On the Daniangqiao position garrisoned by the new 14th Division, the officers and men of a regiment at the top of the front line were nervously lying in the trenches and various fortifications, and the regiment commander Liu Xin stood in a half-buried sandbag bunker, observing the situation of the group of Japanese troops who had just arrived on the opposite side of the position through the observation hole and using a telescope. Judging by the flags they raised, it should be the 46th Wing of the 3rd Division.

The Daniang Bridge position is based on a small tributary of the Xiangjiang River, and on this small tributary that is not too wide, there is a cement highway bridge across both banks. The new 14th Division was to defend the concrete bridge. Because the tributary is not wide, in order to prevent the Japanese from forcibly crossing, there are trenches dug on the south bank of the tributary, but there are not many soldiers in the trenches.

The 68th Wing was preparing for the attack, and small guns and heavy machine guns began to line up in front of the offensive position. The Japanese bullied the defenders' artillery that did not counterattack, and pushed the small guns very forward, and the heavy machine gun position was only 400 meters away from the position. In less than an hour, the Japanese army was ready, and the commander of the wing, Nokenzaburo Osa, gave an order, and more than a dozen Type 92 infantry guns and more than a dozen mortars opened fire at the same time.

Shells exploded on the defenders' positions, bringing up dirt and smoke, and the defenders were lying dead in the trenches and fortifications, dodging shrapnel flying in all directions. After twenty minutes of shelling, an infantry squadron, under the cover of artillery fire and heavy machine guns, advanced towards the bridgehead. When the Japanese soldiers who were ahead of the army went to the bridge, the order to open fire on the defenders' positions was conveyed.

The width of the bridge deck is more than ten meters, such a narrow bridge deck, two Mark heavy machine guns and three Czech light machine guns on the defenders' position are enough to blockade it, the Japanese army was swept down by the machine guns more than ten soldiers, they all looked for cover, and those who could not find cover lay on the ground and counterattacked with various weapons. Light machine guns, Type 38 rifles, and grenadiers poured fire on the defenders' positions.

Seeing that several light and heavy machine guns on the defenders' positions blocked the bridge, Nokenzaburo Osa, who was in command in the back, frowned, and he gave a few orders to the herald behind him, and after the herald responded, he turned around and ran towards the artillery position.

A few minutes later, the Japanese small artillery concentrated its artillery fire on several machine-gun fire points on the defenders' positions. The Japanese artillery fire and the focus of the grenadiers, and the several machine gun fire points on the defenders' positions only lasted a few minutes before they were dumbfired.

Without the blockade of machine guns, the Japanese soldiers who had been suppressed on the bridge deck climbed up one after another, bent down and continued to attack to the south of the bridge. Liu Xin, the regiment commander guarding the sandbag fortifications, saw that the machine gun was dumb, and hurriedly asked his battalion commander to command the soldiers to concentrate firepower and suppress the attacking Japanese army.

When the Japanese army advanced to the halfway point of the bridge, the second light machine gun that Liu Xin had transferred from elsewhere rang out again, and the distance was not far, and the accuracy of the defenders' shooting was also greatly improved, and the Japanese army was once again suppressed on the bridge deck.

The Japanese were already close to the defenders' positions, and in order to prevent accidental damage, the Japanese artillery fire extended behind the defenders' positions, so that the pressure on the defenders in the frontline trenches and fortifications was greatly reduced, and it was easier to block. The two sides exchanged fire for more than half an hour, and the Japanese dropped dozens of corpses and retreated.

One morning, the Japanese army launched four attacks here, all of which were repelled by the defenders, and at noon, the division commander Fan Nanxuan had to reinforce another regiment, and the original Liu Xin regiment that was guarding the position was only more than 200 people who could fight.

In front of the Xujiashan position, it was still calm, and the only two regiments on the position just kept on guard. The two positions of Fulin Town and Jinjing Town were also the same as the positions of Daniang Bridge, and the defenders were also caught in a bitter battle.

It was the Japanese Sixth Division that attacked the position of Fulin Town, but after only one morning, the field artillery wing of the Sixth Division of the Army used artillery to blow up the small Fulin Town, and not only could not find a single intact building in Fulin Town, but the wall was also shaky, and it seemed that it could be torn down with a single push.

Guarding the town were two regiments of the newly formed 15th Division, and two regiments were blocking the Japanese troops on both sides of Fulin Town. In the morning, these two regiments lost nearly half of their men and horses, and most of the losses were due to Japanese shelling.

The 6th Division mobilized two infantry wings to attack the town of Fulin, and one infantry company and a cavalry company launched an attack on the positions on both sides of the town. The losses of the Japanese army were not large, and they lost less than 200 men in one morning.

Under the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese army, the wall of Fulin Town finally could not bear it and collapsed a large section, and this section of the collapsed wall became the focus of the Japanese attack. Several brigades took turns attacking this place.

Naturally, the focus of the defenders' defense was shifted to this collapsed wall, and the officers and men of the two regiments rushed forward one after another to make up for the gaps exposed by the casualties, and simply blocked the frantic attack of the Japanese army with their lives.

Jinjing Town is relatively better here, because Jinjing Town is an important town, not only is the area large, but the wall is relatively thick and solid, and the attacking Japanese 40th Division is relatively weak among several divisions.

The 40th Division also attacked all morning, not only failed to blow up the walls of Jinjing Town, but was also condescendingly blocked by the defenders, losing several hundred soldiers. This made the commander of the 40th Division, Lieutenant General Aoki Seiichi, very dissatisfied.

Several positions were held until the evening, and the new 14th and 16th divisions successively sent telegrams asking for help to the two army commanders, and the deputy commander of the 72nd Army sent all the guard battalions directly under the army to the Daniangqiao position, which barely blocked the attack of the Japanese 3rd Division.

Han Quanpu, deputy commander of the 72nd Army, and Xia Shouxun, commander of the 78th Army, both approached Wang Lingji, commander of the group army, and asked Commander Wang Lingji to order a retreat. Wang Lingji sent a telegram requesting to retreat due to excessive losses to General Xue Yue.

The 27th Group Army and the 30th Group Army held off the Japanese army for seven days in the area south of the Xinqiang River and the area south of the Miluo River, respectively, and won precious time for the construction of the outer positions of Changsha City.

In these seven days plus the previous eight days, a total of half a month, Wang Haitao's troops have basically completed several positions outside Changsha City, but the street fighting fortifications in Changsha City are still being repaired by the guard regiment.

When General Xue Yue's telegram asking Wang Haitao how the fortifications of the Great Wall City were progressing was delivered to Wang Haitao by the confidential officer, Wang Haitao understood that the troops blocking the Japanese army in front of him could not withstand it.

Anyway, the construction outside Changsha City had been completed, so Wang Haitao immediately called back to General Xue Yue, reporting that General Xue Yue's defensive position outside Changsha City had been basically completed and could undertake the task of blocking the Japanese army, and that the street fighting fortifications in Changsha City were being repaired and were expected to be completed within five days.

General Xue Yue, who received Wang Haitao's telegram, was very happy and immediately telegraphed back to Wang Lingji's 30th Group Army, agreeing that the 30th Group Army should retreat to the mountainous area east of Changsha. At the same time, he also telegraphed the troops defending the Laodao River and the Liuyang River to hold their positions for 48 hours.

After seeing that Xue Yue had sent a telegram agreeing to the withdrawal of the 30th Group Army to the eastern mountainous areas, Wang Lingji immediately ordered that all four divisions under the 30th Group Army should withdraw from their existing positions at 9 p.m. on 1 January, retreat southward to the eastern mountainous areas after disengaging from the Japanese army.

The 30th Regiment retreated, and the 272nd Brigade of the 90th Division of the 90th Army defending the Laodao River and the 37th Army and the 53rd Army defending the Liuyang River would directly face the four divisions of the Japanese army that rushed up.

The Japanese army rested all night and did not pursue the retreating Chinese army, after all, these divisions and regiments had been fighting for several days in a row, and even the strongest troops would feel tired. Except for the 4th Division.

The behavior of the Fourth Division's serious lag had already made the commander of the 11th Army, General Anan Wei, quite dissatisfied, but the other divisions and regiments marched forward in a loud and vigorous manner, and it only took seven days to reach the outskirts of Changsha, so that General Anan Wei did not reprimand the Fourth Division too much.

Seeing that Changsha City was already in the bag, Anan Wei's generals made some adjustments to his troops. First of all, the chief of the operational staff of his subordinates, Shimamura Juyasu Nakasa, pointed out that the Ninth Theater of Operations in China, around the frequent movement of troops on the periphery of Changsha City, although it could not make General Anan Wei give up the plan to capture Changsha City, but it also attracted his attention.

General Anan Wei ordered the 34th Division, which was now stationed in Nanchang City, to leave a wing to continue to garrison Nanchang City, and the rest of the main force to advance along the Gao'an and Shanggao lines to Liuyang and Zhuzhou on the periphery of Changsha City, so as to contain the troops from China to reinforce Changsha City.

In addition, the 14th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade marched from Jiujiang along the line of Wuning and Xiushui to Changsha City, with the same purpose of containing the Chinese army on the periphery of Changsha City. He also sent a telegram ordering the 4th Division to reach the eastern part of the Laodao River northeast of Changsha City on the evening of 2 January, and to prepare for an attack on the defenders south of the Laodao River.

The 13th Tank Wing, the 9th Independent Armored Vehicle Squadron, the 2nd and 3rd Independent Mountain Artillery Wings, the 14th and 15th Independent Field Heavy Artillery Wings, and the 1st and 3rd Independent Artillery Brigades should all cross the Miluo River on 2 January and provide support in advance when the infantry attacks the encircled positions at Changsha City.

After receiving the orders of Commander Anan Weiji, these units under the 11th Army accelerated their pace to the south, preparing to participate in the attack on Changsha City as ordered.

Although they did not know the specific time of the Japanese attack, the officers and men of the 90th Division guarding the south bank of the Laodao River were ready to meet the enemy. Among the several main divisions of the 90th Army, the weapons and equipment of the 90th Division may not be the best, but both the quality of individual soldiers and the combat effectiveness of the troops are the strongest, and they are recognized in the 90th Army.

At present, on the forefront of the front bank of the Laodao River is the 543rd Regiment of the 272nd Brigade, and it can be seen from the construction of the defensive position that the 543rd Regiment is worthy of being a battle-hardened force. Not only is the fortifications perfect and solid, but also the depth of defense and the firepower are impeccable.