It was Han Duotian's old boss Xi Hezhi who led the team over, and when he came over, he said to Han Duotian: "Old Han, the progress on your side in the past two days has been quite good, and now relying on a section of the salient, we can knock out several sections of enemy positions and machine gun strongholds on the opposite side!" ”

Han Duotian and Xi Hezhi are also old friends, when they were suppressing bandits in Jinzhou, Han Duotian was under Xi Hezhi as a deputy and leader, relying on his exploits in the fight against bandits, Xi Hezhi was promoted from platoon commander to the current battalion officer, and he did not forget to bring his old subordinate Han Duotian to his superiors, and recommended Han Duotian to enter the camp academy, which allowed Han Duotian to cross the threshold that most soldiers could not cross, and became an officer in the Beiyang military system.

Although he is not an official officer, it is difficult to keep up with the promotion pace of other young officers if he has no great military merits, but in any case, he finally broke away from the small soldier class and became an officer in the Beiyang Army system, this kind of thing is almost a great opportunity for an ordinary soldier from the countryside, so Han Duotian has been extremely grateful to Xi Hezhi for promoting him in the past few years!

At that moment, Han Duotian just retracted the scolding and scolding temperament in the past, and said with a straight face: "Lord Xi, it's dangerous here, why did you come here in person?" ”

The age difference between the two is actually quite large, Han Duotian is in his thirties, and Xi Hezhi is actually only twenty-five or sixteen, but the army is strictly classed, even if Xi Hezhi is not Han Duotian's benefactor, Han Duotian has to be respectful, but although the words said like that are still respectful, there will always be a lack of sincerity.

Xi Hezhi's face was still kind: "Why, if you old Han can go to the front line, I can't go to Xi!" He said with a smile as he continued to walk inside.

Behind him were several other officers, and after a while, several of them arrived at a relatively open place in this trench, and Xi Hezhi did not say anything polite to the others, but sat directly on the ammunition box.

The accompanying lieutenant quickly spread out a detailed military map, which also belonged to the detailed area of the surrounding trench area, which had been improvised after the start of the war, but with a wider coverage.

"Look, there is still this side here, not only the enemy's salient, but also sandbag fortifications, according to our judgment in front, it has been basically determined that these two are the two machine gun fire points recently deployed by the enemy, these two fire points can not only suppress the battle line in the eastern section, but also the firing range is extremely broad and even able to suppress the surrounding thousands of kilometers, and our army's eastward direction has been greatly hindered by them in the past two days!" Xi Hezhi continued:

"Ahead, because of the terrain and the firing range, our mortars are not easy to come up, but now fortunately, there is this trench dug by Lao Hanxin, so we have a place to shoot, so you mortars should make good use of this advantage and give me these two machine gun fire points of the enemy!"

At that moment, a deputy military academy next to him said: "Don't worry, sir, the mortar of the post department is enough to accurately hit the enemy's machine gun position at this distance!" ”

Xi Hezhi nodded: "Brother Li, I know your ability, I don't have to worry about leaving this matter to you!" ”

Then he said to another young officer next to him: "In addition to knocking out the enemy's heavy machine gun fire point, I have also decided to use this prominent trench to purchase a prominent machine gun fire point to suppress the enemy troops on the front and east flanks, so as to reduce the pressure on the second and third teams on the east side." ”

Then he said to Han Duotian: "Once we set up a heavy machine gun fire point here, the enemy will definitely not be indifferent, and when the time comes, you will have to work a little harder to protect the brothers of the heavy machine gun!" ”

This section of the salient trench excavated by Han Duotian was not only close to the enemy's position, but also had a very wide firing range, and if it was guarded by two heavy machine guns, it was estimated that the strength of an entire battalion on the opposite side would have to be suppressed. And the officers in the sixth town on the opposite side are also tactically conscious, once they find that heavy machine guns are deployed here, they will definitely fight a counterattack, not to mention conquering this place, at least to suppress this place and prevent the heavy machine guns in the third town from coming forward.

So at this time, Han Duotian's infantry needed to provide protection for these heavy machine guns.

In modern times, in defensive warfare, the tactical core has become a heavy machine gun, and the focus on conquering heavy machine gun positions and protecting heavy machine gun positions has also become a crucial link.

Han Duotian immediately said: "As long as my old Han does not die, I will ensure that the heavy machine gun will not be lost!" ”

Xi Hezhi nodded: "Well, that's it, let's get ready to go!" ”

The first to act was naturally the people of the mortar group, and at the same time that Xi Hezhi personally came to inspect this time, the officers of the first team where Han Duotian belonged also personally led the team, and the two mortars were the 60mm mortars of the first team.

After the two mortar groups were set up in a relatively open area in the trench, the mortar commander quickly used the scope to calculate the Zhu Yuan, and after some calculations, the commander quickly gave the order, and after the gunner set the Zhu Yuan, he did not have any pause, but decisively ordered the artillery to fire!

The two 60-millimeter mortars first fired two calibration shells each, and then the commander ordered the standard three rapid fires, and the six shells were aimed at a machine gun position, and with several muffled explosions, Xi He knew a small opening in the trench, and he could already see through the telescope that the enemy's two machine gun fortresses were shrouded in smoke and dust one after another.

These six shells, together with the four higher-firing shells in front, fired ten shells in less than a minute, making the enemy troops on the opposite side a little stunned.

Xi Hezhi could even see a few looming in the smoke, but soon one of the heavy machine gun positions sounded the unique clicking sound of the Makqin machine gun, Xi Hezhi had even seen the opponent's heavy machine gun firing while turning the muzzle, it was obvious that they did not find an obvious enemy, just blindly counterattacked.

Seeing this, Xi Hezhi snorted coldly: "Hmph, playing machine guns in front of our third town, you are not qualified enough!" ”

Soon, the mortar commander in the back also found that the rapid fire just now only knocked out one enemy heavy machine gun, so he once again ordered one of the mortars to fire a second three-shot rapid fire, and also ordered the other mortar to adjust the elements and prepare to join the follow-up shelling.

After the two mortars fired more than a dozen mortar shells one after another, the heavy machine guns on the opposite side finally stopped in a cloud of gunsmoke.

After Xi Hezhi personally observed for another half a minute, he finally confirmed that the two machine gun fire points on the opposite side should have been knocked out.

"I'll leave it to you!" After Xi Hezhi left such a sentence, he left with the people from the battalion headquarters, and then the two mortars were also transferred back by the officers of the first team, after all, the first team only had two mortars in total, and because of the short range, it was often a few shells here, and then quickly transferred to another area to shoot a few more shells, which not only could meet the mortar needs of the whole team, but also could be transferred frequently and quickly to avoid being targeted by the enemy sniping and counter-shelling.

After Xi Hezhi and the others left, Han Duotian sat with the commander of the two heavy machine gun teams, Li Yuanjun, the deputy military academy, Han Duotian took the cigarette handed over by Li Yuanjun, and said: "I said Brother Li, your cigarette is a good product, I didn't expect you to be willing to smoke this Fuyuan dictionary!" ”

Li Yuanjun smiled: "That's my hobby, anyway, I'm alone, what else can I do if I don't use my salary to enjoy it!" ”

Han Duotian said: "This person, it can't be compared, most of my monthly salary has to be sent home, otherwise the family will have to drink the northwest wind!" ”

Han Duotian was married in his early years, his old parents were here, as well as his wife and three children, and since he became an officer, he also brought his family from his hometown in Zhili to Jinzhou, and no longer let them dig in the soil. Although Han Duotian is an officer, he is still the lowest platoon commander, and this salary used to be only twenty-five taels of silver a month, and later Zhao Dongyun issued a 'training subsidy' to strengthen the training of the troops, but this subsidy is directly added to the food fee, you can't take it out, you can only eat it......

In addition, officers and soldiers are different, soldiers are uniformly deducted a certain amount of food expenses to eat a big pot of rice, but officers have an officer canteen, eat whatever they want, just give money......

And if you become an officer, you have to prepare a few sets of regular uniforms, dresses, and dresses for this military uniform, otherwise you will be embarrassed to meet people when you go out, and the army will not pay for these military uniforms, and the officers have to pay for them themselves......

So don't look at these officers who have a high salary of tens of taels or even hundreds of taels of silver, but in fact, the expenses are also greater than those of ordinary soldiers, this person spends a lot, and if he has to support a large family, then the pressure will be much greater.

Han Duotian spends most of his salary every month for his family, and he doesn't keep much for himself, and like the pack of 'Fuyuan Mingdian' filter cigarettes produced by Fuyuan Cigarette Company in Li Yuanjun's hand, it is a pack of Yingyang, which is a piece of Yingyang, which can be used by the general public. Can't afford to smoke.

In this year, the domestic cigarettes are not actually popular, because the price is relatively expensive, so most of them are smoked by the middle and upper classes, mainly used to replace opium, and the cigarette propaganda slogan of this year is: smoking cigarettes is more refreshing than smoking big cigarettes, higher and bigger, and there is no need to worry about addiction and the like.

In the face of the cigarette market, an industry that is more profitable than opium, the Fuyuan Company, which basically wants to intervene in any industry, is naturally not willing to be left behind, and in 1904 it established a Fuyuan Cigarette Company, and relying on the huge channel power of the Fuyuan system, it quickly marketed the entire northern region, and then played the slogan of "Chinese smoking Chinese cigarettes", so that its popular brand of "Fuyuan cigarettes" beat many domestic cigarettes and other foreign cigarettes in sales. It is impossible for Paili and the like to win against the Fuyuan Cigarette Factory in the northern market.

In the south, of course, it is foreign cigarettes that continue to dominate, and there is also the newly emerging Nanyang cigarettes that are also shining.

Han Duotian also smoked Fuyuan cigarettes in the past, like Fuyuan Mingdian, it is okay to smoke a few packs occasionally, but it is naturally unbearable to do this every day.

However, Li Yuanjun was obviously much more bold, and when he saw Han Duotian speak, he didn't say a word, and directly handed over the remaining half of the pack of cigarettes: "Brother Han, you take it, it's not enough for me to have it here!" ”

Saying that, he actually took out a bag from his jacket pocket again, and Han Duotian, who saw it, squeaked continuously: "Brother is bold enough, then I'm not welcome, old Han!" ”

"You're welcome, wait a minute, brother, I still have to rely on you a lot!" Li Yuanjun doesn't look very old, at most twenty-one or twelve years old, plus this person's military rank is just a deputy military academy like Han Duotian, and he knows at a glance that he has just graduated from the Fengtian Martial Arts Academy.

However, although this Fengtian Martial Arts Academy is said to be the same thing as the previous Third Town Suiying Academy, the difference between the crash course and the formal class and the advanced class is greater.

Most of the crash course is recommended by the outstanding soldiers or simply other old army officers, and most of the students in the formal class are directly recruited outstanding young people, the entrance examination is quite strict, last year when the first phase of the official class of the Fengtian Wubei Academy was enrolled, more than 2,000 young people from all over the country came to apply for the examination, most of these people have graduated from middle school, normal and other new-style schools or show talents in the old imperial examination era, and many went to study abroad only to go to a middle school, But these people who didn't get into college or Lu Shi.

And how many are admitted? It's less than 300 people!

As for the refresher course, it has nothing to do with ordinary students, because in addition to the recommendation of the boss, the trainees themselves must be officers, and they must be in the Beiyang system, and there are only dozens of students in the first phase.

This Li Yuanjun is out of the official class, just graduated from a deputy military academy, it is estimated that it will be a full military academy in a few months, in this era when seniority is better than ability, and education is more awesome than qualifications, it is destined that the life trajectories of Han Duotian and Li Yuanjun are completely different.

After these three-word conversations, Han Duotian soon called Li Yuanjun a brother and brother, and learned that Li Yuanjun's family was still a big landlord in Shandong, with thousands of acres of land, no wonder the Fuyuan dictionary in his hand could be drawn and thrown away, and the feelings were not bad money. But this doesn't look like a bad young master and brother.

"I said, Brother Li, your family is not short of money, why do you still come here to play this desperate errand?" After taking a full puff, Han Duotian said while spitting out the smoke ring.

Li Yuanjun listened and asked: "Are you asking why I joined the army?" ”

Han Duotian nodded!

Li Yuanjun smiled and just wanted to answer, but at this time, there were suddenly several whistling sounds!

"Shelling!" The answer became these two words, and then the two people hurriedly lay down, and then Han Duotian didn't care about listening to any answer, but hurriedly climbed up to the trench, looked out through the small opening, and saw from the telescope that there were already many figures in the enemy position opposite!

They're going to fight back!