In Xinzhuang, the soldiers who were exhausted from fighting the fire walked slowly with various construction tools, Zhang Wei's face was full of black smoke, and so did the soldiers of the third company behind him.

At Zhang Wei's suggestion, the battalion commander of the friendly army brought in several heavy machine guns and used grenades to blow up the burning thatched houses.

After the house was destroyed and fell to the ground, soldiers rushed up to extinguish the fire with sappers and shovels.

The two battalions and the third company of the preparatory battalion worked together to extinguish the fire in Zhuangzili, and the friendly forces transferred a batch of state-made gas masks and temporary anti-gas kits to Zhang Wei and the third company.

Otherwise, just rely on the towels in the hands of the soldiers to cover their mouths and noses and extinguish the fire ignited by yellow phosphorus, and before the fire is extinguished, people will be smoked to death by poisonous gas.

The officers and soldiers of the third company and Zhang Wei who finished the fire-fighting project sat on the ground paralyzed, and the physical strength consumed to extinguish the fire was no less than a fierce battle, and the soldiers of the friendly army were cleaning up the mess.

It was all reduced to ashes, and only the burned foundations of the walls still stood on the ground. Zhang Wei observed the buildings in Xinzhuang, including thatched and adobe houses, as well as stone houses, threshing floors, halls, and houses that resembled the courtyards of wealthy households.

Before the people ran out, it was a good village settlement, and the population must have been quite large.

The bombing blew up most of the thatched houses, and the rest of the buildings were in good condition, which did not have a great impact on the arming of the defenders in the village, after all, those thatched houses may not even be able to block heavy machine gun bullets, and the friendly arming system was not the focus in the first place.

"Battalion commander, take a sip."

Zheng Yiqun, who was behind Zhang Wei, handed Zhang Wei the kettle, and his face was also blackened, which was still the result of being protected by a gas mask.

Zhang Wei took the kettle and moistened his throat that was roasted.

"After a while, tell the brothers to go back and rest and recuperate, and all hide in our fortifications and drink some water." Zhang Wei turned around and said.

Zheng Yiqun nodded in response.

"Stand up, get back to position!" After resting in Zhuangzi for a while, Zhang Wei ordered to return to the position, and now there is chaos in Zhuangzi, and the friendly troops have to restore their defense, so it is better to bring people back to Jianjian himself. The battalion commanders of the friendly forces did not leave Zhang Wei much, and the burden on them was also very heavy.

The friendly officer thanked him a few words, and Zhang Wei led Zheng Yiqun's third company back to the position of the preparation camp, and the only harvest was more than 30 state-made gas masks and nearly 100 simple anti-gas kits.

The gas masks sent by friendly forces were given to the officers and squad leaders, sergeants, and soldiers each with a simple gas kit.

The preparatory battalion did not distribute anti-poison equipment before entering eastern Henan to participate in the war, and the national army had anti-drug education, but the equipment gap has always been very large, and the imported gas masks and domestic gas masks combined could not meet the needs of the troops.

When the preparatory battalion set off from Hunan, it was not even equipped with a simple anti-virus kit.

Fortunately, the friendly army supported a group, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to help with the firefighting.

After this bombing, Zhang Wei felt more and more that the main force of the Japanese army was approaching, and such a large-scale bombing must be a firepower preparation for a large-scale attack by the ground forces.

Zhang Wei ordered the whole battalion to further strengthen the fortifications, the first and second companies of the first line, strengthen the guard, strictly guard the open land in front of the position and on both sides of Xinzhuang, cooperate with friendly defense, and report quickly if there is a situation, and the third company continues to rest and stand by in the concealment department at any time.

According to Zhang Wei's subjective idea, if the Japanese army broke through from the front line of Xinzhuang, the best way was to concentrate its firepower and raid the open land on both sides of Xinzhuang, where there was only one battalion of the national army, and the defensive strength was insufficient, and with the combat strength and firepower of the Japanese army, it was extremely likely to succeed.

After breaking through the open defense line on both sides, then outflank from the two wings, lay the defensive core of Xinzhuang, and then break through the defensive line with Xinzhuang as the core.

On the other side, the left flank should attack the main heights of Yongsan. Zhang Wei had this idea, but then he warned himself not to use his own ideas to set the enemy's thoughts.

Generally speaking, when considering problems, we must think of the best countermeasures of the enemy army, but we must not cause a stereotype because of empathy, and it is not the first time that the Japanese army does not play cards according to the routine.

It was possible for the Japanese army to attack from anywhere, Zhang Wei maintained this idea, and repeatedly stressed to the troops that as long as it was a defensive line, it should be closely monitored. After the bombing by the Japanese planes, there was no greater movement, and there was no secondary bombing, and there was no movement until the night. During this period, Xinzhuang, which Zhang Wei had just withdrawn, basically restored the defense system, and the friendly forces in Zhuangzi redeployed their defenses and cleaned up the mess in Zhuangzi.

In the evening, it was already dark, and there was a sporadic light in front of the friendly positions in front, which was the oil lamps used for lighting, except for the faint light of these oil lamps, the rest of the parts were pitch black, and the lights on the prepared camp positions were controlled, and no light was allowed.

Many soldiers in the national army have night blindness, and there must be a certain amount of lighting at night, and the preparation camp does not have to worry about this at all.

Soldiers can see clearly at night. The officers and men of the whole battalion waited for the day, the observation posts took turns to rest, their eyes widened and they were on guard, and the heavy machine gunners on the front-line positions took turns to be on duty, staring at the front of the positions. Zhang Wei did not rest, and stayed quietly in the battalion command post, looking at the position in the distance from time to time, at the end of the darkness, I don't know if there are any Japanese troops infested.

In the dark night, another group of heavily armed men were also observing the positions of the Chinese army on the front line, and the Japanese army was preparing to take advantage of the dark night to launch a surprise attack, and the location of the raid was really not a weakly defended open trench, but - Xinzhuang.

The continuous sound of "boom" was accompanied by firelight, which exploded in the dark night, and the Japanese troops who raided Xinzhuang lurked into the entrance of the village by night, and were discovered by the sentries of the 78th Division of the defending army, and the sentries of the 78th Division in hand-to-hand combat detonated the grenades on their bodies, and the explosion of the grenades was not loud.

But in the dark night, it is so conspicuous.

"Assemble!" "There are enemy troops!"

The first explosion in Xinzhuang was followed by the sound of heavy gunfire, and the Japanese defenders of Zhuanguchi and the Japanese army were engaged in a scuffle. The positions of the preparatory battalion were filled with the sound of orders and soldiers running, and when the explosions were heard, the observation posts on the front-line positions shouted and fired into the air.

The sound of gunfire woke up the officers and soldiers who were resting in turn, and everyone took their guns to the position, Zhang Wei rushed out of the battalion command post and came to the front-line position to observe the battle situation.