The War of Resistance Against Japan: Special Operations Battalion Traverses Shanghai and Slaughters

Zhang Yinwu in Lingchuan City had already sensed the impending doom and death.

Since we can't break out now, our only hope is that the five regiments scattered elsewhere will come back to rescue us.

Zhang Yinwu dared not hope to annihilate the enemy under the walls of Lingchuan City; he only hoped to escape safely, and that would be a blessing in itself.

Therefore, Zhang Yinwu ordered that telegrams be continuously sent to his five subordinate regiments, urging them to come to the rescue as quickly as possible.

Of course, the commanders of these five regiments were all cultivated by Zhang Yinwu and were quite loyal to him. After receiving the telegram, they rushed to Lingchuan from all directions without stopping.

However, Zhang Yinwu was most afraid of the Dragon Flame Legion attacking the city overnight. He only had one regiment of troops, which was simply not enough to stop them.

If that's the case, then even if the rescue team arrives, they'll only be there to collect his body.

Fortunately, the situation Zhang Yinwu feared did not occur, but this still puzzled him somewhat.

"What is the Dragon Flame Legion up to? They could just storm in, so why are they holding back?"

After thinking for a while, Zhang Yinwu suddenly slapped his head.

"Oh no, it's all over. Could it be that the Dragon Flame Legion is using me as bait, deliberately surrounding me without attacking, in order to lure my regiments into their trap?"

The more Zhang Yinwu thought about it, the more convinced he became that his judgment was correct, but he couldn't come up with a solution.

Preventing the troops from returning to reinforce would avoid being tricked, but Zhang Yinwu would only face certain death.

Sending troops back to reinforce would almost certainly result in an ambush by the enemy, leading to heavy losses and making it impossible to lift the siege of Lingchuan.

In the end, Zhang Yinwu, who was greedy for life and selfish, thought that since he was going to die anyway, he might as well take a gamble and insisted on sending all troops back to reinforce.

After daybreak, the nearest militia regiment, the 8th Regiment, appeared in Pingcheng, only a few kilometers from Lingchuan, at the urging of its commander, Li Zhaoyan.

Even Li Zhaoyan, standing on high ground, could see Lingchuan City through his telescope.

"Brothers, Commander Zhang is surrounded. We'll be in Lingchuan soon. Let's grit our teeth and give it our all."

The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Regiment, who were already exhausted to the point of collapse, had no choice but to agree and grit their teeth and continue to advance.

Just as they were about to reach Pingcheng, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out ahead.

Li Zhaoyan's first reaction was that there was an ambush. He pulled out his pistol and shouted an order.

"Brothers, the enemy must have set up a blocking force. Charge over there!"

More than four thousand people scattered in all directions and immediately advanced towards Pingcheng to attack.

Xie Qiang led 50,000 troops, and apart from the troops surrounding Changzhi and Jincheng, he had more than 30,000 troops to deal with Zhang Yinwu's militia.

Xie Qiang set up seven locations to intercept reinforcements, with at least four thousand troops at each location.

These four thousand-plus people were armed with semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons, and were also equipped with heavy weapons. They could easily defeat not just a regiment of the militia, but an entire army.

Therefore, the Eighth Regiment of the militia's charge was more of a suicide attack than a true charge.

Li Zhaoyan was at the rear of the column, watching his men fall in rows and rows, unable to break through the enemy's dense firepower.

Seeing this, Li Zhaoyan hurriedly ordered his troops to cease their attack. Then, he quickly decided to flee.

He had long forgotten about rescuing Commander Zhang; all he was thinking about now was how to save his own life.

"Brothers, the enemy's firepower is too strong. We can't break through. I order an immediate retreat and return the way we came."

Just as Li Zhaoyan led his troops to turn and flee, a hail of bullets came from behind.

Li Zhaoyan's face turned ashen. He knew that his Eighth Regiment had not only been cut off from its retreat, but had also been surrounded.

"Listen up, everyone! Stop fighting! Raise the white flag and surrender!"

The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Regiment were stunned by the attack, and when they heard the regimental commander order them to surrender, they were more than happy to accept it.

As a result, the Dragon Flame Legion's blocking battle only lasted for about ten minutes before it came to an end, leaving many soldiers wanting more.

Of the more than 4,000 men in the Eighth Regiment, 700 to 800 were killed or wounded in just ten minutes, and the rest were all taken prisoner.

When Zhang Yinwu heard that fighting had broken out in the direction of Pingcheng to the north while he was in Lingchuan City, he knew that troops must have arrived.

Just as he was leading his group, preparing to launch a coordinated attack from within and without, he noticed that the gunfire quickly stopped.

He stood on the north gate tower, picked up his binoculars and observed for a while, but saw nothing.

"No way, the battle was over in just a few minutes, so why didn't the rescue team show up?"

Zhang Yinwu didn't believe that his troops were that powerful, capable of defeating the Dragon Flame Legion's blocking force in just a few minutes.

So, after thinking about it, he decided to wait and see.

As a result, they waited for more than an hour until intense gunfire and artillery sounds came again from Caozhuang in the southwest.

Zhang Yinwu calculated the time and figured that his five regiments should be arriving in Lingchuan soon, so he turned his attention to the Caozhuang direction in the southwest.

However, reality once again filled him with despair, because Caozhuang soon went silent as well.

Zhang Yinwu was in a state of utter confusion, unsure of what to do next.

By 10 a.m., Zhang Yinwu's five regiments had arrived at the outskirts of Lingchuan, but they were quickly wiped out by the blocking forces.

After receiving the report, Chen Yiding happily told Xie Qiang.

"Deputy Commander Xie, all five regiments of the militia that came to reinforce us were annihilated without exception."

"Shouldn't we take Lingchuan City and capture Zhang Yinwu alive next?"

Xie Qiang nodded with a smile and said, "Commander Chen, your slogan is good. Just issue the order to the besieging troops to take Lingchuan City and capture Zhang Yinwu alive."

While Zhang Yinwu was in the city command post, living in constant fear and anxiety.

He heard a deafening roar of battle cries erupting outside the city.

"Charge! Kill! Take Lingchuan City! Capture Zhang Yinwu alive!"

The city gates, which had already been sealed off, were blown open again by the Dragon Flame Legion.

Although a lot of gasoline had been deployed around the city gates, there are only three thousand soldiers from the First Regiment inside the city now.

These officers and soldiers knew they couldn't hold out any longer, and now all they could think about was how to escape and save their lives. Almost no one was still putting up a fight, let alone using gasoline to attack the enemy.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zhang Yinwu had no choice but to disguise himself and his guard as ordinary civilians and hide in a secluded place, hoping to find an opportunity to escape in the chaos.

After Chen Yiding and Xie Qiang entered Lingchuan City, they received a report that Zhang Yinwu had not been captured and had gone missing.

Xie Qiang was not about to accept this outcome, so he angrily gave the order.

"Hold Lingchuan City at all costs! Search every room, investigate every person, and catch that bastard Zhang Yinwu!"

Soon, the blocking forces from various locations brought the prisoners to Lingchuan City and joined the search operation.

After searching for more than three hours, they finally found Zhang Yinwu and his guard covered in excrement and emitting a foul stench in a latrine.

When Xie Qiang heard that Zhang Yinwu had been caught hiding in a cesspool, he almost burst out laughing.

Subsequently, Xie Qiang ordered Zhang Yinwu to be washed clean before a public trial was held.