Commander-in-Chief Jiang and his entourage successfully came to the east bank through the pontoon bridge, and when Bai Chongxi, who accompanied him, rode on horseback and stepped on the bridge deck, he had already seen the entrance of the two traffic trenches on the east bank that went up obliquely from the river embankment, and he boarded the east bank and glanced at the entire position, nodding frequently, the fortifications of the model battalion were built so well and skillfully that he was very satisfied, and he nodded slightly to meet An Yi's gaze, and a rare smile of approval appeared on his face.

Before leaving, Commander-in-Chief Jiang, who was deeply satisfied with the speed and quality of the pontoon bridge construction, asked kindly: "An Yi, can your bridge pass trucks?" ”

An Yi raised his head and looked up at the commander-in-chief on the horse: "My subordinates dare not guarantee it, but the foundation piles and construction standards of the pontoon bridge are built according to the two-and-a-half-ton passing standard, and there is no problem with the six horses of the artillery regiment pulling a gun weighing more than 1,400 kilograms through just now...... It's a pity that the quartermaster department no longer has a chain for us to receive. ”

"Good, good! After this battle is completed, I will let your model battalion train backbone engineers for each division, and we must popularize the experience and technology that you have constantly summed up in practice to the whole army, so that if every regiment of our revolutionary army has a well-trained contingent of engineers, the speed of marching and combat effectiveness will be rapidly enhanced. ”

Commander-in-Chief Jiang nodded, glanced at Nanchang City, which was filled with gunfire and gunpowder in the northeast, raised his hand to salute the more than 200 officers and soldiers of the model battalion on the position, and drove away with his legs.

The three main regiments of the Second Division of the Revolutionary Army gathered more than 20 heavy machine guns and more than 40 light machine guns to effectively suppress the firepower of the city head with a width of more than 200 meters above the Desheng Gate.

Just successfully erected dozens of long ladders to the high city wall, a piece of grenades mixed with a bag of explosives wrapped in nuts and scrap iron angle steel suddenly flew down the city like locusts, a series of violent explosions blew up hundreds of meters on both sides of Desheng Gate beyond recognition, hard and sharp steel fragments shot all over the sky, like a deformed bullet to hit the solid city wall into a spark, a nut, a piece of scrap iron whistled in all directions, either soaring into the sky, or easily penetrating the fragile body and head, In the flash of firelight, pieces of bamboo ladder wreckage and fragmented limbs flew out, and the blood shot out was like a flickering purple band of light under the impact of the gunsmoke, and the pungent blood rushed head-on in the violently twisted gunsmoke.

Six hundred warriors suffered heavy casualties after the smoke of gunpowder drifted away, under the city wall, there were corpses of revolutionary officers and soldiers everywhere, only a half-cut bamboo ladder was left alone on the red-hot city wall, a revolutionary soldier who had lost his legs on the stairs was still clinging to it, and the flames more than two feet high were burning his body with the bamboo ladder, and this fireball was burning more and more vigorously, swaying and crackling under the hot air current, and finally collapsed with a bang.

As the smoke of gunpowder faded, the light and heavy machine guns of the defenders opened fire in full swing, and the more than 200 men and horses who rushed to rescue the wounded who led their brothers rushed to rescue the wounded were splashed with blood and screams, and the surviving officers and soldiers had to lift the brothers who were still alive around them and quickly retreated, and the dense bullets followed, knocking the fast-moving bodies to the ground with bloody flesh and blood.

"Commander—"

The heart-wrenching screams of the brothers of the four regiments were so weak in the earth-shattering gunfire, their regiment commander Wen Zhiwen could no longer hear it, Wen Zhiwen, who fell into a heroic corpse, had been pierced by bullets in the front chest and back, and the boiling blood was absorbed by the dry earth as soon as it gushed out, only a fragment of a broken military uniform behind him swayed violently in the hot air current, making a flag-like hunting sound.

Such a tragic scene alternately appeared around the towering city wall, wave after wave of fierce battles, so that the sky over Nanchang City was shrouded in layers of thick and heavy gunpowder smoke like dark clouds, the radiant sun rose from it to the middle of the sky to slowly go west, can not penetrate the endless bloody fog, bursts of roars, explosions spread all over the ten miles, the sky changed, the earth roared, and finally returned to tranquility before a bloody remnant of the sun faded.

In the middle of the night, the premier's will sounded in the mouths of more than 8,000 officers and men of the First Army who had sworn to fight to the death.

In the dark, Commander-in-Chief Jiang in a black cloak stood at the forefront of the attack position like a javelin, his extremely firm eyes have been staring at the same dark Nanchang City, Deputy Chief of General Staff Bai Chongxi stood silently behind him, closed his resolute lips, looked at the looming outline of the city wall, there was no trace of emotion on his tense face, only a little sadness and worry in those deep eyes.

At 4:30 a.m. the next day, violent gunfire and explosions sounded again in the north and south directions, and another siege of the city by the officers and men of the Second Army was suddenly launched, and the flames stirred up by grenades and explosives bags once again illuminated the ancient city walls and the earth, and bursts of roars and shouts of killing resounded over Nanchang City.

At the same time, the battle of Deshengmen in the west unfolded silently, a long ladder quietly erected to the city wall, one by one the figures slowly went up the long ladder, the first batch of more than 50 people successfully climbed to the top of the city, and turned on a flashlight as agreed, a group of warriors under the city saw this and quickly boarded a long ladder, the deputy Xiong Shouyun of the four regiments immediately led dozens of brothers to pick up the explosives bag and rushed to the city wall, stuffed into the bottom of the quietly excavated city gate.

Who knew that the second group of commandos had just climbed down the long ladder to the heights, and before they could take a step up to the city wall, a snow-bright broadsword blew up and the wind suddenly struck, and one after another bloody arrows rose into the sky, and pieces of limbs fell to the city, and the screams pierced the night sky one after another, and then the corpses that had lost their heads were thrown down in pieces, and the sound of machine guns and grenade explosions, which had been silent for a long time, sounded again.

Xiong Shouyun, the deputy of the fourth regiment, was shocked to hear the sudden change, decisively detonated, rushed out a few steps before he could lie down, a row of bullets whistled and beat him to the ground trembling sharply, after a loud bang, the regiment commander Liang Zihou rushed out quickly under the cover of gunsmoke, trying to meet his nearly 100 brothers to retreat, rushing to the halfway bullet rain to fly, knocking down Liang Zihou and more than a dozen officers and soldiers around him, dozens of wounded soldiers braved the rain of bullets and the thick smoke caused by the explosion of grenades, carrying Xiong Shouyun and rushing to Liang Zihou. Picked up Liang Zihou and a few brothers who were still moaning in pain and ran, not caring about the lives of the other brothers in the Sixth Regiment who were more than 50 meters away.

Ten minutes later, Xiong Shouyun, who was snatched back by his subordinates, was severely injured in the abdomen, and closed his young eyes before he could say a word, Zhang Hanzhang, the commander of the Sixth Regiment who had been shot several times, also became a hero, and Liang Zihou, the commander of the Fourth Regiment who was seriously injured, fell into a deep coma, and the brothers of the Engineer Company of the Fourth Regiment were ordered to carry the wounded brothers away from the position one by one and send them to the rear for emergency rescue.

On the east bank of the first pontoon bridge in the southwest of the city, An Yi, who had stood on the high ground in front of the city for half a night, still looked at Nanchang City motionlessly, and from the moment the tragic oath of reciting the prime minister's will came to his ears from the cold wind, his mood was no longer calm for a moment, and the boiling blood made his eyes confused and burst into tears.

An Yi, who has experienced the whole process of Wuchang, Fengxin Siege and Tingsi Bridge, has rich combat experience and experience, he knows very well what the voices that come one after another represent, and the tragic battle in his mind is no different from the real scene under the city of Nanchang, but he can't do anything about it, except for deep sadness and helpless tears, he can't do anything.

Under the morning light, five fast horses galloped from east to west, Yin Jinan gently pushed the statue-like An Yi, An Yi turned his head and saw a long breath of turbidity, holding the left arm hanging on his chest with a faint pain, leading Yin Jinan, Gu Changfeng and a few brothers to stride up. The knight on the horse saw An Yi and his party from a distance, and hurriedly slowed down, came to the fortification where two light machine guns were erected, and turned over and dismounted.

"Xiao Yi, has my ammunition arrived?"

Cai Zhonghu, whose face was full of gunsmoke, asked anxiously.

An Yi shook his head: "No, I have sent two groups of reconnaissance detachments to the west to search, and every fork in the road is guarded by the brothers of the headquarters guard regiment, and I have not seen the shadow of the vehicle so far." ”

Cai Zhonghu waved the horsewhip in his hand and whipped it to the ground: "How did you do it?" If it doesn't come again, Lao Tzu will complain to the headquarters about the idiots in the Quartermaster Logistics Department! The brothers of the various departments are desperately fighting in the front and suffering heavy casualties, and their logistics department is so dragged out, and there is no replenishment of artillery shells, what is the use of my artillery regiment? ”

An Yi had a flash of inspiration in his mind, stepped forward and grabbed Cai Zhonghu's right arm and walked more than ten meters away, muttering close to his ear.

Cai Zhonghu was shocked and anxious, and finally lowered his head and pondered, and after a while, he nodded with difficulty and said in a low voice:

"I understand, if you're not afraid of 10,000, you're afraid of what if! I will immediately shift my position when I go back, and try to get as close to you as possible, because with the range of our regiment's artillery, I will definitely be able to shorten the distance between you and me to less than three kilometers, just behind the mound you just mentioned, and it will not affect the execution of the mission. ”

"Don't worry, I have enough men and pack horses here, but you must pay attention to the possible attacks on the east side, and if you see that the situation is not right, send someone to call me immediately, and I can still draw a company to support you." An Yi's eyes were full of concern.

Cai Zhonghu nodded gratefully, patted An Yi's right arm vigorously, strode back to the war horse and jumped up, leading several subordinates back quickly.

After a while, Cai Guangqing, who was already the deputy of the major of the third battalion of the fourth regiment, came galloping on a single horse, jumped off and almost fell down without waiting for the war horse to stop, Gu Changfeng, who was quick-eyed, swept two steps forward and supported him, Cai Guangqing hurriedly saluted An Yi without waiting to stand firm, and asked the brothers to help carry back more than 400 wounded officers and soldiers and send them to the west bank, the principal had ordered the fourteen tractor trucks of the artillery regiment to urgently transport all the wounded to the Gao'an Military Hospital.

An Yi and Yin Jinan immediately blew the assembly whistle, and in less than 10 minutes, the brothers of the four engineer companies who were resting on both sides of the strait rushed to the scene, laid down their weapons and set off lightly under the sound of An Yi's series of orders, and ran to the temporary field hospital four kilometers north under the leadership of Cai Guangqing and the commanders of each company, and it took four and a half hours to send nearly 500 scarred officers and men of the main regiments to the west bank.

At this time, seven trucks full of artillery shells from the quartermaster department of the General Headquarters arrived, and the lieutenant colonel battalion commander who was familiar with An Yi listened to the report and immediately issued a series of orders to his subordinates together with An Yi, and the sappers of the three companies of the model battalion quickly unloaded a truckload of shells and piled them on the shelves on horseback, pulled more than 80 pack horses each carrying more than 200 kilograms of ammunition on the pontoon bridge, and rushed to the artillery position. It was two o'clock in the afternoon when everything was done.

The exhausted brothers of the four engineering companies returned to the West Bank for lunch, and as soon as they put down their rifles and picked up their rice bowls, the rumbling sound of artillery was heard again, and the soldiers of the resolute, brave and tenacious revolutionary army once again launched a fierce siege battle, and they fought for five hours at a time.

(To be continued)