Liu Yimin stayed in the 13th Regiment and the first battalion for one day.

It was the first time that the soldiers of the 13th Regiment and the 1st Battalion were so close to the division commander, and when they saw the division commander personally guiding the tactical movements, they were all excited as if they were in the New Year, and they all looked forward to letting the division commander personally guide them.

Liu Yimin originally planned to come to check the training situation and leave, but he didn't expect that Qi Fengnian knew that it was not easy for the division commander to come here, and he was a backbone cadre that the division commander particularly trusted, thinking that the soldiers of the old first battalion had been personally instructed by the division commander and personally corrected the study books, so he wanted the division commander to stay in the army for a while longer, guide the soldiers' tactical movements, and correct the soldiers' study books. The purpose is to build up the self-confidence and pride of the cadres and soldiers of the 13th Regiment and the 1st Battalion.

Liu Yimin knew that the first battalion of the 13th Regiment was the sharp knife battalion of the Fifth Brigade, and he had accumulated combat exploits. He also knows the role of a sharp knife unit in the entire army, when did the old first, second, and third battalions he brought out disappoint him? Therefore, he readily agreed to Qi Fengnian's request, and directly let the troops concentrate, starting from individual tactical movements and infantry squad offensive and defensive combat training, one squad at a time. Especially for the use of the 38 big cover rifle, Liu Yimin taught a trick, that is, as long as there is someone in the ruler frame, one hit will be hit. After the soldiers tried it, it dawned on them, so it turned out to be like this!

In the evening, Liu Yimin stayed in the first battalion of the 13th Regiment and corrected the study books for the cadres and soldiers.

Qi Fengnian wrote a small article in his study book, which attracted Liu Yimin. Qi Fengnian wrote: "Since crossing the river to Shanxi to participate in the war, I have participated in the elimination of the main force of the Fifth Division, the capture of Taiyuan, the elimination of the Chahar Dispatch Corps, the capture of Tianjin, the defense of Linqing and other battles. During the battle, I found that the devil's marksmanship is particularly good, and he basically shoots at it. This is something we have never done when we fought [***]. In the past few days, I have been thinking that if we meet the elite of the Yue army, in the case that both sides are not ready, it should be said that the Yue army and us are half a catty. It just depends on who takes advantage of the terrain first. The shooting that the army is good at has already been seen, and the bayonet they are good at has not yet had a chance to see. Because the division commander has always emphasized the use of bullets to talk to devils, it is basically equivalent to prohibiting fighting with the army with bayonets. I think that the original intention of the division commander was to reduce the casualty rate of our army. However, as the sharp knife battalion of the whole brigade, our battalion must not lose to the Yue army in terms of momentum, and I will definitely lead the soldiers to compete with the Yue army when I have the opportunity, and directly see the red with bayonets, so as to completely destroy the fighting will of the Yue army. ”

Liu Yimin pondered for a long time, and felt that winning battles all the time had made the cadres and soldiers arrogant, and the troops that could fight must be arrogant, but if a guerrilla warfare master like Qi Fengnian wanted to fight with the devil with a bayonet, it would be dangerous, so he directly instructed in Qi Fengnian's study book: "The troops who dare to see red with bayonets are the hard troops." The reason why I emphasize the use of bullets to speak to the enemy is that I demand that commanders at all levels establish the idea of fighting a skillful battle and not fight with the enemy to attrition. When is the time for our army to fight the enemy with bayonets? That was the last choice of our troops when they were fighting to the death against the enemy when they were exhausted by ammunition. It is a discipline to prohibit commanders at all levels of our army from arbitrarily organizing and stabbing with the enemy during the course of battle. ”

After writing it, he called to pray for a good year and asked him to carefully read his criticism, revisit the essence of our army's flexible and mobile strategy and tactics, and never underestimate the enemy.

Qi Fengnian knew that the division commander was afraid that he would fight to the death with the devils, how could he be so stupid, but he was not convinced by the army's stabbing skills, and wanted to find a chance to compete with the devils, but it was not that he forgot the principle of teaching the instructor that the division commander had always emphasized. Seeing that the division commander made such a solemn correction and explained it face-to-face, Qi Fengnian said: "Please rest assured, I know that the strength of our army is not to fight with the army with bayonets, but also to ambush and attack with large results and small casualties. However, if the soldiers are short-handed, it is the division commander who said that the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road, and even if they fight with bayonets, they must also fight a bloody road. ”

Liu Yimin nodded, discussed the tactics of the army with Qi Fengnian for a while, and then continued to correct the soldiers' study books. This batch of changes was overnight, and it was not until dawn that Liu Yimin stood up and stretched his waist, kicked his legs, moved a little, and took the guards back to the division headquarters.

Just when the instructor was resting and dividing his troops in the Culai Mountains, the army concentrated its efforts on repairing the Jinpu Railway, and the defense of Tengxian and Linyi on the southern line of the Jinpu Road kicked off.

The commander of the 10th Division, Lieutenant General Ryosuke Isotani, was a very complex figure. He was born in Hyogo Prefecture, where he graduated from the 16th class of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School with Seishiro Itagaki and Kenji Dohihara, and graduated from the Army University in 1915.

However, unlike Seishiro Itagaki and Kenji Dohihara, Ryosuke Isoya did not want to go to Army University at that time, but wanted to come to China. Because his father-in-law, Aoki Xuanjun, the first generation of China experts in the Yue Army and the originator of the Yue Army's espionage in China, once told him that his life's work should be in China. The second is that although Ryosuke Isoya is also one of the four major Chinese generals of the army, he belongs to the South China faction of the Chinese branch of the said army, and mainly studies the development of Sun Yat-sen's faction, while Seishiro Itagaki and Kenji Dohihara both belong to the North China faction of the Chinese general of the army, focusing on the northeast and north China. Third, during his tenure as deputy military attache of the Legation in China and the Embassy in China, Ryosuke Isoya became acquainted with Sun Yat-sen, and he had great respect for Mr. Sun Yat-sen, but he was never interested in Chiang Kai-shek.

Before the Lugou Bridge Incident, Isoya Ryosuke belonged to the part of the army that did not advocate expanding the scope of the situation, but once the war began, Isoya Ryosuke still put on the battlefield and played the role of a vanguard, going all the way south from Pingjin to capture Jining. This time, Ryosuke Isoya suddenly felt that the middle [***] team was not enough, and he knew that the middle [***] team was poorly equipped and had low combat effectiveness, but he didn't expect it to be so bad and low to this extent.

It wasn't until the last meeting to aid Tianjin, when the vanguard of the 10th Division was heavily damaged by the cavalry battalion of the 4th Brigade in Cangxian County, that Ryosuke Isoya suddenly understood that the instructors of the Eighth Route Army were different from ordinary Chinese troops, the infantry had strong firepower, and they were good at using mines and explosives. In front of this army, the imperial army did not have the slightest advantage. In desperation, Ryosuke Isoya transported the destroyed tank directly back to Yumoto and asked the military personnel to study it to see if they could know what weapon it was destroyed.

After the troops returned to Shandong, when fighting the southern section of Jinpu Road, Isoya Ryosuke was a little cautious, constantly hoarding ammunition and supplies, and it took half a month to reconfront Tengxian alone. Therefore, the destruction of Jinpu Road by the instructor had little impact on the 10th Division for the time being. Now, Isoya Ryosuke has figured out the number and deployment of the [***] team defending in front of him, and knows that it is the 22nd Group Army of the Sichuan Army that is the poorest equipped in the [***] team to defend the line from Jiehe to Tengxian, and the Pang Bingxun Corps of the Northwest Army is defending Linyi, the last trace of worry in Isoya Ryosuke's heart has completely dissipated, and he will immediately become heroic, and this old devil is going to make a move.

According to the operational plan of the Second Army, Major General Lai Wuping of the Eighth Brigade of the 10th Division commanded the 39th Wing, which was supplemented with some cavalry, engineers, and artillery, to attack Linyi, and the new commander of the 33rd Brigade, Major General Seya Kei, led the 10th Wing and the 63rd Wing, with some cavalry, artillery, and chariot units, to form the Seya Detachment to attack in the direction of Tengxian, and Ryosuke Isoya led the 40th Wing and the cavalry wing, field artillery wing, engineer wing, and baggage wing directly under the division to serve as reserves. Among them, the baggage wing ensures the safety of arms supply and transportation.

After repeatedly studying the battle plan of the Second Army, Ryosuke Isoya formulated an operational plan for containing the Eastern Front and outflanking it head-on. With Major General Lai Wuping commanding the 39th Wing commanding the Imperial Allied Army's advance commander-in-chief Liu Guitang to reinforce the frustrated attack in the direction of Linyi into the 6th Brigade, capture Linyi, attract the help of the [***] team, reduce the pressure on the frontal battlefield in Teng County, and then concentrate the Segu detachment to attack the first line of the Jiehe, resulting in a decisive battle in the Jiehe River, while the attention of the Zhong[***] team is focused on the Jiehe, leave a part of the troops to monitor the defenders of the Jiehe, and the main force of the Seya detachment intersperses the past, and capture Tengxian with the main force of the 10th Wing. The 63rd Wing made a direct detour to the south, seized Lincheng, disrupted the defensive deployment of the [***] team, and let the Chinese defenders on the front line of the Jiehe River collapse without a fight. After that, the Seya detachment went south with all its strength and captured Xuzhou.

Ryosuke Isoya made up his mind to capture Xuzhou with the strength of one division of the 10th Division and add another glimmer of glory to the battle flag of the 10th Division. Therefore, at the combat meeting, he said to the brigade commanders and wing commanders under his command that let the 5th Division and the 16th Division contain the [***] team, and it is enough to have the 10th Division!

At dawn on March 18, four days later than the historical battle for the defense of Tengxian, the 10th Division of the Yue Army started in Tengxian.

The defense of Teng County was the 22nd Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, which was adapted from the Deng Xihou Department and Tian Songyao Department and Li Jiayu Department, which were known as monkeys in the Sichuan Army. After the death of Liu Xiang, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, Deng Xihou returned to Sichuan to govern on the order of the Nationalist Axe, and Sun Zhen was promoted to commander-in-chief of the 22nd Group Army. When the group army was reorganized, it had jurisdiction over three armies, the 41st, 45th, and 47th armies, with two divisions in each army, two brigades in each division, and two regiments in each brigade, for a total of 24 regiments. After going to the Shanxi battlefield, in the Niangziguan battlefield, due to the unknown situation, he rashly entered the battle, and was broken by the army, losing nearly half, Sun Zhen ordered the reorganization, and each brigade was reduced to one regiment per brigade. Li Jiayu's division of the 47th Army later stayed in the southeast battlefield of Jinjin, and the actual strength of the 41st Army and the 45th Army in Tengxian County at this time had a total strength of 8 regiments and about 20,000 people.

Yan Xishan thought that the equipment of the unit was too poor, the combat effectiveness was too low, and it was useless to stay in Shanxi, so he refused to supply it. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to transfer him to the command of Li Zongren, the commander of the Fifth Theater of Operations, who was willing to accept it.

After reporting to the Fifth Theater, the 22 nd Group Army received some supplements from the Fifth Theater, and in addition to replenishing light and heavy machine guns and hand grenades, Li Zongren also managed by all means to purchase a part of the large tobacco and send it to the 22 nd Group Army. The 22nd Group Army was immediately transferred to Tengxian County for defense, with the headquarters located in Lincheng, and the 45th Army as the first-line troops, commanded by Chen Li, commander of the 127th Division; The 41st Army was a second-line unit. The 45th Army took Tengxian as its base and built fortifications on the front line of Jiehe, Xiangcheng, Jiushan, Wangfuzhuang, Zhangzhuang, Houjia, and Jinshan to block the enemy's attack. The 372nd Brigade of the 124th Division of the 41st Army was stationed in Tengxian County and was responsible for the defense of the city; The 370th Brigade of the 124th Division was stationed in Shenjing, northwest of Tengxian County, to cover the left back of the front-line position of the 45th Army. The 122nd Division is the general reserve of the group army, located on the line of Taierzhuang and Hanzhuang. By 10 March, the situation of the army's daily reconnaissance and infiltration of small units was already obvious, and the 22 nd Group Army judged that a major war was imminent, and readjusted its deployment in order to hold Teng County. The headquarters of the 122nd Division and the 364th Brigade were moved to Tengxian County. At the same time, the headquarters of the 124th Division was stationed in Tengxian County from Li Guoyi. Sun Zhen appointed Wang Mingzhang, commander of the 122nd Division, as the front commander of the 41st Army; Zhang Xuanwu's regiment was stationed in Beishahe from Nansha River and deployed a second line of defense; Wang Wenzhen's regiment was stationed in front of Pingyi and Chengqian from Hanzhuang to cover the right back of the front-line position of the 45th Army and to prevent the flank attack of the Linyi army.

At this point, the 22nd Group Army had completed its deployment and was ready to wait for the attack of the army.

The attack of the Yue army began, at first it was only a squad-scale tentative attack, and at 8 o'clock, the starting position of the army attack was completed, and the squadron-scale attack began.

The bombers of the Japanese army were in the sky, and the tanks of the Japanese army were on the ground, and the Seya detachment concentrated more than 20 artillery pieces to bomb non-stop. The defending troops of the 45th Sichuan Army were undaunted, and opened fire with light and heavy machine guns and rifles at the same time, stubbornly blocking the enemy.

When Sun Zhen, commander-in-chief of the 22 nd Group Army, learned of the army's large-scale attack, he immediately rushed to the front line to inspect and held an operational meeting in Beishahe to further deploy defensive operations.

Sun Zhen graduated from the first phase of the Infantry Department of the Baoding Army Military Academy, at the age of 46, which can be regarded as half a life. This person was the uncle of the later famous Sun Yuanliang, who was the father of the famous Taiwanese film actor Qin Han. It can be said that when you see Qin Han's screen image, you know Sun Zhen's appearance.

The situation in front of him made Sun Zhen worried, he knew very well the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army, and he also saw the offensive momentum of the army, but he couldn't figure it out, although the offensive of the army was fierce, it was mainly a fire attack, and the scale of the infantry involved in the attack was not large. Under such circumstances, the 45th Army could still hold on to its positions. If the army gathers forces for a large-scale assault, the position will probably be precarious.

Knowing in his heart that it was very difficult to block the Yue army north of the Jiehe River, Sun Zhen did not take chances, and led the generals to recite Liu Xiang's last words in unison at the combat meeting: "The war of resistance to the end will always be unswerving, that is, the enemy army will not withdraw from the border, and the Sichuan army will not return to its hometown!" After reciting, Sun Zhen ordered each division to set up a supervising team to kill the soldiers who abandoned their positions and fled the battlefield without permission.

By the afternoon, the army had intensified its attack and began to attack on the scale of a brigade. A tragic scene appeared, the Sichuan soldiers holding the Sichuan rifles fought to the death with the Yue army who rushed up on the position, and behind them was the muzzle of the black hole hole of the warlord's team, and every soldier could only die on the position.

The Sichuan army, which did not retreat from the fight, simply blocked the devil with flesh and blood, and after a day of fighting, the army only captured the forward positions such as Kanbu, Baishan, and Huangshan, and the main position on the first line of the Jiehe River was still in the hands of our army.

In the evening, Wang Mingzhang, the former enemy commander of the 41st Army in Tengxian County and the commander of the 122nd Division, met his nephew Wang Pengju.

When he was in Liaocheng, Wang Pengju, head of the Propaganda Section of the Political Department, reported to Liu Yimin that he wanted to ask for leave to visit his uncle Wang Mingzhang. As soon as Liu Yimin heard the great joy, someone gave him a pillow when he was dozing off, and immediately called Zhu Zhexiao, deputy director of the General Staff Office, picked up a pen and drew a topographic map of Xuzhou on paper, and then explained in detail to Zhu and Wang about the future development of the Xuzhou battlefield, and then told Zhu Zhexiao that Wang Pengju's uncle Wang Mingzhang was now near Taierzhuang and Hanzhuang. Once the army attacked south, Wang Mingzhang's troops would inevitably transfer Tengxian to the north to support the 45th Army in the battle and stick to the county seat of Tengxian. If measures are not taken, Teng County will inevitably end up destroying the city. Sacrifice for the War of Resistance was originally the highest honor for a soldier, nothing. The key is that sacrifice may not be able to stop the devil. The key to the defense of Tengxian County was not to stubbornly defend the county seat, but to take the initiative to harass the enemy's troops, contain the frontal enemy with a part of the force, and concentrate superior forces to ambush the enemy's troops who attempted to raid Tengxian and Lincheng in a roundabout way. It is also necessary to organize small units to constantly attack the army at night, delay the enemy, fatigue the enemy, and make it impossible for him to move south quickly. If this cannot be achieved, we should increase the depth of defense, arrange more defensive lines, resist at all levels, and defuse the sharp situation of the army's attack. Special attention should be paid to the fact that once the enemy encircles Tengxian or Lincheng in a roundabout way, the front-line troops on the front line of the Jiehe River must be controlled by key generals, and the troops must not be allowed to disperse, and they must quickly move and retreat to support operations in other directions.

Liu Yimin's remarks, Zhu Zhexiao has long understood it. Liu Yimin told the two to rush to Tengxian County to meet Wang Mingzhang, and Zhu Zhexiao assisted the Sichuan army in formulating a battle plan, but it was absolutely impossible to expose the position and combat intentions of our army.

After the two left the army, they made a detour to southwest Lu, and finally arrived in Tengxian on the first night of the war.

Du Fu said that the beacon fire even for three months, the family letter is worth 10,000 gold, and now he has seen his very beloved nephew with his own eyes, Wang Mingzhang's joy is indescribable, and he immediately arranged for the two to eat, while eating, he asked Wang Pengju what he has been doing in the past few years, why is it not running around with such a good business in Chengdu? How can you still be a melon baby when you're so old.

Wang Pengju had something in his heart, knowing that Yue Jun might make a detour to the south tomorrow, and he didn't answer Wang Mingzhang's words, so he finished the meal, which allowed Wang Mingzhang to send the staff guards away and began to introduce himself and Zhu Zhexiao's identities to Wang Mingzhang.

(To be continued)