Rise From Eight Hundred

Yes, people who don't know the history of Songjiang may think that this is a small place when they hear this inconspicuous name. Even Tang Dao, a little butterfly from the future, subconsciously thinks of this place as a small city.

But if you know, the history of the ancient city of Songjiang can even be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it was called Songjiang Prefecture, which was under the jurisdiction of Songhu County.

To put it bluntly, in history, Songhu, a metropolis that has only risen in modern times, is just a small county under Songjiang City, and Songjiang is the boss of this area of ​​hundreds of miles.

Songjiang City is not only not small, but also quite large.

Especially when Wang Gongyu came over with the map of Songjiang City, Tang Dao felt a little painful.

Just looking at the Zhongshan Road that runs through the east and west of Songjiang City, that is, after Mr. Sun visited Songjiang in the first year of the Republic of China, the people of Songjiang renamed this "Ten-mile Long Street" that runs through the east and west gates of the ancient city as Zhongshan Road in memory of him, we know that Songjiang City is at least more than 2,000 meters from east to west.

Looking at the north and south gates, the distance between them is probably more than 1,000 meters. If you calculate it this way, the city wall surrounding Songjiang alone is 6,000 meters long.

That means that just the four walls need to be defended by two infantry regiments.

Of course, a large city also has its advantages, which means greater strategic depth and can be dragged into street fighting when necessary.

And the Japanese army had to fight Songjiang no matter how difficult it was.

If the city is not conquered, the road around the city is less than three or four kilometers away from the small city. All the Japanese troops and supplies will be within the attack range of Songjiang City's artillery. Unless the Japanese abandon their heavy equipment and travel light, if the Japanese want to attack the left wing of the army, they must conquer Songjiang first.

"Captain Wang, Captain Tang, should we go up to the city wall to take a look?" Wang Gongyu looked at Tang Dao and Lao Wang with frowns on their brows, and his heart was also uneasy.

He is the commander of the security regiment, but he is usually just a figurehead. He is mainly responsible for administrative affairs, and military affairs are naturally much worse. Seeing that Tang Dao and Lao Wang, two regular army battalion-level commanders, are frowning, he naturally has doubts in his heart.

Among the people present, I am afraid that this person is the one who least wants Songjiang to fall.

After all, this is his hometown.

"Let's go up to the city wall to take a look." Lao Wang is also a very pragmatic person. He has no right to speak without on-site inspection. It is not his personality to talk about war just by looking at the map. At the moment, accompanied by Wang Gongyu, he took the lead to go up to the city wall.

Tang Dao, Lei Xiong and two major infantry battalion commanders under Lao Wang all followed.

Although they were anxious to deploy defenses as soon as possible, the city wall was indeed long enough. Even if a group of people patrolled at a fast pace, they still walked for an hour and a half, making the usually pampered inspector sweat profusely.

However, at this critical moment, the commissioner did not complain or feel tired, and even refused the guards' support. He gritted his teeth and trotted along with Tang Dao and others, which made Lao Wang look at him with a new look. Naturally, his words were more respectful than before, and not just his rank of major general.

Songjiang City did not live up to its historical status. The city wall may not be as tall and majestic as some military fortresses in the north, but it is still five or six meters high.

After countless years of baptism, many sections of the bricks on the city wall have disappeared, leaving only a section of earth mounds. Even the inner city wall is no longer vertical, but has a slope. People can run up the city wall. The exposed wall is full of trees and weeds.

This made Wang Gongyu, the first military and political officer of Songjiang, quite embarrassed. This was probably the first time in his life that he had walked the entire wall of Songjiang City.

Tang Dao, Lao Wang and others did not care. The defense of the earth mound and the bluestone brick wall was actually similar in front of hot weapons. As long as there was a vertical height, it would not be easy for the Japanese to climb up, and there was enough thickness to withstand bullets and shells.

The defense of the wall was slightly weak, but what was rare was that there was a circle of moat outside the wall.

The Jiangnan water town was not short of water. Songjiang was close to the Huangpu River. In the past, it was a famous cargo transshipment place in the Jiangnan area. The moat had several functions. It could protect the city and also be used as a waterway for cargo ships to transport goods.

The water system inside and outside the city is connected by four water gates, and the moat that surrounds the city is connected to the Huangpu River several kilometers away. If the Japanese army wants to cut off the water in the moat, they must spend huge manpower and material resources to build a dam upstream. However, if they have that time, let alone attacking the left wing of the Chinese army, the opportunity will be lost.

They must and can only cross the moat, which is 30 meters wide at its widest point, and break through the Songjiang city wall to achieve their strategy. Otherwise, the Japanese headquarters' tactical intention of spending huge manpower and material resources to transfer troops from the north will all fail.

This circle of moat will become the key to the defense of Songjiang City.

For this reason, Tang Dao also went down to the moat in person to test the depth of the moat.

Perhaps it is only for the shipping of small cargo ships, and the river water is not deep, which is the height of an ordinary Chinese.

However, the depth of about 1.65 meters is just enough to cover the heads of most short-legged people.

There were many small boats parked in the moat. They were fishing boats that could go fishing in the Huangpu River in the early morning. But now it was obviously impossible. Even the curling smoke that should have risen had disappeared.

Songjiang City itself was not small, and the population living in the city was even larger, which expanded the entire city outward by more than twice.

Looking around, the small roads on both sides of the moat are densely packed with houses.

Especially the Zhongshan Road that passes through the East and West Gates, which is full of residential houses on both sides. The alleys that are no more than one meter wide are crisscrossed, and the houses are next to each other, stretching endlessly.

The inner city with a city wall is like a big fruit core, and the outer flesh is seven or eight miles, and at least three or four miles.

If the Japanese want to attack the bottom of the city, they must first pass through those intricate alleys.

Tang Dao's eyes narrowed, it seems that these can be used.

What the soldiers saw was actually more of the panic of the people inside and outside the city.

Although the administrative agency of Songjiang County has not issued a warning of the imminent attack of the Japanese invaders, the gathering of the fully armed security group and the arrival of Tang Dao and others have made the people who have been worried about the Battle of Songhu instinctively feel the danger.

Many people have begun to pack up their belongings and plan to leave the city as soon as there is confirmed news.

This is actually a very correct choice. If you stay in the city, you will either die in the raging artillery fire or become the target of the beasts that attack the city to vent their anger.

Tang Dao knows the morality of the Japanese Tenth Army better than anyone else in this era. It is because of these culprits that the massacre that shocked China and the world finally occurred.

Songjiang must not be the first.

"Commissioner Wang, Commander Guo has not come yet, but some things must be done in advance." Tang Dao said very seriously.

"Captain Tang, you say."

"First, Songjiang County must immediately notify all Songjiang residents that because of the Japanese army's attack, they must take their valuables and leave Songjiang City before sunset today. It is recommended that it is best not to go to Kunshan. You can hide in your relatives' homes in the countryside for two or three months and return home when the war stabilizes.

Second, I hope Songjiang County can recruit 5,000 young and strong men to help our army build fortifications from noon to tomorrow morning."

"Okay!" Wang Gongyu agreed without hesitation.

As soon as he stepped down from the city wall, the inspector of the third administrative district of Jiangsu and Zhejiang issued the highest administrative order in Songjiang with the seal.

All the people in Songjiang, whether they were dignitaries or peddlers, all left the city. To speed up the process, everyone could only carry a certain amount of silver and food.

The security group might not be very good at fighting, but they were absolutely good at dealing with ordinary people. Within half an hour, the originally restless Songjiang town was already crying.

No one wanted to leave their homes, not to mention that they were not allowed to take away their valuable belongings, especially for those wealthy families, which was simply their reverse scale. Some people even organized family armed forces to resist.

In troubled times, heavy punishments were used. The magistrate of Songjiang showed a cruelty that was different from his gentle appearance. He directly ordered that those who refused to accept the order could be shot on the spot.

With the sound of cruel gunshots, seeing that the security group was no longer like usual to get money to do things, but directly showed their fangs, several wealthy people who led the riots suddenly became much more honest.

That's not all. Tang Dao has previously proposed to recruit 5,000 young men, and he is also doing his best to complete it.

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