readx;? The motorcade stopped in the square, and Wang Haitao stepped out of the jeep, strode in front of these military and political dignitaries, and stood up and saluted everyone. www.biquge.info Most of the military and political dignitaries present had never seen so many heavy artillery pieces at one time, and the huge size of the German-made artillery, the excellent workmanship, and the reflection of metal luster in the sun were enough to shock these people.

Chiang Kai-shek said with a smile on his face: "Haitao has worked this trip, and being able to bring back such a sharp weapon should be like a tiger for me." When he said this, Chiang Kai-shek didn't seem to take into account that he didn't pay for any of these heavy artillery, and it was all out of Wang Haitao's own pocket. Regarding Chiang Kai-shek's attitude, Wang Haitao could only smile bitterly.

However, the scene still has to be said, Wang Haitao replied: "For the interests of the party and the state, Haitao does not dare to say the word 'hard'. Chiang Kai-shek nodded and said, "Okay! Haitao is worthy of being a pillar of the party and the state." There's a military meeting coming, so you can join it. Wang Haitao replied: "Yes! As he spoke, He Yingqin and Chen Cheng both walked over, and He Yingqin asked, "Commander Wang, what is the number of heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns shipped back this time?"

Wang Haitao took out a list of munitions from his briefcase, presented it to He Yingqin with both hands, and said: "Commander-in-chief, this is the entire list of munitions, please take a look at it." He Yingqin took the list and looked at it with General Chen Cheng. On the list alone, there are 50 German-made 150 heavy howitzers, and these 50 howitzers can be equipped with four heavy artillery battalions.

After reading the list, He Yingqin said: "Commander Wang, in this way, this batch of arms will be put into storage first, and how to distribute it will be decided after the general headquarters studies it." Let the convoy handle the handover first, and you yourself will join us in the military meeting that will be held soon. Wang Haitao replied: "Yes! ”

Wang Haitao asked Su Zuxin to lead the convoy to go to the warehouse with the people of the guard division and the officials of the commander-in-chief, and he went to the military meeting with He Yingqin, Chen Cheng and others. General Chen Cheng let Wang Haitao get into his car, and on the way, General Chen Cheng told Wang Haitao about the current form. Wang Haitao, who listened, couldn't help but be shocked.

It turned out that in the 20 days after Wang Haitao returned to Beijing, first the Wufu defense line collapsed, and then the Jiangyin fortress was also lost after three days of hard defense, and now the Japanese army has launched a comprehensive attack on the Xicheng defense line, and the Japanese army launched an offensive against Changshu, Taizhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Huzhou, and other places on the left, center, and right respectively.

General Chen Cheng said in the car: "As far as the current situation is concerned, the Japanese army's offensive is extremely fierce, Nanjing was bombed by Japanese planes a few days ago, and the chairman of the committee has decided to move the capital to Chongqing. From a strategic point of view, it must be defended. ”

Chen Cheng said with great interest: "Oh? Wang Hai continued: "Tactically speaking, the Japanese army launched an attack this time, the target is directly at Nanjing, in Shanghai we have mobilized so many troops, but still did not stop the Japanese army, now the loss of the troops is not small, with the remnants of the army to buy generals I am afraid it will be more difficult to stop the Japanese attack." Moreover, Nanjing's terrain is not suitable as a place to be defended, Jiangyin fortress is lost, then the Japanese warships will go up the river, cut off the Yangtze River retreat, and once Wuhu is lost, Nanjing's land support will also be cut off, so Nanjing will become a dead place.

However, Nanjing, as the capital of a country and the place where the former prime minister's mausoleum is located, must be strategically guarded. I think that Nanjing must be defended, but it cannot be defended for a long time, and we should be prepared for the fall of Nanjing. With some elite troops, the use of the periphery and city walls of Nanjing can deal a heavy blow to the Japanese army, and if the Japanese army loses one or two more divisions under the city of Nanjing, the situation will be much better when the war of resistance continues. ”

Wang Haitao's words made Chen Cheng ponder. After the car arrived at Chiang Kai-shek's official residence in the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Wang Haitao followed Chen Cheng into the conference room. Before Chiang Kai-shek arrived, the ceremonial room was full of officials, and as soon as Wang Haitao entered the door, he saw Bai Zhenxi also in the conference room, and Bai Zhenxi also saw Wang Haitao who walked into the conference room.

Bai Zhengxi walked to Chen Cheng and Wang Haitao, Chen Cheng and Bai Zhengxi said hello and then went to talk to He Yingqin, Wang Haitao did not dare to slack off in the face of Bai Zhengxi, and said after saluting: "Hello Chief Bai!" Bai Zhengxi smiled and said: "When I was in Nanning, I saw that Haitao was not a thing in the pool, and now it is a blockbuster." ”

Wang Haitao replied: "Chief Bai's words made Haitao embarrassed, Haitao has never forgotten that he is a person who came out of the Gui family, and now his family and foundation are still in Longzhou County. Bai Zhenxi said: "It's rare that Haitao is not a person who forgets his roots, although the 90th Division is already a series of the Central Army, but it is still a team that has come out of my Gui Department, do a good job, your 90th Division has a record, and our Gui Department also has a light on its face." Wang Haitao replied: "Haitao does not dare to forget the teachings of Chief Bai, and must work hard to kill the enemy." ”

While he was talking, a shout rang out at the door: "Chairman Jiang has arrived!" Suddenly, everyone in the conference room came to their seats and stood up, and the conference room fell silent. Chiang Kai-shek, accompanied by his adjutant, walked to the main seat, pressed his hands down, and said, "Please take a seat." After everyone sat down, Chiang Kai-shek continued: "Today's front line is more severe, Changshu and Huzhou have been lost, Wuxi is in the periphery of fierce fighting, the relocation of the government has begun, and today's meeting is to discuss how to defend Nanjing. ”

As soon as Chiang Kai-shek's words were finished, Bai Zhenxi stood up and said: "Commission, I still think that Nanjing cannot be defended for a long time, and it is necessary to move some troops to the rear after a conscriptive defense, so as to avoid a large-scale decisive battle with the Japanese army under the city of Nanjing, so as to facilitate the preparation for a long-term war of resistance." ”

Before Chiang Kai-shek could express his position, one of them stood up and said: "I oppose the opinion of Deputy Chief of Staff Bai, Nanjing is the capital of a country, and it is also the place where Premier Sun is bedded. So who wants to be responsible for holding Nanjing?"

During the conversation, I can definitely mention that Tang Shengzhi must be the one who defended Nanjing, and he must have come forward to be responsible for guarding Nanjing, and in history, it was because of his wrong command that Nanjing fell within a few days, resulting in the Nanjing Massacre. Now is the time to change all this, and Tang Shengzhi can no longer be put in charge of guarding Nanjing.

All kinds of thoughts were only in the light of light, Wang Haitao stood up in front of Tang Shengzhi and said: "Commission, the original 90th division is responsible for holding Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek looked at Wang Haitao, smiled and said: "It's Haitao, very good, Haitao has made a name for himself in Shanghai, and the Japanese army is terrified! I am relieved that you will be responsible for guarding Nanjing, but the number of a 90th Army is too small, so you will be responsible for holding Nanjing, and I will send you some troops. ”

In this way, Wang Haitao suddenly became the commander-in-chief of Nanjing's city defense, and this appointment made many people feel incredible, and it was impossible for Wang Haitao to hold such a high position with his qualifications, and everyone was relieved, and this commander-in-chief of Nanjing's city defense was not easy to be, and it was certainly a great achievement to defend it, but was the Japanese army's hundreds of thousands of troops so easy to deal with? In case of defeat, it would be the point of a thousand people.

In the following two days, the number of troops assigned to Wang Haitao continued to increase, including Ye Zhao's 66th Army [including the 159th Division and the 160th Division], Yu Jishi's 74th Army {including the 51st Division and 58th Division}, Sun Yuanliang's 87th Division, Wang Jingjiu's 88th Division, Song Xilian's 36th Division, Gui Yongqing's Teaching Corps, He Zhizhong's 103rd Division, and Huo Shouyi's 112th Division. Together with the three divisions of the 90th Army, the total strength has exceeded 100,000.

However, these units were basically units that had been reorganized after being disabled in the Shanghai Campaign, and only Gui Yongqing's teaching corps was a strong force with all-German armaments, and it should be the most combat-effective unit except for the 90th Division. In this way, Chiang Kai-shek still urgently transferred Xu Yuanquan's Second Army {including the 41st Division and 48th Division} from Hankou to reinforce Nanjing.

At this time, the commander-in-chief of Nanjing also had to move to Wuhan, and before the relocation, He Yingqin handed over several large warehouses in Nanjing to Wang Haitao, which not only contained a large number of weapons and ammunition, but also various military supplies. This time, Wang Haitao brought back all the arms. After Wang Haitao took over the warehouse, the first thing he did was to redress a few poorly equipped local divisions.

The second thing was to ask Gui Yongqing's teaching corps to set up a heavy artillery brigade and an antiaircraft artillery brigade, and to hand over all 50 150 heavy howitzers and 100 antiaircraft guns to the teaching corps.

The third thing was that the teaching corps sent people to repair the permanent fortifications at Yanziji, and transferred two heavy artillery battalions and two antiaircraft artillery battalions to the Yanziji position to block the Yangtze River and prevent the Japanese warships from going up the river. This task was very arduous, and the position had to face bombardment by Japanese naval guns and aircraft bombardment, as well as infantry attacks. Faced with such a task, Gui Yongqing was not afraid and resolutely accepted it.

After two days of thinking and studying, Wang Haitao and the commanders of the troops below formulated a defense plan. Nanjing's defense was divided into three lines of defense, the first outermost line of defense was the line from Ma'anshan to Liyang to Zhenjiang, Zhenjiang was garrisoned by He Zhizhong's 103rd Division, Liyang was garrisoned by the 91st Division of the 90th Army, and Ma'anshan was garrisoned by Huo Shouyi's 112th Division.

The second line of defense formed an arc-shaped defensive position from Dashengguan on the Jingwu Road to Chunhua Town, Tangkou Town, and Longtan Town. This line was garrisoned by two divisions of the 74th Army and Sun Yuanliang's 87th Division. The third position is the complex position of Nanjing City, from Jiangning Fortress to Yuhuatai to Xianlin Town to Purple Mountain, which is also the last position outside Nanjing.

The 159th Division strengthened the Jiangning Fortress, the 92nd Division of the 90th Army guarded Yuhuatai, the 160th Division of the 66th Army guarded Xianlin Town, and the 90th Division of the 90th Army guarded Purple Mountain. Song Xilian's 36th Division guarded Xiaguan, and Wang Jingjiu's 88th Division guarded the periphery of Yanziji. In addition to guarding the troops of Yanziji, Gui Yongqing's teaching corps prepared for street battles in the city. Xiao Shanling, commander of the Military Police Headquarters, was responsible for leading all the military police to maintain law and order in Nanjing.