The loss of Anqing had a huge impact on the Battle of Wuhan.

After Chiang Kai-shek received the report of the loss of Anqing, he sent a telegram to Yang Sen, which contained only two sentences: "Without a strong battle, abandon the famous city." In a telegram to the director of the 27 th Group Army's office in Hubei, Xu Yongchang, director of the Military Command Department, in addition to quoting Chiang Kai-shek's two sentences, "Abandon the famous city without fighting hard," warned Yang Sen to "work hard for the future."

Yang Sen didn't care so much at this time, and was busy directing the troops to retreat to Qianshan. When he felt a little safer, he hurriedly called back to the headquarters, saying that it was because Xu Yuanquan's group army retreated at will and exposed its flanks that Anqing was not defended.

Chiang Kai-shek ignored Yang Sen's argument and ordered him to flank the Yue army, so that the Yue army could not advance westward with all its might. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek ordered planes to bomb Anqing Airport, intending to destroy the airport and prevent the devils from using the airport.

On the part of the army, after capturing Anqing, they first used the airport. Dozens of planes landed at the airfield, quickly replenishing fuel and ammunition from the supply ships, allowing the airfield to be used quickly. By the time the [***] planes flew in to bomb, the military planes were ready to take off to meet the enemy. The two sides fought desperately in the skies over Anqing.

Unexpectedly, Anqing's loss was just the beginning.

After the death of King Tsukihiko of Higashijuriya, Emperor Hirohito revoked the number of the Second Army in a fit of rage, and transferred the 3rd, 13th, and 16th Divisions, which were originally under the command of the Second Army, to the command of the 11th Army. At present, the 11th Army under the command of Okamura Ninji is extremely large, with eight divisions and regiments, including the 3rd Division, 6th Division, 9th Division, 13th Division, 16th Division, 27th Division, 101st Division, 106th Division, and Hatada Detachment, and a brigade-level detachment.

After the 11th Army pursued the main force of the Eighth Route Army's instructor in the Soviet Union, because Liu Jianli led the 2nd Brigade, the Luxi Garrison Brigade, and the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade to fight a lot near Bengbu, they turned around and rushed westward to the Jinpu line. As a result, the army once again flew into the air, although Okamura Ningji was resourceful, but he was fooled and taught by the instructors of the Eighth Route Army one after another, and the anger in his heart had already been burned to the ground.

After receiving the order from the base camp to launch a strategic battle in Wuhan, Okamura Ningji seized the time to rest his troops and replenish ammunition and food. After the main force was replenished, Okamura Ningji could no longer bear it, and immediately commanded the 11th Army to divide into two routes, one along the north bank of the Yangtze River and the southern foot of Dabie Mountain, and all the way along the northern foot of Dabie Mountain, in an attempt to attack Wuhan together.

Shunroku Hata and the base camp were more thoughtful than Ninji Okamura. In addition to ordering the navy to organize the fleet to move west along the west, Shunroku Hata commanded the army on the south bank of the Yangtze River to begin to advance westward along the south bank to fight in response to the 11th Army. The base camp also ordered the North China Front to deploy quickly, with the 5th and 14th Divisions as the main forces, to return to the battlefield in eastern Henan and capture Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, and Luoyang. At the same time, it ordered the First Army, which had completed the replenishment, to carry out a sweeping operation in Shanxi, consolidate the lines of communication, and contain the Eighth Route Army, the Jin Sui Army and the Wei Lihuang Group in Zhongtiao Mountain on the Shanxi side. He ordered the post to mobilize troops, consolidate the situation in northern Henan, and prepare to cross the river to the south to fight and flank the [***] team in eastern Henan.

In this way, it is equivalent to the Yangtze River to the whole of North China, and the army has begun to attack on all fronts.

After Gao Jingting and Liu Yimin broke up, they rushed back to Shucheng in central Anhui, conveyed Liu Yimin's instructions to the troops, and reported to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army through the radio the situation of meeting with the instructor cavalry brigade and meeting Liu Yimin, secretary of the Shandong Bureau and instructor and division commander, and also reported the number of supplementary materials given by the instructor. Then he reported that according to Comrade Liu Yimin's analysis, the main force of the New Fourth Army should move eastward into the Soviet Union and China to create a base area, and requested permission for the main force of the four detachments to advance eastward.

They are all troops led by [***], and it is appropriate to support each other. Therefore, the military department did not mention the matter of the supply of instructors in the telegram in reply to Gao Jingting, and also approved the eastward advance of the main forces of the four detachments, but pointed out that it was not the best time to say that the main forces of the army were gathering in central Jiangsu and eastern Anhui. It is best to wait for the army's next combat intention to be exposed before marching eastward.

After Gao Jingting received the telegram from the military department, he didn't have time to study it, and the army rushed to Jinpu Road. At this time, it was impossible to advance eastward, so Gao Jingting had no choice but to lead the troops to carry out activities in central Anhui, while publicizing and mobilizing the masses and mobilizing the strong walls to clear the wilderness, while monitoring the movements of the Hefei army.

On the morning of September 3, the Seventh Regiment of the Four Detachments operating in the Taoxi area suddenly encountered the Yue Army.

Gao Jingting initially thought that the Hefei army had gone to the countryside to sweep up, and after receiving the report from Yang Kezhi, the commander of the Seventh Regiment, he ordered the troops to concentrate and prepare to teach the devil a lesson. However, as soon as the order was issued, he received a second report from Yang Kezhi, saying that the army was a large army, with more than 3,000 people, and the number was the 13th Division of the army.

Gao Jingting did not dare to be careless, and immediately ordered the troops to retreat immediately, and ordered the other troops of the four detachments to immediately preset their positions and prepare to respond to the retreat of the Seventh Regiment.

Gao Jingting's deployment was not wrong, but the army was a big move this time, the 13th Division and the 6th Division set out from Hefei, formed two attack arrows and advanced rapidly, and the troops attacked Lu'an in separate ways.

By the time the Seventh Regiment withdrew, the vanguard of the Yue Army had already pounced. From the binoculars, you can see that devil tanks, armored vehicles, and cavalry have appeared on both wings in the distance. Damn, the little devil's intentions are not small, and he actually wants to make Lao Tzu's dumplings from the wings, and he doesn't ask who I am Gao Jingting!

As soon as Gao Jingting saw this posture, he knew that if he didn't make a quick decision, once he was surrounded by devils, he would probably have to pay heavy casualties if he wanted to stand out.

Gao Jingting immediately ordered the troops to retreat, avoiding the devil's edge before making plans.

The order to retreat was given, but the devil was an elite unit, the pursuit was fast, and he kept sticking to the rear guard of the four detachments and seven regiments. Fortunately, the four detachments of the old Red Army had a high composition, and they had been supplied by the instructors, and the troops had strong combat effectiveness, and Gao Jingting was not afraid, so he immediately ordered all units to take companies and battalions as units to quickly retreat and be sure to get rid of the little devils.

The main force of the four detachments is the old Red Army that insists on Dabie Mountain and the old Red Army of Guidong, which is supplemented. In addition, the terrain was familiar, so with Gao Jingting's order, the four detachments were divided into small units, and they soon broke away from contact with the devils.

After getting rid of the little devil, Gao Jingting thought about it, and felt that the army was neither an ordinary sweep in the countryside, nor was it coming at the four detachments, looking at the posture of planes and tanks in the sky, the little devil must have a major strategic plan. Moreover, there were only more than 3,000 people in front of the army, which was clearly a wing. However, looking at the number of planes dispatched by the army, it is definitely not just to cover this army, it is likely that this is just a flank detour force of the army, and the main force of the army should be north of Shucheng. And it is this wing of the 13th Division of the Devil, which also has tanks, armored vehicles, cars, and cavalry, and the equipment is absolutely first-class. It shows that there are strong follow-up troops behind the army, and they will soon be able to reinforce them. It seems that the army is going to encircle Lu'an, or go to Benhuo Mountain.

Gao Jingting was a famous general of the Red Army, and he was able to read and persist in the struggle in Dabie Mountain, so he naturally had a certain strategic concept. After meeting Liu Yimin, I knew that the army would definitely capture Wuhan, and Lu'an and Huoshan were both important military towns at the southern foot of Dabie Mountain, and if the army wanted to attack Wuhan, these places would inevitably be captured.

Gao Jingting did not dare to slack off, and immediately reported the enemy situation to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, and at the same time reported to [***] stationed in Lu'an and Anqing, directly saying that the army wanted to capture Lu'an and Huoshan, and the purpose was to directly target Wuhan.

Lu'an is located in the western part of Anhui Province, at the northern foot of Dabie Mountain, and is a veritable strategic location. The ancient poem praised: "The barrier is connected by water and land in the southeast, and Lu'an is not the same as other states." The mountain ring Yinghuo Qianzhong show, the ground control Jianghuai is on all sides". During the Red Army, Xu Xiangqian commanded the Battle of Sujiabu launched by the Red Fourth Front Army, which took place here.

At this time, it was the 51st Army stationed in Lu'an, the 71st Army stationed in Huoshan, and the 77th Army stationed in the mall.

After receiving the report of the New Fourth Army, Li Zongren immediately realized that a major war was coming, and strictly ordered all units to resist and consume the enemy step by step, but never to defend the city to the death, and all aimed at delaying the enemy's attack and destroying the enemy's living forces. In terms of tactics, we chose to combine with our favorable terrain, movement warfare, and blocking warfare to engage in a protracted struggle with the enemy.

Li Zongren only gave such an order, which was the result of being inspired by Liu Yimin in Xuzhou, knowing that fighting a regular positional war with the Yue army could only consume the main force of our army under the aircraft and artillery of the Yue army, and it was better to choose the battlefield and use the terrain to offset part of the fire intensity of the Yue army.

At this time, alarms came from all over the country one after another, and Chiang Kai-shek, who was in Wuhan, had already determined that the army had begun to launch a major campaign to capture Wuhan.

Judging from the current situation, the basic forces of the army are divided into three routes, the first of which is to advance westward along both sides of the Yangtze River with the cooperation of surface ships; The second road out of Hefei along the northern foot of Dabie Mountain to take Xinyang, intending to cut off Pinghan Road and go south to Wuhan; The third road is the Xuzhou area, which marched west along the Longhai Road and once again launched an offensive in eastern Henan. At the same time, there were also Shanxi and Northern Henan armies to cooperate in the operation.

In view of this situation, Chiang Kai-shek strictly ordered the troops on the periphery of Wuhan to resist step by step according to the battle plan and delay the enemy's attack, and on the other hand, strictly ordered the First Theater of Operations to ensure Zhengzhou. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Yan Xishan, commander of the Second Theater of Operations, asking him to closely coordinate the Eighth Route Army, resolutely repel the counterattack of the Shanxi Army, and let Wei Lihuang's troops transfer part of the troops to coerce the Northern Henan Army, forcing it to cross the river to the south to support the Eastern Henan Operation.

Chiang Kai-shek was still not at ease, so he called Xu Yongchang, the minister of military orders, and asked him to send a report to the headquarters of the 18th Group Army, demanding that the Eighth Route Army must quickly mobilize, fight guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, and try to destroy the eastern sections of the Pinghan Road, Jinpu Road, and Longhai Road, so as to contain the army. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek asked Xu Yongchang to sternly ask the headquarters of the 18th Group Army, where is the main force of Liu Yimin's instructor? Directing the heavy army group to the direction of Wuhan is a disaster that moves eastward, and everyone in the world can see it, and Liu Yimin must be responsible for this. He ordered the instructor to act quickly and carry out a surprise attack on the important targets of the army at the critical moment of the campaign, so that the attacking enemy had to be rescued, and the enemy was forced to return to support the defense of Wuhan. If Liu Yimin's slow action leads to the success of the army's attack on Wuhan, the situation of China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression will inevitably be extremely difficult.

Although Xu Yongchang was known as the four giants of the Military Commission at this time, together with He Yingqin, Minister of Military Affairs, Bai Chongxi, Minister of Military Training, and Chen Cheng, Minister of Political Affairs, and won the trust of Chiang Kai-shek, he was an old man who had experienced the Beiyang warlords and the Central Plains War, and got along very well with Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek, and won the taste of moderation. Before going to the Military Commission, he witnessed Yan Xishan's sneak attack on Xi'an in Shanxi, and he had great respect for the achievements of the Eighth Route Army since it entered the war, so after listening to Chiang Kai-shek's words, he felt that he had said too much.

Xu Yongchang thought for a while, and then analyzed the inevitable surname of the army attacking Wuhan for Chiang Kai-shek. He earnestly told Chiang Kai-shek that it was neither appropriate nor reasonable to say that the army's attack on Wuhan was the result of Liu Yimin's eastward movement of troubles, and implored Chiang Kai-shek to personally send a telegram to Mr. Runzhi and Commander-in-Chief Zhu, explaining the dangers of the current war situation one by one, and urging all units of the Eighth Route Army to fight bravely. Otherwise, it will not only chill Liu Yimin's heart, but also cause senseless disputes between the two parties, which will not help the war situation.

At present, the forces used by the army to fight in Wuhan are much larger than in history, and Chiang Kai-shek is under great pressure, and he blames Liu Yimin for the army's attack on Wuhan. In fact, if it weren't for Liu Yimin's desperate killing, the army might have already begun to attack Wuhan. Without Liu Yimin's brilliant results, it would have been impossible for the [***] main force to win such a valuable correction and replenishment time. Now that the army is doing its best to attack Wuhan, it is the time to employ people, and it is necessary to encircle [***] and the Eighth Route Army, at least let them drag the little devil's hind legs, and not let the devil transfer troops from North China to the south.

Thinking about it, Chiang Kai-shek's cold face finally had a smile, and asked Xu Yongchang to send a second telegram to the [***] Central Committee and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters in his name, and report the information he had obtained, especially the war situation in eastern Henan was the most dangerous, and once the army succeeded, the entire Central Plains war situation would be completely eroded. However, the main defense line of our first theater of operations is too wide to block the heavy assault of the Japanese army. All units of the Eighth Route Army were required to intensify their guerrilla efforts, force the enemy's eastern Henan group to rescue North China, and reduce the pressure on Wuhan.

As for Liu Yimin, Chiang Kai-shek instructed Xu Yongchang to send a separate telegram to Liu Yimin in his name, asking the 18th Group Army to transfer it on his behalf, which meant three things: First, to commend Liu Yimin for his achievements in eliminating the main force of the 116th Division in Lianyungang. The second is to tell Liu Yimin that if the army attacks Wuhan as judged, this is a good time for the general to make meritorious contributions, and he must stand by and move, and choose the place where the army has to save to launch a surprise attack, so that the army can take care of one and lose the other, and support the battle of Wuhan. The third is to tell Liu Yimin that Ni Hua has made obvious achievements in cooperating with his wife, but he misses Liu Yimin at night and repeatedly asks to return to Liu Yimin. When the battle situation eases, he will send someone to escort Ni Hua to Liu Yimin's place.

After receiving Chiang Kai-shek's telegram from the headquarters, Liu Yimin read it several times, and sat there alone and thought quietly for a long time.

During this period, the instructors and instructors actively carried out the cold gun and cold artillery movement, and the results were still good, even the 108th Division and the 33rd Division besieging Jiaodong had to stop the siege of Jiaodong, and returned troops to assist the Qingdao garrison and railway garrison to stick to the main towns along the Jiaoji Railway and the Jiqing Highway, and the situation in Jiaodong has basically tended to be in a state of stalemate.

The 23rd Division of the Yue Army stationed in Luxi and the 24th Division of the Yue Army stationed in the Hebei and Lu Border were transferred to the northeast due to the Zhang Gufeng Incident and joined the Kwantung Army. In addition to the two permanent divisions of the Fifth Division and the 14th Division, there were the 20th Division, the 10th Division, the 10th Division, the 25th Division, the 26th Division stationed in Datong, and the 8th and 9th Mixed Brigades in Shanxi, and the Taiyuan Garrison, the Tongpu Railway Garrison, and the Zhengtai Railway Garrison, with a total strength of nearly 120,000 troops. In Shandong and Hebei, the army has recently set up six city garrisons in Qingdao, Jinan, Beiping, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, and Xuzhou, and four railway garrisons on Jiaoji Road, Jinpu Road, Pinghan Road, and Longhai Road. In this way, the army has 11 garrison divisions, including the 22nd Division, the 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Divisions, and the 108th, 10th, 110th, and 114th Divisions, four four-unit special divisions and regiments, to cooperate with the 5th Division and the 14th Division, with a total strength of 400,000 troops. Coupled with the 30,000 puppet Manchurian defense forces and the rapidly expanding puppet North China Security Army along the Longhai Road, the strength of the puppet army in North China exceeded that of any other period in history.

No, after the 23rd Division and the 24th Division were transferred, the 32nd Division stationed in Cangxian County immediately took up the defense of the Hebei-Shandong border area, and the 36th Division on the Pinghan Road immediately drove to Luxi, filling the gap left by the 23rd Division.

After the 2nd Teaching Brigade, the Luxi Garrison Brigade, and the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade completed their task of taking the bull, the Southwest Lu Garrison Brigade returned to the southwest Lu area, and the 2nd Jiao Brigade and the Lu Xi Garrison Brigade returned to Lu Xi. Since it was a covert return to Shandong, it was not possible to carry out a large-scale campaign action, and it was said that the puppet army could not suffer a heavy blow, and its arrogance was still very arrogant. In particular, the situation in central and southern Hebei is still very grim.

Liu Yimin knew in his heart that it was impossible to win the Battle of Wuhan with the strength of [***] alone.

Of course, the battle of Wuhan in history was also fought well, because of the lessons learned from the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek adopted the strategy of defending Wuhan instead of fighting in Wuhan, and after a few months, although the army captured Wuhan, it did not even destroy a single division, although the army captured Wuhan, but due to too large losses and too long a front, it had to stop the pace of strategic offensive and turn into a stalemate stage.

Now the situation is very different from history, due to the successful retreat of the defense of Nanjing, part of the main force has been preserved, and it has been corrected and supplemented for so long, and the combat effectiveness is much stronger than in history. However, the strength of the army to attack Wuhan was much larger than in history, and because of the series of victories of the Eighth Route Army, the army would inevitably learn a lesson.

The most terrible thing is that if Wuhan falls, the domestic political pattern will change, not to mention how Wang Jingwei and his ilk clamore, even Chiang Kai-shek, I am afraid that it will also change. Once the war turns into a stalemate, will he still allow the [***] Eighth Route Army to develop like this?

After thinking about it, Liu Yimin felt that some things were very difficult to grasp, such as the Battle of Wuhan, the army was victorious, and the war track would develop like in history. If they instigate butterfly wings again so that the army cannot occupy Wuhan, the devils are annoyed and angry, and the crazy revenge is still secondary, will they still go rampantly south and attack Britain and the United States as they did in history? If the military does not attack Britain and the United States and concentrates its forces on attacking China, not only will China's suffering be even more serious, but it will also affect the post-war world pattern, and then the trouble will be great.

However, the all-out attack on Wuhan by the Japanese army was a once-in-a-lifetime fighter for the instructors, and if it was done well, it could take the opportunity to drive out the Japanese army in Shandong.

For the combat effectiveness of his pursuit, Liu Yimin has absolute confidence. For example, the 108th Division and the 33rd Division of the Army on Jiaoji Road, and the Jiaoji Road Garrison, which are simply hot Tianjin Goubuli buns in front of Liu Yimin, are fragrant and tempting.

Liu Yimin knew in his heart that the little devils didn't know that the main force of the instructor had returned to Shandong, and if they knew, the devils on Jiaoji Road, the devils on Jinpu Road, and the devils on Longhai Road would not have stayed in the base area like they are now, and they would run back to the railway line like rabbits and hide in the stronghold, or remobilize the army to clean up again. Even the Fifth Division and the Fourteenth Division, which were transferred to eastern Henan, may also return to Shandong and join the operational sequence of encircling and suppressing the instructors, instead of going to eastern Henan to launch a new offensive as they are now.

Thinking of the 108th Division, the 33rd Division and the Jiaoji Road Garrison on Jiaoji Road, Liu Yimin thought of Jinan, and I don't know how the little devils have been tossing in Jinan recently, and whether Jinan's economic situation has improved.

Luo Ronghuan thought that Liu Yimin was thinking about the battle situation, so he didn't bother him, and was busy dealing with his own affairs. But Luo Ronghuan doesn't bother, it doesn't mean that others don't bother.

Wu Zheng and Yang Zhicheng were busy during this time. They are also really capable, the arsenal has started production, the power is temporarily using diesel generators, the factory building has not been built, and the use of temples and karst caves in the depths of Yimeng is convenient for concealment. Wu Zheng and Yang Zhicheng came to Liu Yimin, mainly Bill? Clemen's idea, the reason is that Liu Yimin asked Bill? Clement thought of increasing the range of the bazooka and imitating the Gaoping dual-purpose gun of the Japanese army. Now Bill? Clemen has been tinkering with a few engineers from the United States for a while, and there are some technical problems, so I want to ask Liu Yimin to take a look and study it together.

Liu Yimin was thinking about strategic issues, and when he heard Huang Wenhu's report that Commander Wu and Political Commissar Yang were here and wanted to see him, he was a little unhappy that his train of thought was interrupted, so he directly said let them go to the political commissar and don't bother me.

(To be continued)