Chapter 532: Ryosuke Isoya, who uses a plan

On the first day of the Japanese attack on Henan, Tang Enbo's Eighth Army was crushed for thousands of miles, losing four cities in a row, especially the fall of Zhengzhou, which was like setting a nail in the chest of the Yellow River defense line, and the Japanese army gained a solid foothold in Henan, and could choose the direction of attack at will, and the situation became extremely sinister.

Tang Qiuli, who was in the headquarters of Guxian County in Shanxi, had not slept all night since he received the news of the loss of Zhengzhou, and no matter which direction the Japanese army attacked in the east and west, it was a great threat to the front-line troops, and he was especially worried that the Japanese army would take advantage of the situation to attack Xi'an.

To make matters worse, the Zhengzhou intelligence station, which had already been transferred underground, sent back the latest information, two divisions of Japanese reinforcements had arrived in Zhengzhou this morning, Tang Qiuli was silent, the Japanese army had gathered in Zhengzhou, the number of troops had reached 130,000, and this force, no matter which direction it was thrown, was a mortal threat.

For this reason, Tang Qiuli sent a telegram to Yan Xishan and ordered the troops under the Datong Front Command of the Jin Army to take advantage of this opportunity to carry out a comprehensive counteroffensive and strive to annihilate the Japanese army, at least to defeat the Japanese army.

The troops he deployed in the east-west direction, Yuan Jinghao's Shaanxi garrison troops, Sun Zhenbang's Yellow River defense troops, Zhou Yushan's transport troops, and Su Jingfeng's Yellow River Henan defense line garrison troops, are all second-line troops, and they are not as good as the dozen or so field brigades of the independent division in terms of weaponry and combat effectiveness, and their strength is at a disadvantage.

If Yan Xishan's troops on the western front can free up their hands and go south to defend the Tongguan line, his pressure will be reduced a lot, Yan Xishan called, the Japanese army in Datong has started a new round of offensive, the offensive is more fierce than everywhere, and the heavy artillery that has not been used before, most of the positions are destroyed, the Jin army troops are not only unable to complete the commander-in-chief's order to counterattack comprehensively, but also in a defensive state, he has ordered Zhao Chengshou to press all the reserves.

The Datong battlefield has been fighting fiercely for many days, the strength of the Japanese army has been far weaker than that of the Jin army, the morale has been frustrated, the soldiers are tired, and the troops of another division have been transferred, whether they still have the ability to take the initiative to attack, Tang Qiuli is very skeptical, however, Yan Xishan does not want to use all the family resources, this is true, and he does not want to put the troops next to the independent division, but it is a pity that the opportunity to break the Japanese army all the way, Tang Qiuli can only shake his head regretfully.

On December 15, the Japanese army stayed in Zhengzhou, busy organizing and preparing heavy supplies, unable to judge the direction of its next attack, Tang Qiuli ordered all troops to prepare for battle, and he himself was judging the direction of the Japanese army's attack.

Tang Qiuli was taken aback, the intention of the Japanese army was already obvious, and the possibility of attacking Xi'an in the west was the greatest, and he immediately ordered the troops deployed in Tongguan and Shangluo to prepare for battle, he was really afraid of something, the Japanese commander really chose the direction where his troops were weakest, and at the same time, he went to ask Feng Jiwu's opinion if he could transfer the troops on the front line of Niangziguan to the west with two to three brigades to form a second line of defense on the periphery of Xi'an.

After the telegram was sent, Tang Qiuli laughed bitterly at himself a few times, this is a typical way to tear down the east wall and make up the west wall, and command the battle by himself, when did he fall into this kind of Cheng dù, he was very depressed in his heart, and once again strengthened his idea of large-scale army expansion.

Kazuki Kiyoji was even more uncomfortable in his heart, his heart was blocked, and he had no intention of drinking and having fun, and Zairen said goodbye, after coming out, he immediately rushed back to the headquarters of the dispatch army, although the boss in his heart was unwilling, but the emperor's order, who dared to disobey, unless he wanted to rebel, the cold wind blew, the wine was surging, the stomach was turning over the river and the sea, he just couldn't spit it out, he really wanted to drop the rake and not do it, but how could he have this guts, so, the driver who had followed him for many years became an unlucky ghost, and was scolded by His Excellency the commander in the most vicious language.

After arriving at the headquarters, the angry Xiangyue Qingji rewarded the two unlucky little staff officers with a few big mouths, and then, angrily, went to the telegram, asking whether the newly formed First Army in Zhengzhou had been organized and whether all preparations were in place, and after receiving a definite answer, he issued an order to the commander of the First Army, Isoya Ryosuke, to attack Xuzhou in the east, and then go south to the Songhu area.

After the order was given, Kazuki Kiyoji couldn't tell what it was like in his heart, as if his beloved woman had been abducted by others, and the sense of loss in his heart lingered, in the huge office, he was the only one, and there was only one lamp on the table, and the dim light made his face darker.

Kazuki Kiyoji always thought that Emperor Hirohito and the base camp attacked Xuzhou's battle plan was extremely stupid, but these words could only rot in the stomach, and they couldn't say it to anyone.

Isoya Ryosuke, who received the order, did not have so much depression, and Isoya Ryosuke, who had long been looking forward to showing his skills in the China battlefield, never got the opportunity to fight, and was placed in Beiping by His Excellency the commander, and now, the opportunity has finally come, not only that, but also to be promoted to become the commander of the theater of operations, which is the first theater force formed by the North China Dispatch Army.

At 7 o'clock in the morning of December 16, the troops of the First Army, led by the Yamazaki Chariot Wing, immediately sent troops to Kaifeng, his purpose was very clear, out of Zhengzhou, to capture Kaifeng, and then go down to Shangqiu, and the soldiers pointed directly at Xuzhou, this is his battle plan, Isoya Liansuke has a reason to do this, from Zhengzhou to Xuzhou, there is no Chinese army heavily guarded along the way, and it is almost the same as marching.

At the same time, he issued an order that puzzled all the commanders of the First Army, that the Yingzuo cavalry wing, with a large battalion of infantry, would set out from Zhengzhou at 10 o'clock tonight and march west to attack Xi'an in Shaanxi.

After the Japanese commanders dispersed, the chief of staff asked him puzzledly, Your Excellency, the order given to us by the Dispatch Army Headquarters is to march east to occupy Xuzhou, why did Your Excellency send troops to the west to seize Xi'an? Isn't this contrary to the orders of the command? Once traced, it will be difficult for you to explain it to Commander Kiyoshi Kazuki.

Ryosuke Isoya smiled slyly, with an unfathomable posture, and said: "China has a Sun Tzu's Art of War, one of which is called attacking the east and attacking the west, and this time I will take the sound of the west and attack the east, so that the self-proclaimed Shina who is familiar with military books can see how my generals of the Japanese Empire use their troops."

Looking at the chief of staff who was still blank, Isoya Ryosuke was even more proud, "In this way, two purposes can be achieved, one is to let the Chinese army that is likely to chase our army concentrate in the direction of Shaanxi to eliminate my worries, and the other is to hide the true intentions of our department and paralyze the Chinese army in the direction of Xuzhou. ”

The chief of staff suddenly realized, looked at his boss with admiration, and his face was full of admiration, which made Ryosuke Isoya very useful, that general didn't want to be worshiped by his subordinates? He added, "When Tang Qiuli, who is known as the devil of Zhina, comes to his senses, my soldiers have already appeared under the city of Xuzhou, and by that time, haha" This laughter was full of pride and arrogance.

Sure enough, the Yingzuo cavalry wing that went west out of Zhengzhou fell into the eyes of the Zhengzhou intelligence station that was always monitoring the movements of the Japanese army, and the secret service immediately sent the information back to the division.

On the morning of the 16th, an urgent message sent Tang Qiuli, who was about to lead his troops south to Xi'an, stunned, "At 7 o'clock this morning, the main force of the Japanese army left Zhengzhou and rushed straight to Kaifeng. ”

"**, the little devil played a trick for me to attack the east from the west, it was really a capsized boat in the gutter" Tang Qiuli scolded angrily, he didn't expect that the commander of the Japanese army in Henan would give him this hand, all his thoughts were on defending the direction of Shaanxi, the intention of the Japanese army was obvious, and it was clear that it would take Xuzhou directly through Kaifeng and open the door to the Songhu area.

In Kaifeng, Su Jingfeng's troops of the garrison corps of the Yellow River Henan Defense Line were defending, and Tang Qiuli immediately sent a telegram to Su Jingfeng when he heard the news that the main direction of the Japanese army's attack was in the eastern direction and that Xuzhou was the final target, ordering him to block the Japanese army in the Kaifeng area for 24 hours to gain time for the deployment of defenses along the way.

He knew very well what this order meant for the Henan Defense Line Garrison Corps, which had less than 30,000 troops, 30,000 versus 130,000, the difference in strength was too great, and at this time, more than 40,000 people in Zhang Zizhong's Sulu Garrison Corps had already left Xuzhou and were marching in the direction of Zhengzhou.

Tang Qiuli really had no troops in his hands that could be mobilized, neither Su Jingfeng's troops nor Zhang Zizhong's troops could stop the Japanese army's footsteps in capturing Xuzhou, so he thought twice and sent a telegram to Chairman Chiang in Nanjing, requesting the Military Commission to quickly mobilize no less than 150,000 troops from the southern battlefield and deploy defenses in the Xuzhou area.

This is the last thing he wants to do, but he has to do it, he has no troops in his hands, and he can't put Su Jingfeng and Zhang Zizhong's troops along the Japanese attack route, right?

In the telegram, Tang Qiuli did not mention the reason for the loss of the Henan defense line, and he hoped in his heart that Chairman Jiang would give him a satisfactory answer, after all, the Eighth Army was the old man's army, and Tang Enbo was one of the old man's favorites, because of his descendants, such a crisis appeared in Henan, affecting the entire northern battlefield, and it was unreasonable to explain it to himself.

(To be continued)