Miaoxi is located in the southwest mountainous area of Wuxing, with a long history, dating back to the Qin Dynasty that has opened the port, to the 24th year of the Republic of China, Wuxing abolished the district office, expanded and merged the township in the following year, organized and protected the armor, Miaoxi is subordinate to the fifth supervision area of Wuxing County, and there are about 300 households in the town before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.

On weekdays, the town is quiet and peaceful, and the pace of people's lives is extremely slow, whether it is the loading and unloading of the wharf in the north of the town or the opening of the street shops, everything is in order, it seems to have been like this for thousands of years, only the primary school in the east of the town from time to time heard the sound of children reading, so that the town feels a trace of civilization and modernity. However, at this time, everything was ruined, and with the arrival of the Japanese army, there was a miserable scene of Shura hell.

Inside and outside the town, the corpses of men were scattered in the streets and alleys, some elderly women were stripped naked and lay naked in the thatched piles in front of and behind the houses, and the bodies of children were hung on trees on the edge of the town, to be pecked by birds.

A strong smell of blood spread in the air, and the Japanese troops who outflanked them from the Jinji Mountain path showed their madness arbitrarily.

The captain of the Japanese army, Sakata Guiji Shaoza, walked out of a crowded room with his pants and shouted to the sentry at the door in high spirits: "Everyone go in turn, take off your pants and wait, there are many beautiful women here, everyone can take turns several times."

The Japanese soldiers who came in and out of the courtyard fluttered their eyebrows, they raised their guns and shouted loudly Long live the emperor, and occasionally there were people with very unnatural expressions, obviously not used to such a bloody killing, but in the current crazy situation, they could only hide their true thoughts and smile falsely.

Sakata Shaosa came to the center of the courtyard, pulled out the saber inserted into the belly of a pregnant woman, took out a piece of white silk, wiped the blood stains that had coagulated on the saber, and said to the herald soldier on the side: "Call General Okamura to say that our unit has taken Myosai on time and officially realized the encirclement of the Shina army."

"Hail"

The herald nodded heavily and sent the report.

Sakata looked at the sunset over the hill to the west, a smug smile on his face.

After receiving Sakata Shaosa's telegram, Okamura Ninji read it excitedly, groaned, his face suddenly became ugly, and he casually handed the telegram to Tamura's chief of staff on the side.

"Nani?"

Chief of Staff Tamura asked a little puzzled: "Your Excellency General, you should be happy that the Sakata Brigade has successfully completed its mission, why are you so worried?" ”

The Sakata Brigade was led by the 30th Wing of the 15th Brigade and was directly under the command of Okamura Ninji, and after crossing the Dongtiao River, it accelerated westward, crossed Jinji Mountain from Yicun Port, sneaked all the way to Myonan Village, and then attacked Myoxi in one fell swoop. Because the mountain road was relatively rugged and not conducive to the march of large armies, they carried very little heavy weaponry.

On weekdays, Miaoxi is inconspicuous and unusual, but as the battle progresses, the road through the town has become the main transportation route for the national army to flee westward. The town of Miaoxi is surrounded by gentle slopes that are high in the west and low in the east, and in terms of topography, it can be regarded as easy to defend and difficult to attack.

After the Japanese Sakata Brigade occupied Myosai, it only needed to deploy machine gun positions on both sides of the road to block the main force of the Nationalist army retreating westward and choke the throat of the Nationalist army's westward retreat.

Okamura Ninji sneered, pointed to the telegram and said, "Chief of Staff, look at the telegram, the words are full of pride and complacency, and they don't take the opponent in their eyes at all. We are now facing the new 2nd Division of China, this unit is known as the Devil's Division, which is best at marching, attacking and retreating in the dark, and the pride of Captain Sakata is very likely to lead to the failure of the entire plan. ”

"The geographical location of this Miaoxi is dangerous, as long as the Sakata Brigade guards the high ground on both sides of the road, it can advance and retreat freely, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Chief of Staff Tamura said with some hesitation.

Capable people tend to take the initiative in terms of power, and their control over the army is even more astonishing, and unfortunately, Okamura Ninji is such a strong figure. Since Okamura Ninji was transferred to the commander of the Second Division, the work that fell within the purview of the chief of staff was taken away by Okamura Ninji, and in most cases, Chief of Staff Tamura had been reduced to Okamura Ninji's microphone.

However, Chief of Staff Tamura had to succumb to Okamura Ninji's will, knowing that Okamura Ninji's background, prestige, and connections were completely incomparable to Tamura, and he had to do his best to do what Okamura Ninji had explained, hoping that Okamura could be promoted and leave earlier, or that he would be promoted to the first rank and serve as the commander of the Major General Brigade to lead the troops into battle.

"I hope that the Sakata Brigade can hold Myosei"

The current situation is that the Sakata Brigade will not grant the order of the foreign monarch, and even Okamura Ninji has no choice at all, so he has to change the topic: "Hasn't the Katayama Brigade called back yet?" ”

Chief of Staff Tamura shook his head helplessly and suggested: "General, the sun is about to set, do you want to remove the commander of the Katayama Brigade?" ”

"No more"

Okamura Ninji's small eyes behind his glasses narrowed, shooting out a cold light, and said quietly: "It seems that Katayama-kun and they have encountered the main force of the temporary third division...... Being able to hold out for so long under the continuous strikes of imperial aircraft and artillery, this supplementary regiment is by no means as simple as the intelligence services say. ”

Okamura Ninji turned his head and resolutely issued an order: "Telegraph to Major General Katayama Province of the 15th Brigade that whether he can completely annihilate the Shina army in the encirclement, the front he is responsible for is very critical, and he must launch an attack overnight, take down Shimo-Shojo as soon as possible, and completely open up the road connecting Myosai." ”

After receiving Okamura Ninji's harshly worded telegraphic order, Major General Katayama Province, the commander of the 15th Brigade, wanted to cry without tears, and at this time, he actually wanted Okamura Ninji to remove him from his post, so that he would no longer have to endure the painful torment.

Although there were only three or four hundred houses in Xiahu towns combined, the 15th Brigade paid a heavy price in the fight for each house.

Picking up the losses reported by the various brigades and squadrons, Major General Katayama frowned, and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "Eight Grid Tooth Road"

As a result of Okamura's strict orders, the 15th Brigade launched 16 attacks in a row during the day, and because the Chinese defenders adopted the correct combat policy, they planted a large number of mines on the main passages, and then stationed their troops between the houses and carried out heroic battles through the walls and tunnels built by the people of Shimohucheng to guard against mountain bandits and robbers.

The Chinese army was haunted like ghosts, often seeing people disappear from the streets and alleys in front of them, and when the Japanese army caught up, the defenders came out from behind and caught the Japanese by surprise.

In the absence of any other situation, Major General Katayama adopted a steady and steady tactic, and with every step forward, he ordered the demolition or demolition of the houses to clear all obstacles within the horizon.

However, the resistance of the Chinese army was everywhere, especially the kind of mortars that were transferred after a few shots, causing huge casualties to the Japanese army, and the demolished houses were not safe.

By the time the battle had been fought, the 16th Infantry Wing had lost most of its strength and had basically lost its ability to continue fighting.

The 30th Wing, which had dispatched the Sakata Brigade to fight in Myose, was also overwhelmed by the mortars and mines of the Chinese army during the attack.

However, Major General Katayama could not choose to retreat, because once he retreated, he would lose all his previous achievements, and it would hinder the implementation of Okamura Ninji's plan to encircle and annihilate the Chinese army.

Major General Katayama sighed heavily, called the heralds, and asked the 16th Wing, which had lost more than half of its losses, to draw out a relatively neat squadron and follow the 30th Wing in a night battle.

When the 15th Brigade gritted its teeth and insisted, Chen Yanhua's regiment was also struggling to support, and half of the regiment was lost until now, and most of the remaining people were injured.

Every officer and soldier of Chen Yanhua's regiment now deeply understands the hardships and cruelty of the Pinghu Battle of the New Second Division. Looking at the sunset on the hill in the west, Chen Yanhua prayed in his heart that night would fall, but he didn't know that the Japanese army was ready for a night battle.

When Long Shaogang received the telegram from Chen Yanhua's regiment swearing to defend Xiahu City, it was already seven o'clock in the evening, and the night had completely shrouded the earth, and the location was Xiangwu Village at the western foot of the Dojo Mountain.

At present, the 3rd Regiment is building fortifications on the line of Tangzi Mountain and Maopeng Mountain, while the pursuing Japanese troops are establishing a defensive line at Jinji Mountain north of the Jiashan Yanghe River, waiting for dawn to launch a river crossing operation.

The battle has continued to this day, all units of the Right Wing Army have completely lost their fighting spirit, and the desertion of several main divisions of the Hunan Army, including the 62nd and 63rd Divisions, has intensified, and the entire company and the entire company have taken advantage of the night to escape into the Dojo Mountain and the major mountains in the south, but they do not know that the mountains around Wuxing are very short, and once the Japanese army annihilates the main force of the Right Wing Army, as long as they search the mountains one by one, these deserters will not be spared at all.

Zhang Fakui now completely pinned his hopes of leading the right-wing army out of the predicament on the Temporary Third Division, and when he saw the urgent telegram sent by Chen Yanhua's regiment, Zhang Fakui and Liu Jianxu glanced at each other, and they both saw a burst of uneasiness and anxiety on each other's faces.

Long Shaogang's face was very ugly, he coughed lightly, and said to the two generals: "Commander, Commander Liu, there is now a matter that is worse than holding on to Xiahu City, according to the emergency report from the front, Miaoxi Town and Miaohe Village in the north have been occupied by the Japanese army, and its scale is unknown, we must find a way to deal with this sudden enemy as soon as possible."

These days, repeated defeats have made Zhang Fakui extremely lost, and now listening to Long Shaogang say that Miaoxi Town was occupied by the Japanese army, Zhang Fakui and Liu Jianxu have become numb and have not reacted too much.

Long Shaogang also understands the difficulties of the two commanders, not long ago, he was a dignified general who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, but now he is worse than a refugee, chasing a large group of Japanese soldiers behind his buttocks, and there is a Japanese army in front of him.

After a while, Zhang Fakui asked, "Senior Commander Long, the geographical location of the area around Miaoxi Town is so important, you should be prepared for the third division for the time being, right?" ”

Long Shaogang nodded and said: "It's still Commander Zhang, we have deployed troops on the front line of Sijiao Mountain at the eastern foot of Xiamu Mountain before, and we are going to launch a night attack on Miaoxi at night." I believe that even if we can't successfully recapture Myosei, we can occupy the mountains on both sides of the road and ensure the passage of the army. ”

"Okay, I know that there is a way to do it after all," Zhang Fakui nodded with relief, his face full of relief.

"The temporary third division was really brought out by General Wu Ming, and it can always bring surprises. I am confident that you will be able to solve the current enemy in no time."

Liu Jianxu was cheeky and praised a few words.

"Inheriting the Good Words of the Two Commanders"

Long Shaogang smiled, and then said solemnly: "The Japanese army's strategic encirclement is imminent, the situation is extremely dangerous, we must race against time and accelerate the south, as long as we cross the Xiamu Mountain, the sky will be high and the birds will fly."

Although Zhang Fakui and the others were tired and hungry, they also knew that the military situation was urgent, and immediately agreed that the troops would set off overnight, let go of all worries, and advance towards Miaoxi.