Eating a trench and growing wisdom may not be heard by everyone, but everyone understands this truth. Especially as a senior commander, Honda Jinichi attaches great importance to the Qixinghe County Security Regiment, which was originally a little-known Chinese army.

After hearing the report of the forward cavalry, Honda did not order the troops to attack immediately, but ordered the forward troops to immediately build fortifications on the spot, set up command posts, and wait for the arrival of the large army before discussing.

Xinpingbao, located in the north of Tianzhen County, previously belonged to the Ming Great Wall Datong Town Pass. The terrain is narrow and dangerous, and although most of the ruins belonging to the Great Wall have been destroyed, the security team has built earthworks on the basis of some earthen walls left over from the original Ming Dynasty Great Wall.

After observing the terrain, Honda Jinichi couldn't help but feel a burst of worry in his heart, although the opposite position was quiet, but through the telescope, Honda Jinichi saw the rows of bright bayonets behind the sandbags and the muzzle of the black hole of the gun heavy machine gun, he took a cursory look, and the forward position alone, the people of China could not put the strength of a reinforced company.

There are four machine gun positions, each with at least two heavy machine guns, which is only in the open, according to the usual practice, at least one or two concealed fire points should be kept during defensive operations, that is to say, the forward position alone The army has at least ten heavy machine guns, and the firepower intensity is only stronger than his infantry wing.

Thinking of yesterday's battle, Shinichi Honda really had the heart to retreat. Yesterday in just over half a day's fighting, his wing lost more than 1,400 men. Although there were more than 700 wounded, more than 700 people were killed in the battle, which is equivalent to more than half of the infantry brigade, and if you count those wounded, the Honda United would have lost one-third of its combat effectiveness.

"Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday morning, the hateful Shina army on the opposite side attacked the artillery position of the Imperial Army, causing the Imperial Army warriors of the two artillery brigades to be shattered. Shinichi Honda said loudly.

"Your Excellency, Wing Commander, I am willing to lead my troops and horses to fight, and I will capture the position of China within two hours, capture the enemy's commander alive, and use his head to pay tribute to the heroic soul of the imperial warriors!" The captain of the 1st Infantry Brigade, Fujita Ichiro, said respectfully.

"Yo Xi, Fujita-kun is worthy of being a samurai of the Fujita family, well, today your department will be the vanguard of the wing and attack the Shina troops. In addition, I would like to inform you that His Excellency Commander Tojo sent a telegram saying that this branch was upgraded to a brigade-level military unit by the Government of China yesterday, but the actual strength is still one regiment with no more than 2,000 troops. Today, the captain of this wing saw the new graves of their soldiers in the mountain behind the Shifo Temple, there are more than 800 in total, that is to say, in yesterday's battle, the dead of this unit are at least 800, plus the wounded are conservatively estimated to be no less than 1,300 to 1,500, that is to say, the troops in front of our department will not exceed 800 people, and the captain of this wing requires your unit to defeat the enemy in front of you within an hour. Shinichi Honda said stiffly.

"Hay!"

"Order, the 3rd Cavalry Division of the Imperial Cooperative Army dismounts and acts as infantry to assist the Imperial Army in battle."

"Hay!"

The battle soon began, with sparse mortar shelling by the Japanese followed by a squadron-sized attack.

It was not the Japanese who changed their tactics, but in yesterday's battle, the artillery of the Honda Wing was wiped out by the artillery battalion of the security regiment in one fell swoop, and only one or two small-caliber mortars remained.

"Report to the commander, the Japanese army has launched an attack on the position of a battalion, with a strength of one infantry squadron plus a puppet infantry company."

"Tell Li Bin that this is a little devil testing the firepower of our army, and order him to only expose one-third of the firepower."

"Yes"

"Report to the commander, the first attack of the Japanese army was repulsed, and the casualties of the enemy and us are very limited."

"Well, just tell Li Bin and let him act according to the plan." After speaking, Chen Feng asked Yang Yi on the side: "Chief of Staff, where is the Third Regiment now?" ”

"I have already passed Gaomiao Township half an hour ago, and I can get here in an hour at most, and in addition, Commander Li and the second and third battalions have already passed the Xuanjia Tower, and we can arrive in an hour and a half." Yang Yi replied.

"An hour and a half, okay, then an hour and a half, immediately send a telegram to Li Wensheng and Li Yifeng, ordering them to be sure to arrive at the predetermined position in an hour and a half, and then immediately enter the battle without waiting for the order of the headquarters. In addition, a telegram was sent to the special combat team, ordering them to pay close attention to the movements of the Japanese troops in Tianzhen, and as soon as there were Japanese reinforcements, they would immediately block them along the way and slow down the enemy's march. When necessary, all the bridges along Li Erkou, Zhangjia Village, and Shifo Temple can be blown up, and mines can also be laid at specific locations. In any case, Japanese reinforcements must not be allowed to enter the battlefield. Chen Feng said.

"Yes"

The effect of the tentative attack was not bad, although Fujita Ichiro was a little dissatisfied with the cowering of the puppet Mongol army, but seeing that the firepower of the Chinese troops had been exposed, he no longer cared about anything.

After adjusting the direction of the attack, Fujita Ichiro ordered the troops to attack again, and unlike the last time, this time Fujita Ichiro pressed the entire infantry brigade and the two cavalry regiments of the puppet army, totaling more than 900 puppet troops, and he wanted to break the defense line of the Chinese army in one fell swoop.

Seeing the Japanese soldiers rushing over in rows with bayonets, the first battalion commander Li Bin was extremely excited, grandma's, isn't this row a live target. With the shooting level of the soldiers of the first battalion, it was a hundred shots and a hundred hits within a hundred meters, and such a dense formation was not something that the pig-headed commander on the opposite side could think of.

In fact, this is because Li Bin's limited knowledge is not clear, and it is not clear that this is not the standard form of the Japanese attack. For example, when a wing attacks, it will first detour to the two flanks with two squadrons, because the standard position of the Chinese army is a U-shaped position, and the two front ends of such a position are heavy fire support points, which are generally heavy machine guns.

If attacking to the center, ferocious side-fire will be a nightmare for the skirmishers. The outflanked squadron carried 92 rifle guns, grenadiers, light aircraft, and communications equipment. In fact, it was a synthetic detachment, composed of German fast units in the late World War I, with grenadiers instead of mortars, and the added infantry guns, known as ghost guns, were almost the same size as heavy machine guns.

On the defenders' side, the heavy machine guns could not effectively kill the continuously moving targets because they were slow to adjust the firing range, and the wingtips at the front of the position were thin infantry, and the quality was uneven. Cannot provide effective cover. The Japanese infantry artillery suppressed and destroyed the firing point, the grenadiers restricted the opponent's movement, and the light machine killed and injured the infantry, while its own infantry made a triangular field defense to protect its own firing point. until the opponent's fire is cleared. Then the frontal artillery bombardment, covering the left and right flanks of the frontal attacking troops, took the lead on both ends of the U-shape, and arranged the Japanese heavy machine gun fire, and the two squadrons that had pulled out the point before immediately penetrated deep into the rear of the defenders. The arranged firing points carried out layered crossfire on the defending positions, suppressed the front line, cut the front and rear links, and began a coordinated attack of infantry and artillery on the front. The defenders of the front line were suppressed by fire, it was difficult for reinforcements in the rear, and the trenches were gradually cleared by grenadiers.

Chen Feng was clear about the Japanese army's way of attacking, so when he arranged the position, he deliberately avoided those terrains that could allow the Japanese army to have a roundabout space, so when the Honda Wing arrived here, he was surprised to find that Xinpingbao was actually an open depression, with dangerous terrain on both sides, both of which were cliffs that could not be climbed, and the terrain in the middle was very flat, and entering Xinpingbao could only be attacked from the front. In addition, when the Japanese army was tentatively attacking just now, it was found that although the Chinese army had set up a large number of firepower points on the forward position, due to the unreasonable arrangement, there were more than a dozen shooting dead ends, and according to such a firepower setup, the Japanese army could completely rush to 50 meters in front of the position in a very short time.

According to Fujita Ichiro's estimate, as long as the troops can rush into the first 50 meters of the enemy's position, then hand-to-hand combat will be inevitable, and as long as the two sides start hand-to-hand combat, then the victory must belong to the Japanese Imperial Army.