The staff officer of the wing headquarters presented Otsuka with the casualty figures reported by the Aikawa brigade: 29 people were killed in the two squadrons that attacked the city gate, 57 people were killed in the two squadrons that attacked the gap in the city wall, and more than 200 people were wounded in the whole group, of which more than 10% were seriously wounded.

Otsuka heaved in his heart and was silent. If we include the battle damage of the Futian Brigade that attacked the city in the morning, and the unexpected attack of the Iwata Cavalry Squadron, the first day of the attack on Fengdian has not yet ended, and the whole wing has already lost more than 100 casualties and more than 300 wounded soldiers.

He couldn't help but think of the many fierce battles fought by the entire division and the Chinese army in October last year in order to open the pass. By the time he finally captured Niangzi Pass, his wing had nearly 500 dead and half wounded.

It was a veritable nightmare.

Now, is this nightmare going to be restarted?

Kosuke Otsuka felt a burst of heat. After more than two months of peaceful stationing, now facing such a brutal battle, the wing commander has drawn a question mark about whether his subordinates can adapt and endure. Suddenly, he thought of the cavalry regiment of the Mongolian army that was on its way, and now he no longer despised this army of Chinese people, who should have more than a thousand guns, which could always come in handy. He ordered a telegram to be sent to the defenders of Junling, urging the cavalry regiment of the Mongolian Xinjiang Army not to stay once it arrived, and to rush to Fengdian.

At the same time, Otsuka is already hesitating, whether to launch a third siege today? He was going to summon two infantry group captains and one field artillery group leader to the field tent to see how they reacted.

……

Qin Zhongxiao's situation was much worse than that of Kosuke Otsuka outside the city.

In the fierce siege of the Japanese army just now, the 391st Regiment was first hit by the Japanese field artillery, and nearly 100 officers and soldiers were killed by the shelling at the head of the city. And then around the gap in the city wall of the bloody battle, more than 70 people were killed. Qin Zhongxiao's battalion guarding the northern city has already suffered more than half of the casualties. When the commander of the first battalion rushed into the gap with a machine gun to block it, he was also shot in the thigh and bled profusely.

The only fortunate thing is that the Beicheng Gate, which is most vulnerable to ground breakthroughs by the Japanese army, is still intact in the hands of the 391st Regiment. A company commander of the 1st battalion personally led more than 20 people, relying on the devastating fire of the Maxim heavy machine gun and two light machine guns, to repel the frenzied flooding of two Japanese squadrons. The hole in the gate was very deep, and it was difficult for the field artillery to accurately hit the other end of the hole, so there were only a few casualties here.

Qin Zhongxiao decisively ordered the first battalion to leave one platoon and the rest to rest in the city to serve as a reserve, and at the same time transferred the original third battalion of the reserve to Beicheng. At the head of the city, the blood flowed almost like a river, and many corpses had been shattered by Japanese shells, and the first battalion silently retreated while cleaning up the corpses of their comrades. They rubbed shoulders with the three battalions that were rushing up.

Qin Zhongxiao couldn't judge whether the Japanese army would organize a third attack soon, he was about to call the head of the 570th Regiment of the Jin Army, asking him to draw out one or two companies of troops to come to Beicheng to assist in the defense, but unexpectedly, two of Zhao Mutou's subordinates came to report one after another: The 570th Regiment has been led by Tian Mingda, and all of them have fled!

Qin Zhongxiao was first shocked, and then furious: At the moment of the great enemy, the Jin army did not attack and did not defend the land, but took the lead in abandoning the city and fleeing, and Tian Mingda's head was bound to be pierced by the Military Justice Department!

But now is obviously not the time to look for Tian Mingda's head, the perfidious escape of the 570 regiment is tantamount to announcing that Fengdian's city defense has leaked on both sides. According to Zhao Mutou's subordinates, the spy company commander promptly dissuaded a group of Jin soldiers who were waiting to leave the city to turn back, there were about 300 people, and these 300 people were divided into two, and they were currently guarding the west and south gates, in addition, the entire city wall of the west city and the south city was no longer defended!

Qin Zhongxiao gritted his teeth and urgently made adjustments: now, he can only hope that the Japanese army outside the city will never send branches to attack Xicheng and Nancheng, otherwise, Fengdian will be destroyed by the destruction of the city in half a day at most, and the 391st Regiment will either follow in the footsteps of the 570th Regiment and flee, or be forced to fight the final street battle.

He asked the battalion that had just been withdrawn to rest, led by the deputy battalion commander, to lead more than 400 people, including the lightly wounded, to immediately rush to Xicheng to defend and replace Zhao Mutou's men; Then he ordered Zhao Mutou to lead the whole company of the spy company, together with the hundreds of Jin soldiers who had just been dissuaded from staying, to defend Nancheng.

In this way, Qin Zhongxiao no longer had a reserve of soldiers at hand, but the situation suddenly changed, so he had to take power. Qin Zhongxiao couldn't help but think of the plan that had just been discussed, and he planned to send strange troops out of the city tonight to flank the left flank of the Japanese army, and it seemed that he could only be stillborn: the remaining defenders now, not to mention taking the initiative to attack, could barely arrange the minimum defensive line and already burn high incense.

Qin Zhongxiao asked him to go to the county government in person to inform the county magistrate of the escape of the 570th Regiment of the Jin Army, and explained that the situation was urgent, and asked the county government to come forward and immediately mobilize and organize the young and middle-aged people of the whole city to go to the city nearby to assist the central army in defending the city.

……

At this time, the whole city of Fengdian has been in the midst of a storm since last night, and the fierce gunfire in the north city today, as well as a few shells fired by the Japanese army into the inner city in the afternoon, have tensed people's nerves. Therefore, the verbal message sent by the county government to Pegasus soon spread among the people, and while everyone was shocked and denounced the Jin army's escape, they began to urgently mobilize and send young and strong manpower to the four cities. Everyone knows that it is too late to flee out of the city, and only by working together to keep the city defense alive can there be hope of survival.

Xia Baihe's husband, the shopkeeper Wang, who got the news, had already hurried to the field support team of the county government. Before leaving, Xia Lily actually held her husband's hand and shed two lines of tears: the once short-lived joy, now the urgent war, made the young woman have a tearing heartache. Seeing his wife's pear blossom with rain, Shopkeeper Wang was also a little sad, but he still said with confidence:

"Don't be afraid, the Central Army can fight better than the Jin Army, and in the morning it is the little devils that the 391st Regiment repelled by itself, as long as they are still there, Fengdian will definitely be able to hold it. Take care of the child, don't let him frighten, wait for me to come back! ”

While comforting his wife, the shopkeeper Wang took her hand, wiped the tears on his wife's handsome face with a small piece of brocade handkerchief she held in her hand, and then turned around fiercely and ran towards the courtyard gate. Xia Lily couldn't help but chase after two steps, and subconsciously stuffed the handkerchief into the pocket of her husband's cotton robe.

Neither of them knew that this was their final farewell in this life.