Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Under the command of Ota Sadamasa, the Japanese launched a fierce attack on the two positions of Tingbingshan and Gaoling overnight.

A large number of Japanese soldiers rushed onto the battlefield again under the cover of night.

The Japs' tactics remained the same as always, first with artillery preparation, followed by an infantry charge.

However, the Japanese mobilized a large number of heavy machine guns, mortars and grenade launchers, and fired fiercely at the positions on the hilltop in order to suppress the firepower of the defenders.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, a large number of Japanese infantry rushed up aggressively, jumped into the outer trench one after another, set up ladders and began to climb up the hillside.

Some of the Japanese soldiers even stacked themselves up to form a human ladder and climbed directly up.

The brothers hiding in the trenches kept throwing grenades down.

Violent explosions continued to sound, and large numbers of Japanese soldiers were blown to death in the trenches.

Some Japanese soldiers took advantage of the chaos to rush up the hillside, but they were all killed by the defenders.

In order to suppress the firepower of the defenders, the enemy also concentrated its firepower and fired fiercely.

Bullets fell on the hillside like raindrops, splashing up pieces of mud.

Mortar shells and grenades also fell on the hillside one after another, violent explosions continued to sound, and smoke and artillery fire enveloped the entire position.

Under the fierce firepower of the Japanese, the casualties of the defenders on the mountain continued to increase.

Moreover, as the battle progressed, the defenders consumed a large amount of ammunition in order to stop the Japanese attack.

After receiving the request for help from Company Commander Zhang Deshan, the rear troops immediately sent troops to deliver ammunition and supplies to the front line.

A batch of ammunition was successfully delivered to Tingbing Mountain and Gaoling, but this action was also discovered by the Japanese.

After Ota Sadamasa learned of this, he angrily cursed: "Bagayalu, a bunch of idiots."

“Although we cannot bypass these two hillsides and directly attack the enemy positions in the rear, we can easily prevent the enemy troops in the rear from supporting their forward positions.”

Ota Sadamasa pointed at the sand table and said, "Hasn't our troops already bypassed these two high grounds?"

"We can have them concentrate their firepower to block the enemy's logistics supply lines and create a fire blockade in this area to prevent the enemy's reinforcements and ammunition from being transported to the front line."

"Only by completely isolating them can we capture these two hills as quickly as possible."

"Hai~! Your Excellency the General is wise."

Ota Sadamasa said impatiently: "Okay, do as I say immediately and block their rear supply line."

"Concentrate all your strength and continue the attack. Make sure you take these two high grounds as soon as possible."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officers present responded in unison.

Under the command of Ota Sadamasa, the Japanese concentrated all their efforts and continued to launch a fierce attack on the two small hills.

The battle became more brutal. The Japanese soldiers became furious and began to attack fiercely regardless of casualties.

Under the tenacious resistance of the defenders, the attacking Japanese suffered heavy casualties, and the outer trench was filled with their corpses.

Li Guotao brought Chen Jianghe and more than 30 people to a frontline position outside the city.

Li Guotao carefully observed the situation through the telescope and said with a sneer, "The Japanese attack is very fierce!"

Captain Wang of the brother unit said helplessly: "I don't know what's going on. The Japanese are like crazy, constantly launching fierce attacks on the frontline positions."

“It looks like they are determined to take these two hillsides at all costs.”

Li Guotao asked casually: "Brother Wang, how long do you think these two front positions can hold out if the battle continues like this?"

Captain Wang shook his head helplessly and said, "It's hard to say."

"Now the Japanese have blocked our logistics supply lines, and the troops on the front line can no longer be replenished."

"There is only one company of troops on the two heights, and the Japanese's firepower is getting stronger and stronger."

"If we continue to fight like this, no one can tell how long we can last."

"But we've fought for so long and killed so many devils. It's worth it even if I die."

Hearing this, Li Guotao just nodded slightly and continued, "I think the reason we were able to hold out for so long is because the fortifications we built are more suitable for this kind of defensive operations, and it is difficult for the Japanese to attack."

Hearing this, Captain Wang immediately became excited and said with a smile: "This kind of fortification is unique to our Taishan Army."

"Recently, the military commander has recruited tens of thousands of civilian workers to cut the nearby hillsides into almost 90-degree cliffs."

"We dug deep and wide trenches, which made it difficult for the Japanese to climb up."

"We also built strong bunkers and dug grenade-throwing trenches on the mountain. Soldiers usually rely on these bunkers and throw grenades to kill the enemy who enters the trenches."

"If the Japs want to go up the mountain, they can only enter the ditch and climb up."

"So after this battle, the trenches were already filled with the bodies of the Japanese soldiers. This battle was really exciting."

Li Guotao nodded slightly when he heard this. He had heard of the famous Fang Xianjue.

Judging from the current situation, such a defense system is still quite effective.

And now the Japanese don't seem to have found any effective way to restrain us, and they are still attacking foolishly.

Li Guotao smiled and nodded, saying, "That's good. We can take this opportunity to kill more devils."

"Brother Wang, you should have built similar defense systems in other places, right?"

Captain Wang nodded and said, "Almost all the hilltops in the south and west of the city that can be built have such a defense system."

"With these fortifications, it's enough to give these little devils a good beating."

Li Guotao had no doubt about this. In fact, the 10th Army had moved to Hengyang a long time ago, and Commander Fang had been making preparations for the defense of Hengyang.

In order to build these Fang Xianjue trenches, tens of thousands of civilian workers were recruited to work day and night, and finally these fortifications were completed before the Japanese arrived.

It was these defensive fortifications that played a crucial role in the Battle of Hengyang. Otherwise, with the limited strength of the 10th Army, it would have been impossible to hold out for so long.

It is also impossible to achieve the highest casualty ratio in the entire history of the War of Resistance.

In Li Guotao's opinion, this kind of battle that takes advantage of the weather and terrain is not common, so if we can take advantage of this opportunity to kill more Japanese devils and deal a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese slaves, it will be extremely beneficial to the entire war of resistance. [Ding Dong~! Congratulations to the host for successfully obtaining the fourth lottery opportunity. Do you want to participate in the lottery? ]

At this time, a crisp system prompt sound rang in Li Guotao's mind, and Li Guotao realized that it was already ten o'clock in the evening.

Having got another chance to draw a lottery, Li Guotao couldn't help but pray silently, hoping that he could win a big prize this time and summon more troops.

This is directly related to the final outcome of the mission, so Li Guotao dare not be careless at all.

"Start the lottery immediately."

[Ding Dong~! The lucky draw begins. Please wait...]

[Ding Dong~! Congratulations to the host for successfully drawing the Sixth Company of Huang Zhiyong (total strength of 350 soldiers), from the Bright Sword World. ]

As the crisp system prompt sounded, Huang Zhiyong's face instantly appeared in Li Guotao's mind.

Speaking of Huang Zhiyong, I'm afraid many people don't know him, but when it comes to the Italian cannon, even some people who haven't watched "Bright Sword" know him.

Where did Li Yunlong get his Italian cannon?
It was this 6th Company Commander Huang Zhiyong who seized it when he attacked the Xiaocaozhuang stronghold.

At that time, Li Yunlong's independent regiment was broken up into small units and developed independently. Each unit developed quite well, and the strength of the independent regiment increased greatly. The main force plus some county battalions had a total strength of nearly 10,000 people.

Huang Zhiyong's Sixth Company also developed quite well and had the strongest firepower in the entire regiment, the Italian artillery.

Later, Yamamoto's special forces raided the headquarters of the independent regiment and captured Xiuqin. Li Yunlong was furious and summoned the entire regiment to attack Ping'an County.

When Huang Zhiyong led his troops to assemble, others thought it was the Second Battalion that arrived!

Therefore, at this time, the 6th Company had at least several hundred soldiers, at least equivalent to the strength of a battalion.

When attacking Ping'an County, Huang Zhiyong led the Sixth Company, with the cooperation of several hundred people from the county brigade and district squad, to block the Japanese from reinforcing Ping'an County.

With almost no defenses left, the several hundred people from the Sixth Company and the County Brigade withstood eight hours of non-stop fierce attacks by a reorganized regiment of the Japanese devils. In the end, all of them died heroically. When they ran out of ammunition and food, Huang Zhiyong detonated the last explosive pack and died together with the Japanese devils who rushed up.

However, in this blocking battle, the Italian artillery had been robbed by the second battalion commander and was used to attack Ping'an County.

After all, in the independent regiment, it was common for superiors to rob their subordinates. Even Li Yunlong was robbed by the brigade commander, let alone others.

Then came that classic scene.

"Second Battalion Commander, where are your damn Italian cannons?"

Although Huang Zhiyong died, the Italian artillery he captured avenged him and directly killed Yamamoto Ikki. The independent regiment recaptured Ping'an County in one fell swoop and achieved a glorious victory in the Ping'an Campaign.

However, these were not important to Li Guotao. What Li Guotao valued was that Huang Zhiyong's company, with only more than 300 people, with the cooperation of local armed forces such as county brigades and district squads, could alone hold off the fierce attack of an entire regiment of the Japanese devils for eight hours.

Such combat effectiveness can be said to be quite strong. After all, the Japanese had received a death order at that time to support Ping'an County at all costs and rescue Yamamoto's special forces. Huang Zhiyong and his men blocked them for eight hours, which was a miracle.

So in terms of combat effectiveness, this force of more than 300 people is definitely an elite force.

So the troop drawn this time was nominally a company, but in reality it had as many as 350 people, almost equivalent to the strength of a small battalion.

Li Guotao was also very excited because the recent draws were clearly getting stronger each time.

If this trend continues, the troops drawn out from behind will definitely increase in number and become more and more powerful. Then there is nothing for me to be afraid of.

By then, it would probably not be difficult to kill the hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers besieging Hengyang.

Thinking of this, Li Guotao was also very happy.

Captain Wang glanced at Li Guotao next to him and saw that the boy had a strange expression. He asked curiously, "Captain Li?"

"what?"

Li Guotao suddenly came to his senses and said with a smile: "I was a little distracted just now."

Captain Wang went on to say, "But the Japanese are determined to capture these two positions, and now our people are unable to go up to support them."

"If we keep fighting, the people on the battlefield will be wiped out sooner or later."

Li Guotao couldn't help but sigh slightly upon hearing this, and said, "This matter is indeed not easy to handle."

The enemy is strong and we are weak. Now the defenders' strategy is to do our best to delay the Japanese and consume their manpower as much as possible.

Therefore, the brothers guarding the frontline positions could only fight with all their might, hold on as long as possible, block the Japanese attack, and buy time for the main force behind them.

Given the current situation, the Japanese have a large number of troops and we are weak. There is nothing we can do about it.

If you want to defend Hengyang, you can only hold on and wait for reinforcements.

Otherwise, if the fighting continues, as the situation develops, the entire 10th Army will be exhausted, and it will not just be Zhang Deshen's company at the two positions ahead.

And this was only the battle situation in the south of the city. At the same time, the Japanese also launched attacks in the west, southwest and northwest of the city. Another group of Japanese continued to approach Hengyang from the southeast.

It can be said that the Japanese are now trying every possible means to attack Hengyang City.

At this time, a second lieutenant ran over and said, "Battalion commander, the Japanese attack is too fierce. A platoon on the high ridge is basically going to be wiped out."

"They sent out a distress signal again, requesting reinforcements."

"The troops on Tingbing Mountain are unable to take care of themselves and are unable to support them. They can only rely on us now."

Captain Wang frowned and said, "The enemy's fire blockade is very fierce. Our people can't get up at all."

Li Guotao observed the situation for a while, then said, "Brother Wang, given our current situation, what firepower can we mobilize?"

Captain Wang said, "I have already contacted the front line, and they can dispatch a mountain artillery company to give us some fire support, but the ammunition is limited, so I'm afraid it won't last long."

Li Guotao pointed his finger at the distance and said, "Brothers from the artillery, concentrate your firepower to bombard the Japanese positions over there."

"Now that we are here, we will do our best to assist you. Find a way to destroy the Japanese firepower point over there so that your people can provide support."

Captain Wang looked at Li Guotao doubtfully and said, "I'm afraid one round of fire support won't be enough to destroy all the enemy's firepower points over there!"

Li Guotao said: "Knock out as many as you can, and leave the rest to me."

"You can also mobilize all your heavy firepower to suppress the enemy's firepower."

"No matter what, we must protect some of our brothers and send them up to support us. Otherwise, Gaoling will not be able to be defended." (End of this chapter)