Chapter 550 Got into the Pocket

In the morning, Ryosuke Isoya, who had not slept all night, his eyes were full of red bloodshots, his face was tired, and the stubble of Hesse Sen flourished overnight, and the staff officers knew that His Excellency the Commander was in a very bad mood, and they all hid far away, even if they went in and out, they were tiptoeing, and no one came to touch this moldy head, and there was a colleague who was not long-eyed, and he had been punished to feed the horses.

The Japanese artillery bombardment began again, this time, it was more fierce than every time, and it lasted much longer, all the artillery kept pouring shells, as if to vent the fear and resentment of the past two days, and the whistling shells almost turned Shangqiu City over, the smoke was filled, the smoke and dust were everywhere, the artillery fire was extended, and the Japanese fierce charge began.

It was very smooth, there was no resistance, the Japanese army occupied the position smoothly, and the situation encountered in Kaifeng City was the same, except for the bomb craters everywhere, the buildings with curling smoke, and the choking smell of gunpowder, there was not even a single figure.

Ryosuke Isoya, who received the report, regretted that he wanted to slap himself a few times, six or seven hours of time, just like this, if he was bolder, now, the troops have reached the periphery of Xuzhou, and the battle has reached this point, he also understands that Tang Qiuli did everything possible to block himself in the middle, at any cost, it can only explain one problem, the direction of Xuzhou, the strength of the Chinese army is empty, and he is fighting for time to mobilize troops.

Thinking about this, Isoya Ryosuke was even more annoyed, Kaifeng and Shangqiu were all fooled like this, and wasted more than a day in vain, the commanders of this branch of the devil are not simple, dare to use the same tactics in different places, with a sneak attack, disrupt the deployment of the imperial army, and then evacuate the whole army.

It was already the morning of December 21, although Tang Qiuli's troops had been blocked for more than five days in a row, and the suddenness of the campaign had been lost, he still wanted to take Xuzhou in the shortest possible time, and open the door to the south for the troops who had no way to retreat, and only in this way could the First Army get rid of the fate of being surrounded.

The remaining less than 100,000 Japanese troops, with the fear of bloody battles for several days, dragged their tired bodies, rolled up billowing smoke and dust, passed through the Shangqiu that was almost in ruins, and rushed straight towards Xuzhou.

At about 5 p.m. on 20 December, Tang Qiuli received a telegram from Li Zongren, commander of the Xuzhou Theater, that the main force of the Xuzhou Battle, the 140,000 troops of the 21 st Group Army of the Gui Army, Liao Lei, had all arrived at the designated position and was now unfolding on the front line of Yanglou and Jiahezhai.

If Isoya Ryosuke gave up the plan to capture Xuzhou at this time, transferred from Shangqiu to Heze, and tried to meet the Japanese army in Cangzhou, the Japanese army in Cangzhou would pull him again, it might not be a way out, but whether it was the Japanese army base camp or himself, they were all interested in Xuzhou, as if they occupied Xuzhou, and the war in Songhu could end satisfactorily according to the wishes of the Japanese.

The eight main divisions of the Sichuan Army could also arrive at their designated positions at about 8 o'clock that night, and Vice Chairman Tang's blocking troops only needed to complete the blocking task according to the original plan, and the rest would be handed over to the Xuzhou Theater.

Tang Qiuli was quite hesitant, judging from the deployment of the troops commanded by Li Zongren, he wanted to give the Japanese First Army a hundred pocket formations, and put all the 100,000 Japanese troops into it, with Liao Lei's 21st Group Army as the main force, ambushed on both sides of the road from Shangqiu to Xuzhou, and most of the Sichuan army was arranged in the Huangkou area to tie up the pockets, while Xuzhou was fortified with a strong city, attracting the Japanese army to gather under the city, and all departments were encircled.

Judging from Li Zongren's battle plan, it is not impossible to completely annihilate the first army of Isoya Liansuke, he has 240,000 troops in his hands, more than twice the Japanese army, and he has the capital to assume this, coupled with the current situation that the Japanese army's first army is a lone army, and the most likely Japanese army can only come from the direction of Cangzhou, Hebei, where there are Liu Tiehan's nearly 300,000 troops, it is impossible to let go of the Japanese army, he can have enough time, even if he consumes it, he can also consume Isoya Liansuke to death.

As soon as the war in Xuzhou begins, Liu Tiehan's troops will send reinforcements in the north of Xuzhou, Li Zongren's troops can rest assured to encircle and annihilate the Japanese First Army, Tang Qiusheng's troops, stay in the area of Xiao County, there is no big effect, Li Zongren's intention to call, Tang Qiuli grasped it very clearly, the battle of Xuzhou, the Xuzhou Theater can fight by itself, as for your Vice Chairman Tang's troops, there is no need to participate again, right?

Looking at the telegram, Tang Qiuli shook his head helplessly, this head of the Xingui department, the arrangement of troops is quite orderly, and his appetite is not small, he pulled the troops of the independent division to help him, but he wanted to monopolize the credit of the Battle of Xuzhou, before his troops were in place, why didn't he mention the matter of Tang Qiusheng's troops in Xiao County? No matter what, not grabbing this credit from him is equivalent to fulfilling his thoughts, but whether to go north to Cangzhou or transfer west to Taihang Mountain, he can't make up his mind.

Tang Qiuli considered that once the Battle of Xuzhou began, the Japanese army in North China would definitely not sit idly by and watch the first army of Isoya Liansuke be encircled and eliminated by the Chinese army in this way, and they would definitely desperately rescue, and the direction of Songhu and Shanxi would be beyond the reach of the whip, only the Japanese army in Cangzhou was closest to Isogu Liansuke, the Japanese army was desperate, and Liu Tiehan was under great pressure, Tang Qiusheng's troops could be transferred to the Taihang Mountains to join the campaign to annihilate the Japanese army under the mountain pass, of course, it was the best, but once Cangzhou was tight, there would be no troops to reinforce.

This made Tang Qiuli difficult left and right, constantly weighing the pros and cons, there were no more than 100,000 troops in his hands, killing Yamaguchi was an empty word, he wanted annihilation rather than defeat, and the direction of Cangzhou made it difficult for him to rest assured, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "It's still a few soldiers" If these words are heard by several other military leaders in the country, they will roll their eyes angrily.

In the hands of your Vice Chairman Tang, you now have more than 500,000 soldiers, which is still less, compared with you, we are like being called Huazi, in fact, some people have long complained about this, Tang Qiuli already has a quarter of the armed forces in the country, but they did not see that the Yellow River Theater is facing more than 1.1 million Japanese troops in the entire north, and when a war starts, Tang Qiuli is overstretched everywhere, and the use of troops has repeatedly reached the limit.

What if they were not scared to face so many Japanese troops? Tang Qiuli shook his head, trying to get rid of these unpleasant things, concentrating on the things in front of him, and suddenly a faint fragrant breeze came to his nose, this was his familiar fragrance, and he looked up in surprise.

A smiling face like a flower, looking at him with a smile, in the bright eyes like autumn water, there was irrepressible love, it was not Mei Ting or who, Tang Qiuli was even more surprised, why did his wife suddenly come here?

Mei Ting's face has regained its usual ruddyness, only slightly reduced, but it has a little more touching charm, with a little smug smile. seemed to be very satisfied with the surprise caused to him by his sudden appearance in front of Tang Qiuli, looking at her goose-like husband, Mei Ting's face flew a touch of crimson, she noticed that the translators and staff officers in the room, seeing the appearance of the division commander, couldn't help but cover their mouths and snicker.

After waking up, he found that his thoughts were becoming more and more bitter, and he was used to the days when Mei Ting was by his side.

I was surprised that my wife's injuries healed so quickly, and I was even more surprised that Mei Ting suddenly arrived, with such an arrangement, it was all a lovely guy like a mountain tiger, seeing that he was always depressed because of Su Jingfeng's death, and there was a lot of depression in his heart, so he arranged for his capable subordinates to rush to Huangya Cave to take Mei Ting to the Shanxi Guxian Division.

Now, this great hero seems to be fine, Tang Qiuli secretly stretched out his thumb to him, those who know me, Shanhu also, in fact, Mei Ting's injuries are useless, but when she heard the soldiers of the special guards picking her up, she was anxious, she knew her husband very well, he was a person with great feelings, and Su Jingfeng's death must have hit him very hard.

At this time, he needs his own comfort and companionship, and the doctor begged for a while, the doctor did not dare to be careless, after careful examination, thousands of instructions, only to be reluctantly released, Mei Ting was anxious, one remembered her husband, and the other was not seen for many days, and she really missed it tightly.

Seeing that his wife's body had not fully recovered, he traveled so long distance, Tang Qiuli was so distressed that he didn't know what to say, he asked Mei Ting to go to the bedroom to rest, and he took a few guards to the mountains for a turn, beat back a few game, and went to the cooking class to cook in person, and made a fragrant and tonic meal for Mei Ting.

He went to call Mei Ting to eat, entered the bedroom, and saw Mei Ting wrinkling her cute little nose, pinching the dirty clothes he had changed with one hand, and didn't know where to put it, this situation made Tang Qiuli couldn't help laughing, Mei Ting glared at him with disgust, "I don't know how to take care of myself, I haven't taken a bath for a few days?" Tang Qiuli touched his head in embarrassment, he didn't know, anyway, he smelled sour on his body.

During the meal, Tang Qiu couldn't help but fill Mei Ting with soup and vegetables, Mei Ting saw that her husband was in a happy mood, her appetite was great, and she gave him a sweet smile from time to time, Chen Feng, the director of communications, took a telegram and entered the door to see the little couple and my sweetness, and couldn't bear to disturb it, and wandered outside the door for a while.

Just when the mountain tiger came over, he saw where Chen Feng was pulling and grinding, and pulled him strangely, and when he saw the telegram in Chen Feng's hand, the mountain tiger also changed his face, this is an urgent telegram from Feng Zhi'an to the division, detailing the death of General Zhang Zizhong, the loss of the troops and the current state, and asking for instructions on the next direction of action.

(To be continued)