August 16, 1938:

This was the third day that Lin Fan had been leading the Third Regiment and three thousand logistics personnel in ambush here at Luwang Mountain.

Last night, after thinking for a long time,

Lin Fan finally made a decision:

Hold on for two more days.

If the Japanese supply convoy hadn't appeared after two days,

this operation would have to be called off.

Five thousand people silently lying in ambush within the Japanese-occupied area

was a great test of everyone's patience.

Liu Laopao once again stood on the top of the mountain to look at the scenery.

Longgan Lake was quiet,

without any movement.

It was the same in Shangxin River.

Not to mention Japanese gunboats and ironclad ships,

not even a fishing boat could be seen.

Liu Laopao was getting anxious.

Would today be another fruitless day?

Just then,

there was a change in the distant sky.

Several black dots were flying in this direction.

Lin Fan looked at the enemy planes flying in the distance,

feeling somewhat nervous:

Had he been exposed here?

Although he was prepared to shoot down these enemy planes,

Lin Fan still felt some regret.

For the Special Forces Brigade,

shooting down these planes

would mean that all the preparations made during this period of time would be abandoned.

The enemy planes came quickly

and left quickly.

They flew over Longgan Lake,

flying all the way along the Shangxin River.

Looking at the flight path of these planes,

Lin Fan was happy.

He ordered the First and Second Companies, who had been lying in ambush in Zhaojiazui for three days, over the radio:

"First and Second Companies, pay attention to concealment.

The enemy planes that just flew over

should be scouting the way for the supply convoy.

The Japanese supply ships will be here soon."

After hearing Lin Fan's analysis, Liu Laopao

immediately wanted to go to Zhaojiazui.

He wanted to command the operation personally.

Lin Fan pointed to the enemy planes flying back overhead

and said, "It's too late now!"

The enemy planes that had just flown away

were now flying back.

Fujio Yūshō, flying in the air, looked at the empty ground

and said with a smile:

"Commander Okamura is too cautious.

The National Army has been defeated by us time and time again.

How dare they take half a step out?

Not to mention coming to raid the supply line."

Ueno Saburo also echoed with a smile:

"Even if they had the guts,

they wouldn't know which river those supply ships would take.

There are just too many rivers here,

all roads lead to Huangmei!"

He used the allusion to "all roads lead to Rome,"

causing all the Japanese in the North Wind Flying Squadron to laugh.

Just like that,

they had completed their reconnaissance mission for the supply convoy.

Having made preparations long ago and waiting for orders to depart, the Third Supply Squadron heard the news that the route was safe.

Suzuki Kazuma immediately issued the order to depart.

In fact, they were supposed to deliver supplies to the Huangmei direction the day before yesterday.

However, because a supply team in Jiangnan had been attacked,

their supply team had been too afraid to set off easily.

The Sixth Division Commander, Inaba Shiro, had been urging them urgently these past few days.

Although the Sixth Division had not had any major battles these past few days,

and their ammunition consumption was not high,

the Japanese still had to eat whether they were fighting or not,

and the mules and horses in the unit also needed fodder.

The Japanese soldiers in the unit who had contracted malaria also needed to be transported to the rear.

While he was anxious, the logistics team in Xiaochikou was in no hurry.

It had been six days since supplies had been delivered,

and the Japanese soldiers on the front lines were already eating the dry rations they carried with them.

If no more supplies were sent up,

Division Commander Inaba Shiro would be so anxious that he was getting fever blisters around his lips.

In any case,

the supply team had to be sent today.

Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma looked at Longgan Lake in front of him.

The wide lake surface was desolate and uninhabited.

It was deathly still, with not even a bird flying in the distance.

Only their fleet cut through the calm surface of the lake,

the ripples spreading to places he couldn't see.

These days,

Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma wasn't unwilling to deliver supplies sooner.

Rather, the entire front line was urging them,

but the roads to the front lines were somewhat uneasy.

Captain Tanaka Shunsuke looked at the same lake surface,

feeling very relaxed.

As far as he could see,

he didn't see a single living person.

This gave him a great sense of security.

A few days ago, the entire Jin'nai Shiro squadron was destroyed,

and a battleship and two destroyers of the Third Fleet sank into the Gongjiang River.

Such blows made all the Japanese operating on the water afraid.

Today, the air force had carried out reconnaissance in advance,

and everything was safe along the way.

Only then did these Japanese set off.

Liu Laopao watched the Japanese enter the Shangxin River from Longgan Lake,

so excited that he almost jumped up.

He had been even more nervous when he saw the Japanese fleet enter Longgan Lake,

afraid that the Japanese would take another river.

Now that he saw the Japanese entering the ambush set by the Special Forces Brigade,

the two companies ambushing in Zhaojiazui

couldn't see the Japanese entering the Shangxin River.

Regiment Commander Liu Laopao immediately notified the First and Second Companies.

The two companies received the news.

Their spirits were lifted. They had been lying in ambush here for three days,

and finally the Japanese had come.

At this time, Lin Fan had adjusted the eighty-eight-millimeter anti-aircraft gun into position.

Today, Lin Fan was going to use this gun as a coastal defense gun.

The Japanese gunboats weren't fast.

They had to take care of the ironclad ships full of supplies behind them,

so they couldn't run fast.

Captain Tanaka Toshinobu stood at the bow of the ship, his eyes suddenly widening.

He saw a string of fire flying towards them,

flying towards the entire fleet.

A celestial being descending from the sky, a sword coming from the west.

There were six Japanese gunboats on the Shangxin River,

four in the front and two in the back.

Lin Fan fired six shells,

and all six gunboats were hit and exploded.

The two companies ambushing on the banks of the Shangxin River

opened fire on the Japanese on the ironclad ships.

Captain Tanaka Shunsuke watched as the shells flew and hit the gunboats head-on.

They directly blew the gunboats to pieces,

and he was also blown into the Shangxin River by the air waves from the explosion.

The gunboats, four in the front and two in the back, were sunk at the same time,

which left the twenty-four ironclad ships in the middle, which were supposed to be protected, in a dilemma.

They simply couldn't move.

Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma heard the explosion

and before he could react,

gunfire rang out, and the Japanese in his supply team fell into the water one after another after being shot.

Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma ordered loudly:

"Defense! Defense!

Counterattack! Counterattack!

Request support! Request support immediately!"

As he was ordering loudly,

Shi Junxia led the First Company, and Xuan Yiren led the Second Company in launching a fierce attack on the entire Japanese team from both sides of Zhaojiazui.

Lin Fan had already arranged the mission before the battle:

Preserve the ironclad ships as much as possible, only kill the Japanese and don't damage the ships.

Although the firepower of the two companies was fierce, it was actually just rifles,

but there were a lot of people firing.

Although there were more than a hundred Japanese soldiers on the twenty-four ironclad ships combined,

when dispersed to each ship, there were only five Japanese soldiers per ship.

The First and Second Companies had already assigned responsibility for each ship.

One squad was responsible for three ships,

shooting at their respective targets,

just like shooting at a target on the training ground.

Just as the battle between the First and Second Companies had just begun,

Liu Laopao had already ordered the Third to Seventh Companies of the Second Regiment to rush towards Zhaojiazui.

The three thousand logistics soldiers, who had been waiting anxiously behind Luwang Mountain,

also rushed out together.

They had come specifically to transport supplies.

During these three days, the ones who couldn't wait the most were them.

Now that these people saw the smoke rising not far away,

they knew that the main force's ambush had succeeded,

and these people were all excited.

Although they were logistics soldiers, selected from the security regiments in various counties,

they were still serious about their once-a-week training.

This charge of more than a thousand meters

wasn't much slower than the regular troops of the Second Regiment.

By the time they arrived at the battlefield,

the battle at Zhaojiazui was over.

Whether it was the Japanese who had jumped into the Shangxin River,

or the Japanese who were stubbornly resisting on the ironclad ships,

they had all become corpses floating on the Shangxin River.

The Special Forces Brigade was now going to sail these ironclad ships into Longgan Lake first,

and then sail them to Taihu County along another river.

The two gunboats that Lin Fan had just destroyed

had now become roadblocks blocking these ironclad ships.

The prepared First Company jumped into the river,

tied the wreckage of the gunboats with cables,

and hundreds of people on the shore worked together,

dragging the wreckage to the shore

to clear the waterway.

The distress telegram sent by Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma when he was attacked

was immediately answered.

The air force at Jiujiang Airport had been on standby,

with the pilots waiting in their fighter planes.

They had been afraid of an ambush by the National Army.

After receiving the telegram, they immediately set off.

The twelve planes of the Kitakaze Kenji squadron immediately rushed into the sky.

They had carried out the reconnaissance mission just now,

and now they had to come for the reinforcement mission.

The purpose of doing this was simply that an old horse knows the way.

Fujio Yūshō flew in the lead in his fighter plane.

When they flew over the Yangtze River from Jiujiang Airport,

they entered the Longgan Lake area.

Fujio Yūshō immediately saw smoke rising ahead.

He said angrily into the intercom:

"These National Army soldiers are really like mice.

We searched so carefully just now,

but didn't find them.

Now they're actually attacking the supply team."

The rescue message sent by Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma hadn't had time to report the entire situation on the battlefield.

The Japanese 11th Army only knew that they had been attacked.

They didn't know that all six gunboats escorting the convoy had been destroyed in the first wave.

The situation received by the Kitakaze Kenji Flying Squadron was the same.

When Fujio Yūshō flew to the Shangxin River estuary,

he saw everything that was happening on the Shangxin River:

On the Shangxin River, where smoke was rising,

the place that had been empty just now

was now crowded with people.

Thousands of people were like ants,

surrounding both banks of the twenty-odd ironclad ships.

It could be seen from the air:

The battle was over.

The Japanese resistance was completely gone.

Fujio Yūshō's eyes turned red.

"All the warriors have been destroyed!"

Squadron Leader Kitakaze Kenji immediately reported to the 11th Army Headquarters:

"I have arrived above the supply team.

The entire supply team is not resisting.

Below are all National Army troops,

at least three thousand people.

All six gunboats have been sunk.

There are only twenty-four ironclad ships on the river.

My squadron will immediately launch an attack on the National Army."

When the 11th Army first received the message from Squadron Leader Suzuki Kazuma,

they only thought that they had been attacked.

Now they knew that the entire supply team had been wiped out.

This batch of supplies could not be allowed to be taken away by the National Army.

If it was really impossible to salvage this batch of supplies,

they would rather blow it up than give it to the National Army.

For the time being, the 10th Army could not make the decision to destroy this batch of supplies.

They ordered:

"Immediately attack the National Army that attacked the supply team,

protect the supply materials,

the second team of air force will set off immediately!"

This order was for the Kitakaze Squadron to throw all their ammunition and bombs at the National Army below.

The 11th Army Headquarters immediately found the location of Zhaojiazui on the map.

The closest Japanese troops to the supply team were ten kilometers away.

When Division Commander Inaba Shiro received the news from the 11th Army Headquarters that the supply team had been attacked at Zhaojiazui on the Shangxin River,

he couldn't believe his ears.

He couldn't believe that just when he needed supplies the most, the supply team had been robbed by the National Army.

There must be a traitor among them!

He roared at Commander Okamura Neji.

Commander Okamura Neji silently endured the five minutes of roaring

before saying:

"I have dispatched the air force to attack the National Army attacking the supply fleet in turn.

Your unit should immediately send a team to take back the supply materials."

Only then did Division Commander Inaba Shiro stop

and begin to think. When he learned that the location of the supply fleet's attack was at Zhaojiazui on the Shangxin River,

he immediately began to search for it on the map.

Soon, his staff measured it: ten kilometers!

The closest Japanese team to Zhaojiazui was the Inukai Jukenosuke Battalion.

However, their current Tiger Head Mountain position

was the outermost position of the entire Sixth Division in the south of Susong,

but this position was very critical.

What to do?

What could be done now?

Division Commander Inaba Shiro personally ordered the Inukai Jukenosuke Battalion to leave one company to guard the position.

The remaining one thousand Japanese soldiers of the entire battalion marched urgently towards the Shangxin River.

They must arrive at Zhaojiazui within an hour

to protect the supply materials.

During this one hour, the 11th Army would send planes to guard those materials.

At the same time, the 11th Army would also send twelve gunboats to Zhaojiazui.

Among all the reinforcement teams, the planes were the fastest, arriving in ten minutes.

The gunboats were slightly slower, arriving in half an hour.

In fact, the first batch of planes had already arrived.

The second batch of planes had also taken off from Jiujiang Airport.

The number of planes in the second batch was much larger, this time twenty-four.

The Kitakaze Kenji Flying Squadron looked at the thousands of National Army soldiers at Zhaojiazui.

Lin Fan looked at the twelve planes in the air.

Today, his position was very good.

The visibility was wide, and he had seen the Japanese planes when they entered Longgan Lake.

Now, all twelve Japanese planes were within the range of the anti-aircraft gun.

Pilot Fujio Yūshō operated his fighter plane and began to dive.

As he dived, he said to the other Japanese soldiers:

"Today's National Army is a bit strange.

They don't even disperse when they see planes."

Ueno Saburo said with a smile:

"That's good. Whether it's machine guns or bombs,

they can all play the greatest role."

He was flying a bomber and had also begun to dive at this time.

Just then, Lin Fan began to reap the harvest.

The first shell hit Fujio Yūshō, who was flying in the lead.

Lin Fan's purpose in hitting this plane was only because it was flying in the lead.

If he didn't take it down, it would be able to open fire on the soldiers on the ground.

This was of course not allowed.

The first plane exploded in mid-air, like a chain reaction.

Then the second plane exploded,

the third plane, the fourth plane,

…

When the twelfth plane exploded in the air,

the logistics soldiers at Zhaojiazui all cheered.

Such a scene was too exciting for them.

At this time, the work of clearing the waterway was still going on.

More people jumped into the Shangxin River.

They pushed with their hands and carried with their shoulders, trying to push the gunboats that had sunk into the water

to clear a waterway for the ironclad ships to pass through.

Their formation had been a bit chaotic

when they saw the enemy planes diving.

Now, order was restored.

All twelve enemy planes had been shot down.

Lin Fan stopped.

He was still waiting on the top of the mountain.

Today, his duty was to be a good artilleryman,

protecting the absolute safety of this airspace.

After these planes crashed,

another batch of planes came over in less than ten minutes.

This time, there were many more enemy planes coming.

The order that had just been restored at Zhaojiazui was suddenly disrupted again.

The soldiers of several companies of the Second Regiment kept explaining to these people,

but people were only skeptical.

When the sound of artillery fire rang out again from Luwang Mountain,

the enemy planes in the air fell to the ground like dumplings.

These slightly chaotic teams were restored again.

Now they had finally dragged the gunboats to the shore.

This section of the Shangxin River at Zhaojiazui was narrow.

The ironclad ships simply couldn't turn around.

Three thousand logistics soldiers and five companies of soldiers were all on both banks,

pulling long tow ropes.

They were going to drag these fully loaded ironclad ships out of this small section of the river blocked by the gunboats

and then sail them back to Taihu County.

While everyone was busy working,

the cannons on Luwang Mountain were booming again.

This time, Lin Fan wasn't hitting the planes in the air.

Instead, he was firing at the Japanese gunboats on Longgan Lake.

Squadron Leader Kobayashi Taiichi's gunboat squadron had just entered Longgan Lake not long ago.

They were still at least a thousand meters away from the entrance to the Shangxin River

when they were unexpectedly attacked by artillery fire.

The artillery fire came quickly

and hit hard!

A gunboat was blown to pieces after being hit by only one shell.

Of the twenty-five Japanese soldiers on the gunboat,

less than ten were able to survive.

All twelve gunboats were like this.

After the bombing, Squadron Leader Kobayashi Taiichi, who had fallen into the water, looked at the gunboats slowly sinking into the lake.

He wanted to cry but had no tears!

Now, not only did he not have the capital to guard the supply materials,

but he couldn't even send a signal to headquarters for help.

Okamura Neji, at the 11th Army Headquarters, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot,

waiting for news from the front at the headquarters.

It was hateful that the Kitakaze Flying Squadron, as well as the two flying squadrons that were sent out later,

didn't respond. They neither proactively reported the situation at the front

nor responded to the 11th Army Headquarters' call.

These air force soldiers were really too arrogant!

The 11th Army Headquarters called multiple times with no response.

They had no choice but to shift their calling target to Squadron Leader Kobayashi Taiichi's gunboat squadron.

The same lack of response.

This gave the staff at the 11th Army Headquarters an ominous premonition.

Especially Commander Hasegawa Kiyoshi of the Third Fleet, who had learned of the news.

He was too familiar with this situation.

After all, during the attack on Jiangyin,

his Third Fleet had almost replaced its entire air force.

Whether it was planes or pilots,

they had all died in the sky above the Jiangyin Fortress.

Now that the same situation had occurred again,

he believed that the thirty-six planes that had just been sent out

had all been destroyed!

Today, I went up the mountain to dig potatoes in the scorching sun. I didn't have time during the day.

For the time being, there are only five thousand words.

I will update another five thousand words before twelve noon. There is only this chapter at midnight.