In the reception room of the Military Council sat a group of blond, blue-eyed foreign generals, senior members of the military advisory group jointly sent by France and Germany. The leader is an old French man wearing a light blue French ** suit and a tall upturned nose with less majesty. He is the very famous General Maxim Weygand in history!

Chang Ruiqing sat opposite him, looking at the "French famous general" in front of him with a smile on his face. Wei Gang and the joint military advisory group led by him were aboard the French cruise ship Saint-Malo next to the Haitian when the heavy cruiser Haitian was attacked, and they could be regarded as witnessing the "King Kong incident" that shocked the world. However, the Japanese did not go crazy enough to shell the French cruise ship (of course, the Japanese would later pay a very heavy price for their soft-heartedness). After the "King Kong Incident", the Saint-Malo carried their boatload to Bangkok, and played in Bangkok for two days without waiting for Chang Ruiqing to come and meet them, so they went to Hong Kong, took a train in Hong Kong to Wuhan, and took a steamer from the Yangtze River down the river there, tossing back and forth for nearly two weeks, until June 2 to Nanjing. At this time, the diplomatic mediation of Britain, France and the United States had officially failed, and China and Japan had declared war on each other a day earlier! However, the shape on the battlefield has not changed much. On the Manchuria-Far East battlefield, the exchanges of fire between the two sides were still dominated by artillery bombardment, and occasional small-scale infantry exchanges were all tentative attacks in order to find out the reality of the opponent.

The situation at sea has almost calmed down, and the large-scale operation of the Chinese Navy to break diplomatic relations has come to an end. The Japanese lost hundreds of large and small merchant fishing boats, and the Chinese navy's old steam gunboats. Either they were sunk by the Japanese navy or they took refuge in the ports of French Indochina and the Philippines - the French did not embarrass the Chinese gunboats, but did not allow them to leave for the time being, while the Americans detained them under the Neutrality Act.

As for China's friends, they also fulfilled their obligations to declare war or provide support in accordance with the provisions of the Four-Power Mutual Defense Treaty. Germany and Italy declared a state of war on 2 June, while France remained neutral. Although French Foreign Minister Briand has made it clear to the Chinese ambassador to France that France will adopt a policy that is clearly biased in favor of China, French Indochina will also become a transit point for Chinese trade. But the fact that there was no declaration of war still embarrassed the head of the advisory group, Admiral Maxim Weygand.

So this old French man is now just bowing his head and drinking Hainan coffee provided by the Chinese (this island is a pilot base for joint-stock farms of the Fishermen's Association. There are now quite a few large-scale farms growing a wide variety of crops), and I don't know what to say for a while. And he, the commander of the regiment, did not speak, and a room full of French and German generals adhered to the strict hierarchy of the army, and no one spoke first. In the end, it was Chang Ruiqing who broke the silence: "General Wei Gang, General Hoffmann, and all the officers of the Franco-German Joint Military Advisory Group. It's been a hard journey. Thank you very much for coming all the way to China to help us resist the invasion of Japanese imperialism...... Here, on behalf of the entire Republic of China, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of you. ”

Invade? Zeng Qi, who served as the translator, also had a slight flush on his cheeks. It doesn't look like Japan is invading China! Seems to be more like the other way around, right? Moreover, Zeng Qi also knew that the General Staff had drawn up several plans for the invasion of Japan (Korea and the Far East).

After listening to Zeng Qi's translation, Admiral Maxim Weigang nodded slightly. Leaned forward slightly. "Your Excellency, Marshal. All of you and I are professional soldiers, and we have come to China to help you train your troops and fight wars. Although the French Government regrets this war, as a general entrusted by the French Government to come to China to assist you in your fight against Japan, I will devote all my energy and wisdom to the Chinese Defense Forces. ”

Chang Ruiqing could understand French, so he smiled and nodded to Wei Gang in thanks. Although he was very skeptical about the wisdom of the French general. But this attitude is always worth affirming.

Wei Gang took another sip of coffee from Hainan Island, and then continued: "On the steamer that came to Nanjing, (referring to the Yangtze River steamer)." I have been studying the current situation with Lieutenant General Hoffman, Major General Falkbell (the one who commanded Uncle Black's great defeat of the British army), and the other officers of the Advisory Corps. And with some initial ideas, I would like to ...... Is this the right occasion to discuss such a question? ”

Chang Ruiqing smiled slightly, the professionalism of this Frenchman is worthy of recognition. He stood up, nodded at the other party, and said with a smile: "Your Excellency, General, and your Excellency, if you don't think our hospitality is too simple, we can go to the war room now to understand and discuss the latest battlefield situation." However, there will be a sumptuous reception later, and I hope you can enjoy it. All right? ”

A room full of French and German generals were also belligerents, and their interest in Chinese-grown coffee was far less than in the ongoing war. So they all got up and followed Chang Ruiqing into the No. 1 war room in the Military Commission building. The hall, which was filled with maps and a huge electric sand table in the middle of the room, was already filled with the smell of war. The staff officers who came in and out were all solemn, and several senior generals of the Wehrmacht gathered around the sand table and argued in a low and fierce voice. When Chang Ruiqing came over with a large number of foreign officials, he just stood up and saluted as usual, and then continued to discuss the problem, and the military situation was already extremely urgent. Only Bai Chongxi, chief of the General Staff, led the group to the map of the overall situation of the Manchurian-Far Eastern Battlefield hanging on the wall on the left hand to briefly introduce the situation.

"The total strength of the Northeast Front Army (formerly the Northeast Security Command) has increased to 0 infantry corps, 0 infantry divisions, 0 independent artillery regiments, 7 fortress brigades, security corps, and air force divisions, with a total strength of about 620,000, which are organized into four group armies.

Among them, there are five armies, including the second, fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth. The 11th, 12th, and 13th Fortress Brigades, as well as 5 separate artillery regiments, formed the 1st Army. It belongs to the Eastern Front battlefield facing the Japanese Far East; The 3rd, 6th, and 9th armies, the 10th Fortress Brigade, and an independent artillery regiment formed the 2nd Army, which was attached to the southern front of the battlefield facing Japanese Korea; The 10th Army, the 8th Fortress Brigade, the 9th Fortress Brigade, and the 10th Separate Artillery Regiment formed the Third Army, which was attached to the northern front facing the Soviet Far Eastern Republic; Eleventh Army, Seventh Fortress Brigade. The 11th Independent Artillery Regiment and the Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Jilin Security Corps formed the Fourth Army as the general reserve of the Northeast Front Army. The 1st Air Force Division was also directly subordinate to the General Headquarters of the Northeast Front.

At present, there is civil strife on the territory of the USSR on the northern front, and there is a lot of tranquility along the border. The battlefield on the southern front was also relatively calm, and the Japanese army may have drawn troops from Korea to strengthen the Far East, so the Korean Japanese army was on the defensive on all fronts, and our army did not take the initiative to attack. The two sides are occasionally tempting the fire.

In particular, the Hutou-Xin'antu front, which is located in the center of the battlefield on the Eastern Front, was fiercely artillery fighting on Japan, 9 July, and 20 July, as well as this morning. According to estimates of the density of Japanese shelling, at least 5 Japanese artillery wings were deployed around Shin-Azuchi Castle. Our side also concentrated 6 artillery regiments around the Tiger Head Fortress (including the Tiger Head Fortress Artillery Regiment). It is estimated that a large-scale main battle will break out in the Hutou-Xin'antu area in the coming weeks. At present, both the Northeast Front Army and the General Staff Headquarters are preparing for the Battle of Hutou-Xin'antu. I believe that this battle will be a great opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the main force of the Japanese army......"

Bai Chongxi ended his simple and straightforward report and handed the baton to the adjutant beside him. Then he gave a military salute to Chang Ruiqing, and prepared to return to the electric sand table to continue to prepare his tiger head, the battle plan of Xin'an Tu. But the old French general Wei Gang suddenly spoke a lot of French in a hurry and quickly. Chang Ruiqing could barely understand that the other party was proposing a military proposal. Zeng Qi then translated: "Mr. General believes that the deployment of the squadron is too conservative, and it seems that the initiative on the battlefield has been surrendered to the Japanese side. On the ships that came here, General Hoffman and General Faulkbell and I have carefully studied the current strength of the Chinese and Japanese armies. and the situation in the Manchuria-Far Eastern battlefield. We agreed that the squadron has a great advantage. If the Soviet side does not participate in the process, we believe that the squadron is fully capable of capturing most of the entire Japanese Far East and Japanese Korea! Turn Japan back into an island nation! ”

As soon as these words came out, the people present seemed to be stunned at the same time, including those ordinary staff officers who were busy going in and out, and they all set their eyes on Wei Gang, an old French general. Chang Ruiqing also raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at Wei Gang with interest, as if waiting for him to put together his plan.

The old man took the baton from Bai Chongxi's adjutant, walked to the front of the map, first knocked Manchuria on the map hard, and said loudly in French: "Gentlemen, in this war, the biggest advantage of the squadron is not the number and firepower, but the terrain. The squadron has a battlefield that is monolithic! Therefore, the 620,000 ** people are a whole and can be twisted into a fist. This is a powerful strike group composed of 620,000 men and more than 60 artillery regiments (including fortress artillery), which is enough to launch a large-scale offensive campaign even on the European theater.

Your opponent, Japan, on the other hand, is holding two separate battlefields, and because of the existence of the Tiger Head Fortress, we can also see the Japanese army as three separate battle groups that are difficult to reconcile. What is the total strength of these three battle groups? According to the intelligence, there are only 5 to 6 divisions, about 70,000 people, and the firepower is less than one-third of the squadron. These forces are divided into three parts, and how much strength can be left in each of them? It's just a hundred thousand people plus three or four hundred cannons.

If you divide the 600,000 troops and 2,000 artillery pieces in your hands into several parts, then the Japanese may still have the strength to resist. But what if you concentrate the main forces? For example, concentrate 400,000 men and 500 artillery pieces to attack one of the three Japanese battle groups first, defeat it and then use forces to attack the other one, so that the three Japanese battle groups can be defeated one by one! ”

Concentrate forces to break through each? Chang Ruiqing glanced at Bai Chongxi, and said in his heart, Bai Dajun God. Why didn't you think of it? I know what kind of tiger head is tossed in a small way -- the battle of Xin'an Land -- there is no big pattern that the military god should have. The problem is that he has risen too fast. This white army god doesn't have much actual combat experience, and he doesn't have these foreign generals who have just finished the first war!

Bai Chongxi twisted his bald eyebrows in contemplation. Wei Gang did not think of this tactic, but after the Japanese army assembled on a large scale to the front line of Xin'antu, he was inclined to hit the main force of the Japanese Far Eastern Army in the first battle of Xin'antu, and then took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack to defeat the Far Eastern Army, and then turned around and defeated the Korean army.

When he expressed his idea, the French and German generals present began to exchange views in a low voice, and finally General Wei Gang pointed to the China Eastern Railway on the map with his baton and said: "We feel that it is not the best choice to concentrate our main forces around the Tiger Head Fortress to fight the Japanese army. Because the traffic in this area is not very convenient. There is only one light railway connected to the China Eastern Railway, and its capacity is far less than that of the Eastern Railway. If you do not accumulate supplies for a certain period of time, I am afraid that it will not be enough to deal with the fierce fighting of the real army, so even if you can win the Battle of Shin'an-Tsu and capture Shin'an-Tsu Castle, you will not have the strength to carry out a continuous attack, which will give the Japanese army the opportunity to adjust its front. Moreover, the loss of Xin'an did not pose a mortal threat to the Japanese Far Eastern Army. The Japanese troops north of Sin'an can also make a detour or retreat along the Amur River, and the Japanese forces south of Sin'an can also rely on Xingkai Lake to reorganize their defensive lines. ”

Wei Gang moved his baton to Shuangchengzi, the intersection of the Eastern Railway and the Far Eastern Railway. "In my opinion, there is no need for the squadron to pay attention to the build-up of the Japanese army on the Xin'antu front, and only need to deploy one or two divisions of garrisons around the Hutou Fortress. The main battlefield was chosen on the Suifenhe-Shuangchengzi line, and the enemy was defeated with absolute superiority, and then threatened Vladivostok, an important town in the Far East. The main force of the Japanese army in Shin'an Land was forced to go south for a decisive battle, and after it was defeated, the main force was transferred to Korea, so as to achieve the goal of defeating the main force of the Japanese army. ”

……

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, this is a telegram from Ambassador Katayama."

Yoshiichi Tanaka slammed to his feet from behind his desk. Rushing over to receive the telegram from a secretary at the Prime Minister's Office. Yusaku Uehara and Chugoshige Ada, who were sitting in the office, glanced at each other. They all came to discuss with Tanaka Yoshiichi the "Nagata Plan" submitted by the Far Eastern Army. To Yoshiichi Tanaka's eagerness. The two of them knew that their prime minister, Lord Nagata, had been impressed by the bold plan proposed by Nagata Tetsuyama.

As the two heads of the Japanese Army, none of them still knows the current situation of the Far Eastern Army. Although the plan of "striking north and attacking south" has been set, and the hope of victory is pinned on Shanghai to fight, the Far East is the real home field, and the Far Eastern Army must at least have an advantage in the field to force the Chinese to massively increase Manchuria. If the Far Eastern Army was full of bags on the Chinese defensive line, how could Chang Ruiqing transfer the troops in Nanjing and Shanghai to rescue the emergency? If the Chinese put two or three armies in Shanghai, where will there be a chance of victory in the Shanghai battle?

Therefore, the two of them and Tanaka Yoshiichi got this surprise attack plan proposed by Nagata Tetsuyama Daisa, the commander of the Far Eastern Army's Operations Division, and they were immediately moved.

It's just that this plan requires the cooperation of the Soviet Union, and no one knows what Trotsky and Lenin are planning.

Yoshiichi Tanaka took the telegram. Hurriedly dismantled it, finished ten lines at a glance, and exhaled heavily, with a long-lost smile on his face.

"Trotsky has already agreed to us to take advantage of the excuse, but he wants us to protest afterwards in the name of violating the sovereignty of the Soviet Union."

"God bless!" "We're going to win!" Yusaku Uehara and Chukashige Uda cheered almost simultaneously.

Yoshiichi Tanaka smiled faintly, and said to Uehara and Zhonghua again: "Uehara-kun, Tanaka-kun, in terms of military strategy, this time we really have the best opinions. There is no doubt that we will win by attacking from the north and attacking from the south, and that the Red Russian friends are also on our side. But where should we win? ”

"Which step? Of course, it is a complete defeat of China! ”

"Is Your Excellency the Prime Minister going to give Zhi Na a chance to taste his courage?"

Tanaka smiled wryly and shook his head. "What is the criterion for complete defeat? Perdition of China? Relying on the existing 20 divisions of the imperial army, there is no such strength, China is a big country after all! ”

"Then split Manchuria from China and merge it with the Far Eastern states." Yusaku Uehara said loudly.

"We should also let Shina compensate for the war expenses, at least 0 billion yen!" Tian Zhongzhong added.

Tanaka smiled and asked rhetorically, "What if China refuses to cede Manchuria and does not agree to compensate for the war expenses?" They have more than a million well-equipped land forces, one or two times more than the Imperial Army, and the power to mobilize further! And the price paid by the imperial army to wipe out more than a million troops is probably quite staggering, right? Will we have the strength to continue the war? Is there still any strength left to defend against the Soviet attack? ”