Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Chapter 345: Charcoal-grilled Japs!

These Japanese soldiers hid at the foot of the mountain, in the blind spot of the defenders' shooting. After igniting the explosive packs, they threw them into the middle of the barbed wire.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

A violent explosion sounded, and the huge explosive power of the explosive pack blew up the barbed wire, leaving a gap.

In this way, the Japanese could pass through these gaps and cross the trenches.

However, when launching a general offensive, with so many troops rushing forward, just a few gaps will not be enough. By that time, all the personnel will be gathered together, and grenades will be thrown down, which will blow up a large area.

The Japanese needed to open up more channels for attack, so they could only continue to repeat what they did before, rushing through the fire blockade with explosives and then blowing up the barbed wire.

The Japanese soldiers who rushed over, after using up their explosives, tried to go back, pick up the explosives of the dead Japanese soldiers, and continue to blow up the barbed wire.

For this, the Japanese paid the price of 200 casualties, and finally managed to create more than 20 gaps of varying sizes.

At the same time, the Japanese also concentrated their artillery fire and blasted a gentle slope about 2 meters wide on the cliff.

Climbing up from here is also difficult, but it is much easier than climbing a cliff that is nearly 90 degrees.

Yang Jihe could not help but curse: "Will these little devils keep bombarding us like this until the entire cliff collapses?"

Li Guotao sneered and said, "Don't worry! These little devils are in a hurry to reincarnate, how could they waste so much time to blow up the entire cliff."

"Besides, their artillery shells are not blown by the wind. Even if these Japanese devils are willing to use them, they need a steady supply of artillery shells from the rear."

"If they want to blow it up, let them do it. At most, it will create a few holes."

"For us, blowing up a few holes may not be a bad thing."

Yang Jihe asked in confusion: "What do you mean?"

Li Guotao explained: "Think about it, if the Japanese bombed a few gentle slopes, they would concentrate on climbing up at these locations, and then it would be much easier for us to defend."

"There must be a large number of Japanese soldiers gathered in these places. When the grenades are thrown in, a large area will be blown up."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "That's true, but I don't think the Japanese are that stupid. They will definitely use both methods at the same time."

"Two-pronged approach?"

Li Guotao said: "You mean, they will set up ladders to attack?"

"Correct!"

Yang Jihe nodded.

Li Guotao smiled and said, "It's not that easy to climb up using a ladder."

"Besides, he's carrying a ladder and rushing forward, so he can be a perfect target."

"Oh right! I asked my superiors to dispatch a batch of flammable materials to us. Have you found them?"

The last fire attack was quite effective. Li Guotao thought that it would be a good idea to use fire attack to defend such a position now, so he asked Yang Jihe to apply to his superiors for a batch of flammable materials to facilitate the setting of fire.

Yang Jihe said: "A few barrels of kerosene were delivered, and a large amount of cotton, which seemed to have been found in the warehouse of a clothing factory. The retreat was hasty and they didn't have time to transport it away."

Cotton is also flammable and can be ignited easily. If there is enough of it, just throw the cotton into the trench and set it on fire.

Not only can we burn to death the Japanese soldiers who enter the trenches, but we can also burn their ladders. The trenches will definitely be full of Japanese soldiers' corpses, which can be burned to prevent them from rotting, stinking and breeding viruses.

The only drawback is that this thing takes up space, and if you want to make a big enough fire, you need a lot of cotton.

Li Guotao quickly asked: "How many are there?"

Yang Jihe said: "Soon, it will be enough to set a big fire in the trench below."

Li Guotao nodded and said, "That's good. Let's put these things in the tunnel for future use. Let's use the cotton first."

"When the cotton is used up, pour kerosene on the firewood and throw it in, and it will still burn the Japanese to death."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "Then I'll have someone prepare it right away."

In fact, the cost of setting fire with cotton is also very high, but now we are at war, and everything is focused on defending Hengyang. If Hengyang is lost, these supplies will naturally fall into the hands of the Japanese.

The reason why Li Guotao adopted the strategy of fire attack was to save ammunition. After all, he needed to hold out for a long time. Although he could get some supplies through airdrops, the more intense the battle became, the more he could not meet the needs of the front line. Therefore, the ammunition would only become less and less, and now he had to save as much as possible.

In the blink of an eye, it was ten o'clock in the morning, and Colonel Itsuki Hariya received a notice that the artillery was ready to provide artillery support.

Itsuki Hariya was already impatient and ordered, "Notify the artillery and prepare the artillery fire immediately."

"Infantry prepare to attack."

"Hayi~!"

A Japanese officer responded respectfully and turned to convey the order.

At this time, a Japanese soldier said: "But we only blasted a gap, it is still not easy to attack."

Yilang Yi said angrily: "But we have already consumed a lot of shells. If we continue to fight, we will not have enough shells."

"Don't we have ladders? One group of people will attack from the gentle slope, and the rest will use the ladders to climb up. We must capture this small Tianma Mountain no matter what."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officers present responded in unison and no one dared to say anything more.

At this moment, Ichiro Hariya didn't want to wait even a minute. He just wanted to take Tianma Mountain as soon as possible and take revenge.

In his opinion, the defenders were now in a desperate situation and might not continue to resist stubbornly. Perhaps they could capture the Tianma Mountain position with a single charge.

No matter what, you have to give it a try.

Soon, all the Japanese machine guns, mortars and flat-fire cannons stopped firing, and the Japanese who were still carrying out the task of blowing up the barbed wire also withdrew.

At this time, bursts of shrill whistling sounds were heard in the air, and artillery shells fell continuously on the Tianma Mountain position.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

Violent explosions sounded one after another, and pieces of fire shot into the sky.

In order to cooperate with the Jingu Regiment in conquering Tianma Mountain, Yan Yongwang did not hide anything this time. He mobilized all the artillery fire he could mobilize and bombarded the Tianma Mountain position.

Faced with such fierce bombing, Li Guotao immediately ordered all the soldiers to hide in the anti-artillery fortifications.

Listening to the noise outside, I felt as if the entire mountain was shaking slightly, and dust was constantly falling from the top of the cave.

Li Guotao frowned secretly, as the artillery fire this time was more intense than before.

It seems that the Japanese have not been idle during this period and have mobilized a lot of heavy artillery.

These heavy artillery pieces pose a considerable threat to the fortifications of Tianma Mountain. Once these fortifications are severely damaged, the ensuing battle will be difficult to fight.

Thinking that he still had an artillery preparation card that had not been used, Li Guotao decided not to keep it.

After making up his mind, Li Guotao opened the system and quickly determined the location of the Japanese heavy artillery position through the system map.

This artillery preparation card was used directly to carry out artillery coverage on the Japanese heavy artillery positions.

In the distance, on the Japanese heavy artillery position, more than 100 heavy artillery pieces with a caliber of more than mm were emitting bursts of roars.

At this moment, a sharp whistling sound was heard in the air, and shells fell from the sky and landed on the Japanese artillery positions.

Violent explosions continued to sound, flames rose into the sky, and the artillery fire quickly covered the Japanese artillery positions.

One heavy artillery after another was hit and completely destroyed in the violent explosions. Some of the ammunition piled on the position was also detonated, causing a chain reaction.

There were continuous explosions for a while. More than 20 heavy artillery pieces of the Japanese were destroyed one after another, and the Japanese on the position suffered heavy casualties.

The news quickly reached Yan Yongwang's command center.

"Nani?"

"The heavy artillery position was destroyed by enemy fire? More than twenty heavy artillery pieces were lost?"

Yan Yongwang couldn't help but widen his eyes. The Japanese had a limited industrial base, and these heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 100 mm were also very precious weapons and equipment for them.

Unexpectedly, more than 20 guns were suddenly destroyed. Such a heavy loss made Yan Yongwang more heartbroken than having an entire regiment destroyed.

"Hai~! Artillery shells flew from nowhere and suddenly covered the artillery positions of the Locust Army. The Locust Army was caught off guard and the entire position was destroyed."

"Bagaya Deer~!"

Yan Yongwang was furious and said, "What do you mean by a cannonball flying from nowhere?"

The Japanese officer stammered, "We really don't know where the shells came from. At least so far, we haven't determined where the enemy's artillery position is."

"A bunch of rubbish, all good-for-nothings."

Yan Yongwang roared: "Investigate it immediately and find out the location of their artillery positions and the exact number of artillery. This is very important."

"Hai~!" At this time, a Japanese colonel said, "The enemy is really patient. Why didn't I realize that they have such a powerful artillery before? They have been holding back until now before taking action. I admire this General Fang more and more."

Yan Yongwang said angrily: "This person is indeed difficult to deal with, but what you said is not entirely right. They did not use it before, which does not mean that he is very patient. It may be that they simply do not have enough shells, so they will not easily use such powerful firepower."

"Now they really have no other choice, so they even took out the last of their family assets."

"That is to say, they have already played all their cards, and the Locust Army still has a lot of cards to play with them. What else can they play with us?"

"It seems that taking over Hengyang is just around the corner."

"Notify all frontline troops to attack the enemy's defenses with all their might and strive to achieve a new breakthrough as soon as possible."

"Whoever can break into the urban area of ​​Hengyang first will be the first to achieve great success."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officers present responded in unison.

Yilang Yishi had been paying attention to the situation on the battlefield. When he saw that the artillery fire suddenly became much weaker, he couldn't help but ask, "What's going on?"

After a while, a Japanese officer came to report: "Report to the commander, the heavy artillery position of the Locust Army was destroyed by enemy artillery fire."

"Now only a part of the mountain artillery is left to provide us with artillery preparation."

"Bagaya Deer~!"

Colonel Itsuki Hariya couldn't help but curse angrily, but the old Japanese couldn't care less about these things now. All he wanted now was to take over the Tianma Mountain position as soon as possible.

A Japanese officer nearby consoled him, "Colonel, I think the division's mountain artillery can still kill the enemy troops on the mountain."

Ichiro Hariya frowned and said, "No matter what, we cannot affect the locust army's attack."

"Order the attacking forces to launch the attack according to the original plan."

"Hayi~!"

In Ichiro Hariya's opinion, taking the Tianma Mountain position should not be too difficult. After all, the defenders had been almost exhausted in the previous battle.

The remaining troops are getting smaller and smaller, and if they are dispersed, the number will be even smaller.

Moreover, the 10th Army had just suffered a disastrous defeat and abandoned its outer positions. Its morale was unstable at the moment. Now, as long as they launched a powerful offensive, their will to resist would likely be completely destroyed.

This old devil had never thought that he would fail, and that he would fail miserably. He still held a glimmer of hope in his heart, thinking that he was the son of destiny and that this was a good opportunity for him to achieve great things and become famous.

After a while, the artillery preparation was finally over.

The Japanese artillery began to extend their firing to block the rear-line troops from supporting the Tianma Mountain position.

Colonel Itsuki Hariya shouted excitedly: "Launch the attack immediately and take Tianma Mountain in one fell swoop."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officers on the front line also issued an attack order at the first opportunity. Hundreds of Japanese soldiers with bayonets in hand rushed out of their positions aggressively and attacked towards Tianma Mountain desperately.

In order to cover the Japanese attack, their heavy machine guns and mortars also began firing at Tianma Mountain to suppress the firepower of the defenders.

At this time, the attacking Japanese soldiers only encountered sporadic fire interception. After paying the price of dozens of Japanese soldiers, a large number of Japanese soldiers poured into the trenches one after another. While destroying the barbed wire and widening the gap, they began to set up ladders and prepare to climb up.

A group of Japanese soldiers also successfully reached the bottom of the gentle slope and began to climb up from there.

At this time, grenades were thrown into the position from time to time, violent explosions were heard, and more and more Japanese soldiers were blown to the ground.

Yilang Yishi carefully observed the situation on the battlefield, frowned and said: "Gentlemen, have you discovered anything?"

At this time, a Japanese officer said: "Sir, according to my observation, the enemy's firepower is not too strong."

"If we can resist fire like this, the locust army still has a good chance of rushing up the mountain."

Yilang Yishi nodded and said, "Yes, I also found this point. What do you think this means?"

A Japanese officer said: "I guess there are only three possibilities. First, most of the enemies have been wiped out by the artillery fire of the Locust Army, and the remaining people can no longer form a strong fighting force."

"Secondly, their ammunition has been almost used up, and they are unable to form sufficient firepower to stop the locust army."

"The third possibility is that their morale is low. Under the attack of the locust army, some enemies have fled, and only a few are still resisting."

Yilang Yishi nodded with satisfaction and said, "There are probably only a few possibilities, but no matter which one it is, now is a good opportunity to capture Tianma Mountain."

"As long as we intensify our offensive and go all out, we will definitely be able to capture the Tianma Mountain position."

Colonel Itsuki Hariya's confidence grew, and he immediately ordered, "Send the order immediately, have the second echelon attack immediately, attack with all their might, rush up the mountain, and wipe out all the enemies on the mountain."

"Hayi~!"

With an order from Ichiro Hariya, hundreds of Japanese soldiers rushed out aggressively and joined the battle.

These Japanese soldiers quickly rushed into the trenches. A large number of them gathered in the trenches and began to scramble to climb up the mountain.

Just then, bales of cotton suddenly rolled down from the mountain.

The brothers cut some of the ropes in advance, and as the cotton fell, the packages opened, and the cotton scattered, gradually filling the entire trench.

When Yilang Yishi saw this, he was surprised and asked, "What did they lose?"

"Colonel, I can't see clearly."

"But this thing doesn't seem to have much lethality."

“It looks like cotton!”

"Cotton? Why are they throwing cotton?"

It was immediately obvious to Yilang that the defenders were throwing cotton. It couldn't be that they were making quilts for them!
"Fire attack, they are going to use fire attack."

"Bagayalu, send a signal immediately and have all the attacking troops withdraw."

However, it was too late. Molotov cocktails flew down from the mountain, exploded after hitting the ground, and quickly ignited the cotton in the trench.

Cotton burned immediately when it came into contact with fire, and the entire trench instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire. The Japanese soldiers gathered in the trench had no time to retreat and were all completely engulfed by the flames.

"Ah~!"

Screams like pigs being slaughtered kept ringing out, and hundreds of Japanese soldiers were instantly burned into fire. They struggled hard and tried their best to rush out of the trench, but it was not that easy.

The fire grew more and more intense. Most of the Japanese soldiers had no time to escape from the trenches and were burned to death in the trenches. The wailing sounds echoed throughout Tianma Mountain.

A small number of Japanese soldiers escaped from the trenches and did not dare to stay, running towards their own positions.

"Da da da~!"

At this time, the machine guns on the mountain sounded, and the Japanese soldiers who had managed to escape were knocked to the ground one after another.

In the end, all of the more than 700 Japanese soldiers who participated in the attack were killed, without a single one spared.

Seeing this scene, Colonel Itshiro Hariya was so angry that he trembled all over and his teeth were almost broken.

"Bagayalu, these damn enemies are so cunning."

"Keep firing, blow these bastards to death, and avenge the locust warriors who died in battle."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officer next to him responded quickly and turned to convey the order.

The Japanese concentrated their mortars to bombard the Tianma Mountain position, and once again called the artillery positions in the rear to request artillery support.

At this time, Li Guotao had already ordered his brothers to hide in the anti-artillery fortifications.

Yang Jihe said excitedly: "The screams of the little devils were really creepy, but fortunately we are finally safe now."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "To be honest, I got goose bumps just now. Although this fire attack is a bit cruel, these little devils are so unscrupulous that we cannot be polite to them."

"Killing the devils is a way to accumulate virtue and do good deeds. Sending these beasts to hell is the greatest merit."

"So any means used are not excessive."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "You're right. We can't be polite when dealing with these bastards."

"The Japanese have suffered a great loss this time, I'm afraid they will become more honest."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "I hope they still don't learn their lesson and continue to attack desperately, so that we can take the opportunity to annihilate more devils."

"Of course, if they are scared and dare not attack, it will not be a big loss for us."

"Hold on a little longer, reinforcements will arrive eventually."

Yang Jihe said, "I heard from the military commander that the president has personally mobilized several armies, and a hundred thousand troops are ready to lift the siege of Hengyang. I guess these reinforcements will arrive soon."

(End of this chapter)