It's just that the flash of the grenade explosion lasts too short, and the fighters can see the enemy only at the moment of the explosion. The Soviets stubbornly crawled in the intermittent darkness, approaching the position little by little, and as long as they entered within 20 meters, the Soviets could jump up and quickly rush into the position.

Shi Ming looked at the Soviet army approaching a little bit and was very anxious, he was not afraid of his troops and the Soviet army in white-knuckle warfare, his troops were not the Northeast Army, his troops were the Fourth Route Army, white-knuckle combat was the strength of the Fourth Route Army. If it was during the day, Shi Ming even wanted to engage in a white-knuckle fight with the Soviet army. But now it is night, and in the night when the line of sight is not good, the group tactics can hardly exert their power, and the white-knuckle combat depends on the individual quality of the soldiers. He didn't want his soldiers to go head-to-head with the Soviets in such a situation.

Looking at the grenades that kept exploding in the Soviet army, Shi Ming's mind suddenly lit up, and he shouted loudly: "Molotov cocktails, quickly throw Molotov cocktails." ”

Molotov cocktails were the first to be thrown out from the No. 2 position where Shi Ming was, and these incendiary bottles all fell within forty to sixty meters. Although the flames were not large, within a distance of three or five meters around, under the light of the flickering flames, the Soviet troops lying near the landing point of the Molotov cocktails were immediately invisible, and they could not raise their heads at all under the suppression of the defenders' machine gun fire. Moreover, these Soviet troops lying tightly on the ground had to endure the accurate shooting of rifles and the constant flying grenades on the position.

As soon as the fire on the No. 2 position appeared, without waiting for Shi Ming's order to arrive, the inspired No. 1 and No. 3 positions also immediately flew out of the Molotov cocktails, and as the number of Molotov cocktails was thrown more and more, soon a dotted band of light appeared within a range of 30 to 60 meters in front of the three positions, and under the illumination of the fire in this band of light, more than 1,000 Soviet troops were undoubtedly revealed.

Due to the fire, the mortars of the machine gun company, after suppressing the support fire of the mortars and heavy machine guns placed by the Soviet troops on the ridge line behind, began to shift the firing targets to the Soviet troops in front of the position. Because the distance was too close, it had even exceeded the minimum firing distance of the mortar, but due to the urgency of the situation, after receiving Shi Ming's order, the commander of the machine gun company gritted his teeth and ordered the firing target to be set 40 meters away. With a firing range of only a few tens of meters, the barrel of the mortar is almost at a right angle, and the shells fired out almost fall straight up and down to the ground.

The Soviet troops, who had been suffering increasing casualties under the fire of the defenders' guns and grenades, killed and wounded several Soviet soldiers with each shell after the mortars joined the attack, and they could no longer support it, so they had to slowly begin to retreat. In the battle just now, the Fourth Route Army on the position suffered heavy casualties, and the soldiers were holding back a fire, although the Soviet troops began to retreat, but the various weapons on the position were still firing fiercely, and they all returned to the ridge line with intensive firepower before stopping.

Although the fighting on the high ground stopped, the battle at the foot of the mountain was fierce.

The Soviets were bent on taking advantage of the fact that they could not support Zalainorr with firepower on the high ground at night, so they launched a fierce attack on Zalainorr overnight, and according to Niyazov's plan, even if they could not completely annihilate the defenders of Zalainor, they should at least compress the defenders' defensive space to the greatest extent possible, and then destroy them with artillery. And Han Guangdi also wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Soviet planes and artillery could not exert their power at night, and just took this opportunity to drive the Soviet army out of the city, so as to win valuable space for the more fierce defense battle after dawn. Therefore, the two sides launched tragic street battles, and even fierce hand-to-hand battles occurred in many key areas.

However, Han Guangdi soon found that his idea of driving the Soviet army out of the city was very unrealistic, and the Soviet army had more troops participating in street battles in the city than his defenders, so Han Guangdi immediately changed his offensive strategy and organized his troops to take advantage of the familiar terrain and resist desperately. He personally led the guard battalion to supervise the battle, which was able to stabilize the battle line.

Song Zhewu, who was far away in the Balhu Left Banner, did not fall asleep, and at this time, with a tired face, he was listening to Mengxi, the chief of operations, report to him on the battle situation in Zhaman and Manchu and the progress of the three campaign groups encircling and annihilating the Soviet army.

"On the Manchurian side, the 21st Infantry Division of the Soviet Army, with the cooperation of heavy artillery divisions and a large number of tanks and aircraft, launched a fierce attack on the defenders, especially the heavy artillery of the Soviet Army caused huge casualties to our troops, after a day of fierce fighting, the Northeast Army suffered heavy casualties, with more than 4,000 casualties, and the outer trenches have now all been lost. Our side blew up four Soviet tanks and killed and wounded more than 2,000 Soviet troops. ”

After a pause, Mengxi said with some concern, "Liang Zhongjia called and said, 'His ammunition is running out, although he urged Wan Fulin many times before the war, but Wan Fulin did not deliver all the ammunition he needed until the war. 'His ammunition can last up to half a day, and that's not taking into account the consumption of night battles. ”

Seeing that Song Zhewu only frowned and did not make a sound, Mengxi continued: "Liang Zhongjia also said in the telegram, 'The consul in Manchuria not only submitted a note to Liang Zhongjia in his capacity as a consul requesting him to protect the safety of the overseas Chinese in Manchuria, but also encouraged the overseas Chinese, businessmen, and Chinese businessmen in Manchuria to collectively petition Liang Zhongjia's headquarters, demanding that Liang Zhongjia's headquarters withdraw from Manchuria so that the war would not affect the people in the city. Liang Zhongjia expressed his determination to defend Manchuria in a telegram. However, Liang Zhongjia said that he had received telegrams from Zhang Xueliang and Wan Fulin asking him to properly protect the lives of the expatriates and businessmen in Yueben. He did not dare to make his own decisions, so he asked for our opinion. ”

Song Zhewu's face had already darkened, and he said in a deep voice: "Ridiculous. This is our land, not his own land, and what qualifications do they have to have the squadron [***] who is responsible for defending the land to evacuate their positions. It is well known that China and the Soviet Union will go to war for a long time, and it is simply bandit logic to say that if I do not evacuate first, we will be asked to evacuate when the war is together. ”

Song Zhewu stood up a little irritably, thought about it and said: "Liang Zhongjia is in a dilemma, the defense of Manchuria will inevitably involve his own casualties, and Zhang Xueliang and Wan Fulin both asked him to guarantee his own safety, but only by evacuating Manchuria or surrendering to the Soviet army and stopping fighting in Manchuria can this be done." In my name, I sent a telegram to Liang Zhongjia, 'Tell him that I will order him in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Western Front against the Soviet Union, resolutely refuse his own demand, hold on to Manchuria, and not take half a step back.' Anyone who dares to obstruct the battle in Manchuria, regardless of nationality, can be punished on the spot, and if it is inconvenient for him, he will leave it to Wang De's troops. ”

After thinking for a while, he said: "I want Liang Zhongjia to send a telegram to Wang De, 'Tell Wang De that the Fourth Route Army only has soldiers who defend the country and no generals who have given up the country, and even if the 15th Brigade of the Northeast Army withdraws from Manchuria, he will defend Manchuria and wait for reinforcements to arrive." ’”

After Song Zhewu finished speaking, Mengxi also prepared a message, looking at the message, Mengxi hesitated and said: "Commander, after all, the telegram transferred to Wang De has to go through the hands of Liang Zhongjia, is it a little inappropriate to write it like this?" ”

Song Zhewu took a deep breath and said: "Just like this, I just want Liang Zhongjia to understand my Song Zhewu's determination." If he can't withstand the pressure, he can withdraw, and without them the Northeast Army, I can still win this battle. ”

Stretched out his hand to ask for the telegram in Mengxi's hand, quickly signed his name on it, handed it to Mengxi, and said in an unquestionable tone: "Send it out immediately." ”

Mengxi took the telegram and called the communications staff officer to send the report, and he himself then reported the battle situation to Song Zhewu.

"The situation in Zalainuoer is also not very optimistic, the Soviet army has already entered the city of Zalainuoer, and now it is still fighting at night. The casualties of the 17th Brigade were also very serious, with more than 2,000 casualties during the day alone. Han Guangdi did not mention how many Soviet troops they had eliminated, but said, 'Shi Ming held the high ground and achieved great results, not only actively supporting the defense of Zhalainor with artillery fire, but also killing nearly 1,000 Soviet troops and blowing up two Soviet tanks, while his own casualties were only about 300 people. 'Brother Han Guang is asking for credit for Shi Ming. ”

Song Zhewu's face, which had been tense, finally showed a smile, nodded and said, "Very good!" There are still some talented people among the middle and low-level officers of the Northeast Army, and this Shi Ming is very good, and if we can get this Shi Ming, our battle with Tang Shengzhi is very worthwhile. ”

Then he said with some regret: "The Northeast Army is a good force, but the senior officers who hold real power are old, and most of these people are reckless, rigid-minded, conservative, and complacent. Not only is it difficult to adapt to modern warfare, but some people's national consciousness is still very weak, and in their eyes, there are only the interests of the Northeast and their own. Although Zhang Xueliang has realized this and paid attention to promoting young and knowledgeable generals, if these people want to take on heavy responsibilities, they have to wait for those with old qualifications to retire. Among the senior officers of the Northeast Army, there are very few people like Liang Zhongjia and Han Guangdi, time! ”

Song Zhewu sighed and stopped talking, he found that he was a little off-topic, and asked Mengxi: "Where has our troops progressed?" ”

"The 1st Division and the 2nd Regiment have already advanced to Sao Gang at 6 o'clock tonight, and the 1st Division, 1st Regiment, 3rd Regiment, Artillery Regiment, and 1st Baggage Regiment will be able to reach Hailar by tomorrow morning at the latest, since they have begun to secretly move towards Hailar last night. If the whole division arrives at Sagagang, the time should be after 9 a.m. tomorrow; The 2nd Supplementary Division, the 1st Supplementary Division, and the 1st Cavalry Brigade under the command of Deputy Chief of Staff Li have now reached within 60 kilometers of Manchuria and Zhainuoer, and they will be able to reach the designated area tomorrow morning and complete the encirclement of the Soviet troops in the two places, but it will take some time to occupy the key points in various places, and it is estimated that it will be completed before noon; Since the troops under the command of Division Commander Xu crossed the border two hours ago, there has been no update on the progress, but judging from the distance from their crossing point to the Dauri area, they will definitely arrive north of Dawuli on time tomorrow morning and standby. ”

(To be continued)