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The United States officially began providing military aid to the Nationalist government after Pearl Harbor, but the first to benefit from the equipment replacement was the Indian Army, also known as the Expeditionary Force. This force was centered around a part of the Expeditionary Force that withdrew to India, and was later transferred from the country. It had about 100,000 people.

These 100,000 men were authentic American-equipped soldiers. Except for their salaries which were deducted by the Nationalist government, their treatment was the same as that of the US military, including the most important long-range firepower delivery capability among American-equipped divisions.

The National Army, except for the Indian Army, began to re-equip itself in the later period (late 1942). However, unlike the Indian Army, although these armed troops were also called American-equipped divisions, the degree of American-equipment could only be said to be partial - neither personnel training nor equipment could be compared with the Indian Army.

The most important artillery units in the American-equipped divisions are seriously understaffed.

But it is undeniable that the combat effectiveness of these troops was higher than that of the National Army in the early days of the War of Resistance (excluding the German-equipped divisions).

As of now, these troops are expected to arm 36 divisions, and currently there are about ten divisions that have formed combat effectiveness. They lack heavy weapons such as the most important artillery among American weapons, but the supply of light weapons is sufficient.

In addition to the above two forces, the National Government also plans to equip 30 ordinary American-equipped divisions, that is, infantry divisions equipped only with American light weapons - they are currently being equipped, but the progress is extremely slow.

In short, the current national army has greatly improved its comprehensive combat capability compared to the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan. After several years of war, the Japanese army suffered serious losses of veterans at the beginning of the war. Although the army has expanded dozens of times, its combat effectiveness is in a serious decline.

Zhang Anping believed that if the national army fought the upcoming Henan, Hunan and Guangxi Campaign with a firm attitude and with all its strength, the chances of winning would be very high.

But he knew very well that the national army would not do so.

From the end of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign and including the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, the National Army, under the "wise" command of the Chief Aide-de-Camp, maintained the idea of ​​preserving its strength in every battle.

Even in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, the Chief Aide-de-Camp was reluctant to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese, let alone the Henan-Hunan-Guangxi Campaign that was bound to break out next.

The National Army cannot be relied upon, but the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi is bound to break out - how should Zhang Anping break this situation?

His idea is:
逼！
The Chief of Staff was a staunch anti-communist. So, what if the US military provided military aid to the Eighth Route Army?
There is no doubt that the chief attendant will be driven crazy.

Then, the US military used aid to the Eighth Route Army as bait to force the National Army to give up the idea of ​​preserving its strength, which was equivalent to grasping the National Army's weak spot.

By then, the national army will inevitably abandon the idea of ​​passive resistance and make strategic deployments in advance. In this case, the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi may break out in a new way.

There is a high possibility that the offense and defense will shift.

Even though the offensive and defensive positions would not be shifted, the Henan-Hunan-Guangxi Campaign would still break out as in the past, but it would certainly not be as tragic compared to the original time and space.

But Zhang Anping has been hesitant about:
If his plan worked, the Nationalist government's first idea in the face of the Allied forces' pressure for material support would definitely not be to accept its fate, but to "interfere".

And I must be the best candidate.

But there is absolutely no way I could destroy it - the result would be failure again.

It's not that I can't fail, but doing so would mean failing against the Communist Party for two consecutive years. Add to that my performance in Chongqing, would Old Dai suspect that there was something wrong with him?

Zhang Anping didn't dare to bet on this.

This is also the reason why he has been hesitant.

Once Old Dai suspected him, any clues could become a deadly poison. There were still two years left, and Zhang Anping didn't dare to gamble whether he could withstand Old Dai's suspicion.

So he kept hesitating and didn't dare to make a decision.

But now, he found the key point to break the deadlock:

Mao Renfeng is in contact with the Communists!

The specific method is:

The plan can be implemented according to his own ideas, and the Zhang Anping "collaboration with the Communists" incident will break out at the key node that he is ordered to destroy.

If this happens, I will definitely be taken away for investigation, and it will be an extremely high-level investigation. No matter what work I have on hand, it will all come to a standstill.

Even your own arrangements will become invalid!
This would ensure that the Eighth Route Army would receive a batch of military aid - he knew that given the nature of the Kuomintang diehards, they would never sit idly by and watch the entire Eighth Route Army change their uniforms. As long as a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers received military aid, the diehards would become extremely anxious and would be forced to surrender.

In this way, the Eighth Route Army gained certain benefits, and the National Army would be forced to stop its passive resistance.

Even if the Henan-Hunan-Guangxi Campaign broke out as scheduled, the National Army would certainly mobilize all its strength instead of hiding the American-equipped divisions (half-American-equipped divisions) and deploying only a few of them in a dispersed manner.

When the truth of the incident in which he was investigated for collusion with the Communists comes to light, all the blame will be on Mao Renfeng.

After deciding to carry out his secret plan, Zhang Anping began to take action.

……

If we want the Americans to force the diehards of the Nationalist government to surrender, we must make them aware of the existence of this weakness.

There is no doubt that Zhang Anping's breakthrough lies in his good friend Colonel Zok.

In the following period of time, Zhang Anping and Zuo Ke interacted frequently, and the two sides had various collisions of ideas. Under Zhang Anping's deliberate guidance, Zuo Ke finally succeeded in coming up with an idea:
It seems that the national army is not without replacement!
On the Chinese battlefield, there is another troop that has been active behind enemy lines. Since the outbreak of the full-scale war of resistance against Japan, this troop has been fighting against the Japanese army, and has become stronger and stronger.

So, Zok had an idea and took the lead in setting up an observation group, which went to the Eighth Route Army-controlled area for observation in the name of military exchange.

Although the Nationalist government attached great importance to this low-level observation group, its attention was ultimately limited. When the Military Intelligence Bureau received the task of causing trouble from the attendant's office, Lao Dai did not use his trump card Zhang Anping, but sent several spies to participate in the observation group as guards.

The observation group spent two months observing the area controlled by the Eighth Route Army, during which time they also observed the famous Northwest Shanxi Independent Regiment - unfortunately, Chu Yunfei, the commander of the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi Suiyuan Army, was with them at that time.

After completing the observation, the observation group did not return directly, but took a detour to the area controlled by the New Fourth Army and paid a military visit to the New Fourth Army's replacement brigade.

According to the idea of ​​the US delegation, they would carry out a large-scale replacement of the equipment for the New Fourth Army, and the entire New Fourth Army would be equipped with American weapons (only light weapons).

However, in practice, it was strongly opposed by the National Government. After four brigades were re-equipped, the support was interrupted.

Another purpose of the observation group's visit to the New Fourth Army is to confirm whether the New Fourth Army's replacement brigade is worth the US military's investment.

Although they had received many battle reports from the New Fourth Army before, many of which were accompanied by photos, the delegation was ultimately disturbed by the information cocoon deliberately created by the National Government. Even though Zhang Anping was in the Third War Zone, it was difficult for him to break through this artificially created information cocoon - so the delegation did not fully recognize the combat effectiveness of the New Fourth Army's replacement brigade.

Their understanding is still based on the four words "wander but do not fight".

Even if Zok tells it more than once, the stubborn cognition will not change because of Zok's words.

The purpose of this observation group's trip was also to let these officials get in touch with the New Fourth Army and conduct a field investigation in order to change their inherent impressions of the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army.

As the saying goes, what you hear is not as good as what you see.

It's no wonder that the visit to the Eighth Route Army-controlled area really changed the observation group's views, which is why they agreed to Zok's opinion to go to the New Fourth Army. The subsequent trip to Jiangnan opened the observation group's eyes. They didn't expect that the New Fourth Army's refitting brigade would have such combat capabilities - facing the Japanese raid, they should have fought the Japanese army head-on, and not only were they not defeated by the Japanese, but they also won several victories in succession, and finally crushed the Japanese raid that involved more than 70,000 Japanese and puppet troops.

This victory gave Zok more confidence, so he instilled his philosophy into the observation group:

Don't put all your eggs in one basket!

Although our strategy is to focus on Europe first and Asia later, this does not mean that we will ignore Asia.

After receiving the equipment, the National Army always used the excuse that the training was not completed and the equipment had not been fully replaced. The essence of their doing so was to preserve their strength. In this case, we will turn around and support the Eighth Route Army.

Our military aid is just a carrot to tempt them to fight the Japanese to death. We will support whoever fights the Japanese to death!
No matter whether his surname is Gong or Guo!
The members of the observation group spent two months visiting the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and this time they agreed with Zok's ideas.

After the observation group returned, they produced a report:
On the characteristics of the two combat armies on the Chinese battlefield

This report first analyzed the composition of the National Army - the National Army, a mixture of central and local armies, seemed to be under the command of the chief aide-de-camp, but in fact each had its own agenda.

The Chief Aide-de-camp did not want to commit all of his central troops to the war, fearing that the central army would be unable to suppress the local army after its strength was greatly damaged. As for the local army, seeing that the central army had been conserving its strength and fighting passively, they did not dare to fight with all their strength, fearing that they would fall into the situation of being a fish on the chopping board after their strength was exhausted.

This is also the reason why the National Army did not concentrate on reorganizing itself into American-style weapons after receiving a large amount of American-style weapons, but instead replaced the equipment of the troops bit by bit - the other side used this as an excuse and never launched a decisive battle.

On the contrary, the guerrilla forces active behind enemy lines may seem to be divided into individuals, but they are under unified command. No matter how brutal the battle is, as long as they decide to fight, they will not give up because of massive casualties.

Moreover, the discipline and obedience of this armed force far exceed those of the National Army.

After analyzing the "characteristics" of the two forces, the report further pointed out:
It is precisely because of the unity of the latter’s command that the former regards the latter as a great enemy - we should take advantage of this situation to achieve our own goals rather than being unilaterally restricted by the National Government.

……

After obtaining Stilwell's approval, the report issued by the observation group was submitted to the core leadership of the Eagle Sauce.

The Americans were deeply troubled by the Nationalist Army's passive resistance to the war. This report provided the Americans with a very good implementation idea. So not long after receiving the report, the United States sent instructions to the delegation in China:
Agree to provide military aid to the Eighth Route Army as a means to control the National Government!

The thinking of the US leadership is actually the same as what Zok said:
Our strategy is indeed to focus on Europe first and Asia later, but this does not mean that we will ignore Asia. Now that we are fighting a fierce battle with the Japanese in the Pacific, we must hold back more and more Japanese troops on the Chinese battlefield.

The Kuomintang, on the other hand, has been conserving its strength after accepting military aid from the United States.

In the past two years, the several battles with the Japanese were all passive defensive operations, and there has never been an active attack at all - please, this is a war, and fighting is called fighting, and just defending is called being beaten!
Now that the Chinese delegation has provided an idea, the leadership will naturally use it without hesitation.

……

"What? The Americans want to provide military aid to the Eighth Route Army?!"

The chief attendant looked at Dai Chunfeng in front of him in dismay, unable to believe that such cruel words would come out of Dai Chunfeng's mouth.

He and Stilwell, who held a variety of positions including Chief of Staff of the China Theater and Deputy Commander of the Southeast Asia Theater, were at odds with each other.

why?
There are two core reasons:
1. The Chief of Staff attached great importance to the control over the army, while Stilwell used the distribution rights of American aid materials (Lend-Lease materials) to try to pry the command of the army from him - when you are under someone's eaves, you have to bow your head. The Chief of Staff had bowed his head repeatedly, but Stilwell was getting more and more demanding and wanted to take full control of the command of the army.

This was clearly a dream, and clearly a challenge to the chief attendant's bottom line.

2. The chief aide-de-camp wanted to preserve his strength and prevent the Communist Party from growing stronger. But the latter did not care about this at all. He not only advocated active attack, but also wanted to incorporate the Communist army into the command system.

Incorporating it into the command system means providing military assistance to the Eighth Route Army - this is something the Chief Aide-de-Camp would never agree to.

To this end, the Chief of Staff and Stilwell fought each other's wits again and again. In order to prevent Stilwell from incorporating the Communist army into the command system, he had to constantly delegate power to Stilwell.

In order to compromise, seeing that his bottom line had been lost to the point of his belly button, he did not expect that at this time Dai Chunfeng actually reported:
The Americans want military aid to the Eighth Route Army!
Damn it, isn't this just taking off all his clothes?
"I don't agree! I absolutely don't agree!"

The head attendant shouted frantically:
"Want to provide military aid to the Eighth Route Army? No way! No way!!"

The last time we provided military assistance to the New Fourth Army, four re-equipped brigades suddenly appeared in the army. The attendants were so anxious that the blisters at the corners of their mouths couldn't go away for a long time.

In the end, he terminated military aid to the New Fourth Army at the cost of a certain degree of decentralization.

I didn't expect that less than a year had passed and the old matter was brought up again.

This time it’s even more cruel, as they actually provided military aid to the Eighth Route Army!
Facing the frantic chief attendant, Dai Chunfeng said cautiously:
"Principal, this is the news that my people got from the Americans. I estimate that it won't be long before Stilwell reports it to you. What do you think..."

The chief attendant suppressed the rage in his heart.

"Destroy, we must destroy the Americans' actions!"

"This time, it is impossible to give up power! But the Americans should not even think about supporting the Eighth Route Army!"

"Give the little guy an order to stop the American military aid plan to the Eighth Route Army at any cost!"

He was furious and after he finished speaking, he slammed his fist on the table to express his firm attitude.

"The students understand." Dai Chunfeng replied.

After leaving the attendant's room, Dai Chunfeng looked bitter.

The information he reported to the chief aide-de-camp was actually provided by Zhang Anping - in order to prevent the chief aide-de-camp from using Zhang Anping, he deliberately blurred the source of the information.

But no matter how much he planned, he still didn't expect that the chief aide-de-camp would appoint Zhang Anping as the general without hesitation!

The last time the Americans wanted to provide military aid to the New Fourth Army, it was Zhang Anping who was responsible for obstructing it. Although it only delayed the time of military aid, it was still a hard work, right?

But the result?

The result was that Zhang Anping became the scapegoat!

Now the American is using the same old trick again. He said he didn't want his nephew to get involved anymore, but he didn't expect that the chief aide would still appoint Zhang Anping.

"You bastard, this time... it's not that I won't help you..."

Dai Chunfeng sighed secretly and looked worried.

(One more chapter.) (End of this chapter)