"Little carrying pole, you coward, why are you so stupid? What do you want me to say to you? If your sledgehammer is not accurate, I will give you a slap in the face. Go away and fight!"
An Yi, who was extremely tired, straightened up on the muddy mountain road and taught the young soldier next to him named Bian Guangda the Henan dialect he had just learned for a few days. His poor Henan dialect made the brothers burst into laughter.
The honest Bian Guangda also smiled sheepishly. For some reason, this new brother who was very good at playing light machine guns couldn't use the engineer's sledgehammer. He almost broke the hand of the brother who was holding the wooden stake several times.
No one wanted to be in a group with him. An Yi saw this and volunteered to fill in. Who knew that when he was about to finish, he was almost hit with a big hammer by this guy who was not sure of his head.
For two consecutive days, the engineer battalion hid behind the right-wing position 3.5 kilometers away from Tingsi Bridge. It used the dense arbor forests and patches of tall reeds as cover and worked hard to prepare the field artillery for the 36th Regiment of the Fourth Army.
Marching opens the way.
The construction work day and night for two days, although it was a bit tiring, was still uneventful. The Seventh Army, the Fourth Army in the front position, and more than 10,000 elite troops of the direct army Song Dapei and Dong Zhengguo fought to the death and paid a huge price.
Finally, all the enemy troops who stubbornly stood on the south bank of Tingsi Bridge were driven to the north bank.
Previously, Huang Qixiang, who was bold and careful and prepared for a rainy day, issued an order for the reserve force An Yi Battalion that he had finally obtained to sneak in and clear the way. After occupying the position on the south bank, he planned to quietly move the artillery position forward to only two points away from the Tingsi Bridge.
Nine kilometers away from the mounds in Luogang, when the general offensive was launched, a surprise attack was made on the enemy's artillery position at Sunjialing on the north bank. Every effort was made to suppress the enemy's superior artillery fire and reduce the risk of the main infantry forces of the Seventh and Fourth Army launching a strong attack.
Difficulty.
However, Anyi Camp was indeed on track and very lucky. In the past two days, they were able to secretly open up a 2.8-kilometer solid road in a position with dense water networks.
An Yi used all his brains. When he encountered a swamp, he quietly cut down bamboo trees and harvested weeds. He laid down strong wooden piles and laid them layer by layer. He just built a road in a complex area that could weigh more than a ton.
Field artillery dragged a solid path forward, and during two consecutive days of fierce fighting across the entire front, the enemy was not discovered, and not a single artillery shell was fired, leaving the headquarters to command the Seventh Army Commander Li Zongren and the Fourth Army Deputy Commander
Generals such as Chen Keyu and Zhang Fakui were surprised.
After receiving the news at 9:40 pm on the 25th that the road construction was completed and that Huang Qixiang's 36th Regiment successfully dragged 26 field guns to the predetermined position, the generals in the headquarters were very happy and immediately
Preparations for launching a general offensive at 5 a.m. on the 26th began.
Unexpectedly, starting at 11 o'clock in the night, the weather was unfavorable. After a burst of lightning and thunder that lasted for half an hour, it began to rain heavily. The rain continued until 4 o'clock in the morning the next day. The swollen river water was ready to be used.
Most of the boats crossing the river were washed away, and the pitiful few wooden boats that had been recovered through hard work became even more scarce. The entire general offensive plan had to be temporarily suspended.
At dawn, the enemy's three artillery positions in Sunjialing once again launched fierce artillery attacks on the shore and the revolutionary army positions. The only two dozen or so wooden boats remaining on the south bank were instantly destroyed by the bombardment of the artillery shells.
The gloomy sky shrouded the hidden Luogang artillery position. This position that was successfully built using an earth hillock of more than 300 meters long and more than 20 meters high as a barrier is quite bold. If it can be used successfully, it will give the enemy
The artillery array caused huge damage, but due to the cancellation of the general attack, the artillery position that missed the opportunity was quiet.
The exhausted officers and soldiers of Anyi Battalion were invited by the grateful artillerymen to the back of the right-wing hill more than 200 meters away from the artillery position. Although the artillery brothers of the 12th Division came quietly and said, "Brothers, thank you for your hard work."
"Have a good rest", but in fact, they were worried that too many people would alert the enemy on the other side, and they would discover this painstakingly built artillery position.
Although An Yi and others knew this, they still magnanimously led the five hundred brothers, who were soaked like mud monkeys, to leave quietly.
The five hundred brothers were all exhausted. They were sitting in a huddle behind the right wing hillock full of weeds and shrubs, eating cold rice and steamed buns, and swallowing some pitiful pickles with difficulty. They were thinking about when.
Only then can I leave this frightening place.
In the past two days, screaming artillery shells have streaked over the area where the brothers were working countless times. The constant explosions coming from hundreds of meters away have frightened the slender nerves of the brothers. However, everyone still feels
They were horrified because everyone heard the intimidating screams and terrifying explosions from the giant artillery shells fired from the armored train, and witnessed with their own eyes a powerful bomb that destroyed a lonely ten-meter mound in the rear.
Exploded to the ground, the deafening and shaking momentum made more than a hundred veterans who had experienced a near-death life shut their mouths tightly in fear, and did not dare to be awesome anymore, let alone have never really been on it before.
Most of the engineer brothers on the battlefield.
An Yi, who seemed calm and composed on the surface, was also beating a drum in his heart - at this time, he was terribly annoyed. Now that the construction was completed, it was time to leave this dangerous place. You must know that if you stay for one more minute, you will be in more danger.
But the military orders were overwhelming, and he couldn't leave without receiving the order to evacuate. In desperation, he had no choice but to angrily make a suggestion to Huzi: I have a pair of high-power telescopes that were seized from the mountains a while ago. Let's sneak up behind him together.
Let’s go to the top of the slope and see how the situation is on the other side. No one can stand it if we stay like this any longer!
As soon as Huzi heard what he wanted, he carefully summoned the platoon commanders of each company for a small meeting. He once again sternly emphasized the cover discipline and ordered each company deputy and platoon commander, under the command of Yin Jinan, to strictly control their subordinates and not have any
After the sudden movement, An Yi and An Yi quietly climbed up a thirty-meter slope with lush vegetation. They hid in the grass and used binoculars to carefully observe the swollen river water in the wide river and the lines of sandbags piled up on the enemy's position on the north bank.
Spider web-like trenches and solid bunkers.
"Grandma's! This grandson of Chen Jiamo is worthy of being a direct famous general. The eighty-nine kilometers long front north of the bridge was carefully laid out by this grandson. The construction and positioning of each firepower point was very clever. No wonder the Seventh Army rushed to the shore twice
They were all beaten to pieces by him."
Beard looked at it again and again with a delicate telescope, and finally nodded in sincere admiration.
An Yi also admired Chen Jiamo, who was the governor of Hubei Province and the commander of the 25th Enemy Division: "Indeed, this grandson really has a fucking way. This person is not like those idiots like Ye Kaixin who only passively defend;
On the basis of always being able to choose favorable opportunities to take the initiative to attack, the Seventh Army and the Fourth Army have suffered a lot in the past three days. They were suppressed by various caliber mountain artillery and field artillery set up by Chen Jiamo using the advantageous terrain on the north bank.
When they arrived, they were beaten out of their temper by the two divisions he had deployed on the south bank early, waiting for work.
These two divisions were really extraordinary. They not only withstood the fierce attack of the Seventh Army, but also launched a decisive counterattack when the Seventh Army's rear was weak. If General Li Zongren hadn't decisively changed his strategy and commanded the quickly arriving follow-up troops to launch a fierce attack from both wings.
Attack and implement the rescue method of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao. Not only could they not save the two Xiawei brigades that were rapidly defeated in the middle, but I am afraid that Chen Jiamo's two divisions will not retreat to the north bank now.
Due to the tenacious attack of these two divisions, Chen Jiamo gained two precious days to gather troops on the north bank. In the end, he almost completely withdrew to the north bank to join the defense, which greatly consumed our army's strength and blocked our army's victory in the attack.
The momentum... is amazing, it seems that the direct line has been able to dominate the north for so many years."
Huzi put down the telescope in his hand, turned to look at An Yi, and asked with some surprise: "Hey, haven't you been at the construction site all the time? How do you know so much about it in detail?"
"When I went to the division headquarters to say goodbye the night before yesterday, the division commander and the chief of staff were studying the battle situation and asked me to watch for an hour..."
An Yi heard the sound of rustling grass and trees behind him. He looked back and saw that Huang Qixiang and two deputies had quietly touched up. He immediately put down the binoculars and smiled: "Brother Xiang, why are you here?"
Huang Qixiang nodded as a greeting, happily climbed to An Yi's side, raised his telescope and observed the north bank while answering in a low voice:
"I came to thank you. I heard your deputy said you were on the mountain, so I came up...Mother Qu! Yesterday there were only more than 30,000 people, and today the formation is estimated to have increased to 50,000. Look at those waving flags.
There were two or three more troops yesterday, and the firepower became more and more intense."
After hearing this, An Yi raised his telescope and observed it carefully. He looked for a moment and sighed in frustration: "Brother Xiang, the river has surged, the water is deep and the harbor is wide, and there are no boats crossing the river. What should we do? We can't have thousands of people swarming up.
Is the iron bridge a living target for people?"
"Yeah, look at this battle, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for a while. The river is as wide as a chasm, and the water pools on the left and right of the battlefield are so dense that we can't stretch out. It's really difficult! Look at the hanging men on the north bank, how dare they move around.
They drink and eat meat unscrupulously, probably because they see that we cannot threaten them in a short period of time, they are so arrogant."
Huang Qixiang sighed: "If we can find dozens of wooden boats at this time, we can sneak a regiment across at night and catch them off guard. Our army will use all the artillery fire on the south bank to blast hard, and at the same time launch three or four divisions and brigades to seize the opportunity to forcibly
By rushing across the iron bridge, we might be able to break the enemy's iron barrel array by surprise and annihilate the enemy in one blow. At worst, we can drive tens of thousands of enemy troops back to the north of Xianning. If the impact is strong enough, we might be able to fight until the end of Xianning.
The head of Hesheng Bridge."
An Yi looked at Huang Qixiang in surprise: "Is one group enough?"
Huang Qixiang smiled confidently: "As long as it's my group, it will definitely be enough!"
An Yi struggled in his heart for a long time. He originally wanted to use this good opportunity to ask Huang Qixiang to transfer himself and his brothers back to the rear. However, under the influence of Huang Qixiang's strong confidence and indomitable fearless spirit, after painful deliberation, he finally chose to be brothers.
Emotions defeated the cowardice in his heart, and he decided to express the idea he had hidden in his heart:
"Brother Xiang, look towards the lake 2.5 kilometers southeast of where we are now...have you seen it? There is a small fishing village there, with more than 20 ten-meter boats tied to it under the row of willow trees to the east.
Have you seen the long sand-carrying wooden boat? It is surrounded by reed marshes. There is a water lane in the northeast that leads directly to the fork about four kilometers upstream of Tingsi Bridge. If we were not in this condescending position, it would be difficult to see those boats...
They are all good. If they do not carry heavy weapons, each boat can hold a platoon of brothers. My younger brother also went back last night to carry food and accidentally discovered it when he took the wrong path in the reed swamp. The boatman in the village is good.
They told me that they had not dared to move the ship for more than ten days because they were afraid of war, were afraid of being robbed by the army on the other side, and were afraid of being requisitioned by us. I comforted them in a good way before I came back."
Huang Qixiang was so excited that his hand holding the telescope was trembling slightly. He looked at it for a long time before handing the telescope to the regimental officer next to him. He put his arm around An Yi's shoulders and thanked her repeatedly:
"Xiaoyi, thank you so much! Brother, I really don't know how to thank you... God help me! I will go back and report to the headquarters right now, and try to take action tonight. I want to see this bad guy Chen Jiamo
How long can I continue to do this?"
"Slow down, Brother Xiang, are you paying attention to the water flow?"
An Yi grabbed Huang Qixiang and thought that since it was all about talking about it, he might as well express all his worries so that he could have a good explanation for his brothers and feel better about his conscience:
"You see, with such a rapid flow and such a wide river surface, it is probably difficult to cross it safely as a whole. I once trained my subordinate No. 3 Company at the mouth of Zhuxi in the eastern suburbs of Guangzhou, where the water flow was caused by showers and groundwater surges.
It was abnormal, sometimes urgent and sometimes slow. At the beginning, I also had a headache. I was worried that my brothers would be washed down the Pearl River Estuary. After many attempts, I basically mastered the rules. The width of Zhuxi Estuary is only thirty or forty meters, but it is so complicated, not to mention the thing in front of us.
A big river? What are you going to do if a bad boat is washed downstream by the rapids, or fails to land accurately?"
Huang Qixiang nodded heavily and smiled gratefully at An Yi: "You have to remind me so much, otherwise I would have really ignored this and waited until I got to the river to think of it. I would be in trouble! Let me think about it... if we spend a lot of money to hire the villagers
Maybe those boatmen can solve the problem."
An Yi smiled, nodded and said: "Yes, but to achieve an overall safe crossing, the boatmen must be required to use their usual fleet connection method. When they transport river sand, they often use more than ten or twenty boats with cables.
Connecting them together not only facilitates transportation but also reduces the intensity of driving the boat. It can also free up a lot of manpower to do other things, so as long as you persuade them to adopt this method, you will be sure!"
"Great! Xiaoyi, why don't you go with my eldest brother? With you as a veteran to guide me, my eldest brother will feel more at ease!" Huang Qixiang's twinkling eyes were full of blazing anticipation.
An Yi was startled and complained in his heart. He wanted to slap himself twice immediately, resenting his unnecessary last two words.
Just when An Yi was speechless with his mouth open, a burst of artillery roared, and the enemy artillery on the north bank was conducting exploratory shelling again.
What was frightening was that the roar of artillery shells seemed to be getting closer and louder. The shocked Huang Qixiang shouted "No!", hugged An Yi and rolled down the hillside suddenly. The two adjutants and Hu Hu were also frightened and rolled away quickly.
Next, several artillery shells landed like lightning on a hillock more than 20 meters away on the left, making violent explosions and splashing large pieces of soil and vegetation flying all over the sky.
Rolling to the foot of a slope of more than 30 meters, An Yi was hit with stars in his eyes, but Huang Qixiang quickly jumped up and rushed to the artillery position on the left wing and shouted loudly: "Don't fire! The enemy is testing fire, don't fire -"
Unfortunately, the explosion masked Huang Qixiang's shouts. The brothers of the 12th Division's artillery company who had just entered the position thought they had been discovered. They all rushed to the artillery position in panic and launched an attack under the anxious command of the captain and company commander.
Fight back.
As soon as the cannon fired, everything was over. In less than a minute, the enemy's artillery shells from the north bank flew in like locusts. The screams pierced the sky and stung the eardrums of more than a thousand officers and soldiers on the position.
Huang Qixiang and his two lieutenants lay on the ground in despair, howling in pain.
"Dig a bunker! Dig quickly——"
An Yi, who was out of his wits, screamed nervously. At this moment, he no longer remembered hiding or lying down, and rushed from one end to the other like a wounded beast. His loss of state immediately infected the beard, Yin Jinan and others, and the five hundred people were terrified.
The brothers clung to the foot of the mountain amidst the hysterical shouts of several officers, using shovels, pickaxes and other tools they could find to dig out bunkers frantically, amid the dense patches of mud and broken trees falling from the sky like heavy rain.
Screaming and wailing.
Almost everyone lost their minds amidst the earth-shaking explosions and the overwhelming smoke and flames. They only knew how to dig mechanically, and dig, and dig again. Brothers without tools used their hands and guns to dig as hard as they could.
Just like a group of poor moles trying to avoid sudden disasters, they just keep digging holes and forget everything else in the world.
The violent continuous explosions caused An Yi to stagger around, and a ball of sludge shot out hit him hard in the abdomen, knocking him down instantly and making him almost lose his breath. Yiyi got up and got up.
I saw that the artillery position a hundred meters away had changed beyond recognition. The heavy field artillery was blasted into the sky by the powerful explosion of large-caliber bombs and was shattered into pieces. Steel fragments mixed with broken branches and broken arms flew high and scattered in all directions. Blood, water and broken meat were mixed with mud like rain.
As it rained down, the bent barrels and broken shields flew everywhere with the sound of breaking wind.
It was like the tragic scene of hell on earth. An Yi was so frightened that he was paralyzed on the ground and vomited. He had no idea that the brothers around him were hit by flying shrapnel one after another, bleeding profusely and lying on the spot. He did not see the numb and temporarily deaf people.
The brothers were still digging frantically with their hands stained with blood. When they saw that the long and narrow mound was being flattened meter by meter by the artillery shells that kept flying in, the entire two-kilometer position was blazing with fire and filled with smoke...