The sun is scorching. Sweating, it was noon, and it was almost noon

As soon as the whistle sounded, the soldiers who were building field fortifications immediately put down their tools and walked to the cooking class under the leadership of the officer to receive their lunch.

Lunch is very simple, it is sorghum rice, pork stew, whether it is rice or vegetables, it is cooked in a big marching pot, although the seasoning is simple, but after heavy physical labor, all the people eat very deliciously.

Like everyone else, Jiang Huwu also ate very well. Although rice is not his favorite rice, but with the bowl of fragrant pork and vegetable soup, this appetite is also good, and he also divided a small spoonful of spicy oil, mixed it into the soup, and ate it all over sweat, kept lifting the kettle, pouring cold boiled water into his throat, and guided everyone else to do the same. Also shirtless.

This is Zhenjiang Fort, and the river is just in front of it. Crossing the Cao River, and then going northeast for dozens of miles, it is the Yalu River, and the straight-line distance between Zhenjiang Fort and the national border is only dozens of miles. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the first line of national defense and the southern end of the entire Yalu River defense line.

The main reason why the defensive line was not arranged next to the Yalu River was to avoid the artillery fire of the Japanese Navy. Although there is a detachment of the Chinese Navy on the Yalu River, the "Wild Duck Force," but compared with the powerful Japanese navy, the strength of that fleet is too weak, and once the Japanese army sends warships into the Yalu River, then the Chinese army units may be bombarded by artillery fire along the Yalu River, so they simply take the initiative to retreat the defensive line for dozens of miles, and this move may not be without the intention of the Jin Wengong in the Spring and Autumn Period of that year to "retreat and retreat", and its purpose is to make the enemy lose some tactical advantages.

As for the Chinese civilians east of the defense line, they were also evacuated to the rear of the defense line, in front of the national war. The homeland could not be taken care of, and in order to exhaust the enemy army, a "scorched earth policy" was also implemented in the area east of the defensive line. "Never a single house, a well, a tree, or a road will be left for the Japanese army to use.

The field fortifications that Jiang Huwu and his comrades-in-arms are building now are defense fortifications, but most of the officers and soldiers of this army are not Zhong** people, but Koreans from the Korean Peninsula, and this army is the so-called "Daejeon Army." Detachment of the Goryeo Independence Army", the supreme commander was the Korean Cho Qi. Jiang Langwu was just one of the few Chinese military advisers in the army.

"Daejeon troops. Suffering heavy losses in the Battle of Anju, it was originally intended to disperse and break out to the southern part of the Korean Peninsula to fight guerrillas, but just before the breakout order was issued, a cavalry unit of the Chinese Defense Forces suddenly broke through the Japanese defenses. rescued the Daejeon troops from the Anju encirclement, and then took them to the bank of the Yalu River, and then retreated to the right bank of the Yalu River with the squadron. A period of recuperation has begun.

Taking advantage of this period of recuperation, the Daejeon troops were ordered to enter the town of Jiangbao and began to build field fortifications in the area east of Zhenjiangbao to prepare for the Japanese attack.

The field fortifications of Zhenjiang Fort are not a frontal fortification, this fortification group is only used as a flank position, the real main position is still in the mountainous area in the north, since two years ago, after the Chinese central government began to implement the national defense project, there have gradually built two fortified areas, with those criss-crossing and extending tunnels in the mountainous area, a solid national defense line has been established, but it is not enough to rely on the frontal position alone, so now Zhenjiang Fort is the same as other border towns, They were busy building field fortifications, and once the Japanese army crossed the Yalu River, they would encounter stubborn resistance on this defensive line. As for the squadron, those with sufficient reserves are enough to support long-term operations.

In fact, as early as when the Daejeon troops were still fighting the Japanese army in Anju City, the local government of Zhenjiangbao had already begun to call residents to dig trenches outside the city in accordance with the central order, but due to lack of experience, the excavated trenches were straight lines, which did not meet the requirements of military operations.

Across the Yalu River from Zhenjiang Fort is Uiju, where the international railway from the southern part of the Korean Peninsula to Shenyang passes through Zhenjiang Fort. Since the withdrawal of the main forces of the Chinese Defense Forces from North Korea. The Daejeon troops were ordered to destroy the railways and bridges on both sides of the river with explosives, and if the Japanese army crossed the Yalu River, they had to advance on foot.

However, the railroad and bridges in the rear direction of Zhenjiang Fort can still be opened to traffic, and reinforcements and materials can be continuously transported from Phoenix City in the rear to the front line, which is very beneficial to the defenders. Right at the Zhenjiangbao railway station, two armored trains rested there, and once the battle began, the armored trains were ready to go into battle to provide strong fire support to the front-line troops.

It is precisely for this reason that all the officers and men of the Daejeon unit are full of confidence in the upcoming defensive operation. Unlike in Anzhou, where there is a panic of logistics cut-off at any time, the main trouble at present is the replenishment of troops, and it has been two days since I went to Zhenjiang Fort to rest. However, there were only more than 2,000 recruits added to the troops, many of whom were Chinese Revolutionary Guards, and Commander Zhao Qi was very dissatisfied with this situation, and he did not want the "Korean color" of this army to be diluted, so he had personally led people to the banks of the Tumen River. It is preparing to call the Korean bridge people to join the army there, and as for the command of the Daejeon troops, it is actually a different body clam from the deputy Yi Xunshu

Sun Yue was originally a "Goryeo Independence Army." Deputy commander, but he did not accompany the troops into Korea. Before the troops crossed the Yalu River, Sun Yue stayed in Phoenix City, specializing in providing logistics support for the "Goryeo Independence Army", when Anju fell into the Japanese siege, Sun Yue was ordered to move to Zhenjiang Fort, when the Daejeon troops arrived here, he was appointed deputy commander of the Daejeon troops, to replace the original deputy commander of the North Korean who was seriously wounded and evacuated.

However, Sun Yue's prestige was insufficient, and he could only rely on the Korean officer corps to control the troops, in order to supervise the troops. Sun Yue had no choice but to send the adviser to the front-line position, and Jiang Huwu rushed to the front-line position, and directly participated in the construction of the field fortifications, which can be regarded as leading by example.

To tell the truth, Jiang Huwu was very interested in Sun Yue's "bureaucratic style. There are some opinions, in his opinion, that it is impossible to increase one's personal prestige by sitting in the headquarters alone. Only by participating in front-line operations can you really master the troops, even though the soldiers are mostly Koreans, but this is not an excuse for Sun Yue to hide in the headquarters. Chinese and Koreans are now enemies of Japan, and now they are paying attention to unity, rather than deliberately emphasizing the difference in nationality between the two people.

Jiang Xie Wu is different from Sun Yue, he has a high prestige in the Daejeon army, on the one hand, because he speaks Korean very well, and on the other hand, because he once fought bloodily with his subordinates in Anzhou, for this Chinese affairs adviser, the North Korean officers and soldiers in the army admire him very much.

It is precisely because of admiration that when eating mutton rice now, a group of North Korean officers specially took out their treasured kimchi and invited Chief Jiang Keywu to taste it together. Lunch ended quickly, Jiang Huwu decided to let the officers and soldiers rest for half an hour, taking advantage of this time, he took a few lieutenant ** officers, rushed to the Zhenjiang Fort Headquarters, reported the situation of the troops to the deputy commander Sun Yue, and by the way to see if the field artillery over there in Phoenix City had been sent.

Jiang Xie Wu had a calf injury and could not walk long distances, so he could only ride a horse.

When he arrived at the headquarters, Sun Yue was still eating with the staff officers. The meal was not rich, but it was better than on the battlefield, with four dishes and one soup, and a gramophone to play music, which was also bittersweet and joyful.

Knowing from the guards that the deputy commander was having lunch, Jiang Langwu didn't bother, so he walked around the train station next to the headquarters with the few advisers on Chinese affairs, and asked the dispatch room what the seal was and the arms were delivered.

Coincidentally, just five minutes later, a military column entered the railway station, and with it not only the ammunition was planted, but also a group of trainee officers who had been transferred from the rear, all of whom had just graduated from various military academies and universities, and had come to Zhenjiang Fort to join the unit for internship, and the person who led them out of the unit was none other than Zhang Guoping.

Zhang Guoping is now not only the commander of the independent cavalry division, but also the highest military commander of the Yalu River Theater, and the headquarters is located in Tuchengzi, north of Zhenjiang Fort, but this time he came to Zhenjiang Fort not from Tuchengzi, but from Phoenix, he went to Phoenix, one is to bring the cavalry troops under his command to Phoenix. was ready to participate in the decisive battle on the Liaodong Peninsula, but the second was to be ordered to receive a group of trainee officers, and it was this group of trainee officers that he has now received to Zhenjiang Fort.

Zhang Guoping got off the train and saw Jiang Huwu hanging around the train station with several officers, and Jiang Xie Wu also saw him, so he hurriedly stepped forward to say hello.

Asked Jiang Huwu about his intentions, Zhang Guoping raised his hand, pointed to the train, and said: "Not all of this batch of arms are shipped to you, Tuchengzi also needs arms support, but the field artillery you need most can be handed over to you first." By the way, these midshipmen will be handed over to you. When they were in the military academy, the main focus was politics and propaganda, and you can integrate them into the army and specialize in propaganda work, and you don't need them to go into battle. ”

"Propaganda? This is a North Korean army, and there are very few officers and soldiers who can speak Chinese

Jiang Mingwu raised the corners of his mouth and laughed. At present, what the Daejeon troops need most is not propaganda cadres, but front-line commanders; during the Anju operation, the grassroots commanders of the troops suffered great losses, and many platoons and companies are now promoting veterans to be platoon commanders and company commanders.

Zhang Guoping also smiled and said: "If you want to get this, can't the General Staff think of these three points?" Let me tell you, these midshipmen are all Koreans living in Yanbian, they have lived in China for several generations since the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, and their Korean dialect is much more fluent than yours, a few years ago. The center has planned and specially recruited a group of Korean officers and sent them to military academies for further study, and now that they have graduated, they can just come in handy

Jiang Keywu realized that his center and the General Staff thought more deeply than him, so he smiled and greeted the group of Korean trainee officers in Korean. Seeing that Jiang Yanwu could actually speak Korean, the trainee officers' good opinion of him suddenly increased.

Jiang Huwu led the way and rushed to the headquarters with a group of trainee officers to meet the deputy commander Sun Yue, while Zhang Guoping was unhurriedly taking a telegram at the railway station to inquire about the combat readiness of Tuchengzi, and now the Yalu River was covered with battle clouds. His top military commander in this theater is indeed busy. It is said that the situation is a mustard umbrella