Traveling through 1937, starting from the Battle of Songhu

Chapter 209 An unexpected call

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated, and chaos was inevitable. It was also normal for some people to fall ill or starve to death on the way.

In Gu Changfeng's view, these were not a big deal. After all, in the Nanjing Massacre, hundreds of thousands of people became victims of the Japanese devils' guns.

Even if there are casualties in escaping, it is better than staying in Jinling and being killed.

The next day, the Japanese seemed to have received some kind of order and the attack came to a halt.

On the Yangtze River, except for the one appearance of Japanese planes, the entire Jinling was very peaceful.

Of course, the evacuation of large numbers of people is still continuing.

Except for some confusion at the beginning when the chief officers of some divisions fled or were captured, the front-line troops in Nanjing were all operating normally.

It was also because of Tang Shengzhi's timely order that the front-line troops were able to stabilize themselves.

The main reason is that it is embarrassing. Those who have already left will be fine, but those who are caught will become famous.

As the list was announced, each army and division did not hide anything and directly spread the information about the people on the list.

Of course, the soldiers on the front line had nothing to say. Even the brigade commander of the teaching corps was arrested and put on display. Who else would dare to disobey orders?

Pukou.

Gu Changfeng, who had been worried all day, finally felt relieved and smiled at Zhao Ziqing.

"Finally got here today. It seems something went wrong with the Japs."

Zhao Ziqing was not so optimistic. He frowned and said:

"The Japanese can't remain indifferent forever. They are definitely planning their next move. We should prepare early."

Gu Changfeng turned his head to look at the river and said lightly:

"We definitely need to be prepared. A batch of weapons will arrive tonight. I'll go pick them up."

At this point, he had originally planned to redeem it later, but now he had no choice but to use it in advance.

After all, there is a chance to rescue a large number of people, and he cannot lose the big picture for the sake of small gains.

Zhao Ziqing didn't take it seriously. This was always the case at critical moments, and he was used to it.

After thinking for a moment, he reminded again: "We have kidnapped Commander Tang, and the news will get out sooner or later."

"Are you sure the armies will still obey your orders and evacuate when the time comes?"

Gu Changfeng narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a cold tone:

"There's only so much I can do. If they can follow orders, that's great. If not, let them figure it out on their own."

Then he changed the subject.

"Old Zhao, with so many ships in Xiaguan, do you think it will matter whether they obey orders or not in the later stages?"

"And with the 36th Division here, if it can be organized effectively, the complete evacuation of both civilians and troops might not be impossible."

In the previous life, it was because of organizational chaos, otherwise most people could have evacuated.

Gu Changfeng still remembered the Guangdong Army. Even in this chaotic situation, the two army commanders led the charge and attacked from the front.

Although the losses were great, at least they managed to break through.

Like other armies, they either surrendered or rushed to the Xiaguan Ferry and fought a battle with the defending 36th Division. In the end, only a small number of people left.

This is like delivering food to the Japanese. It is useless.

Gu Changfeng is now doing the work of rectification. As long as the situation is not chaotic, it will be no problem for Jinling to evacuate most of the people.

"Don't be too optimistic. I still say that the various armies have different intentions, and the Japanese won't just let us evacuate the civilians."

"Besides the soldiers, there are also 400,000 to 500,000 civilians in Jinling City. How long will it take you to retreat like this?"

Zhao Ziqing was very calm. He really felt that there would be big problems later.

“Do your best and leave the rest to fate, and be at peace.”

Gu Changfeng turned around, patted Zhao Ziqing on the shoulder, sighed and left. He had to go and rest first and then go out to exchange weapons in the middle of the night.

In fact, he knew very well what Zhao Ziqing was worried about.

The main reason is that the team is too weak. It is hard to say that there will be no problems when taking on such a big task.

The most worrying thing is that they fail before the task is completed, then all their efforts will be in vain.

Just when Gu Changfeng wanted to go to the tent to rest for a while, the communications soldier found Gu Changfeng to report.

Xie Jinyuan was told that he had something urgent to do, so his plan to sleep was completely ruined and he had no choice but to run to answer the phone.

Gu Changfeng came to the temporary communications department and asked the soldiers to call Xie Jinyuan.

As the call was connected, Xie Jinyuan's obviously anxious voice appeared in Gu Changfeng's ears.

"Changfeng, where are you now?"

"What about Pukou? Brother Jinyuan, is there any urgent matter over there?" Gu Changfeng asked.

Hearing that Gu Changfeng was in Pukou, Xie Jinyuan breathed a sigh of relief: "As long as you're all okay, I was thinking of coming to look for you after evacuating Yuhuatai, but Captain Liao said you were no longer at Zhonghuamen."

"Haha." Gu Changfeng said happily: "General Liao is over at Zhonghua Gate. My ammunition is almost exhausted. There is no point in staying there. Your 88th Division should have withdrawn there as well."

Xie Jinyuan replied, "You are right. After we evacuated from the north of Yuhuatai, we returned to defend Zhonghua Gate."

"Fortunately, the Japanese didn't continue their attack after occupying the area near the city wall, otherwise we would be in trouble."

"Why? Although your division suffered heavy losses, many people were still alive. Are you also short of ammunition?" Gu Changfeng was a little confused.

Although the 88th Division suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Yuhuatai, at least half of its personnel survived, so how could there be any trouble?

When Xie Jinyuan heard Gu Changfeng's question, he said with some shame: "Although the ammunition is insufficient, it is still enough to fight the devils."

"The main problem was that our division commander didn't return after the headquarters meeting. We later heard that he had escaped with a few guards, and the order he sent back was for us to follow the main force in the breakout."

Gu Changfeng was shocked. Thinking of Tang Shengzhi's words before, he thought to himself: "Although Tang Shengzhi's command is not very good, he is still a good judge of people. He actually predicted that this guy is unreliable."

You have to know that things are different now than in the previous life. This guy actually abandoned thousands of soldiers and ran away. Isn't this just betraying his own subordinates?

If the situation is as urgent as in the previous life, these soldiers of the 88th Division will hardly have a good ending.

"Brother Jin Yuan, how is the morale of your soldiers? Can they still fight?" Gu Changfeng was a little worried.

Even though Zhonghua Gate was broken, it would not be easy for the Japanese to break into the city in a short period of time. The only thing to worry about was that if morale was lost and no one wanted to fight, then it would be difficult to evacuate the civilians.

Xie Jinyuan smiled bitterly and said, "Some soldiers heard that the division commander was leading the escape, and they took off their clothes as soon as they got the news."

"But fortunately, it was only a small group of people, and with Commander Tang's military orders, they didn't cause any major chaos."

"That's normal. As long as most of the soldiers are still here, it's fine."

Gu Changfeng expressed his understanding. He was afraid of a large-scale rout before, which would be a complete disaster.

After thinking for a moment, Gu Changfeng continued, "Brother Jin Yuan, tell the soldiers of the 88th Division that there are plenty of ships in Pukou Xiaguan. Tell them not to worry. What they need to do now is to hold their positions. They will definitely not be left behind when we evacuate."

"Commander Tang is in Pukou now. He said that as long as the ordinary soldiers haven't left, he won't leave either. Please rest assured."

Zhonghuamen is still very important. With the 88th Division holding on, it can at least buy him some more time.

Xie Jinyuan asked in surprise, "Changfeng, are you staying with Commander Tang?"

Gu Changfeng said happily: "Yes, Commander Tang's safety is now my responsibility, and I am also organizing the evacuation of the civilians, so don't worry, there will definitely be a boat for you to leave."

There is no need to hide this matter. The news that Tang Shengzhi is in Pukou will spread sooner or later anyway.