Chapter 685: The Calm Yellow River

Tang Qiuli rushed to Meifu overnight to propose, it didn't take much trouble, the second elder of the Mei family readily agreed to his request, to be honest, entrust the second daughter to him, absolutely rest assured, not to mention that the sisters married a man, it is not a novelty, Mei Xue is no longer shy and shy, and generously accompanied Tang Qiuli with Mei Ting, looking at the intimacy of the three of them, the second elder nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

According to the meaning of the old man Mei, it is in Dingbian, and the marriage will be done tomorrow, but it is a matter of heart, Tang Qiuli is naturally unwanted, Mei Xue has been deeply attracted to him, eager to explore the last peach source, and he is proud of his body, isn't it a great pleasure for men, two delicate and beautiful flowers, accompanied by the left and right, thinking about it is secretly proud, but there are countless things to deal with tomorrow, so I have to explain euphemistically, and after the completion of this battle, I must return to Dingbian to handle the marriage.

The sisters accompanied their parents to talk, Tang Qiuli called Mei Ling to another room alone, not to mention the joy in Mei Ling's heart, in his heart, he thought that only Tang Qiuli could be worthy of the eldest sister and the second sister, any other man, if he got the second sister, Mei Ling's heart would not be comfortable, this was the hero he admired in his heart.

Tang Qiuli talked about something else to Meiling, because he vaguely had an uneasy feeling, which became even stronger from the moment he saw Meiling and learned that he had participated in the cadet brigade of the Military Academy, this little guy's face was full of excitement, eager to try, eager to kill on the battlefield immediately and make contributions, and even more worried that Meiling had not participated in the actual battle, even if he went to the field army for internship, because of his identity, the brigade commander was like a baby pimple, and he knew that the division commander only had such a brother-in-law, leaving him at the brigade headquarters and hearing the sound of gunfire, but there are still 108,000 miles away from the real battlefield.

Therefore, what Tang Qiuli said to Meiling is the actual experience on the battlefield, and it is also his experience in many years of bloody battles, the most important thing is how to protect himself, Tang Qiuli's words, for Meiling, every sentence is a truth, listen to it very seriously, and take out a notebook, record it carefully, and interject a few words from time to time, all asking about the point.

Meiling's heart is full of pride, he can listen to the idols in the minds of all the military cadets, and personally guide tactics, how many people can there be in Quandingbian? Only Meiling Er, this is the capital to show off to his companions, Tang Qiuli carefully takes care of each of his relatives, and does his best to bring happiness and peace to them, especially as he gets older, this feeling becomes stronger and stronger, Meiling's attitude makes him feel a lot more at ease.

The two of them hid in the house and talked privately, and his Mei Xue, who couldn't leave for a moment, felt flustered, chatting with his parents absent-mindedly, answering questions, coming over from time to time to probe his brain, or Mei Ting came over, and took them out, the family chatted for a while, seeing that it was getting late, he stayed at his father-in-law's house, in the middle of the night, he felt a soft and smooth body slip into the quilt, and touched Mei Ting beside him, knowing that Mei Xue couldn't bear the loneliness, full of worries, he had no intention of being romantic at this moment, Tang Qiuli hugged Mei Xue's body, Fall asleep.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning, in the square of the city hall of Dingbian Special City, the battle flag was fluttering, the crowds were crowded, and the guns flashed, and the armed oath meeting of all walks of life in Dingbian to defend the Yellow River defense line was held here, and in accordance with Tang Qiuli's order, it was enough to organize the strength of 250,000 people, who knows, despite the mobilization of many parties, the final number still reached more than 288,000 people, more than nearly 40,000.

More than 200,000 people, according to their respective establishments, neatly standing on the wide square, I can't see these people, a few days ago they were still ordinary people, hunting with flags, fluttering in the spring wind, Tang Qiuli stood on the rostrum, his heart was surging, a sky-high pride, rising in his heart, this is his biggest capital, Bai Chucai, commander of the Dingbian Garrison District, gave an order, and the team left the square in turn and went to the front line in order.

Tang Qiuli saw it, the figure of his father and mother in the send-off crowd, as well as his father-in-law and mother-in-law looked at him, General Jiang Baili straightened his body, walking in the front of the cadet brigade of Dingbian Military Academy, General Feng Zhi'an, whose sideburns were already gray, walked over with the team in high spirits, his eyes met, the eyes of the old general were full of determination, his heart was churning, his throat choked, and he turned around and ordered the mountain tiger: "Huzi, go"

Jumping off the rostrum, boarding the jeep, the convoy drove out of the city, the eyes were full of lush new green, rows of straight trees, blooming new green, it seemed that the soldiers waiting for the review, the long yellow sand around Dingbian in the past, speckled with salt and alkali, has been replaced by green, Tang Qiuli seems to be able to feel the eager eyes of his relatives and citizens in Dingbian behind him.

The 280,000 armed men, according to their respective garrison areas, left the border city and headed for their destinations, and Sun Zhenbang's corps, which is the pillar of river defense along the Yellow River, was deployed within two days in accordance with the principle of a unit's regular troops and armed forces of varying numbers.

Tang Qiuli, who arrived at Wubao, received a telegram from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that the defense of the Yellow River defense line was not only a matter of fixing the border, but that the Japanese soldiers pointed out that the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region was also bearing the brunt of the attack, and that there was absolutely no reason to shirk responsibility.

In the afternoon of the same day, Xiao Jinguang, director of the rear guard office of the Eighth Route Army, arrived with four regiments of troops, Tang Qiuli secretly admired that the Eighth Route Army not only did what it said, but also acted so quickly, of course, it could not be treated badly, Tang Qiuli ordered the logistics department of the Dingbian Garrison Area to immediately change the equipment of the troops of the Eighth Route Army, which made Xiao Jinguang overjoyed, and he got so many benefits without firing a shot.

Tang Qiuli set up his headquarters at Wubao Ferry, which is one of the largest ferries in the Shaanxi section of the Yellow River, across the river from Liulin Town in Shanxi, and is the closest route from Taiyuan to the Yellow River, and it is also the place where Okamura Ningci first attacked.

After waiting for a day, there was no movement of the Japanese army, and intelligence came from Shanxi, the Japanese army was busy strengthening public security around Taiyuan, attacking the city and plundering land, expanding the occupied area, and the Japanese army advanced to any ferry crossing of the Yellow River, but in the area of Shuozhou in the northwest of Shanxi, the Jin army and the Japanese army had a fierce battle, the Jin army was defeated, and the Jinxi Baode was defeated, and it is reported that Yan Xishan was in the ranks of the Jin army.

Tang Qiuli was dumbfounded, Okamura Ningci chased after Yan Xishan, if he didn't destroy this Yan chief, he would not stop, and it was also Yan Xishan's bad luck, he was selected by Okamura Ningji as his opponent, as in history, Yan Xishan was forced to cross the Yellow River west, settled in the area of Qiulin in Shaanxi, and left the territory he had ruled for many years, presumably Chief Yan's mood at this time was desolate and helpless, right? Yan Xishan has lost all his old books, and he is destined to become history in Shanxi.

When the time comes, it is time to resume contact with the Nanjing government and Yan Xishan's radio station, and then be silent, it is a bit fake, as soon as the radio station is turned on, Yan Xishan's telegram is not there, but the telegrams from the Nanjing Military Commission have arrived one after another, which is nothing more than asking about the loss of Shanxi, Tang Qiuli is not in the mood to call back for the time being, his mind is on Okamura Ningji.

The situation is not normal, Okamura Ningji, an old devil, did not send troops to the west as soon as possible, what the hell did he pay attention to? Okamura Ningci in Taiyuan City, sitting in Yan Xishan's mansion, sighed that Yan Xishan would enjoy, however, he did not have a sense of enjoyment at this time, he encountered a problem, the strength was insufficient, with the larger the territory occupied in Shanxi, the troops had to be garrisoned everywhere, the 320,000 troops who had just entered the Taihang Mountains, after such a long time of tossing, especially after the battles of Huangyadong, Heshun, Taigu, Jinzhong, and Taiyuan, the total strength of the troops had been reduced to about 240,000.

He used to attack Shaanxi and Dingbian, and could only mobilize about 80,000 troops, and he could only choose two of the four key attack directions of Hequ, Liulin, Xiayukou, and Fenglingdu.

Okamura Ningji is not too worried about the garrison of the Chinese army along the Yellow River, Tang Qiuli's main force, all of them are fighting with the imperial army in Pingjin, nearly a thousand miles of river defense, there are not enough troops, there are loopholes everywhere, you can choose any place to cross the river, he is worried about the troops, Okamura Ningji is not arrogant, with 80,000 troops, he can occupy the entire territory of Shaanxi, as well as Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, looking at the vast land in western China, Okamura Ningji feels very powerless.

He originally hoped that the southward troops of the Kwantung Army could enter Shanxi as much as possible, but in the area from Shanhaiguan to Tangshan in eastern Hebei, and Tang Qiusheng's corps, one of the main forces of the independent division, would be inseparable, and in a short period of time, it would not be possible to reach Shanxi at all, and he was not worried at all about recapturing Tianjin, and it was only a matter of time before the original situation in the Pingjin area was restored, and what he was most worried about was that once Tang Qiuli realized his intention to cross the Yellow River westward, he would mobilize a force that could be mobilized and fortify it closely along the Yellow River. By that time, the difficulty of crossing the river would have increased many times over.

What Okamura Ningji needs most now is time, as long as the Kwantung Army troops enter Shanxi, it is the beginning of his large-scale crossing of the river, estimate, to capture Shaanxi, at least 150,000 troops, and that Dingbian, which is said to be Tang Qiuli's largest logistics production base, but unfortunately, the intelligence department of the Imperial North China Dispatch Army has repeatedly reached into Dingbian, Shaanxi, and the agents sent have no news like mud cattle entering the sea, and so far, the information about Dingbian is still blank.

Okamura Ningji could only wait anxiously, while trying to mobilize his troops as much as possible to prepare for crossing the river, his greatest reliance was still the southward troops of the Kwantung Army, don't you know that the southbound troops of the Kwantung Army were entangled in the eastern Hebei area by Tang Qiusheng's Sulu Mobile Corps, and it was difficult to move a single step.

(To be continued)