Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 282 Six-Way Siege
The impact of the Taierzhuang victory was so far-reaching that it even caused a sensation abroad and changed the international view on the future of the Sino-Japanese War.

Since the outbreak of the war, the international community has been mostly pessimistic about the future of China's war of resistance. This is why they support China morally but actually make various overtures to Japan.

Westerners only stand on the side of the strong. They sympathize with the weak in words, but support the strong in actions, such as selling them strategic materials such as steel and oil, and even lending them loans.
When the news of the victory of the Battle of Taierzhuang came out, some countries even dared not believe it. On April 4, Reuters reported:
"The British military authorities paid close attention to the situation on the Jinpu Line in China. When the news of the Chinese army's victory first came, everyone was still not convinced. But now it has been proven that the news of the Japanese army's defeat is indeed a fact."

Most foreign newspapers and periodicals published comments praising China's victory in this battle, which raised China's international status and added favorable conditions for winning foreign aid.

After all, not all Western bosses are short-sighted. It is not in their national interest to let the Japanese swallow up China alone.

The guerrilla column paid great attention to the great victory achieved on the northern front. Everyone was excited and more determined to fight to the end, but that was all.
Because there is a sober person around them, under his influence, many people also clearly realize that this is just a victory at the battle level;

The Battle of Xuzhou was far from being decided, and the strategic initiative was still in the hands of the Japanese.

Kyoto, Imperial Palace

Yuren's rage made Konoe Fumimaro lie on the ground for two hours until his mouth was dry. The disastrous defeats on both the northern and southern fronts, especially the defeat at Taierzhuang, had made him so angry that he was humiliated.

He was humiliated by local newspapers' sneering comments about the Japanese military's capabilities, and he had long been striving to integrate into the Western world.

The successive victories on the Chinese battlefield made him mistakenly believe that the Japanese army was already the best in the world and that Japan could dominate the world.

He had not expected that the successive setbacks on the Jinpu Road seemed to have brought them back to their original form. This was something he could not accept. After venting his anger, he finally got down to business:

“Kinwei-kun, judging from the strength revealed in the Battle of Taierzhuang, there are at least 40 elite Chinese troops gathered near Xuzhou;
As long as we annihilate them, we can force the government to surrender. The time for the decisive battle in Xuzhou is ripe. I want to hear the headquarters' plan!"

Konoe Fumimaro had already prepared a plan. When Yuren asked about it, he pulled out the "Central China Expeditionary Army's Xuzhou Battle Plan", which made Yuren nod his head repeatedly:
"Yoshi, immediately order Itagaki Seishirō to lead the main force of the 5th Division to move westward, to join forces with the remnants of the 10th Division led by Isogai Lianjie, to fight together, and to hold on until reinforcements arrive.

With a deadline of mid-May, the North China Front Army was contacted to attack Xuzhou. 5 divisions totaling 13 people were drawn from nearby battlefields, equipped with various heavy weapons, to surround Xuzhou in six routes and annihilate in one fell swoop the hundreds of thousands of Chinese people gathered around Xuzhou.

Mr. Hata Jun's plan is very ambitious, I agree with it, but I have one more requirement, Yue Qianli's troops on the southern front must be annihilated, this is a key to the success of the Xuzhou operation, you must reach a consensus. "

Konoe Fumimaro was about to go crazy. In a decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, Yuren kept staring at a small regiment leader. This was too beneath his status. As the prime minister, he could only bite the bullet and say:

“Your Majesty, we must of course do our best to annihilate Yue Qianli’s troops, but the core of the Xuzhou battlefield is to annihilate the hundreds of thousands of elite troops of the government. This is the standard for whether the Xuzhou battle has achieved a complete victory;
The daily expenses of 30 troops are a huge number. The headquarters is already increasingly stretched in terms of funding, and urgently needs a big victory to end the war in China."

Yuren did not expect that Konoe Fumimaro would disobey him on this matter. His eyes were filled with gloom. He knew that this man could not be kept. If it were not for his huge network of contacts in the political circle, he really wanted to replace this disobedient "dog" immediately.

Thinking of this, he said with a cold face:
"Lord Konoe, I am not negotiating with you. This is my will, and there is no room for negotiation!"

Konoe Fumimaro finally smelled the danger and immediately prostrated himself on the ground and said, “Your Majesty, the headquarters has never thought of disobeying your will, and no one dares to;

Your will is the will of the empire, and I will respect it."

Yuren's expression looked better now, and he said calmly:
"Every order of mine is for the empire, without any personal grudges!
As the Art of War says: Attacking a city is inferior to attacking its heart. The Chinese have thousands of cities. How long will it take the Imperial Army to conquer them one by one?
The empire's finances simply cannot sustain long-term warfare, so the Chinese people's will to resist must be eliminated as soon as possible;

Yue Qianli's troops are the embodiment of the Chinese people's infinite expectations. Only by completely annihilating them will the Chinese people recognize reality, give up their illusions, and surrender to the empire."

Even though Yuren spoke very nicely, Konoe Fumimaro knew the truth very well and had to pretend to be confused, saying that there was no need to disobey him for such a small matter.

On the northern front, the victory of Taierzhuang temporarily eliminated the threat of the Japanese to Xuzhou, but the Japanese in southern Shandong still posed a threat to Xuzhou;

In order to expand the results of the war, the National Government mobilized more than 20 reinforcements from other war zones, approached Xuzhou, and prepared for a decisive battle with the Japanese army.

The Nationalist government was stimulated by the victory of Taierzhuang and was even more excited by the domestic and foreign newspapers. It was ambitious and prepared to annihilate tens of thousands of enemies again to completely reverse the passive situation in strategy. This was completely contrary to the strategy of the Battle of Xuzhou formulated before the war.

The principal got hot-headed and began to like launching a decisive battle again. He sent three telegrams a day urging the Fifth War Zone to counterattack.

In mid-April, General Li ordered his troops to attack the Japanese strongholds of Zaozhuang and Hanzhuang. However, due to the terrain restrictions and the lack of heavy weapons, the attack made little progress and suffered heavy casualties.
When the Nationalist government's offensive was frustrated, the Japanese army stepped up its efforts to gather its forces. Four battalions of the 114th Division of the North China Front Army on the northern line of the Jinpu Road and one battalion of the 4th Division were assigned to the 16th Division.

Two battalions of the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade were transferred to the 2th Division, which quickly restored the combat effectiveness of the two main divisions.

The Japanese army immediately launched a counterattack and captured Linyi on April 4;
At the same time, a strategic encirclement of Tang Keqin's 20th Corps was formed from the east and west, but it was met with stubborn resistance from Lu Han's 60th Army. The two sides were in a standoff in Hanzhuang, Pi County and Tancheng.

In order to resist the Japanese offensive, the main force of the Fifth War Zone had to concentrate on the northern line of the Jinpu Railway, which also led to the main force being tied down by the Japanese near Taierzhuang.

According to the strategy formulated before the war, after swallowing the bait, a part of the troops should be left behind to tie down the Japanese, while the main force should quickly and resolutely leave the Xuzhou battlefield, abandon Xuzhou, and retreat to the Pinghan Road. In this way, the National Army achieved its pre-war goal and escaped unscathed.

Unfortunately, everyone from top to bottom was blinded by victory and wanted more. Even Commander Li and General Bai had the illusion that they could still gain some advantage and perhaps win, which disrupted the strategic deployment.

A series of offensives were launched on the southern front since late April. This was part of the six-pronged offensive in central China, with the goal of attacking Xuzhou from both the north and the south.

On April 4, a part of the Japanese army set out from Wuhu and quickly occupied Chaoxian and Luzhou.
On April 4, Sato's detachment set out from Dongtai and successively occupied Yancheng and Funing.

Meanwhile, on the Bengbu-Huaihe River line, the Third Division, which had been quiet for a while, began to stir under the special care of the headquarters, and the smoke of war rose again in Bengbu City.

(End of this chapter)