Zhang Renchu was a native of Hong'an, Hubei, herding cattle for landlords since he was a child, and joined the Red Army in November 1927. Before going to the instructor, he served as the deputy commander of the 115th Division. Because of his courage in battle and surprisingly bold courage, he always went into battle shirtless at critical moments, and the Red Army called him a madman.

Before the battle began, Zhang Renchu and political commissar Mo Wenhua led the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade to the north of the ferry with the help of the cover of the reeds, facing the devil infantry brigade defending to the west.

At this time, the artillery had not yet fired, and except for the machine gun shooters, basically no one on the opposite position was honestly crawling in the bunker, but stood on the embankment in groups of three or five, watching the beautiful scenery of the Yellow River in the evening, and some people pointed at the ships that were being loaded and said some bird language that Zhang Renchu did not understand.

Zhang Renchu remembered the shooting method of Napoleon's musketeers taught by his teachers when he was at the Red Army University, and felt that it was particularly suitable for the new army under his command. Each company dealt with one machine gun, and the three platoons fired their guns in the order of one, two, and three, keeping the fire continuous.

According to Zhang Renchu's idea, Lao Tzu is a company to deal with a machine gun, although the recruits are not good at marksmanship, but they are concentrated in rotation, and they are not afraid that your machine gun shooters and artillerymen will not die.

When the cannon sounded, Zhang Renchu gave the order to shoot, and all the light and heavy machine guns of the whole regiment were lined up and opened as if splashing water on the devil infantry. Then there was a volley of platoon guns from each infantry company, not to mention, this method really worked, three rounds of platoon guns fired in a volley, and the opposite devil's machine gun position was completely dumb. By the time Chen Shiqu commanded six infantry guns to attack the opposite regiment of devil artillery positions, the recruits had already calmed down and began to chase the figures of the devil artillery with bullets under the command of the cadres.

The charge remembered, Zhang Renchu pulled out the big knife on his back with his backhand, took the knife in one hand, and held twenty rings in the other, and yelled, "Kill the devil!" He led the guard platoon to rush out of the reeds and took the lead in killing the embankment.

Mo Wenhua didn't hold it, and when he saw that Zhang Renchu had already been killed, he immediately ordered the machine gun to cover with all his might, and shouted: "The regiment commander has gone up, comrades, rush!" "Take the troops and kill them.

After the shelling, light and heavy machine gun sweeping, and platoon gun rounds, there are not many devils left on the embankment. But the devils are different from the bandits, they have the heavy responsibility of protecting the supplies of the ferry, and those who are alive crawl in bunkers and shoot desperately. Although Zhang Renchu and the cadres led the soldiers to cover the charge alternately in accordance with the requirements of the training syllabus, after all, they were new troops who had just entered the battlefield, and no matter how much they trained, they could not hide the clumsy figure of the recruits, and some soldiers were constantly defeated. Fortunately, the cadres were under strong control, the machine guns and artillery firepower of the devils were completely lost, and our army had already gained absolute superiority, and the fear that the soldiers had when they first entered the battlefield was replaced by the mood of killing the enemy and making meritorious contributions, and they still quickly rushed to the embankment.

As soon as the remnants of the devils saw the Eighth Route Army rushing to the position, they shouted, and they all stood up, stopping their bayonets and about to fight hand-to-hand. At this time, the effect of the training came out, and the soldiers who rushed to the front all lay down under the command of the squad leader, and then began to shoot with a platoon of guns, and the soldiers behind directly threw away the grenades, so that all the devil soldiers who wanted to drive the Eighth Route Army out of the position through exquisite stabbing skills became targets on the shooting range.

This scene not only stunned the devil, but also stunned the fierce general Zhang Renchu. Later, he earnestly wrote in his battle summary report: "The instructor's tactical training far exceeded my imagination, especially the combat skills of the infantry squad and platoon, which were far higher than those of other Eighth Route Army units. Although this is the first battle of our regiment, and the tactical movements of the soldiers are still immature, the training foundation is there, and I am confident that I will bring out a first-class main force regiment that bravely crowns the whole army. ”

Of course, this is a later story, and the scene on the battlefield is: after the soldiers rushed to the position of the devils on the embankment, the crowd quickly drowned out the resistance of the devils. Without waiting for the machine guns covering behind to move forward, the cadres grabbed the light and heavy machine guns of the devils and swept away the devils on the ferry on the west side of the embankment, turning the unsheltered ferry into a purgatory for the little devils.

The battle did not last long, because the 2nd Garrison Regiment of Southwest Lu, which was directly east of the ferry, which was responsible for cutting off the enemy's rear route, rushed up from the middle of the Devil's defensive position in the north and south, and the machine guns, rifles, and grenades rushed at the back of the Devil's Infantry Brigade defending to the south, and assisted the 3rd Garrison Regiment to wrap the Devil's Infantry Brigade with dumplings.

The devils on the ferry were the baggage troops of the devils, and their combat effectiveness was originally worse than that of the field troops, and the two brigades that served as cover were overwhelmed by the gray waves, so they had to climb on the sand of the Yellow River beach and shoot desperately. After the fire attack on the embankment of the garrison, it was already miserable. By the time the three regiments rushed down the embankment and rushed towards the ferry, these devils had all returned to the East in the overwhelming barrage of grenades.

Seeing that the battle on the east bank was over, Chen Shiqu ordered the infantry artillery with the devils intact and all the heavy machine guns to suppress the fire of the army on the west bank, and ordered the first police regiment to quickly establish a position and guard in the direction of Guantai. The 2nd Police Regiment, the 3rd Police Regiment and the brigade units immediately set to work to use the wagons on the ferry to carry ammunition, medicine, and food. Cars and gasoline drums were burned.

As a result, Chen Shiqu's order was objected to by the cadres, because the battalions, companies, platoons, and squad leaders from the 1st Brigade of the Jiao Brigade all knew that oil was the life of the 2nd Jiao Regiment, and they couldn't buy it with gold bars, so where would Chen Shiqu burn the gasoline! While instructing the soldiers to load gasoline drums into cars and wagons, these cadres also sent people to report to Chen Shiqu that they would rather not have food than give up gasoline, and that even if they rolled, they would roll the gasoline drums back to the fortified wall in southwest Lu and let the Second Regiment use them.

Only then did Chen Shiqu know that the Second Regiment of the First Brigade was actually an armored unit, and these cadres could drive cars, motorcycles, and bicycles, which was equivalent to the transportation tools that the devil had and the cadres could all use. At this time, Chen Shiqu was completely distempered by Liu Yimin's name for the garrison brigade given to them, knowing that there was a big gap with the main force like the First Brigade.

Six or seven thousand people worked together, and the supplies were moved quickly, and the ground of this mound was all plains, and there were roads everywhere, and when the devil's plane arrived after the sun set, in addition to the corpses of the devils all over the ferry, only the two dilapidated ferries were left floating in the inlet.

After receiving the good news that the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade had successfully raided the Guantai Ferry, seized a large number of supplies, and completely annihilated the two infantry brigades of the devils, Liu Yimin, secretary of the Shandong Bureau, commander of the Shandong Military Region, instructor and division commander, and secretary of the party committee, was in a state of agitation, and informed the whole division to commend the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade for its bravery and resolute operation, ordered the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade to quickly return to the division to develop the southwest Lu base area, and ordered the brigade to start preparations for the construction of an artillery regiment, a cavalry battalion, a heavy machine gun battalion, an engineer battalion, and a baggage battalion, and that the necessary artillery and war horses would be allocated in place immediately after the end of the Luzhong campaign.

Then, Liu Yimin sent a telegram to the General Headquarters to report the victory, and asked the General Headquarters to immediately report to Chiang Kai-shek that all the gasoline and ammunition urgently needed by the enemy's 14th Division had been burned by our army, and that the 14th Division, a tiger armed to the teeth, would soon become a sick tiger and a dead tiger that had lost its teeth.

Liu Yimin's order set off a monstrous wave in the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade, which was marching covertly. Chen Shiqu and Tang Liang held a cadre meeting on the march to convey the orders of Liu Yimin. After conveying the order, Chen Shiqu's eyes widened: "Division Commander Liu commended us, which shows that we fought this battle beautifully." However, this was only the first battle of our Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade since it was formed, and it relied on the elusive strategy of the division commander. How big and big will we fight such a battle in the future, and show the prestige of our Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade! You have all listened to me, the division commander has ordered us to prepare for the construction of an artillery regiment, a cavalry battalion, a heavy machine gun battalion, an engineer battalion, and a baggage battalion, and he will also allocate artillery and war horses to us. It shows that the division commander is determined to build our brigade into the main force brigade and into an elite unit that cannot be dragged or defeated and can stand alone. Lao Tzu put the words down here, I want to change the number of the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade to the number of the Ninth Brigade within half a year, everyone should put their eyes on the bright spots, and when they sleep, they must keep their eyes open, firmly staring at the training of the troops, and staring at the devils. As soon as the devil heard the name of our Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade, he was so frightened that he couldn't sleep. Do you hear that? ”

After winning the battle, capturing abundantly, the division commander notified the commendation, and also asked the formation of an artillery regiment and a cavalry battalion, and the cadres all had a light on their faces, and naturally roared in unison like thunder, "Understand!" ”

Xu Shiyou of the Luxi Garrison Brigade couldn't sit still, and rushed to the headquarters of Liu Jianjian, the commander of the Second Brigade, and asked when he would launch an active attack on the 108th Division.

Liu Jianli told him that the time was not enough, and he would naturally be notified when the time came.

Xu Shiyou couldn't sit still when he heard it, and took out Liu Yimin's commendation telegram for Liu Jianli to read, but Liu Jianli didn't read it, saying that he had already read it. Xu Shiyou said at this time: "Brigade Commander Liu, you are the commander of the Luxi Military Region, and my Luxi Garrison Brigade is under your command." However, I can't let the Luxinan Garrison Brigade run ahead of me, and if they are upgraded to the main brigade first, I can't explain to the soldiers. ”

Liu Jianli told him that the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade fought well this time, first, because it was taken by surprise and unprepared to attack the enemy. Second, the opponent was relatively weak, and what they encountered was the 22nd Division that took over the 14th Division to defend Xinxiang, and this unit was the garrison division of the Yue Army, and its equipment, combat effectiveness, fighting will, and vigilance could not be compared with the permanent division, nor with the 108th Division in person. The division commander is also in danger this time, because the 1st Brigade is not in southwest Lu, and if it is, it is estimated that the division commander will not let them go. The current task of the Luxi Garrison Brigade is to train troops and run in the troops, and there are many battles, there are so many devils, enough to kill them in a few years, what is the urgency.

Seeing Xu Shiyou's lonely face, Liu Jianli said again: "Of course, military training can also be replaced by fighting. In this way, I asked the Fourth Regiment to send several companies, one with one battalion of you, to launch a night attack on the devils in turn, targeting the devils' small troops, and they will leave as soon as they fight. However, you have to grasp that the 08th Division is now standing still, and if you fight hard and send them back to the railway line, we will be criticized. ”

When Xu Shiyou heard this, he said: "I don't want to teach the Second Brigade to lead, my cadres are all taught by the Second Brigade, and they will be able to beat them no matter what." I'm going to arrange for it, the small troops will attack in multiple ways, Chen Shiqu will fight two brigades at a time, and I will always fight one team at a time, just fight more and fight fast, and the accumulation will not necessarily be smaller than their results. With that, he went out and got on his horse and left.

Historically, the 10th and 8th Divisions of the Chinese Army fought with the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi for a long time, and was transferred back to China in November 1939, and was abolished on February 21, 1940, and collectively demobilized. It was not until 1944 that the army rebuilt the 108th Division in the northeast on the basis of the 9th Garrison of Yuli. However, due to Liu Yimin's arrival, the 108th Division, whose hands were stained with the blood of the Chinese people, was afraid that it would not be able to wait for the day when it returned to China and was demobilized.

Chiang Kai-shek, who was in Zhengzhou, received two telegrams from the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army to report the victory, and immediately ordered the Central News Agency to broadcast the battle report of the instructors of the Eighth Route Army to the whole country to boost the morale of the army and the people. Then, he ordered Xue Yue to redeploy and be sure to encircle and annihilate the 14th Division.

After sending the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek sat there and thought quietly for a while, feeling that this Liu Yimin was really unpredictable, how could he expect that Tufeiyuan Zhanlanfeng was to get the Yellow River crossing? How could he have expected that the devils would be going to ambush the troops by transporting supplies to Guantai? This guy is amazing. Now in order to save the situation of the war and let him attack Jinan, I didn't expect that he had entered Shandong in advance. Will [***] sit big in Shandong in the future?

After thinking about it, Chiang Kai-shek felt that this eastern part of Shandong was easy to occupy, and he knew it very well, until the navy was stronger than the army, and the coastline of Shandong was so long, and the whole province was within the strike range of the devil's naval planes, and the devils had been plotting to occupy Shandong for a long time, how could they allow the Eighth Route Army to gain a foothold in Shandong? Maybe in the future, the devils will turn their attacks to the Eighth Route Army in Shandong. If that's the case, that's fine.

Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek personally sent a telegram to Liu Yimin, praising the achievements of the instructor and highly appraising Liu Yimin's courage in going to the country, generously killing the enemy, and brilliant achievements. Then as soon as the pen turned, Chiang Kai-shek criticized Liu Yimin for abandoning Tai'an without the approval of the report, violating the responsibility and discipline of the generals to defend the territory, Pang Bingxun could defend Linyi, Sun Lianzhong could defend Taierzhuang, and it was difficult for General Liu Yimin, who was promised by the people as the first general, to hold the city of Tai'an for a month? If there is a similar situation again, it is absolutely necessary to pursue responsibility. After the criticism, Chiang Kai-shek urged Liu Yimin to launch an attack on Jinan as soon as possible, disrupt the deployment of the army, and relieve the pressure on the front line in eastern Henan. In the end, Chiang Kai-shek put on the posture of an elder and told Liu Yimin that Ni Hua was absolutely free and could go to reunite with Liu Yimin anytime and anywhere, and asked Liu Yimin to protect Ni Hua and not to live up to the affection of such an excellent girl.

After receiving Chiang Kai-shek's telegram from the headquarters, Liu Yimin smiled when he read it. After laughing, I went about my own business.

At this time, the base camp of the army had decided to expand the army.

The first time was the rebuilding of the 18th Division from August to October 1937, and the 26th Division stationed in Datong was formed on the basis of the 11th Brigade of Reading Force, and the 1st 01st, 108th, and 109th Divisions were newly built. The second and third expansions were basically because of the arrival of Liu Yimin, which led to changes in the war situation, and the army had to expand its army, such as the new mixed brigades in the North China Battlefield and the Central China Battlefield, including the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd divisions and the 27th Division formed on the basis of the North China Garrison Brigade, etc., all of which should have been formed in April 1938, the 24th Division should have been formed in October 1939, and the 25th Division should have been formed in 1940. As a result, they were all organized in advance and sent to the battlefield in North China.

Historically, in order to prepare for the Battle of Wuhan, the army expanded by 10 divisions from April to June 1938. Now due to the appearance of Liu Yimin, the war situation in the North China battlefield has deteriorated, and the army will naturally expand even more.

After receiving a telegram from General Terauchi Shouichi, Prince Zaihito of the Shoin Palace immediately went to the emperor's meeting, and Chen said that he was very powerful, and demanded that the scale of the war against China be immediately expanded and the number of troops increased. This time, the emperor didn't even hesitate, he was already a little annoyed by the war situation in North China. However, in view of the continuous expansion of the army and the difficulty of supporting the national strength, this time Emperor Hirohito decided to send six more divisions on the basis of the previous expansions, instead of the ten divisions requested by Terauchi Shouichi and Prince Kanin Miyazahito.

Emperor Hirohito immediately convened a meeting of the Imperial Commander, and without listening to anyone's opinions, he decided on the number of troops to be sent, and sent all six divisions, including the 15th and 17th Divisions, which had completed reconstruction, and the 104th Division, 106th Division, 110th Division, and 116th Division, which had completed conscription, to the Chinese battlefield. Among them, the 15th Division, the 17th Division, the 106th Division, and the 116th Division were sent to Central China, the 110th Division was sent to North China, and the 104th Division was sent to Northeast China.

At the same time, the emperor ordered the headquarters to immediately begin preparations for the formation of 10 divisions, including the 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st divisions, for the war against China. The emperor explicitly demanded that the 10 divisions to be formed could be recruited in advance, put into training ahead of schedule, ensure combat effectiveness, complete the tasks of conscription and training by the end of the year at the latest, and wait for orders to go to the front at any time.

After saying so many murderous words in one breath, Emperor Hirohito's face flushed, and he took a sip of his teacup.

Although Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace was dissatisfied with sending only six divisions instead of ten, he was already satisfied that he had received explicit authorization from the emperor to expand the division by ten more. Seeing that Emperor Hirohito's face was flushed, he couldn't help but pat himself on the back: "Your Majesty's radiant face shows that he is wise and martial, which is really a blessing for the people of this empire." As soon as the reinforcements arrive this time, they will definitely be able to go straight to Wuhan and make Chiang Kai-shek bow his head and accept defeat. ”

Prime Minister Konoe Fumima heard Prince Zaihito of the Idle Yuan Palace slap his ass like this, and he felt a chill in his heart, but after the cold, he had to admire the old bastard's methods more and more perfect. Just as he was thinking about whether he would go to Prince Zaihito's house in the Xianyuan Palace to blackmail him later, take revenge on this old guy, and save him from thinking about expanding the army all day, which would lead to more and more financial expenditures, he heard Emperor Hirohito sneer and say: "His Royal Highness doesn't have to be clever in front of me, let's go back and study how to rescue Kenji Dohihara's 14th Division." If there is any accident in the 14th Division, I think someone will have to be responsible for it! ”

In a word, Prince Zairen of the Xianyuan Palace had a red face, and he couldn't wait to find a crack in the ground to get into.

Seeing that Prince Zaihito, who was in high authority, was deflated, Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita felt that the opportunity was good, and he opened his mouth to report to the emperor about the negotiations with Germany. I'm tired. With that, he left the throne and went back to the palace.

After returning to his office, Prince Zaihito, who was ashamed, was furious and sent a telegram directly to General Terauchi Shouichi, asking him to mobilize his troops and rescue the 14th Division, otherwise he would be held responsible for the continuous defeats of the North China Front.

At this time, General Terauchi Shouichi had already completed the deployment of blowing up the Eighth Route Army arsenal and airfield, and it was the time to be complacent.

After receiving a telegram from Prince Zairen of Xianyuan Palace, Shouichi in the temple poured a basin of cold water on his head and sent several telegrams in succession, strictly ordering all units in Xuzhou to attack quickly, be sure to capture Guide, and meet the 14th Division to break through. Then he personally sent a report to Kenji Dohihara, asking him to quickly report why he had violated the military order to advance westward, report on the ammunition and oil reserves, and prepare to break through.

As a result, Tu Feiyuan reported that the westward advance was under the orders of Lieutenant General Kazuki Kiyoshi, commander of the First Army, and that the 14th Division now occupied Lanfeng and had all the favorable conditions for capturing Kaifeng. Once Kaifeng is captured, it can attack Zhengzhou in the west, completely destroying China's will to resist in the first theater of operations. He is now in urgent need of reinforcements and ammunition, oil, food, and medicine supplies, due to the failure of the supply of the Yellow River crossing, the division's mobile combat capability is restricted, and he implores His Excellency the Commander to order the air force to urgently airdrop supplies. As long as the supplies are abundant and the firepower is maintained, Kaifeng will definitely be captured.

After reading Tsuchihara's telegram, General Terauchi studied the map for a long time, and felt that Tsuchihara's idea was also good. However, the First Army's disobedience must be investigated, and if the 14th Division suffers heavy losses, it will take Lieutenant General Kazuki Kiyoshi to open the knife, who will let him make his own decisions? It doesn't matter if he doesn't obey this order, Xuzhou's middle [***] team has run out, and this responsibility must be borne by him.

After making up his mind, General Terauchi Shouichi did not delay for a quarter of an hour, grabbed the phone and ordered the logistics department to fully mobilize and immediately raise supplies for the 14th Division, which must be completed within one day, and be ready to install airdrops at any time.

After these things are done. Terauchi Shouichi drove to the headquarters of the North China Aviation Group, where he was to personally direct the destruction of the Eighth Route Army's arsenal and airfield.

(To be continued)