In early September 1938, the Wuhan Garrison Command was disbanded, and Stilwell finished his temporary position as the commander's staff. Soon after, he transferred to Shanxi, Henan, Chongqing and other places for inspection.

Then he stayed in the Shanghai Embassy for a while until recently, Stilwell was appointed again to return to the United States to serve as the brigade commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division.

"No, no, no, I'm telling the truth. I admire you from the bottom of my heart, and it's definitely not a deliberate compliment!"

Stilwell shook his head, then sighed with a dim expression: "General Yang, I have indeed been visiting all over the place in the past few months, but unfortunately there are no exciting conclusions. There are many frustrating discoveries. Do you want to hear it?"

Looking at Stilwell's frustrated expression, Yang Fan could already guess what Stilwell wanted to say, but he saw through it and didn't point it out and nodded with a smile:

"A good medicine is good for diseases, and honest words are good for actions. You are old friends of us Chinese, and we all want to hear what you find!"

"Yes! Mr. Stilwell, we are all listening!"

"Mr. Stilwell, please speak freely!"

Wu Rongbang, Liao Youtian, Liu Chengchang, Miao Dadong and others who accompanied them all showed curious expressions and set their eyes on Stilwell.

"Okay, I'll talk about what I've found and seen."

Stilwell sighed: "After the end of the Wuhan Battle, the Sino-Japanese War entered a stalemate stage. It is logical that the pressure the national army has been under greatly reduced in frontal battlefields.

The National Army has plenty of time to supplement and even train, so the National Army's combat effectiveness should be greatly enhanced in a short period of time. Is this a conclusion OK?"

Wu Rongbang took the lead and nodded: "Mr. Stilwell, you are right. The National Army not only has a large number of elite veterans who have lived for the rest of their lives, but also has an almost endless source of troops.

The National Government has mastered sufficient war resources, and at the same time, a large number of military supplies and other military supplies are constantly flowing in from abroad, which is enough to engage in a protracted war with the Japanese army.

So as long as you give enough time, the National Government will surely quickly form more elite troops, and Japan has already shown signs of fatigue. Japan's domestic economy has declined sharply. As one goes up and down, victory will definitely belong to our Chinese country......"

As the "Supreme Emperor" of the Chinese Tiger Army, Wu Rongbang naturally knew all kinds of intelligence information. As soon as he opened his mouth, he was very orderly and convincing.

After a pause, Wu Rongbang continued: "By the way, isn't the national army currently launching a large-scale winter strategic counterattack against the Japanese devils?"

In November 1939, the Chinese army launched a winter offensive in various station areas, such as the Japanese invaders in China, including the Battle of Southern Guangxi.

The winter offensive lasted for more than four months. The Chinese army deployed 192 divisions and about 1.48 million people, directly participated in the war with more than 550,000 troops, and fought 1,340 times with the Japanese army, of which 1,050 took the initiative to attack.

This is the first national counterattack launched by the Chinese army since the Japanese invasion of China, and it is also the largest counterattack launched by the Chinese army against foreign invading troops since the Opium War.

The winter offensive killed two Japanese lieutenant generals and two major generals, and the Chinese army suffered 70,000 or 80,000 casualties, rewriting the history of the Chinese army being basically passively beaten for a hundred years.

Against the international background of the invincible and unstoppable fascist army in Germany and Italy, the Chinese army's ability to achieve winter offensives has made the world admire him.

The winter offensive hit the Japanese army a lot, and the Japanese army also admitted that "the sacrifices made in this battle were unprecedented in the past."

However, direct losses are still secondary, and the greater loss is that the Japanese army postponed their plan to move south.

Currently, Southeast Asia and South Asia are colonies of Western countries dominated by Britain and France. Due to the outbreak of World War II, Britain and France and other countries were unable to take care of their own local areas and actually adopted a policy of giving up on their colonies.

Therefore, the Japanese government is extremely eager to reduce the Japanese invaders from more than 800,000 to more than 500,000 to free up troops to invade Southeast Asia and South Asia.

However, the winter offensive broke the Japanese army's wishful thinking, which made it impossible for the Japanese army to reduce its troops from China for a while, but instead had to expand the front line, launch the Binyang battle in Guangxi, and launch the Yichang battle in central China.

Wu Rongbang said, shaking his head and showing a look of expression, but Stilwell still shook his head and said, "Strategic counterattack? It seems that something is going on, but I'm afraid it will never succeed.

For more than half a year after the end of the Wuhan Battle, I don’t know much about the national army in other war zones, but the combat effectiveness of the national army in the first and second war zones has been declining beyond imagination. Many phenomena are really shocking."

Wu Rongbang asked back with a little disgusted face: "For example? Can you give an example?"

Stilwell noticed Wu Rongbang's expression change and asked with a smile: "Director Wu, as far as I know, your Chinese Hu Ben Army and the National Government have always been incompatible with each other and are not subordinate to each other. Why do you have a very biased toward the National Government?"

"Ahem, this shouldn't be the focus of the problem, right? No matter what, I am a real Chinese. Naturally, I hope the national army can grow stronger quickly and we can join forces to drive the Japanese out of China earlier!"

Wu Rongbang's old face turned slightly red. Fortunately, he was Yang Fan's father-in-law, and his loyalty would not be suspected. Otherwise, just asking this question would be suspected of "being in Cao's camp and being in Han".

"That's not bad!"

Stilwell nodded and did not continue to ask questions, and then said, "There is an old saying in China that brothers fight against their insults outside the wall. In theory, the Japanese are the top enemy in China. All forces should be united in unity, right?

But I found that the National Army would join forces with the Japanese and puppet troops to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army guerrillas. Can you believe it?"

“…”

Yang Fan smiled but said nothing, so he was naturally very clear about this.

"What did you say?"

"The Kuomintang army and the Japanese and puppet army joined forces to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army?"

"No way? Are the Eighth Route Army and the National Army not friendly?"

"Yes, how can we join forces with the enemy to encircle our own friendly forces?"

However, Wu Rongbang and others changed their expressions. This was the first time they heard about these more secret information, and they felt extremely surprised and unacceptable for a moment.

Yes, even a foreigner knows what it means to "brothers fight against insults outside the wall", but how can the National Government stab the back in the difficult stage of the comprehensive anti-Japanese war?

"Haha, what's this? There's something even more outrageous!"

Stilwell snorted coldly and complained with great pain, "The National Army is now making a big move to save the country. Many generals of the National Army clearly marked the price. As long as the Japanese and puppet troops could afford the price, they would lead their troops to the enemy camp.

In addition to these, it is even more common, such as planting and selling opium and secretly reselling arms. It is no exaggeration to say that opium in the Kuomintang-controlled area is even harder than legal currency, which is completely equivalent to currency!

Let me say this, the National Army in the First War Zone and the Second War, now everyone wants to make a fortune, or just sell themselves at a high price. No one really wants to fight against the invaders!”
Chapter completed!