Chapter Fourteen: Strategic Planning

  Central Army Officer School, Office of the Chief of Education

  "Brother Xian really has a way with him, he's actually managed to get that stubborn old man Fahkenhausen to obey him!"

  Looking at the two Chinese modern military strategists, I smiled: "It's just that we said some truths that Falkenhausen wanted to hear."

  Yang Jie took a look at Jiang Baili and also smiled: "It seems that recommending younger brother to deal with Falkenhausen is indeed a clever move!"

  "So it was these two gentlemen who were behind the mischief?" I couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

  "Haha, it seems that younger brother's arms factory is also coming to an end; with national affairs being difficult, how can we patriots have a peaceful time? Moreover, Brother Baili calculated that only younger brother is the best candidate who can get along with Law and persuade the chairman!"

  "Is the chairman moving?"

  "Yes. The current situation is that Japan is stepping up its aggression, and China has retreated to the point of no return; once Japan takes another step forward, an all-out war between China and Japan can only break out. However, the Chairman is still on the one hand suppressing the opposition party, and on the other hand dividing and disintegrating local governments; although it may be said that from a long-term perspective what the Chairman has done may not be wrong; but under the current situation, this is a serious move to deplete national strength; this is the first point."

  "Is this light enough? Are there two of you? Don't you know that my surname is Song?"

  Chiang Baili also smiled, "Of course we know that in the eyes of the Chairman, the Soong family can grasp financial power and even political power, but under no circumstances should the Soong family be allowed to grasp military power!"

  "Since you all know the Chairman's attitude towards our Song family, why do you want me to go and tell the Chairman to change the military command system and give up his position as Commander-in-Chief?"

  "Haha! Geng Guangxian, bring me the money!"

  "I admit defeat, here you are!" Yang Jie said, taking out a few large bills from his pocket and handing them to Jiang Baili.

  "You're making a bet with a kid? You two gentlemen are really something!"

  "Haha, younger brother! Do you know that your work for the past half year can increase our combat effectiveness by how much? We've made an estimate, and by the end of next year, it will at least be increased by 20%! Younger brother has made such a great contribution to the military, but because the Song family cannot take control of the army, we were able to pull you into the high-level advisory group. It's also because the Song family cannot take control of the army that you were able to persuade Fahkenhausen to go with you to speak, so it won't be seen as seizing the chairman's military power; and also because you have many ideas, we believe you can reduce the chairman's interference in commanding battles to the lowest level!"

  "I don't believe I have that ability." They are looking at the current Chiang Kai-shek, but I am looking at what's to come. As the war situation worsened later on, Chiang's habit of interfering with command decisions became more frequent, and eventually there was even talk of a "rifle commander". Can a few words from me change that?

  "Little brother, you're so lacking in confidence?"

  "Take the opportunity to advise the commander-in-chief, so that the commander-in-chief will not intervene in command for one or two battles temporarily. I believe any of us three can do it; but what about afterwards? The situation is changing..."

  Yang Jie thought for a moment and asked: "What plan does your younger brother have?"

  "Unless it's the General Staff Headquarters, Operations Department, Adjutant Room, Military Affairs Section of the Adjutant Room, and our unit as one."

  Jiang Baili and Yang Jie shook their heads at each other.

  "When I was abroad, I heard that the Chairman likes to give orders beyond his authority and has often suffered losses but refuses to change. I think you two should stop daydreaming and learn from Falkenhausen, design a few more battle plans, and when the time comes, secretly send them to the Chairman, maybe they will be adopted!"

  "Haha!" Everyone could only force a bitter smile.

  A gentle knock at the door interrupted our conversation, and Colonel Zhang Zhizhong walked in, "Principal, Mr. Geng Guang, Mr. Song, the drill is over."

  "Lost again?"

  "Yes! On the basis of receiving 12 divisions of reinforcements, our army jointly invested about 20 divisions of troops; but at the beginning of the war, the unfavorable situation had already formed. The 29th Army was quickly cut off by the enemy's surprise attack, and subsequent troops could not concentrate and deploy. One division was defeated after another, still unable to withstand the rì military's three-division counterattack from the Pingjin area, and the Ji Zhongping plain area was quickly broken through. The southern retreating army suffered heavy losses, while the western retreating army fared slightly better."

  "Go take a look!"

  Military Academy Chess Room.

  "We've already lost three in a row! And that's on the basis of each unit following orders and fighting seriously, in actual combat it's good if seven out of ten can follow orders!"

  "Only if we dispatch another 10 divisions of the Zhongyang Army to Hebei will there be a chance to turn the situation around!"

  "I think it's better to adopt Plan B, let the 29th Army of Hebei Province go and fight on its own, our army should only deploy troops to hold onto advantageous mountainous terrain in Shanxi."

  We walked into the chess room amidst the sighs of the school.

  "Look at you, are you still like the elite of the army? Is there any revolutionary spirit left? If the rehearsal fails, we can start again from scratch, if something is needed, it can be supplemented, and the plan can be modified, what's the panic?"

  After everyone had seen the situation chart and the record of the simulation exercise, Jiang Baili asked: "Wen Bai, what do you think?"

  Zhang Zhizhong replied: "We tend to change the idea of two battles: one is to abandon the reinforcement of the 29th Army, and the reinforcement troops only advance to the line of Shimmen, Shen State, and Cangzhou, relying on the favorable terrain of rivers and mountains to deploy defense, waiting for the enemy to attack; The other is to greatly increase the reinforcements, mobilize the elite troops of the Central Plains to go north, and have a head-on confrontation with the enemy at the first time."

  Yang Jie looked at Jiang Baili and said, "Then let's recalculate based on these two assumptions."

  Then a group of school guards were in chaos again.

  Jiang Baili looked around and said, "Geng Guang, Wen Bai, Zi An, come with me."

  Back in the Director of Education's office, seeing that we were all silent, Jiang Baili smiled and said, "This is just some idea, nothing to worry about. Zian, now that the door is closed, bring out any new ideas you have!"

  "Why is it me again?"

  "Because your acting is the worst! Everyone can tell at a glance that you have new tricks!"

  "Come on, kiddo, spit it out!"

  Looks like I still need to practice my acting skills!

  "Alright! To be frank, Hebei is only a secondary region in our strategy. We didn't plan to commit our main force, but we can't just abandon it without a fight either. We must trade space for time, that is, gain time and launch a counterattack against the enemy's 'downward attack' after they initiate an assault, defeat or even annihilate this small number of arrogant enemies!"

  "Not bad!"

  "My idea is to start from Song Zheyuan! First: the Japanese army launched a surprise attack and provoked a dispute, we have no objection. On this basis, what is the attitude of the leadership of the 29th Army led by Song? I think it must be passive response, trying to downplay the situation!"

  "Yes! Once something happens, Song Mingxuan will definitely be on one hand appeasing Ri himself, and on the other hand asking for instructions from the committee chairman, while the troops will respond passively."

  "Secondly, the key lies in the attitude of the committee chairman! Everyone knows that the chairman can be impulsive at times. If the chairman orders negotiations, everyone will have no choice but to comply; if the chairman impulsively orders an immediate counterattack, the 29th Army, which is currently responding passively, will simply be unable to cope, and it's only a matter of whether they lose early or late; in the end, the result can only be that after the chairman's impulsive outburst, he sees the situation deteriorate and again becomes hesitant, once more ordering negotiations, resulting in another loss! Regardless of whether the approach taken is to negotiate again or fight again!"

  "Thirdly, given that only the 29th Army is allowed to be stationed in the Pingjin area, we cannot deploy large troops in advance within its defense zone. Therefore, we can only form a rapid reaction force beforehand, which will swiftly move forward and cross the 29th Army's defense zone after the enemy launches an attack, launching a surprise counterattack against the enemy's main force, and striking it down or even annihilating it. Not only can this boost national prestige, but it can also gain us crucial time, allowing us to deploy the frontline 29th Army and over 10 reinforcing divisions together on the advantageous terrain of the Pingjin line, adopting a complete defensive posture to counter the enemy's first wave of attacks from the northeast and landing, which will be at the scale of two to two and a half divisions."

  "Zi'an, you're not talking about the German army! We don't have mechanized troops!"

  "So, considering the actual state of our country's military forces, this rapid reaction force can only be composed of cavalry, and it must be a cavalry unit that is fearless like a newborn calf; I suggest reaching some sort of compromise with several horse-riding tribes in the northwest, where each tribe contributes a portion of their cavalry, they provide men and horses, we provide weapons and add some personnel, and give them targeted training and equipment. In peacetime, deploy them secretly for training, when the situation changes, send them out to predetermined locations in Shanxi's northeast or Hebei's central region to await orders, once launched, they can rapidly advance several hundred miles, take advantage of the enemy's rear troops not having arrived yet to launch a counterattack, and under the coordination with the 29th Army, strike and destroy or annihilate this reinforced regimental unit."

  "What equipment will you use to equip this cavalry?"

  "Submachine guns, automatic pistols, hand grenades, anti-tank hand grenades, plus the traditional cavalry rifles and sabers."

  "How confident were you in saying 'move the chairman' at that time?"

  "It's us together, I alone can't do this!"

  "As you said before, we can say it's possible, but how can we guarantee that the committee chair won't go back on his word?"

  "Will be outside."

  "There is also what they call 'military orders are not to be given'."

  "Hahaha!"

  After laughing, Jiang Baili said: "I think this idea is worth a try! Even if we can't wipe out this rì army, we can defeat them and buy us some crucial time!"

  "The military academy can re-examine several times." Zhang Zhizhong interjected.

  "No! The success of this idea depends on secrecy! It can't be made public!"

  "Why don't we arrange it within Luda?"

  "Zi'an, what's your take on this?"

  I recall that before the outbreak of the War of Resistance, Zhang Zhizhong conducted a drill at the headquarters without leaking any secrets. So I said: "Although the members of the Military Academy are all elite soldiers from various sources, it's hard to guarantee secrecy, while the cadres of the Central Plains Military Academy have relatively simple backgrounds. I think it would be better for General Wenbai to take charge and temporarily set up a small unit for drills."

  "I think it's okay!"

  "Be careful about secrecy! First get this thing calculated and if there's no problem then ask the Chairman to find a way to mobilize the Ma family cavalry!"

  "Alright!"

  "However, with 29 armies and more than 20 reinforced divisions, it is impossible to resist the attack of 4-5 divisional rì military for a long time."

  "Alright, after fighting to a certain extent, we will still retreat to the mountains in eastern Shanxi as previously planned. If the enemy continues to attack, we will rely on the terrain to defend ourselves; if they move south, our army will again emerge to threaten their flank and continue to pin down the enemy."

  "That's right, pre-war preparations, after the battle reaches a certain level, the main force goes west, and one part leads the enemy to go south, which can completely put the enemy in a dilemma!"

  "The two gentlemen are absolutely right. As a supplement, I think that after giving up most of Hebei Province, we need to have some military strength to hold out locally; but it is clearly not suitable to leave any troops behind. I suggest that we can now cultivate and train local armed forces, use the old guns eliminated by the Zhongyāng army, plus hand grenades, explosives, and other equipment to form guerrilla teams, provide targeted training for cadres, deploy them in advance, and disperse them during wartime to pin down the enemy."

  "Deploy guerrilla warfare now? Zi An, you really dare to think! Wen Bai, write this into the plan and calculate it together!"