The duel on the ridge of the old dragon's head was transmitted back to Japan and aroused a lot of scolding from the people, and the foul in the duel made it even more obvious that the people of China were a despicable race, but Yamada Takuo's staff officer Kana Shaozo did not condemn it, and decades later, his memoirs finally detailed the controversial duel, and Jiang Dadong threw something at that time It may indeed be a paper cigarette case under his description, because it had already landed before it hit Dazuo.

Of course, this is a story a long, long time later, when the fighting was raging on the Longtou Mountains, but the prime minister of the Great China was not in the country, and he was in San Francisco on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

More importantly, if he only visited the United States before the war, then the European powers would have opinions, but now, among all the powers, only the United States has expressed great indignation and sympathy for China's aggression, and there is nothing wrong with him only visiting the United States. Because of the threat of the Japanese Navy in the Pacific Ocean, Yang Rui had to take an airship to the Philippines and then take a cruise ship to the United States.

The cruise ship was escorted by the U.S. Asian Detachment to San Francisco, and when it arrived at the port, all the Chinese and even foreigners in Los Angeles came to the dock in costumes to welcome them.

"Mr. Prime Minister, may I ask what is the purpose of your visit at this time, the war in the north is already very critical?" At the press conference. The reporters looked at this legendary figure, although there was some politeness in his words. However, in the hearts of all the reporters present, they all believed that Yang Rui's visit to the United States was to ask for help.

"After leaving the United States more than twenty years ago. I've always wanted to come back and see that America is my second home! But since arriving in China, because of the revolution, even if this wish can be realized, it will come and go in a hurry, and it cannot be fulfilled at the same time. The war in the north was a war against aggression, and the brave Chinese soldiers and the fearless local people threw themselves into this war, and the war was only fierce, not critical. In addition to fulfilling my previous wishes, my current visit is more for the friendship between China and the United States. We Chinese can handle our own affairs on our own. It was just a normal state visit and nothing else. Yang Rui read the draft prepared by the secretary's office, he was not sloppy at all, and he did not dare to play without authorization, he did not come for money, not for soldiers, but to win over American politicians and the American people, so that they could not quickly intervene in the Sino-Japanese war because of public opinion in the follow-up war.

"Mr. Prime Minister, you left China during the war. Isn't this a good time? How would you respond if the war changed dramatically? Seeing that Yang Rui finished answering the previous question, the next reporter threw out another question, and the meaning of the words made Yang Rui think that he was British.

"If it's because the prime minister is abroad. If national affairs cannot be handled, it can only mean that the country is a failure. Yang Rui didn't follow the draft this time, and said his thoughts with a smile. The management of any country is systematic. The Prime Minister's task is more to maintain the normal functioning of the system, which is automatic. It's not that it can run without a prime minister, and it stops without a prime minister. I think that even if the Chinese government does not have a prime minister for a month or two, the entire national management system will work well. Although all kinds of accidents will occur in the war, fighting a war is a military business, and it is also a very professional thing, and I believe that the generals on the front line will handle it well......"

After more than half an hour of press conference, after asking many national events in a row, the next thing was Yang Rui's private affairs, among which his two wives were the topics that most interested reporters. More than an hour later, after the gift was delivered to Mr. Smith, the mayor of San Francisco, he met with Hongmen bigwig Huang Sande again.

"Long time no see!" Looking at Huang Sande, who was a little uneasy, Yang Rui smiled brightly, and didn't care about his crampedness at all.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister......" Huang Sande was interrupted by Yang Rui as soon as he spoke, and the two of them were still called as they had interacted in the past.

"Actually, why did you come to the United States this time?" Huang Sande cleared his throat and asked a question that had been asked badly as usual.

"Actually, it's okay, just go out for a walk." Yang Rui said lightly. "Fighting Japan will not be able to turn to beg the Americans."

"Oh......" After Huang Sande let out a long oh, there was no sound.

"Big guy, what's going on with the Hongmen reorganization now?" Yang Rui saw that he was silent, so he had to ask himself.

"The reorganization is a reorganization, but Hongmen is still a mess. Actually, you said you want to ......," Huang Sande said suspiciously. Hongmen's power is extremely huge, anyone wants to use it, Sun Wen used to be like this, and Yang Rui will fight such an idea.

"I don't want anything. Hongmen is an overseas non-governmental organization, and the government will not interfere in domestic and Chinese affairs. Yang Rui said: "I just hope that Hongmen will not be so scattered, and there will be no private fights between the halls and the mouths, which is no different from protecting overseas Chinese, but also makes foreigners laugh." In addition, the Chinese Exclusion Act is not something that can be removed by China now, and Hongmen not only cannot protect the Chinese, but also ......"

Yang Rui's words stopped at this point, Huang Sande's face was hot when he heard it, and he was uneasy for a while before he said: "I'm already old, let's leave this matter to Kizan and them." ”

Situ Meitang's Anliang Hall is already the largest hall in the United States, and the position of the hall master of Hongmen General Hall, whether others want it or not, will be his sooner or later. Yang Rui didn't care about Hongmen's internal affairs, he just wanted to rebuild trust with Huang Sande, otherwise pushing him out would only cheapen Sun Wen. The two talked for a long time, and after sending Huang Sande out in person, Yang Rui suddenly asked: "It's time for dawn in China, has the 433 Heights been defended?" ”

When the first morning light illuminated the earth, the last attack of the Japanese army on the 433 Heights had been repulsed, and the ridges and valleys were covered with blue and dirty patches, which were the corpses of Japanese soldiers. Some of them, trying to avenge the wing commander, were killed by the Maxim machine guns where the defenders found ammunition, and many more were killed by the radio station that was thrown down by the airship to call for artillery fire - since the army could not come. But the shells of the 150mm German howitzer seven kilometers away can come over, although the real situation is not clear in the moonlight. But just understand where the ridge is, and go down with a cannon. The ridge to the east has been blown away, and although the western side cannot achieve such an effect, the blockade of the Japanese attack is still something that can be done lightly. Therefore, in the second half of the night, the Japanese troops were fighting with the defenders' machine guns and the support artillery called by the defenders, and the last 50 people of the first battalion on the main peak survived.

At dawn, because the airship could already see the Japanese artillery position, the howitzer shells that had originally blocked the Japanese charge and defended the 433 heights were transferred to the south below the mountain, under the command of the artillery observer on the airship. With a brief rapid shot, the Japanese artillery that was hindering the advance of the troops was solved, and under the cover of the artillery barrage, the 104th Army quickly occupied Zhanglangzhai in Aiquan Village, and re-established the land connection with the 433 Heights, and the new soldiers of the 113th Division looked at the main peak in disbelief, unable to imagine how these dozens of defenders held here in the face of the collapse of their positions and the lack of personnel. Squinting at the regiment commander who led the team, Jiang Dadong wanted to say that they came too late, but he could see the bandages on the lieutenant colonel's hands. He just laughed to himself after the salute.

"Comrade battalion commander, our regiment has been ordered to take over the 433 Heights, please cooperate!" Lieutenant Colonel Yan said seriously, he also worked hard all night before coming up.

"Comrade Regiment Commander. My battalion was ordered to withdraw from the 433 Heights, please accept it! Jiang Dadong received the order to change guards more than an hour ago, and he himself was appointed by the theater command as the acting commander of the first battalion. It's just that the rank is still sergeant.

"Good work, brother!" The lieutenant colonel saluted and then grabbed Jiang Dadong with his movable left hand.

"It's not hard." Jiang Dadong shook his head. He didn't think it was a big credit to be able to hold this place, and he took the lieutenant colonel's hand instead. He solemnly explained: "There are many brothers buried under the stones, and your people can only relieve themselves in those fixed places. ”

Unexpectedly, Jiang Dadong explained this problem, the lieutenant colonel nodded heavily in a stunned manner, and said: "We must be careful and never blaspheme the martyrs!" ”

"Then I'll be relieved." Jiang Dadong seemed to have to explain the only problem when he took over the defense, and when he saw that the regiment commander agreed very seriously, his heavy heart suddenly let go, turned to look at his thin team, and shouted: "Stand up!" Take a break, turn right, and walk in unison! One-two-one, one-two-one......"

In addition to the casualties of the bayonet fight in the first half of the night, the first battalion sacrificed more than 10 people in the later battle, and by this time, only 58 people could still breathe, all of these 58 people were wounded, only 27 were able to walk on their own, and the remaining 31 people were carried down by the new stretcher soldiers of the 113th Division.

After the Japanese tunnel was blasted, the originally flat road down the mountain became extremely steep, and it took more than an hour for Jiang Dadong and others to fall to the river valley plain. Looking at the battalion flag of the first battalion of the 685th Regiment they were holding, the soldiers along the way solemnly saluted these dozens of people, Jiang Dadong had already exhausted his strength in fighting all night, and it was very difficult to raise his hand, but he still returned the salute along the way. When they arrived at Aiquan Village, the heavy overlapping of Japanese corpses stunned the crowd, although there were Japanese corpses everywhere on the ridge, but they were far from being as thick and dense as here.

"At dawn, the Japanese launched a counterattack, and they rushed over one brigade after another, probably trying to fight a white-knuckle battle with us, but unfortunately ......" The major in charge of escort looked at the corpses of Japanese soldiers all over the ground outside the village, very disdainful. Although the brutal Russo-Japanese War taught the Japanese many lessons, it was only a small number of officers, and under the imperial system, the experience of the last war was not well summarized and promoted.

In the major's view, the officers of the Japanese army are only equivalent to the level of military blindness, that is, the combat effectiveness of an army is ridiculously attributed to discipline and not being afraid of death, but in a real war, only military science and the art of war are the foundation of victory, and discipline is only one of the science of organizational behavior.

Hearing that the major said that it was a pity, Jiang Dadong suddenly said: "Jackal-like things, the virtue of eating dry and wiping up, even a beard is not as good!" ”

After a night's work, Jiang Dadong's background had already been investigated very clearly, but his relationship with the Renaissance Army was only known to the top few, and the officers below only knew that this new hero of the Renaissance Army had made a beard before.

The major's pity was that he did not seize the opportunity of the defeat of the Japanese army and outflanked the enemy who had broken through into the valley. And not that it is a pity that these Japanese died here, but he did not justify it. just smiled: "It really deserves to die." ”

As he spoke, the commander of the 115th Division and the commander of the 105th Army came out of Aiquan Village. After being mentioned by the major again, Jiang Dadong ran to the army commander and saluted: "Report to the commander, Jiang Dadong, the acting commander of the first battalion of the 685th Regiment, will report to you: Our battalion was ordered to defend the 433 heights, resist the enemy's 7th Division, kill one captain of the enemy's 25th Wing, and countless other officers and soldiers, except for 58 people in the battalion, all the other brothers were killed, and none of them survived......

Jiang Dadong's voice was a little hoarse. But it was still loud, and his voice echoed outside Aiquan Village, which was full of Japanese corpses, and at this moment, the windless river valley suddenly blew the wind, and the low-hanging military flag suddenly fluttered in the wind.

"You've worked hard!" Commander Zhou Weihan solemnly returned to the salute. It is a miracle that this battalion of the 685th Regiment was able to hold 433 after the Japanese army blasted the tunnel, and after hearing that 433 was blasted by the Japanese army last night, he sent a telegram directly to the theater headquarters, asking the 104th Army stationed in Tuandian to urgently dispatch two divisions to attack the first line of the river valley, not wanting the river valley to be flat. However, under the interception of Japanese artillery, the 104th Army did not advance to the outside of the river valley until dawn, and on the 433 heights, there were still formed troops resisting, and they really held their positions. This couldn't help but make him overjoyed.

Unlike the protégés of the prime minister who dropped out of Nanyang College, these people who dropped out of the Nanjing Army Academy also held important positions in the revival army, and there were many generals. But after all, they all graduated from the second phase of the military academy, and they are still a little worse than the first phase. When the first-term students talked about how the prime minister was doing in the military academy, they couldn't talk at all. Of course, when they talk about how the Russo-Japanese War turned out, those after the seventh issue can't talk. Zhou Weihan is now the commander of the reserve army, and the first battalion of the 685th Regiment has such a record, even if the reserve is disbanded after the war, it is estimated that the 115th Division will still be retained, and he himself is likely to be transferred to the regular army as a military-level cadre.

Jiang Dadong did not know that the army commander had such a plan in his head, and after reporting to the village, he learned that the first battalion would rest for three months, and while replenishing the soldiers, the upper authorities would send staff officers and officers to rebuild the first battalion, and in these three months, he would enter the wartime military academy system to learn officer skills, and if the training results were qualified, his code as battalion commander would be removed.

The tragicomedy of life Jiang Dadong didn't have time to understand, as soon as he entered the barracks, he fell asleep, and when he got up again, it was already sunset. He was woken up by a loud noise, the sound of '...... was very noisy, and he was curious about what it was until he opened the door, only to find that there were many strange cars that would smoke in the open space outside the yard. Like other equipment in the army, this boxy strange car is also painted in camouflage, they are not very similar to a car except that they are shaped like a car, the wheels are actually wrapped in iron sheets, a cannon barrel is erected on the roof of the car, and there is also a car with the muzzle raised high, and several soldiers in military uniforms are surrounding the barrel of the cannon and do not know what they are doing.

"Fuck, what kind of guy is this? Tractors? Da Jiangdong finally remembered the tractor that cultivated the land over there in Heilongjiang, and that thing was also made of iron, which was somewhat similar to this.

"Whatever he is." Wu Laocai, who was paralyzed in fright last night, began to ignore other things after seeing the airship in the sky, and he had already made up a joke in private, ready to talk about the big airship after returning to Tun. His life was big, he was not killed by Japanese mortars in the second half of the night, and now he has turned into a combat hero, with two cigarettes in his mouth, and he looks very proud.

"It's... What the...... Yes, it's a cannon that will walk on its own, listen to what those people say. "The kid didn't say 'self-propelled artillery,' but he understood what it meant. He almost died last night, and during an attack after the white-knuckle battle, a grenade from the Japanese soldiers who rushed to him smashed it on his stomach, but fortunately it didn't explode, he grabbed the tail and threw it back. After this great disaster, his habits did not change, but he became more and more curious about all kinds of weapons, and he got up after a little sleep during the day, and he had already seen the big guys outside the courtyard, and at noon he surrounded them curiously, until he was persuaded to retreat by the soldiers over there.

"If you can walk by yourself, isn't that a wooden ox and a flowing horse?" Jiang Dadong muttered, this era is becoming more and more incomprehensible to him.

When several combat heroes were discussing the wooden ox flowing horse, in the courtyard on the other side, the commander of the 1st Armored Test Division, Major General Wang Shiqian, also looked at the wooden ox-2 self-propelled artillery.

When the dive bomber was not yet a shadow, in order to enhance the assault performance of the combat vehicle, the General Staff equipped the armored division with self-propelled artillery, which was only a self-propelled gun equipped with a 75mm field gun at the beginning, and then signed an arms contract with Germany, and asked the Tonghua Tractor Factory to design a 150mm howitzer that could carry two .2 tons, fortunately, although the caliber of the two guns was doubled, the weight was only increased by one ton. The Muniu-2 self-propelled gun is four kilometers slower than the Muniu-1 in speed, and there is no other change.

Compared with the 75mm rate of fire and the amount used, although the expensive 150mm howitzer has 20 more shells, but after a big war, the shells are very rare, and only at the critical moment will these howitzers be pulled to the front line. In order to maneuver, not only the artillery is self-propelled, but its shells and kits are also loaded in two matching tracked armored transporters, so that one artillery with three vehicles, a heavy howitzer battalion has forty-eight vehicles, plus personnel carriers, which is almost the establishment of a tank regiment.

A heavy howitzer battalion and two 75 field artillery battalions, this is the configuration of the artillery regiment of the 1st armored division, together with a tank brigade, an infantry regiment, a mobile engineer battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, a tank repair battalion, and some attached logistics, baggage, and communications units, the entire armored division is complete. It's just that chariots and artillery can maneuver, and if the infantry wants to maneuver in a wide area, they don't know what to sit on, and at the current speed of 25 kilometers in chariots, it is better to ride a horse, but you can't catch up with it on a bicycle, and if you want to press the wheels under the feet of the soldiers, the cost is really too great.

The armored division was established under Yang Rui's own construction, but fortunately, the students below were already accustomed to Mr. 's whimsy, and at first they were only a little interested in the armored division, but when they saw the power of the collective assault of the chariots, they were as excited as if they had been beaten with chicken blood. Because of the sacrifice of Wang Shizheng of the Fire Dragon Army during the Russo-Japanese War, his cousin Wang Shiqian was appointed commander of the 1st Armored Division.

Wang Shiqian is also a former student of Nanyang Public School, a student of the first phase of the military academy, he was originally in the engineering unit, and after Wang Shizheng died, he was transferred to the Fire Dragon Unit, the predecessor of the armored division. The cousin died at the hands of the Japanese, and in this Sino-Japanese war, Wang Shiqian wanted to let the tigers under his hands go out to attack, and it was best to rush from Gaizhou to Lushun and crush the Japanese to the ground, but his petition was personally approved by Yang Rui: ordered the 1st Armored Division to be stationed in Liaoyang and not to act rashly.

This time, because the 433 Heights were blasted by the Japanese, the entire Gaizhou defense line was in danger, so the General Staff transferred a tank battalion to the rear of Gaizhou to stand by, while the self-propelled heavy howitzer battalion was ordered to support the front line in the Daqing River valley. The meaning of the General Staff is to use the heavy howitzers first, and if the 104th Army cannot recapture the front-line positions with the support of heavy artillery, then the tank battalion will go up again. Although the order agreed to the armored division for the first battle, it also stipulated that the chariots could only reach the line of the Daqing River and not cross the south bank of the Daqing River. Wang Shiqian is well aware of the power of the chariot, but the use of such restrictions only makes him feel aggrieved in his heart, when will he be able to gallop on the battlefield?

"What's wrong with the cannon?" Wang Shiqian asked the adjutant beside him. He was packing his luggage, and after Zhang Langzhai was taken in the morning, the matter of his preparation to observe the position was in vain, and the self-propelled heavy howitzer battalion also had to retreat.

"It looks like a car broke down." The adjutant put the things he was packing up and looked out the window and said.

"Hit by Japanese artillery? Hey, no, it can't be. Wang Shiqian asked again, but he himself felt that it was impossible. Without aircraft observation, if you want to know the artillery position, even if you have the most advanced detection system, it will take more than three days to determine the position to carry out the counter-battery mission, which also requires the artillery not to change the gun position, and to equip the latest listening side system to do so. If the Japanese could hit the howitzer battalion position, it would have been Amaterasu.

"I guess it's a mechanical problem." The adjutant said as he watched the erected cannon tube slowly fall. "The self-propelled cannon was made too hastily, and it was not as stable as the combat vehicle." (To be continued......)