On the southern front, Ma Biao's 2nd Division also made a breakthrough, and the 4th Division launched a night attack to successfully break through the Japanese defense.

The night attack troops led by Ma Biao also successfully attacked the forward command hub of the enemy in front of them, and the Japanese puppet army, which was facing the 2nd Division, fell into a brief chaos.

Ma Biao telegraphed Zhou Dasheng to lead the main force of the South Bank Division to launch an attack, and with the cooperation of the roundabout troops, he successfully broke through the Japanese resistance and captured part of the Japanese position.

Originally, the devils also planned to organize troops to counterattack in order to recapture the lost positions.

However, knowing that the western front of its outer line had been broken through by the main force of the Dragon's Tooth Column, Okamura Ninji ordered his front-line troops to immediately shrink back and retreat to the second line of defense, so the Japanese gave up the counterattack, allowing the Dragon's Tooth Division to successfully capture all its positions in the suburbs south of Tianjin.

After the attack was successful, Ma Biao ordered the troops to occupy the Japanese position, and at the same time organized the effective troops to follow the Japanese puppet army to pursue and advance, and after dawn the next day, they chased to the second line of defense of the Japanese army outside Tianjin, and completed the semi-encirclement of Tianjin from the southwest two directions with the 4th Division and other units.

However, before Qiao Youhua ordered the 1st Division and other units to move in a roundabout direction to the north of Tianjin and complete the encirclement of Tianjin on three sides, the sky was already bright.

Under Okamura Ninji's stern orders and requests, the artillery and naval guns in the city opened fire one after another, and a large number of shells covered the combat units of the Dragon's Tooth Column like a large number of shells.

For a time, outside the second line of defense of the Japanese army, artillery shells rained down, explosions were repeated, beacon fires filled the sky, and gunpowder smoke filled the air.

In addition, the Japanese army's sea-based and land-based aviation units also took off one after another to carry out air raids and bombing of various units of the Dragon's Tooth Column from the air.

The combined firepower of the devils retaliated with a retaliatory strike, causing a lot of casualties to the Dragon's Tooth Column.

Qiao Youhua had no choice but to order the troops to retreat a few miles back, looking for suitable woods, ditches and other terrain to hide, in order to avoid the enemy's fire.

"Commander, the artillery and air fire strikes of the little devils are too threatening to us, and our sabotage plan must be accelerated." In the general headquarters of the former enemy of the Longya Column that had moved forward to Wuqing Town, several main regiment commanders of the 4th Division all suggested to Qiao Youhua in disgrace.

All of them had just returned from the front line to attend this military conference, and their headquarters were all hit by the combined attack of the devil's naval guns and aerial firepower, and they were almost powerless to fight back, and all of them were holding back their fire.

Qiao Youhua didn't speak, but looked down at the map in front of him, Jiang Haidong, the commander of the first division, was also looking at the map, and suddenly said to Qiao Youhua: "Commander, attacking the devil's warship is not trivial, you can't act hastily, you have to do a lot of preparations, and in a short time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to implement."

However, we are willing to uproot the base of the Devil's land-based air force outside Tianjin, so as to at least reduce the threat to us from its land-based air force fighters. ”

Qiao Youhua said: "You mean to kill the devil at the airport outside Tianjin?" ”

Jiang Haidong nodded and said: "That's right, according to the information we have so far, the devils have a total of two air bases in Tianjin, one is their naval fleet, a sea-based take-off platform dominated by aircraft carriers.

The other is the Majiazhuang Airport, which is located 20 miles north of Tianjin, and we can first eliminate this airport of the devils, clear the periphery of Tianjin, and cut off the connection between the Japanese army in Tianjin and Shanhaiguan and other directions on land.

Then encircle Tianjin, and then attack head-on to attract the attention of the enemy, while organizing agents to carry out sneak attacks and sabotage of Japanese ships in Tianjin Military Port. ”

Liu Yidao and Liu Jianhua also nodded in agreement, expressing their agreement: "Master Jiang's suggestion is good, I think it's okay." ”

"I think it's okay, kill the little devil's airport in Tianjin, do a good job, maybe you can also kill some devil fighters by the way, even if you can't destroy them all, but the devil's land-based aviation in the Pingjin area no longer has an airport available, at least to Huludao and Jinzhou, in this way, the distance is much farther, and then want to take off at any time to provide air support for its ground combat troops, air attack on our army, it is not so easy.

It will be very beneficial for us. Liu Jianhua said.

Qiao Youhua didn't rush to make a decision, but instead asked Li Yunlong: "Deputy Division Commander Li, what do you think?" ”

Li Yunlong thought about it, looked around at the crowd, and said his opinion: "Commander, I think this method is a little inappropriate. ”

Jiang Haidong and the three of them all looked up at him when they heard this, and Qiao Youhua was also a little surprised: "Oh? What's wrong? Let's hear it. ”

"I think that if we get rid of the Devils' land-based aviation base outside Tianjin, then for the Devils, their sea-based aviation will become particularly important, and the Devils will definitely strengthen protection in this regard.

I am afraid that it will be much more difficult for us to attack their naval fleet again, so I suggest that the plan to eliminate the land-based airfield be postponed for the time being, and when we attack the devil's harbor fleet, whether it succeeds or fails, we can carry out this plan again.

After all, the devil is lonely outside the airport in Majiazhuang, and with our strength, as long as we are iron-hearted, it will not be a problem to take where. ”

After saying this, Li Yunlong continued: "Moreover, the humble position has some different views on the progress of the next battle, that is, Tianjin City has its unique geographical advantages, surrounded by land on three sides and facing the sea on one side, even if we form a three-sided encirclement on land and break through the last line of defense of the Japanese army.

The devils can also evacuate by sea in an organized and premeditated manner on the ships of the naval fleet before the situation completely collapses.

Therefore, for the city of Tianjin, our strategic goal should be changed to force the Japanese puppet army to abandon it on its own initiative on the premise of destroying the Japanese army's living forces as much as possible.

Our reinforcements are also coming in a steady stream, and by then, our strength in the Pingjin area will increase to about 300,000.

The gathering of so many combat troops, all of which were used to attack the Japanese troops in Tianjin, who could be withdrawn by sea at any time, was obviously a bit overkill.

I think that while besieging Tianjin, we should send a group of troops north along the railway line, march into Shanhaiguan, and even go out of the customs to recover the western Liaoning corridor and threaten Jinzhou, Huludao and other places.

Mobilize and distract the attention and military strength of the Japanese army from the strategic situation. ”

Qiao Youhua and Jiang Haidong were very satisfied and agreed with Li Yunlong's far-sighted story, and the two nodded in unison, Qiao Youhua praised: "Well said, Deputy Division Commander Li can have such strategic vision and insight, it is really a blessing for our army, I will seriously consider your ideas."

Now, do as you say, postpone the plan to attack the Majiazhuang airfield, speed up the operation of organizing a surprise attack on the devil's naval fleet, and strive to inflict heavy damage on the enemy's naval fleet and deal a blow to their arrogance! ”