Chapter 631: Encircling Wuhan

In fact, before the massive troop redeployment of the Quinary War Zone and the Nonary War Zone to encircle Wuhan.

A Naganuma had already received a top‑secret frontline report in advance, which was the most unsettling and worrisome hidden threat for him in the entire Central China war situation.

At that time, however, he only perceived the surface crisis and could not at all comprehend the earth‑shattering scheme lurking behind it.

Only when the Nationalist Army's movements became apparent did he vaguely realize that the year‑long calm had never been due to a weakened Chinese fighting force or lack of offensive capability, but rather a long‑planned, covert buildup.

Since the Huaxia Army seized back key Jianghan strongholds such as Yichang, Jingzhou and Xiangyang, the strategic layout of the entire Central China front was completely rewritten.

The Quinary War Zone and the Nonary War Zone, which had originally been split, mutually restrained, and fighting separately by the Japanese Army, were now merged into a single, contiguous defensive area.

The north‑south Defensive Line was linked, troops and supplies could flow freely, completely breaking the Japanese Army's long‑standing tactical advantage of dividing and suppressing the enemy piece by piece.

The two war zones, now adjoining and forming a unified front, gathered the core field forces of the Central China battlefield; their manpower and strategic deterrence surged dramatically, exerting massive frontal pressure on the isolated Japanese forces in Wuhan.

The Japanese high command anticipated that the convergence of the two war zones and their amassed troops would immediately launch a massive offensive, striking Wuhan while the iron was hot, thereby completely overturning the Central China war situation.

At that moment, the Japanese 11th Army had just suffered disastrous defeats at Yichang and Jianghan, with heavy losses and depleted combat power, making it the weakest and most exploitable window for a breakthrough.

Strangely, for an entire year the two war zones remained perfectly calm, launching no large‑scale attacks, conducting no tactical probes, and staying in silent, dormant stasis without any movement.

This eerie calm made A Naganuma, who was stationed in Wuhan, restless day and night, filled with doubt.

He knew well that the Huaxia Army had always been tough and daring, adept at seizing opportunities, and would never let such a perfect chance to break the deadlock slip away.

The year‑long gap was too abnormal to be due to inability to fight; it must have been covert preparation and hidden intent, yet no matter how intelligence units probed, they could not discern the Nationalist Army's true movements or hidden cards.

The only fragmentary intel was that large numbers of Nationalist troops were quietly massing along the Changde–Dangyang line, silently garrisoned and covertly training, leaking no information outward.

A Naganuma never managed to see through it in his lifetime; that whole year of silence was the year of complete transformation for Li Zongren's Quinary War Zone and Xue Yue's Nonary War Zone, and also the pivotal year in which Jiang Anguo secretly reinforced Huaxia's anti‑Japanese forces and shaped the Central China war situation.

During that year, the two war zones did not waste time or squander opportunities; they devoted themselves wholly to re‑equipping, training and building strength, achieving a complete overhaul of combat capability.

Relying on the massive American equipment shipped by Jiang Anguo from Nanko, the Quinary and Nonary War Zones completed an unprecedented full‑scale American equipment reorganization.

In total there were four main armies, 200,000 troops, twelve Elite Infantry divisions fully re‑equipped, and an additional dedicated heavy Artillery division, filling the Nationalist Army's long‑standing fatal shortfall in firepower and siege capability.

The entire organizational system was complete, the gear top‑tier, firepower maximized, completely abandoning the previous era of outdated, weak firepower and passive defense.

This batch of top‑grade American gear capable of changing the Central China war situation came entirely from Nanko.

At that time the National Government's finances were exhausted, years of war had emptied the treasury, and there was simply no money to pay the sky‑high cost of the equipment, let alone purchase a full set of American gear from the United States.

Consequently, Jiang Anguo reached a deep swap agreement with the National Government: the Nationalist Army exchanged surplus mineral resources and refugee populations from the Southwest and Central China regions to offset the huge arms payment.

Resources for a stronger army, population for equipment—zero‑cost completion of the combat shortfall.

Moreover, Jiang Anguo, driven by patriotic duty, voluntarily provided large quantities of basic firearms, light weapons and field gear free of charge, greatly reducing the National Government's re‑equipment burden.

Although it appeared to be free equipment to help Huaxia build a strong army, in fact Jiang Anguo tightly seized the war's vital core: all the free aid and swapped American gear, together with its ammunition, mortar shells, artillery parts and maintenance supplies, were supplied exclusively by Nanko.

This meant that the American‑equipped elite forces under Li Zongren and Xue Yue, though holding the weapons themselves, depended entirely on Nanko's supply chain for sustained operations, full firepower and endurance.

If they were cut off from Nanko's ammunition, even the finest artillery and advanced firearms would become useless scrap, permanently capping the two war zones' combat power and allowing Jiang Anguo to firmly control the initiative on the Huaxia battlefield.

A year of dormancy, sharpening the sword and hiding the edge.

Li Zongren and Xue Yue used this rare rest window, relying on the full set of American gear to train their troops, honing multi‑branch coordination tactics, forging firepower‑focused siege methods, and reshaping the force's combat system.

The once‑overburdened, heavily loss‑ridden Central China units have now transformed into a well‑equipped, firepower‑rich, tactically mature elite brigade.

It may have seemed a year without combat, but everything was ready; at a single command they could launch a full‑scale assault, storm Wuhan, retake Jianghan, and finally end Japanese rule in Central China.

The unsuspecting A Naganuma only truly realized on the eve of the army's arrival that he was now facing not the feeble Chinese forces of old, but a completely reborn, firepower‑overwhelming new army.

In fact, the Quinary and Nonary War Zones had completed defensive‑area linkage a year earlier.

They already possessed the basic conditions to encircle Wuhan, yet they delayed launching a large‑scale counterattack, remaining patient and dormant until September 1943 when they finally mobilized.

It was not a lack of opportunity, but multiple practical constraints—weather, manpower, equipment transfer, tactical integration, and command‑structure rebuilding.

The whole Central China counteroffensive, seemingly delayed by only a year, was in fact the inevitable result of layered deliberations and step‑by‑step preparations by Jiang Anguo together with Li Zongren and Xue Yue.

Each postponement was meant to avoid risk, fill the gaps, and ensure a decisive single battle.

This counterattack was not merely Jiang Anguo's wish; he also lacked the authority to mobilize so many troops.

In reality, the United States was pressuring the National Government, and of course the government had its own considerations.

After the earlier Battle of Yichang and Jianghan Campaign there were no major moves, while Nanko was thriving.

This made the Principal enviously impressed; his nephew was also generous, sending a large amount of American Equipment.

Because of this, the Principal decided to involve Xue Yue and Li Zongren, yet he did not want his own troops to suffer excessive losses.

During the Yuyang Campaign, the 10th Army suffered heavy losses, which was a concern for the Principal.

Nevertheless, the 10th Army is also on this training roster.

It can be said to have compensated the Principal's cherished interests!