Chapter 168: Testing the Sword (Part 1)

The staff members in Xuzhou's Operations General Command were in a hurry, and the sound of telegrams was sent and heard in each combat department; the smell of war had begun to become stronger, and a staff officer walked quickly to the commander and commander with the telegram: "Report to the commander, Quan Jiao called back..."

"read!"

"... Our army was damaged in a telegram a few days ago, resulting in the failure to promptly withdraw the order to withdraw the troops; Quanjiao is surrounded by the Japanese invaders on three sides of the southeast, north and north. If our army retreats, it will be dead without a complete body... Our army is determined to defend Quanjiao to the death, and exchange the success of the national war of resistance... Long live the Republic of China! Long live the Chinese nation!!..."

When the staff officer read out the final slogan, Li Zongren, the commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, shook his head helplessly: "Stand to guard Quanjiao... Humph, they are not too far from the 31st Army. It is a bit unreasonable to say that they can't retreat immediately... Jiansheng, what do you think?"

"I have sent him three letters to him to return to the 31st Army; this is great, I just don't come back and I have to guard Quanjiao even if I don't come back. I really don't understand why..." Bai Chongxi frowned and smiled bitterly: "I heard that many of the soldiers who came back from crossing the river had a life-long friendship with him. Could it be that it was nailed to meet his brothers for the sake of brotherly loyalty? I really don't know the importance..."

"If this is true, this person really has to pull him over. In such a chaotic world, there are not many people with blood and kindness..." Li Zongren looked at Bai Chongxi and turned his attention to the map: "I see that Li Tianhao's army was stuck in Quanjiao, threatening Di Zhouli's back. If necessary, they can attack the Northeast and threaten the Jinpu Railway; by the way, isn't our plan to counterattack the South Line troops with Quanjiao as the end? His persistence has no conflict with our big plan, on the contrary, there are still common things...

…” Li Zongren suddenly became silent when he talked about this: According to the plan, to attract the arrogant Japanese army in the northern war zone that was as if they were entering a nobody, the southern front would have to hold it tightly; but they would have to force some feint attacks instead of strategic counterattacks. Such fierce battles would probably take at least two months or even as long as four or five months. Although Quan Jiao's defenders would have the opportunity to return during this period, if they really wanted to force them or the Japanese army would have to wipe out them all around? They could withstand it!?

As if seeing through the elder brother's thoughts, Bai Chongxi said lightly: "This is a major battle, and it will take a long time; but during this period, the Japanese cannot surround Quanjiao, so it should be fine to withdraw them. If you feel it is necessary to let them continue to be nailed there, you can send the air force to give them some support if necessary. After all, their role in the Japanese attack on the north of the Huaihe River is difficult to estimate. The soldiers are inconsistent, so let them persist there for the time being. Maybe they will be a fuzi at some point or it will play a role in defeating the enemy with one blow... By the way, Li Tianhao doesn't seem to have to look at the regiment commander I gave him. Do you think we should give him a division commander?..."

"Success! What's wrong with it? If Li Tianhao can be successful in this battle, I will give him a division commander!" Li Zongren suddenly seemed excited: "The hero Qiu Qingquan, who crossed the river, was transferred to the 200th Division, and seemed to directly mention the deputy division commander. This 200th Division is not simple. All equipment is weapons just transported from the Soviet Union. It is necessary to build the first mechanized unit of the Central Army. Jiansheng thinks that it is necessary for our Gui army to build a mechanized unit?"

Bai Chongxi stared at Brother Baizi with wide eyes: He had already invested enough money, and in order to ask him for a middle and low-level officer he liked, he was even more amazing. He simply wanted to help him become the first elite division of the Gui Army!

What Bai Chongxi likes Li Tianhao is his bravery and good at fighting, and what Li Zongren likes Li Tianhao is his loyalty and loyalty!

Of course, Li Tianhao didn't know how the two bigwigs of the Guizhou clan valued him. He was so anxious that he was pacing around the command center like an ant on a hot pan!

The northern front of Quanjiao finally started, but as the supreme commander, he couldn't take a look, because he knew that if he could definitely command at first sight, he wouldn't be able to let Zhang Jingyue temper her. Zhang Jingyue was his good brother, and they fought together from the Sihang Cang, Shao Family, Wangting, Nanjing... They were all together in bloody battles; he understood that Zhang Jingyue had many clever ideas, but he really came from the big-headed soldiers and had never attended a military academy. If Zhang Jingyue wanted to grow up, he had to give him the opportunity to be a commander and fighter, and use experience instead of theory, so he couldn't watch this battle!

"Puchi...hahaha..." Lao Mo, who was so irresistible that he finally couldn't bear it, burst into laughter, and even tears came out: "I said Da Li, why are you playing chess? You are absent-minded, and you don't look at what I am using for the general..." Lao Mo covered his stomach and bent over, laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe.

Li Tianhao then looked at the chessboard carefully: That's right, Old Mo fished horse and killed himself... Hey, there's a problem. At first, didn't he force him to change to one horse and one horse and one horse to change to his horse and cannons, but later another general drew a horse? Where did he get the horse? On this chessboard... I saw that Old Mo, who had been killed for a long time because of his poor chess skills, actually had all the carts and cannons on the board. On the contrary, Li Tianhao lacked two pieces... After looking at it carefully, Li Tianhao couldn't help but laughed: Old Mo's old coach actually ran out of the Nine Palaces under his combined attack in the last round! Which country's chess is playing this time!?

"Big Li, I said you are so unscrupulous, why not go up and see it yourself... By the way, the Japanese are all at the city, so let me go back, right?" Old Mo was most concerned about his own troops. He looked at Li Tianhao's look of incompetence and suddenly shouted loudly: "Don't think that you, Li Tianhao, are loyal enough to be tough with the Japanese, don't be too slapped; if I want to escape, I don't have to fight with the Japanese, there is no need to fight! Do you know what I have to do with Mo Dehong, the commander of the 138th Division of the 31st Army?!"

Lao Mo was actually the nephew of Commander Mo Dehong!? Li Tianhao couldn't help but be surprised. He didn't expect that he would detain such a backstage person. As long as he later sued the fact that he did not obey the military order and seized the military power of others... But isn't Lao Guo from Guangdong?

The happy old Mo walked out of the command center and flew back to his troops as if he was on the horse. He seemed to be afraid that Li Tianhao would regret it. He just explained how his family had come from Guangxi to Guangdong in his early years, and said it vividly and wonderfully. Li Tianhao believed it, and he also let him go back when the troops arrived at the city.

In fact, Lao Mo is an authentic Dongguan bridgehead. After graduating from the military academy, he has been in the adjutant's office of the 159th Division. Later, he became a senior adjutant of the commander. He was able to become the regiment commander because when the Ministry of Military Affairs reorganized the troops, he found that there were thousands of scattered soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi who could not speak at all. Lao Mo was the commander with the highest rank and the only one who could speak official language. Lao Mo took advantage of the situation and flattered Shangfeng. In this way, Lao Mo, who had never brought soldiers to fight, became a leader!

Although he had never brought troops, he was a very senior adjutant. Not to mention a regiment, he knew how to manage a division. In the past, Mr. Mo watched them give guidance from the superiors, but he had always been a senior servant. Whenever he encountered war, he felt itchy, especially when fighting with the Japanese, which was a national war! Unfortunately, he never had a chance. This time the opportunity came, God had the will to give him Mo Shucai a regiment, and he could fight a fierce battle! Old Mo was extremely excited.

Also excited was Zhang Jingyue. This was the first battle he had planned to command alone. The opponent was the 13th Division, one of the culprits of the Nanjing Massacre, who had always been arrogant and said that China's best soldiers could only be a small soldier. (Cheng Kai-shek served in the 13th Division when he was studying in the Japanese Army.)

Zhang Jingyue, who was looking at the enemy from a distance, was trembling with his hands: he expected that the Japanese army would send a partial division to come, but the number of Japanese cars in front of him was stunned by the number of cars: the head of the dragon had appeared at the other end of the battlefield, but was blocked by the winding mountains, but the situation behind was not visible at all. In the distance between two small hills, a section of the road that could be seen with a telescope on the position was still a car dragon that had never been broken! There were at least two hundred cars that had passed. Oh my God, the Japanese were crazy and sent such a large army to come! But it was strange that he didn't see a tank!

In fact, this is just the main force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Division! Because from the intelligence judging, the Japanese felt that they could easily take Quanjiao off, the 13th Division, which was seriously insufficient, did not send a main combat force. They just hoped to capture Quanjiao and quickly go to the nearby rural areas to plunder, and then transport the robbed materials to the front line. In the northwest of Chu County, Di Zhoulibing, the commander of the 13th Division, was leading his troops to fight the 31st Gui army, who was fighting tenaciously, and they were short of food!

Every veteran of the Kuomintang army on the ambush position felt like he was filled with lead. Originally, they knew that according to the deployment, they should be able to kill and kill the Japanese, and even wipe out the invading Japanese. They were soldiers and veterans. They would also analyze the enemy. Like the superiors, they believed that a unit that was five or six hundred people underestimated the enemy, or even about two or three hundred people; but now the chelong appeared in front of them...

Every soldier lying in the trench is thinking of not treating himself as a living person, but who doesn’t want to survive? Many soldiers in the trench begin to feel trembling: the opponent is too strong!

The soldiers' feelings were quickly passed on to the civilian team members around them. They simply accepted the order to escape - disperse in front of the Japanese, making the Japanese careless!

"'Mazi'... Do you think the Japanese will shoot us..." The voice was trembling, and the "little donkey" asked his companions gently. Because all those who had fought and were organized into security groups were formed in the army, and those fellow villagers who had suppressed bandits and killed people were also replenished to the regular army as soon as possible. Now, most of the militia in the trenches were actually left with slightly stronger civilians, and they did not even dare to kill people!

"......Chief, the chief said...Ghost, the devil is good, it seems that he will not beat someone who is running away..." "Mazi, who is nearly forty, now realizes that he has a stuttering problem: "Chief, the chief, the chief, will not cheat us..., are you?"

Every person who ambushed the position has a feeling of exhaustion, especially those soldiers who came down from the line of fire. They knew very well how many cannons there might be in a car of the Japanese! If the Japanese really transported hundreds of cannons, it would be strange if their positions were not bombed into flat ground. Even if there were not so many cannons, the infantry would be enough for them to bear, and that would be more than a whole gang of Japanese soldiers! There were less than 700 people on their entire ambush position. Although their firepower was "unprecedentedly powerful", could they deal with so many Japanese?

There was no time to be afraid, the Japanese were very quick to act. They performed textbook-like actions in front of the Kuomintang officers and soldiers. When the Japanese saw the Kuomintang military positions, they immediately began to use cars to spread the team, and then quickly arranged firepower and fortifications with cars as bunkers. This made Zhang Jingyue, who was observing with a telescope at a high place, feel a sank in his heart: These Japanese don’t necessarily underestimate the enemy!

"Bang! Bang!" The gunshots began to sound sparsely, and the Kuomintang military positions opened fire. A group of soldiers of about 300 people, some wearing military caps and some wearing military uniforms - mixed military uniforms, even Japanese military uniforms. In this way, a group of soldiers were shooting wildly, and some of the guns in their hands produced a terrifyingly large muzzle flame as soon as they opened fire. It was an iron sand bird gun!

Is that an army?? Fired with a bird gun across thousands of meters?! The Grandpa Shinmura Rishi was so amused that he was so angry that the 18th Division was beaten by such an army? Well, it is not surprising. After all, from the intelligence, there were more than 3,000 government troops stationed here, and the enemies wiped out in the battle report of the 18th Division had reached 6,000... They should have eliminated all the most stubborn enemy troops, and now they are not the regular army in front of them; or the remnants of the regular army saw that they were scared to death, and the rest of the regular army also fled, and the rest of them were just armed civilians who had obtained some guns from the army...

OK, there are really not many opportunities to show the mighty power of the Imperial Ministries soldiers in this way... Xinmura Licheng was very proud. As the captain of the 13th Bailout Regiment, his military rank was only the master, because they were not in the combat force; but this time he was going to lead his troops to occupy a place that was not taken down by the main combat corps of the 18th Division for a month. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look like a long-lost look on his face.

This scary Japanese army is more than Zhang Jingyue's estimate, but in fact there are only one thousand people, and 400 of them are North Korean workers wearing Japanese uniforms. Most of the cars they drove were empty, and they were empty cars prepared to come to Quanjiao countryside to grab grain and transport them back! Because Chu County has railway transportation, but there are too many mountains nearby, their cars are useless, which made him drive such a scary "big army".

"Assign the machine gunners to prepare for shooting, the mortar squadron fired three times in a row after the machine gun fire, and then the entire army charged in groups..." After the order was taken, the captain of the baggage corps was very satisfied: he was very satisfied with the individual qualities of his troops when preparing for battle, and they did not look worse than the combat troops; he was also very satisfied with the positions built by the Chinese Democratic Party army, which was so large that it was exactly like a war; now these fortifications that had lost the strong defenders will be a foil for his merits - a conqueror certainly hoped that his conquered objects would look more majestic!

"Puff puff puff..." The machine gun bullets hit the trench walls in intensively. The civilian team members who shot at the Japanese saw that the Japanese ignored them and were just repairing fortifications. They were getting more and more courageous, and more and more people were firing. When the Japanese repaired the machine gun positions and put them on the guns and fired, some people didn't have time to lie down and were knocked down like mowed grass...

"Let's go! Lying down!... Didn't you tell me that you can't stand half of your body up?!" The veterans in the trench were furious, but they could not go up and knock down the brave people. They could only huddle in the trench and wait.

Now there is no warning and reminder, everyone retreats back into the trenches and shivering: It turns out that this is how war is! They even look at the veterans with awe - why are these veterans as if nothing happened?

Yes, this is the veteran. He will tremble when he sees a strong enemy, but when the gunshots sound, he becomes fearless!

"Can you run away??" "Mazi" thought of something like a sieve all over her body: their mission is not to fight, but to run away! Now he really wants to leave this trench as soon as possible...

"Don't worry, the order has not come down yet!" "Little Donkey" was calm. He didn't dare to look up at the sandbags above his head that were splashed by machine gun bullets. He just felt the chill caused by the debris falling onto his head. He only stared at the squad leader, the squad leader who would run back with a command.

Almost all the civilian team members on the entire position who were just on the battlefield were scared to escape. The reason why they were still squatting there was more because their bodies and legs were weak...

"Swish! Swish!" A strange sound came from the air, very familiar... Oh my God, it's a cannon! People who have been bombarded in the county town will not need to be taught this time, and they all fell down in a mess...

"Boom! Boom!..." The shell suddenly exploded on the position, stirring up dust that covered the sky and the sun. Most people only felt that they were dark and could not hear anything in their ears. The calmest people just remember to stare at the squad leader because they couldn't hear it and had to see when the orders came down...

It's no big deal, it's just a light mortar... The veterans are hiding in the trenches and motionless - such artillery fire cannot be blown up even if it falls on the upper cover above their heads, and at most it will make the ears uncomfortable.

The squad leader in an open-air trench who was commanding civilians was killed by a mortar shell; without orders, no one knew who started, suddenly the militia began to run backwards...

"Let's go down! It's not time yet!..." Some veterans shouted desperately, but they could only watch the thin bodies of the people who had bravely volunteered to come up to lure the enemy one by one, swaying in the raging flames, and could only watch them strangled by shock waves and shrapnel...

The lurking veterans felt deeply helpless and sad. They had never been the same. They were so scared that they were peeing their pants in the enemy's guns and ran around in fear? They could only feel deeply self-blame in their hearts. They did not take these people who had never been on the battlefield once, who were originally selected by their husbands...

Now the veterans are no longer nervous. They are waiting for an opportunity to pay tribute to these people with their blood...
Chapter completed!