The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Chapter 198 Director Dai is in the way

On December 25, another good news came.

After a bloody battle, the 74th Army led by Wang Zuomin finally succeeded in recaptured the urban area of ​​Changde, and even the lost land in the Yangtze River Basin near the Lishui River was completely recaptured.

This news made everyone excited - the national army's counterattack finally achieved a phased victory.

With the recapture of Changde City, the Japanese offensive forces suffered heavy casualties, and their accumulated ammunition and supplies were almost exhausted. The offensive momentum of the battle had completely weakened.

Faced with increasing casualties and shortages of supplies, the remaining elite Japanese troops had to retreat hastily under the cover of the remaining weak troops and returned to their starting point quietly.

Although the Nationalist Army received support from the White Eagle 14th Air Force and two armies transferred from the Yunnan-Western Expeditionary Force, the long battles and difficulties had brought the morale of the troops to a low point.

The exhausted Nationalist troops were completely unable to launch an effective counterattack, and faced with the orderly retreating Japanese soldiers, they had almost no chance of delivering a fatal blow.

After the smoke of the Changde Campaign gradually cleared, the war situation gradually returned to its pre-war state.

Although the Japanese successfully retreated, the official statement of the National Army still proudly claimed that the Japanese attempts to advance westward and southward along the Yangtze River were successfully crushed, and that this battle was a "major victory."

At this time when the Sextant Conference had just ended and the two war zones in western Yunnan and Changde had won consecutive victories, the National Government was inevitably complacent - it seemed that everything was getting better.

The high morale brought about by the consecutive victories gave the National Government great confidence.

With the power of victory and the promise of the White Eagles, the Military and Political Department had a big appetite this time. Not only was the plan to reorganize 100 divisions before the start of the War of Resistance Against Japan put on the agenda again, but the infiltration and control of the local warlord faction troops also began again.

At this time, the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs was only waiting for the Sindhu-Qianguo Highway to be fully opened to traffic and the Eagle Aid weapons to arrive, and then they would begin to gradually re-equip the various direct troops of the Central Army according to the White Eagle standards.

The four major central factions of Chen, He, Hu and Gu are also gearing up to seize the initiative in the upcoming changes.

However, just as all parties were celebrating the upcoming victory and change, Wei Junru felt the pressure from the higher-ups.

The Ministry of Military Affairs was already impatiently urging him to speed up the process, requiring him to wipe out the Japanese troops trapped in Songshan and Tengchong areas as soon as possible and completely eliminate the last bit of resistance from these enemies.

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On Zhang Chi's side, after he showed off his military power and flexed his muscles many times, the White Party's military leaders were completely frightened.

The deployment of the Eastern Route Army in western Yunnan alone made both the Japanese and the White Party feel deeply oppressed.

Bai Minghui's 2nd Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 102nd Artillery Brigade, plus the Armored Training Division and Central Guard Brigade he personally led, had a total of more than 7 troops.

A total of nearly 400 light and medium tanks of various types and more than 300 barreled artillery and self-propelled artillery with a caliber of 75mm and above are equipped.

Such a large military group, in terms of technology and weapons alone, far surpassed the scale of any war zone in the Qian Kingdom. Add to that the hundreds of fighter planes that flew through the sky every day from the Anmin Army's independent air force. (The Flying Tigers only had a little over 100 bombers, not even dive bombers.)

If Zhang Chi had not repeatedly stated, both explicitly and implicitly, that his purpose was only to protect the Chinese in Southeast Asia and that his actions had not crossed any line, the White Party and the Yunnan Army would probably have worried not about the Japs but about Zhang Chi's friendly forces.

It is impossible to win in a head-on fight. The silver dollar offensive often used by the Shanghai Wolves is like waving a sword in front of Guan Gong, and internal collapse is even more nonsense.

Everyone felt an irresistible sense of powerlessness.

Zhang Chi gradually discovered that the attitude of the senior members of the White Party towards him had quickly changed from avoiding and keeping a distance at first to cautious fawning and flattery.

He knew that the other party had begun to actively contact him after realizing that he could not compete with him.

Zhang Chi never refuses this kind of contact.

As a result, the 212th Division's rear office set up by Zhang Chi in Chuncheng soon became a super department store. Fuel, food, weapons, ammunition, medicines and other hard currencies during the war were sold in a steady stream from the warehouse of the rear office.

Even planes and tanks were occasionally transported out, which made the Military Intelligence Bureau agents who were secretly monitoring them so shocked that their jaws almost dropped.

On the other hand, all kinds of unemployed talents; victims of war, floods, and droughts; immigrants who felt that a few acres of land in the country were not enough and wanted to fight for a hundred acres of land were continuously sent from all over the country to pay for goods.

Some factory equipment that had retreated to the rear and was unable to resume work for various reasons was also sent here.

Of course, various types of hard currencies such as gold, silver, knives and music are also indispensable.

Such a large amount of wealth naturally attracted people who coveted it, but even the lawless Military Control Commission, which relied on its direct access to the emperor and often used imperial power to execute people first and report later, did not dare to act rashly.

In a teahouse in Chuncheng, a small leader of the Military Control Commission, dressed in businessman's clothes, kicked his subordinates' butts and cursed:

"Put all your weapons away, are you trying to kill yourself?" The little leader kicked each of the young spies dressed as coolies a few times, then calmed down and drank a cup of tea before speaking again. "That guy is the emperor's uncle's man, and you dare to follow him? Are you crazy?"

"The ones standing guard over there are General Lu's pistol company under Chairman Long." The little leader pointed to a group of soldiers holding submachine guns who were on guard outside the teahouse.

"The house over there is full of Central Army soldiers from the Civil Engineering Department." The little leader pointed to an unremarkable courtyard in the distance.

"Surrounding this place are the Yunnan Army, the Central Army of Chen, He, Gu, and Hu, our sworn enemy, the Central Bureau of Investigation, and members of the four major families." The small leader said this and sat down slowly. "I guess the Red Party and the Japanese from northern Shaanxi are also here."

"Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have a certificate from the Statistics Bureau and a Mauser pistol. This place is very dangerous. We just need to observe and don't do anything else." The little leader took off his hat and put it on the table. "I can save you this time, but I'm not sure next time."

Several young spies immediately nodded and bowed to express their gratitude, and took out a handful of French currency and put it in their hats.

Seeing that his new men were quite sensible, the young boss nodded with satisfaction and calmly put several large bills into his pocket.

"Keep your eyes open and count how much military supplies have flowed out. Don't always wonder if there are any." The little leader sneered and gave a few more reminders.

He sighed only after the little spies had left.

There’s nothing I can do. I’m so tired.

The entire Military Intelligence Bureau was good at carrying out armed assassinations and collecting donations for the anti-Japanese war, but the spies under it were more interested in extortion under the name of the Statistics Bureau than in intelligence work.

There has been no major progress in the intelligence work on Zhang Chi since last year. Now the entire White Party is in a state of confusion with Zhang Chi. Except for the leader himself who is still clamoring to eliminate the traitor Zhang Chi, everyone else is only concerned with business.

After all, being a comprador for foreigners is one thing, and being a comprador for Zhang Chi is also one thing. Of course, many compradors in the White Party prefer to barter with Zhang Chi.

The little boss knew that except for Director Dai of the emperor's personal guard who was still obsessed with dealing with Zhang Chi, all the other big guys had already made a lot of money.

Director Dai is blocking the way.