Chapter 16 2. Who will guard Linyi

Linyi is an important military town in the southwest corner of Shandong Province.It connects Xin'an Town in the south, Taierzhuang, Zaozhuang, and Yi County in the southwest, Fei County in the north, Mengyin and Xintai in the northwest, Rizhao in the east, and Ju County and Zhucheng in the northeast.From the geographical point of view, the gains and losses of Linyi affect the overall situation, and are closely related to the safety of the three major railway lines of Longhai, Jinpu, and Jiaoji. When the fifth war zone was established, Li Zongren regarded Linyi as very important. This was a barrier to the northeast of Xuzhou and an important stronghold for the right wing of the fifth war zone. For Li Zongren, it was a deadly strategic location.Who to send to guard?This is indeed a headache for Li Zongren.

He discussed with Xu Zuyi, Chief of Staff of the Fifth War Zone many times, but he still couldn't make a decision.The dilemma for them was that they had no soldiers in hand. There were too many openings to be blocked in the fifth war zone, and there were places where soldiers were needed everywhere.The south of Xuzhou asked him for soldiers, and the 9th Division of the Japanese Army came over.The east side of Xuzhou also asked him for troops, saying that the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army was marching towards northern Jiangsu.Teng County in the north of Xuzhou happened to have the unwanted Sichuan army.It would be great if there was another motley army that no one wanted.Li Zongren was so anxious that he wandered around in the headquarters, making the head of chief of staff Xu Zuyi dizzy.What are you turning?Hurry up and say something, this matter is a fire-burning matter, and it can't be delayed.

The phone on Li Zongren's desk rang.He stood in front of the phone and didn't want to answer it. He stared blankly at the phone, probably asking him for help again.Needless to say, it must have come from somewhere ahead.Li Zongren's calls these days are all of this type.His throat is dry, if people want soldiers, they don't look for you. You are the commander-in-chief of the theater.The commander-in-chief has no soldiers, but he always has words.So Li Zongren said a lot of good words, words of comfort, words of condolence, words of gratitude, words of encouragement into the microphone of the telephone, and almost finished all the good words in his life.

Li Zongren is now most afraid of the phone ringing, he will have a headache when the phone rings, and he really has nothing to say to the frontline headquarters.They really are not making trouble for no reason, and their demands are not excessive at all. Compared with Chairman Jiang's direct descendants, they are really wronged. Not only do they not have good guns, they don't have enough bullets, and they don't even have cotton coats to keep out the cold in this winter. .But these miscellaneous troops don't want these, they just want soldiers, guns, and shells.What else do you have to say as a commander in a theater.Li Zongren had nothing to say, and besides, all the obedient words in his head were gone.

Chief of Staff Xu Zuyi saw Li Zongren's psychology and his embarrassment in the face of the ringing of the phone. He didn't want his chief to see anything, so he walked over casually and put a document on the table, as if nothing happened Take the phone slowly.The voice on the phone was harsh, and Chief of Staff Xu hurriedly covered the microphone with his hands, and said, Officer Li, it's General Pang Bingxun's call. Li Zongren suddenly came back to his senses, he hurriedly took a step forward, and took the phone from Xu Zuyi.His mind flashed, how could I forget this Pang Bingxun?Pang Bingxun was reporting on the front-line defense work in Haizhou on the other end of the phone. Li Zongren interrupted General Pang Bingxun and ordered him to immediately hand over the defense of Haizhou to Commander Miao of the 57th Army and rushed to Linyi County.

Pang Bingxun did not haggle over the price on the phone, but said simply, saying that our department will immediately implement the commander's order. Li Zongren hung up the phone and said to Chief of Staff Xu, yes.Xu Zuyi had been standing by the table, listening to his conversation with Pang Bingxun.At this time, he was really shocked when Li Zhangguan told him that he had it.He asked Officer Li, do you mean to put Pang Bingxun's 3rd Army in Linyi? Li Zongren nodded comfortably, and looked at the battle map with his hands on the table.Xu Zuyi was deeply worried about Chief Li's decision.He frowned and said nothing.Chief of Staff Xu believed that the Japanese army directed at Linyi was an ace army that invaded China, and that was the most famous iron army.Under the command of Division Chief Seishiro Itagaki, the 5th Division landed from Qingdao, invincible and unstoppable.Using Pang Bingxun's miscellaneous card to face the Japanese army's trump card, wouldn't it be hitting a stone with an egg?He asked Chief Li to think twice, that place in Linyi is too important to be a joke.

Li Zongren sketched on the combat map with a pen, with blue circles for a while, and red circles for a while.He said without looking up, what happened to the miscellaneous cards?I come from a miscellaneous brand, don't we all do better than the real ones, better than the direct descendants?In terms of weapons and equipment, the Chinese army is indeed a miscellaneous brand, while the Japanese army is the trump card, with all aircraft, artillery, and tanks.But in terms of morale, isn't the Chinese army a trump card?He laughed as he spoke, sweeping away the sadness that had been on his face for many days.

Among the top decision-makers of the Kuomintang, Li Zongren should be counted as the most dedicated to the War of Resistance. As early as 1933, Li Zongren publicly published a famous article "On the Scorched Earth Anti-Japanese War" on the issue of anti-Japanese strategy.In this paper, he states: Rather than allowing the enemy to erode and subjugate the country, it is better to rise up and fight against the war in order to survive.We are a backward country.Industrial construction and transportation equipment have not yet been modernized. From a strategic point of view, if we carry out an upright positional warfare with the Japanese aggressors, we will be strong and we will be weak.Therefore, the enemy's advantage is to make a quick decision in order to force me to be an alliance under the city.But we must avoid our weaknesses and give full play to our strengths, using our superior conditions such as vast land, numerous people, and dangerous mountains and rivers to confuse the enemy and conduct a long-term war of attrition in a planned and steady resistance.When the enemy is lured into the vast and boundless wilderness of our country, I will implement the fortified wall and clear the field, so that the enemy cannot use our manpower and materials, and launch guerrilla warfare in the area behind the enemy, destroying the traffic behind the enemy, and making the enemy exhausted. If you spend many months, you will undoubtedly fail after many days.

Although Li Zongren's "On the Scorched Earth Anti-Japanese War" is not as clear, profound, detailed, thorough in analysis, and extraordinary in foresight as "On Protracted War" written by the leader of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong later, he was a long time early, so it is very Thoughtful and assertive. The term "Scorched Earth War of Resistance" was widely quoted during the later War of Resistance and became the most tragic slogan of the War of Resistance. Later, in his memoirs, Li Zongren also explained the meaning of the term "Scorched Earth War of Resistance". He did not really burn all the supplies by himself, but referred to the mentality of preferring jade to pieces rather than tiles, so as to motivate the whole people to fight the enemy.

As the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Theater, Li Zongren has a clearer view of the situation in the Xuzhou Theater, so he keeps a clear head.He saw the other side of the Japanese army from the powerful military power of the Japanese army, especially the offensive momentum of the Battle of Songhu and the Defense of Nanjing.He predicted that the Japanese army at this time must be extremely arrogant and arrogant.In the Xuzhou war, we must make full use of their weakness of "proud soldiers must be defeated", and use the tens of thousands of mourners that the Chinese army can use to deal with them, drag it down, and break it!

Based on his many years of political and military experience, Li Zongren summed up his unique way of governing the army and using soldiers.The failure of the Battle of Songhu and the fall of Nanjing made the national and Kuomintang troops at that time depressed and depressed.In such a big environment, why did the Fifth Theater stand up when the Japanese army was at its most arrogant?It is nothing more than Li Zongren's unique way of governing and using soldiers. It's not that Li Zongren is arrogant. He once said to Chiang Kai-shek: There are no unusable soldiers in the world, only unusable generals.He took great pride in his steadfast creed.Li Zongren's answer to Chiang Kai-shek's question with this sentence is undoubtedly a great irony to Chairman Chiang. Li Zongren had a lot of dissatisfaction with what Chiang Kai-shek did, but what made him most dissatisfied was the division of the national army into "direct line" and "non-brand".There is an in-depth analysis of this in Li Zongren's memoirs: The first dissatisfaction is that the national army is divided into "central army" and "non-brand".In terms of weapons, ammunition, clothing, and food and salaries, the Central Army received unlimited supplements, while the miscellaneous troops were deducted.If the Sichuan army marched to Xuzhou, I tried my best to ask for supplements, and the central government made an exception to supplement 250 rifles for each army.This is really "a drop in the bucket", how can it help?Therefore, when the enemy is approaching, some of the friendly troops fighting side by side have plenty of food, well-equipped weapons, and domineering arrogance, while others have hungry faces and poor equipment.How can it be possible for them to work hard without complaining? If Li Zongren's fifth war zone also adopts Chiang Kai-shek's attitude towards miscellaneous brands, and treats the troops stuffed into the fifth war zone like crappy goods, what will happen to Xuzhou's defense line?This question is not difficult to answer, it has long since fallen apart. But Li Zongren didn't do that.He understands the difficulties of the no-name troops very well, because he is also from a no-name background and has had enough of the anger of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army.When Chuan Jun came to Xuzhou, he was very dedicated to Chuan Jun, an orphan far away from his homeland.When meeting with Deng Xihou and Sun Zhen in Xuzhou, he not only asked about their health and comfort, but also asked them about their difficulties.Deng Xihou and Sun Zhen were very moved, and said in unison that the firearms are too inferior and the bullets are too few.Li Zongren repeatedly asked the Military Commission to supplement the Sichuan Army with bullets and mortars for use by the Sichuan Army.This approach made the generals of the Sichuan army who had been discriminated against since leaving Sichuan burst into tears of gratitude, and the soldiers were deeply encouraged.The Sichuan army's momentum in Teng County was high, and they all pledged to obey the command of Chief Li, bravely killed the enemy, and vowed to live and die with Teng County to repay the kindness of knowing them.Later, the performance of the Sichuan army was indeed extraordinary, inflicting heavy losses on the Isoya Division, and composing a song of heroic hymn. Pang Bingxun's 3rd Army came here with a sigh of relief.Before Pang Bingxun came, his 3rd Army was in danger of being disbanded and disbanded.Chiang Kai-shek's direct troops are around him, like hungry wolves, waiting for the disbandment of the 3rd Army.The Central Army expands itself by annexing these miscellaneous troops, but Pang Bingxun is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and he still has a hand in dealing with this situation.If you want to cancel the compilation, I will electrify and resist the Japanese.You can't call me Pang Bingxun not to resist Japan, can you? Chairman Jiang had no choice but to send him to the fifth theater, but only 4 regiments were scheduled.There are 5 regiments in the 3rd Army, and each regiment has a full quota. If one regiment is to be merged, where should it go?There is no way to merge, only to dissolve.Pang Bingxun was so angry that he really wanted to cry. He came to the front line to fight against Japan, and he still suffered from this uselessness. Li Zongren knew that Pang Bingxun was a very smooth and difficult person to deal with. In the civil war, everyone knew that he was good at avoiding the important and preserving his strength.However, Li Zongren didn't mean to despise him at all, but used his unique way of governing and using soldiers to win over Pang Bingxun's hearts.In Li Zongren's memoirs, we can clearly see a heart-to-heart conversation: General Pang has been in the army for a long time. In terms of seniority, you are the big brother and I am the younger brother. I shouldn't command you.However, in the battle sequence of this war of resistance, I was listed as the commander-in-chief, and I only held a relatively important position.So in official business, I am the commander-in-chief. In private, we are brothers and comrades in arms, and there should be no distinction between superiors and inferiors. What Li Zongren said was the truth, without a trace of falsehood.Pang Bingxun was born in 1879, when he was just 60 years old.In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), when Li Zongren was still studying in Guangxi Army Primary School, Pang Bingxun was the captain of the Security Volunteer Army.Hou Pang was transferred from the Beiyang Army to Feng Yuxiang's command. Because his right leg was injured and disabled in the civil war, he was nicknamed "Pang Kidnap".The well-known Pang Guaizi was vigilant and fickle in decades of warlord melee, and he often turned against him, so he had a bad reputation in the military circle.Li Zongren didn't talk about these, he still said earnestly: We have been involved in the civil war for more than 20 years. Although the situation is pressing and we are all forced to spin in the whirlpool, it is too meaningless to think about that kind of life carefully.Black and white are unclear, right and wrong cannot be distinguished, although defeat is not shameful, victory is not enough to fight.Today, as people wish, let us have a chance to fight against the Japanese in this lifetime. If we can die in the battle for the country and the nation in the future, we will truly die well.Only in this way can one be worthy of being a soldier for the rest of his life. General Pang was very moved by his heart-to-heart confession with reason and emotion.He was also looking back on his life at ordinary times, and now he heard what Li Zongren said, he suddenly realized, like waking up from a big dream, that's why.So Pang Bingxun also said emotionally: Commander has two levels of virtue and power. As subordinates, if we can serve our country under the command of the commanding officer, we will never hesitate to die. Please rest assured, commanding officer, I will never save my strength this time, and I will fight the enemy to the end. Li Zongren was very happy, knowing that his words had a good effect and captured Pang Bingxun's heart. So Chief Li started his next job. He wanted to do some practical things for Pang Bingxun. Pang Bingxun has two things that need to be resolved.The first is weapons and equipment. Although the 3rd Army is organized as one army, it actually only governs 5 infantry regiments, with about 13,000 people.There are 8,000 rifles, 900 pistols, 60 heavy machine guns, 600 light machine guns, 60 mortars, 4 mountain guns, and 300 horses. This is what the entire legion has.And Chiang Kai-shek still wants to merge one of his regiments, if not merged, it will be disbanded, otherwise the payment of troops will be suspended. Li Zongren immediately wrote a warrant to Shi Hualong, the director of the military depot of the fifth theater, asking him to supplement the ammunition and equipment of the Pang Legion as much as possible.At the same time, I hung up the phone to Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of staff of the Wuhan Command, and told Bai Chongxi of General Pang's difficulties, and asked him to immediately ask Chairman Jiang for instructions to withdraw the order of the Military and Political Department and maintain the status quo of the 3rd Army.The Ministry of Military and Political Affairs quickly replied that, following the order of the chairman, the Pang Ministry temporarily maintained the status quo. To be honest, Pang Bingxun was tossing and turning in the melee of warlords, and he had never met a commander who was so considerate to his subordinates like Li Zongren. Putting such an army in Linyi, you say Li Zongren still has nothing to worry about. Xu Zuyi's worry was because he didn't know the root cause. If he knew the details, he would be at ease.Later, Pang Bingxun's performance in Linyi made Chief of Staff Xu very moved, and he admired this gray-haired old general from the bottom of his heart.