When the sun rose, on the more than 150-kilometer front, from Jixian to Baodi, from Baodi to Yangcun, and then from Yangcun to Machang, after more than a month of confrontation and silence, the sound of artillery of the Fuxing Army was everywhere. The 3,500 cannons prepared for the general attack had already exceeded the regulations of the drill code, and were densely lined up, bombarding the Japanese trench defense system indiscriminately. In the fierce artillery fire, those thin barbed wire fences and trenches with dogs' teeth were all destroyed and shattered, and many of them exploded into a cloud of yellow garlic-smelling gas, which drifted away on the Japanese positions with the smoke of gunpowder.

In the face of the bombardment of such a huge number of artillery fire of the revival army, more than 1,000 Japanese troops did not dare to respond at all, in fact, they could not respond, for the Japanese artillery that lost air supremacy and lacked concealment at the same time, as soon as the artillery battle began, the shells of the revival army fell on their artillery positions - the number of artillery arrays was so huge that it could no longer be shelled according to a certain order as stipulated in the drill code, and as soon as the artillery battle began, the Japanese army was hit by comprehensive covering fire, and all valuable targets were the objects of shelling. In no particular order.

Smoke, explosions, and gunpowder smoke caused the small Gyeonggi battlefield to shake the mountains and obscure the sky, so that an hour after the artillery battle began, the observation stations in the sky could no longer look at the artillery targets on the ground, so the artillery battle could only rely on map operations, repeatedly bombarding and crushing those targets.

From the very beginning of the artillery battle, the chief of staff of the Naoli Dispatch Army, Senior General Uehara Yusaku, General Kuroki Weizhen, and Marshal Okubo Gong sat in the headquarters outside Tianjin, and when they knew the scale of the artillery bombardment, several people did not speak, and judging from the establishment of the Zhina Army, more than 3,000 cannons represented that all the main forces of the Fuxing Army were transferred to the Gyeonggi battlefield, although this was impossible in time. But the facts are right in front of us, since the main force of the Chinese army has entered the customs, the defeat is only a matter of time.

It's not the same as the silence in the inner room. However, the telecommunications office of the staff station kept reporting by telephone, and the anxiety and frenzy of the division commander on the other end of the phone were completely contagious. The tone of the staff officers was also loud and anxious. Only Koichiro Tachibana, a staff officer in charge of internal reporting, calmed down his anxiety and mania a little when he reported every news inside, and finally turned into a frown on the generals' brows.

After reporting that the Shina army had used an unknown poisonous gas and that his army had suffered casualties, Tachibana Koichiro bowed deeply and retreated. The chief of staff, Yusaku Uehara, wanted to speak, but when he thought about it again, he found that there was nothing he could do about it, and he was silent again. At that time, the General Staff Headquarters decided to use chlorine shells. He objected, arguing that such a move would eventually lead to retaliation by the Chinese army. However, under the persuasion of Major General Tanaka Yoshiichi, this decision was still supported by the chief of staff, General Hase, and everyone thought that the defeat of Peking would be surrendered, and there was no way to retaliate.

Now, revenge has finally come, and not only have more than 300,000 people besieged in Gyeonggi, bombarded by more than 3,000 cannons, but also unknown poison gas bombs. Unlike the Chinese army, which is not afraid of chlorine shells, its own army has no ability to resist poison gas shells at all.

Yusaku Uehara's silence and remorse. Near noon, Koichiro Tachibana came in again, and he reported in a voice that was extremely calm, "Your Excellency. The Chinese army began to attack on all fronts, and judging from the reports of various divisions and regiments, the most fierce attack now is in the direction of Baodi. ”

"Baodi! Yo West. The silent General Kuroki finally spoke, "The Chinese army wants to occupy Tangshan." ”

"Give the order to the ministries, and start resuming the three meals today." Okuho Gong said to Yusaku Uehara, and also said to Koichiro Tachibana.

"Hay!" Koichiro Tachibana glanced at the chief of staff, Yusaku Uehara, and seeing that he had no objection, he finally went out and gave the first order of the headquarters: to resume the supply of three meals from today.

When this news reached the headquarters of the 19th Division stationed in the Baodi defense line, the division commander, Lieutenant General Mitsutomi Kamio, smiled at the chief of staff, Yamanashi Hanzao, and said, "Now you can smash the phone." ”

'Smash the phone' is a famous phrase of the General Staff of the Lucian Army. A dozen days ago, Lucia's general mobilization was repeatedly stopped by the tsar, so he declared. If the mobilization order is received again, the phone must be smashed. No more orders to the contrary will be accepted. This sentence is a kind of determination in Lucia, but in the mouth of Lieutenant General Kamio Mitsutomi, it is a farewell.

The reason why the Chinese army attacked Baodi was to take Tangshan, and taking Tangshan would be tantamount to dividing its own army into two parts, north and south, among which the cluster responsible for the Jingdong offensive in Jixian County would be completely surrounded by the Chinese army. No, you can't use the word encirclement, now that your own army has been completely surrounded, the naval rescue plan that was full of hope can only be completed because of the appearance of flying planes, except for a few warships that escaped, all the merchant ships were sunk in the Bohai Sea by the Chinese navy and flying planes.

Lieutenant General Mitsutomi Kamio still laughed at himself, but Major General Fumijiro Horiuchi, who was at the forefront of the 23rd Brigade, couldn't even speak, he was holding a cotton cloth stained with special drugs to cover his mouth, and the outside of the headquarters was full of soldiers' shouts, according to the news from the front, the Chinese army used a lot of poison gas, many people began to cough, and some people were already blind.

"Your Excellency, we must retreat." Coughing, Staff Officer Osugi Shaozo couldn't help but say loudly.

"Where to retreat, to the sea?" Maj. Gen. Fumijiro Horiuchi asked rhetorically. Then he said: "Say goodbye to the division headquarters on my behalf, our troops will all die here, and the battlefield is where our bones are buried." ”

After the major general finished speaking, he threw away the nasty anti-poison cotton cloth, walked out of the headquarters and came to the middle of the extremely flustered soldiers in the trench, and after watching silently, he jumped on the high place of the trench and began to speak loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen: The battle is at the last moment, I am waiting on the front line, praying for the victory of the imperial kingdom and the peace of the country. At present, the poisonous gas of the Chinese army is raging, and I am determined to make a desperate bet and break my bones to repay the emperor's kindness. After saying that, he drew his command knife, and then shouted with all his strength: "Your Majesty the Emperor!" His Majesty the Emperor xià onboard!! ”

Major General Fumijiro Horiuchi's words and shouts finally saved the morale of the soldiers in the trenches, and many of these Japanese soldiers with large masks tied to their mouths threw away their masks and shouted long live together. Then, with Major General Fumijiro Horiuchi's "kill and give", the soldiers all jumped out of the trenches and rushed to the first two trenches filled with gunsmoke.

When the Japanese launched a front-loaded charge, the Baath Army commando in charge of this section of the offensive had just finished clearing the defenders of the two trenches in front of them and was rushing towards the last trench. Although the smoke of gunpowder had the usual shouts of wah, wah, ah, ah, etc., when the Japanese troops charged, they were deaf and deaf with gas masks, and they did not notice it until the Japanese ran closer.

Major General Fumijiro Horiuchi, who was at the forefront of the charge, was shocked when he looked at the Shina army with terrible masks. But since he had rushed here, he endured the discomfort of the poisonous gas. The command knife pointed and shouted again: "Kill and give", and rushed towards many soldiers at an accelerated pace.

It was good that Fumijiro Horiuchi didn't scream, but when he shouted, he gave the assault team a wake-up call, and for a while, the shotgunners who rushed to the front 'click, click' and fired wildly, and the accompanying machine gun team also immediately fell to the ground and fired, so close range. The bullets immediately knocked the rushing Japanese troops straight back. But more commandos were rushed to the side by the Japanese army in a hurry, and the extremely tragic white-knuckle battle began, although the soldiers of the commando team were masters of white-knuckle combat, but they were inconvenient to fight with poison gas masks after all, and the Japanese army was a trapped beast fight, and suddenly suffered heavy casualties.

After struggling to support, he saw that these Japanese soldiers who were desperate to the death went crazy one after another, and finally shouted that their own people would kill their own people, and the situation was reversed. The mustard gas used here is worthy of being the king of poison gas in this era. This was achieved in just a few hours. Finally, the commando soldiers, who felt that something was wrong, gradually withdrew from the battle, bypassing the group of Japanese soldiers who had gone crazy. Go deep. Half an hour later, the front commander received a report from the commando that the vanguard had just crossed the Shijiuwo, crossed the Shuangcheng River and the Huanxiang River, and was rapidly approaching Tangshan.

After receiving the telegram from the front, the staff officers of the theater command immediately marked it on the operational map, and the chief of staff, Xu Dachun, and the commander, Lieutenant General Lei Yizhen, looked at each other and said, "It seems to be much faster than we expected." The 18th Division was transferred from the northeast just now, so how can it be said that it is also the main division, why did the defense line collapse so quickly? ”

"Intelligence says that the Japanese army only eats two meals a day. That is, two fist-sized rice balls, I'm afraid I'm hungry. "The chief of staff is worried that the troops will go too far. Lieutenant General Seo Kyung-hee, who was not in the Prime Minister's Office but was here, couldn't help but smile. In fact, he had seen the power of mustard gas, but he couldn't say that it was poisonous gas. I had to joke about the Japanese army's provisions.

"Did the troops follow?" Lei Yizhen is not worried that the Japanese army will resist and ambush, now at this time, the more tricks the Japanese army has, the more difficult it will be to resist the offensive of the revival army, and the decisive battle depends on troops, firepower, luck and will. In such a short assault of 30 kilometers, he did not believe that the Japanese army, which was pinned down by the attack on all fronts, still had the strength to turn the tables.

"As soon as the breakthrough was opened, the whole army followed." Xu Dachun felt that he was worried a little bit when he said this, and said with a smile, "The 2nd Army has been resting for so long, and if the tiger goes down the mountain, even if the Japanese army defends it, I am afraid that it will not be able to stop it." ”

After the victory in Yangcun, the main division basically went down to rest, only a few divisions with many reserve divisions to support the defensive line, the period before the rainy season, basically the reserve division died on the front line, and the Japanese elite division fought a war of attrition, the 2nd Army after more than two months of long rest, the soldiers are already full of fighting spirit, waiting for the decisive battle, now the artillery is open, accompanied by poison gas, of course, the offensive is like a bamboo.

Xu Dachun just thought that the 2nd Army was like a bamboo, but when it was about to dark, the advance of the Fuxing Army was blocked by the reserves transferred by the Japanese army from Tianjin in the new army tun, which was still fifteen kilometers away from Tangshan. After hearing the news that the Baodi defense line had been broken through by the Chinese Army and that all the 18th Divisions had been shattered, the Dispatch Army Headquarters immediately issued an order for reinforcements, and the 6th and 17th Divisions, which had been staying in the country and then transferred from China to attack Beijing, went to Tangshan in order to defend this place, so as to draw Tianjin from the Japanese army in the eastern direction of the east

——This dispatch order should have been issued a long time ago, but coveting the port of Qinhuangdao, and at the same time worrying that leaving the trench would be followed by the Zhina army and affect the morale of the whole army, so the order was not issued for a long time.

As soon as the 6th and 17th Divisions arrived in Tangshan, while strengthening the outlying fortifications of Tangshan, Lieutenant General Michiharu Umezawa, commander of the 6th Division, led his troops to the west as far as possible, in order to make contact with the Chinese army and defend on the spot. The 2nd Army was the main force of the Fuxing Army, and its morale was high before the two-month break, while the 6th Division was a veteran division of the Japanese army, which had been stationed in the country since the start of the war and had never been on the battlefield before. It was fully loaded, and as soon as the two new forces were engaged, they were fighting to the death. However, the vanguard of the Revival Army is only a brigade, and it is still very difficult to overthrow a division that has been specially brought up. So after an hour of fighting, the brigade commander, Colonel Zhang Fugui, gave the order for an armistice operation.

As soon as the two regiment commanders received the order, they rushed to the front line headquarters in a hurry, but at this time, Zhang Fugui also led people to the front line, and the three met on the road.

"Brigade commander, why did this battle stop, it will be dark soon." When the regiment commander saw the brigade commander saluting, he asked, full of grievances.

"What are you worried about, you can still play a round before dark." Zhang Fugui replied busily. Then he said, "Let's go, go to the front." ”

The front line was on the periphery of the new army, as soon as the two armies met, the Japanese army was taught a lesson by the mortar and grenadier canisters of the revival army for a while, and when the Japanese army lost Yan zhòng behind the revival army, it was abused by the artillery wing of the Japanese division for a while, taking advantage of this gap, the Japanese army hurriedly dug a trench, and their order was not to regain the lost territory, but to immediately defend on the spot when they met the Chinese army.

It was also hastily dug in a trench. Zhang Fugui carefully looked at the Japanese troops a kilometer away in the telescope, and the chief of staff next to him said: "The results of the aircraft reconnaissance say that these are the two newly arrived divisions of the Japanese army's general reserve, and from the wing flag, they are the 13th wing. That is, the Kumamoto Division. ”

"Hmm." Zhang Fugui replied in a low voice, and then said with a smile: "Damn, the general reserve team has been beaten out by us, good guy!" ”

Hearing that the enemy's general reserve was in front of them, the two regiment commanders, who were originally a little anxious, suddenly rejoiced, since the general reserve appeared, it was said that the Oriental devil only had one breath.

Finally after surveying the terrain of the Japanese trenches, Zhang Fugui put down his binoculars and asked, "Has the artillery regiment come up?" ”

"Come up, but the artillery regiment says you can't use gas cannons. Otherwise, if you don't wait for dark, you will rush forward, and your own people will suffer. Shang Yu said. Mustard gas is too toxic, so wait for it to dissipate if you don't use it every other day. Even gas mask units were very dangerous, so howitzers were used in this kind of fast hand-to-hand artillery.

"No, no. That thing is more enjoyable without fighting. Lieutenant Colonel Wu Dianyang, the head of the first regiment, said. When he broke through the Japanese defense line just now, his regiment was caught off guard by the Japanese troops who charged on board, although there were no major losses, but it was enough to be aggrieved by a blow to the head, and in the final analysis, it was a mistake with a poison gas mask.

"! If we don't use poison gas, the Japanese won't use it? Zhang Fugui reprimanded. When we attack, let the brothers put on the gas masks, the Japanese poison gas is yellow-green, and our poison gas smells of garlic, and when I encounter both, I will put on the pig's head covering. ”

"Yes, Brigadier General!" Wu Dianyang was trained by the brigade commander and grabbed the back of his head immediately.

"Let's all go back. The preparation time for the shelling is half an hour, so be sure to defeat the Kumamoto division before dark! Zhang Fugui gave an order on the spot.

A few minutes later, the artillery of the Baath Army again roared at the Japanese trenches and the artillery positions behind them, and half an hour later, when the artillery fire had turned to the depth of the Japanese defenses and the Japanese trenches were still completely covered in smoke, the first regiment reported that the companies of the first battalion had departed. At this time, Zhang Fugui stood on the stool built up by several ammunition boxes regardless of the danger, he listened to the staff officer's report uneasily, and looked at the attacking battalion with concern in the binoculars.

Our artillery fire has extended behind enemy lines, but the Japanese artillery fire that has not been completely suppressed is still angry in the open area between the two armies, some are howitzer shells, they bloom like fireworks, they explode high in the air fifteen meters, spit out shotguns, killing and injuring their own soldiers who jumped from one crater to another; Some were grenades, and after they landed, under the action of the collision fuse, the shells exploded violently, and the fire, dirt, and life were all lost in this explosion.

Zhang Fugui didn't hear the shouts of the company when they attacked, but he could feel that their lives were rushing from the movements of the soldiers, but he felt that this attack was unlikely to succeed, because whenever the shells exploded, he always felt that human life was so weak and vulnerable, especially now that the Japanese artillery was still firing shells.

Colonel Zhang Fugui frowned, he looked at the phone on the side uneasily, thinking about whether to urge the artillery to suppress the Japanese artillery with all his might, but at this moment, the telephone bell rang, and the telephone clerk took it and shouted: "Report, a battalion has rushed into the enemy trench and is clearing the enemy army!" ”

Colonel Zhang Fugui was shocked when he heard this, and felt goosebumps like pins and needles on his back, and he immediately shouted to the telephone operator: "Second and third battalions, charge immediately!" ”

The brigade commander issued the password for the whole regiment to attack, and Wu Dianyang, who received the order, also connected the two battalion headquarters by phone, and he shouted in the same loud voice on the phone: "Second battalion and third battalion, charge immediately!" Charge now! ”

Following his order, the soldiers in the low trenches jumped out of the trenches and, with the sound of gunfire and shouts, rushed towards the Japanese positions. Nearly 1,000 soldiers suddenly covered the field, and the Japanese artillery shells continued to explode among them and over their heads, and the smoke of gunpowder covered the shadows of the soldiers, but after a while, they were blown away by the wind, and the soldiers fell, got up, ran, crawled, passed through the blue-gray smoke, bypassed the black craters, and galloped towards the Japanese trenches.

"The second battalion is doing well!" Wu Dianyang looked at the military flag that was advancing in front of him, and he recognized it, it was the battalion of his fellow villager Yu Jichun.

He did not understand why his own artillery had not suppressed the Japanese artillery until now, and now the soldiers were greatly injured by the enemy artillery, and if the Japanese army, as before, had an indiscriminate shelling when their own army had completely rushed into the Japanese trenches, the losses would have been great.

On the side of the regiment headquarters, Zhang Fugui of the brigade headquarters was also very satisfied with the battalion that attacked, this battalion was on the front of the battlefield, and the Japanese firepower was very heavy, he asked: "Good job!" Whose battalion is this? ”

"It should be Yu Jichun's." Chief of Staff Shang He said that he also recognized the military flag, which was different from the flags of other battalions, the battalion flag of the second battalion was beaten by the Manchu Janissaries a few years ago, and the battalion commander at that time did not want to make up for it, so he finally left such a broken flag.

As the chief of staff was talking, two long-range shells fell near the command post with a sullen sound, and after the booming explosion, a huge wave wrapped in dirt fell to the trench, and the earth hit Lieutenant Colonel Shang He's head and hit the telephone, while the brigade commander Zhang Fugui, who was standing on the ammunition box, was pushed to the other side of the trench by the explosion wave, and the military hat also fell to the ground.

At this time, on the other side of the trench, Wu Dianyang saw that the other military flag without a hole had stalled, and he shouted loudly, "What's the matter with the three battalions? He pulled the phone operator and said, "Quick! Order the three battalions not to stagnate and rush forward! ”

Through the binoculars, he saw that the 2nd Battalion, which was in charge of the frontal assault, had rushed into the Japanese trenches, but the 3rd Battalion, which was on the far right, had not rushed in. When the phone was connected, Wu Dianyang's face was red with excitement, he snatched the phone from the phone operator, and shouted: "Ma Xiucheng, what the are you doing?!" You want to take this whole battalion ......."

Wu Dianyang shouted violently, but before he finished speaking, another person's voice sounded in the microphone, "Report to the regiment commander, the battalion commander Ma has sacrificed!" The enemy had two machine guns ... There are two machine gun bunkers, and the mortars can't hit ......"

The sound on the phone was intermittent in the sound of the cannon, but Wu Dianyang finally knew that the third battalion was blocked by two machine guns, threw down the microphone and grabbed the binoculars and tried his best to find them, finally, he seemed to see the two so-called bunkers, which were two grave bags, and the two machine guns loomed out tongues of fire, and the soldiers of the third battalion fell to the ground, not knowing whether they were dead or alive.

"The liaison division belongs to the artillery, and blew up those two graves for me." Wu Dianyang shouted loudly. But when the phone was connected, bad news came: a shell had just fallen near the command post, the artillery regiment observer was killed, and the telephone line connecting with the rear was also blown up. That is to say, it is impossible to mobilize artillery fire to pull out the graves in a short time, and the regimental mortars are not so powerful.

It was about to get dark, and if the 3rd Battalion could not quickly take the right flank, this round of attack could only be a failure, and the failure was not only a regiment, if there was a gap left in the trench, then the position occupied by the 2nd Regiment on the other side was also likely to be recaptured by the Japanese in the night battle. Thinking of this, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Dianyang couldn't hold back any longer, and after he explained to the chief of staff, "You can watch here first," he rushed out of the trench and ran in the direction of the third battalion in the rain of bullets. (To be continued)