Dawn on November 3 was the day of the long-awaited League of Nations meeting. Under the command of Yanagawa Heisuke, the newly formed 10th Army was escorted by the fleet to make a sudden landing at Caojing Town, Quangongting, Jinsiniang Bridge and other places near Jinshanwei in Hangzhou Bay, outflanking the southern part of the defense line of the Songhu Squadron. This was two days earlier than the original history, mainly because Jin Zhao bombed Tokyo, which made the official axe give the order to reinforce Shanghai in advance.

Because Lao Chiang always believed that the army was attacking the front of Shanghai with all its might, there would be no possibility of landing from Hangzhou Bay, so when the fighting became fierce and the source of troops was exhausted, the troops defending Hangzhou Bay were thrown into the front battlefield one by one, and by the time the army landed, on the coastline of several tens of kilometers long from Quangongting to Zhapu on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay, there were only two infantry companies of Tao Guang's 62nd Division, six companies of the two regiments of the second artillery brigade, and a few local armed defenses. There was neither heavy artillery nor decent fortifications, and in the face of more than 100,000 well-equipped Yuben new forces, the results can be imagined.

After the successful landing, the Shanghai Dispatch Army and the 10th Army were combined to form the Central China Front, under the unified command of Matsui Ishine, and the base camp stipulated that its combat area was east of the line connecting Suzhou and Jiaxing, and the task was to dampen the enemy's will to fight, obtain a place for the purpose of ending the battle, and coordinate with the navy to destroy the enemy near Shanghai. The 17th and 18th Divisions rushed to the Songjiang and Shanghai-Hangzhou railways respectively according to the pre-deployment.

When Lao Jiang learned the news that the Yue army had landed in Jinshanwei, he couldn't help but be surprised. Chen Cheng, the former enemy commander of the Songhu battlefield, was immediately ordered to deal with the situation, and Chen Cheng urgently ordered the 67th Army of Wu Keren of the Northeast Army of the Right Wing Army to reinforce Songjiang. As everyone knows, this army had just been transferred from northern Henan, and before it could complete its assembly near Songjiang, it encountered a fierce attack by the Japanese army, and fought hard for three days and three nights, but failed to retreat from the enemy.

On the night of November 6, the army broke into Songjiang City from the east, south and west with strong firepower, and the defenders died, Wu Keren led the remnants of the army to defend the west gate, fought to the death without retreating, and finally died heroically at the age of 43. The 67th Army was completely annihilated, and the army occupied Songjiang. Immediately, the troops were divided into two routes, one along the east bank of Taihu Lake, through Zhejiang and Anhui to Nanjing, and the main force pointed to Fengjing Town, Jiaxing, and Pingwang. 7. Cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway and highway.

At the same time, the 15th Division successfully landed at Baimaokou in Taicang, Jiangsu, and the advance was directed at the Beijing-Shanghai railway and highway, forming a trend of convergence. After the six divisions of the Yue Army on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek crossed the Suzhou Creek on 31 October, they quickly approached the two landing armies, and the 700,000 Chinese troops in the Songhu area suddenly fell into a dangerous situation. At this time, the Nanjing Command Headquarters and the various high-level command headquarters on the Songhu battlefield were already in chaos, and there were disputes over whether to withdraw or defend.

Therefore, Lao Chiang no longer insisted, and on the evening of November 8, he ordered a complete retreat, and all troops withdrew from the battle in Shanghai, and retreated to Nanjing, Suzhou, and the area west of Jiaxing by two routes. Due to the haste of orders and the loss of control of the command, the result of the great retreat turned into a full-scale rout, and the troops were completely out of order and fell into extreme disorder.

At this time, Jin Zhao led the leading troops to Quzhou and had just arrived in Quzhou, and was shocked when he heard the news, and on the one hand ordered the troops to speed up the march and move north quickly, and on the other hand, he ordered the Fujian Air Force to do its best to cover the retreat of the troops in the Songhu area, and on the other hand, he ordered Zhang Junsong to stabilize his position, retreat in an orderly manner, and minimize the losses of the troops. Due to the cover of the Fujian Air Force, the military planes were not so rampant in Shanghai at this time, and the losses of the retreating troops were greatly reduced.

However, the ground troops of the Yue Army pursued them relentlessly, and they captured all the towns in Shanghai one by one. Originally, the Huaxia army planned to withdraw to the Wufu line, Xicheng line, Zhajia line, and Haijia line, relying on the original strong national defense fortifications, to make lasting resistance, but when the troops entered the fortifications, they found that the concrete could be crushed by hand, the machine gun firing ports were as large as doors and windows, there were no communication trenches between the various pillboxes, and half of the more than 300 machine gun bunkers built were unavailable.

Since the 9th, the army repelled the scattered resistance of the squadron and occupied Hongqiao Airport, Longhua, Fengjing, and Qingpu. On the 11th, the army advanced to the bank of the Suzhou Creek, and the troops in Nanshi and Pudong who were responsible for the covering task were ordered to withdraw from their positions. On that day, Shanghai Mayor Yu Hongjun issued a letter to the citizens, bitterly announcing the fall of Shanghai, the largest metropolis in the Far East.

On November 12, the Nationalist Political Axe issued a statement to all the compatriots in Shanghai: Soldiers from all over the country, hearing the righteousness of the people, are going to the difficulty, the day is coming, they are on the front line with their flesh and blood, they have built trenches, there is no retreat, the position is reduced to ashes, the military heart is still as strong as iron stone, the courage of the battle, and the fierceness of the death are enough to show the spirit of the national reading power and lay the foundation for the rejuvenation of China. ……

But in the final analysis, the Battle of Songhu was still lost, and it was a fiasco! In this battle, Huaxia successively invested more than 70 divisions and more than 700,000 troops, and fought fiercely with the Yue army in the Songhu area for three months, and finally ended in failure, and the casualties of the Chinese army in this battle amounted to 2.78 million, and the Yue army did not take much advantage, and the Yue side publicly announced that more than 40,000 people were killed and wounded, and its actual casualties reached more than 100,000. (All the numbers were casualties, not deaths!) ）

After the fall of Shanghai, the army was directed at Nanjing, and Lao Chiang hurriedly held an emergency military meeting in Nanjing to discuss the defense of Nanjing, and Jin Zhao was also invited to Nanjing to attend the meeting.

At the meeting, Lao Chiang asked the generals about their views on the defense of Nanjing, and neither Li Zongren nor Bai Chongxi advocated holding Nanjing from a military point of view.

Lao Jiang couldn't help but be sullen, and said very angrily, "Nanjing is the capital of the political axe, and it is also the location of the prime minister's mausoleum. Who volunteered to defend Nanjing? ”

As soon as Lao Jiang's words fell, the venue immediately fell into silence, and everyone present was not stupid, they all knew that Nanjing was no longer in danger to defend, and no one was willing to take over this hot potato, because no one wanted to bear the stain of losing the national capital, which would be very unfavorable to their political future.

Jin Zhao also kept silent, because Jin Zhao, who was familiar with this history, knew that someone would take the initiative to stand up at this time. It's not that Jin Zhao doesn't want to take on this task, but Jin Zhao is worried that even if he takes the initiative to defend Nanjing, Lao Jiang may not agree. And even if Lao Jiang reluctantly agreed, would Jin Zhao be able to command the hundreds of thousands of ** elites near Nanjing? Most of these troops are Lao Jiang's descendants, and the generals of the troops are some of Jin Zhao's old seniors, and even teachers of the Whampoa Military Academy, Jin Zhao is not sure to command these proud generals, rather than trouble at that time, it is better to give Tang Shengzhi command, Tang Shengzhi is a first-class general, with old qualifications and high military rank, plus the Shang Fang sword given by Lao Jiang, he can command the elite of the Central Army, and he only needs to help from the side. As for the honor of guarding Nanjing, even if it is given to Tang Shengzhi, Jin Zhao is here to kill devils, not to fight for fame and fortune!

Sure enough, after a while, seeing that no one took the initiative to stand up, Lao Jiang's face became even more ugly. At this time, a fine light flashed in Tang Shengzhi's eyes, and he seemed to see a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of hope for a comeback. I saw Tang Shengzhi stand up suddenly, and shouted, "Now the enemy is approaching the capital." The capital is the location of the mausoleum of the father of the nation, and at this time of great enemy, if Nanjing does not sacrifice one or two generals, we are not particularly sorry for the prime minister's spirit in heaven, and even more sorry for our supreme commander. I advocate defending Nanjing to the death and fighting the enemy to the end! Tang Shengzhi's big words are exactly the time when the enemy is in crisis, and he has a great momentum of righteousness and awe-inspiring.

When Lao Jiang heard this, he was overjoyed, and immediately appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, and ordered the garrison headquarters to be formed immediately to prepare for the defense of Nanjing.

Tang Shengzhi was overjoyed, and immediately assured loudly, "I will go all out to guard Nanjing, guard the prime minister's mausoleum, and swear to live and die together in Nanjing!" ”

Lao Jiang was even happier when he heard this, and he also showed a rare smile. At this time, Jin Zhao saw that today's pig's feet had finished performing, so he stood up and said, "Principal! The 100,000-strong army of the students had already arrived at the front line of Hangzhou, and the students were willing to assist General Tang in jointly defending Nanjing and ensuring the safety of the battlefield south of Nanjing. ”

At this time, Lao Jiang was very happy, and it was much more pleasing to the eye when he saw Jin Zhao, so he said with a smile, "Meng Bo deserves to be my good student!" Jin Zhao was appointed as the deputy commander of the Nanjing garrison and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy on the southern front, responsible for commanding all the armies on the southern front, blocking the Yuekou, and ensuring the southern gateway of Nanjing! ”

"Thank you, Principal! After all, students go to the soup and go to the fire, and they don't give up! Swear to defend the city of Nanjing, and if you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent! Jin Zhao said with a grateful expression.

"Good! Well said! If you don't succeed, you will be a benevolent! Lao Jiang stood up and said loudly, "If all the officers and men of my army have this determination to become benevolent, how can I let the three islands of the Japanese invaders bully me to such an extent!" Saying that, Lao Jiang's eyes glanced at the senior generals present, and everyone couldn't help but bow their heads in shame when they met Lao Jiang's gaze.

Li Zongren felt that Tang Shengzhi had Zhang Suiyang's teeth and bleeding, and he was very disapproving. After the meeting, Li Zongren walked up to Tang Shengzhi and gave a sarcastic thumbs up, and said to Tang Shengzhi: "Brother Meng Xiao, you are really amazing!" Tang sneered: "Duke De, the war has evolved to this point, and we still refuse to do it, and we are too sorry for the country!" ”

Li Zongren left without interest, and then Jin Zhao walked over, "Commander Tang, don't worry, as long as I, Jin Zhao, still have a breath of air, the little devil on the southern line, don't think that one person will rush to the city of Nanjing!" ”

Tang Shengzhi and Jin Zhao had no friendship at all, and Tang Shengzhi didn't expect Jin Zhao to take the initiative to help him. Although Jin Zhao was young, Tang Shengzhi did not dare to underestimate this young man who had just turned thirty years old, because this person had hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands, and he was one of the most powerful warlords in the country that year, and his strength was definitely not worse than Zhang Xueliang back then! (To be continued.) )