Chen Chunyi got the information from Zhang Wei and made an attack plan, according to Chen Daqing's order, the attack time on the three sides was about the same, Chen Chunyi ordered Zhang Wei to kill the Japanese troops near the city gate, and the work of clearing the Japanese troops in the city and the key points in the city was handed over to the other troops of the 23rd Regiment.

The reason for doing this was based on the consideration that there were many recruits in other troops, and it was very important to take the city gate, Chen Chunyi didn't want the panicked recruits to defeat the troops. Chen Chunyi equipped Zhang Wei with a heavy machine gun company to cover them in the back.

Zhang Wei crawled forward in the grass with an independent company, and two heavy machine guns hid in the bushes behind the grass. Zhang Wei's arrangement: Qiu Wei's men were responsible for knocking out the heavy machine guns on the city wall, Hao Zhong's men were responsible for killing the defenders on the city wall with grenadiers, He Kun's men followed him, and Xu Yi's men were responsible for covering behind the palace.

There was no cover at the distance to the city gate, so as soon as Qiu Wei and Hao Zhong's guns rang out, Zhang Wei had to rush forward. Qiu Wei selected five veterans of the teaching corps who had been fighting until now, and Hao Zhong's men loaded the grenadiers and prepared.

Zhang Wei nodded, Qiu Wei understood, five Zhongzheng rifles aimed at the heavy machine guns on the city wall in the distance, waiting for the opportunity to shoot, and when the people near the city gate gathered, one could create chaos, and the other could minimize the casualties of the people.

The Japanese troops guarding the city gate were the strength of two detachments, led by a corporal. He was sitting on the battlements of the city gate, looking at the situation around him, the Chinese army had been fighting fiercely with the imperial army recently, and the imperial army had defeated them, but the imperial army had also suffered heavy losses in many battles, and there were some squadrons left with a small squadron.

A scream came, a burst of floating earth was knocked out of the city wall, the machine gun crew of the 92 heavy machine guns was hit, and the two shooters were knocked down and fell off the city wall.

"There are enemy troops."

Qiu Wei's shooting was followed by Hao Zhong's grenadier shot, and several grenades hit the city wall, and the Japanese troops on the city wall were blinded, and the crooked sub-machine gun crew was also killed and wounded. Zhang Wei saw that Qiu Wei and Hao Zhong had succeeded, and immediately led people to rush forward.

"Kill"

Zhang Wei rushed up with He Kun's people, but the Japanese troops near the city gate had not yet reacted, Zhang Wei asked He Kun's people to concentrate on the left side, and the right side was reserved for heavy machine gun shooting.

The Type 24 heavy machine gun fired at the city gate as a cover, but before the Japanese could get out of the panic, they were fired at by the 24 heavy machine guns, and four or five people were killed on the spot, and the others were panicked by the salvo of the heavy machine guns and began to look for fortifications to hide.

The fighting qualities of the Japanese army were really good, and they quickly returned fire. Da Da, the remaining crooked sub-machine gun on the city wall began to shoot at Zhang Wei, two of He Kun's men were killed, Hao Zhong saw this, and immediately organized the grenadier to suppress it again, and the crooked sub-machine gun team could not organize a return fire, so they could only barely squat under the city wall to avoid bullets.

Zhang Wei ignored the crooked handle on the city wall, rushed straight forward, fired a shot at the front, and the soldiers also shot as they went. The machine gunners fought in a Czech style, and the Japanese troops hidden in the fortifications were beaten so that they could not raise their heads, and only sporadically returned fire, knocking down two or three charging soldiers.

In an instant, Zhang Wei rushed to the city gate, he took out a grenade and threw it out desperately, and the soldiers behind him also threw grenades, more than a dozen grenades exploded on the city gate and fortifications, and the troops took advantage of the chaos to rush into the fortifications and start hand-to-hand combat.

Zhang Wei took out the shell gun and shot into the smoke, a Japanese soldier who was squinted by the smoke held a rifle, walked out crookedly, and the rifle in his hand was waved around, as if he could get safe by doing so, Zhang Wei approached, shot his head with a gun, and then slammed the shell gun adjusted to a burst of fire in front of him, only to hear a burst of screams.

In the smoke came the sound of shouts and slashing blades, and beyond that, only the gasps and shouts of Chinese soldiers remained.

After a surprise attack, the Japanese troops ambushed at the city gate were basically wiped out, and now in addition to the crooked handles on the city wall, there are a few who have not been killed, and they are stubbornly resisting after the sandbag fortifications in the middle of the city gate. Zhang Wei did not dare to charge rashly, and led his troops to use the Japanese fortifications to shoot at them.

Seeing this, Hao Zhong hurriedly organized a grenadier to shoot at the crooked handle on the city wall, in case this crooked handle opened fire to Zhang Wei and them, it would be a big fuss.

Zhang Wei picked up the Zhongzheng rifle, and the Japanese probably had it

The sound of explosions on the city wall came, it was Hao Zhong's platoon of grenadiers, and they fired a volley at a large angle at the city wall, and the target was the crooked machine gun group, three grenades were thrown, and the only remaining crooked was also killed by Hao Zhong.

Zhang Wei's men killed the Japanese troops near the city gate and took control of the city gate, He Kun's men were retrieving the wounded and checking that there were no living people in the pile of corpses, Zhang Wei called He Kun.

"He Kun, send a signal, ask Xu Yi to come up and send a signal to Captain Chen."

"Yes, company commander."

The two soldiers under He Kun raised a large red flag and waved it continuously. Xu Yi saw the signal and immediately ordered the signal corps to notify the main force of the 23rd Regiment behind, and rushed forward with his own platoon.

Behind Xu Yi and them, is the main force of the 23rd regiment, Chen Chunyi received the news of the successful attack, immediately ordered the main force of the regiment to advance, at the same time, the other two aspects of the attack has also worked, the 4th Division's plan to besiege Zaozhuang has been very smooth so far, Chen Daqing ordered, attack Zhuangli, clear the Japanese army.

"The troops advanced closer to the city, the second battalion took the lead, and I personally led the troops directly under the regiment to follow up, the third battalion was behind, and the first battalion was on guard outside the city." Chen Chunyi also knew that there would be a bloody battle inside the city, and there was also a need for guard posts outside the city, so he threw the battalion with the heaviest losses outside the city.

"Let's go, stand in line, and move forward."

"Hurry up, front and back."

The troops of the 23 regiment have just been replenished with a lot of new recruits, and the training and coordination in all aspects are still very lacking, and the veterans and officers in the troops organize and direct the troops to move forward, fortunately, with these veterans as the backbone, the troops will not collapse, but there will be a certain degree of chaos in the offensive and defensive and advance and retreat, there is no way, just these recruits, at all, they have been trained, and their quality is not good, but they are better than those strong men who are directly captured and untrained.

After a somewhat chaotic march, the 23rd Regiment marched to the city gates.

"Zhang Wei, how is it?" Chen Chunyi asked

"The Japanese troops on the city gate and the city wall have been cleared, the city gate has been controlled, and the situation inside is not clear."

"Good work."

When Chen Chun saw that the city gate was successfully captured, his confidence increased greatly, and now he was about to clear the Japanese army in the city. He ordered the vanguard of the second battalion to enter the city and search for the advance.

The troops of the second battalion entered Zaozhuang as a company, the area of the village was still very large, and the troops of the second battalion had just entered halfway in, and the guns rang out inside, and the pace of the team's advance slowed down, Chen Chunyi and Zhang Wei heard the gunshots and immediately rushed into the city. The officers and men of the separate company followed.

After entering the city and arriving at the place where the guns rang out, Zhang Wei and Chen Chunyi saw the two Japanese corpses on the ground, and asked the company commander who led the team, only then did they know that the battle had ended, and the two Japanese soldiers belonging to the city gate detachment did not catch up with the battle of the city gate because of the correspondence.

Lucky and unlucky, fortunately not to be killed with the two detachments of comrades at the city gate, but unlucky to catch up with the national army into the city, so the two Japanese soldiers ambushed on the corner of the street, using the dead corner to attack the company, this company spent half a squad at the cost of throwing grenades from the roof to the bottom, to kill the two Japanese soldiers.

"Capsized in the gutter." Chen Chunyi scolded.

Zhang Wei also felt very uncomfortable, not only because of being ambushed, but also because of the rampant and tenacious ambush of these two Japanese soldiers, and the stubborn face of the enemy army with superior forces did not escape.

"This little devil's will to fight is really good." Zhang Wei had to sigh in his heart

Chen Chunyi ordered the troops to speed up, Zhang Wei consciously fell behind, he also had to sort out the troops, and the work of cleaning up and making ideas in front of him would be handed over to other troops to be responsible. Zhang Wei stopped the independent company and ordered each platoon to get out of the way, form a team on both sides, and report the casualty figures.

"One platoon, five dead and three wounded."

"Second platoon, six dead and five wounded."

"Three platoons, two dead, one wounded"

"Four platoons, no casualties."

It is an acceptable figure, the independent company played this kind of exchange ratio in the raid after replenishing the new recruits, Zhang Wei thought that it was still possible, and knocked out the Japanese army of nearly one detachment, of course, there were also grenadiers and sneak attack factors.

Qiu Wei walked over: "Company commander, what should we do next?" The remaining three also looked at Zhang Wei. Zhang Wei did not answer immediately, looking at the troops advancing towards the city, he could still hear the sound of gunfire in the distance, which was the sound of other troops of the 4th Division not knowing whether they were attacking the city or fighting with the Japanese army in the city.

In fact, before and after the battle at the city gate, the troops of the 4th Division besieging Zaozhuang began to attack, and the troops in the three directions of Mashan, Huangshan and Zhuoshan acted almost simultaneously, especially the troops of the 10th Brigade, and also concentrated on mortar bombardment. In the battles at the outer gates in all directions, the 4th Division's attacks were relatively smooth, and the small forces defending the enemy were basically annihilated.

However, the officers knew that the focus of the Japanese army's defense must be inside the city, and under the disadvantage of troops, the periphery was light and the interior was heavy, and the essence of the strength was concentrated at the core. This is common sense in the military, and even the Chinese officers, who lack military education, are aware of it, and the head is behind.

Zhang Wei didn't need to have a head to guess that what would happen next would be either a tragic urban assault, or a difficult street battle and block fighting, which was really unbearable for his small army......

Zhang Wei didn't want to participate in the next battle in the city, he was not selfish, although he was an outsider, but Zhang Wei's previous battle performance was not bad, and it can be said that he did play a role in assisting the 23rd Regiment.

The people of the 23rd Regiment also kept this in mind, and the Independent Company was now more like an elite force under the 23rd Regiment, playing a key role. If you let your troops fight this kind of battle, even if they win all, then the troops are probably exhausted.

"Don't be in a hurry, march slowly, organize your troops, and stand by." Zhang Wei sighed and finally said this sentence