Luo Feng persuaded Lei Peng and Ding Li to join the independent group, but they were resolutely opposed.

Seeing Lei Peng and Ding Li's resolute attitude, Luo Feng didn't say anything, after all, this matter is not in a hurry, the little devil urgently transferred troops from Nanjing and Wuhu to counterattack Feicheng, and it will take seven days to arrive at the earliest, and he still has time to slowly persuade Ding Li and Lei Peng, and he can always persuade them.

Luo Feng also really figured it out, the hope of China's War of Resistance is in the Communist Party, and the hope of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can only be in the Communist Party, if it weren't for his commitment to the brigade, he would have joined the Independent Regiment, but now, he can only send Lei Peng and Ding Li to join the Independent Regiment.

However, without waiting for Luo Feng to find another opportunity to do Ding Li and Lei Peng's ideological work, Xu Rui found him first and did his ideological work in turn.

Hearing Xu Rui's explanation, Luo Feng couldn't help but wonder and asked, "Commander Xu, do you think I should accept the order of the War Zone Commander's Department?" ”

"Yes." Xu Rui nodded and said, "I think you should accept it!" ”

"Why?" Luo Feng said puzzledly, "Head Xu, do you want to tell me that your independent group will help us defend Feicheng, and can also defend Feicheng for at least half a month?" Do you want to tell me that the Third War Zone has a chance to complete the encirclement of the devil's northbound cluster? So, no matter what it costs us, it's worth it. ”

Xu Rui said: "I don't want to say this to you, but the facts are the facts, for now, it may be difficult for the three theaters to independently encircle and annihilate the northbound clusters of devils, but if the five theaters can fully cooperate, then, with a total of more than 100 main divisions of the national army in the two theaters, there is still a chance to win this battle!" ”

What Xu Rui said is also true, as long as the three theaters of the Nationalist Army do not make petty calculations and can cooperate with the five theaters, and as long as Chairman Jiang no longer blindly commands, then there is still a great chance that the more than 1 million national troops in the two theaters will still have a great chance to encircle and annihilate the 9th and 13th divisions of the devil's northward cluster near Fuyang and Mengcheng.

Of course, there must be two prerequisites for this, one is that Feicheng can be defended, and the other is that the Fifth Theater can block the southward cluster of the North China Front, and the 14th and 16th Divisions of the devil going south and the 9th and 13th divisions going north cannot join forces, as long as these two prerequisites are realized, it is possible to encircle and annihilate the 9th and 13th Divisions.

However, speaking from the heart, Xu Rui does not believe that these two prerequisites can be realized at the same time, even if Feicheng can be defended, it will be difficult for Xuzhou to prevent the Japanese army from moving south, but Xu Rui still insists on defending Feicheng, but because Xu Rui does not want the historical tragedy of the Yellow River breaking the embankment to be staged again.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward along the Longhai Line, the Command of the Supreme National Army brazenly ordered to blow up the mouth of the garden, and the surging flood poured down, flooding the entire Huanghuai Valley, causing millions of people to drown and 30 million people to be displaced.

On the way to Guanzhong, more than a million people froze to death, starved to death or were run over by trains, arguably the worst humanitarian disaster in the history of World War II.

However, it is very ironic that in addition to causing some losses to the Japanese 14th Division, the bursting of the Yellow River did not play much of a role in substance, and the role at the strategic level was almost zero!

Before the Yellow River burst, there were two opinions on the route of the march of the Battle of Wuhan in the Japanese base camp: one believed that heavy troops should be assembled in the North China Plain and then move south along the Pinghan Line, and the other was that heavy troops should be assembled on the Yangtze River and use the convenient water transportation of the Yangtze River to follow the Yangtze River all the way to the west and force Wuhan.

These two routes have their own advantages and disadvantages, along the Pinghan line to the south, is conducive to the Japanese army to play the advantage of mechanization, but the transportation and supply lines will become very long, easy to attack, along the Yangtze River west, logistics support will be very easy, water transport than land transport is not only safer, but also faster.

However, the terrain on both sides of the Yangtze River is complex, which is not conducive to the mobile operations of the large corps.

After repeated discussions, the idea of attacking Wuhan along the Yangtze River finally prevailed, that is, even if the Nationalist Government did not blow up the Huayuankou, the Japanese army would not move south along the Pinghan Railway, but would still march west along the Yangtze River, which means that the strategic significance of the Nationalist Government's blowing up of the Huayuankou was equivalent to zero!

Sometimes, the truth of history is so helpless and so outrageous.

The three major humanitarian disasters during the Anti-Japanese War, the bursting of the embankment at Huayuankou, the fire in Changsha, and the suffocation accident in the Chongqing air-raid shelter, could have been avoided, but it was only because of the cowardice of the Kuomintang and the incompetence of the Nationalist Government that such a tragic man-made disaster finally occurred.

As a traverser, Xu Rui certainly didn't want such a man-made disaster to happen again.

But it is impossible for Xu Rui to tell Luo Feng about such a reason, and he can't say it, because now, digging the Yellow River when necessary to block the Japanese attack is a secret, and it is impossible for a small battalion commander like Luo Feng to know about it, so Xu Rui can only make a fuss about the ambition of the commander's department of the Third War Zone.

Xu Rui didn't expect the three war zones to really be able to wipe out the northbound cluster of devils.

What Xu Rui really hopes for is that even if the three theaters of war cannot completely annihilate the devil's northward cluster, at least force the devil's southward cluster to rush south to help, as long as the devil's southward cluster does not advance along the Longhai line to Zhengzhou, the National Army Command probably won't panic and order to blow up the garden mouth, right?

This is Xu Rui's overall calculation.

In order not to repeat the tragedy of the embankment bursting at the mouth of the garden, Xu Rui really worked hard!

Xu Rui said again: "There is a sentence, I don't know if Battalion Commander Luo has heard it, do your best, make the worst plan, although the possibility of gathering and annihilating the Japanese army to the north cluster is small, but this does not prevent us from doing our best for this goal, we have worked hard, the final result is still not ideal, and we have no regrets in our hearts, otherwise, in the long life ahead, looking back on this matter, Battalion Commander Luo dares to say that he has a clear conscience?" ”

Luo Feng was silent when he heard this, yes, if it was really because of his personal reasons, the commander's plan to gather and annihilate the devils to go north to the cluster was in vain, even if the headquarters would not hold him responsible, but in the long journey of life in the future, when he looked back on this matter, he could really have a clear conscience?

Luo Feng's determination finally wavered, and said, "Commander Xu, do you think I should accept the order?" ”

"Yes, I insist that you should take orders from the Chief's Department." Xu Rui said very sincerely.

"Okay, I'll listen to you, I'll take orders from the Commander's Department and be this brigade commander." Luo Feng nodded heavily, and said, "But you have to help, at the moment my Anhui Central Advance Brigade has not yet appeared, if you refuse to help me, with less than 200 remnants of soldiers under my command, at best, I will hold Feicheng for a day." ”

"No problem." Xu Rui said categorically, "Our Dameishan Independent Regiment will definitely go all out to help your troops defend the city!" For this reason, even the whole group is not sparing. ”

Xu Rui is telling the truth, he is really willing to fight for the entire independent regiment for this.

Of course, it must be explained that Xu Rui's willingness to fight the independent regiment is not for the battle plan of the three theaters, but for the tens of millions of innocent people in the Huanghuai Valley.

(Dividing Line)

Wanxiang Yunxing rushed into Gu Shutong's office and said, "Boss, Luo Feng called back." ”

"Oh?" Gu Shutong, who was closing his eyes and recuperating, immediately opened his eyes and asked eagerly, "What do you say?" ”

"He agreed, he said that the Anhui Central Advance Brigade would fight to the last pawn, and he would also swear to live and die with Feicheng!" Wan Xiangyun handed the telegram to Gu Shutong as he spoke, and continued, "It seems that Luo Feng and Xu Rui are both smart people, and they have both accepted your suggestion, hehehe." ”

After a pause, Wan Xiangyun said again: "The fly in the ointment is that the Supreme Command actually took over the command from our three theaters, and in the end, we became the wedding dress for others. ”

"You're thinking too much." Gu Shutong waved his hand and said indifferently, "If this thing is done, the devil's northbound cluster will really be completely wiped out, but no one can deprive me of the merits of you and me." ”

Wan Xiangyun smiled and said, "What the general seat said is extremely true, but he thinks too much about his humble duties. ”

Gu Shutong changed his conversation for a moment, and then continued: "By the way, in the morning, there was a sudden high-density radio communication between the Central China Front of the Japanese Army and the country, did the technical section of the Fuxing Society find out what was going on?" ”

"Look at my memory, I just wanted to talk about it, but I forgot about Luo Feng's telegram as soon as it was mixed up." Wan Xiangyun slapped his forehead fiercely, and said excitedly, "The Fuxing Society has already found out what happened in the morning, and it was said that the commander of the Central China Front of the Japanese Army, Shanshan Yuan, committed suicide by seppuku. ”

"What are you talking about, Shanshan Yuan is seppuku." The ancient tree was stunned when he heard this.

"Yes, I didn't expect that Shanshan Yuan would commit suicide by seppuku." Wan Xiangyun sighed with emotion, and then said disapprehantly, "But I really don't understand, why did Shanshan Yuan commit suicide by seppuku?" ”

"It's not all thanks to Xu Rui." Gu Shutong said, "After the Kawaguchi detachment was completely annihilated, the Japanese army base camp and the Japanese imperial family were already very disappointed in Shanshanyuan, although he was not officially dismissed, but everyone knew that if Shanshanyuan could not perform brilliantly, it would be a matter of time before he was dismissed." ”

Wan Xiangyun continued: "It's a pity that Shanshan Yuan lost Feicheng again after that. ”

"Yes, the loss of Feicheng is a fatal blow to the Japanese army!" Gu Shutong muttered, "If Shanshan Yuan doesn't want to suffer the humiliation of being dismissed, if he doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor Matsui Ishone, if he wants to maintain his dignity, then there is only one way left, but this old devil can really do it." ”

"yes." Wanxiang Yun thought deeply, "Seppuku, how much does it hurt?" ”