Over the empty battlefield, the deafening sound of gunfire resounded.

"Boom...... Boom ......"

"Bang! Bang! Bang......"

"Dada...... Dadada......"

Accompanied by the sound of explosions from time to time of mines, the sideways bullets will be savagely knocked out one by one, and the ferocious heavy machine gun bullets even directly cut people in two.

The mortars, which were constantly moving, also let out a low roar, firing a few mortar shells in a tom, and then shifted, and before the mountain artillery shells that were tracking could catch up, they were set up again and began a new round of attack.

The soldiers of the Indian regiment did not pay attention to the Chinese on the opposite side at first.

There is a saying in Indian society: What happened to the colonies? The Chinese are not even qualified to become colonies of great powers.

And along the way, the ragged mountain people I occasionally saw also made these Indians extremely proud, and these people were much poorer than the people of Mumbai.

The Indians, who had been trained as rulers, also knew how to charge with cats on their waists, and when they rushed to the vicinity of the line of fire, they fell down in unison.

Bullets are stronger than people, and standing and putting a gun is something that even a pig can't do. Of course, there are people who are more stupid than pigs, who will not only charge with a roar, but will even take the initiative to push the bullet out. Just because of this benefit, you won't hurt yourself by mistake, and of course you don't have to hit others.

Flying bullets, a regiment of Indians attacking at the same time on a defensive line of more than a mile, cross-heavy machine gun fire, and death bullets fired from the pillboxes, swept down a group of Indians in the first place, and these Indians went to meet their god Shiva before they even figured out the situation on the battlefield.

Before the artillery regiment of the Second Division of the Southwest Army could speak, the mountain artillery regiment of the British was the first to roar. Blocked by the attack, a mountain artillery shell again flew over the front-line positions.

"Boom!!"

In the violent explosion, many soldiers on the first line of defense were unlucky, and the cruelty of the war was reflected. However, the relatively complete position protected many soldiers. It's a pity that in the second division's refitting plan, the production of steel helmets is still difficult to keep up, and it has not been replaced for a while, otherwise the situation would be better.

Amid the violent explosions, Dai Anlan's battalion was being subjected to indiscriminate bombardment on the front-line positions.

"Divisional headquarters, divisional headquarters, request artillery support, request artillery support."

Chen Jiheng picked up the field phone and shouted in a roaring voice, we must not let the soldiers be bombarded indiscriminately like this, although the explosion was just remembered, but this time was different from the time when I was hiding in the anti-artillery hole just now, at this time the soldiers needed to block the Indians on the position.

"Ordered the artillery regiment to launch an artillery bombardment in five minutes, regardless of whether it finds the position of the opponent's artillery or not, and hit his mother." Zhuge Sheng ordered the combat staff officer on the side to order the artillery regiment to open fire, and the reason why he did not shell in advance just now was to seize the opportunity to find out the opponent's mountain artillery position and destroy it in one fell swoop. "Infantry and artillery coordination, I didn't expect this old empire to still have a hand, at least their chief is not a fool. The Indians were a little stupid and couldn't learn to coordinate with infantry artillery, but the British artillery would take the initiative to cooperate with the infantry. Let's hope our artillery will behave better. ”

Of course, the performance of the artillery regiment was not bad, especially when the artillery regiment was formed, it was based on the men and horses pulled from the main force, and the main artillery of the British had not yet arrived, so they could only launch artillery bombardment with mountain artillery, thinking about taking the opportunity to break through the position in one fell swoop, how could the artillery regiment let them get their wish.

Although the mountain artillery is fast, its biggest disadvantage is that its range is insufficient. And this kind of mountain artillery equipped by the British, the detailed surname and energy parameters were sent to the artillery staff yesterday.

"The thirteenth and eighteenth districts, fire artillery at these two areas, and the two mountain artillery regiments of the other side are there." The artillery staff officer finally shouted out the results of the calculation, and the sound of artillery from the front was already making him sweat, because that was also one of their training subjects: infantry and artillery coordination.

Only at this time the shelling is the most damaging to both the attacking and defending forces.

"The first detachment, target the thirteenth area to fire!! The second detachment, the eighteenth area of the target opened fire!! The commander of the artillery regiment roared angrily and waved the command flag himself.

"Boom!!"

The 105mm field artillery regiment of the 2nd Division finally roared. More than 30 artillery pieces, divided into two units, a few rounds a minute, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of shells went straight to the British mountain artillery position.

"What's that sound??"

Major General Knox was holding a telescope triumphantly observing the effect of the artillery bombardment during this infantry artillery coordination, when he suddenly heard a strange sound from behind the position of the Chinese on the other side, and the rumbling sound knew that it was artillery as soon as he heard it.

Not only was he familiar with this kind of cannon sound, and when he was on the battlefield of World War I, he even spent every night in this kind of cannon sound, or even more piercing cannon sound, but shouldn't this kind of cannon sound only appear on the battlefield between major powers?

This is the sound of at least 105mm heavy field guns, and possibly even 120mm heavy guns.

"Immediately order the artillery regiment to move its position!!"

The main artillery was too bulky, and those 105mm guys couldn't catch up, and Knox could only rely on the mountain guns of the two artillery regiments in his hands for artillery attacks, and it would be bad if it was damaged.

Unfortunately, before the signal corps picked up the phone, the other signal corps received a field call from the artillery regiment.

"General, I... We are under heavy shelling! casualties ......"

Knox put down the phone in a daze, and the rumbling sound of artillery coming from the microphone already said it all, the losses of the two artillery regiments were large.

Where did the Chinese get their heavy artillery? How did the Chinese find the mountain artillery position? Is it all a dream? As soon as the battle began, the mountain artillery positions that reached the melee line were concentrated and covered by the enemy's heavy artillery, damn it, it took less than half an hour from the time the Indians launched the attack, and the only mountain artillery in their hands was severely damaged, and Knox was so angry that he almost had a heart attack.

"Order the remaining mountain artillery to disperse and wait for the order to launch an artillery bombardment!"

After a moment of silence, Knox gave this correct order, the loss of mountain artillery is not fatal, his own heavy artillery troops will arrive soon, large-caliber field artillery, although it is extremely difficult to transport, but it is very good to use.

After hearing that the other party's artillery bombardment stopped abruptly, Zhuge Sheng felt a burst of joy in his heart, the British commander on the opposite side made a mistake, in the case of not knowing the artillery strength of the Southwest Army, in order to form a concentrated artillery group advantage, he actually concentrated the mountain artillery with a very close range to the front line, and it is estimated that it is still densely arranged.

If you are far away, you can't hit it, and it's difficult to unify your command if it's scattered, but now it's good, and when you encounter the 22-year-old 105mm field gun of the militia regiment, which has a very good range and accuracy, you are suddenly stunned.

In fact, even if the opponent arranges the mountain artillery positions in the back, it cannot escape, and the huge difference in firing range, once the opponent has an artillery force that can counterattack, even if it is a range advantage of one thousand meters, it is the lifeline of the British mountain artillery unit.

"Give Lao Tzu a hard beating!!"

Dai Anlan hooked his body and rushed to a light machine gunner outside the company command bunker, found that he was out of breath, and shouted after giving the order, this usually mild-mannered company commander personally picked up the light machine gun, and fired at a few Indians who were shooting in the distance, and shot the two Indians in the head.

"Bah!!" Just after a strafing shot, Dai Anlan was alert and lay down on his waist, and sure enough, several shots hit the sandbags in front of him, popping.

Although the Indians' marksmanship is inaccurate, they can't stand the crowd, and they lie on the ground and shoot, which is originally a combat posture.

"Prepare grenades!!"

The defensive line defended by a battalion was under greater pressure in the face of an attack by a regiment. Seeing that the Indians relied on the mountain artillery bombardment just now to rush more than 100 meters away, Dai Anlan cautiously gave the order to prepare grenades. The last few tens of meters are key.

"Boom!"

This time it was not the British mountain artillery that fired, but the 105mm22-type field artillery of the Southwest Army, and the huge explosion instantly exploded in the Indians' attack troops, and it was a large area as soon as it exploded, whether it was lying on the ground or hiding its head under the crotch of his pants and shrinking, he could not escape death.

Dozens of field guns, none of which stopped when venting, were almost eager to blow up this Indian regiment.

"Company commander, the Indians have retreated!!"

Sure enough, the Indians were not stupid, and the British commander was not stupid, and seeing this shocking situation, he could only give the order to retreat.

"Let the sharpshooter hit Lao Tzu's officer who is aiming at the other party!!"

Dai Anlan laughed and gave the order, and the grenade in his hand was also put down, and the fast Indians in skirts on the opposite side were simply too funny.

"Dai Anlan, let your second company retreat to the second line of defense."

Before the laughter stopped, Chen Jiheng's voice sounded, now the two lines of defense have been built, and the second line of defense is much stronger. He was ready to let the second company, which had just been replenished and had suffered some losses, withdraw first. Of course, this is an order from above.

"Why? Isn't that good? Dai Anlan's mouth was nothing, but his face was not good-looking, "No, I won't withdraw!" ”

"It's an order. Are you still afraid that there will be no fight? The main force of the British, according to this posture, will launch an attack in the next two days, and when the time comes, don't talk about you, even Lao Tzu will have to carry a gun. ”

Chen Jiheng also knew that the reason why the superiors put their battalion in front was because the second company had experience in fighting the British, and in order to prevent the first-line troops from being cowardly and panicking, Zhuge Sheng specially and urgently replenished the second company and drove their entire battalion to the first line of defense.

"Yes!"

The well-trained high-achieving students of the Huaxia Military Academy were not stubborn elements, and they saluted at the moment, and took advantage of the gap between the retreats of the Indians to retreat with the company to the second line of defense.

"General, the statistics are out, in the artillery counterattack of the Chinese, two artillery regiments were accurately hit, and there are only 21 remaining artillery pieces!"

Knox nodded silently, it was enough to leave 21 mountain cannons, the number was small, and it was just scattered and distributed. I still underestimate the Chinese.

Knox considered himself not an idiot to be able to achieve the position of general, but the frustration of the attack made him have to face up to the problem that at least one Indian regiment could not break through the opponent's defense.

"Go and call Brigadier General York, Colonel Victor and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph, it seems that we need a more thorough battle to defeat the damned Chinese."

From time to time, Knox waited for Brigadier General York, the commander of the Indian Division, and Colonel Victor, the commander of the Indian Reading Brigade, and Brigadier General Joseph, the commander of the Second Regiment of the British Royal Gurkha Regiment.

"Major General Knox, the current situation is that the Chinese are much more difficult to deal with than we think. I propose to suspend the offensive until the artillery brigade arrives. ”

Brigadier General York, the commander of the Indian Division, analyzed the situation on the battlefield and made what he thought was the correct proposal. In his opinion, as the biggest reliance of this tens of thousands of troops, the more than 70 105mm field guns of the artillery brigade will bring a nightmare to the Chinese, "Although their defense line is very distinctive, it is difficult to conduct a long-term trench war like in the European war, they are not prepared, and we have superior artillery." ”

"My lads can attack from the flanks of the Chinese." Joseph, the commander of the British Royal Gurkha Regiment, was obviously scornful of the Indians, and only his own group of mountain athletes could launch a sudden flank attack on the Chinese. "I said a long time ago, Indians can't."

"You!!" Brigadier General York was obviously not convinced, and was about to argue, but was stopped by Knox, the commander-in-chief.

"Everyone, quarrels are necessary, but they shouldn't be now. We should discuss how to defeat the shameful Chinese on the other side. According to the information provided by our friends, the Chinese have only one standing division within these hundreds of kilometers, and I think they are the opposite.

We are all high-ranking generals and colonels of the British Empire, and we should have a clear understanding of the rapidly changing battlefield situation. I think that the Chinese on the opposite side are most likely supported by the Germans, both in training and artillery, and even in the damned rifle is the Mauser of the Germans. We should seriously discuss how to defeat them. ”

"The Chinese are trying to stop us, but in fact they are afraid." Colonel Victor, the commander of the Indian brigade, who had not spoken just now, spit out a cigar smoke ring and said confidently.

As soon as these words came out, several generals and colonels immediately lit up, yes, Mengwei Town is not a major town, and the reason why the Chinese want to stick there is definitely an emptiness in the rear.

Judging from the information I have obtained, the Chinese army is only a few divisions, and it has to defend an area equivalent to several British sizes, how can it be defended? Moreover, the French and the Chinese who were about to cooperate in launching an attack, and the news that the British had deliberately leaked out, would certainly be on guard against possible military operations launched by the French and himself.

As a result, the entire Yunnan, at least on the Ruili-Kunming front, will be very scarce.

"The information provided by this monkey is very accurate and has helped us a lot." Major General Knox was moved and said approvingly: "Colonel Victor, your analysis is correct. The Chinese must be undertroopers and want to stop us on the Sino-Burmese border. However, they underestimated the determination of our British Empire to punish the murderers. It is said that the Buluo Empire has never suffered such a barbaric massacre, and the country is even ready to send two more divisions into Burma, ready to increase the punishment at any time. It's a pity that the damned Americans and Germans harshly opposed. Otherwise, this time, we will lay down the entire southwest. ”

"Yes!" Victor, who had been committed, saluted side by side, his heart moved, and he continued to add: "General, we should immediately report to the Far East Command and let the reinforcements stay on the Indo-Burmese border for the time being. At the same time, communicate with the French and himself, urging them to act in advance. ”

"Very well, Victor, I now feel more and more that you are an excellent Imperial Colonel, and I will recommend you to the command after this war is over." When Knox heard this, he was overjoyed. This Victor is right, if the command is allowed to send two more divisions into China, then his own credit will be greatly weakened. On the contrary, if he won the war with the help of himself and the French, he would have no effect at all. Because their role is to distract the Chinese, and it is themselves who defeat the Chinese.

But once there are two more divisions of troops entering China, the situation will be very different.

"Hey, I heard that the wise General Knox led a division of the British [***] men and defeated the entire southwest of China."

"Hey, I heard that General Knox led three divisions of the British [***] men to defeat the southwest of China."

There are two sayings, one in heaven and one in the ground.

"As soon as the baggage troops arrived, we immediately launched a follow-up battle plan. Until then, we will have Major Carmen continue to lead the team and launch a harassing attack on the Chinese. Knox was complacent, and he would immediately contact himself and the French and let them start moving, so that even if the Chinese division on the opposite side was trained by the Germans, he would not be able to stop his victory.

It would not be long before he would become a well-known general in England and even in Europe.

"Look, that's General Knox who wins more with less."

He could even guess what people were saying about him.

In his opinion, he had no reason not to win, nearly three divisions of troops, as well as artillery brigades, and even elite British divisions in them, although they could not catch up with the ace divisions of the Germans, but it was enough to deal with the blocking troops of one division of the Chinese.

What I have to do is to use a rare victory to lay the foundation for the promotion of lieutenant general.

"What we have to do is to use the British fiasco to compose the war exploits." Zhuge Sheng summoned the commanders of the three regiments under his command, without too much agitation, they were all old people from the militia group, and everyone had only one simple understanding of the British, that is: they are enemies, they are invaders.

The British are not terrible, on the contrary, they can also send military merits. Defeating them can also give a bad breath to the whole nation.

"The combat effectiveness of the Indians is indeed not high, if the other British units are like this, this battle, the second division will be very easy." A regimental commander said truthfully.

After the reorganization of the Southwest Army's three-three system, each division has three regiments and supporting combat units, such as artillery regiments, adding up to more than 10,000 people. After the full number, the number will be even larger.

"Well, everyone is a cadet and has received a systematic military education from the militia, and the war is actually very simple. In my opinion, this battle is to do everything to stop the British. Whether they attack from the front, from the flank, or from a roundabout, we will hold our ground firmly. What we need to do is to be more ferocious than them. After you go back, you must do a good job in the ideological work of the troops, and if there is any cowardice or disturbance of the morale of the troops, they will be shot on the spot. ”

The resistance war is bound to be hard, but Zhuge Sheng is still very confident, after all, although the British are an old empire, they are not doing the army, but the navy. Although the Southwest Army is only a new military force, it is a modern army that has been carefully built and scientifically and systematically trained over the past 10 years.

If Zhuge Sheng was to lead the second division to attack the British troops on the opposite side, it would obviously be very difficult. But if it's defense, then it's much easier.

Because, when the blocking troops of the defense could not retreat, they did not have to think about anything, they only had to do one thing: to block the British. Buy time and create opportunities for the encirclement and annihilation of the main forces.

One side had no intention of launching another fierce attack, and did not launch a futile counter-charge, and the entire battlefield of Mengmao Town actually stopped temporarily.

Under Knox's wise command, the Indians took turns sending troops to carry out harassing attacks, while the other Indians began to dig trenches to prevent the sudden counter-charge of the [***] team.

Both sides were digging trenches, only one was waiting for the attack and the other was defensive.

The gunfire in the entire line of fire in Mengmao Town was not dense, and the Indian disturbing attacks often stopped a few hundred meters away, and the two sides began to fire in vain, at this distance, except for sharpshooters and sparse mortars, both sides were very safe.

Occasionally, one or two mortars exploded around the Indians, and then one or two mortar shells flew into the positions of the Second Division of the Southwest Army, exploding with a bang.

At the end of the day, until it was late in the day, many battalions of the Southwest Army had the opportunity to shoot, and the Indians also got the opportunity to fight, at least when they fled, they were not so embarrassed.

"It looks like it's only going to drag on for two days."

Zhuge Sheng looked at the dark night sky and said helplessly. He originally wanted the artillery regiment to try to attack the opponent's camp, but it turned out that the positions of the two or three divisions of the other side were either difficult to locate or too scattered, and the British still had a hand, and did not shrink the troops into a group like mountain artillery.

The occasional shelling could only have some effect on the sleep of the British.

However, he also ordered his troops to try to carry out a sneak attack at night, and as a result, the British also thought of preventing night attacks, and the guards were very strong. With the combined use of large searchlights and machine guns, it is difficult to break through to the opponent's camp even if it is a cavalry raid.

Zhuge Sheng thought about it and understood that even if the other party was a pig, in this situation of confrontation between the two armies, he would not easily give the other party a chance to attack at night. Modern warfare, after all, is not like the previous era of cold weapons.

As a result of the day of the battle, both the South-Western Army and the British got to know each other more and more. Attempting an attack is inevitably a precursor to an all-out offense and a desperate defense.

"Cook more hot soup for the soldiers and make more fatty meat." Zhuge Sheng instructed the logistics officer of the division headquarters, listening to the occasional sparse sound of guns on the battlefield, he couldn't help but say to himself: The battle has just begun......

(To be continued)