Commander Hui Jianming's smile hadn't faded since the Japanese planes had been driven back.

At this moment, he stood up, saluted Lin Fan, and then said, "The downing of the enemy planes isn't entirely our accomplishment; the brother units also contributed greatly.

The Japanese were targeting the airport, their planes circling around it. Our anti-aircraft defenses from Tangshan, Jurong County, and Chunhua could all attack the enemy planes.

Our anti-aircraft fire formed a net over this area. Once the Japanese planes entered this net, it wasn't easy for them to escape.

That's why they suffered such heavy losses.

Another point is that our turrets are too strong. The Japanese bombs couldn't even break them open when dropped on top. Some Japanese bombers even crashed directly into the turrets, but didn't cause much damage.

The turrets played a decisive role in repelling the Japanese planes this time. These turrets are even more solid than the Jiangyin Fortress."

After saying all this, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared, and he said in a low voice, "If only back then..."

Lin Fan immediately understood what he meant. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Even if the fortresses on the two national defense lines of the National Army had been built to this standard back then, they still wouldn't have been able to hold.

Chiang Kai-shek didn't leave any troops to defend the national defense line during the battle.

The retreat plan changed three times a day. Using defeated soldiers to defend the defense line, their morale was already much lower. They weren't retreating; they were collapsing.

Using such troops to defend, even the best fortresses would be useless."

Commander Hui Jianming pondered, thinking of the scene in the morning when they were surrounded and bombed by enemy planes from all directions. If the troops' morale hadn't been high, it would have been easy to abandon the turrets.

After all, the turrets were constantly being hit by Japanese planes, and each impact caused a vibration inside the turret, which was very frightening.

Understanding this, he nodded heavily and said, "I understand: morale is the primary combat power."

The Special Brigade's Aviation Group had returned, which many attentive people in Jurong County could sense.

It was hard not to hear the roar of the engines as the large group of planes landed.

Those who were deliberately trying to find out information about the Special Brigade didn't know where these planes had gone during the Japanese surprise attack.

But they knew that the Special Brigade's planes had returned. Judging from the sound of the engines, there were far fewer planes returning than had taken off in the morning.

More than a hundred warplanes took off from Jurong when the Special Brigade departed in the morning, but only about twenty planes landed now. The difference was too great.

Even if they weren't at the airport, just listening to the sounds made it clear that the Special Brigade's planes must have suffered considerable losses outside from morning till night.

Chiang Kai-shek, who had been paying close attention to the Special Brigade's movements, hadn't rested yet. News about the Special Brigade had been constant throughout the day.

Before the Special Brigade's Aviation Group had even set off, he had received intelligence that the Japanese had a plan targeting the Special Brigade's Aviation Group.

This morning, all of the Special Brigade's planes were dispatched at six o'clock, and in the morning, the Japanese mustered a large number of planes to launch a surprise attack on Jurong.

Chiang Kai-shek felt that Lin Fan had been tricked this time and had fallen into the Japanese trap.

According to the information he had gathered from various sources, the Japanese were concentrating their efforts on attacking the Special Brigade, mainly targeting Jurong.

"Attacking the Special Brigade's base from seven directions! What should we do?" This was the question he was pondering.

Having fought the Japanese in defensive and offensive battles to this point, Chiang Kai-shek was very clear in his mind that the three stages of the war of resistance he had spoken of in the past had truly reached the stalemate phase, and that victory would certainly belong to the side of justice.

What he was considering now was what would happen after the end of the war of resistance: "The Special Brigade cannot be allowed to remain!"

This was something that Chiang Kai-shek had always firmly believed, and he ordered, "Let Li Pinxian, under the guise of assisting in the war of resistance, send troops to enter the three counties of Guangde, Xuancheng, and Anji."

Guangde not only had the Special Brigade's largest military airport, but also various Special Brigade armories and aircraft factories.

Occupying Guangde would allow them to take over all of the Special Brigade's factories. Lin Fan, who was still looking at the map in Jurong, didn't know that the Special Brigade was about to be attacked from both sides.

He was still carefully looking at the seven arrows marked on the map, which represented the seven directions from which the Japanese were attacking Jurong.

The Japanese troops coming out of Nanjing divided their forces into three routes, attacking Tangshan, Chunhua, and Moling Pass.

Like their orders to speed up, Captain Tojo Kuraki was also ordering the freighters to rush forward at full speed, wanting to get through this dangerous stretch as quickly as possible.

The Jurong soldiers guarding the shore let out a sound of regret. Today was no longer a drill, and these soldiers experiencing combat for the first time were very surprised that the rocket launchers hadn't hit a single Japanese gunboat.

The soldiers talked among themselves, puzzled by the fact that the rockets hadn't hit their targets. The Special Brigade's troops had done a lot of live-fire exercises.

In the past, when they cooperated with the rocket launcher company, they had always been able to hit the target on the first shot. During the exercises, the infantrymen charging in front would tell them what position to bomb, and they would always be able to hit that position.

But today, when they were actually fighting the Japanese, so many shells hadn't hit a single target.

The infantry guns and mortars in their company were also like this. They had fired several rounds of shells, but hadn't blown up a single Japanese soldier.

Company Commander Li Youyu wasn't surprised, and was shouting into the walkie-talkie, "Shells are landing nearly five hundred meters short, one hundred meters east!"

He was a veteran who had participated in real battles, and was very clear about the difference between real battles and exercises. After calling for artillery support, Company Commander Li said loudly, "Real battles aren't the same as exercises. The Japanese aren't wooden stakes; they can run too. Try your best to suppress the Japanese in a moment."

As he was speaking, the second round of rocket bombardment came again. This time, Petty Officer Tenth Class Toishiro's gunboat finally couldn't escape.

A rocket hit the gunboat squarely, and the gunboat's speed immediately slowed down. None of the Japanese soldiers on the gunboat survived.

The remaining gunboats of the entire Yamashita Yujo squad weren't sunk, but the rockets exploded around them, and the huge waves they created caused the Japanese soldiers on these gunboats to fall into the lake one after another.

The shrapnel from the rockets flew everywhere, and many Japanese soldiers were hit and fell down. They had been able to fire while charging just now, but now, with the turbulent waves, these Japanese soldiers were no longer able to fire.

Company Commander Li ordered, "Machine gun fire!" The Japanese were less than five hundred meters from the shore, and the machine guns could now be effective.

Squad Leader Yamashita Yujo was also ordering, "Machine gun fire!" These Japanese soldiers were firing from the gunboats, completely without accuracy, only caring about pouring out bullets. Whether they could hit their target or not was entirely up to luck.

The third round of rockets was fired again. This time, the Yamashita Yujo gunboat squad managed to dodge them. However, the Tojo Kuraki Brigade following behind took the brunt of the attack.

The Tojo Kuraki Brigade had more than a thousand Japanese soldiers, traveling on three large ships and more than fifty small boats. The fifty or so small boats all relied on rowing and being towed by the large ships to move forward.

When they entered the rocket bombardment zone, those small boats carrying only twenty or so Japanese soldiers couldn't move fast even if they wanted to, and some were directly overturned by the rockets.

Some were overturned by the huge waves caused by the rockets exploding nearby. The three large freighters were very lucky not to have been hit.

Captain Tojo Kuraki looked at the chaotic lake surface, and urged loudly, "Speed up!"

He didn't want to stop for those Japanese soldiers who had already fallen into the water, only thinking about rushing to the shore first, occupying the pier, and then coming back to rescue those Japanese soldiers who had fallen into the water.

Company Commander Li Youyu, seeing that the Japanese gunboats had already rushed to the front, was also anxious, and ordered, "The infantry guns are aimed and fired! Don't panic, aim before firing!"

His soldiers had been very accurate when they were training. Why were they so bad in actual combat?

This was something that Company Commander Li couldn't accept. He thought of the times when he had fought with the old unit in the past. It didn't seem like there had been such a problem back then!

No matter what, he had to suppress the Japanese fire first. He was under a lot of pressure here. Regiment Commander Ji Guochou had already sent the anti-aircraft machine gun company to reinforce them.

Ji Guochou ordered Li Lian to hold on for ten minutes no matter what. The anti-aircraft machine gun company would arrive in ten minutes.

Company Commander Li Youyu saw that the Japanese speedboats had already approached the pier, and his company's infantry guns had finally hit a gunboat.

"Well done!" Company Commander Li shouted loudly.

"Keep firing!" Squad Leader Sun Lianji of the artillery squad looked at the infantry gun that had finally hit its mark, and roared loudly at his men.

"Don't panic! Load the shells, aim! Fire!"

"Didn't hit!" The soldiers' tone was a little dejected.

"Another shot!"

"Boom!" Another Japanese gunboat was hit. The gun commanded by Squad Leader Sun had already hit two gunboats, and the artillerymen of the entire company had calmed down.

Each time they hit a Japanese gunboat, they were able to put out the fires on that gunboat, which was the most important thing.

"Boom!" The infantry company's rocket launchers also fired at the Japanese gunboats.

The rockets flew past the Japanese gunboats and exploded far away in the lake. The second rocket was fired again.

Squad Leader Yamashita Yujo didn't expect that in such a short time, three of the twelve gunboats under his command had been sunk.

At this time, he already had the intention to retreat, but Captain Tojo Kuraki's brigade was not far behind.

This gave him the determination to hold on for a while longer. The fire coming from the shore was very fierce, making it impossible for the Japanese soldiers of the Yamashita Yujo squad to rush to the shore.

More than a dozen Japanese soldiers had tried to jump into the water and rush ashore, but they had been shot dead by machine guns as soon as they entered the water.

Relying on the iron armor of the gunboats, these Japanese soldiers were still able to withstand the hail of bullets sweeping over from the opposite side. Countless bullets hit the iron shells, making a clanging sound.

As long as they weren't hit by artillery, these gunboats could hold on. Squad Leader Yamashita Yujo was thinking this when.

"Boom! Boom!" Continuous explosions sounded, and three more of his gunboats had been hit.

This time, he didn't dare to stay any longer, and immediately ordered, "Retreat!"

He wanted to leave, but Company Commander Li wanted to keep them there. Half of the Japanese gunboats had been destroyed. With a little more effort, they could destroy two more.

One of the large freighters that Captain Tojo Kuraki's brigade was riding on had also been hit and was stopped in the distance. Those Japanese soldiers in the freighter who were lucky enough not to be injured jumped into the water to survive.

They had originally been swimming towards the shore, but at this time, they saw that the gunboats rushing in the front were actually starting to run backwards.

Those Japanese soldiers who had fallen into the water and were quick to seize the opportunity also quickly turned around. Captain Tojo Kuraki was in a dilemma: should he advance or retreat?

His brigade had already lost at least two companies of Japanese soldiers. It seemed a little not worth it to retreat at this time.

If they continued to advance, the gunboat squad had already retreated. Without the cover of the gunboats, this battle would not be easy to fight.

Just as he was hesitating, Company Commander Li's reinforcements finally arrived.

Twelve anti-aircraft machine guns opened fire on the gunboats that were fleeing, and Yamashita Yujo immediately felt panicked. These bullets could actually penetrate the iron armor of the gunboats.

"Fortunately, we retreated in advance!" Yamashita Yujo, congratulating himself on his wise command, led the gunboats in the fastest way possible, obliquely bypassing the route they had just taken, and fleeing into the distance.

The sudden arrival of the anti-aircraft machine gun company immediately dispelled Captain Tojo Kuraki's intention to continue charging. He also began to lead his troops to retreat.

However, such freighters had a large turning radius and a slow sailing speed. Now they had to endure not only the rocket bombardment, but also the infantry guns and mortar bombardment commanded by Company Commander Li.

This company on the shore, in the battle just now, had finally experienced the difference between real battles and exercises, especially the artillerymen in the company.

From being full of ambition when they first entered the position, to being unable to hit anything when they actually fired, to being full of self-doubt, and then to being ecstatic after hitting the Japanese gunboats.

Now their mentality had calmed down again, and they were firing at the Tojo Kuraki brigade, which was further away.

Now that the distance had exceeded two thousand meters, the artillery squad had continuously hit several small wooden boats. Every time they hit a small wooden boat, they could see the small boat capsizing extremely quickly in the lake. The large freighters that were towing the small boats had Japanese soldiers waving axes to cut the ropes towing the small boats, leaving them to struggle on the lake.

In this battle, Li Youyu's company had seven men wounded and two men killed. They had killed more than a hundred Japanese soldiers. Such a result was very good.

Lin Fan looked at the materials that had been reported and asked Regiment Commander Yang, "Are there many teams like the 20th Regiment, where only the officers are veterans who have been on the battlefield?"

Yang Daren said, "Not many, only four or five regiments. More of them are regiments where no one has ever been on the battlefield."

"What about the soldiers in your regiment? How many are veterans who have participated in combat?"

"My regiment is stationed in Tangshan. More than half of the soldiers in the entire regiment participated in the defense operations in 1937," Yang Daren reported.

Lin Fan nodded. "There are still too few teams in the Jurong defense force who have actually experienced combat."

This was a situation that he hadn't noticed before. Lin Fan only knew that Jurong had fifty infantry regiments, and that such a force was originally sufficient.

But most of these infantry regiments were teams that had not experienced actual combat, so the combat effectiveness was hard to say.

"Tomorrow's battle can't be fought like this!"