Two and two forks rang, even though it was five o'clock in the morning. Before dawn, the army of the leading country did start the shelling of Gai Ping again, as punctual as it had been the other day.

"Whoosh"

"Boom!"

"Whoosh"

"Boom!"

The large-caliber cannonball dragged a long tail across the sky, and when it flew at high altitude, it shrieked, and when it reached low altitude, it became low again, somewhat like the roar of a train, but more like a call from hell, once the shell hit the ground and exploded, there was basically no living thing on the ground nearby, whether it was a human or an animal.

This is the shell of a millimeter naval gun, with a long range and strong power, even a battleship cannot withstand its bombardment, let alone a man of flesh and blood?

Now, the commander of the Kwantung Army, Major General Tachibana Koichiro, was standing in front of such a shell, and besides, Tachibana Koichiro himself was staring at this shell with those blood-red eyes, as if it was not a shell, but some kind of monster, which made him puzzled.

This shell was fired by the Chinese army, but because the fuse failed, it did not explode, and it fell into the soil of the position that had already been bombarded by the shell, and the entire shell was basically intact, so it was carried by the soldiers to the headquarters of Koichiro Tachibana.

The reason why this shell appeared in Tachibana Koichiro's headquarters was precisely because of Tachibana Ichiro's own order, and he wanted to study it carefully to see what kind of war magic the Chinese had learned, so that the Chinese army could use train guns to pour such fierce artillery fire on Japanese positions.

Train cannons. This is not a new concept, as the U.S. military began bombarding forts and forts with train artillery back during the Guyan Civil War. However, at that time, the train cannon was still very primitive, compared to the current train cannon, as a professional soldier, Tachibana Koichiro knew very well that if you want to make a large-caliber train cannon, you must master a complete set of advanced heavy industry technology.

Four years ago, the Chinese couldn't even make field guns, but now, they have been able to make large-caliber naval guns, this is magic, the magic of modern industrial development.

"Odious Germans, and the Austrians, who taught the Chinese to make cannons and warships. There are also submarines and aircraft, without their technical assistance, the Chinese may not be able to build a qualified naval gun in a hundred years. ”

Koichiro Tachibana stared at the shell, cursing viciously at the Germans and Austrians. There are even Italians. In his opinion, without the support of the Allied bloc, the Chinese army would simply not have had the courage to take the initiative to provoke this war against Japan.

But what's the use of pondering it now? Regardless of whether Tachibana Koichiro hated the entire Allied bloc, the fact now is that the Chinese army has already killed the city of Gaiping, and the Japanese soldiers could not raise their heads with heavy artillery fire, first shelling, then air raids, and then shelling, compared to air raids, the Japanese army was generally more afraid of artillery bombardment, especially the kind of artillery shelling of millimeter train guns, many officers who participated in the Russo-Japanese War recalled the scene when the Japanese shelled Lushun. It's just that it wasn't them who were hit by the guns at that time, but now, it's they who are being shot.

At that time, the siege artillery used by the Japanese army to bombard the Russian-occupied Lushun was nothing more than a large-caliber artillery with a short firing range. The trajectory is curved, but now, the Chinese army is bombarding the Japanese army with a long barrel of naval guns, not only low ballistics. And the firing range was very long, far beyond the range of the Japanese heavy howitzers. Therefore, the Japanese army could only stare dryly, and could not fight back at all.

Although the Japanese factories could make better naval guns than this train gun, for the time being, the Japanese army simply did not have a better cannon than this train gun, and the only heavy cannon was the British-made sixty-pounder howitzer, and there were only two of them, and they had been lost in yesterday's shelling, and now. The only artillery that the Japanese army could use at hand was field artillery and mountain artillery. It was simply impossible for these cannons to engage in an artillery battle with the train guns.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the Battle of Gaiping, the Japanese army has been in a passive state of beating, although Tachibana Koichiro has launched several counterattacks. However, under the machine gun and artillery fire of the Chinese army, it had no practical effect except to cause unnecessary casualties among the Japanese troops.

Tachibana Koichiro originally thought that the Chinese army would take advantage of the artillery advantage to launch a general attack on the Japanese army in Gaipei, but he was surprised. The commander of the Chinese army, not knowing what to think, never launched a large-scale frontal offensive. In the past few days, in addition to a small-scale battle for position, the most important means of attack of the Chinese army was artillery bombardment, which was fatal to the morale and morale of the Japanese army.

Tachibana Koichiro's headquarters in Gaihei Castle was also attacked by shells several times, and although not a single shell hit the headquarters, the panic caused by the shelling had already made many staff officers and officers panic, and many of them advised Tachibana Koichiro to retreat immediately and go to Lushun to hold on.

But Tachibana Koichiro did not agree to this retreat proposal, he stubbornly insisted on his belief, that is, he must hold on until reinforcements arrive, no matter what, he will hold Gaiping, provide a reliable northern barrier for Lushun, and even if he can't hold Gaiping, he will never retreat lightly, if necessary. He could have given his life for the interests of the Japanese Empire on the Gaiping Front.

Koichiro Tachibana had always thought that his belief would not be shaken, but since last night, his belief in the two murderers has suddenly shaken. The reason is very simple, because just yesterday night, the Chinese troops broke through to the dustpan village south of Gaiping, and occupied the railway station, cutting off the South Manchurian Railway, on which the Japanese army relied on for survival, and blocking the way for the Japanese army to retreat south.

Upon hearing the news, Koichiro Tachibana hurriedly dispatched troops south for reinforcements in an attempt to recapture the dustpan railway station.

But what surprised Koichiro Tachibana was. According to the Chinese army guarding the Mozhai railway station, although the number is small, but it is well-equipped, not only field artillery, but also armored vehicles, relying on these advanced weapons, the Chinese army has repelled several attacks by the Japanese army, and has been holding on since last night, according to the telegram taken half an hour ago, the current dustpan village railway station is still in the hands of the Chinese army.

The development of the war situation was extremely unfavorable for the Japanese army. Tachibana Koichiro is now shaken in his faith and wants to withdraw, but he does not dare to withdraw, because the main Chinese forces on the frontal position of Gaiping are still eyeing each other, and once there is a disturbance, the Chinese army can cover it at any time, and the retreating Japanese army will not be able to resist at all, and it is likely to collapse at the first touch, just like the Russian army in the Russo-Japanese War back then. Surrendered to the Chinese army in batches.

Confidence on the battlefield is the most important, and now that the Japanese army has no confidence from top to bottom, what kind of fighting spirit can we talk about?

Under this military morale. Koichiro Tachibana had no choice but to sit in the headquarters with a few staff officers, waiting for the battle report from the dustpan village.

After not closing his eyes for several nights, Koichiro Tachibana was not only drowsy, but his eyes were red and looked like an angry lion, but only he knew that he was now at the end of his crossbow. It can't last long anymore, and now the reason why he is staring at the shells is, on the one hand, to think about the strength of Chinese industry. On the other hand, it is also to avoid losing concentration and ultimately affecting judgment.

"Your Excellency! The Dustpan Village Assault Force had just sent a telegram. The new offensive was again thwarted, and the Chinese reinforcements also arrived, and now, the defenders of the dustpan village were already under the enemy's back, and it was probably difficult to support them. ”

A staff officer held a telegram and relayed the situation of the battle in the dustpan village to Koichiro Tachibana.

"Yaga! Where did the Chinese get so many reinforcements? .

Koichiro Tachibana jumped up and snatched the telegram in a fit of rage. It tore it to shreds, and then kicked it at the millimeter shell, but the shell didn't move.

"Yaga!"

Koichiro Tachibana finally felt like he had calmed himself down. The groggy brain seems to be cleared up a bit. To the northeast, the Chinese must have come from the hilly area to the northeast, which was the weak area of the Japanese defense line, but did those armored vehicles also come from there?

"Please send a telegram to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army in Lushun to inform us of the current situation of our department. Then inform His Excellency Fukushima Yasumasa that the Imperial soldiers will fight to the death with the Chinese army in Gaiping. I'm afraid I'll only be able to meet with His Excellency Fukushima at Kudanpo

After listening to Tachibana Koichiro's order, the staff officers' eyes were dark, and they all understood that Tachibana Koichiro was determined to live and die with Gaihei.

The telegram was quickly sent out by a wireless telegraph, and whether or not it was received by Lushun, Tachibana Koichiro no longer cared after he issued the order. He sat in the headquarters and carefully wiped his katana, and it was not until the end of the Chinese artillery bombardment that he suddenly stood up and waved the katana.

"Imperial warriors, our resting place is here!"

No one knows what Koichiro Tachibana had in mind at the time. But many of Japan's top Kwantung Army officers witnessed a sight they will never forget: a Japanese major general brandishing a katana and leading a group of soldiers into a Chinese position, and then they were machine-gunned into a sieve, and the katana eventually became a trophy of a Chinese general.

The death of Koichiro Tachibana was only the beginning of the end of the Battle of Gaiping, in fact, after the death of Koichiro Tachibana, the resistance of the Japanese army in Gaiping still lasted for half a day, under the command of Major General Kitaya Kikuhama Otani, commander of the 5th Division. The Japanese quickly shrank their defensive line and retreated as they fought, trying to bypass the dustpan village and flee to the south.

However, when the Japanese army finally retreated to the dustpan village, it was hit by the Chinese armored forces, and the Japanese troops that were originally relatively complete were divided into two, one trapped in the coastal plain. One withdrew to the hilly area, the two Japanese troops fought separately, and the battle stalemate lasted until the afternoon, when the Chinese infantry moving south from Geping joined the final attack on the Japanese army, and the Japanese troops in the coastal area were first defeated, and then the Japanese troops trapped in the hilly area also collapsed, and the commander of the 5th Division, Kitaya Otani, committed suicide by drinking bullets, and the Battle of Gaiping ended.

Most of the 30,000 Japanese troops were annihilated, and only a few remnants of the defeated army fled into the deep mountains and old forests in the hinterland of the Liaodong Peninsula, trying to escape to Lushun.

This was how Gai Ping was conquered, but the Chinese Wehrmacht attack force did not stop there, and they continued to advance south along the South Manchurian Railway, and that night, Xiongyue Castle was conquered without a fight. It was only because a railway bridge in front of them was destroyed by the Japanese army that the Chinese soldiers temporarily stopped their advance.

However, as long as the invading army is still entrenched on the territory of the motherland, the advance of the Chinese soldiers will never stop!

Victory is ahead, honor is ahead!