The tense atmosphere at the south gate is not inferior to the north gate of the fierce battle at this moment: the two battalions of the 570th Regiment of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, one of them was defending and observing on the wall of the south gate, and seeing that the Japanese army really did not attack from this side, the other battalion wrapped itself in the regimental headquarters, opened the city gate and rushed out; According to the order just given, the whole regiment should immediately retreat along the highway to Wencheng, fifty miles away, where the headquarters of the 12th Independent Brigade is located.

The regiment commander Tian Mingda planned to lead the regiment headquarters and one battalion to withdraw first, then another battalion at the head of the southern city, and finally the battalion guarding the western city. However, not long after the retreat began, the battalion at the head of the southern city couldn't wait to rush down the city, and then the battalion in the western city also retreated in advance, and nearly 2,000 people blocked the city gate for a while.

When Zhao Mutou arrived with more than a dozen soldiers from the spy company, it was the most chaotic time in Nancheng, Zhao Mutou grabbed a Jin army with the rank of lieutenant and shouted: "Who told you to retreat?" What about Tian Mingda? ”

The lieutenant of the Jin army glanced at Zhao Mutou, who was angry and angry, and the soldiers of the special service company behind him, knowing that it was the 391st Regiment of the Central Army, he was a little weak and a little ashamed, and replied hesitantly: "Brother, I'm sorry, the commander has an order, and the whole regiment retreats to Wencheng." You guys...... If your 391st Regiment can't do it, let's withdraw quickly, the Japanese are too fierce for us to withstand. ”

"Fart!" Zhao Mutou yelled: "You guys don't have a fucking top, how do you know you can't stand it?!" Listen to the gunfire in the north of the city! The 391st regiment has already beaten the little devil back once, and your Jin army will withdraw without firing a shot, this is a fucking escape! ”

The lieutenant was silent, and the Jin officers and soldiers around him also ignored Zhao Mutou and his party, and their eyes turned anxiously to look in the direction of the crowded city gate.

Seeing this, Zhao Mutou grabbed a Bergman* from the hands of a soldier of a special service company, jumped into a large cart with a heavy load, pulled the trigger with the barrel of the gun facing the sky, and fired half a cart of bullets before stopping. The sound of the gunfire suddenly quieted the noisy Jin army, and people looked at the captain of the Central Army in horror and confusion.

Zhao Mutou took the opportunity to shout loudly: "Brothers of the Jin army! The little devils in Beicheng have been repelled once by our 391st regiment, and they are not so terrible! Do you really want to leave your hometown fathers in a city behind and run for your lives?! ”

There was silence.

Finally, a voice came from the ranks of the Jin army: "The battalion commander and the regiment commander ordered the retreat, what can we do as soldiers?" ”

"Battalion commander, regiment commander?!" Zhao Mutou snorted angrily: "Are the heads of your battalion commander and regiment commander harder than Han Fuyu?" Chairman Chiang had just shot and killed Shandong Provincial Chairman Han Fuyu in Wuhan because he had retreated without permission in the face of the Japanese attack! Don't you know that?! ”

There was silence.

"Brothers, our Central Army rushed from other provinces to Shanxi to resist the Japanese, here, but your own hometown!" The more Zhao Mutou spoke, the more emotional he became: "You don't even guard your own home, and watch the Japanese scourge your own parents and sisters?!" ”

Someone in the ranks of the Jin army suddenly shouted: "Let's stop running, follow the brothers of the Central Army!" As soon as the words fell, many voices echoed and shouted.

Soon, the chaotic team of the Jin army was divided into two groups, one continued to flee regardless of the door, and the other group ran around Zhao Mutou's cart, and the spy company commander scanned it, and there were about two or three hundred people rushing over. He thought: This is the only way, there are many Jin soldiers who want to escape, and if he shoots and presses again, there will be a mutiny. Now, the city defense of the 570th Regiment is empty, and the Japanese army only needs to send two squads over at this time to occupy the west gate and the south gate, then the defense line of the 391st Regiment desperately resisting in the north of the city will become meaningless.

Zhao Mutou's cold sweat flowed down, firstly, for the desperate shooting just now, and secondly, for the half-collapsed county town defense. He quickly analyzed the situation, and then divided the soldiers of a dozen special service companies into two halves, half led by a second lieutenant platoon commander under him, with an additional hundred Jin troops, who stayed at the south gate; The other half led himself and rushed to the west gate with the rest of the Jin soldiers. At present, the most important thing is to firmly control the two city gates, as long as the city gates are not lost, the devil will not be able to succeed in climbing the city from the city walls in these two directions.

At the same time, he sent another special service company soldier to report to Qin Zhongxiao.

……

The defensive battle of Beicheng, which Qin Zhongxiao personally commanded, was almost white-hot.

The Aikawa Brigade of the Otsuka Wing concentrated its forces on two points: one was the castle gate hole, and the other was a city wall that had been blown down.

The two gates in the city gate cave had been blown off one by the field artillery raid in the morning, and the other was blown up, and was half-hidden and hanging in the door hole.

The city wall was blown up in two places in the morning, and one of them collapsed so badly that it formed a gap in the ruins about ten meters long. The two squadrons of the Aikawa Brigade were taking turns attacking this gentle slope.

The other two squadrons charged vigorously towards the city gate.

On the sandbag bunker at the inner entrance of the city gate hole, a Makqin heavy machine gun was erected, and at this moment, this heavy machine gun played a decisive role, and for the not wide cave * boundary, Makqin's powerful firepower almost blocked the offensive line of the Japanese infantry. In the city gate tower above the entrance of the cave, there were also soldiers of the Central Army who threw out* and smashed the Japanese soldiers who attacked the city gate downward, and after many rounds, in front of the city gate, the Japanese soldiers dropped dozens of corpses and were forced to retreat.

But the guards of the gaps in the ruins of the city walls are in danger. The Makqin heavy machine gun at the head of the city had just been cleared by the Japanese artillery fire, and Qin Zhongxiao had no choice but to order the commander of the first battalion to concentrate several light machine guns and all the *, and fire frantically outward. The officers and men of the 391st Regiment rushed to this gap almost in line, one group was killed, and then another group was replaced, and the people did not change their guns, and all the light machine guns and the barrels of * were already able to scald the flesh of people.

Wow wow, the screaming Japanese army recently attacked the gentle slope at the breach! The crumbling city defense seems to be about to collapse. The commander of the first battalion roared, grabbed a light machine gun, and personally rushed into the gap to strafe fire.

In the end, the Japanese army lost in firepower, and the firing frequency of the bullet and the bolt of the gun was pulled by a bullet, which looked a little weak under the non-stop rain of bullets from the automatic firearms of the Central Army at close range. And because its advance was already very close to the gap and gentle slope of the city wall, the Aikawa brigade placed a few Type 92 heavy rifles and grenadiers far behind, and did not dare to shoot in this direction again, and could only watch the defenders' fire net like cutting rice, discharging the shock infantry at the front end in a row.

This scene, of course, was seen by the wing commander Kosuke Otsuka in the field tent, and he shook his head angrily and ordered the attack to stop.

The crumbling city defense, at the last moment, temporarily held!