The telegram sent by Yoshimatsu Yusansa undoubtedly added insult to the situation to Major General Kiichiro Matsui, commander of the 56th Mixed Infantry Brigade. At eight o'clock in the morning, Major General Kiichiro Matsui was in his brigade command post in Nongdou Town, when the thunderous sound of artillery coming from the direction of Pingxiang made him jump up. Listening to the sound of artillery, Kiichiro Matsui knew that this was by no means the sound of artillery from the mountain artillery of the 16th Division, but the sound of artillery from a large salvo of large-caliber artillery.

Since the attack on Pingxiangcheng, the Chinese army has also counterattacked with artillery, but this is the first time that such a large number of large-caliber artillery salvos have been fired. Standing at the door of the command post, Major General Kiichiro Matsui looked in the direction of Pingxiang City, and a bad feeling appeared in his heart. Major General Kiichiro Matsui immediately ordered the only mobile brigade around him to be ready to reinforce the 2nd Division at any time.

From the beginning of the attack on Pingxiang Castle, the commander of the 16th Army, Lieutenant General Jun Imamura, was the main attack force of the main 2nd Division, and the attack on Pingxiang Castle was also under the full responsibility of Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao, commander of the 2nd Division. After learning of the crushing defeat of the 14th Army that landed in Qinzhou Bay, Lieutenant General Imamura Jun found that the 90th Army of China was facing a very strong fighting force, and even the 14th Army, which surpassed him by a lot, suffered a crushing defeat, and his 16th Army did not have much chance of victory.

Lieutenant General Imamura was ready to withdraw his troops to Vietnam, but the Southern Front Command did not reply to his request for retreat, and Lieutenant General Imamura could only telegraph Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao, commander of the Second Division, to stop the attack on Pingxiang Castle and the whole army to be stationed on the spot. Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao commanded the 2nd Division to attack Pingxiang Castle for nearly a month, but there was no progress, and at this time it could only be changed from offensive to defensive.

Before the Second Division marched into Nanyang, it had just been reorganized in Japan, and most of the original main forces were retained in the mainland and other units were reorganized into left-behind units or other divisions. The 2nd Division, which was actually sent to Nanyang, retained the establishment of three infantry wings, but they were basically new recruits, and their combat effectiveness was not the same as when it was in the Northeast.

Despite this, the total strength of the Second Division was 23,000 men, and some veterans served as grassroots officers, and its combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of those mixed infantry brigades, so it naturally became the main force of the 16th Army. In this attack, Lieutenant General Imamura Jun also put his hopes on the Second Division, but before the attack, Lieutenant General Imamura Jun understood that the purpose of the 16th Army's offensive was to attract the attention of the 90th Army of China, and the real main attack was the 14th Army that landed at Qinzhou Bay.

Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao served as the commander of the 6th Brigade of the 9th Division for a short time, before he was the brigade commander of the 6th Brigade of the 9th Division, commanding the 6th Brigade to participate in the Battle of Wuhan. When the 6th Brigade participated in the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Wuhan had reached the late stage, the 90th Army had withdrawn to Longzhou, and the 6th Brigade encountered other Nationalist troops, until the Japanese captured Wuhan, the 6th Brigade did not meet an opponent, which also made Maruyama Masao arrogant.

Before attacking Pingxiang City, Maruyama Masao had also heard many times the name of the 90th Army and the commander Wang Haitao of China, but Maruyama Masao always disagreed, in the battle of attacking Pingxiang City, the second division used all its strength and lost a lot of men and horses, but even the outer positions of Pingxiang City could not be taken, and then Maruyama Masao knew that the 90th Army of China was really worthy of its name.

Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao commanded the 2nd Division, which had turned from offensive to defensive, and he also understood that it was only a matter of time before the 2nd Division withdrew to Vietnam, so it was not fully prepared for defense, and it was the 16th Infantry Wing under his command that confronted the outer positions of Pingxiang City, and the 4th Wing and the division headquarters with the strongest combat effectiveness were behind the 16th Infantry Wing. The 29th Infantry Wing flanked the mountain artillery wing and the auxiliary units of the engineer wing and the baggage wing.

Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao always believed that the 90th Army of China was indeed very strong defensively, but with the strength of the China Army, he still did not dare to take the initiative to attack his second division, but this morning, the shelling of the 90th Army woke up Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao. Standing on the high ground outside the headquarters, looking at the sky red by artillery fire in the north, and then looking at the smoke rising from the explosion of shells on his own position, Maruyama Masao was stunned.

The fact that the Shina army had mobilized so many heavy artillery pieces was something that even Maruyama Masao could not believe. This kind of artillery fire, not to mention his own second division, is the concentration of all the artillery of the entire 16th Army, I am afraid it is far from it. Seeing that the position of the 16th Infantry Wing was completely engulfed in gunsmoke, and the artillery fire of the Shina people began to extend to his side again, Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao had only one thought in his mind, that is, to retreat, and the whole army retreated.

After leaving an infantry brigade behind and containing the soldiers of the 16th Infantry Wing, the 2nd Division began a full retreat, and at the same time, Maruyama Masao's order to Major General Matsui Kiichiro, the commander of the 56th Mixed Infantry Brigade, was also transmitted, and Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao ordered Matsui Kiichiro's mixed brigade to make every effort to ensure that the road to Vietnam was clear, so that the whole army could retreat to Vietnam.

Major General Kiichiro Matsui received an order from Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao and immediately ordered the troops to transfer all military supplies to Zhennanguan and ensure the smooth flow of the road. As soon as the order was delivered, a telegram from Yoshimatsu Yuyama Daisa reporting the loss of Zhennan Pass was delivered to Major General Matsui Kiichiro, and then Major General Matsui Kiichiro's face changed greatly, and he knew very well what the loss of Zhennan Pass meant to the 2nd Division and his brigade.

Major General Matsui Kiichiro didn't care about scolding Yoshimatsu Yuyama Daisa, he called the wing commander of the first infantry beside him, Guwu Yasumasa Daisa, Major General Matsui Kiichiro said to Guwu Yasumasa: "Gu Wujun, the commander of the Maruyama Division just came with an order, asking our brigade to ensure the smooth passage of the road to Vietnam, but the damn Yoshimatsu Yushan lost Zhennan Pass, what does the loss of Zhennan Pass mean to the imperial army, presumably Gu Wujun is also very clear, now I hope that Gu Wujun can personally lead the mobile brigade to recapture Zhennan Pass." I will give you command of the mountain artillery brigade of the brigade. ”

Gu Wu'an replied after the big Zuo Li: "Hey, Your Excellency the brigade commander, rest assured, I will immediately lead the troops to set off, and I will definitely recapture the lost Zhennan Pass." After saying that, he turned to leave, and the sound of an urgent assembly of troops immediately came from outside the door. At this time, Major General Kiichiro Matsui was a little more settled. However, soon another signal corps sent a report that the 1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Wing, while escorting the withdrawal of military supplies, encountered an attack by the Shina army at Paizhisan, suffered heavy casualties, and requested support.

Major General Kiichiro Matsui shouted in disbelief: "Nanni, Paizhishan?" and then walked a few steps to the military map, looking for the location of Kipei Zhishan. As soon as the location of Paizhishan was found, another signal corps came to report that the troops had been attacked by a large number of Zhina troops on the roads of Fengwei Mountain and Daqingshan, and requested reinforcements from the brigade. Kiichiro Matsui was helpless when he heard these reports.

The only mobile brigade in his hand was sent to recapture Zhennan Pass, if it was only a road attack, he could still transfer troops from elsewhere to reinforce, and this time the three roads were attacked, he also had no troops to adjust. Major General Kiichiro Matsui realized that the problem was very serious, and that this was a planned counterattack by the Shina army, with the aim of eating the second division and his own brigade. What Major General Kiichiro Matsui couldn't understand was when did the Chinese army have such a big appetite, the second division and his own brigade together had more than 40,000 troops, how many troops did China have to dispatch, and it was possible to eat his more than 40,000 people?

Major General Kiichiro Matsui immediately sent a report to Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao and reported the situation encountered by his brigade to Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao. At this time, Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao received bad news one after another, and the reports from the front that the Shina army had dispatched a large number of chariot troops, and the blocking troops could not stop it at all, and the 16th Infantry Wing had been completely defeated, and one wing had withdrawn less than 1,000 soldiers, and was retreating with an infantry brigade that had been cut off.

The 29th Infantry Wing, which had already retreated, was blocked on the road near Paizhi Mountain while covering the retreat of the Engineer Wing and the Baggage Wing with a large amount of baggage supplies, and an infantry brigade of the 56th Mixed Infantry Brigade was fighting fiercely with the Chinese army occupying Paizhi Mountain, and the 29th Infantry Wing had sent an infantry brigade to assist in the battle.

Summing up these news, Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao also immediately understood that his tens of thousands of troops had been surrounded by the Chinese army on the more than ten kilometers of road from Pingxiang City to Zhennan Pass, but it was not so easy to think about eating his tens of thousands of troops. Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao ordered the 4th Infantry Wing to send another infantry team to converge with the broken troops to block the frontal attack of the Shina troops, and on the other hand, he ordered Lieutenant General Matsui Kiichiro to recapture Zhennan Pass at all costs.

After issuing several orders in succession, Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Imamura, commander of the 16th Army in Hanoi, Vietnam, informing Commander Imamura of the situation on his side and requesting Commander Imamura to send troops to attack Zhennan Pass and recapture Zhennan Pass from inside and outside. Lieutenant General Imamura was also taken aback when he received a telegram from Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao.

After knowing the disastrous defeat of the 14th Army, Lieutenant General Imamura Jun was ready to order the main force of the 2nd Division to retreat, because the Southern Army Command did not respond to his request, so he did not give the order, but Lieutenant General Imamura Jun did not expect that the Chinese army would launch a full-scale counteroffensive against the 16th Army, let alone that the offensive would be so strong, and first captured Zhennan Pass, trying to swallow the main force of the 16th Army of more than 40,000 people who had invaded China.

Now whether the Chinese army can swallow these more than 40,000 troops in one go, first of all, it is necessary to open up the Zhennan Pass, withdraw the troops in China, and then block the attack of the Chinese army according to the Zhennan Pass, otherwise, if the more than 40,000 troops of the main force of the 16th Army are lost, then the whole of Vietnam will not have many troops to defend it, and if the Chinese army attacks Vietnam, Vietnam will be in danger of being lost, and then he will be the commander of the 16th Army.