Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek's residence.

Chiang Kai-shek still did not believe that the Eighth Route Army had regained Baotou and Guisui with the few broken guns in his hand, and had completely expelled the forces of the Yue Army from the Saibei area.

Chiang Kai-shek put the Qingshui teacup in his hand on the table, and said angrily: "Niang Xipi, what is the second war zone for, and what is he Yan Xishan doing, he actually let the communist bandits occupy Chahar and Suiyuan." I have long said that starting a war with myself will definitely make [***] take advantage of the loophole, and if you want to go outside, you must first settle the inside......"

Chen Cheng hurriedly said: "Chairman of the committee, after all, we are now in the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. ”

He Yingqin also said about this: "Chairman of the Committee, although [***] occupies Chahar, but I think their losses will not be too small, such a big thing as recovering Suihe and Baotou, and it is so meaningful, it can be seen that [***] has not come out to make any statement." In addition, the North China Front army of more than 100,000 troops is eyeing from the sidelines, even if they recover these two cities, it will be a burden, and the gains outweigh the losses! ”

"That makes sense, but we can't make [***] feel better, it's time to add a fire to them." Chiang Kai-shek said gloomily.

Chen Cheng hurriedly dissuaded: "Don't." Now is not the time for the chairman to provoke devils, and if he doesn't get it right, he will be burned. Besides, there are [***] troops in Saibei to contain the devils, and we will have a little more preparation time in Wuhan. If you fall out with [***] now, it will only be cheaper. ”

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Chen Cheng dissatisfied, and then said with some annoyance: "Niang Xipi, do you just look at [***] Zhuan Mei in front of you?" Then how can I, the chairman of the National Political Axe Committee, explain to the party and the state, and how can I explain to those Whampoa students who shed blood on the battlefield. Let them know that the political axe has spent so much food and salary to resist, and the results achieved are not as great as those broken guns [***], what will they think. ”

As the founder of the civil engineering department, Chen Cheng's political literacy is also extremely outstanding, he knows that Chiang Kai-shek is now jealous, he is jealous of Han Yunhua such a fierce general, thinking that he Chiang Kai-shek has millions of troops, and there are many fierce generals under his command, such as the 87th and 88th Divisions of the Central Army, the 36th Division of the German Army, the Fifth Army, the 74th Division, the Central Teaching Corps, the Tax Police Corps, etc., which are all first-class troops in Asia, and are not inferior to the fifth and sixth divisions of the army. But until now, the national political axe has organized dozens of battles of all sizes, such as the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Xuzhou, and the Battle of Taiyuan, but the result is that Shanghai is lost, Xuzhou is gone, and Taiyuan has also fallen.

However, the Eighth Route Army, which he Jiang had never looked down upon, actually recovered the provincial capital city of Suiyuan, Guisui, and attached an important military stronghold of the army, Baotou, which made Jiang really unable to figure it out.

But Chen Cheng is a real soldier in every aspect, and the troops under his command are also the most incorruptible troops among all the armies of the National Axe, Chen Cheng reorganized the 11th Division as early as when he was the mayor of the 11th Division. He openly put forward the conditions for the selection and use of cadres as follows: "not greedy for money, not afraid of death," able to lead troops, able to fight, have no bad habits, be loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, and obey his orders. Chen Cheng's troops recruited a large number of Whampoa students as middle and lower-level cadres, and these military backbones who had undergone systematic military training also made the troops of the civil engineering department extremely combat-capable. Chen Cheng himself was also particularly trusted by Chiang Kai-shek, so although he knew that Chiang Kai-shek did not like to hear some things, Chen Cheng would still say them.

Chen Cheng said: "Chairman of the Committee, you are now the chairman of the National Political Axe, and you are the important weapon of the country, and he [***] said that he is also a "warlord leader", and now that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are cooperating, it is really not easy to have disputes again!" After the investigation of our intelligence department, it was found that it was Han Yunhua's troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region who really attacked Guisui and Baotou, not He Long's troops as we had guessed earlier. Moreover, we also came to the nail of the Eighth Route Army that the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army seemed to be surprised by this attack on Guisui, but his rank was too low to have access to real secrets, and what happened was still under investigation. ”

Chen Cheng knew that arguing with Chiang Kai-shek now [***] was adding fuel to the fire and was likely to anger Chiang Kai-shek, so he had to use Han Yunhua to divert Chiang Kai-shek's attention.

Sure enough, Chiang Kai-shek was also excited when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "What?" Can you be sure? Wasn't Han Yunhua trapped in eastern Hebei by Shouichi Terauchi, how could he still have the ability to launch such a big war and give Shouichi Terauchi an afterthought? ”

He Yingqin said: "Basically, it can be determined that the corps stationed in Mongolia was attacked by the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and it is the troops of the Saibei Military Subdivision of the Inner Mongolia Military Region that are defending Guisui now. Although Han Yunhua himself was not found, maybe he was in eastern Hebei, but our spy personnel found Shen Yuquan, the number two person in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and Li Dayong, another henchman of Han Yunhua. ”

Chiang Kai-shek stood up, walked to the map on the wall behind him, looked at it, and said in praise: "Gao Ming, this Han Yunhua is indeed a command genius, and it is a miracle to transfer the tiger from the mountain and let him use it to this extent." Serial transfer of tigers, has been the main force of the army stationed in Mongolia to the eastern Hebei region, and then used the hidden forces to violently slam the Terauchi Shouyi army, it is indeed powerful! This person said that he must be a strong enemy of our party and state in the future, and he has to guard against it! ”

Chen Cheng saw that Chiang Kai-shek's set was coming again, and hurriedly said: "Chairman, what should we do now, we can't let the people think that our political axe is not even as good as a local army!" ”

Chiang Kai-shek thought for a while and said: "These theaters in the south of the Yangtze River have no chance to start a war with the devils, and maintaining the stability of the areas controlled by the party-state is the most important thing. ”

He Yingqin smiled secretly in his heart, the chairman wanted Yan Xishan and the Eighth Route Army to grab the credit, it was to help, and it was obviously to stimulate [***].

The meeting in Yan'an was held later than that of the Kuomintang and the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and first of all, after receiving the telegram, the chairman immediately invited Vice Chairman Zhou, Wang Jiaxiang, and Shaoqi over. Several people unified their opinions on the affairs of Han Yunhua and the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region, and finally the chairman came forward and convened a larger meeting.

At the meeting, the chairman emphasized Comrade Han Yunhua's contributions to the party and the people and the tremendous sacrifices made by the vast number of commanders and fighters of the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region for the country's freedom of reading. Therefore, the chairman explicitly ordered the political axes at all levels in the border region to strictly prohibit privately criticizing the personnel of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and if there is any opinion, they can directly report it to the higher authorities. However, it is strictly forbidden to make any remarks that are detrimental to the unity of the party and the army in private, and once discovered, they will be severely punished.

It was this meeting that established Han Yunhua's position in the party, and at the same time, Comrade Shaoqi proposed to reorganize the Northern Bureau and adjust the personnel of the Northern Bureau. However, now that the war in eastern Hebei is at a critical juncture, it is really not the time to adjust the northern bureau, so Comrade Shaoqi's proposal has been shelved by the chairman and is ready to discuss it later.

On 23 July, after receiving the news that Guisui and Baotou had fallen and that Lieutenant General Liannuma Fan, commander of the Mongolian Corps, had been killed, General Yama Fan was killed, he immediately dispatched a reconnaissance plane to Guisui to investigate. However, it is a pity that the battle in Baogui and the Second City has been over for a long time, and all that is left for the reconnaissance planes of the Yue Army is the billowing smoke left on the battlefield.

Soon after, the North China Front Headquarters received a telegram from Major General Tanaka Shinichi, chief of staff of the Mongolian Corps, in which Major General Tanaka Shinichi gave a detailed report on the course of the operation and the farewell dialogue between him and Lieutenant General Hasunuma to the North China Front Headquarters.

On the one hand, the reason why Major General Tanaka Shinichi did this was to explain to General Terauchi Shouichi that Lieutenant General Hasunuma was a real soldier and that he did not tarnish his military honor, and to obtain as many bereavement benefits as possible for Lieutenant General Hasunuma's family. On the other hand, it is clearly stipulated in the wartime regulations of the military that if a junior officer abandons the commander in chief, resulting in the accidental death of the military commander or the capture of the enemy, the entire army shall be sentenced to life imprisonment, and the person responsible will even be sentenced to capital punishment. Major-General Shinichi Tanaka also did this with the intention of protecting himself, so that his retreat was on the orders of Lieutenant General Hasunuma, and he would not be punished by the military headquarters.

After reading the telegram, General Terauchi Shouichi's mind went blank, a corps commander was killed by the enemy, and a large number of troops were surrounded and annihilated, and the responsibility for such a fiasco was no longer something that he, an army general, could bear.

General Shouichi Terauchi can imagine that when the news reaches China, his opponent will definitely fall into the ground, and his future will definitely be "bright" by then. But Terauchi Shouichi was not willing to fail like this, even if there was any punishment for him in the country, he would have to teach the hateful Shina people a lesson before leaving.

At about 11 o'clock in the morning on the 23rd, Terauchi Shouichi finally received a telegram that pleased him, the telegram market from the Chahar region, without signature, with a beautiful cherry blossom drawn in the lower right corner.

After reading the telegram, General Shouichi Terauchi had been keeping the so-called general's bearing that had been very good and was thrown away by him at once, and said angrily: "Eight Geyalu, Han Yunhua, Han Yunhua, why is it Han Yunhua again?" How is it that this abominable Shina man has haunted me so much? Yaga, I'll let you know that Shouichi in my temple is not easy to mess with. ”

That night, the three-way army attacking eastern Hebei received an order with the same content at the same time, and the headquarters of the North China Front ordered their three-way army to completely annihilate Han Yunhua's troops in eastern Hebei at all costs, and kill or capture the bandit leader Han Yunhua. The command allowed them to use the Yellow No. 1 special smoke. The order was very short, but Gu Shoufu and the others did not dare to slack off, and they saw through this short telegram that Terauchi Shouichi was determined to eliminate Han Yunhuabu.

After more than 20 days of arduous fighting, both Han Yunhua's troops and the various divisions and regiments of the Yue Army were already exhausted. Han Yunhua didn't have a good idea to say that although the troops also suffered heavy casualties, they had continuously broken through many county towns heavily guarded by the Yue army and important military bases such as Chengde, and the troops were fully replenished.

In just over 20 days, the Chinese army has not only lost a large number of elite troops, but also consumed a large amount of weapons and ammunition. The most worrying thing is that several big cities have been lost in a row, and two provincial-level provincial capitals alone have been breached. Although most of Rehe Province was still under the control of the Yue army, the fall of Chengde still severely damaged the morale of the Yue army.

If the Inner Mongolia Military Region's troops in eastern Hebei cannot be eliminated in a short period of time and the "riot" in eastern Hebei cannot be quelled, then it is not only General Terauchi Shouichi who will be questioned by the base camp, but the entire North China Front Army with hundreds of thousands of troops. Therefore, the top priority of the army is to wipe out Han Yunhua and his troops in eastern Hebei no matter what the price is paid, and Han Yunhua himself can be captured at best, if he can't be captured alive, then the dead Han Yunhua Temple Shouyi doesn't mind.

At five o'clock in the afternoon of the 23rd, the Sixth Division, which had taken a short rest, marched forward again, and their combat target this time was to take all the blank areas between the two counties from Guyuan to Weichang, and then detour south through the Karaqin Banner to cut off the back route of Han Yunhua's troops fleeing north. At the same time, the 26th Division continued to move along the road from Fengning to Chengde, and it was necessary to rush to Chengde to drag Han Yunhua's troops when the 6th Division went south to Chengde. The 21st Division should also rush to Zunhua as soon as possible and attack Han Yunhua's troops from behind Chengde.

The progress of the army was very fast, and by 11 o'clock on the night of the 23rd, the cavalry wing of the Sixth Division had already taken Sujiadian, Ligoumen, and Dashantou, and the troops were pointing directly at the archway heavily defended by the Eighth Route Army. The 26th Division, although still marching very slowly, was much faster than in the previous days, and by 9 o'clock in the evening of the 23rd, it had captured Fengshan, which was already 60 kilometers away from the city of Chengde. The 21st Division had also been stationed in Zunhua, and it was only a matter of time before it flanked Chengde, and the situation was very unfavorable to Han Yunhua's troops.

Wang Jian and Wan Guoquan telegraphed Han Yunhua many times, hoping that he could leave Chengde as soon as possible, and that it was not necessary for him, the commander of the military region, to be in the city to defend Chengde, because his risk would bring many uncertainties to the entire army.

However, Han Yunhua ignored the suggestions of Wang Jian and others, and instead strictly ordered them to fight their own battles, and as for his safety, they didn't have to worry about it.

It's not that Han Yunhua is too big, but he knows that the opportunity for the Yue army to attack him no longer exists, why. Because now Shen Yuquan and Li Dayong have joined Yang Ruihua's troops, and regained the front banner of Chahar's right flank on the morning of the 23rd, and are now on the way to Xinghe County, they are expected to join Yang Chengwu's troops on the 24th.

Han Yunhua instructed Shen Yuquan and others that after the meeting, the Fourth Route Army should march in the direction of Zhangjiakou and Beiping with great momentum, and if there is an opportunity, Zhangjiakou must be defeated, and the predicament in eastern Hebei will be truly alleviated by then.

On 21 July, the Jirebian Special Committee stationed in Xizhuang Village, Qian'an County, in the central region of eastern Hebei, and the newly established headquarters of the former enemy in eastern Hebei, directly led the Yankou uprising, and more than 400 basic members of the Xizhuang, Iron Works, Wangguanying, Xinji, and other places were assembled by Su Linyan, Wei Chunbo, Kong Qingtong, Zhang Zhichao, Ge Xijiu, Yang Wenhan, and other comrades, and cooperated with a reinforced infantry battalion of four columns. Under the command of Comrade Kong Qingtong, the uprising troops broke through more than a dozen devil strongholds in Qian'an in just two days, and the force grew to more than 1,500 people. On July 23, the ministry entered the iron works to join up with 200 members of Xu Zhi's tribe who had revolted in southern Fengrun. An infantry squadron of the Zunhua County Army, with the cooperation of more than 1,300 people from the puppet security team, rushed to the town of Tiechang. Comrade Kong Qingtong took the lead and led the troops to the Jade Emperor Temple north of the iron factory to meet the enemy, fought fiercely for 2 hours, defeated this puppet army, annihilated most of the puppet army, captured more than 480 people, captured 121 horses, and the weapons and equipment have not been counted for the time being. Then, the troops took advantage of the victory to conquer Xingcheng Town, and the police patrol officers of the Santun Battalion announced an uprising to welcome the Anti-Japanese Union into the city.

In this way, under the vigorous propaganda of [***] and the appearance of the soldiers of the army, the border areas of Qian'an, Zunhua, and Fengrun counties in the northern mountainous areas -- set off an upsurge of joining the army. The troops that rebelled at Xifengkou, Saheqiao, and Santunying were organized into the 12th Brigade of Reading Force, with Zhang Bingdong, the general captain, Ye Tian, the deputy captain, and Cheng Tiejun, the political director. The troops in the Xinji, Yangzidian, and Xingcheng areas where Wei Chunbo, Han Dongzheng, and Zhou Zhiguo launched an uprising, and formed the 14th Corps, with Chen Hanmin as the captain, Han Dongzheng as the political director, and Cai Yongchang as the deputy captain. Soon, under the command of Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo, Li Yunchang came from Changli to Xiayuanqi Village on the outskirts of Qian'an. Commanded the troops to go south to Zunhua, quelled the rebellion of the militia in the area of Fengrun Wangguanying, and directly promoted the local people to enlist in the war of resistance. Many people brought their own guns to join the army, and landlords and high-class people also voluntarily donated guns. Pseudo-police and vigilante groups automatically came to surrender. Within a few days, the 4th Brigade had grown to 4,000 people. As a result, the troops that revolted in the area of Liujiaying in Fengrun County were organized into the 13th Corps, with Liu Qitong as the captain and Gu Yunting as the political director.

At the same time, the Left Deputy Chief of Staff ordered the troops to massively attack the enemy's communication arteries, and the railway line was the main target of this attack. With the vigorous cooperation of the Jire Special Committee, the rebel armies led by the party organizations in various localities rushed out like a flash flood and carried out a large-scale sabotage war in the eastern Hebei region. As a result of this battle, almost all the lines of communication in the eastern Hebei region were completely cut off, and the mechanized troops of the devils could not move an inch, and according to Han Yunhua's estimates, even if the army reoccupied the eastern Hebei region, it would take one to two years to restore the communication lines in the eastern Hebei region alone.

The speed of development of the armed forces in the eastern Hebei region far exceeded the estimate of the left deputy chief of staff, and there was the new Fifth Corps established by Li Zihua and Ma Zijing in the western part of Zunhua; In the south of Zunhua, there is a special service corps established by Shi Xiu and Zhen Fengao; In the north of Tangshan, there is the 15th Corps established by Liu Xichun, Jiang Linzhai and Yue Wu; In the central and southern part of Fengrun, there are Li Jieren (Xu Zhi), Zhang Shuwan, Bao Zijing, Wang Weixin, etc. In the northeast of Zunhua, there is a second team of spies established by Gao Jinzhong and Gao Cun; the reading brigade established by Geng Yuhui and Li Weilian; In Wangguanying, there is the Eighth Spy Brigade established by Gao Shuxuan, Pan Renzhi, and Wang Wenlong............ As of mid-August, our party had set up more than 50,000 anti-union contingents in Feng, Luan, Qian, and Zun areas with the Fourth Corps as the main force.

On July 21, in the western part of eastern Hebei with Jixian as the center, the Jixian County Party Committee led the Bangjun uprising, and in order to achieve the expected results of the uprising, the deputy chief of staff of the left specially communicated with Han Yunhua and asked Han Yunhua to transfer a battalion of troops from the second assault brigade to cooperate with the uprising. Subsequently, with the vigorous cooperation of Han Yunhua's ministry, Wang Jianguo, deputy head of the militia in the three districts (the backbone of the National Salvation Association), led more than a dozen members of the National Salvation Association to conquer the puppet police station in Bangjun Town, completely annihilated a squadron of puppet police, captured more than 20 backbone members of the puppet police, and seized more than 130 large and small guns.

The situation in eastern Hebei has seriously deteriorated, and the headquarters of the North China Front is now facing troubles from outside and worries from within. The tens of thousands of puppet troops in eastern Hebei almost couldn't take advantage of the rebel troops, and when the number was small, they were completely annihilated by the rebel troops many times, which really disappointed Terauchi Shouichi. For this reason, Yin Rugeng's "pseudo-political axe" was not less reprimanded by General Terauchi Shouichi.

The nearly 100,000 troops led by Gu Shoufu and others were consumed in the periphery of eastern Hebei and Han Yunhua's headquarters, and the progress was slow, so in desperation, General Terauchi Shouichi had no choice but to send a report to the base camp, hoping that the base camp could transfer the main force of the Kwantung Army to enter the pass, and fight the resistance forces in eastern Hebei with Gu Shoufu and others.

In response to Terauchi Shouichi's request, he said that the country was divided into two opinions, one advocating that the Kwantung Army be transferred to fight in the pass, reoccupy Chahar, Rehe, Suiyuan and other provinces, and eliminate the forces that dared to resist in this area. At the same time, the Kwantung Army also had to expand its gains when it entered the pass, marching from the western part of Suiyuan to Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, and other provinces, and detouring back behind the political axe of China from the rear, and forming a huge strategic encirclement. The other faction advocated increasing troops in Manchukuo, consolidating the rule of the Great Empire in Manchuria, and thoroughly cleaning up the resistance forces in Manchukuo, including the Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Coalition led by [***] and the bandits who occupied the mountains as kings on the major hills.

In the end, the current emperor Hirohito personally ordered the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Uetenkichi to mobilize a division to fight in the pass within two days, and quickly withdraw to Manchukuo after completing the encirclement and annihilation of Han Yunhua's troops.

The commander of the Kwantung Army, General Kenkichi Ueten, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly sought Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo, chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, to negotiate the dispatch of troops.

(To be continued)