Just when the 23rd Group Army launched a counteroffensive against Wuhu, Liu Xiang, who was recuperating in Hankou, seemed to be in better condition.

As soon as possible, Liu Xiang called his confidant Dai Gaoxiang.

Dai Gaoxiang went in as ordered, and saw Liu Xiang leaning on one end of the bed, his spirit seemed to be good, and he hurriedly told Liu Xiang his opinion on the reorganization of the Sichuan army during his recuperation. Liu Xiang also seemed to be interested, and while talking, he half-sat up from the bed and said:

"Your opinion is good, but unfortunately you know only one and the other, and now I will tell you what I think.

Do you think this is how this battle will end? No! We must slowly 'grind' with the enemy, that is, we will fight and retreat, but we must not retreat beyond the line of Yisha. If we cross this line, we will be stuffed into a hole, and it will be much more difficult to get out of the hole and fight. Therefore, I think that this 'grinding' will take a long time, and many rich places will have to be lost, and the only way to send troops and food will be to rely on Sichuan, so of course Sichuan will have to bear the responsibility of being the base of the Anti-Japanese War. When the enemy is exhausted, we should launch a counteroffensive, and most of the forces needed for the counteroffensive will depend on Sichuan, so Sichuan will also have to assume the responsibility of being the base for the counteroffensive.

Now we can't just look ahead with two eyes, but also think about how we can turn Sichuan into a base for counterattack. I think that we can train hundreds of thousands of troops in Sichuan as a new force in the counteroffensive, so I want to keep some troops as the backbone of organizing the counteroffensive army. This idea is too huge, and it must be carried out by the joint efforts of the central and local governments, and at the same time, the people of Sichuan must work together to make it possible to succeed. At the same time, I would like to find an opportunity to have a good talk with General Deng Xihou and Sun Zhenxu, and we should learn from Zeng Guofan, boost and change the temperament of the Sichuan people, and wash away the ugly image of the 'Sichuan rat'. ”

"Yes, we all get it." Dai Gaoxiang listened carefully, recorded them one by one, and saw that after Liu Xiang finished saying these words, his face turned a little pale, for fear of disturbing the rest of the commander-in-chief, and just as he wanted to get up and say goodbye, he suddenly heard Liu Xiang ask:

"How's going on over there in Wuhu?"

"A general offensive has been launched, and we just got the news that Yijiang Town has been taken by us, and the rest of the battle situation, we are urging the front-line troops to send it as soon as possible, commander-in-chief, please rest assured."

"Rest assured, rest assured." Liu Xiang sighed softly, and then waved his hand: "Go, go, Gao Xiang, I don't know if my illness can get better, but you must keep my words in mind." Even though the chairman of the committee has a thousand and 10,000 places that are not, now, everything must be put first in the war of resistance."

"Yes" Dai Gaoxiang's voice choked, for fear of losing his temper in front of the commander-in-chief, and hurriedly walked out.

Afterwards, Dai Gaoxiang said to his close friend: "I still remember vividly the situation when Liu Fugong talked to us on his sickbed, and when he talked about training a counteroffensive army in Sichuan, he looked at me with both eyes, as if he wanted me to do something, but he didn't say it."

This latter sentence seems to be destined for most of Dai Gaoxiang's later life.

After that, Dai Gaoxiang first became chief of staff of Pan Wenhua's 28 th Group Army, and soon after, under the sponsorship of Pan Wenhua, he became chief of staff of the Sichuan Provincial Military Administrative Region. The post of chief of staff of the Sichuan Provincial Military Administration Region is specially in charge of conscription work in Sichuan, and he is the general person in charge of conscription in Sichuan Province.

During the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Sichuan sent more than 3 million troops, accounting for one-fifth of all soldiers in the frontal battlefield of the country. This great contribution of the Sichuan people to the war against the Japanese was directly inseparable from Dai Gaoxiang's work.

After Dai Gaoxiang left, Liu Xiang lay on the hospital bed and thought for a long time with his eyes closed, and then he actually got up from the bed, walked to the desk, picked up a pen and paper, thought there for a while, and then wrote:

"For the sake of its long-term survival, the Chinese nation must resolutely resist the aggression and atrocities of the Chinese nation, which has been the unshakable understanding of all our people for a long time. Now, the war of resistance for the salvation of this great nation has begun. In addition, he took advantage of the time to invade and plunder China's Shanghai, Nanjing, and major cities in the Yangtze River, Pearl River, and Yellow River valleys, and were constantly attacked by enemy planes. The soldiers in front of me are fighting desperately against the enemy, and they are constantly receiving good news; In the rear, the national political axe, either organized backup, or enthusiastically rushed to the front to participate in the war, all of them had the courage of swearing to avenge the country with one virtue and one heart.

A careful observation of this war shows that both sides are at a critical juncture of life and death, and the Chinese people must go through all kinds of hardships to survive in the sea of corpses and blood in order to win the final victory.

We must also do our utmost to drive the enemy out of our home, so that there will be no trace of them in our land of China, and all unequal treaties will be completely destroyed, so that the freedom and reading power of the Chinese nation can be achieved, and the goal of the national revolution of the prime minister can be accomplished.

This arduous and arduous task must be accomplished by the joint efforts of the human and financial resources of our 40,000,000 compatriots. Sichuan is the base area for national rejuvenation and the important defense area in wartime that the people of the whole country expect. The dangers of our province's mountains, the large population, the abundance of products, and the endless mineral deposits in the ground are sufficient to be resources to support the war, which has also been recognized by the world. Therefore, once the national war of resistance was launched, the responsibility of the 70 million people in Sichuan was even greater than that of other provinces.

The officers and men of all armies in our province should step up their training, sharpen their troops and horses at all times, and immediately go to the front when they are ordered, and those who remain behind should consolidate the rear of our country.

Public officials and cultural intellectuals from all walks of life should concentrate their energies on their posts and make concerted efforts to organize and train the political axes in the rear and to manage and build them in wartime

The success or failure of the future will be completely determined by our own determination and the results of our efforts in the future!

I people from all walks of life unite! People from all walks of life dare to fight and win! ”

When he finished writing this sprinkling article, Liu Xiang was obviously exhausted, put down the pen and paper, and returned to his hospital bed.

The Wuhu counteroffensive has begun, and Liu Xiang encouraged himself to persevere, to the day of the victory of the Wuhu counteroffensive, and to the day of the victory of the national war of resistance.

If you want to return to Sichuan alive, you must return to your hometown alive!

Liu Xiang was thinking there, but his weakened body was no longer under the control of the spirit, and then he began to vomit blood to half a spittoon, and then fell into a coma.

Liu Xiang's condition deteriorated rapidly, and at night, he could only nod and shake his hand slightly. Faced with this situation, the attending physician seemed helpless and could not respond.

On the 17th, Liu Xiangfu fell into a coma again.

In a coma, Liu Xiang seemed to see the day when he swore to leave Sichuan, and saw the highest enthusiasm of hundreds of thousands of Sichuan people cheering for the Sichuan army to join the torrent of the Anti-Japanese War.

In a coma, Liu Xiang saw and heard, and he heard Mr. Zhang Lan say to the Sichuan fathers and elders that day:

"Compatriots: We all warmly bid farewell to the Chuan Kang army who went out to fight. It's not this time that they're fighting, so why do they have to send off so warmly this time?

This is because this war is completely justified, for the purpose of defending the lives of our common people and for the survival of the country and the nation. Their long march of 10,000 miles is not to fight for the great man's foreign houses, nor to kill their own compatriots, but for the survival of 40,000,000 compatriots, to fight for the survival of 40,000,000 compatriots, to fight for the clothing, food, housing, and land of 40,000,000 compatriots."

Liu Xiang heard it, and he heard himself say to the Sichuan fathers:

"It is very glorious for the soldiers to save the country from humiliation, and in order to fulfill their duty, the Sichuan army has to dedicate themselves to the battlefield, fight for the survival of the nation, and wash away the shame of private fighting in the past."

Suddenly, Liu Xiang woke up from his coma with an "ouch", and immediately felt pain all over his body, and his stomach was especially painful as if someone was poking him with a knife. He wanted to open his eyes, but he only opened a slit with all the strength of his body, and the surrounding area was white, and the light pierced his eyes! It turned out that he was lying on the hospital bed, and in a daze, he saw some people in white clothes standing around, and in this confusion, he heard a voice saying: "The blood vessels have hardened, and there is no blood transfusion." ”

Liu Xiang only felt that his eyelids were very heavy, so he closed his eyes again. At this moment, he felt that the darkness was quietly invading, and his entire body seemed to be slowly melting into the boundless darkness

The next day, on the 20th day of the first month of 1938, at 20 o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Xiang, commander of the Seventh Theater and a second-class general of the army, stopped breathing and died at the age of 48.

Liu Xiang, also known as Yuanxun, the word Fucheng, the legal name Yuxian, Han nationality, a native of Dayi, Sichuan, a first-class army general. Hometown of Anren Town, Dayi County, Sichuan Province. He was a hero in Sichuan at that time, brave in the war, nicknamed "Ba Gecko", also known as "Liu Mangzi", he and Chiang Kai-shek were false and wrong, and always maintained a semi-reading state in Sichuan during his lifetime, and his military and political talents were very old.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, on July 10, Liu Xiang sent a telegram asking for help, and on the 13th, he called again again, advocating a general mobilization of the whole country and fighting to the death. On July 25, Liu Xiang ordered the commanders of all armies and divisions directly under his jurisdiction to return to the original defense within three days and reorganize the army in accordance with the order. On 7 August, Liu Xiang went to Nanjing and attended a national defense conference, at which the main leaders of the main battle and the main leaders of the war were hesitant and made an impassioned speech for nearly two hours:

"In the Anti-Japanese War, Sichuan can send 300,000 troops, supply 5 million Zhuangding, and supply tens of thousands of stones of grain!"

He died in Hankou on January 20, 1938. Before he died, he left a will, which was full of words of encouragement to the officers and soldiers of the Sichuan army:

"The War of Resistance to the End is unswerving, that is, the enemy army will not withdraw from the border, and the Sichuan army will not return to its hometown."

For a long time, when the flag was raised every day in the front-line Sichuan army, the officers and soldiers would recite it in unison to show their determination to resist the war to the end.

During Liu Xiang's serious illness, the Wuhu counteroffensive was still in full swing!

(To be continued)