Chapter 109 Artillery Showdown
Three rounds of rocket fire, especially the shells fired by Li Erhu, which were mixed with a wave of incendiary bombs, directly illuminated the front line of the vanguard battalion.
Masao Musashi was directly shocked by the fierce artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army.
The sudden and fierce artillery fire reminded him of the battlefield in Nanjing.
But at that time the artillery fire came from them, but now, the artillery fire came from the enemy.
"Hashimoto, quickly tell Tanida to find the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army and destroy them!"
"Why does the Eighth Route Army have such powerful firepower!
What weapons are these?!
Why do our intelligence agencies have nothing?
What does the Special High Police do?
The Eighth Route Army has unknown heavy artillery, why is there no such important information at all! "
"The attacking forces retreat immediately!"
"The 28th and 30th Regiments of the Locust Association will take turns to cover the retreat!"
"The mountain artillery squadron is ready to bombard the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions!"
"The mountain artillery battalion is preparing to bombard the Eighth Route Army's frontline positions to prevent the Eighth Route Army from launching a counterattack!"
Although Musashi Masao was frightened, he was not stupid. He ordered the mountain artillery squadron to search for the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army, while he ordered the troops to take turns to provide cover and retreat quickly.
"Colonel, it's night time now. Lieutenant Otani said he couldn't see where the shells landed and in what direction, so he couldn't calculate the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army."
Musashi Masao listened to Hashimoto's words and made up his mind: "Tell Captain Tanida to observe the position of the mountain artillery battalion. I will help him find the landing point of the shells!"
When Hashimoto listened to what Musashi Masao said, he instantly understood that Musashi Masao wanted to expose the position of the puppet army's mountain artillery battalion, and then use the mountain artillery battalion as a price to find out the artillery position of the Eighth Route Army.
Hashimoto strongly disagreed with Musashi Masao's order.
Originally, the relationship between the Locust Army and the Locust Army was not very good. The North China Command spent a huge price to make these two regiments of the Locust Army cooperate in combat.
The Locust Association had already been dissatisfied with the decision to let the Locust Association lead the charge. Now their mountain artillery battalion was being sold off, which was almost impossible for them to agree to.
If they are forced to do it, the Locust Association will probably shoot them in the back.
Hashimoto Chizan also understood that if he spoke out to stop them, Musashi Masao might ignore his Japanese identity and let him lead the charge.
If Musashi Masao had been more kind, he would have written a battle report saying that Hashimoto Chizan led the charge, was hit by eight bullets, and was a brave samurai.
If Musashi Masao still didn't let him go, he would write a battle report saying that Hashimoto Chizan disobeyed orders, escaped from the battlefield, was shot eight times in the back, and was a coward.
Hashimoto Chizan's mind worked quickly and he soon came up with a solution.
"Colonel, how about exposing the mortar position?
The Locust Army's Mountain Artillery Battalion still has six mountain artillery pieces. If the Eighth Route Army takes over Shiquan County, we will also need heavy artillery to attack the city."
Hashimoto Chizan intends to use Shiquan County as an example.
If the mountain artillery is gone and we have to rely on mortars to attack the city, we'd better go to bed.
According to intelligence, the Eighth Route Army received a lot of mountain artillery reinforcements and a lot of artillery shells.
When the Eighth Route Army attacked Linyuan County, it was already clear that they had mountain artillery. Just now they were bombarded, and that was also caused by mountain artillery.
There were mountain artillery here even at the blocking position, so there was no reason why there were no mountain artillery in Shiquan County. If the puppet army's mountain artillery battalion was wasted, when the time came to attack Shiquan County, the mountain artillery squadron that had been replenished would have to be responsible for firing against the mountain artillery of the Eighth Route Army.
This mountain artillery squadron was borrowed by Hashimoto Chizan using his personal connections in order to make Musashi Masao pay attention to him and to gain military merit at the same time!
Musashi Masao listened to Hashimoto Chiyama and stared at him: "The puppet army's mountain artillery battalion is gone, but we still have a mountain artillery squadron!
Do you think the artillery of the Eighth Route Army is more powerful than that of the Locust Army?"
“If the Eighth Route Army blows up all our mortars, will we use the mountain artillery to cover the troops when we charge from behind?
Do we need to move the mountain artillery to the front to attack the Eighth Route Army's firing points?!"
After listening to what Musashi Masao said, Hashimoto Chizan did not dare to refute any further and could only give orders.
After the puppet army's mountain artillery battalion learned of Masao Musashi's order, they looked at a squadron of Japanese devils that followed them.
Under the pressure of the Japanese, they were extremely reluctant to prepare to bombard the Eighth Route Army's positions.
……
"Let all soldiers prepare to enter the cat-ear caves to avoid the Japanese artillery fire!"
"The Japs will definitely bombard us to prevent us from launching a counterattack!"
"Tell Li Erhu to have the rocket launchers moved forward and prepare to bombard the area where the Japanese are resting!"
"Have Li Erhu prepared. After the Japanese bombardment, quickly calculate the Japanese artillery positions and blow up the Japanese artillery positions!"
In the middle of the artillery tower, Qin Yangming continued to give orders after seeing all the Japanese soldiers and puppet troops in the front fall down.
"Notify Sun Desheng and have him start harassing the Japanese. Don't let them rest peacefully!"
"Battalion Commander, the Japanese have a lot of mountain guns. The Japanese have Type 94 mountain guns, and the puppet army has Type 41 mountain guns.
The firing ranges of the two types of artillery are different, so the puppet army’s mountain artillery positions and the Japanese’s mountain artillery positions are definitely not in the same place.”
"If the Japanese expose the puppet army's mountain artillery positions and lure out our mountain artillery positions, the Japanese will definitely fight back, and then our mountain artillery positions may be destroyed by the Japanese."
Zhangye, who was standing by, listened to the order Qin Yangming gave and spoke to Qin Yangming with considerable concern.
"Of course I know. Just watch. The Japanese will definitely let the puppet army's mountain artillery battalion open fire, and then their own artillery will prepare to blow up our artillery positions."
"Don't worry, I've already thought of this possibility."
"The Japanese's mountain artillery position is definitely five kilometers away. We just need to wait for the Japanese and puppet army troops to regroup and then blow up the puppet army artillery in front.
We will use rocket launchers to attack the Japanese and puppet troops, and then seize the opportunity to launch a charge, using tanks as the vanguard to attack the Japanese directly!"
"When the time comes, those mountain artillerymen at the back will either fire at the risk of killing their own men, or retreat!"
"And we can't fire directly. Mountain artillery has no way of destroying our tanks. By then, all the Japanese mountain artillery will have the surname Qin!"
Less than two minutes after Qin Yangming issued the order, the puppet army's mountain artillery battalion launched an artillery attack on the Eighth Route Army's positions.
At the same time, the puppet army also used mortars to bombard the Eighth Route Army's positions.
They wanted to use the mortar explosion to interfere with the Eighth Route Army's search for their mountain artillery positions.
Li Erhu entered the stronghold and took Qin Yangming's telescope. He observed the explosion on the position while listening to the whistling sound of artillery shells in the sky.
(End of this chapter)
