Nanjing, Fanghua Garden. 【Reading.com】

Fanghuayuan is located in the southeast corner of Nanjing, with lush vegetation and beautiful garden scenery in the southeast, and was once the official residence of Chairman Chiang, but at this moment, it has become the headquarters of the Japanese Central China Front.

In March, the plants and trees in Fanghua Garden have begun to sprout, and spring is full of joy.

However, Shanshanyuan's mood has not improved because of the arrival of spring, and his mood is still immersed in the harsh cold winter that has just passed.

There are many reasons why Shanshan Yuan is in a bad mood.

There is pressure from the base camp and criticism from the Japanese imperial family, but more importantly, because the northbound cluster is not making smooth progress on the Huainan front, and the northbound cluster formed by the 9th and 13th divisions has been fighting the Huaihe front for more than three months, but it is still unable to open up the situation.

Even later, the 5th Brigade of Independent Heavy Artillery and the 9th Tank Wing, which had just arrived on the Chinese battlefield, were also transferred to the Huai River front, and the battle situation still did not change much.

Inside the base camp, some kind of discordant voice has already emerged.

He was accused of mediocre ability and was not worthy of continuing to serve as commander of the Central China Front, and the Japanese Imperial Family also repeatedly telegraphed to express regret that the Central China Front had been unable to cross the Huai River defense line for a long time.

A variety of factors are intertwined, and Shanshanyuan's inner anxiety is worse day by day.

Shanshan Yuan had a faint hunch that if the situation in the Huaihe River still couldn't be improved within a month, maybe the base camp and the royal family would start the change of generals again.

Muto Akira came out of the war room and happened to see the bleak back of Sugi Sugimoto.

If he had a choice, Muto Zhang was really unwilling to report this bad news to Shanshan Yuan at this time, but there was no way, who made him the deputy chief of staff of the Central China Front? The chief of staff, Tsukada Lao J, slipped and hid in the hospital for nine out of ten days, but he put everything on his shoulders.

"Your Excellency, Commander." Muto Zhang walked behind Shanshan Yuan, suddenly straightened his feet, and then handed over the folder in his hand, and said, "Huainan front line emergency!" ”

Shanshan Yuanyu showed a trace of tiredness between his eyebrows, waved his hand and said, "Say, what's the matter." ”

Muto Sho took back the folder and said in a deep voice: "Last night, the 180th Division of the 59th Army of China suddenly launched an offensive on the south bank of the Huai River, annihilating a prominent part of the 13th Division, and the 13th Division suffered more than 700 casualties, most of whom were killed in battle. ”

"Nani?" Shanshan Yuan Huo Ran turned around and said in a lost voice, "Hundreds of tons of oil have been destroyed? ”

Shanshan Yuan could not help but be surprised, because the empire was short of resources, almost all strategic materials needed to rely on overseas imports, and among them, especially crude oil was the most scarce, the empire could not produce even a drop of crude oil on its territory, but it needed to support the world's third largest navy, so the oil that could be distributed to the army was really limited.

But now, one guy has lost hundreds of tons of oil!

"Nani?" Shanshanyuan lost his voice and said, "Hundreds of tons of oil destroyed? ”

"Hello." Muto Shoton began, "Due to the unexpected shelling of the open-air warehouse where the oil was hoarded by the Chinese army, hundreds of tons of oil were blown up. ”

"Yaga, Yaga, Yaga." Shanshan Yuan said angrily, "Ogizhou Libing, this idiot, what is he doing to eat, how can he let the artillery of the Chinese Army go so deep into his defense area?" Or is this idiot just hoarding oil at the front? ”

Muto Akira shook his head and explained: "Your Excellency Commander, the oil depot where the oil is hoarded is actually with the division headquarters of the Ogisu Division, at least five kilometers away from the forward position, and the Chinese Army has no heavy artillery, so it can't hit the oil depot at all, so there will be no danger in the first place." ”

"It wouldn't have been dangerous?" Shanshan Yuan stared at Muto Zhang with cannibalistic eyes, and roared, "Muto-san, I ask you to make it clear, now is not a question of whether there will be danger in the first place, but the problem now is that the hundreds of tons of oil that have been hoarded in the oil depot have been blown up and have been destroyed!" ”

"Hello." Muto Akira straightened his feet and said heavily, "Your Excellency, it is indeed regrettable that hundreds of tons of oil stored in the warehouse have been tragically destroyed, but the Ogisu Division also mentioned an extremely important piece of information in the telegram, and I think that this information is extraordinary and should be taken seriously by His Excellency the Commander. ”

Shanshan Yuan's eyes flickered for a moment, and he asked, "What information?" ”

Muto Akira said: "The Ogizhou Division said that this time, the reason why their salient was raided and lost by the Shina Army was because the Shina Army carried out a special operation against its salient. ”

"Nani?" Shanshan Yuan's eyes widened again, "Special operations? ”

"Hello." Muto Akira said, "The report said that the Shina Army dispatched an elite small force of about ten people, although the number of this small force is not large, but the combat effectiveness is very strong, they successfully infiltrated and destroyed the command system of the Ogisu Division, which led to the rapid annihilation of the Bulge. ”

Shanshan Yuan said: "Are the soldiers of the Imperial Army in the salient all dead, and how did the small troops of the Zhina Army get in?" ”

Muto Akira said: "This small Chinese army can speak fluent Japanese and know special tactics such as espionage, assassination, and infiltration, but the front-line field divisions have not received special counter-espionage training, so it is not surprising that they are mixed in by the small Chinese army, in fact, even the European army that has undergone special counter-espionage training is difficult to prevent the infiltration of special forces." ”

Because Muto Akira has been in contact with Okahara Toshisi for a long time, he knows more about special forces and special operations than Sugi Moto, and knows more about the horrors of special forces.

However, the reason why Muto Akira spared no effort to defend the Ogisu Division was because of another telegram.

Just before the telegram from the Ogizhou Division arrived, Nanjing had just received a secret telegram from Oshihara Toshisi from Pucheng, and this telegram was also the direct cause of Shanshanyuan's bad mood.

Xiaoluyuan Junsi mentioned in the telegram that the ** armed forces operating in Dameishan are not an ordinary armed force, but an elite armed force with a well-trained and strong style, and in this armed force, there is also a small force with a small number of people and very strong combat effectiveness, that is, special forces.

Xiaoluyuan Junsi further judged that the supreme commander of this armed force in Dameishan was very likely to be Xu Rui, who had continuously inflicted heavy losses on the imperial army in Wuxi, Baoxing, Nantong and Qixing Lake!

And this is precisely what Shanshan Yuan is most difficult to accept.

If Xu Rui was really alive, the base camp and the royal family would not remove Shanshanyuan because of this, after all, in the matter of Xu Rui, Shanshanyuan actually did not lie, he made it very clear at the beginning that Xu Rui may have died in the chaos, and did not say for sure that Xu Rui had died in battle.

However, Xu Rui is still alive, which is definitely not a glorious thing for Shanshan Yuan.

Therefore, Shanshan Yuan instinctively refused to accept the similar inference that Xu Rui was still alive.

Muto Akira agreed with Oshihara Toshisi's judgment and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, I humbly believe that the report of the Ogisu Division is credible, and it is very likely that there is such a special force in the Huaihe battlefield, at least in the battle last night, there was such a special force involved in the battle. ”

"Special forces, special forces, special forces, where are there so many special forces?" Shanshan Yuan still couldn't accept it, and said angrily, "When did the Chinese army walk in the forefront of all the military powers in the world today, training and equipping so many special forces in advance?" ”

Muto Zhang said: "Your Excellency Commander, I have no intention of arguing with you, but I want to remind you that it is absolutely not accidental that the presence of special forces in the Dameishan Battlefield and the Huainan Battlefield is not accidental, after all, the straight-line distance from Dameishan to Bengbu is only more than 200 miles, and the rapid march can be reached in one day." ”

Shanshan Yuan took a deep breath, tried his best to suppress the anxiety in his heart, and asked Muto Zhang: "Muto San, do you really think that Xu Rui is not dead, and he also hid in the Damei Mountains with the remnants of the provisional 79th Division, and trained an elite special forces in three months?" The previous surprise attack on Pucheng and the surprise attack on the salient of the Ogizhou Division last night were the masterpieces of this special forces? ”

"Hello." Muto Zhangton's first said, "Although this is the judgment of Okahara-san, but the humble position fully agrees with his judgment, these two battles must be Xu Rui's masterpieces!" ”

Shanshan Yuan said again: "Okay, let's assume that Xiaoluyuan's judgment is right, then is Xiaoluyuan Junsi further proposing, we must immediately mobilize heavy troops, enter Damei Mountain, and completely exterminate Xu Rui?" ”

"No, Your Excellency, Commander." Muto Akira waved his hand and said, "Okahara-san's suggestion is the opposite. ”

"Oh?" Shanshan Yuan said, "What did he say?" ”

Muto Zhang said: "Xiaoluyuan-san believes that after three months of training, Xu Rui's climate has been completed, and the terrain of Damei Mountain is very dangerous, for the time being, it is probably useless to mobilize troops below one detachment, and if more than one division is gathered, it will seriously affect the Battle of Huainan and the next Battle of Xuzhou, so Xiaoluyuan-san suggested that he should take a defensive position in Pucheng and wait until the Battle of Xuzhou is over to turn back to deal with Xu Rui." ”

"Really?" Shanshan Yuan was a little surprised, "Is that really what Junsi Kokahara said?" ”

"Hello." Muto Akira paused, "Your Excellency, what I want to say is that you don't have to have a prejudice against Oshihara-san, and aside from his special warfare theory, he is actually a very good military talent. ”

"Maybe." Shanshan Yuan waved his hand noncommittally, and asked again, "By the way, I asked you to consult the base camp about it, how will the base camp reply?" ”

Akira Muto said: "The base camp replied that the materials have been loaded and shipped from Osaka Port, and they can be delivered to the Shimonoseki Wharf in Nanjing as early as the evening after tomorrow. ”

"Yo Si."