Pyongyang City, inside the headquarters of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Lieutenant General Nagaoka looked at King Kunihiko Kurenomiya with sunken eyes and a scruffy beard in front of him, and thought of the image of the young officer who was once high-spirited and vowed to expand the territory for the empire, and his heart couldn't help but feel gloomy.

Since the start of the Sino-Japanese war and his temporary assumption of the command of the Pyongyang garrison, although he has been working tirelessly and dedicatedly to maintain the war situation in the entire northern part of Korea, the bad news, whether it is from the front line or the rear, has been transmitted to the city of Pyongyang one after another and reached his headquarters. Reinforcements from China, the 8th and 11th Divisions, had indeed arrived in Pyongyang, but at the same time, the attacking forces of the Chinese army had also arrived in the city.

"Report to the head of the division, the general of the temple is calling!" Suddenly, the young staff officer's loud voice sounded in the room.

Nagaoka waishi waved his hand lightly and said in a deep voice: "Read! ”

"According to reliable information, the enemy in front of your unit is the main force of the First Army and the Eighteenth Army of the China Army. The Third Army of the Imperial Japanese Army was reorganized under the command of the Front Army and the commander of the 16th Division, Lieutenant General Okagashi, with the 8th and 11th Divisions under the command of the 8th and 11th Divisions. I hope that your subordinates will work hard to fight with one heart, and be sure to annihilate all the enemy troops under the city, so that no one of them will slip through the net. Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live the Imperial Japanese Army! ”

"Got it." Nagaoka Gaishi replied lightly. This may be good news for him personally, but it will not help much for the upcoming war.

After relieving for a moment, Nagaoka Waishi secretly contemplated, and instead asked King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya, who was sitting in front of him, "Kurenomiya-kun, in the previous battle, which unit of the Shina Army was ambushed by you?" ”

"Your Excellency General, it is a part of the 18th Division of the 54th Army of the Chinese Army." Although King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya had a haggard face and looked tired at this time, when facing the question of the division commander, he still tried his best to stand tall and reply sonorously.

"I'm asking, which unit of the 54th Division?"

"This?" King Kunihiko was stunned by the question, and only after a long time did he reply, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency General. So far, we haven't captured a single captive. ”

When Nagaoka heard this, his brows suddenly furrowed, and he snorted coldly: "You mean, until now, you haven't even figured out the number of the frontal enemy?" Kurenomiya-kun, don't you think, this is really a bit ridiculous? Well? ”

"Hay!"

"So, Kurenomiya-kun, now, can you tell me about your opponent?" Looking at King Kunihiko Kurenomiya, who had begun to become a sweaty man, Nagaoka Gaishi spoke again. After all, the other party is from the royal family, and it is not good for him to oppress him excessively.

"Yes, Your Excellency." King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya, who reacted, after organizing his words a little, saw him bow and say, "Please forgive me for my false words!" ”

When Nagaoka heard this, he said very generously: "Jiuer Palace, but it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

"Your Excellency General, in my opinion, today's Chinese army is no longer the branch army of the past!" King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya is not shocking, and there is no longer any contempt for China in his words. Then, without waiting for Nagaoka's foreign history to react, he continued: "Let's take artillery as an example, as far as the 18th Army of the Chinese Army, which is fighting against our department, is concerned, the artillery they are equipped with not only far surpasses our army in terms of quantity, caliber and type, but is also much more advanced than us in terms of organization and tactics. ”

"What they used was an artillery battalion with 6 guns per company and a total of 18 guns, which was rare in the armies of the great powers. Compared with the 12-gun artillery battalion we used, the 18-gun artillery battalion is not only more ferocious in firepower, but also twice as fast as our 12-gun artillery battalion with 3 companies and 4 artillery in terms of fire reaction speed alone. In addition, their emphasis on hierarchical coordination and multi-point coordination, as well as their advanced tactics of outputting artillery fire from multiple angles, enabled our artillery wing to be completely wiped out at the very beginning of the artillery battle between the two sides on the banks of the Yalu River. ”

Seeing Nagaoka Gaishi nodding his head continuously, King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya took a deep breath and said: "As far as the infantry is concerned, they are not only equipped with superior ordnance performance and machine guns are very popular, but also the quality of officers and soldiers is extremely exquisite, and the combat is extremely exquisite. You must know that the remnants of the Chinese army company that I ambushed before broke out of the encirclement and held out for nearly two hours under the siege of one of our brigades by relying on their own strength. ”

"Roar! Kuremiya-kun, what you said makes a lot of sense. Nagaoka Waishi's expression was solemn, and he did not have any displeasure with the words of King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya, but affirmed it. Obviously, he still cares a lot about the opinion of the only high-ranking officer who returned alive from the front.

"I think that the Chinese army has very few cavalry, so it is not a cause for concern, but it is their aircraft and ironclad chariots that should attract the attention of the imperial army." Affirmed by the division commander, King Kunihiko of Kurenomiya looked a little excited, and continued: "They are equipped with a huge number of aircraft with excellent performance, which are divided into specialized reconnaissance planes, bombers, fighters, etc. On the way to Pyongyang, our troops often ......"

"Airplanes?" Nagaoka interrupted with some abrupt voices. Thinking of the several Chinese warplanes that had been circling over Pyongyang in the past two days, he had a very bad premonition in his heart. Being in the rear, he naturally knew better than King Kunihiko Kurenomiya, who had just returned from the front, how the Third Fleet of the Imperial Navy was almost completely wiped out by the Chinese in the military port.

Nagaoka waishi bowed slightly, and was about to say something, but he didn't want to, at this time, at this time, there was a sudden "buzzing" roar in the sky outside. After hurriedly picking up the telescope and running out of the division headquarters, he looked to the north and began to look for the figure of the Chinese fighter.

It's just that, unlike before, this time, after the first plane flew in the air, slowly behind, a group of black spots suddenly appeared in the northern sky. Then, as the black dot slowly expanded, the figure became clearer and clearer, and the group of dozens of planes suddenly came into his eyes. Correspondingly, the huge thunderous roar emitted by the group also reached the ground in due course.

"Division commander, bomber, this is a bomber for the Chinese! Hidden, hidden! At this time, King Kunihiko, who was driven out later, suddenly put down his binoculars and shouted loudly.

Nagaoka Gaishi didn't understand what it meant, and looked at the soldiers running around him like headless flies, and hurriedly ordered: "Order all troops, get ready, and defend against enemy bombardment!" ”

However, to Nagaoka's surprise, the planes of the Chinese army overhead did not seem to show signs of lowering their altitude to bomb at this time, but continued to fly south.

"What's going on?" King Kunihiko of the Kurenomiya thought for a while, seemed to think of something, and hurriedly asked: "Division commander, south of the city, but what are the important facilities of the imperial army?" ”

"Hurry up and send orders to the heavy artillery brigade and let them hide!" Nagaoka Waishi also reacted immediately, and immediately shouted loudly. This heavy artillery brigade arrived in Pyongyang with reinforcements, and almost half of the Japanese Army's 100-millimeter caliber artillery was concentrated.

However, this order from Nagaoka Waishi was finally given a little late. Although the position of the heavy artillery brigade is located a few kilometers south of Pyongyang, such a distance is no different from a few hundred meters for a group of aircraft in the sky. Having just crossed the city of Pyongyang, the bomber group spotted the target, and then began to reduce its altitude and went straight to the positions of the heavy artillery brigade.

You must know that for this bombing operation, the Chinese Air Force has been preparing for many days. For several days in a row, reconnaissance planes searched for the positions of the Japanese artillery and kept a reconnaissance of the targets.

Faced with the Japanese heavy artillery positions without anti-aircraft fire, the Chinese bomber group at this time naturally let go of its hands and feet. First, the accompanying fighters first went into battle, using airborne machine guns to strafe the ground, killing and wounding the enemy's artillery personnel, and disrupting the enemy's formation, and then more than 20 bombers divided into three teams and constantly pounced on the ground, dropping the two 250-kilogram aerial bombs mounted on the fuselage on their respective targets.

Although the weight of the 250-kilogram bomb is similar to that of the shell of the 305mm naval gun, the power is much greater because of the large charge. When a bomb goes down, the explosion range spreads to several tens of meters, and after the explosion, not only the artillery suffers, but even the artillery around the artillery is not spared.

More than 20 bombers were constantly circling and dropping bombs, and although the speed of bomb dropping was not fast, the hit rate was extremely high. By the time the Chinese Air Force bombers had dropped their last bombs and were heading back to the northern sky, the Japanese heavy artillery positions had become a mess. Although there were not many heavy artillery pieces that were directly destroyed by aerial bombs, the number of artillery personnel killed and wounded, including the brigade commanders of heavy artillery brigades, was incomparably large.

After waiting anxiously for half an hour in the division headquarters, the news of the losses on the side of the heavy artillery brigade was finally counted: more than ten heavy artillery pieces were blown up, a large number of artillery officers were killed and wounded, and the entire heavy artillery unit was temporarily paralyzed.

You must know that artillery is a technical branch, and this loss cannot be replenished by replenishment. Unlike the infantry units on the front line, you can just send people to replenish them after losing soldiers. It is not so easy for this artilleryman, after a large number of losses, to restore its combat effectiveness for a while.

When Nagaoka learned of the situation, although there was a sullen feeling in his heart and nowhere to vent, he was helpless at this time. The only way to avoid being bombed again was to properly arrange the transfer and rest of the heavy artillery brigades that had suffered heavy losses, and at the same time order the front-line units to strengthen their air defense.