After listening to Chen Cheng's analysis, Chairman Jiang finally calmed down.

Bai Chongxi made a tactful suggestion, hoping that Chiang Kai-shek could hand over the command of the Lanfeng Battle to Xue Yue, and not continue to command remotely in Wuhan. Chiang Kai-shek agreed, and He Yingqin took the opportunity to give Gui Yongqing a chance to redeem his merits and atone for his crimes, so that his command army could counterattack Lanfeng, and Chiang also agreed.

After receiving a telegram from the commander-in-chief in Kaifeng, Xue Yue immediately formulated a combat plan for the five-way siege.

The first route was Li Hanhun's army and Yu Jishi's 74th army attacked from east to west from Shangqiu, blocking the way for Tufeiyuan division to flee east;

On the second route, Sun Tongxuan's army advanced from Hezexi, and Shang Zhen's army crossed the Yellow River in the east, cutting off the way for the Tufeiyuan Division to retreat north;

On the third route, Hu Zongnan's 17th Army attacked from Kaifeng from west to east;

On the fourth route, Song Xilian's 71st Army went from south to north from Qi County;

On the fifth route, Gui Yongqing Army, Long Muhan RR Division and Qiu Qingquan Assault Army's first column directly switched from Luowang Station to counterattack.

In an instant, 200,000 people from the 18th division of the five national army and an independent cavalry brigade rushed over from all directions to the Dohira Division that had just captured Lanfeng. Kenji Dohira was confused about this. In the good news sent to the L army headquarters and the North China Front Army headquarters, he even shouted shamelessly that he wanted to capture Kaifeng within two days.

Chairman Jiang kept his word this time, and there was no command from Xue Yue. He even sent a handwritten order to more than a dozen commanders, commanders and division commanders participating in the Lanfeng Battle: This Lanfeng Battle is related to the entire anti-Japanese war. Hu, Li, Yu, Gui, and Song armies should follow the tasks shown by Commander-in-Chief Xue Yue and wipe out the enemy in Lanfeng. If anyone is afraid or ineffective in attacks, he will be punished according to the law. If Jianshuxun or the enemy who has the most captured in the battle, he will be awarded special rewards and I hope that his troops will not violate the requirements.

When Song Xilian received the order from Chiang Kai-shek, he had just led the main force of the 71st Army to Qi County.

The three tiger generals of Zhang Zhizhong and his group, Sun Yuanliang, were sent to the military court for abandoning the division and fleeing in the defense of Nanjing, and Wang Jingjiu was also dismissed for making trouble during the training in Luoyang. Song Xilian has now become the only remaining general of Zhang Zhilian. Because Song Xilian fought bravely and bravely in Nanjing, he was highly valued by Jiang. Zhang Zhizhong's three major Imperial Brigade Divisions, the 87th Division and the RR Division of the Old Five Army were all classified as Song Xilian's 71st Army.

However, the RR division is not under Song Xilian's command, but was temporarily assigned to Gui Yongqing's army by He Yingqin. This is also a common phenomenon in the national army. Even Chiang Kai-shek often did this. One reason was that there was a difference in closeness and distance, and the other was to check and balance, it created many contradictions out of thin air, which objectively intensified the tendency between various factions.

Because the RR division was assigned to the army, Song Xilian had a great view of Gui Yongqing. When the Doiyuan Division had just captured Heze and seriously threatened Shangqiu's side, Xue Yue originally wanted Song Xilian to defend Lanfeng from the 71st Army. Song Xilian also transferred Long Muhan's dR division first. As a result, Gui Yongqing happened to escape from Dangshan. Out of the consideration of atonement for his sins, he "voluntarily" assumed the responsibility of guarding Lanfeng. Of course, Xue Yue refused. As a result, the Military Commission ordered it directly, and even the RR division of Long Muhan, who had just driven from Qi County to Lanfeng, was temporarily assigned to Gui Yongqing's army.

In Song Xilian's view, Gui Yongqing was simply a cowardly man who picked fat and gained weight and bullied the weak and feared the strong. The army lost his face in Dangshan and wanted to save his reputation in Lanfeng. So he took the initiative to volunteer in Lanfeng, insisting on guarding Lanfeng. What was the result? As soon as the Japanese came over, he ran away again.

According to Song Xilian's original intention, he really didn't want to go to Lanfeng to wipe Gui Yongqing's butt. However, Chairman Jiang just sent him a private warrant. The head of the warrant was directly the word Yinguo. Yinguo was Song Xilian's character "大天". When Chairman Jiang called his subordinates a word Yinguo, there were generally only two situations.

One is the case like Han Fuqu. Chiang Kai-shek expressed his words in front of him, and when he turned around, he asked someone to deal with Han Fuqu.

The other is to express your support. Chiang Kai-shek usually refers to the words of expressing his subordinates. Here are two situations. One is to purely appreciate and appreciate without taking others. The other is to make sacrifices. Song Xilian understands that he belongs to the second situation, not the first one.

Lao Jiang’s meaning is already very obvious. The 71st Army must participate in the Lanfeng Battle and must be fought well.

However, Song Xilian was not optimistic about the upcoming Battle of Lanfeng. Although the Japanese army in Lanfeng had only one division, he was one of the seventeen permanent divisions of Japan. Although the national army besieged the Japanese army had 18 divisions, its combat effectiveness was of varying quality and its command system was even more disordered, especially Gui Yongqing, a bad sheep.

Jiang Fusheng, the commander of the 36th Division, had the same concerns as Song Xilian, and said, "Military throne, are not afraid of other low-ranking positions, but I am afraid that Gui Yongqing, a long-legged man, will have another chance at the critical moment. There are people in the center, He Yingqin and Chen Cheng will talk to him, but who will we look for then? If the battle in Lanfeng is not good, the board will be overtaken by us."

Shen Fazao, the commander of the 87th Division, also echoed: "That's right, if you want me to say, Yu Qian, don't go."

"The old man has already spoken, and his wording is unprecedentedly stern. How dare you not go?" Song Xilian glared at Jiang Fusheng coldly, Shen Fazao glanced at him and said, "Okay, hurry up and gather the troops and set off overnight."

When the 71st Army set sail from Qi County overnight, the 74th Army also set sail from the Dangshan front line.

After a night of marching, most of the 74th Army arrived at a market town near Shangqiu, where there were no people. Yu Jishi ordered the troops to rest on the spot and leave after breakfast. The people in eastern Henan were still very enthusiastic. Every household opened its doors and welcomed the Kuomintang army to make fires and cook. Many farmers with surplus grains also took the initiative to donate the grain stored in their homes.

Of course, the officers and soldiers of the 74th Army did not enter the market to disturb the people, but just stayed quietly outside the market.

Gao Shenxing sat down beside Xu Shijiu, and said in a suppressed voice: "Captain, do you think we can really destroy the 14th Division of the Japanese in Lanfeng this time?"

Xu Shijiu broke off a piece of bread and chewed it hard in cold water without saying a word.

Gao Shenxing said to himself: "If you want me, there is no chance. Don't think that we have the advantage of our troops and in fact, it has formed a four-sided siege against the Doihara Division, but it is difficult for all the troops to join the war to join forces, especially Gui Yongqing. As long as he gets involved in anything, he will be done, I really don't know what Commander-in-Chief Xue thinks."

Xu Shijiu didn't say anything, but Shu Tongwen took over the conversation and said, "Xue Yue is afraid that he doesn't want Gui Yongqing to come in and get involved, but he can't stand him as a disciple of the emperor. There are people in the central government, so Xue Yue is afraid that he can't help but he is afraid."

Gao Shenxing sighed and said sadly: "That's why I said that the National Army has no hope."

Li Zihan came over with porridge, sat on the other side of Xu Shijiu and asked Gao Shenxing: "What do you mean is that if China wants to win the War of Resistance, it can only rely on the Communist Party?"

Since Li Zihan returned to the team due to injury, she has become more active as if she has become a different person.

Gao Shenxing and Shu Tongwen often gathered together to discuss some issues, such as why China was backward in modern times, why the Kuomintang army repeated the mistakes of the Beiyang army, and factional tendencies appeared. Xu Shijiu generally did not comment, but after Li Zihan recovered from injury, he quickly joined the discussion between the two.

Sometimes, artillery company commander Hu Jie would also join the discussion.

The four people were divided into two distinct factions. Gao Shenxing and Shu Tongwen believed that the most fundamental reason why the Kuomintang army was defeated repeatedly was that the National Government had completely corrupted and the army had become seriously warlord. Even if they won the War of Resistance Against Japan, as long as Chairman Chiang had a good fortune, China would immediately return to the dark era of warlord melee, just like more than 20 years ago, when Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang Army, died, the Beiyang Army immediately split.

Li Zihan and Hu Jie have another opinion. The two believed that the Kuomintang army was essentially different from the Beiyang army. There were factions in the Kuomintang army, but they were far from warlords. Moreover, both of them highly praised Chairman Chiang and firmly believed that Chairman Chiang would definitely lead the Chinese military and civilians to win the War of Resistance and give China a new future.

A small 19th brigade has almost become a microcosm of the factional battle between the National Army.

Xu Shijiu generally would not intervene in such a discussion, but he did not suppress it.

Li Zihan then asked: "Lao Gao, don't you really think that only the Communist Party can save China, right?"

Only the Communist Party can save China. The four people proposed by Shu Tongwen in a "ideological confrontation". This was also the conclusion that Shu Tongwen came to after several months of thinking. This was a bit shocking at the time. Although Xu Shijiu didn't say anything on the surface, he actually disagrees in his heart, because the Communist Party's strength was very weak at that time, and even the optimistic strategic master dared not assert that the Communist Party could save China.

Gao Shenxing also does not think that the Communist Party has the ability to save China.

"Not that." Gao Shenxing shook his head and said, "Although the tactics of the Communist guerrillas are flexible, their strength is still very weak after all. It is just a disease of scabies for the Japanese army. If the Japanese army really wants to turn the gun from frontal attack to clear the enemy behind, they are afraid that they will not be able to hold on immediately."

Li Zihan said: "In other words, should we rely on the national army in the War of Resistance?"

"At this stage, we must be able to rely on the national army, but do you think the national army can withstand the attack of the Japanese?" Gao Shenxing asked back, and sighed, "In fact, if the national army did not have so many factions and if Chiang Kai-shek didn't like to command blindly, this war could have been better, and the situation would have collapsed so much now."

"I don't agree with your statement." Li Zihan disagreed. "The reason why the War of Resistance Against Japan was like this, the fall of a large area of ​​land in Northeast China, North China and East China was not because of someone's reason, nor simply because of military reasons, but because China lost to Japan in its comprehensive national strength, especially industrial basis."

Gao Shenxing shut up and stopped talking. He knew that he could not convince Li Zihan, just like Li Zihan, it was impossible for him to convince him and Shu Tongwen. Fortunately, such a debate did not affect the unity of the 19th Brigade. Although there were only more than one hundred people left, the morale of the 19th Brigade was not disintegrated. As long as they needed, they could still pull it out.
Chapter completed!