Bantaji is located in Lai'an County, Anhui Province, less than 150 miles away from Nanjing. This place is surrounded by water. Various lakes are as dense as the Milky Way. Various tidal flats, rivers and lakes occupy 40% of the county's area.
, the New Fourth Army and other National Army guerrillas took advantage of the favorable terrain here to defeat Japanese encirclement and suppression campaigns many times. But at this time, what was fighting here was the Chinese army who spoke the same language and shed the same blood.
Han Deqin stood on the hill, looking at the fireballs that lit up from time to time in the distance and said, "Why is the progress on the front line so slow? Doesn't it mean that there are only some old and weak people?"
Weng Da, who was standing next to him, said, "The terrain here is too complicated. There are river beaches everywhere. The firepower of the New Fourth Army is not very strong, but if you use the terrain here to fire guns and artillery everywhere, you will not be able to advance quickly."
Qian Qian put down his telescope and said, "Obviously, this is a delaying tactic. We can't fall into the trap. Order the troops to speed up the attack immediately. Isn't it just some interference? Don't worry about him. These Red Party troops like this. When I was in Jiangxi
Just suffer their losses, first delay each road, and then defeat them one by one. To deal with the Red Army, we must fight as quickly as the autumn wind sweeps away fallen leaves!"
Weng Da responded and immediately went down to give the order.
Ye Fei noticed that Han Deqin began to increase his offensive intensity and said with a smile, "Okay, the fish is hooked."
An officer next to him asked, "Commander Ye, in the past, we used to show weakness to the enemy and then lure the enemy. So today we have done the opposite?"
Ye Fei smiled and said, "Commander Chen told me before I came here that Han Deqin had suffered losses from our guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare before, so he would not hesitate, fearing that we would defeat each other again, so he did the opposite."
OK, okay, order the troops to start retreating and prepare for the decisive battle!"
--Nanjing
"The fighting started! The fighting started!! The sound of cannons can be heard on the riverside."
"When the New Fourth Army and the National Army are fighting, it's like dog bites dog."
"I just said, this old Chiang Kai-shek doesn't want to fight against the imperial army. He just can't let go of his own power. Mr. Wang is the best...sacrifice his life for justice!"
In the Nanjing government, there was a lot of discussion in all the offices.
"General Itagaki Seishiro has arrived!"
After hearing this sentence, the discussion became slightly quieter.
Itagaki Seishiro walked into the conference room with a smile. When he saw that everyone had arrived, he nodded to Nishio.
Nishio watched Itagaki Seishiro sit down and said, "Okay, everyone is here. Everyone should know what happened today. You can almost see the smoke from the north in Nanjing. This conflict between the New Fourth Army and the National Army, we
We have discussed it many times, but this time it is definitely not a friction, but a battle between regular troops! According to intelligence, the total number of troops dispatched by both sides exceeds thirty regiments, and it is a big war!"
An officer immediately stood up and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, this is a good opportunity for us. When they both lose, our army will attack with all its strength and we will be able to sweep Jiangbei."
Nishio laid hands and said, "Sit down, very good. Everyone's fighting spirit is commendable, but General Itagaki Seishiro has other ideas about this matter. Please speak to General Itagaki Seishiro."
Itagaki Seishiro stood up, walked to the map and said, "Look, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and northern Gansu, although these places are nominally occupied by our imperial army, there are a large number of National Army and Red Party troops operating in these places.
, often destroying traffic roads, cutting power lines, invading the countryside, and killing good people, forcing a large number of imperial troops and security forces to be contained in this area. These places are like a quagmire, trapping the strength of our army.
This time, the conflict between the New Fourth Army and the National Army provides us with the greatest opportunity. However, you should note that whether it is Ye Ting and Xiang Ying of the New Fourth Army or Li Pinxian and Han Deqin of the National Army, they are just generals below. This red army
Whether the two White parties should join forces to fight the empire or attack each other, the real decision-making power lies with Chongqing and Yan'an!"
Okamura Neiji stood up and said, "So, General Itagaki Seishiro thinks this is not the right time?"
Itagaki Seishiro nodded and said, "Yes, it's just a few regiments of the New Fourth Army and the National Army fighting now. What does this mean? As long as Chongqing and Yan'an send a telegram, these two armies will immediately turn their guns to deal with our army.
!So, now is far from the time!”
Neji Okamura asked, "So what should we do now? When is the time?"
Itagaki Seishiro smiled and said, "You don't have to do anything, and we have to let them relax and fight boldly. If they dislike the small space, we have to make room for them to fight!"
An officer stood up and asked, "But when will it end? If they finally restrain themselves, wouldn't we have wasted the opportunity?"
Itagaki Seishiro smiled slightly and said, "What if... the New Fourth Army suffered heavy losses? Can Yan'an still bear it?"
——Bantaji
"What...what the hell is going on? Where is the New Fourth Army? Where are the people??" Han Deqin looked around, there were water and rivers everywhere, the wind blew, the water rippled, and birds flew by from time to time.
However, the New Fourth Army troops wearing straw hats who were shooting just now were nowhere to be seen.
Wengda looked around and didn't understand what was going on. He said, "Chairman, this... I don't know. There are lakes everywhere. The New Fourth Army just jumped into the water and disappeared. This
..."
Han Deqin felt horrified and asked, "Where are we now? Get the map quickly?"
Onda took the map, pointed at it and said, "This is Yougang, which is less than twenty miles away from Bantaji."
Han Delin looked at the map and suddenly realized that his position was in the middle of a group of lakes, and there was a copper mountain blocking the road in front of him, which turned out to be a dead land.
Han Deqin stamped his feet and shouted, "Oh no, I've fallen into a trap, get out now!"
Before Onda and the others could react, suddenly, hundreds of artillery shells flew from all directions towards Han Deqin's troops gathered in Yougang. In the violent explosion, soil, sand, gravel and shrapnel were flying everywhere. Han Deqin looked anxiously towards the return road.
, I only saw small boats coming from nowhere in the distance. The boats were all equipped with red flags and equipped with machine guns and mortars. The corners of Han Deqin's mouth twitched when he saw them.
"It's over!! Who said this is old and weak? This is obviously the main force! Ye Ting and the others have been fooled again! Withdraw!!"
Ye Fei stood on the hill and looked at the surrounded Han Deqin. He thought for a while and said, "Order all ministries to leave a way for Han Deqin to leave."
Zhou Junming asked, "Is this what the military department means?"
Ye Fei nodded and said, "That's what Yan'an means. Han Deqin is still guarding Suzhong. We can't destroy them all at once, otherwise the Japanese will probably be the ones who benefit in the end. We just need to let them know how powerful they are."
——Yan'an
"Haha, it was a good fight. We defeated seven or eight thousand stubborn troops at once. A good fight." Zhou Guansheng walked into the cave dwelling with the telegram and said.
Chairman Mao put down his pen, took the telegram, nodded and said, "Well, Li Pinxian and Han Deqin both suffered heavy losses, but if we look carefully at the battle report, we can see that the enemy was actually killed less than a thousand people, but more than six or seven thousand were captured.
, this shows that the vast majority of soldiers in the National Army actually do not want to fight with us. This stubborn army is unpopular.
But this time, I am afraid that not only will it not make Mr. Jiang put down his butcher knife, it will actually arouse his ferocity."
Zhou Guansheng hummed, sat aside and said, "Lin Sanhu is already making preparations in Shandong. As soon as the time is right, he can go south immediately, but the time must be grasped well."
Chairman Mao smiled and said, "It's up to people to do things, but it's up to God to succeed. Let's see how Chongqing takes action first. I hope we can do better than 203 this time."
Zhou Guansheng nodded and said nothing.
——Chongqing
"Read the newspaper, read the newspaper. The armies behind enemy lines are fighting in chaos, with tens of thousands of casualties. Chairman Li of Anhui and Chairman Han of Jiangsu jointly petitioned the New Fourth Army to sabotage the war of resistance. Come and read the newspaper." A newsboy shouted from the right side of a Chongqing street.
"Read the newspaper, read the newspaper. The Japanese invaders are in front of them. Brothers are killing each other. Commander Ye Ting is suing Chairman Li of Anhui and Chairman Han of Jiangsu is attacking the anti-Japanese patriotic soldiers." Another newsboy shouted from the left side of the street.
Seeing these two completely different reports, pedestrians on the road couldn't help but started talking about it.
"Thousands of Nationalist troops were killed or injured in this battle. Ye Ting is so cruel!"
"Look at this. These are densely packed records of Han Deqin and Li Pinxian's attack on the New Fourth Army. According to the time, Han and Li attacked first."
"If you put it like that, why would the New Fourth Army leave its own defense zone and develop outside?"
"No, these places are all occupied by the Japanese army. As long as they are fighting Japanese troops, they are all Chinese troops. It doesn't matter."
On the streets, you and I said something, and some said that the New Fourth Army was wrong, and some said that South Korea and Li should not attack first, causing chaos. The chaos on the battlefield behind enemy lines in Central China became the issue of greatest concern to China in March.
——Provisional National Government
Agent Jiang slowly put down the telegram in his hand, suddenly smiled, shook his head and said, "Okay, okay, he defeated six or seven of my regiments in one battle. Did his New Fourth Army have such a record when it fought the Japanese army?"
With that said, Agent Jiang suddenly stood up and said, "Raising tigers is a disaster! Raising tigers is a disaster! It's like this in Shanxi, it's like this in Suiyuan, it's like this in Hebei. I don't think Anhui or Jiangsu will be better. If it continues like this, I don't think it's better."
What’s the Republic of China? Let’s forget about calling it the Soviets!!”
Bai Chongxi, He Yingqin and others looked at each other. This time, Bai Chongxi's Guangxi clique suffered a lot of losses. He was angry and immediately said, "Commissioner, the New Fourth Army rashly attacked the National Army. This is an act of treason and can be regarded as a puppet army. I propose that,
Declare the New Fourth Army to be a puppet army, Ye Xiang and others are treasonous, concentrate the main forces of the Anhui and Jiangsu National Army, and encircle and annihilate their main forces!"
Agent Jiang looked at Bai Chongxi and asked, "Is Jiansheng determined? Are you confident?"
Bai Chongxi took a breath and said, "The New Fourth Army retreats without fighting against the enemy invaders, and deviates from friendly forces to invade each other. What is the use of keeping such a force?"
Agent Jiang stared at Bai Chongxi for a while, then suddenly smiled and asked, "You think, if our army fights the New Fourth Army with all its strength, what will be the consequences? How will Yan'an react?"
Chen Bulei, who was standing next to him, was so frightened that he quickly said, "Chairman, you can't. If you do this, I'm afraid the Japanese army will take advantage of you."
Agent Jiang shook his hand and said, "Don't talk about that, just talk about military affairs."
Bai Chongxi thought for a while and said, "If our army is mobilized well, we can first cut off the transportation between Shandong and Jiangsu, and then concentrate our forces to attack one part of them. The New Fourth Army is a force that uses guerrilla warfare as its main tactics. The troops are widely dispersed. If the insertion is successful,
, the main force can be divided into several units, and then annihilated one by one. I believe that as long as it takes two or three months to lay out and two or three months to fight, there will definitely be no New Fourth Army in Jiangnan within half a year.
As for Yan'an, they will definitely retaliate, especially our troops in Hebei and Shandong, which may be attacked, but having said that, although our troops in Hebei and Shandong are weaker, I believe there will be no problem in maintaining their strength."
Agent Jiang immediately understood that Bai Chongxi was planning to trade Hebei and Shandong for Anhui and Jiangsu, but was it worth it? Agent Jiang began to think about it.
Chen Bulei, who was standing next to him, was afraid that Jiang's intermediary order would eventually cause the overall situation in Jiangnan to collapse. He quickly said, "Chairman, this matter is easy to handle. We don't need to go into such a big fight."
He Yingqin asked, "Is it easy to handle? The New Fourth Army must have 100,000 troops. Ye Ting, a famous general in the Northern Expedition, Chen Yi and others are all brave generals. To be honest, even if there are 200,000 troops, it will be difficult to destroy the New Fourth Army."
Agent Jiang looked at He Yingqin and nodded. One side was suffering from the Gui clan, and the other was the Gu Zhu clan who listened to him. Of course, He Yingqin was not in a hurry.
Chen Bulei said, "To put it bluntly, the New Fourth Army is still under the National Army system. He doesn't really listen to us in Chongqing, but what about Yan'an's orders? Don't Mao Yongzhi and others always like to flaunt justice? We can also learn from it, Chairman.
..If we act like this, like this, like this, public opinion will definitely turn towards us, and Yan'an will have to take action."
Jiang Jie's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he laughed loudly and said, "Okay, okay, let's do it like this." After saying that, Jiang Jie shook his head and said, "What if the New Fourth Army doesn't listen, or Yan'an doesn't obey?"
Chen Brei said with a chuckle, "With this period of time as a buffer, our army must have been able to arrange everything. Moreover, it can also conduct defensive operations against Japan to prevent the mantis stalking the cicada and the oriole behind."
Agent Jiang hummed and said, "Let's do it this way."
Chen Bulei wiped his sweat, sighed inwardly, and stepped back to get ready to do some work.
——New Fourth Army Military Headquarters
"The survival of the nation is based on the success or failure of the War of Resistance; the success or failure of the War of Resistance is based on strict military discipline. In the early days of the War of Resistance, the 18th Group Army and the New Fourth Army were able to obey orders, unite and sincerely, and use restraint to resist insults. There is no shortage of achievements. Who knows?
The atmosphere between the Japanese and Japanese is not yet settled, discords abound, disputes are gradually heard, and frictions arise from time to time. The recent incidents in Anhui and Suzhou are clear evidence. Thinking about it today, both sides are at fault, but they are all for killing the enemy and resisting Japan, and they should not be held accountable.
Attack each other.
Since the New Fourth Army hopes to go north to resist the Japanese, and its loyalty and bravery are commendable, the New Fourth Army is now ordered to move north to the north of the Yellow River before May 31. The defense area will be designated as the Shandong-Hebei Theater. This will alleviate the hostility of various departments in Central China and increase the military strength of North China.
, three can reflect the determination of unity..."
"Okay, don't read anymore." Xiang Ying waved his hand and said, "You have heard it, it sounds nice. It means that we all need to leave Jiangnan and go to Shandong and Hebei. What is this called? Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting.
?”
Chen Yi yelled, "He's dreaming!! We finally defeated so many guerrilla areas. Now that we're gone, what will happen to these places? Who will guard them? Han Deqin or Li Pinxian? If they can hold it, Chiang Kai-shek can run there."
