Chiang, who had just experienced the nightmarish famine in the Central Plains in 1942, found Chu 2 a bit interesting, as most of China's main rice-producing areas, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong, had fallen. Chu's plan is long-term.

Speaking of external factors, of course, the main one was Stilwell's prodding, and he promised that President Roosevelt would recognize China's "traditional influence" in the region as soon as Chinese troops entered Thailand, and even let the Free French leader Charles de Gaulle, who was under the fence, and the Thai royal family in Europe, recognize China's legitimate occupation of Thailand and Vietnam.

In fact, China has always had influence over Burma, Vietnam, and the Khmer-speaking regions of northern Siam. It was only in the last 100 years that these regions had been divided between Britain and France, and now was a good time to take advantage of the day when Japan ebbed and could expand its power.

However, at this time, because Myitkyina has not been conquered for a long time, the pavilion chief has missed the best opportunity to take advantage of the rout of the Japanese army in northern Burma and take advantage of the victory to enter Thailand, and the remnants of the Japanese army retreated to the Shan Gang to form a new defensive line, so now he can only stop and repair, wait for the Japanese army to breathe, and launch another attack. The time could be at the beginning of 1943.

Judging from the intelligence of the British, Kimura Hyotaro was still strengthening the first-line defense of Mandalay, and he did not seem to have considered the fact that Thailand was also under the nose of the expeditionary force on the east bank of the Nu River and the Indian army stationed in northern Burma on the west bank. At present, the main supplies of the Burmese Front are ashore in the Gulf of Thailand, transported to the Burmese border through a railway with tens of thousands of prisoners of war and temporarily repaired, and then transported to Mawlamyine by cars, mules and horses, over the mountains.

Before the railroad was finished, the Japanese drove out the prisoners of war and worked 14 hours a day to repair the last few bridges needed for the railway. Chu Tingchang inquired that the most arduous section of the Shan Plateau may be completed in January next year. His plan of attack was slightly delayed, and around this point in time, he needed this railway as a shortcut to supply into Thailand, so let the Japanese build it first.

After the award ceremony, he welcomed Chen Cheng and Guo Rugui to the Englishman's hilltop villa in Jingdong, and picked up Chen Cheng for him.

This place was once Chiang Kai-shek's temporary official residence in Burma, and later the headquarters of Lieutenant General Watanabe of the 56th Division. After the collapse of the Japanese army in northern Burma, Zhang Lingfu's army first hit here and prepared to use it as the division headquarters, but Zhang was a pedantic man, and suddenly felt that he was arrogant to live in the place where the principal's wife had stayed, so he moved the headquarters to a nearby church and sent a squad to guard the place, and no idle people were allowed to come in.

Zhou Youfu led the troops to pursue the 56th Division here, and after he arrived here, he occupied the place, Zhang Lingfu rushed to the scene in a huff, and confronted Zhou Youfu for a day, and found that the opponent's soldiers were strong and strong, and there were tanks, so he led the troops to leave here. He crossed Wang Yaowu of the 74th Army and directly sent a telegram to the Military Justice Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, reporting that the 5th Military Private Occupation of the Principal was in charge, and of course the telegram was suppressed by Chen Cheng, who was also the Minister of Military Affairs.

Now that Chu Tingchang borrowed flowers to offer Buddha to receive Chen Cheng, he was in a hurry to hug Chen Cheng's thigh, in addition to Jiang Neng listening to this person's words, he also needed to tell Chen Cheng, the commander of the expeditionary force, in detail. Because the next battle requires both sides to work together.

Chu Tingchang has not heard from 419 for a long time, and he is in a state of some kind of free movement, but he knows very well that his mission is to firmly grasp the military power in his hand and use it to fight against the plot of the Japanese traversers, simply put, to dismantle the Japanese platform to the greatest extent.

At the banquet in the evening, Pavilion Chief Chu also invited Zhang Lingfu, after all, at the award ceremony just now, Zhang fought beside him and won the 4th Blue Sky and White Sun Medal this year, leaving him seems to be a bit rude.

As soon as a few people sat down, someone came with the latest news that the Yamashita troops who had landed in Australia had won successive battles and had basically taken control of Cape York and gained a firm foothold, and the Americans were already preparing for the worst of losing Australia.

Hearing the bad news, Chen Cheng suddenly lost interest in eating, and walked to the huge war zone map arranged in the living room with his hands behind his back.

"I thought that your concerted efforts had caused the Japanese to lose sight of one or the other, but now it seems that the Japanese still have the upper hand. If Australia falls into the hands of the enemy, it will be like the dragon being killed on a chessboard, and in the blink of an eye, our efforts will be neutralized. ”

Chen Cheng sighed, obviously thinking that the Japanese army was advancing by sea and land, and the momentum was still fierce, and the victory in Burma seemed to be very lucky, most likely because the Japanese did not pay attention to this place.

"Commander, I think the Japanese have suffered heavy losses. The capture of Australia is not necessarily bad for us. Chu Tingchang said.

"Australia is lost, and the islands in the Pacific Ocean with a slight scale have all fallen into the hands of the enemy, so next year, they will inevitably return to the army, how can I say that there is no harm."

"The more land occupied by the Japanese army, the more troops will naturally be divided, don't look at him is advancing vigorously now, he will be burdened by the ground in the future, and he will be passive everywhere."

After Chu Tingchang finished speaking, Chen Cheng frowned and made a thinking motion, Zhang Lingfu, who was sitting on the table waiting for the meal, didn't want to scream that the two were pretending to discuss the current situation, but when he heard Chu's high arguments, he couldn't hold back, and he suddenly sneered loudly.

"It's just inexplicable, according to Commander Chu's meaning, if you don't want the land, you want to win?"

"Have you ever heard of the truth that people are lost in land, people and land are lost, people and land are lost, people and land are lost, and people and land are saved?"

"I've read a few articles on the art of war, but I don't know where this sentence comes from, and I ask Commander Chu to give me advice."

Zhang Lingfu asked Chu Tingchang at once, and he also said it in passing, as for where he heard this sentence, he couldn't remember it for a while.

"Hey, Master Zhang, I think what the pavilion chief said also has some truth." Chen Cheng hurriedly came over to calm the smell here, "It is naturally a good thing for the Japanese to leave more blood in Australia, but if they return to the army, it will ......."

"Commander, rest assured, the Japanese are attacking cities in the South Seas, which is nothing more than a cocoon, and every time they occupy an additional island, they are only sinking themselves deeper. If you really occupy Australia, the end of life is not far off. ”

Chu Ting calmly commented on the anxious situation, and almost shook a goose feather fan in his hand.

"Commander Chu, why do you bother to make amazing words everywhere?" Zhang Lingfu poured himself a cup and continued to laugh.

"Chu Mou is by no means unconventional, pretending to be strange. Let me first ask General Zhang, if you are the head of the Japanese army, what should you do if you occupy an island? ”

"Of course, it is to defend according to the danger, and then divide the troops to capture another island, so that the enemy can be squeezed out step by step."

"You have to keep a force behind every island you occupy, so that your mobile forces will soon be depleted, and won't the islands become a drag?"

"Hahaha, I knew that you were asking rhetorically," Zhang Lingfu put down the cup heavily, he obviously expected Chu Tingchang's trap, "Let me ask you first, do you need more troops to defend one island, or do you use more troops to attack one island?" ”

"This ......"

"You don't have to answer, let me tell you, Sun Tzu's Art of War says, ten are to surround it, five to attack it, this is still to say that the general city, the vast is the best barrier, as long as you set up a barrier in the tidal flats, forgive you several times the enemy, and may not be able to attack. For example, in the past few months in Songshan, I have been like an isolated island in the vast sea, with no reinforcements outside and no ammunition inside. Therefore, the way to use troops is nothing more than to control the dangerous terrain, and you can be ten. You think, if he captures an island, he will lose several times as many men, how can you say that I am a cocoon and self-restraint? If I use the island as a base, slowly wear down my opponents, and finally look for opportunities to forge ahead, wouldn't I have a chance to win? ”

Zhang Lingfu borrowed a little bit of wine to talk about his experience in using soldiers, and by the way, he also vented his feelings towards Pavilion Chief Chu. He really hated that the newspapers at home and abroad had blown Chu Tingchang into a military god, and he expected that Chu Tingchang's victory in the war was nothing more than relying on American weapons.

"Master Zhang, why do I want to fight with you island by island? Going to hit a gas run out of lights? ”

"If you don't compete one by one, how can you accumulate victory step by step?"

"I can hop on an island." Chu walked to the map, turned his finger from New Guinea, and pointed to the Philippines: "Skip those well-defended islands, leave them behind, and in less than a year, forgive you for the well-defended islands, just afraid that you will starve to death." ”

The scene was silent, Zhang Lingfu felt that Chu Tingchang was clever and clever, and where he played tricks, but he poured himself a few drinks, and his mind was a little confused and couldn't think of the direction of refutation for a while.

"Commander Chu, this is your idea of attacking Thailand first, not southern Burma?" Chen Cheng asked suddenly, and immediately brought the topic back here.

"Yes. Our army will attack southeast from the Shan Gang, cut off the railway from the Gulf of Thailand to Burma, and Burma will become a large piece of dead chess, and when the time comes, Kimura will definitely be in a hurry to fight a decisive battle with us, and it will be full of flaws. ”

"However, if the Japanese navy strikes back, crosses Malacca again, and opens up Rangoon, even if we succeed in the attack in Thailand, the Japanese army in southern Burma will still be logistically safe? Then I entered the Thai army and became alone. Chen Cheng said.

"Commander, believe me, next year the Japanese Navy must be downhill, they will not exist west of Malacca. You see, this time, the Japanese reported on the victory of the army in Australia, why did they not report on the situation of the navy? ”

"Yes, last month the Japanese newspapers were still boasting that their navy was going to attack all the way from the Aleutian to North America, and there is no news this month."

"No news, it's good news, I think the Japanese Navy may have suffered retribution. Maybe you've already lost more than half of it. ”

"Pavilion Chief, they all say that you are a divine class, but what kind of heavenly opportunity do you have?"

"The commander smiled, where does Chu have that kind of ability."

A new dawn is ushered in 600 kilometres west of New Caledonia. Four hours earlier, Nagumo had just lost the aircraft carrier Xianghe and 135 pilots. Almost all of these pilots took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor. A shit-skimming U.S. submarine somehow got into the core of the mobile force, and it stands to reason that it would be difficult for a low-speed submarine to ambush an aircraft carrier battle group, especially at night, but something terrible happened. The destroyer near the aircraft carrier heard several muffled explosions, and then the aircraft carrier, which he had high hopes for, sank cleanly, with most of its crew. Recently, Nagumo has suffered too many inexplicable losses, not only the strange sinking of the ship, but also the loss of almost all personnel every time.

The most hateful thing is the timing of the loss of the aircraft carrier, he has already approached the enemy and lined up, and it is not so easy to get out of the battlefield.