Chapter 31 4. The Xiangxi battle washed away the reputation

The Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang is proceeding step by step according to the agenda of the meeting.After listening to Wu Tiecheng's "Party Affairs Review Report", Wu Dingchang's "Political Report", and Cheng Qian's "Military Report", the representatives of the congress began to discuss, allowing representatives to ask questions about the work of the Kuomintang Central Committee and various government departments. Wang Kunlun, a member of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, first raised a question. The meeting has been going on for so many days, why did not discuss the policy and method of defeating Japan?May I ask if the central government has the determination to fight to the end?Is there a plan to cooperate with the Allied counterattack?

He Yingqin's heart rose in his throat when he heard such questions, he was afraid of the sharp questions raised by these representatives.As early as last year, some democratic parties, KMT veterans, and people with different political views have commented on He Yingqin's pro-Japanese behavior. They believed that the root cause of the military defeat in 1944 was the pro-Japanese faction, which made the KMT government not determined to fight the war to the end, preserve its strength, and fled to escape from Japan. enemy. He Yingqin knew that he was wronged, and took the blame for Chiang Kai-shek, fearing that he would not be able to wash it away in this life.Chiang Kai-shek was the only one who could make decisions on the major issues of China's war of resistance. Without Chiang Kai-shek's will, even if He Yingqin was given ten courages, he would not have dared to sign those agreements.

In 1944, the Kuomintang retreated steadily, and black clouds shrouded the sky above the Kuomintang.Turning to 1945, the dark cloudy sky suddenly cleared up.First, the expeditionary force won victory in Myanmar and opened up the line of communication between China and India, and then achieved a staged victory in the Xiangxi battle.Now the battle situation in western Hunan is very good, Commander-in-Chief He Yingqin is well commanded, strategies and tactics are used properly, and all major media in the country are full of praise.In particular, the touching deeds of officers and soldiers on the frontline in western Hunan inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of the people across the country and created a good social atmosphere for the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang.

It is reported that Commander-in-Chief He Yingqin worked day and night for the battle in western Hunan.At the beginning of the war, they went deep into the mountainous areas, inspected the terrain, and proposed the strategic policy of luring the enemy to go deep, dividing and encircling each one and annihilating them. This is the magic weapon for defeating the enemy in the Xiangxi battle.This is why Ying Qin's face was painted with rouge and powder, which added luster, and at the same time changed the people's opinion of He Yingqin. During the 6th National Congress of the Kuomintang, there was another person who had the same fear as He Yingqin. Especially when a representative mentioned the defeat of the Kuomintang army last year, it touched every nerve of him.This person is Tang Enbo who was called out by many people to kill Tang Yixie.

Tang Enbo was in Tianzhu County in the eastern Guizhou area at the time, and he did not dare to be perfunctory at all. Since the start of the war, he has been in the command post on the front line, closely watching the movement of the frontline battlefield in western Hunan.His decision was correct. He put the 94th Army on the front line and put it under the unified command of Wang Yaowu.Later, even the 27th Army was released as a whole, and it no longer hesitated to preserve its strength.These troops really fought for Tang Enbo's face, they fought bravely and tenaciously. Tang Enbo is most satisfied with the 5th Division of the 94th Army. Qiu Xingxiang is a warrior. A division uses flexible strategies and tactics, boldly interspersed, boldly roundabout and outflanked, and finally pursued bravely. Almost all the Japanese regiments were wiped out in the Yanlong Mountain area.When Tang Enbo heard the good news from the front line, he was overjoyed, and played his Tang Enbo's military prestige.He sent several telegrams in a row, commending Qiu Xingxiang.

Tang Enbo, who fought in the Xiangxi battle, learned to be smart. He seized the propaganda machines of the major media in the country to publicize the battle situation and heroic deeds of the 5th Division Yanlongshan victory.During the Battle of Taierzhuang, he personally led the 20th Corps to encircle the Japanese army, and he did his best but was not pleased.At that time, he was too arrogant, thinking that he was a direct descendant of the Kuomintang and an elite regiment of the government army. He didn't pay attention to Li Zongren's miscellaneous names at all. As a result, these miscellaneous troops won the battle.

At that time, Tang Enbo knew in his heart that these miscellaneous troops did not have the elite troops of Tang Enbo's 20th Corps. Could they win?He thinks this is obvious, needless to say outsiders can see it. But Tang Enbo was wrong.Li Zongren is wise. He invited the national media, and even foreign journalists from abroad, to hold press conferences many times, talking about how wise the fifth war zone is, how Sun Lianzhong's 2nd Army defended its defenses, how it desperately resisted, and how heroic it was in the end. The counterattack seemed to be done by Li Zongren and Sun Lianzhong in Taierzhuang.People all over the country suddenly knew that there were only two people in China, Li Zongren and Sun Lianzhong.

If that's the case, then that's fine, but some media reporters didn't stop there and asked Tang Enbo what he was doing?There is an article saying that Tang Enbo turned off the radio station and disappeared when he was in the most difficult time in Taierzhuang. Li Zongren also said that he couldn't find Tang Enbo's words for a while.Tang Enbo sees death and refuses to save him, Tang Enbo preserves his strength, elites are not as good as miscellaneous brands, Tang Enbo's pursuit is weak, etc., the reports with Tang Enbo as the title are overwhelming for a while. Chiang Kai-shek was very angry. He wanted to use the miscellaneous army as cannon fodder on the front line, but it was self-defeating, which made Li Zongren and his family famous all their lives.Now the media is ridiculing and insulting the elite soldiers of the Kuomintang. When the reporters settle the accounts, they start from the beginning of the War of Resistance, and the beads of the abacus are rattling.This made Chiang Kai-shek restless, and he called Tang Enbo stupid like a pig.

Tang Enbo realized for a moment that he wanted to seize the position of public opinion and propaganda.So in the late period of the Taierzhuang victory, Tang Enbo paid a lot of money for reporters to write articles, and wanted to spread the word about the 20th Corps, but it was too late, and public opinion is the most important thing to take the lead. This is the same as fighting a war. You have to seize the commanding heights. Without the commanding heights, it is difficult to fight. Even lose battles.Later, Tang Enbo and his 20th Corps appeared in the newspapers, and the people of the whole country did not believe it.Some people even read the newspaper and said, whose chicken coop was not closed properly, why did Tang Enbo appear again, did Tang Enbo participate in the Taierzhuang War?Why haven't I heard of it before.

Tang Enbo is dumb and can't tell if he suffers from eating Coptis chinensis, as if he is suspected of stealing credit, which makes him look like a human being inside and out.So Tang Enbo was very prejudiced against Li Zongren later, and he has not been able to cooperate well.In fact, Li Zongren didn't do any tricks. They are doing propaganda, why should they promote you?Besides, to promote the deeds of the miscellaneous army, who dares to lean on your direct line, isn't that the meaning of leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade?It's so ugly to be said to climb high branches by others.

Therefore, in the Xiangxi battle, Tang Enbo paid great attention to this issue.He took the 5th Division as a breaking news, and it was reported with great fanfare across the country.This is right, both private and public are justified, no one said that Tang Enbo did something wrong.The 5th Division of Heroes should indeed make a big publicity, so that their heroic deeds will spread across the country and become household names, thereby inspiring the fighting spirit and victory confidence of the people across the country.Tang Enbo has been honored, this time he has been honored by the 5th Division Qiu Xingxiang. Tang Enbo's deeds and performance in the Xiangxi Battle left the representatives attending the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang speechless. No one raised questions about Tang Enbo's mistakes, and the Chinese forgave him.The burden on his shoulders was still heavy, so he had to focus on the front line in western Hunan.He Yingqin closed his eyes tightly, and went through the situation on the Xiangxi battlefield in his mind.Since the start of the war, the Japanese army has attacked western Hunan with four divisions in three routes, attempting to destroy the important area of ​​Zhijiang Airport in one fell swoop.The South Road was blocked by the 73rd Army, and the North Road was blocked by the 94th Army. In the middle of Xuefeng Mountain, there were the 74th Army and the 100th Army. The entire situation in western Hunan was developing in favor of the Chinese army. The mobile units of the 18th Army were used, and Liao Yaoxiang's 2nd-line reserve team of the New 6th Army was also on the front line. The Japanese army in front of them was at the end of its rope, no matter how stubborn it was, it would be nothing more than a dying struggle.He Yingqin felt that the conditions were ripe. Through the blocking battle in the previous stage, the attacking Japanese army was almost exhausted, and he was completely sure to fight a beautiful annihilation battle.The Allied forces have won a complete victory in the European battlefield, and now it is time for the Chinese theater to perform. So He Yingqin sent an emergency telegram to Wang Yaowu's headquarters in western Hunan: The enemy who invaded western Hunan has already been thwarted, and the whole army should immediately turn to the counter-offensive. Wang Yaowu was very excited when he received the order from Commander-in-Chief He Yingqin to counterattack.The officers and soldiers at the front had waited too long for the headquarters to make up their minds, and they had been looking forward to this day for a long time.The Chief of Staff of the Fourth Front Army Qiu Weida organized his staff to study carefully, and in accordance with the deployment of He Yingqin's previous military meeting, he issued specific combat orders to the participating troops: Order the 11th Division of the 18th Army to go straight from Chenxi to Mu'aodong, Shanmen, and Shixiajiang via Xupu, and its 118th Division to go straight from Anhua to Yangxi and Longhui in Xinhua, flanking the 47th Division of the Japanese Army , Cut off the retreat of the Japanese 116th Division.The Seventy-Fourth Army and the 193rd Division, which had been sticking to the front line of Wawutang and Jiangkou, counterattacked at the entrance of the cave and the bridgehead respectively.The 100th Army and the 51st Division counterattacked the 47th Division of the Japanese Army at Mu'ao Cave and Shanmen at the same time.The 73rd Army counterattacked from Yangxi to the side of the bridge and Jukoupu.The New Sixth Army of the General Reserve advances from Anjiang to Jiangkou.The various units of the Third Front Army concentrated their main forces to counterattack Huayuan, Gaosha, Huangqiaopu and northeast Wugang, while the other attacked in the direction of Xinning. After receiving the order, all participating troops acted immediately, and the full-scale counterattack of the Xiangxi Battle kicked off.