Chapter 474: Sharpen the knife

Liu Tiehan's press conference, although the overall situation was stabilized, ordinary people gradually calmed down when they saw the supreme commander of the Central Army stationed in Lu come out to speak, but Jinan City was like a frozen river, indicating calm, but there was a turbulent undercurrent underneath.

There is a car in front and a rut in the back, the big xiǎo officials of Shandong Provincial Government, seeing that His Excellency the chairman are like this, the one who does not play his own xiǎo abacus, is busy transferring family property, arranging the back road, plus the rich businessmen and shopkeepers, is also panicked, for a time, the population of Jinan fleeing has increased greatly.

Liu Tiehan was furious, according to his previous temper, he had already arrested this Han Fuyu, but now he couldn't do this, helplessly, he finally found Han Fuyu in a hidden villa in the countryside, hoping that he could publicly declare his determination to resist Japan in front of the public, so as to encourage and stabilize the hearts of Qilu's fathers.

Who knows, this Chairman Han Fuyu Han shook his head loudly, claiming that he had set up a headquarters in a hidden place and coordinated and commanded all units under the 11th Group Army, and that it was not appropriate to make his face public, so as not to attract the attention of Japanese agents and violent his own strategic intentions.

Liu Tiehan was speechless for a while, he really didn't know what to say to this Chairman Han, he had seen a thick-skinned person, but he had never seen such a shameless person, he was obviously arranging a way back for himself, but he said it in a high-sounding manner.

He knew that Han Fuyu could not count on it, so he secretly ordered a part of the Jīng Rui troops to quietly deploy in the flank and rear of Han Fuyu's Eleventh Group Army in case of contingencies, and at the same time, deploy a battalion of troops near the Jinan airfield, and prepare to accept Han Fuyu's Shandong Air Force when necessary, which is better than falling into the hands of the Japanese.

The situation in Shandong, Liu Tiehan truthfully reported to Tang Qiuli, Tang Qiuli only had one sentence, independently complete all the defense affairs in Shandong, if necessary, he could take over the command of the Eleventh Group Army, and the letter of appointment was then issued, Tang Qiuli made the worst plan, that is, in Shandong, only the troops pointed by Liu Tiehan Dong would face the Japanese army that was more than twice his strength.

Tang Enbo, commander of the Eighth Army Corps, who set up a headquarters in Luoyang, Henan Province and commanded 230,000 horses, received a telegram from Tang Qiuli, commander-in-chief of the Yellow River Basin Theater Command Headquarters, and his face was expressionless, and he casually threw the telegram on the table, muttering a sentence in his mouth, and the staff officers next to him vaguely heard "Huangkou xiǎoer!" ”

He has something urgent, there is a large cocktail party at the Luoyang General Chamber of Commerce, he, the highest commander of the Central Army stationed in Henan, does not participate, the cocktail party must not start, and when he hurriedly walked out, the adjutant next to him reminded him, how to report back to the general headquarters of the theater? Tang Enbo said impatiently: "This kind of thing, let the chief of staff deal with it, don't give me any telegrams in the future, prioritize, understand?" ”

Tang Qiuli was in North China, preparing to meet more than 900,000 Japanese troops, and Tang Qiusheng, who was in Hangzhou Bay, was not idle, taking advantage of the temporary calm, the troops' fortifications were all complete, and all preparations were completely ready, but the troops of the Eighth Army in front of him made him more and more worried.

The wind of wanting to dismantle the Eighth Army is also blowing here, and these miscellaneous and security forces have no intention of surviving here, and their discipline is becoming more and more lax, stealing jīmō dogs, sāo harassing the neighbors, and from time to time there are gray-haired old people, crying and crying to find here, either the nv son and daughter-in-law fù were raped, or the only valuable thing in the family was robbed openly and secretly.

I didn't see any officials come out to speak, and then I got annoyed, so I simply shot to scare the people, Zhang Fakui was also distracted, and even more abandoned, ran to Hangzhou City to hide in Qingjing, and threw nearly 100,000 scattered troops here to put ducks.

The local powerful factions and some generals of the squadron have their own hearts and minds, and they are not aware of the coming crisis, and they are intriguing with themselves, fighting for power and profit, and making a lot of trouble.

Only Zhang Zhizhong, who was guarding Shanghai, did not relax in the slightest, and Tang Qiuli's words always echoed in his ears, and others clamored for a reduction in the strength of the garrison in the Songhu area, but he went to Chairman Chiang, who said that it was a great deal, and asked Chairman Chiang to increase the strength of two more divisions for him, so that the troops garrisoning the Shanghai area reached more than 90,000 people.

After the fiasco of the first Battle of Songhu, Japan set off a wave of review of military defeats, the army and navy units were reorganized, focusing on the combination and coordination of the air, sea, tank, artillery, infantry and other arms of the army, from Emperor Hirohito onwards, made a reassessment of China's military strength, put away the previous contempt, regarded the squadron as a strong opponent, and took it seriously.

In particular, the troops of Tang Qiuli, who presided over the military administration of northern China, were listed as the number one opponent by the Japanese military circles, and this was also the main reason why the Japanese army always maintained a huge military strength in North China.

On 20 October, when the Sino-Japanese armistice talks were still under way in Nanjing, Emperor Hirohito issued an edict to the Japanese army headquarters to organize a new combat unit against China.

However, the navy still insisted on attacking the Songhu area first, opening the mén household Shanghai along the river in the interior of China, and the naval fleet could go up the river and capture Nanjing, the capital of China, Wuhan, an important industrial base in East China and the hub of Jiāo, and strategically divide China into two halves in the north and south, and then the army could eat the isolated China army in pieces.

The two opinions are contending, each does not give in, the quarrel is very fierce, involving their own interests, concession is to admit defeat, Emperor Hirohito looked at it silently, the senior generals of the army and navy who were blushing and having thick necks were all moved by real fire, Hirohito felt a sadness in his heart, the land and navy fought separately, which was a good thing, reflecting the courage and jīng god of the great Japanese emperor.

But which of you can understand my true heart and understand my grand strategy? It is all for the interests of their own side, lacking the concept of the overall situation, if this battle is not fought, it is enough, if it is fought, it must conquer China, and no matter which direction to start attacking, it will not be able to achieve the fatal effect of one blow.

Hirohito shouted coldly: "Enough! The hall was suddenly silent, His Majesty the Emperor was very angry, and the consequences were very strict, and the senior generals of the land and sea who were like bulls just now all closed their mouths, stared at each other's unconvinced bull's eyes, returned to their seats, looked at Emperor Hirohito's face, and speculated on the inner world of this moody Majesty.

Hirohito signaled that he urgently rushed back from North China to the country to participate in the military conference, the chief of the general staff, Prince Kanin Palace, Zaihito bowed deeply to his emperor's brother, and then announced the emperor's strategic intention to the generals, in general, Hirohito's strategic intention was to launch a large-scale attack at the same time in the North China and Songhu regions of China, first seize Shanghai, and then, the northern and eastern armies will meet in Nanjing, the capital of China, to encircle Wuhan, an important town in East China, and realize the strategic intention of dismembering China.

When the senior generals of the Japanese army and navy heard this, they all gasped, and the appetite of His Majesty the Emperor was too great, but this was the most effective way to completely solve the problem of China, and the army and navy no longer had to have a dispute.

After the Emperor's Imperial Meeting, the Japanese army base camp began to make intense preparations for the reorganization of various invasion troops, and the remnants of the former Shanghai Dispatch Army were reorganized and reorganized, and the strength of one division and one brigade was strengthened, and four heavy artillery wings were attached to the total strength of 100,000 troops, with Ishihara Masao, deputy chief of staff of the base camp, as commander.

The main task of this department is to carry out the landing at the original landing site, with the purpose of attracting the first squadron in the vicinity of Songhu and Hangzhou to come to the rescue urgently, and to firmly attract the Chinese defenders of Shanghai to the periphery of Shanghai.

From Korea, Taiwan, and the Japanese mainland, Chōu transferred the 6th, 18th, 21st, and 114th Divisions, the Kunisaki Detachment, the Yamano Detachment, the 2nd Independent Mountain Artillery Wing, the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade Regiment, and the 1st and 2nd Reserve Infantry Wings, totaling about 170,000 men, to form the Tenth Army, with Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke as the commander, to prepare for a landing operation to open up the situation.

The operational essentials of the 10th Army are as follows: 1. It is planned to land in the area near Jinshanwei in Hangzhou Bay at the end of October or early November, quickly annihilate the enemy forces with weak defense in the landing area, advance the main force to the line of the Huangpu River in a rapid advance mode, capture Songjiang, cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway, divide the troops into an attack and advance in the vicinity of Wusong, Chuansha Hekou, and Shishilin, and plan to fight in response to the Shanghai dispatch army; 2. After crossing the Huangpu River, attack and advance in the direction west and south of Shanghai, and cooperate with the Shanghai Dispatch Army to eliminate the squadrons around Shanghai and quickly end the Shanghai Campaign.

The 16th Division under the command of Nakajima Imago landed in Taicang, Jiangsu, to respond to the landing operation of the 10th Army and cut off the retreat of the ** squadron in the Songhu area.

It can be seen from the strategic deployment of Emperor Hirohito that the Japanese Tenth Army is the main force of the Songhu operation, and the other two roads are auxiliary directions, especially the Shanghai Dispatch Army, which is carrying out a difficult task, after the first Battle of Songhu, the Chinese defenders have built a large number of fortifications on the periphery of Shanghai, and as soon as the Shanghai Dispatch Army lands, it will be forced to attack one fortification after another, and the casualties can be imagined.

On the North China side, because the main opponent we are facing is the Yellow River Valley Theater troops commanded by Tang Qiuli, a fierce and formidable opponent, and the North China side will face tremendous difficulties, and the effective way to solve this problem is to launch an all-out offensive at multiple points and in many directions, with Pingjin as the base and Baoding as the central axis, to disperse Tang Qiuli's troops in all directions, and to use our local superior forces to inferiority to his local inferior forces.

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