Liu Chunlin was deeply surprised when he received the news. Worried about falling into a trap of the Eighth Route Army, he did not leave rashly, but chose to seek instructions from his superiors.
"Sergeant, the military headquarters should be on an emergency march, and the radio station cannot be contacted!" the telegraph operator said.
"Then directly skip the level and ask for instructions from the Army Group Headquarters. The telegram must make it clear whether our department should stay put and wait for the arrival of the main army, or go into Shandong first. If we go into Shandong first, we may be ambushed by the Eighth Route Army!" Liu Chunlin specified the purpose of the message word by word.
Key points.
The headquarters of the 28th Group Army quickly gave a reply, clearly stating in the message that the 142nd Division should quickly advance from Dangshan to the east, reach Tengxian, Feixian, and Yixian areas, and command Liu Guitang, Shen Xianwu and other local armed forces to take over the Northeast Army defense area.
After the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, some local officials such as commissioners of the National Government administrative districts, county magistrates and some patriots who had not fled, mobilized local armed forces in the name of resisting Japan.
By the summer of 1938, the number of wandering armed forces under the control of the National Government in the province reached 150,000. They set up their own banners and worked on their own affairs. After the establishment of the Lusu War Zone, Yu Xuezhong and Shen Honglie decided to conduct a review and reorganization of the armed forces in the Lusu War Zone.
The regular combat forces include Yu Xuezhong's direct line 51st and 57th armies. In addition, there are Wu Huawen's new 4th Division, Zhao Baoyuan's temporary 12th Division, Liu Guitang's temporary 36th Division, and
There are ten guerrilla columns and four independent guerrilla detachments, with a personnel strength of about 100,000.
Affiliated to the provincial government and under the control of Shen Honglie, there are four security divisions, 35 security brigades, and 21 security regiments. These local armed forces have more than 90,000 people.
These troops were ostensibly controlled by the Lusu War Zone, but because they were on one side, they had great autonomy. As the Japanese army shifted its focus to the rear, they were either wiped out by the Japanese army, lost to internal disputes, or surrendered to the Japanese army.
Or be wiped out by the Eighth Route Army.
By the end of 1942, the Lusu War Zone's troop strength in the Shandong area was less than 90,000.
Because Yu Xuezhong's troops wanted to withdraw, the Central Army Li Xianzhou entered Shandong. The surviving local armed forces of the National Army surrendered to Li Xianzhou one after another, including Liu Guitang's troops entrenched in the Binhu area in the west of Teng County, and the troops in the Tianbaoshan area in the northwest of Fei County.
Shen Xianwu's tribe, Zhao Baoyuan's tribe in Jiaodong area, and Zhang Buyun's tribe in the northern part of Binhai, that is, north of Rizhao Highway in Ju County.
The Eighth Route Army took the initiative to give way, and the 142nd Division moved from Dangshan to Feng County, and finally arrived at the junction of Weishan Lake and Dushan Lake.
Although there was no trace of the main force of the Eighth Route Army during the march, wherever we passed, roads and avenues were dotted with ravines, mountains, and hills. Defense fortifications were built everywhere, and figures of people appeared from time to time.
"Master, I've checked clearly. They are not the main force of the Eighth Route Army. They should be some militiamen who have only received simple military training. However, the excavated ravines extend in all directions. If you are not familiar with the local conditions, it is easy for the Eighth Route Army to lead you by the nose!"
The personnel who went to investigate will report back.
"The Eighth Route Army built the base area like a railway. It can be said that all the people are soldiers. No wonder the Japanese army's many large-scale raids ended in failure. The Eighth Route Army has become a serious problem for the party and state!" Liu Chunlin said solemnly.
"Immediately report to the peak and ask them to be more careful. In addition, inform them that all troops should not be too scattered during the march and be more vigilant when resting at night!"
At noon the next day, the 142nd Division arrived at the scheduled crossing point. The lake here was narrow and the water level was not deep. The officers and soldiers could pass by rolling up their trouser legs. On the opposite side, there were officers and soldiers from Liu Guitang's department to meet them.
Just after the 142nd Division passed through Feng County, the 15th Brigade of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Column arrived in Feng County, and with the cooperation of local armed forces, garrisoned according to the fortifications.
The words were divided into two parts. While the Hebei, Shandong and Yu base areas were carefully dealing with the 28th Army, fighting suddenly broke out in the Tainan base area.
The 28th Group Army was also on Wen Hao's tandem list, but local officials like Fan Hanjie were not something that Wen Hao, a military special agent, could persuade.
Just when Fan Hanjie was wavering, Chiang Kai-shek sent a secret message to the 24th Group Army, ordering his troops to make military deployments as quickly as possible, actively responded to Li Xianzhou's troops entering Shandong to fight against communism, and relieved the pressure on the 28th Group Army.
When Zhou Weihan was in Tainan, he did special research on Fan Hanjie. He graduated from the first class of Huangpu and traveled around Western countries. He was very valued by Chiang Kai-shek.
As a small faction within the Central Army, it was inseparable from Chiang Kai-shek's promotion and promotion. It was Chiang Kai-shek's core supporter.
He was firm in his anti-Japanese stance, but his relationship with the Eighth Route Army was quite ambiguous. The 24th Group Army once responded to the policy of "melting the Communists, defending against the Communists, and purging the Communists", but on the front lines of the confrontation between the two sides, it showed that
His attitude was quite relaxed.
It seems that as long as the Eighth Route Army does not take the initiative to cause trouble, it can maintain a peaceful coexistence relationship and the limited conflicts will be within the controllable range.
On March 20, 1943, after the 142nd Division left the encirclement of the Hebei, Shandong, and Henan columns, Chu Yunfei, the only brigade stationed in Changzi County, brazenly launched an attack on the independent regiment stationed in Tunliu. The 45th Division and the 46th Division each
The two regiments launched attacks on Lucheng and Pingshun respectively.
Due to the sudden incident, Fan Hanjie used only direct troops. Before the operation, except for the chief officers of his troops, such as the commander of the Forty Army Pang Bingxun and the security commander Xing Zhaotang were unaware of the incident.
"Commander ***, something happened over there in Tainan. This is an urgent telegram forwarded from the military region!" Zhou Weihan was still lying on the bed. After hearing the news, he suddenly lost his sleepiness.
"What's the specific situation?"
"At dawn today, the 24th Group Army stationed in Changzhi launched attacks in three directions: Tunliu, Lucheng, and Pingshun. The Tainan Military Region sent a telegram, requesting the military region to send troops for support. The deputy chief of staff telegraphed the Ridong Jigan Regiment and Zhinan
Troops from the military division crossed the Pinghan Line to provide support and notified us to strengthen our vigilance to deal with emergencies!" Zhao Bingzhang said.
"Okay, okay, Fan Hanjie really picked a good time. If he didn't take action, he would stab him in the heart!" Zhou Weihan laughed angrily: "Seal the news first and don't spread it, the commanders and soldiers of the column
Many of them are from Tainan, so we must not affect the morale of the military at this critical moment!"
Zhou Weihan frowned and walked around in circles a few times with his hands behind his back. Zhao Bingzhang on the side understood that Zhou Weihan was anxious at the moment, so he comforted him: "Comrade, there are many troops in the Tainan Military Region, so the situation won't be too bad!"
"Forget it, go to the headquarters first!" Zhou Weihan said.
Zhou Weihan thought about it for a while. He was no longer serving in the Tainan Military Region. It would not be good to intervene directly. However, the battle had just started not long ago. Xing Zhiguo should be the only one on the front line, and Zhao Gang and the new Communist Party members should still be in the rear.
"Contact me Chief of Staff Xing of the Tainan Military Region!"
