Chapter 56: Regret

Seeing that Xue Ru actually recognized him, Li Yannian was a little embarrassed, although he was forced to be helpless, but it was also a very shameful thing for the dignified army commander to abandon the troops and run away with the people in makeup.

He smiled awkwardly and said: "The roads are congested, vehicles cannot pass, and the Japanese planes bomb cars, so in order to concentrate troops in the rear as soon as possible, I have to make this decision, ashamed, ashamed." ”

Although Xue Ru was a little dissatisfied with his behavior, it was not good to say anything at this time, after all, there was an urgent need for senior officers to be in charge now, otherwise he would really not be able to command these soldiers. After all, his military rank is too low, he has no qualifications, and his reputation is not very big.

Such a chaotic army does not rely on your ability to fight, but on prestige and authority. His face softened, and he stood up and saluted: "See Commander Li." ”

Seeing Xue Ru so old, he was still very impressed with a tired face. He is a real high-ranking officer, how can he not know the meaning of Xue Ru's actions, if there is no meaningful approach, he would have been angry and would not listen to this set of things. is so polite to Xue Ru for this reason. Raise your hand to return the salute: "Captain Xue can be called the mainstay, Li must report to the war zone and ask for credit for Captain Xue." ”

Xue Ru smiled, she didn't need any military exploits now, what she needed was time: "Commander Li has a reputation, Xue Ru is ashamed, and he also invited Commander Li to enter the city to preside over the overall situation." The lowly positions are low, and it is not possible to arrange other troops. ”

Presiding over the big picture? Li Yannian was stunned for a moment, this place is quite orderly, and the arrangement is not bad, he thought that Xue Yue sent a senior staff to command, a little girl has this level? He was stunned for a moment and said, "Here you are the supreme commander?" ”

Xue Ru smiled helplessly: "Sort of, Commander Li, please." ”

Li Yannian followed Xue Ru into Kunshan, and what he saw made him even more admired. There weren't many people in Kunshan, and there were signs on the streets with troop numbers and arrow numbers written on them.

The whole of Kunshan was divided into several group army areas, and the troops entering the city were assembled according to the designated places, and then they left the city after drinking some gruel and drove to different areas.

In such a chaotic situation, even I may not be able to think of these solutions. Coming to Xue Ru's headquarters, Xue Ru introduced the situation along the way, and said worriedly: "Commander Li, why is there no news from Commander Xue?" I was unable to contact the general headquarters of the former enemy, and I did not have the conditions to contact other command organs. What do you think? ”

Li Yannian was very strange, how could such a unit only have the conditions to contact the former enemy command? Puzzled, he asked, "What unit do you belong to?" ”

Xue Ru said: "The Eighteenth Army, but I can't contact Commander Luo. We are under the direct command of the former enemy command. ”

Li Yannian understood, Xue Ru's Snow Fox Brigade was so peculiar, it turned out to be Xue Yue and Luo Zhuoying's private arm, no wonder he had so much power. They were all people who understood, so they smiled and said: "Chief of Staff Lin, immediately contact Commander Gu of the theater command and ask for orders." ”

Lin Qinzhong was the chief of staff of the Second Army and had been following Li Yannian closely. They were the Second Army of the Central Army, and Hu Zongnan's First Army were both troops of the Ninth Army, and they were both Left Wing Army troops at this time. Army-level troops, of course, can directly contact the Third Theater of Operations, and even directly contact the Military Commission.

Li Yannian's arrival really made Xue Ru a lot easier, and at least the troops who joined the purge were the troops of the Second Army. They were pooled and participated in the maintenance of road traffic. Soon a large number of troops arrived, and the commanders of various divisions and brigades entered Kunshan one after another, and with Li Yannian, the lieutenant general, they generally did not dare to make trouble, and the troops quickly diverged.

Xue Ru didn't know how much better she did this than in history. But on the whole there were not too many losses, at least the troops were divided into several large groups under the number of the group army, and they drove to Changshu, Suzhou, Wuxi, and the troops to Changzhou and Jiangyin.

Just when Xue Ru was anxiously waiting for Xue Yue, a place called Qingmiao Village, Wu Yizhi was anxious.

Xue Yue finally agreed to leave, because the forward troops of the Japanese 6th Division were already approaching Qingpu, and Ye Zhao, the 160th Division of the 66th Army, was desperately blocking it.

Other units have been withdrawn, and the 160th Division is also a half-crippled unit, fighting here from downtown Shanghai, with two brigades and four regiments, leaving less than half of the troops. This is the advance Japanese army, there are no heavy weapons, and they can hold on for a while, otherwise Xue Yue may become a prisoner.

Xue Yue knew that he couldn't be a prisoner, so he had to retreat. Once the headquarters moved, it would lose contact with the troops, and the telegram requested that the theater directly command the troops, and he packed up and left Qingpu in a car, and retreated along the road to Kunshan, accompanied only by the headquarters guard battalion.

Looking at the chaos on the highway from Qingpu to Kunshan, Xue Yue's heart was dripping blood. I didn't insist, I should have listened to Wu Yizhi in the first place, if the entire security brigade was transferred to Xue Ru, wouldn't the situation be better?

Xue Ru collected a regiment by herself, and gave her a regiment by herself, and the strength was only one brigade, and half of the troops had to be assigned to defend Taicang. More than 1,000 people, how to restrain these stragglers?

Xue Yue also didn't understand that the Japanese army knew about it in the theater on the second day of landing in Jinshanwei, and it was also reported to the Military Committee at the same time, but it was not until the 9th that the retreat order was issued, at which time the Japanese army had cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway, and Jiaxing had been lost. The Japanese occupied Songjiang, and only then did they retreat, and it was too late.

There is no order of retreat in the war zone, and it becomes a free retreat, that is, to escape. The strength of six or seven group armies, five or six hundred thousand people, there are only two retreat routes, if Kunshan and Taicang are occupied, the entire army will be surrounded, and everything depends on Xue Ru.

Boarding the car, but the action is not fast, because the road is already crowded with people. Xue Yue wanted to reach Kunshan as soon as possible, but Xue Ru, a captain, had no ability to restrain these troops. I had to honk my horn and speed up, even if some soldiers were knocked down, there was nothing I could do.

"Airplanes, airplanes" The whole road was in chaos, and terrified soldiers and civilians ran in all directions. Four Japanese light bombers flew at low altitude and bombed and strafed along the road. Blood corpses were flying, and on the empty plain, there was no place to shelter, and the Japanese army was like a bloodthirsty monster, harvesting the lives of Chinese soldiers and civilians. Many angry soldiers raised their guns and fired them into the air, but to no avail.

A Japanese plane spotted Xue Yue's car, immediately dived down, fired a burst of bullets, and threw down two*, the driver was hit by a bullet in the chest, and his head was crooked to death. The car that lost control rushed towards the ditch on the side of the road, just as one * exploded, and a huge wave of air overturned the car.

Xue Yue just saw Wu Yizhi being thrown out, and his eyes were dark and fainted. When he woke up, he saw a thatched house. Shaking his aching head vigorously: "What is this place?" ”

"This is Qingmiao Village" Wu Yizhi, who was wrapped in a bandage on his head, said in surprise: "Commander, are you awake?" It's good that it's okay. ”

Seeing that Wu Yizhi was injured, Xue Yue remembered that he was bombed by a plane. I found myself weak and my chest was hot, but there was no external injury. Said: "How are you?" Can you go? ”

Wu Yizhi said: "I'm fine, just bruises. But what about you? Will it work? ”

Xue Yue smiled bitterly: "If you can't do it, you have to do it, rush to Kunshan to contact the chairman, we don't know how Nanjing arranged it." Hurry up and gather the troops and stick to the Xicheng defensive line. ”

The car had been wrecked, so I had to walk to Kunshan.

Just when Xue Yue was rushed to Kunshan by the soldiers, Xue Ru ushered in the most difficult time.

However, with the arrival of Li Yannian, Xue Ru was finally able to contact the command headquarters and know the situation on the entire battlefield. Before a decision could be made, Liu Quan ran in: "Report, Chief of Staff Lan telegram." ”

Xue Ru took it and looked at it, and handed the telegram to Li Yannian. Li Yannian looked at it and said, "Which army will you send?" ”

Xue Ru couldn't help it, seeing that Kunshan had concentrated a lot of troops, but Xue Ru could really command nothing. The Military Council ordered all units to immediately retreat to the Xicheng defensive line and assemble around Nanjing to prepare for the defense of Nanjing.

Part of the troops retreated to the west of Suzhou, holding on to the Jiangxi region in southern Anhui, the right wing corps retreated to Hangzhou, holding on to Guangzhou to Fujian and southern Zhejiang, and the original left wing corps partially entered the area around Nanjing, preparing for the Nanjing operation, and was placed under the command of the Nanjing Garrison Command. This order was tantamount to canceling Xue Yue's arrangement.

I don't know what the military committee thinks, but Xue Ru was promoted to major, and the Snow Fox Brigade was subordinate to the Third War Zone, holding Kunshan and Taicang, covering the retreat of the follow-up troops. Song Xilian of the 78th Army was ordered to hold Changshu, and Wang Jingjiu's troops of the 71st Army were ordered to hold Wuxi.

There was an order from the military committee that Xue Ru could order all the troops to go to the predetermined location, but Xue Ru had no troops available. Li Yannian's Second Army withdrew to Wuhan for rest, and Hu Zongnan's First Army retreated to Nanjing and Jiangbei to rest and replenish the troops.

For such an order, Xue Ru could resist the execution, but Li Yannian could not resist. Li Yannian's arrival played a role, but at the same time, Xue Ru also lost the opportunity to make his own decisions. As the troops that continued to enter Kunshan moved away, the Japanese troops behind also pressed up.

Xue Ru knew that Li Yannian, a military commander, asked her what to do at this time, just to take his own troops to Wuhan. Xue Ru only had one brigade, two regiments, plus two battalions of the teaching corps sent to Taicang, and the strength was only more than 5,000 people.

It's just to promote Xue Ru, but can the major stop the devil? Blue Flood Week is already in a hurry, the 13th Division of the Japanese Army has arrived, a wing, and a heavy artillery brigade. At the same time, Taicang is close to the Yangtze River, and the planes on the Japanese aircraft carriers can also come to support.

In the face of the Japanese attack, the first regiment was a security force, with limited combat effectiveness, and fought very hard, with huge casualties, and constantly asked for reinforcements, otherwise it would not be able to hold the Taicang defense line. The 13th Division divided its troops along the banks of the Yangtze River, and if the connection between Taicang and Changshu was severed, the troops of the 1st Regiment would be surrounded.

According to the original plan, Li Yannian also agreed, his second army held Kunshan, and Xue Ru led the Snow Fox Brigade to reinforce Taicang to buy time for the Xicheng defense line behind. However, the order of the military council disrupted this deployment, and the follow-up troops did not completely withdraw.

Xue Ru wanted to ask Li Yannian to stay, but opened his mouth and said, "Commander Li, I have a request, I hope to grant it." ”

In just a few days, Li Yannian admired this little girl very much, who was stronger than those division commanders and brigade commanders. Seeing her emaciated and tired face, he said, "Captain Xue, please say, Li must help if he can do it." ”

Xue Ru knew that she could get help from these people for the sake of resisting Japan, not for personal friendship. Said with a smile; "Thank you, since Commander Li is retreating to Wuhan to recuperate, please leave as much weapons and ammunition as possible."

Li Yannian was worried that Xue Ru would propose to leave some troops, so it would be really difficult for him to agree, after all, the first army and the second army were both special forces of the chairman. There is still a difference with other descendant troops. He was resolute not to disobey the chairman's decision, and since it was this request, he said happily: "Yes, since we have withdrawn to the rear, I will leave all the ammunition of the Second Army." ”

When Xue Ru said this, he already had his own plan in his heart. Xue Ru already has a new understanding of the heart of the generals of the national army to resist the war, that is, he admires it very much. However, he also had a new understanding of the military strategic command of the Nationalist Government, and he was full of contempt.

It is no wonder that later generations said that the Kuomintang was a first-class soldier, a second-rate officer, a third-rate general, and an unpopular decision-maker. Since you can't count on them, you still have to carry out your own plan, kill and injure a large number of Japanese troops, and will not fight a positional war with the devils. After so many days, the Xicheng defense line should have established a simple defensive position. After all, there are some fortifications there, and if nothing else, it can buy time for Nanjing.

Just when Li Yannian led the troops of the Second Army he had collected together, leaving the weapons and ammunition that Xue Ru needed to withdraw to Suzhou, Xue Ru's own plan began. She couldn't help but be prepared, and the forward troops of the Japanese 6th Division had already arrived at Xujiaqiao.

Xue Ru shouted, "The squadron leader has a meeting. Gu Shoufu, the executioner of Nanjing, today my aunt and grandmother want to take revenge in advance. ”