Chapter 38 The sound of reinforcements

Since the Japanese army’s intense street fighting began, the officers and handymen of the 57th Division’s headquarters have shown a common behavior, which is to stand in the yard or under the eaves every night, quietly listening to the guns of the reinforcements on the south bank of the Yuan River. Voice.They do this every night, no matter how fierce the battle is and how busy the affairs are, as long as the sound of gun explosions in the city is a little less, there will be someone listening intently there thoughtfully. In the early morning of December 1st, there were two cooks in the division headquarters who went out to fight and returned to cook. They were cooking a stove in the backyard of the Central Bank.Chef Zhang ran out when he had time, climbed to a section of the broken wall, tilted his head to listen, and there was a burst of crackling gunshots coming from the south, which was unusual.Unable to stop his heart beating wildly, he said to himself: "Is it reinforcements? Are they really calling?" So he listened more carefully, and sure enough, amidst the rain of gunshots, Two or three more "booming" cannons were sent.Every sound of the Japanese siege artillery was like thunder, and this "booming" artillery sound could only be like this when it came from afar.There is a battle behind the enemy lines. If it's not the arrival of reinforcements from the national army, what is it?Chef Zhang got carried away and clapped his hands to applaud, but he suddenly rolled down the wall.He fell to the ground, completely forgot about the pain, got up and ran into the kitchen, smiling and saying:

"Old Liu, old Liu, it's over, it's over! Our reinforcements have arrived, and I can already hear the sound of guns from the south bank!" Mr. Liu threw away the firewood in his hand and ran out.After a few minutes, he also smiled all over his face, clapped his hands and walked into the kitchen, shouting: "Sure enough, sure enough, the friendly army has arrived! Lao Zhang, wash that piece of meat and cook it!" "Hey!" Chef Zhang replied happily, and took down the piece of air-dropped beef hanging on the wall. Just when he was happy, the messenger Ding Shiqiang walked in and said, "Hurry up and cook, the division commander and officers are all hungry!"

Chef Zhang said: "Hurry up, brother, cook meat for the officers to eat today, you can satisfy your hunger too!" Ding Shiqiang saw that the pot was steaming, he lifted the lid and looked at it, and saw a large piece of meat in the soup, he asked: "What? You boiled all the meat? If you eat it today, it won't be tomorrow?" Chef Zhang replied with a smile : "Just eat this meat, forget it, there will be fresh meat to eat tomorrow. Didn't you hear? The gunfire of the reinforcements has already started on the south bank!" Ding Shiqiang said: "Damn it, are you lying?"

Chef Zhang pointed to the roof: "I swear, I lied to you..." He pointed to his crotch again. Ding Shiqiang waved his hand: "Don't swear, I'll listen." He said, and ran to the yard outside the house to listen.After listening for a while, he yelled: "Old Zhang, you have really good fucking ears!" While yelling, he reported to the basement of the headquarters. At noon on December 1, Sun Lianzhong, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone, sent a telegram: "The 79th Army has been ordered to draw a division force to reach near Changde in Sanshen. Our 63rd Division occupied Taoyuan in 31st. The reinforced regiment of the 51st Division has advanced to Changlinggang. The 10th Army is attacking the southeast side of Changde. "

Later, the military headquarters of the 74th Army also called Yu Chengwan to send personnel to contact.A few days ago, Yu Chengwan sent officers and soldiers to contact outside the city many times, but there was no news of returning, so this time he decided to send the deputy division commander Chen Xiaoyun to lead 1 staff officer and 6 spies to Changling Hill by night. Liaison with the 51st Division and the 151st Regiment. On the afternoon of the 1st, Grand Commander Sun Dai sent another telegram from Supreme Commander Chiang Kai-shek: "I have been instructed by the commissioner that the defense of Changde this time is of equal value to the defense of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. It is indeed the glory of the country and the nation. Relevant reinforcements will arrive soon, and we must hold on until victory is our hope."

Afterwards, Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth War Zone, also sent an urgent telegram saying: "The Zhou division has been ordered to occupy Deshan, and the troops will immediately send a regiment to the southwest bank of Changde City to support the brother army and enter the city to help in the battle." Two hours later, Xue Yue called again: "Zhou Qingxiang replied to the telegram that (on the 30th) Shen Jizhan Deshan complied with the order to contact the friendly army. Yue Ji ordered to send a death squad of 1,000 people or a regiment to the southwest of Changde to support the friendly army and enter the city to help the battle. Xianjue immediately led Zhu, Sun's two divisions defeated the enemy near Shimenqiao and Fangyangping, and entered Sujiadu and Erligang to fight."

Later, Commander Xianjue of the 10th Army also called and said: "The 3rd Division has captured the vicinity of Deshan and the area south of it on the 30th. Hope to contact you." According to the many telegrams mentioned above and the gunshots from Deshan, Yu Chengwan concluded that Master Zhou might indeed have arrived in Deshan, so he sent plainclothes to Deshan to make contact with Yu Chengwan's pieces and letters that day. In the evening, plainclothes attracted an intelligence officer from the 3rd Division of the National Army.After Yu Chengwan heard the report, he immediately greeted: "Let them in!"

After the intelligence officer of the 3rd Division came in, he saluted, took out a letter and a business card from his arms, and presented them to Commander Yu. Yu Chengwan took the letter and saw what it said: "Brother Shi Jian, deputy commander of the Yu Army, learned: the whole division arrived at the area south of Deshan on the morning of November 30 and began to attack Deshan. After a day and night of fierce fighting, it did occupy Deshan at 5:30 p.m. on the same day and controlled Its southeast line is only a long way to help, and the situation of Changde's enemy and us is unclear, so we sent two spies, Gong Zhixiong and Huang Maolin, from the special headquarters to contact us. Please tell us the general situation in detail. Zhou Qingxiang bows. December 1."

On the back of the card it says: "I understand everything in the letter and business card. The headquarters has sent the 7th regiment to advance from Deshan to the southwest of Changde at 5:00 p.m. today, and immediately entered the city to assist. Except that the regiment will be directly commanded by the elder brother, but after the regiment arrives, Regarding the matter of crossing the river, please make proper preparations and assistance, sincerity, Deputy Commander Yu, brother Shi Jian! My name is Zhengsu." "Well," Yu Chengwan nodded after looking at it, "Is there another one?" He asked.

"My name is Gong Zhixiong. Huang Maolin was wounded by a stray bullet on the way, so he couldn't cross the river." Gong Zhixiong replied standing at attention. Yu Chengwan turned his head and said to Commander Zhou Yizhong next to him: "You should go to Deshan for a visit. You have to go and report to Commander Zhou for all the details. If you go, you can also attract friendly troops into the city." Zhou Yi stood up again and replied: "I am willing to accept the order, but the deputy division commander has also left, and the brothers in the staff office have also gone out to supervise the battle. It is too hard to keep the division commander here alone."

Yu Chengwan waved his hand and said, "Who is not too hard, all the teachers? This task is very important. It is not appropriate for others to do it. You should prepare." After that, he ordered the spy to rest and wait outside, and he immediately wrote a letter under the kerosene lamp. A personal letter to Mr. Zhou Qingxiang.He handed the letter to Zhou Yizhong, and appointed Zhou Tiao's eight staff adjutants, intelligence officers, and orderlies to go together. Zhou Yizhong received the letter, he stood at attention and said, "Master, I'm going, do you have anything else to say?" "I wish you success!" Yu Chengwan patted him on the shoulder with high hopes. After Zhou Yizhong left, Yu Chengwan reported to Commander Fang Xianjue that he was about to welcome the reinforcements. The general idea was: 1. The Zhou division has captured Deshan and has contacted them. We kindly set up a regiment at the ferry crossing at Changde South Station on a starry night this evening. Enter the city and plan for victory together. The rest of the troops will cross the Ruijia River in Deshan and the vicinity of Jiajie Temple to achieve the effect of flanking attack; , can be requisitioned as much as possible. Yu Chengwan and the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division had great hopes for the 10th Army's entry into the city to relieve the siege, but in the end it was still nothing.