Chapter 55 The Longest Day and Night (4)

Chapter 55 The Longest Day and Night (4)

At 3:30 p.m. on July 15, the Qing army captured 378 people and 609 people injured, and occupied the defensive position composed of the enemy outside Hegang Prefecture City, killing and injuring, and capturing a total of 4,000 Japanese soldiers.

Although such a proportional number is gratifying, in fact, it was found in the later investigation by the Qing army that the Japanese soldiers who died and injured were mostly civilians who had just put down their hoes, sickles, even tableware, and horse spoons. They had no combat experience at all. They just sent a gun and rushed to the battlefield. For some such people, the combat effectiveness can be imagined.

As for the soldiers in Xiantai Town, the second district, some of them were killed in battle and some retreated to Hegang Mansion. None of them were arrested due to injuries and were unable to move.

The terrain of Hegang Prefecture is hilly, and the city is located at the bottom of the hills. The surrounding situation is higher than that of the government. From the perspective of military use, the attacking party must have some advantages, but the Qing Chinese have never stepped into this place. The environment in the city, whether the enemy is ambushing and waiting for the arrival of the Qing army, etc., are not aware of combat information. If the troops rashly use, the casualties and injuries will inevitably be severe.

Therefore, although he took over the defense area outside the city, Cheng Xiang was not sure whether he could quickly gain control of Hegang Mansion as he wished.

He and Zhang Yunlan were accompanied by several battalions of prisoners and stood in the enemy's combat command center outside the third trench. After looking at it for a while with a telescope, he asked without looking back, "Brother Zhang, what do you think you should play?"

"It is only less than three kilometers from here to the city. It is better to ask the navy brothers to fire; try to destroy the enemy's possible defensive positions, and then we go down the mountain. When we reach the edge of the city, we will use the army's mountain cannons and field cannons to launch another air. The left and right are to minimize the casualties of the brothers."

"Where is the attack time?"

"It's still bright now. Why not strike while the iron is hot. If you can take down Hegang Mansion today, no matter how good it is, it will be gone."

"Who else do you want to say?" Cheng Xiang smiled without comment and turned around and asked the others.

Everyone was silent, and it seemed that they all agreed to Zhang Yunlan's combat plan. "Well, Grandmaster." Cheng Xiang was about to speak. Giltoa suddenly interrupted, "I wonder if you will wait for the battle until tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"Many brothers have just come down from the battlefield. When they fight, they are safe... Look, they are all vomiting. Not to mention fighting with the Japanese again, they can even sway when walking! A gust of wind comes, and it can blow down."

When Giltoa spoke like this, Cheng Xiang and Zhang Yunlan frowned at the same time. It was true that many soldiers in the Qing army went to the battlefield for the first time. They saw the enemy's corpses and limbs flying across the battlefield with their own eyes. It was fine if they didn't care so much when the battle started. When the battle stopped, they smelled the strong bloody smell in their noses that could not be blown away by the sea breeze; they saw corpses all over the ground. The blood and scattered everywhere were filled with internal organs and limbs, and the ears were echoed by the tragic moans of themselves and the enemy soldiers. All of these things made the Qing soldiers who had just become the first brother on the battlefield feel depressed and vomited. The vomiting was the mildest symptom that these people could show. Even more serious, there was even a person hiding in the corner and sobbing in a low voice!

However, Zhang Yunlan never took such a thing to heart. He had experienced the same feeling back then, and asked himself the only solution. It was to make the soldiers get used to such occasions and kill enough people. Seeing that there were enough such scenes, it became a common thing. If they all follow the soldiers' thoughts, why do they still do war? Just stay at home, and your wife and children live a warm kang for the rest of their lives?

Cheng Xiang smiled helplessly. Although he was the commander-in-chief of the landing troops in Hegang Prefecture, Zhang Yunlan was the emperor's beloved general. In this time, he captured the enemy fortress, the Shanxi soldiers he brought. He did not come from his Shandong Green Camp, and he had to wait for the second landing wave to be transported by the navy.

Because of this, Zhang Yunlan's opinion cannot be ignored, "Then... well, as Lord Zhang said. However, before the attack, I will send people to the Dingyuan and ask the navy brothers to work hard, first shell the Hegang Mansion, and then we will act."

"That's right!" Zhang Yunlan grinned and smiled, "Laoji, go down, go to the ship, say to Lord Deng, and ask the navy brothers to extend the shooting! In an hour, let them stop shooting and our people go down."

"Yes!" Giltoa agreed and turned around.

Fifteen minutes later, the Dingyuan and other naval ships began to shoot at their maximum range. The fierce artillery fire fell into the city of Tsuruka, and the explosion was filled with smoke and dust and fire everywhere. Japanese buildings were mostly made of wooden structures. Although they were located on the beach and the air was moist, they would not be an obstacle to fire. Once a place caught fire, the raindrop-like bombs falling everywhere in the city on the streets would not allow the firefighting team to appear! They could only watch the fire spread. In a moment, half of the city was shrouded in thick fog and flames.

"As a result of this fire, I'm afraid that if our people don't need to go up again, there are not many people in this city who can survive?"

"It may not be necessary. The fire is not small, but it may not be able to burn everyone to death as your brother thought. Don't forget that people live and can run away." Cheng Xiang whispered, as if explaining to Zhang Yunlan, or as if he was talking to himself.

After an hour of shelling time, he looked at Hegang Prefecture from the Japanese position on the gentle slope. The scene in the telescope was in a mess. Zhang Yunlan shook his head and smiled, "Damn it! I didn't expect that the ironclad ships were so powerful? If I had known it, I would have let them shelled for half an hour."

Everyone laughed!

"Don't laugh anymore, order your brothers to prepare to set off, and there are tough battles waiting!"

Several people stopped joking and started to act according to the plan they had planned in advance. This time they attacked Hegang Mansion, Zhou Cheng, Du Xinyuan and others as the main attackers. Therefore, in this battle, the battalions they belonged to temporarily retreated and handed over the task of serving as the main attack to Giltoa and Bao Qibao's fifth and seventh battalions, as well as the sixth battalions, led by Zhan Shunqi, Zhang Wenming, Hu Yuantu and Chen Shaoqi, were responsible. The seventh battalions and the ninth battalions were reserved and provided support at any time.

Zhou Cheng and Du Xinyuan had just seen the tenacity and madness of the Japanese, so they naturally had to remind their colleagues, but the people around him heard it, and they were like a breeze passing by and did not take it to their hearts. Not only these people, but in the eyes of Zhang Yunlan and Cheng Xiang, after such a violent shelling, the Japanese were afraid of hiding places, so what effective resistance could they organize?

But the fact was completely unexpected. With nearly 1,000 people from the Third and Fifth Battalions as the main attacking troops, the first street of the Mansion on the beach, advanced from Hegang Prefecture to the first street of the sea, the enemy counterattacked against the trend! Judging from the number of people on the other side, less than 500 people, they dared to take the initiative to counterattack against enemies that were several times more than their own, which made people admire their courage. In fact, the Japanese army attacking the opposite side was significantly better than the Qing army. Whether it was shooting accuracy or the awareness of coordinated combat, they were not comparable to most of the new recruits who first entered the battle formation.

"Tu u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u

"Let's go! Leave down!" Bao Qibao shouted loudly, leading a battalion to lie down to the ground first, concealing his body with the unburned wood on the street, and began to organize a counterattack. The Japanese army did not seem to want to destroy all the Qing troops entering the city. When they saw that the other party found the hidden object, they chose to retreat, concealed behind the base of the completely burned house, and began to shoot.

Bao Qibao was wondering, what kind of way is this? Do you have to delay time and wait for darkness? The weather in July is the longest day of the year. Before the sky gets dark, how long can the other party delay?

Giltoa also found it strange. He saw that the Japanese army's shooting was temporarily stopped, and gathered with Bao Qibao to discuss countermeasures, "What do you say?"

"I think, little Japanese is not kind."

"Nonsense, you need to say this?" Giltoa glared at him and cursed with a smile, "Why don't you have a good idea?"

Bao Qibao thought for a while, stretched out his big hand, "Get the map!"

The two of them took the map and put their heads together to watch, but Tsuruoka did not mention it; Asahi, Hirata, Tengdao, Wenhai and other mansions are all located less than 120 kilometers away from here. If you march quickly, you can arrive in less than a few hours! The nearest one is Tengdao, and the farthest ones are Hirata and Asahi. These two places and Tsuruoka Prefecture are arranged in a font shape, which are also necessary to capture the Qing army that landed in the three places this time to march Yamagata Prefecture's capital Yamagata Prefecture.

Bao Qibao's eyes turned and suddenly said, "Don't the Japanese want to gather troops and eat us in Hegang Mansion?"

"Eh?" Giltoa reminded him. Thinking about it seriously, this may not be impossible! Although the number of Qing army green camps is quite large, it is scattered in Saitan, Hegang, and Wenhai. The total number of combat troops assigned to each place is only 10,000. If the Japanese army really intends to eat their own troops here, even if the navy assists in the battle, the situation is urgent, the Qing army can choose to get back to the ship. But in that case, the first step of landing operations will be completely reimbursed!

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Bao Qibao was right. After all, the Japanese had enough local combat, and had sufficient support, which was beyond the reach of their own side. And if they gathered the forces of a division in the second Japanese region, even if the Qing army could fight, they would never be able to defend it! Thinking of this, the two of them were shocked at the same time. What ambition was that little Japanese was so great? They actually wanted to drag this army here, wait for the arrival of friendly troops from the outside, and then eat us together? To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation.
Chapter completed!