Wuhan, War Room of the General Staff.

It's past midnight, but the lights are still bright in the war room.

General He was pointing to the map to introduce the front-line battle situation to Chairman Chiang: "At present, the 26 divisions of the Wuhan Garrison Theater and the 46 divisions of the 1st and 5th theaters have built two solid defense lines in the area of Xiaogan, Macheng, and Tiantianzhai, and have basically blocked the offensive of the southward cluster of the Yue Army. ”

Chairman Jiang nodded, and said, "What about Xue Yue's corps?" ”

General He was silent, the prospects of Xue Yue's corps were not optimistic.

Although the Xue Yue Corps has nearly 200,000 people in more than a dozen elite divisions, there are more than a dozen field divisions and more than 300,000 troops besieging them, as well as the aviation regiments of the two major strategic front armies in North China and Central China, as well as three field heavy artillery brigades.

In the final analysis, [***]'s equipment is still too different from that of the army.

The equipment of the Xue Yue Corps is already good in the middle of [***], but the entire corps can't get together an artillery battalion, and there are not even a few domestic-made mortars, the Makqin heavy machine gun is very good, but each battalion is only equipped with two, and the Czech light machine gun is also an excellent infantry suppression firepower, but each company is only two!

With such a firepower allocation, how can the infantry of the Yue Army be suppressed?

Xue Yue's corps is at a disadvantage in terms of strength, the difference in firepower configuration is even greater, and the terrain near Dengfeng and Xinmi is very suitable for the movement of mechanized equipment such as tanks and armored vehicles of the Yue army.

Up to now, Xue Yue's corps has held out for seven days!

Chairman Jiang said with a bitter face: "How many days can Xue Yue's corps hold out?" ”

"It's hard to say." Admiral He shook his head and said gloomily, "Maybe three days, maybe five days." ”

"Let's break through." Chairman Jiang suddenly said to General He, "Send a report to Xue Yue immediately and let him lead his troops to break through!" ”

Chairman Jiang really can't afford to wait, the Xue Yue Corps is not only the directly subordinate corps of the Military Commission, but also the last trump card in his hands, if even the Xue Yue Corps is exhausted, then he Jiang will really become the commander of the light pole, and when the time comes, even if he wins the War of Resistance and drives away Xiao Yueben, what else will he use to suppress the major local warlords?

"Breakout?" Admiral He shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Commission, I'm afraid it's too late." ”

Admiral He's words are not nonsense, Xue Yue's corps is indeed too late to break through now.

The battle has been fought so far, the officers and soldiers of Xue Yue's corps have been close to the limit both mentally and physically, and they are now holding on with all their strength, and now they are ordered to break through, and the officers and soldiers are vented this breath, it is really a leak, and the entire corps should be defeated like a mountain, and even the gods will not be able to suppress it at that time.

"And ......," Admiral He said, and added, "I'm afraid Xue Yue won't lead his troops to break through." ”

"Xue Yue, he will definitely not lead his troops to break through." Deputy Chief Bai suddenly interjected, "Although the situation faced by the directly subordinate corps was dangerous, it was not without a chance to break through, and it was no problem to highlight at least half of the troops, but Xue Boling did not do this, but instead led his troops to turn around and go north, directly to Zhengzhou!" What is he doing this for? ”

The eyes of Chairman Chiang and all the senior generals immediately focused on Deputy General Bai.

Deputy Chief Bai sighed and said abruptly: "Because Xue Yue knew very well that the situation at that time was very dangerous, if the directly subordinate corps continued to retreat south, the twenty field divisions of the army would be pressed on a large scale, then our army would definitely not be able to hold the Jianghan defense line, the battle of Wuhan would be defeated, and the two lakes would also fall, so we would all have to be slaves to the country!" ”

"yes." Admiral Li nodded, and said with some emotion, "Xue Yue, with the strength of just one corps, has contained more than a dozen field divisions of the Yue Army, which has won time for the redeployment of the Wuhan Garrison Theater, the First Theater and the Third Theater, and has made the Baoshan Division's action of attacking Shimen and cutting off the Pinghan Line of great strategic significance!" ”

As he spoke, General Li's expression suddenly became excited, and he clenched his fists and continued: "Now, as long as Xue Yue's corps holds out for another five days, as long as the Baoshan division can hold out in Shimen for another week, the heavy army group of the Yue army gathered on the battlefield in Wuhan will fall into the predicament of running out of ammunition and food, and this battle will be won!" ”

Chairman Chiang's face sank like water and he was silent.

In fact, General Li and the others all know that Chairman Jiang just can't accept the sacrifice of Xue Yue's corps emotionally, and if it is the Sichuan army, the Gui army, the Guangdong army, or forty or fifty new divisions, it is said that sacrifice is sacrifice, and Chairman Chiang will never frown, but Xue Yue's corps can't.

"I'm tired, I'll go back first." Chairman Chiang suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

With that, Chairman Chiang left the war room accompanied by Wang Shihe, the chief of the state guard.

Chairman Jiang's departure made the senior generals in the war room let go all of a sudden, and immediately began to argue fiercely about the current situation, Chen Cheng, commander-in-chief of the Wuhan Garrison Theater, said: "In my opinion, the Xue Yue Corps can hold out for at least half a month, but the Baoshan Division will definitely not last for three days!" ”

"Chief Chen!" Deputy Chief Bai said coldly, "I'm afraid this is a bit absolute, right?" ”

"Not necessarily." Chen Cheng said coldly, "The reason why I dare to make this assertion is that there are two reasons!" ”

Admiral He had always admired Yue Weihan very much, and he was also a little annoyed at the moment, and said coldly: "Listen up!" ”

Chen Cheng pursed his lips and said: "One is the strength of troops, although the Baoshan Division in Xuzhou has played a beautiful trick to hide from the sky and the sea, but in the end, the troops that can break through will not exceed six or seven thousand people at most, and after breaking through, they have experienced the battles of Lunan, Qinghe and Shi (Men) Zheng (Ding), how much is left now?" ”

Many senior generals present nodded one after another, and Chen Cheng's analysis was reasonable.

Chen Cheng said again: "The Baoshan Division is now three or four thousand people, but the one who will attack Shimen is the Yue Army, but there are three divisions of nearly 100,000 people, two of which are still the most elite permanent divisions, the difference in strength is so great, and the Yue Army still has strong mechanized equipment and aviation regiment support, how can this battle be fought?" ”

After saying this, Chen Cheng said again: "The second is ammunition, the Baoshan Division is far away from the battlefield behind the enemy, and it can't get any ammunition supply from the rear at all, Lunan, Qinghe and Shi Zheng have fought these battles, and the ammunition carried by Xuzhou when breaking through should almost be exhausted, and then I'm afraid I can only fight with Xiao Yueben with bayonets, right?" ”

Admiral He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to refute, but he didn't know how to refute.

Deputy Chief Bai shook his head and said disdainfully: "When I was a child, I was familiar with each other, and there is such a sentence in the text, the bird's nest knows the ambition of the pelican, I have never understood what this means?" But today I finally understand that there are some people who only know how to sit in the well and watch the sky, self-righteousness, and never know how others fight. ”

"You ......," Chen Cheng said angrily, "Bai Chongqi, what do you mean by this?" ”

Deputy Chief Bai didn't bother to pay attention to Chen Cheng anymore, and walked to the side with Admiral Li to drink tea.

When Chen Cheng was about to catch up with the theory, a colonel staff officer walked into the war room with an excited expression, saluted Admiral He with a military salute, and said almost in a roaring volume: "General seat, good news ahead, Baoshan Division has achieved an unprecedented victory at Niangzi Pass, severely damaged the 20th Division of the Yue Army, killed and wounded more than 20,000 people, and captured nearly 10,000 people!" ”

Dead silence, the entire war room suddenly became a dead silence, so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

After a long time, the high-ranking generals present came to their senses one after another, and they rushed to read the telegram again.

Wuhan garrison commander Chen Cheng was left out in the cold, at this moment, General Chen's face was as embarrassed as he was, he just said that the Baoshan Division could not last for three days, and as a result, the Baoshan Division achieved an unprecedented victory at Niangzi Pass, and it was the 20th Division of the Yue Army that was hit hard, this is a complete permanent division!

Master Baoshan's slap was hard enough, and Chen Cheng's face was lost.

Not far away, Deputy Chief Bai and General Li also held teacups for a long time and couldn't come back to their senses.

Deputy Chief Bai thought that he already had a high opinion of Yue Weihan and the Baoshan Division, but he really never thought that the Baoshan Division would be able to achieve such brilliant results, this guy, a guy killed and injured more than 20,000 people and captured nearly 10,000 people! The entire 20th Division is only more than 36,000 people, right? Now it's almost completely annihilated!

"Smack!" Admiral He clapped his fists fiercely, and then turned around and walked away.

With such a major success, of course, Admiral He had to report it to Chairman Chiang as soon as possible!

…………

The northern suburbs of Zhengzhou, on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Although it was late at night, the banks of the Yellow River were still brightly lit!

Two large pontoon bridges have already penetrated the north and south banks, and the combat vehicles, armored vehicles, trucks, infantry, field artillery, and other large equipment of the 6th and 13th divisions of the Chinese army are rumbling along the not wide bridge deck to the north bank.

On the river beach not far away, stood the gloomy Lieutenant General Tada.

Tada Jun is now in a very bad mood, because the Yellow River is too wide, he thought that the pontoon bridge that could be erected in three days, but it actually took six full days to erect, and it took a whole day to transport all the infantry of the two divisions to the north bank, and when all the heavy equipment crossed the river, I am afraid that it will be dark tomorrow!

It's been seven days, and the fifteen-day period has passed a full seven days!

If they want to capture Shimen and Zhengding in the remaining eight days, and reopen the Pinghan line, the 6th and 13th Divisions will definitely not be able to count on it, and Tada Jun can only hope for the 20th Division now! Before dark, Kawagishi Bunzaburo had just sent a telegram that the 20th Division had encountered the Takuyama Division, but he didn't know what was going on now?

Tada Jun was thinking about it, and a staff officer of Shaozuo hurriedly came to him, and suddenly retracted his feet and stood upright: "General, the North China Front has just transferred an emergency battle report, the 20th Division was heavily damaged by the Chinese Army at Niangzi Pass, nearly 30,000 people in the headquarters of the 39th Infantry Brigade and the 20th Division were collectively shattered, and the 40th Infantry Brigade was out of the encirclement!" ”

(To be continued)