As soon as the 60 fighters of the Chinese army arrived in the airspace over Huzhou, they were intercepted by our air force, and an air battle broke out in an instant. In less than half an hour of air combat, more than 30 warplanes were shot down. Yanagawa Heisuke was furious, and immediately sent an urgent request for help to the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters and the Third Fleet of the Navy.

At this time, King Hatohiko of Asakanomiya had taken over as the commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and Matsui Ishine was reappointed as the commander of the Central China Dispatch Army. After receiving Yanagawa Heisuke's telegram asking for help, Matsui Shigen did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered the army aviation stationed in Shanghai to fully support the Huzhou battlefield, and at the same time, Matsui Shigen urgently contacted Hasegawa Kiyoshi, commander of the Third Fleet of the Japanese Army, hoping that HNA could send fighters to fully support the Huzhou battlefield!

At the same time, Jin Zhao personally sent a telegram to Gao Zhihang, saying that the Battle of Huzhou was directly related to the success or failure of the Battle of Nanjing, and asked Gao Zhihang to seize Huzhou's air supremacy at all costs to ensure the victory of the Huzhou Campaign!

After Gao Zhihang received Jin Zhao's order, he naturally did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent most of the main fighters of the 2nd Air Division to support the Huzhou battlefield!

In this way, with the continuous increase of troops on both sides, the number of fighters over Huzhou gradually increased from more than 100 to more than 300, and even exceeded 400 at the most, and has always remained above 200. Among them, the 2nd Air Force Division has dispatched more than 200 fighters and more than 500 sorties, and the military has dispatched more than 400 fighters, nearly 1,000 sorties! In this way, the two sides launched the largest and most fierce air battle in the sky over Huzhou since the start of the war!

In the afternoon of the same day, Le Yiqin had just led one of his squadrons back to Jianqiao Airport from the Huzhou battlefield when Gao Zhihang called the headquarters. Gao Zhihang said with a serious face, "Commander-in-Chief Jin just sent a telegram saying that the Sixth Brigade of the Heavy Artillery of the Yue Army has been put into battle, this heavy artillery brigade has a large number of 150 mm, or even 240 mm caliber heavy artillery, our artillery unit is not its opponent at all, it was completely suppressed by the little devils, and it gave our ground troops great damage, so Commander-in-Chief Jin ordered our Second Air Division to dispatch bombers to destroy the artillery positions of the Yue Army at all costs, and I decided that your squadron would be responsible for escorting the bomber formation. I can only send you a maximum of nine fighters from other squadrons, but this mission is very important, and you must complete it with determination and thoroughness! ”

"Where is the little devil's heavy artillery position?" Le Yiqin asked with a serious face, from Gao Zhihang's introduction just now, Le Yiqin already knew the important surname of this operation, and also understood the danger of this mission, because due to the continuous increase of troops, the Second Air Division fought for a long time and was never able to completely control Huzhou's air supremacy.

Gao Zhihang took a pencil and drew a circle on the map, "I can only determine that it is about this location!" ”

"Please rest assured, instructor! We promise to get the job done! Destroy the little devil heavy artillery position! Le Yiqin replied loudly and straightly, then turned around and left the command room and walked out.

Looking at the back of Le Yiqin leaving, Gao Zhihang sighed helplessly, and then ordered, "Order the ground crew, speed up and replenish the ammunition and fuel for the fighter!" ”

After Le Yiqin left, he did not return to the lounge to rest temporarily, but returned directly to the tarmac to help the ground crew check the fighter, and kept urging the ground crew to hurry up to refuel the fighter and hang up the bomb! More than an hour later, all the fighters had been replenished, and under the command of the ground crew, Le Yiqin piloted his beloved fighters, the first one to rush into the sky, followed by the second, the third, a full twenty fighters and thirty-six bombers in the air. After completing the formation over the airport, fifty-six silver-white war eagles flew quickly in the direction of Huzhou and gradually disappeared from people's field of vision.

The heavy artillery brigade is the reserve artillery of the army, which generally has more than 8,000 officers and men, and is equipped with more than 70 large-caliber howitzers or cannons ranging from 100 mm to 240 mm, and is often used for key offensive tasks. At present, there are six heavy artillery brigades, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th brigades are not readable, but are assigned to the 3rd, 12th, 1st, and Guards divisions respectively, and the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th field heavy artillery brigades were used as leading organs in the Kannai battlefield in the early stage of the war. The 1st and 2nd Brigades were assigned to the North China Dispatch Army, the 5th Brigade was assigned to the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and the 6th Brigade was assigned to the 10th Army.

Previously, the largest caliber artillery equipped by the Fujian army was only 150 mm caliber, so as soon as the 6th Brigade of the Heavy Artillery of the Yue Army entered the battle, the artillery fire of the Fujian army was completely suppressed! In particular, the 240-mm heavy artillery equipped with the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade had a long range and great power, and the Fujian army had no power to fight back. Therefore, Jin Zhao ordered Gao Zhihang to destroy the heavy artillery positions of the Yue army at all costs to reduce the pressure on the front-line troops.

At this time, the fierce battle in Huzhou was still continuing, and the artillery fire on the ground was full of sky, and the artillery battle between the two sides that was originally evenly matched had become a one-man show of the heavy artillery brigade of the Yue army, and the large-caliber heavy artillery of the Yue army continued to bombard the positions of the Fujian army on the periphery of Huzhou City. In the south, southwest, and west directions, a brigade of the 17th Division of the Yue Army, the Niudao Detachment, and the Guoqi Detachment were continuously launching containment attacks on the positions of the Fujian Army.

In the sky, the fierce air battle continued, and the fighters of the two sides chased each other in the sky over Huzhou, sprinkling a rain of bullets, and almost every minute one or even several planes fell into the building with black smoke, and even turned into a huge firework in the air. Of course, most of these downed planes were Chinese fighters. Although the young pilots of the Second Air Force Division are still slightly deficient in terms of combat experience compared with these old devils, the planes equipped with the Second Air Force Division are much more advanced than those of the Japanese army, and the advanced surnames of the planes are enough to make up for the lack of pilot experience. If it weren't for the numerical superiority of the fighters and the continuous reinforcements, I am afraid that the sky over Huzhou would have been the world of the Second Air Division at this time.

At a time when the fighters of the two sides were fighting in the skies over Huzhou, Le Yiqin led a mixed group composed of 20 fighters and 36 bombers to deliberately bypass the fighters of the two warring sides and pounced directly in the direction of the heavy artillery positions of the Yue Army. Due to the continuous expansion of the scale of air warfare, the air combat battlefield at this time is not only limited to Huzhou, from Jiaxing to Huzhou in the vast area, you can see the fighters of both sides everywhere, fighting desperately in the sky! Therefore, it is impossible for Le Yiqin and others to completely avoid the fighters of the Yue Army.

"Our mission is to protect the bombers, destroy the enemy's heavy artillery positions, and if we encounter the harassment of the Japanese planes, we can't shoot them down, just drive them away, don't fall in love with the war!" Le Yiqin constantly reminded his young pilots through the radio that they were focused on completing this mission.

But even so, the huge fleet led by Le Yiqin, especially the large number of bombers in the group, quickly attracted the attention of the little devils. The military fighters are like hungry wolves smelling blood, gathered from all directions, staring at this group of ** fighters with fierce eyes, at this time in the eyes of these little devils, this ** fighter formation has become a big fat meat, the little devils salivate, eager to rush up and take a bite.

However, to Le Yiqin's relief, there were also many comrades-in-arms nearby who joined in, which made the scale of this formation continue to increase. The main battlefield of the air battle gradually shifted to the southeastern area of Huzhou, which was centered on the Leyiqin formation.

Major General Sumita Mashiro, commander of the 6th Brigade of the Heavy Artillery Corps of the Army, stood in an observation post on a high ground, looked at the position of the Fujian army shrouded in artillery fire, and couldn't help but sneer proudly, "Hmph! This time, this group of stupid ** pigs has seen the power of the heavy artillery of the imperial army! Order the 13th Wing of Heavy Artillery, the 14th Wing to continue shelling, and be sure to bombard this group of stupid ** pigs into powder! ”

"Hayi!" An adjutant behind him bowed to the order, then turned and strode away.

At this time, Major General Sumita Shiro suddenly felt something strange, and involuntarily raised his head to look at the sky, "Yaga Yalu!" Why are there more and more fighters here, the army and the navy are a group of rice buckets, and they have not completely wiped out the ** air force for most of the day! It's simply incompetent! Order the air defense forces and strengthen their alert in case of a sneak attack by the ** Air Force! Major General Sumita did not hear a reply after speaking, and looked back dissatisfied. I saw a staff officer standing behind him, with a frightened expression on his face, pointing to the sky in the distance and saying in surprise, "Your Excellency General! Look where! ”

Major General Sukita Shiro didn't care about blaming his subordinates for their gaffes, and hurriedly looked back, and couldn't help but gasp, "Yaga Yalu!" **People's fighters are coming! Don't hurry up and inform the troops to strengthen air defense! Major General Sukita Mashiro angrily kicked the staff officer and yelled loudly.

I saw a group of dense black dots in the sky in the distance, buzzing towards this side like a swarm of wasps. In the middle of this fleet, there are dozens of fighters, and there are nearly 100 fighters from both sides chasing and fighting around.

Looking at the continuous firelight on the ground not far ahead, Le Yiqin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, it was finally here! "So the fighters pestered the planes of the little devils at all costs, protected the bomber formations, and provided bombing opportunities for the bomber formations! Bomber formation, immediately ready to bomb the heavy artillery positions of the Japanese army! Be sure to destroy all the imps' guns! Le Yiqin shouted loudly and hoarsely. At this time, a Type 95 fighter suddenly rushed out from the left front in an attempt to sneak attack the bomber formation.

Le Yiqin immediately responded, and successfully put the devil plane into the aiming ring, and then decisively pressed the shooting button! "Come on, little devil! Let you taste the power of Lao Tzu! With a loud roar from Le Yiqin, "Da da da! A dull machine gun sounded, and two blazing tongues of fire instantly enveloped the little devil's plane, and the two bullet rains were like the whip of death, cutting off a large part of the left wing of the devil's plane at once, and the devil's plane immediately lost its balance and fell down with black smoke. (To be continued.) )