There are many things that give Duanwu headaches, and Zhou Weiguo and Qiu Ming are just one of them. Also giving him headaches are bandits such as Ma Zhenshan, Black Tiger, and Eagle Claw Sun.
Although their performance in the previous battles was remarkable, the casualties suffered by various groups still made several bandit leaders feel a little bit withdrawn.
Ma Zhenshan even went to Duanwu privately and said: "I don't know. After several days of fighting, these people under him are not only different from the Japanese, but also from the Independent Regiment, the 522nd Regiment, and
With the Eighth Route Army, there is a huge gap. The more he fights, the less confident he is, and he even feels that he is a burden to the Independent Regiment."
But are Ma Zhenshan's men really that weak?
No, no matter how weak Ma Zhenshan's men are, they will not be worse than the new recruits who have just joined the army. When they defended the Sihang Warehouse during the Dragon Boat Festival, many of them were ordinary people who had never fought in a war and joined the army.
So Ma Zhenshan said that his men are too weak, which is simply not true.
And Duanwu was not a fool, so how could he not see this little trick of Ma Zhenshan? At that time, he knew what Ma Zhenshan meant.
But at that time, Duanwu didn't have time to think about it, so he didn't make any reply.
But at this time, when he saw that there were so many wounded people who could not be taken away, Duanwu had a new idea. If Ma Zhenshan and others could not sincerely surrender, this might not be a good thing for his battle plan. What's more, Ma Zhenshan
, Black Tiger, Eagle Claw Sun and other bandits suffered heavy casualties indeed.
Taking Ma Zhenshan as an example, he originally had more than 360 people under his command, but after several battles at Shamadian, Erlang Mountain, and Datou Mountain, only more than 100 people remained.
As for Eagle Claw Sun and Black Tiger's men, there are even fewer people left, with the two groups adding up to less than a hundred people.
Therefore, the total number of men and horses in these three mountains is less than 200 who can still fight.
The strength of two hundred men is only equivalent to a reinforced company. Although there are many people, the bandits' combat effectiveness is insufficient and it is difficult to use them as the main force, and they also bear the risk of fleeing at any time.
This was not cost-effective, so Duanwu decided to let Ma Zhenshan and others stay in the Shamatian area to rest and take care of the wounded.
Of course, the Dragon Boat Festival will not let them herd sheep, but will temporarily seal them into an independent regiment with the ranks of Reserve 1st Battalion, Reserve 2nd Battalion, and Reserve 3rd Battalion to restrain them.
Now that the bandits are done, the only ones left are Zhou Weiguo and Qiu Ming.
An impromptu combat meeting was held at Dragon Boat Festival, and the guards called Zhou Weiguo and Qiu Ming over.
There were only three people in the room, so Dragon Boat Festival got straight to the point: "When we met during the day today, Lao Zhou said that if we go west, we can cross the fire line and return to Nanjing, while Lao Qiu said that it would be safe to continue going north, so we will solve this problem today.
, how are we going to go."
Zhou Weiguo glanced at the map and said: "Duanwu, you don't want to follow the Eighth Route Army, do you? If you follow the Eighth Route Army, I will go back to Nanjing by myself."
Duanwu smiled and said: "Don't worry, I alone don't have the final say on where we go. The three of us can discuss it calmly."
After that, Duanwu first said to Zhou Weiguo: "Old Zhou, you said you should go west across the line of fire and return to Nanjing. Tell me your reasons."
Zhou Weiguo said: "Isn't this obvious? Go west, return to the rear and then pass through Nanjing. Let's go and defend Nanjing?"
At this time, Duanwu asked back: "What do you think is the chance of holding Nanjing?"
Zhou Weiguo frowned, because he had not been out of Nanjing for long, and he also knew a little about Nanjing's city defense and military strength. It would be very difficult to defend Nanjing. He speculated that it could still be defended in about half a month.
"Half a month, at least within half a month, Nanjing will still be in our hands."
Zhou Weiguo replied somewhat unconfidently, because half a month was his best guess.
At this time, Duanwu said: "Two days, at most two days. And I believe that the Nanjing City Defense Army's retreat order will be issued early tomorrow morning."
Zhou Weiguo said in surprise: "How is this possible?"
Duanwu smiled and said: "If you don't believe it, we will send a telegram tomorrow morning to ask, using the kid's high-power radio."
Zhou Weiguo felt it was inappropriate and said: "We can't use the Japs' radio, otherwise we will be exposed. The Japs will definitely find out through this radio that the Sakata Brigade no longer exists."
Duanwu continued to laugh and said: "Do you think the little Japs will never be discovered? The Bantian Alliance has not been completely wiped out. If the Japs who fled in all directions are lucky, they will be able to find their own people in twenty hours, and what happened to the Bantian Alliance will be revealed."
Report everything to their Commander Matsui.
And after twenty-four hours, the defenders of the Little Japanese on the western front will be ready, and after thirty-six hours, the Little Japanese reinforcements will arrive on the thin line to reinforce.
So when we return to the national defense zone as you mentioned, we may suffer heavy losses. Because even if we set off now, it will take nearly two days to reach the firing line.
But do you think that with our current tiredness we can reach the western front line in two days?"
After all, Dragon Boat Festival's position on the western front was marked with three red lines with a red pen, which foreshadowed the price they would pay for forcing their way into the front line.
Zhou Weiguo was not a fool. Through Duanwu's analysis, he could imagine how many of them would come back alive even if they could cross the line of fire.
But even so, Zhou Weiguo did not agree to go with the Eighth Route Army, because he was from the Central Army, so how could he associate with a group of bumpkins?
Therefore, Zhou Weiguo made it clear at this time: "Even if it is not feasible to go west, then we cannot follow the Eighth Route Army."
Duanwu smiled and said: "Don't worry, we will listen to what Lao Qiu says!"
With that said, Duanwu motioned to Qiu Ming to explain his reasoning.
Qiu Ming pointed to the map and said: "Now let's go north. I think it is the safest. We know a mountain road that can bypass the Japanese blockade and return to Hutou Mountain safely.
Moreover, we have our base in Hutoushan, and the local mass base is also very good. Food, housing and transportation are no problem for us..."
Qiu Ming expressed his thoughts, but Duanwu still smiled and said: "The word safety is not used well. Whether we go west or north, it is not for safety. If we are safe, then the people will not be safe."
We are soldiers. Although we cannot fight every day, our mission is to destroy our enemies.
So you said it would be safe to go north, but this is not the result I want.
What I want is to kill more Japanese!"
Speaking of this, Duanwu pointed the direction of Nanjing and Zhou Weiguo with his hand. Qiu Ming said: "Look, Nanjing's terrain is not conducive to defense.
Nanjing is backed by the Yangtze River, so it seems feasible to fight against the odds and sink the ship. But don't forget that Nanjing's flat terrain is not conducive to the defense of our army's positions at all.
The Japanese mechanized troops could drive straight in and drive their tanks wherever they wanted.
Let's look at the number of people and equipment. The garrison in Nanjing is about 150,000, and the equipment is good. However, most of them are remnants of soldiers who were defeated on the Songhu battlefield, and their morale is very low.
As the saying goes, a defeat is like a mountain. What's more, they are inferior to the Japanese in positional warfare in Songhu. Can they win in Nanjing?
When we look at the Japanese army, there are 6 divisions in total. Except for the 114th Division, which has a strength of 18,000, the other 3rd Division, 6th Division, 9th Division, 16th Division, and 13th Division all have more than 20,000.
A human division.
In addition, some troops of the 5th Division participated in the battle. The numerical gap between the Nanjing defenders and the enemy was very different, and they had no advantage in comparison.
We don't have an advantage in terms of geographical location or number of people, so let's look at the equipment.
The Japanese have aircraft support in the sky, ships on the river, and tanks on land.
It is a miracle that we can fight this battle till now.
Lao Zhou said we should go back and defend Nanjing, but how can we defend Nanjing? Just with his Donald Duck mouth?..."