[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 156: The Southbound Detachment is Formed (Fifth Update!) Ask for a subscription! ）

It's not that Ma Zheng can't see the danger of this trip, on the contrary, he sees it clearly, better than anyone else. But compared to his own personal safety, Ma Zheng was more concerned about the outcome of the Battle of Wuhan.

Personal honor and disgrace and life and death are important, but whether Wuhan can be saved is equally important. As China's wartime capital, the fall of Wuhan was a serious blow to the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the people across the country. More importantly, after the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese side changed its policy towards the Nationalist Government, implementing a strategy of military offensive supplemented by political inducement and surrender, which caused different voices to appear within the Nationalist Government, and the resistance was much less than before.

Ma Zheng had been thinking about how to contribute to the Wuhan battle before, but because of such a long distance, even if he had the heart, he didn't have the strength. Secondly, the periphery of the defense area of the Seventh Division can be said to be surrounded by a group of enemies, and the results achieved before the slightest carelessness will be wiped out in an instant.

Because of this, Ma Zheng did not plan to send a large force to participate at the beginning, but prepared to send Tie Niu's special combat team to Wuhan. First, they have a small number of people, small goals, and easy to move. Second, it will not arouse the suspicion of the national government, after all, the number of people is too small.

But now there is an opportunity to reinforce Wuhan in the open, and Ma Zheng really doesn't want to miss it.

It's not that he doesn't know the danger of this trip, nor does he fail to detect Lao Jiang's sinister intentions, once he goes to Wuhan, he will be a knife and I will be a fish and meat, and everything must be under the command of others. But Ma Zheng was more aware of the outcome of the Battle of Wuhan, which had been fought between the Nationalist government and the Japanese army for five months on the outskirts of Wuhan and in the city, but ultimately lost.

In the course of this war, the Nationalist Government has been in a passive state, and any infantry company is extremely valuable, and in that case, no matter which political faction his unit belongs to, in the eyes of Lao Chiang and the Military Commission, it is a lifesaver for the defense of Wuhan. How can it be so easy to be cannon fodder?

Besides, even if Lao Jiang wants his troops to be cannon fodder, he Ma Zheng is not a fool, how can he be sold so easily.

Of course, there is another reason that Ma Zheng saw the difficulties of Yan'an, under the premise that the will of the people cannot be violated. Especially in this environment of the whole people defending Wuhan, no matter what reason Yan'an has, as long as the Duqi Division refuses to go south, it will inevitably be attacked by the people. It was precisely because of this consideration that Ma Zheng decided to take the risk and give it a try.

After reading the reasons stated by Ma Zheng, the chairman and others were silent, and finally reluctantly decided to agree to the 7th Division to fight in Wuhan south.

Although the Eighth Route Army had already decided to go south to participate in the Battle of Wuhan, it could not be cheapened by the Nationalist Government, and some other issues of principle that should be mentioned should be explained in advance. Therefore, Ma Zheng got in touch with Wuhan through Chen Jiaying. And simple negotiations took place.

Ma Zheng did not have many requirements, only three, first: the Seventh Division could go south to participate in the Battle of Wuhan, but the Nationalist Government must give preferential treatment in terms of weapons and equipment and soldiers, and the consumed and lost ammunition must be replenished immediately!

Second: If the objective environment does not allow, the 7th Division can withdraw from the battlefield at any time, so as not to be dumplings by the Japanese army.

Third, the 7th Independent Division has the power to act independently on the battlefield in Wuhan and can fight without asking the Military Commission for instructions.

Regarding Ma Zheng's three demands, the Nationalist Government was very unhappy. In particular, Articles 2 and 3 are even more inconsistent with the wishes of the National Government. But I thought that if I didn't agree, the Duqi Division would definitely not go south. Then he could only grit his teeth and agree to Ma Zheng's request.

After reaching an agreement, Ma Zheng's department began to prepare for the south.

On the morning of July 9, Ma Zheng's headquarters held a military meeting in Jining, and first transmitted a telegram from the Nationalist Government inviting the Seventh Division to go south, and at the same time gave instructions from Yan'an.

Subsequently, Ma Zheng adjusted the existing establishment of the Seventh Division, mainly because Ma Desheng's cavalry brigade was upgraded to a cavalry group and became independent from the establishment of the Seventh Division. The department has a total strength of more than 12,000 troops and two brigades and six regiments. Two of these regiments were mounted infantry, like the Separate Regiment, which belonged to the Rapid Reaction Force.

In addition, two new infantry brigades were added, one under the command of Bilig, the Chahar Independent Brigade, which had three infantry regiments. More than 7,000 people in total. The other brigade is the Lintong Security Regiment and the 397th Regiment of the Shaanxi Army, plus part of the Eighth Route Army, which is composed of the 1st Brigade, which is headed by Huang Sicheng, who was born in the old Red Army, and Huang Sicheng is no longer the chief of staff of the 7th Independent Division.

After the readjustment, the subordinate units in the Suicha base area were expanded from one division and three brigades to one division, one cavalry group, and two independent brigades, totaling six brigades and 19 regiments, plus one special combat team, with a total strength of more than 45,000 troops.

It can be said that as a division-level establishment, the Duqi Division has been seriously overstaffed. But compared to the other divisions of the Eighth Route Army, this situation is not too outrageous. Whether it is the 115th Division, the 120th and 129th Divisions, or the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, which one cares about the Nationalist Government's stipulation that it is not allowed to expand the army without permission?

Everyone is not stupid, they all know what is the most important thing in this troubled world, people say that you don't want to expand the editor, you will honestly listen to others, stupid you! When the time comes, the troops will be exhausted, see if you don't cry to death!

Besides, in this era, power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and no one will care about you without soldiers or guns, and everyone will treat you as air. It's like there are so many parties in China right now, but why is Lao Jiang finally Yan'an? It's not because Yan'an controls the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and the other parties have no soldiers and no power, so Lao Jiang won't care about their opinions.

It is precisely because of this that all units of the Eighth Route Army are sparing no effort to expand their troops, and that unit is not a few main regiments on the surface, but privately it is to expand a large number of black troops that are not recognized by the Nationalist Government, otherwise where would the Eighth Route Army come from more than 100 regiments and nearly 400,000 troops during the Hundred Regiments War. It's no wonder that Lao Jiang was angry after hearing the news of the Battle of the Hundred Regiments.

But it is really rare for Ma Zheng to expand his army to more than 40,000 people in such a short period of time, mainly because there was no one who could make the Mongolian tribes so trusted.

Ma Zheng knew that Wuhan would definitely be unhappy if he did this, but so what, what did the old Jiang Gao's displeasure have to do with him, he and the Duqi Division did not receive a dime from Wuhan, nor could they get a single bullet to replenish them, and they had to be careful all the time when they suddenly attacked themselves.

After the adjustment of the troop establishment, the next thing to discuss is how many troops to bring south, and which troop to bring with them.

As for how many troops to bring south, the opinions within the base area and the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army are very unanimous, it is best not to exceed 10,000 people, and it is best to control the scale of two brigades!

However, Ma Zheng's idea was not to use brigade-level military units, and directly transferred infantry regiments to participate in the battle, with the scale between two and three infantry regiments, but it was difficult to determine which regiment to be transferred specifically.

It stands to reason that if we want to go to the national control region to participate in the war, the troops dispatched must be strong in combat, and at the same time, the cohesion of the troops must also be improved. It is not that there are no units in the Suicha base area that meet this condition, but they cannot be moved, and the 7th and 12th Brigades of the Independent Brigade are both units composed of veterans of Ma Zheng and veterans of the Red Army, and they all meet this condition.

But the tasks of these two brigades are also heavy, they have to deal with the huge pressure of the Japanese 16th Division and the 26th Division! In addition, the Seventh Brigade suffered considerable losses in the previous period of war, and although it later found some new recruits and replenished neatly in terms of establishment, the actual combat effectiveness has not yet fully recovered, and it cannot be mobilized on a large scale to the south for the time being.

In the end, Ma Zheng still made a decision to transfer Xu Hu's independent regiment, Xing Chao's guard regiment, the 200th Regiment of the Seventh Brigade and the special operations brigade, a total of 7,643 people, to form the southward detachment of the Eighth Route Army to participate in the Battle of Wuhan. (To be continued.) )