In the days following the liberation of Shijiazhuang, the 36th Group Army remained stationary, resting in place, replenishing weapons, ammunition, and troops.

In several successive battles, although many little devils were annihilated, reaching a terrifying tens of thousands, on the side of the 36th Group Army, no matter how advanced the weapons were, thousands of soldiers died on the battlefield.

There were still tens of thousands of recruits trained in the base areas of the 36 th Group Army, and these recruits were immediately transferred several thousand to supplement the columns, and at the same time, a large amount of ammunition and supplies also reached the various columns.

Yan'an also adopted Zhang Yunfei's suggestion and instructed the Eighth Route Army to take advantage of the victory to recover the lost territory, and the Eighth Route Army in North China recovered several small county towns with empty troops, among which all the county towns near Shijiazhuang were recovered by the Eighth Route Army.

In the past few days, the Eighth Route Army has been very active, but on the Kuomintang side, there is still a lot of thunder and rain, and there have been a few small-scale battles with the little devils, but the results are not ideal, and they have not taken a big advantage.

This is mainly because the Yucheng side did not give clear instructions to the [***] in North China, and the series of small-scale battles launched by the [***] in North China were all spontaneously organized and did not enter with the consent of the above.

On the third day after the recovery of Shijiazhuang, Yucheng finally couldn't sit still.

The 36th Group Army fought several successive battles, successively recovering Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, and Shijiazhuang a few days ago.

In less than ten days, the 36th Group regained a large area of lost territory and annihilated nearly 100,000 little devils.

After getting reports one after another, Lao Jiang couldn't sink anymore, and at first he wanted to wait and see, wanting the 36th Group Army and the little devils to fight for both defeats, so that he could reap the benefits of the fisherman.

However, the development of the war situation greatly surprised Lao Chiang, and in Lao Chiang's eyes, the 36th Group Army, which only had 300,000 or 400,000 troops, actually triumphed all the way, and the little devil was defeated again and again.

What he could not accomplish with a million troops in North China was easily realized by the 36th Group Army, which surprised Lao Jiang.

In addition, in the past few days, the Eighth Route Army in North China is also attacking everywhere, and Lao Jiang thought, if he doesn't do it again, he is afraid that he will not even be able to drink the soup.

Yucheng, Lao Chiang's private residence.

At noon today, all high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the Kuomintang were invited to attend a luncheon by Lao Chiang.

In the center of the huge dining room, there was a long large dining table, and Lao Jiang sat high on the top, and on both sides, it was full of high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the Kuomintang.

He Yingqin, Chen Cheng, Wei Lihuang, Chen Cheng, Jiang Dingwen, Gu Zhutong, Liu Zhi, and so on, at least a dozen people, and all the high-ranking officials of the Kuomintang army were all seated, and many of them were also commanders-in-chief of various major theaters, and they hurriedly arrived by plane from all over the country.

In addition to the high-ranking members of the Kuomintang army, there were also Song Ziwen, Kong Xiangxi, Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu of the four major families.

Twenty or thirty high-ranking members of the Kuomintang all attended this private luncheon of Lao Chiang, and everyone who attended the banquet knew that it must be to discuss the war in North China.

The 36 th Group Army has won one great victory after another in North China, and everyone present here knows very well that many people have been uninterrupted in the 'voice of Datong' every time, and they have to listen to it almost every time.

Looking around, Lao Jiang showed his majesty, and said slowly in a deep voice: "Everyone, I think everyone knows the situation in North China, you are all the elite of the party-state, if you have any thoughts and opinions, let's talk about them." ”

Hearing this, all the people were awe-inspiring, and many people thought in their hearts, sure enough, today is to discuss the war in North China.

So many people, everyone had their heads down, and no one was the first to speak.

Lao Jiang glanced at the audience majestically, and saw that everyone was silent, and his face was a little ugly.

He Yingqin, chief of the General Staff, saw that no one was the first to speak, and that what was being discussed today was the war in North China, he thought to himself: It seems that he must speak first today, otherwise the chairman of the NPC National Committee will definitely be unhappy.

Thinking of this, He Yingqin also said with a serious face: "Chairman, the war in North China is beyond our expectations, it seems that we can't afford to wait, and we must quickly attack the little devils." ”

As soon as He Yingqin finished speaking, Lao Jiang did not move, and said in a deep voice: "Cixiu, what do you think?" ”

Chen Cheng, like He Yingqin, is also a backbone general of the Whampoa department, and he is deeply respected by Lao Jiang, and Chen Cheng's political ability is stronger than his military talent, so Lao Jiang immediately thought of Chen Cheng.

Chen Cheng is one of the few high-ranking Kuomintang officials who has dealt with Zhang Yunfei in person, and he has a good impression of Zhang Yunfei.

Now seeing Lao Jiang asking, Chen Cheng immediately stood up, thought for a while, and still said a different point of view, "Chairman of the committee, although we still have millions of troops in North China, these armies lack weapons and ammunition, and their combat effectiveness has decreased significantly compared with two years ago. ”

What Chen Cheng said is also true: In the past two years, there has indeed been a shortage of weapons and ammunition for the millions of troops in North China, and many units have not been supplied with a single shot or bullet from the Ministry of Defense for more than a year, and their combat effectiveness has dropped significantly.

This is also the reason why Lao Jiang has always been worried, and did not immediately launch a big counteroffensive against the little devil, Lao Jiang's plan is to wait for Zhang Yunfei's troops to fight almost the same as the little devil, and then order these millions of troops to regain the lost ground, after all, even if the combat effectiveness is poor, the number of troops is still there, and it is still okay to put away the endgame.

However, the development of the war situation in North China was really much beyond the expectations of Lao Chiang, who really couldn't sit still and couldn't watch so much lost territory fall into the hands of the 36th Group Army and the Eighth Route Army, so today Lao Chiang convened everyone to discuss the war situation in North China.

As soon as Chen Cheng finished speaking, many high-ranking Kuomintang officials thought so, and then everyone immediately divided into two factions and launched a fierce controversy.

In the end, after careful consideration and combined with everyone's opinions, Lao Chiang decided to personally serve as the commander of the First Theater of Operations, and ordered all troops in North China to immediately prepare for a counteroffensive.

In the afternoon of the same day, the order of the Kuomintang Military Committee was issued to all units in North China, and the Kuomintang's 45 infantry divisions, 2 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry divisions, and some other auxiliary units, totaling more than one million people, received orders for a major counteroffensive.

Many Kuomintang troops are also real resistance teams, and now, everyone has clearly received the order sent from above, and many [***] fighters are eager to try, ready to fight with the little devils again.

The Kuomintang's first theater of operations also immediately seized the time to formulate a battle plan and prepare for a strategic decisive battle with the little devils in North China.

While the Kuomintang was formulating plans and preparing to do a big job, the 36th Group Army's operation to recover Baoding was about to begin.

Shijiazhuang.

At this time, Shijiazhuang was busy, and the soldiers were ready for battle, and today, according to the battle plan, many troops will go north to attack Baoding.

This time, it was Wang Haiyang's 1st Column that attacked Baoding, and the 1st 7th Column did not participate in the attack on Baoding for the time being, and continued to stay in Shijiazhuang.

Together with the 1st Column, there were nearly 10 regiments of the Eighth Route Army and troops in their early 20,000s, and the 36th Group Army and the Eighth Route Army were still fighting together.

The vanguard of the 1st Column, two mechanized infantry regiments, marched north along the endless North China Plain as soon as it was light.

The next two tank and cavalry regiments, as well as several motorized infantry regiments, artillery regiments, and heavy artillery brigades, will also follow, and the rest of the infantry regiments on foot will advance by train.

Shijiazhuang Railway Station is a large railway station on the North China Plain, when the liberation of North China, many trains in Shijiazhuang Railway Station were also captured by the soldiers, this time to attack Baoding in the north just in time.

The Pinghan Railway goes straight to Beiping in the north and goes directly to Wuhan in the south, with very convenient railway transportation.

In addition to the Pinghan Railway, the Shijiazhuang Railway Station is connected to the Zhengtai Railway, which connects Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan, and with railway transportation, the weapons and equipment and troops of the 36th Group Army can quickly maneuver on the railway.

It is precisely because of the strategic location of Shijiazhuang that it is very important and has such a developed railway transportation, which is also one of the reasons why Zhang Yunfei took the lead in recovering Shijiazhuang.

Shijiazhuang Railway Station.

There were already many trains parked on several railroad tracks in front of the station, and many train whistles were blaring, and the steaming locomotives were snorting.

There was a train, already full of soldiers, slowly leaving the station and heading north.

On the platform, a group of soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying AK-47 assault rifles were lining up in an orderly manner to get on the bus.

Around the station, many soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition lined up in a neat line to guard there, and now, Shijiazhuang Railway Station is one of the busiest places in Shijiazhuang.

A large number of infantry soldiers, a large number of weapons and ammunition, will be transported north from here to the front line.

North of Shijiazhuang.

The First Mechanized Infantry Regiment and the Second Mechanized Infantry Regiment have left Shijiazhuang for at least dozens of kilometers, and everyone is heading to Dingzhou in the north, which is still under the control of the little devils.

Although there are not many little devils in Dingzhou, at most there is a brigade, but there are many puppet troops in it, at least one infantry division, and there are five or six thousand puppet troops.

The little devils seemed to be quite "smart", and shrank their main forces to Baoding, leaving an infantry brigade to urge these five or six thousand puppet troops, hoping to stop the pace of the 36th Group Army.

(To be continued)