It's not that the national army can't send more troops.

If necessary, the national army can even use dozens of regiments!

But this is obviously not feasible, because if a large number of troops are mobilized into Changhe Bay and thatched balls are tied up with great fanfare, they will definitely be discovered by the devil planes in the sky!

Therefore, for concealment reasons, Zhong Yi only used two regiments.

Because after careful calculations, two regiments are almost enough.

The 1015th and 1016th regiments spent most of the day making almost 400 fireballs.

Four hundred fireballs seems like a lot, but when spread out into a canyon more than ten miles long, it is very rare, and it takes an average of almost fifty meters to get a fireball!

Therefore, when one fireball after another rolled down from the slopes on both sides of the canyon, igniting the slopes all the way, but the canyon was not more than ten miles long, it immediately fell into a sea of fire!

Instead, fires broke out in multiple places, and then quickly spread to the left and right.

If at this time, Tuqiao once ordered to retreat or advance, then the divisional headquarters of the 22nd Division would definitely be finished, and even if it would not be burned to death, it would definitely lose its combat effectiveness completely! No matter how fast they ran, it was impossible for them to escape dozens of miles away from Changhe Bay before the fire spread completely!

At one time, however, Tsuchihashi did not give the order to move forward, or to retreat, but to cut the weeds in the valley.

Tuqiao's order was quickly conveyed, and the division and regimental headquarters, as well as the baggage soldiers, engineers, and medical soldiers who acted with the division and regimental headquarters, moved at full speed, using all the available tools, and if they couldn't find any tools, they directly used their hands to start frantically clearing the vegetation in the canyon.

Before the fire got out of control, a clearing was finally cleared.

With the help of this open space, including the earth bridge once, more than 3,000 people in the division and regimental headquarters were saved from being burned to death!

However, although the danger of being burned to death was avoided, the scorching heat caused by the fierce burning of the mountain fire and the soot of plants and trees that filled the air still caused great damage to the Japanese army!

At least 300 people died from the heat, and at least 200 died from suffocation!

In addition, at least thousands of people suffered burns of varying degrees, and although Tuqiao was not injured once, he also made a fuss.

The 84th Infantry Wing, the 86th Infantry Wing, and the 52nd Mountain Artillery Wing, which were in front of the division and regiment headquarters, were not much better, and only the 85th Infantry Wing was the luckiest, because the Wing Commander Tamura Setsuzo was smarter than Tsuchihashi once, and at the critical moment, he did not give the order to cut the weeds, but to set fire to the mountain!

The speed of setting fire to it is much faster than cutting it with a knife.

Therefore, before the fire completely spread, the 85th Infantry Wing cleared enough space.

In the end, except for less than 100 people who died of suffocation, the remaining 3,000 officers and men were basically unharmed.

Moreover, Tamura Setsuzo realized that the main force of the Chinese army would soon arrive after the fire attack, so he did not hesitate to send two infantry brigades to occupy more than a dozen large and small hills on both sides of the canyon, and set up light and heavy machine-gun fortifications on the hills as quickly as possible, ready to block the attack.

The 85th Infantry Wing was the vanguard of the 22nd Division, and his rich experience told him that it would not be long before the Chinese would appear in front of them!

Sure enough, the 85th Infantry Wing had just established a machine-gun position, and the Chinese army under black pressure appeared in front of it!

"Yaga Yaru!" Tamura Setsuzo cursed from between his teeth, and immediately ordered, "Order, all infantry brigades immediately enter the position and prepare for battle!" ”

……

Over the Long River Bay.

The Mitsubishi Type 97 reconnaissance plane piloted by Masao Kato and Kenichi Takahashi was circling.

This is Masao Kato's third flight today, but the freshness has not yet passed, and he roars as he flies a reconnaissance plane in the air.

Then, soon, they saw a raging fire burning in the bay of the long river.

"Takahashi-kun, it's on fire!" Masao Kato shouted, and then pulled the control stick violently, and the fuselage of the Mitsubishi Type 97 reconnaissance plane under him suddenly rolled sideways, and then drew a loop with a very small radius in the air, and the nose of the plane roared away in the direction of Changhe Bay.

At this time, through the porthole of the plane, the fire in Changhe Bay can be seen more clearly.

Seeing the raging fire burning in the valley, Takahashi Kenichi suddenly looked terrified, and shouted loudly: "Baga, the canyon in front seems to be Changhe Bay, and the 22nd Division and the 27th Division are now in the canyon!" Drop in height, drop fast! ”

"Nani?" Masao Kato's face also changed drastically when he heard this, and he immediately pushed the control stick forward, and the reconnaissance plane under him immediately sank in its nose and dived downward at an almost vertical angle!

In just a few moments, the situation in the valley was already in front of me.

Because he was so surprised, Masao Kato even forgot to pull up the reconnaissance plane.

"Baga, it's about to hit the ground, pull it up, hurry up and pull the plane up!" Kenichi Takahashi immediately roared loudly, "Kato, you pig, hurry up and pull the plane up!" ”

Masao Kato woke up like a dream, and quickly grabbed the joystick and pulled it up.

The nose of the Mitsubishi 97 reconnaissance plane, which was diving downward, rose again, drew a beautiful arc in the low air, and finally resumed its horizontal flight attitude at an altitude of less than 100 meters above the ground.

Takahashi breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked out through the porthole.

But I saw that the fire in the valley had completely spread, and the billowing smoke was wrapped in smoke and dust, and even obscured the sky above the canyon, and Takahashi Kenichi could only see the scene on the ground through the gap between the smoke and the smoke, but most of them were glimpses, and then they were soon completely covered by the smoke again.

However, even a glimpse is enough to find many problems.

Because in those few glimpses, Takahashi Kenichi clearly saw that a team of imperial soldiers were running in the flames, wailing loudly, even if he was at a height of 100 meters, Takahashi Kenichi could still clearly hear the wail from the ground, Takahashi Kenichi could completely imagine how desperate the imperial soldiers on the ground should be at this moment.

At that moment, Takahashi Kenichi grabbed the intercom and hissed loudly: "Little Bird No. 1 calls the Eagle's Nest, Little Bird No. 1 calls the Eagle's Nest, the 22nd Division and the 27th Division were attacked by the Shina Army in Changhe Bay, and the 22nd Division and the 27th Division were attacked by the Shina Army in Changhe Bay, the situation is not good, the situation is not good!" ”

After calling twice in a row, the Mitsubishi 97 reconnaissance plane also flew out of the canyon.

Looking down again, Takahashi Kenichi saw the Chinese soldiers who were pressed by the black.

The Chinese army below was preparing to attack the Japanese troops holding the exit of the gorge.

Without a hint of hesitation, Kenichi Takahashi pressed the firing button of the airborne heavy machine gun hard!