"There is currently only one division in the country, Tada-kun, it will take at least three months to recruit new soldiers, is it too late?" Without waiting for Itagaki to ask a new question, the young and vigorous Vice Minister Anan preemptively asked: "Moreover, twenty divisions have just been recruited, and the ten divisions that are being recruited have only recruited some soldiers, and they have only received simple training, and they cannot go to the battlefield yet. ”

"The problem now is that the Xuzhou front needs troops, and if the troops are increased, it will be difficult for Xuzhou to achieve victory." Tada replied calmly.

"You can transfer troops in China," Okamura suddenly interjected calmly, attracting everyone's attention: "Although the current strength of China is tense, it is not impossible to transfer, the 110th Division (division commander Sangmu Chongming) and the 11th Division can be transferred from the Songhu and Nanjing areas, and the 35th Division and the other 37th Division can be transferred from North China to change the direction of operations, and the 5th Mixed Brigade is responsible for defending the retreating China Army to the west, and the 101st Division (Division Commander Ito Masaka) in the Suiyuan area will be transferred to the Suiyuan area. In this way, three divisions were concentrated on the northern front. ”

"There are only four divisions left in Jiangnan, which is too dangerous, once the Zhina army counterattacks, it can hit Nanjing and Shanghai, which is too risky." Muto Akira shook his head one after another and resolutely expressed his opposition, saying that after such a transfer, there were only four divisions and regiments left in the surrounding areas of Jiangnan, including the 22nd Division and the 43rd Division, but they had to defend a vast area from Wuhu in the west to Shanghai in the east, and from the Yangtze River to Hangzhou in the north, especially in such important cities as Shanghai and Nanjing, and the shortage of troops was obvious.

"There are not so many elite troops in China, their elites are in Xuzhou and Henan," Okamura's thin face showed a wry smile, this strategy was originally risky, but it didn't work: "In fact, it doesn't matter if they counterattack, as long as they keep the line of Shanghai and Nanjing, annihilating the main force of the China Army in the Xuzhou area is the most important thing, as long as they win here, the courage of the China people will disappear, and victory is within reach." ”

Okamura's confident analysis and determination influenced the generals present, and Tada Jun and Tanaka Shinichi first expressed their support, and then Itagaki also expressed their support, and the others stopped saying anything about Itagaki's statement. After the meeting, Itagaki and Zairen sent a joint telegram to Tian Yanliu, commander of the Chinese Dispatch Army, and Sugiyama Moto, commander of the North China Front, telegraphing to them the decision of the joint meeting of the General Staff Headquarters and the Army Province, pointing out that the Xuzhou campaign had developed to a critical moment, and it was necessary to take resolute measures to abandon some areas and strengthen the operation in the Xuzhou direction, and that the battle plan drawn up by the military headquarters must be won.

Hata did not have too many objections, he already felt that the whole operation had gradually turned against him, several large armies were entangled in the middle [***] team, and the Chinese guerrillas were gradually active in the rear, and there were several successive attacks on convoys transporting supplies, and even a convoy escorted by a squadron was also attacked, and it became somewhat difficult to replenish the front-line army.

Hahata also had a feeling that the commander of the [***] squadron was prepared for this attack of the imperial army, whether it was a detour on the southern front or through the First War Zone, otherwise it would not be possible to explain why the 58th Army and the 23rd Army would appear on the front line of Mengcheng, and the Second Army would appear on Lisin, but the front was their weakest link. The same is true of the Northern Front, at the beginning he had doubts about General Zhina's placement of the First Army and the 78th Army in Heze and Jining, and now it seems that General Zhina's arrangement is aimed at the troops going south on the Northern Front, but the battle plan is in addition to the Tokyo General Staff, and what he knows is the people from the Dispatch Army and the North China Front Headquarters.

Hata Shunroku quickly adjusted the deployment of troops in Jiangnan, ordered the 11th Division and the 110th Division to assemble in Pukou within three days, under the unified command of Yamamuro Sotake, the commander of the 11th Division, and went north along the Jinpu Line, first breaking the 75th Army Zhou Zhe who was holding the 111th Brigade in Lai'an, and then joining the frontal front of the Luhe River to destroy the frontal defense line of the Shina Army.

Sugiyama Yuan in North China did not hesitate, and immediately ordered the 35th Division, which was sweeping in Jizhong, to concentrate in Shijiazhuang as quickly as possible, to hand over the follow-up work of the Jizhong Plain to the Imperial Allied Army, and to assemble in Zhangjiakou with the 101st Division in Suiyuan, but these two divisions were scattered in various places in central Hebei and southern Suiyuan, and it would take time to assemble. It was assigned to the command of the 5th Mixed Brigade Nakajima Kangjian.

The situation on the battlefield was unpredictable, Chiang Kai-shek Bai Chongxi was pleased to see the situation develop in the expected direction, but received an urgent telegram from Zhuang Jihua from Xuzhou, saying that the army was about to be reinforced, which made Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi suddenly nervous, and Chiang Kai-shek personally rushed to the general headquarters in Xinyang to negotiate with Bai Chongxi.

"The little devil is moving so fast this time." Bai Chongxi sighed softly, he did not deny the accuracy of the intelligence, the battle some time ago has proved that the intelligence is very accurate and timely, but the army can react so quickly, but he did not expect it, in his heart he and Zhuang Jihua looked down on the strategy of the army, thinking that they were a group of reckless men who fought by brute force, but this time the sensitivity of the army made him have to re-examine the generals of the army: "Chairman, in order to achieve victory, I think it is necessary to increase the number of troops again, especially at least two more armies on the southern line of the Jinpu Road, The First Theater also needs to add two armies. ”

"No, Jiansheng," Chiang Kai-shek didn't answer, Jiang Baili stood up and objected: "Strategically speaking, the War of Resistance is a long-term battle, to avoid a decisive battle, now this situation has become a decisive battle between the two armies, if you increase the strength again, the decisive battle will be more difficult to change, besides, Henan, the Central Plains, the land of the four wars, thousands of miles of plains, there is no danger to defend, our army will reappear Songhu huge casualties, what will be used to encircle Wuhan in the future?" ”

At present, our air force has the upper hand, and the firepower of our army's reorganized troops on the plains is not weaker than that of the army, and it is completely possible to fight with it." Lin Wei interjected.

"The reorganized troops are all on the front line, and there is only one Eighteenth Army left, but the Eighteenth Army is in southern Anhui, and it will take at least half a month to reach the front line in Xuzhou, and the battlefield situation will have changed greatly after half a month." Jiang Baili said calmly: "Besides, what about the First War Zone? Reinforcements from there? ”

Jiang Baili's two questions made Lin Wei and Bai Chongxi silent, Chiang Kai-shek frowned, a little unhappy in his heart, if he could win in this decisive battle, the [***] team would completely grasp the initiative in the war and switch from defense to offense, but Jiang Baili's basin of cold water made his boiling heart gradually cold.

"There are still troops around Wuhan, and there are also troops that can transfer Wei Lihuang's 14th Group Army to the 1st War Zone, and the 27th Army and the 2nd Army Corps can all be transferred to the 1st War Zone."

"Wei Lihuang is in the Zhongtiao Mountains, and it will take a month to go to the First War Zone, and once he withdraws from Zhongtiao Mountain, Zhongtiao Mountain will either fall into the hands of Yan Xishan or the Communist Party." This time, it was Bai Chongxi who expressed his dissenting opinion: "The Second Army Corps has not been reorganized, and there is a big gap between its combat effectiveness and the reorganized troops, so it is better to leave them in place for defense." ”

Bai Chongxi's mood was also a little depressed, he painstakingly organized such a battle, and it ended in nothing? He felt awkward about eating a fly.

Chiang Kai-shek's face was gloomy and he did not answer, it was obvious that he did not want to give up this opportunity, and the atmosphere in the room was a little gloomy.

"I see if we want to increase the number of troops and make a decisive battle, I can ask for the opinions of Commander Li of the First War Zone and Commander Zhuang of the Fifth War Zone, they are the front-line commanders." Lin Wei made a compromise suggestion.

Chiang Kai-shek hesitated and nodded in agreement, and Li Zongren's reply soon arrived, saying that if he could not concentrate a large number of troops in the First War Zone, he could abandon some areas after the victory of the stage and avoid a decisive battle as much as possible. However, Zhuang Jihua's telegram came after him, which was a very long telegram, in which Zhuang Jihua made a detailed analysis of the power gap between China and the two countries and the evolution of the current international situation.

"....At present, the decisive battle is advantageous to the enemy, and in terms of the speed of troop transportation, the army is far stronger than ours, so the enemy's reinforcements arrived on the battlefield long before our army, and by the time our reinforcements arrived, the situation on the battlefield had already changed greatly."

"At present, there are many unfavorable factors in the decisive battle with the enemy, one of which is that the army is fierce, its morale is high, and it is determined to break the kettle and sink the ship as soon as possible; Second, our army's integrated units lack actual combat experience in new weapons and lack a tactical system that can give full play to the capabilities of weapons. Third, the mobilization of the people has not yet been completed, and fourth, the national defense industrial system has not yet been built and cannot support long-term fighting. ”

"Moreover, strategically speaking, our army should avoid a premature decisive battle, and at the present stage it should adopt the combat mode of advancing and retreating in great strides to strive for the annihilation of the enemy's vital forces; the students suggested that the goal of this operation is to annihilate the Honma troops that have penetrated deep into the northwest of Shandong, and strive to annihilate or defeat one or two divisions of the enemy on the southern front, and then abandon Xuzhou and lure the enemy into depth. …。 ”

"From the perspective of international relations, it is said that Ben's attempt to advance southward is not yet obvious, and neither the United States nor Russia feels the threat of it, so they hope that it is best to reach a tie between China and China, so as to facilitate their efforts to win the fire."

Zhuang Jihua's long telegram, from the current comparison of national strength, military strength, foreign relations, to the differences between domestic political parties, and the strength of various factions within the party, finally hinted that if a decisive battle is fought at this moment, once defeated, the army commander will drive straight to Wuhan, the army will suffer too great losses, Chiang Kai-shek may not be able to suppress the challenge from within the party, and the Communist Party may take the opportunity to occupy more areas.

After reading the telegram, the four of them had different thoughts, Lin Wei admired it the most, Zhuang Jihua thought about Chiang Kai-shek thoroughly, this telegram reasoned and lured the threat, but it seemed that he was thinking about Chiang Kai-shek everywhere, it seemed that Zhuang Jihua was resolutely refusing to fight a decisive battle. Although Li Zongren said it tactfully, he actually refused to fight a decisive battle. Both front commanders refused to fight a decisive battle, and Chiang Kai-shek had to think about it.

"Okay," Chiang Kai-shek pondered for a while and finally accepted the opinion, Zhuang Jihua's sentence could not suppress the challenge from the party, which made him frightened, he understood that Zhuang Jihua was not only referring to Wang Jingwei, I am afraid that there were also Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi: "Jiansheng, I will leave it to you here, I will go back to Wuhan," he paused here and added: "Don't let go of Honma Masaharu." ”

"Yes, Chairman." Bai Chongxi replied solemnly: "He is already in my net." ”

(To be continued)