Wang Haitao's 90th Group Army, unlike other troops, did not have much belongings, so it can be said that it will be withdrawn. Wang Haitao wanted to withdraw his troops, and he had to be busy for several days just in the logistics field. In addition, Wang Haitao ordered the logistics department to leave two bases of ammunition for stock, and all other ammunition and strategic materials were packed into trucks.

Considering that all the field hospitals should be transferred, and that the medicines, equipment, and a large number of wounded also needed to be transferred by truck, Wang Haitao asked the logistics department to transfer the loaded materials to Jiujiang with the 573rd Regiment and the armored regiment, and after arriving in Jiujiang, unload the materials, and then return to Anqing City. In order to reach the safety of the materials in Jiujiang, Wang Haitao asked Tangshan Leopard to draw a battalion from the guard regiment and go to Jiujiang City with the supplies.

When Wang Haitao kept the news that the whole army was preparing to withdraw to Jiujiang, he announced that the troops were going to reinforce Jiujiang City. However, all the officers at and above the brigade level in the army were secretly notified by Wang Haitao, including the two brigade commanders, Tang Yikuan and Li Yuanhong. And Tang Renxin, the commander of the 90th Division in Qianshan County, received an order to strengthen the fortifications in Qianshan County.

Here in Huaining County, the 271st Brigade is the main force of defense, because it is about to abandon Huaining County, and the 271st Brigade is under the attack of the Japanese army, the casualties are not large, so Tang Yikuan sent a telegram to Wang Haitao to ask for instructions to withdraw the 277th Brigade to rest first. Wang Haitao also approved this request, and the 277th Brigade withdrew from Huaining County with some supplies.

At present, the 277th Brigade has only one regiment and more than 3,000 troops, and Wang Haitao has no one to replenish them, so after the 277th Brigade is ready to retreat, Wang Haitao directly ordered the 277th Brigade to go to Taihu County through Qianshan County to rest and reunite. Soon after the 277th Brigade withdrew from Huaining County, the Japanese army launched a larger-scale attack on Huaining County.

Before the Japanese attack, not only did they use heavy artillery, but nearly 100 planes also bombed Huaining County at the same time. The 277th Brigade suffered little loss in the bombing, but a material warehouse was destroyed by Japanese planes, and a batch of ammunition and materials were lost.

This time, more than 100 Japanese planes came to Huaining County, and in the exchange of fire with Japanese planes, Tang Yikuan also felt the lack of anti-aircraft firepower. In the face of a large number of aircraft, relying only on 20 anti-aircraft guns and some heavy machine guns, the firepower was weaker, although more than 10 planes were also shot down in the air battle, but for the huge group of Japanese aircraft, the loss of more than 10 planes was nothing at all.

On the contrary, due to the bombing of the aircraft, nine anti-aircraft guns and more than a dozen heavy machine guns were lost, including two Gaoping dual-purpose twin heavy machine guns. After the city wall collapsed even more, the number of Japanese attackers also increased, and two brigades came up at once. Fortunately, the 543rd Regiment was prepared, and the entire 2nd Battalion went up and stopped the momentum of the Japanese attack with ferocious firepower.

After Wang Haitao learned that the fighting in Huaining County was more intense, he also accelerated his preparations for retreat. Now what makes Wang Haitao embarrassed is not Huaiyuan and Anqing, but Laoshan Fortress. Since the failure of the last joint attack, now every time you attack you are not strong, it is more like harassment to say that the attack is more like harassment, two or three warships at a time, and they will withdraw after a few minutes of artillery, although there is no loss in Laoshan Fortress, and there is no loss to the Japanese warships.

If the Laoshan fortress is withdrawn first, then Anqing will directly face the shelling of Japanese warships and the attack of marines, and it is not ruled out that the infantry will take the warships to land directly in Anqing. If Huaining County retreats first, Anqing will inevitably be attacked by the Japanese infantry, and the retreat of the Laoshan fortress will be cut off, and it will be difficult to retreat from Laoshan.

Before Wang Haitao could figure out a way, the 92nd Division had already arrived in Jiujiang City, and immediately took over the defenders of the original Hukou County and exchanged fire with the 28th Division of the Japanese Army. The 86th Army in Jiujiang City, after the arrival of the 92nd Division, was relieved and immediately made preparations to evacuate Jiujiang. On the third day, a telegram from Chongqing reached Wang Haitao, demanding that Wang Haitao's 90th Group Army take over the Jiujiang defense line within 10 days.

This telegram was to ask Wang Haitao to make up his mind, and after Wang Haitao thought about it, he called Su Zuxin and others together, and said a method that he thought was feasible but had a certain risk. Wang Haitao said to Su Zuxin and the others: "Everyone, I plan to withdraw all the troops in Anqing City to Jiujiang first, and only the two battalions of the guard regiment will be left in the city. After the 271st Brigade retreats from Huaining County to Qianshan, I will lead the guard regiment to meet the troops of Laoshan Fortress and evacuate. ”

As soon as Wang Haitao's words were finished, Su Zuxin was the first to stand up and say: "I don't agree, this is too dangerous! In case the Japanese army marches quickly towards Anqing, you and the troops of the Laoshan Fortress will be blocked by the Japanese army under Anqing City, and there will be a danger of annihilation!" Su Zuxin's words aroused everyone's approval. Wang Haitao glanced around, and under Wang Haitao's glance, everyone gradually lost their voices.

Wang Haitao opened his mouth and asked: "Naturally, there is danger, but who can come up with a safer way? What about the 20 heavy artillery pieces and the troops guarding the Laoshan Fortress? Do you want to give up? Since the day the 90th Army was established, the slogan of our 90th Army has been: 'Don't give up, don't give up,' I can't ignore them. ”

Wang Haitao's words silenced everyone, and the atmosphere in the room became solemn. Seeing everyone like this, Wang Haitao said with a smile: "Don't be like this, everyone, the probability of success of this operation is still very high, the Japanese army has been continuously blocked in Huaining City, the 271st Brigade has withdrawn from Huaining City at once, and the Japanese army also has a time to react, I can take advantage of this time to withdraw quickly."

Seeing Wang Haitao's insistence, Su Zuxin said: "Junzao, then send more troops to follow you, so that even if there is any situation, Junzao has someone available." Wang Haitao shook his head and said: "No, there are fewer people and small targets, which is more convenient for action, and even if there is any situation, there are guard regiments and 570 regiments, which are enough to deal with." Well, that's it. The 271st Brigade was informed to hold for another two days, retreat in the direction of Qianshan County at night after tomorrow, and join the 277th Brigade after arriving in Taihu County. Inform the Laoshan Fortress again and prepare to retreat. ”

When everyone left the command room, Su Zuxin pulled Tangshan Leopard aside, and said to Tangshan Leopard seriously: "Mountain Leopard, I will hand over the military seat to you, you have to protect the military seat at all costs." Tangshan Leopard replied solemnly: "Chief of Staff Su, don't worry, as long as there is one person left in our guard regiment, we will definitely ensure that the military seat is fine." ”

In the next two days, Su Zuxin and Zhao Zhongwu led the troops in Anqing City to withdraw to Jiujiang one after another, and even the field hospital was withdrawn with the troops. On the night of the last day, Tang Yikuan of the 271st Brigade sent a telegram to Wang Haitao, reporting that the 271st Brigade had all withdrawn from Huaining County.

After receiving Tang Yikuan's telegram, Wang Haitao stood up and said to the Tangshan leopard beside him: "The 271st Brigade has withdrawn from Huaining City, and we should also start acting." After saying that, he picked up the pistol on the table and walked out the door. At the gate of the headquarters, the two battalions of the guard regiment were already ready to go, and at this time, Wang Haitao and Tangshan Leopard walked out, and they all stood upright. A guard brought the war horse, Wang Haitao shouted loudly: "Let's go!" and then turned over with the Tangshan leopard and got on the horse.

Wang Haitao and the soldiers of the guard regiment went out of the city and went straight to the Laoshan fortress. The Laoshan fortress is only a dozen kilometers away from Anqing City, and the troops will reach the foot of the Laoshan Mountain after two hours. Wang Haitao asked the soldiers of the guard regiment to help the 570th regiment retreat, and he and Tangshan Leopard walked towards the mountain with a few guards. The mountain is not high, Wang Haitao and the others walked to the artillery position in half an hour.

These artillerymen had already lined up in front of the gun emplacement, and when they saw Wang Haitao, they stood up and saluted neatly. Wang Haitao returned to the army and asked the officer in charge to take the artillery down the mountain first. After the artillery left the gun position, Wang Haitao used the storage ring again, and put the twenty heavy cannons, shells and all the materials into the storage ring, and the guards inspected again to confirm that there were no missing items, and then Wang Haitao and Tangshan Leopard and others went down the mountain.

Wang Haitao came to the foot of the mountain, all the soldiers were ready to retreat, Wang Haitao gave an order, the troops left the Laoshan fortress and headed towards Anqing City. In order to withdraw to Jiujiang, Laoshan's troops must first return to Anqing City, and then either from Qianshan to Taihu Lake to Jiujiang, or from Anqing to Wangjiang County to Pengze County to Jiujiang.

The road is easy to walk from Qianshan, and when Anqing's troops withdrew, because there were a large number of trucks, they chose to retreat from Qianshan. After returning to Anqing, Wang Haitao saw that although the soldiers were marching all the way, they were all in good condition, and in order to reach Jiujiang more safely, after resting for an hour, Wang Haitao let the troops continue to set off.

After leaving Anqing City, the troops did not advance in the direction of Qianshan, but turned to the direction of Wangjiang County. This was planned by Wang Haitao a long time ago. Because Madang Fortress is on the Yangtze River in Wangjiang County, although Li Yunheng's 16th Army is stationed, but in history, because of Li Yunheng's mistakes, the entire Madang Fortress was lost within a few days.

Of course, Wang Haitao does not want to see history repeat itself, so it has become inevitable to send his own troops to garrison Madang Fortress. Dongzhi County on the south bank of the Yangtze River is the defense area of Li Yunheng's 16th Army, while Wangjiang County on the north bank of the Yangtze River is the defense area of Wang Haitao's 90th Group Army.

Wang Haitao: It was not until the afternoon that they walked along the very difficult road to Wangjiang County. According to the telegram order of the Chongqing General Headquarters and the order of Bai Chongxi, commander of the Fifth Theater, after Wang Haitao's 90th Group Army was stationed in the Jiujiang area, Li Yunheng's 16th Army should be under Wang Haitao's control, and Madang Fortress was also within Wang Haitao's defense area.