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

  The command post of the enemy was set up in a temple, which is very famous in later generations. It's the Guandi Temple that appeared in the movie "The Great Victory of Taierzhuang".

  This was originally the command center of the 31st Division, but after the establishment of the Taierzhuang Front Command Center, Commander Chi of the 31st Division yielded this most intact building in all of Taierzhuang, and it became the location of the Taierzhuang Front Command Center.

  Xie Hong originally wanted to decline, but after seeing the actual location, he didn't say anything and gladly accepted. The reason was simple: this ancient temple was not only solid and spacious (compared to the remaining buildings in Tai'erzhuang at that time), but more importantly, it was the safest place within the area occupied by the Chinese army in Tai'erzhuang. (The Guandi Temple was built at a corner of the city wall of Tai'erzhuang, which was a blind spot for the Japanese artillery.)

  At this time, in the main hall of Guandi Temple where the statue of Lord Guan was enshrined, Commander-in-Chief Xie Hong and Chief-of-Staff Cheng Jiaji of the Tai'erzhuang Frontline Command were seated facing each other across a small octagonal table under the statue.

  Cheng Jiaji, sitting on the left, was repeatedly looking at the telegram from the Fifth War Zone that had just been sent to the Tai'erzhuang Front Command a few minutes ago, word by word.

  "...the original affiliation of the Tai'erzhuang Front Command's battalion of constabulary and the Xu State Security Command's independent regiment's one battalion were reassigned to the Independent Hundredth Brigade's establishment..." This passage shows that Zhang Jiaji could still sense the intentions of the War Zone Commander's office. Before the temporary 16th Army and 60th Army's troops arrived, the situation in Tai'erzhuang was still relying on the Independent Hundredth Brigade to hold out. The War Zone Commander's office naturally wanted to supplement the Independent Hundredth Brigade; if the Independent Hundredth Brigade really lost its combat effectiveness, then the Japanese reinforcements would arrive within these few days and it would be impossible for Tai'erzhuang not to fall.

  If Cheng Jiaji could still make out a few points of the intention in this paragraph, then the next paragraph would be like falling into clouds and fog for him.

  "...Wait until the vanguard brigade of the 16th Army arrives at Taierzhuang, then temporarily put this brigade under the command of Cheng Jiaji to seek opportunities for battle..." Of course, there was a prerequisite condition for this order, that is, after the main force of the 60th Army took over the position in Taierzhuang, the above order would take effect.

  The rest of the telegram was nothing but praise for the bravery of General Cheng's troops in last night's battle, and a reprimand for their unauthorized attack this morning to support the troops outside the city. In these official documents, except for the fact that the superior officer had issued another 10,000 yuan to boost the morale of the troops, there was nothing else that interested General Cheng.

  As for the good news of annihilating the 10th Cavalry Brigade, it is being reported to the war zone, and the war zone will probably react to this battle report after lunch.

  After reading the telegram, Cheng Jiaji asked Xie Hong, who was sitting opposite him: "Director Xie, what does this 'simultaneous movement' mean? What game is the big shot of the war zone commander's headquarters playing?"

  Xie Hong smiled and replied, "This is up to you, my younger brother. However, in my opinion, it's just a matter of time before you'll have to make a flanking attack on the Japanese army from the side or rear. After all, didn't you already have this plan in mind?"

  This explanation is acceptable, but the Japanese army in the direction of Tai'erzhuang has increased by a whole division. If you add up the pseudo-Manchu division, the Japanese headquarters will have an additional 16,000 to 17,000 troops in the direction of Tai'erzhuang. The risk of launching an attack at this time is not comparable to before, even if we give ourselves an additional division of troops, it's still very risky, and it's not an exaggeration to say that there are more dangers than advantages.

  Perhaps the war zone officials also knew that this was a highly dangerous combat mission, so they did not give Cheng Jiaji a death order, but only let him act according to circumstances. The four words "act according to circumstances" are quite profound.

  Cheng Jiaji can completely abandon the original plan of deep penetration and just rely on the strong support of Tai'erzhuang to launch a few short-distance attacks, which is also not something that can be said about Cheng Jiaji.

  The question is whether Cheng Jiaqi, who is in his prime, will shrink into a turtle. This question doesn't need anyone else to answer it; Cheng Jiaqi himself can affirm that he will definitely lead the charge, or else he wouldn't be Cheng Jiaqi. If it's for killing devils and avenging the country, with Cheng Jiaqi's family background, they could completely hide in the mountains for at least six years without the Japanese army being able to reach Nan'an County, living a happy life as a hermit, so why would he come to this bloody battlefield of Tai'erzhuang to fight for his life? Moreover, the current situation in Tai'erzhuang is not optimistic; if they don't deal a heavy blow to the devils, it won't be easy to turn the tide. If they let the Japanese army deploy at their leisure, then the outcome of this battle would really be hard to predict. If there's any unexpected twist in this war, that's something Cheng Jiaqi absolutely doesn't want to see; for this reason alone, Cheng Jiaqi will have to fight with all his might.

  Once this point is understood, it's clear what the people in the War Zone Headquarters are thinking. In Cheng Jiaqi's opinion, his own strike force is being used as a probe to test the strength of the Japanese army facing Taierzhuang. As long as his several thousand troops can fight their way into the depths of the Japanese defenses, then the War Zone Headquarters will make up its mind and deploy the 60th Army and the Temporary 16th Army, the last two reserve armies in the war zone, to launch a full-scale counterattack against Taierzhuang. On the other hand, if his troops are defeated, then the next step in the War Zone Headquarters' operational plan will certainly be to hold onto Taierzhuang and wait for the 20th Army Group to make some breakthroughs.

  "Jun Chen, between you and me, there's no need to beat around the bush. I'm also bothering you to report to the commander of the War Zone and Xu Cen, this task of deeply infiltrating and disrupting the enemy's rear is something that I, Cheng Jiaji, have taken on. However, I also have a few conditions that I must ask the superiors to agree to."

  Since he had already decided to take on this highly dangerous task, Cheng Jiaji felt that there was no need for him to beat around the bush with his superiors anymore, and it would be better to just get straight to the point. Of course, this was a life-or-death mission, and this welfare was something that he absolutely could not do without; the conditions had to be satisfactory as well.

  "Alright, little brother, whatever it is, I'll take care of it. If I, this insignificant official, can't make the decision, I'll immediately consult with Director Xu." Seeing that Cheng Jiaji had made his intentions clear, Xie Hong was overjoyed and hastily took on the responsibility, fearing that Cheng Jiaji might change his mind. He had an additional consideration that Cheng Jiaji didn't: originally, the war zone command could have directly ordered Cheng's unit to carry out this task, but considering that the 100th Independent Brigade had already suffered over 60% casualties since joining the battle, it would be inhumane to force them to take on this assault. Moreover, the 16th Temporary Corps was about to launch a full-scale attack, and if Xia Weimin were to have any misgivings due to this, it would affect the next step of the operation, which would be a loss. Therefore, as soon as Cheng Jiaji volunteered, Xie Hong couldn't help but be overjoyed.

  "Brother Junchen, I have three conditions. Firstly, my unit has suffered heavy casualties in the battles with the Japanese army yesterday and this morning, please allocate another full-strength battalion to my unit's establishment."

  "This is no problem, I can agree." Xie Hong readily agreed.

  "Article 2, our department's ammunition is insufficient, and the weapons are not satisfactory, especially lacking heavy weapons. Can the superior officer's department transfer a batch of weapons and ammunition over?"

  "This is no big deal, Xu Can said, whatever is in the arsenal of the war zone, Haoran brother can take it"

  "Call." Xie Hong's words were not as smooth as the previous sentence, one call after another, and after using it, the war zone still didn't say a word. However, Cheng Jiaji also didn't intend to argue with Xie Hong on this matter, he had already made up his mind about Liu Bei's plan to borrow Jingzhou, and when the time came, they would each show their skills.

  "Article 3, our troops have been fighting for a long time and are exhausted, and the organization is already in disarray. I would like to take a day or two to rest and reorganize, and I request that the war zone commander's office make arrangements." Cheng Jiaji knew that this condition was the most excessive, but at present, Taierzhuang was in a precarious situation, and the casualties of the Second Army Group were much higher than those of the Independent 100th Brigade. None of them had the opportunity to take a break and rest. However, Cheng Jiaji also had no choice, without one or two days' time, he couldn't possibly get the troops of the Independent 100th Brigade in order, and this operation would be impossible to carry out with any confidence.

  "Hao Ran, younger brother, I'll ask Lao Ge about this." Xie Hong said, and then hurried to the next room to make a phone call to consult.

  After a few minutes, Xie Hong ran over to Cheng Jiaji with a relieved expression and said: "Hao Ran, the headquarters has approved it. After the guard battalion of the war zone headquarters comes to take over the defense in the afternoon, your unit will withdraw for 24 hours of rest. The other conditions you proposed have also been agreed by the war zone headquarters."