Chapter 21: The Battle Situation Takes a Sudden Turn (Part 2)

  To be honest, Cheng Jiaji pretended to be nonchalant in front of everyone. In fact, he was still very nervous about the telegram from the War Zone Commander's Office in his heart.

  After all, the result of this attack by the 100th Independent Brigade was quite brilliant. However, firstly, the superiors did not know that the Japanese Tenth Cavalry Regiment had been almost completely annihilated. Secondly, even if it were said to be a great success, Commander Cheng's decision to send the entire brigade's combat troops out of Taierzhuang several hours ahead of schedule was still in violation of the explicit orders issued by the war zone command. If the war zone commander wanted to make an issue of this and take disciplinary action against himself, it would also be justified.

  With a sense of waiting for the verdict, Cheng Jiaji began to carefully examine the telegram from the war zone commander's office.

  Contrary to what he thought, the telegram did not mention a word about the unauthorized attack by the 100th Brigade. Instead, it strictly ordered Peng Dehuai to return to Tai'erzhuang immediately, regardless of whether he had received support from Wen Sheng's cavalry regiment. If he hadn't known that the commander-in-chief was a kind and honest man, Peng Dehuai would have almost thought that this was an attempt to make him another Han Fuqu!

  Since all combat objectives have been achieved, it would be a good idea to withdraw back to Tai'erzhuang for a rest. Moreover, the current Independent 100th Brigade is indeed in urgent need of reorganization and replenishment before the troops can recover their combat effectiveness.

  Putting down the telegram draft, Cheng Jiaji only said one sentence to those anxious subordinates.

  "Commander of the war zone ordered our troops to retreat to Tai'erzhuang, execute!"

  Twenty minutes later, the Independent Hundred Regiment hastily swept the battlefield and urgently opened towards Taierzhuang.

  Cheng Jiaji rushed back to the Tai'erzhuang Front Command, his face covered in sweat and dust. It wasn't until Xie Hong handed him a stack of telegraph copies that he finally understood. Cheng Jiaji took one look and suddenly realized that the war zone commander's office didn't ask about the battle situation or pursue the responsibility issue of the 100th Independent Brigade's unauthorized full-scale attack. It turned out that the enemy and our situations on the battlefield had changed in just a few hours. The commander was too busy dealing with the changing circumstances to bother finding fault with him.

  On May 6, at dawn, the reconnaissance units and intelligence personnel of the war zone found that there were large Japanese and puppet Manchu troops on the flank and rear of the Japanese Tenth Division, and they were rushing towards the Tenth Division.

  After verification, it was confirmed that the numbers of these troops were the Japanese Army's Hata Branch (division-level scale, mainly composed of Taiwanese people, with extremely strong combat effectiveness, even surpassing that of ordinary Japanese troops), the Puppet Manchukuo Army's Ninth Division (under which were the Seventh Cavalry Brigade and Tenth Infantry Brigade), and a portion of the Japanese Fifth Division's Ninth Brigade, with a total strength of approximately one reinforced battalion.

  It seems that the intelligence work of the war zone headquarters is quite good, and even the number of these troops has been roughly grasped.

  In the three troops, the Botou troop had the largest number of people, with nearly 9,000 people being a full-strength division of the Japanese army's establishment. The fighting was also the strongest. Next was the pseudo-Manchu army's division, which had more than 6,000 people. This troop had undergone years of training by the Japanese army and had fought against the Anti-Communist League for several years, with a combat effectiveness comparable to that of the general Central Chinese army. As for the Japanese reinforced battalion of 1,340 people, although it was said that individual combat effectiveness was first-rate, but the number of people was too small, and in the three troops, it was actually an optional supporting role.

  Seeing this, Cheng Qianji's heart felt a inexplicable discomfort. The arrival of these three divisions would greatly strengthen the Japanese military strength in the Tai'erzhuang area. This would undoubtedly increase the difficulty for the Chinese army to annihilate or defeat the Japanese forces in the Tai'erzhuang front line.

  This is not the biggest reason why Cheng Jiaji feels uncomfortable, what makes him feel uneasy is that among these three supporting troops of the Japanese army, the vast majority of people in two troops are genuine descendants of Huaxia. They should have fought side by side with themselves to resist the invasion of the Japanese, but for various reasons, some followed the Japanese and beat their own compatriots.

  Cheng Jiaji let out a long sigh in his heart, then thought that it didn't matter what kind of reasons they had. Since they were helping Japan fight, they were enemies of the Chinese nation. If these people could remember their ancestors, that would be best; otherwise, he might as well treat them as Japanese and attack them!

  The following drafts are reports from the Fifth War Zone about the battle situation of our army in the direction of Taierzhuang.

  The 60th Army of the Yunnan Army has been ordered to move towards Taierzhuang to replace the troops of the Second Group Army, which have suffered heavy losses in the fierce battles over the past few days.

  This was something that Cheng Jianguo had already anticipated, and the 60th Army in his time had also fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army at Tai'erzhuang. However, that was after the great victory of Tai'erzhuang, and for now, the Chinese and Japanese armies were still facing off near Tai'erzhuang, so the War Zone Command urgently summoned this elite Yunnan Army to head north, which was also a matter of course.

  The second item is related to the 16th Army, which has a reinforced brigade of over 3,000 people scheduled to arrive at Xuzhou Railway Station today at 17:00. The main force of the 16th Army will arrive in Xuzhou within two days and officially join the combat sequence of the Fifth War Zone. This is not unexpected news, after all, they have been on the road for a month, and it's about time they arrived.

  The rest of the war report is nothing but routine reports. For example, my 20th Army Corps has given heavy casualties to the Japanese Sakamoto detachment and will defeat the Japanese Sakamoto detachment's blocking force in a few days and approach Taierzhuang. These are all clichés that have been seen for several days, and the 20th Army Corps claims every day that they have dealt a crushing blow to the Japanese army, eliminating so many Japanese soldiers. The main force of the corps is only tens of kilometers away from Taierzhuang but cannot get close, everything said is just empty talk.

  These days, the war zone officials have been urging tightly, and the number of enemy planes reported by the 20th Army has also been rising steadily, from a few hundred to over a thousand Japanese soldiers in one day. If the numbers reported by the 20th Army are true, then Sakamoto's detachment should be almost completely annihilated, or at least more than half of them should have been killed or wounded. How can they still hold back the tens of thousands of well-equipped German troops and the elite Second Army? Seeing this, Cheng Jiayu couldn't help but feel that the National Army's practice of hastily reporting military achievements was not right.

  He said that young people under the age of thirty, although they are already a general with thousands of troops, but if they really talk about the city in their chest, they can't compare to Xie Hong's old fox, and what they think in their heart will show on their face without paying attention.

  Cheng Jiaji was reading the bulletin while Xie Hong quietly savored his favorite top-grade West Lake Longjing tea on the side, a habit he had developed when he was stationed in Hangzhou under General Sun's command.

  Xie Hong's internal energy skills are really beyond the reach of ordinary people. A few hours ago, Cheng Jiaji offended him for the sake of sending troops, but if it were someone else, they would have already fallen out with Cheng Jiaji. How can he still be so calm and composed in his dealings with him?

  Cheng Jiaji's performance a few hours ago, in the eyes of Xie Hong, an old slicker who has been through great storms and seen the world, was just the recklessness of youth.

  Although Xiao Hong was somewhat annoyed at Cheng Jiaji's disrespect, he also had a bit more affection for him. After all, Xiao Hong had also been spirited and pointed out the mountains and rivers in his youth. At this time, Cheng Jiaji was no different from Xiao Hong in his youth, of course, after so many years of military and official careers, Xiao Hong had long been worn down and lost half of his edge. However, for that youthful spirit, Xiao Hong still missed it very much, which made him feel a bit connected to this young and successful new officer in front of him.

  After Jing Jiaji finished reading those reports, Xie Hong calmly pulled out a telegram from the headquarters of the Fifth War Zone Commander.

  Just by looking at Xie Hong's expression, which only a businessman could have, Cheng Jiaji was certain that this telegram was the main event of today!