As expected, as Chiang Kai-shek decided to give up Wuhan, the main force of the Central Army, who had played against the Japanese army for several months, began to retreat 6 times. As for some high-value things in Wuhan, most of them were moved to the rear.

Perhaps it was because the Fifth War Zone was very good, which gave Chiang Kai-shek a lot of time to transfer and resettle. After the National Government made the decision to give up Wuhan, it not only transferred the materials from various cities, but also a lot of the population was transferred.

Even the Japanese army, who successfully broke through the Central Army's defense line, suddenly appeared that the county town they occupied was pitifully small. As for the materials and money that could be seized in the past, it was even more pitiful.

Many times, in order to preserve the poor people in the city, they still need to take out food to buy the people's hearts. Otherwise, their occupation of these county towns would have no effect at all.

Li Zongren, who had safely evacuated to the rear, also paid attention to the situation of He Zhengdao and the 77th Army. Regarding Chiang Kai-shek's order, it would be best to arrange these two troops to fight guerrillas in Henan, and Li Zongren also realized what Chiang Kai-shek had.

‘Did the New Sixty-Seventh Army and the Seventy-Seventh Army withdraw?’

Faced with Li Zongren's inquiry, the combat staff shook their heads bitterly and said, "General, it's probably too late to do this. According to the news we received earlier, the Japanese Third Division has successfully broken through the defense line of the 77th Army.

As for the New Sixty-Seventh Army, we have not received any useful information yet. We also sent a telegram to inquire before, but we have not received their call yet. However, General He said earlier that they will not withdraw!"

‘Yes! Compared with them, although we have preserved our strength, we have lost the people’s hearts. Xuzhou has not been saved, and Wuhan has not been saved. If this continues, how much useful territory can we have left?’

As a soldier, Li Zongren was somewhat dissatisfied with this strategic arrangement of exchanging space for time. Unfortunately, most of the truly elite troops of the Central Army are currently controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, and he also has no right to mobilize them.

Regarding Li Zongren's sigh, the combat staff also said in a timely manner: "General, our mission here can almost be announced to be over. Next, we are afraid that we will not be able to pay attention to the war here.

With the loss of Guangzhou, Guangxi will also face pressure from the Japanese. If we lose Guangxi, our fate will not be too good. Fortunately, our troops who remain in Guangxi have not lost too much at the moment!"

‘Okay, just say this in front of me, don’t say it later. But you are right. We can ignore the matter here for the time being. It is more important to keep our territory.

But I have a premonition that it is not that easy for the Japanese to annihilate He Zhengdao's troops. Compared with other troops, the Eighth Route Army is an expert in fighting guerrilla warfare. Among these mountains and ridges, the Eighth Route Army rarely suffers losses.

If the Eighth Route Army really gains a foothold in Xinyang, it is estimated that the Eighth Route Army will have the final say in the Dabie Mountains area. The troops we stayed there will not be opponents of the Eighth Route Army at all.

Forget it, if you are not in his position, you will not work for him. When I hand over the work, we will go back to Guangxi! We don’t need to pay attention to the matter here. I also want to see who is better when Hu Zongnan and He Zhengdao face each other.'

As the leader of the Guangxi clan, what Li Zongren really cares about is his foundation, Guangxi. Now the Japanese army attacked Guangzhou and successfully occupied it. The next target of the Japanese army's attack is naturally the foundation of the Guizhou army.

In order to ensure that Guangxi is not lost, Li Zongren, as the chief of the Fifth War Zone, naturally had to go back to command. As for the war here, there will naturally be Chiang Kai-shek's direct subordinates responsible for the next step.

Although Li Zongren was not very clear, what was the purpose of Chiang Kai-shek's first army transferred Hu Zongnan's first army to Xiangyang for defense? But Li Zongren believed that He Zhengdao was not so easy to be plotted.

Regarding the telegram that Li Zongren came to inquire, He Zhengdao looked at it and said, "It seems that Li Delin is still very concerned about our situation! What is the use of telegram asking now?

Forget it, I sent him a telegram and said that we were still the same as we had decided before and planned to stay here to fight guerrillas. Anyway, Chiang Kai-shek has not told us where to withdraw the defense, so how dare we retreat privately?

Compared with the 77th Army, it is still a series of the Central Army. Our new 67th Army is the unit that really reminds them of. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we are just out of their mobilization!

By the way, I sent a telegram to Li Zongren and asked him to convey to Chiang Kai-shek that our New Sixty-Seventh Army suffered heavy losses and most of the troops were disbanded. As for me, the commander of the army, I decided to take root here and fight guerrillas with the Japanese.

Since the Fifth War Zone has been temporarily disbanded, our New Sixty-Seventh Army's mission of cooperating with cooperation has also ended. From now on, our New Sixty-Seventh Army will be divided into pieces and will fight guerrillas in the Xinyang and Dabie Mountains."

Luo Ruiqing heard this and said at the right time: "Will you annoy Lao Jiang like this?"

‘What’s wrong with annoying? If he really dares to say that we are disobeying, I will make the bad things he has done to the public directly in the form of electricity. I want to see if he can block the world’s long and endless mouths.

The other troops in the Fifth War Zone had already issued an order to retreat to the rear before the Japanese army attacked Macheng. Why did we not receive the order to withdraw the defense until the Japanese army captured Macheng?

I have told Li Zongren long ago not to do something chilling in the back. Since they still want to cheat, don’t blame me for not serving me. I will send a telegram to Vice Chairman Zhou later and ask him to protest to Jiang.

In addition, we sent a telegram with Mr. Zhu and others, so that our troops bordering Henan could make our attitude more tough. Although we did not want to be people who undermine the War of Resistance, we should express our existence.

Otherwise, if we continue like this, Chiang Kai-shek will really treat us as soft persimmons. After all, he is not interested in our Eighth Route Army. We do not want to destroy the joint anti-Japanese front, not because we are afraid of him, but because we are taking the overall situation into consideration.

Now that they use such small tricks, we can also make him feel better if we hit him properly. After all, the current situation of the War of Resistance Against Japan is still not optimistic. If we are not having a good life, will their life be better?’

A word of tolerance cannot be exchanged for true respect. Appropriate toughness can also give the opponent a warning. This is He Zhengdao's counterattack attitude towards the Central Army after being cheated by this time.

After receiving a telegram from He Zhengdao, Li Zongren smiled and said, "It seems that this time, Jiang really annoyed this guy. Compared with other Eighth Route Army generals, this young man was quite angry.

In this way, the Central Army will not have another chance to transfer the Eighth Route Army troops to the south to cooperate in combat in the future. The Eighth Route Army now has the confidence to fight against Chiang Kai-shek in a real sense."

At the same time, when they received a telegram from He Zhengdao, both Mr. Zhu and Mao Taizu knew about it. This time they took the blame and should be tough. Let Chiang know that they are not really easy to bully.

Even after General Zhu contacted Mao Taizu through telegram, he quickly said: "The newly formed New First Division will be transferred to the Shangnan Front. In addition, a garrison brigade will be transferred from Ankang and Hanzhong to Xunyang, Baihe and other places to garrison."

With such an order, President Peng immediately smiled and said, "If we mobilize troops like this, I guess Chiang Kai-shek will be worried again. At that time, I am afraid that he will protest us again and want to provoke a civil war between the two parties at this time!"

‘They ignored our protests earlier. Why should we pay attention to their protests? They asked us to send troops south to cooperate in combat, and we sent the most elite troops there, but how did they do it?

At this time, their main force did not stay in Wuhan and fought with the Japanese devils, but instead arranged the troops at the throat of the two provinces. What do they want to do? What does our troops' moves and defenses have to do with them?’

In Mr. Zhu's view, although this battle in Wuhan is still defeated, from the overall situation, perhaps the end of this battle will enter the stage of confrontation between the War of Resistance.

Next, if the Japanese army wants to organize a large-scale battle, it is afraid that it will not be so easy. The most important thing is that civil uprisings and self-organized resistance are emerging one after another in the occupied areas of the Japanese army.

The more places the Japanese army occupied, the more troops they needed to disperse. But as of the current situation, the Japanese army's troops were in a situation of a bit shortage, and they did not dare to organize such large-scale battles anymore.

Another important thing is that the Eighth Route Army's attack on North China during this period also achieved very good results. Many originally separated guerrilla areas were successfully connected.

It can be said that in North China, which is occupied by the Japanese army today, except for those counties, the areas around the county are still under the control of the Japanese army, most of the areas around the county are controlled by the Eighth Route Army. The troops of the main divisions fighting behind enemy lines have been trained and their strength has been improved.

The scale of many main divisions has reached the number of the main force. The improvement of strength has made General Zhu much more confident. Since he has the confidence, what's the harm in counterattacking appropriately?

Just as Chiang felt that he had just said that he would die in a war and sent Zhou Enlai away. After receiving a telegram from the Military Control Commission, he saw that the Eighth Route Army had actually deployed heavy troops in two areas bordering it.

Such a move undoubtedly made Chiang Kai-shek very angry and even nervous. If the Eighth Route Army attacked from behind at this time, the Central Army, which was in a state of pincer attack, could be destroyed by the Eighth Route Army.

In this case, Chiang Kai-shek quickly ordered someone to come to Zhou Enlai and directly asked the Eighth Route Army if it wanted to provoke a civil war. But Zhou Enlai also said lightly: "This is just a simple army move, so the chairman does not have to worry."

Hearing Zhou Enlai's answer, Chiang Kai-shek also knew that what he had done to the New Sixty-Seventh Army had really annoyed the Eighth Route Army. So at this time, did he really dare to tear down the agreement on the Joint War of Resistance and take action against the Eighth Route Army? (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!