Xuzhou, the Fifth Theater Governor's Department.

At nightfall, the senior staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters came up with a general outline for the implementation of the Battle of Xuzhou, including that the combat tasks of the various group armies under the theater had already been drawn up, and that the vast majority of the main forces would be assembled near Xuzhou to take an offensive northward along the Jinpu Railway, the Weitai Highway, and the canal, while a small number of troops would be stationed on the Huaihe defense line and take a defensive position.

Chairman Jiang was extremely satisfied after reading it, but suddenly he seemed to remember something, and turned back to General Li and asked, "Neighbor, why hasn't Zhongshu come back yet?" ”

After attending the military meeting in the morning, Yue Weihan left under the pretext that there was something wrong with the brigade headquarters.

Admiral Li hurriedly said: "Commission, Zhongshu will probably be busy counting the results, this time Hanzhuang is a big victory, the capture of the Baoshan Brigade is not small, I heard that there are more than 30 artillery pieces in the 75 field alone, but unfortunately there are not too many shells, and we can't make shells for little devils at once, otherwise it will be enough to form an artillery regiment." ”

"Statistical results?" Chairman Jiang frowned and said, "No need to count, let him come over immediately." ”

"Yes." Admiral Li did not dare to slack off, and urgently ordered General Xu Zuyi, chief of staff, to arrange a special car to pick up people at the Baoshan Brigade Headquarters.

In less than half an hour, Yue Weihan rushed over, and at this time, Yue Weihan had completely recovered his previous vigor, and the depression of not long ago had been swept away.

"Loyalty, come, come." Chairman Jiang waved his hand again and again, "Come here." ”

"Take a seat." Yue Weihan strode up to Chairman Jiang and stood upright.

Chairman Jiang waved his hand, handed Yue Weihan the outline for the implementation of the Xuzhou battle that had just been formulated by the theater staff, and said: "Loyalty, this is the outline for the implementation of the Xuzhou battle just formulated by the theater staff. ”

The senior generals of the party-state next to them changed their colors one after another, and the senior staff members of the theater staff department were even more indignant.

It's no wonder that in terms of military rank, Yue Weihan is just a small major general, and in terms of qualifications, most of the people present are from the fourth and third phases of Huangpu and even the first and second phases, and Yue Weihan is only a student of the tenth phase of Huangpu.

Yue Weihan said unexpectedly: "Commission, I have an important situation to report to you separately." ”

"Oh?" Chairman Jiang's expression moved slightly, and he immediately walked into the small conference room next to the war room.

Yue Weihan followed without hesitation, and the palace guards strode to the door of the small conference room, and then turned around and stopped.

All the senior generals and senior staff members in the war room immediately looked at each other, and many generals were even hot-eyed, so the opportunity to be alone with the supreme leader of the national government was very rare.

………… In the small conference room, Yue Weihan said bluntly: "Commission, I think the battle of Xuzhou will definitely be defeated!" ”

Chairman Jiang was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then his face became gloomy, he didn't expect that Yue Weihan was going to say this.

Yue Weihan couldn't care about so much, for the safety of nearly one million [***] soldiers on the battlefield in Xuzhou, and for the fate and future of the entire Chinese nation, he could only make a fool of himself, no matter whether Chairman Jiang would adopt his advice, but he had to do it, this was his responsibility, that is, his conscience!

"Loyalty, I'm afraid you're a little alarmist, right?"

"Alarmist?" Yue Weihan shook his head and said, "No, this is definitely not alarmist. ”

Chairman Jiang frowned, and said patiently: "Zhongshu, do you have a basis?" ”

"Absolutely." Yue Weihan said, "Commission, although we won the battle of Lunan, it was not easy to win, our more than 50 divisions fought around the two divisions of the Yue Army for two months, and nearly 100,000 casualties were barely wiped out of these two divisions, and now, dozens of divisions of the Yue Army are about to be overwhelmed by the army, how can we be the enemy?" ”

"I'll forgive you for not knowing." Chairman Jiang said, "Although the army has mobilized more than 20 divisions and regiments this time, they are all supplementary divisions, and their combat effectiveness is completely incomparable with elite divisions such as the fifth and tenth divisions. ”

"Take a seat." Yue Weihan hurriedly said, "I want to ask, does a large number of people mean that the combat effectiveness is strong?" ”

"Of course not." Chairman Jiang's brows furrowed again, and he said a little unhappily, "I am also a veteran of a hundred battles, and I still know these simple truths to some extent, the combat effectiveness of an army is not only determined by the number of troops, but also depends on its training, equipment, logistics and other factors. ”

"Okay." Yue Weihan said, "Then let's talk about training first!" ”

"The committee should know that the reserve of the army, that is, the soldiers in the township, have served in the permanent division, although they have been retired for a long time, but after all, they were soldiers, as long as a little experience, they can fully adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield, and the reserve of the army, although they have not enlisted in the army, but the men of the army have received militarized training since elementary school, and their military quality is by no means comparable to our peasant recruits!"

"Speaking of equipment, the army has planes in the sky, tanks on the ground, and artillery with absolute superiority, but what about us? Our machine guns need to be imported, and our artillery is all small-caliber curved guns, which are completely unable to effectively suppress the Japanese army, and once the war starts, our artillery will not be able to provide even the most basic fire support! ”

"Speaking of logistics support, the army has an annual output of 6 million tons of steel, and there is a complete national defense industry system in China, which can continuously provide arms for the troops on the front line, but what about us, with an annual output of only more than 1,000 tons of steel, how many guns and bullets can be made from this steel? There is also national strength, the national strength of Xiao Yueben is more than six times that of ours, they have more money, they can buy more grain, more rubber, more cotton from the Western world! ”

"We are far inferior to the army in terms of training, equipment, logistics, and national strength, and we can win the Battle of Xuzhou just by relying on more people? Since the advent of machine guns, the superiority of troops is no longer the decisive advantage in determining the outcome of a war. ”

Chairman Jiang already had obvious anger on his face, and said, "Then do you think Xuzhou should be abandoned?" ”

Yue Weihan's obviously question-proofing made Chairman Jiang feel both happy and angry, and he was glad that Yue Weihan dared to talk to him like this, obviously treating him as the principal of Whampoa and an elder of the country, rather than a high-ranking leader of the state government, but what made Chairman Jiang angry was that Yue Weihan resolutely opposed his idea of the Battle of Xuzhou.

"Of course, Xuzhou can't be abandoned." Yue Weihan said without thinking, "Xuzhou is our land, as a soldier, it is our duty to defend the land and resist the war, but I still have to say that we can't have a large-scale strategic duel with the Yue army in Xuzhou, we should change our strategy and deal with the Yue army with a smarter and more effective strategy!" ”

"Smarter, more effective strategies?" Chairman Jiang said, "I would like to hear what kind of strategy it is?" ”

"My strategy can be summed up in eighteen words!" Yue Weihan said, "The inner line must fight for every inch of land, the middle line movement will destroy the enemy, and the outer line guerrilla strategy will respond!" ”

Chairman Jiang said: "Specifically? ”

Yue Weihan strode to the large map hanging on the wall of the conference room, picked up the command pole and drew a large circle on the map, and said: "The inner line must fight for every inch of land, which refers to the construction of strong national defense fortifications with Wuhan as the center, as the last barrier. ”

Then he pointed to Zhongtiao Mountain, Pinghan Line, and Dabie Mountain, and said: "The middle line movement annihilates the enemy, that is, the heavy army group is stationed in Zhongtiao Mountain, Pinghan Line, Dabie Mountain and other areas, if the army gathers heavy troops to attack, it will avoid him and go, and will never entangle with the enemy, if the army turns to attack Wuhan, it will wait for the opportunity to cut off the supply line of the army after the army, so that it will lose the ability to fight for a long time!" ”

Finally, he pointed to Yimeng Mountain, Songhu, southern Jiangsu, North China, and other areas, and said: "Guerrilla response on the outside line means sending a number of small-scale elite troops to go deep into the areas behind enemy lines, and use the support of the broad masses of the people to carry out extensive guerrilla operations, so that the army will not only be unable to obtain any material supplies from the occupied areas, but will also have to allocate a large number of troops to carry out public order and rectification operations!" ”

In this way, the army will definitely fall into a dilemma! If a heavy army group is assembled to attack Wuhan, there will be a solid defense line in front and a [***] heavy army group in the rear, and it will be difficult to take care of the beginning and the end, and the advance and retreat will be lost; if the guerrilla warfare on the outer line can also build up momentum, then the army will inevitably shrink its forces and seek to consolidate the existing occupied areas! ”

In this way, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression will enter the stage of protracted warfare, and our country, with its vast territory and large population, will eventually achieve the final victory! On the contrary, if the main force is gathered in Xuzhou to seek a decisive battle with the Yue army in order to seek a quick victory, it will inevitably suffer a crushing defeat. ”

"Alright." Chairman Jiang said expressionlessly, "The situation in Xuzhou, it's not your turn to point fingers!" ”

"Take a seat!" Yue Weihan said miserably, "It is a matter of life and death for the country and the nation, please think twice!" ”

"Alright." Chairman Jiang waved his hand and said disapprovingly, "Your three-line theory seems to have some truth, but it is only a truth on paper, the battle of Xuzhou is imperative, and it must be fought, so you don't need to say more, I just want to ask you now, does the battle plan of the battle of Xuzhou still need to be revised or improved?" ”

Yue Weihan couldn't help but let out a long sigh, in fact, he had already known that this would be the result.

Gritting his teeth, Yue Weihan said again: "Commission, if the battle of Xuzhou has to be fought, you must take precautions and prepare for the worst!" Once the battle does not go well, our army is bound to quickly withdraw from the Xuzhou battlefield, and the army is bound to pursue at the tail end, so it is necessary to leave an elite army stationed in Xuzhou to intercept the enemy's pursuit road. ”

"Well, there seems to be some truth to that." Chairman Jiang said, "What do you think of specifically?" ”

Yue Weihan pulled the tweed military uniform on his body, and said solemnly: "The heavy responsibility after the break is none other than my Baoshan Brigade, therefore, I implore the commission to order the Baoshan Brigade to guard Xuzhou!" ”

(To be continued)