Half an hour had passed, and the units with combat effectiveness in Zhangshu City had all been in place, and the 871st Regiment, which had been fully replenished here at the south gate, had made all the preparations before the attack under the personal leadership of Tang Hongming, and in front of the 871st Regiment, 14 tanks and 12 heavy armored vehicles capable of assault were also lined up in two columns, ready to assault.

Tang Hongming looked at his watch, and when the time for the shelling was up, he heard the roar of artillery of various calibers almost simultaneously from several scattered artillery positions in the city. There are 152-caliber heavy howitzers and artillery guns, as well as 75-caliber German-made field guns, and these dozens of artillery pieces are all the large artillery pieces in Tang Hongming's hands.

The cannonballs flew over Tang Hongming's head with a scream, over the city wall, and soon there were continuous explosions on the Japanese positions outside the city. Hearing the explosion outside the city, Tang Hongming ordered the south gate to be opened.

The southern gate, which had been closed for many days, slowly opened with a creaking sound, and the roaring chariots began to slowly drive out of the city gate, and soon formed an attack formation outside the southern city. Behind the chariot body, Tang Hongming and the 871st Regiment rushed out, lined up behind each chariot, and formed a coordinated assault formation with the chariots.

The two infantry brigades on the Japanese position, which were originally cobbled together only by auxiliary arms, were not very strong in combat effectiveness, and under the sudden artillery bombardment, they suffered heavy casualties and were completely in disarray. In the panic, Nakagawa Chiyoyoshinakasa, who was in charge, found that the Chinese army inside the city had already gathered outside the city, and would soon launch an attack on his position. Nakagawa Chiyoyo Nakasa panicked and found the signal soldier and asked him to immediately report the situation to the head of the Iide Iron Treasure Division.

When the explosion sounded, Lieutenant General Iide's heart sank, and what he feared was still happening, and the Chinese troops in the city might rush out of the city and take the opportunity to attack his position. However, now Lieutenant General Inide Tetsuzo had no troops at his disposal, so he could only give an order to Nakagawa Chiyoyoshi Nakasa, asking him to organize troops to block the attack of the Chinese army. After giving the order, Lieutenant General Iide Tetsuzo frowned tightly and looked in the direction of Zhangshu City with a telescope.

Standing in his position, he could only see the thick smoke rising from the direction of Zhangshu City, and nothing else could be seen. The chief of staff next to him, Eijiro Yoshida, also knew that the situation was not good, but he didn't have any ideas to think about right now. After a long while, the explosion in the direction of Camphor Castle still did not stop, and seeing the worried look on Lieutenant General Ideide's face getting heavier and heavier, Yoshida Eijiro Osa sighed secretly, now it was time for him to do something.

Yoshida Eijiro Osa said solemnly to Lieutenant General Iide Tetsuzo: "Your Excellency the division commander, if Nakagawa-kun does not get timely support, I am afraid it will be difficult to stop the attack of the Shina army in the castle, and my subordinates are willing to lead the division headquarters guards and the first and second brigades of engineers to support." ”

Lieutenant General Iide Tetsuzo was stunned for a moment, put down his binoculars and looked at Yoshida Eijiro Osa, seeing his serious expression, knowing that he was really determined to do so. The combat effectiveness and weaponry of the two engineering brigades are very poor, and although the divisional and regimental guards are well-equipped and have strong combat effectiveness, they only have the strength of one squadron, and it is not very likely to win with such a team to fight against the Chinese army in the city, which has extremely strong combat effectiveness.

However, now Lieutenant General Ide Tetsuzo really has no troops available, and if the Shina army in the city breaks through the troops blocking them, and then together with the Shina army that is attacking the position of the 32nd Wing head-on, and flanks the 32nd Wing in front and back, then the position of the 32nd Wing will also be difficult to hold, and then the entire division will be completely defeated, and the situation will be out of control.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Iide Tetsuzo could only agree with Yoshida Eijiro Osa's opinion and let him lead an auxiliary army with extremely poor combat effectiveness to reinforce Nakagawa Chiyo Yoshinakasa. However, Lieutenant General Iide Tetsuzo still drew a squadron from his own escort team to protect Yoshida Eijiro Osa.

The rumbling sound of artillery outside Zhangshu City also alarmed Wang Haitao and others in the command post of the 462nd Brigade, Wang Haitao looked at the time on his watch, frowned, and said to Tang Longzai: "This Tang Hongming, why did you advance the attack time by 20 minutes? Are our artillery ready?"

Wang Haitao's question stumped Tang Longzai, what was the situation on Tang Hongming's side, and how could Tang Longzai know? As for the preparation of the artillery, he had to inquire before he could find out. Tang Longzai couldn't answer Wang Haitao's question, so he could only glare at Li Changwu beside him, and said, "Why don't you go and ask if the artillery regiment is ready!" Li Changwu hurriedly turned around in fright and went to call the heavy artillery regiment.

Wang Haitao also grabbed another telephone on the desk, and directly wanted to call the 130 heavy cannon regiment, and after hearing the Tangshan Tiger report on the phone that the heavy artillery of the whole regiment had completed the preparation for firing, Wang Haitao nodded with satisfaction. At this time, Li Changwu also grabbed the phone to report to Wang Haitao, and the 211th Division's self-propelled grenade and artillery regiment was also ready. Wang Haitao looked at his watch again and gave the order to shell the Japanese positions for 15 minutes.

Soon behind the 462nd Brigade, the rumbling of artillery began again. The 130 Heavy Cannon Regiment only fired three shells per cannon when bombarding the Japanese artillery positions, although they all understood that every shell was extremely precious, but no matter how valuable the shells were, if they didn't shoot out, they were just waste.

Tang Shanhu's heart was also very conflicted, that is, he wanted to hit small Japan with artillery fire, but he was also worried that once the shells ran out, his heavy cannon regiment would become an ornament. Now that Wang Haitao's order to fire has been issued, Tang Shanhu still sighed, gritted his teeth and ordered that only three shells should be fired from each cannon.

Unlike the Tangshan Tigers, Tang Weizhong, the head of the self-propelled howitzer and artillery regiment, was complacent. Although the self-propelled howitzers and projectiles in his hands were purchased from Germany, the shells used in the 105-caliber guns were still relatively easy to copy, and now the arsenal can now manufacture such shells in batches. This time, Wang Haitao led his troops to rescue Zhangshu, and only the 130 heavy cannon regiment and his own self-propelled howitzer and artillery regiment were the main artillery regiments, and the 130 heavy cannon regiment was limited by artillery shells and could only play a role at critical times, and his own self-propelled howitzer and artillery regiment became the absolute main force.

On the Japanese position, the soldiers already knew that the Chinese army had extremely strong artillery fire, so the sound of the cannon made the turtle shrink into the trench or bunker fortification, and did not even dare to raise his head. On the contrary, the three regiments of the 462nd Brigade, after a short period of rest and replenishment, were in high spirits, and they all excitedly looked forward to the start of the attack when they saw countless shells falling on the Japanese positions, blowing up clouds of gunpowder smoke and dust.

When the time came, the shelling of both Japanese positions ceased at the same time, and the attacks of the two Chinese troops began. Here in Zhangshu City, more than a dozen chariots lined up one after another, and the engines roared, maintaining a certain speed and pressing forward. During the march, the vehicle-mounted artillery and vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns continued to fire, destroying and suppressing the fire points of the counterattack on the Japanese position. The infantry brigade composed of two auxiliaries on the Japanese position did not even have many heavy machine guns, let alone artillery, and in this case, there was no power to stop the Chinese tanks, let alone destroy them.

The two sides were only less than a kilometer apart, and as the tanks continued to approach, the Japanese troops on the position became more panicked, and Nakagawa Chiyoyoshi Nakasa waved the command knife in his hand and kept ordering his men to open fire, trying to stop the Chinese army's advance.

When the chariot advanced to less than 100 meters from the Japanese position, some soldiers on the Japanese position could not withstand this pressure and began to flee backwards. Nakagawa Chiyoyoshi Nakasa was furious and personally used his command knife to kill two fleeing soldiers before regaining the morale of the army.

However, after a dozen tanks broke into the position, the remaining Japanese troops on the position still began to flee, and this time even Nakagawa Chiyoyoyoshi Nakasa could not suppress it even if he tried his best to suppress it, but he himself was wrapped in the fleeing soldiers, and he could only rout backwards.

Tang Hongming didn't expect that he would rush to the Japanese position so easily, and the casualties of his own regiment could be almost ignored. Excited, Tang Hongming ordered the troops to bite tightly behind the defeated Japanese army and try their best to destroy the Japanese army.

The officers and men of the 210th Division were full of morale and confidence when they set out from Hengyang City, but the ambush battle south of Zhangshu made them taste the bitter fruits of defeat. In Zhangshu City, he was besieged by the Japanese army for many days, which greatly damaged morale. Now Commander Wang personally led the army to rescue him, and the division personally led his troops out of the city to counterattack, but the Japanese army was so vulnerable, all the officers and men of the 871st Regiment were like chicken blood, and they desperately chased after the Japanese army with red eyes.

As soon as Yoshida Eijiro led a reinforcement of nearly 1,000 people to approach Zhangshu City, he encountered the defeated troops, and in the chaotic rout of the defeated team, it was difficult to find Nakagawa Chiyoo Nakasa, and behind the defeated team, the Chinese army was chasing and fighting. The scene in front of him made Yoshida Eijiro Osa a little reluctant to believe that his eyes were clear, it was difficult for Nakagawa Nakasa's troops to block the full attack of the Chinese army, which was expected by Yoshida Eijiro Osa, but he did not expect that Nakagawa Nakasa's troops would be defeated in such a short period of time, after all, Nakagawa's troops had a position to defend.

Eijiro Yoshida was furious and ordered the guards around him to form a battle team to intercept the defeated soldiers. The defeated soldiers subconsciously stopped after seeing the cold muzzles of the warlords. But before Yoshida Eijiro Osa could rectify these defeated soldiers, more than a dozen chariots commanded by Tang Hongming had already rushed up with a roar. The officers and men of the 871st Regiment who had killed the red-eyed did not care why the Japanese army did not flee, and they launched a charge against the Japanese army in front of them.

As soon as Yoshida Eijiro Osa, he saw the dozen or so tanks that the Chinese army was rushing to the front, and he understood that something was not good. These dozen or so steel behemoths gave him the urge to run away after despair. But he gritted his teeth and drove the idea out of his mind.

Yoshida Eijiro Osa jumped on a stone and shouted at the soldiers in front of him: "Your Majesty the Emperor, in the face of the lowly Shina people, do you want to give up the dignity of the Great Japanese Imperial Army and become a coward who has escaped? Now I order you to show the invincible spirit of the Great Japanese Imperial Army and charge at the opposite Shina people!