After a heavy rain, the trenches were filled with muddy water.

The soldiers of the 401st Regiment had to exert great effort to drain the muddy water, and when the clouds dispersed to reveal the sun, the soldiers were wrapped in the heat rising from the mud, and immediately sweated profusely and were very uncomfortable.

Daniel Davis mingled with his own soldiers, like a mud monkey. His beard was messy because it wasn't properly groomed, and if you took off his frayed uniform, you could see his bare chest, neck, arms, and chest and abdomen of a completely different color.

Because of this, this young regiment commander is very popular with his subordinates.

However, it is really not a good time to fight in such a midsummer, and the scorching heat is the biggest factor in the attrition of the 401st Regiment.

Knock, knock, a few cannon shots.

The artillery of the enemy on the opposite side began to bombard again, and apart from blowing up the trunks of the trees that were originally only bare, they did not cause any damage to the 401st regiment. Whenever the enemy artillery spoke, most of the soldiers of the National Army hid in bunkers behind the hills, leaving only a few to observe from the forward positions.

Once the enemy infantry takes the initiative to attack, they must also start from the valley and attack upward, and after inflicting heavy casualties, they will retreat without exception. After being taught a few lessons by the Nationalist Army, the enemy had to try their luck in a sneak attack at night, and almost succeeded several times.

Therefore, the night is the most nervous time for the officers and men of the National Army, and they must keep their eyes open and be ready for battle.

In the evening, Commander Davis read letters from his headquarters at the back of the mountain.

As the sun went down, the hot air was carried away by the evening breeze, but Davis smeared himself with a lot of pungent potions, otherwise the mosquitoes in the mountains would suck his blood dry.

Although the conditions were limited, every soldier of the National Army was repeatedly warned that mosquitoes can bring diseases and that they should take precautions as much as possible. Preventing mosquito bites is as strategic as preventing heatstroke.

The newly married commander of the Davis regiment returned to the 401st Regiment soon and accompanied the army on the Northern Expedition. The letter from the wife in his hand was signed half a month ago.

"Commander, the commander is here. Operations Staff Officer Jonathan reminded. Davis hurriedly put away his wife's letter, and saw General Dalho come down to the headquarters of the 401st Regiment surrounded by a group of officers.

"Your Excellency, Commander!" Davis trotted up.

"Daniel, how is the morale of your regiment?" returned Commander Dalhaud.

"The morale of the 401st Regiment is not bad, Your Excellency. Davis replied, "It's just that the soldiers have some complaints about being on the defensive." ”

Darhao put his hand on his shoulder, patted it and smiled: "In my opinion, I'm afraid that you, the head of the regiment, have some complaints in his heart." ”

"Don't dare!" Davis said with a little embarrassment.

"Haha, our tactics are no no tactics. Darho smiled heartily, and seemed to say to all the officers present, "The enemy's plan to use Yam City to attract the majority of our national army has failed. Those of you who are regiment commanders and battalion commanders must clearly explain to the soldiers that if we hold our positions, we will win, because in this way the offensive and defensive forces have undergone a fundamental change, and the enemy will have to pay a tenfold and hundredfold price if he takes the initiative to attack us. ”

Darho meant something, and some thought of the casualties of the 3rd Army here, but Dalho did not mean to mock General Grant, although it seemed to others that there had always been some kind of rivalry between him and General Grant.

"Your Excellency, but the other legions have gone north, and they have made great progress, and have recaptured three cities, which seem to us to be ...... in comparison," complained one officer.

Darho immediately interrupted:

"Please note that this is the unified deployment of the High Command, and it is also our honor that our 4th Army Corps is firmly held here. In my opinion, there is no distinction between high and low honors. When the Commander-in-Chief left here, he pointed out to me in person that whether the 4th Army could keep an eye on the enemy forces at Yam City was a matter for the security of the rear of the entire National Army, because there were no other large forces behind us. ”

Darho looked around and continued, "I think this is the high level of trust that His Excellency Commander-in-Chief has placed in me and in our 4th Army. I promised His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief that I would never let go of an enemy army in Yam, and now I need you to give me the same assurance, can you do it?"

"Yes!" replied the officers in unison.

"Very good!" Darho nodded with satisfaction, "I don't think the enemy forces in Yam City will sit still, they will definitely choose to break through at some point, and once they let them break through, it will disrupt our rear and the consequences will be unimaginable."

The time to test us is coming. Loyalty, courage and team spirit are our most powerful weapons in defeating the enemy, and the honor of the 4th Legion needs to be upheld by each and every one of us!"

As if to confirm Darhaw's judgment, the enemy launched the most massive surprise attack since the arrival of the 4th Army that night.

In the middle of the night, the sound of cannons, gunshots, and shouts of killing suddenly resounded through the valley.

The position defended by the 401st Regiment was mainly divided into three parts, the left side was facing the mountain ridge to the north, and the west side was the high ground on the east side, which was close to the north-south trending canal. Between the mountains and the highlands is a relatively flat valley – one of the normal overland routes from within the city to the outside of the city.

The 401st Regiment focused its defense on this valley of less than 300 metres, where two battalions were deployed in the order of front and rear, and one and a half battalions were deployed as reserves at a later stage.

The 401st Regiment was a reinforced regiment, originally with 5 battalions plus 1 cavalry company and 1 artillery company, and since the regiment was at the forefront and the defensive zone was more important, the regiment even added two artillery batteries and 14 cannons to this regiment.

Commander Davis deployed this additional artillery on both sides of the valley, aiming at the valley access and forming a crossfire.

This enemy attack was unusual, and Davis dared to say that the enemy threw at least 50 artillery pieces into the positions of the 401st Regiment. The dense shelling forced most of the officers and men of the 401st Regiment to hide in the tunnels at the back of their positions.

As the enemy artillery fire gradually subsided, a shrill whistle sounded, and the officers ordered the soldiers to emerge from the tunnel and move to the front.

The view from the front was blurred, which was extremely beneficial to the attackers, which forced the 401st Regiment to place its men at the front and light torches to increase reaction time.

Then the enemy charged almost half a minute before the artillery stopped.

Vaguely, the officers and men of the 401st Regiment only saw a black torrent moving forward rapidly, and when the torrent approached, the artillery of the 401st Regiment opened fire first.

Flowering and solid shells poured down the narrow passage, smashing heavily on the heads of the enemy and in the crowd.

In the flickering light, no man's land appeared in the dense crowd of enemy troops, but these gaps were quickly filled.

The artillery was still firing rapidly, and the gunners were like parts in a clock, running in an orderly manner according to their duties. Gradually, the frequency of artillery fire also decreased, and they had to stop to cool down the barrels.

The enemy troops kept falling and charging, and when the frequency of the Nationalist artillery fire decreased, they finally broke into the range of the infantry of the 401st regiment.

For this, they paid hundreds of casualties.

The forward infantry weaved a web of fire with rifles in their hands, and the new rifles had fundamentally changed the form of warfare, allowing them to lie on their stomachs in the trenches, exposing only their upper bodies.

And war also allows the enemy to change their form of warfare, after they rush to the front line, they look for cover on the spot in groups of three or five, and cross cover each other. To the enemy, however, their opponents are simply carrying a personal arsenal with them.

Bullets are pouring out as if they don't want money, and even more than ninety percent of them are wasted. The sight of the night battle is extremely poor, and the soldiers are often desperately pouring fire forward because of the high tension. And the new rifles are very likely to cause huge waste.

Fortunately, the Nationalist Army has always attached great importance to logistics, otherwise it would not have been able to support such a high-intensity battle.

Even so, the enemy attacked fiercely, and they took advantage of the favorable situation of the night against the defenders, relying entirely on human lives to fill the gap in firepower, and if the 401st Regiment was not careful, something unfortunate would happen.

Davis was accustomed to commanding from the front, and he was engrossed in watching every change in the battlefield, giving orders incessantly, especially in night battles.

"Artillery, why is our artillery stopped?" growled Davis.

"The artillery needs to cool down, Major Harris said he needs time. A staff officer replied.

"No, the artillery cannot stop firing, and as soon as the enemy moves the artillery closer, our infantry will suffer heavy losses. ”

Sure enough, the enemy's artillery rang out again, shelling the positions of the 401st Regiment, immediately inflicting heavy losses on the 401st Regiment.

Davis made a quick decision, he took the risk of retreating his most advanced troops back three hundred meters, and the enemy thought that there was an opportunity, quickly advanced forward, broke through the defensive line, and suddenly entered the meniscus encirclement of the 401st Regiment.

Davis's adventure was worth it, and once again the artillery was in full swing, directly covering the enemy forces that had broken through the line within fire range, and the fear caused the remaining enemy soldiers to either turn and flee or scurry around the battlefield, being beaten into a sieve by the infantry of the 401st Regiment.

However, before Davis could cheer, there was a fierce cannon fire behind him, and the position was the lower reaches of the canal, three kilometers behind him, in the plain, not the battlefield.

He forced himself to calmly ask his subordinates, thinking it was a hallucination:

"Where's the sound of the cannon?"

Jonathan replied incoherently, "Commander, no...... Know ......"

Twenty minutes later, a herald from the command brought General Dalhaw's order:

"The unknown water fleet is armed, and it is suspected that the navy of the Northern Army is tracing the river and is landing in our rear, with strong firepower. The situation is unknown, and I have personally led two brigades of the 9th Division to organize the defense. Until the new order arrives at dawn, the armies must hold on to their existing positions and not retreat!"