Chapter 322: The Seventy-First Army
ps: Today's second update, continue to ask for recommendation votes ^_^
Just when Sun Liren was hesitating whether to send troops to directly support the national army, the General Headquarters of the 15th Group Army ordered him to immediately lead the army to occupy Canal Town (in fact, the history of the canal town was built after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but in order to smooth the text, it was directly called Canal Town in the book.\\), Sun Liren couldn't help but be a little puzzled, the canal railway station is located in the southwest of Pi County, Jiangsu Province (the location of Pi County in the Republic of China is different from now), the intersection of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Longhai Railway, the geographical location is very important, but the problem is that the canal town is located east of the canal, If the new 38th Division really went there, the threat to the Japanese army in Xuzhou would be greatly reduced, and Sun Liren, who was accustomed to seeing factions in the national army, couldn't help but feel a little "with the heart of a villain, the belly of a gentleman." I wonder if the head of the group army wants to kill people with a knife and dispose of those national troops by the hands of devils?
It's just that after all, he can't say this, and the tone of this telegram is unprecedentedly harsh, even Sun Liren didn't dare to disobey, so he could only obediently carry out the order, and the political commissar Mao Zetan guessed his thoughts, smiled and patted Sun Liren on the shoulder and said, "Judging from this order, our next target should be the devil of Lianyungang." His military talent is not as good as Sun Liren, but after all, he has partnered with Hu Weidong for a short period of time and knows more about his style, so he thought of Hu Weidong's plan first.
Sun Liren's eyes lit up when he heard this, if the new 38th Division could really seize the canal town, there was the protection of the canal in the west, and it was fully capable of resisting the attack of the main force of the Japanese army in Xuzhou, and after the Longhai Railway was cut off, the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in Lianyungang naturally became a lone army. However, Sun Liren also had a little doubt, even if the 15 th Group Army counted Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, which had just been greatly expanded not long ago and had not yet fully formed its combat effectiveness, the field troops were only more than 200,000, and after deducting the new 38th Division and the armored cavalry division that was still in Luoyang for training, the strength of the troops was probably less than 200,000, and a considerable part of them still needed to stay in the Shandong base area to defend against the southern crossing of the Yellow River by the Japanese army in North China and the landing of the Japanese army in Shandong from the sea, while the Japanese army in Lianyungang was not only quite numerous. It can also be supported by the naval fleet in a maximum of a few days. Where is it so easy to gnaw? What's more, the total number of Japanese troops in Xuzhou and within a radius of 100 miles near Xuzhou is quite amazing, and it is estimated that it will not be less than 500,000 people, will they sit idly by and watch the friendly forces in Lianyungang be annihilated?
But Mao Zetan trusted Hu Weidong and Su Yu as always, "I don't know how the chiefs plan to eliminate so many devils in Lianyungang, but I know that they must have a way." And as a subordinate. Even if we have our own opinions, orders must be carried out. ”
"Well, I believe it once too, and see how they work miracles.". Sun Liren said that although he joined the Red Party late, if he was counted from the moment he was a prisoner, Sun Liren could be regarded as a witness to the miracle created by Hu Weidong at the beginning. What's more, although Mao Zetan rarely interferes in military command, as the secretary of the party group, he is the real leader of the new 38th Division. Under the circumstance that the superiors had a clear order and the wording was harsh, even Sun Liren did not dare to hold the cow by the neck
To Sun Liren's relief, the General Headquarters of the Group Army said that it would directly send a telegram to Chen Mingren to explain the matter, and would also send reinforcements as soon as possible. In fact, after Hu Weidong learned that Chen Mingren led his troops north, he decided to take him under his command, so how could he not be saved? Well, even if this national army can't pull in. This rescuer has to be sent as well
Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army is just a miscellaneous army, and it is not easy for Hu Weidong to bring it under his command, not to mention that most of Chen Mingren's tens of thousands of horses are the aces of the Central Army? However, the fiasco of the Fifth War Zone gave Hu Weidong an opportunity, perhaps because the Chinese army's performance in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War was much better than that of the same period in history, so many famous traitors in history, including Wang Jingwei, have not yet fully exposed their true colors of cowardice and traitor. However, in just a few days, the Japanese army only paid a small price of more than 30,000 casualties and captured more than 500,000 Nationalist troops, both the losses of the Nationalist Army and the exchange ratio between the two sides, this battle was worse than any battle during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in history, and even surpassed the most tragic Battle of Songhu and the most humiliating Battle of Yuxianggui. Almost all of a sudden, China's victories accumulated over the course of a year and a half of hard fighting were wiped out
After learning of this bad news, even Lao Chiang's confidence in the war was seriously shaken. Not to mention the pessimists who never thought China could win. Among them, Wang Ching-wei made a rare decision on the spot, and with the help of Japanese spies, he hurriedly fled from Vietnam and issued a "glamorous telegram" to openly surrender to Japan
Hu Weidong seized this opportunity and asked Zhou Gong to complain to the Military Commission that the establishment was too small, and that there were soldiers in the base but could not be incorporated into the regular army, so that the 15 th Group Army could only use one enemy and four enemies, and there was no chance of victory no matter how you looked at it. That is to say, the three integrated divisions of the Central Army that broke through in the north were merged into the 71st Army of the National Revolutionary Army and transferred to the 15th Group Army of the First Theater, and all those miscellaneous armies were dismantled and incorporated into the three integrated divisions of the 71st Army, and the remaining deficiencies were made up by the former enemy headquarters of the First Theater.
However, Lao Jiang also put forward several conditions, one is that the 71st Army does not have political commissars and disguised political commissars (such as the director of the political department), but after Zhou Gong's hard negotiations, Lao Jiang agreed that the Red Party should arrange instructors at the company level, although he is very hostile to the Red Party, but he is also sure that the political work of the Red Party can indeed greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, especially at the grassroots level; Second, senior officers of the 71 st Army may not be dismissed or transferred without the permission of the Central Military Commission; after some negotiations between the two parties, the scope of the so-called senior officers was defined as three levels: corps, brigade, and division
Due to the urgency of time, Zhou Gong took the initiative to make concessions on many conditions, and the agreement was quickly reached, and Lao Jiang thought that after such restrictions, the Red Party would not be able to steal the command of the 71st Army, so he was relieved to hand over this strong force, which could be called the number one trump card of the Central Army as soon as it was formed, to Hu Weidong
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