The British army miscalculated the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, not only refused the reinforcements of the 1st Independent Division, but also tried to draw troops from India to fight in Burma, which was somewhat unexpected by Zhuo Fei, but he was happy to see the Japanese army and the British army fight to the death. "Since people don't need our help, then you can deal with the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army going north, don't just think about training, when the time is right, you can pull those Burmese militia troops up to see blood, which will help us in our follow-up operations."

The Japanese 55th Division formed a confrontation with the British army in Mandalay, and the Japanese 33rd Division, which had been blocked by the 2nd Independent Division on the front line of Donglao and Mong Huu, was also unable to move an inch, and at present, the Japanese army was left with only the landing force that controlled the Ringanqiang oil field in Burma. But this was only the understanding of the British army, just when the British army stationed in Burma was busy withdrawing troops from India, the Japanese army base camp suddenly transferred Yamashita Fengwen, who was supposed to lead a team to Europe to inspect the German and Italian military at the end of the year, to Burma to serve as the commander of the Southern Army.

The Japanese 25th Army, which was once famous in South Asia in history, emerged, but was replaced by a much larger Japanese Southern Army, with more than 150,000 troops commanded by Yamashita Fumi, of which 6 percent were veterans drawn from the Manchuria and China battlefields, and the remaining 90,000 were support troops from the Japanese mainland. Zhuo Fei, who learned the news, was also quite surprised, before the outbreak of the South Asian War, Yamashita Fengwen did not have any chance to show his face, who knew that because of his appearance, the time when Yamashita Fengwen appeared in South Asia was also advanced by nearly 2 years.

Yamashita Fengwen will be a big enemy, Zhuo Fei has no objection to this, just the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops under the command of Yamashita Fengwen is a big trouble, Zhuo Fei has to fly back to Ruili overnight for this. "Boss, our opinion is that although Yamashita Fengwen has more than 150,000 mercenaries, we don't have no chance at all. The strength of the entire independent army is almost equal to that of Yamashita Fengwen's Southern Army, and our equipment is not inferior to that of the Southern Army, especially the individual equipment is superior to that of the other side. All we are worried about now is that the Southern Army will be pressed up as a whole, after all, the Independence Army has not really experienced large-scale positional warfare. ”

Zhuo Fei's staff also received news that on Zhuo Fei's way back to Ruili, the staff group made a detailed analysis of the appearance of Yamashita Fengwen, and deduced the possible changes in the Japanese Southern Army, and found that as long as the Southern Army was not pressed as a whole, the Independent Army would not be worried by Zhuo Fei. The Independence Army's greatest weakness was that they had not actually experienced a major war, and although their equipment was superior to that of the Japanese, it did not mean that the Independence Army would be able to defeat the Japanese army with the same strength as itself.

"To tell you the truth, I'm afraid of the British side now." Facing his staff group, Zhuo Fei finally told the truth. "Seeing that the mountain artillery wing of the 55th Division was destroyed by our scouts, and that the 33rd Division was also intercepted by our troops, the British were bent on drawing troops from India to Mandalay to fight a decisive battle with the 55th Division, and also tried to launch a counteroffensive against the Japanese troops in Burma. However, the appearance of Yamashita Fengwen and the Southern Army will make the British army's advantage immediately lost, and once the British army stationed in Mandalay is defeated or flees without telling the story, the Southern Army will directly find our independent 1st division in Mandalay. ”

"Boss, I remember you once said that the gains and losses of one city and one place do not prove anything, as long as the people are still there, there is still a chance to get it back. The 1st Independent Division may not be the opponent of the Southern Army, and it will be withdrawn if it is a big deal, and relying on the defense line we have built up in large numbers on the front line of Lashio, the Southern Army under the mountain may not be able to pose a big threat to us. Show weakness to the other party first and delay time, this is the key to our plan, have you forgotten it all? ”

After being reminded by the members of the staff group, Zhuo Fei suddenly realized that yes, even if Mandalay was lost, there was no substantial loss for the Independence Army and the Umbrella Company. As long as the fortresses and defensive lines built on the front line of Lashio were held back and the Japanese army dispelled the idea of continuing northward into China, the first part of the South Asia strategy would be completed. He first showed weakness to the enemy, and then made every effort to prevent the Japanese army from continuing northward, so that it would divert its attention to other countries in South Asia, and promote the Japanese army to carry out aggression against other countries in South Asia.

Zhuo Fei, who had figured out this, was very determined, but before he was happy enough to have dinner, a piece of news from Europe made Zhuo Fei almost collapse. "What do you say? The United States has already said that it is going to war? How is this possible? There are less than 200,000 standing troops in the United States, so what will they do to go to war? Zhuo Fei asked Angela again and again who sent the news, and the latter didn't bother to answer Zhuo Fei's questions at all, but just handed Zhuo Fei several telegrams he received in turn.

The United States did say that it was going to join the war, and the reason was simple: after Germany captured France and forced France to surrender, it intensified its air strikes on the British mainland and sent submarine forces and ships to implement a sea blockade of the British mainland. The elusive German submarine force was a headache for the British Navy, especially for the civilian ships that transported supplies to the British mainland, and the United States would enter the war, mainly because German submarines had repeatedly sunk American cargo ships.

Zhuo Fei's mind was completely messed up, in history, during World War II, the United States entered the war because the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor, but now, the Americans proposed to join the war because the cargo ship was sunk by a German submarine, this news made Zhuo Fei frightened, and he felt more and more that he could no longer touch the historical context. Compared with Germany, Britain and the Soviet Union, the military power of the United States is not very strong, but the United States has the world's first-class industrial base, with the entry of the United States, the war in Europe may undergo earth-shaking changes, and this is not good news for Zhuo Fei, who is not fully ready.

After being quiet alone for a while, Zhuo Fei suddenly realized that he finally understood why Yamashita Fengfu suddenly came to Burma with the Southern Army, because the Japanese also received the news that the United States was about to enter the war. Japan and Germany were allies, and once the United States joined the side of Britain and France, it was bound to cut off trade with Japan. Without the supplies exported by the Americans, Japan's attempt to dominate Asia would have been bumpy, and it would be reasonable for Japan to send troops to Burma on a large scale and use Burma as a springboard for attacking the whole of South Asia.

Zhuo Fei's mood suddenly improved, the Japanese plan and the South Asia strategy they had formulated coincided, and now the most important thing was to use the independence army to block the momentum of the Japanese army continuing to move north and trying to enter China. Once the Japanese army heading north is intercepted by the Independence Army on the front line of Lashio and forms a protracted standoff, Yamashita will naturally turn his attention to other countries in South Asia, and the umbrella company only needs to do a good job in the training of follow-up troops, and then wait for the arrival of a major counteroffensive.

Zhuo Fei was worried that the early entry of the United States into the war would affect his South Asia plan, and after Zhuo Fei calmed down, he convened his staff group again to discuss. Zhuo Fei still remembered that the United States would participate in World War II because the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor, but now the United States participated in World War II under the pretext of American merchant ships sunk by German submarine forces, but Zhuo Fei did not relax his attention to Pearl Harbor and intelligence collection on the Japanese Navy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the entry of the United States into the war has both advantages and disadvantages for us. There have been voices within the coalition government that foreign forces are being used to force Japan to withdraw its troops, and although I personally think this is a delusion, there are many people who cannot resist such voices. Now that the United States has also announced that it is going to war, this may be a bad sign for the coalition government. The Philippines is the sphere of influence of the United States, and once Yamashita Fengfumi's Southern Army attacks South Asia, it will certainly not miss the Philippines, and we are not ready for the US military to enter South Asia. ”

Zhuo Fei began to try to guide the thinking direction of the staff group, pointing to the large map spread out on the table, "Our plan for South Asia is to have the Japanese army act as our vanguard to attack the whole of South Asia, and I don't want Americans to suddenly appear in the middle of this to disrupt the plan. We all know that the ground forces of the Americans are not ready, so we just need to watch out for their naval power, and this is Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the bridgehead from which the US Navy reaches its tentacles into Asia. What I want to know is, how would the Americans react if the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor with all its might and took Hawaii? ”

"God, that's crazy." Zhuo Fei's argument made the entire staff group members stunned, the young boss gave a direction of thinking is too amazing, once the Japanese Navy attacks Pearl Harbor and takes Hawaii, the US Navy will not be as easy to enter Asia as it is now, and the Japanese also have a bridgehead to attack the US mainland.

In fact, Zhuo Fei's remarks were not cranky, and after Japan invaded China in the overall situation, it successively drew up two battle plans of "going south" and "going north" respectively. The abundant war resources of the Soviet Union led Japan to draw up a war plan to invade the Soviet Union and occupy Siberia in search of resources. It was only because Japan suffered its first and worst defeat since the Russo-Japanese War due to its backwardness in military thinking and tactical technology, which was the famous Battle of Normenhan.

After the Japanese army lost the battle "going north", it turned around and planned to "go south" in an attempt to control the whole of South Asia and seize greater war resources, so as to annex the world's reserve and subsequent resources in the future. Most of South Asia is a colony of Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States, which makes it more difficult for Japan to plan to go south, so there will inevitably be a collision of interests between Japan and the United States in South Asia. If the Umbrella Company had quietly pushed behind its back at this time, the Japanese Navy, which had already been arrogant to the extreme, might really do something that shocked the world, and the attack on Pearl Harbor at this time was very suitable for Japan's interests and war purposes.