After looking at the senior cadres in front of him, Yang Zhen turned his head and looked at President Lin and Guo Bingxun again, then turned to the commanders and political commissars at all levels in front of him, and gave the last order before the attack: "You immediately return to your respective headquarters and enter the final stage of preparation before the attack." At 6:25 a.m. on 22 October, the entire front launched an offensive against the South Manchurian Kwantung Army. ”

"After launching an attack, all units should attack as quickly and swiftly as possible to complete the first step of the battle plan. Remember, what is before you is the wings of our nation. This is a strategic decisive battle between us and the Kwantung Army, the Japanese army that has been willing to be the vanguard in all wars of aggression against China. The eyes of the people of the whole country will be watching you fight. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Zhen looked at the cadres at all levels in front of him, and said with a smile: "What should be explained to you has been explained now." The meeting is adjourned, and you go back and prepare your own preparations. Now everyone is very foreign, there are planes in the far road, and you all have your own cars in the near road, so I won't leave you here to eat. ”

After Yang Zhen finished saying this, except for some cadres of the air force, he dared to delay at the headquarters. After receiving the direction he was responsible for, the detailed battle plan and the troop formation table from Guo Bingxun. Immediately return to your respective headquarters by plane or car. Even Du Kaishan, who was in charge of fighting in Yang Zhen's direction, disappeared in a flash.

After the meeting ended, Guo Bingxun was busy with the final stage of preparations, as well as talking to Yi Liangpin about the Korean war situation. The conference room was originally full of people, but now there are only two people left, Yang Zhen and Mr. Lin. Except for the footsteps of the guards outside the door and the sound of telegrams in the confidential room over there, there was silence inside and outside the conference room.

Looking at Yang Zhen with a grim expression, Mr. Lin smiled and said: "For this battle, you dare to slap the table with the deputy commander-in-chief in the Military Commission." It doesn't seem like this state of mind is too calm. This is not good, as the commander of a front army, you must have calm before every big war. Before the battle begins, you have to adjust your mindset. ”

"This time, you have put almost all of your troops into the front-line operations at one time. According to your plan, the reserve in your hands will only have two divisions plus five brigades transferred from Shanxi, Hebei, Luyu, and Henan. This battle is not only for the Kwantung Army, but also for you, a strategic decisive battle. ”

"Although the current Japanese army is going downhill, the basic vitality and backbone of the Japanese army are still there. Although he has curled up into a dog now, you must not forget that a wolf will always be a wolf. Even if you have your tail between your legs now, you won't really be a dog. The more this time comes, the more calm you must be as the supreme military commander. ”

"Your plan is in the general direction, and the judgment is still very accurate. But there is one thing that you must pay attention to, and that is your flanks. The Japanese were extremely good at flank breaks. Attention must be paid to the connection between the various theaters. We can't have the idea that if we win, we will be princes together, and if we lose, we will be pulled down together. ”

"However, I see that the tactics you have adopted this time are very familiar. If I'm not mistaken, your tank deep and detour tactics this time are the enhanced version of the tactics you used in the North China battlefield in the last battle. Your kid is not simple-minded, although his real intention is not to have a general decisive battle with the Kwantung Army right now. ”

But in my heart, I was actually ready for this day. In the last battle, the Japanese North China Front was used to practice well. Take the Japanese troops in the pass as a whetstone, so that your troops are familiar with this tactical use. When it comes to use, practice makes perfect. ”

Yang Zhen, who was peeped through by Mr. Lin, shook his head and smiled bitterly after nodding: "Mr. Lin, to be honest, this strategic decisive battle, according to my predetermined plan, will only start in the first half of next year. Although I was familiar with the strategy and tactics of the last battle, according to my assumptions, I really didn't want to do it so early. ”

"And this battle is probably the hardest battle I've fought so far. Even when I turned out in the deep mountains and old forests, when life and death were uncertain in front of me, I never hesitated as much as I did today. Such a large Nanman is not comparable to a Beiping city. Even the slightest negligence can cause irreparable consequences. ”

"The industrial zone of South Manchurian starts from Jinzhou and Huludao in the west, Fengtian, Liaoyang, Anshan and Benxi in the middle, reaches Fushun in the east, and goes south along the Zhongchang Railway to Dalian. In a radius of several thousand square kilometers, there are hundreds of factories of all sizes linked by the Zhongchang Railway and the Bac Ninh Railway. In Tiexi in Shenyang alone, there are more than 400 large and small factories. ”

"Fushun's special steel, petroleum smelting, coal mines, Fengtian's machinery manufacturing, munitions, aircraft, steel rolling, non-ferrous metal smelting, textiles, Anshan's iron and steel, Benxi Lake's ironmaking, building materials, Dalian's chemical industry, machinery manufacturing, locomotive manufacturing, shipbuilding, Anton's textile industry. Non-ferrous metal smelting and petroleum smelting in Jinzhou and Huludao. ”

"Although in the course of our Operation Harvester, the industries of Mukden and Fushun were dismantled by us. However, the Japanese relied on the original foundation and the machinery manufacturing capacity of their own country, and after a large number of emergency repairs, they resumed the production of most of these factories. ”

"With such a big place and so many factories, Mr. Lin's battle is really not easy to fight. Especially Jinzhou, Fengtian, Anshan, Dalian, Fushun, plus Benxi Lake, which of these major industrial towns is broken, we will all become sinners in the history of the country's industrial development. ”

"I once envisioned adopting a multi-way squeeze method to squeeze the main force of the Kwantung Army out of South Manchuria. But after repeated considerations, it is still impossible to do this. South Manchuria was a very important foundation for the Japanese army to maintain the war, and without the support of South Manchuria, the Japanese would probably not be able to fight at all. ”

"The Japanese say that Manchuria-Mongolia is their lifeline, and they are not wrong about that. Without the steel industry in the Kuramato area, the Japanese were able to sustain the war by relying on their own steel industry. But there is no iron ore in Gongchangling, and only the iron ore on the Korean Peninsula is relied on. Even if their local steel industry is developed and there are no resources to use, the result is the same. What's more, without the high-quality coal of Fushun, they will not be able to sustain the war either. ”

"It was precisely because of the importance of South Manchuria to Japan's maintenance of the war that they would not take the initiative to evacuate South Manchuria without giving the Kwantung Army a fatal blow. Moreover, as a typical Eastern army, the Japanese would not take the initiative to abandon South Manchuria without suffering heavy losses. ”

"The most important thing is that even if the Kwantung Army takes the initiative to abandon South Manchuria without suffering heavy losses, it will be as bad as it is for us. If the Kwantung Army is allowed to withdraw to Korea in its entirety, it will inevitably increase the pressure on our army in the areas controlled by the Korean Peninsula. Elsewhere, I can ignore it. But North Hamgyong Province in North Korea is extremely important to us right now. ”

"The iron ore in North Manchurian is small in scale, and the taste of ore is not high, and it is mainly poor ore. A limited number of rich minerals are in the deep mountains and old forests of the Great and Small Khing'an Mountains. From construction to mining, it takes a lot of effort. We're just starting to develop it, and we're still far from putting it into production. ”

"The ore we use in our steel industry basically comes from North Korea's Mosan iron ore mine. We have copper in non-ferrous metal smelting, and at least half of it comes from Huishan. We put so much effort into controlling North Hamgyong Province in Korea, but we didn't just go to the two steel mills in Cheonjin and Seongjin. ”

"Those two steel plants are just part of our goal. My real focus is on the iron ore and nickel ore in Maoshan. In particular, the Moshan Iron Mine, the best iron mine in the whole of Northeast Asia, goes. With the loss of the Mosan Iron Mine and Nickel Mine in North Hamgyong Province, the steel plant and non-ferrous metal smelter that we have worked so hard to build will be left without rice. ”

"If the Kwantung Army is allowed to withdraw to Korea without suffering heavy losses, then not only in Korea, but our army will have to switch from offensive to defense due to the sharp increase in pressure, and North Hamgyong Province will be in danger of gaining and losing. At the same time, it is also quite unfavorable to our army's overall strategy in the northeast and the strategy for the next step. The border between China and North Korea is hundreds of kilometers long, and if our army moves to defensive operations, how many troops will it take to fill it? ”

"Therefore, this battle must not only be left unfought, but also at least more than half of the strength of the Kwantung Army must be solved under the condition that many places must be preserved intact. Mr. Lin, you are a military master and know that there are too many unpredictable things on the battlefield. In the midst of such a brutal war, who can guarantee that these industrial bases will not suffer any losses? ”

Regarding Yang Zhen's words, Mr. Lin was silent for a while before saying: "No matter how difficult it is, this battle must be fought." And not only to fight, but also to fight clean and beautiful. As you said, South Manchuria's industry is important not only to the Japanese, but also to our nation and country. ”

"In this battle, the chairman and the central government have high expectations for you. Although there was a lot of pressure in the pass, a group of reserves were mobilized for you from Jin, Hebei, Luyu and Jinchaji. You can only fight this battle well. However, I still want to advise you not to be too complete in the campaign, and to keep the heavy industry and the main industrial bases. As for those light industries, it doesn't matter if they give up for the time being. ”

Hearing Mr. Lin's words, Yang Zhen raised his head and looked at the somewhat hazy sky outside the door but did not answer, but finally chose to be silent. And Yang Zhen chose to be silent, and Mr. Lin, who was already silent, didn't say anything more, just stared at the map on the wall of the conference room a little distractedly.

Compared with these two who had become a pair of stuffy gourds, several commanders in the direction who hurried back to their respective command posts were facing the battle plan of the headquarters and began to make final preparations one after another. The order of attack of the subordinate troops, the firepower configuration of the entire combat area, and the distribution of ammunition made these senior generals scramble for a while.

But fortunately, the foundation on weekdays is relatively solid, although there is a certain amount of chaos. However, the work of the various ministries was still completed step by step. After the order was given, the troops did not lose their positions because of the somewhat hasty time. In accordance with the order specified by their respective superiors, they marched to the area where the attack started one after another.

Just as the front-line troops were marching towards their respective offensive starting positions, the Kwantung Army, which had a fairly sensitive sense of smell, immediately discovered the anomaly of the anti-coalition positions in front of them. The information from all sides made the Kwantung Army, which had shouted countless times that the wolf was coming, felt that this time the wolf was really coming.

Just when Qin Yanzaburo received the information from the front line one after another, he found that the number of enemy troops on the front line had increased significantly, and the number of various heavy weapons was increasing, and he immediately determined that the attack of the Anti-Japanese Union was imminent. However, when Yang Zhen mobilized the troops, he adopted a lot of confusing methods. When the Kwantung Army figured out the situation and wanted to adjust its deployment, it found that it did not have enough time.