Everyone looked back and saw Chief Bai looking at General Chen with a look of disdain. Admiral Chen said with a change of color: "Bai Jiansheng, what did you say....?" Who is talking about dreams? ”

First, as you said, the Fifth Theater is about to recover the eastern and northern Jiangsu regions centered on Xuzhou, and the first theater has also recovered the vast areas of southern Lunan, northern Henan, and central Henan.

However, the First Theater is currently stationed in various places to maintain law and order, and the number of troops that can be mobilized is already stretched. As for the main force of the Fifth Theater in the counteroffensive operations some time ago, it suffered heavy casualties and suffered heavy losses in troops; after the liberation of Xuzhou, at least half of the troops of the Fifth Theater will have to be deployed in various places, and the remaining half of the troops will not be able to immediately travel hundreds of miles to participate in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Campaign.

In addition, although it seems that it is smooth sailing on other battlefields of our army, it is not the case. First of all, the Third Theater of Operations, for the army in the area of operation of the third theater, according to intelligence, the army was completely on the defensive in the previous stage of the battle, and the losses were not large, and then the army took the initiative to abandon most of the peripheral areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The main forces were gathered in two large areas, with Nanjing and Songhu as the two large areas. If our Third War Zone wants to recover Nanjing and Songhu, it will be extremely difficult, even impossible.

Speaking of the Ninth War Zone, although Xue Yue's troops fought successive victories and their morale was high, their troops were limited after all, and after recovering Nanchang and other important towns in succession, their offensive capabilities had been greatly weakened.

You must know that he has gathered nearly 100,000 troops in the Wuhan area, and the two elite infantry divisions withdrawn from the front line in the central Henan region have returned to Wuhan, so the goal of recovering Wuhan in the Ninth Theater is obviously impossible. ”

Listening to General Bai's words, including Chairman Jiang, they couldn't help but fall into deep thought, for what Bai Jiansheng said, Chairman Jiang himself should be well aware of the fact that the generals' common false reports of war results and military exploits are ten likely.

Some time ago, the reason why the Yue Army took a defensive position on the southern and eastern fronts and retreated again and again was that the Yue Army focused its main efforts on the main force of the 42 nd Group Army that had encircled and annihilated the river in Zheng County.

In Chairman Chiang's view, the counteroffensive campaign went so smoothly and so quickly, and it should be a natural trend to recover Nanjing, Songhu, and Wuhan.

However, after Bai Jiansheng's analysis, the pride in Chairman Jiang's heart was suddenly half extinguished, and he immediately said to General Bai with a calm face: "Jiansheng, resignation, respect, you come with me to the study and dismiss the meeting." With that, he turned around and walked outside.

General Bai and General He and the others glanced at each other, and then followed in the footsteps of Chairman Chiang.

The rest of the people present dispersed one after another, and the hall of the Military Commission, which was crowded just now, walked clean in a moment.

……

A moment later, in the leader's official residence, in the office of Chairman Chiang.

As soon as Chairman Chiang walked in, General Bai, General He, and General Chen entered hand in with Chairman Chiang. Chairman Jiang waved his hand and said to the three of them: "Jiansheng, you all sit down." With that, he took the lead in sitting down.

When General Bai and the other three heard this, they all sat straight opposite Chairman Chiang. After the three of them sat down, Chairman Jiang said kindly: "Jiansheng, you just analyzed well, although the current situation, although it seems to be smooth sailing and calm, but there is a big crisis lurking in secret, and the situation of resistance in the whole country is still very grim. However, as you said, do you think it is possible for us to recover Wuhan or Nanjing? ”

Chief Bai sat up straight, and said with a stern face: "Commission, if the current situation continues to develop, let alone the recovery of Nanjing and Wuhan, I am afraid that even the offensive troops in our various theaters will turn from victory to defeat." At that time, it is unknown whether the existing area will be able to hold. ”

"Bai Jiansheng! You're alarmist, aren't you? At present, the army has been defeated by millions of troops in various theaters of our [***], and there is no power to fight back, so it can only retreat into the city and defend it. Where did he say that our army was defeated? Admiral Chen sneered without losing any time.

In his opinion, [***] has completely occupied the overwhelming upper hand, and the million-strong army has almost swept half of China, and it is only a matter of time before Wuhan is recovered, and Nanjing, the capital of the country, is recovered. However, Bai Jiansheng's idea seemed to him to be simply sensational.

General Bai ignored General Chen, ignored the embarrassed and resentful eyes of General Chen on the side, and continued to say to Chairman Jiang: "Commission, so far, our army's counteroffensive campaign can be regarded as the real beginning, if it is not surprising, the urgent message of the third brother Mo will come soon." ”

As soon as General Bai's words fell, hurried footsteps sounded outside the office, and when he looked back, he saw Wang Shihe, the chief of the guard, walking in in a hurry, and said with a straight face: "Commission, the Military Commission has forwarded an urgent message from the Third Theater Command!" ”

"Oh?" Chairman Jiang was obviously stunned, and after glancing at Chief Bai, he immediately said to Wang Shihe: "Read." ”

"Yes!" Wang Shihe and the chief of the guard immediately opened the telegram he was carrying in his hand and read: "The Third Theater is in a hurry, and the forward armies of the Third Theater are attacking in the direction of Nanjing, but they have all been strongly blocked by the army. The 32nd Group Army, which attacked Yangzhou, was ambushed by the Yue Army, and under the combined firepower of the army, the 32 nd Group Army suffered almost half of the casualties and was forced to retreat to the rear. ”

Wang Shihe had just finished reading, and the faces of Chairman Jiang, General He and others were only stunned, and Chairman Jiang said with some anger: "Telegraph to Gu Mosan, let him immediately find a way to solve the current situation, with an army of nearly 300,000, he can't even take a small Yangzhou." Hum! ”

"Yes!" Wang Shi and the chief of the guard gladly accepted the order, and immediately turned around and walked away quickly.

After seeing Wang Shihe leave, Chairman Jiang's solemn face softened slightly, and he asked Chief Bai in a calm tone: "Jiansheng, things are almost as good as you expected, I think you should have a plan in mind to deal with it." Tell me about it. ”

"There is a solution! That is, the mobilization of the 42nd Group Army, which is pursuing the remnants of the Yue Army in the central Henan region, if there is a 42nd Group Army, the recovery of Nanjing should not be a problem, but the recovery of Songhu is impossible at present. Chief Bai was not hypocritical, and then said.

"Hmm!" Chairman Jiang nodded knowingly, of course he knew that it was impossible to recover Songhu, at least for now. Because Songhu is close to the coast, although the army's aircraft carriers and 10,000-ton battleships and warships cannot enter the waters of the Yangtze River, they can appear on the coast of Songhu and provide fire assistance and military and material delivery to the devils in the Songhu area at any time.

Not to mention that at present, even the heavy weapons for attacking the city are extremely lacking, at least at present, the air force of [***] has suffered heavy losses after the Battle of Wuhan, and has long lost the strength to compete with the army's land-based and sea-based aviation.

It has not been restored until now, and if we attack Songhu without losing air supremacy, it will undoubtedly be to send the vast number of heroic [***] officers and soldiers to death.

Chairman Chiang understands this very well in his heart, and he has no ambition to recover Songhu at present, so in his opinion, it would be good to recover the surrounding areas of Nanjing first, and as for Songhu, we will have to wait for the time to be ripe.

"Take a seat! I think that if the 42nd Group Army is really transferred to the south, it is better to directly transfer them to the Wuhan battlefield and attack Wuhan with Xue Boling! General He, who had not spoken, saw that Chairman Jiang was in deep thought, and immediately reminded him.

"Huh? Will attack Wuhan? Chairman Chiang didn't figure it out for a while. questioned.

"Yes! Zhang Mingyu's 42nd Group Army and Xue Yue's 9th Theater are both my [***] elite, and if these two elite troops can cooperate sincerely, I think it will not be a problem to recover Wuhan. On the contrary, although the political status of Nanjing, the national capital, is important, because the waters of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are vertical and horizontal, it is conducive to the movement of the Chinese army and navy, and it is not conducive to the interspersed operations of various departments of our army.

On the other hand, although Wuhan said that the naval ships could swim against the current, and we could just sink the ships and intercept them, our army only needed to attack Wuhan directly along both sides of the Yangtze River, and at that time, the 42nd Group Army and the two fierce tigers of the Ninth Theater would attack Wuhan on both sides with a pincer offensive, and the army would absolutely not be able to resist it! As long as Wuhan is recovered, it will be possible to connect the southwest region and the two lakes together, and as for the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, the time is ripe and ready to be taken at any time! Admiral He nodded and explained.

"Hmm!" After hearing this, Chairman Jiang nodded lightly and said, "What Jing Zhi said is reasonable, and the telegram ordered Xue Yue's Ninth War Zone to counterattack Wuhan at all costs. Then send a telegram to Zhang Mingyu, and the telegram order, the 42nd Group Army immediately went south, marched into Wuhan, and regained Wuhan in one fell swoop with the Ninth War Zone! In addition, the military 100,000 is urgent, and there is no room for delay, if there is a battlefield disobedience, they will be punished for treason and defection to the enemy! ”

"Yes!" Chief Bai and the others glanced at each other in surprise, but they immediately understood.

……….

The county seat of Zheng County, the headquarters of the 42nd Group Army.

Zhang Mingyu was sitting in his office reviewing documents, because after the troops crossed the river, the amount of material and logistics supplies transported from Taiyuan was very amazing, and at this time Chief of Staff Liu Cheng stayed in Beiping, and Zhang Mingyu had to personally inquire about these logistics work.

Although the front line is hot, and Zhang Mingyu is also very busy sitting in the rear, because the workload is too great these days, he falls asleep at night, and there is no time to feed Liu Ruyan, a little gluttonous cat.

It makes the beautiful woman scratch from time to time.

Zhang Mingyu was burying his head in approving the documents, and at this time, there were hurried footsteps outside the door, thinking that Liu Ruyan was looking for him again, Zhang Mingyu didn't even raise his head, and said, "I'm very busy now." ”

"Headquarters!" Xu Wen shouted in surprise.

"Hey, Xu Wen! What's the matter? Zhang Mingyu raised his head and asked with a look of surprise.

"Total seat! I just received an urgent message from the Yucheng Military Commission! Xu Wen replied.

"Military Council? What's the matter? Zhang Mingyu asked.

"Chairman Chiang ordered our 42nd Group Army to immediately move south and join forces with the Ninth Theater to attack Wuhan." Xu Wen replied simply and clearly.

"Will you attack Wuhan?" Zhang Mingyu couldn't help frowning.

"Yes! The chairman of the committee also added a clause that those who disobey the order will be severely punished! Xu Wen nodded with a heavy face.

"Where is the Ninth War Zone now?" Zhang Mingyu suddenly got up and walked to the map hanging on the wall next to him.

"It should have hit the Jiujiang area!" Xu Wen replied.

"Jiujiang!" When Zhang Mingyu heard this, he immediately found the location of Jiujiang on the map.

At this time, Xu Wen also walked over, pointed to the map and said: "General seat, the battle line of the Ninth War Zone is too long, it can also be said that it is too wide, and the offensive area is actually hundreds of miles, such a front is easy to be interspersed with detours by the army, and then break them one by one!" ”

"Roundabout?" Zhang Mingyu chuckled twice and said: "Impossible, you don't know Xue Boling, his style of play is extremely unique, on the surface, it seems that his troop arrangement is very problematic, there are big loopholes, it is easy for devils to take advantage of it, but in fact, it is a hidden killing move, if the devil really sends the assault corps to fight in the rear of the ninth theater of operations, it will definitely be eaten by Xue Boling turning his head and taking a bite."

That's his way of playing! The seemingly wide battle line is actually like a large pocket array, once the devil enters, he will immediately order the troops in the front line to tie up the pockets, and then the main force in the rear will immediately press on and eat the enemy in one bite. ”

"Then the boss, shall we leave immediately?" Xu Wen asked.

"It depends on when the second and third divisions will be able to completely annihilate the sixth division!" Zhang Mingyu seemed to say thoughtfully.

At this moment, as soon as Zhang Mingyu's voice fell, a communication soldier ran in quickly, stood up and said: "General, the third division, the second division, and the fourth division have jointly sent an urgent telegram, and the sixth division has all been surrounded around Weishi County, and the fierce battle has been fought for a day, eliminating the two infantry wings of the Yue Army, and the divisions are currently stepping up their attacks. ”

"Good!" When Zhang Mingyu heard this, he immediately looked excited: "The telegram ordered all divisions to intensify their attacks, deal with the remnants of the enemy as soon as possible, and then collectively rest in Weishi County!" ”

"Yes!" The messenger snapped to his feet, and then turned and walked away quickly.

After seeing the signal soldiers leave, Zhang Mingyu turned to Xu Wen and said, "Xu Wen, immediately send a telegram to Liu Dalong, the commander of the provisional reading division, and ask him to quickly dispatch an integrated brigade to Taiyuan by train." The left-behind troops in Taiyuan were reorganized into the Taiyuan Garrison Brigade, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the group army and was fully responsible for the defense of Taiyuan and the arsenal.

Then send a telegram to Ma Liqun, the commander of the Baoding Cavalry Brigade, and transfer the troops of two regiments from Baoding and Shimen, led by Ma Liqun to rush to Taiyuan. (Note that the strength of the cavalry brigade has reached more than 10,000 people, and the strength of an integrated division, because when Lao Jiang gave the number, he only gave a brigade-level number, so there is no way!) It can only be renamed a cavalry brigade. ）

After Ma Liqun arrived in Taiyuan, he was combined with the Reading Force Provisional Division to form a southward advance detachment, with Ma Liqun as the detachment leader, and quickly went south and marched to Wuhan! ”

"Yes!" Xu Wen snapped up and stood upright, then turned around and strode away.

After Xu Wen left, Zhang Mingyu breathed a deep sigh of relief, he knew that this counterattack on Wuhan was of great significance, in addition to leaving the necessary troops to stay in some important areas, the three divisions in his hands were obviously a little insufficient, and the continuous combat of each unit was extremely tired, and now a new force was urgently needed to take the lead.

And this advance detachment will be composed of about 5,000 cavalry men from two cavalry regiments and more than 10,000 people from an integrated infantry brigade! This new force will serve as the vanguard of the march into Wuhan.

Zhang Mingyu calculated that his three infantry divisions had more than 70,000 people, excluding the troops left behind and the combat attrition, less than 50,000 people could really be used to attack Wuhan, and with the newly transferred more than 10,000 people, there were more than 60,000 people.

All the way to Wuhan, it is necessary to leave troops to garrison, and at the last moment, there are no more than 30,000 people who can really join Xue Yue in the three towns of Wuhan.

But this is enough, this attack on Wuhan, his 42nd Group Army will certainly serve as the main force on one side, but the real big head should be Xue Yue, as long as Xue Yue's Ninth Theater can be attacked in time, the pressure on his side will be much lighter.

………

Outside Weishi County.

After a hard battle, Lai Changqing's brigade finally defeated the 23rd Infantry Wing of the Yue Army. The 1st Brigade, 2nd Regiment, 1st Battalion, and 3rd Company took the lead in joining up with the 2nd Division, 3rd Brigade, and 1st Regiment, which were already in danger.

After about two hours of fierce fighting, the 13th Infantry Wing, which was already overwhelmed, was completely annihilated, and the 23rd Infantry Wing, except for a few who escaped, was also mostly annihilated.

The only battle that was still going on was Yangjiapo, five miles southwest of Weishi County.

After being desperately intercepted by the 2nd Division, the 6th Division of the Army failed to break through, and the 47th Infantry Wing suffered more than half of the casualties and was forced to go on the defensive with the 45th Infantry Wing.

Suzuki took the division headquarters to stay on the nameless heights of Yangjiapo. The 47th Infantry Wing and the 45th Infantry Wing tried to join up with the division headquarters several times, but were repulsed by [***].

On the heights of Yangjiapo.

Suzuki Ichichi sat in the temporary headquarters with a heavy face, listening to the sound of gunfire from time to time in front of him, Suzuki's face became more and more ugly.

Because his division headquarters and artillery wing had lost contact with him, and his connection with the two infantry wings had also been cut off, he had only one baggage wing and a supplementary wing at the division headquarters by his side.

These supplementary corps are simply overwhelmed because they belong to the reserves, are incomplete, and have low combat effectiveness.

Just when Suzuki was in deep thought, a junior officer strode over with a saber on his shoulder, and said with a straight face: "General, the 45th Wing has called to say that their attack has been repulsed by the Shina people again and cannot meet with the division headquarters. The 47th Infantry Wing had already suffered more than half of its casualties, and was now unable to attack. ”

"Yaga! Order each wing to fight its own battle, fight to the end, and be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor! Suzuki stood up with an awe-inspiring expression and roared.

"Hay!" The devil officer bowed his head suddenly, and then turned around and strode away with his saber on his shoulder.

(To be continued)