The Japanese crossed the river with only one squadron of nearly 400 devils, but don't look at only 400 people, their combat power should not be underestimated. Although the reserve troops in Jiujiang City were transferred to Guanzhou by Li Yunheng, there was also a regiment of security forces in the city and a guard regiment directly under the 16th Army Army. Since the Battle of Nanjing, Jiujiang has become a front-line city, so the security forces in the city have also received special training from the Central Army and have a certain combat capability. According to Li Yunheng's judgment, even if the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Jiujiang, because of the existence of the Gantang Lake position, they would not be able to form a breakthrough soon. But he forgot that Jiujiang was not the only landing site at Gantang Lake, in fact, as long as the Japanese were willing to spend effort and were not afraid of trouble, they could complete the crossing of the river in other places by moving ants.

There are more than 400 devils, all of whom are elites trained by the "Fox of Long Island" himself, and they are not only first-class, but also well-equipped. Among them, the German MP-40 submachine gun was almost one for everyone, and at the same time, there was one grenade launcher for every ten people and one Type 92 heavy machine gun for every thirty people. It can be said that this is a group of devils armed to the teeth. When this group of devils suddenly appeared outside the east gate of Jiujiang, the security army on the suspension bridge of the city gate was stupid. It wasn't until the other party shot first, killing all five people on duty, that they reacted, but it was too late at this time. The security guards on the city tower were about to put away the suspension bridge, and the sound of "hoo" sounded, and several grenades fell near the city tower one after another, and the security guards were killed three and injured several others, and the others immediately dispersed.

The Japanese occupied the East Gate without much effort, and then, the leader of the team, Imura Shaoza, left a small team of people to occupy the East Gate, and then led the others straight to Jiujiang Middle School to kill.

Almost at the same time, some Japanese spies in the city and some of the traitors who had been bribed began to set fire to the chaos according to the predetermined plan. They loudly publicized the news of the Japanese coming in, and the civilians in Jiujiang City immediately fell into confusion when they heard the truth, and many people began to pack their bags and rush into the streets to escape from the city. And the chaos they caused made Li Yunheng's subsequent efforts come to naught. As the leader of the old Hunan army, Li Yunheng still has some courage, and the troops under his command, such as the 53rd Division, also have a certain combat effectiveness. Li Yunheng could have quickly assembled the guard group and then launched a counterattack, but the chaos in the city forced him to abandon this plan. The chaos in the city made it impossible for him to judge the size of the Japanese army, so when someone suggested to him that he should first withdraw to Gantang Lake and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack, he had no choice but to take this opinion.

The "Fox of Long Island" had been planning today's battle for several days, and when a red signal flare suddenly appeared in the sky over Jiujiang City, he gave an order, and when he landed, the cannons that had already moved from the other side of Xingang and Guanzhou roared in unison, and hundreds of thousands of shells bombarded the outer positions of Gantang Lake in just ten minutes. At the same time, those small black dots in the sky turned into visible fighters, roaring towards the camp of the 53rd Division in Gantang Lake. Just when the Japanese artillery and aviation were ravaging the position of Gantang Lake, the Japanese army ambushed on the other side of the lake began to rush out of the reeds with various wooden boats and boats. The Jiujiang offensive, which the Japanese had planned for a long time, kicked off in an instant.

Some time ago, the Japanese army had been storming Xingang and Guanzhou, which made the officers and men of the 53rd Division paralyzed. They took it for granted that this was the main direction of the Japanese attack, so all the other units stayed in the barracks, except for one regiment that was on duty to stay in the trenches. As a veteran Hunan army, the 53rd Division fought bravely, but it did not have much tactical literacy. Originally, according to the order of the Military Commission, the front-line trenches had to be dug at least 1.8 or 2 meters, but the officers and men of the 53rd Division only dug about 1.2 meters on the pretext that the beach could not be dug deep and was prone to water accumulation. As a result, the protective capacity of the trenches is quite limited. Therefore, the Japanese only carried out 10 minutes of artillery preparation, and the forward position at Gantang Lake was completely paralyzed, and at least two battalions of officers and men of a regiment stationed in it were directly killed, and the officers and men of another battalion saw that the trenches could not hide people, and under the request of the regiment commander to preserve their strength, they withdrew to the second line of defense in the face of flying artillery fire.

The second line of defense was also not safe, and it was only a kilometer away from the camp, and it had been targeted by the Japanese air force. Originally, if they had dug deep communication trenches as required, and had dug bomb shelters and anti-artillery holes at intervals, they would have been able to avoid this round of bombardment. However, there is nothing that should be there, and there should be something that should not be there (some officers and men of the 53rd Division, in order to be lazy and enjoy happiness, carried a lot of reeds into the traffic trench as mattresses), but they all have it, and a single bomb from the Japanese plane can often set a traffic trench on fire. Of course, the burning traffic trenches can't pass people, so what to do? In this way, these soldiers running on the ground will become a living target for those Japanese aircraft and aviation units to practice marksmanship. Often, a Japanese plane roars by, and at the press of the shooting button, a piece can be ploughed down.

The Japanese bullied the Chinese army into not having an air force in Jiujiang, and this time all the bombers were dispatched, a total of 17 bombers, four of which were medium bombers, and these bombers flew between the camp of the 53rd Division and the second line of defense, and destroyed more than one regiment of the 53rd Division when they landed.

Li Yunheng rushed to Gantang Lake with the guard regiment, originally expecting to gather troops and launch a counteroffensive against a small group of Japanese troops in Jiujiang. However, he was only halfway through when he encountered the rout of the 53rd Division. The commander of the 53rd Division was still with Li Yunheng at this time. The division commander was not there, the brigade commander and regiment commander were not there, and there were only a few battalion commanders in charge of the huge army. Together, these battalion commanders thought that Gantang Lake would definitely not be able to hold it, and the military seat was in Jiujiang City, so they simply gave up Gantang Lake to defend Jiujiang. So, under their leadership, the remnants of the 53rd Division, which had managed to escape the bombing of Japanese planes, retreated to Jiujiang City like a tide.

"Yu Zeliang, what's going on?" Li Yunheng saw the tragic scene of his subordinates coming towards him and had already guessed what was happening. However, with a fluke mentality - maybe this is because his subordinates learned of the changes in Jiujiang City and took the initiative to help? He couldn't help but ask a battalion commander so.

Yu Zeliang cried with a sad face: "Military seat, Gantang Lake is lost, the Japanese have dispatched hundreds of planes and large troops, and we have suffered heavy losses!" ”

Li Yunheng was actually prepared for this result in his heart, but when it was confirmed, his face still changed greatly. The so-called defeat is like a mountain, and it is definitely impossible to counterattack Jiujiang with this remnant army at this moment. Since Gantang Lake has been lost, the Japanese may land there at any time. And once the Japanese army enters Jiujiang, let alone counterattack Jiujiang, the reserve first and third divisions of Xingang and Guanzhou are in danger of being encircled and annihilated.

At this time, there was a deformed situation in the officialdom of the Republic of China, that is, some guys who were originally bandits or even warlords were not only not surrounded and suppressed because they had some people and guns in their hands, but could be promoted and made a fortune because of this.

Li Yunheng is from the old Hunan line, and it is said that since the Hunan line no longer exists, there is no need for him and his troops to exist. In fact, it is not, just because someone has a gun in his hand, so he not only exists, but also lives a very nourishing life, and he has changed from a division commander to a military commander. Therefore, Li Yunheng's understanding and desire for people and guns is very profound. The Reserve 1st Division and the Reserve 3rd Division are his capital, and they are the conditions to ensure that he is still alive. involved his own interests, he naturally refused to let it be eaten by the Japanese army. Therefore, even though he knew that the situation in Jiujiang would no longer be reversed once Xingang and Guanzhou were lost, he still resolutely issued an order to let the first and third divisions of the reserve immediately withdraw their positions and move towards Xingzi Town.

Jiujiang was lost in the blink of an eye, and it was completely lost. At Hukou, Ye Zhao, the commander of the 12th Division, received a report from a front-line scout, and his nose was crooked with anger. Li Yunheng is too inauthentic, as soon as he came to Hukou, he went to visit the other party, saying that the two sides should cooperate and support each other in times of crisis. The other party is good, just lose Jiujiang in the blink of an eye, and I didn't even know it. Because the commander of the former 12th Division had to retire early because he was seriously ill, Ye Zhao had just come over and the division didn't have much time to meet this north. Although the 12th Division is the foundation of the old Cantonese department, and Ye Zhao can be regarded as the same division, but considering that Ye Zhao has just arrived, the soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers, so Ouyang Yuncai only sent such an easy job to the 12th Division. For this matter, Ye Zhao once slandered, thinking that the commander-in-chief did not believe in his own ability, and once planned how to manage the front line of Hukou, so as to play a role at a critical time. However, before the arrangement on his side was in place, Jiujiang was lost, which was equivalent to directly putting Hukou at the forefront, so it was no wonder that he was so angry.

As soon as Jiujiang is lost, it will be dangerous for the Scholar Army to go north, because in this way, they will face the situation of being attacked on three sides. There are a total of five divisions in the Northbound Army, which seems to have a lot of troops, but because of the problem of troops, Ouyang Yun is most worried about being taken by the Japanese and going to encircle or something. At that time, the Battle of Hankou will be sour, and it will no longer be a battle between China and Japan for the important town of Hankou, but will most likely become a battle in which the Japanese army encircled and annihilated the northward army of the Xuebing Army. Once this happens, Ouyang Yun can be sure that except for Xue Yue in Nanchang, who may lend a certain degree of help, the armies of the other factions will definitely hold their arms and watch from the sidelines.

This matter was very important, Ye Zhao didn't dare to ignore it, and immediately reported it to Ouyang Yun. After Ouyang Yun learned of this situation, he stood in front of the sand table in a daze and didn't say a word for five minutes.