Salute, fire guns, fire salutes, and offer the highest respect to the martyrs, the troops began to advance to Jiujiang, Jiang Haoran's order was to arrive outside Jiujiang City in the evening, when they set off from Mahuiling, the time was only more than four o'clock in the afternoon, and there were still more than 30 miles to Jiujiang at most, and for tanks and cars, it was a matter of dozens of minutes, and they had successfully completed the task assigned by Jiang Haoran. 『言*情*首*发『『Big ^ Book ^ Bag ^ Small ^ Say ^ Net dashubao]

In the following hours, because of the leadership of the vanguard, the main forces of the New Fourth Division, as well as the artillery regiments of the New Second Division, all stopped at Mahuiling one by one, and the form of mourning was no longer limited to saluting, firing guns, and firing salutes, and more soldiers gathered wild flowers, placed offerings, and sprinkled wine in front of the tomb.

With the continuous advance of the follow-up troops, in less than two days, the entire Mahuiling exercise ground has turned into a sea of flowers, and a road in the middle leads directly to the tomb. The original corroded wooden board has been replaced with a huge marble, with the words "Heroic Martyrs Monument of the 40th Group Army" written on it, and the soldiers who are reluctant to eat, smoke, and drink are placed in front of the stone monument and piled up into a mountain beam. As if this was the only way to express their admiration for their heroes.

The Battle of Mahuiling was the most tragic battle that Jiang Haoran had ever experienced, and it was also a battle that all the officers and soldiers of the 40th Group Army talked about, with the strength of a routed corps, the two divisions of the Japanese army were blocked outside the city for more than ten days, and the enemy was given a heavy price in casualties, not only won the time for the forward troops to retreat calmly, and even let the Japanese biological and chemical weapons completely disappear on the battlefield. Jiang Haoran alone will never be able to achieve it. Therefore, it is completely understandable that the officers and men of the 40 th Group Army have a sense of admiration for the officers and men of Ma Huiling.

At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the vanguard of the New Fourth Division arrived outside Jiujiang ahead of schedule and immediately launched an attack on Jiujiang.

At this time, in Jiujiang City, the Japanese defenders only had one brigade plus a brigade, of which the brigade was a puppet army, and the Japanese army had only one brigade, which was because the geographical location of Jiujiang was too important, and the Japanese army had such a large scale of heavy guards.

It can be said that the Japanese army did not expect that Jiang Haoran would be able to capture De'an in one night, and the troops would come to Jiujiang in one day, and at this time, no matter which direction the Japanese army sent troops to help Jiujiang, it was too late.

In fact, the more reason is that the Japanese army has no troops to adjust, and in the direction of Wuhan, the offensive on the periphery is in full swing. In the direction of Pengze at Hukou, the main force of the Japanese Third Division has already left for southern Anhui, and at this moment it is in the midst of a fierce battle with the Hurricane Column, and it is impossible to pull out if you want to.

The remaining troops at Hukou and Pengze have been frantically attacked by the New Fourth Army since the afternoon, and are now in a situation where they cannot protect themselves.

The 40,000 or 50,000 troops of the New Fourth Army have been active in this area from the east of Poyang Lake to southern Anhui for a long time, and they are quite familiar with the terrain, and it took less than four days from the assembly to the destination.

In fact, the Japanese army was not completely without reinforcements, at least the naval ship group urgently transferred from Nanjing had arrived, but there were only more than 30 gunboats, and the other 70 or 80 were material transport ships, which had already gone to Wuhan at this moment.

The war started on the whole front, the consumption of weapons, ammunition and all kinds of materials was quite amazing, and the Japanese army's autumn supplies were stranded in Zhumadian again, and now Zhumadian has been lost, and all the materials have been cheaper than the Eighth Route Army. This makes all kinds of supplies extremely tight, so it is not wrong for Nanjing to ensure the supply of materials first, but they probably never dreamed that this is the only opportunity for them to transport materials for the Wuhan battlefield.

It is precisely because of the fire support of these more than 30 gunboats that the Japanese army Hukou and Pengze were able to survive the powerful offensive of the New Fourth Army, but this good situation did not continue, and the Japanese army did not wait for reinforcements, but waited for the bad news that the troops had already arrived under Jiujiang City.

This news was no less than a thunderbolt in the clear sky, giving the Japanese army a blow to the head, once Jiujiang was lost, the Japanese puppet army in Pengze and Hukou was completely reduced to a lone army, and it was only a matter of time before they were all annihilated.

When the vanguard of the New Fourth Division was approaching the city of Jiujiang, the commander of the 11th Japanese Army, Anan Weiji, decisively ordered all the defenders of Pengze and Hukou to withdraw to Jiujiang, with the first priority of ensuring the safety of Jiujiang.

As soon as Jiujiang is lost, Jiang Haoran's troops will definitely flock to him, and it is basically a fool's dream to recapture it from him, but Hukou and Pengze are different, as long as the Fifth Division of Huangshan can hold out for three days without being broken, reinforcements from all walks of life will arrive one after another, blocking the advance of the 40th Group Army will become a reality, and the reinforcements sent by the Third Division and Nanjing will turn back to deal with the New Fourth Army, and the entire Yangtze River waterway will still be in the hands of the Imperial Army, and this battle will still be possible. Otherwise, Jiujiang will be lost, the Pinghan Railway will be cut off, and the entire Wuhan Eleventh Army will be completely reduced to a lonely army. There were no reinforcements, no weapons and ammunition, no supplies, food and grass, and for the Japanese army, it was no longer a problem of the loss of Wuhan, but the tragic situation that the entire 11th Army would face annihilation.

At about nine o'clock that night, the defenders of Hukou and Pengze of the Japanese army all retreated to Jiujiang, and more than 40,000 New Fourth Army troops immediately poured into the city from all sides.

Sitting on the chair of the former Japanese army headquarters, Wang Shanhu, the new commander of the New Fourth Army, laughed so much that his front teeth were about to fall off, his legs were resting on the big desk, he kept shaking, and he was holding a cigarette obliquely in his mouth, and he didn't know how to describe his smug expression.

"Damn it, the little devil is so fucking good at enjoying it, this chair is really fucking comfortable, Lao Yu, take a look, is there wine in that cabinet, right, it's that bottle, hurry up, take it and let's drink it well" Wang Shanhu scolded in his mouth, but a pair of eyes were looking around the house, as if he had suddenly discovered a new world, and shouted to command and command political commissar Yu Xuemin.

Yu Xuemin was still in Burma a week ago, but he left a day earlier than Jiang Haoran, and with Zhuang Fuguo's arrangement, he flew back to Nanchang directly, and then covered by Guò Ye Kai, he was able to return to the army and participate in this campaign.