Chapter 560: The Dilemma of the Mountain Pass

Ancient County, Shanxi, Temporary Headquarters of the Independent Division, Tang Qiuli was holding a telegram, checking on the map and checking it from time to time, and when he learned the information that the mountain pass wanted to slip away, he smiled coldly, he had rampage enough in the Taihang Mountain base area, and wanted to slip away, how could there be such a cheap good thing, and he had been staying in Taihang Mountain, wasn't he looking for his own death?

For the Japanese army under Yamaguchi, and Yan Xishan's Jin army stalemate on the front line of Wuxiang for more than 20 days, doing nothing, but not evacuating, Tang Qiuli was puzzled, and could not understand what the Japanese commander was planning, if Isoya Ryosuke's first army was not annihilated, and Yamaguchi was in Wuxiang, it was reasonable to pin down the Chinese army.

However, Isoya Ryosuke's first army has been wiped out for three or four days, and Yamaguchi has only made a move, and it is too late to prepare to evacuate Wuxiang at this time, I really don't know what the Japanese commander thinks, anyway, Tang Qiuli does not plan to let go of Yamaguchi's mad dog, and now, he can also free his hands and mobilize troops, Tang Qiusheng's troops have arrived in the Changzhi area yesterday.

On 1 January 1938, in the midst of the raging war, all Chinese ushered in the new year, and on the same day, Tang Qiuli issued the No. 1 operational order of the Japanese troops under the Hewei Mountain Pass, ordering five field brigades of Tang Qiusheng of the Sulu Mobile Corps, about 63,000 troops, and four brigades of Sun Zhenbang's headquarters of the Yellow River River Defense Corps, with more than 36,000 troops.

After replenishment and strengthening, Wang Dongshan, chief of staff of the garrison corps of the Yellow River and Henan defense line, and more than 46,000 troops of the four brigades immediately ended their rest and recuperation and drove out of the Huangya Cave.

Liu Chun's 1st Cavalry Brigade immediately assembled in the direction of Licheng after the original combat mission was cancelled, and Tong Batu's 2nd Cavalry Brigade continued to carry out the task of striking at the Japanese army's transportation lines.

The above units, together with the independent Second Brigade of Sima Chaoyang, Jiang Yanming's Huangyadong Garrison Brigade of more than 35,000 people, and two cavalry brigades, totaling more than 230,000 troops, formed the Taihang Mountain Base Area Field Corps, which undertook the combat mission of encircling and annihilating the Japanese troops at the Shankou Station, with Tang Qiuli, commander of the independent division, as the commander-in-chief, Tang Qiusheng, deputy division commander, as the deputy commander-in-chief, and Sun Zhenbang, commander of the Yellow River River Defense Corps, as the chief of staff.

All units had to arrive at their designated positions on 3 January, with Licheng as their assembly area, and among them, Tang Qiusheng's unit went out of Xiangyuan from before Changzhi to serve as the corps guard task.

The reason why Tang Qiuli mobilized a large number of troops was based on his consistent principle of using troops, which was that he must concentrate superior forces and firepower to give the Japanese army a devastating blow, and he strived to make every battle a war of annihilation, not a defeat, Kaifeng and Shangqiu, which kind of battle was a last resort, unless it was necessary, Tang Qiuli would rather not fight, and find another fighter.

It was precisely in accordance with this principle that the Japanese army encircled and annihilated the Japanese army in the Taihang Mountain base area and fought against the Jin army in Wuxiang for many days, and the strength of the Japanese army was sharply reduced from the original more than 110,000 to the current more than 80,000 people, and the combat effectiveness and morale of the soldiers were greatly reduced by staying in the mountainous area for a long time.

There is a shortage of food, grass and ammunition inside, the soldiers are tired, there are no nearby reinforcements outside, the fate of Yamaguchi and the tens of thousands of Japanese troops led by him has been doomed, if he began to retreat five days ago, there is still a glimmer of life, at that time, Tang Qiuli's deployment has not yet been completed, but it is already too late, and the armies of all walks of life, which are three times the strength of the mountain pass, have been encircled, unless the mountain pass grows wings and flies out of the Taihang Mountains, then he has to leave tens of thousands of people under his command here.

Tang Qiuli was ruthless and wanted to kill Yamaguchi, there was another main reason, that is, the Matsushita Qingyi Wing who caused the Sucheng bloody case, and the Japanese spy Xu Fu who sent more than 3,000 innocent Sucheng people into the tiger's mouth, were all in the army of three, let them go, Tang Qiuli would be condemned in his heart for the rest of his life, he couldn't forget the tragic scene in Sucheng, and the three thousand innocent souls tortured him all the time.

Orders were issued one after another, and all units of the temporarily formed Taihang Mountain Base Area Field Corps, in accordance with the requirements of the headquarters, urgently went to the designated area, and a large net was cast towards the mountain passes that already felt that something was wrong.

In the evening, the lead clouds hung low, the cold wind stopped howling, but the weather became colder and colder, in the middle of the night, suddenly heavy snowfall, the sky and the earth were white, the wind rose, the wind swept the snowflakes, flying all over the sky, like the jade dragon tore the scale armor, when the sky was sprinkled, the heavy snow came and violent, the wind was fierce and snowy, it was difficult to walk an inch against the snow, there was no one on the opposite side, thousands of miles of Taihang Mountain, completely shrouded in a white world.

The mountain pass under the city of Wuxiang, silently sat around the stove, a pair of triangular eyes turned rapidly from time to time, looking restless, his tent was lit with a stove, but he didn't feel cold, but other ordinary soldiers of the Japanese army, there was not such a good treatment, the tent was not enough, there were a lot of sleeping in the ice and snow, lucky, found a cave, dozens of people crowded together, what could be burned, it had already burned out.

The wind swept the snowflakes and poured in from the entrance of the cave, the ice cellar in the cave was as cold, plus there was no food ration without a meal, there was no food in the stomach, there was no fire around them, and on such a snowy day, these Japanese soldiers, cold from the heart, seemed to have only a little heat in the heart, and proved that they were alive, and the cold wind penetrated into their already cold bodies, and they felt that their joints were frozen.

Yamaguchi is a very cunning guy, since he was blocked under Wuxiang City, he felt that the momentum was not right, Isoya Ryosuke's first army, was besieged in Xiao County, he became a frightened bird, looking around, the nearest reinforcements were hundreds of kilometers away from him, and he was also blocked by the independent division and Yan Xishan's Jin army troops, and he couldn't advance, isn't this the obvious situation of a lone army going deeper, the more Yamaguchi pondered about it, the more bottomless he felt in his heart.

He tried his best to carry out the plan to sweep the Taihang Mountains, which was based on the background of the Japanese army in North China at that time, and the lack of Tang Qiuli's troops in the Taihang Mountains, he dared to make this strange move, however, today, everything has changed, the Japanese army's attack was blocked on all fronts, and the first army of Isoya Ryosuke was completely annihilated, and Yamaguchi knew very well that the longer he stayed in Wuxiang, the greater the danger to himself.

He sent several telegrams to the commander of the dispatch army, Kazuki Kiyoji, asking for permission to evacuate Wuxiang and return to Shijiazhuang, but he was not approved, but instead ordered him to carry out a hopeless attack, which dragged on for several days, and this heavy snowstorm caused him even greater difficulties, and the supply of the troops was not to mention for the time being, and the road conditions alone could make the mountain pass sad to death.

He pricked up his ears and listened to the cold wind roaring outside the tent, rolling up snowflakes and hitting the tent, his heart became more and more restless, secretly complaining about Xiangyue Qingji, and did not order a retreat, in a few days, without Tang Qiuli's troops to fight, his tens of thousands of soldiers can be reduced by more than half of their soldiers by freezing and starving.

Before receiving the retreat order, this guy has already designed a retreat for himself, there are two routes to choose from, out of Wuxiang through Yushe, to Xingtai, Hebei, this is a relatively close route, out of Wuxiang through Licheng to Handan, Hebei, this route is relatively far, but, no matter which route, you have to pass through the Taihang Mountains.

Thinking of the Taihang Mountains, it made Yamaguchi's heart hairy, and the cold air on his spine, the days in the mountains, it was a nightmarish experience in Yamaguchi's life, and the taste of being chased and beaten by the independent division all the way made him have an instinctive fear of passing through the Taihang Mountains, but he could only go to the mountains, unless he didn't want to go back.

Now this heavy snow has undoubtedly added more difficulties to him, and he also knows very well that Tang Qiuli, the devil of China, will not let himself easily return to Shijiazhuang, along the way, I don't know how many hard battles I have to go through, and I don't know how many independent divisions of troops are waiting for him.

In order to evacuate Wuxiang safely and return to Shijiazhuang, Shankou used a strategy, which he called "Ming Xiu Plank Road Secretly Crossing Chencang," and sent three wings of troops to build roads and bridges on the nearest route of Wuxiang, Yushe, and Xingtai to prepare for the withdrawal of troops.

In fact, he was going to take the route from Licheng to Handan, although it was a bit far, but in comparison, the terrain was not too complicated, and there were far fewer dangerous terrains that were easy to be ambushed, and it was much safer, not to mention, there was also the Ming Xiu plank road, as for the soldiers of the four wings, they had to be thrown out as bait to attract Tang Qiuli's troops and focus their attention on that route.

In this regard, he did not have any psychological burden, sacrificing thousands of soldiers, saving the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers is worth it, the soldiers of the empire can appear for His Majesty the Emperor at any time, their sacrifice is very valuable, although he thinks so, but Yamaguchi himself also feels that this trick is too damaging and contrary to the harmony of heaven, and even the most trusted senior officers around him have not revealed it, including his chief of staff.

The poor three wings of Japanese troops, still faithfully carrying out the orders of the chief of staff of the dispatch army Yamaguchi, withstanding the wind and snow, working hard to repair those bridges that can never be used, unaware of it, have been used as pawns by the commander, doomed to fate, three wings, thousands of Japanese soldiers, along a route hundreds of kilometers long, like sheep dung eggs, at each point, less than the strength of a squadron.

Not to mention, Yamaguchi's plan really deceived Tang Qiuli, he sent Tong Batu's Second Cavalry Brigade to deal with the Japanese troops of these three wings, and the layout of the main force was also around the route from Wuxiang to Yushe, but because of the heavy snowfall, the troops were still stranded in Licheng.

Yamaguchi arranged the retreat, and when he gave an order, all the troops could set off immediately, but the commander Kazuki Kiyoji did not have an order, he did not dare to move, and the more Yamaguchi thought about it, the more troublesome he became, and greeted all the female relatives in Kazuki Kiyoji's family countless times, so he had to wait, but he waited for this heavy snowfall, and he didn't know that at the same time, there were 230,000 troops of the independent division.

Yamaguchi's heart was like a cat's scratch, and he kept pacing in the tent, the tent curtains were wide open, and the wind swept the snowflakes straight in, and Yamaguchi shivered, and when he saw a snowman walking in, he couldn't help but be angry.

(To be continued)