Songhu: Never Give Up

Since mid-October, the Japanese invaders on both the northern and southern fronts had approached Wuhan, and the battle entered its final stage.

The Nationalist government abandoned the plan to use Luo Zhuoying's Wuhan garrison to defend the three towns of Wuhan, and began to deploy the evacuation in mid-October. The people of Wuhan had begun to evacuate, and government agencies and important industrial facilities were moved to Hunan, Sichuan and other places.
The fall of Guangzhou on October 10 further strengthened the National Government's determination to end the battle as soon as possible. The strategic goal of the Battle of Wuhan had been achieved.

The Nationalist government learned the lesson from the Battle of Songhu. Before the main force of the Japanese invaders arrived, the main forces of the Fifth and Ninth War Zones took the initiative to break away from contact with the Japanese invaders.
The main force of the 9th War Zone moved to northern Hunan and western Hubei, and the main force of the 5th War Zone moved to the banks of the Han River west of the Pinghan Road and the Dahongshan area. Only one brigade was left in Wuhan to provide symbolic resistance.

The guerrilla column also received an order to retreat. It was rare that Xue Boling could still remember Yue Qianli in his busy schedule. He hoped that the guerrilla column would retreat to northern Hunan with the main force of the Ninth War Zone.

It was directly under the Ninth War Zone and reorganized into a brigade, with Yue Qianli as the brigade commander, major general, and a staff of 8 people.

After reading the telegram, Yue Qianli casually stuffed it into his pocket. He would not go to Xiangbei. With a staff of only 8 people, how would he support 4 people?

Xiangbei is a small territory, but it is packed with 30 Central Army troops, all of whom are Xue Boling's direct subordinates. When it comes to allocating foreign aid, it will not be their turn. The hard and fierce battles will definitely be fought by the guerrilla column.
If we only consume without replenishing, 4 people will be reduced to 8 in a year, which will be consistent with the establishment.

By then the artillery regiment that Yue Qianli had worked so hard to build will definitely be divided up. None of the other central army armies have an artillery regiment. You have a brigade with dozens of artillery pieces. Do you think you can fly?
Yue Qianli doesn't want to be like Li Yunlong, who is congratulated on his wealth all day long. Even if he asks the Eagle Sauce to buy it, it won't work. No matter how much he buys, there won't be enough for people to grab. There are hundreds of thousands of central troops. How much can you buy?

A gentleman is innocent, but he is guilty of hiding a wall. Yue Qianli still decided to use the Thirty-Six Stratagems -

"Old Yue, have you decided where to go? We dare not go to Xiangbei. Commander Xue's hundreds of thousands of people will devour us without leaving a trace."

Duan Yulin was obviously also a wise man. This major general card was poisonous. Tian Yuanxi also looked at him expectantly.
Yue Qianli did not keep the secret any longer and said directly:
“Go north, into Princess Iron Fan’s belly!
Send a telegram to Lao Gao and Lao Zhu, ordering them to secretly gather the main force, to meet the column headquarters and the third detachment to go north, first to the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, and get into the belly of the devils. "

Duan Yulin praised loudly:

"I agree to go north. There are only four Japanese divisions north of the Yangtze River. The 4th and 10rd divisions advancing westward from Shangcheng have occupied Xinyang and cut off the Pinghan Road.

They then headed south along the Pinghan Road, and by the 24th had reached Yingshan and other places northwest of Hankou.

The 13th and 16th Divisions, which had crossed the Dabie Mountains, also passed through Xiaojieling and entered Hubei a few days ago. Their target is still the three towns of Wuhan.

Wuhan is now like a ripe peach, and the Japanese troops on both the northern and southern fronts are eager to pounce on it and take a bite;
The four divisions in Jiangbei are far away from the Dabie Mountains. The vast mountainous areas in the north, east and south are under the control of our guerrilla columns, and the rear is almost a vacuum zone. "

Yue Qianli saw that Lao Duan had interrupted him, so he could not get angry and could only say helplessly:
"Old Duan has said what I meant. In the future, the main forces of the Ninth and Fifth War Zones will continue to fight the Japanese on both sides of the Yangtze River. We won't join in the fun.
From now on, all troops will withdraw from the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains, cross the Dabie Mountains in battalion units, and assemble at the northern foot.

All units should get ready immediately, and in an hour - set off!"

On the 25th, the 6th Division captured Hankou and entered the city;

On the 26th, the Hata detachment captured Wuchang;

On the 27th, Gao Pin's detachment entered Hanyang. At this point, the three towns of Wuhan had all been occupied by the Japanese, but most of the citizens had been evacuated, and factories, schools, etc. had all moved to Hunan and Sichuan, so the Japanese only got an empty city.

During these three days, the guerrilla column, its subordinate units and the Third Detachment, which had been hiding in the southern foothills of the Dabie Mountains, withdrew to the northern foothills of the Dabie Mountains and joined forces with the First and Second Detachments.
On the day when the three towns of Wuhan fell, the main force of the First Detachment of the Guerrilla Column once again recaptured the mall, wiped out an entire squadron of defenders, seized a large amount of supplies, and presented a great gift to Lao Yue.

Yue Qianli naturally praised:
"Old Zhu, your life is better than mine. I live in the mountains in the southern slopes, but you live in the Dabieye."

Zhu Chi was confused. What "Dabieye" was all that nonsense. Old Yue loved to come up with new words that no one could understand to show off. Even Gao Zhisong couldn't stand it anymore and came over to defend him and said:
"Old Zhu, don't listen to Old Yue's nonsense. It's terrible that he is uneducated. You are talking about the big villa, right? Your team is really rich. It can be seen at a glance that it is the mansion of one of the richest people in the mall."

Zhu Chi quickly explained:
"This is the squadron headquarters of the Japanese. It used to be the big house of the Gao family in Shangcheng. He had several houses like this in Shangcheng. When the Japanese came, they gave it to the Japanese.

I was thinking of letting Lao Yue take care of me for a few days, so it would be convenient for me to live here.”

Yue Qianli was not a man who followed formalities, so he immediately waved his hand and said, "Since the original owner has run away, and we also took it back from the devils, it's okay for the column to borrow it for a few days. We can't live on the street, so just tell the brothers not to destroy private property.

When you leave, close the door and put things back in place. Okay, now that everyone is here, let's start the meeting!

Lao Zhu, Lao Gao, please report your family assets first."

After Lao Zhu and Lao Gao looked at each other, they followed the battle sequence and Zhu Chi started first. He took a deep breath and said:
"Through the efforts to gather up the stragglers and suppress the bandits in the previous period, the strength of each battalion has increased significantly. The main force of the entire detachment has increased to 1.3 people, with more than 1.7 long and short guns, 100 artillery pieces of various types, more than 1 million rounds of various bullets, more than 20 grenades, and more than 2 artillery shells;
I have already made a list of the other supplies. There are more than a dozen boxes of gold alone, all of which were looted by the Japanese and taken from bandit dens."

After Zhu Chi finished speaking, he handed the list of supplies to Yue Qianli. After reading it, Yue Qianli couldn't help but take a deep breath. It turned out that if you want to get rich, you must first suppress the bandits!
He immediately praised:
"Well, you did a great job this time. These are all the people's hard-earned money. It is just right to use them in the cause of fighting the Japanese. We never have too much equipment and supplies, especially food. The more the better."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Gao Zhisong again. Old Gao had been eager to try it out for a long time, and said in a show-off manner:
"The Second Detachment has also expanded to 1.4 men, 1.6 guns, 122 artillery pieces, bullets, grenades, and artillery shells, which is not much different from the First Detachment;

We wiped out a large bandit den, and we got more than 200 million silver dollars, which is enough food to last for a year or so."

After reading it, Yue Qianli couldn't help but laugh and said:

"Lao Gao, you have learned to be low-key now!

You and Lao Zhu have both become local tycoons, and this time I am going to beat up your local tyrants."

Everyone couldn't help laughing after hearing this. The main forces of the first and second teams alone exceeded 2.7 people, not counting the militia;

If we add the Third Brigade and the Luxi guerrilla detachment, there will be at least 4 people, which has returned to the heyday of the guerrilla column. No wonder the always low-key Old Yue also laughed up to the sky. Chen Zhongyuan interrupted and said:
“I now truly understand the significance of Lao Yue’s division of forces for development. The Battle of Wuhan was indeed a good opportunity for development;
Whether it was the first or second detachments on the northern foothills of the Dabie Mountains or the guerrilla detachment in western Shandong, they all became rich and their teams grew stronger.

Going north is also the right choice this time. If we listen to Commander Xue and go to Xiangbei, the wealth we have saved won’t be enough for them to share.”

Duan Yulin couldn't help but say:
“After the Battle of Wuhan, both the Nationalist Army and the Japanese invaders had to lick their wounds for a while;
The lost soldiers need to be recruited and equipment needs to be replenished. The Japanese have been preparing for decades and have a complete mobilization system, so they can restore their combat effectiveness in a month at most.

The national army was not good enough and could only recruit able-bodied men who had never touched a gun. They could only rely on foreign aid for equipment and it would take more than half a year to recover.

As for us veterans and supplies, if they find out, we will be nothing more than a pile of fat meat. Even if they give us a brigade, we won’t be able to keep the equipment and veterans outside the brigade, so it’s better for us to stay away from them.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. The guerrilla column was of too low a rank. Even if it was upgraded to a brigade, any division commander or army commander would be considered a big shot. They were all direct descendants of the first and second classes of the Whampoa Military Academy. After robbing you, they would have to say thank you.

This time, the inventory of assets was just an appetizer. The main thing was to determine the next development direction. Everyone looked at Yue Qianli with expectation;
Yue Qianli's prestige in the team has reached its peak due to his correct planning time and time again. He can now have the final say in the guerrilla column, and everyone else will execute it without compromise as long as a decision is made.

Those who attended the meeting were all core personnel, and the guards were placed a few hundred meters away. Even if a mosquito flew over, they would have to check the household registration, so they spoke casually and had no worries;
Yue Qianli looked around and said:
"Brothers, what Lao Duan said just now is very correct. The Japanese have strong mobilization capabilities, and their war potential has not yet reached its limit, so it won't take too long to recover. We only need to transport reinforcements and supplies from the mainland.

Therefore, the devils will not leave us much time to develop. What I will talk about later is the grand strategic issues. The right to know is limited to this level and cannot be passed down."

Everyone nodded. Yue Qianli had been cultivating the core staff's awareness of confidentiality. To this end, he also set up a special agent section within the confidentiality department, and the section chief was Zheng Pingru.

She has now completely become a member of the guerrilla column, or to be more precise, a member of the organization, and it was Lin E who developed her.

Zheng Pingru had received special spy training in the Military Control Commission and was very professional, which was the covert front talent needed by the guerrilla column.

Lin E has already contacted the top leaders of Yanzhou, and Yue Qianli's introducer has also become a member of the top leaders. The top leaders already know Lao Yue's identity, and now he is directly led by the top leaders. Lin E is the single-line contact person, and when to change the flag is up to the top leaders.

Yanzhou gave Yue Qianli the greatest autonomy, requiring the guerrilla column branch to recruit Gao Zhisong and others first while ensuring safety, and then gradually expand to the battalion and company levels;
Yue Qianli's strategy of advancing behind enemy lines has been approved by Yanzhou, and in the future, a group of political cadres will be secretly sent to assist in establishing a base. (End of this chapter)