"Let's go!" With a crisp sound, coffee cups fell on the table and scattered all over the table.

In the lounge of the Prime Minister's House in Downing Street, Baldwin looked at the telegram in his hand, stunned, as if he didn't even notice that the coffee had fallen, and said unconsciously in his mouth: "How is this possible? An army of 500,000 is so defeated? ”

Churchill sighed deeply, he had brought this telegram, and when he first received the news, his inner shock was also indescribable. In less than a day, the long main position of Assam, which is tens of kilometers long, and hundreds of thousands of troops were actually defeated in one day.

Churchill said: "Your Excellency, I was like you at the beginning, but I have repeatedly confirmed the news, and the fact is that the Chinese are far more powerful than we imagined." ”

Baldwin trembled slightly: "If this news is true, you are really terrible. According to the news, even if there is time to collect the defeated troops, I think the remaining troops will not exceed 100,000, and the 500,000 army is the result, not to mention the 100,000 remnants of the defeated generals? Isn't that the gate of our India?"

The British Empire trained millions of Anglo-Indian troops in India, almost all of which the British could mobilize in India. The defeat of this million-strong army means that India is almost defenseless in a short time, and China's army can gallop freely in what they regard as the "jewel in the crown of the British Queen". The war broke out so suddenly, the British Empire was not even able to mobilize troops from other places for reinforcements, and it also took time to transfer troops, the time for troops to assemble, the time to transport troops, and so on.

Churchill said seriously: "This is already a situation that cannot be changed. ”

Baldwin shook his head and said, "No, it's not that there is no way. As long as General Dannat of the Anglo-Burmese Army can lead his troops to capture Myitkyina and hold on, it will be tantamount to cutting off the supply line of the Chinese First Route Army, and it is impossible for the Chinese First Route Army, which has just experienced a major war, to advance rapidly in the direction of India without sufficient supplies. ”

Churchill was taken aback and said, "Capture Myitkyina? Still holding on? Wouldn't they be surrounded by Chinese? This is to send them to death. ”

Baldwin sneered and said, "Aren't they in the encirclement of the Chinese now?" ”

Churchill was speechless for a moment, and although they did not have a map now, he could fully imagine the situation of the Anglo-Burmese army. The rout of Assam, the whole region fell into the hands of the Chinese, this is already blocking the way for the retreat of the Anglo-Burmese army, isn't it precisely in the heavy encirclement of the [***] team? But the truth is one thing, but the order is another, if you really give this order, what is the difference between ordering the British and Burmese troops to die?

Churchill said helplessly: "Then you can't let them keep it indefinitely, right?" ”

Baldwin said in a deep voice, "A month." As long as they can hold out for a month, India's security will be strongly guaranteed. ”

Churchill looked at Baldwin incredulously, it has not been a month since the outbreak of this great war in the Far East, nearly two million Western troops have been defeated, and now he actually asks the Anglo-Burmese army, which has just broken out of the encirclement, to hold out in Myitkyina for a month? Isn't that too much to ask?

In the command hall of China's Nanjing Ministry of National Defense, Li Bufan, Duan Qirui, Xu Shuzheng, and others all stared at the sand table.

"Boss, you're too good, the armored assault is really powerful." The arrogant voice of Wu's enemy army division continued to sound, originally he was already busy with economic matters, and as a traverser, he could still give some ideas, but when he heard about the battle in Assam, he immediately ran back. The huge victory made him so excited that his face was full of red. How this armored assault proposal was given by him, and the victory of this battle is also due to him.

Li Bufan smiled: "It's really unexpected. A huge victory, and most importantly, our casualties were far lower than expected. ”

"Of course." Wu Di said proudly, "The armored assault tactics are irresistible in the plains. What do you think? Boss, did you just let the First Army smash the Yellow Dragon, kill into the hinterland of India, and stomp on the crown of the British Empress a few times? ”

Li Bufan laughed and said: "Of course I want to, but now I can't." Dannat, the commander of the Anglo-Burmese army, is not a simple fellow, this old thing can actually seize our weak points, break out of the Mandalay encirclement, and directly attack our weak positions, has strategic vision, and is ruthless, it is not easy to deal with. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't expect the armored cluster tactics to be so powerful, and that the British army would lose so quickly on the battlefield of Assam, the situation would have been completely different. ”

Wu Enemy's Great Army Division smiled dryly: "Let him think of it, then what else am I mixed with Wu Enemy's Great Army Division?" This is called a magic height of one foot and a height of one foot. Since this old boy is so troublesome, isn't he in our encirclement? Won't you kill him? ”

The sand table shows that the position of the Anglo-Burmese army is northwest of Mandalay, from Mandalay to the periphery of Myitkyina, which is nearly 300 kilometers. On the periphery of the Anglo-Burmese army, the Chinese Second Route Army gradually gathered troops from the south to encircle and go up, the northern Banmao with the Kunming garrison division in the defense, Myitkyina 47th Army has arrived, the northern defense line still seems loose and weak, there are huge areas of undeveloped tropical rainforest on both sides of the east and west, these tropical rainforests are also called "green killers" even in later generations, if the British and Burmese troops go in, it is difficult to say if they can come out of a few, maybe it is called the reproduction of the retreat of the Chinese expeditionary force in the Savage Mountain in history.

Duan Qirui said at this moment: "The Anglo-Burmese army may retreat west, right?" ”

Li Bufan thought for a while and said, "If it were me, I would never do this?" ”

Xu Shuzheng was surprised: "Not to the west, is it still to the east?" ”

Li Bufan said lightly: "If it were me, I would go north, capture Myitkyina and hold on, and buy time for the British to deploy troops to defend India." The reason why I think so is because the Anglo-Burmese army, except for the officers and a small number of important troops, the soldiers are almost made up of Indians, and the Indians in the British concept of white supremacy, no matter how many people die, because they are cannon fodder in the first place. When the Indians were almost dead and the war could not continue, they could surrender according to Western military regulations. And even if they surrender, they are heroes because they bought time for India. ”

"Won't it?" Wu Di's eyes widened, he was not clear about some Western military regulations in this era, and he felt incredible.

Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng glanced at each other with a wry smile, they had both studied in Germany, and they were very clear about Western military regulations, and they also understood that this possibility was actually extremely high. At least they were sure that the British would never let the Anglo-Burmese army surrender, and the British would never do this kind of waste of resources. On the contrary, if the Anglo-Burmese army is a purely white army, the likely surname of surrender will be much higher.

Li Bufan sighed and said: "Li Huashan, order Banmao's Kunming garrison division to retreat in the direction of Myitkyina, cooperate with the 47th Army to hold Myitkyina, and take Liu Cunhou, the commander of the 47th Army, as the commander-in-chief of the Myitkyina front. In addition, he telegraphed Liu Cunhou to meet all his needs, but Myitkyina was there, and he was there. ”

Duan Qirui, Xu Shuzheng, and Wu Di all looked at Li Bufan in shock

A long convoy of cars drove into Myitkyina, which had a highway connecting China's Baoshan Mountains, and when Li Bufan and Wu planned a plan to fight southward, there was a plan for a railway and a highway to connect Myitkyina, and the highway was completely open, and the railway was still under construction.

The reinforcements of the first division of the 47th Army arrived in time to hold Myitkyina, and as the two sides rested, the Myitkyina defense line gradually stabilized, and the follow-up troops of the 47th Army gradually arrived, and Liu Cunhou and other senior generals of the 47th Army naturally came to Myitkyina by car.

Before Liu Cunhou and the others had not yet heated up their butts at the headquarters, the telegram from the Nanjing Ministry of Defense arrived.

Liu Cunhou read the contents of the telegram, his hands trembled, as if this telegram had a thousand weights, he felt like a monkey staring at the Five Elements Mountain, and the huge pressure made him almost unable to breathe and move.

What is Myitkyina, he is there?

What if Myitkyina is gone? That him

Although Liu Cunhou is an old-style soldier, he can get into a high position in officialdom, so he is naturally not a fool. He knew very well that after receiving this telegram, his fate had been closely linked to Myitkyina, and at the same time, Li Bufan would directly give such an order, and there was no doubt that the British and Burmese troops would launch an unprecedented fierce and crazy attack on Myitkyina.

Hold Myitkyina, he is born; If you can't hold it, die.

This order did not give him any choice, even if he wanted to abandon his official position and run away, the Wehrmacht would never allow such an act to undermine the morale of his own army, although he was the commander of the 47th Army, but as long as he dared to do so, he would not be able to leave the gate of the headquarters.

Liu Cunhou rang for a while, gritted his teeth and raised the telegram in his hand and said: "This is an order issued by the commander-in-chief himself, everyone take a look." ”

The telegram spread all over the senior officers of the 47th Army, and when everyone read it, their faces were ugly, except for some of Li Bufan's "descendants" whose faces were almost always the same.

Wang Mingzhang got up and said: "Military seat, the Anglo-Burmese army is just a group of defeated soldiers who desperately broke out of the Mandalay encirclement, and a group of lost dogs. Our Sichuan army has no other skills, but the ability to fight dogs is absolutely first-class! ”

Liu Cunhou glanced at Wang Mingzhang deeply, he knew that Wang Mingzhang, who was originally just a small company commander, was promoted by the Ministry of National Defense to enter the Nanjing Military Academy for further study, and was quickly promoted to battalion commander after returning, but he studied again in half a year, and then was promoted to regiment commander.

Liu Cunhou nodded and said, "Well said, boost morale!" Then his face sank and he said, "Everyone has read the telegram of the commander-in-chief. ”

The high-level faces of the 47th Army looked at each other, and only those "descendants" were still expressionless.

"Mizhi is the place where my Liu Cunhou died, the military order is like a mountain, my old Liu has no way to retreat, brothers don't blame Lao Tzu for being ruthless in military law. Throw away Myitkyina, my Lao Liu's head will fall to the ground, and you will all bury Lao Tzu! (To be continued.) )