The sky was full of stars, and the walls of the military headquarters were hung with horse lanterns, which glowed dimly. Army Commander Xiao Ke held a telegram from the Corps Headquarters in his hand and reported: "The headquarters is calling, the 4 divisions of the 20th Army of the Sichuan Army have arrived at Fengjing Station, and they will immediately make a radio call to get in touch with the 20th Army. In addition, I telegraphed to Wang Yizhe, commander of the 67th Army, that I should contact the radio every hour, and I want to know about the situation north of Songjiang! "Commander, the 15th Brigade, 46th Brigade, 47th Brigade of the 47th Division, and the 48th Brigade of the 16th Division have all entered the position."

Chief of Staff Zhang Shiying continued: "The 49th and 50th Brigades of the 16th Division, the Military Headquarters Guard Regiment are on standby as a general reserve!" In addition, a cavalry reconnaissance detachment has been ordered to operate on the southwest side of the Xingta to closely monitor the situation of the Japanese division. "Report, the 127th regiment has withdrawn!" Accompanied by a combat staff officer, the regiment commander Chen Jun walked in with a sign of dust: "Report to the army commander, Chen Jun led his troops to withdraw and ask for instructions!" Xiao Ke stepped forward and shook Chen Jun's hand and said, "Congratulations on your excellent completion of the blocking mission, and tell me about the situation of the Japanese army・・・・・・." ”

On the southwest side of Fengjing Station, countless figures are gathering in the dark, and the vanguard of the Sichuan army is building fortifications. A group of war horses galloped over, all the generals jumped off the war horses in turn, and the army commander Yang Sen led the military headquarters to arrive. The 134th Division of the 20th Army of the Sichuan Army arrived at the Songhu battlefield in early October, and was immediately assigned to the command of Xue Yue of the 19th Group Army. The division fought the bloody nature of the Sichuan army in the counterattack in the Laoqiao area, and was praised by Lao Jiang. Subsequently, the 133rd Division rushed to the battle, and the two divisions of the Sichuan Army showed great courage, and after continuous hard fighting, the attrition was amazing.

In late October, the 134th and 133rd Divisions of the Sichuan Army withdrew to the Liantang area to rest and recuperate, and the 135th and 136th Divisions rushed to the battlefield in the later stage to converge. The strength of each division of the Sichuan army is about 7,000 people, and the weapons and equipment of the original historical Sichuan army are extremely poor, the rifles are all old sleeves, the number of rifles in a company is only half, and there is not a single light machine gun. Due to the butterfly effect of Ouyang Jian, the weapons and equipment of the Sichuan army have been greatly improved. The soldiers were generally equipped with the standard weapons eliminated by the Eighth Route Army in Jiangxi, with each company equipped with a light machine gun and a battalion unit equipped with a heavy machine gun.

The regimental units had dozens of mortars, and relatively speaking, the Sichuan army's weapons and equipment in the entire Songhu battle were still the worst. The 133rd and 134th Divisions lost half of their strength in successive fierce battles, and the 135th and 136th Divisions of the Sichuan Army, which arrived in the later period, almost did not participate in the battle and were fully manned, so the four divisions of the Sichuan Army had less than 20,000 troops. At this time, Army Commander Yang Sen was checking the position, and an operational staff officer ran over to report: "Report to the army commander, I have contacted the military headquarters of the 5th Army of the Eighth Route Army!" ”

An operational staff officer in the military headquarters continued to report: "Xiao Ke, commander of the 5th Army of the Eighth Route Army, reported that at midnight a company of engineers, grenadiers, and bazookas would arrive respectively. In addition, the Eighth Route Army supported 30 light machine guns, 10 heavy machine guns, 30 mortars, and 3 radio stations. Commander Yang Sen was overjoyed when he heard this: "Please tell Commander Xiao that our department resolutely obeys the command of the Eighth Route Army. Never let the Japanese army outflank from the west! "The coordinated operation of the Eighth Route Army gave Yang Sen confidence.

At midnight, the commander of the 6th Division, Gu Shoufu, led the division headquarters to the south side of the Xingta. A brigade commander reported: "According to the report of the reconnaissance unit, the Eighth Route Army has built fortifications, and the cavalry reconnaissance unit of the Eighth Route Army has been found on the west side of Xingta, and it is obvious that the Eighth Route Army is on guard on the west side!" "The purpose of the 6th Division is to be brave and good at fighting, and we must make a frontal assault to defeat the spirit of the Eighth Route Army. As for the outflanking operation, leave it to the 114th Division! "Gu Shoufu is full of confidence.

An operational staff officer reported: "Your Excellency, the heavy artillery brigade is entering positions one after another, and the deployment will be completed at about 4 o'clock in the morning. "Report, the military headquarters called, the 18th Division will arrive at the Zhujing line tomorrow morning." An operational staff officer reports. "If we wait for the deployment of the 18th Division, I'm afraid it will take until noon tomorrow. Without waiting for them to be the first to attack, we ordered all units to enter the attack area and officially launch the attack at 5 a.m. The first round of attacks was played by Kumamoto United. ”

"Report, the Eighth Route Army radio station calls me clearly!" An operational staff officer made an urgent report. When the generals were confused, the telegram was quickly translated, and a communications officer read the telegram and said: "Tell Gu Shoufu and all the officers and men of the 6th Division, and the Beast Corps, which has committed heinous crimes in six battles in China. Not long ago, your troops fought in North China and shot and killed more than 9,000 of our unarmed soldiers and civilians. All the officers and men of the 15th and 16th Divisions of our Eighth Route Army decided to return a tooth for a tooth and blood for a blood, and not leave a single living mouth for the beast officers and soldiers of the 6th Division, and try their best to punish them! The commander of the 5th Army of the Eighth Route Army, Xiao Ke, announced! ”

The generals' faces turned pale when they heard this, and Gu Shoufu said: "This is the Eighth Route Army's heart-attacking tactics, which is intended to arouse the anger of our department. -for-tat, the power is clearly on, and the imperial warriors of the 6th Division are also killed by the Xiaoke Department of the Eighth Route Army. Although Gu Shoufu was sober-minded, the-for-tat order he gave was undoubtedly a trap. Gu Shoufu was sober-minded did not mean that his subordinates were sober-minded, and it was unbearable to humiliate the Japanese officers and soldiers in such a way, which then angered the Japanese 6th Division.

The Japanese heavy artillery brigade was all put into the Xingta direction, and the Japanese independent mountain artillery regiment was put into the Zhujing direction. At 5 o'clock in the morning, the ground shook, and the Japanese heavy artillery began to bombard the core position of Xingta. During the shelling, the division commander Gu Shoufu stood at a high point to observe, and he found that the trench fortifications built by the Eighth Route Army were different from the trench fortifications seen in the past, the trench fortifications were criss-crossed, and even if he broke through the forward position, it was impossible to develop in depth as soon as possible, and he realized that he had encountered a real opponent.

After the Japanese artillery bombardment, Tani Toshio ordered the Kumamoto Wing to attack in three batches, and the Japanese launched a tentative attack first, intending to understand the opponent. After the two sides exchanged fire, Gu Shoufu obviously felt that the combat effectiveness of the other side was significantly higher than that of the national army, and the distribution of the opponent's firepower was very reasonable, and the quality of individual soldiers was extremely high. "Your Excellency Commander, I didn't expect that the Eighth Route Army's combat strength would be so strong, and if you want to break through the enemy's position, it will not be an easy matter."

After the chief of staff analyzed, Gu Shoufu said: "Although the Eighth Route Army lacks heavy weapons, the light weapons they are equipped with are significantly higher than ours, and the training of the other party's soldiers is standardized, and the combat quality is very high, and we have encountered a real opponent." Sure enough, the Japanese army launched a tentative attack, but did not find a flaw in the other side. In particular, the enemy's dense fire blockade made it impossible to try to destroy the enemy's machine-gun positions with grenadiers, and the efficiency of the 92 infantry guns was not obvious.

After the Japanese tentative attack retreated, Tani asked when the air force would arrive on the battlefield. It took half an hour for the military headquarters to call the fighters to arrive at the battlefield. Tanisoo ordered the attacking troops to prepare, and ordered the heavy artillery brigade to shell indiscriminately. Zhang Shiying in the military headquarters put down the phone and said: "Commander, the Japanese army launched a tentative attack and retreated, it seems that the Japanese army is very cunning. "The second wave of the Japanese attack should wait for air support, and all units are ordered to pay attention to air defense." Xiao Ke judged that the Japanese army's tentative attack was blocked, and he definitely waited for air support.

Sure enough, not long after the Japanese artillery bombardment began, dozens of Japanese fighters flew over the battlefield, and with the whistling sound of the planes, the Japanese bombardment fighters began to dive and bomb. In order to interfere with the accurate bombing of the Japanese bombers, the anti-aircraft cover detachment began to shoot, and suddenly dozens of light machine guns formed a crossfire. Due to mobile combat reasons, the field units of the Eighth Route Army were not equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns, but they practiced anti-aircraft defense. Soon the fuselage of the Japanese plane was hit by a bomb, and seeing this scene, the Japanese pilots did not dare to bomb at a low altitude, so they had to switch to horizontal bombing.

After the Japanese artillery fire extended, a fierce attack was staged. The Japanese scattered lines advanced slowly, but the dense rain of bullets on the positions of the Eighth Route Army pressed the Japanese charging troops like snails crawling. On a certain position, a soldier muttered loudly while aiming and shooting: "Lao Tzu has killed three Japanese soldiers, there is nothing great about the little devil." At this time, a Japanese artillery shell exploded not far away, and the blast of the explosion lifted the soldier to the ground. The soldier looked up from the dust and suddenly realized that the machine gun had stopped firing a few meters away.

His head was a little dizzy, and he saw that the two machine gunners had been killed. Reflexively, the soldier rolls over to the machine-gun position, and the light machine gun starts roaring again. The Japanese attack lasted for an hour, and the attack was fruitless and forced to retreat. In the afternoon, Gu Shoufu changed another wing and continued to attack. Japanese fighters rushed to the battlefield in batches to support the operation, and the battle entered a tragic stage. The strength of the Japanese army and the tenacity of the Eighth Route Army were equal, and the losses of both sides were increasing, and the spirit of the Japanese soldiers on the attacking side was hit.

In the headquarters of the 10th Army in Jeongotei, Commander Yanagawa Heisuke received a telegram from the headquarters that the northern front had also strengthened the offensive, and at the same time learned that the Shina army was fortified at Fengjing Station, and that the 6th Division could not be divided. He immediately ordered the 18th Division to launch an offensive on the Zhujing line as soon as possible, and at the same time ordered Gu Shoufu to intensify the attack and break through the Xingta defense line as soon as possible. At the same time, Gu Shoufu ordered the 114th Division to complete the assembly as soon as possible, capture Fengjing Station, and complete the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army.

Commander Yanagawa Heisuke did not dare to be careless, he ordered the fleet to remain on the sea, and at the same time ordered the Japanese 9th Brigade to strengthen the defense on the west side of the Jeongotei. If the Shina army suddenly launched a counterattack from the west, it was necessary to ensure a route of retreat by sea in the event of a crisis, so Yanagawa Heisuke did not dare to devote all his forces to attack the line of Xingta.

In the afternoon of the same day, on the Eastern Front, the Japanese 18th Division launched an offensive against Zhujing, and the Japanese offensive on the eastern and western fronts was like a tide, and the battle soon entered a brutal stage. After all, the number of Japanese support fighters is limited, and they mainly carry out air attacks on the main position of Xingta, so there are no fighters in the direction of Zhujing to carry out air support, and the artillery support is the 2nd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment of the Japanese Army, and the heavy fire strike is obviously insufficient, although the threat of the offensive is not great. In the afternoon of the same day, the division commander Gu Shoufu ordered heavy troops to launch a fierce attack in batches, and the battle entered a tragic state.