After a long period of tug-of-war and negotiations, the first batch of U.S. aid lent to China arrived in Burma a few days later, and then was transported to Yunnan via the Yunnan-Burma Highway. The First Army became the first unit in the whole army to eat crabs.

The first batch of U.S.-aided materials totaled more than 30 tons, mainly light weapons and ammunition, as well as a small number of tanks and armored vehicles. Although it was not much, it was enough to fill the weapons gap caused by the previous First Army due to battle damage, and the First Army, armed with brand-new American-style equipment, began training in the southwestern border.

According to the plan, when the defense of Nanjing enters the final critical stage, they will become a strong force and deal a fatal blow to the Japanese East China Front.

But it is still unknown whether they will be able to complete this fatal blow, after all, the new equipment will take a long time to run, and the time left for them is only one month.

As the old saying goes, time is running out for the First Army.

Huang Ke, who knew this well, was even more anxious. Therefore, he repeatedly stressed to Cui Wu that in any case, the defenders of Nanjing would have to hold on to the second line of defense for another month and a half, and one more day would give them one more hope of victory.

In order to show his determination to fight to the end, Cui Wu also moved his headquarters not far from the front line. He issued orders to officers at all levels, and all units should be like a nail, nailed to their defensive positions, and before receiving the order, they would kill them in one step in the background.

Contrary to the Chinese army's strict order to defend, Matsui Ishine also issued an order to the attacking Japanese army: to attack the predetermined position within a time limit, and those who cannot complete it will be killed.

At this time, the 300,000 elite Japanese army had already begun a frantic attack day and night. The news of the US aid is already well known, and fools would also think that the arrival of this batch of military aid will inevitably increase the strength of the Chinese army. Although I don't know how much it can be increased, if it can be increased by one point, the threat to the Japanese army will also be increased by one point.

As a matter of fact, on the day that the United States learned that the United States had signed the Lend-Lease Act, Matsui Ishine convened an emergency military meeting, and after briefly clarifying the direction of attack of each unit, he began to issue an operational order for the East China Front to launch an all-out offensive from now on.

In addition to ordering their existing forces to intensify their attacks, Matsui Ishine and Hatohiko repeatedly asked Tokyo to increase the number of troops in the siege of Nanjing.

Nanking was so difficult to fight that the defending Chinese army was determined to die, and did not back down even a single step. Sometimes a small hill will be fought over by both sides. Every time the Japanese army took a step forward, it had to pay a terrible price.

The casualty rate of the Japanese attacking Nanking was far greater than that of the other battlefields combined, and every day truckloads of reinforcements were brought to the front, and a few days later truckloads of wounded and corpses were brought back.

As one of the high-ranking officials of the Tokyo base camp, Matsui Ishine naturally knew the empire's established strategy for going south. His sober analysis came to the conclusion that once the Japanese army implements the strategy of moving south, direct contradictions between the United States and Japan will erupt.

Once war breaks out between Japan and the United States, the United States will certainly increase its support for China's war of resistance in order to contain the Japanese army. Before this, if they can't take Nanjing, then it will mean even more difficult later.

A difficult problem lay in front of Matsui Ishone, causing him to frown.

After careful consideration, Tokyo made a decision to transfer troops from other battlefields to support Nanjing. It is no longer possible to mobilize troops from home. First, the ever-expanding war has made the local army appear to be a little stretched, and secondly, the local army is preparing for the south, and there is no idle force at all. The Emperor has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of the Army on the Chinese battlefield, and it is absolutely impossible to continue to increase the number of troops at this time.

Reinforcements could not be drawn from the mainland or other garrisons, only from other battlefields in China. Come to think of it, this is also a last resort.

The total investment of the Japanese army in the three major battlefields in China has exceeded 1 million, and the proportion of the three major battlefields in East China, North China and Northeast China is about the same; compared with the other two battlefields, the Japanese army in the Northeast Theater occupies the largest territory, and the Japanese army has accumulated a large number of troops in the Northeast Theater because it has implemented the northward expansion strategy in the early stage, so the Japanese army in the Northeast Battlefield has the largest surplus troops.

Now that the strategy of advancing north has been abolished, the Japanese top brass has shelved the strategy of opening up the north-south line and joining forces with Germany in Moscow, and in the Chinese battlefield, attacking Nanjing has become the army's primary task, so it is only appropriate to transfer troops from the northeast to support Nanjing.

After weighing and considering, Tokyo made a decision to reinforce Nanjing by transferring eight to ten wings of troops from northeastern China in batches in order to take Nanjing as soon as possible.

"What a stupid idea!"

The commander of the Kwantung Army, Umezu Mijiro, slammed his fist on the table in front of him with an angry fist after receiving the order to transfer troops from Tokyo.

Naturally, he was very displeased. It was clearly written on the order that one division and one infantry wing should be transferred from the Kwantung Army to Nanjing within a month for Matsui Ishine's command.

The reason for Umezu's displeasure was that he had recently been planning a military operation to march south. He took over Seishiro Itagaki a few months ago as commander of the Kwantung Army. And what is in front of him is not a good situation, Jinzhou has not been able to fight for a long time, the two sides have formed a confrontation on the front line of Manchuria, and the Lin Zuoda on the opposite side will send his mechanized troops to harass from time to time, plus the conflict between them and the Soviets some time ago was caught off guard by the Soviet army, so hundreds of thousands of Kwantung Army can only be trapped in the current position of Manchuria.

In fact, Umezu Mijiro didn't really want to go north to attack the Soviet Union, his goal was to take Jinzhou, but many attacks on Jinzhou had been disintegrated, and Jinzhou could not be defeated, so the Japanese army in the northeast would not be able to join forces with the regions of North China, and the occupation areas of the two sides could not be connected.

It's damn bad! In order to be able to link these strategies together, Umezu Yoshijiro began to formulate a new battle plan at the beginning of his tenure, and the specific policy was to concentrate his forces to attack Jinzhou, move south from Jinzhou, occupy the Beijing and Tianjin areas, and then link up with the North China Front led by Okamura Ninji.

At this time, Tokyo wanted to transfer troops from the Kwantung Army to the Nanjing area, and Umezu Mijiro naturally couldn't accept it. On the same day, he asked his superiors to withdraw his order on the grounds that the troops were tight, he could not transfer troops, and that the Kwantung Army was going to carry out a new battle plan.

However, he did not expect Tokyo to unceremoniously reject his request, and sent another telegram reiterating the importance of this order, telling him to complete the deployment within the specified time.

Tokyo gave the order, and he naturally did not dare to disobey it. At the regular military meeting of the Kwantung Army, which army to deploy became the main issue today.

Umezu Mijiro reluctantly read out Tokyo's order to everyone and expressed his opinion. As soon as the order was read, the senior generals of the Kwantung Army in private were in an uproar.

Ishihara, deputy chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, who was sitting in the corner of the table, couldn't help but smile contemptuously when he heard this, and he said lightly to Umezu Mijiro: "Isn't it ridiculous that the front-line combat policy should be formulated by the people sitting in Tokyo. Attacking Nanjing is important, but at present, the United States is launching a blockade against Japan, connecting Manchuria and North China, and opening up communication lines is even more urgent. ”

Umezu Mijiro glanced at Ishihara Waner, this smart but unlikable guy rarely had the same point of view as himself.

The chief of staff, Rear Admiral Kimura Hyotaro, also shook his head helplessly: "The top brass of the Navy needs a chance to show. And the army goes south, it can occupy Dutch Indonesia, so that the blockade of our country from abroad can be resolved. ”

The contemptuous smile on Ishihara's face disappeared, and he said seriously, "What a stupidity! If it is said that 10,000 yuan is needed to go south, the Anglo-American Union actually has 1 million yuan, while Japan only has 1,000 yuan, and this difference can only be made up by strategy, not by the slogan of "making the impossible possible." ”

"At the beginning, I suggested that we should first gain a foothold in Manchuria and then make plans. Huang Ke of Nanjing was a competitive man, and the government he led was an enterprising one. Only by occupying Manchuria, linking the Manchurian and Mongolian regions with Korea, and building our forward base, will it be possible for us to rely on this and then move north and south, and finally start a decisive battle with the United States. ”

Speaking of this, Ishihara snorted coldly: "It's just that these guys in Tokyo are too aggressive. I want to eat Shimona in one bite, but unfortunately they don't have such a big appetite. ”

"Ishihara-kun, the strategy of going south is a decision made by His Majesty the Emperor! No one can change or argue about this, and you have to pay attention to your words and deeds. Shimomura, the head of the first section of the War Department, was a little dissatisfied with Ishihara's point of view, and he said quite angrily.

Umezu Mijiro saw that everyone's words were a little intense, so he frowned and said, "Okay, okay." Don't discuss this issue anymore, Tokyo has already ordered the transfer of troops from our Kwantung Army, and we are discussing today which troops to be transferred to support the attack on Nanjing? ”

"What Nanjing lacked was an effective attacking force, and the 136th Division stationed in the Mukden area and the 1st Independent Tank Brigade stationed in Harbin came in without any combat mission. I think it's better to transfer these two troops to Nanjing first and hand them over to Matsui Ishine to command. Kimura Hyotaro said after thinking about it.

Umezu Mijiro nodded, these two troops belong to the B type of troops, and their combat effectiveness is naturally slightly inferior. Keeping them in the rear is mainly used as reserves, and now if they are transferred, they can only be transferred out.

"What questions do you have?" Umezu Mijiro asked.

"No problem." Everyone said one after another.

"Okay, I'll transfer ......" Before Umezu Mijiro's words fell, an intelligence staff officer pushed the door in, and he walked quickly to Umezu Mijiro's side and said uprightly: "Mr. Commander, the latest battle report from the front!" ”

Umezu Mijiro was angry at the staff officer's impolite behavior, when he slammed his fist on the table in surprise after reading the contents of the message.