Jinan, the base camp of the army sent a command post.

Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo had not slept all night, and was busy with the operational staff officers in the war room checking the map and designing an encirclement network, and although the 20 reserve divisions and regiments urgently mobilized by the base camp had not yet arrived at the Chinese battlefield, as the supreme commander of the Jinan front-line command post directly dispatched by the base camp, Lieutenant General Okabe had to come up with a detailed battle plan in advance.

Just after three o'clock in the morning, the communications staff officer walked in with a stern expression, and said uprightly: "Your Excellency General, the Linyi Military Police Brigade has just sent an urgent telegram, the headquarters of the 5th Division was attacked by the special forces of China half an hour ago, and Your Excellency Sakagaki, Your Excellency Sakurada and all the staff officers in the headquarters have all been shattered!" ”

"What?" Lieutenant General Okabe's eyes widened when he stared, "All the jade shatters?" ”

"Hello." The communications staff officer bowed his head abruptly and said, "After the special forces of China attacked the headquarters of the 5th Division, they successfully broke through and their whereabouts are unknown, Nakamura Shaozo reminded His Excellency the general, and at the same time, please tell all the commanders of the imperial army in North and Central China to be vigilant and beware of the special attack of the special forces in China!" ”

"Baga, when did the people of China also have special forces?" Lieutenant General Okabe was still a little incredulous.

But soon, a terrible thought floated in Lieutenant General Okabe's mind, could there be another conspiracy for the Chinese special forces to attack the headquarters of the 5th Division? If it was just to hunt down the high-ranking generals of the Imperial Army and demoralize the Imperial Army, then His Excellency Terauchi in Beiping seemed to be more valuable than His Excellency Sakagaki.

But the Chinese special forces chose His Excellency Sakagaki in Linyi, could it be said that this is related to the Battle of Lunan?

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Okabe couldn't sit still any longer, and immediately said, "Quick, contact the Sakamoto detachment immediately!" ”

The communications staff officer took the order and left, and soon came back with a solemn expression, and said: "Your Excellency, General, the Sakamoto detachment has lost contact!" ”

"Huh?" Lieutenant General Okabe's expression suddenly became more and more serious, and he added, "Contact the 10th Division immediately and ask if there is anything unusual over there?" ”

The 10th Division called back quickly, and everything was normal.

Hanzhuang and Taierzhuang are only fifty miles apart, although a fierce battle broke out when the Sakamoto detachment broke through from Taierzhuang, but the 10th Division of Hanzhuang's army thought that it was [***] attacking at night, and did not pay enough attention, and the Sakamoto detachment also thought that Sakagaki Seishiro had coordinated with the 10th Division, so it did not say any hello to Hanzhuang's army.

This situation seems a bit strange, but in fact it is very normal, and it is related to the tradition of more than a dozen permanent divisions and regiments of the army.

In the 17 permanent divisions and regiments of the Chinese army, most of the lower-ranking officers and ordinary soldiers are from civilian backgrounds, and it is absolutely forbidden to enforce the order, but most of the generals above the rank of division commander are from famous families, so they like to make their own opinions, and in actual combat, they have repeatedly broken through the strategic bottom line set by the base camp of the Chinese army, and most of the divisions and regiments are not convinced by each other and show signs of not convincing each other.

For example, Seishiro Sakagaki brazenly entered Shanxi without the permission of the base camp!

For example, Nakajima Sadao, Tani Toshio, and Ogisu Libing led their headquarters to cross the Wufu Line and burn the battle to the Nanjing Theater without the permission of Matsui Ishone, while before the 18th, 13th, and 6th Divisions crossed the Wufu Line, the base camp actually did not want to continue to expand the Battle of Songhu, let alone occupy Nanjing.

Another example is the battle of Lunan Isoya Ryosuke and Sakagaki Seishiro, the base camp of the army and the commander of the North China Front Terauchi Shouichi The original order was only to let the 10th Division occupy Jinan, and at the same time let the 5th Division open up the Jiaoji Railway, but the two old devils of Isoya Ryosuke and Sakagaki Seishiro took chicken feathers as arrows and directly burned the war to the Lunan area.

General Terauchi Shouyichi, the commander of the base camp of the army and the North China Front, found that the defense along the Jinpu Railway was so empty, so he quickly revised the battle plan, ordering the 10th Division to quickly move south along the Jinpu Railway to occupy Xuzhou, and at the same time ordering the 5th Division to move south along the Weitai Highway to protect the flank of the 10th Division.

In this way, there is a plan for the two strategic directions of North China and Central China to meet the army in Xuzhou!

In short, it was precisely because the division commanders of more than a dozen permanent divisions of the Yue Army had the tradition of "disobeying orders" that Sakamoto's detachment did not inform Hanzhuang's 10th Division before retreating, because Sakamoto Shun was not sure whether this breakthrough was because His Excellency Sakagaki had some major schemes, and if the 10th Division was notified, wouldn't the 10th Division have to share the credit?

In the final analysis, factional disputes and morale battles actually exist everywhere, and they also exist within the army, but they are not as exaggerated as within [***].

Receiving the news he wanted from the 10th Division, Lieutenant General Okabe couldn't help but feel anxious.

Although the news of the assassination of Seishiro Sakagaki and the termination of the headquarters of the 5th Division is very shocking, it does not pose much of a substantial threat to the entire North China army, but if the Sakamoto detachment is destroyed in advance, the consequences will undoubtedly be quite serious, and the entire plan for the Battle of Lunan will come to naught!

However, there are still several hours before dawn, and it is inevitable that aviation units cannot be sent to reconnoitre.

As a last resort, Okabe had no choice but to urgently report the news of the attack on the headquarters of the 5th Division and the assassination of Seishiro Sakagaki and Takeshi Sakurada to the headquarters of the North China Front Army and the base camp of the Japanese army, and at the same time urgently ordered the military police brigade stationed in Linyi and the 5th Cavalry Wing under the 5th Division to contact the Sakamoto detachment by all means!

………… Wuhan Xingying, the official residence of Chairman Chiang.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, He Yingqin, the minister of military orders, hurriedly came to Chairman Jiang under the guidance of Wang Shihe, the chief of the national guard, and said excitedly before he could stand up and salute: "Commission, Taierzhuang is a great victory!" ”

"Oh?" Chairman Chiang's slightly narrowed eyes opened in an instant.

He Yingqin said: "Li Zongren has just sent an urgent telegram from Xuzhou, Huang Jie and other divisions under the Fifth Theater of Operations have completely annihilated the Sakamoto detachment of the 5th Division of the Chinese Army in the Wangchang River Valley, five miles east of Taierzhuang, in the early morning of this day, killing more than 5,000 enemies, capturing more than 30 cannons, more than 100 automobiles, more than 20 armored vehicles, and more than 5,000 long and short guns!" ”

"Annihilated the Sakamoto detachment?" Chairman Chiang's eyes lit up suddenly.

He Yingqin nodded heavily and said, "Yes, the Sakamoto detachment was completely annihilated in Taierzhuang!" ”

Chairman Jiang got up abruptly and said, "Is that the Sakamoto detachment that defeated Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang's more than 30 full-scale divisions in Shanxi?" Seishiro Sakagaki's troops? The so-called 'steel army' advertised by Xiao Yue? ”

"Yes, yes, it's that Sakagaki Division!" He Yingqin said, "The other half of the division, that is, the Guoqi Detachment, has been completely annihilated by the Baoshan Brigade on the Jiangpu battlefield, and now the remaining half of the division has also been completely annihilated by Huang Jie and them in Taierzhuang. ”

"Okay." Chairman Jiang said happily, "Great, so happy!" ”

He Yingqin paused, and then said: "Commission, the old devil Seishiro Sakagaki has also been killed!" ”

"Oh?" Chairman Jiang's eyes suddenly became brighter and brighter, and he said, "Seishiro Sakagaki was also killed?" ”

"Yes." He Yingqin immediately told everything that happened on the battlefield in Xuzhou as it was, but General Li was not greedy for merit, and reported the battle plan proposed by Yue Weihan and the fact that Yue Weihan personally led a special combat team to Linyi to attack the headquarters of the 5th Division and hijack the radio to convey false orders.

After listening to this, Chairman Jiang said with some emotion: "So, this time the Xuzhou battlefield was able to completely annihilate the Sakamoto detachment, and Yue Weihan's contribution is the greatest?" ”

He Yingqin nodded again and again: "Commission, you have a good student!" ”

After listening to He Yingqin's words, Chairman Jiang was noncommittal, and immediately instructed Wang Shihe: "Shihe, you should immediately make arrangements to invite all the envoys of Western countries in Wuhan, as well as the reporters of the Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, TASS, and Reuters reporters in Wuhan, and I will immediately hold a press conference." ”

He Yingqin saw that Chairman Jiang was about to leave, so he hurriedly took two steps forward and asked in a low voice: "Commissioner, how do you think this commendation order should be drafted?" Also, should the officers and men of the divisions who participated in the ambush in the Wangchang Valley also give a certain amount of bonuses to encourage the determination and morale of the front-line officers and men to resist and kill the enemy? ”

"You can just look at this." Chairman Jiang said, "I can rest assured that you will do things." ”

After that, Chairman Jiang turned around and left, but left the confused He Yingqin in place, General He never understood what Chairman Jiang's attitude was, listening to his tone, it seemed that he was not very willing to reward the Baoshan Brigade, but he wanted to reward Huang Jie and other divisions participating in the war, but how to grasp the degree in the middle, it was nerve-wracking.

………… March 10, the 27th year of the Republic of China (1938), 2 p.m.

Sensitive Western media reporters immediately guessed that [***] must have won the battle on the Xuzhou front, but before the news was officially announced, even the most daring and optimistic reporter of the Soviet TASSS news agency did not think that [***] would be able to completely annihilate the 5th Division of the Chinese Army.

Chairman Chiang hated this kind of occasion, but this time he personally attended the press conference.

On the rostrum of the press briefing hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State Government, the radiant Chairman Chiang and the well-mannered Madame Chiang attracted almost everyone's attention.

Chairman Jiang held the case with both hands, leaned forward slightly, and said in a unique local accent of Ningbo: "Ladies and gentlemen, today I bring you an exciting piece of good news, the National Revolutionary Army has just achieved an unprecedented victory on the battlefield in Xuzhou, and in one fell swoop completely annihilated the Banyuan Division, known as the 'Steel Army'!" Seishiro Sakagaki was also killed! ”

Madame Chiang next to her immediately took the microphone and translated Chairman Chiang's words to all the Western envoys and media reporters present in fluent and pleasant American English.

(To be continued)