Tao Rong said with some emotion: "Commander-in-chief, I admire you very, very much now!" ”

Tao Rong's abrupt words made Song Zhewu stunned, now he is scratching his head for Deng Baoshan's abnormal marching deployment, and he hasn't done anything proud? How could Tao Rong suddenly admire herself for no reason? Could it be that now he already has the legendary overlord aura that he often has on the pig's feet in the time-traveling novels he saw in his previous life? A casual gesture can make the heroes of the world return to their hearts?

Song Zhewu stretched out his hand and raised his leg to look at it suspiciously, but he didn't find any difference from usual.

Tao Rong didn't understand Song Zhewu's thoughts, looked at Song Zhewu and continued: "When I first came over with Division Commander Li in Hubei, I was very dissatisfied with the commander-in-chief's insistence on breaking up and reorganizing the troops of the original Nineteenth Army that we brought. Now that I think about it, we really live the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain! ”

Song Zhewu didn't understand what Tao Rong meant, and was just about to explain why their troops were broken up and reorganized. Tao Rong continued to take care of herself: "The commander-in-chief, this dissident is so good!" An army can only be a united whole, and there should never be another dissident group within it, otherwise it will definitely deviate from morality, which will have a great impact on the success or failure of this force, and even destroy the entire army. ”

Tao Rong pointed to the other side and said: "Just like Deng Baoshan in Zhengzhou, although he retains the command of his own troops, but because he is self-contained, whether he is in the Central Army, the Northwest Army or Tang Shengzhi's Fifth Route Army, he is considered to be a dissident who is different from various systems. For example, the Eighth Army is not only the strongest in combat effectiveness, but also the most convenient for him to go to Zhengzhou, but he sent Deng Baoshan, a unit with low combat effectiveness, which is obviously Tang Shengzhi's desire to use Deng Baoshan's troops to fight with us, and wants his descendant Li Pinxian's Eighth Army to pick up cheap. Deng Baoshan is not his descendant of Tang Shengzhi, Tang Shengzhi just doesn't feel distressed; Deng Baoshan knew that Tang Shengzhi wanted to use his troops as cannon fodder, but he had no choice, and he naturally didn't think about how to win the battle, he only thought about how his troops would suffer fewer losses. Unless they have an absolute advantage, or if we make a big mistake, it will be a strange thing if they can win the battle. ”

Tao Rong said sincerely: "It's still the commander-in-chief who has done the right thing, all the units that have joined the Fourth Route Army in formation must be broken up and reorganized, and the number of officers must be used, each unit is a unit of the Fourth Route Army, and it is also the descendant of the commander-in-chief. Only in this way can the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Route Army be guaranteed, and there will be no internal friction. ”

Hearing Tao Rong say this, Song Zhewu was very happy! All along, Song Zhewu was always afraid that the officers of the broken and reorganized troops would be dissatisfied with him and have resistance to him. But now Tao Rong, the person with the largest official position and the highest prestige who joined the Fourth Route Army from other troops, can have such an understanding, which makes Song Zhewu completely relieved.

Song Zhewu decided to take this opportunity to talk carefully to Tao Rong about the meaning of the reorganization, so he said with a smile: "Chief of Staff Tao, you said it well!" Indeed, if there is a unit in any unit with relative reading ability, even if it is a relative reading ability in terms of ideology, it will certainly bring great harm to the development of this unit and have a serious impact on its combat effectiveness. Because almost all people will be wary of troops that are not absolutely able to obey their orders, they will inevitably have to take care of their own descendant troops in terms of equipment, personnel, and the distribution of combat missions. One of the biggest harms of this is that it will inevitably cause the generals to be centrifuged, like Tang Shengzhi treats Deng Baoshan like this, after a long time, Deng Baoshan will inevitably have a second heart; Even if there is an open-minded, impartial, and selfless officer, such a problem will also occur. As far as the assignment of combat missions is concerned, it is very difficult to deal with. This is because all combat missions are light and heavy, difficult and easy, but as long as he hands over difficult and dangerous tasks to troops that are not his direct descendants, the other side will think that this is his intention to exclude and crack down on dissidents. There is only one way to avoid this situation, and that is to leave all the difficult and difficult tasks to his own descendants, but he cannot always leave all such tasks to his own troops, if so, then his own descendants will also be dissatisfied with him, or even separate from him, so that he will be displeased with both ends. The reason why I insisted that all the troops that joined the Fourth Route Army must be broken up and reorganized was based on this idea. This is also the only solution. ”

Song Zhewu said earnestly: "Just as Chief of Staff Tao said, an army can only be a whole, and there must be no individual existence from the outside and as a whole. In the Fourth Route Army, there can only be one whole, one core, and all of us are part of this whole, and I, Song Zhewu, am the only core. After all the troops that joined the Fourth Route Army were scattered and reorganized, there was only one unit, and that was the Fourth Route Army, and all the troops of the Fourth Route Army were my Song Zhewu's troops, and they were all my descendants. I also asked Chief of Staff Tao and Division Commander Li, Canxuan, and Xiangfei to talk about this matter, so that they could all understand this truth. ”

Tao Rong nodded solemnly and said, "Please rest assured, the commander-in-chief, not only to tell them, but also to those regiment commanders and battalion commanders if there is a chance." ”

After a pause, Tao Rong said again: "Commander-in-chief, I think we should adjust our operational deployment now, if we are still waiting for Deng Baoshan to attack at the entrance of the garden, we will be a little passive." If Deng Baoshan blindly delays and does not take the initiative to attack us in order to avoid losses, it will take a lot of time. Once Li Pinxian's Eighth Army comes up, a regiment south of the bridge will be bitten by them, and then there will have to be a big battle, otherwise it will not be easy to withdraw to the north of the bridge safely. In that case, Tang Shengzhi will be beaten too hard, and we will have a lot of casualties, especially Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan, who are probably very dissatisfied with the commander-in-chief. I see if I should order a regiment not to wait for the other side to attack, but to take the initiative to attack, defeat Deng Baoshan's sudden forward regiment, and then quickly withdraw to the north of the bridge. Defeating or even destroying a regiment of Tang Shengzhi's Fifth Route Army could provoke Tang Shengzhi without hurting his muscles and bones, and Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan would not be too annoyed. ”

Song Zhewu thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay!" Just do this, just to tell Zhang Yafei that the first regiment is ordered to fight quickly, and Li Pinxian's Eighth Army is about to arrive. In addition, the second regiment in the north of the bridge should be notified and ready to receive the first regiment. ”

In the regimental headquarters of the first regiment at the bridgehead on the south bank, the commander of the first regiment, Xu Fang, the deputy commander of the regiment, Li Zhe, and the chief of staff, Wang Xiaotian, were also helplessly studying the enemy situation, and the company of Deng Baoshan's forward had already arrived one mile in front of the garden entrance, and was establishing an offensive position there, and the battalion that followed behind was about to arrive, but the regiment further behind had just left Liyuan Village, and Deng Baoshan's large army had not yet arrived in Liulin Town.

Li Zhe said angrily: "This Deng Baoshan is said to be a think tank figure in the Northwest Army, and he is also a person who has fought for more than ten years, so he arranged for his troops to attack us?" This is clearly to give us this battalion and this forward Lianbai. The division commander said that he wanted us to beat him hard, but these few hundred people were not enough for us to stuff our teeth. Besides, as soon as we fight this company, I can guarantee that the troops behind will run away. ”

Seeing that Xu Fang and Wang Xiaotian were silent, just lowered their heads and looked at the map, Li Zhe snorted stupidly. Li Zhe is an old man who is with Xu Fang, and he is also a militant influenced by the belligerent style of Xu Fang, the head of the regiment.

After looking at the map for a while, Xu Fang and Wang Xiaotian raised their heads almost at the same time, Xu Fang looked at Wang Xiaotian and said with a smile: "My chief of staff, what do you think?" ”

Wang Xiaotian also smiled and said: "The head of the regiment must have an idea, listen to you, or you should say it first." ”

Seeing that Xu Fang was just smiling and not making a sound, Wang Xiaotian knew Xu Xin's thoughts, and he joked with a dry smile: "Come on, I'll say it first, we can't let the head of the regiment be demoted again!" I'll carry this black cauldron. ”

Li Zhe hurriedly urged: "No matter who says it first, you say it!" I'm in a hurry, I'll carry the black cauldron, just say it. ”

Wang Xiaotian nodded and said to the two: "If according to the order of the division headquarters, we wait for Deng Baoshan's regiment to arrive, and then beat him hard, it is estimated that it is very likely that Deng Baoshan's large army will arrive at that time, and we will at most let them pay more casualties, and it will be difficult to achieve great results." Moreover, in the unlikely event that we and Deng Baoshan's large army get into a stalemate, if Li Pinxian's Eighth Army arrives at that time, we may not be able to retreat immediately, and we will have to wait until the evening to safely withdraw to the north of the bridge. And once the confrontation starts, our casualties will not be small. Deng Baoshan arranged his troops like this, I think he just didn't want to fight with us, but he didn't dare to disobey Tang Shengzhi's orders, this was obviously using this battalion to perfunctory Tang Shengzhi, and even he was ready to give up this battalion to protect his large army. Since they have no fighting spirit, we can crush this battalion with a single charge, and then pursue it, and these defeated soldiers are likely to crush the regiment behind, and we can also defeat this regiment in a quick battle. Even if the defeated army did not overwhelm them, with our superior firepower, we could easily deal with the regiment of Deng Baoshan's department, which had no fortifications to rely on in the field. Before Deng Baoshan's large army arrived, we had already withdrawn and prepared to cross the river. ”

Without waiting for Xu Fang to express his position, Li Zhe said impatiently: "Regiment commander, I think the chief of staff's method is successful, this is better than waiting here......

However, Li Zhe immediately remembered that this was inconsistent with the order of the division headquarters, and last time it was because Xu Fang changed the order without authorization and did not report it, which led to Xu Fang's dismissal. Li Zhe swallowed back the following words, thought for a while and said to Xu Fang: "Regiment commander, this plan is feasible, hurry up and report our plan to the division headquarters." ”

Xu Fang smiled and said to Li Zhe: "Are you kid afraid that I will be demoted again?" You must know that when I am demoted, Commander Song will have to spend a thousand oceans to comfort me! Mengxi was also promoted because of this. It seems that you, the deputy regiment commander, have to work for a while, and the chief of staff is about to be promoted. ”

Xu Fang then said solemnly: "However, it is certain to win according to the chief of staff's method, but the results will not be great, and the regiment is estimated to be basically defeated by us with one charge, but the division commander wants us to fight hard, and we must beat Deng Baoshan hard." Therefore, as soon as the battalion behind Deng Baoshan came up, we first gave him a shell to welcome him, and then our battalion at the bridgehead immediately launched a charge; At the same time, the 2nd Battalion at Huayuankou began to quickly penetrate to the village of Biyuan from the west, and the 3rd Battalion also penetrated to the village of Biyuan on the east side along the railway, and attacked him from both flanks after encountering that regiment; Removing the wagons for ammunition on the train that had been left for us to carry the baggage, and keeping only the sections for carrying the grain, he ordered the machine gun company of the fourth battalion and an infantry company to form an assault team, and quickly rushed to the rear of Deng Baoshan's regiment by car, blocked their retreat, and cooperated with the other three battalions to encircle and annihilate the regiment; The rest of the 4th Battalion and the artillery regiment, the baggage regiment and the troops directly under the regiment remained at the bridgehead. What do you think of this arrangement? ”

"Good!" Li Zhe and Wang Xiaotian applauded almost at the same time, and Xu Fang's method of quickly transporting troops to the enemy's rear by train was really clever.

Wang Xiaotian added: "I also have to explain to the battalions and ask them to try to make a quick decision." In addition, if Deng Baoshan's large force arrived, the machine gun company would use artillery fire to block and delay the opponent, and all units must immediately retreat regardless of whether they annihilated the regiment or not. I see that we will immediately set up and report our battle plan immediately. ”

Xu Fang nodded in agreement, and was about to give an order, when the communication staff officer of the division headquarters who conveyed the order arrived at the first regiment and conveyed Zhang Yafei's order for them to take the initiative to attack. After Xu Fang signed the order, he said to Wang Xiaotian with a smile: "Yes, your kid is not as good as Mengxi's life, and you can't be promoted as an official." ”

Wang Xiaotian said happily: "Your ocean is also thinking about it." ”

Xu Fang put away his smile and said: "Just deploy immediately according to the plan just now, the chief of staff will stay at the regiment headquarters, I will go to the front to control the troops, and Deputy Regiment Commander Li will take the train command with the commando." Twenty minutes later the shelling began. The shelling should not be too long, three rapid fire will do, and then the divisions will begin to charge. ”

Deng Baoshan's second battalion had already come up at this time, and he joined up with the company in front of him, and immediately began to build a position. This battalion commander understood what Deng Baoshan meant, that is, he did not seek merit, but sought no fault, and the smaller the losses of his troops, the better. As for the attack on the Fourth Route Army, let's wait for the Eighth Army to come up, he is just thinking about building a position quickly.

The battalion commander ran back and forth on the position with his horsewhip and arched his body, urging the soldiers to speed up and dig trenches, he didn't want to be shelled in the field. The reason why the position was set so close to the bridgehead was completely requested by their regiment commander according to Deng Baoshan's order, and the purpose was that after the Eighth Army came up, they would not say that they would avoid the battle, and at such a close distance, the heavy machine guns could even suppress and shoot fire. If he had followed his idea, he would have to set up a starting position at least a kilometer away.

Suddenly, there was a sharp whistle, and many years of military experience told him that this was the beginning of the enemy's shelling, and he immediately pounced forward, and then rolled on his side, rolling into a half-dug trench with his head in his hands and motionless.

When the two soldiers who were digging this trench reflected, their battalion commander had already hid in their trench, and the two had nowhere to hide, and the two were hesitating whether to lie down on the spot or find a place to hide, but in an instant, a huge explosion sounded around the two, and the two soldiers were blown up and flew up at once, and then a rain of blood fell.

The hundreds of soldiers of this battalion immediately became confused at the sound of the explosion, and they all hurried to find a place to take cover. Since the trenches had not yet been dug up, only some of the lucky soldiers took refuge in shallow trenches dug half a meter deep, and most of them had to lie on the ground. The men were praying in unison that no shells would fall near them.

After these test-fired shells landed, their position was patronized by more than 100 shells in less than half a minute. Due to the large size of the Fourth Route Army, compared with other units, his regimental artillery battalion was actually a divisional artillery regiment, and they had 24 75mm mountain guns and 12 120mm heavy mortars. In terms of firepower alone, such an artillery battalion can even be called an artillery brigade.

The three rapid fires of these 36 large-caliber guns were one hundred and eight shells, and these more than 100 shells instantly blew up the half-dug fortifications of this battalion. Although the trenches are shallow, they are safe from flying shrapnel, as long as the shells do not fall directly into the trench or three meters away from the trench. Because the mountain artillery is better, the power of the 120mm heavy mortar is too great, and a single shell can blow a crater more than two meters wide into the ground.

For a moment, shrapnel flew on this small position, and the debris mixed with stumps, broken arms, and flesh fell on the survivors like a rain. The three rapid fires were over quickly, and the battalion commander was lucky not to be injured in the slightest. Xu Fang's ferocious shelling frightened him a lot, especially the few shells that were test-fired, all of which fell near his section of the trench, and his ears were still buzzing. Such intensive artillery fire, he only saw it when he followed Deng Baoshan to attack Li Jinglin of the Fengjun army in Tianjin, when he was still a platoon commander, and at that time his company was bombed by the Feng army and there were only about 20 people left, and he was the only officer above the squad leader, even Deng Baoshan was also injured.

(To be continued)