Half an hour later, Xue Yue, who was far away in Tonggu, also received the news.
When the news came, Xue Yue was convening a meeting with senior counselors from the Corps Headquarters. Although Gao'an County had been captured, the remaining Japs entrenched in Gao'an County had not been completely eliminated. Moreover, the Japs from Shanggao, Zhangshu and Xinyu were heading towards
Gao'an is moving closer. At present, it seems that the Japanese have not admitted defeat and are still thinking of counterattack.
However, this was also expected by Xue Yue. Although the 27th Division stationed on the Hunan-Jiangxi Highway is not a permanent division, it is also one of the second batch of expanded ten ad hoc divisions, and it took a relatively long time to enter the Chinese battlefield.
Early on, he had rich actual combat experience, and his combat effectiveness was quite strong. The division commander, Masaharu Honma, was also a ruthless character.
Therefore, Xue Yue plans to have fun with Masaharu Honma in Gao'an.
When the defense line of the 27th Division was relatively complete before, Xue Yue did not dare to act rashly, but now that the 27th Division has had the First Corps cut in half, Xue Yue is no longer afraid of the old devil like Honma Masaharu, Xue Yue
I just wanted to have a showdown with this famous old devil.
However, the meeting had just begun when Wuhan sent six urgent telegrams in succession.
After reading the telegram, Xue Yue's eyebrows immediately tightened. Xue Yue had long expected that the Japs would not act according to the script they wrote, but the Japs' reaction was completely beyond his expectation.
Xue Yue originally thought that even if the Japs refused to mobilize their forces to rescue Jiujiang, at least the Third Division, the 101st Division and the 27th Division would never participate in the attack on Wuhan again. But now,
The Third Division and the 101st Division not only participated in the offensive operations against Wuhan, but their attack lines were more ferocious than previously known!
Originally, according to the secret theft by the Fuxing Society, the Third and 101st Division should have cooperated with the 106th Division and the Botian Detachment to jointly attack Wuhan from the south bank of the Yangtze River. But now, the Third and 101st Division
However, the regiment abandoned Wuhan and strode directly to Huarong to outflank it. This was to catch more than one million Nationalist troops gathered on the battlefield in Wuhan. Seishiro Itagaki, an old devil, had such a huge appetite that he was not afraid to hold on to it.
!
Seeing Xue Yue's expression was different, Wu Yizhi, the chief of staff of the First Corps, asked in a low voice: "General, what's going on?"
Xue Yue handed the telegram to Wu Yizhi without saying a word. Wu Yizhi immediately exclaimed after reading the telegram.
"What? The 3rd Japanese Army, the 101st Division is striding towards Huarong?!" Wu Yizhi's face changed drastically, and even the hands holding the telegram began to tremble uncontrollably, "How, how could this happen? How?
Would something like this happen? How dare the Japanese do this? How dare Seishiro Itagaki do this?"
"Itagaki Seishiro!" Xue Yue said with a sharp look, "I forgot that in the Xinkou battlefield, he once defeated Yan Laoxi and Wei Lihuang's thirty-one divisions with half a division!" He paused for a moment.
, and then said, "However, Wuhan is not Xinkou, and I, Xue Yue, am not Wei Lihuang, and I am not Yan Laoxi."
After a while, the dozen or so senior officials present at the meeting circulated all the telegrams, and they exploded.
However, Xue Yue waved his hand and said loudly: "Let's go to the war room with me and have a war game!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xue Yue immediately walked to the war room next door. Wu Yizhi and a dozen staff officers quickly followed.
It was too late to make a temporary sandbox, so we could only conduct war games on the map.
Half an hour later, the senior staff officer of the First Corps had already marked the enemy and enemy situation of the Chinese and Japanese armies on the map, but only four huge arrows were visible, like four ferocious centipedes, coming from four different directions.
He rushed towards Wuhan with his teeth and claws open, and two blue arrows pointed straight to the side and back of Wuhan, Huarong!
Wu Yizhi stared at the map and said to Xue Yue: "Chief Commander, I must admit that this old devil Itagaki Seishiro is ruthless. He has no room for it at all. He is basically gambling with us! In the current situation, if our army wins, then
It’s a total win, but if you lose, it will definitely be a big loss!”
"Just bet. [ㄨ]" Xue Yue said calmly, "We still don't know who will win!"
Wu Yizhi's face changed slightly when he heard this, and he said in a low voice: "Master, this is a humble position and please don't be impulsive..."
"Okay, Chief of Staff, don't talk any more." Xue Yue waved his hand to stop Wu Yizhi, then turned to the dozen or so senior staff members standing beside him and said, "The first subject is, with the current strength of the Huarong front line, whether
Can it block the attack of the 3rd Division and the 101st Division? If not, how many days can it be defended at most?"
Xue Yue gave the subject, and a dozen senior staff members from the headquarters immediately divided into two groups and began to deduce.
The result of the deduction is that Huarong's existing troops cannot stop the attack of the 3rd and 101st Divisions, and if they can persist for up to five days, Jingzhou will fall after five days!
"Five days?" Xue Yue frowned and said, "What if the defenders from Changde and Yueyang are transferred up?"
A senior counselor replied: "If the four armies stationed in Changde and Yueyang can be transferred to the front line of Huarong, they can hold it for at least half a month. However, sir, please forgive me for speaking frankly, the headquarters will not agree to move Changde to Huarong."
The defenders on the Yueyang front line are transferred to the Huarong front line, especially Yueyang, which is the southern gate of Wuhan! Once the Yueyang defenders are transferred to Huarong, and the Japs turn around and take Yueyang, the southern gate of Wuhan will be opened!"
Wu Yizhi echoed: "Yes, sir, the garrison in Yueyang cannot be moved, and there are not many garrison in Changde. Even if they are mobilized, it will be a drop in the bucket and will not help the situation. Therefore, I thought that the next move should be given up immediately."
Phase offensive, quickly return to the battlefield in Hunan, threatening the third, behind the 101st Division!"
Wu Yizhi's idea is very simple. The little devils are going to fight for their lives. Let's not be like them. We should quickly withdraw the main force of the First Corps to Hunan and threaten the Third Division and the 101st Division. In this way, the Japanese army's third
The 101st Division could only retreat and huddle up to protect itself.
Most importantly, there is enough time.
In four or five days, the main force of the First Corps will be able to return to Hunan.
"It's too late." Xue Yue shook his head and said, "Chief of Staff, it's now, even if we return to Hunan, the Little Devil's Third Division and the 101st Division will never shrink back to where they were.
What's more, now that the troops have been fully deployed and are completely entangled with the 27th Division, they cannot withdraw even if they want to."
Wu Yizhi immediately fell silent, because what Xue Yue said was indeed a big problem.
Xue Yue then said to the staff: "The second subject, with the current situation, can we defeat or even completely annihilate the Japanese 27th Division? If so, how many days will it take at most?"
Xue Yue gave the second war game deduction subject, and the staff of the headquarters became busy again.
This time the deduction was even longer, and it took more than an hour before the results were finally obtained.
"Commander!" A major general, a senior staff officer, reported, "After deduction, we all agree that with the current situation, it will be difficult for our Corps to completely annihilate the 27th Division of the Japanese Army, but it will be difficult to defeat the 27th Division.
There is no problem at all, and it will definitely not take more than five days. Within five days, our corps will be able to defeat the Japanese army! It’s just..."
"Just what?" Xue Yue frowned and said, "Don't be hesitant and say what you have to say."
"Yes." Major General Gao Shen stood at attention and continued, "But there is a premise, that is, Jiujiang must not be lost within five days! If Jiujiang is lost before the 27th Division is defeated,
, then the Japanese reinforcements coming from the direction of Jiujiang will arrive quickly, and our army's goal will be defeated."
"I know." Xue Yue nodded heavily, "It's also five days, right?"
"Yes, five days!" Major General Gao Shen nodded heavily and added, "Judging from the results of the war game, the Japanese army will be able to capture Jingzhou City in five days at most, and our army will also defeat the 27th Division. But
, As for how many days it will take at least, it’s impossible to say with certainty because there are too many uncertain factors.”
After all, war is not an exercise, and there are many factors that cannot be calculated on paper.
"Then we can only leave it to God to judge." Xue Yue slammed his fist on the wall and said, "If the Japanese capture Jingzhou first, then the Battle of Wuhan will be a huge defeat. But if we first
Defeat the 27th Division, then the Japs will lose the Battle of Wuhan, I'm betting on this!"
Listening to what Xue Yue said, Wu Yizhi felt his heart pounding.
With such a big bet, Wu Yizhi felt like he was almost out of breath.
Wu Yizhi murmured twice, intending to say something, but no sound came out.
"Chief of Staff!" Xue Yue turned around and ordered Wu Yizhi, "Call the headquarters immediately and ask the headquarters to immediately dispatch half of the defenders from Changde and Yueyang to reinforce Huarong. We must defend Huarong no matter what, for at least ten days!
"
"Ah?" Wu Yizhi asked in confusion, "Maintain, wasn't the war game just five days?"
"Only ten days." Xue Yue said without any doubt, "Telegram to the headquarters to hold Huarong for at least ten days!"
Xue Yue knew very well about his colleagues in the army. If you asked him to stay for five days, he would definitely give you a half discount. He would only stay for three days, not even one more day. If you asked them to stay for ten days, they would give you a half discount for exactly five days.
After a slight pause, Xue Yue continued: "Also, I will send a telegram to the 799th Regiment of the 133rd Division to defend Jiujiang for at least five days no matter what!"
"Ah?" Wu Yizhi became more and more puzzled, "The main seat, isn't it ten days?"
"Yes, it's not ten days, just say five days." Xue Yue smiled and said, "There is no need to beat the drum hard. For Xu Rui, there is no need to deal with the empty ones. If you say five days, he will definitely keep it for five days!"
