At the same time, in Nanjing, the headquarters of the Central China Front.

Okamura Ninji frowned and said to Shunroku Hatata: "Your Excellency, the press conference at the base camp has been held early, and the combat intentions of our army have been exposed in advance!" ”

"It's okay." Shunroku Hata waved his hand and said, "All the divisions and regiments belonging to the Eleventh Army and the Twelfth Army have all entered the command position, and at this time, we can't hide our intentions even if we want to, so holding a press conference in the base camp will not have much impact." ”

"Not really." Okamura Ninji shook his head and said, "The communication conditions of the Chinese army are poor, and the reaction speed is not fast, if there is no press conference, I think at least we can buy our army twenty-four hours!" These 24 hours are enough to make a decisive change in the situation on the front line in Wuhan! ”

Shunroku Hatatake: "Okamura-kun, the press conference of the base camp has been held, and there is no point in talking about it anymore. ”

"Hello!" Okamura Ninji paused slightly, "What Your Excellency the General said is that now I'm afraid it can only be like this." ”

After a pause, Okamura Ninji said again: "Since the base camp exposed our army's combat intentions in advance, there is not enough time left for the Twelfth Army to go south to cluster together!" ”

Shunroku Hata nodded, and asked again: "How many days will the Twelfth Army's southward cluster last?" ”

"It depends on what choice the Chinese army will make." Okamura Ningji said, "If the main force of the Zhina Army gathered in Dabie Mountain chooses to flee lightly, then they can evacuate the battlefield now and flee to Wuhan!" In this case, the 12th Army will only have three days to move south, and if it cannot occupy Wuhan within three days, the Chinese army will slip away from Wuhan! ”

Hata Junroku said in a deep voice: "If the Shina Army really does this, it will definitely be defeated by the 22nd and 27th Divisions!" The story of the Battle of Songhu will be repeated on the battlefield of Wuhan! ”

"That's for sure!" Okamura Ninji said, "But at least, the Shina Army can keep most of the veterans!" China has a large population, and as long as the veterans can be preserved, within three months, they will be able to pull out 600,000 or even a million troops! The resistance of the people of China will be able to continue, and the Chinese incident will not be resolved! ”

Shunroku Hata said again: "What if the Shina army doesn't flee lightly? ”

"Then it will take at least ten days for them to be able to withdraw to Wuhan!" Okamura Ninji Road.

"Yo Xi!" Okamura Ninji nodded happily, and then turned his head to Fair Kuangwudao, "Fair Jun, please call the Twelfth Army, be sure to arrive in Hankou within five days!" ”

Shunroku Hata ended up taking a median value.

Asking the southward cluster of the 12th Army to rush to Hankou within three days is obviously difficult for a strong man, not to mention that the railways and highway bridges from Dawu County to Hankou have been damaged, even if the roads are unblocked, there are still layers of Chinese troops blocking along the way, so it is impossible to advance more than 100 kilometers in three days!

So, five days is the most appropriate!

If the main force of the Nationalist Army chooses to cover alternately and retreat in an orderly manner, then the southward cluster of the Twelfth Army will definitely be able to rush to Hankou before the main force of the Nationalist Army! Even if the national army chooses to retreat lightly and is then defeated by the 22nd and 27th divisions, it can at least ensure that most of the rout troops are intercepted!

There are more than 600,000 national troops, and it would be good if 100,000 could escape in the end!

"Hello!" Fair Kuang Wu shook his head, turned around and walked away.

Okamura Ninji said to Shunroku Hata again: "Your Excellency, General, I should also rush to Anqing." ”

"Yo Xi!" Shunroku Hata nodded and said, "Okamura-kun, please leave it to you on the north bank of the Yangtze River!" ”

"Hello!" Okamura Ninji paused heavily and walked away with his saber on his shoulder.

……

Let's talk about Zhong Yi later.

followed Bai Chongbei and a large group of senior generals back to the war room.

Zhong Yi was not pretentious, and walked straight to the sand table in the war room.

At this time, the combat staff of the commander's department had already displayed the enemy's and friend's posture on the entire battlefield from the sand table.

But I saw that at the southern foot of Dabie Mountain, the Anqing to Huanggang section on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and the vicinity of Mall, Guangshan and Dawu County at the northwest foot of Dabie Mountain, there have been dense blue flags.

These small blue flags represent, of course, the Japanese troops from all walks of life.

Facing the sand table, Zhong Yi's mind began to calculate rapidly.

Including Bai Chongbei, no one dared to disturb Zhong Yi at this time.

Although many high-ranking generals present were not convinced by Zhong Yi, such as Tang Enbo and Hu Zongnan, they really wanted to hear Zhong Yi's opinions.

In the face of such a desperate situation, what will Zhong Yi think?

All kinds of thoughts and possibilities flashed through Zhong Yi's mind one by one.

After a while, Zhong Yi raised his head and said to Bai Chongbei: "Commander-in-chief, now you have three choices!" ”

"Three choices?" A look of surprise flashed in Bai Chong's sad eyes, and he said at the moment, "Which three?" ”

Zhong Yi nodded, stretched out his first finger and said, "The first choice, break into parts, and break through separately!" ”

After a pause, Zhong Yi said again: "Although the Japanese army is menacing, but their main attack direction is only the north bank of the Yangtze River and the northwest foot of Dabie Mountain, if our army is reduced to zero, and break through to northern Anhui, eastern Anhui, southern Anhui and eastern Henan, there is still a great chance to break through, the loss of the troops will not be small, but it is still possible to retain one-third of the troops!" ”

"But these troops will be alone from now on, and they will never be resupplied again, just like the troops in the Sulu theater!" Bai Chongbei shook his head like a rattle and said, "And even if you break through separately, you can only retain one-third of your troops, and the loss is too great!" No, absolutely not! The principal would never agree either! ”

After a pause, Bai Chongbei said again: "What is the second choice?" ”

Zhong Yi stretched out his second finger and said: "The second option is to give orders to all the armies participating in the battle at the same time and retreat in the direction of Wuhan, which should be able to retain one-sixth of the troops!" ”

"Sixth?" Bai Chongbei said with a dark face, "That is, 100,000 people? ”

"Yes!" Zhong Yi nodded and said, "If you retreat desperately, the 22nd and 27th divisions of the Japanese army will definitely pursue at the tail end, and under the pursuit of the Japanese army, our army will definitely collapse completely, because there is no road in the mountains, maybe it will not cause a stampede accident during the retreat of Songhu, but the mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel, and the loss will only be greater than that of the Battle of Songhu!" Being able to keep 100,000 people is already the most optimistic estimate! ”

Bai Chongbei took a deep breath and said, "So, what about the third choice?" ”

Zhong Yi stretched out his third finger and said: "The third option is to formulate a careful retreat plan, and the participating armies will retreat alternately and orderly in strict accordance with the plan, but the result of this is difficult to predict. ”