Zhang Xiaohu's hunch was correct, the slowly advancing Japanese troops stopped outside the firing range, and they all quickly lay on the ground.

At the same time, the sharp sound of shells pierced the sky violently, and the target was the first-line position of the Stop-Soldier Mountain defended by the 117th and 118th regiments.

Fortunately, Zhang Xiaohu anticipated this scene in advance, and ordered the troops to retreat in time, leaving only a small part to guard the position, otherwise after being hit by this heavy artillery, I am afraid that these two regiments will also have to lose troops like the previous 115th and 116th regiments.

"It's really a trick." Zhang Xiaohu gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "Inform the artillery regiment and beat these sons of bitches for me." ”

The 57th Brigade of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army was the first to achieve results, and the position abandoned by Rao Shaohui of the 54th Division became the capital for the brigade commander Shima Genyoshi to show off in front of other generals, but the Chinese defenders' positions along the Stop Mountain became his nightmare.

Knowing that the new division commander was about to take office, he didn't want to be disliked like a waste at first, so he personally ran to the headquarters of the 116th Division at night and found Iwanaga Wang, who was in charge of the 68th Division.

"Your Excellency, Chinese Army, China's Army, China's Army, 私は、彼に57旅団が群の物の物であることを感じさせたくありません。 だから、私は、私に最大の火力支援を与えて、私の队员が中国军の陣地を一発に攻めるために支援してください。 "(Your Excellency Division Commander, the Chinese army is too tenacious, our unit has suffered heavy casualties, and now the new division commander, His Excellency General Tsutsumi Mitsukio, is about to take office, and I don't want him to think that the 57th Brigade is a bunch of waste, so I ask Your Excellency, Division Commander, to give me the greatest fire support and help our division capture the positions of the Chinese army in one fell swoop.) ）

In the past few days of the attack on Hengyang City, Yan Yongwang's own 68th Division did not contribute too much force, his subordinates except for the field artillery wing, the infantry did not invest in the siege battle at all, for the 68th Division that was "beheaded" by the Chinese army twice in a row, he really despised it, and even used them as guns, but he was still a little conscientious, although he ordered the 68th Division to attack Hengyang City, but he was not stingy at all with the artillery support.

"Shima-kun は、今はあなたの57旅だけではなく、、Otajun も炮火の支援を必要としていて、すべての炮火をすべてあなたの所に集中させることはできないので、どうすれば中国の守军の陣地を攻略することができて、またあなた自身を頼りにしなければならない。 (Shima-kun, it's not only your 57th Brigade that is attacking the city now, Ota-kun also needs artillery support, and I can't concentrate all the artillery fire on you, so how to capture the positions of the Chinese defenders depends on yourself.) ）

Iwanagawang's words made Shima Genyoshi very depressed, and he was about to ask for help again, but he heard Iwanagawang's words in his ears.

"しかし、ちょうど横山勇commander官が2つの重砲団をdispatch して、私は彼らをあなたに指揮して一日を指揮することができて、、私は彼らをあなたに指揮して日を指揮することができて、、どのように使うか、どのように協力するか、それはすべてあなた自身が考えていたことで、私はただ私がただの空の前だけを考えて、あなたの勝利の報を聞いています。 (However, it just so happens that Commander Isamu Yokoyama has sent two heavy artillery wings, and I can put them under your command for a day, and as for how to use them and how to cooperate, that's all your own consideration, I just want to hear your good news before dark.) ）

Although Iwanaga Wang did not ask for the content of the good news, in Shima Genyoshi's heart, this good news was to capture the Chinese position on the line from the Stop Soldier Mountain to the Jiangxi Guild Hall. After getting what he wanted, Shima Genji was overjoyed, and kept bowing and thanking: "ありがとうございます,ありがとうございます!" (Thank you, commander, thank you!) ）

In order to make full and better use of this hard-won opportunity, and only in a short day, Shima Genyoshi left the headquarters of the 116th Division and went straight to the cannon wing, believing that only by his own squatting and guarding, these invincible artillerymen would fully support the attack of his troops.

According to his request, the two heavy artillery wings began to shell non-stop before dawn, and it was this unexpected heavy artillery bombardment that caused the 115th and 116th regiments of the 58th Brigade under Zhang Xiaohu to suffer heavy losses.

After a few days of fighting with his opponent, Shima Genyoshi also knew that there were a lot of Chinese troops guarding the line from Bingshan to Jiangxi Guild Hall, and a wave of artillery bombardment was not enough for them to have no defense, so he came up with a bitter plan, and sent two squadrons of troops to act as "bait" to force the Chinese defenders on the position not to dare to withdraw, and then ordered two heavy artillery wings to carry out an unprecedented bombardment, and his purpose was only one, that is, to defeat the unknown number of Chinese troops in front of him in one fell swoop, and use this as a breakthrough to capture Hengyang City.

His plan can be regarded as a good method, if it can really be implemented as he wishes, and Hengyang City is broken, it will be inevitable.

However, it backfired, and his careful plan was guessed by his opponent. Zhang Xiaohu not only withdrew the troops on the position one step in advance, but also prepared a big gift for Shima Genji, a big devil.

After receiving Zhang Xiaohu's order, the officers and men of the artillery regiment, who were already hungry and thirsty, quickly prepared to fight back, and when Shima Genji was watching this shocking heavy artillery salvo on the cannon position, suddenly a large number of shells flew out of Hengyang City, and the target was this cannon position that he was proud of.

If it weren't for the fact that the artillery regiment of the 20th Division had been tolerated in the past few days, the Japanese troops besieging the city mistakenly thought that the Chinese army had no other artillery except for a small part of the mortars, and would not have placed the cannon position within the coverage of the 20th Division's artillery regiment, let alone this position, and even Comrade Mo Yuanji himself would have been set up here.

On the one hand, it was caught off guard, and on the other hand, it was carefully calculated and prepared, so that this wave of bombardment of the 20th Division Artillery Regiment achieved an unexpected effect, first immediately suppressed the Japanese cannons, and then detonated the stacking point of the Japanese cannons during the third salvo.

A huge mushroom cloud rose above the cannon position, and the explosion made the surrounding area hear this shocking explosion, and even Zhang Xiaohu and Fang Xianjue in the city heard this loud noise.

The artillery regiment of the 20th Division in the city opened fire, and the battle had been fought on the sixth day, which was the first time the veil was unveiled, as Fang Xianjue, who had always envied an artillery regiment, was particularly envious of Zhang Xiaohu, who was only a division-level unit, but had an artillery regiment. Judging from the echo of the explosion from outside the city, the shelling just now must have achieved good results, and he now understands why Zhang Xiaohu rejected his face one after another and refused to use them, and now it seems that it is the fulfillment of his statement: it is just about to be used on the blade!

"The devil must have suffered a heavy loss now!" Fang Xianjue smiled and said to Ge Xiancai, the commander of the Tenth Division.

"Definitely, yes!" Ge Xiancai echoed his words: "I finally understand now, why has the Twelfth Army been able to win so many battles over the years? ”

"How?" Fang Xianjue asked suspiciously.

"Zhang Xiaohu is just a division commander under the Twelfth Army, he fights so well, just imagine what kind of terrifying character his immediate boss will be." Ge Xiancai sighed.

"Yes! Sun Yumin is known as the god of war of the national army, if he doesn't have some ability, how can he afford this title. Fang Xianjue was also very emotional.

Fang Xianjue and Ge Xiancai were both veterans who had experienced a hundred battles, how could they not hear that the explosion sound of the earthquake just now was the artillery shell of the 20th Division hitting the devil's ammunition depot or ammunition point. Although they guessed that the 20th Division's artillery fire returned fire, causing great damage to the devils, they did not expect that it was this wave of bombardment just now that sent Shima Genkichi, the commander of the 57th Brigade of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army, to heaven.

Different from Fang Xianjue and Ge Xiancai's excitement, although he knew that his artillery regiment had achieved brilliant results, he still frowned, and said to the combat staff officer: "Inform Regiment Commander Gu to immediately lead the gunners and escort troops to evacuate, and the artillery is no longer needed." ”

"No more artillery?" The operational staff officer repeated it, not so much as repeating it, but not understanding what Zhang Xiaohu meant.

"Execute the order!"

Zhang Xiaohu had no intention of explaining, his words were unusually cold, like Sun Yumin in anger, although he did not have the taste of not being angry and arrogant on Sun Yumin, but it still made the people in the command post feel a chill.

The reason why Zhang Xiaohu ordered the artillery regiment to drop the artillery and retreat was because he knew very well that it would not take long for the Japanese artillery to lock on to their position, and before they could transport the artillery away, the retaliatory artillery would fall on their heads.

If the cannon is gone, you can earn it again, you can buy it again, and you can apply to the peak for replenishment, but if you smash the gunners who have worked hard to train and experience into it, it will be more than worth the loss!

Compared with the incomprehension of the combat staff officers, most of the people in the artillery regiment knew what the division commander's retreat order was. However, even under the strict orders of the division commander, Commander Gu still wanted to save a few artillery, after all, for artillery, artillery is more important than their lives. After being ordered to retreat most of the people, Commander Gu personally led some gunners to disassemble the four cannons, his goal was not high, take away four, only take four, and the other cannons could only be resigned to fate.

However, before they could hang the cannon on the back of the truck, the Japanese retaliatory shelling arrived.

The cannon was completely destroyed by the 20th Division Artillery Regiment, but the Japanese still had mountain artillery, field artillery and 150mm caliber heavy howitzers.

Knowing that the cannon was destroyed and that the commander of the 57th Brigade, Shima Genkichi, had died under the artillery fire of the Chinese army, Iwanaga Wang was very angry and immediately ordered the artillery fire of his subordinate troops, even the artillery assigned to his command, to adjust the bombardment target to the position of the Chinese army's artillery position in the city.

It is precisely because of this that the Japanese army's retaliation will come so quickly. In an instant, countless shells flew from the east and west, enveloping the positions of the entire 20th Division Artillery Regiment in artillery fire.

Under such intensive artillery fire, Commander Gu and the gunners who stayed behind were naturally not spared, and together with the four trucks that pulled the artillery, they were all buried in the crazy revenge of the devils. Seeing the regimental commander and the remaining brothers buried in the artillery fire, the gunners and soldiers of the artillery regiment who had already withdrawn to a safe place all rushed towards the position completely covered by the enemy's artillery fire, like moths fighting fire, knowing that it was a death, they all resolutely advanced into the artillery fire, the regiment commander is gone, the artillery is gone, so are these artillery still artillery!

When the bad news came, not only Zhang Xiaohu's division command post, but also the headquarters of the Tenth Army fell into silence, Fang Xianjue finally really understood why Zhang Xiaohu would repeatedly refuse the request for artillery assistance, it turned out that he had long expected that his artillery regiment only had this chance to open fire.

Zhang Xiaohu slowly took off his hat, which is a high respect for the soldiers of the artillery regiment who died in the country, and also a mourning for these heroes. He didn't blame the Gu regiment commander for them, and he didn't completely carry out his order to retreat, so he would throw his life on the position; He didn't blame the officers and men of the artillery regiment who went and returned, although it was not advisable for them to do so, but the determination to die with the regiment commander and artillery was exactly the characteristic that all troops of the 20th Division should have.

"Inform the position, prepare to defend against the attack of the devils!"

The quiet command post was reactivated by Zhang Xiaohu's words, not that he didn't want everyone to mourn for a while, but that the war didn't give him so much time. The artillery regiment is gone, and the 20th Division, like the 10th Army, can only be filled with flesh and blood and strong will.

After the Japanese artillery bombarded the artillery regiment of the 20th Division, they adjusted their targets and began to continue to bombard the main position of the 20th Division on the Stoppage Mountain.

The Japanese army has actually tried this tactic of infantry and artillery coordination, but with the war of the past few years, after the first two groups of Japanese veterans who invaded China died, this tactic that they were not yet mature was placed, but this time the 20th Division really hurt them, not only a cannon position was blown up, but even the brigade commander was killed, so the chief of staff who replaced the command took out this tactic that had almost not been tested in actual combat, and the effect was very obvious. The 117th and 118th regiments were forced to brave ferocious artillery fire and return to their positions.

Fortunately, Zhang Xiaohu cut the slopes of the main position into cliffs before the war, so that although the devils occupied a strong 'artillery advantage, they were never able to capture this string of positions that did not know how many shells had fallen.

The devils struck while the iron was hot, but in the end, under the frantic harvesting of the heavy machine gun positions covering each other, they retreated in embarrassment, leaving behind a dense corpse again.

The aviation kerosene prepared by Zhang Xiaohu finally came in handy, and the corpses of those stinking devils were burned clean by a fire.

The black smoke that filled the sky gathered over the Stop Mountain position for a long time, as if these devil soldiers who had died in battle, looking at the Chinese army here.