Is the Eighth Route Army going to join the war, or is it following orders from its superiors? Which one is causing the fuss?
Xie Tian issued a call for national resistance to the whole country through Liberation Daily, but he never thought of involving other troops in his battle plan.
If two teams that have never cooperated before are fighting together, their coordination will definitely not be so tacit, and the rhythm will be disrupted.
The Eighth Route Army's intention to show good intentions was obvious, but the partnership business could not be done.
Xie Tian shook Li Chaoyang's hand and pointed to the charging puppet troops on the river beach and said: "First of all, I would like to thank the Eighth Route Army and Commander Li for their support of our People's Liberation Army. You have also seen that the battle has begun. If I'm afraid there will be problems if you make tactical adjustments at this time, but I can understand your desire to fight the Japanese."
Li Chaoyang had commanded the Anti-Japanese War behind enemy lines for many years and was an experienced commander. He knew that what Xie Tian said was reasonable. He could only blame himself for receiving the order too late. He had to assemble troops and make pre-war preparations. He ran non-stop. It took four days on the way here, and it would take at least two days for the troops to arrive. Now I was worried that Xie Tian would misunderstand, so I hurriedly said: "Commander-in-Chief Xie, we just want to contribute to the war of resistance and save the country, even if you arrange for us We can also help you transport ammunition. We will return to the defense area immediately after we capture Pingjin."
We’re not here to ride the heat and pick peaches.
Xie Tian laughed: "Commander Li, don't get me wrong. Let me ask you, how many troops did you bring?"
Li Chaoyang replied: "Seven regiments and two columns, about 17,000 people."
"Okay, that's enough." Xie Tian said and then asked: "Where is your army now?"
Li Chaoyang glanced at the puppet soldiers on the river beach who were about to rush into the rifle range, grinned and said: "The vanguard only has one regiment, and it arrived with me. The large army is on the way. It has reached the big city now. Two days at the latest." We can get here in a day.”
According to common sense, it is impossible to attack a military town like Tianjin in less than a month. It should not be too late for our large forces to arrive in two days.
The Eighth Route Army was all iron-clad. From the time they received the order to assemble to the time they arrived in the big city, they covered three hundred miles in two days.
Xie Tian patted Li Chaoyang's arm: "Commander Li, order the troops not to come to Tianjin. You should divert to fight in Dezhou. I will order Commander Xu of the 41st Group Army to send troops to fight with you."
"Dezhou? Are you serious?" Li Chaoyang raised his eyebrows slightly.
The People's Liberation Army fought indiscriminately in the North China Plain and beat the Japanese to pieces. The Jizhong Military Region had taken the opportunity to occupy six counties.
Li Chaoyang had already considered attacking Dezhou. If the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu base area in Dezhou was conquered, it would be connected with the Shandong base area, which would be of great significance to the Eighth Route Army.
As a result, Li Chaoyang's idea was scolded by the head of the headquarters: "Use your brain and think about it carefully. What do you think Xie Baoqing means by placing most of the 41st Army's troops in Cangzhou? Huh?"
The 41st Group Army became a thorn in the hearts of the heads of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters. When the 41st Group Army was mentioned, they never mentioned Xu Shiyou.
When the 386 Brigade was assigned to the 10th Theater Command in accordance with Chongqing's deployment, the head of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters was secretly delighted, believing that the 386 Brigade could slowly assimilate Xie Baoqing's troops and eventually bring the 10th Theater Command into his own camp.
The result now is that the 386th Brigade is gone forever and has become part of the 41st and 42nd Group Armies.
Even the liaison officer sent to contact Xu Shiyou was almost persuaded by Xu Shiyou to stay in Xie Baoqing's team.
Damn it, a brigade of troops was given to Xie Baoqing for nothing. How can this be justified?
As a result, Xie Tian suggested that Li Chaoyang go to Dezhou and send troops to coordinate the fight. Can Li Chaoyang not be confused?
Don’t want to eat the meat on your lips? Leave it to me?
No, not only did they not eat it, they even put it in my bowl.
Can there be such a good thing in the world?
Xie Tian laughed and patted Li Chaoyang's arm: "Of course it's true. I will arrange to send a telegram to Commander Xu. As for how you plan to fight Texas, you can discuss it directly with Commander Xu. If you need air force support, just let Commander Xu arrange it. "
Li Chaoyang was overjoyed and stood at attention and saluted Xie Tian: "Thank you very much, Commander-in-Chief, I will immediately arrange the troops to fight in Dezhou."
Li Chaoyang decided to kill first this time and then report to the headquarters after capturing Dezhou, otherwise the head of the headquarters might not agree.
The head of the headquarters will always complicate simple problems. No matter what he does, the capture of Texas will open the door to Shandong. Taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese army in North China is weak, they can continuously transport superior forces from Central China to Shandong and fight with them. The comrades in the Shandong base area can take over the entire Jiaodong Peninsula in one go, and even take the opportunity to attack Henan. By then, the head of the headquarters will have his nose crooked in laughter?
Xie Tian shook hands with Li Chaoyang and said goodbye, and told Ding Wei: "Deputy Commander Ding, please arrange a car to take Commander Li to join his troops."
Looking at Li Chaoyang's tired appearance, Xie Tian knew that Li Chaoyang must have come on horseback. The Eighth Route Army soldiers he brought with him probably trotted all the way to keep up, which was too inefficient.
Soldiers are very fast. Even if the Eighth Route Army had a pair of iron feet, it would be impossible for them to run on four wheels.
At this time, the puppet troops running to surrender on the river beach were clearly visible. Sure enough, there were only one or two thousand people running over, and the vast majority of the puppet troops had already fallen on the road to "charge and surrender."
If you fall down, you may not necessarily die. It may be that you are seriously injured, or you may simply be too scared to run away and lie on the ground pretending to be dead. In any case, most of the puppet troops fell on the road.
Seeing these puppet soldiers running towards us with their hands raised and panting, shouting not to shoot, we surrender, Li Yunlong hurriedly ordered the troops not to shoot.
Xie Tian gave an order, and the artillery troops once again launched a round of artillery fire to cover the Japanese tank troops that had emerged on the opposite river embankment.
Several Type 97 and Type 94 tanks were hit and caught fire. The remaining Japanese tanks hurriedly turned around and ran down the river embankment.
The puppet soldiers who finally escaped ran to the People's Liberation Army position with tears in their eyes, squatted on the ground with their hands raised, and cried loudly.
Liu Baoshan was lucky enough to survive. He rolled into the People's Liberation Army trench without any damage. He squatted on the ground and raised his hands in the air, shouting: "Don't shoot, don't shoot. We are here to surrender. I am the security brigade commander Liu Baoshan. I want to See you and thank you Commander."
The soldiers came to report to Xie Tian. Xie Tian waved his hand impatiently with a dark face: "No, let them put down their weapons, take off their uniforms, and go wherever they like."
At this time, there was a sudden burst of gunfire on the other side of the river. The tank division led by Ge Dazhuang had successfully crossed the river from the upper reaches of the Jiahe River and outflanked the Japanese from behind.
