Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Beneath the walls of Xinyang, on the scorched earth, the lingering echoes of the final round of artillery fire still reverberated in the air.

8th Artillery Brigade, Forward Observation Post
Brigade Commander Shi Wengui held up his binoculars, his face ashen.

On the artillery position not far away, there was a large amount of shell casings piled up.

It gleamed with a metallic sheen under the sun's rays.

"Brigadier!" an artillery staff officer ran over excitedly, his voice trembling. "We just received a report from the 7th Army's front lines! The Japanese main defensive positions south of the city have been completely destroyed by us! They request that we extend our artillery fire to cover the general offensive!"

Shi Wengui did not answer immediately.

His gaze remained firmly fixed on the field of view of the telescope.

That once impregnable Japanese position is now a scorched wasteland.

The reinforced concrete bunker was blown in half, exposing its twisted steel frame.

The crisscrossing trenches were leveled, making it impossible to distinguish where the roads ended and where the graveyards of the Japanese devils lay.

Countless black objects were scattered among the ruins.

Clearly, these are human remains that have been torn apart and carbonized by flames and explosions.

Shi Wengui slowly lowered his binoculars: "The artillery fire can be extended."

"But my cannon is only for clearing the way for my brothers who are charging forward."

"The number of shells is not large. Our army will conduct a round of gradual advance barrage. If they cannot seize the opportunity, then they will have to find their own way."

"Yes."

Soon, news came from the Seventh Army.

Three red signal flares were used to signal the start of the shelling.

The infantry will launch their attack forty seconds after the first shell explodes.

As both sides further formulate and consult on their respective operational plans.

The time for the final offensive is drawing near.

"Brigade Commander, it's 8:58."

"Order all units to prepare."

"Yes!"

Shi Wengui stared intently at the wristwatch on his wrist, and after a moment, he immediately gave the order: "Start the battle!"

With that cold command.

The 8th Artillery Brigade, which had been poised for action, roared once again!

Rows of 150mm high-explosive shells, like a giant iron plow, plowed a dead zone of flames and steel two hundred meters in front of the Guangxi Army's assault troops.

The barrage slowly advanced, crushing any Japanese soldiers who attempted to reorganize their defenses, along with their fortifications!
The 7th Army attacks the position.

Army Commander Zhang Gan, also holding binoculars, looked at the miraculous scene before him, feeling his mouth dry and his heart surging with excitement.

"Great cannon! Great cannon!"

He muttered to himself, his eyes filled with shock.

By his side.

A Guangxi Army officer waved his arms excitedly and roared into the phone, "Charge! Charge for me!"

"We've paved the way for you with artillery shells! If you can't take it, I'll shoot you all!"

The Guangxi Army soldiers swarmed across the mountains and plains like a floodgate opened.

Shouting, they charged toward Xinyang City, which they had long considered an easy target.

This was the most satisfying and triumphant battle they had fought in recent years!
……

39th Army Headquarters.

Army Commander Liu Heding put down the phone, a complex smile on his face.

"We won," he said slowly.

"Yes, we won." The chief of staff beside him was also filled with emotion: "Such a victory was truly hard-won."

"If it weren't for the heavy artillery units in North China."

"Even if we sent all 100,000 of our brothers, we probably still wouldn't be able to crack this tough nut."

"Yes."

"One Chu Yunfei and a few artillery units have made it clear what our entire Guangxi clique had been fighting for decades. Perhaps we old guys are really out of touch with the times. In the past, we discussed infantry-artillery coordinated operations, but we only learned what armored coordinated operations were when we fought the Japanese."

This operation in northern Hubei has made us deeply aware of the importance of the air force.

The power of a single aerial bomb is enough to sustain them for several hours of charging.

In Liu Heding's voice, there was admiration and emotion, but more than anything, there was a sense of loss that even he himself was unaware of.

Their generation of soldiers is actually somewhat out of touch with the times!

Xinyang was successfully liberated.

Most of the remnants of the Japanese Third Division were annihilated.

Under the desperate cover of the support troops of the Yegou Detachment, the breakout force tore open a breach from the south of Xinyang City.

They fled south in panic.

The once invincible "Lucky" Division is now incomplete, and there is even a possibility that its designation may be cancelled.

……

When the first flag of the Republic of China was raised again on the dilapidated county government building in Xinyang.

Qin Guoliang, the regimental commander of a regiment of the 7th Army of the Guangxi Army, was leading his troops cautiously across this desolate ruin.

A strong, pungent stench, like that of burnt feathers, filled the air.

Smoke was still rising from the collapsed houses on both sides of the street.

Suddenly, a faint, meow-like cry came from behind a broken wall.

Qin Guoliang stopped and waved to signal the troops to be on alert.

He personally stepped forward and moved several charred wooden planks aside.

Beneath the broken wall, a little girl, dressed in tattered clothes and covered in dust, was holding a cold, charred corpse, silently shedding tears.

Her eyes were large, but empty, devoid of any light, like two dry wells.

More and more people cautiously crawled out of the ruins and cellars.

They looked at the soldiers in gray uniforms, their eyes showing no joy at surviving a disaster, no excitement at seeing their loved ones, only numbness and deep fear.

The war had already crushed everything they had.

Qin Guoliang felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the pain making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

He looked at his equally young soldiers.

The soldiers were overjoyed by their victory.

Qin Guoliang then looked at his compatriots, who were like walking corpses.

A tremendous sense of absurdity and guilt instantly gripped him.

"Sir, is there any food?"

"Someone come here!" he roared, his voice trembling. "Give half of our military rations! Cook right here! Let the villagers have a hot meal!"

"Commander, this..."

The quartermaster was horrified: "Large-scale allocation of military rations requires approval from the military headquarters, and we..."

"If anything goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility!" Qin Guoliang grabbed his collar, his eyes bloodshot. "I told you to go, so go!"

Soon, more than a dozen cooking pots were set up, and white rice was poured into them, filling the county town with the long-lost aroma of rice.

After all, the Fifth War Zone was also located in North China, and North China suffered from localized drought in 42.

Even the main force of the Guangxi clique did not have much food reserves.

Those apathetic people finally showed a reaction when they smelled the aroma of food.

Like a startled herd of beasts, they hesitated, then slowly approached.

Just as Qin Guoliang was personally serving the little girl her first bowl of hot porridge, the sound of rapid hoofbeats approached.

Army Commander Zhang Gan, surrounded by a group of guards, rode up on horseback.

Looking at the scene of "the army and the people as close as fish and water" before him, his squinted face showed no trace of a smile, but instead instantly turned gloomy.

"Qin Guoliang!" He dismounted and shouted sternly, "Who gave you the audacity to use military rations without authorization?!"

"Commander." Qin Guoliang, holding a bowl of porridge, froze on the spot.

"The allocation of military rations for disaster relief requires the approval of the theater command headquarters!"

Zhang Gan's voice was cold and left no room for argument: "Stop it immediately! All military rations must not be used for any other purpose!"

……

Fifth War Zone, Laohekou Command Headquarters.

Li Pinxian also received a report from the front lines.

He looked at the description in the report about "unauthorized distribution of military rations" with extreme disdain.

"A woman's kindness!"

He snorted and threw the report on the table. "The fighting at the front has not yet ended, and logistics and supplies are already stretched thin. How dare you use precious military rations to buy people's hearts? It's a complete waste!"

He grabbed the phone on the table and connected directly to Zhang Gan's command center.

"Stop this foolish behavior immediately!"

Li Pinxian's voice was quite stern: "Not a single grain of military ration is allowed to fall into the hands of the people. The regimental commander who misappropriated military rations must be severely punished."

Zhang Gan then pleaded for Qin Guoliang: "Sir, the people of Xinyang are suffering terribly. They are so thin that they look like skeletons. It is only natural for Qin Guoliang to feel compassion. Sir, could you please spare him before he has committed any serious offense?"

"Let me tell you, Zhang Gan, even if we have to beg for food or gnaw on tree bark, we must never take a single grain of our military rations!"

"If one civilian starves to death, the army can still fight. But if military rations are distributed and the Japanese invade, more civilians will die and more land will be lost. Don't always think about being too compassionate. The relationship between the army and the people is fine, but it depends on the situation."

"If you want grain, let North China find a way to transfer it from the neighboring province or even the neighboring war zone. We must not touch the few military grain supplies that our Fifth War Zone has."

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief, what about Commander Qin?"

"Dismissed but retained..."
-
Japanese 11th Army, forward command post.

Yokoyama Yu stared blankly at the telegram from the Wild Goblin Detachment in his hand.

"The Third Division collapsed completely yesterday evening. Acting Division Commander Major General Ichikawa Sanjuro committed seppuku and died for his country. Most of the division was cut off and surrounded by the Chinese army, suffering heavy casualties."

The telegram slipped from his trembling hand.

"Jade shattered?"

How could thousands of combat troops have suffered such heavy losses in just one day and one night of fighting?

Yokoyama Isamu muttered to himself, his face filled with bewilderment and shock.

He couldn't understand it!
"Our attacking forces at the Shipai front also encountered an attack by Chinese forces that were four or even five times larger!"

"But they were still able to hold their ground and even organize an effective counterattack!"

"Why did such an elite unit as the 3rd Division perform so poorly when facing an enemy five times its size? Could it be due to poor communication, preventing our army from learning about the battlefield situation in a timely manner? Is there something we are unaware of?"

Chief of Staff Shimano Takeji, his face ashen, spoke with difficulty: "Commander, the Chinese army in Xinyang has a large number of artillery units supporting them, as well as bombers from the rear, and they are dropping a considerable number of aerial bombs."

"This is not a reason for the Third Division's defeat."

Yokoyama Isamu's roar became shrill with extreme anger: "Just because of these things, should a nearly full-strength main force brigade be completely wiped out in just over a month?"

No one could answer him.

Yokoyama Isamu paced back and forth in the command post, his chest heaving violently.

Anger, shock, and bewilderment.

All these emotions eventually coalesced into a cold, bone-chilling cold.

Perhaps they should have retreated long ago.

Perhaps, when the commander of the 3rd Division was killed in the bombing, they should have immediately abandoned the battle and switched to a defensive posture. Abandoning the position or rushing to the aid of Xinyang would have been better choices.

But now, regret is pointless.

Although they lost the Battle of Xinyang in northern Hubei.

But in western Hubei, they continued to inflict untold casualties on the pursuing Chinese troops with their tenacious fighting spirit.

Yokoyama Isamu stopped in his tracks, his gaze returning to the map: "Chu Yunfei."

He practically spat out those three words through gritted teeth.

Only him!
Only that man, hailed as the "Commander of War," could have brought the power of artillery and air force to such a level.

Without a doubt, the commander-in-chief of northern Hubei is Chu Yunfei!

"But."

Shimano Takeji raised a new and even more perplexing question: "Commander, you see, after the main force of the Fifth War Zone in China recaptured Xinyang, they did not follow the usual practice of advancing south to coordinate with the forces of the Sixth War Zone to launch an attack on our flank. They...they actually stopped where they were."

Yokoyama Isamu's gaze followed Shimano Takeji's baton.

"Internal strife..."

The word flashed through Yokoyama Isamu's mind in an instant.

He and Takeji Shimanoki exchanged a glance, both seeing the same look of sudden realization in each other's eyes.

"There are irreconcilable factional conflicts between the Fifth and Sixth War Zones of China, which is within the mountain city!"

"Hai!" an intelligence officer immediately chimed in, "It's no secret that the Chinese army is riddled with factions and infighting!"

"Presumably, the Guangxi clique is unwilling to expend its strength for the Central Army of the Sixth War Zone!"

Yokoyama Isamu frowned deeply.

Even the Nationalist army, riddled with factions and often embroiled in internal strife, was able to contend with their elite 11th First Front Army.

What if it's a united Chinese army?
Yokoyama Yu couldn't help but think of Okamura Yasuji, who was still struggling to maintain the situation in North China, and a feeling of admiration welled up in his heart.

If he were to serve as the commander of the North China Area Army...

By now, they have probably already lost their main force and could no longer maintain the stalemate.

Thinking of this, Yokoyama Isamu was filled with emotion.

Okamura Yasuji truly deserves the title of a great general.

No wonder so many high-ranking commanders value it so much.

The current situation.

Perhaps we should consult Okamura Yasuji, Chu Yunfei's "old rival" and commander of the North China Area Army.

Yokoyama Isamu couldn't think of a way to win, and even preserving his strength was a struggle.

He subconsciously switched to a different way of thinking.

Yokoyama Isamu imagined himself as Okamura Yasuji.

If Admiral Okamura Yasuji had been in command, how should the subsequent command have been exercised? (End of Chapter)