Rise From Eight Hundred

November is already early winter, but the temperature in the south of the Yangtze River is not low, especially when the sun rises during the day.

The sun at 9 o'clock shines on the body, dispelling the morning chill, and even making people feel a little warm.

However, walking alone in the trench fortifications that were ravaged by artillery fire and bullets, Lieutenant General Sadao Ushijima, the highest commander of the Japanese front in Jiashan, felt cold all over.

A small cold wind blew, and he even subconsciously wrapped his woolen military coat tightly.

Ushijima Sadao walked very slowly, and from the speed of his pace, he looked like a king inspecting his territory.

If you don't look at his somewhat bleak back.

Yes, the staff officers of the 18th Division took the initiative to follow the bleak and even somewhat hunched back of the Lieutenant General Division Commander more than ten meters away.

No one dared to approach.

Because the bleak "king" was very angry, furious, and furious at this time!

Loneliness is the best medicine to calm anger.

Although he had actually set foot on this line of defense that he had led his army to attack for nearly ten days, with more than 4,000 imperial infantry casualties, and he had always dreamed of setting foot on.

But this was voluntarily abandoned by the Chinese, who threw it to him like a big piece of garbage.

And he, the highest commander of the Japanese Army in Jiashan, was like a rag picker, but there was nothing left in the empty trenches and the reinforced concrete permanent fortifications every 200 meters.

Picking up rags, but picking up loneliness.

The Chinese ran away, using the cover of night, running faster than rabbits.

The navy had already received news that, let alone their army, even if the naval fighter formation rushed over now, they would not be able to have a hot meal.

This meant that his idea of ​​being honest yesterday and waiting for the Kunisaki Detachment to arrive so that he could defeat the opponent in one pot was dashed again.

The fact that the Chinese fled to Jiaxing, more than 20 kilometers away, was not the most painful thing for Ushijima Sadao. For him, since Yanagawa Heisuke had successively conquered several Chinese defense lines and pointed his troops directly at the Chinese capital Nanjing, southeast China had become the empire's hunting ground. The Chinese army he faced was at most a rabbit in the hunting ground. No matter how they escaped, they would be his prey.

However, since the Battle of Songjiang, whether it was holding on, giving up, or escaping, the Chinese commanders' unexpected tactics time and time again seemed to have taken the lead, and he, who had tens of thousands of troops, was like a cow, being led by the nose. This was a situation he rarely encountered in his decades of military career.

Just like now, the Chinese ran away, and he had to lead the army to chase them.

But the Chinese still had a defense line that took two years to build. How long would they resist there?

Will they continue to turn around and run? Or will they run again if they can't resist? Or will they run away without any signs like this time?

Ushijima Sadao had no idea of ​​the Chinese commander's psychology.

This may be the main reason why the Japanese Army Lieutenant General, who was walking alone in the trench that already belonged to him, felt cold all over.

Like Ushijima Sadao, the Japanese infantry had already crossed the defense line that had blocked them for nearly ten days, but they did not raise their guns and shout "Victory to the Empire" as usual every time they conquered a Chinese position.

Instead, most people showed frustration on their faces.

Because that meant that they had to run wildly on the extremely muddy land in Jiangnan, China, driven by officers, and then face the guns and cannons fired by the Chinese.

Even if they were to die, they had to be exhausted first! In the words of the Chinese: Don't die well!

Damn Chinese! I don't know how many Japanese infantrymen cursed in their hearts when they thought of the dozens of kilometers of fully armed rapid march they were about to face.

Frustrated, so frustrated, this was the most real feeling of the 18th Division that occupied the Jiashan defense line.

After an unknown amount of time, Ushijima Sadao finally stopped and gave a cold order: "Order, the 36th Infantry Brigade will immediately advance towards Jiaxing. Before 5 pm, it must arrive in front of the Chinese defense line, and send out scouts to conduct roundabout reconnaissance behind the Chinese defense line, and report the reconnaissance intelligence to our division headquarters in a timely manner.

The entire 18th Division will set out at 11 a.m., and the various infantry regiments will arrive at the location, and then the division headquarters will issue them. This time, the Chinese must be dragged in Jiaxing and annihilated."

"Hi!" The staff officers who dared not disturb the Japanese Army Lieutenant General more than ten meters away bowed their heads.

Ushijima Sadao finally chose the safest plan, and led the army to chase after him, with the unlucky 36th Infantry Brigade as the vanguard and the 18th Division as the rear team to advance towards Jiaxing.

But this time, he learned the lesson of the Chinese army's use of the night to quietly escape on the Jiashan defense line, and ordered the 36th Infantry Brigade to send a large number of scouts to the rear of Jiaxing. Once the Chinese army was found to have the idea of ​​"Hey, I just run fast!" again, the army would immediately launch an attack. Even if they could not keep the main force of the Chinese for a while, at least they would eat up their remaining troops, instead of the whole army stepping over the opponent's defense line in great frustration like now, but not even seeing a hair of a person.

As for the mentality of Colonel Masanori Tanigawa who received the military order, how could Sadao Ushijima care about him?

He could scold him as much as he wanted, as long as he didn't rush to his division headquarters and scold him. Anyway, he had made up his mind to use the idiots of the "strongest division on the surface" as cannon fodder. The more they consumed, the more stable the tactical position of the 18th Division in the future.

Will anyone be blamed for this after the war? Come on! It’s hard to go through this level now. Ushijima Sadao can still think so far. He is already 60 years old. The dead ghosts of the ‘Strongest Division on the Surface’ want to take a bite out of him, but they probably won’t be able to. It’s gone!

The Japanese side looked like a dead mother when facing the empty Chinese defense line. They tightened their straps, put on their big leather boots and embarked on the pursuit journey with curses.

The Chinese side, who had successfully arrived at the Jiaxing defense line after running wildly all night, happily celebrated their victory and escape without saying anything.

The officers and soldiers naturally knew that there were more than 20,000 Japanese troops running towards this direction more than 20 kilometers away, but they could no longer leave, not only because their physical strength had been exhausted and needed to be repaired, but also during the day, once they left this road If the defense line is strong, the Japanese bombers will attack them viciously without hesitation.

谷/span\u003eThis is not like Baihe Port where the advance group was used as bait. The whole army could hide in the mountainous area. The advance group only had 3,000 troops. It had enough anti-aircraft weapons and fighter planes to catch the Japanese army by surprise. , was able to enable the entire army to escape smoothly.

There are many paddy fields in Jiashan and Jiaxing. Not to mention walking in the paddy fields with all kinds of equipment, even a single soldier walks extremely slowly. If you want to walk fast, you can only take simple roads, which will definitely become the target of Japanese fighter planes.

If you have to leave, you can only leave at night.

But will the Japanese give them a chance this time? Unless the Japanese are so stupid that if they fall in a pit once, they will fall in the same pit again and turn their heads into tofu.

The probability of this is obviously low.

As soon as each infantry regiment arrived, they first sent out their respective special agent companies to conduct overt and covert sentry defense for the five or six kilometers behind their own defense area, in order to prevent Japanese infiltration.

But for these colonel officers, they also know that it is difficult to prevent the infiltration of a small group of troops sent by the Japanese army. In order to prevent them from escaping again, the Japanese may send out an infantry squad-level special agent team like the battle that took place in Baihe Port. .

During the Battle of Songjiang, if Lei Xiong hadn't led his troops to defend the Baihe Port Bridge, their escape route would have been cut off by more than 400 special agents sent by the Japanese to disguise themselves as lurkers.

When they thought that the Japanese army dared to send infiltration troops more than 40 kilometers behind the front, the school officers felt chills on their backs. They would not have dared to have such courage.

But the Japanese just did this. Who knows if they will do it again this time? I'm afraid there is a 90% chance that they will do this.

In fact, this is exactly what happened. As soon as the 36th Infantry Brigade arrived at the assembly area, it sent four task forces with up to 60 people to Jiaxing. Their purpose was not to destroy and harass, but to observe the movements of the main Chinese force.

For the temporary command headquarters composed of two armies and one division, the pressure faced was even greater. The three army lieutenant generals not only had to bear the lives of more than 20,000 people, but also faced censure from the theater headquarters.

After arriving at the Jiaxing defense line, the three army lieutenant generals sent a telegram to the theater headquarters to report that the entire Jiashan army had retreated to the Jiaxing defense line. This was actually nothing compared to the already extremely corrupt war situation.

Not to mention the tactical retreat of more than 20 kilometers in the direction of the Xicheng Line, the more than 100,000 troops that were left behind did not resist for more than three days before the entire army collapsed. Several divisions even lost their own battle because they ran too fast and too hastily. None of the infantry could be gathered together, and in the end only the division headquarters and the special agent battalion directly under the division headquarters were left and ran dozens of kilometers away.

The heavy equipment that Songjiang had brought out in an orderly manner because of his persistence for four days and nights was completely lost in this battle and completely lost its combat effectiveness.

Relatively speaking, although the three infantry divisions and one incomplete infantry corps on the Jiashan defense line have also given up the defense line, they have not lost much of their heavy equipment and their organizational structure is still intact. I don't know how much stronger they are than the friendly forces over there.

Moreover, the theater headquarters also reported that a Japanese army was marching from the direction of Taihu Lake, most likely to Jiashan and Jiaxing. The three army lieutenants originally thought that the theater headquarters would not launch an attack.

Unexpectedly, the response from the theater headquarters was more intense than ever before, and there were even signs of launching an attack on the enemy, as if the generous rewards given out in response to requests in the past few days did not exist.

"This battle can't be won. Damn it, if you dare, others can run away, but I can't! If you want to kill me and take care of someone's head, fine! I'll wait for these sons of bitches in Jiaxing to see if they have any Are you brave enough?" The hot-tempered bearded lieutenant general was furious.

"It's really chilling!" Lieutenant General Guo's eyes were full of coldness and he slapped the simple marching table hard. "Could it be that the 20,000 soldiers of our army just watched the Japanese army outflank our retreat, and then all the troops died in the battle, so they complied with the wishes of those officials and finally gave me a national flag to express their comfort? ?”

Compared to the two colleagues who were filled with indignation, Lieutenant General Wu, as the supreme commander, said nothing and kept looking out the window with his hands behind his hands.

After a long time, he turned his head and sighed slightly with a solemn expression: "This time our army traveled thousands of miles to the southeast. Mr. Wu came here with the intention of dying for the country and the people. There are soldiers of our 67th Army everywhere in Songjiang, Baihe Port, and Jiashan." The figure of the bloody battle with the Japanese invaders. This is a national war. We, the Chinese army, should put aside their past grudges and fight for the national disaster together. Unexpectedly, some people are narrow-minded. At this time, they still remember the hatred of the past. It is I, Wu, who has implicated the two of you. Sorry!"

Guo and Gu made a collective mistake.

Whether you have a hot temper or a calm personality, you all know who some of the people this one is talking about are.

The big incident a year ago almost cost him his life. Although it was resolved perfectly under the slogan of "jointly resisting Japan" by the whole nation, he put his brother who personally escorted him back to Jinling under house arrest, which proved his broad mind.

It was only natural to make a big fuss about this.

"Commander-in-chief, no matter what you decide, my 128th Division will advance and retreat with you! At most, I will leave my head in Jiaxing." The bearded lieutenant general first stated his position.

"Guo, I will follow the horse's tail!" Lieutenant General Guo had a calm face and also stated his position.

Both of them were generals of the army, and of course they would not make such a rash decision that would affect the whole body. Behind them were the lives of thousands of people, and they were destined not to make decisions based on personal emotions.

The reason why they clearly stated their positions was naturally because they had fought side by side for several days, but more importantly, it was determined by the current battle situation.

There are more than 20,000 troops on the Jiaxing defense line, and the two infantry divisions of the 67th Army account for more than 15,000 people. The rest are the 128th Division and the 43rd Army, which has only 2,000 people including the newly established independent battalion.

Once the 67th Army runs away because of this person who feels unfairly treated, the barefoot are not afraid of those wearing shoes, but these two are still wearing shoes, what can they do?

It is better to tie them together tightly. Even if the headquarters really issues a death order for their entire army to die here, it can teach the Japanese army a severe lesson and at least leave a name in history.

Needless to say, Lieutenant General Guo is famous for his heart and mind in the Sichuan Army. Even the bearded Lieutenant General who usually looks straight and does not turn, has his own meticulousness.

"Hehe! Brother Guo, Brother Gu, you don't have to be too pessimistic! This harsh telegram is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it is a turning point for my entire army!" Lieutenant General Wu smiled slightly and threw the telegram in his hand lightly on the table.

"I, Wu, and the 67th Army are now orphans with no one to take care of them, but you two have backers behind you. At this moment, no matter how hard that person wants to criticize my 67th Army, he will not and cannot push the big backers behind you two away. He has not yet reached the point of covering the sky with one hand."

A word awakened the dreamer! ...

PS: Today is only one chapter with 4,000 words!