While the fighting on the southern front was tight, several other directions of Jining City were fiercely attacked by the Japanese army. But no matter how the Japanese attacked, the defenders of Jining City were like rocks in a storm, standing still. Just as Han Yunhua said in his handwriting after the war, which had been officially reorganized into the 1st Independent Brigade, the "backbone and mainstay of the nation" deservedly.

At a quarter past eight o'clock in the evening, the Japanese attack finally stopped, and then the Japanese army except for an infantry brigade and a cavalry wing left on the front banner of the right flank of Zhuozi Mountain and Chahar, and the rest of the devils all withdrew to the east under the leadership of Gu Shoufu that night. At this point, the offensive and defensive battle in Jining, which lasted six days and five nights, finally came to an end, and the western battlefield, which had been fought for more than half a month, also temporarily fell into a short period of calm.

In order to strengthen the strength around Jining, the commander of the Mongolian Corps, Lieutenant General Liannuma Pan, drew a wing of Japanese troops from the defenders of Guisui (Hohhot) and stationed it in Zhuozishan County. The commander of the 26th Division, Lieutenant General Houguan Chun, also left a brigade from the five brigades under his command to monitor Yang Ruihua's department in Jining.

During this period, the 26th Division of the Japanese Army had also completely occupied Xinghe County. Since then, most of the county seats under the jurisdiction of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, Zhongxinghe County, Zhuozishan County, Fengzhen County, Chahar Right Wing Front Banner, Chahar Right Wing Middle Banner, and Zhangbei County have all been occupied by devils. Judging from the situation between the enemy and us, the Inner Mongolia Military Region is at a clear disadvantage.

The long-term war between the Inner Mongolia Military Region and the Japanese North China Front Army has affected the hearts of all parties, and the temporary defeat of the Inner Mongolia Military Region has also made all parties worried, especially whether Jining, the only medium-sized city recaptured by force from the Japanese invaders since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, can be kept, which has also attracted the attention of the Chinese people.

Soon after the armistice of the Jining offensive and defensive battles, intelligence officers and secret agents from all walks of life immediately reported the results of the battle to their respective higher departments, and the news of the setback of the attack of the Japanese Sixth Division under the city of Jining was notified to all the Chinese people in the form of an additional version on the same day. Suddenly, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army received congratulatory telegrams from many organizations and individuals, including telegrams from Chiang Kai-shek, He Yingqin, Chen Cheng, and famous generals such as Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang of the Nationalist Government.

However, even so, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was gloomy. Beginning in mid-June, all units of the Japanese North China Front Army aimed their guns completely at the Eighth Route Army, and the 115th, 120th, and 129th Divisions, as well as the various anti-Japanese base areas including the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, were frantically attacked by the Japanese army.

In just over 20 days, many anti-Japanese base areas under the jurisdiction of the Eighth Route Army were greatly damaged, the common people in the areas under their jurisdiction were slaughtered, the grain and finances were robbed, and even the seedlings of the Zhuang family that were still growing were uprooted. Each base area is seriously damaged, and it is difficult to recover in a short period of time.

Moreover, the casualties of the various units of the Eighth Route Army increased sharply during this period, and according to the incomplete statistics of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, without knowing the specific casualties of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, the various units of the Eighth Route Army lost a total of more than 8,000 people, which did not include the militia units under the jurisdiction of the various departments.

This made some people in the party have a lot of opinions about Han Yunhua, the "culprit", and if it weren't for the chairman, Vice Chairman Zhou, and several old leaders of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters speaking on the side, I'm afraid that Han Yunhua might be drinking tea in the investigation room in Yan'an right now.

Intra-party pressure is one thing, but the main thing is external pressure, especially direct military pressure from the Japanese army. However, due to the needs of the war, all departments of the Inner Mongolia Military Region are extremely busy, and even Han Yunhua, the commander of the Military Region, has much less contact with the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and Shen Yuquan, the political commissar of the military region, is even more like he has disappeared, and he has not been in contact with the headquarters for a long time.

Three hours after the offensive and defensive battle of Jining, Yang Ruihua finally made a preliminary count of the casualties of the troops. Looking at the list of loss statistics in his hand, Yang Ruihua's heart was like a knife, he didn't know how to report to the commander, he really didn't dare to send this telegram to Chengde. Looking at the only five regiment-level cadres left in the conference room, Yang Ruihua's tears couldn't help but fall. But despite this, Yang Ruihua still decided to send this loss to the commander as soon as possible, so that he could have a rough judgment of the strength of his side. ,

When receiving Yang Ruihua's telegram, Han Yunhua was holding an operational meeting for the brigade-level military cadres of the Inner Mongolia Military Region at the garrison headquarters of the devils in Longhua County.

In the end, he still boiled Lege, a Mongolian man, with a straight intestine, couldn't hold back his words, and asked: "Brother commander, what's wrong with you, I look weird in my heart, if you have something to say, as long as you say it, I boil Legge and the five thousand knights under him are absolutely unambiguous, how do you say it, what does the sword mean, and what is invincible." ”

Wang Jian said on the side: "Old Hu, it is the sword that is pointed at, invincible. ”

"Yes, yes, that's it, it's all because you Han people are too difficult to say." Boiling Legha laughed.

Han Yunhua did not answer Lie Ge's words, but said heavily: "Comrades, just now Comrade Yang Ruihua sent a telegram that the defense of Jining has temporarily ended, Jining has been saved, and Gu Shoufu has withdrawn ....... ”

Before Han Yunhua finished speaking, these senior officers of the Eighth Route Army in the conference room began to become active: "Great, the devil has finally retreated, hahaha................"

Han Yunhua coughed lightly, and after everyone calmed down, he continued: "Comrades, it is worth our joy that Jining has been saved, but this does not mean that we have won. In his telegram, Comrade Yang Ruihua also made the following report on the losses in the defense of Jining: Commander, after six days and five nights of continuous fighting, our unit finally smashed the conspiracy of the Japanese army to occupy Jining and completely annihilate our army, and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy's Sixth Division...... In this battle, our troops suffered extremely heavy casualties, with more than 11,000 casualties, of which the absolute losses reached 8,816, 2,221 were seriously wounded, and countless were lightly wounded. At the same time, our unit also lost 311 officers, including Zhang Hao, deputy commander of the 1st Provisional Independent Brigade, and as many as 19 officers above the regimental level alone. Jining City was violently bombarded by the devil's field heavy artillery and aviation, and at the same time was attacked by the devil's poison gas troops, and now the city is a human purgatory, the people have been killed and wounded innumerable, and the people who remain in the city are not one out of ten, and it is initially estimated that the people have been killed and wounded more than 3,000 people, and less than 300 people are alive. After continuous operations, our unit suffered great material losses and continued to replenish ......"

Han Yunhua's tone became deeper and lower, until finally he couldn't read anymore, and the dozen or so senior officers in the conference room no longer lost their excitement just now, and they all lowered their heads very low, and their fists were clenched to death.

Han Yunhua eased his emotions and said, "Comrades, have you heard clearly? Although we kept Jining City in this battle, we only kept an empty city, for which we sacrificed more than 10,000 soldiers and more than 3,000 civilians. However, we have achieved the operational goal of fully mobilizing the enemy, and now the Japanese army has once again transferred troops from Baotou and Guisui to the Jining area, and the enemy's troops left in Hubao No. 2 City are already very few, and now we only need a thunderous blow to rewrite the situation of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and it can be said that the overall situation has been decided. The death of Comrade Zhang Hao has deprived us of a good comrade and comrade-in-arms, although he has just joined our Eighth Route Army, although he was once an old Kuomintang officer, although he was once a prisoner of devils, but it is undeniable that he is a national hero. He shed blood and sweat for the self-improvement and independence of the Chinese nation, and now he is a horse leather shroud who died on the battlefield of resisting Japanese imperialist aggression to drive away the humiliation, and we should be proud to have such a comrade-in-arms. In the face of the dead, all words are pale, comrades, we must remember this hatred, together with the hundreds of thousands of unjust souls in Nanjing, we must make a complete break with the Sixth Division and their division commander Gu Shoufu. ”

As soon as Han Yunhua finished speaking, the officers in the conference room got up and said in unison: "Commander, please give a combat mission."