Both soldiers and officers were far away from Liu Lang.
Although they had lost all their courage, the instinct of the soldiers was still there, and they could feel the monstrous rage brewing under the iron-silent expression of the national army colonel.
The rank of colonel may not be worth much in the eyes of these soldiers who have been on the battlefield and fought their lives, but the row of tanks with their black muzzles lowered towards them made them extremely frightened.
They only saw the monstrous anger hidden under Liu Lang's motionless figure, which was like a volcano about to erupt, but they did not see the deep sorrow hidden in Liu Lang's eyes.
These are his compatriots, his comrades, the thousands of people he is about to lead his army to rescue. What Liu Lang is sad about is not their haggard faces, nor their disheveled military appearance, but their cowardice
Eyes and numb face.
The dignity of beating and scolding the refugees was no longer there. They didn't even have the courage to look Liu Lang in the eye. They silently made way for the road without even asking the doctor, jumped off the roadbed and continued to run forward.
With such an army that has completely lost its courage, no wonder several divisions of the Japanese army dared to disobey the military orders of their staff and attack Nanjing with a force far inferior to that of the Chinese army. No wonder they were able to win in a single battle.
Thousands of Japanese troops could press tens of thousands of prisoners of war to the execution ground and massacre them.
They, even their own people who were carrying guns, were afraid.
It wasn't until the arrival of a captain with an infantry company rushing towards this side that Liu Lang finally saw an officer who dared to question him.
"Sir, may I ask which part of the army you belong to? Our army is the 48th Army of the 21st Group Army. We have been ordered to retreat by the headquarters. The military situation is urgent. Sir, please order your family to clear the way so that our army's heavy equipment can pass." Captain.
He was obviously here under orders. Although he saw Liu Lang, the army colonel standing in front of the large army, looking unhappy, he still bravely gave Liu Lang a military salute and introduced himself first.
"The 21st Army?" Liu Lang's eyes twitched slightly.
This is the famous Gui Army? It is said that the Guangxi Wolf Army lost half of the 60,000 soldiers in Songhu but did not take a step back.
"Captain, are you sure you are the 21st Army Group?" Liu Lang's tone was very calm, "Pretending to be a friendly army number is a capital offense."
"Sir, our unit is the vanguard of the 172nd Division of the 48th Army of the 21st Group Army, and our division headquarters is about to arrive." The captain could only bite the bullet and continue to answer.
"The 21st Group Army arrived at the Songhu battlefield on October 15. On the 21st, after an hour of artillery preparations, the two divisions of the 21st Group Army divided their left and right wings at 8 o'clock in the evening to launch a fierce attack on Tanjiatou and Chenjiaxing. After a night of fierce fighting, on the 22nd
They captured Chenjiahang and Taoyuan Bang in the early morning of the same day. After dawn, the Japanese army immediately began an all-out counterattack. All the fortifications of the 21st Group Army were destroyed by artillery fire, but they still fought to the death.
On the 23rd, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack across the board. The fierce and tyrannical offensive of artillery fire was unprecedented since the Songhu Battle. By the afternoon of the battle, Tanjiatou, Chenjiaxing and other positions had been lost. The 21st Group Army tried its best to defeat the enemy.
They could only barely maintain their position south of Zoumatang, and the counterattack led by the 21st Army failed.
In just seven days after entering the war, officers such as Major General Pang Hanzhen, commander of the 510th Brigade of the 173rd Division, Major General Qin Lin, commander of the 511th Brigade of the 171st Division, and Colonel Xie Dingxin, commander of the 1051st Regiment of the 176th Division, were killed. More than 6,000 soldiers were killed, and as many as 1,000 wounded officers and soldiers were injured.
15,000 people, including 5 regimental commanders." Liu Lang talked about the achievements of the 21st Army in the Songhu battlefield in detail, and his eyes suddenly became extremely sharp, as if to sting the face of the captain who stood at attention involuntarily in front of him: "You
Is the 21st Group Army mentioned the same Guangxi Wolf Army that I, Mr. Liu, once admired so much?"
"Yes, sir, you are talking about our 21st Army Group!" The army captain who stood at attention had beads of sweat rolling on his forehead.
"Haha, Captain, can I say you are lying?" Liu Lang's unique metallic voice was full of anger, pointing his finger at the dejected soldiers passing by on both sides of the road. "They are the two generals who were spilling blood on the battlefield.
The Guangxi Wolf Army led by them held bayonets and fought bloody battles with the Japanese aggressors to kill the unrelenting Guangxi Wolf Army? Are they the elite of Guangxi, China, who covered the entire battlefield with their bodies and made Admiral Bai burst into tears?"
Before the sweat-dropped army captain could reply, Liu Lang showed disdain and continued: "If I say they are a group of poor chickens who don't want to be scared out of their wits, you may say that I am exaggerating, because they still dare to attack those who are fleeing.
My compatriots raised their bayonets, but tell me, do they dare to turn back? When the Japanese invaders come in pursuit, do they still dare to turn back and fight as bravely and fearlessly as before?"
Although the bitter-looking army captain and the soldiers under his command were turned red and angry by Liu Lang's questioning and disdainful definitions, they looked at the indifferent soldiers passing by and were speechless and unable to refute.
Although Liu Lang's words were extremely serious, he got the truth right. During the three days of retreat from the front line, the original morale had been exhausted. Everyone just wanted to escape from this hellish battlefield quickly and not be cut off.
The Japanese troops in the rear caught up.
As the news spread, everyone already knew the real reason for the army's retreat. More than 100,000 people from the Japanese Tenth Army had landed at Jinshanwei and were about to outflank everyone's retreat. By then, the Japanese invaders would have surpassed
250,000 infantrymen, hundreds of ships, and thousands of aircraft formed a large encirclement. Everyone was in danger of escaping.
As for the 43rd Army that is still holding on to Songjiang City with no more than 10,000 troops, almost no one thinks that they can resist for three days. If the poorly equipped Sichuan Army can defeat the 100,000-strong Japanese army with only 10,000 troops, then what about the Battle of Songhu?
Will lose?
"Ahem! I, Xia Guozhang, Tian is the deputy commander of the 172nd Division. May I ask which group army your unit is under? They are all friendly forces. I would like to ask this brother to give Xia some face and make way for the passage of our army's heavy equipment.
." A soldier with a major general's collar badge walked out of the crowd with a little embarrassment on his face.
Obviously, the army captain was assigned by him. At this moment, Liu Lang's words made him feel a little ashamed, so he had no choice but to take action himself.
A captain can be pointed in the nose and scolded by Liu Lang, but a dignified army major general is at the same level or even higher than Liu Lang anyway. No matter how angry Liu Lang is, naturally he cannot use the same tone as at the beginning. The halo of the protagonist
, is not used that way.
What's more, he didn't act like an army major general when he came up. There is another more important thing. Liu Lang has some impressions of this name. The names of this era that can leave an impression on the future will naturally leave a mark in the history of China.
Traces of people. For a nation, most of them are carved with life and blood.
Liu Lang immediately raised his hand and saluted: "Deputy Commander Xia, I belong to the 23rd Group Army Independent Regiment. I am Liu Lang."
"Independence Regiment, Liu Lang!"
"I don't dare take it seriously. I ask Deputy Master Xia to forgive me for what Liu Lang and Meng Lang said just now!" Liu Lang said he was sorry, but his face was still unhappy.
In fact, even this Major General of the Gui Army knew the real reason for Liu Lang's bad expression. If he were a friendly army, he would probably have cursed him when he saw his soldiers looking so lost.
Especially after seeing an independent regiment soldier, after Liu Lang waved his hand slightly, go down to the field and help an old woman with gray hair and dull eyes who was knocked down in the mud by the defeated soldiers to sit down on the road, the Army Major General
There was a flush on his face, he was silent for a while, and finally sighed slightly and said: "Xia heard clearly what Commander Liu just said. Commander Liu is right. With the current strength of our army,
We are truly worthy of being called the Guangxi Wolf Army!"
Turning his eyes slightly, the Army Major General focused his gaze on the dirty faces of the many soldiers who had stopped because of his appearance. However, the Army Major General's eyes turned slightly red with a thin layer of tears.
"But Commander Liu said that our army is as cowardly as rats, and I, Xia Guozhang, would never agree. Even now, with an order, our army can fight back against the Japanese invaders." The Army Major General's throat was choked. "I
The Guangxi army dispatched troops in Guangxi in August, arrived at the battlefield on October 15, and went into battle on the 21st. On the same day, the enemy fought bloody battles for seven days. The 60,000-strong army suffered nearly half of the casualties. How did they not retreat even half a step?"
"The reason for this is that the orders were changed day after day. Our army was completely at a loss as to whether to fight or not to fight. What was even more frightening was that on the way to retreat, Japanese planes frequently harassed us. All departments had to speed up their retreat in order to avoid the harassment of the Japanese army. However,
But there is only one road, and it has been like this for three consecutive days, so morale is naturally gone." There was deep sadness in the eyes of the Army Major General.
The cruel Songhu battlefield did not destroy the fighting spirit of the Guangxi Wolf Army, but the struggle to escape during the retreat caused the morale of this once extremely determined army to fall to the bottom, and the Army Major General's heart was also full of bitterness.
Liu Lang knew that this man was not lying.
At the beginning of the retreat, it was not a rout, but because the retreat order did not stipulate the retreat roads and retreat time of each unit, hundreds of thousands of troops fled in droves. The few roads were blocked by troops and bombed indiscriminately by aircraft.
With the Japanese troops constantly pursuing us, the consequences of such a retreat can be imagined.
This is actually human nature. When fighting, they don't think much about it. They are even so excited by the death of their comrades that they are not afraid of death. But when retreating, everyone thinks about survival.
Once the floodgates of selfish desires are opened, it will spread throughout the army like a plague. Low morale is not a bad thing, but the collapse of the entire army structure will be a greater disaster.
"The glory of the past cannot cover up the ugliness of this time. Deputy Xia, I personally speak more straightforwardly, so don't take it personally." Liu Lang shook his head gently and pointed at the old woman sitting not far from him, "No matter what
No reason can excuse the mistakes you have made. If one day we can even insult the people we want to protect, then we will lose the honor of the military itself."
Liu Lang's metallic voice almost penetrated the entire wilderness: "She is a mother, and his son may be our comrade. If his son returns from the battlefield, he knows that it was his comrade who pushed his mother down.
In the muddy water, perhaps what he is waiting for is his mother's body. Do you think he will still trust his comrades? Or, will he still fight for this nation? If he can't even protect his own mother, how can he talk about a country?
And nation?”
The officers and soldiers who could hear Liu Lang's voice lowered their heads deeply.
"Sir, I'm here to find my children. They are also soldiers." It was the old woman with dull eyes who answered Liu Lang.
The old woman's voice was very weak, but everyone present couldn't help being surprised.