In the blink of an eye, An Yi's model battalion once again rushed to produce 150 long ladders and 60 sets of portable bridges that were 1 meter wide and 7 meters long and could be folded in one direction.

Since all connectors, fasteners, and other accessories had been exhausted, and the preparations of the officers and men were nearing completion, the hundreds of brothers in the engineer battalion finally had the opportunity to stop work and rest on the afternoon of 4 September.

At three o'clock in the morning of September 5, the 500 brothers of the An Yi Battalion, except for the 22 Huotou soldiers who stayed in the camp to take care of the wounded and guard their belongings and horses, all the 528 brothers in the battalion were armed with guns on their backs, fully armed and anxious, lying behind the 6,000 brothers of the 4th and 6th regiments, as the reserve of the two main siege regiments, ready to be dispatched at any time -- Commander-in-Chief Chiang decisively sent his descendants to the main battlefield to attack the fortified positions, and even the engineers of the "model battalion" who were famous throughout the army were also sent to the front line of the battlefield, and the officers and men of the whole army shared the same hatred for the enemy. With an indomitable revolutionary spirit, we launched an invincible fierce attack on the stubborn enemy.

In the gloomy night, An Yi, who once again carried a rifle and a broadsword, led all the brothers to crawl behind the ruins of a belt 2.1 kilometers away from Zhongxiaomen, and he looked ahead through the mist, wanting to see the speed of the brothers of the 4th Regiment of Chen Jiji and the 6th Regiment of Hui Dongsheng, who were slowly sneaking, thinking about the "death squad" led by the deputy of these two regiments, and thinking about whether the shell guns and grenades on the 400 brave and tenacious brothers who regarded death as if they were at home were enough? Can the 40 ladders they carry, which more than 500 brethren from the engineer battalion have tried and tried, perfected, to be built up against the walls of the enemy? I even wonder if these five hundred brothers will have a chance to pull out the shell gun on their waist and throw six more grenades from their bodies?

Lu Xiong, the leader of the platoon, climbed up agile from behind An Yi, and whispered in An Yi's ear: "Before the war, it was announced that the commander who successfully landed in the city would be rewarded with 200 oceans and 100 soldiers, and the rule was really stingy, and it was not as much as the reward in our own battalion, only the division and brigade who were the first to climb the city were rewarded with 30,000 silver, which is still a hook." Battalion commander, do you think our division can get this huge award? ”

An Yi shook his head and replied in a low voice: "It is estimated that it is difficult, have you forgotten the Huang Qixiang Regiment and Ye Ting's Reading Force Regiment of the Fourth Army?" Whether it is combat strength or numbers, we can't compare to others, and they are very experienced in attacking the city twice, but we are the first time, how can we compare? 30,000 yuan is a lot, but the surnames and lives of our brothers are more precious, so you have to pay attention to guarding the brothers in the second and third companies around you, more than half of them have never been on the battlefield, and they are not very familiar with the more than 100 veteran brothers who have just joined the gang in each company. ”

"Yes!"

Lu Xiong, who is usually bullish and coaxing, honestly and quietly retreated to the same place, passed An Yi's words to the brothers around him, and let the brothers pass them on one by one.

The beard on An Yi's other side could hear it clearly and understand it in his heart, knowing that An Yi's desperate plan was not adopted by his second division tonight, so An Yi said it so surely.

At this time, Hu Zi didn't know whether he was happy or worried in his heart, he really wanted to see An Yi's plan implemented, but he didn't want An Yi's plan to be implemented, and there were contradictions between joy and worry.

However, although the Second Division did not implement An Yi's strategy, another elite division resolutely adopted it, and did it better than An Yi and Hu Zi imagined - more than 600 brothers of the artillery regiment of the Fourth Army, with the cooperation of a regiment of brothers of the 12th Division, advanced the 40 European-made large-diameter field guns with thick linen wrapped around the wheels prepared in advance, and thousands of brothers from Huang Qixiang's regiment and Ye Ting's reading regiment carried the long ladder bridge and slowly followed up from both wings. Fearing that one misfortune would be discovered by the enemy on the city walls, the painstaking preparation of the raid was denied.

This bold strategy of using field artillery to close direct fire to destroy the enemy's defense force to the greatest extent was the result of An Yi's hard thinking for two days, and it was suddenly realized from the whimsical subordinate arguments during the sand table deduction.

To put it bluntly, this strange plan is a gamble, a gamble on exchanging a city with a living life and an expensive artillery, and gambling on the paralysis and pride of the defending enemy after easily defeating the opponent twice.

An Yi's idea at that time was: each division concentrated its own field artillery, took advantage of the darkest hour before dawn to quietly approach the enemy's city about 300 meters or so to suddenly attack, use the powerful destructive power and striking surface of the artillery, and bombard the city as much as possible within two minutes, and then regardless of success or failure, all the artillery and auxiliary troops threw down the artillery and retreated, and the main attacking forces on both sides of the artillery attacked before the last three shells were fired, and the hidden artillery array was 300 meters between the city wall. It was exactly the same time as three shells were fired, and if the main attacking force had the courage to venture forward without fear of death, it would have been possible to seize the fleeting moment or two and successfully land on the city.

If the action is discovered by the defending enemy in advance, it will bring disaster to the artillery units that are sneaking and approaching, and the main attacking forces that cannot get rid of the two flanks will also suffer heavy losses.

If the enemy's communications facilities are complete, respond quickly, and mobilize powerful artillery fire to cover it, not only will the expensive artillery and the thousands of artillery that are difficult to train face the danger of being wiped out, but the assault troops that follow will also have to withstand the dense machine-gun fire on the city and the coverage of the superior artillery fire in the city within a distance of a kilometer, and the tragic consequences of defeat will be clear at a glance, and the minimum losses will also make the attacking side that has paid a heavy price lose morale for a long time after that, and it will be completely demoralized!

Moreover, the implementation of this plan is quite demanding, and the infantry and artillery must have tacit cooperation and accurate grasp of short-term opportunities, otherwise a bad one is likely to kill their own siege vanguard.

After such a risky plan was brought to Commander-in-Chief Chiang by Liu Xiao and Hu Shusen, it was immediately made public at the military meeting that night, which immediately made the helpless civil and military people in the hall tremble, and exclaimed, even General Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of general staff, was made uncertain by this bold strategy, and the ups and downs in his heart were never able to choose, only Zhang Fakui, the commander of the 12th Division of the Fourth Army, who was known for his courage and tenacity, stood up and applauded loudly, and asked who was the person who offered the plan?

Commander-in-Chief Chiang only vaguely said "a student leading troops at the grassroots level" and prevaricated, so there was this brave adventure of the Iron Army, which was also warmly praised and sincerely admired by the generals of all walks of life - as long as the four armies successfully used this risky tactic, it would greatly reduce the heavy pressure on the siege troops! As long as the Fourth Army breaks through a line, the defending enemy must go all out to reinforce the gap, so that the attacking forces in other directions will have a greater chance of successfully landing the city, and even bring unexpected benefits.

What is gratifying is that the officers and men of the Fourth Army, who have the firmest revolutionary spirit and are resolute and brave, have finally successfully pushed the 40 direct-fire field guns lined up in a row to the predetermined position on the left side of the Tongxiang Gate after more than half an hour of arduous efforts.

This place is about 350 meters away from the city wall, just at the dead end of the shooting of the Snake Mountain artillery array in the defending city, and the defenders' artillery positions on Wangchutai are also unreachable, except for the need to guard against the heavy machine gun strikes of the defending enemy, there is no need to be too distracted.

"Smack-"

A single shot heralded the beginning of a general offensive, and forty guns showed great destructive power at close range.

After a round of volleys, the bricks and stones in the 200-meter area of the city wall in front of them flew horizontally, the smoke of gunpowder billowed out, dozens of battlements were flattened in an instant, and the defenders who were huddled on the machine gun positions at the head of the city returned to Jiuquan before they could open their eyes, and the startled thousands of defenders screamed endlessly under the sudden fierce blow, and ran wildly in all directions, and the main attacking troops under the city set up light and heavy machine guns and fired fiercely at the wall, so that the defenders who fled in shock fell down one by one.

The artillery brothers of the Fourth Army showed their unprecedented potential, and almost every cannon could fire seven shells in just two minutes, and by the time the eighth shell was loaded, thousands of brothers on both flanks of the artillery array had already jumped up and rushed forward with the earth-shattering shouts of "Long live the revolution."

The bridges were quickly erected, and the long ladders carried under the city walls were quickly erected in the midst of sporadic resistance, and the revolutionary officers and soldiers who were deeply encouraged and confident quickly climbed the ladders one after another, and the "death squad" forwards of Ye Ting's Reading Force Regiment and Huang Qixiang's 36th Regiment climbed to the top of the city filled with gunpowder almost at the same time, and started a brutal melee battle with the defenders who quickly rushed to the aid of the city.

The hundreds of artillery pieces that successfully fired 11 shells, with the vigorous cooperation of more than 1,000 auxiliary officers and men, did not drop a single piece of artillery, but quickly withdrew from their positions with all their might.

With the rumble of the first burst of artillery, all the siege officers of the Seventh Army, the remaining regiments of the Fourth Army and the two main regiments of the Second Division immediately launched a fierce attack, and the three sides of Wuchang City were like a rain of bullets, the flames were blazing, and the sound of gunfire, explosions, and shouts resounded over Wuchang.

The two main regiments of the second division outside the Zhongxiao Gate had already been ambushed in the shock position, taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, they quickly laid a folding bridge plate through the moat, rushed to the city and erected more than ten long ladders to climb the city, and the two hundred "death squads" of the four regiments were not afraid of death under the crazy blows of the defending enemy, and swarmed up, and finally successfully landed the city after paying the price of destroying seven long ladders and suffering more than 100 casualties.

Dozens of warriors who looked at death as if they were at home shouted and rushed towards the rolling enemy group, one by one the grenades exploded in the crowd, one by one the warriors who had no time to shoot rushed to the enemy group with squeaky and smoking grenades, the fire on the city was bursting, blood splashed, a large number of officers and soldiers who followed quickly climbed the long ladder, and the generals and colonels who supervised the battle under the city were thrilled and enthusiastic, and the same situation appeared on the city wall captured by the soldiers of Ye Ting's reading force group and Huang Qixiang's regiment.

An Yi led his brothers to rush forward according to the regulations, closely following behind the two main groups, and as the speed of progress became slower and slower, he finally stopped and lay down.

An Yi's greatest fears finally became a reality: the earth-shattering roar of the Seventh Army's offensive direction gradually disappeared, replaced by the familiar and dense sound of heavy machine guns, the sound of large-caliber naval artillery shells piercing the night sky, and the faint howls and cries of sorrow; The same is true of the direction of the Binyangmen attack by the regiments of the Fourth Army, and the pillar of fire that dyes half the sky red indicates another fiasco of the Binyangmen attack.

With the continuous rapid reinforcement of the enemy defending the city, more than 200 brothers of the fourth regiment and the sixth regiment of the second division who successfully landed the city were killed sadly, and the brothers of the sixth regiment on the right flank were the first to disappear in the middle of the black pressure enemy on the city wall, and barrels of vegetable oil and gasoline immediately rolled down, and were ignited instantly, and the city for several miles was burned to crackle, bright as day, and one by one the violently burning iron oil drums rose into the sky in the deafening explosion, and rolled into the air, and the roaring flames fell from the sky like a rain curtain, forming a road more than 100 meters wide, Hundreds of officers and soldiers howled and struggled in the purgatory-like flames, and the guns of the defenders rang out, shooting a dense rain of bullets, and the brothers who escaped from the moats were beaten to death.

"Commander—"

The more than 1,600 brothers of the Fourth Regiment who were lying on the ground and had no time to attack shouted in unison, but they could not do anything, watching the regiment commander Chen Jiji and dozens of officers and soldiers move quickly between the corpses, stubbornly shooting at the city, but they could not rush through the entrenchment blocked by the rain of bullets.

Under the merciless blow of the crossfire of two heavy machine guns on the left and right of the city, the surviving brothers fell one by one and could not get up again, and more than 100 defenders on the city were pushing a heavy oil drum in an attempt to burn the last piece of flameless land where Chen Jiji and the other 200 brothers were located.

The exclamation woke An Yi, who was trembling all over his body in the face of the tragic situation, and extreme self-blame and pain burned and swelled in his young chest.

An Yi, who was red-faced, stared at Chen Jiji looming in the firelight, suddenly stood up and rushed forward, quickly crossed the more than a thousand brothers lying on the ground, and rushed to the trench five hundred meters away, saying "It's not my fault" repeatedly while charging, and finally let out a wail like a beast, under the frightened gaze of hundreds of pairs of eyes, he ran quickly, untied the rifle behind his back, braved the oncoming rain of bullets and rushed to the moat, and suddenly knelt on his legs, using his habitual surname to glide quickly on the hot sandy ground, Move the middle of the rifle to reach the area where there is no fire curtain to obstruct the view, and mechanically pull the trigger on the oil drum that is about to roll off the city wall.

With a loud "boom", the hot big oil drum was accurately hit by An Yi's shot, and a violent explosion occurred, and a burst of flames rose into the sky, quickly igniting all the 100 meters in the city.

The impact force caused by the explosion sent more than ten nearby defenders into the sky, and the entire city was in a sea of fire, and more than 100 defenders and the machine gun positions 50 meters on the right side became large and small fireballs.

An Yi, who succeeded in the first blow, turned the muzzle of the gun and stood up, moved two steps, and shot again at the machine gunner on the left side of the city head at a distance of one hundred and fifty meters through the gap in the flames, and the city machine gunner who was hit by a shot subconsciously shot a string of bullets before dying, An Yi only felt a numbness in his left shoulder, and then was pushed back by a huge force, and his head hit the ground heavily, and he immediately fainted.

Hu Zi and Lu Xiong, who arrived quickly, grabbed An Yi's limbs and clothes and pants, and fled to the rear with all their might in the rain of bullets that came from the chase.

Seeing this opportunity, Chen Jiji shouted loudly and led a group of officers and soldiers under the scorching fire to rush through the crumbling board bridge above the moat. In the end, more than 170 brothers from the Fourth Regiment were lucky enough to escape the clutches of death and rushed to the woods a mile behind them with smoke and scars.

The enemy's dense artillery shells flew in, and in the blink of an eye, the area within a radius of one kilometer outside the Zhongxiao Gate was blown into the air, and the flames were splashed in all directions, and the dust and smoke and scorched earth that were stirred up obscured the sky

(To be continued)