Chapter 1 The Garrison of Tashan Town

The Japanese devils of the Xuzhou Task Force, entrenched in Tashan Town, could barely muster any will to resist against the soldiers of the Lunan Detachment, who surged towards them like a tidal wave.

Most of the Japanese soldiers braved the hail of bullets from the machine guns, desperate to escape into what remained of Tashan Town.

With soldiers of the Lunan Detachment charging from all directions, the Japanese had no choice but to retreat from their respective defense lines.

They huddled together amidst the ruins in the center of Tashan Town, establishing their last line of defense.

These retreating Japanese soldiers were crammed together, relying on the remnants of walls within the ruins to create a defensive line that was far weaker than the trenches they had built outside Tashan Town.

Now, the Japanese could only defend against heavy machine gun fire from the ground, completely defenseless against attacks from the air.

This gave Captain Dongyang Hua and his ground attack aircraft an even better opportunity. Wave after wave of aircraft strafed the Japanese's final position.

The clustered Japanese suffered heavy casualties instantly, and seeing their comrades constantly falling around them, each one thought of continuing to flee.

However, having reached this point, where could they possibly escape to?

It wasn't just the ordinary Japanese soldiers; even the commander of the Xuzhou Task Force, Yamabao Jiro, was at a loss for what to do.

The desperate telegram had already been sent. The radio and codebooks had been destroyed, and the radio operator and code clerk were dead.

He wanted to die now, but he was still reluctant. Until the very last moment, Commander Yamabao Jiro was truly unwilling to die.

Brigade Commander Hyakutai Munefumi and Brigade Commander Suzuki Goro returned to the command post. The three high-ranking commanders looked at each other, knowing they were doomed.

But none of them were prepared to die!

At this moment, there were still one or two thousand Japanese soldiers stubbornly resisting outside the command post, but with planes strafing from above and a hundred thousand troops pressing in from the ground, these one or two thousand Japanese soldiers seemed insignificant.

The Japanese had all retreated into the few remaining ruins within the not-so-large Tashan Town, putting up a desperate last stand.

Lin Fan ordered Captain Dongyang Hua to lead the planes back to Feixian to rest and resupply, as the battle was about to end.

As soon as the planes left, the mortars and infantry guns of the various regiments surrounding the Japanese opened fire.

Artillery bombarded, and infantry charged!

In each charging infantry company, there were also rocket launchers for direct fire, and at the front were "earth tanks" to block bullets.

With this combined assault, the few ruins that had just been occupied by thousands of Japanese soldiers quickly saw their resistance dwindle, and even the sound of their gunfire diminished.

The intense gunfire outside had already become sparse. Commander Yamabao Jiro panicked, "If we don't leave now, it will be too late!"

What he meant was, if they didn't die now, it would be too late. Brigade Commander Suzuki Goro sighed, and with a "bang," a gunshot rang out as he blew a large hole in his head.

Brigade Commander Hyakutai Munefumi also sighed, saying nothing, and with another "bang," a gunshot echoed as he made a similar hole in his head.

Both Japanese soldiers had committed suicide so readily, but their death appearances were somewhat grotesque, making Commander Yamabao Jiro feel very uncomfortable.

He put away the pistol he had prepared for suicide, sat down cross-legged, and sighed.

Using a *wakizashi*, he stabbed forcefully into his exposed abdomen. A sharp pain surged through him, and his hand trembled uncontrollably.

Yamabao Jiro, who had originally planned to drag the blade vertically down, then cut horizontally, could no longer move his hand.

The three Japanese commanders, at their wit's end, let out three sighs, which were the three sighs of death.

The soldiers of the First Company, Third Regiment, who were the first to charge into the Japanese command post, saw many Japanese soldiers lying dead inside, having committed suicide.

From the ranks on the shoulders of these Japanese soldiers, it was easy to see that there were many officers, and in the middle, the highest-ranking Japanese officer was sitting on the ground with a short sword stuck in his stomach.

He weakly cried out, "Save me! I am..." Commander Yamabao Jiro's words were cut short.

A bayonet had already pierced through his throat. His expression was extremely dramatic, with a brief moment of astonishment, followed by a look of relief, and finally, the expression of pain solidified on his face.

He had never imagined that he would die at the hands of an ordinary soldier. The self-inflicted stab had caused him immense pain.

However, even in this extreme pain, his desire to die disappeared, and his will to live grew wildly like summer weeds.

During this period of immense pain, Commander Yamabao Jiro had already considered what kind of treatment he should demand after being captured.

He was the commander of the task force, effectively in command of three brigades, and should enjoy the treatment of a division commander. He would have to explain all of this carefully to the soldiers of the Lunan Detachment.

His thoughts were very idealistic, but reality was far too cruel! These soldiers who had charged in did not even ask questions, and were unwilling to listen to him finish his words before taking action.

Was there no *wude* (martial morality) anymore!

Company Commander Peng Hongyun said with a smile, "This Japanese officer is definitely an actor. His expression changed several times in a short while. Amazing."

Sharpshooter Squad Leader Yang Yong said, "This Japanese seems to be the highest-ranking officer."

"The higher the rank of the Japanese officer, the more they deserve to die! If the ordinary Japanese soldiers were bewitched into going to war, then the top-level Japanese deliberately provoked the war and invaded us.

Ordinary Japanese soldiers only need to die once, but the top-level Japanese should die at least ten times," Peng Hongyun said resentfully.

The Special Operations Brigade did not take prisoners, and no exception was made for Commander Yamabao Jiro, despite his high rank and authority, which made the commander feel extremely wronged even in death.

The battle that began in the early morning ended before noon, and the various regiments began to clean up the battlefield.

There were as many as 120,000 soldiers from the Lunan Detachment on this battlefield, so the speed of cleaning up the battlefield was extremely fast.

Three hours later, even the bodies of the Japanese soldiers on the entire battlefield had been buried. This was the tradition of the Special Operations Brigade: as long as time permitted, the bodies of the Japanese soldiers would be buried to prevent the corpses from rotting in the open air and causing a plague.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Lunan Detachment held a military meeting. At this meeting, Lin Fan read out the latest order issued by the Fifth War Area.

Hearing the Fifth War Area's order for them to capture Xuzhou, the regimental commanders present became excited: attacking Xuzhou and taking it back was a great thing.

Everyone attending the meeting agreed to capture Xuzhou, because they all knew that all the elite and organized Japanese troops stationed in Xuzhou had been wiped out by them in the past half month.

Only the puppet 37th Army remained in Xuzhou City, and the combat effectiveness of this force was not strong.

Attacking Xuzhou at this time would certainly be successful, and Lin Fan thought so too.

However, he was thinking even bigger. Xuzhou was a large city. If the Lunan Detachment captured Xuzhou, then the counties along the railway line that were still occupied by the Japanese would also have to be captured.

Lin Fan pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and the baton traced the railway line, indicating the places that needed to be captured:

From Xuzhou northwards, Taierzhuang, Hancheng, Zaozhuang, Tengxian, Zouxian all the way to Tai'an before Jinan, all had to be captured.

From Xuzhou southwards, Gushi, Bengbu, Huaiyuan, Dingyuan, and Chuzhou all the way to the north bank of the Yangtze River, where the Jiangbei Detachment could also advance all the way.

To achieve this, the Lunan Detachment and the Jiangbei Detachment needed to cooperate fully. The main force of this operation was still in the north, and the Lunan Detachment had to capture many counties.

According to Lin Fan's idea, the attack on each county should be carried out at the same time, which required all eleven regular regiments and fifty security regiments of the Lunan Detachment here to take action.

The security regiment commanders who attended the military meeting were all excited when they heard that they would also be taking on a major task this time.

They all said that they would be as brave and daring as the regular regiments.

Lin Fan liked the enthusiasm and eagerness to fight of these regimental commanders, but he knew very well that the combat effectiveness of the security regiments was not on the same level as that of the regular regiments.

There had to be a win-win solution that would both ensure their combat effectiveness and allow the entire plan to be carried out.

Gu Xiuming wisely said, "A lion leading a flock of sheep to battle can turn the sheep into lions.

A sheep leading lions to battle can turn the lions into sheep.

I suggest that on a company basis, the ten infantry companies from the five infantry regiments, one, two, three, four, and five, be assigned to the fifty security regiments to strengthen the combat effectiveness of each regiment."

This suggestion immediately reminded Lin Fan that having an elite company as the spearhead in each security regiment could greatly improve their combat effectiveness.

Lin Fan decided on the spot, "Let's do it this way!"

After this was decided, in order to facilitate command, the newly supplemented company commanders would temporarily serve as the security regiment commanders, and the original security regiment commanders would be reassigned as deputy regimental commanders.

The security regiment commanders all strongly supported this change. They knew that the soldiers in the security regiments were all farmers who had only joined for a month or two.

The actual training time was only ten days or so. Many people who went to the battlefield today were still very afraid when they saw the Japanese soldiers lying dead on the ground with ferocious expressions.

If they were really sent to the battlefield to fight the Japanese face to face, it was hard to say what would happen.

As for going from being a regimental commander to being a deputy regimental commander, this was not a problem for them at all.

These regimental commanders used to be soldiers under the command of the various company commanders. They were more than happy to return to the command of their old leaders.

Of course, such a reorganization of the Lunan Detachment could not be completed in one night.

Lin Fan ordered the reorganization to take place tomorrow morning, and tonight they would still be stationed and commanded according to the original organization.

After the fifty security regiment commanders returned, the eleven regular regiment commanders would continue to meet to formulate the next operational plan, as well as the detailed distribution of each company.

This meeting lasted until eleven o'clock in the evening, and then came tomorrow's reorganization.

Lin Fan looked at the brilliant starry sky and thought: After these fifty security regiments occupy the various counties, they also need to be stationed there, and heavy troops need to be stationed in various places on the front line to resist the Japanese's next crazy counterattack.

Did these counties that were about to be captured need to be defended?

That was the question!

While Lin Fan was considering whether to defend the counties that were about to be captured, Ruan Lesheng in Xuzhou City also saw the desperate telegram that Commander Yamabao Jiro had sent to the North China Front Army Headquarters.

Looking at the telegram, he felt no sympathy or pity for Yamabao Jiro's death. In fact, if Yamabao Jiro had not died, if he had returned to Xuzhou,

Ruan Lesheng would not have been living such a comfortable life today. In the morning, Brigade Commander Qiao had sent him ten large gold bars, saying that this was just from the materials recovered last night from the two Japanese brigade camps.

The materials that the Xuzhou Task Force had stored in the railway station warehouse had not yet been cleaned up.

Moreover, the camps of the two brigades had not been sold yet, and were now all arranged for Ruan Lesheng to use.

The more Ruan Lesheng looked at Brigade Commander Qiao, the more pleasing he found him. Why hadn't he discovered that he was so outstanding and had so many advantages before?

Ruan Lesheng thought with some self-reproach, and he happily told Brigade Commander Qiao the news that the Xuzhou Task Force had been wiped out in Tashan Town today.

He asked him to speed up the disposal of the legacy left by the Japanese, and to show his trust in Brigade Commander Qiao, he even showed him the forwarded desperate telegram.

Ruan Lesheng believed that Brigade Commander Qiao would certainly understand his good intentions. As expected, he was not disappointed. Brigade Commander Qiao understood.

He asked for instructions with some difficulty: "Sir! If the time is too tight! The price will be lower, but sir, don't worry, I will definitely make them offer a reasonable price."

Ruan Lesheng said with a smile, "Lao Qiao! Sometimes you have to look at the long term.

Think of these things as if they don't belong to us. If it weren't for the help of the brothers from the Lunan Detachment, we wouldn't have been able to get anything.

We couldn't get a single benefit, so we should get as much as we can now."

Brigade Commander Qiao quickly said, "I understand, sir! We must deal with those things today.

Yesterday, someone wanted to buy some weapons, but I didn't know what you meant, so I didn't dare to agree and just asked him to wait for a reply."

"Give it to him! As long as the price isn't too low, give him whatever he wants. You can even sell him this gun in my hand."

"Understood!" Brigade Commander Qiao left immediately. Time was tight and the task was heavy, so he had to hurry up and make money for his commander, and also make money for himself and the brothers who were running with him.

Hands that have touched meat, no matter how clean they are, will still get some grease on them. Of course, some of this money that passed through his hands would also be left behind to reward himself and the brothers who were running with him.

Both Ruan Lesheng and Brigade Commander Qiao were well aware of this, and they made money together with great understanding.

After receiving the news that the Xuzhou Task Force had been completely wiped out, Ruan Lesheng felt that the time left for him was really not much.

Therefore, he specifically greeted the officers under his command, telling them to speed up the progress of both defense and money-making at this time.

Collect the money as soon as possible. Shopkeeper Bai had been waiting for Brigade Commander Qiao's news since early in the morning.

Seeing Brigade Commander Qiao come out of the command post, he immediately went up to him and asked, "Brigade Commander Qiao! How about what we talked about last night?"

Brigade Commander Qiao looked at him and said, "I can take you to see it first, and you can buy the whole lot today.

But..."

Shopkeeper Bai quickly handed over a small gold bar that he had prepared. After Brigade Commander Qiao took it, he said, "That's not enough! I want four more!"

Shopkeeper Bai did not hesitate at all and handed over four more gold bars. "Brigade Commander! This is what I prepared to buy supplies with later."

Brigade Commander Qiao was happy now. "Since you're so generous, brother, I'll give you a discount later."

This time, he only took Shopkeeper Bai to the station warehouse to see the goods. Brigade Commander Qiao pointed to the five large warehouses full of things and said, "Brother, what do you think about giving you all five warehouses?"

Shopkeeper Bai was overjoyed and quickly asked, "How much money?"

"Twenty large yellow croakers!"

"That's too expensive. We've only taken a quick look around.

We don't know what's inside, so we can only offer ten at most!" Shopkeeper Bai immediately cut the price in half.

Brigade Commander Qiao whispered, "Twelve, I'll take two, the commander will take ten, and you give each of my hundred or so brothers a pack of cigarettes."

"Ten, deal!" Shopkeeper Bai immediately clapped hands with Brigade Commander Qiao to seal the deal.

After the two sides exchanged goods for money, Brigade Commander Qiao smiled and said, "You got a big bargain today, brother.

Don't say you lost out, the commander asked to deal with it quickly this time, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to buy it for twenty gold bars."

Shopkeeper Bai asked in a low voice, "Why is that?" He was also indirectly admitting that he had gotten a bargain.

"The Xuzhou Task Force was finished this morning. A full 50,000 *Taijun* (Japanese soldiers)! They were all wiped out by the Lunan Detachment outside the city.

The commander is afraid that things will change, so he's dealing with these things first. It's better to have one bird in hand than ten in the bush."

"The commander is wise! With so many troops under the commander's command, is he still afraid of not being able to defend Xuzhou? The city walls are so thick and so high, there's no need to be afraid at all." Shopkeeper Bai lowered his voice.

"They have heavy artillery, these city walls can't stop them at all, and besides, the commander doesn't want to fight.

We're all thinking about making a fortune, and then we can decide whether to leave or stay." Brigade Commander Qiao said casually.

Then he comforted Shopkeeper Bai again, "But don't worry, I heard that the Lunan base protects legitimate merchants and landlords. If these things are in our hands, they'll definitely be confiscated.

If they're in your hands, they won't be confiscated again. What about the two camps from last night? Do you want to buy them too?"

Shopkeeper Bai quickly waved his hand. "I don't have any money left. All the money has turned into goods and is tied up here.

Brigade Commander, you should go to Shopkeeper Wan. He wanted to buy arms yesterday."

Brigade Commander Qiao nodded with a smile and quickly went to find someone.

The next morning, the temporary reorganization of the Lunan Detachment went very smoothly. After all, it was just a matter of incorporating company commanders into the various security regiments.

The only thing that took some time was that when the company commanders took office as the new regimental commanders, they had to adjust the main officers of the various companies under their command.

The platoon leaders and squad leaders from the company they brought over were all assigned to the various companies as company commanders and platoon leaders. Only in this way could the troops below fully understand and execute the orders of the regimental commander.

As a result, the entire force would definitely not be able to take action today. Lin Fan was not particularly anxious.

He ordered the entire Lunan Detachment to rest in Tashan Town for two days to break in the new troops, and then go to their respective combat areas the day after tomorrow morning.

At the same time, Chen Sichuan of the Jiangbei Detachment was also leading his troops back to speed up the attack in the direction of Xuzhou. The small counties along the way were requesting reinforcements from Ruan Lesheng every day.

Ruan Lesheng ignored them all. He was only focused on making money now, and he was thinking that when the Lunan Detachment attacked the city, he would surrender directly and continue to be an official if possible, or go back and be a wealthy man if not.

In any case, he could not afford to offend the anti-Japanese forces at this time. If this made the Lunan Detachment unhappy, it would be a loss.

Lin Fan commanded the Lunan Detachment to fight continuously for half a month, annihilating more than 50,000 Japanese soldiers from the Xuzhou Task Force, as well as the Japanese Independent Mixed Brigade No. 10 and the Japanese Independent Mixed Brigade No. 17. In the past half month, they had annihilated more than 70,000 Japanese soldiers in total.

While the entire Lunan Detachment was resting in Tashan, Regiment Commander Li Zhize of the 10th Regiment, stationed in Qianshan, requested instructions: The Japanese were stretched thin on the Wuhan battlefield, and had been stepping up the restoration of Shizhushan Airport in Anqing in recent days.

The airport had now been restored and was being used by the Japanese. The Japanese garrison at the airport was still a battalion, but a division of puppet troops had been added.

Regiment Commander Li requested to attack the airport again to completely destroy it and reduce the pressure on the front lines.

Shizhushan Airport was the first airport that Lin Fan had attacked with his troops after crossing the river from Jurong.

At that time, Li Zhize was instructed to closely monitor the airport, because its location was very important and the Japanese would not give it up.

Now, with the Battle of Wuhan in full swing, destroying the Japanese airport in Anqing would indeed be a heavy blow to their air force.

Li Zhize sent the request for battle to both Lin Fan and Chen Sichuan at the same time. Chen Sichuan was currently leading the 1st Regiment towards Xuzhou.

After receiving the telegram, the two of them checked it on the map. In fact, they both still had the terrain of Shizhushan Airport in their minds.

Lin Fan knew that an attack on Shizhushan Airport could be launched from Qianshan and Tongcheng.

These two places formed an equilateral triangle with Shizhushan Airport.

The backbone of Li Zhize's 10th Regiment was a company from the Training Corps that he had brought out when breaking through from Nanjing. More than 100 elite soldiers who had undergone special training were now the commanders at all levels of the 10th Regiment.

At the same time, the regiment had also incorporated the puppet troops stationed in Qianshan at that time. The entire 10th Regiment now had as many as 4,000 soldiers.

The Jiangbei Detachment also had an anti-aircraft artillery company and an airport in Qianshan. In terms of combat effectiveness, the 10th Regiment was obviously stronger than the several regiments that had been exchanged from the National Army.

For Lin Fan and Chen Sichuan, the Japanese had to be fought, there was no way around it.

The consideration now was how to fight!

After Lin Fan and Chen Sichuan exchanged views via telegram, they unanimously agreed that the attack on the airport should still take advantage of the Special Operations Brigade's strength in night battles.

The time should be set at night. To ensure absolute certainty, the 10th Regiment stationed in Qianshan, the 14th Regiment stationed in Tongcheng, and the 15th Regiment of the general reserve should act together.

Li Zhize's 10th Regiment currently had an actual strength of 5,000 soldiers, Wu Yuan's 14th Regiment had 4,000 soldiers, and Shangguan Zhiwen's 15th Regiment, which served as the general reserve, had 3,000 soldiers, for a total of 12,000 combat troops.

Because it was at night, the two aviation squadrons of the Jiangbei Detachment stationed in Qianshan and Tongcheng could not participate in the battle.

This meant that the night raid was entirely an infantry affair. If it were during the day, both aviation squadrons could be dispatched to provide cover.

Lin Fan telegraphed the operational plan that he and Chen Sichuan had discussed to Li Zhize, ordering him to take full command of the entire night raid on Shizhushan Airport, and that the 14th and 15th Regiments would also temporarily be under his command.

Lin Fan also sent this order to Regimental Commanders Wu Yuan and Shangguan Zhiwen.

When they received this telegram, the three regimental commanders breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Li Zhize was afraid that Lin Fan would not approve his plan because of the recent continuous battles.

After all, the various regiments had almost all had missions during this period. The Lunan Detachment was out of the question. They were either in battle or on the way to battle.

The 1st Regiment of the Jiangbei Detachment was the same, constantly advancing towards Xuzhou.

The 2nd and 3rd Regiments were guarding Huoshan and Liuan, staring at the Japanese 2nd Army every day, not daring to relax.

The 4th and 5th Regiments were expanding towards the south, and there were also small battles every day. With the Jiangbei Detachment attacking in all directions, the brigade commander could indeed allow the operational plan that he had proposed to be implemented later.

Now that the brigade commander had approved the plan and even assigned two regiments to him, with such a strong force, Li Zhize felt that he could even win a head-on confrontation during the day.

He really felt that Lin Fan treated all brothers who were willing to resist Japan equally.

Wu Yuan and Shangguan Zhiwen had similar thoughts. They were different from Li Zhize in that their entire regiments had been traded over.

After coming to Jiangbei, these two regimental commanders felt as if they had been sidelined. The regiments ranked at the front of the Special Operations Brigade always had battles to fight, while the various regiments that had been traded over from the National Army seemed to have become local garrison regiments.

There was no opportunity or mission to take the initiative to attack at all, especially Shangguan Zhiwen, whose regiment was the general reserve regiment, but had never received a mission.

The regiments at the front were too capable, and not only did they not suffer losses in capturing territory, but their troops also grew stronger as they fought.

Today, after receiving the operational order issued by Lin Fan, they understood: "It's not that the brigade commander didn't have missions for them, but that this mission needed to be determined based on the current location of each regiment."

As for the two regimental commanders accepting Li Zhize's command, they couldn't raise any objections either.

Although the Special Operations Brigade had no written rules, there seemed to be an unwritten rule that the regimental commander ranked higher commanded the regimental commander ranked lower.

Just like Liu Laopao, the proud and powerful commander of the 2nd Regiment, when he accepted Chen Sichuan's command, he completely did as he was told and never had any objections.

Wu Yuan and Shangguan Zhiwen saw from the battle reports that had been circulated that before Lin Fan came to the Lunan Detachment, it was entirely managed by Gu Xiuming, the commander of the 1st Regiment.

When he commanded the various regiments under his command, none of the regimental commanders were unconvinced. The matter of disobeying orders had never happened in the Special Operations Brigade.

Besides, although Li Zhize used to be just a company commander in the Training Corps, if he was willing to come out, he would have to be given at least a brigade commander or a division commander in any force to be worthy of his status.

Upon receiving the order, Li Zhize immediately began to make preparations. He first called Regimental Commanders Wu Yuan and Shangguan Zhiwen to exchange information about their respective jurisdictions.

Although they were only carrying out a night raid on Shizhushan Airport, the areas they were defending could not be in chaos.

In other words, when they attacked, they still needed to leave some people behind to maintain order in their jurisdictions.

Although Qianshan and Tongcheng had been governed by the Jiangbei Detachment for more than a month, it was impossible to be certain whether there were any traitors in the city, or whether there were any traitors lurking deeper.

Secrecy was essential, especially for military operations, secrecy was needed at all times.

Regimental Commander Wu Yuan reported: "Everything is normal in the jurisdiction. He plans to leave two companies to guard Tongcheng and take the rest of the troops to Shizhushan Airport."

Shangguan Zhiwen reported: "He is the general reserve, and all 3,000 soldiers of the regiment can be mobilized."

After thinking about it, Regimental Commander Li Zhize believed: "The total strength of the three regiments is 12,000 people.

Shizhushan Airport is garrisoned by a Japanese battalion and a puppet infantry division, as well as some Japanese mechanics and pilots.

The total number of Japanese soldiers in the entire airport will not exceed 2,000, and the number of puppet soldiers will not exceed 5,000.

In terms of troop strength, the three regiments going over are more than enough, so the 14th Infantry Regiment will leave 1,000 people to guard the city, and his own 10th Regiment will also leave 1,000 people to guard the city.

In this way, the three regiments will have a total of 10,000 troops, which is enough to attack the airport."

With the number of troops to be dispatched determined, the next thing to be determined was the plan of action, and this time the plan of action had to be concealed.

The distance from Qianshan to Shizhushan Airport was 50 *li* (approximately 25 kilometers), and the distance from Tongcheng to Shizhushan Airport was also 50 *li*.

Regimental Commander Li Zhize had been preparing for the plan to attack the airport since the first day he entered Qianshan, because Lin Fan had told him at that time to pay attention to it at all times.

Of course, Regimental Commander Li Zhize knew that it was not enough to just pay attention, and that he had to fight when the opportunity was right.

Therefore, his plan had been revised countless times, and his troops had also rehearsed according to this plan many times.

According to Li Zhize's plan, on the morning of September 11th, the troops would leave the city for training as usual.

They were doing this kind of training normally. At 6:00 p.m., the troops would advance towards Shizhushan, and arrive at the battle position before 11:00 p.m.

Launch the attack at 12:00 a.m.!

This plan was immediately supported by Regimental Commanders Wu Yuan and Shangguan Zhiwen.

These two regiments had been in the rear during this period, training every day, which was the foundation of the Special Operations Brigade.

For the soldiers, 50 *li* was only a medium-intensity training exercise.

With the plan decided, the various preparations began. These two regiments of Wu Yuan and Shangguan Zhiwen still needed to check the road once more.

Although they had already walked this road once before, and they had a detailed map in their hands.

However, these regimental commanders who had been taught by Lin Fan always remembered Lin Fan's words: "The timing of the heavens is not as good as the advantage of the earth, and the advantage of the earth is not as good as the harmony of the people."

They only remembered that these words were said by Lin Fan, but they didn't know that Lin Fan had also learned these words from Mencius.

With the Battle of Wuhan fierce, the air battles between the two sides were also very frequent. After receiving foreign aid, the National Army Air Force could often send bombers to bomb and destroy Jiujiang Airport, which was set up by the Japanese on the edge of Wuhan.

This also forced the Japanese fighter planes and bombers to stay further away for safety.

The Japanese were determined to bomb Wuhan, but their bombing was often thwarted by the National Army.

As the battle entered September, the Japanese were becoming increasingly impatient. They formulated a plan to burn Wuhan, in which they prepared to send 100 bombers to drop incendiary bombs on Wuhan.

The National Army obtained this plan, but only the outline of the action was included in this plan, and the specific implementation time was not.

There was only a thousand days to be a thief, but there was no reason to guard against a thief for a thousand days. The Wuhan Air Force had no way to guard the Wuhan airspace 24 hours a day.

Faced with this situation, Chennault, the commander of the Wuhan Air Force, decided to set a trap for the Japanese.

He ordered all the planes to take off from the airport in a big way and fly towards the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, creating the illusion that the main force of the planes was transferring to the mountain city.

After flying more than 100 kilometers, the entire fleet flew back to another remote airport at ultra-low altitude.

He believed that after the Japanese received this information, they would immediately take action.

The traitors in the three towns of Wuhan immediately reported the news of the large-scale departure of the air force from Wuhan.

Okamura Neji was overjoyed when he received the news and ordered the Japanese planes to take off immediately from Nanjing, Anqing, and the warships on the water to carry out the Doomsday Plan.

For this bombing, the Japanese prepared a total of more than 300 planes, half of which were fighters and half of which were bombers.

After the Japanese planes took off, Chennault in Wuhan had already received the news reported by the personnel lurking in these places.

Estimating that the Japanese bombers were about to enter Wuhan, he led a part of the fighter planes into the air to intercept the Japanese fleet.

The commander of this operation, Yaguchi Takeo, personally piloted a fighter plane in the front, facing the National Army planes that rushed up.

Commander Yaguchi Takeo immediately ordered the fighters to chase after them. To the surprise of all the Japanese pilots, it was as if they saw that their fleet was too big.

The National Army fighters that rushed up to engage them actually began to play hide-and-seek, not fighting them head-on, but not leaving the battlefield either.

This made Commander Yaguchi Takeo somewhat unhappy: These fighters were escorting the bombers.

The entire airspace was not safe now. National Army fighters rushed into the bomber fleet, and several bombers immediately caught fire and exploded.

The two sides tangled in the air for a full hour, and in the end, Commander Yaguchi Takeo had no choice but to order the temporary abandonment of the Doomsday Plan.

More than 300 planes had just arrived at the edge of Wuhan, turned around, and began to return, and something completely unexpected happened.

Less than 20 kilometers away from Wuhan, a fleet of hundreds of planes suddenly rushed out from the side.

This was the fleet that Chennault had specially hidden: His plan was very simple. The first flying team entangled with the Japanese in the air, using up their fuel, without having to deliberately destroy the Japanese planes.

Now this fleet, which had been deliberately delayed for 50 minutes, was here to reap the Japanese planes.

The Japanese planes flew from Nanjing and Anqing, and the time they could stay over Wuhan was only one hour, and the remaining fuel was only enough for the return trip.

Now, suddenly being rushed into by a large fleet from the side, not a single plane was willing to continue fighting.

It was not that the Japanese were unwilling to fight, but that if they stayed here for ten minutes, they would have a 100% chance of not having enough fuel to fly back to the airport.

The Japanese fleet, which had no fighting spirit at all, could only escape like a hornet's nest that had been blown up.

However, before escaping, Commander Yaguchi Takeo still reminded them: "See you at Anqing Shizhushan Airport."

Some of them could still fight in the air for ten minutes, but after the battle, they would not be able to return to Nanjing Airport, but landing at Anqing Shizhushan Airport was not a big deal.

In this air battle, the National Army won a great victory, destroying 23 Japanese planes and losing two planes of their own, and the pilots parachuted to safety.

Such a battle damage ratio was already very good. Of the more than 300 Japanese planes, 260 of them stopped at Shizhushan Airport.

Most of them had insufficient fuel and could not fly back to their departure point. Shizhushan Airport quickly refueled these planes.

Those planes that got the chance to refuel all asked to have their fuel tanks filled. With this operation, only less than 80 planes stayed for a period of time, added fuel, and took off again to return to their original departure point.

There were still more than 180 planes staying at the airport, waiting for the fuel to be delivered before they could take off.

For the Japanese pilots, this was nothing much. They had no flying missions here, and one by one, the Japanese pilots immediately formed teams and left the airport to have fun in Anqing City.

Li Zhize, who was watching the Japanese planes land and take off from a distance away from the airport,