Chapter 927: Righteous and awe-inspiring expansion (9)
Chapter 927 The Righteous Expansion (9)
The Nanjing government, Wang Jingwei, and Chiang Kai-shek's power supply was very timely. All parties in the Sichuan Civil War were exhausted but in high tension.
Xu Qianqian and the 80,000-strong Red Army led by Zhang Guotao made rapid progress and were invincible. On the more than 200 kilometers of northern Sichuan, they defeated Liu Xiang's coalition forces and retreated hundreds of miles. At four o'clock in the afternoon, Bazhong fell, and Yang Sen's troops lost 4,000 soldiers in the battle.
At 5:40 p.m., bad news came again from Dazhou. Fan Shaozeng and Liu Cunhou's troops were under heavy attack by the Red Army and were unable to resist. They abandoned Dazhou in panic and retreated south to Dazhu. As many as 20,000 Sichuan troops died in the battle and fled.
The remaining people lost a large number of weapons, ammunition and food and baggage. In the blink of an eye, most of northern Sichuan was occupied by the Red Army.
Liu Xiang, who was furious and had already arrived at Neijiang, attempted to command the remaining troops and fight Liu Wenhui on the Neijiang front line. Before he could complete the deployment of troops, he received news of the fall of Bazhong and Dazhou one after another. Liu Xiang was shocked and angry, and almost threatened him on the spot.
He vomited blood, and under the persuasion of all the counselors, he ordered his general Pan Wenhua to issue a telegram to obey the "telegraph order" of the Central Committee and Chairman Chiang Kai-shek. He telegraphed to the whole country and stated that "the tens of thousands of people in Bashu are the top priority, and we will take the initiative to cease fire and obey the Central Committee's order." Liu
Xiang himself chose to remain silent in order to maintain his usual dignity and attempt to regain the political initiative.
Liu Wenhui rushed to Ziliujing in the evening and received a secret report from southern Sichuan that "Bazhong and Daxian have been lost, the Red Army units are advancing with great success and continue to move south, and Liu Xiang's two divisions garrisoning Chongqing are forced to go north to meet the enemy." He was immediately confident and proud.
Full, he unhurriedly commanded the 35,000 soldiers who had conquered Ziliujing and pushed towards Neijiang. They built their positions and stood ready, assuming a posture of being unyielding and ready to launch another attack at any time.
At 8 o'clock in the evening, He Yingqin, the special envoy of the central government who hurriedly flew to Wuhan, called the whole country in the name of the Minister of Military Affairs and asked the warring parties in Sichuan to exercise restraint and stop the civil war. He himself would fly to Wuhan the next morning to hold "peace negotiations between the conflicting parties".
meeting" and called on all walks of life in Sichuan to work together to urge the warring parties to reach a ceasefire consensus. At the end of the call, He Yingqin asked General An Yi, "Director of the Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan and Guizhou Appeasement Office, who is also a Sichuan native, that all walks of life in southern Sichuan should exert their influence.
Let’s work together to make active efforts to assist the central government in preventing the recurrence of the civil war in Sichuan.”
The last paragraph of He Yingqin's clever call was intended to prevent An Yi, who was dominating southern Sichuan, from being alone. It meant that all walks of life in the country would know that An Yi's division in southern Sichuan was actually an important factor in the disintegration of Sichuan. It hinted at An Yi's repeated attacks on Sichuan.
We have some responsibility for the civil war, at least we have to stand by and do nothing.
…
At ten o'clock that night, a transport convoy consisting of thirty-five military vehicles drove from south to north to Wenchang Palace, 17 kilometers south of Ziliujing. Liu Wenhui, who had been waiting for a long time, urgently ordered the officers and soldiers of the guard brigade to quickly unload the large amount of ammunition on the vehicles.
and medicines, under strict vigilance, enthusiastically welcomed An Jiajun Commander An Yi, Deputy Chief Shen Fengdao, Chief of Operations Fang Pengxiang and other generals into Wenchang Pavilion.
Three and a half hours later, the convoy quietly drove out of the town and returned to Xufu, 70 kilometers south with the fully loaded An Yi and his generals.
At 9:30 a.m. the next day, Central Special Envoy He Yingqin, Chongqing camp director He Guoguang, camp secretary-general Zeng Kuangqing and others, greeted by Liu Xiang and the coalition generals, entered the Neijiang Office compound. Liu Wenhui delivered a speech to the nation.
The "truce and power supply" came at the right time.
In the telegram, Liu Wenhui enumerated Liu Xiang's crimes of provoking civil war, and angrily expressed his acceptance of the mediation of the Central Committee, obeying the leadership of Chairman Chiang and Dean Wang, and starting a full-line ceasefire from the moment the telegram was issued. At the end of the telegram, Liu Wenhui said with great righteousness and awe.
Liu Xiang was required to bear full responsibility for initiating the civil war, and Liu Xiang was ordered to publicly apologize and compensate for the losses suffered by his headquarters and millions of Bashu fellow citizens.
As soon as the announcement came out, Liu Xiang was furious, but he did not have the confidence or strength to give up and fight. He could only angrily blame all the blame on "Insatiable greed and cruelty" in front of He Yingqin, He Guoguang, Zeng Kuangqing and others.
People" Liu Wenhui.
He Yingqin and others tried their best to comfort and explain. Only then did the anger of Liu Xiang and his generals calm down slightly, and the meeting was able to continue.
Less than ten minutes after the meeting resumed, it was once again interrupted by sudden bad news: the 9th Brigade of Liu Xiang's 4th Division, which was responsible for cooperating with the coalition forces in southern Sichuan and western Hunan to jointly suppress bandits, was killed 15 kilometers away from Shizhu County in eastern Sichuan half an hour ago.
The town of Jiangchi was suddenly attacked by the Huang Han and He Long troops of the Red Army. Attacked from three sides, the Ninth Brigade fought hard for two hours. In the end, it was defeated and the entire army was wiped out. Only about 300 of the 5,400 officers and soldiers remained at the brigade headquarters.
The people broke out of the siege and survived, but Shizhu County was also lost.
Liu Xiang finally went crazy and ordered the 8th Brigade of the 4th Division to retreat to Fengdu.
He Yingqin and others were also anxious. Xu Xiang's army on the northern front took advantage of the favorable opportunity when Liu Xiang's troops were empty and unable to quickly reinforce, and continued to send troops southward to launch a fierce attack on Dazhu, Quxian, Xichong, and Yanting. Huang on the eastern front
The Han and He Long tribes suddenly launched a joint attack, and in a blink of an eye, they killed a brigade of Liu Xiang's main force. If reinforcements could not be mobilized in time to block the Red Army's attack, Sichuan's prospects would be disastrous.
The preliminary meeting of the armistice negotiations suddenly turned into a military meeting to suppress bandits. He Yingqin urgently sent a telegram to Liu Wenhui to maintain restraint and go to Neijiang for a meeting as soon as possible. At the same time, he urgently reported the dangerous situation in Sichuan to Chiang Kai-shek.
The satisfied Liu Wenhui rushed to Chengdu at this time. He Yingqin could only go to Chengdu, which Liu Wenhui had reoccupied, to talk to him, the nominal chairman of Sichuan Province.
The anxious Liu Xiang and his generals urgently discussed countermeasures and strictly ordered Fan Shaozeng and Liu Cunhou not to take another half step back. At the same time, with their troops stretched thin, four garrison regiments from the suburbs of Chongqing were rushed north to reinforce Liu Cunhou and Fan Shaozeng.
The line from Dazhu to Shunqing.
…
At 10:40 in the morning, Anjia Army Headquarters in Xufu.
Based on the contents of Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui's telegrams cracked by the Intelligence Department and various intelligence feedbacks, Chief of Staff Ye Cheng pointed at a large map and informed the more than 30 participating generals and commanders of the war situation, and finally made a summary:
"...According to the secret agreement we reached with Liu Wenhui's Ministry, the 16th Division, led by General Xie Chi, Chief of Staff of the 24th Army, was stationed in Ziliujing. Among them, the 46th Brigade was stationed in Yong'an Town between Neijiang and Ziliujing to take on the responsibility of attacking
Security missions on the northern and eastern fronts. At the same time, the newly formed 7th Security Brigade, led by General Zhao Dongquan, chief of staff of the garrison force, took over the control of Ziliujing County and surrounding towns, so as to calm the people and restore public order as quickly as possible. The above two
The departure time of the department is 8 a.m. tomorrow, and the defense handover must be completed before 3 p.m. tomorrow. After completing the defense handover with our army, the three divisions of Liu Wenhui's department will withdraw westward one after another."
Xie Chi and Zhao Dongquan stood up to accept the order. The generals were very excited that they had so smoothly captured the artesian well rich in salt mines.
Ye Cheng signaled Xie Chi and Zhao Dongquan to sit down: "According to the sudden urgent order from Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, our army's 39th and 44th divisions currently stationed on the line from Wulong to Wanshengchang and responsible for suppressing bandits must fight with
General Zhang Cunzhuang and the Third Division of the 44th Army jointly went north to launch an encirclement and suppression campaign against the Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan areas where the Huang Han and He Long tribes were entrenched.
"For this thankless task, I suggest that the commander and brothers should not openly resist, but should readily agree to it, and let the 39th Division go north immediately and station it here first... right here!"
"Nanchuan?"
The generals were greatly excited. After seeing Nanchuan County clearly on the map, all eyes turned to An Yi's face.
Gu Changfeng laughed: "Commander, we can no longer hesitate. This opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Liu Xiang is now surrounded by enemies on all sides, which has made him miserable. Half of his 100,000 main troops have been lost in a few days. Xu Xiang from the north is pressing forward with his troops.
The momentum is overwhelming. Not only has Liu Xiang sent troops from his home base of Chongqing to the north, but he also has to be constantly on guard against the elusive Huang Han tribe and He Long tribe to launch attacks on his various ministries in eastern Sichuan. If we don't take the opportunity to take down Nanchuan at this time, how long will it take?"
An Yi, with red eyes and a tired look, nodded: "Nanchuan must be occupied, but how to occupy it needs to be carefully considered, and it cannot be done too outrageously, because there is also a new garrison regiment of Liu Xiang stationed there. If we do
If it goes too far, Liu Xiang will definitely hold a grudge, and it will also cause panic and even dissatisfaction among the local people. Therefore, the Political Department of the 24th Army must come up with a practical plan. Otherwise, if they are stationed in today, they will have to withdraw tomorrow.
Come."
"Commander, if my subordinates try to instigate rebellion against the newly formed garrison in Nanchuan and make the entire regiment's officers and soldiers defect to us, what else can Liu Xiang say?" Deng Chuanxiang, director of the Political Department of the 24th Army, asked.
"If this is the case, I will give credit to you and your brothers in the political department!"
An Yi was overjoyed and answered without hesitation. He knew that this problem had been successfully solved. With the current predicament of Liu Xiang's troops and the methods of Deng Chuanxiang and others, the surrender of the Nanchuan garrison would be easily obtained.
Ye Cheng's mission had been completed, and he returned to his position amidst the heated discussion among his brothers, indicating that the following matters would be left to An Yi.
The sleepy An Yi stopped wasting time and stood up and immediately nodded: "Zhan, Du Yi, after the meeting, you go to meet Mr. Jiang and President Zhong of the Southern Sichuan Chamber of Commerce. You must let Ziliujing Industrial and Commercial Community and
The intelligentsia launched a massive demonstration and petition.
"A large number of gentry and celebrities in the Ziliujing business community have maintained friendly trade cooperation with us for a long time. They purchased refined salt processing and packaging machines from us, and have been discussing the establishment of a large-scale alkali production plant jointly with us. Before Liu Wenhui occupied Ziliujing, we
We have already made concessions to them. Judging from the feedback from President Zhong and our intelligence station, we are very optimistic. The two parties have initially reached a desire for cooperation. They will represent the business community to express their support for us.
"As for the intellectual community, let alone that. Our schools at all levels have always been the envy of the Ziliujing area. Many children from wealthy families study in our all-boarding Boy Scout School and the High School Affiliated to the Polytechnic University. Mr. Jiang and others also
A lot of work has been done to prepare for our day. All you have to do is to make the demonstration and petition in Ziliujing more rigorous, more powerful, more orderly and safer, and to avoid any accidents.
"Chinese and foreign reporters who have always wanted to cover the Ziliujing and Neijiang front lines will be allowed to enter the Ziliujing area this afternoon. They are the best witnesses of public opinion."
"yes!"
Zhan Dao and Du Yi stood up to accept their orders.
After the meeting dispersed, An Yi immediately drove to the airport and had a private conversation for more than 20 minutes before Yang Bin took the passenger plane "to Nanjing to attend the meeting."