Battles took place on the other side of the Jiujiang River. Ouyang Yun didn't learn until the evening of the third day, and by that time, the first stage of the Battle of Madang had already ended.

At three o'clock in the morning of the second day when Ye Zhao and the others were attacked, the Japanese offensive was launched on time.

It was not at all different from the time obtained from the detection of the telegram, which made Ouyang Yun's originally anxious mood relax a little, and for the time being, he also put aside his worries about the 36th Brigade and devoted himself to the battle of Madang, which had already begun.

The artillery of the entire two brigades and nearly 30 large gunboats frantically fired shells at the front-line positions on Cotton Boat Island and the Madang Fortress Battery, and in just 10 minutes, the front-line positions of Shengzhou Village and Zhoutou Village on Cotton Boat Island were saturated with nearly 1,000 shells. Twenty minutes later, all the exposed fortifications in both places were destroyed, and more than two battalions of cadets were killed or wounded.

The command post of the fortress where Ouyang Yun was located was about five kilometers away from both places, and the command post was located in the mountain, and Ouyang Yun and a group of officers from the corps headquarters listened to the deafening explosion, and many people showed shocked expressions on their faces.

"The little devil has made a lot of money this time!" Ouyang Yun said, his face was unprecedentedly grim.

The original idea was to give the Japanese enough temptation to let the main force advance north, and then use the strong defense of the fortress to strike a severe blow at the Japanese army. Before this, Ouyang Yun had never doubted the correctness of this strategy, and now, when the first casualty figures were sent from the various front-line commanders, he felt a chill from the bottom of his heart.

Judging from the numbers alone, the casualties of the two battalions were not large, but because the base was only four brigades and one regiment, he had to worry about whether he could withstand this round of onslaught from the little devils.

On the Madang Fortress, the majesty of the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet lasted only a quarter of an hour.

In order to cooperate with Okamura Ninji's battle plan, Kamakura Sukeji Jun also took out all the capital this time, and the Yangtze River Fleet except for the dozen or so gunboats that were maintained in Zhenjiang, other gunboats were exhausted. Among them, there are more than 20 large gunboats. These more than 20 gunboats are equipped with naval guns with a minimum caliber of 140 mm, and the firing range of such a caliber of giant guns is more than 20 kilometers, and it can be said that the accuracy will be higher and the efficiency will be multiplied. Kamakura Kaijijun's plan will first carry out a round of saturation bombardment of Madang Fort at Diaozihao, and then divide the troops into two routes, in which the main force will continue to approach Madang Fortress, and suppress the Madang Fort on the water in the area of Hezi, and the detachment will directly load the two marines belonging to the fleet and a wing of the Japanese army provided by Gangcun to land in Xiaqian Bay, and then cooperate with the infantry to fight all the way up from Xiaqian Bay and directly threaten the fortress from the east. The main fleet operating in the area of the water surface of the Hezi can not only give the Madang Fort the greatest pressure, but also take into account the infantry landing in Xiaqian Bay.

The plan was perfect, but Kamakura Sukeji Chun underestimated the wisdom of Ouyang Yun and the staff officers of the Cadet Army.

After the Second Air Regiment of the Japanese Army in Anqing was destroyed by a sneak attack, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet became the only nightmare for the tank unit of the Cadet Army. Because of the existence of the Yangtze River Fleet, the chariot troops and the Jiangbei troops did not dare to get too close to the river for a while, for fear of being attacked by the Yangtze River Fleet. Kamakura Sukeji Chun didn't know what to say, as early as the first time he launched an artillery attack on Madang Fortress, Ouyang Yun had already been thinking about the Yangtze River Fleet, and the reason why he had been holding back was just waiting for an opportunity.

Now, the opportunity is finally ripe.

When the fireball continued to rise on the water surface of the Yangtze River one kilometer away, Zhang Tianquan pinched down with his right hand and calmly ordered: "The last order, the target is directly in front, the distance is one thousand meters, and everyone is ready to fire!" ”

"Received on the 1st, done!"

"Ready for the 2nd!"

……

It was the first time for Zhang Tianquan to command an artillery unit of this size, thinking that if he could not inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army in the first round of shelling, he would usher in fierce retaliatory artillery fire.

At the same time, in the reeds south of the river, only two hundred meters away from the northernmost small gunboats of the Japanese army, Shi Zhengguo calmly ordered: "Brothers, start!" ”

"Let's go!" A group of twenty-eight men, divided into five groups, towing five torpedoes and holding a rudimentary breathing apparatus made of thick reeds in their mouths, dived into the water and began to swim towards several large Japanese gunboats floating on the river.

The few small gunboats closest to them were now sweeping the water around them with searchlights. However, they didn't expect that there were already people lurking here long before they arrived, so most of the places they were shining at were five or six hundred meters away, and there were some places where the reeds were growing more vigorously, and they didn't realize that in fact, right under their noses, twenty-eight daring cadets were dragging the special killing weapons of five large gunboats towards their main gunboat.

Time passed little by little, in the hearts of the rulers, every second at the moment seemed like a month, they followed the red light in the middle of the water in front of them, avoided those small gunboats and swam to the middle of the river, thirteen minutes, the rulers of the country drilled out of the water again to look, the next moment, he slapped the water with his right hand, calling the others out.

They were now in a position between two gunboats, of which, within visual range of the sight directly in front of them, were three large gunboats, and behind them, a dozen or so small gunboats. "Right here, the target is the two ships directly ahead and on the left! Aim, okay, the rest of the retreat! He said, swimming to the left of a torpedo.

According to the pre-war arrangement, two people were to be left in charge of activating each torpedo, and the others were to retreat first. One of the reasons why it is necessary to keep two people is that the depth fixer can be adjusted and prepared for start-up at the same time, so as to save time. Another reason is that if the enemy finds out, there will be more protection.

Twenty-eight people get along with each other these days, but they have no feelings and have feelings. They are all elites in the cadet army, and their previous combat positions are more important, so they naturally understand that at such a time, immediate execution of orders is the only option. However, as long as they thought that the chance of staying behind was almost zero, the students who were about to retreat first still had a hot eye, and they couldn't help but want to say "I will stay too".

"Quick!" Shi Zhengguo glared at them fiercely and shouted in a low voice, "Execute the order!" ”

Under his stern gaze, the eighteen students who were about to retreat made a gesture of "take care", and then resolutely dived into the water.

"Boom!" The two target gunboats were still firing shells, and Shi Zhengguo gritted his teeth and looked at the students on the opposite side. The latter nodded, signaling that the depth fixer had been adjusted. He took a deep breath and unscrewed the valve of the gas tank.