Seeing Yang Jie's resolute expression, Wang Haitao thought for a while and said, "Okay, but I can't just send your division over, I'll transfer a regiment of the 279th Brigade to go with you." In addition, you can go to the logistics office and get a batch of heavy weapons to bring with you. Yang Jie agreed excitedly and ran to assemble the team.

Wang Haitao also found Huang Gang, the commander of the 279th Brigade, and asked Huanggang to send a regiment to act together with the 168th Division. Huang Gang also knew that the situation was urgent, and did not hesitate to send his 572nd Regiment. Wang Haitao took out 200 Type 54 submachine guns, 20 82 mortars, and artillery shells to support the 572nd Regiment.

Two hours later, the two main regiments of the 168th Division, as well as the guard battalion and the special service battalion, totaling 3,200 men, plus 2,100 men of the 572nd Regiment, left Anqing City fully manned, and they will arrive in Jinzhai County from Anqing City via Qianshan County, Yuexi County, and Huoshan County. Wang Haitao and the people from the military headquarters of the 90th Army sent them all the way to the outside of the city.

This support army was commanded by Yang Jie, and Wang Haitao repeatedly told Yang Jie that he was going to defend the defense line, not to fight hard with small Japan, and to first defeat the Japanese army outside Jinzhai County, join forces with the 273rd Brigade in Jinzhai City, and then find a way to support the 274th Brigade. Yang Jie nodded and agreed to come down before leading the team to set off.

The soldiers of Yang Jie's provisional 168th Division are basically people who have lived in the mountains since childhood, and it is very easy to walk the mountain road. And the 572nd Regiment is also a team from the mountainous areas of southern Anhui, and the mountain roads cannot stop them. Therefore, the troops marched very quickly, and on the afternoon of the third day, the advance of the troops had approached the county seat of Jinzhai. Not far from the county seat of Jinzhai, the forward troops encountered a reconnaissance team of the 90th Army reconnaissance regiment that came to meet them.

After confirming each other's identities, the leader of the reconnaissance team was brought to Yang Jie. Yang Jie was looking at the map with his head down, and Li Jieli, the commander of the 572nd Regiment, was also standing beside him. After the squad leader came in, he saluted Yang Jie and said, "Report to Division Commander Yang, Liu Fugui, the captain of the reconnaissance team of the first company of the second battalion of the 90th Army reconnaissance regiment, has seen the division. ”

Yang Jie stood up straight and returned a military salute and asked, "Captain Liu has worked hard, how is the situation in Jinzhai County now?" Liu Fugui replied: "Report to Division Commander Yang, there is a wing of the Japanese army outside Jinzhai County guarding the road from Jinzhai County to Yeji Town. Division Commander Guo organized troops to attack several times, but the Japanese army chose a very good terrain type, good equipment, and a large number of people, so the 273rd Brigade failed to attack several times, but lost a lot of troops. ”

Yang Jie asked again: "What is the situation on the side of the 274th Brigade?" Liu Fugui sighed and replied: "The situation is not good, now the positions on the left and right sides of Fujin Mountain have been lost, and the remaining troops of the 274th Brigade are all concentrated here on the main peak, relying on the terrain to support it, if there are no reinforcements, I am afraid that in a few days, the 274th Brigade will be wiped out." ”

After listening to Liu Fugui's words, Yang Jie and Li Jieli glanced at each other. Yang Jie said: "It seems that we can only open the road to Fujin Mountain as soon as possible." Li Jieli replied: "I agree, let my 572nd Regiment attack first, if not, you can go again." Yang Jie shook his head and said: "No, your regiment is the main force, stay it to deal with the main force of the Japanese army, and our division will go first in the battle here." ”

After speaking, he asked Liu Fugui: "Captain Liu, how far is it from the Japanese army's position, and how long will it take to arrive?" Liu Fugui replied: "Commander Yang, it's not far, there are fifteen kilometers away, and it should take about three hours to walk." Yang Jie nodded and said, "Captain Liu, I also want to ask your people to show us the way, and please inform Senior Commander Guo of Jinzhai County." ”

After finishing speaking, Yang Jie ordered his subordinates to order the whole army to advance quickly, with the 1st Regiment of the 168th Division as the vanguard and the 572nd Regiment as the rear. With Yang Jie's order, the troops moved forward rapidly. More than two hours later, the vanguard regiment had reached a place three kilometers in front of the Japanese position, and Yang Jie ordered the whole army to rest.

After looking at the terrain of the Japanese position, Yang Jie, Li Jieli and Liu Fugui, as well as his two regiment commanders: Sima Wang, the head of the first regiment, and Li Qiang, the commander of the second regiment, sat together and discussed. The Japanese position was a high slope on the side of the road, and if they wanted to attack, they must attack from the back. The Japanese army built a lot of fortifications on the high ground, which was really not easy to attack.

Several people discussed for a long time, and there was no good way, and finally decided to be attacked by Sima Wang's first regiment at night, and Li Qiang's second regiment to respond. Just when several people were discussing, a soldier came to report that General Guo Rudong, the commander of the 91st Division, had brought his troops up. Yang Jie and the others hurriedly got up and greeted them.

As soon as Guo Rudong saw Yang Jie and the others, he said: "Guo is ashamed, he can't even attack this small position of Little Japan." Guo Mou, who came to support you, has a heart, and he will repay it one day. This time, Guo and Little Japan fought, and I brought a whole regiment here, and at the same time, I also brought the Qiwushan Artillery Regiment handed over to me by the military seat. ”

This wing of the Japanese army belonged to the 106th Division, and the commander of the wing, Takeda Nagasuki Osa, was complacent because he had repelled several attacks by the Shina army, and he had no idea that a team of more than 7,000 people on the opposite side would attack his position. Takeda Nagako Daisa only arranged a general guard, and then returned to his temporary residence.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Guo Rudong and Yang Jie concentrated all their artillery and opened fire on the Japanese positions at the same time. Thirty-eight 75 mountain guns and nearly 100 mortars of various calibers suddenly rained down on the front positions of the Japanese army. Suddenly, such a large density of artillery bombardment turned the front position of the Japanese army into a sea of fire, and countless Japanese troops fell under the shells.

The officers and men of the regiment, which had been lurking 200 meters in front of the position, lay on the ground, quietly waiting for the signal to attack. Ten minutes later, the artillery fire began to extend back, and three gunshots rang out from the position. These three gunshots were the signal for the attack, and Sima Wang was the first to get up, raised the shell gun in his hand and shouted, "Brothers, rush with me!" After shouting, he took the lead and rushed forward.

The slope in front of him was nothing to the soldiers of the regiment, and as soon as the regiment commander took the lead in the charge, the officers and men of the regiment all picked up their weapons and rushed desperately towards the hillside. Some of the surviving soldiers on the Japanese position heard the movement coming from the hillside and began to fire at the hillside, and the attacking group of soldiers also returned fire with their weapons.

Countless bullets in the darkness pierced the night with a whistling sound, and soldiers on both sides of the shot continued to be shot and fell, but the fire on the Japanese position had not been completely extinguished, so the Japanese soldiers exposed to the fire became more targets. At this time, there were several machine-gun fire points on the Japanese position that were not destroyed by artillery fire, which became the biggest obstacle for the first group of soldiers.

The machine guns kept spitting tongues of fire, and a group of fighters kept falling under their guns. Fifty meters away, several machine guns on the Japanese position blocked the road to the attack, and a regiment was again suppressed on the hillside. Sima Wang, the head of the first regiment, shouted anxiously: "Come on, blow them up with an explosives bag for me." ”

Several fighters rushed up a few steps with explosive packets before they collapsed under the machine guns. The fighters in the back jumped up a few more people, picked up the explosives bag and continued to rush upward, and several machine guns in a regiment were also carrying out suppressive fire. However, these soldiers rushed out more than ten meters and fell under the Japanese machine guns again. Sima Wang's fist slammed into the ground.

Just as Sima Wang was about to send people up again, there were two sounds of "tong, tong" behind him, and then the two machine gun positions of the Japanese army were blown into two fireballs. It turned out that the fire battalion of the 572nd Regiment was afraid that the Japanese army had such a machine-gun position and was not destroyed by artillery fire, so the battalion commander Liu Minghan sent two groups of 40 rocket launchers to support.

With the 40 rocket launcher as a sharp weapon for attacking the fortification, things were simple, several machine gun positions of the Japanese army were destroyed one by one by the 40 rocket launcher, and Sima Wang and a regiment of officers and men took the opportunity to rush to the Japanese position in one go. The two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the Japanese positions. The regiment of the 2nd Regiment and the 92nd Division also rushed to the Japanese positions one after another.

Two hours later, the attackers crushed the Japanese wing by virtue of the superiority of the number of people, and the Japanese wing commander Takeda Nagasei Osa had to flee with the remaining more than 1,000 soldiers in disarray. Nearly two thousand Japanese corpses were left on the positions. The 168th Division, which was the main attacker, also lost nearly 1,000 soldiers.

After dawn, Yang Jie left a few hundred lightly wounded soldiers, responsible for cleaning the battlefield, transporting the seriously wounded soldiers back to Jinzhai County and burying the remains of the sacrificed soldiers, and he took the remaining more than 2,000 soldiers, together with the 572nd Regiment and an infantry regiment of the 92nd Division and the 75th Artillery Regiment to continue to rush to Yeji Town. And Guo Ruxuan went back to Jinzhai County to arrange a series of things such as the treatment of the wounded.

In half a day, Yang Jie led the troops to approach Yejiyun Town, where the sound of artillery on the side of Fujin Mountain could already be heard, Yang Jie ordered to stop advancing, and he wanted to hold a battle meeting on how to rescue the 274th Brigade. At the meeting, Commander Fu Bingxun of the 91st Division and Commander Li Jieli of the 572nd Regiment were divided into two opinions.

Commander Fu Bingxun wanted to directly attack the Japanese army attacking Fujin Mountain, so as to rescue his comrades on Fujin Mountain as soon as possible, but Commander Li Jieli thought that Yeji Town should be attacked first, and the division headquarters of the Japanese army was located in Yeji Town.

Fu Bingxun said that the Japanese army must have defended very tightly here in Yeji Town, and it was difficult to capture it at once, and the 274th Brigade on Fujin Mountain was almost unable to support it and needed immediate support. Li Jieli said that the foot of Fujin Mountain is the main force of the Japanese army, with a lot of troops, and there are too few people on his side, once the Japanese army cannot attack the Japanese army, and the Japanese army here in Yeji Town is outflanked again, then not only can the 274th Brigade not be saved, but his own team will also lose here.

What the two of them said made sense, and no one could convince anyone, so Yang Jie, the commander-in-chief, would be in trouble. In desperation, Yang Jie could only send a telegram to Wang Haitao, explaining the situation of the troops in detail and asking Wang Haitao how to deal with it. Soon Wang Haitao's call back arrived, and a plan was proposed for Yang Jie and others to refer to.