Wang Yongjiang has always marveled at the youth of the People's Party cadres, and cadres of all levels in their twenties are the norm for the People's Party. It is even more common to become a division commander or army commander by relying entirely on one's own ability. However, Wang Yongjiang still felt a strong jealousy when he saw with his own eyes that a young man who was just over half his age was already commanding tens of thousands of troops across the northeast. Wang Yongjiang was only 20 years old when he entered the official career, and Mu Husan at this time was just a little doll who was born not long ago. Wang Yongjiang couldn't help but think that Chen Ke, the current chairman of the People's Party, is only 36 years old this year, and he is too old compared to these current figures in China.

Mu Husan didn't come to recruit Wang Yongjiang, in fact, if it weren't for Wang Yongjiang, who was really a fairly incorruptible alternative among the civil officials in the Northeast, Mu Husan wouldn't even see Wang Yongjiang. The People's Party pursued a policy of "abandoning the old upper strata, especially the literati strata." Chen Ke openly expressed his utter contempt and despair for the literati, and asked his comrades to "not be fooled by the false name of the literati!" ”

"Mr. Wang, you have a lot of appeal in Jinzhou, and we would like to ask you to take our troops to Jinzhou. I wonder what Mr. thinks? Mu Husan said straight to the point.

Wang Yongjiang was stunned, he thought that Mu Husan would rely on himself to attack Fengtian. Due to his own judgment error, Wang Yongjiang couldn't help but feel a feeling of being despised in his heart. "I wonder how your army is going to attack Mukden?"

"We don't really want to attack Shenyang." Mu Husan told the truth, "It is really difficult to attack Jiancheng in winter, so our army hopes to fight the enemy in the field. So I hope that Mr. can take this opportunity to help us go south. ”

He didn't want to make a wish to make Wang Yongjiang official, but he didn't think that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would make any mass movement in the snowy and dense winter in the northeast. The most efficient way to use it is to let Wang Yongjiang help the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army gain a foothold in his hometown. Geographically, if the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army could stabilize its presence in Jinzhou, it would be equivalent to controlling the Liaodong Peninsula.

Wang Yongjiang considered Mu Husan's idea, he had seen the winter camp of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, but he was able to slightly understand the idea that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was willing to fight in the field with a large-scale garrison in the snowy environment. Whether it is the Northeast Army or the Japanese army, they can only be stationed in the urban areas of the Northeast at the moment. He then asked: "Do you have the confidence that your army can compete with the Japanese army?" ”

"The war is changing rapidly, and we don't know how the Japanese will fight. In the current situation, we can fight our own battles. Therefore, the top priority is to squeeze the Japanese out of the northeast. Although it is absolutely impossible for Mu Husan to reuse Wang Yongjiang, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with being honest. If people like Wang Yongjiang cannot understand the strategy of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, it will have a great negative effect on future cooperation.

"Your army really has the will to fight!" Wang Yongjiang praised. The Northeast Army faced the situation that the Japanese army was about to collapse at the touch of the Japanese army, which made Wang Yongjiang feel jealous of shame and helplessness, and in the face of the Japanese army that was only one-third of his own, the Northeast Army in Fengtian was about to collapse at the touch of a button, which was really shameful, "If Commander Mu believes in the subordinates, he is willing to do the work of dogs and horses." ”

After Mu Husan sent Wang Yongjiang away, he immediately began to continue to arrange the current work. As Fang just said, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had no intention of attacking Shenyang in winter. First, the winter offensive was not effective, and second, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army still had a plan to encircle the point and send reinforcements. If the enemy army in Shenyang could be used as bait to lure the Japanese reinforcements in Korea, a field battle would be a good choice. However, the crux of this plan is the issue of troops.

The reinforcements of the 14th Army could not have been more timely, and the 18th Army was transferring all the areas it already controlled to the 14th Army. Mu Husan actually hoped that the 15th Army would be able to take over the task of the Panjin area, and it would be better to follow up the work of marching into Jinzhou. But this encountered a problem, Mu Husan, who was also the commander of the army, was not qualified to command the commander of the 15th Army. This requires Pu Guanshui, commander of the Northeast Military Region, to be responsible for the adjustment of this matter. However, Puguanshui is not in the northeast at this time. A few days ago, Mu Husan had already sent a well-worded telegram to Pu Guanshui, and after putting forward his own suggestions, he still tactfully asked Pu Guanshui to be on the front line. Until now, no call back has been received.

The comrades of the military headquarters of the 18th Army were in a very high mood at this time, and even if they did not receive orders from the military district, the comrades still made various preparations. It is impossible for one army of the 18th Army to carry out encirclement points and reinforcements at the same time, so the battle plan of the 18th Army is that the 14th Army will take over the encirclement built by the 18th Army and move south. Of course, it would be best to have the 15th Army to assist in moving south together.

However, Pu Guanshui did not let Mu Husan wait for a long time, and on the second day after Wang Yongjiang arrived in Anshan, Pu Guanshui's military order arrived in Anshan and agreed to Mu Husan's combat proposal. Moreover, Pu Guanshui also informed Mu Husan that the headquarters of the Northeast Military Region would be transferred to the Panjin area in the shortest possible time.

After getting this news, the 18th Army was in high spirits. As long as the headquarters of the military region can be transferred to the northeast, the coordination of troops will be guaranteed. Although the co-action of Japan to a certain extent disrupted the strategy of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. However, relying on the hard work of the 18th Army, in the winter when it could only be exhausted, the process of the Northeast Campaign was being promoted step by step by the 18th Army.

However, the Japanese army seemed to have telepathy, and just when Mu Husan was about to order the construction of a blocking line between Dandong and Shenyang, he suddenly received information that the Japanese army in Shenyang began to expel a large number of Chinese residents in Shenyang.

"What do the Japanese want to do? Is this an iron heart to cling to? The staff officer replied unexpectedly. As an invading army, expelling the Chinese residents in the city was also the right choice to stick to the time.

Mu Husan frowned and looked at the map, he thought for a while, and asked in a rather questioning voice: "Do you think that the Japanese army is about to break through?" ”

"Breakout?" Many comrades felt that Mu Husan's words were a little incredible. The Japanese are not in decline now, and it is better to wait for reinforcements from the Korean side than to break through.

"It is very possible that the Japanese want to use the Chinese people to make a fuss, for example, send spies to mix in with the people and go out of the city to find out information. We've killed a lot of Japanese spies these days. The chief of staff didn't dare to agree with Mu Husan's radical idea, "And what is the benefit of the Japanese army's retreat?" With Shenyang as the fulcrum of the campaign, Japan was able to revive the situation. ”

Mu Husan shook his head slightly, "What kind of strategic fulcrum is Shenyang now?" What else could the Japanese army in Shenyang do besides shrinking into the city? And how much food is there in Shenyang City now? According to the information provided by Wang Yongjiang, I am afraid that the food in Shenyang City will also run out. If the Japanese commander was clever enough, he would definitely choose to retreat. As soon as they withdrew to Dandong, the Japanese army was given full freedom of movement. ”

"This ......" The chief of staff still felt that he could not easily support Mu Husan's point of view, after all, this did not conform to too many conventional ideas, and it was a big taboo to withdraw troops suddenly in the winter. But the chief of staff could not object, after all, if the Japanese army did not retreat, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would be the most advantageous, and there would be ample space to use various tactics. If the Japanese army withdrew to Andong, then the Japanese army would first be able to put its main forces on the Liaodong Peninsula. It was even possible to take counter-actions against cutting off the southern lines of communication of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.

All this idea was based on something that the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants could not grasp, and that was what was going on in Japan. It was the Japanese that could mobilize the Japanese army, just as it was the central government that could ultimately decide the actions of the 18th Army.

There have indeed been changes in Japan, and since the death of Katsura Taro, a disciple of Aritomo Tayama Prefecture, there has been a dog-eat-dog struggle within the War Department. Who can really take charge of the War Department has become an important matter. Of course, the equally important thing is how to get Takahashi to pass the strategic plan led by the War Department as soon as possible when Prime Minister Takahashi Kiyoshi expressed his consent to the war. At this time, Youpeng of Shanxian County, the real emperor of the War Department, once again stood up semi-publicly.

Of course, the old man Youpeng in Shan County was very excited, and he felt that he finally had the opportunity to fulfill his wish twenty years ago.

After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Shanxian County, as a veteran of the army, was very excited, and he personally wielded his sword into battle, served as the commander of the First Army, commanded the Japanese army to defeat the Qing army, captured Pyongyang, and then led the army to cross the Yalu River into China, Lianke Jiuliancheng and Dandong. Due to the successive successes of the Japanese army, the Qing army was defeated and retreated, and the Shan County became more and more excited, and even planned to enter the Chinese mainland to fight a decisive battle with the main forces of the Qing army, completely ignoring the supply problem and the possible interference of the Western powers. He proposed to the base camp the "Three Strategies for Conquering and Qing", and strongly advocated winter operations: 1. Landing again from the sea to Shanhaiguan and establishing a base area to carry out the Zhili operation; 2. Marching to Lushun and moving the base of the military station to the ice-free port; 3. Immediately marching north to capture Mukden. In the "Three Strategies for the Expedition to the Qing Dynasty", Shan Shan proposed to force Beijing and Tianjin in the south and Fengtian in the north, and open up two battlefields at the same time, which once again demonstrated the military adventurism of Japanese militarism.

Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi did not agree with Yamaguchi Aritomo's adventurous proposition in consideration of the inconvenience of the Japanese army's landing in winter and the interference of Western powers, and that if the battle line was stretched too long in winter, it would inevitably be difficult to resupply, so it was better to take the opportunity to attack the Beiyang Naval Division military port in Weihaiwei, Shandong Province, and attack Taiwan from the south. Eventually, the base camp adopted Ito's suggestion, vetoed Yamagu's adventurous proposal, and ordered Yamaprefecture's Aritomo First Army to stand by in the winter and wait for the spring to launch another offensive. However, Yama Prefecture was brazenly arbitrary, disobeying the instructions of the base camp and privately ordering Katsura Taro's division to attack Haicheng, but was bravely resisted by the Qing army of Haicheng and fell into a quagmire, and Japan did not have enough troops to support Haicheng again. Therefore, the headquarters decided to remove the commander of the First Army of Yama Prefecture, but Kawakami Koroku and others were worried that if they publicly dismissed Yamagu, they would inevitably cut themselves in order to save the face of the samurai, so they suggested that Prime Minister Ito meet with Emperor Meiji and recall Yamaprefecture in the name of "returning to Japan to recuperate".

So Emperor Meiji personally wrote a recall edict, and although Yamaguchi claimed that he had been cured, he had no choice but to return to Japan by ship. Before leaving, he wrote the following poems to the two division commanders of Nozu Michiguan and Katsura Taro:

The horse leather shroud has no future, how can it be empty before leaving the school?

Helplessly, the Son of Heaven summoned him in a hurry, and he was full of tears before parting!

The old marshal came forward to give an order, and of course the juniors of the War Department did not dare to engage in infighting again. Yama County Youpeng still adheres to the idea of fighting in winter. However, this time he was not prepared to insist on fighting on two fronts. The old man was also discerning, and he had already seen that the sudden exit of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had disrupted Japan's strategic concept.

The so-called bystander Qing, Yama County Youpeng knew very well that Katsura Taro's original strategic concept at that time was actually completely inherited from Yama County Aritomo's plan 20 years ago, that is, all the way out of Shenyang, all the way south to attack Shanhaiguan. However, the lack of naval cooperation, coupled with the sudden northward movement of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, caused the War Department to fall into disarray, and they were constantly trying to adjust their deployment in order to complete the original idea. However, due to the problem of insufficient troops, the adjustment of the War Department has led to a passive situation.

Therefore, the view of Yama Prefecture Youpeng is that in the current situation, Japan will shrink its forces and go all out to cut off the rear road of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. If such a strategic adjustment can be accomplished, then the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which once seized the initiative on the battlefield, will have to follow the pace of Japan.

With this intention in place, Mukden was not only not a necessary strategic point, but became a burden. In the face of the trembling questions of the younger generations of the War Department about the Mukden issue, the old man Zishan Youpeng asked rhetorically: "If we let Mukden out, what do you think the People's Party will do?" ”

"It must be all efforts to capture Mukden." The generals and colonels of the War Department still have this minimum of military common sense.

Youpeng of Shanxian sneered: "Since the People's Party is going to seize Mukden now, they definitely want to continue to seize Changchun and other places, and when their forces move north, the forces we have gathered in Andong can suddenly move south." At that time, there would be an opportunity for the People's Party to gather troops in the Shanhaiguan generation. We had a naval advantage, and that's when we had the opportunity to take full advantage. ”

After saying this, Youpeng of Shanxian sneered, "If Gui Jun had been able to adjust the deployment of troops in this way when he first encountered the attack of the People's Party, he would definitely not have encountered the current situation." He just wants to complete the original plan too much, so he will fall into passivity! ”

"Huh?" The army generals and colonels didn't expect that the old man, Youpeng in Shan County, would have such a sharp strategic vision. And in retrospect, Yamaguchi Aritomo was not wrong, Katsura Taro and the War Department both made this mistake and tried to complete the plan that was originally formulated to occupy the entire Tohoku at the lowest cost.

With the strategic backbone provided by Youpeng in Yama County, the War Department held several discussions. They found that this was the best option, and although the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was strong in combat, they faced a rather unfavorable situation, that is, the logistical line was too simple. Theoretically, the BJP would also be able to carry out supplies through Mongolia. However, now that the Inner and Outer Mongolia regions are in the hands of Beiyang, the theoretical supply line is not feasible in practice. As long as the People's Party is forced to concentrate its forces northward, the Japanese Navy, which has been unable to exert its strength, will have the opportunity to massacre the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army on a large scale.

After discussions, the War Department quickly adopted a new strategic plan. And this plan was also approved in the cabinet.

The defenders of Mukden naturally welcomed this, and they could be said to have suffered a lot during this time. Trapping a Chinese city is not a pleasure, especially when there are formidable enemies entrenched outside the city. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army did not stop at all in winter, but took advantage of the weather to constantly compress the perimeter of the Japanese army. In addition, the food supply in Shenyang City is also very problematic. During the Yuan Shikai period, in order to fight the People's Party, it can be said that all the grain reserves were exhausted. The Northeast is a grain producing area, and during the period of high grain prices, not only was Hebei's private grain almost completely purchased, but the situation in the Northeast was not much better. Urban grain stocks have also reached extremely low levels. Therefore, at present, the food of the Japanese army has also reached the limit, and if it persists for another two months until the ice and snow melt, the Japanese troops are afraid that they will be hungry and unable to fight.

The commander of the 19th Division had long wanted to retreat, but he did not dare to do so. Now that he had the order, he also acted boldly. If you retreat directly, it will be too conspicuous. It was quite difficult to march more than 200 miles in winter, so he first expelled the people in Mukden City from the city, creating the illusion that the Japanese army was saving food in order to hold on for a long time.

Then, the Japanese army ordered Tang Yulin, now the "Fengtian Overseer", to send troops to take over the defense of Mukden. Tang Yulin felt very incomprehensible about this, what kind of crooked and evil way the Japanese were playing this winter.

The commander of the 19th Division called Tang Yulin to his headquarters, "Tang Dujun, I heard that you have an opinion on our recent military adjustments?" ”

Tang Yulin didn't dare to deny it at all, although the other party was only a division commander, and Tang Yulin was the "Fengtian Overseer", but Tang Yulin did not offend the Japanese emperor at all. And hearing the commander of the 19th Division call himself the overseer, Tang Yulin felt very happy, and he hurriedly laughed and said: "I will definitely do my duty below." However, I still hope that the imperial army can give some pointers, and he is a rough man, and he is really not good at fighting on this march. ”

"Tang Dujun, we are preparing to attack." The commander of the 19th Division explained. He made a gesture that the Japanese army was ready to hold on to Mukden, and spread the word that the Japanese army would hold on. The People's Party is said to be very concerned about the lives of the common people, and after the mass expulsion of the people of Mukden, the People's Party had to emerge. Then the Japanese army can go out in full force to strike at these BJP troops. Moreover, the Japanese army could also take advantage of the situation to attack several strongholds of the People's Party.

Tang Yulin really didn't know how to fight, and after listening to the explanation of the commander of the 19th Division, he felt that it made sense. However, Tang Yulin did not expect that in fact, the position of many of the main forces of the People's Party is not a secret at all, and if Japan really decides to attack the People's Party, why not directly send troops?