At 10 a.m. on 1 June, at the suggestion of Wu Ming and the staff department of the New Second Division, the Nanjing Central Military Committee and the General Staff Headquarters formally approved the military exercise program codenamed "Peace Mission" after many meetings.

In this exercise, the new 2nd Division of the blue side dispatched a total of 9,568 officers and men from four infantry regiments and units directly under the division, while the red side finalized the 45th and 63rd Divisions, the Chief's Guard, and the special service regiment and guard regiment directly under the Central Military Commission, totaling 34,790 men, and the two sides would fight around Lianhua Mountain in the southern part of Yushan County.

At 9 a.m. on 11 June, the day the exercise began, the two sides will march toward Lianhua Mountain, which occupies a central position, in accordance with the route drawn by the exercise headquarters.

Within the specified time, the left-wing troops must all cross the Xinjiang River, and the southernmost point must not exceed Danan Town, where the general headquarters of the exercise is located, while the right-wing troops must all enter the territory of Yushan County from the border of Jiangshan County. Neither side can use the train as a means of transport, and must do everything possible to quickly approach the Lotus Mountain area.

At the latest, no less than 9 a.m. on 14 June, all the troops participating in the battle on both sides must march into the predetermined battlefield, and those troops that have not had time to enter the exercise area (from Xinjiang in the west to the boundary between Yushan and Jiangshan counties in the east) will be treated as wartime attrition, which means that the two armies, including the logistics baggage troops, must cover this distance of only 30 kilometers in a straight line in the air within 72 hours, but the distance is more than 60 kilometers in the middle of the road full of hills and rivers. And as much as possible, seize the commanding heights of Lotus Mountain in the middle to gain strategic initiative.

At 9 o'clock in the morning of the next day, representatives of the two sides drew lots in front of Chairman Chiang at the Sixiang Hotel in Quzhou, and Zhang Dongning, representing the new Second Division, drew Huanggu Town as the starting point, which meant that in this exercise, the new Second Division, which played the role of the Blue Army, would launch an attack from west to east.

After receiving the news, Wu Ming, who had already led his troops to assemble in the Changshan camp, immediately ordered two spy companies to go on the road ahead of schedule and go to Lianhuashan to thoroughly understand the topography of the area and its surroundings, but they must rush back to Huanggu Town before 9 a.m. on 11 July to be inspected by the referee team of the exercise headquarters.

In addition, the officers and men of the 1st Guard Company and the 1st Battalion and 1st Company of the Engineer Regiment directly under the division marched to Huanggu Town at a rapid march speed to make a forward station for the whole division.

Subsequently, two other companies of the 1st Battalion of the Engineer Regiment directly under the division were deployed, and they were to be responsible for the situation along the road from Changshan to Huanggu and to provide vigilance and security.

Half a day passed, the convoys of the independent regiment and the new regiment directly under the division began to hit the road, and not long after, the automobile company and three animal transport companies of the baggage battalion drove out of the Changshan camp to carry the exercise materials, followed by two passenger cars and four field ambulances from the field hospital.

At half past five o'clock the next morning, just after dawn, Wu Ming personally led the division headquarters and the officers and men of the 1st and 2nd brigades to embark on the journey, which was 95 kilometers long, and only made two sharp hits in the north of Yushan City and the east of Shangrao City on the way, and successfully arrived at Huanggu Town at two o'clock in the morning of the next day.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had just finalized the decision of General Tang Shengzhi, the former director of the First Department of the Military Commission of the Malay Army, who had been taken down for corruption and bribery in the construction of defense fortifications in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Red Side.

The reason for this strange decision is that Tang Shengzhi made great contributions to the party and the state in solving the Liangguang Incident, and at the same time, during the Xi'an Incident, Tang Shengzhi, Cheng Qian, Zhu Peide and other generals jointly called Zhang Xueliang to urge him to "wake up" and made great efforts for Chiang Kai-shek's safe return.

At the same time, among the two division-level units participating in the exercise, the 63rd Division, as the absolute main force, is the elite of the Hunan Army, and Tang Shengzhi, as the predecessor of the Hunan Army, could not be the best under his command.

Chiang Kai-shek was essentially a person who was extremely nostalgic for the old, and as soon as the tide of punishing corruption in the officialdom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had passed, he was ready to let Tang Shengzhi, who had paid 300,000 yuan for his crimes and hand over the money to the state treasury, to make a comeback, and to command this "nine out of ten stable" exercises, which was destined to be victorious, in order to accumulate military merits and "make meritorious service by wearing guilt." It was Chiang Kai-shek's handiwork.

On the morning of 4 June, Tang Shengzhi accompanied Chiang Kai-shek and the generals of the headquarters to arrive at Jiangshan County by train.

Soon after getting off the train, Tang Shengzhi, in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Red Side, ordered the 45th Division, which had rushed to Jiangshan in advance from Xiaoshan and the 63rd Division stationed in Yingtan, to take a train to Hecun Station of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, where he got off and drove along the highway along Fenglin River to the assembly point in Sitou Town.

Tang Shengzhi specifically demanded that the whole army must complete the assembly before 12 o'clock at noon on the 9th, and then spend a day and a half to sort out the troops.

Although the 45th and 63rd Divisions, which had received orders from the Military Committee and the General Staff Headquarters, had long been ready to be mobilized, the Quartermaster Bureau's dispatch of trains had been delayed for a long time, and in addition, the Hecun Station, located at the junction of Zhejiang and Jiangxi on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, was a small station, and it received too many troops and exercise materials in a short period of time, and it was in a mess, and the dividends were not ready until late at night on 9 June.

On the morning of 10 June, 50 referee teams from the Central Military Commission and the General Staff Headquarters stationed radio stations at the assembly points of both sides to prepare for the inspection of the troops.

"Niang Xipi, the opponent is already waiting for the day, at this time the red side has not even fully restored its formation, the regiment cannot find a battalion, and the battalion cannot find a company...... If it weren't for the deliberate cover-up by the exercise command and the fact that the number of troops was three times that of the opponent, it would be difficult for me to imagine how such a situation would have been won."

After Chiang Kai-shek finished scolding, he asked Qian Dajun: "Do you know that tomorrow will the Red Fang send that force to be the vanguard of the whole army and seize the Lotus Mountain Heights?" ”

"This battle for the Lotus Mountain Heights is very important, Tang Mengxiao said that good steel should be used on the blade, the chairman of the guard and the headquarters directly under the special service regiment, the guard regiment will set off as the vanguard of the whole army, day and night rush to Lotus Mountain, as long as the warriors can arrive in advance and successfully defend, the red side can use the absolute superiority in troops, crush the opponent and win the battle"

Qian Dajun's answer did not satisfy Chiang Kai-shek, who looked at the map: "How much time are they going to take to cover sixty kilometers?" ”

As the rainy season passed in June, the weather had begun to be hot, Qian Dajun wiped the beads of sweat oozing from his forehead, and said: "There is no specific report yet, and it is ......not clear for the time being."

Chiang Kai-shek frowned, turned around and walked to the table, and picked up a file: "Take a look...... A day earlier, Wu Ming had submitted an operational plan to the exercise headquarters, which explained that it would take only 16 hours for the two battalions of the forward troops, who were the vanguard of the whole division, to arrive at Lianhua Mountain, and that they had calculated the time for the engineer units to erect pontoon bridges over the Raobei River and the Xinjiang River. ”

"The blue side is not clear about the red side's marching arrangements, which means that if the red side does not arrive, they will immediately rush to repair the fortifications on the high ground of Lotus Mountain, and if the red side has seized the commanding heights of Lotus Mountain, they will take advantage of the fact that the red side is not firmly established and immediately launch an attack, and in any case, they must firmly control Lotus Mountain. Wait until your defenses are perfect, then look for fighters and gradually eat your opponents. ”

Qian Dajun took the file and read it carefully, and laughed:

"It is simply impossible for heavily armed officers and men to cover a distance of 60 kilometers in 16 hours, separated by two rivers and a large area of uneven and unsuitable mountains and hills...... Taking a step back, even if they barely reach Lotus Mountain, how long can they hold out without logistics and heavy weapons support?

"There is an old saying that if you want to be fast, you can't reach it, and if you pursue the speed of the march too much, it will only make the blue side, which is already at a disadvantage, lose the ability to continue fighting.

Chiang Kai-shek was noncommittal, and turned to Yang Jie, deputy chief of the general staff, who was sitting at the desk to check the messages of the various referee groups: "Geng Guang, what do you think of this issue?" ”

Yang Jie, who served as the commander-in-chief of the exercise, raised his head: "It's not good to judge, but there is one thing I don't agree with General Mu Yin, no logistics and heavy weapons does not mean that you can't win the battle, the four encirclement and suppression, the weapons and equipment of the communist army are far inferior to ours, but why do we always return in vain?" ”

"The 63rd Division participating in the exercise belongs to the Hunan Army system of He Yunqiao and Liu Huixian, and although it is said to be a large-scale unit with three brigades and six regiments, it is really difficult to say how effective it will be after leaving Hunan. The 45th Division was adapted from the western Henan bandits, and the initial number was the new 25th Division, and it only got its current number last year, and there are certain doubts about whether they can play their due level. ”

"In addition, is it too hasty to use the Chairman's Guard, the special service regiment and the guard regiment directly under the headquarters as the vanguard? These are all debatable."

Qian Dajun smiled faintly: "The disparity in strength between the two sides is too great. This exercise was different from the last time in Lushan, and even more so from the time when the communist army was encircled and suppressed...... Wu Ming's troops were already at a disadvantage, and they also drew the Western Front, which did not have much strategic depth...... The depth of the battlefield is only 12 kilometers south of Lotus Mountain and only 3 to 5 kilometers to the west, which determines that the blue side has no choice but to fight hard, but to fight for attrition, the red side has more than three times the number of troops, and the consumption will also consume them to death, and the final outcome should not be much surprising. ”

The house where Chiang Kai-shek and his entourage lived, is the courtyard of a director of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, the construction area is about 300 square meters, surrounded by the daughter wall, the courtyard is a three-story Chinese house, of which the left and right sides are two-story wooden buildings, the brick and wood structure three-story building facing the courtyard gate is about ten meters high, the four-slope roof is small green tile, the outer wall of each floor is set with double-open glass windows, the ceiling of the ground floor hall is molded with relief patterns, the layout is simple and generous, compact and reasonable design.

Chiang Kai-shek's room, study, and office space are all on the third floor, and Chen Bui, Qian Dajun, and Chiang Ching-kuo live on the same floor; the first and second floors are the chambers and the territory of the telecommunications and intelligence departments; Yang Jie and the generals of the Military Committee and the General Staff Headquarters live in the left and right buildings.

I don't know what Lu Dao is about, for Qian Dajun's rhetoric, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly felt uncomfortable, waved his hand and said: "You continue to pay attention to the progress of the two sides, I will go next door to see Jingguo...... Recently, this kid has been obscured, and if he doesn't read the "Letter from Zeng Wenzheng" I gave him, he is actually interested in Wu Ming's military command and Fang Youchun's governance skills, and I really don't know what to say."

Chiang Kai-shek shook his head and walked out of the room, came to the corridor outside, and looked at the jasmine, impatiens and cockscombs in the small garden in the middle of the courtyard below, and suddenly remembered Wu Ming's judgment on the direction of the current situation.

Sure enough, Wu Ming's prediction was fulfilled, and the cabinet of Lin Mo resigned on 31 June, and the new government was formed by Konoe Fumi, who came from a prominent aristocratic family in Tokyo, and on 4 June, he publicly told the media:

China, which is a "non-holding country," must ensure the right to subsistence of our nation, and our continental policy is based on the necessity of ensuring the right to subsistence. The new cabinet has the mission of "international justice," and "the best way to do international justice is the freedom to acquire resources, the freedom to exploit resources, and the freedom to produce the labor needed for the exploitation of resources." ”

There was no need to look at anything else, just from this sentence, Chiang Kai-shek understood that this was a declaration that the Japanese government would seize the colonies by forceful means, and a storm was about to come.