Sappers erected bridges, and more than 500 Japanese infantry carried ladders and crossed the bridge in an attempt to attack the city.

The officers and soldiers of the Nationalist Army, who had already been prepared, held glass bottles full of gasoline in their hands and threw them at the attacking Japanese troops.

The glass bottle touched the stone on the ground, shattered with a click, and the filled gasoline was swayed freely, everywhere, and some Japanese soldiers knew that the pungent smell of gasoline was not good, and yelled, but it was too late.

The national army on the city wall was already ready, some soldiers threw glass bottles full of gasoline, others used light and heavy machine gun fire, grenades smashed the Japanese soldiers, the explosion of the grenade detonated the gasoline in the gasoline bottle, but at this time the wind blew again, the fire with the help of the wind, rolled up several feet high.

The Japanese troops besieging the city were caught off guard and retreated one after another, and there were still a large number of Japanese soldiers who were swept up by the burning flames and rolled all over the ground, and some Japanese soldiers who were contaminated with gasoline were even burned to charcoal.

"Hit! Don't let them run, artillery, blow up their bridge for Lao Tzu! ”

Chen Jiding gave the order again.

Several mortars aimed at the rudimentary bridge erected by the Japanese sappers, and after a few shells, the bridge erected by the Japanese sappers was completely destroyed, and the attacking Japanese army was completely helpless.

The national troops on the city wall became more and more courageous, sparing no bullets, pulling the bolt and pulling the trigger, and some did not even take aim, and the Japanese troops under the city wall were like live targets, let them hit.

This battle can be described as beautiful and relieving.

It severely frustrated the spirit of the Japanese army, especially when he went to the front line to supervise the battle in person, his face was as ugly as eating.

In the few days that the devil has been attacking with a face, the results are not great, and he is already like a gambler with a red eye at this moment. On December 9, the Japanese shelled like crazy for a whole day, and in the midst of artillery fire, sappers built bridges, and Japanese infantry charged with tanks.

The city gate was beaten into a honeycomb shape, and the enemy even put the cannon barrel into the hole to design into the city, while the Chinese soldiers carried wooden planks and blocked the hole against the attack of the Japanese devils, and at the same time, the soldiers of the national army on the city wall were also completely killed with red eyes, grenades, bullets tilted towards the Japanese army as if they did not need money, and in just half a day's effort, some of the soldiers' grenades and bullets were gone.

While supplies were still on the way, they used the stones falling from the shattered walls to smash the Japanese soldiers.

The battle was fought very hard, and the casualties on both sides were very heavy.

But Guanghuamen was still firmly in the hands of the national army.

On December 10, Commander Tang transferred the 156th Division under the command of Chen Jiding.

When the reinforcements of the Nationalist army arrived, the Japanese army also began to adjust its strategy and change its deployment, first of all, to increase the degree of air raids on Guanghuamen, and every day more than 20 Japanese planes hovered over the Guanghuamen city wall to shell and strafe the positions of the Nationalist troops in Guanghuamen.

The Japanese tanks were also erected directly opposite the city wall, firing at the city wall, which was already riddled with holes, and the situation became more and more unfavorable for the defenders of the Guanghuamen National Army.

Chen Jiding saw it in his eyes, his heart was anxious, and he began to think seriously about how to keep Guanghua Gate.

He suddenly remembered a sentence he had written in "The Art of War: Military Struggle": It is the old vigor and vigor, and it is lazy to return.

No matter how powerful an enemy is, there are weaknesses.

As long as the weak point of the Japanese army is found and struck hard, it will definitely not be able to hold on.

So where is the weakness of the Japanese army?

After repeated pondering, he vaguely grasped a line, the Japanese army fought in China, a foreign country, unfamiliar with the terrain, therefore, the Japanese army only dared to attack during the day, generally did not go out at night, most of them retreated to the garrison to rest.

Thinking of this, Chen Jiding's eyes lit up, "Blind defense is not advisable, we should also take the initiative!" ”

He immediately called a meeting of the group headquarters, and after careful study with several regiment commanders, he decided to send two battalions of troops at night, the left flank from Guanghua Gate and Tongji Gate, and the right flank from Guanghua Gate and Zhongshan Gate, secretly crossing the moat, and attacking the Japanese garrison from both flanks at night.

During the day, it was the world of the Japanese army, their planes were rampant, and heavy artillery was neighing.

But at night, the entire Guanghuamen city wall fell into silence.

As time goes by, the night gets thicker and the weather gets colder and colder.

After a tiring day, the Japanese army wanted to sleep peacefully, had dinner, and rested early.

But two troops, taking advantage of the darkness, quietly passed through the crack in the open gate of the city, crossed the moat, and disappeared into the deep night.

Chen Jiding didn't feel sleepy, put on his coat, came to the city wall, held a telescope in his hand, and looked at the dark night in the distance.

For about half an hour or so, the right side was the first to sound, like a firecracker, the gunfire echoed violently, followed by the roar of grenades, and the sound of gunshots and grenades began to sound on the left side, a huge explosion, together with the gunfire of fried beans, connected together.

The battle lasted until midnight, when the two battalions returned, and the sneak attack was quite successful, and the Japanese troops were beaten into a ball and did not dare to come out to meet them.

The Japanese army suffered a lot at Guanghuamen, and the attack for several days in a row suffered huge casualties, and the two sides were like being pulled and pulled, the Japanese army attacked during the day and the national army attacked at night, so that neither side could get much advantage.

Purple Mountain.

Among the scenic spots in China, the popularity of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum of the Purple Mountain is the most vigorous, especially since Jiang Bingkun, Lian Zhan and Song Chuyu respectively led a group to visit the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the number of visitors to the Purple Mountain Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum has increased sharply, reaching at least about 10,000 people every day.

The Purple Mountain, the mountains are majestic, the forests are vast, and the scenery is picturesque.

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, solemn, majestic and magnificent, like a bright pearl, inlaid in a blue wave in the east of Jinling City.

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is the resting place of Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun has a very deep affection for Jinling, he once left a message on his deathbed: "After my death, I can be buried in Jinling Purple Mountain, because Jinling is the place where the provisional government was established, so we must not forget the Xinhai Revolution." ”

In addition to remembering Mr. Sun, the people of Jinling revere the Purple Mountain and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, but also miss the 5,000 warriors who died in the Chinese army fighting against the Japanese invaders in the Purple Mountain and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

Gui Yongqing, born in the first phase of Huangpu, made meritorious contributions in the Anti-Japanese War, plus his official fortune, and finally rose to the commander of the navy, a first-class army general, and one of Chiang's 'Thirteen Taibao'. As early as the Whampoa period, during the first Eastern Crusade, the Whampoa Military Academy repeatedly ordered that it was not allowed to intrude on the people, and all the seizures should be credited.

However, Gui Yongqing did not buy this account, and during a battle, he secretly hid the captured watches, gold ingots, high-end cameras and other trophies, and was discovered.

Chiang was furious and ordered that the daredevils be immediately imprisoned and executed in the future.

Zhou Nianqi, who was also the director of the Political Department, was a first-time offender, and personally wrote a letter to the magistrate of Xingning County, Dongguang, pleading for mercy, but Jiang Cai kept people under the knife and released Gui Yongqing.

In 1937, when the August 13 Incident in Shanghai and the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Gui Yongqing was still studying at the Royal Military Academy of the United Kingdom.

Chiang ordered him to serve as the Central Teaching Corps and go to Shanghai to fight.

After the Battle of Songhu, he repeatedly asked Chiang to fight, asking him to serve in the hardest battle in the defense of Jinling.

When Chiang left Jinling, he took a special car to Gui Yongqing's command post in Fugui Mountain, found Gui Yongqing, and said to him: "The current situation is not optimistic, but in the end we can win the battle, our anti-Japanese war tactics must be offensive as defense, near as far, and positive and enterprising actions to achieve the goal of destroying the enemy. ”

Jiang came to Gui Yongqing and sat down beside him, and continued: "The battlefield mainly relies on infantry, the enemy's infantry is not as brave as us, the number is not as good as ours, in terms of long-term strategy, we have gone through dozens of battles, consumed its sharpness and strength, and the final victory must be Chinese, you must have confidence and be calm." There will be some hardships and sacrifices in front of us. I hope you can leave a mark in the history of the Anti-Japanese War in defending the capital. ”

Gui Yongqing's whole body was full of blood, and he swore and said: "Principal, I remember your words, I know that the country is at a critical juncture of life and death, I don't have any grandiose words, only the courage and loyalty and enthusiasm of worrying about the country and the people, I am not afraid of sacrifice, I want to use my hard work and sweat to contribute to my people." ”

Jiang was quite satisfied with Gui Yongqing's words, and said, "What I want is your brave and loyal!" ”

Under Gui Yongqing's command, in addition to six infantry regiments, there were also artillery regiments, cavalry regiments, engineer regiments, and baggage regiments, totaling more than 40,000 people.

In terms of equipment and establishment, it surpasses the strength of an army, and in the Jinling garrison service, there is no other corps of troops and numbers, which can be compared.

The Central Teaching Corps was Chiang's 'watchdog', and when Chiang was able to leave this 'watchdog' to defend Jinling during the critical period, it can be seen that Chiang's sincerity in the war of resistance.

Gui Yongqing deployed the corps in Xishan, the Engineer School, the Purple Mountain, the fork in the road, Weigang, Zhongshanmen, Gangzi Village, Taipingmen, and other places.

After the mistake was in place, he asked to hurry up and repair the pillboxes and fortifications and prepare sufficient ammunition.

Gui Yongqing, who studied at the Royal Military Academy in the United Kingdom, had extremely strict requirements for fortifications, at least half of the people were deep, it was safe to bend over and walk, and the fortifications should be connected to each other, there should be places to eat and rest, and ideological and material preparations for long-term battles should be made.

Even in modern times, Purple Mountain, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Zixia Lake, Qianhu Lake and other places, in the dense forest, still preserve the bunker fortifications of the year.

Gui Yongqing also gathered the officers above the battalion level in the square of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and he first instructed everyone to sing two songs, one was "My Home is on the Songhua River in Northeast China" and the other was "Song of Salvation." Then, he said to the group: "We are singing these two songs in front of Mr. Sun's mausoleum today, and the significance is extraordinary. Our War of Resistance is only the beginning, and we must carry it through to the end with Mr. Sun's revolutionary spirit. Tomorrow, we are going to war, don't be afraid, the devils are nothing remarkable, what is slightly stronger than us is the plane. ”

The cold wind blew through the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, blowing the grass and trees to shake.

Gui Yongqing wore a military coat, tightened the clothes on his body, and continued: "The plane is only an external force, and the final victory or defeat is determined by fighting bayonets, there are many factors to win the war, and the spirit takes the first place, we must cheer up and never give up if we do not defeat the Japanese devils!" ”

The opponent of the Central Supervision Team was the 16th Division of Japanese Army Lieutenant General Nakajima Imasago Shogo, a first-class division, equipped with a large number of armored units, heavy artillery and aircraft.

Nakajima's purpose was to sweep away the Chinese army in the Purple Mountains area and open a bloody road to the Jinling Zhongshan Gate or Taiping Gate. At Zhongshan Gate, the Japanese attack hit a wall because they wanted to open a road from other directions, and this road was the Purple Mountain.

Nakajima found out that the first obstacle that affected his division's attack on Jinling was a low hill south of the Purple Mountain, called Hongmao Mountain, which was the first battle in the direction of the Purple Mountain.

A battalion of the Central Teaching Corps for the defense of Hongmao Mountain, the battalion commander Zhou Shiquan, a native of Huanggang, Hubei, is not tall and looks quite shrewd. He was not very talkative, and he was the most ruthless when others said big things, and according to the general equipment of the Japanese army and the law of fighting defensive warfare, he put the whole battalion in chaos, and divided the whole battalion into three detachments: sniping, demolition, and counterattack, each with a different task.

The task of sniping is to block, block the enemy, and contain the enemy's attack.

Demolition, as the name suggests, blasts important targets of the Japanese army, such as firing points, tanks, armored vehicles, and so on.

The counterattack force, which is also very simple, is equivalent to a reserve, once the position is lost, the counterattack force is needed to counterattack the Japanese army that occupies the position.

In the early morning of December 8, frost fell sharply and the fog was hazy. The morning glow appeared in the east, and the smoke ran on the rooftops of the village, and the land was in a state of peace and tranquility.

It was about seven o'clock.

Suddenly, there was a rushed, sharp sound of rubbing the air, followed by a huge explosion of cannonballs that cut through the peaceful and tranquil divisions, and Hongmao Mountain was blown up by the sudden cannonballs.

Zhou Shiquan, the commander of the garrison battalion, judged from experience that the enemy's infantry would definitely appear after the shelling, and ordered all officers and men to hide in the fortifications and stand by, and not to be exposed without permission.

The Japanese shelling lasted for 20 minutes, and as soon as the shelling stopped, a tank team drove from the southeast road, followed by a group of Japanese soldiers with bayonets.

Zhou Shiquan thought about how to deal with this attacking enemy, he thought, if the demolition detachment was allowed to hit the tank from the front, it would be easy for the tankers to find and be hit, and the Japanese infantry behind the tank was not vegetarian.

If the sniper detachment had been allowed to hit the infantry first, and the infantry had tanks in front of it as cover, perhaps not a single infantry would have been able to wipe it out.

(End of chapter)