Xiushui, known as Jianchang River in ancient times, also known as Xiujiang, is a large river about 300 kilometers long in the land of northern Jiangxi. The whole river starts from Xiushui County at the junction of Hunan and Jiangxi in the west, reaches Wucheng Town in Yongxiu County in the east, and then flows into Poyang Lake together with the Ganjiang River.

Xiushui has a large flow, the river surface is wider, the wide place has hundreds of meters, the narrow place has nearly 100 meters, in the rainy season, people look at the river on the shore, you will feel the water waves, give people a sense of oppression, it is a natural defensive position.

After the end of the Battle of Wuhan, due to the Japanese army's pressing step by step, the defenders of northern Jiangxi had to choose to temporarily retreat, abandoning most of the places north of Xiushui, and withdrawing to the south of Xiushui, and using Xiushui as a trench, nearly 30 divisions were deployed in the vast area along Xiushui, including: three divisions of the 32nd Army, two divisions of the 49th Army, three divisions of the 79th Army, two divisions of the 70th Army, two divisions of the 72nd Army, two divisions of the 78th Army, four divisions of the 58th and 60th armies of Lu Han, three divisions of the 74th Army, and two divisions of the 27th Army. Two divisions of the 73rd Army, plus a guerrilla column.

With so many troops, although it looks like they are strong and strong, they are still a drop in the bucket because they are too long and scattered along the water repair line. Therefore, after Luo Zhuoying served as the commander of the former enemy and was fully responsible for the defense of Nanchang, he concentrated the troops, mainly in the vicinity of Wuning, and the line from Wuning to Xiushui. Among them, the 72nd and 73rd armies were mainly placed in the area north of Wuning, in order to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward along Xiushui. The 70th, 78th, 79th, 49th, 27th, and 32nd armies were uniformly deployed on the line from Wuning to Wucheng.

Let's say that Bai Fei took advantage of the gap of marching on the train to carefully read the military information given to him by the Nanchang Staff Department before getting on the train, and then he had a general understanding of the deployment of the front line of water repair. After reading it, he rubbed his eyes, handed the information to Wang Weiguo, who was sitting opposite, and said, "Brother Weiguo, you can also take a look." ”

Wang Weiguo took it and looked at it.

After looking at it for a while, Bai Fei asked him, "What do you think?" ”

Wang Weiguo closed the information and said: "Judging from the deployment of military forces, our side has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the direction of Wuning in the west, which can well prevent the Japanese army from outflanking in a roundabout way, and there is Poyang Lake in the east, which is not conducive to the march of a large number of troops. Therefore, if the Japanese army wants to cross the Xiushui and move south, I think there is no other way than to attack from the front line of Wuxiu. Luo Zhuoying concentrated all his forces in this area, obviously wanting to gather heavy troops and fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army along Xiushui. Well, such an arrangement can be regarded as decent, although it looks too rigid, but for the time being, I can't find anything wrong. ”

Bai Fei sighed and said, "There seems to be no big problem, but the shortcomings are just too rigid..."

"Zhenyu, are you not optimistic about this battle?" Wang Weiguo asked.

Bai Fei nodded and said: "Although our number of soldiers in this battle is several times greater than that of the Japanese army, the quality of the Japanese soldiers and weapons and equipment are much better than ours, and we have aircraft and warships to support us, so I am very worried about this." In addition, our army is now using Xiushui as a natural position to fight against the enemy, although Xiushui is turbulent and the river is wide, but the defense line is too long, even if it is arranged as Luo Zhuoying is now, it still seems a little thin. If the Japanese army took advantage of the maneuver and divided the troops to raid, we would have to run for our lives. However, if it is necessary to defend in an all-round way, the superiority in strength will become negligible, and once the Japanese army concentrates heavy forces to break through one place, the result will inevitably be the collapse of the entire front. In addition, the water surface of Poyang Lake, which we were entrusted with the defense this time, is also a tough nut to bite, and although I have taken over the task, so far, I still have no good way to deal with it. ”

After speaking, Bai Fei sighed again.

Wang Weiguo also sighed: "Yes, Poyang Lake is too wide..."After a pause, he said: "But you don't have to worry too much, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, I think the specific strategy is to wait until we arrive in Wuzhen, check the terrain and then talk about it." ”

Bai Fei nodded in agreement.

At this moment, a herald hurriedly ran over with a telegram in his hand and reported: "Tuanzao, the fourth theater of operations is urgent. ”

Bai Fei stood up and took the telegram, looked at it at a glance, and after reading it, his brows furrowed even tighter.

Wang Weiguo also stood up and asked, "But the Japanese army in Guangzhou has begun to attack Hainan?" ”

Bai Fei handed him the telegram and said expressionlessly: "Zhang Fakui's spy personnel near Guangzhou have detected the Japanese army's offensive intentions, and it is reported that in order to attack Hainan, the Japanese army has sent a total of more than 15,000 army units, including the Taiwan mixed brigade and the Hainan Island dispatch troops, and the navy has dispatched the 4th and 5th main fleets of the Chinese fleet, and there are more than 10 main ships alone, in addition to the 23rd, 45th, and 28th destroyers, the 12th sea sweeping team, etc., and the air force, The Japanese army even dispatched the 3rd Combined Air Force, the 2nd Air Force, and the 1st Air Force, totaling more than 70 aircraft..."

Wang Weiguo was a little anxious after reading the telegram, and said: "With such a large-scale attack by the Japanese army, I am afraid that it will be difficult for Shuyang to hold on the island." ”

Bai Fei was a little annoyed and said: "It's all my fault, I was too optimistic about the Japanese army's attack on Hainan before, and I didn't expect them to fight such a big battle..."

Wang Weiguo said: "A wise man must make a mistake in a thousand thoughts, you should not blame yourself too much, the top priority is to find a way to deal with the situation in front of you." Hainan is the top priority of our business, and we cannot afford to lose it. It's a pity that we have a mission now, and we can't leave to go, or you can send another telegram to see if Zhang Fakui can send some more people to Hainan to defend? ”

Bai Fei thought for a moment and said: "Zhang Fakui has just taken up the post of commander of the Fourth Theater of Operations, and it is already a help to be able to send a brigade to assist, and his Fourth Theater is not clean, the Japanese army has been expanding northward since occupying Guangzhou, I believe that he has a lot of troubles, and we can't ask others again and again." ”

After a pause, he added: "I expected that the Japanese army would attack Hainan this time, and it would definitely divide its troops to land... In this way, immediately send a telegram to Brother Shuyang, inform him of the situation in detail, and tell him that if he can't do anything, he can concentrate his forces to defend the Haikou area and ensure that talents, factories and equipment cannot be lost. At the same time, guerrilla tactics were carried out to slow down the pace of the Japanese offensive and delay the Japanese army as much as possible. As soon as the matter here is over, we will immediately return to the South China Sea. ”

Wang Weiguo was stunned and sighed: "It's all about this, I hope Shuyang can hold on!" ”

……

Wucheng is less than 100 kilometers away from Nanchang City, because Wucheng is close to Poyang Lake, there is no train, so it cannot be reached directly, you need to get off at Yongxiu, and then turn east and walk about 30 kilometers to arrive.

Two hours after departure, Bai Fei led the troops to get off the car in Yongxiu. After getting off the train, Bai Fei saw many military trucks outside the station, which turned out to be specially sent by the local garrison to transport the military police regiment to Wucheng Town. Obviously, all this should have been ordered by Luo Zhuoying in advance.

In addition, Bai Fei also saw an acquaintance ---- Yang Sen.

From afar, I heard Yang Sen laugh, and a thick Sichuan dialect came to his face: "Brother Zhenyu, Ge Laozi, I haven't seen you for a long time." It's been more than half a year since the last time Anqing said goodbye, and I heard that you are now the commander of the gendarmerie in the Ninth War Zone, which is really gratifying. As he spoke, he took Bai Fei's hand and shook it affectionately.