Fengzhong Security Force is Chen Tianhua's elite. Their equipment configuration is exactly the same as the standard configuration of the Japanese Army. Mortars are equipped to the platoon level. Every squad has grenade launchers. Each soldier has grenades. They are better equipped than others.

The newly-proclaimed Beiyang recruits are many times stronger.

In addition to weapons and equipment, individual soldiers' combat literacy, Fengzhong security forces have an absolute advantage.

On the Qing side, except for a few veterans with high individual quality, they were able to aim relatively well during the charge. The bullets landed on the front wall, and most of the Qing soldiers blindly fired into the sky, and after a dozen or so steps they buried their heads.

, fired a shot with a bang, and the bullets passed over the top of the position without taking away a particle of dust.

Fengzhong's security guards' volleying skills and aiming level are indeed not comparable to that of the Qing soldiers. Often the attacking Qing soldiers will fire one shot, and here three or four more shots will be fired.

Relying on the strength of his numbers, Yin Zhiping launched charge after charge, but was easily repelled by the officers and soldiers of the Warrior Battalion led by Song Xiaoniu.

At the end of the first day, the Qing soldiers dropped hundreds of corpses in front of two adjacent mountains, Huangshan Mountain and Xiangshan Mountain, and gained nothing.

The news reached Sa Zhenbing's fleet, which was frustrating. He summoned the captains of each ship to his flagship for a meeting overnight, and decided that in addition to using two cruisers to continue to support the infantry with artillery fire, the fleet Haichen would

The cruiser No. 1 led six shallow-water gunboats No. Chu to concentrate shelling on the Madang Fortress and forcefully broke through.

The next morning.

Sa Zhenbing's flagship Hairong and the cruiser Haichi caught up from behind began to bombard the Xiangshan and Huangshan positions. Six 150mm main ship guns bombarded them for almost an hour, firing hundreds of high-explosive bombs.

End the bombardment.

Sa Zhenbing felt very bitter. Most of the high-explosive shells from the main naval gun he brought this time were used in two days of bombardment. If this continued, even if he broke through the Madang Fortress and reached Hankou, he was afraid that the high-explosive shells from the main naval gun would be

There are not many explosive bombs left, so the broadside cannon can only be used.

But not only was the power of the broadside cannon small, but the ammunition prepared was also limited.

The shells for the cruiser's main gun must all be imported from Krupp, Germany. Several domestic arsenals do not have molds for such large-caliber shells, let alone formulas and processes. Therefore, once the shells are used up, these cruisers'

The main naval gun became scrap metal and decoration.

He had already calculated that if it took another day like this, the fleet's reinforcement of Wuhan would be an empty talk. Therefore, he placed the bet on the entire fleet, bombarded the fort on the Madang Fortress, and then forcibly broke through the waters of Madang Mountain. Otherwise, the fleet would

If he cannot reach Wuhan, he, the commander, will be taken to a military court for trial.

Speaking of Yin Zhiping, after seeing that after an hour of naval artillery bombardment, he ordered the Qing troops to charge immediately before the artillery fire could spread. They must learn from yesterday's lessons and not allow their opponents time to repair their fortifications.

In this way, the coordination of infantry and artillery has been improved in actual combat.

This time, the naval guns and cannons were slightly adjusted, and their accuracy was higher than yesterday. Most of them landed on the forward positions, once again destroying the fortifications. In addition, the Qing troops attacked in advance, so that the Fengzhong security team had no time to repair the fortifications and rushed to respond.

.

Although some people in the Qing soldiers were constantly being shot, the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion and Patrol Battalion in the Qing soldiers still charged desperately, because before the war Yin Zhiping announced that there was an oral instruction from the Imperial Envoy Nie Jiugui, and the first one to rush to the top of the hill would be rewarded.

Reward 500 taels of silver and be promoted to the third level.

The officers of the green battalion and the patrol battalion of the Qing army were old-style soldiers who had never accepted Western ideas. There were almost no revolutionaries in the ranks. Now, these people have become the last fig leaf for the Qing government. They hold the dragon high.

The flag is charging.

Finally, the first line of defense was broken through by the Qing troops, and the battle for the second line of defense immediately shifted.

Song Xiaoniu sat on a rock in the command post on the top of Xiangshan Mountain, watching the offensive and defensive battle with ease, and even humming a tune happily.

Fengzhong's deep defense line, the farther back it goes, the stronger its rebound becomes. For this reason, he coldly snorted:

"Yin Zhiping, you old thief, when you go forward another fifty meters, I will let you taste the dumplings falling from the sky."

Song Xiaoniu’s so-called dumplings in the sky refer to cluster grenades, grenades, small-caliber mortars, etc., and close-range lethal weapons covering forward positions.

"Send the order to the left and right wings and the general reserve team, prepare to send dumplings to the forward position for me, grandma, these cowards got up too early, I'm afraid they are still hungry?" Song Xiaoniu ordered loudly.

After nearly ten years of training in the flames of war, the current Song Xiaoniu is not the underground coal digger he met in Meishan Town with only one pair of eyes and could not speak clearly. He has become an outstanding coal digger through hard work.

The battlefield commander.

While they were talking, the Qing soldiers fully occupied the first line of defense and were storming the second trench, advancing more than fifty meters.

At this time, the price they paid was the casualties of more than 300 soldiers. Coupled with the whole day of yesterday's war of attrition, the number of casualties was close to a thousand, which was almost one-fifth of their troops.

Yin Zhiping and Nie Jiugui, who were standing on the mountainside with telescopes to supervise the battle, saw that the Qing soldiers were almost breaking through the second line of defense and approaching the top of the mountain. However, the many security guards were fighting and retreating in an orderly manner. Their faces were filled with tears.

There is no relaxed expression.

The opponent's behavior can only mean that there will be a more difficult battle or a trap waiting for them later.

Yin Zhiping suddenly said:

"Sir, if we can't capture the outer hills by nightfall today, it will be difficult to break through the Madang Fortress."

"What do you mean..." Before Nie Jiugui could finish his words, he only saw countless black dots flying like crows on the top of the mountain, followed by bursts of rumbling and loud noises, and the sky collapsed and the earth cracked, like an earthquake.

From the left and right wings of the top of the mountain, hundreds of wooden-handled grenades and grenades flew out, and batches of mortars/shells flew from the back mountain, landing accurately on the forward position with a radius of 100 meters.

Moreover, it was an indiscriminate delivery of one wave after another, continuously hitting the Qing troops occupying the forward positions.

For a time, smoke billowed from the position, fire flashed, the cries of ghosts and wolves were drowned out by the explosions, stumps and broken legs were flying all over the sky, and the wide ditch became the burial place of these Qing soldiers.

In less than ten minutes, the one hundred, fifty or sixty Qing soldiers who entered the forward position were all dead in the trenches, and only a dozen people escaped.

Because the trench was too deep, it was easy for them to enter, but it was difficult for them to climb out and escape.

Yin Zhiping turned pale and gave the order to retreat.

"Sir, this is not the way for us to fight. We have only been attacking the outskirts of the fortress for two days, and we have killed and injured more than a thousand people. If we attack to the foot of Madang Mountain, wouldn't all the more than 5,000 people we finally gathered have to die here? Evacuate first.
Chapter completed!