It's not that Lin Ziran doesn't have confidence in his troops, but Lin Ziran knows that once the two armies of Guang'an or Hexi are really determined to go south, even if they want to defend to the death with the little strength in the north, it is estimated that there is no problem in three or five days, and it is estimated that it will be barely enough in ten days and half a month, but it will be difficult to say for a long time.

The Fifth Division under Wu Dajiang was not quite formed, with a strength of at most 10,000 people, and it was not equipped with many rear-loading rifles, let alone rear-loading artillery.

The 3rd Mixed Brigade was slightly better equipped, with nearly 1,000 Aoyama rear-loading rifles, but not many artillery.

However, whether it is Hexi or Guang'an, if people really want to make up their minds to go south, they will not only send tens of millions of people to the south, once they send troops, it will be a thunderous attack, with as little as 30,000 or 40,000 troops, and as much as 50,000 or 60,000.

And it must have been carefully planned, so the early attack must have been swift and violent.

Although our own defensive forces are supported by the defense line of Nanguang City and the defense line of the northwest, it is possible to resist for a while, but it is unlikely that it will last too long.

Therefore, Lin Ziran's request to the troops in the north and northwest defense line is to delay it for a while.

In the follow-up, Lin Ziran would naturally personally lead the main force to quickly go north for reinforcements.

Speaking of which, if the other party really sends troops, it is not certain that he can take this opportunity to recapture Chongguang City or enter Hexi County.

For example, if the Guang'an army hides in Chongguang City and doesn't come out, Lin Ziran will not be able to take them for a while, but once they take the initiative to go south and enter the plain area of Nan'an County, Lin Ziran will let them know the power of the rear-loading guns, once the opponent's main force is defeated in the field battle, then Chongguang City is just an empty city.

A fortress that does not have enough troops to garrison it is not called a fortress, but just a pile of sand and gravel......

The same is true for Hexi County.

So don't look at Lin Ziran's deployment in the rear There are not too many troops, but in fact, Lin Ziran has also made thorough preparations.

At this time, the 3rd Cavalry Brigade was stationed in Pingdan City, and could advance west to reinforce the northwest defense line at any time, or go north to reinforce the northern defense line.

And the garrison regiment of the county town can also quickly go north if necessary.

Even if the troops are already heading south, the two cavalry brigades can be drawn at any time to quickly move north, and then the fourth division.

Even after these troops are transferred north, if necessary, Lin Ziran can even continue to fight the Dingjiang fortress.

Of course, unless it is the Dingjiang Fortress that is about to be taken, Lin Ziran will definitely put the Dingjiang Fortress aside first, and then lead the main force to fight north first.

Anyway, the Dingjiang fortress is there, and it can't run.

Lin Ziran's southward battle plan was a decision made after considering many aspects, and many of the plans were planned in detail by the General Staff Office.

They even drew up a detailed schedule of defensive operations for the northern and northwest defense lines, and how to fight to delay as much time as possible.

For example, it is because of this that the main force took the initiative to abandon the field positions outside Chongguang City and retreated to the defense line of Nanguang City.

After the rear is arranged, Lin Ziran can rest assured that he can lead the main force to gnaw at Dingjiang Fortress!

In the following two days, the Luo An army outside the city still did not launch a large-scale attack, but continued to carry out earthwork.

But the atmosphere inside the Dingjiang fortress is becoming more and more tense.

Because Li Dingjun at the head of the city, they watched as the other party's communication trenches were built one after another, and many trenches were dug on the ground.

At the beginning, Li Dingjun tried to order the artillery unit to carry out long-distance artillery bombardment, trying to kill and injure the opponent's personnel digging fortifications, but because the distance was relatively far, the accuracy was poor, and the opponent was hiding in the trench to dig the fortifications forward, the effect was not obvious.

After all, at this time, the fortifications dug by the troops under the command of Lin Ziran were mainly traffic trenches, and the closer they were to the Dingjiang Fortress, the deeper the traffic trenches became, and when they approached the Dingjiang Fortress about 500 meters, the depth of the trenches basically reached more than one meter and a half, and special anti-artillery holes would be dug.

The only thing that made Li Dingjun and them feel more at ease was that for the time being, they had not seen the other party directly moving forward to build an artillery position.

But he also knew that it might not be long before the other side had finished digging the communication trenches used by the infantry, and when the infantry had used the communication trenches to maneuver to only a few hundred meters from the head of the city, it was estimated that it would be time for a large number of enemy artillery units to step forward and urgently build an open-air artillery position and launch an artillery bombardment.

This situation made him a little anxious!

Even though the fortifications of Dingjiang Fortress are perfect, no matter how perfect the fortifications are, they can't withstand so many heavy artillery!

He had seen through his telescope the enemy's heavy artillery group, at least fifty or sixty heavy guns, and the other side also had a large number of new 120-millimeter field guns.

If this really starts, we are afraid that we will face the wanton bombardment of hundreds of artillery pieces of the opponent, and the worst thing is that at least hundreds of artillery pieces can pose a threat to our side.

Even though Dingjiang Fortress is a fortress with a perfect system, it can't withstand the bombardment of so many heavy artillery!

Now the only thing he can count on is that when the other side attacks, his own artillery will be able to suppress the opponent's heavy artillery group!

But on the other side, Jian Liangzhi, who was also observing Lin Ziran's department outside the city, had a bad premonition!

Looking at the number of artillery on his side, although there are many heavy artillery, and they also occupy the advantage of terrain, Jian Liangzhi knows that Lin Ziran has a rear-loading rifled gun that can fight thousands of meters away.

Although so far, Jian Liangzhi can't understand how Lin Ziran solved many key technical problems such as the air leakage of rear-loading artillery.

But he's not an engineer, so it doesn't matter if he can't figure it out, he just needs to know that the other side has such a thing, and that the other party's artillery can hit far away.

When he led the First Division to fight, his own artillery units had not had time to exert their combat effectiveness, but they were completely suppressed by the opponent's long-range heavy artillery.

In the end, it leads to a complete rout!

Now he is very worried that the other party will use this kind of rear-loading long-range heavy artillery to suppress his own artillery units!

And his fears soon became a reality!

Three days after Lin Ziran led his troops to arrive outside the Dingjiang Fortress, through several days of civil engineering operations, a trench system for infantry to advance and fight had been basically constructed.

Although this trench system seems to be very simple, it is just a trench, and it does not say that it is too deep or too strong, at best it is a field defense system.

But for a few short days, that's pretty hard.

More importantly, their own artillery units are also well prepared.

()