"Division commander, I really didn't expect that although the army only had less than 5,000 troops left, their firepower density was unusually fierce. And a lot of mortars were temporarily erected. Their resistance was very numerous, as if they had been prepared in advance. Looking at Liu Hua, who was full of silence, Wang Benqing continued.

"Now the first wave of the soldiers' attack has been blocked by the Yue army, and they are stopped on the grass outside the white rice, and they cannot advance or retreat. Moreover, several regiment commanders reported that the casualties of the troops were also very huge" Wang Benqing, the temporary chief of staff who received the reports from the regiments, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly ran to Liu Hua, who was also frowning, and replied loudly.

"Well, it seems that these little devils are really as you said, they are prepared, judging from the current distribution of the enemy and our armies, our top priority now is to drive these little devils off the road, so that they have no support like our soldiers. Otherwise, in such a situation where the enemy is in the dark, the fighters will suffer too much. Quick, tell Zhou Zhigang immediately, let him command all the mortars, and fire a few salvos at the army wagons on the road, and drive the little devil off the road for me. Liu Hua thought for a moment and ordered loudly.

As more than 50 mortars of the artillery cluster opened fire, a dense burst of explosions immediately sounded on the highway that had just been in full swing. In the first round, more than 50 shells landed accurately on the road, and the flying shrapnel blew down many little devils. More importantly, more than 50 shells once again detonated an ammunition truck full of shells on the road.

With the explosion of mortar shells that fell on the car, boxes of mountain artillery shells were detonated. At the same time, within a radius of nearly 100 meters, with the ammunition truck as the center, there were bombed shells everywhere, and shells that exploded continuously. The explosion of just one cart of shells caused the loss of nearly 100 soldiers to the little devils who used car artillery as concealment.

"Yaga, order all the soldiers to leave the road at once. The entire road, under the artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army, is like a powder keg, which may explode at any time. I can't tolerate the heroic Imperial soldiers, who have not yet fought head-to-head with the Eighth Route Army, and are so lost in the detonation of this shell, they should die on the real battlefield. "Seeing that the highway was under artillery fire by the Eighth Route Army and there were constant explosions, the captain of the Dazuo Wing, which was protected by a guard squadron, hurriedly gave the order to retreat.

Immediately, in the midst of the flying artillery fire, the remaining 4,000 or so troops, after losing several hundred soldiers, withdrew in confusion from this section of the highway for several kilometers, where explosions were constantly occurring.

"It seems that the little devil is also afraid of death, and now he has finally left the road. But then there's our performance. Order the artillery to stop the shelling, and the troops will launch a new round of attack, and we must divide and surround the remaining thousands of little devils for me, and eat them little by little. The artillery cluster provides artillery support to Brigade Commander Shen and Brigade Commander Luo on both flanks at any time. Seeing the thousands of soldiers who had withdrawn from the road in embarrassment, division commander Liu Hua nodded with satisfaction and ordered loudly.

Receiving the order to attack again, nearly 10,000 soldiers lay on their stomachs nearly 100 meters from the road. Seeing a little devil under the attack of artillery, he began to flee in embarrassment, and immediately jumped up from the ground and launched a charge towards the road. Although the little devil who withdrew from the highway still used intensive firepower to shoot an impenetrable rain of bullets through the gap between the baggage trucks on the highway.

However, under the obstruction of artillery and baggage vehicles on the road, on the other side of the road, there were still countless blind spots for shooting. In the face of this situation, many troops, almost without losing any losses, successfully occupied the road, and began to shoot at the little devils with the cover of the artillery on the road.

Immediately, just after the army suppressed the soldiers, there was a change. However, because the army had lost all its artillery, they could only watch the soldiers occupy the favorable terrain and press themselves to the grass, unable to move.

Immediately, without the cover of the baggage wagons, coupled with a large amount of heavy firepower, it was dropped on the road. At the same time, more than 4,000 soldiers were distributed over the meadows that were several kilometers long. How long can such scattered forces and firepower density withstand it? In less than a few minutes, the little devil lying on the ground was completely suppressed by the nearly 100 light and heavy machine guns set up by the soldiers.

"Comrades, rush" faced the little devil lying on the ground, almost unable to move. The various assault teams immediately launched a charge. The fighters in front fell, and the ones behind continued to pounce. In less than ten minutes, several assault teams divided more than 4,000 remnants of the army into four large pieces.

"Baga, the cunning Eighth Route Army. Hurry up and order all the soldiers to assemble at once, to form a group. We must not allow the Eighth Route Army to continue to divide us, we must concentrate our forces so that we can hold out for a longer time, otherwise, we will be divided and surrounded by the Eighth Route Army and wiped out little by little. "When I saw my troops, I was immediately divided into several pieces. The only remaining captain of the Dazuo Wing immediately guessed Liu Hua's intentions, and ordered loudly to several staff officers around him.

With the scattered armies, they began to assemble rapidly. The soldiers who had completely surrounded the Yue army, without any hesitation, immediately followed closely behind the Yue army, quickly compressing their positions and narrowing their encirclement.

"Hehe, I didn't expect this commander of the army to be smart and confused for a while, and gather his own troops, which has helped us a lot." Looking at the position of the army, the commander of the army who was quickly concentrating his limited forces. Liu Hua, the division commander, couldn't help but smile and said.

"Yes, division commander, I was still thinking about how we should wipe out all of them in the shortest possible time, with the limited strength of the army completely distributed over this meadow several kilometers long. Unexpectedly, this commander of the army immediately began to gather troops and solve our problem, which is really good. Brigade Commander Wang Benqing said excitedly.

"Well, order Zhou Zhigang, except for the artillery regiment, which continues to be under his command, the rest of the mortars will all belong to the main regiments and let them move freely. However, I only gave the five main regiments two hours, and within two hours, the thousands of Japanese troops in the encirclement must all be wiped out. Liu Hua nodded and ordered loudly.

"Yes, division commander," Wang Benqing replied loudly, turned around and ran out of the temporary headquarters, and began to convey orders.

With Wang Benqing's departure, the four battlefields that had just been divided immediately remembered the fierce gunfire. However, it backfired, and just when Liu Hua thought that it was only a matter of time before the thousands of little devils in the encirclement were completely annihilated, a huge roar slowly reached Liu Hua's ears from far and near.

"Oh no, the little devil's plane is coming. However, our air defense regiment has not yet arrived at the battlefield. What a mistake. Brigade Commander Wang immediately conveyed orders to all departments, telling them to pay attention to air defense, especially Shen Qinghua and Luo Zhihui, who served as blockers. Hearing the roar of the plane, Liu Hua quickly raised the telescope in his hand and looked at the sky. At the same time, he commanded loudly to the staff officers in the headquarters.

As he spoke, the first wave of reinforcement planes of the Japanese army had already flown over the entire battlefield. 12 planes, with a loud roar, began to circle back and forth over the heads of the fighters, ready to search for worthy targets and drop bombs.

"Da Da Da" saw the military planes, and the soldiers on the battlefield did not prohibit shooting in the air like other Eighth Route Army troops. Instead, they immediately organized more than a dozen light machine guns, formed positions for firing at the air, and began to strafe the air. Although the machine-gun fire in the hands of the soldiers could not have any lethal effect on the military planes at a height of nearly 1,000 meters. However, the dense rain of bullets still made the pilots of the little devils a lot more afraid and did not dare to drop bombs in low flight.

"Buzz" A loud roar broke through the air. A plane quickly skimmed over the Warrior's Gate. At the same time, two small aerial bombs weighing several tens of kilograms flew down from the belly of the plane with a whistling sound and landed accurately on the positions of the fighters.

"Boom" Two huge explosions sounded over the positions of the fighters. Suddenly, two puffs of black smoke rose at the point of inundation. With the impact point as the center, within a radius of dozens of meters, more than a dozen soldiers were all blown to the ground, while more soldiers were blurred with flesh and blood and fell in a pool of blood.

At the same time, the machine-gun positions, which were constantly strafing the air, also seemed to irritate these little devil planes. With a loud whistling sound, two planes dropped several bombs on the heads of the fighters. An earth-shattering explosion sounded, and more than a dozen machine guns, along with dozens of soldiers, disappeared at the same time, and their bodies were also blown to the ground.

And the little devils, who were completely surrounded by the soldiers, saw that their plane support had arrived, and their morale was greatly boosted. At the same time, several counterattacks were issued, which caused considerable damage to the fighters.

"Damn, I would have known that I would have brought the air defense regiment earlier, and the fighters would not have lost so much, and the planes of the little devils would not have been so arrogant" Looking at the entire battlefield, with the participation of 12 aircraft, a qualitative change immediately occurred. At the same time, even the artillery regiment that he relied on the most suffered heavy losses because he did not have time to transfer. Division Commander Liu Hua clenched his fists tightly and scolded loudly.

"Commander, this is also a last resort. The air defense regiment, in the conditions of the time, must not go too far. Otherwise, the city of Taiyuan, which we have just occupied, will be bombed by the Japanese army. Wang Benqing next to him hurriedly reminded.

"Alas, order all troops, before the little devil plane leaves, do not casually walk back and forth on the position, to prevent the target from being exposed." Listening to Wang Benqing's words, Liu Hua nodded silently. Hate commanded.

Finally, in everyone's expectations, 12 planes were arrogant above the heads of the fighters for half an hour. Finally, because of the shortage of fuel, he threw away all the remaining bombs, wagged his tail, and flew towards the Shijiazhuang area.

"Report to the division commander, the military plane has left. However, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties in this half-hour bombardment. The heavy artillery regiment, in particular, received special attention from two military planes and lost almost half of its combat effectiveness. With the departure of the little devil's plane, Wang Benqing, the temporary chief of staff, hurriedly ran into the headquarters, and he couldn't see any joy on his face, but said with a wry smile.

"Hurry up and tell me about the approximate losses of each unit" Division Commander Liu Hua shook his head and asked anxiously, obviously very concerned about the losses of his troops.

"Yes, division commander, according to the reports of the regimental commanders, in the half-hour bombardment of the little devil's plane just now, the nine infantry regiments lost a total of more than 1,200 people. In addition, the artillery regiment was destroyed 18 guns, and the artillery lost more than 350 people. Wang Benqing shook his head and replied.

"Damn, the little devil's plane is really arrogant. However, it was still several hours before it got dark. The plane of the little devil will come at least once. I hope that our air defense regiment will arrive in time before the next plane arrives. However, in this bombardment, the losses of the soldiers must be repaid with the blood of the little devils in the encirclement. Order the five main regiments on the front line to speed up the pace of attack and completely annihilate the remaining little devils in the encirclement. Liu Hua ordered hatefully.

"Yes, Commander. Don't worry, after half an hour of bombing by the little devil's plane, the soldiers are holding their breath. As long as the order to attack is given, the soldiers will definitely scream and fight with the little devil, and use the little devil's head to avenge the sacrificed comrades. Wang Benqing replied loudly, and ran out of the temporary headquarters with excitement on his face.

"Boom, boom, boom" A violent mortar shell explosion sounded, swearing that another attack by the fighters on the little devils in the encirclement began. Zhou Guohua, the commander of the first brigade and the third regiment, looked at the remaining little devils in his encirclement, less than one brigade, his eyes were full of murderous energy, and he wanted to swallow the remaining nearly a thousand little devils alive.

Because, in the course of the bombing of the military planes just now, an aerial bomb happened to accurately land on the position of an infantry company of its three regiments. The entire infantry company, including the company commander, nearly 100 soldiers, all died in the explosion of this aerial bomb. At this time, Zhou Guohua vowed to use the heads of nearly a thousand little devils in front of him to pay tribute to the sacrificed soldiers.

"The artillery company bombed me so hard that I used up all the shells we brought, and I don't believe how hard the heads of these little devils are." The regiment commander, Zhou Guohua, commanded loudly to the soldiers of the artillery company with 9 mortars behind him.

Hearing the order, the gunners of the artillery company no longer had any concern, and immediately began to fire shells one after another at the position of the Japanese army not far away at their fastest speed.

Suddenly, the sound of violent explosions sounded on the position where the army was entrenched. There were no fortifications, a bare position, in front of mortar shells with fragments as the main lethality. In the past, many little devils were blown to the ground one by one.

"Baga, we must fight back. Around us, there is simply not a single place to hide from artillery fire. We must counterattack, and only by constantly counterattacking can we hold out for a longer time. Otherwise, our outstanding soldiers of the Imperial Army of the Great Emperor will only be able to annihilate their entire army in this dense artillery fire. Under the cover of several guards, the captain of the Yue Army, who was scurrying back and forth in the artillery fire, couldn't help but roar loudly.

"Hey, Your Excellency Captain, I will immediately organize the troops to counterattack and destroy the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army," a squadron leader replied loudly, turning around and rushing into the artillery position. After a while, a squadron that had been hastily assembled, under the command of the squadron leader, began to launch a counter-charge against the position of the Eighth Route Army.

"Hehe, less than a hundred shells have been fired, and the little devil can't stand it. Order a battalion to be ready for battle, and we will destroy as many little devils rush over. "I saw more than two hundred little devils, under the command of a squadron leader, screaming and rushing towards their troops. The corner of the head of the regiment, Zhou Guohua, showed a smile of victory, and he ordered with confidence.

"Yes, regimental commander," the commander of the first battalion replied with the same smile, turned around and commanded his own battalion, and began to arrange all kinds of light and heavy firepower in front of the little devil. When the time comes, you can directly give the little devil a fatal blow.

"Comrades, fire on me. As the army got closer and closer, the loud voice of the battalion commander sounded on the position of the first battalion. Three heavy machine guns, arranged on the positions of the battalion, together with dozens of light machine guns, simultaneously erupted tongues of fire.

The dense bullets weaved an impenetrable rain of bullets in front of the little devil. And the more than 200 little devils who were charging quickly were knocked to the ground one after another in this dense rain of bullets. In less than two minutes, the little devils who served as a counterattack in this squadron all fell under the guns of the fighters.

"Baga, how is it possible, when did the Eighth Route Army have such powerful firepower and such powerful artillery fire. When did the heroic soldiers of the Imperial Army of this empire become so vulnerable in front of the Eighth Route Army. Eight grid tooth road, impossible, absolutely impossible? "The captain of the army lying on the ground,. At this time, he was stunned and looked at everything that was happening in front of him, and said in disbelief.

At this time, Zhou Guohua saw that the little devils of a squadron of the Yue Army were eliminated, and there were fewer and fewer little devils who could continue to operate on the positions of the Yue Army that saw the artillery fire. The corners of his mouth finally showed a smile of victory.

(To be continued)