On the position in Dayangzhuang outside Tai (Er) Zhuang, Liu Dingjun, commander of the Fourth Division, ordered six artillery pieces to begin to carry out targeted removal of the four artillery pieces of the Qing soldiers.

The direct fire of the artillery greatly improved the hit rate, and only three shells were fired from each of the six guns, and the four guns on the Qing positions had already been blown over.

"A regiment begins to attack!" Liu Dingjun saw that the Qing artillery had been cleared, and immediately gave the order to attack.

A small attacking phalanx, which had already been assembled, began to run towards the Qing army's defense line under the cover of the shield bearers.

Getting closer and closer, the Qing soldiers' musketeers had already begun to fire, the lead bullet hit the shield with a crisp sound, and there were already sporadic soldiers falling in the phalanx, although the shield was large, it could not prevent the entire phalanx.

Liu Dingjun held the binoculars and observed carefully, and saw that the range of the Qing soldiers' firearms had improved a lot, and he was also secretly frightened.

The distance was closer, and the archers of the Qing soldiers also began to shoot, and the arrows thrown by the Qing soldiers were more lethal than the fire guns, and the commander of the regiment standing behind the shield saw that the situation was not right, and blew the copper whistle in his hand.

The small phalanx stopped running, and the riflemen began to raise their rifles, and with a sharp whistle, the riflemen of the fourth division also opened fire.

As the smoke of gunpowder rose, the Qing soldiers' musketeers and archers who were standing up and shooting in the trenches fell down one after another, and the lead bullets and arrows flying towards the cloud were suddenly reduced.

"The second and third battalions are covered by fire, and the first battalion is advancing!" The commander of the regiment gave the order again.

There were many fewer phalanxes that rushed forward, and more phalanxes stopped in place and began to shoot at the Qing soldiers in the bunkers and trenches, and the Qing soldiers' musketeers and archers were beaten so that they did not dare to get up, and the first battalion soon rushed to the side of the trench.

Liu Dingjun, who was watching from the rear, saw that the commander of the first regiment was responding quickly to the battlefield, nodded happily, and then ordered the second regiment and the third regiment to hurry up and advance forward.

The Qing soldiers in the trench had already run away, and the commander of the first regiment ordered the sappers to rush forward and fill the trench, and the first regiment continued to advance forward, and then the second and third regiments began to attack on both sides.

The resistance of the Qing soldiers was extremely tenacious, and the Fourth Division took a lot of effort to break through the entire position of the Qing troops, but more than 20,000 Qing soldiers still ran more than 10,000 people, and the Fourth Division also paid a great price, and the casualties of the whole division reached eight or nine hundred, and more than 300 people were sacrificed.

Although the battle was won and more than 4,000 prisoners were captured, Liu Dingjun was extremely dissatisfied with this result.

After interrogating the prisoners, Liu Dingjun knew that the Fourth Division was actually gnawing a hard bone this time. It turned out that although the more than 20,000 Qing soldiers were all Han Chinese, they were composed of the clothed servants of the Manchu nobles and their sons.

The equipment of these more than 20,000 Qing soldiers is also good in the Qing soldiers, and the firearms they use are all flintlock muskets, although there is no rifling, but they are also carefully crafted by craftsmen, and their range and power are far more than the firearms of the previous Ming army.

After learning of these circumstances, Liu Dingjun felt a little better and ordered the operational staff officers to report the details of the operation to Huang Degong as soon as possible, and at the same time report to the General Staff Headquarters in Nanjing.

More than 10,000 Qing soldiers retreated to Taizhuang Town, and then more than 10,000 Qing soldiers who arrived together set up a defensive line in Taizhuang Town.

Liu Dingjun felt that the price paid for attacking the positions defended by more than 20,000 people with the strength of one division was too great, and the Wehrmacht could not bear such heavy casualties at present.

Liu Dingjun asked the operational staff officer to write a detailed analysis report and send it to the Seventh Division outside Yizhou, where it was handed over to Huang Degong, and the Fourth Division was laid down in Mazha on the outskirts of Taizhuang.

"How? Liu Dingjun hasn't won Taizhuang until now? Huang Degong took the report and said with some dissatisfaction.

Liu Dingjun is his old subordinate, in terms of ability, he is no worse than Weng Zhiqi and Liu Xiongwu, and he is even better than both of them in terms of meticulous consideration.

"Afraid of the dead? What kind of war is this? Huang Degong said angrily while looking at the report.

He handed the report he had read to the combat staff officer next to him, "Look at it, I don't think it's okay for the Fourth Division to fight like this." The former is afraid of wolves, and the latter is afraid of tigers. ”

Several operational staff officers gathered around to look at the report of the Fourth Division, and several people muttered quietly.

"Say what you have to say, what do you mutter?" Huang Degong, who was in a bad mood, said to a few people.

"Minister, we all feel that there is some truth in Division Commander Liu's report, and our troops are a little scattered." A staff officer stood up and said.

"Oh, let's talk about it!" Huang Degong is not a stubborn person, and when he heard what the operational staff officers said, he wanted to hear their thoughts.

"Minister, you have already seen the previous combat report of the Fourth Division, and the current method of clearing the troops is to use civil fortifications to offset our superiority in firepower, especially the exertion of our artillery firepower." The staff officer pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Secondly, their current equipment is also different from before, and the range and power of their firecrackers have also increased a lot, and with the help of positions and fortifications, firecrackers and bows and arrows play a significant role."

When Huang Degong heard what the operational staff officer said, he was also thoughtful.

"Now we only have 36 artillery pieces in a division, and our flowering shells will not damage much to the civil fortifications, so if we want to break through the Qing army's defense line, we have to sacrifice a lot of soldiers to achieve it, if the Qing army reacts and besieges one of my divisions with heavy troops, I'm afraid we are really difficult to deal with."

"So we all feel that the decision of the Fourth Division to stop is correct, if their attack goes well, they will inevitably become a lone army in the end, and when the Qing troops surround them, we will go to the rescue, which will disrupt our entire deployment."

Listening to the orderly analysis of the operational staff officer, Huang Degong felt that the previous deployment of letting the three divisions go hand in hand was a bit careless.

Huang Degong ran to the operational map and looked at it for a long time, and discussed it with the operational staff for a long time, before he stood up and said:

"Order the Fourth Division and the Sixth Division to maneuver in the direction of Yizhou, hurry up and lean towards the Seventh Division, and we will use the artillery of the Seventh Division to blast out a way."

After giving the order, Huang Degong said to himself: "Wang Qiang, this kid is really good, if you have to engage in any interspersed battles, more than 3,000 people in this regiment will go behind the Qing soldiers, and I am really a little worried." ”

Interspersed with the Qing troops in Yizhou to take Jinan directly, this was a decision made by Wang Qiang after carefully understanding the deployment of the Qing troops.

That day, after hearing the news that a few people said that Jinan Mansion was empty, Wang Qiang's mind moved.

Later, they successively found some people to carefully understand the deployment of the Qing soldiers, and then they learned that most of the troops of the Qing soldiers in Shandong had been mobilized to the Yizhou line, and there were 150,000 or 60,000 Qing soldiers on this line.

Knowing the strong attack capability of the National Defense Force, these Qing soldiers did not dare to disperse and deploy, but were grouped near Yizhou, and there was also a large gap between the various departments, which provided the possibility for the troops to intersperse.

Now Wang Qiang was not reckless, and did not take immediate action after thinking about this, but found an operational staff officer to carefully plan the map, and found people who were familiar with the terrain of Shandong to understand in detail the terrain characteristics of the area from Yizhou to Jinan, and it took more than a day to make up his mind to fight.

When Wang Qiang told Huang Degong about his determination, Lao Huang was taken aback.

"Xiao Wang, are you crazy? You're going to take a regiment to fight Jinan? Huang Degong couldn't believe his ears.

"Hehe, that's what it means." Wang Qiang smiled and handed the battle plan to Huang Degong.

Under the persecution of Luo Jian, he completed literacy last year, and now it is no longer a problem to read combat documents.

After looking at it for a long time, Huang Degong turned around and swept it again, and then raised his head and said, "Don't say it, this is really a good idea." ”

"However, Xiao Wang, don't go in person, let the head of the regiment lead the team!" Although Huang Degong agreed with the plan, he was still worried that Wang Qiang would be in danger.

"No, I have to go in person, this is behind enemy lines, any situation may be encountered, I'm afraid the head of the regiment can't deal with it, I have to go in person!" Wang Qiang said resolutely.

"Besides, if the Seventh Division is personally watched by you, there will be no problem here. You can rest assured, Guazhou was so dangerous, and the Tartars didn't hurt me a single hair, and now that I have a regiment by my side, there will definitely be no problem. Wang Qiang saw that Huang Degong was still hesitating, and continued.

Huang Degong knew that the regiment was brand new equipment, and if this regiment did not encounter a very unexpected situation, it would be impossible for the Qing soldiers to eat the first regiment of the Seventh Division, which was also the fundamental reason why he finally agreed to Wang Qiang to personally lead the team.

Under the leadership of three people who fled from Jinan, Wang Qiang set off with a group yesterday afternoon.

According to Wang Qiang's plan, the troops tried to march day and night as much as possible, and tried not to encounter the Qing soldiers in Yizhou, which was also to prevent the Qing troops from reinforcing Jinan.

There are a total of 3,200 people in a regiment, in order to protect a regiment, Wang Qiang almost brought the dry food and canned food carried by the whole division, the dry food is enough, but the canned food has to be saved, each soldier only brought five cans, this thing can not be carried too much by a single soldier.

The regiment was accompanied by five hundred young men, all of whom had been selected from among the people, and they were carrying ammunition and mortar shells.

The interspersed route chosen by Wang Qiang is from Yizhou to Pingyi, and then from Pingyi to Surabaya, passing through the gap between Tai'an and Laiwu, and the distance is also six or seven hundred miles on the map.

According to the marching speed of a regiment, it must be no problem to walk a hundred miles a day, mainly because most of the time it has to march at night, which affects the speed of the march, if it is a forced march during the day, Wang Qiang estimates that it will only take four or five days to reach Jinan.

Wang Qiang was very confident in the first regiment, most of this regiment was the elite left after the bloody battle in Guazhou, and it could survive the confrontation with the most elite cavalry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it was the elite of the whole division.

Since being awarded the "Yangzhou Hero Division" and organized into the Seventh Division, the training enthusiasm of the troops is extremely high, and there is no need for Wang Qiang's supervision, more than a year of high-intensity training has made them reborn, Wang Qiang estimates that if the quality of the equipment is not counted, the several infantry battalions of his former unit have been completely unable to catch up with the regiment.

These are the real reliance on Wang Qiang's courage to fight behind enemy lines, if he only has these new equipment, Wang Qiang really doesn't dare to do so.

Huang Degong did not dare to conceal Wang Qiang's big interspersed battle plan, and after Wang Qiang set off, he reported to Luo Jian as quickly as possible.

Luo Jian, who received the report, was taken aback, hurried to the war room of the General Staff, looked at the map for a long time, and then turned to Yi Bang, the chief of the General Staff who came over, and asked:

"Has Ma Yingkui's Hangzhou garrison arrived? Has the equipment been distributed? ”