readx; Ding Changjian believed that as long as the Third Regiment was able to recover Zhushan and completely annihilate the defenders in the city, there would be a big gap in the encirclement of the Alishan area, and if the enemy wanted to trap the Taiwan Army to death, it would have to transfer new troops from other places, and he would be able to annihilate another part of the enemy in the movement. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In this way, the strength of the army will become strained, and it will be difficult to maintain such a large encirclement, and the main force of the corps will be able to take the opportunity to jump outside the encirclement and sweep through the enemy's rear again, destroying the local power that they have painstakingly restored, so that the people of Taiwan will understand that the army is not capable of defending Taiwan. So he immediately telegraphed Zhu Yihong to act, and at the same time left an infantry regiment along the way to block the pursuing troops of the Yue army, lure the enemy away, and personally led the main force to move north, into the mountains and forests to avoid the planes of the Yue army.

Beginning at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a large number of bombers took off from the aircraft carriers cruising in the Taiwan Strait, and then swept over the top of the third regiment's hidden hill and flew toward the hinterland of Alishan.

Although Zhu Yihong was very worried about the safety of the main force, he was powerless, so he had to put all his energy on Zhushan, hoping to defeat the defenders in one fell swoop and strike another blow to the arrogance of the Kwantung Army.

When the sun was about to set, a military reconnaissance plane suddenly emerged from the back of the hillside and flew close to the treetops, startling the officers and men in the woods who were ready to go. Zhu Yihong hurriedly raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the reconnaissance plane's departure, and did not breathe a sigh until he saw the enemy plane disappear into the vast twilight.

Since the Zhushan area is relatively small, and the army has just been stationed, there should be no time to build fortifications, so Zhu Yihong's battle plan is quite simple: concentrate the artillery companies of each battalion, bombard the east gate, cover the third battalion to launch a surprise attack, and the follow-up troops will follow up immediately after the city is broken, give full play to the advantages of automatic weapons and fight with the defenders in the streets, and strive to end the battle before dawn. Although he had heard of the combat effectiveness of the Kwantung Army for a long time, his own strength was close to three times that of the other party, and Zhu Yihong was still confident that the defenders would be completely annihilated.

Standing in the grass by the side of the road, Lu Bin watched his troops march in an orderly manner, and although the road was blurred by the dim starlight, there was no sound in his ears except for the rustling of footsteps. He looked up at the time, it was exactly ten o'clock in the evening, and he still had about an hour to start the procession.

The outline of Zhushan County has appeared in the field of vision.

The team quickly lurked on both sides of the road facing the city gates, and the bodies of the warriors were obscured by meter-high shrubs and yellow weeds, which were not always visible even during the day.

At eleven o'clock in the evening, several dazzling fireballs rose from the hillside behind the third battalion, roared over the heads of the soldiers, and landed more than twenty meters away from the city wall. Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen shells came one after another, exploding around the city wall, this time the accuracy was obviously much better, two shells smashed straight on the city gate tower, and suddenly exploded a few meters wide.

Lu Bin stood up, waved his pistol vigorously, and shouted, "Brothers, rush! Then he rushed out of the woods.

Halfway through the 500-meter distance, several shells suddenly flew out from behind the city wall and exploded around the attacking troops, and a dozen fighters immediately fell.

At the same time, the mortars of each company began to suppress the fire in the city, and the artillery company under the direct command of the regimental headquarters also extended the artillery fire to the depth of the Japanese army, quickly suppressing the enemy, and at this time, the distance between the three battalions and the city gate was less than 100 meters.

Suddenly, countless soldiers wearing steel helmets appeared on the city wall, methodically setting up light and heavy machine guns on the loose masonry, and the muzzles of the black holes pointed at the middle [***] team under the city.

When you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins! Lu Bin turned his heart and shouted: "Fight! "The shell gun raised its hand and fired a shuttle of bullets.

The city and the city opened fire almost at the same time, and the sound of bullets piercing the air suddenly filled the ears of the soldiers, and the sound of bullets hitting ** and body armor was heard from time to time in the crowd, accompanied by painful moans, and people continued to fall on the way to charge. Due to the cover of the battlements of the city wall, the casualties of the army were significantly smaller than those under the city, but when the attacking troops began to attack with guns and grenades, the situation reversed! Miniature grenades exploded one after another on the battlements, and the soldiers fell from the city wall with a miserable scream, and the roar of the machine guns suddenly weakened a lot, and then the attacking troops threw grenades continuously, and the gap in the city wall gradually widened, and finally collapsed, and the defenders of the city rolled and crawled to the ground and retreated into the city.

The soldiers swarmed through the breach, then blew the city gates open, and the third battalion and subsequent troops immediately broke into the county seat, ready to completely crush the stubborn resistance of the Japanese army. However, to the surprise of the attacking troops, the streets facing the city walls were lined with barricades of wooden cabinets filled with masonry and earth, and the Chinese soldiers who were crowded at the gates fell in large groups with heavy rifle and light machine gun fire.

Lu Bin roared angrily: "Wear the room!" Then he jumped to a courtyard wall next to the street, and commanded the soldiers beside him, "up!" ”

With the loud sound of grenades, holes were opened in the walls on both sides of the street, and the soldiers approached the barricades where the Ninth Army had been entrenched.

The army behind the barricade was shooting at the middle [***] team stranded at the city gate, but they didn't expect a fierce gunfire to suddenly sound from the side, and they were all killed before they could turn around.

Lu Bin led his warriors over the barricades and assaulted the west gate, while the other two battalions followed the wall from the left and right sides.

When the troops passed the door of a shop, the wooden door panel of more than 10 meters long fell in the middle of the road, and a small group of soldiers opened fire from behind the sandbags at the same time, and dozens of Chinese soldiers in the middle of the street were immediately enveloped in a dense rain of bullets.

Due to the death of the battalion commander and the fact that there would be ambushes by the Yue army on both sides of the street, the third battalion had no choice but to retreat while fighting and retreating to the barricade abandoned by the Yue army to stabilize its position.

At the same time, the other two battalions were also attacked in the same way by the Yue army, and suffered heavy losses, and the whole attack was in trouble, and to make matters worse, a brigade of the Yue army was swarming from the west gate, preparing to annihilate all the [***] squadrons entering the city.

It turned out that the reconnaissance plane of the Yue army had discovered that the squadron was assembled outside the city, and the cunning pilot deliberately left as if nothing had happened, and then turned around and returned outside the other party's field of vision, informing the Zhushan defenders of the news. Knowing the strong firepower of the Ninth Legion, the army abandoned the plan to keep the enemy outside the city and concentrated on preparing for street fighting, and finally inflicted heavy losses on the opponent.

After receiving the report that the attack on the front line was unfavorable, Zhu Yihong realized the seriousness of the problem: it was already two o'clock in the morning, and it was only a few hours before dawn.

In order to cover the smooth retreat of the troops, he arranged the guard company directly under the regimental headquarters in the bushes outside the city gate, and at the same time ordered the artillery company to adjust the artillery position, ready to bombard the city gate with heavy artillery fire at any time to block the pursuit route of the army.

The three infantry battalions of the city fought and retreated, and retreated towards the city gates, and behind them, the brigade pursued the troops along the sides of the street. As soon as the squadron left the city, the cunning Yue army immediately divided its troops and climbed to the top of the city, launched an attack from a high position, and fired fiercely with light and heavy machine guns, while the Yue army in the city fiercely attacked with rifles, stabbed to death the wounded Chinese soldiers one by one, and then chased outside the city with wild shouts.

The guard company ambushed in the bushes made a decisive attack, and used a swift counterattack to press the army under the city wall, giving the retreat of the large army time to buy time, and then three artillery companies opened fire at the same time, dozens of shells exploded around the city wall, and the air wave set off by the explosion overturned the heavy machine guns on the city wall, and the army gathered outside the city wall was blown up to cry wolf, and the soldiers who were lucky enough to escape then fled back to the city.

The heavy shelling lasted for five minutes, and did not stop until the city gate tower and the nearby city walls were completely blown up, and the Japanese troops hiding nearby were either killed or buried in the rubble, so that the Japanese troops in the city did not dare to leave the city until dawn.

The attack on Zhushan County, because it did not achieve the effect of the surprise attack, but fell into the trap of the Yue army, and the three battalions that were put into the attack lost more than half, including Lu Bin, the commander of the third battalion who served as the main attack, and the three regiments almost completely lost the ability to continue fighting; In the reckless attack of the Yue army in the pursuit battle, nearly 200 people were killed by the artillery company, and the loss of the Yue army's troops exceeded 1,000 people, which was a crushing victory. However, the army has a supply advantage that the Taiwan Legion does not have, and can quickly replenish troops and materials, in contrast, the losses of the [***] team are much more serious!

Zhu Yihong stood on a rock several meters high, anxiously watching his team slowly advance on the winding mountain road, and after withdrawing from the battle at night, he moved to the hinterland of Alishan with his troops, however, hundreds of wounded and heavy artillery slowed down the speed of the team's advance, so that the army could calmly mobilize troops and take them from the northwest and south. From time to time, the reconnaissance planes of the Yue army flew by from low altitudes, forcing the marching troops to interrupt their journeys again and again and hide in the woods beside the road, so that the pursuing troops could constantly reduce the distance.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, there were suddenly several crisp gunshots at the end of the line, which caused a series of echoes in the empty valley, followed by fierce gunfire like beans, mixed with bursts of shouts and killings from time to time.

"Oops!" Zhu Yihong's heart was cold: "I was caught up by the enemy!" ”

He immediately shouted to the somewhat panicked soldiers: "Throw away the baggage, go at full speed, and be sure to reach Niubeiling before the arrival of the bombers of the Yue Army!" ”

After finishing speaking, he immediately led his guard company to rush to the rear of the team at full speed. Just a few dozen meters away from the hillside where the troops were defending, twelve horses dragged six heavy artillery wagons at a snail's pace—the trucks and motorcycles had been abandoned due to the rugged mountain roads, and the cavalry platoon's war horses were used to tow the gun wagons.

In front of him was the sweat rolling down from time to time on the war horse and the violently trembling limbs, and the sound of gunfire was becoming more and more intense in his ears, Zhu Yihong decisively decided to discard the six 150mm howitzers that affected the retreat speed of the troops, he walked to the artilleryman who was holding the gun wheels on his shoulders, and said loudly: "Brothers, don't push!" Abandon the cannon! ”

"No way!" The commander of the artillery company categorically refused his order, and in turn asked: "Regiment commander, if we throw heavy artillery to the enemy, how will we break through the walls of the army in the future?" Is it just the rifles in the hands of the brothers? ”

Zhu Yihong understood the mood of the artillery company commander at this time, walked over and patted him lightly on the shoulder, pointed to the soldiers who were fighting endlessly on the top of the mountain, and said, "Is the artillery important, or is life important?" Besides, don't we still have infantry artillery and mortars in our hands! What is the use of the troops if the troops are completely wiped out because of the drag of heavy artillery, even if all the artillery is there? The bombers of the Japanese army will only be able to find this place in half an hour at the earliest, and when the time comes, we can only watch the enemy destroy us all with bombs, but there is no place to escape! ”

The artillery company commander did not understand these truths, but he couldn't let go emotionally, he stroked the cold barrel of the heavy artillery with his hand, and said sadly: "These cannons were brought from Fujian, and it took a lot of effort to load them on the ship!" I didn't expect to end up leaving them here! With that, he slowly lowered his head, and two hot teardrops rolled to the ground.

Zhu Yihong looked at the red and swollen eyes around him, and said excitedly: "Brothers, don't be sad, the head of the regiment promises to snatch them back from Yue Kou's hands!" ”

The artillerymen silently untied the ropes on their horses, removed the bolts, and then walked forward along the mountain road in three steps and one turn back, at this time, a deafening sound of shelling sounded on the mountain beam, and it was obvious that the artillery of the army had caught up. Zhu Yihong hurriedly led the soldiers to rush to the top of the mountain, and as soon as he arrived at the back of the position, he saw countless earthy yellow figures rushing up from the bottom of the hillside, and the cold bayonets carried an infinite murderous aura. At the same time, a storm of machine-gun bullets combed the hilltop position, flying sand and sparks so hard that people couldn't keep their eyes open, and the fighters of the blocking force could only throw grenades out of the trenches in a row. Due to the obstruction of the view, most of the grenades did not fall into the army, allowing the enemy to pass through the death zone unharmed.

However, as soon as the army stood on the edge of the trench, and before he could launch his best white-knuckle offensive, Zhu Yihong led the guard company to kill him from the front. Automatic weapons and grenades spewed deadly flames, playing the music of death in the formation of the army, and the dozens of soldiers at the front all fell without even humming. The soldiers in the rear immediately lay down on the ground, suppressed the opponent's attack with accurate shots, and at the same time called for artillery fire from behind to support.

The attack of the guard company relieved the blocking force, and then poked its head out of the trench and counterattacked the troops with heavy machine-gun fire and dense grenade throwing. The commander of the army at the foot of the mountain, because he could not understand the reality of the mountaintop, was worried that the assault force would encounter an ambush, so he hurriedly ordered a retreat and waited for the arrival of follow-up troops and bombers before continuing the attack.

As soon as the figure of the Yue army disappeared among the dense foliage, the Chinese soldiers on the top of the mountain quietly walked down the hillside under the command of Zhu Yihong, and then ran all the way along the mountain road, chasing the large army that had disappeared in the distance.

More than 500 meters above sea level Niubei Ridge lies in the front of the canyon, more than 100 meters long waterfall flows down from between the two peaks like a practice, and then rushes down the canyon, the mountain road extends along the side of the canyon at the foot of the mountain, and then stretches out to the top of the mountain with a slope of nearly 90 meters, forming a dangerous terrain that is not open for a long time.

Zhu Yihong immediately gathered the four antiaircraft machine guns of the whole regiment and formed an anti-aircraft fire group together with the other ten light machine guns, and laid an ambush on a rock jutting out of the canyon halfway up the mountain.

The three bombers flew from the top of the mountain in a low-altitude manner, because of the high altitude here, and close to the remnants of Alishan, the mountain is high and densely forested, and finally the smoke is filled, and the visibility is very small, so the military pilots did not find the target, so they continued to search and advance, and when they saw the signal of the troops on the ground and then returned here, the squadron had already used this time to build a simple fortification: the flamethrowers emptied all the dead grass on the front of the hillside; The repaired bare trunks were piled up in the middle of the rocks to become simple trenches, and the branches were discarded only a few dozen meters from the position, as an obstacle to slow down the speed of the army's charge; The surplus trees were cut into two-metre-long sections and stacked in dangerous places; The positions of the light and heavy machine guns were carefully selected to ensure both good firing range and strong defense.

The bombers and the ground troops of the Japanese army arrived at Niubeiling almost at the same time, and immediately began a ferocious attack, and the bombshells fell from the bombers' belly like eggs, one after another, and the dense jungle was blazing, and soon surrounded by thick smoke and fog. The artillery of the Japanese army also began to attack in unison, and small-caliber shells smashed down like hailstones, and shrapnel buzzed like hornets and flew through the dense forest, happily cutting into the human body, and screaming miserably.

The squadron did not launch a counterattack, but silently endured the enemy's bombardment and shelling, and the few remaining infantry guns and mortars were moved to the highest peak by three artillery batteries, ready to give the army a "surprise"!

(To be continued)