Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 557: Desperate Situation

A small Xiao County has touched the hearts of the commanders of both China and Japan. For the Japanese army, being able to save Isotani Rensuke from the danger of annihilation means being able to break through the Chinese army's defense line and break through

The current stalemate and the pattern of the Sino-Japanese war will be rewritten.--%.net

As far as the army is concerned, the elimination of Isoya Rensuke's First Army is equivalent to the elimination of a sharp knife inserted into the hinterland. The Central Army on the southern front and the First Division troops on the northern front, back to back, have no worries.

On various battlefields, the Chinese army and the Japanese army fought, and they all knew the significance of the battle in Xiaoxian to their own side.

In Xuzhou, there is an antique deep house with carved beams and painted pillars. The black painted door is hammered with copper nails as big as a bowl. There are two stone lions squatting at the door. Maybe it is because of its age. You can see the traces of rain erosion, which is similar to most of the surrounding areas.

Hit by Japanese artillery

Compared with the civilian houses that were attacked, it miraculously survived the war. It turned out to be the residence of a wealthy family. After Li Zongren arrived in Xuzhou, the owner had to give up the courtyard to the anti-Japanese commander. The headquarters of the commander of the Xuzhou Theater Command was located here.

In the living room, there are several exquisite side dishes on the Eight Immortals table, and a tin wine pot, boiled in hot water, exudes an intoxicating aroma of wine, giving people who come from the cold a kind of heartfelt warmth.

Li Zongren, the commander-in-chief of the Xuzhou Theater, paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, a smile appearing on his face from time to time.

He took great pains to set up a banquet, just for one person, Tang Qiusheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the Yellow River Basin Theater Headquarters and deputy commander of the ** Division. Li Zongren has received a telegram from Tang Qiusheng.

Following General Qiu Li's order, he immediately set off to the Taihang Mountains to carry out new combat missions.

Li Zongren was relieved, and his heart suddenly felt relaxed. To be honest, with the troops of the Imperial Army in Xuzhou, he always felt oppressed. It was not that Tang Qiuli was domineering, but an instinctive fear of the strong. The Guangxi clan borrowed

The Battle of Xuzhou re-entered the political stage of the Republic of China. This was the strategy he and Bai Chongxi had discussed, and it was also the main motivation for the Gui Army to actively participate in the Battle of Xuzhou.

Now, it has started well. Isoya Rensuke's remnant troops have been tightly surrounded in the small area of ​​Xiao County. Their destruction will be a matter of time, and they don't have to waste too much energy. Therefore, Li Zongren hopes that the ending of the Xuzhou Battle will be by

If the Gui army comes to fight, the influence will be different. With this battle, the new Gui faction and the Gui army will become famous and recognized by the Chinese people.

What was difficult was that Vice Chairman Tang Qiuli's troops fought in the first half of the Battle of Xuzhou, and they contributed the most and paid the highest price. Without Kaifeng and Shangqiu's six-day desperate blockade, he could not put his troops to the sword.

Deployed to the front line in Xuzhou, the situation would not be as good as it is today.

Therefore, Li Zongren put a lot of thought into arranging Tang Qiusheng's five brigades, first placing them far away from the main battlefield. As a result, the lucky ones didn't have to be busy, and they could get a big deal just by sitting on the bench. More than 40,000 Japanese troops were sent away.

He let others eat it, and later placed the troops of the Japanese Army on the outside of the Xiaoxian encirclement.

In doing so, Li Zongren himself felt that it was not very authentic. In his own words later, it was a bit cowardly and petty. Until now, the troops in the Cangzhou direction of the Japanese Army were still withstanding the attack of more than 300,000 Japanese troops, so he had enough

There is time to arrange and eliminate the first army of Rensuke Isotani huddled in Xiao County.

The telegram he sent to Tang Qiuli also implied a test of words. If Tang Qiuli, as the vice chairman of the Military Commission, insisted on having his troops participate in the final general attack on the Japanese First Army, Li Zongren would not be able to say anything.

There was no reason on the table to refuse. Fortunately, Tang Qiuli did not insist, which made Li Zongren feel faintly uneasy.

Now, Tang Qiuli actually withdrew his troops in front of such great achievements that could shock the whole country. This surprised Li Zongren. At the same time, he also felt that there was such a difference in how he behaved and worked. Apart from being surprised, he

The only reason to convince myself is that the Gui clan needs Xuzhou's victory too much.

The sound of guards standing at attention and saluting came from the door. Li Zongren walked quickly to the door of the living room. He had been working together in Xuzhou for many days, but he had not seen the face of this person who was ranked third in the army. He followed his own instructions

Imagine and picture the image of Tang Qiusheng in your mind, a cold air hit your face. Tang Qiusheng appeared in front of Li Zongren with the dust of the battlefield.

Both of them were stunned. In Tang Qiusheng's mind, this prestigious leader of the New Gui Clan must be a sophisticated and shrewd character. In Li Zongren's mind, this Deputy Commander Tang must be

He was a warrior with a majestic physique. Unexpectedly, when they met, they both subverted each other's imagination.

The guests and the host were seated. Li Zongren explained the purpose of hosting the banquet, which was to thank the troops of the ** Division for their great assistance to the Xuzhou Theater and their heavy sacrifices during the Battle of Xuzhou. Deputy Division Commander Tang was about to leave Xuzhou and go to the new

On the battlefield, as the commander of the war zone, he had to prepare a small amount of wine no matter what to bid farewell to Deputy Commander Tang.

Tang Qiusheng said a few polite words without saying much. With his delicate mind, how could he not guess what Li Zongren meant, and he was not willing to get too entangled and submissive on this, so he kept Tang Qiuli's words intact.

He immediately conveyed it to Li Zongren that although the Japanese army was now surrounded in Xiao County, their command structure still existed, and the combat effectiveness of more than 50,000 Japanese troops should not be underestimated. Fighting against trapped beasts and fighting to the death was the Japanese army's usual tactic.

Therefore, Tang Qiuli suggested to Li Zongren that he must not blindly attack fiercely, which would bring great casualties to the troops. Instead, he should adopt the tactics of peeling off bamboo shoots layer by layer, from the outside to the inside, gradually compressing the Japanese army's activity space and consuming its troops. Finally,

, adopt concentrated artillery fire to carry out covering and devastating strikes, so that the final victory can be achieved at the minimum cost.

What needs to be noted is that to prevent the Japanese army from risking their lives to break through, the troops must be evenly deployed, so that the Japanese army cannot find weak links and there are no opportunities to take advantage of. Be prepared for the Japanese army's suicidal counterattack, and use artillery fire to kill the effective Japanese army. In a word, slow down the advance.

Fight slowly and annihilate them in the end.

Li Zongrenhe listened very attentively and called the chief of staff. He secretly broke out in a cold sweat. He really thought that the battle of Xiaoxian was too easy. He originally thought that the battle would be over in just two days, and 230,000 people would be killed.

An army is a mass of people, that is,

It was able to crush more than 50,000 Japanese to death, but it failed to estimate the Japanese army's fighting will. In that case, Rensuke Isotani's First Army was wiped out, and his own 21st Army was almost exhausted, killing a thousand enemies.

, self-loss of 800, a loss-making transaction.

He believed that what Tang Qiusheng conveyed was all true. No army knew the Japanese army better than the Japanese Army. It fought from Northeast China to North China and fought against the Japanese non-stop. These experiences were too important to him.

.

Watching Tang Qiusheng's handsome back disappear at the gate, Li Zongren didn't say anything for a long time. This Tang Qiusheng made him feel refreshed. Is that Tang Qiusheng who is famous all over the country and has never met him yet? Is he even more charming?

In Li Zongren's mind, Tang Qiuli and his generals had been classified as a group of people who could have close friendships but should not be offended.

On December 25, Li Zongren moved his headquarters to Xiao County and commanded Liao Lei's 21st Group Army and the eight divisions of the Sichuan Army. After careful preparation, the battle started in four directions of Xiao County at the same time. According to

According to Tang Qiuli's tactics, the Chinese ** team adopted a step-by-step and steady advancement method to compress the Japanese army from all directions, and the battle was very fierce.

Under the command of officers at all levels, the powerful combat effectiveness of the Japanese army in the face of a desperate situation and the will to fight to the death were beyond Li Zongren's imagination. By the afternoon of the battle, the progress of the attacking troops was slow and the casualties were heavy.

Every position has to be fought over and over again.

The bloody corpses of soldiers on both sides can be seen everywhere. Many Japanese soldiers resorted to suicide attacks, covered with gunshot wounds, howling and throwing themselves at the crowd of Chinese soldiers. A loud noise often resulted in the death of a Japanese soldier.

Take the lives of four or five Chinese soldiers.

In the evening, Li Zongren ordered to stop the attack and consolidate the existing positions. On this day, the Chinese Army's attack had little effect, with an average advance of less than one kilometer. The ferocity of the Japanese soldiers gave Li Zongren a headache. He now absolutely believes that

Tang Qiuli's words are completely correct.

The fierce sound of guns and artillery on the front gradually faded away. Li Zongrenzi was thinking hard in the headquarters. The division commander of the Gui Army who followed Tang Qiusheng in the Battle of Tongshan asked to see the commander. He took the battle of Tongshan,*

The army's fighting method was explained to Li Zongren in detail. Li Zongren's heart suddenly became enlightened and he immediately held a military meeting overnight to adjust the deployment.

Sure enough, on the second day, the battle of the Chinese *** team was fought smoothly. They used artillery and infantry tactics to gradually advance. As a result, the Japanese soldiers were dumbfounded and couldn't even find their opponents. They faced

Endless artillery shells and fierce fighting lasted a whole day, and good news came from all directions. The Japanese troops on the opposite side were gradually repelled and retreated to the core area of ​​Xiao County. The remaining Japanese troops were finally compressed into an area of ​​only a few kilometers in radius.

Isotani Rensuke was completely desperate. He received telegrams from all directions to desperately reinforce the troops. They all claimed that they could not break through the blockade of the Chinese Army. They fought fiercely for two days and nights, made no progress and were trapped in a bitter battle. He understood that there was no hope.

, the China troops commanded by Li Zongren were ruthless to keep themselves and tens of thousands of imperial soldiers here.

The staff officer sent another telegram, which was sent by the commander of the dispatched army, Xiang Yue Qingji. In the telegram, Xiang Yue Qingsi ordered him to organize the troops to break out. The direction of the breakout could be towards Cangzhou. Prince Zain was commanding the troops.

, attack the blocking position of the Chinese army with all your strength, and try your best to move closer to Cangzhou. There is a great chance.

After reading the telegram, Isotani Rensuke didn't even sneer. He tore the telegram into pieces with several fistfuls. At this time, he still talked about such tasteless nonsense. If he could break out, why bother standing here with more than 20 people?

The attack of thousands of Chinese troops was accompanied by artillery, bombs and guns. People were dying every minute, and they could not move a step.

(To be continued)