The commander-in-chief didn't speak for a long time, and Ye Zhao couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Could it be that the commander-in-chief blamed himself for his inability to do things well? Who would have thought that Li Yunheng and the 16th Army were so bad. There were nearly 20,000 people in three divisions, and there were strong fortifications, but It's incredible that they couldn't hold on for even an hour. However, the reality is so cruel. If they can hold on for an hour, their regiment stationed at the forefront will be able to reach Jiujiang City. The students of a regiment The soldiers may not be able to withstand any major event, but there is absolutely no problem in delaying it for another hour. With this hour, I can lead the main force to rush over. By then, it will be no problem to defend Jiujiang. At least, I can also contain the Japanese. Offensive, of course, it was too late to say anything now. A Japanese division entered Jiujiang and even occupied Jiujiang City. At this time, if he led his troops there, he would have to chew hard bones. Ye Zhao was confident of counterattack. Jiujiang, but if there are heavy casualties as a result, then the gain will not be worth the loss.
Ye Zhao's timely report on the battle situation was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Ouyang Yun. Just before he called, Ouyang Yun stared at the sand table and considered the role that Peng Ze might play in the Hankou battle from the overall perspective. Suddenly a very bad thought occurred to him. He didn't realize there was a problem before sending troops, but now, after re-examining the positions of the participating troops from China and Japan, he suddenly discovered to his surprise that if the Japanese army, the Central Army and even some local armies If there is a certain tacit understanding, then Pengze is likely to become an isolated island. At that time, the Xuebing Army will be in a difficult situation.
He was really afraid that something would come true. Just when he was worried that if Jiujiang was lost, the Xuebing Army would be in extreme danger, Ye Zhao's call came, confirming the news that Jiujiang was lost. Jiujiang was lost too quickly and unexpectedly. It was so unexpected that he suddenly had a very small thought: Could this be a game? Even the Battle of Hankou was a game. It was just a hole dug by Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese. Xuebingjun jumped inside. Once this idea came up, it grew up like a devil. It soon filled Ouyang Yun's whole body and mind, and even made him feel like there were ants gnawing in his heart, making him unable to help himself. I want to reach in and scratch him twice. If this is true, then the so-called Chongqing incident may be a show planned by Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese. If this is true, then this is really terrifying.
What to do now? Is it necessary for Peng Ze to hold on? Should he break out immediately before the Japanese army has completely occupied Jiujiang? But in that case, the Madang Fortress and the important Xiaogushan Mountain must be abandoned. The Madang Fortress is very important to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The importance of the city is self-evident. Once the Madang Fortress is lost, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet will be able to reach Wuhan directly. By then, Wuhan will definitely be difficult to hold on... In just five minutes, Ouyang Yun ran through thousands of thoughts in his mind, and finally , After ideological struggle, he still decided to believe in the Chongqing government and Jiang. He decided not to take any drastic action first, but he had to be prepared for the future, so he gave Ye Zhao the task of guarding the lake. After receiving the order to observe the changes in the Jiujiang war situation, he immediately began to contact Li Zongren, Chen Cheng and Xue Yue.
The Battle of Xuzhou commanded by Li Zongren was fought quite well. Although he was forced to give up in the end, it caused great damage to the Japanese army. It can be said that the Battle of Xuzhou made Li Zongren famous as a famous anti-Japanese general, and it was precisely because of his victory in Xuzhou Due to his outstanding performance in the battle, when the Battle of Hankou began, the Military Commission gave him command of the north bank of the Yangtze River.
As a general, he needs victory to build his confidence against the enemy. Because of the opportunity obtained in the Battle of Xuzhou, Li Zongren's confidence in the Japanese greatly increased. Therefore, after receiving the new appointment, he embarked on the journey to Hankou with full confidence. However, not long after he arrived in Hankou, he had just taken command of the Jiangbei army. The cruel fact gave him a blow. There were quite a lot of Chinese troops in Jiangbei. In addition to the five division-sized Central Army, there were six The Sichuan Army of the division and the two divisions of Yunnan, but because there were no direct troops on hand, in fact, at the beginning, Li Zongren's orders could not even get out of Wuhan City except for being circulated in the headquarters.
This situation was unexpected not only for Li Zongren and Chief of Staff Bai Chongxi, but also for Ouyang Yun. Ouyang Yun thought that Li Zongren, as the commander-in-chief of the North Bank, had certain prestige and decision-making power, so he contacted him because he wanted to To obtain his assistance at a critical moment, on the one hand, I hope that he will come forward to mediate between himself and Yang Sen, turn the hostility into friendship, and prevent the Sichuan Army from adding insult to injury when the Xuebing Army may be in trouble.
Since the Revolution of 1911, the situation in Sichuan has been the most complicated among all provinces in the country. The fighting situation in Sichuan has been complicated. Various forces and warlords have come on stage. The cruelty of its civil war can be said to be unparalleled in the country.
In the current Sichuan, Liu Xiang and Yang Sen were originally in power together. Liu Xiang and Yang Sen, two once sworn enemies, no matter what their personal moral character was, no matter what despicable methods they had used to deal with their own people in the civil war, One thing worthy of praise is that externally, the two men had the same attitude, and both were willing to follow Chiang Kai-shek's orders and lead their troops out of Sichuan to participate in the Anti-Japanese War.
In the past history, Liu Xiang was secretly executed by Chiang Kai-shek. However, in this time and space, because the Xuebing Army took control of the situation in the later stages of the Battle of Nanjing and changed the cruel history, Liu Xiang was able to die a good death and finally died of illness in Wuhan. ,
After Liu Xiang died of illness, Yang Sen took over his army. As a result, "misunderstandings" inevitably occurred between him and Ouyang Yun. There are now two Sichuan military divisions in the Xuebing Army, and they even have the same numbers. Changed, Ouyang Yun actually did a good thing when he invited the Sichuan Army to Guangdong. After all, at that time, the two Sichuan Army Divisions had lost their strength in the First World War and their logistical supplies. However, Liu Yuqing was still among the student soldiers. What was a good thing in Rao Guohua's eyes, in Yang Sen's view, was Ouyang Yun's unethical deeds. To put it bluntly, Ouyang Yun's recruitment of two Sichuan military divisions under such circumstances was taking advantage of others' danger.
In that time and space of the past, Ouyang Yun was from Sichuan. In addition to this time and space, the Sichuan Army showed the ironclad character that the Chinese lack most at present. Therefore, Ouyang Yun had a good impression of the Sichuan Army. However, the good impression was only temporary. It is impossible for him to sacrifice the interests of the Xuebing Army and make moves to please Yang Sen. All along, because of the strength of the Xuebing Army, Ouyang Yun has not worried that Yang Sen will have any bad intentions towards the Xuebing Army. , but now, he has to worry about whether the Sichuan Army will add insult to injury when the Xuebing Army is in trouble. In view of this idea, he will take the initiative to contact Li Zongren, hoping that he will make peace with him and eliminate Yang Sen's suspicion of him and the Xuebing Army. Misunderstand,
Li Zongren's life has been very sad recently. As mentioned before, he does not have direct troops under his command. Although he has five well-equipped Central Divisions, the Sichuan Army and some other local troops, the troops do not listen to him very much, so even if he has the right It was a good strategy for the enemy, but because the order could not be implemented, he could only lament in vain. He knew that the Xue Bing Army switched defenses to the 74th Army. The 74th Army had been in the limelight some time ago, although the losses of its troops were also heavy. But after all, they completely annihilated a Japanese Class A division and achieved the most glorious victory since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War. (The central government’s consistent style is to control the media and turn black into white and white into black. Therefore, Whether it was the Xuebing Army's complete annihilation of the 108th Division in the Battle of Tianjin, or Li Zongren's heavy damage to two Japanese divisions in the Battle of Xuzhou, these were all deliberately forgotten by the media controlled by the central government), the dignified direct lineage of the Central Army actually Being handed over to a warlord, the five division commanders on the north bank of the Central Army were not very convinced at first. But now they are better. The brother troops have achieved such brilliant results. These Central Army have also risen with the tide, as if they have won the battle, let alone Li Zongren. Take it seriously,
The Sichuan Army is a well-known beggar army. Although the fighting spirit is not bad, the equipment is too poor and the combat effectiveness is objectively low. Therefore, even if Yang Sen is willing to listen to Li Zongren, Li Zongren does not dare to expect them to be the main force. Ouyang Yun takes the initiative to fight with him When contacted, he was drinking with Yang Sen and discussing the next strategic plan. No matter what disgraceful role he played in the Sichuan Civil War, Yang Sen was worthy of respect when he took the lead. When the troops came out to fight in Sichuan, they showed the basic qualities that a Chinese soldier should have. The Japanese Second Army of China Expeditionary Force tried to launch two sharper offensives in Guangshui and Dawu. As a result, they were both defeated by Yang Sen and his Those beggars were blocked by their subordinates with their lives, and it was precisely because of the performance of the Sichuan army in this battle that Li Zongren opened his arms to Yang Sen and began to have a heart-to-heart relationship with him, becoming a real friend in need.
"Commander-in-Chief, your telegram." The adjutant stood at the door and said respectfully,
"Bring it to me and take a look." Li Zongren drank some wine and acted very casually. The telegram was handed to him. He looked at it twice and suddenly burst out laughing.
When Yang Sen saw it, he came over and said, "Brother De Lin, why are you so happy about such a good thing?"
Li Zongren spread the telegram directly in front of him and said, "Zi Hui, good news. The problem we are most worried about has a solution."
The Second Army suddenly went silent recently, which made Li and Yang uneasy for a time. They didn't know what the Japanese were planning, and were worried that the Japanese would suddenly break out in silence. In that case, the vast defense line would definitely not be protected, and Once Hankou is directly exposed to the iron heel of the Japanese army, no one can predict what will happen next.
Li Zongren thought that Yang Sen was one of his own. Just now, he was still saying: "The Sichuan army has a good foundation, but it is a pity that the equipment is too poor. It is standard for those in Chongqing to want the horse to run fast but also not to worry about the horse's failure." Eat grass."
In this regard, Yang Sen was also helpless. Sichuan was originally an inland city in China and had too few opportunities to contact the outside world, so he unfortunately became a frog in the well. When the Sichuan Army was still holding on to the old Hanyang-made strategy, it was incessantly fighting within. When I was happy, people began to equip aircraft, tanks and artillery. Modern warfare is actually fought with poor equipment. Therefore, no matter how good your soldiers are, if you don’t have equipment, it’s still useless.
The Sichuan Army has a good foundation and can fight tough battles or even win them. However, there is a prerequisite for this, which is that it must have decent equipment. What Li Zongren and Yang Sen have been most worried about recently is how to obtain advanced equipment. Therefore, when Li Zongren said the above words , Yang Sen immediately became excited. He grabbed the telegram and read it at a glance. Then, he understood the meaning of Li Zongren's words. His frown finally opened a little.