While the Japanese Seventh Division encountered a series of difficulties, the Second Division also faced various difficulties.

Because the highway from Deqing to Yuhang and Lin'an was damaged by the new Second Division, the bridges of many rivers along the way were not spared and all were blasted

In the early morning, the Xiangxia Bridge under the north and west mountains of Changle Town.

Okamura turned over and dismounted, picking up a soldier who had fallen to the ground due to dozing, and the soldier bowed and apologized in fear. Okamura looked left and right, his brows furrowed.

After two days and two nights in a row, the morale of the Second Division was low from top to bottom, and although most of the faces were still full of determination, the tiredness could not be concealed.

Okamura Ninji ordered the entire division to rest on the spot for one hour, so that the officers and men could seize the time to fill their stomachs and regain their energy.

Looking at the mountains in front of him, Chief of Staff Tamura, who had just returned to the division headquarters after inspecting the troops, was a little worried, he took a bite of the cold Yu Liang, and said to Okamura Ningji: "General, according to the current speed of our march, I am afraid that we will not be able to reach Lin'an within the scheduled time and block the ......."

"Okay, Tamura-kun, don't say these frustrating words, the Imperial Japanese Army is invincible" Okamura Ninji swallowed the food that had been chewing for a long time in his mouth with difficulty, and cheered loudly: "Don't just look at our difficulties, the difficulties of the people of China are greater than ours, what we need now is persistence, persistence, and persistence"

Chief of Staff Tamura closed his eyes, sent the cold and hard Yu Liang down in two or three sips, drank a sip of the cold cold white open, and asked quite puzzled:

"Your Excellency Okamura, according to the reconnaissance of the air force, the flow of people from Hangzhou has already passed Yuhang, and although the Seventh Division is marching bravely, it is getting farther and farther away from the people of China, not to mention the 18th Division and the 5th Brigade of the 4th Division...... Judging from all aspects, the escape of the new Second Division seems to be a foregone conclusion, and is our plan for the encirclement facing bankruptcy? ”

"Don't be defeated by temporary difficulties, war is always accompanied by all kinds of unexpected situations, who could have imagined before the war that the Chinese army would destroy the roads and bridges so completely? However, when it comes to difficulties, we have them in the Imperial Army of Japan, but the Chinese army faces even more difficulties. Now it's about the willpower and endurance of both sides."

Okamura Ninji shot a hint of coldness in his eyes, and said with some regret: "The Hangzhou intelligence department led by Miss Chiaki Yezi has not been in contact for a while, and it is estimated that it is more than lucky. If she's still around, we'll be sure to hear more about the Zhina Army."

Speaking of this, Okamura Ninji handed a telegram to Chief of Staff Tamura.

After reading it carefully, Ochizo Tamurahara showed a smile on his face and asked, "All the people of Hangzhou gathered on the westbound road and blocked the traffic?" ”

"Is that fake?"

Okamura Ningji snorted lightly: "More than 100,000 refugees from Hangzhou have crowded the Hanghui Road, and the new second division and the Zhejiang provincial government are currently trekking hard, not much faster than the turtle, if it weren't for the seventh division's repeated delays in fighters, I'm afraid it would have caught up with the new second division." Speaking of this, Okamura turned his head and looked at his chief of staff: "You should be able to imagine that the dense crowd is crowded on the road, and it is impossible to move, and our plane only needs to drop a bomb, and then we will achieve unimaginable results."

"Wonderful, in this way, it can not only delay the opponent's marching speed, but also hit their morale, and can also effectively annihilate their vitality, which can be described as killing multiple birds with one stone" Chief of Staff Tamura clapped his hands happily, suddenly thought of something, and said with some concern:

"Your Excellency, Nanjing is the focus of the front army's attack, and Lin and Hangzhou are only secondary targets. According to information from the Front Command, Senior General Matsui has adjusted the deployment of troops, mobilized heavy troops to besiege the capital of China, and forced the Nationalist Government to surrender. I doubt that the army and naval aviation will be able to spare some of our forces to fight with us

"Don't worry, in order to eliminate Wu Ming and the henchmen of the new Second Division, Commander Matsui specially transferred a mixed flight squadron to the southern front. I have ordered the Chenggu Brigade left behind in Wuxing to cooperate with the sappers to build an airstrip, and the fighters have been successfully transferred last night. I believe that the bomb will soon fall on the head of the new 2nd Division," Okamura replied confidently.

"There's only one flying squadron, isn't it a little less?"

Chief of Staff Tamura frowned: "Your Excellency, you must know that the air defense capability of the new Second Division in Daochina is quite strong, and the naval aviation in the Battle of Pinghu was shot down by them, and on the way to the new Second Division, the fighters of our army aviation went to bomb and suffered heavy losses. We must be careful. If there is any damage, it is difficult to explain it to the front. ”

"Yes, Tamura-kun, your concerns are very reasonable"

Okamura Ninji began to think. A Japanese squadron has 12 planes, and even if the fighters and bombers are mixed and strengthened, there will not be more than 20 planes, but in fact, the number of fighters under the command of Okamura Ninji this time is 18, a total of two fighter squadrons and four bomber squadrons, each squad has three fighters

Compared with the battlefield of Hangzhou, the attack on Nanjing and the capture of the capital of the Nationalist Government were of greater strategic significance. Dispatching a mixed squadron to the south is already the maximum amount of air power that Matsui Ishine can mobilize.

In view of the strong air defense capability of the new Second Division, Okamura Ningji thought for a while and said: "Tamura-kun, the line from Hangzhou to Lin'an, the water network is dense, and there are many bridges, and our planes will directly blow up the bridges and important communication passes, what do you think?" ”

"Well, this can not only effectively avoid the air defense of the new 2nd Division, but also slow down their march."

Chief of Staff Tamura nodded, very much in agreement with Okamura Ninji's whimsy.

After Tamura passed on the order, Okamura Ninji took out the gold watch given by the Japanese Emperor from his bosom, looked at the time, and ordered the troops to continue on the road.

At Wuxing Airport, which received Okamura's telegram order, under the guidance of the ground crew, 18 fighters took off one after another and flew southwest in a three-plane formation.

Zhangjiaqiao, south of Yuhang, is full of people.

The huge fleet of Japanese planes appeared in the sky in the northeast and swooped down on the highway from Hangzhou to Lin'an. Seeing the Japanese fighter planes coming, the dense crowd was like a hornet that had blown up its nest, crying and fleeing to the paddy fields on both sides of the road.

One of the bombers swooped down like an osprey and dropped a bomb on a crowded highway bridge.

The cries and shouts of the refugees who could not escape on the bridge rang out. With the violent explosion, the smoke of the fire and gunpowder steamed up, the blood and flesh of the fleeing people flew sideways, the corpses on and off the bridge were scattered, and a gap of about one meter wide appeared in the center of the bridge.

Seeing that the bombing effect was not ideal, another bomber rushed to the bridge, dropped a 50-kilogram bomb again, and then pulled up sharply, shaking its wings and flying towards the western sky.

The purpose of the explosion was even clearer, and the bomb exploded again at a distance of four or five meters in front of the gap, and the bridge was completely broken in half, with a gap of eight or nine meters in the middle.

The north and south of the broken bridge resounded all over the world.

At this time, several cars spewed black smoke, came to the broken bridge and stopped abruptly, out of the carriage out of a well-dressed gentry, soon from the back of the car wives and children around the side, these people look at the broken bridge in front, and then look at the big bags of things on the car, one by one big eyes stared, for a while I don't know what to do.

Three kilometers behind, Wu Ming received the news that the Japanese army had bombed the stone bridge, and immediately called Huang Shao and Xuan Tiewu to inform the two of them about this sudden situation, and the two were dumbfounded.

Most of the taxes in Zhejiang Province that were escorted on the road were silver dollars and gold, and on this section of the congested road, it was not a big problem to transport them by truck, but now the stone bridge in front of them was blown up, and if these taxes were transferred by manpower, Huang Shao and Xuan Tiewu did not know what would happen to Lu Dao.

While the two were stunned, a steady stream of bad news came.

None of the nine bridges on the road to Lin'an were spared, all of them were blown up by Japanese fighters, two of which were relatively strong, and Japanese fighters took turns bombing them, and finally blew up the bridges.

Huang Shao and Xuan Tiewu glanced at each other, worried.

So many bridges were blown up, and there was no time for sappers to repair them, and those simple pontoon bridges were not conducive to truck traffic.

However, under the malicious exaggeration of Zhang Fakui and Liu Jianxu, Wu Ming and the New Second Division were notorious for competing for weapons and ammunition and looting materials, grain and grass.

Huang Shaofu asked with a smile: "Master Wu, the bridge was blown up, what should our convoy do......

"Don't ask me, I don't know anything"

Wu Ming waved his hand, looking like he had nothing to do with it: "I am only responsible for escorting the transfer of the provincial government, and I don't know anything else, just notify the two of you after discussing it." I still have something to do, so I won't bother you two."

Wu Ming clapped his hands and walked extremely chicly.

Huang Shao and Xuan Tiewu both shook their heads and smiled bitterly, and their suspicion of Wu Ming in their hearts did not relax at all, but became more vigilant.

Xuan Tiewu woke up Huang Shao, who was looking at Wu Ming's back: "Chairman Huang, how to deal with the tens of millions of taxes?" There are so many people around, it is impossible to landfill it on the spot, but it is a big trouble to transport it away. ”

"Do what you have to do"

Huang Shao snorted coldly and turned his face away.

On weekdays, Xuan Tiewu relied on Lao Jiang's trust and suppressed Huang Shao to death. Now when you are in trouble, if you want someone to carry the black pot, you will find him, the provincial chairman, where is there such a good thing in the world?

Transporting Zhejiang Provincial Taxes to the rear safely is the most important political task at present, and Chiang Kai-shek had sent a special emergency telegram before, demanding that the Zhejiang Provincial Government must safely and quickly transport the huge amount of money to Nanchang and transfer it to the rear, which is also the main reason why Huang Shao and Xuan Tiewu came to the Finance Department this week. It's a pity that before they could sort out the accounts, the Japanese army came and caught them off guard.

Holding back the evil anger in his heart, Xuan Tiewu smiled flatteringly at Huang Shao: "Chairman Huang, if my brother has offended before, please ask Haihan." Now let's sit in the same boat, and ask Chairman Huang to pull the brothers."

Huang Shao just complained, the two are now grasshoppers tied together, if they don't work together, no one can escape. Huang Shao stretched out his hand and pointed to Wu Ming's back: "The transfer of taxes still depends on him to find a way."

Xuan Tiewu was a little uneasy, groaned, and asked, "Wu Ming is a man who robs supplies?"

Huang Shao turned his head sideways and glanced at Xuan Tiewu: "Then what do you mean, we transport it ourselves?" ”

"This"

Xuan Tiewu was stunned for a moment, and shook his head again and again.

Now that the army is in chaos, if the provincial government is allowed to transport it by itself, I am afraid that it will be divided up before it reaches the ground. Although Wu Ming has a bad reputation, he has strict military discipline, which is much better than the corrupt officials who fill their pockets. Besides, most of the provincial government staff are full of fat brains and big bellies, so where can they have the strength to carry boxes and boxes of silver dollars?

"Just do what Chairman Huang wants," Xuan Tiewu sighed helplessly.