Colonel Muller was trapped in Zhenjiang. He went here to help the Chinese Navy set up anti-aircraft artillery positions, but he did not expect the Japanese army to advance quickly, mainly after Jiangbei occupied Yangzhou, and launched a fierce battle with the Chinese army in Jiangbei's Yizheng campaign. In order to delay the Japanese attack, Wu Ziyu, as the commander-in-chief of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River theater, ordered the Yangtze River waterway to be blocked with sunken ships, according to the German and Austrian military advisers and the navy.

According to the plan, the Navy Department recruited dozens of civilian steamers and more than 300 fishing boats, and prepared to block the shipping lanes with sunken ships in Jiangyin, Zhenjiang, Dangtu, and Pengze, forming four blockades.

On 21 September, under the personal command of General Chen Shaokuan, the Chinese Navy sank the Yangtze River channel along the Jiangyin line with eight old warships, more than 20 merchant ships, and nearly 200 civilian ships loaded with stones.

The Chinese side invested a total of nearly 300,000 troops in 15 divisions in the Songhu battlefield, and suffered as many as 120,000 casualties in the three-month fierce fighting. And even with the support of warships, the Japanese army lost 60,000 troops on the Songhu battlefield, which was tantamount to a slap in the face to Matsui and others who clamored for the end of the war in China within three days. In terms of equipment, the Chinese Army is not inferior to the Japanese army, and even the Central Division, which is all equipped with the Austro-Hungarian and German armies, is even stronger than the Japanese army in terms of firepower.

The Japanese were able to make a breakthrough in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, partly because it was not the center of Chinese domination, and the Chinese forces deployed on this line were not very strong, and partly because the Japanese were supported by naval fire and their aviation gradually gained an advantage. Due to the insufficient number of airfields, the Chinese side has always been able to maintain the number of about 460 aircraft of two air divisions in Shanghai. However, after the arrival of the Japanese army aviation, 1,200 army combat aircraft were deployed around Shanghai, and the navy was able to dispatch about 400 fighters to provide support.

Even so. The outnumbered Japanese army had only a slight upper hand in the air.

Wu Peifu decided to defend Nanjing, and the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, which lasted for three months, gave him great confidence. He now has 22 divisions and more than 400,000 troops, and is supported by some naval ships, while the Japanese warships are blocked by the Jiangyin blockade line and cannot sail into the vicinity of Nanjing in the short term.

The Zhenjiang Fortress is under the command of the Admiralty's River Defense Force, and it is also equipped with the 14th and 25th Divisions of the Central Army and the 2nd Division of the Hubei Army.

"......, judging from the movements of the Japanese army, the 18th Division, the 114th and 116th Divisions, the main force of the 10th Army, and the Kunizaki Detachment, a total of more than 100,000 people, have captured Nanxun. is attacking along the southern shore of Taihu Lake towards Nanjing; The other route included the 6th, 9th, 13th and 101st Divisions attacking westward along the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway to pursue the retreating troops of our army; In Jiangbei, the 11th Army, composed of the 3rd, 21st and 106th Divisions of the Japanese Army, had already occupied Yangzhou and was engaged in a fierce battle with our army on the Yizheng-Liuhe line. Judging from the current situation, the Japanese army tried in vain to capture Nanjing in one fell swoop, but the reinforcements from the Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces that we had planned at the beginning could not be used for the time being due to poor equipment. ”

In the war room in Nanjing, Chief of Staff Jiang Fangzhen, who had hurried back from Wuhu, stood in front of the large map and made a gestalt analysis, then put down the baton in his hand and returned to his seat. Wu Ziyu, who was sitting in the main seat, still continued to look at the map. In his heart, he slowly calculated the comparison of the forces of the two sides. In the conference room, most of the high-ranking generals of the five provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Henan, and Jiangxi, Sun Xinyuan's Zhejiang army and the reinforced Guiyue army had now retreated all the way and had fled to Wuxi, and the attacking Japanese army could not meet organized resistance at all.

"It seems that the Japanese are very intimidating. They wanted to surround me in Nanjing. Wu Ziyu stood up and walked to the map: "The Japanese army on the southern front is menacing, intending to march along Nanxun, Huzhou, Guangde, and Xuancheng, and it seems that they also want to attack Wuhu and cut off our retreat." He glanced up at Lingle, "I wonder what the German-Austrian military advisory group has built?" ”

"We don't think it's necessary to stick to the gains and losses of one city and one place, and your problem is that there is no sense of counterattack at all in retreating, which makes the Japanese more unscrupulous and drive straight in." Lingle stood up and walked to the map, "The Japanese forces on the southern front are completely disjointed, according to the latest intelligence. The 116th Division, the vanguard of the Japanese army, had already occupied Huzhou, but the 18th Division had just reached Jiaxing. It was only then that the 114th Division landed at Jinshan. So we believe that our army should concentrate forces on the southern front. Give the Japanese a heavy blow. On the line from Zhenjiang to Danyang, the defending troops took advantage of the terrain to try to hold back the main force of the Japanese attacking in the center, and the longer they held on, the better. ”

"Where are our chosen counterattack locations?" Wu Ziyu asked.

"Guangde!" "When the Japanese crossed the river and began to attack Quang De, we launched a counterattack from the north, west, and south directions, pressing the Japanese into the river, so as to inflict maximum casualties on the enemy before the Japanese fled to the other side of the river," Ringer said. ”

"Well, then we'll have to mobilize at least five divisions." Wu Ziyu said.

"Of course, the more the merrier." Lingle replied.

"Brother Baili, there are still some guns left over from before the relocation of the Jinling Arsenal in Nanjing, and there are about more than 8,000 imitation Japanese-style hook rifles. The 20th Army was first distributed to Yang Zihui and asked them to also participate in the operation. If this battle is fought, I will include them in one of the first units to be reorganized into Arcanna. Wu Ziyu turned his head and said to Jiang Fangzhen.

"Their equipment and training are very poor, and I am afraid that they will be embarrassed." Jiang Fangzhen said.

"Hey, General Han Xin, more than one person will do more power, the old man wants to make the little devils look good this time and kill their prestige!" Wu Ziyu said, "They really don't use us as a dish." ”

Except for the 4th Division, which left a regiment in Wuxi to block the Japanese attack, the rest of the troops, including the 2nd and 10th Divisions of the Central Army and the 1st and 3rd Divisions of the Zhejiang Army, which were very tenacious on the Songhu battlefield, had lost the will to resist.

This is the fault of the Chinese army, if the defense line is breached, the whole line will immediately collapse.

The whole army was retreating towards Nanjing, all the heavy equipment was discarded, even the wounded were abandoned, and on the way to escape, all kinds of rumors made the rout even more panicked and exacerbated the chaotic situation.

The rout continued to flee westward, and the entire Shanghai-Nanjing highway was in chaos.

The 17th Army, which was composed of the Yuegui Army under the command of Ye Qi, did not retreat along the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway with the Zhejiang Army, but turned to the direction of Yixing in Wuxi. In nearly two months of fighting, the 17th Army has lost more than a third of its strength, and now has less than 30,000 soldiers. However, after all, the Gui army was well-trained, and under the command of him and Bai Chongxi, it still maintained a certain combat effectiveness.

After leaving the railway line, they finally got rid of the Japanese pursuit. (To be continued) R580