Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Three Generals of Shuzhong

After the 10th Army landed at Jinshanwei, the Japanese High Command decided to establish the Central China Front Army, with Iwane Matsui serving as the commander concurrently, so as to unify the command of the Shanghai Expedition Army and the 10th Army. According to its original plan, it was to "fight in Shanghai and talk in Nanjing." However, both Matsui Iwane and Yanagawa Heisuke had far exceeded the scope of Shanghai and its suburbs. Yanagawa Heisuke, graduated from the 24th "Saber Team" of Luda University, and was in the same period as Dohihara, Kazuki Kiyoshi, and Tani Hisao.

What he is best at is actually not infantry, but cavalry. Since he has been commanding cavalry to fight, he is especially interested in long-distance raids.However, Yanagawa's fate was not good. He was a good official, but he suffered bad luck because of being involved in gang fights. Back then, there were two opposing factions within the Japanese Army, one was the imperial faction and the other was the control faction, and the two factions often fought to the death.Both Yanagawa and Matsui belonged to the Kodo faction, or were considered to be the Kodo faction. As a result, after the Control faction gained power, they both ended up being kicked out halfway and placed in the reserve.

It's not easy to stand aside, Yanagawa is washing his face with tears, and day by day he fantasizes about the day he will be successful. The Battle of Songhu started, and there were few senior generals on the front line. Yanagawa was recalled to the battle, and he jumped up and down, more eager to kill and make meritorious deeds than Matsui. Matsui carried out a frontal pursuit from the north shore of Taihu Lake, and the attack expert Yanagawa conducted a roundabout attack along the south shore of Taihu Lake. The extreme chaos of the Chinese army's retreat was largely caused by the 10th Army.

On the north shore of Taihu Lake, there are still "Oriental Maginots" who can defend it, while there is almost no danger to defend the south shore of Taihu Lake. We can only send reinforcements to block it at any cost. On November 11, Chen Cheng urgently mobilized more than a hundred trucks to send the second batch of Guangxi Guangxi Army, the 7th Army, to the Wuxing battlefield on the south bank of Taihu Lake. The 7th Army is known as the "Steel Army". They stubbornly blocked the Kumamoto Division, which was the main force of the 10th Army, at half the cost of casualties, and persisted until November 24 before they had to withdraw from Wuxing due to heavy casualties. Instead, the Sichuan Army took over.

If the 7th Army of the Guangxi Army is considered a first-rate player, after Chen Cheng changed generals, Yanagawa also temporarily withdrew the Kumamoto Division to rest and replenish in order to deal with more important battles later, and replaced it with a second-rate player—the 18th Division. The 18th Division is a newly formed division. In terms of combat effectiveness and fierceness, it is far inferior to the Kumamoto Division. To be honest, the Sichuan Army and the Guangxi Army are not at the same level—even if they are the best in the Sichuan Army. The Sichuan Army facing the 18th Division is the Tang Shizun Army.

Of the two major armies Liu Xiang went out of Sichuan to fight against, Deng Xihou went north to participate in the Battle of Niangziguan, and Tang Shizun went east to rescue the emergency. Tang Shizun is Liu Xiang's direct descendant. Although the men and horses he belongs to are also single-clothed straw sandals, compared with Deng Xihou's troops, they are much stronger in terms of weapons and actual combat effectiveness. Following Chen Cheng's military order, both Guo Xunqi and Liu Zhaoli rushed out. Among the Sichuan generals, Guo Xunqi is the most dazzling, known as the number one general in Sichuan, and became famous as the battle of Tucheng during the civil war.

It was still during the Long March. Mao Zedong took over the military power again after the Zunyi Conference. The first thing he wanted to do was to fight a good battle in Tucheng to revive the morale of the Red Army after a long defeat.But this battle failed to win, one of the reasons is that they met Guo Xunqi, a fierce Zhang Fei. In the Battle of Tucheng, the main force of the Central Red Army was exhausted, but Guo Xunqi still broke through the position and approached the front of the Military Commission headquarters.At the critical moment, if our chairman hadn't put out all the cadre regiments to fight, the headquarters would be almost in danger.

In this battle, the Red Army suffered as many as 3,000 casualties, and Guo Xunqi's fierce fighting also completely changed the impression that the Sichuan Army's combat power was low. On the way to Wuxing, Guo Xunqi kept thinking about how to fight the first battle since leaving Sichuan, and he began to be interested in the retreating troops that were successively transferred to Nanjing. Of course, this point of interest is focused, and the focus is one of the artillery regiments. The Sichuan army does not have a single heavy artillery. Think about it, what would happen if we had cannons in our hands.

After inquiring, the head of the artillery regiment was from Sichuan, and he was not only from the same hometown as the chief of staff of a brigade under Guo Xunqi, but also a classmate of the same period in Huangpu. The two had a close relationship. Hearing that there was still such a relationship, Guo Xunqi hurriedly invited the head of the cannon regiment to have a meal (of course it could only be a light meal), and asked the brigade chief of staff to beat the side drums, meaning that he hoped that the other party would stay and help. But people shook their heads after hearing this: My artillery regiment was ordered to withdraw from Nanjing, and the military order is like a mountain. If the deployment time is delayed because of staying, it will be unbearable.

Seeing the other party getting up to leave, Guo Xunqi twisted his mouth and winked. Liu Zhaoli came out in time with a group of brigade commanders. Some of them were sworn brothers with the battalion commander of the artillery regiment.After meeting, with snot and tears, brother is going to be in trouble, can you see death without saving, pat your ass and walk away? The battalion commander of the artillery regiment sat still, looking at his regiment commander without blinking. The inside responds to the outside, and the inside and outside attack. With so many favors, the team leader can't stand it anymore.

People in Sichuan place the most emphasis on nostalgia, so if you stomp your feet, let the battalion commander stay. The stay mentioned here does not mean staying all the time, that would violate military discipline, and you can only stay for four days.As for the reason for the delay of four days, it can be explained to the above that the battalion is a rear guard. Anyway, as long as someone from the artillery regiment goes to Nanjing to report first, it will be fine. After a joint siege, finally there was an artillery battalion that could stay. Everyone was overjoyed, but then they almost quarreled. That is the question of how to divide the cake. Liu Zhaoli said, if I hadn't used my brotherhood to fight for it, the matter would have almost gone wrong, so this artillery camp should belong to me. Liu Zhaoli looked longingly, as if the cannons of the artillery battalion had been lined up on his position, blowing up the Japanese army with a bang. However, in Guo Xunqi's view, he is the chief director of this scene, and Liu Zhaoli is at best a "trust" invited by him. In the end, all good things belong to the "trust". No, no, look at my defensive positions. We must defend the south and the east. We must pay attention to both the front and the lake. Is there a shortage of artillery? It is more appropriate for this artillery battalion to belong to me. After arguing and fighting, Liu Zhaoli was still unwilling to give in, even if it was a 30-70 split. In the end, the two sides agreed to a 50-50 deal, that is, the artillery battalion was dismantled and two artillery companies were allocated to each side. Guo Xunqi's defensive position is on the shore of Taihu Lake, which is called Jiapu. I have been to Jiapu, which is a typical water town in the south of the Yangtze River.Zhejiang people are very good at doing business, so they transformed the local area into a resort, so that almost every household has become a small restaurant and hotel. Among so many beautiful small western-style buildings, there is only one earthen house, still with mud walls and blue tiles, with smoke rising from the kitchen, and an old woman sitting in front of the door with a stool. Such earth houses must have been seen everywhere in those days. Kind people don't expect too much, they just want to live in peace, but the war ruthlessly interrupts all this. The Battle of Jiapu was extremely fierce, and the infantry of the 18th Division mainly gathered on this road. While the infantry advanced, the Japanese artillery provided cover, and shells whizzed past their heads, but Guo Xunqi repeatedly refused to let the machine guns and artillery fire, and only defended against the enemy with pistols. The most powerful weapon can only be used when it is most sure and effective.Before that, you have to endure. Guo Xunqi is a famous general, and there are many good people in his army. For example, a company commander, his head was hit by a devil's three-eighth cover. The bullet went in from the ear and passed through the face. Walking steadily, and speaking freely, no different from ordinary people. As the combat progressed, Guo Xunqi was estimating the distance. After the 18th Division arrived within a kilometer of the defender's position, he ordered a salvo of light and heavy machine guns to disrupt its forward position. Seeing that the Japanese army began to loosen, Guo Xunqi asked the artillery company to fire and conduct continuous bombardment at a distance of 1,500 meters. As soon as the front and rear fire coverage came out, the Japanese attack lineup fell into chaos. At the same time, there was also a dangerous situation in the direction of Taihu Lake. In addition to the 18th Division, Yanagawa organized another mixed detachment with the Marine Corps as the core, driving motorboats and small wooden boats, preparing to cross Taihu Lake from the east, so as to form a pincer attack on the Sichuan Army. Without prior consideration, the coastal guard's instinctive response was to target the men on board.Guo Xunqi said that you should not rush to fight, let him come over and fight near the shore, and don't fight sporadically, you have to use platoon guns. Be careful, don't hit people, you have to hit a boat! The ship has a big target and is easier to hit than a person. Once it penetrates, it will sink when it enters the water. Commanding a soldier to fight a war has to be so meticulous, don't just make slogans that are empty, this point can also clearly see the true qualities of a famous general in Guo Xunqi. Seeing that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it, the 18th Division had to retreat quietly at dusk. Guo Xunqi thought that he fought well in this battle, but there are even stronger players among the strong ones, and the other one fought even better than him. Guo Xunqi's difficulty is to take care of both ends, while Liu Zhaoli's difficulty is that he is under the heaviest pressure. His position is across the Beijing-Hangzhou Avenue, which is most suitable for the fast tank troops of the 18th Division. But Liu Zhaoli has already made up his mind about this. Shu, Sichuan, is the place where the "Five Tigers" released the list, where Zhuge Kongming planned his strategy. Before, the Sichuan army played in the nest by themselves, and fought at least four or five hundred battles. Anyone with a bit of spirituality can do it hit the road. Liu Zhaoli is a spiritual person.In terms of fame, he is not as good as Guo Xunqi, but he was not given a chance, and he can still shine if given a chance. Look, we will find that Kong Ming is best at two things when using troops, that is, luring the enemy into an ambush and attacking with fire. The first battle after leaving the mountain, "Fire Bowang" is the best combination of the two. When fighting with Guo Xunqi for artillery, Liu Zhaoli once boasted in public that he had set up traps at the front of the position, and if the enemy did not come, let it go. Liu Zhaoli is not bragging, because he has indeed found a place that is similar to the terrain of Bowangpo. The situation that day was like the reappearance of the Three Kingdoms. At the beginning, Liu Zhaoli pretended to retreat within two rounds.The rapid troops of the 18th Division originally thought they were going to fight fiercely in front of the position. Seeing this scene, they swarmed up without even doubting it. Why don't you doubt it, because you have seen a lot of retreats in front of the Chinese army, and it is not uncommon to see people running away after two shots. This is a normal phenomenon. Just like when Cao Jun saw Liu Bei, the commander of the special forces also laughed: The Sichuan army wants to fight against me, just like driving dogs and sheep to fight ears with tigers and leopards. The Japanese "tigers and leopards" chased them all the way, and gradually they caught up to the narrow place. In the section "Fire Bowang", the description of Bowangpo is that "the road in the south is narrow, and the mountains and rivers are close together." The terrain where Liu Zhaoli lured the enemy to go deep is similar to this. Narrow lot. Cao Jun began to be suspicious of Bowangpo, not because the road is narrow, but because there are many trees here, and there are reeds on both sides. If he uses fire to attack, what will happen. The ambush area preset by Liu Zhaoli did not have so many trees and reeds, so the Japanese tanks went in boldly. The only difference from "Huoshao Bowang" is that Liu Zhaoli did not rashly use fire attack, he used artillery attack, which is quite characteristic of the times. Beside Liu Zhaoli is the battalion commander of the artillery regiment, who has been observing with a telescope. Seeing that dozens of tanks had entered the narrow area, they shouted: Let go! The German orogen artillery bombarded in unison, and this round of bombardment was aimed at the tail. Several tanks at the rear of the Japanese army were immediately hit and blocked their retreat. Then the cannon shifted direction and beheaded again. Going down from one end to the other, the final procedure is to strike the belly. In addition to the mountain artillery, the mortars, rifles, and grenades brought by the Sichuan army also tilted towards the center of the narrow area. For a while, the bombs were like raindrops, deafening. Most of the Japanese soldiers surrounded in the center were tanks and armored vehicles and mountain artillery, unable to move well. Seeing that both sides were blocked, they had to rely on the dead corners of the roadside to escape. But at this time Liu Zhaoli exposed a loophole, there was a sloping path, which was guarded by no soldiers. But there is one omission in Baimi, this time it is the first time, it corresponds to a saying in the Three Kingdoms: "Even if the enemy army is like this, even though they are lying in ambush from all sides, why should I be afraid!" The Japanese special forces broke through to the trail. After walking for two or three miles, I came to a steep slope covered with grain and grass. If these grains and grasses appeared in the narrow area, even if the devils hadn't seen them, they would definitely be on guard. But when is this, when is the time to flee, who has the leisure to look down to see what is on the ground? how much grass. Since it is "Fire Attack Bowang", but the fire has never appeared, which is obviously abnormal. After the artillery battle, there will be a fire attack. Facts have proved that Liu Zhaoli did not miss a single detail. He "leaked" only because this scene required him to "learn". The scene that returns to the scene is also very famous in Beijing, and it is called "Fire Burning the Upper Valley". On both sides of the steep slope, mortars and machine guns of the Sichuan army were ambushing, and at this time they suddenly fired violently at the grain and grass. If you don't shoot tanks, what are you doing shooting corn grass? Can you shoot fire? This is no ordinary straw, it was sprayed with kerosene in advance, and after one shot, it immediately ignited a big fire, and suddenly the fire was raging, and the smoke filled the air. The special forces of the 18th Division suffered heavy losses due to the artillery attack and the fire attack. Thirteen tanks were destroyed, 4 mountain artillery pieces were confiscated, and 4 pieces were destroyed. Only a few tanks and artillery vehicles rushed through the flames to escape. Liu Zhaoli gained fame with this battle, and his performance in foreign wars ranked first among the generals of the Sichuan Army. At the end of the day, Tang Shizun was in high spirits, the two generals, Guo Xunqi tied, Liu Zhaoli won a big victory, and Liu Xiang can explain it. It was Guo Xunqi who was upset: How could Liu Zhaoli overshadow the limelight? I'm not even, I should be winning! He asked the regiments to report the number of enemy annihilation, and was going to write a report to Tang Shizun, but none of the regiments reported it.As for the designation of the Japanese army and the name of the enemy general, I don't know anything. Unless the Japanese army is completely surrounded and wiped out by you, all the dead bodies will be dragged back, and the wounded soldiers will not stay on the battlefield, so our statistics on them are all "estimates" and "approximately". Rarely can it be precise. In fact, most of the people in Sichuan are not good at cheating. Guo Xunqi can't justify himself, but Liu Zhaoli's side is already firmly established: the things captured by the bombing are clear at a glance, the dead bodies are clear at a glance, and even six Japanese soldiers were captured. Guo Xunqi was so angry that he died of anger. I couldn't even sleep well at night, so I got up and hung up the phone calls to each regiment leader, telling them: Capture Japanese officers and soldiers alive and give them a big reward. If you catch me a live one, master, I will reward you with my own money. Catching devils alive has become a knot in Guo Xunqi's heart that has always been difficult to solve. After breakfast the next day, he called the battalion commanders of his subordinates over to give lectures. What kind of battle did you fight yesterday? There were no prisoners, and you didn’t even know the name of the Japanese army or the commander. This is a stupid battle! The battalion commanders were all taken aback, their expressions very confused. This requirement is too high, who doesn't know, the devils are very difficult to capture, is it not enough to repel the Japanese army and hold the position? Hanging together all day long, Guo Xunqi naturally knew exactly what his subordinates were thinking, so he came to the conclusion: fighting a war is not just about defeating the enemy. Everyone stared at him stupidly, then you said, how can it count. Guo Xunqi waved his hand-capture the enemy, seize the weapon, count! But this difficulty is getting more and more difficult, it is the same for Guo Xunqi, and it is also the same for Liu Zhaoli. There are many reasons why the battle was fought so beautifully that day, including the fact that the 18th Division is a newly organized division, including the fact that the division underestimated the enemy's aggressiveness, and the high morale of the leader of the Sichuan Army, all of which are inseparable from the artillery Help from the barracks. Cannon is a living treasure, no one can live without it. What makes people uncomfortable is that the artillery battalion commander is about to withdraw. He made meritorious deeds during the day, but the credits belong to others, and he can only be an unsung hero. More importantly, after witnessing the fierce situation of the battle with his own eyes, his heart was opened. It seems that this is not a matter of helping, maybe even an artillery battalion will fall inside, how will I explain to the higher ups then? Busy, I helped, the brotherhood is also considered, tomorrow I have to be ordered to leave Nanjing. Both Guo and Liu were taken aback. Didn't they say four days? Could it be that they can stay for one more day? Not to mention one day, even half a day.Although the Sichuan army tried every means to keep them, they almost kowtowed, but the artillery battalion drove away. Once the artillery is gone, the battle is not so easy to fight. If it is an ideal to capture the Japanese army, Guo Xunqi now has to face the reality. Without artillery, what should the Japanese army do if they use tanks to attack? In this regard, the two generals, Heng Ha, all used Zhuge Kongming's empty city strategy, that is, to get out of the way in the middle, and put on a posture of inviting the king into the urn. The empty city plan of both of them succeeded, because after suffering yesterday's loss, the 18th Division did not dare to take the front at all, but would rather attack from the two wings. The two wings are also difficult to deal with, but Guo Xunqi doesn't care about these, he still wants to catch the devils. The good news came. After fighting for two or three hours, the troops finally surrounded two or three hundred Japanese troops in Jiagou. This is really a catch in a urn, Guo Xunqi danced with joy. Ge Laozi, today I have to go to the ditch to fish out two Japanese soldiers, and then bring them back to study carefully. At this time, the cooking soldiers had already brought the rice, but Guo Xunqi was so happy that he didn't even want to eat the rice, and rushed to Jiagou happily with two guards, like an old fisherman who was eager to collect fish in his net bag. If a person is too excited, he will inevitably be careless. On the edge of Taihu Lake, the snipers of the Marine Corps have been lurking all the time. When they saw these people running out excitedly, they immediately took up their guns and aimed at them. One of the advantages of the Sanba Dagai is that the accuracy of shooting is very high, but maybe Guo Xunqi was happy, and the range of motion was relatively large. The bullet only hit Guo Xunqi's thigh, but this was enough for him. Guo Xunqi was carried back by the guards, and when he moved to the rear, he still did not hear the news of the capture of the devils. This is really a pity. After the 18th Division hit a wall in Wuxing, it began to shift its offensive focus to another direction-Guangde, Anhui. I went to Guangde, just passing by.Because if you want to go to southern Anhui, you must pass through Guangde. A group of people were heading towards Li Taibai's Taohuatan, but when the car passed the center of Guangde County, several people stopped involuntarily. It was obvious that it was an ancient city tower of quite some age. After getting off the car, we got into the tower, looked east and west, and when we looked up, we saw three words embedded on the tower: Gujiaolou. To my surprise, the author of the inscription was actually Zeng Gong! For a while, I was particularly interested in "The Eight Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties".The editor highly respects Zeng Gong, and almost regards him as the head of the Eight Great Masters. His articles take up the most space in a banknote, which fully demonstrates the status that Zeng writers once had in the literary and political circles. After returning home, I searched the information and found out that the Gujiao Tower is actually the seat of the Guangde County Government, and Zeng Gong not only named it, but also wrote a special note. As a big celebrity in the Northern Song Dynasty, being able to break the rules like this seems to have heralded the extraordinaryness of this tower early on. Sure enough, in the Southern Song Dynasty, a young general who was unknown before came to this building and commanded the battle with the Jurchen of the Jin Dynasty. He won six battles and six victories, causing a sensation throughout the country. His name was Yue Fei. After reading it further, I will connect with the characters I will write about. Rao Guohua, a native of Ziyang, Sichuan, was a lieutenant general and division commander of the Sichuan Army at that time. On November 27, the 18th Division launched a full-scale attack on Guangde, which was guarded by Rao Guohua.The temperature dropped sharply in those few days, and the officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Army who were still wearing summer clothes were shivering from the cold. They could only rely on chewing the dried chilies they carried with them to resist the cold. Fighting hard, Rao Guohua suffered heavy casualties. On November 29, Rao Guohua worried that he would not be able to defend Guangde, so he drove overnight to the headquarters of the group army to meet with Tang Shizun and asked for more reinforcements. Tang Shizun was in a state of desperation, thinking that every point must be guarded, and there would be no extra soldiers for you. Not only did he not send reinforcements, but he even got angry at Rao Guohua. Back at the barracks, Rao Guohua felt deeply that the situation was serious and that Guangde was at a critical moment. He issued a circular: "Whoever dies, death is more important than Mount Tai. I am ready to serve the country. I am on the battlefield, and I will die on the battlefield." On November 30, Rao Guohua personally went to the front to supervise the battle, but the battle was so fierce that day that the Sichuan Army finally couldn't hold on. In front of him, the Japanese army was rushing in like a tide, but his own troops were retreating like a tide, even to the point of not obeying the command. Rao Guohua let out a long sigh, and he rode his bicycle back to the rear division headquarters of Guangde City. The lieutenant general did not choose to flee for his life, but wrote a suicide note to Liu Xiang and Tang Shizun each. Gentlemen, do you still remember that when we left Sichuan, we had jointly expressed the oath that lost ground would never be restored, and that we would never return to Sichuan?Now that I am defeated, Guangde is about to fall, but I will remember the oath I made at that time, and I will never bow my knees in front of the enemy and embarrass the Chinese! Failure is not always a symbol of shame, it just depends on how you choose after failure. Rao Guohua rushed to Guangde Airport with the guards. This is one of the two major airports in East China. Apart from Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport, it is here. The Chinese Air Force has set off from here many times to conduct air battles with the Japanese army and create brilliance. It must not be allowed to fall into Japanese hands intact. Rao Guohua ordered that the airport be set on fire and completely destroyed. After doing all this, Rao Guohua came outside the city gate. Although the Japanese army was approaching, he was not afraid at all.People live in this world, but gathering and parting, but the wish when leaving Sichuan has not been fulfilled, but the long winter is coming. Behind it is the Gujiao Tower, Zeng Gong, who is a teacher with great integrity, and Yue Fei, who is furious and screams. I'm sorry, I have shamed you. Rao Guohua took a last look at the city that was about to fall into misery, but he didn't shed tears. Spring will not be far away, and the night will not be able to swallow the dawn after all. He sat down cross-legged, and suddenly glared at the direction where the Japanese army was about to enter, and shouted loudly: Wilhelm II of Germany was once so powerful, and he was still going to perish after World War I, not to mention you little Japan, just watch, you will definitely reap the consequences in the future! With the sound of a gunshot, the general immediately fell, holding the suicide pistol in his hand. He fulfilled his oath: if the city falls, it will surely perish together.