Bai Chongxi, who is the deputy chief of the General Staff of the National Political Axe, knows Chiang Kai-shek's intentions very well, whether it is Zhang Xueliang, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, or even himself and Li Zongren, and even [***], they are all shouting and resisting, and now they are really fighting, and Lao Chiang takes the lead in fighting for the blood of his Central Army, and who dares to retreat from the rest of the people? Even He Yingqin, who advocated retreating to Huairou, was shouting the slogan of the nation's danger and fighting to the death, except for Wang Zhaoming, Zhou Fohai and his group, it seemed that the country was united in the face of foreign humiliation?

In Chen Cheng's headquarters, Bai Chongxi saw Chen Cheng's face full of gunpowder smoke was bandaging his arm by a nurse, and the headquarters was in a mess, and after questioning, he learned that the headquarters had just been hit by a 105-mm artillery shell from the army, thanks to Chen Cheng's inspection of the front line was not in the headquarters, but Chen Cheng, who was inspecting the front line, was also injured in the arm by shrapnel from the army's aerial bombs.

Who could have imagined that the commander-in-chief of the entire Left Wing Corps would be born and died at the front like a centurion? Seeing Bai Chongxi coming, Chen Cheng hurriedly got up and said, "Deputy Chief Executive, why are you here?" It's so dangerous! ”

Bai Chongxi said a little helplessly: "External humiliation needs to be controlled!" For the generals, at this time, they should also lead by example, at the cost of their family and surname, and the country is in trouble! ”

Chen Cheng said with emotion: "Thousands of troops go to death, for the generals to be the courage of the soldiers, for the generals to move, for the generals should not care about their family and surname, if we are afraid of the officials, what should we do if we are soldiers?" If you can't fulfill the principal's trust, there is no other way to repay the country with one death! ”

Bai Chongxi nodded slightly and said, "How is the garrison on the other side of Hangzhou Bay?" The naval force on this side is particularly strong, and now it has landed in Qingdao, Shandong Province and established a landing field, Han Fuyu has retreated after two failed counterattacks, and if he is allowed to land from Hangzhou Bay and directly attack the flank of our army, the entire Songhu battlefield will be in danger! ”

Chen Cheng lay on the map and sighed helplessly: "The original second division and one brigade have been almost transferred, the 36th Division, the 87th Division and the 88th Division have now been reorganized at least three times, basically all of them are recruits, not to mention, the soldiers are only about seventy percent before the war, and the rest of the German armament troops are not much better. I'm afraid it won't take long to fight like this, and the Central Army will be fighting into an empty shelf, and now we can only wait for reinforcements from the Sichuan Army! ”

Bai Chongxi also sighed and said: "The reinforcements from Guangxi have been injured in just one morning, and our officers are still too unsuitable for my three-dimensional combat methods!" And we don't have Zhang Xuewu's capital and ruthlessness, if we transfer part of Zhang's troops to Songhu as soon as possible, it may be much better. ”

Chen Cheng reluctantly knocked on the map and said, "Zhang Xuewu has already transferred an elite mechanized division?" It is said that it is comparable to the teaching corps, all of them are of the Whampoa department, with more than 70 chariots and more than 100 ironclad vehicles, but the chairman of the committee is not allowed to move this unit and put it in Nanjing for garrison, which is really a waste! Such a force is used in key places as a sword that can stab him in the heart. ”

Bai Chongxi glanced at Chen Cheng and said: "The teaching corps is disabled, and there is only such a single elite soldier left in the hands of the chairman, Zhang Xuewu has stored a large number of weapons and ammunition in the name of the Supreme Military Commission in Nanjing, and the two heavy artillery brigades are deployed in the Jiangbei area, if that mechanized division is dismantled, at least seven or eight divisions with combat effectiveness can be pulled up immediately, and no one is willing to use such elite to fight!" Not to mention the chairman, even I am reluctant to make a move. ”

Zhang Xuewu's Republic of China Army Provisional First Mechanized Division can be said to be the last trump card in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, and the gendarmerie of the teaching corps was stationed in Nanjing Purple Mountain, the reason why Zhang Xuewu was able to enter the eyes of the members of Chiang Kai-shek, in the end, was because of his cooperation with the troops at the time of the Double 12 Incident and obeying the instructions of his wife, but in the end it was Zhang Xueliang who persuaded Zhang Xuewu to let himself go.

For Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xuewu is definitely an unexpected choice, his loyalty to doctrine and himself even exceeds Chen Cheng and Dai Li, Zhang Xuewu has entered the advanced class of the Army University, and is also considered to be born in Whampoa, but he is always excluded below, Chiang Kai-shek has a very principle, that is, the first requirement for the selection of generals is loyalty, the ability can be modest, but loyalty must be put in the first place, this is also after Chiang Kai-shek returned from Xi'an, not only did not send Zhang Xuewu to cut power, On the contrary, the main reason for entrusting him with a heavy task is that Chiang Kai-shek wants everyone to see how he repays his grievances with virtue, and the reuse of Zhang Xuewu is different from the reuse of Zhang Xueliang, and compared with Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Xuewu can be regarded as a rare fierce general in [***], and Zhang Xuewu's performance in the Battle of Rehe Chiang Kai-shek is still vivid.

In addition, the First Mechanized Division of the National Revolutionary Army was nominally raised by Zhang Xueliang, Song Ziwen, and Zhang Xuewu, and all the officers and soldiers were Zhang Xuewu's old department, so it was most appropriate for Zhang Xuewu, who had been tested many times, to command.

And before the outbreak of the Songhu War, Zhang Xuewu sent the absolute strong brigade and two heavy artillery brigades under the jurisdiction of the First Army of the Rehe Army to Nanjing in the name of changing defense and training, at that time, Chiang Kai-shek also praised Zhang Xuewu for not greedy for military power and had no intention of dominating one side, but even if Chiang Kai-shek pulled the 87, 88, and 36 Imperial Forest Army up to fight hard in the bloody battle of Songhu, and even the teaching corps and the military police regiment were also filled in one by one. In the end, two heavy artillery brigades were finally brought to the Songhu front.

In fact, Chiang Kai-shek did not give Zhang Xuewu any face, but he was really reluctant to put such a strong force as the Provisional First Mechanized Division under the artillery fire of the Yue Army to fight a war of attrition, and those who have seen the Provisional First Mechanized Division will sigh how much effort this army has to put into it, almost all the officers and one-third of the soldiers have been systematically trained by the German Army, have more than five years of military experience, all have actual combat experience, and are 172 to 175 centimeters tall in height, and they are full of spirit and high morale. It is equipped with seventy-five jackal tanks and one hundred and twenty half-track integrated combat vehicles, as well as four hundred and twenty two-and-a-half-ton trucks produced by Baotou Heavy Industry.

The division has five mechanized infantry brigades, each brigade has two regiments, a total of 36 reinforced regiments of 105-mm imitation German-made howitzers, two battalions of 75-mm mountain artillery, and one battalion of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, and the armored brigade is equipped with 75 jackal light and fast tanks.

What's more important is that 80 percent of the grassroots officers in this army are pure Whampoa blood, this is the sand that Chiang Kai-shek mixed to Zhang Xuewu back then, and now Zhang Xuewu has openly returned it to Chairman Chiang, and Chiang Kai-shek is extremely happy, so Chiang Kai-shek was not willing to use this army until the end, which also made many Whampoa generals feel aggrieved, whose troops are not elite soldiers who have been training hard for several years? Now that they are all exhausted, the recruits who can't even aim are recruits, and it won't feel good to anyone else, so it is reasonable that the First Mechanized Division can no longer retreat from Nanjing for the time being.

The Battle of Songhu Battle of the Great Wall of Flesh and Blood is indeed true, and Dachang, Luodian, etc. are even more inch-in-a-mile mountains and rivers, and the tragic situation is simply indescribable.

Compared with the historical fact that he mobilized 126 divisions in the last three months of the Pacific War, Hirohito, his military headquarters, and the staff of the General Staff Headquarters spent four years mobilizing 70 active divisions and more than 30 reserve divisions.

During the Battle of Songhu in history, he was able to mobilize six divisions in only one week, which is beyond the reach of even Switzerland, where all the people are soldiers, and the weapon reserve system of the book is not less than 17 standing divisions and regiments, but his weapon reserve is never less than 50 divisions and regiments.

In the two-month fierce battle, the predecessors and successors of the Chinese [***] people have resisted the three-dimensional offensive of himself, Zhang Xuewu also has his difficulties, Zhang Xuewu can be said to have the strongest air force in China, but it is difficult for this air force to play a big strategic role, because the Eastern Army flight division is eyeing the tiger, Zhang Xuewu's old nest Baotou industrial base needs intensive air defense, long-range interception and process anti-aircraft artillery air defense, it can be said that even if Baotou drops a bomb, its losses are Zhang Xuewu can not afford.

Now, the Nanjing National Political Axe began to debate whether Nanjing should be defended or not, and the question of who would defend it, but Zhang Xuewu could no longer do it in Chengde, Nanjing, Nanjing! Tang Shengzhi's slogan of the incompetent and talentless man shouted loudly, but whether Tang had the determination and will to live and die with Nanjing is another matter.

Tang Shengzhi is not in command of the real Whampoa lineage, and there is another point, that is, the various armies guarding Nanjing are already the remnants of the fierce battle of Songhu for more than three months, and the will to resist and morale have long been exhausted, and there are fundamental problems in Tang Shengzhi's tactics of defending Nanjing in history, no matter what, we cannot sit idly by and watch Nanjing fall again, at least evacuate all the people in the city.

Zhang Xuewu took a deep breath, and took a two-seater light bomber to fly to Nanjing that night, Zhang Xuewu had already realized that at this juncture, except for himself, no one had the courage to die in the lonely city, and after the army bypassed Xinkou, Yanmen Pass and other passes to attack Beiping, they divided their troops to attack Datong and Taiyuan, and at the same time landed in Qingdao with the 106th and 107th divisions, and the Jin army was defeated as always.

Zhang Xuewu can also see that the army attacked Shanhaiguan before but at the same time pressed the front line of Chaoyang with heavy troops and did not attack, obviously in order to contain its own mobile forces, the intention of the army is to first break through the main force of the [***] team in North China and Shanxi, and after cutting off Jingpu and Zhengtai Road, it will be put into the real attack on Rehe with a part of the troops.

On April 22, 1937, the news of Zhang Xuewu's secret arrival in Nanjing was tightly sealed by Chiang Kai-shek in the Xishan villa, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Zhang Xuewu with a bit of a big fire, in his opinion, Zhang Xuewu did not know the depth, did not know the importance of the move, and the more than 100,000 troops of the Rehe Army dared to ignore other places?

After Zhang Xuewu saw Chiang Kai-shek, he gave a military salute and said: "Report to the chairman, come here to live and die with the capital of Nanjing!" ”

Zhang Xuewu's words made Chiang Kai-shek sigh, after greeting tea, Chiang Kai-shek inquired in detail about the deployment of the Rehe Army, when he learned that even if the Kwantung Army attacked with all its might, the Rehe Army could hold out for at least a year, Chiang Kai-shek let out a long breath, this is a sharp sword buried behind his waist! There is no room for error.

However, the current Songhu war situation is not optimistic, Zhang Xuewu's memory of the Songhu battle in the [***] team held out for more than three months, but now only two months has been exposed obvious defeat, which may have a great relationship with the change of strategic deployment and troop deployment in history, the concentrated use of troops is the key to the integration of the major campaign, even if Napoleon divides the troops and uses the troops one by one, it will inevitably suffer a disastrous defeat at Waterloo.

The specific pattern of the Songhu battlefield and the fierce naval artillery fire of the Navy, so that the squadron could only be forced to use its forces one by one to repeatedly fight with the army, the stronghold was rigidly defended, and the tactics were rigid and old, and the other point was that the grassroots officers were charging forward in the spirit of Whampoa, and their deaths made the combat effectiveness of the troops sharply weakened, and even affected the morale of the entire troops.

Zhang Xuewu sat opposite Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek pointed to the map and said: "I plan to take Shanghai and Hangzhou Bay as the first line of defense, Kunshan, Wuxi, Suzhou, and Hangzhou as the second line of defense, Jiangyin and Zhenjiang as the third line of defense, and Nanjing and Beijing-Hangzhou Highway as the fourth line of defense. In addition, there are permanent fortifications of Wufu Line to rely on. ”

Zhang Xuewu took a deep breath, he didn't expect Chiang Kai-shek to have idle nonsense at this time? So he went on the fire and said: "Chairman! The places I have seen with my own eyes on the Wufu Line have no defense line at all, but there are a few small sections of the model fortifications that you inspected, the pillboxes are set on the flat ground without any cover, the angle of the shooting holes is not in the right position, and you can knock off a few pieces of concrete with your hands, which is nonsense at all! Once hundreds of thousands of troops retreat from the Songhu battlefield, the army will inevitably follow and pursue, which army will be able to break off the enemy and buy time for friendly forces? Of your four lines of defense, only Jiangyin Fortress and Zhenjiang can play a role, and the rest are probably just on paper! ”

Chiang Kai-shek didn't expect Zhang Xuewu to hit himself so definitely? His face was a little cloudy and he slapped the table and said: "This is the decision of the Supreme Military Council, and it is also the battle plan formulated by the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, how can it be useless?" Do you know how much money and materials were spent on the Wufu line? More than 90 million! It took more than three years to build. ”

Zhang Xuewu didn't buy it, but said coldly: "Then please ask the chairman to send a powerful cronies to investigate, and I came to Nanjing this time to serve as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, and I ask the chairman for permission." ”

You! You! You! Chiang Kai-shek didn't come to you for a reason, obviously he was angry enough, and it was always others who looked at him Jiang someone's face, but today he was so angry that Zhang Xuewu, who has always been well-behaved, wanted to kill Zhang Xuewu.

Song Meiling, who was outside the study, walked in in time at this moment, and smiled at Zhang Xuewu with a spring breeze on her face: "Since Xuewu is here, you might as well have a light meal and leave!" ”

Chiang Kai-shek waved his hand and puffed up: "I don't have anything to eat for him here, let him go to Hanqing to learn how to be a man in Hanqing!" ”

Zhang Xuewu smiled slightly at Song Meiling, and gave a military salute to Chiang Kai-shek, who had his back to him, and said, "President Xie and Mrs., retire from your humble position!" ”

After Zhang Xuewu left, Chiang Kai-shek looked at Song Meiling angrily, Song Meiling smiled and said: "You dislike people who tell lies, you don't have the ability to only flatter, and you don't want to see people who tell the truth. Zhang Xuewu came to Nanjing with a coffin, looking at the current situation, you know better than me, can Nanjing hold it? Is it really possible not to keep it? ”

Song Meiling's words made Chiang Kai-shek's heart numb, and he hesitated for a moment and said, "What is the reply from Ambassador Todman?" ”

Song Meiling shook her head and said, "Our reply has just passed two days, where is it so fast?" ”

Well! Chiang Kai-shek sighed slightly and said: "Zhang Xuewu is a handsome talent, the unification of the three armies can only be controlled, the most important thing is that he and Zhang Zhizhong are generally people with no ambitions, from this time he sent the elite to Nanjing in advance, and now he came alone in danger, all of which show this, he is a very pure soldier, understand the importance of sacrifice, but what I lack is such a person!" How can it be sacrificed so easily? Even if Nanjing wants to be guarded, others will guard it, and Zhang Xuewu's golden body can't be broken! At least he can't be allowed to fall into Nanjing. ”

On April 24, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, He Yingqin, Xiong Shihui, Bai Chongxi, Tang Shengzhi and others and Zhang Xuewu were also in the first row of the Supreme Military Commission of Nanjing.

Many people are very surprised by Zhang Xuewu's arrival? Under the blockade of myself, this person was able to go from Rehe to Nanjing? In fact, Zhang Xuewu's air force unit has already formed an air corridor that cuts off the flying division of the Kwantung Army, and he himself did not dare to blatantly pass through the air in order to let the plane go to Shanxi to participate in the war, and even did not hesitate to transport it by train, which shows how strong the shock brought by Gao Zhihang's Flying Tigers BF-109F fighter to the Yue Army.

In fact, there has been news in the attendant's room for a long time, the chairman named Tang Shengzhi's general, and some people said that Tang Shengzhi took the initiative to ask for help?

(To be continued)