Xu Shijiu generally does not participate in Gao Shenxing and others' discussions. First of all, he is not interested in politics. He always thinks that soldiers should be purer, especially not get involved in party disputes. Secondly, Xu Shijiu is actually very confused. In fact, he is like most officers and soldiers, and he doesn't know what is wrong with the national army.

However, this time, Xu Shijiu suddenly asked a question: "Old Gao and Zihan, do you think, what will happen if the Lanfeng Battle fails?"

For some reason, Xu Shijiu was not optimistic about the prospects of the Lanfeng Battle. Although the 1st Army, the 71st Army, the 74th Army and the 74th Army had actually formed a four-sided encirclement situation against the Dohihara Division, Xu Shijiu always felt that it would not be so easy to annihilate the Dohihara Division.

Gao Shenxing immediately agreed and said, "This is exactly what I am worried about. Once the Lanfeng Battle is defeated, the two major Japanese troops in North China and Central China will move westward quickly along the Longhai Railway, and more than 30 divisions gathered in eastern Henan will inevitably lead to a defeat. In the end, Zhengzhou will inevitably be lost, and the northern gate of Wuhan will also be opened by the Japanese army."

Li Zihan disagreed and said, "This is impossible, and the Lanfeng Battle cannot be defeated. Eighteen elite divisions besieged a division in the Japanese military region. Even though the Doihara Division is one of the so-called seventeen permanent divisions, there is really no reason to win. Of course, the entire Henan and Zhengzhou will definitely give up in the end, but it will never be so fast."

"What if?" Gao Shenxing insisted, "What if the Battle of Lanfeng will eventually fail?"

"Yes, what if there is a failure?" Xu Shijiu intervened again, "I wonder if you have heard of it. It is said that the Commander has formulated a plan. Once the Lanfeng Battle fails, the Yellow River embankment will be dug, and the flooded Yellow River flood will block the Japanese army's march towards Wuhan. I really can't imagine..."

Xu Shijiu's words stopped abruptly and the atmosphere suddenly became solemn.

"Digging the Yellow River embankment?" Li Zihan was shocked when he heard this. He really didn't consider this layer. As Xu Shijiu and Gao Shenxing were worried. If the Lanfeng Battle fails and the National Army really digs the Yellow River embankment, the consequences will be disastrous for the people in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and even the entire Huaihe River basin.

The Yellow River originated from the snowy areas of Qinghai-Tibet, flowed through the Loess Plateau, Guanzhong Plain and North China Plain, and finally poured into the sea. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, countless generations of emperors have built construction in Guanzhong and Chang'an. The original forests on the Loess Plateau have been almost cut down, which directly caused a large amount of water and soil loss, and the cement and sand of the Yellow River have fallen.

After the Yellow River left Sanmenxia eastward, the river surface suddenly widened and the water flow suddenly slowed down. The mud and sand carried in the river water gradually settled down. Over time, the riverbed increased year by year. In order to prevent flooding, the river embankment gradually increased, and the riverbed of the Yellow River gradually became higher than the ground and became an on-ground river.

It is the turn of spring and summer, and the Yellow River is in the flood season. Once the dam breaks, the rushing flood will surely flood. The Japanese army's road to west along the Longhai Railway will certainly be blocked, but at the same time, tens of millions of fellow villagers will be displaced for thousands of square kilometers of the entire Huanghuai River Basin, and there is no idea how many people will drown and starve to death.

Li Zihan licked his lips and said a little stingyly: "The National Government shouldn't do this, right?"

"It shouldn't be done?" Gao Shenxing laughed. Because of Chiang Baili, he had actually heard of this terrible plan for a long time. He said to Li Zihan and Xu Shijiu, "Zihan, captain, tell you the truth. The National Government has actually formulated this plan long ago, and it was formulated by German consultant Falkenhausen. Originally, when the Japanese North China Front Army drove south along the Pinghan Railway last year, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to dig a large embankment. However, later the Battle of Songhu broke out, and the Japanese turned the focus of the battle from North China to East China. Chiang Kai-shek did not dig the Yellow River embankment. However, once the Lanfeng Battle was defeated, Chiang Kai-shek would definitely dig the Yellow River embankment. For him, killing millions of people is far from delaying the Japanese advance westward."

"You are slandering." Li Zihan frowned, "I never believe the leader would do this."

"Don't believe it?" Gao Shenxing curled his lips and said coldly, "Then let's wait and see."

Li Zihan drank all the porridge in the bowl and snorted: "I still don't believe that the Lanfeng Battle will fail, so, Lao Gao, you may be disappointed, and the leader would probably have no chance to dig the embankment."

Before he finished speaking, a loud assembly call sounded in front of him. At that time, the officers and soldiers of the 19th Brigade quickly gathered and hurried westward with the main force of the 58th Division. That night, the 74th Army arrived in Lanfeng, the 71st Army and the 1st Army arrived at the same time, and launched a fierce attack on the Tufeiyuan Division entrenched in Lanfeng, Luowangzhai, Sanyiji and Quxingji overnight.

Song Xilian's 71st Army showed great combat power and fought outside Lanfeng that night.

On May, the 74th Army recaptured Lanfeng Station, the army recaptured Luo Wangji, and the 71st Army successively captured many Japanese strongholds outside Lanfeng. Faced with the national army swarming from all directions, the Japanese Doihara Division was exhausted and forced to give up Lanfeng in the evening of the day and break out in the direction of Sanyizhai.

Lanfeng was restored and the Longhai Railway resumed traffic. He had been waiting in Zhengzhou for several days. The Minister of Transportation Yu Feipeng, who had almost waited until his mouth was full of fire, could finally breathe a sigh of relief and sent several trains to Shangqiu overnight. The hundreds of war preparation materials stranded in Shangqiu were finally re-departed.

At the same time, the Doihara Division was surrounded by the Eastern Henan Corps in Sanyi Village.

After hearing the news, Jiang Jiang was very excited and sent a warrant to Xue Yue and the commanders of the front-line troops participating in the war, encouraging them to fight bravely and make contributions to the country. The subtext is actually that you bastards should not play tricks on me. No one is allowed to deliberately shirk responsibility in order to preserve their strength. They will all swear to fight me. After the troops are exhausted, I will make up for you.

Because of the large number of factions of the Kuomintang army, Chiang Kai-shek likes to balance and often makes the components of a unit very complicated, so the command system of the Kuomintang army has always been a problem. The same is true for Xue Yue's Eastern Henan Corps. In addition to Li Hanhun who also listened to hello, the rest, such as Hu Zongnan, Gui Yongqing, Yu Jishi, Song Xilian and Huang Jie, Xue Yue could not command at all.

That's why Chiang Kai-shek specially issued a warrant to the front-line troops before the general attack, requiring them to strictly obey Xue Yue's unified command. After receiving the warrant, Hu Zongnan, Song Xilian, Yu Jishi, Gui Yongqing and others chose to obey on the surface, but they still disagreed with Xue Yue's instructions in private.

The appearance of various units of the National Army finally gave the Doihara Division a chance to break through.

The old Japanese devil, Kenji Doihara, is still of course, and it is not in vain to be called China Universe. At least he is quite familiar with several national commanders of the Eastern Henan Corps. At the time of life and death, the old Japanese devil did not wait for death, but launched a counterattack on the 7th Army position with the cooperation of the air force on the P Japanese side.

Kenji Doihara chose Gui Yongqing's army as a breakthrough point after careful consideration, because Gui Yongqing's army had two records of fleeing without fighting in Dangshan and Lanfeng. In Kenji Doihara's view, the army's will and combat effectiveness were far inferior to the other national armies.

The final facts fully prove that Doihira's choice was extremely wise.

Under the fierce attack of the Doihara Division, the army suffered heavy casualties. Gui Yongqing made a quick decision and ordered the troops to move out of the front and temporarily avoid the Japanese army's front. At the same time, he ordered the RR division of Long Muhan, who was placed behind the army to defend his position to the death. In fact, he wanted to use Long Muhan's RR division as cannon fodder. Long Muhan followed suit and decisively ordered the troops to "attack and advance" towards Yifeng.

As a result, the Doihara Division easily broke through the encirclement that the East Henan Corps finally formed. Under the cover of the aviation force, they retreated to Hongmiao and rebuilt defense near Yangguji.

After hearing the news in Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek was furious and hated Gui Yongqing, who repeatedly ruined his major events, and Long Muhan was deeply hated, which laid the groundwork for the later liquidation. After the Battle of Lanfeng, Gui Yongqing was quickly removed from office, but at least he saved his life. Long Muhan was shot dead by Chiang Kai-shek. Long Muhan was also the first senior Huangpu general to be shot due to poor combat.

Of course, these are all things that happened later.

After the Tuofeiyuan Division jumped out of the encirclement of the National Army and advanced to Hongmiao and Yang Guji re-set the defense, Xue Yue quickly adjusted his tactical deployment and tried to seize the last opportunity to encircle and annihilate the Tuofeiyuan Division in Hongmiao and Yang Guji. However, Xue Yue had no time because Huang Jie's 8th Army could no longer withstand it.

After Li Hanhun's army and Yu Jishi's 74th army were transferred to participate in the Lanfeng Battle, only Huang Jie's 8th Army and Li Xianzhou's army were left in Dangshan. The two armies faced the two main divisions of the 13th and 16th Japanese troops. In addition, the Japanese had just repaired the airport in Xuzhou, bombers flew to bomb like mosquitoes, and the battle could not be fought at all.

The 8th Army, the First War Zone, retreated to Shangqiu after May P. Cheng Qian, commander-in-chief of the First War Zone, and Xue Yueyan, commander-in-chief of the First Corps, ordered Huang Jie to defend Shangqiu to the death. Before the Tuofeiyuan Division was annihilated, he would never give up his position even if he fought to the last one. However, Huang Jie did not listen at all and led the main force to retreat to Kaifeng, leaving only Peng Linsheng's 18th Pei to defend Shangqiu. Peng Linsheng's 18th Pei only persisted in Shangqiu for one night. The next day at dawn, the Japanese army had just launched a tentative attack, and Peng Linsheng also took the troops straight to Qi County.
Chapter completed!