In the Zhangbei grassland, the original tranquility and tranquility were broken by the sudden sound of the motor. From a distance, the sky is overwhelmed with tanks and other vehicles of various models.

On the hillside in the distance, several high-magnification telescopes are watching closely.

A soldier observed, with words in his mouth, and after a while, he turned to the officer next to him and reported: "Report to the company commander, I counted at least 300 tanks and armored vehicles of various types, divided into four groups. In addition, there are about 300 other vehicles of various types, about 20 cannons, and more than a dozen small cannons. ”

The company commander smiled and said approvingly: "Yes, just learned reconnaissance, you can classify and count so clearly!" However, the data should be more rigorous, how many are the number of vehicles, what model is what model, how big the caliber is how big the caliber, and there can be no ambiguity. ”

"Yes, company commander!"

Another officer next to him said: "Company commander, it seems that this is indeed the main force of the 3rd Division of the Little Devil Tank." Other units of the Japanese army in North China did not have so many tanks and trucks. And judging by its movements, most of them are going to the West Liaoning Corridor! ”

The company commander agreed: "Well, it is likely that the Japanese army wants to re-block the Liaoxi Corridor to prevent our army in the Second World War Zone from going north." However, they probably didn't expect that Commander Zheng had already prepared."

The officer snorted and quipped: "The little devil is a fool's dream, let's call him a return!" Company commander, should we report to our superiors right away? ”

The company commander nodded and ordered the communicator with the radio on his back: "Record!" According to our reconnaissance, the 3rd Tank Division of the Japanese Army, which was originally stationed in Baotou, was secretly advancing eastward. At present, it has arrived in the Zhangbei grassland. Its main four tank wings, the 3rd mobile artillery wing, the 3rd motorized infantry wing, and other divisions and regiments directly under the command of the unit appeared. Rough statistics, with a Type 97 medium tank...... 12 Type 90 75MM field guns, 12 Type 91 100mm howitzers, and 12 Type 47MM anti-tank guns. ”

After the correspondent finished the record, he handed it to the company commander for inspection, and then quickly sent a report. The large army of the Japanese army still had an unbeatable virtue, arrogantly heading eastward, but did not know that the details had been thoroughly figured out by the opponent.

"Hey, company commander, you can count so well! As soon as I see a lot of equipment, my brain is messed up! ”

The company commander smiled: "It's nothing, just practice more!" He waved his hand again, "Clean up." Evacuate now! ”

Soon. The reconnaissance team rode away, and the large Japanese army disappeared into the horizon, leaving only the tracks of the tracks. The prairie finally returned to tranquility, but this tranquility was the prelude to some kind of explosion.

Historically. The 3rd Tank Division stationed in Baotou did not complete its training until the fall of 1943. But in this plane. Due to the rapid growth of anti-Japanese forces in North China. The Japanese army also had to speed up the pace of building armored forces. In the spring of 1942, Okamura began to raise equipment and relied on the good connections of the upper echelons. Just snatched food from the mouth of the Kwantung Army, asked for more than 200 tanks, and then combined with the previous equipment to form the 3rd Tank Division, codenamed Tiger.

The first division commander was Lieutenant General Nishihara Kazuse, but this guy was born in cavalry and was not very good at the use of armored forces, so he was soon replaced by Lieutenant General Hideo Yamaji, who had studied armored tactics in Germany.

The division is under the jurisdiction of: the 5th Tank Brigade (8th and 12th Tank Wing), the 6th Tank Brigade (13th and 17th Tank Wing), the 3rd Motorized Infantry Wing, the 3rd Mobile Artillery Wing, and the rapid-fire artillery team, search team, air defense team, engineer team, maintenance team and baggage team directly under the division and regiment.

Each tank wing has 1,070 people, with 3 squadrons of Type 97 modified tanks, 1 squadron of Type 97 tanks, 1 squadron of Type 95 light tanks, and a maintenance squadron (called the maintenance squadron in the Japanese army). The Type 97 medium tank squadron was originally intended to be replaced with a self-propelled artillery squadron (the Japanese called it an artillery tank squadron), but Japan's production capacity was limited and it was never replaced.

THE 3RD MOBILE ARTILLERY WING CONSISTS OF A MOBILE FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE (12 TYPE 90 75MM FIELD GUNS), A MOBILE HOWITZER GROUP (12 TYPE 91 100MM HOWITZERS) AND A REARMAMENT SQUADRON.

The 3rd Motorized Infantry Wing has 3 troop brigades (each brigade has three squadrons and a machine gun squadron), an artillery squadron directly under the wing (Type 41 75MM mountain artillery) and a maintenance squadron, with about 3,900 people in the whole wing, 22 combat vehicles and 280 vehicles of various types.

The above six wings are the core combat strength of the 3rd Tank Division, except for a slight weakness in heavy artillery, the rest of the configuration is much more luxurious than the lineup of the Nomenkan against the Soviet army. At the beginning of the formation of this army, it was originally to clear Zheng Huzi's main force in Jizhong, but he didn't expect that the first battle was in the grasslands of western Liaoning.

Yongqing County, General Headquarters of the Second Theater of Operations.

At this time, Zheng Huzi had already returned to Jizhong on a B25 bomber. Zhang Wenbai, who had just been promoted to the first deputy commander-in-chief of the Second Theater of Operations, looked at the information he had just obtained and muttered: "It seems that Japan does attach much more importance to Northeast China than North China!" I thought that the Japanese army in Baotou would go south to Shanxi in a big way, but I didn't expect to go to Liaoxi! ”

Indeed, even when the North China Railway System was not destroyed in the original time and space, the Japanese army's emphasis on the Northeast was far above that of North China.

Because North China was only an industrial raw material base, the Japanese army mainly wanted to obtain coal from Shanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places, cotton from Hebei, and fur from Suiyuan. These things are available in North China and Northeast China, and Northeast China was the largest industrial base in China at that time. It is also the second largest industrial base in Asia after Japan.

Coupled with geographical factors, Northeast China is a hub connecting mainland China, the Russian Far East, China and Inner Mongolia and North Korea, and is called the "lifeline of the empire and Mongolia" by the Japanese. When the Japanese army was about to be defeated, they even prepared to move the capital to Changchun. As soon as the Soviet troops entered the Northeast, Japan announced its surrender without a single hand, which shows the importance of the Northeast's position.

Chief of Staff Zhou also agreed: "The Japanese call Manchurian and Mongolian their lifeline, and they will never give up easily." However, the 3rd Division of this tank wanted to seize the western Liaoning corridor alone. It's too much to ignore our second theater of war. ”

Zhang Wenbai's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Oh? So the theater of operations has already been deployed! ”

Chief of Staff Zhou glanced at Zheng Weiguo and said with a smile: "Yes, the headquarters has long had a plan to use the West Liaoning Corridor as bait to lure and annihilate the Japanese mobile troops in North China and Northeast China, but I didn't expect to catch such a big fish!" ”

Zhang Wenbai quipped: "The general seat is far-sighted, and Wenbai can't do it!" ”

Zheng Weiguo waved his hand and smiled: "According to the friendship of a few of us, there is no need to praise each other so much, right?" ”

Several people laughed.

In fact, the Second Theater does not have the kind of strategic talent who can take charge of the overall situation. Zheng Huzi's "foresight" superpower has also been tampered with beyond recognition because history. And completely lost. However, the intelligence gathering capabilities of the second theater of operations. Effectively compensates for this.

As early as a month ago, the Electrical Investigation Bureau accidentally deciphered a telegram from the Japanese army -- the tiger has descended from the mountain, and the general will devour the people!

This intelligence quickly attracted the attention of the Second War Zone, and it was investigated by many parties. In the end, the 3rd Chariot Division stationed in Baotou was finally locked. This unit has just completed its training. And the code name is "Tiger".

The awesomeness of the armored forces. Several of the main forces in the Second World War Zone have already seen it. It would not be a joke to let this force run rampant in North China. As a result, the theater staff made careful arrangements. Several sets of plans have been drawn up to nip the danger in the bud.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese army attached great importance to this unit and easily refused to fight. Fu Zuoyi's troops in Suixi tried to lure the enemy deep and annihilate this enemy army several times, but they were unsuccessful. The Third Division of the Eighth Route Army in Daqingshan also raided the "chariot base" in Baotou, but all of them ended in failure.

However, people are not as good as heaven, and the 3rd Chariot Division bypassed countless pits, but plunged headlong into one of the largest pits. Like the grasslands of western Liaoning, the grasslands around Chahar and Rehe are also important passages between Northeast China and North China. This was the road taken by the Japanese army when it invaded Inner Mongolia.

In such a critical place, Zheng Huzi naturally did not dare to be careless. In fact, as early as when the 97th Army was heading north, Zheng Weiguo secretly dispatched troops to set up an ambush in the Pingbei area, ready to ambush a large Japanese army that might appear at any time. Of course, not only military means, but also political, economic, and propaganda efforts have also been made.

Zheng Weiguo suddenly remembered something and asked, "Chief of Staff, how is that Li Shouxin and Bai Fengxiang in contact?" ”

Li Shouxin, as introduced earlier, is the puppet Mongolian commander-in-chief. Although the Japanese did not trust him, this man was very methodical and a powerful faction in the Inner Mongolia region. Bai Fengxiang is the commander-in-chief of the so-called East Asian Allied Army, with seven cavalry divisions and one infantry division under his command, with a total strength of about five or six thousand people.

These two forces were never fully controlled by the Japanese army, so this time the 3rd Tank Division counterattacked the Liaoxi Corridor and dragged them to be cannon fodder. The Second Theater took advantage of the situation to do their united front work. If these two forces can be pulled over, then the certainty of success is much greater.

Chief of Staff Zhou smiled: "Oh, I'm going to report to the general seat!" Just now, I knocked it out again. ”

Zhang Wenbai said with some surprise: "What, is it possible that these two people are anyway?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou nodded and said, "I don't rule out this possibility, especially since Bai Fengxiang has already contacted us and asked for it anyway." It's just that the conditions were not ripe at that time, and the war zone did not agree. We sent someone to contact us again the other day, and he basically agreed. ”

Bai Fengxiang sold illicit salt in his early years, and later became a bandit, active in Chifeng and the paddock, and there is a bandit called "Bai Sanyan King". Later, when he saw his colleague Zhang Dashuai mixing well in the Northeast, he led his troops to take refuge. Zhang Zuolin saw that he was good at riding and archery, and his marksmanship was exquisite, so he organized a cavalry brigade for him and made him the brigade commander, and in 1930, he entered the customs with Zhang Xueliang and stationed in Baoding.

After that, he was promoted all the way up to the commander of the 6th Cavalry Division. I think that Lintong was the "front-line commander-in-chief" who captured Jiang in Lintong, and gave full play to his ability to smash the kiln and kidnap tickets in the early years. However, this incident also caused him trouble, and the division commander couldn't do it, so he had to fight guerrillas in the Suiyuan area.

In the second half of 1939, he went deep into the vicinity of Duolun on the Recha border, posing a great threat to the Japanese puppet army. The Japanese concentrated several times their forces to encircle him in the Guyang area, and in the battle, he was seriously wounded, and his troops were denied ammunition. The person in charge of the Chongqing Military Command instructed to act according to the method of "saving the country by curves", and he accepted the persuasion of Li Shouxin of the puppet Mongolian army to surrender, and the Japanese army made a big noise, and handed over seven cavalry divisions and one infantry division to Bai Fengxiang under the command, and appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the East Asian Allied Army.

However, Bai Fengxiang was not willing to be a traitor, and they were looking for opportunities together anyway. History is not a secret. He was detected by the head of the Japanese secret service in Baotou, Fukumori Lizhu, and sent a Japanese doctor to secretly release poison to kill him in the name of seeing a doctor, and only two divisions of his troops succeeded in the uprising.

But in this time and space, Zheng Weiguo ordered Bai Fengxiang to continue to lurk in order to catch a big fish with a long line, and he must not act rashly without an order. So it's not dead yet, it's just being watched very closely by the Japanese.

"Hmm, if that's the case, it's really possible for Bai Fengxiang to be anyway?"

"Hmm. Very promising indeed. At the moment our men are secretly infiltrating his troops. When the time comes, it's time to respond! ”

Zhang Wenbai asked hopefully, "What about Li Shouxin?" ”

Li Shouxin's strength is much greater than Bai Fengxiang's. Although Li is capricious, he is a man in troubled times, and he is very good at pulling troops. The most. He was originally a Han Chinese. He turned into a Mongol. also became the commander-in-chief of the puppet Mongolian army. Moreover, among the Han and Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia, especially among the middle and lower classes (which is the opposite of King De), the prestige is extremely high and very appealing.

Chief of Staff Zhou shook his head. smiled: "Li Shouxin is an old slippery head, he doesn't scatter eagles when he doesn't see rabbits, and it's very difficult to deal with." ”

Li Shouxin once had a very classic traitor remark: "I have been defecting to the enemy for 12 years, and I finally saved my life." Although a 30-mile-long ravine, 400 horses and 5,000 sheep were thrown down in Chabei, and two houses bought for 500,000 yuan in Houhe and Zhangjiakou, there are still more than a dozen yards in Beiping. In addition to transporting a full 100,000 taels of tobacco, there is also a property exchanged for 20,000 US dollars, as well as other valuable clothes and leather clothes and a lot of valuable things, so I feel that I am very good at being a traitor, and I have made a profit! ”

It can be seen from this passage that this guy only recognizes money, or interests, in his eyes. It is almost impossible for you to impress him with national righteousness.

This time, the Second War Zone sent a division commander surnamed Chen under him to make contact.

Chen: "Big brother, Commander Zheng admires you very much, and specially sent a representative to contact me, hoping that we will cooperate with him to resist Japan, so I have come to report to you." ”

Li: "Let's not talk about anything else today, let me ask you first, can Zheng Huzi give me a theater commander?" Can you expand the cavalry of the first division with guns and horses? ”

Chen: "Well, I'm afraid this can't be done, Zheng Huzi himself is a theater commander!" ”

Li: "Hmph, I am the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian army, Zheng Huzi is not older than me, and I am not necessarily smaller than Zheng Huzi." Although he has some power, he is not welcomed by Lao Jiang, why should we listen to his orders? Let's go directly to Lao Jiang, I don't turn Zheng's beard! ”

Chen: "Aren't we fighting against Japan?" ”

Li: "Did I ask you to sell him bullets to kill the Chinese?" Now that the Japanese are expanding us, it is better not to make extraneous branches, and when it comes to a certain degree and at the right time, I have my own way. We are now wearing masks, and we try to pretend as much as possible without revealing them, and we will get more supplies for one more day. After you can't pretend, it's not too late anyway, there are more than 20,000 guns and horses, and everyone welcomes us, don't worry about taking a fat pig's head and not finding the temple gate! ”

"As for what I'm going to do in the future, that's just a pole. Whether it's to Suiyuan or to Rehe, if the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperate to punish traitors, there are many people with the same fate as me, and I will pick it up and do it, so I don't have to worry about no one responding to me. ”

After Zhang Wenbai listened, he slapped the table and said angrily: "This guy is too arrogant!" ”

Zheng Weiguo didn't care, and said with a smile: "It's a little interesting, what about the people under Li Shouxin?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhou replied: "Does the general seat want to put Li Shouxin in the air and directly contact the leading generals under him?" However, those people are all brothers who have followed Li Shouxin for many years, and it is probably unlikely that they will rebel. ”

Zheng Weiguo nodded and said, "Well, there will definitely be difficulties, but no matter how difficult it is, you have to give it a try." Since these people have become traitors and traitors, I don't believe that they are willing to work hard. You can send someone to stabilize them first, and when we destroy the third division of the chariot and free up our hands, it is up to them to decide whether to surrender or not! ”

Chief of Staff Zhou hurriedly said: "Yes, the general seat, then I will arrange it immediately." ”

……

While the preparations in the second theater were in full swing, the main force of the Japanese puppet army also quickly passed through the Zhangbei grassland, through Guyuan, Duolun, and all the way to the paddock. Historically, the paddock was a famous Qing Dynasty royal hunting garden, Kangxi Ye once set up a "line of hunting", hence the name, to the 21st century is also very famous grassland. And the geographical location is very important, the southwest and south are bordered by Fengning County and Longhua County respectively, and it is one of the main roads leading to Inner Mongolia and Northeast China in North China.

In Longhua County, He Zhuguo, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy in the Second War Zone, glanced at the generals in the war room, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, we can't wait any longer. If the Third Chariot Division is allowed to reach Chifeng or Ningcheng, it will be equivalent to a tiger entering the forest, and it will be difficult to destroy them! ”

In this operation, Zheng Weiguo deliberately asked He Zhuguo, the boss of the Fengjun army, to preside over it. He Zhuguo is the oldest among the generals of the Northeast Army, and even Yu Xuezhong, deputy commander-in-chief of the theater, is quite inferior. Although Ho's military thinking may be a little outdated, it does not matter, because the Second Theater has now completed its regularization and field operations, and all deployments are planned by the staff departments at all levels.

In layman's terms, it means that the commander of the unit decides whether to fight or not, and the staff officer decides how to fight. In this way, the division of labor is clear, and losses caused by human negligence can be avoided.

In this operation, the Second Theater transferred a total of the New Fifth Army, the 40th Army, and the 53rd Army, the newly formed Third Cavalry Division, the Fourth Cavalry Division, and a large number of technical units, including the Doolittle Squadron. In addition, the New Eighth Army, the 49th Army, the 69th Army, and the Armored Cavalry Division also moved forward to the left of Pingjin to maintain pressure on the enemy. It's just that due to the transfer of too many troops, it has caused great difficulties in the transportation and dispatch of the second war zone, so that many materials have not been transported to the front line in time.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Commander-in-Chief He ordered: "Now, I order!" ”

Swish! All the generals stood up one after another, waiting for the military order.

Detachments of troops quickly advanced to the front. The big war is finally about to begin! (To be continued......)

PS: I watched the game this morning and slept until noon before getting up, so, hehe! Anyway, Croatia's feet are so hard, Brazil is so hanging, if it weren't for the referee.