readx; Gao Fei saw that he still had the attitude of taking care of everything, obviously afraid of affecting the image of his subordinates in his mind, so he adopted the rough method of avoiding the real and attacking the false, and directly asked about the specific battle process: "Yu Lao, I have studied the deployment of [***] after the loss of Guangzhou, and I personally think that there is nothing wrong with it, in addition, although the base camp has repeatedly transferred troops from Guangdong to the north, but on the eve of the landing of the army, there are nearly 50,000 troops stationed in central Guangdong, there is no problem of insufficient troops, it should be that the troops on the front line did not do their best, right?" ”

Yu Hanmou said with a wry smile: "Mo Xide, the commander of the 151st Division who fled from the wind, has been escorted to Yucheng, if it weren't for the fact that his troops would collapse at the first touch, how could the situation have eroded so far!" However, in the final analysis, it is caused by my lack of leadership! ”

Yu Hanmou is worthy of being a loyal elder, and he is not willing to let his subordinates take responsibility. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Gao Fei continued to ask: "Old Yu, it is also your troops, how can there be such a big difference between the 64th Army going north and the 151st Division staying in Guangdong?" ”

Yu Hanmou couldn't hide it, so he had no choice but to confess: "The 151st Division is stationed in the Daya Bay area of Huizhou, adjacent to Hong Kong, and the officers take advantage of this opportunity to engage in smuggling business, and cadres at all levels often go to Hong Kong privately to enjoy a life of drunkenness. Mohid, who was the front-line commander when the army landed, was not in the army himself, so that the commanders at all levels had no fighting spirit, so they would collapse at the first touch. ”

Gao Fei asked, "Did you know about these circumstances for a long time, or was it the result of an after-the-fact investigation?" ”

Yu Hanmou replied: "In fact, the Cantonese army has been corrupted in the era of Chen Jitang, and the officers have three sets of clothes, wearing military uniforms in the battalion, wearing silk shirts when they go out to play at night, and wearing Western clothes in the city during the day. Because of the comfortable and affluent living conditions of the officers of the other [***] units, coupled with the long period of peace, these senior officers stayed away from the war and began to pay attention to life rather than improve their tactical cultivation. After I took over the Guangdong Army, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, I did not use severe tactics to rectify military discipline, I thought that they would stop in moderation, but I didn't expect them to intensify their efforts! ”

There is one point that Yu Hanmou is not embarrassed to say: Two divisions of the First Army of the Guangdong Army, which is his descendant, have been stationed in the Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi border areas for a long time, and they are a relatively difficult unit among the Guangdong troops. In order to reward these officers, after the troops were transferred to Guangzhou, he deliberately distributed half of the First Army's provident fund to these officers, so that they could have no worries about their lives.

Gao Fei nodded silently, and asked again: "Old Yu, the reason for the defeat is already known, so can you tell me how big the losses of the Fourth Route Army are, and whether there is still the strength to fight?" ”

Yu Hanmou replied without hesitation: "According to the statistics of the headquarters, more than 9,000 people were missing and killed in the Battle of Huiguang, and the weapons and equipment lost included: 6,368 rifles, 365 light machine guns, 731 heavy machine guns, 10 anti-aircraft guns, 10 anti-aircraft machine guns, 49 75-mm mountain guns, 11 fortress guns, 5 105-mm howitzers, and 10 armored vehicles. ”

Guangdong has always been rich in the country under the rule of Chen Jitang, so the equipment of the Guangdong army has always been ahead of the country, even better than the descendants of the Central Army, Gao Fei has long heard of this, but after listening to the losses reported by Yu Hanmou, he was still very surprised: "Yu Lao, as far as I know, the total number of troops staying in Guangdong is seven divisions, how can there be so many heavy machine guns?" A standard infantry division of our Ninth Army is no more than 110 heavy machine guns! After finishing speaking, he looked at Yu Hanmou in confusion.

Yu Hanmou replied: "The equipment of the Fourth Route Army has always been relatively good, and the number of heavy machine guns equipped with it is not less than that of the Ninth Army. Light machine guns are easy to carry, so they lose less. He knew that Gao Fei was very worried that all these weapons would fall into the hands of the Yue army, so he comforted: "A large part of the weapons and equipment lost were buried by the soldiers, and only a small part actually fell into the hands of the Yue army." ”

Gao Fei let out an "oh" and asked again: "Old Yu, just now you said that you lost twenty armored vehicles, so how many are left?" ”

Yu Hanmou said embarrassedly: "The tank brigade directly under the military department was originally equipped with 12 one-and-a-half-ton water and land tanks and 14 two-and-a-half-ton armored vehicles, and a five-ton armored command vehicle, a total of 27 vehicles, and now only the armored command vehicle and 6 two-and-a-half-ton armored vehicles remain, which is equivalent to the annihilation of the entire army!" ”

Gao Fei's brows furrowed slightly, feeling a little disappointed, so he asked another question: "The losses of the troops are very heavy, and they should not be able to fight again in a short time, right?" Saying that, he looked at Yu Hanmou with inquiring eyes.

Yu Hanmou looked at Gao Fei, hesitated for a moment, and then replied in a firm tone: "Our Fourth Route Army was developed on the basis of the First Division of the Guangdong Army. Since the establishment of the First Division of the Guangdong Army under the command of Deng Zhongyuan, it has experienced countless battles in Liangguang and the north and south of the Great River, and has never lost a battle, and is the strongest unit in the National Revolutionary Army. This time, the Fourth Route Army was defeated after only a few small contacts with the enemy in the Battle of Huiguang, abandoning the important town of Guangzhou in South China, and losing the most important material entry and exit channel, which directly led to the defeat of the Battle of Wuhan, making the situation of the War of Resistance even more difficult, and causing immeasurable losses! This is the shame of the Fourth Army, the shame of Yu, and the shame of the Cantonese people! In order to wash away the shame and humiliation of the fiasco, our Fourth Route Army is determined to rectify military discipline, train troops, and strive to recover Guangzhou within three months! ”

As he spoke, Yu Hanmou's voice became louder and louder, his dark face turned purple, and his right hand waved vigorously to increase the persuasiveness of the language: "Since the early thirties, Chen Jitang has appointed a large number of retired soldiers to form local troops for local administrative officials to eliminate the Red Army and bandits. After nearly 10 years of development, the local armed forces in Guangdong Province have reached more than 500,000 guns, and the slightly larger county troops have even reached the size of a brigade! As long as our army is purging the army, it orders armed forces from all over the country to come to reinforce it, or ambushes the Japanese army everywhere, so that it will not be peaceful at night, and after the army is gathered, tens of thousands of Japanese troops will not be captured! ”

Gao Fei knew that Yu Hanmou was anxious for revenge at this time, and while optimistically estimating his own strength, he also unconsciously underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Yue army, so he carefully analyzed the current situation to convince him: "Old Yu, I think your idea may be too optimistic. First of all, in terms of strength, the Fourth Route Army's current troops in Guangdong have a total of seven divisions, of which the 152nd Division is stationed on Hainan Island, and the 157th Division is stationed in southern Guangdong. Although the troops I brought have six divisions, but the two armored divisions have only one division of equipment, and it is the first time to fight, so we can't expect too high, the 53rd division is a new battle sequence of the Ninth Army, and it was heavily damaged by the Yue army in Madang, and the combat effectiveness should also be reduced, so that only three divisions of the Western Front can be called the main force in our hands, although the total strength exceeds 100,000 people, but compared with the Yue army, there is no overwhelming advantage! ”

Seeing that the blood on Yu Hanmou's face was a little lighter, Gao Fei took advantage of the hot iron: "Secondly, the army is currently concentrating on defending Guangzhou and the surrounding areas, with heavy troops and naval support, which is definitely not easy to deal with." Although the local armed forces are numerous, they have neither heavy weapons nor experience in fighting a strong enemy, so they cannot form an effective fighting force, and at most they can only harass the enemy. In the end, in order to secure Guangzhou, the army would definitely send troops to reinforce it, so the superiority in strength could not be maintained for long. ”

In the end, Gao Fei said calmly: "When I first set out from Fujian, I also planned to recover Guangzhou in the shortest possible time, but after seeing the morale of the troops along the way, I changed my original intention and decided to take a more secure approach. ”

Yu Hanmou saw that all his arguments were refuted by Gao Fei, and he couldn't think of a better way, so he had to ask: "Then what do you say is more secure?" ”

Gao Fei replied: "At present, the strength of the Yue army in Guangzhou is more than self-preservation, and the offensive is insufficient, so it is unwilling to take the initiative to provoke a war, so that we can calmly retrain the army, improve combat effectiveness and morale, and then attack with all our strength when the time is ripe!" ”

Yu Hanmou hurriedly asked: "How to train the army?" ”

As the commander of the local army, Yu Hanmou is very sensitive to the word "rectification and training" -- how many troops have been eaten by the Central Army in the name of rectification and training, Gao Fei should not want to take the opportunity to annex Guangdong's territory and army, right? Thinking of this, he peeked at Goofy, but the other party always had a sincere smile on his face, and there was no trace of conspiracy.

Gao Fei of course knew Yu Hanmou's worries, so he expressed his thoughts to dispel his doubts: "The Fourth Route Army has been training for nearly ten years since it was formed, and the equipment of the troops is very good, so simple training is of little significance -- what the troops lack is actual combat experience and do not know how to deal with modern warfare. In the Battle of Songhu, the armies of many local factions were slaughtered by the superior artillery fire and bombs of the Yu army, because they lacked the necessary experience, so we had to start here! ”

Hearing these words, Yu Hanmou's heart fell back a little, slowly leaned back his body, and continued to listen to Gao Fei's explanation.

Gao Fei continued: "My plan is to first make up for the weapons and equipment lost by the various units, and then the divisions of the Fourth Route Army will take turns to cooperate with the main force of the 19th Group Army to carry out offensive operations against the Yue Army in the Guangzhou area, so as to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops and the morale of the officers and men. ”

In order to completely dispel Yu Hanmou's vigilance, Gao Fei further said: "At present, I will not make any adjustments to the commanders at all levels of the Fourth Route Army, and I will first ask for your opinion when there are adjustments in the future, what do you think?" ”

Looking at Gao Fei's honest gaze, Yu Hanmou felt that he was really living the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, his face was a little feverish, and he hurriedly said, "I completely agree with your decision!" You are the commander of the theater of operations, and you don't need to discuss the appointment and dismissal of personnel, otherwise where will you be plotting against Han! ”

Gao Fei smiled slightly and said, "The 151st Division has suffered too many losses, and it can't recover in a short time, so I want to transfer the troops to Fuzhou for reorganization, what do you think?" Then he said in a very casual tone: "The commander of the 151st Division, Mohid, has been removed from his post and investigated, and the position of division commander is still vacant, you recommend someone to be in charge, and in addition, the officers above the regiment commander are also directly appointed by you." ”

Yu Hanmou was now completely relieved of Gao Fei, and the suggestions he made were very beneficial to him, so he agreed very painfully.

Then Gao Fei said in a tentative tone: "Old Yu, your tank brigade has been crippled, and there seems to be no need to rebuild, I want to merge it into the 78th Division, what do you think?" As he spoke, he observed Yu Hanmou's reaction.

Yu Hanmou felt that he owed Gao Fei a favor, coupled with the important surname of not realizing the armored forces, so he agreed to come down with the boat.

Gao Fei was very satisfied with the results of the negotiations, and before Yu Hanmou said goodbye, he cordially took Yu Hanmou's hands and said, "Elder Yu, the next step is to hold a military meeting of senior officers in the theater to discuss the specific operational deployment. In order to make my thoughts clearer to the brethren of the Fourth Route Army, I hope that you will explain it to them in detail when you return, so that it will be easier for us to reach a consensus when we meet! Then he said sincerely: "After all, I am a newcomer and I don't know much about the situation in the army and the locality, so you must vigorously support it, let us work together to tide over the difficulties, and expel the Yue Kou!" ”

Yu Hanmou hurriedly expressed his attitude: "General Gao, you led your troops to Guangdong, in fact, to help the Fourth Route Army save the situation, Yu Mou will definitely help, if anyone does not obey your orders, I will withdraw him immediately!" ”

After sending Yu Hanmou away, Gao Fei picked up the teacup and fell into deep thought, not knowing whether what he was doing now was correct, although he put forward a lot of reasons why he could not recover Guangzhou immediately, but the main reason was not said - Fujian has become the only channel for domestic materials to enter and exit, so that the national government will not dare to turn against himself, and at the same time, it is also convenient to collect evidence of smuggling of high-ranking officials and dignitaries to smuggle the enemy!

Ever since he was ready to start anew, Goofy had to weigh everything in his mind to make sure his decision was in Fujian's favor, and although he instinctively wanted to resent it, the huge responsibility on his shoulders forced him to go down this path

The commander of the 21st Army, Ando Toshikichi, took the initiative to abandon Huiyang in order to concentrate his forces, but in order to achieve the purpose of cutting off the transportation of materials between Hong Kong and Guangdong, he built strong fortifications along the line from the mouth of the Pearl River to Humen, and equipped with heavy troops, and these positions were basically within the range of naval guns cruising on the Pearl River.

Toshiyoshi Ando, who is familiar with the Chinese art of war, put on a long snake formation, if the county town of Bao'an, which is adjacent to Hong Kong, is compared to the tail of a snake, then Guangzhou is the head of a snake, no matter which part of the snake body is attacked, the other parts can be reinforced in time.

After Gao Fei entered the first target of attack in Guangdong, he handed over the task to Yu Wenzheng and the armored troops of Xiao Hanliang, commander of the Nanyang Army, while the 153rd Infantry Division cooperated in the operation, and the other troops in the theater moved to their own defense area according to the predetermined plan, so as to attract the attention of the Yue army.

The strength of an infantry wing stationed in the county seat of Bao'an and a brigade in Henggang leading to Huiyang served as an outpost, and since the positions of the troops were generally close to the Pearl River, and the reinforcements from Guangzhou arrived in Bao'an by water in only three hours, the key to the success of this operation was speed -- to settle the battle before the enemy's reinforcements arrived.

After deliberation, the three division commanders decided that the two tank battalions of the 78th Division would assault Henggang from the front, and immediately advance to Bao'an after tearing through the defenders' positions, and the motorized infantry brigade would follow up behind, carry out a large-depth division and encirclement, and strive to completely annihilate the defenders, and the task of the 153rd Division was to penetrate into Fuyong, between Bao'an and Humen, to block the reinforcements coming from the army's land route, Xiao Hanliang's Jewish regiment had no tanks, and could only watch the battle as a reserve.

Zhong Fangjun, commander of the first battalion of the third regiment of the 153rd Division, stood on top of a dirt slope, hundreds of soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition, ready to go, stood solemnly in front of him, he waved his arms vigorously, and said loudly: "You should know very well what the hometown fathers say about us and how they view us. Whether we Cantonese people are bad breeds or not, it depends on tonight! ”

Looking at the angry eyes of the audience, Battalion Commander Zhong continued: "The order of the division headquarters is to ask our battalion to be the sharp knife of the whole division, from Huiyang to Fuyong, cut off the retreat of the Bao'an army, and open up a passage for other troops. The armored forces of the 19th Army will attack tomorrow morning at six o'clock, which means that we must complete the task by six o'clock, do you have any confidence? ”

"Yes!" The audience immediately roared and raised his arms like a forest!

"Good!" Battalion Commander Zhong said with satisfaction: "it, let's fight with all our might, don't be a decrepit boy, let the brothers of the Ninth Legion look down!" Let's go! ”

In the north in December, it is the middle of winter when the snow is falling, but the mountains in eastern Guangdong are still deep and densely forested, and the bamboos with the thickness of the teacup mouth are tightly squeezed together, cutting constantly, not pushing down, and densely blocking the front of the team. Grasses more than two meters high, shrubs the thickness of fingers, and green vines that tangle everywhere trip the warriors to the ground.

(To be continued)