The 5th Division lost its detachment and suffered a loss of strength, with 25,000 fewer troops than the 10th Division of Ryosuke Isoya. And the reason why Antengliji wanted to take the lead in launching an offensive was completely forced to helpless. The detachment suffered a heavy blow in Linyi and was almost wiped out, which was not in his way, but neither of them sent him a telegram asking for help. Moreover, the detachment was too ineffective, more than 6,000 people, and occupied the city, and it only lasted four or five hours, so how could other troops reinforce it?! The high-ranking officials of the base camp ignored this, and the Minister of War, Sugiyama Moto, led by Antenriki, was repeatedly criticized, reprimanding him for his ineffective rescue and lack of strategy in attacking. Annoyed and angry, Antenligi simply decided to fight hard.

He divided his one and a half brigades into two parts, feinted the northwest gate with three brigades, and attacked the north gate with the rest of the troops, hoping to enter the city in the shortest possible time, so as to regain some of the plundered military assets in Linyi.

In the first battle of Linyi, Guo Da and Huang Haifu did not act according to Li Zongren's plan and plundered back a large number of materials from Linyi, at least half of which were hoarded in Taierzhuang by Li Zongren with ulterior motives, which also caused the fuse for the early outbreak of the Taierzhuang War.

In the fifth theater, it was Li Pinxian's 31st Army that was responsible for the defense of the northwest and north gates of Taierzhuang. There are now a total of three armies around Taierzhuang, namely Li Pinxian's 31st Army, Yu Xuezhong's 51st Army, and Zhang Zizhong's 57th Army. However, the latter two armies have just experienced a bloody battle, of which the 51st Army has suffered serious losses, and Yu Xuezhong is requesting to return to Xuzhou for reorganization in order to accumulate strength and fight again. The 57th Army and the 5th Division fought for almost a week, and the losses in personnel were relatively light, but the ammunition was badly depleted and needed to be replenished. So Zhang Zizhong left the 132nd Division to defend the West Gate, and he led the other three divisions out of the South Gate, crossed the canal, and stationed on the side of the canal.

On the afternoon of the same day, after the Japanese 10th Division captured Hanzhuang, the division commander Isoya Ryosuke immediately sent the Seya detachment to launch a river-crossing attack, and the 122nd Division of the National Army was ordered to block it, and the two sides fought fiercely for two hours. On the same night, the Japanese Army's 3rd Independent Infantry Brigade marched to Taierzhuang by train, but was attacked by guerrillas in the mud ditch, because the railroad tracks were dug and the train derailed, and more than 30 people were killed and wounded and had to march towards Taierzhuang on foot - the Japanese army's intention to encircle Taierzhuang was discovered by Li Zongren.

At about nine o'clock in the evening, the Isoya Division fought a fierce battle with the 132nd Division at the West Gate.

At the same time, in the Hanjia Temple, Zhang Zizhong and others were discussing fiercely around the map.

Guo Muyi put forward a bold and controversial plan, he suggested that the tank units of the Xueyi Division and the Mountain Division be concentrated, and two brigades of infantry should be combined to take a train on the Longhai Railway to the direction of Pixian, and then outflank the rear of the 5th Division. He said: "Li Pinxian's 31st Army, after a series of hard battles, suffered serious losses in personnel, and now it is called an army, but in fact it has only one and a half divisions. How long can they defend the North Gate and the Northwest Gate at the same time? Once Li Pinxianbu is defeated, we will definitely go up. Once the tide of war has reached this point, it will be a complete war of attrition. This is what Commander Lee would like to see, but which we want to avoid. Therefore, I think that while the 31st Division and the 132nd Division can hold out for two days, we should take the initiative to attack, take the 5th Division by surprise, and gain the initiative in the local battlefield. There are two difficulties in the implementation of this plan: first, the cabinet that may enter the Taierzhuang battlefield at any time, and the other is the Japanese air force. Therefore, there are two infantry brigades, one brigade is responsible for monitoring the third infantry brigade and preparing for sniping; A brigade escorted the tank unit, followed behind and beat the Japanese army, correctly disrupting the 5th Division. At that time, Li Pinxian took the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive and could drive the Japanese army out of the northwest battlefield of Taierzhuang. In order to prevent the Isogu Division from rescuing the 5th Division, the 51st Army must appear in the direction of Ximen or the section of the Grand Canal from Taierzhuang to Hanzhuang, so that the Isogu Division does not dare to divide its troops......"

Guo Muyi's plan was well thought out. The reason why Li Zongren decided to use Taierzhuang as the decisive battle site was to use the barrier of the Grand Canal so that the superior forces of the Japanese army could not be deployed, and could only be invested in echelons, so as to turn Taierzhuang into a meat grinder. Once Taierzhuang becomes a meat grinder, then the 57th Army, as a member of the Fifth War Zone, will have to be filled in sooner or later. Guo Muyi put forward this plan precisely to get rid of this fate, pull the main forces of the two cadet divisions out of the army, and turn them into mobile forces around the Taierzhuang battlefield, so that they can take the initiative to control the fate of their own troops.

Guo Muyi's plan takes into account the overall situation and the individual, although there are also many loopholes, but he has his own solution, which is still quite feasible, so it has won the unanimous approval of Guo Da and Huang Haifu and other two generals of the academy division.

Although the trend of the Taierzhuang Battle is still unclear, Zhang Zizhong's rich combat experience can naturally predict it. He also didn't want the troops to invest in this meat grinder too early, he bit his pencil, looked at the map and thought for a while, drew a circle in the small place of the mud ditch, looked up and said: "Chief of Staff Guo's plan has a certain feasibility. However, there is a premise, that is, the 5th Division of Antengliji and the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the cabinet will not be combined. Can you be sure of that? The mud ditch is too close to Taierzhuang, and the 3rd Infantry Brigade can reach the battlefield on foot in three or four hours. Now two hours have passed since the guerrillas received the message, and even if they launch a surprise attack at this moment, they will not be able to stop the two Japanese troops from joining forces. The 5th Division now has more than 15,000 people, and the 3rd Infantry Brigade has more than 10,000 people, and if these two Japanese troops are combined, they will add up to 25,000 Japanese troops. I'm worried that our raid will turn into a self-defeating trap. The Jiguang tank is sharp, but the number of infantry in the two brigades is too small, once it cannot break through, but is dragged by the Japanese army, wait until dawn, as soon as the Japanese air force is dispatched, it will be the fate of being surrounded and annihilated. And with the current situation, it is impossible for us to send more infantry. Chief of Staff Guo, have you taken this into account? ”

The reason why Zhang Zizhong disagreed with this plan, in addition to the above factors, there was another very important reason - he was reluctant to easily consume the remaining tanks of the two cadet divisions. Because in his plan, these tanks would eventually remain in the 57th Army as a reward for the three divisions he gave to Ouyang Yun.

From the moment he decided to send the troops of those three divisions to Guangdong, he made up his mind, he didn't want these soldiers, and gave them to Ouyang Yun. He was also helpless, who called him from the former Northwest Army, not Lao Jiang's descendant? Out of North China, he could not afford to raise five divisions of troops. He thought about it, instead of asking the central government for military salaries in a low voice, it was better to let the brothers go to Guangdong, anyway, the military soldiers were rich and could afford to support these people. This also has the advantage of having at least three divisions of troops in name once he is exhausted. really came to this point, as long as he was willing to put down his old face and go to Guangdong, he would definitely be able to get a place in the student army, then he would be able to continue to resist Japan. Of course, if the situation was good, he would not ask Ouyang Yun for coming back. After all, everyone knew that the treatment of the Lu Dao Scholar Army was good, and he was very worried about how many of the original subordinates who had been supported by Ouyang Yun's appetite were willing to come back and live a poor life with him. Then it's better to exchange them for these tanks, anyway, between him and Ouyang Yun, everything is easy to discuss......

Zhang Zizhong objected, and the rest of the 57th Army shook their heads, feeling that this plan was too loopholed. After all, the Japanese army was not a parallel goods unit like Xue Yue's security division, which could be defeated with one blow. Now every daytime, the Japanese army will send a large number of fighters to search for the traces of Jiguang tanks, but fortunately, the camouflage skills of the Xuebing army are superb, otherwise, the remaining tanks will definitely be scrap metal now.

Li Kexia added: "Chief of Staff Guo, don't forget, the 27th Division of the Japanese Army is moving towards Taierzhuang." The Japanese army has trucks to travel, and the road is smooth, if we fail to make a surprise attack but lose this part of the troops, then how to fight the next defensive battle? We don't even have the extra troops to support Pixian. As soon as Pixian County was lost, the section of the canal to the south of Taierzhuang became a smooth road, and once the Japanese army crossed the river to outflank our back road, the troops in Taierzhuang would be wiped out. This is not a good plan! ”

Everyone looked at Guo Muyi.

Guo Muyi stood up suddenly, his eyes widened, and after glancing at everyone, he smiled and said, "Commander, everyone, the biggest loophole in this plan is actually whether the Anteng Liji Department and the Cabinet Body Shengyu Department will join forces. Everyone can rest assured that these two devils will definitely not join forces, because the combat target of the Third Infantry Brigade is not Taierzhuang, but Pixian. ”

Zhang Zizhong looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Do you have any evidence?" ”

Guo Muyi's eyes became more intense, and he said: "The scouts of our First Division and the Mountain Division have not returned to the team since they were scattered in Pingyi, but they have only contacted us through the telegraph. The mud ditch sneak attack on the Japanese army's cabinet body was done by Cui Yongqiang in contact with the local guerrillas. Cui Yongqiang is the deputy commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the 1st Division, and since then he has been falling behind the 3rd Infantry Brigade, and the whereabouts of the devils in this division are all under our control. After they arrived in Lancheng, they went directly to Sihu, and the next target must be Pi County. When we were in Pingyi, our chances were much better than they are now, but unfortunately, Commander Li did not agree. This time, this opportunity can no longer be given up, otherwise, the only thing waiting for us is to fill the meat grinder in Taierzhuang in stages, and then until which side takes the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield, but by that time, I think, whether it is our two cadet divisions or the 57th Army as a whole, it should have been dispersed. Ladies and gentlemen, I have no opinion on choosing to fight the enemy in Taierzhuang, as well as Division Commander Guo and Division Commander Huang, this is indeed a good opportunity to annihilate the vitality of the Japanese army. Cadet soldiers are not afraid of death, and we will definitely do what we are ordered. But now that we have a better opportunity, why don't we seize it? He looked at Zhang Zizhong with burning eyes: "Military seat, once the 27th Division comes up, our relative strength advantage will be gone." At that time, they can only enter the Taierzhuang battlefield in echelons, choose to fight the enemy to the death, and then wait for other troops to create opportunities on the periphery. However, from what I know about the troops participating in this battle, I do not think that there is any other unit that is more up to the task than we are. I hope you think twice! ”

Guo and Huang did not speak, and Yu Zequan, chief of staff of the First Division, did not speak from beginning to end. The expressions of everyone in the student army were calm from beginning to end, which made Zhang Zizhong realize that this should be the opinion of all of them. He pondered for a while, and finally made a decision: "Although Chief of Staff Guo's plan is risky, marching and fighting is originally a work to live with your head. Well, as long as you two division commanders have no opinions, I agree with this plan. ”

Guo Da and Huang Haifu were happy, and Guo Da followed up and asked, "Junzao, where is Commander Li?" ”

"I'll do the work," After saying this, Zhang Zizhong made a joke about Guo Da and said with a smile: "Guo Da, you are becoming more and more traitorous now." It's your collective idea, right? Why did you let Chief of Staff Guo come out alone? Why, do you think I'm an arbitrary person? Others don't know about me, don't you kid know who I am? Next time, I'll spank you carefully! ”

Everyone laughed.

Zhang Zizhong personally sent a telegram to Li Zongren in Xuzhou, asking him to agree to the raid of the 57th Army.

Li Zongren quickly replied, agreeing with their plan, and added: Regardless of whether the raid is successful or not, the raiding troops must stay east of the canal, and as for whether to go to Pixian County to participate in the defense with the 48th Army, or continue to harass the rear of the Japanese army, the raiding troops can make their own decisions.

After sending this telegram out of the way, Li Zongren said to Bai Chongxi: "The people of the Cadet Army are scared by those guys in the central government, and no one believes it now. Guo Da and Huang Haifu want to take the initiative, no matter whether their plan can succeed or not, it will be conducive to our layout on the frontal battlefield in Taierzhuang. ”

Bai Chongxi nodded: "The officers and soldiers of the cadets regard Ouyang Yun as their idol, and the officers who come out are more or less influenced by him. In order to achieve the desired results in the defensive battle of Xuzhou, the only way to do this is to prescribe the right medicine, grasp the characteristics of each unit, and squeeze out their maximum capabilities. Both the 1st and Mountain Divisions are good at mobile warfare, and if they go behind the Japanese army, they may be able to achieve miraculous results. ”

Li Zongren: "The Battle of Taierzhuang has begun, indicating that the defense of Xuzhou has entered a stalemate. Next, it depends on who can't hold it first, us or the Japanese army. This time, I want to make Hideki Tojo tremble and can't sleep at night when he thinks of Xuzhou and Taierzhuang in the future! ”

After discussing with Guo and Huang, Zhang Zizhong decided to let Guo Muyi command the operation, and in terms of infantry, the first brigade and the overlord brigade were dispatched, and the departure time was set at eleven o'clock that night.