Although the frequent success of the 48th Army in southern Hubei has undoubtedly greatly improved China's overall situation in the battle, whether it is the Chongqing Military Commission, the Sixth War Zone Chief of Enshi, or the base camp of Tokyo, the 11th Japanese Army Command in Wuhan, at this stage, they did not focus their main attention on southern Hubei and Cheng Jiaji's headquarters. What can touch their minds the most is the map's fine and easy-to-go between Changyang and Yichang.

Silk is a slightly tortuous red line. And both sides have their own names for this red line. The commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Hengshan Yong, vividly called it the door bolt to the last gate to Chongqing. The Sixth War Zone commander's telegrams sent to the front line, and the division commander's telegrams were often used to use the decisive front line and the dead line to call this front line that runs through the five places of rice straw lawn, Gaojiayan, Yujiaba, Caojiafan, and Shipai. The small town of Shipai, which only has nearly a hundred families, is also the top priority in this line of defense.

At dawn on the 17th, a small number of Japanese soldiers advanced to the south forest slope outside Shipai, and a great battle was imminent!

The 11th Division of the 18th Army, which was regarded as the capital of the Civil Engineering Department by the War Zone Committee, is currently regarded as the capital of the Civil Engineering Department. At this moment, the division has less than 12,000 people, and they will undertake it.

It was subject to crazy attacks from the entire Japanese Third Division. This means that in the battle of Shipai, the Japanese army invested twice as much as the Chinese army! Of course, the Chinese army still has some favorable conditions. For example, due to the special terrain of the narrow mountains of this islet, the Japanese bomber group and fleet were no longer available. In addition, the mountains around Shipai, the walls are thousands of feet high, thousands of ravines, and towering ancient trees are actually easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the danger of being the pass. This is secondly, is the natural dangers that the Japanese have captured since the war between China and Japan, and are still less? But if a single weapon is well equipped and the single combat power is strong, and there is also a powerful force of "crawling as a fox and as fierce as a tiger". It is also a powerful brigade of the powerful general who is skilled in mountain combat, it would be enough for Yamamoto Sanan (the commander of the Japanese Third Division at the time) to drink a pot!

But even if you add or subtract it, it is still a battle of unpredictable luck and a future that will be unpredictable! A fierce battle!

So when the worried Minister Chen personally called the commander of the 11th Division to ask if the commander of the 11th Division could hold the stone tablet, the young general who should have been swearing to graduate from the fourth phase of Huangpu actually answered the answer to Shangfeng: "Although you are not sure of success, Cheng Ren is indeed determined.

But the problem is that the Chinese have no choice but to retreat and can no longer afford to lose. Once they really lose the stone card, the bad impact on the entire battle situation will not be able to be explained by all members of a division! In a word, at this moment, this small stone card town is related to the fate of Chongqing and the fate of the Tianfu Kingdom. It even determines the trend and victory and defeat of the entire war.

The Supreme Government obviously had a deep understanding of this. Otherwise, he would not have issued an order to the Sixth War Zone that "the first division should be appointed to defend the Shipai Fortress" as early as the beginning of the fall of Yichang, nor would he have sent a direct message to the 11th Division after hearing that the Japanese troops were approaching Shipai. The content was directly sent to the 11th Division: "Shipai and Relations Counselors are in danger of safety. I hope our soldiers will kill the enemy bravely, and the Fossil Fortress will be Stalingrad, China. If this can be done, the country will be very lucky and the nation will be very lucky..." The ground was in a hurry.

After receiving the telegram from the Supreme Government, the commander of the 11th Division not only immediately wrote five suicide notes to his family, but also assigned incredibly strange tasks to his adjutant. Before 11:00 a.m., he had to find a Taoist priest for him, but if he couldn't find one, he would do military law.

Fortunately, there is a small Taoist temple with incense and talk in the mountains near Shipai. Otherwise, the adjutant's head would have fallen out of nowhere.

All of this was due to the 36-year-old general who wanted to sacrifice to heaven!

In this way, at noon that day, in addition to the few troops monitoring the movements of the Japanese army, 11,000 officers and soldiers of the 11th Division lined up in neat formations to participate in a unforgettable oath for them!

"I sincerely tell the gods of mountains and rivers with sincerity. My great army defended my ancestors' hard management and left our land with legitimate meaning. The ghosts hid the gods, and they were determined to die. The Han and the thieves were indomitable. There were clear instructions in ancient times. China and the barbarians must be strictly distinguished, and they remain righteous in the spring and autumn. They were soldiers in life and the soul of the army. Later generations looked at the present, and they were more concerned about the past, and they were not afraid of the past. Now that the thief is invading, they will be punished with pain and annihilation, and they will die for them. However, we firmly believe that the heavens will bless the loyalty,..."

This oath may not be a bit fraternal enough, nor can it clarify the division between China and the barbarians, which is quite suspicious of misleading future generations! But who can say that the words and sentences roaring with the voices of thousands of people, the feelings of thousands of people, and the hearts of thousands of people do not represent their hatred for the Japanese invaders, nor do they represent the patriotism of these descendants of Yan and Huang!

As the commander of the 11th Division had expected, the Japanese army launched a large attack on the Shipai Fortress in the early morning of the 18th. The dense sound of guns and cannons sounded first in front of Nanlinpo, which was guarded by the 31st Battalion of the 31st Regiment of the 11th Division. Soon afterwards, the offensive and defensive sides entered a state of full-scale fierce fighting around Shipai Town, and the battle became increasingly fierce. It was even soon enough to reach the point where the 11th Division was forced to use squads as the basic calculation unit when sending reinforcements to various frontier positions.

Just as the Shipai Fortress was in full swing, the Forty-eighth Army, which was originally scheduled to launch an attack on the central Hubei region, also encountered new troubles.

Speaking of this big trouble, we must first admit that Lieutenant General Yokoyama was decisive in using troops. After carefully weighing the various disadvantages caused by the 48th Army, the Chinese sidecar that suddenly turned out to the side, Yokoyama made an unexpected decision and urgently dispatched the entire Japanese 68th Division stationed in Yueyang to return to the north. In other words, Yueyang, an important town in northern Hunan, was abandoned by the Japanese side. It took great courage to issue this order. You must know that Yueyang has spent more than half a dozen dollars.

The power of the tiger was wedged by Hunan, the largest grain-producing area in southern China. With Yueyang in hand, the Japanese could plunder a large amount of food from the rich Dongting Lake area. At the same time, the Japanese army could also go south at any time and lead to Changsha, Hengyang and Guilin. This abandonment was not only wasted all previous efforts, but it was also difficult for the Japanese army to capture Yueyang again. After all, the importance of Yueyang is unquestionable, and there is also a lesson in the past. There is no reason for China's Ninth War Zone not to send heavy troops to defend it.

This also shows how determined the Japanese are to break the Chinese battlefield such as being dragged and indecisive.

Suddenly, 20,000 Japanese troops came from behind, and Cheng Jiaji's life was a great success.

In fact, since he learned that the Sixty-Eighth Group was heading north, Cheng Jiaji had been concentrating all his troops and rushing south, thinking of ways to severely damage the Sixty-Eighth Division, first relieve his worries, and then talk about other things; or divide his brigade of the Eighth Division into two parts, blocking the enemy coming from the south, and carrying out the generals from the north; hesitating in pain between the two. However, one thing he had in his heart was that if the Sixty-Eighth Division also entered the battlefield in western Hubei, he would have to crush the already tight battle situation and collapse immediately. If that scene really happened, Cheng Jiaji would become the eternal sinner of the Chinese nation.

As the 68th Division approached day and night, Cheng Jiaji was forced to make a decision in a hurry. Wen Songyuan and Qian Shen led the New Twenty Army and the Japanese Peace Army to advance along the Yangtze River to the three towns of Wuhan, while he himself commanded the remaining troops and prepared to entertain Samaha, a very impatient distinguished guest.

On the morning of the 19th, since the battle began, Jianli County has been relocated twice.

"Jingtao! We are all soldiers, so it's better to go straight. This time you have a heavy responsibility! But don't worry, I'll keep a look at my guards, but if the military flag cannot float for me for three more days at the head of Jianli City, what will happen? If I don't tell you, you should be as clear as a mirror." Wang Jimin of course understood what Cheng Jiaji meant. If he was in daily life, he would not say that he lost the city because he was unable to fight hard, even if he fled without fighting.

The highest authorities, which are most concerned about being close to being close, often call first to scold them, and then give them a painless punishment, which will be overwhelming. There are no precedents in this past. But at this moment, if you fight too ugly, you will be too jealous to be a situation that is too dangerous. The aggressive Japanese will make you anxious and unspeakable. Besides, killing him, Wang Jimin, isn't it just right to show the situation outside and the three armies inside to shock them!

Although he was a little complaining about Cheng Jiaji's order to keep the prisoner, he also told Wang Jimin that Cheng Jiaji had nothing wrong with dispatching troops like this, and he did not have any bias. He appealed to the Military Commission on this matter, and except for breaking up with Cheng Jiaji for nothing, the current situation will not change any further.

Yes! Putting aside the future situation, it is much more sinister than the troops left in southern Hubei. Not to mention the New Twenty Army, just by judging these four divisions in front of you, no matter which aspect, Wang Jimin's troops are well-deserved first. The 116th Division of Jianlicheng is not defended for the time being? Who will defend it?

"Jun's post! The rank of the Ministry will be the commander and the entire division will fight the Japanese invaders with all their strength!" It should be said that although Wang Jimin's response was respectful and in a proper manner, it cannot be considered unreserved. However, for this royal relative who was serious and of the same generation as the Supreme Government, Cheng Jiaji had to pay attention to it in many cases.

"Jingtao, this city is only the size of a palm. I suggest that you should only place it in the city with two battalions first, and the other troops will be used as reserves. In this way, the Japanese bombing and shelling will not cause too much damage to us. At the same time, the city should also speed up the construction of street fighting fortifications. I will adjust more flamethrowers for you, so that you can burn the city and defeat the enemy when you are in a relatively calm tone!" After a few more words in a relatively calm tone, Cheng Jiaji went back to the club twenty miles away.

At 4:00 p.m. that day, the 68th Division of the Japanese army hurriedly set up this line of defense centered on Jianli County and launched a tentative attack.
Chapter completed!