Chapter 101: Crossing the Yangtze River (1)

In the Wuhan Presidential Palace, Qian Dajun was a little excited: "Chairman, good news, look." ”

Chiang Kai-shek did not see any good news, the League of Nations he was looking forward to did not give him hope, the Soviet Union promised to send troops without a deadline, and Germany, under pressure from Japan, was no longer as supportive of China as it had been. The Japanese army in North China was in full swing, sweeping the national army in Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, and received reports every day that the national army was retreating.

The Japanese blockade at sea also became more and more tight, and most of the support materials of Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union were transported by sea, and at this time all the coasts north of Shanghai were lost, and the goods entered from Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and then transported in through the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, which was far away and very slow.

Shanghai and the coastal areas were lost one after another, and a large number of factories were relocated, but it took time to resume production, and there were reports of defeats everywhere, so that the theory of failure in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was raised again. Many pro-Japanese factions began to lobby for Sino-Japanese peace talks.

Japan is at the time of victory, and the conditions are getting higher and higher, let alone agreeing, and not even talking. If he sat down to talk, Chiang Kai-shek believed that he would step down as quickly as possible. At this time, no matter which warlord began to support him, he never raised other issues, and he did not hold high the banner of resistance against Japan.

Although Nanjing was not as expected, more than 20,000 troops were surrounded in the city, and the 36th, 58th, and 51st divisions were all elite of the national army, which made Chiang Kai-shek very distressed. The withdrawal of all other troops is no small consolation.

These days, people in the interior of Wuhan are concerned about the situation in Nanjing, and some students have taken to the streets to march in solidarity with the troops holding out in Nanjing. It was proposed that the Nationalist Government should send reinforcements to Nanjing to relieve the provisional army surrounded by five divisions.

At this time, the names that appeared most in the newspapers of Wuhan and Chongqing were three people: Song Xilian, the commander of the provisional army and the former commander of the 78th Army. Nanjing Garrison Commander, now Deputy Army Commander Xiao Shanling. Chief of Staff of the Provisional Army, Xue Ru, Captain of the Snow Fox.

They are heroes, they are the pillars of the country, all the 100,000 troops in Nanjing retreated, they still held on to Nanjing, successfully covered the evacuation of more than 100,000 troops, and made a few people famous, they actually evacuated hundreds of thousands of people in Nanjing, which is a great feat.

The safety of this team affects the hearts of the people. Chiang Kai-shek was powerless in this regard, and the battle in Shanghai was fought so brutally that most of the troops were disabled, temporarily lost their combat effectiveness, and urgently needed to be repaired and repaired, and they were unable to attack at all. The limited forces also had to defend Henan and northern Jiangsu.

What to do to save Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek can ignore the words of these ignorant people, but the words of those so-called democrats make Jiang even more angry.

They were also angry with the Chinese communist army, and let them go to Hebei to fight, and even proposed to replenish weapons and ammunition first, but only sent a part of the troops into Hebei and Shanxi, leaving a large number of personnel and troops in northern Shaanxi.

The newly reorganized New Fourth Army did not listen to the command and did not play a role at all, but because the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, it developed its territory in Shanghai and northern Zhejiang, all of which gave him headaches and troubles, where did the good news come from?

I took Qian Dajun's telegram and read it, and I was immediately attracted by the content, which is too impossible? put down the telegram and said, "Let Chen Lifu and Xu Chongen come to see me, oh, no need, let Dai Li." ”

Qian Dajun said: "How do you think you can notify the Propaganda Department? ”

Chiang Kai-shek wanted to find out whether it was true or false, but he would not let go of this opportunity, nodded and said: "Sort out the situation and hand it over to Vice Minister Guo, this is a good time to boost morale." ”

Qian Dajun hurriedly agreed. Chiang Kai-shek said: "Inform Chen Cheng and He Yingqin that they come to me." ”

When Qian Dajun informed these people of their arrival, Chiang Kai-shek was looking out the window.

This telegram was sent by Xiao Shanling, and the troops in the city of Nanjing had broken out of the Japanese encirclement and were now concentrated in drifting. The telegram only reported on the situation in Nanjing, and did not say what they were going to do next. Didn't ask what the arrangements of the military council were, it seems that they had their own plans.

Chiang Kai-shek was a little skeptical about the reported situation, did Song Xilian and Xiao Shanling have this ability? The 6th Division of the Japanese Army was severely damaged, the 16th Division was disabled, and the 114th Division was defeated, achieving an unprecedented victory. If the national army has this ability, do you still need to worry about it?

But the subsequent report made Chiang Kai-shek once again pay attention to a name "Xue Ru". It's this little girl again, he brought too many surprises to himself, but he didn't have the opportunity to meet him. It is said that on the day she boarded the plane and left Nanjing, her Snow Fox Corps also entered Nanjing.

When she was about to retreat into Nanjing, she also defeated a wing of the Japanese army in Tiannoji Temple, and she could be called the god of war.

According to Xiao Shanling's report, this time the plan was all in the hands of Xue Ru, so that Chiang Kai-shek had some expectations, and she should be allowed to come to Wuhan and meet her. Such a person must be reused, but I don't know what her thoughts are. However, if you want to come to a woman who is less than twenty years old, what background can she have, you still have to wait until you find out.

Based on these considerations, Chiang Kai-shek asked Dai Li. No matter what you say, the only one who really listens to his own words and is loyal to himself is Dai Li. At this point, even Chen Lifu and Chen Guofu cannot be compared, and besides, the central unification is mainly aimed at the internal, and the external or military unification is stronger.

Just when Chiang Kai-shek asked Dai Li to investigate the Nanjing report, many people in Wuhan cheered and celebrated the victory of Nanjing. No one wonders if these reports are true, but the news is encouraging.

The Minister of Propaganda can exaggerate or not, eliminating a squad and blowing up a car can make people excited and blow up for a while. What's more, seeing such a big victory, seeing the appearance of these people in the rear, it seems that they have won the War of Resistance Against Japan.

Victory, the Chinese need victory too much, that disappointed heart is already about to cool, even if the news is fake, choose to believe.

Wuhan is celebrating here, but Xue Ru and the others don't have time to celebrate. The Japanese army finally reacted and did not pursue quickly because the city of Nanjing was in a mess, and the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties and was unable to pursue. For more than a day, air force planes were dispatched to intercept and bomb, but the ground forces were unable to attack.

The Japanese army base camp is also holding a meeting to study the new situation, and military investigation staff officers are dispatched to China to understand the situation on the spot.

Matsui Shigen, who entered Nanjing, had a gloomy face, and did not have the joy of occupying Nanjing, and originally wanted to arrange a ceremony to enter the city, because the commander of the Sixth Division, Gu Shoufu, was broken, and it was finally canceled.

Because they got an empty city, there were not many people in the city of Nanjing, but there were many corpses of the Japanese army, and thousands of wounded. The chief of staff of the division, the commander of the division, Dazuo was killed, and the other low-ranking officers could not be counted, how could they still celebrate the victory and occupy Nanjing, he still didn't know how to explain it.

The losses of the 6th Division reached half, the 16th Division also suffered one-third casualties, plus the losses of the 114th Division, and the Japanese army lost as many as two divisions and more than 30,000 people in the front and rear attacks on Nanjing, which was the same as the loss in Shanghai.

But it was three months of fighting, from the beginning of the pursuit to Shanghai to today's occupation of Nanjing, it was only a month and a half, and the troop losses were so amazing, could Matsui Shigen be happy?

The Provisional Army, the Snow Fox Corps, the Imperial Japanese Army must destroy you. According to Xue Yue's attack on Guangde, the temporary formation of the army occupied Piaoshui, proving that this army was going west into the southern Anhui region.

Matsui Ishine ordered the 10th Army to dispatch the 22nd Division in Shanghai, and he used the 3rd Division and the 9th Division, which were relatively complete, to press the drifting water, and at the same time ordered the 18th Division and the Kunisaki detachment to surround the drifting water from three directions, wanting to encircle and destroy the temporary army, otherwise he would not be able to explain.

Song Xilian, who arrived here, understood why Xue Ru wanted to occupy the drifting water. The first reason was that the Japanese troops were fighting against the Chinese army on the front line in Guangde, and the other troops were in Nanjing, and there was a blank area in between. There is only one squadron of the Japanese army, and then there is a regiment of the Yasukuni Army and the Yu Zhishan puppet army brigade, so of course there is no need to worry.

The second reason is that the provisional army has nothing, and it must obtain supplementary supplies, at least food. This is one or two thousand people, and two or three thousand wounded, all of which forced them to solve the drift and be replenished.

Sure enough, the puppet army did not resist the attack, and the 36th Division did not move, but only reorganized the three military and police regiments, and captured the drifting.

That night, the provisional army entered the drifting water. The Japanese 22nd Division was just ready to block the attack, but on the third day, the provisional army gave up drifting and retreated northward, not joining up with Xue Yue's troops, nor attacking westward.

This disrupted the deployment of the Japanese army, and Matsui Shigen lacked understanding of the sudden attack of the temporary army along the Yangtze River, and it was too late to transfer troops to intercept it.

The Snow Fox Corps took the lead, followed by the 36th Division, the 58th and 51st Divisions on the left and right, and the military and police regiment behind the palace, protecting the headquarters in the middle, all the way to the north. In two days, it broke through Honglan, Xinbo, and Danyang in succession, and defeated the 38th Wing of the Japanese Army on the night of the third day and occupied Dangtu.

This change made the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army very shocked, and sent planes to bomb and combat vehicles to intercept it, and the surrounding troops also chased here. For such a rapid operation, the national army has never done so, but it has been very smooth. The biggest reason was that the Japanese army had too few troops, and they were all concentrated in strategic points and important cities, and there were no troops to defend in rural towns and cities.

To be fought by such a large number of troops with strong combat effectiveness, a small number of troops did not work at all and could not hold the line. The attacking troops were again the Red Silk Turban troops that gave the Japanese a headache and fear. Now no one in the Japanese army is called the Snow Fox Force, because they find that there are more and more such red silk scarf troops.

Not for other reasons, it was the merger of the military and police regiment into the Snow Fox, and they officially owned this Peugeot. After two days of drifting, the units that had been using the name of the military police regiment were gone, and they became the second and third regiments of the Snow Fox Corps, while the original two squadrons became the first regiment.

In order to strengthen the command, Xiang Wenbin became the deputy chief of the corps, Ji Min became the deputy chief of staff, Lan Xunzhou became the head of the first regiment, Yan Fukai became the second regiment commander, and Zhao Tongxian was the third regiment commander.

Wang Yaowu, Feng Shengfa and Zhong Bin were all very active, and a group of veterans and low-level officers were drawn from their respective units to supplement the Snow Fox Corps.

The one who gave the most people was Wang Yaowu, who did not agree to give Zhang Lingfu to Xue Ru, which made Zhang Lingfu very disappointed. However, on the one hand, I am grateful to the teacher for his attention, and I am also grateful to Xue Ru for valuing him. The 51st Division, which originally had the least number of people, had even fewer people. In the end, less than 2,000 remained.

After staying in the water for less than two days, when they left here, it was the Snow Fox Corps that was strong. Their first regiment was in front and two regiments behind, with a total strength of more than 8,000 men, which had reached the establishment of a division with two brigades and four regiments.

The three regiments were fully manned, and the corps was directly under three brigades, one mechanized brigade, captain Ouyang Sari, one logistics brigade, captain Zhao Wufu, one special operations brigade, and captain Dai Zong.

The most beautiful thing about such a stronger and stronger army is their uniform red silk scarf and individual armbands. Several division commanders are so generous because they all understand that each unit has its original number.

The "Snow Fox" is a special unit created by three divisions and a headquarters, which has reached the top level in terms of the number of soldiers and equipment.

With them, the three divisions had almost nothing to do along the way, and the battle was rounded by the snow fox, so they were left to follow.

On the one hand, the Japanese army made adjustments to the dispatch army in Central China, and on the other hand, it dispatched troops and generals to pursue and intercept the provisional army. Xue Ru and the others quickly routed the 18th Division of the Japanese Army, occupied Ma'anshan, and controlled the banks of the Yangtze River.

At this time, Ma'anshan is not big, it is not as big as Tu, but it is close to the Yangtze River, which is an ideal place to cross the river.

There are also some reasons why Xue Ru decided to be here, because this is the middle between Nanjing and Wuhu, and the Japanese army has very few troops. The terrain of Ma'anshan is dangerous, which is conducive to defense and can block the Japanese attack. At the same time, this section of the river has a river center and a lot of tidal flats, so the large ships of the Japanese army cannot smoothly carry out the riverbank artillery bombardment, and can hold the riverbank position.

On the other side and in the county, also for this reason, the Japanese army did not attack, and it was still in the hands of the national army at this time. After crossing the river from Wuhu, the Japanese troops occupied Chuxian and attacked eastward, cutting off the Jingpu Road, which was blocked by Liu Shiyi's 31st Army. Xu Yuanquan's 2nd Army Corps and the 10th Army entered Hefei to control the place, and as long as the provisional army crossed the Yangtze River, it would be safe.

However, in the face of the surging river, it was also too difficult to cross nearly 20,000 troops in a small boat, so Song Xilian and they all expressed doubts about Xue Ru's plan. Besides, crossing the river is not a matter of a short time, there are no big ships, and there are Japanese gunboats and patrol ships in the middle of the river, how can we cross the river?

In the small town of Ma'anshan, several generals looked at Xue Ru. Song Xilian said: "Chief of Staff Xue, Miss Xue, don't you want to turn us into Shi Dakai, right?" ”

Xue Ru smiled: "We are not the Taiping Army, and this is not the Dadu River, you didn't let the Red Army become Shi Dakai back then, right?" ”

Several people stopped talking, and the senior generals basically participated in the suppression of the Communist Party in Jiangxi, although there were many victories along the way, they could not stop the elusive Communist army, and in the end they fled. However, the more than 300,000 people who set out from Jiangxi arrived in northern Shaanxi, and only more than 30,000 people stayed in southern Shaanxi.

Xue Ru said: "If the Japanese army wants to encircle here, it will take a few days. I don't care, how to stop the devil is the business of Commander Song, I will arrange the crossing of the river, what do you think? ”

Anyway, everyone didn't know how to cross the river, so they listened to Xue Ru. Song Xilian transferred troops to arrange defense, and Xue Ru began to prepare to cross the river.