Just when Liu Yimin waved the main force of the instructor to annihilate the Eighth Division, the Qingdao garrison, and the puppet Shandong Autonomous Coalition Army, the situation on the Lanfeng front suddenly became tense.

Due to the loss of Shangqiu, Kaifeng was exposed to the muzzle of the army. Now the heavy army group of the Yue army, which is advancing eastward from Xuzhou, the remnants of the Tufeiyuan in Lanfeng, and the 27th Division that is heading south from the Guantai ferry are about to join forces, and the Xue Yue and Yudong corps, which has suffered heavy casualties, are likely to be surrounded by the Yue army. The First Theater had to order Xue Yue to take a defensive position against the remnants of the 14th Division in Tufeiyuan, and this order was to tell Xue Yue that he was going to prepare to retreat.

In the war room of the Wuhan Headquarters, the atmosphere was unprecedentedly depressing.

Chiang Kai-shek sat on the throne with a gloomy face, and He Yingqin, Chen Cheng, Bai Chongxi and others around him were all gloomy and silent.

Chiang Kai-shek's mood was extremely low at this time, and he never imagined that the well-deployed Battle of Lanfeng could be fought like this. Well, now the situation on the battlefield has deteriorated extremely, and the main force of the army is coming, not only Kaifeng and Zhengzhou are in great danger, but I am afraid that the main force of the [***] line of Lanfeng is in danger, in case the army makes dumplings, what to take to defend Wuhan!

The most unexpected thing for Chiang Kai-shek is that there was Gui Yongqing who abandoned Lanfeng and Huang Jie who abandoned Shangqiu, these are all his most trusted generals, why is there no one like Sun Lianzhong guarding Taierzhuang, Pang Bingxun guarding Linyi, and Wang Mingzhang guarding Tengxian? Niang Xipi, there are still few kills! If you don't kill a few scum, you can't stop this bad style of running away when you hear the alarm!

This Gui Yongqing didn't say anything, he drank German ink for a few years, and he was confused, so forget it. What's going on with Huang Jie? He is a loyal tiger general, with outstanding achievements in the middle of the Northern Expedition, even if he encircled and suppressed the Red Army, he also had outstanding achievements, how could he be soft when he met a devil? Niang Xipi, it's incredible!

After a while, Chiang Kai-shek said in a low voice: "In the Battle of Lanfeng, more than a dozen divisions of our army could not take a single Tufeiyuan 14th Division, which is really a laughing stock for the ages." Before the war, Cheng Songyun boasted that he could trample Tufeiyuan to death even if he stepped on it, but now it is good, and after several days of fierce fighting, not only did he fail to eliminate the Tufeiyuan Division, but our army suffered heavy casualties. Let's talk about it, how can we stop the advance of the army and ensure that Zhengzhou is not lost? ”

Bai Chongxi had returned to Wuhan from Xuzhou at this time, and hurriedly reminded: "Commission, Kaifeng is about to be unsecured, and the top priority is to consider how to keep Zhengzhou and drag down the pace of the army." Otherwise, not only will western Henan be shaken, but Wuhan will also be unprotected. Unless a miracle happens. ”

Hearing Bai Chongxi say this, Chiang Kai-shek became more and more irritable, and scolded hatefully: "Niang Xipi, you don't believe in your words, Liu Yimin once swore that he would attack Jinan, where is he now?" Jiansheng, send a telegram to [***], Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De, and ask them why they didn't attack Jinan as agreed? Do you want to disobey orders? The Eighth Route Army still belongs to the [***] combat sequence? Liu Yimin's troops sneaked up on the military supplies at the Guantai Ferry some time ago, why did they run away after getting the benefits? Why didn't he stay at the Guantai Ferry? The 27th Division of the Army went south through the Guantai Ferry, and Liu Yimin bore unshirkable responsibility. Niang Xipi! ”

As soon as He Yingqin, Chen Cheng, Bai Chongxi and others heard this, they knew that Chiang Kai-shek was anxious and began to look for scapegoats, and they didn't say anything, for fear that something would be wrong, and they would go around themselves.

Chiang Kai-shek was about to say another thing, when the staff officer on duty sent a telegram from the First War Zone, Chiang Kai-shek stood up angrily, threw the telegram on the table, and roared loudly: "Cheng Songyun is simply unreasonable, the First War Zone actually proposed to blow up the Yellow River and block the army with yellow water, this is simply a bad idea!" ”

He Yingqin raised his hand and held his glasses, and said slowly: "The seat is happy and angry, and it is not Cheng Songyun's attention to blow up the Yellow River." German experts considered this method when formulating the plan for the war of resistance, and we all know this. Cheng Songyun is just a rehash of the past. If the situation continues to deteriorate, I am afraid that this is the only way. ”

Chiang Kai-shek turned to Bai Chongxi: "Jiansheng, what do you think?" ”

When Bai Chongxi saw Chiang Kai-shek asking him, he knew that this matter was too big, and after thinking about it, he said: "The eastern Henan Plain is convenient for the movement of the heavy army group, and our army has no air superiority, so it is really helpless to engage the enemy." But the excavation of the Yellow River cannot be approved until the last moment, after all, it is a land of ointment, with a large population, and the cost is too great. If there is really no way, then the only way is to blow up the river embankment and let the water of the Yellow River help me. Death under the guns of the army is death, and death under the yellow water is also death. The difference is that dying under the yellow water can still pull a few little devils on the back! ”

Chiang Kai-shek's eyes rolled around on the faces of several people, and finally said in a deep voice: "I'd rather be broken than broken!" I thought that as soon as they beat us, we would surrender, so let's dream of Qingqiu! ”

After speaking, he sat down again, picked up the telegram from the First War Zone and read it again carefully. After reading it, he beckoned He Yingqin, Chen Cheng, and Bai Chongxi to sit down, and was about to further discuss the specific deployment, when he saw Yan Daogang running in with a telegram in his hand, shouting as he ran: "Great victory!" Great victory! Shandong our army is a great victory! ”

When Chiang Kai-shek heard this, he scolded: "Panic, what a system!" What a big victory? ”

Yan Daogang realized that he was too surprised and had lost his manners, so he hurriedly stopped, calmed down, and said loudly: "Report to Generalissimo, our army won a great victory in Shandong, General Liu Yimin led the instructors of the 18th Group Army to annihilate the 8th Division of the Chinese Army and the 3rd Brigade of the Reading Power Mixed Army, and killed the commander of the 8th Division, Lieutenant General Maemura Toshiwei, and the commander of the 3rd Brigade of the Reading Power Mixed Brigade, Sasaki to the 1st Lieutenant General of the 30,000 Army. ”

Before the words fell, there was already an exclamation in the war room, Chiang Kai-shek got up, grabbed the telegram, and hurriedly browsed it regardless of He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi and others who were too close. Then he took a sip of the boiled water on the table, put the teacup on the table with a "bang", and said three times in a row, "Okay!" Good! Good! ”

After reading the telegram, Bai Chongxi looked yearning: "The Eighth Division, that is the first-class division of the army!" Amazing, amazing, really amazing! ”

He Yingqin pondered for a long time and said: "This victory is too timely, the offensive of the Yue army is likely to be stopped immediately, and our army has to redeploy, not to mention the recovery of Xuzhou, at least for the time being, the defense line in eastern Henan can be stabilized, and the pressure on Zhengzhou will be light." ”

Bai Chongxi asked the staff officer to immediately change to the map of Shandong, looked at it for a while, turned around and said: "Commission, for the North China Army, Shandong is more important than Henan, Jinan is more important than Kaifeng, this Eighth Division and Reading Power are mixed into the Third Brigade as soon as they are finished, Liu Yimin can attack Jinan to the west and Qingdao to the east, these two places are the places where the army is dead, and the little devil can't save it." Now it's okay, there is no need to blow up the Yellow River, we have to use this time to quickly deploy the defense of Wuhan and transfer the factory equipment as soon as possible. Miss this opportunity, and when the army retaliates against Liu Yimin, and then comes to Wuhan, we will be too late. ”

After hearing this, Chiang Kai-shek was silent, and only said after a while: "Liu Yimin is indeed a genius, the instructor of the Eighth Route Army is amazing, more than a dozen of our divisions can't clean up the 14th Division of Tufeiyuan, and he can clean up the Eighth Division with one division, which is amazing!" I know that I have a small belly and a strong sense of revenge. They may soon send another large army from China to China to concentrate their efforts on dealing with Liu Yimin's troops. Director Yan informed the whole army to commend the instructors of the 18th Group Army and reward the department with 500,000 yuan. sent a report to Liu Yimin, ordering him to lead his troops to attack Jinan, strive to annihilate the defenders of Jinan, and make great contributions. Publish the full text of the instructor's battle report to the outside world, so that he will be embarrassed in front of the whole world. Inform the major cities to hold celebrations to let the people of the country know that if the Eighth Division is eliminated today, it will be possible to eliminate its first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth divisions in the future, until all the invading Chinese armies are wiped out and victory is won. ”

After speaking, Chiang Kai-shek turned to Chen Cheng and said: "Resignation, it is urgent to defend Wuhan, pay close attention to completing the transfer of strategic assets, quickly adjust defense, and formulate an operational plan for the defense of Wuhan." This time, we must teach the army a lesson and make them pay a heavy price! We can't always win a big battle with the Eighth Route Army, [***] must also compare with them, so that the people of the whole country can see our achievements! ”

After thinking about it, Chiang Kai-shek instructed Bai Chongxi: "Jiansheng, seize the time to adjust the deployment of the Lanfeng front, this time the army has suffered such a big loss, and it is definitely going back to Shandong to find Liu Yimin to take revenge, so that the first theater can relax and concentrate on consolidating the Kaifeng defense line, and cannot let the army occupy Kaifeng." Once the army is transferred north to Shandong, all units of our army must actively attack and hold back the army so that it will not be able to fight in a certain direction with all its might. After the various departments of Zhongtiao Mountain have rested for such a long time, it is time for Wei Lihuang to move, asking him to cooperate closely with Yan Xishan, seize the opportunity to fight a battle, and mess up the defense line of the Yue army in Shanxi. ”

Not to mention, Chiang Kai-shek's deployments, except for ordering Liu Yimin to storm Jinan, are a bit ill-intentioned, although the rest of the words are messy, but they are all deeply in line with the art of war, it seems that after talking with Liu Yimin in Xuzhou, Chiang Kai-shek also enlightened and learned well. In any case, Chiang Kai-shek finally stopped thinking about blowing up the Yellow River, and it can be regarded as achieving Liu Yimin's goal of launching the Luzhong Campaign.

He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, and Chen Cheng are not fuel-efficient lamps, how can they not know the consequences of Chiang Kai-shek's order to Liu Yimin to attack Jinan, but they may not really love the Eighth Route Army, not to mention that they all know in their hearts that Chairman Chiang's order may not work for Liu Yimin, and if it does, it is estimated that the instructor will have run out long ago. Therefore, none of them pointed out the danger of letting Liu Yimin storm Jinan.

After the explanation, Chiang Kai-shek, who was in a happy mood, went back to the official residence to rest, leaving a few generals still busy, and the war room was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was very different, and laughter came out from time to time.

The good news of the elimination of the Eighth Division reached Xi'an, and the haze in [***] heart was finally swept away.

During this period, due to the bombing of the airfield and the arsenal, [***] felt very uncomfortable, and repeatedly thought about how to avoid the retaliation of the army, and several times wanted to send reports to several division commanders on the front line, reminding them to pay attention to the need to pay attention to the strategy of resisting the Japanese army, and not allowing the army to directly point the spearhead of attack at the Eighth Route Army. The results of the Luzhong Campaign were so great that [***] was excited, and he looked more far-reaching, considering whether he should transfer a part of the troops from the instructor and the 115th Division, led by backbone cadres, to support the New Fourth Army in the south and support the Anti-Japanese Union in the north.

At night, the lights were on in [***]'s office, and the map had been a little messy with his pencil outline. When the good news of the teacher's total annihilation of the Qingdao puppet army came, [***] couldn't hold back any longer, and directly ordered the guards to call Vice Chairman Zhou, and the two of them held the lamp and carefully studied the Shandong battle situation against the map.

After receiving Liu Yimin's telegram, [***] and Zhou Enlai looked at it and felt that Liu Yimin's idea was simply a fantasy, how could there be such a thing in the world, and would the United States agree to form a friendship city with Qingdao? Would President Roosevelt accept the title of Honorary Citizen of Qingdao? Will I stop attacking Qingdao because of this? It's a bit of a dream.

[***] and Zhou Enlai are both great men of the Chinese nation, after a little thought, you know Liu Yimin's intentions, this guy has no intention of asking the Americans for their consent, of course, it would be better if they agreed. Liu Yimin's purpose was to pull the banner as a tiger skin and take advantage of the army's fear of the United States to gain time. If the Americans really agree in the future, maybe they will be able to buy a year or two of peace time for Qingdao. During this time, what big things can't be done? Taking 10,000 steps back, it means that we can win ten days and a half months, and we can also let our army calmly move Qingdao and then throw the army to a Qingdao like Tianjin.

[***] immediately made a decision and asked Zhou Enlai to immediately notify the convening of a meeting of the Politburo to study the method proposed by the instructor to deal with the Qingdao issue.

The Politburo meeting took a little longer, and it was already nine o'clock in the morning by the end of the meeting.

[***] couldn't take a break, worked hard to write, and personally drafted a telegram to Liu Yimin.

[***] wrote: "The total annihilation of the Eighth Division of the Chinese Army, the Third Division of the Reading Mixed Division, the Qingdao Garrison, the Qingdao Marine Corps, and the puppet Shandong Autonomous Allied Army was a great victory for our country and our army in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. After this battle, the Shandong army temporarily retreated to several major cities on the Jinpu line, and the vast rural areas were controlled by our army. However, the army will not be willing to lose, and will inevitably organize a large army to retaliate, and even retaliate and sweep away our base areas in central and southern Hebei. In the future, the army will definitely list our army as the first combat target, and our army will encounter great difficulties. ”

Writing this, [***] turned his pen and continued to write: "Since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our army has won successive victories, which shows that the strategic guiding ideology of focusing on guerrilla warfare in the mountains behind enemy lines, supplemented by war of annihilation in movements, is correct, and the policy of mobilizing and arming the masses is correct, and the rapid development and growth of the instructors has fully proved this point. With the strength of the instructor, unless the army mobilizes a heavy group to besiege it, under normal circumstances, the army of a division and regiment will no longer be the opponent of our army. This is something that the Eighth Route Army could not think of when it went north to resist. ”

Writing this, [***] couldn't help but laugh, blew the pen proudly, and continued to write: "The task of our army in Shandong at present and for a period of time to come is still to further mobilize the masses, strengthen the building of political power at the grassroots level, and expand the scale of the troops. The top priority at the moment is to quickly conceal and recuperate the main force, quickly replenish ammunition, and prepare for a large-scale retaliatory sweep by the Japanese army. First, it is necessary to send the backbone troops south to the Sulu-Anhui border region and create a base area in the Sulu-Anhui border region, which can also play a role in containing the army; once the heavy army group of the army goes north to besiege our army, this force can destroy the southern section of the Longhai Road and Jinpu Road, so that the army can take care of one and lose the other. Second, the main force should be highly concentrated, and once the army sweeps in a big way, it will strive to break through its way and force the enemy to retreat. The third is to vigorously eradicate the puppet regime, eliminate the Han annihilation forces, and turn the Yue army into a blind donkey and a blind horse. Fourth, it is necessary to rapidly arm and train local troops and militias to cooperate with the main force in combat. If possible, the experience of mine warfare and tunnel warfare should be popularized, and mines should be buried near the railway, so as to realize the interconnection of tunnels in the central base areas. Completely fix the devil on the Jinpu railway line. In short, after the great victory, it is necessary to overcome the mentality of pride and underestimating the enemy, and Liu and Luo must especially overcome the mentality of underestimating the enemy, make serious arrangements, and ensure that the troops rest and recuperate before the enemy, mobilize the enemy first, deploy before the enemy, and move before the enemy, and ensure that they do not fight a war that they are uncertain about, and that they will be invincible and invincible. ”

Liu Yimin's heroic face appeared in front of him, this little guy can be regarded as a first-class talent, military, political, economic, and civil affairs, and it is a bit wordy to make such a detailed deployment for him. Let's set off the task and press the burden!

Therefore, [***] further wrote: "During the year, in addition to fighting against the army, the instructor still had the following tasks: 1. In accordance with the proposal put forward by the previous telegram to establish the Eighth Route Army Artillery School, it was agreed that the instructor should establish the school to train artillery personnel for the whole army. During the year, the instructor will equip the 115th Division and the Reading Division with artillery regiments, and next year will equip the 129th Division and 120th Division with artillery regiments. It is also possible to directly transfer two artillery regiments from the existing artillery regiments of the instructors to equip the 115th Division and the Reading Division. 2. After the possible siege and sweep of the Japanese army is smashed, the instructor should use the strength of no less than one brigade to support the New Fourth Army and join the New Fourth Army. 3. During the year, the 129th and 120th Divisions will each be supplemented with a brigade of weapons and equipment, and the method shall be handled in accordance with the previous method, with the two divisions sending cadres to the instructors and the instructors providing weapons and equipment to the two divisions. ”

The rewriting was finally completed, and [***] only then did it turn to the topic: "The central authorities agree with the idea of teaching instructor Liu Dian's idea of handling the Qingdao issue, but it must not harm the country's sovereign interests, and in principle, it should take gaining time and vacating Qingdao as the starting point of considering the problem." If the results of contact with the U.S. consul are good, it can be appropriately considered in the longer term. If we can take the Qingdao issue as an opportunity to attract the United States to support our country's war of resistance, we must work hard. ”

After writing, [***] is tired, so I will ask the secretary to take it and send it to the instructor immediately. Just as he was about to go to bed, he listened to the noise of gongs and drums in the street, and a smile welled up on his tired face, knowing that it was the people of Xi'an, who had suffered from the bombing, celebrating the glorious achievements of the heroic teacher.

(To be continued)