-- Wuhan

Jiang Intermediary looked at the telegram and trembled, "Niang Xipi, what kind of battle is Tang Enbo fighting?" The 200,000-strong army retreated 200 miles in a row, how did I not know that he was so able to run, why didn't he run so fast when he fought the Red Party? ”

Bai Chongxi, who was next to him, felt funny in his heart, but after all, it was about the overall situation, so he still spoke and said, "Chairman of the committee, now the Japanese army is constantly attacking in the direction of Xuzhou, and the Japanese army in South China has also completed repairs, and it has begun to have a tendency to go north, I think Xuzhou is dangerous." ”

Jiang Zheng also knew in his heart, but to save Xuzhou, at least more than 200,000 troops would be needed, so that the decisive battle of Wuhan would become a decisive battle of Xuzhou, and the terrain of Xuzhou was easy to attack and difficult to defend, which was well reflected this time, and once there was a defeat, it was easy to retreat hundreds of miles, and it was really not a good place for the final decisive battle.

Moreover, there are not so many troops in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, not that there is a shortage of people, but a lack of weapons and ammunition, Germany's arms purchases have been completely distributed, and the weapons of the Soviet Union have also been armed, and now the weapons in Chiang's hands can only arm another 100,000 people at most.

Jiang Zhong sighed and asked, "The last time we had a meeting, we have confirmed the operational idea of using Wuhan as the center and blocking layer by layer, if we transfer the main force to Xuzhou now, it can only make our Wuhan battle fail, what do you think?" ”

The other people in the office glanced at each other, and Jiang Zhong's words were all said about this, this was obviously to give up Xuzhou, and did not want to bear the responsibility.

Everyone can't help but think of Tang Shengzhi, who is said to have gone crazy at home because of Nanjing, after Tang Shengzhi returned to his hometown, people protested at his door every day, it is said that because of nightmares every night, now he has become a person who is not a ghost or a ghost, so it is not desolate, of course, some people say that some people have drugged Tang Shengzhi's food to prevent him from talking nonsense. Who knows.

Chen Bui looked at everyone and didn't speak, and said in a heart, "Xuzhou has not been a good place to defend since ancient times, in the early Han Dynasty, Han Xin was also killed by Xiang Yu in Xuzhou. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei and Lu Bu were not brave, and they also fought a battle, so it can be seen that Xuzhou is indeed not suitable for a decisive battle. Attract Japanese troops to the terrain favorable to us for operations. ”

Jiang Zhong nodded, luring the enemy deep This is much better than abandoning the country.

Jiang asked, "So, do you have any plans?" ”

Falkenhausen said: "Chairman, the ultimate goal of the Japanese army's attack on Xuzhou is to encircle and annihilate our 400,000 troops in the Fifth Theater, and if we want to withdraw from Xuzhou, then there are only two directions, south or west, after all, the north is the Japanese army, the east is the sea, and there is no way out." And the south, although still in our hands, is covered with a dense network of water, and it is difficult for a large army to retreat, even if the retreat is successful. It will also be because the water network has become a small army, and it must return to the rear for reorganization before it can conduct new operations, which will have a huge impact on our Wuhan battle, so we can only retreat westward. ”

Bai Chongxi agreed: "There is a railway to the west. And it was a plain area, which was also convenient for us to retreat, but the Japanese army could think of this as well. We had to ensure the smooth flow of the Western Road Railway and block the Japanese army from Guide (present-day Shangqiu) to Lanfeng (present-day Lankao). ”

Guide and Lanfeng were two important stations on the Longhai Railway, and once the Japanese occupied one of these two places, they would cut off the rear route of the Nationalist Army.

Jiang Zhong nodded and asked, "Who is the westernmost commander of the Japanese army?" ”

Dai Li, who had been quiet next to him, immediately said, "It's the first army of the Japanese army, Kazuki Kiyoji." ”

Jiang Zhong's eyes suddenly lit up and said, "The First Army, I remember that there are only the 14th, 16th, and 20th divisions under the First Army, of which the 20th Division is in Shanxi, the 16th Division has just appeared in Jining, and the 14th Division has just finished the Battle of Southern Henan, so the troops in his hands should be insufficient." ”

Jiang Zheng walked up quickly, his eyes getting brighter and brighter, and said, "Do you think this is okay?" Let Yan Xishan and the Eighth Route Army move, contain the 20th Division, and order Cheng Qian to lead the main force of the 1st Theater of Operations, ambush in the area of Shangqiu, find a way to gather and annihilate the 14th Division, and completely hurt the Japanese army. ”

Bai Chongxi thought for a while and immediately said, "It is indeed feasible, but once the 16th Division goes south to break the siege, I am afraid it will be easy to lose its tail." ”

Jiang Zhong nodded and said, "So no matter how fierce and ruthless the key to this battle is, we must destroy the 14th Division before the Japanese reinforcements arrive."

Chiang was in Wuhan discussing with various think tanks how to turn defeat into victory, and took advantage of the opportunity of retreat to bite the Japanese army, and the commander of the Japanese First Army, Kazuki Kiyoji, was also looking at the map and fell into deep thought.

At this time, the only troops that could be mobilized under Kazuki Kiyoji were the 14th Division, but the combat effectiveness of this division could be said to be among the best in the Japanese army, even more terrifying than the Fifth Division, the first commander, the commander of the 14th Division of the Japanese Army was Kenji Dohihara, this person can be said to be famous in later generations, compared to his command art, what is more famous is his intelligence work and understanding of China.

After the Japanese army occupied China, most of the Chinese people were beaten or scolded, burning, killing and looting were commonplace, and some took slaughter as fun, but Kenji Dohihara believed that the Chinese people were a group of obedient people, as long as they did not oppress too much, they would not resist, and the Chinese people who constantly resisted were not conducive to Japanese rule, so he asked his troops not to disturb the people for a long time, and even often sent things to the local people, and won over the local people to deal with the national army. This was simply unimaginable at the time, and it can be said that if all the Japanese troops really became such a "civilized army", the difficulty of the war of resistance would rise by more than a little bit.

The second is the 14th Division, which is a powerful A division with two brigades and four wings. Not counting other subordinate units, the division has 27,000 troops and is extremely well-equipped. In order to successfully complete the Battle of Xuzhou and make up for the shortcomings in troops, Xiangyue Qingji assigned a large number of additional heavy weapons to the 14th Division.

The quantity and quality of these additional heavy weapons are extremely impressive, including the 4th, 5th, and 9th independent heavy machine gun brigades, the 1st and 3rd independent mountain artillery wings, the 2nd field heavy artillery brigade (5th and 6th heavy artillery wings), the 8th independent field heavy artillery wing, and the 3rd and 5th mortar brigades.

The 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Brigade alone has 24 75mm field guns, 36 75mm mountain guns, 36 120mm howitzers, and 48 150mm heavy howitzers. This has managed to surpass the number of all the heavy artillery of the National Army now.

At the same time, because the vicinity of Xuzhou is all plains. The mechanized forces were also strengthened, with the addition of one brigade and two squadrons of tank units, bringing the 14th Division's tank strength to more than three hundred, and adding hundreds of trucks for rapid advances.

With the addition of these heavily armed units and the accompanying logistics units, the 14th Division has about 40,000 men.

"Your Excellency, is there anything else you are worried about? With our strength, it is not difficult to capture Guide. Kenji Dohihara couldn't help but be suspicious when he saw the dilemma of Kiyoji Kazuki.

"I don't want to fight Guide, Tufeijun, you see. The overall situation of Xuzhou has been decided, according to the consistent style of the national army, it will definitely flee from the wind, and the only way out is to the west, there are two important points in the west, one is to guide Germany, and the other is Lanfeng, if we fight now, not to mention that the national army must have been prepared. The most important thing is that we are more than 200 kilometers away from Guide, and our Type 89 tank has only a maximum distance of 190 kilometers, that is, before we arrive, our tank runs out of fuel. Our logistical pressure will be very high, don't forget the lesson of Taierzhuang. Kazuki Kiyoji said in a deep voice.

Kazuki Kiyoji pointed his finger at the Yellow River and said, "And the only solution is to occupy the Yellow River and use the Yellow River waterway to transport logistical supplies." You see, Lanfeng is on the edge of the Yellow River, if we take here. Not only can we cut off the Longhai Railway, but as long as we have enough logistical supplies, with our heavy weapons and equipment, your 14th Division will have no problem fighting 200,000 national troops, and it will only be a matter of time before you take Shangqiu, and the most important thing is that I judge that Jiang Intermediary would never have imagined that I would fight the little Lanfeng. ”

Kenji Dohihara's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded again and again and said, "The commander is good at tactics, and if he is not prepared, even if I take command, I will put my troops on the more important Guide to defend, not Lan Feng." ”

Xiangyue Qingji still has some words to say to Kenji Dohihara, he hit Lanfeng, and the bigger purpose is Kaifeng, which is only forty or fifty miles away from Lanfeng.

War is not a numbers game, but a fight between people, people are often more important than weapons, and the strategic deployment of Kazuki Kiyoji did not tell Terauchi Shouichi, which is mainly due to the personal contradiction between Kazuki Kiyoji and Terauchi Shouichi.

Kazuki Kiyoshi is only three years younger than Terauchi Shouichi, and he is also a famous place in the army, but Kazuki Kiyoji is a front-line commander, and he is naturally dissatisfied with Terauchi Shouyi's practice of remote command in the rear of Beiping, Terauchi Shouichi has not been to the front line since he came to North China, and more time is in Beiping and Tianjin, and Terauchi Shouichi also feels that Kazuki Kiyoshi relies on the old and sells the old, and does not listen to the command, and this time the 16th Division of the First Army is also transferred to Jining to give Kazuki Kiyoshi a good look.

Once Terauchi Shouichi knew about the deployment of Kazuki Kiyoji, his eyes would definitely be red, and whether or not to occupy Lanfeng would have no effect on the Battle of Xuzhou at all, and the national army could use Guide to turn around and flee south. And Kaifeng only has political significance, no military significance, even Nanjing has been occupied, whether Kaifeng is lost or not, what impact will it have on the national army? The only effect is to add a medal to the chest of Kiyoji Kazuki. After all, according to the tradition of the Japanese army, the emperor will personally receive and commend the capital of a province, and he will also be very famous in the army.

The discord between the generals became the foreshadowing of the Battle of Lanfeng.

-- Shanxi

When Kawagishi Bunzaburo returned to Taiyuan, he immediately convened a meeting of all the officers above the rank of captain and the heads of the various maintenance committees.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo looked at everyone and said, "You have worked hard for half a year, do you have any thoughts on the public security problem in our Shanxi?" ”

The president of a maintenance association immediately stood up and said respectfully, "Since the imperial army has been in power, I have been one in Shanxi, the people are of one heart, diligent in Sannong, prosperous in industry and commerce, although there are thieves entering the country from time to time, but most of them are blocked outside the city by the imperial army, so that we and other good people can live and work in peace and contentment, except for the time of the great sage recorded in the ancient books, I have never heard of such a good time." Many of us have already started to build shrines for His Majesty the Emperor and His Excellency the General, and we only hope that His Majesty the Emperor will live forever and His Excellency the General will be able to live forever. ”

Kawagishi Bunzaburo himself was embarrassed to say this, knowing that this was sycophancy, and his heart was very comfortable, but he still remembered what he was going to do in the meeting, and if he continued to blow it like this, there was no need to say anything about the rest of the matter.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo immediately straightened his face and scolded: "Yaga, your conscience is greatly broken, Shanxi is full of rioters and guerrillas, I heard that the officers stationed near Taihang Mountain and Luliang Mountain came to the meeting this time and only went on the road in disguise, this is a great shame, you are not ashamed at all." ”

The following officers dressed as peasants and hurried to Taiyuan late at night hurriedly lowered their heads and did not dare to speak.

And the maintenance chairman also knew that he had made a mistake, so he quickly sat down and stuck out his tongue. His eyes were full of doubts.

Kawagishi Fumizaburo continued: "The problem of public order in Shanxi is already affecting the next step of the imperial army's operations, and although thanks to your efforts, many guerrillas have been driven out of Shanxi Province, there are still many guerrilla forces active. Completely eradicate the space for the partisans. ”

Looking at the confused look below, Kawagishi Fumizaburo said proudly, "The joint defense and self-defense of the armor is a preparation for the thorough elimination of the guerrillas, first of all, all towns and villages must establish a North China security army, according to the size of the population of each place, the scale is one battalion to one company, secondly, all villages must establish self-defense regiments, requiring the number of self-defense regiments to initially reach one-twentieth of the population, and eventually reach one-tenth, these self-defense regiments, peacetime to accept the order of the maintenance association, wartime to accept the command of the imperial army to cooperate with the battle. ”

The people below are already stunned, one in the twentieth, there are tens of millions of people in the whole territory of Shanxi, even in the Japanese-occupied areas there are nearly 10 million, and this twentieth is about 500,000, so many people, not to mention weapons and ammunition, how much is this military salary?

Kawagishi Bunzaburo seemed to guess the thoughts of the people below, and continued, "The salaries and weapons of the North China Security Army will be settled in a unified manner, and the respective guard regiments are to protect their respective homes from being harassed by the guerrillas, and they are to fight their own wars, and most of the weapons will be solved by themselves, and the imperial army will also issue a part, as for the money, twenty oceans a year." Do you have any questions? ”

A maintenance chairman raised his hand tremblingly, and Kawagishi Fumizaburo said with a smile, "Don't be afraid, let's talk." ”

The maintenance chairman hurriedly nodded his gratitude and said, "This person is twenty oceans, and there will probably be dozens of people in a village, and this money is a lot." Are we self-funded, or are we self-funded? ”

Kawagishi Bunzaburo laughed and said, "It turns out that I didn't make it clear, this money is not given, but received." ”

Harvest??? Everyone's eyes widened, this soldier not only doesn't take money, but also gives money?? This is the first time I've heard of it.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo continued, "Yes, this is to protect your homeland, shouldn't it? And we need our imperial army to go down to train you, give you weapons, and provide some funds, shouldn't we? ”

The brains and nimble have already thought of how to use this self-defense group to collect money, and they all smiled and said, "Yes, big yes." ”

Kawagishi Bunzaburo nodded and said, "As for those who can't afford money, can they exchange it for labor, our imperial army wants to build roads and bunkers, we need people, can we come over and do work, if you are willing to run farther, you can also go abroad, go to the battlefield, and the money will be a little more." ”

The maintenance chairman immediately said with tears in his eyes, "The Imperial Army has thought so carefully for our safety, this is simply a reincarnation of parents." ”

Immediately, another president stood up and scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about, are your parents as good as the Imperial Army, this is obviously closer than your parents." ”

Looking at the local maintenance chairmen who were arguing below, Kawagishi Fumizaburo nodded with a smile.

And the maintenance chairman who was the first to get up and praise Kawagishi Bunzaburo was arguing with people while his mouth was talking, but his eyes kept flashing, and he didn't know what he was thinking. (To be continued.) )