On the battlefield of mainland China, the Battle of Changsha ended with the victory of the Allied forces, and 100,000 Japanese troops including the remnants of the Guards Division led by Gangcun Ningci took the initiative to withdraw from the Changsha line, intending to withdraw to Wuhan along the northern section of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Line via Xiangyin and Yueyang.

In Gangcun's heart, Hunan is nothing, China is so big, it is not something that Japan can fully digest. But the Guards Division and the Sendai 2nd Division could not afford to miss any more, they were the banners of the Imperial Army.

For this reason, the cunning Gangcun formulated a plan to retreat by separate routes, and nearly 50,000 people of the Guards Division, the Sendai Division, and two brigades parted ways with the large army on the side of the Boluo River, secretly headed west, left the Guangdong-Han Line, made a detour through Nanjiang and Jiangling, and returned to Wuhan. Although this will take hundreds of kilometers more, it will be safer to avoid the Yueyang defense line guarded by the Chongqing army.

Gangcun himself led the 33rd Division, the 106th Division and the Korean Mixed Brigade to board the train with great fanfare and go to Yueyang, knowing that there were tigers in the mountains and preferring to go to the Tiger Mountains.

Before parting, the commander of the Guards Division, Shojiro Iida, bowed deeply to Gangcun, "Your Excellency, when we were in Japan, we had political discord, and we offended you a lot, but today I know that you are the backbone of the Imperial Army!" Please take care, Commander! ”

Gangmura Ningji smiled bitterly, "Commander of the Iida Division, the meaning of the Guards Division is different from that of other divisions, and there is no room for error, please, Iida-kun!" ”

I can't help but smile bitterly at Gangcun, the Battle of Changsha, which gathered several main forces of the Imperial Army, ended in failure, and the base camp must definitely seize a scapegoat to appease the mood in the country. As the main commander of the southern front, the name of this scapegoat, Gangcun Ningci couldn't push it out, so it was better to kill himself, rescue the Guards Division, and save some face for the Imperial Army.

On the allied side, Wang Yizhe led the Youzhou Army into Changsha and divided the troops into three routes: the 27th Army crossed the Liuyang River and liberated Wanzai, Tonggu and other counties and cities in northwestern Jiangxi, while the 26th Army went north to Yiyang and Yuanjiang to fully liberate all parts of northern Hunan; Of course, the 25th Army and the 77th Panzer Army had to go north along the Guangdong-Han Line, pursue the Japanese army, and strive to flank Chen Cheng's troops of the Chongqing Army on both sides, and annihilate the Japanese army on the shore of Dongting Lake.

Yueyang, known as Baling and Tongqu in ancient times. Leaning on Mufu Mountain in the east, Dongting Lake in the west, the Yangtze River in the north, and Hubei across the river, it is an important transit city on the Guangdong-Hanzhou line. After receiving information from the Allied Forces Headquarters in Guangzhou, the chairman of the committee sent his capable general Chen Cheng personally to lead the elite down the river to organize a defensive line and block the Japanese army. Chen Cheng is known as the chairman of the small committee, and is an absolute confidant of Lao Jiang, after the fall of Nanjing, Chen Cheng served as the commander-in-chief of the Wuhan garrison. At the same time, he was also ordered to concurrently serve as director of the General Political Department of the Military Commission, chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee, member of the Aviation Committee, chairman of the Central Training Commission, secretary general of the Central Youth League Department of the Three People's Doctrine Youth League, and director of education of the Central Training Corps. Within the Kuomintang, he was called "Chiang Kai-shek's stand-in" and "No. 2 man".

After the fall of Wuhan, Chen Cheng handed over the military of the Ninth Theater to Xue Yue as his agent and went to Chongqing to ask for training. He reported to Chiang Kai-shek: "Taking too many part-time jobs not only leads to material criticism, but also misconducts. Please as far as possible, the world is full-time, or there can be no big mistakes. Immediately received an order from Jiang: "Mainly to handle the affairs of the Political Department, the chairman of Hubei Province ordered Yan Lisan to serve as the third representative." But in fact, he was still sent to Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou and other places from time to time to direct the war. This time, Chen Cheng was named by the chairman to go to Yueyang in person, which can be regarded as a heavy responsibility.

The 18th Army is Chen Cheng's starting force, known as one of the five main forces of the Central Army, all German armaments, during the Battle of Wuhan, did not directly engage the enemy, that is, all the staff retreated to the area of Mufu Mountain in Hunan. This time back to Yueyang, Huang Wei, commander of the 18th Army, sent a handwritten suicide note to Chen Cheng, "This battle is related to the success or failure of the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War, and Weiyi will lead the officers and soldiers of the 18th Army to live and die with the Yueyang defense line." If you die in battle, please ask the chief to take care of your wife and children, follow my will, and serve the party and the state! ”

Chen Cheng tearfully took Huang Wei's letter and handed it to the adjutant, "Cheng started with the 18th Army, and he will be with the 18th Army." We will never abandon the army and flee, and we will defend Yueyang together in this battle. ”

After the landing of the army in China, the attack was strong, the Japanese army was defeated and retreated, and the pessimism of the Chinese soldiers about the war was also swept away, and the belief in driving out the Japanese invaders and revitalizing China gradually rose in the army.

In the Battle of Yueyang, the Japanese army commanded by Gangcun Ningci desperately attacked under the pressure of blocking in front and pursuing soldiers in the rear. But in front of the 18th Army defense line, which is equipped with a large number of automated weapons, this formation of long live charging is undoubtedly suicidal, and even in some sections, the **** in the position rises, kills out of the position, and carries out counter-encirclement of the Japanese army.

In Xiangyin, the 77th Panzer Army and the 25th Youzhou Army defeated the Japanese wing responsible for blocking the attack, crossed the Boluo River, and followed.

This situation was expected by Gangcun, who commanded the 33rd Division, the 106th Division and the Korean Brigade to shrink the defense, take Yueyang County as the center, organize the defensive line, and resist stubbornly, so as to buy more time for the Guards Division.

It can be said that Gangcun's plan to secretly cross Chencang was quite perfect, and the Japanese army on the Guangdong-Han line attracted most of the Allied troops, and it was not until Iida Shojiro led the Guards Division and other Japanese troops to capture Nanxian that Wang Yizhe and Chen Cheng respectively received the news that the Japanese army had fled by detour.

Wang Yizhe hurriedly ordered the 26th Army, which was repaired in Yiyang, to pursue it northward, and ordered Huo Lu, which was being repaired in Changsha, to lead the 1st Guards Division to drive all the movable chariots and immediately reinforce them.

However, Nanxian is less than 100 kilometers away from Jiangling, and whether or not it can block the Japanese army in Hunan has become the key to this battle. At the temporary headquarters in Xiangyin, He Zhuguo, the commander of the 77th Armored Army, unfolded the map, his eyes couldn't help but light up, and he pointed a little, "Commander, is there an army in Chongqing here?" ”

Wang Yizhe came over when he heard the sound, and he couldn't help but be moved, thinking that the tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers had leaked out of the fishing nets and ran away. But when he saw He Zhuguo's finger, he hoped to rise again, "I will immediately send a telegram to Chen Cheng and ask him to send troops to garrison here." ”

He Zhuguo nodded, "Let the junior chairman do everything he can, he must send troops to garrison here, as long as it drags on for a few hours, Division Commander Huo can catch up with the tail of the Japanese army." ”

Commander He just went to check the maintenance of the tank, his hands were stained with some diesel, and the place where he pointed to the map just now was also stained with oil stains, but the three words next to the oil stains were faintly visible: Huarong County.