Rise from eight hundred.

The good brothers Longyan and Shen Laoliu have been lying in the vast grass in Jiangdong for three hours.

This was the first joint operation between the reconnaissance company and the mountain infantry company. Each side sent a platoon. The scouts under Shen Laoliu were responsible for providing battlefield reconnaissance intelligence, while Longyan's mountain infantry platoon was responsible for attacking the stronghold.

After continuous equipment upgrades in recent years, the reconnaissance company has completely abandoned heavy support firepower such as heavy mortars and heavy machine guns.

Although today's scouts still have reconnaissance squads, they actually exist more in the form of five-man teams. Each team has an MG42 machine gun, an iron ammunition box with a 1000-round belt, a sniper rifle selected by the precision shooter, two "assault rifles", a submachine gun, a grenade launcher or a shotgun.

Such a reconnaissance team has both medium-range and short-range firepower strike capabilities, but it also loses the ability to fight for a long time because it has no artillery. If it exists in the form of a small group, it can naturally become a surprise force that gives the opponent a headache, but if it is used as an organized unit to fight in the field, it is really not as good as an ordinary infantry company.

Just like the mountain infantry company, it also follows the light infantry route, but considering field combat, the squad-level artillery 60 mortar is still retained, and the MG42 machine gun is also a long-barreled heavy machine gun type. Each machine gun is equipped with up to 1500 rounds of ammunition. In addition, each squad has only 3 of the latest assault rifles, which are matched with 4 MP38 submachine guns, 2 bolt-fire rifles and 1 shotgun.

There are 16 people in the class, and the equipment and ammunition that need to be carried are distributed to each person, with the load carried by a single soldier reaching 25 kilograms.

But this ensures the ability of the mountain infantry company to engage in sustained combat. This is also the reason why Tang Dao asked the mountain infantry company to send a platoon to cooperate with the reconnaissance company when assigning combat tasks.

After all, there is a Japanese infantry regiment in Jiangdong, and there are no other Chinese troops on this plain except the scouts sent by Tang Dao. If the scouts cannot destroy the Japanese artillery quickly and accurately and escape quickly, they will be surrounded.

As early as two days ago, the reconnaissance company sent out three reconnaissance teams to cross the Xiangjiang River at night to conduct reconnaissance in the area where the Japanese artillery positions were located. During the day today, it was discovered that the Japanese artillery positions were extremely sparsely placed, and hundreds of Japanese infantrymen were unable to defend them at all.

The Japanese infantry had a total of four temporary defensive positions in this area, with basically two infantry squads defending one direction. However, because the artillery positions were extremely large, with a front width of up to 1700 meters, the so-called defense by the Japanese was just a show to prove that they were not being lazy.

The gap was so big that even a convoy could break in with ease, not to mention the infantrymen wearing camouflage clothes and hiding in the bushes.

The Japanese infantry performed their duties mainly by patrolling, but at such a night, with the Japanese artillery firing loudly on the battlefield and huge roars echoing throughout the fields, and from time to time shells from the Chinese artillery's counterattack exploding in the fields, to put it bluntly, even if Longyan, who was hiding in the bushes, fell asleep and snored, the Japanese patrol passing by 10 meters away from their ambush would not be able to find him.

"Longyan, don't sleep, get ready for action!" Shen Laoliu growled into the walkie-talkie.

To be honest, there are two and a half people that Shen Laoliu admires most in his life. One is naturally Commander Tang, the other is Wang Xiaoqiang, the commander of the 683nd Regiment of the 772rd Brigade, and the remaining half is his brother-in-law Long Yan.

  Longyan has an enviable sense of relaxation. Even at such a critical moment of the battle, he can actually sleep peacefully in the grass. There is probably no one else like him in the entire Four Elements Group!

"What do you mean by don't sleep? I'm just taking a nap to regain my energy so I can fight the Japanese later. Brother Laoliu, don't talk nonsense. If my sister hears it, she will definitely nag me again." Long Yan's lazy voice came from the walkie-talkie.

"Stop talking nonsense. We are responsible for blowing up the artillery, and you are responsible for dealing with the Japanese infantry. In 40 minutes, go east and gather at the agreed location. Did you remember?" Shen Laoliu rolled his eyes silently and reminded again.

Before plugging the walkie-talkie back into his chest, Shen Laoliu paused for a moment and said, "Be careful, kid. The kid is still at home waiting for you, his uncle, to bring him some candy!"

"Okay, Sixth brother, why have you become more nagging than my elder sister?" Feeling the concern of his brother-in-law, Long Yan's heart warmed slightly, but he still spoke stubbornly.

"Let's go!" With Shen Laoliu's low roar, the reconnaissance platoon formed groups of five, with three groups forming a triangle formation, and rushed towards their respective designated targets.

In the darkness of night, the artillery guns on the Japanese artillery positions were still spewing deadly flames. Most of the Japanese artillerymen were shirtless, sweating profusely as they carried heavy shells into the gun barrels, completely unaware that the Chinese scouts who were rushing towards them like ghosts were about to reap their lives.

In front of the fully armed Chinese scouts, not to mention the Japanese artillerymen who were like lambs, even the Japanese regular army would not have much ability to resist!

Just like the two Japanese infantry squads that the two squads led by Long Yan were facing at this moment, nearly a hundred Japanese infantrymen had no idea that there would be Chinese people in Hengyang City, where they were already isolated, crossing the Xiangjiang River at night and coming to stroke their tiger's whiskers.

Although there were rumbling sounds of artillery fire and occasional explosions hundreds of meters away, this did not affect the Japanese infantrymen from doing their own work on the position.

Some people wrote letters to their families in the trenches under the dim light of lanterns, some sat in groups of three or four and chatted. It was unknown what happy things they talked about, and they laughed loudly. Others simply took a nap with their eyes closed in the makeshift field trench that was only 80 centimeters high.

Captain Nomura Jiro, the squadron leader of the Nomura Squadron of the 6rd Infantry Battalion of the 33th Infantry Regiment, didn't care about them. The news from the front line in the past few days was not good. More than imperial officers and soldiers of the regiment were killed in the battle. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before the second-line soldiers of the baggage company would replace them to guard the artillery battalion, and they, the regular infantry, would arrive at the front line.

Perhaps, these young people who have just joined the army for less than a year will die in that surging river. Why can't they be a little happier before stepping into death?

The Japanese infantry captain, who had been on the battlefield for four years and witnessed the replacement of his comrades in the infantry squadron one after another, and now only has five or six old acquaintances left, is now very emotional and more humane.

But he would soon regret his humane management. This mistake meant that the young men under his command had no chance to die in the Xiangjiang River, but were destined to be buried in this wasteland.

  Orientals are destined to care about "resting in peace"!

Long Yan probably never thought that the Japanese in front of him would be so lax, as if they were not here to fight but to have a picnic. For a moment, Long Yan thought that this was a trap set by the Japanese, waiting for him to fall into it.

The officers and soldiers of the mountain infantry company began to crawl forward from 300 meters away, but the Japanese army was still unaware until they were 50 meters away from the temporary field position of the Japanese army, so that all the tactics deployed in Longyan in the early stage came to nothing.

Longyan originally thought that after being discovered by the Japanese army, the two machine guns deployed 400 meters behind the rear would immediately suppress the Japanese army with firepower, even if it meant using up all the spare ammunition to allow the infantry to rush to the area where they could drop bombs.

As a result, there was no need at all. Longyan even climbed to 30 meters away from the Japanese position. He could almost see the dull face of the Japanese sentry holding his gun and looking around blankly in the flash of artillery fire. The Japanese troops on the position continued to do what they were supposed to do.

"Da da da!" Accompanied by the dense gunfire and terrified shouting coming from afar, Long Yan was the first to throw the grenade in his hand.

"Boom boom boom!"

In less than ten seconds, more than 50 grenades were thrown onto a temporary position that was only 230 meters wide. What kind of bloody storm was set off? Perhaps only the Japanese infantrymen who were there knew best.

No matter they were new recruits or old soldiers, they were helpless in the gusts of wind and smoke. Old soldiers could live a little longer than new recruits because their body postures when curled up in the trenches were obviously much more standard.

But even if you survive the grenade rain, it will only be a last gasp before death.

"Counterattack!" Amidst Nomura Jiro's desperate roar, the remaining 40 or so Japanese soldiers, covered in dust and dirt, grabbed their rifles and stood up. They saw dozens of guys covered in grass and with black faces rushing towards them from three directions in the night.

  The nearest one was no more than 10 meters away from their trench!

After pulling the trigger and firing a shot, the experienced Japanese soldier pulled out the bayonet from his waist and inserted it into the muzzle of the gun. He stood in a lunge with his legs, roared at the top of his lungs, and waited for the enemy to pounce on him.

In this kind of close combat, you will not have the chance to pull the bolt, aim and pull the trigger again. The bayonet will become the fastest way to kill the enemy. The reaction of this Japanese veteran is indeed excellent.

But the enemy who came forward with two big strides, looking at the shining bayonet raised by the Japanese veteran as if facing a formidable enemy, grinned. His white teeth were particularly dazzling against his dark face, just like a tiger seeing a fresh lamb.

Hand-to-hand combat? Come on, it's 1944, okay? It's not that the Chinese soldier is afraid of this kind of bayonet-to-bayonet combat mode, but the assault rifle in his hand does not allow it.

"Da da da!" The assault rifle with the automatic safety on fired a short burst of shots, and the Japanese veteran fell outside the trench.

It's not that he wants to show off his individual qualities before dying, but the effective range of the assault rifle of up to 400 meters gives the bullets a strong kinetic energy. When three consecutive bullets were fired into the body of the sturdy Japanese veteran, the powerful force directly pushed him back nearly half a meter like a three-hit hammer. Compared with the assault rifle in the hands of the mountain infantry company sergeant, the "Dragon Breath Gun" in the hands of the platoon leader Long Yanlong in the front direction is really awesome. This trench gun used in World War I has been blessed by modern design concepts a hundred years later, and it really sparks and lightning all the way.

Every time Platoon Leader Long pulled the trigger, the clear trajectory of the bullet with the blessing of flames was extremely obvious in the night sky. Not to mention that at least one Japanese infantryman on the opposite side was blown away one or two meters with screams, and flames were burning on his body.

Killing one or even several people with one shot completely overturned the Japanese infantry's understanding of the power of individual firearms.

  Even if it is a light machine gun, if it fires 20 bullets in one breath, even if all of them hit a person's body, it may not necessarily kill a strong man on the spot. Screaming and struggling are common. How can it be compared to the gun in this person's hand, which can blow a person's head off with one shot?

Yes, after the brutal Long Yan killed several people in a row, someone finally couldn't hold back his anger and rushed up to challenge Platoon Leader Long.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The Japanese army captain was not so stupid as to directly confront the brutal guy with his samurai sword. He chased Long Yan with a tortoise shell and fired a series of shots, hitting the platoon leader Long who had just been in the limelight and made him roll on the ground to avoid the blows.

Fortunately, Longyan had excellent physical fitness and relied on his strong waist and abdominal strength to move around in the trench, avoiding the 8 rounds of bullets fired from an angry Japanese veteran's pistol.

"Baka!" Nomura Jiro, who had used up all his bullets but failed to kill the enemy, smashed his Nambu Type 14 pistol towards Longyan who was hiding in the corner of the trench, and then approached the target with his sharp samurai sword.

As long as he got close to him, he had a 70% chance of cutting the Chinese man's neck with his samurai sword. The killing gun was invincible in shooting, but in close combat, it was just a fire stick.

The scene from the Japanese Army captain dropping his gun to chasing after him seems very long, but in fact it only takes 3 seconds. In almost the blink of an eye, Nomura Jiro saw Long Yan holding a gun. His body reacted instinctively, and as soon as the knife stabbed forward, Long Yan pulled the trigger.

The two sides were only 2 meters apart, and the thick bullet of the Dragon Breath Gun hit Nomura Jiro's head. With a "bang!" sound, the Japanese Army Captain's head completely exploded, but strangely, not much blood spurted out from the remaining part of the head.

That's because the high temperature instantly burst out from the incendiary agent carried by the Dragon Breath Gun bullet actually coagulated countless tiny blood vessels, which was equivalent to having a hemostatic effect.

So much so that what was spurting out of the headless corpse was not blood, but the still burning flames.

That tragic scene completely destroyed the morale of the remaining Japanese troops, and they turned around and ran into the darkness.

A Japanese position of a hundred men collapsed in less than 2 minutes, and Longyan's mountain infantry platoon only paid the price of one seriously injured and two slightly injured.

This would have been almost impossible in the past. Even if a mountain infantry company could achieve final victory, it would require sufficient firepower suppression and sufficient casualties to achieve it.

It can be seen that the current combat effectiveness of the Japanese army is no longer comparable to that in the early days of the war.

The Longyan side defeated the Japanese defensive positions at an unexpected speed. More than 30 soldiers did not stay in the Japanese positions for long. They split into five groups like a group of hungry wolves hunting.

One group stayed behind to take care of the seriously wounded soldiers who were hit in the chest by bullets, and set up defensive positions on the spot to provide rear defense for the reconnaissance company and mountain infantry company that advanced into the Japanese artillery position. If anything unexpected happened, the entire army could retreat in this direction.

The other four groups each rushed towards their designated targets. Their target tonight was these artillery pieces. They wanted to destroy as many as possible before the main force of the Japanese army arrived.

  As for the 600 Japanese artillerymen in the position, they were completely ignored by the Chinese soldiers who had already rushed into the position like wolves and tigers. If they met them, they would kill them all!

Artillery is one of the most important resources of an artillery unit. Having artillery without skilled gunners is of no use.

The soldiers of the mountain infantry companies in the other three directions adopted the strategy of attacking without striking, using assault rifles, mortars and heavy machine guns to attack the Japanese defensive positions. However, the infantry did not launch an immediate attack. The strong enough firepower forced the Japanese army to fight back with all their might and they did not dare to withdraw troops to the vast artillery positions to support the artillery.

Even though the artillery positions behind them were already rumbling with explosions, the artillerymen's screams were like chickens encountering a weasel.

More than 60 soldiers from the mountain infantry company pinned down 300 Japanese infantrymen, and the more than 130 elite Chinese troops who broke into the artillery position were like a tiger among a flock of sheep.

How can the Japanese artillerymen compare the two elite infantry companies of the Four-Line Regiment with their assault rifles or submachine guns? In addition, one side is a war machine trained for killing, while the other side is a purely technical force that conducts live-fire shooting training only once every few months. The gap between the two sides is simply the comparison between a strong man with a machete and a child with a toy knife.

For more than 30 minutes, the elite troops of the Four-Line Regiment encountered almost no decent resistance. They destroyed at least 13 artillery pieces and killed countless Japanese artillerymen.

As the saying goes, "Success or failure depends on Xiao He." The Japanese army placed their artillery pieces very sparsely, which left a huge safety hazard for their artillery positions. But it was also because the artillery pieces were very far apart that the elite soldiers of the Four-Line Regiment had to run a long way to blow up a piece of artillery.

Moreover, the Japanese were not stupid. When the Chinese came in, they deployed their defenses, stopped firing, and ran in the opposite direction of the gunfire, dragging their artillery. In such a dark night, it was really difficult to catch them.

As for Matsukami Yoshimasa, he was just waiting to enjoy the fruits of victory, but the fire suppression of the Chinese positions on the opposite bank from his own artillery positions suddenly stopped. Before he could even call to inquire, the artillery side called to say that the Chinese had attacked the artillery positions.

The Japanese Army colonel's hair stood on end at that time. It would have been fine if the plan of crossing the Xiangjiang River today had not failed because of the suppression of these 24 mountain guns, but if they lost nearly half of the division's artillery, it would have been a complete disaster.

The order given to him by the division headquarters was to contain the Chinese on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. If possible, fight. If not, pull them down. The most important tactical goal of the 3rd Division in Hengyang was to have a decisive battle with the main force of the Chinese reinforcements that was about to arrive. Their opponent had to be at least a Chinese infantry corps.

  If half of the artillery is gone, what will the division use to fight against tens of thousands of Chinese? Their heads?

"Order the fleet to continue moving forward and not to retreat without military orders. The officers and soldiers of the 35th Battalion and the regiment headquarters must immediately return to support the artillery positions." Matsukami Yoshimasa calmed himself down and gave the order immediately.

Facts have proved that Matsukami Yoshimasa is still a capable man. If the landing fleet chooses to retreat, after there is no threat on the river, the Tang Dao, who already knows that the 200 elite troops they sent out for the sneak attack were successful, will definitely mobilize the mountain artillery company's 12 Bofors mountain cannons and even the 12 American mountain cannons in Hengyang City, all aimed at the Japanese artillery positions, and under the guidance of scouts, cover the last main force of the 6th Infantry Regiment with artillery fire.

At that time, I am afraid that the last infantrymen of the 6th Infantry Regiment on the shore will be swallowed up by this wave of ruthless artillery fire.

But as the fleet continued to move forward, the Chinese artillery in the city could only continue to suppress the river. Once thousands of Japanese troops went ashore, they would tie down the river bank defense, forcing the Chinese side to transfer troops here, which would undoubtedly achieve Yokoyama Isamu's tactical goal.

For Yokoyama Isamu, who had already invested more than 7 people and almost put most of his bets on the battle, he could afford to lose an infantry regiment.

"Retreat!" Shen Laoliu, who received the news that hundreds of Japanese troops were coming to support, was very cunning. He did not want to fight anymore and directly gave the signal for everyone to evacuate.

The reconnaissance platoon and mountain infantry company carrying the wounded and the remains of their fallen comrades will walk 5 kilometers in the dark to the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River, where four wooden boats will be waiting to pick them up in the river bend.

Of course the Japanese army would not give up and chased them all the way.

As a result, Shen Laoliu played a trick of sneaking around. Two squads carried the wounded and the bodies away first, and the other 150 people quietly ambushed in the grass on both sides of the road where the traces of retreat were very obvious, and dealt a heavy blow to the more than 500 Japanese soldiers who were chasing them.

In just 20 minutes of ambush, more than 180 Japanese soldiers were killed. Until they evacuated, nearly 300 Japanese soldiers remained there waiting for support.

The Japanese army colonel who had hurried over with more than 800 infantrymen who had gotten off the ship almost suffocated when he saw the pale faces of his 300 subordinates.

When did the great Imperial Japanese Army permanent division become such a loser? (End of this chapter)