Although the Japanese army suffered an unprecedented defeat in the Battle of Taierzhuang, and Terauchi Shouichi did not succeed militarily, the stubborn counterattack of the Central Army of the Republic of China also made the Japanese army base camp realize that the battle of Songhu and Nanjing did not hurt the root of the Republic of China. The high-standard Yunnan-Burma Highway has been opened to traffic less than a year after the outbreak of a full-scale war between the two sides. Japan can clearly see that the Wuhan Nationalist Government and the northwest have long been prepared for a long-term war of resistance, and even if the southeast coast is threatened by the Japanese combined fleet and cannot get the corresponding material replenishment, it can still be obtained from the Yunnan-Burma Highway.

Although the fiasco of the Battle of Taierzhuang temporarily failed Terauchi's military attempt, in terms of strategic intentions, Terauchi Shouichi succeeded. The tandem of the two armies in North China and East China has successfully tied the base camp to the chariot of the invading Japanese army.

After the Battle of Taierzhuang, although the 5th Division held Linyi, the 10th Division was responsible for Yixian County, Zaozhuang was conquered one after another under the rapid pursuit of a reinforced army in the northwest, and the Japanese troops of nearly two brigades did not have time to withdraw, after some relatively simple fortifications were destroyed by the artillery fire of the Northwest Army. was surrounded and annihilated by the swarming national * army units. After Zhao Yi, who had completed the set combat objectives, received Jiang Li's order, he also began to retreat in batches to the eastern Henan area to rest and recuperate, and at the same time alert the movements of the Japanese army.

Before and after, the Japanese army lost nearly 40,000 casualties, but the base camp urgently transferred two divisions from the Kwantung Army to the south, and once again mobilized a large number of reinforcements from the country, the scale was even more than before.

As the invading Japanese army and the base camp once again walked out of the same pace, the Japanese army was able to start the war more quickly.

According to the orders and guidance of the base camp. After the North China Front made contact with the East China Dispatch Army. The plan for the battle of Xuzhou was reformulated. The spirit of the programme is much the same as before. All of them attracted the main force of the Central Army of the Republic of China to the vicinity of Xuzhou, and to the area east of the road, and cut off the retreat route in the west and southwest of Xuzhou. Then he captured Xuzhou and encircled and annihilated the Central Army of the Republic of China near Xuzhou.

However, compared to the previous pattern of Shouichi in the temple, once the base camp has made up its mind, its intentions are also more ambitious. Not only did the army formulate a plan for the Battle of Xuzhou, but it also had to think about the situation after the Battle and the implementation of the Battle of Wuhan. Moreover, the navy was ordered to capture Hankow. Prepare for battle on Nanjing, the Yangtze River between Nanjing-Hankou-Yuezhou and along the rocks. And at the same time, the fleet of the Republic of China side was successively strengthened. It didn't take long for the plan to capture Hankou and Guangzhou and completely cut off the southeast coast of the Republic of China was also put on the agenda. Historically, as long as Hankou and the alien forces in Guangzhou were captured, half of the task of capturing China would be completed, and after taking Wuhan, they would turn back and clean up the Northwest Army in the Central Plains. The Showa Research Association, a think tank for the study and formulation of national policies in Japan, proposed a fundamental method for dealing with the deeds of the Republic of China. It said that Japan's current goal in pursuing mainland politics is to quickly resolve the Republic of China incident. The objective of the present war is that many results must be secured in terms of military operations.

In order to completely crack down on the central government in Wuhan, it will be reduced to a local power in name and substance, and lose the morality and ability to command the law over the powerful factions in other places. At the same time, the central government of Wuhan, which lost the southeast coast and the rich area of central China, also lost its important economic pillar, and at the same time, after conquering Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Nationalist government lost the two lakes, an important grain-producing area. Even if the central government retreats to mountainous areas, it will no longer be possible to exercise the power of the central government as before. At this time, this administrative circle, which has essentially degenerated into a local government, is bound to have sharp contradictions with the growing power in the northwest.

The original plan of the Japanese top brass was to reduce the scale of the war to a limited extent, but under a series of changes, it went further and further down the road of expanding the war. But this is also what Jiang Li has always wanted to see.

It took only a few days for the Japanese army to draw up the battle plan and re-issue the pre-sale for the operation. In order to facilitate command, the North China Front readjusted the battle sequence, and assigned one division of the Kwantung Army to the 2nd Nishio Shouzo Army, and at the same time assigned the 16th Division directly under the Front Army, the 2nd Tank Brigade of the 114th Division, and the 3rd and 6th Wings of the Field Heavy Artillery to the 2nd Army. Another Kwantung Army division was transferred to the 1st Army, and while intensifying the Anyang operation, the 1st Army was ordered to prepare to cross the Yellow River and cut off the Longhai Road near Lanfeng, so as to create favorable conditions for the 2nd Army to fight and avoid being killed by the Northwest Army again and attacking the 2nd Army of Nishio Shouzo.

As a result, the battle lines of the two sides returned to a place roughly close to the first Battle of Xuzhou. It's just that this time the Japanese army is bent on recovering the previous field, and both the ground forces and the air firepower have been strengthened.

In order to facilitate direct command of the operation, the commander of the 10th Division, Kensuke Isotani, directly advanced from Yanzhou to Zaozhuang to direct the operation.

The Fifth War Zone, which had been slightly calm, was once again shrouded in a larger area of gunsmoke.

"Respectfully, Jiang Li is now in Henan step by step, so he sent troops to Zhengyang, and now he wants Gongxian Arsenal." Chairman Chiang sneered and slapped the telegram from the north on the table. "Do you really think that he forcibly occupied Luoyang and Zhengzhou last time, so he can do whatever he wants?"

"It is naturally impossible to give up the Gongxian Arsenal to Jiang Li. At the moment, the situation is not yet there. In addition, the replenishment of guns and ammunition in the Fifth War Zone is also extremely dependent on the Gongxian Arsenal. However, if there is a change in Xuzhou, Gongxian will be completely left alone, and the Northwest Army can have today, isn't it relying on its expanding arsenal? In the past, if the central authorities were negligent in this regard, they should learn a lesson, be ashamed and courageous. Even if there is not much left in Gongxian now, at least the central government must be resolute in this attitude. He Yingqin put forward some of his own opinions.

However, Jiang Li can mention these conditions, and he still knows the proportions, and he did not directly send troops to take over, and this time the battle of Xuzhou will also contribute a lot. His move to occupy Queshan County must have been in preparation for the later war. The Northwest Army is still defensive and distrustful of us. They did not want to annoy the central government, causing the current situation of unity and resistance to war to fall apart. It is also full of distrust of the central government. But now, the Northwest Army also has this strength. ”

Chairman Chiang nodded, and glanced at the number promised on the telegram, and the Gongxian Arsenal in Henan Province proposed by the northwest side was naturally not directly requested, but the promised one year to provide the central government with 3,000 rifles a year and several thousand rounds of shells of various types. 100,000 rounds of bullets. In fact, as early as the explosion of the Anti-Japanese War, the Gongxian Arsenal was bombed by the Japanese army several times, and the losses were not small. Since December last year, it has been relocated, and now it has been successively landed in Changsha, Hunan, and Anhua, and some machinery has been put into production. Except for some equipment that is difficult to disassemble, the Gongxian Arsenal has been almost dismantled.

"It stands to reason that the northwest already has a communication channel with the Soviet Union, and it is reasonable that the dependence on the Yunnan-Burma road and railway is not so great. Why is it that after the construction of the highway in the northwest, the enthusiasm for building the railway is even higher than ours, and they are willing to raise more money and people. Is there something else to do? ”

"Now that Longyun has moved closer to the central government, even if the Yunnan-Burma Railway is completed, it will be the central government that will benefit the most. The Northwest does seem a thankless move. However, judging from Jiang Li's previous layout in the northwest, he rarely made meaningless moves, and the northwest has always opened the door to convenience for the weapons transported by the central government from the northwest, and has also provided a certain amount of convenience in transportation, so far, he has not made any trouble. This battle of Xuzhou was also a one-hit hit, just right. The last time Han Fuyu was shot, it was also the central government that benefited. In addition to sending troops to the Central Plains, the occupation of Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and most of Henan seriously threatened the interests of the central government. In other aspects, Jiang Li still took into account the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War. As for this time, he couldn't see clearly what Jiang Li's intentions were. He Yingqin smiled bitterly,

"Let's wait and see what happens." Chairman Jiang didn't know what kind of medicine Jiang Li's gourd was selling, but at the moment, since it was beneficial to the central government, he naturally would not refuse to make great efforts to do such a thing in the northwest

"What a fucking bullshit, isn't this bullshit?" Jiang Li threw the news he got from the Fifth War Zone directly to the ground.

"Could it be that there is some bad news from the north, and the commander is so angry?" Huang Guodong, who walked to the door, bent down and picked up the telegram on the ground. Huang Guodong came to Henan to report on his work, when he organized the migration of the Fengjun army and deployed a large number of materials during the Fengtian war, Huang Guodong made great contributions, and he was only a little older than Jiang Li.

"Wang commanded a group army of more than 100,000 people to block in northern Henan, and there was no chaos for a while. It's Xuzhou, and there have been some changes. In the final analysis, the previous victory in Taierzhuang still overwhelmed some people's minds and thought about the war too simply. After the previous defeat, the Japanese army readjusted and greatly increased its replenishment, and this offensive was even greater than the previous one. The 5th and 10th divisions on the front were greatly strengthened, and at the same time, the East China Dispatch Army also sent two detachments to fight in the north. The Wuhan side is still only focusing on the attack of the Japanese army on the Huainan side and only fighting in response to Lunan operations, so it is still in accordance with the last routine of attacking and defending, launching a counteroffensive in Lunan and Huainan at the same time to deal with the problem of the Japanese army's north-south advance. The Japanese did not make the same mistakes. ”

Out of the relatively depressed atmosphere in the headquarters, Yang Hucheng broke the current embarrassment and explained to Huang Guodong, and at the same time, he was also a little surprised that Jiang Li's accumulated power after the previous wars made him feel a little unnatural. However, for Jiang Li's anger, Yang Hucheng didn't think that the situation in the 5th War Zone would deteriorate in a very short period of time, after all, the strength of the 5th War Zone was also very strong at this time.

"I'm a little out of shape." Jiang Li smiled bitterly, "After the battle of Taierzhuang, it has been difficult to have a few refreshing news recently, which has affected the mood. ”

"The commander still has to control his anger, this war of resistance is a long-term thing, and he has to be angry about a little thing, don't the tables, chairs and benches of this command have to be changed every once in a while?" Huang Guodong sat down with a smile, he and Jiang Li are cousins, and besides, he is mainly engaged in politics, and there is less strict hierarchy between soldiers and Jiang Li. It's casual to talk about.

"It's not okay not to be angry, the things on the battlefield are on the one hand, what really makes people feel sorry is the Yunnan-Burma Railway, hundreds of thousands of road builders, except for the northwest requisition, the others are some local old and weak, a very small number of young and strong, nine times out of ten are also big smokers, the physique is pitiful, and it won't take long to rest for a while. Opium misled the country, but now Yunnan, as well as some places in Sichuan, are still repeatedly banned, and some people really deserve to be killed! ”

Jiang Li sighed and handed Huang Guodong another report on the table. The plot that a hero in later movies can resist a few Japanese soldiers, in this era, except for a very small number of martial arts who have been on the battlefield and have seen blood, it is simply impossible. Especially in western Yunnan, and even some of the soldiers in Sichuan. He smokes cigarettes all year round, his body is weak, and he lacks nutrition. In terms of physical strength, it was much inferior to the Japanese soldiers.

And it is under such circumstances that in order to prevent the already exhausted finances from further deteriorating further, some localities in Sichuan and Yunnan still have this method of drinking water to quench their thirst. Even if the soldiers on the front line are fighting bloody battles with the Japanese army, there is still such a group of scum in the rear. If it weren't for the report, Jiang Li couldn't have imagined that the opium in these areas had poisoned the people to such an extent. Far deeper than the northwest.

And it is precisely these weak physiques, as well as extremely backward medical conditions, that in the construction of roads in the rear, because of long-term fatigue and frailty, in a few months, thousands of people have died in the construction team on the other side of the railway. The bloody numbers are even more brutal than fighting a war. The high heat in the southwest, the dense mosquitoes in the jungle, the turbulent river, the lack of food and clothing, and the barren primeval jungle, but in the face of these difficulties, the local poor minority population and a large number of road construction teams still did not stop their steps. At this moment, Jiang Li also felt that the notice coming from the southwest was as heavy as a mountain.

After Huang Guodong read the report on the table, he knew the reason for Jiang Lisheng's anger, and couldn't help but put away the smile on his face and sighed heavily, "The scourge of opium, since the late Qing Dynasty, has planted bitter fruits, poisoning China for decades. Nowadays, there is still a long way to go to eradicate China's stubborn diseases. (To be continued.) )