Seeing off Han Fuyu, Song Zhewu came to the war room next door. He didn't want to stay too much here in Wushengguan, his destination was not here, but Zhengzhou. There you can advance or retreat, always maintain the initiative, in case the situation changes, your own troops in Hebei can also be rescued.

The most important thing is that he can also do some "private work" easily, and in the city of Zhengzhou, he also has to recruit some educated students to join the army, and his air force needs a large number of pilots. There is also the Gongxian Arsenal, one of the four major arsenals in China today, he is not interested in the arsenal itself, not to say that the equipment there is not easy for him to move, even if he can move it, he does not want it. Gongxian Arsenal was in August 1915, Yuan Shikai with the help of the Germans, began the first phase of construction, and completed it three years later. Its equipment is fourteen or fifteen years old, and it is all old machines, and Song Zhewu still can't look at it. If he can take advantage of the opportunity of staying in Zhengzhou, no matter what methods he uses to recruit, rob, or cheat, he can get some talents back from Laiyuan, then it will be very big. He has no shortage of machinery and equipment, and soon the famous Great Depression will occur in Europe and the United States, and it is easy to buy machinery and equipment, and what he lacks most now is technical personnel.

In the war room, the staff officers were busy conveying orders and reporting the situation. Tao Rong and Mengxi were pointing and discussing in front of the map hanging on the wall inside.

The sound of the staff officers saluting Song Zhewu in the war room made the two stop. The two saluted Song Zhewu. Song Zhewu asked Tao Rong: "How long will it take for the baggage regiment and cavalry brigade to reach Wusheng Pass?" ”

"I just called to inquire, the baggage regiment still has half an hour to arrive, and it is estimated that the cavalry brigade will be later." Tao Rong replied as she handed a plan to Song Zhewu. "This is the "Wushengguan Battle Plan" formulated by the Operations Department, please take a look at it."

Song Zhewu took the battle plan and looked at it carefully. Mengxi's plan was: to use a regiment, a battalion and a regimental artillery battalion to advance to the area of Lijiazhai and Dongshuanghe Town between Wushengguan and Xinyang, and choose favorable terrain to set up a blocking position to prevent the Northwest Army that had withdrawn from Wushengguan from returning to aid Wushengguan. The 1st Regiment and 2nd Battalion attacked the high ground on the east side of Wusheng Pass, and the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 1st Regiment made a feint attack on the east side of Wusheng Pass; The 2nd Regiment attacked the Kansai Heights with the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalion made a feint attack on the Kansai Heights, and the 3rd and 4th Battalions, plus the Baggage Battalion, guarded the disarmed 60th Brigade and the 23rd Division Engineer Battalion, and also served as the divisional reserve. The artillery regiment cooperated with the third regiment to be responsible for the main attack. The deployment of troops, the allocation of firepower, the timing of launching the attack, and the mutual support of each link are all very detailed and clear in the plan."

Song Zhewu looked at the plan, and Tao Rong explained their idea of making this plan. "The first regiment, one battalion and the regimental artillery battalion went forward to the area of Lijiazhai and Dongshuanghe Town between Wushengguan and Xinyang for defense. According to the information obtained from the interrogation of the prisoners and our reconnaissance, there are now only 23rd and 20th divisions in Wusheng Pass, and the other units have all withdrawn north or returned west one after another yesterday. Extrapolating from the time, it would be twelve hours before they could return to Wusheng Pass at the earliest; According to the prisoners' confessions, the troops defending the heights on both sides of Wushengguan had already withdrawn in the early hours of this morning, but after the arrival of one regiment, the Northwest Army with one regiment on each side of the heights went up to defend. According to a regiment, both regiments did not have artillery, there were only a few 60mm mortars, and there were not many machine guns. The fortifications on the high ground were all built in consideration of fighting outside the pass, and there were almost no fortifications on the inside, which was extremely conducive to us using superior firepower to kill and injure them in large numbers. In a short period of time, there is no problem in taking these two heights; Without fire support on the high ground, Wushengguan will not be able to stop us at all. The wall of Wusheng Pass is thin and cannot withstand the bombardment of our mountain artillery, not to mention that we still have close-range heavy fire such as 120mm mortars. We planned to launch a fake attack on Guancheng to attract the 23rd Division to defend against the Guancheng, and then suddenly use all the mountain artillery and mortars of the artillery regiment and the 3rd Regiment to bombard the Guancheng in a concentrated manner, killing and injuring a large number of the living forces of the Northwest Army, and at the same time bombarding the Guancheng and breaking through into the Guancheng in one fell swoop. We expect a maximum of 6 hours to completely resolve the battle. ”

Song Zhewu was very satisfied with this plan. In such a short period of time, with such a complete campaign plan, it seems that choosing Mengxi as the chief of operations is the right person. In particular, this plan was rigorous and meticulous, and it was very German in style. It seems that Xiao Guodong's hard work for his high-level foot is not in vain.

If this plan is carried out, the destruction of the 23rd Division is inevitable. The only thing that made Song Zhewu a little worried was street fighting, these troops of his fought in the field, and now Song Zhewu was no longer worried, what he was worried about was that they had no actual combat experience in street fighting. Although there are also street fighting subjects in training, there is a big gap between training and actual combat.

Tao Rong looked at Song Zhewu's expression and knew that he was very satisfied with this plan. He said with a smile: "Commander, it's not that I'm boasting, the combat department of our Fourth Route Army is absolutely first-class among all the old units in China. In terms of efficiency alone, it is not much better than the staff office of the Fourth Army of the Gui system, and in time, it must be one of the best in the country. ”

Tao Rong was telling the truth, in such a short period of time, Mengxi handed over the battle plan to him, which surprised him a little. He had been in the Gui Department for a long time, and he had been engaged in staff work, and under his leadership, the efficiency of the Staff Office of the Nineteenth Army should be at least one of the best in the Gui Department. In his eyes, such a plan would not have been made in such a short period of time in the Nineteenth Army, and this was still a group of young people.

Song Zhewu smiled and said, "Director Meng, you did a good job. Being able to get the praise of Chief of Staff Tao, an old military officer, is the most telling thing. ”

The work of the staff office was praised by Song Zhewu and Tao Rong, which made Mengxi very happy, and said excitedly: "Thank you for the praise of the commander and the chief of staff, the staff office still has a lot of work to improve, and the commander and the chief of staff will give more guidance in the future." ”

Song Zhewu laughed: "Okay, you Mengxi, you have also learned to pat on the back." I don't dare to give you advice as Chief of Staff Xiao, so you should let Chief of Staff Tao give me more guidance. ”

Song Zhewu handed over the battle plan to Tao Rong, suppressed his smile and said, "This plan is very good, but I want to cancel this plan." ”

"Why?" Tao Rong and Mengxi asked in surprise almost at the same time. They didn't understand why Song Zhewu was praising the plan for being good and canceling it at the same time.

Song Zhewu knew that the two of them were puzzled, so he hurriedly told the two of them what Han Fuyu had just said. In the end, he said: "In other words, Li Xingzhong doesn't dare to trouble us anymore, and we haven't reached the time to tear our faces with the Northwest Army now." In that case, this plan is not needed. ”

"Chief of Staff Tao, give the combat department a collective credit, and return to Laiyuan to report to Chief of Staff Xiao." Song Zhewu looked at Mengxi, who was a little disappointed, and couldn't bear to hit their positive surname.

Unused battle plans should also be credited? Tao Rong had heard of it for the first time. But on second thought, Song Zhewu was not only right to do this, but also very clever. The people in the staff office headed by Mengxi are all young people in their twenties. The best way for young people to grow up is to encourage them. Of course, it is good for them to learn some lessons from their setbacks, but it must not discourage them from being positive. Tao Rong has the best experience of this.

Tao Rong has been in the military for more than ten years, and he is very grateful to two people, one is Bai Chongxi, who he has been following. At that time, he was still very young, and he was very happy to do things, although he had his own unique opinions on many things, but because of experience, there were cases of inconsiderate thinking. But Bai Chongxi never criticized and blamed him, and then pointed out his shortcomings after encouragement, so that he always dared to play and put forward his own opinions. This is also the most important reason why he was finally able to sit in the position of chief of staff of the 19th Army. The other person is Hu Zongduo, Hu Zongduo trusts him even more, let him let go of his actions, in the Nineteenth Army, he Tao Rong can do half of the master. In Tao Rong's opinion, Song Zhewu did better than Bai Chongxi and Hu Zongduo. The future of this young commander is absolutely limitless, maybe......

Song Zhewu patted Mengxi on the shoulder and continued: "Although the possibility that Li Xingzhong and Wei Fenglou will fight with us is very small, we can't be unguarded. He could let a regiment set off immediately, choose a favorable terrain near Lijiazhai and Dongshuanghe Town, and send a reconnaissance force to search and advance to Xinyang. Another regiment was sent to monitor the Northwest Army in Wusheng Pass, the other troops seized the time to eat and rest, the artillery of the artillery regiment could be loaded in advance, and as soon as the baggage regiment and cavalry brigade arrived, we set off. Li Xingzhong's 60th Brigade can be put back, but we have to take away the engineer battalion of Wei Fenglou's 23rd Division, and our Fourth Route Army does not have a special engineer unit. In the past, it was all taken care of by the baggage regiments, and if this did not work, we would inevitably have to fight from a long distance in the future, and there would be no shortage of things to build bridges and pave roads. What are your opinions? ”

Tao Rong thought for a moment and said, "Commander, although we did not have a conflict with the Northwest Army this time, our contradictions with the Northwest Army have also been made public. They have already decided that we are ...... with Lao Jiang."

Speaking of this, Tao Rong suddenly realized that she should not call Chiang Kai-shek Lao Chiang in front of Song Zhewu. His face flushed, seeing that Song Zhewu did not feel a trace of unhappiness, his heart was a little relieved, and he continued: "The Northwest Army has already decided that our Fourth Route Army has the same heart as Chairman Jiang and is very hostile to us, so we can't help but guard against it. I suggest that when the baggage regiments and cavalry brigades arrive, they should rest and recuperate, mainly considering the horsepower of the cavalry brigades. When departing again, the distance between the groups should not exceed 10 miles. Moreover, the marching sequence should be adjusted, and the cavalry brigade should be used as the vanguard, searching and advancing along the way to ensure the safety of the railway. The 1st and 2nd regiments followed, then the artillery regiment, the guard brigade and headquarters, the baggage regiment, and the 3rd regiment rear. Division Commander Zhang led the troops directly under the 1st Division to move with the 2nd Regiment. ”

(To be continued)