The stubborn resistance of the Japanese army delayed Luo Zhuoying's offensive for a long time, and Lao Chiang could not sit still, and he sent a harshly worded telegram to the Anqing front: "... The besieged Japanese army is no more than 10,000, there is no food and ammunition inside, and there is no rescue soldier outside, this is the best opportunity for our army to annihilate the enemy in Anqing, why can it not succeed so far, limited to 7 days, it is necessary to occupy the first line of Yangzhuang and Jiangzhuang......".

In the typical Lao Chiang style, once the battle is not satisfactory, the old man takes command himself. When Luo Zhuoying received the telegram, he did not dare to slack off at all, and hurriedly convened an operational meeting overnight to discuss offensive methods.

At that time, there were a total of 3 armies in the ** army that surrounded and annihilated the Japanese army, in addition to the 21st Army responsible for defending the Yangtze River in Anqingdong, the others were Yu Jishi's 74th Army, Huang Wei's 18th Army, and Xia Chuzhong's 79th Army. At the tactical meeting held by these army commanders in coordination with the division commanders, everyone agreed with Wang Yaowu's suggestion that each division should be responsible for an offensive area, agree on a time, and then carry out the attack at the same time.

In the early morning of June 6, after 2 hours of artillery preparation, the squadron concentrated the main force of 8 divisions and began the largest offensive since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.

10 days ago, it was the Japanese army attacking, and the squadron was holding on to death, but now it is the other way around. The squadron went forward one after another, like the Japanese army launched a charge again and again, and the besieged Japanese army was still fighting, even if it was surrounded, it would never retreat, and fierce white-knives battles broke out everywhere on the position.

Bullying the Japanese army without shells, ** pushed the mountain artillery to the front line and bombarded the Japanese stronghold fiercely. As soon as the devil's heavy machine gun appeared, it was immediately attacked by mortars and even mountain artillery in less than 5 minutes. Some troops carried out close operations on the ground where possible, advancing step by step, and the samples were all good, and there was a ready-made specimen in the moon-shaped mountain.

Everything was reversed, and the soldiers of the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Japanese Army picked up their rifles one after another and threw themselves into battle, because of the shortage of guns and ammunition, some Japanese soldiers cut branches into spears.

Is this still the Japanese army! Is it still the 6th Division and the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, which are famous for their elite and firepower!

"Outside, outside, ** great victory, the ** soldiers on the front line of Anqing made significant progress in the offensive yesterday, and the destruction of the Japanese is imminent..."

"The situation of the Japanese army in Jixian Pass is extremely miserable, the day before yesterday they were still feeding on snail grass roots, and now the corpse of the Japanese army is dissected and found that the stomach and intestines are full of sediment..."

"The blocking force of our army in the trailer river once again repelled the Japanese attack, and Commander-in-Chief Yang Sen said that our defense line is impregnable, and within 10 days, the Japanese army must not take a step closer..."

……

Before the war was won, the Chinese propaganda machine began to publicize it in a big way, especially on July 7, the first anniversary of the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, all newspapers and public opinion in the rear were dispatched. On the street, any newspaper on the front line of Anqing was immediately snatched up by the excited crowd, and the newspaper sales of the day increased by 5 times!

Shanghai, Nanjing, and Xuzhou were lost one after another, and in order to stop the momentum of the Japanese army's frantic advance, China even blew up the embankment of the Yellow River, and several provinces were affected, and no good news came back from the front line. This time, when I heard that two Japanese brigades and regiments had been encircled, it was inevitable that the Chinese people would be happy.

In such large cities as Hankou and Nanchang, several marches and rallies were organized, calling on people to donate money and materials to defend Anqing and Wuhan!

There was a long queue in front of the recruitment office, especially when I heard that the soldiers there would enter the 107th Division, and the registration was extremely enthusiastic, a large number of citizens and patriotic young people lined up for a kilometer, and the cadres of the recruitment office of the 107th Division tested the physical and intellectual conditions of the applicants and screened them.

On the Anqing front, there were not only attacking soldiers and supporting people, but also a large number of domestic and foreign reporters arrived, as if they were going to attend a grand banquet. In particular, military attachés of Britain, France, the United States, and other Western countries stationed in China also came to the battlefield to observe the battle situation and take the opportunity to evaluate the performance of the Chinese and Japanese armies.

Among them was Stilwell, who had been to China since 1911 and arrived in Hankow from Peking at the end of last year, and is now the U.S. military attaché in China. His mission was to observe the performance of the Chinese and Japanese armies, especially the performance of the Japanese army, a potential enemy of the United States, and then report back to the United States, which was used by the United States to assess the situation in China.

After arriving in Wuhan, the colonel, who was known for his "vinegar character", repeatedly proposed to the Chinese side to go to the front line for observation, but it was never approved by the Chinese side, according to him, because he was afraid that "foreigners would see and report on their clumsy command and defeat." He was very dissatisfied with the lack of initiative and offensive spirit of the squadron.

"Dorne, the Chinese have finally done the right thing, they are attacking." After visiting the frontline during the day, he said to his subordinate, Captain Dorne.

"Qiao, they can win the battle now, just now it was Mingguang and Taierzhuang, and now it's Anqing."

"Yes, Dorne, China has very good soldiers, they fight very bravely, they can keep fighting with a little food, but the Chinese officers are so incompetent, what happens if there are officers with an offensive spirit to lead them, and then let the soldiers have enough food and good weapons?"

"Joe, you can go and meet a division commander here, it is said that he studied in the United States, and he and his troops may meet the conditions you said." Captain Dorne shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile.

"Okay, you go and contact Colonel Wang here tomorrow and arrange a meeting with Xu Ming for me."

Of course, Stilwell couldn't see Xu Ming, he was in the trailer river at the moment.

The Japanese army has been attacking continuously since July 1, but as of today, it has been seven days, and the Japanese army has not advanced an inch.

Xu Ming was still cheering up his subordinates, "The devils are really stupid, Captain Xie, do you know how the devil died?" ”

Xie Jinyuan was accustomed to Xu Ming's cold humor, and said cooperatively: "Naturally, he was killed by our army." ”

"Hi, wrong! Devils are stupid! ”

Xu Ming sat on a slightly dry ground, and a group of subordinates next to him scattered around him, listening to their division commander blowing.

"The offensive war is most afraid of adding oil tactics, the devils are adding oil from Beiping Taiyuan, and they are still adding oil in Shanghai and Xuzhou, and now here, they are still adding oil, if the devils are smarter, concentrate their forces early, not to mention Anqing, even Taihu Lake has been taken."

There was laughter at the bottom.

Although Okamura Ninji has always asked the Japanese army in Tongcheng not to rush to attack, and to wait for reinforcements from all walks of life, especially artillery units, to arrive before attacking, but Inaba Shiro can't wait that long, and the Sakamoto division of Jixian Pass is killing war horses, thinking of batches of war horses that are used as food, Inaba Shiro's heart is trembling.

Japanese soldiers are easy to replenish, but war horses are not easy to replenish!

As a result, when the first troops of about 5,000 men arrived, Shiro Inaba could not wait to attack the Trailer River.

Although the 107th Division did not rest and still forced its march to arrive, the victorious troops did not need to consider morale, Xu Ming immediately ordered a small number of troops to defend the key points, and then concentrate mobile forces to carry out a counterattack.

The two sides launched a fierce battle, and when the stalemate came, the reinforcements of the squadron arrived first, and the 31st Army of the Gui Army, which arrived, was outflanked from the flank, and Inaba Shiro finally tasted the bitter fruit of the hasty attack, not only did not capture an inch of land, but was also forced to retreat from the offensive position.

When he was passive, the captain of the 48th Wing, Kato Keyhei, decided to carry out a night attack, but he was unexpectedly ambushed by the squadron, losing more than 500 soldiers, and Kato was also killed.

On July 4, a wing of the 106th Division arrived, and Inaba Shiro launched another attack, this time even worse than the last time, Xu Ming commanded the troops, using heavy machine guns and mountain artillery to block the Japanese advance and retreat routes, and then concentrated the Gui army and his own troops to divide and surround the Japanese army one by one, and then encircle and annihilate.

After one day, the Japanese army was defeated, and several formed squadrons were completely wiped out, some of them were surrounded and compressed in a mountainous area, and they were bombarded by the first squadron artillery fire.

What about the artillery of the Japanese army, in Jixian Pass! The Japanese troops in Tongcheng did not have a single artillery, and the artillery of other Japanese units supporting it did not arrive.

After repelling the Japanese army, Xu Ming did not give up, regardless of fatigue, concentrated all troops, including reserves, and carried out a large-scale night attack. How could the Japanese army, which had just failed in the attack, resist it, and it was a big defeat, and the division commander Shiro Inaba was in a hurry to jump into the river, but he couldn't change the situation. On July 5th, the Japanese army retreated to Tongcheng and relied on the city wall to defend it!

"Eight squares! Does Inaba know what he's doing! ”

It was Okamura Ninji who was angry, he had always given his subordinates a lenient image, but this time he went berserk, and the reinforcements not only did not succeed, but he was also defeated by his opponents one after another.

Now that even Tongcheng is surrounded by people, is there still someone to send someone to save Inaba Shiro!

Chief of Staff Miyamoto Sadachi found a reason for Inaba, "Inaba-kun is too impatient, and the predicament of Jixianguan has made him lose his normal heart. ”

"Then why are we always making mistakes, in Mawo, in Jixian Pass, in Tongcheng, could it be that the generals of the imperial army only know how to attack and never think about anything else!" Speaking of which, Gangcun was almost venting, and now he was about to lose his normal heart.

The subordinates and staff were silent, at this time, who dared to talk nonsense to make the commander angry.

"The smoke is coming!" The guards at the door shouted loudly.

Yan Junliu saw that there was a map of the front line hanging in the conference room, and various small flags were densely placed on the sand table in the middle, marking the location of both the enemy and us, and the headquarters was placed in Tongcheng.

"Gangcun, did you disturb your meeting?" Yan Junliu asked.

Hearing Yan Junliu say this, Okamura Ninji smiled bitterly, "What's the use of having a meeting, besides, will the front line listen to what is said at the meeting!" ”

Yan Junliu and Okamura Ningji have a very good relationship, whether it is in the staff headquarters or in Northeast China, the two often come and go, and they feel the same way when they hear Gangcun complaining.

"The emperor ** people are confused by the war exploits, Shanghai should not be attacked at all, and Nanjing should not be attacked Xuzhou, now, hey!" Yan Junliu sighed deeply when he said this.

"Your Excellency, your opinion is not popular in the provincial department."

"yes, so it's too ironic that I was sent to China to let a person who 'does not expand' come here to expand the war."

"The people in the country despise the Zhina too much, thinking that they can give in with one blow, without saving their face at all, before coming, the Prince of Donggong told me that this time the waist of the Zhina people will be broken, so that they will not be able to straighten for ten years, and they don't realize how vast the battlefield of Zhina is."

"Hey, war, you have to fight to know!"