After crossing the river, the Japanese army remained hidden and did not attack, but it was like a sharp sword hanging over the heads of the national army. Not only were the soldiers at the bottom of the army disheartened, but even the higher-ups began to question that the battle was too hasty.
Hu Zhongnan even sent nine telegrams asking for help to the First War Zone Commander's Department in one day, keeping his attitude extremely low, and respectfully addressed Li Mo'an as Chief Li.
However, the troops in the First Theater Command were as stable as Mount Tai. They neither put pressure on the Japanese troops to the north nor added troops to support them across the Fenglingdu River.
"It's really all your own fault. You have to take risks. One general is incompetent and has exhausted the entire army. He Hu Shoushan can only command a regiment, but he relied on the principal's trust to rise to the position of commander-in-chief of the group army!" Li Mo'an looked disdainful. Could it be that he saw it?
Hu Zongnan was naturally very happy when he lay low and acted cautiously.
Hu Zhongnan was the leader among Huangpu officer cadets, but after being promoted to a general officer, he could not achieve any outstanding results, but he was promoted all the way, which made officers like Li Mo'an who were also in the first phase of Huangpu very dissatisfied.
"Brother Linsheng, according to the intelligence from the front, the main force of the Japanese army has arrived at all the crossings today. Hejin, Jishan and other places are empty of troops. Now the pressure is entirely on the 34th Group Army. This is a God-given opportunity!"
"If you still hesitate to move forward, I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain to the chairman of the committee!"
The person who spoke was Dong Yingbin, Chief of Staff of the First War Zone. This person was the backbone of the Northeast Army after entering the customs. When Zhang Yang mutinied, he was the Chief of Staff of the Northeast Army and was responsible for the daily work of the Northeast Army.
Unfortunately, he later lost the support of the young marshal. Due to his relatively low qualifications, Dong Yingbin gradually lost power in the struggle between the young faction and the veteran faction of the Northeast Army.
After the July 7th Incident broke out, he went to Jinling alone to study in the fourth special class of Army University, and later served as chief of staff after the establishment of the First Theater Command.
Dong Yingbin, the chief of staff, is from the airborne faction and does not actually control the troops in the first theater, but he was specially selected by the old man to balance the internal factions.
Seeing that Li Mo'an has not expressed his position for a long time, Dong Yingbin decided to add fuel to the fire: "The current situation is no longer a local battle. It affects the whole body. If it is not responded to in time, it will affect the situation in North China as a whole!"
"Sir, please see, if the heavily-armed Japanese army breaks through the 34th Group Army's defense line in Weinan, there will be two attack routes. One is to the west, and the troops will be directed towards Guanzhong. The consequences will be disastrous. However, for the Japanese army, this will be a lonely attack.
Once the battle line is stretched too long, victory or defeat is unknown!”
"Secondly, after the Japanese army arrived in Weinan, they turned to march eastward, and then directed their troops to the area south of the Yellow River. At that time, the Japanese army attacked westward on the Pinghan-Han Line, and the east and west armies attacked our unit. Then our army north of the Yellow River
Your perseverance will be meaningless!"
Li Mo'an, who was still very smart at first, was suddenly startled and said, "Brother Xian Zhang is exaggerating. How could the war situation be so corrupted?"
"As the chief of staff, it is my duty to estimate the situation on the battlefield. Although Hu Zhongnan has more than 100,000 troops, the officers and soldiers in this department have been away from the battlefield for a long time and most of them are new soldiers. I am afraid it will be difficult to resist the Japanese attack!"
Under Dong Yingbin's strong recommendation, and worried about the old man's prosecution, Li Mo'an gave up the idea of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, so he ordered the 98th Army under the 14th Group Army and Kong Lingxun's 80th Army to quickly assemble and pass Fenglingdu at Tongguan.
Garrisoned in order to intercept the Japanese army west of Tongguan.
At the same time, the Japanese troops assembled in Hancheng began to move south rapidly, and their leading troops were still the two brigades of the Independent Ninth Mixed Brigade.
Under the cover of artillery fire, the Japanese army broke through multiple defense lines of the 36th Army's temporary 52nd Division. The 52nd Division turned from a false defeat into a real defeat, discarding armor along the way, and fled to the defense area of the 57th Army's 97th Division before stopping the rout.
Originally, in accordance with Zhou Weiguo's wishes, the main force of his direct First Army was deployed in the west of Dali County. The 8th Division of the 57th Army and the newly formed 24th Division were still stationed in the west of Dali County. The 57th Army was stationed in Heyang County and Dali County.
The north-south junction.
The 24th Division of the 76th Army is stationed at the east-west junction of Heyang County and Chengcheng County, thus forming a pocket. When the 52nd Division of the 36th Army pretends to be defeated, it will lure the Japanese advance troops to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, thus widening the distance between them and the rear troops.
The 10th Cavalry Division was about to launch, cutting off the communication between the two Japanese armies.
That night, the phone at the First Army Headquarters in Dali County kept ringing, and the battle situation on the front line was constantly summarized in Zhou Weiguo's hands. The Chinese army and the Japanese army fought fiercely from the afternoon until dark, and the gunfire gradually weakened.
"Hello, I'm Zhou Weiguo!"
"Military seat, I am Wu Hongren, commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division. The Japanese offensive has obviously weakened. I guess there may be a problem with the Japanese army's ammunition supply. Should we order the troops to start a counterattack immediately?"
Zhou Weiguo did not respond immediately, but thought for a moment: "Order the troops to counterattack first and wait for the order from the military headquarters!"
Seeing Zhou Weiguo hang up the phone, the chief of staff on the side stepped forward and said: "Military seat, something seems wrong!"
"Our army's current fighting areas with the Japanese army are mainly concentrated in Weizhuang, Siqian Town, and Fanjia Town. The Japanese army's early offensive in Siqian Town was particularly fierce, but the Japanese army's offensive in the east and west was weak!"
"The strangest thing is that the 10th Cavalry Division has penetrated along the Yellow River to Hejiazhuang, 30 miles away from the battlefield, and continues to send scouts northward, but no trace of the enemy's follow-up troops has been found!"
"It is indeed a bit suspicious. It is only more than 200 miles from Hancheng to the battlefield. The main follow-up force of the Japanese army should not be too far away!" Zhou Weiguo was also puzzled.
This battle did not go smoothly because the 52nd Division of the 36th Army was defeated too quickly. The 52nd Division and the 97th Division were supposed to march westward to shoulder the task of blocking the opening, but the time was wasted because the 52nd Division reorganized the army.
"Immediately contact the 52nd Division of the 36th Army and order it to send elite troops from Yichuan to Hancheng to detect the movements of the Japanese army!"
"At the same time, order the frontline troops, except the reserve troops, to counterattack across the board and eat up the Japanese troops in front of them as soon as possible!" Zhou Weiguo ordered one after another.
The officers and soldiers on the front line received the order, and under the cover of artillery fire, they jumped out of the trenches and launched a counterattack towards the Japanese position. Unexpectedly, just one charge broke through the first Japanese position.
While the frontline troops were in shock, some soldiers discovered something fishy: "Battalion Commander, we have all been deceived. The Japs have no follow-up reinforcements at all. More than half of these 10,000 people are pretending to be puppet troops!"
"Damn it, why do I always think that the little Japs across the street are useless? It turns out they are a group of Japanese Japs. I was so scared that I couldn't sleep well last night!"
"Report the information to the regiment headquarters immediately. Brothers, it's our turn to eat dumplings. Come on, don't let the enemy escape!"
In less than a day, the offensive and defensive momentum of both sides reversed.