PFC Chapter 42 Li Jianghe's conditions, rushing to Yuhuatai for garrison duty.
Chapter 42 Li Jianghe's conditions, rushing to Yuhuatai for garrison duty.
Li Jianghe, filled with righteous indignation, spoke up:
"I just want things to be the way they are meant to be."
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen looked at Li Jianghe as if he were looking at his younger self.
At that time, he had just graduated from Whampoa Military Academy and was still full of vigor and ambition.
I've also run into trouble because of my youthful arrogance, but over time I've learned how to survive in this system and how to protect myself.
But that youthful spirit seems to have vanished forever.
He patted Li Jianghe on the shoulder and said:
"Jiang He, you are still young and have a long road ahead of you. Don't act impulsively."
I know that no one in this city should die. If anyone should die, it should be us soldiers, not the civilians.
Li Jianghe looked at Chief of Staff Xiao Shen, a general who had truly sacrificed his life for his country, taking his own life in the Battle of Nanjing, and said with unwavering determination:
"Don't worry, Chief of Staff, I will lead the troops to defend Yuhuatai. As long as our Provisional Third Regiment is still there, the Japanese flag will not be planted on Yuhuatai."
However, I have a few conditions that I hope you, Chief of Staff, will agree to.
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen looked at Li Jianghe and said with a smile:
"Sure, name your conditions. I'll agree to anything I can."
Ammunition? Or weapons? I really don't have any replacements.
In his view, Li Jianghe's troops should have run out of ammunition after breaking through the encirclement, so it was reasonable for them to ask him for more ammunition.
"No, we have plenty of ammunition and don't need to replenish it."
Li Jianghe knew that Nanjing was currently facing a shortage of ammunition, and there was no point in his troops taking the ammunition; it would be better to give it to the troops that needed it more.
"No ammunition? Then what do you want?"
Chief of Staff Xiao asked with some surprise.
Li Jianghe extended his finger.
"First, my unit is stationed at Yuhuatai outside Zhonghua Gate, but the Japanese army has already launched an offensive on the outskirts of Nanjing. I hope to take the initiative to attack and assist the outer blocking forces in attacking the Japanese invaders."
"With such a small force, you still want to launch a preemptive strike?"
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen was somewhat puzzled, but then he thought back to the Sihang Warehouse in Shanghai, where Li Jianghe had led a hundred or so men and dared to break through the Japanese army's blocking line one after another.
"Okay, I'll tell the commander."
Seeing that he had agreed to the condition, Li Jianghe extended his second finger.
"Secondly, I hope that the Fifth Regiment, which came with us, can stand guard at Yuhuatai together. They are also Guangxi Army soldiers. I feel at ease fighting side by side with them."
Li Jianghe actually had other considerations for doing this.
On the one hand, Xu Dingguo was determined to serve his country and was not a coward who feared death. On the other hand, the Fifth Regiment under his command was quite powerful, especially after being replenished with weapons and ammunition.
On another note, if Nanjing could not be defended, he hoped to break out with these people, which would be better than being captured by the Japanese army and left to be slaughtered.
Of course, he had no doubt that Xu Dingguo would save the last bullet for himself.
"I can agree to that too."
Chief of Staff Xiao Shen nodded and said, "Alright, you take the troops to Yuhuatai first. I'll talk to the commander-in-chief about the rest."
"Chief of Staff Xie."
After saluting, Li Jianghe turned and left, leading his troops to Yuhuatai.
On the Yuhuatai position, watching the 264th Brigade retreat into Zhonghua Gate, Zhu Chi, the brigade commander of the 262nd Brigade, was not at ease.
Originally, two brigades of the 88th Division were stationed here.
The 262nd Brigade guarded the left flank, and the 264th Brigade guarded the right flank, totaling more than 6,000 troops.
Now one unit has been transferred out, and the replacement is said to be a Guangxi Army unit.
Although the total number of troops was around five thousand, the Guangxi Army was, in the eyes of these German-equipped divisions of the Central Army, a ragtag force.
Moreover, these were troops who had just suffered a defeat in Shanghai; they probably had lost most of their guns.
Brigade Commander Zhu Chi was unsure about the combat effectiveness of this unit.
"I heard that the five thousand men transferred here this time were gathered up by the commander of the Guangxi Army Corps from the defeated soldiers of the Guangdong Army, Sichuan Army, and Hunan Army along the way."
The speaker was Deputy Brigade Commander Hua Pinzhang, a graduate of the fifth class of the Whampoa Military Academy. Not long after graduation, he was transferred to the most elite German-equipped division, and he looked down on these local troops to some extent.
Han Xianyuan, the commander of the 524th Regiment, stood shoulder to shoulder with them, looking at the Zhonghua Gate not far away:
"I don't think so. When Zhongmin (Xie Jinyuan) was defending Sihang Warehouse, the Guangxi Army that came to reinforce him was very capable. I heard that they even broke through the encirclement later."
The battalion of officers and soldiers who stayed behind at Sihang Warehouse came from the 524th Regiment, and Xie Jinyuan was the deputy commander of that regiment.
Hua Pinzhang put one hand on his hip and retorted in a thick Sichuan accent:
"How could all the good things possibly fall into our laps? If it were them, I'd change my surname to yours."
Brigade Commander Zhu Chi, with a square face and piercing eyes, raised his binoculars and looked towards the gate of Zhonghua Gate:
"It seems they've arrived."
"You're here?"
Upon hearing this, Hua Pinzhang and Han Xianyuan quickly picked up their binoculars.
It turned out that what came out of the city were troops riding in trucks and motorcycles, with field guns towed behind them.
As for the Nationalist soldiers on the trucks, they were all clearly dressed in armor, and almost everyone was equipped with a steel helmet, including German helmets and Japanese helmets.
As for the weapons they were equipped with, there were quite a few Mauser rifles and Type 24 rifles.
There are also many submachine guns.
It wasn't that a few people were ignorant; they had never actually seen the design of that submachine gun before.
Hua Pinzhang asked Han Xianyuan, who was standing to the side:
"Ruchao (Han Xianyuan's courtesy name), look, what kind of gun is that?"
He pointed to the PPSh submachine guns hanging on the chests of the assault squad soldiers.
"Never seen it before! I have seen that flower mechanism though."
Han Xianyuan answered honestly, quite surprised, wondering which unit this was.
Brigade Commander Zhu Chi also looked surprised, and then said:
"I must be seeing things. So many Mauser rifles, plus Type 24 rifles, submachine guns, and so many trucks and motorcycles—they must be the brothers from the 87th Division. What are they doing out of town at this time?"
There were only a few German-equipped divisions in the Central Army, and the 87th Division was one of them.
Zhu Chi thought to himself, "Is the higher-ups being a bit biased? They're all German-equipped divisions, so why did the 87th Division get its weapons and equipment replenished ahead of time, even field artillery?"
On their way back from Shanghai, the 88th and 87th Divisions abandoned all kinds of heavy weapons.
Currently, the only weapons available are mortars and some small-caliber infantry guns.
Now, seeing the field guns towed behind those trucks, all of them Krupp 75mm field guns, Zhu Chi's mouth watered, but he could only "long for them in vain."
The two also thought it was possible; this should be the 87th Division, which had just been replenished.
Just then, they suddenly saw the motorcycles in front of the convoy turn and head towards Yuhuatai.
Hua Pinzhang slapped his thigh and said:
"What the hell? Why are they coming this way? Are they here to help us?"