Chapter 83: Attitude
Starting from April 2, the gunfire in the Zhengxian and Nanyang battlefields gradually died down. The Japanese army was unable to maintain a sustained offensive, and the Chinese army, which had suffered heavy casualties in the defense, was unable to counterattack for a while. At this time, there was only one way for the Japanese side to break the deadlock, and that was to draw enough troops from the Kwantung Army to join the battlefield in the interior.
However, the Kwantung Army, which was accustomed to acting independently, could not be dispatched at will by the central military. Moreover, there were two completely different opinions in Japan at that time, namely, advancing southward and advancing northward. This also exacerbated the disagreement among the Japanese high-level officials on the direction of the war. As a result, the Zhengxian and Nanyang battles, which were half-fought, had to be awkwardly suspended in mid-air.
Since the Kwantung Army could not hold on, the China Expeditionary Army could only hope that Lieutenant General Marube and Lieutenant General Ichiro's 11th Army could break the situation on the southern front.
However, since the Chinese air force focused on attacking the Pinghan Road transportation line and the Chinese armed forces behind enemy lines repeatedly attacked the three passes of Yiyang, the 11th Army was unable to quickly deploy a large number of troops to the Xinyang direction. Therefore, Lieutenant General Yuan could only focus the attack on the Sui-Zao Corridor.
As late as 12:00 noon on April 4, nearly 10,000 Japanese troops arrived west of Sui County.
However, the reckless resistance of the Chinese Fourth and First Corps meant that the Japanese army's progress could only be described as snail-paced. At this juncture, the Guxian Detachment refused to break out of Zaoyang City in order to cooperate with the reinforcements to attack the Chinese side from the front and back.
Although Lieutenant General Yuanbe was furious at the choice of Major General Gu Xianyi, he loudly rebuked him in the telegram, but the Osaka Division, which acted on its own, remained unmoved, so that the Japanese troops who were ordered to rescue them also felt dissatisfied, so they took the initiative to slow down the pace of the attack. "President, the main force of the Japanese army is now trapped in Henan and northwestern Hubei."
Seeing the main force of the Japanese army moving westward, Chen Cheng, commander-in-chief of the Fourth War Zone, sensed an opportunity, so he hastily drew up a battle plan and came to meet with Chiang Kai-shek.
"It is impossible to get rid of it in a short period of time. The central government may be able to use this opportunity to retake Nanchang and Fuzhou."
"Brother Ci Xiu, someone suggested to me that now is the best time to weaken the northwest."
Chiang Kai-shek, wearing a plain cloth gown, frowned.
"If the central government intervenes at this time, wouldn't it be like taking advantage of the situation for the northwest? Besides, the international situation may change drastically. The British have cut off the Burma Road. The central government has almost no foreign aid and does not have enough ammunition for several major wars. We should be extremely cautious in everything."
Chen Cheng was speechless in response to Chiang Kai-shek's response, but Xue Yue, the acting commander-in-chief of the Fourth War Zone who came with Chen Cheng, was the one who actually proposed the original plan. Facing Chiang Kai-shek's suspicion at this moment, he had to respond: "President, it is probably just a delusion to weaken the Northwest with the help of the Japanese invaders."
Xue Yue's words were shocking, and Chiang Kai-shek was obviously a little surprised, so he said to Xue Yue: "Brother Bo Ling, please tell me in detail."
"It seems that the northwest is confronting the Japanese army, but a glance at the map will reveal that even if the Japanese army captured Zhengxian, it would be impossible for them to further invade Hezhong. Even Nanyang and northwestern Hubei are useless to the Japanese invaders with limited manpower."
Xue Yue explained.
"To put it bluntly, the current predicament of the Northwest is actually that the Northwest is consuming miscellaneous brands and strengthening the main line, creating an image in the international community that the Northwest is the leader of China's anti-Japanese war."
Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's intention, Chen Cheng also added: "I think the battles in Zhengxian and Nanyang in the northwest are actually a bloodletting tactic. The full-scale war of resistance has been going on for four and a half years. From a manpower perspective, the Japanese are already having a hard time continuing. At this time, it is very necessary for the central government to fight one or two major battles. This will not only boost the morale of the army and the people, but also establish the central government's image in the international community. It can also use the excuse of fighting against Japan to obtain some military supplies from the northwest."
Chiang Kai-shek interrupted Chen Cheng's unfinished words with his hand, and then sat there to think.
In fact, Chiang was very clear about the combat effectiveness of his own troops and knew that it was impossible to defeat the Japanese in a major battle.
But Chen Cheng and Xue Yue also made it clear that foreigners value strength. If the Guiyang National Government is unable to cope with the Japanese attack, the foreigners will naturally not recognize the name of the Guiyang Central Government. Once the name of the Central Government is lost.
Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but shook his head .
"Brother Ci Xiu, is there any new progress in Yang Jie's work in Moscow? When can the Soviet Union provide new assistance?"
"President, Yang Jie sent a telegram from Moscow saying that the situation in the Soviet Union has been quite strange recently. Several Soviet high-level officials in charge of the Sino-Soviet aid negotiations have expressed different opinions. It is obvious that they have not reached a consensus internally. Therefore, it seems that there is no possibility of obtaining further Soviet aid in the short term."
"What's the point of people below having different opinions? The key lies with Stalin."
Chiang Kai-shek criticized with some regret.
"This Yang Gengguang always has a scholarly temper at critical moments."
After reprimanding Mr. Yang who was not present, Chiang Kai-shek asked again.
"Is it possible to negotiate with the Northwest for 50 million grains of ammunition?"
Xue Yue rushed to answer: "If the Central Committee can counterattack Nanchang in a short period of time, I believe the Northwest will definitely be willing to bleed."
"Brother Bo Ling, don't be so sure. Let's send someone to contact Xibei first."
Chiang Kai-shek glanced at Xue Yue indifferently. Chiang Kai-shek always believed that this general who was born as Sun Yat-sen's guard was not a direct descendant and could not be used with confidence. Now it seems that his concerns were more true.
"As for the plan to counterattack Nanchang, I'm afraid the forces of the Fourth War Zone alone may not be enough. So let the Third War Zone join in. Either we don't fight, or we must recover Nanchang in one fell swoop."
"Brother Ci Xiu, what does the president mean by this?"
After leaving Chiang's official residence and sitting in Chen Cheng's car, Xue Yue spoke with some dissatisfaction.
"If we really want to launch the Battle of Nanchang, we must quickly mobilize troops and launch a surprise attack while the Japanese army has no time to react. But now, on the one hand, we have to negotiate with the Northwest, and on the other hand, we let Zhu Shaoliang get involved. The whole city is in turmoil before the battle even starts. Are they worried that Japanese spies will not be able to intercept our army's combat intelligence?"
Chen Cheng certainly knew that the Japanese army had a complete spy network in Guizhou, Hunan and other places, but out of loyalty to Chiang, he could not accuse Chiang of deliberately making the originally top-secret counterattack plan known to the world. He just persuaded Xue Yue, "Brother Bo Ling, the president is also thoughtful. After all, the combat power of the Japanese army is far superior to ours, and we must be careful. Besides, our counterattack in Nanchang is to improve the military and political situation of the central government, not to fish in troubled waters in the northwest. If we really lose hundreds of thousands of people, it will not be worth the loss."
"If the Japanese army knows the opportunity and withdraws from Zhengxian and Nanyang first, then we will be making wedding clothes for the northwest in vain."
"Brother Bo Ling, wouldn't it be great if this situation really happened?"
Chen Cheng said this in a hypocritical way.
"It shows that the central government's strategy of surrounding Wei to save Zhao has been effective. The Northwest should accept the central government's favor. If the central government wants anything from the Northwest, it can ask for it."
"The Northwest has long had the ambition to replace the Central Government. Do you accept my request?"
Xue Yue sneered.
“It is far less useful than the central government showing its power.”
"Brother Bo Ling is not unaware of the difficulties faced by the Central Government."
Chen Cheng knew that what Xue Yue said made sense, but the actual situation made him sigh.
"The central government can only fully control the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou. Guizhou is well-known for its poverty, and Yunnan has disloyal local forces. It will be difficult for the president to guarantee the needs of hundreds of thousands of troops with such a weak economy."
Hearing what Chen Cheng said, Xue Yue was extremely unwilling, but could only sigh. He could not even count on Yang Hucheng, and Dai Jiliang naturally would not expect any help from Chiang Kai-shek, but for Zheng County.
Dai Jiliang was not worried about the Battle of Nanyang. It was nothing more than a battle of attrition. At worst, he could abandon Zhengxian and retreat westward. He believed that with the strength of the Northwest Air Force, the Japanese army's so-called opening of the Pinghan Road traffic was just a joke.
Since he was confident, Dai Jiliang naturally would not focus all his attention on the front battlefield. For this reason, he called in Major General Shen Ruimin, then Director of the Liaison Department: "Zhefu, have you noticed the recent international situation?"
Dai Jiliang's words were incoherent, but Major General Shen, who graduated from the second term of the Northwest Army School, quickly responded: "Your Excellency, are you referring to the remarks about advancing southward that have appeared in Japan?"
"That's right."
Dai Jiliang nodded.
"After the disastrous defeat in Europe, Britain was forced to withdraw its forces from its colonies, which gave the Japanese the possibility of occupying the resource-rich areas of Southeast Asia. Of course, there are still different opinions in Japan, but we cannot help but consider the possibility that Japan will do something desperate."
From the perspective of a prophet, Dai Jiliang knew that Japan would sooner or later come into conflict with Britain and the United States, but this time and space had already deviated to a certain extent from Dai Jiliang's previous life, so Dai Jiliang could not infer the process of this time and space based on the results of a different time and space. Therefore, he could only analyze based on the information known now.
According to public information obtained by the Foreign Affairs Office from Japan and the Japanese-occupied areas, although Britain was forced to compromise with Japan on issues such as the Burma Road under pressure from Germany, the United States, which stayed out of the world war, did not want to see Japan dominate the Western Pacific.
Therefore, as early as September 26, 1940, the United States implemented a containment policy against Japan, banning the sale of steel and scrap iron to Japan.
Faced with strong signals from the United States, divisions within Japan have further widened, with those who advocate for expansion to the south and those who advocate for expansion to the north each holding their own views, and Japan's national policy is far from being implemented.
"The overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia have made great contributions to the Northwest. Therefore, we cannot watch them suffer in a possible war. In addition, if Japan really invades Southeast Asia, it will inevitably shake the rule of the British and French colonists in the region."
Dai Jiliang's expression was very serious.
"It can be expected that once the British and French colonial rule collapses, the wave of independence in Southeast Asia will be unstoppable. Therefore, whether during the war or after the war, in order to ensure the interests of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, we must make arrangements in advance, and I hope that the diplomatic corps can assume its main responsibility for this."
"Please rest assured, Your Excellency. The Liaison Office will definitely send elite troops to Southeast Asia to lead the war of resistance."
The Liaison Office has always had a base in Nanyang, and there is no shortage of connections.
"But arms and other things may not be easy to transport."
Dai Jiliang didn't care about the details and just ordered: "Figure it out on your own."
"Yes, we'll figure it out ourselves."
Major General Shen was not discouraged. After all, Dai Jiliang would not assign such an easy task to the Liaison Office.
"However, Your Excellency, please allow the Liaison Office to dispatch two teams of Dragon Fang to Nanyang."
"Okay. I'll give you a note. You can go to Chairman E and ask the Military Commission to send veteran soldiers and officers from Nanyang to the south."
Dai Jiliang gave a meaningful instruction.
"One or two dragon teeth are far less effective than ten or twenty thousand gun barrels."
