To the west, the battle on the battlefield in Xuzhou is tight; To the east, the Japanese Marines are also in the coastal waters of the Yellow Sea in Lianyungang. In order to seize the eastern starting point of the Longhai Railway, the Japanese army assembled a small aircraft carrier and a total of 20 warships of various sizes off the coast of Lianyungang.

Shizhu and his entourage often go to the front line of the ruins and ports to transport materials, so they naturally have heard of the current situation. After returning from delivering supplies that day, he went to Zhu Guanglian and said, "Uncle, this battle is really going to be fought, do you think our firm should consider withdrawing from the back?" ”

Zhu Guanglian said: "Well, now it's time to think about the next step!" But I don't know what the outcome will be yet, and I want to move some of my belongings to the house in the West Garden first, leaving only the most basic things here. If this place is really occupied by the Japanese, it will be easy for us to move around, so as not to be in a hurry. Zhu Guanglian took a sip of tea and continued, "However, the house in the West Garden, don't say that you bought it from outsiders, just say that it was borrowed from an old friend." It's better to keep a low profile in this matter! ”

Shi Zhu understood what Zhu Guanglian meant. In the next few days, as soon as they had time, they began to move some of the goods of the commercial bank to the West Garden little by little. After a while, the Japanese did act.

On this day, the sea was unusually calm, and in the combat command room of the Japanese aircraft carrier "Notoro," Navy Commander Ichijiro Itoita was convening a group of officers for a pre-war meeting. Everyone was in good spirits, and they knew in their hearts that the imperial soldiers were invincible, and Haizhou City was in their pockets.

Xiang Itagaki Jiro said: "Ladies and gentlemen, now the soldiers of the Japanese Empire are besieging Xuzhou in the south and north, and Commander Itagaki asks us to capture Lianyungang as soon as possible, take Haizhou City, and open up the supply line of the Longhai Railway to deal with the Xuzhou battlefield. Now that you have all been briefed on the current situation, I would like to hear your views first. ”

The joint commander of the carrier-based Marine Corps, Kubo Miyaichi, was full of confidence, and he took the lead in standing up and said: "Commander Xiangban, our Japanese Marine Corps is invincible, and we have been doing small-scale tentative attacks before, and the defenders of Lianyungang will be vulnerable. We can land from the four directions of Xishu, Sunjiashan, Huangwo and Gaogong Island, and at the same time, with the cooperation of the navy and aviation to bomb the enemy's positions, we will definitely be able to take Lianyungang in less than two days! ”

As soon as the words fell, Rear Admiral and Commander of the "Air Force" Sameshima Guzhong stood up, and he had a different point of view: "Your Excellency, Commander, I don't think it is appropriate to land in the area of Lianyungang. After several days of reconnaissance by our air force, the enemy has recently sent a large number of additional troops to garrison the defense, and the specific situation of the defense is still unknown. The terrain on the front line of Xishu and the port is complicated, and Yuntai Mountain and Beigu Mountain are less than two nautical miles away from the coast, so it is easy for the marines to land, but if the enemy relies on the mountain to defend it, our army may be trapped between the mountains and the sea, and the situation will be extremely pass......ive."

"Shark Island-kun, you're too worried! The Marine Corps is the elite of the elite, even if there is Yuntai Mountain, what can I do? You can't extinguish your own prestige and grow the ambition of others! Kubo Miyachi was extremely dissatisfied with Sameshima's opinion, and before Sameshima could finish speaking, he refuted it.

Onijima Gushige continued: "Kubo-kun, the enemy's Eighth Army was originally a local corps for salt smuggling, so it was naturally vulnerable, and it was easy for our army to land, but the real opponent after landing was the enemy's 112th Division, which assisted in the defense. Second, even if our army can capture Lianyungang, with the current strength of the Marine Corps, it may be difficult to continue to advance in the direction of Xinpu after landing, and it will need the support of land troops. ”

"What about Shark Island, in your opinion?" Mt. Oteijiro asked.

"I think we should go south, land at the mouth of the Qizikou or the mouth of the Guan River, first capture Dayi Mountain, and then advance north." Shark Island Guzhong said.

Xiangban Tijiro thought for a moment and said, "Sharkhima-kun, I understand your worries, but your plan will take too long, and I am afraid that it will not be able to reach the order given to us by the base camp!" ”

In fact, in the moment when Xiangban Tijiro was thinking, he thought of a lot of situations, one of which he did not say because he was worried about destroying his own prestige, that is, there were also Chinese soldiers heavily guarded at the mouth of the river and other places, where most of them were tidal flats and the terrain was open, which was not conducive to landing operations and baggage follow-up. Moreover, the side is fighting alone, and there is no army to follow up for the time being, and after landing, it is afraid that it will be attacked from the north and south, and with the current situation, the time is not yet ripe for landing from the mouth of the city and the mouth of the Guanhe.

As the Japanese commander of the Lianyungang landing battle, his consideration was correct. On the Chinese side, Zeng Xiqi, who is also the supreme commander of the Lianyungang garrison, also judged this point very accurately.

In the face of the powerful Japanese warship formation gathered near the former three islands, Zeng Xiqi and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Zhiqin did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and they were heading to the front line to inspect. The vast white sea in front of them seemed to be calm, but they knew that there were many undercurrents surging beneath the surface of the sea.

Li Zhiqin removed the binoculars from his eyes, pointed to the fortifications in front of him, and said: "Commander Zeng, we have concentrated our defensive forces mainly on the front line of the port, if the enemy attacks from other places because our army can defend Yuntai Mountain, what should we do?" ”

Zeng Xiqi said very calmly: "I expect that the Japanese army will not choose to land elsewhere for the time being, their direct purpose is to occupy the port and open the Longhai line to Xuzhou, so attacking the port line is their best choice." The Japanese army is arrogant and will not take Yuntai Mountain in their eyes; If the Japanese army lands alone from the south of the mouth of the city and the mouth of the Guanhe, it will be attacked by Hu Wenchen's troops from the north and south, and I am afraid that no matter how arrogant the Japanese army is, they will still have some concerns. With the current situation, the Japanese army will never attack from elsewhere unless it is absolutely necessary. We must strengthen the fortifications, hold them out, and wait for work to meet the Japanese army. ”

At the same time, in the war room of the "Notoro", the meeting of the Japanese army continued.

Shark Island Gushige took over the words of the township board and continued: "Your Excellency, Commander, if you land from the front line of the port, I don't think it is appropriate to disperse the troops!" ”

Afterwards, Kasuke Sato, who was also the commander of the Marine Corps with Kubo, stood up and said: "I also think that the landing forces of our army should not be dispersed, and we should concentrate on attacking a certain location, so that we can inflict heavy damage on the enemy army and reduce the casualties of our army!" ”

After listening to the opinions of several people, Xiangban Tijiro said: "Our army has now detected that the enemy's headquarters is stationed in Xishu, and there is an old Chinese saying that 'capture the thief first captures the king,' so we will use what the Chinese say to deal with the Chinese." Ling ......"

As soon as the word "order" fell, several officers present immediately stood up, this is Xiang Ban Tijiro is going to issue a combat order.

"Ho Bing and Shibata led the warships to shell the enemy's positions from the direction of Xishu and Gaogong Island; Shark Island led the air force to bomb the enemy's artillery positions and supply lines; Sato led a small team to make a feint from the direction of Kogong Island, and Kubo led the main force to land from Xishu. The rest of the ministries are on standby! Attack early tomorrow morning! ”

"Yes!" After the high-pitched voice of command, several Japanese officers immediately returned to their respective posts.

In the evening, a strong wind rose on the sea, and huge waves crashed against the shore in rows. The defenders braved the strong wind, taking advantage of the fact that the tide was gradually falling, and were busy building fortifications on the beach.

Zeng Xiqi was also keenly aware of the imminent attack by the Japanese at this time, and he arranged a small detachment at noon to inform the villagers to evacuate to safety along the line of Xishu, Xugou, Sunjiashan, Huangwo, and Gaogong Island. However, most of these villagers have lived here for generations, and they are willing to move out easily, and only a few families have listened to the notice and gone to their relatives' houses for a few days to take refuge, and the rest want to live as usual.

At this time, the commercial banks in the port area have been evacuated and closed, and few can hold on. However, after Shi Zhu and Zhu Guanglian discussed, they would still send the supplies normally tomorrow, and if it was really dangerous, they would move to the West Garden.

Early the next morning, the Japanese army slowly advanced its warships in the direction of Xishu and Gaogong Island in accordance with the pre-formulated attack plan. The officers and men of the 1st Corps of the Eighth Army stationed in Xishu and the 112th Division of the 57th Army stationed on Gaogong Island all saw the enemy's abnormal movement and were full of enthusiasm to prepare for the enemy.

When the warship reached an appropriate distance, the Japanese shelled the shore from two directions at the same time, and suddenly the shore was "booming", like the sound of thunder, and the mud and sand and gravel flew up several meters high, so that people could not open their eyes. Especially on the beach, the fortifications that the soldiers had built with great difficulty, were overwhelmed by the tide and washed down many times, but under the Japanese artillery bombardment, they collapsed in an instant, and they were completely vulnerable.

The fortifications on the beach were originally designed to block the enemy's landing force head-on, but since they had been destroyed by artillery fire, there was no point in continuing to defend them, so Li Hao, the captain of the first brigade of the first brigade, decisively ordered the squadron leader Shenyang to withdraw from his position.

At this time, Zeng Xiqi was observing everything that was happening in front of him in the command post, which was located near the Dragon King Temple on the hillside, and the reason why he chose this place was because Sunjia Mountain, that is, the first-line position of the port, was just blocked by the narrow island, and here except for a small bamboo island that was about a mile away from the shore, the front of him was open, and the movements on the sea surface were unobstructed. However, because of the open terrain of this place, the Japanese artillery fire could also completely cover the area where the command post was located.

Just as he spoke, a burst of cannonballs fell like raindrops, and the Dragon King Temple instantly flew in rubble, falling into a sea of fire, and several statues of the Dragon King and Bodhisattva in the temple fell to the ground and were blown to pieces. Looking at the collapsed temple, Sun Yuefei, a staff officer beside Commander Zeng, said, "It's a pity that there is a bodhisattva in the temple!" ”

Zeng Xiqi looked at the sea with a telescope and said: "It's okay, the temple has collapsed, and it can be rebuilt in the future, if the Japanese shells are deflected, we will fall!" ”

Soon after, Li Shijun, the captain of the First Corps, received a report from Li Hao, the captain of the brigade: The Japanese artillery fire was overwhelming, and the defenders' artillery could not reach it at all, so they could only let the Japanese bomb, and the soldiers were now killed and wounded. It was not worth the loss that the defenders had suffered before they fired a single shot, and it was recommended that the men temporarily withdraw from their positions and hide behind large rocks on the shore, where they were more hidden, where Japanese shells could not hit them, and the enemy could not be seen from the sea. Wait for the enemy to come by surprise when they land.

After listening to the report of the commander of the brigade, Li Shijun, Zeng Xiqi agreed to the suggestion of the captain Li Hao, and also ordered that when the Japanese landing ships reached the firing range, the artillery on the shore would be attacked again.

After dozens of minutes of indiscriminate bombardment, the landing ships began to move forward and released several speedboats in an attempt to force the landing. However, the artillery fire of the defenders on the shore was too fierce, and the boat was almost blown over, and it could not get close to the shore at all, so Kubo Palace had to ask the command center for air artillery support from the maritime aviation.

Following the order of the Oteijiro of the township, Sameshima Gushigejin led a group of aviation troops to take off from the "Noto Lu" in a fighter plane and went straight to the artillery position on the shore of the defenders. After several aerial bombardments, the artillery on the shore gradually fell silent. The defenders had no air supremacy and could only watch as their artillery positions gradually collapsed under enemy aerial fire, leaving them powerless to fight back.

The Japanese landing force relied on the cover of aerial artillery fire to approach the shore step by step. At this time, it was also the time when the tide was rising, and several Japanese speedboats successfully docked, and dozens of Japanese soldiers jumped out of the dinghy and rushed forward along the beach.

Squadron Leader Shen Yang led his troops to hide behind the big rocks on the shore, and when the Japanese troops landed, the tide had already reached their calves. It was not yet the middle of the first month, and the sea was unusually cold, and the soldiers shivered in the water, but none of them flinched. Shenyang ordered the soldiers to grit their teeth and calm down, and wait for the Japanese army to approach before fighting.

The Japanese could not see the defenders hiding behind the rocks at all from the landing position, and in addition, with the support of aviation, they were even more unscrupulous, and under the command of the captain, they formed a formation in an attempt to occupy the defenders' positions in one go.

After this group of Japanese troops approached, Shenyang gave an order, and the defenders opened fire together. The Japanese were caught off guard by the sudden attack, and several people in front of them fell to the beach in an instant. But these Japanese soldiers were also well-trained, quickly found cover on the beach, fired back at the defenders, and organized small steel cannons on the ship to shell the rocky positions.

The defenders' chosen position was extremely hidden. The Japanese firepower could only temporarily suppress the defenders, but they did not hurt the defenders in the slightest, but although the Japanese had some bunkers on the beach as cover, they were basically completely exposed to the defenders' fire. In between the artillery fire of the Japanese ships, the defenders organized an effective attack, and the Japanese troops on the beach fell one by one.

The Japanese could not advance, and there was no better way, so the captain had to order the remaining soldiers to drag a few corpses back to the dinghy and return to the battleship.

Kubo looked down on the Chinese army in his heart, and he was unwilling to accept the failure of the first sprint, and organized his soldiers to charge the shore again, but after several attempts, they were all unsuccessful, and he lost many soldiers.

Looking at the direction of Kogong Island, most of the fortifications built on the mountainside are stone and very strong. Shibata Yoshichi ordered the warship to fire all its guns on the shore, and the battle lasted for dozens of minutes, causing some damage to the fortifications on the shore, but the defenders relied on the terrain to hide in the bunker and did not suffer any losses. When the Japanese detachment forced ashore, the defenders on the shore also shot together, and the Japanese soldiers returned to the ship after dropping several corpses. The Japanese had no intention of landing from the direction of Kogong Island, and after retreating, the Marine Corps commander Yoshisuke Sato did not order another charge.

The first formal face-to-face battle ended in the victory of the defenders, which severely frustrated the arrogance of the Japanese army. However, in Xishu, the Japanese bombardment caused the defenders to suffer considerable losses. Zeng Xiqi saw that the Japanese troops had retreated to the ship and did not attack again, so he left the command post.

On this day, the stone pillar was about to send supplies to Xishu, and in the morning, before the Japanese shelled the defenders, the group had already set off. While loading supplies, they heard the sound of artillery coming from the direction of Xishu, but they didn't know what was going on there, so they didn't change their advance delivery plan. By the time Shizhu arrived at Xishu, the battle had ended, and when he was unloading supplies, he happened to meet Zeng Xiqi, who had just come down from the front line, wearing a gray military uniform.

Zeng Xiqi saw that Shizhu and his party were able to deliver supplies here on time in such a dangerous situation, and he was very appreciative in his heart. He walked up to the stone pillar and said, "What is your name, young man?" ”

"Hello sir, my name is Shizhu!" Suddenly seeing such a big commander coming over to ask him, Shi Zhu seemed to be a little nervous.

"Okay, don't be afraid of danger, you're a man, and you're up to a big responsibility!" Zeng Xiqi said.

"Commander Zeng has been awarded! Sending supplies on time is our job, we are just sweating, you soldiers are on the front line to defend the country, sacrifice life and forget death, what is shed is blood, you are the real heroes! ”

"Young man, have you ever been to school?" Zeng Xiqi heard Shi Zhu say this, and felt that the young man in front of him was a little level of speech.

"I'm done with junior high school."

"Not bad! Since we met, it is also fate. If you don't have anything to prepare, I'll give you this book. Then Zeng Xiqi signaled to the driver Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji took out a book with an ochre hard cover from the car and handed it to Zeng Xiqi, who in turn gave it to Shizhu.

Shi Zhu thanked him repeatedly, stretched out his hands to take the book, and took a closer look, and the ochre cover was vertically printed with five incave characters of "Napoleon Benji" in golden yellow, and there was also a portrait of Napoleon next to it.

Zeng Xiqi said that this is a book written by the British, a Chinese translation, and he likes to read it very much. After encouraging the stone pillar again, he left.

This was the first and only time Shi Zhu had a conversation with Zeng Xiqi, and later Shi Zhu heard Zhou Ji say that "Napoleon Benji" was Commander Zeng's favorite book, and being able to give this book to Shi Zhu shows his appreciation for Shi Zhu. Shi Zhu has always cherished this book very much, but it is a pity that it later became a capitalist book during the "Cultural Revolution" and was burned by the red general.

On the Japanese side, this time they obviously suffered a defeat, but only some ammunition was lost and more than a dozen people were killed or wounded. However, their arrogance has been greatly hit. "The Japanese will never be reconciled", Zeng Xiqi also knows this.

Xiangitai Jiro reported the battle situation to Itagaki Seishiro, and was inevitably severely criticized by Itagaki. At that time, although the Japanese army encountered stubborn resistance in the area of Tengxian, it was also smooth, and it seemed that it was not in a hurry to take Lianyungang and open up the Longhai line, so Itagaki ordered the township Itagaki Jiro not to take major action for the time being, and waited for further instructions. Even so, Hiteijiro was not idle, he ordered to strengthen all kinds of reconnaissance of the defenders, bombed the defenders from time to time from the sea or air, and secretly sent people to Takeshima to closely monitor the every move of the defenders of Xishu.

Subsequently, the Itagaki Division and the Isogu Division of the Northern Front fell into bitter battles in the areas of Linyi and Taierzhuang, while the Japanese troops on the Southern Front were still blocked on the south bank of the Huai River at this time, which seriously affected their plan to attack Xuzhou in the north and south, which was also unexpected by the Japanese army, which had always been arrogant and domineering. Itagaki immediately urgently ordered the township Itagaki Jiro to make arrangements for attacking Lianyungang as soon as possible, and be ready to attack in an all-out manner at any time.

At a time when the war in Lunan was in a stalemate, the Chinese army also suffered heavy casualties, and the outcome was unpredictable. At this time, Li Zongren was worried that the Japanese army would go all out to take Lianyungang, so he ordered Zeng Xiqi to strengthen preparations for war and go all out to meet the enemy. After receiving the order, Zeng Xiqi transferred part of the defenders of Xinpu and Haizhou City to Lianyungang to the east and stationed them on the south side of Yuntai Mountain as a reserve.

Under such circumstances, the "Guanglian Commercial Bank" was even busier for a while, and thanks to the fact that Shizhu had been appreciated by Commander Zeng Xiqi before, some of the military supplies of the defenders were naturally entrusted to the "Guanglian Commercial Bank" to transport them on their behalf.

Although the unwilling to fail Xiangbanti Erlang vowed to capture Lianyungang, he still had some scruples about Zeng Xiqi sending additional defenders to Lianyungang, especially the several corps of the 112th Division. Therefore, he consulted with his officers again and formulated a set of plans to "divert the tiger from the mountain": more than 3,000 people from the Japanese pirates Liu Guitang, Zhang Zongyuan, Liu Peichen, and other troops were organized into the Imperial Allied Army, and ordered them to go south from Rizhao to attack Ganyu Tuowang, and sent the Japanese Navy to provide artillery support from the sea, creating the false impression that the Japanese army was trying to attack Lianyungang from the north with all its might, in an attempt to transfer the 112th Division out of the Lianyungang defense area. In this way, the Japanese army could concentrate its forces against the weak defenders of the Eighth Army, and it would be easy to take Lianyungang.

As a matter of fact, as early as the beginning of these bandits' defection to the Japanese, they had already used Qinshan Island in Haizhou Bay, which was more than 10 miles from the coast, as a springboard, and often went ashore to harass and plunder the coastal Ganyu and Lanshan areas.

The Nationalist army had sent a small detachment to the island a long time ago to quell this sea disaster, but these bandits relied on the islands and Japanese warships to come out of nowhere, never confronted the squad head-on, and were never wiped out. This time, Xiang Ban Tijiro ordered this group of bandits to attack from the land with all their forces, but it gave the national army a good opportunity to eliminate it in one fell swoop. Therefore, Huo Shouyi, commander of the 112th Division, ordered the 667th Regiment of Wan Yi and the 668th Regiment of Cui Xizhang under the jurisdiction of the 334th Brigade to march north from Xinpu and Xugou respectively to eliminate this stubborn bandit.

Judging from the deployment of the Japanese army and various signs, Huo Shouyi has already sensed Xiangban's strategy. He specifically instructed Ma Wanzhen, commander of the 334th Brigade: The purpose of the Japanese army this time is to disperse the forces of the defenders, and it is necessary not to let the corps under its jurisdiction go too deep to the north, and the distance it advances must be able to return to Lianyungang in a timely manner, and under the condition of ensuring that the port and railway are safe, wait for an opportunity to attack, fight a quick battle, and never entangle with the enemy.

On this day, Shizhu went to Sunjiashan to deliver supplies, and met the 668th Regiment packing up and preparing to go.

Zhao Yishui saw Shizhu coming, and took the initiative to step forward and said: "Brother Shizhu, we are about to set off with the troops, I heard that the company commander said that he was going north to fight bandits, and I don't know when I will be able to come back." I won't be able to train with you during this time! ”

Hearing that he was going to fight the bandits, Shi Zhu immediately came to his senses and said to Zhao Yishui: "Platoon Commander Zhao, if you go to fight the bandits, please help inquire and see if there is a person named Liu Fulong among these bandit leaders, this person was originally a bandit here, and he has some grudges with me!" ”

"Okay, I'll inquire for you, if there is any news, I'll come back and tell you! If I can't come back, brother, remember to burn some paper money for me during Qingming! After speaking, Zhao Yishui said goodbye to the stone pillar and set off with the troops.

It is now the middle of the second month of the lunar calendar, and it is the season when the grass grows and the warbler flies, the weather is getting warmer, and the gentle spring breeze blows on the face of the stone pillar, and the fire of revenge in his heart seems to be like this winter to spring, and it begins to burn again.

Twenty days later, the good news of Taierzhuang's victory on the battlefield in Xuzhou was like having wings, and it flew all over the streets and alleys for a time, and people took to the streets one after another, pulling banners, waving flags, and shouting slogans such as "Down with Japanese imperialism," "Long live the Chinese nation," and "China will win," expressing joy and patriotic enthusiasm in their hearts. In the face of this victory, all the previous defeats seemed to be worth mentioning, and even Chairman Chiang felt that the Chinese army now had the strength to crush the Japanese army and turn the tide of the situation.

The news reached Zhang Banxian, and he was as happy as a child. "China's victory is just around the corner! When we win, we ordinary people will be able to live a good life! Zhang Banxian always thought so in his heart, but he was a little older, his legs and feet were gradually inconvenient, and he couldn't participate in the people's parade and celebration organized in the county, and he felt a little regretful in his heart.

This time, even Zhang Banxian's grandson Da Mao felt the joy of victory, but his good friend Da Huang Dog and the village Wang Da Deaf still couldn't hear what was happening.

But sometimes things are so ironic, the joy of victory lasted only forty days, and the news of the fall of Hefei and the fall of Xuzhou came one after another. For a while, people seemed to fall from heaven to hell, and they couldn't understand how they were defeated again when they were victorious. How similar this is to the previous Battle of Taiyuan and the Battle of Songhu! It seems that this is the essence of China's weakness, and people seem to have lost their direction again, can China still win!?

"How unreasonable, how unreasonable!" Zhang Banxian's words seemed to be much less this time, but his fists were still clenched tightly.

Later, Shizhu heard from the troops at the port that the city of Xuzhou was lost, but the national army had all successfully broken through before, and the Japanese actually just got an empty city, leaving Qingshan without worrying about no firewood, so there was no need to be too pessimistic. "Empty city? Empty city? Is it really an empty city? What about the common people, did they flee? The so-called empty city is a city without soldiers? The common people are not going to suffer again! Shi Zhu was so angry this time, the tragic scene he heard when the city of Nanjing was broken came to his mind again, but what could he change as a small ordinary person!

The roof leak happened to rain overnight. If Xuzhou City is still four hundred miles away from Lianyungang, its loss seems to have no impact on the stone pillar, but Sunjiashan, which is close in front of him, has lost it again at this time.

On the second day after Xuzhou City was breached by the Japanese, Shizhu heard soldiers running from house to house early in the morning: the first line of defense of Sunjiashan had been lost, and the Japanese devils had hit the shore, so the people ran out to avoid it. The man also specially instructed Zhu Guanglian not to send the materials of Sun Zijiashan in this array, wait a while, and see the situation.

It happened so suddenly, ordinary people didn't have time to transfer, but fortunately, the "Guanglian Commercial Bank" was still a few miles away from Sunjiashan, and they had moved almost all the valuable things to the West Garden, so after quickly packing up the softness, the group jumped into the carriage and all withdrew to the house in the West Garden.

On the way to the West Garden, Shizhu and the others saw that Captain Li Hao, a subordinate of Commander Zeng, was rushing towards Sunjiashan with a group of men and horses, presumably to help the defenders there. Previously, Shi Zhu often heard stories of soldiers forgetting their lives and defending their families and the country, but those were just illusory concepts, and at this time he really saw the bloody nature of the "retrograde" - when the people retreated, the soldiers had to rush forward.