Chapter 388: Yangtze River Trench

Gao Zefu's 40th Division of the Shenwu Army did not have a chance to become the vanguard of crossing the river, but this kind of seemingly sky-high achievement in the Shenwu Army really fell on the head of the 40th Division, the reason is very simple, Gao Zefu's headquarters changed from the tail to the head when the Shenwu Army was stationed in various units.

When the commanders of the other divisions were all red-eyed, the atmosphere in Gao Zefu's command tent was also a little solemn at this moment.

"Our division is basically from Liaodong, and after the winter, there are a lot of problems with the feet on the side of Nanzhili, and the equipment of our division is not as good as that of other departments."

Deputy division commander Tang Wei said and looked at Gao Zefu, who had been looking at the map silently: "Old Gao, we are under a lot of pressure in this battle. ”

Gao Zefu turned his head with a solemn face: "The 18,000 people in the whole division are fighting to the last moment, and the last person will also plant the banner of our division in Jiangbei." ”

Everyone's faces immediately became serious, and they all received a military order from the military headquarters, and they were killed.

And now the words of division commander Gao Zefu have already expressed his attitude.

Tang Wei spoke: "When the river crossing begins, I will lead the team to set off first, Lao Gao, you are responsible for pressing the rear." ”

Chief of Staff Huang Hua answered: "The division seat is responsible for pressing the back, and after you set off, I will be in charge of the middle road." ”

Gao Zefu stopped Tan Dang, the political commissar who wanted to interface: "Old Tan, your political commissar is engaged in civilian work, and Lao Huang's responsibilities are different, he is the chief of staff, and he has the power to command the battle, unless the three of us are dead, the command of the 40th division will fall into your hands, and you have to press the formation by the river." ”

Tan Dang said his thoughts: "It's okay to press the formation, but I still consider whether I need to change the plan to cross the river by ferry, according to the spies on the other side, the artillery positions along the river in Jiannu are dense, and the casualties of this river crossing are not small." ”

Gao Zefu looked at the sign on the sand table: "The connection ferry is prone to the situation of burning Chibi, after all, there are not many people in our northern army who know how to water, in order to disperse the artillery attack of Jiannu, we can only rush up one boat by boat with the situation of the ferry boat separated, but this is not much different from Lao Tan's statement, and the casualties must not be small." ”

Several commanders looked at the sand table and were silent, and after a while, Tang Wei took a deep breath: "That's it, I'll take the 120th Brigade first, and the time for crossing the river stipulated by the headquarters is coming..."

Tang Wei turned to leave, and Gao Zefu also took a deep breath: "I will take the second wave of the 118 Brigade to cross the river, Lao Huang, after you take the 119 Brigade Palace, remember, even if there is one person left, he will die on the way to cross the river." ”

The people on the other side of the river naturally did not know the news of Bao Chengxian, there was only one Jiangqiao ferry directly opposite Gaozi Town, and the guerrilla general Li Shihan was in charge of guarding the town, and the east and west sides of the Jiangqiao were all artillery positions that extended for three miles, and the Hongyi artillery weighing 3,000 catties was facing the direction of Gaozi Town.

Li Shihan only got the news of the Dantu War, but Li Yongfang's order was to let his subordinates not act rashly.

"My lord...", the cronies stumbled into the big tent: "Jiangmian, Jiangmian... The Ming army has crossed the river..."

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"Fire..."

"Light the wolf smoke and fire the cannon..."

'Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock...'

'Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock...'

'Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock...'

As the wolf smoke rose, the artillery positions around the Jiangqiao ferry suddenly erupted with bursts of fierce fire, and the gunpowder smoke in the sky was accompanied by the shaking of the earth, pushing the shells towards the other side of the river.

There were more than a dozen ferries hit by artillery in succession, but because of the low equipment of the fire shells, the ferries with medium guns could still rush towards the other side of the river according to their inertia.

However, the bottom of the boat that was penetrated could not make the ferry cross the river smoothly, and for a while, soldiers overboard on the river abounded.

Tang Wei was in the middle of the road, and when he saw this situation, he immediately ordered the officers and men of the whole brigade not to slack off, and he even ordered the flat sand boat under his feet to rush towards the opposite bank.

The river is not wide, only two and a half miles, and under normal circumstances, you can cross the river without a cup of tea, but now under the obstruction of artillery, this short distance of two and a half miles seems to be blocked in front of the feet of the officers and men of the 120th Brigade, and they have not advanced an inch.

However, the artillery could only hit the middle after all, after paying more than 1,000 casualties, the first ferry finally approached the Jiangqiao ferry, just as the officers and soldiers on the boat were ready to rush up with a force, the Qing army who had been waiting at the ferry raised the flintlock pistol in their hands, and under the cover of a bowl and mouth gun and tiger squat artillery, the fierce fire was all poured on the ferry.

For a while, the ferry boat was directly smashed into rotten wood, and all the corpses sank into the Yangtze River.

Tang Wei put down the clairvoyant mirror and shouted: "Rush up, the tiger squat cannon is ready, put the Crow Sky Rocket on the bow of the ship, quick..."

Gao Zefu, who was on the riverside ferry in the distance, saw the fierce battle, and immediately ordered the 118th Brigade to start crossing the river, while he quickly bypassed from the east to avoid Tang Wei's troops who were fighting fiercely in front of him.

The battle for crossing the river was unprecedentedly fierce.

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"How's it going?"

Wang Xiaojie stood on the gate of the camp.

"Back to the military seat, the 40th Division has begun to cross the river, but the Tartar defenders have arranged a large number of artillery pieces around the Jiangqiao ferry, and the 40th Division has sunk too many ferries, and it is estimated that there will be no less than 2,000 casualties."

Wang Xiaojie looked at Yuan Shizhong: "Old Yuan, what do you think?" ”

Yuan Shizhong was born in Liaodong and was not accustomed to water warfare: "It can only be filled with human lives, and the ferries have been given to the 40th division, if you can't take it, no... Even if the 40th Division is completely annihilated, it will have to cross the river. ”

Wang Xiaojie was silent, as if for the Shenwu Army, this was the only way: "Go, order the field artillery battalion to support the 40th Division and shell Jiangbei." ”

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"Deputy Division Commander..."

Tang Wei was spurted out a mouthful of blood, he was shot in the chest by a flintlock lead bullet flying from the ferry, and although the new military uniform was convenient, it had no protection.

"Get out of here," Tang Wei shouted, "Rush over..."

With the support of tiger squat artillery and rockets, Tang Wei's flat-bottomed sand boat was large, and it smoothly rushed onto the beach of the Jiangqiao ferry, and more than 100 officers and men jumped off the sand boat with their shields in their hands and went straight to build a defensive position on the beach.

With the success of the first ferry, a steady stream of ferries began to rush to the ferry.

Li Shihan was not far away, and when he saw this situation, he immediately ordered the prepared fierce fire oil to be carried out, and while the officers and men of the 120 Brigade were not firmly established, they ruthlessly threw the ignited fire oil canisters one by one towards the beach.

The violent explosion was accompanied by the sky-high fire, and in an instant, it swallowed up all the beach positions where Tang Weisha's boat was located.

Gao Zefu put down the clairvoyant mirror, his right hand clenched into a fist and trembled violently: "Put a signal flare, the whole division will attack, cross the river..."

When Li Shihan received a large number of ferries on the east side of the river and was heading towards the beach east of the river bridge, he immediately ordered all the reserves to go to the east to support, and in addition, he sent messengers to ask Li Yongfang in Yangzhou for help before the battle.

The 34th Division's Han Shun's headquarters was closest to the 40th Division, but until now, Han Shun has not received an order from the headquarters to let them go to support.

"Gao Zefu said that the dog is lucky, and it is a great achievement for Mader to cross the river, go, send someone to the headquarters to ask the military seat, when will we dispatch."

As soon as Han Shun finished speaking, the herald came on horseback, and he ran out of breath: "Commander Han, the command order, order your department to support the 40th Division immediately, there must be no mistake." ”

"Okay, what do you want, heralds, blow the trumpet, the whole army is set off, Lao Tzu has already been ready."

From the front beach of Jiangqiao Ferry to the east two miles away is all the battlefield, at this moment the two sides are fighting in full swing, Gao Zefu saw Tang Wei who has been burned beyond his face, and after a burst of angry scolding, he selected thirty daredevils from the directly subordinate guard company, and asked them to rush up the high slope of Jiangqiao Ferry with explosives and medicine packs, and blow up the gentle slope position built by the Qing army.

After giving the order, the guards competed one by one, and finally the whole company selected thirty daredevils, and after Gao Zefu personally promised to give them the aftermath, the thirty people were divided into ten teams, and three people in each team gradually moved forward.

With several loud bangs, the blocking position in front of Gao Zefu collapsed under the charge of the daredevils, who then gave the order to mount the bayonet.

"Brothers, follow me..."

Gao Zefu, the division commander, personally rushed up with his gun, and the soldiers behind him were naturally not far behind.

Three hours after the start of the battle of crossing the river, Wang Xiaojie, who was in Gaozi Town, finally received a herald from the front.

"Junza, the 40th Division successfully crossed the river, and the 34th Division also crossed the river later, and now the Tartars have abandoned the river beach positions and all retreated to Yangzhou."

Wang Xiaojie stood up with a pause: "Okay, order, the whole army will cross the river in turn, and strive to complete the crossing of the river tomorrow. ”

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Although the battle of crossing the river was fought quickly, the casualties on both sides were very large.

"The 3,200 people of a guerrilla battalion of the puppet army Li Shihan relied on the beachhead to block us, the 120 Brigade was basically wiped out, only two unformed battalions remained, the 118 Brigade lost more than 2,400 people, the 119 Brigade suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, the 40th Division has been disabled, and the deputy division commander Tang Wei died on the river beach at the beginning of the river crossing, and the chief of staff Huang Hua was killed by the meteor hammer thrown by the puppet army in the subsequent battle, and the division commander Gao Zefu was injured in the battle with the puppet army during the charge."

After listening to the staff officer's report, Wang Xiaojie asked with a cold face: "What about Li Shihan?" ”

"After the Jiangtan position was blown up by the death squad of the 40th Division, the traitor ran away, so he simply ran away, otherwise the casualties of the 40th Division would increase."

"A division of nearly 20,000 people, crossed the river and was crippled in the first battle, and a deputy division commander and chief of staff died, do you say that our Shenwu Army is not powerful, or is the Jiannu Tartar no longer the nest we imagined?"

In the face of Wang Xiaojie's inquiry, the staff officers standing beside him were silent.

"Someone, go collect the bodies of Tang Wei and Huang Hua, send them back to Nanjing, and write down the process of this battle in detail and send it to the Governor's Mansion, Your Majesty will definitely know;

The order was given that after the divisions were assembled, the 40th Division was ordered to rest in situ, the 34th Division went to the Dantu Seven Grand Ferry to reinforce, and the rest of the divisions marched to Yangzhou in turn. ”

"Yes..."