Chapter 615: The War of Resistance Against Songhu, Chiang Kai-shek's Choice (4)

Without waiting for Chen Lifu to speak, Song Ziwen's neck stiffened, and his face turned red and said: "Don't bother Minister Chen, for my own reasons, this is the unit of my tax police corps." ”

Song Ziwen and Chen Lifu have always been not on good terms, the two sides often disagree on some things, and Chen Lifu often gives him a few "good words" in front of Chiang Kai-shek, which is a common thing, and Song Ziwen does not care.

But today is different, this is to expose Song Ziwen's "sores" in public, which makes Song Ziwen's face come down, and he can't help but be a little annoyed and angry.

Everyone was shocked at first when Chen Lifu and Song Ziwen's tax police corps participated in the war in Shanghai, but when they thought of Song Ziwen's plain temperament, everyone was quickly relieved.

The Tax Police Corps of the Ministry of Finance was established by Song Ziwen in Haizhou in the winter of 1930, with Wen Yingxing as the head of the regiment and Zeng Xigui as the chief of staff.

Song Ziwen has always been very unconvinced that the military quality and equipment level of the domestic army are much different from those of the West, and he believes that China is only unable to equip new weapons on a large scale because of its low level of economic development. In other words, he believes that as long as it has advanced weapons, China can build an excellent army.

Since it is not possible to change equipment on a large scale, let's do it on a small scale first, and this small army can be cultivated as a seed army to prepare for the large-scale expansion of the new army in the future.

As the Minister of Finance, it is still easy to get the funds to equip tens of thousands of troops.

The Tax Police Corps was provided by Song Ziwen with the remaining salt tax from the annual repayment of the loans of the Eight Nations Bank Group. All establishments, equipment, and personnel are all based on Song Ziwen's wishes, and others have no right to intervene. Chiang Kai-shek always thought that the Tax Police Corps was just an insignificant small force, and he did not care. Although there were many high-ranking Kuomintang officials who knew the inside story of the Tax Police Corps, no one reported the details of the Tax Police Corps to Chiang Kai-shek, because no one wanted to provoke the Tai Sui of Soong Ziwen.

The Tax Police Corps now has four regiments, which are equivalent to six regiments.

The establishment of this tax police corps is not that Song Ziwen wants to plot against him, nor does Song Ziwen want to establish his own military forces, but that Song Ziwen, an angry young man, really wants to establish a model army comparable to Europe and the United States and make some contributions to the national defense strength of the national government.

Song Ziwen paid special attention to the selection of personnel for the tax police corps, and he personally recruited and promoted all the high-ranking officers. Wen Yingxing and Wang Geng, the first and second commanders of the regiment, were both graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Song Ziwen, who graduated from Haval, has always admired American science and technology and military affairs, and his tax police corps has recruited many graduates of American military academies, such as Sun Liren, who graduated from the Virginia Military Academy in the United States, and was poached by Song Ziwen through He Yingqin when he was the deputy chief of the guard corps of the Army, Navy and Air Force General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army. There are also Zhao Junmai, who graduated from the Novitsch Cavalry Academy in the United States, and so on. Graduates from Japanese military academies are basically not in the scope of Song Ziwen's consideration, and the only graduate of the Japanese non-commissioned officer academy in the tax police regiment is his brother-in-law Zhang Yuannan.

Under Song Ziwen's vigorous recruitment, the Tax Police Corps is full of talents, and most of the officers above the platoon level are students studying in the United States. Most of the remaining junior officers were born in the Northeast Lecture and Martial Arts Hall, and a small number came from the Northwest Army and the Guangdong Army. The reason why there are many graduates of the Northeast Lecture Hall in the Tax Police Corps is that when the Tax Police Corps was first established, it received strong support from Zhang Xueliang, who had a good personal relationship with Song Ziwen, and transferred some junior officers from the Northeast Army. In August 1930, when the 10th class of students of the Northeast Lecture and Martial Arts Hall graduated, Wen Yingxing transferred more than 150 people as junior officers of the platoon company. Therefore, most of the company and platoon commanders of the tax police corps are students who graduated from the 10th class of the Northeast Lecture and Martial Arts Hall. The enthusiasm for participating in the Shanghai War of Resistance was very high. …,

Song Ziwen also attaches great importance to the cadres he has trained from the anti-smuggling training institute of the Ministry of Finance.

The anti-smuggling training institute is actually a military school, and the professional business courses taught by the anti-smuggling training institute do not have anti-smuggling content, and the director Zhang Daohong, the chief of education, and the chief captain are all military officers studying in the United States, and they practice a full set of training methods for the US military. In a word, Song Ziwen established the Tax Police Corps, and never thought of letting these tax police collect taxes from the beginning.

In 1930, Song Ziwen also recruited 175 in-service military and police personnel who were escorted by various military and police organs and had a high school education level to carry out a one-year accelerated education for officers, learning the four major courses of tactics, terrain, weapons, and city building, as well as general small courses (dictionaries, models, orders, etc.), and were assigned as platoon and company commanders after graduation.

There is another difference between the tax police corps and the central army, that is, the quality of its soldiers is relatively high, and those who enter the tax police corps must pass an examination to become a soldier, and those who are illiterate are not required. In addition, the training methods of the American army and the German army are implemented, and attention is paid to the cultivation of soldiers' cultural level, so their disciplines, technical subjects, and specialized military technology can be said to be superior to those of the Central Army. Only one year after its establishment, the Tax Police Corps won the individual and team championships in the National Army Shooting Competition.

In addition, the Tax Police Corps has an advisory board of eight German officers.

It is especially worth mentioning that Song Ziwen admired Sun Liren very much and handed over the training of the Tax Police Corps to Sun Liren. Sun Liren really lived up to his trust, he combined the traditional Chinese education with the education methods of the American military academy, worked out a training system and methods suitable for the tax police corps, and formed a set of training drills that were different from the Central Army and any other troops in China, and were called "Sun's drill code" in the tax police corps.

The weapons and equipment of the Tax Police Corps are procured by the Ministry of Finance on its own, and the level of sophistication is not comparable to that of ordinary troops. Began to purchase mainly American weapons, equipped with Oligen anti-aircraft cannons, Vickers amphibious combat vehicles, rifles are mainly German-made 1924 standard Mauser series guns or Belgian FN1924/30 rifle guns, light machine guns are Czech ZB26, heavy machine guns are mostly Maxim 24 water-cooled heavy machine guns, pistols are the famous 7.63 mm Mauser M1932, and even the first in the Central Army system to be equipped with "Carden? Lloyd" ultralight tank.

After the resolute rectification of Song Ziwen and his generals, the Tax Police Corps became an absolute "irregular army" elite troops, and the Tax Police Corps at this time can be called the most modern elite in the Central Army.

On the eve of the "128" incident, most of the tax police regiment was stationed in Shanghai and Pudong, with the first regiment stationed in Xujiahui, the second regiment stationed in Nanxiang, the third regiment stationed in Zhabei, and the fourth regiment stationed in Qingdong, with its headquarters in Xujiahui.

After the "1.28" Anti-Japanese War began, Song Ziwen immediately ordered Wang Geng to lead his troops to Zhabei to participate in the war. Under Wang Geng's persuasion, Song Ziwen called Jiang Guangding, handed over Gu Dinghua's second regiment and Liu Tianshao's third regiment to the 19th Route Army, and prepared to enter the battle with the number of the 19th Route Army.

Wang Geng persuaded Song Ziwen to do this, firstly, considering that without the order of the Ministry of Military Affairs, the participation of the tax police corps in the war was easy to cause criticism, and the four regiments were too big to target; Second, they are afraid that if they use their own names to participate in the war, the banks of the eight countries will oppose it and stop allocating the rest of the funds.

It's just that after Jiang Guangding thought about it again, he didn't initially pull the tax police regiment to the front line, but prepared to use the tax police regiment as a reserve for the whole army.

Song Ziwen did not dare to mention this matter to Chiang Kai-shek, because Chiang Kai-shek did not order the Central Army and other troops to participate in the war. Moreover, Song Ziwen knew that Chiang Kai-shek had always had a penchant for cracking down on and weakening miscellaneous cards, and he didn't know what Chiang Kai-shek thought about the 19th Route Army this time.

What he didn't expect was that today this Chen Lifu would poke this matter out in front of Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek was already very angry at Song Zhewu for sending troops privately, and he must have been dissatisfied with his small actions, and he would inevitably be reprimanded in front of everyone, and he couldn't help but be a little ashamed. …,

As soon as he heard that it was Song Ziwen's tax police corps running to Zhabei to make trouble, Chiang Kai-shek's expression relaxed.

Chiang Kai-shek knew his uncle very well, and he was a good hand in economics and diplomacy, but he was very naïve in politics, and he usually acted spontaneously and casually. In particular, Song Ziwen was the most fierce advocate of the Anti-Japanese War among civilian officials, and when the war was fought in Shanghai, he sent a few tax policemen to join in the fun, which was normal for Song Ziwen. Moreover, the police in Shanghai have already joined the war, and it is not a big deal to have a few more tax police. What he is most concerned about now is the troops that Song Zhewu sent to Shanghai privately, and he is not interested in the tax police.

Chiang Kai-shek just glared at Song Ziwen, and did not mean to continue the investigation.

As soon as he heard that Song Ziwen did not ask Chiang Kai-shek, he handed over the tax police regiment to Jiang Guangding to participate in the war, and several people in the room sweated for Song Ziwen.

He Yingqin, Yang Yongtai, Zhang Zhizhong, and Lin Wei all know about the affairs of the Tax Police Corps, but these people are not willing to get involved in Chiang Kai-shek's family affairs. Besides, Song Ziwen is open-minded by nature and has good popularity, so there is no need for them to offend Song Ziwen. At this time, seeing that Chiang Kai-shek had no intention of pursuing it, they were also relieved.

Unexpectedly, Chen Lifu still did not give up, and continued slowly: "It's a pity that Minister Song doesn't engage in the military. In just over a year, a well-equipped army of more than 30,000 people has been built, which is really not simple. In my opinion, the tax police corps is not far behind the two German armor divisions of 87 and 88. ”

What the? More than 30,000 people! It's even so good that it's on par with a German mechanic! Chiang Kai-shek's nerves tensed violently, staring at Chen Lifu, waiting for his next step.

Chen Lifu no longer cared about Song Ziwen, and ignored the strange eyes of several other people, and reported carefully to Chiang Kai-shek.

"Chairman, there are four regiments under the Tax Police Corps, plus the troops directly under the Corps, which is equivalent to six regiments. The establishment of the tax police regiment is very large, counting 14 soldiers in each squad, each squad is equipped with light machine guns, six squads are a platoon, three platoons are a company, and each company has a total of 252 soldiers, which is equivalent to two companies of the regular army of Class A; In addition to the three battalions under the command of the regiment, there are also seven special service companies, each with more than 5,000 combat soldiers. The regimental headquarters also directly administers seven battalions, including the engineer battalion, the antiaircraft artillery battalion, the artillery battalion, and the communications battalion. The entire regiment has more than 30,000 soldiers. ”

"In addition, the equipment of the tax police corps is also very good, there are ......"

30,000 people, that's two divisions! Also so well equipped. And Song Ziwen did it under his nose like this, and he didn't know anything in advance, and Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but be secretly frightened. Looking at the expressions of the other people, Chiang Kai-shek knew that except for Wang Jingwei and He Chengjun, everyone else should know about this matter, and he also understood the reason why no one told him.

Chiang Kai-shek's most taboo is that the military power is not unified, and he is now cracking down on and squeezing out local forces, just for the ultimate unification of military power, and he will never allow another army to emerge that is independent of the central military system, although he absolutely does not believe that Song Ziwen will have bad intentions, but this army must be withdrawn.

It's just that he really doesn't have any good way to deal with Song Ziwen, and if he wants to eat the tax police corps, he can only find a chance.

This eldest brother is absolutely loyal to himself, and has been vigorously supporting him all these years, which can be called the economic pillar of the national government. Moreover, he knows the character of this eldest brother too well, if he really has a temper, he will dare to slap the table with him. Now it seems that Song Ziwen is already a little angry, if he reprimands him at this time, he will leave with his sleeves and make himself unable to get off the stage.

Thinking of this, Chiang Kai-shek not only secretly complained to Chen Lifu in his heart, but also should not mention this matter in public at this time, making himself embarrassed.

Just when Chiang Kai-shek was nervously thinking about how to deal with this matter, Lin Wei hurriedly walked in with a telegram in his hand, which was regarded as relieving Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief. …,

"Report to the chairman, Song Zhewu called back." Lin Wei said as he handed the draft telegram to Chiang Kai-shek.

Song Zhewu's telegram was very long, two pages long, and Chiang Kai-shek read the telegram expressionlessly, closed his eyes and thought for a while, then picked up the telegram again and carefully looked at several key places.

Nothing could be seen from Chiang Kai-shek's expression, and He Yingqin and Zhang Zhizhong turned their eyes to Lin Wei again, trying to get some information from Lin Wei. And Lin Wei sat on the sofa, staring at his knees, not looking at others at all.

After a long time, Chiang Kai-shek put down the telegram and looked up to ask He Chengjun.

"Xuezhu, what do you think of Shanghai's problems?"

Although it is said that because He Chengjun commands the miscellaneous troops in a good way, he is called Xiao Mengwei by the generals of the miscellaneous army, and he is deeply valued by Chiang Kai-shek, but He Chengjun is very self-aware, and the people in this room, which one of them can eat better than him in front of Chiang Kai-shek, he knows very well that He Yingqin is the representative of the main peace faction, and Zhang Zhizhong, Song Ziwen, Lin Wei and others are all in the main battle, seeing that this uncle has even sent his baby tax police to participate in the war, it is clear that he is determined to fight. Whether he is the main battle or the main peace, he will inevitably offend one side, how dare he express his opinion.

However, since Chiang Kai-shek asked, it would not be possible not to answer.

He Chengjun leaned into his body and said cautiously: "Chairman of the National People's Congress, the situation in Shanghai is complicated, and it makes sense whether it is war or peace. However, Cheng Jun assured that no matter whether it was war or peace, the whole province of Hubei would resolutely obey the orders of the chairman. ”

"Hmm. Very good! ”

Chiang Kai-shek, although he was very dissatisfied with He Chengjun's ambiguous answer, nodded approvingly. Chiang Kai-shek swept his gaze to Yang Yongtai and Zhang Zhizhong.

Yang Yongtai is the Lord and the Lord, which is not only clear to him, but also clear to others. Zhang Zhizhong was not a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee, and Zhang Zhizhong did not attend the Standing Committee meeting during the day, and Chiang Kai-shek was very eager to hear Zhang Zhizhong's opinion.

Chiang Kai-shek has always attached great importance to Zhang Zhizhong's opinions.

First of all, Chiang Kai-shek thought that Zhang Zhizhong was extremely loyal to him, and not only did Wang Jingwei run from Wuhan to Nanjing to follow him during the "April 12" period, but Zhang Zhizhong resigned and left office this time. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to persuade him personally, and handed over the 87th Division, which was reorganized from the 1st Guard Division of the Central Guard Army, to Zhang Zhizhong, which shows Chiang Kai-shek's trust in Zhang Zhizhong; Second, Chiang Kai-shek admired Zhang Zhizhong's courage to speak out, which was very rare in the Kuomintang.

Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's gaze, Zhang Zhizhong said: "Chairman of the National Committee, in my humble opinion, this Shanghai War of Resistance must not only be fought, but also the Central Army must participate in the war. ”

As soon as Zhang Zhizhong spoke, He Yingqin and Yang Yongtai couldn't help but look at each other and smile bitterly. And Song Ziwen was smiling.

Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek no longer asked about the tax police corps' participation in the war, which made Chen Lifu deflated, Song Ziwen was very happy, and at this time Zhang Zhizhong made it clear that the main battle was the main battle, which made Song Ziwen even more excited, and echoed and said: "Yes! Right! Wen Bai said well, the Central Army must enter the war. ”

Chiang Kai-shek ignored Song Ziwen and said to Zhang Zhizhong with a calm expression: "Wenbai, let's go on, why does the Central Army have to participate in the war. ”

"First, the Japanese army not only openly invaded the Northeast, but now it is stirring up trouble in Shanghai in a vain attempt to forcibly occupy Shanghai, and we must vigorously retaliate, otherwise the Japanese will gain an inch and become more and more arrogant; Second, the League of Nations will soon go to Shanghai, and then go to the northeast to investigate. If we repeatedly condone the Japanese invasion, it will make foreigners despise the Nationalist Government, which will not help us gain sympathy and support in the international community. Third, Zhang Xueliang withdrew from the Northeast without a fight, which caused the people to scold him bitterly, and if the chairman of the committee ignored the Japanese army that invaded Shanghai after returning to Nanjing, and the central army did not participate in the war, the prestige of the chairman would be damaged. Fourth, in the face of the blatant aggression of the Japanese invaders, the masses in the army were agitated and asked for war one after another, and if the central army did not participate in the war, I was afraid that the army's morale would be unstable. ”…,

"In short, if the Central Army does not participate in the war, there will be all kinds of harm to the country and no benefit to the chairman, please think twice."

Zhang Zhizhong's words are very clear, Zhang Xueliang did not resist and was scolded by public opinion, and his image plummeted, and if you did not do anything after Chairman Jiang replaced Sun Ke, you would also be criticized by public opinion, and you would be in the same situation as Zhang Xueliang.

Zhang Zhizhong's words were poking at Chiang Kai-shek's sore spot. It's okay if he doesn't go into the wilderness, but after going out into the wilderness for the second time, not fighting will indeed greatly damage his prestige and prestige.

Moreover, on this trip, he no longer served as chairman of the Nationalist Government, but Lin Sen served as chairman, and Wang Jingwei served as the premier of the Executive Yuan, and he only held the post of chairman of the Military Commission. Although the military committee was extremely powerful, he was still the actual presiding officer of the Nationalist Government and the leader of the Nationalist Government, but after all, he lacked such a name, and he would be constrained by Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin in the party. If his prestige is damaged, it is likely that Wang Jingwei and his ilk will be given another chance to bring him down.

Moreover, many officers of the Central Army asked for war, and Chiang Kai-shek knew about this. He had already received a report that the officers of the 87th Division, headed by Song Xilian, commander of the 261st Brigade, Sun Yuanliang, commander of the 259th Brigade, and Liu Anqi, commander of the 521st Regiment, had gone to He Yingqin's house several times to make trouble and resolutely asked to go to Shanghai to participate in the war.

These people are all from the previous issues of Huangpu, especially Song Xilian, Sun Yuanliang and Liu Anqi and others are still in the first phase, and they are all his confidants. Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek also knew that the reason why these people did not come to him was entirely the result of Zhang Zhizhong's suppression. Chiang Kai-shek relied on to control the Central Army, completely relying on these Whampoa students, if these people were dissatisfied with him Chiang Zhongzheng, it would not be a trivial matter.

However, to this day, Chiang Kai-shek still believes that a large-scale war with Japan must not be fought at this time, otherwise China will be defeated. Chiang Kai-shek firmly believed that the national policy of settling the interior must first be secure before attacking the outside world, and that the internal strife was not cessant, and the external troubles were endless, and he had to calm down the internal strife and only after the national strength was restored could he fight with Japan. This is also the reason why after the Japanese army invaded and occupied Northeast China, he only complained to the League of Nations so far, but did not declare war on Japan.

Chiang Kai-shek glanced at Song Zhewu's telegram on the table again, stood up, and began to pace slowly again.

Everyone knows Chiang Kai-shek's temperament, and Chiang Kai-shek is repeatedly weighing the pros and cons in his heart and preparing to make a decision. Except for Wang Jingwei, who still looked disapproving, the eyes of the others, whether they were in the main battle or in the main peace, followed Chiang Kai-shek nervously.

Song Xilian and others went to He Yingqin's house to ask for war, but He Yingqin didn't care, he was the chief instructor of the Whampoa Military Academy and their teacher, every time He Yingqin just reprimanded them and drove them away, and he didn't take it to heart.

Moreover, He Yingqin also knew that the reason why these people were looking for him was not only because he was the Minister of Military Affairs, but also because these students knew that he was open-minded and would not treat them badly, and if they wanted to find Chiang Kai-shek, these people did not have the courage. At this point, He Yingqin was very happy in his heart.

However, he was resolutely in favor of peace, believing that as soon as the Central Army entered the war, the war in Shanghai would inevitably expand, and I am afraid that it would not be able to be cleaned up at that time. As for China's military strength, he He Yingqin, as the Minister of Military Affairs, is very clear. Before Chiang Kai-shek could make a decision, he had to stop it again.

He Yingqin looked at Chiang Kai-shek's back and said: "Chairman of the National Committee, although there are many people in the Central Army who ask for war, there are also many who oppose the transfer of troops to Shanghai, and many people may just say that they want to participate in the war. ”

He Yingqin glanced at Yang Yongtai and continued: "For example, although Zhu Shaoliang, the director of the Nanchang camp, and many officers asked for battle, I asked Xiong Shihui, the chief of staff of the camp, and he said that the Communist Party is a maggot on the tarsus, and the Japanese are only a flesh sore, and the most important thing at present is to eliminate the Red Army. He said that the troops in the Nanchang camp are now in a critical period of encircling and suppressing the Zhumao Red Army, and the troops cannot be mobilized, not even a division. ”…,

"As for the other local troops, although those people say it nicely, if they really want them to send troops, they will first ask for weapons, and then find a reason to delay."

Xiong Shihui is also a cadre of the Department of Political Science, and his attitude is naturally Yang Yongtai's attitude, He Yingqin really wants Yang Yongtai to come out to persuade Chiang Kai-shek. But Yang Yongtai just smiled bitterly and did not agree.

Zhang Zhizhong's words touched Chiang Kai-shek very much, and Yang Yongtai, who was good at observing words and feelings, had already noticed it. It's just that Yang Yongtai also realized that if the Central Army did nothing, Chiang Kai-shek's prestige would be damaged, and he really couldn't think of how to dissuade him at this time.

Chiang Kai-shek turned around, looked at the crowd, and said to He Yingqin: "Not really, Wen Ge just said in the telegram that he had flown back to Taiyuan, and had ordered Li Sichi's 41st Army to be ready and standby, and also negotiated with Wang Maogong, Wang Maogong, the wagon of Jinpu Road, was ready and was on standby in Shijiazhuang, and he could personally lead the 41st Army south to Shanghai to participate in the battle at any time." ”

He Yingqin shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Chairman of the Committee, besides Wen Ge, who else will agree to send troops?" Han Fuyu won't, He Jian won't, Lu Diping won't, and Yan Xishan won't. I heard that the last time Fu Zuoyi went to Beimeng, Yan Xishan had a lot of complaints, and the generals of the Jin Sui Army are now crowding out Fu Zuoyi. ”

Chiang Kai-shek waved his hand to stop He Yingqin. He exhaled heavily, and said in a firm tone: "Jingzhi, don't say it, I have decided, Shanghai still has to fight the ground, and the Central Army must participate in the war." ”

Hearing that Chiang Kai-shek had decided to start a war with the Japanese army in Shanghai, Zhang Zhizhong couldn't help but let out a long breath lightly, while Song Ziwen patted the armrest of the sofa and shouted happily: "Good! That's great! It's time to fight the Japanese fiercely and show the evil anger of the past few months. ”

"No, the war is to fight the ground, not a big fight, let alone an all-out war with Japan." Yang Yongtai interjected.

Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek was noncommittal, he smiled silently. He Yingqin asked thoughtfully: "What does the chairman mean is a small fight?" ”

"If it's a small fight, then let Zhang Fang's 20th Route Army come to Shanghai. Wen Ge must not be allowed to come to Shanghai, if he comes to Shanghai, I am afraid that the scope of the war will be difficult to grasp. ”

Zhang Fang's 20th Route Army was mainly composed of the Green Forest Swordsmen in the Central Plains and the local troops incorporated after the Central Plains War, and after the downsizing, there were only two divisions, 75 and 76, and their combat effectiveness was extremely poor. Regarding He Yingqin's proposal, Zhang Zhizhong couldn't help frowning.

Chiang Kai-shek's words Zhang Zhizhong also heard the meaning, that is, he didn't want to fight hard, he just wanted to deal with it, and the purpose was to just maintain his own prestige. It's just that this purpose can only be understood and not spoken.

Zhang Zhizhong sighed secretly, stood up and said: "Chairman of the committee, since we want to fight, we must show the prestige of the Chinese army, otherwise the Japanese will be even more arrogant, and it will also further boost their arrogance." I asked for orders to lead the 87th Division to the aid of Shanghai. ”

He Yingqin shook his head and said: "No, the 87th Division is the guard unit of Nanjing, the 87th Division goes to Shanghai, and there is only one 88th Division left near Nanjing. ”

Ignoring He Yingqin's opposition, Chiang Kai-shek nodded and said: "I agree with Wen Bai's suggestion, if you don't fight, you will have to fight the prestige of the Central Army, so we will send the most elite troops." ”

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Zhang Zhizhong and said: "I intend to form the Fifth Army, since Wen Bai is asking for war, the post of commander of the Fifth Army will be held by Wen Bai." The Fifth Army, with the 87th and 88th divisions and the Central Teaching Corps as the backbone, went to Shanghai to participate in the battle, under the unified command of Jiang Guangding. ”

Chiang Kai-shek looked at Song Ziwen and continued to say to Zhang Zhizhong: "In addition, an independent brigade is formed by Ziwen's second tax police regiment and third tax police regiment, and that Wang Geng is the brigade commander, which is temporarily assigned to the Fifth Army. ”

Since Chiang Kai-shek no longer pursued the fact that the tax police regiment was preparing to enter the war privately, Song Ziwen's heart was relieved. As for whether the two regiments of his tax police regiment were placed under the command of the 19th Route Army or under the command of the newly established Fifth Army, Song Ziwen didn't mind, he was not worried that Chiang Kai-shek would be able to eat his two regiments. …,

"And ......"

Chiang Kai-shek paced and continued: "Wen Ge has admitted that the troops gathered by Shi Ming are all his men, all veterans who have fought in Northern Mongolia and Northeast China, a total of more than 15,500 people, enough for the establishment of a division. Now, the war against Japan is exactly what we need these people who have experience in fighting against Japan. The Ministry of Military Affairs gave this division a nickname......"

Chiang Kai-shek glanced at the stunned He Yingqin and said, "Hmm...... I think it's the 187th Division. ”

"High! The chairman is really clever! ”

Song Ziwen said happily: "Wen Ge, this kid is too bold, he dares to mobilize so many troops to Shanghai without permission, he should teach this kid a lesson, and bring this army back to the central government, even if it is a punishment for him." ”

Regarding Song Ziwen's "schadenfreude", He Yingqin was angry and funny, glared at Song Ziwen who was squeezing his eyes at him, and said in his heart that Song Zhewu's division would no longer belong to the Fourth Route Army in the future. Chiang Kai-shek can open up to Song Ziwen's tax police corps, and he will never be polite to Song Zhewu.

Sure enough, Chiang Kai-shek stopped and said to Lin Wei: "Call Wen Ge and tell him what I mean." Tell him again that after the end of the battle in Shanghai, the 187th Division will stay in Nanjing, and the officers above the company level of the division who are willing to return to the Fourth Route Army can leave voluntarily, and those who are willing to stay in the Central Army, whether it is Wen Bai or Jingzhi and me, will not treat them badly, and we will treat them as the same as the officers of the Central Army. In addition, tell him again that the 41st Army does not have to come to Shanghai, and he does not have to come to Nanjing, so I will go to Luoyang on the same day and let him go to Luoyang to report on his work. ”

Seeing that Lin Wei was going out to generate electricity, He Yingqin hurriedly called out to Lin Wei and said to Chiang Kai-shek: "Chairman, since it has been decided to fight, the difficulties of the 87th and 88th divisions must be solved first. ”

It should be said that He Yingqin's minister of military affairs has done a very competent job and has a very clear understanding of the situation of various units. The most important thing is that He Yingqin is not greedy, so it is more fair and just to do things. Moreover, no matter what his own likes and dislikes of a certain thing are, as long as Chiang Kai-shek decides something, he will try his best to arrange and implement it, and will never delay his feet, which is why Chiang Kai-shek has always reused He Yingqin.

Chiang Kai-shek was a little unclear about He Yingqin's words, so the 87th and 88th divisions were the central guard units of the German Armament Division, did they still have difficulties?

He Yingqin explained: "Chairman of the Committee, although these two divisions are Class A divisions and have also been equipped with some German equipment, their personnel, weapons and ammunition are still insufficient, and they need to be replenished immediately. Since the Fifth Army is going to participate in the war, is it not replenishing personnel and weapons from the Central Army units that encircled and suppressed Hubei, Henan, and Anhui? ”

Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek's face was unhappy, He Yingqin knew that Chiang Kai-shek was not a family and did not know the price of firewood and rice, and explained with a wry smile: "During the Central Plains War, there were too many financial debts, and several times to encircle and suppress Jiangxi and Hubei, Henan, and Anhui to suppress bandits, and the military expenditure was even greater, so the equipment of these two divisions was not fully prepared for the time being. ”

Chiang Kai-shek turned his attention to Zhang Zhizhong. Zhang Zhizhong has always served as the chief of education of the Central Military Academy, and he is very familiar with the situation of the two German armament divisions established on the basis of the military academy teaching corps, not to mention that in the past month or so, he has personally served as the commander of the 87 th Division.

At the mention of troops, Zhang Zhizhong's face was a little gloomy, and his tone was a little heavy to report to Chiang Kai-shek.

"According to the original plan, the 87th Division should be fully equipped with more than 13,000 men, and should be equipped with 7,831 rifles, 1,503 cavalry guns, 2,940 shell guns, 108 pistols, 92 heavy machine guns, 294 light machine guns, 50 mortars, and 36 mountain artillery field guns. In addition, there should be more than 3,400 horses. But in fact, the 87th Division now has only more than 10,000 personnel, and is only equipped with more than 3,800 rifles, 328 light and heavy machine guns, 46 mortars, and 243 grenadiers. The number of horses is also far from the requirement. ”

Zhang Zhizhong's report made Chiang Kai-shek sigh secretly in his heart, this is the most elite unit of the national army, and such a force is still rare in the central army, how can such strength declare war on Japan? In Chiang Kai-shek's view, with the strength of the current Chinese army, none of the three armies could withstand a full Japanese division of nearly 30,000 people. …,

However, Chiang Kai-shek's face did not show embarrassment, but waved his hand with a smile and said: "This matter is easy to handle, the troops encircling and suppressing Hubei, Henan and Anhui have just suffered setbacks, so don't transfer troops from them." The problem of personnel was to deploy from the newly established 187th Division, supplement the 87th and 88th Divisions, and then let Wenge deploy personnel to complete the 187th Division. In this way, the three main divisions of the Fifth Army totaled more than 13,000 troops. ”

As for weapons and equipment, it is also easy to do, Wenge prepared 30,000 79 rifles, 1,000 light machine guns, 500 large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns, 200 mortars, 60 mountain artillery, more than 10 million rounds of guns and shells, and 100 trucks. These have already been shipped, and they will arrive in Pukou in three days. All these weapons and ammunition will be handed over to your Fifth Army. ”

"Good! That's great! With all this equipment, the Fifth Army will definitely not disappoint the chairman in Shanghai and will certainly display the prestige of Chinese soldiers. Zhang Zhizhong said excitedly.

Hearing a series of figures reported by Chiang Kai-shek, He Yingqin, Song Ziwen, and Lin Wei couldn't help but admire Chiang Kai-shek's memory, and they were also very pleased with Song Zhewu's generosity.

Chiang Kai-shek waved his hand and said: "Wenbai, the Fifth Army went to Shanghai to participate in the battle, the Japanese army's firepower was very fierce, and the battle would be very hard. In this way, I remember that the artillery establishment of the German armament division should be one artillery company per regiment and one artillery regiment per division. In this way, Wei Wen telegraphed Wen Ge again, telling him that it was I who said it, and asked him to add 150 more artillery pieces and arrange the artillery of the three main divisions of the Fifth Army in order. ”

In addition, he was asked to urgently deploy 10,000 military horses from his military horse farm in Nanmeng, concentrate them in Zhangjiakou within ten days, and transfer them to Nanjing from the Pingsui line. Say hello to Gu Mengyu again, and be sure to ensure the number of wagons. These military supplies were delivered to Pukou in a timely manner. ”

The total price of these military supplies will reach more than 20 million yuan, and it will be very difficult for Song Ziwen, the finance minister, to come up with this money immediately. However, since Chiang Kai-shek agreed to fight a good battle with the Japanese in Shanghai, which was exactly what Song Ziwen wanted, no matter how difficult it was, Song Ziwen had to prepare for it.

Song Ziwen gritted his teeth and said to Lin Wei: "Weiwen, you tell Wen Ge that I don't have the money now, but I promise that I will give him this money within two months." ”

He Yingqin waved his hand and said: "No, I'll tell Wen Ge that the Ministry of Military Affairs will not give money for these weapons and ammunition, they are all urgently allocated by the military, and Wen Ge will never be ambiguous on issues related to the country, and he will definitely agree." ”

Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts, He Yingqin could guess, although he did not know how Song Zhewu explained to Chiang Kai-shek in the telegram that he had sent troops to Shanghai without permission, so that Chiang Kai-shek would not pursue it. However, Chiang Kai-shek's increase in weapons and horses was not only for the anti-Japanese war in Shanghai, but also for Chiang Kai-shek's purpose, that is, to test Song Zhewu's loyalty to the Nationalist government, or to him Chiang Kai-shek himself. He was afraid that Song Zhewu would not be able to see the reasons for this. can only let Song Zhewu have more blood.

Chiang Kai-shek nodded and said, "There is also good news, Wenge intends to send his air force corps to Shanghai to help in the war. ”

"Airplanes? Didn't his plane almost lose in North Mongolia? He Yingqin asked suspiciously.

"Nope."

Chiang Kai-shek shook his head and said: "You don't know, according to Dai Li, Wen Ge got those planes from Zhang Hanqing, and the fighters among them did lose almost a dozen in Northern Mongolia, and there were probably only a dozen left, but now the aircraft factory of Taiyuan North Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Company can already produce its own aircraft, and it seems that the performance is not bad." According to Vengo, he will send nearly 100 bombers and fighters. ”

Facing the surprise He Yingqin and Zhang Zhizhong, Chiang Kai-shek tightened his face and said: "This news should be kept secret, and tell Mao Bangchu that the Longhua airports in Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai must be prepared to ensure the fuel and ammunition of the aircraft." ”…,

"In addition......"

Chiang Kai-shek continued to make military deployments along his lines.

"The first division stationed in Zhengzhou, that is, Kehui returned to Beijing to prepare for the war; The 10th and 83rd divisions of Jiangxi entered Zhejiang to garrison; The Ninth Division moved from Jiangxi to Hangzhou; The 36th Brigade stationed on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi border was transferred to the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway. The 2nd, 6th, and 7th Air Fleets of the Aviation Administration, as well as aircraft from Guangzhou, were stationed at Hangzhou Airport ......"

Everyone understood that although Chiang Kai-shek did not want to fight in Shanghai, he was making preparations for the expansion of the war.

After making military arrangements, Chiang Kai-shek said to Song Ziwen: "Militarily, we must fight fiercely, show the prestige of our Central Army, and let the Japanese know that the Central Army is by no means the Northeast Army." However, military affairs are only a means, and there are many ways to achieve the end, and we must also actively prepare for diplomatic means. ”

"Ziwen, you have to stay in Shanghai with Luo Wengan, Yongzhi, Gu Weijun, and Guo Taiqi, and be responsible for contacting the British and American diplomatic missions, looking for opportunities to negotiate with the Japanese, and resolving ......the dispute as soon as possible."

"Weiwen, send electricity to the whole country again."

Seeing that Lin Wei was ready to record, Chiang Kai-shek began to pace while dictating the message.

“…… When the revolutionary officers and men of our army are in this country of extinction and imminent danger, they should fight for the personality of the country, seek survival for the nation, fulfill their responsibilities for the revolution, and have the determination to be rather than destroyed, so as to deal with the violent day of destroying peace and disregarding confidence! ……”——

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