Masao Makita is the squad leader of the X-Cavalry reconnaissance squad of the X-Squadron of the 39th Wing of the 8th Brigade of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army, with the rank of sergeant; His squad consisted of 15 men, including a machine gunner, a communications officer, and a health soldier. The task www.biquge.info them is to patrol the five-kilometer radius on both sides of the Ziya River twice a day.

According to the division's order, in the next few days, the Second Army of the North China Front, composed of the 10th Division and the 16th Division, will launch a large-scale operation against the main force of the First Theater of the Chinese Army entrenched on the North China Plain.

Misida heard from Squadron Commander Mira-kun that in order to compete for the right to participate in the first battle in the land of China, the commander of the 8th Brigade, Takehei Nagase, and the 33rd Brigade Eijiro Tajima had a very unpleasant quarrel, and both of them wanted their troops to cross the Ziya River first and plant the national flag and military flag on the land on the other side. In the end, it was the division commander Isotani-kun who personally made the decision and handed over this glorious task to the 8th Brigade.

When Maita got the news, he was overjoyed, the 8th Brigade was the advance army for the conquest of China, and he was the advance army of the 8th Brigade, which made people feel proud from the bottom of their hearts! He rode on the strong horse, only to feel the little rain on his face, and it became extremely comfortable, "Cheer up!" ”

"Yes, Senpai!" The warrior on horseback tightened the strap of his gun on his shoulders and sat more straight. A group of more than 10 troops moved forward in a straight line; As he walked at the front of the group, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief and suddenly shouted, "Enemy! Dismount all! ”

The soldiers in the back didn't figure out what was going on, and Maita quickly rolled off his horse, quickly tearing off his comrades one by one, while he quickly lay down and raised the telescope hanging on his chest, and the criss-crossing trenches clearly appeared in the lens! It seems that the work of the Chinese soldiers is not completely finished, and from time to time you can see the dirt shoveled up by the shovel!

Mao Tian scolded in his heart, but he was more puzzled: When I came to inspect here yesterday, there were no troops from the Chinese army, why did there be so many trenches overnight? How many people did the Chinese army send up? "Signal troops, signal troops? Report immediately, just say that we found a trench built by the Chinese army 4 kilometers east of the south bank of the Ziya River, hurry, hey, what are you waiting for? ”

"Oh, yes, yes!" The signal soldier agreed, turned on the intercom, and made an urgent report to his superiors about the latest discovery.

The situation of the enemy army was reported step by step until it was sent to the brigade commander Takehei Nagase, who asked suspiciously, "Has the news been confirmed?" Do you know which team of the Chinese army it is? How many people are there? ”

"Yes, Your Excellency General, it has just been confirmed that signs of the main combat force of the Chinese army have indeed been found on the south bank of the Ziya River. Judging by the actions of the other side, they will form a resolute sniper attack on the imperial army's southward movement. The operational staff officer reported officially: "However, I am sorry which unit the other side belongs to, there is no further information yet." We have already requested that the reconnaissance planes at the Tianjin airfield take off to take pictures and visually inspect the situation on the enemy's front line, and it is believed that it will not be long before detailed information will come in. ”

Takehei Nagase walked to the battle map, raised his head and studied it carefully, and after a while, he suddenly asked: "How far is the Chinese army from the south bank of the Ziya River?" ”

"Around 4 km."

Nagase Takehei smiled disdainfully, although he still doesn't know who the other party is, but just by looking at the position where he put the troops, he can see that he is a guy who doesn't understand military affairs at all! Although the distance of four kilometers is not very close, it also gives your tanks, artillery and other heavy firepower to play completely! Let's see what you can do against the mighty military power of the Imperial State.

"Your Excellency, General?"

"Let's go, let's go together, and meet the people who are about to become my opponents." Although Nagase Takehei looked down on the other party in his heart, he was always calm and sophisticated, and he would never be careless because of the other party's mistakes, and led the brigade and the two wing commanders to leave the Langfang headquarters and rush to Nanfu Zhao Town by car.

Near noon, the car arrived at the Ziya River, the 39th Wing had already completed the assembly, Nagase Takehiri ignored it, crossed the turbulent Ziya River, and went straight to the front of the Chinese army's position under the leadership of Maotian. He lay down on the spot and looked at the opposite side with a telescope, which was similar to the situation reported by the Chinese army, crisscrossed by trenches, and he didn't know how many people were ambushed in it.

Nagase Takehei knew it and led his subordinates back to the north shore, and at this time, the situation from the air reconnaissance was also fed back: "...... From the air, the number of Chinese troops will not exceed one division, and they are distributed between Nanfuzhao, Dibei Village, and Fengzhuang Village, and no enemy troops have been found to have artillery or other heavy weapons. In the frontal position, there were about two regiments of troops of the Chinese army, four lines of defense, and they were ready for battle. ”

Takehei Nagase nodded and asked, "What is the opinion of the staff department?" ”

"We unanimously believe that this is a small combat unit of the Chinese army that has gone north from the Cangbao line, and it will not have a very serious impact on the advance of our army."

Nagase Takehei pondered for a moment, he always felt that something was wrong, did the people of China have such courage? The troops of a division dare to engage in a head-to-head contest with one of their own brigades? It was useless to think too much, so he said quickly: "Order the field artillery wing of the Taniguchi Army to carry out intensive bombardment of the frontline positions of the Chinese army, and at the same time request the bomber formation at Tianjin Airport to take off and coordinate with our army to carry out bombing; As soon as the bombardment was over, the tank squadron of the Okabe Army was dispatched; Numata-kun's 39th Wing and Noyoshi-kun's 40th Wing followed the advance, and before it got dark today, they were sure to annihilate the Chinese troops on the other side of the river. Even if such a tactical goal is not achieved, this enemy force must be driven out far away, and they will not be allowed to interfere with the future actions of our army. ”

"Yes."

Takehei Nagase paused and said with a smile: "Numata-kun, Noyoshi-kun, move faster, you can't let that guy from Tajima get the news and come to grab credit with the 8th Brigade!" ”

The commander of the 39th Wing, Numata Takazo Osa, saluted and said loudly: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, I will never let that guy who 'even sake will become bitter when I see him' to take credit!" ”

Everyone laughed!

Tactics were formulated, the Japanese army quickly launched an operation, they also won too many battles, the days were too comfortable, did not take these enemies in front of them to heart at all, only deployed 12 Type 94 mountain guns, put them in place, under the command of Jun Cao, 12 soldiers performed their duties: there are those who operate the scope and control the high and low direction of the artillery, those who operate the direction of the artillery, those who load ammunition, those who pull the arquebus to launch the artillery, and those who load the shells with fuses and hand them over to the loader, although there are many people, the movements are very skillful, And it's busy but not chaotic, with an orderly view.

Standing a few meters behind the artillery, with a telescope on his chest, Jun Cao quickly shouted the order, "Fire!" ”

'Pass! With a sound, the short and stubby steel body of the 536-kilogram Type 94 mountain cannon jumped on the spot, and the 6-kilogram standard high-explosive grenade crossed a white trajectory in the air, smashing heavily on the position of the Chinese army, a large ball of flames mixed with smoke and flying dust flew up, Jun Cao clenched the telescope with both hands, reported the data in his mouth, the soldiers moved quickly, and the second one was a little more accurate, and then the landing point of the shells became more and more accurate, and the two trenches of the Chinese army exploded a dense fire!

After adjusting the various firing elements of the artillery, the rate of fire of the Type 94 mountain gun has obviously slowed down -- this is first of all because of the shortage of shells; according to the Japanese military department's code of conduct for the use of artillery, there are strict regulations on the daily consumption of shells for artillery of different calibers, such as 50 rounds for 100-mm cannons, 30 rounds for 150-mm cannons, 40 rounds for 150-mm howitzers, and so on. Under normal circumstances, the artillery would not be able to make up even a standard base number of shells fired every day -- if they were allowed to fire according to their temperament, it would take less than half a year for Japan to go bankrupt!

In addition, the gun itself is because of the Type 94 at the beginning of its design, the fastest rate of fire is only 15 rounds per minute, and after two minutes of firing, the barrel must be cooled, otherwise there will be a danger of exploding. Therefore, it is not possible to use it except in a very urgent situation; However, at a rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute, it can be used for 15 minutes.

The rate of fire of the artillery gradually slowed down, but the nightmare of the Chinese army had just begun, and there was a rumbling roar in the sky, and it was the plane from the Tianjin military airfield that came overhead. The Type 97 light fighters, Ki-10, and Type 95 heavy bombers, like marquees, relied on the Chinese fact that they had no anti-aircraft firepower at all, and flaunted their might over the Chinese positions, and the three Ki-10 pilots deliberately displayed their piloting skills, and one of them plunged into a deep dive, and the frenzied sound of two 7.7-millimeter machine guns ploughed two profound marks on the front of the Chinese army's position, and this action immediately aroused bursts of cheers from friendly troops!

After 40 minutes of overwhelming tactical bombardment, the battlefield gradually quieted down, and he took off his hat and dusted off the dirt with a blank face: "All regiments and battalions will immediately count the casualties." ”

Soon, the statistics of casualties of the troops ended, and the Japanese bombardment caused more than 300 casualties to the Chinese army, of which more than 200 were killed and a few were wounded; "The Japanese tanks are about to come up, order the demolition team, and prepare for the attack."

The demolition group is a special unit set up to deal with the devil's tanks, called the 'group', but it is the formation of a battalion, and the selection criteria are very simple: lean and fast. According to Dai Xiaodian's requirements, each of these people carried a bundle of cluster grenades to use against the devil's tank; The military salary of the demolition team is 20 pieces per month, and on weekdays in the barracks, these people don't have to go out to exercise, they don't have to train, and even when these people need women, Dai Xiaodian will try his best to satisfy them! That's not all, the people of the demolition team died on the front line, and their families can get a one-time salary for three months. However, this kind of deliberate differential treatment has not aroused any opposition in the army, and the reason is self-evident, these people in the demolition group are completely cannon fodder troops!

The battalion commander of the blasting group is named Chen Xiaowu, as his name suggests, he is the fifth in the family at home, and there is a pair of younger siblings below, joining the blasting team, that is, with the idea of 'exchanging life for money', according to his own words, he went up, and he deserved to come back;

Hearing the commander's call, Chen Xiaowu appeared beside Dai Xiaodian in a few steps, "Brigade commander, it's time for our brothers to go to the battlefield?" ”

Dai Xiaodian was silent for a moment, and said concisely: "Training is not a day or two, you know what to do; Wait for my order in a moment. After you go up, I will order the whole regiment to provide fire support, in a word, throw it, run it! ”

Chen Xiaowu grinned, "Brigade Commander, let's see you later!" ”

As Dai Xiaodian expected, the front of the position where the devil's 89B tank rumbled and approached in a straight line; Behind the tank, there is a cat waist, armed with a 38-style infantry, and the distance between the two sides is about 70 meters; Dai Xiaodian knew at a glance that this was the so-called Japanese-style infantry tank cooperative combat mode that he had seen in some literature in his previous life.

The total weight of the 89B type tank is only 13 tons, which can be called the lightest of the light, if you look at the top view from the air, it looks like a pear, and the long fruit is the 57 mm tank gun that sticks out, called a tank gun, which is actually a howitzer; In addition, the tank is equipped with two 7.7 mm light machine guns, one of which sits in the spherical machine gun and the other is located behind the turret at an angle of 150° to the axis of the turret, which is mainly used to shoot at enemies attacking from the flank.

The fastest speed of 89B type is 25 kilometers per hour, of course it will not be so fast now, and the momentum is gradually advancing towards the position of the Chinese army, and when there is still a distance of about 700 meters, the whistling sound of shells sounded in the sky again, and the soldiers subconsciously chose to hide, but they gave Dai Xiaodian a casual hand, and pressed it in front of the position again: "Brigade commander, the devil has opened fire?" ”

"It's a smoke bomb, ignore him!"

Sure enough, when the shells fell, it was not like the fire just now, but bursts of thick white smoke evaporated in front of the position, like fog, enveloping both sides of the position. Jin Zhenzhong looked at Dai Xiaodian with surprise and admiration, "How do you know?" ”

Dai Xiaodian didn't pay attention to it at all, but just yelled and gave the battle order: "Fire!" ”

Thousands of machine rifles poked out of the trench at the same time, and the bullets covered the four tanks of the devil like a storm, and the whistling sound of bullets resounded throughout the land, mixed with the crisp impact sound of hitting the tank's armor; The Japanese tanks did not retreat but approached, and their speed increased sharply, and at the same time, they launched fierce counterattacks on the enemy with their vehicle-mounted light machine guns! (To be continued.) )