Kuroda Shigetori's face was ugly, and Fu Zuoyi's face was even more embarrassing.
Because the radio station of the 7th Cavalry Division never responded, Fu Zuoyi was worried that something would happen to the 7th Cavalry Division. In desperation, he urgently ordered the cavalry regiment directly under the 35th Army to cross the Yellow River south to respond. The cavalry regiment directly under the 35th Army was nominally the A regiment, but actually only two cavalry companies, headed by Liu Chungfang.
After receiving the order, Commander Liu gathered his troops overnight and crossed the river to go south.
At dawn the next day, we encountered a rout from the 7th Cavalry Division.
Although Men Bingyue issued an order to split up the Seventh Cavalry Division and rejoin them at the Ektuo Banner, the troops were in chaos and it was pitch black at night. It was inevitable that some cavalrymen with poor sense of direction would run in the wrong direction and collide with each other. This small group of defeated troops who arrived at the cavalry regiment directly under the 35th Army had a poor sense of direction.
From the words of this small group of defeated soldiers, Commander Liu learned that the 7th Cavalry Division had been defeated by the Japanese.
The cavalry regiment did not have a radio, so after learning the news, Captain Liu quickly sent a messenger to report back to Wuyuan. The messenger killed two horses and finally sent the news back to the 35th Army headquarters before noon.
At this moment, Fu Zuoyi had just learned that the Seventh Cavalry Division had been defeated by the Japanese.
Fu Zuoyi waved his hand and signaled the adjutant to help the correspondent, who was almost exhausted, to rest. Then he sighed out the window. It was really raining all night because of the leak in the house. The Communist Party cadres had just been given gifts here. There was a stalemate with the Communist Party because of leaving the country. As a result, the 7th Cavalry Division suffered heavy losses in Hetao.
Deputy Army Commander Ye Qijie said: "Chief Commander, the top priority is to order Liu Chunfang to find the remnants of the 7th Cavalry Division as soon as possible and bring them back to Wuyuan. Even if the 7th Cavalry Division is defeated, the whole army will not be wiped out. At least they can still stay. There are hundreds or even thousands of cavalry, these are veteran cavalry who have experienced hundreds of battles and cannot be lost."
"What you said is easy." Fu Zuoyi said angrily, "Now the whole Hetao is full of Japanese soldiers. If nothing else happens, the 26th Division stationed in Datong should have been transferred to the Hetao. At this time, you let the cavalry When the regiment goes south, whether it can pick up the remnants of the 7th Cavalry Division or not, maybe even the entire cavalry regiment will be brought in."
Liu Qijie immediately fell silent, because what Fu Zuoyi said was right.
Rubbing his temples a little tiredly, Fu Zuoyi added: "Right now, I can no longer take care of the 7th Cavalry Division. After severely damaging the 7th Cavalry Division, the little devil will definitely go north to attack Wuyuan, so I still think about how to fight with the CCP." Explain that we should try to ease the relationship between the two families as much as possible. If this is the case, the CCP's guerrillas in Suiyuan and Shanxi can also help us harass the Pingsui Railway Line. Although it cannot play a decisive role, it can at least reduce some of our pressure. .”
Ye Qijie said: "What the president said is absolutely true. Now we can only turn to the CCP for help."
As soon as he finished speaking, the major director of the Communications Department hurried in and reported: "Maintain, urgent call from Yan'an."
"Yan'an?" Fu Zuoyi was stunned when he heard this, then stood up and said urgently, "Give it to me, give me the telegram!"
Taking the telegram from the Director of Communications, Fu Zuoyi quickly read it, and then said with emotion: "Brother Xin, the Communist Party is still generous. We just expelled their working group. As a result, not only do they not hold grudges, Instead, he took the initiative to launch an attack on the Pingsui Railway to help us fight against the Japanese army. How generous."
After reading the telegram, Ye Qijie wondered: "The Yan'an side also said that they would investigate the Chahar Independent Regiment to flank the Japanese troops in the Hetao and provide us with support as much as possible. What is going on with this Chahar Independent Regiment? This Chahar Independent Regiment The regiment, as its name suggests, should be a unit operating in Chahar Province, but why did it come to the Hetao battlefield again?"
Fu Zuoyi was also confused about this, because it was not mentioned in the telegram from Yan'an.
Since Chairman Mao and Mr. Zhu have acquiesced in Xu Rui's act of recruiting the remnants of the 7th Cavalry Division, they will never take the initiative to challenge Fu Zuoyi, because once the matter is exposed, there will be no room for change. If not, Fu Zuoyi will When questioning the crime, they could just say they didn't know, but if it dragged on for a while, the matter would become a confusing matter.
There are no such precedents, such as Yan Laoxi's Youth Death Team.
"Only the devil knows what is going on." Fu Zuoyi shook his head and said, "No matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat. Having troops to help us fight the Japanese is better than nothing." After a pause, he continued, " However, when it comes to the fundamentals, we have to rely on our own troops, the New 31st Division and the New 32nd Division, this time we have to take the lead."
While the two were talking, two senior generals wearing the uniforms of the Jinsui Army walked in one after another.
When Fu Zuoyi saw him, he immediately stood up to greet him and said with a smile: "Wanjiu, Xinran, are you here?"
It turned out that the two people who came in were Sun Lanfeng, the commander of the New 31st Division, and Yuan Qingrong, the commander of the New 32nd Division. Both of them were tiger generals under Fu Zuoyi and were very good at fighting.
"Chief seat, deputy chief seat!" Sun Lanfeng and Yuan Qingrong saluted Fu Ye and Fu Ye respectively.
Fu Zuoyi waved his hand and then asked: "Wanjiu and Xinran, how is the training of the army?"
Sun Lanfeng replied loudly: "Reporting to the chief officer, the brothers have trained very hard and their technical and tactical qualities have improved rapidly. The only drawback is the lack of supplies, especially military uniforms, weapons and ammunition. It has been almost three months since the brothers joined the army. He is dead, but he is still wearing the same tattered clothes he had before joining the army, and he doesn’t look like a regular army.”
"There are also weapons and ammunition." Yuan Qingrong also said, "It has been three months, and most of the officers and soldiers still don't have their own guns. They can only train with wooden knives and wooden guns every day. This has seriously restricted the training of the troops, the headquarters, and Deputy Commander, with all due respect, if the guns and ammunition cannot be received as soon as possible, the New 32nd Division will not be able to form combat effectiveness."
Fu Zuoyi's face immediately became a little embarrassed. He also wanted to issue military uniforms to the New 31st Division and the New 32nd Division, and even wanted to equip the two divisions with enough firearms. But he was short of money. Not only did he have no money to buy firearms. , He didn’t even have the money to buy military uniforms, because Yan Laoxi clung to the money bag and wouldn’t even give him a big man.
As for the National Government, it is beyond its reach. Fu Zuoyi is really in trouble now.
Seeing that Fu Zuoyi was in trouble, Ye Qijie quickly stepped forward to smooth things over: "Oh, brothers Wanjiu and Xinran, please don't force the seat manager. The seat manager is also in trouble, and he is already thinking of a way. He has military uniforms, weapons and ammunition. , it will be resolved, and the headquarters will resolve it as soon as possible, but there is one more thing, and I must inform you now."
Sun Lanfeng and Yuan Qingrong looked at each other and said, "Please give me your instructions, Vice President."
Ye Qijie said in a deep voice: "There is going to be a war. The Japanese will attack Wuyuan soon." He paused and then said, "The commander-in-chief hopes that your New 31st Division and New 32nd Division can be ready for battle as soon as possible. , whether our Thirty-fifth Army can defeat the Japanese and hold Wuyuan this time depends on the performance of your two divisions."
Sun Lanfeng looked at Yuan Qingrong again, then stood at attention and said solemnly: "Defending the homeland and resisting the war is your duty. I am here to go back to deploy defense and prepare for the war."
Ye Qijie nodded and said, "Well, go ahead."
Sun Lanfeng and Yuan Qingrong turned around and left.
…
Let’s talk about the 26th Japanese Division later.
In the evening, a search team from the 4th Cavalry Brigade finally found Fushimi Miya Mingyi. Of course, what they found was only a body. However, for Kuroda Shigenori, this was enough because the body was found. Then we can have an explanation for Naosaburo Okabe, and Naosaburo Okabe also has an explanation for Anami Yuki.
As for the subsequent impact, Kuroda Shigenori no longer thinks about it, so let's fight the battle in front of him first.
If the current battle is fought well and Fu Zuoyi's Thirty-Fifth Army is eliminated, everything will still have a chance. If the battle is not fought well, then there is no need to mention anything. The best result will be to adjust the situation. After returning home, he may be transferred to the reserve force, or even ordered to retire. Like Shun Nakamura of the Nakamura Agency, he may become a small bureaucrat in the political world.
After reporting the news of Fushimi Miya Akiyoshi's death in battle, Kuroda Shigenori immediately called Kojima Yoshizo, Adachi Twenty-san and Nagayu to the headquarters and began to make arrangements for the northward operation.
According to the plan previously drawn up by the Mongolian Army Command, after the 7th Cavalry Division is defeated, the 26th Division and the 4th Cavalry Brigade will form a southern group, and then mix with the independent 2nd Brigade and the 3rd Cavalry Brigade. The northern line group formed by the first brigade formed a north-south pincer attack on Wuyuan and launched a pincer offensive towards the Wuyuan area.
Kuroda Shigenori said to the map: "Adachi-kun, Kojima-kun and Naga-kun, the first phase of the combat operation against the 7th China Cavalry Division has ended. Although there was an accident, the result is not bad! Anyway, , the 7th Cavalry Division, as an armed force, can be erased from the establishment list of the China Headquarters."
After a slight pause, Kuroda Shigenori continued: "The next step is the second phase of combat operations, which is to cooperate with the independent mixed second brigade and the first cavalry brigade to attack Wuyuan! I am not worried about anything else. I'm worried that Xu Rui's Wolf Fang Brigade will cause trouble behind the scenes, do you have any good suggestions?"
There was a moment of silence in the tent, and then Anda Twenty-three said: "Division commander, I humbly think that we should leave a force to contain Xu Rui's Wolf Fang Brigade. Otherwise, with such a powerful small force, we will always wander around." It’s not a good situation to walk behind us and hit us every now and then.”
"What Mr. Adachi said is exactly what I want to say." Shigetori Kuroda said smoothly, "However, confronting Xu Rui on the battlefield is an extremely dangerous task. Those who do not have outstanding ability and tenacity will never be able to win." After finishing speaking, , Kuroda Shigenori turned his attention to the chief of staff, Chang Yu, and said, "Naga-kun, this important task belongs to you."
Changyong nodded solemnly and said solemnly: "You will definitely live up to the division commander's trust in your humble position."
"Yo Xi." Kuroda Shigenori nodded happily and added, "Considering the strong combat power of the Langya Brigade, I will leave you the Thirteenth Infantry Regiment, and then leave you a mountain artillery battalion."