On December 15th, 1937, the National Government released a piece of news, the most humiliating piece of news to the Japanese army since the Anti-Japanese War.
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers! The 1st Independent Brigade defeated the elite 58th Battalion of the Japanese Army in Chuzhou and killed the commander of the regiment, Takada!”
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers! The 87th Independent Brigade of the National Army defeated the Japanese army in Chuzhou. They defeated the Japanese elite team with a weak force and seized a complete team flag!”
"Selling newspapers! Selling newspapers! General Zhou Weiguo of the National Independent First Brigade defeated the Japanese army in Chuzhou. The Japanese army pursued without success! We have successfully obtained a flag!"
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers! General Zhou Weiguo defeated the Japanese elite regiment, opening a precedent in the history of the War of Resistance, killing their regiment commander with a weak force! They had seized the first united flag since the Anti-Japanese War!”
.....
The voices of the paperboys were echoing in all major cities such as Chengdu, Changsha, Taiyuan, Nanchang, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Xi'an, all of them promoting Zhou Weiguo's victory. The higher-ups mainly focused on the matter of Zhou Weiguo seizing the Japanese flag.
The reason why they could influence the whole country in such a short period of time was very simple. This was naturally the result of the Congress Party adding fuel to the fire.
The chairman had the intention to put him in an important position, and the elders of the Congress Party also went with the flow and prepared to support Zhou Weiguo.
I believe everyone knows about Zhou Weiguo's background. He's the son of a legitimate elder, the second generation of an official, and the second generation of a rich family.
His father was a veteran of the Congress Party and had extensive connections. Even the four great clans below had close ties with it. Zhou Jixian himself was a member of the Jiangzhe Consortium. Zhou Weiguo's father-in-law, Taishan Xiao Jianru, also had a wide range of influence. It was with the help of many people that Zhou Weiguo's name soon began to resound throughout the country.
The National Government also announced that after a period of time, they would publish the appearance of the captured flag in the newspapers.
Yes, Zhou Weiguo was famous. He was known to the world after one battle. He was referring to Zhou Weiguo. He had obtained a united flag in one battle. This was a big deal!
However, Zhou Weiguo was famous, but there were also people who were so angry that they gritted their teeth.
In Nanjing City, the temporary garrison headquarters
"Eight ~ Caw ~"
"Swish ~ Bang ~"
Ishiki Matsui, who had just arrived in Nanjing and hadn't even had a sip of hot tea, suddenly received this news. He was so angry that he chopped a vase in front of him into pieces.
At this moment, his face was flushed red, and his eyes were bloodshot. No one knew if he was angry or something else.
"Where's Dizhou? Why didn't he come to see me?"
After a while, Matsui's anger still hadn't subsided, but it looked like he was going to use the Dizhou Ribing to vent his anger.
"Commander, Sir Dizhou is currently chasing after that army.”
The 6th division's major general, Gu Shoufu, and the other major generals in Nanjing were looking at Matsui with unease.
"What's the result now? Did you get the flag back?"
"There's no result yet!"
"Bang ~"
Ishihara Matsui slashed the table again. He had never been so angry before, and he was scared to death.
If he didn't handle this matter well, his position as the commander of the front army would be unstable. It was even possible that the headquarters would ask him to commit hara-kiri because this was a big matter.
"Pass on my order, stop all massacres in the city. Other than the 114th division, all troops leave the city immediately. The 3rd division, the 68th vanguard regiment, immediately head to Chuzhou and occupy Chuzhou. Send a message to the 5th division commander, Itagaki, telling him that in order to retrieve the lost flag, the Guoqi Division will not return it for the time being. Have the Yamada Division and Guoqi Division advance towards Hefei.
The 6th division immediately headed to Mussel Hill, and the 9th division headed to Huainan. Their mission was to block the northern side of the city. The army would head south, and at the same time, block the commander Zhou Weiguo's intentions.
The 18th division immediately went to Lu 'an and took down Lu' an, blocking the path of the Chinese army.
The 16th division immediately entered Jiangbei and began to search for Zhou Weiguo. The 101st and 11th divisions immediately abandoned their original plan and gathered at the Huai River region.”
After Matsui Ishihara finished speaking, he looked angrily at the major generals below and said,"Gentlemen! This was a disgrace! It was a disgrace to the empire. The flag of the Empire was actually taken away by a small Chinese. This mission is to retrieve the lost flag! We must get the flag back at all costs, do you understand?”
"Ha ~ Yi ~"
All the major generals shouted.
Zhou Weiguo did not know that his operation had saved hundreds of thousands of people.
Zhou Weiguo still underestimated the importance the Japanese placed on the United Flag. He did not expect the Japanese to place so much importance on the United Flag.
Because of Zhou Weiguo, the massacre that had just begun in Nanjing was forced to stop. All the Japanese troops began to gather and stop all massacres.
The defense of Nanjing was under the command of the 114th Regiment Commander Suematsu Shigeji. After taking over Nanjing, Suematsu Shigeji ordered the soldiers to gather all the prisoners.
Because the 6th division had caused a lot of damage to the city, he needed to use the captives to repair it.
..........
When Ishihara Matsui gave the latest order to move out of Nanjing, Zhou Weiguo was currently gathering the scattered soldiers.
Over the past few days, Zhou Weiguo had been gathering the guards and moving forward.
Along the way, the Japanese's vanguard had attacked Zhou Weiguo's troops several times.
However, at this moment, Zhou Weiguo was playing guerrilla tactics with the Japanese. If they could win, they would fight. If they couldn't win, the Japanese would run when they were close. He led the 13th Regiment to roam around the area north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River.
And it was in this kind of guerrilla tactics that the morale of the defeated soldiers that Zhou Weiguo had gathered began to rise. The biggest problem with these defeated soldiers was their low morale. In terms of combat quality and the quality of the soldiers, the quality of the central army of the national army was not low at the beginning of the war. Many of them were veterans.
As morale began to rise, Zhou Weiguo also felt that it was time to stop the guerrilla warfare.
It was not possible to continue guerrilla warfare. If he wanted to truly develop and become the main force of the anti-Japanese war, he had to face the Japanese head-on. Therefore, under such circumstances, Zhou Weiguo began to advance towards Huainan.
And now, Zhou Weiguo was on his way to Changfeng County.
"Weiguo, our army has grown to more than 7,000 people. But now, other than our old troops, the other troops are lacking in weapons and ammunition. Moreover, all kinds of weapons are mixed in. There are Zhongzheng rifles, German Mauser 24 rifles, Hanyang rifles, and other weapons. It's too chaotic. We can't go on like this!"
Sun Xinpu said as he walked beside Zhou Weiguo.
"Hehe! Xinpu, don't worry! We are about to enter Changfeng County. After entering Changfeng County, my father will send over a large batch of weapons and equipment. At that time, we will have to carry out a comprehensive reorganization and increase the number of heavy weapons. Now that our troops have morale, the remaining weapons and equipment will be easy to deal with!”
Zhou Weiguo chuckled. There were already 7,000 people. As long as they relied on the Huai River, he would dare to fight the Japanese here. After chasing him for so long, if he did not eat these Japanese, he would not be a man.
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