Chapter 1456: High-Profile Arrival
June 21st!
It was already 10 days after Tang Dao was attacked!
Because the 40th Division chose to withdraw, several infantry divisions withdrew and returned to their bases.
The war zone specially welcomed the senior generals above major general of several infantry divisions participating in the war.
Although the Si Xing Regiment was unable to participate in the battle because its leader Tang Dao was injured in the attack, the theater headquarters still sent an invitation to the Si Xing Regiment headquarters in order to ease the mood of the officers and soldiers of the Si Xing Regiment.
This is actually more symbolic than practical. It means that the theater headquarters regards the Four Troops as the main force. This was the case before and is still the case now.
Since Tang Dao was attacked first, and so far, except for a colonel-level senior staff officer in the General Staff Department who is suspected of being a spy, the Military Police Department has questioned people everywhere and has not caught anyone else in the war zone who has connections with the Japanese. .
Although it is confirmed by the military that the Japanese has been lurking in China for 25 years and is actually a very high-level spy for Japan, no matter how this Japanese spy has authority, it is only to inquire about confidential documents, which is really difficult to It is still an unsolved case to explain how the 200 Japanese troops sneaked into the war zone where the army was stationed, and where the Garand rifles equipped by the Japanese soldiers who were killed came from.
Obviously, the current investigation results of this incident will not be satisfactory. Even if the military commander removes all the top leaders of the action team in the 5th theater and transfers all the key personnel, no one will buy it.
In this context, General Li did not think that the Four Elements Group would send anyone to participate.
The theater headquarters was clueless, and the military command was vague and ineffective in pursuing the case. Anyone would feel like they were being targeted.
But the Four Elements Group actually agreed.
Not only did he agree, but the person who came to the theater headquarters was Leng Feng, currently the third most powerful figure in the Si Xing Regiment, the Regiment Chief of Staff.
But this time, Leng Feng didn't just bring a guard squad like Tang Dao. This time the Four Lines Regiment dispatched 16 assault jeeps, 11 TKS tanks, a cavalry company and a heavy force company.
The convoy, war horses, and heavy-duty packhorses traveled nearly two miles. It looked like they were going to a banquet, more like they were going to the front line.
The turbulence of the Fourth Line Regiment seemed a bit loud. Even before the cold front arrived at Hekou County, where the theater headquarters was located, the news that the Fourth Line Regiment even sent out tanks as guards had spread throughout the headquarters.
"The Four Troops are here to demonstrate to us! What's the matter? It's not enough for them that a small regiment leader was attacked by the Japanese. The reconnaissance cavalry in the war zone was all over the place and all the troops were in panic. We, the battle-hardened brigade commanders, also had to watch them. The look on his face? The cavalry, the tanks, the jeeps equipped with heavy machine guns, and a young lieutenant colonel are really impressive! Brother Yuntai, don’t you think so?” In a restaurant in Hekou City, an army officer The major general said with a cold snort.
"Haha! It is said that once you are bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of the well rope for ten years. The last time Tang Dao was bitten by a Japanese accidentally, he almost died. It is natural to be more cautious this time, and it is right.
But this is both a jeep and a tank, so it is really quite wealthy and enviable! It turned out that there were only rumors that Tang Dao had an unclear private relationship with the daughter of the Rockefeller Company. Looking at it now, that relationship is probably not unclear, but endless! Tsk tsk! "The other Army Major General did not fully answer the question. Instead, he chuckled and brought the topic to the extremely gossipy relationship between men and women.
"Brother Yuntai is right. I think Tang Dao's reputation on the battlefield in North China is just because he obtained some sophisticated equipment by hugging the thighs of foreign-haired women. If brother Yuntai you have these equipment, your reputation will only be higher. Not low." The Army Major General complimented with a smile.
"Don't dare to take Brother Haoran for such praise. Your army is the direct descendant of the principal. To have these equipments, of course your army will be given priority. Our 11th Group Army will be attached to Jiwei. Remember to support us with the guns that will eliminate your army. Xia I am very grateful!" The Army Major General who was praised waved his hands repeatedly.
These two, one is the major general brigade commander of the 139th Brigade of the 107th Division of the 70th Army, and the other is the brigade commander of the 137th Division of the 84th Army of the 11th Army.
The two were originally incompatible with each other, but today the theater headquarters rented out this restaurant. A few division commanders and senior leaders of the theater headquarters shared a private room, and the remaining six brigade commanders who arrived at the headquarters and Leng Feng, who was about to arrive, shared a private room. .
The major generals and brigade commanders of the 67th Army are not very fond of the 70th Army. This time when Tang Dao was attacked, the local garrison of the 70th Army cannot be blamed for the failure to rescue them. Naturally, those major generals of the 70th Army will not pay attention to the major general of the 70th Army. .
After observing for a while, the major general and brigade commander of the 70th Army, who was unwilling to be lonely, could only focus on the breakthrough point of the 11th Army, the also lonely major general and brigade commander.
It was known that although this man was young, only 38 years old, his speech was impeccable. The brigade commander of the 70th Army Major General accepted all the complaints made by the Si Xing Regiment, but did not agree with him blindly at all.
This may also have something to do with the lieutenant general and division commander who died in the Battle of Zaoyi last year. In the Battle of Zaoyi, General Zhang's death was an irreparable loss for the Fifth Theater and even for the whole of China. However, the 84th Army 137 The death of Division Lieutenant General Zhong Yi also dealt a heavy blow to the 11th Group Army.
During that period, the entire 137th Division seemed to have awakened, and ranked first in the 11th Group Army in both combat and training.
This major general brigade commander was still a colonel commander last year. Because his brigade commander was promoted to division commander, he was promoted from regimental commander to brigade commander and entered the ranks of generals.
The Guangxi clique originally didn't like the Central Army clique, and now the major general brigade commander of the 70th Army wanted to find this person as an ally, which was the wrong person.
But obviously, the fact that the major general of the 70th Army didn't find a suitable ally doesn't mean that no one has any opinions about the high-profile Four-Line Regiment.
For example, the major general officers who came to accompany the Fifth War Zone Command didn't say anything, but they all looked unhappy.
This displeasure mainly came from the fact that the Four-Line Regiment escorted their chief of staff so high-profile. Did they look down on the guard troops sent by the war zone?
The war zone command learned the lesson of the Tang Dao attack this time. The security division specially transferred a security regiment to set up defenses outside the headquarters. After entering the county town, there was a sentry every three steps and a guard every five steps. There was a guard company outside this restaurant alone.
If the Japanese still want to attack, they must at least send an infantry regiment to sneak into the war zone to have a slight possibility.
Especially, after Leng Feng, escorted by two jeeps with heavy machine guns and a dozen cavalrymen, arrived at the restaurant, this dissatisfaction was clearly written on his face.
How arrogant was Leng Feng? He looked up and coldly looked at the restaurant and the guards standing on both sides. Leng Feng waved his hand, and two jeeps arrived at the street corner dozens of meters away from the restaurant. The heavy machine gun belt was not unloaded. The war zone guard platoon leader came forward to talk and handed over a cigarette, and the heavy machine gun shooter who had his hand on the heavy machine gun refused.
The dozen cavalrymen were even more awesome. The four cavalrymen who jumped off the horse first tied the reins of more than a dozen strong war horses to the pillars on the roadside, and then took out the equipment from the equipment wrapped in rain cloth on the back of the war horse. A few machine guns with a faint blue luster were fine, but there were also small-caliber mortars.
More than 10 cavalrymen carried these equipments that were enough to raze the restaurant to the ground and entered the houses on both sides. They set up machine guns above the houses to guard the area around the restaurant. It was unknown where they put the small-caliber mortars.
Anyway, for the major general officers watching all this in the restaurant, they knew very well that if someone really wanted to rush into the restaurant, the crossfire formed by several machine guns would be able to shoot the intruder into a sieve, and the two small cannons hidden somewhere would also turn this place into a sea of fire.
This warning firepower is awesome enough, but it is really too much. Those who don’t know would think that Leng Feng, a small army lieutenant colonel, is the commander of the theater!
To be honest, even if Commander Li came out for dinner, it has never been like this.
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However, it seems that the order was personally issued by Commander Li. The Four-Line Regiment can conduct security and alert for the officers coming to the headquarters and sign the order personally. Even the major guard battalion commander in charge of the security of this area can only watch these soldiers set up guns and cannons on their own territory.
"It is rumored that Commander Tang has two powerful generals under his command. One is Lei Xiong, who has been promoted to the head of the Ji'nan Administrative Office Security Regiment, and the other is Leng Feng, the chief of staff of the Four-Line Regiment. When I saw him today, just by looking at the security deployment, my colleagues and I knew that Chief of Staff Leng's reputation as a powerful general is well-deserved. I am Zhu Nairui. It's a pleasure to meet you, Chief of Staff Leng! Nice to meet you!" The deputy chief of staff of the theater and deputy commander of the security division, the major general of the army, who came downstairs to greet him, smiled in a formal way.
As the deputy commander of the security division, although he did not personally participate in the preparation of today's security, he was also his direct subordinate. The Four-Line Regiment was so arrogant in front of his subordinates, and it was no wonder that he was a little sharp in his words.
It was a compliment to Leng Feng, but the subtext was: You are just a small colonel, but you are being aggressive to us real generals. Are you being aggressive to the wrong people?
This man sneered at Leng Feng as soon as they met. If it were someone with a hot temper like Cai Yongguan, he would probably get angry on the spot.
You are either the deputy chief of staff or the deputy division commander. All the special ones are deputy. Why are you jumping out to be a big garlic?
Leng Feng didn't.
Because, before arriving at the beginning of the Fifth War Zone, Tang Dao mentioned the names of more than a dozen generals in the Fifth War Zone to the people in the Four-Line Regiment Headquarters, including this name.
This Major General Zhu will become the commander of the main division of the 7th Army of the Guangxi Clique, known as the "Steel Seventh Army" in the future.
The 7th Army was so fierce that you can tell from its combat resume. In October 1937, it was ordered to participate in the Battle of Songhu and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. The price was the death of Qin Lin, the commander of the 511th Brigade of the 171st Division, and the sacrifice of two-thirds of the soldiers. Then Pang Hanzhen, the major general and commander of the 510th Brigade of the 170th Division, was killed.
The 170th and 172nd Divisions went to Wuxing and Nanxun to deploy defenses in mid-November to cover the retreat of friendly forces from Songhu. They fought bloody battles with the Japanese invaders for more than ten days. Xia Guozhang, the deputy commander of the 172nd Division, was killed in the Wuxing blocking battle, Wei Jiansen, the commander of the 1043rd Regiment, was killed, and Xie Zhiheng, the acting commander of the 1016th Regiment, was killed. More than seven or eight out of ten soldiers were killed or wounded.
After the battle, three major generals of the 7th Army died in the battle. Of the 20,000 soldiers who participated in the battle, less than 5,000 remained. The name of the "Steel 7th Army" spread like wildfire.
Even if the person who could become the commander of the main division of the "Steel Seventh Army" was not particularly capable, he was still a confidant in the heart of General Li. Moreover, Tang Dao specially added four words to his evaluation of this person: "Patriotic General".
"Report to Commander Zhu, Commander Li ordered that in order to prevent the June 11 incident from happening again and to avoid the morale of our Four-Line Regiment from fluctuating, our alert standard is the first-level alert during wartime. If there is anything wrong, Leng Feng apologizes to all the commanders on behalf of Commander Tang! Please forgive me, Commander Zhu and all the commanders!" Leng Feng's face was still cold, but he was very polite when he raised his hand to salute.
There was no arrogance at all.
And the reason was very sufficient. This was the order of the commander of the war zone, not the Four-Line Regiment's desire to be unique.
This is indeed the case. Only those who know the inside story of the Tang Dao attack understand how much hair General Li has turned white in the past 10 days.
Not to mention that there is a very high-level Japanese spy hidden in the war zone headquarters, and up to now, the Four-Line Regiment has not been given a reasonable explanation. The commander of the war zone can't even find a reasonable explanation to his subordinates. Is this reasonable? This is unreasonable.
Anyone who is not a fool knows that there must be an invisible hand behind this matter controlling everything and gradually erasing the truth.
At this time, the nerves of thousands of people in the Four-Line Regiment are naturally sensitive and fragile. If they are not careful, this string will be completely broken. Even General Li can only maintain it carefully to prevent the morale of the Four-Line Regiment from fluctuating.
"Commander Li is very caring for the Four-Line Regiment! How could we object to the commander's order? Chief of Staff Leng, please! I don't know how the injury of Commander Tang is. If I have time, I will definitely visit him on behalf of my colleagues in the General Staff."
Major General Zhu originally wanted to wait for this cold-faced lieutenant colonel to respond. He just took advantage of the unequal military position to reprimand him and let the high-profile Four-Line Regiment lose face. Unexpectedly, Leng Feng was polite and neither humble nor arrogant, and his words were also very polite. The previous tone was actually eliminated.
As the deputy chief of staff who reads the Shipai battle report every day, he is probably one of the few people in the war zone who knows best how fierce the Sihang Regiment is.
That was a tough infantry regiment that killed more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers by itself!
Take this Leng Feng, Lieutenant Colonel Leng, for example. He led an infantry battalion in Sifang Bay and defeated the Jingu Detachment. According to the report from the staff officer sent by the war zone to inspect the results of the battle, there were more than 2,300 Japanese corpses piled in front of the Sifang Bay position.
Major General Zhu, who once served as a brigade commander and participated in the Jiangxia Defense War, knew how difficult it was to kill 2,000 Japanese soldiers. His infantry brigade fought with two Japanese infantry battalions for five days and nights, but only killed 400 Japanese soldiers, but paid a price of 40% of the losses.
"Commander Zhu's kindness, I appreciate it on behalf of Commander Tang."
Leng Feng then remembered that his superior seemed to be the chief of the first section of the Operations Department of the General Staff. In this way, this Major General Zhu was Tang Dao's direct superior. The superior personally went to see his subordinates, which was a natural way to express closeness.
With this relationship, the two of them instantly became close from the previous tension.
"This idiot, he got scared when someone greeted him politely."
The major general of the 70th Army was very disdainful of Major General Zhu's quick change. Even when Leng Feng saluted and asked him a question after he walked into the hall, he returned a military salute indifferently, and his hand did not even raise to his cheek.
Leng Feng did not take it as an offense. He talked a few more words with several major generals of the 67th Army, and then stood aside consciously.
After all, this is basically a stage for generals. He is several levels lower in rank. He can be alert because he has the commander's military order to be high-profile, but his words and deeds here must be low-key.
The headquarters attached great importance to this welcoming banquet. Before the officers arrived, they specially arranged opera to liven up the atmosphere.
There were traditional Peking operas and anti-Japanese dramas rehearsed by female soldiers from the propaganda department of the theater headquarters. Several major generals who arrived at the restaurant an hour or two in advance were cracking melon seeds while watching the performances on the stage, shouting from time to time, and the atmosphere was still very warm.
Leng Feng sat in the corner, sitting upright, looking at the stage very seriously, but his facial expression was still cold.
This lived up to his nickname of "cold wood". Even a major general of the 67th Army who had met him once took the initiative to chat with him, but the atmosphere became cold after a few words.
Not long after, Chief of Staff Leng, who had come to the scene in an assault jeep and became the focus of the audience, became a small transparent person in this restaurant. Even the major general of the 70th Army selectively forgot about him.
It was not until the arrival of the chief of staff of the theater lieutenant general that the banquet officially started.
Leng Feng jumped back into everyone's sight again.
Until then, these army major generals knew why the Four-Line Regiment would appoint such a taciturn chief of staff to attend the welcoming banquet.
Because, unlike Tang Tuanzuo, he is like a peerless sword, whose peerless sharpness can be felt just by looking at him. He is more like a sword hidden in a scabbard.
If it is not drawn out, no one will notice it. Once it is drawn out, blood will splash five steps away!
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ps: I went to the county to do some work yesterday. I originally wanted to come back as soon as I was done, but my classmates in the county insisted on staying for dinner. Fengyue was not good at drinking, and with the strong liquor that my classmates made, I was drunk after one glass. I went to the hotel to take a shower and went to bed. I didn't even ask for leave. Sorry!