Taiyuan. Headquarters of the First Army in Shanxi.

Yoshio Shinozuka frowned and looked at the officers under him, the battle in the past few days has exhausted the entire First Army in Shanxi, at this time there are not many troops left in the entire First Army in Shanxi, the 36th and 37th divisions are only less than half of the troops, and the remaining divisions are also the vast majority of casualties of more than half, and now there are less than 30,000 troops left in the entire First Army in Shanxi, plus more than 10,000 puppet troops, it is only a little more than 40,000, and the Chinese army surrounded in Shanxi has exceeded one million, Yoshio Shinozuka knew it was time to make a decision.

"Gentlemen, now that Tianjin and Tangshan have been occupied by the Chinese people, the headquarters of the front army is also besieged in Beiping, and even Gangcunjun's eleventh army has been dragged in Henan by Xue Yue's first corps, and it is temporarily impossible to go north, so we have no reinforcements anymore, and now we need you to make a decision with me, whether to continue to stay in Taiyuan and live together with this Taiyuan city or withdraw troops to break through." Yoshio Shinozuka spoke slowly, and he was watching the officers' reactions.

The result was similar to what he expected, in fact, these officers did not really go to China for the so-called "holy war", let alone for His Majesty the Emperor, but for their own selfish desires and desire to be promoted and make a fortune, the so-called "bushido" is just the bushido of lower-level officers and soldiers, once the official reaches the rank of captain and above, there are absolutely few people who believe in the spirit of bushido anymore.

Now that the imperial forces in North China have completely collapsed, there is almost no hope of survival left, and even the Chinese army of a major city like Tianjin can be taken in a very short time, and there is no chance of survival of Taiyuan City, which is much weaker than the fortifications of Tianjin. Moreover, Taiyuan City was close to the interior, and reinforcements could not reach it for the time being, so almost all the officers were not against breaking through.

The reason why no one brought it up before was entirely because of the strict system of superiors and subordinates in the Japanese army. If there is no order from a superior officer, the troops will be judged to be rebels, and the Japanese army has always been very cruel to the rebels, not only will they be punished very severely, but they will even implicate their own daughters, so if Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka does not propose, no one dares to say such a "rebellious" proposal.

Ishihara Zhong, chief of staff of the First Army, stood up and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, now that the front army is powerless, due to the mistake of intelligence, we have seriously underestimated the strength of the Chinese army, and even underestimated their individual strength. The Chinese army is not the so-called million or so at all, but at least two million troops participated in the war, and at the same time there are about 500,000 reserve troops, while our front army has less than 200,000 troops, and the ratio of the Chinese soldiers has reached a terrifying 10:1, so this depends on our army not to lose to the Chinese people, but to ourselves. Therefore, he thinks that staying in Taiyuan will not do much, so he can only accompany this empty city to be buried together, and it is better to preserve a little strength for the empire. ”

Lieutenant General Anda 23, who had just returned from the front line, also got up and said: "Your Excellency, there is an old saying among the people of China, called "Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of running out of firewood", so we can fail and break through, but we must save enough troops for the empire so that we have a chance to make a comeback, so I agree to break through. ”

Seeing that these two strong generals in the army supported Yoshio Shinozuka together, the others would not object, so the First Army stationed in Shanxi unanimously decided to prepare to break through.

Although the general policy and line is determined, but the specific implementation is still very troublesome, so to withdraw from Taiyuan City is simply looking for death, now there are Chinese troops everywhere, if the planning is not good, it is likely that just out of Taiyuan City will be besieged by the Chinese army. Losing the protection of Taiyuan City will only make the First Army stationed in Shanxi die faster. …,

In addition, there are now more than 20,000 imperial elites in the Shimen area, so how to withdraw and where to withdraw has become the key to the discussion of the First Army stationed in Shanxi. Regarding the route of withdrawal and breakthrough, the entire First Army was divided into two factions, one was dominated by Lieutenant General Ishihara Zhongteng, who advocated withdrawing to Henan, and then flanked Xue Yue's First Corps with Okamura Ninji's Eleventh Army. The second point of view was put forward by the officers headed by Anda 23, who advocated that the entire army of the First Army should pass through the Jingcheng Pass, and then rendezvous with the Japanese troops in the Shimen area, and then seek an opportunity to break through.

Both points of view are very reasonable, regardless of right or wrong, after thinking about it for a long time, Yoshio Shinozuka decided to go south to join the 11th Army. Because as far as the Chinese army in North China is concerned, the most effective force is the troops under Han Yunhua of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, but most of the troops of the Eighth Route Army are now concentrated in Hebei and eastern Shanxi, and if they go to join the troops in the Shimen area now, they will eventually compete with the Chinese troops in Shimen and other places, and it will not be good if they are entangled, so Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka finally decided to go south to join Okamura Ninji's 11th Army.

It was Wei Lihuang's Third Army and the 35th Army of the Jin Sui Army that besieged Taiyuan, while Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang also all reached the Taiyuan front.

However, they did not expect that Yoshio Shinozuka would have the courage to abandon the fortified Taiyuan City, let alone that the Japanese army would flee to the Henan region. Therefore, when Shinozuka Yoshio's troops attacked, both the Central Army and the Jin Sui Army were caught off guard, and the troops suffered heavy casualties. And the direction that Yoshio Shinozuka chose to break through is indeed hard to imagine, Han Yunhua also thought that the Japanese army could break through before, and the probability of breaking through to the east is very high. But now it seems that Han Yunhua still underestimated Yoshio Shinozuka, people know that Han Yunhua's department is now gaining momentum, so he doesn't brow at all, the Chinese army on the Nakajo Mountain defense line is very poor in terms of personnel training and weapons and equipment, so Yoshio Shinozuka directly pinched the soft persimmon, and it succeeded at once.

In order to ensure that the breakthrough could be successful in one fell swoop, Yoshio Shinozuka was also tough enough, and suddenly released an infantry division in Taiyuan City to continue to attract the main forces of Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang, forcing them not to send the main force to pursue the main force of the First Army.

After the main force of the First Army successfully broke through, it did not dare to stop at all, and fled directly towards northern Henan. As for the Kuomintang troops along the road, they did not dare to stop them when they saw the mighty tens of thousands of Japanese devils, and at this time, the vast majority of the main forces of the Kuomintang troops had been transferred to the Jinzhong area, and the troops in southern Jinnan were all garrison troops, and they were not enough to protect themselves, so they still had the courage to resist the Japanese army's 20,000 or 30,000 troops.

In addition, the first army of this breakthrough was cavalry in addition to cars, and it also threw away most of the baggage that could not be taken away, so the march was very fast. So it took only two days to flee to Wuxiang, and the main force of the Chinese army was all near Taiyuan. The 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army had three columns remaining in the southeast of Shanxi, but they did not dare to make trouble with the First Army of the Japanese Army, because at the same time as learning that more than 25,000 people of the main force of the First Army of the Japanese Army had fled to Wuxiang, the 120th Division also received a telegram from the 115th Division, saying that an infantry brigade of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army had occupied Wushe County this morning, less than 50 kilometers away from Jiaozuo, an important town in northern Henan. The headquarters of Sun Dianying, the Nationalist Government stationed in northern Henan, surrendered without a fight and became a lackey of the Japanese.

After receiving the news, the 120th Division immediately returned to the southeast of Jin with the main force, and Master He directly ordered the three columns left in the southeast of Jin not to attack at will, and to let the first army of the Japanese army go over, anyway, the 11th Army did not have the courage to go deep into the Shanxi territory alone. With no logistical support, no reinforcement of troops, and more than 300,000 troops under Xue Yue's command staring at him, if Okamura Ningji still had the courage to go deep into Shanxi alone, then even if the Chinese army really ate the First Army and the Eleventh Army, it would not be a problem. …,

Therefore, Yoshio Shinozuka was lucky to retreat to Jiaozuo almost without any resistance along the way, preserving the elite of the First Army, and the so-called "division" that remained in Taiyuan was of course exterminated by the Chinese army. However, there is nothing to feel sorry for the left-behind division Yoshio Shinozuka, although the loss of 16,000 or 7,000 troops is really uncomfortable, but more than half of them are puppet soldiers, and the rest are light and serious wounded and some diehards who can't be taken away.

After the First Army fled from Shanxi, there was no longer any stronghold of the Japanese puppet army in the entire Shanxi region, and by the afternoon of January 4, 1941, the whole of Shanxi had been recovered. As soon as the news spread, the whole country was excited, and for a time the entire article about the entire North China counteroffensive appeared in the major newspapers of the country, and the names of Han Yunhua, Wei Lihuang, Yan Xishan, Liu Bocheng, He Long, and others suddenly became famous throughout the country. Han Yunhua, who was already a well-known anti-Japanese hero in the country, has now almost become synonymous with the god of war, whether it is the mouthpiece of the Nationalist government or the Communist Party, almost all of them are praises for this young general who is only 27 years old.

Moreover, after the liberation of Shanxi, China's international reputation was greatly shaken, which was in stark contrast to the great rout of the United States in the Southeast Asian theater, and the larger proposal to aid China was soon put on Roosevelt's desk. For this reason, Roosevelt deliberately instructed General Stilwell, chief of the general staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, to go north to Yan'an to inspect the Chinese Communist Party, and at the same time sent several reporters with special tasks to China to interview this Chinese general.

However, these things have nothing to do with Han Yunhua for the time being, and now he regrets that he didn't expect Yoshio Shinozuka to flee south. You must know that the battle plan formulated earlier was to completely annihilate the First Army stationed in Shanxi, and then force the Japanese troops in Beiping and Tianjin to withdraw from China by sea. But now things are just the opposite, the Japanese army who originally had the hope of escape has become a prisoner or a turtle in an urn, and the Great Wangba, who has been sentenced to death, has escaped and ascended to heaven, what is this doing?

However, it is good that the troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region have been exhausted by more than two months of fighting, and the troops are now in urgent need of rest. I just received the news that Xu Shiyou's department has broken through Beiping City, and the puppet army in the city that was controlled by the Japanese army has revolted in large numbers on the battlefield, and now the Chinese army has controlled most of Beiping City, and the Japanese army has been compressed to a small area in Dongcheng District.

However, Xu Shiyou also sent a telegram saying that the attack on Beiping City was stubbornly resisted by the Japanese army, and the Japanese army was determined to destroy the entire Beiping together, so the entire Beiping was full of mines and bombs, and if it were not for the later puppet army uprising, most of the mines were detonated or demolished, I am afraid they would have gotten a ruin.

The most outrageous thing is that Tada Jun, the old devil, actually planted more than 3,000 bombs in the Forbidden City, and he wanted to destroy this modern palace complex of great historical significance in China, but fortunately this conspiracy was destroyed by an intelligence officer lurking in the Japanese army, otherwise even if he took Beiping City, Xu Shiyou and the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region would be infamous forever.

The more than 200,000 troops of the Eighth Route Army, including more than 100,000 troops under Han Yunhua's department, attacked the Japanese troops on the front line of Jingcheng Pass and Shimen in the east and west directions of the city, and achieved certain results, and the attitude of the Japanese defenders in Shimen has changed, Han Yunhua believes that as long as Jingcheng Pass is taken, then the Japanese defenders in Shimen are likely to surrender to the Chinese army.

Therefore, Han Yunhua urgently ordered Xu Shiyou's troops to sweep away the remnants of the enemy in Beiping City as soon as possible, if those senior officers of the Japanese North China Front have not been shot to death by indiscriminate shooting, then they should all be escorted to Yan'an, but before that, all the wealth they looted from China must be knocked out, and Xu Shiyou will do it himself. …,

In addition, Han Yunhua also ordered Li Jingquan, Wang Zhiguo and others to immediately step up the attack on the Japanese puppet army at Jingcheng Pass, and if they could, they could use the tactics of geotechnical excavation to blow up the Japanese puppet military fortifications at Jingcheng Pass first, and force the Japanese puppet army in Shimen to surrender.

On January 6, Xu Shiyou's headquarters called, Beiping City was recovered, the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front Army was destroyed by Xu Shiyou's headquarters, and the commander of the Japanese North China Front, General Tada Jun, cut himself in his own underground headquarters before the arrival of the troops, Major General Kunisaki Noboru, who had just been promoted to the commander of the Fifth Division, and a large number of senior Japanese officers were captured by Xu Shiyou's department, and Xu Shiyou looted more than a dozen official knives alone.

Soon news also came from the south that after two days and two nights of non-stop attacks, Li Jingquan's Fourth Field Division finally destroyed the fortifications of Jingcheng Pass, and then regained Jingcheng Pass, where the remnants of about an infantry wing fled back to Shimen, and the troops were attacking in the direction of Shimen.

On January 10, the 1st Brigade and 2nd Brigade of the 4th Field Division of the Inner Mongolia Military Region met with the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the 1st Independent Column on the periphery of Shimen, and then Major General Sawada, the commander of the Shimen garrison, led about two infantry wings of Japanese troops and more than 10,000 puppet troops to surrender to the Chinese army.

The heroic performance of the Chinese army once again shocked the world, especially this time it was completely completed by the army of the Chinese Communist Party, so the reputation of the Communist Party of China has been further enhanced, of course, the tide is also high, Han Yunhua's fame once again resounded throughout China, and his huge personal photo was directly put on the desks of Roosevelt and Churchill by the intelligence agencies of Britain and the United States and other countries, and even Stalin, who has always been proud, was also very emotional after reading the information about Han Yunhua, saying that Han Yunhua was a good Bolshevik in China, It is worth learning from the vast number of Soviet Red Army soldiers.

Originally, according to Han Yunhua's plan, after conquering Hebei and Shanxi and the Pingjin region, the troops did not stop, but continued to attack Shandong, and millions of troops gathered in Shandong, and then took the last piece of territory of the Japanese devils in North China, and drove the little devils into the sea to feed Wang Ba.

But what happened next completely disrupted his plan, first of all, a large number of Japanese reinforcements landed in Qingdao, the first batch of infantry was full of four divisions, and even a chariot division, and now the entire Shandong region has gathered five Japanese infantry divisions, two independent mixed brigades and one chariot division, the total number has exceeded 100,000 people, plus some time ago, the commander of the Shandong administrative region, the commander of the 12th Army, Lieutenant General Tuqiao Ichi, saw that the situation in North China was grim and the troops were seriously insufficient, ordered all the Japanese young and middle-aged people in Shandong to be incorporated into the reserve force, and then distributed guns and ammunition for training, and he also organized an army of nearly 40,000 people, in addition to the Japanese army has three divisions of troops have been boarded in Tokyo Bay, ready to be transported to North China. Therefore, it is expected that the Japanese army stationed in Shandong will reach a terrifying 300,000 within a month, plus more than 100,000 puppet troops, and the number will be even more sea, so Han Yunhua's troops have to stop and digest the territory that has just been recovered.

In addition, northern China also seems to be very unstable, first of all, the third army of the Japanese Kwantung Army is fighting to the death with the independent 77th division on the Shanhaiguan line, and both sides are fighting fiercely, but in general, the independent 77th division suffered a little loss, and the third army ate a whole infantry regiment. The Horqin steppe is also full of war clouds, and the cavalry divisions of the Kwantung Army and several national defense armies of the puppet Manchurian government continue to expand the defense line to the east of Guisui, and they also plunder deep into the grassland many times.

Shen Yuquan, who was stationed in Xilinhot, was furious and sent three cavalry divisions to fight in the east of Guisui, and the two sides fought several encounters, but there were no large-scale cavalry encounters, so they were very jealous of each other. The instability in the rear also made Han Yunhua have to stop advancing, ordering the troops to immediately rest and replenish on the spot, waiting for the latest orders of the military region, while he himself returned to Guisui ...... with the guard regiment from the Shanxi front.