Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 485: Military chaos

The Japanese commander on the front line of Datong wanted to expand the results of the battle, break through the Jin army's defense line in one fell swoop, and march to Datong City. In this way, the war in northeastern Shanxi would be over. However, it was dark and the artillery lost its target. If

When attacking at night, the dominant artillery fire will not be able to exert its power. The two armies will be in close combat and may accidentally injure their own people.

Therefore, he ordered the troops who had occupied the Jin army's positions to defend on the spot, stabilize the breakthrough point, and held a military meeting overnight to adjust their deployment. The Jin army's tenacity and combat power surprised him. It had only been two days since the attack, and there were already casualties.

There were more than 30,000 people, more than five times the pre-war estimate.

Like all the senior generals of the Japanese army, they had great contempt for the Chinese local troops. Except for the Chinese army of the devil Tang Qiuli, who made them frightened, all the Chinese troops were not released.

In his eyes, it was still a local warlord's army, but the result of the battle made him extremely angry, and he became furious with the several division commanders who organized the attack.

Suddenly, a violent shelling came up, which made him jump. The Chinese dared to launch a counterattack at night? Overestimating their own capabilities, they ordered the entire front to launch an attack at night, giving the Chinese people the heaviest blow. They were silent for a while.

On the Datong front line, bloody fighting began again at night.

The Japanese soldiers who occupied two positions were exhausted after a day of fierce fighting. Coupled with camping in the wild, the whooshing north wind blew through their cotton-padded clothes and made them feel as cold as ice. All the Japanese soldiers retracted their heads into their coat collars.

Inside, he bent over like a cooked prawn.

While he was cursing the weather in China, artillery shells came crashing down on his head. Under the light of the explosion, countless Chinese soldiers rushed up like a tide. This burst of shelling caused a lot of casualties to the Japanese army. Subsequently, Jin

The Japanese soldiers rushed into the position and fought in a melee with the Japanese soldiers.

In the boundless dark night, only the twinkling cold stars in the sky watched the fierce fighting indifferently. Although the Japanese soldiers were brave and good at fighting, they could not withstand the powerful Jin soldiers. Moreover, their strength was more than double theirs, and the Japanese soldiers were gradually overwhelmed.

Among the crowds of Jin soldiers.

The battle ended at dawn, and the two regiments of Japanese troops that rushed into the position were all wiped out. The Eighty-first and Thirty-fifth Divisions of the Jin Army also suffered more than half of their casualties. The Japanese troops from other directions who launched attacks at night did not take advantage of their positions.

On the ground, there were corpses of soldiers from both sides everywhere. In the cold night, the corpses were frozen into stiff sculptures. Some wounded soldiers who were not yet dead were calling for help with weak calls for help.

The battle took place in the Jin army's position. His wounded soldiers were treated, but the Japanese wounded soldiers could only resign themselves to their fate. After two days of fierce fighting, Zhao Chengshou's troops suffered nearly 50,000 casualties, and many divisions had been disabled. He had to

Asking for help from Chief Yan, "Mr. Yan has learned that the fighting on the Datong front line was fierce. The Japanese army relied on its fierce artillery fire to cause serious damage to our defenders, and the combat effectiveness of the Japanese soldiers was unprecedentedly fierce."

"The commander of the 83rd Division under the Ministry of Commerce was killed in action, and a large number of other officers at all levels were killed. Although they were temporarily promoted, they were of little use. Yesterday, the new 81st Division and the 35th Division regained the lost positions.

After a bloody battle all night

, more than half of the casualties of the two troops were lost, and the Japanese offensive continued unabated. Without the back-up troops, the battle situation was in danger. Chengshou feared that he would be betraying the trust of his commander, so he could only die to repay the kindness of his commander. However, the situation of the three Jin Dynasties deteriorated, and Chengshou

It’s a sin, absolutely!”

Yan Xishan was shocked when he received the emergency telegram from Zhao Chengshou. In just two days, several of my main divisions have been crippled. The Japanese are serious this time. Tang Qiuli's words have come true. They have taken a fancy to me, Shanxi Province.

, I want to swallow it all in one gulp, Shanxi is my old man’s hard-earned family fortune. If Shanxi is lost, who am I, Yan Xishan?

Yan Xishan grabbed the phone and ordered the six divisions and four heavy artillery regiments guarding Taiyuan to rush to the front line of Datong. At the same time, he asked his senior staff to go to the front line headquarters to assist Zhao Chengshou and defend Datong, and asked him to take him with him.

You wrote a letter to Zhao Chengshou in your own handwriting and guarded the north gate of Taiyuan. You have done a wonderful job.

As reinforcements from the Jin army arrived one after another, Zhao Chengshou continued to launch counterattacks with cutting-edge troops. With the heavy artillery regiment joining, the artillery also tied with the Japanese artillery in the artillery battle, reducing the pressure on the Japanese artillery and gaining the upper hand.

The advantage was revealed, the Jin army attacked more and defended less.

In particular, the six divisions that arrived later were equipped with infantry defense artillery (a super-heavy mortar used by infantry for defense) produced by Taiyuan Arsenal. This thing is original to Shanxi. It has a thick and short barrel and a range of no more than eight meters.

100 meters, what frightened the Japanese army was its shells, which were like smaller grenades, exploding into a large area. The attacking Japanese troops were drowned in the smoke and dust of the explosion, causing heavy casualties.

As a steady stream of Jin army's main divisions marched to the Datong front line, the Japanese army's offensive momentum was finally contained, lost their vigor, and gradually became a tired division. However, under Yan Xishan's strict order and supervision, the Jin army refused to retreat and attacked desperately.

, officers at all levels knew very well that this time the old man was serious about fighting the Japanese with all his family wealth. He didn't have eyes. If he was playing tricks at this time, he was seeking death. The old man couldn't get sand into his eyes.

The Japanese troops in the direction of Datong could not withstand the Jin army's attack and retreated to Huai'an and Zhangjiakou areas in Hebei Province. The Datong War came to an end. In this battle, the Jin army invested 23 divisions and more than 380,000 people.

Almost 90% of the Jin army at that time

On the right, twenty-five division commanders, brigade and regiment commanders and other officers were killed in the battle, and more than 70,000 soldiers were killed or injured. At the cost, the Japanese army was severely damaged, causing more than 50,000 casualties. The Battle of Datong ended with a tragic victory for the Jin army.

The battle line was firmly established in the Xin'anbao and Dijiawan areas on the Shanxi-Hebei border.

Yan Xishan spent all his money. When Datong was fighting with the Japanese army of 200,000 troops, the battle in Shijiazhuang became more intense. The 400,000 Japanese troops, under the personal command of Xiangyue Qingji, the commander of the North China Expeditionary Army, were determined to win Shijiazhuang and relied on

With their superior force, they launched an all-out attack. Fierce fighting broke out across the entire line in Xingtang, Xinle, Zhengding, Yecheng, Luancheng, and Zhaoxian areas outside Shijiazhuang.

Xiangyue Qingsi personally commanded the troops this time with revenge in his heart. The Chinese devil Tang Qiuli made him suffer a lot and humiliated him. This time, several armies attacked separately, and other troops of the ** division,

Being pinned down on several fronts, they were all locked in a bitter fight.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Dharma clone to come to the rescue. The reason why he chose this direction to personally command was precisely because he could directly fight against Tang Qiuli's army. Whether it was annihilation or defeat, as long as this Chinese devil was severely damaged, he would be out.

He felt bad in his heart.

The southern front troops failed to attack the Songhu area. He and Prince Zai Ren, the chief of general staff of the base camp, had already received the news. However, they did not change their original combat deployment and continued to attack according to the original plan. This was before the army's war against China.

As soon as the strategy was formulated, at this time, the emperor might personally order the operation to stop, and he and Zai Ren would continue to fight according to the original plan on the grounds that "the arrow is on the string and must be fired".

He, like Zai Ren, was not very enthusiastic about the strategy of moving south and attacking the Songhu area, and rendezvousing with the Nanjing city. It was all a trick created by the guys in the navy, and the rendezvous plan fell through.

On the contrary, there was a hint of schadenfreude in his heart. In his and Zai Ren's opinion, according to the Army's style of play, taking Shanxi in North China first and then moving south was the best strategy.

On the battlefield outside Shijiazhuang, Tang Qiuli's command post split up to fight against the crazy Japanese attack. Tang Qiuli had already anticipated this situation and had built strong defenses everywhere. However, he was not prepared to hold on to Shijiazhuang for a long time.

and the North China Plain area, sooner or later we have to give up, but now is not the time.

The evacuation of Shijiazhuang citizens and the clearing of the city walls have not yet been completed. Like Baoding, what is left to the Japanese is still an empty city. Before withdrawing into the Taihang Mountains, it is an established strategy to inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese army. In view of Liu Tiehan's east

Referring to the army, it was obviously insufficient to fight against a Japanese army that was more than twice as large as our own, and Han Fuju could not be counted on at all.

Behind Shandong is the Jiangnan area, the capital Nanjing, and Shanghai are all in that direction. Therefore, on the Shandong battlefield, we can only fight to the death and defend the north gate of the heartland for the old man. This is Tang Qiuli's extremely reluctant strategy.

, a head-to-head fight with the Japanese army, even if they win, they will suffer huge casualties. Every soldier in the Japanese division is worth more than the life of the little Japanese.

Liu Tiehan was fighting a tough battle, and he would suffer losses if he had fewer troops. Therefore, he withdrew six brigades from the front line, led by Chief of Staff Li Honggang, and rushed to the Shandong front line to reinforce Liu Tiehan. He was about to enter the mountains anyway, and his troops were too strong.

Many, reverse

To affect mobility, he only left half of the 80,000-strong force. Facing 400,000 Japanese troops, the pressure can be imagined. Although deputy division commander Feng Jiwu and chief of staff Li Honggang disagreed, they still resolutely carried out the division commander's orders.

Order.

Under great pressure in his own direction, he not only sent six brigades of more than 80,000 reinforcements to Liu Tiehan, but also ordered Tang Qiusheng's troops, who were gathering in the Songhu area and preparing to return north, to rush directly to the battlefield in Shandong.

Together with Liu Tiehan and Feng Jiwu, he commanded the Shandong Campaign.

The Shandong frontline headquarters is composed of three people, who uniformly command all the troops. The headquarters can make its own decisions in all wars. There is only one requirement: to push the Japanese troops who invaded Shandong back to Hebei. If conditions are ripe, they can be annihilated on the spot.

There is reason to ask for this. Liu Tiehan's East Point Force, Tang Qiusheng

The Sulu Mobile Corps, plus the six brigades sent by the ** Division, the ** Division troops concentrated on the front line of Shandong have reached 350,000, exceeding the strength of the Japanese army attacking Shandong, and counting

It is entirely possible to fight a war of annihilation with firepower several times greater than that of the Japanese army, and at least it can severely damage the Japanese army.

With half of the troops of the ** Division deployed, the blocking firepower was significantly weakened. This surprised the Japanese army who had suffered so much in the past few days. It also made Seiji Koyuki's frown relax a lot. In his opinion, the advantage of the Imperial Army was

Under the full attack of the troops, Tang Qiuli showed signs of failure. Shijiazhuang, an important town in southern Hebei Province, was like a ripe fruit that would fall down with the slightest touch.

(To be continued)