On June 27, 1944, all the guard positions, advance positions, blocking positions and peripheral positions arranged by Fang Xianjue outside the city were all lost, although these positions were guarded by some small units of the Tenth Army, but the Japanese still paid a great price. Among them, there is one thing that is worth remembering and remembering all the soldiers who participated in the defense of Hengyang, that is, none of the Chinese soldiers who participated in the defense of the position escaped in danger, none of them raised their hands to surrender, and all the soldiers, including the cooks, died on their own positions. Although their sacrifice did not change the entire battle situation very much, nor did they give the main force defending the city too much time, they used their own flesh and blood to declare to the Japanese army: If you want to invade Hengyang, then exchange your lives!

Zhang Xiaohu was invited by Fang Xianjue to the command post of the Tenth Army set up in the air-raid shelter, and in the war room, Fang Xianjue and Ge Xiancai and other commanders of the Tenth Army had already gathered.

"Senior Commander Zhang, how are you preparing over there?" As soon as Fang Xianjue saw Zhang Xiaohu come in, he didn't bother to let the family get used to the atmosphere in the house, so he asked directly.

"It's almost over, and the little thing that is missing is also being prepared in an orderly manner, please rest assured that Commander Fang." Zhang Xiaohu replied with a smile, he actually had a little opinion, Fang Xianjue asked like this, in his opinion, it was a distrust of the twentieth division, if it was Sun Yumin, he would not ask like this at all, but would only say, "I'll hand it over to you there, don't let the devil take half a step forward in front of you." Although the two sentences do not seem to be very different, the person who sounds will have two different feelings, the former sentence has a skeptical flavor, and the second sentence has a naked unconditional trust.

"Don't worry! Feel relieved! For General Sun's troops, I am a hundred relieved. Fang Xianjue seemed to notice the slight displeasure in Zhang Xiaohu's words, and hurriedly smiled and said a few words of reassurance.

"It's a shame to say, up to now, our department's positions outside Hengyang City have all been lost, and it is estimated that the devil will start a large-scale siege tomorrow!" Fang Xianjue continued: "Senior Commander Zhang, have you been in contact with General Sun?" When will the rest of the 12th Army arrive? ”

"Not yet!" Zhang Xiaohu told the truth, it has been two days since he entered Hengyang, but he really didn't get in touch with Sun Yumin, which inevitably made him a little anxious, he didn't worry about what would happen to the boss, because there were 12 armies, 3rd divisions and 1st brigade, even if the devil wanted to fight some crooked idea, it was a daydream. What he is anxious about is that now that the devils have besieged the city on all sides, the boss wants to enter the city to meet, and the difficulty will be quite great, and I am afraid that there will be great casualties.

"I don't know what the situation is on General Sun's side, it's really worrying." This is not a sign of hypocrisy, Fang Xianjue really admires Sun Yumin.

"We're not mortals, so I don't think we need to be here to speculate and worry." Zhang Xiaohu did not treat the lieutenant general in front of him as a senior officer, but talked in a tone like an equal, and he continued: "Commander Fang, I remember that you ordered the bridge on the Xiangjiang River to be blown up, why did I see that there is another bridge on the Qingcao River?" Now that we've made up our minds to defend it, what are we going to do with this bridge? Does anyone still want to keep a way back? ”

Zhang Xiaohu said that the bridge is located in the north of the city, the nearby people call it the grass bridge, it is erected on the river channel where the Qingcao River is about to join the Xiangjiang River, and there is the world-famous Shigu Academy next to the bridge. Although this bridge is not as good as the highway and railway bridge across the Xiangjiang River, it is also connected to the lifeline of Beicheng.

Fang Xianjue originally planned to keep this bridge in case of emergency, but now listening to Zhang Xiaohu's tone, it seemed that he doubted his determination to stick to Hengyang City, and immediately said to Zhou Qingxiang, the commander of the Third Division: "Blow up this bridge for me immediately, the Tenth Army swears to live and die with Hengyang, and the grass bridge is no longer needed." ”

Blowing up bridges, cutting walls, gathering troops, gathering materials, and retreating the people, Fang Xianjue and Zhang Xiaohu have done everything they can, and all that remains is the forces that are desperately defending and waiting for Lao Jiang and Xue Yue's peripheral attack.

After another military chess exercise on the sand table, the result was very unsatisfactory, which made the brows of these military commanders present shrouded in a dark cloud, and almost everyone's brows were furrowed.

"Although we now have tens of thousands of troops, but compared to such a large city, the strength is still a little stretched, and now almost all the combat troops have been put into the forward position, leaving no troops as reserves, which is not a good phenomenon." Ge Xiancai, who replaced Fang Xianjue as the commander of the Tenth Division, said what everyone was worried about, and then turned his attention to Zhang Xiaohu, who was also frowning.

In fact, before he came, he had already roughly understood the purpose of Fang Xianjue's invitation, the Tenth Army was responsible for the defense of most of Hengyang City, and the strength was definitely insufficient, and his own troops only had one Zhangjiashan position in addition to defending the main positions around the Stopping Soldier Mountain, Gaoling, and Jiangxi Guild Hall, and it was definitely impossible for all nine regiments to be put up, so he concluded that Fang Xianjue wanted the 20th Division to set aside troops to serve as a reserve for the entire city defense force.

It stands to reason that Fang Xianjue is currently the supreme commander of Hengyang City Defense, and it is naïve and righteous to let the 20th Division divide troops to act as the reserve of the defenders, but there is a problem involved, that is, the troops of the 20th Division that serve as the reserve will be directly commanded by Fang Xianjue, and he doesn't want Zhang Xiaohu to have the idea that he wants to take these troops as his own, so that Sun Yumin feels that he has the heart to override him, so he will be very embarrassed, so he let Zhang Xiaohu run this trip before the war.

"I can draw a brigade of three regiments of troops to take on the task of the reserve." Instead of making it so difficult for people to open their mouths, it is better to be cheerful and take the initiative to bring it up.

"Really?" Fang Xianjue was extremely pleased, he was still in a dilemma about how to open his mouth just now, so he had to sing a double reed with Ge Xiancai, but he didn't expect Zhang Xiaohu to mention it himself.

"Of course, the people of our 12th Army have never been the same, spitting a nail in one mouth."

"The commander of the reserve ......" Fang Xianjue deliberately slurred, and deliberately did not finish speaking.

"Of course it's Captain Fang?" How could Zhang Xiaohu not know his thoughts, he had heard Sun Yumin praise Fang Xianjue more than once, so in his mind, he had already preconceived Fang Xianjue into the category of good people and trustworthy people. Sun Yumin is a divine existence in Zhang Xiaohu's mind, and if he can be appreciated, this person will definitely not be far behind, which is also the main reason why he dares to say and do this. "However, Commander Fang, I have said it first, it is only my personal intention to divide a brigade of troops to act as a reserve, if when our Commander Sun arrives, he wants to withdraw his troops, and your side must not stop it."

"Of course!"

Fang Xianjue didn't have any bad intentions at all, as long as Sun Yumin arrived, let alone return the command of this brigade, even if he asked him to put the entire Tenth Army under his command, he would not shirk half a sentence.

After nightfall, the entire city of Hengyang is in silence, and there is a waning moon hanging in the sky on the summer night, and it is also covered with countless stars. It was almost July, and the heat outside the inland city of Yancheng, and the tense atmosphere before the war, made the air seem to be scorching.

Accompanied by several guards and staff officers, Zhang Xiaohu inspected all the fortifications and positions of his unit under the moonlight, and even personally straightened the hats and collars of the soldiers on the night watch, and personally put the guns of the sleeping soldiers to their sides.

These lovely and respectable soldiers are about to undergo the baptism of blood and fire, and they are about to experience the test of life and death, and they don't know how many of these soldiers will be left after the big battle of Hengyang!

With a sigh full of heart, suppressing the sadness in his heart, Zhang Xiaohu strode away from the position, and the bright moonlight stretched the shadow of the position cut into a cliff very long, like a sharp sword piercing the earth. He slowed down slightly, looked back at the slippery position behind him, and was stunned for a moment at the shadow that was trampled under his feet, and said in his heart: I hope this "sharp sword" will be a nightmare for siege devils!

Because he was worried about the fierce battle that might come the next day, after returning to his command post, Zhang Xiaohu had no sleep, and he was always depressed in his heart, always feeling that he seemed to have missed something very important, but he always couldn't remember what he had missed.

Until the second half of the night, I was so sleepy that I fell asleep on the table. Perhaps it was the battle to defend the city, and in his confusion, he suddenly dreamed of the scene of defending Nanjing: the raging fire caused by the incendiary bombs thrown by the devil's plane and the shock of the explosion of the howitzer group grenade, as well as the never-for-forgotten picture of the devil's 92-type infantry shelling Zhou Hong's sandbag fortification, and the blood-stained white steamed bun ...... of the old Liu Tou of the cooking class, suddenly a picture suddenly appeared in Zhang Xiaohu's mind: many national soldiers foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground, There are also many national soldiers who are desperately scratching their throats, and there are even national soldiers who are using bayonets or daggers to pull their throats......

Suddenly, Zhang Xiaohu opened his eyes, and this unexpected nightmare reminded him of what he was missing, that is, the poisonous gas that even Zhou Zhenqiang, the deputy captain of the teaching team, had personally experienced.

After several years, the devil's poison gas bomb is no longer the simple mustard gas at the beginning, not to mention the tragic and inhumane biological and chemical weapons developed by Unit 731, just the mustard gas bomb with Lewis gas mixture is enough to make the defenders completely ineffective.

Zhang Xiaohu has fought countless battles with devils over the years, and he has not encountered the use of poison gas bombs very often, because most of his battles with devils are carried out in the wilderness and mountains, which are too empty, and the wind direction is difficult to control, so the devils are naturally not stupid enough to waste these ammunition. has little experience, so Zhang Xiaohu will forget this factor that is enough to change the situation of the battle. If it weren't for this dream, how long would the well-designed positions and fortifications be able to hold back the devil? Zhang Xiaohu broke out in a cold sweat, and he was also afraid for a while, he actually forgot such an important matter, and almost killed the officers and soldiers of the division.

Zhang Xiaohu slapped himself several times in a row, waking up the combat staff officer who was also sleeping on the table in the command post, and hurriedly asked: "Shizao, what's wrong?" What happened? ”

"Wake everyone up, I have something important to talk about." Zhang Xiaohu didn't care about explaining, nor did he care about his face that was slapped painfully, and said eagerly.

"Are the devils attacking?" The combat staff officer rubbed his blood-red eyes and asked suspiciously, but there was such silence outside, obviously there was no fighting, which was enough to overturn the combat staff officer's own doubts.

"I don't have time to explain to you, wake everyone up." The eastern sky has begun to show the whiteness of the fish's belly, and it is about to dawn, Zhang Xiaohu is very anxious at this time, and his tone is a little unkind.

Sensing this, the operational staff officer did not ask any more questions, but ran to the barracks where the staff officer was resting, and called everyone in the command post up.

The poison gas bomb is one of the unforgivable crimes committed by the invading Japanese army, and if you want to avoid being fatally injured by it, you must wear a gas mask. And at this moment, even if you look through Hengyang City, it is impossible to find tens of thousands of gas masks.

Zhang Xiaohu is not stupid, how could he not be aware of this fact, he didn't even think about looking for a gas mask, and as soon as everyone arrived, he issued an order to prepare a large amount of water and cotton towels for various positions. Although the anti-poison gas of the cotton towel stained with water is not as good as the anti-gas mask, it can at least block more than 80% of the poisonous gas. Although it is said that devils do not necessarily use poison gas bombs, it is better to be prepared than not to be prepared!

The vast majority of the people in the city had already thrown themselves elsewhere, and it was naturally impossible to take away all the buckets and quilts and towels in the houses, which happened to be ready-made supplies for the officers and men of the 20th Division. Zhang Xiaohu didn't get too obsessed with these details, and let the soldiers open the doors of the common people to get these life-saving materials, as for the compensation, it will have to be talked about after the battle!

After being busy for more than an hour, all the positions of the 20th Division were already filled with water and cotton towels, and the veterans were worried that the water would be shaken over, so they dug a lot of small holes in the soft ground of the fortifications that just happened to place a bucket. Although many people don't know why these two things are being asked to be put on the position, since the division commander is so eager to do this, there is naturally a great reason.

Fang Xianjue got up very early, he didn't wake up, but was woken up, the hustle and bustle in the city made him mistakenly think that the devil was attacking the city, but he was dumbfounded as soon as he asked, and the answer he got was: The 20th Division was going door-to-door to loot money.

When is it, and there is still the mind to make money! Fang Xianjue was angry, and was about to call to ask Zhang Xiaohu what was going on, when the phone rang, the staff officer on duty took the phone and said a few words, then put down the microphone and said to Fang Xianjue: "Military seat, the commander of the 20th Division, Zhang Zhang, called, saying that the Japanese army may use poison gas bombs, let us also prepare water and cotton towels here to prevent devils from coming to this hand." ”

Gas bombs!

Fang Xianjue's heart was still hit hard, the battle of Changde was still in sight, the devil's poison gas bomb caused heavy casualties to the 58th Division, why didn't he think about it at this time, this is really an unforgivable mistake. Fortunately, with Zhang Xiaohu's reminder and teaching this method, his confidence in defending Hengyang City has increased a little more.

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