In September 1948, just after the Battle of Jinan came to an end, the acting commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army proposed to the CPC Central Committee the idea of launching the Huaihai Campaign, the main goal of which was to annihilate the Kuomintang Huang Baitao Corps and Li Yannian's Appeasement Zone in one fell swoop, and then capture Xuzhou.
In fact, Huang Baitao was the first among the many Generals of the Kuomintang to discover Su Yu's combat intentions, and he had offered advice to his superiors, but no one paid any attention to it, and he could only watch himself step by step become the prey of Huaye's army. Why is that?
After the zhongye and Huaye armies successively conquered Jinan, Zhengzhou, and Kaifeng, the Kuomintang 's Xuzhou generals' "suppression generals" were greatly shocked and quickly summoned the generals to hold a military meeting to discuss countermeasures.
The participants mainly included Liu Zhi, commander of the Xuzhou "Suppression General," Qiu Qingquan, commander of the Second Corps, Huang Wei, commander of the Seventh Corps, Liu Ruming, commander of the Eighth Corps, Li Mi, commander of the 13th Corps, Sun Yuanliang, commander of the 16th Corps, and Gu Zhutong, chief of the Kuomintang general staff.
When Liu Zhi announced the order of Sun Yuanliang and Liu Ruming's troops to transfer Bengbu south, the generals in the audience shouted and talked about it.
Among the generals, Qiu Qingquan had the greatest opinion and the strongest reaction. As early as last month, he was very dissatisfied with the abandonment of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, and now he wants to transfer Sun Liu to the south, and he can no longer bear it and expresses strong opposition.
At the critical moment, Liu Zhi neither backed down nor pestered, but insisted that "this is a commission." ”
Although Gu Zhutong's identity is "Chincha", he is well aware of Chiang Kai-shek's temperament, and he has not made up his mind where to fight, nor has he thought clearly about whether Xuzhou should stick to it, so he can only take the method of peace and mud to ease the contradictions between the generals.
Sun Yuanliang and Liu Ruming were the beneficiaries of the mobilization of troops, and at this moment they were anxious to get rid of the current difficult situation, and they were eager to leave Xuzhou far away.
Li Mi, Feng Zhi'an, and the generals who remained in Xuzhou were silent, each thinking about his own thoughts.
Among the generals, the most uneasy but silent person was Huang Baitao, commander of the Seventh Corps. Although he was a "miscellaneous card" among the generals, he was a very intelligent general.
At the meeting, the commanders of all the corps shouted that Su Yu was coming for his own corps, but he knew in his heart that Su Yu was really aiming at his Seventh Corps, and the signs of various aspects in recent days had made him even more convinced of his judgment.
But Huang Baitao also understood that he was "raised by his harem" and could not compete with Qiu Qingquan's concubines. But for himself, but also for his Seventh Corps, he could not fail to speak.
After pondering for a long time, he finally turned the corner and said: "According to the situation of the enemy and ourselves, I thought that Napoleon's 'regimental centralized campaign' should be adopted, shrinking the eastern and western fronts, gathering troops around Xuzhou, and changing the first line into a huge group that was rigorous. ”
He went on to say: "The advantage of this is that once the enemy comes to attack, the profit will be fought out, and the unfavorable group will hold on, wait for its fatigue, suddenly attack, aim at one part and quickly annihilate it, and then wait for the opportunity to annihilate one of them." With such repeated changes, it is difficult for him to last no matter how many troops he has, and the day when the enemy retreats is the time when our army will win the decisive victory. ”
To be fair, Huang Baitao's strategy was more feasible than Du Yuming's offensive defense, and all the generals attending the meeting were as clear as mirrors, but none of the generals opened their mouths except for staring at Huang Baitao with cold eyes.
Among the generals, Liu Zhi was bent on carrying out Chiang Kai-shek's words that he did not necessarily stick to Xuzhou, while Gu Zhutong, who was Huang Baitao's old commander, did not approve of it, and there were two other secrets that others did not know.
A few days ago, Huang Baitao had mentioned that the Seventh Corps was inappropriately placed in Xin'an Town, or that the Eastern Expedition to Haizhou or the West to Xuzhou was withdrawn, but Liu Zhi did not agree.
The next day, Huang Baitao mentioned it again and made a long explanation. Liu Zhizheng was uneasy and in a very bad mood because he had abandoned Zheng Biao, so he told Gu Zhutong that Huang Baitao was afraid of the enemy and did not want to defend Xin'an Town.
Huang Baitao was formerly the chief of staff of Gu Zhutong's Third Theater and had a good relationship with Gu Zhutong. Gu Zhutong thought to himself, why don't you discuss this idea with me? He was not happy about it.
Today, Huang Baitao proposed a new battle strategy, and Liu and Gu were preoccupied, believing that Huang Baitao was going to leave Xin'an Town around the bend, so he deliberately ignored it.
Other than that
Huang Baitao is not a concubine but is good at war, it is inevitable that he will be jealous, and the more clever his plan, the more no one will buy it.
It can be said that Huang Baitao was one of the first generals to perceive that there would be a major war in the Xuhuaihai area in the near future.
Others believe that Su Yuyuan was seriously injured and needed at least two months to recuperate. Huang Baitao did not think so, he thought that Su Yu not only had the strength to fight, but also had all kinds of signs of fighting.
However, when Huang Baitao told this view to Liu Zhi and Gu Zhu in person, Liu and Gu zhu could not listen to it at all, saying that he exaggerated the enemy's feelings and increased the morale of others.
The more Huang Baitao thought about it, the more restless he became, and after the meeting, he specially wrote a "Report on the Enemy's Movements" to Gu Zhutong and Liu Zhi, pointing out that lunan, luxi, ganyu, northern Jiangsu, and the people's liberation army in central Jiangsu were all in action, and it was already a trend of mountain rain and wind.
Liu Zhi adopted an attitude of ignoring it at all, and Gu Zhutong said: "The characteristics of the communist army launching a big war are sudden and rapid, and although everywhere is now moving, it is very slow, and it is searching step by step. After I voluntarily gave up Zheng Bian, Chen Deng still did not dare to boldly go east. The above-mentioned various trends show that Su Yu needs a big rest, not to mention the signs of a big war. If you catch the wind and catch the shadow, you should not say it casually, in vain to confuse the military's heart. ”
"Pathetic! It's pathetic! Huang Baitao, a man who had always been very cautious, had to complain to his old subordinate Chen Shizhang, the commander of the Twenty-fifth Army, when he had no way to speak.
As the saying goes: The wind rises at the end of Qingping. As a general, Guicha took the opportunity to prevent trouble, and now the wind has blown, but we are still in the dream, how terrible! ”
Changing to another general, he had already reached the heavens, but Huang Baitao could not, and the reason was that there were four words - there was no backer. After all, he was a "miscellaneous card", not a concubine, and he was already extremely lucky to be able to climb to today's position in the cracks of the Kuomintang officer field. At present, everyone else is drunk and he is awake, but no one pays attention, who can he help?
Huang Baitao's judgment was correct, and soon after, Su Yu commanded Hua Ye's army to surround his Seventh Corps in the Nianzhuang area and annihilate them all.