Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

The temporary headquarters of the Loyal Rescue Army.

Xu Baichuan and several column commanders opened the empty bamboo tube and unfolded the orders of the Third War Zone inside and placed them in front of them.

Evacuate immediately!

No delay!

If there is any delay, military law will be applied!
The sixteen words are not red, but when they catch people's eyes, they are glaring red.

Everyone looked at the expressionless Xu Baichuan blankly, and their doubts were completely resolved.

Why did the command center's radio stations all break down?

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Commander of the North Zhejiang Command, Madelin, slammed his fist on the table:
"Fuck it! Please withdraw!"

"All my eight hundred men have been killed here. If we retreat now, all our efforts will be wasted!"

"My men died in vain? These officials just opened their mouths and my men died in vain? Why?!"

"Don't withdraw!"

He roared: "Even if the Zhejiang North Column is wiped out here, we will not retreat! We are only one step away from victory. I will fight to the death to complete this final battle!"

Although the other column commanders did not say anything, their attitudes were very clear.

No retreat!

They are not fools. If they withdraw now, it will be tantamount to betraying the New Fourth Army. The Japanese army will then attack the New Fourth Army from both sides, and an 80% chance that the New Fourth Army participating in the battle will be wiped out.

In addition, the munitions that countless patriots fought to death to protect will be completely exposed to the Japanese attack. The munitions will be taken away by the Japanese, and the hundreds of thousands of civilians involved in the transportation will also be subjected to extremely cruel revenge by the Japanese!
The conditions of the Zhongjiu Army are not the best in the entire national army. Although they can guarantee military pay, how much use can they be behind enemy lines?

Moreover, the military discipline of the Zhongjiu Army became extremely strict due to the intervention of Zhang Shihao. Those who could not bear it went to the Third War Zone early, but they persisted. Although they were nominally senior officers of the Zhongjiu Army, they had almost no privileges.

However, they were happy to stay there. Was it because of the strict military discipline of the Tuzhongjiu Army or the harsh conditions?
No!

Because the Zhongjiu Army was an army that fought against the Japanese invaders.

They abandoned their wives and children and risked their lives, not for promotion or fortune, but because the Chinese nation was at its most dangerous time. If they didn't fight, their descendants would become slaves of a conquered nation and would have to beg for a hard life under the iron hoofs of the Japanese invaders!
But now, what they have to do is fight the Japanese?

Xu Baichuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling fortunate for Zhang Anping's ability to judge people - among the commanders of the six major headquarters, less than half were Zhang Anping's true confidants. But even though these people were not Zhang Anping's confidants, they were still willing to sacrifice their lives for this country and this nation.

After confirming the attitudes of these people, Xu Baichuan felt that things were not so bad.

You know, when he just got the airdrop order, he felt like the whole world was about to collapse - what he feared most was that these core pillars of the Loyal Rescue Army would unconditionally obey the orders of the Third War Zone.

In this way, even if he had thousands of tricks, he would be helpless.

Fortunately, their attitudes are very clear:

No retreat!

Xu Baichuan took a deep breath and said in a serious tone, "Retreat, we still have to retreat."

"Commander-in-chief——"

Madelin had a hot temper and dared to intimidate Zhang Anping at the beginning. He said angrily:

"You have led more than 10,000 soldiers of my loyal army to fight from the early morning of the 2nd until now. How many of them have fallen on the battlefield because of your orders?"

“They are not afraid of death!”

"Because they knew until their death that their death would be exchanged for 200,000 soldiers with weapons in hand."

"You want to withdraw now, are you worthy of them?"

Madelin became more and more angry as he spoke, and he recalled the scenes of his lovely men fighting for their lives on the battlefield. He slammed the table vigorously and shouted:

"If you dare to order a retreat, I will lead my troops to surrender to the Communist Party!"

"I finally see it clearly. The Nationalist Army is a bunch of bastards. Can we rely on them to fight the Japanese? There's no end in sight for this war!"

"If you dare to retreat, I will go to Shanghai to find Zhang Shihao - what did he say at the beginning? The Loyal Rescue Army will never betray a brother!"

Seeing that Madlin was getting more and more outrageous, a commander who had a good relationship with him shouted, "Madellin, shut up!"

Others tried to smooth things over: "Commander Xu, Madelin is just a rough guy, don't bother with him."

Xu Baichuan didn't say anything. He naturally wouldn't be angry with Madeline.

Pretending not to have heard Madelin's words, Xu Baichuan continued:
"We must withdraw."

"But the Japanese have always been cunning. Once we evacuate, it will be easy for the Japanese to find an opportunity to attack us. Everyone, there are too many cases where our army's retreat turned into a rout. If we cannot evacuate in an orderly manner, it is very easy to repeat the painful lessons of the past!"

Xu Baichuan's words made everyone's eyes light up. They thought to themselves, no wonder he is the commander-in-chief and we are the commanders. Look at what he said in this scene.

Madeline was not stupid either. He was just extremely angry just now. Xu Baichuan's words made him realize something, so he immediately shut up and listened to Xu Baichuan continue speaking.

"Commander-in-chief, please make the arrangements! The Subei Column will obey your orders unconditionally!"

The column commanders expressed their opinions one after another.

Xu Baichuan said in a deep voice:

"We will retreat first - the two columns of northern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang will retreat and leave the battlefield!"

Everyone looked at Xu Baichuan in astonishment.

You just said that we cannot retreat easily, otherwise the retreat will turn into a defeat. Why are you talking about retreat again?
Fortunately, they were all shrewd and did not ask questions in a hurry. The only one who spoke frankly, Madeline, was signaled to shut up by his colleagues with their eyes before he could speak, so he held back and kept silent.

Seeing that no one questioned him, Xu Baichuan felt a little bored, and then continued: "The Japanese are eager to take back the weapons. Seeing us retreat, they will definitely seize the position and head straight to the direction of the New Fourth Army--"

He paused, revealing a stern look: "Now, I want to catch him off guard!"

Everyone's eyes lit up; this trick actually worked!

"What a great way to use offense as defense! Commander-in-chief, if everything goes well, we can probably drive the Japanese out dozens of miles!"

"Yes!" Xu Baichuan said, "That's true, but the most challenging part is the night battle that follows. We have to attack all night long. In the first half of the night, we must use a resolute attack to give the Japanese a false impression."

"In the second half of the night, the entire army quickly evacuated and headed directly towards the third war zone."

"Everyone, it's easy to say that we should attack instead of defend, but the coordination between the various units must not have any problems, and the attack must be resolute, so that the Japanese can make a misjudgment. If the Japanese see through it, then we will be in big trouble."

Everyone answered loudly: "Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief, we will never let the Japanese see through our intentions!"

Although Xu Baichuan's strategic goal was to retreat, this wave of attack instead of defense could buy more time. Compared with the bullshit orders from the Third War Zone, this approach was at least worthy of the friendly forces.

Friendly forces also have ample time to adjust their deployment.

If we retreat directly, we will sell out our friendly forces to the enemy. Due to the chain reaction, it will be easy for the entire line to collapse, and ultimately lead to failure.

"After the Subei and Zhejiangbei columns evacuate, rush to set up blocking positions near Liyang. From 10 am to 12 pm tomorrow, the various units will most likely evacuate from the vicinity of Liyang. You must be prepared to respond and be prepared to block the Japanese army to buy time for the main force to retreat."

Xu Baichuan set his eyes on Madeline, and Madeline said loudly:

"Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief. Even if all the members of the Subei Column die in battle, we will definitely buy enough time for the main force! Make sure the main force's retreat is unobstructed!"

Xu Baichuan withdrew his gaze from Madelin and said, "The blocking is complete. The Subei Column will withdraw first, and the Zhejiang Bei Column will be responsible for the final rearguard mission."

"Also, Madelin is talking nonsense. I will temporarily strip him of his command of the Zhejiang North Column and let him temporarily lead the Zhejiang North Column as the deputy commander! If he performs well in this battle, all the previous things will be written off. If he fails in command, he will be killed without mercy!"

Madeline was a little unconvinced. "Xu, who are you looking down on?"
Also, why are you depriving me of my position as commander?
The colleague kicked Madelin and quickly signaled: "Why don't you thank the commander-in-chief!"

Madelin was a little confused, but he felt that his friend would not harm him, so he said in a muffled voice: "Commander-in-chief, just look at Lao Ma's performance!"

Xu Baichuan was speechless. "Fool, I am saving you, do you understand?"

Do you know what it means to write off everything?

You idiot, don't you know that the Zhongjiu Army is a military unit directly under the Military Control Commission? You idiot, you are talking nonsense at the Zhongjiu Army high-level meeting. If someone deliberately wants to harm you, you will be dead if this word gets out!
I am protecting you, do you understand?
After everyone left the temporary command room, his friend explained to Madelin that he finally understood Xu Baichuan's intention. He smiled and said:
"I'm just saying it. I voted for the Communist Party because I had nothing better to do."

"You...you..." His friend was so angry at this that he wanted to curse. Finally, he reminded him: "There are some things you can't say. You can...whatever you want, but you must never say it out loud."

Madeline was shocked: "Fuck, you don't mean that, do you?"

My friend was going crazy and yelled, "Shut up! This is a taboo topic. Don't talk about it, you can't talk about it, you are not allowed to talk about it!"

"Alright, alright, I know. Damn it, I just wanted to fight the Japs, I didn't want to do so much shit."

But my friend sighed and said nothing more.

……

The Japanese army did not know the decision of the Zhongjiu Army, but they were closely watching its actions.

Sure enough, the two frontline positions of the Loyal Rescue Army began to evacuate.

The Japanese army was so happy that some even suggested:

Take advantage of his illness to kill him!

In the past, the Japanese would have been happy to do this. After all, war is all about deception. What's wrong with me cheating you? You have the ability to cheat me back!

But things have priorities. The most important thing for the Japanese is to take back the arms. Everything else must be given up to take back the arms. And judging from the order in which the Zhongjiu Army evacuated, the other side did not abandon all their positions at once, but evacuated in stages.

In addition, the photos brought back by aircraft reconnaissance showed that other positions were only preparing for evacuation but had not started evacuating, so the Japanese let the Zhongjiu Army go and mobilized their troops to attack the New Fourth Army that was still blocking them.

The Japanese were accustomed to the Chinese army's concessions.

They generally have this mentality:
You'd better thank God that I didn't hit you!

So after the Zhongjiu Army abandoned the two positions and evacuated, the Japanese army openly attacked the New Fourth Army's blocking positions from these two positions.

If everything goes according to this script, the Japanese will laugh themselves crazy.

Unfortunately they were wrong.

Xu Baichuan is different from most of the Kuomintang generals, and the Zhongjiu Army is also different from most of the Kuomintang!
This is an army that dares to fight and is capable of fighting!

When the Japanese army passed through the positions abandoned by the National Army and attacked the New Fourth Army's positions, the National Army, more than ten miles away, suddenly pounced on them like a tiger out of a cage.

When the Japanese realized that the Nationalist Army was coming, they were only a few miles away. They had no time to build positions, so they hid in the Nationalist Army's positions and planned to defend. However, the Nationalist Army's positions were for frontal defense, and there were no special defensive positions at the back. The Japanese had to build in a hurry, but before they could finish building, the Nationalist Army came to attack.

In the past five days, the Zhongjiu Army, which had been defending, was full of anger. Now it was a good opportunity to vent their anger by launching a counterattack. The Japanese army did not have complete defensive fortifications. In the past, in such encounters, the Japanese army relied on the excellent quality of its soldiers to basically press the national army to the ground, and the national army could only defend with solid positions. However, as the war continued, the quality of the Japanese soldiers seriously declined. In such encounters, the Japanese army no longer had a crushing advantage. The Zhongjiu Army was a very capable army. In this encounter, more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers were defeated after holding on for more than an hour!

The Japanese were all shocked. When did the empire's soldiers fall to this level?

The Japanese, feeling cheated, were planning to concentrate their troops for revenge, but unexpectedly the Nationalist Army launched a counterattack while chasing the retreating Japanese troops.

Judging from the images brought back by the plane, at least 5,000 Loyalists launched a counterattack along a front line of more than ten kilometers.

The Japanese army was frightened and had to build a defensive position in the rear. During this time, more than 4,000 Japanese troops had to play the role of rabbits and were chased by the Zhongjiu Army.

Chasing after the Japanese army was such a rare event that many soldiers got overly excited and ran into the Japanese army.

With the blessing of the high morale buff, a rare incident occurred in which several people captured more than 20 Japanese soldiers.

……

New Fourth Army position.

"What? The Loyalists are counterattacking?"

The New Fourth Army was confused. Weren't they told to be on guard against the Zhongjiu Army's retreat at any time? Why didn't the other side retreat? Instead, they launched a counterattack!

This was not only a counterattack, but also a direct pursuit of the Japanese.

The commander of the Special Battalion 1, Zhou Weiguo, immediately said sharply:
"They're retreating!"

"We are going to retreat? Are we going to attack instead of defend?"

"It can be considered as attacking instead of defending! But I guess they are definitely planning to evacuate in the middle of the night. We should resolutely beat the Japanese before evacuating to ensure our safety during the evacuation." Zhou Weiguo thought: "We have to report to the front command. We'd better cooperate with the Zhongjiu Army's counterattack!"

"Why cooperate with them? They are about to withdraw, why are we still cooperating?"

Zhou Weiguo shook his head: "The other side used attack as defense, not only for the safety of evacuation, but also to remind us and give us enough space to maneuver. It can be regarded as the last bit of friendly duty."

"Humph, is this how you treat your friendly forces?"

Obviously, news of what happened in Maolin area has spread.

"Compared to the diehards, they are much better." Zhou Weiguo sighed, and then planned to report his speculation to the front command, but unexpectedly he received a call from the front command at this time.

"Counterattack! Coordinate with friendly forces to counterattack! Secretly take over the friendly forces' positions tonight - be careful not to clash with them."

Following the order from the front command, the New Fourth Army also launched a counterattack.

It is easy for the offense and defense to shift on the battlefield. After the Japanese army suffered a defeat at the hands of the Zhongjiu Army, the front lines were unable to take care of each other. As soon as the New Fourth Army launched a counterattack, the Japanese, who were on the offensive the moment before, had to flee in panic.

It's not that they don't want to defend, but defense requires an integrated whole. Once one side collapses, the defenders will be attacked from all sides, so they have to retreat.

……

With this retreat, the Japanese lost all the positions they had captured in more than two days.

The Japanese commander almost went crazy. He loudly cursed the shamelessness of the national army, but completely forgot how proud they were before when they arrogantly said "Warfare is the art of deception."

Although they were counterattacked by the National Army and even lost the positions they had captured in two days, the officers of the Japanese command believed that:

The Zhongjiu Army is most likely trying to escape. They are attacking instead of defending to confuse us!

But with the counterattack of the New Fourth Army, many people changed their views, but some people still insisted on their opinions, and the Japanese command had to leave a fresh force behind as preparation.

But when the Japanese army retreated into the defense line they had built in the evening, and when the Nationalist army brought out a lot of heavy firepower to bombard the defense line, the officers in the Japanese command who still insisted on their own opinions changed their views:

The Chinese are really hard to understand. They were clearly fighting to the death in southern Anhui, but here in Jiangsu, they actually cooperated tacitly and launched a counterattack!

At this time, the Japanese army had realized that this was a real counterattack and no longer held back. They threw all their new forces into the defense line and began to mobilize personnel from all over the world.

Revenge, must take revenge!

That is, the Japanese did not have the habit of hanging flags of various colors, otherwise, since the arms were robbed, they would probably have faced the embarrassment of having no flags to hang...

The battle lasted until late at night, and finally, with the sound of gunfire fading away, the battle came to an end.

After fighting for so long, both sides were tired.

The Japanese army could rest on the spot, but the national army could not.

"Don't make any noise, evacuate quietly!"

"Heavy weapons, let's give the heavy weapons to our friendly forces."

"Hurry up and get to Liyang before noon. You can rest as long as you want in Liyang."

"Don't make any noise, pack up your things, and retreat!"

The various units of the Zhongjiu Army began to evacuate with exhausted bodies. In order to evacuate quickly, they "threw away" most of their heavy equipment.

……

New Fourth Army position.

"Captain, they withdrew, but they left a lot of heavy equipment next to our position."

Zhou Weiguo listened to the scout's report, shook his head and sighed:
"Eh……"

Obviously, this is compensation from the other party.

Compared with other national armies, the Zhongjiu Army can be considered an oddity - in this joint military operation, although they "pulled" in the final stages, compared with other national armies that considered betraying their own army as normal, the Zhongjiu Army had already done it to the end.

If the Zhongjiu Army had not held out for one more day, if the Zhongjiu Army had not finally gained enough space to maneuver by using offense as defense, the New Fourth Army would have suffered a great loss this time!

Although the current situation is better than the worst outcome, the Zhongjiu Army will have to face the madness of the Japanese army alone for the next two days.

"The next battle will still be difficult to fight!"

……

Xu Baichuan was in the darkness, staring into the distance.

That's the friendly position.

The Zhongjiu Army withdrew. Although this bought more strategic space for the friendly forces, the following battle would be very difficult for them!

[What's funny is that this was originally our action, and the New Fourth Army was clearly cooperating with us! ]

Xu Baichuan felt sad and extremely confused.

He had to do this, but after doing so, he felt extremely confused.

I was just following orders, but why... why is it so sad?

"After six years of saying that we must first stabilize the country before we can resist foreign aggression, we are finally able to fight the war with the whole nation, but what is the result..."

Xu Baichuan looked into the distance. He really wanted to question the captain in Chongqing, is it worth it to fight against each other when facing a powerful enemy?
"Commander-in-chief, the Songhu Column has arrived. It's time for us to leave."

Xu Baichuan looked at his adjutant blankly and nodded.

time to go.

I don’t know whether this trip will bring good or bad luck, but I still feel guilty...

……

July 1, night.

The Loyalists suddenly withdrew from the battlefield.

December 1, daytime.

The Japanese army gathered heavy forces and launched a crushing attack on the New Fourth Army's positions.

In the morning, the New Fourth Army lost more than ten miles of positions. In the afternoon, the New Fourth Army pushed again and again and almost retreated to the transfer team.

The New Fourth Army, with no place to retreat, held on to the last front.

A Japanese army took a detour and raided a transfer team. A company of New Fourth Army soldiers covered the evacuation of the civilians in the transfer team. After six hours of fierce fighting with the enemy, the entire army was wiped out. Before the last soldier died, he lit the fuse, and countless ammunition turned to nothing in the explosion.

June 1, afternoon.

The Japanese army captured the last defensive position of the New Fourth Army. The only 17 soldiers left on the position died together with the enemy.

The arms blocking war has come to an end.

The Japanese army launched a frenzied sweep that lasted from the 10th to the 19th.

The battle came to an end on the 19th with the withdrawal of troops.

During the ten days, the Japanese invaders seized a large number of arms, but it was still far short of the total amount.

But a strange scene happened:

News leaked out from the New Fourth Army that they had suffered a great defeat in this arms battle. Not only had the New Fourth Army suffered countless casualties due to being stabbed in the back by the Loyal Rescue Army, but thousands of soldiers had shed their blood on the battlefield to recapture the transported arms. However, due to the failure of the final blocking, most of the arms were blown up. The few remaining arms were found by the Japanese during the subsequent mopping-up.

In a word:

The New Fourth Army admitted that it had made a loss-making deal.

Upon hearing the news, the Japanese army immediately assured the headquarters that most of the looted arms had been destroyed, and a small portion had been taken back by them - as evidenced by information leaked from the New Fourth Army.

Well, that is to say, they succeeded!

When the award.

……

After searching through historical documents, some researchers in later generations came to a conclusion with a smile:
In this battle, the New Fourth Army lost face but gained substance;

The Japanese army gained face but lost substance;

In this battle, the national army lost both face and substance.

The most important thing is that the Southern Anhui Incident and the Arms Blockade War made many people completely disappointed in the National Army. (End of this chapter)