Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Back in Time (1)

The results of the winter offensive reflected the real situation on the frontal battlefield at that time, that is, the Chinese army was unable to make a decisive counterattack, and the Japanese army occupied more and more places, and the forces that could be used in China had reached their limit. To put it more clearly, it is difficult for everyone. keep betting According to the data provided by the historian Huang Renyu, by 1939, Japan’s direct military expenditure had reached 6.4 billion yen, twice that at the beginning of the war, and more than half of the country’s income was wiped out in an instant.

Ishihara Wanji once said that if a full-scale war broke out between China and Japan, at least five billion yen in military expenditure would be spent.Now it seems that the "sole strategist" estimate is still too optimistic. The fact is that more than 6 billion has been spent, but still does not know how to end it. By the end of 1939, due to insufficient domestic military production, the Japanese government even collected the rifles used in school military training and shipped them to the front. Japan's dominance in East Asia is undoubtedly a blatant challenge to the "Nine Powers Pact".Due to the containment of the European battlefield, the United Kingdom can only remain silent for most of the time, or even compromise and retreat, while the United States can no longer hold back.

In 1939, the U.S. State Department officially notified Japan that the "U.S.-Japan Commercial Treaty" was abolished.This treaty was signed in 1911, and it would actually expire on January 26, 1940, but the Americans ignored it and swung their knives directly to kill it. This knife is too cruel.You must know that American products accounted for more than 40% of Japan's total imported materials at that time, and many large strategic materials, such as oil and steel, had to be bought from Uncle Tom. Since then, Japan not only has to deal with China and the Soviet Union, but also Britain and the United States have been added to the war list.

After counting the chess pieces in hand, the Japanese command realized how deep it was in China, and now it is not easy to get out. Remove some quickly. The military department formulated a plan and expected to withdraw in two batches. The first batch was to reduce the Japanese troops in the pass from 850,000 to 700,000 by the end of 1939, and the second batch was to reduce the Japanese troops from 700,000 to 400,000 by the end of 1940. . The demobilization of the 101st and 106th Divisions was actually part of the first withdrawal plan.However, this plan was strongly opposed by the "China Dispatch Army".

Today's "China Dispatch Army" is terrible. The "North China Front Army" in North China, the "Central China Dispatch Army" in Central China, and the 21st Army in South China are all under its direct command. listen to it. What about the Japanese military?Three points of respect are also required, so the first batch of troop withdrawal plans could not be carried out as soon as they started. The commander of the "Chinese Expeditionary Force" is Hisao Nishio.His superior position is almost the epitome of reality that good work is not as good as good relationship.Taierzhuang is like that bird, but as long as someone covers it, after a small bend in his official career, he can still rise on a rocket.

First, he was appointed as the training director, became one of the three heads of the Japanese army, and then became the head of the highest command organization of the army in China. He really got what he wanted. Itagaki's military achievements are high enough, and he is no more than a chief of staff under him. What else can you explain. Most mediocre people don't allow their subordinates to be so clever, and the same is true for Nishio.Neiji Okamura, the commander of the 11th Army, should say that he is quite good at fighting. He was able to maintain the status quo even with a small number of major generals. In particular, he escaped the winter offensive launched by the Fifth and Ninth War Zones, which is commendable. But this man was so individual that he sometimes dared to question the orders of the High Command, so Nishio chose to let Okamura walk. The latter was entrusted with the post of Military Councilor and left the front line in Wuhan.

Everything is reopening, and Nishio intends to make some appearances during his tenure.In order to prevent the recurrence of large-scale offensives like the Winter Offensive, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity for the Chinese army to enter the rest and concentrate its forces on the Fifth Theater. After kicking the ball back from the military department, all the troops who planned to be demobilized or returned to the country remained, and the "China Dispatch Army" also had the capital to go to war. Knowing that the 11th Army was short of troops, and that it would be difficult to defend, not to mention attacking, Xiwei adopted the method of "deploying soldiers from the east to the west" and took seven infantry brigades from the 13th Army stationed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai to Wuhan. The new commander of the First Army Sonobe and Lieutenant General Ichiro unified command.

Sonobe Kaichiro and Okamura Ningji are classmates, and they have been "same" classmates from Lu Shi to Luda. Later, Okamura went to the Kwantung Army as the division commander, and Sonobe also chased after him, also serving as the division commander. Chang, and now he’s coming to Wuhan to take over again—it’s not such a way to rub the stars, and they’re inseparable. No matter what others think, Sonobe does have the drive and ideas to surpass his predecessor.In order to ensure that this hit hits the ground, he used three divisions as the main force, and then assigned them to fifteen infantry brigades, so that the actual strength of the attack on the fifth theater suddenly exceeded four divisions.

Even after the "Eastern Soldiers Transferred to the West", the Eleventh Army has only seven divisions and four brigades in total. This time, Sonobu really put the biggest bet on it. In fact, everyone is betting that the Japanese military is betting that the "China Incident" will be finally resolved, Nishio is betting that he will be successful in his own business, and Sonobe is betting that he will be better than Okamura. knot Li Zongren and his generals are about to undergo a new test. As early as during the winter offensive, Zhang Zizhong, commander of the Right Wing Corps, was interviewed by American journalist Smedley.At first everyone talked smoothly, but the reporter suddenly asked a question, which aroused Zhang Zizhong's great resentment.

Smedley: What do you think is the primary reason why China has so many puppet troops? Smedley is a very personal American reporter, but her words clearly hurt the interviewee In fact, this question is not specifically aimed at Zhang Zizhong. I have also asked Wang Yanxu, the leader of the Sichuan Army, before. Why are there so many puppet troops?The answer given by the boss is quite satisfactory: because they don't study, if they read more Confucian classics, they won't become puppet soldiers. The Shi reporter is worthy of being a reporter, and his response is very quick: as far as I know, there are many puppet army leaders who are well-read scriptures.

Wang Yanxu looked at this tricky reporter helplessly, and had no choice but to explain as follows: You must study seriously, and the puppet army leaders you mentioned must be superficial in reading. Smedley understood that the leader of the Sichuan Army never read books himself, even if it was "superficially".There is not even a single book in his command post, let alone Confucian classics. Unlike Wang Yanxu, Zhang Zizhong was not so good at bragging, but his achievements were outstanding, and he was almost the type that Wang Yanxu praised. He had read Confucian classics when he was young, and he never put them down after joining the army. He read all kinds of military and political books. Smedley thought that Zhang Zizhong would give him a serious answer, but he didn't expect the other party's face to change suddenly after hearing this, and he only stared at her coldly with a pair of eyes: I don't know! The uncrowned emperor has a pen, who dares to offend, Zhang Zizhong's attitude made Smedley very angry, and afterwards he angrily lost his temper with Zhang Zizhong's staff, saying that she would never understand and trust people like Zhang Zizhong. In fact, in the final analysis, people still have to be kind. Before the interview, Smedley looked through Zhang Zizhong's information and knew some unbearable past events of the other party, but still wanted to ask such a question. It is really hard to say whether it was intentional or not. In this ancient land, there are many things that an American woman cannot understand. For example, she does not know that at that moment, a person's heart has been deeply stabbed. Since leaving North China, Zhang Zizhong will do his best in every battle, but there is no doubt that the battle is getting harder and harder, and he is getting farther and farther away from North China and Pingjin. Fighting can paralyze people's nerves, but when not fighting, a simple question about the puppet army is so unbearable. A pair of life and death brothers back then, one betrayed the other, although that one later chose to be tolerant and forgiving, but as long as you don’t get back what the other lost, you will never really get peace of mind, even if you are alive, you will be as innocent as dust. worthless. It was a dead knot in my heart for a long time. I am not a puppet army, nor a traitor, I am not, I will get back everything I lost! that person Song Zheyuan's situation is very bad, as early as before the Xuzhou battle. After welcoming Zhang Zizhong back to the army, the commander-in-chief of the First Group Army had made up his mind to fight back to North China and revive the 29th Army, but he found that he was more and more powerless, and could no longer return to the past when he commanded the Great Wall during the Anti-Japanese War. The brave. What makes him even more sad is that not many people are willing to obey the command of his former hero of the war of resistance. He said that he would charge forward, but everyone slipped down one by one, not taking the commander-in-chief of the group army seriously. . At that time, the First Group Army had already belonged to the First Theater, and Cheng Qian, the commander of the theater, didn't understand why Song Zheyuan's troops always retreated again and again, and repeatedly called to blame. The staff office asked Song Zheyuan how to answer, Song Zheyuan didn't know how to answer, so he made up a reason casually, saying that the reason why the front line retreated was not passive, but active, but to "avoid a decisive battle with the enemy, so as to prevent the troops from doing unnecessary sacrifice". What you want is that you go up to the "decisive battle", and you still have to "avoid" and refuse to make "useless sacrifices". This reason is naturally unconvincing, not to mention Cheng Qian, even the staff at the staff office feel that they can't say it , I had to make up some other reasons to prevaricate. Later, Song Zheyuan wiped the buttocks of the frontline troops to the point where even he himself was incoherent. After "avoiding a decisive battle", he put forward another "the whole army is supreme". Qin Dechun quickly reminded him that "the whole army is supreme" comes from "Sun Tzu's Art of War", which refers to the army that surrenders without fighting, not retreat without fighting. You got the meaning wrong. Song Zheyuan smiled wryly: Then tell me, these boys keep retreating, how can you help them get round? Let’s make it more popular, and say: if you can fight, fight, if you can’t fight, leave. This is not fighting guerrilla warfare in the rear, how can it be done like this.Song Zheyuan's fuss was all to deal with Cheng Qian's "inspection". In fact, every time he fought, he put the headquarters of the group army at the front, but he couldn't supervise the armies, and the troops still scrambled to retreat, retreating back and forth, and the headquarters position turned out to be at the front when attacking, and at the back when retreating. ! Due to the lack of improvement in commanding operations, Liu Yufen, Men Zhizhong and other veterans of the Northwest Army couldn't hold back, and sent telegrams to the front line, hoping that Song Zheyuan could resign and let the virtuous. At this time, Song Zheyuan also felt that the army was in disarray, and it would not be easy to straighten it out, so he handed over the military power to Feng Zhi'an, and went to Hengshan, Hunan to recuperate. There were a lot of people gathered around Song Zheyuan, but now seeing that the old man had no position or power, they all dispersed, only Qin Dechun and a few others remained. When he was in a high position, there were very few people who dared to talk about him behind his back. However, when he completely retired, gossip became more and more. Turned out those things, pointing at the back. At this time, domestic public opinion also changed its praise for the 29th Army at the beginning of the "July 7th Incident", and instead criticized Song Zheyuan and the 29th Army.Some satirical and scolding articles are published in newspapers, which is better, you can choose not to read them, but some people will directly write letters or send telegrams to Song Zheyuan himself. Song Zheyuan was very sad and sad, and often drank his sorrows with alcohol. He asked more than once, who is responsible for the affairs in North China, and should we bear the responsibility entirely? No one could answer him. He muttered to himself again: When you are alone on the stage, everyone will come to compliment you, but when you are unlucky, everyone will push you down, and even add insult to injury. The few people who accompanied him didn't know how to comfort him. Suddenly, someone remembered a letter saying that the old man's heart disease was hard to get rid of, so he might as well find out the letter and let him see it. After reading the letter, Song Zheyuan turned his worries into joy, and carefully kept the letter with him. That letter was written by Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, the North China Political Committee had just been established. Chiang Kai-shek said in the letter that Song Zheyuan had full power to handle the Jicha affairs, and everything was in charge of the central government. Song Zheyuan found a written basis, and he thought he could tell the world loudly from now on: I, Song Zheyuan, am patriotic, and what I did in North China for two years was authorized and approved by the central government. He regarded this letter as a treasure, and refused to leave him at all times. Until his deathbed, he urged his family members to compile the letter into his biography. Dream back to North China Throughout his life, Song Zheyuan encouraged himself to "rather be a dead ghost in battle than a slave to a subjugated country", and he also used this creed to educate and demand others. Shi Yousan used to be his subordinate. After hearing that he was hooking up with the Japanese, he personally sent a telegram to Shi Yousan, asking the latter to cherish his personal reputation and obey the orders of the theater. Wang Jingwei had nothing to do with him, but after the other party defected, he called Chiang Kai-shek specifically to scold Wang's treasonous behavior, which was despised by the people of the country. What he will never forget, of course, is that battlefield.It's just that there is basically no good news from there. Even if there are occasional cheering articles, if you look at it with the eyes of an expert, you can see that it is not good. Song Zheyuan couldn't hold back, and was thinking about getting back on the horse. He said to others: If Song went out to lead the team, the enemy would never be so rampant. But this was just his wishful thinking. At that time, Song Zheyuan had already suffered from severe liver disease due to long-term depression. No one could let a patient lead soldiers to fight. Later, when he moved to Chengdu, his daughter who lived in Hong Kong saw that his father's condition was getting worse and there was a lack of medicine and good doctors in the rear, so she wrote to persuade him to go to Hong Kong for medical treatment. Song Zheyuan wrote back: I am a soldier, and I am sorry that I cannot kill the enemy on the front line.Are you still persuading me to go to Hong Kong to avoid my responsibilities? I resolutely refused to go to Hong Kong, but insisted on going to Xi'an, because it was closer to North China. The family and doctors refused to listen to their persuasion, so they had to call Qin Dechun. Qin Dechun followed Song Zheyuan for half his life and knew him well, so he advised everyone: just do what he wants, don't make him feel unhappy, it might be better. "I would rather be a dead ghost than a slave to a subjugated country" It is Song Zheyuan's life creed But Song Zheyuan couldn't travel long distances, he only traveled two hundred miles, and he couldn't move anymore when he arrived in Mianyang. While in Mianyang, Song Zheyuan's condition deteriorated sharply, and he often vomited blood and fell into a coma.When he woke up one day, he said to his old colleagues who came to visit: Soldiers cannot die in battle, and even when they die, they cannot rest in peace... When Song Zheyuan left Beiping, due to the hasty schedule, he did not have time to take away his family members who lived in Tianjin. Later, he only picked up his wife and daughter, and his mother was too old to travel far. Song Zheyuan entrusted someone to bring a crutch with his nickname engraved on it - I am afraid that we will never meet again in this life, this is the only token. He finally entered the countdown of life. In the dream, it seemed that I was walking on familiar streets again. That was Beiping, Tianjin, a place where I could feel my own existence, and a spiritual home for a lifetime of nostalgia. There are also those brothers who once laughed together, grieved together, struggled together, and lost together. Whether you live or die, you can't forget... On April 5, 1940, Song Zheyuan died of illness in Mianyang at the age of 54. That day was the traditional Chinese Ching Ming Festival. Swallow During Song Zheyuan's retirement, Zhang Zizhong still sent regular telegrams to report the progress on the battlefield. Of course, there must always be news of victory in the telegram, even if it is an insignificant small victory, as long as it makes the other party happy, Zhang Zizhong will never tire of it. It's just that it's too difficult, and it gets harder the further you go. After the winter offensive, the fifth war zone entered the stage of rest and replenishment. However, due to the extreme shortage of supplies in the rear, the so-called replenishment can only be reduced to empty talk in most cases. The Eighty-Fourth Army of the Gui Army is considered Li Zongren's personal army, and it doesn't matter what it wants-fortification materials, no; engineers, no; artillery, no! Li Zongren's current situation can be said to be worse than before the Taierzhuang victory. With nothing in hand, all he can give the troops is a death order: if there is a fight, the frontline officers and soldiers must survive and die with the positions. Even the Gui army is like this, and other troops can be imagined. As early as the winter offensive, Zhang Zizhong felt the seriousness of the problem.In the world of ice and snow, the officers and soldiers were barefoot and single-clothed during the day, so cold that they couldn't even pull the gun with their hands. At night, they could only use straw as a bed to keep out the cold.The sad thing is that no one can change this situation. All Zhang Zizhong can do is to lead these poorly clothed and hungry subordinates to fight and fight desperately, which makes him suffer a lot. After the winter offensive, the formation of the Corps was revoked, and Zhang Zizhong was still the commander-in-chief of the 33rd Army.It seems that he can command a group army of more than 100,000 people. In fact, this group army is very difficult to command. All the troops come from different units. Even if you want to play, it's not that material. What can be relied on is still only the 59th Army. But the Fifty-Ninth Army was not an indestructible iron spear.This army, which was second to none in North China back then, used to have 30,000 elite soldiers, but since the Taierzhuang victory, it has lost a lot in every battle. Now less than half of it is left, and many of this half are recruits added later. Its combat ability and quality cannot be compared with veterans. On the one hand, the responsibilities are constantly increasing, and on the other hand, the number of soldiers available is sharply reduced. The dilemma Zhang Zizhong is facing is beyond the imagination of outsiders. In the Battle of Huaibei a year ago, it was not particularly difficult for the 59th Army to repel the 13th Division alone. However, facing the same opponent a year later, it was already very difficult. Great victory, in fact, the victory was very reluctant. Zhang Zizhong clearly knew that on the battlefield, the god of luck will not always favor a certain person, and if this continues, he will be ashamed in the future, not a big victory, but a big defeat. He also thought of many ways, the most important of which was to join forces with Feng Zhian's Seventy-seventh Army to "unify thinking and improve cadres" so that the strongest brothers and divisions of the two old Twenty-Ninth Army could work together as one. Together against the enemy. Zhang Zizhong's "unity of thinking" is what he said in his personal letter to Feng Zhi'an, that he must fight with the Japanese army, even if it is to the end, to the end. It's a pity that Feng Zhi'an at this time did not have the heroic force that drew his sword during the "July 7th Incident", and he still continued to perfunctory, perfunctory with arrangements, perfunctory with defense, and sometimes even wrote some fake battle reports to prevaricate. In terms of improving cadres, Feng Zhi'an also did a poor job.The military discipline of the Seventy-seventh Army was not good at all, but after going south, it got worse because of his indulgence.The people's mules and horses were forcibly pulled from below, and someone complained, and he even said, what kind of discipline is there in this situation, pulling a few animals is nothing, if we don't pull them, the Japanese will pull them. A battalion commander of the Seventy-seventh Army not only forcibly confiscated food from the people, but also openly smoked opium, but Feng Zhian just said lightly: in the future, smoke less opium.As for the forced expropriation of people's food, it is not involved in the slightest. The consequence of this is that many middle and lower-level officers have become very arrogant and rampant. Apart from bullying the common people, they have no fighting power to speak of. Even if Zhang Zizhong took out a heart to show to others, he could not change the other party. He was very worried about this, and once said to his staff: If there is no other good way, I have to die early, otherwise I will be sorry for the officers and soldiers in the hard battle. Death was the word that appeared most frequently after Zhang Zizhong regained control of the 59th Army.In fact, every time he fights, he seeks victory in danger and survives death, "there are many people who are near death".In the generosity of life, one sees death as one's home But before that, as long as he still has a breath, he still has hope, that one day, he can be clear of his heart. However, the news of Song Zheyuan's death shattered this glimmer of hope: Those past years, the past you and me, can no longer be repeated. The sky is still the original sky, and the earth is still the original land, but I no longer know where I am and where I should go.Zhang Zizhong had a feeling of being torn apart in his heart. Only he knew how lonely the rest would be when one person left. Fame, status, honor, everything that most people want is now available.But if time can be turned back, I am willing to abandon all this and sit quietly beside you. Want to cry, but can't shed a single tear.I wanted to shout, but I couldn't make a sound. It wasn't until he saw his friend that Zhang Zizhong couldn't restrain himself and broke out. He beat his chest and cried bitterly: Song Zheyuan left before me, God forbids me to have a chance to redeem my sins! From this moment on, "death" really became Zhang Zizhong's only life choice.