Shunroku Hata also heard it, and Kazuichiro Sonobe threw out a killer move and threatened him with resignation, which was nothing more than a prerequisite for his battle plan. Shunroku Hata said unhurriedly: "Sonobe-kun, if you have something to say, just say it!" What kind of circles are we going around, you can just say your opinion! ”

Kazuichiro Sonobe had no choice but to say: "If we don't defeat the Fifth War Zone or the Part of the Ninth War Zone, it will indeed be difficult for us to gain a foothold in Central China. For this reason, we have long drawn up a plan for Shanggao, that is, to defeat the headquarters of the 19th Group Army of the Ninth Theater and occupy the strategic point of Shanggao. For this reason, I beg Your Excellency the Commander to let the 33rd Division finish this battle before leaving. ”

"When are you going to go to the High Battle, and how long will this battle take?" Shunroku Hata asked impatiently.

"It's about to start, and we will try to complete this campaign in 20 days."

"Alright then," Shunroku Hata relented, "After the Battle of Shanggao, the 33rd Division must come to North China to participate in the Battle of Nakajo Mountain and support the North China Battlefield." ”

"Yo Xi!" Kazuichiro Sonobe respectfully bowed a ninety degree to Shunroku Hata, who was on the phone.

Han Xing led the Southern Expeditionary Army to go out again.

Under the order of the new Eighth Brigade, the troops led by Han Xing this time were still the same as the last Zaoyi Campaign, with Hou Dashan's mechanized regiment, Liu Zhiyuan's directly subordinate regiment, plus Zhang Xiaosan's guard battalion, Yin Zhaoli's special operations battalion, the tank battalion swimming forward, and Fan Shuyu's health team.

Of course, the Xu Da Air Force commanded by Han Xing is indispensable.

The headquarters is still commanded by Han Xing, with Hou Dashan as deputy commander and Liu Zhiyuan as chief of staff. The main members of the General Staff Department are still composed of Pan Xiaoan, former chief of the intelligence department, Zhang Zuogan, chief of the operations department, and Wang Qiankun, chief of the logistics department.

The troops' transportation was to first occupy and control the Guanxian airfield, and then to Hengyang in Hunan by air by the Y-8 transport plane, and then from Hengyang in Hunan to Pingxiang, and then from Pingxiang to the Hunan and Jiangxi highways. It is nearly 413 kilometers from Hengyang to Shanggao, and on this 400-odd kilometers, Han Xing uses the method of transporting troops by helicopter and advancing on foot at the same time.

This road can be described as a long journey, through thousands of mountains and rivers, if there is no Xu Da's air force as the main means of transportation, even if the Southern Expeditionary Army reaches Shanggao, the cucumber vegetables will also be cold.

However, the Southern Expeditionary Army had air force support, just like a tiger with wings. The reason why the Southern Expeditionary Army is so flamboyant is that it has the support of modern science and technology.

Han Xing was the first to take Zhang Xiaosan's guard battalion and the people from the headquarters into Shanggao County.

The towns in the south are similar to the towns in the north now, they are also green mountains and green waters, full of vitality everywhere, and the people are more delicate. In particular, a Jinjiang River, which meanders along the west of Shanggaocheng, has a gentle flow and many small basins and terraces on both sides.

If a town has a river, it at least adds three points of beauty to it.

In addition, the county has a warm and humid climate, abundant rainfall, sufficient sunshine, and a long frost-free period, and is also known as the "granary of Jiangxi", and the main agricultural and sideline products are rice, pigs, ramie, peppers, garlic, ginger, etc.

This is also a good place, but unfortunately, such a good place will soon be destroyed by Japanese artillery fire.

The topography of Shanggao is very good from the military point of view, and the Wanyang Mountain, Jinggang Mountain, and Wugong Mountain in the area are continuous, with steep peaks and dangerous valleys, deep streams and rapids. This kind of terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is a natural geographical obstacle for the attacking side, and it is also a big problem for the transportation of materials.

Before I walked to the county seat, I saw groups of national troops, wearing "olive green" military uniforms, walking majestically and vigorously, singing the military song of the 74th Army, and walking on the road full of morale.

"Arise, brethren, it is time for us to strike back against the Japanese bandits. He forcibly occupied our land and killed women and children. We have defended Beijing and Shanghai, fought Kaifeng, Nanxun Line, Xian Jingzhong, Zhang Gushan, blood stained red. We are the armed forces of the people, the vanguard of resistance against Japan; The people's armed forces, the vanguard of the anti-Japanese resistance! ”

Liu Zhiyuan smiled and said to Han Xing: "The 74th Army is enough for Niu B." ”

Han Xing looked at this impressive force, about 156 people, nearly the full strength of a company, and said, "Have you noticed that the military uniform has changed, and the gray military uniform has changed to grass green." Their equipment seems to have changed, I remember, it turned out that the equipment of the 74th Army was good, they were all medium and formal rifles, each company had 9 Czech light machine guns, and 60 mortars, gun grenades. Now if you look at it again, what have they added? ”

Liu Zhiyuan looked at it and said: "It seems that their light machine guns have increased again, and these light machine guns don't recognize them." ”

Han Xing is a weapon expert, and said: "This is a DP-type light machine gun, made in the Soviet Union, which means that in the company of the 74th Army, there is also a light machine gun in each squad!" Germany has cut off military aid from us, and the United States has not given us military aid. ”

Hou Dashan asked Han Xing: "What's going on with this Shanggao City, is there any record in history?" ”

Of course, Han Xing was more knowledgeable than Hou Dashan, so he introduced Hou Dashan: "Why is there no record!" Shanggaocheng has a very long history, as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty Emperor Ling built the town. At that time, because of the tyranny of Emperor Ling, the people were not able to make a living, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out across the country, with battlefields of fighting everywhere, barren farmland, corpses everywhere, and the population of the Central Plains plummeted by more than half.

At that time, the people of Shangcai, Henan Province fled in groups to build a city after fleeing to Shanggao in Jiangxi Province to avoid the war, which has a history of 1822 years.

Shanggao is not a more populous area in western Jiangxi, with a population of only 350,000 in the county, the economy is not developed, and the peasants have a difficult survival. After the outbreak of the war, there was a lot of destruction everywhere due to the many major battles in the area. Half of the county's residents were forced to flee southern Gan and Hunan, leaving less than 200,000 people left. And the troops of the Ninth Theater in the Shanggao region also have nearly 100,000 people. ”

"In this way, Shanggao is also a famous city!" Hou Dashan said.

Han Xing said: "This 74th Army has changed its uniforms and equipment, and it will have great joy." As soon as we found Wang Yaowu of the 74th Army and asked, we knew everything. ”

They came to the outside of the county seat as they spoke, Han Xing arranged for the troops to rest outside the city, and then he, Liu Zhiyuan, and Hou Dashan took a guard company of Wu Xiaoming and quickly went to the military headquarters of the 74th Army to meet Wang Yaowu.

Han Xing's Southern Expeditionary Army and Wang Yaowu's 74th Army had close contact as early as the Battle of Wuhan, and if it weren't for the Southern Expeditionary Army, which assisted Zhang Lingfu's troops in holding the hill and sending helicopters to participate in the battle, Zhang Lingfu's troops would not have held out for so long in the Battle of Zhanggushan.

It was precisely because of the ingenious cooperation of the Southern Expeditionary Army and the 74th Army that the retreat of the 106th Division of the devil was blocked, and the 106th Division was basically annihilated.

In the Battle of Nanchang, Han Xing's Southern Expeditionary Army also met with the 74th Army and fought side by side.

Wang Yaowu is also a lover, I heard that the Southern Expeditionary Army arrived, and hurriedly ran out of the gate to greet him, he shook his slightly fat body, squinted his small eyes, and his broom eyebrows were almost cracked, and when he saw Han Xing, he did not perform an ordinary military salute, but hugged Han Xing's arm and said: "It's really a fellow countryman to see a fellow countryman, two tears in my eyes, I didn't expect to be so far away from my hometown, and I saw a fellow villager in Jinan again." ”

Wang Yaowu knew that Han Xing was from Jinan, and he was from Tai'an, Shandong, which was more than 100 miles away from Jinan, so it was not too much to call him a fellow countryman.

Han Xing also patted him on the shoulder affectionately and said: "Wuhan Conference Battle farewell, before leaving, you said that you wanted to invite me as a guest, but time was tight, and they separated before they sat together." No, I've traveled thousands of miles today to ask you for a drink! ”

"It's not just wine!" Wang Yaowu said with a fluttering eyebrow, "Today I have two happy events. If you want to drink, you don't care if you have pigtails to the sky, you can't drink it if you want to! ”

"Oh, what are the two great events?" Han Xing asked. Of course, Han Xing thought that Wang Yaowu would definitely make it clear about the change of clothes and the addition of equipment.

Wang Yaowu said: "This is the first happy event, that is, our 74th Army has become an attack army, and this second happy event, of course, is that your Southern Expeditionary Army has arrived." As soon as the Southern Expeditionary Army came, help us, our 74th Army has long been regarded as a thorn in the eye by the little devils, a thorn in the flesh, and has become the nemesis of the little devils. ”

Han Xing and Wang Yaowu introduced the officers around them separately and shook hands one by one.

Wang Yaowu took Han Xing's hand, and when they entered the house together, Han Xing asked again: "What is the attack army?" ”

In fact, Han Xing didn't know what the attack army was, mainly because he asked Wang Yaowu to tell Hou Dashan and Liu Zhiyuan, so that he didn't have to tell them again.

Wang Yaowu said: "You know, the national army has poor heavy weapons and low attack power, so it is always at a disadvantage against the Japanese army. Attacking requires powerful attacking weapons, that is, artillery, tanks, and aircraft. Tanks and planes are all extravagant hopes now, and the artillery of the entire Chinese army is a mess of hundreds of guns, but it is better than nothing.

Since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the stalemate stage, the task of most of the troops of the national army was defense, but from the overall strategic consideration, some troops with strong offensive capabilities were needed. Therefore, at that time, the high-level of the national army put forward the concept of a so-called attack army.

There is no difference in the basic establishment of the attacking army and the ordinary army, the only difference is in the equipment of the subordinate troops.

At most, an artillery battalion is an artillery battalion, which is equipped with some large-caliber mortars. The assault army is equipped with a regiment of artillery, engineers, and baggage, as well as a search battalion, equipped with semi-mechanized units such as motorcycles and armored vehicles. In addition, there are anti-aircraft artillery battalions, heavy mortar battalions, anti-tank artillery battalions, communications battalions, special service battalions and so on.

There are more than one division, especially artillery units, which greatly enhances the troops' ability to attack fortified positions.