After Gao Gencheng and the others withdrew, the attacking troops of the Yue Army directly engaged the troops of the First Theater of Operations, and the two sides fought in a gray day.

At the same time as the Xu detachment and the Chen detachment started, Liu Jianli led the main force to cross the Longhai Road between Dangshan and Yucheng.

The place where Dangshan and Yucheng meet is the garrison junction of the eastern Henan group of the army and the southern line group of Xuzhou.

That night, Terauchi Shouichi and Okabe Naosaburo formulated a vicious plan at the headquarters of the North China Front Army in Beiping to completely wipe out the base areas of the Eighth Route Army in Shandong, and orders were issued to all units. After receiving the order, Lieutenant General Tada Jun, commander of the Southern Front Group, quickly issued an order to advance and suppress southwest Lu because the troops had already prepared to stop and were ready to attack.

After the order was issued, all units of the army mobilized overnight to adjust their defenses.

After receiving the order from General Terauchi Shouichi, Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, commander of the 27th Division, who was in charge of directing the war in eastern Henan, also made arrangements and ordered the 38th Division to cooperate with the Southern Front Group to advance and suppress southwest Lu, and the 39th Division to take over the defense of the 38th Division. Since the 38th Division was going to set off early tomorrow morning and attack southwest Lu by different routes, the 39th Division had to take over the defense overnight.

Liu Jianli did not grasp this situation, and Liu Yimin did not grasp it. As a result, Liu Jianjian's command troops crossed the Longhai Road without much fighting.

After crossing the road, Liu Jianli commanded the troops to carry out a rapid assault in the direction of Shangqiu with the regiment as a unit. It is said that the army is changing its defenses, and the troops have not yet been mobilized in place, and the positions are all chaotic. The Eighth Route Army hit the 39th Division when the army was at its weakest, and the 39th Division was dizzy and turned to the headquarters of the North China Front, to Honma Masaharu, and to Tada Jun for help, saying that the main force of the Central [***] team detoured back to the ground east of Shangqiu, cut off the Longhai Road, and had a tendency to attack Shangqiu.

Shouichi Terauchi, who thought it was a big deal, had to get up from Miss Masako's bed and stay up all night in front of the map with Naosaburo Okabe.

In the end, it was still Terauchi Shouichi who had insight and strictly ordered all troops in eastern Henan to hold their positions and resolutely repel the attack of the [***] team, and the troops were not allowed to reinforce each other, and everything was said after dawn.

Finally survived until dawn, Xuzhou's military plane took off urgently, to the east of Henan to investigate, but the result was not found at all besieging Shangqiu's [***] team, but between Lanfeng and Kaifeng, the two [***] teams are still fighting, fighting a mess.

Terauchi Shouichi and Okabe Naosaburo were puzzled, they didn't know what the intentions of the [***] team were, did they really want to do another Lanfeng battle?

At this time, Shouichi Terauchi had already received the content of Liu Yimin's conversation from the radio, and after thinking about it again, he felt that Liu Yimin was no longer ordinary despicable and shameless, but despicable and shameless. This guy knew that the imperial army was encircling and suppressing, and the end was coming, so he instigated or coerced Chiang Kai-shek to besiege the imperial army in eastern Henan, and also said that the 27th, 38th, and 39th divisions were garbage troops composed of new recruits, and teased Cheng Qian and Xue Yue to take risks. Moreover, even Wei Lihuang of Zhongtiao Mountain did not let go, stimulating Wei Lihuang to send troops to attack the imperial army. The most fatal thing is that Liu Yimin not only pointed out the emptiness of the imperial army in Central China, but also made the reality of the Kwantung Army clear and instigated the Soviet Union to launch an attack on Manchuria. In this case, the commander of the Central China Front, General Shunroku Hata, and the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Kenyoshi Ueda, will not be able to sit still, and I am afraid that they will soon ask the troops to return to defense, and there is not much time left for them.

Sure enough, without waiting for Terauchi Shouichi to calculate, the telegrams from Shunroku Hatata, Kenkichi Ueda and the base camp arrived.

Toshiroku Hata was also polite, only saying that the defense of Central China was empty, and from Xuzhou to the Yangtze River, there was no main division stationed in such a long defensive line, which was very dangerous. Whether or not the 3rd Division and the 10th 6th Division can be rebuilt will not affect the Shandong operation, but also strengthen the defense of the southern section of the Jinpu Road.

Ueda Kenkichi originally had a good temper, but this time he seemed to be a little anxious, and he even accused the North China Front of a command error, which led to the shattering of the elite Eighth Division and the Third Cavalry Brigade, and caused the most elite Second Division of the Imperial Army to suffer heavy losses. The main task of the Kwantung Army was to defend to the north, and now that the strength of the Kwantung Army has been revealed, it is not known what measures the Soviet Union will take. Manchuria is the foundation of the empire's policy toward China, and it must not afford to fail, and it is necessary to transfer the first, second, and seventh divisions to rebuild.

The tone of the telegram from the base camp was even more mean, and he directly questioned Terauchi Shouichi, who had the Eighth Division in the past, and now has the Tenth Division, when would Earl Terauchi Shouichi, who shouldered the great trust of the people, and General Terauchi Shouyi, who commanded an army of 700,000 troops, eliminate Liu Yiming's cooking power? When will Qingdao be recovered? When will Jiaoji Road reopen to traffic? How many lives of strong men and how many war bonds did the empire have to pay for the security of North China? In the event of a problem in Manchuria, will the North China Front be responsible?

After reading the telegram, Terauchi Shouichi's angry eyes bulged. But he can't afford to provoke the base camp, and now he doesn't dare to offend Shunroku Hata and Kenkichi Ueda, after all, he still needs their support and cooperation.

In desperation, Terauchi still pinched his nose and sent a telegram back to the base camp, saying that the public security war in North China had reached a critical period, and that the main force could never be transferred, and that as long as the operations of central Hebei, southern Hebei, Hebei, and Luxi were completed, the forces of the Eighth Route Army in the North China Plain would be driven out, and the public security situation in North China would be greatly improved, thus establishing another complete occupation zone similar to Manchuria. Then concentrate forces to encircle and suppress the Shandong Eighth Route Army, even if they can't eliminate Liu Yiming's cooking force, they must also be driven out of Shandong, so that Liu Yimin's troops will become a guerrilla corps without a rear, and they will grab territory with Chiang Kai-shek's political axe army and kill each other.

As for Shunroku Hahata and Kenkichi Ueda, Shouichi Terauchi also sent a telegram back, but he did not agree to allow the troops of the Central China Front and the Kwantung Army to be rebuilt, but asked them to immediately hold a press conference to announce that the above-mentioned troops had set out for reconstruction, so as to confuse the opponent for the time being. Of course, Terauchi Shouichi also knew the important surname of the Kwantung Army's mission, and swore to Ueda Kenkichi that as long as the Jiaoji Road was opened, the 1st, 2nd, and 7th Divisions would be rebuilt, and he would be given ten days. As long as ten days, he promised to send off the southbound corps of the Kwantung Army.

Having dealt with the base camp and Shunroku Hata and Kenkichi Ueda, Terauchi Shouichi did not wait for them to call back, and ordered all troops to act quickly in accordance with the battle plan and make sure to achieve the purpose of the battle.

As for the eastern part of Henan, Terauchi Shouichi decided to take a gamble, betting that the first war zone would not have the confidence to dare to fight the Lanfeng War again. Therefore, he strictly ordered the 27th Division to stop the attack in the direction of Kaifeng and retreat to the original defensive position. At the same time, the 27th Division and the 39th Division were ordered to closely coordinate with the 106th Division and the 116th Division, which were responsible for the front-line defense of Xuzhou, to support each other, strictly defend their positions, and prevent the surprise attack of the [***] team.

For the [***] squadron that appeared around Shangqiu, Terauchi Shouichi ordered the aviation to step up reconnaissance and make sure to find out where the squadron that was making trouble with the imperial army had gone.

After dealing with all this, Terauchi Shouichi told Naosaburo Okabe to concentrate on directing the troops to carry out the encirclement and suppression operation, and the victory or defeat was in one fell swoop. As long as the main forces of the North China Plain and the Shandong Eighth Route Army are eliminated, or they are expelled from the base areas, the credit can be atoned. Otherwise, nothing will be said to the Emperor's understanding.

On the morning of June 14, 1938, carrier-based aircraft of the combined fleet of the Chinese army launched a large-scale bombardment of the coastal defense positions in Qingdao and Weihai, blowing up the coastal defense positions set up by the Chinese army in a complete mess. Under the cover of aircraft, the Japanese army concentrated a large number of landing ships to transport marines to start landing operations.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Kinoshita Toshita of the North China Front Flying Group commanded the combat planes of the Kwantung Army, the North China Front, and the Central China Front Army to carry out large-scale reconnaissance and bombing of southern Hebei, Hebei, Lubian, western Luxi, southwestern Lunan, and southeastern Shandong.

Under the cover of the Japanese plane, the 3rd, 9th, 13th, 15th, and 17th Divisions of the Chinese Army, with the cooperation of the 38th Division in eastern Henan and the 114th Division stationed in Yanzhou, suddenly launched a seven-way combined attack on southwest Lu. The 5th, 6th, 14th, and 16th Divisions of the Yue Army in southern Hebei also moved north from Handji Road and began to sweep through southern Hebei. In addition to the 1st, 7th, and 24th Divisions, which were urgently transferred to the Jilu border overnight to pursue the main force of the instructors, the 40th Division commanded the Manchurian Defense Army to begin repeated sweeps in the hinterland of central Hebei, and the Japanese troops stationed on the Pinghan Line and Jinpu Line around Central Hebei also began to mobilize troops to sweep the areas around the railway.

For a time, the planes of the army were in the sky, and the attack formation composed of tanks, armored vehicles, automobiles, cavalry, and infantry of the army was in the sky, and it spread over the beautiful North China Plain and the Southwest Lu Plain like locusts.

Liu Yimin, who had just withdrawn from the Jilu border and was resting, was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly spread out the map, studied the movements of the army, and thought about countermeasures.

Time was pressing, Liu Yimin quickly sent a telegram to Zeng Zhongsheng and Tan Zheng, ordering them to resolutely avoid fighting during the day and resolutely avoid fighting within the range of the artillery attack of the warships, and the troops remaining in Qingdao and Weihai could block the sluggish devils on the outskirts of the city and fight street battles in the city, but they must quickly evacuate at night to avoid turning Qingdao and Weihai into battlefields and provide an excuse for the devil's planes to bomb indiscriminately. At the same time, it is necessary to resolutely suppress the Han annihilation captured in Qingdao and Weihai and the overseas Chinese who committed great crimes, and send the overseas Chinese who are not guilty to death to the defense positions. Other overseas Chinese with exchange value will be taken away, and those without exchange value will be released when the troops are withdrawn.

At this time, Liu Yimin did not care whether he had the right to command the troops of the 115th and 129th Divisions, and immediately sent a report to Chen Zaidao, commander of the Southern Hebei Military Region, ordering him to quickly mobilize the whole region, and the main force and local armed forces and cadres should all go to the tunnels, and in any case they could not have a hard encounter with the elite divisions and regiments of the devils, and avoid the attacks of the devils. Chen Guang was ordered to take unified command of the main force of our army in central Hebei, take advantage of the opportunity of the elite division of the central Hebei army to be transferred to the border of Hebei and Shandong, seek to annihilate the Manchurian National Defense Army or the first part of the 40th Division, and then break out of the encirclement.

As for southwest Lu, since the large army had already gone to northern Anhui, the work teams, militia, and some county brigades and district squads left behind were not large in scale and were easy to hide, so Liu Yimin ordered them to immediately move to the Taixi area and come under the command of the Taixi Garrison Brigade.

After issuing the order, Liu Yimin sent a telegram to the chairman and the headquarters, reporting on the situation in which the heavy army group began to launch a large-scale encirclement and suppression campaign in southwestern Shandong and southern Hebei and his own disposition. Central Hebei, southern Hebei, Hebei, Shandong, and southwestern Hebei will all face unprecedented difficulties. It was judged that the heavy army would soon be pressed into southern Lunan, southern Luzhong, and central Luzhong, and the entire Shandong base area would face great difficulties. It is hoped that the central authorities will make a quick decision, send troops to eastern Hebei and northeast Hebei to develop, support the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and force the enemy's southward troops of the Kwantung Army to return north as soon as possible. To attack the troops of the 115th and 129th Divisions of our army in central and southern Hebei to attack the Pinghan Line, we should concentrate our forces, seize the opportunity of the garrison troops of the Pinghan Line to send out and sweep, and seek an opportunity to annihilate the enemy. At the same time, the 120th Division and the Reading Division should actively fight, respond to the breakthrough of our army in the plains, and respond to the operations of our army in Shandong. The New Fourth Army should also seize the opportunity to launch an active offensive against the puppet army. The main force of our army in Shandong will take advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the devil's southern front to sweep frantically in southwest Lu, hide and wait in the direction of Xuzhou, prepare to break through the defense line of the Yue army at any time, cooperate with Liu to establish a southward group, capture Lianyungang and Xuzhou, obtain the heavy supplies of the army, force the enemy's heavy army group to pursue south, and reduce the pressure on central Hebei, southern Hebei, Hebei and Lubian, and Shandong base areas. The Ludong Group, as an internal combat unit, was led by Zeng Zhongsheng and Tan Zheng and stayed in the Shandong base area to deal with the enemy. ”

Writing this, Liu Yimin stopped writing, thought for a while, and then wrote: "The large-scale sweep of the army this time adopted the method of partition sweeping, concentrating heavy troops through a sieve from district to district, in an attempt to completely eliminate the strength of our party and our army. Next, it is likely that the Yue army will garrison troops in various districts, establish a puppet regime and Han annihilation forces, and cooperate with the Yue army to rule. After the sweep, our army will not consider capturing the army's lines of communication and strategic points in the short term, so that the army will have the illusion that our army has been driven out of the base areas and will be confident and bold in carrying out its established strategy. In this way, the goal of allowing them to continuously divide their forces and promote the arrival of the strategic stalemate stage as soon as possible. ”

After the telegram was sent, the reply from the chairman and the boss did not wait, but the telegram from Wang Ming, secretary of the Yangtze River Bureau, arrived first.

Wang Ming asked Liu and Luo in the telegram, who authorized the publication of last night's conversation and telegraphed? Liu Yimin does not have the slightest sense of organization and discipline, and our goal is to carry out a complete united front and carry out a nationwide war of resistance, so as to achieve the goal of eliminating the devils and defending the Soviet Union with arms. Liu Yimin's telegram made the Soviet Union very embarrassed and embarrassed, could it be that whether the Soviet Red Army sent troops to the northeast, and did Comrade Stalin still listen to Liu Yimin's command?

Cai Zhong asked Liu Yimin how he should reply to Comrade Wang Ming, Liu Yimin pouted, and said: "If you reply casually, just say what I said, Comrade Wang Ming does not understand military affairs, and he should not point fingers in military affairs in the future." If there is any problem, please send a report directly to the chairman, the Shandong Bureau is not under his leadership, and he has no right to make irresponsible remarks about the military struggle in Shandong. ”

As a result, after Cai Zhong sent the report, Wang Ming soon sent a second telegram, saying that Liu Yimin had been in the party for a short time and had little party education, and as an old Bolshevik, he forgave Liu Yimin for his ignorance and disrespect. However, for the sake of the party's cause, he suggested that Comrade Liu Yimin should make a review to the Central Committee, and that he should first send the review to him and help revise it, so as not to make the review profound, and not win the comrades' understanding.

Liu Yimin was so angry that he couldn't cry or laugh, during the war, Wang Ming actually asked him to write a review, which was simply inexplicable! Therefore, when Cai Zhong asked Liu Yimin again how to call back, Liu Yimin did not dare to be careless, he knew that this period of time in history was another critical period of the struggle within the party, although Wang Ming would soon withdraw from the inner circle of the party, but he had a gorgeous coat, and there would always be people who listened to him. Therefore, Liu Yimin earnestly told Cai Zhong to call Comrade Wang Ming back, telling him that all the comrades of the Shandong Bureau and the instructor respected the socialist Soviet Union very much, and if Comrade Wang Ming had a way, please tell the Soviet comrades that this was indeed the best time for the Soviet Far Eastern Military District to eliminate the Kwantung Army and assist the Chinese people in liberating northeast China. Because the Kwantung Army was the weakest at this time, with the strength of the Red Army in the Far East, fighting the Kwantung Army was like destroying the withering and decaying. As for Liu Yimin's review, there is no need to write it, because the army is pressing, and he has no time to write a review, and it is impossible to write it.

As soon as he finished explaining to Cai Zhong, Hu Laohu rushed over in a rage and reported to Liu Yimin that four cadres who had arrived at the Yimeng Central Base Area with the Formation and Training Headquarters had rushed from the mountainous area with letters of introduction from the Central Social Department and the General Political Department of the 18th Group Army. They claimed to be staff members of the Social Department of the Central Committee and the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, and tied up Chen Cunyi, the commander of the Second Cavalry Regiment, on charges of killing prisoners, and that Chen Cunyi should be disciplined. Now that the cadres and fighters of the Second Cavalry Regiment have been blown up, they have surrounded the four cadres of the Central Social Department and the General Political Department, and asked the division commander to hurry up and take a look at it, so as to save Chen Cunyi.

Liu Yimin was annoyed when he heard it, Chen Cunyi knew about the revenge of the political commissar Li Dong during the cavalry raid of the Luzhong Campaign, didn't he kill a group of doctors, nurses and wounded soldiers in the military hospital? What's the big deal, Lao Tzu still wants Wang Laohu to sneak into the military hospital in Jinan to kill the devil and wounded soldiers! It's just a mess!

Liu Yimin knew that people from the Social Department of the CPC Central Committee and the General Political Department were coming. However, when they arrived at the central base area of Yimeng with the training headquarters, Liu Yimin had already led his troops north to Luzhong, and he had not yet had time to see them. It is reasonable to say that the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army enforces discipline and punishes cadres, and this Central Social Department is mainly engaged in intelligence work, when did they also start to meddle in the affairs of military law?

The strange thing is that when they first arrived, how did they know about Chen Cunyi?

After thinking about it, Liu Yimin understood. After the Luzhong Campaign, Chen Cunyi took the initiative to write an examination and handed it over to Hu Laohu and Bao Wen. Hu Laohu and Bao Wen handed over the inspection to Cai Zhong, and after Cai Zhong consulted him and Political Commissar Luo, he sent the inspection to all units, so that the cadres and soldiers could take this as a warning and avoid violating the discipline of the Eighth Route Army under emotional impulse.

Liu Yimin turned his head and called Li Chengyi, asking him to go to Hu Di, Minister of Security, and invite comrades from the Social Department of the Central Committee and the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, and he wanted to talk to them in person. As for Chen Cunyi, he is the commander of the Second Cavalry Regiment, a hero who has experienced a hundred battles, and he has made meritorious contributions! Kill the enemy! Immediately untie and perform his duties as the head of the regiment well. Without Liu Yimin's order, no one is allowed to touch a single hair of his hair!

Li Chengyi and Hu Laohu agreed, and ran out to find Hu Di.

Liu Yimin lowered his head and looked at the map again.

The current situation is becoming more and more severe, the army will soon occupy southern Hebei and southwestern Shandong, and the border of Hebei and Shandong will also fall, under the high pressure of the heavy army group of the army, the strength of our army in these areas is extremely weak, and it is not the opponent of the devil at all. We must quickly find a way to attract the devil's heavy army group to Shandong, otherwise, if the devils are cleared for a day, we don't know how many ordinary people will die under the devil's butcher's knife.

His own conversation was published in the form of a telegram, and Terauchi Shouyi, Ueda Kenkichi, Hata Shunroku, and the base camp of the army would soon know about it, so didn't they have any scruples? Especially the timid and afraid of death Ueda Kenkichi, it is absolutely impossible for him not to ask the Kwantung Army to return to the south, which one is Shouichi Terauchi singing? Does he have to take a gamble?

While thinking about it, the Minister of Defense, Hu Di, shouted the report outside the door.

Liu Yimin looked up and saw that there were four people standing behind Hu Di, three men and one woman, all wearing the uniforms of the Eighth Route Army. Chen Cunyi was tied up and followed by four people, and behind him were Li Chengyi and the guards of the Ministry of Security.

When Liu Yimin saw that Chen Cunyi was still tied, he was furious, slapped the table, and shouted: "Li Chengyi, what are you eating?" Not a single command is conveyed well? Who tied Chen Cunyi? Untie it for Lao Tzu! ”

Li Chengyi didn't answer, and took a step forward to untie Chen Cunyi.

The female cadre among the four people shouted crisply: "Don't let go!" He turned around and saluted Liu Yimin again, and reported: "Report to Division Commander Liu, Regiment Commander Chen Cunyi violated the discipline of the Eighth Route Army because Li Donghai, the political commissar of the regiment, was stabbed to death by the director of the Yuejun Field Hospital, and ordered the massacre of the captured doctors, nurses, and wounded soldiers of the Yuejun Field Hospital, which violated the discipline of the Eighth Route Army, and should be disciplined against him. Please support us! ”

Liu Yimin still wanted to get angry, and after thinking that these were all cadres from the leading organs, and it was also their duty to enforce discipline, he stepped forward, personally untied Chen Cunyi, took out a cigarette and handed it to him, lit it for him, and then beckoned several people to sit down, and then said: "We have already dealt with the matter of Chen Cunyi's violation of discipline, he took the initiative to write an inspection, and we sent it to all units." The purpose was to educate cadres and soldiers, strictly enforce the discipline of the Eighth Route Army, and give preferential treatment to prisoners. However, after being captured, the dean of the devils actually stabbed to death our old Red Army cadre Li Donghai with a scalpel, which shows that they are not prisoners who lay down their arms, but remnants of the enemy who are stubbornly resisting. For the remnants of the enemy, it is to be resolutely killed. There was nothing wrong with what Chen Cunyi did, he was wrong because he killed too quickly at that time, what if there was one of them who was willing to surrender? So, we printed and distributed his inspection to the troops. This little devil, everyone should be killed. It's not a big deal to kill thirty or fifty more, the more you kill, the greater the credit! That's all for this matter, Chen Cunyi, go back and think about it, how to make the combat effectiveness of the training of the troops stronger, next time, if your record is not as big as a regiment, be careful I let you go to the Kang University branch to study. Do you understand? ”

Chen Cunyi recovered his spirits, stood up and saluted Liu Yimin, turned around and walked out.

Liu Yimin shouted again: "Stop! You invited these comrades from the Social Department and the General Political Department to your Second Cavalry Regiment, let them taste the captured canned beef of the Japanese Army, and ask them to give the soldiers a good lecture on the glorious traditions and discipline of the Eighth Route Army. ”

Without waiting for Chen Cunyi to speak, the female comrade said: "Senior Commander Liu, I can't agree with your handling method. If we all do the same, how can we enforce the discipline of the Eighth Route Army? ”

Liu Yimin laughed: "This lesbian has a strong principled surname, very good!" However, you don't know, the wounded soldier of this army is generally the backbone of the battle, and when he recovers from his wounds, returns to the battlefield, and picks up his gun to shoot us, it is one shot at a time. Our casualties were all caused by these veterans with good marksmanship and rich combat experience. I also want to send a small army into Jinan City, and go to the devil's hospital to kill those wounded soldiers! Again, these devils are veterans of the invasion of China, and everyone has the blood of the Chinese on their hands, not to say that they did not surrender, even if they surrendered, they would be tried and shot. You say, the bullets of our Eighth Route Army are so precious, why waste them on them? Besides, even if they are prisoners, we have made efforts to educate and transform them, and they have been successfully transformed by us in the end, then I ask you, who should we seek revenge for the revenge of those Chinese who were killed by them and forcibly annihilated? Is it true that the lives of our Chinese are not lives? ”

The female cadre's eyes widened, and she stared at Liu Yimin in a daze, and finally said: "Report chief, what you said makes sense, and I can't say anything about you." However, I always felt that Chen Cunyi had violated discipline and should enforce discipline. ”

Liu Yimin laughed again: "It's right that you have this feeling, that's because you may not have seen the tragic situation of the little devil killing the Chinese, and you won't be able to figure it out if you see it." Let me tell you, taking a thousand lives of little devils can't be exchanged for Chen Cunyi's life. Okay, I'm still busy, and when the battle is over, I'll talk to you guys. When you go to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to learn how to fight for a few days, you will understand that what I said is right! ”

After speaking, Liu Yimin waved his hand and asked them to go with Chen Cunyi, and he turned to look at the map again.

(To be continued)