Chapter 673: Wuxiang is lost

At the beginning of May 1938, there were undercurrents surging everywhere in North China, Tang Qiuli and Okamura Ningji had their own plans and appetites, and both sides were in full swing to deploy troops according to their own plans, but the mood of Chief Yan Xishan, who was sitting in Taiyuan, was extremely comfortable, and the good news on the Zhangjiakou front was frequently reported, and Zhao Chengshou, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, reported the victory yesterday, and the troops had already entered Zhangjiakou and occupied most of the urban area, and it was expected that they would be able to take Zhangjiakou in three more days.

Yan Xishan is not very satisfied with Zhao Chengshou's achievements, 280,000 people, more than 60,000 Japanese, four days of fighting, has not yet taken Zhangjiakou, the old man handed over the most elite troops to your Housheng, but his subordinates are not very neat, Housheng does not know the organs here, if Tang Qiuli at this time intervenes and monopolizes Zhangjiakou and Northwest Hebei's plan, there will be twists and turns, when the time comes, I don't know how much more tongue it will take, and take Zhangjiakou one day earlier, the more this situation can be avoided.

For the sake of insurance, he even secretly instructed Zhao Chengshou to send a division of troops to monitor the independent division troops operating near Zhangjiakou, in order to prevent Tang Qiuli from picking peaches at the end, the old man did things, not leaking, Yan Xishan, who had already smelled the smell of meat, was undoubtedly the most proud person at this moment.

The Japanese and Tang Qiuli, in Pingjin, Taihang Mountains to fight to the death, the old man and I sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight, pick up a ready-made cheap, this is called judging the situation, the spring breeze in May, warm blowing on the face, the Yan family's special cook came in, respectfully asked Yan Xishan: "Master, what do you eat for lunch?" "Knife-cut noodles, add more old vinegar" Yan Xishan advised, how many years, just take this mouthful, when you are happy, add the knife-cut noodles with old vinegar, what kind of fragrance is soaked into the pores of sweat.

Tang Qiuli, who was in a hurry to return to Dingbian, but did not have the good mood of Chief Yan, when he passed through Sanmenxia, where the defense made him feel a little relieved, Yuan Jinghao arranged two regiments of troops here, the fortifications were complete, and the firepower was reasonable, he sent a telegram to Yuan Jinghao, ordering that in the Sanmenxia section, two more regiments of troops would be added, this is an important ferry port from Shanxi to Henan, the Japanese army occupied Jinnan, and Sanmenxia was one of the preferred ferries to break through.

Didn't make too many stops, when arriving at Fenglingdu through Lingbao, the yellow water was surging, the ancient ferry of Fengling was still the same, the ancient ferryboat, bumped in the endless yellow water, the desolate horn of the captain, from time to time resounded in the canyon on both sides, only more than ten soldiers of the local troops in Shaanxi, in the routine inspection, Tang Qiuli could not appreciate the Fenglingdu that came and went many times, and hurriedly checked the defense situation.

When Tang Qiuli and his party appeared in front of the soldiers on duty, these soldiers were stunned, the famous Vice Chairman Tang, in North China and even in the northern region, I don't know, even if I don't know, but the three golden generals on the shoulders, as well as the entourage of the formation, even a fool can see the head, Tang Qiuli looked at the more than a dozen soldiers who were stunned, and asked with a smile: "Who is the commander of your team?" ”

A young officer in his twenties, with the rank of second lieutenant, hurriedly stepped forward, "Report to the division, Wang Ziwei, the platoon commander of the second platoon of the first company of the third battalion of the newly formed Shaanxi Local Garrison Regiment, is on duty, please give instructions to the division" Because of nervousness and excitement, his voice trembled slightly, and his saluting arm trembled slightly.

Tang Qiuli immediately asked Wang Ziwei, how many of your troops are in Fenglingdu, and learned that the newly formed Shaanxi Local Garrison Regiment received an order from the Dingbian Garrison Headquarters yesterday and was pulled from Tongguan to Fenglingdu overnight, and the whole regiment of 1,400 people has been deployed in Fenglingdu. Wang Ziwei replied in the affirmative that no.

"Platoon Commander Wang, continue to be on duty" This young second lieutenant left a good impression on him, and then, Tang Qiuli frowned, according to the time calculation, the vanguard of Sun Zhenbang's corps should arrive at Fenglingdu last night, and the strength will not be less than one regiment, what's going on? The Shaanxi Local Garrison Regiment was reorganized after Yuan Jinghao's troops were transferred, and it was subordinate to the Dingbian Garrison Command, and there was only one regiment of local troops.

"Send a report and ask Sun Zhenbang, why the troops are not in place yet?" Tang Qiuli's face was very ugly, he had roughly guessed the reason, and sure enough, Sun Zhenbang called back, the vanguard regiment of the corps, near Tunliu, encountered a Japanese army, about a squadron of troops, and the head of the vanguard regiment had itchy hands for a while, and decided to eat this little devil with his hands.

Who knows, there is also a wing of Japanese troops behind, as soon as this side starts, the Japanese army follows the gunfire to surround them, the battle is in a stalemate, the vanguard regiment can not get out, if it is not for the troops who follow up behind to break the siege, this regiment, I am afraid that it will suffer a big loss, after reading the telegram, Tang Qiuli was furious.

"Sun Zhenbang, the previous telegram has repeatedly explained that your unit takes the deployment of defense along the Yellow River as the first priority, and the troops actually disobey the strict orders of the division, covet small profits, and ignore the overall situation, if the Japanese army comes to attack at this time, the defense line of the Yellow River for thousands of miles is useless, and your Sun Zhenbang will be a sinner in the whole Shaanxi and the whole independent division, even if he dies, he will not be able to make up for the loss, and the head of the vanguard regiment of your department will be immediately removed from his post and sent to the Military Justice Department, and your department must arrive at the Fengling ferry before midnight today to set up defenses, and the commander of the independent division, Tang Qiuli."

Tang Qiuli was really angry, from the meanders of the river to Fenglingdu, more than a thousand miles of river defense line, Okamura Ningji had to do it at any time in Wuxiang, and the shape was extremely critical, he couldn't wait for Sun Zhenbang's troops to grow wings and fly over, the head of the vanguard regiment, still wanted to take advantage of the war, everyone in the division command, including Mei Ting and Mei Xue, had never seen Tang Qiuli so angry, and he had never seen him so reprimanded a corps commander and directly dealt with a regiment commander.

The spring breeze turned vigorous, the yellow water was surging, the river like wheat waves, rushing into the distance, the howling of the river added to the desolation, a silence, only Tang Qiuli was blue with a blue face, standing with his hands in his hands, looking at the other side of the hazy smoke, no one knew what he was thinking, witnessing Tang Qiu's powerful Wang Ziwei, his heart trembled, that was to feel the endless pressure, this young division commander with black hair and silver silk mixed with scars, the mountain was engraved in his heart, as if he saw the ideal, and gradually became clear in the distant sky.

On May 8, Okamura Ningji's assembled troops were finally all in place, in the direction of Wuxiang, he gathered nearly 210,000 troops, if it were not for the consumption in Huangyadong, he could have gathered more than 250,000 troops, plus the troops in the direction of Heshun, Okamura Ningji's troops for attacking Taiyuan, reached more than 290,000 troops, enough, Okamura Ningji looked at Wuxiang City at night, and smiled like an old fox.

In the early morning of 9 May, the morning breeze of early spring in the Taihang Mountains had not yet blown away the chill of the night, and in the direction of Wuxiang, the sudden sound of guns and cannons shattered the tranquility of the dawn, and the Japanese soldiers were divided into three routes, from the three directions of Guocun, Qinxian, and Xiying, to launch a fierce and sudden attack on Wuxiang, and the more than 80,000 Jin troops guarding Wuxiang rushed to the battle without defense, and Okamura Ningci's battle concealment attempt was an unprecedented success.

Because of Yan Xishan's misjudgment, most of the Jin troops defending Wuxiang were second-rate troops, and his feelings also affected the generals of the Jin army, and they were paralyzed from top to bottom, thinking that it was impossible for the Japanese to go north out of the Taihang Mountains and attack Taiyuan, Okamura Ningci more than 200,000 troops, and it took more than a week to assemble them, during this period, the Jin army did not send even a reconnaissance force to Qinxian and Xiangyuan to the south of Wuxiang, and most of the officers and soldiers were secretly glad that they were not transferred to Zhangjiakou to fight with the Japanese. It was on this ordinary morning that disaster struck.

At the beginning of the battle on the periphery of Wuxiang, the Jin army was in an extremely unfavorable situation, the Japanese artillery fire, the volcanic eruption flooded the defense line of the Jin army, after an hour of shelling, a group of Japanese soldiers, holding bright bayonets, shouted and rushed to the Jin army soldiers who had already suffered most of the casualties, and there were few left, it was this burst of artillery bombardment, the Jin army of the first line of defense in Wuxiang, the casualties were more than two-thirds.

In the Taihang Mountains, the Japanese soldiers who had been fighting with the stones for nearly a month had already gone crazy, especially during the period in Huangya Cave, the desire for blood in their hearts and the desperate anger of not finding an opponent were all vented to the Jin soldiers on the opposite side.

The casualties of the front-line troops were too large, and the remaining Jin soldiers, the resistance was extremely weak, and the Japanese soldiers with blood-red eyes completely broke out with ferocity, regardless of whether they surrendered or not, they all spoke with bayonets, and only a few brave Jin soldiers rose up to resist, and in the face of the Japanese soldiers who came up like a tide, it did not help the battle situation, and they were soon drowned in the flow of Japanese soldiers.

Less than three hours after the start of the war, under the fierce attack of the Japanese army, the first line of defense of the Jin army in Wuxiang collapsed, the whole line collapsed, and the defending Jin army troops of more than 20,000 people, none of them survived, among them, most of them died in battle, a few surrendered, and were shot and stabbed, all of them died, and the Japanese soldiers who killed the red eyes did not make any stops, did not wait for the cover of artillery fire, and directly killed the second line of defense.

In the ears of more than 30,000 soldiers in the second line of defense of the Jin army, fear, boundless fear, a plague spread in the hearts of soldiers and officers, only more than two hours, more than 20,000 brothers, all gone, can we withstand it?

The heart of the army was shaken, more than any artillery and bullets, the soldiers of the Jin army of the second line of defense, waiting in panic, the shouts of the Japanese, getting closer and closer, the soldiers of the Jin army who were pressed like a tangible mountain were out of breath, I don't know which troops, the commander was the first to escape, a little shaken, the whole line collapsed, the Japanese soldiers had not yet rushed to the second line of defense, more than 30,000 Jin soldiers, the whole line retreated, and rushed to Wuxiang City, where, it is also the last line of defense in Wuxiang.

(To be continued)