Whether it is a self-propelled gun or an armored company's combat vehicle, the engine will roar when it is moving, and it will be very difficult to sneak to a distance of only two or three kilometers from the Japanese army at night, and try not to be detected by the Japanese army. Thanks to the efforts of all the officers and men of the 211th Division, this arduous task was finally completed before 2 o'clock in the morning.

As soon as the time reached two o'clock, 50 self-propelled guns and dozens of guns of the 878th Regiment Artillery Battalion roared at the same time, and the fire light when fired reflected half of the sky, and the discharged shells flew towards the Japanese camp with a scream. Striking at the Japanese army with artillery fire at night and carrying out a surprise attack when the Japanese army was in chaos was already a habitual method used by the 90th Army, and it was naturally very easy to use now.

As soon as the shells landed on the Japanese camp, the armored company, led by heavy armored vehicles, began a surprise attack, and behind the armored company were the officers and men of the 878th Regiment. The armored company was still two kilometers away from the Japanese position, and in the absence of an attack, it would only take ten minutes to cover the two kilometers. The most conspicuous sign was the fire caused by the explosion of the shells, and the continuous explosions completely drowned out the sound of the armored company's assault.

The Japanese troops in the camp were completely disorganized, the 61st Brigade in front and the division headquarters in the center were not shelled, only the 62nd Brigade left in the rear was shelled. The Japanese did not expect the Chinese army to follow closely behind them and attack them at night, so the camp was only temporarily set up to rest, with neither any preparation nor fortifications.

After the division commander, Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida, woke up from the sound of artillery, he immediately reacted that he had been attacked by the Chinese army, and that it was the main force with a large number of artillery pieces, and immediately ordered the whole army to retreat. Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida's judgment was accurate, and his order was correct, and it was obviously not a good choice to stop the attack of the Chinese army with many artillery pieces in such a place where there were no fortifications, so the only way to do so was to withdraw from the range of the artillery bombardment first.

Under the orders of Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida, the Japanese army threw away most of its military supplies and quickly fled to the Qinzhou side, while the 62nd Brigade, which was in a mess by artillery fire, also broke and fled forward. When the armored brigade and the 878th Regiment broke into the Japanese camp, the camp was in shambles, except for some seriously wounded who could not move, that is, the corpses lying on the ground, most of the corpses were mutilated.

The artillery fire stopped, the armored company and the 878th Regiment did not stop, and directly passed through the Japanese camp and chased forward, and the camp was handed over to the troops behind to deal with. Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida ran out for several kilometers in one go, and was about to stop to catch his breath, when the troops at the rear exchanged fire with the armored company. The sound of gunfire made Lieutenant General Uchida's face change greatly, and he couldn't take a break anymore, so he once again ordered the whole army to continue to retreat.

Just escaped and chased, and before dawn, the Japanese army approached Nanxiao Town. At this point, Lieutenant General Uchida Takayuki finally breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that he was about to arrive at Nanxiao Town, although Nanxiao Town was not big, but it was always a walled town, and his troops could rely on the wall to block the pursuit of the Chinese army when they entered the town, and the imperial team could rest on the spot.

But soon the sound of gunfire was also heard from the direction of Nanxiao Town, and just when Lieutenant General Uchida Takayuki was suspicious, a soldier ran to report that Nanxiao Town had been occupied by the Chinese army, the enemy fire was very fierce, and the attack of the 61st Brigade was repulsed. Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida was stunned for a moment and shouted: "Baga! How can there be the main force of the Chinese army in Nanxiao Town? Order the 61st Brigade to capture Nanxiao Town at any cost!"

After the herald left, Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida began to feel uneasy, and he ordered the 62nd Brigade behind him to immediately stop the attack of the Chinese army, and then thought about it amid the sound of gunfire. Suddenly, Shioshima Shofu Osaku ran over and said to Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida: "Your Excellency the division commander, Major General Yamazaki Zijiro, the commander of the 62nd Brigade and Regiment in the back, was shattered during the shelling of the Shina people, and now the 62nd Brigade is already in a rout, so I ask Your Excellency the Division Commander to make a decision as soon as possible." ”

Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida suddenly understood, and said to Shioshima Shofu Daisa: "Shioshima-kun, the people of China are trying to encircle and eat my 70th Division! I must not let the people of China succeed, you go to the back now and command the 62nd Brigade to block the attack of the people, and I will immediately send a report to Qinzhou and ask the direction of Qinzhou to go out of the city to reinforce us." ”

Shioshima Shofu Osashi replied: "Hey, Your Excellency the division commander, please rest assured, your subordinates will go to the 62nd Brigade immediately to block the attack of the Chinese army. Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida nodded and said, "Yo Xi! "After the departure of Shioshima Shofu Daisa, Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida first sent a telegram to Qinzhou asking for help, and then personally came to the 61st Brigade with the guards.

The sky gradually brightened, and when Lieutenant General Uchida Takayuki came to the position of the 61st Brigade, he was already able to see the form on the battlefield clearly, and Lieutenant General Uchida Takayuki only observed for a while, and then couldn't help but gasp. They were facing not only a position in Nanxiao Town, but also a position at the foot of the mountain on the other side of the road.

The attacking soldiers were caught between two positions, and they were unable to launch an effective attack formation due to the limitation of the terrain, so it was undoubtedly quite difficult to capture Nanxiao Town under such circumstances. Looking at the enemy's position, more than a hundred imperial soldiers had fallen, and the soldiers who were still attacking were still being shot and falling. Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida immediately ordered the offensive to be stopped, knowing that such a position could not be captured without the cover of superior artillery fire.

Now all I can do is to hold on and wait for reinforcements, and don't waste my already insufficient troops on useless attacks. After receiving the order to stop the offensive, Major General Notomi Shotoku, commander of the 61st Brigade and Regiment, breathed a sigh of relief, and he also understood that such an attack would not succeed at all except a waste of troops, but the division commander had an order, and he could only obey the order.

Then Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida reduced all his forces to a single regiment and used the limited time to let the soldiers rush to repair the defensive positions. The 460th Brigade stationed in Nanxiao Town saw that the Japanese army had stopped attacking and did not plan to attack, Wei Shaofeng only sent an order to the three regiment commanders, asking them to pay attention to the movements of the Japanese army and strengthen their vigilance. As for the 62nd Brigade of the Japanese Army, after the arrival of Shioshima Shofu Daisa and taking over the command, the troops could be regarded as having a commander, and the blocking became somewhat disciplined.

Although the 62nd Brigade suffered heavy losses continuously, it still had more than 2,000 troops, and under the command of Shioshima Shofu Daisa, they chose a favorable position and desperately blocked the attack of the 878th Regiment. The only dozen or so mountain guns in the division were also transferred by Shioshima Shofu Daisa. The 878th Regiment rushed too hard, and the heavy artillery regiment and support troops behind failed to keep up.

The armored company that rushed to the front, after being suddenly bombarded by Japanese mountain artillery, one heavy armored vehicle, two light armored vehicles, and four armored trucks were damaged and destroyed, and dozens of fighters were sacrificed. Regiment commander Tang Yu hurriedly commanded the armored company to withdraw, losing artillery support, and the 878th Regiment attacked twice with infantry in a row, but they all retreated due to excessive casualties.

Two hours later, the follow-up troops arrived at the front line, and not only the artillery battalions of the 878th Regiment, but also the four battalions of the 877th and 879th Regiments, and all 50 self-propelled guns of the heavy artillery regiment in the rear were in place. Brigade commander Li Changwu took over the command and ordered concentrated artillery fire to bombard the Japanese positions. The sound of artillery continued to sound, and the shells flew towards the Japanese positions again.

Shioshima Shofu Daisa also ordered artillery to counterattack, but the Japanese army's more than 10 mountain guns and those Type 92 infantry guns and mortars were not enough in the face of the powerful artillery fire concentrated by the 462nd Brigade, and the artillery battle between the two sides lasted only a few minutes, and the Japanese army's large and small caliber artillery was completely lost. Seeing that the Japanese artillery fire was destroyed and the position was also under their own guns, the officers and men of the 878th Regiment showed a vengeful smile on their faces.

This artillery fire completely disintegrated the fighting spirit of the soldiers of the 62nd Brigade, and the soldiers abandoned their bombed positions and fled to the rear. Shioshima Shofu Osa also wanted to stop the soldiers from escaping, but not only did no one pay attention to his scolding, but they also fled from the position with him. The position was not far from where Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida was stationed, and the soldiers fled until the main force of the division before stopping.

At this time, Shioshima Shofu Osa could only helplessly let a captain go to rectify the team, and he went to see the division commander Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida with a shameful face. Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida did not reprimand him when he saw Shioshima Shofu Daisa, but said with a solemn expression: "Shioshima-kun, I am too light on the enemy, and now it seems that the combat effectiveness of the Ninety Army in this branch is really strong, and it is indeed a big trouble for the empire." ”

Shioshima Shofu Dazuo asked with a gloomy face: "Your Excellency the division commander, do you think we can still hold it?" Lieutenant General Uchida Takayuki replied with a long sigh: "If the Qinzhou side can arrive in time and capture Nanxiao Town, our army will still have a glimmer of life, otherwise it will ......" Shioshima Shofu Dazuo beat his spirit and said loudly: "Your Excellency the division commander, please cheer up, we still have a few thousand troops, and the people of China are not so easy to destroy us, so our subordinates will go and command the battle!" After speaking, he saluted Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida and turned away.

Speaking of the Qinzhou side, Major General Itada Jiro, commander of the Qinzhou City Defense, was taken aback when he received a telegram from Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida asking for help. Knowing that things were not good, he immediately mobilized his two infantry brigades, and asked the 17th Brigade and these two brigades to rescue the 70th Division together. But whether it will be in time, Major General Jiro Itada doesn't know.

When the reinforcements from Qinzhou hurriedly drove out of Qinzhou City, Tang Longzai had already mobilized the 211th Division and the 460th Brigade of Nanxiao Town to surround the rest of the 70th Division. The 460th Brigade also left only one regiment in Nanxiao Town and Dawangshan, and the other two regiments rushed out of the town and participated in the encirclement operation. And the 211th Division, except for the guard regiment guarding the division headquarters and the heavy artillery regiment, all the troops rushed forward.