Chapter 697: Shock

At night, Okamura Ningji commanded a force of less than 50,000 men to risk crossing the Yongheguan crossing of the Yellow River, and two groups of Japanese troops of more than 35,000 men crossed the river and landed on the west bank to defend Yongheguan.

If it weren't for the fact that the Akita Division received Okamura Ningji's order to slow down the pursuit, at this time, the Japanese army had already drilled into the ambush circle, and thanks to Okamura Ningji's order, Tang Qiuli had to collect more than 10,000 Japanese troops into the net, which was an unexpected gain.

Okamura Ningji just boarded the rubber boat, in front of him, there were thousands of Japanese troops in the third echelon, just in the middle of the river, the bank of the noisy Japanese soldiers and the rapid flow of the river, as lively as a market, no need to hide and hide, Okamura Ningji did not blame these soldiers, he could completely judge that Tang Qiuli was hurriedly transferring troops in the direction of Yonghe Pass, and when those rabble arrived, all they saw was the back of the imperial army and the bullets that greeted them.

The momentum of the development of the battle is very good, all of them are carried out according to the original plan, the two divisions and one brigade that went ashore in the early stage have approached Yanchuan and Jiaokou, and they have only encountered weak resistance, and they should also cross the river to command the battle, and the troops of Fenglingdu have also successfully crossed the strength of one division and regiment, only the Liulin Ferry is not going well, however, there is no impact on the overall situation, Okamura Ningji is extremely excited in his heart, if this is a miracle, then he is the creator of the miracle.

Suddenly, there was a strange sound in the sky, and all the Japanese soldiers and officers, including Okamura Ninji, stopped talking and laughing wantonly, looked up at the air, looking for the source of the sound, and the screaming sound that tore through the air came from far and near, dragging a long tail note, and came to the top of their heads in an instant, visible to the naked eye, it was a group of shells under black pressure.

Okamura Ningji's face suddenly turned pale, and there were only three words in his mind: "Fooled," the shells fell on the surface of the river and the bank, and the column of water and smoke rose in the air on the surface of the river and the bank at the same time, a burst of fire and gunsmoke, and the Japanese troops who were crossing the river and waiting on the bank to cross the river fell into a catastrophe, if it were not for his chief of staff and guards who were alert and dragged him ashore, His Excellency Okamura Ningji, the dignified commander of the Imperial Japanese North China Dispatch Army, would have been blown to pieces by a large-caliber shell, and the rubber boat he was going to ride on became a victim, and the fire flashed, turned into pieces of residue in the surging Yellow River.

Okamura Ningji, who was hiding in a small cave on the bank, stared blankly at the soldiers who were struggling in vain on the river and running and wailing on the shore, his mind was numb, he only had one thought, where did Tang Qiuli ambush so many large-caliber heavy artillery? Why didn't the troops that had already landed found out?

In fact, this is to blame Okamura Ninji himself, he ordered the troops to attack in depth one by one, did not search the flanks, only controlled the width of the west bank is only about four kilometers, and did not have the slightest awareness of the artillery group with a firing range of more than ten kilometers and hidden in the mountains on the west bank, which is also a bold deployment made by Tang Qiuli according to Okamura Ningji's character.

The chief of staff looked at Okamura Ningji, who had lost his soul, and reminded in a low voice: "Your Excellency Commander, we should now take corresponding measures and order the troops that have landed on the shore to immediately turn around and destroy the Shina artillery, and the troops left on the east bank should immediately retreat and get out of the range of the Shina artillery," Okamura Ningji looked at the chief of staff with a dull gaze and nodded slightly.

Without waiting for the chief of staff to give the order, a staff officer ran in with the leader, his face turned pale, and the commander of the Akita Division sent an urgent telegram, "Your Excellency Commander, our division and friendly neighboring divisions have been ambushed by heavy troops of the independent division in the area of Yanchuan and Jiaokou, and are now in a bitter battle, can we retreat to the shore, seize the advantageous terrain, establish a solid beachhead, and wait for the follow-up troops to attack in depth?" Please instruct "This is the safest way, to say that the high-ranking generals of the Japanese army are really not given in vain, Akita has already realized the danger."

Looking at the staff officer's mouth that kept opening and closing, Okamura Ningji couldn't hear any other voices, only the words "ambushed by the heavy troops of the independent division" kept hovering in his messy head, and suddenly jumped up like an electric shock, and shouted loudly: "Quick, send a telegram to Akita, immediately return to the shore" He completely understood that Tang Qiuli's purpose was not to have 10,000 people on the east bank who were about to cross the river, but his appetite was to eat the more than 35,000 imperial soldiers who had crossed the river and penetrated deep into the interior.

As soon as the telegram was sent, a telegram was received from Akita, "Your Excellency Commander, our division and friendly divisions are surrounded by the Shina army, the retreat road is completely blocked by artillery fire, and it is impossible to retreat according to the order, and the organization of two breakouts has failed, judging from the fierce artillery fire of the Shina army, the strength of the Shina army surrounding our imperial army is six infantry brigades and four artillery brigades, and our army is now compressed in a narrow area on the south bank of the Qingjian River, with heavy casualties," Akita was also defeated, and his field artillery wing, Still waiting on the east bank of the Yellow River to cross the river.

Okamura Ningji screamed, it's over, the troops crossing the river are all over, the troops on the east bank have also suffered heavy losses, and there are less than 6,000 people left, that is the elite tens of thousands of soldiers of the Great Japanese Kwantung Army, just like that, under Tang Qiuli's tricks, the jade was shattered, looking at the cannonballs that kept flying, blowing up the shore into a sea of fire, Okamura Ningji's heart was about to break, and the snow was worse, and news came from the direction of Fenglingdu, a division that had crossed the river was surrounded by heavy troops of the Shina army, and the encounter was the same as that of the Japanese army at Yongheguan.

Okamura Ningji was numb, he suddenly felt that his brain was not enough, Yongheguan surrounded his troops of two divisions and one brigade, Fenglingdu surrounded the troops of one of his divisions, and Liulin Ferry had to fight with the troops of one of his divisions, how many troops did Tang Qiuli have in his hands?

After calculating the calculations, Okamura Ningji came to a conclusion that Tang Qiuli did not have more than 200,000 troops in his hands, so he did not dare to have such a big appetite, but where did he transfer so many troops in a short period of time? Cangzhou direction and our more than 300,000 imperial army confronted, Pingjin and the Kwantung Army's southward troops were inseparable, and they also occupied Zhangjiakou, but also had to defend Henan and Shandong, this branch of the devil has so many troops, why did he surround my three divisions and one brigade of the imperial army?

Relying on the armed civilians who had just been able to hold guns summoned from Dingbian, a group of rabble, and killed Okamura Ninji did not believe it, he suddenly had a glimmer of hope, the imperial army troops on the other side of Yongheguan might be able to break through the encirclement of these armed civilians and withdraw to the shore to gain a foothold, and the guns on the west bank of the Yellow River rang out from afternoon to evening, and rang all night.

This night, for Okamura Ninji, is painful torment, inner torment, he went to the telegram again and again to inquire about the results of the actions of the Akita Division, each time he was extremely disappointed, the imperial army still did not break through the encirclement of the Chinese army, is in a hard battle, finally looking forward to the dawn, Okamura Ningji looked at the other side of the bank, hoping to see the figure of the imperial soldiers.

The sun rose high, and Okamura Ningji, who was looking through it, did not wait for the shadow of a brave soldier of the Great Japanese Empire, only the invisible distance on the west bank, the solidified sound of gunfire, continued to torment his heart, the imperial soldiers were still fighting, and the only way now was to cross the river with all the troops in his hands to meet the troops on the other side, and there was still a glimmer of life.

But the soldiers on the shore are full of corpses, huge craters everywhere, and wounded soldiers moaning in pain are all reminding him of yesterday's nightmare, yesterday's shelling made him lose nearly 5,000 soldiers, and now, in the hands of Okamura Ningji, there are less than 5,000 troops, with such a small number of troops, thrown into the unknown battlefield on the other side, what is the result? What's more, can Tang Qiuli let himself cross the river smoothly? In the middle of the river, after another ferocious shelling like yesterday, he really became the commander of the bare pole.

Okamura Ningji was so anxious that he ordered the troops scattered all over the place to assemble in Taiyuan immediately, except for leaving a small number of troops to garrison the occupied area, the main force immediately drove to the Liulin Ferry, Fengling Ferry, Yongheguan Ferry, and the troops retreated to Taiyuan, and the order was given, but the answer he got made him almost mad with anger.

The reply was almost unanimous, "Your Excellency Commander, our unit has been constantly attacked by the Chinese army, and it is difficult to assemble, and it is expected that it will be three to five days before we can rush to Taiyuan" Okamura Ningji scolded, he has lost the calm and general demeanor that he has always flaunted himself, three to five days, plus the time to come from Taiyuan, there is no more than seven days, and he can't reach the bank of the Yellow River at all, Tang Qiuli gives himself time, seven days, the troops on the west bank who are under siege, I'm afraid they won't even survive, these stupid pigs and stupid eggs.

In the afternoon of the next day, another murderous message came, this time it was an urgent telegram sent by Fenglingdu to the troops, "Your Excellency Commander, our troops in southern Jinnan have been violently attacked by the troops of the Independent Division, and the troops in the occupied areas around Yongji, Ruicheng, Linqing, Yuncheng, and Wenxi in southern Jinxi have all sent urgent telegrams, claiming that they have been besieged by large troops of the Independent Division, requesting reinforcements, and according to the report of the reconnaissance troops, in the direction of Houping Road on the side of Fenglingdu, there are troops of the Independent Division moving towards our army, intending to attack the rear road of our army, how to deal with it, please give instructions to Your Excellency the Commander."

Okamura Ningji found that he was wrong, he was very wrong, and he couldn't forgive himself for being wrong, Tang Qiuli's appetite was not to eat the imperial army troops who had crossed the river, his purpose was to bring more than 100,000 troops to the bank of the Yellow River, and the independent division troops were found in the rear of the Fenglingdu troops, so, in the rear of Liulin and Yongheguan, could Tang Qiuli let it go?

This is the true intention of the devil, he was fooled at the beginning, from the beginning of the occupation of Taiyuan and even the whole of Shanxi, he fell into Tang Qiuli's trap, this is a huge conspiracy, insidious, cunning, despicable, Okamura Ningji cursed Tang Qiuli with all the vicious words imaginable, but it didn't work, what was in front of him was how to escape back to Taiyuan, with more than 100,000 troops, and Tang Qiuli re-engaged in a life-and-death contest to chase Shanxi.

(To be continued)