With the help of Commander Chen's back-up, each division of the Shanxi-Sui Army finally captured Zezhou City after paying the price of more than 10,000 casualties;
Seeing that there was nothing he could do, Saito Colonel led more than 2,300 remaining troops to break out from the west gate in order to avoid being completely annihilated. Zezhou City was recovered. The Japanese also left nearly 3,000 corpses in the city. The exchange ratio between the two sides exceeded 4:1.
After capturing Zezhou City, the Jinsui Army avoided the dilemma of being besieged by the Japanese from all sides;
There are nearly 30,000 people left, with Zezhou City as a barrier. If the Japanese want to annihilate them all, they will need to make great efforts.
After recovering Zezhou City, General Yang readjusted the defense and withdrew all three attacking divisions into Zezhou City to take charge of defending the city;
The two reinforcement divisions withdrew to the outskirts of Zezhou City and built field fortifications outside the south gate and east gate respectively to help defend the south gate and east gate where the city walls were blown up. The morale of the troops finally stabilized.
General Yang could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and once again summoned several division commanders to plan the next battle. They sat in the Japs headquarters in the city for a meeting, feeling much more relaxed.
Admiral Yang sat in the main seat and dropped his briefcase with a relaxed look on his face:
"Everyone, the art of war says that when defending a city, you must defend the field. The 65th Division and the 70th Division are responsible for defending the field. They coordinate with the 72nd Division, 75th Division, and 93rd Division in the city. There is no problem in defending Zezhou City for more than a week.
In the Battle of Zezhou, the five divisions of our Shanxi-Sui Army, tens of thousands of troops, united sincerely, and the soldiers sacrificed their lives. It only took four and a half days to recover the big city of Zezhou, annihilate a regiment of more than 3,000 defenders, and capture Zezhou. Great victory!
I will handle the matter of reporting the victory to the chief ministers and Shuzhong, and your merits will not be lost;
All you need to do is step up emergency repairs and stand firm to await help! "
General Yang selectively forgot about the help of the Eighth Route Army, and several other division commanders even pretended that there was no such thing. The credit for recovering Zezhou City was not enough for them to share, so who would remember the Eighth Route Army.
Lieutenant General Xu said first:
“The Zezhou victory took only four days to recover an important city in the southeast of Shanxi and wipe out thousands of enemies. This is definitely an unprecedented victory since the national government’s winter offensive;
This is inseparable from the superb commanding art of the vice president. In terms of the first achievement, it is definitely the vice president! "
Other division commanders agreed one after another, and they almost praised General Yang as the current Sun Wu.
Admiral Yang was modest for a moment, and then reluctantly accepted it.
At this time, the tens of thousands of Japs outside the city are no longer important, sharing the credit is the most important thing!
After the credit was divided, the victory report was reported to the headquarters of the World War II District Governor and Shuzhong. The Zezhou victory once again shocked China.
In Shu, a certain person swept away his previous decadence and became high-spirited. Even his scalp became much brighter. He held the message and said to little Zhuge proudly:
"Jiansheng, Brother Baichuan is very determined to implement the government's order this time. The government requires that Zezhou City be captured in ten days;
In just four days, the Jinsui Army recovered a large city, wiped out an enemy regiment, and captured a lot of money.
If all the colleagues in the government can put the great cause of the state as the top priority like Brother Baichuan, the Japanese will not have to worry about being exterminated, and the great cause of suppressing bandits will not be without achievements! "
After someone finished speaking, he looked at little Zhuge meaningfully.
Xiao Zhuge could naturally understand what someone said, and it was nothing more than a meaningful insinuation of their relationship. He was too lazy to argue with someone.
He just didn't understand why Brother Baichuan went out of his way this time and spent precious troops on the old man's behalf at all costs. Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud, as his emotional intelligence wouldn't be so low.
"Zhongcai, this time Brother Baichuan achieved a great victory in Zezhou and wiped out thousands of enemies. The strategic intention has been achieved. I suggest that the winter offensive can be ended successfully."
Someone was in the mood, but he was unhappy when he heard it and said:
"Jiansheng, the enemy's combat power has dropped significantly. It's time to pursue victory. We must vigorously publicize the Zezhou victory and encourage other war zones to follow the example of the World War II zone and make persistent efforts to create greater glory!
In particular, Xue Boling from the 9th War Zone and Brother De Lin from the 5th War Zone defeated the main force of the 11th Army and regained the three towns of Jiangcheng. Their strategic intention has never been achieved. They forwarded the Zezhou victory report to them and asked them to find the gap. "
Xiao Zhuge was dumbfounded on the spot. Someone's problem of being overjoyed with success was getting more and more serious. Every time he thought about it, others would look forward to Shu, and he would look forward to the whole of China.
"Zhongcai, Brother Boling and Degong have been fighting here for more than a month. The division's veterans are already exhausted and are in urgent need of rest. If we continue to fight, we will only lose our troops and generals. We are at the end of our battle—"
Xiao Zhuge was stopped by someone before he finished speaking. He called these people over not just to listen to their depressing words.
"Everyone, this winter offensive has attracted great attention from the Goshawk Nation. Now that good news is spreading, it is a great opportunity to pursue the victory;
All wars serve politics. The next thing to be fought is a political war. The victory of Zezhou must be vigorously publicized. We will fight for another ten days or so and strive to achieve two to three more great victories and annihilate several enemy regiments! "
Xiao Zhuge was completely speechless. The key was that several other sycophants expressed their agreement and praised him in various ways. Even Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han came out.
Xiao Zhuge could only choose to shut up. He did not want to offend the public. Stimulated by the great victory in Zezhou, the winter offensive continued.
The great victory of Zezhou spread all over the country overnight, and reports of the national army's successes spread frequently. Various imperial literati even advocated that the time had come to counterattack. Under someone's wise leadership, the Japanese could be driven into the sea in less than a year;
Various theories of quick victory have emerged one after another. The "On Protracted War" published by Yanzhou was ridiculed by experts as cowardly as a mouse.
"There is really no shortage of experts who can bring disaster to the country and the people during the mission period. The government should give each of them a rifle and ten rounds of ammunition, and let them brave the hail of bullets to attack the impregnable Japanese defense line!
Damn it, I really don’t feel sorry for you! "
To be able to make the usually calm Chu Xiong scold his mother, you can imagine how shameless these people are.
Gao Wancheng came in and heard Chu Xiong cursing and asked curiously:
"Old Chu, who provoked you again? Even Zi Tie Ye Tian was scolded."
When Chu Xiong heard that it was Gao Wancheng, he replied without raising his head:
"Who else could it be? That low-ranking commander in Sichuan, as well as the ignorant experts who talk loudly around him. In the end, the ones who died were the tough men of the government!"
After Chu Xiong finished speaking, he handed the newspaper in his hand and the telegram from the internal line to Gao Wancheng. Gao Wancheng took it and saw that he was very angry and said angrily:
"Not enough? What do they want to do?
The battle has been going on for more than a month, and the frontline soldiers probably don’t even have enough rice porridge to eat twice a day, let alone ammunition supplies;
It is a crime to still advocate attacking at this time. I even suspect that many of them have ulterior motives! "
