Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 244: First Meeting with Duke De
The Fifth War Zone Command, with many generals gathered, is holding a high-level battle deployment meeting
Yue Qianli attended the meeting as the commander of the guerrilla column. Although there were many bigwigs at the meeting and he was only a regiment commander, his position was still relatively high.
He was ranked just below the Central Army boss Tang Keqin. It was said that this was decided by Commander Li himself, because he was directly under the Military Commission.

The other big guys actually had no objections. For these old guys who had emerged from the warlords' infighting, strength was the most important thing. Even a platoon leader with 4 central troops under his command could have a seat at the table.

The Fifth War Zone was mainly composed of miscellaneous troops. Some of the troops were large-scale and high-ranking, but they did not have many troops, such as Pang Bingxun's Third Corps.

General Pang is an old man of the Northwest Army. His Third Corps only has one 40th Army, and under the 40th Army there is only one 39th Division, with tens of thousands of men and guns. In terms of strength, it cannot be compared with the current 88th Division, not to mention Tang Keqin's 20th Corps, which has 7 people, all of whom are the elite of the Central Army.

The bigwigs who attended the meeting included the Fifth Theater Commander Li Delin and Deputy Commander Li Pinxian. Another deputy commander, Han Xiangfang, was absent. Those who understood understood, and those who didn’t understand didn’t know yet.

The commander of the 2nd Army Group included Sun Lianzhong, the commander of the 21st Army Group included Liao Lei, the acting commander of the 22nd Army Group included Sun Zhen, the acting commander of the 24th Army Group included Han Deqin, etc., which included the Guangxi Army, the Northwest Army, the Sichuan Army, the Northeast Army, the Central Army, etc.

They are all big men, and it's a headache to think about it. Only General Li can barely command. If someone with less experience were to take over, not to mention Commander Tang, even Pang Bingxun, who only has one division, would not be able to command.
If you can't even command the troops, what's the point of fighting a useless battle? So having more troops is not necessarily a good thing. It is better to have fewer troops than to have too many. Yue Qianli is very content. Although his regiment has only more than 4 people, he can have the final say.

Because there were too many bigwigs, Yue Qianli had been in a daze. Such military meetings were more about unifying thoughts, and practical issues were rarely involved, so he started to fish in them;

The Chief of Staff had been reading out documents, some from the National Government and some from the Fifth War Zone Headquarters. Every big boss listened very carefully, but those who understood only understood that if they heard a single word, Yue Qianli would be considered the loser. The real dry goods were all issued in confidential documents.

General Li sat in the middle of the long conference table. Since there were too many generals attending the meeting, only the big guys had seats at this table. Those less important army and division commanders could only move a chair and sit in the back, which of course made it easier for them to slack off.

It was quite a surprise that Yue Qianli, a student of the sixth class of Whampoa Military Academy, could sit at the main table. Even Guan Yudong, the army commander of the first class, was seated behind him, and there were also several division commanders of the first class on the periphery.

Admiral Li has been using his pair of tiger eyes to observe the expressions of others, just like a teacher sitting on the podium to see if there are any students secretly sleeping;
Yue Qianli glanced at General Li guiltily, and his eyes met his. He immediately straightened his military posture.

On the other hand, another Central Army boss, Tang Keqin, was different. He sat there with his arms and legs stretched out, his eyes empty, as if no one cared about him. Even General Li thought it was normal. It seemed that Yue Qianli was too young.

He still respected General Li very much. Not to mention the victory of Taierzhuang, even during the entire war of resistance, the Fifth War Zone had always been the main force of the National Army's resistance, fighting from the beginning to the end, so he did not follow Instructor Tang's example;
He also has some arrogance as a direct descendant of the Central Army, but it depends on who he is facing.

No one knew how long it had been, but it was finally General Li's turn to speak, and everyone finally focused. Although they had a lot of experience, they were still far behind General Li.

"Everyone, I will not elaborate on the importance of the Battle of Xuzhou. I will first read out a general order from the Military Commission!"

Everyone stood up and learned after listening that Deputy Commander Han Xiangfang had been arrested at the Kaifeng Military Conference on the 11th for disobeying military orders and abandoning Jinan without authorization, causing the fall of the entire Shandong Province. He was sent to a military court and then executed!

This was a deputy commander with the rank of general, and he was executed at will. People with the inside information speculated that he might have been arrested, but no one expected that he would be executed in just a few days. This completely shocked some military leaders.

In the past, during the warlords’ chaotic fighting, even if you were caught, you would be treated to good food and wine. If you were willing to surrender, you would surrender. If you were not willing to surrender, you would be released.
Not to mention a general, even a major general rarely takes action seriously. Few of the big guys present have the qualifications and strength to match Deputy Commander Han. After this incident, no one dares to take military orders lightly.

After reading the order, General Li swept his knife-like eyes around again. Everyone looked solemn, even Tang Keqin straightened his body, and Yue Qianli also stood very straight;
General Li was killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. Yue Qianli had no need to offend him, as he had the imperial sword in his hand. The government chose this critical moment to capture Han Zhengfang, and also to use his head to establish the authority of General Li, otherwise General Li would not have taken over this job.

After achieving his goal of establishing authority, General Li changed the card and said in a dignified manner:
“Everyone, a poor family produces filial sons, and a country in danger produces heroes;
Before launching the Xuzhou Campaign, the Japanese Army dispatched a division each from the North China Front Army and the Central China Front Army to launch peripheral operations on the north and south wings;

Sun Tongxuan, the commander of the 20th Division of Han Xiangfang's army, lost Jinan without firing a shot, which resulted in the loss of the entire Shandong province in just a few days!

Yue Qianli's troops of the Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column, which were fighting in Wuhu on the southern front, faced the four-pronged attack of the 13th and 18th Divisions with calm response, won several battles and annihilated more than 13 troops including the commander of the 1th Division, Ogisu Rikihiro, achieved a great victory in southern Anhui, and stabilized the situation on the southern front.

Head of the group Yue is also present at the meeting today, so there should be applause here!"

After General Li finished speaking, he led the applause. Yue Qianli immediately stood up and saluted to express his gratitude. This was not a compliment to him at all, it was simply roasting him on the fire.
He is indeed a big boss. This must be one of his ways to control his generals.

Yue Qianli became famous at a young age and is a direct descendant of the Central Army. He has tens of thousands of elite troops under his command, so it is necessary to suppress him appropriately.

Yue Qianli then said modestly that this was only the result of the Military Commission's good command and the soldiers' dedication, and expressed that he would definitely obey Commander Li's command and strive to achieve even better results.

"Captain Yue, I still have great confidence in you. The reputation of the guerrilla column was built with the heads of the devils.

The Japanese strategy was very clear, that is, to advance north and south along the Jinpu Road, with the main attack direction being the north line, but the south line was equally important;
I will hand over Bengbu to your guerrilla column. I have only one request: you must not let the Japanese cross the Huai River. Is that difficult?"

Yue Qianli took over and said:

"Captain Li, I can't guarantee that I can stop all the Japanese soldiers south of the Huai River, but I can guarantee that all the Japanese soldiers who cross the river will die!"

General Li was stunned at first, then he realized that there were some flaws in his military orders. He did not expect that Yue Qianli, who had been humble and submissive before, would say such tough words in front of all the bosses.

He was also a man who knew military affairs. He knew that defending the Huai River did not necessarily mean fighting to the death. Sometimes, luring the enemy deep into the river was also a strategy. It was too dogmatic to forcefully demand that not a single enemy be allowed to cross the Huai River.

So he followed his words and said:
"It's OK as long as you have the determination. I don't care how you fight me, but you can't lose Bengbu to me!"

Yue Qianli then puffed out his chest and said:

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

(End of this chapter)