Chapter 1466: The Shadow of War (Thanks to the Book Friend Yixiao Yichenyuan for the Reward!)

In fact, in the Pingxingguan battle, although the Eighth Master won the final victory and seized so many spoils, his own losses were very heavy.

However, the significance of this battle is far-reaching.

At the very least, the victory of this battle brought great confidence to the people of the whole country.

In particular, other anti-Japanese armed forces in the Taiyuan war zone were full of confidence after hearing about this battle.

Before this, some soldiers always thought about fighting the Japanese who were armed to the teeth before and during the war.

Unexpectedly, the Eighth Master won the victory with such unbearable weapons and equipment.

The Eighth Master is so powerful, why can't I win the battle?

In addition, this battle has another aspect for the Eighth Master.

After this battle, the Eighth Masters constantly summarized the gains and losses of the battle, and brewed the concept of guerrilla warfare in the enemy's rear battlefield.

Because he was busy participating in the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Jiangyin, Ye Tian did not rush to Taiyuan to participate in the Battle of Taiyuan.

According to the historical memory before the time travel, Ye Tian knew that there would not be any big battles in the next month.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Ye Tian decided to continue to move around the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The island country had just occupied this rich area, and next, they would definitely think about stabilizing the situation first.

Of course, the clamor from the island country's headquarters showed that the island country wanted to take another three months to completely destroy China.

Therefore, Ye Tian calculated with his fingers and knew that a large-scale battle could break out at any time.

In other words, it is very likely that the island country will take the initiative to launch the Battle of Xuzhou in less than a month!

In the real history of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Battle of Xuzhou started in January 1938 and ended in June.

At that time, the soldiers of the Fifth War Zone of China, under the command of generals such as Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, launched a large-scale battle with the North China Front Army and the Central China Front Army of the island country.

The center of this major battle was located in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

The reason why Xuzhou became the center of this large-scale battle is very simple, that is, Xuzhou's geographical location is too important.

Since ancient times, Xuzhou has been a battleground for military strategists.

In the Republic of China period, Xuzhou became the center of China's north-south and east-west railway arteries.

In terms of north-south railway lines, there is the famous Jinpu Road in the Republic of China period.

The Jin in Jinpu Road refers to Tianjin.

And the Pu in Jinpu Road refers to Pukou outside Nanjing.

Tianjin and Nanjing have been extremely important cities in China since a long time ago.

Especially Nanjing, which is also regarded as the capital.

Although Tianjin is not the capital, it guards the historical capital of Beiping, that is, Beijing.

Obviously, Tianjin's geographical location and strategic position are also very important.

What's more, Tianjin has some large or small seaports near the Bohai Sea!

The Longhai Road in the east-west direction of China is also a railway artery.

The Long in Longhai Road refers to Lanzhou, the central city in western China.

And the word Hai refers to Lianyungang, a coastal city in northern Jiangsu Province.

In fact, the Battle of Xuzhou was a large-scale defensive battle for China along these two railways.

The reason why the island country took the initiative to launch this major battle was very profound.

In the Pingjin Campaign in July 1938, the island country had occupied Beijing and Tianjin in North China.

In the later period of the Pingjin Campaign, the island country repeatedly encroached on other areas in North China.

For example, in the Taiyuan Campaign, the island country aimed its spearhead at the Shanxi area in North China.

Nowadays, the island country has occupied a large part of the Central China region and the East China region in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

And in the middle of these two large island countries' occupied areas, it is still the Kuomintang-controlled area of ​​China.

Naturally, the island country thought about connecting these two occupied areas.

And the focus of these island countries' troops is to try to open up the Jinpu Line!

In fact, just after occupying Nanjing, the 13th Division of the Central China Front Army began to cross the Yangtze River from Nanjing to the north and attack the Anhui Province.

At the same time, the 10th Division of the North China Front Army also began to cross the Yellow River to the south, occupying Jinan and other cities in Shandong Province, and continued to attack to the south.

In a word, in order to realize the plan of quickly destroying China and connect the two major battlefields in the north and south, the island country regarded Nanjing and Jinan as strategic bases.

The key point is that with these two bases as the center, Xuzhou City will be attacked from the north and south along the Jinpu Line.

Speaking of this major battle, one person must be mentioned.

This person is none other than Han Fuju, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone and commander-in-chief of the Third Army Group!

It is regrettable that in the face of a powerful enemy, Han Fuju, in order to preserve his strength, did not care about the overall situation at all, but made a small calculation.

According to the plan of the Supreme Command, Han Fuju should be responsible for the defense of the area north of Xuzhou.

And Han Fuju's advantage is that he has the natural barrier of the Yellow River.

In other words, as long as Han Fuju leads his troops to stay near the Yellow River and defend it, it will be difficult for the North China Front Army to break through the position.

Unexpectedly, Han Fuju played a wave of escape before fighting!

Han Fuju's escape before fighting has very serious consequences.

This situation allowed the Japanese troops of the North China Front Army to drive southward along the northern section of the Jinpu Line.

Even after receiving Li Zongren's harsh defensive orders and trying to recapture various positions, Han Fuju still turned a deaf ear to them.

Han Fuju's move cast a shadow on the failure of the Battle of Xuzhou, and ultimately led to another disastrous defeat for China.

What makes people applaud is that shortly afterwards, Han Fuju was shot in public by the Chinese Supreme Command under the pretext of convening a national defense conference.

And Han Fuju's position was also taken over by Sun Tongxuan.

In fact, Han Fuju was the first senior general in China to be shot in public during the Anti-Japanese War.

After taking the Yellow River without bloodshed, the Central China Front Army and the North China Front Army were shocked and continued to deploy troops.

The most important thing is that after discovering that the situation was very good, the appetite of the island country headquarters became bigger and bigger.

According to the idea of ​​the island country headquarters, after successfully taking Xuzhou City and taking all the Jinpu Road, the next step is to take Zhengzhou west along the Longhai Line.

That's not all. They also wanted to take over Wuhan along the Pinghan Railway from Beijing to Hankou!

To this end, the two stubborn forces mobilized a total of eight divisions and five brigades.

The total force was as high as 240,000!

The Chinese side was unwilling to fail in the grand strategy, and in order to continue the long-term war of resistance, they also quickly and continuously deployed troops.

Under the command of Commander Li Zongren, there were a total of 64 divisions and three brigades.

The total force was only 600,000.