Yamashita had no idea how he had come back, but he was much luckier than his companions, for he had at least come back alive, not left on the battlefield forever like the others.

This was especially important when considering that he was a soldier in the company that had charged at the front, and that he was the only one of their companies to come back alive.

In a daze, he returned to the trench where he was the only one left, holding his 38-type rifle tightly with both arms, looking up at the sky, and he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.

At the same time, Mitsutomi Kamio and many officers in the headquarters were also summing up the lessons of this attack. After seeing the casualties paid in this offensive, Mitsutomi Kamio has always blamed himself, why did he still adopt such a frontal breakthrough attack method when he knew that the Chinese army had strong firepower...

In fact, this can't be blamed on him, although machine guns have been used on a large scale during the Russo-Japanese War, but at that time, all the machine guns on both sides were still very small and could not form a certain scale, so the real mainstream was other weapons.

But this time...

The Wehrmacht in Linglong Town has more than 3,000 light and heavy machine guns, of which more than 2,000 are deployed on the front-line positions alone. During the Russo-Japanese War, the machine guns of the two warring sides were all combined, which was at most equivalent to one-twentieth or thirty-tenth of the number of machine guns in the hands of Cai Ye and Jiang Baili.

Of course, Mitsutomi Kamio, the intelligence of the Wehrmacht's large number of machine guns, also knew about it, after all, there was no way to hide this kind of thing. What's more, Japan still has intelligence agencies such as the Black Dragon Society operating in China. But he never imagined that the machine gun would have such a great power after forming a certain scale, and as a result, he would pay a heavy price all of a sudden―――――― in fact, he didn't expect it, even Cai Yi and Jiang Baili didn't expect it. There's no way, even if there are some military exercises or something, they can't really try people after all...

The result was that this kind of weapon, which neither side expected to be powerful, caused the Japanese army to hit their heads and bleed on the first day.

And after some summary, Mitsutomi Kamio and some more rational officers and generals also believe that a frontal breakthrough is definitely not a good idea, facing this situation. The most sensible approach is to go through the tunneling tactics.

Of course, it was also a good idea to use artillery to flatten all the trenches on the opposite side, but the Japanese did not have that much heavy artillery in their hands. What's more, the artillery on the opposite side is not vegetarian either.

So the tunneling tactics have become the only way Kamio Mitsutomi can choose, but there is still a problem before that...

"If you are in China, can you wait that long?" an officer surnamed Mito said with some hesitation, standing beside Mitsuto. There is a lot of pressure at home right now. I'm afraid they may not agree with our excavation tactics......... Even if this tactic is the most suitable for the moment. ”

The advantages of the tunneling tactics are great, though. But the downside is that it takes more time. And if you really hit that Cheng dù, it is equivalent to fighting a positional war, and if you want to win in the end, you can only compete for strength, and in the end, the strong side wins...

The problem is that the Japanese government is under a lot of pressure now, and it urgently needs a big victory to ease the atmosphere in the country, and they haven't witnessed what happened today, so I'm afraid they may not agree to Mitsutomi Kamio's move...

What's more, there is still a problem for Kamio Mitsutomi now. That's today's loss. Today is the first day, and there are more than 8,000 casualties. You must know that the Japanese army brought over by Mitsutomi Kamio this time was only 100,000 people, and more than 8,000 people were killed and wounded in just one day, which is absolutely inexplicable, and it is not impossible to remove Mitsutomi Kamio's position in China if it is not done well.

After all, now that the Japanese government is facing the pressure of public opinion, Mitsutomi Kamio's side has actually lost another game, and if the news is transmitted back to China―――――― is it because the pressure on Okuma Shigenobu and others is not big enough?

"Ugh..."

Hearing Mito's words, Kamio Mitsutomi couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

In the end, however, he decided to send his ideas back home, while suspending all military operations, and with the lesson learned this time, he would never use such a brainless charge again.

――――――――――――――――――――

Things were just like what Mitsutomi Kamio and Mito thought, and after the news came back to China, Shigenobu Okuma and others were almost struck by lightning. After all, there are already a lot of troubles they have to deal with at the moment, and now there is another one, and even Youpeng of Shan County, who has been sitting firmly in Diaoyutai, was taken aback, but he didn't expect such a big casualty.

But what happened after that was a bit unexpected by Kamio Mitsutomi and others.

That is, the military department finally agreed to Mitsutomi Kamio's suggestion and allowed him to use digging tactics to deal with the strong firepower of the Chinese army. This was somewhat unexpected by Mitsutomi Kamio.

In fact, there is no way to do this, after all, Japan has lost many times now, and if it loses a few more times, then I am afraid that they will all take the initiative to disembowel. And in order to stabilize the situation in the country, even the news that Kamio Mitsutomi had just met in Linglong Town was blocked by the military department―――――― and now there are enough troubles for them, and they don't want to add one more.

In any case, the fact that Jian yì obtained the pass guò still made Kamio Mitsutomi breathe a sigh of relief. Although he is also a person who can sacrifice the lives of soldiers for the sake of victory, senseless sacrifices are what he has always avoided.

Moreover, the firepower of the Wehrmacht also gave him a strong shock, but he didn't want to meet again on this ―――――― and it would have caused him to lose more than 8,000 people, and if he came a few more times, it was estimated that his 100,000 people would be almost tormented.

So after getting permission, Mitsutomi Kamio quickly ordered his subordinates to carry out excavation tactics, digging trenches from their own positions all the way to the opposite side...

Soon a large number of Japanese troops began to wield pickaxes and shovels and began to excavate, and the trenches gradually extended in the direction of the Wehrmacht position...

――――――――――――――――――――

In the Wehrmacht position, holding his own Mauser G98 rifle. Li Yan sat in the trench and rested with his back against the wall.

In yesterday's battle, those of them who were infantry had almost no room to do anything, so they felt a little bored. At this time, the lights were controlled again. They also did not dare to light the lamp. So for the rest of the battle, they had to rest.

But listening to the sound coming from afar, even if Li Yan wanted to sleep, he couldn't sleep...

As night fell, despite the moonlight falling in the sky, the visual range of the soldiers in the trenches was still surprisingly low, but fortunately, some flares would be lifted into the air from time to time on both sides' positions, so the soldiers in charge of the garrison did not have to worry.

At such a time. The battlefield was undoubtedly very silent, but just a few hundred meters away, those who were affected could not move. But the Japanese soldiers who had not yet died continued to moan, although they were separated by a distance of several hundred meters, the night was silent, and there were many wounded Japanese soldiers on the battlefield. You can hear it even inside the trench...

And this qiē. It also made many recruits who went to the battlefield for the first time seem a little uncomfortable, and some soldiers who should have been sleeping even stared at them with two straight eyes.

Thankfully, after moaning for a long time, the injuries seemed to have gone on, so gradually, the voice began to get quieter.

"Those guys......... I can finally take a good rest..."Listening to the moaning in the distance, it seemed to be a little weaker, Li Yan changed his position and continued to rest.

In fact, during the day, he once thought about giving the same pleasure to those Japanese who had suffered for a while but could not die. By the way, you can also practice marksmanship or something. But his move was stopped by the officer, and in the end, Li Yan and the others could only stop stupidly.

But after being tormented for a long time by the screams and moans of those injuries. I'm afraid that the officer also regretted why he stopped it in the first place.

However, just when the voice became quieter and Li Yan was about to take a good rest, a strange sound suddenly came from a distance.

"Strange!" After all, this is on the battlefield, and the slightest negligence can cost one's life. Li Yan was only in his early 20s at this time, and he was still thinking about living a long life, so he naturally didn't want to die early, so the unfamiliar voice had just come over, and he had already turned over and stood up, and at the same time pointed his gun outside, and there were other soldiers curled up in the trench with him.

On the other hand, it seemed to be a passive quiet awakening, and several flares also rose, and soon Li Yan and others saw clearly outside under the somewhat dazzling light―――――― but Li Yan and they didn't see anything, because there was nothing outside, of course, it can't be said that, in fact, there are still a lot of things outside, at least from 300 meters, there are Japanese corpses everywhere, but they didn't see the things that produced those movements.

And even though the flares have been raised, the movement still has no intention of stopping...

――――――――――――――――――――

In his own tent, Cai Ye was resting.

Although his tuberculosis had improved a lot by this time, adequate rest was still important for him. So if there's nothing important, he usually rests in his tent.

It's just that just when Cai Ye was lying on the bed, still thinking about the previous incident, the adjutant's voice suddenly came from outside the tent. "Commander..."

"What's wrong?" Hearing that it was his adjutant's voice, Cai Ye hurriedly rolled over from the bed.

Standing outside the tent, Cai's adjutant said softly. "There seems to be a situation outside, Commander Jiang asked me to come over and ask you to come over..."Although the curtain of the tent can be entered as soon as it is lifted, Cai Yi's adjutant has no intention of doing this, after all, so many are too rude, not to mention that it is his boss who is still in the tent.

On the other side, after hearing the adjutant's words, Cai Ye also hurriedly walked out of the tent, putting on his own clothes as he walked.

"What's the situation?"

"I just got the news, there seem to be a lot of strange noises coming from the Japanese side, but after the flares were fired, I couldn't see anything..."

Hearing Cai Yi's inquiry, the adjutant hurriedly replied.

After listening to his words, Cai Ye was silent for a while, and he already had some clue in his heart.

Cai's residence was not very far from the headquarters, so it didn't take long for him and the adjutant to come to the headquarters. Inside. Jiang Baili was looking at the opposite side with a telescope.

Seeing Cai Ye coming, Jiang Baili didn't have the time to greet him, but went straight to the point.

"There was just a report from the front. Saying that there are a lot of strange noises on the Japanese side, I think......... I am afraid that the Japanese intended to replace the original frontal tactics by digging through the trenches..."

"It's the same as I thought..."Cai Ye also nodded. It's not surprising, after all, if you continue to move forward like that, this kind of casualty is definitely not something that Shenwei can bear, and it is a matter of course to change to this kind of tactic..."Having said that, Cai Ye still said with some regret. "But it would have been nice if they had adopted this tactic a little later, just two or three more times. We can at least get rid of their 20,000 troops, and in that case, with our absolute superiority, we can attack from the front..."

He was not at all worried about the Japanese machine guns. After all, the Japanese Hazikes machine gun is not very powerful, and Japan itself does not attach as much importance to machine guns as the Wehrmacht. In fact, in this era, in addition to Germany, how many countries will be equipped with machine guns on a large scale like China? Even in Germany, the number of machine guns is far from being comparable to that of China.

Not surprising either. After all, Yan Shao came from the afterlife. We are well aware of the importance of firepower, so we attach great importance to firepower. In addition, this is another era when the tactics of the army are relatively backward, and there are no tanks or anything to help advance, so the importance of machine guns is naturally greatly enhanced.

As for the others, although it is not impossible to see the importance of machine guns, they would never have imagined that machine guns would be so powerful when used together...

――――――――――――――――――――

In Cai's view, the number of machine guns of the Japanese army was too small to carry out a massacre of the attacking troops with machine guns alone like the Wehrmacht. So if you can reduce the number of Japanese troops outside Linglong Town to one Cheng dù. Then you can find a way to launch a frontal offensive and take down the enemy's positions in one go.

But now they've chosen to dig in. Then the pattern is going to change.

"How?" Looking at Jiang Baili, Cai Ye asked softly.

In the face of Cai Yi's inquiry, Jiang Baili also nodded wisely.

Soon, under the orders of the two men, the Wehrmacht, who had just been awakened by the movement of the Japanese troops on the opposite side, received a new order to dig trenches with their sapper shovels to the Japanese positions on the opposite side.

After receiving this order, some of the more astute soldiers quickly understood what the Japanese troops on the opposite side were doing. Those who were more sluggish also understood under the explanations of the people around them.

This is also the solution of Cai Ye and Jiang Baili, for the excavation operation, the simple artillery bombardment does not have much effect, and the machine gun and other weapons are not very useful, only the equipment such as mortars can play a great effect, because mortars are specially invented for this kind of operation.

But the problem is that the number of mortars in the hands of Cai and the two is not very large at the moment, and even if they are concentrated, they may not have much effect. And since the Japanese intend to turn this war into a positional war, it is better to follow their ideas for the time being. Anyway, even if it developed into a positional war, Cai and the two did not feel that they would lose to the Japanese.

And don't forget, this is their land, in other words, they have an advantage that Kamio Mitsutomi couldn't have imagined. And they didn't plan to use positional warfare to fight the Japanese, in which case the casualties would be too great.

At this time, the Wehrmacht was generally equipped with sapper shovels, so the digging was very fast, even faster than the Japanese troops on the opposite side. At the same time, while gathering all the mortars of the whole army, Cai Ye and Jiang Baili also sent a telegram to Yan Shao to Beijing, hoping that more mortars could be transferred over there―――――― after seeing the power of machine guns, neither Cai Yi nor Jiang Baili dared to underestimate the power of this new weapon.

What's more, judging from the manual, this new type of small artillery was specially developed for positional warfare, and they naturally looked forward to the use of this weapon.

――――――――――――――――――――

In Beijing, Yan Shao, Fu Xiuming and others were still celebrating the smooth progress of the Shandong war, especially the victory won by Cai Ye and Jiang Baili on land not long ago, which made many people who were still worried put their hearts back in their stomachs, and also made Yan Shao's ears less noisy.

However, while Yan Shao and the others were still celebrating there, Cai Ye and Jiang Baili's request to mobilize more mortars was also sent to him.

"Mortars ..."

Looking at the information in his hand, Yan Shao looked at Fu Xiuming on the side.

"How much do we have in stock of this thing?"

"I really don't know about this, I'm afraid I won't know until I go back to investigate..."Fu Xiuming shook his head, although he is the Minister of Defense, but after all, it is impossible to even know this kind of thing.

"That's good..."Yan Shao also knew that it was somewhat difficult for a strong man to answer now, so he didn't say anything, just said to Fu Xiuming. As far as possible, the Japanese seem to be planning to play positional warfare with Cai and them in Linglong Town, and now Cai Yi and they are in urgent need of mortars, so it's best to get more for them..."

Speaking of this, Yan Shao's face also showed a hint of a smile / "It just so happens that after letting the Japanese see the power of the machine gun, you can let them also see the power of the mortar by the way..."

That being said, Yan Shao also knows very well that mortars must not be compared with machine guns, after all, if they are done well, machine guns can cause thousands of casualties in a short period of time, and mortars are a little worse in comparison. But even so, this is indeed a suitable environment for this kind of weapon, which has been specially developed for positional warfare and urban warfare, to show its skills. (To be continued......)