Shanghai is called the Concession, the headquarters of the Central China Front.

Just after 10 o'clock, Major General Tsukada, chief of staff, hurriedly entered Matsui Ishone's office and reported: "Your Excellency, the reconnaissance plane of the air force has returned. ”

Matsui Ishone said, "How's it going?" ”

Tsukada attacked: "The reconnaissance plane found a large number of remains of the Imperial Army on the road in the eastern suburbs of Hexian, and it is obvious that the 3rd Heavy Brigade and the Supplementary Wing of Reading Force have been mishapted. ”

"What about the Baoshan group?" Matsui Ishone gritted his teeth and asked in a sinister voice.

"The reconnaissance aircraft did not find the whereabouts of the Baoshan regiment." Tsukada shook his head and said, "But I think the Baoshan Regiment must still be hiding in a forest near Hexian. After saying this, Tsukada attacked again: "In addition, the first and second detachments of the aviation reconnaissance team also reported that the Chinese army in eastern Hubei and northern Jiangxi is gathering on a large scale, and it seems that there is a major operation!" ”

"Oh?" Matsui Shigen said awe-inspiringly, "The Chinese army in eastern Hubei and northern Jiangxi is massing on a large scale? ”

………… Wuhan camp.

Chairman Jiang was lying in a rocking chair with his eyes closed, and a declaration was placed in front of him, and the front page of the declaration was the huge pattern of the broken sun flag.

Wang Shihe, the chief of the palace guard, leaned down lightly and said in a low voice: "Bench, Gu Zhutong has called." ”

Chairman Jiang hummed softly and said, "Have Liu Jianxu's 10th Army and Luo Zhuoying's 19th Army begun to assemble?" ”

Wang Shihe said: "Gu Zhutong called and said that the assembly can be completed within two days, and the attack on Anhui can be carried out within three days!" ”

Chairman Jiang shook his hand and said: "Telegraph to Gu Zhutong, let him not act rashly for the time being, the reason why I asked Liu Jianxu's 10th Army and Luo Zhuoying's 19th Army to assemble is not to ask them to fight with Yue Kou, but only to be able to help the Baoshan Regiment when necessary, and accept them to retreat to Jiujiang to rest." ”

"Yes." Wang Shihe agreed softly, but he felt emotion in his heart.

Although on the surface, the Baoshan Regiment was strictly ordered to delay the 13th Division and the 18th Division of the Army, and if they failed to complete the task, they would have to be dealt with by military law, but in fact, the Commission had already secretly mobilized heavy troops and was ready to respond to the Baoshan Regiment at any time.

Chairman Chiang was silent for a moment, and then suddenly said, "Let the Air Force send reconnaissance planes to provide aerial reconnaissance support." ”

Wang Shihe's eyes widened suddenly, although the commission didn't say who the air force would provide aerial reconnaissance support, but he could think of it with his toes, this must be to provide aerial reconnaissance support to the Baoshan regiment!

………… Shanghai is called the Concession, the headquarters of the Central China Front.

Matsui Shigen, the old devil's sense of smell is indeed very keen, and after a moment of silence, he said: "The Chinese army in eastern Hubei and northern Jiangxi is assembling on a large scale? Tsukada-kun, do you think they want to pick up the Baoshan group? ”

Tsukada attacked: "Your Excellency, the reason why the Chinese army in eastern Hubei and northern Jiangxi is massed on a large scale is for nothing more than two purposes, one is to counterattack the Nanjing area, and the other is to meet the Baoshan regiment to break through, frankly speaking, after experiencing the defeat of Songhu and Nanjing, the Chinese political axe army no longer has the strength to counterattack, so it can only be the second purpose." ”

"Yo Si." Matsui Shigen said coldly, "This is an opportunity for the Imperial Army. ”

Tsukada Tsukata's expression moved slightly, and he said: "Your Excellency the General means that you will use the Baoshan Regiment as bait to lure and annihilate the main force of the Chinese Army?" ”

"That's right." Matsui Ishine said, "After the fall of Nanjing, the administrative center of the Chinese political axe has been moved westward to Wuhan, and if the empire wants to force the Chinese political axe to surrender, it must conquer Wuhan!" It is foreseeable that the combat mission of the front army in the next stage will certainly be to seize Wuhan, and if we can attract the main forces of China in the direction of eastern Hubei and northern Jiangxi this time, and then annihilate them in the central Anhui region, we will be able to clear the obstacles for the next stage of combat mission. ”

I have to say that the old devil Matsui Ishone still has a bit of strategic vision.

If this plan of his can be implemented and succeeded, the main forces of northern Jiangxi and eastern Hubei will be destroyed and the entire Yangtze River valley will be opened.

The strategic significance of capturing Wuhan is obviously far greater than opening up the Tianjin-Pudong railway.

What's more, until now, the army did not know that [***] had set up a super big pocket in Xuzhou, and blindly believed that the entire Tianjin-Pudong Railway, whether it was the northern line or the southern line, the garrison of [***] was extremely empty, and the 5th and 10th main divisions were enough to open up the entire railway line.

Tsukada's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately said: "However, the order given by the base camp to the front army is to go north to Xuzhou. ”

Matsui Shigen waved his hand and said disapprerovitically: "The reason why the base camp ordered us to go north to Xuzhou is nothing more than to hope that we can cooperate with the North China Front Army to open up the Jinpu Railway, and now the north and south lines of the Jinpu Railway have been opened, and the 5th Division and the 10th Division are enough to complete the task." ”

Tsukada attacked: "Then the general's meaning is ......"

Matsui Shigen said: "The 13th Division will send a wing to the north to cooperate with the North China Front Army to open up the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and the main force of the 13th Division will cooperate with the 18th Division to encircle the Baoshan Regiment in the central Anhui area, induce the main forces of Eastern Hubei and Northern Jiangxi to come to the rescue in central Anhui, and then order the 6th Division, as well as the 101st Division and the 114th Division after the supplement, to secretly enter Wuhu, just wait for the main force of China to enter central Anhui, and the 6th, 101st, and 114th Divisions will cross the Yangtze River to the north to cut off the retreat of the main force of China, and then gather the strength of five divisions, encircled and annihilated it in one fell swoop! ”

Tsukada attacked: "Your Excellency General, what if the main forces of Eastern Hubei and Northern Jiangxi are not moved? ”

"Then destroy the heroes in the hearts of the people of China, the Baoshan Regiment, which can also deal a heavy blow to the political axe of China and the determination of the army and people of China to resist." Matsui Shigen said this, and said, "But I think that the main force of China will definitely come to Anhui, otherwise, why should the main force of China in northern Jiangxi and eastern Hubei be assembled on a large scale at this time?" ”

Tsukada was silent for a moment and said, "Your Excellency, General, I always feel that things are not so simple. ”

"Oh?" Matsui Ishine said with interest, "Tsukada-kun, do you still have any doubts?" Let's talk about it. ”

Tsukada shook his head and said in an uncertain tone: "Half a month ago, the people of China suddenly changed the cipher code, and the new code of secrecy is extremely high, and the special high class has not deciphered it until today, this matter is extremely abnormal, does this mean that the people of China have any major actions?" ”

"Tsukada-kun, you're too worried." Matsui Shigen disagreed, "After the defeat of North China, the defeat of Songhu and the defeat of Nanjing, the national strength of the Chinese army has been exhausted, and the army has suffered heavy casualties. ”

Tsukada shook his head and said, "Maybe I'm really worried." ”

"Alright, just do as I said." Matsui Shigen waved his hand and said, "Tsukada-kun, you go and arrange it." ”

"Hello." Tsukada suddenly closed his feet and bowed his head, and took the order.

………… Xuzhou, the Fifth Theater Governor's Department.

Most of the various units participating in the Battle of Xuzhou had already arrived at the designated position, and Li Zongren could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Xiao Zhuge Bai Chongqi was also a little excited in his heart, but he still reminded: "Duke De, we must remind all the departments participating in the war to pay attention to air defense, and we must not let the little devil's reconnaissance plane find a flaw, once the little devil is aware of the existence of the participating departments in advance, the 5th and 10th divisions are likely to retract, then we will have lost all our efforts." ”

"Jiansheng doesn't have to worry." Li Zongren smiled and said, "I have repeatedly told the troops participating in the war. ”

"That's good." Bai Chongqi nodded happily and said, "Now it's up to the Baoshan Regiment and the 114th Division to see if they can block the Southern Front Army." ”

Before the words fell, a communications staff officer came in and reported: "General seat, the 114th Division has sent an urgent call from Hefei!" ”

Li Zongren and Bai Chongqi looked at each other and said, "Read!" ”

"The Fifth Theater Commander's Department: Yesterday evening, the main force of the 18th Division of the Yue Army marched to Feidong along the Chaohe Highway, and after dark, the camp suddenly pulled out again, turned east, and went in the direction of Chuxian." After reading it, the communications staff officer picked up another telegram and said, "There is also a telegram from the Military Command Bureau, and the secret radio station left near Yangzhou has sent back a message that the 13th Division of the Army has also stopped advancing northward and is advancing in the direction of Chuxian along the Yizheng and [***] lines. ”

"It's weird." Li Zongren frowned and said, "The two master groups of little devils have turned around and pounced on Chuxian?" ”

Bai Chongqi pondered for a moment and said, "I estimate that this matter is mostly related to Yue Weihan and the Baoshan Tuan. ”

"Report!" Bai Chongqi's voice fell, and another communications staff officer came in to report, "The Baoshan regiment sent an urgent call from He County!" ”

"Baoshan group?" Li Zong said anxiously: "Read! ”

The communications staff officer said: "The Fifth Theater Commander's Department: Yesterday night, our regiment attracted the two main divisions of the Chinese army to the vicinity of Chuxian County with suspicious soldiers, and the main force advanced south overnight, and at 5 o'clock this morning in the eastern suburbs of Hexian County, it completely annihilated the baggage brigade and supplementary army wing of the former Kunizaki Detachment, killing more than 3,000 enemies and seizing a large amount of baggage, and according to reliable information, the 18th Division of the Chinese Army is outflanking our regiment in the direction of Hefei, the 13th Division is about one infantry wing in the direction of Bengbu, and the main force of the division is pursuing southward along the Urawa Highway. Our regiment was retreating to the mountainous areas of western Anhui overnight. ”

"Wow!" Bai Chongqi slammed the knot and said, "Yue Weihan's bad idea really worked, Matsui Shigen's old devil was really angered by Yue Weihan's kid, Degong, now that the main force of the Southern Front has been led to the mountainous area of western Anhui by the Baoshan Regiment, there will be no worries about the Xuzhou battlefield!" ”

"Command!" Li Zongren's thin face couldn't help but flush a little, and he immediately turned to the communications staff officer and said, "The 22nd Group Army immediately withdrew from Tengxian and moved in the direction of Xuecheng and Hanzhuang, and the 3rd Army immediately withdrew from Linyi and moved along the Weitai Highway in the direction of Taierzhuang. ”

(To be continued)