The most glorious page of Tang Enbo’s Anti-Japanese War was the Battle of Taierzhuang. Under Sun Lianzhong's direct defense, Yube's 20th Army Corps fought out from behind the Isoya Division. The elite group of Guan Linzheng and Chen Daqing cut off the Japanese army's retreat like wolves and tigers, and only killed the Japanese army until they turned around and ran to Yi County. The cut-off Japanese army resisted in the village, and Yubu set fire to the Oriental roasted rats, which was very satisfying. (It is also said that Tang did not set the fire, but that the Japanese soldiers imitated the Suga family in the Warring States Period and burned their houses to commit mass suicide when they ran out of ammunition.) In the first battle of Xuzhou, China won a great victory. The people in Wuhan cheered that Commander Li Zongren was driving the Japanese into the sea. , the morale of the whole country was greatly boosted.

The famous journalist Robert Capa happened to be on the front line in Xuzhou at that time. Through his works, the prestige of "Taierzhuang" spread throughout the world. The numerous tanks abandoned by the Japanese army in the photos recorded the heroic achievements of the Chinese people.

In Taierzhuang, Tang Enbo also began to be questioned by public opinion for the first time. It was believed that he had refused to save others, allowed Teng County defender Wang Mingzhang to be martyred, and was not active enough in attacking the Japanese army from behind.

Some military historians once said that he once "measured the military maps of the time inch by inch with a ruler" and observed Tang Enbo's whereabouts. He concluded that Tang Enbo did not act passively at that time, but did his best. Full strength.

In my personal opinion, Tang Jun's situation at this stage should be analyzed from two perspectives.

The first one is whether Tang Enbo deliberately delayed the attack on the back of the Isoya Division to resolve the siege of Taierzhuang.

The reason why Tang Enbo was criticized here was that Isoya once only placed one large group in front of Tang Enbo, and Li Zongren repeatedly urged Tang Enbo to attack as soon as possible as Li Zongren requested.

Personally, I think Tang Enbo made the right decision even if he delayed.

First of all, let’s look at the Japanese army’s approach of sending a brigade to stop the 100,000 Tang army. Some people think that Tang Enbo was afraid of the enemy and did not dare to attack. This may be a view that does not understand the characteristics of the Japanese army's combat operations. In fact, the Japanese army used a brigade as a typical complete combat unit in the battle. Placing a brigade in front of the Tang army did not expect it to block the Tang army, but it was enough to hold back the Tang army. It would not be possible to quickly eat up a complete Japanese army brigade. easy.

In the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Japanese army covered the retreat of the entire army, and only used Yano Keiji's brigade to successfully retreat. Even if the Tang army has strong combat effectiveness, it does not have the military strength, firepower, and mobility of Vandegrift on Guadalcanal. The Japanese army used a brigade to contain Tang Jun. This confidence was not excessive. Once the Tang army and the Japanese army were engaged before the Japanese army fully committed to frontal combat, the Japanese army could easily mobilize enough troops to fight against the Tang army on the plains by relying on its mobility.

Tang Jun's timing of attack can be said to be quite good. A little later, Taierzhuang fell, and Tang became Liao Yaoxiang in the Battle of Jinzhou. A little earlier, the Japanese army still had the energy to turn around, and they could only beat the enemy but could not defeat it. Tang Legion attacked at the moment when the Japanese punched and his arms were fully extended. The so-called fatal blow played a crucial role in Taierzhuang's victory.

Although my views are only personal, the winner is not blamed. I don’t think I should be too harsh on Tang for investing in Taierzhuang reinforcements at his own pace.

The second issue is to rescue Teng County.

Does Tang Enbo have the power to rescue Teng County? He has my opinion. He was not far from Teng County, and the defenders could even hear Tang Jun's gunfire at one time, but he hit farther and farther away, and was nicknamed the "wandering sentry." Looking at Zhang Zizhong's rescue of Pang Bingxun, Tang Enbo obviously did not try his best.

This involves the outcome of Tang Enbo's full rescue effort.

Given the strong momentum of the Japanese army, Yube and the Isotani division may not be able to win in a head-to-head confrontation, but it should be possible to rescue Wang Mingzhang from danger. It's just that in this way, firstly, Tangbe will have to fight a tough battle and the losses will not be small; secondly, Tangbe may be stuck in Teng County and change from a mobile corps to a garrison corps.

Judging from the military map, Tang Enbo's choice is also beneficial to the entire war situation. Li Zongren's troops in the Third War Zone can be regarded as a hodgepodge. Although there are many troops, there are not many troops that can serve as the main mobile force.

Sun Tongxuan's Lu Army was ordered to counterattack Southern Shandong after Han Fuju's death. The Battle of Dawenkou showed a lack of offensive capabilities, and Han Gang died, so the loyalty of this unit was still a problem. Although the Sichuan Army of Deng Xihou and Sun Zhen were brave, their equipment was too poor. ; Sun Lianzhong is good at defense and is the pillar of the northern line and should not be moved lightly; Zhang Zizhong is good at attacking, but he has to deal with Ban Yuan on the southern front; Fan Songpu is good at fighting but is at odds with Chief Li; the Yunnan army is still on the way; Shen Honglie and Liu Zhendong's miscellaneous troops are insufficient in strength. They can only serve as guerrillas.

Only Tang Enbo's troops, with strong troops and well-equipped equipment, are most suitable to serve as a battle reserve to conduct offensive operations against the Japanese army. If Tang Bu is stuck in Teng County, it will be difficult for Li Zongren to find troops that can carry out mobile operations.

Therefore, Tang Enbo retaining his strength is a very good choice for the future Taierzhuang victory.

However, reasons are reasons, and we cannot help but see that Tang Enbo in Nankou, who fought hard and fought hard regardless of personal gain or loss, is gradually disappearing. Tang Enbo began to be more willing to fight "smart battles", and his arrogant and domineering side began to be exposed. In the two battles of Tengxian and Taierzhuang, Tang Enbo's decision had his own reasons, but he still had to sit back and watch the heavy casualties of friendly forces indifferently. In my opinion, this is not a coincidence, but a manifestation of the cold side of Tang Enbo's soul. Sitting back and watching the destruction of friendly troops waiting for his own chance of success may sometimes be in line with the art of war, but it must be said that its negative impact is also very serious. Tang Enbo admired Cao Cao throughout his life, and Cao Cao's views on massacre and power tactics may not be what he secretly promised. So, whether to sacrifice Wang Mingzhang or to sacrifice himself, it is difficult to say whether Tang Enbo considered it from the perspective of the overall situation or from the perspective of his own interests. Perhaps he was very satisfied with his style of being kind but not in charge of troops, but from then on, Yube's style was always incompatible with friendly forces on the battlefield, and the pros and cons were difficult to explain clearly.

The annexation of Wang Jinzai's tribe was another subtle change made by Tang after the Battle of Xuzhou.

Wang Jinzai is Yang Hucheng's general, commander of the 128th Division, and is under the command of Tang Enbo's Corps. Tang Enbo took the opportunity to annex the main force of Wang's tribe. Wang Shuai's small number of subordinates left Tang's tribe and went to Hubei to form a semi-independent kingdom. The annexation of Wang Jinzai was the first for Tang Enbo to expand his strength, and showed Tang Enbo's desire for strength after the beginning of the middle period of the Anti-Japanese War. Write a hidden line for Tang Enbo to become the king of the Central Plains.

In the Battle of Suizao, the performance of Tang Enbo's troops was still commendable. Li Zongren set up his pocket formation, and Tang Enbo, like Taierzhuang, was responsible for the outflanking mission, and gained a lot in the battle to intercept the retreat of the Japanese army. However, Li Zongren recalled that Tang Enbo did not obey the command and attacked too late, which caused the main force of the Japanese army to escape eastward smoothly. He believed that if Tang Enbo had attacked in time, "the Japanese mechanized troops on the Xianghua Highway may never have returned eastward"!

Li's accusation against Tang seemed to be a bit excessive, because the Japanese army had a strong mobile force outside their pockets at the time. If Tang Enbo, who had tightened his pockets, was attacked from both sides, Tang Enbo would be attacked from both sides, and it would be difficult to say who would win. Of course, Tang Enbo is not without hope of victory.

It can be seen that Tang Enbo had already avoided battles that were too risky at this time, and relied on his direct connections with the central government to ignore Li Zongren's command. He would wait until most of the main Japanese army retreated eastward before he came out to take advantage. The Japanese army had fewer troops to block, so he was not in danger of being attacked from both sides. Although the results are not great, the risks are much smaller.

Of course, the battles were still won, but Tang Enbo's battles became more and more "smart" as the battles were fought. If Tang had the courage to serve his country when the Anti-Japanese War was rising, then as the years went by, his courage gradually declined. This was not a problem for Tang Enbo alone. It could also be regarded as a social problem at that time.

The black and white on Tang Enbo’s body are slowly undergoing quantitative changes