Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Loopholes

Chi Fengcheng's swinging of a knife made the old defense line initially consolidated, but this did not reassure Huang Shaohong completely, because he knew that the situation in front of him was only temporary, and it would be extremely difficult to make it last. The military education he received since he was a child, and the combat experience accumulated in the civil war all the years told Huang Shaohong that the opponent's strength may increase exponentially in the future, and he will pass through the junction of the old pass again. This loophole needs to be patched quickly, and the key to patching it still can only be placed on the arrival of reinforcements as soon as possible.

Huang Shaohong rushed to Taiyuan in person and asked Yan Xishan for reinforcements.This time he changed his strategy and consciously reminded Yan Xishan: If the lady is not guaranteed, Xinkou will not be able to fight anymore. This sentence is very clever.After thinking about it, Lao Yan decided to allocate the Sichuan army who was about to be transferred to Shanxi to Huang Shaohong. Huang Shaohong was worried that the Sichuan army was not strong enough, and what he wanted was the troops on the Xinkou battlefield. What kind of person is Lao Yan, he is also an elf among people.As soon as he heard what Huang Shaohong meant, he immediately put his whole body on the table, no way, no way, the people in front of Xinkou couldn't get out no matter what.

He is not mean.At this time, Xiangyue added two more regiments to the Xinkou battlefield. If you want to draw Chen Changjie's troops again, wouldn't it be fatal? As expected, Xiangyue sent the 109th Division to participate in the battle after discovering that the Longshan Division alone could not break through the Niangzi Pass. The Japanese army gathered near Jiuguan and finally managed to pass through the gap in the defense line of Chifeng City. , suddenly approached Huang Shaohong's command post in Yangquan. At this critical moment, a brigade of the Sichuan Army finally arrived in Yangquan.

When Liu Xiang spoke at the National Defense Conference, some people thought he was blowing a cannon, and that was fine. Unexpectedly, when Liu Xiang went back, he raised his arms and shouted. During the expedition, the Sichuan Army formed two major armies, and the one going north was Deng Xihou's army.Although Deng Xihou was restrained by Liu Xiang, the two were enemies before the latter unified the whole province. Deng was purely the kind who was beaten and had to bow his head and be a younger brother. He was in charge of Liu Xiang in Sichuan, and he kept his eyebrows low all day long, preferring to come out for a change of air, so Deng Xihou was the first to come out when it was said that he would go out to fight against Sichuan.

Now this brigade is Deng Xihou's vanguard, but seeing them, Huang Shaohong really didn't know what to say. The weather in the north is already very cold, and the other troops are all wearing cotton-padded clothes, but these Sichuan soldiers are still wearing single clothes and straw sandals because they are from the south, and they are wearing summer shorts underneath, especially their weapons are terrible. "The set of things I used at the time were all soil guns made by Sichuan. The most common is the rifle, I don't know how it was made, after a few rounds, it must be like a black and white TV in the 1980s, there is something wrong here and there, and you have to beat it twice before you can continue to use it , Some even have only two or three rifles that can really fire, and the rifles of the Sichuan army are not equipped with bayonets in all likelihood, at most they are equipped with a machete.

On the anti-Japanese battlefield that year, the Sichuan Army gave people the impression of one word: bitterness, and because Deng Xihou did not belong to Liu Xiang's direct line, it was even more bitter, so bitter that you could not imagine it. Compared with it, the Shaanxi Army taught Almost all the equipment of the regiment can be said to be extravagant. An important reason why Deng Xichuan's army was so miserable was that they had been stationed in Chengdu all the time, and the surrounding waterways were all controlled by Liu Xiang. They couldn't buy weapons if they wanted to, so they had to build them by themselves.

Originally, Yan Xishan promised that after the arrival of the Sichuan Army, he would make up for it, but there was a lot of panic in Jindong. The ammunition stored in Taiyuan was either kept by him for the defense of the city, or it was planned to be used as "old capital" in the future. Where can I get it out again? . He had no choice but to make up an excuse, saying that all the weapons, ammunition and military supplies had been transported to the south of the Yellow River, and there was no way to recover them. But no matter what, the Sichuan Army came to defend Shanxi, and Lao Yan hurriedly sent a few submachine guns to the Sichuan Army because of his affection.This little thing is a drop in the bucket for the Sichuan army, and it is not enough.

Therefore, the Sichuan army standing in front of Huang Shaohong has become the current appearance of "the weapons are unbearable to kill the enemy, and the clothes are difficult to keep out the cold". Huang Shaohong's heart was extremely cold, but the emergency was like putting out a fire right now, so he ordered the Sichuan army to attack with their "broken copper and iron" to block the Japanese army's advance. Although the Sichuan army was poor and miserable, they had high fighting spirit. When they said they were going to fight the Japanese, they all smiled and were full of energy. None of them was afraid of suffering or death.

In the past, when the Sichuan army encountered battles, it was common for soldiers to run away halfway. It is said that to prevent deserters, some troops even did not allow soldiers to wear pants when they slept at night—you can’t run around with bare buttocks, right? But this time going north to fight against Japan was an exception, almost no one ran.In the cold wind, some Sichuan soldiers in single clothes even threw away their straw sandals and could only walk barefoot on the ice, but none of them flinched. When the Sichuan army crossed the Yellow River eastward, even the local people were shocked to see them in single clothes and barefoot, and rushed to give them shoes and socks.

It is recorded in the history books that the Sichuan army has not crossed the Yellow River for three hundred years. 300 years ago, Sichuan Baigan soldiers also crossed the river from here, and fought a bloody battle with the Eight Banners soldiers led by Nurhachi near Shenyang. 300 years later, the descendants of the white-armed soldiers came. They also traveled thousands of miles, also traveled through wind and rain, and also shouldered the important task of saving the nation from fire and water. After receiving Huang Shaohong's order to attack, the Sichuan army did not bargain, but immediately went to the front line and intercepted the Japanese army only 20 miles away from Yangquan.

Facing the Japanese army armed to the teeth, the brigade of the poor Sichuan army had only two light machine guns, and one of them was silenced by the devil's cannon. There is a shortage of machine guns, and the rifles are not good enough. All they can do is desperately. Fortunately, the old Northwest Army had a precedent. They hid if they couldn't beat them. When the devils rushed to the front, they shouted again, waved their big knives, and chopped melons and vegetables. Relying on the machete, the Japanese army was repelled somehow, but this could not last long.After the latter discovered this weakness of the Sichuan army, he immediately mobilized heavy weapons. The big knife is against the machine gun, just like the Boxer Regiment against the Eight-Power Allied Forces. A brigade was halfway there and was forced to retreat. After one brigade was disabled, another brigade followed, and as soon as they arrived in Yangquan, they were filled in by Huang Shaohong as if filling in the blanks. The new brigades did not fare much better. When fighting hand-to-hand, many of them not only did not have bayonets on their rifles, but they were not even equipped with a broadsword. The instinctive reaction was to smash it with the butt of the gun. It is conceivable that another brigade was disabled. The third brigade reports. This brigade is a little bit better. The reason for the slightly better is that before leaving Sichuan, the brigade commander spent his own money to build four machine guns, and these four machine guns were quite up to date, and there were no major failures from the beginning to the end. Let the Japanese attack again. At this time, Huang Shaohong's shortcomings in commanding operations gradually became apparent, and his command system became chaotic.When each brigade of the Sichuan Army was ordered to attack, they didn't know what the opponent's designation was, how many troops they had, and whether there were any coordinated troops around them. They just stood there blindly. When Huang Shaohong ordered, the Sichuan Army was temporarily under the command of Sun Lianzhong, but the Sichuan Army Brigade Department contacted for a long time, and did not know where Huang Shaohong and Sun Lianzhong were and what new instructions they had. Originally, the Sichuan Army that was going to Shanxi had a group army, and when it came up one after another, it could be squeezed into a fist, but Huang Shaohong was too flustered before the battle, and his command leaped too far, even to the point of disorder. Before the commander of the group army arrived, he ordered the army commander, and before the army commander arrived, he ordered the division commander. If the division commander did not come, he directly gave the order to the brigade commander, and even the battalion commander. Wherever he went, without any specific instructions, he was sent to the front line in a daze. As a result, the Sichuan Army's organizational system was fragmented and fragmented.A good group army, before it has fought much, has become "a number of headless snakes, large and small". A snake without a head is a dead snake. When the division commander rushed to the front line, his division was smashed. When the army commander reached the front, his army lost its human form. When Deng Xihou, the commander-in-chief of the group army, arrived in person, half of the strength of the entire group army remained. It's really peeling off the bamboo shoots layer by layer. After peeling to the back, the Sichuan Army, which was still able to fight, could no longer fight, and had to retreat. Deng Xihou can blame Huang Shaohong for his blind command, but it is fair to say that the Sichuan army's extremely crude equipment and weak combat power are also the main reasons for its defeat. In such an emergency situation, Huang Shaohong really had no choice. . The Sichuan army could not exert its miraculous effect like the Shaanxi Army Teaching Corps in front, and repelled the intruding Japanese army. Sun Lianzhong, Zhao Shoushan and other front troops faced the danger of being attacked by the enemy, so they had to retreat. On October 26, Niangziguan fell across the board. The fall of Niangziguan caused the defenders of Xinkou to be attacked by the enemy, and they were in danger of being completely cut off from the rear. On November 2, Yan Xishan and Wei Lihuang ordered Xinkou to withdraw. Chen Changjie's success is on the verge of failure, and he can't show his ambition, so he can only slam the railing. At the moment when the troops were withdrawn, when they silently watched the blood-stained battlefield for the last time, no one could know how melancholy this military genius had been. The Battle of Xinkou was the culmination of his life. Since then, Chen Changjie has never had the opportunity to command such a high-level battle, even though he is so eager. Who will let him take command again? Everyone knows that he is a lunatic who "succeeds with all his strength", and everyone knows that he is a fool who is willing to beat his own soldiers until there is no one left-Chen Changjie broke it with one hand. The myth of Itagaki's invincibility, but also ruined his own future with one hand, is indeed called a lunatic and a fool, and a lunatic and a fool are, after all, hard to tolerate in the world. Later, Yan Xishan didn't want him, so he went to vote for Fu Zuoyi, and Fu Zuoyi was very scheming, and never regarded him as his true confidant. In his later years, Chen Changjie killed himself with a kitchen knife. Most of the famous generals in ancient times could not end well, but such a tragedy is rare in history. The trees are beautiful in the forest, but the wind will destroy them. However, it is enough to have such a wonderful time that people can remember forever. There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other living creature. —— On November 3, Yan Xishan presided over the World War II zone military meeting to discuss the strategy of war defense. There is no need to discuss the southward withdrawal of the Xinkou defenders. What needs to be discussed is whether Taiyuan should stick to it or not. Lao Yan has been running Taiyuan for more than 20 years, and his wealth and life are all here. Naturally, he refuses to give up lightly and advocates defending Taiyuan. Into a big battle similar to the Battle of Xinkou. As for the general who will defend the city, Lao Yan has already decided, that is Fu Zuoyi who was withdrawn from Xinkou in advance. Fu Zuoyi became famous when he defended the city. When he defended Zhuozhou for three months, the Feng army several times larger than himself could not fight in. It cannot but be admired.In addition, Lao Yan had stored food, grass and ammunition in Taiyuan for more than half a year (he lied to the Sichuan army that it had been transported across the Yellow River), so he felt that it would be no problem to defend Taiyuan. Huang Shaohong, as the deputy commander of the World War II zone, also attended the meeting.Although he has flaws in commanding in front of the battle, his vision on these strategic principles is much brighter than that of Yan Xishan. The front line has just retreated, and morale is extremely depressed. Everyone is scrambling to retreat, how can they organize another big battle.How long did it take to organize the Battle of Xinkou? Even if they wanted to organize another battle, it would be too late. Now the Longshan Division on the front line of Niangziguan is so close, as long as there is a north-south pincer attack with Banyuan, all the retreating troops will be oppressed under the city, and the Japanese army will be stewed into a pot of porridge. The consequences are really unimaginable.Besides, when did Fu Zuoyi defend Zhuozhou? Time has passed, can the civil war be compared with the foreign war? The Japanese army is as strong as the Feng army? It’s not that Taiyuan should not be defended, it must be defended, but it is definitely not to support the defense of the city with field battles, but to cover the retreat with the defense of the city. After the retreat, the rested troops can in turn contain the Japanese army and help defend the city. In this way, the city may be able to defend take longer. It should be said that Huang Shaohong's remarks are indeed insightful.Wei Lihuang and Sun Lianzhong who were present at first agreed. But Lao Yan returned to the past again. For a while, especially before the Battle of Xinkou, he lost confidence and switched to "Thaksin", but after the Niangziguan was breached, somehow he only believed in himself again. All the generals of the Jin Army who came to the meeting, except for Chen Changjie who was still on the front line of Xinkou, were usually submissive, and no one dared to raise objections.Fu Zuoyi was entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the city, so it was inconvenient to say anything.Seeing the embarrassment of the situation, Wei Lihuang, Sun Lianzhong and other guest generals simply did not participate in expressing their opinions, and fell asleep half-truthfully at the meeting site. In the whole hall, only Yan and Huang were arguing, a commander of the World War II zone and a deputy commander. The meeting lasted until midnight, but there was still no result. Lao Yan was already very dissatisfied with Huang Shaohong in his heart, thinking that if it hadn't been for his improper command, there would have been a mistake in Niangziguan, and why would the Xinkou defenders retreat, so he had a lot of opinions on Huang Shaohong. Disapproval. In the end he simply showed his cards.It turned out that at the same time as the meeting, he had already sent orders to the various troops. The so-called meeting was just a formality. Everyone was speechless, but they could only do so. Huang Shaohong's worries were not superfluous. On the second day after the World War II military conference was held, the Japanese army had already reached the southeast of Taiyuan with one division and two brigades, including the Longshan Division. , You have to bear the responsibility of attacking the city yourself. If Yan Xishan had followed Yan Xishan's "Field War in the City", all the troops would have to be buried under the city of Taiyuan. The Japanese army only had to close the door in the southeast direction and turn the lock, and none of you would be able to escape. But Xiangyue rejected Longshan Division's request, not only that, but also asked other troops not to act rashly. With the Japanese troops all around Taiyuan, the troops withdrawing from Xinkou and Niangziguan had no fighting spirit, so they would not stay at all. Order. The Longshan Division watched so many Chinese troops pass by, rubbing their hands together anxiously. Xiangyue is not one of us, so what he did was definitely not thinking of us, he was thinking of another person. Itagaki and Chen Changjie dueled in Honggou, lost more than half of their troops, but still could not shake the opponent, and were almost expelled from Nanhuaihua. Itagaki's "Steel Army" is a unit that Xiangyue often brags about. Of course, he wants to protect Itagaki, so he made an extremely abnormal decision in the military, that is, to leave the nearest Longshan Division unused and let Itagaki Come attack Taiyuan. With such an arrangement, Itagaki will be able to capture Taiyuan alone and get rid of doubts from the outside world, which is considered well-intentioned. By the time Banyuan arrived at the foot of Taiyuan City, it was already two days later, and all the troops outside the city had already retreated completely. Originally speaking of "field battles in the city", now it can only be Fu Zuoyi's "guarding the city alone". When Wei Lihuang was retreating, he once advised Fu Zuoyi that since the "Yicheng field battle" had been aborted, and the retreating troops could not support Taiyuan City, they could not defend the city alone, so it is better to change the plan and go south together. But things have come to this point, but Fu Zuoyi is actually in a difficult situation.It is not that he does not disagree with the opinions of Huang Shaohong, Wei Lihuang and others. However, since Yan Xishan entrusted him with the task of guarding the city, many people also believe that he can defend it, but it is because he has a reputation for being good at guarding. The foundation of standing.If the chest is slapped in the front, then the back turns around and wants to slip away, not only will it violate the military order, but the reputation of the general will also be affected, how will he gain a foothold in the arena in the future. I used to stay in Zhuozhou for three months, but let’s not talk about it now, I have to stay for half a month. Fu Zuoyi decided to close the city.Before the closure of the city, he said, we are lying in a coffin, and we just need to close the lid. Originally, these words were to express the determination to live and die with Taiyuan City.But at this time, under the influence of the overwhelming defeat of the army outside, the morale of the army has been low, so the feedback is that many people did not want to "lie in the coffin" that night and absconded across the city overnight. After Banyuan arrived outside the city of Taiyuan, he sent envoys to ask Fu Zuoyi to open the city and surrender, but of course he was rejected. On November 8, Itagaki began to attack the city. Once attacked, the city will be in chaos.Luanyuan, first of all, was a deputy commander of Fu Zuoyi, who ran away on horseback under the pretext of patrolling. A deputy commander ran away, which didn't affect the overall situation at first, but under the extremely tense atmosphere in the city, because of the same pronunciation of the deputy and Fu, "the deputy commander is gone" was misrepresented as "Fu Junchang is gone", which made other people panic I don't know what to do. Soon, the deputy commander of martial law also fled.As a result, "Deputy Commander (Fu) left" made the city even more chaotic. The reason why everyone dared to stick to Taiyuan despite being surrounded by enemies was all because of Fu Zuoyi's prestige. Now that Fu Zuoyi has "gone", no one can hold on anymore. Although the Sui army has a reputation for being capable of fighting, after the Battle of Xinkou, it has actually become a damaged army. Hu Naihe, his eyes were red with anxiety.But at this moment, the word "go" still couldn't come out of his mouth. After all, he was full of plans, and he hadn't spent a whole day in Taiyuan. The final order to retreat was signed by the chief of staff, but it must have been tacitly approved by Fu Zuoyi, otherwise no one would dare to do it. When Fu Zuoyi retreated out of the city, he was so embarrassed that he had only one soldier beside him. When he was crossing the river, his shoes got stuck in the sand and he had to wade across the river barefoot.The soldier next to him gave him a pair of cloth shoes. Because Fu Zuoyi had big feet and couldn't fit them in, he had to cut a slit at the front of the shoe so that he didn't fall to the point where the commander ran barefoot. In just one day, Taiyuan fell, allowing Itagaki to pick up a wallet, his reputation quickly recovered, and he became "the number one general in Japan" again. Although Taiyuan fell, neither Yan Xishan nor Fu Zuoyi left the north. Yan Xishan once crossed the Yellow River to take refuge in Shaanxi, but soon returned to Shanxi. After returning, he continued to pick up the abacus and perform difficult acrobatics dancing on three eggs: sometimes he joined the Communist Party, and sometimes he opposed the Communist Party. , sometimes resisting Japan, sometimes uniting with Japan, sometimes supporting Chiang, and sometimes rejecting Chiang. Of course, all these are for survival needs and to keep his Shanxi territory. Fu Zuoyi fought hard, and never forgot to clean up his shame.Two years later, he returned to the grassland and desert, and immediately created the famous Wuyuan Victory, allowing people to appreciate the true qualities of this eagle shooting hero again. Everyone is continuing on their established trajectory, and they have never changed.