The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 475 Hearty
Soon, as Liu Changfa's order was issued, the fire net composed of shock waves, shrapnel and gravel that was gradually advancing began to thin out significantly, and the deafening sound of explosions in the valley also suddenly became much smaller.

Just when the Japanese army, which was scared out of their wits by the fierce artillery fire, thought they could take a break, three dark red flares suddenly appeared in the sky.

Although Teng Yuzao is unable to make a signal gun for the time being, it is not a problem for him to add some things to the flares fired by the mortar. It's just that the production technology of the camp office is not up to standard, and the red signal flares they produce are a bit dark in color.

As the three flares were launched, loud charge calls and deafening shouts of killing suddenly rang out in the valley.

At the same time, a large flash of light suddenly exploded in the position behind the Japanese army, and the explosions in the valley became more violent again.

This is the result of concentrated and extended bombardment by hundreds of large and small artillery pieces now under the command of Liu Changfa.

Teng Yuzhao had no intention of watching the fierce artillery fire that was mercilessly bombarding the Japanese troop assembly area. His telescope's field of view had already shifted to the charging troops of the Fourth Town.

The key to the slow advance of the barrage is that the infantry must be able to follow up in a timely manner.

The infantry must charge into the enemy's position and eliminate the enemy on the position before the enemy has fully recovered from the fierce artillery bombardment and whose positions have been shattered and unable to organize effective resistance in a short period of time.

Through the telescope, Teng Yuzhao could see flashes of swords at the forefront of the Fourth Town’s troops that were swarming toward the Japanese positions like a tide.

Amidst the flashes of swords and blood, a big man wielding a big sword and slashing left and right was the most conspicuous. Wherever the big man went, the thin Japanese soldiers were invincible and were no match for him at all. The short Japanese soldiers were almost all knocked to the ground by his sword.

Teng Yuzhao knew that the flash of sword light came from the big sword team of Liu Shijiu's Fourth Town, and the big man must be Zhu Kaishan.

Since Liu Shijiu had reached a point of near obsession with hand-to-hand combat, the reorganized Fourth Town had an additional broadsword team of a thousand men compared to the other four towns. The team leader was still Zhu Kaishan, and his rank was comparable to that of a standard commander.

Although Teng Yuzao had some thoughts about Zhu Kaishan's insistence on joining Liu Shijiu's army, through his combat performance during this period, Teng Yuzao had become more and more interested in this simple Shandong man who valued brotherhood.

Although the Japanese army set up several defensive positions in the river valley facing the Fourth Town, the water line in the valley was shallow and they dared not dig deep trenches because water would emerge from the ground if the trenches were any deeper.

It would be fine if it was summer. Teng Yuzhao believed that the ruthless Japanese commander would definitely not mind letting his soldiers fight in the water.

But the weather is still cold now. If they soak in the water at this time, the Japanese soldiers will probably freeze to death or suffer frostbite, and the non-combat injuries will make the 9th Division lose its combat effectiveness within a day.

For this reason, the Japanese trenches were basically shallow trenches similar to trenches, with the excavated soil piled in front of the trenches to form a low and loose breast wall to artificially increase the depth of their trenches.

But such a breastwork is of little use at all. One shot can blow it apart.

Under the intensive artillery bombardment just now, the Japanese trenches had long disappeared. When the troops of the Fourth Town charged forward, the remaining Japanese troops who had no cover could only bite the bullet and fight stubbornly with bayonets in hand.

However, the Japanese army's organization had already been in chaos due to intensive artillery bombardment, and few of the remaining Japanese troops were able to fight in an organized manner. Most of them just fought on their own.

How could such resistance be able to stop the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town who were charging forward like a tide? The resisting Japanese troops were almost instantly overwhelmed by the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town.

The remaining Japanese troops quickly gave up resistance and began to flee frantically to the rear, but they soon discovered that their retreat route was also blocked.

This was because the fire net, which was composed of sharp shrapnel and dense gravel like a storm, appeared in front of them again, which made the thousands of Japanese remnants who were fleeing unable to advance or retreat, and they had to stop their escape in the area between 100 and 200 meters away from the fire net. The remnants of the Japanese army, who had no way to retreat, once again mustered up the courage to raise their bayonets amid the hysterical howling of some officers, ready to fight to the death with the vanguard army that rushed over.

However, the actions of the vanguard army disappointed the Japanese troops who were trying to resist stubbornly. The officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town who were chasing them suddenly stopped and started raising their rifles at them. Then they launched a dense volley of gunfire, knocking down many Japanese troops.

Just as the Japanese army was frantically trying to fight back with the golden hook rifles in their hands, dozens of heavy machine guns suddenly appeared among the soldiers of the Fourth Town who were chasing them, and began to fire a dense rain of metal bullets at them.

Because the Japanese troops behind the fire net were too dense, under the fire of dozens of heavy machine guns and organized volleys, the remaining Japanese troops fell in a pool of blood one after another.

Some desperate Japanese soldiers even turned around and rushed into the fire net with flying shrapnel, and were quickly torn to pieces and blown away.

The Japanese soldiers who lay down on the ground to avoid the heavy rain of bullets also could not escape the disaster.

Because soon dozens of mortars supporting the infantry charge began to pour dozens or even hundreds of mortar shells at them. Amid the loud explosions, the Japanese soldiers lying on the ground were blown to pieces.

If they continue to passively accept the beatings like this, death is bound to await them.

Led by some brave officers, the few remaining Japanese troops crawled up from the ground, braved the dense rain of bullets, and launched a desperate attack on the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town amidst the howling of "boardboard".

The consequences of such a desperate charge can be imagined.

The hot and dense rain of bullets from just dozens of heavy machine guns was enough to tear them all to pieces.

As the intensive artillery fire began to extend, the 9th Division finally began to retreat along the river valley under the intensive artillery fire.

Amid the deafening shouts and cries of killing, the Fourth Town followed closely behind the fleeing Japanese army and charged forward.

"This battle is so exciting!"

Li Xianze clapped his hands excitedly, "Marshal, I request to go back and command the troops to kill the Japanese devils."

"At this rate, we will be able to drive the foreign devils to the vicinity of Kuangkou by noon today and eventually eliminate them."

Teng Yuzao was also very excited about this thrilling battle scene and nodded.

"Okay. You have to tell Liu Nineteen to pay attention to the rhythm of the attack. Don't think that he can get rid of hundreds of thousands of foreign devils with his sword and bayonet. He should make full use of the power of heavy machine guns and the more than 30 mortars assigned to him. Bullets and shells can solve the problem. Don't just try to have a good time and fight with the foreign devils with swords and bayonets."

Teng Yuzao looked at Liu Changfa again, "After the foreign devils are driven to the vicinity of Kuangkou, their personnel will be more densely packed. Each shell will kill or injure more than a dozen foreign devils. Even if we only use cannons, it is possible to blow the foreign devils away."

"Today is the best time for your artillery to exert its power. Don't be stingy with your shells. Use your artillery fire to kill them to the maximum extent possible and pave the way for the final elimination of these hundreds of thousands of foreign devils."

(End of this chapter)