In Longkou, Shandong, in this plain area, the East China Army and the Yue Army began to overhaul trenches.

The trenches on both sides were repaired from the coastal town of Huangshanguan all the way to the mountainous area in the east, and from the ruins of Guicheng in the northeast of the mountainous area to the coastal area 40 kilometers east of Penglai.

The trench, which stretches for more than 100 kilometers, is covered with barbed wire, and the two sides dig trenches on this demarcated boundary, and the nearest trench on both sides is only more than 200 meters.

At this time, he mobilized most of the merchant ships and continued to transport troops to the Shandong battlefield. However, they could not dig trenches as fast as the East China Army.

Although the 28 divisions trained by the East China Army entered Shandong one after another, and although these divisions and regiments did not participate in the excavation of trenches, the East China Army mobilized nearly 500,000 young men from Shandong to dig trenches on the front line.

Among the 28 divisions organized and trained this time, Shandong was the one with the largest number of soldiers from other provinces, and the Shandong soldiers were burly and have always been the ideal source of soldiers that warlords like to recruit in modern times.

If it weren't for the level of education, the East China Army would have even recruited even more soldiers from Shandong.

The army on the opposite side used civilians to build trenches, and they could only stare there. At this time, the army did not have the courage to attack, they had no artillery and no aircraft, and they did not have any advantage in troops, and those trenches that were dissatisfied with the barbed wire were enough to make their attack futile.

Now is the armistice period, if they have an absolute advantage, then naturally they will not take this armistice in their eyes, when to launch an attack is only adjusted according to needs, but now there is no advantage, so those troops can only stare there, and then be severely reprimanded by the commander, let them step up digging trenches.

In less than a month, the East China Army initially completed the encirclement of the Yue Army. Two trenches leaning on the mountainous area surrounded the Yue army in the Longkou area, and the trenches of the Yue army had just completed most of them, and the width was less than that of the East China Army, and the East China Army's trenches still had a connecting passage.

Barbed wire and trenches, this is only the first step. The East China Army began to reinforce the trenches with special cement, and began to build strong basements and a network of trenches connecting other trenches.

Zhang Zizhong was assigned to serve as the commander of the infantry battalion in the 20th Division, and the 20th Division quickly gathered its troops, and after training for about half a month, it went to the front line to rotate defense, so that the troops in the front could retreat for training.

Although it is said that the militia has been training for a long time, after all, it has not participated in the regular army, and it still needs a period of training, but the advantage is that it is very easy to train, and these militiamen have a good foundation, which shows that the local armed forces departments have a relatively strict grasp of militia training.

Zhang Zizhong led a battalion of soldiers into the trench, and life in the trench was not too good, but it was not too bad, after all, there was no war yet.

Soon a new task was given to the above, which was to build a drainage ditch in the trench to avoid water accumulation in the trench on rainy days, and to cover your trench with something to block the rain, which would help improve the comfort of the soldiers in the trench.

Zhang Zizhong and the soldiers in the battalion began to get busy, and he was not worried about this war, because the East China Army had already begun to build the second trench.

Just by using trenches, the Shandong army could not go beyond one step.

As a new officer of the East China Army, he still has a good understanding of the East China Army, which is definitely not a rabble, but an army with faith, and the interior is even more united. In addition, the East China Army had air supremacy and strong artillery support, so there was no problem at all in defeating the Shandong Army.

Moreover, the superiors are also more concerned about building trenches, and plan to build three trenches along the entire defense line, even if the army can break through the first trench, there will be a second and a third trench.

He became a battalion commander in the first year of school, except when the military academy was first established, but then he gradually could only become a company commander, platoon commander and other grass-roots officers. And with the increase in the level of education of soldiers in the army, many soldiers were sent to military schools for further training.

Those soldiers who advanced their studies were more advantageous, and if they could do well in the literary examinations, they were more likely to be promoted.

Many of Zhang Zizhong's classmates were transferred to the army this time, and those with better grades were only deputy battalion commanders at this time, but he was the only one who became the battalion commander.

Although Zhang Zizhong was pleased, he was also strengthening his command ability. However, his battalion has a characteristic, that is, there are many new soldiers, especially in Shandong.

The foundation of these Shandong soldiers is relatively poor, after all, they have not received formal military training, and most of them have no education, but they have good physique.

Zhang Zizhong himself is a native of Shandong, and he naturally has his own set of methods to manage these Shandong soldiers, and he has been able to bring them well in the past half a month.

Just two days after arriving at the front line, Zhang Zizhong was called to a meeting.

When Zhang Zizhong arrived, he realized that this was not a meeting, but a new weapon for them.

This new weapon is the flamethrower, but not the kind of flamethrower that people carry on their backs, but a flamethrower buried in the ground.

This flamethrower is relatively large, with fifty kilograms of fuel in it. When buried in the ground, only the jet port is exposed. When the valve is opened and the fire is ignited, the flame emitted from the spout can cover an area 30 meters long and 15 meters wide, but only lasts for 4 seconds.

When the weapon was demonstrated, the fierce flames stunned the group of officers.

Although the flames only last four seconds, they are enough to burn an enemy to the point of serious injury or even death, which is equivalent to throwing an enemy into a sea of fire for four seconds.

This flamethrower gave the officers present great confidence in defending the trenches, and as long as the thing was buried deeper, it would be difficult for the artillery to blow up, unless it hit the jet port, but it would be nice to bury a few more.

Zhang Zizhong suddenly thought of an idea, and reported to Lin Wenjin, the commander of the 20th Division: "Sir, I think I can dig another basement forward under the trench, and make the basement stronger, only exposing a blast hole, and reserve a dozen such flamethrowers in it, if the enemy rushes up, just order the soldiers in the basement to light the fire." ”

"This seems to be a good idea, I'll let the division study it later." Lin Wenjin nodded, he still attached great importance to the ideas of these student soldiers.

Especially when Zhang Zizhong, who was in front of him, was transferred to the 20th Division as the battalion commander, the chairman personally called and told him to take care of it if he could.

Although Lin Wenjin didn't quite understand, he was definitely right to listen to the chairman's words. Lin Wenjin was one of the people who followed Xia Jun to start a family in Xixiang back then, and he was Lin Chenggui's fellow clansman.

When he followed the chairman of the committee to fight bandits and fight the Qing army in Xixiang, although he was not very good, but after these years of hard study, he was a regiment commander before, and this time he also made him a division commander.

He knew that his culture was not too much, and in many cases it was necessary to listen to the opinions of these student-turned-officers.

…… Zhang Zizhong's idea was quickly reported by Lin Wenjin, and after the experiment of the 20th Division, this method is completely feasible, and it is only a matter of cost whether to repair such a basement.

When it comes to war, many times the cost is out of the equation. And it doesn't cost much to repair such a basement.

After all, the style of the East China Army is to attack, and when the army is solved, then these trenches and basements that have been built are completely useless.

"Fix it! Insurance is paramount. Chen Xuanyu feels that this tactic is quite interesting, and since the defensive effect is good, what are you hesitating about?

In this battle, the East China Army was only allowed to win but not to lose, and it was as much insurance as it could.

When Chen Xuanyu reported the matter, Xia Jun gave a very clear affirmation, and said with a smile: "This tactic is good, we didn't expect it before, hehe!" ”

The flamethrower was developed by the Soviet Union during World War II, and a similar flamethrower was later copied after the capture by Germany.

If this flamethrower had been buried in World War II, it would have been buried in the ground, because World War II was a sports war, and there was no time to repair that kind of basement, and in many cases it was not necessary.

World War I was trench warfare, and trench warfare was a war of attrition, so unlike movement warfare, this method of setting up a basement so that the flames could last many times was really useful.

"Chairman of the committee, Yue Jun estimates that he will soon notice that something is wrong." Chen Xuanyu said to Xia Jun, "The trench war in Europe is in full swing now, but there is no breakthrough on both sides, so maybe Ben will react." ”

"The only result is that Ben will continue to increase the number of troops in Shandong, so we must build the trenches stronger." Xia Jun understands Yue Ben's mentality, Xiao Yue Ben will definitely not give up in Shandong easily, even if the trenches of the East China Army surround them now, the Yue Army is fighting against the water. After all, the indemnity of the political axe was also compensated, and the warship was also fished away by the autonomous political axe of East China, so the political axe of the political axe was naturally not willing to retreat.

Moreover, as long as the army can win, it is very tempting for the political axe, because the regular army of the autonomous political axe in East China is basically on the battlefield in Shandong, as long as it is defeated, it will be able to put forward many demands, and all the previous losses will be returned, and a large amount of compensation will be required.

As for failure, he probably doesn't think much about it. Because they also have trenches, and they also have this dependence, it is absolutely impossible for them to withdraw to their homeland in Shandong.

While the East China Army was building strong trenches on the front line, tank factories and aircraft factories were mass-producing combat vehicles and aircraft.

The largest number of production machines are the Type 13 dreadnought and the H-14 Mosquito bomber, and the production lines for these two war machines are working overtime, producing orders from the military day and night.

The task of the tank factory is the easiest, after all, it does not have to cope with foreign orders, while the aircraft factory needs to fulfill many tasks.

Buy a plane, go to China!

This has become a popular slogan in all countries around the world, and the aircraft made in China are definitely the most advanced and the best in the war.

(To be continued)