In winter, the pure sky was coated with ink by the smoke of gunpowder, and it became black, and the sound of guns and cannons was endless, and the Japanese army under Xinxiang City was like ants attached to the city, and the sound of explosions came and went. Dozens of cannons lined up thousands of kilometers away from the city, aiming at the city and bombarding indiscriminately, without the slightest regard for the Japanese soldiers who were besieging the city.

The Chinese defenders at the head of the city were divided into two parts, one part was desperately carrying sandbags up to fill the gap in the city wall, and the other part was shooting desperately under the command of the officer, the shells exploded around them, and the limbs flew into the air, and the city was filled with fires and smoke.

Nakajima's judgment was accurate, and from the beginning of the attack in the early morning, the first wave of the offensive launched by the three brigades commanded by Komatsu broke through the defense line of the Chinese defenders. Since the defeat of the First Group Army in Pingjin, the morale has been low, and Zhang Zizhong and Liu Ruming's troops have been transferred, and the essence of the army is left with Feng Zhi'an's 77th Army, Song Zheyuan put this army on the second line, the first line of the 53rd Army Zhou Fucheng and the 90th Army Peng Jinzhi's department, in the face of the Japanese army's decisive attack, the resistance of the two armies collapsed in half an hour. Komatsu destroyed the two lines of defense they had set up, and then ran straight for Shingo.

The 32nd Army, which Furushu faced on the right flank, also quickly retreated after the frontal collapse, and the resistance of the Shiyou 3rd Division was even weaker, and the forward of the Lucao Brigade easily broke through his defense.

After breaking through on the whole front, Nakajima quickly put the main force of the Lucao Brigade into the left flank, and used the rapid maneuver of the cavalry to pursue the retreating 32nd Army, regardless of the right flank squadron that was fleeing, and went straight to the city of Xinxiang.

The 32nd Army tried to form a blocking line, Lucao made full use of the rapid maneuver of the cavalry, and constantly attacked from the flanks, and the 32nd Army quickly turned from an orderly retreat to a rout. Shang Zhen had no choice but to order the guards to write orders on a traffic artery and let the troops assemble in Zhengzhou.

The 77th Army, which was in the second line, held on to Xinxiang under the leadership of the army commander Feng Zhi'an, but Feng Zhi'an did not expect that when the eastern part of Henan was fighting fiercely, the frontal Japanese army would actually attack, and the intelligence from the theater command indicated that the frontal Japanese army would take defense, of course, he did not expect that the front would collapse so quickly.

Caught off guard, the outer positions were quickly lost, and the troops were forced to shrink back to the city, and the Japanese army did not stop or rest at all, and then launched an attack on Xinxiang, which was suddenly in a storm.

In the evening, the commander of the 179th Division, He Jifeng, was wounded, and the two brigade commanders were killed and wounded, and the troops were forced to retreat, and the 132nd Division fighting in the east of the city was defeated, and now the 37th Division in the city is still holding out. Li Zongren, commander of the theater of operations, sent an urgent telegram informing him that the 32nd Army had collapsed, that the 3rd Division of Shiyou could no longer be contacted, that the 53rd Army had broken west and fled to Wuwa, and that the vanguard of the Japanese cavalry had appeared outside Xiuwu City, hoping that he would be able to hold on to Xinxiang and win time for the theater to adjust its deployment.

After Feng Zhi'an visited the telegram, he tore the telegram to shreds, and reports of defeat were frequently spread everywhere, and the 53rd Army actually ran nearly 100 miles in one day and fled to Wushe, how much strength did the Japanese army invest to launch an attack? Feng Zhi'an was a little annoyed and uneasy when he thought of this.

"Boom!" The shells exploded nearby, the houses were burning, a group of soldiers were hurrying to the city to reinforce the city, the sky was getting dark, but the Japanese offensive showed no signs of abating, but became more violent, Feng Zhi'an had a bad feeling in his heart.

The resolute resistance of the 37th Division brought a lot of trouble to Nakajima, who was not worried about the squadron on the left and right flanks, and the reports from the two flanks showed that the squadron had no other move at all except to escape, and his only concern was that if it was delayed too much time in Xinxiang, it would have a major impact on the future river crossing operation. But he can't bypass Xinxiang, Xinxiang is the defensive support point he set, after he leads the main force south, Gushu will rely on Xinxiang to cover the flank of the main force of the front army.

"The offensive cannot be stopped, attack overnight, and Xinxiang must be occupied tonight," Nakajima said to Muramura with an expressionless face, "Order Oga Nakasa to attack immediately, order the brigade guards, and be ready to enter the battle at any time." ”

The sound of artillery became more violent, and the Japanese saw that the squadron lacked artillery, so they simply pushed the cannon to a place more than 800 meters away from the city wall, put the muzzle of the cannon flat, aimed at the head of the city, and cleaned it up meter by meter. Oga led the troops to pounce on the city, and five hundred meters behind him was the brigade guard led by Nakajima himself, everyone put on their bayonets, and Nakajima stood in front of the team, holding a pillar to command the knife, and looked seriously at the burning city in the distance.

"I'm sorry! Your Excellency, I did not make it to the city. Aoki, covered in blood, stood in front of Nakajima in shame, and behind him was a group of retreating soldiers, tired and dirty, and a few wounded men wrapped in discolored bandages, struggling to stand with the support of their comrades.

"I said before the war that there is no advance or retreat in this battle, and I know that you have done your best, but..., be loyal to the emperor, I will report to my superiors that you died heroically." Nakajima said expressionlessly.

Aoki was stunned when he heard this, Mu Ran turned around and left, and knelt down in front of all the soldiers: "Gentlemen, please, fight the Yellow River!" After speaking, he pulled out his command knife, aimed it at his stomach, and stabbed it violently: "Your Majesty the Emperor, long live!" "His deputy, Ikejo, shot him in the head.

Chi Cheng put away the pistol expressionlessly, then picked up Aoki's command knife, and turned to face the soldiers: "The Great Japanese Empire has a long military fortune!" After saying that, he raised his command knife and rushed forward.

"Hooray!"

"Hooray!"

The tired soldiers plucked up the courage to charge again.

Nakajima stood there steadily, not moving at all, and Murashita stood half a step behind him, and a tragic aura spread among the soldiers.

The fighting became more and more fierce.

The night sky was lit red, the shouts were incessant, and the explosions rang out so loudly that by midnight the Japanese were once again storming the walls, and the Chinese defenders inside seemed to be powerless to hold them back.

"Follow me, forward!" Nakajima drew his command knife, pointed diagonally ahead, and stepped forward with a roar, and the brigade guard squadron followed him with a neat pace.

"Hooray!"

With this shout, hundreds of people began to run quickly, the bayonets shining in the firelight, and the bulky military coats had long been thrown aside.

Nakajima led the guards into the city, and the morale of the soldiers who were fighting hard was greatly boosted, and the energy seemed to return to their bodies, and the weakening offensive immediately resumed.

"Commander, you can't stop it, let's go!" Zhang Lingyun, the commander of the 37th Division, rushed into Feng Zhi'an's headquarters, Feng Zhi'an sat in the headquarters with a painful face, the group army was completely out of control, and all the troops outside the city had fled, and now the 37th Division was still resisting.

"Let me die here!" Feng Zhi'an suddenly broke out, he pulled out his pistol and pointed it at his head, and the guards around him were quick and grabbed his arm, "Bang!" "Bullets flew into the sky.

"Stay in the green mountains and don't be afraid of no firewood, put the commander on the shelf, go!" Zhang Lingyun stomped his foot and waved his hand to order, and several guards hurriedly set up Feng Zhi'an, who was struggling, and walked out.

In the early hours of the morning, there were still scattered gunfire in Xinxiang City, and the Japanese army had taken control of the whole city, leaving only sporadic gunfire indicating that there were still Chinese soldiers resisting.

At dawn, the last Chinese soldier was barricaded in a dilapidated courtyard, the houses of which had been completely destroyed, and hundreds of Japanese soldiers surrounded the area, and the Chinese soldier hid in a corner and continued to shoot.

"This is an excellent soldier of the ** army, I hope you can all fight until the last moment like him." Nakajima shouted out to the soldiers around him, filthy but refreshed, and no one stood up to refute the words that were obviously the enemy's majesty.

"To end his actions with artillery fire, this is the highest reward for a military man." Nakajima gave a slight salute in the direction of the soldier, then turned and left.

An explosion sounded behind him, and there was no more resistance in Xinxiang City, and the iron hooves of the imperial army crushed all obstacles.

"Your Excellency! Lucao-kun is back! Murashita came to report that at this moment, the brigade was full of admiration for Nakajima, and with more than 10,000 troops, he defeated the enemy several times his own and conquered the city heavily guarded by the enemy, which was extremely glorious.

"It's wonderful." Nakajima raised his eyebrows, and his originally emotionless voice brought a hint of surprise: "Invite him over immediately." ”

Soon the complacent Lucao rushed to the city, galloping more than 100 miles in one night, both the horses and him looked a little tired, but his spirit was still full.

"General." Shikacao trotted in front of Nakajima and raised his hand to salute, Nakajima smiled modestly, he understood the meaning of Shikaca's move, which was to express his apology for yesterday's behavior: "The 1st Cavalry Brigade has successfully completed its mission, and all the officers and men of the brigade have inexplicable admiration for the excellent command of the general, and they have entrusted me to pay tribute to the general and apply for a new mission at the same time. ”

Nakajima calmly accepted Lucao's respect, looked at his horse with a slight frown, and asked thoughtfully: "Going back and forth for more than 100 miles overnight, even if people can bear it, is the horse okay?" ”

"Our horses are Japanese horses," said Shikacao proudly, "drink some water, eat some food, and you can gallop again." ”

"But I'm afraid you don't even have time to drink water and eat." Nakajima said.

Lucao was stunned for a moment, and then said loudly: "That's nothing, after defeating the ** army, we have time to drink water and eat food." ”

"That's it, I'm afraid there will be an hour before dawn, you should hurry up and rest as soon as possible, as soon as the sky is bright, set off immediately, pursue the ** army, or like that, don't attack, from the flanks, from behind, keep hitting them, you must not let them form a front, and keep driving them into the Yellow River." Nakajima said.

"Hayi, please rest assured, I will drive them into the Yellow River and use their corpses to build a bridge to Henan for us!" Deer grass saluted and turned to leave.

Looking at the back of Lucao's departure, Nakajima is not like those soldiers who are carnivaling, he knows very well in his heart that occupying Xinxiang is only the first step, if he can't break through to Henan, all the sacrifices today will be in vain.

When a hint of fish belly white was revealed on the edge of the sky, Nakajima led the troops to leave Xinxiang, and Furuki led all the remaining troops to watch Nakajima gradually disappear on the battered city wall. Further ahead of Nakajima, the First Cavalry Brigade led by Lucao had already set off, and the smoke and dust they rolled up formed a yellow smoke band.

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