Since the number of casualties cannot be reported until the number of casualties is determined, the victory telegram from Linyi came relatively late.

As a result, the news of the great victory in Linyi and the news that the Sichuan Army Division Commander Wang Mingzhang led the entire garrison to the city and died in the city reached the headquarters of the theater commander in Xuzhou almost at the same time.

Li Zongren held the two telegrams and messages in his hand, his face as dark as water, while Li Xingshu, deputy chief of staff of the theater, stood beside him silently and did not make a sound.

"These two things are a big problem. The two reports cannot be sent out on the same day." Li Zongren said, "Commander Wang Mingzhang led the entire army to die in the city. This should be an excellent example, but

The news of Linyi's great victory was released in advance, and then the news that the entire Sichuan army was martyred in the city is probably a little wrong, and it may weaken the confidence of the people across the country in the war of resistance."

Li Xingshu, the deputy chief of staff of the war zone next to him, thought for a while and said: "Sir, let's do this! First, send the news that Commander Wang Mingzhang died heroically in the city, so that the people across the country will know that there are still many people on the front line who are fighting successively.

Tell the people across the country that our National Government will never surrender to the Japanese."

Immediately afterwards, Li Xingshu continued: "As for the news about Chief Xu, Pang Bingxun, Zhang Zizhong and others' victory in Linyi, we will send it out tomorrow afternoon. It can inspire people's hearts and let the people across the country see that as long as we work together and work together,

If we fight against Japan, then these Japanese devils are not invincible. Sending the report in this way can kill two birds with one stone."

Li Zongren nodded and said: "What the deputy chief of staff said makes sense, so let's do what you said about the two telegrams!"

"Yes, sir!" Li Xingshu responded.

This telegram about the great victory featured the two generals Pang Bingxun and Zhang Zizhong. As for Zhang Tianhai's role in the Battle of Linyi, it was subconsciously ignored by the officers of the General Department.

Why? First, during this operation, Zhang Tianhai abandoned the established position without asking for instructions. Although he made a great contribution, it cannot be encouraged; second, because Zhang Tianhai's troops were mobilized without asking for instructions,

, resulting in the Linyi Frontline Command's combat rhythm being very passive, and could only fight around a single regiment.

To sum up the above two points, the theater commander believes that this is very undesirable. If Zhang Tianhai is encouraged this time, there is no doubt that this will set a very bad example, and more people will disobey in the future!

Therefore, both Li Zongren and Xu Zuyi saw this. But no matter what, Zhang Tianhai's Zhiyi Regiment always made great contributions in this Linyi battle, so Li Zongren also decided to give Zhang Tianhai certain compensation.

As for the compensation, it is very simple - first, give priority to the loss of combat readiness of the first regiment directly under the third theater, then reward the first regiment directly under the headquarters with 50,000 silver dollars, and then give Zhang Tianhai a fourth-class Yunhui Medal.

The only price was that Zhang Tianhai's name did not appear in the newspaper, and the battle report was mainly written around Pang Bingxun and Zhang Zizhong. As for Chief Xu Zuyi, there was only a brief mention.

What Zhang Tianhai didn't know was that the historical trajectory that had changed slightly due to his sudden appearance was gradually returning to the right path...

No one can change the general trend of history. Even if there are some, it will be corrected by the strong inertia of history!

…

Time goes back to three hours ago.

It is said that after Zhang Tianhai determined the losses of the 1st Battalion, he immediately went to the Japanese arsenal that the 3rd Battalion had sent troops to blockade.

When he saw this arsenal, Zhang Tianhai couldn't help but swallowed secretly: He came from the 21st century and had seen many artillery shells of this size, but he had not seen them in this era.

So many shells piled up.

The shells of the 38-type field artillery were piled up in the whole room. Zhang Tianhai stood at the door, but his mouth was very excited: "Quick... quick, Xu... Sangou, hurry up and count how many shells there are! Damn it!"

With so many cannonballs, I’m getting rich!!”

After sending someone to inventory this room, Zhang Tianhai went to see another room. Most of this room contained small grenade shells, and some contained 7.7 mm caliber shells used by the Japanese thin-skinned tanks.

machine gun bullets.

The last two rooms are basically filled with machine gun bullets, rifle bullets, etc. used by the Japanese army. The entire room is filled with some grenades and a small number of firearms used by the Japanese army.

What Zhang Tianhai valued most was not the firearms and bullets, but the shells of the Japanese-made 38 Field Artillery. These shells were a treasure. When they bombed the Japanese army, it was not an ordinary pleasure...

After Xu Sangou took people to count the shells, Zhang Tianhai immediately ordered people to continue guarding the place and then returned to the regiment headquarters.

After this battle, he still wanted to count the casualties of each unit.

After returning to the regiment headquarters, Guo Qiliang submitted a casualty statistics form to Zhang Tianhai.

"Lao Zhang, this is a summary of the casualties of our regiment in this Tangtou battle." Guo Qiliang said, and then handed the casualty report to Zhang Tianhai.

Zhang Tianhai picked up the casualty report, but his whole face wrinkled.

I saw this casualty report saying——

"In the first battalion, 434 people were killed and 110 were seriously injured. Fifty-six people are still alive, for a total of 544 casualties;

The second battalion had 276 killed, 183 seriously injured, and 151 still alive, for a total of 459 casualties;

The troops of the third battalion did not participate in the battle and had no casualties;

The fourth battalion of troops had 323 killed and 101 seriously injured, with 177 people still alive, totaling 433 casualties;

Of the cavalry battalion, eighty-six were killed, seventy-one were seriously wounded, and one hundred and seventy-three remained, for a total of one hundred and fifty-seven casualties;

In terms of troops directly under the regiment: the original strength of the Secret Service Company was 212, 76 were killed, and 33 were seriously injured, with a total of 109 casualties, and there are 103 people left; the original strength of the Gendarmerie Company was

One hundred and thirty-two in total, fifty-eight killed, seventeen seriously wounded, fifty-seven alive, totaling seventy-five casualties;

There were no casualties among the troops directly under the other regiments.

Based on the calculations based on the above data, the first regiment directly under the third theater had a total of 1,777 casualties."

Seeing this data, Zhang Tianhai had an unusual headache - yes, the total number of Zhiyi Regiment headquarters was nearly 3,900, but that included the logistics troops. On paper, Zhiyi Regiment

The number of offensive troops (not including the artillery battalion) who charged on the battlefield was more than 3,300, and this is the result of counting the mortar company and the small artillery company together.

Doing the math, the result is already more than half of the casualties...

More than 1,700, nearly 1,800 casualties, how long will it take to recover...

"Send this casualty report directly to Chief Xu!" Zhang Tianhai sighed.

At this moment, a thick voice sounded outside the door: "No need to deliver it specially, I'm here."

Besides Xu Zuyi, who else could have this voice?

After seeing Chief Xu come in, Zhang Tianhai, Guo Qiliang and other members of the regiment stood up at the same time and saluted: "Hello, Chief Xu!"

Seeing that everyone in the Zhiyi regiment was in good spirits, Xu Zuyi nodded and said: "You have fought bravely and performed well this time. Your spirit is worthy of commendation. I will report this to the commander-in-chief and the chairman of the committee.

I’ll give you a reward.”

After finishing speaking, before anyone else could speak, Xu Zuyi said to Zhang Tianhai with a calm face: "Captain Zhang, come out with me for a moment. I have something to tell you."

"Yes, sir." Zhang Tianhai responded, his heart sinking slightly. Seeing Chief Xu's expression, he had already guessed what the result would be.

After walking out of the regimental tent, Xu Zuyi walked in another direction, followed closely by Zhang Tianhai.

"Captain Zhang." Xu Zuyi asked seemingly calmly.

"Sir, I'm here to serve you." Zhang Tianhai guessed that he must have offended Chief Xu by mobilizing troops to attack Tangtou Town without permission.

Zhang Tianhai is not stupid. No matter who he is as the commander, he will not like such a subordinate who likes to act without permission. It's okay if he has made a meritorious service. If there is a mistake, the commander must bear full responsibility.

"Do I look like the kind of person who is hard to talk to and can eat people?" Xu Zuyi asked in a deep voice.

"Sir, absolutely not. It's not just a matter of a day or two for me to come into contact with you in this humble position. You are definitely a good general who loves his soldiers like a son and is good at fighting. Moreover, you have a very good temper." Zhang Tianhai said in order not to be scolded.

It was so unpleasant, so I just sent him a bunch of nice words.

Well, it is true that he is a little shameless, but he will never be scolded so badly. Hey, Zhang Tianhai also worked hard for this.

Sure enough, as soon as he heard this, Xu Zuyi's expression changed and he wanted to curse.

Before Xu Zuyi could curse, Zhang Tianhai begged Commander Xu with a pitiful face: "Mr. Xu, I know that I have committed a crime. Can you find someone who is gentler in scolding you? I am the leader of the regiment, give me some face."

…”

"Hmph." Xu Zuyi snorted coldly. After all, he did not criticize Zhang Tianhai directly in front of the officers and soldiers of the Zhiyi Regiment. This was a huge favor for the latter.

You must know that Xu Zuyi is now the highest official in control of the military and political affairs in the Linyi area. As long as the troops in the Linyi area are under his jurisdiction, he can be said to be Zhang Tianhai's immediate boss.

After arriving at a forest, Xu Zuyi asked his security forces to start alerting the surroundings, and then asked Zhang Tianhai: "Captain Zhang, why did you mobilize your troops to attack Tangtou Town without asking for instructions? If you ask for instructions, you can cooperate."

The 40th Army and the 59th Army in combat will not be so passive, did you know?!"

I saw Zhang Tianhai lowered his head and said: "I know I was wrong, sir. At that time, I was considering the leakage of intelligence and the speed of the soldiers. If I had informed the commander of this plan in advance, I was afraid that the secret would be leaked. After all, this is a relationship.

It's a matter of life and death. I don't dare to gamble in my humble position."

"If you were afraid of leaks, you could have sent me a telegram half an hour before launching the attack, but you didn't do anything. What on earth do you want to do?" Xu Zuyi raised his eyebrows and raised his eyebrows, obviously what was on his mind

The anger hasn't come out yet.

If you don't express your anger, you will naturally feel bad. This is also normal.

…
Chapter completed!