Half an hour later, in Nanjing.

The commander of the Central China Front Army, Shinji Hata, got up early and made an appointment with the commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Yasuji, who had returned to Nanjing to report his duties.

More than seven months have passed, Nanjing has gradually restored its old order.

But some things can never go back to the past!

For example, the person responsible for the order in Nanjing at this time was no longer the Chinese police, but the Japanese military police!

Hata Shunrok walked in front with his hands behind his back, and said as he walked: "Okamura, have you read the battle report sent by the Second Army from Wuhan this morning?"

"Hayi!" Okamura Yasuji said, "I have already seen it."

Shinji Hata nodded and then asked, "What do you think about this?"

Okamura Yasuji pondered for a moment and said, "God General, to be honest, the difficulty of the battle to capture Wuhan is somewhat beyond the expectations of Hushi!"

"Yes." Hata Shunruo sighed, "After destroying the Hankou Railway Station, the fortresses on Guishan and Snake Mountain, I originally thought that the next battle to capture Wuhan would be unstoppable, but I didn't expect that it would end up like this! Not only did I fail to realize my intention to occupy Wuhan in a short period of time, I paid a heavy price!"

After pausing, Hata Shunruo said again: "And from the moment, the Wuhan Battle is likely to end up in a stalemate!"

Okamura Yasuji was silent for a moment and said, "Great General, China is really too big for the empire!"

"Yes, China is too big!" Hata Shunruo shook his head and said, "It is really harder for the empire to swallow China in one bite than climbing to the sky! The young people in the military are too impatient!"

"Hayi!" Okamura Yasuji said, "The young staff at the military headquarters lacked basic understanding of China, so they rashly formulated a plan to destroy China for three months, which was simply a joke."

"But now that things have come to this point, we can only continue to fight!" Hata Shunruo sighed and then asked, "Okamura, how many days do you think the Second Army will take Hankou?"

Okamura Yasuji shook his head and said, "Your Excellency General, you are probably too optimistic."

"Too optimistic?" Hata Shunruo said sternly, "Okamura, what do you mean?"

Okamura Yasuji said: "Genius, I wonder if you have noticed that in the counterattack in the early morning, the casualties ratio between the Chinese army and the Imperial Army was 2 to 1, which is unprecedented!"

Hata Shunruo frowned and said, "It's just a battle, what's the problem?"

Okamura Yasuji replied: "This is a signal, which shows that after a long and high-intensity marching and combat, the officers and soldiers of the Second Army were exhausted and their combat effectiveness had decreased significantly! On the contrary, the Chinese Army made great progress through many battles with the Imperial Army in this year!"

After a moment of pause, Okamura Yasuji said again: "So, General, I suggest that you immediately order the Second Army to suspend the attack on Hankou and retreat to Xiaogan to rest! When the weather turns colder by the end of September and early October, it will not be too late to cooperate with our 11th Army to launch an attack on Wuhan at the same time."

Hata Shunruo said sternly: "Okamura, are you worried that the Second Army will be defeated by the Chinese army?"

After pausing, Hata Shunruo said again: "The Second Army has six main divisions, of which four divisions gathered outside Hankou City. Is Okamura a bit alarmist?

"Hayi!" Okamura Yasuji paused, "I hope so."

Shinroku Hata fell into a long silence.

...

The main hall of the Five Prisons Palace, Hankou Command.

Li Lianggang pointed at the sand table with the command rod in his hand, explaining to Zhong Yi, Zhu Liangcheng and Stilwell: "Half an hour ago, all 60,000 shells had been transported to the railway station, Wudang Palace and the front line of the racecourse. The officers and soldiers of the Independent Engineer Regiment were rushing to convert all of these shells into mines!"

After a pause, Li Lianggang said again: "But if you want to perfectly realize your intention to participate in the seat, you may still need the full cooperation of the 367th Brigade, the Guard Brigade and the Special Brigade!"

Zhong Yi said: "How do you need to cooperate?"

"First of all, time." Li Lianggang said without hesitation, "First change the shells into mines, then camouflage and lay pipelines, all these will take time!"

Zhu Liangcheng said: "How long will it take?"

Li Lianggang said: "At least four hours!"

"No problem!" Zhu Liangcheng said in a deep voice, "No one came to disturb the Engineer Regiment before ten o'clock! At least the direction of the train station in charge of our 367th Brigade!"

Zhong Yi said to Zhang Shiliang: "Staff Officer Zhang, inform the Guard Brigade and the Special Forces Brigade, so that they can defend the existing defense line at all costs. Before ten o'clock in the morning, the Japanese must not enter the core urban area!"

"Yes!" Zhang Shiliang turned around and went to send orders to the guard brigade, and the spy brigade was sent.

Li Lianggang continued: "There are quite a lot of 60,000 shells, but if they are scattered throughout the battlefield, there are not many. Therefore, in order to create as much as possible, the mines modified by the 60,000 shells must be buried in a narrow area. To be more specific, it is along the lines of Taiping Lane, Tiren Lane and Xiongjia Lane!"

"Taiping Lane, Tiren Lane and Xiongjia Lane?" Zhu Liangcheng said, "This is the end line yesterday!"

"Yes!" Li Lianggang nodded, "This requires the full cooperation of the 367th Brigade, the Guard Brigade and the Special Brigade, and stay in Taiping Lane, Tiren Lane and Xiongjia Lane for at least half an hour. Only in this way can the Japanese army be attracted and then detonate the mines, which can cause the greatest possible damage effect!"

Zhu Liangcheng said: "If this is the case, Taiping Lane, Tiren Lane and Xiongjia Lane will almost be razed to the ground!"

Zhong Yi said: "If it could be exchanged for the destruction of at least three infantry corps of the Japanese, what would be wrong if thousands of houses on Taiping Lane, Tiren Lane and Xiongjia Lane were razed to the ground?"

After pausing, Zhong Yi once again reminded Li Lianggang: "Staff Officer Li, I remind you again that modified landmines must be disguised and buried deep in the ruins to avoid being discovered by the Japanese!"

"Don't worry," Li Lianggang said in a deep voice, "We will definitely pretend as much as possible!"

"Okay, then you go and do your business!" Zhong Yi said, "The 367th Brigade, the Guard Brigade and the Special Forces Brigade will cooperate with you!"

"Yes!" Li Lianggang stood at attention, saluted Zhong Yi, then turned around and sang out of the hall.

Watching Li Lianggang's figure go away, Stilwell withdrew his gaze and said to Zhong Yi: "Zhong, I can't wait to see the result of this morning's battle! I believe that Dongjiugu Niyan will definitely be kicked hard by you this time!"

Zhong Yi didn't say anything, but turned his head and turned his eyes to the northwest.
Chapter completed!