[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 344: The Japanese Army Attacked (Ask for a subscription, ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything!) ）

It's the New Year, and it should be a happy day for the whole family to reunite, but Ma Zheng and others are even busier.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the whole army ate dumplings, and after eating dumplings, they watched the wonderful performances brought by the army's cultural and art troupe; in addition to Peking opera, dramas, and songs, Ma Zheng also specially moved the recitation of patriotic poems to the stage, and he himself also took the stage to sing a song "Serving the Country with Loyalty" affectionately, which attracted full applause.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, in addition to paying New Year's greetings to Yan'an, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and the base areas of the major military regions, Ma Zheng also asked the military and political leaders of the military region headquarters to lead a team to Geqi County and various Mongolian tribes to offer condolences and learn about their living conditions.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Ma Zheng personally led all the senior leaders of the military region to the Jining Martyrs' Cemetery to pay respects to the comrades who sacrificed their lives for the great cause of resisting Japan of the motherland, and also made a wonderful speech entitled "On the Chinese Spirit" in the martyrs' cemetery.

After the speech was published by the Xinhua News Agency, it spread all over the country in a very short period of time and aroused discussion around the world.

In this speech, Ma Zheng said: "I believe that in the near future, many powerful countries like China will join in this just action against aggression and war." I believe that a great storm is brewing in the world now, just like the brutal Japanese invaders, whose allies will bring nightmares to the whole world, whether it is the powerful Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and their dependencies, let alone survive this human catastrophe, I hope that we can unite when the time comes"

In response to Ma Zheng's near-prophecy speech, countries around the world have had mixed reactions. There are contemptuous, there are approving, and there are thoughtful. Among them, the British gentlemen directly refuted Ma Zheng as a stupid oriental general, and even several British knights openly condemned Ma Zheng in the newspapers as an evil person who intended to provoke a war.

Ma Zheng didn't see the international reaction, what he wanted to do was a gesture, and my Ma Zheng's strategic vision was to be longer than you, that is, stronger than you. Follow me, everyone's interests are equal, if you don't look at me, then you will be prepared to be unlucky.

On the other hand, the United States is doing very well. President Roosevelt proposed a new bill to aid China, which was submitted to Congress for deliberation. At the same time, the United States sent two delegations to China, to Chongqing and Yan'an, the capital of the Nationalist Government.

Ma Zheng was very happy with the performance of the Americans, which shows that the Americans have realized that Japan's expansion in the Asia-Pacific region may threaten the interests of the United States, and then seek forces to contain Japan, so as not to raise tigers and burn themselves, and now the only one that can contain Japan is China, so they will support China in resisting Japan and strengthening China's war potential.

But Ma Zheng also knows it. At this time, the Japanese were already full-fledged, and the tentacles of the war had extended to the southeast and lower regions. Although it has not yet posed a threat to the US-controlled Philippines and other places, it is only a matter of time, and it is obviously impossible for the Americans to withdraw from this war!

Ma Zheng had a very comfortable time during the Spring Festival, anyway, the entire military region is now seeking stability from top to bottom. And the Japanese army did not make any major moves, let alone any action against Ma Zheng's department, so Ma Zheng is happy now.

But this state of affairs only lasts until the eighth day of the first lunar month, that is, on February 26. The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army sent a telegram that the main force of the 12th Army of the Japanese army in Shandong suddenly invaded the northern Jiangsu region. Meanwhile. The Japanese army dispatched the main force to invade the southern Hebei region with all its might, and launched a large-scale sweep of the southern Hebei region of the Eighth Route Army.

After receiving the telegram from the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Ma Zheng immediately ordered the garrisons in various places to strengthen their defenses and convened an emergency meeting in Guisui.

At half past six o'clock in the morning of February 27, Ma Zheng came to the conference room of the headquarters of the military region early. Since the military region has not held any major meetings during this time, this conference room has been empty. Ma Zheng walked into the conference room, spread the military map on the table, and took a magnifying glass to look at it carefully.

Combined with the telegram sent by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and Ma Zheng's understanding of history, Ma Zheng quickly analyzed that this was the public order and rectification plan launched by the North China Front in 1939. According to the division of the defense area of the Japanese invasion of China, northern Jiangsu is the defense area of the 21st Division stationed in Xuzhou under the 12th Army of the North China Front. The purpose of the enemy to capture northern Jiangsu. It was an attempt to cut off the connection between the anti-Japanese forces along the Chinese coast and the interior, to capture 17 counties in northern Jiangsu that had not yet been controlled by the Japanese army, to block the communication between northern Jiangsu and the mountainous areas of southern Lunan, to attack the Sulu theater of the Nationalist Government, and to control the Huaibei salt field.

According to the relevant documents after the war, there are 4 regiments of the 89th Army of the Kuomintang Han Deqin, 4 regiments of the 112th Division of the 57th Army, 1 regiment of the 331st Brigade of the 111th Division, and about 50,000 security brigades and guerrilla troops, the main force is located in the Lianghuai and Siyang areas around Hongze Lake, Baima Lake, and Gaoyou Lake, and the 57th Army is located in the Shuyang area.

In accordance with the instructions of the North China Front in late February, the 12th Army stationed in Jinan consisted of the 27th Division stationed in Xuzhou, the 114th Division stationed in Jinan, the 5th Division stationed in Qingdao, and the 7th Flying Regiment in North China, in coordination with the 4th Fleet of the Navy in Qingdao, to occupy the northern Jiangsu region with nine infantry brigades, four artillery brigades, cavalry, and engineer corps, and to carry out long-term stationing.

The attacking force of the 5th Division took the ships of the 4th Fleet from Qingdao to capture Rizhao and Andongwei on the southwest coast of Qingdao, and then arrived at the mouth of the Guan River south of Lianyungang, and from Yanwei Port there, they changed to small boats and went up to the Guan River through Chenjiagang, Shuanggang, and Xiangshui, and went ashore on the Liutang River, where they coordinated with the 21st Division to the west and the 114th Division to the north to launch an attack.

The enemy's 12th Army attacked northern Jiangsu with its main force from Xuzhou along both sides of the canal, occupied key points along the way to Huaiyin, cut off the retreat of the defenders east of the canal, and then captured Haizhou and the northern Jiangsu plain.

In Hebei, three divisions under the direct command of Sugiyama began a sweep in central and southern Hebei on February 26. Yoshio Shinozuka's 10th Division and Sangmu Chongming's 110th Division each advanced from Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, and Handan to the Weixian and Nangong areas to the east, with the aim of striking at the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army operating on this front.

At nine o'clock in the morning of the 26th, the enemy who invaded eastward from Ningjin occupied the important town of Yangzhuang, and engaged in a fierce battle with the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division, killing and wounding about 60 enemies and capturing a mountain cannon and a gun and ammunition.

However, such a small victory could not repel the Japanese attack, and the 10th Division and the 110th Division of the Japanese Army controlled the main crossings of the Fuyang River from Quzhou in the south to Xinhe County in the north in Zhaoxian, Longyao, Pingxiang, and Guangping counties east of Pinghan Road, constituting another parallel blockade line east of Pinghan Road, and posing as a posture of completely annihilating the anti-Japanese troops in southern Hebei.

However, what surprised Ma Zheng was that the intelligence organs of the military region did not react in the slightest when the Japanese army moved such a big movement, of course, this may be that the Japanese army has done a good job of secrecy measures, but it is also possible that the North China Front Army did not include the Suicha Military Region as a target, so there was no large-scale troop movement along the Zhangjiakou and Datong lines adjacent to the Suicha Military Region, so Xu Yinghui's intelligence department did not react.

If it's the first reason, then the matter is a bit troublesome, and the little devil is naturally trying to keep it secret. But if it's the second reason, it's interesting. If the little devil is afraid of the strength of the Suicha Military Region, so he knows how to consider his Ma Zheng's "feelings", it means that Sugiyama Yuan, an old devil, is afraid of being beaten.

While analyzing, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and then Yun Jian, Xu Yinghui, Xu Xiaolin, Wang Hansen, Huang Sicheng, Yang Chengwu, Ma Desheng, Xu Hu, Xing Chao and others rushed in and walked into the conference room. Seeing Ma Zheng looking at the map alone in the conference room, everyone was shocked, and then everyone became nervous, and Ma Zheng's performance showed that something big had happened again. (To be continued.) )