In Nanjing, the headquarters of the Japanese army.

Shozo Kawabe returned to the war room and said to Shunroku Hata, "Your Excellency, the news from Changhewan has good and bad aspects, but in general, it is not optimistic. ”

Shunroku Hata frowned and said, "Hebe-kun, let's talk about the good aspects first." ”

"Hello!" "The good thing is that due to the blockage of the fire, the Chinese army can only attack from the east and west entrances of Changhe Bay, so the defensive pressure of the 22nd and 27th divisions is not great at this stage, and they have taken advantage of this gap to seize a lot of commanding heights and build a lot of fortifications. ”

"Yo Xi!" Shunroku Hata nodded happily and said, "What about the bad side?" ”

"Hello!" "The bad side is that in the process of self-rescue, at least more than half of the imperial soldiers were burned to varying degrees, and at least 5,000 of them were very seriously injured!" ”

After a pause, he said: "With so many burns, the 22nd Division and the 27th Division have not enough medicines in reserve, and even the Front Army Headquarters does not have so many medicines in reserve!" ”

The best treatment for burns is Hundred Waves Rest, but this thing is ridiculously expensive!

Not to mention more than 15,000 scald patients, even 2,000 scald patients can bankrupt the Central China Front!

Kawabe Shozo said again: "And what's worse is that not to mention medicine, there is not even clear water used to clean the wound in Changhe Bay!" ”

"Water?!" Shunroku Hata suddenly felt a pang in his heart.

"Hello, water!" "The drinking water carried by the 22nd Division and the 27th Division was originally enough to last for three days, but if you save a little use, you can last at least a week!" However, in the previous self-rescue process, the imperial soldiers of the two divisions consumed a lot of drinking water, and now ......"

"What now?" Shunroku Hata said in a deep voice, "Speak! ”

"Hello!" The river was the first to say, "The remaining water of the two divisions is only enough to last for two days, even if it is saved!" ”

"Yaga!" When Shunroku Hata heard this, his face immediately darkened, and he asked, "Can't you find drinking water in Changhe Bay?" ”

The river side Zhengsan said: "The 22nd Division and the 27th Division have searched, but they only found dozens of small pools that have dried up, dug three or four meters deep, and still there is no spring!" ”

Hearing this, the faces of Fair Kuangwu, Muto Zhang, and Changyong next to him also changed.

Before this, they only regarded the Chinese fire attack as a joke, but now it seems that the Chinese fire attack is very strong, and it is likely to lead to the destruction of the 22nd and 27th divisions!

"Yaga!" Hata Junroku said in a deep voice, "In other words, the 22nd Division and the 27th Division can hold out for two days at most?" Will you be completely incapacitated after two days? ”

"Three days!" Kawabe Shozo corrected, "The 22nd Division and the 27th Division still have thousands of horses, it's really not good, you can still kill horses and drink blood to quench your thirst, but this can only last one more day!" ”

"Three days? Three days! Shunroku Hata muttered, his expression gradually becoming solemn.

At this time, Muto Zhang suddenly said: "Your Excellency, the 22nd Division and the 27th Division can hold out in Changhewan for at least another three days, which means that the main force of China gathered in Dabie Mountain will also take at least four days before they can retreat from Changhewan and eat up the two garrison divisions of the Imperial Army, how can it take a day?" ”

Fair Kuangwu went on to say: "It is about three hundred miles from Changhewan to Wuhan, and the mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel, so it will take at least three days for the main force of the Chinese army to reach Wuhan!" In other words, if the Chinese army insists on eating the two divisions trapped in the Changhe Bay, it means that it will take at least seven days for them to withdraw to Wuhan! ”

Chang Yong said: "That is to say, as long as the Twelfth Army can capture Wuhan first within seven days, the 600,000 main forces in the Dabie Mountains will be surrounded by the imperial army!" ”

"So!" Kawabe Shozo finally said, "In order to avoid the situation of the 22nd Division and the 27th Division being annihilated, the 12th Army must strengthen the offensive, even if it cannot capture Wuhan within seven days, it must exert enough pressure on the Shina Army to force the main force of the Shina in the Dabie Mountains to break the siege and retreat!" ”

Shunroku Hata's gaze immediately fell on the map on the wall, and he said in a deep voice, "Where has the Twelfth Army arrived?" ”

Hebian Zhengsan said: "The vanguard of the Twelfth Army, the 15th Division, has arrived in the northern suburbs of Xiaogan County, and has already connected with the defenders of Xiaogan, but the first battle was lost!" ”

"Yaga Yaru!" Shunroku Hata cursed, and shouted again, "Call the Twelfth Army at once, and order it to speed up its southward cluster, and the six divisions that have been reinforced from the three directions of Shangcheng, Guangshan, and Daigo must also speed up their march, and they must rush to Changhewan within four days, and if they can't do it, thank Your Majesty the Emperor for their seppuku!" ”

"Hello!" The river was in a hurry, turned around and hurried away.

……

In Xiaochang, the temporary headquarters of the 12th Army of the Japanese Army.

After reading the telegram sent from Nanjing, Guzhuang Ganlang was a little unhappy.

Chief of Staff Kusaka II also said angrily: "Tsuchihashi and Honma Masaharu, two idiots, actually played a good hand of cards to a pulp, and I really convinced the two of them!" ”

"yes." Guzhuang Ganlang said in a deep voice, "Originally, whether the Chinese army in Dabie Mountain chose to break through separately or move to Wuhan desperately, our army occupied the absolute initiative, and no matter how bad it was, it could fight a large-scale rout, so that the main force of China suffered heavy losses again, but now it's good!" ”

After a pause, Guzhuang Ganlang said again: "Now it is not only possible to let the branch army of Dabie Mountain flee with its whole body, but the imperial army may even have to lose two garrison divisions!" Really! ”

"yes!" Hinoshita snorted and said, "I really don't understand, how did the two idiots, Tsuchihashi Ichi and Honma Masaharu, command?" What age is this, and there are reconnaissance planes of the aviation regiment in the air that are constantly reconnoitring for a moment, and they can actually carelessly hit the fire attack of the Chinese army! ”

"But fortunately, there is still room for redemption." Guzhuang Ganlang breathed a long sigh of relief, and then said, "As long as our Twelfth Army can occupy Hankou within seven days, oh no, as long as our army appears in the northern suburbs of Hankou, the main force of China in the Dabie Mountains will definitely collapse when they hear the wind!" ”

After a pause, Guzhuang Ganlang said again: "Order, the 15th Division and the 17th Division will be deployed from the front, and immediately launch an attack on the whole line of the Zhina Army on the front line of Xiaogan!" Then order the 31st Division and the 32nd Division to make a detour from the flank, ignoring the Zhina Army along the way, and directly attack and advance towards Hankow! ”

"Hello!" The second part of the sun is the first road.