Age of Rebirth

Chapter 680 Leading by the nose

Tang Qiuli, who was far away at the Wubao Ferry on the bank of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, had no idea what happened in Nanjing. All his thoughts were on Neiji Okamura. Okamura Ningci reacted, and the intelligence personnel lurking in Taiyuan City sent intelligence that the Shanxi occupation army was attacked and was gathering troops in Taiyuan.

Okamura Ningji had to be anxious. He analyzed that Tang Qiuli had already judged the direction of his next attack and realized the emptiness of the Yellow River defense line. The first step was to pull the civilian armed forces up to rescue the emergency. The next step was to mobilize regular troops to strengthen the Yellow River. On the defense line, he mobilized forces with great fanfare, which also shows that he is bluffing and his troops are empty. This is a good opportunity. If the original plan is followed, after the Kwantung Army's southward troops enter Shanxi, and then take action, Tang Qiuli's deployment will be completed.

For losing such a great opportunity, Ningji Okamura will never forgive himself for the rest of his life. When Tang Qiuli is deployed, the outcome of the next battle will be unpredictable. He decided not to wait for the arrival of the Kwantung Army troops, but to gather troops in Taiyuan. On the one hand, he sent a telegram to the southward troops of the Kwantung Army, urging them to speed up their pace of entering Shanxi.

Lieutenant General Gangcun Jifu, the commander of the Kwantung Army's southward troop, knows himself. Although the independent division troops no longer block hard and refuse to give up an inch, his troops are exhausted and struggling, and can't advance more than ten kilometers a day. In a word, the road to Tianjin is not easy to walk. His reply to Neiji Okamura was to strive for it as much as possible. As for when to recover Tianjin and enter Shanxi according to Neiji Okamura's request, it depends on His Majesty's fortune. up. [

Okamura Ningci made a move, and Tang Qiuli naturally took corresponding countermeasures. He telegraphed Tang Qiusheng and the Sulu Mobile Corps to continue to slow down the marching speed of the Kwantung Army's southward troops, so as to ensure that during the Yellow River Defense War, they would not be affected by other Japanese troops. Interference, at the end of May, Okamura Ningji finally assembled his troops. This time, he spared no expense to send the most elite Eighth, No.11, No.20 Second Divisions, Katayama Brigade, Nishino Brigade, Takashima Battle A total of 10 troops, including the Vehicle Regiment and Jingyi Chariot Regiment, formed the Shaanxi Occupation Army. They chose Liulin and Fenglingdu as breakthrough points, broke through the Yellow River defense line in one fell swoop, and occupied the strategic rear of the Independent Division.

For this reason, he did not hesitate to give up the pursuit of the remnants of Yan Xishan, his plan to march into Northwest Shanxi, and stop large-scale expansion of the occupied area. After Zhangjiakou fell, he also understood the situation he was facing. It was necessary to march into Northwest Shanxi. Regarding the situation in North China, Tang Qiuli seems to have cut off the connection between the occupying forces in Shanxi and the Pingjin area.

Although it is not certain, Okamura Ningji still feels this with his fox-like cunning. Therefore, capturing Shaanxi and getting rid of the unfavorable situation is his best choice at present. The connection between Pingjin and relieved his worries is his greatest regret.

After Tang Qiuli learned that Okamura Ningji had assembled a heavy army, he adjusted his battle plan again, and ordered the entire special warfare detachment, led by the detachment leader Tang Qiuquan, to enter Shanxi immediately. The combat targets were scattered Japanese strongholds and small The Taihang Mountain Field Corps of Changfeng, with four brigades, moved covertly to the west and south of Shanxi, preparing to cut off the Japanese army's retreat from Ningji Okamura's attack on the Yellow River defense line.

He is going to eat up the [-] Japanese troops along the Yellow River, and the situation in Shanxi will be much more favorable. The Japanese troops starting from Taiyuan and attacking Wubao Ferry must pass through the Luliang Mountains. Of course, they cannot go comfortably. Among the river defense forces, part of the elite troops were drawn out, and the company was used as a unit to cross the Yellow River and enter the Luliang Mountains, harassing the Japanese army along the way, attacking their transportation and supply lines, and exhausting the Japanese army.

Sun Zhenbang's Yellow River Defense Corps was none other than Sun Zhenbang's defensive reserve corps for this task. Tang Qiuli had only such a regular army available. On the afternoon when the order was issued, Sun Zhenbang's troops were busy preparing. The brigade commander, General Jiang Baili, unexpectedly came to the door and submitted a request for battle report. The cadet brigade asked to participate in this operation deep behind enemy lines.

The reason is very good. This is a rare training opportunity to test the students' learning achievements. Tang Qiuli politely refused, and the reason is very reasonable. These students are the future grassroots commanders of the independent division's units. It is irresponsible to carefully cultivated talents if such a dangerous task is carried out.

To be honest, these students are Tang Qiuli's precious lumps. He is reluctant to let these future officers take risks, go deep into the enemy's rear, and disperse operations. Each company is in a state of fighting alone. Any unexpected situation may happen. There are, and no one can say for sure how many people can come back. You can't eat tomorrow's seed food for today's famine.

General Jiang Baili's attitude was very resolute. An officer who has never been on the battlefield and heard the sound of gunfire is not qualified for the responsibility of a grassroots commander. Sooner or later he will go through this process, as if he expected Tang Qiuli to refuse. Prepared for a long time ago, come up with a plan, the cadet brigade does not form a separate combat company, but is organized at the platoon level, dispersed to each company, and accepts the command of the field troops.

Tang Qiuli was in a dilemma. He admitted that what General Jiang Baili said was reasonable, but he was really worried. While hesitating, a neat and loud voice came from outside. He walked out of the tent. At that moment, the students of Dingbian Military Academy lined up A neat queue, fully armed, a command from the star officer, a forest of arms in front of him, thousands of pairs of eyes staring at him, the eyes are eager and expectant, and there is an indescribable meaning that a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers , He understood that this was a group call for battle, but the method was a bit different, General Jiang Baili had a satisfied smile on his lips.

Unable to refuse any more, he was full of anger but not discouraged. Jiang Baili left satisfied. Tang Qiuli looked at the list of combatants. Breath, hundreds of small boats, taking advantage of the night, quietly crossed the Yellow River eastward, carrying more than [-] soldiers formed by more than [-] mixed companies on board.

On the Yellow River in the night, the waves are gone, only a few small black dots can be vaguely seen, bumping in the soft whistling sound of the yellow water, until Tang Qiuli can no longer be seen, Tang Qiuli turned around in awe, Mei Ting and Mei Xue's beautiful faces , with a hint of melancholy, he knew why, just before the troops set off, he specially called Mei Ling to the division headquarters, explained everything carefully, and gave Mei Ling the Colt pistol that had been fighting with him all the time , All this, he did not tell the Mei family sisters.

Before the soldiers set off, the tears at the farewell were too sad. He didn't want his beloved woman to have any shadows in his heart. In fact, his inner concerns and worries were no less than those of the sisters, but Mei Ting and Mei Xue still appeared at the farewell The crowd was stronger than he had imagined, the bumpy boat, Mei Ling looked back at the other side, there was no light, but he clearly felt that the eyes of his brother-in-law and two sisters were burning his heart.

The brother-in-law is encouraging, the sister is worrying, Meiling's nose is sore, she controls her emotions, touches the pistol at her waist, and stares wide-eyed at the other bank. There is a dark night everywhere, and the darkness on the other bank is thicker and hazy. The mountains seemed to be a group of crouching beasts, ready to devour everything at any time, the hull trembled slightly, touched the land, and had reached the opposite bank.

Meiling's heart was tense, excited, nervous, longing and fearful of the unknown world. This 19-year-old boy knew for the first time the feeling of trembling all over his body. The company commander's command in a low voice sounded so far away. With a real feeling, following his comrades and jumping off the boat, the river was knee-deep, icy cold, with the chill of spring, Meiling's mind suddenly sobered up, he remembered his duties, and hurriedly contacted his comrades according to the signal stipulated in advance, After counting the number of people, dozens of companies shot in different directions like arrows according to the battle plan. Meiling took a deep breath and led the troops into the unknown darkness. The boat returned and everything returned to calm.

The troops that went deep into the Lvliang Mountains were advancing against the Japanese army. Neiji Okamura did not know that more than 5000 soldiers from the independent division had already entered Shanxi. His order to the troops attacking Wubao Ferry was only one word, "Quick!" To save time, Competing with Tang Qiuli for time, Wubao is his key offensive area, and he can drive directly to Dingbian. It is best to attract Tang Qiuli's main defense forces to this direction, so as to create conditions for the troops to attack Fenglingdu and attack Xi'an .

Okamura Ningci invested [-] troops in the direction of Wubao Ferry, three field artillery regiments, and personally served as the commander. For the first time, I learned the experience and lessons in the Taihang Mountains. I didn't get entangled with small groups of enemies at all. When encountering an attack, I immediately dispatched a slightly larger force than the enemy to carry out the encirclement and suppression in hot pursuit. The brigade did not stop at all.

But this kind of attack is too frequent. Every few kilometers you advance, you will be eaten. The damn Chinese mountains are suitable for ambushes everywhere. The despicable Chinese cowards will only hide and shoot guns secretly. The commanders were furious and cursed viciously. This kind of continuous small-scale harassment made the Japanese commanders who were used to the decisive battle of the main force very uncomfortable. The anger of not being able to find their opponents almost burned their nerves.

Only Okamura Ningji maintained a peaceful mind. Similar situations have been experienced in the Taihang Mountains. Tang Qiuli can't play any new tricks. He did this because he wanted to slow down the imperial army's advance speed and mobilize troops for himself. It was just to buy time, and it proved the fact that he was defending the Yellow River and found that his troops were empty. There is an idiom in China that goes well, "If you want to cover it up." [

Along the way, many corpses and soldiers with missing arms and legs were left behind. Three days later, Neiji Okamura finally saw the endlessly flowing Yellow River. Going away, seeing him dizzy before his eyes and successfully reaching the destination made him excited immediately, but when he counted the troops, he was a little dumbfounded.

(To be continued)