Not only Shunping County, but also Tang County, which is not far from Shunping, and Wangdu County are also facing the same situation. After the two main companies with heavy weapons joined up with the county brigade, together with the local militia and guerrillas, each force exceeded 1,000 people.

With enough strength, the company commanders who led their respective teams had no worries, and at the same time, they became much bolder. Because the location of these two county towns does not have any strategic significance, the number of troops stationed here is not very large, and each county has only more than one squadron of the army and a large number of puppet troops, and the number of people definitely does not exceed 1,500 people. Although the strength of the army is far greater than its own, the combat effectiveness of the troops is several times higher than its own. However, since these two counties are located in the mountains, the company commander who led the team did not have any fear.

After a simple reconnaissance of the county seat, he swaggered and led the soldiers to the city wall of the county seat, outside the range of the enemy army, began to dig trenches and set up heavy weapons, preparing to give the army a long-term trap illusion

Of course, the top governors of these two counties, in the face of the large number of local armed forces of the Eighth Route Army outside the city, were not as easy as Matsudaira Daisa, and ordered the troops to strengthen their vigilance, hold out, and wait for reinforcements

As the weather slowly brightened, Wang Nanhu walked out of the temporary headquarters that had just been built. At this time, because of the repeated wars in Shunping County, the broken city wall appeared in Wang Nanhu's field of vision. Wang Nanhu raised the telescope in his hand. On the city wall, the deployment of the puppet army appeared in front of him.

There was about one squadron of the puppet army of the other battalion on the entire city wall, and the total strength did not exceed 500 people. The squadron was fine, except for leaving a certain number of troops as guards, the remaining soldiers leaned on the base of the city wall to sleep and rest. And those puppet soldiers don't have any military literacy, they are in groups of three or five, without any restraint, sitting together and chatting, and they don't take their own troops into account at all.

"Staff Officer Wang, how are the troops preparing" Seeing the situation of the defenders on the city wall, a contemptuous smile appeared on the corner of Wang Nanhu's mouth.

"Commander, all positions have been constructed, about two battalions of local forces have entered the trenches, and the entire northern gate has been completely blocked by us. The second battalion at the south gate has also been prepared, and now the army in the city has been completely surrounded by our army, and the mountain artillery battalion has built an artillery position less than 1,000 meters away from the city gate by using various covers, and can be ready for artillery bombardment at any time. Counselor Wang reported.

"Well, the task was very well done. Order the fighters to start now, hurry up and have breakfast, after breakfast be ready for battle, and start the attack on time at eight o'clock"

"Yes, Commander"

Soon, the Eighth Route Army's position on the outskirts of Shunping County was wafting with bursts of rice. Looking at Shunping County at this time, the defenders on the city wall were not as relaxed as they were just now. In order to be able to understand the strength of the Eighth Route Army outside the city more clearly, at this time, the supreme commander of the army, Matsushita Daisa, personally brought the staff officers of the headquarters to the city wall.

"Report to Your Excellency Commander, our troops have been ordered to hold the city wall, and after our reconnaissance, we have about two regiments of the middle [***] at the north gate, and about one regiment of the middle [***] at the south gate. They were only digging trenches five hundred meters away from the city wall, and they had no intention of attacking, I guess, they wanted to surround us and fight a protracted war.

"Yo Xi, yours, very well done, you and yours have been holding on for a night, now you can go down and rest, order the second squadron to come and take over" Matsushita Osa smiled and patted the shoulder of the dutiful squadron leader in front of him.

"Hi, thank you for your understanding, Commander" After answering, the squadron leader turned and left, and began to organize his troops and prepare to retreat. And Matsushita Osa did not return to the headquarters because of the report of one of his squadron leaders, but still took the staff officer, came to the city wall, squatted down, and began to observe seriously.

"Yo Xi, there are really two regiments of the Eighth Route Army in front of us, it seems that Captain Ono just now observed very carefully, Chief of Staff, it seems that the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side has dispatched all their troops" Matsushita Osa asked the chief of staff next to him while holding up the binoculars in his hand to observe.

"Hey, Your Excellency, our Shunping County is stuck in the throat of the Third Division of the Eighth Route Army, and if the Third Division of the Eighth Route Army wants to develop outside the mountains, it must first take our Shunping County. Therefore, it is reasonable for the Eighth Route Army to dispatch all its main forces to attack our Shunping County. It's just that I didn't expect them to be so anxious. ”

"Yo Xi, the chief of staff has analyzed very thoroughly, our Shunping County is an important stronghold stuck in the throat of the Third Division of the Eighth Route Army, otherwise the Shijiazhuang Headquarters would not have sent a reinforced brigade to garrison the county. It's just that the Eighth Route Army is too bold, and it is simply wishful thinking to attack our Shunping County without artillery support," Matsushita Dazuo replied with a smile.

"Hey, Your Excellency Commander's analysis is very correct" Under the continuous praise of several staff officers behind him, Commander Matsushita Osa couldn't help but feel proud for a while, and took the officers and officers behind him to leave the city wall and return to the headquarters.

However, he didn't know that at this moment, there were less than five minutes left before Wang Nanhu's attack. The soldiers were hurrying along the trench to the designated position. At the same time, a very light and heavy machine gun was also quickly set up by the fighters to the predetermined position. What's more, on a flat field less than a kilometer away from the city wall, green concealments that seem to be bushes are slowly moving under the impetus of some Eighth Route Army, revealing the mountain artillery behind the bushes, and the mountain artillery with their heads held high is slowly appearing in the field of vision of the army.

"Baga, Your Excellency Commander is in a situation" Just as Matsushita Osaku had just turned around and was about to leave the city wall, a cry of surprise reached his ears. Matsushita Osa, who was very familiar with the personnel of the headquarters, knew that it was the voice of his chief of staff as soon as he heard it.

"Chief of Staff, what's the matter?" Matsushita Osa turned his head to look at the chief of staff next to him and said dissatisfied.

"Hi. Your Excellency, Commander, you see that there is a situation in the position of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side," the chief of staff quickly nodded and replied eagerly.

"Nani? Could it be that these Eighth Route Army, which had no heavy weapons, had any more advanced weapons that they had not come up with? Matsushita Dazuo replied dissatisfiedly, but still raised the binoculars and looked at the position of the Eighth Route Army outside the city.

However, at this time, Matsushita Daisa was completely stunned by the scene in front of him, standing motionless on the city wall, and more importantly, His Excellency the Commander began to have beads of sweat on his forehead on the cold morning.

Because in his eyes, he saw that there were not many trenches of the Eighth Route Army just now, and at this time there was already an ambush of at least one regiment of the Eighth Route Army. A light and heavy machine gun was impressively erected on the position, and the gloomy muzzle of the gun was facing the city wall where he was. What surprised me even more was that less than 500 meters behind the trenches, 12 mountain guns. Neatly lined up in front of you. Matsushita Daisa, who was extremely familiar with the equipment of his own troops, almost the first moment he saw these mountain artillery, he could be sure that these mountain cannons must be the cannons of the Great Empire.

"How could Baga be like this, where did the Eighth Route Army get so many cannons. Eight Grid Yalu, Captain Ono, didn't you say that the Eighth Route Army didn't have heavy weapons to attack the city, where did those cannons come from" Matsushita Osa finally reacted from the shock just now, grabbed Captain Ono, who was about to retreat, and scolded loudly.

"Hey, Your Excellency Commander, I don't know where the Eighth Route Army got so many cannons, there wasn't a single cannon there just now, why is it all of a sudden now" Looking at the commander in front of him, his eyes were about to pop out because of anger, Captain Ono replied incoherently.

You must know that the reason why Matsushita Dazuo was so angry at this time was because he clearly knew that if the Eighth Route Army in front of him relied on the 12 powerful mountain artillery to attack the city, then it would be a matter of time before he broke through his own Shunping County. Thinking of this, Matsushita Osa was afraid for a while, and vented all his anger on Captain Ono, who lied about the military situation in front of him.

"Your Excellency Commander, are our 1st Squadron still retreating" Looking at the commander in front of him, Captain Ono's back was already wet with cold sweat, and now the only thing he wanted to think about was to quickly escape from this place of right and wrong, and avoid the angry commander from afar.

"Baga, yours are still thinking about retreating, this morning, you and your squadron are not allowed to eat breakfast, immediately prepare for battle, and prevent the Eighth Route Army outside the city from attacking the city, quickly" Matsushita Osa loosened Captain Ono's collar and scolded loudly.

"Hey, Your Excellency Commander, we will definitely hold the city wall and repel the attack of the Eighth Route Army.

"Chief of Staff, immediately order the second squadron to reinforce the city wall, and order the artillery squadron to be ready for battle and suppress the artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army outside the city at any time" Matsushita ignored Captain Ono next to him, and looked at the 12 mountain guns outside the city with a worried order. Because, although there was an artillery squadron in Shunping County at this time, the weapons of the squadron were mortars mostly used for defense, and only one artillery squad of two mountain guns could compete with the 12 cannons outside the city. And how should his two mountain guns resist so many cannons of the Eighth Route Army outside the city Thinking of this, Matsushita Osa began to worry about today's battle situation.

Suddenly, a whistling sound reached his ears. Matsushita Daisa, who was thinking about today's battle situation, hurriedly raised the telescope in his hand. I saw that on the artillery position of the Eighth Route Army, a large amount of white smoke was produced at the location of the three mountain guns. Immediately after, in front and behind the walls, as well as on the walls, a cannonball exploded.

"Boom, boom, boom" Three explosions sounded, and the explosion on the city wall harvested the corpses of several imperial soldiers and puppet soldiers at once, and a heavy machine gun was lifted high out of the city wall by the strong air wave generated by the explosion of the shell, and was smashed into a pile of scrap metal at the corner of the city wall.

"Baga, immediately prepare for battle, quickly, enter the combat position" With the sound of cannons, the city wall immediately remembered the roar of Captain Ono, who had just fallen into chaos, under the command of Captain Ono, quickly recovered and came to his combat position.

However, the puppet army of a battalion on the city walls did not have such good qualities. You must know that among the more than 300 soldiers, except for a few battalion and company commanders who have gone through the battle, the rest of the soldiers are almost all strong men who have been captured by the army, and in the face of such a bloody and violent scene, in the face of the stumps and broken arms that fell on their heads, many people were frightened stupid at the first time. Of course, more soldiers chose to scurry around, howling loudly, trying to leave the city wall that might kill them at any moment.

"Eight Grid Yalu Bang" three gunshots, the city wall that was still chaotic just now immediately fell into silence, and the puppet soldiers all looked at their master, Matsushita Dazuo, with disbelieving eyes. And Matsushita Daisa's face was full of anger, blowing the light hand that was still smoking green smoke, and scolded loudly.

"Baga, return to your combat position immediately, otherwise, your fate will be the same as theirs" Matsushita Daisa commanded loudly to the puppet army in front of him in his broken Chinese, and at the same time, pointed to the three puppet soldiers who had just been killed by himself in a pool of blood.

"Damn, what are you still doing in a daze, go back to your position immediately, you want to eat your own bullets, hurry" At this time, the voice of the puppet battalion commander sounded on the city wall, and then, those company platoon commanders quickly began to move and pull their troops to the combat position.

"Your Excellency Commander, I'm sorry, it was my mistake just now that caused you trouble, please forgive me, I will definitely take my brothers to defend the city well" Seeing the soldiers scolding and returning to their combat positions, the battalion commander hurriedly ran to the angry Matsushita Daisa and said.

"Your Excellency Commander, retreat quickly, the command needs you even more. The Eighth Route Army is about to start shelling," a staff officer next to him ignored the flattering puppet army battalion commander at this time, and reminded Matsushita Daisa beside him.

"Yo Xi, let's go back to the headquarters immediately" Hearing the reminder of the staff officer next to him, Matsushita Osa immediately reacted, knowing that he was under the fire of the Eighth Route Army at this time and could die at any time, he immediately said, turned around and left the city wall with everyone.

Sure enough, just as Matsushita Osa and everyone walked down the city wall, there was a whistling sound in the sky that was even louder than just now. It turned out that the three shells just now were only test-fired shells of the mountain artillery battalion, and after learning that one of its shells had hit the target, the mountain artillery battalion immediately changed the firing elements of a total of 12 mountain artillery pieces according to the various coordinates of the shells. Soon, all gun emplacements were ready. Under the command of the battalion commander, one after another shells were fired out of the chamber by the soldiers and fell on the position of the army not far away.

"Boom, boom, boom" At this time, a dense explosion was remembered on the position. Although everyone has reached the root of the city wall, Matsushita Osa can still clearly feel the trembling of the earth.

"Your Excellency Commander Baga, be careful" Just when Matsushita Daisa was about to scold, there was a sudden exclamation from behind him, and he saw an orderly quickly want to pounce on himself, pushed himself away, and lay on the ground.

"Ah Baga: A miserable scream came, and I saw that the orderly who had just pounced on him was lying in the position where he had just stood, and behind the orderly was a huge battlement.

It turned out that just as Matsushita Osa was about to scratch his hair, the second round of shells from the artillery battalion had already fired, and just then, one shell fell next to a battlement above Matsushita Osa. The huge blasting force of the cannonball easily tore a huge battlement off the city wall, and smashed it towards Matsushita Daisa, of course, everything happened to be discovered by a service soldier next to Panasonic, and then the scene just happened.

Looking at the orderly in front of him whose back had been smashed by huge bricks, even Matsushita Daisa, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, gasped. I thought that if it weren't for the dedication of this fallen orderly, he would be lying on the ground now.

"Baga, go back to the headquarters immediately" Matsushita Daisa, who recovered from his nervous expression, did not say a word, and quickly walked towards the headquarters located in the center of the county with a group of officers.

Of course, the shelling of the mountain artillery battalion did not stop because of the departure of Matsushita Daisa, and the soldiers still used their fastest artillery speed to constantly load the shells behind them into the barrel one by one. Of course, the 500-man defenders on the city walls were being tested in blood and fire at this time.

The city walls, which had already been subjected to several rounds of shelling, were now in tatters, with severed limbs and broken arms everywhere, and the entire city wall had been completely overturned by shells. Everywhere there were burning corpses, constantly exploding ammunition, scorching flames, and at this time, those soldiers who had dodged the first few rounds of shells, whether they were the army or the puppet army. Faced with the bare, unfortified city walls, and unable to care about their image as soldiers, they all hugged their heads and scurried around, begging for the protection of the gods. However, their prays had no effect, and the cannonballs continued to explode in the running crowd as if they had eyes, setting off patches of blood. Finally, the first batch of shells, a total of 120 shells, was squandered by the mountain artillery battalion. Looking at the empty shell boxes behind them, and then at the city walls that had fallen into a sea of fire, the soldiers of the mountain artillery battalion all smiled. Began to collect shell casings, carry shells, prepare for a new round of shelling.

(To be continued)