Chapter 605 Shandong Chaos

Tang Qiuli's convoy was in Wuqi County, Dingbian District, doing a temporary rest, such a huge convoy entered the city, and the residents rushed to see the grand occasion, and for a time, the traffic was jammed, which had already alarmed the head of the local military, political and police departments, the head of Wuqi County Magistrate, the commander of Wuqi Garrison Division, and the director of Wuqi's special service sub-bureau.

Tang Qiuli saw that these three leaders of Wu Qi, dressed plainly, did not have any habits of officials, did not have any entourage to call and hug, there was no special car convoy, the three of them came in a police car, with the car, and more than 20 police officers from the special service bureau to protect Tang Qiuli's safety, for this, Tang Qiuli was quite satisfied, the government officials in Dingbian have not yet been infected with the habits of later generations, and the big and small officials have to make a scene, hugging each other before and after, and looking at it, his heart is jammed.

It just so happened that he also wanted to take the opportunity to learn about the situation in Wuqi County, and the county magistrate cautiously invited Tang Qiuli to eat in the county canteen, after all, he was the number one person in Dingbian, and he felt very sorry to eat on the street.

The three leaders of Wuqi County were very surprised, they didn't expect that the founder of Dingbian, a mythical figure, was so approachable, and they also adhered to professional ethics.

As soon as she sat down, the car of Chief of Staff Yang Ketian stopped at the door of the small restaurant, and a staff officer came down, Mei Xue immediately went out and talked with the staff officer for a few words, the car drove away quickly, Mei Xue came in with a telegram, her face was not very good-looking, Tang Qiuli looked at her strangely, and took the telegram.

Immediately, his face became stern, and he said apologetically to the three Wuqi County leaders: "I'm very sorry, there is an important situation on the front line, I'm afraid I can't invite you to dinner, we must rush back to Dingbian immediately," the three of them still had a little complaint, but they were quite sorry in their hearts, and they lost the best opportunity to have lunch with the No. 1 person.

According to the instructions of the division commander, the task of the Han Tie Corps was to go to western and southwestern Luxi, take over the county seats, establish local governments, and create base areas, and the task of Li Honggang's corps was to defend coastal ports and important cities.

The problem lies here, after Han Fuyu broke and fled, the local governments that were originally attached to Han Fuyu collapsed one after another, a complete set of administrative systems were completely paralyzed, the Nanjing government was busy fighting with the Japanese, and could not take care of it for a while, Tang Qiuli's troops were also desperate with the Japanese army in Dezhou, and for a long time, all parts of Shandong fell into anarchy, although in the coastal areas, Li Honggang had initially established an administrative system and began to operate, but in the inland areas of Shandong, the vast mountainous areas, the power of independent divisions, It hasn't developed anywhere yet.

So, the local forces, have taken the opportunity to rise, Shandong folk customs are already strong, this without the king law, can not be vigorously tossed, landlords and gentry, ruffians and hooligans, gang leaders, everywhere erected recruitment flags, occupy the mountain, pull the pole, for a time, all over Shandong, the army commander is like a dog, the commander walks everywhere, staking the land, dividing the sphere of influence, occupying the mountain as the king, today I beat you, tomorrow you beat me, the gunfire continues, the grain is to donate, come to a team, pick up a layer of skin of the people, the great Shandong, make a miasma, the people are not happy.

Among them, the bandits in Lunan and Southwest Lu are the most severe, and there are three largest forces, one is known as the Southwest Lu Security Army, the commander is nicknamed Liu Motou, and there are more than 8,000 guns under his command, entrenched in the Yimeng Mountains in southwest Lu, this Liu Motou turned out to be a habitual bandit, no one knows his real name, a good martial arts, especially good at iron head skills, it is said that he can break the grinding disc with his head, Liu Motou's nickname, from this, he is naturally thirsty for killing, dangerous hài places for many years, Han Fuyu has sent troops many times to suppress, It's all in vain.

A known as the Lunan Self-Defense Army, the commander is called Zheng Sanguang, with more than 10,000 guns, entrenched in the area of Mount Tai in Lunan, this Zheng Sanguang, originally from Hebei, cruel by nature, did not rob a place, property and food robbed, people killed, houses burned down, their own number Zheng Sanguang, the local people hated it, because of their cruel behavior, the bandits under his hands, are habitual bandits with blood debts, the cohesion of the bandits is strong.

Ling a force, known as the Lunan People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Army, the commander is named Chen Tiannan, there are more than 5,000 guns under his hands, this person, it turned out to be a regiment commander of Han Fuyu's troops, at the beginning of the Dezhou Campaign, Han Fuyu abandoned his troops and fled, and his troops were dispersed, Chen Tiannan took his cronies to rob a secret arsenal of Han Fuyu, and returned to his hometown Juye.

Chen Tiannan has been in the army and knows how to gather people's hearts, although his team has the smallest number of people and the shortest time to rise, but he has a number of trainings and strong combat effectiveness, and has vaguely become the most powerful local force in Shandong, and his background is the most complicated.

These are three larger forces, as for the other bandits as many as 1,800 people, as little as 100 people, the defense regiments and village protection teams organized by local forces, they are everywhere, and it is extremely difficult for the troops to carry out their work, plus Han Fuyu has been raising bandits for many years in order to resist the Nanjing government and maintain his semi-independent state, raising bandits to support the army and respect himself, encircling but not suppressing, and suppressing without stopping, after he was shot dead by Chairman Chiang, most of the defeated soldiers under his command joined the local forces, and these trained defeated soldiers joined in, changing the nature of the bandits. The combat effectiveness of the armed forces in these places has been increased.

After reading the telegram, Tang Qiuli frowned, the situation in Shandong was more complicated than he expected, these local forces, if not quickly eliminated or reorganized, it would be difficult for the troops to gain a foothold in Shandong, what made him even more worried was that the Japanese aimed at the local forces and bandit forces in Shandong, obviously taking a fancy to Shandong's important geographical location.

Unable to break through the resistance of the East Finger in the front, they adopted another strategy, preparing to stick a knife in Liu Tiehan's back and mess up Shandong, how much of these local armed forces or bandit armies were mastered by the Japanese, it is not clear at present, the Japanese have a good vision, and they thought of it together, and made great efforts to make themselves not stop, hundreds of thousands of bandit armed forces who were bought or controlled by the Japanese ran rampant in the interior of Shandong, once it became a climate, it was also a very terrible thing, and the troops in Shandong might suffer a big loss.

Tang Qiuli immediately sent a telegram back to Li Honggang and Han Tie, saying that the 29th Corps, the original garrison of the 29 th Corps was not moving, and its main task was to defend the coastal ports, to transfer soldiers with rich combat experience, to form a unit to suppress bandits, and to conduct targeted training, and that Han Tie's Corps should immediately be stationed in Xuzhou, take control of the surrounding areas of Xuzhou, and send reconnaissance troops to go deep into the area where bandits are infested with Yanzhòng to conduct reconnaissance, and it is necessary to find out the strength of the bandits, the areas where they are entrenched, and the rules of their activities, and at the same time, they should also train troops in a targeted manner and prepare for large-scale anti-bandit operations.

After dictating the telegram, Tang Qiuli was stunned for a while, what the hell is the matter with him, where the Japanese have not moved, the bandits are very happy, the mess left by Han Fuyu is even worse than he imagined, the key is that he can't draw more troops, and he will go to Shandong, with the strength of Han Tie's troops, he can't complete such a large-scale anti-bandit operation, and I don't know when the Japanese army will take offensive action in North China, and the troops everywhere dare not move.

He sorted out his thoughts and asked the correspondent to call Tang Qiuquan, who said to Qiuquan: "Brother Qiuquan, your special operations detachment, except for the necessary reconnaissance detachment, the rest will go to Shandong, go to Xuzhou to meet with Han Tie, and form a bandit suppression headquarters, you are the commander-in-chief, and you are fully responsible for the work of suppressing bandits in Shandong. ”

"Also, I transferred Liu Chun's First Cavalry Brigade, Tong Batu's Second Cavalry Brigade, and Li Changjiang's Fifth Cavalry Brigade to Shandong, a total of three brigades of cavalry units, to Shandong, specifically responsible for the task of suppressing bandits, and the independent division aviation team also transferred five reconnaissance planes, ten fighters, and 12 bombers to Jinan Airport to carry out the task of suppressing bandits.

Tang Qiu left his ruthlessness and sent the air force to Shandong, which shows that his worries and fears about the bandits in Shandong, what he is most afraid of is the power of the Japanese, and controls these bandits, if such a trend is formed, Liu Tiehan's eastward troops will be flanked by the front and rear, and the situation of fighting on both sides, if the Japanese army takes the opportunity to take a coordinated attack, it will be enough for him to have a headache, so he will not hesitate to spend his blood, but also take advantage of the Japanese power when Shandong has not yet taken root. Kill these bandit forces that can be used by Japanese spies.

The last sentence he asked Qiu Quan was actually forcing Qiu Quan to come up with a timetable and make a military order, Qiu Quan knew his brother's thoughts, as a senior commander, he knew better the impact of the Shandong bandits on the entire war situation, however, Qiu Quan was not an impulsive and unthinking person.

Qiuquan thought for more than ten minutes, Tang Qiuli waited patiently there, and finally, Qiuquan replied affirmatively: "Commander, give me three months, before the end of May, to ensure that there is no bandit in Shandong," this answer made Tang Qiuli feel very relieved, he knew that Brother Qiuquan was not a person who talked big, and maybe, it would take less than three months to hear the good news.

The best form is that the Japanese don't make any big moves during this time, although they know that this is wishful thinking, Tang Qiuli still hopes for the situation he wants to see.

(To be continued)