Image from the web
There is a record in Li Zongren's memoirs that Zhang Xingchen (Zi Zhong) and Pang Bingxun, who were also members of the Northwest Army, were brothers of the League. However, during the Great War of the Central Plains, Pang Bingxun was bribed by Jiang and took advantage of the night to attack Zhang Xingchen's position, causing Zhang Xingchen to be seriously injured and almost killed. From then on, Zhang Duchen vowed never to appear on the same battlefield as Pang Bingxun.
In the Battle of Linyi at the Battle of Taierzhuang, when Pang Bingxun was in a desperate situation, Zhang Xingchen donated his former suspicions and led his troops to rescue Pang Bingxun from danger, and the two reconciled as before.
Zhang Xingchen and Pang Bingxun are allies and brothers, but this paragraph of enmity and resentment may not be the truth.
Except for those recorded in Li Zongren's memoirs, there has never been a grudge between Zhang and Pang in other materials, including the memories of the generals of the Northwest Army. Even if it is mentioned in some later materials, it is a quote from Li Zongren's memoirs.
Li Fengming, then adjutant of the 40th Army of Pang Bingxun's 3rd Army, wrote an article specifically saying about this:
"I have served with General Pang for a long time, and I still remember the historical facts of the past, and Pang and Zhang have never had any grudges. Now that Zhang and Pang are in ancient times, the people of the country must not be misunderstood, making it difficult for Generals Pang and Zhang to go underground. ”
According to Li Fengming, the reason why Li Zongren recorded this incident in his memoirs was to confuse Han Fuyu's sneak attack on Pang Bingxun at Heishiguan in Gong County during the Great War of the Central Plains.
When the War of Resistance Broke Out, Zhang Xingchen and Pang Bingxun were not in a very good position.
First, let's talk about Zhang Xingchen (self-loyalty).
After the Outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident, the 29th Army was ordered to withdraw south to Baoding. Song Zheyuan appointed Zhang Xingchen as acting chairman of the Jicha Political Affairs Committee and mayor of Beiping, and perfunctorily with the Japanese army, delaying time.
At that time, Zhang Xingchen realized that his future life would not be good.
After the fall of Peiping, the Chinese people generally regarded him as a traitor, and the newspapers all called him "zhang rebellious and loyal."
After Zhang Xingchen fled From Beiping at great pains, although Song Zheyuan and others were on his behalf, Jiang also expressed his trust, but he still carried a punishment, and even the position of commander of the 59th Army was also an agent.
Let's talk about Pang Bingxun.
Although Pang Bingxun and Zhang Xingchen are brothers, their way of doing things is completely different.
Zhang Xingchen has a strong personality, is clear and righteous, and has a general understanding, while Pang Bingxun is sleek and sleek, and basically does not do anything to suffer losses.
Some people may say that the brothers of the alliance are worshipped because of the same spirit, and the personalities of the two are completely different, so why do they still marry brothers?
In fact, this is a kind of atmosphere of the Northwest Army, and it has nothing to do with the same spirit. As long as they are peers, they are almost all allied brothers. In the eyes of these old soldiers, only when everyone is a brother will they hold together on the battlefield and "try their best to attack, and save each other if they lose." Whoever fights among themselves is unfaithful and unjust.
But the more you pay attention to these, the more problems you have. During the Central Plains War, the northwest army was the one who prevailed in the wind of rebellion, and the generals of the northwest army like Song Zheyuan, Zhang Xingchen, and Liu Ruming, who resolutely refused to surrender to Chiang Kai-shek, were in the minority.
Sun Dianying, Shi Yousan and others were veteran defectors among the generals of the Northwest Army. But even so, as their allies, they could not do anything to them. Just like Gao Shuxun, he is Shi Yousan's allied brother, and after being ordered to execute Shi Yousan, he caused the dissatisfaction of Sun Liangcheng, who was also an ally.
In Sun Liangcheng's view, Shi Yousan deserved to die, but he should not be moved by Gao Shuxun, so he severed his relationship with Gao Shuxun.
During the Central Plains War, although Pang Bingxun also wanted to turn against him, he did not succeed (which proved that Pang Bingxun's sneak attack on Zhang Xingchen was a fictitious thing). He had to lead his troops across the Yellow River into Shanxi and accept Zhang Xueliang's incorporation.
Zhang Xueliang was also very interesting to Pang Bingxun, although Pang Bingxun only had one division, but Zhang Xueliang still gave him a 40th Army number. But Pang Bingxun's appetite was not something that a military commander could satisfy.
In May 1933, Pang Bingxun secretly accepted Chiang's bribe to serve as the commander-in-chief of the "suppression of bandits" in Chahar Province, and led the 40th Army and Feng Qinzai and Guan Linzheng to the Pingsui Line to prepare to attack Feng Yuxiang. Because Feng Yuxiang did not want a civil war, he was electrified and went to the field, and the battle did not start.
Just when Pang Bingxun thought that he had made a great contribution to Chiang Kai-shek and could sit firmly as the commander-in-chief of the "suppression of bandits" in Chahar Province, a paper transfer order arrived, and he was transferred to Henan to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army.
A small military leader like Pang Bingxun, Jiang Shi has seen a lot. Would he give Pang Bingxun the opportunity to sit on one side and develop his power?
Pang Bingxun Picture from the Internet
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Pang Bingxun was transferred to Cangxian County, Hebei Province, as a second-line unit of the 29th Army. In Cangxian County, Pang Bingxun's troops were expanded, and many Cangxian people were recruited into the army.
Cangxian has been the hometown of martial arts since ancient times, the quality of soldiers is very good, and Pang Bingxun's strength has been enhanced.
However, not long after, the 29th Army's defensive line was broken, and Pang Bingxun led his troops to block the Japanese Tenth Division of Isoya Lianjie at the yaoguantun line north of Cangxian County. After leading the troops to hold out for 7 days and 7 nights, they withdrew from their positions and moved to Jiangsu Toshan.
In Chiang Kai-shek's view, there is no need for Pang Bingxun's kind of contingent to exist, and there is not much strength in the air, so it is better to withdraw it and hand over the number and troops to his own concubines.
However, Pang Bingxun had already understood Chiang's methods, and after seeing that Chiang Kai-shek had the idea of withdrawing the organization, he immediately sent a telegram saying that he wanted to participate in the War of Resistance. You, Chairman Jiang, can't deprive me of my right to participate in the War of Resistance? For a unit that wants to go to the front, Chiang Kai-shek will not brave the world's great disobedience and forcibly withdraw its troops, right?
Sure enough, seeing that Pang Bingxun had repeatedly sent telegrams to the front line, Jiang Shi was really not good at withdrawing his troops. Seeing that Li Zongren of the Fifth Theater had repeatedly asked for troops from him, Chiang Pushed the boat and transferred Pang Bingxun's 40th Army to the Fifth Theater of Operations, stationed in Haizhou (present-day Lianyungang).
It is not known whether it was to encourage Pang Bingxun or to "disgust" him, pang Bingxun was transferred to the Fifth Theater of Operations and was even promoted and appointed as the commander of the 3rd Army.
According to the custom, a legion should be equipped with at least two corps, but Pang Bingxun's 3rd Army only had 5 regiments and more than 13,000 people. But even so, Chiang believed that there were too many soldiers, and ordered the 3rd Army to have only 4 regiments.
At that time, Pang Bingxun's army had a 40th Army under its command, and the 40th Army had only one 39th Division under its command. A regiment with only one division is also rare.
If the 5 regiments under Pang Bingxun's command were not satisfied, he could also split one regiment and supplement it into other regiments. But these 5 regiments are all fully organized, where to install Pang Bingxun?
But Jiang Shi didn't care about those, only gave 4 regiments of military salaries, and did not give more than one son.
In desperation, Pang Bingxun had to find Li Zongren and plead with Li Zongren to intercede with Chiang. Li Zongren was also a generous man, and he entrusted Bai Chongxi to speak to Chiang, and sure enough, he received an order from Chiang to allow the 3rd Army to maintain the status quo.
Pang Bingxun was willing to fight with strength in the Battle of Linyi, although he had the courage to resist the war, and his gratitude to Li Zongren was also an important reason.
Many people will think that Pang Bingxun only has 5 regiments of more than 13,000 people, and the equipment is not much better. But the reality is just the opposite, Pang Bingxun's ability to loot equipment is still very strong.
The five regiments under the jurisdiction of the 3rd Army had a total of 8,000 long guns, 900 short guns, 60 heavy machine guns, 600 light machine guns, 60 mortars, 4 mountain guns, and 300 war horses.
If these equipment are used to arm a legion, it is a little less, but to arm a division, even Chiang Kai-shek's concubine troops cannot compare.
In terms of the number of light and heavy machine guns alone, the number of machine guns in Pang Bingxun's division was even greater than the number of MECs in the late period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
It should be known that each division of the New First Army and the New Sixth Army is only equipped with 72 heavy machine guns and about 270 light machine guns. Of course, people have a lot of guns.
It should be said that Li Zongren's kindness was well rewarded, and he picked up the treasure.
Otherwise, how could Pang Bingxun block the repeated attacks of the aircraft, artillery and tanks of the elite Japanese 5th Division in Linyi?
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, compared with the "battle results" of the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army, the commander of the North China Dispatch Army, Terauchi Shouichi, could not sit still. The commander of his 2nd Army, Nishio Shouzo, approached him for three days and two ends.
Just as Terauchi Shouichi was being haunted by Nishio Shouzo, the order from the Japanese General Staff Headquarters arrived.
Previously, the reason why the Japanese General Staff did not agree to send troops from North China to fight south was out of consideration for the Soviet Union. In the winter of 1937, there was no indication that the Soviet Union would move in the north, which was a prerequisite for the Japanese army in north China to fight south.
At the same time, the "achievements" of the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army in the south also made them more contemptuous of Chiang Kai-shek. After capturing Nanjing and Shanghai, as long as Xuzhou is occupied in the north, the two fronts of the north and south can be connected, and the coastline from Shanhaiguan in the north to Hangzhou Bay in the south is controlled in their hands.
The Japanese decided to advance north along the Jinpu Line with the 3rd and 9th Divisions in the southern section of Jinpu Road; The northern section of the Jinpu Line took Jinan, Tai'an, Yanzhou and other places with the 10th Division, and the 5th Division came ashore from Qingdao and attacked along the Jiaoji Line, taking Xuzhou directly from Taierzhuang.
The Japanese plan was that the Fifth And Tenth Divisions would meet at Taierzhuang and then attack Xuzhou together.
The Battle of Xuzhou thus broke out.
Image from the web
For Li Zongren, he did not care much about Teng County, north of Xuzhou, because there was a Sichuan Army 22 Group Army stationed there. Coupled with other troops, there are 50,000 to 60,000 horses, how can they resist for a while.
What worried Li Zongren was Linyi, northeast of Taierzhuang, where there was no right-hand force stationed at this time. This could not help but make Li Zongren resent Han Fuyu. If Han Fuyu had not retreated without a fight, the Japanese Tenth Division would have wanted to pass through the Yellow River and Mount Tai, where would it have been so easy?
However, Han Fuyu retreated without a fight, disrupting Li Zongren's plans. It didn't matter that all the previous battle plans had been torn down, the key was that the troops transferred from the rear to Xuzhou were still on the road.
Although Bai Chongxi brought a Sichuan army to Xuzhou and placed it in the area of Zou County and Teng County, Linyi had no troops to send.
Just when Li Zongren was troubled, Pang Bingxun suddenly called to report on the garrison of the 3rd Army in Haizhou.
Originally, Li Zongren did not pay attention to the 3rd Army at all. But pang Bingxun's phone call made Li Zongren's eyes light up, and he was there!
At that time, almost everyone, including Xu Zuyi, chief of staff of the Fifth Theater, was surprised by Li Zongren's order to send the Third Army to defend Linyi.
What you know is that the Fifth Division is an extremely strong unit of the Japanese army, and the Third Army is a well-known weak brigade, so that the weak is the strongest, can Linyi hold it?
But at the beginning of the battle, the performance of the Third Army was eye-catching. Pang Bingxun changed the tactics of the past to preserve strength and frequently took the initiative to attack.
Although the results of the battle are not too obvious, it reflects that Pang Bingxun's motivation for this operation is not to preserve strength, but to control the initiative of the battlefield.
Where the weak side fights the strong side, the mere defense cannot be defended.
If you are already weak, and you have to defend everywhere, you will disperse the strength that is not strong and become weaker and weaker. A good way is to form a strong force in the local area, even if the other party is not destroyed, it will give the other party a hard slap, so that the opponent does not dare to be unscrupulous.
In the Battle of Linyi, Pang Bingxun adopted this style of play.
Pang Bingxun's style of play surprised it to the commander of the Fifth Division, Itagaki Seishiro. Because according to intelligence, although there were more than 17,000 people in this "miscellaneous" unit in front of him (including the local troops in Linyi), its combat strength was far inferior to that of his own brigade.
However, such a unit dared to take the initiative twice, breaking his plan to divide his troops and encircle Linyi, and Itagaki Seishiro felt incredible.
But Itagaki Seishiro is arrogant, and in his opinion, as long as the planes, cannons and tanks are on together, this "miscellaneous army" will be destroyed in an instant.
Therefore, Itagaki Seishiro did not talk about tactics at all, and wanted to overwhelm his opponents with firepower. But he grossly underestimated the Third Army's will to resist.
Although the Third Army had no aircraft, artillery, and tanks, it was not weak in individual firepower. In order to defend Linyi, Pang Bingxun lit up all the family foundations and confronted the Japanese army-for-tat, not retreating one step at a time.
Li Zongren wrote in his memoirs:
"The enemy's repeated charge and killing for several days, with casualties, could not cross the thunder pool one step. At that time, there were no less than dozens of Chinese and foreign reporters and friendly military attaches who accompanied the army in the Xuzhou area to watch the battle, and everyone could not imagine that the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army was actually frustrated by the "miscellaneous" troops that were not known. For a while, chinese and foreign noises were heard, and the sound of color was everywhere. ”
However, the Third Army was too small in number after all, and it had suffered more than half of its casualties after several days of bitter fighting. At the critical moment of the battle, as long as the Third Army was a living person who could hold a gun, all of them were sent to the battlefield by Pang Bingxun, and Pang Bingxun did not even have a guard left by his side.
Just as Pang Bingxun was struggling to support himself, Li Zongren called and said that Zhang Xingchen's 59th Army was coming from Yi County for reinforcements.
Yixian was 90 kilometers away from Linyi, and it would take a day and a half to arrive at the speed of the rapid march, which meant that the Third Army would have to resist the Banyuan Division alone in Linyi for at least a day and a half.
Replaced by other troops to help, Pang Bingxun may not be assured. But I heard that Zhang Xingchen came to the rescue, and Pang Bingxun was overjoyed:
"Zhang Xingchen, don't I know yet?" If I had changed someone else, I wouldn't dare to say, it was his little brother who made me take a reassuring pill. ”
This is another clear proof that Zhang and Pang have no grudge.
After receiving the news that the 59th Army had come to the rescue, Pang Bingxun adjusted the deployment, the whole army abandoned the forward position, shortened the defensive line, and the main force shrank at Linyi Chengguan.
After learning the news that Pang Bingxun had shortened the defensive line and the 59th Army had come to his aid, Itagaki became even more arrogant.
Because according to general military common sense, when reinforcements are coming, they should not abandon their external positions. Hold on to the front line and wait for reinforcements, and the front line will be more stable. Pang Bingxun suddenly shrunk the defensive line when reinforcements were about to arrive, which could only show that the strength of the Third Army was greatly damaged and was no longer enough to hold the outer position.
Moreover, the 59th Army that came to the aid was 90 kilometers away, and according to Banyuan's experience, the reinforcements were bound to drag their feet, and it would be good to arrive in Linyi in three days.
In these three days, as long as he strengthened his offensive, he would definitely capture Linyi before the reinforcements arrived, and then return to meet the 59th Army that came to help.
If all goes well, in the Battle of Linyi, the Fifth Division can not only capture Linyi, but also destroy the Third Army and the 59th Army, and the battle achievements will greatly exceed the Tenth Division.
However, Itagaki Seishiro underestimated the resilience of the Third Army, no matter how the Fifth Division attacked, the front line did not move.
On March 12, 1938, the situation on the battlefield changed. The 59th Army, which was supposed to arrive two days later as planned, reached the western outskirts of Linyi in a day and night. This was something that Itagaki Seishiro had never expected.
In order to let the troops arrive in Linyi as soon as possible, Zhang Xingchen adopted the method of marching in sections, and the forward troops did not carry heavy equipment, advanced lightly, and immediately occupied favorable terrain after arriving in Linyi. The follow-up troops arrived with some of their heavy equipment and deployed under the cover of the forward troops, while the others arrived on the afternoon of 12 March with all their equipment and weights.
Li Zongren Picture from the internet
To say that the 59th Army arrived in Linyi at a speed of one day and night made Itagaki Seishiro not expect it, and the ensuing battle was even more unexpected by Itagaki.
After Zhang Xingchen and his troops arrived in Linyi, he refused Pang Bingxun's request to let him enter Linyi and jointly defend Linyi, but instead took advantage of the light enemy that Banyuan did not expect to arrive in Linyi so quickly, and after completing the troop mobilization in one day, he suddenly launched a surprise attack on the Banyuan Division in the early morning of March 14. The battle lasted for three days, the Itagaki Division was defeated, the main Sakamoto Brigade was crippled, and all the positions on the linyi outer line were restored.
On March 18, just as the 59th Army and the Third Army were preparing to encircle the remnants of the Sakamoto Brigade, Li Zongren issued an order that the main force of the 59th Army, except for one brigade left under the command of Pang Bingxun, immediately moved to Fei County.
It turned out that just when the Linyi War was in full swing, Tengxian On the northern line of Xuzhou was lost, and the generals of the Wanyu Chuan Army were killed. In order to block the passage where the Japanese Isoya Division and the Itagaki Division converged, Li Zongren ordered Zhang Xingchen to urgently move toward Fei County.
Afterwards, it turned out that Li Zongren's deployment was a mistake.
Judging from the route of the isaya division and the Itagaki division, it was a tactic of attacking separately and jointly. If it is said that the Isogu Division, like the Banyuan Division, was blocked by Linyi and was also hindered by Tengxian County, the two divisions may merge. But the Isogu Division had already captured Teng County and was marching towards Taierzhuang, and there was no possibility of retreating to Fei County to join the Itagaki Division.
Moreover, the relationship between Ryosuke Isoya and Seishiro Itagaki has always been not very good. In this battle, Isotani Ryosuke made the first contribution in the battle against Teng County, which further aroused Itagaki's competitive spirit. Therefore, Itagaki would never expose his shortcomings, abandon Linyi and not fight, and instead join forces with Fei County and the Isogu Division.
Therefore, Li Zongren ordered the 59th Army to withdraw from the battlefield under the excellent situation of the 59th Army and the Third Army encircling and annihilating the Sakamoto Brigade, and the deployment of directly inserting fei county was wrong.
If it were not for Li Zongren's mistake, the Sakamoto Brigade, which had been severely depleted, would most likely have been annihilated in Linyi.
Sure enough, shortly after the 59th Army moved north, Itagaki mobilized heavy troops to rescue the Sakamoto Brigade and then launched another attack on Linyi.
At this time, the third army had lost most of its combat strength, and although it had strengthened a brigade of the 59th Army, it still could not resist the attack of the Itagaki Division. The telegram of the emergency flew like a snowflake to li Zongren's headquarters of the commander of the Fifth Theater.
Li Zongren was faced with a dilemma at this time. TengXian on the northern line has been lost, and the northern gate of Xuzhou is open. If Linyi loses again, the two main divisions of the Japanese army will really have to fight in LintaiErzhuang.
In desperation, Li Zongren had to mobilize the 59th Army, which was rushing to Fei County, to return to Linyi.
After receiving the order, Zhang Xingchen did not hesitate, immediately led the army back, and immediately threw himself into the battlefield.
The Banyuan Division, which was attacking Linyi, did not expect the 59th Army to return, and suddenly fell into chaos, and Linyi City was defended.
Just then, Itagaki received news that his rival Isoya Division had invaded Taierzhuang and was engaged in a fierce battle with the 2nd Army.
Seeing that the head was about to be taken by the Isoya Division, Itagaki Seishiro decided to break the cauldron and concentrate all his troops to launch a crazy attack on Linyi, but was once again repulsed.
Just then, Itagaki Seishiro received a phone call from the commander of the Japanese 2nd Army, Nishio Shouzo, who was scolding Itagaki: If it were not for the slow progress of the Fifth Division, why would the Tenth Division be caught in a tug-of-war with the 2nd Army in Taierzhuang?
Before the scolded Banyuan could return to his senses, another bad news came that the 57th Brigade of Chiang Kai-shek's army and a cavalry regiment of Tang Enbo's army had been reinforced to Linyi and were cooperating with the Third Army and the 59th Army to launch a counterattack against themselves.
At this point, Itagaki finally panicked. The main force of the Fifth Division was defeated and fled north. The Fifth Theater won the Linyi Victory.
The significance of the Linyi victory was that the left wing of the Japanese army attacking Taierzhuang along the northern section of the Jinpu Line was cut off, and the Japanese Isoya Division became a lone army.
It should be said that in the Battle of Linyi, Pang Bingxun made great contributions, and it is not an exaggeration to call him a hero of the War of Resistance. However, after Pang Bingxun was transferred to the battlefield behind enemy lines in North China in March 1939, the trajectory of his life has changed dramatically since then.
The purpose of Jiang's transfer of Pang Bingxun to North China was not only to fight in the battlefield behind enemy lines, but also to use Pang Bingxun to seize territory with the Eighth Route Army in the battlefield behind enemy lines in North China.
In order to strengthen Pang Bingxun's strength, Jiang assigned the 106th Division to Pang Bingxun, and Pang Bingxun finally had the title of two divisions.
In order to "repay" Chiang, Pang Bingxun began to work hard to engage in "friction" with the Eighth Route Army. In September 1939, Pang Bingxun was promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army because of his "friction".
In April 1943, more than 50,000 Japanese troops "swept" the Taihang Mountains, and Pang Bingxun led his troops to hide in the mountains. Pang Bingxun was 65 years old at this time, old and weak, unable to march, so he had to be carried by people to walk in the mountains.
Unexpectedly, the troops encountered the Japanese army, and Pang Bingxun and the large troops were separated.
At this time, Pang Bingxun's other allied brother, Sun Dianying, the commander of the Wang Pseudo-New Fifth Army, was at the bottom of the mountain, and he knew that Pang Bingxun could not leave that hobby, so he sent people to sit and wait at the tobacco house in the county town.
Sure enough, when Pang Bingxun sent people down the mountain to buy "hobbies", he was arrested by the people sent by Sun Dianying.
After learning where Pang Bingxun was hiding, Sun Dianying sent someone to find Pang Bingxun. After some haggling negotiations, on May 7, 1943, Pang Bingxun, a former "hero" who had made contributions to the neutrality of the War of Resistance, surrendered to the Japanese army halfway through.
After the victory of the War of Resistance, Pang Bingxun turned to Chiang Kai-shek and was entrusted with the post of commander of the Advance Army to prevent the Eighth Route Army from surrendering to the Japanese army.
After the outbreak of the civil war, Pang Bingxun's 40th Army was annihilated, and he himself was pushed out of the military circles. In 1949, Pang Bingxun went to the other side and opened a restaurant with a general of the Northwest Army.
If Pang Bingxun died in the Battle of Linyi, what he left to the world would be the heroic name of a hero of the War of Resistance. But he was late and became a traitor despised by the world.
On the other hand, Zhang Xingchen repeatedly made great achievements in the War of Resistance, although he was shot 7 times in the Battle of Zaoyi in 1940 and martyred heroically, but he received endless mourning.
As he himself put it:
"I am by no means Han Fuyu, he is bleeding on the battlefield every day, ma ge is wrapped in corpses, you know that I took the word 'Xingchen' meaning!"
Compared with Zhang Xingchen, who only lived for 49 years, Pang Bingxun lived until he was 85 years old.
In 1940, when Zhang Xingchen was killed in battle, I wondered if Pang Bingxun would shed tears?
In 1943, when Pang Bingxun surrendered to the enemy, I wonder if he would remember the scene when the two of them cooperated in Linyi to defeat the Banyuan Division?
In 1963, when Pang Bingxun was dying, would he have thought that he would have known that he would be a traitor, and it would be better to die in the Battle of Linyi!
If that were the case, he would have left the world with the name of a hero of the War of Resistance, rather than surviving for another 20 years in the name of a traitor.
This life is worthless!
Image from the web