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 like they were retreating.
And Ma Zhenshan went to Duan Wu privately and said: "I don't know how to compare. 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 were defending 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 were too weak, which was not true at all.
And Duanwu is not a fool, so why can't he 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, the bandits such as Ma Zhenshan, Black Tiger, and Yingzhao Sun suffered heavy casualties indeed.
Taking Ma Zhenshan as an example, he originally had more than 360 people under his command, but after several battles in Shamadian, Erlang Mountain, and Datou Mountain, there were only more than 100 people left.
As for Eagle Claw Sun, Black Tiger's men, there were even fewer people left, with the two groups adding up to less than a hundred people.
Therefore, the total number of people 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, Dragon Boat Festival will not let them herd sheep, but temporarily seal them into an independent regiment with the rank of Reserve First Battalion, Reserve Second Battalion, and Reserve Third 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."
Having said 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: "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 was very difficult to defend Nanjing. He speculated that it could 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 smile 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 on the western front of the Little Japanese will be ready, and after thirty-six hours, the reinforcements of the Little Japanese 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 front line of fire.
But do you think we can reach the western fire line in two days in our current exhausted condition? "
After all, Dragon Boat Festival's position on the western front was marked with three red lines with a red pen, which would indicate the price they would pay for forcing their way into the front line of fire.
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 not a 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, which is not the result I want.
What I want is to kill more Japs! "
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 can drive straight in and drive their tanks wherever they want.
Let's look at the number of people and equipment. The garrison in Nanjing is about 150,000, and the equipment is also 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 troops. 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 huge, 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 that we should go back and defend Nanjing, but how to defend Nanjing? Just because of his Donald Duck mouth? ..."
