The form of this timely airborne supply was far greater than the content. The Deshan defense line shrank into a ball and occupied a very small area. Therefore, the airborne supplies were not much, only some ammunition and food that the defenders urgently needed, and even medicines. All very few.

But its role in boosting military morale is self-evident. This has fully demonstrated that no matter what attitude the Nationalist government holds towards the Changde and Deshan garrison, as far as the Americans are concerned, they have demonstrated their determination through this airborne supply drop. Rescue attitude.

At this time, the situation in Changde became even worse. Almost all the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division stationed at the east gate of Changde was killed. Regiment leader Chai Yixin led the remaining troops to withdraw into the city. The east gate and north gate of Changde were attacked by hundreds of Japanese cannons. After being bombarded, it finally fell.

The 57th Division, under the leadership of Yu Chengwan, launched street battles with the Japanese army, using every house to fight the enemy to the death. The street battles had been going on for two consecutive days. While the Changde defenders eliminated a large number of Japanese troops, they also suffered heavy losses of 8,000. There were only more than a thousand Huben soldiers left, and half of the Changde city was occupied by the Japanese. Some troops ran out of bullets and cut off bamboo poles and sharpened them to fight with the Japanese. The seriously injured soldiers received a grenade each. He died together with the Japanese troops who rushed up.

Yu Chengwan led his troops to retreat to the Central Bank and sent a message to Sun Lianzhong, Commander-in-Chief of the Sixth War Zone, and Xue Yue, Commander-in-Chief of the Ninth War Zone: "Everyone died after running out of ammunition. The friendly forces were waiting and watching. There was a melee in the streets and alleys. The deputy division commander and chief of staff were killed one after another. Only The Deshan garrison called and found that there are only about 300 people left. They are still holding on. Zhi has no choice but to lead his troops to move closer to the Deshan front line. He is currently holding on to the Central Bank. If reinforcements still do not arrive before tomorrow evening, the Deshan garrison and the Deshan garrison will be contacted. The Japanese troops were all burned."

Under Lin Xiaotang's instructions, Zhang Yaoguo reported to the headquarters of the two theaters respectively: "The Deshan defenders fought bloody battles with the enemy for five days and nights. Although they received air support from the US military, it was a drop in the bucket. There were only more than 300 people left in the department, who could continue to fight. There were only two hundred people, and Deshan fell in just a moment."

After the two fiercely worded farewell telegrams were sent, the commanders of the two war zones finally gave a clear response, asking the Changde and Deshan garrison to hold on for another three hours. The Ministry of National Defense has strictly ordered the ninth war zone to dispatch troops south to participate in relieving the siege of Changde. At the same time, under the pressure of strong public opinion, the Presidential Office and the headquarters issued stern orders to the participating ministries in the Sixth and Ninth Theater Districts, requiring each department to make significant progress within three hours and to break through the Japanese defense line outside Changde after three hours. Moreover, the United States stated that the Fourteenth Air Force of the U.S. Army in China would spare no effort to carry out air strikes against the Japanese troops on the front lines in Changde and Deshan and cooperate with the rescue operations carried out by the national army.

Zhang Yaoguo read loudly the reply from the war zone, and the trenches suddenly burst into cheers. After listening to the telegram, Lin Xiaotang's legs softened and she sat directly on the dirt floor in the trench. Tears could not help but flow down the corners of her eyes. Huoyan and Guo Zhui were waiting on the side. With tears in their eyes, they hugged his shoulders and hugged each other head-to-head. Big Tou, who was lying in the trench, originally wanted to join in the fun, but as soon as he moved, the wound on his buttocks was in excruciating pain. , after trying a few times, I had to give up.

After a short celebration, Lin Xiaotang promptly reminded everyone that they must stick to this last moment. This time is often the most difficult time. Zhang Yaoguo organized soldiers to receive the food and ammunition dropped by the US military. The soldiers returned to their positions one after another. Making meticulous preparations for the final battle.

Lin Xiaotang and others came to the forefront of the position. Looking at the time, it was already nine o'clock in the morning. That is to say, in three hours, if everything goes well, the peripheral national army will break through the Japanese defense line, but Lin Xiaotang did not dare to be too optimistic. , he has long understood the behavior of the national army, and Zhang Yaoguo also has a deep understanding of this. Therefore, he vaccinated the soldiers early in the morning and asked everyone to work harder and persist until two o'clock in the afternoon. , if the reinforcements have not arrived and the Japanese offensive is too fierce, they will abandon the Gufengling position and retreat to the jungle behind Deshan Mountain to hold on.

But Lin Xiaotang felt that this was not the solution. If he waited blindly, he would be giving the initiative to the reinforcements and the Japanese. In this case, it would be better to rely on others to save himself. He remembered the previous arrangement again. At present, The wind direction was also very suitable, but the weather made him feel a little nervous.

He called Zhang Yaoguo and asked him to ask among the soldiers to see if there were any locals.

Unexpectedly, after a while, Lao Zhao ran over with a shrunken head, carrying an American-made carbine on his back, walking with a limp, and a bandage on his thigh.

Lin Xiaotang was stunned, "Old Zhao, why are you here?"

Old Zhao was also stunned, "Sir, didn't you ask Captain Zhang to find a local?"

Lin Xiaotang pointed at him, "You are a local."

Lao Zhao nodded, feeling somewhat complacent, "That's right, how else could I be so familiar with Deshan?"

Lin Xiaotang chuckled, "I actually forgot about this problem."

Since Lao Zhao is a local, the matter is much simpler. Lin Xiaotang asked about Lao Zhao and learned that Lao Zhao was originally a medicine farmer whose ancestors lived here. He was very familiar with the Deshan area, so Lin Xiaotang came to him. The reason is to let him see how the weather conditions will change today.

After observing the wind direction, Lao Zhao nodded slightly, touched a handful of soil, put it to his nose and smelled it carefully. He even pinched a little with his fingers and put it in his mouth, as if he was tasting the taste, and muttered something in his mouth.

At this time, Tom Hanks sneaked up to the forward position with a few of his men. When Lin Xiaotang saw it was them, he frowned and was about to scold them back, but Tom Hanks interrupted him, "In There’s nothing to do back there, so come up here and get some air.”

At this time, Lao Zhao also spit out the dirt in his mouth, "It will take at least two hours. The rain will not be light. It is probably a heavy rain. We have to be careful. The rain is too heavy and we have to be careful of mud landslides."

Lin Xiaotang's eyes lit up, "In other words, it will take at least more than an hour for the rain to fall."

Lao Zhao nodded with certainty, "Yes, one and a half hours, just a lot more."

Lin Xiaotang punched the soil of the trench, "Great, take this opportunity to cause some trouble for the Japanese and try to delay them for two hours. As long as it rains, the Japanese attack will be blocked. By then, We have much more time.”

Tom Hanks interjected, "When does it start?"

Lin Xiaotang said fiercely: "Now."

There was not much oil on the position. Lin Xiaotang ordered all the oil to be collected and made into Molotov cocktails. Grenadier experts with strong arms were selected from the remaining personnel and dispersed to every corner of the front-line position. An auxiliary person is placed next to it, responsible for lighting the grenadier and handing the bottle.

Lin Xiaotang looked at his watch. The time was already pointing to nine forty. The north wind was whining across Gufengling, swirling to every corner at the foot of the mountain. The leaves in the woods were rustling, and the grass was yellow and black. The wild grass in the countryside was blown in one direction.

Lin Xiaotang nodded to Zhang Yaoguo, and Zhang Yaoguo shouted: "Brothers, listen to my command and give me all your strength. If it succeeds this time, the little devil will be mute for a few hours. When the time comes, reinforcements will be sent to me." We are here, success or failure depends on this."

Zhang Yaoguo looked around and said, "Light a fire." Dozens of Molotov cocktails were ignited in an instant and handed over to the grenadier's hands.

"cast."

Dozens of flaming Molotov cocktails drew a graceful arc and flew into the sky. Thanks to the huge wind, they flew seventy or eighty meters, and fell one after another on the thick layer of herbs, and some fell onto the rocks. " With a "click" sound, it turned into pieces. The oil inside gushed out, and when it met sparks, it instantly turned into a pile of flames. After a while, dozens of small fires appeared at the foot of the hillside.

After about five rounds of throwing, all the Molotov cocktails were thrown out, and the oil was poured into the herbs and grass. The flames became violently high in a short period of time, and finally connected into a large area. Moreover, this trend will continue. Possibility of expansion.

There was a panic in the Japanese position at the foot of the mountain, but they soon discovered that it was just a fire in front of the position. The Japanese soldiers immediately relaxed and cursed incomprehensibly.

Lin Xiaotang looked back at Lao Zhao, "I said, why is there no movement? The fire is quite big, but it has no effect. It won't be like this."

Old Zhao happily took a cigarette from the American soldier, put it under his nose and smelled it greedily, "Sir, don't worry, this thing will be fine if it doesn't catch fire. Once it catches fire, hehe, just wait and see the excitement. If we're lucky, all the birds and beasts in the forest will be forced out, and we'll just wait for the tooth-beating ceremony."

Before he finished speaking, Zhang Yaoguo shouted, "There's smoke coming out. Look, there's smoke coming out."

Everyone took a closer look, and sure enough, there was billowing smoke coming from the fire at the foot of the mountain. The smoke was golden yellow, and it looked particularly conspicuous when viewed from the dark valley. As the fire expanded, the scale of the smoke also increased. It grew bigger and bigger, and with the help of the wind, it quickly spread towards the Japanese positions.

Old Zhao turned around and stopped looking at the movement at the bottom of the mountain. He leaned comfortably against the trench wall, lit the cigarette in his hand with the American soldier's lighter, and said to himself: "Do you know what this is called? This is called Qilin." Smoke, in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the Tianli Sect rebelled, they used this stuff, smoked the officers and soldiers until they were miserable. In the mild cases, the limbs became weak and they coughed incessantly. In the severe cases, they foamed at the mouth and fell unconscious. Alas, I didn’t expect that this thing would reappear in the world today, committing evil and evil.”

"Cough, cough, this American smoke with a big nose is really strong, cough." Old Zhao took a sip and immediately started coughing.

Golden smoke drifted into the Japanese army's position and was blown away by the wind. But even so, the subsequent billowing yellow smoke followed in an instant, and the Japanese army's position began to become chaotic. Lin Xiaotang and others looked through the telescope, only to see that You can vaguely see Japanese soldiers running around, some kneeling on the ground and foaming at the mouth, but that's all you can see, the others are shrouded in smoke.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and the smoke became overwhelming. Lin Xiaotang hurriedly asked everyone to put on the gas masks they had prepared early in the morning to avoid hurting their own people.

Zhang Yaoguo lined up several soldiers, put on gas masks, quietly took out their positions, and got closer to observe the movements of the Japanese positions.

After a while, several soldiers ran back. As soon as they took off their gas masks, they revealed several excited faces, "Sir, the Japs' position is in complete chaos. Every little Japs is coughing as if they have tuberculosis. Some were frothing at the mouth and fell motionless on the ground. Now, the Japanese are busy handing out gas masks, but look at it, there are more people and fewer masks. Many people are holding cloths to catch their own urine to detoxify. Now the concentration is high. The smoke has already drifted towards their camp, and it is estimated that in less than half an hour, most of the Japanese in the military camp will have to answer."

Old Zhao said disdainfully: "Catching urine, the little devil knows this trick, but it's useless."

Lin Xiaotang smiled and kicked him, "Okay, Lao Zhao, now that I know what you are capable of, I told Captain Zhang that I will give you a credit when the siege is solved."

Lao Zhao chuckled, "That's right, I have used all my tricks to keep the bottom of the box, and I'm going to make a fortune of one hundred and eighty yuan."

Zhang Yaoguo ran over excitedly, "Sir Lin, the Japs are in trouble. Why don't you go down the mountain and kill him?"

Just as Lin Xiaotang was about to nod, a soldier ran over panting, "Sir, there's a call from the US military. They want to carry out concentrated bombing on the Japanese troops in Deshan before it rains. This time, they are all dispatched. Please give us the exact coordinates of the Japanese."
Chapter completed!