Hikosuke Fukuda even ignored the "Letter of Retirement" when he saw it, so he directly crumpled it up and threw it into the paper basket next to him.

This officer, who graduated from the Japanese Army Academy, did not have the slightest doubt about his staff skills, and he believed that his strength of several thousand troops would not suffer even if there was a conflict with the Northern Expeditionary Army, as long as he could hold on and wait for reinforcements, wait for Tokyo to make a decision, and then use this as a reason to increase his troops in China.

Fukuda was a typical militarist fanatic, but his behavior was not so simple, this person was quite politically minded, and when dealing with military affairs, he was always able to bring political demands to it, which made many Japanese military leaders quite optimistic.

An officer who can have a sense of the overall situation is a material that can be created, and as a senior officer, his identity is not only in the army, but also in a large part, senior officers are mostly the products of politics.

Although he is not as keen on politics as Hikosuke Fukuda, Huang Ke's can indeed be regarded as such a person. Under the dual pressure of politics and military affairs, he clearly knew what was the key point and what he should do, which can be seen from his initial command of the army.

Indecision is a big deal, and Huang Ke has already made a decision at this time: resolutely not to compromise with the Japanese army.

There were three things that prompted Huang Ke to make such a decision quickly, the first was that he heard that after receiving the "Retirement Letter" Fukuda, he immediately tore it up and threw it in the trash; Shi Ke can not be humiliated, not to mention the correspondence between the two armies, such letters are still in the paper basket as garbage by Fukuda, Huang Ke feels that not only his own self-esteem has been insulted, but also the self-esteem of the country has been greatly insulted.

The second point is the good news from the front, the Western Route Army out of Sichuan has already drunk the Yellow River, and has now marched from Shaanxi to the Hetao area. This is undoubtedly good news, because in this case, Huang Ke has already taken the lead in sweeping away most of the warlords, and his military strength has gradually risen.

The third point is that Huang Ke got an analysis report on Japan's domestic situation at this time from the Reserve Cadres Department, although Tanaka had already come to power at this time, and the military was also clamoring to open up territory, but the emperor knew that Japan at this time was not suitable for launching too big a war with foreign countries. Huang Ke himself also concluded at this time that the Japanese did not dare to act rashly.

After receiving Fukuda Yansuke's decision not to withdraw from the army, Huang Ke's heart seemed to be much clearer, he did not have the kind of fetters he had before, and he made up his mind at once, Huang Ke took a deep breath, he shouted outside the door, and the fourteen boys on duty at the door walked over quickly, and the riding boots made a clicking sound on the floor.

"Commander, you call me?" Fourteen Tsai and Huang Ke are too familiar, so there is a lot less red tape.

"Send my freshly drafted order to the General Staff and ask them to revise it as appropriate before sending it to me for review."

Generally speaking, the General Staff Department first drew up a draft of the combat order and some directives, and then sent it to Huang Ke for examination, but this time Huang Ke had to draw it up himself, which shows how much he attached importance to this order.

"Yes!" Fourteen took it and turned around and walked towards the staff.

Under the leadership of Chief of Staff Bai Chongxi, the General Staff Department began to conscientiously study this draft order, and the fact that it was able to issue this draft shows that Huang Ke has made up his mind to take action against the Japanese, and there is nothing to discuss about this point, and the rest is only to improve.

After a while, Bai Chongxi handed the revised order to Fourteen Tsai, "Chief of Guard, please send this to Commander Huang for review and decision." ”

Fourteen took it and put it in the folder, thanked him, and left. Bai Chongxi walked to the office, he put the military hat on the table firmly on his head, and then stroked it again: "Officers above the colonel level should be prepared." ”

As Bai Chongxi expected, a few minutes later, the phone from the headquarters office called the staff headquarters, informing them to convene a staff meeting immediately.

The staff officers moved quickly, and in a few minutes they filled the room. After a while, Huang Ke walked in. When the officers were about to get up, Huang Ke waved as he walked, all sit down, and now the meeting begins.

The meeting quickly entered the state, and after Huang Ke sat down, he went straight to the point and said the topic.

"I have decided to use troops against the Japanese and clear out the Japanese troops in Shandong, and we will first draw up a possible response of the Japanese army and our countermeasures. Let's start with Chongxi, and then speak in turn. ”

A few minutes later, Bai Chongxi took the lead in speaking after being named by Huang Ke.

"Let me first state my opinion, the Japanese army's reaction may be as follows: first, the 6th Division is trying its best to resist ......"

"Then eat it!" Without waiting for Bai Chongxi to finish speaking, Huang Ke said without hesitation, although this sentence was not high, Huang Ke's calm expression and murderous eyes were undeniable.

"We should not be afraid of the Japanese army, imperialism must be eliminated, the Sixth Division is not yet fully established, and it is more than enough for several field armies of the Eastern Route Army to eat it. You go on."

As soon as Huang Ke's words fell, Bai Chongxi was about to continue to say the second point, when at this time, there was a rhythmic footsteps and coughing sound at the door, Huang Ke and everyone looked back, and a middle-aged officer with a thin figure and a yellow face walked in.

After seeing the middle-aged officer, Huang Ke actually stood up from his chair, and he said in a somewhat complaining tone: "Brother Baili, didn't you go back to recuperate?" How did you come back again? ”

Jiang Baili waved his hand and said: "Commander Huang, I heard that you came to Jinan with your headquarters, and now the Japanese are sending troops here, so I can't bear it anymore, so I followed, and I asked Commander Huang to bear with me in the place of disobeying the military order." ”

Huang Ke smiled: "Brother Baili, sit down, I know you can't be idle." ”

The guards behind brought up a chair, Bai Chongxi and the other officers consciously moved a position inside, vacating the position close to Huang Ke, and Jiang Baili's chair just made up.

"Chief of Staff Jiang is here just in time, let's continue our topic, Bai Chongxi, you go on" Huang Ke spread out the notebook to prepare for the record, and motioned for Bai Chongxi to continue. Bai Chongxi also spread out the notebook and told the Japanese army several possible contingencies one by one, and the other staff officers also expressed their opinions in turn.

After half an hour had passed, everyone had said their basic opinions, which were gathered together to form a few big opinions. After making a summary, Jiang Baili asked Huang Ke a little unexpectedly: "Commander, are you preparing to fight the Japanese?" ”

Huang Ke nodded, he knew that Jiang Baili, as an important military strategist during the Republic of China, not only had a far-reaching influence on military thought, but also because of his patriotic heart. Jiang Baili was born in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, and he had real feelings about the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, he read at night and worked hard to study to serve the country. When it came time to change the law, Jiang Baili, who was only 16 years old, was admitted to Xiucai, but he was influenced by Kang Youwei and others and advocated new learning. Later, he was sent to the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, where he won the Emperor's sword first in the school among his graduates.

Such a person knows the Japanese Army well, and he has also expressed his thoughts to Huang Ke many times: Japan is China's greatest enemy in 20 years.

It is precisely because of his unique vision that Huang Ke worked hard to find Jiang Baili and worship him as a military advisor, that is, the chief of staff of the General Staff. didn't think that he fell ill a few days before he took office, so Huang Ke had to send someone to escort him to recuperate, and during this period of time, Bai Chongxi was always the chief of staff.

"Commander Huang, I just listened to the content of the meeting, and their attitudes are basically there, everything that should be thought of has been thought of, and your attitude has been decided, but there is one thing I think is a little inappropriate."

"Oh?" Huang Ke looked at him, his eyes were full of puzzlement, could it be that Jiang Baili had other ideas?

"Commander, have you thought about it? If we really fight with the Japanese, not to mention far away, how can we fight the Sixth Division of Futian alone? ”

When the meeting was about to disperse, Jiang Baili spoke, although his voice with a Jiangsu-Zhejiang accent was not high, but it was enough to shock everyone present. You must know that all the staff officers did not take this issue into consideration, because they knew that this division was now surrounded by Huang Ke's troops, and trying to eat them was like picking up something.

"Haha!" Huang Ke smiled heartily.

"Brother Baili is too worried, the Japanese army is just a division that is not fully formed, and now it is surrounded by us, if they dare to resist, eating them is like a piece of meat in their mouths."

Jiang Baili shook his head: "Commander, a division of the Japanese army is equipped with 120 mm field artillery, how much does our front army have?" One of our armies was equipped with a few small-caliber mortars and mountain guns, which were relatively good compared to the old army of the warlords, but they were really insignificant compared to the Japanese army. ”

Jiang Baili's words made Huang Ke realize the seriousness of the matter, he knew the gap in equipment between the two armies, but this is really a huge gap.

Jiang Baili continued, "Although I am not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, judging from the deployment of the commander just now, I think that with the existing equipment, if you want to eat this Japanese army smoothly and quickly, you must have more than 10 times the strength of the force, if there is a stalemate with the Japanese army, so that the Japanese army has an excuse to reinforce, then a full-scale war will inevitably start." ”

As he spoke, Jiang Baili stood up, and he opened the curtain of the huge military map behind him and said: "Commander, please see, if we start an all-out war with the Japanese, the only way to attack the Japanese army in Shanghai is to take the initiative to force the main Japanese army's offensive route from the north-south route of northeast-north-north-central China-south China to the east-west route along the Yangtze River, so as to make full use of the advantages of the mountains and lakes and marshes along the river to offset the advantages of the Japanese army in weapons training." If the Japanese army attacked from the north to the south, the consequences would be unimaginable. ”

"What does Brother Baili mean?" Huang Ke asked.

Jiang Baili shook his head: "Commander, I hate the Japanese more than you, and I want to fight this battle more than you." But this battle really can't be fought. After speaking, two lines of tears flowed from Jiang Baili's face.