Rise From Eight Hundred

Guangde County is located in the middle of Guangde.

The 20,000 troops retreating from the Jiaxing defense line did not choose to take the main road from Huzhou to Guangde because they were worried about bombing by Japanese naval fighters. Instead, they entered directly from the mountainous area in the south of Guangde.

Although the marching speed was slow because of the rugged mountain road, the dense trees in the mountainous area blocked the sight of the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. The Japanese naval fighters may have given up their most advantageous air strike combat method because of weather reasons or because they were too far away from the seaside and were afraid of encountering another ground-to-air ambush near Baihe Port last time.

The retreat of the Jiaxing defense line took two more days and consumed more supplies, but there was no loss of personnel.

After the independent battalion left, the 67th Army and the 43rd Army even rested in the mountains for two days before continuing to evacuate along the mountain road to Wuhu.

Tang Dao and the independent battalion did not quickly arrive at Guangde County, which served as the war zone command.

The independent battalion entered the war zone as a supervisory team. In addition to the original equipment and the equipment asked for by General Wu, they only carried rations for ten days, and brought as much ammunition as possible. All other supplies, including the wounded, were transported by the 43rd Army Headquarters.

Compared with the retreat from Jiashan, it was already a light march.

But even so, the entire independent battalion wandered in the mountains for two days and nights before arriving at the location of Guangde County.

And in these two days, the Guangde Defense War has been fully launched.

As the vanguard, the Kunisaki Detachment, which pursued the entire army of the Jiaxing Defense Line, was not far from Guangde County, but they were not the Japanese army that fired the first shot.

The first to attack the Chinese army on the Guangde Defense Line was the 5,000-man First Brigade of the Puppet Manchuria Jing'an Army, which had occupied Changxing, Yixing.

The 433rd Brigade of the 115th Division, led by Lieutenant General Rao Guohua, had fought fiercely with the Japanese invaders in Si'an Town, east of Guangde for three days. Because the rear road was completely blown up by the Japanese invaders, supplies and reinforcements could not arrive, and because a certain unit left the position without authorization, the main force of the 145th Division was forced to retreat.

It is now reorganizing the defense line in the area of ​​Jiepai Village, 10 miles east of Guangde County.

This is the information received by Tang Dao and the independent battalion from the hurriedly retreating Guangde soldiers and civilians when they arrived near Guangde County via a small mountain road.

Tang Dao did not see the Lieutenant General Commander of the Ninth Army who had evacuated from Guangde County half a day ago. Perhaps the other party retreated too hastily or was not interested in the so-called supervision team sent by the war zone. Tang Dao sent several telegrams without finding the real master, but only one telegram was sent back: "The military situation is urgent, there is no need to waste troops to travel in vain. Please ask Supervisor Tang to assume the responsibility appointed by the war zone commander!"

To put it bluntly, you should do what you should do. There is no need to meet me. Even if you meet, it is still this order.

It seems a bit irresponsible, but this is also a routine operation. Tang Dao is no longer surprised.

After resting for two hours under Guangde City, where almost no one can be seen, the whole army had a full lunch. Tang Dao ordered to take the first and second companies fully armed and head straight to the Jiepai front line.

He knew very well that Jiepai, as the eastern gate of Guangde, was in a dangerous position. However, in the past, Lieutenant General Rao, who only commanded an infantry regiment, was far inferior to the Japanese. In the end, the position was lost and Guangde County fell.

However, this was only the first step of the disaster for the 145th Division. A deputy commander named Tang of the 23rd Army, who was hundreds of miles away, actually ordered the remnants of the 145th Division that had withdrawn from the position to launch a counterattack, resulting in Lieutenant General Rao, who only had one infantry battalion left, fighting hard in grief and anger, and then shooting himself in the east of Guangde City.

The main brigade of the 145th Division was almost wiped out in this battle, and their highest commander also died in the battle.

If possible, Tang Dao hopes to change the tragic fate of this heroic Sichuan Army.

At this time, the Jiepai battlefield should have started. The rumbling sound of artillery fire was faintly visible, and the shadows of Japanese planes constantly diving and bombing could be seen standing on the mountain path.

Perhaps because they were very confident that they could capture the Chinese defensive positions, the Japanese planes did not bomb and destroy the highway connecting Jiepai, the eastern gate of Guangde County, but the two infantry companies marching on the highway were still too conspicuous. In addition to Tang Dao personally leading the guards on the road, the two infantry companies were protected by the two wings of the mountains.

What Tang Dao did not expect was that he encountered a team of Chinese troops trotting along the road with their heads down seven or eight miles away from the Jiepai battlefield where the fierce battle was in full swing. Looking at the bamboo hats behind them and the straw sandals on their feet, there was no need to ask, this should be the Sichuan Army.

Except for the 23rd Army, which had just arrived at the outskirts of Jinling and rushed to Guangde to deploy defenses without even having time to replenish winter clothes, there was no other army that was still wearing summer uniforms in the cold winter weather.

But, the battle was still going on, why were these people running back in a mess?

Looking at the endless number of soldiers, who were panic-stricken and in disarray, Tang Dao couldn't help but frown. This should be the first time he encountered a situation where the battle was still going on and the soldiers were running back in groups.

"Raise your guns! Deploy defenses and block them!" Tang Dao shouted coldly.

The guards had all been equipped with submachine guns and immediately dispersed to both sides of the road. Tang Dao, who was wearing an army colonel uniform, was left standing in the middle of the road with Xia Dayu and Erya, two communications soldiers.

The Sichuan Army who were jogging on the opposite side should have also discovered Tang Dao and his three men standing in the middle of the road. The dark blue uniforms on the Tang Dao and his three men made them hesitate a little before continuing to move forward.

Until they reached 20 meters in front of Tang Dao, they saw that the other party still had no intention of stopping, "Fire a warning shot!" Tang Dao frowned even more.

"Bang bang bang!" Xia Dayu pulled out his Mauser pistol and fired three shots into the sky.

"Fuck you, you immortal, a good dog doesn't block the road!"

"You think you are the pot, standing there pretending to be a big shot!"

A burst of curses came from the Sichuan Army team whose pace slowed down, and even many rifles were raised to Tang Dao.

But obviously, it was not only the colonel rank on Tang Dao's collar that could scare people, but also the more than 30 submachine guns placed behind the bushes and rocks on both sides of the road, which was the real reason why this team of Sichuan Army did not dare to shoot at will.

"Brother, your part, I am a subordinate of the 433rd Brigade of the 145th Division, and I was ordered to move the battlefield!" A Sichuan Army captain walked out of the queue that was forced to stop, and asked Tang Dao with a smile on his face.

Tang Dao was dressed like this, and was protected by dozens of guards with submachine guns. He stood in the middle of the road so confidently to block thousands of people. It was obvious that he had a good background.

In addition to the Sichuan Army wearing black summer uniforms, there were also people from the Ninth Army wearing dark blue uniforms on the Guangde battlefield. It was definitely not surprising that such a colonel officer suddenly appeared.

"Subordinates of the 433rd Brigade of the 145th Division? Ordered to move the battlefield?" Tang Dao narrowed his eyes slightly.

A glance at the soldiers in the queue showed that they were either panic-stricken or dejected. The soldier's intuition told Tang Dao that this was definitely not as simple as the captain officer in front of him said.

"Where is the military order from your superiors? Bring it to me for review!" Tang Dao said coldly.

"What a bullshit military order, my words are the military order, who do you think you are, asking me for a military order?" An arrogant voice came from 30 meters ahead.

Tang Dao looked over coldly, and the queue dispersed to both sides. A sturdy officer jumped down from the sedan chair carried by two soldiers, straightened his collar, and walked over with a swagger.

Tang Dao's eyes were deep. The rank on the officer's collar badge was two bars and three golden triangular stars. He was actually a colonel in the army, at least an officer at the level of the commander of an infantry regiment.

The Sichuan Army came from the mountains, and it was almost a tradition for senior officers to sit on sedan chairs. This behavior was not very perverse, but he kept saying "bullshit military orders, my words are military orders" all the time, which was definitely not something an ordinary infantry commander would dare to do.

"No matter who you are, I give you ten seconds, get out of the way quickly, otherwise my brothers' guns will not have eyes!" The officer who walked ten meters in front of Tang Dao waved his hand, and the soldiers who were forced to stop raised their guns and aimed at Tang Dao.

"Oh? There are more guns than people, right!" Tang Dao's face remained unchanged and pointed upwards. "Look at the mountain. Which one is better, my heavy machine gun or your kid's old barrel."

The officer and the captain standing beside him were stunned and subconsciously looked at the low hills on both sides of the road.

There seemed to be hundreds of people on the low hills.

He quickly picked up the telescope hanging on his neck and looked carefully. Because of the trees and grass on the two hills on both sides of the road, the exact number of the enemy was still unknown, but the several heavy machine guns in the telescope's field of view made people feel cold.

The first and second companies, which had already fired warning shots on the mountain in the summer rain and had received enhanced fire support platoons, deliberately placed their two heavy machine guns on the rocks.

The long barrels of the heavy machine guns flashed a blue luster under the winter sun, which was obvious.

The officer's big face twitched fiercely.

His entire infantry regiment only had 4 heavy machine guns, and they were all outdated. Not to mention the terrain was not advantageous, even in a duel, they were definitely no match for the Maxim water-cooled heavy machine guns that had already hung the ammunition belt.

Moreover, the enemy was in a high position, and if they really fought, his regiment of thousands of people would be left here.

The situation was stronger than the people, and the officer who had been severely slapped a few times suddenly became amiable.