Command of the 10th Army.

The sky was gloomy, the sea was covered with smoke, and the drizzling winter rain made the heart of Major General Tian Dao Shengwu, chief of staff of the army who stayed behind, cold.

The Japanese landing in Hangzhou Bay was the work of General Matsui Ishine, commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, and was carried out by Yanagawa Heisuke, in an attempt to strategically and completely annihilate the Chinese army and create conditions for advancing into Nanjing.

However, after Wu Mingxin's 2nd Division completely annihilated the 114th Division and the 6th Brigade of the Field Heavy Artillery, it seized Quangongting, Jinsiniangqiao, Jinshanwei and other places in one go, and took away a large amount of war materials from the 10th Army's reserves. Although the 6th and 18th Divisions and the Kunisaki Detachment at the front could be supplemented by the waterways and highways that opened up the connection with Shanghai, it was tantamount to a great irony for the command of the 10th Army, which existed in name only.

Not only that, if the new 2nd Division continued to attack Jinshan County, it would be a huge threat to the 18th Division and the Kunisaki Detachment fighting in the front.

In the current situation, only by mobilizing the main division with strong combat strength to join the operation on the southern front can the new second division be defeated and regain control of the Jinshanwei and other landing sites.

It's been raining for two days in a row.

The morning before yesterday, Yanagawa Heisuke set off for his homeland, and he did not follow the advice of Rear Admiral Shimomura Massuke, the commander of the task force, to commit suicide by disembowelment, but everyone knew that Yanagawa Heisuke was just surviving, and he might receive an order to self-discipline at any time.

Tian Dao Shengwu didn't go to see him off, and now it seems that it would be nice if Yanagawa Heisuke was allowed to stay in office for a while and let him carry the black pot

There was silence in the command cabin, except for the heavy gasps of the officers.

The current Tian Dao Shengwu has become the supreme commander of the Tenth Army as a major general, but his mood is not easy at all.

The 114th Division and the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade assigned to the 10th Army were finished, the 10th Army's material warehouses were seized, and the 6th and 18th Divisions and the Kunisaki Detachment were in a worrying situation...... All kinds of problems made Tian Dao Shengwu's head explode.

Tian Dao Shengwu turned his head sideways and looked at Rear Admiral Shimomura, the commander of the task force next to him: "Shimomura-kun, now the Chinese army is hurrying to transport our supplies...... Wu Ming is a terrible opponent, the new second division is a strong army, and our supplies falling into the hands of the new second division are tantamount to a tiger with wings, now I beg you, bombard Jinshanwei with a fleet artillery group, and I will bury the materials there with the people of the new second division"

The situation has deteriorated to this point, and although the task force is no longer part of the Tenth Army, Shimomura Massuke cannot stay out of it. However, although Major General Shimomura wanted to destroy Jin Shanwei with artillery, reason still prevailed and shook his head decisively:

"Tian Daojun, I also want the soldiers of the new Second Division to tremble in front of the firepower of our fleet's artillery group, but now the waves in Hangzhou Bay are very large, and the visibility on both the sea and land is not high, plus the plane cannot take off in rainy days, there is no way to provide accurate strike coordinates, please forgive me for not wasting the fleet's already stretched shell reserves."

Although the battle ahead was the responsibility of Shigeharu Suematsu and Heisuke Yanagawa, Rear Admiral Shimomura, as the commander of the task force, and the fleet's own losses also made him receive telegrams from the military command and the base camp in succession, and he was willing to make meritorious contributions.

Tian Dao Shengwu was very regretful, but he still stood up and bowed to Major General Lu Xia Village at 90 degrees: "Then wait for the weather to be fine, and then ask Shimomura-kun to help, please"

"No problem"

Shimomura Masassuke helped up Tado Moritake and said with a smile, "Our interests are the same on the issue of eliminating the Shina army"

A communications staff officer slammed open the door of the command room and said breathlessly: "General Tamichi, Commander Matsui is calling, and I want to communicate with you face-to-face by telegram."

When Tian Dao Shengwu heard this, he immediately came to the telecommunications room next door, and only returned to the command cabin after a quarter of an hour, his face had regained his calm, his head was raised high, and the lost momentum returned to him again.

Tian Dao Shengwu coughed lightly, and when the eyes of all the officers in the command cabin were focused on himself, he said loudly: "Commander Matsui is very angry about the defeat of our Tenth Army, and he said that this is an incomparably great shame, a shame for the Tenth Army, a shame for the Central China Front, and even more so a shame for the Japanese Empire."

With a sigh of relief, Tian Dao Shengwu said again: "Commander Matsui got the news that His Excellency Yanagawa is already on his way back to Tokyo and has been ordered to cut himself by caesarean section."

Hearing this news, the officials were in an uproar, and Tian Dao Shengwu smiled bitterly: "Don't be suspicious, it was the base camp that ordered General Yanagawa to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor by disembowelment." ”

Everyone fell silent.

Yanagawa Heisuke did not choose to disembowelment on the battlefield and insisted on returning to Japan, and the princes of the Tokyo base camp must have been full of anger about this, and had to explicitly order Yanagawa Heisuke to apologize for his crimes. On the one hand, this move reaffirmed and demonstrated the idea that Bushido in the Great Japanese Empire would be a great stimulus and spur to the front-line commanders, and on the other hand, it avoided spreading the news of the defeat after returning to Japan, which would be a dark blow to His Majesty the Emperor.

The root cause of the failure of this battle was that the commander of the 114th Division, Lieutenant General Shigeharu Suematsu, disobeyed his orders, but Shigeharu Suematsu had already apologized, and the Tokyo base camp could only push Yanagawa out as a scapegoat. If it weren't for the urgency of the battle in Songhu, I believe that Tian Dao Shengwu and other generals would also enjoy the same treatment as Yanagawa Heisuke.

Since the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army has never had a precedent of annihilating a division or regiment by the troops of another country, let alone a field heavy artillery brigade belonging to the strategic level.

Tian Dao Shengwu supported the table with both hands, looked around at the officers who were sitting at once, and finally fell his gaze on the face of Rear Admiral Shimomura Massuke, commander of the task force, and said:

"The Imperial Japanese Army is about to succeed in the Songhu battlefield, but for the performance of the Tenth Army, the front army and the princes of the base camp are not satisfied, please hold yourself"

The generals lowered their heads when they heard this, and Major General Shimomura was particularly uneasy.

With the help of Admiral Matsui's majesty and the deterrence from the Tokyo base camp, all the officials temporarily put down their burdens and became cheered up again.

Tian Dao Shengwu continued: "Okay, the successive defeats have made His Majesty the Emperor and the princes of the base camp fully understand the combat power of the new Second Division of China, in order to save face, the military department decided to transfer the second and seventh divisions from the Kwantung Army to join the Shanghai battlefield, the goal is to encircle and annihilate Wu Ming and the new second division under his command——"

There was an uproar in the command headquarters, and a hint of excitement appeared on everyone's faces.

The 2nd and 7th Divisions of the Japanese Army were veteran divisions formed in the Meiji period, and their achievements were brilliant and outstanding, and they were invincible and invincible in the Japanese army, far more powerful than the newly formed 114th Division.

actually dispatched two ace divisions in one go, which shows the fear of Wu Ming and the new second division led by him in the Tokyo base camp.

"Bang-"

The communications staff officer pushed open the iron door, broke into the command cabin like the wind, and reported after saluting Tian Daoshengwu: "Chief of Staff, the latest battle report has come from the front line, the Pingwang defense line of the Zhina Army has been broken through by our army, and the Sixth Division has successfully captured Pingwang County, cut off the Sujia Railway, and is preparing to attack the Jiaxing flank from the right flank in the wind and rain."

"Okay, that's great"

Tian Dao Shengwu Huo Ran stood up and praised loudly: "The Kumamoto Division is worthy of being the strongest and most combat-effective force in the Imperial Army, in the past Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, the Sixth Division made great achievements, invaded the Shandong Peninsula nine years ago, killed 50,000 people in one fell swoop, and greatly boosted the prestige of our country."

"Four years ago, during the Great Wall operation, the Kumamoto Division occupied Rehe and took Chifeng, Lengkou, after the China Incident this year, the Kumamoto Division entered the northern battlefield of China, and forcibly crossed the Yongding River in September, and in less than a month the incident occupied Zhuozhou, Baoding, Zhengding and other places, sweeping thousands of miles. After joining our 10th Army, he captured Songjiang, cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway, and now he has taken the lead in breaking through the national defense line that the people of China have painstakingly managed, saving face for our 10th Army."

"Gentlemen, I want to ask the front army and the base camp for General Gu Shoufu"

There was loud applause in the command cabin. Subsequently, a group of people came to the large map by the wall to check the offensive and defensive situation of China and Japan in Jiaxing and Pinghu.

The head of the combat section, Noguchi Nakasa, pointed to Jiaxing City and analyzed: "Now that the defense line of the China Army has been broken by our army, the so-called one point is broken through the whole line, and as our army surrounds the flank of Jiaxing City, the defense line that the China Army has painstakingly managed will surely collapse." On the other hand, the new Second Division, due to its successive victories, has penetrated deep into the hinterland of our army and is in the middle of our circular offensive, and as long as we take Tongxiang, Haining and other places ahead of schedule, the new Second Division will become a turtle in the urn

"No"

Tian Dao Shengwu immediately rejected Noguchi Nakasa's suggestion and said: "Our army no longer has enough strength to gather and annihilate the new Second Division. The 2nd and 7th Divisions are on their way to Shanghai, and what we need to do now is to drag the new 2nd Division on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay, and wait until the 2nd and 7th Divisions join the southern front, and then it will be the time for us to wash away our shame."

In fact, the new 2nd Division was facing the threat of heavy artillery and artillery groups of the Japanese fleet, the 6th Division, the 18th Division, and the Kunisaki Detachment were advancing on the flank, and there were fighter planes bombing in the air.

However, due to the previous successive fiascos, Tian Daoshengwu had the mind of not seeking merit but seeking no fault, thinking that he only needed to maintain the current situation.

Although some generals were dissatisfied with the conservatism of Tian Dao Shengwu, at this time they all became frightened birds, and no one dared to jump out and take the initiative to take responsibility, so the Japanese army lost the best opportunity to encircle and annihilate the new 2nd Division so far

Pinghu, the headquarters of the new 2nd Division.

Wu Ming was discussing with Dai Ziran, Zhang Ying and others the plan to recover Jinshan and Songjiang County, when Du Pingzhang, the chief of the confidential section, hurriedly walked in: "Division, Commander Zhang of the Right Wing Army is in an emergency"

As Zhang Fakui rushed back to Jiaxing, Gu Zhutong, deputy commander of the Third Theater of Operations, had already returned to Suzhou to command the operation, so now Zhang Fakui is coordinating the war on the southern front.

"Does Zhang Fakui have any orders?" Wu Ming turned his head and asked.

"Division, the Pingwang defense line has been broken through by the Japanese army, and the Sixth Division is attacking Jiaxing City from the flank and rear," Du Pingzhang said worriedly.

"What?"

This news was like a thunderbolt, Wu Ming and others were scorched, they were still discussing the use of counteroffensive to respond to the defense of friendly forces, echoing the retreat of 700,000 troops on the front line of Songhu, and now the Pingwang defense line is lost, and the new second division in front of the breakthrough is already in a very dangerous situation, once the back road is broken, the new second division will face a catastrophe.

Zhang Ying couldn't hold her breath anymore, and hurriedly asked, "Master, what should I do?" ”

Dai Ziran looked at Wu Ming intently, at this time, only Wu Ming could come up with an idea.