However, this time Lieutenant General Hakata Shigeichi's abacus was wrong, and Xue Yue was not a soft persimmon. Before receiving the order to transfer the front line of Hukou, Xue Yue went to meet Jiang Baili, a genius Chinese military strategist who was now a senior adviser to the Nationalist Government and acting president of the Army University.

Jiang Baili, also known as Jiang Fangzhen, was known as the master of modern military science in China, was a senior staff member that Chiang Kai-shek relied on very much, and was also the main designer of the Nationalist Government's war against Japan. The "Theory of National Defense" compiled by him was hailed as "the cornerstone of the national defense thinking of the Republic of China" and became the basis for the strategic guidance of the squadron throughout World War II, and Jiang Baili thus became the founder of China's modern national defense thinking. Jiang Baili studied the art of war intensively, and he was a rare genius in modern Chinese military history. Jiang Baili has a lot of qualifications and is a veteran-level think-tank-type figure. Duan Qirui, Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong, Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang, and other figures who were like a marquee on China's modern political stage, all looked at the thatched house and waited for him to be the chief of staff or adviser, but it was Chiang Kai-shek who really made Chiang Baili look up to him.

Jiang Baili graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officer school in his early years, and he was the strategist who caused the most headaches in Japan and was also an extremely embarrassing figure in the history of the Japanese Army. In Japanese words, although China's Jiang Baili was an army general who only talked about martial arts, he defeated the Japanese army twice: the first time was when Jiang Baili graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officer school and easily won the first place. In front of all the graduates in Japan, the Japanese emperor awarded him his sword according to the custom, while his classmate, Sadao Araki, who later became a general of the Japanese Army, a land minister, and a class-A war criminal, could only applaud and stare in the audience. Under their noses, Jiang Baili took the Japanese emperor's sword with ease and ease, and this hatred lingered, and Sadao Araki and others thought that this was a great shame for the Japanese army. Jiang Baili's second defeat of the Japanese Army was his accurate prediction of the offensive route and outcome of the Japanese invasion of China.

Xue Yue and Jiang Baili are still very fateful, in 1917, Xue Yue was still a student of the sixth infantry department of Baoding Army School, and Jiang Baili was serving as the principal of Baoding Army Military Academy at that time, it can be said that Xue Yue was Jiang Baili's student. And the pair of teachers and students also played against each other on the battlefield together, and once staged a teacher-student duel. In 1926, Jiang Baili was the general staff (chief of staff) of Sun Chuanfang, and Xue Yue was the deputy commander and commander of the third regiment of the First Division of the First Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army. During the Northern Expedition, the main targets of the Nationalist Government were the three major warlords Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin, and Sun Chuanfang's territory at that time was the area of Wuhan, Hubei. The two sides fought a fierce battle around the Wuhan area, including the present-day Nanxun line, and Jiang Baili did not know that it was his student Xue Yue who was fighting against him.

But even so, Xue Yue still admired this teacher who had not met a few times. Because of Jiang Baili's attainments and prestige, although Jiang Baili was the principal of the Baoding Army Military Academy for seven months, all the graduates of the Baoding Military Academy claimed to be his disciple and were proud of Jiang Baili's disciple.

When visiting this famous teacher, Xue Yue was ready to inquire about the current situation of the war between China and Japan and the future development trend. After meeting Jiang Baili, Xue Yue first asked about the direction of the Japanese army's attack and the direction of the Nationalist government's defense. To tell the truth, although Xue Yue now has his own set of views on operations, he is also puzzled by the current defense system of the Nationalist Government from east to west and along the river. After the Battle of Xuzhou, the main force of the Japanese army was still on the front line of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, and their best attack route should be to attack Wuhan from north to south from the nearest Pinghan line, where Pingchuan would be conducive to the offensive of its modern equipment troops. However, the Nationalist Government focused its operations on the Dabie Mountains and the north and south banks of the Yangtze River.

Regarding this issue, Xue Yue once asked He Yingqin, who was then the Minister of Military Affairs of the National Government, but He Yingqin stopped talking and was extremely embarrassed. On the same issue, although Chairman Chiang was also covered by clouds and fog, his tone was very affirmative and he was very firm in the correctness of the Nationalist Government's deployment of defenses along the Yangtze River. Xue Yue asked his friend Chen Cheng about this question afterwards, and Chen Cheng also couldn't get the point. ,

However, Jiang Baili did not answer Xue Yue's question head-on, but followed this question to answer Xue Yue's strategic questions about the deployment of defense. Chiang Baili told Xue Yue that the Yellow River embankment at the mouth of the garden was dug by Chiang Kai-shek's order to be dug by Shang Zhen's department, and that Chiang Kai-shek also signed the document.

This news made Xue Yue feel very shocked, at that time he was fighting in Henan, the Yellow River that broke the embankment was like a roaring dragon, tumbling and rushing down from the breach, and everywhere it went was a vast ocean, which temporarily blocked the Japanese army's attack, making it in a predicament, and was forced to change the direction of attack from north to south along the Pinghan line from Zhengzhou in the west, and instead attacked Wuhan from east to west by detouring to Dabie Mountain and the north and south banks of the Yangtze River. At the same time, the flooding of the Japanese army also made 54,000 square kilometers of land in 44 counties of Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces become water towns and Zeguo, where 10,000 people drowned and more than 10,000 people left their homes and became homeless...... The harm caused by the bursting of the Yellow River embankment at Huayuankou was what Xue Yue had seen with his own eyes, and the tragic situation was indescribable. Xue Yue had always thought that it was blown up by the Japanese army or that Shang Zhen's headquarters had dug it up privately, but he never imagined that it would be an order from the beloved leader in his heart.

It was Xue Yue in Henan, and when the Japanese army attacked Kaifeng and Zhengzhou was in an emergency, Shang Zhen's department once wanted him to ask for help, but at that time, Xue Yue's department also had a major and urgent military task to complete, so it was reported to the military committee to solve. But Xue Yue didn't expect that at that time, almost all the troops in Henan were fighting against the Japanese army, and they had reached the point where the source of troops was exhausted and there were no troops to adjust. Chiang Kai-shek, who was helpless, finally signed a report on Cheng Qian, commander of the First Theater of Operations, requesting that the Yellow River be dred, and that "a counteroffensive with water be used to contain the enemy," and ordered Shang Zhen, commander-in-chief of the 20th Group Army, to dig an embankment and release water at the Zhaokou of the Yellow River, which had already been completed on the river. Later, Jiang Zaizhen, commander of the New Eighth Division, led his troops to excavate and detonate the embankment at Huayuankou day and night......

Xue Yue asked a little angrily: "I didn't expect that there was such a ruthless move in the hands of the chairman, no wonder his tone was so hard at the meeting, and he didn't know that the chairman was ruthless?" Can the water of the Yellow River know us Chinese?" After speaking, Xue Yue only felt that his throat was choking, and he had mixed feelings in his heart. His own army could not resist the robbers who invaded his homeland, but could only replace the soldiers with water, bringing such a great disaster to his own people, and the battle was fought to this point, as a soldier, I am ashamed

Jiang Baili saw Xue Yue's uncomfortable appearance, so he opened his mouth and said: "Boling, a poor and weak nation, the national strength is not as good as the people, the military strength is not as good as the people, and there is nothing to be done about it......" Then Jiang Baili said helplessly: "However, we don't use this trick, the Japanese will also use it, if the Japanese take the lead, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Jiang Baili looked at Xue Yue and saw that he didn't seem to have figured it out, so he spoke again: "Yes, in the war, disasters are inevitable, although the cost this time is really a bit heavy, but the results we have achieved are also predictable, the Yellow River burst and caused a large area of the Yellow River, the Japanese army's mechanized troops lost their role here, and the strategic plan from south to north was also forced to be modified, so that strategically we defeated the enemy's offensive line so far, the Japanese army's offensive line, However, as we hoped, the north-south route from Northeast China→ North China→ Central China → South China to the east-west route along the Yangtze River has not been out of shape at all, and the cost is heavy, but the effect is obvious."

Then Xue Yue asked: "Teacher, the Japanese army has now gathered a large number of troops in the Wuhan area, and it seems that it hopes to have a decisive battle with our army in the Wuhan area, and the Japanese army, whether it is the navy or the air force, is several times that of our army, and its army is also extremely strong, and its combat effectiveness is usually much stronger than that of our army with the same formation, how should we deal with it?" ”

"When you get to the Yangtze River Valley, you can't help them" Speaking of this, Jiang Baili showed an excited look: "Boling, in this battle of Wuhan, the chairman of the committee will deploy your first corps on the Nanxun line, which is located south of the Yangtze River and west of Poyang Lake, and the terrain there is ......" Shaoqing, he said to Xue Yue in a solemn tone: "Boling, the chairman of the committee has always been very important to you, and he always entrusts you with important tasks at every critical point. This time, I believe that you can use the topography of Nanxun Road and your military talents to the extreme, build a miracle for the country, and also make a strong stroke for your life......"

"Boling will never live up to the high expectations of his teacher......"

Xue Yue recognized this teacher's military attainments very much, and since Jiang Baili believed that the Japanese army would do nothing in Wuhan and then Changsha, then Xue Yue had a bottom in his heart. Xue Yue arranged all the divisions of the First Corps with strong combat effectiveness on the front line of the battlefield, while those who defended Hukou and Pengze were several units with acceptable combat effectiveness, and some units with poor combat effectiveness and average weapons and equipment were regarded by Xue Yue as reserves.