The bombing campaign did not last long, and the nineteen bombers soon dropped all the bombs they were loading, and the bombers immediately climbed off the battlefield after dropping the bombs.

About 10 minutes later, Li Tunyang piloted the fighter plane to climb to an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, and then concentrated the bomber group by shaking the wings. In those days, there were no radios on the planes, and the planes could only communicate with each other by rocking their wings, and there was no communication with the ground at all. Therefore, it is easy for the aircraft to deviate from the course when performing a long-distance mission, and once it gets lost, it will be very dangerous, and even if it can make a successful forced landing, the aircraft is easily damaged, and the pilot is also easily injured, and it is even possible to land in the enemy-occupied area.

Therefore, when the aviation units of the Lishui base of the National Army carried out long-distance reconnaissance missions, they generally flew in a two-plane formation and flew according to a fixed route, relying on ground reference objects as navigation points, while those on the Jiangyin side were much simpler, and they did not need to work too hard, and they flew directly along the Yangtze River. Although the bombing mission to Nanjing this time was only more than 60 kilometers, in order to avoid getting lost, the formation still chose a fixed route, and Li Tunyang was the navigator of this mission; as the mission commander and navigator, he had to concentrate the group and fly back together, otherwise he would go first, and it would be very likely that the lone plane behind him would not be able to fly back.

After concentrating the group, Li Tunyang immediately flew back with the group, and the time was only eight o'clock.

Li Tunyang's group of planes staggered away, the sound of explosions continued on the north bank of Nanjing, and the artillery of Sa Zhenbing's fleet and guard division continued to shell, trying to expand the results of the aerial bombardment.

Feng Guozhang's face is gloomy and terrible now, he has been on the top of the building since the national army planes came, and then watched these planes continue to drop bombs, and he clearly heard the loud explosions from the frontline positions and the railway station.

"How's going on at the train station? Why hasn't there been any news yet! "There was such a violent explosion in the munitions depot at the railway station, as a veteran soldier, Feng Guozhang knew that it could not be a direct shelling by the enemy, and it was very likely that his own ammunition depot had exploded.

The adjutant next to him hurriedly trotted over: "My lord! As soon as the words came out, Feng Guozhang over there frowned, and the adjutant beside him was also used to seeing his face, so he immediately understood that he had said the wrong thing, and immediately changed his words: "Commander!" ”

After Xinhai, China republicized, and many things were different from before, such as this title: as early as the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe period, the word "adult" with an obvious feudal flavor was abandoned, and all were changed to official positions, such as directly called division commanders, governors, and the like. After the North-South peace talks, Beiyang formed a cabinet, and in order to show the determination of the republic, it was not allowed to call the old title of 'adult' and changed it to an official position, and now Feng Guozhang's official position is Jianghuai Xuanfu envoy and concurrently the commander of the Second Army, and it is appropriate to call his subordinates the commander of the army now.

The adjutant continued: "The railway station was shelled, and the bomb detonated the ammunition warehouse near the railway station! ”

Although he had already guessed this, Feng Guozhang still couldn't believe it after hearing the news: "How much is the loss?" ”

"Two ammunition depots were blown up, and the munitions depot next to it was also blown up!" The adjutant continued: "Now the troops have carried out the relevant rescue! ”

Two ammunition depots were blown up! This accounted for almost half of the ammunition in the Beiyang Army's inventory, but it was not all blown up. Feng Guozhang didn't lose his temper or anything like that, but was silent for a moment and said, "I ordered the munitions warehouse near the railway station to be urgently transferred and stored in a dispersed manner." ”

Then he walked towards the inside of the house and said, "Send a telegram to Yanjing and ask the War Department to urgently purchase planes from foreign countries!" ”

This bombing made Feng Guozhang pay more attention to the planes, and the reconnaissance of the Nationalist planes had already made him have to adopt many tactics to avoid large-scale maneuvers during the day as much as possible, and now that the Nationalist planes can bomb directly, he hates the Nationalist planes even more.

Although hateful, but at present, the Beiyang Army does not have a very good way to deal with the aircraft, some time ago it can only be shot with rifles, but the shooting of rifles is not a big threat to the planes of the National Army. In addition, there are also some soldiers of the Beiyang Army who try to use the Makqin heavy machine gun to shoot at the air, but due to the weight and structure of the Makqin heavy machine gun, it is difficult to use it for the air. To this end, some officers of the Beiyang Army have proposed to purchase lightweight machine guns for anti-aircraft fire, such as the Madsen machine gun equipped by the Nationalist Army.

As for the machine gun that specializes in the air, it has never appeared in the world so far, and although the officers of the Beiyang Army have some ideas, it is impossible to design an anti-aircraft machine gun in vain.

The Nationalist Army's aircraft group flew away, but the artillery of the Nationalist Army's navy and guard division continued to fire, and when it comes to actual combat results, the bombing of the planes just now was a mistake that detonated the ammunition depot of the Beiyang Army. The results of other damage to personnel and materials were not large, and the Beiyang Army suffered at most one or two hundred casualties after an air raid, most of whom died because of the explosion at the ammunition depot. At most, there were only a few dozen Beiyang Army soldiers killed or wounded by aerial bombs and fighter jets.

Comparatively speaking, the artillery bombardment of the guard division and the navy combined was much more intense, with 36 artillery regiments of 75 mm in the artillery regiment of the guard division, 12 120 mm heavy mortars in the temporarily reinforced heavy mortar battalion, and then more than 20 80 mm mortars in the subordinate regiments, so that the artillery of the entire guard division was as many as 70 guns. Almost all the capital ships in the navy are here, the eight-inch naval guns of the Haiqi, the six-inch guns of the Hairong and Haichou ships, and then a large number of five-inch guns and four-inch guns, these naval guns are all long-barreled cannons, which can be used for long-range artillery support.

As soon as these two sides were in a row, more than 100 artillery pieces continued to shell, and a large number of shells continued to fall on the front line and rear of the Beiyang Army. In those days, an ordinary 75-millimeter shell cost thirty or forty yuan, and such a large-scale and fierce artillery hit not a shell, but gold.

Whether it is the navy or the guard division, the ammunition they carry is limited, and it is also very difficult to supply because they are far away from the rear, and it is impossible to waste shells casually for large-scale shelling without a purpose.

Feng Guozhang also saw this, in the command headquarters, he listened to the continuous sound of artillery outside, took out his pocket watch and looked at it: "The artillery of this national army has been firing for almost two quarters of an hour!" It's time for their artillery to stop, and tell the troops in front to prepare for battle! ”

There is no need for Feng Guozhang to order, when the artillery of the national army is slightly weaker, the officers of the Beiyang Army at all levels on the front line have already guessed what will happen next, according to the traditional infantry artillery coordinated combat tactics, the next thing should be the artillery of the national army to extend backwards, and the infantry of the national army should charge.

They guessed correctly, on the opposite side of the Beiyang Army, in the temporary trenches, the grassroots officers of the National Army bent over and walked quickly in the trenches.

"Brothers, cheer up!" The lieutenant platoon commander was cheering on five or six soldiers.

At this time, a corporal raised his head, and his face was full of smudges with a thick beard: "Platoon Commander Du, will it be one of our company or a battalion?" ”

Lieutenant Du looks very young, only about ten years old, Du Yanpeng graduated from the Fuzhou Military Academy like many young grassroots officers of the National Army, it is the sixth phase of the official class, but he is not from Fujian or Zhejiang, but from Hebei, after the North-South peace talks, he joined the National Socialist Party in Shanghai, and then directly applied for the Fuzhou Military Academy, and after graduation, he was assigned to the first regiment of the guard division as a deputy platoon commander, and the original platoon commander of the guard division was injured after the guard division crossed the river, and he took over as a platoon commander. The young lieutenant looked into the distance and said, "Not only will our 2nd Battalion rush forward, but even our 1st Regiment will rush forward!" ”

Hearing Du Yanpeng say this, a first-class private rifleman next to him came over with a rifle: "Really the whole regiment rushed?" Such a big stance? ”

Corporal Hu took out a pack of cigarettes, then lit one and took a deep breath and said: "I guess it's not wrong, you didn't see such a big posture of this artillery, not only the artillery regiment in the division fired artillery, but also heard that the navy also fired artillery!" After taking another puff of cigarette, he said to Du Yanpeng: "Platoon commander, I'm right!" ”

Du Yanpeng smiled and nodded: "Actually, it's not just our regiment, I heard that the above is going to attack on all fronts!" ”

"All in the way?" Corporal Hu Zhaizi said: "It's long overdue, we've been here for many days, the sooner we fight, the better, otherwise we will be difficult to fight after the Beiyang Army recovers!" ”

Du Yanpeng said: "We will do whatever the boss tells us to do!" Anyway, you'll all rush with me later, and as long as you rush over, you'll win! ”

The First Class Rifleman didn't seem to believe it, and immediately asked, "Is it really just a matter of rushing over and winning?" ”

The corporal next to him interjected: "Then there can be a fake, our artillery just now was so fierce, look at this posture must be dispatched to the divisional artillery regiment, and the artillery on the navy's side also fired artillery, such a fierce artillery hit the past is a person who is also stupid, and when we go over, we will probably see them hiding and trembling!" ”

His words caused a few people next to him to laugh!

At the same time, not far behind the battle line, Lin Chengkun and Yu Ruofei and many staff officers sent by the headquarters gathered on a small high ground, Lin Chengkun used a telescope to observe the results of the artillery bombardment in the distance, and after putting down the binoculars, he took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and then nodded after looking at Yu Ruofei.

"Let's get started!" After Lin Chengkun said this softly, he took out the telescope and continued to observe and occupy, while Yu Ruofei turned around and said a few words to the adjutant beside him, and then the adjutant trotted out quickly.

Half a minute later, the artillery fire of the Nationalist Army began to extend backwards, and at the same time a rapid whistle rose one after another on the Nationalist front.