Chapter 379: Sending Prisoners to the Front Line

Dong!

The first shot was test‑fired, and the barrel shook the ground slightly.

The shell whistled across the night sky and exploded fifty meters outside Jingzhou's city wall.

Boom—!

A fireball rose, the blast wave flipped the dry grass, and the earth trembled like a giant beast rolling over.

Shards of stone splashed, causing even the observation post's sandbags to tremble.

"Illumination round!" the forward observer shrieked.

"Whoosh—Bang!"

A white illumination round rose, its pallid glow like a ghost's eye lighting the outline of the city wall.

The parapet, the women's wall, and the corner tower were clear as a drawing.

"Target: east gate north side women's wall, ten units left, distance reduced fifty!" The observer clung to the trench edge, stared at the impact point through a telescope, and quickly grabbed the field radio, "Repeat, reduced fifty! Quickly!"

A buzzing of electricity sounded, and the artillery position at the rear immediately echoed, "Received! Reduced fifty! Load!"

Three minutes later—

Boom!

The second high‑explosive round struck the designated women's wall segment like a hammer of vengeance.

Blue bricks shattered, and rammed earth burst apart.

Five Japanese Army soldiers were torn to pieces instantly, their limbs hanging on a broken flagpole, and intestines tangled on the Type 92 heavy machine gun mount.

Explosion fragments cut like knives, slicing half the bodies off two reserve troops in the rear shelter, blood mist spraying the city bricks, a smear of black and red.

"Hit!" the observer nearly leapt, "Continue suppression! Don't give the Little Devil a chance to regroup!"

Jiang Anguo stood on high ground, watching the breach in the city wall illuminated by firelight, his gaze austere.

He knew the Japanese Army thought that by using civilians to repair the wall they would not fire artillery, and that this three‑to‑four‑kilometre stretch of wall would test how the Little Devil defended.

But he would not give them that chance.

"Relay the order," he turned and commanded, "All artillery groups, fire in rotation, a synchronized volley every fifteen minutes. Focus on covering the wall tops, corner towers, and the horse‑path entrance. Let the Little Devil not even dare to lift a corpse!"

The order passed down, twelve 105 mm howitzers and eight 75 mm mountain guns began alternating their roar.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shells fell like rain, turning Jingzhou's city wall into a furnace.

Each explosion shattered a thousand‑year‑old slab of brick;

Each flash of fire illuminated a stretch of the invaders' doom.

Jiang Anguo slipped away quietly, pulling Xu Guozhang with him.

"Brother, what's going on?" Xu Guozhang asked nervously.

Jiang Anguo felt uneasy, "Brother Xu, I'm uneasy. I ordered the 150th Division to bring all Japanese forces from Jingmen and the Dangyang direction here; I will turn the Transport Vehicles back, using Transport Vehicles to send the captives to the Jingzhou front line."

Xu Guozhang's heart jolted, "Brother, are you worried!"

Jiang Anguo nodded, "After all, it's our own city, our own people. My aircraft and Tank cannot fire indiscriminately. Tonight the Little Devil will make a move like this; the sporadic gunfire inside the city will be aimed at civilians. I'm afraid tomorrow the Little Devil will dare to slaughter civilians right before our eyes."

Xu Guozhang understood immediately, "Got it! Brother, I'll send a Telegram to the garrisons in both locations, ordering them to bring the captives over."

That was Jiang Anguo's biggest worry; now the initiative was in their hands, and Jingzhou was within arm's reach.

But the only thing that makes the Huaxia army passive is the civilians inside the city; if the Japanese Army exploits this, Jingzhou will be hard to capture.

Jingzhou is indeed an ancient city now.

No troops nearby can come to the rescue; Qianjiang, Xiantao, and Tianmen each host only Little Devil company‑level units, making a rescue of Jingzhou a pipe‑dream.

They could only hope for the 11th Army in Wuhan, two hundred kilometers away.

Yet A Naganuma still dared not take a boat back to Wuhan; he could only cross the Yangtze River at Jiujiang and then return to Wuhan by land.

Around Wuhan the Japanese Army has the Senary Division and the Tertiary Division.

Both divisions are Class A Divisions, meaning that just around Wuhan the Japanese Army can mobilize as many as sixty thousand troops.

However, after losing air power.

A Naganuma also dared not recklessly shift forces to the Jianghan area; he knew the sky now belonged to the Chinese army, and intelligence indicated the Chinese air force was strong and numerous.

Sending the Senary Division and the Tertiary Division out in broad daylight would be tantamount to a death march.

Moreover, Xue Yue's Ninth War Zone's attack on Yueyang kept A Naganuma from acting rashly; with both divisions guarding Wuhan, Xue Yue dared not advance.

If a division were pulled to support the Jingzhou direction, who knows what new ideas the tiger Xue Yue might have.

That left A Naganuma with troops he dared not employ.

The hundreds of thousands of troops under Xue Yue were no mere ornament; combined with the Chinese army's powerful air force, A Naganuma could not guarantee whether Xue Yue would dare to attack Wuhan.

The only unit that could support Jingzhou now was the 232nd Regiment in Zhijiang, but during the assault on Baiyang Town, its commander Tian Dao Xinfu was hit by a 105 mm howitzer shell and went to meet the Emperor!

And the 232nd Regiment suffered heavy losses.

Sasaki Daichi had already ordered the 232nd Regiment's third battalion, battalion commander Xiao Lin Wufu, to lead the remaining soldiers toward Jingzhou.

A Naganuma also ordered the 39th Division that, if necessary, they could abandon Jingzhou.

But after seeing the Chinese army's massive tank formations, Sasaki Daichi was clear that now only the Jingzhou walls and the civilians inside could keep them safe.

Once they left Jingzhou city, only tank crushing awaited them.

Sasaki Daichi was calling for reinforcements, and Jiang Anguo did the same; he set aside Yao Quanyi and directly commanded the First Battalion commander Quan Zong of the Independent Regiment at Xiaoting, ordering Quan Zong to lead his battalion and the second guard company led by Zhang Yuan to pursue the enemy in Zhijiang.

He must hold the enemy.

In fact, this order had reached Quan Zong when Jiang Anguo moved south from Wuli Pu to Jingzhou.

Not only Quan Zong, even Xie Boluan of the 448th Regiment, 150th Division at Xiaoting was stirred.

When the two coordinated, Xiaoting had no enemies, so it was better for the two forces to advance east together, restraining the Japanese Army's enemy in Zhijiang.

If anyone was the most dissatisfied, it was Mi Long; the moment he heard that his first company was not on the eastward advance list, he immediately went to see his Company Commander.

"Company Commander, why is my first company not in the pursuit sequence?" Mi Long's demeanor was nothing like that of a Company Commander.

Quan Zong looked at Mi Long and said in a deep voice, "Mi Long, your first company suffered heavy losses at Huyashan, so you can use this time to rest and regroup."

In the battle of Huyashan, it can be said that Mi Long's first company was completely shattered; there was no way around it, because his opponent was a mixed brigade of the Japanese Army, which still held the advantage of occupying Huyashan. At that time, if the third company under Jiang Yuan had been even a beat slower in providing support, Mi Long's first company would have been completely annihilated.

"No, Battalion Commander, we cannot let my first company be left behind in this fight at Zhi Jiang!" Mi Long said defiantly.

"Hey, you Mi Long, are you the Battalion Commander or am I the Battalion Commander?" Quan Zong said helplessly at this.

In the end, they could not argue with Mi Long, so they let him take his company of soldiers to help contain the Japanese Army at Zhi Jiang.

As for Xiao Ting, it was assigned to be guarded by a company of soldiers left by the 448th Regiment.

All the forces on both sides across the Jiang Han Plain were mobilized once again, and there was only one focal point: Jingzhou!