As soon as the Japanese army took action, the Supreme Headquarters of the United Government of the Republic of China in Chongqing received relevant information. Before Okamura Neji's North China Front troops were dispatched on a large scale, Ouyang Yun and the others did not learn from the unusual movements of the Japanese Far East Army. Sensing the true intentions of the Japanese, they all thought that the Japanese army's move was to solve the problem of Outer Mongolia, the southern barrier of Soviet Russia, and to solve their worries about sending troops to the Far East. Therefore, they ordered the special agent team in Hutong Manchuria to continue to pay close attention to the Far East. Corps movements, and at the same time sent this information to the Soviets,
Two days later, a secret message that only a limited number of people, including Ouyang Yun, Chang Gen and Shan Renxiong, had the right to know, came from Manchuria. After receiving this information, Ouyang Yun gained insight into the true intentions of the Japanese army. This message The secret message was sent back by a member of the Kwantung Army's combat section who had risked his life to participate in the "stealing the sky for the sun" plan. This man sneaked into the Osaka Fourth Division as a captain and then made a big splash during the Japanese invasion of New Guinea. His real name is Xu Jianke, and his current Japanese name is Sakamura Seiko. The work that Sakamura Seiko is doing in the Operations Section of the Kwantung Army Headquarters happens to be related to intelligence, so he can be the first time to detect such important information and pass it back to the "home nest" in time,
The importance of this intelligence, in Ouyang Yun's words, was worth an army. He immediately convened a meeting with Chen Cheng and others to discuss countermeasures, raised the possibility that "the Japanese army might launch a regional decisive battle in the northwest," and threatened the Far East Army. He made a new speculation about the purpose of entering Zhangjiakou, believing that "the Japanese do not want to solve Outer Mongolia first, but to annihilate our Northwest Army to stabilize the situation in Inner Mongolia." The plan is based on the future and hopes that they can continue to play a role after the war. Therefore, ensuring their safety is the first element. In order to protect Xu Jianke, he did not mention any questions about intelligence and attributed everything to speculation. , but in this case, his speculation lacks credibility,
Sure enough, Chen Cheng, Feng Yuxiang and others immediately expressed doubts, "Isn't it possible? Doesn't this mean that the Japanese have actually given up the strategy of attacking Soviet Russia from east to west with the German army? Would the Japanese be so childish?" Chen Cheng said,
Ouyang Yun also knew that it would be difficult to convince them just by speculation, so he made a lot of preparations for this. He continued what Chen Cheng said: "It seems like child's play, but from the standpoint of the Japanese, I think it is necessary to implement it." There are still some." As he said that, he stood up and walked to the map. He picked up the command whip and drew it first from Zhangjiakou to Yinchuan, and then between Hohhot and Ulaanbaatar. He said: "Everyone, have you found any? , there is actually a huge loophole in the strategy of Germany and Japan to attack the Soviet Union from the east to the west. If our Far East Expeditionary Force can quickly defeat Tadashi Ribayashi, then, when Hu Li's Northwest Army has completely controlled the southwestern part of Inner Mongolia, next, Our Far East Army may quickly enter Soviet Russia via Hohhot and Ulaanbaatar, or directly launch an attack on northeastern Inner Mongolia. What changes will that bring? In the former, our Far East Expeditionary Army, the Soviet Red Army and Outer Mongolia The army can then encircle the Far East Army and annihilate it before Germany and Japan complete their rendezvous; in the latter case, Manchuria will be under the front of our Far East Expeditionary Force. Although our army may not be able to recover the three northeastern provinces, it can at least disturb the Kwantung Army. Tranquility." At this point, he took his command whip back to the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Qinling Mountains, and then said: "Moreover, our Far East Expeditionary Force has another option, which is to directly enter North China. Everyone, we will be on the Xuzhou battlefield and the Hankou battlefield. Do the Japanese dare to take this risk when the army has a full advantage? I estimate that the Far East Army will definitely be recalled to China by then. Hey, if I were Tojo Hideki, I would definitely not sit back and watch this happen, so even if the Japanese army If we want to send troops to the Soviet Union, we must at least stabilize Inner Mongolia first."
"That seems to be the case." Feng Yuxiang looked at Ouyang Yun and said: "But, after all, this is just your guess. Moreover, Xuzhou and Hankou, our army will definitely win a complete victory."
"That's it for Xuzhou. The enemy in Hankou must be completely annihilated." Bai Chongxi suddenly said: "If we can completely annihilate the Japanese army in Hankou, then it will definitely not be a problem to have troops along the Yellow River in the next stage. In that case, we will not be far from victory. "
The Japanese army in Hankou currently has four divisions and three mixed independent brigades with about 150,000 people. In addition to the two divisions and five mixed independent brigades, the total number of the Korean Communist Army is about 90,000. This is the battlefield in Central China. As Bai Chongxi said, if this Japanese army is completely wiped out, the Japanese army will not only no longer have the ability to compete with the Chinese army for Hubei and Henan, but also North China regions such as Shandong and Shanxi will also face the main force of the Chinese army. Legion's offensive, and the other two Japanese military groups in East and Central China, Sakai Takabe in Xuzhou and the South China Front Army in Shanghai, even if they can escape the fate of destruction, they will be completely at a disadvantage. In that case, it is really just a short distance away from a comprehensive victory. Not far away,
"The enemy in Hankou will definitely be wiped out, as will the enemy in Xuzhou. I am confident about this. Please wait and see. Yokoyama Isamu's 11th Army and Sakai Takashi's 23rd Army are about to be destroyed. I think the Japanese army will There is another military giant in China, and Okamura Neiji will never sit back and watch this happen. From my guess, although Okamura Neiji will not increase his troops in Shandong or Henan to try to rescue Yokoyama Isamu and Sakai Takabe, he may We are cooperating with the Far East Army to advance northward in order to quickly assess Inner Mongolia. Now that we have the initiative and can afford to wait, we can just wait for two more days."
Ouyang Yun promised to wait for two days and see. In fact, in just one day, there were changes in the North China Front Army. This time, it was the intelligence department of the former military command in Peiping that sent the news back.
Okamura Neiji did a very covert job in mobilizing the North China Front troops. He mobilized troops from Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, and Peiping in the name of mopping up. At the same time, he also ordered the left-behind troops from various places to frequently attack the countryside, as if he was really going to launch a large-scale It was like a mopping up operation. However, because Ouyang Yun had spoken first, when the relevant information reached the headquarters, Chen Cheng and others immediately concluded that Okamura Neiji's move was to send troops to Inner Mongolia. Then, they calculated that the Japanese army would actually enter the Inner Mongolia area. Everyone was dumbfounded by the number of troops and began to become worried.
The actual number of Japanese troops entering Inner Mongolia will reach 500,000, while the Northwest Army only has a total number of troops. Moreover, Inner Mongolia is too far away from Chongqing, and the headquarters' ability to provide air fire support to the Northwest Army is limited. Therefore, Everyone feels that this will be a severe test for the Northwest Army and the biggest crisis the coalition government has encountered since its establishment.