This tragic night attack greatly damaged Yang Geng and the brigade's vitality, and also disrupted Zheng Junyan's attack deployment the next day, and he revoked the morning attack order.

When Zheng Junyan received the report of Yang Genghe's attack, he immediately ordered Liang Hongen and Peng Dequan to launch a counter-night attack, and the two men were a little more cautious and each sent a company to test it, but they were defeated by Song Xiongfu and Cai Yue, who were waiting for him.

The success of the sneak attack made the first division very excited, but Zhuang Jihua had some heartache to pay the price, 90 people in the reconnaissance company went out and came back 54 people, and the 3rd battalion also paid the price of 72 killed and 31 wounded; In particular, the loss of nearly half of the reconnaissance company made his heart ache, and after carefully inquiring about the battle, he scolded Song Yunfei fiercely, criticizing him for not attacking Yang Geng and the headquarters, causing unnecessary casualties.

At this moment, Zhuang Jihua's prestige in the first division is even as high as that of Chiang Kai-shek, and after being surrounded for four days, he only suffered less than 500 casualties, but he annihilated more than 2,000 enemies.

Although Chiang Kai-shek ordered to hold the Niuhang Station, but he was also up and down in his heart, Zhuang Jihua had to report the battle situation to him every day, and after receiving the news of the victory of the night attack, he was extremely excited and more confident in holding the Niuhang Station.

"The First Division deserves to be a strong force of our army and deserves to be commended." Bai Chongxi said bitterly that he was skeptical of this victory, and he did not trust the results of the First Army system.

"As long as you can hold the Niuhang Station, I will personally award him a medal after the war!" Chiang Kai-shek heard Bai Chongxi's voice, but now that the battle was not over, he didn't dare to say too much.

"Order Gu Zhutong to speed up the intensity of the attack, Fuzhou must be taken today! Otherwise, military law will punish severely! After conquering Ganzhou, Li Jishen returned to Guangdong, still shouldering the task of staying in Guangdong, and Gu Zhutong took office as the commander-in-chief of the southern front. Chiang Kai-shek changed his tone and said: "While Zheng Junyan's large number of troops are pinned down at Niuhang Station, all units must step up their attacks. Encircle Nanchang as soon as possible. Jiansheng, where is Delin? ”

"It is not easy to hide traces near the Nanxun line, so the German neighbors decided to make a detour to Wuning and go south from the German-Wu border, which is mountainous and easy to hide. Yesterday they had already left Ruichang and entered Wuning. Bai Chongxi said, finding Li Zongren's location on the map and pointing it out to Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek nodded while watching, he didn't say anything to Li Zongren, the Seventh Army and the Fourth Army made great contributions on the battlefield in Hunan, and they were the two major forces of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

"Okay, Delin's actions are very fast, and his task is also very heavy, whether he can contain Lu Xiangting or not depends on him." Chiang Kai-shek said earnestly to Bai Chongxi.

Bai Chongxi knew what Chiang Kai-shek meant, and he hoped that he would urge Li Zongren to speed up, take De'an as soon as possible, and contain Lu Xiangting in the middle of the Nanxun line.

"Don't worry, commander-in-chief, I'll urge him again." Bai Chongxi agreed unequivocally and immediately.

Chiang Kai-shek's orders were soon issued to all places, and the battlefields in Jiangxi suddenly became fierce.

Outside the city of Fuzhou on the southern front, artillery fire flew, and the officers and men of the 14th Army of the First Army were bleeding from the city. After receiving Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, Gu Zhutong did not dare to slack off, and led Xiong Shihui, Wei Lihuang, and Xu Yuanquan to storm Fuzhou. The three division commanders came to the front line to supervise the battle, and the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army braved the rain of bullets on the city and fought hard to seize the city. Yang Chisheng and Yang Ruxuan resisted vigorously, trying to hold the last fortified city south of Nanchang; Deng Ruzhuo led the First Central Division of the Headquarters and the Jiang Zhenchen Department of the First Jiangxi Division to rush to Fuzhou through Jinxian. The cars and horses are sparkling, and the voices of people are boiling.

On the central line, Zhu Peide commanded the Third Army to launch an attack on the Li Junsheng Brigade and Liu Baoti Brigade of the 10th Division of the Fengcheng defenders after conquering Zhangshu. Li Junsheng and Liu Baoti guarded Fengcheng hard, and frequently complained to Zheng Junyan. After Lu Diping led the second army to conquer Gao'an, he defeated Tang Fushan at Zhangjiashan and advanced to Xishan along the border of Anyi and Xinjian counties. Tang Fushan was defeated in successive battles and repeatedly asked for help, but Zheng Junyan had no troops to send, unless he did not defend Nanchang.

On the northern front, Sun Chuanfang waited hard for Li Zongren to attack Jiujiang, Xie Hongxun's troops detoured from De'an to Wuning to prepare to copy Li Zongren's back road, and Lu Xiangting's troops left Tujiabu and moved closer to Jiujiang, and the encirclement had been laid down; But Li Zongren quietly led the Seventh Army to leave Ruichang, detoured to Wuning to the south, and the three armies were silent, and they left in a hurry, ignoring the order, but seeing people and horses.

On 28 September, Chiang Kai-shek led the Second Division into Gao'an and set up a general headquarters in Xiangrui Town, outside Gao'an.

The changes in the battlefield in the central and southern parts of the country attracted Sun Chuanfang's attention, and he was deeply dissatisfied with Zheng Junyan's delay in taking the Niuhang station, and even sent a telegram urging him to take the Niuhang station as soon as possible.

Zheng Junyan showed Sun Chuanfang's telegram to Peng Dequan and the other three brigade commanders, and he had to do so now.

After the night attack, Yang Genghe was worried that the casualties of the troops were too large, and every time he attacked, he secretly annihilated and slipped and slid it; Liang Hongen did the same, and his troops also suffered heavy casualties, with more than 600 casualties in a few days; The attitudes of these two people directly affected Peng Dequan.

Now that Sun Chuanfang's telegram has arrived, Sun Xinshuai, a foreign worker, is going to kill someone.

Niuhang Station was under fire, Zheng Junyan was not sure that the direction was the main attack, and that direction was the assist, but the whole line was attacked, and there was only one requirement, to conquer Niuhang Station and annihilate Zhuang Jihua.

Zhuang Jihua couldn't sit still at the headquarters, he climbed on the roof and observed the situation at the front line from a high place. Today, the enemy is attacking like crazy, and Song Xiongfu on the front has repelled five attacks in a row, but every time the enemy goes down, he changes to a group of fresh troops and launches another attack, and the position is broken through several times and blocked several times.

"Report, Battalion Commander Song asked for reinforcements."

Zhuang Jihua knew that the front was not good, Song Xiongfu was a person who knocked out teeth and swallowed blood, and he would never take the initiative to ask for reinforcements until the last moment.

"Order five companies to reinforce one battalion." At this moment, Zhuang Jihua has completely lost the elegance and warmth he used to have, he is now pale, his beard is unshaven, his eye sockets are deep, and the general's uniform on his body is no longer wrinkled.

Although the situation of the first battalion is critical, it is not what makes Zhuang Jihua the most anxious, but what he is worried about is on Xue Yue's side.

Although Liang Hongen's offensive was fierce, but his troops were not approaching, Zhuang Jihua found in the telescope that Liang Hongen always used several troops repeatedly, and the strength of this army gradually disappeared in the one-day offensive, and Song Xiongfu, who received reinforcements, would definitely be able to hold the position.

But Peng Dequan is different, he is well equipped and has strong troops, he can take 2,000 people out and repeatedly attack the three regiments, can the three regiments withstand it?

Just when Zhuang Jihua was worried, an officer rushed up from the smoke of gunpowder.

"Report....report, three regiments... The front line was broken through, the commander of the eighth battalion, Cai Yue, died, and the commander of the Xue regiment asked for reinforcements. "The officer ran too fast, and he was a little out of breath.

Today is only the sixth day, and the task is only half completed, Zhuang Jihua began to think about the time to use artillery, he has not used artillery, and he intends to stay in the final stage.

"Order the Ninth Battalion to be transferred to the command of Regiment Commander Xue."

"Order Deputy Regiment Commander Xiong to organize all political workers and people at the division headquarters and regiment headquarters and form a team."

"Order the artillery to aim at the front of the three regiments and prepare for the opening of the artillery."

Zhuang Jihua quickly issued a series of orders, which were immediately executed.

Xue Yue also stood on the roof of the small temple hall to observe the enemy's situation, Peng Dequan's madness was beyond Zhuang Jihua's imagination, he invested four regiments, continuously attacked the position of the third regiment, filled the position of the eight battalions with corpses, and the twenty-two companies were all killed, none of them survived; Peng Dequan, who succeeded, continued to attack the second-line position, Cai Yue led the 24th Company to resist desperately, Xue Yue promptly transferred 21 companies from the 7th Battalion to reinforce them, and after a bloody battle, the enemy who attacked the position was annihilated, but the battalion commander Cai Yue fell on the blood-stained ground.

Cai Yue's sacrifice brought a close to the fierce battle throughout the day, Zheng Junyan made only a little progress despite the casualties, and the soldiers of the 1st Division were covered in blood, but still blocked the enemy's attack.

When the sun sets, the earth is blood-red; The river wind was cold, but it failed to blow away the blood in the air.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I know that your casualties are heavy, but Xin Shuai has sent a telegram again, so take a look." In Zheng Junyan's headquarters, Zheng Junyan handed the telegram to the three brigade commanders with gloomy faces.

Peng Dequan sent a telegram, and Sun Chuanfang's cold and fierce voice seemed to sound in his ears immediately: "Why hasn't Niuhang Station gotten off for a long time?" How can 3,000 weak people resist tens of thousands of brave men? Do generals at all levels have the idea of preserving their strength? Military law is ruthless, I hope you will be careful!! ”

Looking at the three huge exclamation points in the back, Peng Dequan couldn't help but shudder, and Yang Genghe and Liang Hongen also showed fear after seeing it.

"Commander, you can see it all," Liang Hongencai said for a long time, "we have not preserved our strength, and today our casualties reached 500 in one day, and the battalion commander who participated in the attack lost two people, the company commander killed five people, and seriously wounded one. From the offensive to today, almost half of the casualties of our brigade and the rest of the country have been lost. ”

"I attacked two days late, and the casualties were almost a third." When he said this, Yang Genghe was extremely bitter.

"My troops have almost 1,600 casualties," Peng Dequan's voice was a little bleak, among the three, he attacked the fiercest, achieved the greatest results, and suffered the largest casualties: "Damn, what kind of army is this, where did this Zhuang Jihua jump out from, I have never heard of it before, isn't the first division the commander of Wang Bailing?" ”

"I know that you have not saved your strength, and I have already reported the situation of today's battle to Xin Shuai." Zheng Junyan understood them very well, and now he had completely put away his arrogance: "However, you guys come and see." ”

After speaking, Zheng Junyan led the three of them to the map.

"The Northern Expeditionary Army launched an attack on the middle and south routes, and at first I thought they were trying to relieve the siege of Niuxing, but now it seems that something is not right, and they may have a greater purpose."

"You see, if Deng Ruzhuo can't stop the party's Northern Expeditionary Army in Fuzhou, the Northern Expeditionary Army will occupy Jinxian, and Zhu Peide in the middle is attacking Fengcheng, if he is allowed to clear the east bank of the Ganjiang River; The Northern Expeditionary Army on the west bank conquered Xishan again, so that the Nanchang area was surrounded on three sides, and what was even more terrible was the Niuhang Station, which was stuck in our throat, whether we held Nanchang or retreated north to Jiujiang, we could not bypass this place, so we must pull out this nail. ”

Zheng Junyan observed the expressions of the three of them attentively as he spoke, and when he saw that the three of them couldn't stop nodding, he continued: "So we must get rid of this nail before the encirclement of the Northern Expeditionary Army is formed, not for others, but for ourselves." ”

(To be continued)