The failure of the Japanese army to quickly take Pukou shattered the idea of the headquarters of its Shanghai Dispatch Army to encircle and destroy the main force of the Nationalist army in the Nanjing area. Although, in several other directions, the pace of the Japanese advance was unstoppable, as long as there were mistakes in one direction, the Japanese army would not launch a general attack on Nanjing. For the Japanese army - "the basic purpose of the Nanjing strategy is not to capture Nanjing, but to consume as much vitality as possible of the national army" - Matsui Ishine's speech at a military conference. Since Pukou is still in the hands of the Chinese army, once the Japanese army launches a general attack, if the Chinese army is determined to break through, the Pukou line will become a ready-made breakthrough.

Three days after the end of the Battle of Pukou, a military meeting convened by Chiang Lao in the name of the Military Council was held in a military camp on the northern outskirts of Nanjing.

Among the participants, in addition to the bigwigs of the various systems of the Central Army and the top commanders and subordinates of the various group armies, there were also the top commanders and important subordinates of other powerful troops defending Nanjing. It is the first time to participate in such a high-level meeting, and everyone who attends the meeting can basically be regarded as a heavyweight who can cause an earthquake by stomping his feet during the Republic of China, it is false to say that he is not nervous, and all Ouyang Yun can do is to take more deep breaths and try to make himself appear calm.

From the Battle of Nanjing to the present, although the Military Commission made some arrangements for a rainy day, and even spared no expense to build several lines of defense, the results achieved were minimal because of the uneven quality of the troops. Among them, the most ridiculous is the Xicheng line and the Wufu line.

The cement fortifications, which had been built with huge financial and manpower costs, turned out to be a mere decoration because they could not get the key. Ouyang Yun remembered that the line of defense he had set up in Wen'an had played a huge role in the early days of the independence of the Cadet Army. It was precisely because of the existence of that line of defense that the Japanese army's military operations against the Cadet Army could only be launched from the gap set aside in advance, which gave the Cadet Army the opportunity to attack a corner of the Cadet Army, and also kept the pitiful base area of the Cadet Corps at the beginning.

In terms of the student army, in addition to Ouyang Yun, the one who received the invitation was Li Hansoul. When the two of them arrived at the venue ten minutes before the allotted time, the large conference room was already full. Some female officers dressed in brand-new military uniforms shuttled among them, serving tea and water to the generals who had already sat down, and were very busy.

Ouyang Yun, as the boss of the Scholar Army, because of the brilliant achievements of the Scholar Army, his images were frequently seen in the newspapers, so he was recognized by many people as soon as he walked in.

"That's Ouyang Yun!"

"The commander of the Cadet Army!" …… Talking about him like this are naturally those butterfly-like female officers.

Most of those who just looked at him with their eyes were commanders of other group armies, or some important members of the Kuomintang government. Suddenly became the focus of everyone, Ouyang Yun took a deep breath, walked to the sign-in desk by the door, and was about to sign in and receive his seat number card by the way, a young general in his thirties came over with a few people, and shouted from afar: "It's Commander Ouyang!" It's been a long time! Your army is in Jiangyin and Zhenjiang, including Pukou a few days ago, but it is really good! Perhaps, your unit is the only unit that has not suffered defeat so far. ”

A slender face, bright eyes, a relatively delicate appearance, and a slightly big mouth - Ouyang Yun saw his appearance clearly, and immediately guessed the identity of the other party, he immediately greeted him warmly, saluted, shook hands, and said, "Commander Chen, you have won the award." The 15th Army you led also fought well! ”

This person is Chen Cheng, the leader of the old Jiang family.

Hearing Ouyang Yun say this, he waved his hand again and again, and said, "I won't say much polite words." For the general, I have been admiring it for a long time, and I was still thinking, when will I be able to see the demeanor of the anti-Japanese vanguard troops, the sniper battle of Jiangyin Fortress, let me see it for a long time. Commander Ouyang, on behalf of all my colleagues in the Admiralty, I would like to thank you, if it weren't for your sniping at the Japanese Third Fleet at all costs, our navy would have been incapable of fighting now. ”

Ouyang Yun said modestly: "Where, where, as a soldier, it is our duty to expel foreign enemies, and these are what we should do." ”

Chen Cheng introduced several people around him to him, but they were all backbone figures in the civil engineering department, among them, there was Huang Wei, who gave Ouyang Yun the starting team of the army.

If Chen Cheng and the others saw Ouyang Yun, they were only surprised by the speed of the rise of this young talent, and they had a heart of speculation. Then, as the planner of the original student training class, Huang Wei has a lot more emotion. You must know that the original training class of cadets was only about 200 people, but with just 200 people, Ouyang Yun was able to develop it into a regiment, a division, and even a group army in a very short period of time - such an expansion speed was rare even in the era of warlord secession in the early Republic of China - Ouyang Yun is really not simple!

A few people were greeting, and Zhang Shaoshuai came over with a few people. Although he and Ouyang Yun have not known each other for a long time, because they have had the experience of sharing hardships, their relationship is not ordinary. Chen Cheng and the others watched coldly, and found that they greeted each other with a tacit understanding, exchanging glances, and when the chairman of the committee looked at Ouyang Yun again, his eyes were no longer so simple.

Whenever there are a large number of participants and the content is more important, the seating arrangement of the participants is very particular. For example, the few people who got together just now were all arranged in the first row, and among them, Ouyang Yun and Chen Cheng were neighbors. Of course, this does not preclude the deliberate result of the latter. After all, he is Lao Jiang's right-hand man, and it is very easy to change to a more satisfactory seat.

On the other hand, Zhang Shaoshuai, his seat is incomprehensible.

After the Xi'an Incident, although he himself was not punished, and even the title of deputy commander was retained, his seat was arranged to the far right of the first row. Noticing this, Ouyang Yun's brows couldn't help frowning slightly, and at the same time, he had a further understanding of the behavior of some people.

He Yingqin presided over the meeting, and the first speaker to speak was Elder Jiang, chairman of the Military Commission. After a standing ovation from all the participants, he slowly walked to the rostrum, and then, putting down the speech in his hand, he glanced at the audience and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Everyone, at the time of this national crisis, I want to gather you together to convene this meeting, I think you already know the main topic of this meeting, yes, the main content of this meeting is to discuss ......."

Lao Jiang was talking eloquently above, and Ouyang Yun was deserting below-no matter how old Jiang said, the fall of Nanjing was inevitable. What he is most concerned about now is whether the Nanjing government has a detailed evacuation plan. At that time, it was precisely because the Nanjing government still had a trace of illusion about defending Nanjing that the tragedy of the "Nanjing Massacre" had a soil to happen. What Ouyang Yun thought was: If the Nationalist Government had taken precautions and formulated an evacuation plan as early as possible, would it be possible to avoid the "Nanjing Massacre"?

Lao Jiang's speech alone lasted for more than half an hour, and then, when he asked all the participants to talk about their own views, Ouyang Yun, who did not listen to half of his speech, immediately gave him a problem.

Ouyang Yun spoke after Chen Cheng, because just after Chen Cheng finished speaking, everyone's eyes fell on him - in fact, many people's eyes actually fell on Chen Cheng, but Ouyang Yun himself misunderstood.

Chen Cheng's previous speeches were all about how to stabilize the defense line and strive to ensure that Nanjing is not lost - as the descendant of the old Jiang line, this is also his duty. In this way, as soon as Ouyang Yun's speech at opposite ends of him came out, it attracted everyone's attention. Ouyang Yun's suggestion was: In terms of the current war situation, there is no point in holding Nanjing to the death, and the correct way to do it at present is to organize a retreat and prepare for the abandonment of Nanjing.

Nanjing, at this time, was the capital of the Nationalist Government. Regardless of whether his suggestion is right or wrong, from a standpoint alone, his suggestion is a big rebellion. As soon as he finished speaking, many people attacked him one after another, some scolded him for not having the integrity of a soldier, some scolded him for ignoring the overall situation, and even worse, directly scolded him for being a traitor.

Historically, at the beginning of the Japanese army's attack on Nanjing, the Central Committee of the Nationalist Government began to evacuate. And in this time and space, because of the early fall of Shanghai, the evacuation was much earlier. At this time, the Nationalist Government was still stationed in Nanjing, and only some military-related departments remained. It is said that Ouyang Yu's suggestion was in the arms of Lao Jiang, but the funny thing is that I don't know what the purpose of Lu Dao is, but Lao Jiang took this opportunity to spur the student army fiercely.

Chiang's criticism did not name names, but simply replaced them with "certain troops". It's not that Lao Jiang is taboo about the student army, in fact, in his speech not long ago, he also praised the student army.

As the only unit that has given the Japanese army a heavy blow at this stage, it has won the praise of the chairman of the committee, and the cadet army deserves it. However, as an armed force with a personal nature, this is also the extreme. No matter how badly the national army on other fronts fought, after all, it was his own lineage, and it was impossible for Lao Chiang to strike at it without scruples. It's just that because of the importance of the sniper battle of Jiangyin Fortress to the Battle of Nanjing, he had to make a gesture of praise to the Cadet Army. And now, Ouyang Yun's words undoubtedly gave him the opportunity to play on the topic. As a result, the Cadet Army was also honored to transform from an ace army into a selfish private army.