"Brother, should we retreat a little and wait until the second column and the security brigade arrive before fighting back."
Heizi was a little unsure about this defensive battle, so he tentatively asked Li Qiufan.
"We can't retreat! The enemy's target is definitely not just Goujialing. It's impossible for Goujialing to stop chasing us if we withdraw."
"Do you believe that if we withdraw from Goujialing, the enemy troops will immediately come up to pursue us?"
"Their goal has never been the territory, but to destroy us!"
Li Qiufan shook his head at Heizi, and then analyzed the enemy's intentions for him.
"But with our current strength, it will be very difficult to resist the 80,000 people on the other side."
Today, they only have more than 85,000 combat troops left, of which the heavy artillery division still accounts for nearly 20,000.
There are only more than 60,000 people able to fight on the battlefield, and there are also many wounded among them. It is indeed a bit difficult to face an attack of 80,000 people without any danger to defend.
Moreover, I learned about the situation from Li Yunlong before. The opponent also had heavy artillery, so their firepower advantage was gone.
"Send a telegram to the second column and the security brigade and ask them how long it will take to arrive!"
Li Qiufan did not respond to Heizi's words, but asked the correspondent to send a telegram to the second column and the security brigade.
The Second Column and the Security Brigade responded quickly after receiving the telegram. The Security Brigade was currently relatively close to them and had almost arrived at Dongcha Town, which was only half a day away from Goujialing.
The second column was further away. It had just entered the realm of heaven, water and earth at this time, and it would take more than two days to reach Goujialing.
"Order, the first column is responsible for defending the main position of Goujialing, the third column is responsible for Beiping, and the fourth column is responsible for Nanping and Miaopo Mountain!"
"In addition, tell Lao Ma to bring up all the people in the heavy artillery division except the artillery loaders, and temporarily add them to the third column!"
After learning the time required for the second column and the security brigade, Li Qiufan directly began to deploy each column.
And because the three columns were short of troops, Li Qiufan directly transferred the men from the heavy artillery division and stuffed them all into the third column.
"Old Li, in addition to Beiping, you need to send some people to garrison on the south bank of the Wei River to prevent the enemy from crossing the river and launching a surprise attack on your flank!"
After arranging the areas responsible for each column, Li Qiufan gave Li Yunlong some instructions to be alert to the enemy's cross-river raid.
"Don't worry, we, Lao Li, suffered a big loss once, and there is no way we will suffer it a second time!"
After hearing this, Li Yunlong nodded towards Li Qiufan and kept this matter in his heart.
"Each column immediately entered their respective positions and must have been able to withstand it for two days!"
"When the security brigade and the second column arrive, it's time for us to blow the charge horn!"
Seeing that no one had any other opinions, Li Qiufan immediately asked everyone to lead their troops into their respective positions, preparing to meet the incoming enemy troops.
Just after their side was ready, the 36th Army rushed to Goujialing.
The national army also divided its forces. The 57th Army was responsible for attacking Beiping, and the 90th Army was responsible for attacking Nanping and Miaopo Mountain.
Li Qiufan sighed helplessly after seeing this. He also thought that if the other party could put all its troops in Goujialing, the three and four columns on the flanks would have a lot to do.
But I have no choice but to not be reckless, so I can only defend honestly.
This was the second battle in the Goujialing area, except that the positions of the enemy and ourselves were swapped, with the original attacker switching to defense.
After the 36th Army arrived, they took action without saying a word, and the heavy artillery immediately launched a shelling towards the first column position.
Upon seeing this, Li Qiufan was not to be outdone, and directly sent an order to the heavy artillery division to take action. At the same time, he arranged for a special person to observe the location of the enemy's artillery positions.
The reason why I didn't observe the position of the enemy's artillery before was purely because the range of the opponent's artillery was too short, so I didn't have to worry about the opponent hitting my own artillery.
But the situation is different now. The 36th Army also has heavy artillery.
While the artillery units of both sides suppressed the enemy's positions and provided artillery support, they also needed to find the enemy's artillery positions and try to destroy the opponent's artillery.
Since acquiring heavy artillery, Li Qiufan's artillery unit has rarely engaged in artillery battles with the enemy. Speaking of which, he was also worried about Lao Ma.
If this is a mistake in judgment, the entire heavy artillery division can easily be ruined.
As the artillery battle between the two sides began, the infantry was not idle either. The 36th Army immediately organized a charge and launched an attack towards the first column position.
Li Qiufan did not use the telescope to observe the battlefield situation this time, but let Heizi take his place.
He himself was analyzing the sound and direction of the enemy's artillery, and calculating the distance and location of the enemy's artillery positions.
Just when he was about to have an idea, there was a sudden buzzing sound in the sky, which made Li Qiufan's expression change instantly.
"Quickly tell Lao Ma to move the heavy artillery position immediately, and prepare the anti-aircraft artillery battalion. The enemy planes are coming!"
Li Qiufan turned around and shouted directly to the correspondent. After hearing this, the correspondent quickly sent the message to the heavy artillery division.
This buzzing sound was the enemy's plane. The old fox had previously sent all the planes to the north to deal with the boss, so Li Qiufan and the others had not been bombed.
Now that they were going to counterattack Goujialing, Old Fox directly sent the plane over and asked it to cooperate with the artillery of the 36th Army to find the heavy artillery positions on Li Qiufan's side and bomb them to destroy them.
Of course Li Qiufan knew what the plane was for, so he immediately gave the order to Lao Ma to move and hide.
Moreover, Li Qiufan had already guessed that the old fox would come up with such a trick. He had already arranged for two anti-aircraft artillery battalions to set up several hidden anti-aircraft artillery positions, and was waiting for the enemy's planes to come over.
Nowadays, Li Qiufan is not what he used to be. A few months ago, he used machine guns to shoot at enemy aircraft.
Having previously seized ten Soviet-made 37mm anti-aircraft guns from the Ma Jiajun, Li Qiufan set up two anti-aircraft artillery battalions on the way to Baoji.
During the march, the soldiers of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion were taught how to operate anti-aircraft guns, how to capture targets, how to form a cross-fire network to block enemy aircraft, etc.
Li Qiufan could be said to have imparted all his theoretical knowledge to others, but he had never had the opportunity to let the soldiers practice it.
After receiving the news from Li Qiufan, Lao Ma immediately moved all the heavy artillery to the hiding spots that had been prepared long ago, and then notified the anti-aircraft artillery battalion to prepare.
The two anti-aircraft artillery battalions were his heavy artillery divisions. Lao Ma also wanted to see how effective the anti-aircraft artillery was. He stretched his neck and kept looking for traces of enemy aircraft.
