Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 313: Instructions from "Xue Lao Hu"
"General, all signs indicate that the defenders are engaging in street fighting with the imperial army. As far as I know, Yue Qianli is famous for fighting street battles, so we have to be cautious."

As the chief of staff, Jiro Kawai worriedly reminded Yamaji Wataru that this was also his responsibility.

Shan Di Gen also noticed something unusual, but he still consoled himself by saying:
"Zhaozhuang is just a small town. There is no room for large-scale street fighting. As long as the imperial army has enough artillery, it can raze Zhaozhuang to the ground."

“General, although Zhaozhuang is not as big as Taierzhuang, it occupies a large area.
They can attack or defend, and if they cannot defeat them, they can retreat to the south.

The biggest problem of the Imperial Army right now is that it does not have enough firepower. The soldiers lack experience in street fighting. The defenders only need to fight in every street and alley in the village, and the Imperial Army will suffer a lot of casualties. "

After a moment of silence, Shan Di Gen said:
"Kawai-kun, just tell me your suggestion."

Kawai Jiro cheered up and said:
"General, we can use limited street fighting to hold back the defenders, and then ask the division commander for tactical guidance.

Once they had gathered enough troops and firepower, they launched a heavy attack, and Yue Qianli had no choice but to flee southward in embarrassment.

Defeating the guerrilla column and establishing contact with the 14th Division was also a great achievement."

Shan Digen was instantly moved and nodded:
"The 14th Division is alone and deep in the enemy's territory. It is now under siege by more than 106 elite troops of the Central Army of China. As long as we defeat the guerrilla column and open up the connection between Lanfeng City and Xuzhou, our th Division can join the game. This is indeed worth looking forward to. The division commander should be interested.

The division headquarters still had two mountain artillery battalions and one field artillery battalion, so it was enough to leave one regiment in Xuzhou;

As long as the main force of the mountain artillery regiment is in place, it won’t be difficult to raze Zhaozhuang!”

Major General Shandi finally swallowed his pride and decided to ask for help from the division headquarters. Without the artillery advantage, he really had no confidence in fighting the guerrilla column.

The street fighting in Zhaozhuang continued. After receiving the order from Major General Shandi, the intensity of the Japs' attack was reduced.

The battle lines of both sides were basically stable near the central axis. The Japanese began to show off their weapons, pretending that they could not attack anymore, but in fact they were waiting for reinforcements.

At the headquarters of the First Corps of East Henan, the commander-in-chief Xue Boling frowned. He had already set up his pocket formation, but unfortunately the process of closing the pocket was not going smoothly.

Several regiments of the 14th Division were like a group of wild boars that had entered a crop field, rushing around in all directions. Several reinforcements from the periphery were approaching Yudong. While the First Corps was encircling and annihilating the 14th Division, it also had to allocate enough troops to block the reinforcements. Facing the reinforcements that were approaching step by step, he now felt a little overwhelmed.

Among the reinforcements coming from several directions, he was most worried about the 106th Division coming from Xuzhou. For this reason, he deliberately placed the 8th Army, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, in Guide, ready to block reinforcements at any time.

Just when Xue Boling was thinking about where to squeeze out more troops to plug the hole, Chief of Staff Wu Yizi walked in excitedly. Xue Boling's face turned even uglier. He could still laugh at this time. He was so tactless.

Chief of Staff Wu knew what the commander-in-chief was worried about, so he reported directly:
"Commander-in-chief, the Military Commission has reported a very valuable situation. The Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column, a unit directly under the Military Commission, has blocked the 106th Division in Zhaozhuang for three days, annihilated more than 3 enemies, and shot down more than ten planes!"

Xue Boling was instantly moved after hearing this. He immediately moved closer to the map, found Zhaozhuang on it, took the telegram from the chief of staff and read it carefully. He immediately said:
"Can we contact the guerrilla column?"

Then Xue Boling added:
"Chief of Staff Wu, report to the Military Commission immediately. I need the command of the guerrilla column!"

"Commander-in-chief, the Military Commission has already thought of this and has made it clear that during the Lanfeng Campaign, the guerrilla column will be temporarily under the control of the First Corps."

Xue Boling was also delighted after hearing this, and then asked worriedly:

"What's Yue Qianli's attitude?"

Although Xue Boling has a lot of experience, the two sides are not under the same command, and the guerrilla column belongs to the backbone of the civil engineering system, which he cannot control at will; no matter how many troops do not obey his orders, it will be useless, and it is a bit difficult for him to command these disciples of the emperor.

Chief of Staff Wu quickly replied:
"Yue Qianli's attitude is to resolutely carry out the orders from his superiors."

Just these words were enough. Xue Boling immediately issued the first order, and he really didn't consider himself an outsider:
"Telegram to Yue Qianli of the guerrilla column, tell him to stop the enemy in the direction of Xuzhou east of Zhaozhuang at all costs. If there are any difficulties, tell him to tell me directly - quickly!"

This was undoubtedly a test-taking tactic. The matter was of great importance, and he had to find out Yue Qianli's attitude.

Before that, Huang Jie's 8th Army had to stay in Guide City to guard the direction of Xuzhou and absolutely could not let the Japanese enter the pocket formation.

Guerrilla Column Headquarters

When Yue Qianli received the telegram from the First Corps, Lin E also brought him the good news he had been waiting for;
Under pressure from all sides, the Japanese in Lanfeng City had been evacuated, leaving only an understaffed regiment and division headquarters. The opportunity to retake Lanfeng City had appeared, and they immediately said to Chen Zhongyuan:

"Send a telegram to Old Zhu. The operation will be scheduled for tonight. We will surround three sides and leave one side open, with the main focus on occupying Lanfeng City."

Chen Zhongyuan reminded him:
"What's Commander Xue's response?"

Yue Qianli thought for a moment and then said:

"There is no difficulty, and we will complete the task resolutely."

Yue Qianli decided to give Commander Xue some peace of mind and wait until Lanfeng City was recaptured before doing anything else. By then, Old Xue would have to look for him again and would address him as Brother Yue.

In the direction of Zhaozhuang, in order to open up the Longhai Line, the 106th Division once again sent reinforcements to the mountain detachment, including an infantry regiment, two mountain artillery battalions, and a cavalry battalion. In addition, they were given 2 reinforcements, which increased the troops besieging Zhaozhuang to three infantry regiments and one mountain artillery regiment.

However, Major General Shandi was not in a hurry to launch an attack. Instead, he deployed his troops and sent a part of his troops to detour to the west of Zhaozhuang to prevent the guerrilla column from breaking through from the west and causing trouble for the Japanese on the Longhai Line.

Lanfeng City, the night is as dark as ink, and the 14th Division's headquarters is still brightly lit
Lieutenant General Kenji Doihara was staring at the map in deep thought. The densely packed colored arrows on the map were like a huge net covering the city of Lanfeng, but there was no emotion on his face, and he even had a hint of a mocking smile.

Chief of Staff Colonel Tadayoshi Sano looked at him with infinite admiration. It must be said that Kenji Doihara was still very prestigious in the Japanese army.

Facing the Chinese elites rushing towards him from all directions, Sano Tadayoshi did not have the strong heart of Kenji Doihara after all, and could not help but say:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, Xue Boling is a rare veteran in the Chinese National Army, and the First Corps is also composed of the elite of the Chinese Central Army. It is better to be cautious."

Kenji Doihara said contemptuously:

"Xue Boling has some abilities, but you don't understand China's national conditions. He is not from the Whampoa Military Academy, so how many of those brave soldiers from the first batch of the Whampoa Military Academy can he command?

No matter how many routes they come from, I will only go one way. The 14th Division in eastern Henan has tens of thousands of people who can come and go as they please. "

Kenji Doihara had the capital to be arrogant. He was a well-known China expert and the head of intelligence. The deployment of the Kuomintang government was under his control. It was equivalent to playing his cards unilaterally and openly, so he was naturally not afraid.

As soon as Kenji Doihara finished his words, something happened to slap him in the face. There was a faint sound of gunfire outside the city.
The spy chief's expression suddenly turned cold, and he shouted coldly:
"What kind of work?"

(End of this chapter)