The news that Xu Rui was shot in the head by a stray bullet and was seriously injured was released in the early hours of the morning by Yang Bayan, chief of staff of the Independent Regiment, at this time the vast majority of people in the entire central China region were still asleep, so it did not cause much repercussions, but it is foreseeable that with the spread of news the next day, it will definitely cause a round of panic.

Because in a sense, Xu Rui has almost become a spiritual symbol of China's War of Resistance.

Xu Rui's serious injury and even death will greatly dampen the confidence and morale of the military and civilians across the country.

Of course, what is more serious is that Xu Rui's serious injury and even sacrifice will seriously dampen the morale of the Dameishan Independent Regiment, and it will inevitably lead to a sharp deterioration of the situation in Feicheng.

Throughout the history of warfare in ancient and modern China and foreign countries, there are far more cases of mourning soldiers collapsing than mourning soldiers' counterattacks.

So, who is sure that the Dameishan Independent Regiment will be a very minority? Gu Shutong is not sure.

After getting the news, Gu Shutong, who was the former deputy commander-in-chief of the enemy, was directly frightened into a cold sweat, and even convened the senior staff of the headquarters overnight to discuss countermeasures, so as to reduce the negative impact of Xu Rui's serious injury as much as possible, stabilize the Feicheng defense line as much as possible, and try not to ruin the good situation of Fuyang and Mengcheng as much as possible.

It's a pity that more than a dozen high-level staff members quarreled for several hours, but they couldn't come up with a single countermeasure.

Moreover, there is not much time left for the National Army, because the devils are about to make a move.

At half past four o'clock in the morning, when it was the darkest time before dawn, with the launch of a red signal flare, the 5th Brigade of the Independent Field Heavy Artillery and the 18th Wing of the Field Artillery outside the east gate of Feicheng, nearly 200 cannons opened fierce fire at the same time, dumping rows of shells into the center and west of Feicheng, which had already been blown into ruins.

The artillery literacy of the little devil is really good, and he is not worried about accidentally injuring the devils in the east, south and north of the city.

In fact, the devil's shells did fall in the center of the city and the west of the city, and only a few shells of Liao Liao fell in the rest of the area, and they did not cause accidental injuries to the devils in these areas, so in terms of quality alone, the devil's artillery is indeed much stronger than the US artillery during the Pacific War.

The defeat of the Japanese army in the Pacific War was entirely due to its lack of industrial strength.

If little Japan could have half of the industrial manufacturing capacity of the United States, the outcome of the Pacific War would have been rewritten.

After the shelling lasted for half an hour, the sky finally brightened, and at this time, more than 50 attack planes of the 3rd Flying Regiment directly under the Central China Front also flew over Feicheng, first dropping more than 400 20-kilogram or even 50-kilogram aerial bombs on the central and western areas of the city.

The dive strafing of the Devil Air Force lasted half an hour before it ended.

Then, without waiting for the smoke to disperse, an infantry brigade of the 47th Infantry Wing of the Kumamoto Division stepped on the ruins and launched a fierce attack from a dozen street corners to the area controlled by the independent regiment in the west and center of the city.

After six consecutive days of fierce fighting, the officers and men of the Independent Regiment had reached a limit in both spirit and body, and the loss of personnel had reached a critical state, so in the face of the fierce attack of the Japanese army, the Independent Regiment was a little powerless, and a stalemate could be formed in the first half an hour, and the intensity of resistance became significantly weaker after half an hour.

Shimono Kazuho has experienced a hundred battles and keenly senses this subtle change.

"Haha, the Chinese army has reached the end of the strong crossbow, and they are about to be unable to withstand it, and they are about to be unable to withstand it!" Shimono Yihuo raised his head and laughed three times to the sky, then drew his saber with his backhand, and howled sharply, "The whole army assaults, the whole army assaults, assaults, defeat the Chinese army in one go, defeat them, defeat them, defeat them, defeat them......"

With Shimono Yihuo's beast-like howl, groups of devil soldiers with bayonets sprang up from the ruins, rubble piles and collapsed houses, and rushed forward, and in front, the firepower of the independent regiment had obviously thinned out, except for dozens of rifles still firing, but the machine guns were collectively dumb.

In less than half a minute, more than 100 devil soldiers had already broken through the defensive position of the independent regiment.

It may be that under the influence of Xu Rui's serious injury, the fighting spirit of the officers and men of the Independent Regiment has obviously weakened; if it were usual, after the Japanese army broke through into the defensive position, the officers and men of the Independent Regiment would have launched a fierce counter-assault and launched a fierce white-edged battle with the Japanese army, but today, the officers and men of the Independent Regiment have lost the courage of white-knuckle fighting and turned around and ran.

After Shimono Yihuo found this, he was overjoyed, and stood up from behind the ruins with his saber at the moment, and also joined the charging queue, don't look at the old devil who is already in his forties and running to fifty, but his pace is not slow, in less than a moment, Shimono Yihuo actually rushed to the front of the team, and then the first to rush into the regimental headquarters of the independent regiment.

However, after killing two wounded members of the Independent Regiment at the door, Shimono Kazuko stopped his feet.

The old devil was just putting on a show just now, and now that the morale of the Japanese army has been fully raised, there is no need for him to take risks.

When he looked back, Shimono Kazuho saw that the main force of the 47th Infantry Wing had rushed up in a steady stream, and soon took control of the headquarters of the Independent Regiment and several surrounding blocks.

Five minutes later, the gunfire on the battlefield gradually thinned out, and the Japanese began to clear out the recalcitrant Nationalist army.

At this time, it was impossible for the battle situation to repeat, and Shimono Yihuo breathed a long sigh of relief, and then turned around and said excitedly to the signal soldier: "Report to the division commander immediately, our army has successfully captured the city center!" ”

"Hello." The communications soldier paused heavily, then turned and galloped towards the east of the city.

(Dividing Line)

Outside the east gate, the headquarters of the Kumamoto Division.

Shiro Inaba was already rubbing his hands together with excitement.

Inaba Shiro did not expect that this morning's battle would go so smoothly, and less than half an hour after the bombardment was over and the ground troops were engaged in the attack, the Kikuchi Brigade immediately sent good news, claiming that they had seized the area west of the city, and that the unknown armed forces that originally controlled the west of the city were annihilated, and most of them fled through the west gate.

Immediately afterwards, another communications corpsman came back to report that there had also been a breakthrough in the city center.

Ushijima said: "Division commander, it seems that your previous judgment was correct, the unknown armed force that suddenly appeared outside the West Gate last night was not a reinforcement of the national army at all, but just bandits, these bandits, when there is a cheap to earn, they are more active than anyone else, once there is no cheap to earn, they will run faster than a rabbit." ”

"Yo Si." Shiro Inaba nodded happily, raised his wrist and looked at his watch, and found that the hour hand was only pointing to ten o'clock, and said confidently, "It seems that you don't have to wait until it gets dark, you can end the battle before noon." ”

"Hello." Ushijima paused and said, "I'm going to congratulate the division commander here." ”

"Hehe, Ushijima-san, you're polite." Shiro Inaba smiled and said, "If the battle can be resolved before noon today, your 36th Infantry Brigade will be the first credit, and I will definitely personally ask the front army headquarters and the base camp for credit for you." ”

"Hello." Ushijima was full of joy, if their 36th Infantry Brigade could really capture Feicheng before noon this time, and capture or kill Xu Rui alive, it would definitely be a great achievement, with this battle feat, he Ushijima Manchu will definitely be promoted, and he will definitely go to the high position of division commander.

While speaking, a signal soldier rushed in panting and reported: "Division commander, the 47th Infantry Wing has captured the center of Feicheng fifteen minutes ago, and the Dameishan Independent Regiment has been completely wiped out!" ”

"Nani?" Shiro Inaba and Mitsuru Ushijima were stunned at the same time when they heard this.

The two old devils thought that the Kumamoto Division might end the battle before noon, but they never imagined that it was only less than ten o'clock, and the Dameishan Independent Regiment was actually completely annihilated, and victory came easier than expected, and in an instant, Inaba Shiro and Ushijima Mitsuru were completely filled with great joy.

Ushijima said excitedly: "Division commander, it seems that last night's broadcast is true, Xu Rui is really seriously injured, otherwise the Dameishan Independent Regiment will definitely not be so unbeaten, even if there are only less than five hundred remnants left, but if Xu Rui is here, how can he stubbornly resist until noon or even evening, and it will never collapse so easily." ”

Inaba Shiro said: "It doesn't matter whether Xu Rui is seriously injured or not, the important thing is that the imperial army has taken Feicheng, the important thing is that the Feibang Highway has been reopened, and the important thing is that the materials that come ashore from Wuhu can finally be continuously transported to the north to supply the 9th and 13th divisions of the northbound cluster!" ”

"Soga." Ushijima nodded happily and said, "Now it's the turn of the Shina Army to have a headache." ”

"Command." Inaba Shiro Huo Ran turned around and instructed the communications staff officer standing behind him, "Immediately call the headquarters of the Central China Front, at 9:58 a.m., our troops successfully captured Feicheng, so far, the Feiwu Highway has been fully opened, and the transport team stranded in Wuhu can immediately set off for the north." ”

"Hello." The communications staff officer paused heavily, turned and left.

Inaba Shiro turned his head to Ushijima and said, "Ushijima-san, let's go into the city and have a look." ”

"Hello." Ushijima paused slightly, and said with emotion, "Whether it is from the past records or from the battle in Feicheng this time, Xu Rui is an opponent worthy of our respect, and I really can't wait to meet this person now, and see what kind of person this person is, who can repeatedly defeat the imperial army?" ”

Inaba Shiro smiled reservedly, and he was also eager to see Xu Rui.

At this moment, if there is no Xu Rui, the biggest loser, to set off the victory of the Kumamoto Division, and if there is no Xu Rui to set off the victory of his Inaba Shiro, it will be too boring.