On the morning of 4 September, Xiao Zhenlei convened a meeting of the Military Committee to discuss matters concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the recovery of Wan Dao and its affiliated islands.

After the meeting began, Xiao Zhenlei said: "Ladies and gentlemen, most of the Liaodong Peninsula has been recovered by our army, and now there is only one Lushun Pass still in the hands of the Japanese, and it is a matter of the past few days to recover it, and then we will discuss the recovery of the Ryukyu Islands, the recovery of Bay Island and its affiliated islands, these places were previously our territory, among which the former Ryukyu Kingdom of the Ryukyu Islands was a vassal state of our country, and after the Japanese took control of the internal affairs of the Ryukyu Kingdom, in order to eliminate the suzerain-vassal relationship between our country and the Ryukyus, Forcibly ordered the Ryukyu Kingdom to stop paying tribute to the Qing court, and then set up a judicial institution in the Ryukyus, placing the Ryukyu Kingdom under its rule, and then, Japan annexed the Ryukyus, abolished the Ryukyu Domain, and incorporated it into Kagoshima Prefecture, and in the same year, Okinawa Prefecture was set up in the land of the Ryukyus, and the Ryukyu King Shotai was sentenced to exile in Tokyo, and the Ryukyu Kingdom fell, which was more than 30 years ago, and the Japanese could not erase this history! ”

"Not to mention Wan Dao and its affiliated islands, after the First Sino-Japanese War, the incompetent Qing court ceded them to Japan, and now we have to recover them, they were taken away by the Japanese by force before, and now we will also take them back by force, they belong to Huaguo, they will always belong to Huaguo, and no one can take them away! What do you think about the reconquest of these places? ”

After Xiao Zhenlei finished speaking, he looked at the main members of the Military Committee, and Cai Ye said: "President, there is one thing I don't understand, after we wiped out the Japanese naval fleet. It is fully capable of landing directly on the Japanese mainland and fighting the Japanese to surrender. There is no need to recover Liaodong first, and then recover Ryukyu, Wandao, Korea, etc. Why is that? ”

Some of the main members of the military committee still didn't understand the reason for this, Xiao Zhenlei said with a smile: "Actually, I have already mentioned this reason in previous meetings, whether explicitly or implicitly, mainly for political reasons, for what?" One of the reasons is for the sake of Siberia and the Far East, which are now occupied by the Japanese, and if we attack the Japanese mainland directly, with the combat strength and military equipment of our army, the Japanese will not be able to resist for a long time after the surrender of the Japanese. We will take over the regions of Siberia and the Far East occupied by the Japanese, and we and Tsarist Russia are now allies, and if Tsarist Russia asks us to withdraw our troops, are we going to return these areas to Tsarist Russia? In fact, these lands belonged to our country a long time ago, and they were only taken away by Tsarist Russia by all kinds of clever and reckless means, but if we do not withdraw our troops, then we will inevitably have to conflict with Tsarist Russia now, and this is very unfavorable to the overall situation of the joint confrontation with the Central Powers, so we cannot be in a hurry. The area east of the Ural Mountains is garrisoned by our army, and even if there is any problem with the Japanese, the Tsarist side will not be able to reach it, and we can take our time. Until there is a problem within Tsarist Russia, when the time is ripe, it will be time for us to completely recover Siberia and the Far East, and then it will not be too late to fight and the Japanese surrender."

"There is another political reason. As you all know, whether it is the Liaodong Peninsula, or the affiliated islands of Ryukyu and Wanjima, they have all been robbed by the Japanese by force in modern times. In the past 100 years, the great powers have constantly attacked us with force, dragged us down with the economy, and eroded us with culture. Let our people gradually lose their national self-confidence, national pride, and even lose their blood during this period of time, and now we govern the country, not only to recover the one that was taken away by the foreign powers, but also to help the people restore their national self-confidence, national pride, and stimulate the blood of the people, if not, even if our generation reluctantly strives for the independence of the country and the nation, then our next generation can not maintain it for a long time, so how we want to lose, how to get it back, only in this way, In order to help the people build new national self-confidence and national pride step by step, let everyone be proud of being a national of this country, and let everyone work hard for the great rejuvenation of this country! You are soldiers, and soldiers can't ask about politics, but you can't not understand politics, and the military is for the government, and today we are convening this military conference to discuss the annexation of Ryukyu, Wandao and its affiliated islands, also out of political considerations, do you have any other questions? ”

Cai Guodong said: "Our general logistics department has no problem, fully cooperated, with China's current reserves of weapons and equipment, ammunition, and military strategic materials, can support the navy, land and air forces to fight one million people for a year, if the war drags on, there will be problems in logistics supply, this is mainly because the time for our industrial construction is too short, the foundation is weak, and the talent reserve and skilled workers are too small, and we cannot compare with the European and American powers in this regard!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "Guodong said a very realistic problem, that is to say, with the current situation of our country, we can't afford to fight a large-scale battle, we can't afford to fight a war that is too protracted, but the war to recover the country, the war to make the Japanese surrender, we still have enough ability, we can end the war in a short time, and then it is the matter of sending troops to Europe to participate in the war, if we go to Europe to participate in the war, then in terms of ammunition, we can let the Entente side take charge of it, and let their factories produce ammunition for us, including all kinds of bullets, Grenades, shells, etc., we are only responsible for sending people and guns, so that our logistical pressure will be greatly reduced! ”

Cai Guodong nodded, and said: "If you want to subdue Ryukyu, Wan Island and its affiliated islands, then it is inevitable to carry out a sea-crossing landing operation, in this regard, we still have no experience, only the 6th Division of the Second Army has the experience of landing in Dalian Bay, but they are now participating in the battle to attack Arthur Pass, even if they are transferred to the south after the end of the war, it will take a long time, and the troops will be very tired." Therefore, from now on, we must determine the specific number of troops participating in the landing operation to recover the Ryukyus, Wan Dao and their affiliated islands, and immediately order them to go south to complete the assembly and conduct some training in relevant aspects. ”

Everyone nodded after listening to Cai Guodong's words, and Xiao Zhenlei also said: "Yes, it is true that you must prepare in advance, and you must also do some training in related aspects, for example, many northerners have the problem of seasickness, and people are alive and well on land, but when they get on the ship, they become cowards, and they vomit one by one and become sick seedlings, how can they land and fight?" In addition, the soldiers must also be trained in landing operations, and they must not jump off the boat and rush to the shore as soon as the landing craft arrives at the shore.

"Also, who will be the pre-war training officer? Who will be the commander of the Reconquista? What are your comments and suggestions? ”

As soon as Xiao Zhenlei's words fell, Cai Guodong stood up and said: "President, everyone, I recommend myself to be the commander of the reconquest battle, and I will allow the president and you!" ”

Cai Yi said: "Gordon as the commander? Isn't it too much to kill pigs with a knife? Cannons fight mosquitoes, we don't have generals who can fight, do we need to go out with Guodong? ”

Cai Guotai shook his head and smiled: "In fact, you all know that among us, including the military generals below, do not have experience in transitional sea landing operations, none of them, I have been studying this for a while, it can be regarded as a little experience, I want to use the strategy and tactics I have researched to test it in practice, except for Hanlong, everyone else is older than me, and the combat experience is richer than mine, even if I am unfortunately defeated, there is not also you to save the field."

After all, just as he said, none of the high-ranking generals below had any experience in crossing the sea and landing operations, and this sea-crossing operation was not as different as landing in Dalian Bay, the situation was very different, and there was no comparison. The Japanese had ample time and forces to deploy beach defenses on various landable coastlines, and the resistance encountered during the landing was not as weak as the Japanese defense in Dalian Bay.

Xiao Zhenlei looked at the others and asked, "Guo Dong volunteered to be the commander of this reconquest battle, what do you think?" ”

Xu Shaozhen said: "Speaking of which, Gordon's experience in new strategy and tactics is stronger than that of us old guys, after all, we are people who have come from the Qing Dynasty in the past, and we are familiar with the tactics and tactics of the old army, and the familiarity with weapons is only familiar with those weapons before, and now the weapons of the Wehrmacht have completely changed, I can't identify them all, there are many weapons, I don't know its performance and operation and use, if I am a commander, I will definitely be unqualified, but Gordon is different, most of the training plans of the army now." Besides, isn't he just studying the strategy and tactics of beach-grabbing landing operations, which can be tested in actual combat, if he can't do it, then we people will be even more unlucky, this kind of large-scale battle, handed over to the generals below and not very relieved, I agree that he will be the commander! ”

"I agree!" Cai Ye said.

Sa Zhenbing and Ma Hanlong said: "We also agree! ”

Xiao Zhenlei said: "Okay, since you have agreed, then Cai Guodong will be the supreme commander of the reconquest battle, and the navy should escort the landing army troops, and provide fire support to the landing army troops when necessary. In addition, for the matter of training officers before the war, I will find a general from the strategic and tactical research department who has studied this aspect! (To be continued......)