After listening to Lao Jiang's questioning, Chen Cheng replied cautiously: "Principal, although this Wang Haitao has acted in collaboration with the CCP, he has not completely thrown himself into the CCP's side. In the past, it was also very helpful to our Central Army, and I thought that the purpose of Wang Haitao and his people to help the CCP was still to have more troops to resist the Japanese army, rather than being bewitched by the CCP and going against the Central Committee. Do more favor to others, and take their hearts so that they may be of our own use. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Cheng observed Lao Jiang's face more carefully, and saw that Lao Jiang was not angry, but pondering with a solemn face, so he stopped waiting for Lao Jiang's decision. After a while, Lao Jiang opened his mouth and said: "Cixiu, there is still some truth in your words, this Wang Haitao still can't be pushed to the CCP side, since this is the case, appoint him as the deputy commander of the Ninth Theater of Operations, and let him command the Hunan Battle together with Boling!"

Hearing Lao Jiang's decision, Chen Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Lao Jiang had listened to his words, and at the same time he also had an explanation for Wang Haitao, his former favorite general, and did not want him to follow him. In fact, Chen Cheng didn't think of Lao Jiang's deeper thoughts. The reason why Lao Jiang made this decision was to give his confidant a face, and secondly, the main thing was to let the Japanese army and Wang Haitao's troops fight a war of attrition, preferably losing both, once weakening Wang Haitao's strength, it would be much easier to absorb or eliminate at that time.

Chen Cheng was in a good mood after receiving the letter from Lao Jiang, and after bidding farewell to Lao Jiang, he returned to his residence and immediately sent telegrams to Wang Haitao and Xue Yue. After receiving Chen Cheng's telegram, Xue Yue was also excited to attack the Japanese 13th Army that had captured Changsha, and the three group armies that did not leave his hands had suffered considerable losses in the battle not long ago, and they had not yet recovered, and there was a big gap between them and the Japanese 13th Army.

Chen Cheng also wanted to give little Japan a look at it this time, and by the way, he also let the Chinese people know that it was not only Wang Haitao and a 90th Army who could defeat the Japanese army. So Chen Cheng also showed his family background and played the most powerful card in his hand, which was the Eighteenth Army. When Huang Wei was the commander, the 18th Army received a large number of German-made equipment from Wang Haitao, including dozens of tanks and armored vehicles and dozens of heavy artillery, and won many victories in the subsequent battles against Japan.

At present, the 18th Army is headed by Luo Guangwen and Hu Lian is the deputy commander, and the whole army has three full divisions, one heavy artillery regiment, and one armored regiment, with a total of more than 20,000 people. Among the three divisions, the 18th Division was all German-style equipment, and its combat effectiveness was no worse than that of a wing of the Japanese army. With Chen Cheng's order, the 18th Army immediately moved from Xiangxi to Changsha and joined Xue Yue's ranks.

General Xue Yue also received several telegrams from Wang Haitao, asking him to negotiate with him about launching an attack on Japan, but Xue Yue had been waiting for the arrival of the 18th Army and the deployment of military supplies, so he could only reply that Wang Haitao was still not ready to finish it. Ten days later, the military supplies were basically in place, and the 18th Army also arrived from Xiangxi.

With the addition of the 18th Army, and the timely and sufficient replenishment of weapons, ammunition and various military supplies, Xue Yue's confidence was also greatly increased, and his troops were also gearing up, ready to fight the Japanese army. At this time, Xue Yue sent a telegram to Wang Haitao, discussing with Wang Haitao how to attack the Japanese army.

Wang Haitao first received a call from General Chen Cheng and was also very happy to learn that the Ninth Theater would launch an attack on the Japanese army in Hunan with him, and that Lao Jiang had also conferred on him the official post of deputy commander of the Ninth Theater. Wang Haitao didn't care about the official position of the deputy commander of the Ninth Theater, and was happy that with the troops of the Ninth Theater cooperating with him, the pressure on his side would be much less.

However, after General Chen Cheng's telegram came, Xue Yue's side did not move for a long time, Wang Haitao sent several telegrams to inquire, and Xue Yue's answer was that the troops were not fully prepared, which made Wang Haitao a little confused, so Wang Haitao could only stay put. Now that he had finally waited for General Xue Yue's telegram, Wang Haitao sent the battle plan to General Xue Yue by secret telegram, and then ordered his troops to prepare for the attack.

Wang Haitao's battle plan was not complicated, he just asked General Xue Yue to send troops to drag the Japanese 13th Army in the direction of Changsha first, so that it could not draw troops to reinforce the 11th Army, while the Japanese 11th Army was dealt with by his own Ninth Army, and after defeating the 11th Army, he would flank the 13th Army and strive to drive the Japanese army out of the Hunan boundary.

After Xue Yue received Wang Haitao's battle plan, he studied the map for a long time, he did not feel that Wang Haitao was arrogant, after all, the achievements of the 90th Group Army were there, and Wang Haitao had the strength to say what to deal with the 11th Army of the Japanese army. However, how to hold back the 13th Army so that it could not reinforce the 11th Army was up to him, and General Xue Yue set his sights on Xiangtan County, north of Changsha.

Xiangtan County is 80 kilometers north of Changsha, the Xiangjiang River surrounds the city, and the main highways and railways from Changsha to Hengyang pass through the city, as long as Xiangtan County is captured, then the connection between Changsha and Hengyang will be cut off, and the connection between the 13th Army and the 11th Army of the Japanese Army will be cut off, if you want the 13th Army not to support the 11th Army, in addition to launching a fierce attack on the 13th Army on the frontal battlefield, the capture of Xiangtan County is extremely crucial, for which Xue Yue also took out the trump card in his hand, the 79th Army of the 19th Group Army.

The reason why the 79th Army is the trump card in Xue Yue's hands is because of the 91st Division, the unit that Wang Haitao once led, Zhu Zaitang has been promoted to the commander of the 91st Division, and the former division commander Guo Rudong has been promoted to the deputy commander of the 79th Army. However, the strength of the 2nd Brigade and 6th Regiment of the 91st Division is still there, and the soldiers still have the original weapons in their hands, but because of the loss, the ammunition is not as sufficient as before, but such a 91st Division is also the division with the highest combat effectiveness in the Central Army.

After thinking of a way, Xue Yue began to prepare to attack the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, and all orders were also issued by the headquarters to the troops at all levels. Xue Yue is ready to do it here, and Wang Haitao has already sent troops there. However, before sending troops, Wang Haitao also made a move, that is, to electrify the whole country. This move was not Wang Haitao's blood, but a decision made after careful consideration.

The telegram was not long, and he wrote: "To the compatriots of the whole country: From September 18, 1931, when Japan sent troops to invade and occupy China's three eastern provinces, to July 7, 1937, when the Lugou Bridge Incident in Beiping invaded China's land in an all-round way, the Japanese invaders invaded our country's land, killed our compatriots, robbed our property, and committed numerous crimes on the land of China. As a Chinese soldier, I swear to defend the country and my compatriots to the death.

Now I have led 80,000 warriors of the 90th Group Army to launch a counterattack against the Japanese invaders who invaded our country, occupied our homeland, and killed our compatriots. It is hoped that the 40,000,000 compatriots across the country will come forward to jointly fight against the Japanese invaders and the invaders. I believe that we will drive all the aggressors out of China, and our just war will surely win the final victory!"

First of all, the Chinese communists sent a telegram to support Wang Haitao's action and said that the Chinese communists would do their best to support Wang Haitao's actions. Then the Central Committee of the Kuomintang also issued a statement in support of Wang Haitao's action, and seized the opportunity to announce the appointment of General Wang Haitao to the post of deputy commander of the Ninth Theater.

As soon as Wang Haitao's telegram was sent, a mixed armored regiment of the 90th Division and the Armored Brigade took the lead in marching towards Yongzhou, followed by two divisions, the 210th Division and the 211th Division, which also left Quanzhou and marched towards Yongzhou. This time, Wang Haitao concentrated more than 80,000 troops in three divisions and three brigades to teach the Japanese army a good lesson.

Yongzhou City is located at the junction of Hunan and Guangxi, and the terrain type in the territory is complex, with various landforms of mountains, hills, forests, rivers and basins appearing alternately. Its terrain is high in the southwest and low in the northeast, and the mountains are mainly distributed in the southwest, and the main positions of the Japanese army are also in the southwest. Not far from the 90th Division's entry into Hunan, it encountered the first defensive position of the Japanese army.

This defensive position is built on the Qishan Ridge, which is 40 kilometers away from Yongzhou City, and is a mountain peak with an altitude of 500 meters, which just sandwiches the main highway from Yongzhou to Quanzhou between the two mountains, and the mountains on both sides of the highway are like two gates, forming a mountain pass. The Japanese built a large number of bunkers, sandbag fortifications, and long trenches on the hills on both sides of the road, and a total of two infantry brigades were stationed there.

The 271st Brigade of the 90th Division, as the vanguard of the whole army, first arrived at the foot of the Qishan Ridge, and after discovering the Japanese defense line, the brigade commander Tang Yiqun and several regiment commanders rushed to the front line as soon as possible to observe the Japanese position. After watching for a long time, Tang Yiqun said to his subordinates: "You see, the terrain here is dangerous, the mountains on both sides of the highway are like two gates sandwiching the road, if you want to pass through here, you must capture two mountains, and the little Japan has already prepared, and the fortifications are very rigorous, how to attack, let's go back and study it." ”

Back in the tent of the brigade headquarters, everyone sat down, Tang Yiqun looked at everyone and said, "Let's discuss how to attack." As soon as Tang Yiqun finished speaking, Liu Yunfei, the commander of the 542nd regiment, stood up and said: "Tuanzuo, to deal with such a position as the Japanese army, you can only attack two hills at the same time, otherwise if you attack one hill alone, the other hill will definitely attack the attacking troops from the side, which will not only increase the difficulty of attacking, but also increase casualties." ”

As soon as Liu Yunfei finished speaking, Wei Hai, the head of the 544th Regiment, stood up and said, "Lao Liu is right, I agree to attack two mountains at the same time. We have no problem with our troops, but is the number of artillery supporting them a little less? I am afraid that mortars will not be of much use against small Japanese bunkers, and our field artillery pieces have only about 30 guns, and our firepower is not enough to bombard two hills at the same time. ”