The night is as thick as ink, and the sea breeze is gentle. The long night seemed to be finally over. In the middle of the Korean Peninsula, on both sides of the 38th parallel, there is no time of tranquility. Even the cold guns and cold guns that seemed to be routine in the past completely stopped this night, and the whole front was silent. Whether it was the South Korean position in the north or the Japanese position in the south, it was as if there were no officers and soldiers stationed at all. It was as if the eight-year see-saw confrontation between Japan and South Korea had come to an end. It is as if the people of the north and south of the Korean Peninsula have reunited as compatriots of one country.

However, all the ROK officers and men stationed on the ROK army's forward positions and reserve positions on the north side of the 38th parallel knew that a unified and peaceful peninsula was nothing more than a dream scenario. Now, not only is South Korea, which has fallen to the Japanese invaders, hopeless, but even North Korea, the last home of the Korean nation, will soon be invaded by the Japanese invaders...... And the time of the invasion is likely to be in the early hours of this morning! The South Korean troops, who remained on the front-line positions, nervously listened to the ringing for a night. According to the order from above, tomorrow night, it will not be them who remain at the forefront of the battle line and wait for the bombardment of Japanese artillery.

At this time, all the people prayed silently in their hearts that the time would pass quickly, that the sun would come out earlier, and that as soon as the day dawned, someone would come up to replace them...... Of course, there are also some "black-hearted" people who pray in their hearts that God will let this terrible war end soon, and they don't want to agree to South Korea, as long as they can return to their hometowns as soon as possible, and they will be satisfied if they can go to the fields alive every day. Just their homeland, their land. Has the Pyongyang government been scorched to the ground by its determination to resist to the end?

Looking at the last darkness before dawn, the sentries of the South Korean army all widened their eyes nervously. Waiting for the time to pass slowly...... These people are not the elite of the South Korean army at all, and to put it mildly, they are old and weak soldiers. If it weren't for the North Korean government's policy of putting all the people into the army. Most of them are still farming and working at home, and they will not go to the battlefield to die at all. Since he is not an elite, he will inevitably lack confidence in his heart, no matter how the officers above encourage, in the minds of these old and young Korean soldiers, there is always some trepidation.

Let this night pass peacefully, so that you can probably live one more day.

But. When the dawn light has just risen in the eastern sky, and the summer night on the Korean Peninsula is about to pass. Suddenly, North Korean officers and soldiers in the trenches, waiting for a shift change at dawn, suddenly widened their eyes at the same time. Because they see south of the 38th parallel. In the summer night that had not yet completely faded, there was a flash of boundless light! Along the 38th parallel, thousands of flashes of light pierced the night sky like lightning, followed by a violent tremor of the earth. And the thunderous roar and the screech of cannonballs piercing the air!

"Shelling! Shelling! Hide ...... quickly."

The sound of the alarm has just sounded. On a front of no more than 200 kilometers, the Japanese Red Army concentrated more than 3,000 cannons of various calibers and more than 2,000 mortars, and in the Sea of Japan, not far from the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, there were 10 battleships and battle cruisers with unimaginable firepower for the army! The earth trembled violently, and the shock wave from the explosion of the cannonballs mixed with the dust on the ground and rose into the sky, turning into countless columns of blue-black smoke. Covered almost the entire front of the South Korean army. Everything trembled in the face of this tremendous destructive force. The civil bunkers were blown into the sky, and the deer barricades and barbed wire fences that the South Korean army had worked so hard to arrange were torn apart by the power of the huge artillery. South Korean officers and soldiers who were stuck in the front-line trenches became the first victims. Many of them didn't even have time to scream before they were blown to pieces by shells. Human limbs and severed arms flew in all directions, weapons were blown to pieces, and telephone wires were blown off by cannon fodder. The wall of fire from the shells moved repeatedly over the South Korean positions, and the whistling shrapnel flew around like the scythe of death, reaping every life they encountered!

Of course, the front-line troops of the South Korean army were stunned by such powerful firepower in an instant. The soldiers who remained in the trenches were shouting hoarsely, looking around for safer shelters, and some of the frightened soldiers simply jumped out of the trenches and ran to the rear, but they did not run a few steps before they were engulfed in flames. The officers' situation was no better, and there was a hysterical officer next to every telephone in the shelter, carrying a telephone headset and yelling loudly, regardless of whether it was connected or not. As for the meaning, it is all the same: "The position was bombarded by powerful Japanese artillery fire, suffered heavy losses, and immediate reinforcements are needed!" ”

……

"There is no need to reinforce the forward positions!"

In the former enemy headquarters of the South Korean army in Pyongsan, it is now the time when the lights are bright. At dinner yesterday, Peng Dhuai, the de facto commander-in-chief of the North Korean Army, arrived from Pyongyang and immediately took over the command. Now receiving reports from the front-line departments, Peng Dhuai gave the order to abandon the front-line positions almost without thinking.

"Order the artillery not to counterattack for the time being, and wait for the first wave of Japanese shock troops to attack our forward positions and then cover them with heavy artillery fire."

"General Peng! There must still be our soldiers on the forward positions, and they can't be covered with artillery fire! ”

As soon as Peng Dhuai's second order came out, General Kim Won-feng, commander of the 38th line cluster of the South Korean army, immediately jumped up. He said loudly in Chinese: "It's better to send reinforcements to the front, or let the people above withdraw!" ”

"Japanese artillery fire will soon stretch out, blocking the road to the forward position, and if reinforcements are sent, at least 50% of the personnel will fall on the way forward. As for letting the forward defenders retreat, it is the same, few people can withdraw, it is better to take advantage of the opportunity of their close combat with the Japanese to cover them with artillery fire, in order to achieve the effect of maximizing the destruction of the enemy's vital forces. ”

Peng Dhuai had a calm face and coldly explained to Jin Yuanfeng, a North Korean general in his thirties. Listening to his tone, the thousands of ROK officers and men who remained at the forward positions were not all living people, but just a few numbers on the troop establishment table.

"General Jin Yuanfeng, carry out the order!" Lee Beom-seok, deputy chief of the general staff of the ROK army, ordered in a deep voice.

Jin Yuanfeng nodded with tears in his eyes. The order was given according to Peng Dhuai's intentions. As a soldier, he also knows the cruelty of war, and he also knows that the current Korean War is a real survival line for the Korean nation.

"Is there any report from Mt. Kumgang and the old town?" Peng Dhuai asked.

"A detachment of the National Guard Corps did not report it." Major General Kim Young-tae, chief of staff of the 38th line cluster, replied.

"Call immediately. Ask about the latest developments there. Li Fanzao immediately understood Peng Dhuai's thoughts. Mt. Kumgang and Jiuyi were the easternmost points of the 38th Parallel defensive line, and they were also the focus of the Japanese attack, and the Japanese army's mecha army was attached to this line. If Mt. Kumgang and Gueup-ri are lost, the Japanese mecha army can drive straight into the depth of the South Korean defense line...... Perhaps this is the time that Peng Dhuai is waiting for.

Soon, an urgent telegram from a detachment of the ROK National Guard Corps was sent, and the positions of Mount Kumgang and Seo-eup were heavily bombarded by Japanese large-caliber naval guns, and the defensive positions near the eastern foothills of Mount Kumgang and Seo-ri in the Sea of Japan were almost completely destroyed. Heavy losses in the troops!

"Order the National Guard Corps detachment to abandon Mt. Kumgang and Jiuyi-ri." Li Fan 奭建yì said.

"No! It's too early to abandon it, at least to defend Mt. Kongo. Peng Dhuai shook his head and said, "Let them hold on for 48 hours, that's right." Tell them reinforcements will arrive soon! The 11th Army was ordered to send a division to reinforce Jinhua. Ordered the Shoushan detachment to ambush north of Tongchuan, and told Hu Zongnan to let him take the armored corps forward to Tongchuan, and it must be in place within 12 hours! ”

"But it is impossible for a detachment of the National Civilian Guard Corps to hold Mt. Kumgang for more than 24 hours!" Li Fanzao shook his head and said, "And once the position at the eastern foot of King Kong Mountain falls. The Japanese tank divisions would be able to move north along the coastal road. Soon they will advance to Tongchuan, and the light tanks of the armored corps will not be able to stop them at all! It's ......"

"The armored corps is just a decoy," Peng Dhuai said: "I believe that the Japanese tank division will not miss the opportunity to annihilate our armored forces!" As for Mount Kumgang, let the National Guard Corps hold on for another 24 hours, and there is no need to defend the eastern foot of the Kumgang Mountain, as long as the western foot is guarded. ”

In the next 12 hours, the Japanese launched a fierce attack on the ROK army on the entire 38th parallel, breaking through several positions of the ROK army in succession. The 38th Parallel Line, which the South Korean army had painstakingly managed for several years, was in jeopardy on the first day of the engagement.

At the same time as the 38th parallel was fighting all fronts. On the coastal road on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, a queue of convoys, horse teams and horse-drawn carts is rolling forward as far as the eye can see. A crowd shouting the sound of horses neighing and the roar of motors. The 70,000 troops of the Japanese Red Army's mecha army had more than 550 tanks and armored vehicles. More than 600 trucks, as well as countless wagons and cavalry, desperately marched north.

The Soviet military adviser Chuikov also marched with this mechanized corps of the Japanese army, and he looked at this army with satisfaction. This is a unit that he has personally trained, and he has spent countless efforts for them in the past nearly a year! The standard of training far exceeded that of the tank corps of the Soviet Red Army...... Plus the best officers and soldiers carefully selected by the People's Commissariat of Labor and Defense of Japan for this unit. Chuikov is absolutely convinced that this mecha army is already the most elite mechanized force in the world, and there is no one! With such a force against the fragile North Korean army, he really can't find a reason to lose the war! Even he couldn't imagine that his opponent still had the courage to resist. In fact, what he is most worried about now is not the resistance of his opponent, but the fact that the opponent flees in front of the steel torrent of the Japanese Red Army's mecha army, so that the Japanese Red Army is very likely to fight a Pyongyang battle.

Now we can only hope that the lone mecha army can lead out the main force of the South Korean army......

Under the summer afternoon sun on the Korean Peninsula, three messengers on horseback galloped up and reined in their horses in front of the wheeled armored command vehicle in which Chuikov and Jiro Domen were riding. Loudly reported: "The latest battle report, after 12 hours of hard fighting, the headquarters of the 6th Division of the Army has broken through the enemy's defense line and captured the position at the eastern foot of the King Kong Mountain and the position at the old eup!" ”

"Great! The road north to Tongchuan has been opened! Hearing the news, Jiro Tamon cheered at the time. As long as Tongchuan is defeated, Wonsan is close at hand, and if Wonsan is taken, our mecha army will break through to the rear of the enemy's 38th line cluster, if the South Korean army does not want them to be deployed in the north of the 38th parallel, the hundreds of thousands of troops deployed in the north of the 38th parallel will be wiped out, then they can only send reinforcements from Pyongyang to fight a decisive battle with us! ”

Chuikov nodded slightly, seeming to approve of Jiro Tamon's analysis. Whether it is the mecha army that the South Korean army headquarters thinks can annihilate the lone army. Or did they have to send troops to fight the mecha army in order to keep the back of hundreds of thousands of troops. In short, as long as the mecha army approaches Wonsan in the shortest possible time, the headquarters of the South Korean army will definitely react!

Duomen beckoned back at this point. Several staff officers immediately ran over from several other wheeled armored vehicles.

"Summons the ministries to speed up the march! Tell the commanders of the marching troops, move fast! All faulty vehicles that cannot move will be pushed to the side of the road, and the whole army will be allowed to pass through the old town by the early hours of tomorrow! ”

"Order the 1st Tank Division to prepare for an assault on Tongchuan on the march, seize Tongchuan before dark tomorrow, and open the gateway to Wonsan!"

"Inform the Combined Fleet of the Navy and ask them to violently bombard the positions of the South Korean troops in Tongcheon with naval guns."

……

And at the same time. A convoy of South Korean troops, consisting of light tanks, wheeled armored vehicles, and trucks, is marching on the road from Wonsan to Tongcheon. This unit is the "Shoushan" detachment that Peng Dhuai gave high hopes for. This section of the road is very narrow, with rolling hills on both sides. It's summer again, and the road is lined with dense vegetation, making it a great ambush position.

Hu Zongnan, who was short in stature, sat on the body of a light tank at the front of the line, holding on to the railing and looking around. Suddenly, his right hand was raised in the air. See the signal he sends. The entire convoy immediately stopped. He jumped off the two 10-ton Type A tanks and strode towards a wheeled armored command vehicle in the center of the convoy. Several officers of the South Korean army and advisers on Chinese affairs had already gathered there, and when they saw Hu Zongnan coming over, they all saluted him one after another.

A colonel of the Korean army named Kim Moo-jeong handed a telegram to Hu Zongnan and reported: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, I have received a telegram from the enemy headquarters in front of Pyongsan that the Japanese army has broken through the line of the old eup-ri of Kumgangsan Mountain. In addition, a large number of Japanese armored units were found to be advancing towards Tongcheon in the old town of Tongguò. ”

Hu Zongnan immediately beckoned the chief of staff to get a map of the area around Tongchuan Wonsan. Spread out over the hood of the armored car. The chief of staff had already indicated on the map the location of the convoy, which was about twenty or thirty kilometers from Tongchuan. That's just over an hour's drive. Tongchon is the key point of the second line of defense in the 38th line defense system of the North Korean Army, and it is garrisoned by a division of the South Korean Advance Army, which is also a cannon fodder unit, and it cannot withstand it for long. Perhaps as soon as the Japanese armored units appeared, these North Korean cannon fodder units would collapse. So if you want to set up an ambush, this is a good location now, and you don't have to go south.

The chief of staff of the Shoushan detachment is Jiang Xianyun, one of the three heroes of Whampoa in history, but in this time and space, he is Hu Zongnan's younger brother, graduated from the Central Military Academy in the fifth phase, and his current military rank is colonel of the armored corps. Jiang Xianyun said to Hu Zongnan at this time: "Shou Gong, it is better to divide the troops here, and the headquarters will lead the armored corps to Tongchuan, and Shou Gong will command the anti-tank special forces to set up an ambush here." ”

Hu Zongnan nodded and said, "That's what I mean," he raised his wrist and looked at his watch. "It's already half past six o'clock in the afternoon, and it's about eight o'clock in the evening when you arrive in Tongchuan, and it is estimated that there will be a night battle tonight, and it is best to hold out until three or four o'clock in the morning tomorrow before retreating...... Of course, your A-type tank is no match for the T28, so don't force it if you can't stand it, in short, be careful. Also, stay in touch at all times. ”

Jiang Xianyun fully understood what Hu Zongnan meant, with the power of the 45mm anti-tank gun, it was enough to penetrate the side armor of the T28 tank at a distance of 1,000 meters, so the ideal ambush location was halfway up the mountain on both sides of the road. However, it is not an easy task to disassemble and move 120 45mm guns halfway up the mountain, and then find a place to install them. So he patted his chest and packed the ticket and said: "Shougong, don't worry, my more than 60 A-type tanks are not vegetarians, and the Japanese devils don't touch a bag and knock out a few big teeth, they want to get us out of Tongchuan City." ”

"Give you another battalion of anti-tank rangers," Hu Zongnan said: "It is difficult for the 37mm guns of the Type A tank to beat the T28, and there are 12 45mm guns that should be able to withstand it for a while." ”

"Shou Gong, don't worry, the intelligence said that the Soviet Union's alloy armor plate is not up to par, not much stronger than ordinary steel plates, the front of the hull is only 20mm 30mm armor, and the 37mm gun with tungsten steel armor-piercing bullets can definitely penetrate it." Jiang Xianyun didn't seem to pay attention to the huge T28 tank at all. Tank battles are not bigger than a head, and if the T28 is really as thin and stuffy as the intelligence says, then there is nothing to be afraid of.

After sending off Jiang Xianyun and the South Korean Army's armored corps, Hu Zongnan began to arrange an ambush circle. The roads in this area are flanked by ridges several hundred meters above sea level, and the slope is not steep, so it is not difficult to disassemble the 45mm anti-tank guns and transport them halfway up the mountain. However, it is impossible to run away with these cannons after the ambush, and most of the 45mm anti-tank guns will be blown up after the ambush! Therefore, this ambush can definitely be regarded as killing 1,000 enemies and losing 300 self-losses, and now we can only hope that Jiang Xianyun can bring more T28 and T26 tanks over, so that these 45mm guns can be used enough.