Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 334: I'm not afraid of god-like opponents, I'm afraid of pig-like teammates
Yue Qianli felt a deep sense of powerlessness in his heart. He was not afraid of god-like opponents, but teammates who were like pigs.

They were already running fast enough. They only needed to hold on for another hour or the Third Team would arrive and immediately attack the enemy from behind. With the two teams attacking from the front and back, the remnants of the 14th Division would be badly wounded if not killed.

I can’t carry it, I really can’t carry it!
Yue Qianli felt so frustrated that he wanted to curse and slumped to the ground. In this way, they missed the opportunity to completely annihilate the 14th Division.

At the Henan East Corps Headquarters, Xue Boling also cursed. He had never expected that Huang Jie's main force would flee without a fight. This was like tearing a big hole in a fishing net. No matter how good the net was, it would not be able to catch any fish.

The consequences of letting the remnants of the 14th Division escape were very serious, and the initiative of the battle once again returned to the hands of the Japanese.

Xue Boling immediately filed a complaint with the Military Commission, demanding severe punishment for the generals who let the enemy go, otherwise the war could not be fought.

The Battle of Lanfeng at this time was completely different from the one in another time and space. Although the main force of the 14th Division was damaged, nearly people still escaped.
Yue Qianli also lost his advantage of foresight, as the main force of the 16th Division on the northern front had already launched an attack from behind the Henan East Corps.

After the 14th Division, this big fish, broke free, the defenders lost their target, and the Japanese were completely freed from their constraints and could launch attacks at will;

After breaking out, Kenji Doihara joined forces with the 106th Division, bypassed Zhaozhuang from the south, turned his guns around and launched a surprise attack, reoccupying Guide City.

Facing tens of thousands of highly motivated devils, Yue Qianli could only avoid their sharp edge and retreat towards Lanfeng City, where he also had to join the main force;
At this time, he only had the Third Detachment in his hands. The First and Second Detachments were in Lanfeng City, the Supplementary Detachment was in the north of Lanfeng City, and the Independent Detachment was in Zhaozhuang east of Lanfeng City.

They were too scattered, and were at risk of being cut off and surrounded by the Japanese at any time. Considering that the 106th Division had already gone south and occupied Guide City, it was meaningless for the independent detachment to stay in Zhaozhuang.
So he ordered the independent detachment to abandon Zhaozhuang and retreat to Lanfeng City along the Longhai Line to join the main force.

Since the attempt to encircle and annihilate the 14th Division had failed, he had to adopt a backup plan. First, he would assemble his troops, form a fist, and then retreat to the Kaifeng area to block the main force of the Japanese from continuing to advance westward.

After experiencing the "Huang Paopao" incident, Yue Qianli also became cautious. The National Army had many stupid teammates, and he could not let the guerrilla column get involved. This was the foundation for him to fight the Japanese with peace of mind.

Without the guerrilla column, he was nothing and could only go north to the enemy-occupied area to fight guerrilla warfare. However, it would be difficult to mobilize such an elite force that had experienced many battles again.

As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood. Protecting the main force of the guerrilla column is the top priority.

In the battle of Lanfeng, although the guerrilla column suffered heavy casualties, it also captured a lot of spoils, especially a regiment's heavy artillery, which they could just pull away with ready-made draft horses;
The other spoils were carried by mules and horses, and the main force retreated to the west of Kaifeng in great strides. Unfortunately, he was still a step too late, and Kaifeng had already been occupied by Huang Jie's 8th Army.

He did not want to clash with friendly forces, so he bypassed Kaifeng City to the south, set up camp in the area west of Kaifeng, and switched to defense on the spot;

In order to befriend Xue Boling and prevent the Kuomintang from using the guerrilla column as a scapegoat, he took the initiative to hand over the captured heavy artillery regiment to the Henan East Corps.

It's not that he is blindly generous, but he can't afford this thing, and it will seriously restrict the marching speed of the guerrilla column. It is better to use it as a favor and enhance the firepower of the Henan East Corps at the same time, hoping to defend Henan East and avoid the tragedy of digging the river mouth.

After accepting Yue Qianli's generous gift, Xue Boling understood what he meant. The responsibility for the failure in encircling and annihilating the remnants of the Doihara Division lay with Huang Jie. The guerrilla column had done a good enough job, and he could not do anything to take the blame for Yue Qianli. In order to reassure Yue Qianli, he directly gave the guerrilla column an ​​order to retreat to the west of Kaifeng. At the same time, he also supplemented them with some ammunition and two regiments of reinforcements, which was considered as repaying Yue Qianli's favor.

Xue Boling never owed favors to anyone, and he also left a favor behind. The guerrilla column might be of use in future wars.

The failure of the encirclement and annihilation of the Doihara Division caused outrage among the top brass. Someone had to be held accountable, and the commander of the 8th Army was naturally the first to bear the brunt.
However, because the Battle of Lanfeng had not yet ended, it had to be put on hold temporarily. The Military Commission immediately ordered Huang Jie to lead the 8th Army to withdraw to Xiangyang west of the Pinghan Line for training.

Many people thought that Huang Jie would become the second Han Xiangfang, but only Yue Qianli knew that this punishment was just to deal with public opinion;

He was raised high and then put down gently. He was first removed from the post of army commander, then spent half a month in jail, and then was appointed director of the Education Department of the Central Military Academy in Chengdu.

He later rose through the ranks in the military and was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. Another general in this battle, Gui Yongqing, was also a General of the Navy.

鬼子掌握战场主动权之后，随即调动了第10、第16师团、关东军第3、第13混成旅团等部分三路进攻豫东，106师团回撤至徐州；
By the end of May, the Nationalist army was in a passive position across the board, and the Henan East Corps was in danger of being surrounded by several large Japanese armies.

All units of the Henan East Corps were direct descendants of the Central Army. The Military Commission was worried about any losses and immediately ordered Xue Boling to lead his troops to retreat westward.

The retreat naturally required someone to cover the rear, so someone at the top level proposed to use water instead of soldiers to stop the main force of the Japanese army from pursuing along the Pinghan Line. This matter was kept top secret.
At this time, Yue Qianli proposed to the Military Commission that the Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column be responsible for covering the retreat of the main force of the Henan East Corps and ensuring that the Japanese were blocked east of the Pinghan Line.

And they signed a military order that no Japanese soldier would be allowed to approach the Pinghan Line within half a month;

The guerrilla column was still very famous in the National Government Army. Since Yue Qianli was willing to cover the retreat, that was the best thing, so his application was approved.

He then ordered the 8th Army to hand over the defense of Kaifeng to the guerrilla column. The 8th Army withdrew to Xiangyang for training, and eastern Henan was handed over to the guerrilla column for defense.

This was something Yue Qianli had been planning for several months. As long as he could hold on to eastern Henan for more than half a month, the Battle of Wuhan would begin, and the Nationalist government might abandon the plan of using water instead of soldiers. This was all he could do.
Zhengzhou is now the headquarters of a war zone, with a large number of troops gathered there. His guerrilla column cannot get close without being mobilized. He cannot take over Zhengzhou by force, as that would be no different from rebellion.

After receiving the order, Yue Qianli began to adjust the deployment of troops. He assigned the two supplementary regiments assigned to him by Xue Boling to the first and second detachments, which had suffered the heaviest casualties.
Ordered the Supplementary Detachment to defend Kaifeng City and block the Japanese troops advancing westward along the Longhai Line;

The independent detachment guarded Zhongmu, the third detachment guarded Weishi, and the first and second detachments were on standby in eastern Henan and rested at the same time. This was the troop adjustment made by Yue Qianli based on the memories of later generations, and it was also the direction of the three Japanese armies' pursuit.

He was confident that he could hold off the enemy for more than half a month. This was his last effort to prevent the catastrophe, even if it meant wiping out the guerrilla column.

(End of this chapter)