The northern suburbs of Xiaogan County, the position of the new 38th Division.

Accompanied by Qi Xueqi, deputy division commander, and Yuan Changduan, commander of the 112th Regiment, Sun Liren was inspecting the defensive positions of the 112th Regiment and the 1st Battalion.

Although Sun Liren has nearly 100,000 troops in nine divisions, he also knows very well that this mission is not easy, and it is no exaggeration to say that it can even be said to be nine deaths!

Because there is no danger to defend the front line of Xiaogan, but the heavy weapons of the Japanese army can easily reach the defensive positions of the national army along the railway and highway, and then carry out indiscriminate bombardment!

Such a situation can't help but make Sun Liren recall the battle situation during the Battle of Songhu.

In the Battle of Songhu, the Nationalist Army also defended to the death against the indiscriminate bombardment of Japanese naval guns and aviation, and often a whole division pulled up, and was defeated in less than half a day!

In order to complete the task as much as possible and realize the intention of sticking to Xiaogan for at least ten days, Sun Liren put a lot of effort into the construction of a defensive position!

In the first step, Sun Liren placed Zhu Liangcheng's honorary first division in Xiaogan County.

The Honorary First Division will become the last line of defense for the entire front finger, and no matter how many days the eight divisions in front hold out, even if it only lasts for one day, the remaining eight days will be handed over to the Honorary First Division.

Of course, the probability of such an extreme possibility is almost zero.

In the second step, Sun Liren placed the new 38th Division at the forefront of the defensive position, and placed the 2nd and 3rd Rong Divisions on the left and right sides of the new 38th Division, and the three divisions formed a zigzag shape to protect each other.

In the third step, the remaining five divisions will spread out to the left and right wings like wings, preventing the devil's detour!

In the final analysis, Sun Liren and the others did not complete the task by holding Xiaogan this time, but they must ensure that they will not let the devils of the brigade system enter Hankou, at least not let the devils of the brigade system go to Hankou!

Therefore, in the entire defensive deployment, the new 38th Division was placed at the forefront.

Regarding Sun Liren's arrangement, Qi Xueqi, deputy division commander, and Yuan Changrui, head of the 112th Regiment, have opinions in their hearts.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of Sun Liren to inspect the defensive position, Yuan Changrui muttered: "Master, others always put their own family background at the end and in the safest place, but you are the opposite, you prefer to put your troops at the front of the position, in the most dangerous position, I really don't know what you think!" ”

Qi Xueqi also echoed: "Yes, if you want to talk about combat effectiveness, the Rongyi Division is obviously stronger than our division, and logically speaking, it should be that the Rongyi Division should be at the forefront." ”

"That's it!" Yuan Changrui continued, "You should let Rong Yishi go to the front!" ”

People are selfish, Qi Xueqi and Yuan Changrui also saw the danger, so they instinctively hoped that Sun Liren could put the new 38th Division at the rear, and let the Rong 1st Division, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, be in the front.

"Enough!" Sun Liren turned his head and glanced at Yuan Changrui coldly, and said, "Commander Yuan, how about letting you be the commander-in-chief?" ”

"Master, what kind of line is this?" Yuan Changrui hurriedly shook his hand and said, "Don't be joking." ”

"Do you know if you can't?" Sun Liren said coldly, "Then shut up for me." ”

Yuan Changrui obediently closed his mouth at this time, and Qi Xueqi didn't dare to say anything more.

Sun Liren snorted lightly, and then said: "You two listen to me, if this battle is not fought well, the more than 600,000 elites in the entire Dabie Mountain Theater will be over!" So put away your little thoughts, give me a position to the death, even if the whole division fights to the last person, it will never be allowed to take half a step back, do you hear clearly? ”

"Hear me clearly!" Yuan Changrui and Qi Xueqi stood upright, and responded loudly at the same time.

As soon as the words fell, Wu Songmin, the adjutant who accompanied him, suddenly shouted: "Devil! ”

When Sun Liren, Qi Xueqi and Yuan Changrui hurriedly looked back, they saw that the end of the northern horizon had indeed risen billowing smoke and dust, and it was obvious that a huge convoy was heading towards Xiaogan!

Immediately after, the roar of an airplane's engine was heard in the air ahead.

When I looked up, I saw a group of bombers emerging from the clouds.

"Master, you go quickly!" After Yuan Changrui finished speaking, he said to Wu Songmin again, "Adjutant Wu, quickly protect the division seat and leave!" ”

"You don't have to worry about me!" Sun Liren pushed Yuan Changrui away and shouted, "You just have to return to your command position, when it's time for me to go, I will naturally leave!" ”

Yuan Changrui stomped his feet and turned around and left.

Sun Liren raised his binoculars and began to observe the devil convoy rolling in the north.

Qi Xueqi also raised the binoculars, but after a brief glance, his face changed.

But I saw that behind the trucks, there were heavy howitzers towing a door!

"Master!" Qi Xueqi gasped and said in a deep voice, "Large-caliber heavy artillery!" ”

"I see it!" On the back of Sun Liren's hand holding the telescope, earthworm-like green tendons suddenly protruded, and it was obvious that Sun Liren's heart was not as calm as it seemed on the surface.

……

In Macheng, the war room of the Governor's Department.

Zhong Yi turned around and said to Bai Chongbei: "Commander-in-chief, I'm afraid we can't wait for three days!" ”

"Not waiting?" Bai Chongbei said, "You mean, launch an attack now?" ”

"Attack now?" Luo Zhengying said, "Now the fires on the mountains on both sides of Changhe Bay have not been extinguished, and they can only attack from the east and west ends of the river valley, and the effect is not good!" ”

"Then put out the fire first!" Zhong Yi said in a deep voice, "First put out the fires on the mountains on both sides!" ”

"Extinguishing the fire?" Luo Zhengying, Li Pinxian and others were dumbfounded when they heard this, first set fire, and then extinguish the fire, what kind of operation is this?

"Yes, extinguish the fire!" Zhong Yi nodded heavily, and said, "We can't wait until the fire goes out on its own, or the devil's wounded begin to become widely inflamed before launching an attack!" ”

"Isn't that bad?" Yu Jishi said, "This can greatly reduce the losses of our army!" ”

"Time doesn't allow." Zhong Yi shook his head and said, "When the fire decreases, when the devil's wounded begin to inflame on a large scale, and when the devil's drinking water is gone, it will take at least three days!" The devil still has a war horse, and at a critical moment, he can kill the war horse and drink the horse's blood, so that he can last at least one day! ”

"That's one day!" Bai Chongbei said, "It's not that I can't afford to wait! ”

Zhong Yi shook his head and said, "The commander-in-chief never thought that four days later, it would be possible for the devil soldiers from several directions of Mall, Guangshan, and Dawu to arrive?" If we let the devils in these directions be entangled, even if we annihilate the 22nd and 27th divisions of the Japanese army, it will be meaningless, because the situation has not been improved in the slightest! ”

After a pause, he said: "More importantly, even if we completely annihilate the 22nd and 27th divisions of the Japanese army before the Japanese troops reinforced by Mall, Guangshan, and Dawu, it will take three days to get to Wuhan from here!" The sum of the two is seven days, and the troops on Xiaogan's side may not be able to hold out for seven days! ”

"So, we need to race against the clock!"