Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 559 Xuzhou after the war

After two hours of shelling, tens of thousands of artillery shells fell in an area within a few kilometers of Xiao County. The Japanese position was shrouded in a bloody wind. This was the first time in Li Zongren's memory that he had seen such intensive shelling.

It also allowed him to fundamentally change his military guiding ideology. All of this was taught by Tang Qiuli.

Liao Lei turned around and issued the general attack order. To be honest, in Liao Lei's opinion, going up to the troops was almost like cleaning the battlefield. It was absolutely a miracle that his own troops could survive such a violent bombardment. The Gui Army and

Sichuan troops rushed up from all directions, stepping on the floating soil loosened by artillery shells and covering their feet. Not a single living Japanese soldier was seen, and even the corpses were in pieces.

As we approached the core area, we encountered weak resistance. They were some seriously injured Japanese soldiers who had not yet expired. They held on for their last breath and fired sporadic bullets. They did not pose a threat to the surrounding Chinese soldiers at all, but they did.

Some dying Japanese soldiers hid in the pile of corpses. When the Chinese soldiers came over, they fired the grenades on them, which caused some casualties to the Chinese troops.

Despite this, it had no impact on the entire war situation. The encircling troops of the Gui Army and the Sichuan Army met in Xiao County. This also meant that the Xiao County Battle to encircle and annihilate Isogaya Lianjie's First Army ended successfully, and all the more than 50,000 Japanese troops were defeated.

The army was wiped out and not even a single prisoner was captured. This made Li Zongren, who was preparing to use Japanese prisoners to make a big fuss, very dissatisfied.

He issued an order to find the bodies of Rensuke Isotani and other senior Japanese generals, and searched the entire position. There was not even a trace. Li Zongren felt nervous. Did Rensuke Isotani slip through the net? If so, the Battle of Xuzhou was a mess.

It is unexplainable that Rensuke Isotani can slip through the airtight encirclement of the 230,000-strong army.

After careful investigation, the bodies of more than a dozen senior Japanese military officers were finally found in a basement. However, they had been burned beyond recognition by gasoline. It was impossible to tell which ones belonged to Rensuke Isotani, and could only be judged from the corpses left at the scene.

Judging their identities by looking at the command swords, they are undoubtedly all senior generals of the Japanese First Army.

From the start of the Kaifeng Blockade on December 17 to the end of the Xiaoxian Battle on December 28, the Xuzhou Battle, which lasted for more than ten days, finally came to an end. The commander-in-chief of the Xuzhou Theater Li Zongren commanded the Gui Army and

The Sichuan Army troops, with a strength of 230,000, broke into the hinterland of the Yellow River defense line. The First Army of the North China Expeditionary Army and Isotani Rensuke's headquarters totaled 130,000 people and annihilated the Japanese chief Isotani Rensuke in the Xuzhou area.

the following.

In this battle, the troops in the Xuzhou Theater suffered less than 40,000 casualties. It can be said that they achieved the greatest results at the smallest cost. To explore the reasons, there was no Su Jingfeng Yellow River and Henan Garrison Corps belonging to the ** Division, which was in Kaifeng for three days.

Zhang Zizhong and Su

The two-day bloody battle of the Lu garrison in Shangqiu gave Li Zongren plenty of time to make arrangements in Xuzhou. Not only would there not be a great victory in Xuzhou, but it is still unclear in which direction the war situation will develop. One thing is certain, Isogani

The Lianjie Society occupied Xuzhou.

In order to ensure the victory of the Xuzhou Battle, the ** Division troops paid a huge price. The Yellow River and Henan Garrison Corps suffered more than 17,000 casualties, more than one-half of the army's strength. The corps commander, Major General Su Jingfeng, was killed.

The Sulu Garrison Corps suffered more than 15,000 casualties, nearly one-half of the force's strength. The commander of the corps, Lieutenant General Zhang Zizhong, was killed in action, and the two armies totaled more than 32,000 casualties.

With a weak force to fight against the vigorous Japanese First Army, one can imagine the hardship and cruelty of the battle. What Li Zongren faced at the gate of Xuzhou City was just a tired division that had been dampened by the Japanese division's troops.

Weakened, when they arrived at Xuzhou City, the total strength of the Japanese army was less than

The number reached 100,000, and Li Zongren had 230,000 people, waiting for work. In the Battle of Tongshan, Tang Qiusheng's troops annihilated more than 45,000 Japanese troops. The Xuzhou Theater used all its forces to encircle and annihilate the Japanese troops in Xiao County.

The Japanese army only numbered more than 50,000 people. This was the entire process of the Battle of Xuzhou.

Therefore, in the Battle of Xuzhou, Tang Qiuli's ** division troops made the most sacrifices and paid the highest price, but they did not participate in the final battle of annihilation. The world is often like this. People only see running to the finish line with laurels in hand.

and cheering and applauding them. Those who contribute on the way are often ignored by the public behind the halo.

Journalists accompanying the army in the Xuzhou Theater took a large number of field photos and sent them as quickly as possible to newspapers in major cities across the country, especially Shanghai and Nanjing.

The whole country was excited about it, and major newspapers printed headlines one after another with eye-catching headlines such as "Victory in Xuzhou, General Li Zongren commanded troops to annihilate more than 130,000 people in the elite Japanese First Army", or "General Li Zongren used troops like

"God, Japanese Chief Isotani Renjie was buried under Xuzhou City," the content of which was written by reporters, who vividly and vividly reported the detailed process of the Battle of Xuzhou.

For a time, Li Zongren became a well-known hero, a newly emerged hero of the Anti-Japanese War, with all kinds of honors gathered in one body. His goal was achieved. With the Battle of Xuzhou, the New Guangxi Clique quickly entered the eyes of the people and embarked on the path of the Republic of China.

On the political stage, the Gui Army, which is located in a corner of Guangxi, has also won praise from the people. It has vaguely overshadowed Chairman Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Qiuli, who set the first record of annihilating the Japanese army in North China. It has become a hotly discussed figure among the people and the new darling of the media.

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Xuzhou, the war zone commander's headquarters, faced with reporters from all over the country, Li Zongren's face was full of spring breeze, and he was wearing a brand-new general uniform, which made him look like a Confucian general. The adjutants were busy distributing the pre-printed materials to

In the hands of reporters, Li Zongren looked very humble and attributed all the credit to the soldiers of the Gui Army and the Sichuan Army. The Sichuan Army in particular was the target of his praise, and he took the trouble to answer various questions and weird questions from reporters.

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In order to satisfy the reporters' curiosity, Li Zongren specially arranged for them to go to Xiao County for on-the-spot interviews. Seeing the scene after the fierce battle, the reporters who had never experienced the flames of war repeatedly exclaimed, and the accompanying officers also spoke vividly.

During the explanation, the reporters’ cameras kept clicking, and their pens took notes nervously.

Li Zongren was very satisfied with this scene. He had plenty of time to show off. The news that Isotani Rensuke's First Army was annihilated in Xuzhou quickly spread to all Japanese troops. Since losing contact with the First Army, Zai Ren and Xiang

The Yueqing Division sensed that something was not going well and ordered the Japanese troops in various places to stop attacking, and on the principle of sticking to the existing positions, they strengthened their precautions against the Chinese *** troops.

The two of them did not dare to hide such a big incident and reported the actual situation to the base camp. The Japanese base camp was shocked and immediately jumped into panic. They immediately ordered all units of the Shanghai Dispatch Army to immediately stop all military operations in order to hold on to the existing positions.

They basically know the policy, but their so-called current position is still a ship wandering on the sea.

There are no targets in need of rescue, so if we try hard, the troops sent in will be eaten by the Chinese army. Therefore, after the destruction of Isotani Rensuke's first army, no matter whether it is on the northern or southern front,

The Japanese troops all took a defensive position and adjusted their deployment.

The Japanese army took a strategic defensive position. The Central Army generals and Chairman Chiang Kai-shek in the Songhu and Hangzhou Bay battlefields in the south were naturally relieved. During this period, they fought fiercely with the Japanese. The Central Army suffered heavy losses and needed to be replenished.

Combining troops and various materials, the Japanese army was naturally following its intention by not attacking.

Yan Xishan, the commander of the Shanxi battlefield, was happy that the Japanese had given up. He had no intention of taking advantage of this opportunity to take the initiative. It was already very difficult to save Shanxi's altars and jars under the siege of the Japanese army, and he even took the initiative to provoke the Japanese.

Man, that's asking for trouble. This old man won't do such thankless and stupid things.

Yan Xishan and Chairman Chiang did not move, but it did not mean that the generals of the *** Division could let the Japanese troops go. On the Cangzhou front line, they beat the more than 300,000 Japanese troops under the personal command of Zai Ren, Liu Tiehan and Liu Tiehan to a bloody head.

Li Honggang, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Japanese army to retreat across the board, took the initiative to attack. Not only did he intercept and kill several Japanese rear guard brigades, but he also pushed the battle line all the way to the outskirts of Cangzhou. The original Japanese positions had already changed hands.

In this regard, except for the passage connecting Tianjin in the north, the remaining three directions of Cangzhou City were under the control of the ** Division troops. In addition, Li Honggang was sent to lead four brigades to attack the Jinghai area in southern Tianjin.

The front pointed at the city of Tianjin. This move frightened Zai Ren into a cold sweat. The only passage to Tianjin was cut off, and the Japanese army in Cangzhou became a turtle in the urn.

He sent troops from two divisions back to support Tianjin's defense, and fought repeatedly with Li Honggang's troops for important areas. The two sides fought fiercely in Qingxian and Dongziya areas. After several fierce battles, Li Honggang's troops inflicted a large number of casualties on the Japanese army and discovered that the Japanese army

There was a tendency to gradually increase the number of troops. In order to avoid being surrounded by the Japanese army in the Jinghai area, they took the initiative to withdraw to the Cangzhou line, threatening the Tianjin campaign, and then ended.

After Feng Jiwu, who was on the Niangziguan battlefield on the Western Front, received information that the Japanese army had stopped attacking and showed signs of retreat, he sent Han Tie, chief of staff of the Niangziguan garrison, to lead five brigades with more than 60,000 troops to sneak out from the old pass on the right side of Niangziguan and arrive at Niangziguan.

The Japanese army set up an ambush along the way back to Jingxing Pass. When the Japanese army appeared, they suddenly broke out and fought fiercely for a day, causing a large number of casualties to the Japanese army.

Due to the huge disparity in strength, Han Tie's troops took the initiative to leave the battlefield in the evening. For unknown reasons, the Japanese army did not pursue them. Han Tie's troops returned to Niangziguan safely. At this point, all fighting in the northern battlefield stopped.

Looking at the entire situation in the northern battlefield, after the Japanese troops stopped attacking everywhere, the Japanese Yamaguchi troops under Wuxiang City were isolated and highlighted. In fact, they were already a lone army. The intelligence obtained by the special operations detachment showed that the Japanese troops under Yamaguchi were

, there are signs of retreat, and the troops of its three regiments have deployed security forces and reinforced bridges on the route back to Shijiazhuang. This route happens to pass through the Taihang Mountains.

(To be continued)^-^^-^