Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 1488 Two Hundred Sword Monks Stay at Yellow Tea!

After Tang Dao severely intimidated the officers of the 10th Reserve Division, he immediately returned to Hengyang City and held a highest-level military meeting in the Hengyang War Zone with Fang Xianjue, Zhao Ziling, Zhao Junmai, and Sun Minyu.

The map of Hengyang in Tang Dao's hand, which was drawn by Tan Tai Yunshu after nearly eight months of visiting and surveying everywhere, was hung on the wall of the combat department.

Tang Dao fully presented what he had seen and heard at the 10th Division's position and the pros and cons of the position contraction. Finally, Fang Xianjue personally made the final decision on Tang Dao's balanced position design and allocation.

The Hengyang Command finally decided to establish a triple defense line with HY urban area as the core.

The first line of defense: Zhangjiashan is the main core position in the south of Hengyang City. There are Wuguiling and Fengshushan in the east, Huxingchao and Fanjiazhuang in the west, Xiaojiashan and Zhangfeishan in the north, Tingbingshan and Gaoling in the south. Several independent high grounds are about 400 meters apart from each other, which is the best shooting distance for machine guns and rifles. The positions support each other and form a huge circular position with a cross-fire network.

This circular position is 4000 meters wide from east to west and 800 meters from north to south. It is wide enough and deep enough to be garrisoned by the entire 7300th Reserve Division, which has 10 infantry, artillery, and engineers.

而在被命名为3号环形阵地之前900米的黄茶岭被命名为2号阵地，几个所属黄茶岭的高地分别被命名为201、202、203、204高地。

You know, even the main urban area of ​​Hengyang was named Position No. 1, which shows how much importance several generals attached to the Huangchaling position.

They all knew that this nail hanging isolated outside the No. 3 circular position not only greatly increased the depth of the entire Hengyang war zone's defensive positions, but was also the largest barrier before the No. 3 position. The Japanese army could not directly attack the No. 3 position with direct-fire artillery. The various machine gun bunkers on the No. 3 position could kill the Japanese infantry to the greatest extent.

The combination of Position No. 2 and Position No. 3 will become the largest meat grinder outside the city of Hengyang. It depends on how many troops the Japanese army can put into this meat grinder-like grinder.

Of course, although Tang Dao has volunteered to use his most elite battalion to defend Position No. 2, both Fang Xianjue and Zhao Zili have solemnly promised that if the officers and soldiers on Position No. 2 have any requests, the 10 mountain cannons of the 12th Army Artillery Battalion that have returned and stationed in Hengyang City will provide full support.

如果再加上四行团的12门博福斯山炮和另外8门150重迫，2号阵地可以呼叫的炮火支援将会高达30余门火炮，这还不算庞大海炮兵营藏起来的9门特殊火炮。

As for that thing, Tang Dao has issued a strict order that it should not be used unless it is absolutely necessary. Or if the Japanese are driven crazy and mobilize thousands of people to launch a "Banzai Charge", then it can be used.

The Hengyang Command deployed almost 70% of its elite forces in the entire south of the city.

The second line of defense is centered on Yueping Mountain, Suxianjing, and Tianma Mountain, which are close to the urban area. Yueping Mountain and Tianma Mountain are the last gateways to the urban area from the south and west of the city respectively. The mountains are relatively large and have dense forests, making them easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Huiyan Peak near Yueping Mountain is the highest peak and overlooks the entire city of Hengyang. The artillery command post led by Cai Rulin is also located here.

In addition, the plain west of the city is also part of the second line of defense.

Although the terrain here is flat and there is no strategic location, the 10th Army had already launched an operation here to "break the road into fields, plow the fields and store water". That is, all the fish ponds, lotus ponds and paddy fields on the plain were dug up, and even the river embankments of the steaming water were dug up, and the steaming water was introduced into the plain, turning the whole place into a swamp.

Not to mention cars, tanks and cannons cannot move, even people walking in it would be as slow as a snail.

The scattered houses among the ponds and paths were all demolished, except for those that were necessary and converted into bunkers.

In addition, under the guidance of engineers, the reserve regiment will send people to pull up barbed wire and bury mines in this swamp, and set up a group of bunkers hundreds of meters away, forming a dense cross-fire network with machine gun fire.

The second line of defense was mainly defended by two infantry regiments of the 3rd Division and the 3rd Battalion of the th Regiment.

The third and final line of defense is the urban area centered on the Hengyang War Zone Command and the Central Bank where the field hospital is located.

This was prepared for the final street fighting. Those who stayed behind included the Hengyang Guard Brigade, two regiments of the 3rd Division, the 2nd Battalion of the Sihang Regiment, and young and strong men from Hengyang who would hide in the city after the war started.

Fang Xianjue has already ordered the opening of the arsenal in Hengyang City to distribute the old guns and their ammunition in stock to the young and strong men in Hengyang who have been organized into 10 reserve regiments.

Although each reserve regiment of 5000 men received only a pitiful 300 guns, which were Hanyang-made or even older single-shot rifles, the young and strong men were already very satisfied.

They all knew very well that once the city was breached, given the nature of the Japanese army, not to mention their help to the Hengyang army in building fortifications, the 30 people in Nanjing City were a lesson learned. With guns in hand, they would have the power to resist.

If you don't have a gun, just go pick it up among the dead. Street fighting has started, and the things that are most in short supply in the city are guns and dead bodies.

In short, with the complete establishment of the three lines of defense, the five-member team of the Hengyang Command has sent a signal to all officers and soldiers: holding on to Hengyang for 15 days may only be the beginning. The 2.2 troops and 5 young and strong men in Hengyang will shed their last drop of blood in this city!

Because, apart from defense, the Hengyang Command did not have any evacuation plan. Perhaps someone had asked the supreme commander Fang Xianjue privately, but at least no one at the five-person military meeting had ever mentioned it.

It seemed as if they had forgotten the only way to survive - breaking out.

Perhaps, Tang Dao could more or less understand the inner thoughts of the other four people who kept silent about the future breakout.

Fang Xianjue is now the highest commander in Hengyang. If he brings up this matter, it will definitely cause the morale of the troops to fluctuate before the war.

Zhao Ziling was exiled to Hengyang by General Xue because of a dispute over the defense of Tanzhou. He was holding his breath and would rather die in battle to express his determination to protect the war zone and the national battlefield. This was a bit like General Zhang who died in the Sui-Zao Campaign. In order to clear himself of the name of "traitor", he had already decided to die.

Zhao Junmai was a little more thoughtful. Under his administration, the city gradually became prosperous and glorious, just like his child. As the parent official of this city, he naturally hoped that the 10th Army and the Four-Line Regiment would defend the city.

Anyone can talk about breaking out, except him. However, if the battle goes to the end, he will probably be the first one to bring it up.

  After all, he is more politician than soldier!

Sun Minyu's situation was much simpler. He firmly stood by his commander Fang Xianjue. Fang Xianjue didn't even mention breaking out, so how could he possibly mention it?

But none of these four people knew better than Tang Dao that Hengyang was a complete death place and a desperate place. No one here could leave, and there was no way to leave.

Of course, this is not to say that Yokoyama Isamu was so powerful that he used an army of 10 to surround Hengyang like an iron barrel, and not even a fly could fly out.

The truth is, when the Battle of Hengyang lasted for 30 days, the 11th Army had already taken the initiative to open up the two passages in the west and north of the city.

That was definitely not some 'surround three and attack one' strategy that Yokoyama Isamu was playing. It was just that Yokoyama Isamu's muscular little head didn't have the ability to do so.

The 11th Army suffered heavy casualties, so heavy that even a fierce Japanese general like Yokoyama Isamu could not bear it and took the initiative to withdraw from the encirclement, sending a signal that "go! We only want this city, not the people."

In the past, in the later stage of the Battle of Hengyang, Yokoyama Isamu took the initiative to send personnel to negotiate with the people in the city, hoping that the two armies would end this thankless city attack and defense battle as soon as possible.

The Japanese were not the reason why the Hengyang army could not break out.

  That was mainly because of that person's face. The Allied forces were winning continuously in the Pacific battlefield and had entered the counterattack mode in the European battlefield. Only the Chinese theater was being beaten back by the Japanese army. Tanzhou was lost and Hengyang was lost again. How could he, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese theater, have the face to save?

Therefore, Hengyang had no choice but to persist and persist until its fuel was exhausted, and the reinforcements never arrived!

That time, the Japanese 11th Army paid more than 6 casualties and finally won Hengyang as they wished. Many years later, when Hengyang started its modernization construction, the randomly dug bones piled up like a mountain, shocking the nerves of all Chinese people. But this time, Tang Dao, who once strode towards Hengyang and now strode out of the command center, did not think so.

If Yokoyama Isamu only brought 10 troops to attack Hengyang, then this time, they would leave at least Japanese lives here.

  6 casualties is still too few!

As the orders to take up defensive positions at the divisions, regiments, and battalions were officially issued, officers and soldiers from all units entered the most frenetic climax of building fortifications.

The 5 young and strong men who stayed behind were organized into 10 regiments, 4 inside the city and 6 outside the city, to assist the infantry regiments in digging earth and building positions.

Important places like Huangchaling, which are known as the "nail", have a deployment of up to 2 reserve regiments.

According to Leng Feng's plan, Huangchaling will have 10 underground tunnels for each company to hide soldiers, and these 10 underground tunnels are also interconnected so that reinforcements can arrive at the frontier positions on the east, west and north at any time under artillery fire.

This requires excavating more than 7 cubic meters of earth, almost completely hollowing out the entire hillside of Huangchaling. To complete the entire work within just days, it seems to many people an almost impossible task.

"Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it!" Leng Feng responded to this question with just one sentence.

No one could refute the army lieutenant colonel's insistence.

Because, among all the fortifications in Huangchaling, there were bunkers, deep trenches and tunnels for anti-artillery purposes, but there was no communication trench for evacuation.

The communication trenches exposed on the surface could easily be used by the Japanese troops who were taking detours, and became their breakthrough point.

The only way to leave the Huangchaling position, which was isolated in the No. 10 circular position of the 3th Reserve Division, was through a long underground tunnel.

But obviously, that would be a passage of up to 1200 meters in length, and it is unknown how much manpower and material resources would be required. With the current personnel deployed in Huangchaling, at least one-third of them would have to be allocated.

As the supreme commander on Huangchaling, Leng Feng chose to ignore it and put all manpower and materials into the Huangchaling position.

In order to ensure work efficiency, 10 people from the two reserve regiments were divided into teams of people, led by professional engineers to build positions in cooperation with the first battalion's infantry company, artillery company, tank platoon, heavy mortar platoon, medical team, communications platoon and other arms.

They work around the clock, and even at night they will light bonfires and torches. The only rest time is for eating, drinking water, and sleeping from 12 midnight to 5 am.

The daily working hours are as long as 18 hours, which is much worse than the 996 and 715 in the future.

But no one complained. Just like Luo Dahu who came to Huangchaling, when he heard that there were only 1400 soldiers on this position and it was far away from the main position composed of high mountains in the rear, this man from the north burst into tears on the spot.

As an ordinary citizen who had moved to several places during the war, he had seen pigs walk even though he had never eaten pork, and he had passed by many abandoned positions along the way.

The battlefield that was charred by artillery fire was littered with body parts and rotting corpses, which was a hell on earth. However, in order to find a bite to eat for the hungry children, he had to endure the stench and search in the abandoned battlefield.

He was unable to bury those soldiers in dark blue uniforms because there were too many of them. When he left, he lit three dry branches and stuck them on the small mound of earth he had made, then kowtowed hard several times to seek peace of mind.

  But those scenes have never faded in the heart of this Northeastern man!

He knew that when the Japanese attacked, these soldiers who were already on the battlefield, bare-chested and wielding shovels and hoes to dig fortifications, would most likely end up like the people he had seen before.

These soldiers are so young! There are also several female soldiers with big eyes, wearing military uniforms and looking heroic. When Luo Dahu thought that they would die to defend Hengyang City and end up like the hideous appearance he had seen, he felt very upset.

"As I said before, if we are real men, we should work together with the soldiers. Even if we are exhausted, we are heroes who have been to the battlefield!" Luo Dahu, who was selected as the captain of the 1,000-man team of the reserve regiment, had already taken off his shirt and was only wearing a pair of coarse cotton trousers. He took the lead and jumped into the more than five-meter-deep trench and started digging with great effort.

It was under the leadership of this hard-working man that this team of a thousand people completed a kilometer-deep trench that was five meters deep and five meters wide in six days. The amount of soil excavated alone was as high as 6 cubic meters, and a small hill was piled up on Huangcha Ridge.

This is pure manual excavation and transportation. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to complete it without thousands of people.

But this is still not enough, even though there are already 11400 people fighting desperately on the Huangchaling position.

The residents of Hengyang were still being evacuated. Those who could not take the train would basically go to the countryside thirty kilometers away. That was Fang Xian's absolute minimum estimate for the edge of the battlefield that was about to become a decisive battle for hundreds of thousands of troops.

Standing on Huangcha Ridge, you can clearly see groups of people carrying the elderly and children, carrying things on their shoulders and in their hands, and staggering away into the distance.

No civilians should be left inside or outside the city. This is the military order issued by the Hengyang Command.

It's not just a matter of considering that the war will affect the safety of people's lives, there are also military considerations. If the Japanese army fails to attack for a long time, they will often capture civilians nearby and use them as shields. Anyone who encounters such a thing will have a headache.

No matter how fierce the firepower is, or how solid the fortifications are, you can fire at the Japanese invaders without any scruples, but your crosshairs are all filled with your compatriots. How many people's hands and hearts will not tremble?

This is why once the fighting begins, the 10 reserve regiments will retreat into the city. They will only become the last resistance force when there are insufficient troops in the final street fighting.

Hengyang has long since become a military fortress where only people are allowed to leave but no one is allowed to enter!

But when Leng Feng stood at the highest point of Huangcha Ridge and looked at the people leaving the edge of Huangcha Ridge, he was surprised to see that in the distance there was a group of people still going upstream and heading towards Hengyang City.

When we got closer, we saw that they were a group of bald monks wearing grey robes, at least 200 of them.

"Amitabha, after hearing the motto of 'Mount horse to kill bandits, dismount to study Buddhism' said by General Fang last month, I, Huiyuan, have always kept it in mind. A few days ago, I heard from pilgrims that Tanzhou has fallen and Hengyang will become a battlefield. After getting the permission of the abbot, I, my fellow monks and fellow apprentices decided to come and lend a helping hand to the army. Buddha said: If I don't go to hell, who will?" The leading young monk said to Leng Feng with his hands clasped together.

"Amitabha!" A group of monks put their hands together.

Under the tight monk's robes, there are shining swords hanging!

The precept of killing should not be violated, but that is against humans, not demons!

Looking at a group of young monks with their hands clasped together and their eyes showing determination, even someone as cold as Leng Feng softened his expression.

Looking back at the soldiers and civilians working all over the mountains, Leng Feng was more confident than ever that he and the first battalion would be able to hold this position.

  It’s not because of the elite officers and soldiers, nor because of their excellent equipment, but because of the people living on this land!

200 monks participated in the construction of the Huangchaling position on the spot, and they never left until the end of the Battle of Hengyang.

It is called in history as "Two Hundred Knife Monks Studying Yellow Tea"!