Rise From Eight Hundred

Watanabe Junichi's eyes were very cold.

His military instinct told him that this residential area was extremely dangerous.

Any commander with a little military literacy would not give up this geographically complex residential area and let the enemy's army directly arrive at the city to attack the city.

They would definitely try their best to deploy troops in this area and delay time as much as possible by fighting for every inch of land.

And street fighting was obviously not an ideal battlefield for him and his subordinates, and the superior artillery could not play its advantages at all.

Watanabe Junichi was very troubled.

But he also knew that he didn't have much time left.

At most, there would be an hour before it was dark. If he launched an attack at that time, it would undoubtedly give up all his advantages, just like a blind man against a blind man. Even if his combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of the Chinese, what would it matter?

In the end, what determined life and death depended more on luck.

But soon, Watanabe Junichi's eyes were attracted by a corner of the residential area.

There was actually a small castle there.

In the field of vision of the telescope, figures in blue and black military uniforms flashed from time to time.

There were positions of Chinese soldiers there.

Soon, the Japanese lieutenant colonel, who had rich combat experience, saw through the intentions of the Chinese defenders.

This small "castle" located in a residential area and isolated outside the city can form an angle with the two city walls. Enemies who want to attack the east and west walls will be hit by fire from the city walls and the castle.

Whether it is infantry guns or rapid-fire guns that shoot at close range, they will be within their firepower range. For the attacking party, it is definitely an enemy position that is like a thorn in the throat.

However, to achieve this goal, this "castle" must have enough strength to withstand the opponent's more fierce attack.

This is the most threatening position to the enemy, but it is the most dangerous position for himself, no doubt.

The most dangerous position in Junichi Watanabe's mind is the important defensive position selected by Tang Dao and Lieutenant General Guo when they patrolled outside the city-Cangcheng.

This is a small castle located at the junction of the west and east of Songjiang Ancient City. The walls are well preserved and surrounded by water. Why is it called Cangcheng? As the name suggests, it was originally used as a warehouse. In the Ming Dynasty, Songjiang rice was tributed to the capital, and the grain transport fleet departed from here.

Although in modern times, due to the emergence of roads and railways, the word "grain transport" has become a thing of the past, and the original function of Cangcheng to store and transfer goods has been completely lost, but perhaps the Chinese are nostalgic, this small castle built 400 years ago has been preserved.

Wang Gongyu, who was with Lieutenant General Guo and Tang Dao at the time, also spoke of this historical building in detail: "The city wall of Cangcheng is about 1,000 meters long, 5 meters high and 3 meters wide. The four city gates in the east, west, south and north are also well preserved. It is surrounded by water on both sides, which is convenient for transportation and security. There are 233 original residents in Cangcheng, with a population of 1,028 people."

The number of residents is not important. What is important is that the 1,000-meter-long city wall ensures that the internal diameter of Cangcheng is more than 300 meters, which ensures sufficient strategic depth. More than 50,000 square meters is equivalent to the area of ​​​​seven or eight football fields, so that the Japanese army will not let the defenders here lose their vitality with artillery alone.

Tang Dao and Lieutenant General Guo both keenly realized the importance of this small city to the defense of the two walls of Songjiang, and decided to station troops here.

However, this place is more than 800 meters away from the main city. Even if you want to retreat after completing the task of blocking the enemy, you still have to cross more than 800 meters of battlefield to have a chance to return to the main city defense area. Under the Japanese artillery fire, the chance of survival is extremely low.

What is more terrifying is not this, but if the Japanese army completely occupies the residential area around Cangcheng, Cangcheng will really become an isolated island, an isolated island surrounded by the Japanese army.

That is the situation of annihilation of the whole army.

Without enough courage, not everyone can accept this military order with a death rate of up to 95%.

After arriving, Lieutenant General Wu was a little hesitant. They were all his soldiers. He had the power to let them die, just like he led more than 30,000 soldiers to the deadly place of Songjiang. But at least the military order given by the superiors in the Songjiang defense war was 72 hours of blocking the enemy. From this point of view, the whole army still has a glimmer of hope.

But entering Cangcheng almost took the initiative to cut off all the life of the defenders. Once the residential area outside the city was lost, the defenders of Cangcheng would be dead and there would be no escape.

The main forces of the army were in Songjiang City. Even if there were troops like the Songjiang Security Corps waiting in the residential area outside the city, they were mainly trying to delay time, and it was only a matter of time before they gave up.

In the end, the garrison in Cangcheng was destined to be abandoned almost from the beginning, and it was a chess piece that used its life to exchange for time.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Wu, who had always been strong in character, did not give orders directly, but called two division commanders and eight infantry regiment commanders under his command and let them decide for themselves.

Those who could rush to Songjiang were brave enough, but when faced with such a position that might not last even a day and would be completely trapped in a dead end, more than two-thirds of the army colonels were still hesitant.

There, at least one infantry battalion had to be thrown in, and no one wanted their five or six hundred people to be wiped out in front of them.

In the end, there were still braver people who took the order.

Colonel Wang Xirui, a famous general in the 67th Army and the commander of the 644th Regiment of the 322nd Brigade of the 108th Division, took the initiative to accept this mission that almost guaranteed his death.

He will personally lead his first battalion to garrison Cangcheng.

Although he couldn't bear to see his subordinates go to death, as the highest commander of Songjiang, Lieutenant General Wu could only nod his head in agreement.

How could he let his subordinates do what his superiors didn't dare to do?

Just like he was the commander of the 67th Army. According to wartime regulations, the military headquarters could be placed 20 kilometers away from the front line, but if he didn't come, he was sure that morale would drop by half.

Therefore, the bravery of this Captain Wang was not just the bravery of accepting military orders for his subordinates, but the bravery of facing death himself.

Facing such a general and such a colonel, Tang Dao once again felt how lucky he was to come to this time and space and stand shoulder to shoulder with these outstanding people. His choice to come to Songjiang was not wrong.

Just because he was lucky enough to meet them.

However, Tang Dao still didn't let this brave colonel commander take the credit.

He stood up to grab the credit.

Tang Dao took the initiative to ask to replace Colonel Wang as the highest commander of Cangcheng. His reason was also very simple. He was the only representative of the Central Army here.

Because the unexpected joining of the Four-line Camp was actually an unexpected surprise for some bigwigs, it meant that the Central Army also had troops participating in the Battle of Songjiang, and it was not as rumored that the 67th Army was sent to Songjiang to eliminate dissidents, and the 43rd Army, which had been reduced to a remnant army, was also involved in order to stop gossip.

Now, the group of tough guys who disobeyed orders from the Four-line Camp directly under the theater command also went, and many bigwigs actually smiled knowingly.

It was a good ending that could make the troublemakers disappear.

But in terms of face, Tang Dao and the Four-line Camp represented the face of some people.

How could the Central Army be absent in a place like Cangcheng where death was inevitable?

Tang Dao's reasons were sufficient.

No one could refuse.

Even the two lieutenant generals Wu and Guo, who admired Tang Dao very much, could not refuse Tang Dao who asked for battle in front of 8 colonels. They could only ask Tang Dao to play the role of deputy director of the headquarters staff before the battle began.

Tang Dao was appointed as the highest commander of the Cangcheng garrison.

Moreover, it was not only Tang Dao who would participate.

The four walls of Cangcheng alone are 1,000 meters long, and the entire area is as high as more than 50,000 square meters. One infantry battalion seems to be a little insufficient for defense, but two infantry battalions seem too many.

The 67th Army cannot be allowed to rush to the front, even for the sake of face. Before Tang Dao stood up to grab the credit, Lieutenant General Guo, as the deputy commander-in-chief, had already stood up and took the initiative to add another infantry company to Cangcheng.

Captain Liu, who is "afraid of death", will lead his infantry company to jointly defend Cangcheng.

The so-called fear of death is just wanting to go back to see relatives, but if you really want to die, just like the Northeast Army soldier who was held by Tan Tai Mingyue, then go and die!

Captain Liu, who received the order, did not even hesitate, and led the soldiers who were still sleeping two minutes ago to move to Cangcheng.

With Tang Dao, a lieutenant colonel of the Central Army, volunteering to fight, and five infantry companies already in the "fire pit", they didn't care about having more manpower. In order to make Cangcheng have enough counterattack capability after leaving the main city, Lieutenant General Wu gritted his teeth and assigned Cangcheng an additional fire support company.

A fire support company with four mortars, 160 rounds of shells, 4 heavy machine guns and 5,000 rounds of bullets, two Oerlikon machine guns, and 300 rounds of shells.

A total of 750 troops, with a total of 26 light machine guns, 24 grenade launchers, 10 heavy machine guns, 4 mortars, and two machine guns. The light and heavy firepower configuration is luxurious for the current Chinese army, and even compared with a Japanese infantry battalion, it is not inferior at all.

And Cangcheng was selected as a must-garrison position in the afternoon of the 5th and began to build various firepower fortifications and shelters.

That is to say, Tang Dao, the supreme commander, was not in Cangcheng, but the second commander, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 644th Regiment of the 67th Army, was acting first, responsible for commanding the entire army and the civilians assigned to them to carry out construction according to the drawings of various fortifications given by Tang Dao.

After nearly 1,200 people frantically dug and constructed for a day and a night, the artillery shelters that were 2 meters deep in the ground and supported by logs gradually took shape, and then the trenches led to various fortifications.

As long as they were not hit by large-caliber heavy artillery or aerial bombs, even if the Japanese army had surrounded them, they would have to pay a sufficient price to kill them all.

Junichi Watanabe, who was trapped by military orders and had to fight the Chinese first, was now targeting such a target.

An infantry battalion?

In Cangcheng, in the fortifications behind the wall.

The fearful battalion commander Liu took the telescope he had borrowed from the division commander Liu Yuqing, and looked at the Japanese army 800 meters away, ready to move, and could only say...

Haha!