Zhang Mingyu pondered for a while, and secretly made up his mind, at present, the army sweeping Southeast Asia is no longer something that he Zhang Mingyu can prevent, Britain and France and other countries are beyond the reach of the whip, and now France has been destroyed by the Germans, and even the British Empire, which once stood proudly in the world, is crumbling.

They still have the time and energy to take care of these inconsequential colonies, and what Zhang Mingyu needs to do now is to immediately attack the Wuhan army, put pressure on the army, and force it to continue to increase troops on the battlefield in Wuhan, or directly recover Wuhan and connect the southwest and central China.

In this way, even if the devils attack from the direction of Burma and Vietnam, the national political axe will have enough time and ability to mobilize a large army to block it.

Thinking of this, Zhang Mingyu suddenly got up, and after scanning the crowd present, he immediately said to Wang Tiehan: "Wang Tiehan! ”

"Yes!" Wang Tiehan stepped forward and replied loudly.

"Order you to lead the fourth division to stay in Xinyang, ensure the safety of the logistics channel, and protect Xinyang Airport from any damage at all costs!" Zhang Mingyu paused and said with an awe-inspiring expression. In fact, all the way over, the regiments of the Fourth Division had already dispersed, and a brigade was stationed, and the rest such as Xuchang and Zhumadian were stationed separately, and at this time, there were less than two regiments of officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division who followed Wang Tiehan to Xinyang.

Therefore, the Fourth Division no longer has offensive capabilities, but it should not be a problem to hold this logistical supply line of the 42nd Group Army, so Zhang Mingyu still has about 50,000 people in his hands at this time.

Among them, the second and third divisions each have three brigades of more than 40,000 people. Ma Liqun's southward advance detachment had two cavalry regiments and an infantry brigade, with five regiments totaling more than 10,000 people.

"Yes!" Wang Tiehan agreed with a bang and immediately entered the ranks.

Zhang Mingyu looked at Lai San again and said with a cold expression: "Master Lai! ”

"In!" Hearing this, Lai San stepped forward and said with his head held high.

"Order you to lead the three divisions to open at night, and after the target is Suizhou, Xiangfan, and the two places are taken, immediately wave the division to attack Wuhan in a roundabout way, and cooperate with my main force to recover Wuhan!" Zhang Mingyu said loudly.

"Yes!" Lai San snapped upright, answered loudly, and then turned around and walked away quickly.

After seeing Lai San leave, Zhang Mingyu said with an awe-inspiring expression on Ling Tianbao and Ma Liqun: "The Second Division and the Advance Detachment will attack immediately!" Target Wuhan! ”

"Yes!" The two agreed in unison, and then followed Zhang Mingyu and strode out.

………

Wusheng Pass is located in Jigong Mountain, is a Xiongguan at the junction of Henan and Hubei provinces, is one of the nine famous passes in our country, called Zhiyuan, Li Mountain in the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin Shi Huang changed to Wuyang Pass after unifying China, changed its name to Wusheng Pass in the Southern Song Dynasty. Because Wusheng Pass guards the border of Henan and Hubei, it is known as a treasure land of "Qingfen Yu Chu and three rivers", and it has been a place for soldiers to fight for thousands of years since ancient times.

It is impossible for Muto Zhang, the commander of the Xiongguan Army, not to know its important surname, so when the army retreated from Xinyang, Xinyang's two infantry brigades and an artillery squadron all withdrew to Wusheng Pass and guarded the pass.

In the following days, Muto Zhang's reinforcements are a steady stream of troops to Wusheng Pass, when Zhang Mingyu led the army from Xinyang, Wusheng Pass has gathered a full division of the army, more than 20,000 people, this division is the 21st Division that escaped from northern Henan, although it is a second-rate field division, but its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated, at the beginning of the formation, the military department from other divisions and regiments transferred a large number of low-level officers and backbone veterans to supplement the 21st Division, and fought with [***] on the Chinese battlefield for several months, Therefore, at this time, the combat effectiveness of the 21st Division was greatly improved.

There is Pingjing Pass on the west side of Wusheng Pass, Jiuli Pass on the east side, and the three passes of Yiyang (Xinyang) are combined, and the 21st Division of the Army was ordered to divide troops to guard the three passes, and the 42nd Group Army was blocked from going south to Wuhan.

……….

Zhang Mingyu had just led the Second Division into the Jigong Mountain Range, and due to the rugged mountain road, Zhang Mingyu, who was sitting in the jeep, was swayed from side to side, and at this moment, a cavalryman in front of him rushed from a distance.

Seeing this, Zhang Mingyu immediately stopped the car, only to see the cavalry from far and near, and after arriving in front of him, he immediately turned over and dismounted and saluted: "General seat, there is a military garrison at Wusheng Pass in front, and I advanced into the detachment to attack several times, but I was repelled by the army!" There are quite a lot of casualties, and Commander Ma asks you what to do? ”

"Wusheng Pass?" Zhang Mingyu immediately frowned and said: "The troops are advancing at full speed and joining the advancing detachment!" Order Ma Liqun, stop the attack, and wait for me to arrive. ”

"Yes!" The cavalryman snapped to his feet, turned on his horse, and quickly turned his horse's head and walked away.

Lujiawan, which is five miles away from Wusheng Pass, because of the failure of the attack on Wusheng Pass, Ma Liqun and the advance detachment were forced to garrison here, but fortunately, the army aimed to defend the pass and did not take advantage of the situation to pursue, otherwise Ma Liqun's advance detachment would suffer a big loss.

Just half an hour ago, the 1st Cavalry Regiment was the first to arrive, and because the enemy situation was unknown, the 1st Cavalry Regiment commanded the 1st Cavalry Regiment to launch an attack on Wusheng Pass, but was intercepted by the strict fire of the Yue Army, and the attacking 1st Regiment of cavalry suffered heavy casualties.

Forced to retreat, and after Ma Liqun arrived with the infantry, he learned that the cavalry had suffered a heavy defeat, and he was extremely angry and ordered the infantry to staggered to the mountains, and the extremely dangerous Wusheng Pass launched an attack again, and the result can be imagined, the officers and soldiers who lacked heavy weapons to attack the fortified areas suffered heavy casualties and were forced to stop the attack.

Advancing into the headquarters of the detachment, Zhang Mingyu was reprimanding Ma Liqun with a blue face, "What are you eating, you actually used cavalry to attack a Xiongguan in the world like Wusheng Pass, a target as big as a cavalry, rushing up is not a live target for the little devil!" Kicked in the head by a donkey! ”

Ma Liqun didn't dare to say a word, lowered his head, and held back his neck, at this time, Wang Qing, chief of staff of the Second Division, hurriedly stood up and said: "General seat, Captain Ma is also anxious, thinking about opening up a passage for the large army, now is not the time to pursue responsibility, but to find a way to win Wusheng Pass." ”

"Wusheng Pass, surrounded by nearby mountains, surrounded by peaks, a mountain in Guancheng is a barrier, and the mountain is dug into a pass. Now that the devils are guarding the pass, if we force our attack, not only will we not succeed, but we will also cause great casualties! And we now lack heavy weapons for attacking fortifications, and the heavy howitzers are left in Taiyuan. Xu Wen, the head of the guard regiment, frowned.

"Boss, I think that although we don't have large-caliber heavy artillery, if we gather all the artillery of each regiment together, carry out a fierce artillery bombardment of Wusheng Pass at the same time, and order the bombers to bomb together, we will definitely be able to give a lot of damage to the little devils, and when the time comes, we will order the commandos to attack! I can't think of any surprises that I should be able to win the martial arts pass in one fell swoop! Wang Qing pondered for a while, then suddenly raised his head and said to Zhang Mingyu.

"Hmm!" Zhang Mingyu pondered for a while, nodded and said: "It seems that there is only this way, and order all regiments to immediately hand over all caliber artillery fire to the artillery regiment for unified use." Send a report to Su Dingtian again, and the bomber will take off immediately and cooperate with the artillery to bomb Wusheng Pass! ”

"Yes!" Wang Qing snapped up and stood upright, then turned around and strode away.

After Wang Qing left, Ma Liqun, who had been keeping his head down and silent, stepped forward, blushed his neck and said to Zhang Mingyu: "General Seat, I lost the battle last time, please give our detachment a chance to get back to the field, I am willing to lead the southbound detachment to serve as a dry death commando to attack Wusheng Pass!" ”

Zhang Mingyu ignored Ma Liqun, but frowned and pondered.

Seeing that Zhang Mingyu didn't speak, Ma Liqun immediately stiffened his neck and said loudly: "General seat, please give me a chance to advance into the detachment of 10,000 brothers, if I can't win the Wusheng Pass, I Ma Liqun will come to see me!" ”

"What are you arguing about! The time for the general offensive has not yet arrived, and now there is a task for you! Do you dare? Zhang Mingyu said in annoyance.

"Dare! Let me go up the knife mountain and go down to the sea of fire, I dare! Ma Liqun said with an awe-inspiring expression.

"Good! There is also a pass in the east of Wusheng Pass, called Pingjing Pass. You can bring a few nimble brothers to reconnoiter the situation over there, and let me know all the deployment of the devil's troops! Can it be done? Zhang Mingyu said.

"The head seat is assured to complete the task!" Ma Liqun snapped forward and agreed, and then turned around and walked away.

Seeing Ma Liqun leaving, Zhang Mingyu immediately said to Xu Wen: "Xu Wen, you take a few brothers to the east of Jiuliguan to reconnoitre!" ”

"Yes!" Xu Wen snapped forward and immediately turned to leave.

For Ma Liqun's reconnaissance, Zhang Mingyu is a hundred reassuring, Ma Liqun and Li Gang were both born in reconnaissance together, because Ma Liqun can ride, so he served as the command of the cavalry.

Let's not mention that Ma Liqun went to reconnoiter Pingjing Pass, but said that Xu Wen, the head of the guard regiment, was ordered by Zhang Mingyu to take several officers and soldiers of the guard regiment with several agile guards to Jiuli Pass, which is located east of Wusheng Pass.

There are two reasons why Jiuliguan is called Jiuliguan, one is that the pass is nine miles away from the county north of the important town of Sanlicheng, and the other is that this pass is unique in the world, divided into two mouths, the upper mouth is in the boundary tablet river in Henan, and the lower mouth is at the junction of Hubei and Henan provinces, and the distance between the two is also nine miles.

Historically, the upper mouth of Jiuliguan flowed south with internal water, running into the Yangtze River, and the outer water from the upper mouth flowed north and flowed into the Huai River. Because of the existence of the Jiuli River, the Jiuli Pass is even more precipitous.

Xu Wen and others came to the woods on the other side of the Jiuli River, looking at the Jiuli Pass on the opposite side of the hundreds of meters wide Jiuli River, and couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

Seeing this, Xu Wen couldn't help but shake his head again and again, if he really attacked from here, then the superior strength of our army would not be able to give full play, and the troops that would be put into the attack at most would only be one or two companies at most, and such a refueling tactic would be absolutely infeasible.

Thinking of this, Xu Wen waved his hand to the few people who were on guard behind him, and then a few people turned around and disappeared into the vast forest.

……

Pingjing Pass, so called the chokehold, also known as the very pass, regret this pass, Shicheng Mountain, is one of the nine stops in the ancient world. It is located on the west side of Wusheng Pass, at the junction of Hubei and Henan, with lofty mountains and mountains on the left and right, and the road is narrow and dangerous. In the past dynasties, it was the strategic low of the Central Plains and the north-south transportation artery.

Since the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, there have been frequent wars here, all for the benefit of competing for danger. In the battle of Wu Chu Baiju, the military strategist Sun Wu once led Wu soldiers to the south through this pass, and went deep into the hinterland of Chu State, which caused Chu State to suffer several catastrophes.

There is a tomb of the martyrs of the Northern Expedition next to the side of Pingjing Pass.

After Ma Liqun came to the outside of Pingjing Pass with several agile disguises, he immediately lurked in the mountains on both sides, and touched towards the wall of Pingjing Pass with the help of vegetation.

At that time, the deployment of the army was like this, Wushengguan as the main pass deployed an infantry wing and a machine gun brigade, and a reinforced artillery squadron, the east side of the Jiuli Pass was dangerous and there was a Jiuli River as a barrier, only one infantry brigade was stationed, and most of them were equipped with machine guns.

The 21st Division stationed two infantry brigades here, and nearly half of the troops of the 21st Division were stationed above the three passes such as Wusheng, because although the three passes were dangerous, they were not impregnable, and even the world-famous Maginot Line could be broken under today's modern warfare.

There are still people who can't break through the Xiongguan Mandao, as the commander of the army, Muto Zhang would not have thought of this, so he divided the 21st Division into two.

Half of the troops were deployed on the three passes, and the remaining half of the troops were deployed in the Xiaogan area, cooperating with other divisions to form a strong defensive line.

It is said that Ma Liqun and several soldiers took a few soldiers to sit on the Pingjing Pass for some reconnaissance and visual inspection, and with many years of experience, Ma Liqun peeked into the approximate strength of the Yue army on the pass with the help of binoculars.

Immediately, he quickly returned to the temporary garrison of the 42nd Group Army - Lujiawan with several fighters.

……….

"Total seat! The lowly reconnaissance has been carried out, and the Jiuli Pass is also dangerous, and there is the Jiuli River in front of the pass, and it is difficult for us to launch a large-scale attack from where the terrain is narrow! In the 42nd Headquarters, Xu Wen reported to Zhang Mingyu.

"Oh! How many devils are there in Jiuliguan? Zhang Mingyu frowned and asked.

"There should probably be no less than one infantry brigade!!" Xu Wen replied with a slight calculation.

"Headquarters!" Ma Liqun rushed in, snapped up and said: "General seat!" ”

"You're back? How's it going? ”

"Back to the main seat! There are about two infantry brigades stationed in Pingjing Pass, and the rest of the light and heavy troops are not counted. The terrain is dangerous, the roads are narrow, and if you force an attack, I am afraid that the casualties will be very large! Ma Liqun stepped forward sharply and replied awe-inspiringly.

"That's it! Although Wusheng Pass has the most devils, the terrain is slightly wide, which can be used for our army to carry out a large-scale group charge! Not to refuel tactics. Zhang Mingyu paused, and then suddenly said: "Since this is the case, then storm Wusheng Pass, and order the artillery regiment (the advance detachment and all the artillery of the second division are gathered, so it is a super strengthened version of the artillery regiment) to immediately shell Wusheng Pass." The bomber formation that had just arrived at Xinyang Airport immediately took to the air and at the same time bombed Wushengguan with all its might! ”

"Yes!" Wang Qing, chief of staff of the Second Division, stood upright, and immediately turned around and gave the order.

At this time, Ma Liqun looked at Zhang Mingyu anxiously with a longing face: "General seat, please approve me to lead the Death Commando to charge, I will promise you that you will definitely win the Wusheng Pass, otherwise Ma Liqun will come to see you!" ”

"Hmmm! I believe you, but you must give me the shortest time, the smallest casualties, the maximum number of kills and wounds, and capture the Wusheng Pass! ~" Zhang Mingyu stared at Ma Liqun for a moment, and said with an awe-inspiring expression.

"Yes! Please rest assured! Ma Liqun snapped forward and agreed. He immediately turned around and wanted to leave.

Zhang Mingyu said meaningfully behind him: "Come back alive!" ”

Ma Liqun was stunned when he heard this, but immediately walked out with his chest straight.

Seeing Ma Liqun leaving, Zhang Mingyu said in a solemn tone to Ling Tianbao, the commander of the second division next to him: "Tianbao, order all regiments to be ready to attack at any time, once the assault team rushes to the wall, the whole division will immediately launch an attack to meet them!" ”

"Yes!" Ling Tianbao hurriedly stood up and said with a solemn expression.

In a dense forest not far from Wusheng Pass, the artillerymen of the super version of the artillery regiment, which gathered all the artillery of the advance detachment and the regiments of the second division, were extremely busy setting up artillery.

After some intense and skillful preparations, a total of 200 guns of various calibers were all erected, and the openings of the black holes of one door were lined up in the direction of Wusheng Pass.

The baggage soldiers were carrying boxes of shells of various calibers from the rear, and some of the boxes with special symbols were carefully placed aside, and there were special Type 92 infantry guns to fire.

A solemn aura spread over the entire artillery position, and every artilleryman tensed his nerves and waited for the order of his superiors with an indifferent expression.

At the same time, at Xinyang Airport, a number of [***] fighters painted with blue sky and white flags rose into the air one after another, the first to take off was 20 Jian-1 fighters, 20 fighters quickly circled over the airport after the air was on guard, at this time responsible for the first batch of sortie bombing 30 bombers also began to start one after another.

About five minutes later, all the bombers took off, and after circling in the air a few times, the bombers, including the fighters, formed a powerful mixed group and flew towards Wusheng Pass.

At the Wusheng Pass, the commander of the 58th Brigade of the 21st Division, Major General Yu Zelang, was leading several of his subordinates to inspect the wall, watching a rather cold light and heavy machine gun aimed at the outside of the wall, and the hidden fire points were enough to completely block the road outside the wall.

Major General Yu Zelang couldn't help but smile proudly and nodded: "Yo Xi, the people of Zhina, stupid pigs are working, under such a powerful firepower network blockade, not to mention them, even the heroic Imperial Army will not be able to break through!" What about the 42nd Group Army, which was not blocked by my heroic 58th Brigade under Wusheng Pass, what about Zhang Mingyu? The Chinese god of war is nothing more than this, but it is just a stepping stone to my reputation for success. ”

"Hay! The general is brave and good at fighting, and he is one of the best generals in my imperial army! There are generals guarding the pass here, and the pigs are all dead! A big Zuo patted his ass at the right time.

Major General Yu Zelang laughed proudly, and then held the wall with both hands, squinting into the distance, extremely proud.

However, at this moment, Yu Zelang suddenly found that a cluster of scarlet flames rose from the woods in the distance, and Yu Zelang, who was very vigilant, immediately realized that something was wrong, and immediately lost his voice and shouted: "Eight Ga Ya Road!" The people of China shelled, the enemy attacked ....! He shouted as he ran towards the outer gate.

(To be continued)