When the curtain came down on the Luzhong Campaign, whose main purpose was to annihilate the Eighth Division, the sun had already set.

At this time, Liu Yimin received a secret telegram from the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, saying that the Military Commission had urgently reported that Guide (Shangqiu) in eastern Henan had fallen today, and that the enemy's 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 13th, 101st, and 114th Divisions, with the 16th Division as the vanguard, were making every effort to pursue the main force to the west. The enemy's 27 th Division moved south from the Pinghan Road, and suddenly crossed the Guantai Ferry this afternoon, forming a horn with the 14 th Division, and the Central Military Commission has ordered Xue Yue's Yudong Corps to take a defensive position against the 14 th Division of Tufeiyuan.

Mr. Zhu reminded Liu Yimin in the telegram that the Battle of Lanfeng seemed to be over, and the heavy army group of the Yue Army was likely to take Kaifeng directly, and then go west to Zhengzhou, and the Central Plains war situation tended to be erosive, and asked the main force of the instructor to end the Luzhong Campaign as soon as possible to alleviate the high-pressure situation of the Yue army in eastern Henan.

After reading the telegram, Liu Yimin was inexplicably sad and indignant, he planned and calculated thousands of plans, sacrificed so many soldiers, and still did not change the historical trajectory of the Battle of Lanfeng! If this development continues, if the army blindly advances westward, Chiang Kai-shek has no choice but to open the entrance to the garden as he did in history? It is necessary to stop the pace of the frenzied attack of the Yue army in eastern Henan, even if the order is caused by this, the heavy army group of the Yue army will not hesitate to press Shandong, after all, the tragic historical price of the Huayuankou embankment bursting and drowning 1 million people and causing the displacement of 10 million people is too great and too great!

Putting down the telegram, Liu Yimin answered Luo Yan's phone again and asked where the Qingdao reinforcements were.

Luo Yan reported that the forward of the puppet army from Qingdao had arrived at the front line of Yujiazhuang, Guanlu, and Dalijia in the east of Fangzi, and had already exchanged fire with the outpost position of the Eighth Brigade, and the main force followed closely behind, just passing through the Weihe railway bridge and highway bridge, the puppet army was in front, and the army was in the rear, and they were rushing to Weicheng. After the cavalry battalion of the 7th Brigade stopped blocking and harassing the enemy, it moved behind the enemy and followed the enemy's main force to the east bank of the Wei River, where it is now closely monitoring the enemy.

Liu Yimin secretly said in his heart, the puppet army in Qingdao came so quickly, but unfortunately they were still one step late, and they could only become another big dish on the tutor's table. However, he knew that the Qingdao puppet army was about to receive an order to stop its advance, and even an order to quickly return east to Qingdao, and the fighter plane was fleeting. But his main force had just finished the war and urgently needed to rest, so he had no choice but to let the troops fight continuously.

After calculating the distance from the battlefield to the Weihe River on the map, Liu Yimin said to Luo Ronghuan: "Political commissar, the follow-up battle in Luzhong must start immediately." If it is late, the enemy will flee. Even if they do not flee back to Qingdao, they can survive anywhere, and I am determined to immediately launch a war of encirclement and annihilation against the Qingdao puppet army. ”

Luo Ronghuan was immersed in the great victory of destroying the Eighth Division at this time, listened to Liu Yimin's words, and replied directly: "This is part of the battle plan for the Luzhong Campaign, and the Central Committee and the General Headquarters have agreed. You give the order! ”

Liu Yimin was stimulated by the loss of Shangqiu at this time, and his fighting spirit was monstrous, and he couldn't wait to destroy all the devils. Hearing Luo Ronghuan say this, I thought that this political commissar and himself cooperated too tacitly, and it was a tacit understanding at the strategic level.

Calling Zhu Zhexiao, Liu Yimin's face turned pale, and he dictated the order: "Enemy situation report: After our army eliminated the Eighth Division of the Yue Army, the enemy's reinforcements from Qingdao have now arrived in the Fangzi area, and they have just passed the Weihe Railway Bridge and Highway Bridge. The enemy's strength is estimated to be about 5,000 people in the Qingdao garrison of the Chinese army, and about 12,000 people in the three divisions of the puppet army Zhang Zongyuan in Shandong Autonomous Alliance, with a total strength of about 17,000 people. The enemy had no tanks, armored vehicles, or heavy artillery, but cars, carriages, and some infantry guns and mortars. Chief Liu Luo judged that the puppet army would soon learn the information that the Eighth Division had been completely annihilated, and would soon receive an order to retreat. For this reason, in order to expand the results of the battle, Chief Liu Luo was determined to annihilate the puppet reinforcements from Qingdao. The order is as follows: 1. Teach the cavalry battalion of the 7th Brigade to immediately occupy the Weihe railway bridge and highway bridge, use all the explosives bags and mines it carries, and resolutely block the retreat of the puppet army. Second, Cai Zhong led the air defense brigade and the baggage regiment to be responsible for cleaning up the battlefield, and all other units were not allowed to clean up the battlefield, quickly withdrew from the battlefield, reorganized the troops, overcame fatigue, and prepared for another battle. 3. Order the cavalry brigade to make a detour to the east along the south of the Jiaoji Road, rush to the front line of the Weihe River within 40 minutes, reinforce the cavalry battalion of the 7th Brigade, and resolutely block the retreat of the puppet army. Fourth, the 1st Brigade was ordered to make a detour from the south to the east along the Jiaoji Road and launch an attack from the south to the north. The rapid mobile unit of the brigade has the task of reinforcing the Weihe defense line of the cavalry brigade. 5. Order the 3rd Brigade to make a detour from north to east along the Jiaoji Road, and launch an attack from north to south, and the defense line must be connected with the defense line of the cavalry brigade to prevent the puppet army from escaping. 6. Order Zeng Zhongsheng to lead the artillery brigade, heavy machine gun regiment, new 1st regiment, new 3rd regiment, and engineer regiment to immediately turn around and join up with the front-line troops of the 8th Brigade, the new 1st Regiment, the 3rd Regiment, and the infantry regiment of the Artillery Brigade to spread out on the left flank of the 8th Brigade, the defensive line is connected to the 3rd Brigade, and the heavy machine gun regiment strengthens the frontal defense line of the 8th Brigade. The artillery brigade commanded all artillery regiments to cover the enemy with artillery fire, and paid special attention to immediately intercepting and shelling the Weihe line, covering the cavalry battalion of the 7th Brigade to defend the Weihe defense line, and gaining time for the cavalry brigade to arrive. Zeng Zhongsheng commanded the Eighth Brigade and frontal troops to launch a frontal attack on the enemy. 7. Order Zhu Rui, political commissar of the 4th Brigade, and Cao Shengli, chief of staff, to lead the 4th Brigade to lead the New 4th Regiment, the Supplementary Regiment, the Luzhong Reading Regiment, and the Cavalry Battalion to immediately march westward, and join up with Li Lingfeng's special combat team in Changle, capture Yidu, Zhangdian, Zhoucun, and Zhangqiu, and push the troops to the periphery of Jinan; Lei Ming, the commander of the 4th Brigade, led the 10th, 11th, and 12th regiments to move with the 1st Brigade, and the 8th Brigade was taught on the left and the 1st Brigade was taught on the right. 8. Ordered the 2nd Brigade to approach Jinan, assault the outlying strongholds in the northwest of Jinan, and work with the 4th Brigade to advance westward to form a situation of pincering Jinan from east to west, creating the false impression that our army will besiege Jinan. 9. Order Zuo Ye to command the 22nd Regiment to quickly eliminate Weicheng Sasaki to a remnant. ”

After issuing the order, Liu Yimin looked at Zhu Zhexiao's records, confirmed the accuracy, signed his name, and handed it to Luo Ronghuan for signature, so that Zhu Zhexiao could immediately send it to all units for implementation.

After Zhu Zhexiao went to call to convey the order, Liu Yimin sat down to draft a telegram to the Military Commission, Chiang Kai-shek, the General Headquarters, and the chairman.

In the telegram, Liu Yimin wrote: "In order to support the Battle of Lanfeng in eastern Henan, the instructor of the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army launched the Luzhong Campaign in Weixian, using the elimination of the reading power mixed into the 3rd Brigade of the Yue Army stationed in Weixian County as a bait to attract reinforcements from the Yue Army, and to find and annihilate the 8th Division, an old permanent division of the Yue Army between Tai'an and Jinan. The battle began on the night of the 25th, and all units of our Eighth Route Army actively attacked along the Tongpu Railway, Zhengtai Railway, Pinghan Railway, and Jinpu Railway, attracting the attention of the North China Army and covering the campaign actions of our instructors. On the night of the 26th, our division launched a surprise attack on the Weicheng Army, broke through the city defense of the Yuecheng Army that night, fought until dawn, and compressed the remnants of the Yueli Army to the core position near the headquarters of the Third Brigade and Regiment in Reading Force. On the 27th, a total of four brigades of the 3rd Brigade Regiment stationed in the surrounding counties of Weixian County quickly returned to the county seat of Weixian County, and fought until the night, and were wiped out by our division one by one on the periphery of Weixian. On the 27th, the Eighth Division of the Chinese Army reinforced Weixian County from Jinan by railway and highway, and arrived in Changle that night. Our division sent troops to blow up the railroad at Changle Station, and completely annihilated a brigade of 1,100 people in the vanguard of the army. That night, our division carried out a night attack on the Changle army and annihilated nearly 1,000 enemies. On the morning of the 28th, the army marched to Weixian in three directions, and our army resisted step by step, consuming the enemy in the blockade. At 3:30 p.m. on the 28th, the main force of the army crossed the Li River and attacked the county seat of Weixian. Our division set up a defensive line on the line of the Daxu River in the east of Weixian County with powerful troops to block the enemy. At 4:50 p.m., the Weixian blockade began. After the attack of the vanguard was repulsed, the army organized six squadrons to carry out a multi-way tentative attack under the cover of four aircraft, which was repulsed by our troops. Later, the army mobilized eight planes, tanks and armored vehicles of two tank squadrons, and the artillery of a field artillery wing, and dispatched all the troops of the 4th and 16th field brigades to carry out a desperate assault on the entire line of our Daxu River defense line. At this time, our roundabout cavalry unit reached the line of the Lihe River and launched a surprise attack on the positions of the enemy's baggage troops, rearguard troops, and field artillery wings. The sword slashed, and the devil's head rolled like a ball; After the horse's hooves, the corpses of the enemy rotted like clay sculptures. At this time, our division concentrated all its artillery to bombard the attacking enemy's dense formation and dispersed the enemy. The battle lasted until 6 p.m., when the enemy collapsed on all fronts. Our division then launched a counterattack on all fronts and surrounded it on all sides. By 7 p.m., the enemy's 8th Division was completely annihilated. In this battle, 30,000 people were killed, including Lieutenant General Toshiwei Maeda, commander of the enemy's 8th Division, Lieutenant General Sasaki Toshinichi, commander of the enemy's 3rd Mixed Brigade, Major General Mijin Suzuki, commander of the enemy's 4th Brigade, and Major General Hayashi Maoqing, commander of the enemy's 16th Brigade, and destroyed 12 aircraft, 24 tanks, 12 armored vehicles, and 150 automobiles. Our division suffered heavy casualties due to fierce fighting, and more than half of its troops were reduced by more than half, and it was in urgent need of ammunition, medicine, and soldiers. ”

After writing, Liu Yimin drafted a secret telegram to the chairman and the boss, explaining that the troops were not harmed and were launching a campaign to encircle and annihilate Qingdao reinforcements, and asked the leaders not to worry.

After the telegram was drafted, Liu Yimin told Qian Zhuangfei to send it immediately, asking Luo Ronghuan to sit at the division headquarters, and he led the guard regiment to mount the horse and gallop to the Fangzi battlefield.

At this time, the headquarters of the North China Front Army and the headquarters of the Second Army of the Jinan Army were already in a mess.

The commander of the Second Army, Lieutenant General Higashijueriyaki King Tsukihiko, walked around the headquarters like an ant on a hot pot, and slapped or kicked any staff officer or guard when he saw it, completely devoid of the demeanor of the imperial family.

Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Donggyuer Palace couldn't figure out how the elite Eighth Division was like paper paste, in just two days, no, to be precise, it should have disappeared in just a few hours. That's a permanent division of 25,000 people, and he is 20,000 pigs, and when he runs around the ground, he gets 100,000 people to catch them, and I'm afraid he won't be able to catch them in three or five days. This Maeda Toshiwei is really a fucking rice bucket, or the principal of Lu University, and he has lost the face of the Imperial Army!

Lieutenant General Toshiyoshi Miyaki picked up Lieutenant General Maeda's two telegrams asking for help, and read them carefully, feeling that from Lieutenant General Maeda Toshiwei's discovery that the troops were encircled by the Eighth Route Army and requested that planes be dispatched to rescue them to the second telegram for help was very short, that is, half an hour before and after, which showed that the Eighth Route Army's strength and firepower were extremely powerful, so strong that Lieutenant General Maeda Toshiwei, who had a set of strategies and tactics, went from vigilance to awakening to despair, and experienced a transmutation in just half an hour. This Liu Yimin's mentor is too strong!

However, Maeda Toshitoshi provided some useful information for the lieutenant general's telegram. Five artillery regiments, that are more than 200 field artillery and mountain artillery, are the field firepower of the five elite divisions of the imperial army! If the artillery fire of five elite divisions is concentrated on one unit, won't that create a sea of fire?

After a little calculation, Lieutenant General of Dongjuer Palace, King Tsuyan, understood that the artillery of these five artillery regiments all came from the imperial army, and if you look at it this way, after the eighth division is shattered, won't Liu Yimin's troops have another artillery regiment?

Originally, after receiving the first telegram from Lieutenant General Maeda Toshiwei asking for help, Lieutenant General Tsuruhiko King of Higashijuer Palace not only sent eight planes, but also ordered the 1st 08th Division to be urgently mobilized to prepare for emergency reinforcements, but he didn't expect the 8th Division to collapse so quickly, and the 108th Division had not yet completed the mobilization, and Lieutenant General Maeda's second telegram for help came, and then the farewell telegram also arrived, which caught Lieutenant General Toshijur Palace Tsuruhiko off guard and didn't know what to do.

Well, now that Maeda Toshiwei sent a farewell message to Lieutenant General, he can't be contacted anymore, and even Sasaki Toichi, Suzuki Mijin, and Lin Maoqing can't be contacted, what does this mean?

The thing that Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of Higashijure Palace is most looking forward to at this time is that Amaterasu will appear to Lieutenant General Maeda Toshinoi so that Lieutenant General Maeda Toshinoi can escape, even if he is the only one who can escape, so that it can be announced that the Eighth Division has been severely damaged and not wiped out by the whole army, and the face of the empire will look better.

When the Eighth Division was sent to reinforce Weixian, he didn't think so carefully, but now that the Eighth Division has an accident, Lieutenant General Dongjuer Gong Tsugaihiko Wang thought of the disaster consequences after the Eighth Division was completely annihilated. Of course, Lieutenant General Dongjuer Palace Tsukihiko Wang was not thinking about the situation in Luzhong and the interruption of the Jiaoji Road after the end of the battle, but about who would be responsible for the Eighth Division. The Eighth Division is different from the 21st Division, and it is also different from the third- and fourth-rate troops like the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 10th Brigades. Last time, the 21st Brigade of the Fifth Division was shattered, and the emperor didn't care about how much war exploits Itagaki Seishiro had, and he just let him commit suicide by disembowelment. This eighth division is broken, who will the emperor let him disembowel!

As soon as he thought of this, Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the East Gyuer Palace felt that he had to send two telegrams quickly, one was to ask General Terauchi Shouichi for instructions on how to deal with the matter of Weixian, and how the Qingdao garrison would act to let Terauchi Shouichi decide. This guy insulted himself twice, and it was he who decided to reinforce the 8th Division, and now he has to ask him for instructions, and he should be held responsible for everything. The other letter was to be sent to his wife, asking her to immediately report to her uncle that it was Terauchi Shouichi who ordered reinforcements from the Eighth Division, and that she had to hurry into the palace to meet Empress Ryoko, who was her own niece after all, and that she had to explain to the emperor that the Jade Shatter of the Eighth Division had nothing to do with her.

Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Higashijuer Palace couldn't have imagined that he was faster than others.

General Terauchi Shouichi was in a very good mood in the past two days, and the destruction of the Eighth Route Army's munitions base and airfield was so beautiful that not only was the base camp commended, but even the emperor himself sent a telegram of condolences, saying that he was worthy of being the pillar of the imperial army and that he had made remarkable achievements in battle. Today, he struck another beautiful left hook, and at the same time as the 16th Division captured Shangqiu, the 27th Division, secretly dispatched by Terauchi Shouichi, suddenly crossed the Yellow River at Guantai and opened up contact with the 14th Division. When the news came, General Terauchi Shouichi immediately reported to the base camp and the emperor, and according to Prince Zaihito of Kanin Palace, upon hearing the news, His Majesty the Emperor immediately called a geisha performance and drank three full cups of sake on the spot.

But the good mood came to an abrupt end at the moment when Lieutenant General Maeda's farewell message arrived.

When General Terauchi received the farewell call, he thought he had seen it wrong, rubbed his eyes, and looked at it carefully, only to know that this was true, and the elite Eighth Division was about to be shattered. General Terauchi Shouichi hurriedly ordered the radio station to contact Lieutenant General Maeda Toshiyu, the brigades, wings, and brigades of the Eighth Division, and all units of the Eighth Division that had radio stations were not spared. Unfortunately, all contact was interrupted.

General Terauchi Shouichi is different from Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of Higashijueriya, he has been dealing with Liu Yimin for a long time, and he is used to seeing the consequences of the 21st Brigade, the Chahar Dispatch Corps, the 21st Division, and the 4th Brigade of Reading Mixed Formation, and knows that the 8th Division must be a collective jade shatter. But there is one thing he has in common with Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Dongjur Palace, and that is that they both think of the question of who should be in charge.

The first thing that General Terauchi thought of was Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of Higashijueriya, because he was the commander of the Second Army, and the Eighth Division had an accident in the defense area of the Second Army, so it should be Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of Higashijueriya who was responsible. But when he thought about it, Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Dongjuer Palace was the uncle of Empress Ryoko and the nephew of Prince Zaihito Miyaji, the chief of the General Staff, General Terauchi knew that it was okay to scold him, and he couldn't do it if he wanted to use him as a scapegoat.

General Terauchi Shouichi is worthy of being the sister-in-law of Earl Terauchi Masatsuki, who has been accustomed to intrigue since childhood, and he immediately thought of the siege and heavy losses suffered by the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan, and knew that now the base camp, including His Majesty the Emperor, understood that the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan was only surrounded by Chiang Kai-shek's army, because the First Army did not carry out the battle plan of the base camp and the North China Front, and changed the detour to Shangqiu to the westward march to seize Kaifeng, in order to compete with the Second Army occupying Xuzhou. His revised battle plan not only caused the Tufeiyuan Division to almost be shattered, but also let go of the Kuomintang troops in the direction of Xuzhou, so that the plan to annihilate Chiang Kai-shek's main force in the Battle of Xuzhou failed. Xiangyue Qingsi is so bold and reckless, ignoring the overall strategic situation, and not imposing military law on him, isn't it trampling on the dignity of military law?

Because Lieutenant General Xiangyue Qingsi lived up to His Majesty's expectations and ordered the Tufeiyuan Division to change its battle plan without authorization, the Battle of Xuzhou did not achieve its goal, not to mention the waste of money and food, and it also led to the North China Front Army to transfer troops and fighters to rescue the Tufeiyuan Division, causing the defense of Shandong to be empty, allowing Liu Yimin's instructor to take advantage of the loophole, causing the Eighth Division to be shattered. The culprit of the whole incident was the commander of the First Army, Lieutenant General Kazuki Kiyoshi.

After carefully studying the map for a while, he found that the Qingdao reinforcements were in great danger, and if they advanced to Weixian, they would probably become the second prey of Liu Yimin's tutor. If they fall into the net again, then the culpability will be even greater, what if something goes wrong in Qingdao? At the same time, it is necessary to stop the Second Army's retaliation against Weixian, Jinan now has only one 108th Division, in case Lieutenant General Dongjiuer Palace Twist Yan Wang impulsively orders the 108th Division to go to Liu Yimin's instructor to take revenge, with Liu Yimin's habits, I am afraid that Jinan will not be able to keep it. In case Jinan is lost, Shandong will become the Eighth Route Army, and the results achieved by the Second Army in Shandong since the start of the war will come to naught.

General Terauchi Shouichi immediately sent a telegram to the commander of the Second Army, Lieutenant General Higashijueriya Tsukihiko Wang, asking him to immediately order the Qingdao garrison, which was being reinforcing Weixian, and Zhang Zong's Shandong Autonomous Coalition Army, to stop advancing and quickly withdraw to Qingdao. If it encounters the blockade of the Eighth Route Army, it is necessary to resolutely break through the encirclement, take advantage of the fact that the main force of the Eighth Route Army has just finished encircling and annihilating the Eighth Division, the main force has suffered heavy losses, and it will not be able to catch up with the battlefield in a short time, forcefully break through the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army, and return to Qingdao overnight to hold on.

At the end of the telegram, General Terauchi stated that it must be translated by Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of Higashijueriya.

Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of Higashijur Palace took out the code book and took a lot of effort to translate what General Terauchi was going to say to him.

When Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Higashigur Palace looked at it, it turned out that General Terauchi Shouichi had euphemistically pointed out that the most crucial problem why the imperial army suffered defeat in front of the Eighth Route Army was that the commander of the army ignored military orders and often revised the battle plan without permission. This kind of behavior is shameful, and the consequences are obvious, and there was a defeat in Taiyuan in the past, and now there are heavy losses in the Tufeiyuan Division and the Eighth Division, and this is a clear proof. If military discipline is not taken seriously, it will bring heavy losses to the imperial army in the future.

Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Higashijuer Palace immediately understood that General Terauchi had chosen that Kazuki Kiyoshi as a scapegoat, and his heart was relaxed, and he immediately called back to General Terauchi Shouichi, saying that he would definitely report the truth about the jade fragments of the Eighth Division to the base camp and His Majesty the Emperor, and Lieutenant General Kazuki Kiyoshi must pay the price for his rashness.

After sending the telegram, Lieutenant General Tsukihiko of the Dongjuer Palace remembered the matter of Qingdao's reinforcements, and was busy giving the order to stop the advance and return to Qingdao.

(To be continued)