"Nani?"

"The northern city wall has been occupied by the Eighth Route Army?"

Taiyuan Inner City, Headquarters of the First Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka turned his head reluctantly and looked at Toshimatsu Kasai, the communications staff officer who was reporting, with a deep look of disbelief in his eyes.

Less than an hour and a half before the start of the Eighth Route shelling, the city wall was occupied by the Eighth Route Army.

That's too fake, right?

In the direction of the north city wall just now, the gunfire changed from dense to sparse, and he thought that the defenders of the city wall had repelled the attack of the Eighth Route Army.

You must know that the defenders on each wall have a squadron of Japanese troops, plus a regiment of the Imperial Army, with a strength of almost 1,500 people.

Even if the city wall was bombarded by the artillery of the Eighth Route Army more than a dozen gaps, some of the hidden soldiers caves were blown down, and the defenders were killed by shells, and some were killed and wounded by infantry guns and mortars.

The defenders still had at least 1,000 or so men, and there were no less than 100 light and heavy machine guns.

The 1.5 divisions and regiments used by the Japanese army to attack Zhongtiao Mountain were still in Taiyuan, and they were supposed to be transported to the front line through the Nantongpu Railway.

However, as soon as Li Yunlong led his troops to attack Taiyuan, these supplies could only be in Taiyuan.

Among them, there are a lot of spare weapons, plus the weapons and ammunition in the arsenal of Taiyuan, there is a lot of machine gun firepower to defend Taiyuan, and there are plenty of bullets.

Under such strong firepower, it was impossible for the infantry of the Eighth Route Army to occupy a single city wall without losing a few thousand people, and it would take most of the day to do so.

However, coupled with a tentative attack during the day, this was the second attack of the Eighth Route Army, and it was easy to occupy the city wall?

Yoshio Shinozuka didn't believe it at all.

"Hey!"

Kasai Toshimatsu lowered his head and said in a hurried tone: "According to the last call from the captain of Harada, who was guarding the city wall, in addition to using mountain artillery and howitzers, the Eighth Route Army also used a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns to aim at the machine gun fire points of the defenders, and the machine gun shells of the Eighth Route Army penetrated the battlements of the city wall, hitting the machine gunner and the secondary shooter, and in less than half a minute, all the machine gun fire points were almost destroyed at the same time!" ”

Yoshio Shinozuka's face changed from questioning to shocked and angry when he heard this, and now he finally believed it.

A few minutes earlier, he had heard a rapid burst of machine shelling, but he hadn't paid much attention to it.

In his opinion, the anti-aircraft machine guns of the Eighth Route are only used for air defense, and he is still a little puzzled, the planes of the Imperial Army did not make a sortie at night, what is the Eighth Route doing?

I never thought that anti-aircraft guns could still be used to attack cities!

Suddenly, Yoshio Shinozuka's face changed drastically, because he remembered that not only the north of the city, but also the other three directions had heard the sound of dense anti-aircraft machine guns at the same time a few minutes ago.

"Not good, immediately order the defenders of the eastern, western, and southern walls to stop firing!"

Yoshio Shinozuka said to Toshimatsu Kasai very quickly.

If the northern city wall alone is occupied by the Eighth Road, the situation has not yet reached the point of being out of control.

As long as the eastern, western, and southern city walls were not occupied by the Eighth Route Army, they would be able to immediately dispatch planes to support them as soon as dawn would take place after more than one hour.

With the cooperation of the aircraft, the Yoshino Wing was ordered to concentrate its forces to push back in a wave, and perhaps there was a chance to recapture the northern city wall.

"Hey!" Toshimatsu Kasai stood up and bowed his head, ready to walk out.

A communications lieutenant hurriedly ran in and said with a pause: "Report to the general, the east and west city walls have been occupied by the Eighth Route Army, and the Eighth Route has attacked the south city wall and is fighting fiercely, Squadron Leader Xiaoshi asks for reinforcements!" ”

The actions of the Eighth Route Army of the siege were so fast that the devil puppet army couldn't react at all.

Moreover, one of the better things about machine guns than mortars and infantry guns is that they can always provide fire cover for the siege infantry unless the siege infantry has already captured the city.

As long as there is a wall firing hole, tongues of fire are spewed out and shot at the siege infantry.

The chain of fire of the machine gun can immediately extend and wrap itself there, and the battlements of the city wall at the fire point of the devil's puppet army can be easily penetrated.

Coupled with flares from time to time, you don't have to worry about hurting your own people at all.

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Assault Groups were inferior to the new regiment in machine gun fire, but they did not fight for long, and they followed up and captured the walls.

"Eight Ga Ya Road!"

Yoshio Shinozuka suddenly erupted and slammed his fist on the table, which creaked and frightened the communications lieutenant.

"General, is this order still under way?"

Communications staff officer Toshimatsu Kasai stopped when he heard the words and looked at Yoshio Shinozuka.

Yoshio Shinozuka had a gloomy face and a cold tone: "Kasai-kun, immediately order the Yoshino United, prepare for street battles, and be ready to fight house by house and street with Hachilu at any time!" ”

At this time, if you order the soldiers to stop shooting, isn't that a brain disease?

"Hey!" Toshimatsu Kasai bowed his head and turned to leave, and Communications Lieutenant Tachimasa bowed his head and hurriedly followed.

……

Outer Castle, Yoshino Wing Headquarters.

Yuo Yoshino, who received the order from the headquarters, immediately summoned the three captains.

One young left, two center left neatly stood in front of Yoshino Yuo.

"Gentlemen, General Shinozuka's order has come down."

Looking at the three captains standing upright in front of him, as well as the three pairs of fanatical eyes, Yoshino Yuo's eyes narrowed.

The Yoshino Wing was originally part of the 9th Brigade, and the Wing Commander Yoshino Yuo also went to Qi County last year to reinforce the Black Island Cavalry Wing.

However, by the time Yoshino Yuo led the Yoshino Wing to Qi County, the Kuroshima Wing had been wiped out, and the Kuroshima Morita Wing Captain was beaten into several pieces, and his body was stinking.

Later, the Yoshino Wing was transferred from the 9th Brigade by Yoshio Shinozuka and became a wing directly under the Front Army, stationed in Taiyuan for a long time to protect the safety of the headquarters.

"The Eighth Route Army has occupied the city walls."

Yoshino Yuo glanced at the three of them, and said in a fierce tone: "According to reliable intelligence, in the Eighth Route Army that attacked Taiyuan this time, there was the notorious New Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, this new regiment must be familiar to everyone, 4 major generals and 2 lieutenant generals of the Imperial Army, and countless Imperial Army warriors Jade Shattered in the hands of this new regiment, Li Yunlong and his new regiment caused immeasurable losses to the empire. ”

With just a few words, the eyes of the three captains were full of murderous energy.

Actually, Li Yunlong and the new regiment were also attacking Taiyuan.

"Then kill them all, and leave not one behind!"

The captain who wore the rank of Shaozuo spoke in a loud tone.

"Don't underestimate the eight roads, use your brains to fight."

Yoshino glanced at the young man, satisfied with his attitude, and then pointed to his temple and said:

"It is expected that after dawn, the Eighth Route Army will launch an attack, and the Eighth Route has more troops and our troops are smaller, so we will kill and wound a large number of Eighth Route soldiers in the first wave."

There are more than 30,000 main players in the eight routes, while Yoshino United has only more than 3,600 people, and the number of both sides is almost 10 to 1.

There is a huge disparity in troops.

Yoshino continued: "Arrange a small number of machine guns and troops on the street, build a fire point, attract the eight routes to attack along the street, put most of the fire in the houses on both sides of the street, and wait for the eight roads to enter the ambush circle, and the light and heavy machine guns on both sides will fire at the same time!" ”

"Next, it's a house-by-house and street-by-street battle with the Eighth Road!"

In 1937, Yoshino participated in the campaign to attack Shanghai, when he was only a captain and his rank was only center-left.

In the middle of the battle, the Chinese and Japanese sides engaged in large-scale street fighting, and when the Nationalist soldiers counterattacked, the Japanese used this tactic to kill and injure a large number of Nationalist soldiers.

After deploying the combat mission, Yoshino's tone suddenly rose: "Gentlemen, the time has come to be loyal to His Majesty the Locust and the Japanese Empire!" ”

"Long live Your Majesty the Locust, long live the Great Japanese Empire!"

The three captains raised their hands and shouted.

After a few shouts, the three captains turned to leave with fanaticism and madness in their eyes.

……

The headquarters of the 3rd Column of Taihang of the Eighth Route Army.

Wang Dehou put down the high-power walkie-talkie and reported to Li Yunlong: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the 1st Attack Group reports that the southern city wall has been occupied, and Regiment Commander Ding asks for instructions, should you immediately start a street battle?" ”

The southern wall of the outer city of Taiyuan was captured by Ding Wei's 1st Attack Group.

All the outer walls fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

"No hurry!"

Li Yunlong looked at the watch in his hand and said: "There is still more than an hour before dawn, and the fighters of the various attack groups will step up their efforts to replenish ammunition and eat breakfast, and when it is dawn, they will enter the city to fight street battles. ”

No, Li Yunlong was not in a hurry to enter the city and fight street battles with the devil puppet army.

Although the time was very short, Li Yunlong commanded the troops with rich experience in street fighting, and he would not send soldiers to attack along the streets as soon as he entered the city.

If they do that, the attacking troops will definitely fall headlong into the trap set by the devil puppet army.

When he first attacked Yangquan, Li Yunlong suffered such a loss, but there were not many devils in Yangquan at that time, although he suffered a little loss, it was not a big loss.

After that, Wang Dehou immediately conveyed the order to the attack groups through a high-power walkie-talkie.

Li Yunlong said again: "Chief of Staff, immediately prepare a telegram and send it to the headquarters, saying that our 3rd Column of Taihang has successfully taken the outer city wall of Taiyuan, and will enter the city after dawn to start a street battle with the devils." ”

"Yes!"

Wang Dehou hurriedly drafted a telegram and handed it to the telegraph operator, who then sent it to the headquarters.

About 20 minutes later, the headquarters called Li Yunlong back.

The head of the headquarters commended Li Yunlong and the 3rd Column of Taihang, and encouraged Li Yunlong and the 3rd Column to make persistent efforts to take Taiyuan in one go.

And the telegram of the headquarters also wrote about the reinforcement of the Japanese army in Taiyuan.

The main force of the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese Army, the 1st Brigade of the Cavalry of the Mongolian Army is moving south to reinforce Taiyuan, and the 108th Division is rushing from Shimen City to reinforce Taiyuan.

After reading the telegram, Li Yunlong was a little surprised.

Yoshio Shinozuka, the old devil, didn't draw troops back from the Nakajo Mountain battlefield.

Instead, he applied to the North China Front for the 108th Division and the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Mongolian Army to reinforce Taiyuan.

The 108th Division must have been reinforcing westward along the Zhengtai Railway, and at this time the Zhengtai Railway was blocked again, and the 108th Division definitely did not dare to take the train to reinforce.

However, in this way, the 2nd Taihang Column led by the brigade commander who was fighting with the 2nd Guards Division could not have ended the battle earlier.

When the 108th Division arrived, the 2nd Column of Taihang faced the 2 divisions of the Japanese army, and the pressure on the brigade commander was great.

Li Yunlong's eyes narrowed, it seemed that he had to speed up and end the battle against Taiyuan.