Chapter 1506 Playing Tricks?

It is true that China has already mastered the air superiority, but the Japanese army is not a pushover.

As the 5th Air Corps gave in, the Chinese Expeditionary Army Headquarters urgently borrowed three air defense battalions from the Kwantung Army to arrive in Central China, and transported them to the outskirts of Hengyang on the eve of the Chinese airdrop.

That was a ground anti-aircraft artillery group consisting of more than 70 20mm anti-aircraft machine guns and 16 75mm anti-aircraft guns. Although it could not completely prevent bombers from dropping bombs at high altitudes, it still maintained a certain deterrent power in the air.

For example, on the night of June 24, under the coordination of the Air Force Liaison Office led by Lin Heng in Hengyang City, 10 transport planes roared from the direction of Guilin, and entered low altitude only when they were 10 kilometers away from Hengyang City, intending to airdrop supplies over Hengyang City, which had entered a blackout and was pitch black on the surface but had already made lighting instructions.

As a result, after hearing the roar in the air, the Japanese army immediately turned on the air searchlights and fired intensively at medium and low altitudes, which forced the transport aircraft group to fly back to an altitude of 2,500 meters and drop airdrops with the extremely weak lights on the ground.

The direction of the parachute-carrying material packages dropped at this altitude is entirely up to fate. If the wind direction changes, who knows where these material packages will drift to?

After all, the total area of ​​Hengyang City is less than 3 square kilometers, and with the positions controlled by the Chinese outside the city, the total area will never exceed 6 square kilometers.

Moreover, the Japanese army surrounded the city too tightly, and the positions of the two armies in the suburbs were interlaced. Some positions were not even more than 300 meters apart. The officers and soldiers of both sides did not dare to walk upright in the trenches, for fear that they would be targeted by the enemy infantry if they showed their heads.

Sure enough, the wind was from west to east that night, and a large number of material packages drifted over Hengyang City, and fell into the Xiangjiang River right under the eyes of the Chinese military and civilians, and floated down the river.

This is still good, some even fell directly on the positions of the remnants of the 6th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division, which made Colonel Matsukami Yoshimasa, who was worried about food, very happy.

Originally thought that Amaterasu had given up on this unlucky child, it turned out that this is what the so-called good times after bad times mean! The more than 2,000 remnants of his army had only two days of rations left, but thousands of kilograms of rice and flour fell from the sky. This is really the legendary gift from heaven!

More than a thousand people in the 190th Division on the other side watched the huge material packages fall on the heads of the Japanese, and their lungs almost exploded.

"The Air Force is afraid that they can't feed the damn devils!" Yang Jihe, the already hot-tempered commander of the 1st Battalion, simply cursed in the trench.

"Shut up, everyone can make some mistakes? You've forgotten how you clapped your hands and cheered when the Air Force fighter planes blew up the devil's ships that day!" The colonel, who was also preparing to give orders to the officers and soldiers to go out of the position to pick up supplies in the trench, scolded his top general.

The regiment and battalion commanders couldn't help but curse, which shows how angry they were about the act of actively "assisting the enemy" with airdropped supplies.

After communicating with Guilin Airport, only 12 tons of supplies could be picked up inside and outside Hengyang City, just over half of the total airdropped supplies, which also meant that nearly half of them fell on the Japanese position.

When the results came out, not to mention that the soldiers and civilians in Hengyang City were very upset, even that person was very angry.

But even so, supplies still had to be airdropped. 12 tons of food was only two days' rations for Hengyang City, which still had 70,000 people.

In order to make Fang Xianjue firm in his determination to hold out for another 10 days, he not only called the Air Force Command every day to inquire about the airdrop plan for the day, but also asked his major general aide to fly to Guilin to personally serve as the chief of the logistics department specially established for the Hengyang airdrop.

This kind of treatment had never been seen before. The soldiers and civilians in Hengyang were deeply moved. Fang Xianjue, as the highest commander, was even more moved. He said in public with tears in his eyes that the teacher supported the Hengyang defenders so much. Let alone holding out for another 10 days, what about a hundred days?

Tang Dao almost rushed over to cover the mouth of the army lieutenant general who was obviously too emotional. In fact, in the past, he said that he would fight for another two months, but he really fought for almost two months. If the city had not been exhausted and there were not even a few bullets, the remaining 13 days would have to be gathered together.

Now that the FLAG of the hundred days has suddenly been inserted, even a fierce person like Tang Datuanzuo can't stand it.

However, with the experience of the first day, the commanders of the Hengyang Command realized that ground communication alone is not enough. If the plane is thousands of meters high, there must be clear enough ground instructions to drop accurately. Moreover, this clear ground instruction can only be discovered by the high altitude and not by the Japanese army, otherwise the Japanese artillery will not be vegetarian.

So, after Tang Dao and Lin Heng discussed, they used dozens of "qi sifeng" lanterns to form a "" shape with a diameter of more than ten meters in a wide area in Hengyang City, so that the transport plane can be clearly seen in the air, aiming at this light for airdrop, so that even if the wind direction changes, it can ensure that most of the supplies will fall into the area controlled by the Chinese.

In addition, in order to avoid the light being seen by the Japanese army and causing artillery fire, Tang Dao suggested changing the airdrop from night to dusk. Such light conditions can completely ensure that the Japanese reconnaissance balloons staying 10 kilometers away cannot see the airdrop mark clearly.

Then, every evening, the commanders in Hengyang were like young people in love, nervously holding their pocket watches and waiting for the transport fleet to arrive, while the officers and soldiers looked eagerly at the sky.

When the white parachute bags slowly fell into Hengyang City from the dim night, the men who usually did not shed tears when bullets penetrated their bodies burst into tears of happiness.

Don’t think that these airdropped material packages only contain food. In order to encourage the 70,000 soldiers and civilians in Hengyang City to continue to hold on, the man put a lot of thought into it. Under the advice of his think tank, Guilin City had already launched the plan half a month ago. , a large number of manpower was used to find the 10th Army that had retreated to Gui Province and the families of the civilian husbands who stayed behind, and then asked them to write letters to their relatives who were still in Hengyang City.

Those who can write will write it themselves, and those who can’t will be dictated by their family members, and young students will write for them. Not to mention a letter distributing 5 kilograms of rice and noodles, even if it is not distributed, the family members who miss their loved ones must also tell them about their current situation!

Although this is only a one-way connection, it is definitely the greatest psychological comfort to the Chinese soldiers and young civilians who are still in Hengyang City.

On the night of the 24th, a large package filled with 3,000 letters from home fell on the 190th Division position. After Rong Youlue personally delivered it to the headquarters, it was immediately distributed to various ministries according to the numbers and names on the letter the next day. , among which there are hundreds of letters belonging to civilian husbands.

"Son! You don't have to worry about Mommy. Although Mommy's life here is not very good, fortunately, the weather is hot. As long as it doesn't rain, I can survive. I will hang the bronze medal you brought back last time wherever I go. , there will always be someone to stutter, and you won’t be hungry.

I'm just worried about you! My mother knows your temper best, but too much steel is easy to break. Son, please remember your mother's words. My mother is waiting for you to come back. Even if you are missing arms and legs, you will come back. My mother can raise you well before. , I can still support you in the future.

Okay, that’s all. I’ve said so much, but I don’t know if the little scholar understands it. "

"Mom!" A battalion commander with an unshaven beard and a major from the 10th Preliminary Division knelt on the ground and kowtowed fiercely to the southwest, with tears streaming down his face.

As a son, how could he not be sad when receiving this letter from home? Although he was already a major officer and his military salary was not low, he, who lived in Hengyang City, could only bear the pain and put his old mother, wife and children on the escape train. He was in a hurry and took a total of more than 20 pieces of silver. .

The number of people fleeing to Guilin this time is tens of thousands. Including those who escaped from Tanzhou, there are at least hundreds of thousands. The sudden increase in population will naturally cause the prices there to skyrocket. Accommodation and food may not be guaranteed. Normally, The decent old lady could only use the medal of loyalty and bravery he left at home to find someone to stutter. How could he, a son, not feel sad?

Especially the sentence that I was able to raise you before, and I will be able to raise you in the future, even if you have no arms or legs, as long as you can come back.

This is mother!

She didn't say anything about national sentiments. She knew what her son was going to do and she wouldn't stop it, but she hoped that her son would come back alive.

The several officers next to him were all very sad, but they didn't know how to persuade him.

"Baby's father, the bosses came to me and asked me to write you a letter. I can't write or speak, but I just want to tell you that the baby and I miss you. Our family wouldn't be able to survive without you. But I also know that you stayed in Hengyang to fight against the Japanese so that we ladies could live. I promise you that no matter what, I will feed a few children, and when the children grow up, I will go find you."

Luo Dahu was one of the hundreds of lucky people. When he took the letter home from his wife who had been signed by someone else, the big rough man burst into tears.

He cried, not because he was moved or not, but because Commander Fang really kept his promise and transported the old, weak, women and children to Guilin by train. No matter what, in these war-torn years, as long as he was alive, he was already very happy. .

As a husband and father, his request was simple: to seek a way out for his wife and baby.

For this reason, if he stays in Hengyang, even if he loses more than a hundred kilograms, it will not be a loss!

The minds of the think tanks under his command are indeed very happy. This material and spiritual support has indeed boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Hengyang City. Every day, the soldiers and civilians inside and outside Hengyang City eagerly await the arrival of the transport plane.

But such good days did not last more than two or three days, and the Japanese army gradually figured out the rules of Chinese airdrops. When the Chinese transport planes arrived to start airdrops, several Japanese fighter planes also flew over quietly.

The Japanese planes did not attack the transport aircraft group that started to pull up. Instead, they used the firelight on the ground that was too late to remove as a mark, dropped a wave of bombs, and then turned around and ran away.

The damage caused by this wave of bombs was considerable, resulting in dozens of casualties.

Later, the cunning Japanese army came up with new tricks. During the airdrop period, they also used lanterns to make a circle on their own positions. It looked almost the same from high altitude. As a result, a few transport planes directly With this investment, the supplies naturally became the possession of the Japanese army.

Fang Xianjue and others in the city were so angry that they just jumped around, but there was nothing they could do!

Fortunately, those letters were basically from various units of the 10th Army, and the news that the Hengyang defenders were mainly composed of the 10th Army had already spread at home and abroad, so the serial numbers were no longer considered secrets, otherwise those letters would have been picked up by the Japanese army. In the past, secrets were leaked.

However, the Japanese army was also very happy. At least through these letters, they knew exactly how many infantry regiments the 10th Army in Hengyang City had now. In the past, they could only rely on estimates.

It was not that the Japanese intelligence personnel were not powerful, but the strength of the infantry divisions on the Chinese side had always been a mystery. Some infantry divisions directly captured young and strong people from the countryside to replenish their troops quickly. Such illegal operations often resulted in more personnel than the establishment; others followed the rules and principles and waited for normal replenishment from above, but were often not welcomed by the above, so the replenishment was very slow and the troops were much less than the normal establishment.

This phenomenon, which was very common in the Chinese army, caused great headaches for the Japanese intelligence department, and unexpectedly became a means of keeping military secrets.

But this time, the 11th Army knew roughly that the 10th Army had a total of 8 regiments in the city through a large number of letters from military families dropped on the battlefield. Together with the Four-line Regiment and the Hengyang Guard Regiment, with an average of 2,000 people per regiment, if Yokoyama Isamu was in trouble, that would be 20,000 people, no less.

No wonder the 116th and 68th Divisions and the 6th Infantry Regiment and other elite imperial forces had such a difficult time. While waiting for the logistics to arrive, Yokoyama Isamu began to think about how to increase the number of troops in Hengyang.

This undoubtedly raised the difficulty bar again in the Hengyang Defense War, which was already hell-level, but it also caused a misunderstanding for Yokoyama Isamu and Shimanuki Takeshi that there were only more than 20,000 people in Hengyang City.

As for the hundreds or even thousands of civilians, what were they in the eyes of the elite of the Imperial Japanese Army? They were just a bunch of chickens and dogs.

The Japanese Army Lieutenant General and the Japanese Army Colonel never dreamed that it was not a few thousand people, but nearly 50,000 people.

Even wolves would retreat when 50,000 sheep run wildly, not to mention 50,000 young and strong men with hands and feet and enough strength? If they are pushed to the limit, even a five-for-one or even ten-for-one exchange can make the Japanese bloody.

Let’s not talk about the fact that the "intelligence" that the Japanese army accidentally obtained is destined to become a double-edged sword for them, just talk about the matter of snatching airdropped supplies.

Although the Japanese army frequently cheated and sabotaged or the wind direction changed, and many unexpected factors such as parachutes drifting blindly made the Japanese army earn a lot of food every day, but apart from the weather reasons that the planes could not take off and land normally and suspended airdrops, the rest of the time they were desperately airdropping into Hengyang City every day.

For this reason, the entire Guangxi Province was collecting food to send to the front line, and even a lot of it was transported from Sichuan Province and Yunnan Province by special planes.

According to the aide-de-camp, how much food was snatched by the Japanese devils was the business of the Air Force and God. He was only responsible for the soldiers and civilians in Hengyang City to have a full stomach before going to the battlefield when resisting the devils' attack.

The emperor does not lack hungry soldiers!

There is nothing wrong with this statement, but it is not a good thing to always "help the enemy" like this, right?

It has to be the Tang sword, he thought of a clever trick.

Private Yan Gu Cang Kong of the 116th Division became one of the victims of this trick of Tang Tuanzuo.

The 133rd Infantry Regiment to which Yan Gu Cang Kong belonged was basically crippled in the battle of Huangchaling. The entire infantry regiment had 3,870 people at full strength. After the battle, including artillery, logistics and other arms, there were less than 900 people left, with a casualty rate of up to 80%. It is a compliment to say that they were crippled.

The 133rd Infantry Regiment was ordered to withdraw to 10 miles away from the front line for rest and recuperation, waiting for the arrival of a new replenishment brigade to replenish them with troops for the next battle.

The Japanese private was very glad that he survived. The half month of rest and recuperation was also his most comfortable time. The only regret was that he could not eat enough.

The rations of the imperial officers and soldiers on the front line must be guaranteed. The rations of those who were resting and the logistics soldiers were only half of the usual rations.

But fortunately, Amaterasu appeared, and a parachute suddenly descended from the sky. There was a big bag under the parachute, which was full of white rice.

The commander of the regiment asked the cook to cook the rice and make rice balls for everyone to eat.

Then, at noon that day, the poor Japanese private collapsed.

He took off his pants seven times in just one hour. With such a frequency of diarrhea, not to mention short-handled bean sprouts like Yan Gu Cang Kong, even a strong man like an ox could not bear it!

What is ecstasy? The Japanese private who had given up wearing pants and sat on the ridge with his bare buttocks deeply experienced it. He even gave up the habit of wiping his hygienic habit.

Because it was useless and would repeat it soon.

So insisting on that is tantamount to taking off pants and farting, so be it!

The corpses all over the ground didn't bother the Japanese second-class soldier, but the smell of "manure field" left an indelible shadow in his life.

But the hundreds of people in the infantry battalion where Shioya Cangkong was still fine. After all, they just had diarrhea and dehydration. The pain was very painful, but it was not to the point of killing people.

Another infantry battalion was miserable. Fifty or sixty people were foaming at the mouth. The military doctor rushed to the scene but was helpless. They could only watch these guys go to see Amaterasu in pain.

The Japanese army colonel quickly ordered the sealing of the food dropped by the Chinese and reported to the higher authorities that the rice dropped by the Chinese was poisonous.

But it was still too late. Tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers had diarrhea because of eating the rice "sent" by the Chinese that day, and more than 200 people died of poisoning.

Although there were Japanese soldiers who ate nothing, this really scared the Japanese army. This thing has a probability, but who knows if it will "win"?

As for testing, forget it! Do you really think that if there is poison, you can just use a silver needle to detect it? That requires professional personnel and professional testing equipment, and enough time. If you have that time, it is better to starve.

Not only did they not dare to eat this batch of food that fell, many Japanese soldiers did not even dare to touch the food they had happily looted before. God knows if the Chinese had any bad intentions in the past?

Anyway, between the two options of eating half full and living well, the Japanese army happily chose the former.

Then why are the Chinese not afraid of poisoning? The Japanese knew that there was something strange about it, but they couldn't figure out the trick no matter how hard they tried.

In fact, it is very simple. There is a 4-digit number on each food package. Tang Dao agreed with the major general's aide through the radio that the number digits summing up to 14, such as 0077, or 2147, is specially processed rice. As for whether it is a laxative or poison, it depends on what medicine is available.

Anyway, the main point is either to kill you or disgust you to death.

All the departments in Hengyang City passed down the order that the packages with numbers equaling "death" should be destroyed on the spot and not touched.

Of course, the number of food packages deliberately designed to deceive the Japanese was not large, accounting for only one tenth of the total number.

After all, the main purpose of the airdrop was to increase the food reserves in Hengyang City, right?

In view of the current situation, the order of "holding on for another 10 days" had long been changed to "holding on for another 20 days"!