Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 333 Wine

The two bigwigs in the Songjiang headquarters finally knew the real reason why their artillery losses were minimal.

The air defense battalion directly under the military headquarters who accidentally shot down the Japanese observation balloon and Mo Songzi himself both received awards.

Mo Songzi was directly promoted to second lieutenant, but there was no platoon position suitable for him, so he could only continue to serve as the squad leader of his machine gun squad.

The Dongcheng District 643 Regiment showed bravery and tenacity in this battle. Although it suffered heavy losses due to the continuous investment of follow-up troops to break through the artillery blockade and support the front line, its fearless determination from the colonel to a second-class soldier made the Songjiang Command All the generals were shocked.

When the 643 regiment received the battle report that 834 people were killed and missing only when they broke through the artillery blockade, several times more than the front-line officers and soldiers, all the personnel of the Songjiang headquarters in the underground warehouse took off their hats and paid tribute.

Tantai Mingyue broadcast the heroic record of the 643 Regiment to the whole city of Songjiang through the radio, and at the same time sent the documentary of the battle by the regiment on the evening of November 11 to the newspaper headquarters overnight.

Newspapers and periodicals looking forward to the diaries of famous war correspondents were published overnight. In the early morning of November 11th, the headlines on the front pages of the morning newspapers sold in major cities were called "Advance to the Gunfire!"

Bearing the safety of the flanks of hundreds of thousands of troops, [-] against [-], it has been a day and night, and the eyes of the soldiers and civilians across the country are once again focused on this small city in southeast China.

The 67th Army from Northeast China and the 43rd Army from Sichuan Province have become synonymous with heroes of this period.

However, for their family members, it is an extremely tormenting title.

What they want is not the title of hero, not a reward, but the safe return of their husband and son.

But obviously, this is destined to be just a good wish.

Everyone knows that Songjiang City will surely become a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

The Japanese must advance, but the Chinese cannot retreat.

If you retreat, you don’t know how many houses hang white flags, and how many mothers cry and go blind.

For the Japanese, the small town of Songjiang, which is stuck on the road to Kunshan, is like a thorn in the throat.

Except for the unlucky boy who was firmly blocked by the Tenth Army, the two high command headquarters of the Japanese Army in North China and Southeast China all set their sights on this place.

Although the Songhu Expeditionary Army Command does not have command authority over the Tenth Army, as a theater-level command, it naturally has the right to advise and guide the Tenth Army.

"Masters of the Tenth Army, the strategy of encircling and annihilating hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in Huxi has been decided, and the Chinese army is very likely to flee when they hear of the wind. If things go on like this, or within two days, the prey that the army rounds up will flee. When will the Lords of the Tenth Army arrive? The 200,000 troops sent by the Imperial Songhu Army are looking forward to it!"

Matsui Iwane, then Commander of the Songhu Dispatch Army, sent the telegram overnight to the Tenth Army Headquarters in a very literal wording, with no mention of Songjiang in the whole text, or even a reminder.

It's just that everyone who understands understands.

Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke of the Tenth Army's fair face instantly flushed red when he saw this message.

Matsui Iwane was very polite, and his words were not harsh, but the arrogance of the elder brother to the younger brother was beyond words, and the subtext of the literary telegram was just: two days, give you bastards two more days, or just wait and see.

"Telegram Hisao Tani, Shigeru Suematsu, and Kunizaki to come to the headquarters." Hirasuke Yanagawa, who blushed and remained silent for a long time, ordered.

The staff officer, who was familiar with his character, kept silent, and the lieutenant general, who usually pays great attention to personal etiquette, simply omitted the official positions of several generals and called them by their first names, which shows how angry he is.

The warring parties of China and Japan paid great attention to Songjiang, a small city that might decide the outcome of a battle, and the Western world, which was sitting on the mountain watching tigers fighting, also focused their attention on this place.

They may not care too much about the victory or defeat of China, a giant that has been extremely declining, in this Great Patriotic War, but starting from their own interests, they do not hope that the Japanese can win the war so quickly.

The most pleasing battle situation is that they can fall into a stalemate and form a seesaw situation. In this way, China cannot do without the support of the Western world, and is even willing to pay a higher price, just like it did nearly a hundred years ago, opening various ports to It is convenient for capital to obtain more wealth and minerals from this land.

China's land is too large, and the rich mineral resources contained in it are even comparable to the entire European continent.

As for Japan, as the war progresses, they will need more steel and energy. The giant ships filled with iron ore from the Americans have been parked in all major ports. As long as the Japanese give money, they will sail to the main island of Japan. .

War is a disaster for the people of the belligerent countries, but for those capitals, it is a feast that fascinates them.

That night, Brigadier Liu of the 322nd Brigade did not find Tang Dao to invite him to drink the promised wine, but Brigadier General Smart, the commander of the coalition forces in the Western Concession in Songhu, found Colonel Xie who was detained in the concession barracks.

The two drank wine with two small dishes in the tavern next to the barracks.

Naturally, the commander of the coalition army paid for the drink, because Xie Jinyuan, who had already been promoted to colonel, had no money.

Because of the treachery of the concession, more than 200 elites who lost all their heavy weapons and only kept their rifles were clamped down by an infantry battalion of the Western army with ten heavy machine guns and machine guns. The famous elite even had to donate food from the citizens in the concession.

The colonel of the army remembered what Tang Dao had reminded that this might be a long-term phenomenon, and he had to sell all the valuable items on the officers' body to exchange for food. For this reason, even the beloved pocket watch his wife gave him was sold.

The dignified army colonel now has nothing on his body except a clean military uniform with a few holes and a polished pistol.

Naturally, he didn't look too good on the person who bought him a drink, even if he showed enough gentleman and sincerity in the battle of the four elements.

"Commander, what advice do you have? Xie is now a prisoner of your rank. There is no need to be so grand." Xie Jinyuan looked calm.

"Colonel, it was not my original intention to keep you here. The will of the country is not based on our personal will. I hope this will not affect the friendship between you and me." The originally arrogant white-haired old man could express Such a low profile was due to his admiration for the commander in front of him who had commanded the Battle of the Four Elements.

"Please speak!" Xie Jinyuan's expression remained unchanged.

The old man is nice, but he does not represent himself, only the western world, and they are destined not to be friends.

The so-called friendship can only be a polite rhetoric.

"Colonel, what do you think of the Battle of Songjiang?" Smart was a straightforward person, directly stating the purpose of the trip.

In his heart, he hoped that the Chinese in Songjiang could stop the Japanese Tenth Army, but his rationality told him that this was impossible.

Therefore, he wanted to hear the opinion of the Chinese Army Colonel.

"Our army will definitely lose in the battle of Songjiang!" Xie Jinyuan's eyes flickered slightly.

"Why is Colonel Xie so distrustful of your country's army?" Smart took a breath.

He had no idea that the Chinese colonel would be so pessimistic.

"General, I haven't finished my sentence yet." Xie Jinyuan stood up suddenly, put his fingers into the wine in the cup, and used his hand as a pen and the table as a cloth to draw a simple map.

He poked his finger hard on the circle representing Matsue.

"Our army in Songjiang is far inferior to the tenth army of the Japanese army, so it will definitely be defeated. However, the Japanese pirate base camp has planned a strategy for several months, but because of this defeat, it has gone bankrupt. At least two out of three of our hundreds of thousands of troops in western Shanghai can enter the second line of defense. .”

"Crooked?" Smollett looked puzzled.

He understood, what Xie Jinyuan meant was that Songjiang City could not be defended in the end, but it could hold back the Japanese Tenth Army long enough to allow the hundreds of thousands of troops located in Huxi to retreat successfully.

At that time, even if the Tenth Army of the Japanese Army conquered the small town, it would be useless.

This is called tactical failure and strategic victory.

"There is no need for a reason, because they are Chinese, a group of Chinese who dared to enter that small city after receiving the death order." Xie Jinyuan lowered his eyelids and his voice was strong. "Just like when our department entered the Sixing Warehouse, if it weren't for your country's obstruction, the Japanese would shed blood here, even though the Sixing Warehouse would be destroyed."

The white-haired old man was stunned.

He understood what the Chinese colonel meant, that Songjiang City would become the second Four Lines Warehouse.

Only this time, there were [-] Chinese people stationed in the 'warehouse'.

Chinese who are not afraid of death.

On the wine table in the concession, the Chinese colonel did not drink a single drop.

In the air-raid shelter in the east district of Songjiang City, there were also two tables of wine, and the brigadier major general entertained all the lieutenant officers who rushed into the artillery fire and fought on the front line.

The wine is Songjiang's specialty rice wine, and the baijiu is mainly used as disinfectant alcohol, which is already used for war preparations. The food is white flour buns and a few bowls of meat. It is very simple, but it is enough to fill the stomachs of these officers who have just fought a war.

It's just that there are too few people.

More than half of the infantry regiment plus the air defense battalion and artillery battalion support units, the number of lieutenant officers who can come to the major general brigade commander's celebration banquet does not exceed 16 people.

Among them were Mo Songzi, a second lieutenant who was promoted for merit.

Before the wine was drunk, the general's tears had already dripped into the wine glass.

Tang Dao, who was supposed to be a special guest, did not find him. The stubborn little messenger who asked him was only told that his chief had a new combat mission.

Just, why is that gun of his on the back of his signalman?
(End of this chapter)