The news of the end of the Jeju naval battle was transmitted to Yanjing as soon as possible, and after learning the final outcome, Song Biao and Jiang Fangzhen also breathed a sigh of relief, for the past twenty years, they have been looking for an opportunity to annihilate the main force of the Yueben Navy, and this year they got their wish.

The strategic plan for the entire Third Sino-Japanese War was not formulated by Song Biao alone, but was the result of joint consultations and discussions between him and Jiang Fangzhen, chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Department, and the goal of the two of them was basically the same, that is, not to rush to end the fighting on the Korean Peninsula, and to lure out the main force of the Yamaben Navy no matter what, whether it was in the Ryukyu Islands or Jeju Island, in short, to fight a beautiful ambush battle to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Yamaben Navy.

If we still win the war, as we did in the Second Sino-Chinese War, but we do not encircle and annihilate our navy, and we still fail to smash our capital in trying to dominate Asia and East Asia, then it cannot be regarded as a real victory.

In order to lure out the main force of the Navy, they carefully designed too many things, consciously maintained a defensive position in Kaesong, and did not open up too many new battlefields, so that they focused on the Korean Peninsula, and in terms of intelligence, they deliberately leaked some key codes, so that they mistakenly thought that the Second Combined Fleet was going south, and even when they developed the J-5 Tiger Shark, they had already considered these things, as well as when they set up coastal air bases in the 20s.

Throughout the Battle of Jeju, as many as 1,147 Tiger Shark fighter-bombers were sent to the aid of the three coastal air bases and the Sincheon Air Base, and after running out of fuel, they landed on the spot at the Jeju Air Base, 341 of which were destroyed or seriously damaged in the battle.

After losing 632 fighters, the empire annihilated the main fleet of the Shoben Navy with the power of a war in the Battle of Jeju.

This battle was the turning point of the Third Sino-Chinese War, and the Empire entered a full-scale offensive from then on, and the Empire was no longer able to organize a large-scale naval decisive battle, compared to the loss of the Empire's fighters and excellent pilots, the losses of the Empire were even more tragic.

From the Battle of Samduo, the Battle of Incheon, the Battle of Kaesong, and the Battle of Jeju, there was only one aircraft carrier left in the naval aviation unit, the Soryong, and only three of the six flight divisions of the army aviation unit were reorganized, two of which were responsible for guarding the mainland and the last one was responsible for guarding Busan.

The news of the end of the Battle of Jeju spread throughout China on the same day, and the front pages of all the media and newspapers reported on this unprecedented sea battle, which is difficult to explain whether it should be considered a sea battle or a big air battle in name.

The Air Force contributed a lot, even much more than the Navy.

Without the Air Force's large-scale deployment of Tiger Shark aircraft groups from the East China and North Korea Military Regions, the Navy might have won, but it would have been almost impossible to completely annihilate the main fleet group of the Navy.

The whole country is boiling.

Even sitting in the office of the Central Palace, Song Biao can hear the cheers of the people, because he understands the people, and his heart is cheering like all the people, this is not his victory, not only the victory of the Chinese people, but the victory of the whole country, half a century of shame was finally cleaned on this day, the backbone of the Chinese Navy is really re-hardened, and it can be deservedly declared to be the first navy in Asia, and it can sprint towards the hegemony of the world's first navy.

Only by washing away the shame of the Sino-Japanese Naval War can the Chinese Navy stand up in the true sense.

Otherwise, I will continue to look at China and the Chinese Navy with that kind of discriminatory view at all times.

Jiang Fangzhen went directly to the Central Palace at the first time, and he was very happy when he entered the office, but he didn't dare to make a mistake in front of the palace, and he still bowed respectfully.

Of course, Song Biao's mood couldn't be better, so he got up to greet him in person, and invited Jiang Fangzhen to sit down.

He got up, Jiang Fangzhen naturally didn't dare to sit down, and only said: "Your Majesty specially came to congratulate Your Majesty, after twenty years of hard work, we finally got what we wanted to annihilate the main force of the Navy, and since then, our goal in this battle has been half achieved." ”

"yes!"

Song Biao couldn't help but sigh, and said to Jiang Fangzhen: "Order, Vice Admiral Jiang Yu, commander of the Second Fleet of the Combined Fleet, confer the rank of admiral and the title of second-class viscount of the Empire, Yang Guangyi, commander of the Air Force of the Northeast Military Department and commander of the Korean Air Force, confer the rank of Admiral of the Air Force and the title of second-class viscount of the Empire, Major General Huang Kepei, commander-in-chief of the Jeju Defense Command, confer the rank of lieutenant general of the army, and Major General Xu Mengxiong, commander of the Jeju Air Base, confer the rank of lieutenant general of the Air Force, and each of them will be awarded the rank of first-class baron of the Empire. The General Staff Headquarters has recently drawn up a proposal on how to award and confer other titles, and submitted it to me for examination and approval as soon as possible. ”

"Yes!"

Jiang Fangzhen agreed, and said: "There is another thing to report to Your Majesty, the 14 Tiger Shark fighter-bombers of the 2074th formation of Yancheng Air Base were on their way to the Jeju front to support, and found two battleships in the area of east longitude 123 and north latitude 36, which are now estimated to be the King Kongo-class battleships, according to reliable intelligence, these two battleships are likely to be King Kong and Kirishima. Because of the rush to the front to support, the 2074 formation group did not stay to fight the two battleships, I have ordered the Northern Submarine Force and the First Fleet of the United Aviation to search in the relevant sea areas, Qingdao, Yancheng, Xinchuan, and Jeju Air Base have all sent patrol planes to patrol and search the surrounding seas, and the Second Combined Fleet has sent two Northeast-class aircraft carriers to blockade the waters west of Jeju, with the goal of finding and sinking these two battleships. ”

Song Biao couldn't help laughing, and sighed: "This is really the old monk didn't run away, and the little monk didn't run away either, let all the departments hurry up and search, we must catch these two battleships before they return to port, send a telegram to Jiang Yu, congratulate him on his victory in the naval battle, and at the same time let him continue to fight quickly, make persistent efforts, sink these two battleships, and not let them go south." ”

Jiang Fangzhen paused again and replied, "My subordinates immediately telegraphed back to the Second Fleet, asking them to sink these two battleships. ”

At this time, Lieutenant General Chen Jiayou, the chief of the Inner Court, hurriedly walked in, saluted Song Biao, and presented the telegram book: "Your Majesty, Your Excellency Stalin, General Secretary of the Soviet Union, has sent a telegram to congratulate you. ”

"So fast?"

Song Biao was slightly surprised.

Although the empire announced the war report as soon as possible, and the Soviet Union and other countries in the world have basically received the news so far, the Soviet Union sent a message of congratulations so quickly, and it was really too quick to react.

I'm afraid it's not a good thing.

Song Biao took the telegram book in his hand and looked through it, and saw that in addition to sending a telegram congratulating China on its victory, General Secretary Stalin also hoped to send a special envoy to China to visit China to conduct more in-depth negotiations on the Sino-Soviet peace treaty, and believed that if China and the Soviet Union could sign such an agreement, it would certainly play a very positive role in the Sino-Soviet peace.

That's a good idea.

It is said that the Soviet Union has been watching the war, if it is said that the war is good, the Soviet Union also has the idea of sticking a knife in the back, but the current situation of the Soviet Union is not much better, after the conclusion of the alliance between Germany and Poland, the spearhead will be pointed directly at the Soviet Union, Poland has long been crazy and wants to regain lost territory through the war, but it has no strength, and now with the alliance of Germany, it is naturally enthusiastic to take revenge.

Germany was very willing to support Poland behind its backs in provoking the Soviet Union, to find a suitable reason and opportunity to launch an all-out attack on the Soviet Union, to occupy the Soviet Union as a hinterland of resources, industry and agriculture, and to prepare for its occupation of the whole of Europe.

With Germany's current national strength, there is no problem in challenging France, but it is still relatively suspenseful to challenge the Soviet Union, even if there is a puppet alliance such as Poland, as well as Finland and other anti-Soviet allies, if it only attacks the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States will definitely continue to provide assistance to Germany, and they are eager to immediately encourage the German-Polish alliance to start a war against the Soviet Union.

Even so, there was still a lot of controversy in Germany, whether to go east or west first, this is indeed a difficult question worth exploring, and the Reich certainly encouraged Germany to attack the east, so it has not signed a new peace treaty with the Soviet Union, and has made the kind of posture that if Germany attacks the Soviet Union, the Reich will take military action and other necessary support.

Poland is also not a good country.

It's very bad.

Sood is not even a good thing.

Song Biao can be regarded as seeing it through.

He closed the telegram book, handed it back to Chen Jiayou, and said, "Inform the telegram to the cabinet and let the cabinet decide on this matter." ”

Vice Admiral Chen Jiayou immediately said yes, and then withdrew from the office of the Central Palace first, while Song Biao continued to discuss with Jiang Fangzhen: "After the end of the Jeju naval battle, the strength of the naval and aviation units of this country has suffered heavy damage, you send a telegram to Cai Yi, ask him about the preparations there, and be sure to ask the Northeast Defense Force to launch an offensive before February, and take Seoul and Inchon in one go, so as to prepare for the follow-up full-scale offensive." ”

Jiang Fangzhen said: "The Northeast Defense Force has basically been prepared, after the Battle of Jeju Naval Battle, the Navy basically does not have any effective deterrent, we are ready to transfer the main force of the Navy to Nampo, and at the same time transfer two additional air divisions into the north of Korea, strengthen air supremacy operations, and cooperate with the Northeast Defense Force to carry out land assault operations." ”

One of the general plans of the empire in this war was not to rush to a decisive battle in the south of Korea, but to lure out the main force of the Shoben Navy to annihilate it, and then completely seize air supremacy, and finally launch a large-scale offensive to occupy the entire Korean and Pacific colonies, and continue to use the southern part of Korea as an air base to carry out large-scale bombing of the homeland.

Now that the navy has been eliminated, the next step is to launch an offensive on the southern front and continue to drain the remaining air force in the war, while the army advances along the southeastern part of Korea.

Generally speaking, the terrain of North Korea is still too complicated, especially the eastern part of Korea, which is completely mountainous, and only in the field of the navy and air force can the local support capability of the Korean army be cut off, and it will be easier to consume the Korean army to death.

If we want to carry out a large-scale tactical offensive and a strong offensive in such a place, the losses will indeed be too great, and it will not be cost-effective from the perspective of the overall grand strategy.

Now that the Northeast Defense Force is ready, Song Biao doesn't need to emphasize too much about this, with the current military strength of the empire and the air force advantage it occupies, it is not very difficult to win the army, unless the commander on the imperial side is hopelessly stupid.

Cai Ye is not a person who can make mistakes easily, and the staff officers below him are even less prone to make mistakes.

After the Battle of Jeju, the Navy has completely lost the strength to challenge the Chinese Navy, in this battle, the strong advantages of China's aviation industry have been vividly demonstrated, J3 \ 4 \ 5 and G2 \ 3 of the five series of fighters supporting each other to form an air combat system as solid as a rock, firm and unshakable, and the fighter can only challenge the J-3 series of light fighters, this is the most successful area, but it can only be through a variety of flexible design and weight reduction, load reduction and other extreme means, Barely maintained competition with the J-3 Viper series fighters.

Considering the S-5, 10, 20, 105, 107, and 110 series of transport aircraft and H-2, 4, and 5 bombers, the gap between China and China in the field of aviation is even more distant and boundless, as if it were a gap of 20 years.

The Empire's carrier-based electronic patrol aircraft based on the S-20 and the S-10\105-based medium-sized and large electronic patrol aircraft, plus the J-5D Tiger Shark, which can be regarded as an electronic reconnaissance aircraft in its own right, and the Empire's radar system covers the entire East China Sea and the South Pacific theater.

The Imperial Navy began to cover the entire sea area to search for Japanese submarines and restore shipping in the northern seaports of the Empire, in order to avoid unnecessary damage to the Empire's economy caused by the continuation of the Sino-Chinese War.

A big country in science and technology.

It's not that you can conquer everything and defeat your opponents by developing a world-leading product, if you want to rely on technology to defeat everything, you need a strong system, the strength of the whole system, and the balance of each point is the basis for defeating opponents.

China's warships have neither an absolute superiority in numbers nor an absolute superiority in technology over the Yueben Navy, so after the Battle of Samduao and the Battle of Jeju, the collapse of the Yueben Navy is essentially more due to the absolute superiority of the Chinese Air Force in the entire system.

In another area, China also has an absolute system advantage over the Japanese army, that is, the fulcrum system of the army world -- armored vehicles and tanks, but the Korean and Pacific theaters have greatly limited the development of this advantage.

Soon after the end of the Jeju naval battle, the Northeast Defense Force mobilized its forces to carry out a breakthrough operation in Kaesong with T153\MT22 light tanks and MBV2 infantry fighting vehicles and MBT33 main tanks.

After 1938, the empire reformulated a new army equipment number, because Britain and the Soviet Union and other countries used a large number of T as the number in the formal preparation and development of models, and the empire re-used the MT series number as the subsequent number of the original TK series, forming five main branch systems in the armored vehicle system: MBT main tank, MT light and medium tank, MBV infantry armored vehicle, MZP self-propelled artillery, and MST amphibious tank.

The requirements of the main tank MBT series of the empire are the protection and firepower of heavy tanks, and the mobility of medium tanks is capable, which is destined to be a lot of cost for this level of tank, and has the characteristics of difficult manufacturing, in actual war use, the main tank of the MBT series is the core of tank operations, the number is small, but it can play a key role, and the MT series with it is mainly light and medium tanks, and the requirements are cheap and suitable for large-scale mass production.

On the basis of the T152, the Reich continued to improve in 1937 to the T153, officially designated as the MT22 light tank, the T182 tank was improved to the MT23 medium tank, and the improvement of the MT20 heavy tank was abandoned, the first two began mass service in 1934, while the T\MT20\MT20B tank continued to serve as the only heavy tank in the Reich.

The T153\MT22 light tank has a total combat weight of 22.35 tons, a height of 2.3 meters, a low body design, equipped with an M1930 75mm gun and an M2 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun, M2 7.62mm parallel machine gun, the engine power is 450 meters of horsepower, the hull is a homogeneous steel armored all-welded structure, and an integral cast steel turret is used.

The MT23 medium tank weighs 31.5 tons in battle, also has a low body design, the main gun was an 85mm rifled gun in the early days, and in 1937 it was changed to a 90mm smoothbore gun, and the engine was a 550-meter horsepower V-type diesel engine with two-stage supercharging technology.

As the central pillar of the empire's tank and major mechanization changes, the MBT series was upgraded to MBT33 \ 35 on the basis of the original MBT30 again, these two types of tanks are also a rifled gun, one uses a smoothbore gun, the difference from the MT23 medium tank is that the MBT33 \35 main tank uses 90mm guns, and the 105mm rifled tank gun has also been developed. As a technical reserve, it can be used at any time to improve the MBT series tank, MT24 heavy tank, and MT27 tank destroyer.

Due to the terrain and the limited number of production, the MT24 heavy tank was not put into use on the Korean battlefield, but mainly the MT22 light tank, with a small number of MBT33 main tanks, MT23 medium tanks, and MT27 tank destroyers as the breakthrough point.

The Imperial Army has a series of armor systems such as infantry fighting vehicles and armored reconnaissance vehicles, so there are certain differences between the division of tank levels and other countries in the world, and in the 1933 Imperial Armored Tank Classification Regulations, 25 tons to 35 tons of combat weight or less belong to light tanks, 25 tons to 35 tons belong to medium tanks, and more than 35 tons belong to heavy tanks.

The total combat weight of the MT22 is 22.35 tons, and the engine power is 450 meters of horsepower, while the total combat weight of the 97 medium tank is only 15.8 tons, and the engine power is 170 British horsepower.

This difference in data gives the MT22 light tank a complete advantage in comparison with the 97 Medium Battle, which can easily penetrate the 97 Medium Fight at a distance of 1000 meters, and the 97 Medium Tank only has a chance to penetrate the armor of the MT22 light tank within 400 meters.

In fact, the MT22 light tank itself was specially designed for mountainous and hilly terrain such as Korea, Southeast China, and South China, and from the beginning of its design, it was given the task of serving as the main attack tank in North Korea and other mountain theaters.

Because the terrain in the southeastern part of Korea was relatively gentle, suitable for large-scale light and medium tank operations, and the main railway lines of Korea were also concentrated here, the empire concentrated six integrated armored divisions in Kaesong, and replaced the MT22 light tanks on a large scale, until the end of December 1939, when it had the conditions for a full-scale attack on the southeastern region of Korea.

A few days after the Battle of Jeju, Wei Lihuang also arrived at the Kaesong front as the commander of the Second Army of the Northeast Army, followed by the 4th, 14th, and 15th Divisions of the Imperial Army.

Fu Zuoyi led the First Army to fight very well in Kaesong, and if he really wanted to attack with all his might, he could also take Seoul, and even push all the way to the south of Korea, and now the military headquarters let him and the First Army temporarily rest and recuperate, and let the Second Army, which had been resting and training in the northeast for half a year, come up and attack, he must not be happy.

In terms of qualifications, where is Wei Lihuang qualified to be on an equal footing with him?

Cai Ye has fought a battle all his life, of course he knows how Fu Zuoyi will feel, so this time he personally accompanied Wei Lihuang to lead the Second Group Army to the front line, and he directly commanded the battle in the name, so as to give Fu Zuoyi a step down to rest.

On the afternoon of December 24, 1939, Cai Yi, together with Liu Gengyun, Wei Lihuang, Liu Yazhao, Huang Baitao and others, arrived at the Kaesong Front Headquarters by train, while Shu Fangde and Zhang Hongkui, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Northeast National Defense Army, stayed in Pyongyang to command and maintain logistics and intelligence work.

Fu Zuoyi prepared a small military parade on the front line, Cai Yi made a very passionate speech after reviewing the three armies, and then asked Fu Zuoyi and others to follow him to the command headquarters, according to the reason, it should be the first meal, but the Central Defense Force clearly stipulates that the treatment of officers and soldiers must be equal, and what soldiers eat, officers can only eat, and they are strictly ordered to set up private stoves.

Therefore, at noon on this day, they could only eat together in the field canteen, and let the orderlies go directly to the dishes, and the generals could only each carry a steel lunch box and sit next to the map table to eat and talk.

said that it is the same treatment, there must be a difference more or less, and the cooking is not really so muddy, but it is basically just a few more boxes of canned food for the generals, especially during the war, if you make an outreach, you will definitely be investigated.

A lot of things are just a matter of atmosphere, and everyone is used to these things, and it's a good thing to be able to open a box of canned cured meat on the front line.

Cai Ye had too many things in his heart, so he put the lunch box aside after eating a few bites, and the generals and officers present said: "In the Jeju naval battle, the air force and navy are really uplifting, and the emperor approved two admirals in a row and gave two viscounts. Brothers, our army cannot afford to lose this face, so in the decisive battle of Seoul, I talked with Chief of General Staff Chiang, and I will personally command this decisive battle, and you must do your best not to lose face to our army! ”

Cai Ye's qualifications in the army must not be said, even if he made a mistake in the middle and was forced to suspend his service for six years, but that mistake is not a matter of principle, in terms of military merits, Cai Ye was the first to wave his division into the Guannei, expel the Tatars, stabilize the frontier of the founding general, and commanded the Sino-Soviet War, whether it was the command of cavalry, or the early armored troops, the Soviet Union was beaten all over the ground, and the territory was 6,000 miles away with a victory.

His prestige in the Wehrmacht was still terrible.

Whether it is Fu Zuoyi, or Wei Lihuang, Liu Yazhao, etc., everyone immediately said yes.

After everyone agreed, Cai Yi continued: "The military department has telegraphed that the Second Group Army has been on the front line of Kaesong since the start of the war, with many injuries and insufficient personnel replenishment, so it will temporarily stay on the defensive line around Kaesong and rest on the spot, and the troops of the 17 newly formed regiments drawn from the country must be reorganized with the Second Army within three months, and must have the conditions for full-scale operation after March next year." ”

Fu Zuoyi immediately got up and replied, "Return to the commander-in-chief, just give me a month." ”

Cai Ye was silent for a moment, and he didn't keep a straight face, but replied normally: "The emperor gave you three months, so naturally he wants you to be completely prepared." Don't think that Xiao Yueben will be defeated soon, this battle will be fought for a long time, now is not the time to grab military merits, the rectification is over, and then he can be entrusted with important tasks. ”

Fu Zuoyi is still very unhappy, and others are just fine, the key is that he was robbed of this military merit by a person like Wei Lihuang who is not as qualified as him, and he is really difficult to accept.

Seeing that Fu Zuoyi's face still couldn't hang up, Cai Ye didn't want to say more, and the problem of ideological work would wait for Shu Fangde, the head teacher, to do it, and he wouldn't care about it for the time being.

The commander-in-chief of the Northeast National Defense Force is composed of three group armies, Wei Lihuang's Second Group Army is mainly armored troops, Fu Zuoyi's First Group Army is mainly a conventional mechanized army, and Zhang Zizhong's Third Group Army is mainly a light mechanized mountain division.

The main forces of the First Army were the 22nd and 23rd Light Armored Divisions, the 10th Mountain Division, and the rest were mountain divisions and regular infantry divisions, with three artillery divisions and strong artillery firepower.

The second army is based on the 4th, 14th, and 15th divisions as the main force, of which only the 15th division was originally equipped with the most light tanks, this division is also stationed in Dandong, and the task is to manage North Korea, the 4th armored division was originally a heavy armored division, with MBT33 main tanks as the main core equipment, temporarily replacing a new batch of MT22 light tanks in the northeast to go into battle, which must take a period of running-in time, plus the battalions under the jurisdiction of each regiment have been expanded to 8 companies, so they have rested in the northeast until now before officially going south to join the war.

The main force of the Third Army was the 3rd Mountain Division and the 21st and 27th Divisions, with the Mountain Division and the Conventional Infantry Division as the main force, with a light armored division and two artillery divisions, and two engineering brigades and two baggage brigades under its jurisdiction.

The Northeast Defense Force itself also has one cavalry brigade, two light armored divisions, three engineering brigades, two baggage brigades, three artillery divisions, and 22 newly organized regiments, plus 14 transport aircraft brigades directly drawn from the Central Military Headquarters, and the overall strength is sufficient to fight this war.

After half a year of preparation, the Northeast National Defense Force has long been ready, with a total of about 700,000 demobilized officers and soldiers and new recruits drawn from all over the country, and a total strength of 1.1 million.

The army was also constantly reinforced in the southern part of Korea, and even if it suffered heavy damage in the Battle of Kaesong, the size of the entire East Asian army was close to one million, and the outbreak of the most continental war in the history of China between the two sides was inevitable, and it could even be said that it was imminent.

After all, Cai Ye has been away from the large-scale mechanization revolution for a long time, and he is a little unfamiliar with the new transformation of the entire imperial army, so in the entire tactical planning and arrangement, he mainly relies on Liu Gengyun, the chief of staff.

After discussing the tactical planning of the Seoul campaign with all his subordinates, Cai Yi remembered another thing, and suddenly reminded you before the end of the meeting: "There is another thing to greet you in advance, General Chen Wu actively asked for battle, the emperor took care of the old feelings, and it is said that he also agreed to General Chen's request for battle, if it comes quickly, General Chen may fly to Pyongyang in the middle of next month." As for Lao Chen, except for Zhang Zizhong, who was his descendant, the others may not be familiar with it. You at least know that General Chen's military exploits during the founding of the People's Republic of China and the Sino-Chinese Xinhai War were second only to Zhao Tingzhu and Jiang Yanxing, two old generals. Also, he privately shot officers who violated discipline, so he was demoted two levels and forced to retire, and now he can only serve with the rank of major general. ”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, the leopard Chen Wuna is a legendary general, if it weren't for the hot surname, he would be regarded as a veteran senior general at the level of Zhao Tingzhu and Cai Ye today.

Liu Gengyun was demobilized as chief of staff, Cai Yi was demobilized as commander-in-chief, and now even the veteran legendary generals Chen Wu and Chen Leopard have returned, what kind of bull, ghost, snake and god have come out.

But then again, on the Korean battlefield, the old experience of these veteran senior generals is very useful.

Although the Northeast Army has been inherited to this day, it is still their group of people who feel the deepest, and even the generals and officers of Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Zizhong who have inherited the past and the next still lack real experience of the Northeast Army back then.

(To be continued)