Espionage: I became sworn brothers with Zheng Yaoxian at the beginning, and became the Seventh Broth

Chapter 644 The Truth Behind the Great Defeat

After a brief reunion with Commander Zhou and his wife, and incidentally digging a pit for them, Ye Shaohong returned home.

Time flies, and two days have passed in a flash.

11 month 12 day.

Zheng Yaoxian sent an urgent telegram to Ye Shaohong from Nanjing.

In the telegram, Zheng Yaoxian informed Ye Shaohong that the three-month-long Battle of Shanghai had ended.

In the later stages of the battle, facing the continuous reinforcements of the Japanese invaders and the mismanagement of the Nationalist government, our troops were forced to begin withdrawing from Shanghai in early November.

In this telegram, Zheng Yaoxian also relayed the casualty figures of the Battle of Shanghai to Ye Shaohong. According to Zheng Yaoxian's estimate, during the three-month-long arduous battle, our personnel suffered a total of over 18 casualties in the Shanghai area.

However, during the retreat, due to the failure of the Nationalist government's high command, another 100,000 people were killed or wounded.

According to comprehensive statistics, our side suffered more than 26 casualties in the Battle of Shanghai.

This caused Zheng Yaoxian immense heartache.

Zheng Yaoxian did not provide specific details due to the low confidentiality of telegram messages.

But Ye Shaohong's soul comes from the future, and even if Zheng Yaoxian didn't say it, he would know it.

The root of all this trouble dates back to late October.

With the defeat in the Battle of Shanghai and the continuous reinforcement of Japanese troops, the Nationalist government's army had no choice but to begin a slow withdrawal from the city.

They were to garrison Dachang. If Dachang fell and the Nationalist army immediately retreated to the Wufu line, the Nationalist government would still have a chance to stabilize the situation.

But all of this was delayed by the bald-headed chairman.

Faced with the unfavorable situation at the front, the bald-headed Chiang Kai-shek stubbornly insisted that the troops in the Shanghai area continue to hold their ground.

We should hold out until at least November 10th before deciding whether to evacuate.

Why would he have such an idea?

the reason is simple.

The bald-headed Chairman had two considerations. First, he wanted to thwart the Japanese devils' planned strategy and their attempt to destroy China from north to south in three months.

Judging from the later results, the bald-headed chairman achieved his intended goal.

Throughout history, with the exception of the Ming Dynasty, all unified regimes in my country have waged wars of unification from north to south. This was due to my country's unique geographical advantages.

The south is lower than the north.

When the Japanese devils formulated their strategic plan to invade China, they also referred to the precedents of ancient Chinese regimes and wanted to learn from their model to wipe out China.

The ongoing struggle in the Battle of Shanghai, lasting three months of arduous fighting, forced the Japanese to change their established strategy.

This forced them to send troops that had been stationed in North and Northeast China for a long time to our East China battlefield by sea.

By late October, the Japanese forces on the East China battlefield, with their troops constantly being reinforced, had gradually reached the point of having two armies, nine divisions, and two brigades.

This number far exceeds the combined total of 2 armies and 7 divisions in North China.

It can be said that this completely thwarted the Japanese devils' conspiracy in Dongyang. The second reason.

Chiang Kai-shek, the bald-headed leader, wanted to draw the attention and intervention of major powers such as Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union through the struggle on the Shanghai battlefield.

This led to the internationalization of the Sino-Japanese War.

He attempted to use the influence of foreign powers to force the Japanese to compromise and negotiate.

Even to stop the war of aggression.

But his plan failed; the bald-headed leader was too naive and too weak.

He actually believed the claim that there could be friendship between countries.

From November 3 to 24, at the Nine Powers Conference held in Brussels, major powers such as Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union ignored the request for international intervention from the bald-headed Chairman. They only superficially supported our country and condemned the Japanese devils on moral grounds.

There was no actual support or attitude shown.

At the same time, it fueled the arrogance of the Japanese devils in their invasion of China.

This further exacerbated the already precarious situation in the Battle of Shanghai.

Just then, troops from North China, Northeast China, and Japan landed at Jinshanwei.

In conjunction with the Japanese troops who had previously landed at Wusongkou, they gradually encircled our troops on the Shanghai-Nanjing battlefield.

It was only then that the bald-headed chairman woke up.

Orders were issued to our troops to withdraw from Shanghai.

Because the order was given so suddenly, and no reasonable retreat plan had been formulated beforehand, our hundreds of thousands of troops lost command and control for a time.

The Japanese devils continued to pursue and intercept our hundreds of thousands of retreating troops from the sea, land, and air.

This led to the retreat ultimately turning into a major defeat.

The various forces rushed forward, attacking each other, and ultimately lost all command and control.

Given the circumstances at the time, there should have been remedial measures.

Before the Battle of Shanghai began, insightful people within the Nationalist government had already foreseen unfavorable outcomes.

They excavated and constructed defensive fortifications in advance at strategic locations such as the Wufu Line, Zhajia Line, and Xicheng Line.

If the defeated soldiers who retreated from the Battle of Shanghai could use these fortifications, they could still stabilize the situation.

But the plans of those insightful people were perfect.

However, the lower-level officials of the National Government were extremely corrupt. The battle plans, fortifications, bunkers, and other facilities of these defensive fortifications scattered throughout the country had long been distributed to local officials.

Upon hearing the news of the defeat at the Battle of Shanghai, these low-ranking officials of the Nationalist government, fearing for their own safety and that of their families, abandoned their duties and fled in disarray with their families before the front-line troops had even returned. Some irresponsible officials even handed over the blueprints and keys to the defense fortifications to hired laborers.

When the troops at the front withdrew to their designated fortification sites, they were horrified to discover that although there were fortifications available, they could not find the blueprints and keys to use them.

There was no other way; the troops retreating from the front could only continue their rout.

This led to the catastrophic defeat.

of course.

The Japanese devils did not relax their pursuit and encirclement of our troops.

Leveraging the industrial advantages of their combined army, navy, and air force, they continuously created trouble and difficulties for our withdrawing troops in various ways.

They bombed bridges, destroyed roads, and damaged railway facilities, and, with the help of spies planted in advance, released poison into the waterways along the route...

They also carried out decapitation strikes. For example, during the retreat, the vehicle of General Xue Yue, commander of the 19th Army Group, was accurately strafed by Japanese aircraft.

General Xue Yue's driver, adjutant, and other close associates were all killed by Japanese planes.

General Xue Yue escaped by jumping out of the vehicle in time.

There was also the headquarters of Hu Zongnan, the main general of the Guangxi clique. It is unclear whether it was the Japanese spies who discovered their whereabouts or the traitors who betrayed them, but the Japanese elite advance team accurately located the location of General Hu Zongnan's headquarters.

They launched a surprise attack.

The incident resulted in numerous casualties among the command staff of General Hu Zongnan, who were nearly captured and killed.

Beset by internal and external troubles, the retreat from the Battle of Shanghai became increasingly dire, ultimately leading to the loss of large swathes of territory between Shanghai and Nanjing. The Nationalist government in Nanjing was thus plunged into a perilous situation.