Zhuang Jihua was really anxious. During the Battle of Nanjing, although he retreated step by step and more than 100,000 Japanese troops attacked the city of Nanjing, he was not in a hurry because everything was in his prediction, but today was different, completely different. One by one, a series of messages that made him frightened came from the telegram.

Zhang Zizhong was surrounded in Dadong Mountain. Guan Linzheng led the Second Division to reinforce, and finally robbed Zhang Zizhong out. The 46th Army fled north and was defeated by Fengwen at the foot of the mountain in the Xulou area southwest of Huaibei. The New 38th Division had not yet established a stable foothold in Huaibei and was forced to withdraw from Huaibei City. Fortunately, the New 22nd Division occupied Xiangshan in the north of the city, blocked the 16th Division, covered the New 38th Division and the 46th Army to withdraw from the Xiaoba River, and established a defensive position north of the Xiaoba River, barely stabilized the Huaibei defense line.

The 9th Division and the 13th Division pressed towards Yongcheng and joined forces with Gu Shoufu to attack Deng Xihou Luhan. The Japanese army attacked in a row and made a sharp attack. The entire southern line could not form a dense and stable defense line. Deng Xihou Luhan alternately covered and retreated towards Yongcheng.

Zhuang Jihua stood at the head of Xuzhou city and looked around. The battle situation was chaotic. Both the north and south lines were broken through. Fortunately, he was the main force of the southern line, which was brought out from Sichuan. Most of the people were trained by him and could meticulously execute his orders. The southern line did not completely collapse.

"Let's go." Zhuang Jihua took a last look at Xuzhou City and got into the car. Wu Ziniu immediately rushed into the passenger seat. Gong Xiuhua sat next to Zhuang Jihua. The atmosphere in the car was silent and depressing.

Jian An sat in the back with two radio stations. Inside the two jeeps, there was also a company of the guard regiment led by Lu Ruishan himself. Lu Ruishan fought in Jiawang for five days and was ordered to withdraw back to Xuzhou. There were more than 1,400 soldiers left from the two regiments. Except for the company led by Lu Ruishan, the other ones were led by the deputy regiment commander and the command headquarters retreated in advance.

Shortly after Zhuang Jihua left, Guan Linzheng and Zhang Zizhong led their troops to fight and retreat over Xuzhou and retreat westward. The Japanese army immediately occupied Xuzhou City. The fire spread throughout the city, with guns firing everywhere, and screams and cries resounded throughout the city.

Xu Yuancang stood in the courtyard with a simple face. He was sad and the old housekeeper stood behind him. The rest of the family had been beaten away, leaving only these few old people.

Looking at the smoke all over the city and listening to the crying sounds coming from outside, the old housekeeper couldn't help but step forward: "Master, go back to the house."

"I am a fish and a man is a slaughter. This is a slave to the country." Xu Yuancang murmured, two lines of tears rolling down.

The door was knocked open, and more than a dozen Japanese soldiers rushed in with bright bayonets. Seeing the situation in the yard, they were stunned, but then rushed over. As soon as the old butler stepped forward, a Japanese soldier came up and stabbed him in the stomach. The old butler was knocked down on the spot.

Xu Yuancang was in a state of rupture, and he stepped forward to hug the old housekeeper. As soon as he spoke, a pain on his back was immediately carried to the ground. The blood of the two men flowed together, dyeing the clean steps red.

"Master!" "Master!"

Several families rushed up, and the Japanese soldiers laughed, pulled one of them, pulled out the bayonet, cut off his ear with one knife, and the old man screamed and fell to the ground. Seeing that the situation was not good, the rest of the families immediately turned around and ran away. The Japanese laughed and chased after him.

The massacre tragedy was staged throughout the city, and the entire Xuzhou was filled with blood.

After occupying Xuzhou, Ando Riki continued to pursue westwards. He was stubbornly blocked by the 85th and 13th armies under the command of Tang Enbo in the Yi'anshan area. Under their cover, Zhang Zizhong and Guan Linzheng led the remnants to retreat to Dangshan.

Tang Enbo commanded the 85th and 13th Army to block Ando Riki on Yian Mountain for three days. During the three days, fierce battles continued for more than ten miles around Yian Mountain, blood flowed into a river, and the sound of artillery continued all night. The soldiers on both sides fought desperately. Reports of casualties of senior generals frequently appeared. Two regiment commanders of the 85th Army were killed, one brigade commander of the 13th Army was killed, and countless casualties were killed and injured below the battalion commander.

The casualties of the 85th Army and the 13th Army were worth it. After the initial chaos after the Japanese army broke through, the Northern Line troops finally stabilized their positions with the support of the 78th Army. The 102nd Army crossed the Yellow River for three days. Sun Zhen led the entire army to the south bank of the Yellow River and then retreated to Dingtao Cao.

With the 102nd Army crossing south, the large-scale defense on the canal front finally ended, and the troops began to gradually retreat. To the north of the Yellow River, Xue Yue commanded the 71st Army, and the 72nd Army and the 23rd Army were still in full swing, effectively restraining Yin Dong's pace of going south and alleviating Xu Zuyi's situation on the south bank.

The two and a half divisions commanded by Honma suffered huge casualties in the early battles and were unable to break through the defense line of the 101st Army. Yin Dong joined the 37th Division with the Honma Dongkou encirclement, and led the 101st Division to cross the Yellow River in Dongming, and fought fiercely with Hu Zongnan and An Enfu. Hu Zongnan and An Enfu blocked the Japanese army on the beachhead position on the south bank for major sacrifices.

The hard battles of various units finally won time for Zhuang Jihua. After the 102nd Army crossed the river, Zhuang Jihua began to order the troops to retreat in great strides, and the 101st Army and the 1st Army were cut off and they were responsible for their task of covering the entire army.

The Zhong** team successively abandoned all cities in eastern and western Shandong such as Dongguang, Juancheng, Heze, Yongcheng, Dingtao, as well as Peixian and Fengxian in Jiangsu, Dangshan, Anhui strategic location, and retreated to Shangqiu, Minquan, Yucheng, and Haozhou in Anhui in Henan.

The Japanese army was in high morale and continued to pursue relentlessly. Ito Masaki commanded two divisions and the remnants of Honma to attack Minquan through Heze; Yoshio Shinozuka led five divisions (left one division stationed in the Jining area) and pressed towards Chengwu, Shanxian and Shangqiu in two directions; Fengwen Yamashita and Tanishou jointly attacked Yongcheng and then divided their troops into two directions. Tanishou continued to advance westward to attack Haozhou, and Fengwen Yamashita went north, and joined Ando Riki Ando (three divisions of troops, the 37th Division stationed in Xuzhou, Zaozhuang, Lincheng and other places) who came from Xuzhou, attacked Sun Lianzhong's Second Army in Xiayi, Dangshan, Sun Tongxuan's Third Army, Pang Bingxun's Forty Army, Tang Enbo's 20th Army, the New 22nd Division and the New 38th Division.

The situation is still extremely urgent, and the Chinese team still has not escaped the passiveness.

To the west of Shangqiu, Wangwenzhuang, a quiet village suddenly surged in a large number of soldiers. These soldiers immediately filled the village inside and outside. The entire village quickly turned into a large military camp. Soldiers in various costumes came and went in and out in a hurry. Near the Wang Family Ancestral Hall at the south end of the village, the guards were even more tight. The officers in and out of the army were in Huangnizi military uniforms and rushed. The roof was full of antennas of varying lengths, and the entire ancestral hall was solemn and stern.

"No, this will not work. You must fight back and disrupt the deployment of the Japanese army." Zhuang Jihua looked at the map nervously, looking at the Japanese army's actions on the map. According to his understanding, the Japanese army should stop attacking and go to rest after they retreated into Henan. After all, they occupied Xuzhou, but the consumption was not small. Conservatively, it is estimated that the losses of the 650,000 Japanese army would also be 200,000. One third of them were Honma troops on both sides of the Yellow River.

But where did the counterattack force come from? All troops were retreating in a hurry, and these troops suffered great losses after more than a month of fierce fighting. Although the specific numbers have not been counted, there are at least 200,000. Zhuang Jihua dared not imagine that the war loss ratio was lower than that of the Japanese army.

After thinking for a long time, Zhuang Jihua finally had to pin his hopes on the 49th Army and the Central Army's German-Armed Division he trained himself.

"I ordered Sun Lianzhong to stay in Shan County for seven days, Sun Tongxuan to stay in Cao County for seven days, and ordered the 49th Army and the 78th Army to quickly retreat to Shangqiu to assemble; ordered the 20th Army Tang Enbo's army and the 40th Army Pang Bingxun's army, and the 46th Army Fan Songfu's army must stay in Xiayi for seven days, and the 59th Army immediately retreated to Xuchang for replenishment; ordered the New 22nd and New 38th Divisions to go south to Haozhou to reinforce the 22nd Army and the 58th Army, and the two divisions Deng Xihou and Lu Han must stay in Haozhou. Yu Jishi of the 74th Army immediately assembled to Shangqiu."

"The commander is inappropriate," as soon as Zhuang Jihua's order was issued, Gong Chu hurriedly advised him. Zhuang Jihua looked at him with a little surprise. Gong Chu said seriously: "Our army is not fighting back now, but trying to protect the entire army. Now we continue to compete with the Japanese army. The main force of the troops will suffer great losses, which is not conducive to the upcoming Wuhan defense battle. I suggest that the troops continue to retreat and retreat on the Pinghan Line, so that they will retreat another two hundred miles. In addition, the Chairman also requests the troops gathered outside Wuhan to transport Xuchang immediately, and we will go to Xuchang to counterattack."

Zhuang Jihua's face was gloomy. It was not unreasonable for Gong Chu's words, but it was also the reason why he had to launch a counterattack in Shangqiu. If the Japanese army arrived at the Pinghan Line safely, then whether they went south to attack Wuhan along the Pinghan Line or went north to attack Kaifeng and Zhengzhou along the Pinghan Line, the consequences would be unpredictable, and he would not dare to take this risk.

Zhuang Jihua brought out his concerns: "From now on, the Japanese army is very morale. If they are allowed to chase to the Pinghan Line, I am worried that we will still not be able to block the Japanese army there, so we must block the Japanese army in this area. Once the Japanese are allowed to split the connection between Zhengzhou and Wuhan, it will be more difficult to defend Wuhan in the future."

"But the troops in our fifth war zone consume a lot of strength, and none of the troops have recovered. Even if they persist, it will be difficult to strike the Japanese army in a hurry. Unless there are new reinforcements and the use of the 74th Army is improper, the losses of the 74th Army are relatively small. They should be the backbone of the counterattack, and should not be used to block the attack." Gong Chu insisted that in the Red Army, after such a large war of attrition, they should immediately escape. Even if you occupy Jinggangshan Ruijin, it would be nothing. As long as the troops are still there, I can take them back at any time.

"There is no way," Zhuang Jihua was indeed a little worried: "The Japanese army rushed from south and west of Yongcheng, the Fifth Division and the Sixteenth Division, with a total of five divisions. The 20th and Fifty-Nine fought fiercely again, and the losses were huge. It was difficult for them to stop the Japanese army alone."

But Gong Chu's opinion cannot be miscalculated. Several major groups of the Japanese army were all pressing on the fifth war zone. Tanisuo Group five divisions, Shinohara Yoshino Group five divisions, Ito Group about three divisions, and about four divisions of the Ando Group. The 17th division of the Japanese army was all pressing on the fifth war zone, with unprecedented pressure.

"Commander," Seeing that Zhuang Jihua was hesitating, Gong Chu finally proposed his countermeasures: "I suggest you ask Wuhan and the First World War Zone for help. Relying on our own strength, you can no longer stop the Japanese offensive."

Zhuang Jihua hesitated and finally nodded: "Okay, that's it. I'll immediately send power to the Chairman of Wuhan and ask for reinforcements. The other deployment will also be adjusted. Regardless of whether Wuhan provides reinforcements or not, we must block the Japanese army on the front line of Shangqiu."

Zhuang Jihua's urgent telegram made Chiang Kai-shek feel a little panicked. He was a man who knew Zhuang Jihua very well. From the beginning of the Battle of Zhangmutou to the present, this was the first time that Zhuang Jihua took the initiative to ask for help.

Chiang Kai-shek convened He Yingqin, Jiang Baili and others to discuss, and decided to place the Second Corps that had already been driven near Kaifeng under the command of the Fifth War Zone. In addition, the counterattack north of the Yellow River had lost its effect. He ordered Xue Yue's troops to transfer to the south immediately, leaving the 71st Army to move to the south, leaving the 71st Army to enter defense north of the Yellow River. The Eighth Army stopped Xinxiang and crossed the Yellow River south with the 32nd Army to establish a defensive position on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Xue Yue commanded the 23rd Army and the 27th Army, and the 71st Army joined the battle south of the Yellow River. Chiang Kai-shek finally gritted his teeth and drew a part from the newly established 200th Division of the Mechanized Division to form a rapid column, led by Deputy Division Commander Qiu Qingquan, and rushed to Shangqiu.

The 200th Division is an all-Russian unit. More than 100 tanks, armored vehicles, cars, and motorcycles assisted by the Soviet Union are all concentrated in this division. This division is nominally organized by the division, with an actual force of more than 20,000. This division is Chiang Kai-shek's heart. He was so fierce in the early stage that he was reluctant to take it out, but now he has gritted his teeth and taken it out.

"Two regiments of combat vehicles, one anti-aircraft artillery regiment, a baggage regiment, an engineering battalion, and a car regiment carry two infantry battalions, a combat artillery regiment, forming a fast column and heading to Shangqiu immediately." He Yingqin made arrangements quickly.

"When will I get on the bus? How many car bags are needed? How long will it take to get to Shangqiu?" Chiang Kai-shek was concerned about the meat, and Chiang Kai-shek asked in detail.

"We need five trains and more than fifty trains." He Yingqin replied: "The main reason is that the tanks require a lot of trains. The two tank regiments have more than 100 tanks, plus anti-aircraft artillery and supplies, so we still need more than fifty trains. We are lucky. There are just seven or eight trains at Hankou Station, so we can start shipping immediately. As for the time, it takes four to five days."

"There is no need for anti-aircraft artillery," Jiang Baili interrupted, "It's windy and snowy now, and the plane cannot even take off. Besides, even if the weather turns clear, we are still controlling the sky. I hope this ghost weather will be better soon."

Chiang Kai-shek looked at the dark clouds as heavy as lead and lamented in his heart, "The heaven will not help me." If the Air Force helps the north and south routes, especially the troops crossing the Yellow River, would definitely be killed and injured on the bare Yellow River bank, and would be destroyed by Xu Zuyi. In this way, the turning point of the war in Xuzhou has long occurred, and this situation will happen today."

The army was running at lightning speed, and Qiu Qingquan led a fast column to board the train in Hankou and galloped towards Henan. Before the Second Legion, which had arrived in Kaifeng, had no time to take a breath, he immediately turned around and marched south towards Shangqiu.

Xue Yue stopped the attack and broke the rear with the seventy-one and seventy-two troops. The army advanced rapidly toward the south bank of the Yellow River through Changyuan, Fengqiu, and Yanjin.

What made the Chinese generals breathe a sigh of relief was that the wind and snow that had lasted for more than a month finally stopped. The Chinese Air Force, which had been ready for a long time, almost all was launched. After the decisive battle on the ground, the decisive battle in the sky began again.
Chapter completed!