Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen What Should Come Will Always Come

On April 18, 1942, the Japanese mainland, including Tokyo, was hit by the second air raid in history. Unlike the "Humanitarian Expedition" a few years ago, the protagonist of this air strike was not the Chinese Air Force, but the US Air Force, and what was dropped was no longer leaflets, but real bombs and incendiary bombs. When psychological deterrence turned into death deterrence, the faces of the Japanese have turned pale—where did they come from, and where are they going? As a result of the investigation, the U.S. Air Force adopted a shuttle tactic, that is, it first took off from the aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, bombed after reaching the sky over Japan, and then landed at Quzhou Airport in Zhejiang, China, so as to shorten the flight distance to the shortest.

Due to the temporary change of the air strike time, the U.S. military planes were not able to land at Quzhou Airport in the end, but this flight base still became a thorn in the other side's eyes, and they had to get rid of it quickly. Quzhou belongs to the third war zone. In late April, the Chinese High Command received information that the Japanese Thirteenth Army was about to launch a large-scale attack on the three theaters, so it urgently ordered Gu Zhutong, the commander of the theater, to prepare for the battle. military saint Gu Zhutong, courtesy name Mosan, was born in Lianshui, Jiangsu Province, and graduated from the sixth phase of Baoding Military Academy.

In the early days of the Northern Expedition, no matter how capable the Huangpu students were, they could only serve as soldiers. The commanders were mainly teachers from Baoding. Among the instructors, Gu Zhutong and Liu Zhi were the most outstanding. They can be called the chief instructor He Yingqin The "Second General Hum Ha" beside him. In He Yingqin's mind, Gu Zhutong was originally ranked ahead of Liu Zhi, because he felt that Gu Zhutong had a calmer personality and a general demeanor, but he later changed his opinion. It is not so easy to become an excellent military commander. If you are too impatient, your opponent will catch the loopholes, and if you are too stable, you will easily miss the opportunity.

Liu Zhi looks like a wimp in real life, but he is surprisingly courageous and calm on the battlefield. Even in a weak situation, he dares to attack with all his strength. Therefore, he has repeatedly created battles where defeat turned into victory or the weak defeated the strong.Although he was later tied up to fight, the "General Ever Victorious" did not earn his name in vain. Compared with Liu Zhi, Gu Zhutong sometimes seemed too hesitant, and even kept making decisions, and was disturbed by it. Commanding large corps in battle was always a little less proficient. However, Gu Zhutong has another ability to surpass others.

After the fall of Nanjing, there were two war zones in the country, one was Li Zongren's fifth war zone, and the other was Gu Zhutong's third war zone. The troops in the third war zone, including the Sichuan Army, Hunan Army, and Northeast Army, were almost all miscellaneous. Originally, only Shangguan Yunxiang's troops could get a little bit of direct lineage.As for the subordinates and colleagues, except for Han Deqin, who is from Jiangsu, and Shangguan Yunxiang, who is a classmate in Baoding, everyone else is from all over the world, and they didn't have much relationship or contact with Gu Zhutong in the past.

Gu Zhutong is a "no-name connoisseur" comparable to Li Zongren What Li Zongren was most proud of during the Anti-Japanese War was that besides winning the Taierzhuang victory, he was able to win miscellaneous names.Gu Zhu is stronger than him. Gu Zhutong is "full control" and everyone can hold him back. When meeting, no matter who it is, they should politely call him "Mo Gong". This is possible because Gu Zhutong has won the hearts of soldiers. In that era of military generals, there are many people who can train soldiers, especially Feng Yuxiang is a typical example.Lao Feng usually wears the same gray cloth military uniform as the soldiers, and he was almost in the same hole as the others. However, once the soldiers were dismissed or injured and forced to leave the army, they discarded them like scraps, and even the clothes were worn out. Use a red seal to stamp a large "waste" character.Not only those who left were heartbroken, but those who stayed behind also felt sad when the rabbit died and the fox died.

In Gu Zhutong's army, if you leave the army for this reason, even if you get tired of serving in the army after you are old, he will take the initiative to arrange you to the farm he runs, where you will retire. Of course, you can choose not to go, but even so, you won’t leave empty-handed. Gu Zhutong will give you some money to let you go home and do some small business, small business or something. Gu Zhutong not only runs farms, but also runs schools, and these are all for his veterans. The former takes care of wounded and veterans, and the latter helps the children of veterans go to school.

For the officers and soldiers who were killed or injured in battle, Gu Zhutong would give much more than the stipulated settlement allowance, leave his subordinates for a short time, and forget the past after returning, and reuse what can be reused. This is no longer ordinary generosity, but extraordinary generosity, because it is not based on utilitarianism. Wu Qi was a famous general during the Warring States Period. It is recorded in "Historical Records" that when a soldier had a carbuncle, the commander-in-chief of the three armies was able to bend down to help him suck the sore ("If a soldier has a gangrene, he starts to suck it").

Great, but when the soldier's mother found out, she burst into tears. This mother is very smart. She understands that the general sucked pus from her son for nothing, and you have to pay with your life in return. For Gu Zhutong, those retired officers and soldiers could no longer carry guns to fight, and it seemed that there was no reason to treat them so well. However, this is called sincerity. They have helped you, saddled you, shed blood, and sacrificed their lives, so you can't abandon them, you have to always think of them. The truth is the truth, but few people can do it, so Gu Zhutong is known as the "sage in the army".

In the third war zone, he also controlled the whole army in the same way.Everyone can see that you treat the "useless" so well, how can those of us who can still do it be treated too kindly? On the other hand, it is Gu Zhutong who is willing to let go, he is not confused about big things, and you can handle small things by yourself. Huang Shaohong served as the chairman of Zhejiang Province, and Gu Zhutong never intervened or intervened in Zhejiang's administrative affairs.Yu Xuezhong of the Northeast Army was under the command of Gu Zhutong, but in terms of the details of the battle, Gu Zhutong never interfered indiscriminately. The two sides actually only had radio communication.

It is indeed rare to have such a leader who treats you well without pointing fingers. Therefore, although the strength of the third war zone is not good, all the miscellaneous names are willing to use their lives, and this country has been supported. always one option fit for you On May 15, the Japanese Thirteenth Army headquartered in Shanghai entered Zhejiang, and the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Battle was lifted. The Thirteenth Army is different from the Wuhan Eleventh Army. The latter is a strategic force, and its duty is to attack, while the Thirteenth Army's job is mainly to guard on the spot.To put it bluntly, the guerrilla forces of the Third War Zone and the New Fourth Army stationed in the area are already enough for them to worry about, and under normal circumstances they cannot spare more forces for offense. But the fact that the mainland was bombed really irritated the Japanese. Isn't there not enough soldiers?It's okay, take it from another place. The "China Expeditionary Army" was fully mobilized, from the "North China Front Army", to the Wuhan 11th Army, and then to the Kwantung Army outside the customs, infantry, engineering, and aviation, all who could be transferred. The Shanghai Thirteenth Army was originally only the sixth division and the third brigade. After receiving reinforcements, it was able to throw five divisions and one infantry regiment into the battle at once. The latter had more troops than the brigade. Vigorous and murderous. Gu Zhutong couldn't help being nervous. Of course, you have to formulate corresponding tactics first. You don’t need to think too much about this, and you can do it at your fingertips, because the similar offensive and defensive tactics in Wuhan are almost exhausted. For example, in Li Zongren's Fifth War Zone, the key is to retreat first and then chase, while Xue Yue's Ninth War Zone has evolved from retreating first and then chasing to the "Tianlu Warfare"-layers of consumption, followed by decisive battles. Gu Zhutong chose the "Tianlu Warfare", and the decisive battle was set in Quzhou.However, he also understands very well in his heart that at this time tactics are actually secondary, and the key is whether you have elite troops to cooperate with it. The answer is: no. There are all kinds of troops in the three war zones, but there is a lack of elites, and the terrain is basically unsafe to defend. From top to bottom, there is no capital to fight against the main force of the Japanese army. Without the Seventy-Fourth Army, without the Tenth Army, even if you let Xue Yue take command, so what? However, Gu Zhutong had no way out, no matter what, what was supposed to come would always come, and the little stick had to beat the big drum, so he had to bite the bullet and go. It is said that the Japanese army is to be consumed, but how to consume it?There are no high mountains like the Midwest as barriers, nor are there any more powerful troops to flank. Think of something else, such as using local materials. Gu Zhutong's army has a lot of miscellaneous brands, but having more miscellaneous brands also has the advantage of having more miscellaneous brands. Some of them are soldiers of ethnic minorities in the southwest. Their ancestral special skill is making bamboo sticks, which are poisonous. Most of the mountains in Zhejiang are hills. Although the mountains are not high, there are many moso bamboos in the mountains. There is no shortage of raw materials for bamboo sticks. Looking back, there is another kind of tree.There are barbs on the branches of trees. If you accidentally mess with it, it can stick to you like a knife, which is more powerful than thorns. Bamboo sticks and barbs are all collected and buried in front of the camp. If the devils don’t step on them, it’s okay to step on them. If you step on them, you will suffer some flesh and blood. If you are lucky, the poison on the bamboo sticks will also make your skin fester. It was so cool that there was nowhere to find an antidote. Although the moves of these "Five Poison Leaders" are also very exciting, they are not really exhausting the opponent. Gu Zhutong brought a lot of landmines. Since the common people had already evacuated or fled before the battle, there was no need to worry about accidental bombings, and the Third War Zone could plant mines everywhere on the way the Japanese army advanced. As many as a thousand mines were buried in the Jinhua and Lanxi areas of Zhejiang alone. On land, as long as the Japanese army can touch it, there are almost all mines. This is not a land mine made by ordinary people. The official name is the No. 4 Jia mine. It is very powerful, and it is definitely not the kind that scratches the back. There are many types of it, the one that explodes when one steps on it, this one is given to the officers and soldiers of the Japanese army;In addition, if you want to do it manually, there is a rope to pull it; if you pursue fashion, there is also an electronic control. In short, there are all tastes and grades. No matter what your preferences are or what your official status is, there is always one that suits you. Too many soldiers were killed and injured, and it’s meaningless to talk about it. Let’s count from top to bottom. Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the Thirteenth Army, was the first to be recruited, almost.At that time, he was going to move forward with the army command post, when a senior official from the General Staff Headquarters came to inspect, how could he dare to neglect someone from the court, he immediately ran over to accompany him, unexpectedly, this action saved his life. On May 18, the steamboat on which the personnel of the Thirteenth Army Headquarters encountered a mine was blown up and sank immediately. Injuried. Ships of the Japanese invading army often encountered mines Shigeru Sawada was not on board and escaped unharmed. According to folklore, if the water ghost can't catch you, it has to change to another substitute, and this time it goes on land to catch you. The 15th Division of the Japanese Invading Army attacked Lanxi for several days, but those bamboo sticks, barbs, and landmines caused great damage to them. In order to carry the wounded soldiers and dead bodies, there were not enough mats and door panels snatched from ordinary people's homes. use, so that no progress has been made. The head of the division, Lieutenant General Sakai Naoji, was so anxious that he decided to go to the front line to find out what happened.Of course he would not be so stupid as to go to the forefront, but it just so happened that a squad of Chinese soldiers was lurking near his position. The ghostly appearance of Sakai and his party made these soldiers mistakenly think that it was a search post of the Japanese army, and they were already heading in their direction. Since he will be discovered sooner or later, it is better to hit him first. There were not many guards around Sakai, and he was panicked after being attacked, so he quickly hit his horse and dodged to the side. It's okay not to hide, but when he hid, he hid in the minefield, which gave the division commander a chance to try something new even if he didn't go to the forefront. On May 28, there was a bang, and Sakai and his staff were killed and injured. The head of the 15th division just died like this, but it is not a bad way to hang up like this. At least he became the first army division head to die on the battlefield after the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Setting a new record is considered a "deserving death". The Japanese High Command was shocked when it learned about it. In order not to affect morale, it specially adopted the method of temporarily blocking the news from the outside world, and the Allied forces were greatly encouraged. plans don't change fast Gu Zhutong also set a new record in the domestic military circle by killing the head of the Japanese division, but it didn't really make him feel much easier. Consuming layer by layer, this is easy to say, but very difficult to do.There are too many thirteenth soldiers, and the offensive is too fierce and fast. Often, a roundabout encirclement can force the defenders at that place to retreat. The so-called fall into a city today, lose a place tomorrow.The public opinion media will not point fingers to help you count the difficulties and discuss tactics. They only know that you are retreating so hard that you are almost retreating to the point where you no longer even know your family.Some people directly appealed to the government to punish "those who failed to fight", and pointed the finger at Gu Zhutong. The pressure on the commander-in-chief of the third war zone is increasing day by day. He can't even sleep well every night. He calls Quzhou all night to inquire about the preparations for the war. The following is not a question of playing with landmines. Only by achieving annihilation results can we give an explanation to the outside world. Chiang Kai-shek's high command successively transferred direct troops of the four armies, and together with Wang Tiehan's Northeast Army, they were placed in Quzhou in a lineup of five armies.Among them, one army is in the front of Quzhou, which is the blocking corps, and the other four armies, including the 74th army, are the decisive battle corps. This is a deployment similar to the third Changsha battle, and what is needed is a decisive battle in Quzhou. But the plan never changed quickly, and suddenly, the situation changed suddenly. On May 31, the 11th Army of Wuhan also attacked the third war zone, forming an east-west echo with the 13th Army. The distance between the two was only 300 kilometers. When the "China Dispatch Army" initially formulated its offensive plan, it did consider using the Eleventh Army as a support, but support is not an attack, it is nothing more than making fake moves on the side to interfere with the opponent's attention. Hata Shunroku quickly changed his mind after intercepting a piece of information. When the reconnaissance troops of the Thirteenth Army were running around Quzhou, they accidentally discovered and killed a Chinese officer who was delivering a letter in a car. From the deceased, they found important documents and learned that the 70th The Fourth Army has been lurking in the south of Quzhou, and it has been for several days. The "Tiger Troops" are all here, what is this for, Hata Junliu is excited, is this going to encircle the Thirteenth Army like the Battle of Changsha? Well, the second battle of Changsha failed to completely defeat you, and you were never found after that. This time you took the initiative to show up, no matter what, you must not let go of the opportunity. Hurry up, let the Eleventh Army join the attack, the purpose is to capture the Seventy-fourth Army. Hata Junroku reacted quickly, but he was too excited, and when he got excited, he showed his fox tail. After noticing the new movements of the 11th Army in Wuhan that day, the Chinese High Command realized that the arrival was not good, and the scale of the Japanese invasion was much larger than expected, so it immediately made changes and gave up the plan for a decisive battle in Quzhou. Gu Zhutong ordered the blocking corps in front of Quzhou to continue to contain the Japanese army in the city, so as to cover the retreat of the decisive corps into the nearby mountainous area. In this way, all the weight fell on the blocking corps. The Mo Yushuo Eighty-sixth Army was in charge of the blocking corps. This central army unit was the first to come to the Third War Zone and had been stationed in Quzhou for half a year. It was based on this that Gu Zhutong identified it as the last member of the blocking corps Good candidate. It's a pity that the army commander Mo Yushuo felt sorry for Gu Zhutong. After half a year of preparing for the war, he neither built a cross bunker like Li Yutang, nor a closed fortress like Dai Anlan. Only reinforced concrete was used for heavy machine gun bunkers and part of the command post, and some trees equivalent to Looking at the wooden fence, this is considered to be the end of the fortification. Gu Zhutong inspected the defense of Quzhou before the war, but the situation was already quite urgent at that time, and it was too late even if he wanted to improve it. He had to promote a division commander to deputy commander to encourage the morale of the soldiers. However, at that time, he did not Unexpectedly, this move would later save the entire army. Quzhou's outlying positions were breached within a day, and then the army commander made an excuse, saying that he was going to contain the broken troops, and disappeared as soon as he went out. The Japanese invading army is bombarding the positions of the Chinese army with infantry artillery In just one day, the city of Quzhou was leaderless and in a panic. The officers and soldiers were all pale and terrified, and no one even wanted to defend the city anymore. what is amazing At the critical juncture, Gu Zhutong's promoted deputy commander played a key role. The deputy commander is named Chen Yiding, who graduated from the third period of Whampoa. During the Nanjing Defense War, he was a regiment commander of Wang Jingjiu's 87th Division. The fall of Nanjing is an unforgettable memory for many witnesses.The same is true for Chen Yiding. There, he witnessed the panic and panic of the troops after they lost order. Even he himself was saved by a plank. To panic is to give up the will to fight and the hope of survival. Chen Yiding was originally commanding outside the city of Quzhou. When he learned that the city was in chaos, he immediately returned to the city and stabilized the morale of the army as the deputy commander. In the next two days, Chen Yiding kept in touch with Gu Zhutong and his immediate boss Wang Jingjiu through the radio station. The latter told him that the Japanese army must be held back. OK, then I'll procrastinate. Under Chen Yiding's command, the guards maintained high morale and never took a step back until two days later, Quzhou was surrounded on all sides. On June 3, the Japanese army launched a full-scale invasion, and the planes almost blew up the simple fortifications built, even Chen Yiding's transceiver was not spared. The scene in front of me is almost a reenactment of the defense of Nanjing that year. The Japanese army rushed into the city three times, and the defenders beat them out three times. Every Chinese officer and soldier mustered up the courage to die and survive. On the battlefield less than one kilometer away, both sides were bleeding. , corpses littered the field. After five days and nights, the Eighty-sixth Army suffered more than 2,000 casualties. At this time, with the transfer of the Decisive Corps, Hata Toshiroku's attempt to encircle and wipe out the main force of the Chinese army including the Seventy-fourth Army has completely failed. The question now became what should the 86th Army in the city do? Chen Yiding lost his transceiver, and all he could do was to continue to follow the instructions—to hold back the Japanese army. On June 4th, a flat boat suddenly floated across the river passing through Quzhou. There was a person sitting on the boat, a young Chinese. This scene, like a modern martial arts novel, shocked everyone. What's even more bizarre is that after this person landed, he asked to see Chen Yiding by name. In front of Chen Yiding, he pulled out a small note written on wax paper from his trouser belt like a magic trick. When he saw the writing on the note, Chen Yiding's heart immediately thumped. "Try to come quickly, Ping." If it were someone else, no one could understand this note, so even if it was searched by the Japanese, there would be no problem. Chen Yiding knew that "Ping" was Wang Jingjiu's alias, and when he and his senior official communicated privately, the other party used this title. There is no doubt that this is a letter sent by Wang Jingjiu, the content of which is to imply that Chen Yiding will withdraw from Quzhou. After the decisive battle corps was out of danger, the eighty-sixth army's containment task had been completed. However, when Quzhou was surrounded on all sides and could not be contacted by radio, how to notify it became a big problem. In the end, it was Wang Jingjiu's brain that was bright.Before the Battle of Songhu, he often went to Shanghai for reconnaissance. He had dealt with Du Yuesheng and others, and knew that these people had great powers, so he decided to spend money to ask the Qinghong Gang to complete the matter. The living god on the light boat is the Qinghong gang. His ability is to go through the waves at any time, and there is no place he cannot reach. The problem shifted to Chen Yiding. With the order to evacuate, how to evacuate?The surroundings are like iron barrels, and they have been completely surrounded. God. In the middle of the night on June 6, there was heavy rain in Quzhou, and Chen Yiding broke through the encirclement by several means. Each road is equipped with a communication team, and there is only one task, which is to cut the telephone lines of the Japanese army. When they met the Japanese sentry in front, the special agent who could speak Japanese announced loudly: "We are the passing imperial army, and we have been ordered to mobilize." Then randomly reported a number in the past. There are many puppet troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and there are also Quzhou battlefields. In addition, the rainy night is pitch black, and you can't see your fingers. The sentinel can't tell who the opposite army is wearing a raincoat. They want to call to check, but the line is blocked, so they wave their hands and let them pass. up. At dawn the next day, Chen Yiding led the Eighty-Sixth Army without firing a single shot, miraculously broke out of the encirclement, joined the Seventy-Fourth Army, and entered a safe zone. The Japanese army faced nothing but an empty city. Mo Yushuo, the former commander of the Eighty-sixth Army, was later dismissed and court-martialed.It is said that he once liked to boast in front of people, saying that he is not afraid of death, but whether he is afraid or not is not just a word of mouth, and the three words "remarkable" are only eligible for the most dangerous and difficult situations. Chen Yiding is not well-known, but he was a hero who stood up in the Quzhou defense battle. After the Japanese invaded and occupied Quzhou, they destroyed the Quzhou Airport. There is no suspense about what happened after that. The withdrawal will definitely happen. Neither the 13th Army in Shanghai nor the 11th Army in Wuhan has enough troops for long-term deployment. , and when withdrawing, the Chinese army still has to chase, which is also the customary practice in various theaters in the past. The only difference is that since the Japanese army suffered enough from being chased and beaten on the battlefield in Wuhan, in the later stage of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Battle, the divisions retreated in a concentrated manner, and the teams were very close together, so the pursuit troops did not get a good result. fighter. This is the case in war, you must constantly renovate your tactics, otherwise you will be familiarized and surpassed by your opponent soon, it is by no means as easy and simple as we imagined.