During these 10 days, the Admiralty repeatedly inquired about the repair of the gunboats, and demanded that the gunboats eliminate the problems as soon as possible and immediately eliminate the guerrillas, so as to ensure the smooth progress of the third anti-encirclement and suppression. However, the gunboat's call repeatedly prevaricated and emphasized objective reasons, which aroused the suspicion of the Admiralty. Immediately, the commander of the navy, Chen Shaokuan, ordered the wharf of Duchang County to dispatch two patrol gunboats to Tianshui Island to find out. It stands to reason that the gunboat's failure is not great, and it is indeed unreasonable to say that the obstacle has not been removed for 10 days, so that the enemy is not a fool naturally arouses suspicion.

On this day, Tao Yong commanded two gunboats to conduct normal exercises on the south side of Sweetwater Island, and as the commander of the fleet, he had to quickly enter the role and master the relevant knowledge of warships as soon as possible. After Mu Shixiong handed over the battleship to Tao Yong, he naturally wanted to let him be on his own. In order to strengthen the island's defenses, Mu Shixiong stayed on the shore to build fortifications and deploy air defense to the maximum.

On this day, the sun was shining, the lake was rippling, the vision was wide and the visibility was very good, and it was a good weather for water training. On the lake, the two gunboats were driving side by side, riding the wind and waves, and at this time, Tao Yong was standing on the command platform of Hongxing No. 2, with a telescope hanging on his chest, his immature face was full of energy, and he was holding a telescope in his hand to look ahead.

Next to him was the captain Wang Changshui, who took the opportunity to chatter about something. I heard that Tao Yong once served as a guard for Ouyang Jian, and this background made Wang Changshui worship Tao Yong with a high mountain admiration. Who Ouyang Jian is, especially this Red Army special combat team, which is extraordinary and unusual, makes him think that Ouyang Jian's future is limitless, and he will dominate one side in the future. Wang Changshui's choice to join the Red Army was not because of a sudden increase in consciousness, but because he was just looking for a way out for himself.

"Not good, there are two gunboats in front!" Tao Yong was puzzled. Wang Changshui raised the binoculars in his hand and checked: "It's the patrol gunboat at the dock of Duchang County, there are 4 patrol gunboats at the dock of Duchang County, I suspect that they are here to understand the situation." Sir, it seems that we can't hide it any longer, this must have been sent by the Admiralty to understand the situation, and the two sides will gang up as soon as they meet each other. "In that case, let's invite you into the urn, you will be the protagonist in a while, we will sing a ** corner play, I will capture the ······ of these two gunboats."

Nanchang camp, Lao Jiang's figure appeared. The fiasco of the second large-scale encirclement and suppression made it impossible for Chiang Zhongzheng to sit firmly in the Jinluan Palace, so he wanted to personally go out to serve as the commander-in-chief of the suppression, and invited military advisers from Germany, Japan, Britain and other countries to camp in Nanchang and personally command the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army in the Jiangxi base area. The fiasco of the second encirclement and suppression made Lao Chiang truly realize the horror of the Red Army. To this end, Lao Jiang mobilized the descendants of the Central Army, including the quasi-elite 6th Division Zhao Guantao, the 8th Division Jiang Dingwen, the 11th Division Luo Zhuoying, the 14th Division Chen Cheng, and the 5th Division Zhou Hunyuan (this 5th Division is repeatedly part of the Central Army).

The 10th Division Wei Lihuang Division, Li Yannian's 12th Siege Independent Brigade, the 55th Division Nguyen Zhao Chang, the 57th Division Li Songshan Division, and the 2nd Cavalry Division were recruited to participate in the battle. Not counting the original troops left in Jiangxi, the enemy army increased its strength by 180,000 to participate in the encirclement and suppression. The total strength of the enemy army amounted to 400,000 men, that is, 4 separate brigades of 28 divisions. In addition, the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th air squadrons were requisitioned to participate in the battle, and the enemy's increased air force seemed frightening, but in fact the number of fighters serving as air strikes did not increase, and the increased air squadrons were mainly for reconnaissance and transport missions.

Lao Jiang wanted to win the battle this time, so he formed a left, center, and right three route armies, He Yingqin, commander-in-chief of the middle route group army, Zhao Guantao of the 6th Division (Zhao Guantao was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy), Jiang Dingwen of the 8th Division, Zhou Hun Yuan of the 5th Division, Luo Zhuoying of the 11th Division, Zhou Zhe of the 22nd Division, Chen Cheng of the 14th Division, Mao Bingwen of the 9th Division, and the main force of the Central Route Army was to seek a decisive battle with the main Red Army, and strive to concentrate superior forces to eliminate the Red Army units in the central base area.

The commander-in-chief of the Left Route Group Army is Chen Mingshu, and the 60th Division Cai Tingkai Division (Cai Tingkai is the former enemy commander-in-chief), the Dai Ji Division of the 61st Division, the Han Deqin Division of the 52nd Division (to supplement the two brigades that were annihilated), the Shangguan Yun Division of the 47th Division (to supplement the two brigades that were annihilated), Hao Mengling's 54th Division, the 25th Division Sun Lianzhong, and the 27th Division Gao Shuxun, seeking a decisive battle with the main Red Army. The commander-in-chief of the Right Route Group Army was Zhu Shaoliang, and the 24th Division under his jurisdiction Xu Kexiang (Xu Kexiang was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy) was stationed in De'an County.

The 39th Division Wang Jun was stationed in Jiujiang City, the 27th Division Yang Jian's Division was stationed in Yongxiu County, the 55th Division Li Songshan was stationed in Fengyun County, the 57th Division Ruan Zhaochang was stationed in Jing'an County, and the 2nd Cavalry Division was stationed in Gao'an County to provide support at any time. The main purpose of the enemy's right army group was to blockade Ouyang Jian, and this deployment was aimed at preventing the Red 5th Army from fighting on the outside line, and this plan was proposed by German military advisers.

In addition, the 10th Division of Wei Lihuang and Li Yannian's 12th Siege Independent Brigade, as the general reserve, were located in Anyi County, which was adjacent to the west of Nanchang, mainly to prevent Ouyang Jian from fighting southward. Other deployments are: Li Yunjie's division of the 23rd Division, Lu Xiaochen's division of the 79th Division, and the 10th Independent Brigade, which are responsible for the front-line clearing, garrisoning, and maintenance of the rear in Wuzhou. Gong Bingpan's 28th Division, Luo Lin's 77th Division, and Ma Kun's 34th Brigade of the 12th Division were tasked with intercepting the Red Army's westward crossing of the Ganjiang River. Zhang Zhen's 49th Division, Li Yunheng's 53rd Division, and Zhou Zhiqun's newly formed 14th Brigade guarded against the Red Army's eastward advance on the Fujian-Guangdong border.

On this day, Lao Chiang was listening to the deployment of various departments, and a communications officer hurriedly ran in to report: "Report, the Admiralty has called, confirming that the shallow water gunboats Xianning and Chongning of the 2nd Fleet of the Navy have been captured by the Red Army, and Sweet Water Island has been occupied by the Red Army, in addition, 4 patrol gunboats, 2 tugboats, and 18 barges have been captured by the Red Army. When they heard this, they were shocked. What's going on, it's so hard that it's a fantasy? Lao Jiang looked at everyone, and none of them could answer. A Japanese adviser said in fluent Chinese: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, this must be the work of Ouyang Jianbu. ”

"According to our research, Ouyang Jian's Red Army units, unlike other Red Army units, often have amazing actions and carry out incredible military operations. Obviously, Ouyang Jian's plot gunboat was carefully prepared, there is no doubt about this, so it should be highly valued! Regarding the analysis of the Japanese advisers, Lao Jiang said angrily: "Immediately order the 5th and 7th air teams of Jiujiang and Jingdezhen to bomb Tianshui Island and sink the submarine gunboat to ensure the absolute safety of Poyang Lake." "Ouyang Jian's tactics are simply too weird, and Lao Jiang is furious, and a shadow is born in his heart.

Under Lao Chiang's order, the 5th Air Force in Jiujiang dispatched three bombers, and the 7th Air Force in Jingdezhen dispatched three bombers to launch an air raid on Tianshui Island. As soon as the battle began, Tao Yong commanded two gunboats and four patrol gunboats, maneuvering on the north and south sides of the pier to evade and defend against the air at the same time. In order to reduce losses, two tugboats and 18 barges were deployed in the middle of the wharf to anchor, and all the personnel on board were evacuated to the shore. The move was also to attract bombers to choose targets. Distract the intensity of strikes by enemy aircraft on gunboats.

Mu Shixiong commanded the anti-aircraft defense on the shore, and since all the heavy machine guns were deployed on the gunboats, he temporarily ordered all the light machine guns to form anti-aircraft fire, and also ordered all special combat personnel to use sniper rifles to shoot at the air. Lao Chiang's telegram ordered the gunboats to be blown up in strict terms, so the enemy planes attacked frantically as soon as they came up. Enemy planes were the first to spot tugboats and barges in the middle of the pier and took the lead in bombarding them. Since tugboats and barges are stationary, fatal blows are inevitable.

Four bombers dropped bombs in two rounds, one tugboat was hit, and with a deafening explosion, the tugboat was hit and then ignited a fire. Later, several barges also caught fire, and the bombing effect was remarkable. The first blow hit, and the bomber pilots seemed to have come to the spirit, so they became more emboldened, and turned to attack the gunboats in the north and south. There were anti-aircraft guns on the gunboats, and the bomber pilots knew it well, so they first used high-altitude horizontal bombing, and the bombs exploded on both sides of the gunboat, stirring up a very terrifying column of water, but the high-altitude horizontal bombing effect was not good.

Six bombers were aimed at two gunboats, and two rounds of attacks did not work. The enemy planes changed their tactics to reduce their altitude, avoiding the front and rear fire of the gunboats, and switched to attacking from the left and right sides. At this time, a bomber was bold and launched an attack from the direction of the island to the side of the Xianning. This direction happened to be the protective area of the special combat team, and all the light machine guns were fired at the same time, and the special combat team members also held sniper rifles to shoot, so that the bomber pilot was very panicked.

The anti-aircraft fire of the special operators on the island interfered with the bomber pilots, and then relaxed the defense of the gunboat anti-aircraft guns and rotating machine guns. I saw an 88-meter anti-aircraft gun accurately concentrating on the tail of the bomber, and the tail of the plane was missing. Then the dense rain of bullets from the rotating machine guns concentrated in the cockpit, and the bomber was seen spinning over the Xianning and plunging into the lake, and then a large explosion was produced. A bomber was shot down, and morale was boosted. However, the situation was not one-sided, and the Chongning was hit by a bomb in its side, and a large hole was blown out.

But the other bomber was equally doomed, the pilot was concentrated by heavy machine-gun bullets, and the bomber staggered headlong into the depths of the island, and a thick cloud of black smoke rose ······ with a violent explosion. Three days after the air raid, an operational staff officer in the Nanchang camp reported: "The air force reported that after three days of air raids, no gunboats were sunk. Two bombers were lost and 3 were wounded. At present, bombers are being requisitioned from various airfields and bombed one after another. The veteran's face was very ugly when he heard this. The German adviser stepped forward and said: "Your Excellency, the number of bombers imported by your country is limited and the performance is outdated, and it is recommended to stop bombing and implement it before it is too late after the purchase of new bombers. ”

The German adviser continued: "The temporary blockade of Poyang Lake has been implemented, the encirclement and suppression army has been deployed, and the top priority is to launch a devastating blow to the Red Army!" "Japanese and British military advisers also agree." There must be no mistake in ordering the air force to stop bombing and blockade the entrance of the Yangtze River at Poyang Lake and the entrance to the Ganjiang River at Poyang Lake. Lao Chiang understood what the German advisers meant, even if two gunboats were blown up and sunk, I am afraid that the bombers would be completely lost, and if this was the case, it would be very detrimental to the encirclement and suppression operation.

At the same time that the enemy stopped bombing, the curtain of the third large-scale encirclement and suppression of the base area was opened again.