The sea wolves began to flee, Chen Shaokuan and the sailors were embarrassed and frantically scurrying underwater, no one knew whether they would be spared, let alone where they would drift with the current, but the support ship that had been pretending to enter Bohai Bay in the distance "jumped over the wall in a hurry" and "panicked to avoid trouble", quickly sent an encrypted telegram, and then avoided Qingdao Port as quickly as possible to wait for the news of the submarine.

"Three troop carriers were sunk, at least 1,000 Japanese troops disappeared with the ships, and other losses cannot be counted for the time being."

When Li Zongren brought the telegram into the combat conference room, the officers who were discussing how to deal with the general attack of the Japanese army were also stunned by the results of this raid, although they did not sink a single Japanese warship, although they were dealing with merchant ships with a speed of seven or eight knots, and although the life and death of the two submarines were unknown, it was at least a thousand living Japanese troops after all! Moreover, according to the intelligence analysis transmitted from Japan, they should be the elite of the Fifth Division, which was later known as the "flower of the army".

It was later learned that in addition to taking away 2,000 thousand elite infantry of the Fifth Division, the three transports that sank also took 60 cannons and millions worth of supplies and ammunition.

"But it's also a disaster." Jiang Zuobin was more sensitive to politics, and pointed to the telegram and smiled bitterly: "Britain, the Netherlands and Japan each have one, and now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is going to be busy again, and Master Wu still doesn't know how to count us down." ”

"It's a big deal to lose some money, after the declaration of war last month, we said that any ship that helped the Japanese army was a target, and they themselves don't believe in blaming anyone." Yue Pengcai didn't care about these, as the commander of the Northeast Theater and Yang Qiu's absolute confidant, at this moment he only cared about the battle situation, pointed to the map and said: "After testing, Terauchi Zhengyi must have found that our defense line in Gaizhou and Yingkou is the weakest, and walking here can not only use the railway but also get the help of naval guns at sea." ”

Zhang Zuolin has been dealing with the Japanese army for many years, and he knows that the Japanese army's tactics are relatively rigid, so he agrees with this statement: "In other words, I will also let go of Xiuyan, and go directly to Gaizhou and Yingkou in the west to break through to Haicheng, as long as Haicheng is taken, the gate of Fengtian will be opened." If nothing else, it should be a strong crossing of the river from Baima Mountain to attack Hushan, and the Japanese army on the Dalian side should divide one or two wings to go to the sea to cooperate with the navy to attack Dagu Mountain, if they can pull out the nail of Dagu Mountain, they will be able to join forces with Sinuiju and go around to Fengcheng in the rear at that time. ”

"What about Jinzhou? Although the Japanese army suffered such heavy losses, one or two thousand people could not hurt the vitality of the Fifth Division, and our navy could not prevent them from entering the Bohai Sea, so the Jinzhou landing was definitely imperative. ”

After Jiang Zuobin asked, Zhang Zuolin continued: "I know something about this Fifth Division, he was the most fierce when he fought Russian Maozi, and he was not easy to deal with. Now that the 2 brigades of the 4th Division are on Shanhaiguan, the terrain is favorable, and they should not touch that side for the time being, and I estimate that after going ashore, they will definitely take the Jingfeng Line all the way to the east. The Dajin River and the Xiaojin River have been silted up a lot over the years, and more than 100 tons can not come in, and the Jingbong Line is Shishan behind the Linghai, and this place has the advantage of high ground, and it is more than 30 miles away from the sea, and the Japanese Navy's artillery can't be so far, as long as the 16th Division can hold here, they can't make much waves. ”

Zhang Zuolin is worthy of being an old oilman who has been crisscrossing the northeast for many years, and he introduced the nearby mountains and rivers without looking at the map, but in the end he said that his eyes stopped on the face of Chen Eun, who had just arrived, and whether the 16th Division, 3 brigades, plus 14th Division, and a brigade could hold Shishan was the key to this battle.

Xinyang's defeat was still a bit of a blow to Chen Yan, holding tens of thousands of male soldiers but was almost bulldozed by the three divisions of the National Defense Army, especially the dense artillery fire of the other side made him miserable, at this moment, when he saw the gaze shooting, he immediately turned his head to look at Yue Peng, who had fought in Xinyang: "It depends on how many artillery." ”

"There are 2 battalions of the mobile artillery regiment, one of which is a 150 heavy artillery battalion, plus your own field artillery and mortars for a total of 84 guns."

There are only 3 105 regiments, 3 150 battalions and one armored train in the Northeast Theater this time, and the importance of Shishan can be seen to a 150 battalion and a 105 battalion at once.

Even if the Fifth Division goes to Jinzhou, there are more than two and a half divisions in front of him, and more than 50,000 troops will be in front of him, which will pour in from the direction of Gaizhou and Baima Mountain at the same time, and only the 2nd Brigade, which is resting in Mukden with serious losses before repelling the Japanese Sanban Axe, can support it. Therefore, he was afraid that Chen Eun had not turned from the shadow last time, so he specially reminded: "Brother Er'an, Shishan is very important!" It's the back of us people, and it's up to you, brother, to keep it. ”

Chen Eun took a deep breath and got up to salute everyone: "Rest assured, Eun Chen is in Shishan!" Although our 16th Division is an old army, it is also a tough man, and the country will not be ceded an inch! ”

With his assurance, the last stone in everyone's hearts fell to the ground, Zhang Zuolin had always grabbed him with a smooth wrist and was just about to say a few words, when Li Zongren ran in again: "Report, the Japanese army has begun shelling Gaizhou!" ”

"Hehe, it seems that the stuffy stick of the navy makes the old man in the temple can't help it!" Zhang Zuolin stood up with a smile, and Jiang Zuobin also smiled: "If you don't fight again, when the news of the ambush at the door comes back, he, the general, will step down." ”

Jiang Zuobin's analysis is good, the temple is really unable to help it, the reason why the attack that was originally planned to start tomorrow is advanced is because he understands that if he doesn't make a move, when the news of the Lushunkou tragedy reaches home, I'm afraid that even Youpeng in Shan County will not be able to protect himself, so he can only hope to take Gaizhou as soon as possible and make a difference.

The 19th Division of the Japanese Army, which took the lead in attacking, concentrated 48 75 field guns, 4 Meiji Type 38 Type 120 heavy guns and 6 Type 38 150 heavy guns that had just been transported from the country to indiscriminately bombard the positions of the Wehrmacht on the north bank of the Daecheong River. The 254-mm shells on the two capital ships were so powerful that every time they fell, a huge crater appeared, and in just a few minutes, the positions on the offshore side of the Daqing River were blown to pieces.

For the Wehrmacht, how to deal with naval artillery is still an unsolvable problem, so the first mate can only reduce the number of fixed positions on the coastal side, use multiple levels and depth to disperse the enemy's firepower density as much as possible, and increase the thickness of the jagged protrusions when digging trenches, so that even if a few shells fall into the trenches, the shock wave will be blocked by the trenches, and there will be no tragedy of killing hundreds of people with one shell. In addition, there were always aircraft patrolling the sky during the day, so the Japanese Navy could not raise the observation balloon, so most of the shells fell into the uninhabited open space.

After bombarding the position for a while, the Japanese navy began to turn its guns to aim at Gaizhou City, and when facing the city, the naval guns gave full play to their power, whether it was 254 mm or 120 mm, or even 76 mm, as long as they fell, it would inevitably lead to the collapse of nearby buildings, especially the main guns, and a shell often several or a dozen houses were razed to the ground.

Fortunately, during this time, the Wehrmacht moved the city of Gaizhou, and there were no civilians in sight except for the soldiers stationed there, so the losses were not very large.

In the end, the naval guns were not army guns, and the shells were limited, not to mention that the barrels would be worn out every time they were fired, and the Japanese Navy, which was already stretched thin on military expenses, left a few destroyers to cover and took the initiative to withdraw the main force after destroying most of the targets that could be seen in Gaizhou City.

Although the Japanese Army occupies an absolute advantage in naval artillery, the Wehrmacht is more active in the army artillery, especially the 12 War Hammer 14 A 105mm howitzers brought by the mobile artillery regiment have become the main force of counterattack, which also uses the purchased barrel to imitate the famous 105 mm le.fh18 howitzer in Germany in World War II The firing range can reach 12,000 meters, which can be deployed in places that cannot be seen by naval guns, and the trajectory is more curved and can easily hide behind the mountain bag and bombard, which has become an unsolvable problem for the Japanese army.

Compared with the Japanese army, which almost lined up all the artillery in a straight line, the battalion was scattered and deployed at multiple angles behind the infantry position, and the tactics of supporting the front at the same time made the Japanese artillery suffer enough, and the artillery in their hands was generally shorter than the opponent's range, especially at the 105 and 150 levels, there was no means to contain it for the time being.

Cannonballs whistled down, dirt and rubble swept into the air, and scorching fireballs mercilessly reaped the lives of soldiers on both sides.

Inside the bunker, the commander of the 19th Division, who had a Russian-style beard, Kojiro Uchiyama, had a cloudy vulture in his eyes and a sneer at the corner of his mouth. He barely blinked a few times during the half-hour artillery bombardment, this lieutenant general who graduated from the fourth phase of the Army University had fought the first day of the war, and had faced more ferocious Russian artillery fire than now, so he was not too surprised by this level of artillery fighting, in his opinion, if it were not for the huge debt and the navy encroaching too much military spending, the Japanese army would have been equipped with more artillery long ago.

"Let the 73rd Wing advance along the seaside railway line, the 74th Wing attack Gaizhou, and the remaining two wings attack the eastern section of the Daqing River to cover." After Uchiyama Kojiro gave the order, he sneered: "The people of China are too afraid to die!" Don't dare to face our navy, they will pay for it. ”

The 73rd Wing, which had received the order, began to advance along the South Manchurian Railway, and the 74th Wing also wanted to launch an attack on Gaizhou City, but shortly after they set off, the reconnaissance planes in the air suddenly began to circle in a regular circle, and under the shaking of the wings, dozens of large openings suddenly opened in a seemingly inconspicuous depression in front of them, and after the door panels were lifted, a row of 20 unconscionable guns with extended barrels were aimed at the hill bag 100 meters away.

At the same time, not far from the north wall of Gaizhou City, there were also many hidden caves, Ke Shao carried a rifle on his back, a flower machine gun in his hand, and a variety of magazines and grenades were stuffed in his waist, leading the divisional guard battalion to rush into the pile of rubble in the city.