After entering Hefei, the situation began to change.
It has almost reached Meng Shaoyuan's sphere of influence.
Hefei fell on May 14, 1938, and soon became the breadbasket of the Japanese army.
The Hefei police's resistance lasted less than a day.
To be more precise, only a dozen hours.
Incompetence in combat is one factor.
The real reason is that before Japan attacked Hefei, the Japanese army had sufficient intelligence that was terrifying to consider.
This information comes from the "Comprehensive Records of Chinese Provinces" compiled by the famous Japanese spy agency East Asia Doubunkai.
This is a unique Chinese chronicle compiled by foreigners. The twelfth volume is the Anhui Province part.
Regarding Hefei, there are 200,000 words, which describe in detail the economic and social development of Hefei city at that time, including population, economy, transportation, agriculture, industry, finance, commerce, import and export trade, etc.
In other words, at the beginning of the war, Hefei had no secrets for the Japanese.
Intelligence work was vividly reflected in the Battle of Hefei.
The Japanese army also regarded Anhui Province as an important granary as Jiangsu Province.
War feeds war.
This is a strategy that the Japanese formulated early on.
However, the resistance of the soldiers and civilians in Anhui and Jiangsu against the Japanese army never stopped.
The country, the Communist Party, local armed forces, and popular organizations have always been frequently active behind enemy lines.
Meng Shaoyuan's previous strategy was to use Shanghai as the base camp, Jiangsu as the general base, and continuously penetrate into surrounding provinces and cities.
Anhui, Zhejiang, Shandong and other provinces have already activated the power of the Meng Shao clan.
In particular, the Battle of Wuhan and the upcoming Battle of Changsha allowed Japan to mobilize a large number of troops from Anhui, Jiangsu and other places, leaving local defenses empty and giving the armed forces behind enemy lines great room for survival and development.
This period is also known as the period of rapid development of armed forces behind enemy lines.
The strategy of exchanging space for time has initially yielded results.
The Japanese army began to be stretched thin.
Therefore, from 1938 onwards, more and more Taiwanese and Korean soldiers began to appear on the battlefield.
As for the occupied areas regarded as rear areas by the Japanese army, they mainly relied on puppet troops, coupled with a small number of Japanese troops.
Meng Shaoyuan arrived in Hefei with a group of children under such circumstances.
What came to greet him was even more unexpected.
They are his two powerful men:
Kong Chuanbo, and Yuan Zhonghe who was transferred to northern Jiangsu!
“District Chief Meng!”
When he saw these two people, Meng Shaoyuan was startled: "Why are you here?"
Yuan Zhonghe is one of the "Seven Tigers of Military Reunion" and Meng Shaoyuan's old brother. It is naturally easier to speak: "Wu Jingyi called from the top and sent a secret message to each of us detachment leaders, saying that you were passing by. When I heard It's okay, if you hurt a little bit, we won't survive. I don't feel comfortable sending others. I think I have to bring people here myself."
There is no need to say more about Kong Chuanbo.
His life was saved by Meng Shaoyuan, and Meng Shaoyuan entrusted him with important tasks and became a feudal official. I don't know how grateful I am to Meng Shaoyuan.
As soon as he heard that Meng Shaoyuan was in trouble, Xingye led people from Jurong straight to Hefei.
Only then did Meng Shaoyuan understand. He looked at Yuan Zhonghe and Kong Chuanbo: "You can do it. You've all become fat and strong. Old Yuan, you have really gained weight."
"It's your blessing, it's your blessing." Yuan Zhonghe said with a smile: "The Japanese have set their sights on Changsha. We are relatively peaceful. If we don't live a comfortable life now, how will we grow if we don't grow fat?" Meat."
Done.
These people are the most reliable weapons in their hands.
When Meng Shaoyuan saw his two old subordinates, he immediately felt confident and called all the team members who had escorted him here:
"Brothers, thank you for your hard work. When we get here, my people will take over. All the martyrs who died in order to escort the children along the way, no matter which faction they belong to, I will report truthfully!"
The two team captains silently saluted:
"Bon Voyage!"
"Take care of yourself!"
Along the way, too many people died.
Thirty children, however, were unscathed.
Their parents' spirits in heaven should be watching over them.
"Lao Yuan, how many people did you bring?" Meng Shaoyuan asked casually.
The old subordinates, if not a hundred people, must at least lead eighty people, right?
Unexpectedly, Yuan Zhonghe blurted out:
"Five."
"How many?" Meng Shaoyuan almost jumped up: "Five?"
"Really?" Yuan Zhonghe felt puzzled: "There are few people, so they come quickly."
Meng Shaoyuan was almost stunned and quickly asked Kong Chuanbo: "What about you?"
"I lead more people than Brother Yuan."
Look, Kong Chuanbo is still serious about his work: "How many?"
"Six."
Meng Shaoyuan almost fainted: "Xiao Zhong, hurry up, call those people back."
"District Chief Meng." Yuan Zhonghe smiled: "Why do we need so many people? We don't want to capture Hefei. Wait for someone here. When that person comes, we will enter Hefei."
Meng Shaoyuan was so angry that his mouth was filled with smoke.
The reinforcements that you have been waiting for so hard have brought just these few people?
Eleven people, one less than three tables of mahjong.
"Their weapons."
Yuan Zhonghe suddenly pointed at Li Zhifeng and others: "Don't bring them into Hefei."
"That won't work!" Li Zhifeng said immediately: "Weapons are the foundation of a soldier. What should we do if we encounter the Japanese?"
"My brother." Yuan Zhonghe said with a smile: "The Japanese have really discovered it. Are these people and weapons enough? We will enter Hefei in batches. Find a few brothers to help you bring your weapons in. Don’t worry, there won’t be a single bullet missing.”
Kong Chuanbo was also nearby and kept echoing.
"Leave it to them, leave it to them."
Meng Shaoyuan was furious: "Yuan Zhonghe, Kong Chuanbo, why the hell do I think you have rebelled and are preparing to sell me to the Japanese?"
"It's done, it's done, District Chief Meng, we have rebelled, we are shameless, right?"
Yuan Zhonghe called over three people, gathered the weapons of Li Zhifeng's guards together, put them on a bullock cart he brought, and then left quickly.
Okay, three more people are missing.
"Shameless, shameless!"
Meng Shaoyuan was still cursing there.
Yuan Zhonghe whispered to Kong Chuanbo: "When it comes to shamelessness, who can compare to our Young Master Meng? This time he lost a hair and had to give us little shoes to wear when he returned to Shanghai."
"real?"
"Really, we old brothers don't know him yet?"
Just as he was speaking, Yuan Zhonghe pointed behind him:
"Look, here it comes."
Who?
Meng Shaoyuan and his people turned around and saw several bullock carts approaching slowly.
Why does the leader look familiar?
When he got closer, Meng Shaoyuan blurted out:
"Xin Zhuangwen?"
Isn't he the son of the Yunnan Army brigade commander?
He was rescued by Meng Shaoyuan in Shanghai, and then Xin Zhuangwen insisted on staying with Meng Shaoyuan?
Xin Zhuangwen ran a few steps quickly and stood at attention:
"Report to District Chief Meng, Xin Zhuangwen has been ordered to come and report!"
