The 106th Division captured Jiujiang without shedding a drop of blood, and the fall of Jiujiang not only completely ruined the battle situation that had been very good for the Chinese army. It also undermined the integrity of the defensive line that the South Bank Army had struggled to maintain. After the Japanese army occupied Jiujiang, there were many offensive routes to choose from. And the most fatal thing is that because the fortifications of Jiujiang are very strong, the 106th Division's intake is like a nail. If the Chinese army wants to defend Greater Wuhan and maintain the integrity of the southern defense line, it must recapture Jiujiang, and how much sacrifice will it take?

The next day, many newspapers in China, led by several media outlets affiliated with Xuebingjun, reported the incident on their official pages and published editorials demanding severe punishment of Li Yunheng and others. They think that this is not only a dereliction of duty, but also a traitorous act.

Despite being on guard, the most feared thing happened, and Ouyang Yun could only sigh and make people. Once Jiujiang was occupied by the Japanese army, Peng Ze's situation would not be good. The next actions of the 106th Division confirmed Ouyang Yun's conjecture - after the 106th Division captured Jiujiang, it did not continue to expand its achievements to the southwest, but sent troops to Xingzi Township while consolidating the defense of Jiujiang. After the positions in Xingang and Guanzhou were occupied by the Japanese army, the Japanese army quickly deployed two brigades of troops in Guanzhou, and at the same time, began to build forts on Jiangxinzhou opposite Guanzhou, and actually put on a posture of defending to the death.

The reconnaissance team of the Cadet Army was dispatched frequently, and the hidden personnel of the Fox Pupil Foreign Affairs Department sent various information in a timely manner, and the actions of the Japanese army were not lost in the eyes of Ouyang Yun. When the "Fox of Nagashima" built a fort near the mouth of the lake on Exinzhou, he concluded that Okamura Ninji seemed to really want to change the established strategy and switch to dealing with the Cadet Army Northward Legion.

Opposite Madang Fortress, the 17th Division could not shrink as it had done a few days ago, and not only that, but the Yangtze River Fleet was also far away. The officers and men of the Northbound Regiment all knew that they had gone north this time to defend Great Wuhan and had come to fight a tough battle. On the day of the change of defense, the Japanese were still attacking fiercely, why did this little devil stop as soon as our army arrived, could it be that the Japanese were afraid of us?

It is no wonder that the cadet soldiers have this kind of thinking, since the establishment of the cadet army, it has basically never lost a battle in the war against Japan. Sometimes, although it takes considerable sacrifices, it is ultimately won. This kind of contempt for the enemy permeated the front-line troops in Madang, and soon attracted the attention of He Zhengzhen and others.

He Zhengjiang was young, and he grew from a small cadet training class to the head of a division, although it was due to the current situation, but also by virtue of his accumulated military merits. When he found out about this, he immediately called a meeting of the group battalion commanders and severely criticized this phenomenon. Then he made a suggestion to Ouyang Yun, in order to prevent the students from being idle and panicked and not knowing the situation, he suggested taking the initiative to fight.

Ouyang Yun was busy contacting Li Zongren and Yang Sen during this time. At this moment, although Chen Cheng in Jiangnan still had more than 20 divisions and a number of main forces in his hands, it can be seen from the fact that Li Yunheng lost Jiujiang and they did not take any action at all, Chen Cheng or some people in the Military Commission did not coordinate the preparations for this battle. They may not directly sell the Cadet Army to the Japanese, but it is estimated that it is impossible to count on them to help them once they encounter danger.

Take the initiative to fight? Now on the other side of Pengze, in Anhui, the Japanese army still has four and a half divisions. But if you don't take the initiative to attack, once the Japanese have arranged it, the student army will be put in their pockets.

"How about we give Commander Li a great credit?" At the regular meeting in the evening of the same day, Ouyang Yun said this to the division commanders and the chief of staff who participated in the meeting.

He Zhengchuan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he asked, "Commander-in-chief, are you preparing to take the initiative to attack?" ”

Ouyang Yun nodded: "The 106th Division is out of Xingzi Township, if my expectations are correct, next, several divisions of the Japanese will cross the river one after another, rather than trying to find a way to get out of the predicament at that time, it is better to strike first." ”

Chen Shichang rearranged the red flags representing the Japanese troops on the sand table, and said: "Now, the 11th Division of the Japanese Army is in the area of Wangjiang and Susong, the 106th Division is in Jiujiang, and the 112th Division is originally in Yingshan, but now it has arrived in Huangmei, and it will surely cross the river next. The most noteworthy is the Hata detachment, which was already going to be transferred back to Taiwan, but now it has appeared in Xuancheng. Our staff spent three hours in the morning studying it, and combined with the recent moves of these Japanese troops, we came up with their next course of action. The 112th Division crossed the river, the 11th Division held on to Suwang, and the 106th Division might attack Duchang next. As for the Botian detachment, their ultimate goal should be Huangshan. Commander-in-Chief, commanders, the opinion of all my colleagues in the General Staff Department is that if we have to take the initiative to attack and fight a battle to change the current passive situation, we can fight Anqing first! ”

The opinions of the so-called General Staff Department have Ouyang Yun's participation. The reason why he wanted to fight Anqing, Ouyang Yun wanted not only to strike first, but to completely disrupt the Japanese army's plan. He continued: "In terms of strength alone, the Japanese army does not have an advantage over us, but there is a premise for this, that is, the 11th Army will not draw troops south. Although the main direction of the Japanese attack this time was Wuhan, we had to guard against them from changing their established strategy and concentrating on our troops. Instead of waiting to be beaten passively, it is better to take the initiative to attack. With the strength of our army going north, the Japanese were not superior in numbers or equipment. The only thing that worries me now is the Japanese aviation. The Japanese suffered a big loss in encircling and suppressing the Taiwan Corps last month, and now they are increasing their troops to Taiwan one after another, and they are under great pressure from Jiang Dahe, so at present the Air Force can only give priority to supporting them. Anqing has an airfield for the Japanese, we can use the wolf's teeth to carry out a surprise attack first, as long as the Japanese army, the largest forward airfield, is paralyzed, then, by controlling the battle within a certain period of time, we can capture Anqing at the minimum cost. Anqing got it, and it would be the Japanese army that would be passive at that time. Just now, Shi Chang has explained the latest movements of the Japanese army clearly, and I will add one point now. In order to concentrate our efforts on taking Anqing in one fell swoop, we will give up all other places except for a certain number of troops left behind in Pengze, Duchang, Hukou, Panyang, and Yugan. ”

"Is Huangshan going to give up too?" Xue Degang, chief of staff of the 13th Division, asked.

Ouyang Yun said affirmatively: "Give up!" He pointed to the southern edge of Shangpan, where Shangrao was, and said, "In order to prevent the Japanese army from attacking Huangshan and thus threatening our flank, Commander Li will transfer some troops from Shangrao to strengthen the defense of the Kaihua area." If the Japanese really dare to do this, then we don't mind that the Second Army of the United School will eat them. His gaze patrolled everyone, and finally fell on Li Liang, the commander of the chariot regiment directly under the army, and said: "Li Liang, this time to attack Anqing, all the chariot troops are under your unified command." There will not be too many defenders in Anqing, try to give full play to the power of the artillery fire of the chariot, and strive for a quick victory! ”

Li Liang is a sturdy young man who is not tall, he once worked in the research and development institute, but later because he has a unique understanding of tank warfare, he published a related article in the internal magazine "National Martyrdom" of the Cadet Army and was favored by Ouyang Yun, and then directly entered the military academy, and after half a year of short messages, he became a company commander of the tank brigade directly under the General Headquarters after graduation. After spending less than half a year in the barracks, he stood out because of his superb business and diverse command methods, and he was soon promoted to regiment commander.

After the cadet army is on the right track, it is no longer possible to get promoted like a rocket like before. Therefore, Li Liang's rapid promotion is very eye-catching. Li Liang knew what the commander-in-chief expected of him, and he stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!" Then he gave a powerful salute.

Jiangxi and Hubei are covered with dense water networks, which are not conducive to the operation of chariot troops, and this factor has been fully taken into account, and the staff officers of the Cadet Corps have particularly reduced the share of chariot units when they are organizing the northbound corps. But even then, each division still had a regiment of tank troops. Don't underestimate the chariot unit of this regiment, if the five divisions plus the army directly under the army are combined, it is definitely a torrent of steel that cannot be underestimated.

After more than three years of development, the technology of the Jiguang tank has become mature, and among a series of modifications, the most mature product is the series of tanks with the scientific name of Jiguang L. Taking into full consideration of China's changeable terrain and the main characteristics of the place where the battle took place at this stage, the No. 3 Arsenal Factory of the Xuebing Army has recently produced an amphibious light tank commonly known as the "Platypus". Due to the tank numbers of the era, Ouyang Yun actually disdained to engage in light tanks, but considering the special terrain of the Yangtze River basin in China, he finally convinced himself to approve the mass production of this type of car.

The platypus weighed 19.75 tons and was armed with an 85-mm gun, two 12.7-mm machine guns, and two grenade launchers.

The "Platypus" has a crew of five, including the captain (and built-in machine gunner), the pilot, the machine gunner, and the gunner and loader. In terms of appearance, compared with the products in the early stage of the Jiguang type, the "platypus" has increased its territory by 15 centimeters because of its special mission. In order to make up for the armor protection ability that must be weakened because of low quality, the front and side of the "platypus" can be hung with aluminum alloy armor, and the "platypus" was designed by Hou Debang himself, which is his most satisfactory product, and this trip to the north is its first time to put into actual combat, and its effectiveness remains to be tested.

The chariot unit was the main force in this raid on Anqing, and after explaining to Li Liang, Ouyang Yun assigned the combat tasks of other troops, and he said later: "The Japanese raided Jiujiang and destroyed the integrity of our defense line on the south bank. This morning, Senior Commander He reported to me that the brothers despise devils very much and have a feeling of contempt for the enemy. I don't think it's a bad thing to despise the enemy psychologically, but I want to emphasize that strategically and tactically, we absolutely have to pay attention to the enemy. Psychological contempt can make us full of confidence in combat and attach importance to strategy and tactics, but it can prevent us from making the mistake of underestimating the enemy. Not long ago, Division Commander Guo and Division Commander Huang beat up the devils in Xuzhou, adding glory to the military flag of our student army. It's our turn this time, guys, can you be confident?! ”

"Yes!" The crowd shouted in unison. Ouyang Yun planted a green flag on Anqing and said with a smile: "Very good, then, let the Japanese know how powerful we are!" Learn from the army and win! ”