The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 619 Crazy Japanese Army

"Report."

A staff officer holding the telephone receiver said with a slightly nervous expression.

"The artillery observation post reported that there were continuous explosion flashes on the top of the mountain. Someone must have triggered a landmine."

Another staff officer who was a little further away and had just taken the microphone away from his ear shouted.

"Report to the Chief of Staff, according to the report from the troops who just withdrew from the position."

"With the help of the fire search just now, under the flash of the grenade, we can vaguely see that there are a lot of Japanese soldiers participating in the night attack. The hillside is densely packed with reflections of Japanese bayonets everywhere."

The color of the Japanese military uniform is black, which is the so-called Meiji 32nd style.

This kind of black military uniform has a strong protective color effect at night. Except for the cap badge and copper buttons that will reflect light at a certain angle, the Japanese troops hiding in the dark are difficult to be discovered, even if they are close at hand, they will not be easily discovered.

The fact that these were seen in large numbers shows that not only were there a large number of Japanese troops close to the positions, but there were also many who were even closer along the crosses and hooks.

Liu Shijiu, who had calmed down, sat at a table against the wall and took a big gulp of wine, as if venting his resentment at not being able to go to the battlefield. He said with a little regret.

"The more Japanese soldiers come, the better! Otherwise, our six or seven thousand artillery shells will be wasted!"

This time, the planned artillery coverage of the Gongchangling hilltop positions concentrated almost all large and small artillery pieces of the First Division and two independent brigades, with ten rapid fires, no less than six or seven thousand artillery shells.

Zuo Baotian could hear that Liu Shijiu was somewhat dissatisfied with not being allowed to fight on the battlefield. He glanced at the unmoved Teng Yuzhao and said with a smile.

"Liu Zhentong, don't feel sorry. This is not the situation we were in a few years ago when we were fighting the Eight-Nation Alliance. We have plenty of artillery shells now. If necessary, let alone thousands of shells, we can give one shell to each member of the Japanese Second Division and use them to hit the Japanese who have reached the top of the mountain. We can kill them half to death."

"We have sufficient artillery firepower. If we give up this advantage and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese, it would be a bit unprofitable for us."

Before Zuo Baotian could finish his words, Teng Yuzao had already walked towards the tightly blocked door of the next room.

Zuo Baotian wanted to follow, but he saw Wu Peifu frowning and listening attentively to the movements on the top of the mountain. After thinking for a while, he quietly took back the step he had already taken.

Zuo Baotian is not only the chief of operations of the Zhi Army, he also has another identity, the chief of staff of Wu Peifu's Restoration Army.

Liu Shijiu, on the other hand, had nothing to do and was feeling a little bored. When he saw Teng Yuzhao leaving, he immediately jumped off the table and quickly followed him, carrying a wine jug.

A staff officer had already lifted the thick curtain covering the wooden door. As the thick curtain was lifted, a cool night breeze blew into the stuffy shelter, which refreshed Teng Yuzhao, who had been suffocating in the shelter for a long time.

At night, this place is only a few hundred meters away from the top of the mountain. If the lights are exposed, it will be very dangerous.

Therefore, this shelter had to keep the lights tightly blocked even in the hot August.

Outside the wooden door, although we have not arrived outside the shelter, strictly speaking, this is not a closed room exactly the same as the previous shelter, but a semi-open shelter.

On the side facing the top of the mountain is a thick stone wall that is well protected, with only a wide observation hole left. There is a three-layer roof made of logs on the top, and the back is almost completely open.

It is precisely because this place is not completely closed that the silver moonlight can shine into this shelter located at the blind spot of the Japanese army's artillery fire under the cliff, allowing people inside to vaguely see the scenery inside even in the dark.

The straight-line distance from here to the top of the mountain position is only five or six hundred meters. At this time, there cannot be any light, such as smoking, otherwise you will immediately be hit by fire from the Japanese army that has climbed to the top of the mountain.

At such a close distance, not to mention the Japanese Hotchkiss heavy machine guns, even shooting with their Golden Hook rifles could definitely hit their observation holes accurately.

"Boom boom boom!" Teng Yuzhao and Liu Shijiu had just walked into the shelter and were taking deep breaths involuntarily, breathing in the cool, fresh air when suddenly a flash of light appeared from the direction of the top of the mountain, and then a loud explosion suddenly came into their ears.

Liu Shijiu grinned and said, "This should be the main fort on the top of the mountain that the Japanese have sneaked into. There are a lot of explosives buried in those main forts. Zi Yu said that there are more than 100 kilograms of explosives. If they explode from the inside, those forts will be completely destroyed."

Knowing that Liu Shijiu was unwilling to completely blow up the Gongchangling position, Teng Yuzao said with a smile.

"Aren't they just some fortresses? There's no need to be reluctant to leave them. Just blow them up. This way it will be better when the time comes. Otherwise, when our soldiers rush up after the bombardment, they will have to struggle to fight the Japanese for these fortresses. This time, we are going to destroy all the fortifications there."

As if to support Teng Yuzhao's words, before he finished speaking, violent explosions sounded on the top of the mountain, "boom boom boom".

Presumably, the main force of the Japanese Second Division had already reached the top of the mountain. Naturally, these Japanese troops wanted to control the top of the mountain as soon as possible, and the bunkers were the first things they wanted to control.

It was common to step on mines in the dark or trigger explosives in bunkers, which would then cause more explosions in the chaos.

Amid a series of deafening explosions on the top of the mountain, just on the other side of the command post a dozen meters away, three consecutive sounds of signal gun firing were heard "bang, bang, bang". Just a moment later, three red flares lit up high in the night sky.

Almost at the moment the signal flare lit up, the sound of "bang bang" of artillery shells being fired could be heard from far and near, and dozens of bright white flares first bloomed high in the night sky.

Under the illumination of these flares, the area on the top of Gongchangling Mountain, which had been dark just now, has become bright white.

Although the details of the top of the mountain could not be seen clearly due to the poor light, one could vaguely see human figures being thrown high up in the flashes of mine explosions on the top of the mountain.

However, there was no time to take a closer look. Teng Yuzhao, who had just taken the telescope handed over by the staff officer, had his ears filled with the whistling sound of continuous artillery shells flying through the air at high speed.

"Boom boom boom", amid the loud explosions, the position on the top of Gongchangling Mountain was instantly covered by the strong flash of explosion.

In the mountaintop position area, firing parameters had been accurately measured in almost every place, and each area was responsible for a fixed artillery fire. Although the fire network composed of hundreds of artillery pieces was far from airtight, it was enough to cause chaos to the Japanese troops who rushed to the position, resulting in heavy casualties.

Moreover, there were mines almost everywhere on the battlefield, and if you were not careful, you would be sent flying by mines. The fierce and dense explosions blew the 10,000 or 20,000 Japanese Second Division soldiers who rushed to the top of the mountain with bayonets in hand, ready to fight the Russians, into chaos. Due to the intensive bombardment, it was impossible to find a shelter in the dark to avoid the artillery fire in a hurry, and their instinctive reaction was to rush out of the artillery coverage area as soon as possible.

For a moment, within the field of view of the telescope, a large group of Japanese officers and soldiers, like a chaotic swarm of hornets, were running around near the ridge of the mountain top in chaos.

"Good fight!"

Liu Shijiu slammed his palm on a table and said excitedly.

"Marshal, with such dense artillery fire, the more Japanese soldiers rush to the position, the greater their casualties will be!"

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Yes, in fact, if our artillery fires a little longer, there will probably not be many Japanese soldiers left after they rush to the position."

Teng Yuzhao put the telescope in his hand on the table, turned around and waved to a guard standing in the dark.

The personal guard had already hurried over, deftly untied the kettle and enamelware jug from his waist, and poured more than half a cup of white wine for Teng Yuzhao.

It had been decided before the war that the battle would be entirely commanded by Wu Peifu and Zuo Baotian, and Teng Yuzhao's command was not needed. Now that the battle was progressing exactly as expected and victory was in sight, Teng Yuzhao no longer had any worries. Drinking a glass of wine was not only a celebration, but also allowed him to relax his tense nerves.

Although they had been prepared for the Japanese night attack, Teng Yuzhao was still worried in his heart. He was worried that because of him, some unexpected changes would occur in the night attack tonight.

Teng Yuzhao secretly let out a sigh, smiled, raised the enamel jar half filled with white wine, and said to Liu Shijiu.

"This battle will almost certainly cripple the Japanese Second Division. I guess the Russians will have to pay us hundreds of thousands of taels of gold this time."

Liu Shijiu took a big sip of wine with Teng Yuzao and said excitedly.

"This battle should be the first defeat of the Japanese First Army since it entered Liaodong. Let's contact the Russian Bidlin and take advantage of the situation to completely defeat the Japanese Second and Twelfth Divisions in front of us."

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and said, "The Russians will not give us such an opportunity. They will not agree to launch a counterattack."

"Besides, we can't continue this war without seeing the gold paid by the Russians. We will have to rest after helping the Russians win this war."

Liu Shijiu said in surprise, "Marshal, there's no way the Russians would refuse to pay this money! This is a good opportunity!"

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "Of course the Russians can't deny the debt this time, but they are also short of money."

"Besides, when the Russians see that we have dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese in one battle, their morale will probably be boosted immediately. Even if we really want to join the battle, the Russians won't give us a chance!"

"Damn it!"

Liu Shijiu already understood what Teng Yuzhao meant and cursed him angrily.

"That's right. The Russians will definitely have such thoughts. They think the Japanese are exhausted and can't bear to fight anymore, so they want to pinch the Japanese soft persimmon."

"Marshal! The Japanese on the mountain are rushing down!"

A staff officer holding a telescope who followed the two men suddenly screamed.

After hearing the staff officer's words, Teng Yuzhao and Liu Shijiu simultaneously grabbed the telescopes on the table and looked towards the hillside that was brightly illuminated by the continuously rising flares.

Sure enough, in the field of view of their telescopes, amid the intensive artillery fire, dense groups of Japanese troops began to desperately rush out from the artillery fire on the top of the mountain, climbed over the ridge of the mountain top, and ran down the hillside behind Gongchangling.

Obviously, this was a desperate tactic adopted in a hurry by some Japanese officers who realized they had fallen into a trap.

Once a large group of Japanese troops rushed down the hillside from their superior position, it would be difficult for the officers and soldiers of the Zhili Army who were on the reverse slope and ready to rush to the top of the mountain after the artillery bombardment ended to stop the enemy. They would most likely be defeated by the Japanese army in one fell swoop and penetrate into the depth of the defense.

Although they had a relative advantage in numbers on the reverse slope position, they could still win a great victory as long as they could destroy or severely damage the Japanese 2nd Division before the 12th Division, which was coming to support them, could reach the top of the mountain.

But in this case, the active retreat could quickly turn into a passive retreat, and it is not impossible for greater losses to occur in a hurry.

The only way to avoid this situation is for the troops on the reverse slope position to resolutely block the Japanese attack, which means having sufficiently dense firepower.

"Da da da", at this critical moment, intensive machine gun fire suddenly broke out on the reverse slope position. Dense dark red tongues of fire continuously spewed out hot rain of bullets on the reverse slope position, sweeping towards the Japanese troops rushing down the hillside.

Looking from where Teng Yuzhao was, there were at least 100 to 200 machine guns. Under such dense fire, the momentum of the Japanese army's attack, which was sweeping down like a stream of dirty water, suddenly came to a halt.

However, due to the terrain, the Japanese troops rushing down could not find a suitable place even if they wanted to lie down and take cover, or look for rocks or hollows to hide.

Moreover, due to the inertia of the downward charge, in the chaos, the Japanese troops in front were hit by the dense rain of light and heavy machine gun bullets, like rags in the wind, shaking all over, and then soon became fragmented, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

However, such a horrific scene had no effect on the Japanese troops rushing down from behind, because the Japanese troops who had just escaped from the artillery fire on the top of the mountain could not stop at all, and still crashed down under the drive of inertia.

In a hurry, some Japanese soldiers began to use the bodies of their comrades on the hillside as cover and fired at the Zhi army on the reverse slope. Some Japanese soldiers even continuously threw grenades from the hillside at the Zhi army's reverse slope position.

Historically, the time when the Japanese army and the armies of the great powers attached great importance to hand grenades was during World War I. However, due to the large-scale use of Teng grenades by the vanguard army, which inflicted huge casualties on the Allied forces, the great powers had to attach great importance to close combat weapons such as hand grenades.

In addition to the Germans who were very interested in the two types of grenades of the Zhi army and even directly purchased the patent for domestic production, the rest of the countries also developed their own grenades much earlier than in history.

What puzzled Teng Yuzhao was that, except for the Germans and the Russian army, all other powers, without exception, used grenade-style hand grenades. No country used the grenade style with wooden handles, even the British, French and American armies, which were equally tall and strong.

The Japanese, who have always closely followed the world's most advanced military technology, did not follow closely this time. Their grenades were officially called the 26th-year type, which was finalized and produced only last year. They were also imitations of the British Mills grenades.
(End of this chapter)