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

Chapter 451 Stevenson is leaving office (seeking gifts and book recommendations)

In an elegantly decorated reception room, a crystal chandelier hangs from the European-patterned plaster ceiling, and colorful lights shine on the marble coffee table and dark brown leather sofa.

Several guards stood outside the door to ensure the quiet and privacy here.

Zhang Chi and Stevenson were like old friends, sitting with their legs crossed, wine glasses in their hands, their bodies relaxed on the sofa.

There were several newspapers and battle maps spread out on the coffee table, and a freshly opened bottle of White Eagle bourbon whiskey in an ice bucket nearby.

"Our coach Mai has been in the limelight recently?" Stevenson shook a recent newspaper loudly and threw it on the table, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Zhang Chi glanced at the huge Angsav title "I'm back!", and below it was a photo of Coach Mai wearing sunglasses, a peaked cap, and holding his signature corn pipe, with a smug look on his face.

In the photo, Marshal Mai has completely changed from the embarrassed look he had when he fled in panic from the Luzon colony.

"This guy is more like a glamorous actor in a Hollywood studio than a general on the battlefield."

"He's back, and he brought photographers and a publicity team with him." Zhang Chi smiled and twirled the wine glass between his fingers. "I heard that your navy originally planned to march directly north to attack the Ryukyu Islands?"

"That's right." Stevenson shrugged with an expression that said, "You know what I mean."

"The Combined Fleet is no longer as powerful as it once was. Instead of going all the way to Luzon for a landing, it's better to punch the Japanese in the ribs. Ryukyu is the way to go. Using it as a springboard, we can directly land on the Japanese main island. This is much more efficient."

His tone suddenly changed as he spoke: "But some people just don't want to miss the opportunity to pose."

Now that they were alone, Stevenson relaxed and began to criticize his colleagues: "Some seemingly glamorous individuals plotted a campaign to fulfill their promise of 'I'll be back.'"

Zhang Chi raised his eyebrows and continued with a hint of sarcasm:

"'I'll be back' has become a golden phrase. I have to use it once in a while."

"And he only dared to land on Leyte Island (pictured), instead of the main island of Luzon, which was heavily guarded by Feng Wen at the foot of the mountain. If you ask me, how despicable!"

As he spoke, Zhang Chi stood up and clinked glasses with Stevenson.

At that time, the Japanese headquarters established the 14th Front Army in the Luzon area, with a total strength of more than 43 troops, including 35 combat troops, and was commanded by the former Tiger of Malaya, Yamashita Tomoyuki.

It includes 8 elite infantry divisions, 4 mixed brigades, and 1 tank division. It can be said that this force is a decisive battle corps composed of elite troops from the battlefields of the Republic of China and various battlefields in Southeast Asia.

Then Marshal Mai avoided the heavily guarded Luzon and Mindanao Islands, and chose to land on the weakly defended Leyte Island in the central part.

This behavior immediately put all the actual military difficulties on the navy. Marshal MacArthur took the army to take pictures on the beach of Leyte Island, while the navy had to fight desperately with the main force of the Combined Fleet.

Although Sun Tzu's Art of War emphasizes avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, the two people present still looked down on Marshal Mai for being able to fight beautiful battles and not daring to engage in a head-on confrontation.

After criticizing and mocking Marshal Mai, Stevenson drained his whiskey in one gulp, sighed, and his expression suddenly became serious. After pondering for a moment, he said:

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Dear Zhang, I came here today to say goodbye to you."

Zhang Chi narrowed his eyes, the amber liquid in the cup rippled slightly under the light. "Why, did the Pentagon finally remember to promote you?"

"Yes, they're going to give me a star and send me to the European theater of operations." Stevenson sighed. "I thought I'd have to stay in Asia until the war was over, but..."

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Chi raised his brows slightly. He had already expected Stevenson to leave.

With the honeymoon period of cooperation between the People's Security Army and the United States over, the two sides have now entered a period of friction. As a friend of Zhang Chi, Stevenson would only be caught in the middle between him and the White Eagle upper echelons.

Zhang Chi was genuinely happy for his friend's relief, as he was able to leave this vortex and get away from it.

He was the first to raise his glass in tribute:

"Anyway, congratulations first."

However, without Stevenson, many of his plans might be difficult to continue within the Allied framework, so he took the initiative to ask:

"When will you be leaving for Europe to take up your new post? Do you have any insider information about your successor?"

Stevenson smiled brightly. "I'll probably be leaving before the end of the year, returning home first and then heading to Europe. After such a long time, I can finally go home and visit."

"As for the successor, my adjutant, Frank Merrill, has a weak heart and is likely to be overworked as commander. The Johns want Lord Mountbatten to be the theater commander, but you know, we can't let a John command all of Southeast Asia.

Wedemeyer was Marshall's confidant, but he was too busy serving Peanuts to do anything else."

"So, either it's our engineer commander, Daniel Solden, or they airdrop another general from the Pentagon..."

Stevenson winked at Zhang Chi and said, "Don't worry, although Daniel is an old guy like me, he is not a difficult person to deal with."

Zhang Chi nodded and quickly went over Daniel Solden's information in his mind.

He holds the rank of lieutenant general and is a former engineer. Like Stevenson, he participated in the last World War. He is currently in charge of all White Eagle engineering units in the Southeast Asia theater. He is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the Stevenson Highway.

He is a typical technical officer, good at logistics management and coordination, and has certain insights into jungle warfare. However, his ability in military planning is not outstanding, but he is a very successful "civil engineer".

For Zhang Chi, as long as the new commander is not the kind of guy who is too arrogant, or someone from John, then he can accept it.

Stevenson also knew what he was thinking and blinked: "Don't worry, Daniel doesn't like to show off, and he won't interfere too much. As long as you don't destroy his bridge, he won't do anything wrong."

Then, Stevenson stood up and poured himself another half glass of wine, added some ice, shook the glass, and said with a complicated expression:

“There is about a month left before I leave office. While I can still sign, please make any requests as soon as possible.

In addition, we recently intercepted several telegrams, which seem to indicate that several oil tankers are being transferred here from Java, intending to stockpile a batch of oil for shipment to Annan as a backup.

If you can blow up the oil fields in Sumatra before I leave, I can proudly report to the Pentagon that we have cleanly cut off the last oil artery of the Japanese.

You have an old saying, 'Everything must have a beginning and an end.'"

He is a responsible soldier. Now he suddenly has to leave the Southeast Asian battlefield where he has fought for nearly three years. Naturally, he feels reluctant and is still concerned about the combat plan.

"Of course, everything is going smoothly. I promise to use spectacular results as a gift for your promotion!"

The two smiled at each other, and Zhang Chi raised his glass again: "Cheers."

"cheers!"