Pang Bingxun is over 60 years old and has poor health. After years of war, he is very nostalgic for a quiet life. This happened when he was stationed in Yuncheng. He proposed to Yan Xishan that he wanted to hold a local position, but unfortunately he was interrupted by the sound of cannons from the July 7 Incident.

Although Pang Bingxun was unwilling to fight behind enemy lines, Chairman Chiang insisted on doing so, so he could only reluctantly (historically, he had complained about illness three times while serving as commander of the Hebei-Chahar War Zone, but none of them were approved).

When returning to the Taihang Mountain Base from Chongqing, Pang Bingxun had a brief stay in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng and had a close conversation with Sun Tongxuan, who was also a Northwest Army. In order to alleviate the hardships and dangers of the war behind enemy lines, Pang Bingxun hoped that Sun Tongxun could lead his army north, so he would lead his army south to attack the Japanese army in northern Henan, thus connecting with the Taihang Mountain Base.

In order to achieve his goal, Pang Bingxun promised to resign after he was ill and to give the positions of commander of the Hebei War Zone and chairman of Hebei Province to Sun Tongxuan.

It is naturally not possible to be granted personal positions, but Sun Tongxuan is the commander of the army, which is equivalent to Pang Xunbing. As long as he leads his troops into the Taihang Mountain base and Pang Bingxun resigns, he has the highest military rank and the highest qualifications, and it is still very promising to replace Pang Bingxun.

It is not easy to fight behind enemy lines, but Sun Tongxuan thinks this is not a way to escape from the differentiated control of the government. If you really become the commander of the war zone, your freedom will definitely increase greatly, and you will have your own territory. At that time, in the name of the commander of the war zone, you will expand your strength, unify military power, eliminate local separatism, reorganize and merge local armed forces, and provide supplies. Respond to each other during wartime, form a military advantage, and stand up hard.

Moreover, Sun Tongxuan thought for a long time. As long as western Henan, northern Henan and Taihang Mountain bases can maintain contact, the situation is unfavorable, they can lead their troops to retreat south. With Yang Tianfeng's help, they will not only have a great confidence in the planned battle of northern Henan, but also have various supplies from the rear after entering the Taihang Mountain base.

Therefore, Sun Tongxuan thought about replacing Pang Bingxun and set a lot of prerequisites. If these conditions were not met, he took a step back and continued to stay in the current western Henan area.

Yang Tianfeng did not know Sun Tongxuan's plan, and he belonged to the Shandong-Yuan Border Region. Sun Tongxuan was also the commander-in-chief of the guerrillas. He was a deputy, so it was reasonable to ask for reinforcements to help. His relationship with Sun Tongxuan has always been quite harmonious. Zhou Zunshi led his troops to come, and he was also surprised.

Without saying a word, Yang Tianfeng led the guard company to Shangqiu, met with Zhou Zunshi, and gave a warm welcome. In the evening, Liu Chen, the chief of staff of the Third Army, came to discuss, and Yang Tianfeng realized that Sun Tongxuan had plans to launch the battle in northern Henan.

"The Japanese army stationed heavily in Xinxiang and the Pinghan Line connects North China. It is close to it. There are also many Japanese troops in the important town of Anyang!" Yang Tianfeng pondered, not optimistic about the battle in northern Henan.

Liu Chen nodded and said, "Pang Bingxun's troops can actively participate in the war, break the Pinghan line, and try their best to prevent the Japanese troops from going south in North China or Anyang. Of course, the 35th Division of the Japanese army is indeed difficult to fight, and it also needs the support of Chief Yang!"

Yang Tianfeng didn't say anything for a long time. He was considering all aspects, such as the recovery of the New Seventh Army through the Battle of Huxi, the possible revenge that the Japanese army would carry out, and the troops needed to carry out the Battle of Northern Henan, etc.

According to the comparison of troops, Sun Tongxuan, Li Tiejun's troops, plus Pang Bingxun's troops, had 120,000 to 130,000 troops; there was no absolute chance of winning against a Class B Division with more than 20,000 people. Moreover, the reinforcements of the Japanese must be considered! Therefore, without the assistance of the New Seventh Army, this battle would basically not be fought.

After the Battle of Huxi, although the recruitment and recruitment work in the base areas have been underway, the damage can be quickly made up, and the total force may even increase. However, the territory has expanded, and the guards need more power, and the mobile force that can be extracted is not very abundant.

Yang Tianfeng looked at the map carefully and realized that the battle in northern Henan was beneficial to the development of the New Seventh Army. In northern Henan and Huxi, it was possible to form a huge clamp shape, clamping a large area including Heze to form a very favorable combat situation.

"If the battle in northern Henan can be won--" Liu Chen stretched out his hands and made a closed gesture on the map, "Puyang, Heze and other places will be under the attack, and the Shandong-Henan-Anhui border area will be in an extremely favorable position."

Yang Tianfeng nodded, but did not agree easily, and said slowly: "You can fight the Battle of Northern Yu, but when and how to fight, you still need to plan carefully. In addition, you also need to rest and restore after the New Seventh Army War, and you also need to stockpile and prepare for weapons and ammunition. Well, in short, you can't be too hasty!"

"You really can't be too hasty." Liu Chen knew that Yang Tianfeng was more cautious, but he never deceived him. Since he said he could fight and what he said was true, then wait patiently.

"It seems that Commander-in-Chief Sun is still very confident in the combat power of the Third Army." Yang Tianfeng smiled and eased the slightly nervous atmosphere. "Weapons and equipment, military morale, from the 81st Division, the Third Army has indeed improved a lot!"

"This is not thanks to Commander Yang's generous help." Liu Chen smiled and expressed his gratitude. "The salary is sufficient, the personnel is increased, and the equipment is strengthened. The combat power of the Third Army is much stronger than last year. Of course, this is not as good as the development of the New Seventh Army."

"Haha." Yang Tianfeng waved his hand and said with a smile: "The latter sentence is a bit fake. The New Seventh Army has been able to develop to this day, but it has received strong support from the Third Army. When the base was first established, the Japanese attacked heavily. If it were not for General Sun's delegation to send a delegation to the aid..."

After reviewing the history of friendly cooperation with the Third Group Army, Yang Tianfeng and Liu Chen had a long conversation before shook hands and said goodbye.

After Yang Tianfeng sent Liu Chen, he returned to the office and fell into long thoughts on the map again.

…………………

After fierce battles, Pei County was restored by the 25th Division; the enemy in Yutai and Jinxiang was strong, and retreated to Jining; Feng County was besieged by the Independent Brigade, and the 27th Division took Shan County directly; the defenders of Shan County abandoned the city and fled and entered Heze; the Independent Brigade received artillery support, exploded the city wall, attacked Feng County, and wiped out more than 800 Japanese and puppet troops.

After half a month of battle in Huxi, the victory ended with the result of annihilation of more than 10,000 enemies and restoring the five counties.

A batch of new recruits who have completed training quickly replenished. Now, the Shandong-Henan-Anhui border areas have recruited and recruited, and an average of more than 3,000 people join the army every month. The household registration statistics and conscription publicity in western Henan are almost completed, and a large number of conscription work is about to be carried out. At that time, tens of thousands of new recruits will wear military uniforms and become members of the New Seventh Army.

The war came to an end, but the small wars became more frequent. The infiltration of guerrillas in the Heze area began again.

Although Yang Tianfeng was reluctant to attract the attention of the Japanese army, there was no room for development when he shrank in a corner? Before the Japanese army decided to consolidate North China and fight for a long time, the threat of the New Seventh Army joining forces with surrounding friendly forces was not particularly great. If we don’t take this time to develop and grow, the situation will be very different when the old Japanese devil in Okamura sits in North China.

The two evils are the least of the two evils, and Yang Tianfeng repeatedly launched an offensive, which was forced to do so.

As soon as the Battle of Huxi ended, Yang Tianfeng stepped up his military operations in the Heze area because the situation was relatively favorable and the enemy's rule in the Heze area was not stable.

Although Japanese troops stationed heavily in Jining and Heze and divided their troops to guard the neighboring county towns, the vast rural areas were still unable to take care of them and were under the control of various forces.

Among all forces, enemy militias, stock bandits, and sects must resolutely attack them. However, local armed forces of the National Army under various nominal can be incorporated and rectified.

At that time, there were many local armed forces appointed by the state government in Heze area. For example, Sun Bingxian, a specialist in the Second Special Zone of Shandong Province and commander of the 22nd Column of Shandong Advance Marine, about 2,500 people; Zhang Ruiting, a specialist in the 16th Special Zone of the Kuomintang and security commander of the Shandong Province, and about 3,000 people; Wang Zhijie, a specialist in the Security Brigade in Dingtao area, had about 2,000 people; Cao Banting, a specialist in the 11th Special Zone and commander of the Seventh Route Army, and his subordinates Chen Boyang, Zhang Hanshan, Cao Guohui, Bian Jiu and other troops had a total of more than 20,000 people.

These places have different armed forces and a large number of people, but they have poor weapons and poor discipline. Without rectification, they cannot become combat-ready troops.

But Yang Tianfeng saw the long-term view and must use cruel means to shock the puppet army and enter Heze and Jining areas to launch operations to demonstrate the strength of the New Seventh Army, conquer people's hearts, and prevent these armed forces from becoming puppet army.

The battle differences between the puppet army, of course, are for free when fighting head-on with the New Seventh Army, but don’t ignore the role of the puppet army and the puppet regime. In places where the Japanese occupied areas are relatively stable, counties and towns can be coordinated with a small number of Japanese troops and a large number of puppet troops, and even the puppet army is completely controlled.

In addition to maintaining local public order, the puppet army could also help the Japanese army complete tasks including tax collection, grain collection, looting military facilities, robbing materials, and collecting intelligence, enslaving the people and anti-Japanese people, etc.

In the middle and late period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was precisely because of the emergence of a large number of puppet troops (the number even exceeded that of the Japanese army), which helped the Japanese army to realize the strategy of "fighting with war" and greatly alleviated the embarrassment of the Japanese army. With the puppet troops helping the garrison place and even collaborating with the Japanese army to sweep, the Japanese naturally freed up more mobile troops to encircle and attack the anti-Japanese armed forces behind the enemy.

Therefore, Yang Tianfeng should take action in advance and try to take over these armed forces in his own use; those who are like bandits will be eliminated to prevent them from becoming enemies in the future.

With the title of deputy commander-in-chief of the Shandong-Henan-Anhui Border Region, Yang Tianfeng still had some excuses and reasons for joining local armed forces.

At that time, in Shandong, in addition to the Eighth Route Army's regime, Shen Honglie's Shandong Provincial Government and Yu Xuezhong's Sulu War Theater were in a quarrel over the competition for power. Logically speaking, Yu Xuezhong entered Lu in the name of the commander-in-chief of the theater, and was responsible for the military and political responsibility of the two provinces of Lu and Su, and his official position should be above the provincial chairman. As the chairman of the province and the deputy commander-in-chief of the theater, Shen Honglie should be subordinate to Yu Xuezhong, but Shen made his own decision to request the Kuomintang Central Committee to appoint Yu Xuezhong as a member of the Shandong Provincial Government, and the Executive Yuan meeting also passed this appointment.

Therefore, Chen Honglie asked Yu Xuezhong to obey his orders as a member of the Shandong Provincial Government, which also shows Jiang's attitude towards Xuezhong. He did not trust Xuezhong and was unwilling to hand over the power of the Shandong party, government and military power to Yu Xuezhong.

Yu Xuezhong was dissatisfied with Chen Honglie's actions, so he made things difficult for Chen Honglie in terms of funds. Because the funds were uniformly submitted by the Central Committee of the Kuomintang to the Lusu War Zone Command by the Air Force, and then forwarded by Xuezhong to the Shandong Provincial Government and the newly-edition Fourth Division. During the forwarding, Yu Xuezhong was allocated as much as possible when the funds were sufficient; when the funds were insufficient, Yu Xuezhong made excuses or issued less. Yu Xuezhong had the initiative and had power in terms of funds, while Chen Honglie was greatly restrained and could not pay his subordinates on time, which affected his rule prestige.

Moreover, Yu Xuezhong's large-scale reorganization of Shandong local troops in the name of the war zone was even more dissatisfied. Many of these troops were controlled or tried to control. For example, Zhang Liyuan, Qin Qirong, Zhao Baoyuan, Li Wenli, etc. were all commissioners appointed by Chen Honglie, and their troops had been organized into security forces by Chen Dian. However, these troops were all reorganized into guerrilla troops by Yu Xuezhong. This reorganization not only weakened the strength of the Chen Honglie Security Command, but also forced Chen to reorganize the security forces under his jurisdiction.

The open and secret struggle between Chen and Yu naturally affected the supplies and future of armed forces in various places in Shandong. In addition, the provincial government and the theater command were both in southern Shandong and central Shandong areas east of Weishan Lake, and were far from reaching western Shandong and southwest Shandong. These troops appointed by Chen as commissioners or security brigades, not only were the shortage of funds, but also intermittent, but also did not know how to implement the orders issued by Chen and Yu.

In order to persist in the war of resistance behind enemy lines, reality is a survival skill that must be mastered. In other words, it is good to enjoy the cool air with a big tree on your back. The rise of the New Seventh Army provides these local armed forces with room for choice.

As early as the New Seventh Army recovered Shangqiu and other places, approaching western Shandong and southwest Shandong, many local armed forces sent people to contact each other, hoping to be included in the jurisdiction of the Shandong-Henan-Anhui border area, and the New Seventh Army solved the problems of weapons, food and salary.

The sky is high and the emperor is far away. Chen Honglie, and Yu Xuezhong is neither in charge nor help. For the sake of the future, it seems to be a good choice to surrender to Yang Tianfeng. Otherwise, being isolated and helpless would have to be defeated and eliminated in the competition between the three forces (National * Army, Eighth Route Army, Japanese and Puppet Army).

Yang Tianfeng first went to Shangqiu and briefly met with Liu Chen and Zhou Zunshi, and then rushed to Shan County to meet with representatives of local armed forces.

Taking advantage of the victory of the New Seventh Army, reviving Dan County, Jinxiang and approaching Heze area, Yang Tianfeng had issued an order as the deputy commander-in-chief of the guerrilla army. Many local armed forces sent representatives, and even couldn't wait to set out to enter the territory of the New Seventh Army, or approaching the New Seventh Army.
Chapter completed!