The sound of gunfire in the cold was so crisp, it only stirred up the entire Qing army barracks, and the squad leaders hurriedly warned the soldiers of their squad to be quiet, while the searchlights set up on the top of the mountain were scattered everywhere, but the range of the light of 500 meters could not let them find anything, because the time had not yet reached three o'clock, so it was only a while, and the whole valley floor calmed down again.

Feng Guozhang was shocked when the gunshot rang out, and then got up, and Yun Baohui saw him like this, so he only said: "Marshal, it is estimated that the soldiers have gone wrong, and it is not the revolutionary party attacking the camp." ”

"Anyway, I'm not sure in my heart, and I'm uneasy if I don't come to see it!" Feng Guozhang said while wearing his belt, "Fortunately, the gunfire is not from the Meiling Pass Banner Mountain, otherwise I would be even more uneasy." ”

A gunshot rang out, Feng Guozhang was uneasy, Lin Wenqian was also uneasy here, he was on the top of the mountain in the north at this time, looking at Dadiankou along the valley road, when the gunshot rang out just now, he only looked at the pocket watch meaningfully, the pointer coated with white lead oil could borrow a little light in the dark night, and there were still sixteen minutes to the general attack time, it was estimated that the troops along the way were exposed early, but the Qing soldiers now stopped the gunfire, which means that the enemy is just suspicious, and he is not fully exposed.

He was completely right, in the cold night, through the barbed wire and mine arrays, no Qing army dared to go out of the trenches to take a look. On Pangang Mountain, an officer was reprimanding the soldier who had just shot, "Are you a pig's brain?" I don't know if I see it clearly or not. ”

"I ......" the soldier fired only in reaction and suddenly saw something in the light of a searchlight. But when the lights swept away, he couldn't be sure what he saw, and after the shot, the searchlights shone again, and he saw a white expanse of land. Nothing.

The team officer looked at the soldier who couldn't speak, kicked him hard, and scolded, "Don't go back quickly." He only finished scolding, and shouted again: "Someone, go and report to the battalion headquarters, just say that you are dazzled and there is nothing wrong." ”

The Qing army shouted loudly in the trenches. But no one dared to come out, which made Chen Xianhao, the company commander in charge of attacking Pangang Mountain, completely relieved. Although the barbed wire had been broken, he did not dare to attack before the time came. After all, this is not a night attack, but a night attack everywhere, even if you are found and shot to death, you have to stay. This was what every soldier had warned before the night attack. The gunshots rang out, and after a while there was a pause. It only made him completely relieved.

This is the episode before the night attack. Feng Guozhang was out of the headquarters at this time wearing a sheepskin coat, got on his horse, and then came up with Qudou Village under the escort of his own soldiers. Seeing people and horses moving, the searchlight on the top of the mountain was very uninteresting, but seeing that the front of the team was holding the flag of the military commander, the searchlight flattered the light to the front of the team, as if he wanted to give the military commander the way. It was just a while to point the way, but the searchlight turned elsewhere.

The moment the light shone through, he exhaled white air. Feng Guozhang, who was full of energy, was riding on a horse, and the Qing soldiers in charge of the search saw it. Zhang Tingxuan, an artillery observer on the ridge 600 meters east of Qudou Village, also saw it. After a burst of excitement, he calmed down and only concentrated on transmitting the information of Feng Guozhang's appearance and the coordinates where he was sitting to the artillery headquarters.

"What! Feng Guozhang is out of the camp?! Li Chengyuan shouted very loudly.

"Yes. Brigade. The old dog probably couldn't sleep, and had to patrol at night. "Deputy Brigade Commander Chen Dashan said." Do you want to kill him now, so that the Qing army will be leaderless. ”

For the entire Qing army barracks, the infantry practiced on the spot at night, tossing for a month only to make the terrain very ripe, and the artillery in addition to comprehensive surveying and mapping, but also used training shells to test fire the entire camp, all areas have been divided, wait for the night attack, as long as the front-line observer sends the area number, the artillery can hit the node.

Feng Guozhang stayed in Qudou Village at night, although it was also in the firing area of the artillery, but after all, it was in the house, if he was shrunk under the table under the bed, as long as he was not directly hit by the shell, even if the house collapsed, he might not be killed. And now that Feng Guozhang has actually appeared in the wild, there is nothing better than this. In three minutes, each gun could fire twenty-four shells, and the entire artillery regiment could fire 1,296 shells—according to artillery drills, half of the exposed personnel were killed, and one hundred shells were needed for each Khakot (100 meters square) 75mm field gun in three minutes. Now that he can project 1,296 shells in three minutes, Feng Guozhang's chance of survival is only 1.22 in 10,000.

Li Chengyuan is completely artillery thinking, and there is nothing absolute in him, only the possibility expressed in mathematics. In just a few seconds, he silently calculated Feng Guozhang's survival chances in his heart, and then asked with a solemn face: "How many minutes are there to attack?" ”

"And ......" Chen Dashan looked at his watch, "There are still three minutes and thirty-five seconds, Cheng Yuan, do you want to notify the headquarters?" He saw that the time was still so long, and his heart cooled, the general attack was the general attack of the whole army, not the general attack of the artillery, if the artillery was fired in advance, then the loss on the infantry side would be great.

"It's too late to be announced. It was impossible for the command to notify all the troops to launch in advance. Besides, now I know Feng Guozhang's whereabouts, but once I get lost, I will never find him again. Unlike Chen Dashan, who was worried, Li Chengyuan only threw the pen in his hand and said decisively: "No matter, carry out covering shooting in the area where Feng Guozhang is located, the first two volleys, the back are shot rapidly, and after the rapid shooting, destructive shooting will be carried out on the Qing army headquarters, telephone stations, ammunition depots, and artillery positions." ”

Hearing that Li Chengyuan fired the cannon in advance without authorization, Chen Dashan was shocked: "Brigade commander, you are going to be dealt with by military law like this!" ”

The opportunity was fleeting, Li Chengyuan didn't want to say more, and said loudly: "Give the order to fire immediately!" I will go to the Judge Advocate General's Office myself. Seeing that Li Chengyuan was really determined, Chen Dashan no longer hesitated, and threw down the sentence "If you want to go, go together!" And he went out to give orders.

The sound of artillery rang out at 2:57, and Lin Wenqian of the wartime headquarters was stunned for a few moments at first, and then realized that the artillery had opened the cannon three minutes earlier. Lin Wenqian slapped the wall and scolded: "Damn Li Chengyuan, I killed him!" ”

He just finished scolding. The artilleryman's telegram was gone, and Zhou Sixu said: "Cheng Yuan said that Feng Guozhang went out to inspect, and when the searchlight shone through, he was seen by our artillery observers. He said that if the cannon is not fired. Feng Guozhang couldn't track it in the dark, so he ordered the artillery to open fire immediately, and he died so that the Qing army would have no leader......"

"Nonsense! It's just nonsense!! Although he is a classmate, Lin Wenqian, as the commander of an army, is completely unable to take into account the friendship of his classmates, "If Feng Guozhang doesn't die, this battle can't be fought?" As soon as Feng Guozhang dies, we can win? Now his artillery sees an opportunity to take advantage of it, and disregards discipline. Then the other troops can also mess around. I still say the same thing, when a large army fights, military discipline must be strict! Zhong Fei. You go and bring Li Chengyuan back to me. ”

Fang Yanchen saw that Lin Wenqian let him go, and when he wanted to get up, Zhang Chengyue next to him said: "I am a political commissar, this is an ideological problem, or let me go." ”

"Don't go! Cheng Yuan gave the order to open the cannon. Already on my way here. Before Zhou Sixu's telegram could be finished, he was interrupted by Lin Wenqian. He was actually in favor of opening artillery, according to the drill of the night attack and the plan this time, all the troops had already prepared their attack equipment in the last five minutes, and firing the artillery three minutes in advance and defeating Feng Guozhang would only be beneficial to the night attack. However, this is indeed a violation of discipline, and the Qing army will be alerted by the sound of artillery. The casualties of the assault force will increase, but if they do kill Feng Guozhang. Then counting from the whole battle, the casualties will only be significantly reduced.

Lin Wenqian was very annoyed by the sound of the cannon in advance, and Feng Guozhang was torn apart by shrapnel before he could react to the sudden raindrops of shells. At that time, Yun Baohui was accusing somewhere in the north and saying that it was Huangchaodong, but before the words fell, he only heard a thunder in the north, and others didn't know what the sound was, but Feng Guozhang knew that it was a salvo of artillery. Even if it is a salvo, then the target has been determined, but what is the goal of the entire military camp, Feng Guozhang thought of himself between the lightning and the flint. Four seconds later, just as he had thought, the shells whizzed. He didn't mean to dodge at all, and he didn't even get off his horse, because he knew that he couldn't avoid the salvo of dozens of field guns.

The first salvo of 54 shells completely covered Feng Guozhang's guards, and the casualties of the entire guard reached 30 percent, and Feng Guozhang was also among the casualties on horseback. The shrapnel from the shell not only tore him apart, but the air from the shell threw his body to the ground, and the fifty-four shells fired again twelve seconds later tore to shreds the soldiers who wanted to escape out of the firing area. After three minutes of rapid fire, 1,296 shells only plowed the entire area once, and after the shelling, the place was left with only minced meat, blood and shrapnel.

The sudden shelling of the revolutionary party was taught by the Qing army when it was in Hengshan Town. At that time, Zhang Gong wasted a lot of ammunition in order to test the relationship between Feng Guozhang and Cai Yi, and now he was shelled by the revolutionary party again, and the Qing army's reaction was to wake up in his sleep, which was to hurriedly find a more hidden place. The drill holes in the trenches and the barracks are just begging God. During these three minutes, except for the searchlight on the top of the mountain, which hurriedly shot into the shelling area, which indirectly helped the artillery observers of the revolutionary army to calibrate the shelling, most of the other Qing soldiers did not react. Only the searchlight team that had illuminated Feng Guozhang before, knew that Feng Guozhang was shelled, and the phone was hurriedly called to the headquarters, at this time, Tiezhong, the third town of the Manchurian New Army who was on duty at night, was dumbfounded when he received the call, and only waited for him to be stunned for a while, and the troops to rescue Feng Guozhang were dispatched at the request of the staff officer, and at this time, sporadic gunfire rang out from various positions.

Although Tie Zhong is a town commander and graduated from the Infantry Department of the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer School, as Feng Guozhang commented, his ability is not as good as that of a Cao Chang. The reason why he became the commander of the thirtieth town of the Manchurian and Mongolian New Army was because of his name and bloodline. The Jingzhou defense battalion was inlaid with a white flag, formerly known as Tie Liang, and Tie Liang, who avoided the military department, was renamed Tie Zhong. At that time, the imperial court trained the Manchurian and Mongolian new army, because the new army was unreliable and the Han people were unreliable. At that time, the choice of personnel was reliable, and now the iron loyalist, who is so reliable, has no way to face the attacks of the revolutionary party in all directions. It was only when the 25th town commander Tanaka Yu arrived that he found the backbone. However, because the artillery not only bombarded Feng Guozhang, but also bombarded the Qing army's headquarters, telephone stations, ammunition depots, and artillery positions, it was already more than ten minutes after Tanaka Yu arrived at the headquarters.

Looking at the appearance of the six gods of Tiezhong without an owner, Tanaka Yu didn't care about whether he exceeded his authority or not. He only said to a bunch of staff officers: "How's the situation going everywhere?" What happened to Bagu Bridge, Meiling Pass, and Qihao Mountain? ”

"There are revolutionary party assault troops everywhere, and we can't tell for a moment which way they want to assault." Liu Enyuan, the chief of staff of the army, was sweating and could only talk nonsense. Fortunately, Shi Jingyun, who was next to him, added: "Now the telephone lines have been blown up a lot. The communication between the highlands is not smooth, only Meiling Pass, Qihao Mountain, Bagu Bridge and Anshan Temple are connected, and other places are not connected. In these places, it was reported that a battalion or more of the revolutionary army was attacking the position, that they had broken through the minefields and barbed wire, had already rushed into the first line of trenches, and were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with our soldiers. ”

Hearing that there were only these few places that could be contacted, Tanaka Yu was shocked. Hearing that the revolutionary army had already rushed into the first trench, he said in a hurry, "How about the south, how about over there?" ”

To the south was the retreat of the entire force. It is also the focus of the staff officers' attention, Shi Jingyun said: "The same is true over there at Meiling Pass. Meiling Village, Zhutangkeng, and Leiwuyuan outside were blown off because the telephone line was blown up, and there was no news for a while. ”

"Send reinforcements to the south now!" Tanaka Yu said loudly: "Also, all the searchlights have been extinguished for me." It was because of the searchlight that the artillery of the revolutionary party blew up the commander......"

The revolutionaries bombed everything. Just don't blow up searchlights. On the way to the headquarters, Tanaka Tama did not know the reason at first, but when he saw that the place illuminated by the searchlight was quickly destroyed by the revolutionary artillery, he knew that the searchlight had to be turned off, and it was simply showing the way to the revolutionary artillery.

Tanaka Yu's order was correct, but it was already late, and although the searchlights were out, the place where the bombing should have been blown up was almost done, and the position to the south. The three points outside, because of the first standard pipe of the 49 Association with Yao Yuping's righteousness. The position was quickly taken; The attack on the first trench at Meiling Pass, a key place in the west, was very smooth, but when attacking the second trench, it was not only blocked by ten Makqin machine guns, but also ravaged by the back-hitting firepower points arranged by the Qing army.

Meiling Pass is so difficult to fight, and the flag mountain on the opposite side, which is also garrisoned by the patrol battalion, is even more difficult to fight. The ridge of Qihao Mountain is very similar to a zigzag, the Qing soldiers are stationed on the ridge in the lower left corner, and the revolutionary army occupies the ridge in the lower right corner, and the left and right ridges are separated by 800 meters. If Nie Litang's first and second companies wanted to attack the Qing army from the ridge, they would have to pass through the apex of the word "several", but this apex was only more than 300 meters away from the high ground of Anshan Temple attacked by the 7th Division.

I couldn't count on the way to the ridge for a while, so I had to rely on the third and fourth companies that fought from the bottom of the mountain to the mountain. Worried about breaking through the mine warfare and the barbed wire fence was broken through by Shun lì, the first trench near the foot of the mountain was occupied by Shun Lì after a fierce fight, but it was unexpected, there was also a reverse fire point on the right halfway up the mountain, and the "several" shaped mountain gave the Qing soldiers more cover, and the distance of 800 meters was within the normal killing range of the Makqin machine gun, and the third and fourth companies that broke through the first trench were completely suppressed by the Qing troops in the front and rear, and the two companies had more than 400 people and suffered heavy casualties.

Seeing that his soldiers were completely suppressed by the machine guns of the Qing army, Nie Litang threw the military cap on his head to the ground and scolded: "Hang the fucking comparison!" What about mortars?! Give Lao Tzu these upside down firepower. ”

"Battalion commander, the mortars are all on the ridge, which can suppress the Qing army on this side of Qihao Mountain, but there is no way to suppress these reverse firepower points halfway up the mountain, and it is only useful to send five companies." Zhang Shaoliang, the political commissar of the battalion, said. "I'll take someone up!"

"I'll go!" Nie Li Tangyou picked up the military hat from the ground, "When Lao Tzu played with firepower, the Tartar was still climbing in the ravine." Now that I've learned this trick, I think he's a few years old! Wang Jiongwu! ”

"Yes!" Wang Jiongwu, the platoon commander of the chores platoon next to him, heard what he said.

"Call your men, each with blasters and grenades, and follow me to extinguish the fire!" Nie Litang didn't say anything, don't take off his padded jacket, check his armed belt, pistol, and leggings, he is about to go to the battlefield again.

"Lao Nie!" Seeing him like this, the political commissar shouted: "The division commander said that you can't go to the battlefield!" ”

"If I don't die, let him kill me! When is it, in such an important place as Qihao Mountain, Feng Guozhang will definitely send troops to save it. Nie Litang cleaned himself up and said nonchalantly.

"But you can't bring a chore platoon! You will also send someone with you. "The political commissar also knows that now is the time to race against time, and the first and second can't make a roundabout, so they can only kiss it.

"The fifth company is left to supplement the third and fourth companies," Nie Litang said, "If they go to the top of the mountain, won't they have to make a big circle on the ridge?" When they finished circling, the Qing soldiers also came up. You order them to go into battle as soon as I get rid of those inverted firepower points on my side, and take down the banner mountain for me! ”

Nie Litang walked out of the tent as he spoke, and only took the chores platoon to the east to the mountain, because it was already exposed, he no longer paid attention to concealment, and as soon as the team stumbled and trotted along the mountain road. Because it is light, the blasting canister and grenade are not heavy, but this meter and a half blasting canister is easy to be stopped by trees when going up the mountain, which is very inconvenient, but the mountain of more than 300 meters still rushes up quickly. According to the observation just now, there are at least five firing points on this mountainside, but because the revolutionary army under the opposite hill has been suppressed, only two machine guns are still firing, and according to the sound and firelight, a few grenades were thrown over, and those two machine guns were dumb and fired. But because he knew that the revolutionary army had touched it, the other few firepower were killed and stopped firing, and Nie Litang was only at a loss for a while in the dark.

"Battalion commander, what should I do?" Wang Jiongwu is less than twenty years old, just a student soldier, he likes to fight, but he doesn't know how to fight at all, it was cool to throw a grenade just now, and now the enemy doesn't fire, he has no way at all.

"I didn't do anything." In one of the Qing soldiers' firepower points, Nie Litang quickly removed the broken bullet belt on Makqin, and the remaining bullets fired a few shots at the side in a row, and then connected a new cartridge belt, and then said: "I'll fire on the mountainside here, lead them to fire, and as soon as they fire, whether it's your grenade or blasting canister, kill them for me anyway!" ”

"Yes! Battalion commander! Wang Jiongwu said happily. Just as he was about to take someone to go, he was pulled by Nie Litang, "Remember, you have to be bold and careful, besides, if these machine guns don't fire, then when three or four companies attack, they will definitely fire, and then you will quickly kill them, and for every second of delay, we will sacrifice more than a dozen comrades." ”

Wang Jiongwu understood the severity of the matter, so he only restrained his smile and said loudly: "Understood, battalion commander." I'm going to kill them as fast as I can! ”

Watching Wang Jiongwu's people walk away, Nie Litang opened fire on the few firepower points in his memory, and as soon as he fired on his side, the remaining back-fire did not fire, but the machine gun on the opposite flag mountain came over. The Qing army had indeed studied the revolutionary party's previous arrangements for back-hitting firepower, and knew the relationship between the cover and restraint between back-hitting firepower and frontal firepower. As soon as the guns were fired on the opposite Qihao Mountain, without waiting for Nie Litang's order, the two 60 mortars arranged on the ridge smashed over, and the machine guns on the Qihao Mountain did not dare to fire under a single shell.

The firing points of the enemy and us were so restrained and stalemate, and the three and four companies that had been suppressed halfway up the mountain did not dare to fire at the enemy's machine guns, and only one of their own reverse firepower was constantly strafing the side and rear mountainside, and the mortars continued to bombard the Qing army's position on the top of the mountain, and then began to crawl up again.

The revolutionary army climbed to the top of the mountain on the east side of the banner mountain, and the Qing army climbed to the top of the mountain on the west side of the flag mountain, but their situation was worse than that of the revolutionary army, and they were completely suppressed by the first and second companies that had occupied the top of the word "several", but the first and second companies were suppressed by the mountain artillery of the Qing army under the mountain, and could only shoot indiscriminately at the bottom of the mountain in the bunker - Tanaka Yu, who had fully understood the intentions of the revolutionary party, was worthy of being a person valued by Feng Guozhang, without any luck and concerns, and ordered as long as it was a hilltop position that could not be contacted, Let the artillery use chlorine gas cannons and howitzers to bombard us without distinguishing between the enemy and us.

Although this could hurt his own people, he did not want to wait for the revolutionaries to take up positions and consolidate the trenches. He believed that as long as the revolutionary party was given time, the hilltop position would be run as solid as a rock, and although he had chlorine cannons, the wind on the top of the mountain was strong, and the chlorine gas dispersed as soon as the wind blew, and the threat was limited. Only now, when the revolutionary party is not firmly established, can it be a chlorine cannon and a howitzer, so that the Qing army that went to reinforce can have the possibility of regaining its position. (To be continued......)