Chapter 356 4. Bai Chongxi fell into Chiang Kai-shek's "magic"

According to the deployment, our West Route Zihua Corps set off from Changde, Taoyuan and other places on September 13, and went straight to Zhijiang, the gateway of the three provinces of Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou. They occupied Yuanling on the 18th, Xupu on the 19th, and Luxi and Chenxi on the 21st. The left wing of the "Hunan-Guangdong Joint Defense Line" carefully deployed by Bai Chongxi was seriously threatened.In order to ensure the smooth flow of the Zhijiang River and the Xiangxi Highway, he transferred the 103rd Army from the area west of Yongfeng to the Huaihua area north of the Zhijiang River.

At this time, Bai Chongxi's main force, the three Guangxi armies, were still on the Guangdong-Han railway line. Among them, the 7th army was located in Hengyang, the 48th army was located from Yongxing to Leiyang, and the 46th army went deep into Lechang, Guangdong.He still has not given up his attempt to enter Guangdong. Just when the left-wing front was in crisis, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Guangzhou suddenly and invited Bai Chongxi to Guangzhou for business negotiations. On September 22, Bai Chongxi flew from Hengyang to Guangzhou, and then went to Huangpu to meet Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek called Bai Chongxi into a secret room and had a long talk behind closed doors.This long talk changed the fate of Bai Chongxi's life.Later facts proved that "Little Zhuge" still failed to count Lao Jiang, and he was deceived by Lao Jiang's "crocodile tears".

The two first exchanged their views on the current situation. Chiang Kai-shek was in tears, and his old voice immediately made Bai Chongxi restless.Later, Lao Jiang "confidentially" said in an extremely emotional tone: "Looking back at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, you became my chief of staff. The two of us were sincerely united and cooperated seamlessly, so we were able to achieve national unity. Later, the two of us parted ways, and even fought in the same room. And the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7th, we joined hands again Working together and fighting side by side, we finally achieved victory in the war of resistance. With these historical lessons, I personally believe that no matter how difficult the situation will be in the future, as long as we work together with one heart and one mind and cooperate thoroughly, there is still room for success.”

Bai Chongxi was deeply moved by Chiang Kai-shek's "heartfelt words", and "Little Zhuge" was determined to abandon his previous suspicions and cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek for the third time to turn the tide. Subsequently, Chiang Kai-shek proposed a strategy of defending the southwest: defend northern Sichuan with the southern part of Hu Zong in Shaanxi; Combined as one, the Zhang Gan Corps, Xu Qiming Corps, and Lu Daoyuan Corps took care of southern Hunan and northern Guangdong; the Liu Anqi Corps on Hainan Island transferred two armies to Guangzhou for garrison. Chiang Kai-shek's above-mentioned plan made Bai Chongxi's Central China troops take care of the four provinces of southern Hunan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong at the same time.Bai Chongxi has been delirious by Chiang Kai-shek's "magic", and he actually agreed to Chiang Kai-shek's plan.In his opinion, Lao Jiang's ambition to defend the entire Southwest is much greater than his courage to defend Guangdong and Guangxi.But he didn't realize the Achilles' heel of too wide a defensive area and scattered forces.

After Bai Chongxi walked out of the Whampoa secret room, he was completely different from when he entered. He no longer looked at the problem from the standpoint of the Guangxi faction (or the standpoint of Lao Jiang's opposition).He believes that only by supporting Chiang can the forces of the various factions of the Kuomintang be integrated and united to the outside world. After he returned to Hengyang, he found that the army on the Sinye Middle Road was also going south separately, so he ordered the two Guangxi armies distributed on the Guangdong border to go north along the Yuehan Road and gather at the line from Hengyang to Baoqing (Shaoyang).