July 30th, after seven o'clock in the morning. Today is a cloudy day. Although it is already bright, the earth is gray. Zhang Dongning is leaning on the crenellation of the south gate of Jinhua City, holding a cigarette in his mouth and puffing slowly. It has been two days since the Second Task Force Brigade of the Japanese Marine Corps captured Yongkang County. It has been two days and nights since Zhang Dongning, Chief of Staff of the New Second Army, who was left behind by Wu Ming via Jinhua via Jinhua, participated in the defense of Jinhua to ensure the safety of the New Second Army's retreat. Zhang Dongning rubbed his red and swollen eyes, looked left and right at the towering Jinhua City Wall, and suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind him. Zhang Dongning turned around and saw a group of officers and soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms walking up the stairs to the city wall. Zhang Dongning turned back listlessly and continued to observe the movement outside the city. This group of soldiers is Colonel Huo Xiao, head of the mortar regiment of the artillery brigade directly under the New Second Army. He is here to take over from Zhang Dongning. After receiving Wu Ming's instruction telegram, Zhang Dongning decided that the artillery brigade commander Luo Changling would lead the heavy artillery regiment, anti-aircraft artillery regiment and three artillery regiments to continue westward, leaving only the relatively lightly equipped mortar regiment and the anti-aircraft artillery batteries subordinate to the three artillery regiments. , assist the Jinhua garrison in defense. Huo Xiao waved his hand, and the group of soldiers quickly dispersed, strode to the mortar positions on the left and right sides of the gatehouse, and completed the defense changes one after another. Huo Xiao walked to Zhang Dongning with a smile, touched Zhang Dongning's arm with his hand, and persuaded: "Chief of Staff, it's time to change shifts. You haven't closed your eyes all night. Go get some sleep first." "Don't bother me anymore." " Zhang Dongning snorted angrily, turned around slowly, lit another cigarette, and said with some confusion: "It's strange, it's been two days since the Japanese Marines took Yongkang, why don't they show up? The feeling of waiting for someone to hit you is so damn uncomfortable." "Chief of Staff, what you said is wrong The military commander once said that in order to hit the target with one hit, you often have to wait for a long time for the prey. It has only been two days, you Are you impatient?" Huo Xiao joked with a smile. "You bastard, you've learned to ridicule me, haven't you?" Zhang Dongning stared at Huo Xiao and was about to hit him on the head with his fingers when he heard Huo Xiao yell: "Chief of Staff, there is something going on outside the city" Huo Xiao said , while sticking out his head and looking outside the city. "What's wrong?" Zhang Dongning stretched his neck hard and looked outside the south gate of Jinhua. A small and trivial sound came from outside the city, gradually getting louder and louder. In the dreamy mist, groups of Japanese troops with live ammunition appeared on the streets outside the city. These Japanese soldiers wore the light blue uniforms of the Japanese Marine Corps and were extremely inconspicuous in the gray weather. Immediately afterwards, more than a hundred armed trucks jumped into view. The sound of their motors was very strong. They rushed in front of the speeding Japanese and rushed towards the open city gate. "Mother Xipi, these little Japanese devils are so disgusting. They must have sneaked in at night last night and almost touched the bottom of our city wall." Huo Xiao cursed loudly and pointed at the Japanese soldiers who were approaching rapidly: "Chief of Staff, "Fire the cannon." "Close the city gate." Zhang Dongning shouted. He waited until the officers and soldiers below closed the city gate and pressed it against the steel rod, then turned his head and said lightly: "You are the commander, you give the order." Two towers The artillerymen on the broad parapets all stretched their necks, waiting for orders. Huo Xiao had a stern look on his face and issued an order to the Yiyu artillery: "Let me see if you can hit them accurately. Who is wasting the shells? I asked him to carry the shells to the August 1st mortar to attack the truck of the Japs. Six ¡ðHit the infantry behind me with mortars quickly and hard.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the artillerymen replied in unison. After a simple calculation, twenty-four August 1st mortars were the first to fire, shaking the entire city wall. Then there was a burst of fire and smoke around those trucks. Although not a single shell hit the speeding Japanese truck, the flying shrapnel injured many Japanese soldiers sitting in the back compartment of the truck and those following behind. The soldiers of the 63rd Division stationed in Jinhua City suddenly became commotion. Under the scolding of the officers, the soldiers quickly took up their positions and fired at the Japanese army At this time, the thirty-six mortar regiment's 60 The artillery fire also began to make a muffled sound, and a series of explosions immediately sounded in the Japanese army's ranks. Each 60 gun fired continuously at a high speed of 20 rounds per minute, which was simply a nightmare for the Japanese soldiers who were swarming in. Shrapnel fired in front of the South Gate was almost everywhere. The Japanese troops fell to the ground row after row, and the offensive momentum was stagnant. Compared with the 60 mortar, the results achieved by the August 1 mortar were not very great, although they were uninterrupted. Ground shooting destroyed more than a dozen of the Japanese armored vehicles. Japanese soldiers kept falling into the shrapnel blown up by mortar shells like hail from the opponent's tower. Taro Kishibe, the leader of the Japanese task force brigade, saw his heart bleed. Originally, he wanted to take advantage of the morning fog to sneak into Jinhua City. He opened the door and rushed into the city. Who knew he would be discovered by the defenders. ?At this point, Taro Kishibe didn't care about anything else, and quickly pushed out the sixteen Type 92 infantry cannons. Amid the roar of Major General Kishibe, he aimed at the mortars on the city wall to suppress fire. Huo Xiao took a look and quickly adjusted his layout. He deployed half of the 60 mortars to continue bombarding the Japanese trucks. The other artillery fire was directly aimed at the Japanese infantry artillery position, and he counterattacked from a high position. The two sides engaged in an extremely brutal artillery battle, with flying shells coming and going. After several rounds of shooting, the condescending mortars gained the upper hand. In addition to the fact that the number of mortars was three times that of infantry cannons, the most critical thing was that the rate of fire of mortars was almost three times that of infantry cannons. Nearly nine times as many artillery shells directly sent those infantry cannons and gunners into the sky. After a burst of fire and gunpowder smoke, only piles of discarded steel and corpses were left in the infantry artillery position. Taro Kishibe, who was mentally prepared for this result, just glanced at it and immediately turned his attention to the armed trucks that were rushing towards the Jinhua City Gate. The Type 92 heavy machine guns on each truck were spitting out tongues of fire. Bullets hit the city wall, and the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Division who were kneeling at the crenels and shooting were shot one after another, and blood mist flew everywhere for a while. After dealing with the Japanese artillery, Huo Xiao immediately ordered all mortars to transfer all their shells to the armed trucks. A series of explosions sounded around the trucks. More than a thousand artillery shells fell every minute, and flying shrapnel surrounded almost all the trucks. If these trucks had not been modified and installed with bulletproof steel plates, they would have all been scrapped. But even so, nearly half of the trucks were shot and overturned. The remaining armed trucks accelerated again and rushed toward the city gate fiercely. They were preparing to rush into the city gate hole and use the explosives they carried to blow open the city gate to facilitate the sprint by the infantry outside. At this time, the machine gun shooters on the top of the truck had generally fired two or three rounds. Not to be outdone, the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Division on the city wall fired back fiercely from more than 30 heavy machine guns and more than 50 light machine guns. The dense bullets hit the iron shell of the armed truck, making a "dinging" sound. Although it failed to stop many trucks from continuing to move forward, many Japanese machine gunners and drivers were still killed and injured. In just a few minutes, five or six more trucks collided with each other, overturned, burned and exploded. At this time, the battle situation has become one-sided. The defenders' artillery fire was too fierce, and depending on the situation, the troops were also very strong. The Japanese Marine Corps' Second Task Force Brigade no longer had the capital to seize Jinhua City. The Japanese commander Taro Kishibe was very helpless. If it were not for the support of the combat staff next to him, he might have fallen to the ground on the spot. With a soft breath, Taro Kishibe gave the order for the entire army to retreat. As the whistle sounded, many Japanese soldiers turned around and ran towards the rear, and the remaining armed trucks also quickly turned and retreated. The Japanese Marines came quickly and fled quickly, leaving Zhang Dongning and others stunned for a moment. They have been fighting the Japanese army before. The Japanese army is famous for its arrogance. It has reached this point. With the army's style, they will definitely attack and attack again until they can no longer bear the sacrifices. They will never retreat so far. Clean and neat. When the telegram of the Jinhua victory was delivered to Wang Jingjiu, the newly promoted commander of the 10th Army suddenly smiled. Not only had the mysterious Japanese army in the south been defeated in one fell swoop, but the main force of the New Second Army had arrived from Yiwu. Jinhua will arrive at noon at most, and there is no possibility of Jinhua City being lost. Wang Jingjiu was relieved and could supervise the battle in Dapan Mountain to resist the Japanese attack. However, he never expected that the Dapanshan defense line that had been held for six days would be lost in just one night. The Japanese 32nd Division and the 116th Division, which had never broken through the front line of Dapanshan, were forced by the front army commander Yamada Otsuzo to finally use a ruthless move. In the early morning of the 31st, a Japanese reinforcement brigade formed by drawing elites from the two divisions quietly crossed the Qujiang River from Hengshan and reached the temporary defensive position of the 13th Division from Mouse Mountain to Eagle Ding on the west bank of the Jinhua River. The Temporary Thirteenth Division was adapted from the Jiangsu Security Forces. The quality of the officers and soldiers was low. Most of the officers were people who were engaged in food, drink, prostitution and gambling. If Wang Jingjiu hadn't shot Chen Baozhong, the commander of the 192nd Division who led the escape, the Temporary Thirteenth Division would have been frightened. The Third Division is full of cowards. I am afraid that all the troops on this front line have already run away and not a single person is left. The Japanese army's sentinel detection operation went very smoothly. Since the Japanese army had been attacking the Dapanshan line on the right bank of the Jinhua River before, the temporary 13th Division's defense was extremely lax. Not only did it not place any light or dark sentry posts, nor did it place mines in front of the position in accordance with regulations. The Japanese army soon invaded the temporary 13th Division position. Seeing the sudden appearance of the wolf-like Japanese troops, the first reaction of the officers and soldiers of the temporary 13th Division was not to resist, but to turn around and run away. The entire defense line suddenly collapsed, and the shouting officers and soldiers suddenly crashed into the position of the 26th Division connected to the Jinhua River Defense, and the 26th Division also followed suit and blew up the camp. At this time, the Japanese artillery began to show off its power, and the infantry suddenly changed its main attack direction, quickly crossed the Qujiang River, and followed the defense line of the temporary 13th Division toward the deep positions of the National Army.After fierce fighting, as the back hill was captured by the Japanese army, the entire line of defense was penetrated at once. "Then without hesitation, the Japanese army suddenly changed the direction of their attack and turned eastward, crossing the Jinhua River along the pontoon bridge built by the Chinese army, and taking the back route of the Chinese army at the Dapanshan defense line on the right bank of the Jinhua River. When Wang Jingjiu rushed out of the tent in his underpants, the fierce sound of gunfire, the cries for help from his officers and soldiers, and countless fleeing figures all these things made Wang Jingjiu lose his judgment. Wang Jingjiu wanted to gather his troops and reorganize his defense line, but he was suddenly lifted up by his own guards and fled towards Jinhua. Wang Jingjiu struggled desperately, but the captain of the guard only said a word and Wang Jingjiu became quiet. Wang Jingjiu had just shot Chen Baozhong, commander of the 192nd Division. In order to suppress a group of cowardly soldiers who were greedy for life and fear of death, he even personally took charge of the 19th Division. Second Division Headquarters. We are now in a critical moment. If the 192nd Division causes trouble, a "stray bullet" can easily kill Wang Jingjiu. At this time, Wang Jingjiu no longer mentioned anything about stabilizing the defense line, and allowed the guards to lead him and retreat towards Jinhua City. By the time Wang Jingjiu rushed back to Jinhua, the divisions responsible for Jinhua's northern defense line had returned to build up one after another, but most of the troops were gone. In one night, tens of thousands of troops were wiped out, leaving Wang Jing on the verge of crying. He felt unworthy of his trust in Principal Jiang and almost wanted to pull out a gun and commit suicide, but was stopped by the captain of the guard. Fortunately, Wu Ming had already led the New Third Division and the Independent Division to Jinhua City yesterday afternoon, which allowed Wang Jingjiu to stabilize a little. His first reaction was to discuss the war situation with Wu Ming.