Since the Japanese army launched a general attack on Hengyang on 28 June, the battle has been going on for seven days, and the Japanese attacking troops have exhausted all means, from mobilizing the formation of units at the wing level to charge in groups during the day to carrying out sneak attacks with squadrons in the middle of the night, and the defense line of the national army has remained immovable.

Yokoyama Yong's raving that he would take Hengyang within three days became a laughing stock.

The defeat in the Battle of Hengyang caused a shock among the Japanese top brass in Tokyo, and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was in a state of extreme anxiety. Since the establishment of the Tojo Cabinet on October 18, 1941, Hideki Tojo has served as Prime Minister, Minister of Land, Minister of the Interior, and later as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Commerce, Industry, Quartermaster, and Chief of General Staff. There is power, but nothing has been achieved. In July, all the battlefields were full of bad news, Saipan in the Mariana Islands of the Pacific Ocean was already in danger under the attack of the US military, four-fifths of the whole island had been occupied by the US army, the remnants of the Japanese army had been compressed to a small area in the northeast corner, and the loss of Saipan was only a matter of time.

In the Chinese battlefield, Yokoyama Isamu's 11th Army suffered a setback in Hengyang, and the battle lasted for seven days, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, but it was in a stalemate, Hengyang could not be overcome, and the main force of the Japanese army could not go south to complete the No. 1 battle plan. If the war does not go well, Hideki Tojo's position is in jeopardy, and he will face pressure to resign. At this time, he was in great need of the victory of the Imperial army on the battlefield to support his position.

Hideki Tojo sent his own confidant, Major General Masato Koichiro, the chief of operations, to Wuhan to directly exert pressure on Shunroku Hatata, the commander of the Chinese Dispatch Army.

Hata Junroku was also anxious, he didn't expect that a small Hengyang would be like a nail, firmly nailed to the road of the army's westward advance. Some senior aides at the headquarters raised the question of whether it was possible to use the kind of "island hopping tactic" that MacArthur excelled at in the Pacific, leaving two divisions to continue to besiege Hengyang, while most of the main divisions bypassed Hengyang and quickly marched west to attack Guilin. Shunroku Hata rejected this suggestion without hesitation, on the grounds that this was not the Pacific Ocean, and MacArthur could rely on his strong sea and air superiority to carry out island-crossing operations, because he had no worries, and the besieged islands behind him had been cut off from the transportation lines, and the Japanese defenders on the islands had to wait for death. The situation in Hengyang is very different, if the main force of the Japanese army bypasses Hengyang and continues to move south, then the various units of China's Ninth Theater will immediately gather together, first surround the Japanese siege troops and gather and annihilate them, and then quickly cut off the Japanese army's transportation lines, and launch a great pursuit to the south with a huge corps of hundreds of thousands of troops, and the consequences will be very serious at that time. Therefore, Hengyang must be taken, otherwise it will be strategically dead, and what kind of No. 1 battle plan is there to talk about?

Shunroku Hata picked up the electricity and asked for a call to Isamu Yokoyama, the headquarters of the 11th Army in Changsha: "Yokoyama-kun, please report on the battle in Hengyang." ”

Isamu Yokoyama, who was in anxiety, felt unspeakable: "Commander, our army has been attacking continuously day and night, and the enemy's resistance has been unexpectedly tenacious, and the 68th Division and the 116th Division have suffered serious casualties, and at present, ...... Still in the midst of fierce fighting. ”

Shunroku Hata asked with a pleasant face: "Yokoyama-kun, I remember that you seem to have made a promise to conquer Hengyang within three days, right?" ”

"Yes, Commander, but ......"

Shunroku Hata's tone suddenly became stern: "But, but it's now the seventh day, Yokoyama-kun, I need to hear your explanation!" ”

The first time Isamu Yokoyama heard the commander use such a stern tone, he felt embarrassed: "I...... I'll admit that I underestimated my opponents, the defenders were very stubborn in their fighting will, their defenses were cleverly constructed, and I was constantly adjusting my offensive methods, which have not yet worked. ”

The six generals of Shun Hata finally burst out and roared: "Okay, you don't have to explain, I just want to know, when will you be able to occupy Hengyang?" ”

Yokoyama hesitated for a moment, and simply made a statement: "Commander, I ask to stop the attack!" ”

"What? You repeat! ”

Yokoyama replied with an expressionless face: "Commander, the two divisions besieging the city suffered heavy casualties, and the artillery units were also depleted of shells and infantry ammunition, and I have to admit that at present, the besieging troops are unable to launch another offensive, so they can only rest for a few days and wait for replenishment of troops and ammunition." ”

Shunroku Hata didn't answer, he slammed the phone hard.

On the afternoon of July 2, the tension of the Japanese offensive string exceeded the limit and suddenly collapsed. The artillery stopped firing, the infantry also stopped charging, and only seven or eight Japanese fighters carried out routine bomb strafing on the front-line positions at Zhangjiashan and Fengshushan. The dense fire network composed of thousands of rifles and machine guns made the Japanese pilots lose the courage to dive at low altitudes, so they had to drop ** at high altitude, and then return in formation.

There was silence on the battlefield, and the exhausted defenders of Hengyang finally got a moment to breathe.

Chiang Kai-shek's residence in Huangshan is located between the peaks and valleys, which belongs to the Nanshan Scenic Area of Chongqing, surrounded by pines and cypresses, and the scenery is excellent. Chiang Kai-shek's usual residence in the "Yunxiu Building" is a three-story building that combines Chinese and Western styles, while his wife Song Meiling lives in the "Song Hall". "Pine Hall" is built on the edge of an artificial flat land between the twin peaks, taking the east-facing angle of the sun, and building a rectangular Chinese-Western bungalow with a length of about 25 meters and a width of nearly 20 meters. The couple don't usually live together.

There is an air-raid shelter dug next to the valley path between "Yunxiu" and "Song Hall", not far from "Yunxiu", there is a Chinese-style bungalow with straw roof, called "Grass Pavilion".

On this day, Chiang Kai-shek got up very early, he was in a bad mood, and when he was eating breakfast, because he was not paying attention, he splashed soup on his chest, and he simply broke the plate. Song Meiling saw that he was angry, so she didn't say anything, just drew a cross on her chest, got up and left.

In the past two days, Chiang Kai-shek convened a meeting on the reorganization of the army at his official residence in Huangshan to discuss the rectification of the military system and other issues. The direct cause of this reorganization of the army was the incident of mistreatment of strong men. A few days ago, Dai Jitao's son, Dai Anguo, reported to the chairman of the NPC National Committee that the Zhuang men detained in a certain place in Chongqing were in a miserable situation and were mistreated. Chiang Kai-shek didn't believe it, and then went to inspect, and sure enough, he saw the scene of the officers abusing the strong men. The chairman of the committee was furious, scolded Lieutenant General Cheng Zerun, director of the Military Service Administration, and immediately ordered Cheng Zerun to be handed over to the Military Judge Advocate General's Department for trial, and a few days later, Cheng Zerun was sentenced to death by a military court.

The real reason why Chiang Kai-shek was so angry was the defeat of the war. Since the Battle of Henan-Zhong, the Chinese army has been defeated on the battlefield. One of the reasons Stilwell used President Roosevelt to put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek was that Chiang Kai-shek's military was too corrupt. Chiang Kai-shek, of course, understood in his heart, but he could never admit it in his mouth, he only admitted that corruption was an individual phenomenon, not the army as a whole, and Stilwell's accusations were entirely based on personal grudges.

Chiang Kai-shek saw corruption in this way, he could punish corruption internally, but outsiders had better shut up, because I don't know if you have ulterior motives.

To be sure, Chairman Chiang was not a man who could not accept opinions. At the end of 1938, Chiang Kai-shek hosted a banquet for overseas Chinese leader Chen Jiageng, and he told Chen Jiageng bluntly: "Now the ** finance has gone bankrupt, and the price has risen so much that a lieutenant colonel can't support his family, and he has to steal vegetable leaves to survive." Your donations are a lot, but they are far from enough, and I hope that overseas patriotic overseas Chinese can raise some funds for us on a regular basis. ”

A **** can whisper to an overseas Chinese leader regardless of his dignity, just to ask for some small money, which is condescending enough for Chiang Kai-shek. Chen Jiageng listened to Chiang Kai-shek's words, tears flowed on the spot, and he said that he must do his best to raise funds for the anti-Japanese resistance, even if he went bankrupt.

Mr. Tan Kah Kee wiped away his tears but found that although Chiang Kai-shek's official residence was not extravagant and luxurious, and the furnishings of the restaurant were very simple, the dishes on the table were constantly served one by one, and Soong Meiling was even more attentive to the side to persuade wine. This made Mr. Tan Kah Kee very angry, and he finally slapped the table and angrily reprimanded: "The country is so difficult, and you are still so extravagant, how can you be embarrassed?" ”

The attendants beside Chiang Kai-shek were all frightened, in their memory, no one dared to reprimand the chairman like this, this Chen Jiageng really ate leopard gall.

But what no one expected was that Chiang Kai-shek actually accepted the criticism happily, and he immediately said that Mr. Chen's criticism was correct, and we will resolutely correct it in the future.

This is Chairman Chiang, and it is not that he cannot accept criticism, but the key is who criticizes, when and where. When he is in a good mood, others may be able to criticize him, and even a little harsh can accept it, but Stilwell certainly cannot, and among the many contradictions between him and Chiang Kai-shek, the most important is the incompatibility of personality. The game between these two men was earth-shattering, known to the world, and even affected the direction of history, but from a historical point of view, neither Chiang Kai-shek nor Stilwell was the real winner.

As one scholar put it: "What Stilwell brought to Chiang Kai-shek was not only a great help, but also an impact that shook the foundation." ”

This time, Cheng Zerun hit the muzzle of the gun, and the abuse of Zhuang Ding did not happen sooner or later, but it happened after Stilwell had just finished suing Diao, which made Chairman Jiang unable to step down, so Cheng Zerun was dead. Chiang Kai-shek not only killed the director of military service to show his determination, but also convened a meeting of the whole army at the Huangshan official residence.

The meeting lasted several days, and Chiang Kai-shek made a large number of speeches, which were conveyed in the form of documents. The army reorganization meeting played a certain role in encouraging the defenders of Hengyang, but it did not help in major matters, and the corruption in the army was not formed overnight, so how could it be solved by holding a meeting?

The Battle of Hengyang was not only a military duel between China and Japan on the main battlefield, but also a political battle within China and Japan. For Chiang Kai-shek and Hideki Tojo, the victory or defeat of the Battle of Hengyang was related to the control of the supreme military and political leadership of these two commanders.

Chiang Kai-shek was in an unprecedented political, diplomatic, and military predicament, and his relationship with Stilwell was on the verge of breaking out.

Throughout the Pacific War, the Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Marshall, did not seem to know the real situation in the Chinese theater, and his basis for reporting to President Roosevelt was always to cite Stilwell's "first-hand" report as an intelligence basis for strategic decisions in the Chinese theater. Stilwell's reports, on the other hand, were mostly based on quotations from the Japanese army's war reports, the broadcast content of the "Tokyo Rose," and the propaganda of the Soviet Union and the Comintern. To be sure, the value of such an intelligence basis would be greatly diminished.

In Stilwell's report, Chiang Kai-shek, the hated "peanut," was neither willing nor daring to fight, and as the supreme commander of the Chinese theater, his personal ability was questionable. According to Stilwell's assessment, the Chinese theater could collapse at any time, and if there is any point in the existence of the Chinese theater, it is that China's remaining combat forces will be used to assist the British army in holding India and assist Stilwell himself in completing the plan of counterattacking Burma.

Stilwell's biased assessment clearly does not reflect the reality that China has been fighting for help.

Chiang Kai-shek was even more furious, Marshall and Stilwell's theater intelligence completely disregarded the facts, if it was really as they said, the Japanese army was in a no-man's land in the Chinese theater, and the Chinese army was invincible, then why didn't the Japanese army quickly defeat Chongqing**, end the war in China, and then draw out 800,000 Japanese troops stationed in China and throw them into the Pacific theater? Why did some people in the Japanese cabinet always keep in touch with Chongqing through various channels, and repeatedly put forward various conditions for "concessions" for peace talks, hoping to give priority to resolving the war in China?

In fact, Japan has never been able to eliminate the Chinese army on the battlefield and destroy China, because even when China is at the end of the mountain, it is still desperately resisting the attack of the Japanese army, and it is still struggling to support, resisting the advanced industrial power Japan as a poor agricultural country. The poorly equipped Chinese army had no choice but to build a great wall of resistance with flesh and blood, enduring unimaginable casualties.

President Roosevelt, of course, believed Stilwell more, he believed that Stilwell was impartial, this was a "first-hand report" from the Chinese theater of operations, from the perspective of a Western politician, the Chinese army was in a state of inaction on the battlefield, and this inaction first began in China, the key is that Chiang Kai-shek was deliberately preserving strength, and he did not go all out to resist Japan. As a result, Stilwell's report finally shattered President Roosevelt's support and confidence in China's resistance to Japan.

On July 6, Roosevelt wrote to Chiang Kai-shek: "I have decided to give Stilwell the rank of general and hope that you will consider calling Stilwell from Burma to China so that he will command all Chinese and American forces under your direct command, and that he will be fully responsible for coordinating and directing combat operations and stopping the tide of Japanese attacks." I believe that the situation in China is very serious, and if decisive and appropriate measures are not taken immediately, our common cause will suffer a serious setback......"

Chiang Kai-shek was extremely angry when he received the letter, did President Roosevelt not know the fact that the elite of the Nationalist Army had been transferred by Stilwell to Yunnan and Burma to join the expeditionary force, which had led to the exhaustion of China's military strength on the battlefield? President Roosevelt failed to notice from the perspective of common sense that China's comprehensive national strength since 1840 was simply not comparable to that of the United States, and that it had been seven years since the Nationals had waged an all-out war with Japan, and that the economic strength to sustain the war of resistance had reached its limit. President Roosevelt, you are asking your allies to do something beyond the limits of their capabilities, which is extremely excessive.

Chiang Kai-shek, of course, also had Chiang Kai-shek's methods, he was a man with backbone, and naturally he would not be frightened by the threat of the allies. Since you are unreasonable, just urging me to hand over the command, then I am sorry, the command of the Chinese army can only be held by the Chinese. Any request from the allies was nothing more than a fart, and Chiang Kai-shek unceremoniously rejected Roosevelt's request.

Fang Xianjue's 10th Army's stubborn resistance in Hengyang won a little face for Chiang Kai-shek and Chongqing at a critical moment. The allies suddenly discovered that the distant Chinese battlefield was not as bad as they had imagined, and President Roosevelt was helpless against Chiang Kai-shek's stubbornness, and the matter of the transfer of command was put on hold for the time being.

For Chairman Chiang, who was in internal and external difficulties, the Battle of Hengyang became the spiritual pillar for which he prayed day and night, and it was all his hope. He knew very well in his heart that this battle was of great political and diplomatic significance, and that the Chinese army was in great need of proving its combat effectiveness at this moment, and as long as Hengyang was still fighting, Chairman Chiang would have a powerful bargaining chip with Roosevelt.

The achievements of the 10th Army in Hengyang have become the headlines of various news media in Chongqing in the past few days. At this time, it was the day of commemorating the seventh anniversary of the "77" War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and this rare news of victory gave great encouragement to the party-state dignitaries in Chongqing and the broad masses of people in the rear. Liang Hancao, director of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, happily declared: "This victory has taught the Japanese a lesson, and the Japanese will not dare to attack again." ”

After analyzing the entire international situation, Minister of Military Affairs He Yingqin said with satisfaction: "From the perspective of the overall strategy, we really do not worry about the enemy's stupid move to open up the two fronts of our Pinghan and Guangdong-Han lines!" ”

Chiang Kai-shek, on the other hand, maintained an unusual sobriety, and he admonished the party-state dignitaries: "We have been fighting the Japanese for seven years, do we still not understand the Japanese? The Japanese will continue to fight, the defense of Hengyang must stick to the end, and the peripheral troops must keep up! The Japanese offensive will not stop, believe it or not, it will be possible to see how things develop. In any case, you must pay attention to the fact that you are the pillars of the party-state, and you must obey in the critical moment of the country - what I want to say is: you should be prepared for the hardest struggle within half a year! ”

Chiang Kai-shek had a premonition that the most sinister and difficult moment was approaching, and in addition to the situation on the battlefield in China, there was also the deterioration of Sino-US relations, KMT-CPC relations, and the political and economic situation. He understands that he and his country** are going through an unprecedented hardship and test.

Someone was knocking lightly, and Chiang Kai-shek shouted, "Come in!" ”

Wang Fansheng, director of the Institute of International Studies, which is in charge of wartime intelligence work, walked into the office. Wang Fan grew up with a white face and a fat body, highly myopic eyes, always wore a pair of black-framed glasses with thick lenses, he wore a blue cloth robe, and walked slowly, typical of a scholar.

Wang Fansheng graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in Japan in his early years and is a very talented person. Chiang Kai-shek's evaluation of this person was: Wang Fansheng is a capable person, no matter what he does, if he doesn't do it, he will become a blockbuster. He joined the army in his early years, and became the chief of staff of the division without much effort, and later entered the diplomatic and political circles, and became a counselor of the embassy in Japan, and vice minister of communications. He was an expert in intelligence analysis, and the Institute of International Studies, which he presided over, was an authoritative body for intelligence analysis against Japan during the war, and reported the enemy situation twice a week to Chiang Kai-shek, the top decision-maker.

Wang Fansheng never greets, he thinks that meeting and greeting is a bad habit, except for delaying time, there is no benefit, even if he meets the chairman of the committee, he has something to say, he turns around and leaves when he has nothing to do, and does not say a word of useless nonsense.

Wang Fansheng nodded to Chiang Kai-shek, took out the latest information about Japan from his purse, and said only one sentence: "Chair, Japan's political situation is unstable, internal disharmony, and the situation in all aspects of the country has deteriorated. ”

Wang Fansheng put the papers on Chiang Kai-shek's desk and turned to leave.

"Wait...... If the Tojo Cabinet falls, what kind of impact will it have on the war? What do you think about the Institute of International Studies? Chiang Kai-shek asked.

Wang Fansheng said cautiously: "Most people believe that without Tojo's support, the Japanese army's No. 1 battle plan may be aborted. ”

"Well, that's what other people think, and I want to know what you think."

"My opinion is the opposite, if the Tojo Cabinet falls, there will be a new cabinet immediately, and the Japanese Army's No. 1 battle plan may be revised, as for the result of the revision...... I think that the military offensive side will not be weakened, but will be greatly strengthened. The reason is simple, because the new Japanese cabinet will have nothing to do other than this. So, they will carry out the No. 1 operation plan to the end. ”

Chiang Kai-shek patted Wang Fansheng on the shoulder and said approvingly: "Fansheng, you are right, I agree with you, the Japanese will not stop attacking." For us, the military situation will continue to deteriorate, and we need to be prepared. ”

Although Chiang Kai-shek had a clear understanding of the development of the military situation, he did not make effective arrangements for how to deal with the next operation. At the level of strategic operation, Chiang Kai-shek always lacked the ability to operate vertically and horizontally.

The Japanese attack on Hengyang was halted for only a week. Isamu Yokoyama was not idle, on the one hand, he was resting and replenishing the troops; On the other hand, it is waiting for ammunition replenishment and mobilizing heavy firearms for siege. What's more, Isamu Yokoyama is racking his brains to consider a new style of play.

The 10th Army of the Nationalist Army took advantage of this rare truce opportunity to desperately repair the bombed-out fortifications, and built many secret machine-gun fortifications behind the front-line positions. However, the consumption of ammunition could not be solved by itself, and the soldiers of the national army on the position looked up to the sky every day, hoping for air supplies from the Chinese and American air forces.

July 8 was like a festival of suffering for the 10th officers and soldiers trapped in the lonely city.

In the early morning of that day, a low roar was heard from the west, and several B-25 bombers of the Chinese and US Air Forces flew over Hengyang. B-25 bombers calmly dropped supplies on the Nationalist positions amid interceptive artillery fire, and several huge parachutes spread out in the air and slowly fell.

In the city of Hengyang, on the edge of the Xiangjiang River, and on the positions of the western and southern defense lines, the officers and men of the Nationalist army let out bursts of cheers, and the soldiers laughed, jumped, and chased the falling wooden boxes.

Cai Jigang stood on the dilapidated roof of the Central Bank, looking at the bomber formation passing in the sky, and felt a burst of warmth in his heart. He knew that General Chennault was a man of promises, and that he would do what he promised, no matter how difficult it was. Cai Jigang knew that the batch of materials airdropped just now must have been squeezed out of the limited supplies that General Chennault had transported from the "Hump" route.

This batch of airdropped military supplies is mainly hand ** and ****, as well as a small amount of machine gun bullets. In fact, for the 10th Army, this point of ammunition dropped by airdrop is really a drop in the bucket, and it is not enough for a battalion-level unit to consume ammunition in a day.

The last parachute floated across the Xiang River and landed on the enemy-occupied Hengyang airfield on the east bank, and a vicious curse immediately sounded on the ground.

On July 11, Hengyang, which had been silent for eight days, sounded the sound of the second large-scale siege of the city by the Japanese army. The 68th Division and the 116th Division, after being fully replenished with men and ammunition, launched another round of charges towards the positions of the defenders of Hengyang.

For this attack, Yokoyama specially transferred 150 mm ** guns and 100 mm cannons from Changsha to strengthen the artillery. The artillery bombardment before the siege was extremely terrifying, and the Japanese artillery of different calibers began to carry out saturation bombardment in an orderly manner, and dozens of bombers and fighters repeatedly bombed and strafed the defenders' positions on the western and southern defense lines outside the city, almost destroying the strongholds, fortifications, trenches, and bunkers on the outlying positions of the national army.

The streets, warehouses, shops, and houses in the urban area of Hengyang were blown up in a mess, and a sky-high fire broke out. Rice stores, grocery stores, cloth farms and other flammable locations were burned.

The officers of the 10th Army Headquarters were busy with their duties. In contrast, Cai Jigang became an idler, and he volunteered to lead the fire extinguishing team composed of the 28th Regiment of the Pre-10th Division and the people of Hengyang as a reserve to rush into the fire area......

There are only two main streets in Hengyang City, one is Zhongzheng Road in the east-west direction, from the Xiangjiang River on the west bank to the West Bus Station, with a total length of more than 500 meters; Another north-south Zhongshan north-south road, from the south back to Yanfeng, north to Qingcao bridgehead. These two streets crisscross each other, and the other alleys are connected to it either parallel or perpendicular. After this devastating bombardment, the streets of Hengyang have been changed beyond recognition.

Cai Jigang led the fire brigade to cross the ruins, large and small bomb craters and mutilated corpses, and desperately put out the fire with buckets and manpower water presses. Hengyang has been raining heavily in recent days, and the large and small bomb craters in the city are full of rainwater, and the blood of the broken corpses of the victims on the street has been washed into the pit, and the water in the pit is pale red and bloody. Cai Jigang ordered to extinguish the fire in the rice shop first, and he knew very well in his heart: military rations are the final bottom line to support the fighting spirit of the defenders, and they must keep the grain no matter what.

The fire at the rice shop was extinguished, and half of the salvaged rice bags were burned to a charred paste. Cai Jigang told Colonel Zeng Jing, commander of the 28th Regiment, that even such food cannot be discarded, and it will become a life-saving thing when the ammunition runs out in the future.

Fortunately, the ammunition depots of the 10th Army were moved to the basements of large buildings in the city before the battle, or buried deep underground, which prevented an even greater catastrophe.

After the Japanese artillery fire was extended, their infantry launched a massive and massive attack. From the West Bus Station on the Western Front to Shendu, Caoqiao, and Shiguzui, and then to the Taizi Wharf and the Xiangjiang Bridge on the Xiangjiang Defense Line, and in front of the Jiangxi Guild Hall, Maple Mountain, Machine Repair Factory, Zhangjiashan, and Tiger's Nest on the Eastern Front, the Japanese army attacked on all fronts, and their infantry rushed towards the defenders' positions like raging waves.

At the beginning of the shelling, the battalion commander ordered the 3rd Company to withdraw to the straggler bunkers on the second line, avoiding most casualties. At this time, Man Tang had already practiced accurate listening: when the first round of artillery fire was slightly sparse, Man Tang immediately concluded that the artillery fire was about to be extended according to the whistle of the ballistics, which was the prelude to the Japanese infantry charge, and then the whole squad jumped out of the bunker and rushed straight to the forward position along the bombed communication trench, and the extended artillery fire instantly blew up the bunker where they had just been hiding. By the time the Japanese infantry rushed to the front of the position, the soldiers of the national army had already been in place, and immediately threw out a dense hand**, and the Japanese soldiers who had just approached the position repeated the mistake of the past, and once again fell into the "barrage", and were blown up again.

At this time, the defenders had been trained very shrewdly, and they would take advantage of the gap between the Japanese charges to seize the time to rebuild the bombed individual bunkers behind the battle line for the next shelling.

The brothers of the 8th class benefited a lot from the experience of moving quickly in front and back under the artillery fire, and the brothers of the 8th class were only slightly injured under such intensive artillery fire, and the rest of the brothers were alive and well. The experience of the 8th squad spread throughout the army that night and was quickly spread on all fronts, greatly reducing the casualty rate of the defenders.

The mid-level commanders at the front of the Japanese army were puzzled as to why the saturation bombing had reached its limit, and there should be no more living creatures on the defending positions, and why they had begun to charge, and who knew where so many Chinese soldiers had come out.

The second general offensive of the Japanese army lasted another three days, and still did not move forward.

On July 14, the artificial cliff in front of the position of the 3rd Company was attacked by Japanese artillery fire, and hundreds of shells exploded at two points on the artificial cliff, and after an hour of shelling, two slopes of about 45 degrees were blown up on the cliff.

The brothers in the house and class 8 hid in the bunker as usual, and he vaguely felt that the shells of today's artillery fire were not at the right point, and there were not a few shells falling on the cliff, and the artillery fire seemed to be concentrated on the façade of the cliff. After the artillery fire was extended, the brothers of Man Tang and the 8th squad rushed along the communication trench into the bombing trench at the front, only then did they realize that it was a little late, and the Japanese offensive forces were all concentrated under these two slopes, and dozens of Japanese soldiers had already rushed up the artificial cliff along these two slopes.

Mantang threw out two hands ** in the run, and other soldiers also threw bombs one after another, and the Japanese soldiers at the breakthrough were blown down, but the Japanese soldiers behind did not flinch, and the dense flow of people stepped on the corpses and rushed up the slope. The four Japanese machine gunners who rushed to the front, with crooked machine guns, howled and swept wildly, and the bombardiers of the 3rd Company were immediately knocked down seven or eight. It was too late for the Nationalist machine gunners in the fortifications in the back to strafe any longer, and the soldiers of the Chinese and Japanese armies were already wringed together and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Cheng Yuanzhi, the commander of the 3rd Company, knocked down several Japanese soldiers with a shell gun, and he shouted while shooting: "Brothers, hurry up and copy the guys and do it with the devils!" Before Company Commander Cheng could finish speaking, a Japanese soldier's Type 30 bayonet pierced his chest......

At this time, Mantang had already picked up a formal rifle equipped with a bayonet, and as soon as he saw that Cheng Company Commander had been stabbed, his anger and blood immediately surged, and before the Japanese soldier could pull out the bayonet, Mantang's bayonet stabbed him in the back of the heart.

Man Tang looked down at Lian Commander Cheng who had fallen to the ground, blood with bubbles spurted out of the wound on his chest, and he was no longer dead. Company Commander Cheng is a good officer, and he is very good at leading soldiers, and the reason why he is loved by the brothers is because Company Commander Cheng loves to nurse soldiers, and it is common for officers to drink soldiers' blood in the national army, but the brothers of the 3rd Company know that Company Commander Cheng never withholds the soldiers' salaries. Thinking of Company Commander Cheng's usual care for himself, the hall was full of grief and indignation, what a good sir, just in the blink of an eye, the people are gone, the little devil of the day, Lao Tzu and you dogs have fought hard......

Mantang didn't have time to think about it, he saw that Sun Xincang not far away had been forced to the edge of the cliff by two Japanese soldiers, Sun Xincang, who was thin and weak, was not good at stabbing, he was anxious, and he cursed loudly and slashed the bayonet horizontally, which made the two Japanese soldiers unable to stab for a while.

Mantang used the method of sneak attack, silently approaching a Japanese soldier from behind, a stab stabbed a bayonet into his back, and the Japanese soldier fell off the cliff with a scream.

Another Japanese soldier was stunned for a moment, Sun Xincang took advantage of the situation to open the safe, pulled the trigger with his rifle in his hand, and with a "snap" gunshot, the bullet pierced the chest of the Japanese soldier......

The whole hall shouted loudly: "Xincang, don't go alone, follow me, let's cover back to back." ”

Sun Xincang turned around knowingly, picked up the gun and stood back to back with Mantang, he pulled the bolt and returned the cartridge casing, and said: "Mantang, you open the insurance, we can't fight the devil with a bayonet, and if you seize the opportunity, you will shoot him." ”

Seeing that there was a breakthrough in the Zhangjiashan position, Colonel Chen De, commander of the 30th Regiment, hurriedly mobilized his troops to close his support to the gap, and then transferred the machine gunners in the bunker out of the bunker and set up temporary fire points on the cliffs on both sides of the gap. Tie Zhu took the sub-shooter to carry a light machine gun on the cliff, and the temporary fire points on both sides of the gap began to shoot fiercely at a large number of Japanese troops behind the gap, and the crossfire net composed of eight light machine guns blocked the attack of the Japanese follow-up troops, and dozens of Japanese soldiers on the cliff were cut off from the back road, and immediately became a turtle in the urn, and they were fighting the trapped beasts.

Zhang Baowang, the leader of the 8th squad, stabbed down three Japanese soldiers as soon as he made a move, and he was flexible in footwork, dodging and moving, sometimes picking with a knife, sometimes stabbing at a knife. Ordinary people use the thrust to choose the opponent's chest and abdomen, but Zhang Baowang uncharacteristically chooses the opponent's throat, which is a very practical trick, attacking the throat with little force, can save physical strength, but the effect is fatal, the blade can easily cut off the opponent's carotid artery. In white-knuckle combat, it is a smart choice to conserve your physical strength and wait for work.

The Japanese soldiers were also very shrewd, they judged at a glance that Zhang Baowang was a fierce enemy, and with a wave of his hand, four Japanese soldiers immediately came up and surrounded Zhang Baowang in the middle. Zhang Baowang shot extremely quickly, the bayonet pointed forward a little and quickly retracted, and before the four Japanese soldiers could stand in position, one of them had already fallen with a knife in the throat. The remaining three Japanese soldiers were shocked, and immediately stabbed at Zhang Baowang from different angles at the same time, Zhang Baowang slid like a loach, he flashed out of the circle with a sliding step, and the three Japanese soldiers hurriedly put away the bayonet, otherwise it was very easy to injure their own people by mistake. At this time, the positions of the enemy and us have been chaotic, Zhang Baowang wants this effect, with a one-on-three assassination, the first element is to disrupt the opponent's position, so that the three of them can not form a cooperation, waiting for the opportunity to assassinate the other party in constant motion. Zhang Baowang took advantage of the opponent's repositioning, and quickly attacked one of the thickest Japanese soldiers, the tip of his bayonet was a little forward, and then quickly retracted, the Japanese soldier threw away his rifle at once, and covered his throat with both hands, trying to cover the blood sprayed from the wound......

Zhang Baowang no longer pays attention to this devil, he has to go all out to deal with the other two Japanese soldiers, the more he takes advantage of the advantage, the more he can't be sloppy, in the white-knuckle fight, he will be invincible only if he remains calm. Zhang Baowang met the enemy in a T-shaped step, and the spear was stretched forward at a 45-degree angle, calmly staring at the two Japanese soldiers in front.

The two Japanese soldiers were also like veterans of battle, they were very experienced, and they knew that they had met a master, but they did not panic in the slightest, but just stood in their respective positions with their guns in their hands, silently watching Zhang Baowang.

Zhang Baowang didn't have time to confront them, because there was no one behind him to cover, and he could be attacked at any time, and he needed to use the fastest way to kill these two devils. This is not a martial arts ring, there should be no rules, and the most important thing is to be able to quickly destroy the enemy. Zhang Baowang secretly unscrewed the safety on the rifle, and the safety of the formal rifle was at the back of the bolt, and it was rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, that is, it entered the state of being ready to shoot. When the two Japanese soldiers saw Zhang Baowang's movements, they immediately screamed, although Zhang Baowang could not understand Japanese, but he also knew the meaning, and they were nothing more than accusing Zhang Baowang of being unruly and trying to shoot when fighting with bayonets. Zhang Baowang said in his heart, where are there so many rules? If you Japanese really follow the rules, you shouldn't come to China. Zhang Baowang did not hesitate to pull the trigger......

The Chinese formal rifle uses a 7.92 mm pointed bullet, which has good ballistic performance and high lethality, and its effective range is more than 600 meters. Zhang Baowang's shot was fired at close range, and the Japanese soldier on the left was suddenly blown off half of his head and fell on his back. The remaining Japanese soldier shouted angrily, and suddenly stepped forward and stabbed Zhang Baowang in the chest, Zhang Baowang knocked lightly with the barrel of the gun, easily removed his bayonet, and returned a thrust with his backhand, and the Japanese soldier quickly dodged. Zhang Baowang thought to himself, this kid's skills are not bad, but his psychological quality is still a little worse, he was furious when he saw his accomplice being defeated, and he couldn't wait to kill his opponent at once, this is a taboo to fight bayonets, the more he is not calm, the more he will suffer. Zhang Baowang shook the bayonet and made a feint, the Japanese soldier was really fooled, and hurriedly used the barrel to dial, Zhang Baowang seized the opportunity and took a lunge forward, and his ** flew up obliquely, and hit the Japanese soldier in the face hard, giving him a full face. This ** is quite powerful, the Japanese soldier shook a little, spit out a mouthful of blood and tried to stand firm, Zhang Baowang immediately stabbed a bayonet into his left chest, and its strength was so fierce that the bayonet did not reach the handle, and the tip of the knife penetrated through the back of the Japanese soldier......

White-bladed fighting is like a martial arts ring, the opponents are always fast and fast, usually within a minute to see life and death, rarely more than a minute of fighting, Zhang Baowang killed the four enemies but only took two minutes. In the past two minutes, the white-knuckle fight on the cliff was nearing its end. Not all the soldiers of the 3rd Company of the National Army have Zhang Baowang's assassination skills, and in order to eliminate these more than 30 devils, the 3rd Company, including the commander of the Cheng Company, has fallen more than 40 brothers. As far as bayonet fighting is concerned, the Japanese army's individual assassination skills should not be underestimated.

Man Tang and Sun Xincang were scattered in the melee, and he faced a short Japanese soldier alone, and as soon as he fought, he was picked off by his opponent's gun in a daze. It's all over! He crashed headlong in despair, and before the devil could put away his gun, he was caught off guard and fell on his back. Mantang rode on him and punched the devil in the nose, the devil's nose bone was broken, and blood splattered on Mantang's face. Who knew that the devil did not lose his combat effectiveness, he turned over hard and pressed Mantang under him, his hands tightly pinched Mantang's neck, Mantang felt a strong sense of suffocation, he grabbed in the air with both hands in vain, and his eyes gradually turned white...... At this critical moment, a figure slowly walked over, picked up ** and smashed it on the back of the devil's head, and the devil's body suddenly became paralyzed and fell on Mantang's body.

Mantang pushed away the devil who was pressing on him, and he was stunned when he looked at it, the person who saved his life turned out to be Ma Lao Wu......

Ma Lao Wu didn't seem to see the full hall, he stumbled along the traffic trench with a rifle in his hand, and a Japanese soldier rushed towards him, just raising his bayonet, "Bang!" The gun in Ma Lao Wu's hand rang out, and the Japanese soldier fell headlong. Ma Lao Wu skillfully pulled the bolt to reload, and then disappeared around the corner of the traffic trench.

The hall is full of wonders, what's wrong with Ma Lao Wu?

On a ridge 150 meters away from the artificial cliff, the commander of the 120th Wing of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army and Erjilong Dazuo saw his soldiers suffering heavy casualties in front of the slope, he was anxiously red-eyed, raised his sword and shouted hoarsely, driving the soldiers behind to continue the attack, and suddenly a bullet flew and hit Erjilong's eyebrows, the expression on his face suddenly froze, his body shook, and he fell into the paddy field. A lieutenant next to Erjilon suddenly realized the threat of the sniper, and he jumped up and pounced on the ridge, but he didn't expect that his body was still in mid-air when he was hit by a bullet, and when he landed behind the ridge, he was already a corpse.

Sun Xincang found a hidden place on the edge of the cliff and lay down, raised the captured Type 97 sniper rifle and shot at the Japanese soldiers who were fighting bayonets, knocking down four devils in a row. This is a "delicate job", because the soldiers on both sides are still strangled together, and the target is always in motion, and it is easy to accidentally injure their own people. Some of the brothers of the 3rd Company were still wondering, and they were fighting with the devil with a bayonet, when a bullet flew out of nowhere and killed the devil.

Sun Xincang saw that the white-knuckle battle was nearing the end, so he turned his target to the bottom of the cliff, and after shooting the Japanese lieutenant Osa and the lieutenant, he could not find the Japanese officer for a while, so he shot the Japanese machine gunner in a hurry.

The Japanese 120th Wing's attack on Zhangjiashan this time paid a heavy price, the wing commander and Er Jilong and his subordinate group leaders, four squadron leaders and most of the squad leaders were killed, and less than one-third of the soldiers of the 120th Wing survived.

The 30th Regiment of the 10th Pre-Division of the National Army also paid a heavy price, and the 30th Regiment suffered more than 500 casualties in this battle.

This battle was the largest and most tragic battle for positions since the start of the battle in Hengyang. Fang Xianjue and senior officers of the military department all came to Zhangjiashan in person to express their condolences and encouragement to the defenders, and the morale of the 10th Army of the National Army reached its peak.

After that, the Japanese could only rely on aerial bombardment and artillery bombardment to advance step by step. The middle- and lower-ranking officers of the 68th Division and the 116th Division of the Japanese Army summed up an experience: It is necessary to use aircraft to repeatedly bomb and strafe, artillery groups to bombard, and destroy all the defenders on the national army's position before they can occupy that position, otherwise as long as there is a Chinese soldier on the position, the charging Japanese infantry will be terribly attacked.

After the battle, Man Tang took the iron pillar along the traffic trench to look for Ma Lao Wu in the position, he wanted to express his gratitude, after all, Ma Lao Wu saved his life. Mantang wants to tell Ma Lao Wu that from now on, the matter of "Hei Nier" will be written off, they are all villagers in the township, what is the hatred and hatred? Is it just a pig, who eats it and doesn't eat it? Tie Zhu is a strong seed, and he has not fully forgiven Ma Lao Wu until now, in his eyes, "Hei Nier" is not a pig at all, but a member of the family, a relative. Damn, Ma Lao Wu killed my relatives, how can you talk about it? Even if he saves my brother's life, he has to consider the issue of compensation.

Man Tang sneered at the petty family like Tiezhu, he looked around and said to Tiezhu: "Zhuzi, why are you an elm pimple, is your brother's life worth anything, or is a pig worth it?" Why don't you pay the bill? ”

The iron pillar urn replied angrily: "It's all worth it!" Anyway, 'Black Nier' can't die in vain. ”

The house was full of fire: "Shut up! I can't say anything, and I'm fucking against you? Brother said, even if the matter of 'Hei Nier' is over, you are not allowed to mention it again in the future, you have to call Brother when you see Ma Lao Wu, call Brother Five, do you hear? ”

Tiezhu said listlessly: "I hear! It's called Fifth Brother, but Brother, he's a dog's ......"

"Pillar, you kid have learned to talk back, haven't you? Talk back and beat me to death, do you believe it or not? Mantang threatened viciously.

When the full cousins found Ma Lao Wu, this guy was rummaging through the corpses of Japanese soldiers. He carefully searched every pocket of each corpse, and in his military hat was a watch, three rings, several photographs of Japanese women, and several Japanese military tickets[1]

, and a few boxes of cigarettes, which seem to have made a small fortune.

Ma Lao Wu looked up and saw the full cousin, so he nodded, and greeted casually: "It's full house, what kind of wealth have you made?" ”

Mantang carefully observed Ma Lao Wu, and suddenly found that this guy had some changes, first of all, there was brilliance in his eyes, and the eyes of people returned to his previous state, his eyes were dripping and rolling, and he seemed to be always thinking about some bad ideas, which was like this in the past. What's going on with this kid? Could it be that you have regained your memory again?

"Brother Ma, do you still know me? Can you remember where we met? Full House said tentatively.

Ma Lao Wu said viciously: "Of course I know, even if I burn your kid to ashes, I can recognize it, aren't you Tong Mantang from Gangzi Village?" This boy is your brother's iron pillar. Tie Zhu, you can do it, we still have an account that we haven't calculated. ”

Ma Lao Wu, as before, speaks unhurriedly, thinks clearly, and expresses clearly, it seems that he has really recovered his memory.

Mantang smiled and sat cross-legged opposite Ma Lao Wu: "Brother Ma, you were still confused yesterday, why do you understand it all today, it was the devil who cured it, right?" ”

Ma Lao Wu touched the back of his head and smiled: "Hehe! It really made you kid say, a cannonball landed next to me, and with a bang I flew out more than a foot away, and my head was firmly knocked on a thick horizontal log, and my head buzzed at that time, as if I understood a lot, and I slowly remembered the previous things. I lay on the ground and thought about it, first I didn't understand why I ran to this ghost place, and then I remembered, I met a group of soldiers on the south avenue of Xiagouzi Village, and this group of turtles and grandsons took me as a strong man without saying a word, first to pick up luggage for the commander, and then entered the supplementary regiment, and came out of the supplementary regiment into the 10th army. And then ...... Damn it, you ask Tiezhu, I really didn't see it before, this kid's hands are black enough. ”

Tie Zhu said: "You haven't forgotten my family's Hei Nier, have you?" ”

Ma Lao Wu's eyes rolled, and he hated iron and taught him a lesson: "Iron pillar, why do you keep mentioning this little thing?" You kid can't do anything big with that. ”

Tie Zhu muttered quietly, "Is this still a trivial matter? My brother is still counting on Hei Nier to marry his sister-in-law......"

Mantang hurriedly stopped the iron pillar and said: "Brother Ma, no one will mention the past in the future, brother I want to thank you, you saved my life just now." ”

Ma Lao Wu showed a smile on his face: "Well, Mantang, you kid finally said a human word, more sensible than in the village." Full house, then we have to make it clear today, no matter how big my brother used to be, today is considered to be even, right? ”

"It's flat, it's flat, in the future, we will be fellow countrymen, brothers, if there is anything useful about brothers, just ask." Mantang said busily.

Ma Lao patted Mantang's shoulder five degrees, stood up and said, "Backwards? What the hell are you talking about? I don't know how long I will live. Brother, help, turn this dead body over for me, this turtle grandson is like a little official, and he still has a little oil and water on his body......"

Since Wuguiling had become the main battlefield, Fang Xianjue ordered the headquarters of the 10th Army to be moved to the central bank near the intersection of Zhongzheng Road and Zhongshan Road in the city. The five-storey building is one of the tallest buildings in Hengyang. The main body of the building is made of granite strips of stone, which is exceptionally strong, and the bank building must of course be strong, and bank buildings all over the world follow this law.

From July 11 to 20, Fang Xianjue and several generals such as Chief of Staff Sun Mingyu, War Supervisor Cai Jigang, and Senior Staff Officer Peng Kefu did not close their eyes. These days were so tense that the Japanese seemed to have gone mad, attacking on all fronts for days and nights without stopping, and fierce battles were raging everywhere from the Western Front to the Southern Front.

Sun Mingyu, Cai Jigang, and Peng Kefu summarized the battle situation by the sand table, and then Sun Mingyu reported to Fang Xianjue.

Nine days of fierce fighting turned Hengyang into a huge meat grinder, and a large number of living forces on both sides of the attack and defense turned into meat sauce under the action of the meat grinder.

After several days and nights of fierce attack by the Japanese army, a platoon of officers and men of the 28th Regiment of the 10th Pre-10th Division, which was defending the Jiangxi Guild Hall, was killed and the position was lost.

After several days and nights of fierce fighting, all the platoon-level officers of the 8th and 9th companies were killed, and most of the soldiers were killed or wounded.

At the Maple Hill position, the defenders condescendingly used mortars and hands to kill and wound a large number of Japanese troops, and the Japanese army was repeatedly defeated for several days and nights, and there were many corpses in front of the position. A Japanese brigade took advantage of the darkness to crawl around the west side of the position and sneak attack the command post of the 28th Regiment of the defenders. By the time the defenders found out, the Japanese had infiltrated more than 100 people. The 2nd Battalion of the 28th Regiment hastily engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy, and all the officers below the commander of the 2nd Battalion, Major Yu Long, were killed.

At that time, Cai Jigang was supervising the battle on the 141 Heights on the south side of Maple Mountain, and when he saw that the Maple Hill position was in danger, he used the telephone to send an alarm to the headquarters of the 10th Division, and he personally led a platoon to the Maple Hill position to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army.

Ge Xiancai, commander of the 10th Division, personally led two companies of the division's reserve to quickly reinforce the Maple Hill position, and Zeng Jing, commander of the 28th Regiment, also commanded the troops directly under the regiment to arrive. The three troops joined forces and fought until dawn, when they wiped out all the Japanese troops and restored their positions.

On this night, the repair shop of the Xianggui Road Bureau and the high ground on the west side defended by the 30th Regiment of the 10th Division also encountered a sneak attack by the Japanese army, and the two sides fought for a night, and the 30th Regiment finally held the position.

Fierce battles also took place on the river defense line from Shiguzui to the north section of Xinjie defended by the 570th Regiment of the 190th Division of the National Army. The Japanese army concentrated 30 or 40 wooden boats on the east bank of the river, full of soldiers in an attempt to force the Xiangjiang River, but was intercepted and fired upon by the artillery battalion attached to the 10th Army and the field artillery company of the 48th Division, and four P-40E fighters of the Sino-US joint air force braved the dense antiaircraft artillery fire network of the Japanese army to join the battle, giving the Japanese fleet a heavy bombardment and strafing.

Under the powerful three-dimensional fire of the defenders, most of the Japanese flotilla were sunk in the Xiang River, and the few ships that crossed the center line of the river and approached the west bank were all destroyed by the river under the fierce fire of the 570 regiment's anti-aircraft guns and light and heavy machine guns. In this battle, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties, the surface of the river was red with blood for more than ten kilometers, the wreckage of the wrecked ships was floating everywhere on the river, and the corpses of nearly 1,000 Japanese soldiers drifted downstream with the waves.

In the early morning of July 18, the Japanese army took advantage of the southerly wind to release poison gas on the positions of the Nationalist army in the southern suburbs, and at the same time fired poison gas bombs at the defenders' deep positions with 75-mm mortars. More than 80 officers and men of the 28th Battalion and 7th Company of the 28th Regiment, below the company commander, were poisoned and died.

Although the emergency anti-poison measures of the military headquarters of the 10th Army were immediately implemented and a large number of deaths were avoided, the leaves of flowers and trees were curled and yellowed on the positions that had been smoked by poisonous gas for a long time, and even mosquitoes and flies died in large numbers. Most of the defenders had skin burns, extensive blisters on their bodies, and yellow-green blood pus leaked after ulceration. All the officers and men who were poisoned lost their combat effectiveness due to unbearable pain and difficulty in walking upright on their legs. After research and analysis by chemical warfare experts, it was confirmed that the poison gas released by the Japanese army was a mixture of Lewis gas and mustard gas. Afterwards, Cai Jigang and others went to the forward position to observe, and saw that the grass and trees where the poisonous gas passed were discolored, the birds were dead, and even the fish and shrimp in the fish pond were floating and white, and they died one after another.

After listening to the report, Fang Xianjue calmly asked, "What are our casualties?" ”

Sun Mingyu replied: "The troops directly under the military headquarters have suffered 50 percent casualties, the 10th Pre-10 Division has suffered 60 percent casualties, the 3rd Division has 60 percent casualties, the 190th Division still has more than 700 casualties, and more than 70 percent of the middle and lower-level officers in various departments have suffered casualties. In the battle for Wuguiling, the 8th Regiment of the 3rd Division was promoted to 5 battalion commanders within half a day, and all of them were killed one after another. Now the worst situation is the wounded soldiers, because there is no medical treatment, coupled with the temperature as high as 40 degrees Celsius for several days in a row, the inflammation of the wound worsens, the mortality rate of the wounded is extremely high, and many lightly wounded are automatically returning to the line of fire. ”

Fang Xianjue frowned and asked, "What about the consumption of food and ammunition?" ”

Sun Mingyu said in a low voice: "The food can barely be supported, but there is no non-staple food, and now all troops are using salt water to soak rice, and due to the lack of nutrition, the physical strength of the soldiers has seriously decreased." Of course, this is not the worst, the most serious problem is that the ammunition consumption is too large, 70% of the hand ** stock is consumed, 80% of the infantry ammunition is consumed, and 90% of all kinds of artillery shells are consumed. ”

Gao Shen Peng Kefu said: "At the beginning, the commission ordered us to only hold on to Hengyang for seven to ten days, and the reinforcements will arrive, but now it is July 20, that is to say, we have held out for more than 25 days, but there is still no sign of lifting the siege, is the commission really going to abandon our 10th army?" ”

Fang Xianjue was silent. How could he not have resentment himself? But you can't blame your principal in front of your subordinates. He can only comfort himself like this: the principal has the difficulties of the principal, the students can only be considerate, the principal can only bear the students, and the students must not bear the principal.

Fang Xianjue avoided Peng Kefu's complaints, he looked at Cai Jigang and said: "Brother Yunhe, this matter still has to trouble you, contact Xu Yongchang, the Minister of Military Orders, you are a member of the Military Commission, talk to Minister Xu better, you tell him that as long as the defenders of Hengyang can get ammunition supplies, we can insist!" Please ask Minister Xu to transfer the Sino-US Joint Air Force Command to be sure to increase the airdrop supply to the defenders of Hengyang, this matter is urgent! Please. ”

Cai Jigang stood up and said: "Yes!" Military, I'll get in touch right away! ”

[1]

Japanese military stamps appeared during the Russo-Japanese War, and they were used every time Japan used troops abroad. During World War II, Japan frantically issued military stamps in the occupied areas of China, the Philippines, Malaya, Burma and other places, and even forced the residents of the occupied areas to exchange military stamps as currency. Since there is no security deposit to support the issuance of military tickets, and there is no specific issuing office, military tickets cannot be exchanged for Japanese yen. For this reason, Japan** used it as a means of dominating the economy of the occupied territories and plundering the wealth of the occupied territories.