After reading the telegram sent by Tazawa, Sancheng immediately summoned the officers in the division and regiment to discuss the way to take back the Jiangcheng detachment around the map. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Although Jiang Cheng's detachment occupied Shitian County, its own casualties were too large, and Chengjiapo fell into the hands of the New Fourth Army, which meant that the original retreat route was cut off.

In order to smoothly respond to the withdrawal of Jiang Cheng's detachment, it is necessary to either send troops to recapture Chengjiapo, or send troops from Linchuan to occupy Yutangling and open the road from Linchuan to Shitian.

A group of officers of the 22nd Division discussed the map for a long time, and finally came up with a plan to repair the plank road and secretly cross Chencang.

It has to be said that the 22nd Division of the Japanese Army also has some talents, and after this plan was formulated, it was immediately listed as a top secret, and only the upper officers knew about it.

Not long after Shi Qiang commanded the 71st Regiment and the 72nd Regiment to eliminate the enemy in Chengjiapo, a wing of the Japanese army rushed towards Chengjiapo with murderous vigour.

After receiving the report, Shi Qiang immediately convened the cadres of the two regiments to discuss urgently, and finally believed that with the current strength of the two regiments, it was impossible to prevent the Japanese army from recapturing Chengjiapo.

After Hao Mengxuan learned that the Japanese army was killing Chengjiapo and reported to Liu Tianshu, he immediately commanded the 70th Regiment and rushed towards Chengjiapo in the starry night.

Just when Hao Mengxuan and Shi Qiang were about to concentrate the strength of the three regiments and hit the reinforcements of the devils in the area of Chengjiapo, the Japanese army in Linchuan suddenly dispatched, and before Hao Mengxuan and Shi Qiang could react, they captured Yutangling in one fell swoop, and a squadron of the county brigade guarding Yutangling was all killed, and no one retreated.

When Hao Mengxuan received the news, he happened to take the troops to meet Shi Qiang, and when he got the news, he couldn't help but look stunned, and looked at Shi Qiang with shocked eyes.

"Shi Qiang, we have been fooled, the devils of Shitian County are going to slip away through Linchuan."

At this time, Shi Qiang came to his senses, and he said to Hao Mengxuan full of self-reproach: "Brigadier Hao, it seems that we still underestimate Sancheng, an old devil. Alas, now that Yutangling has been lost, we simply cannot leave Jiang Cheng's detachment. ”

"I didn't think about this matter well, and I will ask the division commander for punishment." Hao Mengxuan felt indescribably depressed in his heart. You must know that he personally came over with the seventy regiments of starry nights, just to concentrate his forces to eliminate the devil's Jiang Cheng brigade, who would have thought that his rush would become a meaningless forced march.

Liu Tianshu received Hao Mengxuan's telegram, was silent for a long time, and handed the telegram to Jiang Jinyong on the side.

"Political commissar, it seems that I am still a little underestimated, I didn't expect the devils to withdraw from Ishida from the direction of Linchuan, alas, it seems that I can only watch Jiang Cheng and this group of devils escape." Liu Tianshu's expression was full of self-reproach.

Jiang Jinyong quickly finished reading the message, then put it down, looked at Liu Tianshu and said: "Jiang Cheng's detachment took the initiative to evacuate Ishida, this is a good thing, what is there to blame?" As long as the devils withdraw from Ishida, it means that our counter-sweep has been successful and the devils' conspiracy is bankrupt. As for failing to eliminate the Jiang Cheng detachment, I have a different opinion from you, I think it is better to be able to eliminate the Jiang Cheng detachment, but it is also a great victory to be able to drive him out of Ishida, you know, although the Jiang Cheng detachment suffered heavy casualties, but the losses of our temporary detachment are not small, and now is not the time for a decisive battle with the devils, if the independent division is greatly damaged because of the elimination of the Jiang Cheng detachment, it will not be a good thing for us to consolidate and develop the base area. ”

Although the independent division has a very strong combat capability, fighting a war has always been a matter of killing 1,000 enemies and losing 800 of themselves, and if they insist on eating the thousands of people in Jiang Cheng's detachment of the devil, even if the temporary detachment is not disabled, I am afraid that it will have to break its muscles and bones.

The current state, in Jiang Jinyong's view, should be the most ideal ending.

After listening to Jiang Jinyong's words, Liu Tianshu's heavy mood was also a little lighter, and then he sent a telegram to Hao Mengxuan and Shi Qiang, asking them to turn the annihilation of the enemy into chasing the enemy, and destroy as many enemies as possible.

Jiang Cheng received a telegram from the commander of the Sancheng Division, and learned that Yutangling had been captured by the troops sent by the 22nd Division, and immediately ordered the troops of Longguling to quickly retreat in the direction of Ishida, and at the same time ordered the Aoki Wing in the county seat of Ishida to prepare for the withdrawal of Ishida.

As for the proposal of his officers to burn the county seat of Ishida, Jiang Cheng reasoned and stopped it.

He didn't want to be hunted down by the special team sent by the New Fourth Army because he did something outrageous in Shitian County.

Shi Qiang commanded the 71st Regiment and the 72nd Regiment to immediately return to Longguling, while Hao Mengxuan commanded the 70th Regiment to quickly move north, preparing to intercept the enemy.

At the same time, the 68th Regiment, which remained in the Jiangjiawan area, also immediately pounced in the direction of Ishida.

Unfortunately, the retreat speed of Jiang Cheng's detachment was very fast, and by the time the 71st Regiment arrived at Longguling, the Japanese army had already withdrawn westward, that is, the 68th Regiment, and did not stop the troops withdrawn from Longguling.

Seeing the enemy fleeing, Shi Qiang immediately commanded the troops to pursue the north non-stop to intercept the Japanese troops who had withdrawn from Shitian, but before they arrived at Yutangling, they received a report that Jiang Cheng's detachment, under the response of the 22nd Division, had withdrawn to Linchuan through Yutangling.

Knowing that he could not catch up with the Japanese army, Shi Qiang had to order the 68th Regiment to enter Shitian County, while his 71st Regiment and 72nd Regiment stayed in Yutangling and waited for new orders from the division headquarters.

The 70th Regiment under the personal command of Hao Mengxuan rushed northward, only seizing a small unit left behind by the Japanese army as a cover, and more than 100 Japanese troops were wiped out under the thunderous blows of the 70th Regiment.

After the 70th Regiment eliminated this group of Japanese troops, Jiang Cheng's detachment and the Japanese troops who came to meet them had successfully withdrawn to Linchuan County.

After confirming that the Japanese army attacking Ishida had retreated, Liu Tianshu thought about it and decided to let Hao Mengxuan command the three regiments of the New Seventh Brigade and return to Wukang to prepare for the battle to recover Wukang.

As for the 68th Regiment of the 22nd Brigade, it remained in Ishida in case the Japanese army returned.

The futility of the Japanese attack in the south made the commander of the 17th Division, Yasushi Sakai, feel even more melancholy, but fortunately, the Nakagawa Wing went through hardships and dangers, and finally walked out of Goldfish Ridge and joined the Takahashi Wing, which made him feel more relieved.

Liu Tianshu learned that after losing more than 300 people, the Zhongchuan Wing finally joined up with the main force of the 70th Division, and could only press the idea of looking for an opportunity to attack the Zhongchuan Wing.

Not only the Nakagawa Wing, but also the Jiangkou Wing of the 17th Division, because it had reached a place less than 20 miles away from the Takahashi Wing, he also lost the opportunity to attack and encircle and annihilate the Jiangkou Wing.

Fortunately, after the 17th Division was formed, the surroundings of Changxing seemed to be very safe, and even Dingyuan Town also fell into the hands of the New Fourth Army.

Seeing that the 17th Division was heavily defended on the front line of Guangde and could not find fighters for a while, Liu Tianshu ordered the 21st Brigade to rest and replenish, and at the same time discussed with the 6th Division of the New Fourth Army in the southern Jiangsu base area, and then ordered Xie Pingcai to command the 67th Regiment and the 69th Regiment to quickly advance northward and take Yixing and Jingyang together with the 6th Division.

At this time, the enemy of Yixing was already hanging alone between the base area in southern Jiangsu and the base area of Tianmu Mountain, although the little devils worked hard there, but all the troops were less than 3,000 people. It was discovered that the New Fourth Army suddenly appeared under the city, and naturally it was heavily defended.

It's a pity that the New Fourth Army at this time is not what it was when it was short of guns and ammunition. In particular, the outer combat unit commanded by Xie Pingcai has six American-style 82 mortars and four 92 infantry guns.

After the troops quietly moved to the city of Yixing, taking advantage of the nightfall, the artillery of the 22nd Brigade suddenly opened fire, completely covering the position of the devils outside the south gate of Yixing, and the fortifications built by the devils on the hill were blown to pieces, and the soldiers guarding inside suffered heavy casualties.

The enemies of both sides were very angry when they saw each other, and they raised their guns and fired desperately at their opponents, and after the bullets were gone, they were grenades and bayonets, and after 40 minutes of fierce fighting, the Japanese positions outside the south gate were immediately lost.

When the 22nd Brigade launched an attack in the south, the 17th Brigade of the 6th Division of the New Fourth Army in the north also launched an attack at the same time.

After the 67th Regiment of the 22nd Brigade captured the Japanese position outside the South Gate, it immediately launched an attack on the South Gate, and under the continuous blows of the 22nd Brigade's artillery fire, the entire area around the South Gate was illuminated by the explosion of shells as if it were daylight, and the Japanese puppet troops guarding the city wall suffered heavy casualties.

After half an hour of fierce fighting, the first battalion of the 67th Regiment approached the south gate, and the 22nd Brigade concentrated artillery fire on the south gate, directly collapsing the wall of the south gate, and then the first battalion of the 67th Regiment entered the city from the gap.

When the devil learned that the south gate had been breached, he hurriedly drew out reserves to counterattack, and the two sides fought to the death at the south gate, at this time, the second battalion of the 67th regiment immediately rushed up.

The addition of the second battalion allowed the New Fourth Army to begin to gain the upper hand in the fierce battle, and when the mortar troops caught up, the Japanese could no longer bear the strength, left a large number of corpses, and retreated into the city.

The south gate was breached, the New Fourth Army entered the city, the Japanese puppet army guarding the other city gates was in turmoil, the troops who were besieging the city were greatly boosted, taking advantage of the panic of the devils, immediately increased the offensive, and in a blink of an eye the north gate was breached, and the west gate and the east gate were also in danger.

The commander defending the city knew that it was a matter of time before Yixing City was breached, so he immediately gathered all his troops and rushed to the west gate, trying to break through from the west, but he did not expect to encounter the resistance of the 69th Regiment of the 22nd Brigade, and the two sides were bloodied outside the city gate.

By half past eleven in the evening, the battle of Yixing came to an end with the fall of the last Japanese army.

The 22nd Brigade and the 17th Brigade of the New Sixth Division met in Yixing, and the officers and men of the two armies shouted and jumped excitedly.

Subsequently, Xie Pingcai handed over Yixing City to the 17th Brigade in accordance with Liu Tianshu's order, and led his troops to advance in the direction of Jingyang.

There were only about 1,000 devils in Jingyang, and when they learned that Yixing had been captured, a large number of New Fourth Army was rushing towards Jingyang, and immediately asked for instructions from above, and finally after the consent of the superior commander, they packed up their supplies overnight, withdrew from Jingyang, and ran west.

At this time, the Japanese army could not draw a large force to reinforce Jingyang, and if it did not take the initiative to give up Jingyang, I am afraid that these Japanese puppet troops could only become a meal on the plate of the New Fourth Army.

Xie Ping learned that the Japanese troops in Jingyang were scared away, and he couldn't help but smile dumbly, so he had to order the troops to stop advancing and take over the task of Jingyang County and hand it over to the troops of the Sixth Division of the New Fourth Army. (To be continued.) )