At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the bridge-building team recruited from the people finally arrived on the south bank of the Shahe River, and before that, the Seventh Army only relied on its own engineering troops to build bridges, and was lacking in manpower, materials, and technology. Although in the eyes of the Qing soldiers, it is already a miraculous ability to build two river pontoon bridges in one day, but in the eyes of the British and Chinese officers and soldiers, they have to rely on civilian forces to build bridges, which is really a bit embarrassing.

The professional bridge building team from the civil infrastructure company is competent and happy to do military work, and it is only a temporary pontoon bridge to be built, which is only a preparatory step for them to build a bridge for the people, and what needs to be paid attention to is to strengthen the structure, improve the bearing capacity, and make more redundancy in the pontoon boats, connectors, etc. As for the other danger: being on the battlefield, you may be shot at any time, and the foremen of the bridge building team have already been mentally prepared for this, and the field allowance in the commission is quite generous, besides, if the red clothes can't even protect them, this pontoon bridge doesn't have to be paved.

As a result, the Qing soldiers on the north bank of the Shahe River learned what "modern warfare" was, and the officers and soldiers were dumbfounded, and the plan to lean on the river to block the red clothes was also completely bankrupt.

Larger and more pontoon boats than before, one by one poured into the river, tall tower cars sat on the river bank, stretched out a long boom, the bridge workers shouted the trumpet, turned the wheel, pulled the steel cable, and used the boom to lift the thick bridge plate piece by piece, and then suspended to the river chain pontoon, enough to carry the heavy gun car of the wide pontoon bridge to form a zhang, at a speed visible to the naked eye to the north bank "growth".

The Shahe River is much wider than the Anshan River, but at this rate, it will never take more than three hours to complete the laying of the three heavy pontoon bridges, and by the afternoon, the Shahe River will no longer be a moat, and the infantry and artillery can be transported unimpeded to the north bank, and at that time, the trench and chest wall defense line built by the Qing soldiers on the north bank of the Shahe River will be like a piece of tissue paper, which will be broken with a single stab.

Nine o'clock. The desolate sound of horns resounded on the north bank, and the sound of the hooray drums even crossed the Shahe River and reached the ears of the bridge workers who were working on the south bank.

"Yo, we're driving the Tartars crazy......"

"It's crazy to be good, I'll die if I send it to the door."

"In case we catch the Tartars, will we give a reward?"

The bridge workers were a little nervous, but seeing that the red clothes were constantly crossing the river by the bridge for reinforcements, their hearts settled down again. And when the cannon roared loudly in the rear, and the shells rained overhead, splashing clouds of smoke and dust in the depths of the north bank, they were so calm that they joked with each other.

"This is the last madness of the Tartars. What else can we use? ”

Zhang Zhennan, the commander of the 109th Division, was not so calm, and dozens of artillery pieces in the artillery battalion and the division's artillery wing had done everything they could to suppress the north bank, but the observation post on the hot air balloon reported that the Qing troops were still gathering against the trench. In the trench nearly a mile deep, at least four or five thousand Qing soldiers were gathered, preparing to storm the three commanding heights on the north bank in waves.

Obviously, the Qing soldiers understood that the pontoon bridge was completed. Their defenses would collapse on all fronts, and they would not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for this purpose, as long as they recaptured the commanding heights and prevented the pontoon bridge from being laid, there was still hope for this battle.

The 109th Division relied on elite grenadiers to seize the commanding heights, and held it for a whole day, killing and wounding the Qing soldiers heavily. But the grenadiers were also exhausted and had to be replaced to recuperate, and now it was only ordinary musketeers who guarded the high ground. The hillside is too small to accommodate too many troops, and it is difficult to put the flying cannon on it. In the face of the crazy counterattack of the Qing soldiers, whether he can hold the commanding heights, Zhang Zhennan really has no bottom in his heart.

"Flying cannons, four-pound cannons, and marksmen, all on the riverbank. Cover the flanks of the positions on the north bank! ”

There is only so much he can do, to ensure that the commanding heights are not surrounded on three sides, but in the face of the repeated impact of four or five thousand Qing soldiers, even if it is only a head-on response, it is an unpredictable and extremely tragic test.

9 a.m. The Qing artillery, which had been silent for a long time, ignored the threat of the counterattack of the red-coated artillery, sounded again, and the three commanding heights were bombarded with smoke and dust, followed by a tidal shout, and the Qing soldiers attacked.

The shouting and killing sound was loud, and the three commanding heights were like three oil pots constantly splashing down, with a loud and explosive sound, endlessly. Regardless of whether there was an enemy or not, the flying cannons and four-pound cannons on the south bank bombarded both sides of the hillside on the north bank without stopping, not seeking to kill the enemy, but only to turn the two sides into dead ground. If it weren't for the fact that the river was too wide, the accuracy of the flying cannon bombardment across the river was already poor, Zhang Zhennan was eager to let the flying cannon directly cross the hillside to bombard the Qing soldiers.

"A thousand are dead!? There is also the guerrilla of the capital, and then there is the general and deputy general of the general and the general of the army, and finally there is me! ”

On the north bank, a large number of routs retreated, but they were stopped by the overseers led by Hadaha himself, Hadaha roared and waved his sword, and the heads fell to the ground one by one, and the rout soldiers were driven back one by one.

"Today is the day of death! Don't think anyone will survive! ”

Hadaha was covered in blood, and his shouts penetrated the smoke and fog of gunpowder, and seemed to reach the ears of every officer and soldier on the right flank under his command, and the flank attack was bombarded so that he could not raise his head, and the main attack was rained down by grenades and dense volleys of guns.

The chest was already cold, the brain was numb, the Qing soldiers had no distractions, they continued to attack like zombies in waves, the shallow trenches leading to the hillside had been filled with corpses, they were forty or fifty paces away, directly exposed to the torrential rain of bullets and hail grenades, on the morning of August 7, the 24th year of the Holy Dao, the blood and courage of the Manchu officers and soldiers had been volatilized to the extreme.

"My lord! It won't work like this! The wings were sealed, and the frontal attack was hard, and we didn't necessarily kill a single red-clothed person if we killed hundreds of people! Can we win a hill before we fight it!? ”

"My lord, save some blood and bones for our right wing, we can't attack like this!"

"Why hasn't Lord Zhaohui's soldiers moved yet? He agreed to send the first team to assist! ”

The officers and men at the grass-roots level have become completely numb, but the middle-level officers have been unable to hold on, and they have begged Hadaha for blood.

"Zhaohui's side...... With his consideration, let's do our own thing! ”

Hadaha's heart also flashed a trace of gloom, when he made up his mind to fight to the death, Zhaohui looked sad, seemed to be eager to give up his life, and patted his chest and promised that he would send a thousand elite to assist first, and it has been more than an hour since the war started, but there has been no movement, will it ......

No, no, it's impossible, Zhaohui and himself, Ah Gui, Gao Jin and others are the five tigers of Manchuria, and they regard themselves as the heroes of the resurgence of the Manchurians and support each other. It's impossible to have a different heart. In the battle of Anshan, Zhaohui and Gao Jin were the final winners, and they would never move lightly until the critical moment, perhaps because there were changes in other directions on the battlefield, so they were not sent to take the lead.

Pushing away this suspicion with all his might, Hadaha said in a deep voice: "Of course you won't attack like this all the time, as long as you stand firm forty paces away." There is a chance. ”

Approaching twelve o'clock, on the rightmost slope of the three commanding heights, the Qing soldiers leaned against the breastwork of the corpses and fired at the red-clothed clothes at the top of the hillside more than 30 paces away. Grenades falling from mid-air were scattered. It was difficult to shake this breastwork, and it was obvious that it had not been replenished in time from the rear.

"Quick! Fix it quickly! ”

Zhang Zhennan had already gone to the south bank of the Shahe River, looking at the broken infantry pontoon bridge on the far right, and was vomiting blood and jumping to his feet, and he did not know whether he was hit by Qing artillery fire or accidentally injured by his own artillery fire. The hillside on the opposite bank was about 200 paces away from the other pontoon bridge, and it was difficult to make a detour from the left side.

Twelve:30 a.m. When the bridge-building team drew out manpower and was repairing this temporary bridge, the figure of the Qing soldiers had appeared on the top of the hillside, and they were fighting fiercely with the red clothes. Zhang Zhennan roared and almost shook the entire south bank: "What's the use of that thing!?" Kill my soldiers!? ”

The staff officer retreated, but Zhang Zhennan's face eased, the Qing soldiers had been beaten back, and the hillside was still firmly guarded by the red clothes.

He was about to check the progress of the pontoon, when he suddenly felt a shake under his feet, and then a dull thud came to his ears, and as he leaned over, a blood-clotting scene flashed in his eyes: a huge cloud of smoke rose up. Instantly swallowed the hillside on the north shore......

Not only Zhang Zhennan, but a large number of people fell on the south bank, and even the bridge workers who had just hooked the half-truncated bridge were also planted into the river.

"Dog's Tartar!"

Zhang Zhennan jumped up and almost gritted his teeth, gunpowder! The Tartars must have used a large amount of gunpowder to blow up the entire hillside. His soldiers, more than a hundred soldiers, were gone in one fell swoop......

A pain welled up in his heart, tears unconsciously came out of his eyes, and at this time, not only Zhang Zhennan, but everyone on the south bank felt a heartache.

After a while, the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, and a crowd of people poured up the hillside that had almost cut off a third of its height, all of them in blue and black short coats, and their heads wrapped in black cloth, it was the Qing soldiers, they cheered, celebrating their victory, they all carried red short-brimmed bowled hard hats on their bayonets, showing off their brilliant exploits, at this moment, the Qing soldiers on the north bank seemed to have won a great battle, the originally gloomy zenith, the clouds gradually opened, and the sun shone down, also praising their martial bravery.

"Look, the red coat is not invincible! As long as we are united, and our armed guards sacrifice their lives to fight, the red clothes will also be defeated under our hands! ”

Hadaha was also crying, crying while crying, and his subordinates couldn't cry anymore, and finally ...... Finally won!

"Dog Tartar, come here!"

Zhang Zhennan couldn't wait to spread his wings and fly across the river, and with a stroke of luck, he burned the Tartar who was showing off his might on the other side into powder, he quickly turned his brain, searching for a countermeasure at a speed of a hundred times the usual thinking, and then a news that had just been ignored by him came out.

"A swarm of bees! Tune in a swarm of bees! ”

In the roar of Zhang Zhennan, the artillerymen from the Red Thunder Army rushed up to the river bank in a swarm, preparing with incomparable skillful movements. begged his father to tell his grandmother, and finally pushed the boss Zhao Hanxiang to make a personal deal with Han Zaixing, and then entered the Seventh Army to fight.

A swarm of bees focused on the shells not in the artillery, sent the shells into the cannon, positioned and aimed, connected the fuse, and the preparation was completed in less than three minutes, and the wing commander gave an order, the sound of swishing was endless, and ten swarms of bees, 80 rockets, came out of the disembowel, pulled out a blazing trail, and fell to the hillside that had just been occupied by the Qing soldiers.

Fluffy Fluffy ......

The dense orange flames exploded on the hillside, and hundreds of Qing soldiers were crowding on the hillside, some were still showing off their red clothes to the south bank, some were digging under the dirt, and some wanted to get the proof of their exploits, and some were huddled together, feeling that this battle had been won and had come out of their lives.

The explosion is not a matter of an instant, but continuous, the Qing soldiers have learned enough grenades in red clothes in the past two days, dozens of grenades have exploded in succession, and they have already felt that the heavens and the earth are torn, and the sun and the moon have no light, and now this series of explosions is simply hundreds of grenades exploded one after another.

The already broken hillside was washed by this dense rain of steel, and instead of the huge smoke and dust that had been before, it rose up a fine brown mist, a mixture of blood mist and earth.

In a matter of moments, with the hillside as the center, almost every inch of land within a radius of twenty or thirty zhang was plowed over, and the hundreds of Qing soldiers were swallowed up by this rain of steel and fire before they could figure out what was happening.

"What's that......"

Hadaha, who had just rushed to the highest point of emotion, and all the Qing soldiers who witnessed this scene were stunned, they had never seen the carpet bombardment of rocket artillery, and they didn't even know that this thing existed, after all, the Western Regions was a distant and strange place for the Manchurians at this time.

"What's that?"

Hadaha hoarsely asked, but no one answered, before they used thousands of pounds of gunpowder to blow up the hillside, but in an instant, Nanban descended this stormy explosion, this retribution came too quickly.

"Why are you so slow!? Yesterday came, and the Tartar line collapsed yesterday. ”

On the south bank, Zhang Zhennan stared at the bull's eye and reprimanded the winged length of a swarm of bees.

"Commander, our cannon is not all-encompassing, it wasn't the Tartars who were stupid just now, the hedgehogs gathered together, and they were stunned, how could there be such an effect?"

The wing commander argued aggrievedly that just now the staff officer of the division headquarters said with a straight face that they were not needed for the time being.

"Tartars have been making fools!"

Zhang Zhennan roared, then his brain moved, and asked, "How many shells did you bring?" ”

The wing commander held his head high: "Three thousand!" The convoy carrying shells for us was more than a mile long! ”

Zhang Zhennan hurriedly ordered: "Let all the soldiers on the north bank withdraw!" ”

Looking at the wing commander again, Zhang Zhennan looked proud that he was ready to take a hand: "Aim at the other two hillsides......"

It was close to one o'clock in the afternoon, and on the north bank, his mind was confused, and Hadaha, who was hesitating whether to defend or continue to attack, heard thunderous cheers again, and finally woke up. If you look closely, the red clothes on the other two hillsides have receded, and the subordinates are rushing up the hillside, with cheers shaking the sky and military flags waving.

"No—!"

He suddenly realized something, and stretched out his arms forward, as if he wanted to capture the hundreds of officers and soldiers on the hillside.

Clusters of flames exploded one after another on the hillside, one after another, seemingly never-ending, and the figures of officers and soldiers were swallowed up by the flames one by one.

"No ......"

Hadaha felt that the blood in his whole body was steaming, and his mouth was unconsciously calling, and a mouthful of hot blood spurted Lao Gao.