Okamura Neji fell on the marching platform and squinted for a while before being awakened by the sound of footsteps. When he looked up, he saw that the Chief of Staff of the 11th Army, Yoshimoto Teiichi, had walked into his field tent.
After the Matsuura Division was completely wiped out, Okamura Neiji learned from the painful experience and innovated his tactics. One of the most surprising moves was to move his group army headquarters forward to the front line, and move out of the fixed residence to live with the front line soldiers. Entering a low and damp field tent requires determination.
Because it is already July, the land in northern Jiangxi is hot and humid, and mosquitoes and flies are rampant.
In fact, the sultry weather in northern Jiangxi and the massive mosquitoes and flies that breed due to the corpses are quickly replacing the National Army as the number one enemy of the Japanese army. In the last week alone, the divisions of the 11th Army accumulated more than 500 People became sick, and sixteen soldiers died of their illness.
Okamura Neiji did this because he wanted to understand the physical endurance limits of frontline officers and soldiers through his own personal experience, which would help him make correct decisions.
Okamura Neiji stood up from the marching gun and asked, "Yoshimoto-san, how is the situation on the front line going?" while looking for his near-eye glasses.
Yoshimoto Teiichi came over, picked up the glasses from the canvas table and handed them to Okamura Neji.
Then he paused and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, the 22nd Division, the 27th Division and the 3rd Division that just came from Nanjing have all entered the designated positions. To use a Chinese proverb, the 74th China Army has become a turtle in the urn. , the imperial army can launch a final general attack on them at any time."
"The 74th China Army?" Okamura Neiji put on his glasses, then waved his hand and said, "Yoshimoto-san, do you only see the 74th China Army?"
Yoshimoto said after a pause: "Your Excellency, Commander, I would like to remind you that it was the 74th Army that annihilated Matsuura-san's 106th Division. This was the first time that the Imperial Army's division-organized troops were defeated since the Meiji Restoration. Encircled and annihilated by the enemy, this alone is enough for the 74th Army to become the mortal enemy of the Imperial Army."
Okamura Neji said: "So?"
Yoshimoto Teiichi said: "So I believe that the 74th Army should be the priority target of the 11th Army."
Okamura Neji said: "Yoshimoto-san, you are wrong. The 74th Army is indeed the mortal enemy of the Imperial Army, and it has indeed brought great shame and humiliation to our Imperial Japanese Army. But as a senior commander, in your thinking You can't just think about revenge, you have to stand at a higher level and look at the entire Central China battlefield."
"Hai." Yoshimoto Sadai said again after a pause, "I know what the Commander is referring to. The reason why the Commander did not attack the 74th China Army was because he was fishing. He wanted to lure the 74th China Army into 1 Legion took the bait, I wonder if the humble position is right or not?”
Okamura Neiji smiled slightly and said: "Yes, I am indeed fishing in the 74th Army of Nachina. Yoshimoto-san, you can see this, which is enough to serve as the division commander of any field division, but if If you want to serve as the commander of the group army, I'm afraid you still need some time."
Yoshimoto Sadakachi frowned slightly and said, "Does the Commander have a bigger and more valuable goal?"
"Of course." Okamura Neiji said with a reserved smile, "In my eyes, the 1st Legion is just a slightly valuable tactical object, and it is not worthy of my careful calculation. My goal is The elite main force of the National Army in the entire central China battlefield!"
"Nani?" Yoshimoto Sadakachi said solemnly, "The main elite group of the National Army in the entire Central China battlefield?"
Okamura Neiji glanced at Yoshimoto Sadaichi, smiled and said: "Ikeda-san, take a closer look at the forward direction of the 22nd Division, and then think about why I want the 3rd Division to ascend 6 from Eishu?"
Yoshimoto Sadat was stunned when he heard this, and said in astonishment: "The 22nd Division marched out from Wuning, and the 3rd Division climbed up from Yongxiu. Isn't it to cut off the Chinese reinforcements from the direction of Changsha and Nanchang?"
Okamura Neiji laughed and shook his head, saying: "The strength of the China Army has been exhausted. How many more China reinforcements can there be in the direction of Changsha and Nanchang? Is it worth using two divisions to stop them?"
Yoshimoto Sadashi's expression changed when he heard this, and he seemed to suddenly understand something.
At that moment, Yoshimoto Teiichi hurriedly approached the canvas table and spread out the map, then lowered his head and looked at the map carefully.
After a moment, joy flashed across Yoshimoto Sadashi's face, and he raised his head and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, I understand. You ordered the 22nd Division to move forward from Wuning, and then ordered the 3rd Division to ascend 6 from Yongxiu. No. Just to detour behind the 1st China Army, we also want to move westward, go straight to Zhuzhou, first cut off the southern section of the Ping-Han Railway, and then cut north from Zhuzhou to Changsha!"
"Yoshimoto-san, you are now qualified to be the commander of the group army, haha." Okamura Neji nodded approvingly to Yoshimoto Teiichi after hearing this. It seemed that he was already the commander of the Condemnation Army in Central China. It seems that he can appoint commanders of subordinate armies at will.
"Hai." Yoshimoto Teiichi was praised by Okamura Neji, but he was very excited.
In fact, in the minds of the vast majority of young Japanese officers, Okamura Neiji, the brainchild of the Baden-Baden Alliance, is even more popular and loved than Tian Shunroku, the commander of the Condemnation Army.
Because everyone knows that behind Okamura Neji stands Emperor Hirohito.
Okamura Neiji took some cold water and ate some biscuits, and then said: "But until now, the China Army has not completely entered the encirclement planned by the Imperial Army. If the Imperial Army moves in advance at this time, it will not only annihilate the main force of the 1st Army, but If the intention cannot be achieved, the intention of detouring around Zhuzhou, cutting off the southern section of the Ping-Han Railway, and then heading north to intercept Changsha and annihilating the elite main force group of the Central China Army will also fail."
Yoshimoto Sad nodded and said: "So, Commander, what should we do now?"
"Now?" Okamura Neji's eyes hidden behind the lenses revealed a cold look, and he said word by word, "We should put some appropriate pressure on the 74th Army and force them to ask for help from the China Headquarters. According to me, As we know, the commander of the 74th Army is a fellow countryman of China leader Chiang Kai-shek, so the relationship between the two should be good."
"Hai." Yoshimoto said with a heavy pause.
(Dividing line)
That night, the Japanese 11th Army stepped up its offensive against the encircled 74th Army.
Wang Yaowu, deputy commander of the 74th Army, immediately asked for help from the 1st Army Headquarters. After receiving Wang Yaowu's request for help, Commander Luo Zhuoying of the 1st Army Corps immediately forwarded it to the Wuhan Headquarters.
Yu Jishi, commander of the 74th Army who stayed in Wuhan to recover from his injuries, also asked to see Chairman Chiang overnight.
At this time, Xu Rui's opinions forwarded through Wan Xiangyun, deputy commander-in-chief of the Third War Zone, had also been submitted to Chairman Chiang Kai-shek's desk. In fact, Xu Rui was not the only one to see the danger. Bai, the deputy chief of staff of the Ministry of National Defense, Both Chongxi and Jiang Baili, the bedridden president of the Sixth Army University, saw the hidden risks, and both made suggestions to Chairman Chiang. Unfortunately, Chairman Chiang disapproved of this.
However, Chairman Chiang did not fail to adopt it at all. Under the strong advice of Chen Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Ninth War Zone, Chairman Chiang finally decided to re-appoint Xue Yue and ordered Xue Yue to rush from Changsha to the De'an battlefield to take charge of the overall situation. At that time, Xue Yue had already He was transferred to the post of commander of Changsha garrison.
After receiving the order, Xue Yue drove to De'an overnight. However, Xue Yue was still a human being after all, not a god. At this time, it was impossible for Xue Yue's ability to reverse the decline of De'an, let alone to pull the 74th Army from the 20th. After being rescued from the heavy siege of tens of thousands of Japanese troops, the 74th Army was already doomed.
But what is really worrying is not the 74th Army!
Xue Yue arrived at the De'an battlefield in the evening of the next day. The first order Xue Yue gave after arriving at the De'an battlefield was that the troops belonging to the 1st Army Corps immediately retreated and gave up rescue.
From the sudden contraction of the 1st Army, Okamura Neji quickly smelled something strange, and decisively ordered the Japanese army to attack across the board. The 74th Army, which was trapped in a tight siege, was quickly wiped out. Most of the more than 20,000 officers and soldiers under the deputy commander Wang Yaowu were wiped out. Although they died on the battlefield, only Zhang Lingfu and his 305 regiment managed to break out.
The heavy artillery brigade of the 74th Army also returned to the hands of the Japanese.
After annihilating the 74th Army, the Japanese 11th Army took advantage of the victory to pursue.
The 1st Army Corps, which was already showing its fatigue at this time, immediately couldn't resist, and the defense line collapsed thousands of miles away. The next day, De'an fell. Three days later, Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, also declared its fall.
After capturing Nanchang, in addition to sending two divisions to Xinyu and Ji'an to pursue the defeated troops of the 1st Army, Ningji Okamura sent another division to invade Hunan from Gao'an, Shanggao, and Pingxiang, and attacked Zhuzhou with great momentum. Come, Okamura Neji's painstaking clockwise detour finally took place.
(Dividing line)
It was several days later when the news that Nanchang had been lost and that the Japanese army was attacking Zhuzhou from Pingxiang with one division reached Dameishan.
At that time, Xu Rui was at a power plant construction site in the mountains.
After completing the design and supervision of the Shaqiaogang Fortress, Mr. Mao Yisheng has returned to Wuhan, but before leaving, he specifically helped the Dameishan base design the power plant, arsenal, cement factory, and possible future steel plants. and other factory projects.
According to Xu Rui's requirements, all factories are hidden in the mountains, and deep in the mountains.
Xu Rui pushed a small cart of gravel and mud out of the tunnel. He saw Sai Hongfu hurriedly walking over with a pair of long legs. Just looking at Sai Hongfu's face, Xu Rui knew something was wrong.
After taking the telegram from Sai Hongfu and reading it in a hurry, Xu Rui couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh.
The worst result finally appeared. The inertia of history is still unstoppable after all, and the more blocked it is, the stronger the backlash of history will be. According to this logic, Xu Rui would simply not do anything, because the more he does, the more he does, the more he will do to the entire Anti-Japanese War situation. The greater the harm, this is simply a paradox.
But soon, Xu Rui expelled this negative thought from his mind.
Man can conquer nature. Xu Rui never believed that his efforts would be counterproductive. Even though history has strong inertia, it also has limits. Just like a bow, when your pulling force exceeds its limit, the bow of history will also be broken. Break! So what Xu Rui needs to do now is to work harder. (To be continued.)