Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 496 Get Lost, What Kind of Class Is That? (Bonus Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)
"Commander, the western front has captured the commercial district. The Corps has ordered an immediate general offensive."

The East China Field Army's siege forces are indeed in a state where they need to rest and recuperate.

The troops on the western front, in particular, had been attacking for several days and were extremely exhausted.

Many troops have been lost and have not yet been replaced; some wounded have not even been brought to the rear.

However, the corps' orders were to continue the attack, giving Wang Yaowen no chance to catch his breath.

Chen Chengxing stood up: "Pass on my order, all units to launch an immediate attack!"

"Tell the comrades to use the 'sledgehammer to crack' tactic and plunge it deep into the enemy's heart!"

"We cannot cite difficulties or make excuses; each of us must solve our own problems."

"The attack must never stop! The attack must continue without pause! Attack, attack, and attack again!"

"yes!".
At dusk, the Eastern and Western factions simultaneously launched an attack on the outer city of Quancheng.

The outer city wall of Jinan is eight meters high and ten meters thick, and is built with sturdy stone.

Moreover, the Kuomintang army not only set up a large number of light and heavy machine guns on the city walls, but also prepared a large number of flamethrowers and poison gas shells.

Faced with the well-prepared Guo army, Chen Chengxing gave the best response.

A full hour of artillery preparation!

The field artillery regiment and howitzer battalion directly under the brigade, as well as the mountain guns and heavy mortars of each unit, all opened fire at full capacity.

A barrage of artillery shells rained down on the walls of Quancheng and the outer positions of the Guo army.

The intense firepower kept the Guo army from even raising their heads.

Siling, a soldier from the Bohai Column on the nearby position, was drooling.

His column had seven or eight thousand men, but he only had two Type 41 mountain guns and not many shells.

He had always dreamed of being this extravagant.

An hour later, Chen Chengxing glanced at his watch: "It's about time. Order the shelling to cease and all units to attack!"

The frontline detachments shouted: "Attack!"

"Da da da".
"Boom!" "Boom!"
The KMT troops, having finally caught their breath, immediately resumed their firepower attack.

Bullets from both sides rained down on each other.

"These KMT soldiers are really tenacious." Chen Chengxing put down his binoculars and picked up the phone next to him.

"Zhou Weiguo, it's your turn. Attack the east gate of Quancheng!"

With a series of sputtering sounds, six Stuart tanks emerged from the camouflage area and charged towards Quancheng.

The KMT soldiers were dumbfounded as the tanks came charging towards them with a 'thud'.

"Wrong! Wrong! It's our own people! The KMT army is over there!" shouted a KMT soldier from the outer perimeter.

"Stop yelling, these are G Army tanks!"

"Run!"

Upon discovering that these were G Army tanks, many of the defending troops turned and fled.

The armored battalion easily cleared the positions outside the city walls.

Moreover, under the cover of tanks and infantry artillery, the assault troops did not use explosives; they simply climbed the city wall using ladders, and suffered very few casualties.

The assault team captured the city gate, and the main force immediately rushed into the city.

"Sappers! Sappers!"

Zhou Weiguo popped his head out from the tank: "Wide the city gate!"

Although the gates of Jinan are wide open, the framework is still in place, making it not so easy for tanks to get through.

The engineer platoon of the armored battalion's support company immediately stepped forward and began hacking away with sledgehammers and picks.

Because they needed to make way for the infantry to enter the city, the engineers were not very fast. It took more than half an hour before the city gate was widened enough for tanks to enter and exit.

"Armored battalion! Enter the city!"

Zhou Weiguo is preparing to test the combined arms operation of infantry and tanks in urban areas.

However, to Zhou Weiguo's surprise, not long after the tanks entered the city, the lead tank tilted with a loud bang.

The driver floored the accelerator, and the black smoke billowing from the exhaust pipe enveloped the surrounding area, but it had no effect whatsoever; the tank remained motionless.

When Zhou Weiguo stepped forward and saw what was happening, he was so angry he almost jumped out of his skin: "Damn it! I fell into a pit!"

Along the main roads of Jinan, there are brick-arched underground channels. These channels can withstand horse-drawn carriages and even trucks, but they cannot withstand tanks weighing more than ten tons.

At this time, Zhou Weiguo had no idea that there was a culvert on that road in Quancheng, so he didn't dare to drive his tank recklessly through Quancheng.

"Tank company withdraw from combat! Armored company and armored infantry company advance to assist in the attack!"

Zhou Weiguo looked helpless and could only choose to find another opportunity to experiment with combined arms tactics in urban areas later.

As the Second General led the charge into the city, the defending troops of Quancheng were thrown into chaos.

Those who persisted, those who surrendered, and those who fled each had their own distinct characteristics.

21 teams advanced rapidly along the main road.

When they encountered slow-reacting KMT soldiers, the soldiers would kick them and yell, "Get lost! What kind of class do you think you are? Do you even deserve to be our Second Commander's prisoners?"

The disliked Guo Jun looked at each other in bewilderment.

But they didn't have the guts to launch a sneak attack or escape.

Jinan is in complete chaos right now. It's better to squat by the roadside than to run around and get shot by stray bullets.

The 21 teams drove the ragtag security squads aside and headed straight for the headquarters of the Second Pacification Zone, the Post and Telecommunications Building.

As soon as the vanguard approached, the 172nd Regiment of the Guo Army immediately opened fire.

The offensive momentum of the 5th Vanguard Battalion was contained.

The post and telecommunications building, along with the adjacent bank and German consulate buildings, formed a defensive position that could support each other.

The triangular firing arc made it difficult for the assault team to advance.

"Rocket launcher! Rocket launcher!" the 5th Battalion Commander shouted.

The vanguard moved too fast, and the artillery company couldn't keep up. At this point, all they had were 60mm mortars and rocket launchers.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Two rockets struck the foremost post and telecommunications building. However, the gun emplacements on the post and telecommunications building continued to fire fiercely.

"This is troublesome! It's made of reinforced concrete!"

The reinforced concrete bunker is so sturdy that it is difficult for a rocket launcher to penetrate it.

"Communicator! Go find the detachment commander immediately and request artillery close-range firing!"

"Second Company Commander, immediately organize the demolition team and proceed with close-range detonation!"

The artillery would take at least twenty minutes to arrive, and they didn't have that much time to wait.

However, Liu Bin's crossfire setup was very effective, and the assault team failed to send the demolition team up several times in a row.

Just as the 5th Battalion Commander was racking his brains, he suddenly heard a voice calling out to him from the side: "Hey! You over there!"

Turning around, the 5th Battalion Commander saw that the door of a nearby house was open and a head was sticking out; it was an old man.

"Fellow villagers, it's dangerous here. Quickly go back to your houses and hide! Someone will evacuate you in a little while," the 5th Battalion Commander hurriedly said.

"Don't worry about me." The old man waved his hand. "Don't attack head-on."

“I have lived here for many years. In the early years of the Republic of China, when warlords were fighting each other, these buildings were very difficult to breach. You would have to risk your lives to fill them.”

"Fellow villager, we'll figure something out. You'd better hide quickly," the 5th Battalion Commander advised.

"Listen to me, I have a way to get you in."

"What's the solution?" The 5th Battalion Commander immediately perked up.

"The Kuomintang bandits mainly set up their machine guns on the rooftops, which you can't get through from below. If you want to fight, you have to go up to the rooftops as well."

“You can go through the travel agency over there. As long as you can climb up to the top of the travel agency, you can shoot the bandits at will.”

"Okay! Thank you, fellow villager!" the 5th Battalion Commander said repeatedly.

"Platoon Leader 9, take a few men and cover your platoon's rocket launcher run to the travel agency!"

"Yes!"

"I'll lead the way!" the old man volunteered. "You can't go through the front door; you have to go through the back."

The old man walked with a brisk pace, and as he spoke, he had already run ahead to lead the way.

"Go ahead." The 5th Battalion Commander shook his head: "Protect the villagers well."

"Yes!"

A dozen or so people ran over, their bodies hunched over.

The old man led the 9th platoon leader through several twists and turns, turning from a few alleys to the back of a building.

“Break this open and you can get into the travel agency,” the old man said, pointing to the wall. “Don’t go through the front door, or you’ll get shot.”

"Xiao Wu, Xiao Ma, smash the wall."

Upon hearing the platoon leader's order, two soldiers immediately took off the pickaxes they were carrying and began to chisel at the wall, while the rest stood guard on the spot.

A dozen minutes later, a hole large enough for one person to enter and exit was dug out.

Everyone filed in.

After climbing the stairs to the rooftop, everyone immediately saw the enemy positions that were firing wildly in the distance.

The three rocket launchers immediately aimed at their respective targets and then launched an attack together.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

With three explosions, the machine gun positions that Liu Bin had placed on the top of the three buildings instantly fell silent.

"Don't stop, keep hitting!"

The rocket launcher was still a bit weak; one shot wasn't enough to completely destroy the position.

To ensure success, multiple rounds of attacks are necessary.

As for the fact that rockets produce a lot of smoke and are easy to spot, that's obviously not a concern right now.

On the other side, the soldiers of the 5th Battalion, who had been under constant fire suppression, were overjoyed to see flames erupting from the tops of the three buildings.

"Assault team! Charge!"

"Fire cover!" the 5th Battalion Commander shouted.

"Da da da".
The machine guns, which had been silent for a while, immediately began suppressing the windows of several buildings, and the other soldiers also started firing.

With the cover of fire, the assault team suffered five casualties, but the remaining seven men stormed into the building.

Although the number of people who rushed into the building was small, it instantly disrupted the rhythm of the Guo army.

The disruption of one building's rhythm affected the rhythm of the entire position.

"Go! Go! Go!" the 5th Battalion Commander shouted as he charged toward the post office building.

The troops that arrived at the core position were not only the 5th Battalion; the other buildings were naturally taken care of by other troops.

The resistance from the Guo army was fierce, and Liu Bin even organized several counter-attacks in an attempt to force the Guo army out of the compound.

However, faced with the fierce attack, the Guo army still suffered repeated defeats.

The two sides then began fighting house by house.

When they reached the command room, the soldiers saw several high-ranking KMT officials standing there watching them.

"Don't move! Put your hands up!"

"The guns are over there." Luo Xingli pointed to a table to the side, on which were several pistols and several submachine guns.

"Take control and continue the search!"

When the soldiers rushed to the rooftop, they found a person sitting in a chair with his head down and not moving.

A short sword was stuck in his chest.

"Colonel? It seems this must be Liu Bin."

"The 172nd Regiment is now complete."

With the capture of the stronghold centered around the Post and Telecommunications Building, the entire outer city of Jinan was brought under control.

The Kuomintang flag on the post and telecommunications building was thrown off the building, and a red flag was raised.

[It's the last day, everyone! Aren't you going to cast your monthly tickets?]

(End of this chapter)