readx; Xuzhou was called Pengcheng in ancient times, has a long history, is one of the nine states in China, has gone through more than 6,000 years so far, according to legend, Yao Feng Peng Zu is here, called the Great Peng Kingdom, so the name Pengcheng; It is also said that this place is the residence of the descendants of Boyi in Yushi, called "Xu Fang", "Xu Guo", a branch of the Dongyi tribe, named Xu Yi, and the name of Xuzhou originates from this place. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info When Xia Yu ruled the water, the national territory was divided into Kyushu, and Xuzhou was one of the Kyushu. According to the "Left Biography. In the 18th year of Chenggong", it was recorded that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it successively belonged to the Song State and the Chu State, and it was Pengcheng County during the Qin Period. During the Qin and Han dynasties, King Huai of Chu and Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, both built the capital of Pengcheng. Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, represents a period of Chinese history during the Han Dynasty. The struggle between Chu and Han in the later period was an important stage in the origin and formation of Han culture in China.

Xuzhou, the Yellow Sea in the east, backed by the Central Plains, the south of the Jianghuai, the north of Qilu, because it is located in the north and south, has the name of "the important town in the south, the key to the north gate", since ancient times it is a place where soldiers must fight, often "the gains and losses of Pengcheng, the prosperity and decline of the north and the south." According to historical records, from the 21st century BC Xia Dynasty Peng Boyi and Xihe Wuguan met in Pengcheng, to the Chu and Han wars, the three kingdoms fought each other, and then to the Battle of Xuzhou in the War of Resistance against Say, there were more than 400 large-scale battles in Xuzhou, and more than 200 large-scale wars. It can really be said: "Since ancient times, Pengcheng has been listed in Kyushu, and the dragon has fought for thousands of years."

At the most critical moment when the Chinese nation, which had suffered a great deal of disaster, was brutally ravaged by the iron hooves of imperialism and faced the most critical moment of national extinction, Xuzhou, an ancient and heroic city, once again became a stage for military strategists. At that time, Xuzhou was located in the transportation hub between North China and Central China, and it was also the passage from the Yellow Sea into the Central Plains, where the Jinpu Railway and the Longhai Railway intersected, and the Grand Canal also passed nearby, so there were traffic conditions for transferring troops in all directions. If the Chinese [***] team controls Xuzhou, on the one hand, it can cut off the Jinpu Road and isolate the Chinese army in North China and Central China; On the other hand, it can maintain the main artery of the Central [***] matter, the Longhai Road, block the Yue army to the east of the Jinpu Road, block Central China, ensure the Zhengzhou and Hepinghan Road, so that the rear of Wuhan has sufficient time to redeploy, which is conducive to the protracted progress of the War of Resistance. If the army quickly occupies Xuzhou, it can combine the forces of the north and the south, advance west along the Longhai Road, take Zhengzhou directly, and take advantage of the flat terrain of Zhongzhou to give full play to the power of its mechanized troops, advance south along the Pinghan Road, and go down Wuhan in one fell swoop. After the loss of Nanjing, the Chinese [***] team strategically defended the important barrier and advance base of Wuhan, the military command center, and Xuzhou was bound to defend. In order to open up the Jinpu line, communicate the two battlefields in the north and south, and then cut off the Longhai Road and threaten the side of the Pinghan Road, as a preparation for attacking Wuhan, it is also imperative to win Xuzhou.

Xuzhou has once again witnessed the great feat of a group of outstanding sons and daughters of the Chinese nation.

This was a hard-won victory in exchange for the flesh and blood of hundreds of thousands of Chinese athletes, and history will always remember this tragic and great moment.

At about 5 p.m. on April 8, 1938, a small passenger plane took off from Hankou Airport under the cover of seven fighters and headed north.

It is said that the clouds cover the sky, the sun is hidden, and the sky is a color of lead gray. Since the plane came from the south, the people of Hubei and Henan, who were working in the fields, did not show panic when they found it, they knew that it was a Chinese plane.

However, they did not know that on the passenger plane protected by the fighter group was the head of state and the supreme commander of the army, navy, and air force, still less did they know where the commander was going and what he was going to do.

In a short time, the group crossed the border of Hubei and flew over Henan. Chiang Kai-shek, looking gloomily through the porthole, looked down on the land that had not yet been burned by the war, and the smaller mountains, rivers, lakes, and villages reminded him of the terrain sand table used to formulate the battle plan. Oh, he turned his face and looked at Lin Wei, the director of the first department of the attendant room, and Liu Fei, the director of the first department of the military command department, who were sitting on the side, as if he was talking to himself and asking: "Li Delin is a very stubborn person, and I am worried about whether he can carry out my operational instructions." ”

"Chief Li has been through many major battles and is quite good at using his troops, I don't think he will ignore the changes in the battle situation and be stubborn, right?" Lin Wei said.

"I wish he could." Chiang Kai-shek said.

"There is a question that I am worried about." Liu Fei, who was sitting side by side with Lin Wei, said.

"What's the problem?" Chiang Kai-shek frowned and asked.

"Chief Li may not delay the implementation of the instructions of the commission, but can the defense of the Lunan Corps on the front line of the canal be maintained until the victory of the anti-encirclement operations of the Luxi and Longhai Corps? This is one of them; The second is whether the Longhai Corps can quickly break through the enemy in Huaibei and then move troops to support the Lunan Corps in the battle? At present, it seems that our army is not very sure of these two aspects. I hope that the committee will consider the next step. ”

Liu Fei had always had reservations about the combat capability of the Kuomintang army, so he took the opportunity of going to Zhengzhou with the chairman of the National People's Congress to tactfully remind the supreme commander to make plans after the fall of Xuzhou.

Chiang Kai-shek bowed slightly, pondered for a moment, and then turned his face to ask Xue Yue, the new commander-in-chief of the First Corps of the First Theater sitting in the back row, and said: "Boling, Director Liu's worries are reasonable, but whether the Lunan and Longhai Corps can complete the combat mission is the responsibility of Sun Fanglu and Tang Keqin, and whether they can annihilate the enemy from the southwest of Lunan depends on you." ”

Xue Yue, who had been silent, said confidently: "The enemy who has gone southwest from Luxi is only one division, and the existing strength of our army on the Lanfeng-Guide line has several divisions, even if we can't completely annihilate the enemy, we can inflict heavy losses on the enemy." The chairman of the committee can rest assured. ”

Chiang Kai-shek smiled with satisfaction and said, "That's good, that's good." As long as the Longhai Railway and the main roads in eastern Henan can be ensured, if the battle situation in Xuzhou deteriorates, our hundreds of thousands of troops can quickly retreat to the west of the Pinghan Road. At that time, it will be equivalent to a lion fighting a rabbit, and the encirclement will end in vain. ”

After Chiang Kai-shek finished speaking, he stared out of the porthole again, and his thoughts flew to Xuzhou, which he had personally inspected two months earlier.

After the "77" incident in 1937, the northern line army occupied Beiping, Tianjin, Taiyuan, Zhangjiakou and other large cities, and pressed the middle [***] team to the south bank of the Yellow River, and the southern line army occupied Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou Yangtze River Delta, and mobilized heavy troops in the southern section of the Jinpu line, trying to capture Xuzhou and open up the Jinpu line.

Xuzhou is located at the intersection of Jinpu and Longhai Railway, the four provinces of Suzhou, Shandong, Henan and Anhui are the key points, is an important barrier between the Central Plains and Wuhan, since ancient times, it is a place where soldiers must fight, and has an important strategic position. Once the army is slightly captured, it can unite the northern and southern battlefields into one air, and then invade the Central Plains in the west.

In January 1938, the main force of the 13th Division of the Chinese Army advanced to the south of Mingguang on the Jinpu Line, but encountered the stubborn resistance of Liu Shiyi's division of the 31st Army of the Kuomintang, and the two sides were in a stalemate. Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater of Operations, transferred the 51st Army to the south of Xuezhong's Army, waited for a tight position on the front line on the north bank of the Huai River, and transferred the troops of six divisions of Miao Lei's 21st Group Army to the southern section of the Jinpu Line to strengthen the defense.

By the end of March, the 10th Division of the Isogu Army moved south along the Taiwei Highway, in an attempt to conquer Taierzhuang, which was located on the north bank of the Grand Canal in the northeast of Xuzhou, and then went south to Zhaodun, and marched west along the railway to capture Xuzhou. The vast number of patriotic officers and men of the Chinese squadron fought bloody battles for more than a month, annihilated more than 12,000 enemies, captured a large number of enemy guns, ammunition, tanks, and armored vehicles, effectively smashed the army's three-dimensional offensive on land and air, and won great victories in the two battles of Taierzhuang and Linyi. The Isoya Division was almost wiped out.

After the 10th Division suffered heavy losses in Taierzhuang, the command of the Yue Army formulated an operational plan to attack Xuzhou, in an attempt to annihilate the main force of the [***] squadron near Xuzhou in one fell swoop. In April, the army transferred 13 additional divisions and regiments from Pingping, Tianjin, Shanxi, Sui, Suzhou, and Anhui, totaling more than 300,000 people, equipped with various heavy weapons and supplemented by hundreds of aircraft, to make an axis encirclement in Xuzhou.

The enemy of northern Jiangsu has fallen into Gaoyou and Baoying, forcing Huaiyin; and from Yancheng and Funing to Haizhou, turn to Xin'an Town, meet with the enemy in the south of Tancheng, and advance westward to Pixian; After that, the enemy adopted the plan of implementing a strategic detour from the far rear of Xuzhou, and increased troops from Ji and Ning in the north to capture Jinxiang, Yutai and Yuncheng; In the south, Huaiyuan increased the troops, captured Mengcheng with one part, and marched to Yongcheng, and the other forced crossing of the Yellow River with the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan, and then captured Heze to the south, in an attempt to cut off the Longhai Road west of Xuzhou with a pincer roundabout trend from north to south, cut off the supply line and retreat route of the 600,000 [***] squadrons, and prevent the western troops from advancing eastward for reinforcements.

The victory in the first battle of Taierzhuang greatly encouraged the courage of the Kuomintang army headquarters to resist the Japanese army, and in a short period of time, a large number of troops were transferred from all over the country to fight with the Japanese army. The troops gathered in the vicinity of Xuzhou have 64 divisions and 3 brigades, with a total strength of more than 600,000. However, most of the troops were poorly equipped and exhausted after long journeys, making it difficult to compete with the well-equipped Japanese army. The plains around Xuzhou are the areas where the enemy's mechanized troops and air force can exert their might. In the face of such a situation, if we do not quickly take measures to counter the encirclement or get out of the encirclement, there is a danger of total annihilation in the Xuzhou area.

Chiang Kai-shek, who had always advocated a decisive battle with the army in the Xuzhou area, felt the seriousness of the situation, and on 7 April, he listened to the judgment of the military command on the situation of the enemy and us: During the enemy's encirclement movement towards Xuzhou, we should take advantage of the opportunity of the enemy's forces to disperse and leave the stronghold to break them down individually. The Fifth Theater should temporarily take a strategic defensive position against the enemy in southwest Shandong and destroy the enemy beyond the Huai River with superior forces. The first theater of operations should concentrate on the new corps to break the enemy who invaded Luxi.

Chiang Kai-shek agreed with the opinion of the Military Command Department, and on the night of the 7th, he ordered Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater, to change the strategic deployment of the Xuzhou area according to the above judgment.

On the morning of 8 July, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly received an urgent telegram from Cheng Qian, commander of the First Theater of Operations: The main force of the 14th Division of the Tufeiyuan Division was preparing to cross the Yellow River from the west of Puxian and approach Heze.

This news took Chiang Kai-shek by surprise. Originally, there had always been considerable differences between the Fifth Theater Commander's Department and the General Headquarters on operational guidance. Although he gave the order to change the strategic deployment, he was not relieved whether Li Zongren could carry it out. Now, once the Tufeiyuan Division captures Heze, it will be equivalent to opening the door to the East Henan Plain, and the Longhai Railway may be cut off by the enemy at any time, and Xuzhou will also be completely surrounded by the enemy.

At this critical juncture, Chiang Kai-shek decided to fly to Zhengzhou to personally command the operation, and sent Lin Wei and Liu Fei to Xuzhou to urge Li Zongren to quickly implement the new strategic plan in an attempt to reverse the crisis.

When Chiang Kai-shek's "Meiling" plane and seven escort fighters landed at Zhengzhou Airport, it was already dusk. The setting sun breaks free from the clouds, and the golden afterglow paints the airport and surrounding buildings a bright color. In front of the tarmac, Cheng Qian, commander of the First Theater Theater, Yan Xunfu, chief of staff, and Zhang Yuxing, deputy chief of staff, had been waiting for a long time with their staff.

Cheng Qian, whose name is Songyun, was born in 1882 in Changlianchong, Beixiang, Liling County, Hunan Province. Cheng Qian's qualifications are smart, and when he was 15 years old, he was able to write poems and essays. After that, he loved ancient poems in five words all his life, leaving hundreds of poems. His poems are simple and vigorous. Vigorous and heroic, with poetry and history, the spirit is grand, and has been praised as the voice of a generation of Zhong Lu by Zhang Tuzhao and other literary celebrities.

In 1898, Cheng Qian went to the provincial examination and was admitted to Xiucai. Later, he was admitted to Yuelu Academy as a regular student, and studied for the exam. During this period, Cheng Qian's thinking gradually changed, believing that China's general trend was in danger, and that unless there was a major change, it was not enough to inspire people's hearts. After the "Gengzi Rebellion", Cheng Qian could no longer sit idly by and watch the foreign powers wantonly invade China, and categorically decided to end the study and research of Chinese scriptures and more than ten years, and abandon literature and military force; In the spring of 1903, he was admitted to the Hunan Military Academy with the first grade, and began his long military career.

In 1904, Cheng Qian went to study military affairs. Soon, he became acquainted with Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren and others, accepted the influence of bourgeois Mingzhuan ideology, and participated in the China League founded by Sun Yat-sen in Tokyo the following year, thus embarking on the road of Mingzhuo revolution.

In 1908, after Cheng Qian returned to China from Yueben, he successively participated in the Wuchang Uprising and the crusade against Yuan Shikai and other wars. In February 1923, Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou from Shanghai to rebuild the Generalissimo's Palace, and Cheng Qian served as the Minister of Military Affairs of the base camp. In the following ten years, Cheng Qian's eastern expedition to quell the rebellion, led the northern expedition, and the western expedition to overthrow the Tang Dynasty, and fought repeatedly. In December 1935, Cheng Qian became Chief of Staff and was promoted to second-class army general. After the "77" Lugou Bridge Incident, Cheng Qian was appointed as the commander of the Pinghan Line and galloped to Xingtai to command the operation. In January 1938, Cheng Qian officially became the commander of the First Theater and was stationed in Zhengzhou. In early February, he also served as the chairman of the political axe of Ho Nam Province to unify the military and government. Chiang Kai-shek stepped out of the cabin, gazed at the brilliant sunset for a moment, and then slowly walked down the gangway. When Cheng Qian and the others walked over to him, he swept away the gloom on his face and raised his hand to greet them with a smile. He was reluctant to reveal his true emotions in front of these generals.

After Chiang Kai-shek shook hands with the generals who came to greet him, he immediately took a jeep to the headquarters of the commander of the First Theater of Operations, accompanied by Cheng Qian.

The headquarters of the commander of the first theater is located in the dormitory of the Longhai Railway Bureau in Longhai Garden. After the Chinese army occupied Xinxiang in mid-February, the first part of the Provisional Air Corps of the Chinese army was stationed at the airport and repeatedly dispatched planes to bomb Zhengzhou. In order to ensure the safety of the chairman, Cheng Qian arranged for him to stay in an air-raid basement in the courtyard.

After the dinner, Chiang Kai-shek rested in the basement for a while, and then called the chief of the guard, Wang Shihe, to find Lin Wei and Liu Fei. After reiterating to the two attachés his worries about the battle situation in Xuzhou and his doubts about whether Li Zongren would be able to immediately carry out the order of May 11, he said in a solemn tone: "I have thought twice that I can only go to Xuzhou in person, and ask Li Delin to act quickly. What do you think? ”

Liu Fei had already seen through Chiang Kai-shek's intentions in saying this, and the original meaning of his words was that he didn't want to go. Otherwise, he led everyone with him, so why ask his subordinates, "What do you think?" So he said: "At present, the changes in the battlefield in Xuzhou are unpredictable, and it is too risky for the commission to go in person, so we can convey the will of the commission." ”

Lin Wei also echoed and said: "Yes, why bother to take the seat and go out in person, I can just go with Brother Liu Fei." ”

As soon as Lin Wei's words fell, Chiang Kai-shek said: "It's okay for the two of you to go." Go and say to your neighbors, this is the enemy's great encirclement, and if you don't act quickly, hundreds of thousands of troops will be lost. You also have to make it clear to the generals at all levels that they will promptly carry out my orders. As long as everyone works together, first defeat the enemy in Huaibei and Luxi, and then transfer the offensive against Lunan, victory is assured. ”

"Please rest assured, we will urge Chief Li to act quickly." Lin Wei said.

"Well, that's good. I have asked Cheng Songyun to prepare a special train to take you to Xuzhou. Be ye careful along the way. I will immediately inform the generals of the stations along the way, and ask them to come to the station and report the situation to you. In addition, Xue Boling also took this train to set up a command post in Germany. Chiang Kai-shek said.

As soon as Lin Wei and Liu Fei left, Chiang Kai-shek said to Wang Shihe: "You go and ask Xue Boling to come to see me." ”

Xue Yue, also known as Yangyue, nicknamed "Tiger Boy", was born in 1896 in a peasant family in Lechang County, Guangdong. Xue Yue entered the Huangpu Army Primary School at the age of 10, and after graduating from the Wuchang Army Preparatory School in 1917, he transferred to the Baoding Army School for further study.

Xue Yue's experience is quite complicated. In 1926, he was promoted to the commander of the first division, led the unit as the advance team, and participated in the Northern Expedition, in 1927, he was ordered to pursue He Long, Zhu De, Ye Ting and other "August 1" Nanchang uprising troops, suppressed the Guangzhou uprising led by Zhang Tailei, Ye Ting and others, and later, he participated in the anti-Chiang activities of Wang Jingwei, Chen Gongbo and others, and participated in the anti-Chiang operation twice.

In May 1933, Xue Yue, who was living in Kowloon, was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the Fifth Army to participate in the fifth encirclement and suppression of the [***] central base area in Jiangxi. In January of the following year, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Sixth Route Army of the Northern Route Army, responsible for the task of suppressing the Communist Party in southern Jiangxi. After the Central Red Army began the Long March, Xue Yue was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to command the Sixth Route Army and the Eighth Column to follow and pursue. After the Red Army entered Hunan, He Jian served as the commander-in-chief of the pursuit army, he was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and led his troops from Jiangxi to the southwest, traveling more than 20,000 miles, and moved to several southwestern provinces to fight against the Red Army.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xue Yue participated in or commanded major battles many times. After the outbreak of the "August 13" Songhu Anti-Japanese War, Xue Yue served as the commander-in-chief of the 19th Group Army, joined the battle sequence of the Left Wing Army, and was stationed in Jie'anting to resist the invading army.

After the fall of Shanghai and Nanjing, Xue Yue was promoted to the former commander-in-chief of the enemy in the Third Theater, stationed in Jietunxi, contained and reorganized the team, went deep behind the enemy lines in Hangzhou, Jia, Beijing, and Wuzhou, and cut off waterway communications, so as to prepare for the Fifth Theater to fight against the enemy!

(To be continued)