Chapter 1099 Look farther

For the sake of Alexander's heart, Tang Qiuli did not keep Alexander, Stilwell, and Chen Cheng secret from Alexander, Stilwell, and Chen Cheng about the troops' departure that night.

Alexander and Stilwell were the first time to see the whole picture of the independent division troops in a state of battle, when the tanks and artillery trucks of the brigade drove over, the engine "rumbled" and shook the sky, the ground trembled, and at night, the long dragon composed of various vehicle lights meandered and swam on the mountain road in western Yunnan, and the front did not see the head and the tail of the back, and the scene was amazing.

Alexander and Stilwell looked at this intently, they were more concerned about the equipment level of the troops of the independent division, and the units directly under the independent division had completely formed a mechanized unit, as long as the troops started, it was a string of cars, tanks and artillery trucks, and the two looked at each other.

Seeing the surprise in each other's hearts, judging from the generals of the two countries with the highest military strength in the world at that time, the current equipment level of the independent division was not inferior to that of European countries, more than one generation of the Japanese army, and even more than the equipment level of the United States and Britain stationed in Southeast Asia.

The reason why Tang Qiuli did this was to let Alexander have enough confidence and hope that the troops of the Independent Division could relieve the siege of Mandalay, so that the British generals who were encircled would not fight the idea of surrendering to the Japanese, and he was sure that today's spectacular scene would soon reach the British commander in Mandalay.

Under the gaze of Alexander, Stilwell and Chen Cheng, more than 100,000 troops of the 10 infantry brigades, 3 tank brigades, 4 artillery brigades, and 2 air defense brigades of the corps directly under the independent division took advantage of the night to cross the Sino-Burmese border and disappear into the jungles and mountains of northern Burma Chinese.

After the troops of the Independent Division disappeared from sight, Alexander didn't even have time to greet Stilwell, and hurriedly drove all the way back to Tengchong's residence, and informed Francis, who was struggling to support the crisis in Mandalay, of the good news as quickly as possible.

"Chief of Staff Francis, at nine o'clock tonight, the troops of Tang Qiuli, vice chairman of the Chinese Government, have begun to enter Burma, and the ten brigades of its vanguard force, about 150,000 people, have already set out from the Tengchong area, passed through Ruili and Mangshi in China, crossed the Yunnan-Burma border, and inserted directly into Mandalay from Nankan in northern Burma.

Alexander was very optimistic, he witnessed with his own eyes the equipment level of the independent division and the high morale of the soldiers, as long as the elite division of this squadron reached the outskirts of Mandalay, it would inevitably attract the full attention of the Japanese, and the encirclement would be torn apart, moreover, Tang Qiuli's troops were not only this one, according to his own words, at the same time tonight, there were more than 500,000 troops of three corps, from different directions, entering the Indochina Peninsula, and the target was Mandalay.

According to Tang Qiuli's words, Alexander came up with a message that Tang Qiuli was going to send the main force of the Japanese army to Southeast Asia around Mandalay to have a decisive battle, which was something he was very willing to see, and in the subsequent telegram to Francis, Alexander's mind was completely exposed, that is, to preserve his strength and passively avoid war.

"Chief of Staff Francis, once the squadron exchanges fire with the Japanese, you immediately organize the troops to evacuate Mandalay to get out of the current encirclement situation, and then, the troops of the British Empire should follow the squadron's actions closely, and must not decide the direction of retreat without authorization, the specific tactic is to stick closely behind the squadron and avoid any kind of contact and engagement with the Japanese army."

At this time, Alexander was still playing a ghost idea, as long as the Chinese exchanged fire with the Japanese army, the two sides were entangled, the Japanese could not spare their hands to deal with their own troops, if they retreated in the direction of Myitkyina, the more than 90,000 Japanese troops of Terauchi Shouichi were not easy to deal with, with the strength of Tang Qiuli, he could definitely repel the Japanese army, so that the army of the British Empire would turn the corner of danger, and the Japanese troops who invaded the north were all repulsed, and there was no need to withdraw to India.

To put it bluntly, Alexander did not dare to retreat in the direction of Myitkyina, nor did he dare to have a decisive decisive battle with the Japanese with the troops of the Independent Division, just to use the Chinese soldiers as shields, and their soldiers of the British Empire, hiding behind the troops of the Independent Division, had a very good idea, and if Tang Qiuli was full of troops and went straight to Mandalay, Alexander's strategy would work.

Alexander used the troops of the Independent Division as a gunman, how could Tang Qiuli give him this opportunity to steal tricks, what he let Alexander see was nothing more than the troops of the three brigades directly under the corps, the purpose was to make this scheming Englishman believe that he was going to rescue Mandalay.

The other units directly under the corps, after leaving Tengchong, went directly north, passed through Sudian, Guyong, and Pianma in Burma, entered the territory of Burma, formed an encirclement posture against Myitkyina, and used more than 100,000 people in the seven brigades of the directly subordinate corps to deal with the more than 90,000 Japanese troops of Terauchi Shouichi, not only with superior troops, but also with several times more heavy firepower.

At the same time, Tang Qiusheng's Sulu Mobile Corps crossed the border line from Jinghong in southern Yunnan and entered the line of the Salween River in eastern Burma.

Feng Jiwu's Niangziguan garrison corps, from Jinping in southern Yunnan, into the first line of Bomulabang in northern Laos, waiting for an opportunity to occupy Vientiane, de facto occupation of Burma, and then, troops out of northern Thailand, control the northern region of Thailand, the main task of Feng Jiwu's corps is to connect the Tang Qiusheng Corps in eastern Burma, through a front stretching thousands of kilometers from eastern Burma to Bangkok, Thailand.

Ma Chaoyang's Southeast Mobile Corps was divided into two routes, all the way from Pingxiang, Guangxi, through Lang Son in northern Vietnam, the target was Hanoi in Vietnam, all the way from the estuary of southern Yunnan, through Viet Chi in Vietnam, the target was also Hanoi, and then, Ma Chaoyang's corps was deployed along the first line of the Beibu Gulf and did not participate in the Burma campaign.

In this way, the independent division gathered in the four main field corps on the southern border of China, more than 500,000 troops, taking the opportunity of Alexander's strong invitation to send troops to Burma, all entered the Indochina Peninsula, the former British and French spheres of influence, this is the only time in the history of the Republic of China, the squadron went to fight abroad, and as a result, the situation in the Indochina Peninsula and even Southeast Asia fell into the control of Tang Qiuli.

Judging from Tang Qiuli's strategic layout in the Indochina Peninsula, the three corps of Tang Qiusheng, Feng Jiwu, and Ma Chaoyang, from eastern Burma to southern Thailand, lined up, dividing the Indochina Peninsula into two halves.

There is an obvious loophole in the fact that the troops of the Independent Division did not control the narrow strip of the Malay Peninsula or the choke point of the Strait of Malacca, leaving an obvious gap for the main forces of the Japanese army gathered in central Burma and encircling Mandalay.

If the war in Burma is unfavorable, the Japanese army can withdraw along the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Kalimantan, or board ships in Yangon and withdraw from the Andaman Sea through the Strait of Malacca to Taiwan or the mainland, so as to get out of danger.

At a secret military meeting of the commanders of the independent division and above the brigade level just before going abroad to fight, several commanders, including corps commanders Tang Qiusheng and Feng Jiwu, all had a questioning attitude towards Tang Qiuli's strategic layout, and gathered troops along China's southern border in front of the independent division, and in Burma, they were fully capable of sending troops to Southeast Asia with Japan to carry out several major battles.

Even if the Japanese army cannot be completely annihilated, at least it can inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army and expel the Japanese army from the Indochina Peninsula, Tang Qiusheng, Feng Jiwu and Ma Chaoyang, the commanders of several corps, although they do not believe that this is the negligence or fatal mistake of the division commander Tang Qiuli, they are also puzzled by this, what is the operational goal of the independent division troops to enter the Indochina Peninsula without annihilating the living forces of the Japanese army?

Those brigade commanders obviously meant the same thing, but there were several corps commanders present, and it was not their turn to speak, so they also paid attention to this matter to see how the division commander could persuade them.

Tang Qiuli and Chief of Staff Chang Feng glanced at each other, and said with a smile: "Ladies and gentlemen, the situation in the Indochina Peninsula can already be predicted, our eyes should not be limited to this, the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula, across the South China Sea, is the traditional sphere of influence of the Americans, if we send Japan to Southeast Asia in Burma to annihilate all the troops, it will inevitably pay a great price, moreover, Japan's military strength in Southeast Asia has been lost, who will touch the interests of the Americans for us?" ”

Everyone thought for a moment and digested Tang Qiuli's words, such a long-term strategic plan was not expected by the senior commanders, including Tang Qiusheng, and the division commander's strategic vision had shifted from the Burma battlefield to the islands of the South Pacific, eyeing the Americans' sphere of influence.

From this point of view, the Americans in southern Southeast Asia will not be better off than the British in Indochina in the future, and once they are targeted by the division commander, they will have to shed their skin if they don't die.

The South Pacific islands are Tang Qiuli's next strategic plan, and the first step to connect this plan is to solve the war situation in Burma as perfectly as possible, so that the Japanese and the British can fight to the death, and the key point that triggers this series of reactions is Myitkyina in northern Burma.