The month that Qiu Maniac said passed quickly, and the Japanese army trekked through mountains and rivers, attacking left and right along the way, and very cooperatively, they attacked the periphery of Xinyang on time, and launched a small-scale exchange of fire with the scattered troops scattered by the First Army.

More than a month of training was replenished, and the preparatory battalion after a short break was dispatched, or the entire assault column was dispatched.

The assault column, attached to the First Army, marched to the periphery of the Luoshan line in Xinyang, preparing to meet the Japanese army, and the focus of defense was the 78th Division under the First Army, and the main object of the assault column was also this division.

In the face of the approaching Japanese army, the 78th Division was in front and advanced to the periphery to build positions, and the tanks and combat vehicles of the assault column belonged to the rear of the 78th Division's position to prepare for battle.

The 78th Division itself was an infantry division, and there was no shortage of infantry troops, but the reserve battalions were not idle, but were deployed behind the defensive points near the assault column.

There is a village in front of the defensive position of the preparatory battalion, called Xinzhuang, which belongs to an important link in the defense system of the 78th Division, two battalions of the 78th Division occupy the village, and another battalion is deployed in the open field on both sides of Zhuangzi, and the strength of the defensive front is basically equal to that of a regiment.

The most important weapons of the assault column were chariots and anti-aircraft guns, and Zhang Wei's reserve battalion belonged to the "foil" in the eyes of others, so the arrangement of the position was very simple, and it was deployed behind the rear of Xinzhuang, behind the main defense line of the 78th Division.

After the preparatory battalion arrived at the designated position, it first obtained a batch of ammunition for the battle, 79 bullets, and Soviet-style machine gun cartridges specially allocated to Zhang Wei by Qiu Maniac, many of which were transferred from tank machine guns to supplement the Soviet-style turntable machine guns and Soviet-style heavy machine guns of the preparatory battalion.

The village of Xinzhuang is not big or small, there are thatched houses in it, there are also houses with earth and stone structures, the people who originally lived here have long run away, the surroundings of Xinzhuang are basically open land, there are a small number of small dirt bags and small hills, as well as many abandoned crops and wheat, the people of the 78th Division cut down all the crops and straw in order to clear the shooting area.

In the open area on both sides of the Zhuangzi, using a long frontal defensive line, a battalion of men and horses was arranged, and a line-type trench was used, which was slightly weaker than the two battalions in the village, and the open area was open to the seam in the village.

Zhang Wei's preparatory battalion was arranged in Xinzhuang, he did not dare to take it lightly, there were friendly troops in front of him, but the battle situation was changing rapidly, and he could not be sloppy, he ordered the whole battalion to build fortifications on the spot and dig a battalion-level defensive position.

On the position, the soldiers use shovels and pickaxes to dig a big ditch on the ground, and connect them in an orderly manner to form the main body of the defensive position.

According to Zhang Wei's arrangement, the first and second companies were deployed on the left and right flanks of the first line, and the third company was deployed in the second-line positions.

Because of the previous battle damage of the battalion's heavy machine gun company, there were only four heavy machine guns left in the whole company, and Zhang Wei deployed them in the first-line position, distributed them equally, and focused on guarding the open land on both sides of Xinzhuang, where there were not many defensive troops left by the 78th Division, and Zhang Wei had to take special precautions against it.

"How's the fortifications dug up?" The position is in full swing, according to Zhang Wei's requirements, meticulously doing the fortifications, Zhang Wei's battalion command post is the first to dig, it is a semi-concealed fortification, between the first line and the second line of positions, Zhang Wei in the command post, using Zeiss telescopes, can have a good view of the front Xinzhuang and the nearby open land.

"Still digging!" The herald said. Zhang Wei has nothing to do in the command post now, he plans to go to the front line to see, walk out of the command post, and come to the first line of the first line along the traffic ditch, the soldiers are stripped naked, shirtless, the shovel and pickaxe in their hands are raised and fell, the platoon commander and squad leader pull their throats to direct the construction of the fortifications, and when they see Zhang Wei coming, everyone stopped and saluted.

Zhang Wei waved his hand: "If you fight, you don't need to do this." "Looking at the fortifications again, the soldiers have dug a big ditch and basically taken shape, some people are filling sandbags with the excavated earth, and the shooting fortifications on the breastwork wall have not yet been prepared, and the progress of the work seems to be a little slow.

"Battalion commander, these brothers are newly recruited, and the work at hand is not so neat!" The platoon commander of the first company and three platoons said that most of the rout soldiers that were prepared for the battalion replenishment were used to form the third platoon of each company, so the subordinates of the three platoon commanders were basically captured routs.

These veterans of the rout and the soldiers have a lot of oil, and their shooting level is generally acceptable; once it comes to building fortifications and other relatively high-tech things, compared with the original veterans of the preparation battalion, they will be a big piece worse; after Zhang Wei's one-month training, the level has improved a lot, but there are still many unsatisfactory places.

They didn't dig the fortifications fast enough, because the construction was not skillful, and many places were not in place, which eventually affected the progress of the project.

"It's all right, brethren, this fortification must be dug well! You are my brothers in the preparation camp, and you must not be left behind in your work. ”

Zhang Wei picked up a shovel and gathered the soldiers around him in a cordial tone, and the contact in the past month made this group of defeated soldiers have an excellent sense of Zhang Wei, an approachable commander.

Zhang Wei was ready to personally demonstrate the construction of fortifications, and Zhang Wei not only occupied the body of his predecessors, but also accepted the memory of his predecessors.

In the textbook subjects, earthwork is the basic course of the military academy, and Zhang Wei integrated some of the experience he knew in later generations to demonstrate it to these newly recruited soldiers.

"Soil work, colloquially speaking, is to dig a big ditch, you have actually trained during the whole training, this kind of fortification where the big guys are together, called a trench, the big ditch you stand on is called a trench, digging fortifications, you must be fast and steady, you can't delay, the devil's attack is not waiting for you."

"After digging the trench, you must at least reach your neck, so as to give you enough protection, after digging the trench, you must also pile sandbags on the front and back of the top of the trench, and use the soil you took out when digging the trench to fill it, and pile it up outside the trench, this is to prevent your head from being directly hit by the Japanese, when you pile up sandbags, you must leave space for yourself to set up a gun and shoot."

The soldiers around him saw that Zhang Wei was personally demonstrating, and they all listened very seriously, this was the battalion commander's personal teaching!

After speaking, Zhang Wei picked up the sandbags on the ground and placed them on the trench, reserved a gun shooting position between several sandbags, and then poured out some floating soil with another sandbag, sprinkled it on the sandbag, and slapped it to death with the back of a shovel to tamp it down.

"The builder must be skilled, steady, accurate and fast, the trench protects the body, and the sandbag protects the head, so that it can withstand the shrapnel of the guns and cannons of the little Japanese!"