After a week of investigation by intelligence officers from the military intelligence department and the Iron and Blood Investigation Bureau, the locations of several airfields of the German-Austrian air force along the southeastern defense line were found, the two largest of which were in Bulgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Budapest, the city of Austria-Hungary, as well as four airfields in Macedonia and the Transvassinian plateau in Romania.

After finding the location of these airfields, the Chinese army decided to bomb these German and Austrian air force airfields, but the German and Austrian intelligence organizations were not vegetarians, and the movement of the Chinese air force fighters in the Balkans was detected by the German and Austrian intelligence officers, and the German and Austrian intelligence departments immediately analyzed the obtained information, and the German army quickly concluded that the Chinese air force was going to attack them, and the goal was self-evident, that is, several German and Austrian air force airfields on the southeast defense line.

After learning the lesson of the destruction of more than 20 airfields in France by the Chinese army, the Germans obviously increased their vigilance; they not only deployed a large number of anti-aircraft weapons at other airfields, but also strengthened their airspace patrols every day, and also arranged observation and warning personnel on the surrounding hills, and immediately notified the air force airfields to make air defense preparations as soon as Allied fighters were discovered.

Despite this, the defense is always not as active as the offensive, and the Chinese army can carry out bombing at night, but the Chinese intelligence personnel have also made preparations to the German and Austrian side, and the news quickly spread to Cai Yi's office, Cai Yi knew that the news had leaked after seeing the telegram, and this time the operation of destroying the air force airfield of the German and Austrian side in the southeast defense line once and for all was considered a flaw, even if the bombing was carried out forcibly, it would kill 1,000 enemies and lose 800 self-inflicted losses. It was not cost-effective, and Cai had to order the cancellation of the bombing plan.

At present, the only way to curb the bombing of the 13 strategically important places deployed by the German and Austrian air forces against the Chinese army is to send fighter planes to various strategic points every day from time to time to provide air support to the defenders. At the same time, bomber groups were also sent to carry out massive bombing of the German army.

In Cai's view, the two sides are not simply attacking and defending. In the course of this campaign, the German and Austrian armies are not necessarily always the attacking side, the Chinese army can also be the attacking side, not only the air supremacy has not been completely mastered by Germany and Austria, the air force of the Chinese army in the Balkans is not inferior to the air force of Germany and Austria on the southeast defense line, since the German and Austrian air forces can bomb the defensive positions of the Chinese army, then the Chinese fighters can also bomb the German camps and supply lines, unless one of the parties completely grasps the air supremacy, this situation will change.

In terms of being bombed, the Chinese army's ability to be bombed is obviously stronger. After all, the Chinese army has a large number of fortifications, trenches, anti-artillery holes and air-raid shelters, in addition to a large number of air defense positions, and the German and Austrian troops are currently the attacking side, and the ability to be bombed is much worse, the Chinese army has a large number of aerial bombs falling on the camps of the German and Austrian troops every day, and the logistics supply lines of the German and Austrian troops are often bombed by Chinese fighters, so that many German and Austrian troops can not get supplies in time, and the offensive has to be stopped.

The German-Austrian army fought like this for more than a month. In addition to occupying some defensive lines abandoned by the Chinese army in the early stage, it was always difficult for the German and Austrian troops to advance an inch, not only consuming a lot of materials, but also losing a lot of troops. If there is to be another attack, more troops must be added and more war materials must be raised. But this would divert troops and materiel for the Western Front, which the German top brass did not want.

In the opinion of Wilhelm II. German and Austrian troops were able to occupy some of the key points on what was now the southeastern defensive line, as long as they were properly deployed. To a certain extent, it was possible to defend against the Chinese army, and the reason why the Chinese army was in supply difficulties could not launch a large-scale offensive in a short period of time, the German army could just take this opportunity to mobilize more troops and materials on the Western Front battlefield to launch a large-scale counteroffensive against the British and French forces, and wait until the British and French forces were driven down the Atlantic Ocean before turning around and concentrating on dealing with the Chinese army.

Kaiser Wilhelm II's idea is very good, but it is a little too wishful thinking, the German army does not have such a strong attack capability, and the British and French forces are not all paper-paste, you must know that the training of the British and French forces in Britain in the past two years has not stopped for a moment, and its combat effectiveness is not inferior to the German army, if the German army restores its offensive strength on the southeast defense line before driving the British and French forces off the Atlantic, then the German army will fall into a situation of being attacked from both sides.

Caught by two fronts, this is an absolute disadvantage in military strategy, can only be passively defended, if you have the ability to launch a counterattack, will not be caught by two lines, even if the German army has the ability to counterattack on two fronts at the same time, with the current strategic depth of the Entente, the Entente army is a big deal to retreat to the rear, the logistics supply line of the German and Austrian army will be extended, once the supply line of the German and Austrian army is extended, then its offensive ability will be greatly weakened, the length of the supply line and the offensive ability is inversely proportional, this is a universal truth.

In fact, there are many people in the German army who see that the current combat effectiveness of the German army is not as good as before, but Wilhelm II could not see it, he was carried away by the invincibility of the German army in the early stage, and since Hindenburg became the chief of the General Staff, plus the current German Chancellor is also a Hindenburg person, the two of them joined forces to grasp the military and political power, and deceived the superiors and subordinates together, and even the edict of Kaiser Wilhelm II could not be conveyed to the two of them.

The German army was the first army to start the staff system, and it had the most complete staff system in the world, so many of the battle plans it had made before were realized and achieved strategic goals. However, the plan is good, but many times there are problems in the implementation, this is the embodiment of the plan can not catch up with the changes, many generals in the German army overestimate the combat effectiveness of their own army, but also overestimate their own command ability, the war has been fought to the present, many elites in the German army have also been consumed, the German army's attack ability is no longer in the early days of the war, coupled with the long-term conquest has made the German domestic economy wither, the people's livelihood is poor, and many soldiers also have a war-weary mood. The emergence of war weariness caused the German army's combat effectiveness to begin to decline.

Therefore, the strategic idea of the German army preparing to stabilize the southeastern defense line, hold the only way for the Chinese army to advance westward with a small number of troops, and then make every effort to prepare for a counterattack on the western front, drive the German army off the Atlantic, and then turn back to repel the Chinese army. In Germany, too, only such madmen as Wilhelm II and Hindenburg had such guts.

After the German army stopped attacking, Cai Ye also breathed a sigh of relief, after several months of fighting, the combat effectiveness of the troops has not been restored, the German attack, Cai Ye can use very few troops, after this month of fighting, finally blocked the German and Austrian attack, this period of time the Chinese army can take the opportunity to let the soldiers rest, logistics also need to speed up the supply.

Huaguo Jingcheng, Presidential Palace.

In the president's office, a red phone on the desk rang, and Xiao Zhenlei, who was working, put down his pen and picked up the phone and said, "Hey? ”

The voice of Director Wu, director of the Internal Investigation Bureau, came from the phone: "President, I just got the news that General Xu Shaozhen is sick, according to my understanding, General Xu's condition is very serious, and it is not possible to get better in a short time, but the doctor also said that there will be no danger to his life for the time being, but to continue to work, I am afraid that it will be impossible in the near future."

"Got it!" Xiao Zhenlei put down the phone after listening.

The news leaked by Wang Yaqiao is very clear, Xu Shaozhen is only afraid that he will not be able to continue to preside over the war against Japan, and now there are two corps in the war against Japan, that is, the Third Army Corps commanded by Xu Shaozhen and the Fourth Army Corps commanded by Chen Jizu, if Xu Shaozhen cannot continue to preside over the war against the Japanese mainland, the commander of the Third Army Corps must be replaced.

Xiao Zhenlei lit a cigarette and smoked and thought, who should take over the Third Legion? I'm afraid that the minds of the generals below are active again, right?

On the issue of deciding who would take over the Third Legion, Xiao Zhenlei thought for half an hour, when the black secretary's phone on the table rang, Xiao Zhenlei picked it up and asked, "Xiao Gao, what's the matter?" ”

The voice of the secretary Xiao Gao came from the phone: "President, there is a call from Chief of General Staff Chiang, do you want to take it in?" ”

Jiang Fangzhen called at this time, I was afraid that it was related to Xu Shaozhen and the Third Army, Xiao Zhenlei turned around in his mind, and said with a microphone: "Take it in!" ”

"Okay, please wait a minute, President!"

Jiang Fangzhen's call came in quickly, and Xiao Zhenlei asked, "Baili, is there something wrong?" ”

Jiang Fangzhen on the other end of the phone said: "President, just now the staff of the Third Army sent a telegram that General Xu Shaozhen had fainted from a brain disease, and now he is in a coma, and the doctor diagnosed that General Xu is afraid that he will not be able to continue to preside over the work of the Third Army in a short period of time!" ”

The news of the intelligence department is still much faster than the news from the regular channels, Xiao Zhenlei had already made a decision before receiving Jiang Baili's call, and now after listening to Jiang Baili's words, he said: "I already know this situation, after all, the conditions of the field hospital are not as good as the medical conditions of the domestic hospital, so I ordered the headquarters of the Third Army Corps to send someone to send him back to China for treatment!" ”

“??????? In this case, who is responsible for the work of the Third Legion? Jiang Baili hesitated and asked.

Xiao Zhenlei pondered for a moment and said, "For the time being, let Chief of Staff He Liangchen be in charge of the work of the Third Legion!" ”

Jiang Baili was stunned when he heard this, and then he understood what Xiao Zhenlei meant, "Okay, I'll arrange it!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei's meaning is very clear, regarding the new commander of the Third Legion, he has already had a candidate, and now He Liangchen is temporarily put in charge of presiding over the work of the Third Legion, but there is no new appointment to He Liangchen, not even the title of acting, which is already very revealing, even if the acting position is appointed, it can be changed at any time, unless it is formally appointed, it can be changed at any time. (To be continued......)