Chapter 41 Chapter 41: Beating the Dog at the North Gate

Now this splendid land is the defensive territory of the 3rd Division of the 10th Army.In addition to the 8th Regiment of the 3rd Division, which was still attacking the Japanese army on both sides of the Changheng Highway between Hengyang and Xiangtan, the 7th Regiment guarded the line of Changhu Town and Yilai Street in the west; The important task is to guard the front line of Shendu, Caoqiao and Shiguzui. Master Zhou Qingxiang strictly ordered the 9th regiment to strengthen the defense, and each sent a reinforced company to guard the two key positions at the southern end of Jushendu and Caoqiao.Both places have solid blockhouses, bunkers, traffic trenches and other facilities, just waiting for the Japanese dogs to come and die.

The 9th Regiment's defense line has a relatively weak point, which is the paddy fields and fish ponds in the middle of Yilaimiaoqian Street from Jushendu. Other places can rely on the Zhengshui River. If the enemy dares to attack, beat him first. , To make him come and go. Platoon Leader Huang, are you ready? Wait for the Japanese dogs to come, don't rush to fight them; let him come here first, let's close the door and beat the dogs! 1st Battalion, 2nd Company, 9th Regiment Lieutenant Su Yugang said.Yes! Company commander, follow your command, we will fight if you say so! The 1st platoon leader replied.

On the afternoon of June 28, the Japanese army of the brigade stormed the Jushendu position.I saw the Japanese stormtroopers attacking wave after wave, ignoring the hail of bullets and rushing forward.When one batch is hit, another batch rushes in.The devil first stepped on the minefield and blew up a large area; then the sniper's cold guns attacked the devil's commander from a long distance; finally broke through the obstacle, came to the outer trench, and was swept down by the machine gun in the bunker A large area; when they crossed the outer trench and rushed to the defensive position, they were immediately beaten by crossfire from both sides and couldn't lift their heads.But the Japanese army is well-trained after all, even if it is the moment when the defenders change their magazines, they will rise up and rush forward with all their strength.This is coming in swarms of grenades.Yellow corpses of Japanese soldiers lay everywhere in front of the defenders' positions.Remnants of limbs and broken legs are scattered all over the fields, and some of them hang high on the branches of big trees, which is shocking and chilly.

Company Commander Su led the team to fight endlessly and repelled the enemy many times.More than 200 enemies were killed in front of the position. "Brothers, behind us is our lovely hometown, and the folks in our hometown are looking at us. Let's fight to the death, or die. It is an honor to die for the country!" Seeing the devil attack again, Su The company commander shouted, arousing the fighting spirit of the brothers. "Company commander, we listen to you, and we will resolutely entangle with the enemy to the end!" "Swear to the death to defend the homeland!" All the officers and soldiers shared the same hatred and united as one, and cluster grenades with uncovered covers were placed around them.

However, just as the Japanese army was repelling another rampant attack, Company Commander Su Yugang, a 22-year-old son of Xiangheng, was unfortunately shot and killed in the fierce battle at midnight on June 29. The platoon leader Huang Zongzhou continued to command the remaining 20 remaining soldiers, fighting to the death with the ferocious Japanese army.The war ended at 9 o'clock on July 2, and all died heroically. In view of such a dangerous situation, the commander of the 9th Regiment, Xiao Guitian, asked the commander Zhou Qingxiang for instructions, and withdrew the left wing troops of the regiment to guard the second-line position in Yanwuping.

The 3rd Battalion of the 9th Regiment was guarding Laiyan Pagoda and Wangchengao on the north bank of Zhengshui.The battalion has been besieged on three sides by superior enemy forces since dawn on the 28th.The officers and soldiers of our army fought against the water, and the two strongholds supported each other and jointly defended, forming a fierce crossfire network.With the artillery support of our army's field artillery company, the 3rd Battalion with high morale dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. The Japanese army suffered heavy casualties and many corpses were left behind.However, they were still unwilling to fail. By 2 pm, the Japanese army sent massive reinforcements, bombarded by groups, bombed by planes, smoked by poison gas, and crushed by tanks.

Our army's Wangcheng'ao position was broken through.Captain Xu Jian, commander of the 9th company, and two platoon leaders were killed. "7th company commander, you immediately take two platoons up to fight for a counter-attack recovery position!" Sun Hubin, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, ordered. "Yes. Battalion Commander. Look at us!" Captain Zhou Yunfei, commander of the 3rd Aircraft Company, replied loudly. "Brothers in the 1st and 2nd rows follow me!" Company Commander Zhou moved his hand, and then rushed out with a Czech light machine gun.

The warriors of the two platoons followed closely behind their company commanders, charged bravely, and rushed to kill the enemy first. An hour later, the Japanese offensive was finally defeated.The casualties of the defenders were also very serious. All layers of obstacles were destroyed, the barrels of the machine guns were all red, and the position was full of shell casings. There was no time to clean them up, so the shooter had to keep changing positions with the machine gun. At this time, Company Commander Zhou was pierced by a bullet in his throat while fighting the enemy and died heroically.With grief, Battalion Commander Sun ordered the platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Zhang Zhizhen, to take over as the company commander and command the troops to continue fighting.

At the same time, the Laiyanta position guarded by the 8th company was also broken by the Japanese army, and the company commander disappeared.Only the Linglong Pagoda, the Laiyan Pagoda, stands majestically beside the Xiangjiang River, looking at the weeping river in silence. Fortunately, the Mongolian side was aware of the general's order and did not set up defenses on the tower and the side of the tower.Otherwise, the thousand-year-old pagoda would probably be gone. Laiyan Pagoda was first built in the Ming Dynasty.It is said that it was built by the rich merchants of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in Heng, which is now called the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium to show their strength.I intend to pray to God to bless its financial resources to continue to flow like the water of the Xiangjiang River, and the wealth is as high as a pagoda.

It seems that there are so-called blessings of gods. Hengyang, which connects Guangdong and Hong Kong in the south to Hubei and Beijing in the north, connects Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, Guizhou and Guizhou in the west, and even Sichuan, Yunnan and India. Bulk goods distribution centers such as sea salt are only good places for foreigners to make a fortune, while locals don't have much savings.No wonder even the Emperor Nanyue of Hengshan had a saying that "the distance is not the distance", which means that the farther away the pilgrims are, the more they will be blessed by the Bodhisattva.Some local people said that this is because Leishui flows from the east and steams from the west, and they all flow into the Xiangjiang River to the north.So some people suggested that a huge tower should be built on the east bank of the river to block the huge source of money, so as to leave some of it for the locals of Hengyang.

So this is the Zhuhui Pagoda - "Pearl Pagoda Chaohui" scene in Hengjiao. Zhuhui Pagoda was presided over by Wang Zhichun, the governor of Anhui Province and a native of Hengyang in the Qing Dynasty.To build the tower, it took 13 years and 60,000 taels of silver.It can be seen that Hengyang people have great determination and are compelled to seek wealth.The tower is 10 feet high and 5 feet high, with seven floors and eight edges. What is the name of the tower?The reason is that the terrain is high and far away, facing the morning sun in the morning, and wearing colorful clouds in the evening, it is dazzling, just like pearls and jade.The forest under the pagoda is dense, quiet and beautiful; the wild fragrance is beautiful, and the fragrance is floating for ten miles. From the tower, you can have a panoramic view of the magnificent rivers and mountains in a radius of hundreds of miles.Looking at Yancheng in the south, there are thousands of scenes; looking at Hengyue Mountain in the north, thousands of pulses are hidden; There are couplets carved in regular script on both sides of the stone: "Holding Chuanshan to a long distance to learn, and flowing Leishui to help Wenlan." Although the calligraphy is strong, it is written by Wang's handwriting.But it still didn't reflect the original intention of building the pagoda. There was less smell of copper and more fragrance of ink.This is Hengyang cultural people and Hengyang culture. From this point of view, Zhuhui Pagoda is better than Laiyan Pagoda on the west bank of Xiangjiang River and Jielong Pagoda on Jielong Mountain. After the 10th Army became an army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it lived and fought in the land of Hunan and Hunan for a long time.Therefore, most of the current officers and soldiers of the 10th Army are descendants of Huxiang, which can be said to be soldiers of Huxiang descendants.At the same time, Hunan Province has also become the second hometown loved by many officers and soldiers from other provinces. It has been said since ancient times: Without Hunan, there is no army.The traditional character of the Hunan people, coupled with the long-standing preaching of Huxiang culture, has given them a strong sense of historical mission and self-confidence.They have in their hearts the spirit of martyrdom that "saving China must start from Hunan", "if Hunan changes, China will change; if Hunan survives, China will survive".Yang Du's "Hunan Song" sang: "If China is ancient Greece, Hunan should be Sparta; if China is Germany, Hunan should be Prussia" and shouted "If the country of China dies, Unless all the people in Hunan are dead," the impassioned voice.Xiang people are tough, witty and good at fighting, never discouraged, and dare to be the first in the world. At this critical period of the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement, the sons and daughters of Hunan clearly realized that the Chinese nation had reached the most dangerous time, and the people of the entire region were thrown into the torrent of anti-Japanese and national salvation.At that time, on the vast land of Sanxiang, more than 3 million soldiers, more than 30 million dans of grain, and countless timber and minerals were sent to the War of Resistance.Not only were there millions of troops fighting desperately against the Japanese invaders, but there were also mass anti-Japanese and national salvation movements surging everywhere from north to south, and from east to west.After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered a stalemate, the Hunan people cooperated with the Chinese army to carry out six battles against the Japanese invaders in Hunan Province.The three Changsha battles, especially the third battle, dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. Although Hunan is located inland, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, since the fall of Wuhan on October 2, 1938, Hunan has become the front line of the War of Resistance Against Japan. It is the largest, most prestigious and longest-lasting anti-Japanese war in China one of the provinces.During this period, the Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Changde, the Battle of Hengyang, and the Battle of Xiangxi shocked China and foreign countries, and Hunan became the place where the Japanese army was finally buried. Zhijiang in western Hunan has become a commemorative place for the surrender of the national army; Hengyang has become the only city in the country to commemorate the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. These are things that the soldiers of the 10th Army, who were fighting bloody battles, did not think of, nor did they have time to think about.But they are doing it, and doing it well.