Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 224: Star generals gather, elite national army! A great victory in the first battle, Gui Yongqing and Lanfeng won a great victory?
The headquarters of the commander of the First War Zone at this time.

Commander-in-Chief Cheng Qian, Chief of Staff Yan Xunfu, and some of the Central Army generals gathered together.

Chu Yunfei was also among them.

It’s just that as a student of the fifth class of Whampoa Military Academy, his seat was relatively close to the front.

A group of generals from the second, third and even first classes of the Whampoa Military Academy who attended the meeting were all tied together.

His military achievements against Japan might be almost on par with Chu Yunfei's.

As for Chu Yunfei's left hand side.

That is, next to him.

It was Xue Yue, also known as Xue Boling, the commander of the Henan East Corps who was directly responsible for commanding this operation.

Nicknamed Tiger Boy, Xue Zhanshen.

His major anti-Japanese achievement was commanding the third Battle of Changsha.

Little did people know that Xue Yue had previously demonstrated his prowess in the battles in the Songhu area.

However, the troops under his command suffered heavy losses, which was criticized.

He was dressed in a grass-green Central Army uniform, looking high-spirited and full of energy.

Obviously, there are high expectations for this battle.

Before he was transferred to the battlefield by Chiang Kai-shek, he was serving as the commander-in-chief of the Third War Zone.

(He is about the same level as Wei Lihuang, so you can use him as a reference. Otherwise, he would not be allowed to lead the Central Army.)

I don't know where the news came from.

Fenghua Accent is currently supervising the battle in Zheng County and will select the best performing troop from this battle.

The Flying Tiger Honor Division has been selected into the combat sequence of the campaign attack army.

As the most loyal descendant among the loyal descendants under Fenghua Accent.

The First Army will naturally have a spot.

Then the other troops can only compete for the remaining three places.

This combat meeting was also the last collective meeting of the First War Zone before the war.

While they were meeting, small-scale reconnaissance, infiltration and attacks were taking place.

Arrogant and confident Japanese troops even launched attacks on the defending troops.

Chief of Staff Yan Xunfu was standing in front of everyone, reading out the combat plan formulated by the First War Zone.

"First, Yu Jishi's 74th Army and one division of Li Hanhun's 64th Army will form the Eastern Route Army and attack westward along both sides of the Longhai Railway from Guide.

The Western Route Army was composed of Gui Yongqing's 27th Army and Song Xilian's 71st Army, and attacked eastward from Lanfeng.

The Northern Army, composed of Sun Tongxuan's Third Army and Shang Zhen's Twentieth Army, cut off the retreat of the Japanese 14th Division along the Dingtao, Heze, Dongming, and Kaocheng lines.

"Second, to ensure the achievement of the combat objectives, we specially order Huang Jie's Eighth Army, Guo Chan's 94th Army's 187th Division, and Yang Guangyu's 24th Division to hold the Dangshan and Guide lines and block the Japanese 16th Division from advancing westwards to support from Xuzhou."

"Third, the elite main forces of the Chinese Army, including Wang Zhonglian's 20th Corps, Hu Zongnan's 1st Army, Chu Yunfei's Flying Tiger Division, etc., gathered in eastern Henan and joined the battle one after another."

This battle plan seems to be fine.

But in reality there are problems everywhere.

First, apart from the villages, the eastern Henan plain is basically large tracts of farmland and saline-alkali land.

As the attacker, there is no chance to hide himself at all.

In such terrain, the Japanese army can make good use of their firepower advantage.

In addition, the Japanese army had established a logistics supply line at the ferry.

The fact that the Japanese army had no backup support was not taken into consideration when the theater commander's headquarters formulated the plan.

Second, the 20th Corps was already an exhausted division. They had not been replenished since breaking out from Xuzhou, and were also the main target of pursuit by the Japanese army. It was impossible for them to participate in this battle as a strategic reserve.

In other words, there was actually only one strategic reserve force for the Battle of Lanfeng.

That was the First Army led by Hu Zongnan.

Speaking of the 20th Corps breaking out of Xuzhou.

He obtained the heavy artillery battalion assigned to him by Li Zongren.

This heavy artillery battalion was previously assigned to General Luhan's 60th Army.

During the breakout, the 60th Army was responsible for the rearguard and blocking tasks.

This heavy artillery battalion was assigned to the 20th Corps to lead the breakout.

Chu Yunfei signaled: "Chief Yan"

"Yun Fei has something to say?"

Chu Yunfei nodded and slowly stood up facing the gazes of the famous anti-Japanese generals.

"Commander Yan, the terrain of Lanfeng is open and flat, which is very suitable for the use of heavy firepower."

"I remember that the Fifth Theater had previously assigned a heavy artillery battalion to the 20th Corps, equipped with 12 heavy artillery pieces from the 15th Army. This battle is of great importance. Yun Fei suggested that we ask the Chairman to temporarily assign this heavy artillery unit to the First Theater for combat."

"This..." Chief of Staff Yan hesitated to speak.

A heavy artillery battalion, just want it?
Do you know how many 150mm heavy artillery are left in the country?
These are all the chairman’s gold nuggets.

Participation in the war requires the consent of the command.

Cross-war zone mobilization cannot be accomplished with just a telegram.

It must be approved by the Fifth War Zone and the Twentieth Corps.

Even Cheng Qian, the commander of the First War Zone, had to go to Zheng County to explain the situation.

Cheng Qian frowned but did not express his opinion.

But Xue Yue, who was sitting next to Chu Yunfei, was obviously very moved.

He had previously fought in the Third War Zone and had heard about the many unexpected incidents that had occurred in the Fifth War Zone, but he was not clear about the specific circumstances.

In this battle in eastern Henan, he was the direct commander and the first person in charge.

He naturally wanted to strengthen his own heavy firepower.

This heavy artillery battalion was equipped with twelve 150mm German heavy artillery pieces.

Even though the artillery shells were used up before the breakout from Xuzhou.

But the battle to encircle and annihilate the 14th Division was quite crucial.

The Fenghua accent will find a way to get the shells.

This would be the same even if it meant draining out the war expenses originally planned for the Battle of Wuhan.

Think about it.

He was more worried than anyone else that the Japanese army would take this opportunity to change the direction of their strategic offensive and first capture Lanfeng, Kaifeng and Zhengxian.

Go south along Pinghan Road.

Then Xinyang and Wuhan were like easy goods for the Japanese army.

Or if we move westward along the Longhai Road, Shaanxi will face the most direct threat.

Sichuan can be attacked along the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway, and southeastern and southwestern Shanxi can be attacked by going north along the Yellow River.

By that time, the situation of the War of Resistance would take a sharp turn for the worse.

This battle.

For the Fenghua accent, this is a battle that must be won.

He also paid the price for his blindly confident command in the later stage of the Battle of Xuzhou.

Seeing that Xue Boling also looked interested.

A group of generals also looked at him expectantly.

Cheng Qian had no choice but to speak out: "My fellow comrades, I will go to Zheng County to meet with the chairman on this matter."

Chu Yunfei sat back tactfully.

The rest is not for him to say.

His eyes glanced at the group of seniors and generals behind him.

After waiting for a long time, no one asked for air support.

He had no choice but to quietly remind Xue Yue beside him: "Commander Xue, Air Force..."

Xue Boling was stunned. As proud as he was, he had never done this when commanding a battle.

"what?"

"Air support..."

Xue Yue was silent for a few seconds, and then suggested: "Commander Cheng, can we ask the Chairman to dispatch some air forces to reinforce the First War Zone in this battle?"

Cheng Qian looked towards Xue Yue, but actually he was looking in the direction of Chu Yunfei.

They want both artillery and airplanes.
Where the hell do I get such a bold face?
Chu Yunfei seemed not to notice Cheng Qian's gaze. He nodded and lowered his eyes with a serious face.

"it is good!"

Cheng Qian nodded slightly, and then agreed: "I will explain this matter to the chairman, but...the air force is mainly fighting over Wuhan, I don't know if it can be withdrawn."

Chu Yunfei stopped talking.

The central army leaders behind him were relieved.

Some people frowned slightly, as if they didn't like Chu Yunfei's behavior.

Be timid before fighting.

Is this the commander of the Flying Tiger Honor Division?
Regarding the gazes of these colleagues.

Chu Yunfei completely ignored it and didn't care.

General Cheng Qian spoke slowly and continued to emphasize: "Our army intends to use the absolute advantage of 200,000 troops against 20,000 troops to completely annihilate Tu Feiyuan's 14th Division!

In this battle, our army can only win, not lose.

Even at all costs, we must wipe out this elite Japanese army that dares to look down on our army! "

"Yes!"

All the generals agreed in unison.

"The meeting is adjourned..."

Chu Yunfei wanted to leave after the meeting, but Xue Yue said, "Yunfei, stay for a while."

"Commander Xue"

"Let's go to my room." Xue Yue smiled and said softly.

Chu Yunfei nodded, followed Xue Yue and walked into his office.

"Yun Fei, what do you think of this battle to encircle and annihilate the 14th Division?"

"My attack force has a 60% chance of completely annihilating the Japanese 14th Division, but we may only have one week left... Once it exceeds one week, the Japanese support force heading west will surely arrive, and by then we will no longer have a chance to annihilate this arrogant elite Japanese army."

Chu Yunfei expressed his views truthfully.

No hesitation, no hiding.

That's what he thought.

Xue Yue likes this aspect of Chu Yunfei very much. A soldier should be like this!
"Yes, my idea is almost the same as yours. If we attack, we should do it continuously and not give the Japanese invaders a chance to breathe."

Xue Yue asked tentatively: "Yun Fei, I want to deploy your Flying Tiger Honor Division to the battlefield as soon as possible."

"You know, the artillery forces under your command are the best means of cover when launching an attack on open ground."

"I know that launching the first attack may result in the loss of a lot of troops. Don't worry, after the war, I will personally ask the chairman for people and guns for you."

Chu Yunfei was silent. This was not what he was worried about.

As a senior general holding military power.

He could no longer think from the perspective of a mid-level or junior officer.

Today, the Flying Tiger Honor Division has always been an important force in the War of Resistance against Japan.

They were deeply bound together, and he, Chu Yunfei, had problems.

This unit will have problems.

Just like Yue Fei, the national hero who was regarded as a role model and example by a group of soldiers of the Republic of China.

After Fengbo Pavilion, didn’t Yue’s army also fall apart?

Chu Yunfei frowned in thought.

Based on his description of Xue Yue in the war history he read and the related records and understanding of Xue Yue himself.

He believed that Xue Yue was a relatively orthodox soldier.

After all, Xue Yue was a man who dared to say to Soong Mei-ling on the phone: Let me defend Changsha for half a month and then evacuate. I am not going to do that. I will fight in Changsha. If I am defeated, I will commit suicide to thank the people. If I win, it will be considered as disobeying orders and you can shoot me!
This is actually no different from what I said to Chiang Kai-shek.
Although he had many bad faults, he was a patriotic general, not a warlord.

Facing Xue Yue's gaze, Chu Yunfei raised his head and looked straight ahead calmly, then said slowly:

"Commander Xue, please forgive me for being blunt."

"Please speak." Xue Yue nodded slightly.

"When I went to Kaifeng for a meeting, I heard news that the results of this operation were related to the system headquarters' considerations on the attacking army in the campaign."

Xue Yue nodded and admitted openly: "There is such a rumor, but the details are not clear yet."

Chu Yunfei simply added: "If this news is true, if our troops are deployed to the war too early, it is very likely to affect friendly forces."

Xue Yue put his hands behind his back and frowned slightly.

This is indeed very important for the central army units participating in the war.

It is impossible that elite troops like the 74th Army and the 18th Army had no intention of being selected as combat attack armies directly under the Military Commission.

They also served as the first batch of attacking troops in this battle.

If Chu Yunfei led his troops to join the battle at this time, the battle would generally be good.

If the performance is outstanding.

What reasons do the other troops have to be on par with the Flying Tiger Honor Division?

"It's like this. I plan to assign you to the second-line troops of the Western Route Army to undertake the second wave of offensive missions. Once the offensive of the 27th Army and the 71st Army is blocked, you should draw the artillery units to provide strong firepower support to the front line."

In Xue Yue's opinion.

What a bullshit battle attack army selection.

Winning this battle is the most important thing.

But he had to carefully consider Chu Yunfei's opinion.

He had to take care of the feelings of these warriors and ensure that the war could be won.

Although Chu Yunfei is arrogant.

But he was not so arrogant as to offend a large number of the central troops in one go.

The battle attack army represents the top combat power of the National Revolutionary Army.

He also represents the few resources that are already allocated within the national army.

It is also an honor for this unit.

Just like the Flying Tiger Glory Flag.

The commander of the attacking army in a battle actually represents a successful career in the government.

Take Chu Yunfei for example.

How many ranks have been promoted in just one year?
He was promoted from a colonel to the current A-level chief of staff.

In such troubled times, as long as you are loyal and good at fighting, it will be no problem for you to rise to the top.

And among the various units of the Central Army that participated in this encirclement and annihilation campaign, which one was not loyal?
But this battle is not so easy to win!

This battle not only involved a powerful part of the first mechanized division, the 200th Army Division, but also disciples of the emperor such as Gui Yongqing.

Gui Yongqing goes without saying.

A senior general who married He Yingqin's niece.

I also have experience studying in Germany, although I have been defeated there.

But the Fenghua accent still attaches great importance to it.

After the fall of Nanjing, the Teaching Corps was reorganized into the 27th Army, with Gui Yongqing as the successor commander.

As for the 200th Division.

The division commander of this unit was Du Yuming, and the deputy division commander was Qiu Qingquan.

It was the first mechanized unit in the National Revolutionary Army.

The division selected one tank battalion, one engineering battalion, one armored car team, one anti-aircraft artillery team, one motorcycle search team, one anti-tank artillery battalion, and one infantry battalion to form the 1st Column of the Assault Army, which went north to reinforce the First War Zone, and Qiu Qingquan was in charge of the operations.

Qiu Qingquan was a top student studying in Germany and also a "disciple of the emperor."

However, Chiang Kai-shek specifically ordered Gui Yongqing and Qiu Qingquan to lead their troops to participate in the war.

This was not a good thing for Xue Yue.

He always thought that these two people were arrogant and conceited, too strong and not gentle enough, too brave and not wise enough.

To put it simply, he is a reckless man without brains.

Such people have too many character flaws and are likely to make mistakes when leading troops.

Just as the two were discussing the battle deployment further.

Fenghua Accent started his new round of micro-manipulation without consulting the First War Zone or Xue Yue.

Lanfeng was originally garrisoned by the 71st Army commanded by Song Xilian.

And after the arrival of Gui and Du's armies.

Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered the 71st Army to attack in the direction of Hongmiao.

The important task of defending Lanfeng was given to Gui Yongqing's 27th Army.

Lanfeng is quite important.

Chiang Kai-shek even ordered the 88th Division (Long Muhan), which originally belonged to the 71st Army, to stay.

It was handed over to Gui Yongqing for command.

The day when Chu Yunfei bid farewell to Xue Yue and prepared to return to his base.

Song Xilian also met the commander of his reinforcement troops

Gui Yongqing and Qiu Qingquan arrived at almost the same time.

After a few simple greetings.

Song Xilian immediately introduced the current situation to the two of them: "

According to previous reconnaissance, the enemy in front of us is three Japanese infantry battalions and two artillery units with strong firepower.

The commander-in-chief of the comprehensive war zone judged that the enemy in front of Lanfeng was the Japanese army's right-wing attack force.

Its main force can be reinforced at any time.

As for our army’s current national defense fortifications on the Lanfeng front line, they are mainly built on the east side of Lanfeng City.

This 15-kilometer-deep position is densely packed with complex trenches.

I have three defense lines assigned to me."

Qiu Qingquan interrupted Song Xilian without waiting for him to finish his introduction, saying, "They are just three or four thousand Japanese soldiers. They are nothing. Watch us defeat them!"

Song Xilian could not help but remind him: "Yu'an, this is not the time to underestimate the enemy. The Japanese have strong firepower and good combat skills. The 14th Division is their elite force."

Gui Yongqing also said nonchalantly: "Our combat force ratio is 10:1. Even if the Japanese have artillery, so what? We have artillery. It is difficult to defeat a larger force with a smaller force, but how difficult is it to defeat a smaller force with a larger force?"

Song Xilian saw that the two were so arrogant and underestimated their enemies.

He simply stopped trying to persuade them, and just said sarcastically, "Then I will look forward to the performance of the two "German" generals on the battlefield!"

That afternoon.

As usual, Qiu Qingquan patrolled outside Lanfeng City with several tanks, and their main responsibility was defense.

"Damn it, why don't these little devils launch an attack yet?"

Putting down the telescope in his hand, Qiu Qingquan cursed.

Ever since fleeing from Nanjing.

There were some problems with Qiu Qingquan's mental state.

He hated the Japanese to the core, his command style became more radical, and even his entire personality became extremely extreme.

"Report."

"speak!"

"Commander Qiu, part of the 64th Army has launched an assault in the direction of Yejigang in coordination with the 74th Army according to the original combat plan."

"understood!"

Just as Qiu Qingquan was anxiously waiting for news from the front line.

A cavalry search team came over to report: "Report to Commander Qiu, a group of Japanese troops are advancing towards Lanfeng."

"Damn it, I'm just looking for someone to use as a cannon. All of you, follow me and charge!"

"Yes!"

After giving the order, Qiu Qingquan drove the tank and rushed out in the direction of attack indicated by the search team.

When cavalry faces tanks, they basically have no chance of changing hands.

As the light machine guns on the tanks spewed out fire snakes, the Japanese search team suffered heavy casualties in an instant.

Under the pursuit of tanks, the Japanese army fled on horseback.

Except for a few lucky Japanese soldiers who escaped from Qiu Qingquan's pursuit and went back to report the death.

The rest became Qiu Qingquan's reporting material.

Dozens of Japanese devils were killed in one battle.

Qiu Qingquan felt a little elated for a moment, and immediately led his troops back to Lanfeng to report the results of the battle to Gui Yongqing.

Defeated the Japanese cavalry unit and killed hundreds of enemies.

Qiu Qingquan likes to brag and exaggerate his battle results.

Little did people know that Gui Yongqing was also a boastful general.

When Gui Yongqing sent a telegram to report to Fenghua accent.

This small encounter instantly became the so-called Lanfeng Victory.

The First Column of the Assault Army and part of the 27th Army defeated the main force of the Japanese Army and annihilated countless enemies.
Chiang Kai-shek, who was supervising the battle in Zheng County, smiled happily after receiving the telegram.

While asking for a reply to the telegram of commendation, he urged Qiu and Gui to verify the results of the battle.

When Gui Yongqing called Kaifeng City to brag about his achievements, he was questioned by Cheng Qian, the commander-in-chief of the First War Zone, and Xue Yue, the commander of the Henan East Corps.
This made Gui Yongqing quite dissatisfied, and he repeatedly emphasized the authenticity of the "Lanfeng Victory" on the phone.

He also said that he would let the cavalry select some spoils of war.
Gui Yongqing is so confident and so eager to prove himself.

Instead, Cheng Qian and Xue Yue felt a little unconfident for a while, but they hadn't figured out one thing yet.

So where did the Japanese army get its main force to attack Lanfeng?

(End of this chapter)