Through the interrogation of several devil squadron leaders with the highest military rank among the prisoners, the three leaders of the Red Eighth Army learned that the 1st Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade was originally only the vanguard of the enemy, and there were two elite permanent divisions behind it. It could not be regarded as a normal battle, and the soldiers of the Fifth Division who could fight at that time were only a brigade. The first-level devils often have the same obvious advantage in firepower, and it is naturally very easy to win, but even so, the cumulative casualties of the Red 15th Army exceeded 40,000, and the strength of the Japanese army's combat effectiveness can be seen. However, what we have to face next is at least two permanent divisions of the Japanese army, and the total strength will definitely not be less than 50,000, and the Red 15th Army does not even have twice the strength advantage, nor can it have a huge firepower advantage like when bullying the devil wing before.

Moreover, just a few days ago, the headquarters of the Red Eighth Army had just received a piece of information that Xue Yue, who had been relying in Shanxi before, suddenly moved to Baoding with an army of 200,000 not long ago, which undoubtedly made Hu Weidong even more uneasy. Although with the current strength of the Red 15th Army, although Xue Yue has 200,000 troops, it is difficult to get it, but the Red 15th Army also does not have absolute certainty to defeat Xue Yue's corps, if it first fights with the two permanent divisions of the Japanese army, even if it can win, it will definitely be greatly damaged, and then I am afraid that Xue Yue will not let go of this opportunity to fall into the ground, after all, the Xi'an Incident has not happened yet, and the two sides are still hostile

However, if we avoid war and retreat, there will also be big problems, first of all, it will definitely be politically disadvantageous. Although the achievements of the Red 15th Army can be fully explained to the people of the whole country, there are many cannons every year, especially in the Republic of China; In addition, the repair of those hundreds of cars and tanks is by no means something that can be completed in a day or two. If you retreat now, you can only give up them all, this is a few hundred! What's more, there are no less than a hundred tanks among them, and even Hu Weidong, who is from later generations, is reluctant, let alone others

The 15th Army, which was previously stationed in Shaanxi (that is, the famous "Zhensong Army", formerly known as Henan bandits. At this time, he took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Red 15th Army was far away and invaded western Henan, which made Hu Weidong even more worried that the Kuomintang would stab the knife at a critical moment. Just when Hu Weidong was in a dilemma, the radio station of the corps headquarters suddenly received a secret report urgently sent by a certain comrade of the secret front at the risk of being exposed. ”

May 12, 1936. Hu Hanmin, the nominal leader of the Cantonese faction (real power belongs to Chen Jitang), died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. Lao Chiang immediately took the opportunity to announce five proposals: first, abolish the semi-independent status of the two Guangzhous; second, to send someone to replace Hu Hanmin's position in the Guangdong Provincial Government and reorganize the Guangdong Provincial Government; Third, the original Cantonese figures were willing to work in Nanjing at will. those who do not want to be funded by the central government to go abroad; Fourth, the commanders of all divisions of the Guangdong Army are uniformly appointed by the Military Commission; Fifth, the Guangdong currency will be abolished and the legal tender will be unified. These five proposals are intended to bring power in Guangdong back to the central government. As soon as the five suggestions came out, they immediately caused a strong backlash from Chen Jitang. Chen Jitang was unwilling to sit idly by, and immediately contacted Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of the Xingui faction, and decided to jointly send troops to the north to oppose Chiang.

Compared with history, Lao Chiang's situation at this time was even worse. In the past two years, the Red Army has lost and lost troops, and now there are still four or five hundred thousand troops stranded in the north, so it is obvious that Lao Chiang will definitely let Xue Yue lead his troops back south, which has caused a series of butterfly effects, and the Red 15th Army can not only confront the two permanent divisions of the Japanese army in the Jizhong Plain with confidence. And compared with before, there is more reason to fight, because after the Jiang army leaves, if the Red 15th Army leaves, whether it is the 29th Army, or the Jin Sui Army or Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, the strength is not enough to compete with the two permanent divisions of the Japanese army, and at that time, tens of thousands of elite Japanese troops who can no longer control it will not be able to make any tragedy under the fury of chasing down the enemy. If you can't beat it, Hu Weidong won't do it blindly, but now it's not completely out of chance, in this case, Hu Weidong has to fight hard...,

For Hu Weidong's decision, Zhang Hao once again gave support, but his political commissar was not in vain, under his reminder, Hu Weidong suddenly realized that the scale of this battle was too large, if there was no consultation with the central government, he would call the shots, once he did not fight well, then the responsibility would be too great, even if he fought well, he was suspected of being disorganized, and with the foresight and military genius of the great man, perhaps he could point out some problems that Hu Weidong and the three of them were not aware of

In a telegram sent in the name of the former Venezuela, Hu Weidong pointed out the six major advantages of the Red Army in this battle: First, our army had more troops than the Japanese army; Second, the firepower of our army is stronger than that of the Japanese army (the devil prisoners did not tell the truth, and Hu Weidong did not know much about the details of the 12th Division, so it was natural to estimate the strength of the 12th Division with the general establishment of permanent divisions. ）； Third, the tactics of our army were superior to those of the Japanese army; Fourth, the combat experience of our officers and men is richer than that of the Japanese army; Fifth, compared with the Japanese army, our army is considered to be fighting on the inside line; Sixth, the planes of the Japanese army could not participate in this battle, but the aviation of our army could, and the air superiority was on our side.

The disadvantages are mainly reflected in two aspects: first, the military quality of our army's individual soldiers, such as shooting jishu, is not as good as that of the Japanese army, and the jishu troops are particularly obvious; Second, the quality of our army's grassroots military commanders is inferior to that of the Japanese army.

Judging from the two aspects, the Red 15 th Army's chances of victory were significantly higher than those of the Japanese army, and compared with guerrilla warfare, the war of annihilation could not only destroy the enemy more, but also capture a lot more weapons and ammunition.

The reason why Hu Weidong said that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is because there are several conditions that can no longer be met for a long time after the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the future: first, air supremacy is on our army's side; Second, the enemy army has no reinforcements; Third, the devil does not have a puppet army to lead the way. After the full-scale outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, without these three conditions, even a devil wing will be more difficult to deal with than a permanent division now. Because there are Japanese airfields everywhere in the occupied areas in the Anti-Japanese War, brigades, and even squadron-sized devils can call for aircraft support after being surrounded, the more troops you have, the greater the losses caused by the bombing, and the number of reinforcements not less than twice that of the surrounded devils will arrive in a very short time, making it more difficult for the battle to end quickly, and increasing the threat of the devil's air force in disguise, and with the puppet army as the leading party, it will not be as easy as it is now to set up a trap for the devil to drill (your support is my biggest motivation.) (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )