By the middle of December, the army occupied Shangqiu Haozhou, the loss of Shangqiu led to a great change in the situation in Henan, and it was meaningless to hold on to Lanfeng Kaifeng. The rapid retreat of the [***] squadron frustrated the army's attempt to inflict heavy damage on the main force of the [***] squadron in the 15th Theater of Operations, and also allowed them to complete the attack target of the first phase of the operation.

At this point, the Central [***] team contracted on the whole line, relying on the Pinghan line to continue to hold on to the Yue army, and the Yue army also learned the lessons of the first two times, and after a month of fierce attack, it turned to rest and recuperate.

Chiang Kai-shek was extremely annoyed when the war situation was not developing smoothly, and took advantage of the temporary break in the war in Jiangbei to take Bai Chongxi, He Yingqin, Lin Wei and others to the north, and held a joint meeting of the generals of the 15th Theater in Xuchang to discuss tactics, adjust deployments, and prepare for the second phase of the operation.

Bai Chongxi had to admire Zhuang Jihua in his heart that he was superior in strategy and tactics, and the current situation can be said to have predicted that he had already predicted that he had warned not to weaken the Fifth Theater at the beginning, and the fundamental reason for the unfavorable situation in the war situation was the weak strength of the Fifth Theater.

At the operational meeting, Chiang Kai-shek reprimanded all the generals, especially the Fifth Theater, from the commander of the theater Jiang Dingwen to the generals at all levels below, but Tang Enbo was the only one who put on the performance, believing that in the defense of Shandong, the 31st Group Army fought bravely and commendably, and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, and should be commended.

"Chairman of the Committee," Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek said intermittently, "At present, the Shanxi Army is on the defensive, and the 14th Group Army can be transferred to the east for reinforcements, and Zhongtiao Mountain only needs to leave a small number of troops, I don't know if the Chairman agrees." ”

Chiang Kai-shek turned his head to look at Bai Chongxi and He Yingqin, He Yingqin preempted Bai Chongxi and said: "I thought it was completely possible, the 14th Group Army was completely vacant there, and the troops should be concentrated on the main battlefield." ”

Bai Chongxi also agreed, but there was still a difference: "I'm afraid it's not appropriate for the whole army to move eastward, Zhongtiao Mountain is the barrier to eastern Henan, and it cannot be abandoned, you can leave one army to garrison Zhongtiao Mountain, and the other two armies can be transferred eastward." ”

Chiang Kai-shek nodded slightly, and said to Li Zongren with a pleasant face: "Delin, you are the commander of the theater, and you can make your own decisions about the transfer of troops, and I can trust you." ”

"Chairman of the Committee," Jiang Dingwen also took the opportunity to say: "The territory of the Fifth Theater is vast, and the number of enemy troops identified at present is as high as 500,000, and our entire theater has only more than 500,000 troops, and the strength of the troops is overstretched. ”

Chiang Kai-shek was a little embarrassed, and the only way to transfer troops was to transfer troops from the Ninth Theater, but at present, the nine divisions of the Eleventh Army were pressing, and Chen Cheng was also under great pressure. Bai Chongxi shook his head in his heart, there are currently 600,000 troops in the Ninth War Zone, and 100,000 people can be drawn out, He Yingqin's mind turned sharply, Chiang Kai-shek did not want to draw troops from the Ninth War Zone, and there was also the meaning of supporting Chen Cheng at a deep level, so that Chen Cheng could win a big victory in the Ninth War Zone, so against Zhuang Jihua's growing prestige in the army, Chiang Kai-shek's way of being the emperor was to divide and rule, and never let one family dominate.

"In my opinion, in this way, the 10th and 11th Group armies near Wuhan can be assigned to the Fifth Theater, so that the strength of the southern front can be increased, the strength of the Dabie Mountain area of the southern front is weak, the army that conquered Hefei has 60,000 people, and the 102nd Army and the 2nd Reserve Division combined are less than 70,000 troops, and the strength is really thin, and the strength must be increased." He Yingqin made a solemn suggestion.

Chiang Kai-shek shook his head: "Commander Chen of the Ninth Theater has proposed to let the 11th Group Army advance eastward, and Okamura Ningji's next target is Jiujiang, and after occupying Jiujiang, it will inevitably go south to the Nanxun line, Xue Boling has asked for the 11th Group Army to be transferred to the Nanxun line, and the 11th Group Army cannot be moved." ”

He Yingqin stopped talking, Bai Chongxi also looked at the two of them, and then looked at Jiang Dingwen, he simply closed his mouth and didn't speak, Li Zongren simply looked at his mouth and heart, and didn't say anything at all.

"But, Chairman, we need at least 100,000 more troops." Jiang Dingwen said bitterly.

"The 47th Army has been assigned to the Fifth Theater, and this army has 50,000 people, and the 30th Group Army, which has 50,000 people, has also been assigned to the Fifth Theater." Chiang Kai-shek did not relent, and assigned the weakest 30th Army to the Fifth Theater.

After the 30th and 11th Group armies were swept away in this way, the 10th Group Army remained in the strategic reserves left around Wuhan. Bai Chongxi once again despised in his heart, it was useless for the Tenth Army to stay in Wuhan, and the policy of the Wuhan Defense War was to protect Wuhan and not fight in Wuhan, so once the army broke through Dabie Mountain, it would be inevitable to retreat from Wuhan.

Jiang Dingwen couldn't say it with bitterness in his heart, although the 30 th Group Army was also from Sichuan, it was completely different from the troops of Tang Shizun, Yang Sen, and Deng Xihou, and this unit was patchwork, its equipment and training were far inferior, and the natural gap in combat effectiveness was naturally quite large.

In the end, Chiang Kai-shek announced that Chen Mingren was afraid of the enemy like a tiger, dismissed the lieutenant general, demoted him to colonel, transferred to the southwest battalion, and appointed another person.

"I repeat one more thing, the reason why Chen Mingren was not shot is because before he moved in, he fought bravely with the Yue army, and there was a place to avoid death, but he didn't take it as an example, and then there were those who disobeyed orders and passively avoided the war. Chiang Kai-shek's expression was grim, and he glared at the generals with murderous eyes.

After the Xuchang Conference, the First Theater and the Fifth Theater began to adjust their deployment at the same time, Li Zongren ordered Shi Yousan's 89th Army to defend Zhengzhou, the 31st Group Army Tang Enbo Division to garrison Mercuryyang, the 23rd Group Army Tang Shizun Department to abandon Tongxu and retreat to the south bank of the Vort River, the Third Army was responsible for guarding Xinzheng south of the Pinghan Line, and Wei Lihuang led the 14th Group Army to immediately rush to Luoyang.

Li Zongren felt that the troops were still insufficient, Bai Chongxi was on the side, the people in western Henan were strong, and the people's army was numerous, and even the powerful Fan Zhongxiu was defeated in their hands back then. When Li Zongren heard this, he immediately sent people to western Henan, gathered militia groups from all over western Henan, and gathered in Luoyang, and moved the theater headquarters to Ruzhou.

The adjustment of the Fifth Theater was also immediately launched, and the retreat was even greater, and they took the initiative to abandon the defense area of several hundred miles, retreated to Luyi and Taikang, and leveled the battle line with the First Theater, with Deng Xihou's Department of the 22nd Group Army stationed in Taikang, the 33rd Group Army stationed on the line from Taikang to Anping, the Second Group Army responsible for the line from Anping to Luyi, the 50th Group Army guarding Luyi, and the 36th Group Army being responsible for guarding Luyi to Jieshou.

On the southern front, Jiang Dingwen is now very glad that when Li Zongren asked for the transfer of the 21st Group Army, he did not agree, and now this group army has come in handy, the 21st Group Army is stationed in Lu'an, the 102nd Army and the 47th Army are stationed in Huoshan, one left and one right, guarding the gate of Dabie Mountain. The 101st Army was stationed in Xincai, Gong was the theater headquarters, and the newly reinforced 30th Group Army was supplemented to the central line and stationed in Fuxian.

The squadron retreated one after another, and the movement was frequent, and the army soon found that Nishio Shouzo immediately realized that the squadron was adjusting, and he immediately ordered the troops to end their rest and recuperate, and immediately launched an attack.

With this order, the second phase of the battle for the defense of Wuhan began again.

Guiyang, the highest drunken maple upstairs in the city, in the private room separated by the screen, several soldiers are staggered, talking and laughing, after drinking for a while, an officer walked to the railing, put his hands on the railing, and looked at the whole Guiyang City.

"Ziliang, don't think about it, isn't it just a division, I happen to have a vacancy for a division commander here, so you can do this." Zhuang Jihua patted Chen Mingren on the shoulder and comforted him with a smile.

To tell the truth, when he was in Huangpu, Zhuang Jihua made friends with a strong purpose, what Guan Linzheng, Du Yuming, Hu Zongnan, Chen Geng, Xu Xiangqian, these are the cadres of the two parties that he remembers, like Song Xilian and Zheng Dongguo are pure windfalls, of course, Jiang Xianyun and He Zhenhan do appreciate each other, especially Jiang Xianyun, classmates like Chen Mingren who have never heard of it and are not very sociable, their friendship is naturally not very good.

But now Chen Mingren has aroused Zhuang Jihua's interest, the bloody battle in Huizhou, Chen Mingren first landed in the city, if he wasn't too straight-tempered, he would definitely not be just a division commander by now.

Chen Mingren didn't look back, there was no expression on his face, Zhuang Jihua walked to him, stretched his waist comfortably, and looked at the city in front of him: "Standing on a high place, there is really a feeling of a city in your arms, which makes people feel proud." ”

"You don't have to comfort me, I don't want to fight in Hefei, I can't win at all, what to fight." Chen Mingren's words were full of resentment: "The principal has nothing to say about dealing with me, but what I can't be angry about is that Jiang Dingwen's old boy is clearly a communiqué personal vendetta, and he regards military affairs as child's play. ”

"If the future is not good, let's do something that is not good." Zhuang Jihua's tone was a little cynical: "The War of Resistance is not a matter of one or two days, it will take a long time, at least a few years." Ziliang, a momentary setback is nothing. ”

"I know," the long-term war of resistance is already the consensus of the generals, Chen Mingren looked at the mountain peaks surrounded by white clouds in the distance, and said indignantly: "I'm just angry, why does the principal trust Jiang Dingwen so much, this guy has no ability to fight, making money and engaging women, it is no longer Jiang Dingwen on Huangpu Island back then." ”

"Don't mention these troubles," Zhuang Jihua pulled Chen Mingren back to the dinner table and said solemnly: "Ziliang, there are two divisions of the 112th Army, and the honorary 10th Division is given to Xia Yanglin, this temporary division will be given to you, you have to bring me a strong army, in addition, the officer training team established by Director Huang, you have to be a teacher." ”

Speaking of this, he smiled slyly at Chen Mingren, who did not answer, but poured himself a glass of wine and slowly dried it. , and suddenly a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Cultural Revolution, have you caught long-term workers again, I heard Guangting say it."

"Even if you work for a long time, you can only be it." Zhuang Jihua smiled faintly: "I have too many things, I have to take care of everything, and I really don't have the skills." I'm going to Yunnan in two days, alas, and Panzhihua, and I'm going to see it, and I'm going to see the tank factory in Mianyang. ”

Zhuang Jihua pointed his fingers and counted them to Chen Mingren one by one, in fact, he really wanted to leave Guizhou, but the most important thing for him this time was to go to western Yunnan, and now there are still two years before Pearl Harbor, when the army should attack the South Seas, Burma has become a battleground, if you want to win this battle, you must take precautions now.

(To be continued)