Because the Japanese army suffered deep losses in the Battle of Wuhan, after capturing Wuhan and other places, it generally contracted its offensive posture, rested on the spot, and constantly recruited new troops from Japan to send them to China to replenish their battle losses, and at the same time constantly engaged in some provocative friction with the Chinese army on the borders of the occupied areas. The two sides have had contacts with each other, but for some time there has been no substantive progress between the two sides.

It was soon mid to late December.

Throughout the month of December, the Japanese Air Force flew several thousand sorties and continuously bombed major cities in China's southwestern rear, including Xi'an, Guilin, Chongqing, Changsha, and other places, causing tens of thousands of casualties among Chinese soldiers and civilians. Among them, Guilin was the most severely bombed, and almost the entire urban area was bombed into ruins, and countless casualties were immense. However, because Bai Fei was stationed in Changsha and the anti-aircraft weapons under his command were very sharp, after more than a dozen planes were knocked out by the Japanese bombing planes, the rest fled in a hurry and never dared to provoke again.

In the same month, the Yunnan-Burma Highway, which was more than 900 kilometers long, was finally opened, breaking the Japanese army's attempt to encircle China and opening up land transportation to overseas.

On 22 December, the Japanese Government issued its third Konoe Statement, repeating the old tune that "Japan, Manchuria, and China should unite with the common goal of building a new order in East Asia and seek to achieve mutual goodwill, friendship, common defense, and economic cooperation."

The next day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government issued a statement bitterly refuting Japan's Third Konoe Statement, saying that it was purely a "deceptive rhetoric." At the commemorative weekly meeting of the premier of the Central Party Department of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech entitled "Exposing the Conspiracy of the Enemy and Clarifying the National Policy of the War of Resistance Against Japan", denouncing Konoe's third statement on China and issuing a "Declaration on Refuting Konoe's Statement."

At the end of December, Wang Zhaoming, who had defected to Vietnam, after rejecting the persuasion of Foreign Minister Yu Chonghui and Chen Bui, sent a telegram in Hanoi to Chiang Kai-shek and the Central Executive Committee and Supervisory Committee, demanding that the Nationalist Government follow the three principles of "recognizing Manchukuo, jointly defending communism, and promoting economic cooperation" put forward in Konoe's statement on 22 July, as well as "exchanging views with the Japanese government with a view to restoring peace." When the news was transmitted back to China, it was unanimously criticized by people of insight in China.

At the same time, China used diplomatic means to get the United States to send another note to the Japanese government, saying that it did not recognize Japan's so-called "new East Asian order" and that "the existing treaty will never allow unilateral abrogation." The Japanese government began to become increasingly dissatisfied with the United States.

In 1939, on January 1, Chiang Kai-shek finally regained his determination and organized a regular meeting of the Party Congress, at which the decision to expel Wang Jingwei from the party and remove him from all positions was made and adopted.

It stands to reason that Wang Zhaoming has defected for a month, and if he were a resolute person, Wang Zhaoming and his followers would have been expelled from the organization and used all means to scold this thing, but before that, Chiang Kai-shek still hoped that Wang Zhaoming would be able to turn around and turn back, and the woman's benevolence and indecisive character can be seen.

After Bai Fei learned the news, he couldn't help but shake his head. But he didn't bother to pay too much attention to it right now. The reason is that in a little more than a month, the Japanese army in Guangzhou, which has been resting for many days, will advance westward along the coastline, and will directly threaten the South China Sea Islands at that time.

Bai Fei, who is familiar with history, clearly knows that in February 1939, Hainan Island fell under the attack of the Japanese army.

But now that Hainan has become his rear foundation, Bai Fei must not afford to lose.

It's just that because he is now in Changsha, the battle of Hunan and Jiangxi is about to break out again, and he really can't get out. Fortunately, when Bai Fei was in Hainan earlier, he had exchanged a large number of weapons and ammunition for storage in Hainan, and later sent Li Shuyang to Hainan to sit in Hainan and develop the armed forces.

As the so-called concern is chaos, although Bai Fei has made all preparations, but others are not in Hainan, so he is still a little worried.

So Bai Fei sent a private telegram in his own name to Zhang Fakui, commander of the Fourth Theater of Operations, in which Bai Fei directly pointed to the targets that the Japanese army might attack next: Shantou, Jiangmen, and even Hainan. The reason is that after the Japanese occupied Guangzhou, China's main port to the outside world, the Chinese government had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, importing urgently needed materials from Shantou, Jiangmen, and Guangzhou Bay (formerly known as Zhanjiang). In order to contain China, the Japanese will certainly not give up their occupation of these places. In the message, Bai Fei focused on the key points, hoping that Zhang Fakui would send some troops to Hainan to defend.

Zhang Fakui is an old revolutionary, he was born in Shixing County, Shaoguan, Guangdong, as early as 1912 was admitted to the Guangdong Army School, to 1925, has been promoted to the commander of the 12th Division of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and the following year to participate in the Northern Expedition, because of the courage of the battle, soon accumulated merit and was promoted to the commander of the Fourth Army, known as the Iron Army. Historically, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Fakui successively served as the commander of the group army, the commander-in-chief of the corps, the commander of the theater, and the commander of the front army. He led his troops to participate in the battles of Songhu, Wuhan, Kunlun Pass, etc., and was awarded the second-class general of the National Revolutionary Army, and was a famous anti-Japanese general. Hu Zhiwei, president of the Chinese Society of Modern History, once commented on Zhang Fakui, saying that he was an outlier in the Kuomintang army, first, he was never corrupt, and second, he was very brave in battle.

Therefore, Bai Fei has always admired Zhang Fakui and has been friends with him for a long time, but he has always been in the same room.

However, Zhang Fakui, who was far away in Wuzhou and other places commanding operations, was also quite surprised after receiving Bai Fei's telegram. Now that he is the commander of the Fourth Theater of Operations, he is in charge of the war between the two provinces, and all the places mentioned in Bai Fei's telegram are within his jurisdiction, so he naturally has an unshirkable responsibility. In addition, Bai Fei's achievements are now famous all over the world, Zhang Fakui has called the central government many times, hoping to transfer Bai Fei into his fourth theater of operations to fight, although there is no result in the end, but Zhang Fakui does not dare to underestimate Bai Fei's telegram. After weighing it again and again, Zhang Fakui still mobilized a brigade of Li Hansoul's 64th Army to go to Hainan to assist in the defense under the condition of tight troops.

Bai Fei was very happy after getting the news, and immediately called Zhang Fakui to express his gratitude, and informed Li Shuyang of the situation, so that he could be ready to respond.

At the same time, Bai Fei calculated in his heart: Now Li Shuyang has set up a sophisticated team in Hainan equipped with air defense weapons, RPGs, 107 rocket artillery, and automatic weapons, with a number of about 3,000. Now with the addition of a brigade of Li Hansoul, this is already an armed force of nearly 10,000 people. Historically, when the Japanese army captured Hainan, it only dispatched part of the navy, air force and about 6,000 army units.

Let's say that after Bai Fei solved his worries, he devoted himself to the defense of Japan on the line from Nanchang to Yueyang.

On this day, the Japanese army north of Nanchang, which had not made a major move for several months, suddenly began to send a large number of troops to conduct a large-scale search on the eastern shore of Poyang Lake with the support of its navy. Obviously, this is the Japanese in order to ensure the safety of the flanks and prepare for the attack on Nanchang.

After the news reached Changsha, Xue Yue immediately called the commanders of the defensive units on the front line, ordering them to pay close attention to the movements of the Japanese troops in the defense area and make preparations for battle. At the same time, he ordered the staff officers to report the situation back to Chiang Kai-shek.

Not long after, he received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, in which he said that Nanchang was the capital of Jiangxi Province, the intersection of the Nanxun Railway and the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, and the hub of the rear liaison and supply lines of the Third and Ninth Theaters. He also said that "you can take the initiative to look for fighters and attack them while the enemy is not firmly established." ”

When Xue Yue saw the telegram, he smiled bitterly and said to Bai Fei: "Although we have nearly 200,000 troops on the front line of Xiushui, they are all land troops. Nanchang is adjacent to Poyang Lake, and the waterway transportation is very developed, and the Japanese army uses ships, and we can't stop it at all. Is it difficult to fight the Japanese battleships in fishing boats? ”

Xue Yue angrily threw the telegram on his desk.

Bai Fei said: "This is indeed a problem, the water surface of Poyang Lake is different from the narrow channel of the Yangtze River, it is very vast, the Japanese warships can be driven up without restrictions, and there is enough space for maneuvering, if it is like fighting on the Yangtze River, building a fort to deal with the battleships, not to mention whether it is too late, even if it is in time, it will not play much role." ”

Xue Yue sighed and said, "Yes." I've been aware of this issue earlier, but unfortunately the Japanese are also interested in it. Alas! So far, I can only be a dead horse and a live horse doctor..."Saying that, Xue Yue said to the confidential staff officer standing aside: "Immediately send a telegram to Luo Zhuoying, and ask him to arrange troops to arrange mines at various dangerous crossings of Poyang Lake, as many as possible..."

The staff officer was ordered to hurry up.

Xue Yue thought for a while, stared at Bai Fei and said, "Zhenyu, it seems that I have to work on you again this time." Nanchang has a great relationship, even if Luo Zhuoying is in charge there, I am still a little uneasy, and now the Japanese army in Yueyang is eyeing Changsha again, I really can't get out, so I have to work hard for you to go on a trip, if you can hold Nanchang, I will personally ask you for credit when you go back. ”

Bai Fei nodded and said: "There is no need to say anything about the merits, it is my long-cherished wish to fight against the Japanese invaders, let alone hard work." To tell you the truth, there has been no war in the past few months, and I am not at ease when I am idle. I'll go back and get ready, and I'll leave tomorrow. ”

Xue Yue laughed, patted Bai Fei's shoulder and said, "I knew that you kid couldn't be idle, okay!" Then I'll wish you success! ”