[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 176: Recovering Jiujiang (Ask for subscription!) ）

This time, An Teng Shaozo really guessed correctly, and before he could react, the main guns of the flagship "Tianlong" light cruiser opened fire, and the huge cannonballs rushed towards them with a long flaming tail.

At the same time, the rest of the large warships also opened fire, and the roar of cannons resounded throughout the waters of the Yangtze River in this dark night.

Although the visibility at night was low, and the officers and men had just taken over the Japanese warships, they were not very skilled in operation, but they could not withstand the large number of warships. More than thirty warships, large and small, were firing at full fire, which was quite impressive, and even a complete heavy artillery brigade could not compare with it.

Dense shells continued to explode and explode again in a small area, and how could a mere six troop carriers withstand such an attack, and all of them were sunk in less than half an hour.

In fact, the troop transport ship had signaled surrender, but Ma Zheng ignored it, knowing full well that now was not the time to take prisoners. The best thing to do is to sink the enemy ship, out of sight.

Of course, if there was a new Japanese army, Ma Zheng might have opened the net and accepted their surrender. But who let him know that the 47th Wing was under the jurisdiction of the Sixth Division, so Ma Zheng categorically would not accept their surrender.

Ma Zheng knew very well what virtues this 47th Wing and even the entire Sixth Division were suitable for, and as the most direct perpetrator of the Nanjing Massacre, any person in this unit had Chinese blood on his hands. During this period, the corpses of Chinese soldiers and civilians killed by the Sixth Division alone in Xiaguan alone were 2 kilometers long and 50 meters wide, and the blood stained the Yangtze River red.

For such a beast army, the only thing Ma Zheng can do is kill, kill, kill!

After sinking the six troop carriers, Ma Zheng ordered the soldiers on the warships to clean up the Japanese troops who fell into the river, and the so-called cleanup was not to salvage the corpses. Instead, they shot the Japanese soldiers who were still struggling.

After such a toss until more than three o'clock in the morning, Ma Zheng ordered the fleet to continue to advance and rush to Jiujiang.

On the Xintang front, Shigeichi Harata had already received a report from the Jiujiang defenders that the navy had suffered heavy losses from the Chinese forces in the waters of the Yangtze River, and that only one torpedo boat had escaped from more than 30 large and small ships. All the rest were attacked and their whereabouts are unknown.

Habata Shigeichi was shocked, and after the shock, Habata Shigeichi didn't believe very much in the report sent below, mainly because he really couldn't think of what method the Chinese defenders used to attack the naval fleet.

To say that the Chinese Navy has made a move, this is possible, but does the Chinese Navy have the strength to defeat the 11th Squadron? The answer is obviously no, the largest ships of the Chinese Navy are not comparable to a small gunboat in the 11th Squadron, and the strength of the two sides is not at the same level at all, so it is impossible for the Navy to be defeated by the Chinese Navy.

If you want to talk about fighting on inland rivers. The army also poses a certain threat to the navy, and as long as there are large-caliber coastal defense artillery, the army can still inflict heavy damage on the navy. However, there are only a few large-caliber coastal defense guns in China, and they were either captured by the Imperial Japanese Army or blown up, at least this line is not enough to threaten the existence of large naval ships, let alone the total annihilation of the 11th Sentai Squadron.

Therefore, Harata Shigeichi did not immediately order the troops to retreat, but asked the troops remaining in Jiujiang to find out the truth immediately, and then quickly report the situation to the brigade headquarters. What Shigeichi Harata didn't know. It was because of his hesitation that he dragged the entire detachment into a desperate situation.

Half past three in the morning. The 7th Division arrived at the Jiujiang River with the entire fleet, and then the fleet lined up on the Jiujiang River and launched a fierce artillery bombardment of the Japanese garrison's river defense positions and ferries.

At the same time, dozens of small landing craft were lowered from the warship, and the fighters of the 200 regiment began to land.

Since Hatada Shigeichi never dreamed that the Chinese would counterattack Jiujiang from the Yangtze River behind Jiujiang, only two reinforced squadron defenders were left in the city. The total strength was less than 600 men, and the rest of the troops followed him to the Xintang front.

Half of the 600 defenders were placed along the Xunyang River, because it was the only supply point for the Potian detachment. It's a pity that this reinforced squadron suffered heavy losses in the first round of artillery bombardment, and was easily annihilated in the subsequent landing of the 7th Division.

Then the entire Duqi Division immediately landed and began to attack the entire Jiujiang city. There were less than 300 defenders left in the city. How can he stop the tiger and wolf army under Ma Zheng, and by four o'clock in the morning, the entire Jiujiang was subdued by the Duqi Division.

After recovering Jiujiang, Ma Zheng did not let the troops rest, but ordered the guard regiment to stay in Jiujiang, clear the remnants of the enemy in the city, clean up the battlefield, and count the spoils. And he personally led the rest of the troops immediately to Xintang, fifty kilometers away from Jiujiang, where he wanted to encircle and annihilate the Botian detachment.

Hakuda Shigeichi on the Xintang front already knew that Jiujiang was attacked and the defenders suffered heavy losses, and in panic, he immediately ordered the troops on the front line to retreat.

It was clear to Harata that if he remained here, he would likely be attacked by the Chinese defenders in front and rear, and his troops would be unable to fly. Jumping out of the encirclement before the Chinese army was completed was the wisest choice, and of course, it was the only thing he could do at the moment.

However, Habata Shigeichi did not order the troops to retreat south, but withdrew to the Jiujiang city by the same route, and he wanted to counterattack Jiujiang.

Why did Shigeichi Harata do this, didn't he know that it was dangerous to do so?

As the brigade commander of the Taiwan brigade, Shigeichi Harata still has a very high level of tactical command, so he can naturally see the danger of this move. However, through the report of the troops left behind in Jiujiang, Harata Shigeichi learned that there were not many Chinese troops landing, only a few thousand.

This gave Shigeichi Hata hope, he was still very confident in the combat effectiveness of his troops, and with the previous combat experience of his brigade, he could easily defeat 10,000 Chinese defenders head-on.

Coupled with the fact that this Chinese force that suddenly appeared had just occupied Jiujiang and had not yet gained a firm foothold, it should be easy to defeat or even completely annihilate them by counterattacking Jiujiang at this time.

More importantly, Harata Shigeichi carefully read the map, because he lightly advanced the enemy, there are now a large number of Chinese defenders in the west and south, and the Yangtze River is in the north, and the only direction that can be withdrawn is the east.

In addition, the 101st Division is now stationed at Hukou in the lower reaches of Jiujiang, and the nearest unit is less than 60 kilometers away from Jiujiang, which can be reached in an hour and a half at most by car. Therefore, no matter how you look at it, retreating to the east is already their only way to survive.

Ma Zheng didn't expect that Hakuda Shigeichi would choose to counterattack Jiujiang at this time, and Hakuda Shigeichi didn't expect that Ma Zheng's department would have such a big appetite, and after taking Jiujiang, he still wanted to annihilate them, so the two armies came face to face on the same road. (To be continued.) )