August 20, 1944. The pen is www.biquge.info Guilin, the capital of Guangxi Province.

Guilin, looking up, the sky is as blue as blue, looking into the distance, the green mountains and beautiful waters, looking closely, the black roof, the red brick and yellow mud walls, the streets are narrow, and some streets are paved with bluestone slabs, clean and clean. On both sides of the street, there are many shops that were supposed to sell souvenirs, but now that the war is approaching, most of them are closed.

The road was splashed with muddy water and dust. Rows of telephone poles on both sides of the street mark a modern city.

As soon as you enter Guilin, except for the refugees, Guilin people are dressed fashionably, and the national costumes are basically gone.

It was already afternoon for Engineer Xiao Zhang to arrive in Guilin, and it took some weeks to enter the city, but fortunately, the car was from Fuxian Company, and the soldiers knew it well, so they did not embarrass them.

His car was full of goods and headed east. There were many people fleeing on the road, some by car and some simply on foot. Help the old and the young, and mourn all over the field.

There is a stretch of road and railway running in parallel, and along the way, you can see several trains going east empty, and the trains going west, whether they are passenger cars or freight cars, are full of people inside and outside the car. The roof of the carriage was full of people, and even the junction of the carriage was full of people.

From time to time, the train spewed black smoke, which drifted in the blue sky.

Some of these refugees fled from Guangdong, and some fled from Hunan. Their purpose was Liuzhou, then Guizhou, and eventually Chongqing. Some people had insight and knew that Chongqing was a strategic target of the Japanese, so they set the targets of the escape as Chengdu and Xichang.

Engineer Zhang has seen too many refugees these days and knows what they think. One of the goals of Fuxian is to find some young people from these refugees, to find some intellectuals, to join Fuxian.

The car passed by the suburbs of Guilin and saw some ordinary soldiers building fortifications. He was an engineer by training, and it was just nonsense to see at a glance that their fortifications were not up to standard. The fortifications were perfunctory, the trenches were neither deep nor wide, they were not connected to each other, the pillboxes were not reinforced concrete, and the heavy machine-gun positions were only made of sandbags. At a glance, it can be seen that the army fortifications cut corners, and the money was not spent in the right place.

Near the army line was the line of the militia. The militia did a solid job, adding stone walls to the houses facing the street, and bricking the doors and windows. This was a preparation for street fighting with the Japanese army.

Engineer Xiao Zhang knew that these militia groups were actually guerrillas, and they assisted in the defense of the city under the banner of the militia group.

The goods on the car were for the Guangxi warlord bosses in Guilin. The bigwigs will not come forward, and the goods need to be handed over to the company they opened. The company has been contacted, and now it has not been evacuated, just waiting for this batch of goods.

Engineer Xiao Zhang delivered the goods on the car first, and the car left to go to a meeting.

Nowadays, the city of Guilin is very chaotic, on the streets. On the docks, at the station, there were crowds of people fleeing everywhere. It used to be a busy freight yard by the river, full of white rice, bamboo, pottery, bricks, firewood and other bulk goods, now, the clumsy goods are still there, the others are gone, and there are refugees sleeping in the open everywhere.

There are many ways for locals to escape, many of them return to the countryside with their belongings, and only a few wealthy people take the train to flee to other places. The other day, the rich left. These days, some locals are also starting to flee.

Many shops in the city have closed, and some people have fled with carts. Some are wives pulling carts, and some are adults pulling carts and children's carts.

There are more people who carry their belongings with luggage, and they know that they are from Hunan, Guangdong, when they listen to the accent.

Groups of soldiers in the streets, with tattered clothes and untidy guns, some migrant workers are repairing barricades and piling sandbags in front of buildings.

The meeting attended by Engineer Xiao Zhang was held in Guilin Guangxi Normal College.

Guangxi Normal College has been closed due to the Japanese invasion. The campus was originally the palace of King Jingjiang in the Ming Dynasty, a stone square city, and a grand pattern. There weren't many people on campus, and it was peaceful. Dozens of people came to Fuxian Company, and when Engineer Xiao Zhang arrived at the venue, the meeting had just begun.

A man dressed as a businessman sits on the podium, next to him is a man in a tunic suit. The businessman is the chairman, He Wenyuan. As for the tunic suit, everyone doesn't know it, but you can see at a glance that he is a soldier with a strong aura.

He Wenyuan was briefing on the situation: "Therefore, it is very difficult for the Japanese army in Hengyang, under the control of our Hunan guerrillas, to fight in the last week or two. This creates time for us to retreat. The higher authorities decided that our factory in Guilin should not only move the equipment, but also the personnel. ”

A person interjected: "More than a dozen factory equipment has left, according to the plan, into the mountain." It takes time to move all the equipment. Personnel may be easier to handle. ”

Another person: "The family members of the employees also want to leave immediately. May I? ”

He Wenyuan: "I think it's okay, but a special person needs to be in charge, and the transfer plan needs to be changed." We'll get into the details when we get back to it. Guilin's company-affiliated organizations are also to retreat a large part of it. We have to leave some people behind to cooperate with the local underground party to do underground work after the Japanese occupation, and to maintain the passage of supplies. At this point, we have already greeted the defenders of Guilin. Deliver their baggage and they take care of us naturally. As for the farms, factories, and personnel near Guilin, they must also be evacuated, and the principle is still to go into the mountains and move nearby. Not only do we have to move, but we also have to organize the people to move. The focus is on various important towns along the lines of communication. ”

"Everyone here is my own people, I can tell you." According to the orders of Division Commander Lin, as well as the Southwest Bureau, our troops, in the name of guerrillas and militia groups, participated in the battle. This time, the size of the troops put into battle may be large, and the work of supporting the front depends on everyone. ”

He Wenyuan: "Let me introduce, this is Commander Wei Guoqing, who is from Guangxi. This time, our battle in Guilin, and in the future in Liuzhou, was under the command of Commander Wei. Commander Wei followed Wei Baqun to make a riot back then, and later participated in the Baise Uprising. He was a cadre of the New Fourth Army, and he had just been transferred back to lead our struggle. Concentrate on military training, and in the future, everyone will fight together. Everyone applauded and welcomed. ”

The crowd applauded.

He Wenyuan: "This time we can't count on ****, we have to rely on ourselves to fight." However, containment of the **** skirmishers is the main goal of our company in this battle. As for the tasks of the combat troops, and how we can cooperate, please tell Commander Wei about it. ”

Commander Wei: "During this period of time, in addition to familiarizing myself with the army and training the army, I also studied the domestic and international situation. My message to everyone is: Don't be afraid. The situation of the Anti-Japanese War in Guangxi was not so serious. Why do you say that? ”

Everyone is also thinking: Why? The Gui army was very afraid. Even Americans are afraid.

Commander Wei: "Now, the Japanese army is losing ground in several battlefields. In the Pacific theater, the U.S. military began to gain the upper hand. If the Japanese aircraft carrier bombs one, there will be one less. The Americans blew up one, and immediately a new aircraft carrier entered service. In North China, the Japanese army lost, and in Shandong, the Japanese army lost. The north cannot stand and wants to seize the south. Can it stand if it is captured? The larger the territory, the more troops are needed to occupy it. The Japanese were seriously understaffed, and domestic industrial workers were all on the front line, and now they began to expand the scope of conscription, and all the old and young came to serve as soldiers. No one occupied it, and it was fought in vain. In addition to the defeat on the battlefield, the Japanese were seriously short of supplies, and their food had to be rationed. The steel used to build warships should be donated by the private sector to scrap iron. It's crazy to see that it's not going to work, but to expand the battlefield. The Japanese nowadays are like gamblers who are about to lose out, chopping off their arms and pressing them. The hands are shaking and gone, what are you betting on. ”

Everyone wanted him to talk more about the international and domestic situation, so Commander Wei talked about some international and domestic campaign developments and analyzed the evolution of the situation. When they heard this, they felt very thirsty. These days, everyone is working intensely, and the negative situation in Guangxi has had some impact on their mood.

After discussing the details for a while, the group dispersed. He Wenyuan said: "Engineer Xiao Zhang, you stay for a while and follow me." ”

Engineer Xiao Zhang followed Commander He Wenyuanwei into an American jeep, and Xiao Zhang said, "Chairman, have a task for me?" ”

He Wenyuan: "Commander Wei is going to the Guilin headquarters, you are engaged in engineering, go together, we think their fortifications are too thin." ”

Engineer Zhang: "It's not just too thin, it's just an errand." How can such a fortification defend against the aircraft artillery of the devils? ”

He Wenyuan was on Guilin Road, with a big face, and when he arrived at the entrance of the headquarters, the adjutant was already waiting there.

Entering the commander's office, Wei Yunsong, the commander of the city defense, greeted him at the door and said, "Chairman He, I will be down-to-earth as soon as you come." ”

Wei Yunsong, a veteran of the Gui family, was born in 1889, served as a military commander and deputy commander-in-chief of the group army, and participated in countless warlord civil wars throughout his life, and also participated in the War of Resistance against Japan.

In 1929, the Gui warlords and the Yunnan warlords fought a war, and he used 3,000 troops, ate black beans, and defended Nanning for 3 months, creating favorable conditions for the main force of the Gui army to return to the Longyun Department of the Dian Army. This time, he was appointed by Bai Chongxi as the commander of the general's city defense.

He Wenyuan said: "Commander Wei, where did you start with this?" ”

Wei Yunsong said: "As soon as Chairman He comes, he will definitely support me with heavy grains, so I don't want to eat black beans." Of course I'm steady. ”

He Wenyuan said: "Commander Wei, after seeing the two people I brought, you will be more down-to-earth." ”

Wei Yunsong said: "Chairman He, please introduce these two. Wei Yunsong has always wanted to talk about business arrangements, but he doesn't know what the identities of these two people are, so it's not good to talk about this topic. Especially that middle-aged man, with a strong aura, looks like a person who leads troops to fight, and it is impossible for him to be Chairman He's subordinate.