After the victory in Taierzhuang, Li Zongren's confidence swelled like an inflated balloon. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info plus Xu Yongchang came to Xuzhou last time to persuade that he was ready to strike while the iron was hot and fight another big victory, so he repeatedly asked Chiang Kai-shek to increase his troops in his 5th theater.

Lao Jiang, through the Battle of Taierzhuang, eliminated the resentment of the officers below against his previous series of defeats, and reshaped his prestige, so the resentment against Li Zongren's secession and hegemony was greatly reduced.

Lao Jiang studied in Japan in his early years, and he had an understanding of the national character of the Japanese, and knew that the Japanese were unwilling to suffer losses and would definitely take revenge. The great victory in Taierzhuang also made Lao Jiang have such contempt for the Japanese army, and wanted to win another battle with the help of Li Zongren's hands, and even conducted a strategic decisive battle with the Japanese army, and took the initiative to add people and money to Li Zongren.

Chiang Kai-shek dispatched men and horses from all over the country to command the 5th Theater of Operations; Within a short period of time, there were the 2nd Army (Army Commander Li Yannian), the 22nd Army (Army Commander Tan Daoyuan), the 46th Army (Army Commander Fan Songfu), the 60th Army (Army Commander Lu Han), the 68th Army (Army Commander Liu Ruming), the 69th Army (Army Commander Shi Yousan), the 75th Army (Army Commander Zhou Zhen), the 77th Army (Army Commander Feng Zhi'an), and the 92nd Army (Army Commander Li Xianzhou). There was also a division of Shang Zhen, with a total of more than 200,000 people arriving in the 5th theater; Coupled with the original troops and special forces in the Xuzhou battlefield, the troops directly under it, at this time, there were about 600,000 people in the 5th theater, accounting for a quarter of the entire national army at that time, which can be described as a huge scale.

Seeing the army gathered, Li Zongren's heart blossomed. Through the battle of Taierzhuang, Li Zongren was convinced of the pocket tactics of frontal offensive defense and flank attack, and believed that it was a magic weapon to defeat the enemy, so he still adopted it, and invested most of his troops in the line of Lunan and Xudong north of the canal, digging trenches and repairing positions. The 400,000 army "V" lined up, deployed in the west from Weishan Lake, through Baishan, the south side of Zhangshan Yi County, Lanling Town, to the southeast of the city, the wharf town on the east bank of the Ganyi River, and the first line of Tancheng.

Li Zongren reported the deployment map of the 5th theater to Chiang Kai-shek. Lao Jiang's originally happy face showed a trace of worry: Li Zongren's pocket was too big.

Such a layout, not to mention that once the Japanese army in the north broke through a little to the south, it would easily cause the collapse of the whole front; Even if the 5th Theater can withstand the Japanese army in Lunan, if the Japanese army divides troops from southwest Lunan and detours to the Longhai line; Hundreds of thousands of troops turned around and wanted to run too late. Not to mention the southern front, Huaibei and the Japanese army going north.

Chairman Chiang hurriedly asked Liu Fei, director of the War Department of the Central Military Commission, to inform Li Zongren that a part of the troops from the front line should be assembled west of Xuzhou as a mobile corps and reserve, so that they could deal with the Japanese army's detour from Luxi or northern Anhui in a timely manner and avoid falling into passivity.

Liu Fei hurriedly sent a telegram to Li Zongren, but after a few days, Li Zongren did not respond.

The more Li Zongren did not react, the more terrible Lao Jiang felt, so on April 21, the Military Commission simply issued this plan in the form of a formal order to the 5th theater.

After the order was issued, Liu Fei called every day to ask Li Zongren whether he had organized a reserve and a mobile corps.

Who knows, Li Zongren is now confident, he doesn't pay attention to the orders of the Military Commission at all, and even dispatches several troops to the north of the canal.

Liu Fei knew that Li Zongren's momentum in the country was now flourishing, and there was a tendency to cover up Chiang Kai-shek, and he would not obey orders, and the Military Commission would not be able to clean him up at present.

Liu Fei anxiously asked Lao Jiang: "Chairman, what is the matter now?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek smiled bitterly and said: "Lao Li is now like the president of the Republic of China, and I can't command anymore." ”

Liu Fei rubbed his hands anxiously and said, "Commander Li is still the same. The Japanese devils are very cunning and will never be fooled a second time. The situation is dangerous. ”

Lao Jiang touched his bald head, had a flash of inspiration, and said, "That's it." Strengthen the investigation of the Xuzhou area, especially let the Hujiazhuang spy station pay close attention to the area west of Xuzhou, whether there is any trace of the Japanese army, that Long Xiaotian is still in Xuzhou. ”

Liu Fei was stunned for a moment, and said cautiously: "Chairman, didn't Xu Yongchang report when he came back from Xuzhou, that wild boy has scars all over his body, he is not a fairy, at most he is physically strong, plus he is lucky." How can he take on the great responsibility? If he is given a general, Xuzhou will be turned upside down, and many generals will sue him. ”

"Although Xiaotian is not an immortal, he is by no means an extraordinary person, and it is likely that he has innate special abilities. I am a beautiful China, with a population of 40,000, and it is still possible for a few special people to appear. He must be reused. Oh, and again, I stress that for him to be kept secret! Chiang Kai-shek said solemnly.

"Good. I'm going to find Mao Renfeng to send a telegram! After Liu Fei finished speaking, he left quickly.

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In Xuzhou City, more than ten days have passed since the victory of Taierzhuang, and the soldiers and civilians are still immersed in the joy of victory. Every household put up lanterns, and some people beat gongs and drums, beaming with joy. A group of students marched chanting slogans to bring down Little Japan, waving at the sight of soldiers.

In a corridor within the Fifth Theater Headquarters, Yue Li, a major of the Fuxing Society, walked briskly, walked to the door of Long Xiaotian's office, stopped, and a smell of alcohol came out of the crack in the door. She wrinkled her nose and shouted crisply: "Report, Yue Li asks to see!" ”

"Come in!" Long Xiaotian's drunken voice came from inside the door.

Yue Li pushed the door in, and a bigger smell of wine came to her face. Long Xiaotian was sitting on the table and drinking a drink, and the floor was full of vodka bottles.

Yue Li looked at Long Xiaotian with a complicated expression, hey, what's going on? Obviously, Long Xiaotian likes Hu Wenrou, and Hu Wenrou also likes Long Xiaotian, but Long Xiaotian just rejected Hu Wenrou, and he was bitten on the ear in public.

"Major General Long, Director Mao asked our team to reconnoiter the movements of the Japanese army around Xuzhou. This is the telegram. Yue Li said, took out a telegram from her pocket and handed it to Long Xiaotian.

"I'm not going, I'm going to drink. Mom's, they all say that Lao Maozi's vodka is a strong drink, how do I think it's boiled water! Long Xiaotian waved his hand and said angrily.

Yue Li glanced at the empty wine bottles on the ground, grinned, and said, "Major General Long is massive, and Lao Maozi can't compare to it." ”

"You're right. No one can compare to me. Oh, by the way, I'm not just talking about being a good drinker. Long Xiaotian said with a smile.

Yue Li was happy to see Long Xiaotian, and hurriedly said, "Major General Long, you are the most powerful at killing devils, even more powerful than Commander Li." It's better to kill devils now, it's better than drinking. She knew that Long Xiaotian's relatives were all killed by devils, and killing devils was his happiest thing.

Sure enough, when he heard about killing the devil, Long Xiaotian glared, thinking that if it weren't for the devil, his relatives would not die, he would live a long time, and he would marry Hu Wenrou.

He jumped off the table and walked out, muttering, "Yes, killing devils is more pleasant than drinking!" I'm going to kill the devils. ”

Seeing Long Xiaotian push open the door, Yue Li hurriedly shouted: "When you kill devils, you can reconnoiter the enemy by the way, especially west of Xuzhou!" ”

Long Xiaotian kicked inside and outside the door, turned his head and said, "Okay, I'll investigate." Yue Li, if there is no limit, I can kill all the Japanese devils alone, and I don't need to investigate, do you believe it? As he spoke, his hand involuntarily plucked out his ear.

Yue Li smiled and said, "I believe, I believe." Oh, Major General Long, the area around Xuzhou is so big, you sent more than half of our group to Hujiazhuang, and I will send them a report as well. ”

"No, I don't. I'll do the reconnaissance alone. Long Xiaotian said, randomly seeing the suspicion in Yue Li's eyes, he continued: "Oh, you arrange for the rest of the people to go to the east of Xuzhou to investigate, and I will cover the other directions." ”

Yue Li hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes." ”