Chapter 1 The Excited Millennium Blue Captain

The excited Millennium Blue Captain immediately asked enthusiastically, "How is Shizhushan Airport now?"

The Second Squadron of the Jiangbei Aviation Brigade was stationed at Qianshan Airport. Squadron Leader Zhu Qingmao led the entire squadron to participate in the attack on Anqing City.

He was flying a fighter plane, and had only been able to patrol at high altitude, watching helplessly as the ground attack planes below continuously strafed the Japanese devils.

These fighter pilots flew high and saw far. The morning sky was as blue as if it had been washed, and the sunlight shone on the edges of the clouds far and near, as if gilding them.

Everything was so beautiful, but Zhu Qingmao still felt a little dissatisfied: at least the ground attack planes had Japanese devils to shoot at.

But these fighter planes had no opponents in the air: how lonely it was to be invincible!

Mei Gaoyun was the captain's wingman, always flying with the captain, and he also had his share of the unpleasant mood.

Sometimes he even thought: should he switch to piloting a ground attack plane? That way, he would have more opportunities to fight the Japanese devils.

After circling over Anqing for several laps, Mei Gaoyun suddenly shouted in surprise, "There's an enemy plane coming from the southeast!"

This news excited the entire squadron. Today, they were all flying the enemy planes they had just captured.

They had captured this type of aircraft once before, and all the pilots had already learned how to fly it.

Hearing that an enemy plane was coming, and only one, Zhu Qingmao ordered, "My wingman and I will go and destroy the enemy. You continue to patrol normally, pay attention to the surroundings, and see if there are any other Japanese planes coming."

Although they were all the same type of aircraft, they were not on the same channel. The Japanese devils did not hear Captain Zhu Qingmao's order, and no one answered the Japanese devils' questions.

Captain Millennium Blue looked at the large group of fighter planes in the distance, the same ones that had accompanied him to bomb Wuhan unsuccessfully yesterday.

These were the fighter planes that had been stranded at Shizhushan Airport due to insufficient fuel on the return trip. His enthusiasm did not receive a single response.

However, two planes from the opposite squadron flew towards him, as if they were coming to greet him.

Their enthusiasm made Captain Millennium Blue very happy. He just wanted to ask a question. In reality, no matter what the answer was, he was going to go to Shizhushan Airport anyway.

The planes from the opposite side came from the left and right sides. Captain Millennium Blue sent out another enthusiastic greeting.

Still no response!

The two welcoming planes swept past him, making Millennium Blue feel like he was just air.

Just as he was complaining in his heart about these pilots' lack of manners, Millennium Blue felt the plane tremble slightly.

This time, the response he received was a hail of bullets from the two planes on his left and right wings.

Before Captain Millennium Blue could figure out what was happening, he quickly felt the entire plane shaking violently.

The plane he was flying seemed to come to life, shaking non-stop in pain.

"I'm under attack!" In an instant, Captain Millennium Blue understood what was happening.

"What are you doing? I am Millennium Blue, captain of the Third Squadron of the Central China Expeditionary Army Air Force! What unit are you from? I'm going to report you!" Captain Millennium Blue's voice was filled with anger.

At this time, he wasn't too scared. The plane was already damaged. As long as the misunderstanding was cleared up, he could glide the plane to Shizhushan Airport, or at worst, make a forced landing on the outskirts of Anqing City.

No response! Only deathly silence in his ears!

Captain Millennium Blue began to panic. The plane he was flying kept shaking, as if it had malaria.

Now his body was also trembling. No response! Weren't they trying to kill him?

There were so many planes in the air, but they seemed to not see him. Could those planes really not see him?

Captain Millennium Blue began to doubt himself. Two planes were constantly attacking him from behind.

Captain Millennium Blue could no longer control his fear. He began to struggle desperately, trying to escape the strafing from the two planes behind him.

Now he was somewhat fortunate that he was flying a fighter plane, which could fly faster, higher, and perform more difficult maneuvers. But his luck didn't last for three seconds.

The fighter plane had been under attack for so long, and was already battered and bruised. It didn't respond quickly to Captain Millennium Blue's commands.

Just as Captain Millennium Blue was maneuvering the plane to dive towards the river, hoping to shake off the two planes behind him by diving and then suddenly pulling up, he was horrified to discover that it was easy to dive down, but during the dive, the engine stalled!

To have the engine fail at this critical moment, wasn't it determined to send him to the Yellow Springs Road?

Captain Millennium Blue tried hard to restart the engine, once, twice, three times.

All three attempts failed to reignite the engine. This was really going to be the end of him. He watched as the endless waters of the Yangtze River came crashing towards him.

Millennium Blue ignited the engine one last time, and the plane vibrated in a familiar way. This time, the engine started!

Before the joy in his heart could spread, he felt the plane jolt violently, as if it had crashed into a mountain, and his whole body was smashed to pieces.

Next, he saw the endless water of the long river pouring into the cockpit. Captain Millennium Blue! Died!

Even in death, he didn't know why the Empire's planes were attacking him!

Captain Millennium Blue plunged confusedly into the Yangtze River, never to rise again.

Bei Feng Youmi, who took off from Jiujiang, arrived a little later. The pilots of the Second Squadron of the Jiangbei Aviation Brigade watched as their captain shot down an incoming Japanese plane.

They all strained their eyes, looking at the sky all around. Now that the first Japanese plane had come to report, there should be a second and a third plane coming.

The well-prepared Second Aviation Squadron of the Lunan Detachment patrolled in the air, but this time, many pilots were disappointed.

They had all seen that the previous enemy plane had flown up from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and most people's eyes were looking in that direction.

However, Bei Feng Youmi was flying a fighter plane from Jiujiang, which was upstream of Anqing, thus allowing him to escape most people's eyes.

However, Xu Zhiye and Qi Angran still spotted Bei Feng Youmi's fighter plane flying down from the upper reaches.

The Yangtze River was the most conspicuous landmark on the route from Jiujiang to Anqing, and Bei Feng Youmi was also flying over the Yangtze River.

His plan was the same: fly along the Yangtze River to Anqing, and then turn towards Shizhushan Airport.

This way, he could be sure he wouldn't get lost! As he approached Anqing, Bei Feng Youmi could see many planes flying in the air, just like his.

It was clear that those planes were patrolling. Were they guarding against something?

No matter what they were guarding against, he would greet them first out of courtesy: "Gentlemen! I'm from Jiujiang, and I'm going to Shizhushan Airport."

A very polite greeting!

But there was no response! The fighter planes in the air seemed to treat his words as wind in their ears, completely ignoring him!

It wasn't that no one was paying attention. Two planes were coming to meet him.

Bei Feng Youmi looked at the two planes flying towards him and asked again, "Are you going back to the airport or are you going to Wuhan again?"

Still no response!

The two planes passed him without even nodding. There was no acquaintance whatsoever!

Just as Bei Feng Youmi was complaining inwardly, he suddenly felt the fuselage being attacked.

At the same time, he heard the sound of machine guns behind him: "Da-da-da! Da-da-da!"

Alarmed, Bei Feng Youmi reacted quickly: he accelerated! He rolled over!

He tried to shake off the plane attacking him from behind. He didn't know what was going on yet, but he could guess that the ones attacking him were the two fighter planes that had just flown past.

Why?

His heart cried out in vain!

Just as Bei Feng Youmi was maneuvering the plane to roll, he was horrified to discover that at least four planes from the squadron in the distance were also flying in this direction.

Who were they coming to help?

That was the question! Regardless of which side they were helping, Bei Feng Youmi quickly leveled the plane.

What he couldn't believe was that just as his plane began to level off, the entire fuselage began to shake again.

Hadn't his previous maneuver shaken off the plane that was following him? Bei Feng Youmi was overthinking it.

He had indeed shaken off Xu Zhiye's plane, but there were two planes following him. Now, Qi Angran was firing at the Japanese devil's back alone.

The machine gun bullets kept hitting the enemy plane in front of him. Qi Angran could already see that half of the Japanese devil's wing was broken, and it would soon fall off.

Although Bei Feng Youmi couldn't see the situation of his own plane, he could feel that it was difficult to control.

He rolled to the left again. This time, just as he began to roll, he saw a dark shadow fall from the plane.

Xu Zhiye and Qi Angran both saw clearly: it was the enemy plane's wing falling off, falling into the Yangtze River.

Next, the Japanese devil's plane kept rolling and rolling towards the Yangtze River.

Bei Feng Youmi never expected that he was just trying to roll and dodge the machine gun strafing from the plane behind him.

How could he keep rolling and rolling towards the Yangtze River, unable to stop? He tried hard to stop the rolling, but although Bei Feng Youmi was trained, he still felt dizzy from rolling like this.

This had already taken half his life. What frightened him even more was that his plane stalled in the air at this moment.

Wasn't this afraid that he wasn't going to the Yellow Springs Road fast enough?

Bei Feng Youmi rolled and plunged into the Yangtze River, splashing a large amount of water, which quickly subsided.

Bei Feng Youmi plunged into the Yangtze River with regret. Until the very last moment, he didn't understand why such a conspicuous plane would be accidentally attacked!

The aerial battle had no effect on Li Zhize's command of the three infantry regiments on the ground.

He had already found the Japanese devils' and puppet soldiers' warehouses with ease.

The Jiangbei Detachment had a reputation for fairness among the people of Anqing. This time, when they heard that they had to pay for transportation to transport the captured materials, those who had boats brought their boats over, and those who had people came to help. It wasn't shameful to earn money through labor.

Anqing to Qianshan was connected not only by road, but also by waterway. This time, Li Zhize cleaned the Japanese devil's camp so thoroughly that even a bench was loaded onto the ship and transported away.

In the bloody battle street in the south of the city, the soldiers of the Jiangbei Detachment not only swept away all the pieces of meat and internal organs hanging on the eaves and branches, but also transported all the Japanese devils' corpses away for burial, and carefully cleaned the entire street three times with clear water.

Even after washing the ground like this, you could still smell a strong bloody smell on this street.

That was all they could do. The residents on this street had never seen such a team.

They killed the Japanese devils and cleaned the battlefield so thoroughly. Today, Anqing City was brand new. The Jiangbei Detachment cleaned all the streets in the entire city.

Even the garbage and ditches were all cleaned once. The residents of the city were not afraid of such a team at all.

Shops opened, and people could enter and leave the city very casually!

All the people had seen the air battle just now, and the whole city erupted in excited cheers.

Among them, there were many Kuomintang agents left behind in the rear. Of course, they didn't dare to come out and claim kinship.

But it was still okay to contact the soldiers of the Jiangbei Detachment. The soldiers of the Jiangbei Detachment were very enthusiastic.

They answered every question: asking if they had attacked the Japanese devil's airport last night.

The soldiers immediately affirmed: all the Japanese devils were killed, a part of the puppet soldiers were killed, and most were captured.

After all the Japanese devils' planes were captured, they had been taken to their own airport. The enemy planes that were shot down over Anqing this morning were the work of the captured enemy aircraft.

This was big news. The news sent out this morning was somewhat inaccurate!

After finding out the exact information, the agents immediately went back to send the latest news to Wuhan.

The Wuhan headquarters already knew this kind of news! But the staff officers at the headquarters were a little speechless that the Jiangbei Detachment had once again entered Anqing City. This special brigade had captured Anqing City for the third time.

Anqing City was right on the edge of the Yangtze River. Every time the special brigade captured it, they didn't hold it. Every time they cleared out the traitors and Japanese devils in the city, they would retreat.

This made the Japanese devils' merchants afraid to do business in Anqing, for fear of being liquidated someday.

This time, another wave of traitors was liquidated. If such good things could happen a few more times in other counties behind enemy lines, it was believed that both the Japanese devils' merchants and the traitors would restrain themselves a lot!

Of course, such good news had to be reported, after all, recapturing a city was very encouraging to the people and the military.

Anqing was snatched away by the Jiangbei Detachment again. Neither Yan Junliu nor Okamura Neji made any reaction to this.

They maintained their silence in unison: this was the third time Anqing had been occupied by the National Army.

The two Japanese devils commanders understood: the Jiangbei Detachment that occupied Anqing would not stay in this city for too long.

The previous two times after Anqing was captured, they immediately sent troops to counterattack, but were met with heavy blows.

After sending a wave of Japanese devils to their deaths, they later realized that the Jiangbei Detachment had taken the initiative to withdraw.

This time the Japanese devils learned to be smart: they would wait for the Jiangbei Detachment to take the initiative to withdraw before sending troops to garrison again.

It was just that both commanders had a mouthful of blood stuck in their throats: one hundred and eighty-eight planes!

So many planes were lost overnight, of course a Japanese devil needed to take the blame!

But Commander Noguchi Dahiro, who commanded the "Doomsday" operation this time, was still missing. Judging from the Jiangbei Detachment's and the Special Brigade's consistent habits, Commander Noguchi Dahiro was likely dead.

That was even better! Pushing the responsibility onto a Japanese devil who couldn't speak at all could allow him to bear more responsibility for his death. Anyway, he was already dead and wouldn't have any objections.

Although this was how it was handled, Commander Yan Junliu still couldn't calm down.

As long as he thought of one hundred and eighty-eight planes being destroyed, his heart would ache faintly.

At this time, the lurking traitor planted by the Japanese devils in Anqing City stabbed him in the heart again: the one hundred and eighty-eight planes at Shizhushan Airport were not destroyed, but were snatched back by the Jiangbei Detachment.

And this morning, they even flew these planes over Anqing and shot down two Japanese devil fighter planes.

Seeing this intelligence, Commander Yan Junliu spat out another mouthful of blood. Of course, he knew what the two planes shot down this morning were: one of them was personally ordered by him to be dispatched.

He didn't think it was a pity for one plane. What pained him now was that one hundred and eighty-eight planes had been snatched away by someone.

Snatch away! This was a hundred times more terrible than being destroyed at the airport. With one increase and one decrease, the disparity in the number of planes between the two sides was closer to each other.

Since the Battle of Shanghai, the National Army's pilots had always been very brave. They dared to fight and knew how to fight. The only thing these pilots lacked was enough planes.

If they suddenly had one hundred and eighty-eight more planes, Yan Junliu could imagine that if the Japanese devils wanted to continue to maintain air superiority on the Wuhan battlefield, they would have to pay an even greater price.

At this time, a traitor from Wuhan also sent intelligence: the National Army had recently acquired one hundred fighter planes and was preparing to send people to Qianshan to pick them up.

These planes must be the batch of planes they had lost! Yan Junliu felt a bitterness in his heart.

What could he do? He could only pack up this information and send it to Okamura Neji.

After receiving this information, Okamura Neji also spat out a mouthful of blood. After spitting out blood, he still felt like a big stone was pressing on his chest.

In the morning, he only thought of the planes being destroyed and felt heartache. Now, he wished those planes had all been destroyed at Shizhushan Airport.

Since the planes had been snatched by the Jiangbei Detachment, he was thinking about whether to send bombers to bomb those planes.

As soon as this thought appeared, it bloomed like hundreds of flowers in the summer spring.

Okamura Neji's excitement only lasted for less than five minutes, and all the excitement was hit by reality: yesterday, they had gathered more than three hundred planes to carry out missions in Wuhan.

Now, two-thirds of them had been lost. If they continued to carry out bombing missions against Qianshan, what if the other side took off all the planes?

Just the number alone would be more than the planes on his side. For the time being, he couldn't touch those planes in Qianshan.

He had to apply to the domestic headquarters for more planes. In reality, the Japanese devils' entire army still had many planes, but they were deployed at sea, guarding against attacks from some Western countries.

As for the gains and losses of Anqing City, Okamura Neji didn't take it to heart. Anqing was right on the edge of the Yangtze River, and he believed that the Jiangbei Detachment wouldn't stay for long.

While Regiment Commander Li Zhize was still in Anqing City, the regiments of the Lunan Detachment, which were still resting in Tushan Town, began to prepare.

According to plan, the regiments would begin to march towards their respective combat objectives starting tomorrow morning.

Now, the regiments were making their final preparations, especially those security regiments. They had recently received a lot of equipment.

In the past half month, the Lunan Detachment had annihilated nearly 70,000 Japanese devils, and all the captured weapons had been used to supplement the fifty security teams here.

These security regiments had always been fully equipped with rifles, but what they lacked were various artillery pieces, heavy machine guns, and machine guns.

All of these captured heavy weapons had been supplemented, except for grenade launchers.

This type of weapon required too much individual soldier operation, which couldn't be trained overnight. Lin Fan had equipped these regiments with rocket launchers. In comparison, rocket launchers were much simpler to operate.

Lin Fan, who was still in Tushan Town, didn't know that the Kuomintang 69th Army had already begun to attack Xuzhou at this time.

The first to engage the 30th Puppet Army defending Xuzhou was Shi Youshan's direct line of troops, the Fan Jiabao Regiment of the 181st Division's Lu Shan Brigade.

Regiment Commander Fan ordered the First Company to attack the puppet army's position in front. The First Company was the elite of his regiment. First Company Commander Fan Youcai was a family nephew and also his most trusted confidant.

Company Commander Fan led the team all the way, and the whole company was holding its breath, all thinking about entering Xuzhou City.

Now that they were the first to receive the order to launch an attack, all the soldiers immediately charged forward.

Defending in this direction was Puppet Army 37th Regiment Commander Zhuo Qiang. He was the first regiment commander to stand up at the military conference and say that he wanted to strengthen the defense of the outer perimeter of Xuzhou City.

He asked for defense and got defense. Ruan Lesheng sent him out of the city to strengthen the fortress and defend the outer perimeter of Xuzhou City.

Faced with the menacing attacking team, Zhuo Qiang ordered the puppet soldiers under his command to immediately return fire.

The attacking team was still three hundred meters away when they were subjected to heavy machine gun fire from the puppet soldiers, and at the same time, they were bombarded by mortars.

Regiment Commander Fan Jiabao also had mortars. He immediately ordered, "Concentrate all the regiment's mortars and suppress the Japanese devils' firepower points."

Fan Youcai led the team, braving the puppet soldiers' rain of bullets, and continued to advance, but now they could only crawl forward.

The sudden gunfire outside the city immediately made Ruan Lesheng nervous. Soon, he received a report from Zhuo Qiang: "My regiment has already engaged the attacking team.

The opponent's combat effectiveness doesn't seem to be as strong as rumored. The battle has been going on for ten minutes.

The soldiers on the opposite side haven't charged within two hundred meters of my defensive position, and the opponent's artillery fire is not fierce.

My regiment is confident that it can stop the opponent's attack."

Zhuo Qiang was a brave fighter and a truthful man. What he said immediately excited Ruan Lesheng: "If I can defend Xuzhou, only a damn fool would want to surrender or run away!"

He immediately asked with concern, "Regiment Commander Zhuo! Is there anything you need the rear to guarantee?"

Zhuo Qiang originally wanted to say that he didn't need anything, but suddenly he thought of them receiving all the Japanese devils' previous supplies.

He immediately changed his mind and said, "If the brothers are fighting on the front line, if they could send some canned food and cigarettes, it would greatly boost morale.

Also, if there were more shells, the National Army on the opposite side would definitely be bombed until they wouldn't dare to launch an attack again!"

Ruan Lesheng's heart was bleeding. Of course, he knew how important military morale was during war.

The requirements put forward by Zhuo Qiang were not excessive. He finally made up his mind: "I'll send someone to send some canned food and cigarettes to your regiment. We have plenty of shells. I'll send you three thousand first.

We'll replenish as much as you use!"

Shells were not easy to exchange for money, so he didn't feel bad about using them. It was just those cans and cigarettes, which were all money, all of which could be exchanged for golden gold. This was indeed a bit painful!

Only when he thought that he could always stay in Xuzhou and that these things could be earned back again, Ruan Lesheng felt somewhat relieved.

He only wanted money and wasn't a fool. After hearing Regiment Commander Zhuo's report, Ruan Lesheng immediately ordered the main officers of each regiment to convene a second military conference.

Then, he ordered to quickly report to the North China Front Army Headquarters that Xuzhou was being attacked by the Lunan Detachment.

He only knew that there was a team attacking the city, and he thought that it was the Lunan Detachment coming over, so he directly reported what he thought of when reporting.

The North China Front Army Headquarters had always been worried that Xuzhou would be attacked by the Lunan Detachment, and the Japanese devils team that was prepared to be dispatched to assist in the defense hadn't been prepared yet.

Now, they suddenly received a telegram: the Lunan Detachment had already begun to attack the city!

After Commander Terauchi Hisaichi received the telegram, he sighed: "Xuzhou is lost!"

He quickly came to the command post and ordered the Japanese devils staff officers under his command: "Immediately formulate all response plans after Xuzhou is lost."

It and its Japanese devils underlings didn't have any expectations for the combat effectiveness of the 37th Puppet Army. Now they were just thinking about how to deal with the aftermath.

At the military conference convened this time, Ruan Lesheng didn't mention making money.

At the beginning of the meeting, he spoke: "Brothers! Regiment Commander Zhuo has already engaged the Lunan Detachment.

The other side doesn't seem to be as powerful as rumored. Regiment Commander Zhuo is confident that he can stop them.

Regiment Commander Zhuo can do it, and so can you brothers. I have confidence in you brothers.

Now I order: each regiment immediately strengthens the vigilance of its respective defense area. If you encounter an attack by the Lunan Detachment, you must fight back with all your strength.

Brothers! Are we earning money in Xuzhou just this once? Or are we earning it like this forever?

It depends on whether you brothers can defend Xuzhou City. If you can defend it, we'll drink and eat meat every day, and make a fortune every day.

If Regiment Commander Zhuo hadn't said that the other side's combat effectiveness wasn't very good, I, brother, would have abandoned the city and left.

Now we are the same, try our best to defend, and if you see something wrong, get out of here.

There are so many shells left in the city by the Japanese devils, brothers, use them as much as you can! As long as we can defend it, we can ask the Taijun to get another batch of shells."

What Ruan Lesheng said was clear, and his puppet soldiers understood clearly: the central point was one sentence, the attacking team on the other side didn't seem to be as terrible as rumored.

Zhuo Qiang's regiment could defend, and so could they! Zhuo Qiang's personality was somewhat stubborn. If he said he could stop them, he would be at least 70% confident that he could stop them.

His team's combat effectiveness wasn't the strongest among the entire puppet army. These regiment commanders were all excited after hearing Ruan Lesheng's words.

It seemed that they could still defend Xuzhou City. If they found out that it was a tough stubble, everyone could run away.

After receiving the order, each regiment commander immediately went out to supervise and prepare for defense. Anyway, there were indeed plenty of shells left in Xuzhou City by the Japanese devils.

When they could use artillery, they would use artillery. Anyway, they would try to use as much artillery as possible!

Shi Youshan never imagined that just because the first wave of attacks wasn't strong enough, the puppet soldiers in Xuzhou City would have the idea of resisting.

It was just that his team really lacked firepower: after Regiment Commander Fan Jiabao commanded the entire regiment to fire more than thirty shells at the puppet army's position, he didn't dare to fire any more! His regiment only had a reserve of fifty shells. If he fired a dozen more shells, he would run out of shells.

On the other hand, the puppet army's shells kept bombing over, pressing the attacking First Company to the ground, making it impossible for the attacking team to stand up.

Company Commander Fan Youcai led the team and originally wanted to charge into the puppet army's defense line in one go.

As a result, they were blocked by the puppet army as soon as they started charging. Their firepower was still somewhat hesitant at first. They could continue to advance while withstanding machine gun strafing and artillery fire.

He didn't know what was wrong with those puppet soldiers. The closer Company Commander Fan Youcai led his team to charge, the fiercer the puppet army's firepower became.

Especially the puppet army's shells, they seemed to be getting more and more energetic. The shells fired from behind him had stopped for a while, but the puppet army's shells were still falling.

Seeing that at least fifty soldiers had fallen beside him, Fan Youcai knew that he wouldn't be able to charge up this time. If he charged for a while, the entire company would be gone.

He had no choice but to lead the team back. The situation was now somewhat awkward.

The puppet soldiers didn't come out of the fortresses. They were just there. Whenever they saw the National Army attacking, they would open fire and shell.

At first, only the puppet soldiers with the few heavy machine guns that Zhuo Qiang was staring at dared to fire.

When the National Army's shells stopped falling, the puppet soldiers in the trenches began to get bolder. They also began to show their heads and fire at Fan Youcai and the others who were charging.

This was why Fan Youcai felt that the closer he charged, the stronger the puppet army's firepower became.

The puppet army had found a large batch of bullets and shells from the Japanese devils' warehouse, and even the weapons were the same. They weren't afraid of not having enough.

No matter where the charging team was in front, the machine guns, heavy machine guns, and mortar shells would just pour in that direction.

This kind of indiscriminate way of fighting made it impossible for the attacking Company Commander Fan Youcai to do anything.

This situation was completely different from what Shi Youshan had expected. He originally thought that as soon as the army arrived and the gunfire sounded, the puppet soldiers in Xuzhou City would immediately open the door and surrender.

He had even prepared positions for the puppet soldiers: he would be promoted to group army commander, and the puppet army officers' positions would remain the same, only the numbers would be changed.

Then they would be put under his command. At this time, it would be great to have two armies in his hands. He felt very good just thinking about it!

All the plans were broken by the puppet army's resistance. This made Shi Youshan very angry, and he ordered: "Increase the attack intensity!"

Brigade Commander Lu Shan personally went to the front line to check the situation. He found that the puppet army's fortresses were very solid and the trenches were very well built.

The most important thing was that the puppet army's firepower was very fierce. This was what made Fan Youcai unable to do anything. His company only had more than one hundred and thirty people. In the previous round of charging, nearly fifty people were killed or injured.

This kind of casualty ratio was simply what the 69th Army could afford now.

If the entire army continued to suffer casualties like this, the entire team would probably collapse soon.

Fan Youcai still had a way of leading troops. His team had suffered so many casualties, but the entire company hadn't been thrown into chaos, which was already very remarkable.

Seeing this situation, Lu Shan already had the idea of retreating.

Judging from the puppet army's performance, the fierce firepower they were firing was a very bad sign! Under normal circumstances, teams that could fire such fierce firepower wouldn't retreat easily.

Brigade Commander Lu Shan picked up the phone and reported to Shi Youshan: "Division Commander! The puppet army's firepower is very fierce, and their morale is also very high! Is there something wrong with this intelligence?"

He didn't directly suggest that the entire army retreat, but if there was something wrong with the intelligence, the puppet army deliberately lured them to attack the city.

If they set a trap for these people to drill into, it would be a big loss.

Shi Youshan listened to Brigade Commander Lu Shan's phone call from the front line. Of course, he knew that the report from the front line was true.

"Could it be that there is really something wrong with the intelligence?" Unable to restrain himself, Shi Youshan immediately sent an inquiry telegram to the Wuhan headquarters.

After reporting in detail the situation of the 69th Army's attack being blocked in the telegram, he cautiously asked at the end if the source of intelligence was reliable.

No one could say whether this shopkeeper Bai, who was doing business with the puppet soldiers in Xuzhou City, was reliable.

But it was true that there were no Japanese devils in Xuzhou City. After all, the 69th Army's attack didn't see any Japanese devils appear!

Chiang Kai-shek was very concerned about the 69th Army's attack on Xuzhou this time. Hearing that the attack was blocked, his expression was very wonderful.

Only then did he hear that the Special Brigade had snatched more than one hundred planes and captured Anqing.

They had all fought hard battles with the Japanese devils. The 69th Army was only fighting puppet soldiers, but they couldn't even take them down?

He was a little angry: "Damn it! They can't win with Japanese devils defending the city! They still can't win without Japanese devils defending the city! What is Shi Youshan doing? Order him to capture Xuzhou at all costs!"

If the staff hadn't proposed in the middle of the way that the 69th Army should rush to pick the peaches from the Lunan Detachment, Chiang Kai-shek wouldn't have been so angry.

If the Jiangbei Detachment hadn't snatched one hundred and eighty-eight planes last night, he wouldn't have been so angry.

If the Jiangbei Detachment hadn't captured Anqing City again this morning, he wouldn't have been so angry.

There was no harm without comparison! Comparing the two teams like this, Chiang Kai-shek only felt that the military pay and weapons and equipment he had allocated to the 69th Army were completely wasted.

You must know that he hadn't invested a penny in the Jiangbei Detachment! The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

His order immediately reached Shi Youshan's hands. Looking at the telegram in his hand, his expression was somewhat embarrassed: "If I had known it would be like this, I shouldn't have accepted this hot potato.

Just let the Lunan Detachment attack the city. Why did I have to jump into this pit?"

There was no way now, he could only brace himself and try to attack!

Shi Youshan picked up the phone and ordered Lu Shan: "Press your entire brigade up and be sure to break into Xuzhou City! After entering the city, I'll give you the first credit!"

Receiving such an order from the division commander, Lu Shan had nothing to say. He had seen the situation on the front line. If he really pressed the entire brigade up, Lu Shan didn't think there was even half a hope of breaking through the defense line on the opposite side. And even if they broke through the defense line on the other side, there was still the difficult task of attacking the city next.

He could only execute the division commander's order: "Regiment Commander Fan! Press your regiment up and break through the puppet army's defense line and break into Xuzhou City."

The puppet army's firepower was so strong and the number wasn't less than theirs. The other side had trenches and fortresses to protect them.

But he was attacking by force and there was no artillery support. How could he attack? Regiment Commander Fan, who had ideas in his heart, had already made a plan.

Regiment Commander Fan Jiabao immediately ordered Fan Youcai: "Immediately pull your company up and attack again to see if the puppet soldiers dare to open fire this time."

This kind of combat method was very classic. The thing about the top requesting a division to be dispatched and finally sending out a platoon had already happened during the Battle of Taierzhuang.

This time, the top requested the entire army to be pressed up, but finally sent out a company. This was already quite respectful.

Company Commander Fan Youcai had just attacked once and of course he knew the situation on the front line very well.

The first time he charged, one-third of the company was killed or injured without any effect. Now, if he charged again and there was no mortar support, the situation would only be worse.

He looked at the puppet army's defense line in the distance that hadn't changed at all. Without charging, he knew that the puppet soldiers hadn't backed down.

However, he still sent a platoon to charge out and make a tentative attack on the puppet army's defense line.

The platoon leader, Bai, who received the order, fully understood the company commander's idea: "Just make a show of attacking. Don't really charge up. It's not good for the soldiers to get injured."

The puppet army's tactics had become routine: they began to strafe with machine guns and bombard with mortars when the attacking team charged within three hundred meters.

These puppet soldiers were simply using mortar shells as bullets. This extravagant way of fighting made the platoon sent out by Company Commander Fan Youcai retreat after only charging thirty meters.