Chapter 21: Luoyang

  Outside Luoyang City, Baima Temple, Chairman's temporary residence.

  It was just a small turbulence that made me experience the "bumpy" baptism in the air, making me deeply nostalgic for the giant jet airliner more than ten years ago. And as for the chairman's special plane, I despise it!

  Just coming back to his senses, Qian Dajun had handed over a telegram, "Zi An, younger brother, the latest intelligence from Shanxi."

  Taiyuan Pacification Office Order: The 101st Division will withdraw to the area of Linyi, Lishi, and Zhongyang, where it will join forces with other units stationed in the region to form the Northern Route Army, which will then march south to annihilate the enemy that has invaded; order the 66th Division stationed in Changzhi and Jincheng to move north; order the main force of the 72nd Division stationed in Taiyuan to advance towards Fengyang together with a portion of the 68th Division; order the main force of the 69th Division stationed in Linfen to move north to block the enemy's southward advance.

  "Director Qian, Director Yan dares to transfer Taiyuan's garrison troops to participate in the war? I'm afraid there are still some tricks up their sleeves?"

  "Good brother said it right! There are also two pieces of intelligence and one urgent telegram here."

  Taiyuan Pacification Office Order: The main force of the 68th Division stationed in Datong returns to Taiyuan for reinforcement; orders the cavalry stationed in Hohhot to advance to Xinxian and be ready to reinforce Taiyuan at any time; orders troops stationed in Yingxian to move to Wenshui and Jincheng.

  Since the 20th, our river defense's 71st division 207 brigade has suffered heavy losses. The 69th division 203 brigade that went to reinforce also suffered some losses. Now our army has retreated from Shilou.

  The enemy's main force launched a fierce attack on our 71st Division's 207th Brigade, which had just advanced from Shilou, and ordered the 2nd Brigade of the Sui Headquarters to go and respond.

  "Brother Xian, consider it quickly, the Chairman of the Committee will soon respond to the draft."

  Hurry up and study on the map.

  In no time, the chairman of the committee returned from his inspection and entered the conference room of the camp with a group of staff officers and attendants, wearing a black cloak.

  "On the 19th of this month, the 13th Division encountered an ambush while pursuing and attacking the remnants of the enemy's 6th Corps in Guizhou's Dading, suffering losses of several hundred."

  "On the 20th of this month, the 71st Division was stationed in Zhongyang and Shilou areas of Shanxi Province for river defense when it encountered a surprise attack by the enemy's First Route Army, suffering hundreds of casualties."

  。。。

  "On the 25th of this month, which was the day before yesterday, a unit of the 71st Division was pursued by the enemy's 15th Army Corps while retreating from Shilou and suffered losses of several hundred; the 69th Division that went to rescue them also suffered some losses."

  "How can this be! Our army has hundreds of thousands of troops, while the enemy only has a few tens of thousands of remaining soldiers. Yet it's our army that keeps losing battle after battle; our main force wants to fight but can't get the chance, while the enemy's main force gets to pick and choose who to attack! Are these commanders and those staff officers just eating idle rice?!"

  I secretly laughed in my heart, from you old Jiang and then others followed suit.

  The aftereffect of sitting through the 'Rong Ke Tiao' is still with me, and in a daze, I was listening to a group of officers reporting and analyzing various military and political situations, almost falling asleep.

  "It's alright, it's alright." Qian Dajun pushed me twice.

  "Mu Yin, who analyzed the Shanxi war situation?"

  "Director, this is Zi An's younger brother."

  "Yes, Chairman. Comprehensive battle report analysis. In my opinion, the enemy's situation in Shanxi has already taken shape. Before Yan Director completes the deployment of his main force, he will not be able to effectively counterattack the enemy invading Shanxi; on the contrary, if Yan Director underestimates the enemy and rashly dispatches troops to scatter and engage the enemy, I'm afraid there will be an even greater defeat waiting for him. The 2nd Independent Brigade of the Suiyuan Garrison that went to reinforce the 71st Division's 207th Brigade is probably already in a precarious situation."

  "Zi An, what action will Bai Chuan take now?"

  "Concentrate the main force, about 15 divisions in scale, and launch a counterattack against the invading enemy army in Shanxi around early March after completing the deployment."

  "Will we win?"

  "Most likely will lose, but shouldn't be a crushing defeat."

  "Why?"

  "Director Yan doesn't know that killing a chicken also requires using an ox knife; if one regiment is defeated by another, and one brigade is defeated by another division, it will inevitably lead to the gradual strengthening of the enemy army. However, at present, the overall combat effectiveness of the enemy army is not strong, and the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army is fighting on their home turf, even if they are defeated, they can still run away."

  "Hmm...". Seeing the chairman say nothing, the conference room fell silent.

  "Report to the Chairman, an urgent telegram from Shanxi has arrived!" A guard officer rushed in to report.

  "Mind!"

  "On the evening of the 26th, the advance party went to receive the 71st Division's 207th Brigade, which was withdrawing. The Suiyuan Independent 2nd Brigade encountered an enemy attack by the 1st Army Corps in the Guanshang Village area within Zhongyang County and was completely defeated."

  The whole audience was silent, this is exactly what I wanted! Haha! From now on, at least in Old Jiang's mind, I have taken a place militarily!

  As expected, when Qian Daquan came to and asked: "Chairman of the Committee, should we inform Director Yan to change next month's offensive deployment?"

  "Don't bother notifying anyone for now. Come with me, Xia'an."

  Followed Chiang Kai-shek into the Chairman's office.

  "Zi'an, be honest with me, is my military strategy often similar to that of Yan Laowai and the others?"

  Don't be so direct! I could only smile wryly and reply, "Brother-in-law is a great talent, in charge of the entire army nationwide, strategically brilliant and decisive. It's normal to have minor mistakes occasionally, nobody is perfect!"

  I sighed in my heart: 'This is not a minor matter! Although it's tactics, it's universal tactics, that is to say, the category of grand tactics. Old Chiang always makes similar low-level mistakes, and the advantageous situation cannot evolve into a real victory.'

  "En, en. Zǐ ān ah! In the future, consider these small details more, don't wait for me to ask before telling me!"

  "Yes, brother-in-law."

  "Tomorrow come with me to inspect the troops and local areas, nobody is perfect, haha!"

  "Huh?"

  The 25th Army, consisting of the 73rd and 75th Divisions with a total of over 11,000 troops, stood in neat formation to receive Chiang Kai-shek's inspection.

  "Division commanders Wang Wanling, Li Xianzhou, Wang Zhonglian, Zhu Huai Bing and Tang Junde; this is the deputy director of the Ordnance Office Sun Zian, also a senior advisor to the commander-in-chief." Seeing the strange expressions on the faces of the officers, Qian Dajun hastily added: "Brother Zian is an expert in artillery and tactics, the 120 heavy mortars, anti-tank grenades and other equipment that your troops have just been equipped with all come from Brother's factory and design, and the 37 high-level dual-purpose gun to be equipped also comes from Zian's idea; he is also the inventor of the new field fortification construction method issued by the Military Affairs Department."

  "It turned out to be the famous Mr. Song, I'm so sorry!"

  "Child safety is important..."

  "Don't be mistaken, Mr. Zian is my husband's third younger brother."

  "Huh?"

  It's all right, these are all first-line commanders, and after a few casual conversations, they quickly enter the discussion of specific tactics.

  "Enemy strikes are divided into two categories, point and surface; mortars scatter near and hit points, far and gather to hit surfaces; when facing strong enemies, quickly shè and finish running. In comparison, mountain howitzers are not only cumbersome but also difficult to achieve in the aspect of direct shè, they are only more powerful and have a longer range, and can only play a greater role when at an advantage."

  "Generally and individually, we are inferior to the enemy in strength, but superior in numbers. If we wish to attack successfully, we must be more brave and stronger than the enemy, reduce the area of attack, and concentrate our forces on a single point. In the whole campaign, it is inevitable that there will be fewer attacks and more defense."

  "The enemy is strong, we are weak. The key to defense lies in the solidity of fortifications. We must rely on fortifications to protect ourselves and our equipment, in order to minimize the damage from the enemy's heavy weapons. By using trenches to separate us from the enemy, we can avoid being overrun by them. We are not afraid to engage in a battle of light weapons with an enemy who is inferior in numbers."

  "Is Mr. Song available? Can he come to our unit and give some guidance on how to operate an artillery battalion?"

  "Mr. Ko An also asked me to go to our department and give a lecture on field fortification construction."

  。。。

  Half a month later, I was exhausted and had just lain down when I was summoned by the guard officer to the conference room.

  Qian Dajun quietly asked: "Chairman of the Committee, after a long and arduous journey, shouldn't you rest for a while?"

  "No need, let's talk about the current situation in Shanxi first!"

  "Yes. After the defeat of the 2nd column of the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Border Region, Commander Yan mobilized all mobile troops to form four columns and launched a counterattack against the enemy on March 4th. The specific deployment was: The 1st column, composed of three regiments of the 69th Division, advanced north from Xiyang County; The 2nd column, composed of three regiments of the 66th Division, advanced west from Jixian; The 3rd column, composed of one and a half regiments of the 70th Division and one regiment of the 68th Division, advanced west from Fenyang; The 4th column, composed of three regiments of the 101st Division and one regiment each of the 71st and 72nd Divisions, advanced south from Zhongyang. The four columns advanced steadily in preparation for a joint attack on the enemy army invading Shanxi."

  "How was it defeated?"

  "Not long after the four columns started advancing, the 1st and 4th Columns were entangled by a strong enemy force and could not advance; the 2nd and 3rd Columns advanced smoothly."

  Old Chiang interrupted Qian Daquan's words: "Has Bai Chuan not seen anything?"

  "After doing so for several days, Director Yan realized that something was wrong and ordered the 2nd and 3rd columns to close in. Unexpectedly, before they could join forces, the enemy concentrated its main force and launched a surprise attack on our army at dawn on the 10th day. Our front line quickly collapsed, and then our 3rd column's counterattack against the enemy's 1st division at Guo Family Stockade failed, resulting in both columns retreating in defeat."

  "Was it just this one battle that caused Yan Laoxi's 5.5 troops to collapse? Were the losses heavy?"

  "Because the retreat was swift, losses should not be great, at most two or three thousand; afterwards Director Yan sent an urgent telegram requesting that the Zhongyiang army quickly enter Shanxi to provide assistance, I immediately came to request Chairman of the Committee to return to the camp."

  "Hahaha! Yan Laoxi finally can't hold on anymore! Where are his troops now?"

  "2nd and 3rd Columns retreated to Xiyang and Fenyang for reorganization, the 1st Column withdrew to Yishi County and Linfen, only the 4th Column remained in the Zhongyang area."

  "Zi'an, what's your analysis?"

  As I looked up from the map, I said: "Since the Jin-Sui army has withdrawn its entire line, I estimate that the enemy will use part of its forces to sweep and gather supplies and able-bodied men on the spot, while another force holds back the 4th column in the north, and the main force advances south to push back or defeat the 69th division and expand its gains."

  "Alright! Since Yan Baichuan is so generous, I command... the 5th column to be formed by Guan Lin's troops and march towards Ling Shi, the 6th column to be formed by Lü Ji's troops and march towards Pingyao, the 7th column to be formed by Tang Enbo's troops and march towards Houma. Li Xianzhou, Zhu Huaiying, Tang Junde and several other divisions will form the reserve forces, and several independent brigades will form the First Route Army of Shanxi Relief Forces. Xiū, you temporarily take on this commander-in-chief position! Set out to aid Shanxi! Be careful on the road! Don't disperse!"

  "Yes! Chen Cheng will definitely achieve success in his mission to aid Jin."