On May 19, 1938, the invading Japanese army captured Xuzhou and attacked west along the Longhai line, Zhengzhou was in danger and Wuhan was shaken. On 9 June, in order to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward, Chiang Kai-shek adopted the method of "replacing troops with water" and ordered the opening of the ferry port on the south bank of the Yellow River, Huayuankou, located 17 kilometers north of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.

The task of breaking the embankment at Huayuankou was carried out by the troops of Shang Zhen of the national army guarding the Yellow River, and the location was first selected in Zhaokou, where the embankment was relatively thin in Zhongmu County. After Chiang Kai-shek knew that Zhaokou had no hope of opening up, he instructed to change the location and break the embankment again. After urgent consultations, the New Eighth Division, stationed near the Yellow River, initially selected the location near Huayuankou, west of Zhaokou. In this process, Chiang Kai-shek was worried that his subordinates would be passive, and repeatedly urged his subordinates to dig the embankment and not have "women's kindness" through oral and telegraphic orders.

In the early morning of June 9, after two days and two nights of non-stop excavation, almost at the same time that Zhongmu, which is 30 kilometers away from Zhengzhou, was lost, the Huayuankou was finally dug up.

After the Huayuankou burst, the water of the Yellow River quickly drained down the Jialu River. The next day, a torrential rain fell in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, and the water volume of the Yellow River increased sharply, and the Huayuankou breach was washed away, and at the same time, the silted Zhaokou was also washed away. After the confluence of the two streams of Zhaokou and Huayuankou, the Jialu River began to overflow, and the overflowing river water broke the Longhai Railway and flowed towards the southeast of Henan.

Han Yunhua himself did not have any evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek's operation, neither in his previous life nor in this life, he did not comment on this matter. From a purely military point of view, breaking the embankment of the Yellow River has a certain effect: first, it has formed a new channel of the Yellow River and formed a new natural hazard, thus preventing the westward advance of the Japanese army, making the Central Plains region defend for another six years without falling, and ensuring the safety of the rear. Second, the bursting of the embankment at Huayuankou made it impossible for the Japanese to open up the "mainland communication line" for a long time, delaying the Japanese army's military mobilization and strategic material transportation, and had to launch the so-called "mainland communication line" Yuxianggui Campaign again in 1944, postponing the Japanese army's strategic attempt for six years. In the end, Chiang Kai-shek's method of replacing soldiers with water directly wiped out more than 10,000 elite troops of the Japanese army, which greatly dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army.

However, when the embankment at Huayuankou broke, Chiang Kai-shek used military secrets as an excuse to tightly seal the news and did not notify the people to evacuate and relocate. After the Huayuankou embankment was blown up, the gushing water of the Yellow River was like a monstrous evil water coming from above the nine heavens, and the common people who had no mental preparation suddenly fell into an ocean. In fact, Chiang's army had already planned to break the embankment, but the final decision to break the embankment was made when Gui Yongqing and Huang Jie, two of Chiang Kai-shek's descendants, fled and the situation of the war became more unfavorable. Therefore, if the Chiang authorities had the Chinese people in mind, they could have used other reasons to evacuate the potentially flooded masses in advance for security. Even at the last moment, from a military point of view, the practice of not informing the masses of the news blockade was completely unnecessary. Because it has been decided to break the embankment, even if the enemy army gets the news and retreats, it can also play a role in buying some respite for the Kuomintang army.

Huayuankou breached, directly drowned and starved to death as many as 890,000 people, three times the Chinese soldiers and civilians killed by the Japanese army in the Nanjing Massacre, accounting for 2.5% of the 35 million people lost by China in the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and more than 4 million deaths caused by famine and plague, after the Yellow River was discharged, the west side went down the Huai River along the Yinghe River, and the east side flowed into the Huai River along the Vortex River to Huaiyuan, Anhui Province, and the Huang and Huai rivers poured into Hongze Lake after the confluence, and the Huai River and Hongze Lake immediately became an ocean. In this flood, a total of 44 counties and cities in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu were flooded, covering an area of 29,000 square kilometers, affecting more than 50 million people, washing away 1.4 million houses and submerging nearly 20 million mu of cultivated land. Everywhere the yellow water went, the houses collapsed, and the hungry people were everywhere. In this flood, a total of 10 million people in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces were uprooted from their homes, so the number of deaths and the death caused by the 14 million strong men requisitioned by the Nationalist Government exceeded the number of people killed by the Japanese during the Anti-Japanese War.

However, due to the heavy losses caused by this accident and the huge international impact, at the beginning of the Huayuankou incident, the Nationalist Government flatly denied that it was the work of the Chinese army, saying that it was caused by the Japanese bombing, and it was not until the early 80s of the 20 th century that the Huayuankou incident was forbidden to be discussed openly in Taiwan, and it was not until the mid-80s that some people gradually published relevant articles in Taiwan.

Although Han Yunhua knew that Chiang Kai-shek personally ordered this incident, it was impossible for Han Yunhua to stand up and accuse Chiang Kai-shek at the critical juncture of the Sino-Japanese war, because that would greatly reduce the international community's impression of China, directly damage China's national interests, and even affect the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. ,

Moreover, not long ago, Japanese Prime Minister Fumima Konoe issued a statement to lure Chiang Kai-shek to surrender and attempt to destroy China. On January 16, Konoe issued a statement saying that if Chiang Kai-shek did not accept the terms of peace, Japan would "not regard the Nationalist Government as an opponent" and would establish a "new government with Japan." If Han Yunhua stimulates Chiang Kai-shek again at this time, and prevents Lao Chiang from being unhappy and directly picking on his son, then Han Yunhua will really become a sinner of the Chinese nation through the ages.

Although Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government performed badly on the frontal battlefield, it is undeniable that most of the officers and fighters in the National Revolutionary Army were still very bloody. Putting aside political differences, as far as the general interests of the country are concerned, those heroes are worthy of being the outstanding sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, and they are also worthy of the military uniform on their bodies.

Moreover, as far as the entire early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is concerned, the role of the Nationalist Government is irreplaceable, and if there is no strong resistance of the Nationalist Government, then there will definitely be no later victory in the War of Resistance against Japan.

Han Yunhua originally thought that this Huayuankou embankment burst incident would pass like this, anyway, Henan Huayuankou is thousands of miles away from Inner Mongolia, even if he Han Yunhua has the heart to help those victims in the Yellow Flood Area, there is nothing he can do.

However, perhaps because of him, a person who should not exist, the Huayuankou incident has also undergone new changes, and this change has directly affected Han Yunhua's plan to go east and north.

After the Huayuankou embankment burst on June 9, a large number of refugees began to flee their homes to other provinces and cities, and since several provinces in the southeast were also the hardest hit by the disaster, the vast majority of them chose to go to the relatively poor north. Because Henan is close to Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, more than 90 percent of the victims fled to these two provinces.

Historically, nearly four million victims fled to the northern provinces and cities, begging all the way, fleeing as far as Shaanxi, Gansu and other provinces, from the Central Plains to the northwest, with a long picture of starvation.

But now things have changed, after the disaster, Terauchi Shouichi ordered the 14th Division, which was stalled around the Yellow Flood Area, to immediately block the communication arteries leading to Shaanxi and Gansu, and forced the victims to flee all the way to Shanxi by force.

Just a few days before the disaster, Han Yunhua ordered the wartime troops' rations and food standards to be reduced, from the original food standard of eight taels of fine grain and one pound of coarse grain per person per day to four taels of fine grain per person per day with six taels of coarse grain. This situation was reported to Shouichi Terauchi on the desk as soon as possible.

After receiving this information, Terauchi Shouichi happily judged that there was a shortage of food in Han Yunhua's department. Although the food standard of Han Yunhua's department has dropped by half, it is not enough to treat Han Yunhua as a desperate situation, and the combat effectiveness of his troops will not drop too much.

Moreover, during this period of time, Sakura's secret electricity was frequent, and some of the basic information of Han Yunhua's department was no longer a secret, and Terauchi Shouichi reluctantly discovered that Sakura now inquired about as many as 7 of the number of brigade-level military units alone, and there was also a military division with an unknown number. As far as the experience of these confrontations is concerned, it is difficult for Terauchi Shouichi to believe that the brigade-level military combat unit under Han Yunhua's command is comparable to a small brigade of two or three thousand men of the Nationalist Government. Therefore, Terauchi Shouichi felt that the current Han Yunhua could no longer be completely eliminated by a military attack alone, and it must be accompanied by a corresponding strategy.

After the national government blew up the Huayuankou embankment, the huge disaster caused by Terauchi Shouichi brightened his eyes. In the aftermath of the disaster, millions of people were left homeless, and the international community, which did not know the truth, issued a serious protest and condemnation of Japan. For a time, both Reuters and the Associated Press showed that public opinion in all countries of the world almost unanimously condemned this atrocity of the Japanese army. No matter how much the Japanese army quibbled and refuted, it was to no avail, and whoever let the Nanjing Massacre have completely discredited the reputation of the Japanese Army.

However, Terauchi Shouichi did not think that the Nationalist Government had done so cleverly this time, let alone that this disaster could really pose much of a threat to the Imperial Japanese Army, and that the invincible advancing chariot of the Great Japanese Empire would not be stopped by a small Shina River. In his view, these large numbers of refugees are the most powerful weapon against the Communist Party, which has always prided itself on loving the country and the people, especially against Han Yunhua's subordinates, which have the most enthusiastic feelings, and will have unexpected results. (The new book is uploaded, and I hope you will support it a lot, and Aotian is grateful!! By the way, here cheekily ask for recommendation tickets and collections!! Your support is the best encouragement for Autean, thank you!! ）

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