There is another way, which is very simple to say, these 3 armies do not want to reinforce the fortress of Tianjiazhen, but go to Guangji to take the initiative to attack the 6th Division and attack the Imamura detachment from behind at the same time, cutting off the connection between the Imamura detachment and the rear.

If you can get away with defeating the 6th Division or surround the Imamura detachment and annihilate it, it is naturally the best, if you can't defeat him, at least you can delay the southward movement of the 6th Division and the Imamura detachment, which is also the so-called attacking instead of defending.

After this plan was reported to Li Pinxian, Commander Li finally agreed. ”

After listening to Li Yannian's words, Han Xing did not speak, thinking that with the nominal strength of the four armies, in fact, there were only more than 10,000 people, it was obviously unrealistic to annihilate the Imamura team. But no matter what you say, the national army still has the initiative in the war, and it is a good opportunity to strike at the enemy, and if this opportunity is missed, there will never be another one.

So, Han Xing said to Li Yannian: "Knowing that you can't do it, this is also a great dedication." Commander Li, our Southern Expeditionary Army will fully cooperate with the frontal troops and will launch an attack on the Imamura detachment. ”

Li Yannian nodded and said, "In this battle, each of us has remained in history. As for the merits and demerits, let the descendants comment on it! As long as we have a clear conscience in our hearts. ”

After Han Xing returned, after studying with Zhang Weihan, except for the first and second battalions directly under him to protect Xiangu Mountain, the rest of the troops all joined the battle of besieging the Imamura detachment.

As a result, the 6th Division was immediately besieged by the combined forces of the 26th Army, the 86th Army, the 2nd Army, the 48th Army, and the Southern Expeditionary Army stationed there.

Not only were the 11th Brigade of the Imamura Detachment in the area of Huangnihu and Makou Lake north of Tianjia Town cut off the supply line from the north by the Nationalist Army, but even the 6th Division of the Japanese Army in Guangji was fiercely attacked by the Nationalist Army.

This move really caught the Japanese off guard.

First of all, Guangji's 6th Division was stunned, and he couldn't figure out what the purpose of the Nationalist Army suddenly daring to attack his strong division was.

The 6th Division of Guangji began a fierce battle with the 26th Army and the 48th Army of the Nationalist Army, and it was temporarily unable to transfer all the troops of the division to the south.

Secondly, at the same time, about 4 divisions (in fact, 4 regiments) of the 26th Army and the 86th Army finally cut off the supply line of the 11th Brigade of the Imamura Detachment from behind after bloody battles.

The commander of the Imamura Katsuji Brigade was attacking with all his might, but he didn't expect that the back road was suddenly copied and the supply was completely interrupted. In desperation, he was forced to stop the all-out offensive on the 18th and turn to the defense to see what was going on with the national army.

The frontal Matsuyama National Army took the opportunity to counterattack and recaptured many lost positions.

As a result, under the bluff and initiative of the Nationalist army, the Japanese army took care of one thing and lost the other, and the operation of leading the attack on Tianjiazhen was almost completely stopped.

Among them, the Imamura detachment was the worst, and its south, south, and west were all nationalist troops, and the only east without nationalist troops was a vast floodplain area and lake, which was actually surrounded by nationalist troops.

The two sides continued to fight fiercely for 2 days, and the Japanese army began to lack supplies and suffered too many wounded, and the offensive momentum was not as good as before.

By the day of the 20th, the Imamura detachment was completely in trouble.

When he set off on the 15th, he only carried 7 days' supplies and ammunition, and by this time it had been 6 days, the ammunition was exhausted, the supplies were basically gone, and even the so-called emergency food for the Japanese army was also used. This emergency food is only available for 2 days, and can only be used on the orders of the commander, usually at the last minute.

Without heavy weapons and ammunition, the Japanese army became a toothless tiger and could not be arrogant.

On the 20th, the artillery of the Nationalist Army completely suppressed the Japanese artillery, causing considerable casualties to the Japanese attacking troops.

At this time, the commander of the Imamura Katsuji Brigade realized that he had made a mistake, but now he was powerless to rely on himself.

If this situation of no ammunition and supplies continues, don't say more, as long as it remains for 3 to 4 days, this detachment of nearly 10,000 people will not have to be fought by the national army, and it will be crossed by itself.

The brigade commander, Katsuharu Imamura, had no choice but to ask for immediate reinforcements from the 6th Division.

Shiro Inaba, the commander of the 6th Division in Guangji, was also fiercely attacked by the national army at this time, and although the number of attacking national troops was not very large, he could not find out the reality of the national army and could not move south on a large scale.

The brigade commander of the so-called Ushijima detachment, Ushijima Mitsuya, did not go south for the time being, so as to avoid falling into the encirclement of the national army.

It seems that the offensive momentum of the Nationalist army completely confused the Japanese army.

On the morning of September 20, Shiro Inaba hurriedly sent the Yamamoto 2nd Brigade of the 45th Infantry Wing to reinforce it.

After more than 1,000 people of Yamamoto's 2nd Brigade rushed to the front line, they saw the tragic scene of the Imamura detachment being besieged on all sides by tens of thousands of troops of the national army, and they were so frightened that the whole army hid behind the mountain. Captain Yamamoto asked the division commander to continue to increase his troops, so he dared to advance.

In fact, Captain Yamamoto is not unreasonable, even if he kills this little force, it is estimated that he will be annihilated in the same way, which is equivalent to using boiling oil to fight the fire!

The division commander Shiro Inaba had no choice but to send the 23rd Infantry Wing's Ikeda 2nd Brigade to reinforcements on the night of September 21. At the same time, Shiro Inaba telegraphed Katsuji Imamura again, asking him to continue to hold out for a few days.

At this time, it was already the 21st, and the officers and men of the Imamura detachment had begun to run out of food, and the ammunition was running out one after another.

Katsuharu Imamura said that without food and ammunition, he could not hold out and had to be resupplied immediately.

Under Katsuji Imamura's urgent request for help again, the commander of the Inaba Shiro Division knew that the situation was strict, but he had no soldiers left in his hands and could not solve it at all.

Shiro Inaba had no choice but to pull down his face and ask the commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Ninji, for help.

Okamura Ninji had been boasting to others all day long that the 6th Division under his command was invincible, but when he received this report, he was dumbfounded.

Naturally, Okamura Ninji could not allow the 6th Division to be annihilated, otherwise the commander of his 11th Army would probably be dismissed.

He immediately ordered the Air Force to provide support. Unfortunately, the weather has been very bad these days, and the Japanese naval air force said that it is difficult to take off, and even if the plane barely takes off, it will not be able to see the ground target clearly, and it will not be able to drop it.

Okamura Ninji was furious, scolded angrily on the phone, and ordered that no matter what the weather was, he must immediately take off to support, and violators of military law will be severely punished.

On 21 September, the 12th Air Force of the 2nd Combined Air Force of the Navy braved the complicated weather of low clouds to fly west and north of Huangnihu to carry out a large-scale bombing of the attacking forces of the Nationalist Army. The Japanese Army Air Force also participated in the bombing on the same day, and at the same time dropped a large amount of food and ammunition on the ground, including 100 rounds of mountain artillery shells.

Due to the weather, the attack was not effective, but it helped the 6th Division to stabilize its position.

As for the ammunition, it is barely usable, because at least the light weapons and ammunition of the captured national army can be used for a while. But if the food is really insufficient, this cannot be solved.

The Air Force said that in such weather, it was unrealistic to rely on airdrops to ensure the food supply of the Imamura detachment, and that it had to find another way.

In view of the fact that the Air Force was no longer able to continue the rescue, Okamura Ninji had no choice but to find the Navy side again.

The navy originally didn't buy the army's account, and Okamura Ninji was cheeky enough to say good things and set personal friendships (he and Rear Admiral Kondo Eiji had known each other for more than 10 years, besides, he had just given Kondo Eiji a famous painting of Tang Yin last time, and there were some ulterior secret agreements).

After careful study, Rear Admiral Kondo Eiji and Okamura Ninji, commanders of the 11th Sentai of the 11th Fleet of the Japanese Navy, decided that a large amount of food and ammunition could be transported along the flooded area to the lake in a kind of iron boat with an extremely shallow draft, and the Imamura detachment only needed to send someone to pick it up.

But this is risky, because it is not known how deep the floodplain is. If the water is too shallow, these iron boats will all run aground and become a live target for the national army. Not only could it not help the Imamura detachment, but also some other naval officers and sailors.

But at this point, even if you become a live target, you have to give it a try.

Okamura Ninji stubbornly ordered the rescue plan to be carried out, so after a day of preparation on the 22nd, a group of iron boats with supplies ventured into the lake area on the 23rd.

At that time, the so-called iron boats, which are now called iron ships equipped with diesel engines, these iron sheets were 2 mm thick steel plates. These ships have a shallow draft and a large carrying capacity, but they are still very good at transporting supplies and the wounded.

A total of 10 tin boats, laden with bullets, shells, and food, ventured towards the Imamura line.

Their luck is good, due to heavy rain in the past few days, the water level in the flooding area is very high, and the iron boat has not run aground.

Seeing that they were about to approach the defensive area of Imamura, the Japanese officers and men of the Imamura detachment also saw their iron boats coming, and they were jubilant.

It was Komizu Ichiro, the leader of a small squadron of the Independent Engineer Squadron, who led this iron flotilla to carry out the supply task, and at this time, a rare smile appeared on his face, and he said to the leader of his first team: "Yo Xi, our mission has finally been completed, as long as the Imamura detachment has ammunition and food, then they will regain their combat effectiveness, and then the Chinese army will be vulnerable." ”

Dayu also said happily: "Yo Xi, as long as the Imperial Japanese Army has our iron boats, the Imamura detachment must have bullets, and it must not be hungry or thirsty." ”

Just as they were happy, three helicopters came from the sky, with dragonfly-like fuselages and tall propellers spinning endlessly.

Dayou was the first to discover these helicopters and said strangely to Komizuichiro, "Kosui-kun, what is that?" What is that? ”

Komizuichiro also spotted the helicopters and said in surprise, "This is an airplane or a ship, why haven't I seen it, it looks like a ship with wings." Is it the enemy's or our winged ships? ”

Three helicopters flew in this direction.

Komizuichiro came to his senses and shouted, "Enemy attack-enemy attack-"

There was a shout, and all the Japanese soldiers on the tin boat took up their guns, aimed at the helicopter in the sky, and as soon as they approached the firing distance, they were to shoot.

The air force commander who led the three helicopters in the air attack on the enemy was none other than Zhang Fei, and the army commander who led the helicopter was none other than Yin Zhaoli, the leader of the special combat team. When he was still at a distance of 1,500 meters, Yin Zhaoli shouted: "Keep your distance, heavy machine guns, suppress—"

On one side of the plane, three Type 89 12.7 mm heavy machine guns immediately poured bullets at the enemy ship, and when the plane turned to one side, the three heavy machine guns could not see the target, and the heavy machine guns on the other side were spewing tongues of fire.

The two Type 89 12.7mm heavy machine guns installed on the helicopter have a 180-degree firing angle, so no matter how the helicopter turns, there is always a heavy machine gun that can hit the enemy.

Rifles and light machine guns have basically no way to reach a distance of 1,500 meters, only to be beaten.