Han Yunhua paced around in the command center, feeling very irritable. He didn't answer the words of Yang Chengwu and the others, and now he was thinking much more than others.

Yang Chengwu said that Han Yunhua did not understand, but the impact of the "Huangqiao Battle" was too great, and it was by no means something that could be solved by the two sides sitting down and chatting, because the main force of the Kuomintang was annihilated by nearly 20,000 people, and a lieutenant general and a lieutenant general brigade commander were killed. During the entire War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang killed a total of 10 senior officers at or above the division level, namely two group army commanders and eight army commanders. In this battle, a lieutenant general and a lieutenant brigade commander of the Kuomintang were killed, and the Nationalist Government could not give up. Therefore, Han Yunhua absolutely cannot allow the Nationalist Government to create new friction and affect the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

Perhaps his dispatch of troops to Henan could not prevent the Nationalist Government from continuing to launch the Southern Anhui Incident, but it could deter the Nationalist Government and preserve the vital strength of the New Fourth Army, especially the high-ranking military and political cadres.

Moreover, the troops sent by the First War Zone this time also made Han Yunhua angry, who you Wei Lihuang sends, you have to send Zhu Huaibing and Pang Bingxun two troops over, isn't this looking for a draw. Needless to say, Zhu Huaibing is a ** element through and through, this person became the commander of the 97th Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the commander-in-chief of the Northern Henan Self-Defense Army after the July 7 Incident. In March 1939, he served as the director of the Political Department of the Jicha Theater, concurrently in charge of Hebei civil affairs, and commanded the Hebei People's Army. Zhu Huaibing is an officer who opposes the first in his bones, during his tenure in Hebei, this person continues to create friction, only in 1939, the Jizhong County tragedy created by Zhang Yinwu, a subordinate department, killed more than 400 cadres and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, and was called "friction expert" at the time. In February 1940, under the secret order of Chiang Kai-shek, he commanded Pang Bingxun, Zhang Yinwu, and Hou Ruyong's troops to besiege the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains in three ways, creating magnetic, forest, military, and related incidents, and the 97th Army was a thief with bad military discipline, which was really hateful, and Han Yunhua had long wanted to get rid of it.

Let's talk about Pang Bingxun and his 40th Army, the 40th Army is indeed a strong force, and the predecessor of the army is the Northwest Army and the Chinese People's Army. In the autumn of 1930, after the end of the Central Plains War, the department was absorbed and expanded by Chiang Kai-shek into the 40th Army of the Army, with Pang Bingxun as the commander and Ma Fa as the fifth deputy commander. After the formation of the army, it successively participated in the anti-Japanese operations on the Great Wall and eastern Hebei in 1933, as well as the suppression of the anti-Japanese alliance established by Feng Yuxiang in Chabei and other military operations. In August 1937, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the army added the 14th Cavalry Brigade, with Zhang Zhankui as the brigade commander. Subordinate to the 1st Group Army, it went to the Jinpu front line from Yuncheng and participated in the defensive operations along the northern section of the Jinpu Road, serving as a frontal defense. In January 1938, the army participated in the Battle of Xuzhou. In this battle, the army held Linyi in the Lunan area, prevented the Japanese East Route Army from moving south, and played a major role in the victory of the Kuomintang army in the Battle of Taierzhuang, which can be said to be a heroic force.

But there is a commander who is a traitor in such a heroic army, and this commander is none other than Pang Bingxun. Pang Bingxun is really a wonderful flower in the world, he rose from a disabled lower-level officer to a military commander, and later became the commander-in-chief and governor of the group army, as well as a member of the Kuomintang Central Supervisory Committee and an army general, and was quite prominent in the Kuomintang troops. This person's performance in the early stage of the Anti-Japanese War was indeed commendable, and in August 1937, Pang Bingxun was ordered to go to the front line of resistance against Japan. At that time, it was the scorching summer season, and the sun was blazing, and after Pang Bingxun led his troops to get off the bus from Shijiazhuang, he marched along the Cangshi Highway to Cangxian on foot, receiving condolences and welcomes from the masses of the people along the way, and greatly encouraging the vast number of patriotic officers and men. On September 18, the defense line of the 29th Kuomintang Army was broken through, and the Japanese army continued to advance southward. The battle was unprecedentedly tragic, holding on for 7 days and 7 nights, killing and wounding a large number of Japanese troops, and delaying the Japanese attack. Pang Bingxun's unit also suffered heavy casualties, with only more than 300 soldiers left in one regiment, and officers below the battalion level also suffered heavy casualties. Therefore, he had to withdraw from the battle and move to Dangshan in Jiangsu, where the tragedy of the battle was famous throughout the War of Resistance Against Japan.

Subsequently, Pang Bingxun, who had been promoted to the commander of the corps, was transferred to lead his troops to Linyi to participate in the Battle of Taierzhuang and prevent the Banyuan Division from moving south. On 10 March, the Sakagaki Division, supported by aircraft, artillery and tanks, pounced fiercely on Linyi, and the position of Pang Bingxun's unit was in flames. The vast number of patriotic officers and men were not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice, repelled many charges of the Japanese army, stubbornly held their positions, and withstood the attack of the Sakagaki Division. For this time to block the enemy, the Japanese army repeatedly rushed and killed for several days, and suffered casualties, but could not take a step beyond the thunder pool. At that time, there were no less than dozens of Chinese and foreign journalists and military attachés of friendly countries who accompanied the army to watch the battle in the Xuzhou area, and no one could have imagined that the best 'imperial army' would be frustrated by a little-known 'miscellaneous' army in China. For a while, there was a rumor at home and abroad, and the sound of color was everywhere. In the early morning of March 14, Pang Bingxun's troops and Zhang Zizhong's reinforcements jointly launched a counterattack, fighting fiercely for five days and five nights, and drove the Banyuan Division to Juxian on March 18, along the way the Japanese army corpses were all over the field, making an indelible contribution to the victory of Taierzhuang. From 1937 to 1943, Pang Bingxun led his 40th Army and later the 24th Army to constantly fight against the Japanese puppet army on the land of North China, and his achievements were brilliant. In April 1943, the Japanese army dispatched more than 50,000 people to "sweep" the Taihang Mountains. From the east, west, and south, the Japanese army divided into more than a dozen roads and pounced on Pang Bingxun's defensive ground. The defensive areas of various armies were broken through one after another, and Pang Bingxun did not organize an attack, but led the headquarters of the group army and the military headquarters of the 40th Army to move to the deep mountainous areas to avoid the battle. Later, due to the encounter between the military headquarters and the Japanese army, the headquarters personnel were in chaos. Pang Bingxun and his son Pang Qingzhen were scattered and lost contact with the military headquarters. That night, Ma Fawu, the commander of the 40th Army, gathered the scattered headquarters and military personnel to break through and go south. A few days later, under the maneuver of Sun Dianying, commander of the New Fifth Army, who had surrendered to the Japanese army, Pang Bingxun formally surrendered to the Japanese army on May 7 after some bargaining negotiations with the Japanese army. On May 23, Wang Jingwei's puppet government appointed Pang Bingxun as the commander-in-chief of the puppet provisional 24th Group Army. …,

The impact of such a high-ranking officer as Pang Bingxun on the enemy was extremely bad, so even Han Yunhua's image of Pang Bingxun and the entire 40th Army dropped greatly. Since Zhu Huaibing and Pang Bingxun have all arrived this time, then Han Yunhua will really be sorry for himself if he doesn't make a move.

After many things went through Han Yunhua's mind, Han Yunhua's thinking became clearer, and the pressure to create friction was reduced a lot. Han Yunhua, who went south to meet the New Fourth Army, faced much greater pressure than the New Fourth Army. It's good not to shoot this time, if there is an exchange of fire between the two sides, then even if it wins, it is an extremely dishonorable thing, there is a creed in this era, that is, no matter how you can fight, you can't shoot like the Chinese, the Chinese fight the Chinese, no matter how powerful it is, it is pus.

This time it was different from Pang Bingxun's division to start a war and fight Shi Yousan, Shi Yousan had been in contact with the Japanese for a long time, even if he really ate Shi Yousan's 69th Army and the Nationalist Government, he had nothing to say. But Pang Bingxun's department is different, it is the regular army of the national government, and it is a unit with brilliant achievements, if it is annihilated by Han Yunhua's department in this way, the people of the whole country will not agree.

Han Yunhua slammed the cigarette butt in his hand to the ground, and then said: "Order Xu Shiyou, let him beat me hard, Chiang Kai-shek is a donkey, pull and don't go, fight backwards, only when they hurt them will they remember what they are doing and what they should do." Tell Xu Shiyou that this time they can only fight Pang Bingxun and Zhu Huaibing's troops, and the other infantry divisions must not move. ”

"Yes, what about the little devil of the commander, do we need to transfer more troops?" Yang Chengwu continued to ask.

"Yes, although I judge that the little devil will not send troops to disturb us, but it is always good to be prepared, you have to keep an eye on it yourself, don't let the little devil take advantage of the loophole. In addition, we should always pay attention to the changes in the situation in southern Anhui, and let me know as soon as there is news. Han Yunhua ordered decisively.

"Yes"

On the same day, Han Yunhua sent a telegram to the central authorities in his own name, hoping that the central authorities would urge the New Fourth Army to immediately go north, but it was necessary to pay special attention to the issue of the northward route, as changes would occur later

On August 24, 1941, this was destined to be an unusual day, Pang Bingxun and Zhu Huaibing, who received Chiang Kai-shek's warrant, and more than 40,000 people under Zhu Huaibing's department began to attack the first brigade and one regiment of Xu Shiyou's headquarters stationed in Nanle County from Neihuang and Qingfeng, while Jiang Ziqing, the commander of the first brigade of the 13th division of the Southern Hebei Military Division of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, ordered a counterattack, and the Northern Henan Campaign officially began.

Nanle County, 13th Division 1st Brigade Headquarters.

"It is reported that the 40th Cavalry Brigade of the 14th Division of the enemy has been stationed in Qingfeng County, and at the same time, the enemy has sent a mixed force of one regiment of infantry and one regiment of cavalry to occupy the Gaobao area."

"Report that the 94th Division of the enemy's 97th Army entered Neihuang County at 11 o'clock this morning, and the 4th Cavalry Division under its command under the leadership of division commander Wang Qifeng is heading towards Nanle."

Jiang Ziqing took a huge magnifying glass and swiped around the map, pointing to a certain point on the map from time to time to analyze it carefully, and Huang Chishui, the political commissar on the side, followed from time to time.

"Lao Jiang, have you thought about how we should fight this battle?" Huang Chishui did not feel guilty at all about the attack on the Kuomintang troops, he was a veteran of the Red Army who had participated in the Long March, and although he was only 20 years old when he joined the Red Army's Long March, this could not make him feel less bitter about the Nationalist Government.

Jiang Ziqing looked at the map and said: "There is no problem in winning this battle, but how to fight beautifully is not easy to do Zhu Huaibing's troops are better to say, they have just been rebuilt, their combat effectiveness is limited, and the two divisions are not necessarily the opponents of our two regiments, as long as we arrange an infantry battalion here, there will be no problem at all in holding Zhu Huaibing's troops for two days, if our first brigade concentrates on fighting Zhu Huaibing's troops, I dare not say that it will be no problem at all." But the problem is that as far as these two Kuomintang forces are concerned, the combat effectiveness of Pang Bingxun's 40th Army is obviously higher than that of Zhu Huaibing's department. Hitting Zhu Huaibing's department may not be able to deter Pang Bingxun's department, but the reverse is different, as long as he hits Pang Bingxun's department, Zhu Huaibing's old thing, he won't dare to jump anymore. So my suggestion is to fight Pang Bingxun's department first, and it is best to be able to completely annihilate his main force, how about it? ”

Huang Chishui thought for a while and said: "The old lady eats persimmons and picks the soft ones first, this is the practice of beating devils, but you can't do this when you fight the stubborn army, the Kuomintang troops are the same as their chairman who was kicked in the head by a donkey, they are all donkeys, and it will not work if they don't fight." But we can't fight too hard, we must focus on deterrence, so I'm afraid it's hard to explain the total annihilation. ”…,

Jiang Ziqing said: "Other troops are okay, but Pang Bingxun's 40th Army is the elite who participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang, and in 39 years the Kuomintang Army was reorganized, and the 43rd Army and the 40th Army were merged to form the new 40th Army, and the 106th Division under the original 43rd Army was reassigned to the 40th Army. Pang is now under the jurisdiction of the 39th Division, the 106th Division, and the 14th Cavalry Brigade of the 40th Army. There are more than 28,000 people in the whole army, and our first brigade is now less than 8,000 people, and there is a huge difference in the strength of the enemy and us, and it is not easy to completely annihilate the 40th Army. ”

"It is definitely not easy to completely annihilate a complete 40th Army, the little devil dispatched so many troops when he was in Taierzhuang, and he didn't do anything to Pang Cripple, and one of our brigades can't do anything to him, besides, we have only one regiment of troops stationed in the county, and the other troops are still behind. Moreover, we still have to deal with the flanking attack of Zhu Huaibing's department, and the situation is very difficult, but as long as we concentrate our forces on attacking the vanguard of Pang Bingxun's department, we can still do it. Pang Bingxun's vanguard has only one infantry regiment and one cavalry regiment, although our brigade does not have a cavalry regiment, but there is a cavalry battalion, although the strength is only more than 400 people, but Pang Bingxun's cavalry regiment is only 7 or 800 people, although it cannot completely annihilate that cavalry regiment, but it is always possible to hold back, and then we are concentrating on attacking that infantry regiment, and the chance of victory is still very great. Although Huang Chishui is a political cadre, he is not a layman in military command, and such cadres are very common in the Eighth Route Army.

Jiang Ziqing thought for a while and said: "I'm not worried about what Pang Bingxun's old thing can do to our first brigade, I'm worried that I can't fight beautifully, and I have to eat cleanly, and it will be difficult to clean up the mess if I leave it half-pulled." Besides, isn't the division commander and division commander Wang still behind, I don't understand, why the division commander didn't give us reinforcements, relying on one of our brigades to completely annihilate two armies, this seems to be very difficult. ”

"Hehehe, don't say it's useless, the division commander has the division commander's consideration, forget it, don't mention these, then how are you going to fight." Although Huang Chishui and Jiang Ziqing have partnered for less than a year, the two still have a relatively tacit understanding. Such partners are very common in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and there are many people in other units whose political commissars and military commanders cannot urinate in the same pot, but the phenomenon of discord among military and political cadres in the Inner Mongolia Military Region rarely occurs, because the vast majority of cadres are carefully selected by Han Yunhua, and they are all sent to the Saibei Military Command College to study from time to time, and some are even sent to Yan'an Kang University to study, so the quality of these people is still very high.

The most important thing is that Han Yunhua and the successive political commissars get along very well, and they have set a good example for the cadres below; secondly, the division of labor between the military and the government of the Inner Mongolia Military Region is very clear, and the military chief is only in charge of fighting wars and the development of the troops, while the political commissars can only be in charge of the ideological work and life of the troops.

"Lao Huang, come and see, this is a low jungle, in front of a narrow valley, I have been to see, although this valley is narrow and steep, but it is not conducive to the ambush of the troops, so I plan to set up two blockade positions here, first to rub the sharp spirit of this stubborn army, but the terrain here is not conducive to our defense, we almost have to retreat, otherwise the casualties of the troops will be greatly increased. We can set the ambush in this low wood, where the trees are low, and there is a flat clearing in front of it, which is tactically not suitable for ambush warfare. But we can take advantage of this by ambushing our troops in the woods, luring the enemy deep with small troops, and then taking him by surprise, and we have very few troops at our disposal, so this tactic is best suited to us. ”

"Then what should Zhu Huaibing's department do?" Huang Chishui asked.

"Although there are a lot of people in Zhu Huaibing's department, but after last year's battle, that old boy learned to be obedient, and he easily didn't dare to provoke the ** Eighth Route Army, this time we only need to send two elite infantry battalions to this place to set up a blocking position, as long as the ammunition is sufficient to fight for three days or two It will not be a problem, and when Zhu Huaibing's old boy reacts, Pang Bingxun's vanguard regiment has long been annihilated." Jiangzi Qingdao.

"Okay, let's do it!"

"Then notify the troops to assemble"

Now the most entangled thing is not Chiang Kai-shek, nor Pang Bingxun, let alone Han Yunhua, but Xu Shiyou, who commanded the troops to fight on the southern Hebei front. Originally, Xu Shiyou was ready to do a big job, but a telegram forwarded by the military region headquarters made Xu Shiyou entangled. The party Central Committee ordered Xu Shiyou to control the situation on the front line and absolutely not to annihilate any unit of the friendly army at or above the regimental level at will, otherwise the consequences would be quite serious. And Han Yunhua himself has long been determined to take Pang Bingxun's 40th Army, although the central government has given several suggestions, but they have been vetoed by Han Yunhua, the chairman and others have no choice but to secretly order Xu Shiyou, the front-line commander, to work and not work.