Bright Sword's Bloody War of Resistance

Chapter 871: Defending Shangqiu

Kenanpo, Ji County, Shanxi Province, the headquarters of the Second War Zone.

"You're just a piece of trash!" Commander Yan, who always paid attention to his image in front of his subordinates, rarely swore. The reason was that Commander Yan felt that the authority of the Second War Zone Command was in name only and the people below were disobedient.

The jurisdiction of the Second War Zone Headquarters has changed many times. At its peak, it covered the three provinces of Shanxi, Suiyuan and Chahar as well as northeastern Shaanxi. Now, only the entire Shanxi province remains.

Even so, the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi, the Central Army in Changjin area and Zhongtiao Mountain should obey the orders of the Second War Zone Headquarters, but now each unit is following its own orders and does not take the Second War Zone Headquarters seriously at all.

Last time, Yan Laoxi called the Eighth Route Army in the name of the headquarters. Although the reply from the Eighth Route Army headquarters was relatively euphemistic, the meaning was self-evident. We, the Eighth Route Army, should fight our own battles, and you, Commander Yan, should not interfere.

Yan Laoxi was unwilling to continue sending telegrams to the Central Army, and he brewed a combat plan. The Shanxi Suiyuan Army went south from Jixian to attack Hejin, Jishan, and Jiangxian, and at the same time asked the Central Army to attack Wanrong and Wenxi north of Yuncheng.

Yan Laoxi's calculations were very loud and his combat plan was very targeted, but the Central Army did not buy it. The above-mentioned areas were adjacent to western Shanxi where the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was located, and belonged to the area north of the Yuncheng Basin. The Central Army's Ninth Army's Zhong Xinsheng's and Cun Xingqi's units were fighting guerrilla warfare in Zhongtiao Mountain east of Yuncheng.

The Japanese 69th Division and a large number of puppet troops were stationed in the Yuncheng area. Once the two national army units joined forces to capture parts of the area north of Yuncheng, the Japanese army's communication channels would be cut off, making the 69th Division of the Japanese and puppet troops an isolated force.

The Second War Zone Headquarters and the Taiyuan Pacification Office were one agency with two names, and the seal of the Taiyuan Pacification Office was used internally.

In the operations hall, only Yang Chengyuan, Wang Jingguo, Zhao Chengshou, Sun Chu and Liang Peihuang were left of the Thirteen Guardians of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Having lost the nourishment of power, Yan Laoxi seemed to be becoming increasingly old and frail.

"Commander-in-Chief, according to the latest intelligence, the troops of the Eighth Route Army's Taiyue Military Region have already marched towards Linfen and the southern section of the Tongpu Railway. Although the Eighth Route Army and the Central Army have their own combat plans, our army also has room to play!"

Yang Aiyuan stood in front of the map, and drew a wooden pole in his hand along the entire Tongpu Railway: "There is war everywhere along the Tongpu Railway. The Japanese army has no time to take care of other things. This is a good opportunity for our army to advance!"

"Although the Central Army is unwilling to join forces with our army, the current intelligence analysis of the base area shows that the National Army in the Shangdang area is also unwilling to miss the opportunity and has already intended to move south to advance to Hanoi!"

"There are two ways for our army to counterattack. The first is to move south from Xingxian and Xiangning according to the original plan and launch attacks on Hejin, Jishan and other places. The Japanese troops on the northern front are pinned down by the Eighth Route Army and will definitely not be able to receive reinforcements. Our army only needs to deal with the national army in the Yuncheng area!"

"Secondly, we can send troops from Jiaokou County to attack Xiaoyi and Fenyang in the vicinity of Luliang Mountain. However, the main force of the Japanese army is on the northern front, which greatly increases the danger!"

After Yang Aiyuen finished speaking, everyone present turned their eyes to Yan Laoxi, and the one who would ultimately have the final say would be Yan Laoxi himself.

However, Yan Laoxi was in a dilemma at this time. Seeing that the Japanese army was showing signs of decline, he was full of confidence in regaining the lost territory, but at the same time he was worried that the Japanese would take revenge on him later.

After the joint operations with the Eighth Route Army and the Central Army failed, Yan Laoxi thought that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was too weak, so he changed his previous idea and wanted to continue to wait and see the situation, but his generals did their best to encourage him to send troops.

"Ahem!" Yan Laoxi coughed lightly and then began to complain: "Of course I don't want to miss this opportunity, but I'm in financial difficulties right now. The soldiers' salaries are not paid, and the weapons and ammunition reserves are insufficient. Alas!"

There were 105 counties in Shanxi, but the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army only had seven complete counties left, namely Jixian, Xiangning, and Xixian in western Shanxi, as well as 7 incomplete counties.

Western Shanxi has always been a barren place with many mountains and little land. The population of the seven complete counties controlled by the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was a pitiful 7. When other areas are included, the total population was only 53.

Even with the policy of combining soldiers and farmers, it was not easy for the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to survive. Although the National Government gave it four army groups, eight armies, and twenty-four divisions, the actual financial allocation was less than a quarter.

After Chu Yunfei openly left the Jinsui Army, Yan Laoxi established a military reorganization committee and was determined to reorganize the army. He then reorganized the 10 troops in western Shanxi into 4 temporary divisions and artillery regiments.

On the surface, Yan Laoxi still has strong power, but he is always reluctant to play his cards. It is hard to say how much combat effectiveness the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army still has.

Hearing this, Yang Aiyuan and Wang Jingguo looked at each other with helplessness in their eyes. They said all the nice things they could, but Commander Yan was really scared of the Japanese, so Sun Chu finally stepped forward.

Although Sun Chu was one of the Thirteen Guardians, he was never trusted by Yan Laoxi and could not truly take charge of the military power. He only served as a senior aide.

Sun Chu knew what Yan Laoxi was afraid of, and he went straight to the point: "Commander-in-chief, it wouldn't be a big problem for our army to stay put, but the Yuncheng Basin is the essence of Shanxi, and it is an important population and grain production area!"

"The southern part of Shaanxi Province, the First War Zone south of the Yellow River, will probably not accept the defeat in southern Shanxi. Once the Central Army takes military action, Yuncheng may..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Laoxi's face changed drastically. It was obvious that he was touched. He immediately changed his tone: "Send troops and do our best to capture Yuncheng!"

On the other hand, Zhou Weihan and others held a combat meeting in Shangqiu from day to night, but the reconnaissance company brought an unexpected intelligence. Although Terauchi Isamu was an insider, and the brother troops in northern Jiangsu and Huaibei provided information on the movements of the Japanese army, Zhou Weihan still asked the reconnaissance company to investigate in the direction of Xuzhou.

"You mean, the Japanese 14th, 57th, Guards and other divisions are all gathered in Xuzhou?" Zhou Weihan asked in surprise.

Cao Dabao, who had rushed back exhausted, continued, "Yes, the main force of the 57th Division has already advanced to Dangshan yesterday, and the tank brigade is marching westward from Xuzhou during the day. I happened to see the Japanese tank unit marching!"

"The Japanese army had at least 150 tanks, as well as a large number of trucks and a considerable number of artillery pieces. I clearly saw 105-caliber howitzers in the marching column!"

Cao Dabao, disguised as a porter, was taking a rest in a teahouse when he ran into a Japanese tank unit dispatched.

Zhou Weihan frowned when he heard this. Not only did the Japanese army strangely deploy all its forces in Xuzhou, but the organization of the tank unit was quite different from the one provided by Terauchi Isamu.

"I think the Japanese army wants to concentrate all its forces on the Longhai Line. This will put our army in a very unfavorable situation!" said Zhao Bingzhang.

Excluding the 21st Division that originally defended the Xuzhou area, the Japanese army still had three infantry divisions and a tank brigade, with a total strength of about 70,000.

Judging from the troop strength alone, the Japanese army was more powerful than Li Xianzhou's 28th Army, and the two attacks on the Hebei-Shandong-Henan base area cannot be compared.

Li Xianzhou's troops were operating between the territories of the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army, so although they had more than 50,000 troops, they had limited room to maneuver and were constrained everywhere. This time, the Japanese Army had no scruples at all and could advance all the way.

"If the Japanese army is determined to annihilate our main force, regardless of the lives of Japanese troops in other areas, and our army cannot be defeated no matter how it is deployed, then the difficulty of this battle will be greatly increased!"

Zhou Weihan deeply agreed with this. Of course, there were countermeasures. The reason why the 3rd Training Brigade and the 7th Training Brigade stopped fighting and rested was to have more means to deal with the Japanese army.

Zhou Weihan said: "Send a telegram to the military district, and concentrate on instructing the main force of the Seventh Brigade to approach Jining. This news can be spread in a small range. Wang Zhiguo and his men are looking for an opportunity to catch the spy!"

After hearing this, Yang Bo understood Zhou Weihan's purpose of passing information to the enemy through the hidden Japanese agents, and responded quickly.

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu says that there is no constant state of war, and there is no constant shape of water. While our army is trying every means to contain the Japanese forces, aren't the Japanese troops in various places also trying to contain and disperse our forces?"

"So all of this is relative. The test is who hits harder. The party with the lower endurance can only obey the orders obediently!"

"Just like we discussed this day, now that we have taken Shangqiu, we must defend it to the death!"

After Zhou Weihan finished speaking, Li Yunlong immediately stood up and expressed his position: "There is no doubt about this. All officers and soldiers of our 16th Brigade will defend Shangqiu to the death and fight to the last man and fight the Japanese to the end!"

Li Yunlong spoke with great ambition, but the others present remained silent. Defending Shangqiu to the death is not as simple as just talking. If things go wrong, there is a real risk of the entire army being wiped out.

"Haha, what are you all looking at? I've told you in advance that at the critical moment you can't just stand by and watch them die or just hide outside and watch the fun. You all have to work hard to kill the Japs!"

16旅下辖10团、11团、12团和新编的独立团，共计11000人，乃是四个旅中兵力最多的。

Under normal circumstances, if the Japanese army wanted to take Shangqiu, it would need to dispatch at least 16 to people, but the th Brigade was not simply defending the county town of Shangqiu, but also included an outer defense system.

In this process, the troops will be greatly dispersed, and there will be casualties in the Japanese attack. It is hard to say how many troops will be left when the troops withdraw into the city.

Taking this into consideration, Zhou Weihan felt it necessary to strengthen the 16th Brigade: "Some comrades from the Shangqiu Prefectural Committee insisted on staying and leading 16 young and strong men to help defend the city. You should send some backbones from the th Brigade to strengthen the organization!"

"In addition, in addition to the American mountain artillery battalion assigned to your unit, I will assign another American mountain artillery battalion to you from the Second Artillery Regiment. The two basic regiments of the Southwest Shandong Military Sub-district will be under your command at the same time. How do you think?"

Li Yunlong smiled and said, "That's great! The more capital we have, the more confident I am. Our 16th Brigade has been busy in Shangqiu these days. It would be even better if you could allocate another batch of mines to me!"

"Here you go, that's easy!"

Only a fool would let the 16th Brigade defend Shangqiu alone. Wu Qin's 14th Brigade and Jing Dagang's 13th Brigade will form a support on the north and south sides to form a pincer attack.