Not to mention Jiang Cheng, on the other side in the direction of the south entrance of the Republic of China, after paying the price of 25,000 casualties, Tang Enbo and Wei Lihuang were forced to retreat out of the south entrance - the Zhangjiakou defense line. Tang Enbo's army retreated to the rear to rest, and Wei Lihuang's troops
Retreat to Shanxi to prepare for the next battle.
The 5th Division, which served as the first offensive in this battle, suffered more than 5,000 casualties and was forced to stop and wait for reinforcements. Meanwhile, Tojo Hideki's Chahar Corps and Chen soldiers in Zhangjiakou began to confront the Chinese defenders.
--Tianjin
Kozuki Seiji led a group of officers and stood at attention and saluted the man who got off the plane. This man had an oval head, was slightly fat, and had white hair. He was none other than General Touichi Terauchi. He was the eldest son of former Japanese Prime Minister Masaki Terauchi.
, comes from a famous family, has a cheerful and open-minded personality, and is willing to take responsibility for subordinates, but likes to attack quickly when fighting. Originally, the person who came this time should be Abe Nobuyuki. Abe Nobuyuki has a calm personality and has an overall view, which can be compared with the impetuous temper of the south.
The cooperation of Matsui Iwane also made it easier for Japan to control the development of the Chinese battlefield. However, in order to rescue the only imprisoned general Masaki Jinzaburo in the history of the Japanese army, the Japanese military had to first transfer Terauchi Juichi, who approved the imprisonment of Masaki Jinzaburo, to the battlefield.
At this time, Kozuki Kiyoshi had been appointed as the commander of the First Army. After shaking hands, the two chatted and laughed happily all the way to the headquarters conference room, which was already filled with a bunch of officers waiting for Juichi Terauchi.
Temple Shouichi sat down and said, "Thank you for your hard work, gentlemen. I have received the good news on the way that the south entrance has been captured by our imperial army. Itagaki-kun has lived up to Itagaki's courage."
Seishiro Itagaki, who rushed to attend the meeting, quickly stood up to express his thanks.
Terauchi Shouichi stood up and pointed at the large map behind him and said, "But you should know that we can only resolve the China Incident quickly. Once the war lasts for a long time, it will definitely affect the later strategy of our empire. Therefore, we must speed up the attack again."
, strive to end the battle as soon as possible. Do you think there is a problem?"
Chief of Staff Naosaburo Okabe asked, "I don't know how to end the battle?"
Terauchi Touichi smiled and said, "I discussed with General Matsui of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force before I came here. We agreed that capturing Nanjing would force Chiang Kai-shek's intermediary government to surrender. But that is General Matsui's business. Our mission is to quickly capture the entire North China."
, making it impossible for the Chinese army in North China to reinforce the southern battlefield. The military department’s goal is the Baoding-Duliu Town line, but my goal is the Shijiazhuang-Dezhou line. We must attract the central government of Chiang Kai-shek who is going north on the great plains of central Hebei.
The main force of the army will make it easier for General Matsui to attack Nanjing later, I order!"
All officers stood up together.
Terauchi Shouichi pointed at the map fiercely and said, "General Xiangyue, led the 6th, 14th, and 20th divisions to attack Baoding, Lord Nishio, led the 4th, 16th, and 108th divisions to attack Cangzhou, and the fifth division protected the right wing.
The 20th Division is in reserve. Mr. Itagaki, Shanxi has been handed over to the Chahar Corps of the Kwantung Army for attack, so you should take a rest first."
Itagaki below couldn't help but snort when he heard this. How could he, who was confident that he was invincible in China, be willing to just sit back and watch others make great achievements?
Juichi Terauchi continued, "This battle must end within 20 days. The key to this battle is to concentrate our army's mechanical troops, use our army's advantages, attack quickly, and break through the China defense line in the shortest time."
All the officers shouted "Hi!"
——
Lin Sanhu stood on the hillside and looked at the troops crossing the river down the hillside. Next to him was an earthen fort.
Zhou Kun emerged from the earth fort and said, "Commander, this earth fort is well built. From a distance, it looks like a stone, which blends in with the terrain here."
Lin Sanhu nodded and said, "These were built by Yan Xishan to prevent us. They are everywhere along the Yellow River in Shanxi. Now they are all vacant. Where is the front?"
Zhou Kun looked at the map and said, "Ahead is Xichang. The map shows there is a military station there. We should be able to replenish some supplies there."
Lin Sanhu became interested immediately upon hearing this. He walked forward, took a look and said, "They say Shanxi is a model province. There must be something in the military depot. Come on, let's go to the front and talk to the military depot to see if they can give us some supplies."
"
Lin Sanhu and his party hurriedly arrived at Xichang ahead. People here were very curious when they saw the Eighth Route Army, but they were not afraid. After all, the Eighth Route Army at this time was neatly dressed and fully equipped with weapons, giving it the feeling of an elite Central Army.
Arriving at the military station, Lin Sanhu found that there was only one veteran sitting there basking in the sun at the entrance of the military station. He couldn't help but look at each other with Zhou Kun. This was a military station that stocked a large amount of ordnance supplies. Why was the defense so lax?
A guard stepped forward and shook the veteran, "Comrade, wake up."
The veteran yawned and cursed, "What son of a bitch is quarreling with me?" When he opened his eyes, he saw a bunch of people in front of him. The one in the middle clearly had the rank of lieutenant general on his shoulder. The veteran was so frightened that he immediately stood up and saluted, "Hello, sir."
.”
Lin Sanhu returned the greeting and said, "I am Lin Sanhu, commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army. Who is the person in charge of your military station? Our troops are passing by here under the orders of the Second Theater Command and are here to seek supplies. Where is your commander? Tell him to come out.
.”
The veteran scratched his head and did not dare to look at Lin Sanhu. He said, "I am the only one in our military station. Everyone else has left. It is also empty inside."
Lin Sanhu was stunned. He retreated two units and looked at the signboard. It was indeed a military station and asked, "Comrade, what do you call me? It's wartime. Why are you the only one in your military station?"
The veteran said, "Sir, my name is Liu San. Our commander said that the battle was to be fought in the north, so there was no need to store things in the west, so he took them all away. I was also going to leave, but unfortunately I got sick, so I left."
Are you left to look after the house?"
Zhou Kun took a step forward and said softly, "Commander, something is wrong. No matter what, a military station will still leave some military rations and so on. Otherwise, how will the passing troops rely on supplies?"
Lin Sanhu nodded and said, "Liu San, can we go in and have a look?"
Liu San said awkwardly, "This is not appropriate."
Lin Sanhu smiled and nodded and suddenly said, "Come here, break in for me. I want to see if there is really nothing in this huge military station."
The surrounding guards immediately took the veteran aside. Lin Sanhu took the lead and broke into the military station and opened the warehouses. He only saw that they were empty. The warehouses with the words "Granary" had even the floor swept clean. Lin Sanhu
I didn't even see a hemp rope to tie the grain.
The veteran said next to him, "Sir, what I said is true. Not only our place, I know that the previous military stations are also empty."
An idea flashed in Lin Sanhu's mind and he shouted, "Bring me the map."
The guard next to him quickly handed the map to Lin Sanhu. Lin Sanhu pointed to the several military stations in front and said, "Immediately send people on horseback to the first few military stations to see if they are all empty."
Zhou Kun also reacted and said, "Sir, do you mean Yan Xishan?"
Lin Sanhu hummed, "As expected of a Shanxi old man, he really doesn't want to suffer any losses."
In the evening, when the army was encamped, the news from the front had been transmitted. As expected, as Lin Sanhu guessed, the military stations all the way ahead were empty.
Lin Sanhu sighed, "Report the situation to the headquarters and ask Mr. Zhu and Mr. Peng to talk to Yan Xishan. Let people take the money to buy some food in the surrounding towns and try not to eat the food brought from the headquarters. Those are all
It’s combat rations. We rely on them when fighting begins. We should try our best to let the soldiers eat hot food."
After receiving the news, Boss Zhu was organizing the departure of the Eighth Route Army headquarters. When he saw Lin Sanhu's report, he smiled and said to Boss Peng next to him, "This Mr. Yan is really very picky. He is afraid that we may take advantage of him."
Mr. Peng said angrily, "You let the horses run without letting them eat grass. Why is such a good thing? I will go to Taiyuan to find him and explain it to him."
Mr. Zhu quickly stopped him and said, "Don't go. You need to organize the relocation of the headquarters. I'll send a telegram to Vice Chairman Zhou to go. For this quarrel, it would be more appropriate for him to go."
——Taiyuan Zhou Guansheng was in Taiyuan at this time, having a meeting with Liu Dake and Bo Shucun, the Northern Bureau secretaries at this time.
Zhou Guansheng said, "First of all, please introduce the situation of our party in Shanxi."
Liu Dake nodded and said, "Since we took over and reorganized the Shanxi Sacrifice League for National Salvation, we have vigorously developed the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement. This spring, after the Taiyuan City Committee of the Sacrifice League was established, we established a district-level organization. In addition, we also
The Arsenal Working Committee, the Railway Working Committee, and the Student Working Committee were established, all working under the direct leadership of the Taiyuan Municipal Committee. Then we dispatched special commissioners to various counties and townships to carry out work, and everything went smoothly, but when it came to the village
First level, since the old forces are relatively strong here in Shanxi, we can only do propaganda work.
By the end of August we had more than 600,000 members, and it can be said that not a single county, factory, or government agency has a Sacrifice League organization."
Bo Shucun continued, "I just discussed with Yan Xishan last month to establish the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Death Team. In order to ensure that this unit is under the control of our party, I suggest that the political commissar be the highest commander, and the sacrifice alliance will have better masses."
I believe that only given time, this new Shanxi army will expand rapidly."
Zhou Guansheng nodded and said, "Okay, the two of you have done a very good job in Shanxi. You can say that you are a model of united front work. Now that the Japanese army has won a decisive victory in the direction of Nankou, the next step will definitely continue to invade Shanxi. Don't say anything else."
Records, this is top secret”
The two looked at each other, stopped writing and nodded.
Zhou Guansheng continued, "Do you know how strong Shanxi's industrial strength is?"
Liu Dake said, "After Yan Xishan's hard work for decades, Shanxi can be said to be one of the provinces with the strongest industry. Not only steel plants, but also artillery factories, shell factories, machine gun factories, smokeless pharmaceutical factories, and aircraft factories."
The factory can not only manufacture light weapons such as rifles and machine guns, but also heavy weapons such as mortars and mountain cannons. According to members of our arsenal, Yan Xishan has successfully copied the 105MM mountain cannon and the 88MM field cannon. Weapon output
Although the specific situation is unclear, the monthly output of rifles must exceed 4,000 pieces, and the monthly output of bullets will undoubtedly exceed 4 million rounds."
Hearing this data, Zhou Guansheng couldn't help but take a breath. Yan Xishan is usually very stingy, and his family is not generally rich. He continued to ask, "How many heavy industry workers are there?"
Liu Dake replied, "There are not 10,000, but 8,000, and these workers are well treated. It is more difficult for our party to carry out work among them."
Zhou Guansheng said, "From now on, we must immediately find out the specific situation of all heavy industrial machinery, materials, and supplies in Shanxi, down to the location, weight, and function of each machine tool. In addition, we must strengthen the work among worker brothers and ensure that
Once Shanxi falls, we can mobilize more than half of these workers."
Listening to Xiange, they knew the elegant meaning. As soon as they heard it, they understood what the central government wanted to do. Bo Shucun said, "Vice Chairman Zhou, does the central government want to wait for the fall of Taiyuan to move some machinery? In this case, it only needs to focus on a few of the most important factories.
Good, because it is impossible to move them all. As far as I know, there are tens of thousands of optical machine tools, motors and other equipment in Shanxi military factories and other heavy industries."
Zhou Guansheng, Chairman Mao and others did have a plan to move the Shanxi Arsenal. Due to the advantage of knowing the aftermath, the three knew that Taiyuan would be lost in a few months, and the machinery in the Shanxi Arsenal was eventually given to the Japanese at a cheap price.
However, what the three of them value most is not the machines, but the people.
Zhou Guansheng said, "The specific importance is given by the equipment of the arsenal. In addition, I know that there are many workers in Taiyuan who used to work in the arsenal and are now scattered around, right?"
Liu Dake said, "Yes, in 1931, there were more than 15,000 people in the Taiyuan Arsenal. Later, Yan Xishan announced his resignation. These workers were demobilized and poached by other warlords such as Nanjing. Finally,
There are only more than a thousand people, and most of the current people were recruited later."
Zhou Guansheng said happily, "We must find a way to find these worker brothers, and we must mobilize them after Shanxi falls. In short, people come first, machinery second, do you understand?"
Bo Shucun said worriedly, "Even if we mobilized so many people, I'm worried about the capacity of our factory."
Zhou Guansheng smiled and said, "Don't worry about these problems, just do your job well."
After the meeting, Zhou Guansheng learned that the 115th Division had been unable to receive supplies along the way, and immediately asked to see Yan Xishan.
When Yan Xishan saw Zhou Guansheng, he smiled and said, "Duke Zhou is here, ah, ah, I learned that your Eighth Route Army has entered Shanxi, and my heart dropped."
Zhou Guansheng smiled and said, "Sir Yan, we are now a united front, and we are united in facing the outside world. There is no need to distinguish between you and me. We, the Eighth Route Army, are united in resisting the war. The whole army will probably march into Shanxi around September 10th."
Yan Xishan patted his thigh and said to H next to him, "Okay, okay, with Duke Zhou and the Eighth Route Army here, that little devil will never come back."
Zhou Guansheng looked at Yan Xishan and said, "Thank you, Commander Yan. It's just that the soldiers and horses went ahead without using food and grass. I wonder where our Eighth Route Army is stationed? And the military stations I encountered along the way of the 115th Division were all empty. Why is this?"
Yan Xishan rolled his eyes and said doubtfully, "Is it possible? It shouldn't be? Is it possible? Yang Aiyuan, why is this?"
Yang Aiyuan smiled and said, "Chairman Yan, let me explain. Duke Zhou should know that the terrain of Shanxi is very special. To the east is the Taihang Mountains, to the west is the Luliang Mountains, and to the south are the Zhongtiao Mountains. They are all big mountains, which are easy to defend but difficult to defend."
There are no mountains blocking the attack in the north, so the direction of the Japanese attack is also obvious, only the north. So we concentrated all the materials on the line from Datong to Taiyuan, the purpose is also to resist the Japanese. As for the west where your army came
There are no more supplies in the south, so the military depots are empty."
Yan Xishan slapped his thigh and said, "Yes! That's it, Lord Zhou, it's hard to fight the Japs. In the battle at Nankou, the Fifth Division and Tojo Hideki were not so fierce. I, Yan, can only concentrate on my strength."
, I hope we can use the geographical advantage to block the iron hoofs of the Japanese invaders. I hope Duke Zhou will understand. As for the garrison, well, Yuci is not far from Taiyuan and is also a treasure of the ancient city. Please invite your troops to garrison there."
Zhou Guansheng nodded and said, "It's not that I don't understand that the supplies are moving north, but we always have to eat, and we also ask Commander Yan to replenish the ammunition."
Yan Xishan asked, "Why aren't the supplies for your army provided by Chairman Chiang?"
Zhou Guansheng replied, "Chairman Chiang did provide some supplies when the troops set off, but we are now in the second theater, so it is natural that the ammunition should be replenished by the second theater."
Yan Xishan nodded and said, "Oh, that's right. That's right. H, do we still have any ammunition and supplies left? If so, let's allocate some to friendly forces."
Yang Aiyuan took out a small book, looked at it and sighed, "What a coincidence. All our supplies and ammunition have been distributed to the troops, and now there is really nothing left."
Yan Xishan said angrily, "What did you do? How could there be nothing left? I will punish you severely! Is there really nothing left?"
Yang Aiyuan lowered his head and said, "Chairman Yan, you also know that our foundation is weak to begin with. Now that we are going to fight, once we distribute it to the troops below, we will really have none. Moreover, we did not know at the beginning that the ammunition for the Eighth Route Army came from us.
It’s provided.”
Yan Xishan said in embarrassment, "Mr. Zhou, I'm really sorry. This is really gone. Otherwise, I will pay you a thousand kilograms of rations and ammunition from my own pocket. I will give you ten thousand rounds of ammunition from my guard."
, this is already my limit.”
Zhou Guansheng was furious when he heard this, but he could not get angry for the sake of the overall situation. He could only grit his teeth and said, "Our army has 40,000 people. Isn't it too little to only have 10,000 rounds of ammunition? And a thousand kilograms of grain is not enough for our entire army for a day."
.”
Yan Xishan held Zhou Guansheng's hand and said, "It's quite a lot. Duke Zhou, you don't know. We are also in dire straits now. I'm still going to give you all the ammunition from one of my regiments. I don't even want to give it to you."
I know how to tell the regiment leader. Food is in short supply, as you know. Logistics are calculated accurately during wars. This time there are tens of thousands more mouths, which is really difficult to handle. Don't worry,
I'll go make arrangements right away and get you more food as soon as possible."
Zhou Guansheng nodded and said with a smile, "Okay, then our troops will have to ask the Japanese for guns and ammunition. Commander Yan, take your leave."
Yan Xishan looked at Zhou Guansheng's back and Yang Aiyuan next to him with a smile and said, "You did a good job. Huh, the landlords don't have much food left these days, but they can't be completely starved. When the time comes, you can send three thousand kilograms of food over.
I, Yan Xishan, called on all the officers to donate one month’s military pay to buy them.”
