At the Southern Army Headquarters, Shouichi Temple's hair turned gray overnight. The battle situation in Taijing City has exceeded his psychological endurance. It is no exaggeration to say that it is like a bolt from the blue.
"Kuroda-kun, is there any other way? Is it possible to send reinforcements in time?"
Temple asked still unwilling to give up.
Major General Kuroda shook his head and said:
"In the past, it was necessary to prepare enough supplies to mobilize reinforcements. One or two divisions were of no use at all. It required at least 100,000 people. It would take at least half a month from mobilizing supplies to sending troops there.
If the Chinese sent a force to block the attack, with the assistance of a large number of aircraft, it would be difficult for the imperial army to provide sufficient assistance to Mr. Yamashita in the short term.
It was difficult for the Eighteenth Army to survive a month, and the gains outweighed the losses for the imperial army. "
In fact, Terauchi Shouichi also understands this truth. He is just unwilling to accept this reality. It is not so easy for transnational aid to Thailand.
"Kuroda-kun, are you sending the navy to pick up the 18th Army?"
"Your Excellency, Commander, the Royal Army does not have air superiority in the Thai-King Sea area, so large-scale sea transport withdrawal is unrealistic, and it may accidentally hit a navy ship."
Juichi Terauchi couldn't help but cursed. The navy is precious. Without air superiority, if a large fleet approaches an offshore port, it will be a tribute to the Chinese Air Force. The navy will not agree.
Juichi Terauchi fell into deep thought...
In Taijing City, the Chinese Expeditionary Force's offensive was extremely fierce. Artillery shells were thrown into the city as if they were free. The artillery brigade's firepower was fully unleashed, almost razing all the buildings in the city to the ground.
After several days of indiscriminate bombing, the entire Taijing city was in ruins. A large number of Japanese were buried in the ruins. The 100,000 troops in the city had no power to fight back and could only be beaten passively.
The Chinese Expeditionary Force was completely bullying the Japanese with steel. In just a few days of bombing, nearly half of the Japanese casualties in the city had been lost. The remaining Japanese were also demoralized and in danger.
Chuxiong also sent the new general reserve army, under the unified command of Yan Haoyu, with a total strength of more than 60,000, and hundreds of artillery pieces of various types, especially the powerful 8-barreled Wei Shen cannon, which exceeded 150!
Yan Haoyu calculated that the time was almost up and issued a general attack order;
The salvo of 150 Wei Shen cannons showed the Japanese in the city what it means to rain down bullets.
One salvo was covered by 1,200 130mm rockets, just like the fireworks set off during the New Year in later generations. The whole city was shrouded in fireworks. Countless Japanese were sent back to their hometowns amidst the brilliant fireworks. They screamed and screamed in the explosion. Cry, die, turn to ashes!
The salvo of firepower before the general attack lasted for twelve rounds, with more than 10,000 shells, so that the Japanese in the city did not even bother to hide, because there was no point in hiding.
Die early and be born early!
Daran Ishii is writing his last diary, which can also be said to be his last words:
"I have never seen such a violent attack. The imperial troops died in groups, with no place to hide;
Everyone is desperate, we have no power to fight back, there is no difference, we will all die in the end!
I have a hunch that this is the last attack by the Chinese, and it is also my last time. I don't want to die, I want to go home alive, but there is nothing I can do.
The feeling of waiting for death is very uncomfortable. I regret participating in this damn war. We have all been deceived by lust. If I can, I want to go home and never fight again..."
"I saw the fireworks, they were so beautiful——"
Dozens of artillery shells covered the area where Ishii was located. The huge shock wave generated by the explosion shattered his internal organs. He begged for mercy and finally died in a foreign country, leaving only a thick diary. The ruins are rolling in the wind.
Loud bugles sounded, and tens of thousands of Chinese people armed with steel guns launched a general attack from three directions. They eliminated the Japanese in front of them one by one, including those from the Second Division, the Guards Division, and the Third Division. The First Division, the Eighth Division...
"Don't shoot, I surrender, I'm from the Fourth Division!"
"I am also from the Fourth Division!"
"I surrender……"
More and more Japanese soldiers chose to surrender, and a large part of them were from the Fourth Division. This made the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which fought against them for the first time, very uncomfortable. They would rather the Japanese soldiers refused to surrender, so that they could easily eliminate them. .
When encountering these Japs who surrendered on their own initiative, the soldiers of the expeditionary force were unable to directly eliminate them and could only passively accept prisoners.
This was like opening Pandora's bottle, and the Japanese followed suit. Soon the expeditionary force captured a large number of prisoners. One after another, the Japanese became more and more accustomed to surrendering.
The expeditionary force's front line advanced very quickly, and the Japanese could not organize any decent resistance at all;
During the heavy bombing, the command system among the Japanese divisions and regiments was completely paralyzed. The division commander could not find the regiment commander, the regiment commander could not find the battalion commander, and the battalion commander could not find his own soldiers. It was a complete mess. For war.
The expeditionary force drove the Japanese towards the sea from three directions. The Japanese were retreating steadily, and the entire army was annihilated. Many regiments were busy destroying military flags and sending farewell messages to the headquarters. Some regiments even had radio stations. Without it, no electricity will be generated.
The message "Bie Farewell" was sent to the Eighteenth Army Headquarters like snowflakes. At first, Yamashita Fengwen was heartbroken, but later he became completely numb.
When a telegram came, he pulled out a flag. The eight white flags on the sand table were pulled out one by one. On one side was a regiment, or even a division. There was no place at the brigade level.
His chief of staff had been killed, leaving only a group of senior staff members with no one to talk to. A communications staff officer came in a hurry and reported to Yamashita.
"The temple cabinet sent an urgent message!"
Yamashita Fengwen took it and saw that it was indeed an order to promote him to the rank of general. This was obtained by Touichi Terauchi from the base camp and Yuren. The meaning is self-evident.
"Baga Yalu, they are insulting me! Will I, Shanxia Fengwen, surrender to the Chinese?"
The sound of gunfire became clearer and clearer, which meant that the Chinese were getting closer. He knew that he could not wait any longer.
He ordered the communications staff to send a farewell message to the Southern Army Headquarters, expressing his determination to be loyal to the emperor to the death.
After he was done, he took out a beautiful pistol from the drawer and shot himself in the head. He was not sloppy at all, and he did not pretend to commit seppuku.
In the headquarters of the 18th Army, Yamashita Fengfumi ended his criminal life with a pistol, while at the headquarters of the 4th Division, Lieutenant General Sekihara Sixth was conducting a grand seppuku ceremony.
After more than ten minutes of gesturing, the exquisite short knife still did not cut into his belly. The staff officer in charge of supervision was already a little impatient. The gunshots outside were getting closer and closer. Sekihara Roku didn't seem to be anxious at all.
Senior staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Hayashihara Yoshitaka urged Lieutenant General Sekihara:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the Chinese are about to attack. The Shou Cabinet has issued an order. The Division Commander of our Yodo Division must not be a prisoner of the Chinese!"
Lieutenant General Sekihara knew that he couldn't escape. If he didn't take action himself, Lin Yuan would do it. He suddenly said:
"Lin Yuan-kun, give me a pistol!"
Lin Yuan knew that Sekihara was afraid of pain, so he took out his pistol, loaded the bullet and handed it to him;
After taking the gun, Sekihara pretended to commit suicide, and then suddenly said:
"Lin Yuanjun, look who is behind you?"
Lin Yuan reflexively turned his head to look. Gunshots rang out and Lin Yuan was shot twice in the back.
It was Lieutenant General Sekihara who killed him!
At this moment, a group of expeditionary force soldiers rushed in. Guan Yuan threw away the gun in his hand and said in authentic Chinese Mandarin:
"I am Lieutenant General Sekihara, the division commander. I surrender."
