Chapter Sixty-One: Taking Office

  There were three sisters, after I and Old Jiang haggled over the price, we returned to the university campus, boarded the plane and took off.

  On the evening of July 22, Shijiazhuang (also known as Stone Gate), which was once touted as China's only large city without a city wall, was in a state of panic. A group of high-ranking officials were anxiously waiting at the airport; naturally, they were waiting for Zhang and Bai. I arrived later and began working at the headquarters of Liu Zhi's 2nd Army Group, which would soon become the headquarters of the First War Zone. After reviewing the battle reports of the 2nd Army Group and the briefings sent by the 1st Army Group, I couldn't help but exclaim: "There really are capable people!" How could they have messed up the situation in Hebei so badly in less than ten days? In comparison, Liu Zhi was indeed a 'good kid'! Fortunately, Old Chiang didn't listen to my suggestion to transfer him away.

  After a short rest, Zhang Xueliang and Bai Chongxi arrived at the headquarters surrounded by a large crowd. Dinner? I declined in the name of having eaten in Nanjing; let them go through the motions. With wine and food enough, the meeting began! Bai wanted to show off his authority, but Zhang was also a commander-in-chief after all!

  "This meeting is the first formal meeting of Commander Zhang and Deputy Commander Bai since taking office. In response to the Japanese army's attack along the Pinghan Road and Jinpu Road, adjustments will be made to the existing sequence and deployment as follows."

  Everyone except Zhang and Bai was shocked, I smiled and took out a stack of appointment letters: "The Chairman's order: Appoint Song Zheyuan as the Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Army Group, under which are the 59th, 77th, 3rd Cavalry Corps, and the 181st Brigade. Ha ha, isn't General Song 'back' yet? Please ask General Feng Zhi'an to take over! This is a temporary proxy appointment letter.

  Appoint Sun Lianzhong as the Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd Army Group, under which are the 30th and 42nd Armies. Appoint Han Fuqu as the Commander-in-Chief of the 3rd Army Group, under which are the 12th and 55th Armies. Appoint Yang Hucheng as the Commander-in-Chief of the 4th Army Group, under which are the 38th and 96th Armies, etc.

  Appoint Liu Ye as the Commander-in-Chief of the 5th Army Group, under which are the 3rd and 98th Armies. Appoint Wei Lihuang as the Commander-in-Chief of the 14th Army Group, under which is the 14th Army, etc. Appoint Shang Zhen as the Commander-in-Chief of the 20th Army Group, under which is the 32nd Army, etc.

  Appoint Liao Lei as the Commander-in-Chief of the 21st Army Group, under which are the 7th and 48th Armies; this unit is currently on its way north. The remaining units in this war zone and subsequent reinforcements will temporarily be directly under the command of the War Zone Command."

  "A sudden rainstorm passed, and the deployment was changed. 'Please look at the map, generals.' I paused for a moment to calm everyone's nerves. 'The Japanese army has divided into two routes, with the main force heading south along the Pinghan Road, deploying the 20th, 6th, and 14th divisions from west to east, followed by a reserve division; The 10th Division is heading south along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway, also followed by a reserve division... Our army has failed to effectively stop the Japanese attack from multiple defensive lines starting from Fangshan, suffering consecutive defeats. The main position on the Baoding line is about to be lost! Although there are several rivers that can be used between Baoding and here, neither the terrain nor the fortifications are as good as those on the Baoding line! Moreover, the Japanese army's follow-up troops have been deployed before us, so it can be said that the situation is extremely critical!' I looked at Bai Chongxi, who was still calm and composed. I continued: 'The situation along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway is also dire, with the Japanese army approaching Cang County (Cangzhou) and Xian County. Therefore, the Central Government has decided to establish the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the First War Zone to take charge of the war on the Tianjin-Pukou Railway front, with General Bai Chongxi concurrently serving as the commander, commanding the 1st and 21st Army Groups, as well as the follow-up reinforcements along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway. Our remaining troops will form multiple defensive lines south of the Dasaha River, under the direct leadership of the War Zone Commander-in-Chief to fight against the Japanese army again! Next, please let General Zhang give a speech!"

  After finishing, I casually pulled Guan Linzheng out of the door. "Brother Guan, before the main force deployment is completed, the task of containing the Japanese army in Dingxian and Zhengding to delay their advance will be handed over to you; fight for 5 days at most, no more than 7 days, let the Japanese arrive at Dashuhe River; mainly use scattered attacks, with the Central Engineer Battalion 3 arriving tomorrow to cooperate with you; the Chairman said, 'Work hard but don't hurt your vitality, we'll rely on you for the counterattack later'; the loss of weapons and personnel will be replenished by the Chairman in 10 days." Guan Linzheng only looked at me once and silently took over the thick command book, walking away very calmly, leaving me bewildered.

  The meeting ended, Zhang Xueliang brought several Northeast Army generals to the combat room again, "Zi'an, I'd like to introduce you: Wan Fulin (Commander of the 53rd Army), Liu Duoquan (Commander of the 49th Army), Feng Zhanhai (Commander of the 91st Division), Zhou Fucheng (Commander of the 116th Division). Now let's attend class."

  "Heh heh." Seeing Zhang opening up a joke, I continued in the same tone: "First lesson, digging fortifications. My new-style fortification construction method has been received and practiced by everyone for quite some time now, right? From Ding County to here, there are three major river crossings. We will construct three lines of fortifications along these rivers. The area near the Ping-Han Railway is the main battlefield. The 49th Army, 53rd Army, plus the 67th Army which is still on its way, will serve as the main force defending these three lines of fortifications; your flanks will be covered by the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 20th Army Groups."

  "Who is in charge of the counterattack? What other reserve troops are there? The Central Army?" Liu Duoqu asked.

  "The 52nd Army has gone north to undertake containment tasks, waiting for the enemy to attack before retreating to the rear to rest; the counterattack will be launched on the flanks, with the 14th Army taking the lead; after Sun Lianzhong's losses are replenished and reorganized, he will join forces with the 52nd Army to form the second and third echelons for a counterattack; the general reserve consists of the 51st and 57th Armies."

  Everyone was speechless.

  "There's no problem, everyone go rest first, we'll start work early tomorrow!" Zhang Xueliang interjected.

  After they left, "Great kindness does not need to be thanked. I can become the commander of this war zone and basically unite the Northeast Army, all thanks to you brothers and sisters!"

  "Don't thank me yet, this battle will inevitably suffer heavy losses, Old Chiang will definitely lose more and gain less, you don't have much capital to make up for it! Otherwise, Old Chiang would not give you this position at all, and basically gave the Northeast Army to you."

  "Resist Japan, no matter how great the loss is, I don't care. What's more, with all of you here, you won't just stand by and do nothing, will you? Haha!" Zhang Xueliang laughed, "What other plots or schemes do you have up your sleeve? I hope to win a great victory in Shanghai, at least a victory like the one in Chahar."

  "What? Facing three regular divisions of the Japanese army, and possibly two reserve divisions behind them, with just our small force? We'll lose all of Hebei Province within a month, and you still think we can achieve a great victory? I'm really disappointed in you!"

  Although that's what I said, the next morning, I still went out in person to direct the Northeast Army to dig fortifications along the river. After five consecutive days of hard work, the position gradually took shape, but somehow it looked more and more like a river embankment and river course?

  July 28th, early morning, Pinghan Road, south of Ding County, Hebei. After busying about, the 2nd Battalion 6th Company 1st Platoon of the 146th Regiment 73rd Brigade 25th Division of the 52nd Army and a squad from the Engineering 3rd Battalion bid farewell with a wave to those who stayed behind in ambush.

  Six li north, several Japanese three-wheeled motorcycles sped past the nearby North-South Highway, one of which was blown into the air with a loud "boom"; the Japanese army swept around as if facing a great enemy, causing several more explosions.

  More than an hour later, a Japanese cavalry unit passed through the busy area unscathed; after another ten or so minutes, a large Japanese army marched southward with a loud rumble, and suddenly fell down in a big heap. At the same time, two hidden machine gun squads opened fire from dozens of meters away, crossing fire and sweeping down another layer. Soon, the firepower was hit by dozens of mortar shells and became a thick smoke rising into the air; A Japanese major silently said: "Four for one hundred again."

  For 6 days, a whole 6 days, this scene was repeatedly performed. Finally on the evening of the 29th, 3 Japanese regular army divisions advanced to the north of the Dasaha River and set up camp.

  Guan Lin Zheng stood before me again, his expression cold and stern. "Report to the Deputy Chief of Staff: our army has 382 deaths and missing persons, 29 wounded, and 181 light machine guns lost. Mission accomplished!"

  "Alright, go get the machine guns and ammunition!" I no longer had time to worry about it, as Bai Chongxi's Tianjin-Pukou Road counterattack was about to begin!

  The 21st Group Army has jurisdiction over the 7th Corps (170th, 171st and 172nd Divisions), the 48th Corps (173rd, 174th and 176th Divisions)

  The 10th Division has jurisdiction over the 8th Brigade (39th and 40th Regiments), the 33rd Brigade (10th and 63rd Regiments) and the 10th Field Artillery Regiment, temporarily assigned to the 3rd Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, the 6th Machine Gun Battalion, and the 10th Tank Battalion.

  De County (Dezhou) north of the city, to the east of the Grand Canal, this is the battlefield chosen by Bai Chongxi for Isamu Yokoyama (Commander of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army). Looking at the distant 10th Division camp, Bai Chongxi smiled and said, "You see, now the Japanese planes have just returned from their mission, the Japanese army has been marching for a day and is very tired, they still need to build their camp, they are busy and in disarray, it seems like the best time to attack; but that's not true, at this moment the Japanese army must be highly vigilant and prepared for our sudden attack; such an open terrain, without heavy weapons, our army will surely suffer heavy casualties if we attack now. We have to wait."

  "Why can't it be at midnight or dawn?" asked Zhou Zuohuang (Commander of the 7th Army).

  "It's not that it can't be done at midnight, but I think the enemy has anticipated this; dawn is out of the question, a little fight and it will be daylight, doesn't everyone want to avoid being bombed?"

  Liao Yue (Commander of the 21st Army Group), Zhou Zuqiang, Wei Yunsheng (Commander of the 48th Army) and other generals nodded in unison; thinking that in these few days, the Guangxi troops who lacked air defense knowledge had already suffered more than two thousand casualties, including a division commander and three regiment commanders, everyone was still shaken.

  At 8 o'clock, with a loud "bang" accompanied by the sound of Japanese sentry guns, the Guizhou army officers and men slowly advanced forward, shouting in unison as they charged towards the Japanese camp. The field artillery battalion assigned to them and the old-fashioned mountain cannons of the Guizhou army, as well as each mortar company, also began firing at the Japanese positions.

  The Japanese army did not anticipate a large-scale attack at this time, and they were not seriously deployed to defend themselves. However, the modern regular army's rapid response speed, combined with the lack of effective firepower in the old-fashioned tactics of the Guangxi Army, resulted in a reversal of the situation. As the main force of the Guangxi Army rushed forward, crossing the last 300 meters of open terrain, large numbers of light machine guns and rifle grenade launchers were deployed, immediately followed by hundreds of continuous bursts of fire and thousands of rifle shots, interspersed with numerous point-blank shots from grenade launchers. The front row of the Guangxi Army fell before the Japanese army, while the soldiers behind continued to charge forward, but the Japanese firepower continued to increase, with heavy machine guns, infantry cannons, and rapid-fire cannons joining the fray. The Guangxi Army's machine guns became live targets as soon as they fired; within a few minutes, even the artillery units in the rear were hit by Japanese field artillery counterattacks. Although some Guangxi Army troops broke into the Japanese positions and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, they were immediately locked down by Japanese machine gun fire. Only the 176th Division managed to achieve a significant breakthrough because its mortar units advanced to the front line and suppressed the Japanese machine guns with cannon fire. However, the Japanese army quickly counterattacked with reserve troops, sealing off the roads with field artillery, and soon the several companies of the 176th Division that had broken into the enemy's position were all annihilated. Before 9 o'clock, the Guangxi Army suffered heavy casualties and was exhausted from fighting, leading to a psychological collapse, and tens of thousands of soldiers immediately fled in defeat. (In the history of the Battle of Shanghai, the Guangxi Army launched a blind counterattack and was defeated, but they were lucky to be rescued by friendly forces, which led to their commander becoming ill with worry.)