After a brief rest in the mall, the 4 divisions of the 78th Group Army advanced towards northern Hubei and western Anhui, while the Mountain Division and the First Division pursued towards Lu'an and Anqing;
The New Fifth Division and the New Sixth Division marched into Macheng and Huanggang, while the divisions of the Japanese Eleventh Army retreated in large strides;
The two sides retreated and advanced, always maintaining a day's marching distance, and the cooperation was quite tacit. A pursuit and annihilation battle ended in the handover of the defense zone, and only a ceremony was needed.
This makes the tiger boy, who is preparing to take advantage of the fishermen's advantage, rejoice in vain;
Although the Eleventh Army lost one and a half divisions, the main force is still there. Anyone who fights with them will pay a heavy price.
What the 78th Group Army wants is the Dabie Mountains and the old base areas in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui. The withdrawal of the Japanese civilization will not only be beneficial to the troops in taking over the base areas as soon as possible, but also to the people in the old areas;
The Japanese really got into trouble. They killed people and set fires in the old areas, and it was the common people who suffered.
It's not that the 78th Group Army doesn't want to wipe out the 11th Army, but it just doesn't have the ability. They still have 2 and a half divisions in the Dabie Mountains, and 3 divisions and 3 brigades on the periphery. If they really fight, they will only destroy the old area. It's a mess, so that the tiger boy and the fisherman of the government can benefit;
If the 78th Army suffered too many casualties in a deadly confrontation with the Japanese, the Dabie Mountain base area might not be able to be saved.
It's different now. The 78th Group Army took over northern Hubei and western Anhui almost without any blood, and also obtained 25,000 prisoners of war in the war zone. It also seized a large amount of equipment and supplies. Its strength has not declined but has increased. Now it is necessary to seize the territory. Consider it carefully!
The 78th Group Army successfully took over the Dabie Mountains in one week, connecting them with Tongbai Mountain, Funiu Mountain, and Zhongtiao Mountain.
Both Jiangcheng and Jinling were exposed to the front of the 78th Group Army. The Eighth Route Army completely took the initiative in strategic offensive. Now it was someone's turn to sit still, and the iconic greetings continued.
"Niang Xipi! What are Zhao Sihu and the others doing? Are they grabbing territory?
Leaving the defense zone without permission from the government is a mutiny!
Send electricity to Zhao Sihu and order the 78th Group Army to hand over the Dabie Mountain defense area to the Fifth War Zone within ten days. Otherwise, the government will declare them as rebels and mobilize the main forces of the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth War Zones to encircle and suppress the rebels together. There must be no mistake! "
It would be fine if the 78th Army occupied Zhongtiao Mountain and Funiu Mountain. Now it dares to occupy Dabie Mountain. This has exceeded his bottom line. It is completely normal to use force.
Admiral Bai hesitated to speak. Admiral Chen wisely chose to keep his mouth shut. Only Admiral He said bravely:
"The 78th Group Army is nominally our Central Army. Zhao Sihu is a world-famous anti-Japanese general. They have just wiped out the Japanese 106th Division. If we attack them at this time, what will the people think of us?
Friends will not support it either! If a quick resolution cannot be achieved, public opinion at home and abroad will be very detrimental to the government;
Now Yanzhou has entered Yingjiang's sight. Once Yingjiang chooses to support Yanzhou, my status in Shu will be embarrassing!
I know you just want to scare Zhao Sihu, but you still have to leave some room for words, lest-"
He Jingzhi hesitated to finish the rest of the words, leaving it to him to think about, and it was easy to understand what was inside.
"Nang Xipi can't control that much anymore, Zhao Sihu must pay the price for his actions!
Just do what I want! Zhao Sihu must withdraw from western Hubei and northern Anhui. This is the bottom line. "
Seeing that he had made up his mind, He Jingzhi said no more. That was it, and the rest was not his concern.
Three days later, the national government sent a murderous telegram to the 78th Group Army. At that time, the fifth, sixth, and ninth theaters of the national government system, as well as the first theater of the Central Plains Province, began to mobilize frequently. Hundreds of thousands of troops began to mobilize. Some people start fighting if they disagree with each other.
After Zhao Sihu received the telegram, he changed his previous submissive attitude and instead telegraphed the whole country extremely forcefully;
Telling their grievances to the people across the country and even the world, the 78th Group Army annihilated 30,000 Japanese soldiers and recaptured more than 50 large and small cities, demonstrating national and military prestige.
Not only did the State Council not give rewards, but it also suppressed dissidents and mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to encircle and suppress meritorious soldiers. He, Zhao Sihu, was even more unjust than Yue Pengju!
After the announcement of Zhao Sihu's telegram, the whole country was in an uproar and the whole world was shocked. Even Franklin, who was far away across the ocean, expressed his dissatisfaction to the government through the ambassador to China;
He clearly expressed his opposition to the government's use of force against a distinguished anti-Japanese armed force at such a critical moment, and suspended a loan of 500 million eagle dollars.
A batch of supplies originally intended to be sent to Sichuan has also stopped. If the Dabie Mountain issue cannot be properly resolved, Yingjiang will freeze the supplies sent to China indefinitely.
Immediately afterwards, Yanzhou also called on both parties to calm down and not do anything that would hurt relatives and make enemies happy;
Chu Xiong, the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the Emerald Kingdom, made it clear that the 200,000-strong Chinese Expeditionary Force would not agree to anyone who initiates an internal war before the foreign enemies are eliminated.
Various democratic organizations, social sages, veterans of the Tongmenghui and other celebrities spoke out against the government's use of force to resist the Japanese soldiers.
In the end, even the internal powerful factions Li Delin, Yan Baichuan, Feng Huanzhang and others also stood up to oppose the use of force against the 78th Group Army and called for a peaceful solution to the defense zone issue.
"Nang Xipi, what do they want to do? Are they adding insult to injury?
Whose defense zone is Dabie Mountain?
Anyone can stand up to oppose this move, and Li Delin should not object either!
Who am I standing up for?
Well, since he Li Delin doesn't care, and I don't care about their bad affairs anymore, those tens of thousands of prisoners of war must be handed over to the government;
Since the Dabie Mountains are under the jurisdiction of the national government, they must accept the jurisdiction of local officials sent by the national government, and the military is not allowed to interfere in local affairs! "
The other big guys let out a long sigh after hearing this. This was obviously a step down for themselves. As long as they didn't declare the 78th Army to be a rebel, everything would be easy to handle;
There are solutions. If we don't engage in civil war at this time when the nation's survival is at stake, everything can be solved.
He originally wanted to take this opportunity to get some benefits, at least the 30,000 prisoners, so that he could add two more armies to the Central Army.
Who knew that Li Delin would move faster, and before the representatives from Shuzhong set out, their people had already reached an agreement with Zhao Sihu;
On the condition that they recognized the actual control of the 78th Group Army over the Dabie Mountains, they quickly took back the 78th Group Army from Zhao Sihu. The more than 30,000 prisoners they helped collect were handed over to the Fifth War Zone along with their people and equipment.
After the 78th Group Army's move was reported by reporters, it won support from all walks of life across the country. Li Delin received more than 30,000 troops, which restored the strength of the fifth theater area to a certain extent. This was also a win-win situation.
Only in Shuzhong, not only did they not get any benefits, but they also lost face. This is a typical case of stealing chickens but losing the rice;
After this god-level operation, Zhao Sihu won a great reputation. In addition, in the just-concluded Battle of Dabie Mountain, he annihilated more than 30,000 Japanese soldiers and became a famous anti-Japanese general praised by hundreds of millions of Chinese people. He was chasing Chu Xiong in the limelight. It is praised by the people as the "Red and Blue Tigers".
