He Zhengliang's words made Bai Liang's heart move, but Bai Liang turned his head and thought about it again, but still shook his head. At this time, the guns and cannons outside the house were more violent, and even the dust on the roof was shaken. In the house, He Zhengliang looked at Bai Liang anxiously. Although the two of them are both brigade commanders, Bai Liang is the confidant of the division commander Liu Ruzhai, and the strength of the 109th Brigade is above the 108th Brigade, so whether to defend or withdraw also requires Bai Liang to get an idea.

Just when Bai Liang was still uncertain, the phone in the room rang again. Bai Liang grabbed the phone, and the shout of the regiment commander just now came from the receiver: "Brigade seat, the communist army has broken through our position, and the position is about to be undefended, please order our regiment to withdraw to the town!" Bai Liang was about to answer, and there was a burst of gunfire from the receiver, followed by a shout of "Surrender the gun and don't kill!"

The earpiece slipped from Bai Liang's hand and fell to the table, Bai Liang said to himself a little sluggishly: "The position outside the town is over, and one of my regiments is also finished!" He Zhengliang looked at Bai Liang and said in a deep voice: "Brigade Commander Bai, you can't do anything, let's withdraw!" Bai Liang was woken up by He Zhengliang's shout, and replied: "Withdraw, the Ninety Army is too strong, one of my regiments has not lasted more than two hours with the defense of the position, how can this battle be fought?"

Outside Baishapu Town, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Independent Regiment captured the position outside Baishapu Town in only one hour by virtue of their strong support firepower and strong individual quality, as well as good coordination and cooperation between them. More than 200 officers and men, including the commander of a regiment and company of the Sichuan Army, were captured, and medical personnel were treating the lightly and seriously wounded on both sides.

At this time, both sides stopped shooting, and Wang Haitao was here because he had to clean up the battlefield and make some preparations for attacking Baishapu Town. The Sichuan army was there because the Sichuan officers and soldiers on the wall saw that the medical staff on the position outside the wall were rescuing the wounded regardless of each other, so they stopped shooting so as not to cause misunderstanding. As soon as the position of the Independent Regiment was cleared and was about to continue the attack on Baishapu Town, an officer of the Sichuan Army with a white flag ran out of the town.

The Sichuan officer walked to the position and said a few words to the soldiers who were watching him vigilantly, and one of the soldiers led him towards Huang Guizhong. The officer came to Huang Guizhong and saluted and said: "I am Xie Guosheng, a staff officer of the 109th Brigade of the 148th Division. ”

Huang Guizhong knew that the military seat did not want to meet with the swords and soldiers of the Sichuan army on the battlefield, so he took this Xie staff officer to meet Wang Haitao. As soon as Xie Guosheng saw Wang Haitao, he immediately stood up and saluted, and said: "Xie Guosheng, the staff officer of the 109th Brigade of the 148th Division, has seen Commander Wang. At this time, although Wang Haitao was still wearing the uniform of a major in the national army, the momentum of the superior and the star-like posture of the people around him had already made Xie Guosheng recognize Wang Haitao's identity.

Wang Haitao returned the military salute and did not speak, just stared at Xie Guosheng. Xie Guosheng was under Wang Haitao's gaze, and his heart was full of nervousness. Xie Guosheng said to Wang Haitao: "Commander Wang, our Brigade Commander Bai asked me to bring you a message, we are willing to withdraw from Baishapu Town and let your army and the New Fourth Army pass, but I just hope that Commander Wang will not chase and kill us for the sake of the national army." ”

Hearing this, Wang Haitao smiled and said: "They are all Chinese soldiers, I don't want to fight in the same room on the battlefield, you go back and tell your brigade commander, as long as your army does not block our way, I will never use force against your army." Your army does not have to withdraw from Baishapu Town, our army will pass outside the town and will not enter the town. Xie Guosheng said happily: "I will definitely bring Commander Wang's words to our Brigade Commander Bai." ”

After Xie Guosheng left, Wang Haitao ordered a ceasefire, and the whole army prepared to pass through Baishapu Town and continue to advance towards Wusha Town. Half an hour later, all the Sichuan troops on the wall of Baishapu Town withdrew, and there was no danger on the surface of the entire Baishapu Town, and the main force of the New Fourth Army also drove here. As long as Guichi's Sichuan army is no longer blocked, it won't take much time to get from Baishapu Town to Wusha Town.

Wang Haitao sent a reconnaissance company to quickly advance to Wusha Town, and immediately after arriving at Wusha Town, he looked for a ferry boat to prepare for the New Fourth Army to cross the river later. Then, two reconnaissance groups from the Independent Regiment were drawn and led the second detachment of the Second Column as the front force to advance towards Wusha Town. He and his subordinates were cut off for the New Fourth Army. The non-combat units of the New Fourth Army were also very tired after a long day of forced marching, but when they heard that they were not far from the place where they crossed the river, they mustered up their strength and continued to walk forward.

Wang Haitao did not release the captured Sichuan officers and soldiers until all the New Fourth Army passed through Baishapu Town, and then led his men to advance to Wusha Town. At ten o'clock in the evening, Wang Haitao led his men to the outside of Wusha Town, and at this time the small Wusha Town was already full of soldiers. Wang Haitao had the Independent Regiment stationed outside the town, and then went to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army with a few guards.

After questioning a few soldiers, Wang Haitao came to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, and the military department temporarily requisitioned a school, and in a room in the center, Wang Haitao saw Ye Ting, Chen Yi and others. As soon as Commander Ye Ting saw Wang Haitao, he greeted him with a smile and said, "General Wang, I am fortunate to have your cover all the way, otherwise our army will have to pay a lot of price to rush over." ”

Wang Haitao replied with a smile: "Commander Ye's words are out of sight. By the way, how are the preparations for crossing the Yangtze River? Have the Fourth Columns been contacted?" Ye Ting listened to Wang Haitao's question, the smile on his face receded, and he said with a heavy face: "General Wang, the situation is not very good, according to the reports of the people below, due to the blockade of the Yangtze River by the Japanese army, only a few small boats have been found, and if you want to cross the Yangtze River with these few small boats, I am afraid that it will take too much time." Moreover, there were Japanese warships patrolling the river during the day, and we could only cross the river at night. ”

Wang Haitao was also a little anxious when he heard Ye Ting say this, and asked: "If you want to let all the troops cross the Yangtze River overnight, how many boats will you use?" Chen Yi took over and replied: "General Wang, we have calculated, if one boat can seat thirty people at a time, then if you want to cross the river overnight, you will need at least fifty boats." ”

Wang Haitao was shocked and said: "Do you want to use so many boats?" Ye Ting replied: "Yes, Comrade Chen Yi's words are right, we not only have more than 10,000 soldiers, but also a large number of supplies and wounded and sick people to cross the river, and fifty boats are not too many!" Wang Haitao couldn't say anything good at this time. Just when everyone in the house was silent, a voice came from the door: "Report!"

Ye Ting was shocked by the sound and shouted: "Come in!" A soldier came in at the door, saluted everyone in the house, and said: "Report to the army commander, there is information from the reconnaissance unit that the 40th, 79th, and 108th divisions of the Kuomintang army have been killed in the direction of Guichi under the command of Shangguan Yunxiang, deputy commander of the third theater, and the 144th Division and the 7th Division of the 50th Army are also advancing towards our army from the north and south. ”

The soldier retreated, and the atmosphere in the room became even more depressing. After a while, Wang Haitao said: "Commander Ye, you can't delay any longer, you can organize the troops to cross the river overnight with the few boats you find." After dawn tomorrow, we will send troops to intensify the search and try to find more ships to come out. It's up to us to stop it. ”

Ye Ting said movingly: "The Kuomintang army has five or six divisions, and you only have a few thousand people in your hands, how can you stop it?" Wang Haitao thought for a while and replied: "I can block it for two days with all my might, and you must cross the river within two days, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable." Ye Ting knew what price Wang Haitao would pay if he wanted to block the enemy for two days with thousands of people in his hands, so he couldn't help but hold Wang Haitao's hand excitedly and said: "General Wang, I won't say much about gratitude, we will never forget everything you have done for us!"

Wang Haitao came out of the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, and without taking a break, he immediately came to the station of the independent regiment and told Huang Guizhong, Zhou Kui, and others about the current situation. As soon as Huang Guizhong and the others heard that they were going to block the five divisions of the national army here for two days, they also fell silent. Seeing this scene, Wang Haitao said cheerfully: "The national army is only five divisions, and the two Sichuan army divisions have extremely poor combat effectiveness, and only three divisions of the Central Army can fight a little.

Huang Guizhong said: "We will do whatever the military seat says, and we will never fall into the prestige of the 90 th Army!" Seeing that everyone's morale has risen, Wang Haitao said: "Okay! Let those Central Army see the prestige of our 90 th Army!" I ordered the Independent Regiment and the Jing County Security Regiment to rush to repair their defensive positions outside Wusha Town overnight. The three divisions of the Central Army will not be here until one day at the earliest, and we must use this day and night to rush out of a solid defensive position. ”

Huang Guizhong and others took the order out, and each assembled his team to convey Wang Haitao's order. Soon, a suitable position was found five kilometers outside Wusha Town, and thousands of officers and soldiers waved their tools and began to repair the position. Ye Ting learned that Wang Haitao commanded the troops to repair the defensive position overnight, and also sent thousands of officers and soldiers to assist Wang Haitao and them in repairing the position together.

Fighting defensive warfare is exactly what the 90th Army is good at, Wang Haitao was worried that the independent regiment was not good at building defensive positions, but after observing for a while, he found that the independent regiment was also very proficient in the construction of defensive positions, and it was no worse than several main divisions in his own hands.

Nearly 10,000 people rushed to repair their positions at a very fast pace, and by dawn, an arc-shaped position with a total length of three kilometers had begun to take shape. This is also because the soldiers are very strict about the construction of the position, otherwise the repair will be faster. The three-kilometer-long position is already the limit, and if it is lengthened, as soon as the soldiers in Wang Haitao's hands are distributed, the strength of the guards on the position will be too thin.

However, if the Nationalist troops could not destroy Wang Haitao's troops, they would not dare to cross their positions to attack the New Fourth Army on the riverside, otherwise Wang Haitao's troops would be completely likely to strike at the troops attacking the New Fourth Army from behind, so that the Nationalist Army would be attacked from both sides, and no matter how numerous they were, they would have to be defeated. Wang Haitao expected that Shangguan Yunxiang, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, would not be so bold.