The Japanese army also set their sights on Yuhuatai.

Yuhuatai is about 100 meters high, is the only commanding height outside the Zhonghua Gate, as long as the Japanese army controls Yuhuatai, it can condescendingly suppress the fire of the national army that sticks to the city wall, to make an analogy, if the heavily guarded Nanjing is compared to a lock, then Yuhuatai is the key to open the lock.

The first to focus on Yuhuatai was the division commander of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, Fujita Shin.

However, at this time, the 3rd and 9th Divisions of the Japanese Army were still fighting with the 51st Division at Heding Bridge, although the 305th Regiment of the 51st Division was a new regiment, but the regiment commander Zhang Lingfu was a ruthless character, his left arm was seriously injured and he refused to get out of the line of fire, and the two Japanese divisions attacked at Heding Bridge for a whole day, and they were unable to break through the defense line of the 305th Regiment.

If the Heding Bridge could not be taken, the large troops and heavy equipment of the 3rd and 9th Divisions would not be able to pass.

Therefore, if you want to seize Yuhuatai, you have to find another way, and Fujita found Ohara Shigemi for the first time.

Owara Shigemi was originally the captain of the special operations brigade directly under the 3rd Division, but later the Ohara brigade was heavily damaged in Wusong Town, and was transferred to the Shanghai Dispatch Army Headquarters by Matsui Ishine.

At this time, the Ohara Brigade also arrived in Chunhua Town.

"Ohara-san, now the battle situation outside Nanjing is more chaotic, the Chinese army and the imperial army have been completely entangled, just now the Chinese army also launched a counterattack, almost hit the division headquarters, but then again, chaos also has the advantage of chaos, that is, it gives the imperial army a chance to fish in troubled waters, you come, look here."

Fujita Susumu pointed to the map, and Shigemi Ohara looked at it, only to see the words "Yuhuatai" marked on it.

Tajiri Toshio, chief of staff of the 3rd Division, continued: "Yuhuatai is the only commanding height outside the Zhonghua Gate, as long as Yuhuatai is seized, the imperial army will be able to gain a geographical advantage, and will be able to condescendingly carry out large-scale cluster artillery bombardment against the walls of Nanjing and the city. ’

Fujita Shin said: "Ohara-san, please be sure to take down Yuhuatai and hold there." ”

"Hello." Ohara Shigemi suddenly closed her feet and bowed her head.

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Tang Shengzhi had a habit of going out for a walk every morning and evening, and this habit did not change after he became the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Garrison Command, and insisted on walking in front of the court for an hour every evening, and let two guards follow him, one guard carried a large warm water bottle, and the other guard carried a small teapot and three forts, and every few minutes he had to wipe his face with a hot towel, and he also drank tea, and the cigarettes were smoked one after another, and there was rarely a break.

In the past few days, because the Japanese bombardment has become more and more frequent, the staff officers of the garrison headquarters have moved to the basement of the Ministry of Railways to work, but Tang Shengzhi insisted on staying in his mansion, and he had no intention of hiding at all.

At this time, Lao Tang was indeed mentally prepared to live and die with Nanjing.

However, Lao Tang also knew in his heart that the army commanders, army commanders, and division commanders under his command might not be willing to live and die with Nanjing like him, so after the loss of Chunhua Town, Lao Tang not only ordered the 66th Army, 74th Army, 83rd Army and the 2nd Army Corps on the periphery to retreat to the Fukou position, but also issued several "desperate orders" one after another.

The first is to order the gendarmerie to block most of the city gates in Nanjing, and only keep the three gates of Zhonghua, Taiping, and Rujiang.

The second was to let Sun Yuanliang's 72nd Army (88th Division) hold the Zhonghua Gate and prevent the 74th Army from entering the city of Nanjing, the purpose was to cut off the retreat of the 74th Army and force the 74th Army to fight to the death with the Japanese army outside the city.

The third was to let Wang Jingjiu's 71st Army (87th Division) hold the Taiping Gate, prevent the 66th Army, the 83rd Army, the Teaching Corps and the 2nd Army from retreating into Nanjing, and force these troops to rely on the Purple Mountain position to fight a decisive battle with Xiaori Yanben.

The fourth was to let Song Xilian's 78th Army (36th Division) hold the Rujiang Gate, and prevent the 71st Army, the 72nd Army, and the gendarmerie from crossing the river and retreating north through the Rujiang Gate.

Fifth, Yu Feipeng, Minister of Communications, was asked to confiscate and destroy all the ships at each ferry, the purpose of which was to cut off the retreat of the 78th Army (36th Division) and force them to fight the Japanese army near the Xiaoxiaguan Wharf on the Rujiang River.

Sixth, let Hu Zongnan's 17th Army hold the north bank of the Yangtze River, and once it is found that there are troops crossing the river, they will be killed.

Objectively speaking, Lao Tang's six orders are still very powerful, if they can really be implemented, then the hundreds of thousands of national troops left in Nanjing have only two choices, either surrender or fight to Zuihou, as for surrender, as long as Lao Tang does not take the lead in surrendering, it is difficult to have a large-scale surrender.

However, it is a pity that the fifth of the six key orders has not really been implemented.

Luo Zhuoying concealed that Tang Shengzhi asked for a small fireboat from Yu Feipeng, and handed it over to Song Xilian for safekeeping, in case of emergency, Yu Jishi also asked for a barge from his uncle Yu Feipeng, and Xu Yuanquan, the commander of the 2nd Legion, also secretly detained a few ferries, and did not hand over all the ferries to the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters.

Again, Ye Zhao, commander of the 66th Army, and Deng Guanglong, commander of the 83rd Army, did not even carry out the order to retreat from the reciprocating position, precisely because of Luo Zhuoying's private concealment and the secret detention of Yu Jishi and Xu Yuanquan, coupled with the prevarication of Ye Zhao and Deng Guanglong, which laid a major hidden danger in the entire defense of Nanjing.

But that's all for later, so I won't mention it here.

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At two o'clock in the morning of the 9th, the guard platoon of the 19th Independent Brigade escorted the medical team and the wounded to the Zhonghua Gate first, but was ruthlessly blocked by the guards at the gate.

"Brother, make it easy, we'll be out right away."

"No, we can't let it go without an order from the top."

"Brother, these wounded are very seriously injured, I'm afraid they won't be able to go to the city for surgery."

"That's not good, let people into the city without permission, go up to blame, and the old man can't afford to eat it."

Seeing that there was no progress in Gao Shenxing's negotiations with the guards, Wang Yulan became anxious, stepped forward and reprimanded loudly: "Why are you so cold-blooded, you are also a national army, you can't bear to watch them sacrifice?" Whether you agree or not, these wounded must enter the city immediately and get out of the way, otherwise Sister Ben will tell you to go without food

A male classmate shouted, "Do you know who she is?" She is the daughter of Minister Wang's family! ”

"Yo ho, Minister Wang?" The captain of the national army guarding the city gate smiled and looked Wang Yulan up and down a few times, and suddenly turned his face again, and said coldly, "The old man doesn't care if you are Minister Wang's daughter or Minister Liu's son, without the pass issued by Commander-in-Chief Tang himself, no one is allowed to enter Nanjing Cheng!" ”

After that, the captain directly took out the mirror box, and more than a dozen soldiers behind him also unloaded the rifle from their shoulders, and pointed the muzzle of the black hole at Gao Shenxing, Wang Yulan and others, and the two machine gunners behind the ring barricade even clicked the bolt of the Makqin heavy machine gun away.

The two sides froze there, and half an hour later, Xu 19 arrived with the main force of the 19th Brigade, but the captain of the national army guarding the city gate only saluted Xu 19, who was carrying the rank of colonel, and still had no intention of letting go.

Xu Shijiu was not in a hurry, handed a cigarette to the captain, and asked, "Which regiment is the brother?" ”

The captain didn't dare to take the cigarette, stood upright, and replied: "Report to the commander, the humble post belongs to the 262nd Regiment of the 524th Brigade." ”

"Oh, the 262nd Regiment of the 524th Brigade?" Xu Shijiu put the cigarette in his mouth and asked, "Brother, I don't know if my Xinmin brother is okay?" ”

The captain's face changed at that time, the commander of the 262nd Brigade, Zhu Chi, the word Xinmin, and the commander of the 524th Regiment, Han Xianyuan, the words drooped, listening to the tone of the person in front of him, it seemed that he was an old acquaintance with the brigade seat and the regimental seat?

At that moment, the captain cautiously asked: "Dare to ask the sir, who are you ......?"

Jian Xu 19 pulled his military uniform and said solemnly: "The 74th Army, the 58th Division, and the Colonel of the 19th Independent Brigade of the Contemptible National Revolutionary Army, Xu 19." ”

"It turned out to be Chief Xu." The captain was immediately in awe, and quickly asked the brother behind him to put down his gun.

Not far behind Xu Shijiu, Wang Yulan asked Li Zihan in a low voice: "Squad Leader Li, Captain Xu seems to be quite famous, you can see that guy's reaction after hearing his name, as if he had changed someone." ”

Li Zihan also replied in a low voice: "It is said that the captain has a deep relationship with the 87th and 88th divisions, not to mention those brigade commanders and regiment commanders, and even General Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 72nd Army, also calls our captain brothers." ”

"Captain Xu is so powerful?" Wang Yulan said, "Then we can always enter the city now, right?" ”

However, Wang Yulan still miscalculated, although the captain respected Xu Shijiu very much, he still had no intention of letting him go, but just hesitated and said: "Chief Xu, the humble position is also acting on orders, and it is really the military seat that directly gave the order, and there is no official letter issued by the garrison headquarters, so it really can't be released, so ......"

Xu 19 didn't want to embarrass a captain, and said: "We weren't going to enter the city, but these dozens of seriously wounded people really can't afford to delay, they were all injured on the battlefield, and they are all heroes, and I hope that my brother can send someone to escort them to the field hospital for treatment for the sake of the party and the state." ”

The captain received the order not to let a single soldier enter the city, according to the literal meaning, naturally not a single one can be put in, but if dozens of seriously wounded people are really put into the city, the above must not be investigated, and even if the above really wants to be investigated, this point is still the captain, and he said at the moment: "Rest assured, sir, the humble duty will definitely be done." ”

"Thanks, brother." Xu Shijiu saluted, and the captain hurriedly returned the salute, even saying that he didn't dare.

Xu Shijiu smiled, turned around and shouted, "The wounded stay, and the others will follow me to Yuhuatai." ”