Nanjing, Fanghua Garden.

Shunroku Hata hadn't closed his eyes for two days and two nights, his eyes were already bloodshot, and his face was full of boundless exhaustion, as if he might fall down at any moment.

Shunroku Hata stared at the simulated sand table in front of him.

The simulated sand table is demonstrated on the situation map of the Chinese and Japanese armies on the battlefield of Nanxun Road.

It can be clearly seen from the sand table that the defense line of the Nationalist Army has formed an inverted figure of eight disconnected from the middle along the Ruide Highway and the Nanxun Railway, and the Songpu Division has entered from the middle of the broken inverted eight characters for a long time, and it is only less than 50 kilometers away from De'an.

According to the experience summed up by the Japanese army in the Battle of Xinkou, the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Xuzhou, when the defense line of the Nationalist Army was broken through from the middle, the whole line would collapse immediately afterwards, so the Japanese army could rest assured that it would advance forward, and it was precisely under this guiding ideology that the Songpu Division dared to boldly advance the attack.

But on the battlefield of Nanxun, things have obviously changed.

The defense line of the Nationalist Army, to be sure, was that after the defense line of the armies and divisions under the 1st Army Corps of Xue Yue was broken through, it did not shrink and reorganize in the rear, but contracted and reorganized on both sides of the gap, and quickly launched a counterattack, launching a harassing attack on the flank and rear of the Songpu Division, so that the more the Songpu Division went forward, the more defense lines broke through, and the more the Nationalist Army remained behind them, and the formation of these Nationalist armies was not lost, and there was still the strength to fight.

Therefore, when the Songpu Division broke through to Wanjialing, which was less than 50 kilometers away from De'an, it finally broke through.

When the Songpu Division stopped, Xue Yue, who was experienced on the battlefield, smelled the opportunity and immediately ordered one by one to launch a centripetal attack on the Songpu Division, and at the same time sent out the 74th Army, the strategic general reserve in his hand, and launched a fierce attack on the Songpu Division from the front.

All of this comes from the original demonstration on the simulated sand table.

Even the heavy artillery brigade of the 74th Army was marked.

Seeing this heavy artillery brigade, Shunroku Hata's heart twitched for a while.

Because this heavy artillery brigade of the 74th Army was snatched from his hands!

This heavy artillery brigade was originally supposed to be a sharp knife used by the Japanese army to fight the national army, but now, it has become a heavy hammer for the national army to fight the Japanese army!

The situation of the Matsuura Division was already bad enough, and with this heavy artillery brigade, it was even more troublesome!

If Tokugawa Yoshitoshi's aviation regiment could not inflict heavy damage on the Soviet aid air force as soon as possible and seize air supremacy in the airspace from Jiujiang to Wuhan, this heavy artillery brigade of the 74th Army would be enough to pose a mortal threat to the Matsuura Division, and the threat faced by the Matsuura Division this time would be even more dangerous than that of the previous 9th and 13th Divisions!

Since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army has never had a precedent of the total annihilation of divisions and regiments.

Even when it was pushed forward to the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army had never had a precedent for the division and regiment system to be completely annihilated.

But now, this rare phenomenon is likely to be broken in the Matsuura Division! If nothing else, this unique "honor" alone is enough to nail Shunroku Hata to the pillar of shame, because even Matsui Ishine, who was dismissed, and Sugi Sugimoto, who committed suicide by seppuku, have never received such an "honor".

So, Shunroku Hata must avoid this scene no matter what!

However, to be honest, Shunroku Hata really doesn't have much to do now.

When Shunroku Hata was frowning, Shozo Riverside hurriedly walked in.

Shozo Kawabe came over and reported to Shunroku Hatata: "Your Excellency, the navy has just sent a note saying that their river defense detachment has rescued a Japanese businessman who had fallen into the water from the Qixia section of the Yangtze River. ”

Shunroku Hata didn't raise his eyelids and said, "Let's rob it." ”

After the full-scale outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, especially after the Japanese army occupied a large area of China's territory, the number of businessmen who came to China from Japan to look for opportunities to make a fortune was innumerable.

In normal times, Shunroku Hata might still ask, but now, he is not in the mood at all.

However, Kawabe Shozo thought that this issue should be taken seriously, and said: "Your Excellency, do you remember that less than two hours ago, the Pucheng garrison reported that a transport convoy of an independent regiment was transiting Pucheng. ”

"Got it, isn't it just an ash factory...... "Shunroku Hata said this, suddenly paused, and then suddenly turned around and stared at the riverside Shozo, and said in a deep voice, "What did you just say, independent regiment, ash factory?!" ”

As a veteran who participated in the Russo-Japanese War, no one else knows the power of reinforced concrete fortifications better than Shunroku Hatata, in order to capture the Lushun Fortress operated by the Russian army for many years, the Japanese army really took human lives to fill in, a wing of more than 3,000 people was wiped out in one morning, and the entire battle was fought by more than 80,000 Japanese soldiers!

Why did the Japanese army fill it with human lives? Because the heavy artillery of the Japanese army could not open the concrete fortifications of the Russian army!

If the independent regiment is allowed to transport the equipment of this ash factory back to Dameishan, and then set up the ash factory, and then continuously produce the ash, and then use the ash to build fortifications, the consequences will be unimaginable! With Xu Rui here, the Dameishan Independent Regiment will be difficult enough, if they are given an unlimited amount of ash......

Shunroku Hata didn't even dare to think about it, maybe Dameishan would really become the second Lushun Fortress!

Kawabe Shozo also realized the seriousness of the problem, and said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency General, otherwise you should send another telegram to the base camp, asking the 2nd Army to arrive as soon as possible, and then order the 2nd Army to go east out of Dameishan, first crush the Dameishan Independent Regiment with the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai, and then flank Wuhan along the northern foot of Dabie Mountain." ”

Shunroku Hata was silent, not because he didn't want to send this telegram to the base camp, but because he knew that it was useless to send it.

Since the Sino-Japanese War has been fought so far, with the elongation of the battle front, Japan's strategic shortcomings have been gradually exposed, and one of the most fatal strategic shortcomings is the lack of manpower!

On paper, the reorganized Central China Squadron had 14 divisions and one detachment, with a total strength of more than 400,000 troops, which was enough to launch a large-scale offensive operation, after all, the Japanese army had only nine divisions and less than 300,000 troops at the time of the Battle of Songhu.

But after all, this is just a number on paper.

Among the 14 divisions and regiments subordinate to the Central China Army, the 6th, 9th, 13th, and 18th Divisions have been basically disabled, and the 6th Division, the worst of which is the commander of the company, has been captured.

Among the remaining ten divisions, three divisions of the 11th Army plus two divisions that supported them later have already fought with the Nationalist Army on both sides of the Yangtze River and on the Nanxun battlefield.

The 22nd Division is a special garrison division, which is embarrassing and useful.

So, the only thing that can be counted on now is the 2nd Army.

Originally, according to the battle plan of the Japanese army's base camp, as early as mid-June, the three divisions of the 2nd Army should have completed their assembly in Feicheng and then attacked from the northern foot of Dabie Mountain before the end of June, but now that it is the end of June, the three divisions of the 2nd Army are still stranded in the Shandong battlefield and have not been able to move south to Central China for a long time.

The three divisions of the 2nd Army failed to move south as planned because of an accident in the north.

Because the Soviet Red Army suddenly occupied Zhanggufeng on the Sino-Russian border and built fortifications on it, this incident immediately aroused the alarm of the Japanese army, and the Japanese government thought that the Soviet Union was going to intervene in the Sino-Japanese war, so it decisively stopped the southward movement of the 2nd Army and went to Qingdao as the strategic general reserve of the Kwantung Army.

Up to now, both Japan and the Soviet Union have continued to invest troops in the direction of Zhanggufeng, and a major war is about to break out.

Under such circumstances, how could the Japanese base camp agree to the 2nd Army moving south to Central China? It would be good not to transfer troops from the Central China Battlefield to the north to support it.

After being silent for a long time, Shunroku Hahata said: "At this time, it is impossible for the 2nd Army to go south. ”

Kawabe Shozo said: "In this case, I am afraid that the 22nd Division can only be transferred to sweep Dameishan, and I think that no matter what, the independent regiment cannot be allowed to build this ash factory." ”

Shunroku Hata sighed and said, "Kawabe-san, do you think the 22nd Division is competent?" ”

Kawabe Shozo was also silent immediately, because the 22nd Division was not a four-unit field division, but a three-unit garrison division, and the three infantry wings of the 22nd Division were not first-line field wings, which could be seen from their numbers, and the 22nd Division was under the jurisdiction of the 84th, 85th, and 86th Infantry Wings.

Of the three infantry wings under the jurisdiction of the 22nd Division, none of them had the number of the top 80, so the combat effectiveness of the division was far worse than that of the three-unit field division formed after the outbreak of the Pacific War, because the three-unit field division formed at that time still had an infantry wing with the number in the top 80.

Shunroku Hata sighed and said: "The independent regiment, I'm afraid I can't take care of it for the time being, but fortunately, even if they have an ash factory, it is impossible to operate Dameishan into another Lushun fortress in a short period of time, so now, let's think about how to solve the problem of the Matsuura Division." ”