Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Mountain city, Huangshan official residence.

Chang Ruiyuan sat behind a large desk, tapping his palm with a folding fan.

Thunder rumbled outside the window, mirroring his fluctuating emotions.

Zhu Peiji, the head of the attendant's office, tiptoed into the study.

Holding the battle report from the Central China front in his hand, the thin sheet of paper felt incredibly heavy at that moment.

"Chairman, the detailed battle report from the Central China front has arrived."

Chang Ruiyuan abruptly stopped what he was doing, and snapped his folding fan shut.

He took the telegram and quickly scanned it.

As he read on, his once relaxed brows gradually furrowed, eventually forming a deep frown.

"Nonsense, utterly foolish!"

Chang Ruiyuan slammed the telegram heavily onto the mahogany table, making the teacup lid rattle.

He stood up and paced anxiously around the room, his cane making a dull thud on the floor.

"They're all veterans from the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy, how could they make such a basic mistake as underestimating the enemy and being reckless?"

"In order to compete for credit, Li Yutang and Ou Zhen actually ordered their troops to advance 30 kilometers lightly equipped without any heavy weapons?"

"Do they think the Japanese on the other side are made of paper?"

The Huazhong forward team suffered a setback. Although their main players were not injured, their unstoppable momentum was broken by the Japanese.

If the arrogant and fierce generals in North China had been as blinded by victory as they were in Central China, they would have been vulnerable to being turned on by the Kwantung Army or the remnants of the Japanese army if they had ventured too far into enemy territory.
The favorable situation that was just secured at the Quebec conference will vanish in an instant.

"Pegi!"

Chang Ruiyuan turned around abruptly, his eyes stern.

"exist!"

"Send an urgent telegram to the North China Joint Command immediately!"

Chang Ruiyuan extended a finger and tapped it a few times in the air, his tone solemn: "The wording must be stern and earnest!"

"Tell Chu Yunfei that the loss in Central China should serve as a warning to others."

"The closer we are to victory, the more cautious we must be."

"We must warn all units at the front to proceed steadily and cautiously, step by step."

"Never be greedy for the gain or loss of a single city or territory, lest you underestimate the enemy and advance recklessly, ruining a great opportunity!"

"If another accident occurs in North China, the Party and the nation will be in grave danger!"

"Yes! I'll take care of it right away!"

Luxi, Ershilipu, the front-line command headquarters.

The ticking of the telegraph machine sounded particularly crisp in the dead of night.

Fang Ligong, holding the newly translated urgent telegram from the mountain city, quickly walked to Chu Yunfei's side.

At this moment, Chu Yunfei was staring intently at the node named "Xin'an Town" on the sand table.

"Your Excellency, the Chairman's urgent telegram."

Fang Ligong handed over the telegram and said with a wry smile, "Li Yutang's army suffered a loss at Dalong Mountain in Central China. The Chairman is afraid that we will repeat the same mistake, so he came here to 'cool things down'."

Chu Yunfei took the telegram and quickly scanned it.

A faint smile curved his lips as he casually placed the telegram on a stack of documents on the corner of the table.

"The Chairman is worried that we're taking too big a step."

Chu Yunfei picked up his teacup and took a sip, his expression unchanged: "From a military perspective, his concerns are not unfounded. The terrain of the Central China battlefield is complex and indeed not suitable for a lightly armed and reckless advance."

"but."

Chu Yunfei's gaze returned to the sand table, and the light in his eyes instantly turned sharp as a knife: "North China is a plain!"

"On this vast plain, we are now virtually invincible."

"If we adopt a cautious and steady approach at this point, it would be self-defeating and give the Japanese a chance to catch their breath!"

"I will be outside, and I will not accept your order."

Chu Yunfei turned around, looked at Fang Ligong, and said in a calm tone that exuded an undeniable domineering aura: "Reply to the Chairman and say, 'The Ministry will keep your teachings in mind and will be careful and cautious.'"

"Then."

Chu Yunfei pointed heavily at the location of Xin'an Town on the sand table: "All units should not worry about the flanks, nor should they wait for any large infantry force!"

"Full speed ahead!"

"I want them to take Xin'an Town before sunset tomorrow and pull this nail driven into the eastern section of the Longhai Railway out of the ground."

"Yes!"

Once Xin'an Town was captured, the Japanese troops in the surrounding areas of Pengcheng had no chance of escape.

Xin'an Town (now Xinyi City) is located at the border of Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.

This is the intersection of the Longhai Railway and the highway, and also the last decent line of defense for the Japanese army east of Xuzhou.

The troops stationed here were an reinforced battalion of the Japanese Mixed Brigade No. 1, plus a division of the puppet "Northern Jiangsu Pacification Army", with a total strength of more than 4,000 men.

In order to hold this key point, Japanese commander Major Matsui ordered the demolition of half of the town's houses and used bricks and wood to build three ring-shaped defensive lines outside the town.

Even the ancient bell and drum tower was transformed into a huge machine gun firing point.

The midday sun scorched the earth mercilessly.

In the trench, Wang Laizi, the puppet army battalion commander, wiped the oily sweat from his forehead. Looking at the empty wilderness in the distance, he felt a chill run down his spine.

"Sir... no, Major Matsui said that our fortifications are impregnable."

Wang Laizi whispered to his confidant, "I heard that the main force of the Nationalist army in the north is still gnawing on bones in Jinan. At most, there are only some Eighth Route Army guerrillas here. We should be able to hold out, right?"

The confidant shrank back and pointed to the sky: "Commander, didn't you see the planes in the sky?"

“Those are Nationalist Army planes; they’ve been circling around these past few days.”

"We'd better be careful. I heard that the regiment ahead was wiped out by artillery fire before they even saw a Japanese soldier."

The words have not yet fallen.

A low rumble of thunder suddenly echoed from the edge of the earth.

"It's thundering?"

Wang Laizi subconsciously looked up at the sky, only to find that there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Immediately afterwards, he felt the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble slightly, and loose soil from the edge of the trench began to fall.

The roar grew louder and closer.

"That is."

Wang Laizi's eyes widened, and his pupils contracted sharply.

On the horizon, a torrent of steel surged forth like a black tide.

More than ten M4A3 Sherman tanks formed a wide attack front, their imposing 75mm gun barrels gleaming with a deadly cold light in the sunlight.

Behind the tank were dozens of half-track vehicles.

"My God! This is the main force of the National Revolutionary Army!"

"Iron turtles! They're all iron turtles!"

Wang Laizi was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud, his voice trembling: "Didn't you say it would take several more days? How come we're here already?!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Before the puppet troops could react, the first round of artillery fire had already begun.

There was no probing, no feint.

Only the simplest and most brutal firepower can crush them.

The 105mm howitzer shells landed precisely on the Japanese and puppet troops' positions, and the violent explosions instantly engulfed the first line of defense in flames.

Those seemingly sturdy civil engineering works were like paper toys in front of heavy artillery, instantly falling apart.

"attack!"

Xing Zhigang, commander of the vanguard regiment of the armored brigade, shouted loudly from inside the command vehicle.

"Rumble--"

The Sherman tanks increased their power, spewing black smoke from their exhaust pipes, and rolled toward Xin'an Town with unstoppable force.

"Shoot! Shoot quickly!"

Major Matsui brandished his command sword in the command post, roaring at the top of his lungs.

The Japanese army's several 37mm rapid-fire guns and Type 92 infantry guns fired desperately.

"Dang! Dang!"

Several armor-piercing rounds hit the Sherman's frontal armor, sending up a few sparks, but only leaving a few shallow white marks, unable to penetrate it at all.

"It's useless! We can't break through it at all!"

The Japanese artillerymen cried out in despair.

next second.

Several tanks simultaneously rotated their turrets.

"boom!"

A single salvo leveled the exposed Japanese artillery positions.

When the tank was about 200 meters away from the position, the coaxial machine gun and the bow machine gun on it opened fire at the same time.

The dense hail of bullets was like invisible scythes, sweeping across the edge of the trenches.

Any Japanese or puppet troops who dared to show their faces were instantly riddled with bullets. "Run!"

It's unclear who started it, but the puppet army's defenses collapsed first.

These cowardly traitors, who usually bully the weak and fear the strong, had never seen anything like this before.
They dropped their guns and even scrambled out of the trenches, running wildly towards the back of the town.

"Baka! Don't back down!"

The Japanese machine gunners who were supervising the battle turned their guns and mowed down a few fleeing puppet troops, but this was of no use in stopping the tide of defeat.

Some of the puppet troops, driven to desperation, even picked up their guns and fought the Japanese directly.

"Crash it over!"

Xing Zhigang looked at the chaotic enemy positions and sneered.

The tank group rolled directly over the first trench.

Beneath the tracks, there were only shattered wood and corpses crushed into a pulp.

Without the slightest pause, the steel torrent surged straight into the center of Xin'an Town.

The bell and drum tower firing point, which the Japanese army had placed high hopes on, was targeted by a stopped tank with a high-explosive shell before it could even unleash its power.

"Boom!"

With a loud bang, the upper half of the bell and drum tower was sheared off, sending bricks and tiles flying everywhere.

The battle lasted less than an hour from start to finish.

The garrison in Xin'an Town was completely overwhelmed before they could even mount a proper counterattack.

In despair, Japanese Major Matsui burned the military flag and then committed seppuku in the command post.

Of the more than four thousand puppet soldiers, apart from a few hundred unlucky ones who were killed, the rest knelt by the roadside with their hands raised, forming a long line of prisoners that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Xing Zhigang crawled out of the turret, took off his goggles, looked at the chaotic battlefield before him, and spat out a mouthful of lingering resentment:
"Pah! I thought it was a tough nut to crack, but it's just a piece of tofu dregs!"

"Pass down the order: leave one company behind to clean up the battlefield and guard the prisoners."

"Commander, we're the only tanks left in the entire brigade. Should we stop and rest?"

"Stop talking nonsense and continue the westward advance!"

at the same time.

It is located outside Huai'an City, more than 100 kilometers away from Xin'an Town.

Another unique "meeting" is underway.

This is the southern end of the canal defense line, and also a key point where the Eighth Route Army's Liu troops and the main force of the New Fourth Army joined forces.

A vanguard regiment of the Eighth Route Army under Liu's command was marching rapidly toward its designated assembly point under the leadership of Regiment Commander Xu.

Although they had just completed a long march and the soldiers' uniforms were somewhat worn, everyone was full of energy and spirit.

"Commander, Huanghuatang is just ahead."

The guard pointed to a village ahead: "I heard that the main force of the New Fourth Army is waiting for us over there."

"it is good!"

Commander Xu tightened his belt and tucked the captured Mauser pistol into his waistband: "Tell the brothers to be spirited! Although our equipment is inferior, we cannot lose the morale of the Eighth Route Army!"

"We're here representing the main force this time!"

As they were talking, the sentry in front suddenly ran back, his face with an extremely strange expression, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Commander, there's a unit coming from ahead!"

"Is it the New Fourth Army?" Commander Xu asked.

"Judging from the banners, they're a regiment from the Third Division of the New Fourth Army," the sentry stammered, swallowing hard. "But...but their equipment..."

"So what if their equipment is bad? Can they be better off than us?"

Commander Xu disagreed.

Although their regiment wasn't one of those nouveau riche regiments that made their fortunes off the Nationalist army, it had still undergone reorganization.

Each company had several Czech-made mortars, and even the regimental headquarters had two mortars, making them a formidable main force in the Eighth Route Army.

The New Fourth Army's living conditions were generally poor, only slightly better than those of the Nationalist Army in northern Jiangsu.

Naturally, they could not compare to the Eighth Route Army.

As they were talking, a group of people marched in orderly steps from the far end of the road.

The moment Commander Xu saw the team clearly, his eyes widened in shock, and his jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

The company at the very front was all wearing dark green M1 steel helmets, which were dazzling in the sunlight.

The soldiers wore brand-new gray cloth uniforms and rubber-soled military boots instead of straw sandals.

But that's not the scariest part.

What's most frightening is the weapon they're holding!
Almost every soldier in each squad had one person holding a dark, grease gun.

Genuine American product!

The remaining soldiers were not carrying the old-fashioned rifles or Hanyang Type 88 rifles, but rather the Type 24 rifles, and even quite a few Garand semi-automatic rifles could be seen.

In the middle of the column, several tall horses were carrying disassembled heavy machine guns and mortars.

It's not one of those small-caliber 60mm guns; look at the thickness of the barrel.

It's a huge thing, at least 82 millimeters or even over 100 millimeters!

Even more outrageous, there were several trucks following behind the convoy!

The truck was covered with a tarpaulin, and judging from the deep tire tracks, it was definitely full of ammunition!

"Be good."

The political commissar next to Commander Xu pushed up his glasses and gasped, "Old Xu, am I seeing things?"

"Is this the New Fourth Army?"

"If you said they were from the Central Army, I'd believe you."

Just then, a burly commander stepped out from the opposite column. He was Chen Tiezhu, the commander of a regiment of the New Fourth Army.

Chen Tiezhu strode forward, saluted Commander Xu, and wore a simple and warm smile: "Are you a comrade from the Eighth Route Army?"

"I am Chen Tiezhu, commander of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army. I am here to welcome the main force!"

Commander Xu returned the salute, but his eyes kept darting between the trucks and the submachine guns in the soldiers' hands.

He couldn't help but ask, "Commander Chen, where did you get this equipment?"

"They robbed the Japanese armory?"

"Or did our headquarters make a fortune?"

Chen Tiezhu laughed heartily and patted the binoculars hanging around his neck (they were high-end, Zeiss).
"Commander Li, you are unaware of this."

"These were all gifts from that Commander Chu!"

"Commander Chu? Chu Yunfei?" Regiment Commander Xu was taken aback.

"That's right!"

A hint of pride and gratitude appeared on Chen Tiezhu's face: "Back then, Commander Chu's subordinate, that brother named Xu Hu, led a raid on the Japanese germ warfare base in Nanjing."

"Our regiment worked together and risked our lives to save them."

"Look, when Xu Hu went back and reported, he said that Commander Chu was truly a righteous man!"

Chen Tiezhu pointed to the troops behind him: "Without saying a word, they directly approved a regiment's worth of new equipment for us from the North China arsenal!"

"Submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, mortars, even the bullets are supplied by the box!"

"They even sent instructors to teach us how to use these foreign gadgets."

"A while ago, we received a batch of supplies transported from the north, supposedly a 'gift' for our New Fourth Army, supposedly to mediate the conflict between the two sides."

"They said that these guns and cannons were all made by the arsenals in North China!"

"You made it yourself?"

The political commissar looked puzzled and muttered under his breath, "Wasn't it said that it was all aid from American imperialism?"

Chen Tiezhu chuckled, not minding at all: "Who cares where they came from? As long as they give us new weapons to fight the Japanese."

Commander Xu touched the gleaming Hanyang rifle in the hand of the soldier beside him, and felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

Why is there such a big difference when they're both fighting the Japanese?

The political commissar couldn't help but press, "Commander Chen, how amazing do you think the military factories in North China are, that they can produce so many good things?"

"That's amazing!"

A hint of longing flashed in Chen Tiezhu's eyes: "I heard from the delivery guys that there are now rows of chimneys and roaring machines over there, producing day and night. There are hundreds of thousands of workers in the defense industry in the Taiyuan area alone."

"They can not only make guns and cannons, but also cars, and I've even heard they can repair tanks!"

"Commander Chu said that as long as we Chinese people are united, we will have guns and cannons!"

"Our regiment will be the main force in this attack on Huai'an."

Chen Tiezhu patted his chest, exuding a heroic air: "Commander Xu, you are guests from afar, please rest first."

"Watch how we use these things to give the Japanese a 'carpet bombing'!"

Looking at the New Fourth Army troops armed to the teeth, Commander Xu felt his competitive spirit stirred, but also a deep sense of awe.

"No need to rest!"

Commander Xu tightened his belt: "We Eighth Route Army aren't here to watch a show!"

"Your firepower is fierce, and we'll provide flank cover. With our combined strength, we'll turn Huai'an City upside down!"

"Okay!" (End of Chapter)