Chapter 63: He is illiterate

During the more than one month that Ma Zheng had been training troops in the southern Cha area, tremendous changes had also taken place in the battlefield in North China.

In order to support the fighting in Xuzhou, the Kuomintang fought hard for more than three months in Lunan. However, due to the fact that the Japanese army was in full swing, although the units of the Fifth Theater suffered heavy casualties, they could not stop the Japanese troops in North China from moving south.

On the evening of March 15, the 33rd Brigade of the Japanese Army Seya Kei arrived at Teng County, an important town in southern Lunan from the east, and then immediately reconnoitred the nearby terrain and made offensive arrangements, attacking Knee County with Chichai Yaezo's 10th Wing, and at the same time using Fukuei Zhenpei's 63rd Wing to go around to the Nansha River south of Teng County to block the reinforcements of the defenders.

The 10th Wing began its attack on the morning of the 16th, first with artillery fire preparations, with about 30 guns continuously bombarding the city and the city walls, followed by the 6th Heavy Bombardment Brigade stationed at Nanyuan Airport, Ryuichi Shimada, bombarding Teng County.

The 5 battalions of the 122nd Division of the Sichuan Army, which defended the city, responded calmly to the battle under the leadership of the division commander, General Wang Mingzhang. At 2 a.m. on March 17, the enemy's 10th Wing opened two gaps in the eastern city wall of Tengxian County, and then attacked the city from here, but was repulsed by the defenders.

At noon, the enemy continued to storm the eastern city with artillery and air force to cover its infantry, and the city wall was blown down in several places, and the Japanese troops poured into the city through these gaps, and were repulsed by the valiant defenders. However, Regiment Commander Wang Lin, who led his troops to bravely resist the enemy, died in the battle along with many soldiers.

By the afternoon, almost all of the 122nd Division, from division commander Wang Zhangming and below, were killed, and Tengxian County fell.

In order to commend the glorious deeds of the 122nd Division of the Sichuan Army in bravely killing the enemy in Teng County, the state erected a monument to all the officers and men of the division, and posthumously awarded the acting commander Wang Mingzhang with the rank of army general.

The Battle of Tengxian was not only a defensive battle for the Sichuan Army to block the southward movement of the 10th Infantry Wing of the Japanese Army, but also the most glorious prelude to the Battle of Xuzhou - Taierzhuang.

On March 20, the Japanese Isogu Division took advantage of the power of conquering Tengxian County, and under the cover of aircraft, concentrated 40,000 people, equipped with tanks and artillery, and launched a fierce attack on Taierzhuang, in an attempt to capture Xuzhou in one fell swoop.

Li Zongren led his troops to hold Taierzhuang with Sun Lianzhong, commander-in-chief of the 2nd Group Army, and Feng Yizhong, chief of staff of Tang Enbo, commander of the 20th Army Corps, led his troops to open the front of the Jinpu Railway, and turned into Lanling and its northwest Yungu mountainous area, luring the enemy deep and waiting for the opportunity to break the enemy.

The intention and deployment of the Military Committee of the Nationalist Government regarding the Taierzhuang Campaign was to defend the front line of the Taierzhuang Canal with the former Northwest Army's Sun Lianzhong Division, which was good at holding on, on the one hand, to prevent the Japanese army from penetrating Xuzhou, and on the other hand, to attract the arrogant and reckless Isogu Division to the southern area of Yixian County, and then to use the 20th Army Corps of Tang Enbo, which was hidden in the northeastern mountains of Yixian, to flank the enemy and gather and annihilate it.

By the 31st, the Kuomintang troops had completely surrounded the Seya detachment that had entered the Taierzhuang area. At that time, the Sakamoto detachment turned from Linyi to Taierzhuang to help, arrived at Xiangcheng and Aiqu areas, and flanked the 20th Army Corps. The corps immediately ordered the 52nd Army and the newly arrived 75th Army to besiege the Sakamoto detachment. After several days of fierce fighting, the Japanese inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army, and their plan to rescue the Seya detachment was frustrated.

Seeing that the rescue was hopeless, the Isoya Division decided to fight to the death, and killed them one by one. Although the Kuomintang army besieged with five times the strength of the army and paid a heavy price in casualties, it was difficult to destroy the enemy, and the war was in a stalemate for a while.

On April 3, Li Zongren issued a general attack order. The 52nd, 85th, and 75th armies of the 20th Army of Tang Enbo's division launched a fierce offensive against the enemy near Taierzhuang. The Japanese fought hard and occupied most of the markets. The Nationalist army launched barricade battles, counterattacking one after another, clearing out the enemy and recapturing the market occupied by the Japanese army.

The next day, the Chinese Air Force bombed the Japanese positions in the northeast and northwest of Taierzhuang with 27 aircraft. That night, the Japanese Seya detachment was overwhelmed, blew up the materials that were not easy to move, and fled to Yixian.

At 1 a.m. on 7 April, the Fifth Theater sounded the clarion call for a counteroffensive, and the left wing corps composed of Sun Lianzhong's 2nd Group Army and the right wing corps composed of Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps launched a large-scale counteroffensive in Taierzhuang and its vicinity. Sun Lianzhong, who had been defending and being attacked, heard that the counterattack was uplifted, and gave an order, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

The two sides launched street battles and hand-to-hand combat, and for a time, the guns and bullets in Taierzhuang City rained down, and blood flowed like a river. For the first time, the Japanese army was so stubbornly attacked by the Kuomintang army that it was quickly crushed. To the north of Taierzhuang, the sound of gunfire was getting thicker, and the Tang Enbo regiment had opened fire on the enemy. Isoya had fallen into a counter-encirclement and began to waver, ordering the troops to retreat on all fronts. At this time, the enemy army had become the end of the crossbow, the ammunition and gasoline had run out, many motor vehicles had been destroyed, and the whole army was devastated and fled in confusion. Li Zongren ordered the troops to chase fiercely, the corpses of the enemy soldiers were all over the field, all kinds of baggage were everywhere, and Isoya himself led the remnants to desperately break through.

After 4 days of fierce fighting, the Nationalist army inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese Seya detachment and Sakamoto detachment, and the rest of the Japanese remnants retreated to Yicheng and Zaozhuang on the 7th. In this campaign, under the personal command of Li Zongren, the main force of the 5th and 10th elite divisions of the Japanese army was defeated, more than 20,000 Japanese troops were annihilated, and a large number of weapons and ammunition were captured, which seriously dampened the arrogance of the Japanese army, and was a great victory for the Kuomintang in the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan.

When the news came that the whole country was excited, the battle greatly strengthened the confidence of the military and the people of the whole country in winning the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, boosted the morale of the anti-Japanese army, and proved that the "theory of the death of the country" was groundless.

At the same time, the victory in the Battle of Taierzhuang changed the international view of the future of the Sino-Japanese war. Since the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, most of the international community has taken a pessimistic view of the future of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. When the news of the victory in the Battle of Taierzhuang came out, some countries could not even believe it. This victory has raised China's international standing and added favorable conditions for winning foreign aid.

However, when the news of the victory in the Battle of Taierzhuang was all over the sky, some people were happy and some were worried, and the happy people were naturally Chairman Chiang and some Chinese people who did not know the truth, and Ma Zheng and the Japanese army were worried.

The Japanese suffered a defeat and are understandably worried, but Ma Zheng, as a Chinese, is he worried about what?

Ma Zheng was worried about the next battle situation, as a commander familiar with history, Ma Zheng's victory in the Battle of Taierzhuang was only a small victory in the local battlefield, and it was not enough to turn the tide of the Sino-Japanese national war.

In the next big war, the Nationalist Government will once again be beaten by the little devils and will not be able to find the north. It will not only lose Xuzhou, the north-south transportation hub, but also most of Henan.

Despite his knowledge of history, Ma Zheng was unable to help the Nationalist government. First, he is humble and light-hearted, and no one will listen to him even if he suggests to Lao Jiang. Second, his Duqi Brigade is now stationed in Chanan, thousands of kilometers away from Xuzhou Station, and even if he has the heart to help, he can't do anything.

In addition, Ma Zheng was worried that it was already mid-April, and according to historical records, the Japanese army would approach Xuzhou in May. Once the Japanese army freed up from Xuzhou, then the target of the Japanese attack would become his Duqi Brigade, so Ma Zheng felt the need to make some preparations.

Otherwise, when the little devil frees his hands, then he will become a fish on the board, this kind of thing Ma Zheng absolutely does not want to see.

Peiping. Command of the North China Front.

A large solid wood desk sits in a lavishly decorated room, and two people sit across the desk. One is the notorious commander of the North China Front of the Japanese invasion of China, Toshiichi Terauchi, and the other is Aiko Sato, the newly appointed head of the North China region of the Special High Division of the Japanese Military Department.

Aiko Sato put a thin piece of paper in front of Shouichi Terauchi and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, this is the information you want, all of which are information about the Department of the Tsuchibachi Ma Zheng. ”

Shouichi Terauchi took the material with both hands and said, "Good work, Miss Aiko." I'll report your exploits to the base camp, don't worry. ”

After saying that, he laid the materials flat on the desk and looked at them carefully. The more he looked at Terauchi Shouichi's face, the more ugly he became, and even a faint flush appeared, and he didn't know whether he was angry or excited.

After a long while, Terauchi Shouichi asked, "Miss Aiko, is this material accurate?" ”

"I don't know what Your Excellency Commander has any questions about, I can reply to you immediately!" Aiko Sato asked in a deep voice.

Terauchi Shou nodded and said, "Is Ma Zheng really only 28 years old, and he really hasn't received a systematic military education?" ”

"Hai, according to the information we have received, this person is indeed very young, and he is from a humble background, not only has he not received an orthodox military education before, but he has not even received a cultural education!" Aiko Sato said loudly.

"Nani, do you mean that the one who defeated the Imperial Army was illiterate?" Shouichi Terauchi asked incredulously.

"Hay, he's illiterate indeed!" Aiko Sato said loudly.