The Qing army on the northeast side of Dayuan Creek was in a state of confusion, and the revolutionary army on the south side of Xinan was already like a tight clockwork, nervously tight, although the troops did not enter the battlefield, but Zhang Gong's headquarters was already set up in Catfish Mountain, which was less than three kilometers away from the front line. The results of the previous and recent reconnaissance were summarized on the sand table of the command.

From the sand table, the entire narrow stream defense line is built with Dayuan Creek, Leiwu and Xiaoling as barriers, four kilometers on the east side is the Dayuanxi defense line, and the west side is the mountainous area is the Leiwu and Xiaoling defense lines, the whole defense line is in a capital L-shape, the long side is Dayuanxi, and the short side is Leiwu and Xiaoling. Although the Qing army's defense line on the short side, that is, on the mountainous side, was not located on the anticline, the staff still chose the breakthrough point on the side of Dayuanxi. The reason for this is that the revolutionary army often attacks from the mountains, and the vigilance of the Qing army on this side is extremely high, while the Dayuan River is completely flat on the ground, with streams, barbed wire, and trenches, and these protections will only make the Qing army more lax.

Excluding the two factors of suddenness and density of firepower, the scouts also found that most of the guns of the artillery battalions behind the Narrow Creek defense line were pointed to the side of the mountainous area.

Wu Yonggu, commander of the reconnaissance company of the 1st Brigade, who was in charge of explaining the situation, only made the army staff officer Zhou Si laugh, saying that the revival army started with positional warfare, and later practiced mountain warfare because it could only shrink into the deep mountains and old forests. I'm afraid of the Manchu encirclement and suppression. Although most of the troops of the Zhejiang Front fought mountain warfare, while urgently training officers, those officers who had come from the northeast earlier had fought positional warfare. Now they have also removed some of the troops who came to assist the Second Brigade in the battle, believing that the thin defensive line of the Manchu Qing Dynasty could not stop the advance of the revolutionary army at all.

Several other people were discussing the battle plan, and Li Chengyuan, the commander of the artillery battalion from the northeast, was very quiet, although the Manchu Qing Dynasty had three battalions of artillery, but there was only one battalion on the side of Dayuanxi, and the others were either arranged in the mountainous defense line. Either stay at the Changkou Command, and just now he went to the front line to reconnoitre, and found that the Manchu artillery was still accustomed to firing directly. Only the artillery was placed in the most conspicuous place, and no attention was paid to the concealment of the artillery company, and such an arrangement would have been safe against a mountain army that had no breech guns and only mortars. But bumped into him. That's going to be a bad luck.

On the sand table, in the face of the latest information, the commanders of each department are adjusting their battle plans, and the people who need to negotiate with other troops are also pulling the commanders of the troops who need to cooperate to point to a certain place on the sand table with a description of the drawing, which is not like a combat meeting at all, but like a group of people eating around the table, pointing to those dishes before getting off the chopsticks and constantly discussing how to clip them. Which piece belongs to you and which piece belongs to me. This kind of behavior. Li Chengyuan is accustomed to it, but these officers of the Second Brigade are not familiar with it, they have always fought independently as a company unit, and now they are suddenly promoted to the level of regimental brigades, and they have to coordinate with the artillery in the rear, so they are a little at a loss.

Zhou Sixu, who came from the headquarters to supervise the battle, did not care about this, because of the division of terrain in mountain operations, so that the operation can only be divided into battalions, and there is little cooperation, but on the plain, the operation pays attention to the close cooperation between various departments and arms, and now the company commanders of the second brigade are not used to it and have not folded, and what they can do now is to deduce the entire battle process several more times on the sand table, and the commanders of each department are constantly warned to pay attention to coordination, and it is because of this that they will be required to constantly discuss combat cooperation with other troops.

Seeing that the infantry were discussing the cooperation between each other, the artillery side was not on the wheel for a while, Li Chengyuan walked to the window and lit a cigarette, swallowing the clouds and spitting out the fog, he was not bored, but thinking about how to fight in the face of the group of rookie artillery of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, how should he fight to capture the eighteen guns unscathed, no, plus the mountain artillery battalion in the mountains, it should be thirty-six 75mm guns, including eighteen field guns and eighteen mountain guns. In order to achieve this goal, the only way to do this is to use shrapnels, but in the Russo-Japanese War, the artillery commander of the Russian army told the artillery of the revival army that shrapnel is not an ideal shell, it is expensive and destructive, if it is not set properly or the fuse is abnormal, then these shells will explode far above the enemy's head, which is simply an expensive firework; The Japanese artillery, equipped with howitzers, also has a lot of high-explosive shells, so once their shells land, the destructive power caused is extremely great. The commander of the artillery company of Russian Maozi told him a conclusion that was different from the mainstream: that is, in large-scale operations, too delicate howitzer shotgun is simply an ornament, and it seems that the howitzer has a larger killing range than high-explosive shells, but in high-density shelling, it is simply a fart.

Li Chengyuan's hoarse grin after being drunk is still deeply remembered, and the theory he advocated has also been accepted by Cheng Zhixuan, who has experienced actual combat and has gone deep into the front line of Russian artillery observation. This is actually a good thing, the German army was equipped with howitzer shells during World War I, and later found that this kind of artillery shells were not lethal enough, and all of them were replaced with high-explosive shells. However, any weapon has a background for its use, for example, now, if you want to paralyze enemy artillery without destroying enemy artillery, then the best shell is to use shrapnel, but, where to find shrapnel? Li Chengyuan remembered that the artillery shells brought from the northeast were all high-explosive shells.

"What, you're still used to it, aren't you?" Seeing that Li Chengyuan was smoking on the side, Zhou Sixu, the noisy chief of staff in charge of the various units of the director, came over, he also took out a brother, and then took the cigarette butt handed by Li Chengyuan and lit a fire. Although the cigarette butt was not an open flame, after he took a few deep breaths, the cigarette on his mouth also burned, and the room seemed to be even more smoky.

"What I'm not used to, I just want to figure out how I can capture the dozens of cannons of the Tartars. And it should be captured unscathed. Li Chengyuan said. He is originally from Zhejiang, but also from Hangzhou, and for him, there is no problem of not being used to returning to Zhejiang. He wanted to come back a long time ago, but Yanzhou had not fought a battle here, and the application had been pressed.

Listening to Li Chengyuan's emphasis unscathed. Zhou Sixu said with a smile: "You kid still want to be unscathed, I can't wait for you to beat the Manchu artillery to a pulp, according to the statistics of the General Staff." The greatest casualties for us were the Manchu artillery. ”

"As soon as the artillery fires, there is no blood," although he hated the Tartars, Li Chengyuan still had to defend the artillery, "You have to warn them, be careful when capturing the artillerymen, each of these people is worth a thousand taels of silver, and they will be captured and given to me...... Guys. Then make a fortune. ”

"You kid!" Zhou Sixu looked at him as a businessman and laughed, "Those coolies who carry cannonballs are also worth thousands of taels?" ”

Li Chengyuan was stunned when he heard this. said, "That kind of soldier is cheap, only worth a few hundred taels, but I also want this." Koteba. Don't forget about jì. The artillery regiment has just been formed, and now there are more artillery than people, and the skilled gunners, except for the people I brought from the northeast, are all mortars used to be fired, and although they have been trained, they cannot be completely qualified. ”

Li Chengyuan spoke earnestly, thinking about more cannons just now, but now he wants more people. See him like this. Although Zhou Sixu was funny, he still agreed. At this time, the discussion of the main attacking forces on the sand table was completed. After listening to the entire battle process, he added the article of capturing the Qing army's artillery as much as possible to the offensive matters. There are a lot of precautions for the operation of the large army, and the books of each chief officer are full, and they no longer dislike this one, but after everyone has finished recording, Zhou Sixu made a final summary, "Comrades, in the past, we fought without the law and improvised, but this time we fought together, all comrades must put cooperation in the first place, even if their own soldiers are exhausted, they must strictly follow the schedule to work, everyone must remember that this is not your company and battalion fighting, but a regiment and a brigade are fighting, not only infantry, There are also artillery, engineers, and one unit must not affect all troops. Zhou Sixu paused for a moment when he said this, and then said: "Before I came, the military governor said that when fighting in a large corps, military discipline must be strict, and if the commander of any army does not act in accordance with the offensive plan, the military law will deal with it!" The usually gentle Zhou Siyan was still a little scary, and the battalion commander who attended the meeting was tense when he heard this, and then listened to him: "Now everyone is on the table." ”

The air in the smoky room finally got better after the commanders of the various departments left, and the orderly soldiers of the brigade headquarters were cleaning the table, at this time the second brigade commander Zhang Gong came over and said: "Chief of staff, what kind of society can those demomen return to their original troops?" Without them breaking the barriers, this battle would not have been fought. ”

It has been a few days since the Demoman has been training intensively, and the war will start tomorrow, Zhang Gong is very anxious about whether these people have already arrived, Zhou Sixu said: "Let them return to the original unit in the morning, and they will be there in the afternoon, and when they sleep, they will be able to see the real chapter tomorrow morning." Boqian, you can't wait? ”

"I can't wait." Zhang Gong said, "I've been holding back for so long, and I'm going to fight such a big battle, and I'm so excited." I can't wait for tomorrow. ”

Zhang Gong just laughed like this: "Don't worry, the more you get to this time, the more you have to calm down." When I was fighting in the Northeast to fight Russian Maozi, Mr. basically slept at this time, and only let people wake him up before the fight. ”

"Brother Guangting, don't laugh, how can I, Zhang Gong, compare with Mr., let alone say that I came out of the wild road, I won't fight this kind of war at all." Although Zhang Gong is a lifter, he has always been self-aware, he only feels that he can only be a regiment commander at most, and if there is no one to help him, he will fall down.

Zhou Sixu didn't tell him, when the Independence Army was in the meeting, Mr. began to command only 10,000 people, although the chief of staff was also responsible for specific military affairs at that time, but Mr. was not in a hurry before the war, and now Zhang Gong, who is excited and apprehensive, is completely different. Although Zhou Sixu thought so in his heart, he only comforted: "Boqian, don't be arrogant, you can't still learn the tactics of war, Yuan Shikai of Beiyang said, 'China is not an unusable soldier, it is not a general, it is not a loyal and brave general, it is not a loyal and brave general, and it is not a loyal and brave general, and it is not a troubled and unlearned', and when this battle is over, the commander of the army will have to study for half a year, and in the future, you will have to bring more soldiers and carry heavier burdens." ”

Zhang Gong can go from a party leader to a brigade commander, that is, the deputy general of the Manchu Qing Dynasty from the position of the second grade, and now he is a little worried when he hears Zhou Sixu say that he will bring more soldiers in the future, and he is a little worried in his heart, after all, he is not from a professional class, and then he is promoted to the position of division commander, can he bring 20,000 or 30,000 people?

Zhang Gong didn't say anything, Zhou Sixu looked at his expression and fully understood what he was thinking. The promotion of officials here in Zhejiang is really fast, especially Zhang Gong, who is not from a military school. I haven't been to the Northeast either, and being promoted to brigade commander not only has the meaning of balance, but also because he is really smart, and he can get started with many things quickly, and he will be able to teach them.

"Boqian, don't think about it. Fight this battle well, and the rest will be talked about later. "See Zhang Gong's appearance. Zhou Sixu also knew that he was talking too much, so he had to emphasize fighting this battle again.

*

Winter nights are always extremely long, and Song Zheyuan's team is still responsible for patrolling the night. During the day, the four brothers discussed for a while after Feng Yuxiang left, and only when he was sleepy at noon, he only said that he would disperse, and then ate two steamed buns and fell asleep. When I get up at night and watch the night. He couldn't help but feel amused at this time when he didn't hear the explosions from the other side all night, thinking that he was too sensitive, and the revolutionary party still didn't dare to call. He looked at the crescent moon in the west, and estimated that it should be the fifth watch at this time, and only found a leeward place in the trench, and like the others, he was dozing in a daze.

Song Zheyuan estimated that it was wrong to touch the fifth watch. In the pocket watch of Lu Arong, the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment in the trench opposite the stream, the exact time should be 5:43 a.m. In a little more than ten minutes the artillery will open fire. I have been waiting all night, but these more than ten minutes are particularly difficult, especially for the sake of concealment, the smoke in the trench is not allowed to smoke, and it only suffocates Lu Arong. Although he was depressed, he was very happy when he thought that he had become the commander of a battalion and commanded a thousand people.

"Big brother, it's about to be a general attack, you better withdraw first. Here I am. The second company commander Nie Litang said, he was wearing a camouflage military cap, and the padded jacket he was wearing outside was just taken off, and in the haze, Lu Arong only felt that he was very heroic, and no one could have imagined this look, he was just a cooper two years ago.

"Pull it off, now it's us who hit them, not them who hit us. I just want to watch the artillery blow up those Manchurian Tartars. Lu Arong said, this is actually an advance position, only more than 200 meters away from the stream, and more than 400 meters away from the Qing army's position.

"Yes, this is not the place for the eldest brother, please give way." Zhu Lianyuan, the commander of the third company, also thought so, Lu Arong gathered here, which only made him, a former patrol officer, very uncomfortable.

"Lao Tzu just won't leave. I have the ability to sue Brother Mengwu. Lu Arong had a strong temper, if it weren't for the order from above, maybe he would have charged with his own gun. The Mengwu brother he said is Xu Shunda, the second head of the regiment, Zhang Gong's cronies, with neat fists and feet, and he worked as an accountant of the drama troupe in his early years, and he can be regarded as able to write and martial arts.

Lu Arong insisted on not leaving, and Nie Litang and Zhu Lianyuan had no choice, so they simply didn't care about him anymore, just followed the trench, touched the first two hundred people in his team, and then quietly waited for the open attack after dawn.

Everyone is waiting for the general offensive, and when the general offensive will begin depends on the artillery. At this time, Li Chengyuan was on a hill less than 100 meters from the front line, he got up very early, in the middle of the night, the commanders and artillery commanders of each artillery company gathered in a place sheltered from the light and held a meeting, the meeting was no nonsense, nothing more than to observe the outpost out of their own formation, pay attention to observe the shell landing point and the enemy's firepower point, and the artillery commander's side is a routine explanation, especially those artillery commanders who have changed from mortar crews, Li Chengyuan's words are more relieved. At this time, the time for the general attack was approaching, and Li Chengyuan, who was standing on the mountain bag, could imagine that the artillery jackets of the guns in the rear had been removed, and all kinds of camouflage had been withdrawn to the side, and the neat barrels of those platoons were about to let out a deafening roar.

"Battalion commander, it's time." The adjutant is still not used to calling Li Chengyuan the head of the regiment, but the old name of the Northeast.

"Good! Is it turned on? Li Chengyuan said in a deep voice, he asked about wireless telegraphy, although there is a telephone connection to the rear, but the length of several kilometers, it is inevitable that it will be blown up by enemy shells, and wireless telegraphy is also an important tool for contacting the rear artillery positions, but the electronic tube of this thing needs to be warmed up before it is turned on.

The adjutant nodded, "It's already on." It's time to go. ”

Li Chengyuan nodded, only took the company commanders to calculate the shooting yuan, and said loudly into the phone: "I am Li Chengyuan, now I order: the whole regiment shoots at Meishan, the first group of gauge rulers 365, the second group of gauge rulers 415, the third group of gauge rulers 525, and the fourth group of gauge 585, shoot to the right 055, and the base guns of each battalion are fired one by one, and they are fired in turn. ”

Although Li Chengyuan had more than 40 guns, these guns were of different specifications, not to mention mountain artillery and field artillery, but also field artillery and mountain artillery, and there were also different calibers and manufacturers.

Li Chengyuan read here, and Chen Dashan, the deputy head of the regiment on the other end of the phone, repeated it loudly every time he read a number, and only waited for a qiē to confirm that he sent the number to each group, and soon, the voice of the deputy company commander sounded: "All the cannons, the gauge is three hundred and sixty-five, and the shot is zero and fifty-five to the right, and the benchmark cannon is fired...... Put! ”

Chen Dashan heard a cannon sound outside, and said directly into the microphone: "The first group is launched, pay attention to it!" ”

"The first group of launches, pay attention to the observation!" Lee Sung-won repeated on the other side of the microphone, his voice immediately transmitted to the first observation group beside him, as well as another observation point connected by telephone. At this time, the artillery company commanders in charge of the first group had long been staring at the artillery mirror and steering wheel, waiting for the first shell to hit the ground without distraction.

The speed of the field artillery was only more than 500 meters per second, and the artillery position was two kilometers away from the target, and four seconds later, a shell fell on the enemy position in Xiameishan. ”

The four rumbling shells fell on the selected breakthrough point either in front or behind, left or right, and only when the fourth group was still calculating the firing of Zhuyuan, Li Chengyuan was already issuing a round of firing Zhuyuan to the artillery array, because of the stimulation of artillery fire, but also because time was already racing against time, Li Chengyuan's loud voice was terrifying, and he only shouted: "The first group of gauge rulers plus twenty, to the right zero five, the benchmark cannon one is issued; The second set of gauge rulers plus fifteen, to the left zero five, the benchmark gun one issued; The third set of gauges minus fifteen, to the right zero three, the benchmark gun one issued; The fourth group of gauges minus fifteen, to the right zero three, the base guns are fired one by one, and they are fired in turn. ”

Li Chengyuan was loud, Chen Dashan's voice was even louder, and when he repeated Li Chengyuan's order, he was already shouting, and soon, each artillery array was a series of slogans, and each group of base guns fired again in turn. Under the test firing of the clamping method, the final shooting under the two rounds of test firing was quickly obtained, and Li Chengyuan issued an order for effective shooting: "Ten rapid shots of the whole regiment, release!" ”

The artillery array was filled with smoke and dust, and 480 shells would be smashed into the predetermined Qing army positions within four minutes. Song Zheyuan was awakened when the first group of artillery shells of the revolutionary army was test-fired, and it was only after a while that another group of shells landed that he came back to his senses, this was the revolutionary party testing the artillery, just waiting for them to aim well, then the revolutionary army's shells would fall on his head like raindrops, and he immediately shouted, but he didn't know what to shout, and only waited for two sentences to shout, and then he regained his composure. According to the drill code, he only shouted all the soldiers in the shed to the trench and bowed their heads to avoid it.

He looked at his subordinates as flustered as he had just now, and when he wanted to laugh, he didn't want the rumbling sound to come from the sky, and then countless shells smashed into the rear of the trench in unison, after the earth-shattering explosion, the barracks, the command post, and the baggage place were all like being beaten by an iron fist that fell from the sky, and those fragmentary remains were thrown into the sky by artillery fire, and in less than three minutes, Song Zheyuan only glanced at it, and then lay down in the mud and didn't dare to move anymore, He was glad that the position he was defending was not the target of the revolutionary artillery fire, but even so, he did not dare to look directly at the might of the artillery, so he could only huddle in the trench and wait for the revolutionary artillery fire to stop.

After Li Chengyuan shouted in a dumb voice, "Thirty rapid fires of the whole regiment," the fierce artillery fire finally smashed into the trenches of the Qing army, and the calm river bank became boiling at this moment, and the wooden stakes, wires, guns, flesh, and dust, all of which were blown up by the shells, and then fell heavily, and more than 1,400 shells smashed into two sections of trenches more than 100 meters long, plowing every inch of land there.

Li Chengyuan was holding a telescope at this time and looked at the effect of the shelling, and was very satisfied. But just as he was about to smile, the adjutant next to him hurriedly said, "Battalion commander, over there!" The enemy has opened fire! (To be continued......)