Xu Zuyi said in a solemn tone: "The overall trend is under planning and control, but the Japanese army seems to have sensed the danger!" Not only did the four Japanese divisions of the North China Front intensify their attacks on Tengxian, Feixian, Yishui, and other places, but the Central China Front also intensified its attacks, putting tremendous pressure on our southern defense line! Moreover, there are also signs that the Japanese army is mobilizing a new division and preparing to go to the Longhai line from the Dongtai and Yancheng lines, in an attempt to encircle and annihilate our main force in the Xuzhou area!

If we don't hurry up and grab the fighter plane to eat the Japanese army in the Taierzhuang area in one go, we are very likely to be surrounded by the Japanese army! After a pause, Xu Zuyi said worriedly: "In the face of the strong frontal pressure of the Japanese army, Jiang Qiang has sent more than 40,000 elite troops to help Linyi, Feixian, Tengxian and Taierzhuang, I think this is already the limit of what he can bear!" So you can't count on him too much, if there are still people making small calculations at this time, if they want to kill two birds with one stone, I'm afraid there will be unimaginable catastrophic consequences! ”

Xu Zuyi couldn't say a lot of things: At present, the Fifth War Zone and the little devils are basically "miscellaneous troops", and the central descendants are basically in a state of readiness! "What Brother Yan Mou said is extremely true! Now the situation is pressing, and the fighter plane is fleeting! At the latest, the day after tomorrow, we have to launch a general attack no matter what! ”

Li Zongren naturally understood the implication of Xu Zuyi's words, the Jiaodong Group Army under Jiang Qiang was so powerful that not only the Japanese regarded it as a big problem, but even the highest authorities were a little restless! But Li Zongren is very clear about Jiang Qiang's temperament: it is okay to shed blood and sacrifice to defend the family and the country, but Jiang Qiang will never be stupid to be cannon fodder, if someone behind him is stabbing a knife to make small movements, Jiang Qiang can do anything!

Therefore, Li Zongren couldn't use the same method as other generals, and directly used military orders to let Jiang Qiang defend his position and fight to the last soldier! Li Zongren and Jiang Qiang have not met yet, but there is a wonderful tacit understanding between the two, and Li Zongren really doesn't want to destroy this tacit understanding unless it is absolutely necessary!

After nightfall, Jiang Qiang, Huzi, Gu Liangmin, Kong Xiangsheng and others took advantage of the night to cross the pontoon bridge and enter Taierzhuang for condolences! "Master Gu, Head Kong! Boss, why are you here too! Salute! Xu Guangming pretended to be surprised and greeted him, his face full of smiles and pride! Total seat! "Commander Jiang!"

Wang Guanwu, Hao Cheng, Tian Chenwu and others also hurriedly saluted Jiang Qiang! "Haha, good job today! All brothers have worked hard! Everybody sit down and talk! ”

Jiang Qiang smiled and nodded to Xu Guangming, and said straight to the point after taking a seat: "But today is just the beginning, although according to the plan, it will be time to close the net in two or three days, but we must all prepare for the worst!" "Please rest assured! Not to mention two or three days, even if it is ten days and half a month, we can keep it! ”

Xu Guangming nodded confidently, war is the best experience, although the former enemy headquarters in Taierzhuang today is no danger, but it is an excellent experience for Xu Guangming! At this time, Kong Xiangsheng said with a smile: "Senior Commander Xu, the brothers have worked hard today!" Why don't you let the brothers change hands? Xu Guangming immediately waved his hand and smiled: "Where is there any hard work, the brothers are excited, now it's time to strike while the iron is hot!" "That's right! That's right! We are in good shape now, but we can't drop the chain at a critical moment! ”

"Hey, hey! We have received the heart of Head Kong! Hao Cheng and Tian Chenwu hurriedly nodded and helped, and finally got over the addiction, and at this time they were on the rise, where would they just retreat and listen to the sound of cannons on the south bank? All right! We're just here to take a look and cheer everyone on! It's not early, so rest early! Tomorrow morning, the little devils will be even crazier! ”

After chatting for more than half an hour, Jiang Qiang got up and said goodbye, this time he came to just brush the wave of existence, and by the way, he used his actions to tell Miao Dadong and others to fight in front of them with peace of mind, and everything in the back has their own pockets!

The battle hall of the Wuhan Command is brightly lit at this time! The chairman of the committee, Bai Chongxi, Chen Cheng, Gu Zhu and other high-level officials were nervously discussing the situation of the battle of Xuzhou in front of the large sand table and military map! Bai Chongxi took a wooden stick and drew a circle on the map: "At present, we have gathered more than 400,000 troops in the Xuzhou area, while the Japanese North China Front and Central China Front have nearly 300,000 troops!"

Although they were divided into two parts, the north and south, but the 5th and 20th Divisions of the Japanese Army, as well as the 10th Division of the Japanese Army, are now advancing in an all-round way against Fei County, Teng County, and Yishui County! Once the Japanese army breaks through Fei County and Teng County, then the Japanese army from the north and south will meet around Taierzhuang, and the situation will fundamentally collapse at that time! So I propose to launch a general attack as soon as possible and eat the 9th Division and the 11th Division assembled near Taierzhuang first! ”

Gu Zhutong interjected: "I don't think the best time to attack has yet been reached, the Japanese army is rushing to attack Taierzhuang, Linyi, Lianyungang and Pixian, we can take advantage of the Japanese army's eagerness to achieve success, relying on the city defense fortifications to continue to consume the Japanese army's sharp energy and vitality!" Chen Cheng nodded and said: "If you can consume two or three more days, the chances of winning will be greater, and there are now nearly 30,000 elite devil troops in the Taierzhuang area!" At this time, the general offensive began, and whether the Tangenbo army could eat such a large piece of meat in one bite was a big question! "There's nothing wrong with that! But this is too risky, and it is simply a matter of taking a fire from the fire! ”

Bai Chongxi didn't see through it, but sighed lightly: "If it weren't for Jiang Qiang's repeated increase in Teng County, Fei County and Linyi, I'm afraid the northern defense line would have been unable to withstand it!" And the Japanese devils are not stupid, in three days at most, there will be new divisions going north to reinforce them! When the time comes, if you want to cross the river again to cut off and block the Japanese army, I am afraid it will be extremely difficult! "Then let's spend two days first!" We're struggling, aren't the Japanese struggling too? If we can't defeat the Japanese in the field, then we can only use defensive warfare to attrition!

The Jiaodong Group Army has always been known for its good defense, and with their strength, they can block the Japanese North China Front! The chairman of the committee took a picture of the board after a long silence! In the Battle of Guangdong, Chairman Chiang's hard-working training of the central descendants of the troops suffered casualties, and they have not yet recovered, so he naturally does not want the Tang Enbo Army to come out and fight a field battle with the Japanese army now!

If you can let the Jiaodong Group Army, the 32nd Group Army, the Third Army Corps and the 27th Army Corps and other local troops consume more Japanese vitality! Then the 8th Army, the 27th Army, the 74th Army and other descendant troops forcibly crossed the canal to cut and intercept the Japanese army, and then the Tang Enbo Corps attacked again and ate the Japanese troops with only half a life left in one go, which was naturally the most ideal combat effect!

Woo ~ Woo ~ Woo ~ The next morning just dawned, Gaomi, Jiaoxian, Zhucheng. Taierzhuang, Linyi, Tengxian, Rizhao and other places have sounded fierce air defense sirens! It didn't take long for a large number of devil air forces to appear in the sky over Taierzhuang, Linyi, Tengxian, and Feixian! After fighting hard for more than ten days in a row, paying an extremely heavy price, but not getting the desired result, the little devils in North China and Central China began to be anxious!

Today, not only did more than 210 carrier-based planes take off from the sea, but more than 150 bombers and fighters were dispatched from Jinan Airport to bomb Linyi, Taierzhuang, Pixian, Feixian, and Tengxian at the same time. Chirp, one after another heavy bombs fell from the sky with a fierce roar, and soon exploded on the ground, the super explosion power crushed all the surrounding bricks, tiles, civil engineering and flesh and blood, and a huge area was blown to pieces!

Clouds of billowing smoke rose into the sky, and the heavy smell of gunpowder smoke mixed with the smell of blood permeated everywhere, and under such a high-intensity bombardment, not only the fortifications were seriously damaged, but also many Chinese officers and soldiers unfortunately died heroically! The air defense units of the Huaxia Tiger Army in Taierzhuang, Tengxian, Feixian, Linyi, and other places will naturally not let the Japanese aircraft group unscrupulously bomb indiscriminately!

The officers and men of the air defense units opened fire in full force against the fierce bombardment of the Japanese army, and after a bloody battle, they shot down more than 10 Japanese planes again! "Assault! Tao times change! "His Majesty the Emperor is onboard!" "Great Japanese Empire onboard!" "The Great Japanese Imperial Army is onboard!"

After the bombardment of planes and artillery, groups of imps began to attack under the cover of tank troops. The Chinese defenders on the various positions quickly entered the position, pulled the bolt to adjust the barrel, and quietly waited for the arrival of the Japanese army.

Because the Japanese army was anxious to take Taierzhuang, after conquering Liujiahu, Lancheng, Nanluo and other places, only one was left to monitor Beiluo, and they couldn't wait to attack Taierzhuang with all their might, so Beiluo, Nigou, Yixian, Zaozhuang and other places were still in the hands of the first group army! At 9:20 a.m. on March 9, Gao Hongli, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 783rd Regiment of the 91st Brigade, led his troops to the vicinity of Liujiahu when he suddenly found that there was a Japanese artillery position in a small forest three or four miles northeast of the village, and about 20 guns were frantically firing at Taierzhuang. Gao Hongli was a soldier from a peasant background, with a strong personality and brave combat. Gao Hong immediately gathered the whole battalion in the wheat field, pointed to the small pine forest, and said, "Brothers, the shells that bombed my Taierzhuang were all fired from here. I want to lead you and take back the more than ten cannons, and the majesty of the devil, do you dare? When the soldiers heard him say this, the fireball in their hearts suddenly rushed up, and they all let out a hateful roar: "Take it back!" Blow it up! ”

Gao Hongli shook off the hat on his head, took off his cotton military shirt and shirt on his upper body, threw it on the ground, held a pistol in his left hand, raised a bright knife in his right hand, and shouted at the soldiers in a thick voice: "Brothers, whoever goes with me to grab the cannon must be like me, take off your arms and rush with me, do you dare?" "Dare!" In an instant, hundreds of soldiers stripped their upper bodies, each with a big knife and eight grenades, and under the leadership of the battalion commander Gao, they rushed towards the small pine forest like a tide.

Seeing this scene, the Japanese artillery team was terrified, and while blocking the attack with rifles, the gun truck was pulled out and turned around and fled eastward. "Brothers, rush! Kill all the little devils! The officers and soldiers of the high battalion pursued frantically in a shouting of killing. At this time, more than 1,000 Japanese infantry and more than 20 tanks suddenly appeared in the north, and when they saw that their artillery was being chased by the Chinese army and ran wildly in the wheat field, the Japanese tanks immediately rushed towards the troops of the high battalion commander.

The Chinese officers and soldiers did not have the weapons to fight tanks, and they were quickly dispersed by the Japanese army, and they fought with the Japanese infantry on their own battlefields. When Wang Yubin, the commander of the 185th Regiment, heard the news, he led his battalion to rush to reinforcements, so a larger-scale hand-to-hand combat began in the wheat field. Shouts of killing, gunshots, the roar of tanks and the clashing of bayonets all mingled. The two sides fought a bloody battle for two hours, and when the brigade commander Qi Zibin came to the rescue, Regiment Commander Wang Yubin was pierced by a bullet in the thigh, Battalion Commander Gao Hongli was wounded in the head, the commanders of the first and second battalions were killed, and more than half of the officers and men below the company level of the 185th Regiment were killed.

In the bleak daylight, a large knife flashing with cold light whizzed on the devil's head, slashing the devils unable to parry, and abandoned the cannon and fled. In this extremely tragic hand-to-hand battle, although the 185th Regiment paid a huge price and more than one-third of the soldiers sacrificed, it dragged down the offensive rhythm of the Japanese army surrounding Taierzhuang and strongly supported the defense of Taierzhuang!

Teng! At dawn today, more than 13,000 people from the infantry of the Sakamoto Detachment of the 10th Division, the 39th Brigade of the 20th Division, the 28th Cavalry Wing, and the 26th Field Artillery Wing, under the cover of more than 50 tanks and more than 40 aircraft, launched another all-out attack on the first-line positions on the periphery of Tengxian County! Wang Shijun Division, Chen Lishi Division of the 47th Army of the 32nd Group Army and the 22nd Regiment of the Huaxia Huben Army bravely met the enemy with their position fortifications and launched a life-and-death battle with the Japanese army!

Due to the concentration of a large number of heavy firepower and superior forces by the Japanese army, and although the Hunan army has received a lot of replenishment of weapons, there is still a big gap in front of the elite Japanese troops armed to the teeth! However, the Hunan army has been fighting a bloody battle with the Japanese army for a whole month with its rudimentary weapons and equipment, and so far there are less than 10,000 people left in the 32nd Group Army!

If it weren't for Jiang Qiang's help, Tengxian would have fallen half a month ago, but even so the situation is not optimistic, after many days of bloody battles, the number of casualties of the troops stationed in Tengxian County of the Jiaodong Group Army reached as many as 2,000, including more than 600 killed! On March 9th, the Chinese defenders of Tengxian County and the Japanese army fought fiercely again for a whole day, except for Xiangcheng, Xiakanbu, Baishan, Huangshan and other positions before dark, the Japanese army occupied some positions, and the main frontal position of the east and west lines of Jiehe Town was still standing!

In the evening, Commander Sun arrived in Tengxian by train, and inspected the situation at various fronts, and then convened a meeting of officers at and above the regimental level to convey the order of the chairman: "At least hold on to Tengxian County for three days to delay the enemy's army, and wait for the Longhai Railway in the rear to transfer reinforcements to consolidate Xuzhou!" "The defenders of Fei County and Linyi Huaxia also struggled to support it all day!

The Pang Corps stationed in Fei County suffered heavy casualties and lost many peripheral positions, Yun Qichang used tank armored forces to launch many counter-charges with the Japanese army and launched a field tug-of-war with the Japanese army, recaptured the lost positions at a heavy price, and severely damaged the Japanese 40th Brigade! Zhang Zizhong's department in Linyi County and two infantry regiments of the Chinese Tiger Army relied on dilapidated cities and defensive positions to withstand dozens of attacks by the Japanese army, killing more than 1,200 Japanese soldiers in one day, and more than 1,600 of their own casualties!

The casualties of the 75th Army stationed in Pixian were even heavier, and the city wall had been blown down by the Japanese for several sections, and the Japanese army rushed into the city many times, and was finally driven out by the 75th Army in hand-to-hand combat. Without reinforcements, we won't survive tomorrow! "Immediately send another telegram to Tang Enbo, asking him to launch a general attack on the Japanese army in the Taierzhuang area before ten o'clock tomorrow morning!"

After reading the battle reports sent from various places, Li Zongren's expression was extremely solemn, the original plan was to launch a general attack this morning, but Tang Enbo has not replied positively under repeated urgings! "Report! Mr. Li is calling! Soon, Tang Enbo received a telegram, and after reading the telegram, he said: "Call back to Chief Li, saying that the enemy's traces have been found in the rear of our department, and the time for a decisive battle is not yet ripe!" ”

"Headquarters!" As soon as Tang Enbo's words fell, Guan Linxi, the commander of the 52nd Army, couldn't help but salute and said loudly: "General seat! Now or never! If the general seat is still unwilling to attack, I am willing to personally lead the brothers of the 52nd Army to fight to the death against the Japanese invaders! Tang Enbo glared unhappily, tried his best to suppress his anger and said, "Commander Guan, you are very excessive!" ”

"Total seat! ......" Guan Lin stiffened his neck and wanted to continue to ask for his life, but Wang Zhonglian beside him dragged him with his hand and said: "Yudong, if you can't bear it, you will make a big plan, if the location of the main force of our army is exposed in advance, it will be a big deal!"

We still have 20,000 or 30,000 Japanese troops in front of us, and now we don't have a good chance of winning the attack, even if we try our best to eat most of the devils, we will only be greatly injured! We can't let the hard work of the commission be burned again! "Alas!"

Guan Lin sighed heavily, what else could he say at this time! On the night of March 9, Jiang Qiang, out of many considerations, took advantage of the night to let the 32nd and 46th regiments that had been waiting in the rear for many days enter the city to change their defenses, and let the 5th and 29th regiments of the bloody battle for two days withdraw to the south bank to rest! The total number of casualties in the two regiments has reached more than 300, and the number of casualties is as high as more than 800.

The other two regiments have been holding back for so long, how can they have to be allowed to practice their hands, and the elite soldiers are not trained by training, but by many hard battles and bloody baptisms! Gu Liangmin and the others finally got their wish, happily crossed the pontoon bridge and entered the city in an orderly manner to change the defense, in addition to being happy and excited, but there was no fear or fear!

In order to let the two regiments quickly get started and give full play to their combat effectiveness, the 5th Regiment and the 29th Regiment also left two or three hundred elite veterans to explain the essentials of defensive warfare and tactical guidance in actual combat! "Commander Xu, Commander Hao, Commander Tian, Commander Wang, and all the defenders have worked hard! This is the condolences that the people in the rear have entrusted us to send to you! Xia Yu, Wang Hui and other news reporters also followed into the city, while sending out all kinds of condolences in their hands, while taking pictures and interviews, the scene was extremely grand and warm for a while!

"Boss, when will our tank troops be able to go out to breathe?" At this time, Zhou Hao found Jiang Qiang, and they have been waiting for news in the underground air-raid shelter in the city for the past few days! "No hurry! It depends on when they launch a general attack! ”

This time he came to Taierzhuang, Jiang Qiang brought all the tanks at home, but there were only 12 tanks, which was completely incomprehensible, so he prepared steel to use on the blade, and he would not pull them out until the decisive battle! "Alright! Let's bear with it! ”

Zhou Hao nodded, he has absolute confidence in the combat effectiveness and defense of his tanks, but it does not mean that these more than ten tanks can really be invincible, after all, there is a good saying "more ants can bite an elephant to death"!

"Report! 500 meters in front of the north gate, Japanese troops were found digging trenches! "Report! There are Japanese troops digging tunnels in front of the east gate! "Report! Simon ......"

As soon as the troops finished changing their defenses, the officers and soldiers stationed on the city wall successively discovered that the Japanese army began to dig trenches and tunnels outside the city at night! It turned out that after two days of fierce attack, the Japanese 9th Division paid a heavy price and only captured the North Railway Station, which had long been in ruins, and Taierzhuang was still impregnable!

The Japanese army came out to dig a tunnel and approached the Taierzhuang city wall from below the surface! Although it was completely dark at this time, it would be difficult to see clearly from a distance of ten meters under normal circumstances, but the Huaxia Tiger Army, which had night vision devices, could see a figure moving hundreds of meters away!

"Immediately order the artillery to carry out the bombardment and stop the Japanese from digging tunnels! Snipers are waiting for an opportunity to kill the devil! Don't let them get too close" After a little silence, Jiang Qiang decided to directly use artillery instead of sending troops to counteract!

The terrain outside the city is open, if the troops attack, it is easy to be fired by the Japanese army, and it is difficult to proportional the income and the pay, so it is better to consume more shells! Boom! Boom! Boom! The artillery units that received the order opened their guns one after another, and soon adjusted their shooting Zhuyuan, and the shells fell into the middle of the devils with great accuracy!

"Ah, no, it's been discovered!" "Help!" "Yaga! Evacuate! "Bagaya Road!"

These ordinary trenches and tunnels can't protect against shells at all, and even if they are not directly blown into the sky, they will be shattered by the violent explosion shock wave! Dozens of shells went down, not only blowing up most of the trenches and tunnels dug by the devils, but also killing and injuring the little devils inside. As soon as it was done, the Japanese army's plan to dig a tunnel and "secretly cross Chencang" was directly broken!

In order to boost morale, the Fifth Theater once again requested the Military Commission to send planes to "symbolically participate in the battle" on the Xuzhou battlefield, that is, it was not required to undertake the task of defending Xuzhou City, nor was it required to cooperate with the army in long-term operations, but only to carry out a few demonstrative bombings on the Japanese troops on the front line of Taierzhuang!

After careful consideration, the committee finally approved the request! In the early morning of March 10, the roar of aircraft motors was heard in the air near Taierzhuang. After a while, 9 Silver Eagles appeared in the blue sky. The Japanese troops on the position thought that it was their planes coming to help again, so they waved the sun flag one after another to mark the position of the Chinese army on the front line.

However, the 9 planes circled over the positions for two weeks and suddenly dived and bombed the Japanese positions. "Yaga, what's going on?" "It turned out to be a bomber of the Chinese army?" "Yaga! Call the Imperial Air Force now! Knock down all these damn Huaxia fighters! ”

The Japanese position suddenly bloomed in full bloom, thick smoke billowed out, and the Japanese army was instantly bombed, screaming and fleeing in all directions! After completing the bombing mission, the Nationalist planes flew over the defenders' positions one after another, flying low and swinging their wings to salute the brave officers and men who held their positions.

"Haha, that's great! It's our plane! "The little devil has also tasted the bitterness now!" "It's so relieving! Well played! Well played! "Air Force brothers, you are all good!" "Huaxia will win!"

The officers and men of the army jumped out of the trenches one after another, raised their guns and took off their hats and cheered, and many soldiers shed tears of excitement. Although the bombing effect was very limited, the first appearance of the Huaxia Air Force in the sky over Taierzhuang still greatly encouraged our officers and men who were holding their positions, especially the officers and men of the Kuomintang who were still holding their positions in Pixian, Beiluo, Nigou, Yixian, and other places. Buzz, not long after the national army planes left, a large number of Japanese bombers and fighters rushed to Taierzhuang!