The First Division of the Youth Army is said to be the old unit that Wang Zhenyu started, because the predecessor of the Guards Division was the first team that Wang Zhenyu recruited, the Hubei Student Team. And the first division was really developed and strengthened by Wang Zhenyu's second battalion of the Hunan Army, so in terms of qualifications, looking at the entire youth army system, there are really few who can compete with this division. In addition, this division is also the foundation of the teaching team of the 9th Tiger Brigade, and its personal connections are also among the best in the whole army. In particular, under Wang Zhenyu's deliberate arrangement, almost every middle and senior officer in every division of the army had the experience of serving and studying in the first division. And those who have made great achievements in other units, such as Zhang Zizhong, will also be transferred to serve in the First Division, and in such an environment of great exchanges, the popularity of the First Division is unparalleled.

In the Protectorate War and the European War, the First Division also played an incomparably enviable feat. Even Bai Chongxi, who has always been extremely picky about his subordinates, has to admit that whether it is morale or equipment, among the divisions of the Youth Army, the first division can be called a trump card.

However, it is an indisputable fact that the style of the first division has been changing, and the first division commander is the current commander of the Guards Division, Zhao Dongsheng, strictly speaking, this person is a fierce man, not a tiger general. He can be so reused by Wang Zhenyu because this kid is loyal enough, you must know that Wang Zhenyu was the one who took the board for him; The second is strong execution, so that there is no ambiguity in doing anything. Such comrades are very useful in peacetime, but I am afraid that they will not be very easy to use in battle. Therefore, Zhao Dongsheng was a lieutenant general and division commander of the army, but he did not command the troops to participate in battles above the regimental level, and this point did not change until he retired. Therefore, the troops brought out by such a division commander basically do not have many characteristics, and they have to find a characteristic that is that they are well-behaved, and everything is carried out in accordance with standards and regulations, and there is no activity at all, but it is better than rigor.

The second division commander was Tao Zhiyue, who was about to become an army general, and this kid was trained by Wang Zhenyu as the first thug before the Battle of the Southeast. And he himself was once very competitive, in the early days of the Protectorate War, the surprise attack on Baoqing Mansion to collect the program of the hidden forest Xiumei, everything was done smoothly, and the first division also left a record of running a hundred miles in a day and night during the Protectorate War. It's a pity that Tao Zhiyue later misjudged the battlefield situation in the southeast battle, and almost let go of more than 100,000 Beiyang elites led by Feng Guozhang, so he fell from the position of the first hitter. What is even more coincidental is that the great hero who cleaned up the mess for Tao Zhiyue at that time, and finally made Li Zongren's Southeast Front Army successfully annihilate Feng Guozhang's troops, was none other than Zhang Zizhong, the current commander of the First Division. Although Tao Zhiyue had flaws in his strategic judgment, the first division left a deep impression at that time that it could run and attack very quickly.

The current division commander Zhang Zizhong was only a battalion commander under Lu Diping at the time of the Battle of the Southeast, and he had just been reorganized from the Beiyang Army. But he was given a good opportunity, and he quickly became a member of the youth army. The European Verdun counterattack was the battle of Zhang Zizhong's fame, and it was in this battle that Zhang Zizhong successfully completed the task of defending to the death twice, making the German army, which was several times his combat strength several times his own, helpless, and established his name as the first general of the youth army, but unfortunately there was another guy named Fu Zuoyi to grab this name. Zhang Zizhong only served as the commander of the division for half a year, and the defense capability of the first division was greatly improved, and it became good at attacking and defending......

Linzi is located in the central part of Shandong Province, named after the ancient city of Qi near the Zihe River, the terrain is high in the south and low in the north, and inclined to the northeast, with a maximum drop of 400 meters from north to south. From south to north, it gradually slows down, and there are low hills, piedmont plains, micro-oblique flatlands, shallow flat lands and other landform units. The area of low hills and plains accounted for 27.9% and 72.1% of the total area of the whole region, respectively. Although the strategic location of Linzi is very important, in terms of military terrain, this place is really unsafe.

Zhang Zizhong was almost the first to arrive in Linzi with the whole division, and he took a few guards to look around at the terrain without entering the county seat at all. After looking at the terrain, Zhang Zizhong, who was pale, returned to Linzi County in silence all the way, and the guards who followed him were also bluffed and did not dare to speak.

Zhang Zizhong himself is a native of Linqing, Shandong, and this time he is fighting at his own doorstep, if he doesn't fight well, it will be a discredit to the whole Shandong people, and the pressure in his heart suddenly becomes a lot greater.

In the evening of the same day, Zhang Zizhong recruited the officers above the major rank of the First Division, who had already arrived in Linzi, to his temporary garrison county office, with only one purpose, and worked together to find a way to see how this battle would be fought!

Chief of Staff Jiang Zhiqing took over this position after the former chief of staff Zhang Xuguang was transferred, and he participated in the last battle of Xuzhou, so he put forward his own views. If Wang Zhenyu saw this scene, he would probably sigh that history has been changed by him, a traverser, and Jiang Zhiqing, the leader of a country, a nation, and a leader in history, has actually fallen to the point of serving Zhang Zizhong as chief of staff. It's too condescending, but Lao Jiang doesn't think that it is not easy for him to come as the chief of staff, and it is very difficult for him to enter a military cadre from a political cadre, because he has military merits......

In fact, this method is very good, in terms of Japan's industrial strength, it is definitely enough for small Japan to drink a pot of play with the elastic defense method based on pillboxes. Historically, this kind of position was indeed the most difficult to conquer, until the Americans learned to use cement to bury bunkers alive.

Zhang Zizhong nodded and shook his head: "The method is good, but the time and transportation capacity are not enough, the area of the elastic defensive position we can build is not large, and we have to rely on other methods." ”

He Chengjun, the commander of the 101st Regiment, thought for a while and said: "Shizuo, if we don't defend and attack, our firepower is not necessarily worse than that of the little devil, maybe we can catch him off guard with chaos." ”

Zhang Zizhong leaned on the chair and thought for a while, shook his head and said: "No, the idea is good, but it's not practical, even if we succeed in one blow, we can't do anything about Little Japan!" Moreover, compared with the Japanese army, we rely more on logistics supplies, which determines that we can only defend ......"

The officers spoke one after another, but they could not come up with any particularly good ideas, and the meeting was open until late at night.

Just when everyone was scratching their heads and not knowing what to do, a young officer who had not spoken for a day suddenly got up and said: "Division, have we entered a misunderstanding, our task is only to delay the Japanese army and create conditions for the main force of the entire Left Route Army to fight a decisive battle in Jinan, not to block the Japanese army in Linzi." ”

Zhang Zizhong glanced at the officer who was a little naïve and asked, "What's your name?" ”

The officer immediately stood up and saluted: "Report to the division, Chen Changjie, a native of Minhou, Fujian, 22 years old this year, graduated from the first staff command department of the Army University, previously served as a trainee staff officer in the Fourth Division, and was transferred to the staff major of the staff department of our division in September. ”

Zhang Zizhong suddenly became interested in this staff officer who was six years younger than himself: "Chen Changjie, good name." Fujian Minhou people, aren't most of your people applying for the Naval University? How did you get to our army. ”

"Report to the division, the humble post was enlisted in the Republic of China in four years, first served in the Fujian Army, and was assigned to the Shanghai Garrison District after the Protectorate War, during which he never had the experience of serving in the Navy."

"Well, you just said it very well, you can go on and see how we should complete the tasks of our superiors" Zhang Zizhong smiled, which made the atmosphere in the division headquarters suddenly relax a lot.

Chen Changjie also felt a little more relaxed, he took a breath lightly and said: "Division, if the information about the Japanese army seen by the humble post is correct, in fact, in terms of equipment, the Japanese army may be inferior to our army. Therefore, the lowly advice is not to show the superiority of our army's firepower too much, and to constantly send strong small units to alternately interfere with the Japanese march and try to provoke the opponent. Then we are setting a trap and concentrating our forces to annihilate the Japanese army as quickly as possible, at this time we can calmly retreat to Jinan, and the Japanese army will inevitably follow us to Jinan, and the next thing is not only our division. ”

Zhang Zizhong suddenly felt enlightened, and he smiled very rarely: "Chen Changjie, Chen Changjie, it's a pity to put such a good name here as a staff officer, Brother Zhongzheng, I think after this battle, you should consider putting him in the army below to take him sick." Even if you are not good, you can be the chief of staff of a regiment, which is better than running errands at the division headquarters. ”

Jiang Zhiqing is actually a person with a very coaxing personality, otherwise he would not have lost his temper and resigned and ran away in history. But this temper also depends on the person, and he can't help but be polite to Zhang Zizhong, a tiger general who can die in Verdun and cannot retreat......

Zhang Zizhong immediately changed his mind and said seriously: "Brother Zhongzheng, you have worked hard, and the General Staff will immediately come up with a specific plan, I estimate that the Japanese will soon come out of Qingdao......

Zhang Zizhong's analysis was good, and a week later, the Japanese Imperial Army finally came out to protect the overseas Chinese. After all, Japan is now one of the great powers, and this still has to talk about some civilization, so the Japanese emperor's civilized division, the righteous division, and the mighty division found enough excuses to open up