At the same time, Commander-in-Chief Zhu sat alone in the bedroom, holding a telegram in his hand, his expression very excited. After stopping for a long time, I finally calmed down. Commander Zhu said to the guards outside the door: "Xiao Wang, you go and invite Lao Peng to me, just say that I have something important to look for him, hurry up." ”

"Yes, I'll go." After speaking, the guards ran towards the place where Deputy Commander Peng lived.

After a while, Deputy Commander Peng knocked on the door and walked in, complaining loudly: "Boss, if there is something we can't say tomorrow, we have to do it now." I had just laid down for a while, and before I could close my eyes, Xiao Wang came. ”

Commander-in-Chief Zhu smiled: "You can't blame me, if you want to blame, blame that little guy, he has to send us a telegram now, I can't help it, don't say it yet, you look at this telegram, we'll talk when it's over." ”

Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng took the telegram and read it carefully, the expression on Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng's face became more and more excited, until finally he laughed out loud: "Hahahaha, yes, it's really enjoyable, it is worthy of being the son of Lao Han, the tiger father has no dog!" It's really the style of my father!! ”

"Lao Peng, he is better than the blue, he is not as good as him, Xiao Huazi can be called an expert in war, hahaha!" Commander-in-Chief Zhu said.

Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng said: "Yes, yes, the most beautiful battle Lao Han fought was only the total annihilation of one of Chiang Kai-shek's infantry divisions, which was not as good as his son, and he defeated three provincial capitals in one month. ”

Commander-in-Chief Zhu said: "The losses are indeed a bit big, but they are worth it, we should laugh at them compared to the losses of the army." I want to go to Chahar after a while, after all, they fought such a beautiful battle, it is really inappropriate for us leaders not to take a look, what do you say? ”

"That's right, you should have taken a look, besides, this kid has captured so much this time, but our side has suffered heavy losses, so we should go to Xiaohuazi to turn into a relationship!"

Commander-in-Chief Zhu smiled: "That's not necessary, even if we don't open our mouths, Xiao Huazi will hand over some of the captures, after all, he also knows that the headquarters is not having a good time now." ”

In the cave of Yan'an [***], there are now the chairman, Vice Chairman Zhou, Ren Bishi, and Master Lin, who is recuperating in Yan'an.

The chairman held a telegram in his hand and said, "Enlai, Bishi, I have summoned you here so late because I have important matters to discuss with you. ”

Vice Chairman Zhou spoke first: "What is it?" Could it be that the battle situation on Chahar's side has changed again? I heard that the chairman has not rested for more than two days, and your eyes are bloodshot. ”

The chairman smiled helplessly: "I really handled this matter personally, who asked Comrade Han Yunhua to designate a few of us as 3A-level leaders." Okay, without further ado, I will read to you the urgent telegram that Comrade Han Yunhua just sent, this telegram was sent by Comrade Han Yunhua using a secret radio station and top-secret code, and the authorization level is 3A. ”

After the chairman finished speaking, the remaining major leaders immediately became serious, but they knew what the 3A represented, and Han Yunhua himself was only a military commander at the 3A level, which means that in the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region, only Han Yunhua himself and Shen Yuquan, the political commissar, had the right to circulate the contents of this telegram.

The chairman held the telegram in one hand and crossed his waist in the other hand and read slowly: "Respected Party Central Committee, [***]: Han Yunhua, commander of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and Shen Yuquan, political commissar, salute you on behalf of more than 100,000 officers and men of the entire military region. At the beginning of May 1938, the North China Front conspired to encircle and suppress our Inner Mongolia Military Region, and successively lured and forced hundreds of thousands of Henan refugees to go north into the jurisdiction of our military region, hoping to use homeless refugees who had nothing to destroy the economy of our military region and shake the prestige of our military region among the masses. In line with the purpose of serving the people in all the lives of the people of the Eighth Route Army, our military region mobilized almost all the reserve materials to rescue the refugees, and escorted about 400,000 young and middle-aged victims to the northwest of Shanxi Province. As a result of this, there was a large shortage of grain in the area under the jurisdiction of our military region, and the North China Front army took this opportunity to invade our base areas on a large scale. They successively fought bloody battles with the Yue army in Jining, Zhangbei and other areas, and inflicted heavy losses on the Yamashita Brigade, the 39th Infantry Brigade, the 26th Division, the 6th Division, and the 21st Division. At the beginning of July, Comrade Han Yunhua, commander of the Military Region, led more than 60,000 elite troops to fight in the eastern Hebei region, opening up the eastern Hebei battlefield, greatly disrupting the deployment of the Chinese army and forcing the Chinese army to slow down the pace of attacking the hinterland of our base area. Our army successively used tactics such as diverting the tiger from the mountain, attacking the east and attacking the west, and encircling the point to send reinforcements, and rationally coordinated positional warfare and guerrilla warfare, and successively captured Guyuan, Chicheng, Qianxi, Qian'an, Zunhua, Longhua, Weichang, Chengde, and other cities and counties heavily guarded by the Yue army, and organized and participated in leading the great uprising of the people in eastern Hebei, which dealt a heavy blow to the Yue army and the Yin Rugeng puppet regime, and seriously shook the foundation of the puppet army's rule in eastern Hebei. The North China Front of the Chinese Army was forced to urgently mobilize three divisions, two brigades, and a large number of puppet troops to attack our base area to support the devils in eastern Hebei, and forced the Yue Army to mobilize the Second Division, the main division of the Kwantung Army, to enter the customs to fight. Taking advantage of the favorable opportunity of the eastward advance of the main force of the Yue Army, our military region organized troops to capture Guisui, the provincial capital of Suiyuan, and Baotou, an important material base of the Yue Army, killed Lieutenant General Lian Nupan, commander of the Mongolian Corps of the North China Front of the Yue Army, and organized troops to launch a counteroffensive campaign, expelling the forces of the Yue Army from Suiyuan and northern Chahar in one fell swoop. Due to the gathering of more than 100,000 troops in eastern Hebei, after the instructions of the head of the headquarters, our department decided to cover the retreat of the armed uprising troops in eastern Hebei to Chahar, and in the process of retreating, the cavalry troops of our department attacked Chifeng, annihilated the defenders of Chifeng, and captured a lot. The duration and scale of this campaign were the longest since the formation of our army. In a month-and-a-half-month frontal battle, our army annihilated more than 37,000 Japanese troops, killed more than 28,000 puppet troops, captured 1,476 Japanese troops, more than 21,000 puppet troops, and 109 officers, including the commander of the major general brigade. 121 tanks, 175 armored vehicles, 212 military heavy trucks, 876 light trucks, 223 military motorcycles, and 3,245 war horses were seized. 812 artillery pieces, 1,249 heavy machine guns, 4,321 light machine guns, nearly 100,000 rifles, more than 3,000 tons of ammunition, and more than 300 million rounds of ammunition were seized, and at the same time, more than 30 million catties of wheat, rice, more than 40 million catties of corn and other coarse grains, and a large number of gold, silver, property, cultural relics and antiques were seized, which seriously damaged the economy of the enemy's theater and dealt a heavy economic blow to the Chinese army. Our Inner Mongolia Military Region lost a total of 32,145 regular troops and 38,251 wounded in this battle, with a casualty rate of 47 percent, of which the loss of officers was the most serious. At the same time, a large number of local security forces participated in the battle, and the losses were also quite serious, with preliminary statistics showing that the local security forces lost a total of 13,333 people, with a casualty rate of 71 percent. In this campaign, our military region lost 2,213 officers below the brigade level, and the losses were extremely heavy. The loss of strategic materials was also extremely serious, and our troops lost a total of 43,218 guns and 437 artillery pieces, including 48 field heavy artillery, but they were even more exhausted. When the war was going on, the army dispatched elite special forces, which almost destroyed the headquarters of our military region, causing irreparable losses........."

After reading the achievements of the Inner Mongolia Military Region during this period and its own losses, [***] spoke again: "Comrade Han Yunhua also mentioned in the telegram that our situation is still grim, and although we have gained the upper hand in this local war, as far as the anti-Japanese situation in the whole country is concerned, the army is still in an absolute offensive situation, and we are still in a disadvantageous position of being passively beaten. Therefore, Comrade Han Yunhua suggested that the CPC Central Committee occupy all the two provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan and turn them into logistics bases for our army. ”

Vice Chairman Zhou frowned and said: "The proposal is very good, the idea is also very novel, but the feasible surname is not big, although we now actually control these two provinces, but if we occupy these two provinces in such a blatant manner, then Chiang Kai-shek will have to turn his face with us, and it will be unfavorable to the overall situation." ”

Comrade Han Yunhua also had his opinion on this, and he also knew that Chiang Kai-shek would not willingly give up such a large piece of territory to us, especially in a provincial capital city like Guisui. However, Comrade Han Yunhua judged that the devils had suffered a big loss here in our Eighth Route Army, and they would not provoke us for the time being, and the devils wanted to find a place on the Chinese battlefield, especially the North China Front, which was deeply humiliated, would definitely launch a major war again to save the declining situation, and the target of the army was probably the national political axe, and further speaking, it was very likely that it was Wuhan, where the current political axe of the national political axe was located. So we should seize this opportunity to force the Nationalist Axe to essentially recognize our de facto leadership over Suiyuan and Chahar. Comrade Han Yunhua also said that when necessary, he could also promise to send troops to deal with the national political axe, or directly send the elite troops of the Eighth Route Army to participate in the big battle in the near future. You talk about Comrade Han Yunhua's suggestion, and there is no feasible surname, if it is implemented, how should it be acted? The chairman said.

Division Commander Lin, who had not spoken all this time, suddenly spoke: "Chairman, Vice Chairman Zhou, Director Ren, I think Comrade Han Yunhua's plan has a very feasible surname, the devil and the soldiers of the Inner Mongolia Military Region have fought fiercely for nearly two months, and they have suffered heavy losses. Not only did they lose their troops, but they also lost a large amount of military supplies, and now the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region have sufficient materials, food, weapons, and ammunition, and no matter how stupid they are, they will not pick the bad luck of the Inner Mongolia Military Region at this time. In this case, the national political axe has become the only target of the devils, and now the only strategic targets worthy of the devils are the big cities in the south, and the most coveted by the devils in these big cities is Wuhan. We also know that the devil's attack on Wuhan will definitely be from the ground and water, and the battle of Wuhan will be inevitable by then. Even if the army with the Nationalist Axe alone defeats the Yue Army, it will suffer heavy losses, and Wuhan may not be able to hold it, so whether or not the Nationalist Axe will send us a request for troops, we should be prepared in advance. Comrade Han Yunhua's strategic vision is far-sighted and accurate. I think Chiang Kai-shek will definitely use this to move our troops south, and at the cost of the territory we occupy, or rather the payment for our troops. As for how to send troops and what part of the troops, I haven't decided when to send them. ”

Division Commander Lin is a rare positional warfare expert in the Eighth Route Army, and he is also a military strategist with a very strategic vision, so Division Commander Lin's words still carry a lot of weight.

The chairman thought for a while and said: "Comrade Han Yunhua's proposal is very good, but there is still a lack of strong evidence that the devil is aiming for Wuhan, I think we should not do this, don't do anything for the time being, just do a good job of mobilizing the troops secretly, wait and see what happens, if the devil is really as Comrade Han Yunhua expected, then we will wait for the news from Lao Jiang's side." If Comrade Han Yunhua's judgment is not accurate, then we should take a temporary rest, anyway, all the troops are exhausted after such a long period of fighting. ”

"I'll see it!"

"Yes, this is a good ......."

………………………… Yan'an, when the cave meeting presided over by [***], Han Yunhua also presided over the battle summary meeting of the Inner Mongolia Military Region in Jining, and the meeting was attended by the military and political chiefs of the Inner Mongolia Military Region at and above the brigade level, including Han Yunhua, commander of the military region, Shen Yuquan, political commissar, Ye Baoguo, chief of staff and commander of the guard brigade, Yang Ruihua, director of logistics and commander of the Jining regional garrison, Guo Weidong, deputy director of the logistics department, Qian Zhuangfei, head of the intelligence department, Li Dayong, commander of the Saibei Military Division, Yang Guohua, political commissar, Liu Rui, chief of staff, Wang Jian, commander of the 77th Assault Brigade, Jiang Shaoxi, political commissar, Yang Chengwu, commander of the 1st Assault Brigade, Wang Yuanhua, political commissar, Wan Guoquan, commander of the 2nd Assault Brigade, Shi Zhaoqi, political commissar, Zhang Mingming, political commissar of the Guard Brigade, Lie Ge, commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, Ning Mingbo, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, and Tong Jiayong, political commissar. Also present at the meeting were Deng Hua, Song Shilun, Li Yunchang, and others, and Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo had just withdrawn from Chahar and returned to the headquarters to make a work report.

At the beginning of the meeting, Han Yunhua carefully explained the results and losses of this battle to the generals attending the meeting, which was slightly different from what Han Yunhua reported to Yan'an and the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and the "conjecture" about the attack on Wuhan was not mentioned later. It's not that Han Yunhua is no more than the generals here, but that the fewer people who know about confidential things like that, the better, just to prevent trouble.

After talking about the results of the losses of the enemy and ourselves in the past two months, Han Yunhua said: "In view of the fact that the situation is still grim, I discussed it with the political commissar, and after the instructions of the head of the headquarters, the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region were reorganized, and at the same time, all the troops now stationed under the jurisdiction of the Inner Mongolia Military Region were sorted out, and preliminary training was conducted for these troops, including the fourth column of Song Shilun and Deng Hua. Now let me talk about the reorganization plan of the original units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region: All the units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region are unified into three reinforced infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade, one mechanized brigade, and one artillery brigade. All the units of the Saibei Military Subdivision were reorganized into the Guisui Garrison Brigade, which has 88 regiments (2,645 people), the first garrison regiment (2,500 people), the second garrison regiment (2,500 people), the third garrison regiment (2,500 people), the cavalry regiment (1,300 people), the artillery regiment (1,500 people), the engineer regiment (1,200 people), the guard battalion directly under the brigade headquarters, the baggage battalion, the military hospital (company level), and the reconnaissance company. The brigade commander is Li Dayong, the political commissar is Yang Guohua, and the chief of staff Liu Rui. The total strength of the brigade is 15,200 people, and the defense area is Guisui City. The original Yang Chengwu's No. 1 Assault Brigade is still called the No. 1 Assault Brigade, but the establishment of the unit has been changed, and the No. 1 Assault Brigade has under the jurisdiction of the New First Regiment, the New Second Regiment, the New Third Regiment, the New Fourth Regiment, the Cavalry Regiment, the Artillery Regiment, the Engineer Regiment, and the Guard Battalion, the Baggage Battalion, the Military Hospital (Company Level), and the Reconnaissance Company directly under the brigade headquarters. The brigade has a total of 15,700 men, and the defense area is all the territory east of Xinghe County that belongs to the Inner Mongolia Military Region. The 2nd Assault Brigade, the Guard Brigade and the 77th Reading Brigade were merged into the 77th Reading Brigade, which has jurisdiction over the 99th Regiment, the 1st Baotou Garrison Regiment, the 2nd Garrison Regiment, the 3rd Garrison Regiment, the Artillery Regiment, the Cavalry Regiment, the Engineer Regiment, and the Guard Battalion, the Baggage Battalion, the Military Hospital (company level), and the reconnaissance company directly under the brigade headquarters. The 1st Supplementary Corps and the 1st Provisional Reading Brigade were combined into a mechanized brigade, with the commander of the mechanized brigade being Wan Guoquan, the commander of the 2nd Assault Brigade, Shi Zhaoqi as the political commissar, and Ning Mingbo, the chief of staff. The defense zone and establishment of the mechanized brigade have not yet been determined. The artillery brigade has three artillery regiments, namely the 75mm field artillery regiment, the 75mm mountain artillery regiment, the field heavy artillery regiment, and a logistics transport regiment. The brigade commander is Liu Wenhua, commander of the fire support regiment, and Tong Jiayong, political commissar, and the combat mission of the artillery brigade is to cooperate with other brigades and provide effective artillery support. The 1st Cavalry Brigade and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade were merged into the Cavalry Brigade of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, which has four cavalry regiments, a fire support regiment and a special combat team of the cavalry brigade. The commander of the cavalry brigade, Xi Leg, and the political commissar Ning Mingbo, the brigade is 8,795 people. The remaining units of the cavalry brigade and the cavalry units cut from each regiment will be combined into a temporary cavalry corps, under the jurisdiction of five cavalry regiments, the general captain is Barth, and the number of cavalry corps is about 7,000 people. The Second Reading Brigade and the Second Supplementary Corps were reorganized into the Infantry Reading Corps, which is an infantry unit assigned to the command of the General Headquarters of our military region, and is organized into six Reading Regiments, with no general commanders for the time being. ”

The brigades under Han Yunhua's command suffered heavy losses in the great battle during this period, and almost every brigade had less than one-third of the remaining regular troops. Therefore, the total number of these three brigades that have been reorganized is less than 50,000, which is almost all the regular infantry strength of the Inner Mongolia Military Region. In addition, there are less than 80,000 troops directly under the military region, mechanized brigades, artillery brigades, and cavalry brigades, which is a full 30,000 fewer than two months ago, and there are still many new recruits here. What broke Han Yunhua's heart the most was the three brigades of the Second Assault Brigade, the Guard Brigade and the 77th Brigade of Reading Force, each brigade had more than 8,000 people before the expedition, plus each brigade had several regiments that were not organized, so when they first set out on the expedition, each brigade had no 12,000 people, and now the three brigades add up to less than 12,000 people, which is two-thirds less than the original. It was still far from the regulations of four infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, one artillery regiment, and one engineer regiment stipulated by Han Yunhua, and Han Yunhua had no choice but to withdraw more than 5,000 people from the first supplementary corps to supplement the newly formed 77th Brigade of Reading Force.

(To be continued)