Li Fengming and Gao Jiu were close to each other. They led the coalition forces to fight in Henan, and they also disagree with Xue Dongsheng. He knew why Gao Jiu planned to leave, so he hurriedly dissuaded: "Master Jiu, don't rush to leave first. If there is anything we can discuss. Please wait a moment."

After saying that, he said to Deputy Commander Zhang: "Sir! Please take a step to speak."

Then the two came to a lounge in the war room. Li Fengming said, "Sir! Do you know why Mr. Gao left? He was because of Xue Dongsheng. Xue Dongsheng was narrow-minded and had a holiday with Mr. Gao last time. With him here, it would be difficult to work together in this battle. It would be difficult to win the battle."

Deputy Commander Zhang knew very well about the Ninth War Zone and said, "I have considered what you said long ago. Isn't the reason we came here just to coordinate and command?

I have discussed this matter with the commander. The commander has given Xue Dongsheng a death order and must obey my command. With me here, he will not dare to be clever."

Li Fengming suddenly realized and said, "Sir! It turns out that you have considered it a long time ago, that's fine. I'll communicate with Mr. Gao about this."

Deputy Commander Zhang did not want to expose the complex situation inside the Ninth War Zone in front of Gao Jiu, nor did he want to talk to Gao Jiu directly. He said, "This is the best. It is convenient for you to speak, so try to persuade Mr. Gao to stay."

Back at the war room, Li Fengming quietly called Gao Jiu aside and told him the words of Deputy Commander Zhang.

Although Gao Jiu was still uneasy, he couldn't refuse when it came to this point.

At noon, the 20th Corps held a welcoming banquet. At the banquet, Deputy Commander Zhang said: "After the afternoon break, everyone will consider the combat plan. To summarize it tomorrow morning."

In the afternoon, Li Fengming came to Gao Jiu's room. He wanted to discuss the general outline of a plan with Gao Jiu first, and then discuss it based on it.

Gao Jiu said: "The Japanese army's sequences range from east to west are the 3rd Division, the 11th Division and the 6th Division respectively. I led the 20th Corps to be responsible for attacking the 3rd Division and the 11th Division of the Japanese Army, and the 21st Corps is responsible for fighting against the 6th Division of the Japanese Army."

Li Fengming saw that Gao Jiu wanted to use five divisions of the 20th Corps of the Sichuan Army, which was backward, faced the two permanent divisions of the Japanese 3rd Division and the 11th Division alone. He was a little confused when he saw that the 21st Corps of the 11th Division of the Central Army, which had well-equipped, including many American equipment, only one division of the 6th Division of the Japanese Army. In his plan, this was to be reversed. He wanted to use the Central Army's troops as the main force, and let the 20th Corps be responsible for restraining the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army.

He said worriedly: "Jiu Ye, isn't such a battle plan inappropriate in the deployment of troops?"

Gao Jiu asked: "Do you think Xue Dongsheng's 21st Corps can eat the 6th Division of the Japanese army?"

Li Fengming thought about it carefully and said, "If you want to say that you can't eat the 6th Division of the Japanese army, you may not be able to do it. But there should be no problem forcing them to retreat."

Gao Jiu shook his head and said, "Did Xue Dongsheng have any records of eating a Japanese brigade before?"

Li Fengming said: "Although there wasn't before, the 21st Corps has now replaced a lot of American equipment and its strength has indeed been strengthened. There should be no problem this time."

Gao Jiu shook his head and said, "Warning is not entirely about weapons and equipment, but about the morale of the army. A soldier is a beating, and a nest of beatings. I dare to conclude that with Xue Dongsheng's urinary nature, they will not only be unable to repel the 6th Division of the Japanese army, but they will definitely be defeated when facing the enemy's attack."

Li Fengming believed that Gao Jiu's words made some sense, but he still didn't believe that the 150,000 people of the 21st Corps could not deal with the 6th Division of the Japanese army. In the past, when the troops of the 21st Corps had not been replaced with weapons and equipment, they still withstood the Japanese attack and defended their positions. Now that their strength has been greatly enhanced, there should be no problem.

Li Fengming said, "Jiu Master, why are you going to do this? The Sichuan Army has only five divisions and its equipment is behind. Let them deal with the Japanese 3rd Division. Why do you need to take such great pressure on yourself?"

Gao Jiu said: "If you want to win this battle, you can only follow my plan. Otherwise, I will withdraw from this battle."

Li Fengming was still very convinced by Gao Jiu, and he said, "Okay, I'll report your plan to Deputy Commander Zhang."

After hearing Li Fengming's report, Deputy Commander Zhang felt incredible and even thought Gao Jiu was a little arrogant. However, Gao Jiu had never lost a battle over the years, and he had a reason to make such a decision. Deputy Commander Zhang decided to come to Gao Jiu in person to figure out his intentions.

Accompanied by Li Fengming, Deputy Commander Zhang came to Gao Jiu's residence.

Three people surrounded the map of the war zone and listened to Gao Jiu telling his combat plan in detail.

After hearing this, Deputy Commander Zhang still believed that Gao Jiu's troops were deployed in trouble. He still hoped that the 21st Corps would deal with the Japanese 11th Division and the 6th Division.

Gao Jiu sighed and said, "Since that's the case, I will be responsible for commanding the 20th Corps and attacking the 3rd Japanese Division. After the battle begins, I hope you can go to the 21st Corps to take the formation in person, and hope they can execute according to the combat plan."

Deputy Commander Zhang believed that the 21st Corps was the main force of this battle, so of course he wanted to go there to command on the spot. He agreed with Gao Jiu's opinion.

Gao Jiu also made a request to transfer the guard regiment of the Ninth War Zone that he fought side by side with him last time to himself as a reserve team.

Deputy Commander Zhang agreed without hesitation.

Not long after, under the leadership of Deputy Commander Zhang, a joint meeting of the 20th Corps and the 21st Corps was held in Yichang City, and the battle plan formulated by Li Fengming was announced at the meeting.

When Xue Dongsheng heard that he wanted to deal with the two permanent divisions of the Japanese army, he raised doubts on the spot, believing that such troops were unreasonable, he asked to send additional troops to restrain the Japanese army's 6th Division.

Deputy Commander Zhang was very angry and said, "The 20th Corps only has 5 infantry divisions. Their equipment is behind, and they have to face the Japanese 3rd Division. Your 21st Corps has 11 divisions with 150,000 troops and is well-equipped. Why is it unreasonable to face the two Japanese divisions?"

Xue Dongsheng said: "Although the troops have been equipped with American equipment, only some of the troops have been replaced. Moreover, the troops trained for too short after the dressing, and they have not mastered this batch of equipment proficiently. It is really difficult to face the two main divisions of the Japanese army."

Deputy Commander Zhang remembered that Gao Jiu had originally planned to use five divisions of the Sichuan Army to deal with the two major divisions of the Japanese army. Now Xue Dongsheng really dared not face the two major divisions of the Japanese army. He became more and more angry. He said: "I have reported this combat plan to the commander and have also been approved by the Military Commission. If anyone dares to disobey the order, they will be engaged in military law."

After the combat meeting, the deputy commander and chief of staff of the 20th Corps who attended the meeting returned to the command center of the 20th Corps and told Gao Jiu about the situation at the meeting.

Gao Jiu saw that it was indeed the same as he thought, and he said, "Since that is the case, our troops deployment needs to be adjusted."

After the new combat plan was formulated, Li Fengming came to the command center of the 20th Corps to inspect the combat plan of the 20th Corps.

When he saw the combat plan formulated by Gao Jiu, he still didn't understand it very much.

He pointed to Qingsongling and said, "Justice Jiu, this is the junction of the 20th Corps and the 21st Corps. You place a division unit here, and the position is so low. Why is that?"

Gao Jiu said: "I'm not at ease with Xue Dongsheng. I'm very worried about being betrayed by him, so I must keep here to prevent the Japanese army from circumcising."

Li Fengming also knew Xue Dongsheng very well. Although he thought this would not happen in this battle, he understood Gao Jiu's care. So he didn't say anything and agreed not to report the situation here to Deputy Commander Zhang.

In the combat plan against the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, Gao Jiu planned to use the strength of a division to first attack the Jingmen County occupied by the 27th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, and mobilize the main Japanese troops to come for reinforcements. He ate a part of the Japanese army in the field and made the next plan based on the progress of the battle.

After formulating the battle plan, Gao Jiu began a series of preparations.

Gao Jiu first called the boss of the Military Control Commission and asked his subordinates to provide information related to the Japanese 3rd Division and the 11th Division.

Zhang Quan received a telegram from Gao Jiu and immediately led the first squadron of the Taohuashan Special Forces and Du Shengxi's firepower team 400 members brought a large number of Type 92 infantry artillery, mortars and anti-aircraft guns to Yichang. Gao Jiu had called the Aviation Commission and asked them to send transport planes to Taohuashan to transport them over.

In order to prevent the main forces of Taohua Mountain from appearing in a gap after leaving, Gao Jiu sent a telegram to the Southwest Shandong Military Sub-district, asking Jiang Xiaomei to send a regiment from the Independent Brigade to temporarily garrison Taohua Mountain.

Next, he sent a telegram to Makio Yokoda.

After receiving the telegram, Makio Yokoda immediately sent his adjutant to the 6th Japanese Air Force stationed in Zhongxiang.

At the airport, the chief of staff of the Japanese Sixth Air Force secretly received the adjutant of Makio Yokoda.

The adjutant said: "On September 13, did you send planes to bomb a factory outside Chongqing?"

Due to the lack of supplies and insufficient air bomb reserves, the Air Force did not go out to bomb every day, so the Chief of Staff had some impression of the bombing operation on September 13. He asked: "Is this the case? What's wrong?"

The adjutant said worriedly: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, you are in trouble! When you bombed, Gao Jiu's wife happened to go to the factory and was bombed."

"What? Is there such a thing?" The Chief of Staff was really shocked. Gao Jiu's Taohua Mountain Special Forces were elusive. If Gao Jiu targeted him, the Sixth Air Force would not be able to live his life.

The Chief of Staff asked hurriedly: "Is Gao Jiu's woman okay?"

The adjutant said: "The driver of her car was killed by the blow and the car hit a stone on the side of the road. Although she had nothing to do with herself, she had been pregnant for several months and almost couldn't save the child."

"It's okay. It's fine if you're fine." The Chief of Staff breathed a sigh of relief.

The adjutant said: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, you probably don't know that this is Gao Jiu's first child. Gao Jiu loves his wife very much and attaches great importance to this child. He got angry about this matter and said he was coming to trouble you."

Although the Chief of Staff was worried, he knew that since the adjutant of Yokota Makio Yokota had come, it means that there is room for improvement.

He asked, "What did Mr. Gao say to your commander?"

The adjutant said: "Thanks to our commander and Gao Jiu's mediation, they have said all the good things for you and spent a lot of money. Mr. Gao agreed. As long as you agree to him with one condition, he will not cause trouble for you."

The Chief of Staff asked: "What are the conditions?"

The adjutant said: "Mr. Gao said that the commander of the 20th Corps of the guo Army, Sichuan Army, is his good friend. From today on, as long as you do not bomb the 20th Corps troops, this matter will be written off."

The Chief of Staff was worried that Gao Jiu would propose some harsh conditions, but he didn't expect that the conditions would be so easy. He immediately said: "We will do this matter. Go back and tell your commander. If Mr. Gao takes action in the future, please inform us in advance."

The Chief of Staff agreed to Gao Jiu's conditions so happily, not only because he was afraid of Gao Jiu, but also because Gao Jiu is now their big financial backer. They have gained a lot of benefits from Gao Jiu through Yokota Makio, and now they are all so fat that they don't want to lose this path of wealth.

Although the adjutant used Gao Jiu's name to scare the Chief of Staff, he knew that the Chief of Staff would have to spend money to manage the matter after he returned, so he gave the Chief of Staff another 10,000 meters of gold.

The 10,000-meter gold was cushioned by Makio Yokota himself, because Gao Jiu had already agreed to him, so Gao Jiu would soon give them a large number of cash deposit coupons.

The Chief of Staff took 10,000 meters of gold and returned to the headquarters of the Sixth Air Force and reported to the commander the purpose of Adjutant Makio Yokota.

When the commander heard that Gao Jiu's wife and children almost killed him, he was shocked. He didn't want to provoke the creepy Gao Jiu. He thought it was not too much about Gao Jiu's conditions. Therefore, he summoned his confidants and arranged the matter.

At 5 a.m. on September 29, the 27th Japanese Regiment stationed in Jingzhou was besieged by the Sichuan Army. At the same time, the Japanese army stationed in Shayang County was also besieged by the 21st Corps of the National Army. The battle of Yichang officially began.

The 20th Corps used a division's troops to surround the 27th Japanese Regiment stationed in Jingmen. The Taohua Mountain Guerrillas also sent an 88mm anti-aircraft artillery team to cooperate with their operations.

After the battle started, the troops of the guo army launched violent bombardment at the Japanese army with artillery fire. The Taohuashan Special Forces used anti-aircraft guns to collapse a section of the Japanese city wall, and the troops launched a fierce attack towards the gap in the city wall.

For a long time, the Japanese army had been on an offensive. They did not expect that the Guo army would dare to launch a counterattack against them, especially the 3rd Division troops. They were facing the Sichuan Army with backward equipment. Usually they were the only ones to attack, and the Sichuan Army troops defended their lives.

Therefore, the Sichuan Army's troops could quietly touch them in the middle of the night and suddenly surrounded the 27th Japanese Regiment. The corps leader of the 27th Army saw the enemy's artillery fire and a large number of people. On the one hand, he ordered the troops to defend the county town to the death, and on the other hand, he sent a telegram to request tactical guidance from his superiors.

The 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army stationed in Zhongxiang immediately organized the main force of the brigade to Jingmen to reinforce the surrounded 27th Regiment.

On both sides of the road from Zhongxiang to Jingmen, the two infantry divisions and an artillery regiment of the 20th Corps were already on high alert.
Chapter completed!