Chen Cheng personally presided over the military meeting of the Right Corps to make arrangements for the next stage of the combat plan. Liu Qinghe is now a major general, with a division-level establishment and outstanding combat achievements, so he is naturally among the participants.

On the way to the meeting, the devil plane came to bomb again, and Liu Qinghe had to return to the command headquarters, while organizing the troops to prepare for the battle, and at the same time calling Chen Cheng's commander's department to ask for instructions.

At this time, Chen Cheng had received the information, and the devil had attacked again! There were not many troops in Yichang City, they were all command organs and other logistics organs of various departments, and most of the combat units were pursuing the Japanese army. Chen Cheng suddenly felt that the sky was falling, so he had to order the gendarmerie troops to organize a retreat. Liu Qinghe's phone call reassured Chen Cheng, telling him that the devil had killed him again, and ordered him to stick to the east of the city and cover the retreat of the institutions in the city.

Liu Qinghe's troops have procedures for combat, and even if the commander is not there, it will be chaotic, not to mention that Liu Qinghe is in command. Liu Qinghe finally ordered the air defense battalion to open fire, and the air defense battalion, which had been idle, finally got the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and a group of Buddha light flew into the sky, dividing more than a dozen devil planes into pieces, and the devil planes had to make a detour to bomb other areas of Yichang, Liu Qinghe took the opportunity to set up his troops: three infantry battalions built defensive positions outside the city, and each company had two flat-fire guns, approaching the front of the position; In front of the engineer battalion, flooded roads and bamboo sticks were set up in front of the mine array; The artillery battalion built artillery positions at the head of the city to provide fire support to the infantry battalion; The special battalion covered the retreat of the baggage battalion to the western mountains; The cavalry battalion guaranteed the retreat of the main forces; The anti-tank battalion maneuvers, ready to block devil tanks in all directions; The air defense battalion protects the safety of the airspace above the position......

The 13th Division of the Devil, which was at the end of the retreat, received an order to counterattack Yichang City, only to find that a cavalry brigade in charge of the rear of the palace was missing, and the chariot wing of the 3rd Division, which was hurriedly transferred to assist, took the lead.

Liu Qinghe received a report from the front, and the devils took the lead in attacking with chariot troops, so he sent an engineer battalion to attack again and arrange anti-tank mines.

The devil tank rushed through the flooded highway violently, and was blocked by the anti-tank minefield, and waited for the sappers to come up to clear the mines, and then the demining sappers were hit by the Wumu army with light machine guns, but fortunately, the fire of the devil tank could cover the sappers, and the sappers did not suffer much losses.

The sluggishness of the chariot troops caused a large number of devil infantry to block behind. Of course, Liu Qinghe would not miss the opportunity, and ordered the artillery battalion to fire a round of 10 rounds of firepower, causing heavy casualties to the devil infantry, and the devil tank immediately counterattacked violently, and the infantry battalion's flat-fire guns and the approaching anti-tank battalion's original and restructured armor-piercing flying mines were also immediately returned to color. The Wu Mu army and the chariot troops of the frontal devils fought together.

The devils who had occupied Yichang once were already familiar with the terrain and sent troops to carry out multiple detours.

Liu Qinghe reported to the Chief's Department, and he couldn't support it anymore! Chen Cheng called back, and every extra hour he insisted on, he would be rewarded with 100,000 oceans! Chen Cheng knew that Wu Mujun only recognized the ocean and did not recognize fiat currency! Liu Qinghe's telegram also meant to ask for a reward, otherwise the Wu Mu army would have lost a lot if it didn't fight this kind of blocking war that was not captured, and the Wu Mu army would have to earn money to pay the brothers in addition to fighting devils.

Liu Qinghe relied on strong firepower, reasonable equipment, and flexible tactics to block the devil until dark, and held out for 6 hours.

The Military Commission named this battle the "Battle of Zaoyi". At the battle review meeting, the stars were gathered, and only one star on Liu Qinghe's shoulder was the most dazzling: in Hanchuan, he defeated a reorganized Xiaochuan brigade of devils, and uprooted 9 strongholds and artillery towers; When going north along the way, they captured 27 Devil's Soldier Stations, Supply Depots, Oil Depots, Ambulance Stations, and Traffic Command Posts, and cooperated with the 29th Army to defeat the Devil's Luye Wing; Ying, Jing, and Zhong fought on the front line, and cooperated with the 3 important towns of the 29th Group Army, especially the Zhongxiang base; fought on the east bank of the Xiang River, cooperated with the 33rd Army to block the enemy, pursued, and killed countless enemies; Fighting on the west bank of the Xianghe River, he defeated two chariot wings of the devils, completely annihilated a cavalry brigade of the devils, and attacked 4 squadron headquarters, 1 brigade headquarters, and 1 wing headquarters; Blocking the enemy outside Yichang for 9 hours, covering the transfer of many troops, shooting down 23 devil planes and damaging 29...... The record of one division-level mobile brigade is worth the record of two group armies!

The chairman personally presided over the meeting and reviewed the gains and losses of the battle of Zaoyi:

The first phase of the operation was the Xiangdong operation: the judgment of the Central Military Commission was accurate and the deployment was correct; However, the various units were under-equipped, their combat strength was insufficient, their coordination was not good, and their secrecy was incorrect......

The second phase of the operation was the Xiangxi operation: the Military Commission was poorly prepared, and the troops fought tenaciously with exhausted divisions......

Finally, the chairman of the CPPCC National Committee invited Liu Qinghe, captain of the "Third Mobile Brigade of the Third Theater Garrison Command in Southern Jiangsu," who had made outstanding achievements in combat, to share his experience.

Liu Qinghe didn't understand the rules of officialdom, didn't know that this was just polite, in order to boost the morale of the army, he actually believed it to be true, and explained the tactical tactics to the senior generals with higher ranks than himself: Speaking of the insufficient equipment and combat power of the troops, it is only one of the reasons, mainly because the tactical tactics are not suitable, and the equipment is far inferior to the devil, so don't fight a regular war, the position is against artillery fire, rifle against tank, and it is inevitable to suffer losses; **The tactics are too conservative, only knowing the blind position and city defense, and can't stand the devil's fierce artillery fire, with a short attack and a long shot, the defeat is not unjust; The Central Military Commission also deployed guerrilla warfare that took the initiative to attack, but the troops did not think so, or did not dare to divide their troops to attack, and they all failed, the main reason was that all units did not dare to fight close combat and melee. ** is to use the main guest, the devil is to invade the main with the guest, ** has the advantage of geography, people and people, the army should set up more tactics of using the micro terrain, using mountains and rivers to block the enemy, counterattack, surprise attack; Use the people's will to collect information on the devils, and when fighting the devils head-on, they must be supplemented by interspersed, infiltrated, and lurking forces to attack the command system, communication system, firepower system, transportation system, and logistics system in the rear of the devils......

Liu Qinghe didn't see that the chairman of the committee was already sad, and many high-ranking generals were also mocking, but he only saw the approving eyes of Xue Yue, Li Zongren, Feng Zhi'an, Wang Juxu, and others, and he was at a loss to know that he had hurt the self-esteem of many high-ranking generals.

After the meeting, Liu Qinghe was assigned to the chief ministry and appointed Liu Qinghe as deputy chief of staff of the Fifth Theater Commander's Department, mainly focusing on tactical training in guerrilla warfare, close combat, mountain warfare, and defensive operations, and at the same time decentralizing Liu Qinghe's troops to various units for guidance and training.

Liu Qinghe didn't know each other yet, and he took a lot of IOUs and receipts to collect the accounts: the guerrillas of the Fifth Theater received equipment, with a total of 51,000 yuan to supplement the soldiers; Most of the transactions of the 29th Group Army have been cleared in two, and there are still more than 17,000 yuan of the remaining balance payment. The 33rd Group Army deducted the equipment money for the two spy companies, and distributed 230,000 yuan of equipment to various departments of the 33rd Group Army during the melee, and Feng Zhi'an returned the amount and gave another 20,000 oceans to express his gratitude; defeated the Devil Chariot Wing, handed over 4 intact tanks, 3 armored vehicles, 39 scrapped tanks, and 7 armored vehicles to the commander's headquarters of the Right Corps of the Fifth Theater, totaling 116,000 yuan in the ocean, and the bounty of the Yichang City Resistance Battle was 600,000 yuan; Townenburg's 31st Army owes 25,000 oceans; Guo Chen's subordinate troops of the Yangtze River Defense Command in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River received a total of 26,000 oceans of weapons and ammunition......

Chen Cheng, Tang Enbo, Guo Chen, and others refused to pay the arrears for various reasons. Liu Qinghe was furious and reported to the Military Commission, and the Military Commission came forward with He Yingqin, Liu Qinghe didn't eat this set and threatened He Yingqin: "You also know that although Lao Tzu has the title of **, but he doesn't take the salary of **, they dare to owe Lao Tzu money, and Lao Tzu will have a way to clean them up!" ”

"They are all generals with heavy troops, I can't do anything about them, or I won't let them pay you back, what can you do with them? You can't go to war with them, can you? He Yingqin spoke softly and hardly.

"That's easy to do, I can't start a war with them, but I will send troops to provoke the devils around their defense area and let the devils do it with them!" Liu Qinghe gave He Yingqin a thorough explanation.

"But the unauthorized use of troops must be approved by the Military Commission, and you are violating military law by doing so!" He Yingqin is not something that can be frightened casually.

"First, our operations are not under the command of the Military Commission, you know; Second, even if I am restrained by the Military Commission, I am not afraid, I am a division-level unit, and combat operations below the regimental level can be autonomous, so I can send 1 or 2 companies! ”

"I'll talk to them again, don't be so stiff! They are all ** brothers, why bother? He Yingqin used the tactic of delaying the army again, planning to grind Liu Qinghe slowly, dragging on big things and small things, which is a common trick of officialdom.

I can't tolerate He Yingqin's delay, the opportunity has come!

The Military Commission announced that more than 26,000 Japanese soldiers were killed and wounded in the battle of Zaoyi, and 27 were captured. However, foreign journalists asked to meet with Japanese prisoners; He Yingqin agreed, but only later learned that it was the troops below who lied about the invitation, and it happened to be Guo Xin and Tang Enbo's troops. He Yingqin searched all the participating troops in the Zaoyi Battle, but he didn't catch a single prisoner---- except for Liu Qinghe's mobile brigade!

He Yingqin came to Liu Qinghe hard, Liu Qinghe just didn't give face, help me settle the arrears first!

He Yingqin asked Tang Enbo and Guo Cheng to repay the money, but there was no way to take Chen Cheng, the two of them were originally opposed, their strength was comparable, and no one would buy anyone's account! But Chen Cheng owes Liu Qinghe the most money! He Yingqin relaxed, why not submit the problem to the chairman, and also embarrass Chen Cheng by the way!

When the chairman of the committee learned of this, because the matter of prisoners of war was related to the national system, he helped Liu Qinghe to recover the arrears with a phone call, but he was contemptuous of Liu Qinghe.

Liu Qinghe not only left a bad impression on the chairman of the committee because of debt collection, but was also hated by Chen Cheng, Tang Enbo, and Guo Chen! But Liu Qinghe doesn't care, he admits money except for Tuesday dogs! To take prisoners, good, 1 10,000 oceans, no two prices! Guo confessed to report 6 captives, 60,000 oceans! Tang Enbo reported 21 prisoners, sorry, 210,000 oceans! Liu Qinghe also told the two that in the future, they would have to pay the money with one hand and deliver the goods with the other, and they would not owe it on credit!

Liu Qinghe went out to earn 2 million oceans for Wu Mujun, as well as a large number of supplies, and notified Wu Mujun to send someone to pick it up. On Tuesday, the dog sent people to pick up a large number of fortified materials, and sent a large number of equipment to Liu Qinghe to make up for the loss of battle: Buddha light flying thunder, meteor flying thunder, Qiguang submachine gun, stun bombs, long shotguns, heavy shotguns and ammunition, clay pot grenades, clay pot mines, clay pot grenades, and finally the anti-aircraft gun Wu Mujun also had no stock, let Liu Qinghe find a way by himself.

Liu Qinghe made up the equipment, and he spent a lot of effort to get a few anti-aircraft guns, this guy is too good at fighting tanks! Be sure to get a few more. Just thinking about it, the opportunity has come!

In order to fight back against Yichang, start bombing Yichang! In order to consolidate the defense of Yichang, the devil transferred a total of 1 infantry brigade, 1 heavy artillery wing, 16 100mm cannons, 1 anti-aircraft artillery wing, and 48 98-type 20mm anti-aircraft machine guns of the Yoshida detachment.

According to the reconnaissance of the special service battalion, the artillery of the devils is mainly distributed in the northwest direction of Yichang, defending against the counterattack of the troops and the air force air attack, the artillery positions outside the city on the west and north sides are deployed with 100mm cannons and 20mm anti-aircraft guns 8 each, and the other 32 anti-aircraft guns are deployed near the arsenal, the command headquarters, important infantry positions, and the artillery wing of the 13th Division, but the front of the devil's artillery position is guarded by the devil's infantry brigade and is difficult to approach.

Liu Qinghe didn't have much to do, so he sent a telegram to Liu Maoer and Wan Zixiong to ask for advice. It took a lot of work for the telegraph operator, but he didn't discuss a result, and because of the frequent dispatch of newspapers, he was bombed by devil planes.

A few days later, Lu Ao came. He came as an intelligence expert specially hired by the devil, and swaggered to find Liu Qinghe on the grounds of personal reconnaissance, bringing a large number of forged documents, accompanied by Noda Meixiu, this kid has now been firmly controlled by Lu Ao and has become Wu Mujun's own person.

Lu Ao and Noda Meixiu returned to Yichang City and took out a large number of the numbers, garrisons, and equipment of various units, which made Shizuichi Tanaka, the commander of the 13th Division of the Devil, very admired.

Noda suggested to Shizuichi Tanaka that the anti-aircraft guns were well deployed in important positions, but they also indicated targets for the Shina people, and that one or several more false targets could be built around important targets. Shizuichi Tanaka thought so and immediately deployed it to carry it out.

The devil's engineer wing grabbed the people to build false targets, and the special battalion was mixed in.

At night, the devil sappers at the construction site near the division headquarters, arsenal, and infantry positions were taken down by the special service battalion with stunned bombs, changed into devil uniforms, and drove into the devil's anti-aircraft gun position in full armor, and captured 12 anti-aircraft guns without blood, and then loaded the anti-aircraft guns behind the truck and swaggered to the east gate of the city to assemble, along the way with the fake documents made by Noda Meixiu unimpeded.

Out of the east gate, the devil found out that the anti-aircraft gun had been stolen, and when the anti-aircraft gun was found out, the anti-aircraft gun had been parked in front of Liu Qinghe.

Noda Meixiu and Lu Ao naturally couldn't get out of the relationship, but the two who were born as spies easily got through the investigation, cleared their responsibilities, and returned to Hangzhou innocently.

The Military Commission also set up the Sixth Theater with Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief, and Liu Qinghe led a team to the mountainous areas of northern Hubei to find Li Zongren because he had a stiff relationship with the ** general some time ago.

Liu Qinghe and the ** generals couldn't get along, and they couldn't live up to Li Zongren's trust, so they broke up the three infantry battalions and assigned them to various units to guide and train, and the special service battalion was responsible for itinerant supervision. The air defense battalion was transferred with the Fifth Theater Commander's Department to protect the security of the Commander's Department, free of charge; The artillery battalion and the anti-tank battalion are in their own hands, deployed according to the needs of the theater, and the combat capture is divided into separate discussions, and at the same time serves as the artillery and anti-tank training team of the fifth theater; Organize the engineer battalion and the surrounding gun dealers to set up an arsenal to produce flying mines, mainly meteor flying mines, javelin flying mines, as well as clay pot grenades, clay pot mines, and clay pot grenades, and invite Yuan Zhongwu of the Jiangbei Arsenal of the Wumu Army to do technical guidance, operate the captured devil repair equipment and repair guns for the fifth war zone; Devil military doctors and health soldiers are recruited into the health team, treating wounded soldiers, and is also responsible for training health soldiers for other troops, and also produces first-aid kits and green ointment; The veterinarians and grooms of the devils were incorporated into the cavalry battalion, and the cavalry battalion was responsible for procuring the necessary materials; The baggage battalion and the police general battalion moved with the brigade headquarters.

Since Liu Qinghe only produces a few products, the output is large: 50 units per day for the Meteor Flying Mine Launch Department, 200 units per day for the Javelin Flying Mine Launch Department, 200 units per day for the Clay Pot Grenade Explosion Department, and 20 units for the High-Explosive Explosion Department, depending on the seizure situation or the supply of Wu Mujun; 500 clay pot grenades and clay pot grenades per day, 100 clay pot mines per day, at the same time; It also drives the production of kraft paper in surrounding villages; The first-aid kits produced by the health team are uncertain due to the availability of gauze and medicines, but they can produce 20 cans of green ointment per day.

Because of the huge consumption of the war, Liu Qinghe's arsenal and pharmaceutical factory are not enough manpower and materials, fortunately, many wounded soldiers returned to the team, and the disabled soldiers were taken back to Xishan by Tuesday Dog for resettlement. As for the lack of supplies, Liu Qinghe was transferred back to two companies of the special service battalion to participate in procurement and looting.

Because the Fifth War Zone was originally underdeveloped, these cheap and practical weapons and medicines were in short supply, and Liu Qinghe also made a fortune, earning 1,000 yuan a day, becoming the largest arms dealer in the Fifth War Zone, and also set up a special trade class to be responsible for negotiating material exchanges with various troops.

(Note) In fact, Chen Cheng and Guo Cheng are not scoundrels, but seeing that Liu Qinghe has made a lot of money and is worried about chasing the arrears, he is very unbalanced, and he wants to give Liu Qinghe some problems, but unexpectedly arouses Liu Qinghe's stubbornness. Therefore, the dispute between Liu Qinghe and Chen and Guo is purely a battle of will between generals.

In particular, Guo Xin is an extremely talented general. In the Battle of Zaoyi, Li Zongren ordered the main force of Guo Chen's Jiangfang Army to rely on the positions on the right bank of the Xianghe River and the Dongjing River to make every effort to block the Japanese army from crossing the river. When the three divisions of the Japanese army launched an attack in the direction of Yichang, Guo Chen had no troops to call on at all, so he could only urgently ask Chongqing for reinforcements. After receiving Guo Chen's urgent telegram, the Military Commission quickly mobilized the 18th Army to aid Yichang. Guo Chen withdrew from Yichang with his headquarters, and the 18th Army was forced to abandon Yichang in the face of fierce attacks by three Japanese divisions. After that, although Guo Xin once commanded the 18th Army to recover the city, before half a day had passed, the Japanese army ordered the 13th Division to launch a counteroffensive, and Yichang fell again.

The loss of Yichang shook all walks of life in Chongqing, and it was only then that the authorities began to pay attention to the defensive deployment in this direction, and at the same time, in order to investigate the responsibility for the loss, Chen Cheng ordered Guo to be arrested and sent to Chongqing to face military trial. Guo was sentenced to five years in prison.

In fact, the responsibility for the loss of Yichang mainly lies in the judgment of the 5th Theater Commander's Department, and Guo once raised objections when the troops were transferred, so Guo confessed on behalf of others.

Half a year later, Chen Cheng tried his best to protect Guo Confession in front of the chairman of the committee, and with the approval of the chairman, "Guo confessed to serve in the Sixth War Zone Governor's Department and was paid a major salary." Chen Cheng then ordered Guo to act as chief of staff. After that, Guo Chen assisted Chen Cheng in organizing a counter-attack on Yichang twice in September 1941 and May 1942, but due to the tight defense of the Japanese army, Yichang was never recovered. Later, Guo Xin planned to organize many battles, and effectively repelled the attacking Japanese army in the Battle of Western Hubei, especially the 11th Division successfully held the Shipai Fortress, which was the key to winning the battle; After the end of the Battle of Western Hubei, the officers and soldiers participating in the battle were all awarded, among which Guo Xin was promoted to the second-class Baoding Medal, and officially resumed the rank of lieutenant general and the post of chief of staff of the theater.

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