"Yaga, incompetent!" When Seishiro Sakagaki received a telegram from the front, he saw the casualty report on it and asked for urgent reinforcement. Replenish the soldiers, replenish the troops. The 5th Division has been reorganized several times, and the previous losses in Shanxi were the largest, but this time a detachment actually killed and wounded thousands of people, and even Linyi has not been completely taken, for the 5th Division, which is known as the Steel Army, it is simply a shame.

"Division, Your Excellency the Division Commander, Division, Commander is here!" Suddenly, there was a loud report outside.

"What, the commander is here." Sakagaki Seishiro only reacted that Terauchi Shouichi's car had already driven directly into the camp.

"Sakagaki-kun, how's the situation on your side?" Shouichi Terauchi asked as soon as he got out of the car. Although the Fifth Division had reported to him before he came, the previous information was outdated for the rapidly changing battlefield, and Terauchi Shouichi cared about first-hand news about the battlefield. And what comes out of the mouth of Seishiro Sakagaki is undoubtedly much more vivid than that of a telegram.

"The incompetence of the lowly position has disappointed His Excellency the Commander." Seishiro Sakagaki leaned over with a guilty face. "But please give your Excellency the commander some more time to the humble position, the humble position will definitely take Linyi and pave the way for the army to capture Xuzhou."

"Time? What is lacking now is this, the Zhi Na Army, I'm afraid it may not give us enough time to react. Shouichi Terauchi sat on a chair in the headquarters one by one, and the momentum on his body was discharged.

"Division, Your Excellency Commander, what's wrong with you? Is there a change that is very unfavorable for us? Seishiro Sakagaki was extremely surprised, in his eyes, Shouichi Terauchi has always been a very strong style, but now he looks at Shangyun, but it seems that he has suddenly aged several years. It is obviously impossible for Terauchi Shouichi to have such a situation, it can only be that the current war situation has undergone a huge change that is extremely unfavorable to the Japanese army.

"You guessed right. The Chinese army was too tightly concealed this time, and successively transferred a group army through Henan, and was moving south from the north, and the empire got the information a little late, and it was the main force of the elite 20th Army of the Central Army of China. There were at least five divisions. Terauchi Shouichi's face was a little discouraged.

"What? At least five divisions of the Central Army? Sakagaki Seishiro's face suddenly became ugly, if this enemy army was budgeted before the start of the war, although the burden of the Japanese army was a little heavier, it would not make him lose his temper so much. Or the North China Front and the East China Dispatch Army can directly postpone the time of the battle. Or this time, as before, the main force of the Central Army can be quickly defeated. Occupy Xuzhou, then all the problems in front of you will be solved. But at this juncture, it is also the 20th Army Corps, which is very elite in the enemy's army, and its combat ability and equipment are much stronger than the Sichuan Army and the Lu Army that they faced before.

"Your Excellency Commander, even if it is the 20th Army Corps of the Chinese Army, as long as we fight for a certain number of casualties, we can still take Xuzhou. It's just that it takes longer. Soon Seishiro Sakagaki gritted his teeth again. When it came to the end, they had no better choice.

Shouichi Terauchi let out a long breath, and the battle he had been fighting for so long had really made him feel exhausted. He didn't know what Seishiro Sakagaki said. It's just that for Seishiro Sakagaki, as long as he wins the battle, he must also take into account the time and cost of this battle. Otherwise, as the initiator of this campaign, he will have to bear a certain responsibility.

Jingle bells

The phone in the command room rang frantically, and just now Shouichi Terauchi came in, Seishiro Sakagaki sent everyone else out. After walking a few steps to the phone, I was about to ask what was going on, but the latest information was already reported on the phone in a hurry.

Syllable! The phone slipped from Sakagaki Seishiro's hand to the table, and the sound of smashing made Terauchi Shouichi's heart skip a beat, as a division worker, if it wasn't for very unfavorable news, Sakagaki Seishiro would never have been so out of shape.

"What's going on?" Shouichi Terauchi asked calmly.

"The troops of about one army of the Northwest Army of China have arrived in western Henan and are moving in the direction of the operation of our front army, and besides, they should have dispatched a mechanized brigade." Seishiro Sakagaki's voice was a little dry.

"What?" Shouichi Terauchi suddenly stood up like a burning buttocks, and his face became even more ugly than before. From the bottom of his heart, since the 5th Division and the 10th Division were blocked one after another, Terauchi Shouichi began to worry in his heart, just as Zhang Zhibang said, this time the Japanese army made a mistake in strategy. Because the Battle of Xuzhou was not the original intention of the Japanese army base camp, it was a war launched by some Japanese generals led by Terauchi Shouichi on their own initiative. Attempts to tie the base camp to their chariots had to continue on the road of full-scale invasion of China.

Due to the private actions of the North China Front Army and the East China Dispatch Army, there was a certain disconnect between the base camp and the Xuzhou side, and if Terauchi Shouichi could solve the main force of the enemy army in the direction of Xuzhou in three times and five by two, then all problems would be solved. But the bad thing is that a planned blitzkrieg turned into a protracted war. After all, the base camp's support for North China was still slow, especially in terms of troops, as the Northwest Army inserted a foot in the direction of Xuzhou, the already unfavorable situation was suddenly worsened.

"Your Excellency, what shall we do now?" Seishiro Sakagaki was a little out of shape, the gravity of the situation had exceeded his expectations, and Tang Enbo's 20th Army was already a great trouble. He and Terauchi Shouichi have already made preparations to pay a certain price. But now there is a much more difficult enemy than the 20 Corps. Although intellectually there is only one corps of the Northwest Army. But after a long period of fighting, the Japanese army also has a very thorough understanding of the Northwest Army, and an army of the Central Army of the Republic of China cannot be compared with the Northwest. If you have to compare, you even dispatched the Northwest Army, which had a mechanized brigade that made the Japanese army smell it. Compared to Townenburg's 20th Army, I am afraid that it is not much closer. This is beyond what they can now accept. If the response is not good, among the more than 200,000 Japanese troops who launched the Battle of Xuzhou this time, I am afraid that more than 100,000 people will be trapped. This was simply an unacceptable heavy loss for the Japanese army.

"So far, the only way to do this is to ask for full support from the base camp, and at the same time ask for help from the Kwantung Army. In addition, the Yizhou detachment was asked to immediately attack Taierzhuang, and the Segu detachment fully cooperated with its actions. Success or failure is here, and the blame from the base camp afterwards is to blame, and all the responsibility is borne by me! "Terauchi Shou's face is pale at the same time, but also a resolute color.

"Hello!"

Seishiro Sakagaki was full of admiration, and to be able to give such a decisive order, for a general of the First Army, it required no less courage than a direct disembowelment. But the current situation does not allow them to hesitate in the slightest. As high-ranking generals of the Japanese army, they are very clear about the current situation in China; since the beginning of the war, the Japanese army has only 17 permanent divisions and regiments, and it has rapidly increased its troops, and now there are more than 800,000 troops directly in North China and East China alone, and if you add the number of dead in battle, the total number has reached nearly one million. At this time, the troops stationed on the mainland, Taiwan, and North Korea were compressed to the point of considerable tension. Even if the mainland further recruits and mobilizes, it is absolutely impossible to send a few more divisions to the North China battlefield in a short period of time.

Except for the Kwantung Army, which occupied the entire northeast, which had intensively expanded its army, and now it had reached 9 divisions, there were no troops to be adjusted elsewhere. However, even the Kwantung Army, in the face of the Northwest Army Headquarters that was moving more and more in Suiyuan, did not dare to take it lightly, and it was necessary to be vigilant at any time against the Northwest Army Headquarters copying the Pingsui Road from Suiyuan and copying the entire North China Front Army. At the same time, it was necessary to guard against the threat of the Soviet Union, and the troops could not easily twitch. It's just that the situation of the army in North China is critical to a certain point, and there are really no other places to have enough reinforcements except for the Kwantung Army. Whether it was to end the battle at this time or to ask for help from the Kwantung Army, it was the national policy of the base camp that was shaken. I'm afraid that even if the battle is won, Terauchi Shouichi will not be able to escape the involvement.

"Commander, Commander, good news!" Xu Zuyi took a telegram and pulled Li Zongren, who had just fallen asleep, out of bed overnight with a flushed face.

"Brother Yan Mou, this battle has to be fought, and I have to sleep, I haven't slept well for a few days, and I just lay down and was woken up by you. Judging by your look, it should be good news, where is Tang Enbo? Won? Li Zongren looked at Xu Zuyi and said with a wry smile.

"This time it's not just Tang Enbo who came, even the Northwest Army came, at least one army, and it was the soldiers and horses of the Northwest Army headquarters, including a mechanized brigade, and the Northwest Army was all elite this time!" Xu Zuyi's heart was still difficult to calm down for a while at this time. The hand holding the telegram was still trembling slightly.

"What? Even the mechanized brigade was dispatched, well, great! ”

Li Zongren suddenly fell asleep, since the Julu battle, which has refreshed the world's largest tank battle in the past ten years, the mechanized brigade of the Northwest Army has become famous all over the world, not only Li Zongren, but also foreign countries, and the Northwest Army should take a high look. This world, after all, is a world that convinces people with force. In the past, when the mechanized brigade of the Northwest Army supported Yang Hucheng and drove into Xi'an because of the Xi'an Incident, it certainly surprised everyone. But until Langfang, or this time after the Battle of Julu, the mechanized brigade of the Northwest Army was like a 10,000-year-old rock in front of the giant wave, not only for the Northwest Army, but also for ****, and it was also a heavy, reliable, and a steel division that I believed in from the bottom of my heart. Li Zongren is naturally no exception.

Even now, on the battlefield around Xuzhou, the tanks and armored vehicles of the Japanese army are still the life-and-death enemies of the Central Army. But with the arrival of the mechanized troops of the Northwest Army, most of these threats have been diluted, not that the armored troops of the Northwest Army can be anxious about what they are anxious about, but now on the battlefield in Xuzhou, there is a strong force that can restrain the Japanese tanks.

"The outside world has always rumored that Jiang Li is arrogant and arbitrary. But now it seems that his emphasis on the big picture is far beyond these rumors. Otherwise, relying solely on the 500,000 troops of the Fifth Theater, it would be difficult to successfully defeat the Japanese army. Xu Zuyi couldn't help but say.

"Yes, before he executed Han Fuyu, I still have some prejudices against him. It seems that he was wronged. While Li Zongren was delighted, he nodded thoughtfully, "If you have a chance to meet in the future, you must get acquainted." This battle has to be fought, Songhu, Nanjing, our central army was defeated. This is a godsend, so be sure to make a splash! Take a telegram to the chairman of the committee to report the battle situation in the Fifth War Zone, and take another telegram to Jiang Li, the soldiers of the Republic of China should be united in the same spirit, and the Fifth War Zone will work together with him to annihilate the Japanese army on the battlefield in Xuzhou and win a frontal victory in the first battle! ”

After that, Li Zongren, who was excited, slapped the eaves of the bed. That little bit of sleepiness has long dissipated without a trace, and this night, pay attention, is a sleepless night, whether it is for the Central Army or for the Japanese army.

When the Japanese troops in the northern section of the Jinpu Road began to advance south from Zou County, in addition to transferring Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps to the Fifth Theater, when Li Zongren lost Lincheng, he concentrated his forces to encircle and annihilate the Japanese troops advancing south of Jinpu Road in the area south of Lincheng. The main force of this operation was the 20th Army Corps of Townenburg, which was more prominent in the Central Army. The 52nd Army led by Guan Linzheng and Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army rushed south.

At the same time, the Japanese Seya detachment set out from Yixian to Taierzhuang before the attack, encountered a regiment of the 31st Division, and after the Japanese repelled the cavalry search team of the 31st Division and annihilated the top soldiers of the 183rd Regiment, they repelled a battalion of the 183rd Regiment in the mud ditch, but from the mouth of the prisoners, the Seya detachment got a shocking news. The four divisions of the 20th Army Corps of the Central Army of the Republic of China have arrived around Yixian one after another.

At the same time, the order of the front army also arrived, and the Seya detachment was ordered to attack the area near Taierzhuang as planned, and to respond to the Sakamoto detachment in the direction of Yizhou. After the two divisions met, they moved to the main forces of the front army. After receiving this fucking order, if it weren't for the fact that there were many soldiers next to him, Kei Seya would have greeted all the women in the Terauchi Shouichi's family.

It's just that at this time, the central army in Xuzhou will not stop at all because of the danger of the Japanese army, and will only further beat the water dogs. The next day, in order to support the offensive operations of the 20th Army Corps, the Central Air Force took off more than a dozen bombers and successively bombed the Japanese troops at the level of Hanzhuang and Lincheng. It's just that there are too many variables in this era of war. The main forces of the 20th Army did not arrive at the scheduled offensive positions at the scheduled time. Until the evening, the 85th Army was still in the Baoqinggu Mountains, and only the 52nd Army of the Guan Lin Expedition arrived. So that the Japanese Seya detachment got a day of respite. Perhaps in order to show the importance attached to the Battle of Xuzhou, perhaps it was the rare relative superiority of the Central Army in this general battle, or perhaps to deter some unruly senior generals in the Fifth Theater, Chairman Chiang, Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of the General Staff, and the director and deputy director of the Military Command Department arrived in Xuzhou one after another. Inspection of the Fifth Theater of Operations. (To be continued.) )