Chapter 546: Cutting off its retreat

The morning sun erupted out, the ten thousand rays of light reflected on the battlefield, the corpses of the Japanese cavalry all over the ground were all over the sides of the abandoned Yellow River, the ice was stained with blood, the war horses were trapped in the river, and the Japanese cavalry who were forced to abandon their horses and flee just climbed onto the shore, and were attacked by the long-awaited Tong Batu troops.

With superior cavalry, to deal with the Japanese cavalry who fled in the desert and fell into infantry, there was no suspense in the battle, in the dark night, the saber was waving, the horse's hooves were like thunder, and the Japanese army did not know how many Chinese cavalry were intercepting and killing them, which made the panic situation even heavier, and rushed back and forth several times, and after dropping a corpse, the Japanese army ran back, and was intercepted by a regiment and four regiments that caught up behind, and so on with the Japanese soldiers, only the fate of perdition.

Tong Batu watched the soldiers happily drag up a war horse, pulled out half of the command knife of Ying Zuo in his hand, under the reflection of the morning glow, a cold light flashed, Tong Batu couldn't help but admire: "Good knife to send a report, division command, the second cavalry brigade set up an ambush between Gongyi and Yan Division, after a night of fierce fighting, the whole annihilation of the Japanese Shadow Cavalry Wing and a Japanese infantry brigade, a total of more than 5,000 people, captured more than 2,800 war horses, from the wing captain Ying Zuo below, none of them were caught, please give instructions on the next move, brigade commander Tong Batu." ”

Tang Qiuli, who received Tong Batu's telegram, exclaimed: "Okay, Mongolian man, there are really you, order, Tong Batu's Second Cavalry Brigade immediately went north, captured Anyang, and closed the retreat of the Japanese garrison on the first line from Anyang to Zhengzhou. ”

After receiving the order, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade quickly left Gongyi, crossed the Yellow River to the north, passed through Jiaozuo and Huixian at the fastest speed, ignored Xinxiang and Hebi, and suddenly killed Anyang from the direction of Linxian, and after completely annihilating the two squadrons of the enemy's Japanese army, they all occupied Anyang on the same day.

At the same time, more than 70,000 troops in Zhengzhou and Anyang led by Yuan Jinghao, Sun Zhenbang, and Zhou Yushan were divided into three routes, one was led by Sun Zhenbang with more than 20,000 troops, and the first route was led by Zhou Yushan with more than 20,000 troops and attacked Xinxiang, and the rest was led by Yuan Jinghao to attack Zhengzhou.

The battle in three places began at the same time, and in the face of the incoming independent divisions, the Japanese troops scattered in Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, and Hebi, whose strength was simply disproportionate, ended in just a few hours, and the independent divisions regained all the lost ground lost when the Eighth Army of Tang Enbo's army fled, and the price paid was very small.

After the battle on the front line of Zhengzhou and Anyang, Tang Qiuli ordered that the three brigades under the command of Yuan Jinghao, commander of the Shaanxi Garrison Command, with a total of more than 23,000 troops, and the commander of the transportation headquarters of the independent division, Zhou Yushan, with more than 10,000 troops, were stationed on the line from Anyang to Xinxiang, ready to repel the troops coming from Hebei with the intention of reinforcing the Japanese First Army.

The four brigades of Sun Zhenbang, commander of the Yellow River Defense Headquarters, totaling more than 36,000 troops, immediately went north and advanced to Licheng in the Taihang Mountains to stand by.

After handing over the defense of Anyang to Yuan Jinghao's headquarters, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of Tong Batu immediately returned to the Taihang Mountains and stood by in the Xiangyuan area, preparing to participate in the combat operations against the Japanese army's mountain pass headquarters in the Wuxiang area.

Tang Qiuli issued a series of orders to adjust the deployment, and after recovering the line from Zhengzhou to Anyang, a big hole that the Japanese army tore in Henan was finally blocked, and he no longer had to worry about the future, which meant that the retreat of Isoya Ryosuke's First Army was cut off, and the Japanese army had to fight all the way, and it was absolutely impossible to turn back.

At the same time, Tang Qiuli had no intention of letting him leave the Taihang Mountain area alive, broke into his own house, burned and looted, and let him leave like this, not to mention that he was sorry for the people in the Taihang Mountain base area, Tang Qiuli felt sorry for himself.

He also had a deeper consideration, the Japanese army under the Yamaguchi was the only force of the Japanese army in North China fighting in the Taihang Mountains, and it was in a state of confrontation with the Jin army in Yan Xishan, and there was no sign of retreat at present, which just brought him ample time to transfer troops and send generals, and wiped out the mountain pass, and Li Zongren in Xuzhou ate the first army of Isoya Ryosuke, and the overall strength of the Japanese army in North China would drop a lot, and the difference between the strength of the Japanese army and the Japanese army would be relatively narrow.

The key now is whether Li Zongren's main combat forces in the Xuzhou Theater, the Gui Army and the Sichuan Army, can arrive at the scheduled time, it is already the morning of 20 December, Zhang Zizhong's Sulu garrison corps is desperately blocking the Japanese army, which is almost crazy, the battle on the periphery of Shangqiu has ended, and the troops have retreated into the city and started street battles with the Japanese army.

As soon as the battle in the direction of Henan ended, Tang Qiuli set his sights on the direction of Shangqiu, and he sent a telegram to Zhang Zizhong, which read: "Brother Xun Chen, yesterday, the rest of the independent division has recaptured all the key points on the line from Zhengzhou to Anyang, and the Japanese First Army has no way to retreat, and will desperately advance eastward to capture Xuzhou, and the Japanese army coming from the south and the sea will avoid the fate of being encircled and annihilated in Henan." ”

"The battle in Shangqiu will inevitably fall into a more tragic situation, the pressure on the brother's department has increased dramatically, weigh the pros and cons, in order to avoid greater losses for the troops, the Sulu garrison corps can evacuate Shangqiu after 12 o'clock at noon today, and transfer to the area of Haozhou, Anhui Province to rest, and the remaining blocking tasks can be undertaken by Tang Qiusheng's troops in Xiao County, and Commander Wanwang Zhang will carry it out accordingly.

Zhang Zizhong replied: "Divisional Commandery, our department has been fully transferred to the city to fight, the Japanese army's attack, more fierce than yesterday, seems to have regardless of casualties, see the call, only to know that the road is cut off, the so-called trapped beast is still fighting, however, the Sulu garrison corps was the 29th Army, trapped in Pingjin for several years, and suffered from the Japanese bullying, although under the command of the division, and the Japanese army fought several times, have not had a remarkable record. ”

"Today, the division is entrusted with the important task of guarding Shangqiu, self-loyalty also knows that the enemy is outnumbered, however, as soldiers, there is no reason for the cowardice of the battle, although the blood stains the battlefield, there is no pity, the division is kind, since the loyalty of all the soldiers and men, please take back the order, our department is still according to the original plan, in Shangqiu to block the Japanese army until midnight 0:00 on the 20th, can be evacuated, and do not bear the responsibility of the soldiers, but also can comfort the old army commander's ardent hope, independent division Sulu garrison corps commander Zhang Zizhong.

Receiving Zhang Zizhong's callback, Tang Qiuli was silent for a long time, he didn't expect that one of his telegrams actually stabbed Zhang Zizhong's military self-esteem, from his callback, Tang Qiuli saw a decisive momentum, which is also what he was worried about, the combat effectiveness and equipment of the Sulu garrison corps can be said to be the weakest of all the troops in the independent division, in the face of the superior Japanese army, even if the two-day blocking mission is completed, the casualties of the troops will be heavy.

However, he didn't have a good way, even if he ordered Tang Qiusheng's five brigades to leave Xiao County to reinforce Shangqiu, it was too late in time, and this was the army of the old army commander Song Zheyuan, if he fought out in Shangqiu, how could he be worthy of Song Zheyuan, Tang Qiuli thought sharply in the headquarters, hoping to help Zhang Zizhong.

He suddenly thought that although the air force in Dingbian had not yet formed an army, it should have no problem sending more than a dozen bombers and fighters, and that there was no Japanese air force in North China at present, so he immediately sent a telegram to Le Yiqin and dispatched planes to bomb the Japanese positions on the outskirts of Shangqiu, and directly provide air support to Zhang Zizhong's troops.

As Tang Qiuli expected, Isoya Liansuke, who led the army to storm the Shangqiu defense line, learned that the line from Anyang to Zhengzhou was recovered by Tang Qiuli's troops, and his retreat was gone, so he was shocked into a cold sweat.

I couldn't see the possibility of conquering it immediately, and what made him extremely annoyed was that how to meet these stubborn Zhina troops, which was exactly the same as Kaifeng's fighting style, first on the periphery, and then in street fighting, if it continued like this, it would not take about three days, and it would not be possible to get through Guò Shangqiu at all, and as for Xuzhou, it was even more unattainable.

He only took advantage of Tang Qiu's lack of time to mobilize troops and stab himself in the back, quickly opened the Shangqiu passage, and took a road south of Xuzhou, for this reason, he issued a death order to all divisions and regiments, and Shangqiu must be conquered before 6 o'clock in the evening of the 20th.

At the same time, for the sake of insurance, he sent a telegram to Kazuki Kiyoji asking for help, asking the commander to quickly send troops to reopen the gap in Anyang, so as to avoid the situation of the First Army being attacked before and after.

On the front line of Anyang, a war broke out, Ryosuke Isoya went crazy, he knew the importance of time to himself, ordered the troops to attack uninterruptedly, was repulsed once, and immediately replaced with a new army, and attacked again, the artillery fire in Shangqiu City was continuous, the gunfire was like a tide, and the billowing gunpowder smoke covered the sun.

The Japanese soldiers went crazy, they all knew that there was no way to retreat, if they wanted to live, they had to open a road to the south of Shangqiu, and fought until dusk, the fortifications of Shangqiu Xiguan were desperately assaulted by the Japanese army, and opened a hole.

General Zhang Zizhong, who heard the news, personally led the reserve corps guard regiment to face the sky-high artillery fire and kill towards the breakthrough, which was the most elite unit in the entire Sulu garrison corps, more than 1,000 soldiers, followed the tall figure of the commander, shouting and rushing towards the Japanese army that was surging like a turbid wave.

The two torrents collided violently together, splashing blood flowers flying all over the sky, the cruel white-knuckle battle was the best battlefield to test the will of the soldiers, and the "Qiang Qiang" sound of swords and guns colliding with each other, the shouts, resounded in the cold wind of Shangqiu dusk.

(To be continued)