Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

This really couldn't be better news.

Exciting.

It not only boosted the morale of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, but also boosted the morale of the entire Eighth Route Army, and even the morale of the entire War of Resistance Against Japan.

The 8th Column's telegram also stated that they had captured the Mongolian Army's Lieutenant General, Kan Shigetaro. The Mongolian Army's Chief of Staff, Inamura Toyojiro, was leading a small force to the airport in an attempt to escape. At the airport, they encountered the 1st Brigade Cavalry Regiment and were killed in action by the cavalry.

"The commander of the Mongolian army was captured?"

“Yes, he was captured alive by the cavalry regiment.

"Hahaha."

Marshal Nie couldn't help but burst into laughter.

This battle was well-fought, not only killing the Major General Chief of Staff of the Mongolian Army, but also capturing the Lieutenant General Commander alive. This was the first active-duty Japanese general captured by the Eighth Route Army in its history. It could be said that this was the first time since the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance that the Chinese army had captured a Japanese general. While both the Kuomintang and Communist Party armies had killed active-duty Japanese generals before, capturing one was a first for the Chinese army.

And the person he captured was the commander of a Japanese army.

It's really morale-boosting.

"Send a telegram to the Eighth Column, asking them to compile the battle report and the casualties as soon as possible, and then report back."

"Yes.

"Also, forward the telegram sent to us by the Eighth Column to Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters. Tell them the good news as well.

"Yes."

"Boss, look at this. Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun fought brilliantly in this battle. Using fatigue tactics, a combination of false and real attacks, and a surprise attack, they took Zhangjiakou in one fell swoop. They're truly the Eighth Route Army's most outstanding rising stars in recent years."

Conquering Zhangjiakou, what great news.

After the telegram from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region arrived in Yan'an, it caused a sensation among the central leadership in Yan'an.

Many leaders initially had some reservations about Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun. At a time when the Party Central Committee was ordering a "streamlining of the military and administrative system," they dared to demand the formation of a mobile corps. They even boasted that starting with Chahar, they would spearhead the transformation of the strategic stalemate into a strategic counteroffensive. They could also use this as a catalyst to launch a strategic counteroffensive throughout the Jin-Cha-Ji region. They were truly boastful.

And they even dared to attack Zhangjiakou.

They even felt that the Chairman was too partial to them by agreeing to their unrealistic request.

However, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun ended their doubts with their real combat achievements.

Zhangjiakou, the central city of Chahar, was captured by the Eighth Route Army. From then on, Zhangjiakou would become a city controlled by the Eighth Route Army. This is truly amazing.

It should be said that after the outbreak of the July 7 Incident, it was the first time that the Chinese army recaptured a regional central city like Zhangjiakou from the Japanese army.

Although the Nationalist troops also captured cities, many of them were recently lost and then recaptured, or the Japanese chose to abandon them.

Instead of the same situation this time, the Eighth Column captured the city where the Mongolian Army Headquarters was located and wiped out the Mongolian Army Headquarters.

The chairman was even happier.

The ideological situation within the Party is now complex.

Although the New Fourth Army had suffered the Southern Anhui Incident, using bloody facts to teach some erroneous views a lesson. Even Wang Ming had become much more honest than before. However, some people within the Party still failed to see such obvious facts, and some even advocated slogans such as "Everything for the War of Resistance" and "Everything obeys the united front."

It seemed as if without the Kuomintang and the National Government, we would not be able to resist Japan and would not be able to win.

But this ideology had a strong foundation. It stemmed from the Communist International and the Soviet Union behind it. Concerned about its own Far Eastern security, the Soviet Union hoped that China could contain the Japanese. In the Soviet view, the only force capable of containing the Japanese was the Nationalist government. With millions of troops, the Nationalist government was China's most formidable anti-Japanese force. The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, however, initially consisted of only tens of thousands of troops, and the Soviet Union looked down upon them. Therefore, the Soviet Union placed its hopes on the Nationalist army to contain the Japanese, consistently supporting Chongqing rather than Yan'an.

So there is the saying "Give arms to Chongqing, and books to Yan'an"

The argument.

This is the root cause of this kind of thinking.

Many within the Party didn't truly believe this was correct, simply because it came from the Communist International. They trusted the Communist International, or rather, worshipped it and the Soviet Union. They almost regarded the words of the Soviet Union and the Communist International as imperial decrees.

Although the Chairman had always opposed it, he had never been able to completely resolve this issue. The Chairman had previously wanted to resolve the political line issue during the Soviet period in order to correct the trend within the Party that followed the lead of the Soviet Union and the Communist International.

But the resistance is too great.

Many central leaders disagreed with resolving the political line issues left over from the Soviet areas.

That is why the Chairman launched the Rectification Movement.

This kind of thinking must be thoroughly eradicated within the Party.

At this moment, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region presented a great gift. The Eighth Column's capture of Zhangjiakou was a signal to those within the Party that the Eighth Route Army did not need to rely on the Kuomintang and could fight the Japanese independently behind enemy lines, with considerable success.

The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, their bases were all seized from the Japanese.

This has nothing to do with the so-called "everything is subject to the united front." Even without the Kuomintang, the Jin-Cha-Ji region would have thrived just as well. This is simply using facts to show those within the Party that the Eighth Route Army can develop independently. It's using facts to prove the Chairman's position.

So the chairman was particularly excited.

This would give him more confidence in launching the Rectification Movement. Furthermore, the Chairman could demonstrate to the Soviet Union that the Eighth Route Army was capable of containing and annihilating the Japanese army. He could boldly ask the Soviet Union to support the Eighth Route Army if it provided military aid in the future.

"I never thought we could actually capture Zhangjiakou. This will usher in a new era for the anti-Japanese war in this area.

"Ah."

The chairman looked at the map and nodded.

He lit a cigarette and said, "Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei should continue to develop towards Hebei. Compared to Shanxi, Hebei has more resources and a larger population. As long as Jin-Chahar-Hebei can stabilize western, eastern, and central Hebei, the entire game will be viable. The future direction of the Eighth Column should be to develop towards Rehe, eastern Hebei, and the northeast. Rehe and eastern Hebei have a population of tens of millions, and the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army could have made great progress."

Thinking about the future development of the 8th Column, the Chairman was somewhat dissatisfied.

The Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army had been established for three years, but its development had been neither fast nor slow, and it still fell short of the central government's expectations. Originally, it was hoped that the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army would become another Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei North Yue Region, but its development hadn't even reached the tail end of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei North Yue Region.

Instead, the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army was plagued by internal conflicts and subsequent problems. Xiao Zijing, a former corps commander and deputy commander of a front army during the Red Army era, and a former deputy commander of the 120th Division, should have been able to command the troops with ease. However, despite the dismissal of two experienced officers, Deng Guo and Song Shilun, the leadership issues within the army remained unresolved. The Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army remained uncoordinated, with each unit operating independently.

The chairman also has a headache.

Now looking at the Eighth Column, the Chairman is placing his hopes on them.

"If the Eighth Column advances towards Rehe, how will it deal with the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army?

The commander-in-chief asked the biggest question.

Rehe was the territory of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army. Although the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army had only modest development, its leaders were highly experienced and high-ranking. The Chairman said, "Let the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army manage the Jidong base area well."

The Chairman has been dissatisfied with the advance of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Army for a long time.

They even considered disbanding the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army. However, the Jin-Cha-Ji region was about to launch a fateful counter-mopping-up operation, and it would be inappropriate to adjust the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army at this time. After all, the Yi-Re-Liaoning Advance Army would be needed to coordinate with the counter-mopping-up operations of the Jin-Cha-Ji Beiyue District and Yi-Central Military District. Once this counter-mopping-up operation was over, the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army would have to be adjusted.

The commander-in-chief nodded and said, "That's right. The Ji-Re-Liao Advancing Army has built a good base in eastern Hebei, which is also good.

The commander-in-chief's expectations for the advance into Hebei, Rehe and Liaoning were lowered again and again.

Chapter 424 Rage

The recapture of Zhangjiakou first produced a sensational effect on the North China Front Army and the Eighth Route Army.

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were both incredibly famous within the Eighth Route Army. While the Eighth Route Army cadres had heard of them before, they were still junior figures. Even if they had killed a Japanese general, everyone would have simply said they were lucky. But this time, no one would say that anymore.

After all, Zhangjiakou was taken.

Four years had passed since the Eighth Route Army crossed the Yellow River eastward, and they had captured hundreds of county towns. Whether it was the 120th or 129th Division, or the Jin-Cha-Ji, Central Hebei Military Region, East Hebei Military Region, or the Shandong Eighth Route Army, all had captured county towns. And these weren't just one or two. Each of these military regions had captured dozens of county towns. In total, the entire Eighth Route Army system had captured hundreds of county towns. Of course, some of these counties were captured, only to be lost later.

But taking the county town and taking Zhangjiakou are two completely different things.

This is Zhangjiakou.

For the Eighth Route Army, Zhangjiakou was a truly major city. Even during the Red Army's peak years, capturing a city as large as Zhangjiakou was a difficult task. Yet, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun managed to capture it.

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun quickly became stars within the Eighth Route Army system. They were truly known to everyone.

Now everyone knows the names of Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun.

Of course, the reputations of the two men within the Japanese army rose to a new level. Okamura Neiji was furious in Beijing. If it weren't for his impending sweep of the Hebei-Central Military Region, he would have wanted to organize over a dozen divisions to completely annihilate the Eighth Column. That damned Eighth Column had now occupied Zhangjiakou, destroyed the Mongolian Army Headquarters, and controlled the entire Chahar region.

After the loss of Zhangjiakou, Ningji Okamura was successively reprimanded by the headquarters and the expeditionary force.

However, this matter was not limited to the Eighth Route Army system and the North China Front Army, but began to slowly ferment to other places.

How big is the impact?

Newspapers across China were reporting on this event. Many newspapers were effusive in their praise of the Eighth Route Army's resistance to the Japanese, and highly praised the Eighth Route Army's capture of Zhangjiakou. The impact of this event was comparable to the earlier victory of the 115th Division at Pingxingguan, and the Hundred Regiments Campaign of 1940. The War of Resistance had been incredibly difficult in the previous few years. Not to mention the events leading up to the Battle of Wuhan, the subsequent struggles were also incredibly difficult.

Although the Japanese army did not advance as rapidly as before, it was still conquering cities in China.

The national army has been retreating.

In recent years, we haven't heard of any major or influential cities being recaptured by the Chinese army. Now the Eighth Route Army has taken Zhangjiakou and even announced control of the entire Chahar region, which has left a huge impression on the people of the country.

Who said the Eighth Route Army just roamed around without fighting?

Zhangjiakou is right there.

Many young students had already gone to Yan'an in large numbers before.

After the news of the Eighth Column's recapture of Zhangjiakou spread throughout the country, the Eighth Route Army's reputation soared. Some young students, wavering in their feelings, decided to go to Yan'an to witness the Eighth Route Army's struggle against the Japanese in North China. Within a short period of time, the number of applications to the Eighth Route Army offices across the country surged.

As the commander of the 8th Column, Wang Qiuyun was the focus of all reports. His title as a famous anti-Japanese general resounded throughout China.

"Damn it, look at these newspapers. Are our national army all good-for-nothings?"

chongqing.

Chiang Kai-shek was furious.

They had clearly tried their best to suppress the Eighth Route Army, blocking its imports and exports, leaving its bases short of supplies. They even sometimes collaborated with the Japanese army to raid its forces. Yet, despite such efforts, the Eighth Route Army was not only not annihilated, not weakened, but actually grew stronger. They had even captured Zhangjiakou.

It was a slap in the face of the Nationalist government and Chiang Kai-shek.

Look at those newspapers.

While reporting on the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese war, he highly praised the Battle of Zhangjiakou.

On the one hand, it also implies that the National Army fought against Japan and mocked the Chongqing government. Although many newspapers would not openly say what the National Army was like, those scholars liked the "Spring and Autumn style" the most.

There isn't a single dirty word, but I'm still badmouthing you.

Many newspapers today are like this. They don't directly say how bad the Nationalist army is, but implicitly they criticize the Nationalist army for having the best equipment and the most pay but not doing a good job of fighting the Japanese.

Such sarcastic voices can be found in abundance in the newspapers.

How could Chiang Kai-shek tolerate such a thing?

He Yingqin, Chen Cheng and other senior generals of the Nationalist Army remained silent.

They hadn't imagined the Eighth Route Army could actually capture Zhangjiakou. They couldn't understand why. It wasn't like they hadn't fought the Japanese before. How could the Eighth Route Army, with their limited weapons and equipment, have captured Zhangjiakou?

Chiang Kai-shek is now furious, what else can we say?

We can only wait until Chiang Kai-shek has finished his temper.