November 5th, four o'clock in the morning, the darkest hour before dawn.

Pinghu, Mo's Manor, the headquarters of the new second division.

Wu Ming suddenly woke up from his sleep, turned over and sat up, only to feel that the calf muscles in his right leg were tense, a sharp pain came, his whole body was sweating, and a feeling of discomfort of heart palpitations hit his heart.

After massaging his cramped right calf, Wu Ming sat on the edge of the bed, took out a pack of cigarettes from the clothes on the bedside table, took out a cigarette and lit it, smoked for a while, and felt more comfortable, then put on his clothes, got up and came to the papier-mâché window, pushed open the window, and looked at the black night sky.

"Squeak", Cheng Yuan, who was resting next door, heard the sound in Wu Ming's room, hurriedly walked out, and saw Wu Ming looking at the window, and asked with some surprise: "Big brother, what's wrong with you?" ”

Wu Ming shook his head: "I feel a little uncomfortable, get up and breathe, by the way, did you have any emergency telegram last night?" ”

"Nope"

Cheng Yuan replied very crisply, thought about it and said: "In the past few days, Zhapu and the surrounding areas have been calm, and there is not even a single sail shadow on the sea...... Before going to sleep, I went to the telecommunications room to talk to the regiments on the phone, and everything was fine."

"That's good"

Wu Ming raised his wrist and looked at his watch: "It's only a quarter past four in the morning...... Go to sleep, and I'll get some sleep when I get back...... Niang Xipi, I don't know how to do it, Lao Tzu always feels that something is going to happen."

Cheng Yuan smiled: "I'm afraid I'm worried about the war in Shanghai...... It's terrible to hear that thousands of people are dying there every day, and that a steady stream of recruits are being transported to the front line by rail, road, and water to replenish their consumption."

"yes"

Wu Ming was immediately relieved, and said with a wry smile: "Fortunately, we slipped away quickly, otherwise it would have been the fate of cannon fodder...... Chairman Jiang's descendants can be supplemented if they are disabled, we don't have that kind of treatment, and if people are gone, they will not necessarily cancel the establishment, and everything can only be relied on by themselves...... Maybe deep down I was terrified of this."

After speaking, Wu Ming waved his hand, took the initiative to close the window, and went back to the bed to lie down.

When Wu Ming was falling asleep, Major Liao Shudong, captain of the Jinshanwei Base of the Kuomintang Jiangsu-Zhejiang Anti-Japanese Movement Corps, who was organizing the training of young male and female students in Quangongting, was awakened by a rapid knock on the door.

The knock on the door was a dark-skinned fisherman's girl, her face was blue from the cold, her lips trembled, and she stammered and reported to the chief: "...... No...... Oh no, the enemy...... The enemy is coming, the sea ......"

"Speak slowly...... What the hell is going on? Major Liao asked with a pleasant face.

The fisherman's girl calmed down and hurriedly explained in detail that the girl had been staying on a fishing boat by the sea at night, and was awakened by a noise in the middle of the night, so she got up and listened attentively, and heard many Japanese chirping sounds in the night, and it was estimated that the Japanese army was organizing people to go ashore overnight, so she hurriedly got off the boat and reported to the army.

Major Liao's brows furrowed. The mission of the Special Brigade, which was established in cooperation between the Special Service and the Youth Gang, was to train conscious youths and patriotic students, transform them into military backbones who had mastered special combat skills as soon as possible, and then send them behind enemy lines to conduct guerrilla warfare.

However, now that there was an enemy situation, Major Liao felt that he could not sit idly by. After pondering for a while, he finally decided to lead his brigade, which had undergone a month of training and had basically mastered the skills of shooting, bomb throwing, fighting, and capturing prisoners, and used the terrain to resist step by step, and waited until the army arrived to destroy the landing enemy in one fell swoop.

Subsequently, Major Liao thanked the fishermen's girl, and asked all the female soldiers to rush to the Chinese garrison garrison stationed in Jinshanwei to report the news, and he led more than 300 cadets to attack, and the troops ran to the sea.

The sky was getting brighter, and the sea was showing a silhouette.

The calm and calm Captain Liao led the troops to the coast in concealment, and when he carefully crawled to a ridge and raised his binoculars to observe the enemy's situation, he was stunned by the spectacular scene that appeared in front of him.

The Japanese soldiers of the black pressure were landing in an orderly manner.

On the sea in the distance, countless propaganda balloons fluttered, and the heroic slogan "One Million Imperial Army Landing in Hangzhou Bay" was written in Chinese on the balloon streamers; hundreds of Japanese warships were moored on the sea in the distance; on the nearby beaches, Japanese landing craft and assault boats were like busy fast crab boats during the fishing and flood seasons, carrying Japanese infantry and weapons and equipment to the narrow shore of Quangongting.

At the moment of the great enemy, the soldiers had no reason to retreat quietly, and soon a battle broke out in the form of eggs hitting stones or moths to fire, and the rhythm of the Japanese landing was briefly disturbed, but it quickly subsided.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the sun gradually rose, and on the sea, about three or four kilometers away from the landing site of Quangongting, the Japanese fleet, which was slowly moving, began to change its formation, sailed to the northeast sea, gradually approached the large and small Jinshan Islands, and then aimed its naval guns at the national army fortifications on the Jinshanwei coast, which was about 10 kilometers away from Quangongting.

As the Japanese troops who landed on the front line of Quangongting began to make a detour to the right flank of Lu, a large number of landing craft and assault boats on the sea broke away from the fleet again and headed towards the Jinshanwei landing site.

On the battleship "Hiei" of the Japanese Navy, Vice Admiral Yanagawa Heisuke, commander of the Tenth Army, patted the morning dew on his body and glanced sideways at Shosaku beside him.

As if sensing the commander's gaze, many Japanese army and navy officers tried to raise their heads, and the joy on their faces could not be concealed.

Yanagawa Heisuke once again turned his attention to the defensive positions of the Chinese troops in front of him, recalling the scenes of his first arrival in China.

Half a month ago, when Yanagawa Heisuke, who had nothing to do at home, put on his military uniform again and was ordered to be transferred to the Songhu battlefield, the Japanese and Chinese armies in the frontal battlefield of Shanghai were already in a stage of extremely bloody trench warfare, and the Japanese army suffered a large number of casualties almost every day.

In late September, the Chinese Left Wing Combat Army withdrew to its predetermined positions on the line of the Panjing River, and placed the main force of the first line in the north of Yunzaobang and in the east and west areas of the Panjing and Dijing rivers. At this time, the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army advanced westward along the Baoliu Highway, attempting to break through the Chinese army lines in Panjing and Dijing, occupy the two belts of Liu Xing and Gujiazhai, and then cross south to Yunzaobang.

The 11th Division of the Japanese Army, together with the newly arrived Shigetdo Detachment, along the north-south line of the Yueluo Highway, from east to west, planned to completely wipe out the Chinese troops in the area between the three rivers of Panjing, Dijing and Yangjing, and the key target of the attack was the area around Luodian to ensure the safety of the flank and back of the Japanese army going south, and then cooperate with the 3rd Division to attack the Dachang and Nanxiangjian areas.

In the following ten days, the Chinese army fought from west to east, and the Japanese army attacked step by step from east to west, and the two armies launched a fierce tug-of-war here.

By the beginning of October, both sides had suffered heavy attrition and were stuck in the area along the Panjing River.

On 10 October, after the Japanese army succeeded in attacking the new urban area of Shanghai and the eastern and northern districts of the public concession, the Japanese 101st Division and the 9th Division began to enter the left flank battlefield and launched more fierce offensives for several days. Relying on its superiority in firepower, the Japanese army shelled more than 20,000 rounds a day, and the Chinese army's position on the bank of the Panjing River was filled with gunsmoke and a sea of fire. Subsequently, the Japanese infantry accompanied the tanks to charge, and the Chinese 66th Army and the Fourth Army braved the fierce Japanese artillery fire to resist stubbornly.

The second line of troops reinforced and counterattacked in batches, and fought hard repeatedly, although the Japanese offensive was delayed, but the Japanese army was unable to repel the Japanese army, and by 12 October, the Chinese left-wing combat army moved west from the Panjing River to the line of the Dijing River, and left a part of the troops in the original position to cover the westward retreat of the main force.

Subsequently, the Japanese army launched an attack on the main position of the Chinese army guarding the first line of the Dijing River, and in Gujia Town, Liu Xing, Taipingqiao, Taojiazhai and other places, the two sides fought fiercely village by village, and at the same time, fierce battles also occurred in the area of Shi Xianggong Temple west of Luodian, at this time, the Japanese Ninth Division focused on Gujia Town, the focus of the third division's attack was on Liu Xing, and the 11th Division attacked on the north and south lines of Shi Xianggong Temple.

The Chinese and Japanese sides fought repeatedly in the area of the main position on the Dijing River, and the number of casualties was everywhere, and the number of casualties was in the thousands. The Japanese army continued to send reinforcements in a steady stream, and the Chinese Eighth and Ninth Divisions and the Tax Police Corps rushed to participate in the battle, but they still did not stop the ferocious attack of the Japanese army. The right flank position of the 15th Group Army was then moved to the line between Yangjiazhai, Gujiazhen, Liuhang, Luodian, and Shixianggongmiao to Liuhe, and turned from attack to defense.

After continuous hard fighting, the battle lines of the Central Combat Army and the Left Wing Combat Army of the Chinese army along the Yunzaobang have been directly connected with each other, forming a right-angled defensive line starting from the Liuhe River in the north, passing east of Nanxiang in the south, passing through the area between Yunzaobang and Zoumatang, and reaching the Jiangwan area in the east.

In the brutal battle from late September to mid-October, the Japanese army attacked the Chinese army's position between the Panjing River and the Yangjing River with its main force, and advanced about 5 to 10 kilometers east and west.

On 19 October, the Japanese army broke through the position of the Chinese defenders in the vicinity of Heida Huangzhai and rushed to cross Yunzaobang from Tangqiao Station, and the main force continued to advance to the south bank of Yunzaobang. The Chinese army adopted the tactics of holding positions and constantly launching counterattacks to engage the Japanese in a bitter battle. After 20 October, the Japanese army continued to cross southward, in an attempt to expand the results of the battle, break through the defenders' positions in one fell swoop, occupy Dachang and Nanxiang, and cut off the rear roads of the central army in Zhabei, Jiangwan, and Miaohang. Because it is the key to the whole world, the competition is fiercer than before.

On 22 October, in view of the fact that the Japanese army had suffered heavy casualties after continuous fierce fighting after crossing south to Yunzaobang, the Third Theater Command adjusted its deployment, on the one hand, waiting for reinforcements from the 21st Group Army and other units in Guangxi in preparation for launching a counterattack, and on the other hand, ordered the reinforcement of the second line of positions on the front lines of Jiangwan, Dachang, Xinjingqiao, Chenjiahang, Nanxiang, Jiading, and Liuhe Town.

The Japanese continued their southward offensive.

On the 23rd, the Japanese army fired a large number of incendiary bombs at Chenjiaxing, followed by aircraft air strikes, and released poison gas, and attacked the position of the defenders of Xinluzhai.

Under the bombardment of the superior artillery fire of the Japanese army, the tax police corps and other units suffered heavy casualties and had to be transferred to the rear for rectification, and the troops of the 20th Army at Shengqiao and Epiphany Temple were all martyred, with more than 7,000 casualties in just two days, and the Third Theater had to urgently transfer troops to take over the defense.

Yunzaobang, the middle zone of Zoumatang, from the west to Nanxiang, east to the temple, Jiangwan, the north pillow Yunzaobang, the south along the north and south of the Zaomatang, here is a narrow strip of east-west, the depth of the north and south is only more than ten kilometers, the east-west span is about 30 kilometers, the rivers and canals in the territory are vertical and horizontal, the farmland is dense, the terrain is flat, and there is no danger to defend. The Yunzaobang and Zoumatang rivers are not wide, and it is difficult to form a barrier for combat, but the Shanghai-Taizhou Highway runs through them, but it provides a convenient passage for the Japanese mechanized troops.

It was in such a zone that the Chinese army pushed the positional warfare in the Battle of Songhu to the peak, and under the conditions of almost losing air supremacy and the Japanese artillery and armored units having absolute superiority, holding on to the battle here and now was tantamount to putting the troops in front of the Japanese artillery as a target.

Of course, relatively speaking, this kind of resistance has also brought great trouble to the Japanese, after all, the "destruction of China in three months" advocated by them has become a joke in various countries, and now more than two months have passed, and the war is still in a state of chaos, which is unacceptable to the Japanese government and military department.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese base camp in Tokyo decided to transfer the main battlefield of the war of aggression against China from North China to Shanghai; in addition to increasing the number of guards divisions from China, the North China Front also transferred elite troops and the Ninth Mechanized Brigade under the Fifth Division to board ships from various ports and transport them to Songhu by sea to participate in the war.

Heisuke Yanagikawa, 58, who served as commander of the First Division and commander of the Taiwan Army, was dismissed from his post in the purge army after the 26 February incident last year and put into the reserve.

After leading his troops to Shanghai, Yanagawa Heisuke immediately went to the Japanese Sanyou Telecommunications Building at the intersection of Tiantong Road and Xihuade Road in Shanghai, which had just been occupied, to attend an operational meeting of senior generals of the army, navy, and air force of the Japanese Central China Front.

When he saw Admiral Matsui Ishine on Chinese soil, Yanagawa Heisuke was shocked, the once radiant commander had aged at least ten years, his originally round cheeks had sunken, his complexion was blue-gray in the miserable white light, and his whole person looked rather decadent, and he was obviously saddened that he had not fulfilled the great trust entrusted by His Majesty the Emperor.

As of the end of October, the Japanese army had lost more than 100,000 of them, of which 50,000 were killed and 100,000 wounded, and nearly half of the casualties were brought about by the hateful unconscionable artillery, especially the loss of tanks, and more than 400 of the more than 900 tanks put into Shanghai were destroyed by rockets

Although the Japanese army has acquired bazookas through continuous battles and has begun to imitate them in its own country, it will take time before it is officially put into service.

Matsui Ishine roared loudly: "...... The Holy Great East Asian Holy War has been going on for two and a half months, and the Imperial Army has only advanced 20 kilometers after landing in Shanghai, which on the one hand shows that the people of China do have a very tenacious spirit, and on the other hand, it is the shame of the Imperial soldiers, where is the bushido spirit of the Imperial Japanese Army? His Majesty the Emperor has entrusted you with honor, but should the invincible Imperial Army humiliate His Majesty the Holy Emperor with defeat? ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, when I was summoned by His Majesty in the Imperial Palace, His Majesty gave two words, saying, 'To his loyalty and bravery,' I regard it as sacred, motivate myself every night, and dare not slack off...... If the imperial army cannot quickly destroy the Chinese army, it is not brave, and if it cannot occupy Shanghai, Nanjing, and even the whole of China, it is disloyal."

Matsui Ishone's words made all the generals in the meeting bow their heads.

"In order to fulfill the sacred mission entrusted to him by His Majesty the Emperor and the Empire, I have drawn up a strategic plan for a large-scale attack, which has been approved by the base camp. Now, I would like to invite Yanagawa-kun from Tokyo to explain."

Yanagawa Heisuke bowed deeply to the generals at the banquet, and then came to the large military map and said in a loud voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, in view of the large number of troops invested by the enemy in Shanghai, the commander is determined to shift the strategic focus from the northern battlefield to the southern battlefield and destroy all the enemy's main forces here. ”

Subsequently, Yanagawa drew a large circle with a baton in the protruding triangle at the mouth of the Yangtze River:

"The implementation of this strategic plan consisted of three interrelated campaigns, and the Songhu front, with five or six divisions as the main force, always maintained strong pressure on the enemy in Shanghai, and was ready to capture Shanghai at any time. On the right, a main division landed on the Yangtze River by surprise, northeast of Changshu in Jiangsu, and then quickly interspersed south along the north shore of Taihu Lake to capture Suzhou and Wuxi. ”

"The front army placed the most important strategic striking force on the left flank of the battlefield, and the navy ships covertly transported several elite divisions and regiments, bypassed the entire Yangtze River estuary salient, and made a 200-kilometer detour to the weakly defended point in Hangzhou Bay to carry out the landing, and then expanded the results of the battle in the Taihu Lake valley at a lightning speed, cut off the enemy's retreat in one fell swoop, and completed the strategic task of completely annihilating China's 700,000-strong army."

Matsui Ishine nodded in satisfaction, and then waved his hand, and one of the guards respectfully held a chrysanthemum command knife from the imperial gift.

"Gentlemen"

Matsui Ishine pressed his hands on the chrysanthemum command knife and announced loudly: "In the name of the commander of the Imperial Central China Front, I issue an order that the original division and regimental structure and position on the frontal front line remain unchanged, and appoint the 16th Division Nakajima Imago as the commander of the right road, and command the division to serve as the task of interspersing and containing. Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa was appointed commander of the newly formed 10th Army Corps, under the command of the 6th, 18th, and 114th Divisions and the 9th Brigade of Guoqideng, with a total of 100,000 troops to land on the flank of Hangzhou Bay in a concealed detour, cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou and Shanghai-Nanjing highways and railways, and complete the complete encirclement of the enemy in Shanghai."

"The Great War is imminent, and the fate of the Empire is in this move, and I swear to His Majesty the Emperor with this sword: if this battle is lost, Matsui Ishine will commit suicide by disembowelment to apologize."

Thinking of this, Yanagawa Heisuke breathed a sigh of relief, and filtered the entire battle plan in his mind, there was basically no problem, but when he confirmed the Chinese army guarding the line, he found that it was the nasty new second division guarding the line from Zhapu to Jiaxing, which made Yanagawa Heisuke faintly feel a little uneasy.

At this time, there was a sound of "oh" footsteps, and then the door of the command room was pushed open from the outside, and a naval lieutenant appeared at the door, bowed to Yanagawa, and reported loudly: "Your Excellency Commander, all ships are ready." ”

"Yo West"

Yanagawa Heisuke nodded, and a proud smile appeared on his face: "Pass my order, each ship will spread out in battle formation, and shell the embankment positions of the Shina Army on both flanks of Kanayama with all their might. I have only one word, until my imperial army landed ashore, the Chinese army no longer resisted fire"

"Hay—"

Admiral Nakasa nodded, turned and left, quickly conveying orders to the ships.

In less than a quarter of an hour, two Japanese battleships, four cruisers, and more than 20 destroyers opened fire, and the Jinshan shore defense fortifications were immediately plunged into a cloud of gunsmoke, and a 35U mm shell happened to fall on the roof of a pillbox, and the building that originally looked extremely solid disappeared in an instant.

Fragments of stones and cement mixed with the flesh and blood of the soldiers rushed to the sky, and before the Japanese troops landed, the blood had already stained the Chinese defenders' positions red.

The officers and men of the Nationalist army of about a battalion guarding the booth head were pale, clenched their guns tightly, and silently endured the constant explosion of artillery fire around them, waiting for an opportunity to shoot at the Japanese landing force.

But in the end, they were disappointed, the Japanese naval artillery fire was so fierce that as time passed, their lives disappeared like fireworks under the Japanese artillery fire.

Guarding Jinshanwei were the officers and men of the 12th Provisional Brigade, and in the headquarters about two kilometers away from the front-line position, brigade commander Li Guojun was holding a telescope and his face was extremely ugly.

The pillboxes, fortifications, and bunkers located on the beachhead were overturned by shells one by one, and the soldiers hiding inside were crushed to pieces before they could fire a single shot, and their hearts were like knives for a while.

Li Guojun gritted his teeth hatefully, turned around and shouted at the staff officer of the brigade headquarters: "Aren't the engineers of the new Second Division being propagandized? How can the fortifications be built so unbeaten? ”

The officers were pale, and no one could answer. They did not know that the 12th Brigade had taken over the defense areas where the 56th, 57th, and 62nd Divisions had been stationed, and that Wu Ming's new 2nd Division had never been responsible for the defense of the Jinshanwei area from beginning to end, let alone had no way to interfere in the construction of coastal defense fortifications.

Li Guojun had a cold face and shouted at the staff officers of the brigade headquarters: "Quick, call Commander Zhang, and then telegraph to Dai Minquan stationed in Fengxian County, and ask him to quickly bring his 45th Division to reinforcements."

"Travel, the Japanese are coming"

A staff officer hurriedly reported.

Li Guojun raised his binoculars again, the dense landing craft and assault boats had already docked, the front baffle of the first landing craft had been lowered, and the Japanese soldiers dressed in khaki armor, under the leadership of the officer, roared and rushed towards the position of Li Guojun's brigade.

Li Guojun's heart suddenly pinched, the front-line fortifications had been bombarded into the sky by the artillery fire of the Japanese warships, and most of the soldiers guarding were killed and wounded, and they could not resist the Japanese charge at all.

Li Guojun suddenly pulled out his pistol and said to the officers in the command: "Fuck with Lao Tzu, you must drive the Japanese army into the sea."

"Oh no, the master ......"

Li Guojun had just rushed out of the headquarters with his people, and Gao Shuangqing's regiment, which was defending the left flank position of Jinshanwei, sent a herald to warn:

"Brigade commander, an hour ago, our department received a call from a group of girls who broke into the position, they said that they were from the Jinshanwei Base Brigade of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Anti-Japanese Mobilization Corps, and that a Japanese army had landed on the front line of Quangongting before, and asked us to go for reinforcements. Our regimental commander was suspicious and sent a battalion to investigate, but on the way he encountered the Japanese troops who were approaching, and the battalion was scattered, and it was initially estimated that there would be no more than a wing of the Japanese troops landing......"

"What?"

Li Guojun was shocked, hurriedly returned to the headquarters, spread out the map and looked at it a few times, cold sweat suddenly gurgled down, and he muttered in his mouth: "It's over, it's over......"

Zhang Fakui, who was in Songjiang County, received a telegram from Li Guojun and was also stunned by the bad news.

For this reason, in addition to following the instructions of the Military Committee, the new Second Division was firmly nailed to the line from Zhapu to Jiaxing, the 63rd Division was placed on the Jiashan-Pinghu defense line, and the 62nd Division was placed outside the line from Jiashan to Dianshan Lake, and the rest of the troops were all thrown into the frontal battlefield. Even Dai Minquan's 45th Division was withdrawn from the Songhu front line to rest and recuperate before being put into Fengxian County, and its combat effectiveness was really not flattering.

Now that the Japanese army has landed, the few guards are suddenly beaten and powerless.

Zhang Fakui immediately wanted to transfer Wu Ming's new Second Division to rush to the aid of the emergency, but after thinking about it, no, the Zhapu front line defended by the new Second Division also bears the heavy task of preventing the Japanese army from landing; once it is transferred, the Japanese army will land from Zhapu to Haitang, bypass the defense line to attack Haiyan, Haining, and Kipshi, and cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo railway, which will pose an even greater threat.

In desperation, Zhang Fakui had no choice but to send a telegram to Dai Minquan, who had lost his troops and lost his generals, to rescue him at all costs.

Shortly after Zhang Fakui's order was issued, Chen Defa, the 37th Independent Brigade defending the line from Xincang to Zhangyan on the flank of Quangongting, sent a telegram asking for help, and at the same time, Zhou Xieqing, the 11th Provisional Brigade defending Jinshanzui to Caojing, also sent a telegram that the front line was tight.

Zhang Fakui sat on the chair, and he immediately understood that the Japanese army must have landed on the line from Quangong Pavilion, Jinsiniang Bridge, Jinshanwei to Jinshanzui, and there were many more troops than expected

Wu Ming's prophecy finally came true, and the Japanese army's move directly hit Zhang Fakui's waist and eyes, tricky and ruthless.

Zhang Fakui didn't regret it, and hurriedly ordered the 63rd Division and the 62nd Division, which were temporarily in the rear, to quickly reinforce the first line, of which the 63rd Division was divided into a part to occupy Songjiang, and at the same time to attack and advance in the direction of Hangzhou Bay with the 45th Independent Brigade guarding Pudong, and to assemble the 67th Army between Qingpu and Baihegang, to quickly advance in the direction of Jinshan through Songjiang, and block the Japanese army head-on, occupy Minhang with the 61st Division, guard the left bank of the Huangpu River, and order the 79th Division, which was originally planned to go to the front line of Suzhou Creek, to get off at Jiaxing halfway, Sail to Guangchen Town to reinforce the front line.

With the telegram being sent, the front-line battle reports arrived:

Under the orders of the commander of the Japanese 10th Army, Yanagawa Heisuke, the 6th Division under the command of Lieutenant General Toshio Tani was attached to the Kunisaki Detachment in the area west of the Kanayama Acropolis, and the 18th Division under the command of Lieutenant General Sadao Ushijima carried out landing operations on the east side of the Kanayama Acropolis. Under the command of Major General Tezuka Province, commander of the 35th Infantry Brigade of the 18th Division, the left detachment of the 35th Infantry Brigade and the 3rd Brigade of the 12th Field Artillery Wing was formed on the basis of the left detachment, and the landing was launched from the left side of the 6th Division.

Although the various units of the Nationalist Army fought bravely to kill the enemy, the Japanese artillery fire was too fierce, and all units suffered heavy losses and urgently needed to be rescued. Pinching the telegrams asking for help everywhere, Zhang Fakui wanted to cry without tears, regretting that he should not have listened to Wu Ming's words.

When the news reached the Third Theater Command in Suzhou, it was already noon.

Lin Wei, who received an urgent report from the front, did not dare to slack off, so he took the telegram and rushed towards the restaurant.

Chiang Kai-shek was having lunch with Qian Dajun, He Yingqin and others, and after reading the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek's jade chopsticks suddenly fell off the table.

Pushing away the food in front of him, Chiang Kai-shek rushed back to the war room with a blushing face. At this time, I received the latest news from Wu Ming.

When Chiang Kai-shek saw that the Japanese army that landed was estimated to have three divisions and more than 100,000 troops, his hands and feet were cold, and a sense of powerlessness suddenly welled up in his heart.

Chiang Kai-shek leaned on his desk, struggled to support himself, looked around at the generals in the war room, tried to suppress the cold rising from his heart, and asked in a trembling voice: "The war situation has eroded to this point...... Guys, how do you deal with it? ”

The senior generals in the war room couldn't come up with any good ideas for a while, and they stared at the map one by one and sighed, helpless.

In contrast to Chiang Kai-shek's panic when he received the news of the large-scale landing of Japanese troops in Hangzhou Bay, the commander of the Japanese Central China Front, General Matsui Ishine, slapped the table with joy.

For more than two months, more than 200,000 Japanese troops attacked fiercely, but with little success, although with the support of naval guns and aircraft, the Chinese army was severely defeated, but its own losses were not small.

With the landing of the 10th Army on the north bank of Hangzhou Bay, the rapid opening of the gate of the southern front of the Chinese army in the Songhu Battlefield not only caused the situation in the Songhu Battlefield to deteriorate sharply, but also directly endangered the security of Suzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Nanjing.

The Jinshanwei area on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay is not only suitable for the landing corps at the campaign level, but also has three highways leading to Shanghai on land, and there are water and land communications leading to Hangzhou, and at the same time, there are convenient passages leading to Wuhu and Nanjing through the border between Jiangsu and Anhui.

The Japanese army that successfully captured Jinshanwei not only directly posed a serious threat to the flank of the Chinese army in Shanghai in the battle, but also made Nanjing fall into a strategic detour of the Japanese army.

Matsui Ishine was overjoyed, but his face was still serious, and he quickly gave a new order.

On the frontal battlefield, the 3rd, 9th, 11th, and 101st Divisions once again intensified their offensives, and they must tear the Chinese army's defensive line in the Shanghai area open within three days. The 13th Division, which was waiting for work in the rear, plunged into the hole in the Chinese defensive line and crushed the frontal enemy like a fist.

The 16th Division, attached to the Shigeto Detachment, landed at the mouth of the Baimao River and cut off the land retreat of the Nationalist army.

At the same time, the Liuchuan Pingsuke cluster on the southern line must occupy Songjiang, the hub of the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway, and Kunshan on the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway as soon as possible, so as to cut off the retreat route of the national army through the railway.

The Japanese warships anchored on the Yangtze River violently bombarded the defensive positions of the Nationalist Army, and for a time, the losses of the various units of the Nationalist Army increased sharply, and the officers and men of the Japanese army's dense artillery shells were so pressed that the officers and men could not raise their heads......

The Japanese planes were even more unscrupulous in bombing the main positions of the Nationalist army, and the Chinese air force lost 11 fighters in just half a day, and Zhou Zhirou had no choice but to give up the idea of competing with the Japanese army and navy air force, and first transferred a large number of fighters to Quzhou and Nanchang airfields, while the rest of the fighters mainly protected the airspace of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and other areas, and no longer took the initiative to attack.

Urgent reports from various places were transmitted back to the Suzhou Third Theater Command, causing many military committee bigwigs to exclaim

As early as noon, Lin Wei proposed to withdraw his troops, but Chiang Kai-shek did not agree. Subsequently, Chen Cheng called from the front again, requesting that the troops east of Nanxiang and north and south of the Beijing-Shanghai line take the initiative to move westward, withdraw the Wufu line and the Sujia line, and prepare to resist the invading enemy, but Chiang Kai-shek still refused.

It turned out that the Brussels Conference of the Nine-Power Pact had just opened on 3 November, and Chiang Kai-shek wanted to hold out in Shanghai for a few more days in order to strive for a good result of the meeting.

Just when Chiang Kai-shek was ready to hold on, Wu Ming's troops also ushered in the attack of the Japanese army.