If there is one battle that Xu Ming wants to change the War of Resistance against Japan, it is undoubtedly the Battle of Nanjing.

Most of the other casualties were soldiers, but in the Battle of Nanjing, a large number of prisoners of war and innocent citizens died under the butcher's knives of the Japanese army.

Until later generations, there were still right-wingers in Japan who tried to overturn the Nanjing Massacre, saying that "the Nanjing Massacre did not exist," that "the scale of the Nanjing Massacre was very small," and that there were extreme fallacies that "the massacre was carried out because of the stubborn resistance of the squadron."

Xu Ming used to work in Nanjing, and whenever he passed by the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, he couldn't help but feel extremely indignant. In this time and space, looking at the beautiful scene of Nanjing, he strengthened his determination to change history.

Thanks to the blessing of the great water, the actions of the Japanese army now are far more difficult than in history. Song, Jing Shigen's Shanghai and Dispatch Army (which has been renamed the Central China Front) took advantage of the chaos of the retreat of the squadron to take Wuxi in one fell swoop, so that the Xicheng line, the last defense line of the squadron, completely collapsed. However, Yanagawa Heisuke's 10th Army has been making slow progress, and on December 15, it had just captured Gwangdeok. It is more than half a month later than the original history.

Xu Ming forcibly pressed down that trace of pride, and wondered how to change the situation of the battle.

But the more Xu Ming thought about it, the more difficult he felt, because the outcome of the Battle of Nanjing was too difficult to change.

The root cause is that there is a problem with the squadron's defensive strategy. To put it mildly, the defense concept of the squadron is not even up to the level of World War I, and it is even the idea of sticking to the city in the feudal era. This was okay in ancient times, the besieging side had no artillery, no aircraft, and only relied on ants to attack the city; But how can the masonry walls of this era hold back modern heavy artillery and aircraft.

In fact, it was precisely because of the defeat at the Battle of Nanking that Chiang Lao realized the inadequacy of holding his position (although he made similar mistakes many times in subsequent battles) and adopted the correct strategy in the battles of Xuzhou and Wuhan.

In Xu Ming's view, the Battle of Nanjing should also adopt the same strategy as the Battle of Wuhan, with one part operating on the periphery to attack the Japanese army's lines of communication; Delay the enemy with a small number of troops, and then concentrate on attacking one of the roads in an effort to achieve partial victory.

Of course, it is easy to say, but it is difficult to do, but we must not stick to Nanjing. Like the current law-abiding, it was obtained as an example of Yang Hucheng guarding Xi'an and Fu Zuoyi guarding Zhuozhou. But Yang Hucheng's opponent is Liu Zhenhua's "Zhensong Army", a typical warlord army; Fu Zuoyi faced only the Feng army in Zhuozhou, how can these be compared with the modern Japanese army.

Of course, Xu Ming couldn't go to Tang Shengzhi, who had just been appointed commander-in-chief of the Nanjing garrison, he was a general with old qualifications, and he entered Baoding School in the early years of the Republic of China, and his qualifications were much older than Chen Cheng and Xue Yue. Don't people imitate the methods that have successful examples, and listen to you, a young man who can do business, make up what to defend Nanjing instead of fighting in Nanjing? What is the meaning of guarding Nanjing, it is not the capital of China and the coffin of the father of the nation, according to Xu Ming's law-abiding, Nanjing simply does not abide by it.

Xu Ming told Yang Hanjie about this idea in private, and Yang Hanjie told him well. Even the good man Yang Hanjie couldn't convince him, let alone the rest.

On December 16, in the north of Wuhu Jiangbei, Xu Ming was on the dock, waiting for visitors.

In the distance, a small steamer drove over with a "whin", dragging a thick black smoke, Xu Ming looked at it, and there were several familiar figures on the bow of the ship.

Xie Qianli, Qiu Linfeng, and his brother Qiu Linquan.

"Brother Xie, Xiaofeng, Xiaoquan", as soon as they came ashore, Xu Ming happily greeted them.

Although it was already winter and the climate was wet and cold, Xie Qianli was still wearing only a robe, which made him even more robe-oriented. After seeing Xu Ming, he slapped Xu Ming's shoulder and said, "Good brother, if you are promoted to the head of the regiment, you won't invite me to drink a cup."

Xu Ming said proudly: "If you are promoted to the regiment commander, you will drink a cup, and if you are promoted to the division commander, you will not drink a jar." ”

"To be promoted to the rank of commander, let's soak it in a wine vat for thousands of miles." Xie Qianli also quipped.

A few people chatted while walking, and Xie Qianli said: "After you called last time, I have already arranged to sell the property and buy a few properties in Chengdu." It's just that the chess club is reluctant to sell it, so let's put it first. ”

Xu Ming sent several telegrams, suggesting that Xie Qianli sell Hefei's industry, although Xie Qianli read the news of victory in the newspaper (such as ** from Shanghai to Nanjing successfully), but he trusted Xu Ming very much, and still listened to Xu Ming's advice. ”

When Xu Ming saw Xie Qianli say this, he knew that he didn't understand the battle situation, so he comforted: "Chengdu is a good place, and Hefei is too close to Nanjing." When the war is won, let's move back. ”

Xie Qianli nodded, he didn't realize at all, maybe everyone in this time and space, including the Japanese, didn't realize how long this war would be.

After a while, everyone walked to the station of the New Seventh Regiment. Because Xu Ming was promoted, and other officers were also promoted to one level, the atmosphere in the regiment was not bad.

After Qiu Linquan, Xie Qianli and the officers exchanged pleasantries, Xu Ming pointed out the reason why the two came, and Xu Ming said to Qiu Linquan: "Xiaoquan, you say, the ship is like this." ”

Qiu Linquan works in the Chao County Shipbuilding Bureau, this job was still found for him by Xu Ming three years ago, he stood up and said: "According to Xu Tuanzuo's arrangement, 200 shipwrights have been in place, and now they are in Anqing, ready to obey your dispatch." ”

What do you want 200 boatmen for? Do you want a boat? Sure enough, as the officers guessed, Xie Qianli stood up and said: "After receiving your telegram from my brother, I went to find Manager Lu (Lu Zuofu) of Minsheng Company, he heard that you have a military purpose, and he is very cooperative, and he has given us two ships, and the ship is also in Anqing, one can carry more than 800 people, and the other can carry more than 500 people." Rent 100 yuan a day, no deposit. ”

Lu Zuofu is a well-known entrepreneur in the transportation system of the Republic of China, he is now rushing supplies from Shanghai and Nanjing to Wuhan and Chongqing for China and the government, and has made great contributions to China's War of Resistance.

But then Xie Qianli's words made him and the people in the house very angry, Xie Qianli then said: "I didn't negotiate with the British of Swire Company, and asked us 500 yuan a day, and only gave two small boats with a capacity of less than 300 people, and we had to pay a deposit of 500,000 yuan first."

Because of the Japanese attack on Nanjing, the shipping along the Yangtze River was extremely tight, and the British Taikoo Steamship Company took advantage of this to make a windfall, knowing that Xu Ming wanted a steamer, so he was ready to slaughter him.

500,000 may be just one of Xu Ming's hairs, but Xu Ming's hair has almost been plucked out, Zhao Ren Peng Cong went to Hunan, Xu Ming handed over all the 12 million on his body to the two of them, after all, recruiting and training requires a lot of money. Moreover, the British took advantage of the fire to rob, which is really hateful.

Xu Ming scolded rarely, and then said to Xie Qianli: "Brother Xie, don't be angry, the British, let's find a way in the future, it's already very important to get two big ships." After speaking, he said to Qiu Linfeng: Xiao Qiu, what about your achievements."

Qiu Linfeng stood up proudly and said, "I got 5 steamers, all of which are small steamers that can hold three or four hundred people, and I only gave a gift of 20,000 yuan. "It turned out that after the victory in Jiangyin, the Chinese Navy captured more than 30 Japanese ships, sank most of the old ships into the Jiangyin blockade line, and gave the rest to the Ministry of Communications.

Xu Ming was very satisfied and praised: "Xiaoqiu, you did a good job, Brother Xie has 2 ships, you have 5 ships, and my Yuming company has 4 ships, adding up to 11 ships, and it should be about the same as being able to load more than 4,000 people each time."

The more Qin Lieping listened, the more puzzled he became, "Regiment Leader, what do you want so many ships for, our thousands of people don't have so many, Zhao Ren and them will take at least 3 months to come back." Besides, it is better to transfer by train than by ship. ”

Xu Ming saw that Chen Huizhi and Shangguan Min were also suspicious, and the others also knew what they were doing. I think it's time to solve the mystery.

"These steamers were reserved for the retreat of the defenders of Nanjing." As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's faces were very exciting.

Chen Huizhi, the deputy head of the regiment, said: "I heard that the Nanjing Guard troops are preparing to break the cauldron and fight to the death against the Japanese invaders, Commander Xu, have you been ordered by your superiors?" ”

Xu Ming shook his head, "No, I didn't take any orders, it was my own plan." ”

It was even more difficult for everyone to understand, Chen Huizhi: "But there are ships in Jiangbei, although they are all wooden boats, but the defenders really want to retreat, and we should not be needed." ”

Xu Ming still didn't change his mind, and replied firmly: "They will need me." ”

There are ships in Jiangbei, and now Xu Ming also knows that he has always thought that the failure of the retreat of the ** squadron in history was because there were no ships, but he found that there were many wooden ships in Jiangbei, which were under the jurisdiction of Zhou Aoshan, the commander of transportation. At that time, he was very surprised, because under normal circumstances, it is no problem to retreat tens of thousands of people in one day and one night, how can many soldiers float into the Yangtze River with a bed board, and at least a few thousand people drowned, like the 74th Army crossing the river on a raft.

A lot of the truth can only be understood when you are in it, and Xu Ming went to Jiangbei in person to find out the reason in order to find out this problem.

The conclusion is that there is a lack of management and organization, and these shipwrights are brought in on a temporary basis, and there is a lack of organization. Moreover, for a long time before the defenders retreated, because the Nanjing garrison issued an order to close the river, it was forbidden for Nanjing personnel to retreat privately. This order was correct, but for the left-behind personnel in Jiangbei, it meant that there was no need to prepare ships, so when the squadron temporarily decided to retreat, Jiangbei did not have any preparations, and many boatmen and ships had fled. This had a very bad effect on the retreat.

This is Xu Ming's speculation after on-the-spot research, although it may not be successful, but it is not far away.

That's why he asked Qiu Linfeng's brother to find some boatmen anyway, fortunately, Chaohu and Anqing are still very well staffed.

Xu Ming was still skeptical when he saw that these people were still suspicious, and he didn't intend to convince them, after all, everyone here didn't know that the defenders of Nanjing would retreat in the future, let alone the haste and chaos of the retreat.