Chapter 86: Purge
The Japanese army retreated very thoroughly, even abandoning important towns on the Pinghan Road such as Zhumadian, Luohe, Xuchang and the Sui-Zao line. The 110th Division retreated to the Longhai Road from Kaifeng to Guide and held its ground.
The 35th Division was transferred to Xuzhou, Suxian, Boxian and other places for reorganization.
The 38th Division retreated to Heze, Jinxiang and other places to take over the defense of western Shandong.
As for the 3rd Division, it continued to defend the bridgeheads north of the Dabie Mountains, such as Xinyang.
The 4th Division was also ordered to return to Anlu, Jingshan and other places for rectification.
At this point, the two sides distanced themselves, licked their wounds, and waited for the opportunity to fight again.
After the Japanese army retreated, the Northwest began to settle accounts.
On April 29, the Northwest Military and Political Committee ordered the adjustment of the troops assigned to each war zone, transferring Liu Ruming's 12th Army to the east of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone, Feng Qinzhai's 16th Corps to the west of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone, and at the same time transferring Chen Changjie's 19th Army from the Shanxi-Hebei War Zone to the Hunan-Hubei-Bashu War Zone.
Feng Qinzhai, who had long been colluding with Chiang's faction, was unwilling to return to the heartland of the northwest. Therefore, he instigated Yang Hucheng, who was unwilling to see all his own troops being withdrawn, to reject the Lanzhou telegram.
However, just one day after the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone sent a telegram requesting Dai Jiliang to revoke his order, Yang Hucheng and Feng Qinzhai suddenly discovered that Sun Zhen's Ninth Army and Men Bingyue's Sixth Cavalry Army suddenly implemented alert against all units of the Sixteenth Corps.
At the same time, Liu Ruming's troops, regardless of the heavy losses in the battle, advanced towards the 16th Corps with a forced march, and for a moment it seemed as if they were encircling the 16th Corps on three sides.
In addition, Yang Hucheng also received a telegram from Sun Weiru, saying that the various units in the Hebei-Henan War Zone had launched an encirclement of the Seventh Corps. Sun Weiru also said in the telegram that there were rumors in the market that Yang Hucheng and Feng Qinzhai had attempted to surrender to Japan and rebel. He did not believe it at all, but still hoped that his old superiors and old comrades could clarify it as soon as possible.
The situation was so unfavorable that Yang Hucheng had no other options, so Feng Qinzhai had no choice but to lead his troops westward reluctantly.
On May 7, Feng Qinzhai's troops arrived in Xiangcheng and Baofeng, and were immediately ordered to attend the battle review meeting in Juexing, Ye County .
Feng Qinzhai originally did not want to participate, but considering that he had been slandered as a rebel before, in order to eliminate the influence, the Ye County Conference was finally held. As a result, he was punished by the dissolution of the 16th Corps at the meeting.
Feng Qinzhai refused to accept the decision and had a big fight with Chen Qiankang at the meeting, so he was arrested on the spot.
Chen Qiankang then mobilized the Seventh Army to encircle the Sixteenth Corps and demanded that all units of the Sixteenth Corps accept reorganization.
Refusing to sit back and wait for death, the 16th Corps' deputy commander Guo Yangfen and chief of staff Weng Juqing convened a meeting with 98th Army commander Wu Shimin, 96th Army commander Liu Zijun, 25th Reserve Division commander Yang Zihuan, and 5th Reserve Division commander Han Yinsheng, trying to incite them to resist with force.
However, the 16th Corps had been neighbors with the Northwest Army for many years and had accepted a considerable number of middle and lower-level officers from the Northwest Army School. Therefore, there were far more resistance than welcome to being reorganized into a part of the Northwest Army.
So even though Guo, Weng and others jumped up and down in the meeting, the two commanders Wu Shimin and Liu Zijun, who were well aware of the combat effectiveness of the Northwest Army, were finally forced by the situation and finally chose to issue a telegram announcing their acceptance of the reorganization.
For this reason, Guo, Weng and their gang fled south in a hurry, eventually ended up in Guiyang, and ended up living as retired officials.
When the news reached Lanzhou, Yang Hucheng was aggressively attacking Dai Jiliang. Seeing victory was in hand, Dai Jiliang retorted: "No matter how badly Zhang Xueliang and Liu Wenhui fought in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Sichuan, they also fought against the Japanese. It is true that you and the 16th Corps have made contributions, but how can a mere 10,000 Japanese troops force you to flee? Explanations are useless. I only look at the results. If you want to preserve your strength, then get out of the way and let those who want to fight the war do it."
Yang Hucheng immediately countered: "Then please dismiss me from my post."
Dai Jiliang replied: "Yes, I will order you to be relieved of your post as commander of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone now."
Yang Hucheng was furious, but there was nothing he could do, so turned around and left. However, before he left the Northwest National Defense Army Headquarters, he was placed under house arrest.
When the news reached Sun Weiru, he was so terrified that he flew from Luoyang to Lanzhou that afternoon.
After arriving in Lanzhou, Sun Weiru asked Dai Jiliang to let him retire.
Only after Dai Jiliang comforted him did Sun Weiru give up the idea of retiring.
However, Sun Weiru insisted on proposing to cancel the numbers of various units of the Seventh Corps and unify them in the Northwest.
Dai Jiliang agreed to this and appointed Sun Weiru as the commander of the Eighth Army of the Northwest Army on the spot.
As the Northwest Military and Political Committee announced the reorganization of the reserve army group, Lieutenant General Chen Fengtao and Chen Shiqi, commanders of the Sixth Army, were promoted to commanders of the army group, and Lieutenant General Li Dingzhang, former commander of the 207th Division, was appointed chief of staff of the army group.
The reserve army group is composed of the Fifth Army, the Eighth Army, the Qinghai-Tibet Group and the First Light Division.
On May 11, 1941, the Northwest Military and Political Committee officially announced the reorganization plan of the Seventh Corps and the Sixteenth Corps, reorganizing the above two corps and four armies into eight infantry divisions, including the 253rd to 260th.
According to the reorganization plan, Major General Zhang Taoan, the former deputy commander of the Seventh Corps, was appointed as the vice principal and director of education of the Ili Infantry Primary School.
Lieutenant General Wu Shimin of the former 98th Army was transferred to become the commander of the 212th Division.
Lieutenant General Zhao Shoushan, former commander of the 38th Army, was appointed commander of the 253rd Division.
Major General Yao Danfeng, former deputy commander of the 98th Army, was transferred to become the commander of the 230th Division.
Major General Duan Xiangwu, former commander of the Fifth Reserve Army, was transferred to become the commander of the 251st Division.
Major General Chen Shiyu, former Chief of Staff of the Seventh Corps, was appointed commander of the 207th Division.
Lieutenant General Liu Zijun, commander of the 96th Army, took over as chief of staff of the deputy commander of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone.
The former Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Jiang Huang, was transferred to become the Chief of Staff of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone, while the former Chief of Staff of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone, Lieutenant General Zhao Xuetan, was transferred back to the Military and Political Committee for another appointment.
Major General Zhang Hanchu, former Chief of Staff of the 96th Army, was transferred to the position of Deputy Director of the Personnel Bureau of the Military and Political Committee.
Major General Sun Baijian, former Chief of Staff of the Fifth Reserve Army, was appointed Chief of Staff of the Yumen Provincial Reserve Command.
Major General Kong Congzhou, former Chief of Staff of the 98th Army, was appointed Chief of Staff of the Henan Provincial Reserve Command.
Major General Wang Zhenhua, former Chief of Staff of the 38th Army, was appointed Chief of Staff of the Tianshan Provincial Reserve Command.
Wang Genseng, the former commander of the 146th Division, was transferred to become the commander of the 243rd Division.
Major General Han Yinsheng, the former commander of the Fifth Reserve Division, was transferred to become the commander of the Tibetan-Yi Independent Brigade.
Major General Yang Zihuan, former commander of the 25th Reserve Division, was transferred to become a senior staff officer of the General Staff.
Major General Zhang Shaoting, former commander of the 28th Reserve Division, was appointed deputy commander of the Northwest Army School Student Team.
Major General Zhang Junjing, former commander of the 27th Reserve Division, was transferred to become deputy director of the Transportation Department of the Joint Logistics Command.
Major General Wang Jun, former deputy commander of the 143rd Division, was appointed chief of staff of the Jinshan Provincial Reserve Command.
Major General Zhang Feisheng, former deputy commander of the Fifth Reserve Division, was appointed chief of staff of the Longshang Provincial Reserve Command.
Major General Liu Shouan, the former deputy commander of the 139th Division, was transferred to the commander of the 2nd Mountain Cavalry Division on May 12. After Sun Weiru's persuasion, Sun Fucheng, the former commander of the 8th Reserve Division of the 38th Army who was fighting in southern Shanxi, also announced his acceptance of the reorganization through a telegram, and was directly reorganized into the 262nd Division of the Northwest Army in southern Shanxi.
In order to express his protest against the imprisonment of Yang Hucheng and the forced reorganization of the Seventh and Sixteenth Corps in the Northwest, Suiyuan Provincial Chairman Wang Yishan resigned in anger. In response, the Northwest National Defense Government immediately appointed Longshang Provincial Chairman Jing Yilin to Suiyuan, and his vacancy was taken over by Fu Zuoyi, the former commander of the Fourth Corps.
Faced with the sudden outbreak of strength in the Northwest, Fu Zuoyi hesitated again and again, but finally accepted the appointment. The 35th Army was disbanded, and the seriously injured 101st Division Commander Sun Lanfeng was appointed Chief of Staff of Yizhou Provincial Reserve Command on his sickbed. The former deputy commander of the 35th Army, Chen Bingqian, replaced Major General Gao Zhibin, who was transferred to become the Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army, and served as the Chief of Staff of the Fifth Army. Major General Zhang Zhuoqing, the former Chief of Staff of the 35th Army, was appointed Commander of the 252nd Division. On May 13, the Northwest Military and Political Committee gave Liu Wenhui a demerit on the grounds of improper conservatism in the Sui-Zao Campaign. The Tenth Corps of his unit was officially split into the 24th Army and the Reserve Sixth Army.
On the same day, in view of the deterrence of a series of actions in the Northwest, with the approval of Yan Xishan, Yang Aiyuen agreed to mobilize Liu Zhaotang's troops to the south of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Sichuan. Although it was not the planned 19th Army of Chen Changjie, the Northwest still gave its approval and awarded the 35th Army number to Liu's troops. As a result, the 138th Division of Lu Yinglin's troops was also under the jurisdiction of Liu's troops.
On May 15, in order to appease the hearts of the remaining miscellaneous troops, the Northwest appointed He Zhuguo as the commander-in-chief of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone based on the outstanding performance of his Third Corps in the Zhengxian-Nanyang Battle, and appointed Gao Pengyun, deputy commander of the Second Corps, as the commander of the Third Corps. The two armies under his command immediately headed to the east of the road to expand the base in the east of the road.
However, the actions in the Northwest apparently frightened some people. Yang Tongqu, commander of the 50th Army and a former subordinate of Yang Hucheng, attempted to rebel, but he failed to persuade Sun Fucheng, commander of the 262nd Division, and Wang Jinzhai, deputy commander of the 50th Army, to join him in the rebellion. Instead, the news was leaked. In desperation, he could only lead two regiments of his own 147th Division to flee to the Japanese invaders in a hurry.
As a result, the Chinese troops in southern Shanxi launched sniping attacks along the way. When Chao Guangshun, deputy commander of the 147th Division, saw the situation change, he announced his rebellion. In the end, Yang Tongqu led less than two battalions of troops to join the Japanese army.
Since Yang had no strength, the Japanese army naturally did not take him seriously. In the end, Yang Tongqu could only serve as the pseudo-Tianjin Railway Public Security Bureau chief. Wang Jinzhai was promoted to the commander of the army for his meritorious service in preventing the 50th Army from surrendering to the enemy. Chao Guangshun was also promoted to the commander of the 147th Division because of his betrayal in the final stage.
After that, the Northwest National Defense Army Headquarters dispatched the 236th Division to enter eastern Shanxi on the grounds that Liu Shaotang's troops were withdrawn to the south, leaving eastern Shanxi empty. The Shanxi Army had to watch the Northwest gradually erode its foundation. "Commander He, Commander He is taking office as the commander-in-chief of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone. Your Excellency asked me to bring a message to Commander He."
Zhao Xuetan, who had already resigned as chief of staff of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone, took advantage of the fact that no one was around to stop He Guozhu.
"Your Excellency wants me to ask Commander He, if the New Fourth Army expands to central and western Anhui, what will Commander He do?"
He Guozhu had just been in the limelight at the welcome party. When he heard what Zhao Xueqin said, it was like a bucket of cold water was poured over him. He shuddered subconsciously: "What does Brother Xueqin mean?"
"I heard that the deputy commander-in-chief had some dealings with the Communist Party when he was in Baokang."
Zhao Xuetan said coldly.
"Of course, this may just be a personal relationship, but the Communist Party is unwilling to unify the military, political and military orders, and it does not resist the Japanese invaders, but only wants to expand its own territory. This is definitely not a good thing. Your Excellency hopes that Chief He can nip the problem in the bud."
He Guozhu's face changed. He knew that Zhang Xueliang contacted the Communist Party in order to protect himself under pressure from the Northwest, but the Northwest was powerful now. If he openly disobeyed orders, Yang Hucheng would be a lesson for him.
He hesitated again and again, and finally responded: "Please tell Brother Xueqin that I will definitely follow your orders and will never let the Communist Party infiltrate Hubei, Henan and Anhui."
