The 2nd Regiment of the 6th Division, which had always been used as a fist force, was the first to arrive on the outskirts of Ningde. After lunch, the convoys of the Second Regiment appeared one after another on the dirt road a few kilometers away from Ningde City.

From here, the road ahead had been completely destroyed, and the first search force had arrived at a sloppy mess with sections of the road that were not giant trees or stones.

Several officers and men of the search team got out of the car to look around, and after confirming that the road ahead was impassable, the officers and men set up a forward checkpoint.

The trucks of the officers and men of the Second Regiment arrived one after another, and many of them broke down on the way. The quality of cars in this era is really bad, and many cars have been unable to drive all the way from the magic capital.

After the cordon was set up, several food trucks came to the front line to bring lunch to the officers and soldiers. After lunch, the troops of the 2nd Regiment, who had already arrived, formed a long marching column and walked towards Ningde on foot. As for the convoy, they are waiting for the arrival of the sappers.

The forward troops advanced a few hundred meters, and after crossing a hill, they found the blocking position of the Min army.

A small hill that is no more than 100 meters high, and the Min army has already built several improvised positions on the hillside. From time to time, there is a faint figure running on the hillside.

In the temporary regimental headquarters of the Second Regiment, several staff officers were drawing up operational plans. The regiment commander Lu Ji walked to Zhang Zhonglin's side and said in a deep voice, "Zhonglin, now only the three battalions have all arrived, and I plan to let them take the lead." However, the artillery is still on the way, and only some mortars are capable of fire support. Do you think we will attack now or wait for the artillery? ”

Zhang Zhonglin discussed with Zhang Xinghai, who was standing on the side, and then said to Commander Lu, "Regiment Commander, you are the commander, and the final decision is still up to you." We can give advice, just now came the news that the artillerymen are now stuck in the road. You won't be able to get there for at least two hours. ”

Zhang Xinghai continued: "Regiment commander, after two hours, the artillery will arrive, and it will take an hour to find a position, deploy, and prepare for firing. After dozens of minutes of fire preparation, it was already night to capture the positions in front. ”

"What do you mean," Captain Lu asked in a deep voice.

After Zhang Xinghai and Zhang Zhonglin glanced at each other, Zhang Zhonglin nodded and said, "Regiment commander, the opinion of the staff group is to attack immediately!" Even if now there is only part of the cover of mortars! The other party should have just arrived. I just went to the front line observation post to take a closer look. The position on the hillside is very rudimentary, and the armament does not have too much heavy firepower, so there should be no problem in taking the position with the strength of our second regiment! ”

"Good!"

Dead wood and grass were burning on the hillside, and the Fujian army's positions were littered with craters from mortar shells. A gust of mountain wind blew, and thick black smoke drifted everywhere.

In front of the Fujian army's position, there were more than 100 officers and soldiers of the Second Regiment! Zhang Zhonglin, who was lying on the starting position of the second regiment, clenched his teeth, and looked at the brothers lying on the ground with blood-red eyes!

Zhang Xinghai lit a cigarette and stuffed it into Zhang Zhonglin's mouth, lit another one for himself, and said lightly, "Take a break, the first camp has arrived." Wait for a battalion to go! ”

In the previous nearly an hour, under the cover of more than a dozen mortars, the third battalion of the 2nd Regiment launched two attacks on the positions of the Min army on the hillside in succession.

The result was two failures! The two companies that launched the attack suffered heavy losses. In addition to the fallen officers and soldiers, there are many more wounded!

The third battalion is no longer able to fight! At this time, the battalion, which finally caught up, took over the attack mission.

"Report that the temporary road behind has been built. Trucks transporting ammunition have already arrived! A herald came to the two men and reported.

"Great!" Zhang Xinghai slapped his thigh excitedly. The mortar shells carried by the soldiers of the fire support platoon were already exhausted in the first wave of attacks! At that time, the top soldiers of the first battalion had even rushed into the trenches of the Min army!

It's a pity that the reinforcements of the Fujian army soon rushed in, and the second regiment, which lacked firepower to blockade, could only watch the attacking troops being driven back!

The second attack after that was a completely meaningless act, except for increasing the number of casualties in vain, even the Fujian army's position did not get up!

Zhang Xinghai stopped the order of Zhang Zhonglin, who killed the red-eyed Zhang Zhonglin, to continue the attack: "Calm down! Did you return everything you learned at the academy to Brandt? At this time, what we need is to wait for support, not to let the brothers go straight to the heavy machine gun! ”

Now the road in the rear has finally been opened, and a large number of shells have been sent to the positions. Zhang Zhonglin said indifferently.

"Knock knock!" Coupled with a dozen or so guns brought up by a battalion of fire support platoons, nearly 30 mortars began to pour their anger frantically into the Fujian army's position!

The Min army stationed on this hillside was the first regiment of the second division to arrive, and it had already suffered a great loss of vitality after relying on its bravery to withstand the two attack waves of the sixth division.

What is even worse than the sixth division is that the second division is on foot! They only have part of the ammunition they carry with them. As for the artillery and everything, they are still wandering on the road dozens of miles away!

The second regiment's firepower coverage this time lasted for nearly ten minutes! Thousands of shells blew up this small position as if it had been baptized by a dense meteor shower, and the law that no two shells will fall in the same crater is invalid here!

Ten minutes later, the artillery fire weakened and began to block the rear of the Fujian position. Zhang Zhonglin raised his binoculars and looked at the position of the Fujian army on the hillside.

The fire was blazing and the smoke was billowing out. The entire position was covered in black smoke. From Zhang Zhonglin's telescope, it looked as if there were no living people at all.

However, Zhang Zhonglin didn't dare to be careless, he had already rushed into the trenches and started brutal hand-to-hand combat, so that he could be driven out. Zhang Zhonglin has a deep feeling for the toughness of the Fujian army.

A loud trumpet sounded, and the two companies of the first battalion formed a skirmish line and rushed out of the city shouting. Zhang Zhonglin held the telescope tightly. watched as the officers and soldiers of the first battalion quickly approached the Fujian army trenches.

"Tubu!" The Fujian army's position suddenly sounded the sound of Makqin's shooting! Zhang Zhonglin saw a row of soldiers rushing to the front slamming down to the ground!

“TMD！” Zhang Zhonglin smashed a punch on the ground! Even the positions were blown up, and the 2nd Division was still resisting!

When the sound of Makqin's strafing fire sounded, the officers and men of the first battalion in the attack lay on the ground in unison. The two sides began to fire fiercely. And dozens of Makqin, which were covering the position of the second regiment, also began to shoot frantically.

Soon. The only two remaining Makqin on the position of the Fujian army were blown up with grenades by the officers and soldiers of the first battalion of the assault! With a shout, hundreds of officers and soldiers of the first battalion stood up in unison and rushed into the trenches frantically!

Fierce hand-to-hand combat began again. Bayonets, butts, grenades. Blood was splashing, lives were flowing, and in just a few minutes, two more companies of the 2nd Division stationed on the hillside and part of the reserves that forcibly broke through the artillery blockade to catch up with reinforcements were almost all killed!

In hand-to-hand combat, the MP18 used by the non-commissioned officers of the 6th Division played an extraordinary role! At least a whole platoon of Min army reinforcements was all knocked down by several MP18s! The hand-to-hand combat was so brutal that many of the soldiers' bayonets were broken.

In the post-war summary, most of the officers and soldiers said that the best weapon to use after storming the trench was the MP18. This was followed by sapper shovels and grenades. As for rifles and bayonets, they do not work well in narrow trenches.

After a burst of cheers, the officers and men of the 2nd Regiment continued to advance. Soon the smiles on their faces froze, and after turning over the hills, there was another hill! On the hillside is also a newly constructed position!

Zhang Xinghai patted Zhang Zhonglin on the shoulder, and then said helplessly: "Let's rest first, and wait for the artillery to come up." ”

Zhang Zhonglin looked at the Min army on the hillside in front of him who was still desperately wielding shovels and shovels, sighed weakly and said, "There is no way, it can only be like this." The second division is really capable of fighting! ”

In the fierce fighting that had just ended, the 2nd Regiment had captured only a dozen wounded prisoners. The opponent's strong will to fight made the officers and men of the 2nd Regiment feel depressed!

Zhang Xinghai lit two cigarettes, handed one to Zhang Zhonglin, and said in a deep voice: "I heard about it when I was still in Baoding Military Academy. Yu Shuai once said that among all the troops in Beiyang, only the second division can compete with the third division! 'The only two or three of the Beiyang armies'"

"This time I really met my opponent!" Zhang Zhonglin took a hard puff of cigarette and said in a deep voice.

"Hehe, don't worry. Although the Second Division is very strong compared to other units, it is still far behind our Sixth Division! Look, it's us who wins! Zhang Xinghai's words carried a strong confidence!

Weix, who had received the battle report from the front, stood in front of the map and muttered for a moment, then turned to Brandt on the side and asked, "Where is the artillery?" ”

Brandt said, "Still on the way!" The road conditions here are very poor, and now the roads are very congested. ”

"Inform the gendarmes that all troops are on the way! Let the artillery go first! Before dinner, I want to get the news that the artillery unit has completed the deployment of the position! Weix said with a serious face.

"Yes!"

On the front-line positions, the officers and men of the Second Regiment gathered in groups to smoke and chat. The wounded soldiers have been taken to field hospitals. The officers and soldiers who died in the battle had also been collected into body bags and transported to the rear by truck.

The afternoon sun is bright and warm, and the heat makes people feel drowsy. The officers and men who got up early in the morning soon fell asleep, and the annoying sound came and went.

Zhang Xinghai did not feel a trace of sleep, he lay in the forward observation post and held a telescope to carefully observe the Fujian army position opposite. At the same time, he kept writing and drawing on the notebook he carried with him.

The arrest of Boss Huang some time ago and the hot head in the Second Regiment of the Second Division made him grow up rapidly.

With a wife and children, Zhang Xinghai, who is almost thirty years old, finally began to look like a real officer. His previous departure from the Beiyang Army also had his own immature reasons.

Zhang Xinghai's location was only a few hundred meters away from the Fujian army's position, and the Zeiss telescope in his hand allowed him to see the opposite position clearly. (To be continued......)