The dull sound of artillery sounded from the north from time to time. The Japanese advancing from the east had already reached the line of Yaque Ridge and Longwang Cave along the Yidang Highway. The sparse Chinese army was tenaciously blocking and delaying them.
Both the Chinese High Command and the Fifth Theater District thought that the Japanese Eleventh Army would return to the original defense area after the first phase of the battle as usual.
Therefore, a large number of Chinese troops have gathered near the Japs' retreat route, preparing to flank and harass the retreating Japs. It would be better if one of them could be annihilated.
Who knew that the Japanese's newly appointed commander of the 11th Army, Ichiro Sonobe, would not follow common sense. After a month of fighting, regardless of the exhaustion of all the troops, he advanced instead of retreat and crossed the defense line of the 41st Army in Hanshui River.
Go to Yichang.
Yichang is the gateway to Chongqing. Once Yichang is lost, the Japanese troops can move up the river and directly attack Chongqing, threatening China's wartime capital.
Therefore, the importance of Yichang is self-evident. Unfortunately, the Chinese High Command and the Fifth War Zone misjudged the enemy's situation, resulting in the Yichang garrison being transferred elsewhere.
Facing the menacing Japanese troops, Yichang, which was like an empty city, was almost undefended. If Yichang failed, Chongqing would be in danger.
Facing the extremely fast advancing Japanese troops, it was too late for the Chinese troops to return reinforcements, so the 18th Army, which was undergoing training in Sichuan, was urgently transferred to Yichang for defense.
The troops of the 18th Army took boats down the river, arrived in Yichang two days before the Japanese arrived, and quickly repaired the fortifications.
Since other returning troops were restrained by other Japanese divisions, facing the three Japanese field divisions rushing towards Yichang, the 18th Army could only defend the city alone.
Now the leading troops of the Japanese have arrived at the outskirts of Yichang. The troops of the 18th Army, which has just arrived in Yichang, are still urgently repairing fortifications everywhere. Their troops are stretched thin and they can only send a small number of troops to delay the Japanese advance towards Yichang.
Fighting has begun on the outskirts of Yichang. Yang Ling and the others are already very close to Yichang, so they can hear the roar of artillery.
The reconnaissance team sent out to investigate the enemy situation in Yichang has not returned yet, and the brothers of the Lieyan Special Warfare Brigade, who have been marching and fighting all night, are resting in hiding.
The brothers of the Fiery Special Warfare Brigade are all veterans. Although the cannons are rumbling in the distance and they are very close to the battlefield, they still sleep soundly.
Compared with his sleeping brothers, Yang Ling only woke up after less than two hours of light sleep. Because they did not have a radio and were unaware of the enemy situation and the surrounding battlefield situation, as a commander, he was under great pressure.
After all, there are now large armies gathering around Yichang. No matter how elite a small force like theirs is, if they accidentally break into the core area of the battle between the two sides, they may only be wiped out.
A battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops is no joke. Those heavy artillery alone are frightening, so Yang Ling is very cautious.
The investigating brother did not come back, and Yang Ling couldn't sleep, so he walked to a small river only a hundred meters away from the hidden resting place and washed his face to wake himself up.
"Sir, why don't you sleep a little longer."
Zhang Tie, the captain of the second squadron in charge of the security mission, saw Yang Ling looking worried, so he also walked to the river and sat down, asking Yang Ling with concern.
Yang Ling forced a smile and said, "The Japanese artillery fire is so noisy that I can't sleep."
Zhang Tie, leader of Lieyan's Second Squadron, smiled and said nothing when he heard Yang Ling's explanation. Yang Ling was also a veteran. For a veteran, he could fall asleep even on a battlefield with noisy artillery fire.
This was still some distance from the battlefield, but he didn't reveal it, knowing that Yang Ling was facing greater pressure than them.
"Sir, should I wake up the brothers?" Zhang Tie asked tentatively.
Yang Ling waved his hand and said: "Brothers are very tired these days, let them sleep a little longer, and then call them when the brothers who are investigating come back."
Yang Ling and the others headed west from the Sulu War Zone, passing through many enemy-occupied areas and blockades along the way. If they were not careful, they would face the danger of the entire army being annihilated, so the brothers had been keeping their nerves tight.
When they arrived at Zhijiang, they were attacked by Japs again. They threw themselves into the battlefield without taking any rest. Even though the officers and soldiers of the Lieyan Special Warfare Brigade were tough, they couldn't hold on, so Yang Ling was very considerate of his brothers.
The sound of cannons rumbled in the distance, the river flowed quietly, and the sentries of the Flame Special Forces Brigade who were on guard a few hundred meters away stared at the surroundings vigilantly. No disturbance could escape their eyes.
"I'll keep an eye on you, go get some sleep." Yang Ling looked at Zhang Tie, leader of Lieyan's Second Squadron, who looked haggard, and said.
"Sir, the Japanese artillery fire is so noisy that I can't sleep either."
Zhang Tie also gave the same reason as Yang Ling, but Yang Ling was stunned and then shook his head with a wry smile.
Yang Ling didn't expect that Zhang Tie, who was usually dull and dull, had such a humorous side.
"Since we can't sleep, let's chat." Yang Ling said with a smile.
Although they have fought side by side for so long, Yang Ling is busy with affairs on weekdays and has never talked to Zhang Tie alone.
Thinking of his lack of care for his subordinates, Yang Ling felt that he had neglected his duty. The brothers followed him through life and death, but he often ignored these brothers who followed him.
"How many people are there in the family?" Yang Ling was the first to ask.
After Zhang Tie was silent for a few seconds, he said a little lonely: "It's all gone."
"During the Great War in the Central Plains, my two brothers joined the Northwest Army and followed Feng Shuai in fighting the Central Army. They both died on the battlefield. In the 26th year of the Republic of China, the Japanese came to our village again. The village was massacred. My father and mother were gone. I was not at home at that time.
Escaped......"
Although Zhang Tie said it in an understatement, Yang Ling could feel the pain of watching his relatives leave one by one.
Yang Ling patted Zhang Tie, whose eyes were sparkling, and comforted him: "Brother, I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask these questions."
Zhang Tie stretched out his sleeve and wiped the corners of his eyes, squeezed out a smile and said: "Sir, it's not a problem, it's pretty good now. One person has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry."
Yang Ling let out a long sigh and said, "If anything happens in the future, please say hello. Our brothers from the Lieyan Special Warfare Brigade are your relatives."
Zhang Tie nodded seriously: "I am lucky to be able to fight side by side with so many brothers. Now that my revenge has been avenged, I actually have nothing to think about. I just want to kill a few more Japs and prevent more.
People are going through the same thing as me.”
"It's not good if you don't think about it. Otherwise, you won't become a monk with no desires and desires. After you finish fighting the Japanese, I will help you matchmaker and find you a good girl to start a family and give birth to a bunch of fat boys." Yang Ling smiled.
explain.
When Yang Ling said this, Zhang Tie immediately felt embarrassed and scratched his head, not knowing what to say.
Yang Ling changed the topic and continued: "But you are right in saying that we fight the Japanese not for ourselves, but for the sake of this country and the nation, so that our descendants will not suffer."
"Yes, I will definitely follow the commander and kill the Japanese properly."
Just as Zhang Tie and Yang Ling were sitting by the river chatting, a sentry on guard suddenly ran over and said, "Sir, there is something in the river."
Yang Ling and Zhang Tie both stood up and looked upstream in the river. Soon their expressions became extremely solemn.
Because what was in the river was none other than broken corpses, a large black mass, including those wearing Japanese clothes and Chinese officers and soldiers, which had been washed here from upstream by the river. Soon the river turned red.
"Go and wake up the brothers."
Yang Ling looked at the corpse floating down the river and gave Zhang Tie instructions.