Lixian County, Hebei Province, Jicha Theater Headquarters. The stars were shining in the war room, and the commanders of the departments directly under the General Staff and other departments and units almost all rushed to the ground. In addition, there are many "non-Zheng generals", such as Liu Division, a representative of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Ma Fawu, a representative of the 24th Group Army (Pang Bingxun's Division) (then deputy commander of the 40th Army of the Group Army and commander of the 106th Division), and Wang Qinghan (then chief of staff of the Group Army) of the 39th Group Army (Shiyou 3rd Division). Even the officers of the central department, such as Zhang Wenbai, deputy commander-in-chief of the Jicha Theater, who were once under house arrest because of the "assassination incident," were also present. The main purpose of this meeting is to summarize the results, experiences and lessons of the previous battle, and to plan the next step.

Chief of Staff Zhou stood in front of the map and was briefing everyone on the situation of the Zhengtai Road raid. On the night when the 5th Regiment attacked and occupied Niangzi Pass, the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division also captured Houlu County (now Luquan City) west of Shijiazhuang, as well as Jingcheng Pass in Houlu County, and attacked Yanfeng, Shang'an and other strongholds on the Zhengtai Line. In this way, from Niangzi Pass in the west to Jingcheng Pass in the east, the railway line of more than 60 miles long was blocked by the Eighth Route Army.

It is worth mentioning that due to the lack of heavy weapons in the parallel space, the Eighth Route Army finally failed to take Niangziguan Railway Station, Yanfeng, Shang'an and other strongholds, resulting in the subsequent road-breaking operation was not complete. After the battle, the Japanese army was able to barely open to traffic after only a month of emergency repairs. But now that the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army has dispatched field artillery units to participate in the battle, the cement piers along the railway line are completely vulnerable. After a night's raid, the Japanese army was swept away from the railway line and nearby strongholds, fortifications, and stations.

The largest of these battles took place at the Jingcheng Coal Mine northwest of Houlu. Jingcheng Coal Mine is located north of the Zhengtai Railway and south of the Hutuo River. It is adjacent to Weishui and Delu in the east and Niangziguan in the west, and is one of the three major coal mines in North China with Kailuan and Zhongxing Coal Mines (located in Yixian County, Shandong, now Zaozhuang City, Shandong).

The mine is mainly used to produce bituminous coal, which is of excellent quality and can be used for coking, ironmaking, steelmaking, and oil extraction. Of course, it is more directly used as fuel for the capacity of trains and ships. The Japanese had long coveted this mining area, and after occupying Shijiazhuang on October 10, 1937, they occupied the Jingcheng coal mine the next day.

In order to plunder the resources of the mining area. The Japanese army also built a railway to the mining area. and listed it as an important base of military resources. In addition to using the original mine and equipment, it also spared no expense to purchase machinery from Germany and opened a new mine, so that the daily output of the whole mine reached 6,000 tons. The annual output is more than 20000000 tons. The Japanese transported a steady stream of coal from here to places such as Longyan Iron Mine, Anshan Iron Works and Shijiazhuang Oil Refinery. Then we use the steel and oil produced there. They made guns, drove planes, cars, and tanks, and slaughtered the Chinese. Someone once said by analogy: the Japanese army occupied a Jingcheng coal mine. This is equivalent to an increase in the strength of five divisions. Whether this statement is accurate or not is not subject to a moment's notice, but it is certain that Japan will be greatly strengthened.

There are three mining areas in Jingcheng Coal Mine: Dongwangshe, Gangtou and Hengshan. The Japanese devils dug outer trenches and erected barbed wire fences around the new mine in Dongwangshe Village, Gangtou Village, and Hengshan, and built a fence more than three meters high inside the barbed wire, and also installed a power grid on the wall. More than a dozen pillboxes were built in the mining area, equipped with an infantry squadron to defend day and night; On the top of Jiazhuang Hill near the new mine, there is a gun tower, which can support the defenders of the coal mine at any time. Among them, there is also a central pillbox, more than ten meters high, the fort wall is extremely thick, there are several rows of perforations up and down, each perforation is very small, and there is also a movable iron plate inside, which can really be described as "impregnable"

According to the original plan, the task of attacking the Jingcheng coal mine would be completed by the first artillery unit in cooperation with the local regiments, but in view of the importance of the Jingcheng coal mine, Commander Nie handed over the task of destroying the Jingcheng coal mine to Yang Chengwu, commander of the first sub-district, and set up the command post of the military region in Honghecao, which was only more than 20 miles away from the Jingcheng coal mine, to personally sit down and command the battle.

After Yang Chengwu received the task, he handed over the main attack task to the Red Regiment, one of the two most effective main regiments in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, that is, the famous Old Third Regiment (its predecessor was the 115th Division Independent Regiment). At the same time, three units were also dispatched to take on the task of cutting off the railway connecting Weishui, Jingcheng and the mining area and the highway from Pingshan to the mine.

On August 20, the same day that the old Fifth Regiment attacked Niangzi Pass, the commanders and fighters of the Third Regiment quietly crossed the Hutuo River and arrived in the mountains and fields only more than 10 miles away from the Jingcheng Coal Mine in the afternoon of the same day. Subsequently, the reconnaissance personnel of the unit made contact with the underground party that had been lurking in the mining area for a long time.

There were more than 20,000 Chinese laborers in the mine. During the reign of the Japanese army, with the consumption of energy in the war, Japan intensified its plundering of resources, and due to the lack of manpower, it defrauded a large number of poor peasants from Hebei (now Luquan), Ningjin, Nangong, Handan, and Neihuang and Anyang in Henan. In addition, many of the captured officers and men of the Nationalist Army (including the Eighth Route Army) were also sent to serve as coolies. The Japanese army organized them into a "team to increase production and serve the country", and these people were not paid, and they were locked up in the No. 3 labor room, surrounded by a power grid, and set up guards to let these people force labor.

Due to the brutal persecution of the miners by the Japanese army, the underground party organization was quite active among the workers. Whether it is an ordinary worker or a "team to increase production and serve the country", there are leaders of underground party organizations. In the spring of 38, a riot was organized, but unfortunately the enemy was strong and we were weak, and the operation failed after the worst attempt. However, the workers' war of resistance has not stopped, and they have even secretly organized a workers' guerrilla force of more than 100 people. Because of its familiarity with the terrain and the structure of the mine, this unit made great contributions to the construction of the Jingcheng Coal Mine.

It was night, and the battle officially began. Li Yu and Liu Wanxuan, the heads of the party organizations in the mining area, commanded the electric switch, extinguished all lighting, and lost the function of the power grid. The battalions of the 3rd Regiment immediately launched a fierce attack, breaking through the five barbed wire fences of the Japanese army in one go, and rushed directly into the mining area through the outer trench more than 3 meters wide. With the help of the miners, the commandos of the 3rd Regiment quickly occupied most of the area as if they were in a no-man's land, and successfully rescued the imprisoned "Production Increase Service Team". Later, most of these personnel joined the Eighth Route Army, a total of more than 3,000 people.

Subsequently, the artillery unit also entered the mining area and took a roll call of the various strongholds held by the Japanese army. By dawn, all the mining areas of the Jingcheng Coal Mine had been recovered.

After listening to Chief of Staff Zhou's introduction. Ma Fawu, deputy commander of the 40th Army (the commander of the army is Pang Bingxun) and commander of the 106th Division, said with a shocked face: "In the middle of the night, this battle is over?" Division Commander Liu, the combat effectiveness of your Eighth Route Army is too strong! ”

Division Commander Liu hurriedly said: "Chief of Staff Wang has won the award. We have been able to achieve such results mainly thanks to the support of the masses of the people and the cooperation of friendly forces. For example, the capture of the Jingcheng Coal Mine would never have been possible without the help of the miners. ”

The other officers listened and nodded in agreement.

Wang Qinghan, chief of staff of the 39th Group Army, teased: "Your army has always advocated not caring about the gains and losses of one city or one place. ”

Kang Ze snorted. Yin and Yang said strangely: "Guerrilla." Naturally, you won't fight hard with the Japanese! ”

The representative of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, who was sitting next to Division Commander Liu, was a little harsh when he heard this, and couldn't help but scold: "Hey, what do you mean by this? Could it be that our Eighth Route Army fights devils, do you still have opinions? If you have the ability, you can also play one for us to see! ”

Division Commander Liu hurriedly waved his hand to stop it. He also explained: "Adhering to the mass line and guerrilla warfare in the War of Resistance behind enemy lines is our party's consistent proposition. But at the same time, we do not give up movement warfare and ambush warfare on favorable conditions. Or even a tough battle. This Zhengtailu raid fully proves this. ”

He also explained: "Now the battle on the Zhengtai Line has just begun, and attacking the Japanese stronghold is only the first step, and then we have to completely destroy the railway and the mining area." And attract reinforcements from the surrounding Japanese puppet army, and then create a bigger fighter plane for everyone here! ”

Chief of Staff Zhou agreed: "Yes, in this counterattack operation, the Eighth Route Army has set an example with practical actions, and I hope that all departments will also play well in the future, and repay the people who raised us with practical actions!" ”

Chief of Staff Wang Qinghan rolled his eyes and said; "Senzai, I heard that the theater has allocated a lot of heavy weapons to the Eighth Route Army, I don't know when it will be our turn to get our 39th Group Army? I don't have an opinion on the war zone biased towards the middle G, but it can't be too favoritism! ”

When the fifth deputy commander of Ma Fa heard this, he also hurriedly looked over. Their 24th Group Army and Shi Yousan's 39th Group Army were nominally under the jurisdiction of the Jicha Theater, but in fact Zheng Weiguo could not intervene at all. Due to limited resources, Zheng Weiguo has hardly allocated weapons to them. It was only that a war zone medical team was sent to various departments to tour the rash treatment, and some clothing and food were replenished.

Jin Mengqi, the head of the logistics department, slapped the table and reprimanded: "It's been nearly two years since the Anti-Japanese War, and how many Japanese devils have you killed in the 39th Group Army?" Spend money and food every day, what qualifications do you have for weapons! ”

Wang Qinghan spread his hands and said with a smile: "Minister Jin said the opposite!" How can we resist Japan without weapons, do we let the brothers do it with the little devils shirtless? ”

Jin Mengqi sneered at each other: "If you give you weapons, will you resist Japan?" Let me ask you, why did the Taihang brand anti-inflammatory drugs that were called back to your group army appear on the black market last time? I also sold a bottle of small yellow croaker, you are really good at business! ”

Taihang brand anti-inflammatory drugs are actually penicillin. Due to the large increase in production, in addition to supplying his own troops, Zheng Weiguo also ordered to give some free gifts to the surrounding troops. At that time, medical conditions were backward, and a bottle of penicillin could often save a life. However, the warlord army seldom regarded the soldiers as human beings, and some army commanders secretly resold the medicine when they saw that it was useful.

Wang Qinghan's old face turned red and argued: "Minister Jin, what is the basis for what you say?" We are not the only one who has that anti-inflammatory drug, so why should it be said that it was resold by our 39th Group Army? ”

Jin Mengqi snorted and said, "Do you think I'm going to talk nonsense?" Do you want me to call that merchant and confront you right away?" ”

Wang Qinghan saw that the paper couldn't contain the fire, so he simply slapped the table and shouted: "What if we sell it?" This is also to raise military spending! If the war zone pays the military in full, can we do it? ”

Zheng Weiguo glanced at Zhang Wenbai and asked, "Brother Wenbai, haven't all the salaries of the 39th Group Army been paid?" At the beginning, in order to win over Zhang Wenbai and other central generals, and at the same time prevent them from interfering in the 41st Group Army, Zheng Weiguo and Zhang Wenbai did a division of labor. He himself was in charge of the 41st Group Army, the 18th Group Army, the 49th Army, and other "descendant" troops, while the rest, such as the 24th Group Army and the 39th Group Army, were all entrusted to Zhang Wenbai, including the distribution of salaries and silver, personnel surveys, and other powers.

Zhang Wenbai smiled bitterly: "The commander-in-chief won't think that I have deducted it!" Chief of Staff Wang. To tell you the truth, there is only so much of the military salary issued by the Ministry of Military Affairs, and I have paid you a lot of it. He also explained: "Now that a large part of the country has been lost, the tax revenue cannot be paid, and the treasury is depleted, it is really impossible to come up with so much money, so you should be more considerate!" ”

Ma Fawu complained: "The front is tight, and the rear is tight." The soldiers were hungry and killed devils on the front line, and the rear was drunk and drunk. But even the salary has to be deducted! Could it be that we are pigs? Just a fool? Don't have parents and relatives to support? ”

These words immediately aroused the resonance of other generals, who complained about the embezzlement and corruption of the Nationalist Government, which made the generals of the central department very embarrassed. In the end, Zheng Weiguo relieved them.

Zheng Weiguo coughed and said, "Everyone be quiet!" In addition to disturbing the morale of the army, these whining words are upset in the army. What can it do? Don't say it again. We are soldiers. Let's fight the battle first! ”

Zhang Wenbai glanced at Zheng Weiguo gratefully. Busy said: "If you have any opinions, Wen Bai must submit them to the National Government or the chairman of the committee." ”

Wang Qinghan said reluctantly: "The general seat, the deputy seat." You can't let the brothers go to war hungry, can you? "In fact, the 39th Army is not short of food, not even money. They occupy the southeastern and southern parts of Hebei Province and the northwestern part of Shandong Province. There is no need to fight, and life is more comfortable than that of the Eighth Route Army. The reason for asking for money is nothing more than wanting some benefits, or relying on the combat mission.

Zheng Weiguo glanced at Wang Qinghan and said in a deep voice: "Chief of Staff Wang, how much does the Ministry of Military Affairs owe you money?" I paid for the central government! ”

Wang Qinghan was stunned for a moment, and then he was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "This is a lot owed, it will be more than half a year, and it is not only the salary, but there are many other military expenses that have not been allocated. ”

In addition to the salary, there is also a lot of fame in the military budget. Like the cost of recruit training, settling-in expenses, equipment costs, weapon maintenance costs, as well as defense fortification construction costs, troop promotion fees, and so on. If you really want to calculate it, it's really nothing. However, the national army is stingy in this regard and rarely spends on it. This is also an important reason why the combat effectiveness of the national army is not strong.

Zheng Weiguo said with a smile: "Don't treat me as a wronged boss, don't push everything on my head!" Now, I will pay you all the money I have in arrears for these three months, and I will allocate it to you four mountain cannons. But in the next battle, you 39th Army must participate! ”

When Wang Qinghan heard this, he hurriedly agreed: "Definitely, definitely!" "But what I thought in my heart was, who said that you have to fight to the death with the little devils when you send troops, can't I be pretentious? Anyway, don't let this money be in vain.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Weiguo continued: "If there is disobedience, slackness, etc., it will be severely punished!" I hope your army will do it for itself! ”

These words came out of Zheng Weiguo's mouth, and they immediately became murderous. Wang Qinghan was full of wit, and hurriedly said: "Don't dare, don't dare!" ”

The fifth deputy commander of Ma Fa hurriedly said: "General seat, what about our 24th Group Army?" ”

Zheng Weiguo replied: "Do the same!" And I will also give 10 million yuan as a reward for this campaign, and when the time comes, it will be distributed according to the performance of each unit in completing the task! ”

Ma Fawu was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly patted his chest and promised: "Please rest assured, our 24th Group Army is also a heroic unit in the bloody battle of Linyi, and it will definitely not disgrace the war zone!" ”

Zheng Weiguo nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay, then I'll wait for the good news of your army!" ”

Next, on behalf of the theater, Chief of Staff Zhou promulgated a specific operational plan, urging the commanders of all units to make earnest preparations after they returned.

After the meeting was dismissed, the generals left separately, but the deputy commander-in-chief Zhang Wenbai stayed behind under the pretext of excuse. Zheng Weiguo quipped: "Brother Wen Bai, do you have any advice?" ”

Zhang Wenbai waved his hand and said: "I am now a guilty body, so don't make fun of me." I just stayed to remind you that Shi Yousan is unreliable, and if you send him money, isn't that a meat bun beating a dog? And you've made all your battle plans public, what if someone leaks the news? Maybe as soon as that Wang Qinghan goes back, the Japanese will immediately know the truth! ”

Zheng Weiguo approvingly: "Thank you, Brother Wenbai, for being willing to tell you with your advice at such a time." ”

Zhang Wenbai shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I'm just doing my duty as a soldier!" ”

Zheng Weiguo nodded, and explained: "My salary this time will be based on Jizhong tickets, and there is no shortage of money." If you can get Shi Yousan to contain the Japanese army, it will be earned. As for the battle plan, it was originally intended to be passed on to the Japanese through the mouths of certain people. ”

Jizhong Bill is a special legal tender issued by Jizhong Bank, which has been circulated in Shanxi, Hebei, and parts of Henan and Shandong. Although there are reserves, the money has to be returned to Jizhong after a turn, and by the way, the economic exchanges of several major base areas have been revitalized. If you do a careful calculation, you will definitely not suffer a loss.

Reveal strategic intentions in advance, mainly to intimidate opponents. After all, the Japanese army is in a hurry to attack Baotou at the moment, and if it can successfully deter the other side, even if it is just to distract the other side's energy, it can somewhat reduce the pressure on Baotou. As for the detailed operational plan, it can be adjusted according to the actual situation when the time comes, and it is not necessarily necessary to fight according to the announced plan.

Zhang Wenbai is also a rare all-round talent in the Huangpu department, and he quickly figured it out, and couldn't help but smile and said: "Weiguo, there is really you." Since you have been prepared, the foolish brother will be relieved. You won't blame the foolish brother for being troublesome! ”

Zheng Weiguo said with a smile: "What did Brother Wen Bai say, the younger brother has something and wants to ask Brother Wen Bai for help!" ”

Zhang Wenbai hurriedly said: "But it doesn't hurt to talk about it, as long as I can help, I, Zhang Wenbai, have nothing to say!" (To be continued......)

PS: Give more opinions, and don't forget to have a recommendation ticket!