Chapter 36 2. Rebuild the glory of Taierzhuang

The Taierzhuang victory made Chiang Kai-shek so excited that he didn't get a good night's sleep for several days.Chiang Kai-shek has been scheming for many years, thinking about this and that all day long, and suffers from severe insomnia.Insomnia in a good situation, insomnia in a bad situation, insomnia in a winning battle, insomnia in a losing battle.His wife Song Meiling didn't even know how to serve him. Niang Xipi, the Japanese also have today!Chiang Kai-shek was so happy that he raised the newspaper in his hand above his head, and said to the people around him that this is the glory of our party and the pride of the national government.He casually pushed open the window facing the street. Wuhan was bustling with joy, and "Central Daily", "Sweeping News" and other newspapers all issued special numbers.The blue sky and white sun flags of the Kuomintang were hung all over the three towns of Wuhan.

Looking at these, Chiang Kai-shek's usually sallow face was now flushed from time to time. To be honest, the prestige and credibility of the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang government have never been as good as they are today.The people of the whole country sincerely supported Chiang Kai-shek's idea of ​​a national war of resistance.The Taierzhuang victory pushed the prestige and credibility of the Kuomintang and its government to the extreme. This is what Chiang Kai-shek desires most.The prestige of the Kuomintang, the credibility of the national government, and the prestige and credibility of Chairman Chiang, he unequivocally collected them in his pocket.No one questioned this point, because it was he who led the people across the country to fight the frontal battlefield.

Chiang Kai-shek never doubted the encouragement brought by the Taierzhuang victory to the whole of China and the honor brought to the Kuomintang and the National Government, and no one could take this credit away from him. When he appointed Li Zongren as the commander-in-chief of the fifth war zone, he made up his mind. Li Zongren blocked and even defeated the arrogant Japanese in the fifth war zone. Long live, that is also calling him long live Chairman Jiang.If defeated, not to mention the historical sinner Li Zongren, China's series of miscellaneous troops will also be exhausted by the Japanese army on the front line, and at the same time consume the strength of the Japanese army, and then he will command the Central Army to fight the Japanese army.This abacus is not only successful, but also has the effect of killing two birds with one stone.

The clever Li Zongren can see through Chiang Kai-shek's actions at a glance.Not only political masters like Li Zongren, but also second- and third-rate political figures such as the commanders of the Sichuan Army, the Northwest Army, the Northeast Army, and the Yunnan Army, like a mirror in their hearts, have already seen through Chiang Kai-shek's tricks and revealed his true form. Li Zongren did have a way. He used his unique way of managing the army and employing personnel to manage these miscellaneous troops of the Chinese army very effectively.These miscellaneous troops are full of the national integrity of the Chinese people. The heinous crimes of the Japanese army invading China and massacring our Chinese compatriots inspired their fighting spirit.Facing the arrogant and arrogant little Japan, they were full of enthusiasm and anger, and vowed to defend China with their blood and flesh.

Japan's ace Iron Army encountered such a group of hard-working men. Chiang Kai-shek is a very happy person.Strictly speaking, Chiang Kai-shek is not a military strategist, he does not have the qualifications to command the armed forces, let alone a general who can lead troops to fight, although he is a four-star general, at best it is just a decoration, a symbol.As early as the Battle of Songhu and the Defense of Nanjing, we can see his misplaced understanding of China's War of Resistance. Chiang Kai-shek was very stubborn, and anyone with military vision or military knowledge could tell at a glance that there was no danger to defend in the Songhu triangle area, and failure was a foregone conclusion.But Chiang Kai-shek was full of confidence and said boldly that he would drive the enemy down the Huangpu River!700,000 elite soldiers were actually cast on it.The result was a crushing defeat, setting a record for the largest sacrifice and the worst battle in China's eight-year war of resistance.

The Taierzhuang victory aroused Chiang Kai-shek's interest again.He wants to recreate the glory of Taierzhuang and fight the Japanese army in the Xuzhou area. This will not only expand the achievements of Taierzhuang, boost the morale of the soldiers and civilians across the country, but also eliminate the vital forces of the Japanese army.Chiang Kai-shek was complacent in front of the victory. It was Taierzhuang's victory that dazzled him, and it was the cheers of the soldiers and civilians across the country that made him fatuous and conceited. Chiang Kai-shek ordered to dispatch 600,000 troops from various battlefields and the rear of the country to Xuzhou in the fifth theater.

Zhou Lei's 75th Army and Li Xianzhou's 92nd Army arrived in Xuzhou earlier.Later it was Fan Songfu's 46th Army, Lu Han's 60th Army, Li Yannian's 2nd Army, and a division of the Jin Army.Finally, Tan Daoyuan's 22nd Army, Shi Yousan's 69th Army, Feng Zhi'an's 77th Army, and Liu Ruming's 68th Army were added. Li Zongren was taken aback. He thought that Chiang Kai-shek had gone crazy again. He transferred so many troops to Xuzhou, and the original strength of Xuzhou was no less than 600,000.Li Zongren's fifth war zone was overcrowded, all piled up in the area near Xuzhou.But Bai Chongxi danced with joy. He called Chief Li Zongren from the Hankou Military Command, and happily praised Generalissimo Chiang for his courage and determination.

Li Zongren was dumbfounded. He stared blankly on the phone with his mouth open. It took him a long time to ask Bai Chongxi, why did the chairman send so many troops to the fifth theater? Bai Chongxi laughed loudly on the other end of the phone. He said, the chairman said that if you can fight, Taierzhuang fought very well. He wants you to come to Taierzhuang again, so as to expand the results and influence of Taierzhuang. Li Zongren was not interested. He told Bai Chongxi that it was too late now.The chairman of the general committee is in a daze, you, the deputy chief of staff, must not be in a daze.Li Zongren reminded Bai Chongxi that he should analyze the situation correctly, see clearly the changes in the Japanese army, and be a qualified chief of staff.Although the words were not so clear, Bai Chongxi may have understood the meaning.

Li Zongren knew Bai Chongxi, known as "Little Zhuge".This person is more clever in small things, and sometimes he is indeed superior to others, but in front of big things, he is not as smart as he is in small things.As a military general, sometimes he showed a reckless bravery.Li Zongren reminded him a lot about this.In the late period of the War of Liberation, the Kuomintang troops fled to Taiwan one after another.Bai Chongxi scolded Chiang Kai-shek for his incompetence and told Li Zongren not to go to Taiwan. He also vowed to Li Zongren that he had 20 troops in his hand, and he could fight with the Communist army.

Li Zongren smiled bitterly, saying that he was overthinking his abilities.Your little army is not enough for Chen Yi and Su Yu to have lunch on the opposite side, so what about Chiang Kai-shek's 4 million troops?Didn't he run away?That's for later. Li Zongren put down the phone, he no longer thought about what Bai Chongxi said, nor about Chiang Kai-shek.The first thing he has to consider is how the Japanese base camp considers the problem under the current situation.The battle of Taierzhuang caused the Japanese army to suffer a defeat. The arrogant Japanese government will not let it go, and they will definitely retaliate against the Chinese army.

When he thought of the Japanese army's revenge, he had already judged the new strategy of the enemy's encirclement of Xuzhou.The Chinese army has hundreds of thousands of troops deployed in the plains around Xuzhou. This is the best target for the Japanese mechanized troops and air force to attack.Just like a target placed at a fixed location during a military exercise, it is a matter of hitting one target at a time. Li Zongren thought of this, and cold sweat broke out on his back. As the commander of a theater, he was not only responsible for the theater, but more importantly, he was responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers.He carefully pondered the battle map and looked up out of the window.The scenery outside the window is so nice, in the spring of April, the sun is shining brightly and the warm wind is blowing.It would be nice if there were no wars.People can happily stroll in the flowers and woods, couples of lovers, they hold hands and talk intimately, what a wonderful life that is.Peace-loving people in the world should live a good life, but not now.Japanese bandits are ravaging the land of China and massacring our Chinese compatriots. Our folks are living in dire straits.Of course, today our generation defends the soil and resists the war, precisely for our next generation to live a better life. Li Zongren withdrew his gaze from the window and landed on the map in front of him again.At present, the Chinese army is poorly equipped, and can only use the favorable conditions of the terrain to conduct mobile warfare against the enemy. It is also possible to carry out guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines like the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army of the Communist Party of China.If we overestimate our capabilities and engage in a large-scale war of attrition with the enemy, we will inevitably repeat the mistakes of the Songhu battlefield. Thinking of the Songhu battlefield, his whole body shuddered, and the pencil in his hand fell to the ground.no!The vitality of the Chinese army is limited, and the tragedies of the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing must not be repeated.Now that the army is gathering in Xuzhou, Li Zongren feels a great responsibility, and he has an indescribable difficulty. Li Zongren's unspeakable difficulties in the fifth theater came from his inability to fight inside the theater.