In November of the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), Nanjing, the winter of this year, it was very cold, and the once prosperous streets were now desolate and almost empty.

Large crowds gathered at railway stations, docks, and roads out of the city to escape the war; On the contrary, a large number of soldiers went against the refugees, and although they were exhausted, they did not hesitate to go against the grain.

Since the fall of Shanghai on November 11, hundreds of thousands of troops of the Nationalist Army have been defeated, followed by more than 200,000 wolf-like Japanese pursuers.

Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Jiangyin, Zhenjiang...... The cities defending Nanjing fell one after another, and the Japanese army drove straight in, approaching the capital Nanjing step by step.

Japanese planes continued to attack Nanjing, dropping a string of bombs, fierce air defense sirens, the whistling sound of falling aerial bombs, the roar of aircraft engines, and the continuous shelling of antiaircraft guns.

and the tragic scene of houses being blown down, flames, people being killed and even blown apart, for ordinary citizens, it is indeed very shocking and terrifying.

On 20 November, the "Central Radio" broadcast the "Declaration on the Relocation of the Nationalist Government to Chongqing" and moved the capital to Chongqing.

……

On November 28, Sangou arrived at Jurong, 40 kilometers east of Nanjing, and basically all the troops of the 51st Division were rebuilt, and the veterans of the original supplementary company returned to their original units.

The Ministry of Military Affairs transferred some recruit companies from Hunan to supplement the 51st Division, and according to the merits and contributions, the 306th Regiment gave priority to supplementing the third battalion, and the third battalion gave priority to supplementing the seventh company.

These Hunan peasants from the fields couldn't even fire a gun, and Sangou arranged for the veterans to teach some basic techniques first, thinking that everyone would be pulled to the rear to slowly retrain.

There is a fellow from Guangfeng, Jiangxi, named Xia Chen, this guy is actually a college student, mindfulness, no longer reading, found here to join the army, and really put pen to paper.

Especially at such a time of danger and danger, daring to take the initiative to come to the front line of the army, Sangou couldn't help but look at this guy differently, college students at that time belonged to very scarce talents, especially in the grassroots of the army.

Therefore, whether it is out of the protection of talents, or the selfishness of cultivating fellow villagers, or seeing the figure that he has just graduated, etc., Sangou keeps him by his side, starting with the signal soldier.

……

Today, an order, like a basin of cold water, poured everyone into the heart, and the whole army of the 74th Army moved closer to Nanjing to defend the capital Nanjing.

The veterans at the bottom are excited, and since the establishment of the 74th Army in Luodian three months ago, it has been marching and fighting almost every day, either holding on to it, or covering after breaking off, all of which are hard battles and death battles.

The troops were exhausted, the casualties were huge, and the recruits had been replenished several times in a row, and they urgently needed to rest and retrain before they could slowly regain their combat effectiveness.

Even if it is a machine, it has to be stopped to rest and repair, not to mention people, if it continues to fight like this, it is unclear that the 74th Army will be abandoned, and the 74th Army will be used as cannon fodder.

Moreover, I heard that only the 41st Division, the 48th Division, the Teaching Brigade, and the Military Police were the new forces that did not fight in the Songhu Campaign.

other 66th Army (159th and 160th Divisions) of the Guangdong Army, 87th Division of the 71st Army, 88th Division of the 72nd Army, 36th Division and 74th Army of the 78th Army (51st and 58th Divisions) of the Central Army, 103rd Division of the Guizhou Army, and 112th Division of the Northeast Army; They all retired from months of bloody battles on the battlefield of Songhu.

It's really child's play, to give the defense of a capital to these remnants and tired divisions, the total number of people is about 180,000, less than the Japanese army of more than 200,000, and the weapons are backward, how to fight?

It seems that the high-level has a new accompanying capital, and they don't want this old capital, so let these remnants of the defeated soldiers be cannon fodder, and also make a show for the countrymen.

In fact, the order for the 74th Army to participate in the garrison of the capital had been issued as early as a few days ago, and the commander of the 74th Army, Yu Jishi, the commander of the 51st Division, Wang Yaozu, and the commander of the 58th Division, Feng Shengfa, were all difficult to accept, but in the end there was no choice but to carry out the order.

The top level of the military has high-level ideas, and even if the middle level has opposing opinions, there is no way to change the orders and plans, and as for the bottom level like Sangou, there is only one way to carry out the order.

It's just that everyone has bitterness in their hearts, but they can't say it; Besides, the loss of the land is the responsibility of our generation of soldiers, and the defense of the capital is the responsibility of soldiers.

The defense area of the 58th Army of the 74th Army is in Niushou Mountain south of Nanjing, and the defense area of the 51st Division is divided between Fangshan and Chunhua Town, which is the only way for the Beijing-Shanghai line in the southeast of Nanjing, and the closest route for the Japanese army to attack Nanjing.

It can be seen that on the outer defense line of Nanjing, the pressure here is the greatest, belonging to the position of the gateway, and the key is that there is no danger to defend, but compared with the Yangtze River scouring plain in the suburbs of Shanghai, there are some small hills here, which can barely be used as a fortification.

Fortunately, there are some national fortifications that have been built before, and they can be used as points to build field positions, connect them into lines, and strengthen the defensive flexibility in depth.

On the left of the 51st Division is the 66th Army of the Guangdong Army, and on the right is the 58th Division of Niushou Mountain.

The 51st Division sent Ji Hongru's 301st Regiment to occupy the line from Songshu (inclusive) through Chunhua Town to Shangzhuang (inclusive), and left to get in touch with the 66th Army.

The 302nd Regiment of Cheng Zhi occupied the line from Fangshan (inclusive) on the right to Songshu (exclusive) on the left, and contacted the 58th Division on the right, and completed the fortifications that could resist medium-caliber artillery shells within three days.

With Qiu Weida's 306th Regiment as the divisional reserve, it was located near Songshu to respond to the battle of the first-line troops, focusing on the left flank; The position of Zhang Lingwu's 305th Regiment was on the line from Gaoqiaomen to Heding Bridge (not included) to build a reserve position.

The 301st Regiment sent an infantry company to serve as a guard, and the areas of Jurong, Tangshui, and Moling Pass were all sent to monitor the enemy's situation and maintain contact with friendly forces.

The 306th Regiment sent a section to Hushu Town as a vigilance force and closely monitored; This unit needs a small unit with strong independent combat capability.

Sangou's Qingpu experience, with a platoon of people to break through, the more people can break through, the more people are available, which makes the regiment very impressed, so the three battalions and seven companies and Sangou are selected as the company commander.

Sangou immediately took the seven starry nights and arrived at Hushu Town, which is located in the southeast of Nanjing, at the junction of Jiangning, Jurong and Lishui.

Hushu is backed by Qinglong Mountain, and is adjacent to the Jurong River (known as the Qinhuai River in ancient times, which is the upstream of the Qinhuai River); Qinglong Mountain is about 200 meters high, Jurong River is about 25-50 meters wide, and the widest point is nearly 100 meters.

Sangou set up a platoon of the company and Xiucai in Huxi Village, at the foot of Qinglong Mountain, near Hushu, to build a position, and sent a second platoon of dogs, disguised as peasants in civilian clothes, to Xiapangang Village to conduct a guard.

Sangou himself and the three platoons of Tienon, all wearing Japanese military uniforms inside and peasant civilian clothes outside, went to Caojiabian Village by the bridge of the Jurong River to carry out close vigilance.