Mengxi couldn't help it, and said indignantly: "Commander, this Chiang Kai-shek is too discredited!" He promised to hand over Shanxi to the commander, but seeing that we were about to take Shanxi, he changed his hand and gave Shanxi to Zhang Xueliang, who had been watching from the sidelines, what was his idea? ”

Mengxi is very talented in military affairs, but she is still young and has little experience, and she is much more immature in politics. Regarding Mengxi's question, Song Zhewu could only smile helplessly.

Wang Xu was also very helpless about Chiang Kai-shek's broken promise, and said with a wry smile: "Director Meng, from the period of the Beiyang political axe to the present, how many politicians can talk about credit?" What's more, in Chiang Kai-shek's eyes, our Fourth Route Army is not a descendant of the Central Army, but a miscellaneous card in the Central Army, and even he regards the commander as a warlord, and he will never want to see another strong warlord emerge in the north. ”

Song Zhewu let out a long sigh, he thought that Wang Xu was right, Chiang Kai-shek would never want to see him develop and grow in North China, even if he repeatedly stated that he was determined to resist. Song Zhewu decided not to think about these troubles anymore, his top priority now was how to deal with the siege of the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army, and other things had to be remedied later.

"The current situation has changed a lot from what we expected, not only is it now impossible for us to successfully take Jincheng and Changzhi, but also because the central army is not able to pass the Yellow River, the Jin Sui army and the northwest army can let go and besiege our army, and we must be ready for a big war."

Mengxi thought for a while and said: "Even if the Central Army does not exceed the Yellow River, the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army are not our opponents, it is impossible to recapture Shanxi, but I am afraid that this battle will take a longer time, and the battle situation will be more tragic." Even if Yan Xishan really drove us out of Shanxi in the end, the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army would no longer have the ability to wage war with the central government, and the remaining remnants of the defeated army would have to accept the reorganization of the central government. Do you have to fight us to the death? ”

"We broke into someone's house, and of course they wanted to fight with us. Moreover, what is the use of having no home, even if you leave a little seed, and no soil to take root and sprout? ”

Song Zhewu measured the map with his hand, and said: "However, don't worry too much, this battle may not be too long, once Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army completes the occupation of Hebei, it will inevitably free up its hands to absorb the Jin Sui Army, and at that time, the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army will not have time to fight with us again." This time is estimated to be about half a month. ”

"That is to say, our army must have a hard top with the Jin Sui army for half a month, and in this case, our "Turtledove Plan" must be revised accordingly. Director Dream, you come up with a plan first. ”

Taking advantage of Mengxi's consideration of revising the battle plan, Song Zhewu said to Wang Xu: "You are right, Chiang Kai-shek will never want to see our Fourth Route Army strong, let Zhang Xueliang enter the customs, and hand over the matter of incorporating the Jin Sui Army to Zhang Xueliang, which shows that Chiang Kai-shek is restricting and guarding against us, and it may be difficult for us to increase the establishment in the future." ”

Song Zhewu didn't care about the first wave of his hand and said, "It doesn't matter, we have a way to deal with him." However, now that the war is not over, and he has not allowed the Central Army to cross the Yellow River, Chiang Kai-shek is naturally not clear about this, and we should seize this opportunity. ”

Song Zhewu walked to the door of the tent, took a few big breaths of the air with dew, freshness and the fragrance of flowers and plants, and said in a mocking tone: "Didn't he ask me to provide a candidate for vice chairman of Inner Mongolia?" Call him and tell him: Our department will restore the number of the Fourth Route Army, and the armies under it will be renamed the First Army of the Fourth Route Army to the Ninth Army, as well as the First Cavalry Army and the Second Cavalry Army. ”

"At the same time, in order to quickly quell the rebellion, I have incorporated Jing Yuexiu's department into the Tenth Army of the Fourth Route Army, and recommended Jing Yuexiu as the vice chairman of Inner Mongolia, and the chairman will recommend it later. At the same time, the Eleventh Army and the Twelfth Army of the Fourth Route Army were formed, and the commanders were Li Yaoming and Wang Bi.

After recording the telegram, Wang Xu said with a smile on his face: "Commander, you can really do it!" The two divisions of Jing Yuexiu and Wang Bi were less than 20,000 people, so they asked Lao Jiang for the numbers of the three armies at once, and at this time, Lao Jiang was probably really embarrassed not to agree, and it was estimated that Lao Jiang would be so angry that he vomited blood. ”

Because he also returned Chiang Kai-shek's move, Song Zhewu's mood was a lot better, and he also said with a smile: "I guess he will definitely agree, since he wants me to fight to the death with Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, then he has to have some blood, otherwise it will be difficult to explain in front of the countrymen, he is a hundred unwilling in his heart, and it is not good to pick the door at this time." ”

Song Zhewu lit another cigarette and thought about it: "And I'm afraid he will be worried that I have adopted Jing Yuexiu and want to get involved in Shaanxi." In this way, I would like to add that it is recommended that the capital of Inner Mongolia be located in Baotou, so that our President Chiang can have peace of mind. ”

Wang Xu asked again: "How did Chiang Kai-shek answer Yang Hucheng's question?" ”

"Tell him that our department only maintains telecommunications with the central government, and has no contact with other central military departments, and the Yang department asked him to inquire about He Chengjun."

Wang Xu went out to generate electricity, Song Zhewu thought alone for a while, sorted out his thoughts, and came to Mengxi, who was comparing on the map.

"Commander, as you said, although Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang only learned of our army's intentions a few hours in advance, they also caused a great deal of passivity to our plan of action and had a great adverse impact on our implementation of the 'Turtledove Plan'. According to Chiang Kai-shek's time calculation, more than five hours have passed by now, and even if Yan Xishan only came to his senses after Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, they would have taken action after one o'clock in the morning. Judging from the exchange of fire between the Northwest Army in Zhengzhou and our army's blocking troops at the Yellow River Iron Bridge after 2:30 a.m., if Yan Xishan had acted quickly, Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army in Shandong should have already boarded the train before 3 o'clock in the morning. ”

"I speculate that Yan Xishan will definitely return along the Pingsui and Jinpu roads, at this time the Jin Sui army's reinforcements should have arrived in Tianjin, and the Jin Sui army along the Jinpu Road will arrive in Shijiazhuang at noon and arrive at Jingcheng at 16 o'clock; The troops returning along the Pingsui line will probably also arrive in Datong around 16 p.m. Due to the need to wait for baggage and follow-up troops, as well as the need for reconnaissance and rest, it is estimated that they will launch an attack on our troops as soon as tomorrow morning. ”

"The Northwest Army that caught up in the direction of Zhengzhou, according to the investigation, was Pang Bingxun's provisional 14th Division, and Pang Bingxun was chasing very closely behind us, it seems that he wanted to stick to our army and wait for the large force of the Northwest Army. The Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army on the Longhai Line and the Pinghan Line will enter from Jinnan, but according to Chief of Staff Wang, Xu Yongchang has prepared hundreds of civilian ships in Kaifeng, and a large part of the troops on the Longhai Line will cross the river directly from Kaifeng, and they will enter Jinnan along the march route of the Sixth Army through Xinxiang, and their goal should also be Changzhi, and according to the time, they will arrive at Gaoping and Changzhi within three days to block the way for our army to go north. ”

Mengxi said worriedly: "The total strength of the troops of the Jin Sui Army and the Northwest Army of these two routes is more than 400,000, if our army is blocked in Jinnan, the consequences will be very serious." ”

"If there is a Jin Sui army in Changzhi and Gaoping, it will be meaningless for us to capture Jincheng, time is important to us now, I think we must not only bypass Jincheng, but also abandon the plan to seize Changzhi. The Second Army and the Sixth Army, which was about to rush to Changzhi, each left one division to monitor the defenders of the Jin Sui Army in the two places, and the rest of the troops went north to Qinxian, Wuxiang, Yushe, and Liaoxian to establish blocking positions. At the same time, the troops blocking Pang Bingxun behind us should disengage from the Northwest Army as soon as possible, quickly move north, and after joining up with the troops monitoring Jincheng and Changzhi, they should withdraw to the new defense line. ”

At Song Zhewu's signal, Mengxi continued: "Also, I suggest that Laiyuan and the troops going south from the direction of Suiyuan should speed up their march. All people and materials in the direction of Laiyuan must cross the crowd before the fall of today; The Fifth Army, which was deployed in Lingqiu, Fanzhi, and Daixian, and the Eighth Army, which was planned to be deployed in Youyu, Shanyin, and Yingxian, must arrive at the designated area at noon today, step up the construction of fortifications, and closely monitor the Jin Sui Army in the direction of Datong. ”

"In the direction of Niangzi Pass, because of the convenient transportation, the reinforcements of the Jin Sui army will arrive soon, and it is likely that Yan Xishan will be used as the main direction of attack to recapture Shanxi. However, since Commander Li's Fourth Army had been stationed in Jingcheng for some time, it had already built a part of the defensive position, and the deployed positions would be correspondingly sufficient. ”

"However, because of the relationship between Zhengtai Road, this direction is also the biggest threat to us. Now that we have successfully taken control of Taiyuan and the surrounding areas, I suggest that the Mountain Division immediately return to Yangquan to establish a defensive position, which can be used as a second line of defense on the Zhengtai Road, and at the same time as a reserve for the Fourth Army. ”

"Order the Seventh Army to find the two divisions of Ma Liang and Liu Fengji as soon as possible, and if they cannot be annihilated, it is best to drive them to Linfen. Since our army also did not have time to take Linfen, the largest city in southern Jin, our army should strive to set up a defensive line on the front line of Qinyuan, Huozhou, Jiaokou, and Shilou. In this way, our army's defense line against Jinnan will be complete. ”

"The Seventh Army must have traveled thousands of miles long distances, and the troops must be very tired and in urgent need of rest. After the arrival of the Second Army, the Second Army took over the positions of the Seventh Army, and the Seventh Army, as a reserve on the southern front, withdrew to the Jiexiu and Taigu lines to rest; The Ninth Army was stationed in the Quyang area of Xinzhou as a reserve in the direction of the Northern Front and Niangzi Pass, and the First Army and the Guard Division were stationed in Taiyuan to guard Taiyuan, and at the same time served as the general reserve of the whole army. ”

It should be said that Mengxi's plan is still very perfect on the whole, at least on the surface, there are no major problems, but Song Zhewu faintly feels that there is something wrong in his heart, but where is it?

(To be continued)