On September 15, 1939, Guisui, headquarters of the Inner Mongolia Military Region.

Nine days ago, with the withdrawal of Master Chen's 77th Division from Beiping, the 42-day Battle of North China finally came to an end. The two sides dispatched a total of more than 700,000 troops, plus several group armies that took the initiative to participate in the battle, and the scale of the battle reached a huge number of one million.

With the end of the campaign, Han Yunhua's summary of the campaign submitted to the Yan'an Party Central Committee was also sent to Yan'an on 14 September, and after deliberation by the party committee of the military region, it was decided to convene a military and political meeting at the level of division commanders of the whole military region on 15 September.

At this time, Guisui Chengping has been more than a year, more than a year of peaceful life has made the whole Guisui one of the most prosperous cities in northern China, whether it is Shanxi Jin merchants or Baotou merchants have opened a branch in Guisui, with the injection of commercial vitality elements, the whole Guisui is like living all of a sudden. As long as you are a real businessman, do business according to the law, pay taxes, and do not do anything that endangers the military region, then the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region will be protected by the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and no matter whether it is Guisui or Baotou, or even any remote town, as long as it is within the jurisdiction of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, there will be no collection of protection fees, extortion, and other behaviors that are not conducive to commercial development. Therefore, in the past year, the economy of the whole of Saibei has shown rapid development, and compared with the war in the whole of North China, it is a paradise.

The large hall of the Inner Mongolia Military Region has also been moved from the original large military camp to the office building where the political axe of Guisui Province is located; unlike the usual people coming and going, today's political axe office building is full of soldiers with loaded guns, five steps, one person, ten steps and one post, the atmosphere is very tense, and the two main streets connected by the political axe building are also all under martial law, and no one is allowed to pass.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, all military and political cadres at and above the division level of the Inner Mongolia Military Region gathered at the Guisui Zheng Axe Auditorium to attend the military and political meeting presided over by Commander Han Yunhua. This is the first meeting chaired by Han Yunhua since February this year, so all military and political cadres must attend the meeting on time and are not allowed to ask for leave.

As with all meetings, Han Yunhua, as the highest military and political leader of the military region and the presiding officer of the meeting, was the last to arrive, and it was Zuo Quan, political commissar of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, who accompanied Han Yunhua into the meeting. In addition to Han Yunhua and Zuo Quan, Chen Geng, Aao Liege, Li Dayong, Yang Chengwu, Qian Zhuangfei, Wang Jian, Jiang Yunshan, Yang Ruihua, Liu Mingyuan, Ye Baoguo, Guo Weidong, Shen Yuquan, and others attended the meeting.

As the presiding officer of the meeting, Han Yunhua first briefed everyone on the development of the military region in all aspects in the past six months: "Comrades, since February this year, all departments of our military region have developed extremely rapidly; first of all, we have set up two division-level units, the instructor and the cavalry division, and in addition, we have also set up 19 infantry brigades and columns, and we have achieved basic self-sufficiency in weapons, ammunition, and food, and we can also support other units of the Eighth Route Army after tightening our belts. At the same time, our military region did not rest on its laurels and was still full of vitality; under the command of the party committee of the military region, we drew up an operational plan to advance to Shandong, and although the plan died halfway because the strength of Shandong's puppet army was too strong, we still raised more than 40,000 troops in Shandong. Before the outbreak of the Battle of North China, our military region fought a total of 145 battles against the Japanese army, annihilating 10,000 and 41 soldiers, and annihilating four divisions of the puppet army, six reading regiments, and three cavalry regiments, with a total strength of more than 9,000 troops. 2,221 prisoners and more than 66,000 puppet soldiers. More than 40,000 long and short guns, more than 800 artillery pieces, more than 9 million rounds of ammunition, and many other weapons and equipment were seized. Our army lost more than 9,800 troops, of which more than 7,400 were killed in battle and 2,371 were seriously wounded and disabled. ”

As soon as Han Yunhua's words fell, the entire conference room was boiling, all the cadres knew that the military region had achieved brilliant results in this battle, but they did not know that the military region had achieved such great results before the battle in North China, and during that time, due to the lack of Han Yunhua's command, all divisions and brigades fought separately, and the military region did not issue a unified combat order, so all the cadres did not know that all the troops of the military region could achieve such brilliant results.

This statistical table is Han Yunhua's statistics according to the documents submitted by various units to the Shanghai Military Region after February 29, 1939, so there is no problem with the real surname, Han Yunhua didn't care at first, anyway, in addition to the instructor fought a few big victories in Shandong, the mechanized brigade cleaned up the nest of the puppet Mongolian army and achieved relatively large results, and the rest were small fights, and every time the results were not big, the elimination of the puppet army was only 180 people, and the maximum was only 1,800 people.

But when all the battle reports were counted, Han Yunhua was also stunned by the figures in front of him, and in less than five months, the units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region had wiped out nearly 80,000 puppet troops, of which the Yue army accounted for nearly one-third. Han Yunhua was still very satisfied with the achievements of the various units of the military region during his absence, although the average number of puppet troops eliminated in each battle was only two or three hundred, but the small victories were turned into big victories, and the results of the final statistics were still amazing.

Seeing the chatter and noise of these senior cadres of the military region in the conference room, Han Yunhua did not stop it for the first time, he knew that these cadres also needed a way to vent, because he was transferred to Shandong for more than half a year, so there was a nameless sense of anxiety from top to bottom of the military region, which was originally not clear to Han Yunhua, but after the outbreak of the North China War, Zuo Quan specially found Han Yunhua and told him about it, so Han Yunhua knew that these big men were also upset.

"Comrades, please be quiet. Not long ago, the whole army of our military region's instructors was transferred to southern Hebei, thus kicking off a general battle between our military region and the North China Front Army that lasted more than 40 days. In this battle, the army dispatched a total of 370,000 troops, of which 150,000 directly attacked Saibei, 50,000 attacked southern Hebei, 20,000 attacked central Hebei, 90,000 defended Shanxi, 40,000 defended Shandong, and the rest of the troops were gathered in the Beijing-Tianjin area. However, our military region has mobilized nearly 400,000 troops this time, plus other troops of the Eighth Route Army, and our [***] total number of troops dispatched this time exceeds 600,000. The Kuomintang also took the initiative to dispatch General Sun Lianzhong's Second Group Army, Gao Shuxun's 39th Group Army, and Yan Xishan's Second Theater also dispatched three group armies, with a total strength of 200,000 troops, so the two sides used a total of 1.2 million troops in the North China Battle, which lasted 41 days. The two sides waged a desperate contest in Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Rehe, Chahar, Guisui, and the Beijing-Tianjin region, and our military region carried forward the spirit of not being afraid of hardship, not being tired, not being tired, not being defeated, and not boasting, and fought 236 battles against the Japanese army, destroying 120,000 people of the Japanese puppet army, of which the Chinese army accounted for 70 percent. 48 county seats, including Zhangjiakou, the capital of Chahar Province, were recovered, and the forces were connected with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and the Jizhong Military Region, and the instructor also completed the strategic task of advancing into Shandong. Next, I will read out the specific results of the North China Battle. Speaking of this, Han Yunhua paused deliberately, and seeing that all the military and political cadres in the conference room were looking at him intently, Han Yunhua smiled and continued: "Yes, the third and fourth brigades of the army were annihilated, and 14,861 enemies were annihilated and 1,431 were captured. Annihilated the cavalry group of the Yue Army, annihilated 15,638 enemies, and captured 349 people. Annihilated the Xishiyuan Brigade of the Yamashita Division of the Yue Army, annihilated 11,000 enemies and captured 800 people. Annihilated the attack group composed of the 20th Division, the Yamashita Division, and the 1st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, destroying 18,333 enemies and capturing 26,209 prisoners. More than 22,000 people were killed and wounded in the Qian'an blockade battle, and the main force of the 32nd Division of the Yue Army was annihilated in the southern Hebei battlefield, killing more than 8,000 enemies. In the Beijing-Tianjin area, more than 30,000 puppet troops were wiped out, including more than 10,000 puppet troops, more than 10,000 armed expatriates, and more than 5,000 armed troops. In this battle, our troops killed nine officers of the Japanese army at the rank of major general, including Lieutenant General Toicchi Sasaki, Major General Shigeyoshi Harada, Major General Nishishien, Lieutenant General Nao Yoshida, Lieutenant General Minoru Ushijima, and Major General Yamaki, and captured four senior army officers, including Major General Yoshio Kamitsuki. At the same time, two special forces of the Chinese army, one wing of paratrooper units, and one brigade of field heavy artillery were eliminated. A total of more than 200,000 guns were seized during the campaign, including the complete equipment of the four divisions and regiments, more than 900 artillery pieces, more than 30,000 horses, more than 600 million rounds of ammunition, more than 300 automobiles, more than 80 combat vehicles, six field hospitals, 7 tons of medicines, more than 30 trucks of gold and silver dollars and antiques, and countless goods of all kinds captured at the port of Tianjin............

After talking about the results, Han Yunhua's voice suddenly became very low: "Comrades, the results are brilliant, but the price is heavy. Since ancient times, we have killed 10,000 enemies and lost 8,000 ourselves, and we have achieved such brilliant results, but we have also paid an extremely heavy price. Since the Battle of North China, our military region has lost more than 90,000 soldiers, of whom more than 56,000 have been confirmed to have died, more than 16,000 have been seriously wounded and disabled, and nearly 30,000 have been wounded. Comrades, although we know that war kills people, such heavy casualties are beyond my historical records, and I will request punishment for this as requested by the Party Central Committee. However, the victory in the Battle of North China was of great significance, and it greatly improved the living conditions of our army, so that our Inner Mongolia Military Region was connected with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region under Commander Nie Rongzhen and the Jizhong Military Region under the leadership of Comrade Lu Zhengying, while in the northern Shanxi region, our army got in touch with the Yanbei Detachment of the 120th Division and other units, and with the base area in the northwest of Shanxi Province vigorously built by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and the living conditions of the entire Eighth Route Army changed because of us. Second, at the time of the outbreak of the European War, our military region ravaged the Japanese army on the frontal battlefield and recovered one-fifth of the territory of North China, which can create a huge international influence and be conducive to the international environment of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression............"

Han Yunhua talked endlessly for nearly an hour, and finally finished talking about everything that he had to say in this battle. As soon as Han Yunhua's words fell, the entire conference room burst into warm applause.

After Han Yunhua sat down, Zuo Quan got up and said: "Comrades, there is no doubt about the results we have achieved in this battle, and the Party Central Committee and the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army are very satisfied with this operation of our military region. Just now, the CPC Central Committee, Vice Chairman Zhou, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng have all sent congratulatory telegrams one after another, and Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the National Political Axe Committee, Mr. Soong Ching-ling, commanders of the Second Theater of Operations, and other important members of the National Political Axe, have also sent congratulatory telegrams one after another, congratulating us on our unprecedented victory. Of course, there is no lack of meaning to win over, hehe, there are a few letters of appointment for promotion, our commander was allowed by Chairman Chiang to the rank of army general, even I, a little-known little person, was given the post of lieutenant general and commander-in-chief of the group army, as for everyone here, the youngest in the military rank is also a major general, hehehe, comrades, we are also celebrities now, almost all newspapers and magazines in China are reporting to us these days, so we should be more aware of the situation, Don't let the situation in front of you [***] mind ......... Let's talk about the tasks ahead! ”

After Zuo Quan finished speaking, Master Chen stood up and said: "Comrades, now I will tell you about the situation between the enemy and us, after this battle, the army has been at an absolute disadvantage in our northern region, among the three forces of the enemy and us and the national political axe, the army is undoubtedly the weakest, and now the army has lost the entire Chahar and all of Suiyuan, and even Rehe has lost most of it, and the power of our army has penetrated deep into the hinterland of Hebei, and most of southern Hebei has also been divided between the national political axe and our army. At this time, the army only occupied the Beijing-Tianjin area, the area south of Laiyuan and Langfang, and the north of Shimen, and even the two cities of Beijing and Tianjin were semi-surrounded by us. However, the army still controls almost all of Shandong and half of Shanxi. At this time, the strength of the Yue Army in the entire northern part of China, not counting the Kwantung Army in the northeast, was less than 250,000, of which 50,000 were in the Beijing-Tianjin area, 40,000 in Shandong, 60,000 in Hebei, 80,000 in Shanxi, and about 20,000 in other places. Now it is not only our relations with the enemy that are complicated, but also our relations with the national political axe have become extremely chaotic, and the friction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party has a tendency to rise again. At this time, the forces of the national political axe have now advanced into all parts of Hebei and Shanxi, especially in southern Hebei, and frictions between our troops and the national political axe have occurred from time to time, so we must formulate a development plan for the next period of time. ”

After Master Chen finished speaking, Han Yunhua immediately stood up and said loudly: "Comrades, what I mean is that in the past year or so, we have been expanding our armaments, and the establishment of the army has expanded and expanded, from the original one remnant corps to more than a dozen divisions now. But don't forget, our heritage is incomparable with the Chinese army, and now the elite infantry of both the enemy and us, especially the elite veterans, have suffered great losses, and it is likely that we will suffer losses if we continue to fight, and we will be far slower than the Chinese army in cultivating a veteran. So I think the next thing for us is not how to fight, but how to digest our existing territory, and at the same time to repair it well, I wonder what the comrades think? ”

"What the commander said is very reasonable, we should really take a good rest, the veterans of our various units have suffered great losses, although the number of troops in each unit may be much less than before, or even more, just like our cavalry division, our cavalry division was only more than 11,000 people, but now we have more than 50,000 people, not counting the more than 10,000 people stationed in Xilin Gol. But if it is compared to the command of the command and combat effectiveness, I think the cavalry division has not improved as much as imagined, and the key is that we have transformed those puppet army prisoners too quickly, and they have not really integrated into our military region, so it is still important to take a good rest. "The first to speak is the cavalry division commander Aolige, this pure-bred Mongolian Han joined the army for less than three years and became the commander of a division, but his operational command level is quite high, perhaps due to talent, and at this time as the commander in chief of the cavalry unit of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Bart, as a galloping horse on the grassland, as the descendants of the steppe wolf, these Mongolian men have their own unique views on cavalry combat, maybe they are not outstanding in leading troops, but if you say that command operations are still very talented, And the results of the cavalry division during this period were also very satisfactory.

Subsequently, Yang Chengwu and Jiang Yunshan also put forward the idea of agreeing to a temporary truce in the military region and withdrawing part of the troops back to Sui for rest and recuperation. After more than a year of non-stop fighting, both ordinary soldiers and cadres are already physically and mentally exhausted. Without sufficient energy, the results of the battle against the Chinese army, whose physical fitness was much higher than that of the squadron, were indeed not optimistic.

What's more, now that the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Military Region has been disrupted, it must be reorganized, otherwise it will not be conducive to the next battle. Moreover, the reorganization had to be approved by the Party Central Committee, so the rest and readjustment became the only thing to be done at the moment.

At the same time that Han Yunhua held a meeting with the division-level cadres of the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region, the discussion on the Inner Mongolia Military Region in Yan'an once again kicked off. Since its establishment, the Inner Mongolia Military Region has been quite controversial, why do you say that! Because since the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, there have been many policies or military regulations that are contrary to the relevant regulations of [***] and the Eighth Route Army. After experiencing the tragic experience of Ma Yue's coup d'état and Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of the revolution, [***] people attach great importance to the leadership of the revolution, and they also have high requirements for the purity of the team. In addition, the [***] people have extremely strict requirements for the discipline of revolutionary members, and it is absolutely forbidden for non-party members to serve as political commissars and military leaders. However, due to the rapid development of the Inner Mongolia Military Region and its own relatively shallow background, there are many unavoidable problems in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, from the promotion of cadres to the recruitment of soldiers.

(To be continued)