Gifu, headquarters of the 2nd Division.

In a wooden house built around the Edo period, with a charcoal stove and a sake jug, an old man in an open kimono and a messy beard frantically pouring steaming sake into his mouth.

"Those two bastards of Dashan and Saigo, they didn't even send troops to rescue, they simply wanted to put our army to death!"

Angry and drunk, the old man shook his hand and threw the innocent wine cup out the door.

"Oops", a young officer bent over his bleeding forehead and walked in.

"Get out!" The old man, Lieutenant General Kunimasa Yamaguchi, commander of the 2nd Division, raised the flask.

"Report, it's a telegram from Prime Minister Oyama......" The officer named Tama Sozo shook the folder in his hand.

Yamaguchi's eyes lit up, he threw down the flask, rushed up and grabbed Tama by the collar: "Tell me, what's in the telegram!" ”

Tama did not intend to continue reporting in such a humiliating and sad state, he calmly said, "General, please let it go first......"

Oyama came back to his senses a little, then let go of his hand, knelt down after returning to the tatami table, and took a long breath of wine before he raised his head to Tama and signaled, "Say it." ”

Tama opened the folder, took out a piece of paper and read: "Yamaguchi-kun, under the pressure of the enemy's superior forces, your unit abandoned Osaka and moved into Gifu, which is really helpless, and the base camp expresses its understanding. Some time ago, due to the frequent activities of the Qing fleet near Tokyo Bay, the enemy was afraid of landing on the coast around Tokyo, and he did not dare to easily send troops to support your troops. Now that the enemy's main force has turned to Kyoto, entered Shiga Prefecture, and approached the Mino Plain, the time has come for a decisive battle, and the base camp intends to engage in a battle with the enemy's main force in the area from Sekigahara to Gifu on the Mino Plain to decide the fate of the Imperial Kingdom, and I will personally lead the headquarters of the 1st Division, the White Tiger Left Brigade, and the Sword Drawing Brigade, a total of 78,000 troops, to Gifu to join your division, and the above-mentioned troops will be in position within five days from the date of the report, and I will arrive at Gifu on the 14th. Wangjun stockpiled food and ammunition in time, reorganized the troops, boosted morale, prepared for a war to determine the general trend of the whole of Japan, and expelled the traitors and thieves into the ocean, so as to protect the emperor's righteousness, the spirit of the imperial country, and the land of the ancestors. ”

"Finished?" Yamaguchi asked.

Tama hurriedly bowed his head and continued: "Meiji 27th year ......"

"That's enough." Yamaguchi said.

Tama put away the telegram and pulled out another letter: "There is also a war letter sent by the rebel army, signed by Prince Chihito of Sugawa. ”

"The traitor who was deprived of the throne a long time ago, and the face signed himself in the name of the prince, and burned the letter."

Tama took out the match and was about to burn the letter, but Yamaguchi said, "Wait, it's not too late to burn it after I've finished reading it—see how much shit such a shameless thief can spit out." ”

Tama had no choice but to put away the match and hand over the letter: "General, if you don't have an order, you will retire below." ”

"Well, you can go." Yamaguchi said, taking care of the letter and watching.

In a moment, the alcohol began to burn the old general's nerves again.

In the midst of heavy snowfall, the wheel of history shifted to January 18, 1895.

Five days earlier, the Allied Army had conquered Kyoto, and after that, a number of cavalry and artillery units had been strengthened, and the total number of troops under the command of the Allied Command, which had reached 90,000 men, under the leadership of the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Ding Jieyun (promoted on January 12, 1895), marched northeast along the southern shore of Lake Biwa, connected with Otsu and Hikone, crossed the border of Shiga Prefecture, and entered Sekigahara Town, Fupo-gun, in Gifu Prefecture.

Sekigahara is the western gate of the fertile Mino Plain, bordered by the towering Ibuki Mountains to the north (the main peak of Mt. Ibuki is 1,377 meters above sea level), to the northwest is Mt. Iwakura with an elevation of 338 meters, to the west is Mount Shiroyama with an elevation of 308 meters, to the south is connected to Mt. Matsuo with an elevation of 393 meters, and to the southeast is Mt. Nangong with an elevation of 419 meters. The Fujikogawa River, which originates in Mt. Ibuki, runs from northwest to southeast through the center of Sekigahara and meets the Imasugawa River, a small east-west river that flows from the southern part of Mt. Matsuo, in the area of Makita Village in the southeast of Matsuo Ward.

Unfolding the map with contour lines shows that the Sekigahara area is a long, narrow basin that spreads eastward, and to enter Sekigahara from Shiga Prefecture, you must pass through a gentle slope between two large mountains, Mt. Ibuki to the north and Mt. Unzen to the south, and it is from here that the Nakasendo Railway connects Shiga and Gifu prefectures to the east. After leaving Sekigahara to the east, it is the Mino Plain of the Flat River, and the important towns such as Da [Heng] and Gifu are exposed.

At this time, in the early morning, the snow and fog were thick, and the 90,000-strong army of the coalition army had been divided into three echelons, spreading out in an area five kilometers wide and 25 kilometers deep on the front line from Sekigahara to Higashiyama-gun, Shiga Prefecture.

Due to the bad weather and the unknown enemy situation, Ding Jieyun, commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, ordered his troops to fortify on the spot. At that time, the headquarters of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Janissary Division on the right flank of the first echelon occupied Mt. Matsuo and relied on the mountain to build a position; The advance guard unit of the first detachment of the Central Army of the Central Rebel Army crossed the Fujikogawa River and set up outpost positions on the east side of the river, but the main force of the first detachment was still digging trenches on the west bank and fortifying and controlling the Nakasendo railway bridge over the Fujikogawa; The 1st Brigade of the 1st Praetorian Guard Division on the left flank occupied Mount Jozan and Mt. Tenman, which was 198 meters above sea level east of the Fujikogawa River, and fortified it against the mountain, forming a salient that approached the center of Sekigahara City.

After Ding Jieyun's arrangement was stopped, he set up a desk in the tent of the headquarters in Jinsu Village, southwest of Chengshan, and invited the direct commanders of the left and right flanks and the Chinese army—Brigadier General Lu Zixiang (promoted on January 12), commander of the First Praetorian Guard Division, Brigadier General Liu Bailiang (promoted on January 12), commander of the Second Praetorian Guard Division, and Lieutenant General Okazawa Jing, commander of the Central Army and deputy commander-in-chief of the coalition forces—and Brigadier General Wu Beinian, chief of staff of the coalition forces, to sit around a roaring bonfire and enjoy hot wine and barbecue. Listen to the story of Sekigahara (in Chinese, of course) told by Kiyota Sonakasa, the liaison officer of the rebel army: "In the third year of Keichō, in 1598, Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of depression due to the defeat of Joseon. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who led the 2.6 million stone fiefdoms of the eight eastern prefectures, entered Fushimi Castle as the chief of the 'Five Elders', and was named Hideyoshi's five-year-old youngest son, Hideyoshi, who actually held great power. The rest of the elders were extremely dissatisfied with Ieyasu's autocratic dictatorship, especially Ishida Sancheng, one of the 'Five Missions', and Ishida often scolded Ieyasu in private.

In June 1600, Ieyasu threatened to form an eastern army to defeat Aizu, citing the disrespect of Uesugi Keikatsu, the daimyo of Aizu. That Uesugi was a brother of the Ishida League, and Ishida was furious when he heard this, and hurriedly contacted Mori Terumoto, Ukita Hideya, Konishi Yukinaga, Shimazu Yoshihiro and other daimyos of the western country to form a western army, and in the name of supporting Toyotomi Hideyori, raised troops to the east and captured Fushimi Castle. Ieyasu then joined forces with Kato Masaaki, Fukushima Masanori, Kuroda Nagamasa and other daimyos of the eastern country to form the Eastern Army and march west to meet the attack. In September, 104,000 men and horses of the Eastern Army and 85,000 men and horses of the Western Army confronted this place in Sekigahara. ”

At first, when the Tokugawa army marched west from Edo Castle, the troops were divided into two groups: "One was the Tokugawa family's own soldiers, led by his eldest son, the official worship Nagon no Hidetada, who took the Nakasendo Road; The other was composed of the old Toyotomi department, which Ieyasu personally led and took the Tokaido. The Nakasendo Road was difficult and dangerous, and the Western Army general Sanada Masayuki designed to hinder Hidetada's army, and Ieyasu and Hidetada arrived in the Sekigahara area first. Ieyasu had suggested that when the Hidetadashi army arrived, the two armies would converge and fight again. Ieyasu said that he had already decided to start the battle the next day, and if this army was enough to defeat the western army, there was no need to exhaust the strength of the Tokugawa army's forces in vain, and if the battle was defeated, the follow-up troops of Nakatsuya would arrive immediately, and the whole army could fight again. In case he unfortunately dies in battle, there is still Na Yan to inherit his career. He did this in order to preserve the strength of the Tokugawa family at the expense of the old Taiko......"

“…… At the beginning of the war, the Western Army was outnumbered by the Eastern Army and occupied favorable terrain to form a crane wing attack on the Eastern Army, but Ieyasu was confident and ordered his own position to move forward in the battle, putting himself in danger. It turned out that although the Western Army was numerous, its hearts were not aligned, except for Mori Terumoto, who had the intention of waiting and seeing, Kobayakawa Hideie, who was the nephew of Toyotomi's widow Takadaiin, was already in the West Army's heart in the east. Before the start of the war, he presented Ieyasu with a letter of loyalty. However, seeing that the situation on the battlefield was uncertain, Kobayakawa hesitated and did not move for a long time, so Ieyasu ordered the fire team to fire at Kobayakawa's position, Matsuo Mountain. The Eastern Army took the opportunity to intensify the attack, and the Ukita Hideya saw that the general trend was gone, so they fled with their own soldiers first. Shimazu Yoshihiro, Konishi Yukinaga and others fought hard and only brought a small number of personal soldiers to fight out of the encirclement, and the Western Army collapsed ......"

"As soon as the Battle of Sekigahara ended, Ieyasu continued to attack the remnants of the enemy, capturing and beheading Ishida Mitsunari, Ukita Hideie, Konishi Yukinaga, etc., and the Mori and Shimazu families were also punished by cutting the land. For a time, the daimyo who had never participated in the war all pledged their allegiance to Ieyasu, and the wings of the Toyotomi family were gradually cut off. Three years later, Ieyasu was appointed as the general of the Shogunate, which is now Tokyo, and through the Osaka Winter War and the Osaka Summer War, he finally destroyed Toyotomi's son Hideyori, and the Tokugawa family unified Japan and held power for more than 300 years......"

"I see." Wu Beinian sighed expressionlessly.

Ding Jieyun listened attentively, and the pride in his chest, which he usually suppressed, surged into his heart for a while, so he raised his cup, got out of the tent, and said to the snow in the wind: "Three hundred years of wind and snow are still the same, and tens of thousands of bones are not new. Thinking of the general trend of the world, with heroes and domineering for a long time. ”

"Good poetry! Commander Ding is really a hero in the world! ”

Kiyota clapped his hands and praised, and then translated it to Okazawa Jing next to him, and Okazawa Jing applauded again and again after hearing it.

"Awards, awards." Ding Jieyun said in his mouth, and said silently in his heart: "I, Ding Jieyun, will never be able to succumb to others forever, rather than live for others, it is better to die for myself!" ”

"Report!" Lieutenant Colonel Zhao Minhe, the second liaison officer of the headquarters, arrived panting.

Liu Bailiang poured a glass of hot wine and handed it to Zhao Minhe: "Don't worry, warm up and talk about it." ”

"Is there any news from the reconnaissance troops?" Ding Jieyun said unhurriedly.

Zhao Minhe thanked Liu Bailiang, turned to Ding Jieyun with a cup in both hands and reported: "The Forbidden 1st Brigade on the left flank is directly under the headquarters of the reconnaissance cavalry battalion, and at 9:55 a.m. found the advance guard of the enemy's 1st Division in the Ruilong Temple of Jinsheng Mountain, and launched an exchange of fire, our army wounded three people, but all of them returned to the front of the army, captured one of the enemy's Shaozuo officers, and escorted them to the Intelligence Section for interrogation. ”

"Ruiryuji?" Ding Jieyun hurriedly walked to the map table, and everyone left the table one after another to follow.

Zhao Minhe put down his wine glass and ran to the map table first, and pointed out the location of Zuiryu Temple for everyone: "This is the location where the enemy avant-garde was discovered, Zuiryu Temple, north of the eastern end of the Ibuki Mountain Range of Mt. Kanesu, south of Sekigahara City Street, two kilometers away from Sekigahara Station, southwest and only three kilometers of the Fujikogawa Railway Bridge controlled by our army. ”

"The enemy's right flank is deployed," Kiyota said from the river, "according to Hosakusaku's report, the enemy's second division will be deployed as the central army, the left team of the White Tiger will be deployed as the left flank, and the headquarters of Oyama Iwa will be located behind the right flank line." ”

"Hmph," Lu Zixiang smiled contemptuously at Qing Tian, "How can the enemy's headquarters be set up behind the flank line, I'm afraid you don't even know what the big mountain rock looks like." ”

Ding Jieyun glanced at Lu Zixiang: "Talk about something useful, where did you come from, we are all our own people." ”

Lu Zixiang responded: "Yes", and then stopped.

Ding Jieyun said to Qingtian again: "Senior Commander Lu is also thinking about the overall situation, and he speaks more directly, please don't see outside." ”

Qing Tian bowed and said stiffly: "Commander Ding doesn't need to worry, for the sake of a common goal, I believe that we will be able to unite sincerely and see each other frankly." ”

"Commander, is it time for us to make a move?"

Liu Bailiang interjected, he was too lazy to listen to the nonsense of the Japanese officer who surrendered on the battlefield.

"Wait, there is no news from the Chinese army and the right wing." Ding Jieyun said.

While speaking, an officer of the rebel army hurriedly entered the tent and said a lot to Okazawa, and Qingtian immediately translated it to Ding Jieyun: "The first detachment of the Chinese army was attacked by the headquarters of the enemy's second division in Hedong, the time was 9:58, and now the battle is underway, and the captain of the first detachment, Hiroshi Shimahara, is ready to abandon the alert position according to the original plan......"

"Can't be withdrawn!" Ding Jieyun suddenly became excited.

A look of surprise appeared on Qingtian's face: "Commander, you have also seen the combat plan of the first detachment......

Ding Jieyun ignored him and only talked to himself: "Not only can we not give up the guard position in Hedong, but we must also increase troops to Hedong and launch a counteroffensive, and the Central Army must devote all its forces to seize Guanyuan Station!" ”

Kiyota translated these words to Okazawa Sei, and soon translated Okazawa Seiki's answer to Ding Jieyun: "General Okazawa said that the Central Army can launch a full-scale attack, but the left and right flanks must closely support and coordinate the attack. ”

"Of course, the two flanks will naturally give the necessary support to the Chinese army, but the central army must immediately launch an attack to contain the enemy army, so that the two flanks have a chance to find the enemy's weak point and break through." Ding Jieyun said.

Okazawa listened to Qingtian translate Ding Jieyun's words, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, but he still said a few words in a calm tone, and Qingtian immediately translated: "General Okazawa said that this was not the case with the original plan, and the original task of the Central Army was to organize a defense on the front line of Fujigugawa, and even if it attacked, it would follow one of the two wings as an axis movement to crush the enemy line. Now let the Central Army attack first, it is bound to form a circular salient, which will provide an opportunity for the enemy to cut off our rear route and carry out the siege......"

Ding Jieyun raised his voice: "Please tell General Okazawa that as long as he speaks, the two wings and the general reserve will send troops to support at any time!" Now, as commander-in-chief, I order the Central Army to rush to Sekigahara Station, and hold it until my new orders arrive. ”

Kiyota and Okazawa chattered for a while, and finally had a result, and Kiyota reluctantly spit out a few words: "General Okazawa said, obey." ”

The backs of Sei Okazawa and Kiyota quickly disappeared into the snowfall outside the tent.

"Let the Japanese fight in the narrow streets, and our Janissaries can perform the field battles that they are good at outside the streets, and the commander is really clever." Wu Beinian rarely praises others in person—even for bosses like Liu Yun, this is a special case.

"Do we want to wait until the rebels and the rebels are defeated, and then we will reap the benefits?" Liu Bailiang asked Ding Jieyun.

Ding Jieyun tapped his finger on the map table and resumed his unhurried tone: "No, Okazawa's legion is an important part of the entire cluster, and it must not be allowed to suffer excessive losses, which will lead to the rupture of the battle line. Let the central corps strike first, the purpose of which is to attract the attention of the other side, and later, the forbidden 1st division on the left flank will also launch an attack, and the enemy's main force will be pinned down as much as possible in the north-central area of the battle line......"

"Then, my right flank broke through from the southern part of the front, detoured behind enemy lines, and flanked or encircled." Wu Beinian pointed out the most critical part of Ding Jieyun's plan.

Ding Jieyun nodded at Wu Beinian: "It is worthy of being my chief of staff...... I have never revealed this plan to anyone, but the sub-plans drawn up earlier have included the necessary measures for the implementation of my personal campaign plan, all for the sake of secrecy, and I hope you will not be surprised. ”

"We listen to the commander." Liu Bailiang said.

"Worthy of my commander." Wu Beinian said.

"This man is a veritable wise general." Zhao Minhe thought.

Lu Zixiang didn't say anything, didn't think anything - he just felt that all this was normal.

At 10:50 a.m. on 18 January, four brigades of about 3,500 men under the jurisdiction of the 1st Detachment of the Central Army of the Allied Army, supported by 36 cannons, launched a counterattack against the headquarters of the 6th Wing of the 2nd Division of the rebel Army, which was attacking the Fujikogawa Railway Bridge. By about 13 p.m., the battle had heated up, and the entire central district of Sekigahara had become a scorched earth. At the same time, the main force of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Janissary Division on the left flank of the coalition army left its existing position and advanced towards Ruilongji, but was counterattacked by the enemy's 1st Division. In the southern part of the battlefield, the two sides confronted each other across the river along the Fujikogawa River, harassing each other with artillery, and there was no substantive fighting.

The rebels' top military commander, the interim prime minister, Marshal Oyama Iwa, felt the pressure.

"Mori-kun," he said to Lieutenant General Mori Kaoyuan, the commander of the 1st Division, uncertainly, "have you found out?" The southern part of the front is so calm that it kills. ”

Maori said "En" on Yuan and did not express an opinion.

Dashan Yan began to pace back and forth on the wooden floor of the headquarters, outside one window, the pines and cypresses on Jinsheng Mountain were facing each other, and outside the other window, the gunpowder smoke on the Tianman Mountain position was emerging from behind the dissipated snow and fog, and the beauty of life and death were only between turning around.

"No! There must be a problem! Oyama Yan clenched his fists and shouted, and Maori Yuan stared at the map, ignoring him.

Major General Notsuji, the chief of staff of Oyama Yan, asked tremblingly: "Your Excellency Marshal, what is the problem?" ”

"Southern Front! Between Mt. Matsuo and Mt. Nangong, it must be like this! The enemy army wanted to break through from our left flank, so he fought with our army for Sekigahara Station at any cost, so he lured our army to attack Mt. Tenman, and the enemy assault force must be gathering behind Mt. Matsuo! ”

Oyama Iwadoka opened his eyes and shouted. The tense situation, the internal and external struggles, the ensuing defeats, and the current atmosphere in which one wrong step will kill the whole situation, God is already very merciful that he did not let him go crazy.

Major General Nozu hesitated for a moment, but still plucked up his courage and said: "Your Excellency, according to the information just sent by our army, there is only one Praetorian Brigade of the Qing Army in the area of Matsuo Mountain, and part of the enemy's reserve is in Imasu, and part of it is still in the territory of Shandong Town, Shiga Prefecture. ”

"Those guys are liars! They have long been bought by the traitors! I'm going to send a reserve to Nangong Mountain, where do those ignorant peasants in the White Tiger Left Team know how to fight with soldiers! Oyama clamed the table and shouted, and Nozu saw his appearance and decided to shut up.

Lieutenant General Maori, who has been silent, spoke: "There is no need to dispatch the reserve now, the terrain of Nangong Mountain is dangerous, although the White Tiger Left Team is a militia group, it also has a lot of guns and guns, and there are 30,000 people, even if it is really attacked by the enemy's heavy troops, it can still last for several hours to half a day, during which it is enough to mobilize the reserve support." Our army's immediate plan should be to concentrate its forces, open a gap in the northern part of the battle line, bypass the enemy's rear, occupy Imasu, cut off the enemy's front-line troops from the reserves in the rear of Shandong, and then divide and annihilate them. ”

Dashan Yan stared at Maori, his momentum decreased slightly, and his tone was still tough: "Do you want to exhaust our reserves under Tianman Mountain?" Within two hours, your 1st Division had already suffered more than 6,000 casualties. ”

Maori said coldly: "Even if everyone is killed, it will not be hesitated, didn't you tell everyone that?" Don't say 6,000 people, it's 60,000, 600,000 people, as long as they can win in the end, why not let more imperial officers and soldiers be martyred? ”

Oyama Yan was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained his nervous state, pointed at Nozu and shouted: "You, quickly write down the order for me, and order Lieutenant General Toyoji Harada to lead his sword drawing team of 25,000 people to move towards Ruilong Temple, and cooperate with the headquarters of the First Division to attack the left flank of the battle line; ordered the commander of the 2nd Division, Lieutenant General Kunimasa Yamaguchi, to lead his troops to attack the railway bridge and seize it; Lieutenant General Songqing of Destiny Yan and his White Tiger left team will defend Nangong Mountain and not retreat an inch! ”

The roar of the big mountain rock floated out of the window, quickly dissipated in the air at a certain degree below zero, and a rapid cannon sound came down the wind from the direction of Tianman Mountain.

The north peak of Tianman Mountain, the position of the first brigade of the first division of the Qing army.

Shells rained down, trenches were blown flat in sections, and rifles and stumps leapt into the sky from time to time with icy mud.

The snow-covered pines and cypresses are broken, the originally pure white snow is riddled with craters, and the once clean air has long since become smoky.

The slogan-shouting soldiers, stepping on snow or meat, spitting white vapor from their mouths and steel guns in their hands, lined up in horizontal rows not far apart, guided by sabers and battle flags, and strode towards the hill shrouded in black and gray smoke.

Large and small shells exploded in the queue. The shock wave knocks fragile flesh flying, breaking bones and bones, crushing internal organs, and squeezing brains. Hot shrapnel pierced into the muscles, embedded in the joints, and penetrated the skull. Some fall into eternal dormancy, others struggle in hell on earth, and the rest are either fearful or crazy or detached, or both, and no matter what, they do not see their fate.

The human body is the only sacrifice to war, the spirit is not.

Rifle platoons and machine-gun fire began to sweep away the already broken ranks of infantry, and the surviving officers pulled at their throats to direct their subordinates, who had varying degrees of abnormal nerves, to open fire, but when the last officer was shot in the eyebrows by a sniper, the soldiers retreated. The enemy's artillery fire created a line of fire in the path of these poor creatures, and more than half of the soldiers failed to cross the line of death, and the rest had to rely on luck to dodge bullets from behind to have a chance to return to their own line alive.

The rebels' fifth assault on the position on the north peak of Tianman Mountain was thus defeated, and the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 3rd Wing of the 1st Division and the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division and the 2nd Detachment of the 1st Detachment of the Sword Drawing Team, totaling more than 3,800 people, suffered 3,000 casualties in one attack, and almost all of them were killed. At this time, less than 900 of the 1,600 officers and men of the 1st Praetorian Regiment stationed at the position remained, and more than half of them were wounded, the regiment commander and adjutant were killed one after another, and the three battalion commanders were killed and wounded.

"The baggage company cooperated with the medical team of the regiment headquarters to organize the evacuation of the seriously wounded to ......"

"The artillery company immediately counted the ammunition and removed the bolts of the damaged guns......"

"The battalions stepped up their rush to repair the fortifications and restore the destroyed communication trenches......

"The communication squad sent two people back to the brigade headquarters to ask for help, and another person sent to the headquarters to report that I have been the acting regiment commander here, please understand Commander Ding......

A series of orders went down, and the officers and men of the whole regiment took their positions and worked nervously and busily.

"It is worthy of Lu Dagao's talented student, and a few words can put a regiment that is on the verge of collapse in order......" Li Xuedong sighed in Zhao Minhe's ear.

Zhao Minhe heard it clearly, shook his head and said: "This bit of nonsense has been done by sober-minded people, and you can do it too." ”

Li Xuedong said with a smile: "Not only am I not sober-minded, but I don't have an appeal like you, without you, no one here really knows what to do." ”

Two soldiers carried the body of the officer past Zhao Minhe, and Li Xuedong reminded Zhao Minhe: "That's the commander of the second battalion Huang who just died, you are old friends." ”

"Camp Commander Huang?" Zhao Minhe stopped the two soldiers and walked over to lift the towel covering the corpse's face, only to see a mass of burnt rotten meat.

"How...... How could this be...... "Although Zhao Minhe had been through the battle formation, he couldn't bear to look at it anymore, put it down, towel, and waved it to the soldiers to carry it away.

"Since the first regiment landed in Japan, it has been full of disasters and difficulties, and two regiment commanders and four battalion commanders have been killed in a month. Li Xuedong sighed again and again.

"Don't talk about frustration," Zhao Minhe picked up a bloodstained sapper shovel at his feet, "If you're tired, take a rest first, I still have the strength to work." ”

"Zhao Ying...... No, Commander Zhao, you're not going to dig trenches, are you? ”

"That's right."

"How can this work......

"Why can't this work?" As he spoke, Zhao Minhe had already carried the sapper shovel towards a section of the damaged trench.

Li Xuedong lit up his hands in front of his eyes and looked at them - there were a few abrasions, but there was no major problem, so he also picked up a sapper shovel and followed, shouting as he walked: "Brothers, Regiment Commander Zhao has dug the trenches himself, if we don't work hard, are we worthy of our conscience?" ”

For a time, the morale of the officers and men was as high as a rainbow, the positions were in full swing, the trenches and fortifications were quickly repaired as new, the artillery and machine guns were placed, and everyone was in good spirits, waiting for the enemy to attack again.

In Ding Jieyun's headquarters, Zhao Minhe was just a senior herald and battlefield inspector, but at this time, in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of the regiment, Zhao Minhe was their leader, core, hero, savior, and god.

Without excellent officers, there will never be excellent soldiers, let alone excellent troops.

If a good officer is not placed in the position that suits him best, then such excellence is greatly meaningless, however, there is no such thing as an army that can make the best use of its talents, and in many cases, the seemingly powerful machine of the army often has a large number of parts in the wrong place, and to correct these mistakes, it is often necessary to wait for unpredictable opportunities to come.

Zhao Minhe was one of those lucky few parts.

The blazing artillery fire began to cover a regiment of positions again, and Zhao Minhe led the 700 officers and soldiers he was still able to fight, ready to stick to the north peak of Tianman Mountain like a giant nail made of heavenly stone, and no enemy could get his wish.