Blood-Red Front

"The 101st Division requests backup?"

Inside the bridge of the Izumo, the newly promoted commander of the Third Fleet, Hase, looked at the telegram in his hand with some surprise.

"What are these coordinates?"

"Lieutenant General Hase, this is a command post of the Xia Army," reported Chief of Staff Iwamura.

"Oh? It seems these army idiots have been driven to desperation by the Xia army."

Hasegawa disdainfully tossed the telegram onto the table beside him.

There was another telegram on the table, sent by the headquarters of the newly established Hama-West Expeditionary Army, also requesting naval support.

"Lieutenant General Hase, what do we do now? Should we provide fire support?"

Hase didn't answer, but instead asked, "The commander of the 101st Division, I remember, was Lieutenant General Isai Masaru, right?"

"Yes." Iwamura nodded and added, "The younger brother of Admiral Yonemitsu, the Minister of the Navy."

"We still have to give General Mi Guang face," Hasegawa said.

The Third Fleet has received orders and is preparing to set sail for the Yellow River to support the main battlefield. At this time, if it were any other division commander, Hasegawa would not have paid any attention, but Isai Masako is somewhat special.

"How many minutes until we depart?"

Raising his arm to glance at his watch, Iwamura reported, "Three minutes left."

"Waaah—"

No sooner had Iwamura finished speaking than a long, low-frequency whistle sounded from outside.

This is a signal that the fleet is about to set sail.

After a moment's thought, Hase nodded. "Let's give them a salvo."

"Hi!"

The captain of the Izumo, who was also on the bridge, picked up the phone.

"Targets 382 and 543, distance 17800, high-explosive rounds, prepare for a salvo!"

At the captain's command, the Izumo's turrets began to rotate, red indicator lights inside the turrets lit up, and buzzers began to sound continuously.

The automatic loader feeds the 110-kilogram projectile and propellant charge into the gun barrel one by one.

"Loading complete!"

"Forward gun emplacements ready!"

"Rear gun emplacement ready!"

"Main guns ready!"

Once the firing was confirmed to be ready, the captain shouted again, "Fire! Fire!"

"boom!"……

The four 203mm naval guns fired simultaneously, causing the entire Izumo to shudder violently, with flames shooting from the muzzles several meters long.

……

Yamamoto, who had been squatting in the cemetery, suddenly heard a whooshing sound from the sky and immediately raised his binoculars.

"They're here!"

Yamamoto could hear the whistling of the shells, and those inside the 6th Regiment's command post could hear them even more clearly.

"Fire!"

Everyone instinctively took cover from the artillery fire.

The shells didn't give the 6th Regiment much time to react; just one second later, four 203mm high-explosive shells landed.

"Boom!" "Boom!"...

Because it was at sea, the hit rate of naval guns was actually lower than that of land guns, but the 6th Regiment headquarters was located in a cluster of houses, and the shock wave radius of a 203mm shell could reach 80 meters.

Houses directly hit by artillery shells were instantly vaporized, and neighboring houses were no better off than paper in the face of the powerful shockwave.

The windows and roof were almost all blown off, and the brick walls collapsed into fragments, turning the entire regimental headquarters into ruins in an instant.

Inside the underground command post of the independent camp, upon hearing a violent explosion, Lin Zhiyuan rushed outside and looked in the direction of the blast.

"Battalion Commander, what's going on? Is it artillery fire or bombing?" asked Ding Xiucheng, the guard platoon leader.

"It must have been artillery fire, and a salvo at that," Lin Zhiyuan said. "Aircraft bombing wouldn't be so coordinated."

"Artillery barrage? Such a loud noise is unlike ordinary artillery; our 150mm howitzers don't have that much power."

Lin Zhiyuan nodded. "Such a big commotion could only be caused by naval gunfire."

"Why would a newly promoted navy officer fire at night?" Lin Zhiyuan asked, somewhat puzzled.

Naval guns fire from outside the field of vision, and usually rely on artillery-guided aircraft for reconnaissance and calibration.

In this era without night vision goggles, it was virtually impossible to see clearly at night whether a shell had hit its target, unless the observer had some kind of cheat code.

"Battalion Commander, firing the cannon might be a lucky shot. The key question is, what is the enemy trying to achieve?"

Upon hearing Ding Xiucheng's words, Lin Zhiyuan's expression changed, and he had a bad feeling.

Lin Zhiyuan hurried back to the underground command post and picked up the phone on the table.

"Get me to the headquarters of the 6th Regiment."

However, what Lin Zhiyuan feared happened: he could not contact the regimental headquarters.

"Damn it, the shelling is heading towards the regimental headquarters, and now we can't contact them. Something's probably happened!"

"Something went wrong at the regimental headquarters?" Everyone in the command post was taken aback.

Xia Jun's defense was already difficult, and without the coordination of the regimental headquarters, how could they fight tomorrow?

"We can't just wait like this." After hanging up the phone, Lin Zhiyuan made a decision.

"Immediately order the 7th Company to assemble and come with me to the regimental headquarters to assess the situation! The 1st and 2nd Companies must strengthen their defenses to prevent the enemy from crossing the river under cover of night!"

"yes!"

Upon learning that something might have happened at the regimental headquarters, the 7th Company was even more anxious than Lin Zhiyuan and quickly completed its assembly.

Lin Zhiyuan led the guard platoon and the 7th Company straight to the regimental headquarters.

Along the way, Lin Zhiyuan kept looking around as he ran.

Although he couldn't see much due to the darkness, the mini-map didn't care about the darkness; as long as it was within the field of view, the information would be directly marked on the map.

As they approached the regimental headquarters, Lin Zhiyuan's gaze sharpened.

His prediction was correct; a red dot appeared on the map.

As he focused his mind, Chu Shengjun's information appeared.

[A newly promoted elite infiltration squad, consisting of 25 members, equipped with...]

Lin Zhiyuan stopped in his tracks.

The 7th Company Commander immediately came over: "Battalion Commander Lin, what happened? We're almost at the regimental headquarters, why did we stop?"

The 7th Company Commander had already seen the flames that had broken out at the regimental headquarters due to the shelling, and he wished he could get there immediately.

"I wasn't sure before if the problem was with the regimental headquarters, but now that it's confirmed, there are new questions."

"How did the enemy know this was the regimental headquarters? How did they direct their naval guns to fire?"

Lin Zhiyuan's question startled the 7th Company Commander. "Battalion Commander Lin, what do you mean?"

"I suspect there's either an inside agent or a small enemy unit nearby."

Lin Zhiyuan pointed and said, "According to my memory, that should be a graveyard. If there are enemies, they are most likely to be in the graveyard."

The 7th Company Commander looked in the direction the finger was pointing, but saw nothing.

"Company Commander of the 7th Company, the regimental headquarters has already been attacked. Even if we go there immediately, it won't make any difference."

"I order you to immediately lead your men to surround that cemetery and search it thoroughly to prevent the enemy from directing artillery fire again."

Lin Zhiyuan didn't know if the Chu Sheng Army would continue shelling, but it was best to be cautious.

Eliminating the infiltration troops first will not only prevent them from being shelled as soon as they arrive at the regimental headquarters, but also prevent the enemy from requesting another shelling attack upon seeing so many people.

"I'm going right now!" The 7th Company Commander waved his hand and led the 7th Company toward the cemetery.

If there really is an enemy, he will dig them out, whether they are in a graveyard or underground!

Watching the retreating figure of the 7th Company Commander, Lin Zhiyuan reminded him, "Split into three groups and outflank them!"

"yes!"

……