The fierce attack of the air force effectively slowed down the pace of the Japanese attack, but the Japanese army still stubbornly pressed towards Shangqiu, and the Xuzhou tragedy aroused the strong indignation of the Chinese officers and soldiers. /。 qВ５、cOm/

In the face of Ando Toshiyoshi's 20th Army Corps and 40th Army fighting inextricably with the Japanese army in Dangshan, Guan Linzheng, Wang Zhonglian, Pang Bingxun and other senior generals came to the front line to supervise the battle.

The New 38th Division and the New 22nd Division failed to go to Haozhou to reinforce Deng Xihou and Lu Han, and they were held back by the swiftly pursued Yamashita Fengwen, and were forced to block the Japanese in the Yongcheng area with the 46th Army.

Deng Xihou and Lu Han were supported by Liu Ruming's division of the 68th Army, which had retreated here at some point, and Deng Xihou commanded four armies to fight fiercely with Gu Shoufu's five divisions, and he had no way to retreat.

On the northern front, Sun Lianzhong's defense of Cao Ji and Sun Tongxuan's defense of Shanxian fought extremely fiercely, with the support of the air force, the two group armies held on to the two county seats, Sun Tongxuan's defense of Shanxian far exceeded Sun Lianzhong's front, after three days of hard fighting, Sun Tongxuan's strength could not support, abandoned Shanxian, the 55th Army and the 56th Army retreated to the Huanggang line under the leadership of Cao Fulin, and he himself led the 12th Army of the descendants to retreat to Qingqi to cover Cao Ji's Sun Lianzhong's flank.

After hesitating the desperate resistance of the Second and Third Army, Zhuang Jihua won three days, the 74th Army and the 2nd Army had already rushed to Shangqiu, the vanguard of the fast column led by Qiu Qingquan had also arrived at Suiyang, not far from Shangqiu, and the 1st Army and the 78th Army had also established a defensive position south of the old road of the Yellow River.

More importantly, the 71st Army and the 27th Army led by Xue Yue had already crossed the Yellow River to the south, and the 23rd Group Army also felt that on the north bank of the Yellow River, the 72nd Army was struggling to stop the Japanese army that was counterattacking, and to the west of them, the Eighth Army under the command of Huang Jie was crossing the Yellow River south under the 32nd Army. The addition of these troops made Zhuang Jihua more confident.

When Zhuang Jihua was gearing up to fight with the Japanese army near Shangqiu, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly sent a telegram, asking if he could block the Japanese army, hinting that if he could not stop the Japanese army, he would immediately lead his troops to retreat to Xuchang and retreat to the west of the Pinghan line.

Chiang Kai-shek's telegram made Zhuang Jihua a little baffled, especially Chiang Kai-shek's sentence that he had his own strategy to break the enemy, which made him even more confused.

"Brother Yan Mou, what do you mean by that, Chairman?" Zhuang Jihua asked Xu Zuyi strangely.

Xu Zuyi was scolded by Zhuang Jihua in public, and he lost face in front of the officers in the war zone, and he was a little unhappy in his heart, but he didn't dare to express it, the person in front of him didn't even sell Bai Chongxi's account, what was he. He took the telegram and looked at it for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't know about this, why don't you send a telegram and ask?" ”

Zhuang Jihua looked at him, Xu Zuyi felt a chill in his heart, but he quickly put his mind at ease, he really didn't know, he didn't lie to him. Their performance made Gong Chu see clearly, for Gong Chu, although he didn't think Zhuang Jihua was doing the right thing, but he couldn't speak for Xu Zuyi, Zhuang Jihua was too strong, Bai Chongxi's order could be annulled immediately, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to discuss with him, such a strong commander, there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that once you gain his appreciation, you will immediately soar; The disadvantage is that the temper is relatively large, and the subordinates will inevitably be more angry. But in terms of his Gong Chu's situation, he actually has one, Xu Zuyi can apply for transfer if he is unhappy, but it will be difficult for him Gong Chu to meet such an appreciation and let go of his boss.

But what was Chiang Kai-shek's strategy to retreat from the enemy? He didn't know either, so when Zhuang Jihua looked at him, he showed a wry smile: "Commander, I can't guess what the chairman is thinking." However, to retreat from the enemy, we must have troops, but the chairman told us to leave quickly, which shows that this is a dangerous place, why is this happening? We have more than 100,000 people here. ”

Gong Chu's words made the confusion in Zhuang Jihua's heart even stronger, and at the same time, it was accompanied by a strong uneasiness; Xu Zuyi's face changed greatly, and his eyes shot a look of fear.

"Brother Yan Mou, what did you think of?" Zhuang Jihua noticed Xu Zuyi's expression and immediately asked.

"Yellow River." Xu Zuyi spit out two words bitterly and with difficulty.

Gong Chu's face finally changed greatly, but Zhuang Jihua still didn't understand, he looked at the map, the Yellow River was hundreds of miles away from here: "The Yellow River? What happened to the Yellow River? ”

Gong Chu shook his head gently, Zhuang Jihua knew too little about Chinese history, and his mouth suddenly became full of bitterness: "I don't know if the commander knows the story of the flooding of the Seventh Army." ”

Zhuang Jihua understood now, his face suddenly turned extremely pale, and he said after a long time: "The chairman means to dig up the Yellow River and flood the Seventh Army again." But what about the people in a radius of thousands of miles? Isn't this killing a thousand enemies and losing ten thousand? ”

"If the chairman of the committee doesn't send reinforcements, I'm afraid that's it, bring the water of the Yellow River into the old way, Ito and Yoshio Shinozuka will be finished immediately, and the 100,000 Japanese army can be annihilated in one sentence." Xu Zuyi shook his head and said.

"But there are millions of people here," Zhuang Jihua looked miserable: "How many deaths will you have to die in this decision?" Half a million or a million? This deal is not cost-effective and must not be made," and then Zhuang Jihua said in a heavy tone: "This is a sinner through the ages, and history will remember it again." ”

Xu Zuyi nodded silently, indeed, these millions of people are bound to be swallowed up by the surging flood without the slightest defense, and I am afraid that no one dares to bear this historical responsibility, even Chiang Kai-shek does not dare to bear it.

"Call back, call back to the chairman immediately, our department can hold Shangqiu, stop the Japanese army, and it is absolutely not feasible to dig up the Yellow River." Zhuang Jihua's expression was serious.

"Yes." Xu Zuyi replied loudly.

Chiang Kai-shek did fight this idea, but it was not he who first put forward it, but Li Zongren's chief of staff Yan Xunfu, and at the beginning of the Second Jinpu Road Campaign, Yan Xunfu proposed to Li Zongren that as a last resort, the Yellow River could be dug up in Zhongmu, the water of the Yellow River could be diverted into the Yellow River, and a Yellow River defense line could be established on the west side of Zhengzhou.

After Bai Chongxi unified the command of the troops in the 15th Theater, Li Zongren revealed this plan to him, but Bai Chongxi refused, Bai Chongxi was very confident at that time, the Japanese army's attack deployment was completely under control, five times the enemy's strength, and it was completely possible to annihilate the main room, but when Ito broke through to the north bank of the Yellow River, Bai Chongxi knew that defeat was inevitable, and he naturally understood in his vision that this retreat was likely to fall into a point of uncontrollable control, and if hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops pressed over and could not stop it, it was likely that he would rush to Wuhan.

So Bai Chongxi thought about it again and again, picked up this suggestion again, and solemnly recommended it to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek summoned He Yingqin, Lin Wei, Chen Cheng, and Jiang Baili to discuss and believed that this strategy was feasible, but at present, east of Kaifeng, to Shangqiu and Haozhou, hundreds of thousands of squadrons were assembled, and this policy could only be implemented after these troops retreated. At the same time, since the war situation has been concentrated in the area centered on Shangqiu, the area has been significantly reduced, and there is no longer a need to coordinate the 15th Theater, so it is recommended to recall Bai Chongxi, abolish the Xinyang Command, and put all the troops south of the Yellow River and east of Kaifeng under the command of Zhuang Jihua.

Chiang Baili's suggestion made Chiang Kai-shek a little embarrassed, because it was tantamount to depriving Li Zongren of most of his troops in the First Theater, and he only had the 32nd Army and the severely weakened First Army in his hands, and his dissatisfaction was completely predictable.

"Since ancient times, there have been no two commanders in the army, and the establishment of two theater commands in such a small area has serious overlapping command functions, and the chairman of the committee is very detrimental to the operation." Jiang Baili insisted on his suggestion, he didn't want to dig the river, but if there was no other way, he could only dig the river, and now he pinned all this hope on Zhuang Jihua, and did not hesitate to seriously offend Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi for this.

Chiang Kai-shek hesitated, of course he knew that Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi would definitely be dissatisfied, and he was still considering the purpose of Jiang Baili's words. Chen Cheng looked at Jiang Baili's expression, and his originally elegant face showed a little anxiety, which was very different from Jiang Baili's usual composure.

"Chairman, I think it's feasible," Chen Cheng understood Jiang Baili's thoughts after contemplating: "The breach of the Yellow River will leave disaster to several provinces, millions of people will be affected, and government relief is also a big problem, it is better to hand it over to the Cultural Revolution, if he can repel the Japanese, he can avoid the disaster of the people in these provinces." ”

Chen Cheng's remarks reminded Chiang Kai-shek that to be honest, Chiang Kai-shek's heart was also up and down when it came to the Yellow River breach, and he was completely aware of the consequences of this matter, and once it was broken, it must also be pushed to the Japanese, and neither the Nationalist Government nor his Chiang Kai-shek instinct could bear this responsibility.

But after thinking about it, Chiang Kai-shek's face turned gloomy again, and he looked at Chen Cheng coldly, as if he wanted to see through his thoughts, and Chen Cheng was not only worried in his heart.

"This responsibility cannot be borne by the Cultural Revolution, only by the Japanese." Chiang Kai-shek's tone was cold.

"Report, emergency power from the Fifth War Zone."

"Read." Chiang Kai-shek said in a deep voice.

"The Yellow River breaches, leaving several provinces to suffer, the harm will reach decades, and this is winter, the Yellow River is in the dry period of freezing, the effect of the breach at this moment is extremely poor, whether it can stop the Japanese army is not yet known. The students already had a counterattack plan, and they could launch a counterattack after the arrival of the whole army in the fast column, and the students were 60% sure that they would defeat the Japanese army and regain the initiative on the battlefield. ”

Chiang Kai-shek sighed in his heart, it seems that Zhuang Jihua didn't let him break at the Yellow River, and he dared to say anything, but he didn't think about it, I, Jiang Zhongzheng, were so willing to break at the Yellow River?

Chiang Kai-shek couldn't let Zhuang Jihua bear the responsibility of breaking the mouth, so that Chen Cheng's heart fell to the bottom, he just wanted Zhuang Jihua to bear this responsibility. A few years ago, I couldn't see that Zhuang Jihua was too fast in this year, with hundreds of thousands of heavy troops in his hands, and the support of the Chongqing Ordnance Industry Base behind him, with extremely high civil prestige and endless development potential, he must be put on a big black pot and suppressed, otherwise it won't be long before he surpasses him Chen Cheng.

Chen Cheng's face suddenly became gloomy, Lin Wei could see it clearly from the side, he couldn't help but smile in his heart, Chen Cheng didn't think clearly, but Chiang Kai-shek understood. This responsibility cannot be borne by Zhuang Jihua, everyone understands that without Chiang Kai-shek's consent, who dares to let the Yellow River be dug up, Zhuang Jihua can't bear this responsibility even if he wants to.

"Okay, let's do it according to Mr. Baili's opinion, let Bai Jiansheng come back, abolish the Xinyang Command, all the troops south of the Yellow River and east of Kaifeng are under the command of Zhuang Jihua, the commander of the Fifth Theater, Weiwen, you draw up an order and send it down." As soon as the idea was decided, Chiang Kai-shek would not delay the mud and water and immediately issue the order.

While Chiang Kai-shek in Wuhan was thinking about how to save the war and stop the Japanese from rushing to Wuhan, the North China Front Command in Beiping was also caught in a fierce quarrel, and the core of the quarrel was still whether to rush directly to Wuhan or stop and rest.

"Commander, it is recommended to stop the offensive, at present, the ** army has been aware of the strategic intentions of the imperial army, and has escaped from the encirclement of the imperial army, the imperial army has suffered great losses in the early stage of the battle, and it must stop and rest, and then launch an attack." Ligao's expression was calm, but he was very frustrated in his heart, he didn't expect that with the information he provided, this battle was actually defeated, and the 60,000 people in Honma just couldn't eat it. Now he had to induce Sugiyama to give the order to stop the pursuit, but his opinion was firmly opposed by the staff officers led by Eto.

"Ligaojun, what's wrong with you!" If it weren't for Ligao's outstanding performance in the early stage, Jiang Teng's attitude would definitely not be so kind: "The ** army was hit hard by the imperial army, although they escaped from the encirclement of the imperial army, but they were already unable to form an army, it is a good time to take advantage of the victory to pursue and redeem the impact of the last battle of Xuzhou." ”

"Jiang Tengjun, we should remember the lessons of the Battle of Nanjing," Ligao retorted unequivocally: "After the Battle of Songhu, the imperial army should have rested for a month before attacking Nanjing, but General Matsui Ishine did not do so, and at that time he also thought that the ** army had no strength to stop our army, but what was the result?" Yes, the ** army suffered serious losses under the blows of the imperial army, but the losses of the imperial army were also not small. What's more, now that the weather is improving, the ** Air Force can already be dispatched, and the results of the air battles in the past few days have proved that the Imperial Air Force has suffered great losses, and the ** Army can act arbitrarily over the theater of operations and attack our ground troops. ”

"Bastard! After achieving such a victory, he did not dare to pursue, which was unprecedented in the history of warfare! A young officer stepped forward and shouted.

Li Gao's expression was extremely calm, and he was not frightened, but mocked unceremoniously in a louder voice: "Studying in a military academy, book knowledge is dead, you must be improvisable on the battlefield, and you can't just copy it!" Are there fewer cases in which a battle is won at the beginning of a campaign and then defeated by an enemy counterattack? ”

The officer was choked up and speechless, and then two more officers stood up to refute Tarigaka's support, and Tarigaka unceremoniously fought back, but Nishimura of the Intelligence Section stood up to support Tarigaka's support.

"Jiang Teng-kun, the intelligence department has already provided information to the headquarters, and the Second Army Corps of the ** Army has arrived in Shangqiu, and the ** general does not have a counterattack force in his hands." Nishimura said solemnly.

The latest full book: 、、、、、、、、、、