On the sixth day of the Shangqiu offensive and defensive battle, both the enemy and ourselves were extremely exhausted.
As the battle line continued to approach the city fortifications, the 16th Brigade headquarters was moved from the original Wengcheng to a residential building under the inner city wall on the east side.
The gunshots outside the city gradually disappeared. Li Yunlong, who was snoring like thunder, suddenly sat up from the wooden bed, his eyes as wide as bells, and his head as messy as a henhouse.
"Why did the gunfire stop?"
"Brigadier, the Japanese have stopped attacking. They are not invincible."
The main cadres of the 16th Brigade are Li Yunlong and Xin Tiebing, and they can only work in shifts. Li Yunlong is in charge of the day and Xin Tiebing is in charge of the night.
For the first three days, the Japanese army launched a crazy attack during the day, but for the next three days, the attack time was set at night, which suddenly disrupted the two men's duty plans. Li Yunlong always woke up from time to time.
Xin Tiebing believed that the Japanese army could not withstand the hot weather during the day, while Li Yunlong looked deeper. He believed that the Japanese army had figured out the layout of the fortifications outside Shangqiu City.
"Damn it, I can't sleep well."
Li Yunlong rubbed his fingers on his neck, and a ball of black mud came out, which fell to the ground with a flick of his finger.
Xin Tiebing felt a little nauseous when he saw this scene. Although the battle lasted for six days, it was still okay to find a break to simply wipe his body. Not to mention that there was a moat outside the city, so there was no shortage of water.
It is rare to be as careless as Li Yunlong. Xin Tiebing immediately said: "Brigade commander, how about I have someone get you some water?"
"No need, what does this mean? When I was on the Long March, I didn't take a shower for a month, but I still survived."
The phone at the brigade headquarters suddenly rang. Xin Tiebing picked up the phone and answered it, his face suddenly showing joy.
"Brigade commander, the Dingtaoji cadre in the north of the city reports that the wounded have been successfully transported to Cao County."
"It's a good thing. It seems that the Japanese have no strength now." Li Yunlong said.
Since the battle, all the outer positions of the two main battlefields on the east and south sides have been lost. The Japanese army has pushed the battle line to the residential areas outside the moat. The two sides have repeatedly fought for positions in the night, and casualties have increased sharply.
The three main regiments under the 16th Brigade all suffered heavy casualties. The independent regiment as the general reserve force was also sent to the battlefield many times. However, the Chengwu Independent Regiment in the west of the city and the Dingtao Independent Regiment in the north of the city were unable to move.
According to statistics from the staff of the brigade headquarters, a total of more than 3,600 people from the 16th Brigade were killed or whose bodies could not be found. There were more than 1,700 wounded people gathered in hospitals in the city, and many lightly wounded people remained on the front line.
Fortunately, the Japanese army also showed signs of fatigue, and Li Yunlong, who always did not follow common sense, ordered Sun Desheng, who was lurking in the northeast of Shangqiu, to lead half of his cavalry regiment to conduct reconnaissance north of Shangqiu.
The Japanese commander Yamashita Fengfumi was not a vegetarian. Although he did not deploy heavy troops on the west and north sides, he did arrange a small group of cavalry.
The cavalry regiment spent a day cleaning up the Japanese cavalry, so the wounded in Shangqiu City were transported to Caoxian County in batches within two days, and Li Yunlong no longer had any worries.
Li Yunlong was completely sleepless at this time, and was muttering: "This battle won't last long!"
At this time, nearly three days had passed since the 50th Regiment of the 14th Division was completely wiped out, and the civil unrest in northern Anhui was gradually eliminated under strong force suppression.
Internal strife broke out among the surviving Japanese and puppet troops in Kaifeng. Taijiro Iida, commander of the 35th Division, insisted on sending reinforcements to Shangqiu. Instead, Kuroshima Morita and Sun Liangcheng of the Independent Fourth Brigade, who had fled from Shangqiu, decided to stick to Kaifeng.
Both sides insisted on their own opinions, and the lawsuit went directly to the North China Expeditionary Force Headquarters. Taijiro Iida believed that if he persisted in defending, he would miss the opportunity to join the Kwantung Army.
Kuroshima Morita believed that the national army in Zhengzhou was ready to move, and sending troops rashly would be tantamount to handing over Kaifeng to the national army, and would most likely encounter an ambush by the Eighth Route Army after leaving the city.
Ishihara Wanji, who is far away in Peiping, has not made up his mind. Yamashita Fengwen naturally hopes that the Japanese and puppet troops will come to join forces in Kaifeng to strengthen his own strength. However, once Kaifeng is occupied by the national army, the national army is likely to follow Longhai.
The line goes eastward.
Everyone knew that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were at odds with each other, but the Japanese army did not dare to bet on whether the Kuomintang army would sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, so the Japanese and puppet troops in Kaifeng were divided into two groups. Iida Taijiro led the Japanese and puppet troops to march eastward, and Kuroshima Morita led the Japanese puppet troops.
The whole team stayed and stood firm.
However, the idea is good, but the reality is cruel.
It's not that Kuroshima Morita knew much about the Eighth Route Army, but that after he broke through from Shangqiu, he really saw that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was present along the way.
During the 150-kilometer journey from Kaifeng to Shangqiu, the Japanese and puppet troops first took a train. After discovering that the rails had been stripped, they decisively abandoned the train and walked. Along the way, they were constantly encountered by the main forces of the Northern Henan Army Division.
"This war won't last long!" Zhou Weihan muttered the same words and looked at the military sand table. With Shangqiu as the center, the three forces of the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and the Japanese appeared on it.
"The troops of Kuroshima Morita and Sun Liangcheng who were stationed in Kaifeng had about 8,000 people. This number is accurate. When Iida Taijiro's troops left the city, there were nearly 13,000 people, of which only 3,000 were Japanese troops, and the rest were all puppet troops.
"
"We have been fighting with the Northern Henan Army Branch for three days now. We have just passed Lanfeng and only traveled less than half the distance!"
Although it was late at night, there was a circle of people standing at the military sand table. One by one, senior cadres of the Eighth Route Army were almost all old smokers and night owls. This was related to the fact that the Eighth Route Army often engaged in night battles.
Zhou Weihan immediately looked at the location of Ding Wei's 15th Brigade. The 7th Regiment was in Suixian County, the 8th Regiment was in Zhecheng, the 9th Regiment was in Luyi in northern Anhui, and Bo County had not yet been reorganized.
Of the four brigades under the Hebei-Luyu Column, only Ding Wei's 15th Brigade has not yet engaged the Japanese army. In fact, it has more tasks and requires mobile operations.
Firstly, they need to send troops to quell the rebellion during the civil unrest in northern Anhui. Secondly, they need to timely attack the Kwantung Army's flanks. Thirdly, they need to join forces with the Northern Henan Army Division to annihilate the enemies of Kaifeng again.
Now, the reality is just as Zhou Weihan expected, and the situation is excellent.
"Can we contact the 15th Brigade now?" Zhou Weihan asked.
Zhao Bingzhang glanced at the time, shook his head and said: "No, the 15th Brigade must be on the march. According to the regulations, we will contact you via radio every two hours. It's not time yet."
Zhou Weihan nodded when he heard this. He did not expect that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese and puppet troops coming out of Kaifeng was so poor. The Northern Henan Army Division only had one main force, the Fourth Regiment, plus two basic regiments, which blocked the enemy.
But the reality is that it can block the Japanese and puppet troops, but it cannot defeat them. We can only wait for the 15th Brigade to pass.
"Contact Wang Yigong, and they in the Northern Henan Military Division will release the water appropriately. We can't be so stubborn. If the enemy sneaks back to Kaifeng again, we will lead them to the civil war."
"As soon as the time comes, contact the 15th Brigade immediately and ask Ding Wei to contact Wang Yigong directly. This will save effort and avoid going to Lanfeng."
