Walking out of the headquarters of the Ninth Army in Guyiyuan, Wu Ming raised his wrist and looked at his watch, and then took Zhu Wenhua and Sun Chengyuan to get in the car and rush to Zhenru Town. When Wu Ming was resting just now, he had already been informed that all units of the New Second Division had successfully arrived at their destination, and then he needed to settle and organize his troops, take over the defense line of the 36th Division, and then let the officers and men rest well to prepare for the next stage of the war.

At three o'clock in the morning of the 23rd, Pengpu in the south of Dachang Town.

The headquarters of the new Second Division is located in a courtyard of Du Yuesheng in Pengpu, with pavilions and pavilions in the high walls, and the four classical and elegant houses distributed between the two ponds and a garden are very spacious, among which the courtyard house in the back is used as the office of the division headquarters.

At this moment, the commanders of all brigades and regiments had gathered at the headquarters to wait for Wu Ming's combat order.

At half past three o'clock yesterday afternoon, Wu Ming's new Second Division smoothly took over the defense, and the main force was assembled between Dachang and Jiangwan, and the three regiments of the supplementary brigade fortified along the periphery of Zhizhi University, Hongzhen, and Yinxianggang to Hujiang University on the periphery of the concession. Subsequently, the officers and men who had hastily eaten breakfast and dinner received orders to bury their heads in sleep.

Wu Ming, who had rested for seven or eight hours and finally recovered his spirits, walked into the division headquarters, and the officers immediately surrounded him.

"Dongning, you should immediately contact Wang Jingjiu, commander of the 87th Division, and General Sun Yuanliang, commander of the 88th Division, and ask them to cooperate with our new 2nd Division in the next few days; Second, we must immediately contact General Zhou Zhirou of the Air Force, and we must get the support of our Air Force brothers, and we must ask them to help suppress the Japanese fleet on the Huangpu River; Third, go and invite Du Yuesheng and Brother Du to come for me, I have something important to discuss with him. ”

Zhang Dongning finished recording and immediately got busy.

Han Tiecheng, the commander of the first brigade and the first regiment, relied on the fact that he had served as Wu Ming's adjutant, and stepped forward and asked with a hippie smile: "Division, the Ninth Army is known as the strongest elite of the national army, and it is impossible to fight such a little devil alive, is it time for us to go?" ”

Most of the units under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Army were trained by German military advisers and were well-equipped, with the assistance of the 18th Army, a strong civil engineering army, and the Shanghai Police Security Corps, all of which added up to more than 100,000 troops, but they were beaten to the ground by the shrinking Japanese army, which really made the officers and men of the New Second Division shameful.

Wu Ming's face was grim, he glared at Han Tiecheng fiercely, turned around, and warned the generals: "The officers and men of the 36th, 87th and 88th Divisions are brave and fearless, and the brutal battle is far from being as simple as you think. ”

"You must not make the mistake of being overly high-handed, in the next time, our new second division will fight side by side with them, and we must not sarcastically and strangely say things in front of others, causing scorn among fraternal troops

Although the officers did not speak, their faces were still full of disdain for the 36th, 87th and 88th Divisions, Wu Ming snorted, shook his head, and took the lead into the war room converted from the living room, Wu Ming came to the conference table and said to the officers on both sides: "Sit down"

There were not enough chairs in the war room, and the guards brought many stools from outside to finish sitting. Wu Ming nodded to Dai Ziran and Zhang Ying next to him and said, "Let's start."

In the Yushan exercise, Zhang Ying performed well, not only discovering the trail behind the side of Lianhua Mountain in time, but also showing a certain ability in the overall situation, and was transferred to the staff office by Dai Ziran and became the chief of the operations section.

Zhang Ying walked to the front of the stage, tore open the curtain on the side wall, and the map of downtown Shanghai was revealed at once.

The new 2nd Division was divided into two divisions, with the 2nd Brigade attacking the stronghold of the Japanese army at Hujiang University, and then joining up with the 87th Division and the Shanghai Police Security Corps to storm the Gongda Yarn Mill and then advance southward in an orderly manner. The 1st Brigade and the 1st Regiment of the Supplementary Brigade, together with the 1st Division of the 88th Division, launched an attack on the Japanese Marine Corps Headquarters Building in the center from Hongkou Park, Tiantongan Railway Station, and Shanghai North Railway Station. In addition to the artillery regiment carrying out its tasks alone, the rest of the artillery regiment and the engineering unit were assigned to two divisions for operation. In addition, officers and men of the Special Service Company and the Japanese Company were disguised as Japanese soldiers and waited for an opportunity.

At this time, the star officer at the entrance of the division came in to report that Du Yuesheng was visiting, Wu Ming called the deputy division commander Long Shaogang and asked him to preside over the meeting, and he got up and took Sun Chengyuan out to greet Du Yuesheng.

Du Yuesheng took immediate action after the 77 Lugou Bridge Incident, and secretly discussed with many of his protégés and Wu Kaixian, member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Department and head of the Organization Department of the Kuomintang, to initiate the organization of the Shanghai Anti-Enemy Support Association from all walks of life; Du Yuesheng served as a member of the presidium of the association and concurrently served as chairman of the fund-raising committee, and in late July issued a declaration to solicit donations for national salvation, and on 7 August, Du Yuesheng went to the radio station to give a special radio speech.

Du Yuesheng emphasized: "It has been almost seven years since 918, and during these seven years, we have been oppressed by the enemy, and we have often worked hard and self-motivated, and at the same time we are looking forward to the public opinion of the world. However, the ambition of the aggressor has not been weakened for the sake of the public opinion of the world, but only intensified and intensified the aggression." Therefore, "we must not rely on others to ask for help, and the salvation of the country depends entirely on our own strength." Du Yuesheng took the initiative to lend Du Meilu's private house to the "Recruitment Committee" of the Ministry of Finance as an office location, and served as the captain of the Shanghai Citizen Recruitment Corps and the deputy captain of the Shanghai Business Solicitation Corps.

After the start of the August 13 War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Du Yuesheng stepped up his efforts to raise funds with a high degree of patriotic enthusiasm, and sent supplies to support the front line, sheltered and resettled refugees, and supported the Chinese army in various ways in the war against Japan.

The haggard Du Yuesheng took Wan Molin, Lu Jingshi and others to rest in the lobby, Wu Ming stepped forward, held Du Yuesheng's hand tightly, and greeted Du Yuesheng into the reception room.

Zhilu Dao's new second division was burdened with the heavy task of recovering the urban area of Shanghai, and Du Yuesheng didn't even have the mind to test it, so he agreed: "My brother doesn't dare to say anything in Shanghai, but there is still a little bit of thin face, whether it is transporting guns and ammunition, or taking care of the wounded, as long as I can do it, just ask."

Du Yuesheng is worthy of a generation of heroes

Wu Ming secretly praised in his heart, and said directly: "Brother Du, your subordinates are familiar with the terrain of the concession, I want to ask my brother to prepare some more people to guide my troops." If it is not too troublesome, Brother Du can also organize people to help us transport and take care of the wounded."

"Okay, no problem"

Du Yuesheng nodded happily and agreed, thought about it and said: "Brother, if you are short of manpower, the Tsing Yi team that just came back from western Zhejiang at the end of last month can fight with Commander Wu, and you are still the battalion commander of the Tsing Yi team in name."

Wu Ming was stunned for a moment, and then realized that the Tsing Yi team that Du Yuesheng said was the leader of the recruit battalion he trained for Du Yuesheng.

During the three-month training, under the strict training of the instructors stationed in the New Second Division, Lu Jingshi took the lead, and the more than 500 people in the battalion often trained hard. In the middle of last month, the recruit course ended, and the core of more than 250 people had basically reached the standard of ordinary officers and soldiers of the New Second Division, among which more than 40 sharpshooters and even Bishop Dou Tian praised them. The remaining 300 men were also effectively trained, which was much stronger than the recruits of ordinary troops. Du Yuesheng considered that the situation in Shanghai was unstable, so he recruited the team back to Shanghai, and organized more than 250 of them into the Tsing Yi team, which was used as a capable armed force. The remaining 300 people were not wasted, and Dai Li's secret service was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to conspire with Du Yuesheng to use the gang to organize the Military Committee of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Action Committee, and these highly trained soldiers would become the backbone of this armed force of more than 10,000 people.

Wu Ming felt that Du Yuesheng's suggestion was very good, the members of the Tsing Yi team were originally from the Shanghai Youth Gang, and they had received strict military training in Wu Ming's department, and they knew how to order and prohibit. If they helped, it would be of great help to Wu Ming's troops in attacking the various Japanese strongholds in the concession.

Wu Ming said with some hesitation: "The Tsing Yi team is Brother Du's life-saving capital, if it is-"

The Tsing Yi team led by Lu Jingshi was built by Du Yuesheng with a lot of money, if someone adheres to Du Yuesheng's order and does not obey the military order when he is about to fight, it is better to stay in the rear.

Du Yuesheng waved his hand, and a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes: "Brother Wu, even if you call them, if anyone dares to retreat on the battlefield, it will be that Senior Commander Wu will not deal with it on the spot, and I will also implement the family law after I come back, and there will be no ambiguity in three knives and six holes." ”

Hearing Du Yuesheng's statement, Wu Ming smiled and praised: "Brother Du is really a hero, if there are a few more characters like Brother Du in China, how can I let a small country ride on the head and and pee?" ”

Du Yuesheng smiled at Wu Ming's compliment, and called Lu Jingshi, who was waiting outside the door, to come in and ask him to obey Wu Ming's command.

Du Yuesheng pointed to Lu Jingshi and said: "Master Wu, you said to find some people who are familiar with the concession, I don't think you need to bother, there are many brothers under Jingshi who are involved in the construction of Japanese fortifications, they died nine times, and they were almost poisoned by the Japanese, if it weren't for the coincidence, they would have died a long time ago." ”

Most of the Japanese fortifications were built by abducting Chinese laborers, and when they were completed, all those involved in the construction were secretly executed, on the one hand, they could save a sum of money without paying wages, and on the other hand, they could avoid leakage of the fortification structure and weak parts. Wu Ming had heard before that in the days after the completion of the Japanese fortifications, the corpses of Chinese laborers could be seen floating on the Huangpu River from time to time, and the Shanghai Municipal Government approached the Japanese to theorize, but was prevaricated by the other party on the clumsy excuse that they had already paid the laborers to leave, presumably because they had been robbed and killed by people with red eyes.

After finishing the matter, Du Yuesheng didn't stay long, there were still a few fundraising conferences to participate in during the day today, so he bowed his hand to Wu Ming and left.

Wu Ming sent Du Yuesheng out of the door, and after returning, he asked Lu Jingshi to break up the Tsing Yi team and join the regiments and battalions as a guide.

As time passed, the eastern sky showed a red edge, the earth was gray, and even the direction of the city, where the guns and cannons were constantly heard, gradually returned to quiet, but there was a faint sound of thunder in the north, which was the Japanese Navy warship carrying out an attack on the shore.

Zhang Dongning walked into the reception room with a telegram in his hand, and woke up Wu Ming, who was a little distracted, with a cough, and reported: "Division, General Zhou Zhirou of the Air Force has called, and in the next three days, the Air Force will do its best to suppress the Japanese naval fleet. He also said, let's give it a go."

Zhang Dongning went on to say: "Shi Di and Xiao Dingchen have set up field hospitals in Dachang and Zhenru respectively, and Du Yuesheng has sent a stretcher team of 2,500 people, as well as a group of patriotic women from all walks of life in Shanghai who have received simple medical training, ready to transport and care for the wounded at any time. ”

Wu Ming nodded, looked at the increasingly red eastern sky, and his voice was a little low: "Is the whole division ready to attack?" ”

Zhang Dongning said solemnly: "After the meeting was dismissed, the brigades immediately took action, the first brigade and the second brigade entered the preset positions, and the rest of the brigades were also ready. In addition, the 528th Regiment of the 264th Brigade of the 88th Division, which assisted our division in besieging the Japanese Marine Corps Headquarters building, and the police and security forces are already in place, just waiting for the division to give an order."

Wu Ming looked at his watch, turned around, and said resolutely: "Let's start acting now"

"Yes"

As soon as Zhang Dongning turned around, he immediately transmitted Wu Ming's order to all brigades and regiments by radio.

Luo Yuming, the commander of the first brigade, was guarding the brigade headquarters, also looking at the red sun rising in the east, and next to him were deputy brigade commander Jin Yonghe, as well as two regiment commanders Han Tiecheng and Fan Daoquan, as well as Zhu Chi, the commander of the 88th Division, who was ordered to reinforce.

Luo Yuming turned around and saw two completely different expressions, the officers of the new Second Division had solemn and resolute faces full of desire for victory, but Commander Zhu, who came to reinforce them, had a depressed face.

Luo Yuming didn't say much, he could understand Captain Zhu's feelings.

The 88th Division attacked for eight or nine days in succession, including the loss of brigade commander Huang Meixing on the second day of the battle, and the continuous attacks that did not hesitate to lose his life after that only swept away some strongholds around the headquarters building of the Japanese Marine Corps.

After continuous bloody battles, the 88th Division suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and only under the command of Regiment Commander Zhu lost nine company commanders, and the platoon commanders at the grassroots level were almost replaced. In the face of such a huge sacrifice, the original brave and fearless 88th Division has been frightened by the Japanese army, and its spirit is not the same as before the war.

A rush of footsteps came from the side, and Chief of Staff Lu Da broke into the headquarters like a stroke, holding a telegram and saying to Luo Yuming: "Brigade seat, the division headquarters order, start the operation." ”