One of the four Japanese soldiers disguised as refugees was killed and three were injured. The remaining three were escorted by a platoon of troops sent by regimental deputy Liu Ming to the division headquarters on the Beijing-Shanghai railway line.
Although the soldiers strongly demanded that these Japanese spies be killed immediately, they were stopped by Liu Ming on the grounds that they were sent to the division headquarters for interrogation. Yang Ling knew full well about the Xiao Jiujiu in Liu Ming's heart.
The Battle of Songhu lasted for almost three months, and only a handful of Japanese prisoners were captured, because the defenders were constantly retreating and could not be captured even if they wanted to. Even if they did encounter a lone Japanese prisoner and wanted to arrest them, they would have to pay a heavy price.
Although these Japanese soldiers are short in stature, they are more powerful and fierce. Sometimes the defenders have to pay several times the price to capture a prisoner alive. In addition, they hate the Japanese soldiers. Whenever they see the Japanese soldiers, they usually fight to the death, and there is no way to think of capturing a prisoner alive.
Now that he had captured three live Japanese prisoners, it was considered a great achievement. Liu Ming, the regimental deputy, would naturally not let go of this opportunity to claim credit and reward.
The dead Japanese spy was thrown into the grassland outside Jiangqiao and his corpse was left in the wilderness, which was a breath of anger for the comrades who were beaten to death by the Japanese.
The refugees were carefully cleaned up, and no Japanese spies were found. Yang Ling sent them out of the town at dawn, and warned them to go west or north and not to go to Nanjing, because Yang Ling knew that a month later, Nanjing would also
Can't keep it.
The Japanese spies were sent away without hesitation, and the refugees also left, but Yang Ling's heart became extra heavy. Since the Japanese spies who had infiltrated had arrived at Jiangqiao, the large Japanese army must not be far away.
Yang Ling couldn't guess whether it was the Japs from the east or the Japs from the south because there was no interrogation, but there was no doubt that the Japs had set their sights on Jiang Qiao.
Thinking that the Japanese had targeted Jiang Qiao, Yang Ling felt on pins and needles.
I don’t know when the Japanese will come to Yangling, but Yangling is not someone who just sits there and is ready to die. If he wants to live, he must be prepared.
After figuring this out, Yang Ling immediately went straight to the temporary headquarters of the supplementary regiment, a high-walled compound in the center of the town.
"Captain Yang is here, sit down quickly, sit down quickly." Seeing Yang Ling's arrival, regimental deputy Liu Ming pushed up his glasses and hurriedly welcomed him in.
Yang Ling captured three Japanese spies, which was a great achievement. Although the final credit fell on him, Liu Ming, he had to thank Yang Ling, so he became very enthusiastic towards Yang Ling.
"Captain Yang, I have sent someone to send the Japs spy to the division headquarters. The awards should come out soon. You will be the first to win by then. If you get promoted, don't forget about me, my brother, haha." Liu Ming said.
Yang Ling poured a glass of water and handed it to Yang Ling and joked.
Yang Ling smiled, but he really didn't take Liu Ming's compliment to heart, and directly changed the subject: "Vice-General, I'm not here because of the Japanese spies."
Liu Ming hesitated for a moment: "Oh? What difficulties did Captain Yang encounter? Just say it, I will definitely be able to help."
"The Japs sent spies to our Jiangqiao Town for investigation, which shows that the Japs have set their sights on us. If the front line cannot be defended, we here may bear the brunt. After all, the Beijing-Shanghai Line can be cut off from our place to the north..."
"What do you mean?"
"First of all, we should report the situation to the division headquarters and see if we can send some reinforcements. Secondly, we should take immediate action to build fortifications."
Liu Ming was also frightened by Yang Ling's words, because the excitement of catching the Japanese spy was like pouring cold water on him. If the Japanese really wanted to attack here, it was hard to say whether he would have a chance to live to receive the reward.
Liu Ming originally thought that guarding Jiangqiao would be an easy task. After all, it was located at the rear of the battlefield. But now that the Japanese spies have arrived, attacks should follow. He was crying in his heart at this moment. He was so unlucky.
Woolen cloth.
However, he didn't dare to evacuate without permission from above, so the only way was to hold on. Relying on the supplementary group to temporarily pull up these four to five hundred people, it was difficult to hold on here.
But the only good thing now is that the Japanese haven't come yet. If the Japanese want to attack here, it's all their guess. The front line is still fighting hard and they still have time to prepare. So Liu Ming did not hesitate and immediately ordered his four companies.
While rushing to repair the fortifications, they sent people to request reinforcements from the division headquarters.
Yang Ling and others still guarded the street to the south. According to Yang Ling's instructions, they built several barricades along the street. The ruined houses on both sides of the street that were bombed were also used and piled with sandbags to form a retreat point.
The soldiers of the supplementary regiment hurriedly built fortifications in Jiangqiao Town. They were sweating profusely every day. However, after a lot of hard work, the fortifications in Jiangqiao Town were basically formed. As long as they were not the main force of the Japanese, they could block several waves.
Shouldn't be a problem.
Lao Wangtou had his arm scratched by a Japanese spy. Although he was still hanging on for his life as a platoon leader, he actually resumed his old job and was responsible for managing the logistics and food for Yang Ling and his second company.
Under the management of Lao Wangtou, although they did not receive any supplies from the division, they had a big bowl of fish and meat for each meal, so they lived a comfortable life.
The big fish were caught by Lao Wangtou and the people from the cooking class in the Suzhou River in the south. Each one was plump and huge, and directly became Yang Ling's food. The other companies also followed the same example, but they were also hungry.
Can't catch it.
Their peaceful days did not last long. On the 27th, the broken troops who had withdrawn from the front line were evacuating to the rear through the river bridge one after another. The air was once again filled with the smoke of war.
On the 28th, more and more troops were defeated and retreated. They retreated in groups. All the troops who retreated were ragged and stained with blood, and there were countless wounded.
Some people were wailing and screaming, which made the supplementary team guarding Jiangqiao panic.
Yang Ling sent people to inquire about the battle situation on the front line with the defeated troops, but they knew that the Japanese had already broken into Dachang Town from the north and east. The brothers in front were still holding on, and it was only a matter of time before they fell.
At the very beginning of the war, the troops in front suffered heavy losses and could no longer withstand it, so new troops came to replace them. However, after three months of fighting, all the troops were disabled and defeated, and there were no new reinforcements.
.
They stayed in the trenches outside Jiangqiao Town all day long, watching large groups of remaining soldiers withdraw, and spent the whole day in a state of tension.
Lao Wangtou sent someone to deliver dinner to the battlefield. The atmosphere was tense. The sound of gunfire from the front was getting closer and closer. Everyone's heart was in their throats, so they still had time to eat.
In the evening, gunfire rang out from the north of Jiangqiao Town. Yang Ling thought the Japanese were coming from the north and hurriedly ordered preparations for battle, but the gunfire only rang out a few times and then stopped.
Yang Ling sent someone to ask about the situation. The person who came back told Yang Ling: "There were two deserters in the company who wanted to run away, but they were shot by Deputy Liu Tuan."
Before the Japanese could see them, two of their own people died first, and all those lying in the trenches felt a layer of gloom hanging over their hearts.