Thinking of this, Chen Feng didn't care too late, and a top-secret telegram about the imminent retaliatory massacre after the Japanese army occupied the city of Nanjing was sent to Wuhan through the secret radio of the 61st Army.

Sure enough, as Yan Changxi expected, although the officers who received the telegram were very suspicious of the authenticity of the telegram's contents, because of the importance of the matter, they still reported it level by level, and it only took less than an hour to reach Lao Jiang's hands.

In the past two days, Lao Chiang was also anxious about the battle on the front line in Nanjing, and since the defeat of the National Revolutionary Army in the Battle of Songhu in November and the occupation of Shanghai by Japan, Lao Chiang's life has been sad day by day. Nanjing is only 300 kilometers away from Shanghai, and the most important thing is that due to a mistake in the tactical command level, the troops withdrawn from Shanghai did not retreat in an orderly manner, but in a chaotic manner, completely destroying the old Chiang's original plan to rely on strong national defense fortifications to block the Japanese army. In desperation, Lao Jiang had no choice but to organize the defense of Nanjing based on the city of Nanjing.

However, compared with the Japanese army, the strength of the Nanjing garrison, composed of more than 100,000 defeated troops, was too weak, and in addition, the quality and morale of the various units of the Nationalist Army participating in the Nanjing operation at this time could not be compared with the time of the Battle of Songhu, and the combat effectiveness of the troops seriously declined.

Therefore, after the start of the Battle of Nanjing, the Japanese army's three-way offensive was like a bamboo, and the strategic points on the periphery of Nanjing fell one after another. Soon the Japanese broke through the first-line defensive positions on the outskirts of Nanjing. On December 9, the Japanese army entered the city of Nanjing, and used planes to throw into the city the last ultimatum of the Japanese commander of the "Central China Front" Matsui Ishone to the Chinese defenders to persuade them to surrender.

Tang Shengzhi, commander of the Nanjing garrison, ignored Matsui's ultimatum and issued an order on the same day as "Wei Shen Zuo Zi No. 36" in reply. The content reads: "The current occupation of the Fukuo position by this army is the most difficult battle to hold Nanjing, and all units should do their best to hold on to it with the determination to live and die with the position, and must not lightly abandon an inch of land or shake the whole army; if there is any disobedience to the order to move back without authorization, it will be determined to obey the order of the commission, and strictly handle the ships obtained by the various armies according to the law of joint sitting, and all the ships obtained by the army shall be handed over to the transportation headquarters for safekeeping, and they shall not be detained without permission, and the commander of the 78th Army, Song Xilian, will be assigned to take charge of the command." Along the river, the constitution and the police strictly prohibit stragglers from crossing the river by boat without permission, and violators will be arrested and severely punished. If you dare to resist, stop it by force. Trying to fight to the death in the spirit of "breaking the kettle and sinking the boat".

In fact, there is no need to defend Nanjing at this point in the war, and if it continues to fight, it will only increase casualties, that's all, Lao Jiang is very clear about this. But Nanjing, after all, is the capital of the Republic of China, and if the Japanese occupy it without firing a shot, the old Jiang Zhilu said that he would definitely be poked in the backbone by the Chinese, so he left 100,000 troops to hold on.

Now that the fortifications have been almost completely destroyed, and the casualties of the troops are extremely serious, the veteran has already had the intention to let the troops in the city withdraw, and if the civil war does not improve in the past two days, this order to retreat will be issued.

But after reading the telegram urgently submitted by the attendant's room, Lao Jiang was silent, if the news in the telegram was true, then this matter must be taken seriously.

"Jingzhi, Cixiu, and Yu Nong are here?" Chairman Jiang asked in a deep voice.

"Report to the commission, the people in the chamberlain have already called, and they should be on their way now." Wang Shihe, the chief of the guard, replied.

"Hmmm! Just let him in when it's time to get him in! ”

"Yes!"

Soon, He Yingqin, Chen Cheng and Dai Li hurriedly walked in, and after getting Lao Jiang's permission, all three of them sat down on the chairs opposite Lao Jiang's desk.

"This was sent by Chen Feng an hour ago, look at it!" After speaking, Lao Jiang pushed a piece of telegram to the opposite side of the desk.

Dai Li hurriedly stepped forward and picked up the telegram, and after reading it, he passed the telegram to He Yingqin, and after a while, Chen Cheng put the telegram back on Lao Jiang's desk.

"After reading it, let's talk about it, will the Japanese army really slaughter the city?" Lao Jiang asked.

Dai Li was silent for a while before saying: "It's not impossible, although our people haven't gotten any news about this yet, but with the Japanese army, which is more like a beast than an army, I'm afraid there's nothing they can't do." ”

"What Director Dai said is very reasonable, in this regard, the little devil has a criminal record, whether it is Lushun during the First Sino-Japanese War or Jinan during the Republic of China, and the Japanese army has repeatedly killed after occupying the Northeast, and there are more than 1,000 villages in the Northeast that have been destroyed by the Japanese army. In addition, many high-ranking Japanese soldiers indulged in burning, killing, and looting in the occupied areas in order to boost the morale of the troops, so this matter would rather be believed than not. He Yingqin also responded.

"I also agree with the judgment of Minister He and Director Dai, although this Chen Feng did not provide us with strong evidence, but if we are not completely sure, I am afraid that this telegram will not appear here." Chen Cheng also said loudly.

"Niang Xipi, the little devil is really too deceitful, he slaughtered more than 20,000 soldiers and civilians in Jinan in 28 years, and this time he is going to commit heinous crimes in Nanjing, which is unbearable." Old Jiang said angrily.

In addition, the Japanese army general Matsui Ishine issued an order to the troops attacking Nanjing a week ago, in which Matsui Ishine told the Japanese army from all walks of life: 'Even if the defenders open the city peacefully, the imperial army must be "swept away" separately after entering the city, and there is no mention of the prisoner of war issue. He believed that the Japanese army was likely to massacre prisoners of war and stragglers, as well as civilians in Nanjing, in the name of "sweeping". In addition, the Japanese army also frequently committed killings on the way to Nanjing along Shanghai, among which the 16th Division of the Japanese Army and the 6th Division of the 10th Army were the most vicious; according to incomplete statistics, at least 30,000 soldiers and civilians were killed at the hands of these two Japanese troops in just over 20 days. Dai Li said in a deep voice.

"Atrocities, atrocities! No, the troops in Nanking cannot be withdrawn, and if they do, the millions of people in the city will be in danger. Chairman Jiang said angrily.

"Commission, the situation in Nanjing has been completely eroded, even if it is not retreated, the most difficult result is to be annihilated by the Japanese army, so I think that Nanjing's troops should be withdrawn, but how to withdraw and when to withdraw must be discussed in the long run." Chen Cheng suggested.

"Then what if the Japanese army slaughters the city after our army retreats, who will bear this responsibility, and no one can afford it." Lao Jiang said loudly.

"Commission, in fact, the Japanese army did not dare to say such a thing in the open, and even if they wanted to massacre the city, they must plan to do it in secret, otherwise international public opinion would be enough to plunge the Japanese army to death, and Britain and the United States and other countries would not ignore this atrocity of the Japanese army. In addition, Emperor Hirohito of Japan was a man of modern knowledge, who had roamed Europe before his succession to the throne, and was particularly interested in British society and the imperial family, so he should understand the existence of humanism and public international law that Britain flaunted in modern times, and Japan was also a signatory to the Second Hague Convention of 1899 and the Geneva Convention on Land War in 1929. Emperor Hirohito, as well as ordinary Japanese, should have known that prisoners and non-combatants who laid down their arms should be protected and never killed. As long as we inform other countries of the news that the Japanese army is going to carry out the massacre in Nanjing, and we publish such news in our newspapers, it will certainly attract the attention of the international community, and even Japan will not commit crimes against the wind. So the most important thing now is to let the defenders of Nanjing City hold out for a few more days to buy time for the government's side. Chen Cheng suggested.

Lao Jiang was silent for a while and said: "This suggestion of rhetoric is good, if we make this conspiracy of the Japanese army public, for the image and reputation of the Japanese army and the whole of Japan, the Japanese military high-level will inevitably prevent the soldiers from creating atrocities, after all, there are still a large number of expatriates from Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and other countries in Nanjing, once the Japanese army continues to carry out atrocities, it will inevitably arouse the disgust of the international community, and even direct intervention." ”

"Commission, now that the troops in Nanjing City have been completely chaotic, the only thing we are worried about now is how many days they can hold out, a day or two days? We had to get the news out before the forces collapsed completely, and we had to give the media and the top government in Britain and the United States a time to react, so our troops had to hold out for at least a week. Chen Cheng said with a frown.

"Well, respectfully, the conspiracy of informing the governments and exposing the Japanese army in the newspapers will be dealt with by the Ministry of Military Affairs. Yunong, your Military Command Bureau must always pay attention to the movements of the Japanese troops in Nanjing. In addition, he sent a report to Tang Shengzhi and ordered him to continue to hold on, and if he really couldn't do it, he would organize street fighting, and he would hold on for more than a week no matter what. Lao Jiang said loudly.

"Commission, I think we should also send planes to distribute leaflets to the people in Nanjing and the military and police units to expose the conspiracy of the Japanese army, and let the Nanjing Garrison Command send this news to all units, which will definitely stimulate the morale and combat effectiveness of the troops, and at the same time allow some civilians to withdraw in advance." Chen Cheng said.

"Well, what the rhetoric says makes sense, so let's do it!" Lao Jiang said in a deep voice

When several bigwigs of the Nationalist Government were in Wuhan to discuss countermeasures, Chen Feng was also having a headache, not only in Nanjing, but also in the sugar-coated cannonball called by Lao Jiang. Not long ago, he received a telegram from Ma Cao, saying that they had received the Miss Song, and that the troops were now returning to Datong at night.

In addition, Ma Cao also sent back an important news, that is, with that Miss Song, there were two infantry regiments of the First Army of the 17th Army Corps, with a total strength of more than 5,000 people, and the two regiment commanders were named Shi Jianfei and Xue Quai, both of whom graduated from the Huangpu Military Academy, one was the Huangpu Sixth Infantry Section, and the other was the Huangpu Fifth Artillery Section.