Before six o'clock, it was completely dark. In a bunker in Pengze County and Madang Fortress, Okamura Ninji looked at the stack of information in front of him, and suddenly felt a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart. Major General Yoshimoto Sadaji, chief of staff of the 11th Army, walked in under the guidance of a major saga, and when he saw Okamura's frowning, he asked, "Your Excellency, why are you in such a hurry to recruit me back?" ”

"Look at these!" Okamura shoved the stack of information in front of him in front of him.

Yoshimoto picked them up one by one and looked through them carefully, and after five minutes, he sat down across from Okamura and asked, "Have you figured out the sequence of the enemy troops?" The size of at least one army, judging by its equipment, should be the regular army of the cadet army. However, there are no heavy weapons such as artillery and chariots, which is a bit puzzling! "Yoshimoto had studied the establishment of the cadet army, and knew that in his regular army, artillery and chariot troops accounted for a certain proportion, so he had this doubt.

Okamura was not worried about these, he said: "These are not the key, the key is, what is Ouyang Yun's intention in doing this?" Are they aware of our intentions and want to duel with us in Jiangxi? Or do you just want to delay the advance of our army so as to strengthen combat readiness? ”

"Your Excellency, have you decided on the next focus of our army's actions?"

The order given by the Japanese base camp to the 11th Army was to let them capture the entire territory of Jiangxi and then wait for a new order to operate. The reason why Sakagaki Seishiro behaved so cautiously was that he was worried that Ouyang Yun might perceive their combat intentions in advance, and take the initiative to send troops to Jiangxi to concentrate superior forces to inflict heavy damage on the 11th Army, thus destroying their plan to encircle. It is rare for Seishiro Sakagaki to be so low-key, but he forgot that the Japanese generals have always had the tradition of "generals are not subject to the orders of foreign kings". His caution seemed to Okamura Ninji to be a sign of missing the fighter. How could the group of young and strong officers of the Okamura Division, who were eager to wash away the shame of the Battle of Madang, be led by his nose?

Okamura once vacillated between the first attack on Yingtan and the opening up of the battlefield in southwest Jiangxi, of course, no matter what strategy the 11th Army would eventually adopt, Nanchang must be taken. Okamura is also pragmatic, he thought for a while and said: "Regardless of the focus of the next step, now, taking Nanchang is the top priority." I always feel that the Xuebing Army suddenly appeared in the Nanchang area, and there was some conspiracy in it. By the way, how did you communicate with Tokugawa Yoshitoshi? ”

"Tokugawa said that as soon as Commander Hatata's order is delivered, he will immediately cooperate fully with our combat operations!"

Okamura scolded: "Eight grids! Leaning back in his chair, he was silent.

In Okamura's opinion, if the battle that took place today at Nanjin Kiln could be supported by the First Air Regiment, then it would definitely not be the result it is now. Although Okamura was very unaccustomed to Isamu Yokoyama's arrogance and thought that it was not necessarily a bad thing to let the 17th Division suffer a defeat, when the battle report came and he learned that the 53rd Wing had lost two brigades on the shore of Xiushui, he felt distressed from the bottom of his heart. In the Battle of Madang, the four divisions of the 11th Army, in the end, only one and a half divisions remained, and the number of direct battle casualties reached 25,000.

Okamura said that the attack on Anqing Airport was the result of today's situation. Tokugawa Yoshitoshi's 1st Air Regiment suffered heavy losses in this attack and was almost expelled. Tokugawa Yoshitoshi believed that the 11th Army's failure to effectively snipe the Cadet Army led to this accident, and blamed Okamura Ninji. Okamura Ninji rightly thought that this had nothing to do with him at the time, and now he really tasted this bitter fruit.

Okamura's dejection made Yoshimoto feel sorry, and he whispered comfortingly, "Your Excellency, send a telegram to Commander Tin Jun and ask for his understanding-"

It was already a well-known fact that Okamura and Shunroku Hata did not deal with each other in the 11th Army, and Okamura was arrogant, and although he lost the Battle of Madang, he always felt that it was not his fault. And Shunroku hata hated that he didn't listen to his orders, and he did whatever he wanted with the support of the emperor, and the relationship between the two sides became more and more stiff, and now it has reached the point where it is inextricable.

"I can't let the entire corps suffer because of my face!" Okamura sighed in a low voice, gritted his teeth and made a decision, and said to Yoshimoto, "Please help me draft this message." ”

"Hay! Your Excellency, I'm going to write it! ”

"Good. By the way, where is Isamu Yokoyama? ”

"I received a telegram saying that they had arrived in Xingzi County."

"Then send him and Nakajima a telegram, and tell them to wait until dawn to attack. By the way, tell them that no matter what means they take, they must find a way to get the battle sequence of the Cadet Army! This is important! ”

"Hay!"

Not long after Yoshimoto left, Okamura, who began to concentrate on studying the map of the Nanchang area on the table, suddenly slapped the map and shouted, "It's dangerous! Then he banged on the table and shouted, "Someone! Go and bring in Chief of Staff Yoshimoto, there is an urgent military situation! ”

Soon, Gibbon walked in with a half-drafted message.

Okamura was already waiting at the door at this time, and when he saw him, he asked straight to the point: "How long has it been since the 33rd Division sent a telegram back?" ”

"From the beginning of the attack on Lion's Gate in terms of power generation, there has been no telegraph back."

"Quick, send him a telegram immediately, and order him to leave at least one wing to garrison Gao'an!"

Yoshimoto was stunned for a moment, and then subconsciously asked, "Your Excellency, are you worried about Xue Yue of the Central Army?" ”

"No, it's not Xue Yue, I'm worried about Ouyang Yun!"

"Ahh Zhilu said, I'll go. ”

Under the command of Chu Tiange, the guerrillas of the Cadet Army tried their best to snipe the 11th Army into the Nanchang area from three directions, which made Okamura feel very uneasy and incomprehensible. The size of the student army that has appeared is only one army, if it is purely to hold Nanchang, they should be in a group, however, they are divided into three parts, which is really contrary to military common sense - just now, after he carefully checked the geographical environment around the Lion Gate, a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, thinking that once Gao An fell into the hands of the school army, then the 33rd Division would be trapped in the area of the Lion Gate, and immediately realized that this might be a conspiracy of the Scholar Army against the 33rd Division, so he would immediately find Yoshimoto, Make the above explanation.

Okamura Ninji had predicted Ouyang Yun's plan to encircle and annihilate the 33rd Division, and at the same time, the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, led by Bai Tassel and Liu Zheliang, had already arrived in Ji'an and began to turn northward. And behind them, the Ninth Division took the lead, with the Seventeenth Brigade as the vanguard, and was rushing towards Jishui County.

The 17th Brigade is a tank brigade, except for the 349th Regiment which is a regular infantry regiment, and the 350th and 351st Regiments are all tank regiments. The brigade's armament can be called extravagant - even the 349th Regiment is equipped with about ten Great Wall military trucks (including about one maintenance vehicle), two light armored vehicles as command vehicles, about 20 light and heavy armored vehicles, and about 10 logistics baggage vehicles (including ammunition supply vehicles and fuel tank trucks). In addition, there were about ten two- and three-wheeled motorcycles, and about five off-road vehicles - this was for the reconnaissance platoon. The equipment of the regular infantry regiment is so extravagant, and the configuration of the tank regiment is even more terrifying - except for the two heavy armored vehicles for reconnaissance and command, the rest are various types of relay tanks and their support vehicles. Among them, there is a battalion of heavy tanks, a total of 27 vehicles; two battalions of medium tanks, fifty-four units; The support vehicles are mainly composed of ammunition trucks and fuel tank trucks, including 18 ammunition trucks, 9 fuel tank trucks and 3 maintenance vehicles.

Because of Ouyang Yun's army building concept, because he has too many profiteering patents, the student army at this time has grown into a steel giant. And this is something that Sakagaki Seishiro and other high-level decision-makers in the Japanese army base camp could not have expected anyway - when they finally wanted to solve the problem of the student army, the student army had already completed a gorgeous turn on land-