Li, the platoon leader, recounted the events of yesterday for the 44th platoon. Jing Liquan said, "No wonder the Brigade Commander was worried and called us back overnight! Let me make this clear: whatever happened to you yesterday is in the past, and I won't dwell on it!

But today, on the battlefield, if anyone retreats even half a step, military law will be enforced immediately! Unless we receive orders to retreat, we will not yield an inch!

This afternoon, we're on the offensive. Everyone just needs to follow me and fight the enemy. I'll be leading the charge, so every soldier in the company can see me. If I retreat, you can execute military law on the spot and kill me.

Our Special Forces Brigade operates under an unwritten rule: officers charge ahead and retreat last.

Just the day before yesterday, our Aviation Brigade embarked on a transoceanic expedition.

The Brigade Commander personally led the team, and he was at the forefront as well. With the highest commander of our unit leading the charge, what reason do we, the company commanders, platoon leaders, and squad leaders, have to hide behind and order the soldiers to advance?"

Ji Wudi established branches of the Jurong Field Hospital in Guangde and Anji, and they had already begun receiving the wounded who had retreated last night.

Knowing that Lin Fan was going to personally lead the troops to the front line, she also took the medical team to set off with the troops.

That morning, the scenario Chang Kai-shek had envisioned, where the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army would cooperate with the National Revolutionary Army in a major offensive against the Jurong base, did not materialize.

This greatly disappointed him, and he instructed Li Pin to contact the Japanese troops through intermediaries and request their assistance in clearing out the Special Forces Brigade stationed in Jurong.

Gong Zhixue, the regimental commander who had led his entire regiment back to the periphery of the Lotus Leaf Mountain defense line last night, had already begun a fierce attack on the positions he had lost, with the support of the Aviation Brigade.

Although the soldiers of his regiment had retreated yesterday, their morale remained. Especially after seeing the Yangxi Village guerrillas, numbering just over a hundred, capture more than four thousand prisoners.

This greatly stimulated the entire regiment: how could a regular army be inferior to guerrillas? Song Minzhi, the division commander who had retreated back to the defense line last night, also knew that the Special Forces Brigade would definitely counterattack.

But he didn't expect the counterattack to come so quickly: the bombers appeared overhead again just as dawn was breaking.

His division had already been routed by the planes last night, when the planes were still relying on dropping flares to identify targets.

Now that it was daylight, the planes in the sky could clearly see the National Revolutionary Army soldiers on the positions, and the bombing began.

When the Special Forces Brigade's bombing began, the 33rd Infantry Regiment's attack on Jurong also began, followed by the newly arrived 36th and 37th Regiments.

Bombers and ground-attack aircraft took turns attacking the Lotus Leaf Mountain positions, and the infantry of the 33rd Regiment was charging on the ground.

Such an offensive momentum left the National Revolutionary Army soldiers defending the mountaintop with no desire to fight. They had already lost their morale last night.

In this war of their own people fighting each other, the soldiers were not as resolute as they were when fighting the Japanese. The positions defended by Li Yongrui's regiment were lost not long after the battle began.

He led the dozens of retreating soldiers in a panic towards Ningguo.

The defense line guarded by Song Minzhi's division collapsed in less than an hour. The soldiers of the 33rd Regiment recaptured the entire defense line sixteen hours after losing their positions.

The 36th and 37th Regiments following behind them quickly passed through the defense line and advanced towards Ningguo.

At the same time, Captain Guan Guohao led the Aviation Brigade to continue to intercept the fleeing National Revolutionary Army troops, and once again bombed the National Revolutionary Army camp in Ningguo.

This completely negated the effectiveness of the northern route of Li Pin's two-pronged attack strategy.

The National Revolutionary Army's offensive against the Jurong base had gone from a major victory yesterday to a disastrous defeat today, a reversal that took place in just over a dozen hours.

Upon receiving news that several thousand soldiers from the Jurong base had broken through the defense line and entered Ningguo, Chang Kai-shek was furious and immediately ordered Li Zongren, Commander of the Fifth War Area, to issue an order to the Special Forces Brigade prohibiting them from crossing the border.

At the same time, he also had the General Staff Headquarters directly issue an order to the Special Forces Brigade, strictly ordering them not to cross the Lotus Leaf Mountain line and to immediately withdraw any troops that had already entered Ningguo County.

When this order reached Lin Fan's hands, Lin Fan ordered a seven-character reply: "It is impolite not to reciprocate!"

At this time, he was issuing orders to the 44th platoon to set off, and Ji Wudi was also setting off with him.

After Lin Fan issued the order to set off, he walked in front of the 1st Company's formation. Fu Yang, a soldier in the 1st Squad, did not recognize Ji Wudi. In fact, none of the ordinary soldiers in the entire regiment recognized Ji Wudi at all.

They were just curious about the female officer who had suddenly appeared beside the Brigade Commander. Looking at this excessively beautiful female officer, everyone was wondering who she was.

During the assembly, the soldiers did not dare to speak. As the team began to move, the first thing they said was to inquire about each other: who is that female officer?

The ordinary soldiers of the 33rd Regiment did not recognize her, but the newly arrived company commanders and platoon leaders did.

Fu Yang, a soldier in the 1st Squad, whispered, asking who that female officer was.

The current platoon leader, Li Yongjun, who was still a regimental commander yesterday, recognized Ji Wudi. He knew that she was one of the fifteen regimental commanders when the Jurong base was established.

He also knew the relationship between Ji Wudi and Lin Fan. Seeing that the trouble he had caused had actually brought the Brigade Commander and Regimental Commander Ji together on the battlefield again.

He felt very bad! He whispered, "When it was still the Special Operations Company, there were two female sharpshooters who always followed the Brigade Commander during assaults. This is one of them, Ji Wudi, Regimental Commander Ji!"

The three Ji siblings are now all regimental commanders in the Special Forces Brigade, and the fact that three members of one family are regimental commanders is a legend in the Special Forces Brigade.

When the soldiers heard that the female officer was actually Ji Wudi, Regimental Commander Ji, their desire for gossip grew even stronger. The story of the Ji sisters fighting alongside the Brigade Commander had become a legend.

These soldiers had heard instructors tell the story many times in the past, and they never thought they would actually see the legend come to life today.

Tong Zimin led the 25th Army of the National Revolutionary Army to attack from the direction of Tianmu Mountain, and he had temporarily completed the initial task of cutting off the Special Forces Brigade's communication lines: the passage between Anji and Deqing had been cut off by his 25th Army.

Last night, he wanted to attack Anji County overnight, but he was blocked by the Special Forces Brigade's planes and the defending forces.

"We shouldn't assassinate Lin Fan! Matters on the battlefield should be resolved on the battlefield. The President had a conflict with the Special Forces Brigade for the sake of the national cause, and this is a head-on confrontation.

I believe the Special Forces Brigade will only make moves on the front lines and won't engage in any underhanded operations.

If we set the precedent of assassinating him, the Special Forces Brigade is capable of raiding this place."

Chang Kai-shek thought of Lin Fan sending people to launch simultaneous actions against Japanese banks in Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing overnight.

Alarmed, he immediately said, "Then you go to Jurong. I'll write a letter to take to him, telling him not to cooperate with the Japanese under any circumstances."

The intermediary found by the Japanese was a businessman with great influence in Jurong. He was not familiar with Lin Fan, but he had dealt with Li Xian a few times.

When he met Li Xian, he first expressed his attitude towards the National Revolutionary Army's actions of taking advantage of the situation.

Then, he said that the Japanese were unwilling to take advantage of the situation and had therefore stopped their multi-pronged offensive against Jurong.

Finally, he said that the Japanese were willing to negotiate with Jurong unconditionally. When Li Xian heard this, he knew that the Japanese had sent him to test the waters.

He immediately said, "We have only one requirement: the Japanese must withdraw their troops and pay reparations! On this basis, we can negotiate."

When he said this, the Japanese's efforts to disintegrate the anti-Japanese alliance had ended before they even began.

On this matter, Lin Fan had long said: as long as the Japanese do not withdraw from our territory, there is no possibility of negotiation with them.

While Lin Fan was still fighting on the battlefield, Li Xian had already conveyed the decision not to negotiate with the Japanese.

Of course, the Japanese would not publicize this news. How could they reveal such a humiliating event?

Not only did they not publicize it, but they also made a gesture: all four divisions that had launched the offensive against Jurong retreated.

In Chang Kai-shek's view, this was a clear signal that the Special Forces Brigade had reached a preliminary agreement with the Japanese!

When Dai Li arrived in Jurong, he was told that Lin Fan was not in Jurong. He thought that Lin Fan was avoiding him and wanted to see Li Xian instead.

But Li Xian really didn't want to see him and made excuses that he was busy.

When this news reached Chang Kai-shek, he was really anxious this time!

For the first time, he felt remorse for his recklessness: he had acted too hastily!