si-mexico Chapter 1178 Daily Income
Chapter 1178 Daily Income
While the Japanese were working to secure the Jinpu Railway, they were also sending troops westward. After capturing Nanjing, their forces began advancing into Anhui Province. The two sides are now clashing in this region.
If Li Shaoyi hadn't left, he would definitely be a formidable general in the hands of the Nationalist government. They could have ordered him to lead his troops from Hankou to the east to resist the Japanese army. With the addition of Ma Leizi's troops, Li Shaoyi could be said to be carrying the majority of the troops on the front line.
Most importantly, when you issue this order, Li Shaoyi will definitely be more than happy to take the blame for you, and you won't need to worry about weaponry, equipment, or money. Li Shaoyi is capable of handling all of these things perfectly. But unfortunately, because of your private scheming, fearing that their strength would grow too fast, they have now returned to the north. You'll have to deal with this yourself now.
Li Shaoyi remembered clearly that at this time in history, the Battle of Hankou was about to begin. The scale of troops involved in this battle was no less than that of the Battle of Shanghai.
Ultimately, although we lost Hankou, we also put the Japanese in a strategic stalemate after the battle, and they no longer had the strength to expand further. After this battle, although the Japanese advanced, most of their progress was not rapid, mainly because of the heavy losses they had suffered in the early stages.
At this moment, the Battle of Hankou had not yet begun, but the Japanese were already somewhat exhausted. More than half of the troops originally intended for the westward advance had been transferred to the north. Now, the 9th Division, which was being pushed forward by Zhang Haiguang from both sides, had already been wiped out. Zhang Haiguang's army was now devouring them like a gold-devouring beast every day, one battalion today, another tomorrow.
In terms of daily losses alone, the Japanese didn't seem to care. Could they really be concerned about a country this vast? The problem was, they were suffering these losses every day. Of course, if you lose men but achieve some results, that's understandable. But the problem was, losing men without any results—who could accept that?
The frontline commanders have already been replaced twice. The original commander was the commander of the 9th Division, but after its destruction, he was dismissed. Then the commander of the 6th Division took over, but he's also ineffective now. Continuing to change commanders isn't a good strategy for the Japanese, but it does reveal their panic.
The war could not continue in this manner; if it did, it would bring them no benefit whatsoever. Therefore, the Japanese convened a new operational conference in Nanjing, which was attended by a large number of high-ranking officials, including those from the North China Area Army.
Our personnel also began to infiltrate the meeting, but all those who could attend were Japanese generals, so even though our personnel exhausted a great deal of effort, they only managed to obtain a portion of the information in the end.
That is, the Jinpu Railway Operation Plan will continue, but it will never involve such a huge investment. Some of the troops in the north will also be withdrawn, and the troops in the south will also be put into the operation along the Yangtze River. Therefore, the pressure on Zhang Haiguang and Ma Leizi will be reduced.
Receiving this news should have been a cause for celebration for Zhang Haiguang and Ma Leizi. However, the two looked utterly dejected. "No matter how difficult things are on our side, we've persevered. You can keep pouring in more troops. My side is like a bottomless pit; no matter how many troops you send in, I can always reduce the number every day."
But what's the point of you running away now? If you just keep running west, are we supposed to keep chasing you west? Putting everything else aside, logistics is a huge problem. Although the air force can airdrop supplies, there needs to be an airfield within 500 kilometers of this area. If it's beyond 500 kilometers, the amount of supplies that can be airdropped will be reduced by half.
Moreover, once tanks and armored vehicles are lost, they are very difficult to repair on the battlefield. Even if you could airdrop spare parts, could you also airdrop the engineers from the rear? You could do that once or twice, but if you did it every day, it would be extremely disadvantageous for our side, and this kind of warfare is utterly worthless.
Although Li Shaoyi possesses a system, various losses can be mitigated for him. However, the loss of talent cannot be erased; the system cannot generate talent for Li Shaoyi, especially in the current state of China.
my country has relatively few scholars to begin with, and all the talented people come from among them. If they suffer too heavy losses on the battlefield, let alone the reconstruction work after the war, our industrial zones, which we are currently developing, may very well come to a standstill, and the industrial equipment we have worked so hard to acquire may fall into a state of being unmanned.
Therefore, long-range air support was impractical. In response to the adjustments made by the Japanese, Li Shaoyi also made some adjustments on his side.
Under the leadership of Ma Leizi, the Northern Route Army continued its resistance along the Yellow River, but was absolutely forbidden from pursuing the enemy across it. Under the leadership of Zhang Haiguang, the Southern Route Army continued its fighting in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu, aiming to annihilate the enemy's manpower, but was not allowed to cross the northern Jiangsu plain.
Li Shaoyi's strategy was very simple: although he had drawn a red line for these two men, their mission was to eliminate all the Japanese soldiers within their jurisdiction. Keep in mind that there were 70,000 to 80,000 Japanese soldiers in their respective areas. Even without continuing north or south, eliminating these 70,000 to 80,000 would already exceed their target for this year.
According to Zhang Haiguang's idea, we should split the Fourth Army in two. Ma Leizi could lead one half to hold the line in the north, while he could lead the other half south. Maybe we could even recapture Nanjing. Don't think that's impossible. As long as you fight hard enough, the Japanese troops sent up the Yangtze River won't be able to come back, and Nanjing will be ours.
Li Shaoyi had also considered retaking Nanjing, but ultimately shelved the plan. Zhang Haiguang's plan was far too risky. Even if half of the Fourth Army were handed over to him, those tens of thousands of men could very well be surrounded by more than a dozen Japanese divisions, and if they were all wiped out...