"Look, sir!" An assault point pointed not far away, Yao Ziqing looked up, and saw that in the area of both sides of the Sino-Japanese position, a white umbrella flower slowly descended, and there was no doubt that it was the Chinese pilot who had just shot down the fighter.

"Third platoon commander, take a few brothers to the pilot to rescue him, remember! Don't fall into the hands of devils. Yao Ziqing stroked the steel helmet on his head, spat on the ground, and foamed.

"You! You! You! Follow me. The platoon leader stuffed the pot and helmet cake he had just taken out into his backpack and casually pointed to a few familiar brothers. Five or six people, under the cover of machine-gun fire, began to crawl forward. The Japanese machine gunners seemed to have spotted them, and their light and heavy machine guns began to fire in this direction, and the third platoon commander and a few brothers had to bury their heads, and the bullets stuck to their faces and burrowed into the dirt, splashing patches of mud.

When the armored vehicles behind saw this scene, they immediately followed forward to cover the fire. Soon the Japanese firepower was suppressed, and the third platoon commander and a few people quickly jumped over a section of the Japanese army's firepower network, which was still 100 meters away from the landing point of the pilot Fu Guoqiang.

There were sporadic gunshots in front, and it turned out that the Japanese search team had also arrived, and the Japanese marines with rifles lined up in a skirmish line and walked towards the pilot, obviously they were trying to catch them alive.

Fu Guoqiang took out the self-defense pistol he carried with him, aimed at the Japanese soldiers dozens of meters away and fired one after another, although the Japanese soldiers kept firing back, but they did not hit him, Fu Guoqiang knew what the other party wanted, at this time he was very complicated, the last bullet had been exhausted, could it be that he was really going to be captured by the Japanese army?

He was unwilling to be a prisoner like this, he threw away the pistol, pulled out *, he wanted to wipe his neck, but he thought that it was better to kill another devil before he died, thinking of this, Fu Guoqiang held the knife in his hand and rushed towards the Japanese army.

"Not good! Pilots are going to charge! As soon as the third platoon long voice fell, the * hand next to him raised his hand-held machine gun and pointed it at the Japanese army, and the sound of gunfire made Fu Guoqiang subconsciously lie down, and he looked back at a few Chinese soldiers wearing turned military uniforms and matte steel helmets.

Fu Guoqiang felt that the army had never been so cordial at the moment, and that the air force and the army were incompatible when they used to play basketball games, and at that time they joked that they were going to "blow up" the army's dirt bars, and the officers and men of the army also said that they would "kill" the young master soldiers like the air force.

But at this time, they fought side by side.

"Get down! Get out there! The third platoon leader kept waving his hand to the smirking Fu Guoqiang, and as soon as Fu Guoqiang reacted, he saw a blood flower explode on the chest of the third platoon leader, and one fell down. The two soldiers hurriedly hooked their waists and ran over to drag Fu Guoqiang back, Fu Guoqiang wanted to kill the devil machine gunner, but was pulled by a black-faced officer.

"What are you doing? Do you want more people to die? A black-faced man who looked like a low-headed officer came over with his waist hooked, his face was full of gunsmoke, and he looked black. You can see that he is the highest commander here.

Fu Guoqiang glanced at the man, and then glanced around, there are many officers and veterans in this team, and one-third of them are captains on the collar badges, and there are even more veterans, and he probably understands the nature of this team in his heart.

Before he could speak, the black-faced officer, who was not tall, lowered his voice and said in an undeniable tone: "You are walking in heaven, and you are watching us on earth, and if you can be rescued today, it can be regarded as a matter of not being in vain. ”

After speaking, the black-faced officer shouted to the back: "Wang Xi, take the two brothers to send the pilot back." ”

A second lieutenant ran over with two soldiers hooked around the waist. The black-faced officer took off the steel helmet from the head of the three platoon commanders who had just died in battle, muttered a few words in his mouth, and then stuffed the steel helmet into Fu Guoqiang's hand: "Throw away your fur hat and put this on!" ”

Fu Guoqiang was a little resistant, but he hesitated for a few seconds before taking the steel helmet and putting it on his head, he knew that there should not be so much red tape on the battlefield, because his life and mission were the most important.

Putting on a steel helmet and taking the gun of the third platoon leader, Fu Guoqiang walked over and patted the black-faced officer on the shoulder and asked, "Sir, I don't know your name yet?" ”

The black-faced officer smiled and didn't speak. Fu Guoqiang also smiled and left without saying anything, speechless on the battlefield is worth ten thousand words, and at this moment Fu Guoqiang followed the two soldiers without looking back.

It wasn't until a few days later that Fu Guoqiang saw the name of the black-faced officer on the list of fallen soldiers - Yao Ziqing.

Soon after Fu Guoqiang left, the black-faced officer sent someone to take over the command position of the third platoon commander, and the troops continued to attack and advance after a short period of repair.

After bloody battles again and again, they finally advanced to the front of the Japanese Special Marine Corps Headquarters, in the face of this impregnable fortress, the daredevils suffered huge casualties when attacking, at the end of the attack, the officers and soldiers only relied on the tenacious will and the veterans' skilled combat skills to attack, they paid the captain Yao Ziqing sacrificed huge casualties and achieved good results, conquered the Japanese Special Marine Corps Headquarters, cut off the contact with the Japanese army in Hongkou, and prepared to cut and encircle the Japanese army.

At the same time, Tokyo was actively preparing for the war in Shanghai.

In the morning, Matsui Ishone, dressed in military uniform, drove to the Emperor's Palace. When the car stopped, he walked inside with strong steps.

Although it is not clear what the purpose of His Majesty the Emperor's summons was, Matsui Ishine had foreseen it, and he believed that the summons must have something to do with Shanghai. At previous meetings, Seishiro Itagaki and the Minister of War mentioned him as commander-in-chief of Shanghai, but His Majesty the Emperor never approved it.

Now, Matsui Ishine has waited for this day.

As early as when the news of the war in Shanghai came, Matsui Ishone's heart fluctuated. He made numerous speeches and speeches in the army to explain his views on the situation of the war.

He believed that the Japanese army should boldly advance along the Yangtze River and conquer Nanjing, the capital of the Chinese government. He has said many times: "The swift capture of Nanking, followed by a humane occupation policy and fair municipal administration, would persuade the Chinese public to abandon Huang Ke and others and entrust their fate to the Japanese leaders." ”

He said this, but did not do so, because his policy of exterminating humanity in the occupied areas of China brought him a righteous trial years later and nailed him to the pillar of shame in history.

But at this time, his views were recognized by the Japanese high-level leaders, including the emperor.

At the gatekeeper, he removed his saber and military cap, then straightened his collar and walked in. This is a bright conference room, and in the middle of the conference room hangs a huge statue of Emperor Yoshihito in military uniform, and the whole conference room feels solemn and solemn.

While Matsui was looking around, there was a sound of powerful and slow footsteps. He hurriedly straightened his waist and stood up, and Prince Jaehion, the chief of the army's general staff, who was dressed in military uniform, walked in.

Zairen stood in front of the statue of the emperor, looked down at Matsui Ishine and said, "His Majesty the Emperor has agreed to your battle plan, attack along the Yangtze River from Shanghai, attack Nanjing, the capital of China, and force the government of China to surrender as quickly as possible. ”

Matsui Ishone was shaken, and he snapped a bow.

Zaihito solemnly read out the emperor's edict: "Matsui Ishine is now appointed as the commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and the overall plan is to be coordinated

"Hayi!" Matsui Ishone bowed deeply again, his heart fluctuating at this appointment, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was sincerely afraid.

General Zairen sorted out the troops sent to Matsui, and Matsui found that the 6th and 11th Divisions and the marines stationed in Shanghai were currently reinforcing Shanghai, and the others were only * guns, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, armored vehicles, reconnaissance planes, heavy machine guns, and support troops such as sappers who built bridges to cross the river, field gas platoons, and military carrier pigeon squads.

As far as the current situation was concerned, Matsui believed that the Japanese forces in Shanghai were too weak, and he thought that five divisions should be sent.

Jae-in smiled after hearing this, and the Minister of War Sugiyama Ritsu smiled and said, "You can conquer China in three months." ”

Matsui Ishine was silent, he knew that this idea was unrealistic, and he believed that only by increasing the number of troops to more than 200,000 troops in five divisions could he defeat the elite of the Chinese Defense Force, seize Nanjing, and conquer China.

At first, Zairen and the War Department were spitting at him, but on the same day they received the latest battle report from Shanghai - the Chinese army had captured the headquarters of the Special Marine Corps in Shanghai, and the Japanese forces in Shanghai were in danger of being surrounded.

This battle report forced the Tokyo base camp to rethink its plan for sending troops to Shanghai. Because of this, Matsui Ishone was honored to enter the Imperial Palace to pay homage to Emperor Hirohito. On the day of his audience with the emperor, he was dressed in military uniform, and the general's star emblem was dazzling.

Matsui Ishone was genuinely afraid.

The emperor walked in, and Matsui Ishone immediately bowed. The emperor sat down and at the same time gave Matsui Ishone, who had a chair next to his buttocks, like a child who had done something wrong.

The Emperor said lightly: "I have commissioned the Shanghai Dispatch Army under the command of the commander, and it is advisable to carefully observe the general situation in the United States, so as to quickly determine the enemy's army, and raise the strength of the imperial army inside and outside, so as to respond to the reliance of the Emperor." ”

Matsui Shigen hurriedly replied: "Chen Shigen received the great order of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and was given a generous message, and he was sincerely afraid and grateful. I would like to follow the holy decree and carry forward the purpose of the imperial army to calm the Chen. ”

After a while, the emperor then asked, "What will be the policy to be adopted in the future to accomplish the task of sending troops?" ”

Matsui Ishine had the courage to express his thoughts, and he put forward his own view of increasing the number of troops in Shanghai, and believed that the Shanghai line was the most important of the three fronts, which could not only destroy the main force of the Wehrmacht, but also capture the capital Nanjing.

The emperor did not speak, and Matsui Ishone lowered his head and did not dare to look up at him. Moments later, the Emperor raised his head, and he approved Matsui's plan to expand the number of troops in Shanghai and at the same time expand the number of active Japanese troops from 380,000 to 738,000. In addition to the reservists, Japan's military service system also includes 879,000 reservists and more than 2.4 million supplementary soldiers, totaling more than 4.48 million people in various types of military service.

The military service system of this military empire provided a steady stream of reinforcements for its aggressive and expansionist policies.