As mentioned before, the Japanese puppet army on the other side was suppressed by the intensive heavy artillery fire of the Longya Column, and could not even lift its head, so naturally it was unable to organize the bridge-building work of the Longya sappers and baggage troops.

In such an urgent situation, the Japanese front-line commander could not think of any good countermeasures, so he could only urgently ask the commander for help again with Lieutenant General Sasaki Zhiyi.

When Sasaki learned the news, he suddenly stood up from his seat and said in surprise, "Nani? The artillery fire of the Chinese army continues? Are they going to keep shelling like this? ”

Seeing that the communications staff officer who came to report nodded helplessly, Sasaki was angry and anxious for a moment, and he was really aggrieved in his heart, the Great Japanese Empire is an island country, all kinds of strategic resources need to be imported, and steel is very precious, so his troops are equipped with ammunition reserves.

His artillery was absolutely not allowed to engage in such extravagant and wasteful loser-style artillery battles like the artillery of the Dragon's Tooth Column, so Sasaki was jealous and annoyed.

At this time, I have all the flavors in my heart.

"Umemura-kun, you said that you wanted to withdraw the troops, and now that the people of China are so domineering and continue to shell, their engineering units have begun to erect pontoon bridges, what do you say we should do? If we continue to let the Chinese continue like this, they will soon be able to erect a temporary pontoon bridge, and by that time, we will have to face the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of elite Chinese troops. Sasaki yelled at his chief of staff in a bit of a rage.

Plum Village Bamboo Horse also did not expect that the Dragon Tooth Column would keep shelling, and there was no intention of stopping, so naturally he did not expect that the current situation would appear, in a hurry, he looked at the communication staff officer, and said tentatively: "Otherwise, let's deploy the artillery, and deploy the artillery position as far away from the enemy's artillery coverage as possible, as long as the shells can be hit into the Yellow River and destroy the enemy's pontoon bridge." ”

Unexpectedly, the communications staff officer immediately shook his head and said: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, I am afraid that this will not work, because according to the report of the forward troops, the range of the artillery fire of our army is too long, and it has forced our artillery and main forces to retreat seven or eight kilometers, nearly ten kilometers, such a long distance has long exceeded the effective range of the imperial artillery." ”

Hearing this, Plum Village's bamboo horse suddenly turned miserable, this is the end.

Sasaki Zhiichi was even more furious and said: "Yagaya Road, then according to that, aren't we completely in passivity, and there is no way to stop the Dragon's Tooth Column from going south?" ”

Fortunately, at this time, Major General Plum Village Zhuma was in a hurry and came up with a solution that was not a way, and said: "Your Excellency General, I think that we still have a way." ”

Sasaki Toichi waved his hand a little impatiently and said, "Divine horse method? Say it quickly! ”

"Isn't there still a group of imperial land-based aviation troops stationed in Qingdao? Ask them to urgently dispatch and rush to provide air support, and now, only air fire can destroy the pontoon bridge erected by the Chinese people. "Plum Village Bamboo Horse Road.

When Sasaki heard this, he seemed to see a glimmer of hope, but he was immediately a little embarrassed: "However, that group of aviation troops is under the jurisdiction and command of the North China Front Army Command and the 3rd Air Regiment Command, and I am afraid they will not obey our orders!" ”

"Your Excellency General, there is a saying among the people of China that things are urgent and obey the power, and now the headquarters of the North China Front Army has disappeared, and the entire North China Front Army is almost dead in name, and we are suffering from the fierce attack of the main force of the Eighth Route of the Central Road, so it is reasonable that they must unconditionally obey the orders of Your Excellency the General as the commander of the Jinan garrison, so please send them a telegram immediately." Plum Village Bamboo Horse bowed his head and said.

Sasaki heard the same reasoning one by one, so he ordered the communications staff officer: "Immediately send a telegram to the Imperial Air Force stationed in Qingdao in my name, ordering them to take to the air immediately and rush to Jinan to participate in the battle and provide us with air support!" ”

"Hay!" The Japanese staff officer bowed his head sharply, then turned around and strode towards the confidential room.

"Umemura-kun, how long will it take for the fighter plane to take off from the Qingdao base?" After seeing the communications staff officer leave, Sasaki asked.

Plum Village Bamboo Horse muttered: "The straight-line distance from Qingdao to Jinan is about two hundred kilometers, and if you follow the average speed of the imperial fighters, it will take more than half an hour to arrive. However, if the air forces and their fighters are not ready for battle in advance.

If the ground crew refueled them with aviation fuel and ammunition, it would take more than an hour to arrive even if they were to refill and then fly.

However, he believed that as the aviation of the Empire, they should be in a state of combat readiness at all times, so within an hour, they would definitely be able to arrive. ”

After hearing this, Sasaki was a little worried: "However, in an hour, will the Shina army have already erected the pontoon bridge, and I'm afraid it won't help at that time." ”

Plum Village Zhuma patted his chest confidently and said: "Your Excellency the general can rest assured, he was born in civil engineering before his humble post, and to build such a pontoon bridge across the river, even if the work efficiency of the Chinese engineers is fast, it will take at least two or three hours."

An hour, they repair half at most. ”

Sasaki Zhiichi breathed a sigh of relief, and said with his head bowed: "That's good, but we also have to make some preparations, we can't let the Zhina army lead the nose to fight this battle, in that case, we are too passive, just don't fight, just give up Jinan, and retreat to the Jiaodong Peninsula." ”

Plum Village Bamboo Horse secretly slandered himself, with the experience of the Tianjin Campaign, those high-ranking officials of the Imperial Command may never agree to the imperial army in Shandong to take the initiative to abandon Mount Tai and the Yellow River, and retreat to the Jiaodong Peninsula to resist stubbornly.

In such a large projectile land, if there is no cooperation of the navy, it is tantamount to wishful thinking to block the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops.

The most important thing is that the son of a bitch navy is so unreliable, and at a critical moment, it is simply unforgivable to flee in fear of war.

In addition to slandering the plum village, he did not forget to greet the eighteenth generation of the ancestors of the deflated calves in the navy.

However, he also knew that Sasaki was talking angrily, and he understood the truth, and he couldn't fail to see it, so he lowered his head and groaned for a while, and came up with a solution: "Your Excellency General, the artillery fire of the Chinese army is stronger than ours, and it is difficult for us to compete with it during the day, so we have to wait until night, after all, it is impossible for the enemy to continue the artillery fire until night, so the artillery will be completely useless."

Even if the people of China fired again at night, due to the influence of the night, the accuracy would be greatly reduced, and the danger would naturally be greatly reduced for the imperial army.

The Imperial Army could take the opportunity to move the artillery units forward and use the artillery fire to blow up all the pontoon bridges built by the Chinese army during the day, but the premise was that before that, we had to prevent the Chinese army from repairing the pontoon bridges during the day.

Therefore, it is not enough to rely on the air attack of the air force, we also have to organize a group of death squads to brave the enemy's artillery fire to attack the sappers of the Chinese people and obstruct their progress in the project. ”