Hainan's coastline fort is arranged along the island edge of the South Island, and there are a total of 18 when designing, namely Dongying, Puqian, Jinshan, Changsa, Longlou, Dongjiao, Longroll, Hele, Beipo, Dazhou, Guangpo, Haitang Bay, Phoenix, Tianya, Donglou, Leluo, Huangliu, and Foliu. These 18 batteries mainly defended the southeast coast, and each battery was equipped with one main gun of 240 mm caliber and two secondary guns of 180 mm caliber, each of which was automatically fed, of which the main gun could fire 19 shells per minute, and the secondary gun could fire 36 shells per minute. These eighteen batteries originally belonged to the navy, but after the Fifth Army came in, they were handed over to the army. At present, it is the independent shore artillery brigade directly under the Fifth Army that has been specially established for the defense of the fort.

Ouyang Yun had invested a huge amount of money in these eighteen forts. For each battery, the cement and steel reinforcement are not counted, the cost of one main gun alone is the cost of ten "platypus", for example, if Ouyang Yun used the money to build the fort to build armored troops, he would now be enough to equip two tank divisions.

After Shan Renxiong and Ouyang Yun finished talking on the phone, he immediately couldn't sit still. The commander-in-chief was repeatedly concerned about the progress of the construction of the fort, which showed that in the Hainan War in the near future, the fort would definitely be of great use. And during this period of time, he has obviously not cared enough about the shore artillery brigade, which makes him a little worried, this battle is about to start, can the shore artillery unit play the role of the mainstay? He immediately rushed back to the military headquarters in Qiongzhou, and then convened a combat readiness meeting for senior officers above the brigade commander level together with Chief of Staff Huang Ye, Deputy Army Commander Chang Geng, and Political Director Guo Yucheng.

At the beginning of the meeting, Shan Xiong swore without surprise: "I have just received a call from the commander-in-chief, the Japanese naval ship group is heading for Hainan, and there is no doubt that the Japanese are ready to attack Hainan this time." Ladies and gentlemen, compared to other armies, our army has not experienced a battle for a long time, and this battle will certainly be very difficult. Are you ready to sacrifice? ”

Everyone was shocked, except for Huang Ye, Chang Geng, Guo Yucheng and Zhang Dali.

The single male continued to speak in terror: "Eighteen batteries are the only thing we can rely on to hold the inland sea, the Japanese must have dispatched aircraft carriers, then they have aircraft artillery, we only have batteries, we will face a dense bombardment of the superior firepower of the little devils." The fort is our only hope, and in order to prevent the little devils from breaking through one by one, a considerable number of troops must be sent to assist in the defense. And these front-line troops, they may not have a chance to fight with the little devils, they will fall in the bombing of planes and the bombardment of giant artillery - my words above are by no means alarmist! With that, he looked around to the left and right, his gaze scanning over everyone's face.

Fang Daming, the commander of the Independent Shore Artillery Brigade, immediately stood up, he stood solemnly, his waist was straight, and he said loudly: "Report!" All the officers and men of the shore artillery brigade are ready for battle, and our slogan is that we would rather die than let a devil ship approach the coastal defense. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, "Report! Zhang Dali stood up: "Military seat, all the officers and soldiers of the 38th Brigade are willing to shed the most bloody blood for Hainan." ”

"Report!" …… The brigade commanders stood up one after another to express their determination, and the combat readiness meeting gradually had a tendency to transition to an oath-taking meeting.

This is not what a solo male needs. Although he took over the study of the Fifth Army for a short time, it was due to his trust in the education system of the Cadet Army, and he did not think that there would be local troops similar to those in the Battle of Nanjing under his command. He said: "I can feel your determination, but it is not enough to have the determination to die. The commander-in-chief said that there are several ways to die, and we, as soldiers, must die well and die worthwhile even if we die. At the moment, we do not have more detailed information on the Japanese army. But one thing is certain, if the Japanese really want to occupy Hainan, eventually, they will definitely send infantry to land. And that's our chance. ”

Huang Ye, Guo Yucheng and others have communicated with Shan Xiong before. Huang Ye stood up at the right time and said: "Junzuo, what do you mean is to hold the fort to the death, so that the Japanese cannot make a breakthrough in the front, and then launch a landing battle from the southwest according to our plan?" ”

The reason why the shoreline batteries were mainly set up in the southeast and due south directions was to prevent the Japanese army from landing in this direction. Once the Japanese army chooses to land in the southwest direction without a fort, then the Cadet Army will be able to take advantage of the complex terrain in the southwest of Hainan Island to strike at the landing Japanese army. As for the Qiongzhou Strait, because of the cooperation of the defenders of Guangzhou, it will only be more difficult for the Japanese to land from here.

This strategy was well known to everyone in the audience, and everyone's eyes couldn't help but turn to the solo male.

Shan Xiong nodded, and he said, "If we think of this, the Japanese will definitely think of it too." War is like a fight, the general will play to the strengths and avoid the weaknesses, and the strength of the Japanese is the long-range strike capability. Therefore, it is difficult to get the Japanese to take the initiative to abandon their strengths and start with their weaknesses. ”

"Hold on to the fort and make the little devil feel that it will be an unacceptable price to capture the fort, and in that case, there will definitely be 'smart' devils who want to find another way-" Zhang Dali stood up and shouted, he was so eager that he forgot to call the report.

No one blamed him for this, because he was not the only one who had this thought, after all, the previous words of the single male had already made this clear. Everyone's eyes once again focused on the face of the single hero, and many people's minds also came alive - sticking to the fort, not only can they only be the bodyguards of the shore artillery unit, but they will definitely have to pay huge sacrifices. However, if the defense is deployed in the southwest region, not only will the danger be relatively low, but the chance of meritorious service will be greater.

As if he had guessed everyone's thoughts, the eyes of the single male patrolled on everyone's faces again, and he said slowly: "Helping the shore artillery troops to hold the fort will be the top priority of this defensive battle, and now, I need a team that dares to fight and is not afraid of sacrifice, do any of you volunteer to sign up?" ”

Everyone was collectively silenced. Zhang Dali looked left and right, stood up again, he gritted his teeth and said: "Report, the 38th Brigade is willing to take on this task!" ”

"Good!" The single male nodded and said, "One brigade is not enough, at least two brigades are needed." There are three main defensive directions of our batteries, and at least one brigade must assist in the defense in each direction, and who else took the initiative to sign up?! ”

Miao Qiushen, commander of the 41st Brigade, Qiu Hongsheng, commander of the 42nd Brigade, and Yun Dian, commander of the 43rd Brigade, stood up at the same time. Three people, you look at me, I look at you, Qiu Hongsheng suddenly said: "I knew that you were going to come out, so I sat down first." ”

Everyone couldn't help but laugh when they heard this.

From this point of view alone, the war readiness meeting was a success.