Chapter 664: Clearing the Perimeter

Tang Qiusheng's Sulu Mobile Corps, carrying out the second phase of the Shijiazhuang Campaign's battle plan, in other directions, is very smooth, especially the corps chief of staff Yu Guanghan led the troops, has captured the eastern Hebei town of Tangshan, the front of the troops directly pointed to the east of Tianjin, Tong Batu's 2nd Cavalry Brigade, Bagena's 6th Cavalry Brigade, arrived at Shanhaiguan, swept away the traitor troops of Yin Rugeng, the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Government, in fact, has cut off the connection between North China and Northeast China.

Only in Baoding on the Jizhong Plain, Tang Qiusheng used three main brigades to attack for three days and three nights, but he did not capture it, and the troops still suffered large casualties, which was completely unexpected by him, since there was no problem with the tactics of the troops, what was the problem? He couldn't figure it out, could it be that the Japanese army in Baoding was extremely strong in combat? This is the only reason that can explain the failure of the Baoding attack.

Let Tang Qiusheng guess correctly, since Shijiazhuang was captured by the Sulu Mobile Corps, the Japanese army in Baoding, which is not far from Shijiazhuang, felt the immediate threat, in addition to reporting their own situation to Commander Okamura Ningji, he also asked for help from the Japanese army in Beiping, Okamura Ningci was beyond the reach of the whip, and the Japanese commander in Beiping was very brainy, knowing that Baoding was finished, and Beiping was no better, so he pieced together more than 6,000 people to reinforce Baoding.

In this way, the defenders of Baoding have increased to about 12,000 people, and the captain of the Japanese garrison in Baoding, Mizu Shiro, with the rank of major general, graduated from the Imperial Military University of Tokyo, Japan, is a typical Japanese soldier, fanatical militant, very strategic, fierce battles everywhere around Pingjin, he felt that the signs were wrong, and when Shijiazhuang was lost, the bursts of murderous aura that came through made his heart tighten.

Baoding, will inevitably become the next target of the devil Tang Qiuli, but the emptiness of the garrison force, so that he has no bottom in his heart, to be honest, for Commander Okamura Ningji, regardless of the safety around Pingjin, single-mindedly sweeping the Taihang Mountains, there are quite a few words in his heart, this is just muttering in his heart, but he dare not say to His Excellency the commander who is on the rise, it is light to take a beating, and it is possible to lose his official position.

Although the boss in his heart is not satisfied, but Baoding still has to hold, lost Baoding, he also has no good fruit to eat, state the benefits, and finally come to reinforcements from Beiping, Mizu Shiro immediately stepped up combat preparations in Baoding, he knew very well that with more than 10,000 people, he wanted to block the Chinese army out of the city, it was a dream, so, Mizu Shiro worked hard in the city.

Every street, every house, has been built into a fixed firepower point, the defending troops, also according to the requirements of street fighting, divided into a number of combat groups, each group of twenty to thirty people, with sufficient ammunition, each group can fight on its own, there is only one order, fight to the last man, unless all the jade is broken, otherwise, must not give up the position, he wants to let the soldiers of the branch not take a step forward, must pay a heavy price.

After doing this, Mizushiro also went deep into each combat group, in popular parlance, that is, to do political work, mobilize before the war, and cheer up the soldiers, however, this guy's political and ideological work, full of lies, he scared these soldiers, and the people of China liked to cut off people's heads the most, especially to treat prisoners, they were tortured in every way first, and then cut off their heads and hung them on trees.

It is said that the soul of a person without a head can not return to his hometown, and he cannot enter the Yasukuni Shrine, anyway, after Mitsu Shiro's deception and scare, the effect is not bad, more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers, the hostile heart has increased greatly, and they all have the heart of death rather than being a prisoner, and they will fight to the last breath, and be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.

After cheering up the soldiers, after flickering around, Mitsushiro returned to the command headquarters, anxiously waiting for the attack of the independent division, the reason why he held the idea of defending Baoding, is that there is still hope and sustenance in his heart, the Japanese troops in Xianxian County, Suning area, is his greatest hope, any commander, do not want to see Baoding lost, in Pingjin everywhere passive situation, their own to hold Baoding, is not a single release, plus a gold star on the collar badge, it is possible.

Tang Qiusheng's troops, encountered the Japanese soldiers who were full of muddy, encountered the sinister and cunning guy Mizu Shiro, and the Japanese army more than doubled the strength, the difficulty of the attack can be imagined, and the relatively large casualties are also reasonable, Tang Qiusheng reported the battle situation in Baoding to Tang Qiuli, the division commander who was rushing to Shijiazhuang.

In the telegram, Tang Qiusheng first reviewed himself, the battle of Baoding did not go well, and it had a direct relationship with his own command, if this affected the campaign to capture Tianjin, he was willing to bear all the responsibility, to his surprise, Tang Qiuli in the reply, not only did not have the slightest reproach, but also said that the battle of Baoding, fighting like this, is the best way, the troops should not rush to capture Baoding, fight steadily, and avoid heavy casualties.

After arriving in Shijiazhuang, the division headquarters was invited, there were important deployment adjustments, Tang Qiusheng vaguely saw from Tang Qiuli's telegram that attacking Baoding should be a clever move of his cousin, and the guilt and self-blame for attacking Baoding was also reduced a lot, in fact, Tang Qiuli ordered the troops of the Sulu Mobile Corps to attack Baoding, just to see how Okamura Ningji reacted.

Lost Shijiazhuang, Okamura Ningci formed a heavy army group to fight, fought for many days, the Japanese army was repeatedly defeated and retreated, Okamura Ningci did not react, or a bent on killing the Huangyadong base, then good, I will clean up the Japanese forces on the periphery of Pingjin, attack Baoding, see what you do, Baoding is lost, Beiping and Tianjin are two isolated cities, you can choose a target at will, or two targets to attack together, this time, Okamura Ningci can still stay in the Taihang Mountains?

The battle of Baoding lasted for three days and three nights, and all the information transmitted back from the Taihang Mountains showed that Okamura Ningci, who was besieging Huangya Cave, continued to carry out continuous attacks on Huangya Cave, and all the Japanese troops in the Taihang Mountains, except for the reinforcements of Heshun's troops, showed no signs of mobilization, and on April 28, according to statistics, Okamura Ningji used troops above the brigade size to launch four attacks on the core position of Huangyadong, that is to say, Okamura Ningji, an old devil, and Huangya Cave fell into battle.

This situation made Tang Qiuli, who was on the march, feel nervous, and the telegram sent by Chang Feng was quite optimistic, so far, the third line of defense and the core area of Huangyadong have not suffered losses, and the casualties of the troops are very slight, in addition, the recruits who are being trained also participate in the battle in batches, please rest assured that the garrison troops of Huangyadong will fight for another year and a half, and there will be no problems.

Tang Qiuli knew that with the ammunition and materials hoarded in the Yellow Cliff Cave, there was no problem in holding on for three years, but under the long-term attack, there was no need to defend the fortified city, and the Yellow Cliff Cave, which was fiercely attacked, would be in danger for a long time, he couldn't understand that Okamura Ningji had committed that evil energy, biting the Yellow Cliff Cave to the death, and it was necessary to get rid of it quickly, and he didn't even care about his own big rear, was he desperate or had another trick?

Tang Qiuli thought about it, and he didn't know where Okamura Ningji's tendon was taking the wrong way, if the Kwantung Army was his last move, protecting the safety of the Pingjin rear for him, but the peripheral battle of Shijiazhuang was full of fireworks, and seeing that the Japanese army was defeated and retreated again and again, there was no intelligence that the Kwantung Army troops were moving south? If you have to kill the Yellow Cliff Cave base, you may not be able to do it in the short term?

Since he couldn't figure it out, Tang Qiuli didn't bother to waste brain cells, Okamura Ningji admitted to death, let him compete with the iron walnut of Huangya Cave, as soon as he arrived in Shijiazhuang, he immediately formed the Tianjin Campaign Headquarters, personally served as the commander-in-chief, and ordered Liu Tiehandong to command four brigades of troops who had rushed to the Shijiazhuang area, replacing the three brigades of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps that attacked Baoding, and ordered that Baoding must be taken within five hours.

The new troops of the four brigades, as soon as they entered the battle, had already suffered most of the casualties, and the exhausted Japanese troops were immediately exhausted, and Tang Qiuli assigned two artillery brigades to the attacking troops, in a word, talking to the little devils with shells, there was no time to waste time with these miscellaneous pieces, in Baoding City, artillery fire was everywhere, and the various firepower points and strongholds held by the Japanese army were turned into dust and minced meat together under the fierce artillery fire, together with the soldiers who still wanted to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.

Mitsu Shiro, who was hiding in a private house, was surrounded by more than a dozen staff officers and guards, looking at the bombing points that were blooming everywhere, he closed his eyes in despair, everything was over, there were no long-awaited reinforcements, but the reinforcements of the Chinese army came, Your Excellency Commander, this is your mistake, how to be worthy of more than 10,000 imperial warriors, he drew his command knife and prepared to commit suicide by disembowelment, the artillery of the independent division was even more ruthless, and he was not even given this opportunity, a few shells flew, and the private house and Mizu Shiro and his men became a pile of ruins, On the broken bricks and tiles, there are repeated blood stains.

The battle of Baoding ended in less than three hours, more than 12,000 Japanese soldiers, none of them survived, and the casualties of the Dongzhi troops were less than 300 people. They are all the main corps of independent divisions, can the gap be so big?

In fact, there is no need, the Japanese army in Baoding, after being hit for three days and three nights, is already ripe fruit, and the troops in the east are just the last people to touch, and the words of the division commander Tang Qiuli made the three brigade commanders with pimples in their hearts suddenly feel comfortable, but they feel that they are careful.

"The battle of Baoding can end smoothly in less than three hours, and the troops of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps have made great contributions, without their continuous attack regardless of casualties, the troops of the East Finger cannot complete the task in such a smooth manner, so it is necessary to report and reward the troops of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps." This was announced by Tang Qiuli personally at the meeting on the attack on Tianjin.

Since Baoding has been conquered, there are no factors on the periphery of Pingjin that can threaten the security of the troops attacking Tianjin, Yu Guanghan's troops, from the area of Tangshan in the east of Tianjin, Tang Qiusheng's troops, starting from Baoding, carried out a surprise attack in the northwest of Tianjin, and the troops of the two routes, advancing from east to west, like two sharp knives, penetrated directly into Tianjin.

(To be continued)