Chapter 924: Righteous and awe-inspiring expansion (6)
Chapter 924 The Righteous Expansion (6)
At seven o'clock in the morning on August 1, the decisive "Battle of Minjiang" in the protracted Sichuan Civil War finally started.
The total number of troops invested by both sides in this battle was as high as 300,000. If we include the 250,000 migrant workers that Liu Wenhui accepted the suggestions of An Yi and Jiang Yunshan and mobilized through the Liu family and the major families of his generals, the scale of this battle would be far greater.
Far more than any war since the Republic of China.
What confused Liu Xiang's generals on the front line was that when the artillery positions set up by the ministries on the east bank were fired, Liu Wenhui's defenders hundreds of meters deep on the west bank picked up their weapons, turned around and ran away. The coalition divisions were already preparing to cross.
each
Seeing this, the brigade's morale was greatly boosted. Under the high-pitched commands of commanders at all levels, they rushed down the river embankment regardless of their own safety, picked up the sampan prepared in advance, jumped on the fishing boat ferry tied to the shore, and under the rumbling cannons
, rowing hard to the other side.
On the other side of Meishan City, the fierce general Tang Shizun, surrounded by a group of guards and generals, went out to observe. Standing on the top of a raised hillside of more than 30 meters, he looked at both sides of the Minjiang River.
Brother, most of the 25,000 officers and soldiers have rushed down the river embankment. Hundreds of large and small boats driven by the warriors of the two regiments responsible for the assault have already reached the halfway point.
The defenders on the smoke-filled west bank did not even organize a decent resistance. Most of the few artillery shells occasionally fired from behind the defenders hit the river. The water columns caused by the explosion were sparse and scattered on the two-kilometer-long river.
, only a handful of troop transport ships were directly hit and torn apart. Such a low-intensity counterattack was not worth mentioning at all for the smooth progress of the entire battle.
Tang Shizun was not as excited and optimistic as the generals around him. He felt a little strange in his heart and was worried that this was a trick played by Liu Wenhui. But when he thought about it carefully, Liu Wenhui's pitiful troops now had to be distributed on a two hundred kilometers long front.
Up, that is
You can't go anywhere if you want to play tricks, otherwise as long as one section of the river is breached, Liu Wenhui's entire defense line will be torn apart. Therefore, although Tang Shizun felt uneasy, he did not make any adjustments or decisions.
Observe for a while and see.
After the offensive was launched, other coalition forces encountered almost the same situation. Only the attack in the Jiazhou direction was hit by fierce artillery fire from the west bank at the beginning. Wang Zanxu's main division was attacked by Liu Wenhui's garrison for three times.
After more than 40 minutes of fierce fighting, Wang Zanxu's three brigades were still unable to rush to the river to force the crossing. Instead, they paid the price of more than 600 casualties.
Tang Shizun received the battle reports from the neighboring armies, and after a little analysis, he made a judgment on the distribution of Liu Wenhui's main force. He no longer doubted what tricks Liu Wenhui could play, and directly shouted out the heroic words of "taking Meishan in one go".
In less than ten minutes, Tang Shizun's two assault regiments successfully reached the other side. Along the steep river embankment, they swarmed up the river with loud shouts of killing. More than three thousand warriors encountered almost no decent resistance and successfully rushed up the river embankment.
, launched a fierce charge towards the enemy's deep positions.
On the river, densely packed boats, bamboo rafts and high-spirited officers and soldiers almost completely covered the two-kilometer-long river. In the blink of an eye, the four regiments following the assault regiment also landed smoothly. Led by the commanders of each unit, they shouted in unison
Screaming, he rushed up the river embankment and followed the two warriors of the assault regiment into the battlefield.
"Boom-boom-boom-boom-"
Thousands of officers and soldiers of the assault regiment rushed to the defender's position 200 meters deep, and finally stepped on the dense mines. A series of earth-shaking huge explosions came one after another. Amidst the billowing smoke of the explosion and the bursts of fire, the remains of the people were destroyed.
Broken limbs were flying all over the sky, debris, rocks, branches and leaves shot up and covered the sky like rain. More than 3,000 warriors were instantly enveloped in thick smoke.
"Landmine formation? Where did they get so many landmines? Why was there no relevant information beforehand?" Tang Shizun shouted angrily.
The chief of staff behind him replied very helplessly: "It must have been purchased secretly from the Xiangxi Arsenal, or directly from Anjiajun in southern Sichuan. Zhang Hongluan in western Hunan and An Wazi in southern Sichuan are not good things. As long as you have money, I'm afraid they will have to buy it."
He sells his own mother."
Tang Shizun cursed a few words in annoyance, raised his telescope to observe for a moment, and issued an order very decisively:
"There is no turning back when you fire your bow! If you give the order, you must not retreat. Otherwise, all the divisions crossing the river will be squeezed into the river and charge! Immediately launch the most determined charge, even if it is a mountain of swords and a sea of fire, you must force your way through. As long as you rush through that
Within an area of 100 meters, Meishan is ours!"
The officers and soldiers of the two main divisions carried out Tang Shizun's order very resolutely. Nearly ten thousand officers and soldiers who followed were still on the river bank and on the boat. They rushed up the river embankment and launched a massive charge. On the two-kilometer long west bank, the killing sounds were loud and the roar was like thunder.
ten thousand
More than 5,000 officers and soldiers rushed towards the smoke-filled and dusty garrison position like a tide. Gunshots and explosions rang out intensively, and powerful mine explosions caused flames and thick smoke to rise one after another. The battle between the offensive and defensive sides entered a white-hot stage.
Four kilometers behind the west bank garrison position, hundreds of stocky packhorses were whipped by whips, screaming and struggling forward, dragging thirty-six 75 field guns and carriages loaded with shells.
Rushing towards the battlefield with thick smoke and loud gunshots, he was quickly pulled to the engineering unit after a few minutes.
The artillery position was built with all their strength. Hundreds of panting officers and soldiers untied the ropes connected to the artillery. Amidst the hysterical scoldings of the officers, they pulled up the horses and retreated quickly. More than 500 artillery soldiers shouted slogans and pulled out a group of artillery positions.
Each artillery gun advanced to its emplacement, and preparations for firing were made in a hurry.
The artillery staff officer of the Anjia Army, wearing the uniform of a Sichuan military officer, stood on the earthbag behind the artillery position. He handed the shooting points he had just obtained to Liu Wenhui, the commander of the 2nd Division Artillery Regiment. He took a step back and stared coldly at everything in front of him.
, secretly lamenting the technical ability and physical quality of Liu Wenhui's artillery.
Commander Liu of the Second Division Artillery Regiment looked very unhappy. He pushed away the three battalion commanders who were standing in front of him waiting for orders, rushed to the central high ground directly in front of the position, and personally issued various commands. All the officers and soldiers of the regiment saw the commander.
He stood on a high place with a ferocious face and roared loudly, not daring to show any slightness anymore. The small flags on the artillery positions were quickly raised in response to the regimental commander's roar.
Bullets rained down on the forward position, and wails were everywhere. Within a hundred meters in front of the position, corpses were strewn on the ground, and blood flowed into rivers. More than 6,000 officers and soldiers inside and outside the first trench of the defenders suffered nearly 100 casualties in the enemy's crazy attack.
Half a century later, the 5,000 officers and soldiers in the second trench were forced to move forward to replenish the troops, and finally repulsed the charging enemy's third large-scale attack.
As soon as the garrison officers and soldiers in the trench let go of the hot weapons in their hands, grabbed the water bottles hanging on their bodies and quickly drank water, the twenty artillery pieces of the Tang-style Zunbu Artillery Regiment, which had moved forward to the starting position on the east bank, began to fire a salvo.
After nine rapid and accurate volleys, the two positions of the west bank defenders were destroyed.
The explosion was torn to pieces, and the two-kilometer-long battlefield was blazing with red light. Smoke and mud rose into the sky and covered the sun. More than ten thousand officers and soldiers of the Tang-style Zun army, who had been repelled twice by intensive firepower, jumped up one after another at the orders of officers at all levels.
Launched a charge towards the garrison position which had been bombed beyond recognition.
On the high ground on the east coast, Tang Shizun nodded with satisfaction, looked at the artillery position in the front left that had just stopped shelling, and praised loudly:
"The artillery regiment of Hu Laosi, a son of a bitch, really did a good job this time! Not only did he move quickly as a whole, but he also fired very accurately. He cleared two enemy positions for our main force. He contributed a lot to it. I turned around and paid tribute to him.
Chenggong please take credit! Haha... Chief of Staff, order the reserve team to prepare to cross the river!"
"yes!"
On the high ground behind the defensive position on the west bank, Lin Yungen, the enemy commander-in-chief of Liu Wenhui's Meishan Front and commander of the Second Division, was surrounded by a group of generals and watched the battle silently.
The battle has been going on for two hours now, and both the offensive and defensive sides have paid a heavy price. Although the defensive force is much lower than that of the attacker, with the help of the favorable terrain and the trenches dug in advance, even though the fight is very painful, it can still be fought.
Withstanding the enemy's attack that was three times his own, the Tang Shi Zun's main force of more than 10,000 people was firmly blocked 100 meters in front of the position.
After a while, when he received the news that the reserve troops of the Tang Dynasty Army on the east bank had assembled and began to cross the river, Lin Yungen sneered at the corners of his tightly closed mouth: "Notify the artillery that it is time to fire!"
"Yes!" The colonel staff officer ran to the telephone behind the bunker.
Lin Yunjie raised his telescope and observed for a moment, then said to Chen Nengfang, the commander of the third division next to him: "Commander Chen, our brothers have fought hard for two hours and have overfulfilled the task. At the cost of more than half of the casualties, we have finally blocked the enemy in the third trench.
Ahead, it's up to your third division to get down. After our long-hidden artillery regiment destroys the enemy's artillery on the east bank, there will be no suspense in this battle."
"Brother Yungen, don't worry. I'll leave it to my younger brother. I'll make sure Tang Shizun never comes back. Brother Yungen, just wait for my younger brother's good news!" Chen Nengfang and his chief of staff saluted together and ran down the high ground.
Lin Yun followed the chief of staff who called him: "Yun Shen, take our division's mortar company to the left wing position and order the brothers of the 16th and 17th regiments. No matter how hard and tired you are, you have to grit your teeth and wait.
The sound of artillery stopped, and the brothers of the Third Division launched a counterattack
At this time, he led the mortar company and the remaining brothers of the two regiments to go around. The mortar company bombarded the enemy's ships on the opposite bank with all its strength. The brothers of the two regiments waited for the enemy to retreat to the river bank, and immediately launched an all-out attack, striving to prevent any enemy from escaping.
Koto!"
"yes!"
Five minutes later, thirty-six artillery pieces behind the defenders' position roared in unison, and more than sixty mortars on the left and right sides also launched a dense coverage design. The Tang-style Zunbu artillery positions on the east bank and the artillery positions on the west bank swarmed up
A reserve brigade was all under heavy artillery fire.
Fifteen minutes later, Tang Shizun's artillery position was beyond recognition and a mess. There was almost no complete artillery in sight. A brigade that rushed to the west bank and two reserve regiments that were halfway over the border suffered heavy casualties under the intensive mortar bombardment.
The water of the Minjiang River was filled with dead bodies, and the sight was desolate. The rushing river was dyed red by the endless blood on the shore and in the water.
What's more serious is that after the defenders' artillery completed the attack on the enemy's artillery positions, they began to adjust their direction and bombarded the densely packed ships under the river embankment and on the river surface on the east bank. The firepower was so fierce and the strikes were so accurate that they were like divine help.
As the sound of artillery stopped, the 12,000-strong army of the Third Division led by Chen Nengfang rushed out of the position, shouting and killing the Tang-style army that had lost all fighting spirit. More than 4,000 soldiers survived in the trenches.
Encouraged by the deafening shouts of death from the friendly troops, the division officers and soldiers jumped out of the trenches one after another and rushed toward the densely packed enemy in front who began to flee.
Tang Shizun, who was on the high ground on the east bank, looked pale. From the moment when the sound of artillery fire suddenly sounded on the west bank, he knew that he had fallen into a trap carefully laid by Liu Wenhui to lure the enemy. The defeat of nearly 30,000 soldiers of the entire army was inevitable.
The generals around Tang Shizun looked at the rapidly deteriorating defeat on the west bank. They were all dripping with cold sweat and terrified. Under the sudden and powerful firepower of the enemy, across a large river, Tang Shizun and his generals, no matter how capable they were, could not do anything.