With Li Chang's order for test firing, the artillery group composed of four artillery regiments began to speak. After a test firing, the firing parameters were quickly corrected, followed by a salvo, and the south gate of Taiyuan City collapsed under the sound of artillery.

When the instructor artillery brigade conducted a test firing, Major General Sakai Hoji, the commander of the 1st Brigade and Regiment who was commanding on the front line, knew that this Taiyuan city could not be defended, and if such a powerful artillery fire could still be held, it would be a miracle. Major General Sakai Hoji immediately called Commander Yukio Kasahara and reported that the Central [***] team had at least three artillery wings of artillery and was about to break the city.

When Yukio Kasahara heard this, he was stunned, and immediately ordered Major General Sakai Hoji to concentrate his forces and firepower, transfer all the tank squadrons and armored car squadrons to the south gate, and be sure to drive out the [***] squadron attacking the city.

Although Major General Sakai Hoji was a vicious bandit, he was not stupid, and he knew that the most important way to take at this time was to quickly withdraw his troops from the city walls and engage in street battles with the squadron. However, he also understands that Major General Kasahara Yukio still has the luck mentality of holding Taiyuan, not to mention letting Taiyuan City be lost in his own hands, and no one can afford this responsibility. Besides, with the fierce combat effectiveness of the Imperial soldiers, Sakai Hoji himself thought that maybe he could drive the squadron out of the south gate. So, at the moment when the South Gate Tower collapsed, Major General Sakai Hoji ordered the Light Tank Squadron and the Light Armored Vehicle Squadron to dispatch, and the Reading Artillery Brigade concentrated its fire to close the South Gate and prevent the [***] team from breaking into the city. He also ordered the commander of the first wing, Furukawa Miyoji Osa, to concentrate the infantry of two brigades and quickly block the gap at the south gate.

Major General Sakai Hoji's arrangement is correct under normal circumstances, but unfortunately he met the three main brigades of the instructor, which were the old troops who began to teach the tactical points when Liu Yimin was reorganizing the army in the west, and after the collapse of the South City Gate, the first brigade of the first sequence of the attack did not directly pour in, but the small detachment searched and attacked and advanced. Indicate the target of attack for the artillery.

The troops who had gathered at the south gate began to dance in hell, and the concentrated salvo of four artillery regiments gave these invaders a taste of what it means to return the favor to others. Since the Lugou Bridge Incident was provoked, the Yue army was accustomed to the tactics of aircraft bombing, followed by heavy artillery bombardment, and finally tanks covering infantry assaults. Now the situation is completely reversed, it is the Chinese [***] team that is ravaging the army with artillery, just two shots per cannon, so that the troops used by the army to fight counterattacks at the south gate have basically evaporated from the world. Those arrogant devil soldiers, who didn't even have a chance to carry forward the spirit of bushido, engage in a white-knuckle fight, or attack with a suicidal surname, were lifted up by cannonballs and thrown into the night sky, falling heavily to the ground. The difference is that when it is thrown up, it is a person, and when it hits the ground, it is minced meat. The entire south gate was full of broken arms and legs of the army, as well as the wreckage of some tanks and armored vehicles.

After hitting the south gate, the artillery began to shift the firing area and clear the city wall with shells.

Major General Sakai Hoji's hands were trembling, he finally understood how the powerful 21st Brigade was broken, and he no longer cared about the orders of Major General Kasawara Yukio, and hurriedly reported to Major General Kasawara Yukio that Taiyuan City was broken and our army was unable to recover the south gate, so he commanded the remnants of the defeated army to withdraw the city wall and retreat to the city, in a vain attempt to use the fortifications in the city to resist to the death.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Gao Yuan ordered to blow the trumpet of the charge, waved the whole brigade into the south gate, and began to pursue and advance towards the city.

Liu Jianjian's Second Brigade and Li Qing's Third Brigade followed the First Brigade into the city, and soon the troops were interspersed in the city of Taiyuan with battalions as units, defeating the retreating Yue army.

This army is indeed well-trained and extremely combative. After avoiding the bombardment of the instructor's artillery group, he began to use fortifications in the urban area, setting up light and heavy machine guns and grenadiers, and maneuvering with the instructor. Shoot with precision to block the instructor's attacks.

The troops of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd brigades showed no mercy to the resistance of the instructor, and the troops quickly interspersed, and soon divided and surrounded the remnants of the enemy, and greeted those open fire points with mortars and grenades; Basskcans are used to greet hidden firing points such as bunkers, and a single rocket can destroy a bunker. In particular, the cavalry battalions of the three brigades, taking advantage of their strong mobility ability, galloped through the city, slashed with knives and guns, and attacked at a very fast speed, which became a nightmare in the eyes of the soldiers of the Yue Army.

After all, the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great, and the resistance of the Yue army only brought some casualties to the instructor, not only could not stop the instructor's offensive, but quickly consumed the strength.

In the end, those crazy soldiers of the Yue Army really staged a suicide attack, holding grenades and explosives bags and rushing towards the attacking Eighth Route Army, intending to die together. There is only one result, and that is to be beaten into a hornet's nest.

At the same time as the south gate was opened, the special operations detachment led by Li Lingfeng, Li Shanzhu, and Wang Laohu also arrived at the airport. At this time, the airport was already heavily guarded, and it was impossible to sneak into the airport. In accordance with Liu Yimin's instructions, Li Lingfeng took out the poison gas bombs seized from the 21st Brigade of the Fifth Division and fired them directly at the airport with mortars.

This poison gas bomb was the magic weapon of the Yue army, and it was the first to be used by the Fifth Division in the Xinkou battlefield.

It was night, the plane could not take off, and some of the military pilots were sitting on standby in the plane, and some were resting in the dormitory. Only the two squadrons that were tasked with guarding the airfield entered the position to guard against a possible attack by the [***] squadron. They never dreamed that it would be so uncomfortable to die under the poison gas bomb, their faces were dark and their bodies were distorted.

By the time Li Lingfeng and the others entered the airport, there was no life left inside.

At this time, Major General Yukio Kasahara was already stunned in the headquarters.

In Kasawara Yukio's mind, the squadron was a chaotic command, poorly equipped, and illiterate soldiers. Since the 918 Incident, China's best-equipped troops, the Northeast Army, abandoned the city and fled under the attack of a small number of troops of the Kwantung Army, Kasawara Yukio looked down on the [***] team from the bottom of his bones, and he never dreamed that more than two hours ago, he also imagined that the [***] team would be gathered and annihilated under the city of Taiyuan, and establish a brilliant cause for His Majesty the Emperor, and in the blink of an eye, the city of Taiyuan was actually breached. Listening to the gunshots, the [***] team is killing in the direction of the headquarters, and I am afraid that my life will end tonight.

Kasawara Yukio no longer hesitated, and sent a final telegram to the commander of the North China Front, General Terauchi Shouichi, reporting that the city of Taiyuan had been broken and all the troops defending the city were shattered.

After sending the telegram, Yukio Kasawara ordered all the personnel of the headquarters to pick up their guns and go to the line of fire, but he sang "Kimi-no-Dai", stabbed his beloved war knife into the stomach, and twisted his backhand, so he was angry.

At 4:20 a.m., General Shouichi Terauchi was called out of bed by the staff officer on duty. After reading the telegram from Major General Yukio Kasawara, General Terauchi sat down on his chair and was speechless for a long time.

First, the 21st Brigade and the Fifth Division Cavalry Wing and Field Artillery Wing were shattered, and then Taiyuan was captured. He didn't understand how the elite imperial army could be defeated in successive battles and face bad luck, and he didn't know what the emperor's expression would be when he knew it.

According to Terauchi Shouichi's original strategy, the Fifth Division launched an attack on the Pingsui Line, with the purpose of covering the Pinghan Line and the Jinpu Line. The Fifth Division was supposed to return to the vicinity of Baoding to participate in the encirclement and annihilation of the main force of the [***] team, but this hapless Itagaki Seishiro took the lead in attacking Pingxingguan and launched the Battle of Taiyuan. Of course, it is indeed in the interests of the empire to take Taiyuan, but the current situation is that the main force of the Fifth Division was annihilated, and it was carried on the first brigade of Reading Power Mix, and Taiyuan City was gained and lost. If Seishiro Itagaki didn't lead the main force south to Huozhou, could Taiyuan be lost?

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, the more angry he became, he kept calling Itagaki in front of him, slapped him a few times, and then ordered him to apologize for his sins!

Of course, this is just Terauchi Shouyi's thoughts, not for outsiders.

Chief of Staff Okabe Naosaburo asked for instructions on how to deal with the Taiyuan incident, and Terauchi Shouichi said viciously: "Order the aviation troops in Shijiazhuang to take off and bomb Taiyuan in the morning, and order Itagaki Seishiro to command the 20th Division, the 109th Division, the 2nd Brigade and the 15th Brigade of the Reading Force, so as to recapture Taiyuan and annihilate the Chinese army attacking Taiyuan." ”

Okabe Naosaburo had to remind: "Your Excellency, Commander, we don't know what the strength and firepower of the Chinese army attacking Taiyuan are now, just look at their attack on Taiyuan so quickly, we can be sure that this army is extremely strong in combat and its firepower is also very fierce. Without knowing the enemy's situation, we rashly ordered Lieutenant General Itagaki to lead the 20th Division and the 109th Division to recapture Taiyuan. Do you ask Your Excellency the Commander to consider it again? ”

Terauchi Shouichi said viciously: "Itagaki Seishiro, this arrogant fool should have died a long time ago, and the last time the 21st Brigade was broken, he should decisively apologize for his crimes." As a result, we hesitated and let him make meritorious service to atone for his sins, which led to the loss of Taiyuan today. If he doesn't recapture Taiyuan, what face will he have in the military circles? ”

Okabe Naosaburo was about to continue talking, when the staff officer on duty sent another telegram, and General Terauchi Shouichi saw that it was the loss of Niangzi Pass, and the defenders of a brigade were broken. Shouichi Terauchi was so angry that he didn't care about the demeanor of a general anymore, and directly scolded "Baga", and swept all the things on the table to the ground.

At this time, Naosaburo Okabe remembered the telegram sent by Major General Yukio Kasahara earlier judging that the [***] team might attack Taiyuan, and immediately ordered the staff officer to find out the telegram and present it to Commander Terauchi Shouichi.

Terauchi Shouichi re-read the telegram of Major General Yukio Kasawara at this time, and naturally did not have the original disdainful thoughts, but read it carefully several times, and then examined the map with Okabe Naosaburo for a while, and came to the conclusion that the middle [***] team was about to launch a large-scale attack in Shanxi, with the purpose of leaving all the imperial troops in Shanxi in Shanxi.

Once the opponent's strategic intentions are clearly judged, it will be easy to do. Terauchi Shouichi no longer demanded that Itagaki be recaptured, but ordered the 2nd Brigade and the troops led by the 2nd Brigade and the troops led by the Tsuki Bujia Gui Nakasa to quickly abandon the pursuit of the squadron to the west of Taiyuan and retreat to Xinkou to deploy defenses; Ordered the commander of the First Army, Lieutenant General Xiangyue Qingsi, to command the army on the front line of Shijiazhuang to quickly advance towards Niangzi Pass, cooperate with Reading Li to form the 15th Brigade, and be sure to recapture Niangzi Pass, and ordered Itagaki Seishiro to lead the 20th Division and the 109th Division from Huozhou, directly turn around, and return to Yangquan via Qinxian and Wuxiang to ensure the line of Yangquan, Pingding, and Niangziguan.

After issuing the order, Terauchi Shouichi sent another telegram to the base camp, reporting the news of the loss of Taiyuan, analyzing the situation in Shanxi after the fall of Taiyuan, and requesting that three divisions and regiments be added to the North China Front Army to meet the operational needs. At the same time, the combat troops of the Jinpu Line and the Pinghan Line were ordered to speed up their attacks and must quickly advance to the line of the Yellow River.

After Itagaki Seishiro received the order of Shouichi Terauchi, with his original guts, he wanted to resist the disrespect of the order and kill directly to Taiyuan. But now Itagaki has experienced the blows of the 21st Brigade Jade Crush and the loss of Taiyuan in a row, and he has already understood that he has no capital to fight with the general of the temple, and there may be only one way to be tried. Therefore, this time he was surprisingly honest, and immediately ordered the 20th Division to be in the front and the 10th and 9th Divisions to send sufficient search and alert troops to protect the main force and take the diagonal road to Yangquan.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Liu Yimin and Luo Ronghuan rushed to Taiyuan Airport. As soon as he saw that there were 36 planes of various types neatly parked on the airport, Liu Yimin ordered Feng Dafei to organize the trainees to quickly open the airfield, and organized six retired instructors of the US Air Force to form the first air force formation, which set off at dawn with the task of attacking the Yuejun airfield in Shijiazhuang. He also ordered the artillery brigade, the heavy machine gun regiment, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd brigade supplementary regiments to each draw out a company and use the antiaircraft guns and antiaircraft machine guns at the military airfield to form anti-aircraft firepower and protect the security of the airfield.

Leaving Feng Dafei busy at the airport, Liu Yimin and Luo Ronghuan rushed to Kasawara Yukio's headquarters.

Yukio Kasahara's body has been placed in the courtyard, and the bodies of Major General Sakai Hoji, Furukawa Miyoji Osa, and other officers at or above the rank of the army have also been found and placed in the courtyard.

Liu Yimin touched his nose and smiled, and asked Hu Di to be responsible for contacting the army and selling these corpses, the condition was naturally to give money, of course, to give cannons and shells.

Hu Di happily accepted the task, Cai Zhong looked at it and smiled, this god-like division commander didn't even let go of the corpse of the devil, and wanted to exchange it for money. That's amazing!

It was at the headquarters of Kasahara Yukio that Liu Yimin sent a good news to the Central Committee, the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, and Nanjing to recover Taiyuan.

(To be continued)