The trenches were a little damp because of the stagnant water, which brought some decadence to the soldiers of the second company who had just experienced the test of life and death, but this was the battlefield, and any negligence would cause casualties. After encountering the night attack, Tang Cheng was thinking about the Japanese armored troops he saw halfway, he didn't know that the Japanese army had organized a large number of tanks and planes in order to take Xiaojieling, and what he saw was only a part of it.

"The plane, the plane is coming." When hordes of Japanese fighters flew in, everyone looked up at the sky as if nothing had happened, and it was almost impossible to see the look of fear on anyone's face. The 2nd Company, which had already experienced a surprise attack by Japanese fighters, was somewhat dismissive of the Japanese fighters that appeared above the position, and the position where the 2nd Company was stationed was the outermost edge of the entire flank position, and the Japanese would not use this place as the focus of their raid.

"Hidden, hidden." Niu Lao Gui, who was squatting on the ammunition box, hissed and shouted, and the men of the second company picked up the branches or shrubs that had been prepared and placed them on the top of the trenches, and the soil piled up on the side of the trenches had already been covered with weeds or camouflaged by the people of the second company, and it was difficult for the Japanese pilots to find traces of the trenches even if they opened their eyes wide. The seemingly timid behavior of the second company made the people of the 30th Army disdainful, but in Tangcheng, who was hiding in the trenches, they were desperately digging anti-artillery holes, and only by obtaining enough anti-artillery holes could the casualties of the second company be minimized when the Japanese attacked.

Before the Japanese fighters began to drop bombs, the rumbling sound of artillery was already sounding, and the smoke from the explosion of large-caliber shells continued to rise on the positions of the defenders, and the 30 officers and men who were still laughing at the second company as shrunken turtles had also retreated into the trenches at this moment. More than a dozen Japanese fighters roared at an altitude only slightly above the treetops and attacked the defenders on the ground with small aerial bombs or aerial guns and machine guns.

Light bombers and attack planes of one wing and one engine flew at almost the same altitude and attacked the defenders' villages and positions with ordinary aerial bombs and cannons. In just a few minutes, tons of bombs fell on the defensive positions of the 30th Army, shaking the ground and the soldiers in the positions with an all-engulfing momentum. The bunker where they were sitting in Tang City was directly hit by a black bomb, and the huge wooden and stone structure collapsed in an instant in the violent explosion, and the stones and wood chips on the roof and walls were scattered into the distance with the explosion. Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the 30th Army who were cowering in the trenches had to pray for the blessing of the gods, and they were now beginning to envy the second company that had been sent to the outer edge of the position.

As the bombing of the Japanese fighters continued, the lightning-like fire and explosions were almost connected on the position, and at the height of the explosion, Tang Cheng, like the other soldiers of the second company in the trenches, squatted in the anti-artillery hole with his hands tightly plugged into his ears and opened his mouth as wide as possible to reduce the burden on his eardrums. After enduring many shelling and bombardments, it is clear that he has experienced a severe loss of hearing, and it is unknown whether he will be able to fully recover in the future, but it is almost certain that if he continues like this, the hearing damage is likely to become permanent.

The sound of dense bomb explosions overshadowed everything, from the departure of the Japanese planes to the end of the bombing, until the returning Japanese bomber group gradually left the range of the Nationalist position, and not a single Nationalist plane could be seen in the sky during the whole process. Every army has a relatively fixed mode of fighting, and the Japanese army is no exception. Not long after the plane bombing ended, the Japanese artillery shells came into the air again with a similar scream, and the position of the 30th Army naturally became an area of concentrated attack.

Tang Cheng, who had been gathered in the absence of the Nationalist fighters, ventured out of the anti-artillery hole, crouched on the edge of the trench and looked forward with binoculars. But this time the Japanese attack was a little unexpected, after the planes dropped bombs to bombard the defenders' positions, they actually did not send ground troops, but continued to use artillery to bombard the defenders' positions, could it be that the Japanese army wanted to use artillery fire to directly destroy the defenders' positions?

Tang Cheng didn't see the Japanese infantry appear in the telescope, he couldn't even find the Japanese artillery position, the range of this large-caliber field gun had already far exceeded the line of sight of the telescope in Tang Cheng's hand. I don't know what happened to the 30th Army on the side of the main position of the road, Tang Cheng subconsciously turned his telescope to look at the middle of the position, a large area in the middle of the position was filled with the light and smoke of the explosion, and there was no longer a single figure in sight. The trenches that were still neat before the Japanese bombardment were collapsing in large sections, and the bunkers made of stone slabs and logs were also in ruins under the Japanese bombardment, and Tangcheng could not even find the military flag planted by the 30th Army on the position.

As Tang Cheng had speculated in advance, the Japanese did not put their bombs and shells in the position defended by the second company, almost all the bombs and shells went to the main position, looking at the main position where the smoke had dispersed and there was no human figure, Tang Cheng's expression was a little gloomy. The men of the second company were all hiding in the anti-artillery holes dug out temporarily, and there were only two or three observation posts in the trenches except for Tang Cheng.

The Japanese artillery bombardment lasted for nearly half an hour before it ended, and according to the Japanese army's usual tactical play, the moment the shelling ended should be the time for the Japanese infantry to attack, but there was no Japanese infantry in the telescope of Tangcheng. The shelling was over, and the Japanese infantry did not show up, and the shouts of the officers began to ring out in the defenders' positions, and one by one the defending soldiers emerged from the crumbling earth and, under the command of the officers, repaired and strengthened their positions with the tools they could find.

Something is wrong, the Japanese army has put in so much artillery fire at one time, it will never be as simple as destroying the defenders' positions, Tang Cheng knows that something is wrong, but he can't think of what is wrong. The moment the mystery was finally revealed, and only half a quarter after the Japanese artillery attack ended, a second lieutenant officer with half of his face covered with blood on his face rushed from the main position along the trench.

"The Japanese army has mobilized a large number of armored troops to try to attack our army's defense line, and the 2nd company is good at field battles, so it can detour to the flank of the Japanese army and cooperate with the battle defense artillery company to block the Japanese armored forces." The second lieutenant officer brought an order from the military headquarters of the 30th Army, but this order made Tang Cheng a little overwhelmed. The big war is imminent, this will send the second company to the flank of the Japanese army to find planes to fight, that is not what the second company is as cannon fodder, even if the second company with just over 40 people can cause more casualties to the Japanese army even if it fires with all its might.

"When my brother came, the army commander also specially instructed me to bring 3 gold bars to the brothers of the second company, although the money is not much, but this is a little heart of our 30th army, and I also ask the company commander Tang and the brothers to accept it." The second lieutenant officer took out the gold bars from his pocket and handed them to Tang Cheng in turn, but Tang Cheng did not have the slightest joy in his heart. There is only one situation in which money is paid on the battlefield, that is, the 30th Army has treated the second company as a death squad, and the only people who can get a reward on the battlefield are death squads.

Tang Cheng just wanted to throw the gold bar in his hand back, but was stopped by Niu Laogui who came over at some point, and looked behind the second lieutenant officer along Niu Laogui's line of sight. Tang Cheng, who was holding the gold bar in his hand, smiled, and laughed very arrogantly, the Japanese army had not yet launched an attack, and his own people would kill you first, if it weren't for the destruction of the radio station of the second company, he would not have agreed to the second company to temporarily rest in the position of the 30th army.

"Go back and tell you the military seat, and say that the second company should be discharged, but we still need ammunition replenishment, especially grenades and explosives, send the ammunition, and we will leave immediately." Niu Laogui secretly pinched Tang Cheng and asked for ammunition supplements. He knew that the 30th Army would not let the second company attack alone, but it was always good to ask for more ammunition, lest the second company would fall into a desperate situation because the ammunition replenishment could not keep up, and the second company had already suffered such a loss.

"Bring a few of your men and come with me." The second lieutenant officer only groaned slightly, and then agreed to Niu Laogui's request for additional ammunition. Things are already like this, there is no possibility of reversing it, Tang Cheng, who glanced at Niu Laogui, casually called a few soldiers of the second company, and followed the second lieutenant officer to the main position. As they traveled some distance north along the trenches, they saw an awkward opening, where an officer in a cloth military cap was standing and distributing ammunition to passing soldiers.

Seeing that the soldier was carrying a rifle or submachine gun, he would take out bullets wrapped in brown paper from two different boxes, but instead of giving them one by one, he would open them and distribute some to each person. Behind him was another wooden box containing long-handled grenades copied from the Germans, two for each submachine gunner, one for each rifleman, and some for the riflemen, some of whom refused to give it at all. As he got closer, Tang Cheng noticed that the quartermaster was sitting on a wooden ammunition box, and one of his legs was gone.

The second lieutenant officer who had brought them over with Tang Cheng stepped forward alone, and the officer who distributed the ammunition had just grabbed a handful of bullets at random and was ready to give it to him, but the second lieutenant officer leaned in and whispered something to him. The officer who had no leg turned his head and stared at Tang Cheng for three or four seconds, and then reluctantly asked a few soldiers to bring a few boxes and handed them to the second lieutenant officer, "That's all, you are all not at home, so many brothers want ammunition, if Lao Tzu doesn't pay attention, our 30th Army may have to smash the pot and sell iron to dig out the old foundation." ”