There is no difference between surrendering and not surrendering in the Ottoman Empire, the war is fought to this extent, the remaining Thrace region west of the Turkish Strait of the Ottoman Empire, the army is almost empty, Sultan Mehmed V has become the commander of the light pole, although Bulgaria wants to swallow the Thrace region, but because everyone is a member of the Central Powers, it is not easy to fall into the ground at this time, Germany and Austria-Hungary deployed heavy troops in the Balkan Peninsula at this time to prevent the Chinese army from crossing the sea to fight, and the Chinese army died down after seizing the Asia Minor Peninsula, This made Germany and Austria, which were already a little overwhelmed, breathe a sigh of relief.

In Germany's view, as long as the British can be forced to surrender and completely solve the problem on the Western Front, then a large number of troops can be quickly transferred from the Western Front to deal with Tsarist Russia on the Eastern Front, so the main forces of Germany are still concentrated on the Western Front. The First and Second Armies of the Chinese Expeditionary Force were thus able to take this opportunity to rest and reorganize, and the Eastern Front began to enter a period of confrontation, but on the defensive line, skirmishes often broke out between the two sides.

Japan among the Allied Powers is now living like a year, and China does not allow them to surrender now, and Germany and Austria-Hungary among the Allied Countries cannot help him, so China sends fighter planes to bomb the Japanese mainland twice in three days, often killing and injuring hundreds of people.

In view of the fact that the wars in the Eastern European theater and in the Middle East and the Asia Minor Peninsula have ended, the Chinese side has begun to consider a thorough solution to Japan's problems, and Japan still has more than 1 million troops in the country, while there are more than 600,000 troops in Siberia and the Far East. The resources that need to be used are not a small amount, but this battle has to be fought.

Although there are still more than a million troops in Japan itself. In addition, there are more than 600,000 people in Siberia and the Far East, but Japan's military-industrial system and industrial base have been destroyed by the bombing of China in the past year. Therefore, the ammunition and weapons of the Japanese army were limited, which meant that Japan's war potential was essentially gone.

At the military meeting held on September 6, Xiao Zhenlei discussed this issue with senior generals, and at a meeting with the Predators and cabinet officials, he also focused on the complete settlement of the Japanese issue, and the officers and the cabinet unanimously agreed to completely solve the Japanese problem and send troops to land on the Japanese mainland to fight.

Since it is necessary to attack the Japanese mainland, it is necessary to form a sea-crossing combat force in accordance with the scale of the Japanese mainland's forces and its war capability. After discussing with the senior military generals, Xiao Zhenlei believed that in order to form a group army to land on the Japanese mainland to fight on the Japanese mainland just in case, of course, this group army did not all arrive on the Japanese mainland at once, but landed in batches and put troops into the army while fighting.

As for the commander of this war against Japan, Xiao Zhenlei has carefully considered it, since it is a war against Japan. Then since it was fighting against the Japanese mainland, it was necessary to fight against the Japanese army in Siberia and the Far East.

The commander of the war against Siberia and the Far East already had a commander, that is, Chen Jizu, who commanded the campaign to recover the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula. The current operation against Siberia and the Far East is still under the command of Chen Jizu, and the specific deployment of troops has not yet been decided.

And the matter of the war against the Japanese mainland. This candidate made it difficult for Xiao Zhenlei to decide, and there were many candidates who could command the war against the Japanese mainland. But there are very few things that Xiao Zhenlei can take a fancy to.

On the morning of September 7, Xiao Zhenlei asked his secretary Xiao Gao to call Xu Shaozhen. Ask him to come and talk.

After Xu Shaozhen arrived, Xiao Zhenlei asked him to sit down, and the two began to talk, Xiao Zhenlei said: "General Xu, since the end of the meeting to decide to settle Japan, many generals have come to Mao Sui to recommend themselves, to be honest, there are many generals who can command the war against the Japanese mainland, I don't know how to choose, I don't know what General Xu has to say?" ”

Xu Shaozhen touched the short gray hair on his head when he heard this, and said with a smile: "The president, this is embarrassing for me, you let me say, doesn't this make me offend people?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei pondered for a moment and said: "Okay, I won't embarrass General Xu, in fact, I have a candidate in my heart, that is General Xu, but I know that with General Xu's qualifications and ability and your current status in the army, you are just commanding an army with a total strength of only one group army, so that the old general is a little overkill, this time I invited the old general over, I just want to talk to the old general in person, I hope that the old general can focus on national affairs and don't care about personal gains and losses. Although the strength of this group army is a little smaller, it can command the navy, land and air force to fight together. ”

At first, Xu Shaozhen thought that Xiao Zhenlei came to him to ask him about the candidate for the commander of the expedition, but he didn't expect Xiao Zhenlei to directly order his general, in fact, he had long wanted to recommend himself like everyone else, but he didn't dare to come because of face. Now that Xiao Zhenlei intends to be commanded by him, he is really ecstatic in his heart, but he can't show it, so he still pretends to be serious and stands up and salutes: "The president has an order, Xu doesn't dare to disobey, please rest assured, Xu will definitely complete the combat mission of this expedition to the Japanese mainland!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei saw Xu Shaozhen agree, and he was also very happy in his heart, this time the formation of an expeditionary combat force to attack the Japanese mainland is different from the first army and the second army, Japan is alone overseas, to attack the Japanese mainland, it is necessary to use the navy, land and air force, and the navy, land and air force must also have a unified command, and only Xu Shaozhen, an old qualified and capable veteran, can suppress the proud generals below, this is also the only time so far that the command of the navy, land and air force in a local battle is unified under one person.

Xiao Zhenlei asked Xu Shaozhen to sit down and asked: "Okay, the old general has this awareness, I am very happy, then I will now appoint the old general as the commander of the Japanese mainland operations, the old general has any opinions and ideas on the formation of combat units, I can put them forward now, I will try my best to agree!" ”

Faced with this question, Xu Shaozhen did not answer rashly, he pondered for a few minutes before expressing his opinion, "President, the terrain of the Japanese mainland is an island terrain, and there should not be many battles that can use cavalry, and each infantry division of our army is equipped with a cavalry battalion, which is enough to deal with it, so it must be specially equipped with cavalry divisions, as for the specific troop formation, I think the 7th Army, the 22nd Army, the 27th Army and the 32nd Army can be transferred, these armies are all distributed in East China and Central China, and the transfer is relatively easy and easy. The total strength of the force is just about 300,000, and on the naval side, I hope that a special fleet will be specially transferred to directly obey my command, and the air force will send an air division under the command of my command.

Xiao Zhenlei pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "Okay, I agreed, and I will form a combat force against the Japanese mainland according to the old general's opinion, and after the old general goes back, he will temporarily hand over the work to the deputies, and immediately take over the formation of a sea-crossing combat unit, today is September 7, I hope to start a war against Japan within two months."

Xu Shaozhen stood up and saluted: "Yes, President!" ”

He took an order issued by the Supreme Military Council to transfer the 7th, 22nd, 27th, and 32nd armies of the army in the name of the commander of operations against the Japanese mainland, and ordered these four armies to make preparations for mobilization.

Now that the troops fighting against the Japanese mainland have begun to be formed, the units fighting against the Japanese army in Siberia and the Far East will also begin to be formed, Xiao Zhenlei asked Chen Jizu to send a telegram order, ordering him to return to the capital to accept a new combat mission.

In view of the fact that Japan had a total of 600,000 troops in Siberia and the Far East, and Chen Jizu had only two armies and 150,000 troops under his command, Xiao Zhenlei believed that it was necessary to increase the number of troops for Chen Jizu.

On September 9, Chen Jizu returned to Beijing by special plane from Pyongyang and met Xiao Zhenlei that night.

When the two were talking, Xiao Zhenlei said: "This time, I and my other commanders all think that it is most appropriate for you to command the Japanese army in Siberia and the Far East. ”

Chen Jizu stood up and said: "Yes, President, resolutely obey the resolutions of the President and the Supreme Military Council!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and asked, "Then what do you want?" In terms of troops, it can be increased to 300,000 people, and there will be no more! ”

Chen Jizu thought for a while and said: "In this case, President, I ask for an additional corps and three cavalry divisions, it is more advantageous to use cavalry to fight in most areas of the north, especially the surrounding areas of Siberia, and in addition, after the arrival of winter, cavalry has a combat advantage in the cold world."

"Yes!" Xiao Zhenlei agreed to this request without much thought.

Chen Jizu said again: "In addition, can I mobilize the air force?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and asked, "How much air force do you need?" ”

"The size of an air division".

After listening to Chen Jizu's request, Xiao Zhenlei considered that there are now more and more fighters in the air force, and there are more and more pilots and ground crews, but there are not many pilots who can have actual combat experience, and most of them train all day and month, and actual combat plays an irreplaceable role in improving combat effectiveness.

He weighed it for a while and agreed, "Okay, give you an air division, don't you have to remember, for these air force fighters and pilots, let them take turns to fight, let them all experience the atmosphere of actual combat."

"I see, President!" (To be continued......)