Nanjing, Youth Garden.
Youth Garden is located in the southeast corner of Nanjing City, with lush vegetation and beautiful garden scenery. It used to be the official residence of Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, but now it has become the headquarters of the Japanese Central China Front.
In the spring of March, the vegetation in the Fanghua Garden has begun to sprout, and the atmosphere is full of spring.
However, Shan Shanyuan's mood has not improved with the arrival of spring. He is still immersed in the harsh winter that just passed.
There are many reasons why Shanshan Yuan is in a bad mood.
There was pressure from the base camp and criticism from the Japanese royal family, but more importantly, it was because the northbound cluster was not making smooth progress on the Huainan front. The northbound cluster, composed of the 9th and 13th divisions, fought hard for three months on the Huainan front. It has been many months, but still has not been able to open up the situation.
Even though Shan Shanyuan later transferred the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade and the 9th Tank Regiment, which had just arrived to the Chinese battlefield, to the Huaihe front line, the battle situation still did not improve much.
Within the base camp, there was already some discordant sound.
It was alleged that Shan Shanyuan's abilities were mediocre and that he was not worthy of continuing to serve as the commander of the Central China Front Army. Moreover, the Japanese royal family also called repeatedly to express regret that the Central China Front Army had not been able to cross the Huaihe River defense line.
Various factors are intertwined, and Shan Shan Yuan's inner anxiety becomes worse day by day.
Shan Shan Yuan has a vague hunch that if the situation in the Huaihe War cannot be improved within a month, the base camp and the royal family may start the agenda of changing generals again.
When Muto Akira came out of the war room, he happened to see the bleak figure of Yuan Shanshan.
If given the choice, Muto Akira really didn't want to report the bad news to Sugihara Yuan at this time, but he had no choice. Who made him the deputy chief of staff of the Central China Front Army? Chief of Staff Tsukada was a cunning and cunning man. He hid in the hospital nine out of ten days, but everything fell on his shoulders.
"Your Excellency, Commander." Muto Akira walked behind Shan Shanyuan, stood upright, handed over the folder in his hand, and said, "Urgent call from the Huainan front!"
Shan Shanyuan showed a trace of fatigue on his brows, waved his hand and said, "Tell me, what's the matter?"
Muto Akira took back the folder and said in a deep voice: "Last night, the 18th Division of the 59th China Army suddenly launched an offensive on the south bank of the Huaihe River and annihilated the protruding part of the 13th Division. The 13th Division suffered more than 700 casualties. , most of them died in battle, and hundreds of tons of oil stored in warehouses were also destroyed by shelling by the Chinese army."
"Nani?" Shan Shan Yuan suddenly turned around and asked in a voiceless voice, "Hundreds of tons of oil were destroyed?"
Shan Shan Yuan cannot help but be surprised. Because the empire is short of resources, almost all strategic materials need to be imported from overseas. Among them, crude oil is especially in short supply. The empire cannot produce even a drop of crude oil, but it needs to support a scale of The world's third largest navy, so the fuel that can be allocated to the army is very limited.
But now, one guy has lost hundreds of tons of oil!
"Nani?" Shan Shanyuan lost his voice, "Hundreds of tons of oil were destroyed?"
"Hai," Shoudou Muto said, "Because the open-air warehouse where oil was stored was unexpectedly bombarded by the Chinese army, hundreds of tons of oil stored there were blown up."
"Baga, Baga, Baga Yalu." Shanshan Yuan said angrily, "Ogisu Ribing, this idiot, what does he do for a living? How could he let the artillery of the China Army penetrate so deeply into his defense area? ? Or is this fool just hoarding fuel at the forward position?"
Muto Akira shook his head and explained: "Your Excellency, Commander, the oil depot that stores oil is actually with the division headquarters of the Ogisu Division. It is at least five kilometers away from the forward position. The China Army does not have heavy artillery, so it will not fight at all. It’s not in the oil depot, so there was no danger originally.”
"There was no danger in the first place?" Shan Shanyuan stared at Muto Zhang with cannibalistic eyes and roared, "Muto-san, I ask you to understand that the issue now is not whether there would have been danger in the first place, the issue now is hoarding Hundreds of tons of oil in the oil depot have been blown up and completely destroyed!"
"Hai." Muto Akira put his feet back and stood at attention, and said with a heavy pause, "Your Excellency, Commander, hundreds of tons of oil stored in the warehouse were destroyed. This is indeed regrettable, but the Ogisu Division also mentioned something in the telegram Extremely important information, I think this information is unusual and should attract the attention of Your Excellency the Commander."
Shan Shan Yuan's eyes flickered and asked: "What information?"
Muto Akida: "The Ogisu Division said that this time, the reason why their salient part was attacked by the China Army and fell was because the China Army carried out special operations on its salient part."
"Nani?" Shan Shanyuan's eyes widened again, "Special operations?"
"Hai." Muto Zhang said, "The report said that the China Army dispatched an elite small force of about ten people. Although this small force was small in number, its combat effectiveness was very strong. They successfully penetrated and destroyed The command system of the Ogisu Division's salient unit was broken, which led to the rapid annihilation of the salient unit."
Shanshan Yuan said: "Are all the Imperial Army officers and soldiers in the salient part dead? How did the small Chinese army sneak in?"
Muto Akida said: "This small China force can speak fluent Japanese and knows special tactics such as espionage, assassination, and infiltration. However, the front-line field divisions have not received special counter-intelligence training. Therefore, they were sneaked in by the small China force and... Not surprising, in fact, even the Euro 6 military that has received special counter-espionage training can hardly prevent the infiltration of special forces."
Because Muto Akira has been in contact with Ogawara Junsi for a longer period of time, he knows more about special forces and special operations than Shanshan Yuan, and he is more aware of the horrors of special forces.
However, the reason why Muto Akira spared no effort to defend the Ogisu Division was because of another telegram.
Just before the telegram from the Ogisu Division arrived, Nanjing had just received a secret telegram from Oluhara Junsi from Pucheng, and this telegram was also the direct cause of Shan Shanyuan's bad mood.
Oluhara Junsi mentioned in the telegram that the anti-Japanese armed forces operating in Damei Mountain are not an ordinary armed force, but an elite armed force with good training and strong style. Among this armed force, there is also a A small force with a small number of people but very powerful combat effectiveness, that is, a special force.
Xiaoluyuan Junsi further judged that the highest officer of the armed forces in Dameishan was most likely Xu Rui, who had successively severely damaged the imperial army in Wuxi, Baoxing, Nantong and Qixing Lake!
And this is precisely what Shan Shanyuan finds most difficult to accept.
If Xu Rui is really still alive, the base camp and the royal family will not replace Shan Shanyuan because of this. After all, Shan Shanyuan did not lie about Xu Rui. He made it very clear at the beginning that Xu Rui might die in the chaos. During the battle, it was not definitely said that Xu Rui had died in the battle.
However, Xu Rui is still alive, which is definitely not a glorious thing for Shan Shanyuan.
Therefore, Shanshan Yuan instinctively refuses to accept the similar inference that Xu Rui is still alive.
However, Muto Akira agreed with Ogawara Junsi's judgment and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, I believe that the report of the Ogisu Division is credible. It is very likely that there is such a Chinese special forces force on the Huaihe battlefield, at least last night. During the battle, there was such a special force involved in the battle."
"Special Forces, Special Forces, Special Forces again, how can there be so many Special Forces?" Shan Shanyuan still couldn't accept it, and said angrily, "When did the China Army take the lead among all major military powers in the world today? Training and equipping so many special forces?”
Muto Akira said: "Your Excellency, Commander, I have no intention of arguing with you, but I would like to remind you that the continuous appearance of Chinese special forces on the Dameishan battlefield and the Huainan battlefield is definitely not an accident. After all, the straight-line distance from Dameishan to Bengbu is only a mere It's more than two hundred miles away and can be reached in a day's march."
Shanshan Yuan took a deep breath, tried his best to suppress the anxiety in his heart, and asked Muto Zhang: "Muto-san, so you really think that Xu Rui is not dead, and he still has the temporary editor Seventy The remnants of the Ninth Division hid in the Damei Mountain area and trained an elite special forces in three months? The previous surprise attack on Pucheng and last night's surprise attack on the protruding part of the Ogizhou Division were both fought by this team. A masterpiece of special forces?”
"Hai." Muto Zhang said, "Although this is Ogawara-san's judgment, I completely agree with his judgment. These two battles must be Xu Rui's masterpiece!"
Shan Shanyuan added: "Okay, let's assume that Oluhara's judgment is correct, then does Oluhara Junsi further propose that we must immediately mobilize heavy troops, enter the Nest Damei Mountain, and completely annihilate Xu Rui?"
"No, Your Excellency, Commander." Muto Akira waved his hand and said, "Okahara-san's suggestion is exactly the opposite."
"Oh?" Shanshan Yuandao, "What did he say?"
Muto Akira said: "Oluhara-san believes that after three months of training, the climate of Xu Rui's unit has matured. In addition, the terrain of Damei Mountain is very dangerous. For now, it may not be helpful to mobilize less than one detachment of troops. And if more than one division is assembled, it will seriously affect the Huainan Battle and the subsequent Xuzhou Battle. Therefore, Xiaoluyuan Sang suggested taking a defensive position in Pucheng and wait until the Xuzhou Battle is over before turning back to deal with Xu Rui."
"Really?" Shan Shanyuan was a little surprised, "Did Oluhara Junsi really say that?"
"Hai." Shoton Muto said, "Commander, what I want to say is that you don't have to have any prejudice against Ogawara-san. Putting aside his special warfare theory, he is actually a very good military officer. Talent.”
"Maybe." Shan Shanyuan waved his hand noncommittally and asked, "By the way, I asked you to inquire about the base camp. How will the base camp respond?"
Muto Akira said: "The base camp responded that the materials have been shipped from Osaka Port and can be shipped to Nanjing's Shimonoseki Terminal as early as the evening of the day after tomorrow."
"Yo Xi." (To be continued.)