Imperial envoy!
Meng Shaoyuan knew that his "special observer" was actually the imperial minister, even in a certain sense. The representative is the chairman.
But he was not interested at all.
Where are you about to go?
The place where the forces of all parties are most intertwined!
Japanese, Japanese, Fourth Route Army, puppet army, local armed forces, bandits, civilian security forces...
In short, there are all kinds of people.
If it's handled well, it won't be much credit.
But once there is any deviation, his future will be completely ruined.
Especially the *** and the Fourth Route Army.
Meng Shaoyuan never wanted to be involved in any partisan disputes.
All he ever thought about was how to use all his abilities to fight the Japanese in this era!
other?
He wouldn't even touch it.
The problem is, sometimes many things are beyond his control.
For example, this is the case in Zhenjiang and Shanghai.
Now I want to go to Northern Jiangsu, what should I do?
Went there and "observed" for ourselves? How to reconcile?
How to best deal with that batch of weapons?
The supplies left by Li Zongren were really a hot potato.
This commander-in-chief had always been a sworn enemy of the chairman of the committee, but it was only when the all-out war of resistance broke out and the country was about to fall that he put aside all personal grudges and became the commander-in-chief of the fifth theater, vowing to fight to the death!
However, the country's interests are the country's interests, and conflicts over the years are conflicts over the years.
He may not do what the Chairman asks him to do, and he may not stop doing what the Chairman does not ask him to do.
The chairman decided to retreat from Xuzhou. He estimated that the commander-in-chief might not be willing to obey his orders, so he specially sent Liu Fei to do his job.
On May 11, the Chairman himself discovered that the military situation in Xuzhou had changed greatly, and he was very anxious.
He had previously asked Liu Fei to formulate a plan for mobile operations, that is, once encountering a heavy encirclement by the Japanese army, he would immediately have the largest mobile deployment force withdraw at any time, and not put most of the main force on the front line.
However, Li Zongren's authorities were obsessed with it, but they did not notice the changes on the scene in time, nor did they immediately implement Liu Fei's combat deployment.
Liu Fei rushed to Xuzhou and met Li Zongren. Get straight to the point and demand immediate deployment of a retreat.
Liu Fei said: "The Chairman of the Standing Committee has ordered that in addition to leaving a unit to contain the Japanese army in Xuzhou, the main force will immediately defeat the Japanese army in eastern Shandong, northern Jiangsu, and northern Anhui. The entire army will be transferred to Henan, Hubei, and Anhui, and Xuzhou will be abandoned. Now. The situation is urgent and there can be no further hesitation!”
Li Zongren pondered for a while and said that of course he agreed to retreat, but there were still hundreds of thousands of troops fighting fiercely on the front line, and the Chinese and Japanese armies were anxious together. Liu Fei is someone who has led troops before, so he naturally knows that it is unrealistic to retreat in this situation. It is probably impossible to retreat all the troops at once.
Liu Fei had a very good relationship with Li Zongren and was usually very polite to the old officer. At this time, he was very anxious and completely ignored the courtesy. He immediately said directly and unabashedly:
"Mr. De Lin, if you don't retreat now, when the Japanese encirclement is completely formed, you won't be able to retreat even if you want to. This army of hundreds of thousands will be completely destroyed!"
Just when Liu Fei said these words, Li Zongren's headquarters received intelligence: the railway from Shangqiu to Xuzhou was cut off by the Japanese advance troops, and the country lost the main railway artery for its westward retreat.
The situation suddenly became very serious!
After all, Li Zongren was a famous warrior. After thinking about it for a moment, he immediately thought that his previous idea was wrong. As a general, try to avoid making mistakes, because once you make a mistake, many people will die.
But if you make a mistake, you should correct it immediately and try to recover the losses caused by the mistake.
Li Zongren was very clear-headed, and he immediately ordered the Fifth Theater Staff Headquarters to immediately formulate a specific retreat plan. At the same time, he immediately called all group army commanders and commanders in the theater to inform them that all units were preparing to retreat immediately, and that all retreats would begin in 1 or 2 days.
As a result, various ministries quickly made preparations. Although the time was short, it was extremely valuable for the retreating troops.
Some wounded people were moved out in advance, some heavy weapons were packed and demolished, food for breakout was prepared for each officer and soldier, and emergency training and ideological mobilization were conducted repeatedly during the breakout.
However, the problem lies in these heavy weapons and the large amount of supplies left behind that cannot be carried.
Li Zongren knew very well that the Chairman's intention was to leave these things to Yu Xuezhong, Shen Honglie, and Han Deqin, but he was unwilling to let the Chairman succeed so easily.
His idea was to simply give some of the supplies to the Eighteenth Route Army and the Fourth Route Army. For this purpose, he specially left his confidant, Xue Sixu, the director of the Attendant Office who once saved his life, to personally take charge.
Of course, he also specifically stated that in order to avoid completely offending the Chairman, the materials were divided into four and distributed equally.
The issue is……
Meng Shaoyuan couldn't laugh or cry.
My Commander Li, do you know who this Lieutenant General Xue Sixu is?
Chief Li, he is from over there.
He is also one of the highest-level intelligence workers lurking within the **!
How to do this?
Major General Hou Yongsheng, director of the Xuzhou Strategic Materials Management Office, jointly supervises the distribution of materials, but he is from the Central Government and is by no means the same person as Li Zongren.
Let your Master Meng supervise? What kind of observer do you want to be?
Your Master Meng is just a major. Are you asking a major to "observe" a lieutenant general and a major general?
Didn’t you push your Master Meng into the fire pit?
You, Commander Li, and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China will fight and fight. What does it have to do with me?
Maybe my head will fall off in Jiangsu Province.
The more Meng Shaoyuan thought about it, the more depressed he became.
"Little Master, what's wrong with you?"
Hearing that the young master was leaving Ningbo the next day, Chu Xiuyan specially prepared a farewell banquet. However, from the beginning of the banquet, he found that the young master was unhappy, so Chu Xiuyan asked tentatively.
"I'm scared."
Meng Shaoyuan answered confusedly.
Fear?
afraid of what?
Chu Xiuyan also flattered him: "Who in this world is qualified to make the young master afraid?"
"There are so many people I'm afraid of." Meng Shaoyuan sighed: "The people who can kill me can line up from Ningbo to Shanghai. Hey, I don't know if I can come back alive this time."
Gan Ning and Xu Zhu were very curious.
In their impression, no matter how difficult the task was, Director Meng was always a person who talked and laughed happily and regarded the dragon's pond and tiger's den as nothing.
Why are you so worried today?
Meng Shaoyuan took a long sip of wine: "Chu Xiuyan, do our Qing Gang have any connections in northern Jiangsu that we can use?"
"Yes." Chu Xiuyan said without any time to think: "Xu Baoshan, the king of Northern Jiangsu at that time, was from the Qinggang, and he was a close friend of the old man Jinghu. After Xu Baoshan was assassinated, his disciples had four heroes and eight heroes, and they were all human beings. Among the dragons and phoenixes, it's just that in these years, they have died and retreated, and only one of the four heroes is left, "A Dragon across the River" Xiao Fugen.
This Xiao Fugen is now nominally in charge of the Northern Jiangsu Youth Gang and has a strong reputation. Because his old man Xu Baoshan was assassinated by the revolutionaries, he was very resentful and never cooperated with the government. After the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he refused the invitations of all factions and formed a team by himself, calling himself ' Destroy the Japanese governor'. "
what?
A dragon crossed the river and destroyed the Japanese governor. What is this and what?
Meng Shaoyuan had always looked down on these gang members before, but as time went by, he himself became the "little prince" of the Qinggang.
Moreover, there are some things that require the help of these Youth Gang members.
Meng Shaoyuan adjusted his mood: "Is this person reliable?"
"Quite reliable." Chu Xiuyan immediately said: "This man respects his teachers, is loyal, and is not afraid of death. Because of his relationship with the old man Xu Baoshan and the old man Jinghu, he has three festivals and two lives. No matter how busy he is, he must send someone to Shanghai. Give a gift to Mr. Jinghu."
Meng Shaoyuan's mind quickly turned away: "If I go to Northern Jiangsu, how will I find this person?"
"Master, please wait a moment."
Chu Xiuyan called a person in from outside and introduced: "This person is my disciple Chang Chizhou. Usually Xiao Fugen and I have important matters to discuss. If it is not convenient for me to come forward, I send him there."
After finishing speaking, he turned to Chang Chizhou and said: "Lao Jiu, from now on, you will follow the young master, both in front and behind the horse. If the young master asks you to die, you are not allowed to have any objections!"
Chang Chizhou said without thinking: "Young master, I have something to do, but please give me your instructions."
Meng Shaoyuan nodded: "Where does Xiao Fugen usually hang out?"
"Not necessarily." Chang Chizhou immediately replied: "The original base camp was located in Funing. Later, the Japanese army occupied Yancheng. Xiao Fugen led his troops to retreat, and his whereabouts were erratic and unknown."
"Then how do you contact him?"
"Xiao Fugen has been operating in northern Jiangsu for a long time. He has secret outposts in various cities in northern Jiangsu. It is not particularly difficult for our people to contact him."
Meng Shaoyuan pondered there for a while: "Okay, you and I will leave together tomorrow. After entering the territory of northern Jiangsu, we must find Xiao Fugen in the shortest possible time."
"Understood, young master."
Chu Xiuyan seemed a little uneasy: "Little Master, from your tone, it seems that this trip to Northern Jiangsu is extremely dangerous. Why don't you let me accompany you? We can take care of each other!"
"You?" Meng Shaoyuan looked at him and sighed deeply: "What happened this time, even if a hundred thousand disciples of the Qing Gang are by my side, whoever should lose his head will still lose his head."
The people on the side were all stunned when they heard this.
What is it that sounds so sinister in the young master's mouth?
Meng Shaoyuan did not explain any more to them: "Everyone, this trip to Ningbo was a great success. Originally, you should have been rewarded for your meritorious service. However, the summit suddenly added another task. Time is tight, and the reward is only Let’s talk about it after we can return to Shanghai, of course, only if I, Meng, have the life to go back alive.”
"The little master is blessed with good luck and good fortune. I think everything will be fine."
Chu Xiuyan listened on the side and quickly flattered him.