Chapter 78: (2)

Itagaki Seishiro's move to invite Jun into the urn is undoubtedly very clever, the Fifth Division suddenly turned to attack to the north when the troops were in full swing, which is a rare good news for Yan Xishan, if the Fifth Division continues to attack south, then with the current offensive and defensive posture of both sides, the fall of Taiyuan is only a matter of time.

Although Yan Xishan was also very aware of the Japanese army's intention to suddenly move north, in order to gain time to prepare for the defense of Taiyuan, Yan Xishan had no choice but to pinch his nose and admit it.

On November 4, the Second War Zone held a military meeting of officers and above to discuss matters related to the defense of Taiyuan. As in history, on the issue of defending Taiyuan, there was a disagreement between the Second Theater Command, with Wei Lihuang, deputy commander of the Second Theater of Operations, believing that Taiyuan was a lonely city that was difficult to defend, while another deputy commander, Huang Shaohong, avoided fighting and wanted to preserve his strength, while Yan Xishan insisted on holding Taiyuan.

After half a day of deliberation, the generals who attended the meeting reached a consensus, that is, if the Fifth Division did not participate in the Taiyuan Attack, the Second War Zone would be fully capable of keeping Taiyuan, but if the Fifth Division went south, Taiyuan would be a lonely city and difficult to defend, so there must be an army to contain the Fifth Division in northern Shanxi.

After the main force of the Seventh Army withdrew south, only two units of Li Fuying's 61st Army and Chen Feng's 222nd Division were left in the northern Shanxi region, as well as several guerrilla units of the 18th Army. The most important thing is that it has only been more than a month since the last war, and neither the 61st Army nor the 222nd Division has yet recovered, so how can it resist the 5th Division, which is known as the Steel Army.

Another problem is that if the 61st Army and the 222nd Division are ordered to defend the north of Jin, then the question of the command of the two armies cannot be avoided. However, it is also a question of who is in command of the 61st Army and the 222nd Division, and it stands to reason that the 61st Army is a corps-level combat unit, while the 222nd Division is a division-level combat unit, and the 61st Army should be in command of the 222nd Division.

However, in terms of combat effectiveness, the 61st Army was obviously incomparable with the 222nd Division. In addition, in terms of the number of troops, the 222nd Division is a Type A division, and the 61st Army is a Type B division plus a brigade, and the 222nd Division has far more soldiers than the 61st Army. Looking at Li Fuying and Chen Feng later, Li Fuying is undoubtedly much older than Chen Feng in terms of qualifications, and Chen Feng is just a new melon egg, and the two are not opponents of the same level at all. But in terms of command ability, Li Fuying can't catch up with Chen Feng.

Moreover, Chen Feng is still a very temperamental officer, and he may not be willing to obey Li Fuying's orders, after all, he is now a famous anti-Japanese general throughout the country, and Li Fuying has become an unknown junior in comparison.

Based on the consideration of various factors, the Second Theater Command finally issued the following order, promoting Chen Feng to lieutenant general of the 61st Army, and concurrently serving as the commander of Datong City Defense, commanding all Chinese troops in the northern Shanxi and southern areas to defend Datong. The commander of the 61st Army, Li Fuying, and some officers of the 61st Army were transferred back to the Second War Zone Commander's Department for other appointments, and Fu Zuoyi was also ordered to be the commander of Taiyuan City Defense and responsible for defending Taiyuan.

This is the best way in the eyes of the high-level leaders in the Second War Zone, to promote Chen Feng's official position, and even the 61st Army has given him all, although it is difficult to stick to Datong, but Chen Feng will not have any opinions. And Li Fuying also knows that defending Datong is not a job that ordinary people can take, I heard that this attack on northern Jin is not only the troops of the Fifth Division, but also the Mongolian army and other troops of the North China Front Army to participate in the war, there is no difference between defending Datong and sending him to death, after all, there are not many Chinese troops in northern Jinbei, if once surrounded by the Japanese army, it is only a matter of time before it is destroyed, and it is a great thing for him to leave at this time. Although he lost his military power, he saved his life, and after weighing the pros and cons, Li Fuying had no opinion.

After receiving the order from the Commander's Department of the Second War Zone, Chen Feng smiled bitterly, didn't he fucking roast him on the fire. Defend Datong, what are you kidding, now the Japanese army has captured the Niangzi Pass and Xinkou line, Datong has no strategic value, except for Datong's coal, Datong is actually the same whether to defend or not.

Now in order to buy time for the Taiyuan defense war, Yan Laoxi is going to use his troops as cannon fodder, although in another secret telegram Yan Xishan authorized Chen Feng to abandon the troops and escape when he can't do anything, but in this way, Chen Feng's painstaking family is completely finished.

After more than a month of development and recovery, the four brigades and one cavalry group of the 222nd Division were basically full, but because there were too many new soldiers, the combat effectiveness of the troops did not improve much, but decreased slightly. Especially the 224 Brigade, almost all of which are composed of oil recruits, and there are only two battalions in the brigade that have been on the battlefield.

Looking at this telegram that had been held for more than 20 days, Chen Feng fell into deep thought, to be honest, there was no problem at all with the strength of the 222nd Division to hold Datong for 20 days, let alone 20 days, even if it was two months. But the problem is that twenty days is enough time for the Japanese army to surround Datong, and then they will be the king of the urn, and it is only a matter of time before they are destroyed.

But the Second War Zone wanted to give a death order this time, and there was no room for Chen Feng to refuse, after thinking about it, Chen Feng still decided to send a telegram to the Commander's Department of the Second War Zone, and set out some of his conditions, if the Commander's Department of the Second War Zone agreed, then this Datong is not impossible to keep, if the Commander's Department of the Second War Zone does not agree, then this matter must be planned and planned.

Taiyuan. Department of the Second World War Zone Governor.

"Yisheng, what do you think?" Because the conditions put forward by Chen Feng were related to the internal affairs of the Jin Sui Army, only the senior officers of the Jin Sui Army attended the meeting, and Wei Lihuang and the top officials of the 18th Group Army were not invited to attend.

Chen Feng's conditions are mainly two aspects, the first is the issue of campaign command, he requires that any decision he makes after the start of the war cannot interfere with the headquarters of the second war zone, nor does he need to ask the headquarters of the second war zone for instructions, that is to say, he has the right to command. This is understandable, once Chen Feng's troops enter the battlefield, then they will become a lone army in a sense, which is understandable and not too much at all. After a pause, Fu Zuoyi said: "As for the second condition, it is somewhat worthy of our consideration, Chen Feng asked for the reorganization of the 61st Army and the transfer of all officers above the brigade level of the 61st Army. We all know that the 61st Army is a shelf army, and the whole army is only one division and one brigade, which can only be regarded as a larger division, and it is understandable that Chen Feng wants to reorganize the 61st Army, but what does it mean to transfer all officers above the brigade level? ”

Yang Aiyuan thought for a while and said: "Actually, there is nothing that can't be figured out, although Chen Feng's 222nd Division is said to be subordinate to the battle sequence of our Second World War Zone, but in fact our control over him is almost zero, because fundamentally this army is Chen Feng's private army, and it is a unit formed by Chen Feng with all his family property, so he does not allow anyone to get involved in this army, of course we can't do it, Lao Jiang can't do it, let him guard Datong is indeed a little embarrassing for him, because his troops are likely to be gone all of a sudden after this battle, So he's leaving a way out for himself. ”

"The back road, what the back road, isn't my identity as the son-in-law of Yan Yan a back road, can't he fight devils with peace of mind?" Chief Yan was obviously a little angry.

"Dashuai, although you did marry Chang Xi to Chen Feng, after all, they haven't married yet. And to tell the truth, don't like to hear it, if one day Chen Feng loses all his military power, I'm afraid your family Changxi may not be able to get married. ”

"That's dang, this" Although Yan Xishan was a little embarrassed, he didn't refute.

"So Chen Feng wants to leave a way back for himself, his meaning is very clear, if you want me to defend Datong, the 61st Army will be my private army in the future, maybe in the future, the 2nd World War Zone can still command the 61st Army, but I am afraid it is impossible to get back ownership." Yang Aiyuan analyzed.

"Marshal, compared with Taiyuan and the whole of Shanxi, a sixty-first army is too insignificant, and after two major wars, the sixty-first army is already considered disabled, more than half of the soldiers are newly replenished recruits, and the combat effectiveness is not even half of the previous one, I'm afraid Chen Feng didn't take a fancy to the ten thousand people, but to the number of the sixty-first army, so he didn't want us to interfere." As the former commander of the 61st Army, Li Fuying still knows the situation of the 61st Army very well, so his words are still very convincing to these officers here.

"Yes, now Taiyuan is our foundation, and I haven't taken the name of a military to heart, so it should be regarded as a dowry for Chang Xi. Yisheng, the 222nd Division and the 61st Army are under the jurisdiction of your Seventh Army, so you can send a telegram to that Housheng on behalf of the old man and me, and say that the old man I said, and I will agree to these two conditions. But he also promised my old man that he would stick to Datong for more than 20 days, otherwise military law would be engaged! Yan Xishan thought about it for a while and finally made a decision.