"Chief, don't worry, if it weren't for the fact that there was no order from the headquarters, I would have brought the Seventh Division over a long time ago." Wang Qiang is still full of confidence.

"Xiao Wang, seeing that you are so confident, I will go to the Seventh Division tomorrow to see how far your training has reached." Luo Jian didn't hit Xiao Wang's self-confidence, he knew that Xiao Wang's self-confidence was confident.

The training level of the Seventh Division was somewhat unexpected by Luo Jian, in his impression, Xiao Wang had not been exposed to infantry training, and he really didn't expect the Seventh Division to be trained so decently by Wang Qiang.

Seeing the soldiers of the Seventh Division skillfully conducting company and platoon tactical drills, and the soldiers skillfully doing various tactical movements, Luo Jian looked at Wang Qiang with some doubts.

"Chief, I have a fellow who is a squad leader in the infantry battalion, and he told me a lot about their training, and I remember it all." Wang Qiang scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly.

"Good! I'm afraid that if you train the troops as you see in movies and on TV, then it's bad. Now I am relieved to see that the troops are trained like this. However, whether the combat effectiveness of the troops is strong or not depends on training alone, and it must pass the test of actual combat. ”

Luo Jian was very satisfied with the training of the Seventh Division, a main combat division had been formed, it was a mule or a horse, and it had to be pulled out to slip away.

The operational plan for a small campaign was quickly drawn up, the purpose of which was to test the training level of the Seventh Division, and the operational objective was to take Pingyuan and Linyi counties and advance the defensive line by thirty or forty kilometers.

Looking at the battle plan, Luo Jian stared at the battle map carefully, observing the situation of the enemy and the enemy in the entire Shandong, and Ma Yingkui's Eighth Division was stationed in Laiwu and Tai'an. The 6th Division defended in the vicinity of Jiyang and Yucheng. The Fourth Division was deployed on the front line from Binzhou to Dongying. The whole of Shandong was basically divided into two, and the National Defense Forces still occupied most of Shandong.

Once the two counties of Pingyuan and Linyi were captured, the Qing troops stationed in Dezhou would lose their barrier, and it would be much easier for the Wehrmacht to advance in a big way in the future.

At the end of October, the weather in Shandong was already a little cool in the early morning, and Luo Jian and Huang Degong rode on their horses and watched the Seventh Division, which was marching rapidly in the direction of the plain, followed by a large group of officers of the Sixth and Fourth Divisions, who had all come to observe the combat operations of the Seventh Division.

According to Xiao Wang's meaning. He was going to attack the two counties of Pingyuan and Linyi at the same time, and the Seventh Division had four infantry regiments and an artillery regiment, and it was not a problem for Xiao Wang to attack the two places in two.

But Luo Jian did not agree to do this, according to intelligence, Pingyuan County gathered more than 24,000 Qing soldiers, and the Qing soldiers built a large number of trenches and fortifications, if the battle could not be fought and a tug-of-war was formed, then this combat operation would be meaningless.

"It's better to cut off one of its fingers than to hurt its ten fingers", and he didn't want to fight a rout battle at all. Luo Jian was determined to wipe out the Qing soldiers in Pingyuan County first.

The whole battle plan should be aimed at encircling the point to send reinforcements, as for whether the Qing soldiers will come to the rescue of the Qing soldiers in Pingyuan County. Luo Jian and Huang Degong both felt that it didn't matter, they would send reinforcements when they came, and they would capture Pingyuan County if they didn't come.

The Seventh Division dispatched all its members, including more than 15,000 people and logistical support troops, and more than 20,000 people marched in the direction of Yucheng, causing a great sensation in the Jinan area, and many people were talking about it, saying that the National Defense Force was preparing to march to Hebei and Beijing.

The Seventh Division did not stop in Yucheng, and marched 20 kilometers after Yucheng before stopping and camping, which was only a dozen kilometers away from the fortifications built by the Qing soldiers.

Neither Luo Jian nor Huang Degong interfered in the command of the Seventh Division, and both of them watched from the sidelines when the Seventh Division was analyzing the enemy situation and studying specific combat operations.

The Seventh Division rested for one night, and the next day continued to march towards Pingyuan County, and by about six o'clock in the afternoon, the fortifications built by the Qing troops could already be seen. It was already getting late, and it was tomorrow to attack, so the Seventh Division set up camp three or four kilometers away from the positions and fortifications built by the Qing troops and began to camp.

After arranging for the troops to camp, Luo Jian and Huang Degong rode horses with the officers of the Seventh Division to inspect the positions of the Qing soldiers. Holding a telescope, Luo Jian carefully searched the trenches and fortifications of the Qing soldiers, and after looking at it for a while, Luo Jian found that the Qing soldiers had made a lot of progress compared to the outside of Dangshan County last year.

First of all, there are communication trenches connected between the trenches, and there are obviously anti-artillery holes dug in the trenches, which makes Luo Jian very surprised, it seems that there are still people in the Qing army who have used their brains and have a new way to protect the artillery of the Wehrmacht.

Looking at the rear of the Qing army's position, the Pingyuan county town was about one or two kilometers away from the position. The plain county town is not big, just an ordinary small county town, and there is no artillery sticking out of the city, it seems that the Qing soldiers are focusing on the defense outside the city, and are not ready to defend this small county town.

It was already late, and the details on the Qing soldiers' position could not be seen clearly, so Luo Jian, Huang Degong and others returned to the camp after watching it for a while.

In the command tent of the Seventh Division, Wang Qiang and others were listening to the scouts report on the details of the Qing troops' defensive positions. In the process of going out to reconnoitre, the scouts had already fought with the scout team of the Qing soldiers more than a dozen times, and successively eliminated more than 200 Qing scouts, and the Qing soldiers did not send scouts.

The scout reported in detail, and Luo Jian listened on the sidelines, and also knew the firepower configuration of the Qing soldiers in person. These more than 24,000 Qing soldiers were mobilized from the direction of Guide in Henan, and they were originally Duoduo's subordinates, and these Qing soldiers were basically composed of musketeers and archers, and there was no rifle similar to Yangzhou's style at present. There were more than 20 artillery pieces of various kinds on the positions of the Qing soldiers, which were basically the same as before.

After listening to the scout's report, Wang Qiang was a little disdainful, he thought that with this kind of firepower configuration, he could not hold out in front of the Seventh Division for an hour.

The battle that began early the next morning also confirmed Wang Qiang's statement. The Qing soldiers did not come with reinforcements, perhaps because they thought that the national defense force was powerful and that they came to the rescue was just to send them to death, or perhaps because they thought that these 24,000 people could hold Pingyuan County, but in short, the roundabout troops sent by the Seventh Division did not intercept the Qing soldiers who came to the rescue.

In the face of the new artillery of the Wehrmacht, the trenches and fortifications of the Qing soldiers played an extremely limited role, and after a round of artillery fire, the positions of the Qing soldiers were already in disarray. The limited dozens of artillery pieces of various types on the Qing army's positions were all blown up without even having a chance to fire.

The fierce artillery fire, which was completely different from the previous black fire shells, made all the Qing soldiers stupid, and when they rushed to the trench in a straggler formation, some of the Qing soldiers were still watching their comrades who were killed and injured in the trench in a daze.

With the shouts of "surrender or kill" sounded in front of the position. A large number of Qing soldiers raised their weapons and knelt in the trenches and beside the fortifications. The battle lasted less than half an hour before it was all over. Nearly 20,000 Qing soldiers were taken prisoner, and the Seventh Division suffered only about 20 casualties.

The Qing soldiers were so unbeaten, which was beyond Luo Jian's expectations, and he had the impression that although the Qing soldiers were not good at fighting, they would not be so vulnerable.

As for why the combat effectiveness of this Qing army was so poor, Luo Jian did not speculate, and took a group of staff officers to the prisoner camp.

In the prisoner camp, the generals of the Qing army and the ordinary soldiers still did not wake up from the shock. The huge casualties caused by the fierce artillery fire made them still tremble until now, and some Qing soldiers who participated in the previous attack and defense of Yangzhou City said that this was much more powerful than the "earth-shaking thunder" used in Yangzhou at that time.

Luo Jian thought about it, this battle was the first large-scale concentrated use of new artillery by the Wehrmacht, and it was reasonable for the Qing soldiers to be frightened.

In order to learn more about the internal situation of the Qing soldiers, Luo Jian stayed in the prisoner camp for more than two hours, although what the prisoners said was some superficial phenomena, Luo Jian heard more from their words.

The Manchu court had to maintain a large army and now had to manufacture new firearms in large quantities, which made it difficult for the Manchu court to cope financially. According to the captives, ordinary soldiers had not received silver for more than half a year.

Not all Qing soldiers did not have silver. According to the captives, Kong Youde's descendants were still making money normally, and the only ones who were treated poorly were the Ming army and the Dashun army that later surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty.

After taking the plain county seat, the national defense army was only fifty or sixty miles away from Dezhou, an important town in Shandong, and the main force of the Qing soldiers stationed in Dezhou was Wu Sangui, an old acquaintance.

After Wu Sangui escaped from the city of Jinan, he fled to Liaocheng with the remaining more than 40,000 people and horses, and met the reinforcements sent by Duoduo to rescue Jinan in Liaocheng. After Tan Tai left Jinan and arrived in Dezhou, he reintegrated his forces, and Wu Sangui was sent to Dezhou to garrison.

"Chief, how about we take Texas down tomorrow?" In the command tent of the Seventh Division, Wang Qiang was full of confidence and asked Luo Jian to fight again.

"Attack Texas tomorrow? What about the Qing soldiers in Linyi? Luo Jian asked in surprise, there are still more than 10,000 Qing soldiers stationed in Linyi, and if they directly attack Dezhou, the safety of the right flank of the Seventh Division will definitely not be guaranteed.

"Xinghua, why do you think so?" Huang Degong didn't speak beside him, and when he heard Luo Jian's words, he said a word coldly.

"Huh? Oh, yes I'm thinking too much. Luo Jian reacted when he heard it, and felt that he was too worried, there were only more than 10,000 Qing soldiers in Linyi County, and he could still deal with it by relying on the fortifications, and if the fortifications were out, I was afraid that a battalion of the Seventh Division would be able to solve them.

Huang Degong didn't speak, he didn't know what to say at all, he had also seen the new equipment of the Seventh Division, and those rifles and artillery didn't seem to be too different from other troops, why were they so powerful? Lao Huang knew that it was a new type of zha medicine that was powerful, but to such an extent, he really didn't expect it.

Lao Huang felt that as long as the ammunition was sufficient, the Seventh Division would directly hit Beijing City, and there would be no problem at all, so he felt a little unbelievable that Luo Jian was worried about the right flank support of the Seventh Division.

"Xiao Wang, if you want to attack Texas, do you have enough ammunition?"

Luo Jian knew that although the new type of HUO medicine in the chemical factory had been mass-produced, the output was still not satisfactory, and a lot of ZHA medicine was also needed in a large number of infrastructure construction, such as the mining of iron ore and the construction of the railway, which had distributed a lot of new ZHA medicine to them, so he was worried that the ammunition reserves of the Seventh Division were insufficient.

"Chief, I don't dare to guarantee that it will not be a problem to take the whole of Shandong." Wang Qiang said with a smile.

"Let the Sixth Division and the Fourth Division follow up, and let's use the Seventh Division as a sharp knife until we can't beat it!" Listening to Wang Qiang's words, Luo Jian stared at the map tightly and quickly made up his mind.

Huang Degong hurriedly agreed, and gave an explanation to Liu Xiongwu, the commander of the Sixth Division, and Liu Dingjun, the commander of the Fourth Division, who were following him, that the Sixth Division and the Fourth Division were now defending from Jinan to Binzhou, and it would take time for the troops to move forward. (To be continued.) )