At the end of December of the 30th year of the Republic of China (1941), Chairman Jiang signed a promotion order and promoted Yue Weihan to a first-class general.

On January 1, the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), Chairman Chiang issued a New Year's proclamation in his capacity as the leader of the national government, expressing his full support for the strategic counteroffensive of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the Southeast Asian theater.

These two ace armies were Huo Yuzhang's 20th Army and Song Xilian's 11th Army.

Among them, the 20th Group Army has 3 armies and 7 divisions under its jurisdiction, and the 11th Group Army has 3 armies and 9 divisions under its jurisdiction.

The Whampoa Military Academy, or the Central Military Academy, is Chairman Chiang's military reserve, so Chairman Chiang never doubted the loyalty of these two group armies, let alone worried that these two group armies would be forcibly reorganized by Yue Weihan, because these were the 16 divisions of the two group armies, and if Yue Weihan really dared to forcibly reorganize them, it would cause a mutiny.

………… Yangon, headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Stilwell walked into Yue Weihan's office with a pipe in his mouth and a piece of paper in his hand, and said with a smile: "Yue, the approval of the Allied General Headquarters has come down, and they have agreed to our suggestion and decided to form a separate Southeast Asian Theater, with you as the commander-in-chief of the Southeast Asian Theater and me as the chief of the General Staff. ”

"Oh, really?" Yue Weihan was overjoyed when he heard this.

The Southeast Asian Theater is at the same strategic level as the Chinese Theater, and after Yue Weihan became the commander-in-chief of the Southeast Asian Theater, it means that he is at the same level as Chairman Jiang, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Theater.

More importantly, the appointment reverses the historical disadvantage of overlapping mandates.

Historically, there have been four Allied Commands with overlapping powers in the Asian theater, namely the China-Burma-India Theater with Chairman Chiang as Commander-in-Chief, the Anglo-Indian-Burmese Theater with Alexander as Commander-in-Chief, the Asian Theater with MacArthur as Commander-in-Chief, and the Burma Theater with General Stilwell as Commander-in-Chief.

Now, that no longer exists.

After this appointment of the Allied General Headquarters, at least before the end of World War II, Yue Weihan will become a de facto military scholar in the entire Southeast Asian region, dozens of Western colonies and countries in the entire Southeast Asia will become the reorganization area of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and the 150 million indigenous people in the entire Southeast Asia will become ants under Yue Weihan's feet.

Stilwell casually handed the telegram to Yue Weihan, and then said: "Yue, I heard that Peanut Mi (Chairman Jiang) sent you two ace group troops, I think he must have ulterior motives, I don't know how you plan to arrange it?" Give them a collective change of clothes, and then join the battle sequence of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, or will they be repatriated? ”

"Repatriation?" Yue Weihan shook his head again and again, "No, of course not. ”

Yue Weihan has always been a surname who is unprofitable and can't afford to be early, how can he not take a bite of the fat in his mouth?

Huo Yuzhang's 20th Group Army and Song Xilian's 11th Group Army are real [***] elites, and they have been training with little devils on the battlefield for several years, and the combat effectiveness of these 200,000 veterans is not comparable to that of millions of strong men.

Of course, these two pieces of fat meat are not delicious, but don't forget that this is Southeast Asia, and now it is Yue Weihan's territory.

What is the saying? I'm in charge of my territory! In this acre and three points of land in Southeast Asia, there is really nothing that Yue Weihan, the local emperor, can't do, and Chairman Jiang is afraid that he will be the captain of the transportation brigade in advance this time, and these 200,000 veterans are afraid that they will also have to be beaten with meat buns, and there will be no return.

"Yue, I must remind you that the 20th Army and the 11th Army are not the Fifth Army and the Sixth Army." Stilwell frowned and said patiently, "Before you came to Burma, the Fifth Army and the Sixth Army had already suffered several defeats in a row, and the officers and soldiers were humiliated and eager for victory, so there was not much resistance to your arrival. ”

"In the subsequent series of battles, your motivation and command ability have also been greatly recognized by the majority of officers and ordinary soldiers of the Fifth and Sixth Armies, and it is under these circumstances that the Fifth and Sixth Armies have achieved the order and prohibition, but the officers and men of the 20th Army and the 11th Group Army are descendants of Peanut, and they are completely unfamiliar with you."

"So I'm worried that these two group armies will drive back to China directly after changing their clothes, and even if they don't drive back to China immediately, they will definitely not obey your reprimand, especially Huo Yuzhang and Song Xilian, these two people are no different from Du Yuming, and they have always been submissive to Peanuts, and they will never dare to disobey in the slightest."

"General Stilwell, I know all of this." Yue Weihan said with a smile, "But no matter what, these are two battle-hardened teams, and with these two strong forces in the Southeast Asian battlefield, the certainty of the allies defeating Yue Kou is even greater, as for the obedience you are worried about, I don't think it's a problem, really." ”

Looking at Yue Weihan's smiling expression, Stilwell suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

This expression, this smile, is like a cunning fox seeing a delicious chicken!

Stilwell shrugged his shoulders and left suspiciously, and Yue Weihan immediately called Luo Youlun and Liu Yi to the office.

With the entry of the first batch of 100,000 strong men into Burma, the command structure of the Chinese Expeditionary Force must also be formed as soon as possible, and Yue Weihan decided to organize six field group armies, each of which has five infantry divisions under its jurisdiction, and also to set up airborne divisions, tank divisions, heavy artillery divisions, special operations divisions, and aviation corps directly under it.

After discussing with Luo Youlun and Liu Yi, Yue Weihan quickly drew up the command structure of each group army and the division directly under it.

The list of command structures of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the Southeast Asian Theater is as follows:

Chinese Expeditionary Force (Allied Southeast Asia Theater):

Commander-in-Chief: Yue Weihan (First Class General) Deputy Commander: Wei Lihuang (Second Class General) Chief of Staff: Stilwell (Three-Star General) Deputy Chief of Staff: Huang Jie (Lieutenant General) 1st Group Army (Adapted from the 11th Group Army):

Commander-in-Chief: Song Xilian (Lieutenant General) Deputy Commander: Zhong Bin (Lieutenant General) Chief of Staff: Wang Lingyun (Lieutenant General) 2nd Group Army (adapted from the 20th Group Army):

Commander-in-Chief: Huo Yuzhang (Lieutenant General) Deputy Commander: Zhou Fucheng (Lieutenant General) Chief of Staff: Que Hanqian (Lieutenant General) 3rd Group Army (adapted from the 39th Group Army):

Commander-in-Chief: Liu Yi (Lieutenant General) Chief of Staff: Liu Yi (concurrently) 4th Group Army (reorganized from the Fifth Army):

Commander-in-Chief: Dai Anlan (Lieutenant General) Chief of Staff: Liao Yaoxiang (Lieutenant General) 5th Army (reorganized from the Sixth Army):

Commander-in-Chief: Peng Bisheng (Lieutenant General) Chief of Staff: Lu Guoxuan (Lieutenant General) 6th Group Army (reorganized from the new 38th Division and the new 39th Division):

Commander-in-Chief: Gao Shuxun (Lieutenant General) Deputy Commander: Sun Liren (Lieutenant General) Airborne Division (adapted from the 1st Regiment of the Baoshan Division):

Division Commander: Li Jiuding (Major General) Chief of Staff: Yang Jiamao (Colonel) Tank Division (adapted from the Cavalry Brigade):

Division Commander: Liu Fengsheng (Major General) Chief of Staff: Zhao Youting (Colonel) Heavy Artillery Division (adapted from the Artillery Brigade):

Division Commander: Niu Dagen (Major General) Chief of Staff: Zhang Guowei (Colonel) Special Operations Division (expanded from the Special Operations Brigade):

Division Commander: Liu Tiezhu (Major General) Chief of Staff: Chu Zhongtian (Colonel) Aviation Corps (temporarily absent):

………… Yunnan, Chuxiong.

Two jeeps slowly pulled up to the side of the road.

At the opening of the car door, two major officers quickly got out of the passenger seat, turned around and opened the door, and then two [***] generals with the rank of lieutenant general on their collar badges bent down and got out of the car, this person was none other than General Song Xilian, commander-in-chief of the 11th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and General Wang Lingyun, commander of the 2nd Army.

Song Xilian and Wang Lingyun are both first-term students of Whampoa, and they are both protégés of Chairman Jiang.

Song Xilian and Wang Lingyun got out of the car and immediately strolled onto the hill next to the road.

Standing on the hill and looking down, I saw the rolling traffic of the 2nd Army of the 11th Group Army and the mighty marching army column slowly marching towards Burma along the Yunnan-Burma Highway.

The two of them were sighing that a major officer had hurried to the top of the mountain.

"Headquarters, Yangon Emergency!" The major officer snapped and straightened up, and handed the telegram in his hand to Song Xilian.

"Yangon?" Song Xilian frowned, and immediately reached out to take the telegram, and after only a few lines, Song Xilian's face changed.

"Brother Yin Guo (Song Xilian), what did Yue Weihan say?" Wang Lingyun next to him couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that before we arrived in Myanmar, this kid has already removed you and me?" ”

"Dismissal? Yes and no. Song Xilian shook his head and said with a wry smile, "You better see for yourself." ”

After that, Song Xilian handed the telegram to Wang Lingyun, Wang Lingyun took the telegram, but there was a long list of lists, which was the command structure of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the number of the 11th Group Army had been changed to the 1st Group Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Song Xilian was still the commander-in-chief of the group army, but the 3 army commanders were transferred, Zhong Bin, the commander of the 71st Army, became the deputy commander-in-chief of the 1st Group Army, and he Wang Lingyun became the chief of staff of the 1st Group Army, and Wang Jie, the commander of the 9th Army, was directly transferred to the headquarters. became the deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

"Damn, what kind of reputation is Yue Weihan doing?" Wang Lingyun's face suddenly became gloomy.

Wang Lingyun was transferred from the commander of the 2nd Army to the chief of staff of the 1st Group Army, nominally promoted, but in fact demoted!

There is an ancient saying in China, called rather than a chicken head, not a phoenix tail, Wang Lingyun is the head of the first army in the 2nd Army, is the first brother in the real sense, and the master of the same word, but after arriving at the headquarters of the group army, he will become the second brother or even the third brother.

"Brother, let's look away." Song Xilian said with a relaxed expression, "The abolition of the command structure at the army and brigade levels is also expected, besides, although the establishment of the 11th Group Army has been reduced from 9 divisions to 5 divisions, the total strength has increased from more than 40,000 to nearly 80,000, and they are all American armor divisions, what are you dissatisfied with?" ”

After saying that, Song Xilian patted Wang Lingyun's shoulder again, and then walked down the hill bag slowly with his hands behind his back.

Seeing Song Xilian's back go down the mountain, Wang Lingyun gritted his teeth with hatred, don't look at the 11th Group Army is the Central Army, and most of the officers at all levels are also from the Whampoa Military Academy, but there are also factions within it, Wang Lingyun, Zhong Bin and other army commanders usually don't buy Song Xilian's account as the commander-in-chief, and the armies under the group army are also self-contained.

However, as soon as Yue Weihan telegraphed this paper, the small collectives of Wang Lingyun, Zhong Bin, Wang Jie and other army commanders immediately fell apart, and Song Xilian immediately grasped the power of the entire group army, and he, the commander-in-chief, was finally like a commander-in-chief, for Song Xilian, was it a big pie in the sky?

Stilwell, an old American man, does not understand China's national conditions, so he does not know how insidious Yue Weihan's methods are.

As long as there is a power struggle between the Huangpu generals in the 11th Group Army and the 20th Group Army, Yue Weihan will be able to make full use of it, and there will always be a chance to break through each one, until he finally completely controls the two ace group armies.

Of course, in this regard, Yue Weihan can only be regarded as a pediatrician at best, and Chairman Jiang is the real master!

At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the army that Chairman Chiang was able to actually control was actually less than 20,000 men in the First Army, and it was precisely by virtue of his skillful political skills that Chairman Chiang constantly provoked power struggles among and within the local warlords, and then constantly eroded and annexed the troops of the local warlords in order to strengthen himself.

By the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, many local warlords who had once flourished, such as the Jiangxi Army, the Hunan Army, the Northwest Army, and the Northeast Army, had ceased to exist, but Chairman Chiang's army had soared from less than 20,000 people at the beginning to 2 million people, becoming the undisputed "first brother" of the Republic of China, and other local warlords needed to unite to compete with them.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chairman Chiang's use of the nirvana of "division and co-optation" reached the extreme, and successively ate the Sichuan Army, the Guangdong Army, the Gui Army, the Dian Army and the Jin Sui Army.

However, Chairman Chiang also had his mistakes.

The warlords in other places have already obeyed, but Yue Weihan, a small character, is a powerful man, and has quickly formed a trend of not falling behind, and now, Yue Weihan has become the commander-in-chief of the Southeast Asian Theater of Operations, and his status in the international arena is enough to be equal to Chairman Chiang, so how can Chairman Chiang be embarrassed?

(To be continued)