Jiang Dingwen's "sitting" strategy finally ushered in disastrous consequences.

The tank group and cavalry units of the Japanese 12th Army, which had made a detour westward from Xuchang, continued to advance rapidly to the northwest after capturing Linru, capturing Longmen in the southern suburbs of Luoyang in early May. On May 13, Japanese tank units began to attack Luoyang from the south. At the same time, the Japanese 63rd Division attacked westward from Zhengzhou, broke through the Songshan defense line of the 4th Army of the Nationalist Army, advanced westward along the south bank of the Yellow River, and reached the eastern suburbs of Luoyang on May 11. Subsequently, the attack momentum of the Japanese 63rd Division did not decrease in the slightest, and it interspersed with part of its forces from the north of Luoyang, and reached the vicinity of Xin'an, an important town west of Luoyang, on the 13th.

On the same day, two independent brigades of the Japanese 1st Army forcibly crossed the Yellow River at Bailangdu, north of Michi, broke through the river defense position of the New 8th Army of the National Army, and approached Luoyang from the west.

At this point, Jiang Dingwen's Yellow River defense line was opened four huge gaps from east to west, and the Yellow River defense line, known as "impregnable", finally collapsed in its entirety.

With the collapse of the Yellow River defense line, the spirit of General Jiang Dingwen was also on the verge of collapse. He first withdrew the headquarters of the commander of the First War Zone to Xin'an, and within two days, the Japanese army approached Xin'an, and Jiang Dingwen fled to Luoning in the middle of the night with his staff and staff. Before he could catch his breath, Luo Ning was in danger again, and Jiang Dingwen fled again. This time, he learned the lesson of being robbed by the people, and did not dare to ride in the jeep again, but rode on the back of a donkey as an army general, and fled for his life from a distance behind the car......

After a desperate escape, the headquarters of the First Theater Commander finally retreated from Luoning into the Funiu Mountains in southwest Henan.

Cai Jigang slept with the military headquarters of the 15th Army and the rest of the 87th Army all the way, and fought three encounters with sporadic units of the Japanese army along the way. When they made their way to the area of Yaling, south of Longmen, they were suddenly attacked by heavy artillery by the Japanese army, and the troops were suddenly disrupted, and Liu Changyi ordered a retreat of five kilometers to stabilize their position. The scouts sent reported that the Japanese were only shelling, but the infantry was not dispatched, and it was clear that the enemy's purpose was to carry out fire interception and did not take this unit too seriously.

At this time, many people who escaped from Luoyang suddenly appeared on both sides of the road, and the highway was crowded with large and small vehicles. Cai Jigang carefully identified it and found that there were still cars transporting banknotes from the Luoyang Central Bank in the traffic, and these banknote trucks were desperately honking their horns, and the soldiers escorting them kept firing guns into the sky to drive away the flow of people blocking the road in front.

Cai Jigang stepped forward to stop the cash truck and ordered the soldiers escorting the car to get out of the car. When the soldier saw that someone dared to stop the car, he was about to scold, but suddenly saw Cai Jigang's major general collar badge, and hurriedly jumped out of the car and stood upright.

Cai Jigang asked in a kind tone: "This brother, how is the situation in Luoyang?" ”

"Report to the chief, we broke out of Luoyang on the 10th, when the enemy's encirclement had not yet closed, I heard that the Japanese began to attack the city on the 11th, and the city has been resisting for three days.

"Are there any troops going to relieve the siege?"

"I didn't see it, I only saw the retreating national army contingent to the west on the way."

"Thank you, brother, that you may go."

Cai Jigang discussed with Commander Liu Changyi: "The road here is blocked, and there is a strong enemy intercepting it, so we might as well pull the team to the western suburbs of Luoyang to see if we can meet friendly and neighboring troops, and then make a decision when we ask about the situation." ”

"It's only like this, our little remnant, don't say that we can't enter Luoyang, even if we do, what can we do?" Liu Changyi said helplessly.

The troops marched in a northwesterly direction for about an hour when they encountered a Nationalist unit retreating westward. The unit looked to have just fought, and the soldiers were ragged and exhausted, and all of them were full of fireworks.

Cai Jigang stopped a colonel and asked, "Colonel, may I ask ...... your department?"

The disheveled colonel glanced at Cai Jigang's collar badge, raised his hand and saluted: "Report to the commander, I am Yu Yunchang, the commander of the 281st Regiment of the 83rd Division, our regiment has just resisted in Longmen for two days and two nights, and yesterday Longmen Dongshan was occupied by the Japanese army, and the division headquarters ordered us to retreat to the west. ”

"Which unit is guarding Luoyang now?"

"15 Corps and 94 Division."

"Did you send troops to reinforce Luoyang?"

"I don't know, I only heard that Commander Jiang Dingwen fled, and the defenders of Luoyang fought separately. Sir, I advise you not to go any further, it's still too late to run, who will be wronged and go to Luoyang City? ”

A staff officer of the 15th Army explained: "We were ordered by Chief Tang to reinforce Luoyang. ”

"When's the order?"

"Sent on May 11." The staff officer replied.

"I'm afraid this is an invalid order, Commander-in-Chief Chiang ran away on May 6, and no one knows where he is now." The colonel said angrily.

Cai Jigang and Liu Changyi looked at each other, so angry that they couldn't speak.

Liu Changyi said indignantly: "In this way, Tang Enbo is fully aware of the situation in Luoyang, he ordered the 13th Army to run into Funiu Mountain, but let us jump into the fire pit!" ”

The colonel persuaded: "Sir, it is a matter of time before Luoyang is lost, and if you go, it will be a moth to the fire, so I think it is better to retreat west with us." ”

"Lao Cai, let's retreat westward, I still want to leave some remnants of the provisional 15th Army." Liu Changyi suggested.

"Chief Jiang and Chief Tang are so commanding, and all the loyal words are not listened to, so that the situation is so unbearable, what kind of battle will I Cai supervise! That's it, retreat west, retreat west! However, the west road is not very smooth, I estimate that the 200-mile river defense has not only torn two holes, but the trouble is still to come! Cai Jigang snorted angrily, remembering that his suggestions had been rejected repeatedly, and he didn't want to go to the dead end.

Liu Changyi said goodbye to the regiment commander and asked them to hurry up and get on the road.

Mantang whispered to Cai Jigang: "Sir, this place is too close to my house, I want to go home with Tiezhu to have a look, okay?" ”

"Mantang, you are now a soldier of the national army, who is a soldier who has no home? Don't say that the troops are in danger, that is, when the troops are on the march, whoever is close to their home will go home, what kind of system will it become? Are you too embarrassed to mention this? Cai Jigang looked unhappy.

Mantang secretly stuck out his tongue at the iron pillar, not daring to say any more.

In Luoyang City, the Chinese and Japanese armies were engaged in a fierce battle.

The ancient capital of Luoyang is not only a famous historical and cultural city, but also its strategic position is also very important, and it is known as "surrounded by mountains and six rivers flowing side by side, eight customs and ten provinces". Luoyang is located in the Central Plains, west of the Qinling Mountains, east of Songyue, north of Taihang, south of barberry. It used to be the capital of the national ** line and the location of the First Theater Command. Chiang Kai-shek ordered Jiang Dingwen to defend Luoyang, but on May 6, Jiang Dingwen took the lead in abandoning his post and fleeing westward, and there was no leader in Luoyang for a while.

The boss ran away, and someone had to clean up this mess, and in the end, Liu Maoen, the commander of the 14th Group Army, stepped forward to assume the role of the commander of the Luoyang Defense War. In the hustle and bustle of the hasty westward retreat of the army in the First Theater, three troops were left behind to defend Luoyang, they were the 64th Division and the 65th Division of the 15th Army and the 94th Division of the 14th Army. The commander of the 15th Army, Wu Tinglan, was a native of Yichuan, the deputy commander Yao Beichen was a native of Luoyang County, and most of the officers and men of the 15th Army were from western Henan.

On the afternoon of 10 May, Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Chongqing, saw that someone had come out to collect the stalls, and he was slightly relieved. Guarding Luoyang is a top priority, and Jiang Dingwen's dereliction of duty will be put aside in advance, and he will be cleaned up later. Chairman Chiang's order was: "If the 15th Army holds Luoyang for 10 to 15 days, it will urge the outer armies to reinforce Luoyang." ”

It is a pity that since the rise of the Anti-Japanese War, almost every time a city is defended, Chairman Chiang's order is roughly like this: hold on for a few days, and a large army will come to relieve the siege...... In fact, there were very few times when they were delivered, and almost always reinforcements were hopeless, and the defenders were about to run out of casualties before receiving orders to retreat. For such an order, the generals of the national army have long been accustomed to it, just keep it, don't ask why, when the troops are gone, the retreat order will naturally come.

At the beginning, Lieutenant General Nobu Masantoku, commander of the 63rd Division of the Japanese army's main attacking force, obviously did not pay attention to these miscellaneous armies defending the city, and he boasted about Haikou, declaring that "the 'Ju Corps' will capture Luoyang on the 17th at the latest."

The Battle of Luoyang began on May 11, with the Japanese first attacking the Qilihe position on the eastern outskirts of the city and the Guandi Temple position on the western outskirts. The officers and men of the 64th and 65th Divisions stubbornly held on to terraced slopes, cliffs and trenches, and semi-permanent fortifications, and fought with the Japanese army village by village and land by place. Fierce fighting until the 22nd, except for a part of the defenders who stuck to the east and west stations of Luoyang, the main force all withdrew to the city to prepare for street fighting.

At noon on 22 May, planes of the Sino-US Joint Air Force delivered Chiang Kai-shek's warrant to the defenders: "If you still hold on to Luoyang, don't believe the rumors, and I will be responsible for supervising the reinforcement of Luoyang by the army and air force for a week at the latest." ”

The warrant is inspiring, but where are the reinforcements?

The first theater of operations was not without troops, and these troops were all near Luoyang at this time. The question is, the chief and deputy commanders of the theater of operations have disappeared, and who will command the mobilization of these troops?

In the national army system, which is full of factions, the chronic disease of privatization of the army is deeply rooted, and the generals of the army do not buy each other's money, and the senior generals often cannot command the subordinate troops, and in the end, only the dictator can command the whole army, but when the war situation is bad, even Chairman Chiang cannot command it. Jiang Dingwen, Liu Zhi and others refused to carry out the order to rush to Luoyang, and Chairman Chiang seemed to have no way to do anything about it.

The characteristics of the First Theater are that the entire force is composed of two major groups, Tang Enbo and Jiang Dingwen, of which the Tang Enbo group is under the direct jurisdiction of the central government as a mobile corps, but because of the needs of coordinating operations, it is nominally placed under the command of the commander of the theater. The task of Jiang Dingwen's group is very clear, that is, it is responsible for defending the Yellow River defense line, so it is called the "River Defense Army". There are many disadvantages to such a subordinate relationship, because neither of the commanders of these two heavy military groups can command anyone.

At present, Jiang Dingwen, the commander of the theater, took the lead in abandoning his post and fleeing, and Tang Enbo, deputy commander, led his troops to take refuge in the Funiu Mountains. These two army generals could have met in Funiu Mountain, but the divisions of the river defense troops gathered near Luoyang were leaderless and became a rabble. The primary question that the commanders of the military divisions considered at this time was how to bring their teams out of this dangerous place, and who still had the heart to rush to Luoyang's aid as the head of the wronged?

Cai Jigang withdrew with the military headquarters of the provisional 15th Army to Zhai Ya, a small town in the mountains south of Mianchi. Before their arrival, Li Jiayu, commander of the 36th Group Army, came here first with his headquarters personnel and the first section of the 47th Army, and then Liu Huan, commander of the 64th Group Army, also arrived with his troops. Immediately afterwards, Gao Shuxun's 39th Army Headquarters and the New 8th Army were crushed by the Japanese on the Yellow River defense line and suffered heavy losses, and they also fled here in a panic.

In less than two days, the headquarters of the three group armies and the provisional 4th Army, the 14th Army, the New 8th Army, and the 47th Army were gathered.

The 59th Brigade of the 1st Army of the Japanese Army, which was following the New 8th Army from the bank of the Yellow River, also chased 20 kilometers away from the town at this time, and had already connected fire with the alert troops of the New 8th Army, and the sound of gunfire could already be heard in the distance in the town.

Cai Jigang, Liu Changyi and others were the last to arrive here. The first acquaintance Cai Ji saw when he first entered the town was Li Jiayu, who was sitting on an ammunition box and was concentrating on writing with a brush, surrounded by a group of guards with guns.

Cai Jigang greeted Li Jiayu: "Commander Li, the enemy is about to catch up, why do you still have the leisure to write?" ”

Li Jiayu said calmly: "Brother Yunhe, how about you look at my handwriting?" ”

Cai Jigang glanced at it, this is a banner, on which two lines of poetry are written:

"A man wants to repay the country's kindness, and dying on the battlefield is a good death!"

Cai Jigang's heart sank, this lieutenant general commander seemed to be ready to die, which was not a good sign. Cai Jigang replied: "His brother's words are good words, but these two poems seem to be used earlier." ”

"Oh, Brother Yunhe, it seems that you understand poetry, then I have to test you, where do these two poems come from?" Li Jiayu asked with a smile.

Cai Jigang also moved an ammunition box and sat opposite Li Jiayu: "Then I will be ugly, these two poems are from Yuan Mei's "Crying Efu Xuting Death Festival" in the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Mei is crying his friend E Rong'an, this person is called Xuting, is a Jinshi in the year of Yongzheng, and was the counselor of the West Road in the year of Qianlong, in order to quell the rebellion of Xinjiang Amur Sana, he committed suicide in battle. The original poem is 'The boy wants to repay the king's kindness, and dying on the battlefield is a good death', and his brother changed the monarch to the country, the difference of one word is for the modern soldiers, and he is willing to die on the battlefield for the country, not for someone to die loyally. ”

Li Jiayu said lightly: "There is an old subordinate who has been asking me for words, I have not written for two years, and today he proposed again, although this is not a place to write, but I think it should still meet his requirements, otherwise I am afraid that there will be no chance." ”

"What his brother said is a bit pessimistic, right? We still have so many troops, and the soldiers are not holding burning sticks in their hands, so as long as the will to fight does not collapse, there will be a lot of room for maneuver, and the headquarters of the three group armies cannot all be wiped out by the enemy, right? ”

Li Jiayu said angrily: "I think of the Luoyang Conference, your brother made a generous statement and made bold statements, but unfortunately, no one paid attention to it." Now the elder brother's warning is unfortunate, which shows that the elder brother's strategic vision is old, but unfortunately Huai Cai has not met, and he can only succumb to a war supervisor in the Military Commission. Although I, Li Jiayu, have grievances, I can't do anything about it, it's really sad. ”

Cai Jigang said eagerly: "Brother Qi, we don't seem to have time to chat, now the war situation is like a dangerous egg, the 400,000 troops in the First War Zone are defeated like a mountain, and the enemy's vanguard is only 20 kilometers away from us, we must come up with a way, otherwise it will ......."

Li Jiayu stood up: "Brother, I think it's better for you to come forward and hold an ad hoc meeting." ”

"Me? I'm afraid not, there are so many lieutenant generals and army commanders here, and my rank is not qualified enough. ”

Li Jiayu said sharply: "No, brother, you are a war supervisor sent by the Military Commission, representing the Military Commission, and you are the only one here who has this qualification." The situation is urgent, you don't have to prevaricate anymore! ”

When it came to this, Cai Jigang couldn't shirk it anymore, he changed his official title to Li Jiayu, and said respectfully: "Yes!" Commander Li, it's better to be respectful than to obey orders, and I'll do it right away. ”

The venue for the impromptu meeting was chosen in an empty field at the entrance of the town, and everyone was standing. The commanders of the three group armies and the seven or eight army commanders and division commanders all had their own staff groups and numerous guards, and they all stood on the periphery, and the atmosphere at the meeting was very tense, and no one spoke.

Cai Jigang climbed a high step and saluted the generals: "Commanders, commanders, I am Major General Cai Jigang, the war supervisor sent by the Military Commission. Now I have a suggestion: At present, the chief and deputy commanders of the First Theater are not here, and so many troops are in a state of leaderlessness, and the situation is very dangerous. We need to elect a temporary commander to take unified command, arrange the retreat routes of the various armies, and the troops must alternately cover for an orderly retreat, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Liu Huan, commander of the 64th Group Army, spoke first: "I propose that Li Jiayu, commander of the 36th Group Army, take unified command. Commander Li, we all listen to you, you have arranged it! ”

Liu Changyi, the provisional 15th Army, shouted: "I agree!" Commander Li has been stationed on the front line of Mianchi in Xin'an, Henan Province since the winter of 1939, and has been fighting with the Japanese army for four years, and is very familiar with the terrain in the western part of Henan. ”

Gao Shuxun, commander of the 39th Group Army, also spoke: "Brother Xiang, please don't shirk, on behalf of the units of the 39th Group Army, I will resolutely obey the command of Commander Li. ”

All the generals present agreed.

Li Jiayu walked up the steps and promised: "Thanks to all the commanders for not giving up, Li will never give up!" We have eaten the food of the common people of Henan for four years, and now we can't run away when we can't see the Japanese. What is there to be afraid of the Japanese? In order to ensure the orderly retreat of all troops, our Sichuan army is willing to be the queen! Chief of Staff Zhang, please bring the map! ”

Zhang Zhonglei, chief of staff of the 36th Group Army, took out a military map and spread it on the ground, and everyone surrounded him. Li Jiayu was not polite, he pointed to the map with a small branch and gave an order straightforwardly: "Gao Shuxun's 39th Army Headquarters and the New 8th Army will first withdraw from the south and west of the orchard; The 64th Group Army Liu Huan led the headquarters and the provisional 4th Army and the 14th Army to withdraw through Xicun and Baifu; Liu Changyi's provisional 15th Army and one part of the 87th Army retreated westward from Xili Village to Gongqian Village; I led the headquarters of the 36th Group Army and the 47th Army to the west from the south side of the Longhai Railway, which was the closest to the enemy, and if we encountered the enemy's situation, we could also resist the armies for a while. In addition, the troops closest to me can also return to support us as appropriate. ”

Since the Sichuan army was willing to cover the retreat of all the troops, everyone felt that the temporary commander-in-chief acted fairly fairly, so the generals were ordered to go, and all the soldiers and horses parted ways in an orderly manner and retreated to the west.

Li Jiayu stood on the high post, watching the various armies march westward, and the long-standing resentment was condensed between his tightly knit brows. In military command, he often jokingly said that he had to play a supporting role in the play, but now he found that he had to sing a big drama as the protagonist of the play, and it was a big drama that had already been smashed. The 94th Division of the 47th Army, the caretaker of the 36th Group Army, was defending Luoyang at this time, and Li Jiayu knew very well that the loss of Luoyang would be a matter of time sooner or later, and the 94th Division would cease to exist after this battle. He felt a cramp in his heart, he didn't know what kind of ending was waiting for the 36th Army in front of him, he could only take one step at a time.

When Cai Jigang passed by Gaogang with the guard squad with the troops retreating westward, he couldn't help but order the guard squad to stop, and he walked up to the high post to say goodbye to Li Jiayu: "Brother Qi, the Luoyang meeting listened to the elder brother Gao Jian, brother, I still remember it vividly, if the two theater commanders can listen to your advice, it will not make the battle situation so unbearable." Alas, the two commanders of Jiang and Tang were stubborn and self-serving, did not listen to their advice, and passively avoided the war when the war came, abandoned their posts and fled, and abandoned hundreds of thousands of troops, if I, Cai Jigang, can return to Chongqing alive, I must accuse them to the Military Commission! ”

Li Jiayu said calmly: "Brother, as for the matter of the commander of the war zone, Chairman Jiang will handle it himself, and we don't need to say much." Listen to me, report truthfully to the Military Commission after returning to Chongqing, and don't bring personal comments. ”

"Brother Qi, I'm still with you, more people have more strength, and I have a guard class." Cai Jigang pleaded.

Li Jiayu refused: "No, since you have elected me as the commander-in-chief, you must obey the order!" Don't delay, brother, please leave immediately! ”

"Yes! I obey orders! ”

"Wait...... I still have something to ask for, if my brother can break out of the encirclement, please deliver this letter to my insider An Shufan on my behalf, and I Li Jiayu thank you. Li Jiayu solemnly handed the letter to Cai Jigang with both hands.

Cai Jigang's heart tightened, and he choked with tears: "Why did his brother say this!" As soldiers, when we fight hard, we must have the confidence to win the game, and our brother will definitely be able to reunite with his family, or you will hand it over to your family! ”

Li Jiayu shook his head and handed the letter again: "Don't say anything else, please bother Brother Yunhe!" ”

Cai Jigang took the letter with tears in his eyes, put it on his body, then stood upright, slowly raised his right arm and saluted a standard military salute, turned around and left slowly.

Cai Jigang walked far away, and couldn't help but look back, he saw Li Jiayu standing on the high post, the morning sun shining obliquely on him, like a statue.

Cai Jigang didn't expect that this breakup would be the last goodbye to Li Jiayu.

In the early morning of May 21, Li Jiayu's troops arrived at Zhangjiahe, Shaanxi County, which was the bottom of a valley in the mountains. The pursuers behind him got closer and closer, and the mortars of the vanguard of the Japanese 59th Brigade began to concentrate fire, and dozens of shells fell around and exploded. Li Jiayu ordered to take the road from Zhaojiapotou to the South Monastery, but he did not realize that this change had put himself and the headquarters of the 36th Group Army into a death trap.

The troops turned a mountain beam, and gunfire rang out in front of them, and Chief of Staff Zhang Zhonglei saw through the binoculars that Gao Shuxun's New Eighth Army was bitten by the trailing Japanese troops on the march. Li Jiayu immediately ordered the special battalion operating with the group army headquarters to step forward to block the enemy and cover the escape of the New Eighth Army. After a fierce battle, temporarily suppressing the momentum of the pursuing troops, and seeing from a distance that the ranks of the New 8th Army had disappeared from view, Li Jiayu ordered the headquarters to be transferred.

Such a delay led to the destruction of the headquarters of the 36th Army.

The team went to the top of the west slope and followed the road down the mountain to Qinjiapo. Chief of Staff Zhang Zhonglei opened the map to determine the location. This is a small hill pack, the elevation on the military map is only more than 200 meters, the east side of the hill pack is next to a slightly higher small high ridge, the map is marked called Flagpole Ridge. Zhang Zhonglei ordered the pistol platoon of the headquarters to go to the front, and the staff officers and guards of the headquarters surrounded Li Jiayu and walked behind.

It is a stone road less than two feet wide, with steep rocks on the left and terraced rice fields on the right.

At this moment, death suddenly came, and the soldiers found that there was a figure shaking in the wheat field, and before they could fire their guns to call the police, dozens of people in civilian clothes and camouflages filled with wheat straw stood up in the wheat field on the right, and the light machine guns in their hands formed a dense barrage of bullets that swept over the sky, and the soldiers of the pistol platoon were caught off guard and were swept down.

Seeing that the other party was wearing the clothes of the Chinese people, and thought that it was the militia of which county, Sun Changshui, the commander of the pistol platoon, hurriedly took off his military hat and shook it and shouted: "I won't misunderstand, we are the ...... of the national army."

Before his words fell, he was hit by several bullets in the chest, and Sun Changshui fell headlong......

Zhang Zhonglei exclaimed: "Oops, it's a devil in disguise, the pistol platoon is covering, the headquarters personnel are leaving!" ”

The remaining soldiers stubbornly resisted the approaching Japanese army with their pistols, but the fire of the pistols was too weak, and they were no match for the Japanese rifle machine guns, and the soldiers of the pistol platoon were killed and wounded in less than two minutes.

The Japanese soldiers rushed up and divided the remnants of the Nationalist army, and Zhang Zhonglei and Li Jiayu were scattered. Li Jiayu was surrounded by five or six guards, fighting and retreating, retreating down the hillside. The Japanese had already laid out their pockets, and they tightly sealed the pass with machine-gun fire.

This Japanese army was a squadron of the 69th Division, and the purpose of their disguised sneak attack was to create chaos in which the people's armed forces attacked the national army and to increase the contradictions between the Chinese army and the people, which was part of the Japanese army's political warfare, but unexpectedly a successful ambush was fought at Flagpole Ridge and the headquarters of the 36th Army was eliminated. When they found that there were high-ranking officers in the besieged troops wearing yellow tweed uniforms and high-ranking riding boots, they immediately concluded that this was the high command of the Chinese army, and the Japanese soldiers immediately went crazy. At this time, all the firepower of the Japanese army turned to Li Jiayu.

The artillerymen of the mortar squad of the headquarters died tragically, they knew that there was no hope of breaking through but none of them flinched, and the gunners braved the rain of bullets to set up the mortars, and they were bent on knocking out the Japanese machine gun positions in the mountain pass before they died. A gunner had just raised the shell, and before he could load it into the muzzle, dozens of bullets fell in an instant. The second gunner jumped to his feet again, holding the shell ready to load. The Japanese machine-gun shooters moved faster, another round of strafing, and the second gunner was knocked out again...... In this way, the soldiers of the artillery squad rushed forward one by one, and one by one they were knocked down, and none of the soldiers in the squad were spared. The mortar never fired a single shell.

At this time, all the guards around Li Jiayu had been killed, and he was still fighting back with pistols in vain. In a flash of fire, a gun ** fired by the Japanese army exploded beside him, and Li Jiayu's shoulder and armpit were hit by shrapnel, and blood gushed out. He sat down slowly, changed the pistol, and then loaded the bullet with difficulty, and when he raised the pistol to shoot, another bullet hit his left forehead, and Li Jiayu fell on his back......

In this battle, not a single officer or soldier of the headquarters of the 36th Army surrendered, they fought until the last moment, and the few remaining fighters jumped off the cliff......

Cai Jigang was walking in a mountain stream with Liu Changyi's troops, when he suddenly heard the sound of gunfire and cannons outside the mountain pass, and his nerves suddenly tensed: "Not good, Commander Li is in danger!" All the guards will kill me back! After saying that, he turned his head and rushed towards the mountain pass, and Shen Guangya and Mantang also chased after him with the guard squad.

Liu Changyi, who was walking in the middle of the team, was also shocked when he heard this, and he hurriedly ordered the military guard company to support Cai Jigang, and at all costs, be sure to rescue Commander Li!

Cai Jigang and his entourage rushed to the other side of the ditch under the Flagpole Ridge and met a battalion of the 104th Division that had arrived in a hurry, and they were preparing to storm the Flagpole Ridge. The battalion commander saluted Cai Jigang with a pale face: "Report to the commander, Major Battalion Commander Gou Daihua is waiting for your instructions!" ”

Cai Jigang tore open his collar, glared and asked, "Where is your headquarters?" Where's Commander Lee? ”

When Battalion Commander Gou heard this, he couldn't help but cry loudly: "Sir, it's over, the headquarters is all over!" The enemy's ambush has just met the old chief! I am an ancestor of the day, our division commander Yang said, the 104th Division is not going anywhere, storm the Flagpole Ridge, slaughter all these devils, and avenge the old commander......"

The 104th Division of the 47th Army was the old man brought out of Sichuan by Li Jiayu, and he was like brothers and sisters with the officers of the army, and the grief of this battalion commander was understandable.

Cai Jigang shouted: "Major, just crying in front of your soldiers, what kind of system?" Is it time to cry? Give me the binoculars! ”

The major didn't dare to cry anymore and hurriedly handed over the binoculars.

Cai Jigang carefully observed the topography of Flagpole Ridge with a telescope, this highland is a gentle slope in the west, a mountain cliff in the east, a Qinjiapo in the north, and a cliff in the south, only the east cliff is shorter and the slope is smaller. The strength of the enemy on the hill is estimated to be about a squadron. When Cai Jigang found that most of the enemies on the mountain were wearing the clothes of ordinary Chinese people, he was taken aback, could this be the bandit armament in western Henan?

After careful observation, Cai Jigang immediately understood that from the weapons in their hands to the tactical movements, it would definitely not be bandit arming, and anyone with a little combat experience could see that this was a regular field unit of the Japanese army.

Cai Jigang had an idea in his heart. He called Battalion Commander Gou: "Now under my command, the guard company of the 15th Army quietly went north, went up the mountain from Qinjiapo, and ambushed it with the connection with the flagpole ridge. Battalion Commander Gou, you lead your troops to make a feint from the west, and the momentum is as big as possible, with the aim of attracting enemy fire. Remember, when the battle starts on the top of the mountain, you immediately change your attack and be sure to attack the mountain! ”

Battalion Commander Gou asked, "What about after you reach the top of the mountain?" ”

Cai Jigang glared irritably: "Nonsense! Do you still need me to say this? Slaughter all the devils and avenge Commander-in-Chief Li! Now find me a ***, and then find a long rope. ”

Battalion Commander Gou meticulously carried out the order, and the troops in charge of the feint attack and the Japanese troops on the hill came into fire, and the gunfire on the hillside was loud.

Cai Jigang ordered Shen Guangya to take the guard squad to the bottom of the cliff in the east, he visually measured the height, and then took a rope and tied it around his waist, ready to climb the cliff.

Shen Guangya said in surprise: "Sir, this is not a joke, let's go first!" ”

Cai Jigang smiled: "Don't fight with me, when I was in the military school, I was the first in the grade in the climbing subject, and I climbed over a cliff with a height of more than 100 meters, and the difficulty is greater than here." Listen, I'll go up first, tie the rope, and then you can grab the rope and go up. ”

Shen Guangya stopped arguing, he silently pulled out two *** magazines and inserted the magazines into the belt around Cai Jigang's waist.

Man Tang secretly stuck out his tongue, and said in his heart obediently, how big an official is a major general, and he will climb the cliff with his bare hands?

Shen Guangya, Man Tang and the others watched Cai Jigang climb with fear, only to see that he sometimes bent his body, sometimes kicked his legs, sometimes pulled up with his arms, and sometimes jumped horizontally to grab the corner of the rock, which was very thrilling. Everyone was stunned and broke out in a cold sweat. About 15 minutes later, Cai Jigang climbed to the top of the cliff, a long rope hung down from the top of the cliff, Shen Guangya was the first to grab the rope and climb up, and Man Tang and the soldiers then grabbed the rope one by one and climbed up.

Cai Jigang quietly observed, and the battalion commander led his troops to feint under the gentle slope in the west, and the battle was lively. The Japanese soldiers lay on the ridge of the hillside and shot down unhurriedly, their backs unconcealed under the guns of Cai Jigang and others.

Cai Jigang gave a soft order: "Listen, the machine gunner on the far left is mine, Guangya, the ammunition hand is yours, brothers, from Adjutant Shen down, each aim at a target, with my gunfire as the signal." There are 13 of us, except for the machine gunners, and the first row of guns must take down 12 enemies, and no empty guns are allowed! Iron Pillar, you set up your machine gun on the rock a little higher on the right, and wait for everyone to let go of the first row of guns and fire them with all your might. ”

"Yes, sir!" Iron Pillar raised his machine gun and went into action.

Cai Jigang picked up Thompson***, transferred to the single-shot shooting position, and then raised his gun to aim at the Japanese machine gun shooter: "Listen to me and fire when I count to three, one, two, three!" ”

A "snap" of gunfire exploded a cloud of blood on the back of the Japanese machine gunner's head, and he threw himself up and fell on the machine gun. At the same time, Mantang and the other soldiers also pulled the trigger, and the platoon guns rang out, and the 11 Japanese soldiers immediately became guns and ghosts. Before the rest of the Japanese soldiers could react, the machine guns of the iron pillar screamed, and the Japanese soldiers fell in pieces.

Cai Jigang rolled forward with a gun and threw himself behind a rock, and before he could land, the gun went off, and a Japanese soldier was shot in the head and fell. The Japanese machine guns swept over, and the dense bullets hit the rocks, and sparks flew away. Cai Jigang changed his position with two more rolls, and "snapped" two single shots and knocked down two Japanese soldiers.

Shen Guangya's tactical movements are also very skillful, he used short point shots to cover Cai Jigang from time to time in the forward leap, not only accurate marksmanship, but also the landing point of the thrower ** is also very accurate, in the blink of an eye, Shen Guangya has jumped forward more than 50 meters.

The brothers in the hall and the guard squad were dumbfounded, they had never seen such beautiful tactical movements. If it is a recruit with no combat experience, he often pulls the trigger to the end and uses continuous rapid fire to shoot the bullets in the magazine in one go, while experienced veterans use short point shots. Cai Jigang used *** as freely as a pistol, he jumped like a frog, kept changing his shooting position, jumped from one rock to another, and the *** in his hand snapped non-stop, only to see the gun sound people down, and the bullets were not missing.

Shen Guangya also cooperated very tacitly, as soon as Cai Jigang's single-shot shot stopped, Shen Guangya's short-point shot started immediately, and the clever cooperation between the two kept the firepower continuous.

At this time, Cai Jigang suddenly jumped up and shot a long point shot, and the Japanese soldiers on the opposite side were already frightened by his accurate marksmanship, and immediately bowed down and did not dare to raise their heads. Cai Jigang turned around and roared: "Brothers, learn my movements and leap forward!" ”

The brothers of the guard squad jumped over the rocks and approached Cai Jigang.

Cai Jigang raised the gun and fired another long shot, then pressed the unloading button with the thumb of his right hand, knocked his wrist, and the magazine slipped off the gun and fell to the ground. He was already holding a new magazine in his left hand, and there were two crisp sounds, "poof, click", and the new magazine had just been loaded for less than a second, and the gun had already fired, and it was a single shot, and the bullet pierced the chest of a Japanese soldier. The whole process is like a smooth flow, and there is no stumbling through.

Shen Guangya, who is experienced in combat, saw the fame at a glance, Cai Ji did not pull the bolt to load after loading the magazine, and the gun in his hand fired, this is because he still has a bullet left in the chamber, and if he launches this bullet, the bullet in the new magazine will be automatically loaded. Automatic firearms play to this part, the shooter needs to maintain a very calm mental state in the battle, carefully remember the number of bullets fired during the shooting, a 30-round magazine must be accurately calculated to have fired 29 rounds to achieve this effect, in order to save two seconds to pull the bolt to load the bullet. Don't underestimate these two seconds, even if you fire the enemy for 0.1 seconds in battle, the result will be very different.

In the end, he is a top student of the Virginia Military Academy, and his profound tactical literacy makes the soldiers admire him so much, and it is really a blessing from his previous life to follow such a commander as a soldier.

At this time, there was an earth-shattering shouting of killing on the gentle slope in the west, and the battalion commander Gou led his troops to rush to the top of the mountain. The remaining dozens of Japanese soldiers finally couldn't stand it anymore, and they panicked and retreated towards Qinjiapo to the north. At this time, Liu Changyi's guard company, which was ambushed at the junction of Flagpole Ridge and Qinjiapo, suddenly opened fire, and the fire net composed of four or five light machine guns knocked down more than a dozen Japanese soldiers running in front. The remaining Japanese soldiers panicked and retreated in the direction of the cliff to the east. At this moment, it hit the muzzle of Cai Jigang's guard squad again, and the machine gun of the iron pillar immediately roared, and the Japanese soldiers were knocked down again.

Cai Jigang commanded the three groups of men and horses to press forward step by step, forcing the remaining more than 30 Japanese soldiers to the edge of the cliff. These Japanese soldiers were no longer out of bullets, and they put on their bayonets one after another, staring at the slowly approaching Nationalist soldiers, ready to fight the trapped beasts.

Company Commander Zhang of the 15th Army Guard Company issued an order to his soldiers: "Brothers, don't shoot!" Give me a bayonet, I want to see, who is afraid of whom when playing with bayonets? ”

Battalion Commander Gou pushed away the soldiers and walked to the front step by step, his eyes were blood-red and he roared: "There are only these turtle sons left, and they are still playing a ball?" Heavy, give me the machine gun! ”

A machine gunner understood and immediately delivered the light machine gun to him, and the battalion commander quietly pulled the bolt of the gun and slowly pointed the muzzle of the gun at the Japanese soldiers. At this time, all the soldiers of the national army quieted down, and everyone stared at the Japanese soldiers who were on the verge of despair with murderous anger.

Suddenly, Battalion Commander Gou burst out with a terrible trombone: "Ah............hh

The gunfire stopped, and there was silence on the battlefield. Battalion Commander Gou's spirit seemed to collapse in an instant, he threw down the machine gun that was still smoking from the muzzle of the gun in a daze, and slowly knelt down with weak knees: "Commander Li, my old commander, I Gou Daihua finally avenged you!" Old sir, my old sir, you go all the way, I will be a soldier with you in the next life! See you in the next life, my old sir! Hahahaha......"

Battalion Commander Gou's wild laughter suddenly changed its tone, turning into a long series of palpitating trumpets, which caused a long echo in the valley, and the officers and soldiers of the 104th Division present knelt down one after another, and broke out into earth-shattering cries......

Man Tang and the others and the soldiers of the 15th Army were all moved.

At this time, Tie Zhu suddenly found that Cai Jigang and Adjutant Shen were gone, and the brothers in the guard squad panicked and hurriedly split up to look for them. Everyone walked from the edge of the cliff to the west end of the flagpole ridge, and then turned north and walked towards Qinjiapo, shouting all the way: "Chief Cai, Adjutant Shen...... Where are you? ”

On a section of the stone road leading to the Flagpole Ridge in Qinjiapo, Shen Guangya was on the side, and Cai Jigang was sitting alone quietly next to a pile of corpses of soldiers of the 36th Group Army, and the afterglow of the evening sunset shone obliquely on him, showing a golden-red luster. Man Tang and others saw such a tragic picture: the bodies of Li Jiayu's guards were scattered around, each maintaining a posture before death, some stretched out their right arms to hold the pistol, and some fell on their backs on the corpses of their comrades......

Li Jiayu's body lay quietly in the middle of the guard's corpse, his military uniform and even the soles of his leather boots covered with bullet holes. Obviously, the Japanese soldiers, fearing that the Chinese general would not die, even fired at his body with machine guns.

The full hall found that the blood stains on Li Jiayu's face had been wiped clean by Cai Jigang, and the lieutenant general of the army looked calm and serene, still maintaining the majesty of his life.

Cai Jigang wrote a record in his notebook:

"Yes, the personnel of our 36th Group Army Headquarters were ambushed by the Japanese disguised field troops at Flagpole Ridge, with a strength of about one squadron and very strong firepower. During the battle, 248 people, from Commander Li Jiayu to his subordinates, were martyred, including Xiao Xiaoze, chief of the staff office, Chen Shaotang, senior staff member, Zhou Dingming, chief of the adjutant general of the headquarters, Chen Zhaopeng, chief of the operations section of the colonel of the General Staff Office, Gong Ziyi, adjutant of the captain's attendant, and Tang Ke......jun, commander of the guard company.

Cai Jigang slowly put his hand into the pocket of his underwear, Li Jiayu's letter to the family was still there, and it seemed to retain his body temperature. Cai Jigang felt a little comforted in his heart, he thought of Lu Gongliang who died in Xuchang, and his body was still unknown. Compared with Lu Gongliang, Li Jiayu is lucky, at least he can be taken care of by his comrades-in-arms after his death, and he can still maintain the dignity of a general.

Since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, nearly 200 generals have fallen on the battlefield in the Chinese army, and the highest position is Zhang Zizhong, commander-in-chief of the 33rd Group Army, who died in the Battle of Suizao four years ago. Generally speaking, the probability of death of such a high-level general is not too high, Cai Jigang thought that this kind of sacrifice would not happen again, but today it was another group army commander who fell on the battlefield.

Battalion Commander Gou of the 104th Division sobbed and knelt in front of Li Jiayu's body to clear the dried mud and blood of his military uniform, and strings of tears fell on Li Jiayu's military uniform.

Cai Jigang stood up and gave an order: "Major Gou Daihua of the 104th Division listens to the order!" ”

Battalion Commander Gou immediately stopped sobbing and stood upright.

"Order your troops to send the body of Commander-in-Chief Li to the military headquarters of the 47th Army, and no matter what situation you encounter on the way, you must protect the body at all costs to ensure that the body is sent to Pujiang County, Sichuan, Commander-in-Chief Li's hometown, for burial. The bodies of the remaining officers and men of the 36th Army who died were buried on the spot and marked so that they could be found after the war. Other units of the enemy's 69th Division should be operating nearby, and you should set off as soon as possible after the aftermath is completed, and you can't stay here for a long time! ”

"Yes! Sir. Battalion Commander Gou saluted.

Cai Jigang then turned around and instructed Shen Guangya: "Pass my order, and the guard squad will set off!" ”

Man Tang looked at Cai Jigang's face carefully when he was in line, and he found that Cai Jigang had two dried tear stains on his face......

On May 23, the city of Luoyang was still trembling under heavy artillery fire, and the tragic offensive and defensive battles between the Chinese and Japanese armies tended to be white-hot. The Battle of Luoyang had been going on for 12 days, and the city of Luoyang was still in the hands of the Chinese defenders.

Early in the morning, the monks of the White Horse Temple on the outskirts of the city sent the commander of the 15th Army, Wu Tinglin, a letter of persuasion from Uchiyama Eitarō. It seems that Uchiyama Eitaro did not believe in Wu Tinglin very much, for fear that he would take the letter of surrender as a handpiece of paper and not reveal it to the defenders.

The power of the Japanese trumpets was very high, and the voice of the announcer echoed over the entire city: "...... Since the imperial army entered China, invincible, the siege of the city did not exceed a week without falling, the general and his soldiers held Luoyang for more than ten days, fulfilled the responsibility of defending the land, and now there is no Chinese army within 100 miles of Luoyang, there is no hope of reinforcements, sit back and wait to die, it is really unwise. In order to prevent the ruins of Luoyang from being destroyed by the war, I hope that the defenders will stop making useless resistance......"

This announcer doesn't know anyone, but he speaks Chinese very well, not only suppresses the frustration but also feels quite colorful, and seems to be distressed by the behavior of the soldiers who defend the city and do not cherish their lives. The brothers of the Nationalist army on the front line believed that this kid must be a Chinese, and it was impossible for the Japanese to learn Chinese pronunciation so accurately, so they had to check this kid carefully and find out that they had to pick up his family's ancestral grave. When a traitor does this, he really has to have a little courage.

Commander Wu Tinglin immediately tore the letter of surrender to shreds, and ordered the monks to reply to Eitaro Uchiyama, and the Chinese defenders were determined to live and die with Luoyang!

At dawn on May 24, Uchiyama Eitaro ordered the final general assault on Luoyang City in six directions.

The Japanese army first concentrated 120 heavy artillery pieces on the surrounding positions to fire covering the city, and fired more than 8,000 large-caliber shells within four hours. At the same time, hundreds of bombers of the Japanese Army Air Force also continued to roar and dive bombing, dropping thousands of heavy bombs into the city. After the first round of firepower, the exposed fortifications and houses in the city were destroyed, and then the Japanese army, under the guidance of more than 200 tanks, concentrated more than 30,000 infantry to attack the southwest corner, the west gate, the northwest corner, the northeast corner, the east gate, and the southeast corner at the same time.

The engineering units of the Japanese 3rd Tank Division used continuous blasting to blast the steep walls of the outer trenches of the city into slopes and collapse the city walls. More than 10 tanks of the 13th Tank Wing were the first to break into Luoyang City from the northeast corner, and a large number of Japanese infantry poured into the street like a tide, and the northwest corner was also broken through, and the city defenders suffered heavy casualties.

The two Japanese troops met at the stadium and advanced along Zhongshan South Street and North Street towards the crossroads.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the number of Japanese troops who broke into Luoyang had reached 10,000, and a large number of Japanese infantry were still rushing into the block. In the evening, the Japanese tanks occupied the crossroads in the center of the city, and the command system of the defenders at all levels was completely cut off, but the will to fight of the defending officers and soldiers did not collapse. They fought on their own, using houses, warehouses, streets, alleys, and courtyard walls to fight house by house, resisting step by step, and the Japanese army had to pay a huge price in casualties for every step forward.

After dark, the whole city entered a white-hot state of scuffle, and the sound of violent explosions and flames rose in the air.

In the middle of the night, tens of thousands of Japanese infantry had entered the city, and more than half of the defenders had suffered casualties. The Japanese siege force approached the headquarters of the 15th Army in the southeast corner of the city, and the military headquarters guard battalion and the Japanese 8th Mixed Brigade engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The soldiers on both sides rolled together, and the battle was extremely fierce. At the last moment, Wu Tinglin, the commander of the 15th Army, convened three division commanders to discuss and urgently decided to break through.

At 1 o'clock in the morning, the 64th Division of the National Army rushed outside the city from the south gate, the 65th division from the north gate, and the 94th division at the east gate at the same time. The Japanese had to divide their forces to block the attack, and the remnants of the three divisions of the Nationalist Army repeatedly rushed and killed five times, suffering heavy casualties, and finally broke out of the city in the early morning.

The army commander Wu Tinglin only contained more than 2,000 soldiers outside the city.

From the Japanese siege on May 11 to the loss of Luoyang on the 25th, more than 15,000 officers and men of the 15th Army and the 94th Division of the National Army fought bloodily with the superior forces of the Japanese army for 14 days and nights, and finally failed because they were outnumbered and isolated. More than half of the ancient buildings and houses in the ancient city of Luoyang were destroyed, and nearly 10,000 civilians died in the Japanese bombardment.

During the battle, the 15th Army and the 94th Division of the National Army suffered casualties and more than 13,000 prisoners in the Battle of Luoyang. The 94th Division is the old foundation of Li Jiayu of the Sichuan Army, and Li Jiayu had a premonition before he was martyred that after the Battle of Luoyang, the 94th Division would cease to exist, and the end of the miscellaneous troops should be like this.

Wu Tinglin's 15th Army is even more of a miscellaneous card. The image of the predecessor of this army was not glorious, and before the Northern Expedition, the predecessor of the army was the swordsman who was recruited from the western Henan region [1]

composition, the leader is Liu Zhenhua, who served as the overseer and governor of Shaanxi, known as the "Zhensong Army". Even the notorious gravedigger Sun Dianying was from the Zhensong army in the early days. In 1926, Zhen Songjun did a more faceless thing, so that the whole country knew its name. In April of that year, Liu Zhenhua led 100,000 Zhensong troops to besiege Xi'an, which is the story of Li Huchen and Yang Hucheng's "two tigers guarding Chang'an". Xi'an was besieged for eight months, and 40,000 or 50,000 people died of starvation and freezing in the city, and finally Feng Yuxiang's reinforcements broke the siege and defeated the Zhensong army. After Liu Zhenhua was defeated, he simply took refuge in Feng Yuxiang. Within a few years, the Zhensong Army turned the clouds and turned to Chiang Kai-shek in the Central Plains War, and was incorporated into the 2nd Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, numbered the 11th Route Army. In May 1930, the 11th Route Army was renamed the 15th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

When it comes to the Zhensong Army that year, the people of Henan and Shaanxi all gritted their teeth. This bandit armed force ran rampant in the townships, preying on the common people, extorting tobacco, expropriating tyrannically, destroying education, and indiscriminately issuing paper money, making the people of Henan and Shaanxi miserable. Zhen Songjun wrote a page of inglorious history in modern China.

But such a unit with a very bad reputation actually stood out in the defense of Luoyang in 1944 and became a heroic unit. In the battle, all the officers and men of the 15th Army and the 94th Division of the Sichuan Army fought with tens of thousands of Japanese elites for 14 days and nights with their tenacious will to fight and inferior weapons and equipment, and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy at the cost of almost all the troops.

Cai Jigang took his guard squad and marched with the military headquarters of the provisional 15th Army in the peaks of the Kunshan Mountains in western Henan.

The paths in the mountains are so narrow that they can only accommodate one person, and the troops march in a single column, and the personnel of the military headquarters and their direct teams alone can pull out a line five or six kilometers long. Gao Shuxun's new 8th Army has just passed, and there are still traces of troops burying pots and cooking on the side of the road. Liu Changyi ordered the headquarters personnel to turn into the valley south of the mountain, only to hear the sound of people on the mountain, and about 200 ordinary people flocked to stop the mountain pass.

Company Commander Zhang of the guard company of the military headquarters walked in the front, and when he saw this formation, he knew that it was not good, so he quickly took out his pistol and shouted: "What are you going to do?" ”

Led by a middle-aged farmer wearing a broken straw hat, he carried a firewood knife and shouted: "Be a soldier, put down the guy in your hand and walk!" ”

Man Tang and Tie Zhu glanced at each other, this scene was too familiar to them, and they ran into robbers again.

The first time Cai Jigang encountered this kind of thing, he still didn't believe that the common people dared to openly rob the army. Cai Jigang walked to the front of the team to observe, and saw that the other party had a dark face, ragged clothes, and a simple guy with a firewood knife, axe, and shuttle dart in his hand, and he was puzzled, so he asked: "Who are you?" Is it a bandit? ”

Liu Changyi whispered to Cai Jigang: "It's a mob of robbery, specializing in dealing with scattered stragglers of the national army, I heard that Chief Tang and Wang Zhonglian's troops have been robbed, but I didn't expect us to run into them." ”

"But we're not a scattered army, and we're still in formation, right?"

"The troops of the 2nd Regiment have just passed, and they are very proficient, they must be standing still, and there are few people waiting for them, probably because we have few people in the headquarters and are easy to bully."

When Cai Jigang was working in the Chongqing Military Commission, due to the blockade of negative news, he did not know much about the situation of the people in Henan, and after listening to Liu Changyi's explanation, he couldn't help but be angry, he said sharply: "We are an anti-Japanese army, and we are fighting now, please don't interfere with our combat operations!" ”

The middle-aged man said mockingly: "What day is it resisting? Let's fight against Tang Enbo's suffering army first! This sir, I don't want your life, just leave the gun and food behind, and get out! ”

Cai Jigang was angry: "It's a time of war, the military situation is like fire, you have to be responsible for your actions!" ”

"I'm responsible for bullshit! Anyway, you can't survive, it's a death horizontally and vertically, if you have a kind of you'll shoot and kill us, or you can put down the guy and fuck off! ”

Cai Jigang suddenly smoked, and he pulled out his pistol suddenly: "Damn, do you think I don't dare?" Whoever sabotages the anti-Japanese, I have one to kill one. Shi Tiezhu, machine gun ready! Guard squad, all on bayonets! Line up and follow me! ”

The brothers in the guard squad all raised their bayonets, and Tie Zhu looked at Mantang and then at Cai Jigang, and he hesitated to pull the bolt.

Liu Changyi was a little at a loss, and he whispered to Cai Jigang: "Brother, are you really going to shoot?" Let's discuss it again, once you shoot, it will be a big trouble! ”

Mantang's heart was also empty, he really wanted to open fire on the people, he really couldn't do it, and he did this when he was so hungry that he couldn't help it. He hurriedly leaned into Cai Jigang's ear and whispered: "Sir, you can't shoot, they can't help it, there have been disasters in the past two years, and the people are hungry, let's not do it seriously, scare and scare and scare......"

The words of the full hall really had an effect on Cai Jigang, his face softened, and he snorted and gave an order: "Machine gunner, raise the muzzle of the gun by two inches, and shoot above the opponent's head with the sound of my gun!" ”

Cai Jigang "snapped" a shot, the middle-aged man's broken straw hat flew up in response, and the machine gun of the iron pillar fired a long point "da-da-da", and the bullet flew by grazing the robber's scalp. The middle-aged man's spirit immediately collapsed, he hugged his head and was the first to turn around and run away, shouting: "Mother, they are really moving!" "The peasants who robbed were horrified, they were all timid peasants, and they were really hungry and crazy before they took the risk, and when they saw that the army really opened fire, they immediately scattered, and many of the peasants even ran away with their trousers.

Cai Jigang put the pistol into the holster with a blushing face, and scolded in his mouth: "What is this called? The army loses the war, and the common people become traitors, if this continues, what hope does China have? ”

The hall flattered Cai Jigang and said: "Chief Cai, don't be angry with these turtle grandchildren, they are not traitors, what are they...... I can't tell, but when I get to the campsite, I'll talk to you. ”

Tie Zhu turned away with his machine gun in his hand, pretending not to hear what the room was saying.

In the evening, the troops arrived at the Tianye Temple in Kunshan. This is a small mountain village, where Gao Shuxun's 39th Army headquarters is also camped, and a radio station has been set up at this time.

Cai Jigang summed up the battle situation in his own hands, and reported the battle situation to the Military Command Department of the Military Commission through the radio station of the 39th Group Army Headquarters: "After the loss of Luoyang, the enemy's 63rd Division and 69th Division are still advancing non-stop to the southwest of Henan. The Lu clan is the rear supply base and military station of our troops stationed in Henan, and we must not lose it! This is for the CMC to consider. In addition, the other main force of the Japanese army, its 37th Division, 110th Division, 62nd Division, and the 5th and 59th Brigades of the 1st Army, have been following the armies of the westward withdrawal of our river defense troops, and their strategic intentions seem to refer to Lingbao and Tongguan ......"

Cai Jigang breathed a sigh of relief after he asked the communications staff officer to compile his battle situation into a password and send it out. He knew very well in his heart that this telegram was likely to be deciphered and intercepted by the Japanese army, and Okamura Ninji's radio detection team was very dedicated, and several code-breaking experts in this group were all masters, they rarely rested, and never took vacations, working day and night, and their work efficiency was extremely high, and the Chinese code-breaking experts were not their opponents. The Chinese military can only change passwords frequently, and the replacement cycle is shorter and shorter. Even so, the codes of the Chinese army are frequently deciphered.

Cai Jigang often thought that if Chairman Chiang gave himself power, he must set up a strategic deception agency and use the Japanese army's code-breaking ability to provide a large amount of false information to the other side, so as to cause the other side to misjudge. Carrying out strategic deception is a lucrative affair, and once it is successful, it can be exchanged for maximum benefit at a very small cost.

The essence of the war is not only a contest of national strength and resources between the two sides, but also a contest of the decision-makers of the two sides at the intellectual level and operational ability. Our ancestors have played this strategy to perfection more than 2,000 years ago. Sun Tzu thinks: "Soldiers, sophistication." Therefore, it can be shown but cannot be used, it is not used to show it, it is near and it is far away, and it is far away and it is shown to be near. Profit and temptation, chaos and take, real and prepared, strong and avoid...... The victory of this soldier cannot be passed on first. ”

It is a pity that no one of the high-ranking officials of the Chongqing Military Commission cared about this, and they always blindly emphasized the weakness of national strength, the inferior quality of soldiers, and the poor weaponry, and always hoped to win more foreign aid through diplomatic channels or to obtain more shares in the distribution of materials under the Lend-Lease Act. It is not that China lacks talent, but that those who have the ability have no power, and those who have the power have no ability.

Thinking of this, Cai Jigang sighed, that's it, that's it, I don't think about it anymore, all I can do at this time is to do my duty as a soldier, and he can't control anything else.

At this time, Lieutenant General Gao Shuxun, commander-in-chief of the 39th Group Army, was frowning, holding a magnifying glass and a scale bar to look for fighters on the military map.

Gao Shuxun was born in the Northwest Army, and served as Feng Yuxiang's personal guard in his early years, starting from a soldier until he became the commander-in-chief of the group army. Due to the influence of Feng Yuxiang, Gao Shuxun also entered Christianity and is a devout Christian. It was this Christian who did an earth-shattering event in 1940: he designed to trap the traitor Shi Yousan, and then buried Shi Yousan alive without even being stunned. This incident caused a great shock in China's military circles and was called a very happy event.

Before the Battle of Central Henan, Cai Jigang and Gao Shuxun were not familiar with each other, but it was only on the way to the westward retreat of the river defense troops that the two gradually became familiar with each other.

Gao Shuxun angrily threw the scale on the table, and only two words popped out of his mouth: "Nest!" ”

Cai Jigang took Gao Shuxun's words: "It's a nest, who doesn't nest like this?" I've got the fucking heart to die! Commander Gao, we can't retreat anymore, and if we retreat, we can only retreat to Lingbao and Tongguan, isn't this leading the Japanese to Xi'an? Xi'an has a Sino-US air base and is the location of the Eighth Theater Command, and once the Japanese army enters Shaanxi, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Gao Shuxun said with a gloomy face: "The first war zone has made a mess of the battle, and it has also led the disaster to the eighth war zone, we people are afraid that we will have no face to see people in the future, are we embarrassed to wear this military uniform?" ”

Cai Jigang slammed his fist on the table: "We have to fight, we must fight!" Commander Gao, Commander Liu, you lend me a regiment, I only need a regiment, if you can't beat me, Cai Jigang will come to see me! ”

A fat mouse ran quickly along the root of the wall, and the angry Gao Shuxun had drawn a gun in his right hand, and he raised his hand to shoot a gun, and there was a "bang" sound, and the mouse was hit by the bullet and flew two meters away......

The guards standing in the courtyard did not know what was going on in the house, and they all rushed in with guns.

Gao Shuxun roared: "Get out of here!" He "snapped" and slapped the pistol on the table: "Brother Yunhe, let's do it!" You come to command this battle, I will give you a gun if you want a gun, and I will give a soldier if you want a soldier! ”

Liu Changyi also became impulsive: "I also agreed to fight, so I lost my armor and withdrew to Shaanxi, even if Chairman Jiang didn't pursue us, we ourselves didn't have the face to wear this military uniform." It's just that now there is no unified command of high-level commanders, can other troops listen to us? ”

Cai Jigang sneered: "I don't expect a big battle at all, let alone me, even if the high commander comes forward to discuss with other armies, I'm afraid there will be no result." There are so many army commanders and division commanders, each with their own plans, maybe people still think that we are troublesome. ”

Gao Shuxun said: "No one else can count on it, let's do it ourselves, with our new 8th Army as the mainstay, and Commander Liu's temporary 15th Army can be on standby as a reserve." Brother Yunhe, tell me in detail about your plans, how will we fight this battle, and how big will it be? ”

Cai Jigang already had a plan in his stomach, he took a military map of 1/50,000 and unfolded it, and drew a circle on a point with a red pencil: "Two commanders, I want to use this valley as a preset battlefield, and I have already looked at the terrain when I passed there yesterday." My idea was to put a regiment of the New 8th Army here for an ambush, and for the time being two regiments of the 15th Army were placed on the flanks, ready to block enemy reinforcements at any time. ”

Gao Shuxun questioned: "I have three questions. First, you don't have first-hand information about how many troops are in the vanguard of the enemy? Is it a wing or a brigade? If it is a wing, not only will one of our regiments not be able to eat it, but it may be eaten by it. Second, if it is an enemy brigade that enters the ambush circle, we are also facing great risks, the standard establishment of an infantry brigade of the Japanese army is 1,100 people, and one of our regiments has only more than 2,000 people. Thirdly, what is the distance between the enemy's vanguard and the large forces behind? If it's within five kilometers, we can't get out quickly. Brother Yunhe, what are your specific plans? ”

Cai Jigang replied: "Commander Gao, I don't have much appetite, and I will be content to kill a squadron of devils." As long as this squadron enters the ambush circle, I will immediately seal the opening, and it is still certain that one squadron will be used to kill it with one regiment. ”

Liu Changyi stared at the map and asked, "What do you mean, is it to control the number of Japanese troops entering the ambush circle?" But what are you going to use to seal the seal? Is it to block the enemy's follow-up troops with fire? Don't forget, the enemy's firepower is stronger than ours, and we may not be sure about this. ”

Cai Jigang was confident: "This is easy to do, I have noticed when I look at the terrain, the entrance of that valley is only seven or eight meters wide, and there are cliffs on both sides, I am going to use two tons of ** for directional blasting to blow up the mountain pass." I calculated that after the detonation, the cliffs on both sides collapsed to the middle, forming a rock barrier more than ten meters high, and it would take at least two days for the enemy's sappers to clear the obstacle even with construction machinery. With these two days, we've got everything done. The blocking force of the 15th Army of the Provisional Army could rely on this artificial obstacle to block the attack, and the enemy would not be able to use tanks. ”

Gao Shuxun laughed: "Brother, brother, only you can come up with this kind of strange trick, you probably have already remembered those ** in our engineer battalion, right?" ”

Cai Jigang admitted with a smile: "Yes, I have noticed that the new 8th Army Engineer Battalion has suffered miserably along the way in order to bring these **, I think it is better to use it up, and it is better to travel lightly." ”

Liu Changyi sighed: "Damn, people who have gone to foreign military academies have a lot of ghost ideas, and they even know how to blast engineers." I said, brother, tell me, what is directional blasting? ”

"Directional blasting is a blasting method that throws earth and rock in a certain area to a designated area and roughly piles it into the desired shape, in fact, this subject is not complicated, but it is necessary to learn the calculation of the relationship between the charge amount, the charge point and the blasted object. To be honest, I didn't learn much about this subject, it was average at best, but it was adequate, because blasting in war was for destruction, and it didn't need to be too precise. Cai Jigang explained.

Gao Shuxun picked up the phone: "Chief of Staff, call me Commander Huang of the Engineer Battalion, all the troops are on standby, ready to fight!" ”

In the middle of the night, Hu Zongnan, deputy commander of the Eighth Theater of Operations, was woken up by a rapid telephone ringing. He looked at his watch, it was already two o'clock in the morning, and it didn't seem like a good sign that someone was calling so late. Hu Zongnan picked up the microphone in a daze, and a familiar Ningbo accent came from inside: "Is it Shoushan?" ”

Hu Zongnan jumped from the bed to the floor in surprise, and he unconsciously made a standing posture with his bare feet: "Headmaster! Students in. ”

Chiang Kai-shek's mood seemed to be very bad: "Shoushan, have you heard? We fought badly in the battle between Yuzhong. ”

"Yes! The student heard, Principal, it's so late and you're still working? ”

"I can't sleep, the Yellow River defense line is lost, Xuchang is lost, and Luoyang is lost...... Alas, hundreds of thousands of troops retreated again and again, which was simply impossible to explain to the allies. ”

"Headmaster, I know a little bit about the situation on the front line, don't be in a hurry, if there is anything that needs to be done by the students at this time, the headmaster just give an order!"

"The situation in the First War Zone is very bad, Jiang Dingwen and Tang Enbo did not listen to the dispatch, and actually left the command post without permission, the Japanese chased after them, their next step is to take Lingbao and Tongguan, we must not let the enemy enter Shaanxi and enter Xi'an! Shoushan, the military situation is urgent, you immediately give me the whole army to go out of Shaanxi to block the attack, I have urgently appointed Chen Cheng as the commander of the first theater of operations, and hurried to western Henan to clean up the mess, and strictly ordered the troops of the first theater to withdraw west to intercept and block the enemy on the spot, and never take a step back! Niang Xipi! Jiang Dingwen and Tang Enbo are the scum of the party-state, and I will severely punish them......"

Hu Zongnan was shocked into a cold sweat: "Principal, the students obey orders!" I immediately led the troops out of Shaanxi! ”

Putting down the phone, Hu Zongnan turned around and shouted: "Adjutant, call the chief of staff immediately, pass on my order, the 34th Group Army will all be dispatched, quickly leave Tongguan, and attack and advance to Lingbao and Lu's area!" I will take the command staff to wait at the foot of Huashan Mountain! ”

[1]

The Knife Warrior Association is a kind of organization of the lower-class people in the Guanzhong area, and its members usually carry a kind of "Guanshan knife" made in Lintong Guanshan Town (Guanshan Town now belongs to Yanliang District), this knife is about three feet long, less than two inches wide, and the shape is special, extremely sharp, so the people call it the knife man. The swordsman was born in the early years of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, there was no fixed organizational form and strict discipline, there was only one person similar to the leader, everyone called him a certain brother, and the people below him were all brothers, and they were active around the leader. The swordsmen are scattered into groups of different sizes, and the distribution areas are more west of Tongguan and east of Xi'an along the banks of the Wei River, and there are more in Weibei. This kind of non-governmental organization is uneven, some advocate chivalry, advocate killing the rich and helping the poor; Some of them are evildoers and bandits.