About ten minutes later, the Patriot Army's overwhelming shelling of positions along the south bank gradually subsided.
The dust and smoke were blown away by the river wind. On the river defense position in Minqing on the south bank, the blood and minced meat on the ground had already dyed the entire earth red.
The scene was like a nightmare. The trenches were blown to pieces, wreckage and limbs were scattered on the river beach, and there were countless wounded soldiers with broken arms and legs. Howls and cries intertwined into a tragic scene.
The remaining Zhizhi army panicked. Five to six thousand soldiers instantly turned into a rout like headless flies, screaming and running away. The whole scene seemed chaotic.
However, there were more than a thousand remaining soldiers who, under the leadership of a Zhili Army captain, chose to continue hiding in the collapsed river fortifications.
"Brothers, fire a few shots at me first. When the Patriot Army comes back, beat me hard so that they know how powerful we are."
"Let me tell you, Marshal Sun is boasting all the time. If anyone gets into a close combat with the Patriot Army, he will be rewarded with 5 silver dollars. If he returns alive, he will be rewarded with 20 silver dollars. If he kills a Patriot Army, he will be rewarded with 20 silver coins!"
Seeing that the Patriot Army had not yet attacked, some soldiers believed the lieutenant's lies. They tremblingly picked up the old Hanyang-made sleeves on the ground and fired a few perfunctory shots at the frigates on the other side and the river.
"boom!"
"boom!"
The main thing is to shoot blindly and use up all the bullets, even if you are fighting the enemy.
However, their behavior of seeking death by shooting guns indiscriminately was quickly noticed by the rangefinder on the frigate who controlled the combined-image rangefinder.
In less than a minute or so, more than a dozen naval guns turned their muzzles, and several 127 and 76 mm shells roared towards them at high speed.
"Boom!"
With the violent explosion, nearly a hundred Zhili soldiers were buried in the surging artillery fire.
The fateful captain got up with his face covered in blood. After realizing the difference in strength between the two sides, he immediately took the remaining soldiers and fled quickly.
Don't think it's funny, after all, during the period of war between Chinese warlords, the combat effectiveness of Chinese soldiers was like this.
The same is true for other warlord forces. Even the dominant side in the battle may suffer from rout, defection, surrender, mutiny and other bad situations.
During the Zhijiang-Anhui War in 1922, the two major warlord groups of Zhizhi and Anhui gathered hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. They fought back and forth for six days. As a result, there were two to three thousand casualties, of which less than 600 were killed. people.
After all, it was a fight between people of the same clan, and the Zhijun army could not muster the courage to fight to the death.
In addition, the gap between these warlords' troops and the Patriot Army is as unbridgeable as a natural chasm. The only way to stop the Patriot Army's offensive is in dreams.
However, they were unlucky. Not long after they ran out, they encountered a reserve team composed of militiamen and a supervising team that had arrived belatedly from the city.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The leading war supervisor, seeing that the situation was getting out of control, instantly shot down several defeated soldiers.
"Those who retreat in the face of the battle will be dealt with according to the military law. All of them will be sent back to me to repair the fortifications and prepare to resist the offensive of the Patriot Army!"
Having said that, the war supervisor was still panic-stricken when he saw the defeated soldiers. He grabbed one of the defeated soldiers, the captain, by the collar, and his eyes seemed to burst out with flames:
"You organize the troops immediately and come back to the battlefield for me. After taking Marshal Sun's military salary, you will do something. Anyone who dares to escape from the battle will be killed without mercy!"
"Sir, we tried to resist just now, but the artillery fire of the Patriot Army was too fierce, not to mention that even our division commander's whereabouts are unknown. The brothers are now suffering heavy casualties. You asked me to organize a captain..."
"boom!"
Before the captain could finish what he said, the war supervisor drew his gun and shot him to death. He also grabbed a second lieutenant from the rout and shouted: "I will give you two levels in a row now. You will immediately organize the rout for me and push back." If we withstand this battle, Marshal Sun will reward each of us with 50 pieces of silver..."
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Suddenly, the gunshots of the Browning M2 heavy machine gun rang out. Before the war supervisor could finish his words, his body was beaten to pieces and turned into more than a dozen corpses.
"Boom! Boom!"
Several 37mm artillery shells fell into the crowd, and the airtight rain of bullets that followed took hundreds of lives in an instant, and the rout was out of control again.
"I'm going. The National Guard Army is really coming. If you don't run away, how long will it take?"
"If you don't want to die, then run away. We can't stop the Patriot Army at all. Their artillery fire is too strong..."
"Brothers, run quickly, spread out!"
This time, the company supervisors and soldiers did not stop the rout. They stood there dumbfounded.
Looking at the dozens of sparse black spots on the river in the distance, they kept firing deadly shells and bullets, and the team members around them kept falling in a pool of blood.
At this moment, some of them had the idea of escape, "Brothers, the Patriot Army has tanks, planes, and warships. I don't want to leave my life here..."
"I don't want to die either. In my opinion, all the commanders and commanders Yuan are killed in the battle, so I'll run away first!"
After saying that, the war supervisor got up and followed the crowd to join the defeated army of soldiers and militiamen, swarming away in the direction of Minqing City.
On the Wulong River, 40 LVT-4 amphibious landing vehicles, plus 15 LVT(A)-1 amphibious tanks, lined up in a row, increasing the accelerator and driving towards the south bank.
"Give me the machine gun to continue suppressing fire. There may be enemies anywhere. Keep fighting, don't stop!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Boom! Boom!"
There were 55 amphibious landing vehicles and amphibious tanks, more than a hundred machine guns of various types, and 15 37mm artillery pieces. The muzzles of the guns and muzzles continuously sprayed flames, and a hail of bullets filled the sky and covered the ground, which was extremely terrifying.
Under this airtight fire suppression, even if there were any remaining soldiers on the shore trying to resist, they would be so suppressed that they could not raise their heads to fight back.
As the LVT-4 landing vehicle "roared", it swaggered onto the beach on the south coast.
Qiao Yu was the first to jump off the landing vehicle, "The mortars will remain in place for the time being, ready to support infantry operations at any time!"
Afterwards, Qiao Yu signaled the signal soldier to come over and picked up the walkie-talkie behind him, "First company commander, follow the tank and continue to advance 100 meters, set up a temporary defense line for me, and stay vigilant to prevent the enemy from counterattacking!"
Five minutes later, thousands of soldiers on 40 LVT-4 landing vehicles all jumped off the landing vehicles.
Then the landing vehicle turned around and prepared to return to the north bank to load the next batch of infantry to cross the river.
Qiao Yu also issued the final attack order, "The enemy has been completely defeated by us. The time has come to make a contribution. Soldiers, follow me and capture Minqing City!"
Led by 15 LVT(A)-1 amphibious tanks, thousands of soldiers bypassed the mangled corpses and shell craters and launched an attack on Minqing City about 3 kilometers away.
Of course, he was not attacking a crowd of people like headless flies.
They just changed from squads to platoons into groups, forming dozens of triangle formations, and launched attacks in batches.
"The machine gun crew keeps up with the speed and continues to advance. The vanguards keep vigilant and continue to press forward!"
"There is also the small forest at three o'clock. Let me test it by firing a few rounds from the rear mortars."
On the way to Minqing City, the Weiguo Army also maintained due vigilance.
However, the soldiers did not encounter much resistance along the way, but they captured many wounded soldiers of the Zhizhi Army.
