Rise From Eight Hundred

Chapter 1488 The Two Hundred Sword Monk is stationed in Huangcha!

After Tang Dao shocked the generals of the 10th Preliminary Division, he immediately returned to Hengyang City and held a highest-level military meeting in the Hengyang theater with Fang Xianjue, Zhao Zili, Zhao Junmai, and Sun Minyu.

The map of Hengyang in Tang Dao's hand, which Tantai Yunshu spent nearly 8 months visiting and surveying, was hanging on the wall of the combat office.

Tang Dao fully stated what he saw and heard on the 10th Preliminary Division position and the advantages and disadvantages of the position contraction. In the end, Fang Xianjue personally made the final decision on Tang Dao's balanced position design and distribution.

The Hengyang headquarters finally decided to establish a three-layer defense line with HY urban area as the core.

The first layer of defense: In the south of Hengyang City, Zhangjiashan is the core main position. There are Wugui Ridge and Fengshu Mountain in the east, Tiger Nest and Fanjiazhuang in the west, Xiaojiashan and Zhangfei Mountain in the north, and Tingbing Mountain and Gaoling in the south. Several independent highlands are about 400 meters away from each other, which is the best shooting distance for machine guns and rifles. Each position is at the angle of each other, forming a huge ring position with a cross fire network.

This circular position is 4,000 meters wide from east to west and 800 meters from north to south. It is wide enough and deep enough to be stationed by the entire Pre-10th Division with 7,300 infantry, artillery, and engineers.

The Huangcha Ridge 900 meters before it was named Circular Position No. 3 was named Position No. 2, and several highlands belonging to Huangcha Ridge were named highlands 201, 202, 203, and 204 respectively.

You know, even the main urban area of ​​Hengyang was named Position No. 1, which shows how much importance several generals attach to the Huangchaling position.

They all know that this nail hanging alone outside the No. 3 circular position not only greatly increases the depth of the entire Hengyang theater defense position, but also is the largest barrier in front of the No. 3 position. The Japanese army cannot directly attack with direct-aimed artillery. Position 3, the various machine gun bunkers on Position 3 can kill the Japanese infantry to the greatest extent.

The combination of Position 2 and Position 3 will become the largest flesh and blood mill outside Hengyang City. It depends on how many troops the Japanese army can fill into this meat grinder-style mill.

Of course, although Tang Dao has taken the initiative to use his most elite battalion to defend Position 2, both Fang Xianjue and Zhao Zili have solemnly promised that whenever the officers and soldiers on Position 2 have anything to ask for, they will return and put them on the spot. The 12 mountain artillery pieces of the 10th Army Artillery Battalion in Hengyang City will provide full support.

If you add the 12 Bofors Mountain guns of the Fourth Line Regiment and another 8 150-meter heavy guns, the artillery support that position 2 can call will be as high as more than 30 guns, which does not include the 9 hidden guns of the Panghai Artillery Battalion. A special cannon.

That thing, Tang Dao has issued strict orders not to use it unless absolutely necessary, or the Japanese are anxious and use the thousands-level 'Banzai Charge', which can be used.

In the entire south of the city, the Hengyang Command deployed almost 70% of its elite troops.

The second layer of defense is centered on Yueping Mountain-Suxianjing-Tianma Mountain close to the city. Yueping Mountain and Tianma Mountain are the last gateways to the urban area from the south and west of the city respectively. The mountains are relatively large and densely forested, making it easy to It is difficult to defend and attack.

The Huiyan Peak poster near Yueping Mountain is the highest, overlooking the entire city of Hengyang. The artillery command post led by Cai Rulin is also placed here.

In addition, the plain west of the city is also part of the second layer of defense.

Although the terrain here is flat and there is no danger at all, the 10th Army has already launched the operation of "breaking roads into fields, plowing fields and storing water" here, which is to dig out all the fish ponds, lotus ponds, and paddy fields on the plains. Even the embankments of the steaming water were dug, and the steaming water was introduced into the plains, turning everything here into a swamp.

Not to mention that cars, tanks, and artillery can't move, even people walking in it are as slow as a snail.

The scattered houses scattered among the ponds and paths were all demolished except for the necessary ones that were left and converted into bunkers.

In addition, under the guidance of engineers, the reserve regiment will send people to pull up barbed wire in this swamp, bury mines, and set up a bunker group hundreds of meters away to form a dense cross-fire network with machine gun fire.

The second layer of defense is mainly defended by the two infantry regiments of the 3rd Division and the 3rd Battalion of the Fourth Line Regiment.

The third and final line of defense is the urban position with the Hengyang Theater Command and the Central Bank where the field hospital is located as the core.

This was prepared for the final street fighting. Those left behind were the Hengyang Guard Brigade and two regiments of the 3rd Division, the 2nd Battalion of the Four-Hong Regiment, and the 50,000 Hengyang young men who would hide in the city after the war started.

Fang Xianjue has ordered to open the arsenal in Hengyang City and distribute the old guns and ammunition in stock to the young men of Hengyang who have been organized into 10 reserve regiments.

Although each 5,000-man reserve group received only a measly 300 guns, which were still made in Hanyang and even had older single-shot guns, the young men were already very satisfied.

They all knew that once the city was broken, the Japanese army would not help the Hengyang army build fortifications. The 300,000 people in Jinling City were a warning. With guns in hand, they would be able to resist.

If you don't have a gun, just pick it up among the dead. Street fighting broke out, and the most indispensable thing in the city was guns and dead people.

In short, with the completion of the three lines of defense, the five-person team at the Hengyang headquarters has already sent a signal to all officers and soldiers: Holding Hengyang for the 15th may be just the beginning. The last drop of blood will be shed in this city!

Because, apart from defense, the Hengyang headquarters did not have any evacuation plan. Maybe someone asked the supreme commander Fang Xianjue privately, but at least no one mentioned it at the five-person military meeting.

It seems that everyone has forgotten the only way to survive.

Perhaps Tang Dao could somewhat understand the inner activities of the other four people who kept silent about the future breakout.

Fang Xianjue is now the top commander of Hengyang. If he mentions this matter, his military morale will inevitably fluctuate before the war.

Zhao Zili was sent to Hengyang by General Xue because of the Tanzhou defense dispute. He was holding a deep breath in his heart. He would rather die in battle to express his defense of the war zone and the national battlefield. This is a bit like sacrificing his life in the Suizao Battle. General Zhang, in order to clear himself of the name of 'traitor', has long been determined to die.

Zhao Junmai had a little more to think about. This city gradually became prosperous and glorious under his rule, just like his child. As the parent of this city, he naturally hoped that the 10th Army and the Sixth Army would defend the city. this city.

Anyone can talk about breaking out, but he can't. But until the end of the battle, I'm afraid he will be the first to bring it up.

After all, he is more politician than soldier!

On the contrary, Sun Minyu was much simpler. He firmly supported his army commander Fang Xianjue. Fang Xianjue didn't say anything about breaking out of the encirclement, so how could he possibly mention it.

But none of the four people knew as well as Tang Dao that Hengyang was a completely dead place and a desperate place. Everyone here could not leave and had no way to leave.

Of course, this is not to say that Isamu Yokoyama is so awesome. He used 100,000 troops to surround Hengyang into an iron barrel, and not even a fly could fly out.

The truth of the matter is that when the Battle of Hengyang lasted for 30 days, the 11th Army had already taken the initiative to open up the two passages to the west and north of the city.

This is really not some "surrounding three and one" strategy played by Yokoyama Isamu. Yokoyama Isamu's little head full of muscles is not capable of this.

The casualties of the 11th Army were really so heavy that a fierce Japanese general like Isamu Yokoyama couldn't stand it anymore and took the initiative to withdraw from the encirclement. The signal he sent was, let's go! All we need is this city, no one wants it anymore.

In the past, when it was the late stage of the Hengyang Defense War, Hengshan Yong took the initiative to send personnel to negotiate with the city, hoping that the two armies would end this thankless city attack and defense battle as soon as possible.

The Japanese were not the reason why the Hengyang army could not break through.

That was mainly due to that person's face. The Allied forces were winning continuously on the Pacific battlefield, and the European battlefield had entered counter-offensive mode. Only the Chinese theater was defeated by the Japanese army. Tanzhou was lost, and Hengyang was lost again. This Chinese theater was defeated by the Japanese army. How can the Commander-in-Chief have any face?

Therefore, Hengyang had no choice but to persist and persist until the fuel ran out and reinforcements never arrived!

That time, the Japanese 11th Army paid more than 60,000 casualties and finally succeeded in capturing Hengyang. Many years later, after Hengyang started its modernization construction, mountains of bones randomly dug up piled up, impacting the nerves of all Chinese people. But this time, Tang Dao, who once strode towards Hengyang and now strode out of the headquarters, didn't think so.

If Hengshan Yong only brought 100,000 troops to fight Hengyang, then this time they would leave at least 50,000 Japanese lives here.

60,000 casualties are still too few!

As the orders for the defensive positions of each division, regiment, and battalion were officially issued, the officers and soldiers of each department ushered in the most enthusiastic climax of building fortifications.

The remaining 50,000 young men were organized into 10 regiments, 4 regiments inside the city and 6 regiments outside the city, to assist each infantry regiment in digging earth to build positions.

An important place like Huangchaling, known as the "nail", has the investment of up to 2 reserve regiments.

In Leng Feng's plan, Huangchaling will have 10 underground tunnels for each company to hide troops, and these 10 underground tunnels are also connected to each other, so that reinforcements can arrive at the east, west, and west under artillery fire at any time. The northern three forward positions.

This requires more than 100,000 cubic meters of earth to be excavated, almost completely hollowing out the entire Huangchaling mountainside. To be completed in just 7 days, many people think it is an almost impossible task.

"Nothing is difficult in the world, as long as there are people who are willing!" Leng Feng responded to this question with only one sentence.

No one can refute this Army Lieutenant Colonel's insistence.

Because among all the fortifications in Huangchaling, there are bunkers, deep trenches, and tunnels for anti-gunfire, but there are no communication trenches for evacuation.

The communication trenches exposed to the surface were easily exploited by the circumventing Japanese army, and instead became a breakthrough point for the Japanese army.

If you want to leave the Huangchaling position, which is isolated in the No. 3 ring position of the 10th Preliminary Division, you can only go through a long underground tunnel.

But obviously, it will be a passage with a length of up to 1,200 meters. It is unknown how much manpower and material resources will be invested, and based on the personnel currently invested in Huangcha Ridge, at least one third will have to be divided.

As the highest commander on Huangcha Ridge, Leng Feng chose to ignore it and put all manpower and materials into the Huangcha Ridge position.

In order to ensure work efficiency, the two reserve regiments of 10,000 people were divided into 10 teams of 1,000 people, led by professional engineers to coordinate the infantry company, artillery company, tank platoon, heavy force platoon, medical team, communications platoon and other units of the first battalion. Build a position.

Working around the clock, even at night, bonfires and torches will be lit. The only rest time is to eat, drink water and sleep from 12pm to 5am.

The daily working hours are as high as 18 hours, which is much more cruel than the 996 and 715 in the future.

But no one complained, just like Luo Dahu who came to Huangchaling. When he heard that there were only 1,400 soldiers on this position and it was far away from the main position consisting of mountains in the rear, this man from the north cried on the spot.

As a common man who traveled through many places during the war, he had neither eaten pork nor seen pigs walking. He passed many abandoned positions along the way.

The position that was scorched black by artillery fire was littered with corpses and corpses that had begun to rot. It was a **** on earth, but in order to find a bite to eat for the hungry children, he had to endure the pain. The stench rummaged through the abandoned positions.

He was unable to help the soldiers in dark blue military uniforms bury themselves in peace because there were too many. When he left, he could only use three dead branches to light them and insert them into the small bags he had piled up with soil, and then burned them again. Kowtow a few times for peace of mind.

But that scene has never faded away in the heart of this Northeastern man!

He knew that when the Japanese came over, these soldiers who were already digging fortifications with shovels and hoes, shirtless on the battlefield, would most likely become the same scenes he had seen before.

How young are these soldiers! There were also several female soldiers with big eyes and heroic looks in military uniforms. Luo Dahu felt very upset when he thought that they would all die trying to defend Hengyang City and finally turn into the ferocious appearance he had seen before.

"As I said before, it belongs to men. Just work with the military men. We are exhausted. We are also heroes who have been on the battlefield!" Luo Dahu, who was selected as the captain of the reserve regiment's thousand-man team, had already taken off his shirt and lower body. Wearing only a pair of coarse cotton trousers, he took the lead in jumping into a trench more than five meters deep and started digging hard.

It was under the leadership of this desperate Saburo that this thousand-man team completed a thousand-meter deep trench five meters deep and five meters wide in six days. The amount of soil dug out alone was as high as 25,000 square meters. A small hill was built abruptly on Huangcha Ridge.

This is purely manual excavation and transportation. Normally, even a few thousand people would definitely not be able to complete it.

But this is still not enough, even if there are 11,400 people on the Huangchaling position who have turned on the desperate mode.

Residents of Hengyang are still being evacuated. People who cannot evacuate by train will basically go to the countryside 30 kilometers away. That is Fang Xianjie's minimum estimate on the edge of the battlefield that will soon become a decisive battle for hundreds of thousands of troops.

Standing on Huangcha Ridge, you can clearly see groups of people supporting the old and the young, carrying their hands on their shoulders, and staggering towards the distance.

No people were left inside or outside the city. This was a military order issued by the Hengyang headquarters.

Not only was it considered that the war would affect people's lives and safety, but there were also military considerations. If the Japanese army could not attack for a long time, they would often capture the people nearby as a shield. Everyone would be in trouble if this happened.

No matter how ferocious the firepower or the strong fortifications, you can fire at the Japanese invaders without any scruples, but your crosshairs are all your own compatriots. How many people's hands and hearts will not tremble?

This is why once the fighting starts, the 10 reserve regiments will fully withdraw into the city. They will become the last resistance only when there are not enough troops for the final street fighting.

Hengyang has long been turned into a military fortress where only people are allowed out and no one is allowed in!

But when Leng Feng stood at the highest point of Huangcha Ridge and stared at the people leaving from the edge of Huangcha Ridge, he was shocked to see a group of people in the distance still going upstream, heading towards Hengyang City.

When I got closer, I saw a group of bare-headed monks wearing gray robes, at least 200 of them.

"Amitabha, after listening to the motto of Commander Fang last month, 'mount your horse to kill the bandits, dismount your horse to learn Buddhism', the young monk Huiyuan has always kept it in mind. A few days ago, I heard from pilgrims that Tanzhou has fallen and Hengyang will be the battlefield. After receiving permission from the abbot, the young monk and his fellow disciples decided to come to help the army. Buddha said: If I don’t go to hell, who will?” The leading young monk said with his hands clasped to Leng Feng.

"Amitabha!" A group of monks clasped their hands together.

Under the tight-fitting monk clothes, there are bright swords hanging on them!

Killing is forbidden, it is against humans, not against demons!

Seeing the determination in the eyes of a group of young monks with their hands clasped together, even though they were as cold as a cold front, their expressions softened.

Looking back at the soldiers and civilians working all over the mountains and plains, Leng Feng was more confident than ever. He and the First Battalion would be able to hold this position.

Not because of the capable officers and soldiers, nor because of the well-equipped equipment, but because of the people living on this land!

200 monks participated in the construction of the Huangchaling position on the spot, and they did not leave until the end of the Battle of Hengyang.

It is known in history as ‘the monk with two hundred swords stationed in Huangcha’!