The artillery unit, consisting of two 200-mm self-propelled guns, under the escort of the army, left the Liaoyang battlefield and advanced in the direction of the Shoushan position.

In fact, the 200 mm self-propelled artillery unit is not just a simple truck or heavy crane on the basis of arranging a 200 mm gun, but a huge team, only responsible for operating the artillery to maintain more than 160 personnel, and there are only more than 10 people in the gun truck, of course, in special circumstances, up to 60 people, this is also the minimum number of personnel to operate the artillery, but the time required to deploy the artillery is more than 2 times the full capacity.

In addition to the artillery carriages, the artillery units also need personnel vehicles responsible for the supply of shells, the 200-mm guns are equipped with shells weighing 145 kilograms, and each artillery truck can certainly carry a part, as the most basic shells, there are a total of 18 shells, but this number is obviously not enough for a battle, so the 200-mm self-propelled artillery units are also equipped with a truck, which can load 24 shells, and there are 6 double-drawn carriages, each carriage can be loaded with 4 shells, so that the actual ammunition reserve of each 200-mm self-propelled gun is 42 rounds, and there are two carriages carrying other logistics supplies, so a 200-mm self-propelled artillery unit was armed with a total of 8 carriages.

Under normal circumstances, the three cars are acting at the same time as the wagons and the escort army, and the 200-mm self-propelled guns are not allowed to leave the escorted army to act alone, but in the event of an emergency, and absolute safety can be guaranteed, the self-propelled guns, artillery trucks and cavalry can take the first step and reach the artillery position first, and the carriages and other personnel can slow down.

With more than 80 logisticians responsible for transporting shells and other supplies, the team of two 200-mm self-propelled guns totaled about 600 people, almost the size of a battalion.

Due to the poor road conditions on the battlefield, the three motor vehicles in the team can only travel at a speed of about 10 kilometers per hour, but this speed also requires people to walk faster to catch up, which is not slow in terms of the marching speed of this era.

When the 200-mm self-propelled artillery units were marching, the cavalry platoon was divided into three teams and patrolled at a distance of 2,000-3,000 meters from the front and left and right of the team, with a battalion responsible for escorting them lined up about 500 meters to the left and right rear of the convoy, and a company of escort was at the front of the convoy, ensuring that the convoy was at least 500 meters away from the dangerous place in case of danger.

Another 200-mm self-propelled artillery unit is equipped with two small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to alert and reconnoiter at a range of 5,000 meters away from the unit. Of course, this UAV is not the kind of large UAV carried on the warship, but a relatively simple small 4-rotor UAV, that is, the so-called "flying camera", this UAV has a low flight altitude, a small radius, poor accuracy, and low cost, although it brings a lot when crossing, but can not do detailed military reconnaissance, can only do close alert reconnaissance, so it has been placed in the warehouse has not much effect, until the establishment of armored trains and self-propelled artillery units, it has been able to have a place. It can be said that after such layers of protection, the safety of the 200-mm self-propelled artillery unit is absolutely guaranteed.

In fact, the truck carrying the self-propelled gun is modified, the cab and the front engine are covered with a layer of 35 mm steel plates, and a layer of 20 mm steel plates is added to the roof, and even the windshield in front of the car is also installed with a clamshell 20 mm steel plate, which can defend against rifles of any caliber, locomotive bullets, but cannot protect against artillery, of course, self-propelled guns win by firing range, and basically will not appear in the range of enemy artillery.

The distance from Liaoyang to Shoushan is about 18 kilometers, but the self-propelled artillery units have higher requirements for roads, so some places that can be approached cannot be detoured, and there are about 3 kilometers more. And when they walked to a place called Wangbaotai, the drone found a Japanese army, and then the cavalry also found it, and after the reconnaissance of the drone, it was determined that the number of this Japanese army was about 2,000 people.

The crossing fighters responsible for commanding this self-propelled artillery unit are Huang Taisong, Lu Ling, and Yang Fei, of which Huang Taisong is the captain and artillery commander, Lu Ling is the driver, and Yang Fei is the drone operator.

Although the scope of control of the two sides has not yet been completely determined, the self-propelled artillery has the advantage of firing range, so the range of activities is basically still on the edge of the range controlled by the People's Army, and it is not surprising to encounter a small group of Japanese troops, but it is still very unexpected to encounter a Japanese army of more than 2,000 units.

So Huang Taisong also immediately ordered, ordering the escort troops to immediately organize a position defense on the spot, and at the same time contact the 3rd Army and ask the 3rd Army to send troops to reinforce it. And the 3rd Army quickly replied, asking the self-propelled artillery units to hold on to their positions for 1 hour, and the supporting units would arrive.

Of course, due to the losses suffered in the battle, the three subordinate brigades have been merged into two, so the number is only more than 2,000 people, the goal of this team is to find the weak links or valuable targets of the People's Army, such as logistics troops, material bases, field hospitals and even headquarters to strike, interfere with and contain the offensive operations of the People's Army, or look for opportunities to turn the tide of the war. But it did not occur to meet the self-propelled artillery unit.

Although the Japanese army did not have such high-tech products as drones, it sent a large number of scouts, and the number of self-propelled artillery units was large, and the movement was not small, and two 200-mm self-propelled artillery vehicles were obvious targets, so it was difficult not to be discovered. And the scouts of the Japanese army even found self-propelled guns.

Although it was the first time that the Japanese army saw self-propelled guns, as long as they saw the thick barrel on the car, it was not difficult to judge what kind of weapon it was, and now the Japanese army knew that the People's Army had been equipped with armored train guns, so it was also possible to determine that this must be similar to the armored train guns, and the large-caliber guns used to move the navy's naval guns to land were also moved at will without rails, and you can imagine how much of a threat such weapons can pose to the Japanese army.

So the Japanese army decided that this was definitely the worthy target they were looking for, so the commander of the Japanese army immediately decided to launch an attack on this people's army, and must destroy these two train guns that did not need railroad tracks. However, this Japanese army attacked lightly, and did not carry any heavy weapons, only three 37mm rapid-fire guns, and the main weapons were rifles and machine guns.

Fortunately, the KPA had drones, so it spotted the Japanese army about 5,000 meters in advance, and also bought itself half an hour to prepare.

The battalion commander responsible for escorting the self-propelled artillery unit is called Zhang Fangping, he was originally a peasant in Baoding, Hebei Province, once participated in the Boxer Rebellion, after being defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and more than 20 regiments hid in the countryside for some days, and later the People's Army defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance, captured Beijing, and joined the People's Army when recruiting, and is now promoted to battalion commander.

Although the People's Army has only been established for five years, it is now divided into ranks and qualifications, and those who are determined to join the army before the crossing group entered Shandong and have participated in the fight against the Eight-Nation Coalition Army can be regarded as seniors in the People's Army. Moreover, this group of soldiers basically has experience in actual combat, and as long as their qualifications are not too bad, they have basically been promoted to battalion-level officers, and even if they cannot be battalion commanders, they can still serve as deputy or in logistics and auxiliary departments, while some soldiers with a cultural background have become battalion instructors after education and study, and have taken the road of political work, or they are technical arms, such as artillery; and a small number of soldiers with outstanding talents have even been promoted to the regimental level, and although they are not in full positions, they are also the targets of the people's army's key training.

This group of people mainly participated in Shandong's bandit warfare, had a certain amount of actual combat experience, and were the backbone of the People's Army.

The last group was the largest number of soldiers who joined the People's Army during the expansion after it was determined to participate in the war in Liaodong, but the vast majority of them were ordinary soldiers, but they basically had no actual combat experience, and only a few soldiers with outstanding training or outstanding quality could serve as squad leaders.

However, it is also a battalion commander, but there is also a difference, in the main division, the battalion commander in the Marine Corps, are all soldiers with outstanding qualifications and abilities, and the time for promotion to battalion commander is earlier, and in the same level of officers, the seniority is also higher, and the ordinary division is second, the reserve division is again, and the most inferior is of course the reserve regiment.

And Zhang Fangping's qualifications are average, so every promotion is with every expansion and promotion of the People's Army, neither fast nor slow, it belongs to all levels and eight stability, step by step, and it has been almost a year since he was promoted to battalion commander, of course, this is compared with the People's Army, and in other armies, he can be promoted to battalion commander in 4 or 5 years, which is a rare fast.

Although Zhang Fangping's qualifications are average, after all, he has fought several battles in the Eight-Nation Alliance, and his combat experience is much stronger than that of the war against bandits, and every time he is promoted, he has participated in training courses for middle- and lower-level officers, so he not only has practical experience, but also has a certain amount of theoretical knowledge. Of course, he also knew that the responsibility of escorting these two self-propelled guns was heavy, because this was a heavy fire support weapon that the whole army had to rely on, and there was absolutely no room for error.

Of course, it only takes 1 hour to hold on, and reinforcements will come to reinforce it, so Zhang Fangping is not too panicked. So he immediately arranged a defensive circle according to the knowledge he had learned and his usual training. First of all, the 1st and 2nd companies of his battalion were ordered to advance 500 meters in the direction of the enemy and set up defensive positions, with the two companies separated by about 300 meters, and the 3rd company and the self-propelled artillery escort company were ordered to advance 300 meters to the left and right respectively and set up two defensive positions. The headquarters of its own battalion was located 300 meters behind the forward position, exactly in the center of the defensive circle, and at the same time the position of the mortar position.

All the vehicles are located in the rear of the defensive circle, the carriages are divided into two columns, arranged on both sides of the three mechanical vehicles about 100 meters position, and the accompanying logistics, artillery operation, maintenance and other personnel rely on these 8 carriages to arrange the inner circle defense. The cavalry units hid in the dense forest behind the position, waiting for an opportunity. Drones patrol the air and monitor enemy movements.