Chu Tingchang only misinterpreted Du Yuming's original words slightly, and was refuted by Dai Anlan, and he decided to keep quiet for the time being, so as not to expose his intentions too early. His military rank is low, and he has lost Du Yuming's backstage at this moment, so I am afraid that no one will listen to him when he says it, so it is better to let the commanders quarrel first. Of course, he was still waiting for one thing, that is, the telegram of the synthesis group, according to the strategy he and Lin Xiuxuan combined, the telegram would arrive during the day, so that it could have a dramatic effect, but Du Yuming's loss of command came earlier than expected, and the communication he hoped to send would be received and forwarded back by Ma Qiang or Xu Chong outside.

"I am in favor of returning to Longling and joining Zhang Lingfu, so that the back is on the Nu River, and once the pontoon bridge on the river is repaired, I can go back at any time." Hu Xianqun, the commander of the armored regiment, got up and pointed in front of the map.

"From here to the left flank of Zhang Lingfu's department, it is only 70 kilometers, and our army is fighting hard, and the Japanese army may not dare to stop it."

"What about going back?" Liao Yaoxiang shook his head, "We lost all our heavy weapons, so let's go back?" And who will add it? ”

"I heard Chennault say that the Americans are preparing to open a route from India over the Hengduan Mountains and from India to Kunming to save us, with the short-term goal of equipping 18 divisions within a year."

"Commander Hu, do you believe what the Americans say?" Liao Yaoxiang asked rhetorically, his tone was quite contemptuous, Hu's status was originally second only to the two division commanders of the new 22nd and 200th divisions, and perhaps slightly higher than Sun Liren, but with the destruction of the tank, his status has dropped a lot.

"What's not to be trusted?"

"Yes, it is possible for American planes to fly over the mountains to Kunming, but what is the use of just sending some machine-gun mortars? Can those DC3 planes carry cannons and tanks? And trucks and fuel, do they have to be transported by air? ”

Hu Xianqun was no longer silent, obviously what Liao Yaoxiang said was the truth, retreating, in fact, even more desperate, this year's Chinese military leaders, must consider some more direct issues, that is, how to win more resources to maintain their status, not only the problem of soldiers, but more importantly, the heavy weapons in hand, to a certain extent, the number of heavy weapons determines the strength and status of the military leader. Of course, Hu Xianqun can feel more directly that after he lost the tank, he has no weight to speak here.

Liao Yaoxiang did not directly mention going to India, but he obviously called everyone present, and going to India means that weapons can be replenished quickly; Returning to China will be much more difficult in the future. The reality is that most of the main divisions of the Central Army have never been able to gather enough 12 guns, and the current situation is even more difficult, and how many guns can be divided across the country.

"But to India...... It is also expressly forbidden by the president. Dai Anlan hesitated, he seemed to be a little shaken, but he obviously paid more attention to the honor of the soldier, and resisting the order of the peak was not what a soldier should do.

"Yangong, the current situation, I'm afraid that the old man in Chongqing may not know, and he will ...... outside"

"Report ......" someone came in from outside and interrupted Liao Yaoxiang, "Transcription to the British radio communication, Sun Liren's troops fought fiercely with the Japanese army along the Qingdun River, and the forward has reached the Qingdun River." Negotiations are underway with the British side for the use of bridges. ”

"Is there any news from the Shi headquarters?"

"Not yet, the British seem to be looking for Chief of Staff Stilwell, who and Commander-in-Chief Luo were divided by the Japanese in a region further north, where the mountains were more precipitous. , there is no direct road to India, and communication with the parties has been lost for 48 hours. ”

"Got it, if there's any news, report it immediately."

"Yes."

The soldier finished reporting and left.

"It seems that even if we are determined to go to India, we have lost the best time." Dai Anlan sighed, "Iida has been blocked by the passage in our western district. Everyone has seen the terrain of Myanmar, and it is too difficult to climb over it. ”

Obviously, Dai Anlan also saw some clues, Iida Shojiro seemed to use heavy troops to block the direction of the expeditionary force west to India, that is to say, the Japanese were more afraid of the expeditionary force going to India, no matter how you look at this matter, President Jiang, who was far away in Chongqing, made a mistake.

Chief Chu Ting waited anxiously, and at this moment the officers had a rough score, that is, it was right to go to India, but it seemed impossible. He still has to continue to wait for the best time to reveal his plans.

Tawati, 250 km away. Asano was getting drunk in the mansion, and then poured bitter water on Masanobu Tsuji through drunkenness.

He was originally a self-righteous character, and he was anesthetized by alcohol, and he was even more open-mouthed, and he was scolding Iida Shojiro for being a waste in the same tone as adults talking about children.

"Iida, this stupid guy, completely missed my schedule. It is still grinding in the east, and it is time to march westward...... Enter...... The most favorable opportunity for the Empire to launch an attack was about to be missed by him...... It's as weak as Makino. ”

Masanobu Tsuji filled Asano with a glass of beer, looking at this bombastic guy, he had never imagined that there was someone more radical than himself, who dared to express his dissatisfaction with the senior officers of the army directly.

"Now we have to, attack...... Attack, attack again...... British power in Asia is already shaky......" Asano continued drunkenly, "I have studied Churchill, and he was just bluffing to maintain the illusion that the British Empire was still strong in the face of America...... In his memoirs, he said that in 1942, he was constantly worried about the uprising in India. As soon as India changed, Canaris would instigate a rebellion in the Middle East in Egypt, so that the entire British empire would be exhausted between colonies thousands of kilometers apart, and Britain would certainly abandon India first......"

"Really?" Masanobu Tsuji asked.

He was amazed that this unreliable guy would study these big things, and he said that no one in the entire base camp cared about the global layout of Britain or the United States, and the General Staff Headquarters paid more attention to the main direction of attack or the need to support the limited flanks in this direction; For example, it was not until the first half of 1940, in order to seek a passage to attack Malaya and protect Thailand, that Burma began to be considered, and the establishment of the 15th Army was temporarily increased, when there was only one division below the 15th Army. I didn't even think about India.

In general, the thinking of the military department is really not open enough, which Asano thinks long-term, perhaps because he has no military training and does not understand the difficulties of logistics, he always cries for attacking Australia and India, if it were not for his identity as a traverser, Masanobu Tsuji may have rewarded him with an old fist.

"Iida is a fool, he is still entangled with the Chinese army, and he should hurry to the west...... Storm Imphal and Nagaland, and then sweep Assam, wipe out all the air bases of the Americans, so that the Chinese problem is solved once and for all, what a short-sighted guy. ”

"But...... You can't let the army do the impossible, huh? Masanobu Tsuji said.

"The Japanese army is omnipotent, and I firmly believe that." Asano poured down a glass of wine and shouted.

Masanobu Tsuji was surprised that it was not himself, but another person who said such a thing, which simply touched him.

"You have to trust me...... The troops brought in from Manchuria had to be given priority to Burma, not to Borneo...... Oil, there will be in the future, but time waits for no one. ”

After Asano said this, he collapsed, and then a snoring sounded.

Masanobu Tsuji sat in a daze, thinking carefully about Asano's drinking words, getting along with Asano these days has broadened his horizons unprecedentedly. Of course, because he repeatedly emphasized the invasion of India before the rainy season, he became more and more speechless here in Iida, and out of the pride of an officer, Iida began to resist that timetable, of course, objectively because there were not enough troops.

Perhaps, he can directly use his relationship with Shouichi Terauchi, Tsujimasa thought confidently. Let's see if we can prioritize the Army's new arrivals and other resources to Burma. From a military point of view, of course, it was necessary to capture Borneo first in order to secure sea transport to Burma, otherwise Allied submarines and aircraft could attack from Borneo and interfere with the transport, but Asano saw the significance of an immediate attack on India from a strategic point of view, and the Allies never seemed to have launched any offensive from their bases in Borneo. Although it was already in a state of hostility, the Netherlands still restrained the United States and Britain from using their own territory, so as not to provoke Japan too much and remember that he still existed.

At present, there are 2 divisions and 3 independent mixed brigades on the way to the South Seas, and it may be possible to persuade the commander-in-chief of Terauchi to suspend the planned second phase of the attack on Po Chau and allocate most of the resources here. Since the Japanese already controlled the port of Sittwe, it seemed that they could land directly on the west coast of Burma, closer to India. He didn't know whether entering India would mean that the China problem would be solved once and for all, but it seemed that the idea was tempting and worth trying.

5 a.m. The communications company of the expeditionary force was still busy receiving various communications, and the news of Chief Du's poisoning was not sent to Chongqing, because Liao Yaoxiang was worried that the leakage of the news would affect the morale of the army, so he controlled the news, and he didn't even know about several directly subordinate troops in the headquarters.

Although Du Yuming's prestige in the army is not enough to make soldiers feel that losing him is equivalent to the end of the world, in a superstitious army, this kind of news will inevitably be interpreted as some kind of providence or suggestion, and if there are ubiquitous Japanese spies fanning the flames, the consequences will be unimaginable. Of course, Liao Yaoxiang's other meaning was that he didn't want Chongqing to know about this matter too early and immediately intervene in the command.

The communications force received a strange communication, using a password agreed upon by the U.S. military, but it was not from Stilwell headquarters, but from the U.S. team stationed in the long-lost composite group.

The translator finished the telegram, took a look at it, realized that there would be a major change, and quickly got up and ran to the headquarters. The last time he went to the headquarters, there was still a fierce argument, but this time, it was much quieter, and he didn't seem to have come to a conclusion.

"Report, telegram."

"Read!" Liao Yaoxiang said lazily.

"Call from the U.S. Army Communications Group of the Synthetic Regiment...... Its troops were already assembled behind enemy lines, ready to attack and sweep away the enemy's rearguard forces east of the Sidtang River. Control the Indo-Tamante road. ”

"What?"

Liao Yaoxiang stood up suddenly, and for a few seconds he felt a little dizzy, suspecting that he had also been bitten by some poisonous insect here. He happened to notice Chu Tingchang sitting there crookedly, as if he was not surprised at all, until he looked at him, and only then did he squeeze out a trace of perfunctory surprise on his face.

Dai Anlan, Liao Yaoxiang and other officers had already arrived in front of the sand table, and Chu Tingchang got up a little late and was squeezed to the back. However, he knew the general situation, the area described in the telegram was far behind the enemy's main force, where there was originally a small flag representing the composite regiment, surrounded by a bunch of small sun flags, because he had never received definite information to confirm that the synthetic regiment had been annihilated, of course, it may also be to take care of his own emotions, Du Yuming had always let the flag stay there, but yesterday afternoon the staff officer took it upon his own initiative to pull out the flag.