By the time the whole army finished cleaning the battlefield overnight, it was already midnight, and the most depressed person in the whole battle was the Tangshan Leopard. The guard brigade had made a lot of effort before, and it was full of strength to fight to the death with the Japanese army, so Tangshan Leopard set up three lines of defense along the highway of more than ten kilometers, and took great pains to carry dozens of mountain artillery up the mountain, but I didn't expect the Japanese army to be wiped out without even breaking through the first line of defense, which made Tangshan Leopard feel that he was hitting the cotton pile with all his strength.

However, Wang Haitao still gave the credit to the guard brigade for intercepting the Japanese army, which made Tangshan Leopard feel better. After dawn, the 211th Division, which had rested all night, set out head, aiming directly at the city of Jeonju, which had just been captured by the Japanese army. According to the report of the reconnaissance brigade, only one infantry squadron and one baggage squadron of the Japanese army defended the city in Jeonju City, and the strength of the 211th Division would not take much effort to take Jeonju City.

Sure enough, at noon, Wang Haitao, who was on the march, received a report from Li Changwu that the 211th Division successfully recovered Quanzhou City. Wang Haitao then gave the order, and the whole army rushed to the city of Quanzhou for repairs. In the evening, Wang Haitao rushed to Quanzhou City with his headquarters, and the 211th Division had already done a lot of preliminary work, including the houses of the temporary headquarters had been packed up, and were waiting for Wang Haitao's arrival.

Seeing the situation of Quanzhou City, Wang Haitao asked the guard brigade to take over the defense of Quanzhou City, leaving only the guard brigade and the heavy artillery brigade in the city, and the 90th Division, the 211th Division and the armored brigade were all camped outside the city. The 90th Division went 20 kilometers north from Quanzhou City and was stationed in Huangshahe Town, blocking the highway between Quanzhou and Yongzhou, Hunan.

Wang Haitao temporarily stationed in Quanzhou for several purposes: First, he wanted to obtain more information about the Japanese army through the reconnaissance brigade's reconnaissance; second, he wanted Tang Shouli to transfer another batch of arms and materials from Longzhou City, because after all, it would be a bigger battle next, and it would not be wrong to prepare more arms and materials; third, he waited for the 210th Division to hand over the Qinzhou garrison task to the Longzhou side, and then rushed over from Qinzhou.

Although Wang Haitao did not know how many troops the Japanese army in Hunan had, he knew that there would never be a less, and he would enter Hunan with two divisions, although Wang Haitao was not afraid, he always felt that the troops were weaker, and when the 210th Division arrived, he would send troops to Hunan with the strength of three main divisions and three independent brigades, and he would have more confidence.

Three days later, the 210th Division had not yet arrived, but the 90th Division had fought a battle with the Japanese army, and Tang Yikuan reported to Wang Haitao that it was a wing of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army that had come to attack, and this wing only tentatively attacked a few times, and when it saw that it could not break through the defense line of the 90th Division, it retreated. Tang Yikuan was still preparing to meet the ferocious attack of Japan, but found that the Japanese army had retreated in the direction of Yongzhou.

Wang Haitao put down Tang Yikuan's report after thinking about it, and he called Tang Yikuan back to strictly guard the defensive line and guard against the attack of the Japanese army. Then he didn't ask any more, and Wang Haitao's attitude also made his subordinates puzzled. In fact, Wang Haitao has been waiting for the reconnaissance of Luxiang's detailed Japanese army intelligence, and only by fully understanding the situation of the Japanese army can Wang Haitao make a battle plan according to the situation of the Japanese army.

The detailed Japanese military intelligence of the reconnaissance brigade was finally sent to Wang Haitao's desk a week later, Wang Haitao couldn't wait to open this information, but the more he looked at Wang Haitao's brows, the tighter he wrinkled, and after reading it, Wang Haitao closed the information and sat behind the desk thinking about it for a long time, and he didn't even notice that Su Zuxin walked into the office. It was Su Zuxin who took the initiative to say hello and woke Wang Haitao up.

When Su Zuxin asked Wang Haitao what he wanted, Wang Haitao silently handed the information sent by the reconnaissance brigade to Su Zuxin. As soon as Su Zuxin read the second page, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Little Japan has so many troops in Hunan? How can this be fought? Commander, are you considering changing your plan?" Wang Haitao replied: "Yes, Little Japan actually has two armies in Hunan, the 13th Army attacking Changsha and the 11th Army attacking Hengyang, the two armies have a total of nine infantry divisions, one chariot division, one cavalry division, two independent mixed brigades, four detachments, and two flying regiments, with a total strength of nearly 400,000 horses. A head-to-head victory is really not much. “

This is also Wang Haitao said that the chance of victory is not great, and if he is replaced by other generals of the national army, Su Zuxin has to look at him, and use 80,000 horses to fight head-on with 400,000 well-trained Japanese troops, and also said that the chances of victory are not great, and it would be good if he was not defeated until the whole army was annihilated. There was silence in the office for a while, only the sound of Su Zuxin looking through the information.

After a long time, after Su Zuxin had carefully read the information twice, Wang Haitao suddenly frowned and said: "No, my troops can't defeat so many Japanese troops, but there is still the Central Army on the Yangtze River, can the CCP's troops also move, after all, the whole army has the responsibility to resist the enemy, I may only need to face the Japanese army, so that I have a few chances of winning." ”

Su Zuxin couldn't help but pouted secretly when she heard this, and said in her heart: "Do you think you are Chairman Jiang? Even Lao Jiang doesn't dare to say that he can mobilize the troops of the whole country, not to mention the CCP's troops, why do you mobilize the CCP's troops to help you fight?" Wang Haitao didn't notice Su Zuxin's expression, but was immersed in the idea of the entire campaign.

After thinking for a while, Wang Haitao suddenly said to Su Zuxin: "Send a telegram to the reconnaissance brigade, and ask Tang Xiaoshan to reconnoiter which units of the national army in the direction of Changsha are defending, and also reconnoiter whether there are any formed troops on the Chinese side in Hunan." Su Zuxin could only promise to send a telegram to Tang Xiaoshan first, and in the office, Wang Haitao came to the large map hanging in front of it, looking at the map and thinking.

Soon, another two days passed, and the 210th Division also rushed to Quanzhou City, and the arms and various materials from Longzhou City were also transported to Quanzhou City in batches, and at the same time, further information from the reconnaissance brigade was also sent back. After carefully reading the information, Wang Haitao basically knew the situation in the entire Hunan Province in his chest. The troops of the Ninth Theater of the Nationalist Army on the Changsha front, with General Xue Yue as the commander-in-chief, commanded three group armies with a total of 300,000 troops to contend with the Japanese army. The 13th Army of the Japanese Army, which was mainly attacking Changsha, had 180,000 men, and Changsha had already lost its position due to the great disparity in weaponry and the quality of its soldiers. At present, the national army is stationed in Xiangxi, preparing to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army. The 10th Army of the Nationalist Army in Hengyang withdrew from Hengyang after holding the isolated city for more than 40 days, and retreated to the mountains west of Hengyang. The Hengyang area was occupied by the 3rd Division under the jurisdiction of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. At present, the 39th and 68th Divisions of the Japanese army, as well as the Koga Detachment and the Miyawaki Detachment, are assembling in the Hengyang area. No formed CCP troops were found in Hunan Province, and only some guerrillas were operating behind enemy lines.

Wang Haitao knew that Changsha was General Xue Yue after commanding the troops to defend, he was also relieved, and he still respected General Xue Yue Wang Haitao very much, although he only had a few contacts with him in the last Changsha defense battle, but this famous anti-Japanese general who was dedicated to resisting Japan was also one of the few nationalist generals who were praised in the national army in later generations who were praised for their sincere anti-Japanese resistance.

However, Wang Haitao was still ready to personally send telegrams to General Chen Cheng and General Xue Yue, commanders of the Ninth Theater, telling them that he was ready to lead troops to counterattack the Japanese army in Hunan, and asked the two to send troops to help. The next day, Wang Haitao sent these two telegrams and waited for the two to call back. At this time, Wang Haitao did not realize how much fluctuation his two telegrams caused in the upper echelons of the Kuomintang.

After receiving the telegram sent by Wang Haitao, General Chen Cheng was surprised and delighted, and now that Changsha had been lost and the Hunan war situation had been completely defeated, General Chen Cheng was also under tremendous pressure, so why did he not want to counterattack the Japanese army in Hunan, recapture the Yangtze River and Hengyang, and drive the Japanese army out of Hunan and China? However, the huge gap in strength between China and Japan made him have no choice but to adopt a passive defensive method to deal with the Japanese attack.

Now that Wang Haitao is about to make a move, General Chen Cheng still knows Wang Haitao's ability and the strength of the 90th Group Army under his command very well, and with General Chen Cheng's character, he can't wait to call Wang Haitao back immediately, agreeing to send troops with him to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army, but General Chen Cheng still has to consult Lao Jiang before he can make a final decision.

Early the next morning, General Chen Cheng came to Lao Chiang's official residence with a telegram from Wang Haitao, asking to see Lao Chiang. Lao Jiang was also in a very bad mood for losing Changsha and Hengyang, and when he heard that Chen Cheng asked to see him, he didn't know what was going on, so he hurriedly let Chen Cheng in. Seeing Lao Jiang, Chen Cheng immediately saluted him and said: "Principal, I have received a telegram from Wang Haitao, commander of the 90th Group Army, in which Wang Haitao stated that he would counterattack the Japanese army that had captured Hunan Province, and hoped to cooperate with the troops of our Ninth Theater. I didn't dare to make my own decisions, so I came to ask the principal. ”

Chiang Kai-shek barely had a smile on his face when he saw Chen Cheng, a confidant and favorite general, but as soon as he heard Wang Haitao's name, his face immediately turned cold. Wang Haitao and the Ninetieth Group Army in his hands had become Lao Jiang's heart disease, and he wanted to get rid of it quickly, but now when he heard the news, he thought about it for a while, and did not immediately express his position, first let Chen Cheng sit down and asked: "Cixiu, what is your opinion?"

General Chen Cheng looked at Lao Jiang's face and replied: "Headmaster, due to the difference in strength between China and Japan, our side has lost Changsha and Hengyang, two important military places, Changsha is the gateway to Chongqing, and we must recapture Changsha at any cost." However, the strength of the Japanese army in Hunan reached 400,000, and our side was really powerless. Now Wang Haitao is ready to lead his troops to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army first, and he thinks that this is a good opportunity for our army to counterattack. ”

Lao Jiang sat there, thinking expressionlessly, and said after a long time: "Resignation, I admire Wang Haitao's ability very much, but he is actually a communist, which must not be tolerated, but his wings are abundant, and we have the great enemy of Japan, we are really powerless to deal with him, this Wang Haitao I will get rid of sooner or later, is it appropriate to cooperate with him now?"