In Jiangning, the Central China Front Army captured the Nanjing Advance Headquarters.

After the assassination of Hatohiko Asakanomiya, commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army and commander-in-chief of the capture of Nanjing, Matsui Ishine, commander of the Central China Direction Army, resumed his post as commander of the dispatch army, and at the same time, in order to facilitate command, he also set up a command center for the capture of Nanjing, with Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, commander of the Tenth Army, as the commander-in-chief.

In the spacious and bright conference room, Yanagawa Heisuke was in the main position.

Except for the Kunisaki Detachment, which had already crossed the Yangtze River, and the Shigedo Detachment, which had been destroyed, the commanders of the other nine main divisions, including the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 101st, and 114th, were almost all present.

This meeting can be said to be the final mobilization for the capture of Nanjing!

"Your Excellency the Commander is deeply disappointed with the progress of our Central China Front, and the base camp is even more dissatisfied with the performance of our front-line units." Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke was making the final concluding speech, "Don't forget, the Great Empire is an island country, poor in resources, and the Imperial Treasury is unable to support our long-term war, and if the Imperial Army cannot force the Shina Axe to surrender in the short term, the situation will be very unfavorable to the Empire. ”

"For this reason, the base camp has ordered us to capture the capital of China - Nanjing within three days!"

"Now I order......" Yanagawa Heisuke suddenly stood up, and the division commanders and chiefs of staff attending the meeting also stood up suddenly, and at the same time turned their heads to Yanagawa Heisuke, Yanagawa Heisuke said, "Except for the 18th Division attacking and advancing in the direction of Hangzhou, and the Kunisaki Detachment attacking and advancing in the direction of Pukou, the rest of the divisions and regiments concentrated all their efforts to capture Nanjing!" ”

"Hello!" The commanders of the nine divisions and regiments bowed their heads suddenly, and at the same time suddenly retracted their feet and stood upright.

………… Wuhan, Xingying.

At the same time that Yanagawa Heisuke was holding a military meeting, Chairman Chiang, the leader of the national government, was also holding a military meeting.

This meeting is not only a summary of the battle situation on the two-front battlefield some time ago, but also in a certain sense, it can also be regarded as a meeting to wipe Yue Weihan's ass; if it weren't for Yue Weihan's unauthorized issuance of the so-called letter of complaint in the name of Jiang and his name, which caused a great impact, he would not have convened a military meeting of the generals of various theaters in such a hurry today.

Bai Chongqi, deputy chief of the general staff, was standing in front of the huge map, pointed at Xuzhou with the wooden pole in his hand, and said: "According to the information provided by the Military Command Bureau, we can now be sure that it is the 10th Division of the Chinese Army that is advancing south along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and it is the 5th Division that will secretly land in Qingdao soon. ”

"These two divisions are both permanent divisions in the battle sequence of the Yue Army, well-equipped, and very strong in combat effectiveness, Han Fuqu's Shandong Army is only afraid that it will not be able to resist for too long, once the Shandong Army is defeated, the 10th Division and the 5th Division of the Yue Army will advance in unison, and attack Xuzhou, an important military town in the Central Plains, on both sides."

"The situation in the North China battlefield is roughly like this, and now let's talk about the Nanjing battlefield."

"Including the main position of the Purple Mountain, most of the national fortifications on the periphery of Nanjing have been lost, and at present, the army has mobilized two heavy artillery brigades and regiments, and is bombarding the Zhonghua Gate and the Guanghua Gate, and it is only a matter of time before the city gate is broken, and if nothing else, the defense of Nanjing will turn into street fighting today."

Chairman Jiang suddenly said: "Street battles are street battles, isn't it just bayonets?" We are not afraid! But how many refugees are there in Nanjing? And how long will it take to transfer all of them to Jiangbei? ”

At this moment, Chairman Chiang really wished that there were only a few hundred refugees in Nanjing, and they could be transferred to Jiangbei at once.

In this way, the hundreds of thousands of aces in Nanjing City don't need to fight with Yue Kou, this is more important than anything else!

Chairman Chiang never thought that once he ordered a retreat again, Commander-in-Chief Tang, who was born as an old warlord, would not be able to suppress the arrogant soldiers and fierce generals of the Central Army in Nanjing, and then there would be a scene of officers and soldiers fighting for the crossing, and various units would rush to withdraw one after another, which would eventually lead to a historical tragedy in which hundreds of thousands of [***] elites gave up resistance.

Bai Chongqi hesitated for a moment and said: "How many refugees there are in Nanjing, I'm afraid no one can tell, but I think there must be 500,000, with all the current capacity of Xiaguan Wharf, even if it is running at full capacity, it will take at least twenty days to transfer all the refugees in Nanjing City to Jiangbei." ”

"Twenty days!?" The faces of the senior generals attending the meeting were not very good-looking.

Bai Chongqi said again: "The most worrying thing is the Baoshan Regiment, this time their opponent is the Kunisaki Detachment!" ”

Li Zongren, the commander of the Fifth Theater of Operations, also said: "Although the Baoshan Regiment has defeated the Chongdo Detachment before, this Chongto Detachment is formed by the Taiwan Garrison Brigade, and in fact, there are only three infantry brigades. ”

Bai Chongqi looked at Chairman Jiang and said, "According to the strength and equipment of the Baoshan Regiment and the Guoqi Detachment, once the Guoqi Detachment reaches the attack position, the Baoshan Regiment can only hold out for three days at most!" ”

The high-ranking generals attending the meeting were in an uproar, and Chairman Chiang's brows tightened for a moment.

In fact, Bai Chongqi had already given Chairman Jiang a lot of face, in his opinion, once the two armies faced each other, the Baoshan Regiment would not be able to hold out for half a day!

That's right, the Baoshan regiment has won a lot of battles, in Jingjiang and Yangzhou, and even annihilated the two most elite field wings of the Yue army one after another, but those were all skillful battles, one was a perfect use of the terrain, and the other was because the army ran out of ammunition and food, but this time in the face of the Guozaki detachment, Bai Chongqi really couldn't think of what tricks Yue Weihan could play.

Gu Zhutong, who had been promoted to the commander of the Second War Zone, looked at Chairman Jiang and said, "Commission, can you consider transferring Xia Zhongyu's 98th Division to Pukou?" ”

"No, it's too far apart." Chairman Jiang waved his hand, his expression gloomy.

At this time, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of troops in Nanjing, the closest to Pukou and Baoshan regiments was the 114th Division stationed in Hefei, and then Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army stationed in Bengbu and Huainan, but these two armies were the last barrier in southeast Anhui and could not be moved lightly.

As for the dozen or so divisions in Nanjing, they cannot be easily mobilized, otherwise it is easy to move the whole body and cause the collapse of the entire Nanjing battlefield! The reason is obvious, everyone is working hard together, no one will think much about it, once a troop is transferred to Jiangbei in advance, even if it is to rush to the aid of the Baoshan regiment, it will trigger a chain reaction of disaster.

Bai Chongqi paused and said: "The Baoshan regiment can only hold out for three days, as for Nanjing, it can hold out for ten days at most, and the defense of Nanjing will end after ten days, but the Kou will never stop their advance because of the occupation of Nanjing, and then they will definitely go north along the Jinpu Railway to fight for the army in the north of China to join Xuzhou." ”

Li Zongren, the commander of the Fifth War Zone, echoed: "I completely agree with Jiansheng's judgment, I think that it is now possible to start deploying the Battle of Xuzhou." ”

………… Jiangpu Town, East Gate Stage.

Under the order of the mayor of the town, all the young people who still remained in the town were gathered, and the young people of dozens of nearby villages also came to the party under the leadership of the chief.

The war correspondent, Zhao Xinyi, was standing on the stage with a megaphone in her hand and shouting loudly.

"Folks, old and young masters in Jiangpu Town, do you know? It is said that the devil has hit the other side of the river and outside the city of Nanjing! If we don't rise up and resist, they will cross the Yangtze River and hit Jiangpu Town! ”

"When you pick up your hoe and go down to work in the fields, have you ever thought about how many of your compatriots have had their homes destroyed, they have been left homeless, and they have no fields to plant?"

"When you picked up your bowls and prepared to eat, did you ever think that on the other side of the river, in Nanjing, there were more than 500,000 refugees who were freezing in the cold wind and starving in the ice and snow!"

"When your children are around your knees and enjoy the joy of family, have you ever thought that on both sides of the Yangtze River, outside Nanjing, thousands of [***] soldiers die on the battlefield every day, and they also have wives and children at home, as well as parents in the high hall, but ...... They can't wait for their loved ones forever! ”

"Fathers and fellow villagers, old and young masters, the rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband!"

"Yes, the strength of one person is very small, but thousands of you gathered together is a powerful force, forty thousand compatriots united, any enemy will be crushed by us!"

"Folks, you can't wait any longer, pick up your hoes and go and help [***] repair the bunker!"

Zhou Bowen, who was standing next to him, was enthusiastically boiled by Zhao Xinyi's words, and he couldn't help but raise his arms and roar angrily at the moment: "Down with this imperialism, long live the Chinese nation......

"Long live the Chinese nation by defeating imperialism!"

The old gentleman with glasses first roared, and then the immature children's voice shouted hoarsely, and soon, all the young adults gathered under the stage roared hoarsely, and the old mayor who was over the age of sixteen wiped the tears that slipped from the corners of his eyes, waved his big hand, and said tremblingly: "Copy guy, go!" ”

Suddenly, the three or five thousand young men gathered under the stage took up their hoes and pickaxes, and then, like a flood that broke the embankment, poured out of the town and rushed to the position of the Baoshan regiment.

On the stage, Zhou Bowen turned around and smiled at Zhao Xinyi: "Xinyi, what you just said is really infectious, don't talk about these folks in the audience, even I was moved by you, no wonder Secretary Yang told me that as long as you can study at Kang University for two years, you can be directly sent to the main force of the Eighth Route Army as a political commissar." ”

(To be continued)