Fierce hand-to-hand combat immediately began in this trench. Before the hand-to-hand combat, the attacking Song infantry first fired a round of guns at close range, while Liu Futong's hand artillerymen threw a round of bombs. Platoon guns and bombs knocked down many soldiers on both sides. But no one bothered to glance at the dead and wounded comrades, but rushed at the oncoming enemy with their bayonet rifles.

Liu Futong led the hand artillery, which belonged to the elite backbone of the infantry, and all of them were veterans with great strength and strength. The ability to fight bayonets is first-class. But they have a weakness, none of them have been on the battlefield, so they are far less fierce than their opponents. After two fights, they immediately fell behind.

The ferocity of the Western Song army really exceeded their expectations, and some people were covered in blood by the exploding cannons and grenades, and they screamed madly and pounced. Some broke their spears in the fighting, and threw themselves at the hand artillery of the Zhou army with their bare hands, pinching their necks and buttoning their eyes, and even holding on to the bayonets with both hands until the blood flowed.

Fortunately, Liu Futong's boss had invested the most elite hand artillery team at the beginning, and if ordinary infantry had been allowed to meet the first wave of onslaught of the Western Song warriors, most of them would have been defeated by now.

Even the most elite republican artillerymen were a little unable to hold on to the impact of the fierce and crazy Western Song Dynasty soldiers.

Fortunately, the reinforcements of the Republican Army soon came up along the communication trenches.

At the same time, the howitzers, long guns and mountain artillery of the Republican Army opened heavy fire, blocking the advance line of the follow-up troops of the Western Song Army with howitzers and shotguns.

As more and more IRA reinforcements arrived, the fight between the two sides gradually became one-sided. The two brothers, Chen Youliang and Chen Youren, rushed into the trench side by side. As his elder brother, Chen Youliang participated in the Western Tibetan Suppression War and had rich combat experience - the Western Song Dynasty had not only fought in Central Asia and Mongolia (Chagatai Khanate) for decades, but also had internal turmoil. In particular, the Tusi tribes in the Western Regions, Western Tibet, and Southern Wilderness (referring to the northern part of Bagan and southern Dali) always made trouble for the Western Song Dynasty.

But how could they be the elite opponents of the Western Song Dynasty Heavenly Soldiers? It is nothing more than becoming the object of experience for veterans of the Western Song Dynasty like Chen Youliang. And Chen Youren is the first recruit to go to the battlefield, Chen Youren, who was dizzy by the artillery bombardment of the Zhou army, is now completely blinded, and has long forgotten the skills of stabbing and hand-to-hand combat that he has practiced hard since he was a child. Just danced the rifle of the bayonet indiscriminately, and as a result, a hand artillery of Zhou Guo pierced the lower abdomen with a bayonet. It doesn't seem to have pierced any important internal organs, and this kid doesn't feel anything, and is still screaming and fighting.

Chen Youliang killed his head and face covered with blood, like a fierce god. Although he was murderous, he still did not forget to take care of his brother and always stood by his side. Otherwise, Chen Youren would have died a long time ago.

However, not every recruit of the Western Song Army was protected by a veteran brother, so those of them who jumped into the trenches in a panic became the objects of experience for the Republican soldiers. Now there are almost all dead and wounded!

Although veterans like Chen Youliang were difficult to deal with, the stragglers of the Zhou army who retreated from the front-line trenches did not go far, but hid in the nearby wheat fields and grass, killing the veterans of the Western Song Dynasty with accurate snipers from time to time.

In the face of bullets, veterans and recruits are no different!

In the face of grenades, shrapnel and shotguns, the most brave warriors are nothing more than a mess of meat!

The artillery of the Republican Army has brought out the power of industrialization in today's engagements!

The raindown of grenades, shrapnel and shotgun seriously weakened the kinetic energy of the Song army's charge. Almost one-third of the soldiers of the Western Song Army fell on the way to the charge - suffering such a big loss, they were still able to hold on to the attack, which already shows the bravery of the Western Song Army.

And in the remaining two-thirds, there were many recruits who went into battle for the first time because of the shelling.

Therefore, the main driving force for the charge of the Western Song Army was actually a veteran like Chen Youliang who escaped the shelling.

However, the charge, which was supported by the lives of the veterans, eventually reached the point of exhaustion as the casualties continued to expand.

After a counterattack by the Zhou army's reserves, Chen Youliang and his younger brother Chen Youren were separated, and he was dragged out of the trenches by several comrades, running to his position with tears in his eyes, and never saw his own brother again during the entire war. It wasn't until eleven years later, when the war ended, that he met Chen Youren, who had lost an arm and a thigh, in his hometown of Hanyang. The latter were released by prisoner of war camps of the Republican Army......

"Order the 10th Division to go up and continue the attack! The 13th Division is ready! ”

Witnessing the failure of the 7th Division's attack from the telescope, General Zhao Liang was not moved at all, but only issued an order for the 10th Division of the Army to continue the attack.

After the 10th Division, the 13th Division went up, and then the reorganized 7th Division continued the attack. In this way, the three Western Song infantry divisions launched a wheel battle, and during the day on September 19, they launched eleven waves of tidal attacks one after another.

However, the position of the Zhou army was as hard as a rock, and even if the Song army repeatedly slapped it, it would not move!

However, the impact of the Western Song army, regardless of casualties, still put the defending Zhou army under great pressure. After all, they only had three divisions in strength, and they were defending a fairly long front. In the face of the repeated attacks of 1340,000 enemy troops, the strength was still a little insufficient.

Wu Yuanzhen and Han Shantong couldn't stay in the headquarters for a long time, so the two of them ran to the rear of the battle line that was being attacked with a group of Ji Yi and heralds, and found a small hill to observe the front line.

Their positions are all within the effective range of the 6-pound long guns of the Eastern Song Army! However, the two of them didn't care about the danger at all, but they and one of their subordinates both held monoculars and looked at the battlefield in front of them.

In order to withstand the frenzied attacks of the Western Song army round after round, Wu Yuanzhen had already invested all its reserves to fight a counterattack, and also drew a large number of artillery from the relatively calm front, all of which were strengthened in the direction of the attack.

And the Song army also seems to have concentrated most of their artillery on the direction of the main attack.

More than 300 guns were concentrated on a frontal area less than 10 miles wide and fired at each other. In the interval between the shelling, the Song troops of the brigade held bayonets and launched wave after wave of brave assaults.

Shells were flying, gunsmoke was filling, and human lives were consumed as if they didn't need money.

When dusk fell, Wu Yuanzhen, an elderly lieutenant general, was already excited, smiled and put away the binoculars, and patted Han Shantong on the shoulder: "Zhao Liang will fight us with three times the strength for a whole day, and he hasn't broken through an inch!" It seems that he is no more than an old man. In the future, it will be time for the two of us to put the war examples in the textbooks. ”

Han Shantong was calmer than his commander, looking at the battlefield obscured by gunsmoke and the increasingly dark sky, he always felt that something was wrong.

The dignified general of the Western Song Dynasty, is this ability? Just staring at one place like a bull and lunging?

"Commander, there's always something wrong!" Han Shantong shook his head, "Could General Zhao Liang be playing some tricks?" ”

"Tricks?" Wu Yuanzhen asked with a smile, "What tricks are there to use?" It's nothing more than bypassing us to attack Xiangcheng. But there is a brigade of defenders in Xiangcheng, and he can fight again, and he can't beat it in ten days.

And we have 50,000 people...... Did he bypass it if he wanted to? If he doesn't defeat us, he won't be able to go anywhere. But it's not easy to defeat us, according to this style of play, it is impossible to play without ten days and half a month. But by then, there will be two armies in place on the Yingchang Mansion. How can the defense of the two armies withstand a month, right? By the time Zhao Liang completes the breakthrough, our first phase of mobilization will be completed...... By then, there will be more than 3 million troops!

And those guys in the navy should also seize the main force of the fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty...... As long as the land can be held, the sea will be victorious. Let's see that the three points are unified!

By the way, you caught a lot of captives today, right? They were all sent to the Xiangcheng fortress to be taken care of, and the injured were also treated. In a few months, we will all be compatriots of the same country. ”

Wu Yuanzhen wants to get it well, but his opponent Zhao Liang will calculate better.

General Zhao Liang didn't plan to lose his reputation in such a small place as Jiangshan.

All his actions during the day on September 19 were eye-catching.

When night fell, two of the four divisions that were in the second formation during the day, but had been pressed by General Zhao Liang in their hands and had never been used, began to march in the dark under the night.

The target area of their march was outside the town of Jiangshan, west of Jiangshan.

According to General Zhao Liang's plan, during the day of September 19 and the night afterward, the Western Song Army would continue to storm the Zhou army's defensive line in the eastern and northern areas of Jiangshan with five divisions.

The purpose was to attract the forces of the Zhou army and create conditions for the raid on Jiangshan Town from the night of the 19th to the early morning of the 20th.

The raid was, in a way, a bold gamble. Because the Zhou army built fortifications in Jiangshan Town, there seem to be a lot of garrisons.

In order to complete the movement and launch the attack before the night passed, the two divisions of the two Song Dynasty coalition armies did not even carry artillery, and they were completely lightly armed!

If the Zhou army had not removed most of the defenders and artillery from Jiangshan Town, the surprise attack of the two Song coalition forces would likely have turned into a complete disaster.

And Zhao Liangjiang's martial arts and the national fortune of the Great Song Dynasty stopped at Jiangshan Town. It's a pity that the road to unification is not as smooth as Wu Yuanzhen thought.

A full eight battalions of Western Song infantry rushed into Jiangdian Town in the early morning of September 20!

General Zhao Liang's "left hook" really succeeded, and the Republican Army was "caught off guard."

Because the battle at the eastern foot of Jiangshan was too fierce, Wu Yuanzhen had to draw troops from all over the defense line. Among them is the seemingly peaceful town of Jiangdian.

The brigade originally stationed there plus a mountain artillery company (the infantry brigade of the Zhou State had an artillery company under its jurisdiction, so the troops stationed in Jiangdian Town had two artillery companies) were all transferred to the front line, and the two battalions that had been withdrawn from the battlefield at the eastern foot of Jiangshan to rest and more than 1,000 people of the Jiangdian militia were used to fill the gap.

The number of people is actually quite a lot, if there is a city wall in Jiangdian Town, it doesn't have to be a fortress, and an ordinary rammed earth city wall can be defended.

But Jiangdian Town is a town without city walls!

Ordinary rammed-earth walls were outdated as a defensive facility 200 years earlier. Unless it's a fortress, it can't stop the shelling at all, and it's better to have no walls.

Therefore, in the past 200 years, the city market town of the Great Zhou Republic has been tearing down the city wall. Except for the bastion, which was preserved, the rest of the city walls were mostly demolished. The situation in Jiangdian Town is no exception, and there is no city wall to protect it. The only barrier in the town was the camp where the Zhou army stayed overnight on the night of the 18th. And this camp occupies a large area, and it cannot be defended by two battalions plus more than 1,000 militiamen.

Therefore, the defenders had to shrink into Jiangdian Town to set up defenses, and they were unable to stop the surprise attack of the Western Song army.

Eight battalions and more than 7,000 infantry of the Western Song Army broke into Jiangdian Town, which was not protected by the city walls, without much effort.

However, it was unexpected by the attacking Western Song infantry and General Zhao Liang, who planned this raid.

The town of Jiangshan, which was not protected by the city walls, was not easy to capture. Because there are too many tall houses in the town that are made of red bricks and cement. The Zhou army and the militia of the Zhou State, who were not stationed in the camp outside the town, guarded these tall and sturdy buildings. Stubborn resistance was fought with smoothbore guns, rifled guns and hand cannons (grenades).

This kind of street fighting style was extremely common in the later "Three Kingdoms to One War". However, on the battlefield of Gingersan on September 19, 226 Republic 226, it appeared for the first time.

The tall masonry and concrete buildings were simply impossible to break through for the infantry without artillery support.

Even if the number of Song troops was several times larger, there was no way to drive the Zhou army, which was more than 2,000 and less than 3,000, out of the small Jiangdian Town. On the contrary, in the successive offensive setbacks, it suffered a lot of losses.

And Jiangdian Town's effective resistance also exceeded Wu Yuanzhen's expectations - although he was an elite general trained by the Great Zhou Republican Army for twenty or thirty years, he was a novice on the battlefield.

The mastery of the methods of warfare all comes from books and examples of foreign military operations. The ability to improvise is not strong, the battlefield does not feel good, and it is a bit weak.

Therefore, after the news that Jiangdian Town was broken into by the Song army, he never thought that his troops could hold half of the town, and they could rely on tall buildings to beat the enemy with heavy losses. Therefore, at the first moment, the retreat was arranged.

Tens of thousands of people retreated from the battlefield, which was a very difficult tactical action, some went first, some were behind, some were ambushed, and some were responsible for destroying supplies.

After a long period of busy work, I found that Jiangdian Town was still fighting well, but Wu Yuanzhen didn't have time to find the troops who had run away.

Therefore, this Jiangshan resistance battle was lost in this way, and General Zhao Liang's army was also one step closer to leaving Fengfu!

.。 m.