Yan'an is holding an emergency meeting.

The New Fourth Army in the south was not idle, and as soon as it received the telegram from the Kuomintang, the top brass of the New Fourth Army began to study how to deal with it.

Commander of the New Fourth Army**, Deputy Commander Xiang Ying, Chief of Staff Zhang Yunyi, Deputy Chief of Staff Zhou Zikun, Director of the Political Department Yuan Guoping, and Deputy Director Deng Zihui held a meeting in the war room.

In March, the Kuomintang diehards shifted the focus of anti-communism from North China to Central China, and the spearhead was mainly directed at us, first asking us to all move to the south of the Yangtze River to cut off our contact with the Party Central Committee, so that we could be broken individually. But this conspiracy failed to succeed, and now we are all going to the north of the Yellow River, which is an attempt to flank us with the Japanese puppet army, and I think we will be annihilated. ”

The chief of staff was right, in January 1939, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang was convened, and the focus of the meeting was to shift from external resistance to internal anti-communism, and began to implement a reactionary policy of passive anti-Japanese and active anti-communism. From the winter of 1939 to the spring of 1940, the Kuomintang launched its first anti-communist upsurge.

The military offensive of the Kuomintang army against our army was mainly in three areas. The first is the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region. In May 1939, the Kuomintang built five blockade lines around the border area, stretching for thousands of miles from Ningxia in the west, along Jingshui in the south, and to the Yellow River in the east. In December, Hu Zongnan attacked and occupied the five county towns of Chunhua, Xunyi, Zhengning, Ningxian, and Zhenyuan in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region.

The second is Shanxi. Yan Laoxi launched the "December Incident", attacking the second column and the independent detachment of western Jin, and cooperated with Lao Chiang's army with a force to attack the first and third columns of decisive death in the southeast of Jin, destroying the armed forces of Qinshui and other seven counties. In late January 1940, Jiang Yan's two armies attacked the Tainan and Taiyue districts. Yan Laoxi's two divisions invaded the Yanbei area of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border region.

The third is the southern Hebei and northern Henan regions. In the spring of 1940, Shi Yousan, commander-in-chief of the 10th Army, attacked the southern Hebei region, and at the same time, Lao Jiang dispatched Zhu Huaibing and other troops of the 97th Army to attack Taihang District, where the headquarters of our army was located.

It's only been a long time, and they are going to do it again, and in the eyes of Lao Chiang, we are more of a threat than the Japanese. Said while standing in front of the map.

"Commander, what should I do next, according to the news sent back by Chen Yi, the Kuomintang has mobilized heavy troops, and they are eyeing our New Fourth Army. ”

"Lao Zhou, I also know that the Kuomintang is eyeing the enemy, but now that we are involved in the whole body, if we resolutely resist, won't it give the devil a chance to take advantage of it, and in the end, whether to withdraw or not, we still have to listen to the orders of the central government. ”

"Alas....."

The meeting in Yan'an continues.

"Chairman, look at how dirty their methods are, the 386th Brigade of our army has just won the victory of the two wings of the total annihilation of the devils, and they can't wait to confuse the public and compete for credit. ”

"yes"

"It's so shameless"

"The most excessive thing is to say that we use the national army as bait, which is obviously distorting the facts, if it weren't for our people to save the people of the independent division, they would have grass on their graves now, hum"

The conference room was filled with scolding.

"Hasn't the Kuomintang always been like this, why are you so angry? As the saying goes, the soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, he has a good plan, and we have a wall and ladder. ”

"What, the chairman already has a way?"

"My method is very simple, since everyone has their own opinions, what is the point of letting the person concerned speak? Aren't the reporters willing to dig up the truth? I believe that the reporters of the major newspapers are happy to interview the independent division. ”

"Chairman, how can the people of the Independent Division say good things about us?"

"Justice is in the hearts of the people, everyone must believe in the hearts of the people, and this time we saved Zhou Min, the daughter of Zhou Yaozu, and the sister of Zhou Tao, the head of the independent division. She's a good patriotic child, and I'm sure she won't tell lies. ”

For the chairman's self-confidence, others are a little helpless.

"Today will be here first, everyone will think about how to deal with the Haodian when they go back, and the affairs of the 386th Brigade will be done as I say. ”

"Adjournment"

Only Director Zhou and *** were left in the conference room.

"Chairman, you just believe that Zhou Min will speak for us. ”

"Well, I don't know if that kid will speak for us. To tell you the truth, I received a private telegram saying that as soon as the New Fourth Army withdraws north, public opinion about our slander will disappear immediately. ”

"Chairman, do you mean that we are going to compromise and let the New Fourth Army withdraw?"

After all, Lao Jiang is the nominal supreme leader of the country, He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi represent the Ministry of National Defense, and their orders are unimaginable if we openly disobey, and now public opinion is a little unfavorable to us, besides, if there is a conflict between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, wouldn't it make the Japanese see a joke. Sometimes it's a step back and the sky is wide. ”

Director Zhou could hear the helplessness in ***'s tone, and also understood that no matter what Zhou Min said, as long as the New Fourth Army retreated north, the unfavorable remarks against them would disappear.

So it doesn't matter what Zhou Min says, but the reporter still has to go, which can be regarded as active defense and passive attack.

In recent days, Zhou Min has been careful to avoid being caught by her brother and send her to Macau.

Zhou Tao confessed successfully that day, and at night Li Ruyu found Zhou Min and Zhen'er to settle accounts, and these two little girls partnered to act and deceive her. Zhou Min could see that Li Ruyu had untied the knot in her heart, and her whole state was much better.

"Sister-in-law, I want to eat Three Emperor Cake and Osmanthus Cake. There is also the Li family sheep soup on Longmen Street, but my ruthless brother won't let me go out, can you help me plead for mercy. ”

"Minmin, don't scream, it's not good for people to hear. Li Ruyu glanced at Zhou Min and said.

"Sister-in-law, I didn't scream, didn't you agree to my brother's marriage proposal, didn't you see that he couldn't close his mouth these days, he is preparing for the wedding now, and being so busy still restricts my freedom. ”

"Minmin, your brother is also for your own good, it's dangerous for you to go out now, what if you run into a devil? Besides, you have also read the contents of the newspaper these days, and it is a mess, if you go out and be recognized, believe it or not, the reporters will arrest you for interviews. ”

In the office of Zhou Tao, the commander of the Henan Independent Division, Zhou Tao, Zhou Lei, Chen Yunzhang, and Fang Tianzhi all frowned and looked at the newspaper in their hands. Zhou Tao sat on the chair and sighed and said, "You have also seen that the trees want to be quiet and the wind does not stop, the gods fight, and mortals suffer. Min Min was swept up again. Zhou Lei, Wei Mo, what this newspaper says has a nose and eyes, I don't even know if what is said on it is true now, both of you were there at the time, you can talk about it. ”

"Division commander, but we moved with the wounded troops of the Eighth Route Army, and the road did become more dangerous, but we were not the bait of the Eighth Route Army, we took the initiative to stand up and lead the enemy away. Zhou Lei said.

"Weimo, what about you? The special operations team has suffered heavy losses, is it really as the newspaper said?"

"Division commander, when I led the brothers to Mao'er Mountain, I first contacted the 386 Brigade Commander Chen to understand the situation, and after learning the exact location, we rushed to save people, and after finding Min Min, she insisted on saving the bandits in Mao'er Mountain, we had to fight with the devils, if it wasn't for the wolves of the Wild Wolf Valley that night who attacked the devils, we would have been wiped out, and then we asked the 386 Brigade for help, using ourselves as bait, delaying time, and the Eighth Route Army should cooperate with the outside to annihilate the Fujiwara Wing. A few hours later, the devil Tanaka Wing shelled us, and a large number of infantry entered the valley and launched a charge against our army and the Eighth Route Army. At that time, we couldn't hold it at all, and we were almost dead and wounded. Later, the 386th Regiment of the 1st Brigade arrived, and we were rescued. If we had to say that it was bait, it was also a voluntary act. The Eighth Route Army only has the grace to save our lives, and has no intention of harming us. ”

"Ash, tell them both what you heard. ”

"Company Commander Zhou, Captain Chen, I have received reliable information that a group of reporters will go to the independent division for interviews and dig out the truth of this matter. ”

After Zhou Lei and Chen Yunzhang listened, they looked at each other, they didn't expect things to turn out like this.