After the second battalion also broke into Qingshipu Town, soon the gunfire in Qingshipu Town gradually stopped. It didn't take long for Zhou Ren to send his men down to report to Huang Guizhong that the troops had all occupied Qingshipu Town, and the defenders had 56 officers and soldiers captured and more than 200 killed except for the battalion commander who fled from the west gate of the town with more than 100 soldiers. After listening to the report, Huang Guizhong took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and it only took forty minutes to take Qingshipu Town.

Huang Guizhong sent soldiers to guard the west on the one hand, and sent people to report the situation to Wang Haitao, and then entered the town with troops outside the town. When Wang Haitao received the report, he had already joined up with the second detachment of the New Fourth Army, and when he learned that the troops had captured Qingshipu Town, Wang Haitao ordered Huang Guizhong to leave part of his troops in the town and wait for the New Fourth Army to arrive, and the main force continued to advance along the road in the direction of Guichi.

Huang Yuting, the leader of the second detachment, learned about the situation in Qingshipu Town from Wang Haitao, and did not stop any longer, explained to Wang Haitao, and hurriedly led the troops to advance to Qingshipu Town. The main forces of the New Fourth Army, which was behind, also quickened up and caught up. When the logistics department was just halfway through, a dense burst of gunfire suddenly came from the direction of Qingyang County, which made the non-combatants of the New Fourth Army nervous, and the two detachments of the New Fourth Army escorting them were also like facing a great enemy.

Seeing this, Wang Haitao hurriedly explained to the people of the New Fourth Army, and it took a while to make them understand what was going on. Under the sound of gunfire, the men of the New Fourth Army seemed to feel the pressure, and the pace of the march increased again. The officers and men of the fourth battalion rushed to the outside of Qingyang City and simply built a blocking position, and the enemy troops in Qingyang County were dispatched.

The soldiers of the four battalions were recruited after the establishment of the base, and most of the soldiers had never been on the battlefield, and many soldiers were a little nervous when they saw many enemy troops coming out of the city. The commander of the fourth battalion stood on the position, observed the enemy troops with a telescope, and said to the soldiers: "Don't be nervous, brothers, the enemy has only come a few hundred people, and as long as everyone does what is required during training, these hundreds of people will not be able to attack our position." ”

Considering that most of the soldiers were participating in actual combat for the first time, the commander of the fourth battalion gave the order to open fire after the enemy troops entered a distance of 150 meters. Huang Zhenghua learned that the New Fourth Army had arrived outside Qingyang City, but the troops turned to the west on the outskirts of the city, worried that Qingshipu Town would be lost, so he sent a battalion out of the city to pick it up.

The battalion commander of the Nationalist army was lying behind a mound of dirt, and as soon as he showed his head to see the situation on the other side, a string of machine-gun bullets hit the mound, splashing dirt on his head and face. The battalion commander's face was as frightened as dirt, and he lay behind the mound of dirt and did not dare to stretch his head again. At this time, a subordinate company commander who was lying on his stomach not far from him shouted to him: "Battalion commander, the enemy's fire is too fierce, and the brothers can't go up at all, what should I do?"

The battalion commander scolded loudly: "Turtle son, when did the communist army have so many machine guns? After saying that, he took the lead and withdrew in the direction of the city gate under the protection of the guards. He took the lead in this retreat, and the officers and soldiers behind also turned around and fled, and the national army of this battalion retreated until the gate of the city, and when he saw that the enemy behind did not catch up, he breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down.

The battalion commander returned to the city and reported the situation to the regiment commander Huang Zhenghua, and Huang Zhenghua's face changed color in fright. He was also afraid that the New Fourth Army would attack the county seat desperately, and if the county seat was lost, even if he could escape, he was afraid that he would be removed from his post and investigated. At this time, Huang Zhenghua regretted sending a battalion to Qingshipu Town, but there must be one less battalion, and it would be much more difficult to defend the city.

Huang Zhenghua immediately ordered the city gate to be closed, and all the soldiers went to the city wall to defend it, and never mentioned sending troops out of the city again. The fourth battalion of the independent regiment retreated as soon as the enemy showed its face, and the commander of the fourth battalion did not think about attacking the city, but just asked the soldiers to pay attention to vigilance. When the gunfire of the Fourth Battalion stopped, the main force of the New Fourth Army had already passed through Wang Haitao, and there was only a detachment led by Su Yu behind him.

After Su Yu and Wang Haitao met, at Wang Haitao's insistence, they could only lead the team to catch up with the main force, so that the task of breaking off fell on Wang Haitao. Wang Haitao waited for another hour, estimating that Su Yu and the others had also arrived at Qingshipu Town, so he ordered the fourth battalion to withdraw, and then led the team to advance to Qingshipu Town.

The troops advanced quickly along the road, and as soon as it got dark, the advance reached the junction of Qingyang County and Guichi. Here, the reconnaissance team again discovered the units of the National Army. There is a relatively dangerous mountain on the side of the highway here at the junction, called Fengxing Mountain, the main peak of the mountain is 600 meters high, the position is on the right side of the highway, and the left side of the highway is two hills more than 100 meters high, and the national army troops are rushing to repair their positions on the mountains on both sides of this highway.

The troops received the report of the scouts and all stopped, and Wang Haitao also received the news and rushed to Commander Ye Ting. Ye Ting, Chen Yi and others were arguing about something in front of the map when Wang Haitao arrived, and when they saw Wang Haitao coming, Commander Ye Ting said to Wang Haitao: "General Wang, it's not far from here to Guichi, but the enemy army should be prepared." I'm afraid this road won't be too easy to walk, and I'd like to hear your opinion on how the troops should act. ”

Wang Haitao came to the map, looked at the map for a while, and said: "From here to Guichi City, it is only about 50 kilometers, and it is more than 80 kilometers to Wusha Town, the planned place to cross the river. I'm not afraid of this Sichuan army division, but what I'm afraid of is that if time is delayed here, if several main divisions of the national army catch up, it will be a big trouble. So I suggested that I rush through Guichi City along the highway and go straight to Wusha Town. ”

Wang Haitao's thoughts coincided with those of Commander Ye Ting and Deputy Commander Chen Yi, but Political Commissar Zhang Yunyi had a cautious attitude and opposed continuing to take the main road, but wanted to pass through the mountains and bypass the encirclement of the enemy. As soon as Wang Haitao finished speaking, Zhang Yunyi said: "General Wang, there are more than 2,000 logistics personnel in our team, plus hospitals and wounded, these people not only have no combat effectiveness, but also need troops to protect them, take the road to kill them, can you guarantee their safety?"

Wang Haitao replied: "Political Commissar Zhang, it is precisely because of these more than 2,000 comrades who have no combat effectiveness that we have to kill Wusha Town in the shortest possible time and cross the Yangtze River as soon as possible. If you go to the mountains, the road is difficult to travel, and these comrades will not talk about whether they can eat or not, in case they are delayed in the mountains and are caught up and surrounded by several main divisions of the national army, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Wang Haitao's words reached Commander Ye Ting's heart, Zhang Yunyi still wanted to fight again, Commander Ye Ting said decisively: "No need to fight anymore, I decided to follow what General Wang said, we rushed over from the road." These thousands of Sichuan troops can't stop us. I will bear all the consequences!" Then Commander Ye Ting directly ordered the Second Column and the Second Detachment, asking them to join forces with Wang Haitao's independent battalion and launch an attack on the enemy overnight. ”

After listening to Commander Ye Ting's order, Wang Haitao said: "Commander Ye, there is no enemy pursuit in the back for the time being, and the task after the break is still handed over to your troops, I will take my men to the front, and I will personally command the attack of the troops." Ye Ting thought for a while and said, "It's okay, I'm relieved to have General Wang in front to direct the attack, but General Wang must pay attention to safety." ”

Wang Haitao answered the call and ordered the security brigade and the fourth battalion behind to run to the front to join the main force of the independent regiment, and he also walked to the front of the team with the guard company. Finding a secluded place on the road, Wang Haitao took out all the heavy mortars from the storage ring and took out plenty of ammunition. Among the mortars taken out this time were 20 120 mm heavy mortars and 30 100 mm heavy mortars, all of which were produced by the Jurong Base Arsenal.

In fact, there are many heavy weapons in Wang Haitao's storage ring, which were put in by Wang Haitao before he set off to prevent accidents. Including ten 75 mm caliber field guns, ten twin anti-aircraft guns, five heavy armored vehicles, two light tank vehicles. However, these weapons can't be taken out, otherwise it would be amazing to conjure up so many heavy weapons at once.

In this way, the independent regiment also had nearly 100 artillery guns of various calibers, which was also a very staggering proportion in a force of less than 4,000 men. When Wang Haitao arrived at the front line, the three battalions of the Independent Regiment and the second detachment of the Second Column had all been assembled and were waiting for Wang Haitao's arrival. Wang Haitao pulled out the artillery of the independent regiment, built an artillery position with 70 medium and heavy mortars, and then ordered the independent regiment to attack the main peak position on the right, which was difficult to attack, and the second detachment to attack the two high ground on the left.

Before the Fourth Battalion and the Security Brigade arrived, Wang Haitao decided to let them be in reserve, and other troops immediately launched an attack on the enemy's position. Five minutes later, 70 mortars took the lead in shelling two Nationalist positions. The night sky was reddened by artillery fire, and the shells exploded on the positions of the national army, igniting fires everywhere, and the smoke of gunpowder also filled the air.

The two regiments were led by a brigade commander named He Zhengliang, and when they arrived at Maya Town, which was not far from here, they met the battalion commander who had escaped from Qingshipu Town. Knowing that Qingshipu Town had been lost, He Zhengliang knew that it was useless to rush to it again, so he chose the dangerous place of Fengxing Mountain to establish a blocking position.

He Zhengliang only left a company of guards in Maya Town, and the rest of the officers and soldiers were sent by him to Fengxing Mountain to repair the position, and at the same time he also reported the situation to Liu Ruzhai, the division commander of Guichi, so that Liu Ruzhai knew that the main force of the New Fourth Army had broken through Qingyang County and would soon reach the territory of Guichi. Liu Ruzhai received the report, and on the one hand, he asked his troops to strengthen their vigilance, and on the other hand, he reported the situation to the army commander Fan Ziying.