At this time, the streets of Tengxian County were full of ruins, with wooden beams and broken bricks everywhere. In addition to the soldiers who were desperately digging air-raid shelters during the lull in the Japanese artillery fire, many soldiers were cleaning up. Looking at the corpses of their comrades who lived and died with them in the past.
"Little Ghost" Hao Bin was one of those busy cleaning up the corpses of his comrades.
Hao Bin has always had many feelings for these comrades who died on the battlefield - they were all from the Sichuan Army, and they all came to the front line to fight against Japan in the mountains and valleys of Sichuan. They came from the same place, spoke the same dialect, and fought for Working hard to achieve the same goal.
And this goal is to drive the Japanese army out of China!
Just as Liu Xiang and Liu Fucheng, the former "number one" in Sichuan who had already left Hexian, said: "If the Japanese invaders are not driven out of the country, the Sichuan army will not return to Sichuan!"
"Brothers, let's go!" Standing in front of a pile of corpses of fallen brothers, Hao Bin shouted in Sichuan dialect, and then he and his comrades who were still alive around him carried their corpses onto the pallet truck at the back, and then Pushed away.
The afterglow of the setting sun shines on the ancient city of Teng County, which has been tattered by bombs. Everything looks so vicissitudes of life and desolate, and just like the sunset glow of the setting sun, it is full of blood.
However, what is disappointing is that the vanguard group that Sun Zhen and Wang Zhonglian had given high hopes at the same time was defeated halfway by enemies several times their size.
At this point, Teng County has become a truly isolated city. The reinforcements have been exhausted, and tens of thousands of well-equipped enemy troops with heavy equipment support are fierce. What awaits them will be the death of all their ammunition... …
At about nine o'clock in the evening on the 16th, Division Commander Wang Mingzhang called Zhang Xuanwu, commander of the city defense and commander of the 727th Regiment, to his headquarters to inquire about the battle situation in detail.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Zhang Xuanwu stepped into the door, Wang Mingzhang excitedly held his hand and said: "Captain Zhang, you have worked too hard. I didn't expect that we only have a small amount of people, and we can last all day. You are really capable Method!"
"This is mainly due to the bravery of the soldiers and the efforts of Battalion Commander Yan." Zhang Xuanwu said seriously, not taking credit for himself.
"Commander Yan is brave and good at fighting, and you are a good commander. Tomorrow I will send a telegram directly to the Chairman to ask for awards for you two!" Wang Mingzhang said excitedly, and then he smiled and said very optimistically: "It doesn't matter if we can survive today. Our troops outside the city will be transferred to the city soon. They are in action and will arrive in about one or two hours."
"What troops are being transferred to the city?" Zhang Xuanwu asked.
Wang Mingzhang smiled and said: "The two regiments of the Lu and Zeng brigades (i.e., the 370th and 372nd brigades of Wang Shijun's 124th Division, the 370th Brigade Commander Lu Kang, and the 372nd Brigade Commander Zeng Suyuan) and you Both battalions of that regiment are sure to arrive, but the Tong Brigade (that is, the 366th Brigade under the 122nd Division, Brigadier Tong Cheng) may have trouble on the way."
Before Zhang Xuanwu could speak, Wang Mingzhang continued confidently: "Today we can survive the day with less than one regiment. Tomorrow we will add two or three regiments. What are we afraid of? If we can sustain tomorrow, the reinforcements from Tang Enbo's army will Then you can come to the rescue.”
Obviously, Commander Wang Mingzhang is full of confidence in Tang Enbo's Corps, which is known as the essence of the national army.
However, what is Tang Enbo's 20th Corps, which Commander Wang has high hopes for, doing at this moment?
The camera turns to Tang Enbo's regiment.
In the starry night, a long army was marching towards Liguoyi. They all held torches, so when viewed from the sky, they looked like a long fire dragon, which was very spectacular.
At this moment, the main force of the 20th Army was indeed gathering at Liguo Station, and then took the train to Lincheng. However, it had nothing to do with the word "rush". At best, they would just walk to Lincheng.
"Military seat, do we need to speed up the pace of some troops? I just heard from a fellow who worked at the Legion Headquarters that a regiment of Commander Wang Zhonglian was in the process of reinforcing Teng County, but it was defeated in less than two hours. Defeated. It seems that the situation in Teng County is really critical." Zheng Dongguo, commander of the 2nd Division of the 52nd Army, said to the army commander Guan Linzheng beside him.
Zheng Dongguo is good-looking and talented. Although he is not as handsome as Mei Zhoulang, his handsomeness alone surpasses that of many male actors of the 21st century. Like Guan Linzheng, he belongs to the first phase of Huangpu. students, but among classmates in the same period, there is also a distance between them in Jiang's heart.
Don't forget, Guan Linzheng's status in Chiang Kai-shek's heart is very high - this can be said from the time when Chiang Kai-shek went to power for the first time after the Northern Expedition.
When Chiang Kai-shek left power for the first time, Guan Lin was appointed as the head of the Seventh Regiment directly under the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army. He went to visit Chiang Kai-shek.
When Guan Linzheng saw Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek was so angry that he slammed his fist on the table and said: "Go and tell your classmates that He Yingqin rebelled against me. Damn it, Niang Xipi, you go be a bandit and I will be a bandit." chief!"
Subsequently, Guan Linzheng immediately contacted his Huangpu classmates to welcome Chiang's reinstatement. This time, Guan Linzheng established his position in Chiang Kai-shek's heart.
Guan Linzheng, commander of the 52nd Army, had a sinking look on his face. He said: "I do want to go quickly, but judging from what Commander Tang means, he doesn't want us to go so fast. The Japanese troops in Teng County are now at the forefront. Rui, it’s just a pain for the Sichuan Army.”
After hearing this, Zheng Dongguo also fell silent. Commander Guan is a patriotic and passionate soldier who dares to fight. Now even he has said so. It seems that Commander Tang really talked to the military commander in private. Got it.
To put it nicely, it means to do a good job in Guan Linzheng's ideological work and tell him to keep in mind the Huangpu spirit and "soldiers should obey orders as their bounden duty"; to put it more unpleasantly, it means to tactfully warn Guan Linzheng to be obedient, otherwise You will feel better.
Seeing Zheng Dongguo's silence, Guan Linzheng thought for a moment and said: "How about this! You can lead the second division to Liguo Station quickly to reinforce Teng County first. If Chief Tang raises questions, I will take the responsibility. !”
"Yes, military seat." Zheng Dongguo responded, privately, they are classmates, but publicly, they are superiors and subordinates, and they must obey the orders they should obey.
…
Due to the slow action of Tang Enbo's army, Wang Mingzhang's troops in Teng County could no longer wait for the arrival of reinforcements...
Perhaps, they can hold on for more than three days, maybe until the main force of Tang Enbo's army arrives - but can they really hold on until that time?
The camera turned back to Teng County.
That night, Lu Kang's 370th Brigade and Zeng Suyuan's two brigades broke away from the enemy's entanglement from the Dawu and Xiaowu areas, and arrived at Tengxian County from 10 to 12 o'clock at night.
The first and second battalions of the 727th Regiment in the Hongding, Gaomiao and Beishahe areas were also reorganized around this time. Only Tong Cheng's 366th Brigade (Qiu Yanyi Battalion) was blocked by enemy troops when passing in front of the city and was forced to take a detour toward Lincheng.
Late at night, Division Commander Wang Mingzhang organized the military chiefs of each division, brigade and regiment to gather at the temporary location of the city defense headquarters and came up with a military deployment plan, which was an outline of the next day's defense operations.
The readjusted deployment is as follows:
(1) The 740th Regiment (less than one battalion) of the 370th Brigade of the 124th Division will take over the defense of the 1st Battalion of the 731st Regiment of the 366th Brigade of the 122nd Division in Dongguan.
(2) Use the 1st Battalion of the 731st Regiment attached to the 727th Regiment of the 364th Brigade of the 122nd Division to guard the east and north sides of the southeast corner (inclusive) and the northwest corner (exclusive), and use one unit to guard the north. close.
(3) The first battalion of the 740th Regiment of the 370th Brigade of the 124th Division and the Special Agent Battalion of the 41st Army will serve as the southwest city defense at the southwest corner (inclusive) and the southeast corner (exclusive). Lv Kang, commander of the 370th Brigade, is commanded.
(4) Use the 743rd Regiment of the 372nd Brigade of the 124th Division as the general reserve team, and use one unit to guard Nanguan, Xiguan and the railway station.
…
That night, the city had sufficient food and ammunition reserves, and all the troops were fully replenished that night.
After the deployment and adjustment was completed, all troops worked hard to repair fortifications and dig air-raid shelters regardless of fatigue. In addition, they were still busy tying ladders.
As for the tying of ladders, this is because the city wall in Tengxian County is high and steep, and there is only one road to the city wall next to each city gate. When enemy planes are dropping bombs, strafing, and covering artillery fire, the defending troops must In order to avoid and reduce casualties, only a few lookout posts were left on the city, and the rest of the troops rested in the air-raid shelter at the foot of the city wall.
When the enemy launches a charge and climbs the city, and then quickly climbs the city to resist, if you only rely on the road next to the city gate, it will be easy to make a mistake. Therefore, Wang Mingzhang stipulated that each squad of the city defenders must have at least one ladder to prepare for a quick climb to the city.
In addition to busy repairing fortifications, digging air-raid shelters and tying ladders, they also allocated manpower to open the grenade box and open the twist cap at the bottom of the grenade.
At the same time, the headquarters of each division, each brigade, and each regiment also moved from outside defense to the city gate.
In short, that night, all the officers and soldiers guarding the city were busy until dawn without taking a moment's rest.
Of course, the Japanese stopped their attack on the ancient city of Teng County that night, but that didn't mean that Rensuke Isotani was sleeping idle at this time.
Isotani Rensuke came with the mission of attacking the Xuzhou barrier, but he unexpectedly encountered hard obstacles in the Jiehe, Longshan, Puyangshan areas and Teng County Chengguan. After several days of fierce attack, he could not defeat it. And there were heavy casualties.
So, on the night of the 16th, the furious Isoya Rensuke mobilized the main force of the 10th Division and a brigade of the 106th Division overnight, totaling more than 30,000 people, and launched a cannon attack. Reinforced by more than seventy troops and forty or fifty tanks, after daybreak, they launched a fierce attack on the east, south and north sides of Tengxian County.
At six o'clock in the morning on the 17th, when it was just dawn, the main force of the Japanese artillery outside the city was in place. A hot air balloon carrying the Japanese artillery observation post began to slowly rise into the sky.
Under the command of the Japanese artillery observation post, the Japanese artillery began to fire. Except for a section of Beicheng Pass where an American church was located, so it was not bombed by the Japanese, other places were bombarded by Japanese artillery fire.
This day was the last time for Isoya Rensuke to order the troops to attack Tengxian County. Therefore, in addition to the fierce bombardment by more than 70 cannons, there were more than 20 enemy planes dropping bombs and strafing in the sky over Tengxian County.
On this day, bullets rained down on Tengxian County. In addition to artillery shells, there were also aircraft bombs, as well as bullets fired from the machine guns of enemy aircraft.
"Boom!!!"
"Boom!!!"
"Boom!!!"
…
The sound of explosions was endless, and the houses outside the air-raid shelter were being blown up one by one visibly. The shock wave caused by the explosion of the artillery shells kicked up waves of dust, which was as terrifying as encountering a sandstorm that had not been seen in a century.
The ground was trembling, but the Sichuan troops in the air-raid shelter were already so exhausted that they fell asleep. Unless the brothers from the observation post came down and kicked them, they would definitely not wake up.
In the air-raid shelter, there was still one person who was not asleep, and that was Hao Bin, who was called the "little devil".
The Japanese army's artillery fire was so fierce that even the earth was shaking. Hao Bin didn't know why at this time, the veteran on the opposite side could still sleep so soundly. A despair slowly rose in his heart: The artillery fire outside was so... Fierce, I probably won’t be able to go back to Sichuan, right?
Under the rumbling sound of artillery, the quality of everyone's sleep was naturally not very good. At this time, an older veteran opened his eyes and said: "Little devil, are you still not sleeping? Haha, the little devil is holding a bayonet." Come to attack the city. If you don’t sleep and don’t have enough strength, you won’t be able to defeat those idiots.”
"I understand, just go to sleep and don't worry about me." Hao Bin replied casually, but he could no longer hide the uneasiness in his heart.
This shelling lasted for a full two hours. One can imagine the intensity of this shelling.
In the past two hours, the smoke and dust waves set off by the artillery fire have never dissipated, but have become more and more intense. In addition to the sounds of artillery fire and bomb explosions, there is also the sound of the engines of Japanese aircraft passing by. The "Woo" sound is like the annoying sound made when flies fly by, which is annoying.
Finally, the artillery fire stopped, and Hao Bin, who was exhausted, dragged his old Sichuan-made earthen gun slowly out of the door of the air raid shelter.
What caught Hao Bin's eyes was a very tragic scene, which he would never forget in his life - he could hardly tell what the scenes in front of him looked like a few days ago, and it was no longer possible to distinguish the streets from each other. The streets were filled with collapsed buildings, forming small hills, and even the stone roads were blown into deep pits.
The whole city was a sea of fire, and everything had become scorched earth, as if the surrounding area was a hell on earth.
Also coming out to watch with Hao Bin was Zhang Xuanwu, commander of Tengxian City Defense and commander of the 727th Regiment of the Sichuan Army.
Not only Hao Bin, but also Captain Zhang Xuanwu was shocked by the scene before him. At this moment, Zhang Xuanwu understood the meaning of "scorched earth resistance".
The scorched earth war of resistance is not just talk, it is a fact. Every inch of mountains and rivers, every inch of blood, the Chinese soldiers are using their thin bodies to resist the invasion of enemy aircraft and artillery!
Hao Bin wanted to cry, but found that his tears had dried up long ago. He was only seventeen years old, and he was standing on this land fighting the enemy desperately!
The Japanese planes in the sky were still flying around like dense crows, and their engines were still making that annoying "whining" sound. However, at this time, a young Sichuan soldier ran down from the lookout post on the city. Hao Bin, who was stunned at the door, shouted: "That kid over there! The Japanese have begun to attack Nao!~"
At the same time, the Sichuan Army lookout soldier quickly pulled the bell connected to the door of each air raid shelter.
"Ring ring ring..."
The bell rang very quickly, and groups of Sichuan troops hurriedly ran out of the air-raid shelters with their rifles on their backs. They had no time to observe the tragic scene in front of them, and began to go to the city to fight the Japanese devils.
The Japanese army began to refer to yesterday's method of demolishing the city wall, and then began to use a dozen tanks to cover the infantry charge. At the same time, they used artillery fire to intercept the entire Dongguan line and inside the city to contain the Sichuan army defenders' temporary deployment of troops and rear-line reinforcements!
And these enemy planes flying all over the sky like crows even carried out crazy low-altitude strafing, and the scene was once very intense.
To be more precise, it was tragic!
…
PS: Let’s combine the two chapters into one! That’s it for today’s update. I’m going to prepare for tomorrow’s submission. Tomorrow will start at the fifth update after all, so I’m sorry for your understanding.
As for these four chapters about General Wang Mingzhang of the Sichuan Army defending Teng County, just think of it as my own tribute to the anti-Japanese heroes!
Thanks to Qidian Book Friends for having a monthly pass from Baoshan Zhenren!
