In the evening off the coast of Shanghai, the British cruiser HMS Edinburgh slowly adjusted its course to the Yangzi River waterway.

With a pair of thin eyebrows that are rare in Europe, Bernard, who is in charge of the Far East affairs of the British House of Commons, scanned the Japanese cruiser at the mouth of the sea over and over again, as a cloth cloth squeezed into the House of Commons through his own struggle, he has enough flexibility in diplomacy and service ability, when Germany began to aggressively challenge the British Navy two years ago, it was he who took the lead in shouting in the House of Commons to maintain colonial stability and solve Europe first through blood transfusion, which made him a shadow staff of Prime Minister Asquith.

As a member of the Conservative Party, he was deeply disturbed by the turmoil in the Far East for three years, but the new Republic government had not yet undermined the interests of the British Empire, but the fact that they had entered into Germany was deeply worrying at home. Worries were just worries, but at that time there was not much of a crisis. However, a month ago, after it was revealed that Japan had suddenly kidnapped the little emperor who had stepped down and provoked the Far East War, things became troublesome.

Whitehall was particularly angry at Japan's rash move, because it was tantamount to pushing China completely towards Germany, especially after Mukden was almost swept away, and the world saw a new army that was completely different from the previous Qing army. Even Britain began to pay attention to the combat capability and equipment of this army, and if they were allowed to destabilize the entire Far East and finally pull Russia into the water, it would be a tragedy for the diplomats of the British Empire.

So he hurried out of England and came as fast as he could, hoping to find a way to bring the Chinese government back into British orbit, but the Japanese cruisers that were rampaging at the mouth of the Yangtze River clearly made things very tricky. Japan's behavior over the years has been faintly showing signs of breaking away from Whitehall's control, so wouldn't it be better for them to have some trouble? Should they immediately go to Nanjing to intervene to cease fire between the two families, or let them consume some of each other's strength first?

The night fell quickly in Bernard's thoughts, and for the soldiers in the fierce battle at this moment, the politics off the field were completely nonsense, and who would dare to put down their guns first?

A barrage of bullets erupted from the muzzle of the gun, Ke Shao swept the two Japanese soldiers who tried to get close to him, put away the submachine gun, and pointed to the machine gun at a handful of Japanese soldiers who were running towards here in the night in the distance. The machine gunner did not hesitate, it was planned that the ambush at Yingkou was not allowed to stand, so all upright targets were within the strike range! After the rapid consumption of a magazine, the few Japanese soldiers who were still piled up just now all fell.

The power of the triangular formation lies in the fact that each group can support each other, forming a local advantage in firepower and numbers, and the Japanese army, which has never fought in street fighting, has been cut off by dense bullets and rain of bullets before they have found out their experience, and they have to disperse to meet each other. When the disadvantage of the team is too great, it is a massacre!

Rumble.

Uchiyama Shu, who could no longer bear the casualties, ordered the artillery to be fired, and the 74th Wing, which had failed to attack again, could only re-sacrifice the artillery, and 12 75 field guns were aimed at Gaizhou City and bombarded indiscriminately, and the fireballs gushing out from the guns could be clearly seen more than ten kilometers away.

"Hurry!"

A few kilometers away, the soldiers untied four Warhammer Type A 105mm howitzers from their horses, and opened the gun carriage without waiting for the fortifications to be built. When the artillerymen were busy and nervous, more than 100 wheelbarrows behind them also came out of the night, and these transport brigades that spontaneously arrived from all over Mukden had become the most important logistical component of the Wehrmacht, and as many as 10,000 horses, carts and wheelbarrows of all kinds were the key to whether or not the battle of Mukden could be won.

The darkness of the night obscured the view of both sides, but even during the day, the overwhelming air team was able to dominate the skies, so that the Japanese could not even fly the observation balloons, so the artillerymen could leisurely set up their cannons and stuff them into the shells.

The rumbling sound of dry thunder made the transport brigade behind look like dirt, they had never seen the power of the 105 howitzer, the four guns fired in unison, the ground shook and the mountains shook, the ear drums were completely stuffed, and no other sound could be heard. The flickering fireballs from the Japanese artillery positions several kilometers away were simply the best coordinates, and it only took a few rounds for the artillerymen to successfully lock onto the fire at full speed.

Violent explosions scattered from the center of the Japanese artillery positions, and the 105 suppressive fire showed its power to the fullest, which was different from the 75 calibers, and one shell after another quickly blew up the Japanese artillery positions all over the place.

After quickly throwing 150 shells, the artillerymen began to retreat, nearly two tons of artillery needed to be pulled by four horses, and the soldiers needed to work together to push it before they could barely walk on the dirt road. The rest of the people traveled lightly, carrying cloth bags full of all kinds of ammunition and reinforcements to run towards Gaizhou City in the night.

The sudden rain of bullets caused the Japanese to suffer heavy losses, and 3 75 guns were destroyed in this round of shelling, and when the artillery abandoned Gaizhou and turned to the fire of the Wehrmacht artillery position, Uchiyama Hideki did not know that greater losses were still waiting for him.

In the dreary night, Zhou Futang took six 80-mm mortars and an infantry company to the blazing Japanese artillery position, and in order to enhance the continuity of fire, each infantry asked to drop the grenade and carry two mortar shells when he came out of Xiuyan this time. As a first-generation Wehrmacht artilleryman, he had been completely conquered by mortar. A soldier with a little more strength can carry it, and what is more suitable equipment for this artillery attack and disturbance war?

The six artillery squads quickly set up the mortars, and the infantry quickly dispersed to prevent a sneak attack by a small Japanese force, and the Japanese artillery in the telescope was still busy fighting the fire after the mortars were set up. Zhou Futang raised his eyebrows, and the corners of his mouth were cracked at full speed!

Bang bang bang.

Without warning, six 80-mm shells rushed towards the Japanese artillery position, which had just been ravaged by the 105th Heavy Artillery Company.

Uchiyama Shu clenched his saber and gritted his teeth, he hated and helpless the enemy's long-range heavy artillery, and when the range was longer than his own and the projectile was more powerful, it became a joke to rely on artillery to support the infantry.

But without artillery support, he didn't dare to imagine how the battle would have continued.

Just as he was inspecting, a fireball suddenly exploded from dozens of meters away, and the clever guard couldn't help but say in front of him: "Dazuo, be careful." ”

"Enemy attack on the left, artillery!"

In the dark, more than 2,000 meters away on the hill flashed slightly, one after another shells exploded in the artillery position in another burst of chickens and dogs, the Japanese artillery who was putting out the fire and cleaning up the mess did not expect another shell to fall, and because the mortar almost did not have a muzzle flame, so it took a long time to find the opponent, and when he saw the position clearly, he suddenly crooked his nose. I didn't expect the enemy to make such a detour! If you can't hit 10,000 meters by yourself, can't you hit 2,000 meters?

The angry Japanese artillery began to twist the muzzle, but the field artillery was heavy and arranged in the fortifications of the gun emplacement, and it would have taken time to turn around, not to mention that the shells were still falling, so after spending nearly ten minutes to complete the muzzle pointing, Zhou Futang had already put away the mortar, and did not disassemble the two of them and left the position. The Japanese artillery shells fell, and the ferocious fire not only did not make everyone nervous, but laughed, because the position was already empty.

Twenty minutes later, Zhou Futang went around to the right of the position just now, 1,000 meters away, and when the Japanese continued to frantically bombard the old position, the mortar squad re-locked the position and opened fire.

The Japanese troops, who were venting all their anger on the hill, did not expect the shells to come from the next door, and when the shells fell into the position, they found that there was actually a position 1,000 miles to the left of the enemy's position that was being bombarded by themselves! How can it be? Judging from the power of the falling shells, the opponent is obviously 75 field guns, but both the muzzle flame and the transfer speed are surprisingly fast! Could it be that the enemy has two positions?

Uchiyama Shu, who was lying in the bunker, became more and more confused, and the beard that the Westerners grew kept shaking.

The power of 80mm mortar shells is not weaker than that of the Japanese standard 75 field guns, to be precise, one can completely destroy a field artillery, but the enemy artillery in the darkness on the opposite side does not seem to think about accuracy at all, and then they will disappear when their guns turn around, but after a while, they will drill out from other places, and then continue to scatter shells.

I can't fight!

Several Japanese staff officers covered their eyes, and shells falling in the positions that rotated the muzzles back and forth would always cause some casualties, so in less than half an hour, an artillery brigade of the 74th Wing lost nearly half, and more than 100 soldiers were killed.

It's messy! It's a complete mess!

An entire division, both naval and army artillery, bombarded indiscriminately for a whole day, not only failed to take Gaizhou City, which had been razed to the ground, but also lost more than 1,000 soldiers. And when the 19th Division was still preparing to take Haicheng at night, a brigade of the Wehrmacht on the Xiuyan Defense Line was divided into zero, with the battalion as the combat unit, and launched an attack on the 19th Division from the flank. On the one hand, Gaizhou, which continued to defend stubbornly, on the other hand, the news of being attacked kept coming from all around, which made the 19th Division exhausted.

In the case that the firepower of the squad was obviously inferior to that of the opponent, the few remaining artillery pieces had to be dispersed and used, but the weight was twice that of the 70 infantry guns, and the field artillery of the 80 mortars was ten times that could not face the shells coming from all directions.

More than half of the strength of the infantry wing was consumed in this way, and in the face of this battle report, Terauchi Masatsuki was also pale. You know, the 19th Division has not broken through Gaizhou so far! At this rate of consumption, even if you wipe out all the divisions in your hand, you won't be able to reach Fengtian.

What to do?

At this point, Terauchi Masatsui also had to consider the cost of a frontal breakthrough, so he ordered the 19th Division to concentrate on breaking through Gaiju, ordered to collect all ships and prepare for an early landing in Jinzhou, and also ordered the 20th Division in the direction of Baekma Mountain in Sinuiju to attack Jiulian Fortress with all its might, hoping to scatter the enemy's forces.