"Okay, let's split up and get ready, and launch an attack on time at eight o'clock tonight!" Yin Tonglai got up and said.

Xu Biao and Yuan Dong also hurriedly got up and led out of the headquarters with their respective staff generals, and there was still the sound of guns and cannons outside.

However, compared with the morning, it was a little sparse now, and the island army had to transfer troops to the Xiqi River, and it had to redeploy troops from other places to join the encirclement, which required a buffer time, so the intensity of the attack was smaller.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yin Tonglai and they hurriedly readjusted their deployment and prepared for the night's breakthrough plan.

At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the special operations division overcame the defense line of the island army and Wang City, and the army continued to roll forward without any pause, advancing to the west bank of the Xiqi River in the evening.

But looking at the vast water, Chu Zhongtian was immediately dumbfounded.

Although the Xiqi River is not wide, but since the Yellow River seized the Huai, the Xiqi River has always been the hardest hit area of the Yellow River, the river is narrow and silted, especially the section from Wangshi to Lixin for dozens of kilometers, and the river silt is as thick as one or two meters.

Especially now in May, when the rain is abundant, the estuary is silted up, causing a large amount of water to overflow the river channel, and the water here and there is a lake, forming a vast beach.

Although the special operations division also has a specially equipped boat and bridge unit, it is very difficult to erect a pontoon bridge from a kilometer-long stretch of mud and water, and it is far from being able to build it overnight.

But Chu Zhongtian has no choice, in order to cooperate with him, the previous divisions will move closer to him tonight, if he can't fight to meet him, this will be a catastrophe for them, because giving up the existing defensive positions to break through is a very risky thing in itself, if you can't wait for the responding troops, the consequences can be imagined.

He could not continue up the river and temporarily look for areas suitable for troops to cross the river, because going too deep behind enemy lines would bring too many uncertainties to their future, and it would be too late in time.

Chu Zhongtian immediately ordered the Zhouqiao troops to immediately build pontoon bridges, and erect two at one time, and before tomorrow morning, the large army must cross the river, and at the same time, send elite troops and strong generals to prepare for armed swimming.

According to the information provided by Yin Tonglai and the air force, a large number of enemy troops are already stationed on the opposite bank, and if a gap cannot be made on the opposite bank, this pontoon bridge will still not be built.

Armed swimming is a pediatric for these demons of the special operations division, and this is also an important training subject for them in peacetime, and the officers and men of Liu Bao's First Brigade who are responsible for this important task are Liu Bao, and thousands of children jumped into the water and swam forward through the muddy area, and dozens of armed helicopters also quietly dispatched to patrol the air, ready to provide powerful fire assistance to the swimming troops at any time.

A large number of sappers began to pour into the river beach, and all kinds of equipment, steel, and plates were urgently transported from the rear, and everything was in order.

Just when the swimming troops entered the middle of the river, suddenly, without any warning, the guns and cannons on the opposite bank erupted, and a dense rain of bullets poured into the river, and for a time the bullets flew like rain, mud and white waves were monstrous, and the entire Xiqi River seemed to be boiling like a pot, and several helicopters did not have time to retreat, and were shot down and fell into the river on the spot.

"Bastard, let Lao Tzu hear clearly, all the helicopter gunships have been lifted into the air, interspersed from the left and right flanks, and their artillery positions will be destroyed at all costs, and not a single cannon will be left for them." Chu Zhongtian was thunderous, waving his arms and howling hideously and terrifyingly.

At this time, it is too late to call the air force, according to such a dense firepower network of the little devils, I am afraid that in less than half an hour, the officers and men of the first brigade should be completely annihilated, and decisively destroying the enemy's artillery fire with helicopters is the only choice and the wisest choice.

Hundreds of helicopter gunships immediately rose from the rear, and at this time the sun was setting, and it was the time when the red glow was in the sky, and the dense gunships seemed to rise in the firelight, and immediately divided into two teams, bypassing the enemy's dense bombing area, and outflanking them from the left and right flanks.

After a few minutes, they reached the sky above the middle of the river, and immediately the bundles of flowing fire poured down, and the opposite bank was suddenly plunged into a sky-high fire.

When the night was approaching, the flames of the artillery were particularly obvious, and the helicopters were in an absolute high position, and it was a matter of minutes to find the enemy's artillery position, and as soon as the rockets and missiles were smashed down, the enemy's artillery fire suddenly became dumb, but the anti-aircraft machine guns and light and heavy machine guns began to roar, and at this time they could no longer take care of the swimming troops in the water, and almost all the heavy firepower was aimed at the air, and they swept wildly.

Ground strikes against air targets are far more accurate than air strikes, from time to time there are helicopters that are blown up or crashed in the air, but fortunately, they are huge, the firepower is definitely a multiple of the enemy, plus the angle of fire can be adjusted at any time in the air, all the enemy's firepower points are almost hidden, after paying the price of casualties of thirty or forty helicopters, the situation is reversed, the enemy is getting weaker and weaker, but the helicopters are fighting more and more bravely, almost advancing to the opposite bank of the river, a large amount of ammunition poured down, until the ammunition is exhausted before returning quickly.

But the ravages did not stop there, dozens of fighters and bombers arrived, and dive bombing along the Heti all the way, plowing the entire defense line of more than ten miles on the east bank, and napalm was used in many places, and the blazing fire only turned the Xiqi River red.

Chu Zhongtian is definitely a master who can't suffer, for fear that the helicopter's firepower is not strong enough, he temporarily called Ye Zhaofeng's air force support.

The entire sky belongs to the Chinese Air Force, Ye Zhaofeng and they are now also a large number of generals and have sufficient ammunition, plus his relationship with Chu Zhongtian is solid, so he is naturally on call, and dozens of fighters and bombers also poured all the ammunition before returning home.

The two rounds of attacks took more than an hour, and in this hour's time, the little devil was absolutely no time to take care of anything else, but a brigade led by Liu Bao made full use of this time, as soon as the bombing stopped, the vanguard rushed to the river, and in the sky-high firelight, the roar of AK47 sounded on the opposite bank again, which lasted for a long time.

……

Thirty kilometers east of the Xiqi River, under a small hill, the engines of thirty Tiger tanks had begun to roar, like lions ready to attack, and behind them were more than 20 armored vehicles.

In a clearing farther back, forty or fifty helicopters were already spinning their rotors, and the whirring propellers were dusting the area.

On the hillside, Yin Tonglai, Xu Biao, Yuan Dong, Heihu and other staff officers gathered together, and standing next to them were rows of special combat team members standing like javelins.