Chapter 25: Reinforcements Arrive at Tianzhen (New Book Seeking Attention)

  But that's where things ended, just because the security team was all new recruits, and their training was with their own people in bayonet drills, without actually experiencing real battles on the battlefield. The guard squad, on the other hand, were all seasoned veterans who had been to battle many times, so they temporarily overpowered the security team in terms of morale.

  But as time went on, the security team came back to life. Although they were outnumbered, the security team's fighters became more and more skilled, coordinating well with each other, and in no time at all, they took down seven or eight of the guards.

  The security team's bayonet fighting skills were personally taught by Chen Feng, who learned from a veteran general who had participated in the War of Resistance against Japan. The technique was specifically developed to counter the Japanese army and combined with Chen Feng's own lethal moves learned from his time in the military, making the security team's hand-to-hand combat abilities extremely formidable.

  Another half hour passed, and as the soldiers on both sides continued to fall, Bai Degong's face became increasingly unsightly. So far, only six people were left on the battlefield, with three on each side.

  But anyone could see that the three warriors of the Security Team were in high spirits, while the three warriors of the Guard Platoon were panting and looked like they were at their last gasp. The outcome was already quite clear. Moreover, for the Guard Platoon to have been reduced to this state against the Security Team was already a defeat in itself.

  "Commander Chen, there's no need to compare, we've lost." Bai Degong sighed and said.

  "Now both sides still have three people left, let's just call it a draw!" Chen Feng said.

  After the team competition was over, it was the individual competition. Perhaps to regain the face lost in the team competition, Bai Degong himself took action in this individual competition.

  The security team's Chen Feng sent out his guard Chen Tiebao. This Chen Tiebao grew up with Chen Feng since childhood, and unlike Chen Feng who indulged in pleasure-seeking activities, Chen Tiebao had been training with the masters of the Chen household since young. His basic skills were solid, and he also practiced a decent hard qigong, capable of splitting 7 or 8 large green bricks with one palm strike.

  Later, he followed Chen Feng to train and played with cold and hot weapons very smoothly. If he hadn't insisted on following Chen Feng's side, the current special forces commander or security second team leader would have been him.

  The results came out quickly, both of them were very strong in shooting, with the same five rings, and no one won. As for hand-to-hand combat, Chen Tiebao took down Bai Degong in just two minutes, and Bai Degong lost convincingly.

  The security team won one and drew one in the group match, and the results of the individual match were also the same. Overall, this competition between the security team and the guard company was a complete victory.

  Li Jingyuan was delighted, his own recommendation of Chen Feng was motivated by personal feelings, but now this big nephew of his had done a super good job, with just this security team, it would be hard for Chen Feng not to get reused.

  Li Jingyuan left, and when he did, he told Chen Feng that the Chairman of the Committee and General Yan wanted to block the Japanese army in Zhangjiakou and Nankou, and Xinghe was not far from Zhangjiakou. At any time, they might receive an order to set out, so he should be prepared.

  Li Jingyuan's words reminded Chen Feng that it was already August 7th, and there were only three or four days left before the Battle of Nankou officially began.

  Historically, the garrison stationed in Nankou was the National Government's most elite 13th Army, with its commander being Tang Enbo, one of Chiang Kai-shek's most trusted generals. Although the Battle of Nankou ended with the Chinese army's voluntary withdrawal, it remains a glorious page in the history of the War of Resistance against Japan.

  In this battle, the Chinese army and the Japanese army fought a bloody battle for nearly 20 days, severely damaging the Japanese invaders, disrupting their combat plan, and shattering the myth of "conquering China in three months".

  The Battle of Nanking and the ongoing Battle of Shanghai demonstrated that Japan's imperialist plot to occupy all of China had been exposed, Chiang Kai-shek decided to shift from defense to offense, thus his attitude towards negotiating the KMT-CPC cooperation against Japanese aggression became more positive, finally accepting our party's Declaration on KMT-CPC Cooperation, ultimately leading to the formal formation of the Second United Front.

  However, Chen Feng also knew that the Battle of Nankou was not going well, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. By the day the 13th Army retreated, more than half of the Nationalist forces at the Nankou front had been killed or wounded, with extremely heavy losses. During this period, the position changed hands several times, and it was extremely dangerous.

  The Battle of Nankou Chen Feng knew that the Security Regiment might not be able to help, but after the Battle of Nankou, the Japanese army opened the door to entering Chahar, Suiyuan and northern Shanxi. As a result, a large number of Japanese troops poured into the Chaha'er region, and at that time, Xinghe County could no longer be spared, and it was time for the Security Regiment to take action.

  Just as Chen Feng knew, from August 8 when the vanguard of the Japanese Eleventh Mixed Brigade entered the Nan Kou front line and launched an attack, to August 11, Itagaki Seishiro ordered the Japanese Fifth Division and the Eleventh Brigade to launch a comprehensive attack on the National Army in Nan Kou, then the Kwantung Army's Chahar Expeditionary Force captured Zhangjiakou, Liu Zuming's 68th Corps retreated south to Wei County, and on August 26, Tang Enbo ordered the 13th Corps to retreat south.

  Tang Enbo's 13th Army withdrew, and Itagaki Seishiro ordered his troops to pursue and attack, meeting up with the Chahar Expeditionary Force. All strongholds and towns east of Zhangjiakou, including Xuanhua, Huailai, Yanqing, Longguan, Chicheng, Deshengkou, Badaling, Huanglao Temple, Xiandong, Hengling Town, all the way to the north bank of the Sanggan River, were lost.

  August 31, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters abolished the China Garrison Army and reorganized it into the North China Area Army, with Lieutenant General Terauchi Hisaichi as its commander. It consisted of the 1st Corps and the 2nd Corps, directly controlling the 5th Division, the 109th Division, the 11th Mixed Brigade (Rikizo Suzuki), and the Provisional Air Group.

  After occupying the towns along the Pingxi Road, Shozo Sakurai ordered the North China Area Army to launch an attack on the Chinese army in northern China. The First Route was led by Lieutenant General Yoichiro Ida, with a total of 50,000 troops from four infantry regiments and two detachments under the Chahar Expeditionary Force, which marched out of Zhangjiakou along the western section of Pingxi Road, directly attacking Suiyuan and Shanxi.

  The second route was commanded by Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizō, leading the three divisions and one infantry brigade of the Second Army, totaling over 90,000 men. Departing from Tianjin, they marched south along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway, directly attacking the troops stationed in Cangzhou under Song Zheyuan's command.

  The Third Route Army, led by Commander-in-Chief He Zhuguo, commanded the three divisions under the First Army, launched from Beiping, crossed the Yongding River, and advanced along the Pinghan Road, with its military might pointing directly at the Chinese army in the Baoding area.

  As for the fourth route, it was led by Lieutenant General Itagaki Seishirō, commander of the 5th Division, along the Pingxi Road to Xuanhua and Huai'an, attacking westward, threatening the flank of Shanxi, and responding to the troops of Tōjō Hideki.

  According to Terauchi Hisaichi's strategic plan, the four main armies, with the First Army led by Kiyoshi Kawabe as the main force, would advance southward and westward simultaneously, while trying to get closer to Baoding direction, supporting the First Army in its battle against Liu Zhi's forces at any time. Terauchi Hisaichi required that within two months, a quick victory should be achieved, annihilating all Chinese troops in North China and ending the war in North China.

  After receiving the order from the aspect army, Tojo Hideki was overjoyed and immediately led the main force of the Chahar Expeditionary Army and Li Shouxin's nine cavalry divisions of the pseudo-Mongolian army, claiming to be a great army of 100,000 men, rushing westward. Wanquan, Huai'an and other counties, as well as Chaigoubao, Xuanjiatai, and Xinpingbao were successively occupied by the Japanese army. Tojo Hideki's troops were powerful and marched day and night, reaching Tianzhen City on September 6.

  Tianzhen, located in the northeastern part of Shanxi Province, is at the junction of three provinces: Shanxi, Suiyuan and Chahar. To its southwest lies Datong, to its northwest are Jining and Zhangjiakou, and to its southeast is Yu County. Its geographical location is extremely important. If Tianzhen falls, the northern gate of Shanxi will be wide open, and Suiyuan will also lose its shield.

  To ensure that the Tianzhen is not lost, Yan Xishan personally ordered Li Fung's 61st Army to defend Tianzhen to the death. He also personally telegraphed Li Fung: "Jin-Sui is my foundation, and Shanxi is my hometown. Tianzhen is a key point on the Great Wall line, and it is the throat that controls the Ping-Sui line. If Tianzhen is lost, the gates of Jin-Sui will be wide open, and the enemy can advance westward to take Pingduan and Jining, southwest to attack Yanggao and Datong, then bypass Xiguan and head south to Yingzhou, Dai County, and Xinkou, and finally straight down to Taiyuan. At that time, both Jin and Sui provinces will be lost, and you and I will have no place to bury our bodies. You must be extremely careful and defend to the death with all your might, waiting for reinforcements."

  ........

  Xinghe, Security Command Center.

  "Chief of Staff, where are the Japanese troops now?" Chen Feng asked.

  "Report to the commander, the vanguard of the Japanese army has arrived at Wanghutun, and another infantry battalion of the Japanese army occupied Xinpingbao yesterday afternoon." Yang Yi replied.

  "Wang Hu Tun is fifteen kilometers east of Tianzhen, and Xinpingbao is thirty kilometers north of Tianzhen. If we lose these two places, the Japanese army will be able to reach the city of Tianzhen in no time!" said Li Wensheng, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Security Guard Brigade, frowning.

  "Is the garrison of Tianzhen Li Fuyuan's 61st Army?" Chen Feng asked with a frown.

  "Yes!"

  "That's terrible!" Chen Feng said in a low voice.

  "What's wrong, Commander?" Li Wensheng looked at Chen Feng with a furrowed brow and asked hastily.

  "You don't know, Li Fuyuan's 61st Army was reorganized from the 68th Division he previously led. It's called an army, but in fact, it only has the strength of one division and one brigade. From the perspective of both sides' military strength, Li Fuyuan's troops are far inferior to the Japanese army. The most important thing is that Itagaki Seishirō's 5th Division has already arrived at Wei County, and Liu Zuming's troops in Wei County have become a spent force. How can they withstand the powerful 5th Division? It won't take long for Hunyuan and Guangling to fall into the hands of the Japanese army. At that time, General Yan will not have the heart to care about Tianzhen, so Li Fuyuan's 61st Army is actually a lone army. With his single army facing off against 100,000 Japanese troops, Tianzhen will inevitably be lost." Chen Feng said in a low voice.

  Historically, when the Japanese army attacked Tianzhen, Yan Xishan proposed the so-called Datong Conference, but in fact this so-called conference was just an excuse used by Yan Xishan to shirk off Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army entering Shanxi, and Yan Xishan had not made any serious preparations at all.

  Later, Li Fuyuan's troops fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Tianzhen for 7 days and nights. The troops suffered heavy casualties and had to withdraw. Chahar dispatched troops to occupy Tianzhen County, and then took Datong without a fight. After using several more days, they successively captured Yanggao, Fengzhen, Xinghe, Julibao, Zhou Shizhuang and other counties, and the entire northern Shanxi and southern Suiyuan were lost. Later, Li Fuyuan was executed by Yan Xishan on the charge of abandoning his post.

  Li Wensheng and Yang Yi studied the map for a while, then both looked up at Chen Feng with worried eyes. They all knew the geographical location of this town, and its importance was self-evident.

  "Commander, what should we do?" Yang Yi asked.

  "Reinforce Tianzhen!" Chen Feng shouted loudly.