Huang Ke had a different view of his view, and he smiled and said: "After the end of this world-scale war, I am afraid that the world order will be reshuffled, and colonial rule like the one before will inevitably be abandoned by the world." Besides, the independence forces of Burma are already very strong, and even if we hand over Burma to the British, the British may not be able to govern it. ”

These words were a little novel, Sun Liren and Yang Yibing couldn't help but glance at each other, and there was a hint of disbelief in their eyes.

Huang Ke did not notice this subtle exchange between them, so he continued: "Compared with Myanmar and other places, Hong Kong and Taiwan are our inherent territories, and the sooner we recover them, the sooner we can achieve territorial and sovereign integrity." After this war, there will certainly be more people who will begin to reflect on the war, and the new big war will not be fought in the short term, and the next will inevitably be the era of the marine economy. ”

After a little more talking, the noon lunch was over.

Huang Ke looked at the empty dinner plate and said to them, "Let's go, go to the office, you guys have all the materials ready, and we'll have a short meeting later." ”

In the conference room, Sun Liren made a separate work report to Huang Ke. Sun reported that General Stilwell is currently advocating an offensive from northern Thailand, with the first goal of retaking Chiang Mai, followed by an attack on all of Thailand, Vietnam, and the Khmer.

"General Stilwell promised that they would expand the American-style teaching brigade and have the United States provide equipment and training, but the command was still in our hands. The teaching brigade will be the main force of this counteroffensive. ”

Hearing Sun Liren say this, Huang Ke did not immediately express his position, Stilwell's usual attitude was like this, he led the expeditionary force to carry out a large-scale counteroffensive to recapture the Southeast Asian region occupied by the Japanese army. Of course, this also coincides with US interests in Southeast Asia.

Although China now relies on a large amount of equipment and material assistance from the United States, the United States also needs China as an ally more urgently, and the cooperation between the two sides should be equal and mutually beneficial.

Huang Ke thought for a moment and then said, "Stilwell's suggestion is feasible, why don't we want them to provide equipment?" It would be better to arm the entire expeditionary force with American-style equipment. American-style equipment is a good thing, why don't we want a good thing? ”

These half-joking words made Sun Liren relax a lot, he thought that Huang Ke would be worried about the Americans providing equipment to facilitate control, etc., but now it seems that his worries are a little redundant.

Huang Ke continued to ask him, "Liren, when do you think a large-scale attack on Japan can be launched again?" What kind of support do you need from the central government before that? ”

Sun Liren thought for a while and said, "The offensive along the front line of Thailand still needs to be prepared for another twenty days or so. Before launching this attack, there was still one word - lack! There is a shortage of troops and equipment, and we only have five divisions at the moment, and if we attack Chiang Mai, we will have to send at least two divisions. In this case, the forces in the rear will be thin, and the follow-up forces will not be able to keep up, and the entire battle plan will not be effectively implemented. ”

Huang Ke nodded and said: "In this way, the number of troops will not increase, but I will add 10,000 more to you in terms of soldiers." The equipment is also according to this ration. You're much better off than the rest of the troops, and the equipment Stilwell promised will be in place soon. ”

"Well, the U.S. side is very concerned about this, and after the Yunnan-Burma line was reopened, they sent a large amount of equipment to the port of Yangon, and now in addition to the supplies that must be transported to Kunming every day, a large amount of materials have been hoarded. It is said that the ports are almost full. But when Stilwell saw that we didn't spit, he held it there and gave us only a portion at a time. ”

"This guy is trying to get his neck stuck. Out of the way, it's ours in that place sooner or later. By the way, do you have any suitable candidates for the attack on Chiang Mai? The brigade commander of the teaching brigade, I know, is a young man named Zhang Lin. How is he? Is such a big battle too young? Huang Ke revealed his worries, and his worries were not unnecessary. Years of experience in the army have taught him that commanding a large-scale battle is not simple, and there are many things involved, and it is difficult for an inexperienced commander to be competent.

Sun Liren heard him say this and expressed the same opinion, "Zhang Lin is an excellent commander, and his combat mode is very American-minded. However, he did not pick the girder alone. This time Chiang Mai is at stake, and I recommend Diana. However, Zhang Lin and his teaching brigade can follow the team. ”

"Well, your soldiers, you understand the situation, so let's arrange it as you say."

"Yes, then I will deploy it as soon as I fly back to Yangon, and if all the conditions are met, I will submit a specific plan to the Ministry of Defense on the 1st of next month." Sun Li is humane.

"You can work it out, but you don't have to rush to report it. We don't have to fight the battle of Thailand, we fight the battle of Thailand in order to show equality among our allies. In that case, then allies should also show equality to us. ”

Hearing this, Sun Liren naturally understood that the Battle of Thailand could be used as a bargaining chip to make the United States focus more on China on the British issue against China, and strive to achieve a balanced goal.

This is politics, and it is politics between countries, Sun Liren didn't want to get involved in it, he stood up and said: "Yes, the chairman of the committee has written down all the orders of the lowly position." ”

After the two talked a little more, Huang Ke got up and said, "I still have an activity to participate in in the afternoon, you go back and have a good rest, and then go around the city of Nanjing." A rare rest, don't waste it. ”

After saying that, Sun Liren got up and went out. Huang Ke also changed into a coat and prepared to go out.

……

While the diplomatic departments of China, the United States, and Britain were discussing the abolition of privileges in China and the issue of Hong Kong, no one could have imagined that the large-scale counteroffensive of the Chinese army against the Japanese army would be the first to start in the northeast.

Prior to this, the staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan in Tokyo believed that the situation in the Asian theater would take the lead in launching a counteroffensive in East China and Burma, and that the most important thing for the Japanese army at present was to strengthen the defense forces in these places.

They did not come to such a conclusion, but after adequate analysis. First of all, from the perspective of strategic intent, organizing a counteroffensive in East China can recover Shanghai and Zhejiang, and can also ensure the security of the capital Nanjing. Secondly, the strategic depth here is narrow, and it only takes a few days to complete the large-scale mechanized force advance. In addition, Nanjing has deployed a large number of elite troops in the East China Battlefield, in addition to the newly reorganized Airborne Army, there is also the army's elite First Army Group, these troops are all battle-hardened elite divisions, and they are also the most optimistic main force for counterattacks.

The unexpected happened!

What I never expected was that it was the Northeast Battlefield that took the lead in realizing a counteroffensive on the Chinese battlefield.

Compared with other battlefields, the Northeast Battlefield has received less attention from the outside world, in addition to geographical reasons, but also because the situation in the Northeast Battlefield has stabilized when the Anti-Japanese War entered its third year.

The battle lines of the two sides have been relatively fixed, and large-scale battles have hardly taken place, so it can be said that a period of confrontation has entered here in advance. In a word, if there is no war, no one will care about this place anymore.

Besides, it's far from the political center and relatively sparsely populated, and both international and domestic attention has been ignored from here.

This is not only the opinion of the international community, but also the command of the Japanese Kwantung Army, which is stationed in the northeast.

After the Kwantung Army Command came to the conclusion that "a large-scale battle would not occur first in Manchuria," it transferred part of the Kwantung Army to the increasingly tense Pacific theater. Of course, in order to maintain the ability to confront the Northeast Corps of the Chinese National Defense Forces, they also mobilized a large number of troops from the Korean Peninsula to station in the Northeast.

Senior General Umezu Yoshijiro, the newly arrived commander of the Kwantung Army, believed that only by maintaining absolute strength over the Chinese army could the stability of Manchuria be ensured.

Umezu Yoshijiro was a clever fellow, and he knew very well that it would be difficult to maintain superiority over the Chinese army at this stage.

Despite this, Umezu Mijiro still feels that the Chinese army will not carry out a counteroffensive at this time. Although the mechanized corps of the Fifth Army Group under the command of Lin Zuoda, stationed in the Jinzhou area, was well-equipped, in addition to facing the pressure of the Kwantung Army, they also had to take into account the 2nd Army of the Expeditionary Force in Mongolia, which could be transferred to northern Mongolia and northwest China at any time.

The pressure of war on them is not small, and they certainly will not rush into it easily.

But Umezu Mijiro alone ignored the most important one, and that was the human factor.

Lin Zuoda, the commander of the Fifth Army Group, was a rare military genius, whether it was the Northern Expedition or the current campaign, he showed his outstanding military command ability, and also laid the foundation for his famous general.

But in recent years, his light has been covered by his colleagues, and the generals of the Burma battlefield and the East China battlefield have won thousands of miles away, and one by one rising stars obviously want to overshadow him. Lin Zuo, who was not willing to do this, was determined to use the actual war to make a name for himself.

In addition, there were a large number of officers and soldiers of northeastern origin in the Fifth Army Group. Many of these officers and soldiers are from the Northeast Army of the Feng Department, although their small lives are quite nourishing now, but when they think of their fathers, mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law and children in their hometowns, they have only one thought - to go back to the Northeast.

In addition to these factors, the Nanjing Military Commission convened to put forward a plan for a counterattack, which was also a trigger factor that triggered the commanders of the Fifth Army Group to take the lead in the counteroffensive.

All kinds of factors came together, and finally Lin Zuoda decided to fire the first shot of the counteroffensive in the northeast region.

On the last night of March, the vanguard armored units of the Fifth Army stationed in Jinzhou took the lead in crossing the agreed battle line under the cover of artillery fire and launched an attack on the Japanese army.

White mountains and black waters, a battle enough to write into human history began.