After the 63rd Army withdrew to Jizhong, the situation in North China gradually eased again. It is said that Terauchi Shou has not a lot of troops in his hands, and he can fight a battle. In particular, on the periphery of Jizhong, the Japanese army units were densely surrounded by the 21st Division stationed in Beiping, the 27th Division stationed in Tianjin, the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade stationed in Cangzhou, the 6th Independent Mixed Brigade stationed in Dezhou, and the 110th Division stationed in Shijiazhuang. In addition, there is the 11th Division, which is a mobile striking force.

Such a large number of troops seemed to be enough to carry out a centripetal sweep of the Jizhong base area, like the famous "May Day Sweep" in history, only four divisions (26th, 27th, 41st, 110th) and three independent mixed brigades (7th, 8th, 9th) were dispatched.

Occupying such a big advantage but not taking advantage of the situation to take Jizhong was regarded as the biggest failure of the Northern Branch Dispatch Army by the brick families in the future military history. Commander Terauchi Shouichi even ate a lot of hanging, what "incompetent temple", "shame in the military circles", in short, he was not less scolded. It was not until he was promoted to the commander of the Southern Army that Terauchi Shouichi was called to the palace by Hirohito to severely reprimand him when he returned to China to report on his work, making him remember the lessons of North China, believing that it was precisely because of his inaction at the beginning that the later war situation in North China was corrosive.

Originally, he planned to let the 11th Division launch a "sweep" to the area south of the Yongding River and north of the Daqing River, and take the opportunity to test the combat effectiveness and resistance determination of the troops in Jizhong. However, the 11th Division was attached to the Kwantung Army and was soon recalled to Manchuria by its commander, General Kenyoshi Ueda.

As for the rest of the divisions, brigades, and regiments, they had their own defense areas, and they did not dare to dispatch them at all. So wait for the only 11th Division that can maneuver to withdraw. Terauchi Shouichi was not interested in fighting any further, but only ordered the North China Ministries to strictly guard the railway line to prevent sabotage by the Chinese army. In fact, not only Terauchi Shouichi, but also Hirohito and the base camp also thought so, and Hirohito also repeatedly "decreed" that all armies should not move without permission (for example, the Korean army was severely reprimanded for exchanging fire with the Soviet Union at Zhanggufeng without authorization), so as not to affect the overall situation of the Battle of Wuhan. It was only when the situation deteriorated that Hirohito did not remember what he had said at the beginning, and instead wanted to hold the front-line commander accountable.

Some people may want to question, why did Okamura Ningji dare to go out in 42 years, and he also bulldozed Jizhong in one fell swoop? The reason is actually quite simple. Two words "puppet army"! After the local defense was handed over to the puppet army. Okamura was able to free the Japanese army from heavy garrison tasks and formed a mobile strike force.

In addition, it is also important to note that before the "May Day Sweep", all the county seats, larger market towns and even villages in Jizhong had been encroached upon by the Japanese army. In counties deep in the hinterland, such as Hejian, there is even a wing of the puppet army stationed there. The main force of the Eighth Route Army in Jizhong was squeezed to Shenxian as the center. The east and west are less than 60 kilometers long. A narrow area of no more than 50 kilometers wide from north to south. In this case, the Japanese puppet army has actually been anti-guest-oriented, and if it still can't win, Okamura Ningji might as well buy a piece of tofu and kill him.

And now Terauchi Shouichi is far from having such good conditions. First of all, the formation of the puppet army was not smooth, except for a small number of puppet Manchu troops brought from the northeast, there was no use. Not to mention letting them defend the city, even being cannon fodder is not qualified, because it will seriously slow down the marching speed of the Japanese army.

Terauchi Shouichi really couldn't see it, so he instructed the traitor Qi Xieyuan to establish several military schools, intending to re-establish the "Trustworthy Imperial Cooperative Army". In the eyes of the Japanese army, a regular army, its basic cadres must go through rigorous military training. Because of this, the Japanese army did not pay much attention to the Eighth Route in the early days, and was contemptuously called "hairy monkeys", and it was not until after the Battle of the Hundred Regiments that they changed their views.

Let's talk about Qi Xieyuan, this guy is a remnant of Beiyang, he did not kill the people when he was a warlord in his early years, and after the 77 Incident, he took refuge in Japan and became a traitor. With the help of the Japanese army, Qi Xieyuan successively set up military schools, officer training teams, sergeant training regiments and interpreter training classes in Tongxian and Qinghe in Beiping in August 38 to train officers for the founding of the army.

The officer training team recruited the lost old officers of the Kuomintang army and trained officers above the company level. The Sergeant Training Corps recruits young people with primary school education and trains sergeant squad leaders. Translation training, recruiting young people who know a little Japanese, and cultivating Japanese translators. In addition, there are driving schools for automobile soldiers and legal schools for training military police, so I will not introduce them all here.

After Zheng Huzi learned about the situation of the military academy from Feng Kun, he was greedy and drooled with envy. Although the Jizhong Military Academy has many tactical ideas that are ahead of the times, it is still very backward on the whole due to the conditions in all aspects, and what makes Zheng Weiguo even more anxious is that the scale of the school is too small, and it is difficult to train enough officers in a short period of time.

When Feng Kun went to the base area to deliver the "ransom", he had a secret meeting with Zheng Huzi, and after learning about these circumstances, he suggested: "Since the Jizhong Military Academy can't meet the needs for a while, why don't you send someone to study at the Tongzhou Military Academy?" ”

Zheng Weiguo was also very interested in this idea of borrowing chickens to lay eggs, but he was worried that Ji Lu's plan would not be easy to succeed, so he hesitated: "The Japanese puppet authorities will definitely review it, and I'm afraid it's not easy to get in, right?" ”

Feng Kun said with a smile: "It's very easy, just recognize dozens of big characters, as long as you don't lack arms and legs, you can ensure that one is counted as one." ”

It turned out that due to the bad reputation of traitors, there were very few people who applied for these military schools. Qi Xieyuan had no choice but to make a fuss about the treatment of students and use high welfare to attract young people in North China. According to the records, the meals, clothing, books, and stationery at school are all provided by the government, and the food is also good, and there are two taels of meat every Friday. Don't underestimate these two taels of meat, at that time, the landlord only bought two taels of meat and dumplings to eat during the New Year's holidays.

In addition to a set of cloth military uniforms for training, a set of tweed military uniforms and a pair of leather shoes were also issued for use in going out. In addition to food, a monthly allowance of 6 yuan was given (8 yuan for the fifth period and 28 yuan for the seventh period, but it was already inflationary at that time), and students with difficult families could also pay another 10 yuan for travel expenses. According to the prices at that time, a family of three could maintain a decent life for 20-30 yuan a year in the Beijing-Tianjin area, and the uniforms and leather shoes were high-end goods that ordinary families did not have.

From the above treatment, it can be seen that the Japanese puppet authorities really spent their blood to build a military academy, leaving aside the rights and wrongs of justice. The setting of these military schools is very advanced, and the teaching is very reasonable. There is a big gap between the military academies founded by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party at that time, and all military historians refer to the historical "North China Security Army" as the most standardized army in modern China. It's uncomfortable to hear, but when you think about it, it makes some sense.

Of course, what kind of army is a mess for what kind of army is it that you say is such a bullish school? Because everyone is here for "two taels of meat", who is going to work hard with you? This is a question of the will to fight, not a matter of poor military literacy.

After discussing with Political Commissar Cheng and others, Zheng Huzi decided to help Qi Xieyuan and joined forces with the underground party to send a large number of intellectual youths over. When the first issue was selected, I was worried that the plan would be exposed. It's just that more than a dozen people were sent one after another. Later, I saw that the effect was good. A lot of them have been added one after another. Zheng Huzi is jokingly called "Elective Students".

At that time, in order to win over these military academy students, the Japanese army could visit Japan for one month after graduation. Among them, 20 students who are good at Japanese and have good grades will also be sent to the Japanese non-commissioned officer school to continue their studies. Interestingly. Due to the high quality of the selected students in Jizhong. I also studied very hard. In the following years, most of the places to study in Japan were occupied by them. The students who stayed in China also quickly grew into the backbone of the public security army. Due to the single-line contact, it was not visible in normal times, but as soon as the activation order was received, it was discovered that the battalion, company, and platoon officers of the full regiment were all selected and sent to the regiment. Well. That's a story for later.

In addition to the ineffective operation of the puppet army, the situation in Jizhong is also completely different from that of 42. In 42 years, there were more than 1,600 fragments, and at this time, the whole block of Jizhong was in the hands of the 41st Group Army, and there were various base areas of the Eighth Route Army around it. In southern Hebei in particular, because the Japanese army completely abandoned the Deshi Highway, the two base areas were completely connected. Under such circumstances, unless Terauchi Shouichi was sure to bulldoze the three base areas of central Hebei, southern Hebei, and Hebei-Lubian at the same time, he would not dare to attack on a large scale at all.

Since the Japanese field troops are all trapped on the railway, can Zheng Huzi launch a counterattack? The answer is also difficult! Since the Battle of Lanfeng, the troops have only rested for more than two months, the new weapons captured are still adapting, and the base area has yet to be stabilized. What's more, German supplies are still on the way, and it would be unwise to do so before they get their hands on them.

Terauchi Shouichi and Zheng Huzi each have their own scruples, just like two dueling swordsmen, just a little fighting, and after a small test of edge, they will face each other again, and the sword will return to the dragon box, waiting for the next favorable opportunity.

Terauchi was waiting for the Battle of Wuhan to end, when it was widely believed in Japan that the Nationalist government would surrender after taking Wuhan. Even if they don't surrender, the Northern Branch Dispatch Army can get more troops and materials, and it will be more certain to clear North China at that time.

Zheng Huzi was also waiting, waiting for the German arms that were still being transferred on the way. As long as this batch of supplies arrives, the combat effectiveness of the entire group army can be doubled, and if it is run in a little, it is difficult to say that one division and one brigade can be said. At that time, even if it could not fully confront the Japanese army, the certainty of annihilating it all the way was much greater.

In Zheng Huzi's anticipation, the supplies were finally slowly transferred to the rear. Due to the huge number and more than a hundred artillery pieces (counting all the calibers above 20 mm), the Nationalist Government spent a lot of money on this. Not to mention anything else, the people who were issued and the gasoline consumed were a big expense. From this point of view, it is not a loss to give so much heavy artillery to the Military Commission at the beginning.

Fortunately in the Guotong area, the highway was basically smooth (there was basically no traffic jam in those days), and the Japanese planes only cared about bombing Wuhan, and they didn't pay much attention to Henan and Shaanxi, and the cars could still run as well. Therefore, at this stage, the materials are still transferred relatively quickly, but it is not so easy after entering North China. First of all, there are not enough cars, and even if there are cars, there is not enough gasoline, and most of them can only be transported by horse-drawn carriages or even carried on their shoulders. The second is that the main lines of communication are all controlled by the Japanese army, not to mention the long detours, and some sections must break through the blockade of the Japanese army and forcibly rush to transport.

In particular, the six Skoda H2 105mm howitzers weighing 4,000 pounds had to escort the central leaders every time they crossed the Japanese blockade line.

Fortunately, with the help of the Eighth Route Army, the remnants of the 105th Division and the 108th Division, which had previously been assigned to the 41st Group Army, also quickly moved north after a short rest. These two divisions combined still have more than 6,000 people, plus the 33rd division sent by Zheng Weiguo to respond, tens of thousands of people took a total of more than a month to transport all the materials back from the Yellow River, most of them were in Jizhong for the large army to redress, and a small part was sealed in Ping'an County for urgent needs.

Although it took a long time and the cost was great, Zheng Huzi finally waited for what he wanted. And Shouichi Terauchi was not so lucky. He looked south every day, looking forward to the Central China Front Army taking Wuhan as soon as possible and returning to North China, but he waited left and right, and what he was waiting for was a big defeat! What's going on here? If you want to know what the aftermath is, and listen to the next breakdown. (To be continued......)