Section 93 World War II Stone Mountain

"It's a general." Zhu Mingxia was not without regrets, "I thought he was at least a deputy general......

Xiong Maozhang squatted on the corpse and looked at it for a long time and said: "There is only one deputy general in Guangdong, and I heard from the people in the big library that this will be very valuable. It's no better than later, the streets are full of general soldiers and deputy general soldiers. ”

"Huizhou generals, Huizhou generals......" Zhu Mingxia thought for a long time, isn't this one of the five generals of the Ming army who came to encircle and suppress the guerrillas mentioned in the "Enemy Information Report"? At that time, it was clearly stated in the report that these six generals belonged to the military generals of the imperial court who had established their own teeth, and they could not be compared with ordinary generals and guerrillas.

To put it this way, this battle was almost at the level of killing the enemy's major general and division commander.

The first time he commanded the battle, he achieved such a big victory, Zhu Mingxia couldn't help but be secretly happy, and couldn't help but say "good" and "good" in a row.

Several soldiers around him saw that the battalion commander was so happy, and knew that he must have beheaded a general of the officer and army, and according to the practice at that time, he would be beheaded and make meritorious contributions. A soldier picks up a large knife next to him and is about to cut off his head.

"Don't cut." Zhu Mingxia stopped him, "He sacrificed his life for the country, so he could be buried and buried with military honors."

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the 3,000 men and horses led by Sha Jianbi had appeared less than three kilometers away from the stone mountain. Because he urged his men and horses to go quickly, causing many infantry to fall behind, Zuihou had to fight with the thieves and lose when the troops were insufficient, so he did not urge his men and horses to go quickly, and also collected many Yanbu routs along the way, and knew the whole battle process from their mouths.

But he could not get anything out of sight except in the front and back of the post road, and no matter how many scouts and fine work he sent, none of them could return. A wounded pony had galloped back, but before he could get close, he was suddenly struck by a bird and died.

What made him most embarrassed was that he didn't know where the bird was put - no smoke, no one. He sent a squad of infantry to search back and forth around the four hundred paces of the probe horse, but Zuihou found nothing. Only the two small black holes on Tanma's body indicate that he was killed by someone who released a bird's gun.

The fear of the bird's gun, which does not see smoke, no people, or even hears, began a few days ago, and the officers and men secretly called it the "shadowless cannon."

Sha Jianbi's troops marched all the way, and they also suffered a lot of "shadowless artillery", losing forty or fifty officers and soldiers along the way, making people panic up and down. If it weren't for the fact that there were still Li Guang's 2,000 men and horses coming to reinforce behind them, these 3,000 people would have scattered in a hurry before they could reach Shishan.

After walking blindly for most of the day in such a panic, the striker reported: Shishan is already four or five miles away.

"Where are the enemy troops deployed?"

"Right down the rocky mountain." The striker's Qian always said.

He stood up straight on the stirrups, and there was a camp on the rocky hill, and the red flag of the thief was fluttering. This is part of the original grain platform for officers and soldiers. The originally lush stone mountain has now become bare, and both the Ming army and the Fubo army have carried out the work of clearing the shooting area. A gray array stretched across the foot of the mountain, blocking the post road.

This array is very thin. Sha Jianbi saw that there were only a thousand thieves in the formation at the foot of the mountain, but they put up a line of 200 steps, this is simply crazy Such a thin depth, isn't it broken by someone in one rush? How confident are thieves in their firearms? You must know that Chengmai is guarding the earthen embankment

However, the fiasco of the previous day made the officers and troops already rumored. Sha Jianbi didn't even dare to get too close, for fear of being hit by the "shadowless cannon". Immediately he commanded the men to stand in battle on the spot and prepare for battle.

Sha Jianbi gathered his subordinate generals together.

"Everyone saw it, there were only a thousand thieves, and the array was thin. In a hurry, they were only lined up against the low walls of the trenches. Let's concentrate the whole army and horses to attack, and we can squeeze him out of the formation" Sha Jianbi pretended to be full of confidence, "I see, his one-line long snake formation only has two rows of people, and no matter how powerful the firearms are, he can shoot several rows of guns."

"General Sha" has a thousand general sayings, "Listen to General Yan's defeated words, the thieves are in ambush one by one, and when our troops attack fiercely, they will send ambushes to attack our flank......"

"No problem." Sha Jianbi said, "I want to use the wheel warfare method. Three thousand centaurs were divided into three teams. ”

The three teams of men and horses attacked alternately, the Chinese army waited for the battle to deal with the sudden situation, one team stepped forward to fight, one team released arrows behind the formation to cover, and when the front team was tired, it was replaced by the rear team.

Sha Jianbi thought that this would prevent the thieves from resting - after all, the enemy was small in number and there was no rotation, and even if their firearms were pure, even the firearms would make the soldiers tired. When the enemy's guns were sparse, two more teams of men and horses came out and routed the enemy in one fell swoop.

“…… As soon as the enemy ambushed the troops, our army met the battle with 1,000 Chinese troops. According to the rout, there were no more than a thousand thieves ambushing them. And the thieves fight, all preset camps, use firearms to control me, white-edged stabbing tools are not their strengths, our soldiers fight with spears and broadswords, the enemy army uses only a short blade on the bird's gun, and it will not be able to fight for a long time" said he said sharply, "General Mao"

"Humble general" A partial general immediately responded.

"You take a thousand people to attack first," Sha Jianbi instructed him, "The thief's firearms are extremely fast, and the team doesn't need to be neat as long as they rush quickly." Let the soldiers bring more bows and arrows, and go to the edge of the trench to shoot a round before charging into battle - the thieves have no armor, and those who are hit by the arrows are either killed or wounded. ”

This General Mao is not Sha Jianbi's headquarters, he was originally a subordinate of the training guerrillas, and he was temporarily assigned to Sha's subordinates, knowing that Sha Jianbi wanted him to lead people to the front and leave the great merit to his own Chinese army. But he didn't dare to disobey the order, so he had to lead the whole team to go.

"General Zhao"

"Humble General"

"You bring a thousand people to meet General Mao, and you must also bring more bows and arrows. If General Mao doesn't retreat, you will continue the attack" He patted General Zhao on the shoulder, "General Mao rushed the thieves for a while, and you will be able to perform the work if you take people immediately."

General Zhao reluctantly squeezed out a smile and said, "Thank you General Sha for cultivating" but secretly scolded Sha Jianbi in his heart and asked them to rush to the front to roll the nail board, and he took the men and horses to prepare to pick up the ready-made credit.

Sha Jianbi was not entirely under the guise of sending Zhao and Mao to the tiger's mouth, but there were not many people in his headquarters, and he had never suffered defeat in the army, and his morale was good. It should be used at a critical time -- he has no information about the ambush of the thieves, and he will not be able to do it without a man who can fight and can be relied on.

So the officers and soldiers hurriedly set up a fortress on the road, and divided the men and horses into three teams to prepare for battle. Sha Jianbi's department also contained more than 200 remnants of Yan Zunhe along the road. He ordered one to take the general manager for the time being and leave it in the Chinese army for use.

Xiong Maozhang's position at the foot of the stone mountain consists of a half-man-high breastwork. In front of the breastwork was a deep trench, and in front of the trench were a number of improvised piles of deer, including many chicken carts seized at the grain table. The 1st Infantry Battalion formed out behind the low wall, intercepting any troops attempting to pass through the post road at the foot of the rocky hill.

The 1st Infantry Battalion deployed a standard double-column formation—the Minnie rifle fired much faster than the flintlock pistol, and there was certainly no need for a three-column column. Xiong Maozhang spread out the six infantry companies of the battalion into a 150-meter horizontal formation. The battalion grenadier company acted as a reserve behind the entire battalion, covering the flanks if necessary. The light infantry company of the 4th Battalion was drawn separately to form a garrison, and together with the logistics troops, defended the camp on the rocky hill while covering one wing of the 1st Infantry Battalion.

The 4 guns brought by the 1st Battalion and the other 2 were arranged in the camp on the top of the stone hill to provide artillery support at any time according to the situation.

Xiong Maozhang took the binoculars and observed the officers and soldiers a few miles away, according to the report of the special reconnaissance team, there were a total of 3,000 enemies in this group, and there were 2,000 people in the back about a dozen miles away. But Chen Sigen made it clear: "The 2,000 people in the back are obviously here to make soy sauce." "Stop-and-go, the fighting spirit is not strong.

"We must defeat these 3,000 people as soon as possible," Xiong Maozhang said to Zhu Mingxia, "otherwise, when the subsequent 2,000 people arrive, it will be difficult to bite if there are too many enemies." ”

Zhu Mingxia didn't speak, he looked at the officers and soldiers in the binoculars: "It seems that the enemy's main attack direction is still your position." But you have to prevent them from attacking the stockade on the mountain. ”

Xiong Maozhang put his helmet on his head: "I have to go to the position, otherwise I won't worry." ”

While they were talking, the flag gate cannons of the officers and soldiers rang out, and a thousand men and horses attacked under the leadership of a partial general. When they rushed out of more than a mile, another trumpet was fired, and another group of officers and soldiers came out to kill the position of the 1st Battalion.

"The enemy is going to be a wheel war." Zhu Mingxia said that he continued to pay close attention to the movements of the officers and troops, and saw that the first team of men and horses had a very strong momentum, and soon rushed to a place less than 100 meters away from the position. The soldiers ran and shot arrows, because the distance was too far to pose a threat. Xiong Maozhang's six infantry companies opened fire at the same time at a distance of 150 meters, the bullets swept through the ranks of the galloping wildly, the officers and men turned on their backs, and before they could get close to the trench, they were in disarray, and then the second column of infantry fired a volley, and in the thick smoke, Zhu Mingxia found that some of the enemy had already retreated.

Zhu Mingxia vaguely felt that something was wrong, and the enemy should not simply repeat the tactics of frontal attack. For the sake of prudence, he did not ask the two mountain grenades in the stone cottage to open fire, and prepared to carry out artillery support at a critical time.

Many of the officers and men in the forward battalion of Sha Jianbi who had already broken their courage yesterday were now about to collide with the thieves' firearms face to face, and the officers and men looked very intimidating. After receiving several volleys, he refused to move forward. The officers and generals shouted desperately, threatened with beheadings, and encouraged with silver, and finally let the horses continue to attack.

At this time, the second team of officers and soldiers rushed up again.

"Shoot the arrows! Arrows"

The officers and men hurriedly fired a row of feathered arrows, but most of them were scattered before they could reach range, and almost none of the arrows fell into the queue, and most of them fell on the trenches and deer barricades.

"Stabilize the ruler 120 meters" The officers constantly corrected the firing distance, "put"

The platoon guns roared and the smoke of gunpowder filled, and the officers and men could not even approach the trenches, and every time they barely entered a distance of 100 meters, they were routed by the platoon guns. Sometimes they were able to make their way to the trench under the leadership of a few brave officers, but then the 12-pound mountain grenade double shotgun would mercilessly kill them all at the edge of the trench.

The smoke of gunpowder filled the air, and the sound of shouts and killings, groans and shouts enveloped the entire stone mountain. The battle lasted for more than an hour, and no matter how much Sha Jianbi and his partial generals encouraged and urged the soldiers to charge, the assault of the officers and soldiers became more and more weak. In particular, after the mountain grenades began to bombard the ranks of officers and soldiers 800 meters away, the officers and men had to retreat two miles away each time before they could regroup. The soldiers exended a lot of physical strength on this round trip. Many officers and men had been marching on the road since noon, and for most of the day, they had been exhausted after several attacks without food and water, and some soldiers simply collapsed on the side of the road and refused to move.

Sha Jianbi saw that his so-called wheel warfare method had no effect at all -- after attacking for half an hour, and also rotating the team several times, there was no progress except for throwing a corpse in front of the thief's trench in vain, and the enemy's platoon guns were still fighting steadily and fiercely, and there was no sparse down, and he was very anxious. If you continue to wear it out like this, you will not wait for the enemy to ambush the troops in all directions, and you will collapse your entire army.

He instead ordered the whole army to storm the stockade on the stone mountain. There were only two light infantry companies and some logistics troops in the stockade, but they were supported by two howitzers, and grenades, shotguns, and solid shells smashed the officers and soldiers who tried to climb the mountain and seize the village.

Although there was a junior general who was very brave, under his leadership, more than a dozen fierce soldiers followed him and rushed to a place more than ten meters away from the wall. Just as he waved his flag and swooped down on the wall, a 12-pounder mountain grenade shot at him.

The officers and soldiers who attacked the cottage were constantly harassed and shot by the birds of the bandit infantry who were arrayed down the mountain. The officers and soldiers desperately attacked several times, and as more and more corpses were dropped on the hillside, the momentum of the attack became weaker and weaker, and the team attacking the cottage retreated again - but this time they did not even reach the halfway point of the mountain, and shouted a few times in response to the story, and the birds in the cottage retreated as soon as the birds were released.

Sha Jianbi's headquarters has not been dispatched, he saw that his men and horses had lost their spirit, not to mention defeating the thieves and recapturing Shishan, even the team of thieves and horses in front of him could not help it, and many horses were killed and injured in vain, wouldn't he be blamed by his boss? He glared at him and ordered loudly: "Tell General Zhao and General Mao to attack desperately, and you must open up the post road, otherwise you will come to see you."

"General Hui, General Mao has been killed." A young general who came to him to say a prayer said breathlessly.

Sha Jianbi heard that a partial general had been killed in battle, and his heart was even more panicked. He took a breath, although the young general in front of him had crooked armor and slanted armor, he was very burly and strong, with a round face and a few whiskers on his pointed chin, and small eyes with his nose and nose. It also looks very strong.

"What's your name?"

"The humble general Cao Xiangjiao was originally a partial general under General Mao......"

"Okay, General Cao will order you to garrison the forward battalion now, and take command of General Mao's headquarters," his horsewhip pointed at the line of the 1st Infantry Battalion under the stone mountain, "You immediately lead the team from the paddy field to attack the wing of its battle formation, as long as you break through the enemy formation, I will protect you in front of Lord Zhentai"

"General Xie cultivates humble generals and must move forward bravely" Cao Xiangjiao was originally a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers, but at this time, he was provoked by a few words, and he had the hope of being promoted, and he was suddenly full of energy. Immediately stepped on the horse, carried the broadsword and went to charge.

After issuing this series of orders, he also knew that he was not much sure of relying on Cao Xiangjiao, a stunned young man, to charge the battle, and he had to personally lead the soldiers into battle to attack.

So he shouted, "Beat the drums and line up"

Although the thief ambush has not appeared so far, he can't care much more. He thought that as long as he broke away from the battle formation and the thieves came out of ambush, he would have time to turn back to meet the battle. Sha Jianbi believed that as long as it was not an attack on the camp of the thieves, the white soldiers on both sides were no match for the officers and soldiers.

Amid the deafening sound of war drums, Sha Jianbi turned on his horse, and his own soldiers hurriedly sent his broadsword. He carried a knife, and his Chinese army and his own soldiers were lined up with bright armor and waiting to leave.

Sha Jianbi stood on the stirrup and looked out, only to see that Cao Xiangjiao's men and horses had gone around to the paddy field, and were moving towards one wing of the thief array, but the paddy field was muddy, and the speed of action was very slow, and from time to time there were people who were shot and fell down, but Cao Xiangjiao brandished a big knife and urged the soldiers to go quickly. And General Zhao's headquarters is still attacking weakly.

He nervously waited for Cao Xiangjiao's detour to succeed, about the time of a meal, he saw that Cao Xiangjiao's banner had appeared on the flank of the thief array, the guns were rumbling, and the smoke was filled, and he knew that Cao Xiangjiao's attack had begun. He waved his broadsword and shouted: "Kill and break through the thief array, each of them will be rewarded with five taels of silver" and his soldiers let out a howl. Follow him and rush from the front.

Cao Xiangjiao's detour did pose a threat to the 1st Infantry Battalion, Xiong Maozhang immediately ordered the battalion grenadier company acting as a reserve to immediately turn to the flank formation, and the two platoons fired back the first charge of the officers and men, and then Zhu Mingxia ordered the 2 mountain grenades on the mountain to open fire.

"Hit with a grenade shotgun" Solid bullets in rice fields cannot beat, their lethality is limited, and the range of shotguns is insufficient, so the shrapnel that blooms in the air becomes the best weapon of long-range destruction. Shrapnel after shrapnel quickly drove Cao Xiangjiao's men and horses back. The muddy rice paddies made it difficult for the soldiers to move quickly, and they fell under the precise fire of the grenadiers.

Sha Jianbi's Chinese army threw off the already chaotic General Zhao's headquarters, and the whole army rushed towards the center of the battle column with all one blow. Prepare to take advantage of Cao Xiangjiao's flank interference to attract the firepower of the thieves in one fell swoop.