There is no conjecture beyond Sun Yumin's conjecture, and there is no deviation in history, when Zhang Xiaohu led the 20th Division to step up preparations for the battle in Changsha, Yuelu Mountain was lost, and after the main force of the Fourth Army crossed the river and was intercepted, Chen Kan really took the initiative to abandon Yuelu Mountain with the 90th Division, and completely exposed the most important heavy artillery position defending Changsha in front of the Japanese army.

When the heavy artillery on Yuelu Mountain turned its muzzle and began to bombard Changsha City, Zhang Xiaohu was furious, and while he reported this sudden situation to Sun Yumin, he called the Ninth Theater Headquarters, which had retreated a long way away, and asked what the situation was like.

Xue Yue naturally didn't know what was going on, but he already knew that the Fourth Army was on the way to flee after a fiasco of defeat, and the heavy artillery position that the Ninth War Zone was proud of on Yuelu Mountain had fallen into the hands of the Japanese invaders.

Xue Yue didn't want to admit defeat, even at this moment when the victory and defeat had been divided, he still had a trace of luck, hoping that the 20th Division could hold Changsha, and that Sun Yumin could kill the horse pistol, and attack the 20th Division inside and outside to defeat the Japanese army in one fell swoop.

However, he thought too highly of the Twelfth Army and Sun Yumin, how could an army with a total of only tens of thousands of people inflict devastating damage on the three Japanese divisions besieging Changsha City, and his own heavy artillery had not yet been snatched over, and a group of planes flew in the sky from time to time to help in the battle, and no one could fight this kind of battle.

But for Xue Yue, he can only put the treasure on the Twelfth Army and Sun Yumin, there was originally a seventy-fourth army that could be of great use, but now the northwest border of Hunan is too far away from Changsha, not to mention the two battles in Ningxiang and Xiangxiang, Sun Yumin's department stole the limelight from Wang Yaowu, even if Wang Yaowu is open-minded and doesn't care, but who can guarantee that Shi Zhongcheng will join forces with Sun Yumin 100%?

It was with this mentality that when Xue Yue received Zhang Xiaohu's telegram of inquiry, he did not explain anything, but replied: Your troops must hold Changsha for three to five days, wait until the main force of the 12th Army returns, and launch a counteroffensive with all units of the National Army to defeat the Japanese army in one fell swoop.

On the way to the army, Sun Yumin's radio could not be turned on, so naturally he could not receive Zhang Xiaohu's telegram, and of course he could not provide any suggestions and orders.

When receiving Xue Yue's palindrome telegram, Zhang Xiaohu sneered a few times: "What is the surname Xue thinking?" Is he planning to use a unit of our Twelfth Army to fight the devil in Changsha City? ”

"Division, the radio station over there has not responded, and the message has not been sent, what should I do?" The telecommunications lieutenant who came to deliver the message asked.

"Keep calling!"

Zhang Xiaohu's mind is messed up now, and he really doesn't know whether to leave or stay.

Although Sun Yumin hinted to himself that if the situation was not right, he would lead his troops to retreat, but now Xue Yue obviously gambled on the Twelfth Army with the hope of Changsha City and this battle, if he said that he had withdrawn rashly, and the boss led his troops back to Changsha, then what he would face, Zhang Xiaohu did not dare to imagine; Taking a step back, the boss didn't have time to come, or didn't come at all, so wouldn't he be affected by abandoning the city and leaving? The fiasco of this battle, I'm afraid that Xue Yue is worried that he can't find the one who carries the black cauldron, and he did this, is it just right to give him a handle?

The cannon in the city has not stopped, although the devils have not yet launched a full-scale siege, but everyone knows that this time will come soon. If you don't make a decision as soon as possible, when that moment really comes, even if you want to leave, I'm afraid you will have to pay a heavy price.

Zhang Xiaohu has experienced this kind of moment, he has a big heart, he has the courage to take responsibility, when Sun Yumin abandoned his official position and went into hiding, he did not follow, just to keep the 20th division, and he really did it. The current situation is naturally more dangerous than back then, and there is not much time left for him.

"Order the artillery regiment outside the city to retreat first!" Zhang Xiaohu slammed his fist on the table, the intense pain made his brain clearer and clearer, and he made a decision, if Xue Yue really wanted to settle accounts after the autumn, he would take this responsibility and bear this serious crime that was enough to kill his head.

"Division, if the artillery regiment is withdrawn, we will have no fire support at all, how can we defend this city?" The operational staff was puzzled by this order.

"If you don't defend it, order the troops of the 58th Brigade and the 59th Brigade to hand over the positions of the 60th Brigade and retreat in the direction of Hengshan and Hengyang first."

"Won't keep it?" Everyone in the entire war room was shocked by this sentence, and they could hardly believe that this sentence could come out of the mouth of the divisional seat.

Since Sun Yumin took over, the 20th Division has never escaped from the battle, even on the battlefield of Lanfeng, the 20th Division has been defeated, and it has never been afraid. But now, Zhang Xiaohu actually gave this order, and everyone was surprised.

The 20th Division has a deep imprint of Sun Yumin, although in the past few years it has actually been under the control of Zhang Xiaohu, and most of the officers and soldiers have been supplemented, and there are not many veterans, but the people of the 20th Division have a sense of arrogance in their bones, whether they are old people or newcomers, there is a blood and wolf nature that other troops do not have in this collective.

The 20th Division is Sun Yumin's starting army, that is, his origin, whether Sun Yumin has this idea or not, but this will not prevent the people of the 20th Division from having a kind of pride from the bottom of their hearts: We are the descendants of the God of War.

This kind of character inherited from Sun Yumin, this kind of temperament that would rather die in battle than retreat, made the people in the war room immediately agitated after the initial shock, a lieutenant colonel staff officer who was plotting on the military map with a triangle board in his hand, threw the tools in his hand on the table, walked up to Zhang Xiaohu, and said: "Division commander, I will not withdraw, I will defend Changsha with the 60th Brigade!" ”

His actions immediately exploded the entire war room, and almost all the staff officers and officers stood behind the lieutenant colonel's staff officer to express their opinions.

"I also want to stay and guard Changsha!"

"Me too!"

"Even if you shoot me, I won't be a deserter!"

"Count me in!"

…………

When Zhang Xiaohu gave the order to retreat, he estimated that such an uncontrollable scene would occur, but he had no choice, he had to make this decision, because he was responsible for the more than 20,000 people of the 20th Division, and he was responsible for the 12th Army and the boss.

He is also a hot-blooded soldier, starting from the second battalion of the second company, he has never been afraid, even if there is a shining gold star on the collar badge now, he also thinks that he is a man who dares to die on the battlefield. It's easy to give orders, but the reputation of a deserter who can afford it is heavy, not to mention the endless misunderstandings you have to face.

Zhang Xiaohu's mood at the moment is both relieved and annoyed, and he is pleased that these soldiers under his command are not incompetent people who are greedy for comfort, timid and afraid of death, they are all iron-clad hot-blooded men; Annoyed that they don't think deeply, they don't understand their hard work, they stay in the green mountains, and they don't understand the simple and simple truth of not being afraid of no firewood!

"I disagree!" He did not get angry because of the lieutenant colonel's staff officer's leading coaxing, but looked at him with an appreciative look, and his tone was very peaceful.

"Why?"

Several people asked in unison.

"Because the 60 Brigade must also retreat!" Zhang Xiaohu said very harshly: "Do you think I am willing to give up Changsha City like this? Do you think I'm willing to bear the infamy of being a deserter? ”

"Master, since you are also willing to defend the city, then let's defend Changsha to the death together!" The lieutenant colonel's face showed excitement, he was an old man of the 20th Division, he had always been proud of being a member of the 20th Division, and like many old men of the 20th Division, he would rather pay for his life to maintain the reputation of the 20th Division.

"Changsha can no longer be defended, and staying behind will not only play a less role, but will disrupt the plan of the military seat." Zhang Xiaohu knew that he couldn't convince these hot-blooded men, so he had to move out of Sun Yumin.

Sure enough, as soon as his words came out, the restless crowd immediately quieted down.

"Before the military seat set out for Xiangbei, he repeatedly told me not to be righteous and angry, but to preserve the strength of the whole division." Zhang Xiaohu struck while the iron was hot and said: "If the Fourth Army can hold on to Yuelu Mountain, I don't ask them to give us much support, as long as we can prevent the heavy artillery of our national army from bombarding our own troops, then I will definitely take you to defend Changsha." But now, do you think that if we stay, in addition to burying the whole division of 20,000 people here, will there be any other purpose? ”

"Although the military seat has won two or three battles in northern Xiangbei, but the losses are also a lot, he will continue to lead us and the devil to fight, if he fights all the money in Changsha, then what will he do to fight against the devil."

There was silence in the room, except for Zhang Xiaohu's voice, no one spoke, all of them were soldiers, and they were all literate soldiers, no one would not understand these words and truths.

"Execute the order!" Zhang Xiaohu felt a sense of relief, to be honest, he would rather work with the enemy on the front line with real ammunition than use so many words to comfort and comfort his brothers here.

According to his instructions, the artillery regiment first retreated, and then the 60th Brigade, which was originally a reserve, completed the defense of the positions of the 58th and 59th Brigades under heavy artillery fire, and then the 58th Brigade began to retreat, and the division headquarters left Changsha in the third group under the escort of the 59th Brigade.

Originally, all this went smoothly, but just as the 60th Brigade was preparing to retreat, the Japanese army suddenly launched a full-scale attack on Changsha.

The heavy artillery on Yuelu Mountain was originally bombarding Changsha City day and night, and now with the devil's own artillery, suddenly this thousand-year-old city that had experienced the Wenxi fire and was revived not long ago, was shrouded in fierce artillery fire, and at this time, the devil's plane also came, hundreds of kilograms of aerial bombs were thrown, and it was a huge crater when it exploded, and the 60 Brigade was suppressed so that it could not move, and it did not dare to retreat easily.

For a whole day, the three regiments of the 60th Brigade repelled several Japanese attacks without reinforcements and reserves, and after losing a full regiment of troops, they finally survived until dark.

Under the organization of the brigade commander and under the cover of the wounded soldiers, the remaining 3,000 people of the 60th Brigade rushed out of the north gate, broke through the encirclement of the Japanese army in Dongshan, fought with the Japanese army along the way, and retreated to Zhuzhou Chaling, east of Hengyang, where they were temporarily contained by Ou Zhen, deputy commander-in-chief of the 27th Group Army. The vulnerability of the Fourth Army, which is his descendant, compared with the troops in front of him who came out of the bloody battle in Changsha, made Ou Zhen very ashamed, and he also had a lot of respect for their group of warriors, and treated and supplied the 60th Brigade according to his own troops.

Sun Yumin had long known that Changsha would not be able to hold it, although he first ordered the troops to march in the direction of Changsha, but when he arrived around Xiangtan, he suddenly changed the direction of the march, turned south, and marched towards Hengyang.

Sun Yumin has confidence in Zhang Xiaohu, this guy can completely preserve the 20th Division in such a grim situation back then, and now it will not disappoint, after all, he has been in the position of division commander for so long, and he has been with him for so long.

Just as he and Xue Yue said at the beginning, the main strategic goal of the Japanese army was not only the city of Changsha, but their ultimate goal was to fight the Guangdong-Han line and the Hunan-Guizhou line, and connect the occupied areas on the Chinese battlefield with the occupied areas in Southeast Asia.

And whether it is to open up the Guangdong-Han line or the Xianggui line, there is a place that must be occupied! This place is Hengyang, also known as "Yancheng".

Hengyang is located in the middle reaches of the Xiangjiang River, which is the intersection point of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway and the Xianggui Railway, and is one of the most important strategic bases in the Ninth Theater.

The eastern end of Hengyang City is close to the west bank of Xiangshui, east of Zhuzhou City, south of Anren County, Yongxing County and Guiyang County of Chenzhou City, west of Lengshuitan District of Yongzhou City, Qiyang County and Shaodong County of Shaoyang City, and north of Shuangfeng County of Loudi City and Xiangtan County of Xiangtan City.

Historically, it was Fang Xianjue's Tenth Army who guarded Hengyang City, and it was the army that showed iron blood in the Third Battle of Changsha and was praised by Lao Jiang as the "Taishan Army". The former army commander Li Yutang was promoted to the deputy commander-in-chief of the 27th Group Army because of his exploits in the First Battle of Changsha, and Fang Xianjue, who was originally the commander of the 10th Division, took over as the army commander, and it was this successor who fought an iron-blooded battle known as the "Eastern Moscow Protection War" side by side with Sun Yumin's department!

The 10th Army, under the jurisdiction of the 3rd Division, the 190th Division and the 10th Division, as well as the 54th Division temporarily assigned to the command of the 10th Army, this 54th Division is nominally a division, but in fact the division commander Rao Shaowei only has a regiment of troops on hand; Ge Xiancai, commander of the 10th Division, has the 28th Regiment of Zeng Jing, the 29th Regiment of Zhu Guangji, and the 30th Regiment of Chen Dekun; Zhou Qingxiang, commander of the Third Division, under the jurisdiction of Fang Renjie 7th Regiment, Chen Jinxiang 8th Regiment, Xiao Guitian 9th Regiment; The commander of the 190th Division, Rong Youluo, has Yu Yanling's 568th Regiment, Liang Zichao's 569th Regiment, and He Guangyao's 570th Regiment. The whole army adds up to about 18,000 people, which is less than the men and horses of a division of Zhang Xiaohu's 20th division, not to mention the equipment, although it is also equipped with some American-style weapons, but most of them still use the previous equipment, the only good news is that the Sino-US joint air force defeated the first flight team of the Japanese army, that is to say, the battle of Hengyang, the Japanese army is definitely unable to get the assistance of the aircraft.

When Sun Yumin's troops turned around, Zhang Xiaohu's 20th Division Advance Artillery Regiment was the first to arrive at Hengyang City, which was like a relief in the snow for Fang Xianjue, and he was lacking heavy fire support!

When he learned from the head of the artillery regiment that the other troops of the 20th Division would come later, and that Commander Sun Yumin would also lead the main force of the 12th Army, he was even more overjoyed and said excitedly: "During the Third Battle of Changsha, I was looking forward to fighting side by side with General Sun. ”

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