Before we knew it, the gate of the division command was suddenly pushed open from outside, and a bitter cold wind blew in. The confidential section chief Du Pingzhang hurried into the room: "The teacher's seat, the latest news from Wuxingcheng"

After taking the telegram, Wu Ming frowned, then read it carefully, after reading it, he thought about it, and looked at the map in front, a huge sense of powerlessness suddenly surged into his heart, and he sighed: "Okamura Yasuji is indeed vicious and vicious."

Han Tiecheng, who handed over the training to the deputy regiment commander Mo Mingqi, came to the division headquarters to inquire about the news early in the morning and said carelessly: "Teacher, don't worry... You think, when we were still the same division, we all annihilated a division of the Japanese army. No matter how powerful Okamura Nishi was, he still had two hands. It is said that his eyes were dizzy and his glasses were thick enough to be used as a magnifying glass. We gathered the troops of the two divisions. As long as he advanced lightly, he would definitely be able to come and go."

Wu Ming saw that Han Tiecheng was so arrogant and was a little dissatisfied: "As our main opponent, you don't know what kind of person he is? Propaganda is to boost the morale of the people, but as a soldier, a lion also needs all his strength to fight a rabbit, not to mention that this person has the mind of a fox and the insidiousness of a poisonous snake. You must pay attention to it and not be slacking off at all."

The generals and schoolmen in the command center nodded after hearing this, only Han Tiecheng grinned and smiled shamelessly.

After reading the telegram, Zhang Ying was shocked and looked at the map and said worriedly: "Master, there is trouble in the third division for the time being."

Seeing Zhang Ying say so, Luo Yuming, who was conceiving the battle situation in front of the sand table, asked anxiously: "What's wrong? What's going on with Wu Xing?"

Wu Ming sighed, and saw that everyone around him looked at him curiously, and waved his hand: "Secretary Zhang, please explain it to you based on the map of the telegram."

"yes"

Zhang Ying took the baton from the staff officer and pointed to Xisai Mountain west of Wuxing City, and said to everyone: "The latest news is that the Japanese army dispatched paratroopers to seize Xisai Mountain west of Wuxing City, and blocked the water and land passages to the west."

Speaking of this, Zhang Ying directed the baton to move downward and pointed to the Daochang Mountain on the northern foot of Tianmu Mountain: "A part of the Japanese army crossed the Dongshaoxi from Shitou Village and Hongshan Village north of Huangmei Mountain, and marched towards the Xiahuacheng Town. By time, the Japanese army has arrived at the periphery of Xiahuacheng Town."

After hearing this, the generals and schoolmen were shocked.

After a while, Luo Yuming took a breath and said in disbelief: "No wonder the master repeatedly asked us to defend Okamura Yasuji, this old guy is amazing."

Luo Yuming had already woken up, but the others were still confused. Wu Ming waved and ordered: "Come on, Lao Luo, tell everyone."

Wu Ming never missed the opportunity to cultivate his subordinates' ability to stand alone.

Luo Yuming strode to the map, took the instructions handed over by Zhang Ying, and explained the current situation to everyone: "Please see, the southwest direction of Wuxingcheng is the Taochang Mountain branch of Tianmu Mountain. From Taochang Mountain to Moyu Mountain, all the mountains and valleys, it is very conducive to hiding the troops, but the right-wing army headquarters will definitely not agree to go south, because the Central Military Commission issued a heavy army gathering retreated from Songhu, Yu Guangde, and Si'an blocking the Japanese army on the front line. The retreat to the south is obviously contrary to the central government's decision and is not in line with the overall interests of the current.

"Guangde and Si'an are located in the key junction of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui border. From here, we go westward and exit Wuhu and Dangtu, we can cut off the Yangtze River channel and surround Nanjing from the back; and when we attack northwest, we can directly point to the city of Nanjing. The strategic position is extremely important. At present, the 23rd Army of the Sichuan Army has been moved in place. The 144th Division is advancing from Si'an to Changxing. The 145th Division guards Guangde, the 147th Division and the 148th Division guard Si'an. The 13th and 144th Brigade are deployed around Guangde. This means that as long as we retreat to Si'an, the right wing army headquarters will be basically safe."

"But how to retreat is very particular... Whether it is going west or going north, it is good, but the problem is that Xisai Mountain in the west of Wuxing has been occupied by Japanese paratroopers. Once it cannot be captured, as the Japanese pursuers arrive, they will inevitably end up being wiped out, so they can only go north."

"The north of Wuxing City is Longwang Mountain and Bian Mountain respectively. These two small hills with low altitudes are guarded by the Twenty-First Army. Previously, Deputy Commander Long called and said that according to the plan, the right-wing army would defend the city and rely on Wuxing City defense to deal with the Japanese army. If it is not good, the third division and most of the right-wing army will pass through Xitiao River in the north of Huzhou City, retreat to Changxing along the highway, and then retreat to Si'an."

"So, Xitiaoxi has actually become an important passage for the right-wing army to achieve safe retreat. Currently, there is a highway bridge there, guarded by the Gui army guarding the Longwang Mountain line in the north of Wuxing City..."

Han Tiecheng felt something was wrong and asked anxiously: "Is this bridge still in our hands?"

Zhang Yingdai replied: "I can only say that there is no news of the bridge falling off yet... But when the Japanese army seized Xisai Mountain, I guess it is already very dangerous. Deputy Commander Long and others underestimated the enemy. Once they retreated to Wuxing, they should control the highway bridge and the important places on both sides in their hands, and dispatch troops on the front line of Longwang Mountain, otherwise the situation would not be so passive."

Zhang Ying's words are easy to understand. The Japanese army held the power to control air and sea. With the breaking of Wuxingcheng, Japanese gunboats could enter Dongshaoxi through water at any time and bombard the highway bridge. If not, Japanese planes could blow off the bridge at any time. The Chinese army could only sigh at the river.

Of course, in order to speed up the advancement to Nanjing, the best choice for the Japanese army was not to blow up the bridge, but to send troops to land on the west bank of Taihu Lake, seize Bianshan and Longwangshan, and block the bridge, so that the passage of the Chinese army to the north would be cut off. Judging from all aspects, the Japanese army's move in this way is very likely to be able to make this move.

When the overall situation in the west and north has been determined, the Japanese army can fight for Xialiu Town in the south of Dojo Mountain, which can close the encirclement gate.

Xiahua Town is not usually visible or exposed, but if the road to Wuxing goes west and north is blocked, and the Japanese gunboats are cruising to the Xitiao River and together with the Japanese army on Longwang Mountain, the best choice for the right-wing army is to go south to Taochang Mountain. In this way, Xiahua Town, located in the southeast of Taochang Mountain, is very important.

If the Japanese army occupied Xiahua Town, the road for the national army to flee south could be blocked, and Wuxing would become a Jedi for the right-wing army, including the temporary third division.

The school was silent in the hall, and the situation was much worse than expected. Han Tiecheng exhaled a heavy breath and said, "We should warn Deputy Commander Long immediately."

"It's late"

Wu Ming shook his head: "Since the discovery of the movements of the Japanese army, the lines in the north of Bianshan and Longwangshan are probably lost. It is too late to remind you at this time."

As if to confirm Wu Ming's judgment, a communications officer strode into the command center and handed the telegram to Wu Ming after saluting.

After seeing it, Wu Ming shook his head: "As expected, about one of the Japanese troops drove straight into the inland river at Huanzhuyang yesterday evening, landed on the line from Wangjiaqiao to Yujiaba, and successfully attacked Bianshan and Longwangshan. The two regiments of the defenders collapsed as soon as they fought. The Japanese army occupied two crucial commanding heights without any effort. The three-hole reinforced concrete beam bridge built on Xitiao River in the 18th year of the Republic of China has been occupied by the Japanese army, and the main force of the right wing army's northward passage has been closed here."

Seeing the expression of admiration and fear on everyone's faces, Wu Ming shook his head with a wry smile: "Okamura Yanji is a Chinese master. His move was taken from the Battle of Changping during the Warring States Period in our country. Bai Qi, a generation of war god, used several rivers and two mountains to encircle and annihilate the 450,000 Zhao troops in one fell swoop. Now Okamura Yanji also wants to do this."

The situation of the national army on the front line of Wuxing was extremely dangerous, and the generals and schoolmen were sad and foggy, and they all lowered their heads and remained silent.

Zhang Ying glanced at Wu Ming and suggested: "It is better to ask General Zhou Zhirou to send the air force to help one or two so that the Japanese fighter jets will not be too presumptuous."

Wu Ming sighed: "Northern Army is retreating now, and the Central Air Force needs to send fighter planes to cover the Central Army's direct troops, how can we take care of us?"

Wu Ming thought about it and had no choice but to send the analyzed results to Long Shaogang, pointing out the importance of Xiahua Town to the entire Wuxing front-line national army - whether the right-wing army can successfully break through the siege depends on whether Xiahua Town can persist.

Xiahua City is located on the banks of Dongtao River, more than ten kilometers south of Wuxing. It was the fief of Huang Xie, the king of Chuchun during the Warring States Period. Huang Xie established Qicheng County here in the 15th year of Chukaoligong. It has a history of more than 2,000 years. Later, it was abandoned several times. A huge town appeared to the south of its former site, which is still named after Qicheng.

The town is both foothills in the northwest and north, and can lead to Jinji Mountain and Xiamu Valley to the west, and is close to Dongshaoxi River in the southeast, and is backed by mountains and water. It has a very superior geographical location. Once the Japanese army occupied this place, it can block Daochang Mountain and the valley to the west for defense. The passage of the Kuomintang army to the south will be closed.

The smoke of gunpowder circled above Xiahuai Town, and the houses in the south were destroyed many under the attack of Japanese artillery fire.

Four or five bombers flew over low altitude, dropped the bombs and hovered in the air for a few times, then flew towards the east sky. Chen Yanhua stared at the fighter planes gradually moving away, crawled out of the bunker in a dusty manner, shouted to his officers and soldiers: "It's all for me to come out, the Japanese are about to come up, ready to support the front-line positions at any time."

The Japanese vanguard attacked four times in a row with artillery fire and aircraft. The extremely high tactical qualities, strong individual quality and fierce firepower of Japanese grassroots officers caused huge damage to Chen Yanhua's regiment. The positions outside Xiahua City were in a mess. Many officers and soldiers fell in trenches in a row, and blood dyed the positions red.

Seeing that the smoke from the front line of positions had not dissipated for a long time, Chen Yanhua was worried and was about to take people to the front line to see, the regiment staff officer Zhou Cheng suddenly grabbed him and said anxiously: "The regiment seat is too fierce, the Japanese artillery fire is too fierce, we are resisting outside the town, and the troops are suffering too much casualties."

"But we can't take a step back"

Chen Yanhua gritted his teeth and said. His sense of smell on the battlefield was extremely sharp. Since the investigation troops discovered that the Japanese army crossed the river south of Xiali Town, they immediately retreated the troops deployed along Dongshao Creek into the town and focused their efforts to deal with the sudden appearance of this strong enemy. Chen Yanhua knew very well that since the Japanese army had the idea of ​​going down to Xiali Town, it proved that the situation in other directions was not good. Whether for the New Second Division or the entire right-wing army, he could not throw them away.

Zhou Cheng suggested: "It is better to introduce the enemy into the town like this. We will form a staggering situation with the enemy, so that the Japanese artillery fire and aircraft will no longer be able to use their strength."

Staff Zhou meant to carry out street fighting, but the problem was that Xiahua Town was not so much a town as a large village, with a radius of less than two square kilometers, all of which were low bungalows, and there might be one or two two-story buildings in a room, so there was a lot of room for maneuver. If the Japanese army advanced smoothly, this kind of street fighting would easily be broken by the Japanese army.

"The first battalion that stood in front of the main position was nearly half of the casualties, and this is because our battalion was strengthened.

Staff Zhou said bitterly: "Room, our defensive positions have been built too hasty, and most trenches have not built anti-aircraft holes. If we are still outside the town where there is no danger to defend, our troops will not be able to withstand the Japanese attack even if they are exhausted."

Chen Yanhua pondered for a moment, a trace of gloom flashed in his eyes, and then he became firm and said to Staff Zhou: "Okay, inform the first battalion of companies to retreat to Xiahua City and order the engineers to lay more landmines on the streets. If the Japanese don't let us have a good time, we will send them back to heaven."

Before the Japanese attack was launched, the officers and soldiers on the front and deep positions seized the time to lay mines, and then alternately covered them and retreated towards the downtown.
Chapter completed!