Fang Xianjue paused for a moment before walking quickly over.
Standing next to the little kid, he silently looked at the blurry photo of his best friend on the tombstone for a while, and then looked down at the little kid who was looking up at him.
"Your name is Tang Shanhe?" Fang Xiangjue asked.
The little child nodded vigorously.
"Can you tell me, what did you say to your uncle Sun while you were kneeling here just now?" Fang Xianjue knelt down and helped Xiaotang Shanhe pat the dust on his knees.
Xiaotang Shanhe's pants were full of dust. He must have paid homage to the graves of many heroes at the Martyrs' Shrine.
"Abba told me that this uncle is a good man, a person that even he admires. I told him to have a good rest in heaven and not to be too tired. The next time I come to see him, I will bring him some advice.
The bean paste buns are so sweet." Xiao Tang Shanhe said seriously.
"Haha! Well, if your uncle Sun knew that he would have such a good nephew, he would definitely be happy." Fang Xian, who was originally in a gloomy mood, couldn't help but smile when he saw the little child speaking so cutely.
"Uncle Sun is in another world and can't repay you for giving him the flowers, so let him repay it for him. You make a request. As long as uncle can satisfy you, he will definitely satisfy you." He reached out and picked up Tang Shanhe.
Xian Jue said.
"Really?" Tang Shanhe habitually put his fingers in his mouth and looked at this man who was almost as tall as his father.
"That must be true. A man's words are hard to follow. Your father and mother can prove this! Even if you want your father not to scold you or hit you in the future, I am the commander of the army.
Dad is the leader." Fang Xianjue obviously liked the tough-looking Tang Shanhe.
"Then...can I let all the uncles here come out of here?" Tang Shanhe bit his fingers and thought for a long time before finally saying.
"The houses here are different from the ones we live in. They don't even have windows. It's very boring to live in them."
"This..." Fang Xianjue's throat was choked, but he didn't know how to answer for a while. After a while, he answered with a wry smile. "Your request is really beyond Uncle Fang's ability."
"Shanhe, grandma will accompany you there to see the mountain scenery, and let daddy and uncle Fang talk here." Tantai Mingyue took the initiative to come over.
"Do you think this is good? You are still young now and don't know what you want. When you grow up and go to school one day, tell Uncle Fang that he will definitely fulfill your wish." He handed Tangshanhe to Tantai.
Mingyue, Fang Xianjue still has not forgotten his promise.
Watching Tantai Mingyue holding Xiaotang Shanhe's hand and walking far away, Fang Xianjue waved to Tang Dao who was standing aside and said, "Come on, come with me and sit over there."
In late spring, wild flowers are everywhere and the fragrance is fragrant!
Beside Sun Mingjin's tomb, there are acres of wild chrysanthemums, especially 'Roadside Yellow'. It is the blooming season, and clusters of bright yellows decorate the place beautifully. Butterflies are flying up and down, and wild bees are buzzing.
Next to the flowers, there are two or three bamboo huts, which were built by the 10th Army Engineer Battalion next to the tomb according to Fang Xianjue's instructions.
Fang Xianjue had said earlier that this spring he would come to stay overnight at the grave of his best friend, accompany him to see the scenery of Nanyue, and chat with him.
"Sit!" Fang Xianjue took the lead and sat down on the bamboo stool that had been prepared.
"You have a good way to teach your son, and your son's education is good. When my boy was this old, he would cry to me and ask for money to buy sweets." Fang Xianjue saw Tang Dao sit down, but he talked about education.
"Shanhe's education is good, but it has nothing to do with me. I have been away for a long time, thanks to the teachings of his mother and grandpa." When someone praised his son, Tang Dao was not humble, but he was not greedy for merit.
"It is said that Commander Tang is a man with eight hundred tricks all over his body. He is suddenly so frank today. There is something wrong! Tell me! But let me state in advance that I am only a small consultant of the Military and Political Department, regarding military aircraft.
, I can't help you much." Fang Xianjue said.
"Goodbye, Sir Fang. You are the lieutenant general and the counselor, and I am the colonel and the commander of the engineering corps. Generally speaking, you are still much better than me." Tang Dao replied.
"As expected of Tang Tuanzuo, since the military and political department issued the order yesterday, even friends and colleagues such as Mayor Zhao and Chief of Staff Sun do not dare to mention the word "senator" in front of me. It would be better for you to come up and poke my heart directly.
Son. It seems that the relationship between you and me is not that familiar yet!" Fang Xianjue's face straightened, and he pointed at Tang Dao and said.
"Romain Rolland said: True heroism is to still love life after recognizing the truth of life! Just like this Patriotic War, the strength of the Japanese army from beginning to end is superior to that of China. Do we just give in?
Don't fight? I don't have the courage to fight the weak against the strong. The war has ended long ago, and China has fallen long ago. Who wants to think that the commander of the "Taishan Army" can't even hear a word? That's really too much.
You underestimate me, a Chinese soldier." Tang Dao replied righteously.
"Eight hundred people are indeed right about you! I just don't understand why you are so smart, why did you disobey that person and lead to the current situation! Do you know that Commander Xue has always admired you very much and thought about it several times?
I sent your four-pronged group to the Tanzhou front line, but all the messages I sent were lost in the sea, and nothing happened in the end." Fang Xianjue sighed.
"It's a long story, but in the end, it's just a uneven road. Someone has to shovel it, otherwise more people will fall." When talking about his fate, Tang Dao had a calm expression.
.
"If Ming Jin is still alive, you will definitely become close friends with him. You two have many similar temperaments, but he is not as sharp as you." Fang Xianjue sighed sadly.
"I've been traveling around Nanyue with my wife and children for the past six months. When I'm not wearing military uniform, others think I'm a rich man! I've lost all my edge, so what's the point of showing off!" Tang Dao grinned.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Haha! Others don't know you Tang Dao, but I, the former top military commander in the Hengyang region, don't know you? Not to mention that you carved out a piece of land under Hengshan Mountain.
2 square kilometers of land are being used to build fortifications and conduct simulated city attack and defense drills. Just tell me where to stop, and your whole body will be as straight as a spear. When I first saw you last year, I felt that if this person appeared on the battlefield, he must be
Ten enemies or even a hundred enemies!" Fang Xianjue also laughed.
"You and the Four Elements Regiment have been in Nanshan for nearly two years. Others say that your Four Elements Regiment is useless and no longer has the courage it once had. But I know that the sword is still a treasured sword, and the day it is unsheathed, it will still shine with cold light.
.”
"Looking at the ninth theater, the only person who can have such a vision is none other than Commander Fang."
"Oh? What about Commander Xue?" Fang Xianjue looked at Tang Dao with a half-smile.
Tang Dao once fought under Commander Xue. Admiral Xue admired him very much. He even wanted to mobilize the Four Troops to enter the Tanzhou war zone at the risk of upsetting him. He even sent Tang Dao to Tang Dao half a year ago.
Dao's old superior, Xie Jinyuan, was promoted to deputy commander of the 51st Division of the 74th Army and commander of the 154th Brigade.
There were originally two heroes in the 51st Division, one was Wang Yaowu and the other was Zhang Lingpu, both of whom were very famous in the 9th Theater. Xie Jinyuan ranked second as soon as he arrived, second only to the division commander Wang Yaowu, beating the 153rd Brigade Commander.
Zhang Lingpu shows that General Xue attaches great importance to Xie Jinyuan.
Fang Xianjue's intelligence showed that Xie Jinyuan was promoted because, on the one hand, he did have good abilities, and on the other hand, it was because of his subordinate Tang Dao who had suddenly emerged in Sihang Warehouse.
It is extremely rare for the general named Xue to have such a strong appreciation for Tang Dao due to his stubbornness and strong desire for power.
"Before 1942, you were not as good as him, but now, he is not as good as you!" Tang Dao was straightforward.
This straightforward answer shocked Fang Xianjue.
Tang Dao's next sentence was even more shocking.
"For example, there will be a battle between Tanzhou and Hengyang in the near future. You predicted it, but he is still stubborn. If this fourth battle of Tanzhou fails, then the only important town in northern Hunan, Hengyang, can stop the Japanese invaders. And if you want to
To defend Hengyang, only the 10th Army can do it, and only Commander Fang can do it."
Except for the buzzing of wild bees in the surrounding flower fields and the slight mountain breeze, there was no other sound in the entire thatched shed.
After a while, Fang Xianjue finally had a wry smile on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes finally showed determination. He directly drew a map on the dusty wooden table with his finger and said in a deep voice: "
Come, tell me how you deduce that the Japanese army will definitely launch an attack on our theater."
Fang Xianjue is a very pragmatic person. Although Tang Dao's opinions are similar to his, any conclusion cannot be drawn out of thin air and requires detailed logical reasoning.
Anyone who does anything must have a purpose. Only when he has a purpose can he predict how he will do it.
This is especially true on the battlefield, where there is no room for imagination.
"All the current combat intentions of the Japanese army are derived from the defeat on the Pacific battlefield..." Tang Dao did not refuse, and directly picked up the stones from the ground, and played a chess game with Fang Xianjue on the table.
This war game deduction is destined to be very different from the facts that are about to happen, because except for the Japanese who formulated the "No. 1 Combat Plan", I am afraid that no one in the world knows it better than the little butterfly in the future.
In the spring of 1944, the situation in World War II had reversed, and the Allied forces were singing triumphant songs in major battlefields in Asia and Europe.
On the European battlefield, on the eastern front of Europe, the Woolly Bears drove the German Empire troops out of transit and continued to counterattack their slave countries; on the western front of Europe, the Allied forces led by General Eisen, commander-in-chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force, were actively opening up a second battlefield.
, the German Empire is about to face the crisis of a two-front war; on the southern European front, the Mussolini government collapses, and the Axis powers fall apart.
On the Pacific battlefield, the competition between the American army and the Japanese army has already divided the strength and weakness. The American army is pressing forward step by step. Although it has not completely cut off the Japanese army's sea routes for the time being, it has reduced its maritime transportation capacity to less than half of its previous level. This has also led to the collapse of the Japanese army on the battlefield in Southeast Asia.
The Chinese, American and other coalition forces began to launch counterattacks, forcing the Japanese army to change from offensive to defensive.
The Japanese base camp realized a terrible problem. The maritime communication line from Japan to Southeast Asia and South Asia was about to be cut off. The mainland communication line from the Koryo Peninsula through China to the Malay Peninsula would become its last lifeline.
Most areas on this important transportation line, including China's Yu, Hunan, and Gui provinces, are still under the control of the Chinese army.
In order to save the Japanese army from the crisis situation in East Asia and the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese base camp proposed the concept of "opening up the mainland's communication line", also known as "Operation Plan No. 1".
The so-called "mainland transportation line" refers to starting from the Korean Peninsula, passing through Northeast China, entering Shanhaiguan, running through the Pinghan-Han, Guangdong-Han, Hunan-Guangxi Railway from north to south, connecting the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, and opening up Northeast China, North China, Central China, and South China.
The southwest battlefield ran through Southeast Asia's Indochina Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, and the Indonesian Islands, eventually connecting the Japanese mainland, the East Asian continent, and the Southeast Asia region. It established a supply line for the Japanese army on the road to prevent the entire army from being annihilated after the sea and air were controlled by the United States.
In fact, as early as the summer of 1943, the concept of "Operation No. 1" had been submitted to the Japanese army base camp meeting for discussion. However, due to the tense war situation in Southeast Asia at that time, the battle for islands in the Pacific was also fierce, and the Japanese army was insufficient in strength, so the plan was forced to
pause.
In September, the newly commissioned B-29 bombers of the US Army were put into actual combat, and the Japanese mainland entered the range that the Allied Air Force could directly strike for the first time. On November 25, 9 B-29s set off from Liuzhou, mainland China, with a range of nearly 2,500 kilometers.
The Japanese naval base in the Gulf Province was bombed, which caused great panic in Japan.
The Japanese base camp judged that American long-range bombers would soon attack the Japanese mainland, and they must eliminate the American air force bases on the East Asian continent. The importance of the Chinese theater was once again taken seriously by the base camp.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In January 1944, the Japanese base camp officially issued the order for "Operation No. 1".
The contents of "Operation No. 1" mainly include three points: first, capture the southern section of China's Pinghan-Han Railway; second, capture Guilin and Liuzhou, and destroy the American air force bases deployed in the area to prevent B-29 bombers from attacking the Japanese mainland.
Raid; third, defeat the main force of the Chinese army along the Hunan-Guangxi and Guangdong-Hankong Railway, and continue to undermine China's will to fight.
"Operation No. 1" was the largest deployment of troops by the Japanese army to the Chinese theater since the outbreak of the Pacific War.
In the past, the Japanese army used a total of 18 divisions, approximately 510,000 soldiers, 100,000 horses, 1,500 artillery pieces, more than 800 tanks, and 15,000 vehicles in this battle.
Since the "No. 1 Operation" was mainly concentrated in China's Yu, Hunan and Guangxi provinces, it was historically called the "Henan, Hunan and Guangxi" campaign!
Among them, the 'Battle of Changheng' is the top priority of the 'Battle of Hunan and Guangxi', and is executed by the 11th Army of the Japanese Field Army, which has the largest number of troops on the battlefield in China's Guangxi Pass.
The 11th Army is the only strategic mobile field army under the China Expeditionary Force. By the end of 1943, it had 8 divisions under its jurisdiction and a strength of more than 160,000 troops.
The former commander of the 11th Army, Anan Weiji, resigned sadly due to the defeat in the Third Battle of Tanzhou. The current commander is the old twice-cooked meat Isamu Yokoyama. This man relied on his thick skin to hold on to the position of deputy chief of staff of the dispatched army.
Not wanting to return to China, he finally had to wait for the opportunity to be reactivated.
The Japanese base camp combed through the generals in China with their fingers and found that no one of the same level as Isamu Yokoyama could fight, and the military rank he could fight with was higher than him. It was not suitable to be the commander of the 11th Army, and he resigned.
For more than a year, Isamu Yokoyama was very honest, and he was very popular with Tian Junliu, the commander of the China Expeditionary Force at the time. In order to smoothly implement the "Operation No. 1" plan, Isamu Yokoyama could only be reinstated as the commander of the 11th Army.
The Japanese army began preparing to launch "Operation No. 1" in February 1944. In addition to the Japanese North China Front quietly gathering 150,000 elite troops to launch a surprise attack on China's first theater in the Yellow River section of Henan Province, Tian Junliu also took great pains to do
Other arrangements...
"What you mean is that the Japanese also used the trick of building plank roads in secret to infiltrate Chencang. Their 13th Army launched operations in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, not only to contain the third theater, but also to launch an attack along the Xijiang River in Guangdong Province.
It’s not just to disrupt the 7th War Zone, but the more important purpose is to confuse the public so that we don’t understand their true intentions. In fact, they are gathering heavy troops to hide in Chongyang, Yueyang, and Huarong?”
After Fang Xianjue listened to Tang Dao's analysis of the war situation in Asia and Europe and the real strategic intentions of the Japanese army base camp, he was already filled with solemnity. Then he saw that Tang Dao had mapped out the current attack routes of the Japanese military units in front of his eyes, and Hunan Province was still completely under the control of the Japanese army.
After calming down, he was even more shocked.
Originally, he judged that the reason for the Japanese army's attack on Hunan Province was Mr. Baili's "Sanyang Line". Now that Tang Dao said this, he suddenly understood that whether it was the "Sanyang Line" or the so-called mainland transportation line, as long as the Japanese wanted to leave
To transport materials from the mainland to the Malay Peninsula by land, Hunan Province is the place it must pass through and must be conquered.
"Hey! Not to mention that I have been transferred from the 9th Theater, but I am still in the position of commander of the 10th Army. Will Commander Xue listen to my suggestions?" Fang Xianjue reached out and brushed the two of them away with their fingers.
, he drew the map for a long time using dust as paper, and stood up extremely angrily.
This should be the first time that this tiger general in the army has shown his dissatisfaction with his immediate boss in front of outsiders.
In the past few years, General Xue defeated the Japanese attack on Tanzhou three times in a row. His reputation was extremely high, and his desire to control his subordinates reached its peak. The 10th Army rescued Changde, and both the 3rd Division and the 10th Reserve Division suffered heavy losses. As a result,
However, the theater commander used this to forcefully install his cronies in an attempt to take full control of the 'Taishan Army', and used his influence in the Military and Political Department to transfer the army commander Fang Xianjue, who was strongly opposed to it.
"Sir, Tang Dao doesn't know what is right and wrong among the higher-ups in the war zone, but Tang Dao thinks that his ancestors have made it very clear in one sentence, which is that 'a melon that is twisted is not sweet.' No matter how powerful the official is, no matter how powerful he is,
If you go against the will of the people, you can easily shoot yourself in the foot." Tang Dao said.
Tang Dao is very clear about this period of history. General Xue’s forced personnel adjustment was okay at the division level and below, but the transfer of Fang Xianjue, the soul of the 10th Army, was met with criticism from the soldiers of the 10th Army.
Within a week, they jointly rejected the appointment of the successor commander, which will make the army face the embarrassing situation of being without a commander for the second time.
"You mean..." Fang Xianjue can become a tiger general, not because he is a tiger, but because he can really fight. His head is much more flexible than ordinary people. He immediately heard that Tang Dao
subtext.
"Commander Fang might as well leave this place for the time being and wait until the war breaks out. Since the commander can be a counselor, why can't the counselor be the commander?" Tang Dao said with a smile.
After looking at Tang Dao intently for a while, Fang Xianjue showed a smile on his face: "Commander Tang has such a clear understanding of global wars, and I never thought he could study people's hearts so well. You are really worthy of your reputation as a warrior.
The name is too false, and those who only treat you as a brave member of the future will fall into trouble with you sooner or later."
"Thank you, sir! Tang Dao just firmly believes that, sir, you will not leave your front-line combat position." Tang Dao said.
"Well, let me guess, Tang Dao, what is the real purpose of talking to me so much today?" Fang Xianjue paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.
"If the Japanese army comes to attack Hengyang with heavy troops, our 10th Army now only has the 3rd Division and the 10th Reserve Division in the Hengyang area. The total number of the entire army is only 15,000. If I request the theater to mobilize the Four Corps Regiment to help defend Hengyang, Tang
Commander, I wonder if you dare to come and fight?"
"Haha! If you invite me, I will definitely do it!" Tang Dao grinned, showing his white teeth.
The words "eight hundred tricks" can be returned to this Army Lieutenant General as they are.
As long as this person agrees, this battle known as the Defense of Moscow in the East will inevitably involve the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Line Regiment!