140: Chapter 140 Holding the Line

Currently, there are many remnants of Chinese troops within the city of Nanjing, numbering at least several thousand, if not tens of thousands.

However, as the Little Devils began their wanton searching and slaughter.

The number of Chinese Soldiers in these units continued to dwindle.

Not only that, but they did not even spare the civilians.

There was only one goal: to massacre everyone in Nanjing.

Thereby intimidating Chinese troops elsewhere.

However, they did not know.

Such actions would only cause the children of China to unite more firmly against the enemy.

The frontline Chinese Soldiers quickly eliminated the Little Devils' vanguard.

Seeing this, the Little Devils in the city quickly determined that this was not a remnant of the local Chinese Defenders, but a fully organized Chinese unit that had appeared from nowhere.

Combined with the news that had just arrived in the morning—that the defenders of Zijin Mountain had withdrawn—

the Little Devils in the city soon concluded that this organized Chinese unit was the Training Corps that had retreated from Zijin Mountain.

The appearance of the Training Corps made the Little Devils feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

This Chinese unit had held Zijin Mountain for four days, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking 33rd Regiment.

Their combat effectiveness was unquestionable.

Although the Training Corps had achieved this record by relying on the defensive fortifications on Zijin Mountain.

It was undeniable that this unit's combat capability was indeed very strong.

The Little Devils did not dare to underestimate them.

They immediately began to mobilize their troops.

The Little Devils, who had been scattered everywhere to escort and slaughter, received orders to regroup.

However, while the Little Devils were gathering.

The Training Corps' offensive had already swept through and captured a large part of the city.

Many of the hidden Chinese Defenders in the city emerged and joined the ranks of the Training Corps.

When these surviving Chinese Defenders heard that this unit was the Training Corps, they all cheered, their confidence greatly boosted.

Because the Training Corps was the most elite unit in China, and they were all familiar with its reputation.

Now that such a unit was stationed in Nanjing, the remnant Chinese Defenders, who had lost their backbone, immediately found it and gathered together in the city.

They launched a battle against the Little Devils in the city.

At the temporary Command Post near the city wall.

General Huang Wei was somewhat surprised to hear that there were still so many remnant Chinese Defenders in the city.

He had originally thought that the defenders in the city had been completely wiped out.

Now it seemed that was not the case.

There were still quite a few Chinese Defenders in the city.

They had just been scattered.

Just a few dozen minutes after receiving this news, a man appeared, covered in rags, but based on his clothing, one could tell it was the uniform of a Chinese Defenders officer.

"Report, General, I am from the 87th Division."

"Can you tell me about the situation in the city over the past two days?" General Huang Wei asked.

He urgently needed to know the situation in the city.

Could it be defended? How should it be defended? These were all issues.

Hearing General Huang Wei's words, the battalion commander from the 87th Division slowly recounted the situation in the city over the past two days.

Of course, he did not know very much.

He only knew that after the superiors issued the order, many units had withdrawn in advance.

Some high-ranking officers even fled early, abandoning their troops.

As a result, the troops below were left leaderless, and the originally planned retreat plans were thrown into chaos.

The city was also in chaos.

Many units were thinking of retreating, scrambling to break through to the outside of the city.

The result was that these units suffered heavy losses.

After breaking out, fewer than one in ten survived.

Only a few units remained in the city to continue defending the gates.

The 87th Division was one of them.

They held their ground at Guanghua Gate, inflicting huge casualties on the Little Devils.

After hearing his account, General Huang Wei frowned deeply.

He had originally thought the situation in the city was okay.

Now it seemed that the situation in Nanjing was dire.

Only remnants were holding the line; the main force had long since withdrawn.

Without the main force, his Training Corps alone would be of no use.

He could not expect a few thousand people to defeat hundreds of thousands.

Unless he was given a few nuclear bombs, which would be the only way to achieve immediate peace.

In the livestream room, the audience also heard the words of this 87th Division battalion commander.

They had originally thought that retreating into Nanjing was a good idea.

Now it seemed like escaping the dragon's pool only to enter the tiger's den.

However, other units could retreat, but they could not.

If they retreated, there would be no need to continue this livestream.

Withdrawing from Zijin Mountain was originally an expedient measure.

Now that they had retreated into the city, there was no turning back.

Moreover, if they asked the Chinese Soldiers to retreat now, they would not agree.

Given the current situation, they would rather die in battle than stop killing the Little Devils.

"I understand. You should go and rest first. You have worked hard defending the city these past few days," General Huang Wei comforted him.

Hearing General Huang Wei's words of comfort, the battalion commander was deeply moved.

"General, we are not tired; this is our duty as soldiers. Defending our land and country is a soldier's vocation," the battalion commander saluted respectfully.

Looking at the battalion commander's resolute face, General Huang Wei felt a moment of trance.

"Good, well said. Defending our land and country is indeed our vocation."

"Now that the civilians in the city are being slaughtered by the enemy, we have failed to live up to those words," General Huang Wei said, his expression dim.

Hearing this, the battalion commander felt the same sorrow.

He had seen everything in the city.

It was just that their forces were too small, and they could only keep harassing the Little Devils.

They simply could not save those civilians.

"How many civilians are still in the city? Now that we have arrived, we certainly will not watch idly as they are killed by the enemy. We will hold our ground until the very last moment to buy time for the civilians to evacuate," General Huang Wei suddenly remembered something and continued to ask the battalion commander.

"General, more than half of the civilians in the city have not evacuated. Among them, people from Germany have been helping the civilians and have settled many of them in one place.

However, many civilians are still unable to evacuate. It is highly likely that Nanjing is already surrounded by the Little Devils," the battalion commander replied with a gloomy expression.

The outcome of the Battle of Nanjing was already doomed. After the defeat in Shanghai, where seven hundred thousand fought against three hundred thousand—

the Battle of Nanjing saw over one hundred thousand defenders facing three hundred thousand Japanese Invaders.

From the very beginning, the National Government never intended to win.

They just wanted to stall the Japanese Invaders' offensive momentum and buy time for the civilians in the city to evacuate.

And then leave an empty city for the Japanese Invaders.

But plans could not keep up with changes.

Facing the Little Devils' offensive, the frontline troops could not resist at all.

In just a few days, they reached Nanjing.

Only a little over half of the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Nanjing had evacuated.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians, along with the Chinese army, remained in Nanjing.

The battle had only been fought for a few days when the order to retreat was issued.

They could have clearly held on for a few more days to allow more civilians to evacuate.

This was what the battalion commander found most difficult to understand.

General Huang Wei frowned slightly upon hearing the battalion commander's words.

"Help from people from Germany?"

"Yes, those Little Devils dare not kill openly and wantonly in areas protected by people from Germany," the battalion commander said, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

It was clearly on their own land.

Yet they had to rely on foreigners to protect their own people.