Chapter 175: Evacuation in Nanjing

"Everyone, Nanjing is the location of the Prime Minister's tomb, and the sincere admiration of the whole country is here! The whole world is eagerly looking forward to paying the greatest attention, and it is also here. We cannot give up easily! The capital is facing a critical moment, and I am willing to take the responsibility of guarding with everyone. However, the war situation in all aspects is continuing to develop, and I cannot be just a little bit. Therefore, responsibility forces me to leave. Today, I hand over the responsibility of defending the capital to General Tang Shengzhi. General Tang is a general who has experienced many battles and is both wise and brave. He will definitely be able to take responsibility in accordance with my will. Everyone obeys General Tang, just like obeying me."

On July 25, the Nanjing Garrison Command was officially established. In addition to Ye Zhao's 83rd Army, the others under the Nanjing Garrison Command were all direct troops of the Central Army. The deputy commander was Luo Zhuoying, the direct general of Chiang Kai-shek. This made the honorary officials who had lost all their capital since the Central Plains War and had been on the bench to restore military power. Tang Shengzhi, who was worried that he would be undermined and could not command these direct generals. In addition to strongly recommending his former subordinate of the Eighth Army, Liu Xing, the commander of the 15th Army and the commander-in-chief of the Jiang Defense Command, as deputy commander-in-chief, and Zhou Lan, who was originally on the bench in the Military Senate, served as chief of staff, and specially invited Chiang Kai-shek to convene the chief of the subordinate troops on the day the establishment of the garrison commander.

No matter what purpose Tang Shengzhi had, he supported himself at a critical moment and reciprocates. Jiang Zhongzheng also gave Tang Shengzhi this face.

Today, except for Yu Jishi, the commander of the 74th Army who was blocking the Neon Army on the front line of Guangde, the chief officers of the other troops, including the honorary First Division commander Shen Xiuwen, were all sitting and listening to the principal's instructions.

In fact, since the last meeting ended, He Yingqin, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Zhizhong and even Chen Cheng, who was still on the front line, have once again advised Chiang Kai-shek to give up Nanjing. In his heart, Chiang Kai-shek also advocated giving up Nanjing because even if the Neon Army occupied Nanjing, it had no strategic significance. However, since the September 18th Incident, Zhang Hanqing's non-resistance made Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the country, always labeled as a non-resistance, and even left the country. He was afraid of giving up Nanjing without a fight, and would be accused by public opinion and political enemies of the society for surrender and treason. It is precisely based on this psychology that he hoped to carry out a symbolic short-term resistance in Nanjing to cope with social public opinion. However, Tang Shengzhi's patriotic passionate proposal to defend Nanjing had the upper hand morally, and social public opinion also sang praises for this, which made Chiang Kai-shek gradually strengthen his confidence in defending Nanjing.

Facing the subordinates sitting upright on both sides of the conference table, Lao Jiang became more and more excited: "I am outside and I should mobilize troops to support the capital. Let me tell you good news. The troops from Yunnan and other fields are already moving towards Nanjing. The capital still has hope to be defended. Even if there is any misfortune, it will become a national hero to defend the country! Who will not die? We must look at the value and significance of death. How glorious is it to be able to do this extraordinary job in this great era!"

Then Tang Shengzhi spoke. He expressed his willingness to take responsibility for defending the city with the generals and vowed to live and die with Nanjing in a tragic tone.

Listening to Tang Shengzhi's remarks on the stage, Chen Xiuwen secretly sneered. If Chiang Kai-shek considered political and diplomatic factors and strongly advocated defending Nanjing, then Tang Shengzhi was a greedy speculator who was obsessed with profit. He exchanged the lives of more than 100,000 soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians in Nanjing for his own future.

Nanjing is located in the curved part of the Yangtze River, with the northwest facing the water. It is the so-called "fight against the water" of military strategists. In the era of cold weapons, mountains and rivers were natural barriers, easy to defend and difficult to attack. But now it is the era of hot weapons. It has completely turned upside down, and mountains and rivers have become the dead of the defenders. All the generals sitting in their hearts knew this truth, but no one dared to say it at this time.

Since the National Government officially announced the relocation of the capital in Chongqing on July 20, the entire Nanjing city was panicked, and those with the means were trying their best to move in. The train and ship tickets in Nanjing rose, and even ten times or even twenty times the price could not be bought. If the Shen family had not had their own fleet, it would be a problem for Shen Xiuping, He Zhenru, Yu Wenwan and the others to return to Wanxian two days ago. At this time, Chen Xiuwen had no intention of thinking about how to defend Nanjing, and in fact he didn't have to think about it. From the time he went to the military academy to now, the map of Nanjing has almost been turned over, and the entire Nanjing city and the periphery also had footprints. Based on the terrain of Nanjing, it was concluded that only one guarded Nanjing could only guard the periphery. If the periphery was lost, it would really become a dead land.

What Chen Xiuwen is thinking about now is how the civilians in Nanjing city should be evacuated and how to retreat if the troops are lost. However, Tang Shengzhi was talking about how to defend Nanjing and how to survive and die with Nanjing. The evacuation of the people, how to retreat if the troops are lost is verified.

"You have to defend the capital of the country, and you all talk about it." After Tang Shengzhi's long speech with generous speech, Chiang Kai-shek smiled and looked at the generals attending the meeting.

All the generals who were familiar with the chairman knew that it was time to express their determination to the chairman. Although they were helpless, they stood up and spoke generously, swearing to live and die with the capital. But as for the true thoughts in their hearts, only they knew.

Chen Xiuwen has the least qualifications, so it is naturally the last speech. Chen Xiuwen knew that today's meeting was the last opportunity to avoid the indiscriminate killing of innocent people in Nanjing. He had to seize this opportunity no matter what, and it was obviously impossible to abandon Nanjing. The only thing he could do now is to evacuate the citizens as soon as possible to avoid the civilians being killed by indiscriminately after the city was destroyed.

"...Soldiers should take obeying orders as their natural duty and defending the country as their sacred mission. We honor all officers and soldiers of the First Division have been prepared to be killed, and vow to defend the capital to the death and promote the prestige of China."

Chen Xiuwen's success in righteousness and righteousness promoted China's prestige, which was very consistent with Chiang Kai-shek's appetite. His most favorable was a general who could keep in line with him. In addition, soldiers should be pure soldiers, obey orders and obey their own orders, which is the soldier he hoped to see. What's more, Chen Xiuwen was the representative of the third generation of young officers who followed the Baoding Group and the previous few periods of Huangpu.

"Okay, Guangfu said it well." While praising the high fives, Jiang Zhong said with a smile: "Guangfu, you performed very well in the battlefield of Songhu, especially the Battle of Songjiang, which covered the retreat of the main force of Songhu. I hope you can show the spirit of the Battle of Songjiang to defend the capital."

"The principal's instructions are in mind. The students should lead the troops to show the spirit of the Songjiang defense battle and the neon army to fight for every land. However, the principal and the students still have concerns." Chen Xiuwen said with a look of worry on purpose.

"Say, just say it out any concerns. I just said that Nanjing is up to you to defend, and I will be responsible for solving the problem for you." Although Chen Xiuwen's words were a little abrupt, Jiang Zhongzheng was in a good mood and waved his hand and said.

"Principal, the reason why the battle for Songjiang defense was won was that at the beginning of the war, the people in Songjiang City had already evacuated, so that the students and all the soldiers who defend Songjiang could let go of their hands and feet. If the periphery was lost, they would engage in street battles with the enemy, so that the enemy would have to pay a price for bleeding every step forward. However, the principal, there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of our compatriots in Nanjing today. Once Nanjing becomes a battlefield, we compatriots will be damaged by the war, and we will inevitably be unable to let go of our hands and feet to fight the enemy. Therefore, I beg the principal to evacuate the citizens of Nanjing as soon as possible." Chen Xiuwen said his thoughts that he had been thinking for a long time in one breath.

After Chen Xiuwen said that, the conference room was silent. The smile on Jiang Zhongzheng's face slowly restrained and frowned. Sun Yuanliang and Song Xilian, who had a good relationship with Shen Xiuwen, also looked at Chen Xiuwen with surprise.

Evacuation? Small towns like Songjiang with a population of only 10,000 or 20,000 are naturally easy to evacuate, but Nanjing is a big city with a population of more than one million, which is definitely a big problem.

Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's expression gloomy, Chen Xiuwen hurriedly said: "Principal, if Wu Fu Line is lost, Suzhou will be destroyed by war, and countless civilians will be killed or injured. If Nanjing is not evacuated, the troops will have to distract themselves from protecting the citizens, which will be unfavorable to the war. Moreover, once Nanjing is lost, the neon army with red eyes will be very likely to affect ordinary civilians. If such a situation really occurs, then social public opinion and historical responsibility..." Speaking of this, Chen Xiuwen did not say further.

Chen Xiuwen knew that Chiang Kai-shek insisted on not giving up on Nanjing because he was afraid of public opinion and international influence, so he deliberately led the words to this point. Sure enough, as soon as these words were spoken, everyone was moved.

Five days ago, Suzhou was lost and was blocked on the Wufu Line for a month. After the Neon Army, which had heavy casualties entered Suzhou City, it launched crazy revenge, killing everyone. The city corpses were everywhere, and the canals were floating on the canals. At the same time, it set fire to burn the houses, factories, and shops in the city. At night, you can even see a large area of ​​fire in Suzhou in Wuxi! All the bustling streets and many manufacturers in the city were burned. Suzhou's industry and commerce, known as the "little Shanghai", was burned, robbed, demolished, and destroyed. In the past few days, the public opinion has condemned the atrocities of the Neon Army, and also accused the country of retreating too quickly and the government did not take any measures in advance.

If Nanjing is lost, will the same situation in Suzhou occur? Everyone has no idea.

"Yes, principal, you can't do anything like Suzhou anymore. The citizens of Nanjing must be evacuated before the war." At this time, Song Xilian was the first to stand up and said. Others nodded.

To be honest, the government was busy moving the capital before, and the military leaders were arguing whether to defend Nanjing or not, and no one thought about the issue of evacuation of citizens. Now, until Chen Xiuwen proposed that Chiang Kai-shek realized the seriousness of the problem. He turned his attention to Gu Zhenglun, the commander of the military police, and Xiao Shanling, the deputy commander of the military police, mayor of Nanjing and director of the Capital Police Department.

Seeing the chairman turn his eyes on him, Gu Zhenglun said with a puzzled look: "Mr. There are millions of citizens in Nanjing, and it is very difficult to evacuate in the short term. And if you are not careful, it will cause great chaos in the whole city."

"I don't think it's that serious, and since the announcement of the capital's relocation, many citizens have been actively preparing to move inland." At this time, Tang Shengzhi retorted. He is now the commander-in-chief of the garrison who is fully responsible for Nanjing's defense. He had never thought about the evacuation before. And even though he swears, he was not sure of Nanjing. If there is a situation that Xiang Chen Xiuwen just said, someone must come out to take responsibility. At that time, the scapegoat will not be someone else, it must be him.

Then, he immediately suggested to Chiang Kai-shek: "Member, I will leave the evacuation of the citizens to the military police force and the Nanjing Municipal Government."

When Gu Zhenglun heard this, he was anxious. He was about to shirk his words, but he heard Chiang Kai-shek say, "I think it's OK. From now on, Nanjing will enter wartime state and evacuate all citizens. This work will be undertaken by the Gendarmerie Command and the Nanjing Municipal Government."

Old Jiang was determined, and Chen Xiuwen's heart, who had been standing nervously, finally fell down. Due to the high tension, his tense muscles suddenly relaxed and almost didn't stand firm. As long as the citizens were evacuated, the tragic Nanjing killing innocent people would be avoided. Since the time travel, the big heart disease that had been accumulated in his heart was finally removed. He was extremely happy and almost blurted out and shouted: "Long live the principal."

Compared with Gu Zhenglun who looked bitter, Xiao Shanling lowered his head and pondered for a moment and said: "Evacuation can be distributed, and various police stations in the city are mobilized to mobilize and evacuate in different parts. But the problem is the direction of the evacuation, transportation, and how do these citizens be resettled?"

"This?" Tang Shengzhi was speechless.

"It's a wartime state now, and only death can be left in the city. As long as there are no Japanese, you can go there. As long as you don't stay in Nanjing, you can do it." Chen Xiuwen quickly jumped out and said.

When Xiao Shanling heard this, he frowned. Didn’t he just drive people out of Nanjing?

However, Tang Shengzhi agreed with Chen Xiuwen's words and hurriedly said, "Yes. Guangfu said it right. To put it nicely, it's evacuation, but to put it badly, it's escaping. There are no such things to pay attention to. The evacuation direction can be west or north."

"But……"
Chapter completed!