Cai Guodong's deployment in the Eastern Front battlefield is not too sufficient, a total of only eight divisions, nearly 100,000 people, of which deployed in northern Anhui is the 32nd Division, the 29th Division, the Anhui Army two divisions, deployed in the north of Xuzhou originally only 21 Division, 23 Division, and later the 24th Division, 25th, 30th Division was transferred to supplement the shortage of troops, plus the 31st Division of the Central Route Army and the Fourth Reserve Division, a total of ten divisions, this is already two-thirds of the strength of the East China Army, and only six divisions were left in his nest. Six divisions were stationed in four provinces, which was already quite weak in terms of troops, and if it were not for the participation of some irregular local troops in the garrison, I am afraid that it would be difficult to guarantee that there would be no problems with public security, and the remaining six divisions were deployed in Fujian and Jiangxi, and only one division was left in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the 22nd division was stationed in various parts of Jiangsu, the 27th division was stationed in Zhejiang, the 28th division and the first reserve division were stationed in Fujian, and the second and third reserve divisions were stationed in Jiangxi.

Deployed opposite Taierzhuang are the 21st and 23rd Divisions, and using these two divisions against the two elite divisions of the Beiyang Third Division and the Fourth Division is also what Cai Guodong wants to see, but the East China Army is strong or the Beiyang Army is strong in elite combat effectiveness.

After receiving the telegram that the 29th Division was coming, Chen Jizu received Cai Guodong's order, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he commanded the 21st and 23rd Divisions to launch a full-line attack on the 3rd and 4th Beiyang Divisions in Taierzhuang.

Despite the sound of shells piercing the air whistling overhead, explosions were constantly heard from the positions, and death and blood were intertwined. The soldiers of the Beiyang Army, who were squatting in the trenches, had to risk being killed by the explosion of the shells to come out and open fire on the rushing Northern Expeditionary Army.

The offensive tactics of this Northern Expeditionary Army surprised the soldiers and officers of the 3rd and 4th Beiyang Divisions, and the other side did not blindly rush and fight. Instead, shoot down and shoot again. This is divided into several steps, some soldiers charge, the other part shoots cover, the soldiers who charge for a distance stop and lie on the ground to shoot, and the soldiers who just shot behind rush forward with their guns.

The number of soldiers attacking the Northern Expeditionary Army was not very large, but this offensive tactic made the soldiers and officers of the Beiyang Army feel that the other side had a lot of troops, and the soldiers of the other side were extremely scattered when charging, and the heavy machine guns of the Beiyang Army were not very effective in killing this sparse charging formation.

Lu Jianzhang and Yang Shande, who were standing in the headquarters and observing the offensive battle on the first line of defense with binoculars, both frowned, and Lu Jianzhang said: "What kind of offensive tactics is this of the Northern Expeditionary Army. The casualties caused by the powerful firepower of our first line of defense to the opponent are too small, looking at this posture, as long as the opponent rushes a few more times, our first line of defense will soon be lost! Lao Yang, you have worked with Cai Guodong before, you should know something about him, right? Don't you know this tactic either? ”

Yang Shande couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this: "Hey, he was the forty-second co-ordinator, and I was the forty-one co-ordinator, and he guarded me like a thief." I want to watch his 42 associations perform, and he won't let me watch it at all! ”

Lu Jianzhang pondered for a few seconds and said, "Maybe he and Xiao Zhenlei have long been disobedient!" ”

While the two were talking, the attack on the Northern Expeditionary Army's side changed, and the infantry in charge of the direct attack continued to charge. In the rear, however, the 21st and 23rd divisions of the Northern Expeditionary Army provided a large amount of fire support to the attacking troops, grenadiers, mortars, and heavy machine guns. Heavy machine guns were deployed on both flanks of the attacking troops, which could directly suppress the defenders on the first line of defense of the Beiyang Army. Moreover, each infantry squad also has light machine guns, which can move quickly, and the firepower itself is very powerful. Coupled with the support of heavy machine guns, the fire output is simply against the sky, and there are two curved guns in the rear, mortars and grenadiers, to carry out fire.

Several rounds of mortars and grenadiers were fired, and the casualty rate of the Beiyang Army in the first line of defense rose sharply, coupled with the artillery covering strike of the Northern Expeditionary Army, in less than half an hour, the shape of the battle had undergone a fundamental change in the incredulous eyes of Lu Jianzhang and Yang Shande, they thought that with the combat effectiveness of these two divisions, even if the other side was strong, as long as their own ammunition was sufficient and the supplies could keep up, they could completely block the other party, but only half an hour had passed, The opposing attacking forces had already charged forty meters in front of the front-line position.

At this distance of forty meters, the soldiers of the opposing attacking force fell down and threw grenades at the front-line positions of the Beiyang Army, Lu Jianzhang and Yang Shande both knew that the great powers now have this kind of weapon, but there are few army equipment, I didn't expect the Northern Expeditionary Army to have it, and it was used so easily, it seems that the training time is not short, and the grenades were thrown very accurately in the trenches of the first-line positions, and the trenches of the first-line positions suddenly exploded continuously in the unbelievable eyes of the two. This kind of explosion is not immune even if you are lying in a trench.

"Kill-" After the wave of grenades exploded, the attacking soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army got up from the ground with their rifles in their hands, shouted as fast as they could, rushed into the trenches, and stabbed the Beiyang soldiers into the bodies with bayonets.

The soldiers of the Beiyang Army in the trench had already suffered heavy casualties in the battle just now, and there was not much left after being ravaged by a round of grenades, and those who were lucky enough to not die were also blown up and dizzy, and many were stunned.

From the beginning of the offensive to the occupation of the first line of defense, it took less than half an hour, and the Beiyang Army in the trenches was almost completely annihilated, only a few people became prisoners, and none escaped to the second line of defense.

Just now, as the attacking troops rushed into the trenches, the artillery bombardment of the Northern Expeditionary Army began to extend to the rear of the first-line positions of the Beiyang Army, and this kind of infantry and artillery coordinated combat tactics were practiced by the soldiers of the 21st and 23rd Divisions very familiarly, so they could do so well in coordination.

"Hiss-" Lu Jianzhang and Yang Shande glanced at each other, and they both saw horror and fear in each other's eyes, extremely frightened! If the opposing army's army had this kind of combat effectiveness, then there would be no need to fight this war at all, and the Beiyang Army would not be an opponent at all.

Lu Jianzhang said in horror: "It's been almost three months since they launched the Northern Expedition, right? If they have such a strong fighting force, why did they wait until now to start attacking? What the hell are they up to? ”

Yang Shande suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly said: "I think I should understand, at the beginning, because of the heavy rain for more than a month, it caused a lot of pressure on the logistics of both of us, and the weather was not suitable for combat, so it was delayed, but they did not launch an attack until now, it may be that Cai Guodong has not thought of or found the most suitable fighter, although they attack strongly, we still can't resist, but the price they need to bear is much greater, a good general, Its command operations must achieve the greatest victory at the minimum cost, and if my guess is correct, Cai Guodong's command thinking is like this! ”

Lu Jianzhang was shocked: "I see! It seems that we will have a hard battle next, the first line of defense is relatively loose, just an appetizer, it is not surprising that they are taken down so lightly, the second and third lines of defense are the main event, Lao Yang, let's each be responsible for our own defense line, try to block them and buy some time for Commander Feng! ”

"Good!"

Soon after the two separated, the Northern Expeditionary Army began to attack the second line of defense, and while Lu Jianzhang and Yang Shande were both engrossed in directing the troops in the second line of defense, they were unaware that the rear artillery positions two miles away had been devastated.

Just as the two artillery regiments of the 3rd and 4th Beiyang Divisions were preparing to provide artillery support to the defenders in the second line of defense of the front, a large group of cavalry suddenly appeared behind the artillery position, this cavalry was the size of a cavalry regiment, and it appeared and launched a charge at the artillery position at an extremely fast speed.

The momentum of the mountains and seas, wave after wave, when the artillerymen on the artillery position found the abnormal situation, the cavalry was already close at hand, and the artillerymen could even see the fierce expressions on the faces of the knights, and they all drew out their cavalry knives and waved them.

When the artillerymen reacted, it was too late to make defensive deployments, and some of the artillerymen wanted to turn their guns to the cavalry that was rushing over, but the time did not allow it, although some of the artillerymen picked up their rifles or pistols and opened fire on the cavalry rushing over, but it was useless in the face of such a large cavalry force.

When the cavalry rushed over, it was like a whirlwind whistling by, leaving only a mess of artillery positions, the artillery positions were quickly stained red with blood, and the corpses of the Beiyang artillerymen fell to the ground, some lost their heads, some were cut into two pieces, and the only thing that remained intact was more than a hundred guns of the two artillery regiments.

Following the cavalry regiment came a large group of soldiers who ran over, these soldiers were empty-handed, they ran to the artillery position and began to divide the division of labor, some people loaded the fuses of the shells, some people stuffed the shells that had been loaded with fuses into the barrel, the gunners closed the bolts, and pulled the ropes under the order of the commander, it turned out that this was the mountain artillery of the 29th Division, in order to save time, they put their guns on the march, and ran over empty-handed to take over the more than 100 mountain guns.

"Boom, boom, boom??????"

The artillery fire that was supposed to support the second line of defense was now hitting the positions of the second and third lines of defense, and the 3rd and 4th divisions of the Beiyang Army were not prepared at all, and the overwhelming shells fell from the sky, causing incomparably huge casualties to these two divisions. (To be continued......) R1292