Hanjing Mountain, the base camp of the Republic, April 22, 1946.

In the huge base camp operations conference room, a special military meeting will be held on the "Iron Hoof Plan" for the general offensive in the Far East.

Since Zhang Shusheng's speech at the Qingming Festival commemoration activities, the general offensive plan for the Far East that had already been drawn up by the General Staff began to enter a period of fine revision, and a military plan involving the front line to logistics, from a division to an entire front army, was refined and revised in these 15 days, and the preliminary framework was set up, and the next thing to do was to constantly fill in new things before the start of the war.

The convening of this special military conference was the base camp's general deployment of this general offensive in the Far East in order to unify the overall situation. Zhang Shusheng made it clear that he would attend the meeting in person, and all the military and political leaders attending the military meeting were military and political leaders.

Premier Zhou Guolai, Chief of General Staff Jiang Baili, Minister of National Defense Cai Yi, Director of the Special Intelligence Department of the Base Camp Luo Feng, Director of the Operations Department of the Base Camp Su Yuren, Minister of Propaganda of the Base Camp Wei Sancai, and Deputy General Manager of Shusheng Company Sun Laixi.

The main generals of the army are General Huo Weiguo, commander of the Far Eastern Front, General Xu Shuzheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the Siberian Front, General Zhang Zizhong, deputy commander-in-chief of the Central Asian Front, and General Yang Hucheng, chief of the General Staff of the Southeast Asian Front.

Senior General Fan Siran, Commander of the Air Force, Senior General Deng Haoqian, Commander of the Navy, and Senior General Li Junming, Commander of China's Most Elite Guards Regiment and General Political Commissar of the Huaxia Military Academy.

In the solemn war room, no one exchanged words, the materials that should be read, and the discussions that should be done had already been completed before the meeting, and although the iron hoof plan of the General Staff was not announced until the current military meeting, everyone knew in their hearts that the chairman of the National Committee had made up his mind to solve the Far Eastern problem this time, so as to put an end to the unfavorable situation in which the republic was being constrained everywhere.

"Ahem!"

Su Yuren raised his wrist and looked at his watch, it was already 9:29:30 in the morning, and there were 30 seconds left before the meeting time.

"The chairman has arrived!"

Sure enough, footsteps came, and Zhang Shusheng walked in accompanied by Mao Yunxian, who had just been promoted to secretary general of the base camp.

"Stand up!"

All the military and political dignitaries stood up neatly, saluted, and shouted in loud voices: "Chairman! ”

"Sit down."

Zhang Shu didn't like to hold meetings very much in his life, especially this kind of high-level military meeting of more than a dozen people and twenty people, generally he likes to have something to do in the small conference room of the head of state's office, tea-style, with the mature military and political system of the republic, he only needs to control the overall situation, but he is still bound to attend such a high-level military meeting whenever there is a major event.

Zhang Shusheng: "Just now, I received another report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the Germans. The Germans, who had just occupied all of Iran and had captured more than 80,000 Allied troops, offered to attack Indian Balochistan on the condition of relieving our pressure in Southeast Asia, in exchange for speeding up our large-scale offensive into the Soviet-Soviet belly, in an effort to 'liberate' the main areas of the Soviet Union within five months to a year.

The Germans also promised to protect our interests in the Soviet Union, and to divide their interests after the war by establishing several small principalities as security zones between the European spheres of influence and the Chinese occupation zones.

It's a tempting condition, but one we can't accept.

Once the Soviet Union completely collapsed, and the allies led by Britain and the United States did not have time to open a second battlefield, we will have full contact with the Nazi legions in Europe on the entire battlefield of World War II, and there may be no problem in three years, five years, and ten years, but what about twenty years from now?

Before the meeting, I wanted to emphasize the World War II strategy of our army, to eliminate the Allied forces, weaken the Nazi corps of the Axis powers, and seize the greatest fruits of World War II. ”

After a pause, Zhang Shusheng began to talk about the core spirit of this meeting.

"The purpose of this combat meeting is to coordinate the overall situation and do a good job in the preliminary work of the Iron Hoof Plan.

The problems of the Far East have reached a point where they must be solved, and a large number of the forces of our army are pinned down in the Far East, so that plans in other directions are affected to a certain extent.

Now that the situation of World War II is basically clear, if we make up our minds, the Axis powers can win the final victory. Well, it is time for us to plan ahead and snatch the fruits of victory, and the premise of the layout is to solve the Far East and free up troops and energy to open up a second battlefield.

Chief of General Staff Chiang, please give me a brief introduction to the Iron Hoof Plan. ”

"Yes, Chairman!"

Jiang Baili stood up and walked to the huge map, and said simply, "The original intention of the Iron Hoof Plan was to trample the Allied forces in the Far East with the galloping momentum of thousands of horses, and to encircle and annihilate the Allied forces in the Far East Theater with the most devastating speed.

If the local forces in the Far Eastern Theater are not included, the total strength of the Allied forces in the Far Eastern Theater is about 3.9 million. Among them, the Soviets had 1.5 million troops, the self-strength was 1.9 million, and the Americans' strength was 500,000. When it comes to total strength, it is roughly equivalent to the total strength of the Soviets within 300 kilometers of the border area when the Germans carried out the Barbarossa plan. However, once the war starts, it is possible that he will increase his troops by one million in a short period of time, which is not a small variable.

Although the total strength of the Allied forces was strong, there were also many problems.

The first is that the forces are relatively scattered, and in order to clarify the responsibility system for the defense zone, the Allied forces specifically require the United States and the Soviet Union to garrison one side of each side, although they all have strong fortifications that can withstand defense, but these fortifications are not indestructible. In particular, there is a large gap in the middle of the Soviet military cluster, and this is a point that we can take advantage of.

The second is that the equipment is backward and the supply is seriously insufficient. Even with the full supply of the Americans, the Allied forces in the Far Eastern theater of operations, and even the U.S. army's own army, are seriously short of artillery, aircraft, artillery shells, and medicines, which are urgently needed for the war. Because the Soviets have basically lost their local production capacity, and they themselves have continued to be strategically bombed by us, the military production index has dropped to the level of 30 years ago, which is completely unable to meet the needs of today's huge Chinese army. At its worst, even some of the screwed Americans had to be transported from the mainland to the Far East, which seriously dragged down the logistics of the Allied forces, and even with the transportation capacity of the Americans, they felt powerless when they had to take into account the war supplies in Britain, the Soviet Union, India, the Far East and other regions. The current transportation capacity can only basically meet the cost of fighting with us.

There is a popular saying in the US military in the Far East that the US military in India has chewing gum and cola, the Soviet Union and the British have canned American food, and the Far East seems to be the closest to the US mainland, but it is the worst. ”

The baton in Jiang Baili's hand moved to the area under the actual control of China in the Far East, and continued, "At present, the total strength of our army in the Far Eastern theater is 2.5 million people, and this includes the troops in the Far Eastern coastal area. The Primorsky region borders Korea and China, and these forces are mainly responsible for the vigilance of their own directions, and they may not be mobilized in wartime, so that our actual available forces in the Far East are 2 million men.

To carry out the Iron Hoof Plan, this force is obviously not enough. ”

Speaking of this, Jiang Baili looked at Zhang Shusheng.

Zhang Shusheng took over and said, "What the Chief of the General Staff said is that the total strength of China's active regular troops is now more than 7 million, but they are used in the Far East, Central Asia, Siberia, Southeast Asia, and the local garrison. The number of troops is already very stretched.

At present, many countries in the world have completed plans to expand their troops by 10 million, and the Nazi legion led by the Germans, the British Commonwealth legion, the American legion, the Soviets, and the total strength of the army have reached or far exceeded 10 million.

The forces of various countries are abundant, the Nazi regiments in the direction of India have reached the Indian border, the Soviet Union is still stalemate on the battlefield but the Soviets are already overwhelmed, if the Allies do not make greater moves, they will inevitably fall into an irreparable situation, so we must speed up.

In order to accomplish the Iron Hoof Plan, I will once again sign a new order for the expansion of the army, re-recruit some veteran officers and men who have been transferred to the reserve in the form of volunteers, and then transfer about 3 million reserve troops to active duty to complete the goal of 10 million in the standing army.

Most of the newly formed troops will be used for garrison tasks at home and abroad, and our original elite troops will be freed up for use on the battlefield. ”

Hearing that the chairman of the National People's Congress had finally agreed to the third round of military expansion, everyone present could not help but be overjoyed; although the weapons of the Wehrmacht are becoming more and more advanced, the official strength of the national defense force has always failed to reach the threshold of 7 million, and it is obviously not enough to snatch the biggest cake on the battlefield of World War II, which is gradually becoming clearer.

In order to balance economic, military, people's livelihood and other issues, Zhang Shusheng has always called for an orderly expansion of the army, rather than blindly expanding the army, and today, it can be regarded as ripe.

Of course, Zhang Shusheng himself understands better that if China only wants to ensure its current vested interests, or to ensure the tranquility of its homeland, then 7 million troops are completely sufficient.

In the original history, although many of the participating countries also reached a total strength of tens of millions, they were not as fierce as the current World War II, and the expansion of the army was often multimillions.

It's not that these participating countries have deep pockets and large populations, but they can't hold on anymore, and everyone wants to rely on the last punch to defeat their opponents.

However, China is not as crazy as other countries, but takes the dual route of elite soldiers + strong soldiers, shifts the remaining national strength to the social, economic, scientific and technological, educational, cultural and other directions, combines war and development, and strengthens and unites China step by step.

For example, the pension system and the medical insurance system that are about to be initially promoted have not been overly affected by the war, three years of exploration, three years of promotion, and then three years, ten years down, World War II may be over, but these two major policies can gradually go on track.

Zhang Shusheng: "I have talked with Premier Zhou about the expansion of the army, and basically it will not affect our current high-speed economic development. In this war, we are the only country whose losses are far less than the gains, compared to our losses, the provinces of Ho Qu Disease, Beihai Province, Southeast Asian Province, and even the Far East, these areas of land, resources, and even population, are our greatest gains, compared to these, our losses are incalculable.

Where are the losses of other countries great?

The Soviets fought a war, the entire industrial area and even the cities of the Soviet Union were bombed into ruins, the Germans were not much better, there was a serious shortage of labor, the domestic economic crisis intensified, the national economy was on the verge of bankruptcy, the casualty rate was extremely high, and so on. Not to mention anything else, a large-scale battle, hundreds of thousands of Soviets were killed and wounded and captured, and the Germans had to pay similar sacrifices, and now the British have been strengthened by the Americans, and the plan to counter-bomb Germany has been carried out smoothly, even Hitler can only hide underground to work, and the tragic situation in Berlin and other important European cities can be imagined. It is said that Britain and the United States will learn from our strategic bombing, and the B-29 strategic bombers are ready to be transferred to two or three air fleets, and it is worth looking forward to what will happen to Germany and even Europe next.

In such a war, it is impossible not to suffer heavy losses, and we, who seem to be lucky, are actually well prepared, coupled with an excellent geographical location. ”

Zhang Shusheng's words are very right, if China is placed in the current Europe, or if China is placed on the territory of the Soviet Union, it will also be a messy result. And what about China now? There are no major countries in the vicinity, and although there are many fetters to it, the Soviet Union and even India, where the Allied forces are heavily concentrated, cannot pose a threat of a local attack.

Zhang Shusheng motioned to Jiang Baili to continue.

"World War II has entered the heat of the day, and according to intelligence, the Allies have been trying to turn the tide by opening a second theater of war. Although it is not clear to us what shocking plans the Allies have to turn the tide, our iron hoof plan must be resolutely completed and ahead of them.

In order to confuse the enemy as much as possible, the Iron Hoof Plan will take the recovery of Korea as a feint plan in order to complete the actions of reinforcement and material allocation. Of course, such a large-scale military movement may eventually be discovered by the enemy, but if we can attract more divisions from the Korean side, the pressure on the Far Eastern theater will be less......

Then, Jiang Baili introduced the forces to be used in the Far East General Offensive Theater in this Iron Hoof Plan.

The number of reinforcements expected to reach 2 million, which is also the largest number of surplus troops that China can come up with at present, if it wants to increase the number of troops, it can only let the reserve troops go to the battlefield, or even issue a national mobilization order for urgent conscription.

The total number of troops mobilized in the Far East will reach 4 million, which is the same as the number of the Germans at the time of the Soviet-German blitzkrieg, but the existing garrison in the Far East of 2.5 million only needs to add 2 million troops.

With 2.5 million troops, or actually 2 million troops, the Far Eastern Theater was able to gain the upper hand in the face of the Allied total strength of 4 million troops, and the strength of the Allied forces was still being slashed and slashed. Once the number of troops is increased to 4 million, then, in terms of combat effectiveness, the Wehrmacht will have the absolute upper hand and have the basis for launching a major campaign at the theater level to take the Far East in one fell swoop.

If you expect the 2 million Huo Weiguo Front Army to complete it, it is not responsible for the lives of the soldiers, on the contrary, with absolute strength, you need to take the Far East at lightning speed.

Jiang Baili made a final summary and said, "From the perspective of the whole plan, the Central Asian Theater and the Siberian Theater will play a role in containing the support of the Soviets, and after the start of the campaign, block the reinforcement and supply of the Americans to the Far Allied Forces from the direction of the Arctic Ocean, in addition, the armored forces of the Siberian Front will also accept the temporary command of the Far Eastern Front in roundabout operations."

As for the air force, since the forces in the Far East Theater and the Northeast Theater are already very strong, there is no need for large-scale reinforcements, but the intensity of the bombing will be increased from this month onwards to ensure that the war force in the region can be weakened to the greatest extent when the campaign is launched.

Although it is very difficult to cut off or interfere with the allied forces' supply routes by sea due to geographical location, it is necessary to seek opportunities to annihilate part of the naval forces of the Japanese army and win more sea bargaining chips for the subsequent war. In addition, it is necessary to cut off the supply of the domestic and Indonesian battlefields to the Southeast Asian battlefield, and increase the battlefield supply burden of the Allied forces......"

The whole plan was very huge, Jiang Baili just briefly sketched the blueprint of the plan, and it took more than an hour, involving many theaters and departments, and there were many key points.

After all, this will be the largest offensive that the Wehrmacht will launch since China entered World War II, and it is aimed at completely defeating the Allied forces in the theater of operations through a general attack, and it is not too much to say that it was a turning point in the Asian theater of World War II.

It is not that the Allied forces do not want to open up the situation from the Far East to the northeast, and even take the initiative to attack the Chinese mainland, but Huo Weiguo commanded 2.5 million national defense troops in the Far East, blocking the Allied forces to the death, not only that, but also inflicting great casualties on the Allied forces, and every day in the small-scale battles in the entire theater, the losses of the Allied forces add up to hundreds or thousands of people, and sometimes even reach 10,000 people. Once China completely solves the Far East problem, the next target is likely to be the native of the country, such a disaster of annihilation, the emperor who is still lying half-dead in bed will always dream of it several times a year.

Finally, Zhang Shusheng made a concluding speech.

"Comrades, the important surname of this campaign can be described as the largest war operation since the founding of our country. The Far East issue involves the overall situation, and only when the Far East is resolved will we have the energy to make a more powerful fist in other directions.

The Far East question involves not only us, but also the Korean question, the question of the homeland, and even the entire situation of World War II.

We must tell the Americans with actual war actions that the Far East is not their lifeline, and there is no hope for them in Asia.

We want victory, but it is likely that we will help the Americans and help the Allies.

Why? After the defeat of Asia, they will use their brains to open up a second battlefield and concentrate all their efforts to open it up, so as not to let the Allies grind the mill on our heads, and more than 20 million Nazi legions are still waiting for them to destroy it.

If they hesitate, we have to help them make up their minds, and the decisive battle of World War II has not yet arrived, and we cannot let them focus on us.

Let me give you a thorough explanation, in this World War II, our Chinese footsteps are by no means limited to Asia, the whole army must fight bravely, there are countless lands waiting for us to conquer, countless resources waiting for us to exploit, countless people waiting for us to capture, our footsteps have just taken a step!! ”

(To be continued)