October 2, 1937, Pukou, Nanjing, Xiaoying secret base.

Lao Chiang, He Yingqin, and other military and political leaders convened a meeting of the General Staff Headquarters of the Nanjing Military Commission here to discuss how to deal with the follow-up reinforcements of the Japanese army on the Songhu battlefield and the issue of the Japanese army moving south in Pingjin.

There were only six people attending the meeting, and Chiang was the chairman of the Nanjing Military Commission, so of course he had to attend the meeting.

And Major General Liu Yicheng, Lao Jiang's military adjutant, was naturally also in attendance.

General Cheng Qian was the chief of staff at the time, and such meetings were his own job, so he personally presided over the meeting, and General He Yingqin was the head of the Military Affairs Department, General Xu Yongchang was the head of the Military Command Department, and General Bai Chongxi was the deputy chief of staff, so they were the protagonists of this meeting.

Cheng Qian (the word Songyun) said that he was the chief of staff, but in fact he had been stationed near Xuzhou, and in his capacity as a messenger of the Central Military Commission, he supervised the Fifth War Zone on behalf of Chairman Chiang.

The Fifth Theater was set up to prevent the Japanese army from landing in Lianyungang, and its jurisdiction was limited, that is, the southern part of Shandong and the northern part of Jiangsu, which were considered secondary theaters, but they were located at the junction of the North China Theater and the Songhu Theater, and there was also the trump card of the United Group Army, which was extremely important and sensitive.

Although He Yingqin (the word Jingzhi) is the minister of military affairs, after the "77 Incident", as a messenger, shuttled between Liangguang and Fujian, on August 22 officially appointed the commander of the Fourth Theater, since the Songhu battlefield gradually stabilized in September, this is the first time to return to Nanjing, officially report to the old Chiang and the Nanjing Military Commission.

Xu Yongchang was born in the Beiyang Navy, and currently serves as the head of the Military Command Department, and most of the time he still stays in the naval department, or goes to the Jiangfang Army to inspect the office, but this person has been relied on by Lao Jiang for a long time, and when there is a major matter that needs to be discussed or decided, Lao Jiang will always pull him.

Therefore, the person who is really in charge of the Nanjing General Staff Department is actually General Bai Chongxi.

After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, some people even thought that he was the chief planner of the Anti-Japanese War, because most of the military plans in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, as well as the specific operational deployments, were actually written by him and Lao Jiang, so he was also one of Lao Chiang's real henchmen.

Seeing that everyone was stunned with confidential information, Lao Jiang had no choice but to give Bai Chongxi a look, and let this guy come forward in person to start the conference, as for Major General Liu Yicheng, don't need to speak, or mix tea and water for everyone, and by the way, be the clerk of the meeting, and make meeting minutes and the like.

Because of Cheng Songyun, the top boss, Bai Chongxi was still a little embarrassed, but since Lao Jiang asked him to speak, he naturally didn't dare not do it.

I saw Deputy Chief Bai cough dryly, and said politely with a smile on his face, "Chiefs, brothers are not talented, just be a person who throws bricks and leads jade, if there is any shortcoming, I hope that everyone here will not hesitate to give advice, well, everyone is dedicated to the public and does not get in the way."

Seeing that everyone had no doubts, Admiral Bai took the baton and explained them one by one on a map of the whole country.

"The three-way offensive of the Japanese army in North China, so far there is only one way to fight, that is, the second theater of operations, that is, Shanxi and Chahar, especially the capital of Chahar, after the fall of Beikou (Zhangjiakou), it is all the way to Taiyuan, and has launched a fierce offensive against Yanbei and Xinkou and other places."

"Fortunately, General Yan Xishan has a way to resist the enemy, although the Japanese army is menacing on this road, but the Jin Sui army still stabilized the entire battle line in the Xinkou area, and the Japanese invaders are not at a stand, it is estimated that if the Japanese army no longer has large-scale soldiers, our army will have a sixty percent chance of victory."

"In addition, at present, the first part of the Kwantung Army of the Japanese army has taken over the Chahar defense area, and intends to send the 26th Division as the main force to form a corps stationed in Mongolia to invade our Guisui and Baotou, with the intention of cutting off the connection between Soviet Russia and us, and at the same time warn the Soviet Red Army to suddenly move south."

"However, we must also pay attention to one point, since the '77 Incident', the main force of the Japanese army in North China has been resting, only the Fifth Division is fighting everywhere, and in the Pingjin area, there are already seven or eight divisions, and it is estimated that the Japanese army in North China is about to have a major military operation."

"At the same time, the Japanese Kwantung Army will send three new divisions south in the near future, and it is expected to be stationed near Shanhaiguan, which is undoubtedly a danger signal that the enemy is about to launch a new large-scale attack, but the main direction of attack of these armies needs to be considered again."

When Bai Chongxi said this, it was difficult for others to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Admiral Xu Yongchang usually pays the most attention to the Songhu battlefield, once the Japanese army breaks through the Wusong Pass, the first object to attack is the Jiangyin fortress and his beloved naval fleet, and some reflexively jumped, "Needless to say, the focus of the Japanese army's attack this time is the Songhu battlefield."

Admiral Xu is not untargeted, but reasonable.

He believes that at the beginning of the (all-out) War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army had arrogantly announced to the international community that it would "destroy China within three months." Now that it is counted, the March period will be approaching in a few days.

If the Japanese army in North China moves south along the Pinghan Line or the Jinpu Line, even if they have millions of troops and their combat strength is like a "golden vulture technique", it is simply a utopian dream to occupy China in a short period of time, so the only solution is to break the Songhu predicament as soon as possible and go straight to Nanjing, the capital of China.

The attendees frowned.

It stands to reason that Admiral Xu's words are not entirely wrong, because once the Japanese army increases its troops by 200,000 again, most of Hangzhou and other places will really be lost, and it is only a matter of time before Shanghai is lost, so according to such an attack deployment, it is the best choice for the Japanese devils, and they can end the Sino-Japanese war as soon as possible.

But for some reason, they always feel that something is wrong in their hearts.

Lao Chiang quickly thought of an expert on Japanese issues - General He Yingqin.

Since the "September 18 Incident," he has been supervising the war in the Pingjin area for a long time, and has successively signed the "Tanggu Agreement" and the "Hemei Agreement" with the Japanese devils.

Therefore, when you have doubts about the movements of the Japanese army, it is not wrong to go to Minister He.

Admiral He touched the teacup and muttered for a while, until Lao Jiang was a little impatient, and then explained with some hesitation, "As far as the Ministry knows, the Japanese have always been careful in their calculations, and no matter what they do, they want to get the maximum benefit, so this time is no exception.

"The Japanese left is undoubtedly a staunch anti-war crowd."

"Only the huge middle forces are the objects that Japanese militarism wants to strive for, and the reason why they are clamoring for 'three months to destroy China' is mainly to let these people loosen their grip on the war of aggression against China, because once the war breaks out, it will be a fantasy to stop fighting as soon as possible, so the department judges that the main force of the Japanese army in North China should not be used to land on the Songhu battlefield."

"However, the Japanese army intends to form the 10th Army and the 11th Army, and I am afraid that it is true."

"However, there is one point, judging from the experience of the department, the two armies should be one true and one false, because in a short period of time, it is simply impossible to transfer 6 to 7 main divisions to land in Songhu, and only by arguing whether it is true or false can we calmly arrange the direction of the main attack, and it is expected that the Japanese army will first solve the current predicament of the Japanese army in Songhu, and it will be their real purpose in launching the landing operation."

"As for the large-scale southward movement of the Japanese army in North China, it should also be true."

"Because the Japanese army in North China stayed in the Pingjin area for too long, Japanese chieftains such as Terauchi Shouyi, Kazuki Kiyoji and Nishio Shouzo are not good men and women."

"The reason why they have been delayed is to win over some traitors, and want to capture North China and other places at the smallest cost, as far as I know, General Feng Yuxiang has separated from Song Zheyuan's department, and his old department Han Fuqu is also a little detached, and the entire war in North China is about to collapse."

Old Jiang was shocked, he originally thought that the appointment of the founder of the Northwest Army, Feng Yuxiang, as the commander of the First Theater of Operations, temporarily commanded the old Northwest Army in Pingjin, Chahar, Shandong and other places, it was a clever move, but now he realized that it was fundamentally the opposite of the north, not only Pingjin and Chahar had fallen, but the old department that had fallen to Baoding had no intention of fighting, and the old department of the Northwest Army in Shandong was inseparable from him.

North China is really in trouble.

General Cheng Songyun stood up without hesitation, and he had a new insight into the overall pattern of North China.

"Gong Jiang, this matter is not difficult to solve. The first theater can be divided into the first and sixth theaters, and the headquarters will personally go to the first theater to supervise the battle of the Shangzhen Department and Liu Zhi's department, focusing on the defense of the northern section of the Pinghan Line, and at the appropriate time, invite Song Zheyuan from Shandong and entrust him with the important task of serving as the deputy commander of the theater.

"Commander Feng Yuxiang asked Nanjing to appoint him as the commander of the Sixth Theater of Operations, specifically supervising the old headquarters of the Northwest Army, and strictly guarding the northern section of the Jinpu Line, so as to prevent the Han Fuqu Department in Shandong from bargaining for foreign workers, after all, once the Sixth Theater is defeated, the Japanese will take Jinan, the capital of Shandong."

After the "77 Incident," Nanjing was only temporarily divided into five theaters, namely, the first theater had jurisdiction over Hebei, Shandong, and Pingjin, the second theater had jurisdiction over Shanxi, Suiyuan, and Chahar, the third theater had jurisdiction over Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu, the fourth theater had jurisdiction over Guangdong and Fujian, and the fifth theater had jurisdiction over northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong.

As for the Sixth War Zone, it was originally just an idea.

However, now that the war in North China was urgent, Lao Jiang and others had no choice but to rush to power, and the jurisdiction of the Sixth Theater was limited to the "northern section of the Jinpu Line".

However, Lao Chiang is very similar to Hitler, that is, he can see through the fog of history and firmly grasp the key to the development of things, in the words of the great man - "both are super-focused".

After the establishment of the Sixth War Zone, he still couldn't let go.

Lao Jiang pointed to the location of Shijiazhuang, frowned and asked, "Here, it is the winner and loser of the Japanese army in North China, who should be sent to it?" ”

Shijiazhuang, located in the northern section of the Pinghan Line, was under the jurisdiction of the First War Zone.

Commander Cheng Qian immediately replied that he could send Shang Zhen or Liu Zhi to defend it, or send Tang Enbo's 13th Army to garrison.

Lao Jiang was a little dissatisfied, because Shang Zhen was the chairman of Hebei Province, and Baoding was the capital of Hebei.

And what about positive determination (true determination)?

Is it going to be handed over to the Northwest Army?

He was already very satisfied that these people could not vote for the sun.

As for Liu Zhi's Second Group Army, it is said to be a group army, and its predecessor was actually a part of the Northwest Army, which was expanded from Sun Lianzhong's division of the 26th Route Army, especially after the case of Feng Yuxiang, Lao Jiang no longer dared to have any hope for the poor and chaotic Northwest Army.

The only thing he thinks is that he hopes that these bear children will be warlords when they become warlords, and don't vote for the sun, please.

Tang Enbo's department was originally a good choice, but since the Battle of Nankou, the 13th Army has become a "lost army", the number of troops is unknown, the location is unknown, and the weapons and equipment are unknown.

However, Jiang Weizao can also understand him, the department has faced the attack of two devil divisions, and it is already luck that it was not completely annihilated, and it will take a certain amount of time to fully recover.

Do you want to send Wei Lihuang to go, Lao Jiang thought about it in a blink of an eye, and it was not good.

Once Wei Lihuang's 14th Group Army withdrew from the Shanxi battlefield, it was guaranteed that the Battle of Xinkou, which was in full swing, would immediately collapse, and the Japanese Fifth Division and its backup troops would take advantage of the situation to break through the Xinkou defense line, and even take advantage of the situation to seize Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi.

Lao Jiang was a little uncertain for a while.

Bai Chongxi's eyes rolled and he thought of an army, so he came up with a bad idea on the side, "The commission, the ministry believes that the responsibility of defending Shijiazhuang can be handed over to the 18th Group Army."

Liu Yicheng, who was making a record on the side, really despised this guy.

The Eighteenth Group Army is notoriously poor, and its equipment is extremely backward, so let them fight positional warfare, this guy shouldn't want to borrow a knife to kill people.

Fortunately, Cheng Qian is an honest man, he didn't agree much, and said with a roll of his eyes, "Brother Chongxi, if that's the case, I think it's better to let Liao Lei's 21st Group Army defend Shijiazhuang, at least the weapons and equipment of the department are far better than those of the Jin Sui Army."