Shanghai has been shrouded in an atmosphere of war.

The armored units of the First Army had already reached the outskirts of Shanghai, and several divisions of the Japanese East China Front were already at the end of their strengths, and they no longer had the arrogance they had when they marched from Shanghai.

At the moment, it is only a matter of time before Shanghai recovers.

However, Xue Boling, who was at the Kunshan front-line command post, hesitated and could not make up his mind to finally march.

The reason for his hesitation was that he had some concerns, and what made him worry was not the Japanese ground troops entrenched in the Shanghai area with nearly 100,000 men in three divisions, but the Japanese naval dispatch fleet cruising the Huangpu River.

At the operational deployment meeting, Wang Zhiwu, a staff officer sent by the navy, briefed everyone on the situation of the Japanese navy. "Although the Japanese fleet was transferred back to the Pacific Theater after the outbreak of the Pacific War, it still maintained a considerable number of existence on the Huangpu River."

"According to our preliminary investigation, there are more than 30 large ships such as cruisers, destroyers, and frigates in the Chinese fleet. Although they are all relatively old warships of the Japanese Navy, their firepower configuration is not inferior. Not to mention anything else, just one cruiser Takata is worth the firepower of an armored regiment of the army. ”

They don't have much contact with the navy on weekdays, so when they heard Wang Zhiwu introduce it like this, everyone was a little surprised and couldn't believe it.

Seeing that everyone was a little reluctant to believe it, Wang Zhiwu said bluntly: "I'll give you a big example." The Takada had four 152mm guns, which weighed five times as much as our 88mm tank shells alone. And the artillery of this quadruple 152 is not yet the main gun of the Takada. The contrast of its firepower can be imagined. ”

Wang Changhai, commander of the 28th Division, who had some knowledge and research on the navy, stepped forward and said: "What Staff Officer Wang said is true. In terms of firepower, we had to face not only the three Japanese divisions, but also the Chinese fleet. It can be said that we do not have any advantage in terms of the existing forces, plus we have not gained sea supremacy. This also means that once we attack Shanghai, the Japanese Navy will definitely bombard Shanghai, and it will not only be our own troops but also tens of millions of Shanghai residents who will be damaged. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the officers in the conference room frowned.

Before the attack, the Ministry of Defense ordered that civilian casualties should be minimized. In fact, this is also a last resort, these compatriots have been ravaged under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders for several years, and now if they are attacked by artillery fire again, it will not be even worse.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can't we just stop because we are concerned about the casualties of the people? If so, then what's the point of us attacking? Then everyone doesn't have to fight anymore, just give it to the little devils. Wu Deneng, the commander of the Fourth Army, took the lead and said after a moment of silence in the whole field.

Everyone turned their eyes to him, and he glanced at Wang Zhiwu, a staff officer from the navy, with a hint of sarcasm.

Staff officer Wang Zhiwu stepped forward and said, "It's not all about the people, it's just that if we attack now, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to face such a strong fire support from the Japanese Navy." At present, according to our investigation, Matsui Ishine intends to defend Shanghai, and in any case, the Japanese army still has more than 100,000 brave divisions in Shanghai, and how to fight is still to be considered in the long run. ”

"We have a long-term perspective, but the Japanese won't give us time to take a long-term view. The more time we delayed here, the better prepared the Japanese army became. Besides, in the previous war against Japan, wasn't Nanjing's instruction a scorched-earth war of resistance? How is it that now, instead of scaring about this and estimating that? What are you afraid of if Shanghai City is shattered? It's a big deal to rebuild one after the war! Wu Deneng waved his hand and said quite arrogantly.

Commander Wu's words were wrong, and it was forced to scorch the earth to resist the war because of the form of the Anti-Japanese War. Now that we have taken the initiative and are regaining lost ground, why make these unnecessary sacrifices? The reconquest of lost land is not all for the land, but also for the flesh and blood compatriots on the earth, what is the difference between the so-called remark of leaving the land without leaving people and the fascists? Wang Zhiwu was-for-tat, and he had no intention of backing down.

Hearing that he was called a fascist, Wu Deneng angrily slapped the case, and he asked loudly: "Wang Zhiwu, what do you mean by this?" Who are the fascists? ”

"It's not about people, anyone who says this, I have this attitude!" Wang Zhiwu also fought back angrily.

Wu Deneng sneered: "If we all fight like the navy, I'm afraid we don't have to think about this problem." Because they are all occupied by Japanese devils. ”

"You're ......!"

Seeing the tense atmosphere between the two, everyone hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade them. After the two stopped arguing, Xue Boling turned his eyes to the two of them and asked softly, "Why don't you quarrel?" Go on, I want to see how you two iron teeth and bronze teeth use your mouths to retreat the enemy, are you really like the ancients, tongue battle 3,000 armor soldiers? ”

The two knew that this was the chief who was probably ridiculing them, and after hearing this, they both looked at each other and stopped talking.

Bang! Xue Boling slammed the document in his hand on the table, and then scolded angrily: "What does it look like? What do you think of here? Street food market? You two go out and stand! ”

After the two went out, Xue Boling waved his hand to the others, signaling that the meeting would be adjourned temporarily.

The others went out one after another, and Luo Zhuoying, commander of the 19th Army under the jurisdiction of the 1st Army Group, stayed. He and Luo Zhuoying are old partners, the two once cooperated in the Battle of Nanjing, when he was the commander of the 1st Group Army, and Luo Zhuoying was from the 19th Group. The two armies fought fiercely with the Japanese 19th Division east of Nanjing.

Later, the main forces in East China were reorganized into the 1st Army Group, and Luo Zhuoying was transferred back from the Burma front, and the relationship between them became that of superiors and subordinates.

However, this did not affect the tactical discussion between the two, and in private they still rarely distinguish between superiors and subordinates.

After Luo Zhuoying sat down, Xue Boling handed him a cigarette, lit it, and shook the matchstick in his hand and said, "What do you think about this matter?" ”

Luo Zhuoying took off his hat, scratched Tie Qing's scalp and said, "It's a little tricky." The two of them were arguing just now, in fact, they have made the stakes clear, and I don't have any good solutions, I think it's still the old rules. ”

"You mean, please ask for advice from Nanjing?" Xue Boling understood what he meant.

"Well, this matter can only be consulted by the superiors." Luo Zhuoying extinguished half of the cigarette in his hand in the ashtray in front of him, "You and I are just soldiers, if the Japanese bomb the city, we will be written in the history books." It's better to leave it to Nanjing to decide, and see if there are any other ways on their side to circumvent this. ”

Xue Boling nodded, "Okay, it seems that this is the only way to do it now." ”

……

The request from the front line passed through the clouds through the radio waves and reached the Ministry of Defense in Nanjing, where it was personally reported to Huang Ke. Huang Ke had not been informed of this situation before, and although the report submitted by the Military Staff at first also mentioned the threat of the Japanese Navy's dispatch fleet to China, he did not expect it to be so big.

The intelligence submitted from the front showed that this Japanese fleet posed a great threat to Shanghai, and if it rashly attacked without gaining sea supremacy, it would inevitably be bombarded by the Japanese navy, and then the gains would outweigh the losses.

On the other hand, however, the meeting between the anti-fascist allies is imminent, and if Shanghai is recovered before that, it will greatly enhance China's position at the conference.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this meeting will determine the post-war world order, and one of the keys to determining the post-war order is its position in the anti-fascist war.

There is no doubt that the United States will be the ones who will be the ones who will be the ones after the war, not only the arsenal of democracies, but also send troops to fight in all but the Soviet-German battlefield; Naturally, the Soviet Union should not be underestimated, they have a large land area, and they also contributed a lot to the war against Germany.

In comparison, the old faucets of Britain and France may be about to decline. But China can take advantage of this opportunity to rise.

Some time ago, I heard my daughter Huang Ying say that President Roosevelt planned to raise funds to establish an organization similar to the League of Nations after the war, and President Roosevelt meant to include China in this international organization as a standing member.

Roosevelt was a clever politician, and the reasons for his actions are understandable. Huang Ke is reluctant to delve into the reasons for this, but in any case, it is good for China.

Ancient Chinese culture quite advocates a view called "borrowing", and it is also necessary to borrow strength in diplomacy. It's just that borrowing strength also requires your own strength.

Thinking of this, Huang Ke felt difficult again.

It is impossible to drive out this Japanese navy at present, China's navy has been completely lost in the War of Resistance, let alone the navy, during the War of Resistance, China once did not even have an outlet to the sea, and the only ships were mostly scuttled by themselves in the early days of the War of Resistance. The construction of the navy is not an overnight thing, and the phrase "a century-old navy" is not an empty word, but sometimes there is no outlet to the sea, so how can we talk about the formation of a navy?

What about aerial bombardment? The effect will not be too great, after all, the Japanese dispatch fleet is not nested in the harbor at present, it is very scattered, and it is difficult to carry out effective bombing.

What else can be done? Huang Ke couldn't think of any good way, and after thinking about it again, he decided to hold a meeting to discuss it, otherwise he didn't know how to reply to this message.