At dawn, Zhou Youfu successively threw in a battalion and a half to drive the enemy to the edge of the Lijiang River, and in the morning the river swelled so loudly that the soldiers could not cross the river, and they all gathered by the river to advance and retreat, and the two measurements had been occupied by the Chinese mechanized infantry who were much faster than them. By noon, Lieutenant General Chalun had left his troops and fled in small boats on the other side, and the rest of the troops decided to surrender.

At the temporary headquarters of Timinla, Kimura received news of the destruction of the main division of the 1st Army of the Thai Army. Originally, it was planned to rely on this division to drag the Chinese army for 3 days, but now it seems that it has not been delayed for half a day, and the Thai army reported: 16 fuel vehicles were destroyed in the melee, and Kimura did not believe it, because the 56th division reported that the Chinese army began to advance towards Lashio and Songshan again.

His two main divisions, the 55th and 56th Divisions, were facing the test of being tested by the enemy at this moment. Kimura had a general understanding of the combat effectiveness of the 58th Division of the National Army stationed in Songshan, but he did not know the current combat effectiveness of the 202nd Division, which had rushed thousands of miles to help. He hoped that the 56th Division would be able to resist the enemy's attack by virtue of its tenacious style and superior new anti-aircraft artillery. In addition, he remembered a topic that had been discussed at the Army University in those years - the plan to use poison to block armored units.

Around 40 years ago, the Army University discussed the example of the German blitzkrieg countless times, of course, dividing the staff officers and cadets into two groups to confront each other, in fact, the discussion is a discussion, and the Japanese army was not ready to defend against such an offensive. Of course, it is not without a plan, and the conclusion of several deductions is that chemical warfare is the fastest and best way to block a rapid assault, and some poison stocks can block key roads for a long time.

Military traditionally, the Japanese army has the habit of using all kinds of poison gas, if the Thai army continues to be unreliable, can it be changed to something reliable to block the enemy's attack?

Sitting in the tent of the Chinese army, Chu Tingchang pondered the latest bad news, and British intelligence indicated that the Japanese army was transporting poison to northern Burma, and was currently concentrated in Chiang Rai Province, and the exact location was not yet known.

Prince Wasd's Free Thai Party, which has been working for British intelligence on the Thai-Burmese border, often lagged and inadequate, but highly credible. For example, a few days ago, they said that a division of the Thai army had entered northern Burma, and it turned out that it really came, but the number was far more than one division. So Chu Tingchang didn't doubt that what they said might be true. He himself experienced the retreat in northern Burma, and the angry Japanese army used poison gas many times on the highway and in the Moneva mining area. At first it was tear gas, and later it was Louis morale and meson gas together. This is a problem that he must face seriously.

Although there is no record of the Japanese army's use of poison gas against the United States and Britain, the use of poison gas against the Chinese army is not ruled out. The best way to prevent the Japanese army from using poison is to block the source.

Chu Tingchang suddenly thought of electronics, and immediately sent a telegram to Stilwell, requesting that the scope of action of the Allied forces in this operation was not limited to northern Burma, considering that Thailand had declared war with the allies in January and officially dispatched troops on the side of Japan, the military operation should be able to penetrate deep into Thai territory.

Stilwell immediately replied that since Thailand had sent tens of thousands of troops into northern Burma, he did not think there was a problem in treating Thailand as a quasi-Axis power, but this was a major political issue, and he also needed to ask the president, since the headquarters of the Free Thai Movement was in Washington, D.C., and the Thai royal family in exile in Europe had publicly expressed their opposition to the Luang Pi Boon government, so this should not be a problem.

After communicating with Stilwell, he routinely drafted a telegram to inform Chongqing that if necessary, he might have to transfer a division from Sun Liren and Liao Yaoxiang to assist him in defending the Thai army. But the information sent to Chongqing was not immediately replied to, in the past, Chongqing would always reply to its telegram quickly, and there must be a demon when things go wrong, Chu Tingchang had a hunch that something might be wrong.

His plan was mainly based on military considerations, but he did not think carefully about the fact that there was a major flaw in his way of going beyond Chiang Kai-shek's authority as "commander-in-chief of the China-Burma-India theater" and directly conspiring with Stilwell and even Washington to change the pattern of the entire region.

Chu Tingchang has also won too many battles, and he gradually can't remember that the old man in Chongqing is still in charge.

In fact, he had known forbearance earlier and had been quietly hiding behind the more restless Sun Liren, but this time, when Stilwell rushed to convey Washington's fully approved position to Chiang Kai-shek, demanding that it be carried out without compromise, he completely surpassed Sun Liren.

In Chiang's opinion, Chief Chu not only exceeded his authority, but also secretly interfered in the command of the other two armies in the region. Since the troops stationed in India did not accept domestic supplies, Chiang was most afraid that the Americans would mix sand in these troops and support a pro-American general. Chu Tingchang's mistake was that he should have asked Chongqing first and then submit the plan to Stilwell, but the military situation was so hot that he really couldn't wait, he really couldn't submit the emergency plan to a superior who was far away from the battlefield, and then wait for approval.

Zhou Youfu, who continued the attack, decided to abandon Lashio and attack Songshan instead. He didn't have much artillery, but he had the support of American aircraft.

In order to cooperate with this attack, a large number of US planes took off from northern India, and after completing the bombing of the Japanese positions outside Songshan, most of them returned, while others flew to the nearest US military base near Kunming after a short flight. The escort mission was completed by the Flying Tigers stationed in Kunming. On the morning of Zhou Youfu's attack, the U.S. military dropped thousands of tons* on the heads of the Japanese, compared to the Japanese bombardment of Chongqing, which lasted for several years, and dropped only 5,000 tons.

The commander of Watanabe's division sent several telegrams a day informing him of the losses and requesting reinforcements, indicating that his troops were under attack from the enemy, and that if there was not enough support, he would have to abandon the defense southwest of Matsuyama within a few days.

Kimura was, after all, an old-school soldier, and he had the notion that he had to commit suicide to thank the emperor for such a major defeat as abandoning the Nu River defense line.

The inclusion of personal life and death considerations in military decision-making is certainly heroic, but it will inevitably affect determination. He decided to ignore Watanabe's request and only asked him to stick to it. At the same time, the hesitant Thai army was urged to continue the offensive and relieve the pressure on the flanks.

At the same time, Kimura also made up his mind to attack with poison gas. He constantly asked the forward troops to inform the headquarters of the information on meteorological observations, and some of these telegrams were intercepted by the Allies and deciphered. The Japanese were concerned with meteorological observations, indicating that they were either preparing to dispatch aircraft or to carry out poison gas warfare.

Kimura knows, of course, that Japan's chemical warfare capability is an order of magnitude worse than that of the United States and Britain, but this operation is still only unilaterally aimed at the Chinese army, and although the US military has dispatched planes, it will not hurt the pilots in the sky. So this does not violate the principle of the use of poisons established by the War Department (i.e., only against China, which does not have the ability to retaliate by chemical warfare).

About 100 tons of poison were brought ashore from the Gulf of Thailand a month ago and transported to Chiang Rai by rail, and because they were worried that American planes would bomb military bases in Burma, they were deliberately stored in northern Thailand near the battlefield in accordance with the advice of the Yugoslav authorities.

Chu Tingchang was planning to expand the scale of the campaign, and finally received a call from Chongqing, which belatedly sent a telegram to accuse him.

The telegram showed him affection and did not list his crimes, but he still changed a slightly polite tone, hoping that he would rein in the precipice and not make historical mistakes, including: not to cooperate with the foreign and self-respecting, not to meddle in the command of friendly forces, not to provoke neighbors for no reason, and to sabotage the overall situation of the War of Resistance...... The telegram also reminded him that the proper placement of Thai prisoners of war and the need to repay grievances with virtue. Chongqing didn't know that Zhou Youfu had pushed the wounded soldiers who couldn't walk on their own into the river and left to fend for themselves.

These hats were buttoned down, and Chu Tingchang finally found that his misunderstanding with Chongqing was a little deep. He had absolutely no intention of resisting the Central Committee mentioned in the telegram.

But he didn't know that this time he was really unknowingly caught in the cusp of political struggle. It was Stilwell's blunt attitude of directly holding Roosevelt's final opinion of agreeing to attack Thailand and forcing Chongqing to agree that Chiang's anger was triggered.

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of Chiang's delay in declaring war on Thailand and that he had ambiguous private activities with the Thai government, and even speculated that the Luang Pyong-Boon government might become an intermediary bridge in peace talks with Japan. Pavilion Chief Chu's opinion came at the right time, it was simply a robbery with two birds with one stone, which could not only put pressure on Jiang, but also take the opportunity to win over the three armies here. Chu Tingchang skipped himself and gave a private lecture to the American side, which was like a slap in the face of Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang recalled the respectful little captain he saw in Jingdong Villa, and it was indeed difficult to associate him with a face that was eating inside and crawling outside. It seems that none of the Whampoa systems are unreliable.

Chief Chu Tingchang was forced to stop all military decisions, and just sent a telegram, asking Xu Chong and Ma Qiang, who were closest to Chiang Rai, to each have a company to find a way to solve the problem, and then find the most trusted Tao Mingzhang to discuss the problem in front of him, according to his estimate, the telegram to return to China was about to arrive. If he disobeys, then he will completely turn his face with the central government.

The two discussed all night, but in the face of the complicated situation, they couldn't figure it out, because many contradictions and struggles between China and the United States were things that happened under the surface, and they were just front-line generals, and what they saw were all superficial telegrams, so it was difficult to sort out the clues

Tao Mingzhang is also a very unsound person, and suddenly came up with a crooked idea, saying that his deputy division commander Xiong seems to be a person who knows the thoughts of the chairman of the committee, so it is better to let him discuss countermeasures together, he said that after all, Deputy Division Commander Xiong is a student of the chairman of the committee, and he can ask him.

Chu Tingchang felt that Tao Mingzhang was probably dizzy and remembered to find a deputy division commander of the Huangpu Department to talk about this kind of thing, where is the heart of defense?

However, there are mistakes and mistakes, after all, he stands at the height of history and knows the true background of the bear, so once reminded, he thinks he can talk about it, maybe he has channels to know some insiders.