Chapter 536: Complete the task

The night was deep, the city of Kaifeng, which had been fighting for three days like a tsunami, was quiet for the time being, only sporadic gunshots, still sounding monotonously from time to time, collapsed buildings, still flashing faint embers, the heavy smell of gunpowder smoke in the air, the hot and spicy irritation of people's throats, taking a deep breath, the lungs were immediately filled with air mixed with gunsmoke, and the chest was suffocated.

Su Jingfeng looked at the two brigade commanders and artillery commanders under his command with blazing eyes, and at hand was the casualty figures of the troops in the past three days compiled by Chief of Staff Wang Dongshan, a Kaifeng City, three days of resistance battle, his troops had suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and lost one-third of their combat effectiveness, but it was also a cheap little devil, and the Japanese soldiers who fell under the guns of the soldiers exceeded more than 20,000 people.

Su Jingfeng is holding a military meeting, the main topic is how to get rid of the entanglement of the Japanese army, safely withdraw from Kaifeng City, according to the order of the division commander, transfer to the Xuchang area in southern Henan to rest, for how to evacuate safely, the two brigade commanders are not too worried, the time for the withdrawal of the troops is 12 o'clock tonight, the Japanese army did not attack overnight, retreat is not a problem.

The wounded can be transferred to Xuchang first, and the troops will be evacuated last, which is also a problem for Su Jingfeng to consider, on the issue of deciding who to lead the wounded to evacuate first, there was a dispute, the two brigade commanders built yì, and the artillery commander led the wounded to withdraw first, and the artillery commander blushed and said that he was not willing to lead the team.

He felt very angry, his artillery was all gone, the casualties of the soldiers were the most in each unit, more than half of the soldiers fell on their own gun positions, the artillery regiment became the key target of the Japanese artillery, in the case of being outnumbered, the artillery did their best to provide fire support for the infantry, and the last cannon was lost, he led the remaining soldiers to become infantry, and how many soldiers fell under the guns of the little devils, and now let him go, he is not reconciled.

In the end, Su Jingfeng had to give a hard order, transfer a part of the soldiers, and the remaining soldiers of the artillery regiment to form an escort team, with the head of the artillery regiment as the captain, responsible for escorting the wounded to evacuate to Xuchang first, he has his own considerations, artillery is a technical branch, and it takes more time and energy to train a qualified artilleryman, he wants to leave seeds for the troops, and he can't fight all out in Kaifeng.

After the meeting, Su Jingfeng took Wang Dongshan to the temporary field hospital, the wounded of the army were concentrated here, the military doctors and nurses were very busy, he quietly called the dean, asked about the specific situation, the dean, who was over half a hundred years old, could not hide his exhaustion, his face was full of worry, the casualties of the troops were too great, the medicine in the hospital had run out, and hundreds of seriously injured people had to be operated on immediately, otherwise their lives would be in danger.

Su Jingfeng understood the mood of the old dean, and told him that he had decided that all the wounded should be transferred immediately, and then, when he turned around and walked towards the wounded, he saw that the commander was coming, and the lightly wounded who could move automatically gathered around him, and told him one after another, that he could still fight, Su Jingfeng looked at these lovely soldiers, and a feeling of emotion flowed in his heart.

After three days of fierce battles in Kaifeng, the baptism of blood and fire, the test of life and death, these wounded soldiers, after returning from injury, will become the backbone of the troops, the Yellow River Henan Defense Line Garrison Corps is no longer a second-line army, he can proudly say that all the troops of the independent division, with less than 30,000 troops, can withstand the onslaught of more than 100,000 little devils for three days, so that the Japanese army can not move an inch, no.

Su Jingfeng is confident that with this bloody battle in Kaifeng, he will lead the troops into a well-known main force, just like the more than a dozen brigades directly commanded by the division commander, just like Liu Tiehan's Northeast Advance Command, just like Tang Qiusheng's Sulu Mobile Corps, he seems to have appeared in front of him leading thousands of troops and horses, galloping across the battlefield, and always returning to his hometown in the Northeast.

That emotional and fascinating scene made Su Jingfeng's face appear bright on his face for several days, and Wang Dongshan, the chief of staff beside him, saw the glow on the commander's face, which made him feel like a spring breeze, although he didn't know why the commander would show such a demeanor, but it made him feel a lot more relaxed for days.

Night is the best cover, the evacuation of the wounded is carried out in a tense and orderly manner, the Japanese troops on the opposite side are not aware of this, Su Jingfeng has been sending them outside the city, watching thousands of wounded and escorted troops disappear into the night, his heart is like putting down a thousand pounds of boulder, although there are less than 10,000 troops left in his hand, the remaining two hours are enough.

What he is most worried about now is that the division commander suddenly came to order, Shangqiu or Xuzhou direction is not ready, the troops hold on for one more day, then he and the 10,000 or so soldiers left behind are really going to be thrown in Kaifeng, back to the command headquarters, Wang Dongshan greeted him and handed him a telegram, Su Jingfeng's heart tightened, could it be that the situation has changed?

After reading the telegram, he laughed at himself, when did he become scared of himself, this is an order given to him by the division commander, Zhang Zizhong's Sulu garrison corps has arrived in Shangqiu, the troops are unfolding, your department has completed the task assigned by the division commander, if the casualties of the troops are too large, or the pressure of the Japanese army is too heavy, your department can be evacuated immediately, the specific situation, according to the actual situation of the battlefield.

After reading the telegram, Su Jingfeng didn't speak for a long time, he looked up at Wang Dongshan, the chief of staff, and asked, "Dongshan, what do you think?" Do we evacuate immediately? Wang Dongshan hesitated for a moment and said: "Commander, the order of the division commander is very clear, we have completed the task of blocking the attack for three days, and it is reasonable to evacuate now." ”

Su Jingfeng shook his head, "Dongshan, have you thought about it, the division commander is afraid that we will not be able to support it because of too many casualties, although there is an order from the division commander, but in the final analysis, we still did not complete the scheduled task and evacuated the battle in advance, the garrison corps of the Yellow River defense line can't do this humiliating thing What's more, the battlefield situation is changing rapidly, no one can say when the little devil will attack again, the Sulu garrison has just arrived in Shangqiu, and it is not ready yet, I am worried that as soon as we withdraw, the little devil will pounce over, Our troops in Shangqiu will suffer. ”

Wang Dongshan was shocked, and in his dark eyes, sparks flashed, and he found that he still didn't know Su Jingfeng very well, this usually seemingly rough Northeast man, considered the problem so delicately and had an overall concept, and his understanding of the commander deepened another layer, maybe what he lacked was this height.

He gave Su Jingfeng a military salute and amused Su Jingfeng, but Wang Dongshan said very strictly: "Commander, I think about the problem too narrowly, you are right, whether it is for the reputation of our corps or the safety of our brother troops, we should complete the task, persist in the last two hours, it is the honor of Dongshan's life to follow you to the battlefield and fight the Japanese invaders" After speaking, tears flashed in his eyes.

Su Jingfeng was also moved by Wang Dongshan's affection, he took Wang Dongshan's hand, two iron-clad men, soldiers with very different personalities, at this moment, there is a feeling of life and death, heart and mind, flesh and blood, the staff officers in the room were also moved by this scene, and there seemed to be an invisible love, which was quietly flowing.

Then, the two of them studied the battle plan for the last time in detail, Su Jingfeng's idea was that even if he left, he couldn't let the little devil occupy Kaifeng City too easily, he wanted to use the troops in his hand to give the Japanese army the final blow before retreating, and also to buy time in the direction of Shangqiu, because the troops had been on the defensive, the Japanese army would not think of this, Wang Dongshan completely agreed with Su Jingfeng's plan, and added some details, and then, he rushed to the front line to arrange.

Su Jingfeng planned to give the final blow to the Japanese army, but Ryosuke Isoya was anxious, three days, three whole days, countless shells and the lives of more than 20,000 soldiers, but he couldn't beat a small Kaifeng, the troops were blocked here, he was most worried about the direction of Xuzhou, if the army of China was prepared, the battle lost its suddenness, and the future battle would be much more difficult.

He finally learned the ferocity and tenacity of the troops of the Independent Division, these soldiers fought more fiercely than the Imperial soldiers, in fact, what he encountered was the second-line troops of the Independent Division, if those veteran brigades came up, Isoya Ryosuke was afraid that he would have to return to Zhengzhou, even so, Su Jingfeng's more than 20,000 people also gave him a headache.

Ryosuke Isoya couldn't wait any longer, and staying in Kaifeng for one more minute would have a greater impact on the next plan, but he didn't have a good way to capture the rest of Kaifeng City, and the Shina army was like a nail, firmly nailed to the path of the First Army's advance, and he meditated in the headquarters, like a wolf in a trap, unable to find a way out.

The brigade commander Hirono Katayama called, giving him a glimmer of hope, it was still the lucky man Koyama Masao, who proposed to lead a team of soldiers to infiltrate the positions of the Shina army, find the enemy's headquarters, and then instruct artillery fire to destroy him, and the Shina army, which had lost its command system, would be in chaos without a fight.

Ryosuke Isoya approved this plan almost without thinking, as long as he could open the passage to Kaifeng City, anyone could do it, and he also decided that the First Army would fully cooperate with Koyama-kun's actions and immediately start an offensive to cover Koyama Shun's infiltration, so Koyama Masao took his action team, wearing military uniforms taken from the soldiers of the Independent Division who died in battle, and quietly approached the forward position.

Su Jingfeng, who was thinking about the details of the retreat in the command headquarters, was awakened by a fierce gunfire, he stood up suddenly, the Japanese army launched an attack overnight, this was not a normal signal, the sound of guns and cannons sounded everywhere, obviously the whole line was fighting fiercely, and after wandering around the house for a while, he couldn't rest assured, he decided to go to the front to take a look, grabbed the light machine gun on the table, and rushed out of the headquarters with the guard platoon.

As soon as he arrived outside the house, there was a piercing scream in the air, and Su Jingfeng, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, his face changed suddenly, it was the sound of large-caliber shells falling head-on, and he hurriedly shouted loudly: "Lie down, the Japanese artillery is shelling" The soldiers immediately lay down, and the guard platoon commander and deputy platoon commander rushed towards the commander.

Su Jingfeng understood what they were doing, and wanted to cover himself, he couldn't help but say, kicked the deputy platoon commander of the guard platoon down, stretched out his hand and pulled the platoon commander to lie down, suddenly, a sharp pain in his back, and the strong impact made him staggered a few steps forward, his eyes were dark, and he seemed to hear the anxious shouts of the soldiers, and then, all of them lost their color, and the boundless darkness surrounded him instantly.

(To be continued)