According to the pre-war plan, at the beginning of the shelling, in addition to the counterattack on the four heights, the first to attack were the 122 regiments of the 3rd district and the cavalry battalion of the 3rd division.

As the artillery regiment's first artillery shells landed, the artillery of the third division, which had already been prepared, also fired dozens of mortar shells of various kinds at the army in an orderly manner. The intensive artillery fire suddenly turned the guards and artillery companies of Wang Deli's division headquarters in the middle of the troops on their backs. The 12 mortars of the artillery company of the puppet army had not yet been unloaded and assembled from the mule horses, and even the guns and horses were blown into ruins.

In the dense artillery fire, the frightened war horses, the mules and horses carrying the shells, no longer listened to the call of the puppet army, and scurried everywhere in the marching columns of the puppet army. The puppet army troops, which had been chaotic enough by the shelling, were even more chaotic after the impact of frightened mules and horses.

As for the puppet soldiers who had never experienced any war, as well as those strong men who were forcibly captured, their whole faces were pale with fright in the face of fierce shelling that they had never seen before. The smarter puppet army was already lying on the ground, hiding in the ditch next to the road, begging for the artillery to pass immediately.

And those soldiers who had no combat experience stood stupidly on the road, or like frightened mules and horses, scurrying around the road, and finally could only be knocked to the ground one by one by the dense bullets on the mountain.

The two artillery companies, with a total of 24 mortars of various types, continuously launched artillery bombardments on the positions of the puppet army, and under the strict orders of the artillery commander, desperately fired at the highway where the army was located. 24 mortars were fired from the avant-garde units of the 1st Regiment of the puppet army to the contact point of the puppet army, and then swept from the combined part of the puppet army.

The artillery of the Eighth Route Army, which had never had a luxury, did fight for twenty minutes this time, and finally passed the addiction of artillery. It also gave these puppet soldiers who did all kinds of evil a taste of what it means to be covered by artillery fire. The artillery shells brought with him were more than half fired before they stopped at the suggestion of the infantry brothers in front. Otherwise, according to the words of the artillery commander, the hundreds of broken eggs left by himself were enough to wipe out all the encircled puppet troops.

Although so many shells were used, the effect of the shelling was still very obvious. The road where the puppet army is located is about 3 miles long, and the battlefield in this 3 miles is almost where the artillery shells of the Eighth Route Army hit, and there is no longer a living soldier. The entire road was littered with the bodies of some of the fallen soldiers, with severed limbs, damaged arms, and guns and ammunition thrown down by the soldiers. Let's talk about the only artillery company of the puppet army. Although the artillery bombardment was over, and more than half of the soldiers of the artillery company were still alive, their own mortars were nowhere to be found, and they did not know that the frightened war horses, mules and horses were brought there.

"Division commander, division commander, you are really right, the appetite of the Eighth Route Army is really big, we are really surrounded by the Eighth Route Army" Under the protection of the guards, Li Qian, the commander of the second regiment of the puppet army, escorted the division commander Wang Deli to find a safe shooting blind spot and hid, looking at the bullets flying outside and the shells that kept exploding, and sighed.

"Commander Li, don't talk so much nonsense, how about the losses of the brothers" Division Commander Wang Deli looked at the constant groans of the soldiers outside, and was just about to peek out from behind the stones to see the current battle situation, but as soon as half of his head was exposed, a series of bullets hit him.

"Division commander, be careful" A guard protected the head of the division commander Wang Deli, but he was hit and fell into Wang Deli's arms.

"Damn, the firepower of the Eighth Route Army is really fierce enough, doesn't it mean that they are poor and don't even have enough weapons? When did they have such strong firepower" Looking at the corpse in his arms, division commander Wang Deli shook his head helplessly.

"Division commander, it's not clear, the firepower of the Eighth Route Army is too fierce, and their shelling time is long, it is estimated that the brothers have suffered heavy losses. By now, I just know that our artillery battery has completely lost its combat effectiveness. Teacher, let's think of a way, otherwise we will have to explain how good our brothers used to be. Li Qian, the second regiment commander, looked at the soldiers outside who were constantly being shot, and asked anxiously.

"Damn, I don't know what's going on. No, our puppet army must not admit defeat like this, besides, there are still thousands of imperial troops behind us. Tell the brothers, give Lao Tzu to resist, move closer to me, and build fortifications on the spot. At the same time, ask for support from Sakata Daisa, who is behind," Wang Deli ordered loudly.

"Yes, division commander" Wang Deli's hardcore subordinate Li Qian heard the loud answer of the order, crawled out of the hiding place in the rain of bullets, and began to convey the order

At this time, the cavalry battalion of the third district had already used the cover of the artillery fire just now, and slowly moved the hundreds of cavalry in its hands to the best attack position less than 500 meters away from the battlefield. Seeing the puppet soldiers and little devils who were crying wolf and howling by their own artillery at the foot of the mountain, the corner of the battalion commander Wang Kai's mouth showed a smile, and he slowly pulled out a saber captured by the army at his waist. Suddenly, a burst of murderous aura on the saber reflected into the eyes of every cavalry warrior under the illumination of the sun.

"Snort" Soon, all the fighters drew their sabers and raised them above their heads. Finally, the last moment of the artillery shell on the position exploded, and seeing that the puppet army in front of him, that is, the key care point of the two artillery companies, had not yet woken up from the shelling just now, Wang Kai smiled.

"The cavalry battalion set off to kill" Wang Kai raised the saber in his hand that emitted a cold light, and shouted loudly at the junction of the puppet army 500 meters away. At the same time, he kicked his war horse tightly with both feet. A loud neighing sound of war horses shouted out of Wang Kai's war horse's mouth, and he quickly rushed towards the position of the puppet army at the bottom of the mountain.

The "killing" soldiers raised their sabers in their hands together, and under the leadership of the battalion commander, they lined up in a sharp knife-shaped attack formation, and rushed towards the puppet army that was in chaos.

A distance of 500 meters, for a fast-running cavalry, takes less than a minute. Although in this short minute. Many puppet soldiers discovered the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army that was rapidly approaching them, and fought back. However, their sparse bullets simply could not pose much of a threat to the cavalry battalion. After losing more than a dozen cavalrymen, the cavalry battalion led by Wang Kai finally rushed to the front of the puppet army.

"Ah, the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army is running for their lives" Seeing the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army in front of him, to the surprise of Wang Kai and others, the first to react was those puppet troops who had no combat effectiveness. Looking at the cavalry battalion with a flash of swords, the puppet army exclaimed and dropped the weapons in their hands and fled to the other side of the road, trying to avoid these murderous cavalry of the Eighth Route Army.

And the army showed a completely different image. Facing murderous faces, countless cavalry troops. There was no fear, after shooting the last bullet in the rifle. Under the leadership of a squad leader, with a rifle with a good bayonet, he launched a counter-charge against the oncoming cavalry battalion, vainly hoping to block the cavalry battalion's charge with the imperial army of less than 100 people in his hands.

"Comrades, since the little devils don't want to die and want to die, let's give them this opportunity today" Facing the little devils of nearly 100 people who wanted to rush over by themselves, Wang Kai couldn't help laughing. Without any fear, he took the lead in rushing into the charging formation of the little devils.

"Kill" Wang Kai roared, and the scolding saber in his hand drew a perfect arc, slashing at the rifle of a little devil who was facing his war spur from the air. A crisp sound of "bump" sounded, and the little devil's rifle was cut in two by the saber in Wang Kai's hand. Facing the little devil who had no weapons, and facing the little devil with a panicked face, Wang Kai did not have any melancholy. In just an instant, he raised the saber in his hand again and slashed at the little devil's neck.

"Ahh At this time, from Wang Kai's body, he could no longer see his usual gentleness and kindness. It's a murderous face, just thinking of a demon, at least in the eyes of the little devil.

"Kill" saw that his battalion commander had just rushed in front of the devil, and he was the first person in the battalion to kill the devil. The warriors behind him immediately couldn't wait, brandished the swords in their hands, and rushed to the devil's charging formation. Because everyone knows that there are less than 100 little devils in front of them. If you don't work hard, you may not even have a little soup for yourself in the end.

And those little devils who charged, seeing their comrades who were the first to charge, were cut off by the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side in just one round, and their heads were cut off in one round. Looking at the bloody head and headless corpse, the little devil behind him looked at the rifle in his hand, and immediately showed a look of panic on his face, and the hands holding the rifle began to tremble with the cavalry troops getting closer and closer.

"The Bagachina cavalry are all cowards, the samurai of the empire, kill and give, eliminate the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army in front of you, and avenge the comrades in arms of the broken jade, long live His Majesty the Emperor, long live the empire" Seeing the frightened look in the eyes of the soldiers behind him, the captain of the Yue Army who led the team was immediately encouraged, raised his command knife, and took the lead in rushing towards the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army opposite.

"Kill and give" Under the encouragement of the squad leader, the blood surnames of those who showed panic were still inspired by the squad leader who took the lead. No one is afraid, no one retreats. Everyone raised the rifles with bayonets in their hands and quickly formed a bayonet formation to resist the cavalry units of the Eighth Route Army.

The cheered up army, although under the effect of the bayonet formation, inflicted a lot of casualties on the cavalry charging forward. However, as soon as one of the cavalrymen breaks through the devil's bayonet formation, his formation will immediately lose its effect, and eventually collapse and become the object of the cavalry to be slaughtered.

"Kill" With a shout, there must be a little devil's head on the ground. Slowly, the headless corpses and round heads on the ground began to grow. In less than a minute, there were less than a dozen little devils left in the entire joint in a circle making a final resistance.

The cavalry battalion, which had swept across the position of the army, was already standing on the other side of the road, looking at the dozen or so little devils left on the road and the corpses of devils all over the ground, without any hesitation. Raising the saber that was already stained with blood, he shouted loudly: "Cavalry battalion, charge" In an instant, the dozen or so little devils left on the position were drowned in the middle of the crowd of cavalry.

After successfully cutting off the connection between the puppet army and the Yue army, the cavalry battalion, which was not good at fighting positional warfare, quickly handed over the position to the third battalion of the second regiment of the third division that came to meet it, withdrew from the battlefield, and prepared to launch a new round of attack on the Yue army. Now there are about two battalions of 500 puppet soldiers gathered around the division commander Wang Deli and the regiment commander Li Qian. Let's talk about these more than 500 puppet soldiers who can escape the shelling, they are all hardcore henchmen left by Wang Deli when he was a bandit. Although his combat effectiveness cannot be compared with that of the Yue army, after all, he has fought in Hebei and the local [***] for several years. It can be said that everyone has the ability to do it, otherwise they would not have escaped the artillery fire just now.

With these more than 500 hardcore henchmen, Wang Deli's heart has been put down a lot. Immediately, according to the terrain, a circular fortification was built on the road, and he held on to it and waited for reinforcements from Captain Sakata behind him. And the group at the front of the whole team did not have such good luck.

Because the entire Second Regiment of the puppet army is composed of its own hardcore henchmen, not only has sufficient ammunition, but also has advanced weapons, among the 500 troops around Wang Deli, there are dozens of light and heavy machine guns to assist in the defense. As for the first regiment, almost all of the nearly 1,000 soldiers in the regiment were composed of Lazhuang Ding, not only did they not have any combat effectiveness, but they were also very poorly equipped.

In the shelling at the beginning of the battle, the entire regiment was able to survive less than half of its troops. Everything else was wiped out by cannons, machine guns. As for the remaining forces of less than 500 people, they have completely lost their combat effectiveness at this time.

One by one, the soldiers had already thrown down their weapons, held their heads, and hid in the ditches on both sides of the road, no matter how their commanders scolded, but no one continued to pick up their weapons. Seeing the scene in front of him, Peng Degui, as the head of the regiment, knew that he was finished, and his own group was finished. He didn't have the confidence to continue resisting, so he sat on the ground in a daze.

Of course, everything that happened on the battlefield was seen by Liu Hua, who was standing at the command headquarters. When it was seen that the first regiment of the puppet army had completely collapsed, and the second regiment of the puppet army was gathering the remaining forces to hurry up and build fortifications. Liu Hua knew that the time for the troops to attack had come. Otherwise, when the puppet army's fortifications are completed, it will be almost impossible for him to annihilate him quickly.

"Chief of Staff, order, the first regiment of the third division, the second regiment, and the cavalry battalion, immediately launch a charge and destroy the puppet army," Liu Hua ordered to Li Qing, the chief of staff next to him.

"Tick tock" Just a minute after Liu Hua's order, the positions of the 122 regiments of the 3rd Division remembered the loud charge horn, and under the cover of countless light and heavy machine gun fire, the soldiers jumped up from the trenches with their rifles with good bayonets, shouted, and rushed to the position of the puppet army.

"Charge, surrender the gun, don't kill, surrender the gun, don't kill" The soldiers charged and opened fire at the same time, and soon rushed to the position of the first regiment of the puppet army. In the shouts of the soldiers, the soldiers of the puppet army who had almost no combat effectiveness quickly raised their hands and surrendered, and even its commander Peng Degui, in the face of the bayonets of the soldiers, did not have any resistance and surrendered happily.

However, it was not so easy for the troops of the 3rd Division and the 2nd Regiment of the 2nd Regiment of the puppet army to rush to the 2nd Regiment of the puppet army. Under the cover of their own dozens of light and heavy machine gun fire, the soldiers shouted and rushed to the position of the second regiment of the puppet army, thinking that the battle could be easily ended, but the second regiment that captured the prisoners was hit by the dense fire of the second regiment of the puppet army.

In the face of the dense firepower of dozens of light and heavy machine guns of the puppet army, they swarmed, and the soldiers who were unprepared were instantly knocked down in a large area.

"Quick, lie down, stop advancing" Seeing the dense fire net of the puppet army in front of him and the soldiers who kept falling in pools of blood, commanders at all levels shouted loudly, ordering the soldiers to stop charging and not make indifferent sacrifices, "Damn, two devils, it's really ruthless, the first battalion commander, immediately transfer all the light and heavy machine guns and grenadiers to me, I don't believe that the bones of these two devils are really so hard." "Seeing the soldiers under his command, he lost almost a company in the charge just now. What's more important is that now the strength of one of his own regiments is being held in front of the position by the fire of the two devils of less than 500 people. The second regiment commander couldn't help but scolded loudly, and decided to take out all his belongings and resolutely eliminate the two devils who caused huge casualties to his regiment in front of him.

At this time, Wang Degui, the commander of the puppet army, who had been completely surrounded by the Second Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, did not know that his life had entered the countdown stage. Instead, seeing that the Eighth Route Army, which had thousands of people, was suppressed by its powerful firepower of less than 500 people, it was 100 meters outside its ring fortifications, and it was unable to move. I am more and more sure in my heart to stick to the decision to wait for help. He believed that with the weapons and ammunition in his hands, there would be absolutely no problem in holding out until the arrival of reinforcements.

(To be continued)