Chapter 105 Chapter 105 Humiliation and Imprisonment

At 17:00 on August 7th, the resistance of the 10th Army was still very tenacious, and a heroic battle was unfolding in various positions. On the morning of August 8, the street fighting in Hengyang was still going on fiercely. At this moment, the 10th Army's position in Daximen raised a small white flag, and military envoys of the National Army came to the command post of the 58th Brigade of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army and demanded to negotiate an armistice. Major General Ota, head of the Japanese 58th Brigade, immediately reported to Lieutenant General Tsutsumi, head of the division.

Di San instructed: "To send a military envoy to report back, General Fang Xianjue, the commander of the 10th Army, should come to negotiate in person." Of course, General Fang Xianjue disdained to personally negotiate an armistice with the head of the Japanese army division. If he wanted to talk about it, he had to talk with the supreme commander of the Japanese army who attacked Hengyang——Yokoyama.Therefore, Tesan repeatedly emphasized Yokoyama Isamu's order: "The commander of the army ordered the field heavy artillery unit to consume all the spare shells to carry out violent shelling, even after dark, and notified all the troops to insist on attacking together. , there must be no mistake!"

Historically, military offensives have been the most effective means of political, diplomatic, and military negotiations. Only by maintaining moderate military pressure can we have a say in negotiations. At 21:00 on August 7, Chief of Staff Sun Mingyu of the 10th Army and Master Zhou Qingxiang of the 3rd Division came to the Xichan Temple position to start negotiations for an armistice with the Japanese army. Yokoyama knew that the end of this battle would drag on for a long, long time, but it had already reached the stage of hand-to-hand combat, and there was no good way to reduce casualties.

Chief of Staff Zhongshan recently reported: "Commander, the defenders sent people to the 68th Division to discuss the truce. Mr. Di Sanjun asked how to deal with it?" When Heng Shanyong heard about it, he suddenly became excited: "Oh, okay, what conditions do they have?" Zhongshan said: "There are three important things, which cannot be regarded as surrender; ensuring the safety of officers and soldiers; preserving the organizational system of the 10th Army, etc. Under these conditions, the 10th Army agreed to lay down its arms and join the Peace Army." Yokoyama breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "Okay, let's agree first. This matter will be handled by Di Sanjun and Yan Yongjun. The battle of Hengyang should be over, it should be over!"

Late at night on August 7, the basement of the Tenth Army's headquarters was still in a state of confusion.Breaking out, fighting to the death, and surrendering to wait for the opportunity, the three opinions competed for the top, and they couldn't agree on what to do, and the discussions were fierce.Fang Xianjue was unable to host, so he left the table sadly, and went into the inner room to cry bitterly.The crowd is hesitant, like boiling water, at a loss, and is in a mess. When there was no way out, Zhou Qingxiang, the commander of the 3rd Division who surrendered, brought the liaison officer of the Japanese army, Major Takeuchi Mitaka, the intelligence staff officer of the 11th Army Headquarters, to the military headquarters suddenly.

Master Takeuchi respectfully paid a military salute to Fang Xianjue, and said, "Report to Your Excellency, General Yokoyama Isamu, our commander, has invited General Fang to the headquarters for a meeting." Fang Xianjue glared angrily, and took out his gun habitually.Of course, it was empty, because his entourage had already taken the gun away to prevent him from committing suicide. "Army seat, you can't go! You can't go like this..." Rao Shaowei and other main fighters cried. "Junzuo, this is the end of the matter, you can lead our brothers to a way out!" Zhou Qingxiang and the Peace Faction begged.

Fang Xianjue Shen Ling for a moment, his heart swayed, his brows frowned and he said: "Forget it, let's go!" Then, guided by the Japanese army liaison officer, Takeuchi Shaozuo, he walked towards the Japanese army headquarters with his head held high.The road was quiet, and no one said a word.Everyone's mood is painful and complicated, and the pressure can be imagined. When they arrived at the headquarters of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Yokoyama, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, quickly stepped down to greet him, and said repeatedly: "General Fang, welcome, welcome! Please come in, please come in!"

Fang Xianjue was full of righteousness, and said loudly without being humble or overbearing: "We are both soldiers and commanders. We lost the battle and lost the country. In your Japan, you want to kill yourself by harakiri and accuse the emperor; in our China, it is unsuccessful. It will be benevolent! I have already telegraphed our central government, determined to die for the country, and my life is no longer mine. However, my subordinates, in order to save the lives of the undead officers and soldiers from your cruel killing, ask me to cooperate with you. You negotiate. My only request now is that you ensure that the lives of the existing officers and soldiers of our army will not be violated. Otherwise, it will be impossible to achieve a ceasefire. I believe you know an old saying in China, that is 'the fish dies and the net breaks '!"

Speaking of this, Fang Xianjue paused for a while, and then said: "We are not surrendering, but a truce. It is impossible to say the word 'surrender' from my mouth. I think we are both soldiers in the East. It is a teacher of benevolence and righteousness; it is not the barbaric group of Hitler and fascists in Western Germany, who used concentration camps and massacres. Please consider these. Don’t you have the so-called Bushido spirit? If you don’t agree, I am willing to fight with you in order to Decide between male and female!" At this time, Fang Xianjue was extremely stubborn, with a firm will and a resolute tone.Originally, he had the tall and burly figure of a prolific son, his eyes were hidden, and when he got excited, his face flushed, his eyes were red and phoenix, and he had the image of Guan Gong with a face like a jujube.

It turned out that at this time, the high-level Japanese army was also communicating with Chairman Jiang through various channels to negotiate a peace.On August 19, shortly thereafter, it was approved by the imperial meeting and the emperor.Naturally, these are not known to the officers below the division commander. Soon, various positions in Hengyang were in a state of ceasefire one after another, but the positions at Yueping Mountain and Tianma Mountain were still actively resisting. In the early morning of August 8, Chief of Staff Sun Mingyu of the 10th Army came to the Yueping Mountain position, which was still fighting tenaciously. When he saw the highest commander of the position, Colonel Zeng Jing, the head of the 28th Regiment, he asked face to face, "Zeng Jing, Zeng Jing, You are so powerful, you are so capable! The military seat knew that you would refuse to carry out the order, and asked Mr. Ge to convince you. Mr. Ge didn't even want to face you, a savage, saying that he didn't want to stab you, a hornet's nest, and that Ganchai met you. There will be another fight in the fire. The military seat himself sent me to ask why you did not carry out the order?"

Zeng Jingtie's face was dark and he didn't say a word.Sun Mingyu asked again, and said, "Okay Zeng Cannon, don't you want the commander to come in person?!" Zeng Jing replied angrily: "This is surrender. I am a student of Whampoa. I would rather die in battle than surrender!" Sun Mingyu spoke eloquently: "Okay, if you can hold Yueping Mountain, can you hold the whole of Hengyang? What about the more than 8,000 wounded brothers? What will you do with them?" Zeng Jing retorted: "Didn't the army commander often say that it is no honor to sacrifice for the country and the nation? It should be fought for this purpose, and the only way to die is to serve the country!" Sun Mingyu said sharply: "You can sacrifice the lives of so many brothers needlessly for your own reputation? If you think about it carefully, do the military seat and I want to lay down our weapons willingly? Don't we cherish ourselves? reputation? But, you have to understand, right now, for the safety of so many brothers, we have to do this, we have no choice but to take this road!" Zeng Jing slammed his fist hard on the podium, and heaved a tearful sigh: "Alas! Those who know me are Commander Fang; those who misunderstand me are Commander Fang!" Zeng Jing, a high-achieving student in the eighth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and a resolute officer who was personally selected from the military academy by Fang Xianjue and Ge Xiancai and trained and led by him, could hardly turn around.He usually admires Fang Xianjue's military strategy, and agrees with Commander Fang's original strategy of defending Hengyang, which is not just a passive defense, or simply vowing to live and die with the position, but an active defense policy of fighting wits and courage.Resolutely carrying out President Jiang's order is only one aspect of it. More importantly, Commander Fang is still standing at a strategic height. He saw Hengyang's strategic attempt to attract the main force of the Japanese army and block the Japanese army's No. 1 combat plan, creating a strategic counterattack for the entire Hunan War. conditions of.In fact, the 10th Army led by Commander Fang has accomplished the task of attracting and blocking the Japanese army very well. With only one army less than 17,000 men, it has attracted more than 100,000 Japanese troops from 5 divisions. It is undoubtedly a great miracle in the history of China's war of resistance to undertake such a huge strategic task with only one army. This is by no means a simple city defense battle. Fang Xianjue has excellent strategic initiative. Only a general with such strategic initiative can fight the battle so vigorously and orderly.It's a pity that he is only an important node and a key aspect of a battlefield, but he can't decide the overall situation, and he can't manipulate the chess pieces in all aspects of each army and each theater.Therefore, in the end, both Hengyang and Fang Xianjue ended up with a tragic ending. Fang Xianjue, who is dignified and stable, looks like a man, especially the bullet mark on the left side of his face, the size of a coin, adds to his heroic temperament.He is indeed enthusiastic and amiable when he laughs; but he is upright and daunting when he is angry. Seeing that Fang Xianjue was not humble, and made an impassioned statement, Heng Shanyong quickly said: "General Fang, don't be excited, don't be excited, victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. In the past in Changsha, we were also defeated by your general. We worship the real Soldiers, worship real heroes. We admire the bravery and sacrifice spirit of the officers and soldiers of the 10th Army of the National Army; the generals of the other side and all the generals are well-led and commanded well, and we also admire and respect them!" Yokoyama saw that Fang Xianjue's mood eased a little, and said: "Now we only ask you to accept the three principles of my country-Japan friendship proposed by our country: joint prevention of communism, economic cooperation, coexistence and common prosperity, and joint construction of peace in East Asia. Come to our side, we Guarantee the safety of your existing officers and soldiers without infringing upon them. Our emperor's subjects, what we say means what we say!" However, although the arrogant Japanese army was demoralized by the 10th Army, history gave them an unseemly chance to win in a dramatic way.When the head of the Third Division of the 68th Division and the head of the Yan Yongwang Division of the 116th Division implemented the ceasefire agreement, they did not treat it as a ceasefire on the battlefield, but as a general surrender.They imprisoned the surviving officers and soldiers of the 10th Army "largely dispersed and small concentrated", and used them as laborers, repairing roads, bridges, fortifications, and porters. Fang Xianjue saw that a big mistake had been made, and was about to commit suicide with a gun.However, he was stopped by Japanese soldiers and taken to the Catholic Church in Oujia Town, which used to be the front-line command post of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army, and locked him up.Fang Xianjue was really in pain, but he couldn't wish to die. At this moment, he had no choice but to resign himself to fate.This is really a scene where a dragon is caught in the shoals and a tiger is bullied by a dog! On the evening of August 8, the city of Hengyang, which had been fighting fiercely for 47 days, quieted down, and the tragic defense of Hengyang came to an end.When the war started, the green seedlings in the farmland were already covered with waves of golden rice.It's just that the smell of rice is mixed with a strong smell of blood, which is unbearable to smell. On August 15, Isamu Yokoyama received a telegram from the Tokyo base camp from the dispatched army at the Hengyang front-line command post: The emperor was pleased that the 11th Army had conquered Hengyang, an important military town in southern Shonan.At the same time, he praised General Fang Xianjue, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese defenders.It is hoped that Fang Xianjue's troops will be reorganized into an army, and the name of the army will be called "Xianhe Army".It means to take the word "Xian" from Fang Xianjue and the word "He" from the year name of Zhaohe, and combine them to show special commemoration.After the reorganization of this army, it was directly subordinate to the Chinese dispatched army and was not led by Wang Jingwei.Yokoyama had to go to discuss this matter in person. Yokoyama felt that this was a child's play, so he didn't go there in person.Instead, the matter was handed over to Yan Yongwang and Di San to handle it. The next day, Iwanaga Oo and Tsutsumi sent their chief of staff to convey the emperor's intentions. Fang Xianjue refused straight away, saying: "You Japanese have no faith at all! I have also despaired of your military reputation. Now, since a certain person from our side is a prisoner, he wants to die to clear his name. If the emperor's seat is given to me, I will not take it!" Isamu Yokoyama knew that he had done too much without grace and sincerity.In the first few days, because the city was broken, I was immersed in joy, and I didn't have time to think about it.Now it seems that this matter is really a bit embarrassing.Yong Shanyong sent a message to the dispatched army, trying to prevent the reorganization of the "Xianhe" army. On August 22, Yokoyama held a high-level military meeting of division heads and others to arrange the next stage of operations.After the meeting, Isamu Yokoyama left Iwanaga and Tsutomi alone. Yokoyama said, "How is Fang Xianjue doing recently?" Yan Yongwang said, "Two of his division commanders have escaped in the chaos." Di San said: "Just take them to the mainland of the empire." Yokoyama Yong said: "Wrong! We cannot make the same mistakes again and again. Fang Xianjue's 10th Army is worthy of our admiration. This is a group of real soldiers. For such real soldiers, we must respect their choices. I think they should Go back to Chongqing and escort them out if necessary!" Di San was puzzled and asked, "Commander, do you still want this Fang Xianjue to lead troops to fight against the imperial army again?" Looking at the vast sky, Heng Shanyong sighed and said: "In the past, you could fight with your heart; now you have to use your brain to fight with your brain, understand? Isn't it fun to fight with Fang Xianjue? Isn't it fun? Okay That's it, it's settled! I don't think I need to say more about how to do it. " When Di San was still pondering the meaning of Yokoyama Isamu's words, Yan Yongwang suddenly realized: it's time to stay behind. Yokoyama said: "You must remember: in the first battle of Hengyang, our army killed more than 10,000 people, injured 15,000 people, and more than 30,000 people lost their fighting ability. Since the war between Japan and China, has any siege battle ended like this? No! This is not a victory! Can this be called a victory? We should reflect on it!" Tesan still didn't hear the implication of Isamu Yokoyama's words. How stupid!Yan Yongwang looked at Di San with disdain, and cursed secretly in his heart.