd Group Army in the Zhengzhou area along the Yellow River, suddenly turned south and pointed directly at the Third Theater. ”

As soon as the colonel finished reading, Chairman Jiang asked, "Why did the Yue army suddenly turn around and go south, what is Zhang Mingyu's 100,000 army doing?" Why didn't he attack, why didn't he put pressure on the army? ”

"Back to the commission! According to the report of the 3rd Theater of Operations, due to the destruction of the Yellow River Railway Bridge by the 42nd Group Army! So at this time, the 100,000 troops of the 42nd Army could not cross the river at all! That's why the army dared to transfer the main force to the south! The colonel's staff officer stepped forward suddenly.

"Mother, Xipi! This Zhang Mingyu, what the hell is he doing? Why blow up the Yellow River Railway Bridge? Chairman Jiang couldn't stop roaring.

"Take a seat! Regarding this matter, I think it may be because the 42nd Group Army was preparing to launch an attack on Qinyang and Xinxiang and other places, and in order to prevent the troops on the south bank of the army from going north to reinforce them, he chose to blow up the Yellow River Railway Bridge! Chief Bai explained.

(To be continued)