Report received. Nishio Shouzo, who learned the specific situation of the student army, was ecstatic. The old devil fell into a state of extreme excitement as if he had eaten a gun, and under his infection, the devil officers and soldiers of the 10th Division also behaved as if they had been injected with stimulants, and they seemed to have inexhaustible strength. The 10th Division marched from top to bottom, and it took them only three hours to arrive after a journey of more than 200 miles.

In Oji Township, about six kilometers from Koike Township, Japanese troops stopped. Nishio and the chief of staff of Machi Kuliangyoshi, and the commander of the 10th Division, Yoshio Jozuka, surrounded a map by the headlights, and Nishio looked at his watch and said, "It's half past ten." This is Dalu Township, which is only six kilometers away from Koike Township. Next, the troops had to advance on foot. Jozuka-kun, do the Scouts have any new information to send back? ”

Jotsuka replied, "Not yet." Your Excellency, do you want to wait? ”

"Don't wait, let's go. The people of China should not have discovered us yet, and this is our chance. The Cadets are good at defending, and we can't give them too much time to prepare. On my orders, leave a brigade to guard the vehicle, and the rest of the group all run forward. ”

"Your Excellency, what are you going to do?"

"I can ride a horse, don't worry, I'm not old enough to ride a horse."

The Japanese ran towards Koike Township, and an hour later, in Arada Village, only about two kilometers from Koike Township, they met a scout who had been ordered to return to report the situation. The biker scout was brought straight to Nishio. Nishio rode on his horse and asked straight to the point, "How is it?" Have the people of China completed the river crossing? ”

The scout replied breathlessly: "Report to Your Excellency, the people of China are still crossing the river, and before I come back, they have just crossed a new batch." According to Daejeon Shaoza's estimates, there are now 2,000 people crossing the river. ”

"Have you already had two thousand?" Nishio looked a little excited, "It seems that this student army is still the main force." It's good, if the number of people is too small, the value of this surprise attack is too low! Jozuka-kun! ”

"Your Excellency!"

"The speed of crossing the river by the people of China has been clear, and it takes about an hour and twenty minutes to cross the river. The people of China are at least above the brigade level, so there are at least two groups of them who have not been able to complete the crossing of the river, that is, we still have about two hours to reach Xiaochi Township. The so-called half-crossing attack, I think, while the last batch of them are still in the middle of the river is the best time to attack! And in order to prevent the Shina from breaking through to the east, I would like to ask you and Maehara Setoshi to lead the 10th Wing from the area around Shachi Lake to the east of the Shina people—you have to walk nearly two kilometers more than us, are you confident that you can complete this task? ”

Yoshio Jotsuka puffed up his chest, his eyes widened, and he said victoriously: "Your Excellency, please rest assured, the humble duty will definitely complete the task!" ”

The 10th Wing was the main force of the 10th Division in Jozuka's mind, so he had the confidence to complete this difficult task. Maehara Shengmin, as the co-captain of the 10th Wing, has always been appreciated by Jozuka and Nishio because of his ability to lead troops, and before leading the team to set off with Jozuka, he specially ran to Nishio here and made a little suggestion: "Your Excellency Commander, I have a little immature opinion on this surprise attack, please correct the commander." ”

Nishio prides himself on being an open-minded ruler of the army, so instead of being surprised by this kind of transgression by his subordinates, he appreciates it very much. He smiled and said, "Really? Let's talk about it! ”

"Hay!" Maehara first bowed respectfully, and then said: "So far, we don't know the true size of this student army, and what I'm worried about is that if the people of China still have artillery stationed in Jiangnan, then even if we can take it by surprise and inflict heavy losses, it will be very difficult to encircle and annihilate it." Ouyang Yun's methods are cruel, Your Excellency, we must guard against their indiscriminate shelling. In order to guard against this, he suggested that the artillery artillery of the whole army should be concentrated to attack the enemy by means of saturation shelling, so that we could not only annihilate the enemy army at the minimum cost, but also make it impossible for the enemy army south of the Yangtze River to accurately judge the size of our army. Your Excellency, this is a somewhat immature idea, and I would like to ask you to add and correct it! With that, he bowed again.

Nishio Shouzo did not carry artillery in order to seize speed. Maehara's suggestion undoubtedly made up for this shortcoming, and he was shocked to hear it, and said with relief: "This is a good idea!" Don't worry about going and do it boldly, today, we want to rewrite the record of the battle between the Imperial Army and the Xuebing Army - Maehara-kun, get to the destination as soon as possible, as long as you can arrive before the big army, the task of the first attack, I will hand it over to you! ”

As the first attacker, and in this kind of victorious battle, this is a great honor and a special grace, Maehara heard that his heart was hot, he suddenly raised his chest high, and said in a loud voice: "Your Excellency, please look at it, we will definitely be the first to rush to the battlefield!" ”

There are many reasons why Nishio Toshizo and Yoshio Jotsuka and Maehara Shengtoshi are so excited, but the most important one is that the Japanese army has fought with the student army so far, and there has never been a time when the Japanese army has been able to take the student army by surprise like today. The Cadet Corps attaches great importance to the collection of battlefield intelligence, so even if the Japanese army wants to fight an ambush by the Cadet Corps, it is very difficult to actually implement it. Of course, in so many encounters in recent years, the Japanese army did not fail to seize such an opportunity, but its scale was very small, and it was not enough to shake the balance of victory and defeat in a battle. In this case, if they can severely damage the 36th Brigade and even annihilate it, then what a brilliant martial arts it will be! Nishio Toshizo even thought that the reason why he was able to get such an opportunity today was because of the blessing of His Majesty the Emperor and Amaterasu, which made such a miracle happen.

The 10th Division was full of the belief that it would win, and compared with them, the process of crossing the river of the 36th Brigade was very unsmooth.

Although the number of people crossing the river at one time has increased, the speed of crossing the river has decreased due to the fact that 30 cadets are attached to each raft. Ye Zhao and Jiang Hongming both ignored one thing - the weight of the individual equipment of the trainees. Guns and ammunition, as well as blankets and military quilts, cannot enter the water, so they can only be placed on rafts. The equipment of a single cadet soldier does not weigh much, only about 20 kilograms, but the equipment of 30 cadet soldiers adds up to nearly 600 kilograms, which is equivalent to the weight of four cadet soldiers.

The weight of the load increased, but the number of cadets paddling did not, so it was inevitable that the speed of crossing the river would drop. And this undoubtedly gave the Japanese army more time to prepare.

The river was still cold on a June night, and the soldiers who swam over were worried that they would be sick because of the cold, and considering that there were no enemy troops around, Qiao Benshan, the chief of staff who crossed the river in the first batch, ordered to light more than a dozen bonfires for the soldiers to warm and dry their clothes. The bonfire was lit, and for there was a long wait, and everyone gathered around it, except for the soldiers who were patrolling and standing guard around it, and a few of the cadets told stories or read books around the fires.

On the other side, when they saw a bonfire burning in Jiangbei, Ye Zhao and Jiang Hongming did not feel inappropriate. The two of them were worried about whether the new way of crossing the river was appropriate, so they stayed by the river and waited quietly, seeing the bonfire rising, realizing that it was for the soldiers who swam across the river to keep warm, Ye Zhao's hanging heart relaxed, he looked at his watch, and said to Jiang Hongming with a smile: "The time is about a quarter of an hour slower, but it is still cost-effective." ”

At this time, it was almost twelve o'clock, and Jiang Hongming said: "It should be possible to pass all before three o'clock, and even if the commander-in-chief has any combat mission, it should not be implemented until after dawn." Hehe, in this way, we should be fine. ”

Another group of warriors went into the water, tied themselves around the raft, and swam with the raft to the other side.

Ye Zhao and Jiang Hongming were still standing on the river beach, watching the twelve rafts drift away, their mood became more and more relaxed, and the two of them even began to discuss the possible combat mission tomorrow. What they didn't expect was that on the other side, about 800 meters away from those campfires, hundreds of devils were leveling the land with shovels. Ten minutes later, at least eighty mortars were assumed, and after another two minutes or so, the shooting elements of these shells were adjusted, and then, as a red flare rose from the east, the sound of "all through" sounded, and these mortars opened fire almost simultaneously, and in an instant, the sound of grenades breaking through the air interrupted the laughter of the cadets, and became the only sound under the sky.

"What's going on?" Ye Zhao saw the signal flare rising suddenly, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and blurted out.

Jiang Hongming was talking to a company commander at this time, and when he heard the questioning, he turned around and saw the signal flare that had begun to fall, and then saw dozens of fireballs rising into the sky, and he couldn't help but be stunned for a while.

On the north shore, Qiao Benshan had already reacted, he jumped up and shouted: "Lie down!" Lie down quickly......" He shouted twice, and was knocked down by his own guards.

The sound of the grenade breaking through the air was quickly covered by the sound of a violent explosion. The blow came so suddenly that many of the cadets were engulfed in the fireworks caused by the explosion before they could react. Dozens of cadets at the center of the explosion were tossed up by the air, and they lost consciousness permanently before they could understand what was happening.

In the center of the river, disturbed by the sudden explosion, many of the cadets stopped paddling. Many people were stunned to look at the other side of the river, which continued to explode, and at the comrades who were blown up and scattered in all directions, and everyone became cold as if water had suddenly entered their chests.

"Xiao Shanzi, Xiao Shanzi-" Qiao Benshan was not even injured in the first round of artillery raids thanks to the protection of guard Guo Xiaoshan, but at this moment, his mood was not much more than that of being injured. In order to protect him, Guo Xiaoshan was hit by more than a dozen pieces of shrapnel and went immediately. Qiao Benshan shouted hoarsely twice, and found that Guo Xiaoshan could no longer hear his shout, and suddenly remembered his identity, he stood up and shouted to the students who were scattered and fleeing: "Don't run around!" Lie down! Lie down! Qian Shuanglin, organize the brothers to go to the river—"

Before he could finish his words, there was a loud "boom", and a cloud of fireworks enveloped him, and he immediately lost his voice forever.

On the south bank, Ye Zhao, who was holding a telescope, suddenly lowered his hands, and tears rained down.