At night on September 29, the Ming army continued to bombard the defensive positions of the Jin rebels. The defenders of the Jin Kingdom www.biquge.info who had been shelled for a whole day were also numb, and they huddled in their trenches, waiting in their sturdy bunkers, enjoying the seemingly endless sound of explosions.

When the Ming army was preparing to forcibly cross the Liuhe River, it also mobilized a large number of artillery pieces to violently bombard the defense line in Liaozhong garrisoned by the Jin rebels in the area of Tai'an County. The scale of the shelling was even larger than the current one, and it lasted for several days, until the Battle of Liuhe broke out, and the shelling on the Liao River was still intermittent.

So now that they have experienced such an artillery bombardment, everyone is not surprised, and some people are even optimistic that since the Ming army shelled this place first, it will not cross the river here to attack. This sentiment spread among the top echelons of the Jin army, and even affected Yehhoran, the prime minister of the Jin state.

This shelling continued intermittently until midnight, and then continued without warning: all kinds of small-caliber artillery of the Ming army began to join the bombardment lineup, and the dense artillery firing and the sound of explosions echoed in the night sky, making everyone extremely bored.

This was also planned in advance by Wang Jue and Yang Zizhen, using dense artillery to cover up the sound of the troops' construction, so as to achieve the purpose of building the pontoon bridge first. Under the cover of artillery and smoke, the Ming sappers began to build gentle slopes on the river beach for fixed pontoon bridges. On the wide river crossing, five of these gentle slopes were to be built according to the plan, two of which were only spare.

However, the period from midnight to early morning was so long that while waiting for the late boating troops, the sappers had nothing to do and built two alternate gentle slopes on either side. One of the gentle slopes was even outside the cover of smoke, and there was a bit of a blatant smell.

Because the boat unit had to tow the buoyancy box and had to go against the tide of the boat at night, it was still unpredictable in the end. Several of these boats ran aground in the river, and when they finally arrived at the intended place of forced crossing, they found that the location codes that had already been recorded were completely out of order.

At night, it was indeed impossible to identify the numbers sprayed on the side of the ship without lighting, and finally, after half an hour of confusion, the sappers decided to abandon the numbering in the confusion and arrange the already chaotic boat units in a random combination.

So on the river bank near the Ming army, the first group of boats and buoyancy boxes were fixed on the shore by the sappers. The sappers of the other groups followed suit, and began to fix the boats on their respective construction sites, and then laid iron plates on these pontoons to form a solid bridge deck.

Even though the boat has its own power and has formed a larger pontoon module with the buoyancy box, progress is still very slow at night, where visibility is very low. Although there was no firing on the other side, the chaos and darkness of the night brought no less obstacles than the rain of bullets during the day.

It was already past four o'clock in the morning, and the sky was about to light up, but the speed of the construction of these boat modules did not improve, and the construction progress was even a full hour later than expected. At this time, the defect that the simulation training was only carried out once because of the need for secrecy was exposed, and in this complex actual combat environment, the Ming army itself was defeated by its own exquisite tactics......

"Hell! What about ship four? I can't see! Boat Six is still waiting! A sapper officer hid behind a sandbag in the bow of the ship and questioned the adjutant beside him, "I heard that the second pontoon bridge is progressing faster...... It's almost in the middle of the river. ”

"Sir! Once you reach the middle of the river, it is possible to expose the intent...... The progress of the first and third pontoons must be accelerated, otherwise we will have to watch the second pontoon bridge be hit by enemy fire! The adjutant's uniform, already soaked by the splashing river, squinted his eyes, choked with smoke, and said to his commander.

Not far from them, more than a dozen sappers were using thick ropes to connect the buoyancy boxes towed by two boats and fix them. These buoyancy boxes are attached to the boat in pairs, providing the pontoon with the strength to support heavy equipment.

The distant cannon was still rumbling, and with the sound of these explosions, the sappers were completing their task as fast as they could. In fact, they were already 1 hour and 10 minutes behind schedule, and by this time the sky was already starting to lighten.

The engineer officer looked at his pocket watch, frowned at the boat that was constantly adjusting in the river, and complained with some anxiety: "Damn it! It's too late! ”

"Damn it! It's too late! Ordered to let the troops start wading! Armed Force-Crossing Begins! In the headquarters, Zhang Jianjun, the commander of the New 1st Army, looked at his pocket watch with exquisite workmanship, frowned and suggested to Yang Zizhen beside him: "Start attacking!" Cover pontoon erection ...... If it is too late, it will be exposed, and there is a risk of losing the pontoon ......"

"Order! Let's start the general attack! Yang Zizhen also nodded, he subconsciously set his eyes on the lounge where Wang Jue was asleep, and then looked in the direction of the battlefield, and said: "Everything is according to the plan, this is the commander's order." ”

So, before the morning sun showed out of the horizon, the troops of the Ming army, as before, began to carry all kinds of boats for crossing the river, rushing towards the already slightly cold water. They tumbled into the boat in waist-high water, and then began to swing their oars and row desperately towards the opposite bank.

There were also some soldiers who boarded the larger assault boat with the engine on the sampan, and after the cabin was crowded, the engine roared, and the boatload of soldiers drove quickly towards the opposite shore. The soldier in the bow of the ship was wearing a life jacket and staring at the smoky river with cold eyes, waiting for his target to appear.

"Prepare for battle!" On these boats, the officers leading the team gave the order to fight, all the soldiers loaded their weapons and bullets, and everyone made the final preparations without saying a word, and the coming fierce battle made each of them beat their hearts faster. Not far from their shoulders, a pontoon bridge had reached into the middle of the river, and it was full of sappers who were working in full swing. (To be continued.) )