Chapter 16 Chapter 3 The country is broken (5)

6 The battle of Xuzhou was not yet over, and Chiang Kai-shek hurriedly flew to Zhengzhou to convene a military meeting. The meeting was presided over by Cheng Qian, the commander-in-chief of the first war zone, and He Yingqin, the chief of the general staff, announced the "Wuhan Battle Outline" on behalf of the base camp.The participating generals were all from various battlefields in the north. They couldn't help but looked at each other in bewilderment. They didn't understand why the deployment of the Wuhan Battle was not in the Wuhan Theater in the south but in the Zhengzhou Theater in the north. Otherwise, shouldn't it be called the "Central Plains Battle" more appropriately?

Following Mr. He's reading and explanation of the outline of the base camp battle, the doubts in people's minds were gradually unraveled. It turned out that this was an overall defensive battle connecting the north and the south.If the Battle of Wuhan is compared to a dam, then the key point of this dam is not in central China but in the Central Plains, because once Zhengzhou falls, the northern Japanese army will drive straight in and attack Wuhan along the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway, so ensuring that the Central Plains are not lost is the most important thing to defend Greater Wuhan premise.For this reason, Commander-in-Chief He issued a stern order; the first war zone must center on the strategically important cities of Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, deploy defenses along the Longhai Railway, resist the enemy on the front lines of Guide (Shangqiu) and Luxi, and ensure that Wuhan's flanks are not threatened .

Chiang Kai-shek's face was solemn and his eyes were like torches. The ancients said that "the one who wins the Central Plains wins the world". It is precisely because the strategic position of the Central Plains is so important that the national government mobilized heavy troops for defense. The troops in the first theater alone amounted to 50 divisions, and the Xue Yue Corps, the main force of the Central Army, had 300,000 troops. Build multiple indestructible steel defense lines.The problem is that there is nothing to block the flat plains in the Central Plains, which is conducive to the movement and combat of the enemy's mechanized troops, so Chiang Kai-shek is deeply worried about this.That day, the chairman did not reprimand anyone harshly, but patiently told two stories to his subordinates.

One is the Battle of Taierzhuang that happened not long ago. In addition to the Central Army and the Gui Army with stronger combat effectiveness, the troops that severely damaged the Japanese elite divisions also had the Sichuan Army with the most backward weapons and equipment.At the beginning of the Sichuan Army's war of resistance against Sichuan, the lax military reputation was very poor. They were called "straw shoe soldiers" or "double gun soldiers" (rifles, bongs), so that many theaters were reluctant to accept them.However, after the Sichuan army realized its shame, it finally displayed its military and national prestige bravely, which made the people of the country look at each other with admiration.

The second story is that Japanese pirates repeatedly invaded the coast during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. These Japanese pirates fought very bravely and were good at using two swords. Their tactics were a team of 30 people, covering each other back to back, and often defeated the Ming army.General Qi Jiguang summed up the method of defeating the enemy and created a "mandarin duck battle formation"; twelve people form a team, three teams form a sentry, each team has four spearmen, four rattan players, and "wolf sticks" (a kind of The weapon to remove obstacles) has two hands, and "■ palladium" (a kind of firearm) has two hands.This kind of battle formation requires every soldier to have a brave spirit, obey iron discipline, and closely cooperate with advancing and retreating in an orderly manner. If one person retreats or escapes without authorization, it will inevitably lead to a gap in the battle formation and fail.Later, this kind of "mandarin duck battle" really won a big victory, and the Japanese pirates disappeared and dared not commit another crime.

The chairman's face gradually became serious. He said that the Sichuan army, which had outdated weapons, was still able to win the battle. At least it shows that first, the Japanese are not invincible; second, all of you can do the same.Let me tell you, I am here to be General Qi this time, and you are all my "Mandarin Duck Battle Formation". Back then, General Qi set the iron law that if soldiers retreat, they will be killed immediately; if officers retreat, soldiers will be punished.If the position is lost, the general will be dismissed; if the enemy is killed, the whole team will be rewarded.Just take this discipline as my pre-war instruction from Chiang Kai-shek.

All the generals stood in silence, all of them were shocked. They had no doubt that this was a military order and a statement of life and death issued by the chairman.A few months ago, Han Fuju, who was known as the "King of Shandong", was removed from his post and brought to justice, and then executed in public on the charge of "ineffective defense of the War of Resistance". This is the power of an iron fist. A bodyguard hurried over to ask the chairman to listen to the phone. When Chiang Kai-shek returned to the venue, there was a ray of beaming sunshine on his originally cloudy face.The generals all speculated that maybe there should be some good news, otherwise the always unpredictable chairman would never be so happy.

Sure enough, Chiang Kai-shek announced an exciting news to the meeting. Sun Ke and Yang Jie, plenipotentiaries of the Nationalist Government, called from Moscow. The Soviet government announced that it would provide the Nationalist Government with the first loan of 50 million U.S. dollars, all of which would be used to purchase Soviet-made arms. Including combat aircraft, tanks, artillery, and light and heavy machine guns that China urgently needs.This is the largest amount of international aid the Chinese government has received since the Anti-Japanese War, and the Soviets also generously accepted the Chinese government to repay the loan with agricultural products and ore raw materials.For the Chinese government and the military and civilians who were struggling to fight the war, this important aid was tantamount to sending charcoal in a timely manner. It is no wonder that even the chairman of the committee, who is usually unsmiling, was excited and couldn't help but feel happy.

In fact, the Soviet government soon increased the loan amount to 250 million US dollars. Since then, until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Soviet Union has been China's largest arms lender and economic aid country during the War of Resistance.Statistics show that before the outbreak of the Pacific War, China received a total of 500 million U.S. dollars in foreign loans (not including leased materials), and the Soviet Union’s loans to China accounted for half, ranking first among all countries.And the Soviet Union gave China all arms loans, while most of the 17 loans from Western countries were limited to civilian and non-military purposes.The National Government used Soviet loans to purchase 536 Soviet-made combat aircraft, 82 tanks, 20 anti-aircraft guns, 130 anti-tank guns, 340 field guns, and 3,900 machine guns. One hundred and twenty, seven hundred and twenty-two cars, 1.05 million rounds of various artillery shells, 40.36 million rounds of ammunition, etc. (see "International Aid During the War of Resistance Against Japan", Shanghai People's Publishing House).The above-mentioned arms do not include the free military aid provided by the Soviet government.

The participants were all excited. They saw a glimmer of hope in defeating the Japanese invaders from the Soviet Union's international aid.In any case, China has a vast territory and a large population, while Japan has limited military strength. With China's human resources and continuous international aid, it is difficult for the Japanese to succeed in their aggressive ambitions. But Chiang Kai-shek did not let his generals be overly optimistic. He pointed to the northern part of Henan on the map, just across the river from Zhengzhou, where there was a blue arrow representing the Japanese attack.The chairman warned: You must not forget that the enemy will never die, and they may attack at any time.For example, the enemy occupying Puyang is very dangerous once it enters the Central Plains. You must closely monitor its movements.

He Yingqin reminded in a low voice at the side: That is the 14th Division of Kenji Doihara. Chiang Kai-shek nodded and said: Although this enemy has only one division, he may threaten our army's flanks at any time and disrupt our army's deployment. You must not take it lightly. After the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek returned to Wuhan that day. Before boarding the plane, the chairman repeatedly told his subordinates: The Longhai Railway is the lifeline of our army's defense. Once it is cut off, Zhengzhou will be in danger, and if Zhengzhou is lost, Wuhan will inevitably be lost.Please keep this in mind. The plane flew away in a blink of an eye, leaving behind an empty airport and crowds waving on the ground.