Dozens of war horses galloped on the field, and the first general was agile and beat the war horses, the horses' hooves were trampling, and there was no dust on the wet road. Ouyang Jian received a telegram from the headquarters and rushed to Ruijin from Ganzhou. The sky is covered with white clouds, the heat is raging on the land, and a storm will come at any time. The temperature was very high, and Ouyang Jian couldn't wipe the sweat off his face, and his bronzed cheeks showed the marks of a long time of outdoor life.

For two months, Ouyang Jian's footprints have been wandering between Nanchang and Ganzhou. According to the overall layout of the Central Committee, it was decided to build a thermal power plant in Ganzhou, and make full use of the convenience of Pingxiang Coal Mine to give full play to the advantages of Ganzhou's geographical location. At the same time, Ganzhou wants to launch a tank factory, and strive to come out the main battle tank of the Eighth Route Army in two years. In addition, the CPC has also decided to build an aircraft manufacturing plant in Nanchang, which is planned to be able to produce China's own fighter planes in three years.

The tank factory and the aircraft factory belong to the secret factory, and these two secret projects are inseparable from Ouyang Jian's planning, so he was temporarily pulled out to participate in the preparation for the construction of the power plant, the tank factory, and the aircraft factory. The CPC Central Committee demanded that the Ganzhou power plant should have power generation capacity by the end of next year, that the tank factory and aircraft factory should be completed by the end of the year, and that the first tank should be launched by the end of next year. In addition, it was required that by the middle of the 42 years, efforts should be made to break through the bottleneck of aircraft engines and produce the first fighter.

Ouyang Jian's task is to come up with a complete plan and implement it in strict accordance with the plan. The war horse stopped in front of the compound of the Central Committee, Ouyang Jian jumped off the war horse, handed the reins to the guards and hurriedly entered. Walking into the chairman's office, seeing Runzhi's solemn expression, he asked straight to the point: "Chairman, is the war situation unfavorable!" Runzhi nodded and said, "This is the front-line situation provided by the headquarters, you can take a look first!" Ouyang Jian took the material and looked at it carefully, then raised his head.

"What do you think?" Runzhi asked. The battle in Hangzhou was so unfavorable, and the war was protracted and scorched, Ouyang Jian guessed that the chairman wanted to end the battle of Hangzhou. "Chairman, according to the analysis of the offensive situation on the front line, we may have misjudged the strategic deployment of the Japanese army before the war, and the Japanese army was going to defend Hangzhou to the death. According to the analysis of the front-line combat situation: the Japanese defense is so perfect, and the signs show that the Japanese army secretly increased its troops in Hangzhou, which can be confirmed. It seems that we do not yet have the ability to conquer a large city, and I propose to end the Battle of Hangzhou. ”

Runzhi sighed and said: "It is indeed a bit hasty to launch the Hangzhou Campaign, especially the great victory on the southern front, and the frequent good news from the base areas in the Central Plains, which makes us a little dizzy. The Battle of Hangzhou lasted more than 20 days, fully exposing our weaknesses. Facts have proved that we do not have the ability to conquer a large city at all, especially if we attack from one direction, with a single means of attack, and we are still in a weak position. But in the big picture, we've basically achieved our strategic goals. ”

Runzhi continued: "Although we did not take Hangzhou, but the southern part of Zhejiang is connected, which is quite a big gain for us, in addition, we can further drag the Japanese army in the Songhu area, and it is also a strong support for the anti-Japanese battlefields across the country." Looking at it the other way around, stopping the attack on Hangzhou may have more advantages than disadvantages. Ouyang Jian has no objection to the chairman's analysis, if the Japanese army wants to hold on to Hangzhou in the current state, it is indeed difficult to fight!

On the same day, the headquarters ordered the end of the Battle of Hangzhou. The 3rd Corps and the 5th Corps were ordered to be stationed on the front line of Huangshan in Anhui, and the Xiao Feng Division of the 3rd Corps of the 2nd Corps was ordered to be stationed on the line of Tianmu Mountain and Tonglu west of Zhejiang. The 4th Army's Song Renqi Division was stationed on the front line of Zhuji, Yuyao, and Ningbo, and maintained strong military pressure on the Japanese army in Hangzhou. At this point, the large-scale military operation on the north and south fronts, which lasted for two months, came to an end. That night, Ouyang Jian invited Peng Dehuai to drink to relieve his depressed mood.

After a few glasses of wine, Ouyang Jian said with relief: "Brother Peng, the victory and defeat of the ancients is common knowledge in the soldiers, and there is no need to linger. Before the war, we were overly optimistic, thinking that the Japanese army would retreat back to the Jiaxing line, but now it seems that our judgment has failed. However, from the perspective of the overall situation, we have overfulfilled our strategic tasks, especially the southern front, which has fully embodied the command art of the headquarters and allowed the front-line commanders to fully display their military talents, creating conditions. ”

"Brother Ouyang, what I am depressed about is that the Battle of Hangzhou should be stopped as soon as possible. For more than 20 consecutive days of attacking fortified positions, the two armies of the 2nd Corps paid the price of more than 7,000 casualties, and I am responsible. Peng Dehuai continued: "The failure of the first offensive operation has dealt a blow to the confidence of the officers and men of the 2nd Corps, which is very unfavorable to future operations. "I carefully read the battle reports on the front line, and the drawback of ineffective combat is still air supremacy, and the Japanese army relied on its strong air superiority to efficiently limit our offensive."

"In particular, we avoided Japanese air strikes and had to attack at night, which limited the effectiveness of our attacks. The terrain of night operations was unfamiliar, and the enemy's defensive situation could not be quickly grasped. On the other hand, the Japanese army was well prepared, and they could use the fortifications in depth to make use of them. Frankly, if it weren't for the help of the Flying Tigers this time, our attack might have been more difficult. Now it is even more powerful to illustrate how important battlefield air supremacy is. ”

Peng Dehuai nodded in agreement: "I heard that you are preparing to build an aircraft factory in Nanchang, when will our fighters be able to fly into the blue sky?" "It is not easy to build a complete aviation industry. Frankly speaking, it is easy to build an aircraft with our current capabilities, but it is difficult to build a fighter with excellent performance, high air strike efficiency, and extremely strong survivability. We want to build fighters, we must build the best fighters in the world. ”

Ouyang Jian said with a deep face: "As far as I know, a new fighter of the Japanese army has been put into service, and the Japanese army calls it a cutting-edge fighter for secrecy, but in fact, this is a new Zero fighter newly developed by the Japanese army. The performance of this fighter is excellent, and as far as I know, the current European and American fighters cannot match it. At present, the Japanese army has secretly stationed more than a dozen Zero fighters at Wuhan Airport, specifically to deal with the Flying Tigers! "Does the Flying Tigers know about this?"

"They don't know! I'm not going to tell the Flying Tigers. Because the situation of the Japanese army's installation of Zero aircraft must be kept absolutely secret, I am going to build a Zero fighter, and I must not arouse the alarm of the Japanese army before the operation! "You want to build a Zero fighter, how?" Peng Dehuai asked in surprise. The specific plan is being prepared, and you will know when the time comes. "No matter what the price is, Ouyang Jian also wants to build a Zero fighter, especially the engine of the Zero fighter must be obtained.

"How sure are you?" "I'm not sure, but I have to gamble!" Obviously, Ouyang Jian has not yet considered maturity, and it is inconvenient to inquire about relevant topics. Early the next morning, Ouyang Jian went to the headquarters of the 2nd Corps in Shangrao. Although the offensive operation failed, the headquarters asked Ouyang Jian to summarize a complete investigation report on the failure of the offensive operation. In addition, Ouyang Jian also wanted to use this to appease He Long.

On this day, Ouyang Jian rushed to Shangrao, and the commander of the 2nd Corps, He Long, political commissar Teng Daiyuan, and chief of staff Zuo Quan stood in front of the door to greet him. Ouyang Jian shook hands and greeted the three chief officials, and saw that He Long reluctantly showed a smile on his face and said: "It is said that He Huzi always laughs haha, but you shave your beard but lack festivity, and your mood is not high!" "Chief of the General Staff, in this Hangzhou campaign, the headquarters has given us ardent hopes. Although the headquarters did not blame me for not fighting the battle, it was difficult for me to correct my responsibility."

"Chief of the General Staff, I am also responsible for not fighting well!" Political Commissar Teng Daiyuan stopped the blame. Without waiting for the chief of staff Zuo Quan to speak, Ouyang Jian preemptively said: "Presumably you also have to stop the blame, isn't it too hypocritical." I'm not here to hold accountable. To say that responsible headquarters should be responsible. We were a little blindly optimistic about launching the Battle of Hangzhou, and we did not see that there was still a gap between us and the Japanese army as a whole, and this was one of them. In addition, we know nothing about the secret increase of Japanese troops in Hangzhou. We relied too much on deciphering the Japanese army's ciphers, and neglected traditional reconnaissance methods. ”

In short, we don't have the capacity to conquer a large city on a large scale yet, and the fact is another wake-up call. I have come here to sum up the experience of failure and provide a detailed report to the headquarters. Seeing that the faces of the three of them changed from gloomy to sunny, he smiled and said: "I've been standing in front of the door for a while, and that's how you treat guests." "Brother Ouyang, the wine and food have already been prepared, just waiting for you to sit down." He Long stretched out his hand to please. "Chief of the General Staff, the headquarters ordered the end of the Battle of Hangzhou, I guess you will definitely come!" Chief of Staff Zuo Quan smiled.

"Why?" "The 2nd Corps is Pengzhong's old unit, and he definitely can't come. The Military Commission needs a summary, so there can only be Chief of Staff Lao. "Very prescient, Brother He, you have a good partner!" Everyone talked and laughed and walked into the city. After lunch, I simply drank a little wine, and after eating, the tea was served, and the Tieguanyin produced in Fujian exuded a unique fragrance. Ouyang Jian opened the conversation again and said: "Comrades, although the overall situation is very good, our difficult period has also come!" ”

"At present, after the Japanese army occupied northern Vietnam, the Yunnan-Vietnam railway and land transportation lines were cut off. Britain has also closed the Yunnan-Burma road transportation line, and it can be said that our external channels for obtaining strategic materials have been completely blocked. In the next step, the Japanese army will make every effort to blockade the occupied areas, and the base areas in the Central Plains will face unimaginable difficulties. In addition, after four years of continuous fighting, our pre-war war reserves have been basically exhausted, and our arsenal will only be able to meet the needs of the production of light weapons and ammunition in the next step, and these unfavorable factors ・・・・・・. ”