Chapter Forty-Five Replacement General

  On the afternoon of July 15, at around 5 o'clock, the 36th Division pursued the Japanese army and killed them all the way to the riverbank. They fiercely attacked the remaining Japanese warships, including the Yoshino, which were just a stone's throw away. The Japanese returned fire with their small-caliber naval guns, knocking down many officers and soldiers of the 36th Division. However, under the cover of 37 artillery pieces and a large number of light and heavy machine guns, many officers and soldiers bravely charged forward, trampling on the riverbank and wading through the water towards the Yoshino and other warships. They quickly entered the enemy's blind spot for cannon fire. Initially, there were concerns that the Japanese sailors would use small arms to attack, but unexpectedly, only occasional pistol shots were heard. It turned out that the enemy's machine guns had been deployed on the front line long ago! As soldiers climbed aboard the Japanese warships, the weak resistance on the Yoshino soon ceased. Immediately afterwards, the remaining Japanese warships were either captured or destroyed by close-range cannon fire. At 5:35, Song Xilian reported excitedly and regretfully that all Japanese warships had been annihilated, but Longtanaka Kiyoshi was not found. The battle on the Huangpu River finally came to an end!

  At the same time, in the last stronghold of the Shanghai cotton factory, it was a mess. The remaining nearly 1,000 special land warfare troops were still holding on to their last line of defense, while behind them were thousands of refugees crowded together, as well as retreating sailors and Shanghai land warfare troops scattered among them. Although the heavy artillery had stopped, the mountain guns and mortars of each division continued to fire shells at the enemy, causing massive casualties among the densely packed enemy soldiers. After a brief rest, they launched another attack. The enemy used their remaining light machine guns, grenade launchers, and rifles to put up a last-ditch resistance in the workshops, warehouses, and offices. At 6 o'clock, as the sky was gradually darkening, after most of the special land warfare troops had been killed, the remaining enemy soldiers surrendered with white flags amidst the cheers of the crowd; of course, there were also those who secretly jumped into the river to escape or committed suicide.

  The front command post was also filled with cheers, but only Zhang Zhizhong and I were sighing together because he held an telegram from Old Chiang: "Zhang Zhizhong is hereby appointed as the Director of the First Department of the Imperial Guard Headquarters. His original duties will be transferred to Chen Cheng immediately after his return to Beijing for further orders. Jiang Zhongzheng."

  Facing Chiang Kai-shek's actions, I could only smile wryly and say: "Congratulations, Wen Bai!"

  "Congratulations? What brings you here?"

  "Me? That depends on the Chairman's willingness! How can I, a junior, compare to Wen Tai in the Chairman's eyes? Just because of this unprecedented military achievement of annihilating over 10,000 troops in two days?"

  "Get out of here!" Zhang Zhizhong cursed with a smile!

  "I should also return to Nanjing now. Even this place has been messed up almost completely, I don't know how North China is doing! How is it? When will Brother Dian Xiu come to take over?"

  "It's actually time already, it's just that Dian Xiu didn't want to come early, right? Brother Dian Xiu!"

  "Haha, Brother Wenbai, Younger Brother Zian! Chen Cheng smiled and stepped into the command center, "Sorry to disturb you!"

  I'm moved to see Chen Cheng taking over the Volcano Fortress, and he even deliberately came after the battle was over to avoid stealing Zhang Zhong's credit! "Brother Diao, Songjiang is about to become a volcano fortress, are you here to jump into the fire pit?!"

  "So, I have begged the Chairman to leave Zi Anxian to me!"

  "What?!"

  "What a pity the chairman won't agree! How about it, can you two give me some hints before you leave?"

  Zhang Zhizhong looked at me and said, "Today, the enemy's Shanghai expeditionary force has begun to sail, and it is estimated that on the 17th, which is the day after tomorrow, they will arrive in the waters near Shanghai in the afternoon or evening. We estimate that the enemy's attack preparations will begin on the night of the 17th, and a large-scale landing is likely to occur on the morning of the 18th; The enemy's first landing point should be in the Baoshan area, but since the start of the war, the navy has been laying mines on a large scale in the entire Yangtze River, including that area. Even if the enemy completely controls the nearby sea and air, it will not be able to break through within a few days; Therefore, there are only two possible landing points left for the enemy: one is east of Wusongkou, where they can first establish a foothold in Pudong, control the area around the mouth of the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River, and then implement the main landing from the Wusong Battery to the Wusong Town area; The other is to detour south and land in the Jinshan area, and then insert into our rear."

  "What does 'zi an' mean?"

  "I believe the enemy has some awareness of my minefield, but they must be underestimating its scale and effectiveness. From the 17th to the morning of the 18th, there is a high possibility that they will repeatedly attempt to break through my minefield. After repeated failures, the enemy's transport fleet has already arrived at the Yangtze River estuary. Given their arrogance, it is impossible for them to head south to Jinshan, and they can only choose to land in the afternoon of the 18th near Gaobridge, controlling the eastern bank of the lower reaches of the Huangpu River. On the morning of the 19th, relying on the cover of the eastern bank, the main force will enter the Huangpu River and implement a second landing between Wusong and Zhanghuabang. As for the Jinshan landing, that should be the possible landing point for the enemy's follow-up troops. Given our air force's heavy losses over the past two days, it is no longer possible to take on the main responsibility of continuous counterattacks against the enemy's naval and air forces. Our army can only abandon the beachhead and implement its main defense and counterattack operations outside the range of the enemy's shipboard artillery fire; Brother Wenbai has already laid mines in the area where the enemy may land and dispatched some combat teams."

  "What about the Navy?" Chen Cheng asked.

  "The naval fleet is prepared to defend the Yangtze River from Jiangyin to Nanjing, with only a torpedo flotilla at the mouth of the Yangtze and a submarine force in the outer sea. While they can strike against the enemy, none are sufficient to serve as the main force."

  Seeing Chen Cheng's somewhat disheartened and disappointed expression, Zhang Zhongzhong encouraged him by saying: "Fortunately, the Director is currently gathering a large number of land troops to rush here. It is estimated that on the 17th, there will be more than 20 divisions of troops available."

  Chen Cheng then smiled bitterly and replied: "However, the 36th, 87th, 88th, and 98th Divisions have suffered heavy losses, and the Chairman has ordered them to return to Suzhou for reorganization. In addition, units such as the 1st Battalion of Artillery Regiment 10 and the 1st High-altitude Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment of the Air Force will also be withdrawn."

  "Don't worry, the troops will arrive!"

  "I pick up where Zhang Zhizhong left off: 'But I worry that the troops will all come to Shanghai to defend these places that are least suitable for defense, and after being wounded here, who will undertake the task of fighting back against the enemy?'"

  Zhang and Chen looked at each other in dismay, and finally let out a sigh together.

  Watching Chen Cheng and Zhang Zhizhong discussing how to deploy the defense, anyway I don't have to take care of the battle, tactics and so on in Songhu anymore. After experiencing less than 36 hours of fighting, I felt like I had been through several weeks. After watching Zhang and Chen complete the handover of command, I followed Zhang Zhizhong and rushed overnight to take the "Jinghu Special Express" to Nanjing.

  "Child, wake up!"

  "Have we arrived in Nanjing?" I suddenly opened my eyes, it was just dawn, how did we get here?

  "Not yet, we are in Wuxi, Minister Chen and Director Zhou are looking for you!"

  So I was muddled and got off the train, Zhang Zhongzhong went to Nanjing to take office with a flourish, and after washing and having breakfast at Wuxi Station, I was sent to Jiangyin by Chen Shaokuan's special train. Not long after, I stood on the Jiangyin fortress with Zhou Zhirou, watching Chen Shaokuan pointing, haha, just pointing at the Yangtze River.

  "Along the river, 300 sea mines have been prepared and can be laid within three days; those dozens of ships anchored over there are old vessels to be scuttled as a barrier line, and the shipyard workers are dismantling their usable big guns."

  "Oh? Which warship is that with a particularly tall mainmast?"

  "That's the Tongji training ship of the exercise fleet, an old Beiyang warship; its main mast is as high as 137 feet; it was this very ship that I boarded when I was a student at the Naval Academy!"

  "With such a high mainmast, will it still be exposed on the surface of the river after the ship sinks?"

  "Ah! Thanks for reminding me, Zian. I'll get someone to take care of it!" Chen Shaokuan said with some embarrassment: "Younger brother, the Jiangyin fort originally had eight artillery emplacements on Dongshan, Xishan, Huangshan, Xiaoshan, and Eshan mountains, with a total of 33 large-caliber guns, four howitzers, and two guard battalions, one engineer battalion, and one communication battalion. After the Navy took over, you see, downstream from the fort is Wushan, where I set up a temporary artillery emplacement. We just need to dismantle some of the big guns from the warships and install them, and it'll be complete. The Army has also set up new artillery emplacements on Dongshan and Xiaoshan, with four German-made 88mm high-angle guns each; there are also four 150mm cannons on Xishan as the third battery. Hehe, over a hundred big and small guns from the old warships were dismantled and washed ashore, half of which were installed here, while the rest were deployed along the river, including Jiangning and Wuhan; I've also brought in a regiment of marines; Director Zhou has also brought in an artillery regiment."

  Listening to Chen Shaokuan's vigorous words, I couldn't help but strike him: "Houfu brother, we are still fighting in Songjiang and Pingjin, even the navy is on the Yangtze River and even at sea!"

  "Look at how anxious you are! The main force of the navy is mostly in Nanjing; the mine-laying fleet is laying mines in the Yangtze River west of Baoshan, with a scale that has already exceeded 1,000; 6 submarines are also all at sea according to our plan, hehe, just waiting for the Japanese Navy to come knocking! However, the people from the Electric Torpedo Squadron don't listen very well, and they actually refuse to retreat!? They're still on Chongming Island now, I think something's going to happen soon!"

  "Let them make a desperate attempt, the torpedo boat is originally a dare-to-die squad at sea; rather than hiding and dodging, it's better to make a final effort! Hmm, Brother Houfu won't be here to show me the Jiangyin fortifications and discuss the electric torpedo squadron, will he?"

  "Of course not. I was thinking if our navy could achieve something? You know how many years I've been waiting?"

  "I know, from Jia Wu onwards... Since the submarine has already set sail, I believe they will definitely reap some rewards!"

  "Director Zhou came here for what? The air force has been winning all the way these past few days!"

  "Total victory? It's more like how much is left! " Zhou Zhi Rou handed me a paper with a bitter smile, "I'm here to inspect the artillery troops, it won't take long for the air force to be reduced to these combat units."

  Three squadrons, 11 Hawker Typhoons and 7 Boeing aircraft

  Four Squadrons, 17 Hawker III

  Five squadrons, 20 Hawker III

  No. 6 Squadron's No. 15 Flight, 7 Hawker III

  "What to do? The enemy's aircraft carrier will be replenished tomorrow morning and can return in the afternoon; while our plane orders haven't even arrived at the factory yet! I couldn't possibly send our pilots to fly old planes like the Hawk 2 to their deaths, could I?"

  "I can't possibly conjure up fighter jets? Fortunately, in the past few years, the air force and army's high-speed artillery development has been rapid, and the military's air defense capabilities have greatly increased. I think relying mainly on ground-based air defense is the way to go; as for the remaining fighter jets, use them to escort bombers and attack aircraft, and conduct aerial raids on important enemy targets such as troop ships, ammunition ships, aircraft carriers, and heavy artillery positions! Every little bit of savings counts, and it'll be at least three months before new warplanes arrive."