There are more than 150 miles from Anting to Kunshan, and the 19 th Brigade set out from Anting at 4 o'clock in the morning, and when it arrived in Kunshan, it was already evening, and if we count from the time of the Qingpu breakthrough last night, the 19 th Brigade has not closed its eyes or eaten anything for 24 hours, and the officers and men are extremely tired and in urgent need of rest.

However, at this time, Kunshan had already fallen into chaos, the municipal officials and the civil servants of the town and township offices had already run out, and the police inspectors who maintained law and order had already been transferred to replenish the troops, and the city was almost paralyzed, and the troops guarding Kunshan did not know Xu Shijiu, a small colonel and captain, and the city was not allowed to enter.

Xu Shijiu had no choice but to take the troops to camp in a small village outside the city, only to find that the houses in the village had been burned, and the ruins were still smoking outside, and the people in the village had long since lost their minds, only an old man who looked very old was sitting silently on the threshold of his house that had been burned down.

The remnants of Xu 19 and the 19th Brigade thought that this was done by the Japanese army, but who knew that when they asked the old man, they knew that it was actually done by the national army, saying that Chairman Jiang had issued an order that the people within a radius of ten miles from Kunshan should move into the city, and all the houses should be burned, and they said that it was a scorched earth policy.

This was really the order given by Chairman Chiang, not only in Kunshan, but also in Changshu, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Wuhu and even Nanjing, the Nationalist army did this, not only forcibly relocated the people outside the city into the city, but also burned all the houses outside the city, the purpose of which was to prevent the Japanese army from the slightest supply of materials.

Looking at the village that had been reduced to ruins, the remnants of the 19th Brigade were so angry that they scolded their mothers, they had fiat currency and Guangyang, and they couldn't exchange for rations at this time, because the people were forcibly moved, and the guys took everything away, they just wanted to boil hot water and drink it, let alone take a big bucket and hot water bath, and they had to stay alive tonight.

Xu 19 left the troops in the village, drove the forcibly requisitioned car and took Gao Shen into the city to find Feng Shengfa, Feng Shengfa broke away from the army halfway and came to Kunshan first, on the one hand, he wanted to harass his troops at the Kunshan Division's shelter, and on the other hand, he also wanted to get some ammunition medicine for the 19th Brigade.

On the day of the fall of Songjiang (November 8), the 19th Brigade set out from Beixinjing, and the officers and men at that time only carried an average of 50 rounds of rifle guns, two grenades, and three days of fried rice.

At the gate of the city, Xu Shijiu was in trouble, and the martial law soldiers saw that he was a small captain but sitting in a limousine, so they became suspicious, looked at his military ID card again and again, and almost wrote on his face, you kid shouldn't be Xiao Ri's spies, right? In short, asking left and right is not to let go.

was grinding his tongue, Li Fangliang also took the engineer battalion to Kunshan, but Li Fangliang knew the second lieutenant of the national army guarding the city gate, and it turned out that he was also from the 14th Division, and with Li Fangliang's guarantee, the second lieutenant was released.

When I entered the city, I found that the city was even more chaotic, the streets and alleys were crowded with the defeated soldiers who had withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield and the refugees who had fled from Shanghai, as well as the people who had forcibly moved into the city from outside the city, and the car could not be driven after driving forward for less than a few tens of meters, so Xu Shijiu simply abandoned the car and walked forward with Gao Shenxing to find the shelter of the 58th Division.

Along the way, no less than 50 defeated soldiers were asked, and finally the 58th Division's containment station was found

The reception station of the 58th Division is located in a garden, a typical Soviet-style garden, pavilions and pavilions are readily available, but at this time this garden has long lost its original beautiful scenery, the pavilions and pavilions are crowded with sour and sluggish soldiers, and even the porch is full of wounded soldiers who have no one to take care of, many wounded soldiers' wounds have been seriously festered, and some are even dying, but no one has come out to care about their life or death, which is really sad.

It is said that it is the shelter of the 58th Division, but in fact, it contains far more than the defeated soldiers of the 58th Division, and the situation of the 59 German Armament Divisions is considered haode, and several cities on the retreat route have set up containment stations, but local troops like the Sichuan Army, the Gui Army, and the Northeast Army do not have such treatment at all, but they have to eat when they are hungry, sleep when they are sleepy, and someone has to take care of them when they are wounded, so they can only go to the shelters of various German armament divisions.

Walking all the way inside, Xu Shijiu heard accents from various places.

Xu 19 and Gao Shenxing just turned to a corridor, the opposite side suddenly sounded the sound of knocking footsteps, when looking up, I saw a strong man wearing a military uniform of the Northeast Army from the other side of the corridor, this guy is afraid of more than two meters tall, big shoulders and round waist, this run up two big feet stepped on the entire corridor swaying, Xu 19 was really worried that the corridor would collapse.

But the more amazing thing is still to come, the strong man just ran up to the corridor, the first three short Gui Jun wearing French steel helmets followed to catch up with the cloister, the little man in front was particularly fierce, a fish jumped and hugged the ankle of the Northeast Army, the Northeast Army fell to the ground, and the two Gui Army rushed up and rode to the Northeast Army is a fat beating, and the fist to the flesh, flat, the fight is really not light, the Northeast Army was stunned and did not fight back, just stood up with two hands to protect the head, let the three Gui Army punch and kick.

Xu Shijiu really couldn't see it, so he stepped forward and persuaded: "Is there anything you can't say well, why do you want to do it?" ”

Seeing that the Central Army intervened, and it was a senior officer with the rank of colonel, those Gui soldiers didn't dare to make a mistake, so they stood up reluctantly, and the shortest Gui Jun stood up and kicked the fat cheeks of the Northeast Army, and then gritted his teeth and said to Xu Shijiu: "Sir, he robbed us of steamed buns."

Xu Shijiu noticed that the Northeast Army's face was bulging out on both sides, obviously the steamed buns were stuffed in his mouth before he had time to chew and swallow, at this time the supply of military food in Kunshan City must have been very tight, no wonder these Gui soldiers were furious because of a few steamed buns, when it mattered, a steamed bun is a life

The three Gui soldiers scolded and left, and the Northeast Army finally swallowed the steamed buns in their mouths, then got up and patted their buttocks and left, as if they were nothing, and they were full before leaving, and then reached out and rubbed their stomachs, with a satisfied expression of eating and drinking, and not worrying about everything.

Xu Shijiu couldn't help laughing, this is really a stupid big guy.

Although Gao Shenxing didn't smile, the corners of his mouth twitched twice.

Passing through the corridor, and finally arrived at the temporary division headquarters of the 58th Division, Feng Shengfa was on the phone, the expression on his face looked a little anxious, and he hung up the phone after saying a few words, Xu Shijiu hurriedly stepped forward to salute, Feng Shengfa looked back and saw Xu Shijiu's face barely showing a smile, returned the salute, and asked, "Ah Jiu, where are the troops?" ”

Xu 19 said: "The brothers of the 14th division are not allowed to enter the city, they are outside the city." ”

Feng Shengfa explained: "Ah Jiu, don't care, Brother Shijing (Chen Lie, commander of the L4th Division) is also forced to do so, yesterday a group of Japanese soldiers sneaked into the city, spreading rumors and creating chaos everywhere in the city, almost causing a large-scale mutiny, and the 14th Division took a lot of effort to calm down the situation, so martial law is imposed today." ’

Xu 19 said: "It's no problem for the troops to camp outside the city, but the brothers haven't eaten all day, and there is not much ammunition left, especially 82mm caliber mortar shells are urgently needed, and it is best to get a few cauldrons, and then a few large wooden barrels that kill pigs and remove their hair, I want to boil water for the brothers to soak in a hot bath to relieve fatigue." ”

After a long and high-intensity battle or march, it is undoubtedly very beneficial to take a hot bath, which can not only kill the bacteria and parasites that breed because of not taking a bath for a long time, reduce the probability of disease, but also greatly relieve the nerves and muscles of the soldiers, and restore physical strength and energy as much as possible.

"I've got all this ready, you can go to the quartermaster office to get it later." Feng Shengfa replied with a full mouth, and told Xu Shijiu, "The troops are camping outside the city, and they must be vigilant at night, although last night's riot was finally quelled, but the Japanese spies hidden among the routs and refugees have not been completely eliminated, and there are also small Japanese troops outside the city that haunt at night, you must be careful." ”

Xu Shijiu was not worried about this, and said lightly: "I hope they can come." ”

Feng Shengfa knew that Xu Jiu had taken this matter to heart, and immediately said: "Ah Jiu, I will leave Kunshan for Suzhou to join the 172nd Brigade in a while, the Commander's Department has issued an order, our 58th Division is responsible for guarding the line from Suzhou to Wujiang, covering the retreat of the main force, and the 19th Brigade will also rush to Suzhou as soon as possible after resting." ”

Xu Shijiu immediately heard the clue and asked, "Master, is Suzhou in danger?"

Feng Shengfa looked at no one on the left and right, lowered his voice and said: "The Japanese L8th Division has approached Pingwang, and the troops guarding Pingwang have abandoned the city and fled. Feng Shengfa was a little bitter when he said this, if the 18th Division of the Japanese Army really went north, how could the two remnants of the 74th Army be able to stop it?

Xu Shijiu said disapprovingly: "Shizao, I think that the 18th Division of the Japanese Army will not go north to Suzhou, Matsui Shigen, this old devil is relatively mediocre and conservative, but the Japanese commander who can land from Jinshanwei has a big heart, if I am not mistaken, his ultimate goal is Nanjing, not Suzhou." ”

"If it's like what you say, that's not a good thing." Feng Shengfa sighed, "If the Japanese 18th Division continues to advance westward, our 74th Army will certainly have a chance to breathe, but the main force retreating towards Wuxi and Nanjing may be surrounded by the Japanese army and navy near Nanjing, and it will be bad." ”

"That's not something we should be thinking about, is it?" After Xu Shijiu finished speaking, he saluted Feng Shengfa, and then turned around and went to the quartermaster office to receive military supplies, and after receiving military supplies, he found a few board cars and more than a dozen rout soldiers at the shelter, including the stupid big man of the Northeast Army, who had a bag of rice of two hundred catties and a feather on his back.