Battle of Linyi

  Tai'erzhuang East Line, Pang Bingxun's five regiments have been defending Linyi City for five days. All troops are entangled with the Japanese army. If it weren't for the fact that the troops were from the old Northwest Army, they would have collapsed long ago. Today, the long-awaited reinforcements finally arrived, but what made Old Pang anxious was that these reinforcements were led by Chang Zongzhung.

  Old Pang felt a twinge of guilt in his heart when he thought back to the days when they were both under Feng Yuxiang's command. During the Central Plains War, he had been bought off by Chiang Kai-shek and stabbed Zhang Zizhong in the back. Enraged, Zhang Zizhong publicly cursed: "This lifetime, I'll ally with anyone but Pang Bingxuan, for fear of being stabbed in the back by him."

  Pang Bingxuan just sent a telegram to Zhang Zizhong asking him to take over the city defense, but was rejected by Zhang in one breath. Old Pang is worried! Would Zhang Zizhong harm him?

  Pang Bingxuan was indeed using the heart of a small man to measure the belly of a gentleman, and in the war zone commander's room, Li Zongren was reviewing Zhang Zizhong's report from the front line.

  Zhang Zizhong's report believed that the Japanese army had been fighting for many days and was exhausted. The 59th Army should not have defended Linyi at this time, but instead launched a surprise attack on the Japanese army from the side and rear. Li Zongren called in Lei Xingxu and instructed him: "Call Wang Xiangming over."

  It didn't take long for Lao Wang to arrive, actually he had been idle in the office for days, unlike others who were all very busy. He was found in his office right away.

  Li Zongren asked: "Do you have any information about the Fifth Division's situation over the past two days?"

  Old Wang thought for a moment and said, "Just received intelligence that the Japanese army has been fiercely attacking Linyi in the past few days. The Japanese General Staff is extremely enraged. In his telegram to the General Staff, Itagaki Seishirō stated that the Japanese army's losses are too great and they have no strength to repel the defending enemy. This morning, the Japanese General Staff added a brigade of 2,000 men to the Fifth Division."

  Li Zongren nodded and said: "You have done a good job in the military work of the Military Commission, after this battle is over, I will ask Chairman Chiang to reward you."

  Li Zongren hinted for Old Wang to leave, but Old Wang didn't budge.

  "Is there anything else?"

  Old Wang pointed at the telegram in Li Zongren's hand and said: "Is it Zhang Zizhong requesting to launch a surprise attack on the flank of Itagaki's division from the side?"

  "How did you know?" Li Zongren asked in surprise:

  Old Wang smiled and said, "The intelligence from the front this morning said that Director Zhang had not arrived in Linyi to replace Pang Bingxian. I guessed that Director Zhang would force his way across the Yi River and give Itagaki a heavy blow to the ribs."

  Li Zongren smiled and said: "With your military background, it's a pity you're not a staff officer. What do you think of this plan?"

  Old Wang looked at the telegram and said: "Obviously, Director Zhang still doesn't know that the Japanese army has added another brigade of reinforcements. This plan would have been very suitable if it had been put forward earlier."

  Li Zongren frowned and said: "Then you don't agree."

  "Let's talk about my understanding of Bankei Masaharu. He is known as one of the three Chinese experts in the Japanese military, with the other two being Tōyama Mitsuru and Isogai Rensuke. Among them, Tōyama Mitsuru was the most difficult to deal with, a gloomy and ruthless man who excelled at analysis. The other two had obvious personality flaws."

  Li Zongren sat down on the sofa and motioned for Old Wang to continue speaking.

  Old Wang walked up to the edge of the sandbox and asked, "If you were Lieutenant General Isamu Cho, what measures would you take in response to the 59th Army's offensive?"

  Li Zongren thought for a moment: "Divide and occupy."

  "That's right, it's divide and conquer. The biggest drawback of Kiyomizu Reiji's military strategy is that he is too conservative. As long as he divides his troops, the pressure on Linyi will be reduced. This trick of surrounding Wei to rescue Zhao has succeeded. Then, after the Peng army regains some energy, we will attack from both sides. In our advantageous situation, there is a great chance to drive the little devils out of the Linyi area."

  Li Zongren sighed and said, "Whether Zhang Zizhong's troops can break through the devils' defense line after crossing the river is really an unknown number! Not to mention driving the devils out of Linyi area."

  Old Wang saw that Li Zongren was not very enthusiastic about this battle plan, so he said: "Anyway, trying it out won't hurt, at most we'll just be stuck in a stalemate with the devils."

  Old Wang thought to himself, "I'm telling a lie!" As soon as Zhang Zizhong crossed the Yi River, he launched a desperate attack. The 59th Army, under the leadership of their officers, utilized their expertise in nighttime battles and charged forward with big knives, beheading the enemy. Li Zongren ordered them to stop attacking and hold their ground on the second day. However, Zhang Zizhong begged to continue fighting for another day and night. As a result, the two armies joined forces and killed over 3,000 enemies in one breath, driving Itagaki back to Ju County.

  Old Wang then fabricated a lot of intelligence that was favorable to Zhang Zizhong's action plan, ultimately prompting Li Zongren to agree to Zhang Zizhong's plan.

  That night, Zhang Zizhong led his Northwestern Army soldiers to make a horizontal charge into the flank of Itagaki's division. This forced Itagaki to withdraw some troops from the siege force to stop Zhang Zizhong. Zhang Zizhong was not one to give up easily; he still hoped to remove his traitor's hat in this battle, so he personally directed the battle and organized a dare-to-die corps and a big-knife corps to make charge after charge against Itagaki's division.

  The Peng Jun team launched a frontal attack, and the board array was already chaotic. In two days, they drove the Itagaki Division back to Ju County to wait for reinforcements.

  The news of Linyi's great victory reached Xuzhou, and Li Zongren was very happy. Although we killed 1,000 enemies and lost 800 ourselves, the strategic intentions of the little devils have been curbed.

  In the war zone commander's office, Li Zongren said to Zhang Zizhong: "This time, your hard work and contributions are great!"

  Zhang Zizhong humbly replied: "It is our duty to do these things for the country and nation."

  "Please send a telegram to Chongqing. First, allocate 50,000 yuan from the war zone to comfort the officers and soldiers!"

  Lao Wan heard that the war zone had only given 50,000 as a reward and sneered at it in his own office.

  "Five million taels of silver, with each person getting a little over two taels. While others are fighting to the death on the battlefield, their superiors are busy transporting family property and sending off their wives."

  Deng Ying said: "50,000 is already a lot. The war zone officials also don't have much money to spare."

  Old Wang glanced at Deng Ying with disdain and said: "You were paid double salary when you were in the 88th Division, don't stand and talk without feeling waist pain."

  Old Wang's words have struck a sore spot. The various local troops currently participating in the war are all cursing in Xuzhou City, saying: "The 88th, 87th, and Central Instructional Corps' three divisions are all receiving double pay, but why didn't they charge forward during battles?"

  Although everyone says they have left the 88th Division, it still doesn't feel good after hearing it.

  It's okay to listen to others scolding, but when Old Wang says it, some people won't take it anymore. Hei Da Ge pointed at Old Wang's nose and said: "What's wrong with us getting double pay? Is it because we wanted to get paid more? The devils are in front of us giving orders, but you're not letting us go down there, what can we do? I don't dare say anything about others, but now our troops' soldiers are all eager to rush onto the battlefield and kill the devils. But the military command just won't send you to the front line, what can you do!"

  Old Wang secretly thought that this was exactly what he wanted. Pretending to be angry, he stood up and confronted Hei Da with a face-to-face: "Are you from the 88th Division? Are you on the front line? The soldiers of the entire division are watching you few dozen people with eager eyes. Can't you give the 88th Division, can't you give Commander Xie Junyuan some face? Look at what you're doing every day, sitting in the office chatting and staring blankly."

  Everyone fell silent at Old Wang's words. Old Wang ran over and kicked the people squatting on the ground one by one, cursing as he did so: "You, you, and you."

  Everyone stood up. Old Wang said, "In two days, I'll take you all to the front line to kill devils. At that time, whoever pretends to be a hero and disgraces the 88th Division will be killed by me."

  After Old Wang's crazy training for two days, he recovered. The morale of the warriors also rose.

  This day, the officials from the headquarters came again to ask Old Wang to report on the situation. Old Wang calculated and knew that Tai'erzhuang was going to sound the alarm. Li Zongren had come to ask for intelligence.

  As soon as he entered the gate of the General's office, he saw Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi standing in front of the sand table, and Old Wang took a look at the sand table and found that it was Tai'erzhuang.

  Li Zongren looked at Old Wang with a scrutinizing gaze, making Old Wang's hair stand on end. Bai Chongxi smiled and said: "De Lin, don't stare at people like that, you'll make their hair stand up."

  "I just want to know if this guy can really calculate and predict, how did he know that there would be a big battle at Taierzhuang!"

  Old Wang thought to himself: "How embarrassing! I'm a historian of the Far Eastern theater in World War II, and it's all because my teacher taught me."

  Bai Chongxi waved his hand and said: "You go take a look at the sand table in person to see if there's anything wrong with it."

  Old Wang took a small flag from beside the sandbox and inserted thirty small flags into the sandbox.

  The two of them looked at each other in confusion and asked: "What is this?"

  Old Wang explained: "My soldiers have not fought in a long time and their combat skills have declined. Last time I took my men to Tai'erzhuang for field exercises. With the help of the locals, we conducted physical training. Each soldier built an earthwork. They were all stone-concrete structures that wouldn't cause fatal damage from enemy shells."

  Li Zongren patted Old Wang's shoulder and said, "With you as the stronghold of the grandson, Li Zhongren's plan to defend Taitou Village has been reduced by a few points. Come sit down and tell me what shortcomings you mentioned about Isogai Rensuke last time."

  "Compared to the other two, I feel that Matsumoto's most obvious shortcoming is his arrogance and overconfidence. He looks down on our troops. Since Teng County, he has become even more arrogant. Moreover, he and Itagaki Seishirō were classmates in military school and have been rivals since then. Now that Itagaki's division is blocked at Linyi, Matsumoto wants to take Xuzhou by himself to prove that he is better than Itagaki."

  Old Wang knew that his words would definitely strengthen Li Zongren's determination to annihilate Itagaki's division in Taierzhuang. Although Old Wang did not want Li Zongren to see that he knew his plan, he still had to remind him of the variable Tang Enbo.

  "But recently I received some news which is very unfavorable for the remaining battles in the Fifth War Zone."

  Speak.

  "Tang Enbo mentioned the issue of reducing casualties at a corps meeting. I expressed my doubts about Tang's determination to fight to the end. I have already reported all the above situations to Chongqing."

  Li Zongren seemed lost in thought, and Bai Chongxi waved his hand and said, "Nothing's wrong, you can go back now."

  Lao Wang left, and Bai Chongxi smiled and said to Li Zongren: "De Lin, this little guy seems to be like the tapeworm in your belly. He seems to know all about your entire battle plan. Even the 20th Corps you used to annihilate the Itagaki Division, he understands."

  Li Zongren sighed and said: "The younger generation is indeed formidable!"