Not to mention Jiang Cheng, on the other side of the direction of the south entrance of the Republic of China, after paying the price of 25,000 casualties, Tang Enbo and Wei Lihuang were forced to withdraw from the Nankou-Zhangjiakou defense line, Tang Enbo's army retreated to the rear to rest, and Wei Lihuang's troops retreated to Shanxi to prepare for the next battle.

The 5th Division, which was the first attacker in this battle, suffered more than 5,000 casualties and was forced to stop and wait for replenishment, while Tojo Hideki's Chahar Corps, Chen Bing, Zhangjiakou, and the Chinese defenders began to confront.

-- Tianjin

Kazuki Kiyoji took a group of officers to look at the person who got off the plane with a salute, this person has a goose egg head, slightly fat, and slightly white hair, it is General Terauchi Shouyi, he is the eldest son of the former Japanese Prime Minister Terauchi Masatsuki, after the famous family, he has a cheerful and open-minded personality, and is willing to take responsibility for his subordinates, but he likes to attack quickly when he fights. Originally, it was supposed to be Nobuyuki Abe who came this time, and Nobuyuki Abe had a peaceful personality and a sense of the overall situation, which could be matched with the impatient Matsui Ishine in the south, and it would also be convenient for Japan to control the development of the Chinese battlefield. However, in order to rescue the only imprisoned general in the history of the Japanese army, the Japanese military department had to transfer Terauchi Shouichi, who approved the detention of Shinzaburo Masaki, to the battlefield.

Kazuki Kiyoji had been appointed as the commander of the First Army at this time, and after shaking hands, the two talked and laughed all the way to the headquarters conference room, which was already full of officers waiting for Terauchi Shouichi.

Terauchi Shouichi sat down on the top and said, "You have worked hard, I have received the good news that the south entrance was captured by our imperial army on the way, and Itagaki-kun lives up to Itagaki's courage." ”

Seishiro Itagaki, who hurried to the meeting, hurriedly stood up to express his gratitude.

Terauchi Shouichi stood up and pointed to the large map behind him and said, "But you should know that in the event of the Zhina incident, we should only fight quickly, once the war lasts, it will definitely affect the strategy of our empire in the later stage, so we must speed up the attack again and strive to end the battle as soon as possible." Do you think there's a problem? ”

Chief of Staff Naosaburo Okabe asked, "I don't know what it means to end the battle?" ”

Terauchi Shouichi smiled and said, "I discussed it with General Matsui of the Shanghai Dispatch Army before I came. It was agreed that the capture of Nanking would force the Chiang government to surrender, but that was the business of General Matsui, and our task was to quickly capture the whole of North China, so that the army in North China could not reinforce the southern battlefield, and the goal of the military headquarters was the Baoding-Duliuzhen line, but my goal was the Shijiazhuang-Dezhou line. We want to attract the main force of Chiang's Central Army to the north on the Great Plain of central Hebei, so that it will be less difficult for General Matsui to attack Nanjing later, I order! ”

All the officers stood together.

Terauchi Shouichi pointed to the map viciously and said, "General Kazuki, lead the 6th, 14th, and 20th divisions to attack Baoding, and Nishio-kun leads the 4th, 16th, and 108th divisions to attack Cangzhou. The 5th Division protected the right flank, and the 20th Division served as a reserve. Itagaki-kun, Shanxi has been handed over to the Kwantung Army's Chahar Corps to attack, so you can rest first. ”

Itagaki below couldn't help but snort when he heard it, where would he, who is confident that he is invincible in China, be willing to sit back and watch others make great contributions.

Terauchi continued, "This battle must be ended within 20 days, and the key to this battle is to concentrate our army's mechanical forces, take advantage of our army's advantages, attack quickly, and break through the Shina defense line in the shortest possible time. ”

All the officers shouted "Hi! ”

――

Lin Sanhu stood on the hillside and looked at the troops crossing the river at the bottom of the hillside. Next to it is an earthen fort.

Zhou Kun got out of the earthen fort and said, "Division commander, this earthen fort is well built, it looks like a stone from a distance, and it is mixed with the terrain here." ”

Lin Sanhu nodded and said, "These are all set up by that Yan Xishan to guard against us. The whole of Shanxi along the Yellow River is everywhere, and now it is all vacant. Where is the front? ”

Zhou Kun looked at the map and said, "In front is Xichang, the map shows that there is a military station there, and we should be able to replenish a little supply there." ”

Lin Sanhu was immediately interested when he heard it. He walked up and looked at it and said, "It is said that Shanxi is a model province, and there must be something in the military station, go." Let's go to the front and talk to the station, see if we can give us some supplies. ”

Lin Sanhu and his entourage quickly came to Xichang in front, and the people here were very curious when they saw the Eighth Route Army, but they were not afraid, after all, the Eighth Route Army at this time was neatly dressed, with complete weapons, and a feeling of the elite of the Central Army.

When he came to the station, Lin Sanhu found that there was only one veteran sitting there basking in the sun at the entrance of the station, and he couldn't help but look at Zhou Kun.

A guard stepped forward and shook the veteran, "Comrade, wake up." ”

The old soldier yawned and scolded, "Which turtle son is arguing with Lao Tzu." When I opened my eyes, there were a bunch of people in front of me, and the one in the middle had the rank of lieutenant general on his shoulder. Frightened, the veteran immediately stood up and saluted, "Hello, sir." ”

Lin Sanhu replied, "I am Lin Sanhu, the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, who is the person in charge of your military station?" Our troops were ordered by the 2nd Theater Command to pass through this place and come to seek supplies, what about your commanders? Call him out. ”

The veteran scratched his head, didn't dare to look at Lin Sanhu, and said, "I'm the only one in our station, and everyone else is gone." It's also empty inside. ”

Lin Sanhu was stunned. After retreating two parts, he looked at the signboard, which was indeed a military station, and asked, "Comrade, what do you call it?" It's wartime, how can you be the only one in your station? ”

The veteran said, "Sir, my name is Liu San. Our chief said that the battle was fought in the north, and there was no need to store things in the west, so they all took it away, and I was going to leave too, but I was unlucky to be sick, so I left the housekeeper. ”

Zhou Kun took a step forward and said softly, "Division commander, something is wrong, no matter what, there will still be some military rations left at a military station, otherwise what supplies will the troops passing by rely on?" ”

Lin Sanhu nodded and said, "Liu San, can we go in and have a look?" ”

Liu San said embarrassedly: "This is not appropriate." ”

Lin Sanhu nodded with a smile and suddenly said, "Come on, let me break in, I want to see if this huge military station is really nothing." ”

The surrounding guards immediately pushed the veteran aside. Lin Sanhu took the lead in breaking into the military station and opened the warehouses one by one, only to see that they were empty, and the warehouse with the granary written on it was simply swept clean, and Lin Sanhu didn't even see a hemp rope tied to the grain.

The veteran said, "Sir. What I said is true, not only us, but I know that the first few military stations are also empty. ”

Lin Sanhu had a flash of inspiration in his mind and shouted, "Bring me the map." ”

The guards next to him hurriedly handed the map to Lin Sanhu, Lin Sanhu pointed to the front stations and said, "Immediately send someone to ride to the front stations to see if they are all empty." ”

Zhou Kun also reacted and said, "Commander, what do you mean by Yan Xishan?" ”

Lin Sanhu snorted, "It's worthy of being an old man in Shanxi, and I really don't want to eat at all." ”

When the evening came, when the army was encamped, the news from front had already arrived, and it was the same as Lin Sanhu guessed. The military stations all the way ahead were empty.

Lin Sanhu sighed, "Report the situation to the headquarters, and let Mr. Zhu and Mr. Peng go and talk to Yan Xishan." Let people take the money to buy some food in the surrounding towns and villages, and try not to eat the food brought from the headquarters, which are all battle rations, and it is up to them to fight the war, so try to let the soldiers eat hot food in normal times. ”

Mr. Zhu, who received the news, was organizing the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and when he saw Lin Sanhu's report, he smiled at Mr. Peng next to him, "This Mr. Yan is really terrible, for fear that we will take advantage of him." ”

Mr. Peng said angrily: "Let the horses run again, don't let the horses eat grass." Where is such a good thing, I will go to Taiyuan to find him to understand. ”

Mr. Zhu hurriedly grabbed and said, "Don't go, you still need to organize the relocation of the headquarters, I will send a telegram to ask Vice Chairman Zhou to go." This bickering matter, it is more appropriate for him to go. ”

-- Zhou Guansheng of Taiyuan was in Taiyuan at this time for a meeting with Liu Dake, secretary of the Northern Bureau, and Bo Shucun.

Zhou Guansheng said: "First of all, you can introduce the situation of our party in Shanxi. ”

Liu Dake nodded and said, "Since we took over and reorganized the Shanxi Sacrifice National Salvation League, we have vigorously developed the anti-Japanese national salvation movement this spring. After the establishment of the Taiyuan City Committee of the Sacrifice League, a district-level organization was established. In addition, the Arsenal Working Committee, the Railway Working Committee, and the Student Working Committee were established. All of them work under the direct leadership of the Taiyuan Municipal Committee. Immediately after that, we sent special commissioners to various counties and townships to carry out work, and all of them went smoothly, but at the village level, because the old forces in Shanxi were stronger, we could only do propaganda work.

By the end of August, we had more than 600,000 members, and it can be said that there was not a single county, factory, or organization that did not have an organization. ”

Bo Shucun continued: "I just discussed with Yan Xishan last month the establishment of the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Death Squad, in order to ensure that this unit is under the control of our party, I suggest that the political commissar be the supreme commander, and the Sacrifice League will have a better mass base. ”

Zhou Guansheng nodded and said, "Okay, the two of you have done a very good job in Shanxi, it can be said that it is a model of united front work, now the Japanese army has won a decisive victory in the direction of Nankou, and the next step will be to continue to invade Shanxi, don't record the following words, this is top secret"

The two looked at each other, stopped their pens and nodded.

Zhou Guansheng continued: "Do you know how strong Shanxi's industrial strength is? ”

Liu Dake said, "Shanxi has been one of the strongest provinces in the industry after decades of hard work by Yan Xishan, not only steel factories, but also artillery factories, artillery shell factories, machine gun factories, smokeless medicine factories, aircraft factories, not only can manufacture rifles, machine guns and other light weapons, but also can manufacture mortars, mountain artillery such heavy weapons, according to our members of the arsenal, Yan Xishan has successfully imitated 105MM mountain artillery and 88MM field artillery. Although the specific situation of the production of weapons is not clear, the monthly production of rifles must exceed 4,000 pieces, and the monthly production of bullets must not surprisingly exceed 4 million rounds. ”

Hearing this data, Zhou Guansheng couldn't help but gasp, this Yan Xishan usually slams the door to death, and this family is not ordinarily thick. He continued to ask, "How many such heavy industry workers are there?" ”

Liu Dake replied: "There are not 10,000, but 8,000, and the treatment of these workers is very good, and it is more difficult for our party to carry out the work among them." ”

Zhou Guansheng said, "From now on, immediately find out the specific situation of all heavy industrial machinery, materials and materials in Shanxi, and detail the location, weight and role of each machine tool." In addition, to strengthen the work among the workers, we must ensure that we can mobilize more than half of these workers once Shanxi is lost. ”

Listening to the string song and knowing the elegant meaning, the two of them understood what the central government wanted to do as soon as they heard it, and Bo Shucun said, "Vice Chairman Zhou." Could it be that the central government wants to wait for Taiyuan to fall and move some machinery away? In this case, it is good to keep an eye on a few of the most important factories, because it is impossible to move them all, and as far as I know, there are tens of thousands of light machine tools, motors, and other equipment in Shanxi's military factories and other heavy industries. ”

Zhou Guansheng and Chairman Mao and others did have a plan to move the Shanxi Arsenal, because of the advantage of knowing the aftermath, the three of them knew that Taiyuan would be lost in a few months, and the machinery of the Shanxi Arsenal was finally cheaper to the Japanese.

However, the most important thing for the three of them is not the machines, but the people.

Zhou Guansheng said, "The specific importance of the arsenal equipment is the priority, in addition, I know that there are many people in Taiyuan who have worked in the arsenal before. Now the workers are scattered all over the place, right? ”

Liu Dake said, "That's right, in 31 years, there were more than 15,000 people in the Taiyuan Arsenal, and later Yan Xishan announced that they would go to the wilderness, and these workers were dismissed by other warlords such as Nanjing, and in the end there were only more than 1,000 people, and most of the current people were recruited later." ”

Zhou Guansheng said happily: "If we have to find a way to find these worker brothers, we must mobilize after the fall of Shanxi." All in all, people come first, machines come second, you know? ”

Bo Shucun worried: "There are so many people, even if we mobilize them. I'm worried about the capacity of our factory. ”

Zhou Guansheng smiled, "Don't worry about these problems, just do your job well." ”

After the meeting, Zhou Guansheng learned that the 115th Division could not be supplied all the way, and immediately asked to see Yan Xishan.

Yan Xishan looked at Zhou Guansheng and said with a smile: "Duke Zhou is here." Ahh It's gone. ”

Zhou Guansheng said with a smile: "Chief Yan, now it is a united front, unanimously to the outside world, where do you want to divide what you and me, our Eighth Route Army is dedicated to the war of resistance, and the whole army will probably enter Jin around September 10." ”

Yan Xishan patted his thigh and said to H next to him, "Okay, okay, with Zhou Gong and the Eighth Route Army here, that little devil will never come back." ”

Zhou Guansheng looked at Yan Xishan and said, "Chief Yan has won the award, but the soldiers and horses have not moved the grain and grass first, I don't know where our Eighth Route Army is stationed?" And the military stations that my 115th Division encountered along the way were all empty, why is this? ”

Yan Xishan's eyes rolled and he said suspiciously, "Will it?" Shouldn't it? Is it possible? Yang Aiyuan, why is that? ”

Yang Aiyuan said with a smile: "Chairman Yan, let me explain, Zhou Gong should know that the terrain of our Shanxi is very special, the east is the Taihang Mountains, the west is the Luliang Mountains, and the south is the Zhongtiao Mountains, all of which are mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, only the north is not blocked by mountains, so the direction of the Japanese attack is also obvious, only the north." Therefore, we concentrated all the materials on the line from Datong to Taiyuan, and the purpose was also to resist Japan. As for the southwest where your army came, there was no stockpiling of supplies, so the military station would be empty. ”

Yan Xishan slapped his thigh and said, "Yes! That's it, Zhou Gong, the little devil is not easy to fight, the battle of Nankou, the Fifth Division and Tojo Hideki are not ordinary murderers, and I, Yan, can only concentrate my strength, hoping that I can take advantage of the geographical advantage to block the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders, and I hope Zhou Gong will understand one or two. As for the stationing place, let's do it, Yuci is not far from Taiyuan, and it is also a treasure of the ancient city, so please ask your army to camp there. ”

Zhou Guansheng nodded and said, "It's not that I don't understand that this material is moving north, but we always have to eat, and we also ask Chief Yan to supply one or two of this ammunition." ”

Yan Xishan asked, "Why didn't Chairman Jiang provide the supplies for your army?" ”

Zhou Guansheng replied, "Chairman Jiang did provide some supplies when the troops were deployed, but we now belong to the Second War Zone, and it is only natural that the ammunition will be replenished by the Second War Zone." ”

Yan Xishan nodded and said, "Oh, that's right, that's, H, do we have any ammunition left, if so, let's allocate some to friendly forces." ”

Yang Aiyuan took out a small notebook, looked at it, and sighed, "It's really unfortunate, all our materials and ammunition have been distributed to the troops, and now there is really no more." ”

Yan Xishan said angrily, "How did you do it? How can there be nothing left, I want to punish you severely!! Is there really no more? ”

Yang Aiyuan lowered his head and said, "Chairman Yan, you also know that we have a thin foundation, and now we want to fight, and we will distribute it to the troops below, but there is really no more." And we didn't know that we were going to provide the ammunition for the Eighth Route Army at the beginning. ”

Yan Xishan said in embarrassment, "Duke Zhou, I'm really sorry, this is really gone, or else, I will pay out of my own pocket and give your army a thousand catties of food and ammunition, I will allocate it to you from my guards, 10,000 rounds of guns and ammunition, this is already my limit." ”

Zhou Guansheng was furious when he heard this, but for the sake of the overall situation, he couldn't get angry, so he could only grit his teeth and say, "Our army has 40,000 people, and only 10,000 rounds of ammunition is too little?" Moreover, a thousand catties of food is not enough for a day's rations for our whole army. ”

Yan Xishan held Zhou Guansheng's hand and said, "It's a lot, Zhou Gong, you don't know, we are also in a difficult situation now, I am still going to give you all the ammunition of one of my regiments, I don't know how to tell the regiment commander." This food is even more scarce, you also know, the logistics are accurate when fighting, this time there are tens of thousands of mouths, it is really difficult to do, you can rest assured, I will arrange it immediately, and give you more food as soon as possible. ”

Zhou Guansheng nodded and said with a smile, "Okay, then our troops can only go to the Japanese to ask for guns and ammunition, Chief Yan, take your leave." ”

Yan Xishan smiled at Zhou Guansheng's back and Yang Aiyuan next to him and said, "You did a good job, hmph, the landlord's family has no surplus food these years, but you can't completely starve them, you send three thousand catties of grain over at that time, just say that I, Yan Xishan, called on all the officers to donate a month's military salary to buy for them." ”

The two looked at each other and laughed. (To be continued......)

PS: I hope you will support a lot, and thank you again for your persistent tipping