Li Weimin took his gun and hurried out of his headquarters, and by this time a large number of boats had gathered on the north bank of the river, stretching for several miles on the river. Li Weimin ran to the bank of the river in one go, watching all this in disbelief.

"What's going on?" Li Weimin asked the soldiers on the side.

The soldier shook his head and replied, not knowing what was going on.

At this moment, a company commander walked in front of Li Weimin with a group of people, led by an old man, who should be at least over fifty years old, dressed in coarse cloth clothes and with very messy hair.

"Dare to ask if this military master took the troops across the river to fight the little devils?" Before Li Weimin could speak, the old man spoke first.

"Yes, we are attacking the Japanese army in the upper third rank! Who are you? ”

No matter what these people are going to do, Li Weimin must first ask about their identities.

"We are all boatmen and fishermen on the Hutuo River, today we heard the rumbling of cannons on the Hutuo River, and after inquiry, we learned that your army crossed the river here, so we rushed to help your army cross the river!" The old man was old and spoke very slowly.

When Li Weimin heard the old man's words, he really thanked God for sending them timely rain: "You are our God, thank you very much, how many ships have you come?" ”

"There are more than 300 boats in total, but they are all fishing boats, and they can carry up to 30 people, and some small boats can carry up to 10 people!" The old man explained.

"Enough, enough!" Li Weimin was so excited that he couldn't speak.

Li Weimin was very grateful to them for sending ships, and hurriedly ordered the soldiers to get on board and start attacking the north bank of the river according to their plan.

The first wave of 150 boats, under the cover of artillery, rushed to the other side of the river at the fastest speed like arrows leaving the bowstring, and in the turbulent water, some small boats were like leaves under the heavy shelling of the Japanese army, and were overturned by the waves of the cannonballs, and the soldiers and boatmen on board were swept away by the river.

Some of the boats were hit directly by the shells, and the blood stained the river red, but none of the boatmen flinched, and they used all the strength they had accumulated all their life to row to the other side of the river...... Went on and on until there was no one left on the boat, and then the boat drifted along the river, not knowing where it was going.

Li Weimin's artillery constantly fired at the Japanese positions on the other side of the river, and the shells crossed the river, sending out hateful explosions at the Japanese positions, and the fortifications on the positions of the little devils were constantly overturned by the shells.

"Division commander, our first echelon has reached the other side of the river! Explosions are being carried out on Japanese pillboxes on the banks of the river! A soldier reported loudly.

"Order the second echelon to board the ship quickly, and the third echelon to prepare for boarding!" Li Weimin watched his warriors in the binoculars and began to board the boat and charge across the river.

The cannon still rumbled, and Li Weimin's artillery began to extend its artillery fire, aiming at the deep positions of the Japanese army.

In the darkness of the night, the screams and fighting sounded, and the follow-up troops began to climb the riverbank, and the soldiers immediately charged the position of the little devil, who was no longer able to block the river with fire.

Li Weimin stood on the bank of the river, and a layer of driftwood floated in the river at this time, which was the wreckage left by the hit boat, they were still a boat one second, and the next second they became rotten wood...... Li Weimin squatted down silently, looking at the river that he didn't know if it was black or red, he knew that this time they had suffered a lot of casualties, and the boatman's casualties were also very large.

By daybreak, all of Li Weimin's troops had already controlled most of the upper three levels, and only a few pillboxes still had the remnants of the Japanese army still lingering, and Li Weimin directly ordered the artillery to fire at these pillboxes, blowing up the Japanese troops in the bunkers into a pile of minced meat.

It wasn't until dawn that Li Weimin counted the casualties, and the number of soldiers killed in the attack reached 300, and half of the boatmen who came to support were also killed, and most of them did not even find their bodies.

Li Weimin stood on the turret that was originally half blown away, looking at the river surface with a small whirlpool, and felt a faint pain in his heart, this attack they were equal to the casualties of the Japanese puppet army, and the final victory still belonged to them.

"Division commander, the little devil reinforcements from Dingzhou are already less than twenty miles away from us!" A soldier reported to Li Weimin.

"How many Japanese troops are there?" Li Weimin asked.

"There is an armored squadron and two infantry brigades of the Japanese army! About 2,500 people. ”

"What about Yan Xingwang?" Li Weimin continued to ask.

"Commander Yan has already led the troops to attack Dingzhou!" The soldier continued to report.

After the task of the cavalry was completed last night, they quickly assembled and rushed behind the enemy. Li Weimin originally planned to use a trick to encircle Wei and save Zhao, drag the Japanese army in the direction of Dingzhou through the cavalry battalion, and then gather all their troops to find a way to eat all the Japanese troops from Dingzhou.

However, the plan is not as good as the change, and a lot of time was wasted when attacking the Japanese army's third-level stronghold yesterday, and Li Weimin also verified a truth, that is, the wheels of the car did run faster than the war horse, and their cavalry regiment had not yet arrived in Dingzhou, and the Japanese army had already arrived in front of them.

"Order our troops to hold their positions and order all our troops to move closer to the upper three levels!"

Li Weimin still had less than a regiment of troops in the upper three levels, and he was not sure in the face of the Japanese army's support troops, and he only hoped that the Japanese army's support troops would not attack after they lost their strongholds in the upper three levels.

The Japanese troops on the west bank of the Mianhe River had been driven into the Mianhe River by Liu Chundao's troops to swim, and Liu Chundao was faced with a particularly big problem, that is, they did not have a boat to cross the river, so they could only look at the Mianhe River and sigh.

However, Liao Fan did not seem to have any intention of letting them cross the river, but only let a regiment under Liu Chundao's command defend on the spot west of the Mianhe River, and the other troops stood by and waited for the next order.

Similarly, Ma Wanzhong's battle on the Zhengtai Line was also very smooth, and they captured most of the Japanese strongholds west of Jingchengkou overnight, and their troops approached the city of Jingchengkou. The effect of the overnight raid was significant.

However, after dawn, the troops also exchanged fire with the Japanese reinforcements, and the Chinese soldiers fought hard against the armored units of the little devils in the rudimentary fortifications, and many soldiers died with the Japanese tanks with explosives bags.

The Japanese troops in various strongholds held off the first wave of the Chinese army's attack, and with their strong fortifications, they resisted the Chinese army hard, and although the situation on the front line was clear, the troops had to pay a great price if they wanted to move forward.

"Brother Fan, the progress of all the troops last night was good!" Huang Changsheng reported to Liao Fan.

"Last night we launched a surprise attack, the little devils were defenseless, we took a big advantage, and now the Japanese army has reacted, and the supporting units have exchanged fire with our blocking troops, and the next situation we are facing is the most complicated!" Liao Fan said.

Huang Changsheng began to frown, if it was really according to what Liao Fan said, their trouble was really not small, although their results last night were very significant, but there was still a long distance from their combat goals, take Jing Cheng and Lu Quan as an example, they didn't even attack Jing Cheng now, and they only captured two of the four important strongholds between Jing Cheng and Lu Quan.

"Let Ma Wanzhong take Jingcheng City tomorrow morning, we can't delay time, the longer it drags on, the worse it will be for us!" Liao Fan ordered to the signal soldiers.

Ma Wanzhong's division headquarters is now less than 20 miles away from Jingcheng City, and they have surrounded Jingcheng regiments, but the little devils have a lot of troops in Jingcheng, and the most headache for Ma Wanzhong is that the little devils have built a large number of hidden forts around Jingcheng, and the main force of the attack has been frustrated, and now the troops are blasting the bunkers and artillery towers outside the little devil city one by one.

"Regiment commander, the attack of the third company was repelled by the little devils again, and their casualties have already exceeded half!" A battalion commander reported to their regiment commander that their regiment was responsible for the main attack, and that it was their regiment's sharp knife company that was no longer able to take down the turret blocking the front after blowing up the three dark bunkers and one turret of the little devils.

"We can't fight like this anymore, if we continue to fight like this, even if our regiment attacks the city, it will lose too many troops!" The head of the regiment said.

"Yes, Commander, hurry up and think of a way!" The battalion commander was also anxious, since the battle began last night, their battalion as the main attacking force, to now a third of the casualties, there are still a large number of wounded soldiers to be transported back.

"Ask the division commander for artillery support, it's time for the artillery brigade to show some skills, you can't take the lives of our brothers and fight the little devil turret!" The regiment commander decided to ask Ma Wanzhong for support.

Ma Wanzhong also knew that from last night to now, the explosive power of their troops has been exerted to the limit under the powerful firepower of the little devils, although the soldiers will continue to attack under the artillery fire of the little devils, the soldiers will still fight desperately, but the battle cannot be fought like this, because the capture of Jingcheng City is not their ultimate goal, and they will continue to fight the little devils to the east, so they can't fight the morale of the soldiers.

"Tell Brother Liao to bring artillery to support!"

The Jingcheng area had become a mess, and the Japanese commander in Hebei finally understood that the New 33rd Army was playing a sloppy role against him in attacking the two county towns of Xiyang and Pingding, and that the final force was directed at their Jingcheng mining area.

However, the current scene was not very bad for the commander of the Japanese army in Hebei, after all, he still had time to react, and immediately ordered his subordinate troops to support in the direction of the Zhengtai Line and Dingzhou.

Whether it is Li Weimin or Hu Guozhong, as long as one of them can attack smoothly, they can completely go around the back of the Jingcheng mining area, and then the Jingcheng mining area will be completely surrounded by the new 33rd Army.

"Brother Fan, the little devil's reinforcements from all sides have been dispatched, we don't have the strength to block these reinforcements anymore, once these reinforcements arrive at the front line battlefield, we are likely to form a stalemate with the little devil, and it will be difficult to complete the final combat goal." Huang Changsheng said to Liao Fan.

"Calm down, the most taboo thing to fight is to be impetuous, as long as we capture Jingcheng City, we will have enough troops to deal with the reinforcements of the little devils!" Liao Fan knew that the troops were attacking various strongholds now, and their forces were very scattered, but as long as they could support until they took Jingcheng City, they still had enough troops to deal with the reinforcements of the little devils.

Now a part of the artillery brigade has reached the bottom of Jingcheng City, and launched an artillery bombardment on the Japanese army, and a hundred artillery pieces of various kinds have blown up the little devil's turret and the pillboxes that have been exposed outside the city.

Soon one of Ma Wanzhong's regiments had already attacked under the city wall, using the method of earthwork to get close to Jingcheng City, and then brought out their flying thunder cannons, which were more effective against the city wall flying thunder cannons than mortars and mountain artillery. China's ancient city walls have stood for thousands of years and have become strong fortifications, and mortars and mountain artillery of little devils are of little use to the city walls.

With the continuous improvement of the flying thunder cannon by the New 33rd Army, it has been able to successfully throw more than 20 catties of yellow explosives onto the city wall more than 200 meters away. The air wave generated by the violent explosion, at a distance of more than ten meters around, the little devil was swept away or shocked to death like a leaf.