At ten o'clock in the evening, the main force of the guerrilla detachment gathered in the Shanyang City and Huaiqing City areas.

The main force of the 24th Division of the Imperial Association Army stationed in Jiyuan City has not suffered any blows for the time being, but the puppet army commander Zhang Tengxiao did not dare to dispatch.

Taking advantage of this time, he quickly strengthened his defensive positions and still maintained a posture of defending Jiyuan City.

Under the command of Major General Taijiro Iida, the commander of the 35th Infantry Regiment under the 35th Division, the main force of the Japanese and puppet troops arrived at the outskirts of Sanyo City.

This Japanese and puppet army has more than 15,000 people, and its overall strength is very strong.

Taijiro Iida, who was in charge of the command, was an active combatant. He had wanted to attack quickly before.

Now that he was commanding the troops to rush to Sanyo Castle, Iida Taijiro showed a completely different side from his previous performance.

All the little devils thought that Taijiro Iida would quickly issue an attack order and capture Sanyo Castle in the shortest possible time.

But what surprised everyone was that Taijiro Iida asked the artillery troops to build artillery positions immediately.

At the same time, the search team quickly conducted a large-scale reconnaissance in all directions, while the remaining Japanese troops established starting positions.

He acted very cautiously and did not launch an attack rashly.

This is because Taijiro Iida, relying on his excellent combat experience, can judge that the guerrilla detachment will definitely strengthen the defense deployment of Sanyo Castle at this time.

In his opinion, if he launches a combat operation rashly, he will definitely be hit and suffer heavy casualties.

Taijiro Iida wanted to fight, but he wanted to gain military exploits through fighting, rather than causing heavy casualties to the troops.

The Japanese and puppet troops immediately took action, and about a thousand engineers quickly assisted in building various positions.

Taijiro Iida set up his headquarters in Wuli Town, 20 kilometers away from Sanyo Castle.

This place is quite far away from the Japanese artillery positions.

The search regiment's three hundred cavalry and two hundred motorized infantry quickly launched into action.

They have been continuously investigating the surroundings to understand the situation in Shanyang City.

It was not until two o'clock in the morning on September 13th that the search team returned to the headquarters and reported the situation in detail.

They discovered Wang Huaibao's third battalion troops in the area south of Shanyang City, and also discovered defensive positions outside Shanyang City.

Nothing has been found in the area north of Shanyang City because the artillery range of the Third Artillery Battalion here is very far, so the Japs have not searched for it.

After Taijiro Iida received the report, he quickly summoned several captains of the Japanese Army's Colonel Regiment and began to discuss it overnight.

Because Kasahara Yukio and Harada Kumayoshi's request was to capture Shanyang City, Huaiqing City advanced to Jiyuan City to attack the guerrilla detachment.

Therefore, they cannot bypass Shanyang City, they must capture Shanyang City.

How to attack Shanyang City became the focus of the Japanese army's discussions.

At three o'clock in the morning, Taijiro Iida sent the search team again.

This time the search team mainly searched the area north of Shanyang City, focusing on investigating whether there were any defensive positions nearby.

The search team set off, and they did not return until five o'clock in the morning.

This time they reported to Iida Taijiro that they still had not found any defensive positions.

The Third Battalion of Tang Jingchun Artillery was deployed on the high ground to the north, far enough away and camouflaged.

Because it was night, and the Japs cavalry and motorized infantry were restricted by the terrain, they did not detect the existence of artillery positions.

However, they detoured directly from the north and detected the position of the 1st Artillery Battalion deployed to the west of the mountain sample book.

Based on this news, Iida Taijiro and other Japanese military officers immediately began to formulate a combat plan.

They were planning to first cut off the defensive positions of the guerrilla detachment outside Shanyang City, then cut off the connection between Shanyang City and the outside, and carry out annihilation attacks on the defenders inside the city.

The specific deployment is for the 219th Wing to conduct a diversionary attack on Shanyang City.

The 220th Regiment focused on attacking Wang Huaibao's 3rd Battalion in the area south of Shanyang City.

The search regiment, attached to the artillery battalion of the 25th regiment of the Imperial Association Army, detoured from the north and attacked the 1st artillery battalion position west of Shanyang City.

The 73rd Regiment of the Imperial Association Army and the Engineer Regiment serve as reserve teams and are also responsible for the security of artillery positions and headquarters.

The forty-eight artillery pieces in the artillery position are responsible for supporting the 219th Regiment and the 220th Regiment.

After the battle plan was drawn up, the Japanese officers began to return to make preparations.

By this time, the sky had become brighter, and the Japs' positions had been completed.

At six o'clock in the morning, as Taijiro Iida issued the combat order, the Japanese and puppet troops immediately launched combat operations.

The first to set off were the search regiment and the artillery battalion of the 25th Division of the Royal Associated Army.

The search wing is very strong on paper. It is mainly composed of mechanized infantry and reinforced with some armored troops.

Unfortunately, this is only the situation on the Japanese base camp establishment list. In actual conditions, the search wing cannot have a complete vehicle establishment.

For example, the search wing directly under the 35th Division should have a cavalry squadron, a mechanized infantry squadron, and an armored vehicle squadron at full strength.

But in fact, their main combat force is still cavalry.

The only mechanized infantry squadron is mainly equipped with motorcycles and is equipped with a certain number of trucks.

Of course, such a formation still maintains mobility, but it lacks attack power.

Taijiro Iida also knew this, so he deliberately strengthened the combat effectiveness of the artillery brigade of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The mission of this force is to quickly detour from the area north of Shanyang City and directly conduct a surprise attack on the 1st Artillery Battalion position west of Shanyang City.

The search wing reported that the defense of the 1st Artillery Battalion was empty, so Taijiro Iida wanted to quickly destroy the artillery position here.

The search wing has strong mobility. The artillery brigade of the Imperial Alliance Army is equipped with six Liao-made Type 13 mountain guns.

This is a Type 41 mountain gun imitated by Fengtian Arsenal. It is very light and can be pulled by mules and transported by packhorses.

This force can advance quickly, and in Iida Taijiro's view, they can also complete combat missions quickly.

It's a pity that the search team did not detect the artillery position of the 3rd Artillery Battalion.

At 6:15 in the morning, the forward observation post of the 3rd Artillery Battalion immediately called.

After Tang Jingchun received the report, he immediately used the artillery scope to observe, and soon he locked the position of the search unit.

The cadres of the 3rd Artillery Battalion became busy, and they quickly carried out professional measurements.

After a group of shootings, Zhu Yuan made quick calculations and determined that the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Artillery was responsible for the shooting task.

Under the command of the company commander, the four Type 90 75MM field guns quickly adjusted their firing angles.

At 6:25, the company commander issued a test firing order.

The four field guns started shelling one after another, and grenades were fired at the search team.

However, the Type 90 field gun has good performance. As a 75MM caliber artillery, it has a range of 13,800 meters.

It also has strong armor-piercing capabilities, so it can be said to be an excellent artillery piece.

However, this artillery also has fatal shortcomings, that is, its accuracy is not high, its life is short, and it is relatively heavy.

Four grenades were launched but failed to hit the target.

Immediately afterwards, the four field guns quickly adjusted and fired again.

This time, the grenades began to hit their targets.

With the sound of explosions, the search wing and the artillery brigade of the Royal Association Army were hit.

The commander of the search team, the commander of the search team, looked astonished. He did not expect that there was an artillery position in the north.

But he responded quickly and decisively issued the order to retreat.

In the end, under the attack of four field artillery pieces, the Japanese and puppet troops retreated in embarrassment at the cost of more than 100 casualties.

It can be said that they got off to a bad start, which made Taijiro Iida very angry.

But at this time, the 219th Wing and the 220th Wing had already begun operations.

At the same time, the 35th Field Artillery Regiment also continued to conduct shelling, focusing on the shelling of Shanyang City.

More than three thousand little Japanese from the 219th Regiment quickly launched combat operations. They quickly advanced from their starting positions.

At half past six, the 219th Wing quickly established a wing-support artillery position.

Two directly affiliated artillery squadrons and eight Type 41 mountain guns are ready to support at any time.

The three infantry brigades quickly advanced towards Shanyang City, using wave tactics.

The most prominent infantry squadron is accelerating the advance. They are responsible for probing attacks.

The frontal battle in Shanyang City is about to begin!

At this time, stationed outside Shanyang City was Zhang Dabiao's First Battalion.

Behind them, there are three artillery companies directly under the regiment responsible for supporting them.

Zhang Dabiao currently serves as the deputy leader of the Independent Regiment, and he is also an old subordinate who has followed Li Yunlong for several years.

Seeing the little devil approaching, Zhang Dabiao was very calm.

At 6:40, Zhang Dabiao's First Battalion had not yet started shooting.
To be continued...