Myitkyina.

When Yue Weihan arrived at the Myitkyina airport, Division Commander Sun Liren was already waiting there with more than a dozen officers of the new 38th Division, and to Yue Weihan's surprise, General Stilwell was actually there, and the old American man hurried and finally flew back to Myitkyina before Yue Weihan.

"Yue, you can't go to Mandalay!" Stilwell waved his hands and said excitedly, "God, this is too risky, this is crazy, your duty is the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, you should sit in the rear and command the battle, not go to the front line and lead the soldiers to battle like a junior officer!" ”

Yue Weihan said indifferently: "General Stilwell, I don't know if you have heard a sentence?" ”

Stilwell frowned and asked, "What's that?" ”

"These words were said by General Hao Mengling before participating in the Battle of Taiyuan!" Yue Weihan looked at the northern country from afar, and said in a low tone, "Before the war, in order to boost morale, General Hao Mengling told his officers that he would have the heart of death, and the soldiers would not be greedy for life!" After speaking, General Hao Mengling personally led the death squad to launch a decisive charge, and then sacrificed his life for the country. ”

Stilwell was shocked and moved: "Yue, this is really a respectable Chinese [***] person!" ”

"General Stilwell, some of us are more courageous than you think, and in terms of courage, we will never lose to anyone, especially to myself!" Yue Weihan said to Stilwell sincerely, "However, there is still such a saying in our China, which is called "upward and downward effect", if the official is greedy for life and afraid of death, then the soldier will quickly lose his fighting spirit!" ”

"Yue, what exactly do you want to say?" Stilwell said, "If you insist on going to ......"

Yue Weihan waved his hand and interrupted Stilwell: "General Stilwell, I bet with you that if I change my mind and cancel the trip now, then tonight, Mandalay will definitely be lost!" The officers and men of the Sixth are now holding on to their breath, and if I don't get to Mandalay before dark, they will immediately be discouraged and will be in a state of collapse......"

“no！ no！ Stilwell stubbornly shook his head and said, "No matter how many reasons you have, I will not agree, if you insist on going, I will have to order you, in my capacity as chief of the general staff of the China-Burma-India theater, to cancel this trip, and I will be responsible for all the consequences arising therefrom, including the loss of Mandalay and the defeat of the Sixth Army." ”

Yue Weihan could only smile bitterly, he knew that Stilwell was stubborn, but he didn't expect the old American man to be so stubborn, it seemed that if he didn't tell him the truth, this old American man would never agree to him flying to Mandalay, and if this kind of dispute continued, the old man would probably order the military police at the airport to forcibly control him.

Over there, Stilwell was still chattering: "Yue, please be sensible, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has inflicted heavy losses on the 33rd and 18th elite divisions of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in a series of active offensives launched before, and the war situation in Burma has been greatly improved. ”

"Yes, Chief, Mandalay is not actually worth defending by the Sixth Army!" Commander Sun Liren also advised, "It is true that Mandalay is the rail, highway and waterway transportation hub in central Myanmar, but even if we hold it, we still can't open up the sea communication line, and in the same way, even if we lose it, we still have the opportunity to build the China-India highway." ”

Regarding the inside story of the Sixth Army's defense of Mandalay, including Sun Liren, almost no one in the entire expeditionary force is clear.

At the beginning, Yue Weihan's intention seemed to be to cut off the retreat of the Yue army and capture the four divisions of the Yue army in northern Burma, but Iida Shojiro, an old devil, played a good show of a strong man breaking his wrist, and at the expense of the 18th Division, he ordered the 55th and 56th divisions to quickly shrink and retreat, so that Yue Weihan's tactical intention was completely defeated.

Due to the timely response of the army, if the Sixth Army continues to move south, it will be a sheep in the mouth of the tiger!

At this time, as long as the Sixth Army stopped moving south and was stationed on the spot, the war situation in Burma would evolve into a temporary stalemate between the Chinese and Chinese armies with Mandalay as the dividing line.

If someone else is the commander of the expeditionary force, he will definitely order the Sixth Army to stop moving south and stay on the spot.

However, what is puzzling is that Yue Weihan did not adjust the previous deployment, and as a result, although the Sixth Army easily captured Mandalay, it was also surrounded by the 55th and 56th Divisions of the Yue Army, and even worse, due to the obstruction of the Irrawaddy River, although the Fifth Army arrived quickly, it was unable to cross the river for reinforcements!

In this battle, Yue Weihan seemed to be suspected of being slow to react, which was also the main reason for the resentment of the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army.

Sun Liren, Dai Anlan, Liao Yaoxiang and others also didn't understand, but in view of Yue Weihan's previous brilliant achievements, they always thought that Yue Weihan's move was likely to have other deep meanings, so they all endured and did not publicly question Yue Weihan's decision, but now, Sun Liren finally openly raised his doubts to Yue Weihan.

Faced with Sun Liren's doubts, Yue Weihan did not explain.

In fact, Yue Weihan does have other plans, and the plans are big!

For the sake of secrecy, Yue Weihan did not tell anyone about this plot.

But now, it seems that it is impossible not to tell Stilwell, the old American man, and Stilwell is still worth believing, and at that moment Yue Weihan said to Stilwell: "General Stilwell, can you take a step to speak?" ”

Yue Weihan took Stilwell to the corner of the airport, and then told him exactly what he had in mind.

After a full meal, Yue Weihan and Stilwell returned to the tarmac, Sun Liren and other senior generals clearly saw that General Stilwell's face still had a look of shock, perhaps Yue Weihan's words shocked him too much, until now, he has not recovered from the conversation just now.

Yue Weihan and Stilwell gave an American-style hug and immediately boarded the transport plane.

This time, Stilwell didn't stop Yue Weihan again, he just kept whispering in his mouth: "It's crazy, it's crazy, gambler, this guy is a crazy gambler!" ”

………… Yunnan, Kunming City.

On the Sichuan-Yunnan Highway, a huge convoy is slowly moving towards Kunming City.

This morning, the entire Kunming City was empty, and the Baoshan Division came! The 39th Army is coming! The elite of China's most capable trump card has arrived in Kunming! Students, merchants, peddlers, pawns, political officials, whatever they did, all threw away their livelihoods, and people rushed to tell each other and go out of the city to welcome them.

The enthusiasm of the people of Kunming is beyond imagination, because the 39th Group Army is a legendary heroic unit!

Since the Songhu battlefield was born, this army has never suffered a defeat, and the army troops that were wiped out by this heroic army are unknown! This era needs heroes, the suffering Chinese people need heroes, and the Chinese nation, which has been sunk for a hundred years, needs heroes even more, and now, heroes are finally here!

The old ladies excitedly took out hard-boiled eggs and chased the truck into the hands of the officers and soldiers.

The old men held high the wine jar and warmly greeted the soldiers on the truck: "Boss, can you take a sip?" ”

The boys followed the truck all the way, shouting vigorously: "Take me away, take me away......"

The students of Kunming Girls' High School, Girls' School and Female Teachers actually came, they flew with youthful braids, boldly chased the convoy of Baoshan Division, and threw the love letters folded into paper cranes to the car, while shouting with red faces: "No matter who you are, don't forget to write to me when you get to Myanmar, and when I graduate, I will definitely go to Myanmar to find you......"

Surrounded by the enthusiastic people of Kunming, the convoy slowly drove into the urban area of Kunming at a speed of ten miles per hour.

The jeep of Colonel Du Xuewen, commander of the 1st Regiment of the Baoshan Division, finally drove out of the crowded crowd, and the jeep of Lieutenant Colonel Li Jiuding, the chief of staff, suddenly caught up. ”

"The main seat is in a hurry?" Du Xuewen's heart jumped, and he said urgently, "Read!" ”

Li Jiuding immediately opened the telegram and read: "The 1st Regiment of the Baoshan Division: I hereby order your unit to immediately divert to Wujiaba Airport and take a US Air Force transport plane to the Ramgarh base in India. This order, Yue Weihan, November 15, 30 years of the Republic of China! ”

"To Ramgarh, India?" Du Xuewen frowned and said, "Why isn't it Myanmar?" ”

Li Jiuding could only shake his head, the senior officers of the 39th Group Army were no strangers to the battle situation in Burma, because during the march, the headquarters of the 39th Group Army would report the battle situation to the radio stations of all divisions and regiments every day, and all the senior officers of the group army knew about the situation in Mandalay and Yue Weihan's decision.

The situation in Mandalay is so dangerous, and Yue Weihan is about to put himself in danger, it stands to reason that the Bao 1 Regiment, which rushed to Kunming first, should urgently fly Mandalay, why should it go to the Ramgarh base in India instead? Could it be that the returning US Air Force transport plane is unwilling to fly hundreds of kilometers more and detour through Mandalay? That doesn't seem like a stretch, does it?

"Forget it, I don't want to." After a long time, Du Xuewen said depressedly, "Order, go to Wujiaba Airport!" ”

………… Mandalay Airport.

The DC-3 transport plane in which Yue Weihan was riding landed steadily on the runway.

When Yue Weihan walked out of the cabin with his guards, Peng Bisheng, Lu Guoshui, Chen Mianyue and other senior officers were already waiting on the runway to meet Yue Weihan, and Master Peng Bisheng and others stood up one after another and saluted Yue Weihan with a standard military salute, although they did not understand Yue Weihan's tactical intentions, it did not affect their respect for Yue Weihan!

In any case, Yue Weihan dared to fly to Mandalay at this time to live and die with all the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army, this courage alone was enough to make the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army admire, before today, Commander Peng Bisheng really didn't take Yue Weihan very seriously, but now, he had to look at Yue Weihan differently.

Regardless of anything else, Yue Weihan's mind of serving the country and the people regardless of personal life and death is enough to move the heavens and the earth!

Yue Weihan is listed as a general of the party-state, he is in a high position, and he is not greedy for his life, so what reason do the officers and soldiers of their Sixth Army have to complain? What I didn't say, it's worth it even if the whole army fights for light!

Yue Weihan returned the salute and shook hands with Master Peng Bisheng and others one by one.

From the eyes of Peng Bisheng and others, Yue Weihan saw undisguised respect, Yue Weihan knew that his decision had inadvertently won the approval of all the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army, and to put it mildly, that is, Yue Weihan had initially obtained the allegiance of the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army, and in the Sixth Army, Yue Weihan should be able to prohibit it.

Raising his wrist to look at the time, it was only two o'clock in the afternoon, and there were still at least three hours before the army attacked, and at that moment Yue Weihan said to Division Commander Peng Bisheng: "Immediately gather all officers above the battalion commander level to hold an emergency combat meeting at the headquarters of the 49th Division, now, it's time to let the brothers know my tactical intentions!" ”

………… Yangon, the headquarters of the 15th Army Corps.

In the war room, Iida Shojiro was standing in front of the sand table with his hands behind his back and pondering, and Major General Haruki Isayama, chief of staff of the 15th Army Corps, bowed slightly and stood behind Iida Shojiro with a gloomy expression.

It has been 11 days since the 55th and 56th Divisions besieged Mandalay.

The officers and men of the Sixth Army are close to the limit both mentally and physically, but the officers and men are also exhausted.

Shojiro Iida had already realized that it was a bit abnormal for the Sixth Army to hold Mandalay, but he really couldn't think of what tricks Yue Weihan could play?

Using the Sixth Army as bait to lure and annihilate the 55th and 56th Divisions under the city of Mandalay? This is simply wishful thinking.

Not to mention that the Guards Division has already landed in Rangoon, and the 31st Division will soon enter Burma, even without these two divisions as backup, it is impossible for the Chinese Expeditionary Force to annihilate the 55th and 56th Divisions? The Fifth Army was already a tired division, and it could not cross the Irrawaddy River at all, and the 39th Army was still far away in Yunnan.

When the pontoon bridge over the Irrawaddy River is erected, and when the 39th Army enters Burma, the Sixth Army will be finished long ago!

Although the 55th and 56th Divisions of the Chinese Army are exhausted, compared with the Sixth Army, the superiority in strength is becoming greater and greater, and the ratio of strength between the two sides has evolved from 2:1 ten days ago to 4:1 now.

When Iida Shojiro was frowning and pondering, a young man suddenly strode in, and immediately gathered his feet and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, the Southern Organ is in an emergency, Yue Weihan, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, has flown to Mandalay at 2 o'clock in the afternoon today!" ”

(To be continued)