The matter is serious, and Kobayashi Awakening does not dare to hide it, so he can only report it truthfully to Okamura Ningji. Okamura Ninji's headquarters was located in Wangjiang, and originally, he felt that his head was big because of the stalemate and no progress in the war, but now that he heard that the only reserve unit in his hand, the Hatata detachment, was in this situation again, the old devil felt powerless for the first time.

When he first became the commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Ninji was very high-spirited and decided to do a good job, so that those bigwigs in Tokyo would know that looking at the Chinese battlefield, only the troops led by Okamura could conquer and be invincible. However, it has been a week since the Battle of Madang began, and there has been no progress at the front, and now, there are big problems in the rear.

From the perspective of the entire Japanese army in China, a small Hatian detachment is nothing, but because of the Taiwanese involved, and because the current situation in Taiwan is a bit complicated, Gangcun Zhilu said that Kobayashi has stabbed himself in a big basket this time.

The performance of the 11th Army in recent times does not need to be evaluated by others, and Gangcun himself knows it, so it is a bit unreasonable. Not to mention the encirclement and annihilation of the 17th Division, this was the result of the army's unauthorized advance, not a mistake in his decision-making. However, the 112th Division has been attacking Xiaogushan for a long time, and there is no way for a division to take a regiment of the Zhina Army; The 11th Division was lackluster in the battle to attack Cotton Boat Island north of Madang Fortress, and was unable to make even the slightest progress; The 106th Division lost troops at Hukou, and now he has lost Jiujiang, a foothold in the south of the Yangtze River that he had won with great difficulty—he must bear a certain command responsibility.

"No, progress must be made in Madang, or my return will not be far off. If you are recalled to your country in shame because of the defeat, it is better to make a desperate bet! Thinking so, Gangcun turned his eyes to the military map behind him, temporarily put aside the affairs of the Hatada detachment, and frowned slightly to start thinking.

In Nanjing, in the office of Shunroku Hata of the General Headquarters of the Chinese Dispatch Army, the somewhat ragged Tokugawa Yoshitoshi stood humbly and respectfully in front of Shunroku Hatata, like a child who had done something wrong, waiting to be reprimanded by his parents, bowing his head and not saying a word.

As Japan's first pilot to fly into the sky, Tokugawa Yoshitoshi had too many honors, and it was precisely because of these honors that he was even more obsessed with the defeat in Anqing, and he always felt that he could not escape the blame for the destruction of the Anqing Airport and the fighters of the Second Air Corps.

Shunroku Hata sat on the chair, looking at the pride of this Imperial Air Force, his eyes were very sharp at first, and then gradually eased, and finally, he sighed leisurely and said: "Tokugawa-kun, Ankei's defeat is not your fault, don't take it to heart. There is an old saying in China, which is called victory and defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and if you fall in Anqing, you can get up there again. Moreover, the main reason for your defeat this time is that the defense forces are not well defended. Well, they can do everything possible to send you aviation elites out, which shows that the commander of Anqing is not confused to the point of not distinguishing between priority and priority. Tokugawa-kun, rest assured, as long as you aviation units are still there, the Second Air Corps will not be abolished. The military headquarters sent a telegram a few days ago that a batch of fighter planes will be sent to Nanjing next month, and at that time, you should reorganize the Second Air Regiment, and I hope that you will be able to shake off the impact of the defeat at Anqing and make great contributions to His Majesty the Emperor. ”

"Your Excellency! Thank you so much! Tokugawa said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Shunroku Hata waved his hand: "This is what I should do." After a pause, he asked, "You just came back from the front, so what do you think of the combat power of the Cadet Army?" I heard that the Anqing Scholar Army has a large tank unit, what is your evaluation of its combat power? ”

"Your Excellency, do you want to hear the truth?"

"Of course, why would I have to meet you alone?"

Tokugawa thought for a moment, raised his head and said: "Very powerful, and very practical, Your Excellency, you know, Anqing and even the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there are many rivers and lakes, I think that the chariots of the Cadet Army are specially designed to adapt to this kind of battlefield terrain." The armor and artillery caliber of the Chinese combat vehicle also far exceed similar products in our country. Your Excellency, the commanders of the Cadet Corps were very clever, and they must have realized that our Second Air Regiment was the only nemesis of their tank unit, so they carried out the sneak attack. It's a pity that our front-line commanders did not realize this. Your Excellency, if it were only three divisions and regiments, without the support of the air force, I don't think it would be possible for them to win the Cadet Army in Jiangbei. ”

Those days in Anqing were nightmarish experiences for Tokugawa. He never thought that the weak China would have such a powerful chariot force, as long as he thought of the scene of the formation of chariot troops attacking the Japanese army, his heart couldn't help but tremble, and then he felt that the empire's so-called plan to destroy China would eventually be Nan Ke's dream. It was necessary to eliminate the Cadet Army as soon as possible, and not to allow it enough time to develop, otherwise it would become a nightmare for the Empire - it was on the basis of this idea that Tokugawa decided to ignore the practice of the army and give a direct advice to His Excellency Toshishi Hatata.

The recent performance of the Scholar Army has seriously hindered the strategic planning of the Japanese army, and Shunroku Hata has learned too much about the past of the Cadet Army from Umezu Mijiro during this time, so he attaches great importance to the intelligence collection work of the Cadet Army. He was amazed at the astonishing pace of the Cadet Army, and for the first time he had a feeling for this warlord-like force: if the Empire was not contained now, it would surely destroy the future of the Empire. Japan's decision to send troops to launch the Wuhan Campaign was originally a decision made by the Tokyo base camp in order to further squeeze the living space of the current Chinese government and the army. However, the strong appearance of the Scholar Army's northward legion made Shunroku Hata feel an unprecedented threat. After careful consideration, he decided to change the focus of the Wuhan Campaign, no longer with the main purpose of attacking cities and seizing land, but to concentrate on annihilating the northbound corps of the Scholar Army, and at the same time, he ordered the South China Front Army to launch an offensive on the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi border as soon as possible to coordinate with the main force's actions in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. For this reason, he wrote in his report to the Tokyo base camp that the rapid development of the Cadet Army had seriously affected the process of the Empire's conquest of China, and he suggested that the goal of the Wuhan Raid should be changed to annihilate the vital strength of the Cadet Army, with a view to nipping this great enemy of the Empire in the bud.

Three days later, Shunroku Hatahata received a reply from Tokyo, approving his proposal and sending another telegram to Okamura Ninji, reprimanding him for his recent disregard for the Dispatch Command, demanding that he accept the command of the Dispatch Command unconditionally.

This telegram came a little late, because just a day earlier, the battle of Madang had been decided, and the result of this battle was a great defeat for the 11th Army.

Back three days ago, in Madang Fortress, in the headquarters of the Northbound Legion, Ouyang Yun received a telegram from Lin Haifeng, and he glanced at the contents of the telegram at a glance, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Because it was daytime, Ryoko Takahashi, Pan Meiren and Liu Jiayao were all here. During this time, because she could often see Ouyang Yun, Chen Jiayao's whole mental outlook changed, and the cheerful and lively she used to be seemed to be back.

At this moment, seeing Ouyang Yun's rare expression of joy, she asked, "Why are you so happy?" The other two women also looked at her.

"The 'Shuangcao Scheme' has succeeded, and there is a brigade of the Botian detachment that is now in order," Ouyang Yun said, handing the telegram to Chen Shichang. The actual drafter of the "Shuangcao Plan" is Chen Shichang, and he should be allowed to share the joy of victory. Chen Shichang had other tasks at hand, so he took the telegram and looked at it, and handed it to Huang Hua. Then, he looked at Ouyang Yun and said, "Commander-in-chief, Kamakura Suketsu Erchun can't hold his breath anymore, and his main gunboat is showing signs of moving closer to us, is it okay to let Brigade Commander Zhang and the torpedo group enter the battle position according to the plan?" ”

Ouyang Yun: "Don't worry, Zhang Hui and they just intercepted a secret telegram from the Japanese army, and they are now deciphering it, and they will make a decision when this telegram is deciphered." ”

Zhang Hui is the leader of the secret telegram decipherment team of the army, and in the early hours of this morning, they intercepted a secret telegram sent from Wangjiang, and they are still nervously deciphering it at the moment.

In terms of communication technology, the Cadet Corps was far ahead of the Japanese army. The Japanese army's current means of communication, in addition to wired telephones, telegraphs, or manpower transmission, have given the Cadet Corps a considerable advantage in moving the enemy first. For example, Zhongdao Jingcun had just sent a telegram to Gangcun, informing him that he would abandon the plan of the whole army of Jiujiang to move to Hukou, and Ouyang Yun learned about it by deciphering the telegram a quarter of an hour later, and he immediately sent a telegram to Ye Zhao, ordering the 35th Brigade to abandon the original plan to attack Jiujiang, and instead march quickly to support Hukou. In this way, the defense of the Cadet Army at the mouth of the lake will be strengthened, and the ruin of Nakajima Kei Village will become a joke.

Chen Shichang nodded, and once again put all his energy on the sand table.

"General, have a cup of hot tea!" Ryoko Takahashi held a cup of tea and handed it to Ouyang Yun.

Ouyang Yun took it and was about to drink it, when he suddenly felt two identical eyes, he turned his head to look for it, and saw Pan Meiren and Chen Jiayao muttering something with their backs to him, and couldn't help laughing. "Thanks," he smiled at Takahashi, then turned his teacup and turned his gaze to the large map behind the sand table, looking at the area of Xiaogushan, and gradually became engrossed.

An hour and a half later, Zhang Hui and the others finally deciphered the telegram. Ouyang Yun took the telegram from Huang Hua's hand and looked at it, then handed it to Chen Shichang, and said, "Let's do it according to the plan." ”

This telegram was sent by Okamura Ninji to Kamakura Sukeji Jun, who asked the latter to concentrate all the gunboats in the early morning of the day after tomorrow to shell Cotton Fune Island, saying that the 11th Army would launch a full-scale offensive on that day.