Chapter 23: Prelude to War (Part 1)
May 7, 1938, Xuzhou.
Xu Canzuo was a diligent person. He worked until 11 or 12 o'clock every night before returning to his residence from the office building of the war zone commander.
Xu Canzuo's residence is easy to find, located in the large courtyard of the government office.
At 5 am, Xiao Yun, the captain of the communications company of the Independent Hundred Regiment, who had rushed to Xuzhou from Jia Wang, arrived at the gate of Xu Can's house.
Chief of Staff Xu, who was awakened from a good dream, was very tired but immediately met with the frontline envoy. After reading Cheng Jiaji's private letter, Xu attached great importance to it and immediately asked to see the war zone commander.
"Yan Mou, what are your thoughts?" The commander-in-chief of the war zone asked his chief of staff after reading this private letter which was actually a draft plan for battle.
"De Gong, the enemy situation provided by Cheng Jiaji is very important. If Guanhu Town is really defended by the Ninth Division of the Puppet Manchurian Army, then the Japanese army's more than one regiment that was originally deployed on this front line will be freed up. This freed-up more than one regiment plus the Hada detachment is not a small force, whether it joins the Tai'erzhuang battlefield or attacks Pei County, or assists the Sakamoto detachment which is fighting fiercely with the 20th Army Group, these tens of thousands of Japanese troops are a powerful force that can change the situation."
As the chief of staff for the entire war zone, Xu Xiangqian was far superior to Cheng Qian and others in terms of his ability to coordinate the overall situation. He not only saw opportunities from the intelligence reports sent by the independent 100th division but also sensed the crisis.
"You mean to let the Cheng department make a move, and lure out this large Japanese army unit." The commander-in-chief of the war zone was not an ordinary person either, and immediately understood the implication behind his staff officer's words.
"The 60th Army has arrived at a reinforced regiment, but the main force will not arrive in Xuzhou until tomorrow. The Temporary 16th Army also only has one brigade that has arrived, and the main force is being blocked south of Quanjiao, so it's likely to take three days for them to reach the Tai'erzhuang battlefield. For now, we can only let the Independent 100th Brigade and the vanguard brigade of the Temporary 16th Army launch a surprise attack on the Japanese army's flank in order to reveal the main position of the Hatakeyama detachment. Otherwise, if there is any change in the situation at that time, even if the main forces of the 60th and Temporary 16th Armies arrive promptly, it will still be a stalemate. If we drag this out for too long, the Japanese army south of Xuzhou will come up."
Xu Canzhang's words were not finished, but his meaning was completely understood by the commander-in-chief of the war zone. If it really came to that point, not only would Xuzhou this lone city be unable to hold on, even the several tens of thousands of troops in the Fifth War Zone would be in danger every day. The commander-in-chief of the war zone did not immediately respond, but instead slowly sipped the Wushan tea that his wife had brought from their hometown. This was also a habit he had developed over these days: whenever he needed to make an important decision, this was what he would do.
Perhaps because the battle had reached a critical moment, the commander of the war zone did not fall into deep thought for a long time. In less than five minutes, he put down the teacup in his hand and walked to the front of the huge military map hanging on the wall with the steady and rapid pace unique to an old professional soldier.
Immediately send a telegram in the name of the War Zone Headquarters to Cheng Ji, agreeing to his attack plan, but the time must be advanced. He was ordered to lead the Independent Hundred Regiment and the Advance Brigade of the Temporary Sixteenth Army to form an attacking detachment to launch an attack on Guanhu Town before 4 pm today.
"Order temporarily 16th Army's vanguard brigade to arrive at Jia Wang before 11:00 this morning and be incorporated into the command of Cheng Zhi's column."
"Order temporarily 16th Army main force to break through all obstacles and assemble in the rear of Taierzhuang within two days."
"Send an urgent telegram to the 60th Army, telling them to speed up and arrive in Xuzhou by dawn tomorrow."
"Send a telegram to the Third Army Group, ordering them to extend one of their powerful columns with at least one division to the Jiawang line within four hours and seal off this mouth, so that not a single Japanese soldier can threaten Xuzhou from this direction."
"All units be on alert, the movement of the Japanese army's one and a half regiments stationed in Guanzhuang Town and the Hada detachment is unknown, please be vigilant."
"Let the military supply department allocate all the materials needed by Cheng Zhi's team. You go and supervise it personally later."
The commander-in-chief of the war zone issued several important combat orders in one breath, fully demonstrating his solid military command skills and superhuman courage and meticulous thinking.
"De Gong, this situation has not been verified yet!" Xu Canzuo, who had previously advocated for the deployment of troops to attack, asked with some concern when he saw the commander-in-chief making such a large adjustment to the military deployment in the war zone so quickly.
"Even if there are some deviations in the arrangement, the battle situation will not be bad to that extent. If we really let the Japanese break through one by one, it would be too late to say anything. Execute immediately! I take full responsibility for everything! If any problems arise, I will explain to the people of the country!" This time, the commander-in-chief of the war zone did not utter a single swear word from his hometown, but every word was sharp and decisive.
Since the commanders of the war zone had already made up their minds, Xu, as the chief of staff, felt that he didn't need to say anything more and just needed to carry out the orders.
As soon as the commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone gave an order, all departments of the headquarters immediately became extremely busy. This pre-war bustle would soon spread to all Chinese troops north of Xuzhou.
Wen Songyuan rushed to the military warehouse of the war zone headquarters early in the morning to receive supplies, and was surprised to find that the officials in charge here were unexpectedly easy-going. Without Wen Songyuan using any threatening means or handing over the already prepared red envelopes, the warehouse guards enthusiastically cooperated with the soldiers from the reinforced battalion sent by the Independent Hundred Regiment to Xu State as temporary porters, frantically helping to reduce the inventory of the war zone's arsenal.
Since it was the case, Wen Songyuan naturally wouldn't be polite to them. He hastily hired over a thousand workers and in just a few hours, nearly emptied out three military warehouses. The dozen or so train cars were packed to the brim, and when they departed from Xuzhou, the heavy artillery weighed down the German-made locomotive, making it seem like it was struggling to move forward.
At the same time, after receiving the telegram from the war zone, the Independent Hundred Regiment also sprang into action. By 8:30 in the morning, the entire regiment had completed its assembly and was waiting for the arrival of the Sixteenth Army's troops and Wen Songyuan to arrive at Jia Wang, where they would distribute the light and heavy weapons they had just received from the war zone, and then set off immediately to attack the old nest of the puppet Manchukuo Ninth Division.
The Third Army Group also ordered the 80th Division to be dispatched to Jia Wang within a limited time.
At this time, all Chinese troops on the northern plains of Xu were gathering momentum and waiting for an opportunity to strike.
