Xuzhou, the Fifth Theater Governor's Department.

General Xu Zuyi, chief of staff of the theater, hurriedly entered and said to General Li: "Degong, the forward observation post reported that the attack of the 27th Group Army has been thwarted, and although the guard regiment has broken into the Hanzhuang position, it has been surrounded by heavy troops of the Yue Army, and the fierce battle lasted until 4 o'clock in the morning, and all the more than 2,000 people of the regiment were martyred. ”

Deputy Chief Bai couldn't help but sigh and said, "It's a pity. ”

"Let's change people." Admiral Li thumped his fists and said, "Let Baoshan Brigade go!" ”

………… Suburbs of Xuzhou, Baoshan Brigade Department.

Liu Yi, chief of staff of the Baoshan Brigade, was pacing back and forth restlessly with his hands behind his back.

Yue Weihan was concentrating on wiping his clean face box beside him, without a trace of worry, until now, it is no longer a problem to completely annihilate the Isogu Division, the Isogu Division has been surrounded for nearly two months, and the Devil Soldier has reached the limit of both physical strength and energy, and it is impossible to hold on for too long.

Moreover, the ammunition reserves of the Isoya Division were already in an emergency, and they were only barely maintained by relying on the airdrops of the aviation units directly under the North China Front Army and the naval aviation, but in a fierce battle with the 27th Army of the Sichuan Army last night, the ammunition of the Isoya Division was absolutely not much left, even if it was not exhausted.

With the current situation of the Isogu Division, Yue Weihan was confident that even if it attacked head-on, the Baoshan Brigade would be able to fall in one fell swoop, but the casualties would definitely be too large to bear, so Yue Weihan would rather spend a few more days in the form of earthwork to get the attack line closer to 50 meters, so as to greatly reduce the casualties of the Baoshan Brigade.

Although the Chinese population is numerous, there is no shortage of patriotic and enthusiastic young people, but there are very few well-trained veterans, especially after the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing, the veterans of [***] various departments have almost been exhausted, and now almost all the recruits are eggs.

Veterans are always the most valuable asset of an army.

"Chief of Staff, please don't turn around, okay?" Yue Weihan said, "It makes me dizzy." ”

Liu Yi suddenly turned his head and said hurriedly: "Brigade seat, why don't you say that the Commander's Department still doesn't let us go to Baoshan Brigade?" If you continue to fight like this, I don't know how many people will die, and this Hanzhuang may not be able to take it, hey! ”

"Don't worry." Yue Weihan said, "If nothing else, the order from the Chief's Department will be coming soon." ”

"Jingle bell bell ......" Yue Weihan's voice fell, and the phone in the office rang.

Yue Weihan stepped forward to pick up the phone, immediately stood upright, and said loudly: "Yes, I am Baoshan Brigade!" ”

After a while, Yue Weihan hung up the phone and said to Liu Yi: "Chief of Staff, immediately call a meeting of all officers above the battalion level!" ”

"Great!" Liu Yi rubbed his hands excitedly, then turned around and went out, shouting as he walked, "Communication platoon, emergency assembly!" ”

In less than half an hour, all the officers above the battalion level of the Baoshan Brigade rushed to the war room of the brigade headquarters.

"The Chief's Department has given the order!" Yue Weihan said directly, "From the afternoon, the Baoshan Brigade will take the lead in the main attack!" ”

All the officers present at the meeting were immediately excited, they had been waiting for this day for two months, and now they had finally waited for this day, could they not be excited?

"Now I command." Yue Weihan tugged at the tweed military uniform on his body and said, "The 1st Regiment and the Guard Battalion are in the north, the 2nd Regiment and the Bayonet Battalion are in the east, and the 3rd Regiment and the Reading Battalion are in the south, and the three directions will start digging tunnels at the same time!" Within five days, it is necessary to advance the attack launch line to within 50 meters, are you confident? ”

"Yes!" Several battalion commanders agreed with a bang.

The area around Hanzhuang is all plain terrain and the soil is soft, and the officers and men of the Baoshan Brigade are all sturdy young men in their twenties, and even if the tunnel cannot be dug straight forward, it can be extended in a zigzag pattern, and it can be excavated forward for 2,000 meters in five days, and the average is only 400 meters a day, which is a piece of cake at all.

………… Han Zhuang, the front command of the Isogu Division of the Army.

The commander of the 10th Wing of the Isoya Division, Maeno Shiro Osa, entered the headquarters with a grim expression, and immediately retracted his feet and said to Major General Seya Kei, the commander-in-chief of the front: "Your Excellency, General, our ammunition reserves have been reduced below the warning line, and if we don't request an urgent airdrop from the air force, I'm afraid we won't be able to survive tomorrow." ”

"Got it." Major General Seya Kei waved his hand and said, "You go down first." ”

"Hello." Maeno Shiro Osa suddenly lowered his head and turned around with a snap.

Major General Lai Wuping, who was next to him, took two steps forward and said, "Seya-kun, the situation is not optimistic. ”

"yes." Major General Seya Kei said with deep understanding, "In a battle like last night, as long as we do it twice, I'm afraid we really won't be able to hold on, but it is gratifying that not all the Chinese army is so heroic, so it shouldn't be a problem to hold out until the end of the month." ”

Major General Lai Wuping nodded and said, "I really hope that our reinforcements can arrive as soon as possible!" ”

"Report!" As soon as Major General Lai Wuping's voice fell, a communications staff officer reported inside, "Your Excellency, the forward observation post has reported that the people of China are attacking and launching the ground work outside the line, and the situation is extremely suspicious. ”

"Dirtwork?" Major General Seya Kai's face changed slightly, and he said to Lai Wuping, "Let's go, go to the forward observation post." ”

Soon, Major General Seya Kei and Major General Lai Wuping led a large group of staff officers to the forward observation post, and when they looked forward through the artillery mirror, they saw that the wilderness in front of them was calm, and there was not even half a figure, but from time to time there were clouds of dust rising high outside the range of the heavy machine guns, and they quickly dissipated with the wind.

"Yagayalu." Major General Lai Wuping scolded softly, "Could it be that the people of China want to dig tunnels and sappers blast them?" ”

Major General Seya Kei shook his head and said, "No, if the people of China want to dig tunnels for sapper blasting, how can they dig in front of us?" If I'm not mistaken, the people of China must want to shorten the attack distance through earthwork, as long as the attack distance is shortened to a certain distance, our firepower advantage will be greatly weakened! ”

"Shorten the attack range?" Major General Lai Wuping, Huo Ranse, changed his face, "Damn the Zhina people! ”

Unlike [***] who despises the earthwork profession, he attaches great importance to the earthwork profession, and even includes it as a compulsory subject in the Imperial Army University. This is definitely a mortal threat to the Isoya Division trapped in Hanzhuang!

"Seya-kun." Major General Lai Wuping turned his head abruptly and said to Major General Seya Kei, "The people of China must be stopped." ”

"Hmm." Major General Kei Seya nodded, and immediately turned back to the commander of the 63rd Wing behind him, Fukuei Shinpei, and said, "Fukuei-kun, immediately mobilize all small-caliber light mortars and all grenadiers of each infantry brigade to shell the positions of Shina, and stop their earthwork no matter what!" ”

"Hello!" Furong Zhenpei Dazuo bowed his head suddenly, and immediately took the order and left.

In less than half an hour, the mortars and grenadiers of the infantry brigades of the Yue Army were all in place, and with the rise of a red signal flare, dozens of light mortars of less than 100 caliber and more than 100 grenadiers simultaneously launched a fierce artillery bombardment on the [***] tunnel positions outside Hanzhuang, and the [***] tunnel positions were suddenly blown up in smoke and dust.

It was a full ten minutes before the shelling stopped, and Major General Kei Seya rejoined behind the artillery mirror.

The smoke and flying dust quickly dissipated, and Major General Seya Kei saw with satisfaction that there was already a dead silence on the [***] position, and no dust was raised from the ground, and it was obvious that the shelling just now had caused great damage to the Chinese engineers, and the Chinese's earthwork work was forced to stop.

"Yo Si." Major General Kei Seya nodded happily, and the smile on his face froze quickly.

After only less than half a minute of silence on the position, it became active again, and clouds of white dust rose high from the horizon again, and it was slowly approaching the position of the army in Hanzhuang at a speed visible to the naked eye, Major General Seya Kei finally lost his composure and said angrily: "Baga, order the artillery wing, urgently raise the hot air balloon!" ”

The commander of the 10th Field Artillery Wing of the Isoya Division, Haruji Taniguchi, bowed his head suddenly, and immediately took the order.

Soon, the hot air balloon of the 10th Wing of the Field Artillery rose above Hanzhuang, and the artillery observers of the Yue Army condescended and soon discovered what was going on, and the cunning Chinese took a semi-closed tunnel excavation, except for a small section of the front tunnel that was open, and the back tunnel was all covered with civil bunkers.

Artillery observers in the air immediately transmitted their observations to the ground in flags.

The commander of the 10th Field Artillery Wing, Haruji Taniguchi, quickly returned to the forward observation post and reported to Major General Kei Seya: "Your Excellency, the cunning Shina people are engaged in semi-enclosed earthworks, and when our artillery began to shell, they hid under the civil bunkers, and they were simply unscathed!" ”

"Semi-enclosed earthwork!?" Major General Kei Seya was furious.

"Yaga Yaru!" Major General Lai Wuping scolded even more angrily.

Whether it was Major General Kei Seya or Major General Lai Wuping, they did not expect that the [***] team on the opposite side would be so proficient in the essence of civil work.

In this way, the situation of the Isoya Division is dangerous!

Although the field artillery of the field artillery group belonging to the Isoya Division can fire armor-piercing blasting shells, due to the ballistics, they cannot threaten the Chinese tunnels at all, and the small-caliber mortars and grenadiers cannot blow up the civil bunkers on the tunnels at all, that is to say, the Yue army can do nothing but watch the Chinese dig the tunnels forward!

Major General Seya's facial muscles twitched violently twice, and then he turned back to the communications staff officer and said: "Immediately telegraph to the division and regiment headquarters, and then request the division and regiment headquarters to immediately telegraph to the base camp to send a command post to the front, our department has fallen into a desperate situation and may not be able to hold out until the end of March as originally planned, please send the dispatch squad to the frontline command post as soon as possible!" ”

Major General Lai Wuping next to him also looked solemn, and he was also keenly aware that the Isogu Division was really going to break all the jade on the battlefield in Lunan this time.

(To be continued)