Chapter 80: Fighting
Although the rain area in the Han River Basin has moved eastward, the weather has not cleared up along the Zao River. Drizzle has continued intermittently. Although the rainfall is not heavy, it still makes the soil, which has been saturated with water, still soft and unable to bear the force, so that when you step on it, the mud around your feet almost covers your soles.
This harsh environment caused the mechanized troops of the Japanese Army that were reinforcing the 4th Division to be stuck in the mud and unable to move, but it also prevented the Chinese blocking troops from quickly getting into position.
The difficult trek on the muddy road, with one foot low and one foot high, not only exhausted the troops' physical strength, but also caused many unexpected illnesses in the 35th Army, which had not yet accustomed to the environment in northwestern Hubei.
"Liu Wenhui is a bastard. He gave birth to a son without an asshole."
The officers and soldiers of the Jin army fell into the mud due to exhaustion and cursed.
"Evil intentions will not be rewarded. I have fallen like a mud monkey in the wild, while his direct 24th Army has gone to Xiangyang City to enjoy a good life. This life is unbearable. I should have stayed in the northwest."
The curses of the subordinate officers and soldiers were carried by the wind and were almost inaudible to Fu Zuoyi, who was marching on foot with the army.
However, the mood of the army made Chen Bingqian, the deputy commander of the 35th Army beside him, unable to help but say, "Commander, the troops are currently lacking enough clean water, their food and fodder are about to run out, and there are many wounded. I am afraid that the team will collapse before we can set up defenses in Sui County. Should we rest here for two days before leaving? Aren't the reinforcements of the 4th Division also trapped in the direction of De'an? We should still have time."
"Two days of rest?"
Fu Zuoyi shook his head.
"They are preparing to watch our show. If you take a two-day break, it will just play into their hands."
Fu Zuoyi said this and pointed in the direction of De'an.
"Brother Mingfo, you think the Japanese reinforcements are not fast, but the Japanese army is on four wheels after all. Once the weather clears up, they can quickly cover the distance you can cover in a day ."
This is true. The saying that a pair of iron feet is better than a pair of wheels has certain limitations. It may be possible in mountainous terrain, but it is not realistic in the relatively flat Sui Zao Valley.
"Besides the Japanese reinforcements on the southern front, I am more worried about Zaoyang."
"Zaoyang?"
Chen Bingqian raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Zaoyang has 10 divisions under Sun Lianzhong and Liu Duoquan. Can they not even surround Gu Xian, the old devil? That's impossible. Even if Sun Lianzhong doesn't contribute, Zhang Hanqing is in Baokang. The First Corps should give him face no matter what he says."
"Brother Mingfo is right. Liu Duoquan wants to give Zhang Hanqing face. Sun Lianzhong was a capable fighter when he was under Feng Yuxiang. It seems that even if he can't take Zaoyang, at least he can trap the Guxian Detachment. But has Brother Mingfo ever thought about it? Having no problem is the biggest problem."
Fu Zuoyi seemed somewhat worried as he revealed the mystery.
"The 35th Army has enough food to last for five days. I don't know how much food is left in Zaoyang, but according to my calculations, Sun Lianzhong and Liu Duoquan may be running out of food soon."
Chen Bingqian was stunned: "How is this possible? How did the theater joint logistics headquarters provide support? This shouldn't be possible. This shouldn't be possible."
Fu Zuoyi smiled bitterly and said, "How can it be impossible? Northwest Hubei is originally a mountainous area. It is good to say that there are eight mountains, one river and one field. On weekdays, it is barely enough for people to grow and feed themselves. The food for these hundreds of thousands of troops depends entirely on imports from other places. But now, Nanyang can't take care of itself. As for the food from Yuyi and the northwest, it can only be transported to , and then it has to be transported eastward from the Han River by small boats. Not only is the speed slow, but there are also restrictions on the steep river along the way."
In fact, these are not the key points. The key point is: "In order to avoid the war, Liu Wenhui transported all the food reserves in the war zone to Baokang and Fangxian. The food reserves left in Gucheng and Xiangfan were only enough for the 35th Army to eat for a month. If there had not been this rain, it would have been fine, but the rain continued, and it was difficult to transport it from the rear."
Chen Bingqian sucked in a breath of cold air. Yes, it was raining heavily and the river was swollen, which seemed to make it easier for ships to sail. However, the water was too turbulent and a small transport ship of only a few tons might be threatened with capsizing, not to mention that the river was filled with all kinds of trees and rocks that had rushed down from nowhere and obstructed the passage of ships.
"Then the war zone also asked us to stop the Japanese army at the Suixian line?"
Chen Bingqian said in horror.
"This is not going to harm us."
Fu Zuoyi said with a frown: "Zhang Hanqing may not know the situation, and Liu Wenhui has evil intentions and wants to see Zhang Hanqing fall flat on his face, so our father and mother are in trouble."
Chen Bingqian, knowing that things were not going well, asked without thinking: "Then why are we so anxious to die?"
"Military orders are as heavy as a mountain. If the 35th Army refuses to carry them out, or allows the Japanese reinforcements to go north, causing Zaoyang to fail, I'm afraid the blame will fall on you and me."
Fu Zuoyi lamented.
"If it was just you and me who were wronged, it wouldn't be a big deal, but these tens of thousands of Jinzhong athletes shouldn't be slandered."
Fu Zuoyi knew that once the final blame was placed on the Fourth Army Corps, the Northwest might not stand up for him. As for Yan Xishan, judging from the previous practices of Fang Keyou and others in poaching his people, it would be good enough that he was not in a hurry to take back control of the Fourth Army Corps from him . How could he easily help him to intercede?
"So we had to move forward resolutely, set up blocking positions east of Sui County before the Japanese reinforcements arrived, and attack Sui County at the same time."
Fu Zuoyi talked about his own response plan.
"There are less than 500 Japanese troops left in Sui County, and they are all workers and black soldiers. They should be relatively easy to deal with. In addition, the Japanese army must have a military station in Sui County and store some food. As long as we seize this part of the food, we can hold out until Zaoyang to get results. At that time, whether we advance or retreat, the responsibility will not be on the Fourth Corps."
After hearing that Fu Zuoyi had a way to resolve the situation, Chen Bingqian also gained confidence: "It seems that this is the only way. So, Brother Yisheng, I will go down to the 101st Division to urge Sun Lanfeng to move forward at all costs."
Fu Zuoyi nodded: "Then I'll leave it to Brother Mingfo. Please be sure to arrive at the designated location within 24 hours." The Fourth Corps was still racing against time, but Liu Ruming's Twelfth Army, which took over the encirclement of the Kido Detachment from Yang Sen's Eleventh Corps, was already in a tough battle.
Knowing that after the destruction of the Kawabata Detachment, China's second target would be himself, Major General Kido Sanji had no choice but to choose to save himself.
In fact, Biyang was also once covered by the southern cloud and rain area, but due to the shelter of Tongbai Mountain, the convective clouds were not as active as in the south. Therefore, although it was cloudy all the time, there was very little rain.
And because it was cloudy, the dawns came very late for several consecutive days, which gave the Japanese army an opportunity to break out.
At 4 a.m. on March 25 , the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment of the Kido Detachment concentrated all 12 105mm heavy field artillery and launched a two-hour bombardment on the junction of the 59th Army and the newly formed 2nd Army.
After firing more than 3,000 heavy artillery shells in one breath, the Japanese army began to forcibly tear open the Chinese encirclement under the cover of the infantry artillery company of the 18th Infantry Regiment.
The Japanese troops then fled to the northeast of Biyang, trying to reach Song River via Waitou Mountain and Baiyun Mountain, and then go east along Song River to escape back to Zhumadian.
Upon discovering that the Japanese army had broken through, the commander of the 68th Army, Chen Xinqi, immediately mobilized Pang Yichen's unit of the 1st Regiment of the 159th Division and Zheng Yanping's unit of the 68th Army's Supplementary Regiment to pursue them. He also ordered other units of the army to speed up the elimination of the Japanese army's rearguard blocking forces.
As of 12:00 noon on the same day, Tian Wenqi's unit of the 4th Reserve Division of the 68th Army wiped out 6 squads of the Japanese rear guard totaling more than 300 people, seized 4 105mm heavy field guns that the Japanese army had no time to destroy, and confiscated a batch of Japanese ammunition.
Li Jiusi's unit of the Second Reserve Division of the New Second Army under the command of the 68th Army also wiped out more than 400 Japanese soldiers, including the 1st and 4th Squadrons of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Squadron, who had not had time to escape. They seized more than 40 war horses, more than 300 sets of horse gear, more than 200 Type 38 rifles, and captured 12 Japanese soldiers alive.
In addition to the 68th Army's pursuit of the Kido Detachment, the 59th Army's Supplementary Regiment An Kemin and the Army's Direct Cavalry Regiment Cao Diqiu were also ordered to pursue the Japanese army.
When the order was received, the above two units were deploying defenses in the second-line positions such as Erlang Temple, Xiaoshitian, and Huangshankou. After receiving the order, the two units quickly abandoned the preset positions and marched eastward. After 1:00 p.m. that day, they caught up with the Japanese army in the area south of Chunshui Town, and then rushed into the Japanese camp without hesitation and engaged in a fight with them.
Thanks to the hard work of An Kemin's Regiment and Cao Diqiu's Regiment, Pang Yichen's Regiment and Zheng Yanping's Regiment were able to catch up with the Japanese army.
Seeing that the Chinese army was surrounding them again, Major General Kido Sanji had to use the tactic of cutting off the tail to survive again, while at the same time repeatedly calling Xinyang for reinforcements.
Lieutenant General Yamawaki Masataka, who had just driven off the Chinese cavalry with a bluff, had no troops to deploy, so he ordered the Shimamura Detachment, which had just been relieved the day before, to rush south without rest and to support their colleagues without stopping.
At 9 a.m. on March 26, the Seventh Army of the Northwest Army completely wiped out the remnants of the Kawabata Detachment, and the main force began to move eastward to prepare to attack the Guangtian Detachment.
In view of the fact that once the Chinese army defeated the Hirota Detachment, it would be possible to encircle the 35th and 38th Divisions of the Japanese Army in the north, Lieutenant General Susumu Fujita, commander of the 15th Army of the Japanese Army, transferred the last reserve force, the 4th Temporary Mixed Brigade, to the south despite the opposition of Lieutenant General Susumu Kuwaki, commander of the 110th Division.
At this time, the strength of the Kido Detachment, which was reinforced by the Shimamura Detachment, was restored to 5,000 people. Major General Kido, who had the courage to fight again, turned from defense to offense and continued to fight repeatedly with the 12th Army on the Song River line.
Fortunately, the Japanese army had lost a considerable number of artillery pieces before, so the 12th Army was able to fight the Japanese army on equal terms.
Even so, Liu Ruming's troops paid a heavy price with a major general deputy division commander killed and four regiment commanders seriously injured.
Also on March 26, the Japanese troops on the southern front finally took advantage of two consecutive days of sunny weather to advance to the east of Sui County. But at this time, Fu Zuoyi's troops had already prepared for the attack. The two sides were bound to stage a major collision between Mars and the Earth in the east of Sui County. However, Fu's troops, who had not yet conquered Sui County, were still facing the danger of running out of food, and the situation was not optimistic.
