At the same time that the 417th Regiment was about to face the bloody battle of the 120th Wing of the Japanese Army in Erjilong on the No. 33 Heights, the 116th and 117th Regiments of the 59th Brigade under the command of Zhang Xiaohu, were also fighting fiercely with the 57th Wing of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army on the front line of the Stopping Mountain.

Unlike the 116th Division, which was personally commanded by Iwanagawang, the 68th Division of the Japanese Army was really unlucky during this time, first the division commander Sakuma was killed by the Chinese army on the outskirts of Changsha, and then the chief of staff who took the place of command was killed by shelling, and within two days, the commander of the brigade, Shima Genyoshi, was also bombarded by the 20th Division artillery regiment together with the cannon position.

Although the 20th Division Artillery Regiment, the only fire support unit in Hengyang City, was knocked out because of this, in fact, the 68th Division was also seriously injured. Fortunately, in the past few days of the armistice and recuperation, the division commander Mitsukio Tsutsumi, who was personally selected by Shunroku Hata, took office.

Tsutsumi Sanshu's reputation within the Japanese army is very well-known, but it is not that he has much ability, but this person has a strong bushido spirit, since joining the war, although he has defeated a lot of Chinese troops, but he has a completely different approach from other officers, that is, he will not kill prisoners of war and wounded, civilians, because in his mind, these weak people who have lost their combat effectiveness are not worth his effort to kill them, for him, advocating a duel with the strong, This time, when Shunroku Hata transferred him to serve as the commander of the 68th Division, he was moved with only one sentence: It was the Chinese Tenth Army that won the Battle of Changsha the year before last that was guarding Hengyang City, and Sun Yumin of the Twelfth Army, the God of War of the Chinese Army, was also around Hengyang, don't you really want to prove that you are a symbol of the Imperial Army samurai? Go to the 68th Division and show it to me and my colleagues in the army.

The radical Tsutsumi Sanshu man was naturally full of confidence, but when he saw the morale of the 68th Division being extremely low, he suddenly felt that maybe this battle was not as simple as he imagined.

Although he visited almost all the combat squadrons in a row, and also aroused a certain combat strength of the troops, he knew that the troops in his hands were still a lot far from the effect he wanted.

However, the current war did not have time for him to continue to train the troops, even if the troops did not reach the ideal state, they had to rush to the shelves.

All the commanding heights on the military map from the Stop Mountain to the Jiangxi Guild Hall are all under the control of the Chinese army, and the most odious thing is that the Chinese defenders have actually cut these hills of varying heights, and the side facing the direction of the attack is all cut into cliffs, which makes their own attacking troops have a feeling of strength and nowhere to go.

Mitsukio Tsutsumi was a high-ranking commander with a strong bushido spirit, and he never disdained to use special shells similar to poison gas against the enemy, because he would feel that even if he broke through the enemy's position in this way, it would not be the credit of the infantry, which would not be a credit at all to the invincible Imperial Army, but would be a great shame.

However, the Chinese defenders' positions in front of him, which were cut into cliffs, were like an iron plate, blocking the footsteps of the 57th Brigade to the death, and if they used the lives of soldiers to fill this bottomless pit like before, then it would be useless to fill in the entire 57th Brigade.

Tsutsumi Sanshu Nan knows very well that the first problem after he took office is how to capture the Stop Soldier Mountain.

Just when he was at a loss, Iwanaga Wang called him and told him the good news: Commander Toshiroku Hata had transferred the Fifth Flying Regiment to Yueyang under the command of Commander Isamu Yokoyama.

This is undoubtedly not a great news, since the first battle of Changsha, their own air force has been completely suppressed by the Sino-US joint air force, Hengyang City has been fighting for so many days, and no plane has been able to fly to help the battle, if it is really as Lieutenant General Iwanaga Wang said, with the help of the Fifth Flying Regiment, then the Chinese defenders' position, which now seems to be impregnable, will become a paper line of defense, and these uneven hillsides can withstand the huge impact of aerial bombs.

Regardless of whether Lieutenant General Iwanaga's news was true or not, Tsutsumi Sankio thought that he had to prepare for the attack in advance, so he put the three infantry brigades of the 57th Brigade: the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th Brigades on the front line, and asked the Fifth Independent Mountain Artillery Wing to prepare for the bombardment, just waiting for the attack order of General Isamu Yokoyama.

In less than a quarter of an hour after making these arrangements, General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, who had placed his headquarters in front of Yueyang to Changsha, sent a telegram to Mitsuki, informing him that the planes of the 44th Flying Group of the Fifth Flying Regiment would come to Hengyang today to assist in the battle, and that he must take the first-line position on the Stoppage Mountain, which had blocked the 68th Division for many days.

…………

Hearing that Wang Heng led his troops to rush into Hengyang City, this made Zhang Xiaohu very excited, his friendship with Wang Heng is not deep, but under the command of Sun Yumin, he still knows the strength of 139 very well, if they can all enter Hengyang City so easily, then with Dai Cunxiang's new 34th Division, Shi Zhonghua's 81st Division and Dong Wenbin's mechanized brigade, the main force of the 12th Army, wouldn't it be easier to enter the city.

Although he didn't know why the boss kept hiding his troops in the mountains on the outskirts of Hengyang, and even kept the radio silent, he knew very well that as long as he could hold Hengyang City, then the boss would definitely be able to lead the main force of the army and deal a heavy and fatal blow to the Japanese army.

Zhang Xiaohu didn't go out of his way to ask Wang Heng, although he wanted to know what the boss thought, but he was afraid of the two lines of defense he was in, he endured all his doubts and put all his thoughts on the war.

Like Wu Linsheng, he also heard the sound of the plane's engine early, and the air defense alarm in Hengyang City had not yet sounded.

How could there be a plane? Could it be that their own fighters came to bombard the Japanese army? The first thing Zhang Xiaohu thought of was not the devil's plane, because the telegram sent by Xue Yue to Fang Xianjue clearly told them that there was no need to worry about the Japanese planes, and the Sino-US joint air force had already obtained air supremacy over Hunan.

Although Xue Yue's telegram was so determined, Zhang Xiaohu was never an optimistic person, and as soon as he heard the sound of airplanes, he shook the telephone leading to the position on the Stop Soldier Mountain, and gave the order that all the troops should withdraw from their positions and go down to the anti-artillery holes built behind the mountain to take refuge, except for the observation posts left behind.

It was precisely because of Zhang Xiaohu's caution that the 417th and 418th regiments were prevented from suffering the same fate as the 415th and 416th regiments. When the air defense sirens of Hengyang City were issued, the defending positions on the front line of the Stopping Troops Mountain had actually become an empty position.

There were not many bombers dispatched by the Japanese army, only five, one went to the No. 33 height, which was marked by the Japanese army as the X height, which was defended by Wu Linsheng, and two were bombing the area with dense radio signals in the city, while the remaining two bombers came to the sky above the Chinese defenders' positions on the first line of the Stop-Soldier Mountain.

Tsutsumi Sanshu Nan had always wanted to fight Sun Yumin and the troops under his command, and before receiving the appointment, he had conducted in-depth research on the battles in which Sun Yumin's troops had participated. He found that except for the first battle of Lanfeng, which was to use his own vitality to fight the Tufeiyuan Division, the other battles were offensive and offensive, and the steps of defending. When he heard that it was Sun Yumin's troops guarding this line of Stopping Troops Mountain, he was overjoyed, because he knew that the opportunity had come.

The previous research on Sun Yumin was not in vain, because he had a way to deal with it. Judging from past examples, whenever Sun Yumin's troops defended against artillery bombardment and aircraft bombardment, they would withdraw the living forces from their positions, leaving only a few guard and observation posts, so in fact the damage caused by the shelling and bombardment to his troops was not great.

Based on many examples, Tsuki Sanshu Nan knew that the reason why Sun Yumin dared to do this was that he was determined by the immaturity of the Imperial Army's infantry and artillery coordination tactics, and did not dare to launch an infantry charge at the same time as the artillery bombardment.

Since the Chinese defenders in front of him now are under Sun Yumin's command, the same tactics will definitely be used again, and Tsutsumi Sanshu is almost certain. Now, it's up to you to see if you dare to launch an infantry charge with the help of your own air force and mountain artillery wing. Tsutsumi Sanshu Nan is not a reckless man, and his ability to quietly study past combat examples and other people's tactics is enough to show that he is a calm and calm commander. The choice before him was already clear, either to launch a fierce attack and take the positions of the Chinese defenders in one fell swoop under the cover of heavy fire from the air and on the ground; Either fight a war of attrition and drag down the defenders with their own strong logistical support.

The former is naturally the most suitable tactic, but it also needs to take a lot of risks, because aerial bombs and artillery shells do not recognize people, a flight bomb deviates from the direction, a slight deviation of an artillery shell will cause a large number of losses of their own soldiers, if they say that they have been in control of the 68th Division for a long time, then sacrifice a part of the soldiers, in exchange for the position in front of them, then no one dares to say a word. However, now, he has only been in charge of the 68 th Division for a few short days, and if he uses this tactic of harming others and himself in exchange for the success of the attack, he will certainly make the officers and soldiers below respect him, or it is not an exaggeration to describe him as a betrayal of his relatives; once he loses the support of the grassroots level, then even if he can still sit firmly in the position of commander of the 68 th Division, I am afraid that the combat effectiveness of the entire division will never be able to return to the pre-war level.

But if you don't send troops up at this time, I'm afraid that for a while, there will be no such opportunity, for the victory of this battle, even if it makes the subordinates misunderstand, it is worth it, and it is a big deal to give the 57th Brigade some more support in the future. Tsutsumi Sanshu gritted his teeth and gave the order to the troops to assault.

…………

Although he had already felt the expectant eyes of the brothers, Wu Linsheng still resisted the urge to shoot, he still wanted to wait for the devil to get closer, even if it would be the risk of being rushed up by the devil in doing so.

He actually had no choice, the 417 Regiment had already lost nearly half, that is to say, now the combat effectiveness of the 417 Regiment has been discounted in half, with a remnant army that has just suffered heavy losses, to deal with at least countless devils in front of him, in addition to taking the risk of putting it close to the front, is there any other good way?

Wu Linsheng's intolerance was a big surprise to Er Jilong, who had been watching with a telescope, and he even began to doubt his speculation that there might really be only a few Chinese soldiers who had escaped death on the hillside covered by emerald greenery, and the reflection of the bayonet may have been accidentally exposed when the Chinese soldiers who were shooting black guns fled.

The artillery and grenadiers had stopped bombarding, and that was his order, because his soldiers were about to be bombarded in the area they had just bombed, and he didn't want his own people to bombard.

He Jilong didn't want his artillery to hurt his own soldiers, and Wu Linsheng didn't want the attacking devils to slip through the net even if they were under his own firepower. When the two concepts come together, the two of them are destined to become enemies of life and death.

Finally, when the devil couldn't get closer, Wu Linsheng snapped the middle official in his hand that he took from the warrior.

Wu Linsheng's shot opened the prelude to the most bloody and cruel day of battle since the Battle of Hengyang began.

Ever since he decided to let the enemy shoot at such a close distance, he had already made a choice between life and death.

Regardless of whether this battle is won or lost, the 417 Regiment will actually have no chance to participate in the war independently in a short period of time, that is to say, Wu Linsheng has no chance to avenge the brothers who died on the No. 33 Heights in Hengyang City, his choice is already to press himself in, he wants to use his life in exchange for the lives of these devils, he wants to use his life in exchange for the honor of the 417 Regiment.

Green has always represented a new life, a symbol of prosperity, no one would have thought that it was such a piece of emerald green, covering the sickle of death, no one would have thought that such a place full of vitality would become the most heart-wrenching place in Hengyang City today.

The sound of gunfire is an order, Wu Linsheng's first shot was like detonating a powder keg, and the light and heavy machine guns in the four reinforced concrete pillboxes played a death movement at the same time, while the remnants of the 417th Regiment in the foxhole outside the pillbox threw grenades one by one. Not only does there be a large number of grenades on Heights 33, but there are also bundled grenades in the four pillboxes, and the weapons and ammunition are very abundant, which is the light that Hengyang City has always been an important material base in the Ninth War Zone.

The distance was too close, and even if the attacking devil soldiers reacted evasively, even if they dodged the slaughter of the machine guns, they could no longer dodge the many grenades rolling down the green smoke.

The series of explosions were like a hammer hitting Heljilon's heart, and the scattered greenery and loess in the telescope, as well as the red sprayed from time to time, all deeply stimulated his visual nerves.

The squadron at the front was finished, but fortunately, Kameda's troops had already followed, and only needed to take advantage of the fact that the Chinese army had changed its chain magazines and its firepower was slightly weaker, and a charge could capture the Chinese defenders' defensive line hidden under the green.

Of course, this is just Heer Jilong's wish, in fact, he also knows that it will definitely not be possible to achieve it so easily, but now that the arrow is on the string, he has already pressed the bet, no matter what, he must add to the bet, otherwise everything that has been pressed in front of him will not be in vain.

Wu Linsheng and the soldiers of the 417th Regiment attach great importance to collective honor, but what about Er Jilong and his 120th Wing? As the 116th Division's must-use unit in every battle, He Jilong not only held his breath in his heart, but also wanted to prove that Iwanaga Wang's two slaps were wrong, and the officers and soldiers under his command also held back their strength to become the first unit in the Imperial Army to enter Hengyang City.