Chapter 597 Elimination and Fighting

At the national defense mobilization meeting held in Nanjing, Yan Xishan proposed to redivide the northern theater of operations, and from a general point of view, it was impossible to find fault, and it can be seen that Yan Xishan was carefully prepared, although all the princes knew Yan Xishan's true intentions, and there was no need to come forward, holding the mentality of watching the fire from the other side, and quietly watching the development of the situation.

Tang Qiuli's expression was beyond their expectations, neither anger nor standing up to refute it, everyone exchanged glances with each other, they didn't know what the young Vice Chairman Tang had in mind, even Chairman Jiang couldn't guess Tang Qiuli's thoughts, only Tang Qiuli himself knew that this matter was just beginning, Yan Xishan had no supporters, and he would not rashly propose this plan.

Li Zongren stood up, and the senior officials from all walks of life exchanged their heads and whispered, this recently famous head of the Gui family is very good at taking advantage of the situation, he wants to speak at this time, whether to support Yan Xishan's proposal, or oppose it, what is his intention? can't guess Li Zongren's thoughts, only Liu Xiang nodded secretly, the battle of Xuzhou, the Gui family and the Sichuan army, fighting side by side, can there be a great victory in Xuzhou, it can be regarded as a period of incense, Li Zongren's thoughts have also revealed some to Liu Xiang.

Compared with Yan Xishan's shrewdness and almost greed, Li Zongren seemed gentle and elegant, he first nodded to everyone, and then said in a steady tone: "Chairman Jiang, Vice Chairman Tang, everyone here, I agree with Brother Baichuan's proposal, in fact, my Xuzhou Theater is also facing the same problem, Xuzhou is located in a corner of Jiangsu, and is close to Shandong and Anhui provinces, the transportation of troops and combat materials is far away, once there is a war, it will definitely delay the military aircraft." ”

"Therefore, I propose that the Xuzhou Theater should include the three provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui, and uniformly dispatch the manpower, material, and financial resources of the three provinces, so as to ensure that Xuzhou, the northern barrier in the south of the Yangtze River, is not lost, and that it can cope with the large-scale attack of the Japanese army in North China in the future, and build a solid defense line for the capital and the Songhu region." After Li Zongren finished speaking, he nodded to everyone, bowed slightly to Chairman Jiang and Tang Qiuli on the stage, and sat down without a trace of fireworks.

Yan Xishan stood up again and said, "I personally very much agree with Chief Li's suggestion, this is the words of a certain country, otherwise, the situation in North China is worrying, our army's defense area is artificially divided, once the Japanese army launches an attack, the end and end cannot be connected, the east and west cannot echo, the situation must be critical, please seriously consider my and Delin's proposal." ”

At this point in the meeting, the princes from all walks of life suddenly realized, and they all understood the true intentions of Yan Xishan and Li Zongren, these two people must have reached a deal in private to divide up a few pieces of fat in North China, which is really cunning enough, but these fat meats are all within the jurisdiction of the Yellow River Basin Theater of Vice Chairman Tang, is he willing to give it up?

Chairman Jiang looked at Tang Qiuli again, his mood was quite complicated, if it was to say that Tang Qiuli shot Tang Enbo and dismissed the Eighth Army, he didn't have any guilt in his heart, that was talking nonsense with his eyes open, in addition, although Chen Guofu said stupid things out of time, but there was a sentence in Chairman Jiang's heart, that is, Tang Qiuli's power was expanding day by day, and he had a vague tendency to fight against himself.

It took him more than ten years, exhausting his thoughts, racking his brains, and using all kinds of political and military means to subdue one opponent after another, ostensibly unify the Republic of China, and achieve today's position, and he doesn't want to have a force that is equal to himself, even if it is a slight threat to his own status, Yan Xishan and Li Zongren's mention is the best way to weaken Tang Qiuli's extremely inflated power, and he doesn't have to be a villain.

However, he also knew that Tang Qiuli was able to do this with Yan Xishan and Li Zongren on behalf of the nearly one million Japanese troops in North China on behalf of Jiangnan and Li Zongren, and once Henan and Shandong were divided into two theaters, then Tang Qiuli's Yellow River Valley Theater would be nothing but a null and void, and if the Japanese took a new offensive in North China, Tang Qiuli would no longer be angry and stand idly by, Yan Xishan and Li Zongren would not be able to resist for a few days, and the Japanese army in North China would go south, and he would have no choice but to give up his hands to the Nanjing and Songhu areas and retreat to the Wuhan area.

Therefore, Chairman Chiang's mood was extremely contradictory, and he hated the Japanese even more, if he hadn't deliberately provoked a full-scale war and maintained the status quo, how could he have today's troubles, but he really couldn't think of a way to get the best of both worlds, and he also adopted an attitude of waiting and seeing how Tang Qiuli would deal with such a situation and what card he would play.

Yan Xishan and Li Zongren said their own mentions, Chairman Jiang did not express his position, all eyes were focused on Tang Qiuli, this is a matter involving his vital interests, Li Yan and the two are heavyweights among the princes, they are not completely sure, and they dare not move the knife on Tang Qiuli, this matter is more tricky.

Tang Qiuli stood up with a smile, walked to the front, faced the princes from all walks of life, and said in a clear voice: "What Chief Yan and Chief Li said is extremely pertinent, and their words are to the point, it can be seen that the two chiefs are well thought out, in terms of the current form, in order to fight against the Japanese invaders, not to mention the power of the provinces, it is not an exaggeration to gather the power of the country, we are going to pour the strength of the country and fight the Japanese invaders to the end until the Japanese invaders are expelled from the country." ”

The princes from all walks of life were in an uproar and were dumbfounded, Vice Chairman Tang swallowed the bitter fruit like this? Yan Xishan and Li Zongren exchanged glances, and they could see each other's inner surprises, Yan Xishan was bent on getting cheap, compared to Li Zongren's mood was more complicated.

Although he coveted Shandong's geographical location and abundant products, he also knew that Tang Qiu was not easy to mess with, and that there was his 260,000-strong army on the Cangzhou line, and before coming to Nanjing, he received information that the 29 Corps of more than 60,000 troops led by Li Honggang, the former chief of staff of the Independent Division, had been stationed in Shandong's coastal ports, making clear his intention to occupy Shandong exclusively.

However, Li Zongren is a person who refuses to give up lightly, get Shandong, Gui is in the Central Plains, you can also get a foothold, you can attack, retreat can defend, take advantage of the geographical advantage, once the situation changes, the Central Plains will seize the opportunity, so, as long as there is a glimmer of possibility, Li Zongren will not give up the attempt to Shandong, just right, the famous iron abacus Yan Xishan came to the door, the two sides have common interests, hit it off, Li Zongren has the courage to turn his face with Tang Qiuli, now, Tang Qiuli replied like this, Let him be vigilant, with his understanding of this young vice chairman, he is not a person who accepts defeat lightly, so Li Zongren remained silent and waited for Tang Qiuli's next step.

Tang Qiuli took a full view of everyone's reactions, and then, after a change of words, he said: "However, any adjustment of strategic deployment must focus on the overall situation, from the beginning of last year's July 7 Incident to November 5 last year, when the Japanese army launched the second attack in North China, the Japanese army's tactics adopted were all all-out attacks, from Datong in Shanxi Province in the west to Dezhou in Shandong Province in the east, a battle line stretching for thousands of miles, and any point was the target of the Japanese army's attack. ”

He smiled and asked Yan Xishan, "Chief Yan, you are a person who came to the battlefield in person, did the Japanese army adopt such a tactic?" "After several months of fighting in various parts of North China, several major battles, everyone knows, Yan Xishan can't lie, so he has to nod, and at the same time, he vaguely feels bad in his heart.

"If according to the mention of Commander Yan and Commander Li, a battle line is divided into two parts, east and west, with the west side under the command of Commander Yan and the east side under the command of Chief Li, then where are the troops of our North China Independent Division? It won't retreat to the south bank of the Yellow River, the Shaanxi-Gansu border, right? If this is the case, the Japanese army gathers heavy troops and attacks any of the defense areas of your two commanders, let me ask the two commanders, in the face of the attack of millions of Japanese troops in North China, which of you can resist? ”

Tang Qiuli's tone was not high, and his tone was also very peaceful, but such a question made Yan Xishan and Li Zongren sit on pins and needles, looking at each other, they knew very well in their hearts that the defense of North China, the independent division was the mainstay, the Jin army and the Gui army, at most, they beat the side drums, a few battles, they knew who fought the tough battle, if the Japanese army really came to attack, they knew that their catties and catties could not resist at all, even if they used all the old books, at most they would support it for a few more days.

Tang Qiuli's words pinched the veins of Li Zongren and Yan Xishan, they were speechless, it is good to have a large territory, but the old book has been lost, no matter how much territory is useless, the two of them originally planned to occupy the territory by themselves and let the troops of the independent division resist the main force of the Japanese army.

Tang Qiuli saw that Yan Xishan and Li Zongren were speechless, so he was no longer polite, the tiger was not threatening, I was a sick cat, and then said: "What the two commanders said just now is a lack of overall vision, the Yellow River defense line is a whole, and if one is moved, the whole line will be moved, which is related to the strategic situation of the northern battlefield. ”

"Therefore, the Yellow River defense line not only cannot be divided into several parts, but must implement unified military and political leadership and form the most compact whole, so as to maximize the use of one qiē resource within the jurisdiction, therefore, Shanxi is no longer a separate direction, Chief Yan, your troops must be included in the unified mobilization of the Yellow River Theater Command."

"In the Xuzhou Theater, there are troops of our Independent Division's Dongzhi and Sulu Mobile Corps in the north, and the Central Army troops of the Songhu Theater in the south, after the first army of Isoya Ryosuke was eliminated, there is no enemy to face in the theater, and there is no need to save Zài, which should be abolished, and the Gui Army under the command of Chief Li and the Sichuan Army troops that coordinated the operation can join the Cangzhou battlefield on the northern front, and can also join the Songhu and Hangzhou Bay battlefields on the southern front."

Tang Qiuli's words are fatal, Yan Xishan handed over the army, Li Zongren left from Xuzhou, and the so-called unified leadership of the military and government, the independent division troops were placed along the line of the Yellow River, and several provinces within the jurisdiction were included in Tang Qiuli's bag, and all the princes had a ridiculous feeling, this young Tang Vice Chairman was too powerful, and even the elimination and beating, not only did not suffer any damage, but also let Yan Xishan and Li Zongren lift a stone and shoot themselves in the foot.

(To be continued)