Chapter 112 4. Chiang Kai-shek made a mistake in judgment

As early as February 6, when Mao Zedong telegraphed that Huaye agreed to use the main force to go north to annihilate the Li Xianzhou Group, he instructed: If this plan is implemented, we should pretend to attack the south, so that the Li Xianzhou Group can let go and move southward, while I move northward secretly The whole army wiped out the group and captured Jiaoji Road. On February 10, Huaye issued a marching order, with the main force of 4 columns divided into 3 routes and marched northward.On the left, the 1st and 6th columns enter the Yangliudian area southwest of Laiwu; on the middle road, take the 4th column as the vanguard and go straight to Mengyin; on the right, the 7th column goes straight to the Caizhuang and Shangwen areas east of Qingshanshi.It is also deployed that the 8th vertical will directly enter the Zhangzhuang area in the northeast of Xintai, the 9th vertical will be directly deployed from Jiaodong to the Nanma area, and the 10th vertical will be directly deployed to the Luxi Town area west of Laiwu.All troops were ordered to advance to the expected location on February 16 to assemble and stand by. The campaign was launched on February 18.

In order to confuse the enemy and cover the main force going northward, Huaye took the following measures: First, leave two columns (2nd and 3rd columns) under the command of Chen Shiju to pretend to be the main force of Huaye, implement frontal defense in the area south of Linyi, and block the enemy step by step , to clamp down on the Southern Line Ouzhen Group.The second is to order a part of the local armed forces to aggressively advance to Yanzhou, erect pontoon bridges on the canal, and mobilize ferries by the Yellow River, so that even if the enemy finds that the main force of our army is no longer near Linyi, they will misjudge that our army is going west and cross the canal and the Yellow River. Joining up with the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Field Army led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, it was difficult to immediately determine the true intention of going north to fight.

After the main force in East China moved northward, the second and third columns blocked the enemy outside Linyi for 5 days and nights, and then withdrew from Linyi City on the 15th. On the evening of the same day, after the enemy troops on the southern front occupied Linyi, they advocated "Great Victory" and declared that "outside Linyi Encircled and wiped out 16 brigades of the Communist Army". Regarding Huaye's abandonment of Linyi, Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, and Wang Yaowu, the commander of the second appeasement zone, had different judgments: Wang Yaowu discovered from aerial reconnaissance that a large number of PLA troops were moving northward, which was a "good news" for the occupation of Linyi. Doubtful, judging that the Huaye Department gave up Linyi and turned north, and quickly ordered the Li Group to withdraw to the Laiwu and Yanzhuang areas on the 16th.

But Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng believed the "good news" made by his subordinates, and got information that the communist army had built a bridge on the canal, which looked like a westward crossing. . "It seems to be crossing the Yellow River between Dong'e and Fan County", so the Li Group was strictly ordered to go south again to secure Xintai and Laiwu, and sent troops to attack the "Chen bandits" in Mengyin and Dawenkou.At the same time, the 11th Division and the 64th Division were ordered to drive westward to Lincheng and go northward along Jinpu Road to eliminate the "traitors".