The troops stationed in Qingyang County were a regiment of the 148th Division of the 50th Army of the National Army, and the regiment commander was named Huang Zhenghua. At dawn, Head Huang was lying too high in his arms around the sixth aunt in his residence before he was woken up by the adjutant's shouting outside the bedroom door. Captain Huang yelled angrily at the door: "His grandmother's, why are you noisy turtle son?"

The adjutant endured the scolding and reported: "Report to the group, your father-in-law in Zhubei Town sent a housekeeper to report the news, last night, tens of thousands of communist troops came to Zhubei Town, and after taking Zhubei Town, they lived in Zhubei Town. The adjutant's report frightened Commander Huang to sit up from the bed, and his sleepiness disappeared. Head Huang immediately dressed and got out of bed, opened the door and walked out.

After the New Fourth Army broke through, Gu Zhutong, commander of the Third Theater of Operations, issued an order to the garrison in the direction of Anqing to strictly prevent the New Fourth Army from crossing the river and heading north from the Anqing and Guichi areas.

Commander Huang brought the two people who ran out of Zhu Beizhen to the regiment headquarters, and couldn't help but tremble with fright after careful questioning. There are tens of thousands of communist troops in Zhu Beizhen, and the strength of one regiment is only about 1,500 people, and this is about 1,500 people, so he has to go against the communist army, and doesn't he take eggs to touch stones? Commander Huang did not dare to conceal this matter and not report it, because if Shangfeng knew that the communist army had passed by his own station a day later, he could not afford to be charged with not reporting it.

So Commander Huang immediately sent an urgent telegram to Liu Ruzhai, the division commander of Guichi, reporting the information that tens of thousands of the main force of the communist army had been found in Qingyang County. The three divisions of the 50th Army were transferred to southern Anhui only after Wang Haitao left southern Anhui, and the current commander of the 50th Army is Fan Ziying. The 50th Army was reorganized from several Sichuan army divisions, and its combat effectiveness was not strong, and one division was seven or eight thousand men and horses. These three divisions were mainly stationed in the area south of the Yangtze River between Anqing and Guichi to Tongling.

In the cities along the river from Anqing to Wuhu, the Japanese army was mainly stationed along the north coast of the Yangtze River, especially focusing on Anqing City and Wuhu City, and left heavy troops. Due to the serious losses of troops on the front line and the repeated transfer of troops from the rear, the Japanese army can only be stationed in major cities, and the field is basically impossible to take care of, let alone the mountainous areas of southern Anhui, which have complex terrain, as long as there are no problems with the Yangtze River route, the Japanese army will basically not be dispatched. Under such circumstances, although the three divisions of the Sichuan Army were weaker in combat, they could still hold these places.

As soon as Division Commander Liu Ruzhai received the report from Regiment Commander Huang, he realized that the New Fourth Army was about to cross the river from Guichi. Commander Gu just issued the order that whoever let go of the New Fourth Army in his station would be removed from his post and investigated, so Liu Ruzhai called back to Huang Zhenghua on the one hand, asking him to lead his troops to intercept the New Fourth Army, and he would immediately send troops to reinforce Qingyang County, and on the other hand, he sent a telegram to Army Commander Fan Ziying to report the situation and ask for reinforcements.

When the information was reported to Gu Zhutong by the 50th Army, Gu Zhutong was suffering from a big headache because he had lost the trace of the New Fourth Army. Gu Zhutong was under a lot of pressure, the New Fourth Army broke out of the encirclement, which was equivalent to a boiled duck flying again, and he had more than 100,000 troops in his hands, but he couldn't deal with the New Fourth Army of more than 10,000 people, which made him unable to explain to Chongqing.

But after the New Fourth Army broke out of the encirclement, it lost its trace, which made Gu Zhutong unable to encircle, chase and intercept him. In the midst of his anxiety, the report of the 50th Army was delivered. Overjoyed, Gu Zhutong immediately telegraphed to Commander Fan Ziying that the 50th Army would stop the New Fourth Army in the Guichi area at all costs, and at the same time ordered the 170th, 171st, 40th, and 180th Divisions, which were looking for the New Fourth Army, to move closer to the Guichi area at the same time.

Wang Haitao and Ye Ting and others in Zhubei Town didn't know about these things, and after getting up in the morning, Wang Haitao found Ye Ting and others and wanted to discuss the next marching route. Through the intelligence of the reconnaissance troops, Wang Haitao knew that it was the 148th Division of the Sichuan Army stationed in the Guichi area, and for Wang Haitao, a division of the Sichuan Army could not be taken seriously, and considering the situation of those non-combat units in the New Fourth Army, Wang Haitao did not plan to go over the mountain from the hinterland of Jiuhua Mountain, and Wang Haitao chose to go straight to Qingyang County from Zhubei Town, and after bypassing the county seat on the outskirts of Qingyang County, he went straight to Guichi. The location of the river crossing was also selected by the reconnaissance troops, and it was basically set at Wusha Town between Guichi and Anqing.

Wang Haitao found Ye Ting and others and said what he thought, and Ye Ting and they also agreed. Ye Ting also thought that these non-combat troops would drag the whole army back, and a division of the Sichuan Army was indeed not in the eyes of Ye Ting and others, so Ye Ting also asked his subordinates to pass the order, the whole army gathered, and an hour later, the whole army set off.

After a night's rest and recuperation, the mental outlook of the officers and men of the whole army has improved markedly, and Wang Haitao still let his troops take on the important task of opening up the road, and behind them is a contingent of more than 10,000 people of the New Fourth Army, and Wang Haitao and the guard company naturally remain in their own ranks. There is a sandy road to walk on the 20 kilometers from Zhubei Town to Qingyang County, and the troops can walk with relative ease.

Three hours later, the troops had approached the county seat of Qingyang, and it was planned to bypass the county seat from here, and just as Wang Haitao was about to give the order to make a detour to the west, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out in front. A scout then ran over to report to Wang Haitao that the reconnaissance group that had opened the road ahead had encountered a patrol of the Nationalist army, and the two sides exchanged fire.

The gunfire only lasted for about ten minutes before stopping, and at this time, Wang Haitao and the guard company also rushed to the front. As soon as Wei Changxing saw Wang Haitao, he hurriedly ran over and reported to Wang Haitao: "Military seat, a reconnaissance group suddenly encountered a platoon patrol of the national army when opening the road, and when it could not be avoided, the national army opened fire first. Other reconnaissance groups immediately came in to reinforce them, and now that the battle was over, twenty-one enemy soldiers were killed, and the rest, including the enemy platoon commander, were captured alive. ”

Wang Haitao asked Feng Zisheng to interrogate the enemy's platoon commander, and then said to Huang Guizhong, who came to his side: "Brigade Commander Huang, the gunfire will definitely alarm the national army in Qingyang County, you order the troops to be on alert, and send a battalion to set up a blocking position in the direction of Qingyang County, resolutely block the enemy troops dispatched in Qingyang City, and ensure the passage of the troops behind." ”

After Huang Guizhong went to convey the order, Wang Haitao asked the guard company to send two soldiers to report the situation to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, and asked Commander Ye Ting to order the whole army to speed up the march and quickly pass through Qingyang County. After a while, Feng Zisheng also interrogated the enemy platoon commander and returned to Wang Haitao to report the interrogation to Wang Haitao. According to the platoon commander's confession, they received an order in the morning to conduct a platoon search in the suburbs west of Qingyang County, and one battalion had already rushed to the bluestone to lay defenses in the west of the county seat.

Wang Haitao listened to Feng Zisheng's report, and couldn't help but be shocked. Why the garrison of Qingyang County seems to have been aware of the arrival of the New Fourth Army, this Qingshipu Town is the only way to go from Qingyang County to Guichi, if you want to bypass Qingshipu Town, you must give up the road and go over the mountains from Jiuhua Mountain. Surprised, Wang Haitao didn't think that a battalion of Sichuan troops would be able to block his advance, even if the troops of this regiment in Qingyang County had arrived in Qingshipu Town.

Wang Haitao then ordered Huang Guizhong to lead his troops to speed up the capture of Qingshipu Town, and it was necessary to take Qingshipu Town before the main force of the New Fourth Army arrived. After receiving the order, Huang Guizhong immediately personally led three battalions to speed up to the front. Wang Haitao, together with the guard company and the Jing County Security Brigade, waited for the main force of the New Fourth Army to catch up. After waiting for more than half an hour, the second detachment led by Huang Yuting caught up.

Huang Guizhong led three battalions of nearly 3,000 people, and under the rapid march, it only took more than half an hour to approach Qingshipu Town. There is a two-meter-high bluestone fence in bluestone shop, with only two gates, east and west, and the road passes through the town. More than 400 people from this battalion of the national army relied on this bluestone wall to set up a blocking position. Huang Guizhong looked at the terrain type, and if he wanted to take Qingshipu Town as soon as possible, he could only attack hard.

So Huang Guizhong set up all the 30 mortars of large and small calibers he brought, and at the same time hundreds of light and heavy machine guns were also set up on the attack position in front of the town. Huang Guizhong called Zhou Ren, the commander of the first battalion, and instructed Zhou Ren to take the first battalion to charge the town gate after the shelling was over. Ten minutes passed, all the troops were in position, and Huang Guizhong ordered the artillery to open fire.

Thirty mortars fired at the same time, and the shells exploded on the wall, and for a time the smoke of gunfire enveloped the entire wall. There were two companies of officers and soldiers stationed on the wall, and this artillery fire suddenly caused these officers and soldiers to suffer heavy casualties, and the explosion of shells was mixed with the screams of soldiers, and the blood on the wall was flowing like a river, and it was a tragic situation.

After a few rounds of artillery fire, the light and heavy machine guns began to fire coveringly, and the surviving soldiers did not dare to venture out of the wall hit by the metal storm formed by the machine gun bullets. Under these circumstances, Zhou Ren led a battalion of nearly 1,000 soldiers to launch a charge. Although these soldiers of the Sichuan army also fought with the Japanese army several times, the density of the Japanese army's firepower was not as dense as Wang Haitao's troops, and this attack completely blinded the defenders on the wall, and when a battalion charged, no one on the wall dared to stretch out their heads to counterattack.

Zhou Ren took the lead and rushed to the gate of Qingshipu Town, and several explosives and medicine bags were immediately piled up at the root of the gate. As soon as the soldiers withdrew from the explosion range, a loud noise came, and the huge power of the explosives and medicine packs blew the gate to pieces, and without the blocking of the gate, the officers and soldiers of the first battalion rushed into Qingshipu Town with a shout.

Huang Guizhong stood on the attack position, watching the situation of the troops expressionlessly, until Zhou Ren led the troops to rush into Qingshipu Town, Huang Guizhong breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time Huang Guizhong also felt that the attack was too easy, and the troops only charged and entered the town. Next, Huang Guizhong ordered the 2nd Battalion to also enter the town, assist the 1st Battalion to occupy the town, and clean up the battlefield to prepare for the arrival of the military seat and the New Fourth Army.