"Wang Dexiang's ambition is not small. In the huge war room in the Supreme Command, Zhang Cheng, dressed in military uniform and wearing many medals on his chest, stood in front of the huge sand table map, raised his finger to the south of the Apennine Peninsula and said with a smile: "South of Naples and Focha, not to mention the Italian army, the Germans alone are full of 300,000 people.www.biquge.info He wants to eat a fat man in one bite this time. ”

"That's not what I said." was pulled back to the imperial capital by Zhang Cheng from the front line as the commander of the garrison, and Lu Zhiyuan, who was idle all day long, was about to go to fight birds, but he had a different opinion: "I don't deny that this battle is likely to be a great success." But the results may not be as great as imagined. ”

"What do you think?" Originally, as the commander of the imperial capital garrison, there was no need for Lu Zhiyuan to participate in such a high-level strategic research meeting. However, as Zhang Cheng's confidant, and as a father in a high position, Lu Zhiyuan naturally appeared in the most important war room of the Ming Empire. The one who just asked out loud was Lu Zhiyuan's father, the chief of the general staff of the Ming Army. The tone seemed to be inquiring, but in fact, it gave Lu Zhiyuan a chance to perform in front of many high-ranking generals. After all, Zhang Cheng called Lu Zhiyuan here, and everyone can understand that the young Lu Zhiyuan will inevitably have an unlimited future in the future.

"Tell me about it." Zhang Cheng hooked the corners of his mouth slightly, turned around and sat on the edge of the sand table, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and showed a faint smile in his eyes, "Let me hear what your speculation is about this battle." ”

"Yes, sir." Lu Zhiyuan pursed the corners of his mouth, stretched out his hand to take the baton from the hand of the combat staff officer on the side, pointed to the Apennine Peninsula in high spirits and said loudly, "The initiation node of this battle is very good, and the intelligence deception is also in place. The situation in the early stage also opened up in a very short time. The start was simply perfect, and even the capture of Focha could cut off the retreat of hundreds of thousands of German and Italian troops. But. ”

"However, the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula is not a place where soldiers die. It has a very large area and good infrastructure, with a large population and supplies. Even if they were cut off from the north, they would not be in a desperate situation anytime soon. Moreover, although we have now shown superiority on various battlefields, the hostile nations have not reached the point of exhaustion, and the morale of their armies will never collapse because they are surrounded. ”

"That is, this battle will not end easily, and the Germans will not easily surrender and give up resistance even if they are surrounded?" Zhang Cheng crossed his legs, moved his butt and sat on the sand table, looked at the edge of the road with blazing eyes, and asked out loud.

"Yes, sir." Lu Zhiyuan straightened his waist, his eyes swept over the many generals in the war room, and then spoke, "Actually, we can't completely surround those German and Italian troops. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Zhang Cheng, who was leaning on the edge of the sand table, raised his eyebrows and asked in a loud voice, "Is there any other way out for the German and Italian armies?" Swimming? ”

"Hehehe~~~" A chuckle soon sounded in the conference room. Zhang Cheng actually didn't know what Lu Zhiyuan wanted to say, he was just giving Lu Zhiyuan a chance to perform. Everyone present could see it, but no one would say it.

"Sir." Lu Zhiyuan said in a deep voice, "The power of the allies has not actually been dealt a big blow, after all, after the start of the war, it is the Japanese and the Russians who have paid a heavy price. For example, the strength of Germany, France, Britain and the United States is actually still very good. To the south of the Apennine Peninsula and to the east of the Adriatic Sea is the Balkans. Even if the encircled German and Italian forces were unable to break north, they could choose to cross the sea east and cross the narrow Adriatic Sea to reach the Balkans. Not to mention the fact that the Germans had a strong air force and a strong transport capacity. Even if you can't bring your equipment with you, you can still transport a lot of people by air. ”

Because of the wealth and industrial capacity of the Ming Dynasty, the generals of the Ming Dynasty first considered the personnel of the army, not the equipment. After all, as long as you apply for equipment, it usually won't take long to be delivered. But the personnel can only wait for the unified replenishment.

It may only take a few days and a few minerals to make a piece of equipment. But the energy, time, and materials required for an adult man from birth to eighteen years old cannot be counted by numbers. Especially after Zhang Cheng took power, the Ming army has always only attached importance to people, and it doesn't care too much about equipment or anything. Moreover, when they commented on their exploits, they first looked at how many enemy personnel were killed or wounded, and then looked at the equipment destroyed.

"The Navy and Army Aviation will not watch the Germans withdraw their troops, will they?" Zhang Cheng smiled and took out a cigarette and lit it, looked at the generals of the navy and army not far away, and asked loudly.

"The Mediterranean Fleet is fully operational, and both the Adriatic Sea and the Italian coast will be tightly sealed."

"The Army Aviation will always control the entire Italian sky, and will never let any German transport aircraft calmly transport the troops away."

"That's what I said." Lu Zhiyuan shook his head and said, "But the Adriatic Sea is so narrow, if the Germans cover the retreat with strong air forces during the day, regardless of casualties, will the navy dare to fight with battleships to block it?" In the face of a large number of bombers from the Germans, how much loss did the Mediterranean Fleet have? ”

After a pause, Lu Zhiyuan then looked at the generals of the Army Aviation, "The German air force is very strong, and they are fighting on their own soil. Once they had drawn large numbers of elite forces from their homeland into northern Italy and the Balkans, even the French and Americans came out of Sardinia, Corsica and southern France to cover them. Can the escort guarantee its complete air supremacy? ”

"And what do you think?" Seeing the people of the Navy and the Army Aviation bowing their heads and thinking, Zhang Cheng hooked the corners of his mouth, looked at Lu Zhiyuan with interest and asked, "Or, do you have any good suggestions for the next battle?" ”

The Ming Army lasted for hundreds of years. As a powerful tool of the Ming Empire to rule the world, the Ming Army has a large number of interests in the world. Whether it's the huge annual military spending or the various benefits collected from everywhere. The Ming Army is undoubtedly a very wealthy man. They have a lot of sources of income.

With interests, there is naturally contention. Not just within the Army, from the royal family to the consortium. Numerous forces are reaching out to the Army. And the size of the army is so large and so numerous. The various interest factions and mountains within it are simply a United Nations.

In this case, it is not a simple matter for whoever wants to come out and want more rights and benefits. Even if he has a deep background, it is very difficult to go further with such a big mountain as his father on the edge of the road. The further you go, the narrower the road becomes. But the number of people vying for it has not decreased in the slightest, and there will be even more.

In the hundreds of years of the Ming Dynasty, except for Zhang Cheng who took advantage of the situation, no one has been able to ascend to the sky in one step. If you want to climb up, in addition to your own outstanding ability, you also need someone to take care of you.

It is clear that the edge of the road has received great care. It's not just his father, the care that his father can give him has come to an end after Lu Zhiyuan became the commander of the imperial capital garrison. Next, it is necessary to have a person of Zhang Cheng's level to take care of it, so that it is possible to go further.

Zhang Cheng gave way to put forward strategic proposals at such an important high-level meeting at this moment, and this kind of care is clear to everyone present. Many people looked at Lu Zhiyuan with envy in their hearts, and they knew that this young man who was a classmate of Zhang Cheng was about to soar. The Lu family will soon become the top family of the Ming Dynasty. Many people began to wonder if they should visit Lu's house recently.

Lu Zhiyuan didn't think so much, he stood next to the sand table and shouted: "Now there are actually many troops in the Southern European Theater of Operations, which are deployed in Sicily and North Africa, waiting to be sent to the Apennine Peninsula. However, the port of Salerno has limited capacity and Naples has not yet been captured. These troops are now just being wasted there. The Germans were not fools, and they had already seen that their troops in the southern Apennines were in crisis, and perhaps they were already beginning to carry out a large-scale retreat. ”

"Really?" Zhang Cheng's question was not about the edge of the road, but standing near the edge, he didn't speak much after the meeting, and he was low-key like Wang Yan, who was invisible. Wang Yan is in charge of the foreign military intelligence department.

"Yes." Feeling Zhang Cheng's gaze, Wang Yan nodded vigorously, "According to the latest intelligence, a large number of German troops are gathering and moving. The moving locations are Focha, Taranto, Brindisi, Bari, etc. Some German troops had already moved north from Focha, or boarded ships through the ports to northern Italy or to Vlora and Durrës in the Balkans. ”

"Oh." Zhang Cheng nodded, and his gaze turned to the edge of the road, "You continue." ”

"Yes." Lu Zhiyuan pointed to Sicily in the sand table with the baton in his hand, and said in a deep voice: "I suggest that troops be dispatched immediately to land in Messina, Taranto, and Brindisi. Thus cutting off the retreat channel of the German and Italian armies. Even if they choose to retreat by air, they should be cut off from escaping by sea and land. And doing so would speed up the campaign, because the Allies would not be able to see us gain a foothold in Italy, and thus burn the flames of war to Western Europe, which was relatively relatively peaceful. ”

"Hmm." Zhang Cheng snuffed out his cigarette, leaned over to look at the huge sand table in front of him, and after a moment of deep silence, he raised his gaze to look at the Chief of Staff of the Army, "You guys hurry up and discuss the feasibility of his proposal." If it is useful, come up with a battle plan as soon as possible and implement it. Hurry up, every minute counts now. ”

"Yes."

"Alright, that's all for today, adjourn." Zhang Cheng waved his hand to end the meeting. Turning to look at the edge of the road and Wang Yan not far away, "You come with me." (To be continued.) )