Chapter 14 fire on the south gate

Long Chuyun left the 2nd Battalion of the 170th Regiment in Huangtu Mountain. Hearing that the east was tight, he rushed directly to the 169th Regiment to assist Commander Chai with some defenses. When he returned to the division headquarters in the city, it was about 2 o'clock in the morning . Seeing his exhausted appearance, Deputy Master Chen put his fingers on his lips and "hush", persuading him not to say anything, not to ask anything, "It's late at night, let's go to sleep, save some energy, tomorrow Let's fight again." After speaking, he blew out the kerosene lamps in the staff quarters of the division with all his might.

Long Chuyun was indeed tired. He was highly concentrated under the hail of bullets, and the intense trek around the city in all directions made him collapse uncontrollably as soon as he touched the bed. "Huhu" fell asleep. "Director Long, Director Long, get up, the enemy plane is dropping bombs overhead!" Long Chuyun turned over and sat up, seeing that the room was glowing red with the flames outside, and everyone had already left, "Buzzing" The noise of plane motors blares overhead. "Shush! Boom! Swipe! Boom!" The sound of the bomb falling through the air and the sound of the bomb hitting the ground were connected together.He was just about to go out, when suddenly, the two windows facing the outside flashed in, with a "bang".He felt that something was wrong, so he quickly fell down on the ground, but before he could get down, a gust of hot wind gushed in through the window like a wall falling down, pushing him to the ground, and what fell on him was scorching hot air. The hot heat wave is also mixed with stones and sand.

Sensitively aware that he had been shot nearby, he immediately ran to the basement of the division command post.At the telephone switchboard at the entrance of the cave, the operator was busy connecting the wires, and he didn't seem to be hurt. The staff officers in the caves didn't seem to be disturbed and were busy back and forth. Only then did he relax a little and take a breath.A messenger came out of the division commander's room and went straight to him and said that the division commander had something to say to the director.He went to the division commander's office and saw Mr. Yu took a map of Changde city, put it on a small table, and was looking at it calmly in front of the kerosene lamp.Deputy Master Chen sat aside, looking at Master Yu as if he was waiting for a task.Commander Zhou is still using the phone to command and dispatch combat troops outside the city.The sound of aircraft motors overhead, and the sound of bomb explosions around the division command post, although one after another, making a mess, these leaders seemed to have nothing to do with it.

As soon as Yu Chengwan looked up and saw Long Chuyun, he said: "The fire at the upper south gate is very big, we can't let it spread over there, there are 3rd Battalion and 1st Company fighting over there, go and see. Most of the enemy planes today dropped If you continue to throw bombs, cover them with sand immediately before the flames burst into flames. Tell the brothers to be brave, calm, and stable. The enemy burns the city to disturb the order and morale of the army. , so stability is the best countermeasure to deal with the enemy." Yu Chengwan said, gently punctuating the map with the pencil in his hand, he knew the map well, studied it as if he had lived in the city for decades In the same way, he told Long Chuyun where there is a well to get water, where is the broad street to stop the fire, and where is the narrow alley that must be demolished.After explaining, he asked again: "Do you understand?"

Long Chuyun agreed to understand. Yu Chengwan urged again: "I'll say it again, be brave, calm, and firm, go!" Long Chuyun saluted and bid farewell and came out, seeing that the street at Xingjiekou had been shrouded in smoke so that no one could be seen a few steps away.In the pile of smoke and dust, red light with some thick purple-yellow flames rushed into the air.The brothers in the division headquarters, carrying buckets, axes and shovels, were putting out a nearby fire.Long Chuyun called an orderly to follow him, and got into the flames on the street.It is very close to the upper south gate, and they only need to cross two streets. They were about to rush into an alley next to them, but suddenly a wall in front of them fell down, and a big gap was immediately exposed in the ashes. A brother, and a dozen or so people in plain clothes rushed out, and the leader, Long Chuyun, recognized him as the deputy squad leader Liu of the division's duty squad, and asked, "How did you get out of here?" The deputy squad leader reported: "We I was ordered to stop the fire, knock down a row of houses in the alley next door, and come out from here."

As soon as I said a few words, I heard a strange "woo hoo hoo" sound above my head. There was an enemy plane, taking advantage of the twilight of the dawn, to swoop over, and "tap-tat-tat" bursts of machine gun fire.Long Chuyun squatted on the corner of the wall next to him, and turned his head to look. An airplane wing with a red plaster badge flashed past. "Crack" a machine gun bullet hit the brick wall, splashing a burst of gravel, and a piece of brick slag hit him on the shoulder.He was just about to jump up to change positions, but his feet got entangled, and he saw that Deputy Squad Leader Liu was lying next to him, with a bullet in his forehead, and bright red blood was "bubbling" out of the bowl-sized hole. "Uh!" He was so sad that he was worried. Just now he was strong and vigorous, but he turned into a lonely soul in the blink of an eye.Although the number of deaths seen on the battlefield was innumerable, but such an accidental death, as if it didn't seem real, still strongly shocked Long Chuyun's heart.

"Sir, what are we doing?" When the surrounding soldiers saw that Long Chuyun was the school officer, they all reported to him. "Part of the house is demolished and turned off, and some of them are filled with water to put out the fire. Act quickly!" Long Chuyun ordered decisively. Several soldiers and people in plain clothes each took long hooks and pulled the beams in the downturned wall, and some propped up the hooks to hook the pillars of the house.At the beginning, Long Chuyun didn't know who these people in plain clothes were. After some inquiries, he found out that they were plainclothes police officers from the police station. come out.

Another group of people carried buckets to fetch water to put out the fire. Long Chuyun judged the location of the well after Yu Chengwan pointed it out, and commanded, "Quickly, go to the other side of the alley, there must be a well there!" The soldiers rushed over Sure enough, not only was there a deep well, but there were also ready-made buckets beside the well.They brought the water in buckets and collected it in a huge tank. Some soldiers sucked it up with a water gun and sprayed it at the fire in front of them. Although Long Chuyun was an officer, he was also a good young man. He was embarrassed to just point his fingers and not move, so he carried a bucket and shuttled back and forth to fetch water.Gradually, he found that there were more people fighting the fire, and he was surprised to find that Dai Jiufeng, the magistrate of Changde County, was among the crowd.

"Mr. Dai!" he yelled. "It's Director Long of the division!" Dai Jiufeng had seen him a long time ago, but he didn't dare to disturb him easily. "Mr. Dai, why didn't you take the people out of the city to evacuate?" Long Chuyun asked puzzled. Magistrate Dai did not leave, he stayed with the police officers of the police station.Immediately after the city was attacked by air, seven fires broke out in the urban area, and then two fires merged to become five. He led the policemen to put out two fires. He brought a dozen police officers here.When he got here, he saw that the fire had been suppressed after the soldiers of the 57th Division demolished the house and poured water on it.

"Director Long, although I'm a high-ranking official, the country has made me a county magistrate here, so I'm responsible for guarding the land. As soldiers, don't you have your life? You can guard it, but I can't guard it?" County Magistrate Dai casually pointed to a soldier and said, "Look at that young man, he is so brave, he extinguished a few incendiary bombs, he is probably just an ordinary soldier, he should have received much less education than me, my awareness Is it lower than him?" County Magistrate Dai seemed to be confessing his love to Long Chuyun, but also seemed to be reasoning with him.

Long Chuyun waved his hand: "That's not what it means, that's not what it means." "What does that mean?" County Magistrate Dai asked. "Mr. Dai, listen, the guns outside the city are getting more and more violent, and the explosions in some places seem to be at the root of the city. Maybe there may be street fighting tonight. You and your subordinates , and those policemen are not combatants, if you stay here, not only will you not be able to help us, but it may increase our concerns." This was something County Magistrate Dai did not expect. He asked, "Are we going to add to your concerns?" Long Chuyun said: "Of course there are. Now it can be said that the enemy has surrounded the city. With you in the city, we soldiers should protect you no matter whether it is public or private. But in fact, with all our energy, we should Going to deal with the enemy, I don’t have time to take care of you. Up to now, the enemy outside the west gate is still far away from the city gate. If you go out through the west gate and find a boat to cross the south bank, there is still a way to retreat. It will be difficult to say if it is a day and a half later.” "Then..." County Magistrate Dai thought about it, "Then let me discuss it with Mr. Yu and make a decision." "Okay. We are friends, and I won't persuade you to leave for no reason." Long Chuyun had already said it very sincerely.At this time, most of the fires in the city, especially the fire at the upper south gate, have been extinguished, leaving only the black smoke on the fire ground, which is still rushing upwards in circles of black air. Black smoke enveloped.The sky had already brightened, but it was cloudy, and with the smog covering it, the darkness seemed to return to the night again. But the battle did not stop slightly because of the bad weather. The sound of guns from the northeast and west corners of the city was very approaching.There are street warfare fortifications everywhere in the streets and alleys. Except for the fortress, there are machine gun bunkers in every alley, especially the whole street. The stone alley, this stone alley is curved, connected by countless "Zhi" characters.The soldiers of the engineer battalion were working vigorously with their shovels, and the stone slabs carried around extended the "Zigzag" fortification to the nerve center of the defenders - the gate of the Bank of China Command Post in Xingjiekou.