When Gu Shutong returned to his apartment in Hankou, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and the maid of the apartment came up and asked Gu Shutong if he needed to cook dinner. Gu Shutong said that he had already eaten it.

Gu Shutong had indeed eaten at the headquarters, but this dinner was not pleasant.

Because at the dinner, Chairman Chiang announced a decision to set up a command headquarters for the enemy before the Battle of Xuzhou, and he wanted to personally command all the troops under the jurisdiction of the Third and Fifth Theaters to complete the encirclement and annihilation of the 9th and 13th Divisions of the Japanese Army.

Chairman Chiang announced in public that others would certainly not be able to oppose it, but could only obey it.

However, for the follow-up trend of the Battle of Xuzhou, Gu Shutong did not have much confidence left.

From the Eastern Expedition Chen Jiongming to the Northern Expedition, and then from the Northern Expedition to the five encirclement and suppression of the **** Red Army, and then from the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army to the recent Battle of Songhu, countless bloody examples have fully proved that the old man's command talent is really not very flattering, the problem is that the old man is still very keen on command.

Chairman Chiang put forward a grand idea, saying that he would gather and annihilate the 9th and 13th divisions of the Japanese army on the front line of pursuing Fuyang and Mengcheng, and then attract the main forces of the Japanese army's North China and Central China armies to central Anhui, and then turn their backs to the Dabie Mountains and fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army's heavy forces in central Anhui.

We must admit that Chairman Chiang's strategic concept is still good.

Judging from the current situation, as long as Feicheng is not lost in a short period of time, the encirclement and annihilation of the 9th and 13th divisions of Fuyang and Mengcheng will be a high probability event, and even if the main forces of the two major fronts in Central China and North China will not be able to achieve encirclement and annihilation in the end, they will certainly be able to attract the main forces of the two major fronts of the Japanese army to the area of central Anhui.

Then, with 30 to 40 elite divisions leading the main force of the Japanese army in a circle in the Dabie Mountain, and then with 10 to 20 divisions of troops to attack the supply lines of the Japanese army, then at most within three months, the Japanese heavy army clusters gathered in the central Anhui region will fall into the predicament of running out of ammunition and food, at this time, the national army will fight back with all its might, then it will be a high probability event to defeat the main force of the invading Japanese army in one fell swoop, and at this point, the Sino-Japanese war will also come to an end.

Of course, there is another very important issue that must be solved, that is, how to ensure the supply of the more than 60 main divisions gathered in Anhui? After all, this is more than 60 main divisions, 7.8 million people, and the daily consumption of money and food is an astronomical amount for people to eat and chew.

However, Gu Shutong believes that these difficulties can be completely overcome.

Because the straight-line distance from central Anhui to Wuhan is less than 200 kilometers, the Nationalist Government can completely mobilize the people who fled from the occupied areas to Wuhan to form a transport team to cross the Dabie Mountains to transport supplies to central Anhui.

In this way, the Nationalist Army can rely on Wuhan to obtain a steady stream of supplies, while the Japanese supply lines are constantly facing the threat of the Nationalist Army.

However, no matter how good a plan is, no matter how grand a strategic concept is, in the final analysis, it needs people to execute it.

The level of the commander-in-chief of the theater will directly determine the outcome and success or failure of this strategic decisive battle.

Of course, Gu Shutong thought that he himself was the best choice for commander-in-chief of the theater of operations, but in fact, this old man was only similar to Chairman Chiang, because history had already proved that after Gu Shutong took over the post of commander-in-chief of the three theaters, he did not launch a decent offensive for eight years.

Walking into the study and sitting down, Gu Shutong turned on the radio again.

Gu Shutong didn't listen to the radio much originally, but it has almost become a habit these days.

As soon as the radio was turned on, a low and hoarse voice immediately came from inside: "Compatriots all over the country and patriotic overseas Chinese, I am Xu Rui, head of the Dameishan Independent Regiment, and here I want to inform you of a painful news, Luo Feng, the commander of the National Revolutionary Army's Anhui Central Advance Brigade, was seriously wounded in the counter-assault battle against the Japanese army in the early hours of this morning, and after rescue efforts failed, he was martyred half an hour ago. ”

Hearing this, Gu Shutong immediately chuckled in his heart, and secretly said that it was not good!

Even Luo Feng, the commander of the Anhui Central Advance Brigade, was killed, which shows the fierceness of the counterattack in the early hours of this morning, and also shows the huge casualties of the Anhui Central Advance Brigade.

At that moment, Gu Shutong pricked up his ears and began to listen intently, Gu Shutong didn't know that Luo Feng had actually been martyred as early as this morning, Xu Rui was not ready to announce Luo Feng's death at this time, because it would inevitably dampen the confidence and morale of the military and people in the rear, but some of Chairman Jiang's actions forced him to do so.

Chairman Jiang dared to obstruct the students from Wuhan from going to the Dameishan base area, how could Xu Rui agree? If Chairman Chiang is not put a little pressure on him, Chairman Chiang will probably really think that the Independent Regiment is a free long-term worker, and he can only make a strong call, but he does not want to fill his stomach, how can this work?

(Dividing Line)

The Zheng brothers and sisters were also listening intently to the radio.

"The siege of Feicheng by the Kumamoto Division and the Kikuchi Brigade of the Japanese Army has lasted for four days, and in the past four days, the Central Anhui Advance Brigade has closely cooperated and coordinated with our Dameishan Independent Regiment, and has repelled hundreds of attacks by devils, however, we have also paid extremely heavy casualties, nearly 4,000 officers and soldiers of the Central Anhui Advance Brigade have sacrificed more than 2,000 people, and nearly 2,000 officers and soldiers of our Dameishan Independent Regiment have sacrificed more than 1,000 people."

Hearing this, moisture welled up in Zheng Wen's big eyes.

"Oh my God, so many people have been sacrificed?" Zheng Wen looked at Zheng Jiakang with a sad face and said, "Brother, they have sacrificed so many people, they have sacrificed so many people." ”

Zheng Jiakang was speechless, and could only squeeze Zheng Wen's somewhat cold little hand hard.

"Actually, for our soldiers, death is not the most terrible, the brothers often say that since we put on this uniform, we will no longer regard ourselves as a living person, either today or tomorrow, a stray bullet or a piece of shrapnel will take our lives."

"We've already done it, really, we're not afraid of death."

"But there are things in this world that are more terrible than death."

"What is more terrible than death is the constant suffering of pain."

"Because of the fierce fighting and the sharp increase in the number of wounded, our reserves of medicine have long been exhausted, and now, not to mention precious medicines such as sulfonamide powder and quinine water, even the most basic gauze is gone, and whenever a wounded person is carried down, the only thing our medical soldiers can do is to disinfect the wound with salt water."

Speaking of which, the voice on the radio had become a little choked.

Listening to this choked and hoarse low voice, Zheng Wen burst into tears.

"Brother, I still have to go to Feicheng." Zheng Wen sobbed and said, "I still have to gather my classmates to go to the street to raise donations, and then use the donations raised to buy medicines, and then take these medicines to Feicheng, I want to do my best for the wounded on the front line, even if I can't save every one of them, at least some of them can be saved." ”

This time, Zheng Jiakang couldn't find a reason to refute it.

On the radio, a low and hoarse voice continued: "Because of the lack of medicine, our wounded are facing a great threat, even the most ordinary burns, because of the hot weather, will quickly become inflamed and fester, up to now, more than 100 wounded have been amputated because of simple burns, and 16 wounded have died because of wound infection, they did not fall under the guns of the devils, did not die under the indiscriminate bombardment of the devil's planes and artillery, but fell on the hospital bed, if there is knowledge under the spring, I think these wounded people will be crying on the Huangquan Road, they are suffering, they are unwilling. ”

Hearing this, Zheng Wen couldn't control it anymore, so she threw herself into Zheng Jiakang's arms and cried, crying with pear blossoms and rain.

Xu Rui's speech continued: "Brigade Commander Luo has sacrificed his life for the country, and most of the stones, dogs, and mountain babies who met with everyone a few days ago have also been sacrificed, and this afternoon, the devils have used more than 500 sorties of bombers and hundreds of field heavy howitzers to bombard Feicheng indiscriminately. ”

"Many of our brothers were still holding their positions when the devils launched the shelling, and as a result, they were buried alive, some of them were dug out by us, but some of them were never found, but we did not grieve, and we did not shed tears, because we were soldiers, and we died on the battlefield, and the horse leather shrouded us was our natural destination."

"At this moment, I, Xu Rui, happen to be sitting in front of the announcer and talking to you."

"But tomorrow, by this time tomorrow, I may not be in this world."

"Before leaving, I would like to read a poem to you, called Bloodstained Grace."

"Maybe I say goodbye and won't come back."

"Do you understand, do you understand."

"Maybe I will fall, and I will never get up again."

"Do you want it, eternal anticipation."

"If so, don't be sad."

"On the fluttering military flag, there is our blood-stained demeanor."

"Maybe my eyes won't be able to open again."

"Do you understand, my silent feelings?"

"Maybe I'll sleep forever and never wake up again."

"Do you believe me, I turned into a mountain?"

"If so, don't be sad."

"In the soil of the motherland, there is the love we give."