Zhang Fakui and Liu Jianxu led the remnants of the defeated army and retreated to the line of Wuzhen and Tongxiang in a gloomy manner, and then did not stay, and retreated to Nanxun and Wuxing in great strides again.

The reason why he did not choose to withdraw to Chang'an Town and Haining County to join the new Second Division was mainly due to two reasons:

First, Chiang Kai-shek strictly ordered the right-wing army to plug the huge loopholes in the defense system on the south bank of Taihu Lake caused by the loss of Jiaxing, and delay the pace of the Japanese army's march to Nanjing through the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway;

Second, the Theater Command has ordered some of the troops that had retreated from the Songhu front and had been assembled west of Wuxi on the Beijing-Shanghai line to march toward the Yixing and Guangde areas, so as to prevent the Japanese army from advancing along the south bank of Taihu Lake and going west to capture Wuhu and Dangtu, so as to prevent the Japanese army from invading west on the southern front from forming a roundabout situation towards Nanjing.

In other words, retreating in the direction of Wuxing would give you the opportunity to join forces with the main force of the Left Wing Army to achieve the goal of huddling together for warmth and avoiding being surrounded by the Japanese army.

However, the Japanese 6th Division, 18th Division, and Kunisaki Detachment, which were following the attack, did not give the Right Wing Army a chance to reorganize its troops, and kept biting very tightly, and the aircraft bombing never stopped for a moment.

To test whether a unit is an elite soldier, we must not only look at its performance against the enemy, but more importantly, we must see whether it can always maintain its structure and combat effectiveness in the event of a rout. It was clear that the Right Wing Army, with the exception of the new Second Division, did not possess the qualities of an elite tour, and as the troops were defeated again and again, the Eighth Army and the Tenth Army were severely reduced, and many soldiers sneaked away with guns at night.

Seeing the deteriorating battlefield situation and more and more deserters, Zhang Fakui's mouth was foaming, and he was in a hurry but to no avail.

Chairman Chiang Nanking issued a new order, demanding that the Eighth Army and the Tenth Army must hold out at Wu Xing for a month, so as to buy enough time for the Left Wing Army to move south for reinforcements.

After reading Chiang Kai-shek's order, Zhang Fakui wanted to cry without tears, so he stuffed the telegram into Liu Jianxu's hand, glared angrily, and wanted to eat it alive.

At present, only by mobilizing the new Second Division to go north to participate in the war can there be any hope of accomplishing the arduous task assigned by Chairman Chiang in the name of the Military Commission.

"General Liu, the war situation has been so corrupted, what solution do you have?" Zhang Fakui saw that Liu Jianxu was silent, and finally couldn't help but ask.

Zhang Fakui's attitude was very bad, he gritted his teeth when he spoke, the green tendons on his forehead burst out, and his words were questioning and cold, this house that temporarily served as the headquarters of the Right Wing Army and was located in Dongwu Village, Xixun City, Nanxun City, on the south bank of Taihu Lake, the temperature instantly became a little colder.

Liu Jianxu's face turned blue, and he raised his head with a bitter face: "Commander, now the loss of troops is very large, looking at the entire northern battlefield of Hangzhou Bay, only the new second division can resist the Japanese army"

"General Liu, you offended Wu Ming and the new second division miserably, how do you ask me to mobilize them?" Zhang Fakui said angrily.

"If I can invite the new second division, I am willing to kneel down for Wu Ming and ask for guilt," Liu Jianxu said dejectedly. At this time, he also regretted it very much, he was fascinated by the battle of Jiaxing, just thinking about how to make contributions, but he didn't expect a huge risk, and as a result, stealing chickens and rice, not only lost the soldiers, but also had a stalemate with the new second division, and there was no more loss-making business than this.

"Regret having a fart?" Zhang Fakui cursed in his heart. At present, Zhang Fakui sent a telegram to the New Second Division in the name of the Right Wing Army Headquarters, and Wu Ming did not even give a perfunctory reply, which can be regarded as a complete severance of contact with the Right Wing Army.

"Or, let's ask Chairman Jiang in Nanjing to issue an order directly to Wu Ming, right?" Liu Jianxu suggested with some embarrassment.

"This ...... Okay, let me deal with it, there are too many deserters these days, and I don't understand if we are about to become the commander of the light pole, why is there no deserter in the new second division? Zhang Fakui said angrily. The officers and men of the Hunan army were able to be fearless of death when they were fighting, but as soon as they retreated, the problem arose, and almost all the companies had deserters, and now most squads and platoons can have half of the soldiers, thank God.

Hearing Zhang Fakui say this, Liu Jianxu's face became even worse, his face turned blue, and he turned around and walked out of the headquarters.

With a heavy sulk, Zhang Fakui came to the map, looked carefully, and then walked into the telecommunications room next to the headquarters, and a telegram arrived in Nanjing, requesting the Military Commission to give a direct order to the new Second Division, so that Wu Ming could lead his troops to aid the Wuxing defense line.

The headquarters located in the Fuguishan Tunnel in Nanjing received the telegram, which caused all kinds of speculation.

Qian Dajun believed that it was because Wu Ming did not obey the order, and Zhang Fakui could not command this high-flying and domineering guy, so he had no choice but to ask the Military Commission to cross the Third Theater, the Right Wing Army, and the Eighth Group Army Headquarters and command the New Second Division remotely.

"Although Wu Ming has made many military exploits, it is too much, and he doesn't even listen to the orders of his direct boss, so he must go to the telegram to apply for a fight" Qian Dajun stood up and criticized the two armies, and suggested to Chiang Kai-shek:

"Chairman, it is the duty of a soldier to obey orders, if the officers and men of the national army are like Wu Ming, then how can they fight a war, how can they do the order and prohibit?"

"Yes, such a superior general should be severely punished, otherwise the army will not be able to maintain its combat strength at all"

A number of bigwigs in the military council echoed their remarks.

I have to say that Wu Ming is an outlier in the entire national army system, and he has no good popularity. On the battlefield of Songhu, the greater the achievements of the new Second Division, the more people were jealous, and the more people fell into the well.

Chiang Kai-shek sat in the center and did not comment on this, but tilted his head and glanced at the pensive Lin Wei.

Lin Wei nodded knowingly, and said decently: "I want to remind you that the new Second Division is currently the unit with the most achievements and the largest number of achievements in the Songhu battlefield, so there is no problem of not being able to maintain combat effectiveness, and in my opinion, although Wu Ming sometimes dominates, he will definitely not disobey the orders of his superiors for no reason." This time, General Zhang Xianghua asked the Military Commission to directly command the new Second Division, presumably there is some reason for this."

Although Lin Wei didn't say much, the meaning of maintenance was very clear.

Chiang Kai-shek tapped the telegram with his finger, pondered for a while, and said: "Although Wu Ming has many problems, as a revolutionary soldier, he still attaches great importance to military discipline, which has been mentioned to me by both rhetoric and Liangzhen."

Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek set the tone, Lin Wei continued: "The chairman of the committee is right, Jingguo wrote that the new Second Division is strictly disciplined, orders and prohibitions, fair trading, and never takes a stitch from the masses, which can be regarded as a first-class teacher of benevolence and righteousness. This time, looking at General Zhang Xianghua's call, his words flickered, and there must be a hidden secret in it."

Qian Dajun smiled awkwardly, although he was very dissatisfied with Wu Ming and the new second division in his heart, but he was afraid of Chiang Kai-shek's attitude, as well as the two confidants of Chiang Kai-shek, Yu Jishi and Chen Cheng, Qian Dajun did not refute again.

Chiang Kai-shek asked again: "Then how should we reply?" ”

"Not busy for the time being"

Lin Wei replied without hesitation: "Chairman of the Committee, General Cixiu has always been friendly with Wu Ming, so it is better to ask him to call the new Second Division and ask what happened to the Right Wing Army."

"So Very Good"

Chiang Kai-shek's eyes lit up and he agreed very much with Lin Wei's proposal. Chen Cheng was a close confidant of Chiang Kai-shek, and it was only fitting for him to find out what happened.

The telegram was sent to the headquarters of the Left Wing Combat Army, and Chen Cheng, as the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent a telegram to the new Second Division for verification

The telegram reached the Nanjing Headquarters, and Chiang Kai-shek saw Liu Jianxu's bullshit and scolded hatefully: "Niang Xipi, it turned out that Liu Huixian's actions angered the new Second Division

Lin Wei took the telegram and looked at it, couldn't cry or laugh, shook his head and handed the telegram to Qian Dajun, who was looking forward to it, Qian Dajun was also extremely shocked by Liu Jianxu's brazenness, and lowered his head a little ashamedly.

After the bigwigs of the military committee finished reading it, Chiang Kai-shek said: "This matter must be handled carefully, otherwise it may cause discord among the various departments of the national army...... Let's now discuss how to deal with the great harm caused to the national army by General Tang Mengxiao's misjudgment."

Tang Shengzhi, who had been keeping a low profile before, bowed his head and silently waited for his verdict.

After more than two hours of arguing, Chiang Kai-shek made the most difficult decision: "...... I now announce that Army General Tang Shengzhi will be given a penalty of demerit and his post as director of military training and executive director to observe the after-effects. ”

Haining County, the temporary headquarters of the new second division.

Since Zhang Dongning and Chen Yanhua led the supplementary 1st Regiment to join the main force of the New 2nd Division, the troops were once again strong and strong, so Wu Ming specially convened an enlarged meeting of officers above the regimental level of the New 2nd Division to discuss and sum up the recent war.

The generals and colonels of the new Second Division were all trained by Wu Ming to become a group of ruffians, and after hearing about what happened to the supplementary regiment, the crowd was furious, and one by one they angrily scolded Zhang Fakui, Liu Jianxu and others at the venue for being brazen, and some people even greeted the relatives of the officers and men of the 62nd and 63rd Divisions who carried out the specific execution, and there was a commotion in the venue.

"Go, go, one or two? If you don't find the reason for everything from yourself, but you complain about the heavens and others, are you still an officer of the new Second Division? Wu Ming immediately became angry.

scolded a group of generals who were filled with righteous indignation, Wu Ming was still angry, turned his gaze to Chen Yanhua, who was sitting in the second row on the right, and reprimanded loudly:

"Yin Dizhong, the commander of the supplementary brigade, mentioned to me many times, saying that Chen Yanhua is a rare tiger general, but also a wise general, from the performance of collecting the rout and joining the Jiaxing battlefield during this time, it does not live up to this praise, for which I specially called to commend. However, I never imagined that the first regiment of the supplementary brigade would be stolen by someone in a daze...... Tell me, does such a regiment commander have the face to say that he is the tiger general and wise general of my new second division? I look like a fool."

Hearing Wu Ming's merciless scolding, Chen Yanhua shrank his head, and his face was wrinkled like bitter gourd skin. Although he was very innocent, because it was the command of the Right Wing Army that directly ordered the centralized management and storage of weapons and equipment, on the battlefield, weapons and equipment are the second life of soldiers, and he neglected to take precautions.

Wu Ming turned around and said to the full house of generals: "Since the day our new Second Division was established, we have only one belief in our hearts, that is, we are first-class heroes on the battlefield, and we are soldiers who are fearless of life and death outside the battlefield...... Weapons are our second life at all times, and we can't leave our weapons anytime and anywhere."

Speaking of this, Wu Ming looked directly at Chen Yanhua: "Commander Chen, originally according to the major mistakes you made and the huge losses you brought to the troops, it would not be an exaggeration to shoot you, but in view of the excellent performance of your regiment in collecting materials and collecting the rout, as well as the beautiful battle on the first night in Jiaxing City, I decided to give you a lighter punishment and imprison you for three days, and the whole division will be criticized, what do you think?" ”

"What?"

Long Shaogang and Zhang Dongning, who were sitting in the first place on Wu Ming's left and right respectively, were very surprised - such a punishment was too heavy. In their eyes, it is simply Liu Jianxu who is brazen and carefully calculates friendly troops, how can Chen Yanhua, as a regiment commander, withstand the calculations of a powerful general who is several levels older than him?

The whole school was silent.

It is better to say that the three days of confinement are good, but the key is that the whole division circulates criticism, which is better than shooting a soldier who values honor more than life.