Under Zhang Xun's order, the 12th Corps divided into three groups and marched towards Bazhou, Shu Province.
Among them, he led three armies with more than 90,000 people to march towards Ji County.
12th Corps Headquarters
"Our troops are very fast now. We can arrive at Ji County in half an hour at most. I order Ji Province to be captured within three hours. Do you have any objections?" Zhang Xun asked as he looked at several army commanders.
"Commander, this time our 51st Army is fighting the first battle." A slightly fat middle-aged man stepped forward and saluted.
"Commander Hu, you and the 51st are the main force of our 12th Corps. This first battle must be fought beautifully!" Zhang Xun said.
"Yes" the commander of the 51st Army saluted.
Ji County seat position.
Three battalions of the 32nd Regiment were already waiting in the position.
"The soldiers have high morale and are not afraid of being overwhelmed by the army."
"Brothers, the commander said that reinforcements will come as long as we can hold on for four hours, hold on!" Song Yu shouted from the position.
"Yes, leader!"
"Commander, don't worry, as long as we are alive, they will not be able to get to Ji County!" a soldier shouted.
…
Not far away, the 30,000 troops of the 51st Army were quickly approaching Ji County.
"Order the artillery brigade to fire on Ji County!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Then the May 1st Army's fifty mountain cannons fired at Ji County.
"Dong dong dong~"
"Dong dong dong~"
"hidden!"
"hidden!"
The shells ruthlessly destroyed Ji County's forward positions, and the soldiers were so bombed that they could not even lift their heads.
The men of the 51st Army launched an attack on Ji County under the cover of artillery fire.
"What is this armored regiment doing? Why aren't they firing?" Song Yu cursed loudly as he watched the enemy a few hundred meters ahead approaching step by step.
On the city wall, after the observers determined the coordinates, they sent orders to the city one after another.
After getting the coordinates, the howitzer immediately changed the angle of the muzzle.
Following Lao Kui's order, the howitzer muzzle immediately fired one round after another.
"Dong dong dong~"
"Dong dong dong~"
The ground was so shaken that dust flew up!
The soldiers of the 51st Army charged forward one by one, completely unaware of the artillery shells flying above their heads.
When the shells fall into the crowd, a few lives are lost in an instant. In dense areas, there are more than a dozen lives.
"Regiment Commander, I have determined the coordinates of the enemy's artillery position."
"Say it!"
"Two thousand three hundred meters to the southeast, the horizontal area does not exceed one hundred meters."
"good!"
"Everyone turn their guns around and fire at a distance of 2,300 meters to the southeast!"
The gunners of the entire regiment began to turn the muzzles, and then the bomb feeders began to advance the shells!
"fire!"
At an order, twenty howitzers began firing shells.
At this time, the mountain artillery brigade of the 51st Army was firing vigorously, but the next second the artillery brigade's position turned into a sea of fire.
Although the howitzer is not that powerful, don't forget that there are artillery shells in the mountain artillery position. Once a shell falls on the shell, it will detonate multiple shells, causing a chain reaction.
"Dong dong dong~"
"Dong dong dong~"
Just one round of bombing of the artillery position was followed by earth-shattering explosions, one after another.
The blown parts of the mountain cannon flew up.
"What's the sound?" Hu Kai was looking at Ji County in front of him with a telescope. He was not very close to the artillery position, but he heard the huge serial explosions.
"Commander, the commander is bad, our artillery position was bombed!" A soldier ran over and shouted.
"What? The artillery position was bombed? How did they do it? How many guns do we have?"
"I don't know, the artillery brigade is counting."
"Bastard!" Hu Kai yelled and walked towards the artillery position.
Ji County position!
"Brothers, their cannons have stopped, our cannons are ringing, hit me!" Song Yu gave an order and the soldiers all raised their heads and opened fire on the enemies in front.
"Captain Song, Commander Song." A soldier from the armored battalion ran over and said.
"explain!"
"The regiment commander asked me to tell you that we have destroyed their artillery positions."
"Okay! Thank you leader for me." Song Yu shouted loudly with a smile.
"The regiment leader also asked me to ask you what tasks the combatants of our artillery regiment have." The soldier also asked loudly.
"Tell your commander, the combatants of your armored regiment are going to defend the position in the direction of Huaxi Ji. I estimate that the enemy over there is coming soon. We must hold on for four hours!"
"Yes!" the soldier said and left the position.
"Da da da da~"
"Da da da da~"
"Swish swish~"
"Dong dong dong~"
…
Although the 51st Army had several times more soldiers than the 32nd Regiment, they just couldn't attack.
The 32nd Regiment has thousands of soldiers and hundreds of MG42 general-purpose machine guns.
There is a burst of firepower output against the enemy in front, and there are also a large number of submachine guns and mortars.
…
Huaxi Collection.
After the 12th Regiment and the New Ninth Army occupied the Huaxi Ji, Zhang Xun immediately ordered them to march towards Ji County, forming a semi-encirclement state of Ji County.
Huaxi County.
The situation of the soldiers of the 33rd Regiment was not very good. They were not killed or injured under the suppression of mountain artillery, because they did not have large-caliber howitzers, only mortars.
"Commander, let's withdraw. We can only be beaten passively here. We don't have heavy firepower at all." Liu Yuan, chief of staff of the 33rd Regiment, shouted loudly despite the gunfire.
"We cannot withdraw. If we withdraw from Naji County, we will be surrounded on three sides."
"We have to hold on for four hours. Reinforcements will come in four hours."
"Dong dong dong..."
"Hey! It's the regiment commander!" The chief of staff had no choice but to raise his gun and continue to shoot at the enemy in front.
The troops attacking Huaxi County were the 69th Army of the 12th Corps.
The combat effectiveness of the 69th Army is second only to the 51st Army among the 12th Army, with more than 30,000 people in the entire army.
Sixty-ninth Army Headquarters!
"Commander, the enemies in Huaxi County are very tenacious and our losses are considerable." said the Chief of Staff of the 69th Army.
"We just received the order. We must capture Huaxi City within four hours, otherwise their reinforcements will arrive." Zhang Feng, commander of the 69th Army, said.
"But their firepower was too strong. Even though we bombed them, they didn't retreat."
"Then keep going!"
"Don't stop the artillery fire. The troops will charge at me in brigade units!" Zhang Feng said with anger on his face.
"Is it possible that our 20,000-strong Sixty-ninth Army cannot capture Huaxi County with only one regiment?"
"I understand, Commander, I'll tell them right away." After speaking, the Chief of Staff left the headquarters.
Zhang Feng looked at Huaxi City in the distance with a telescope.
The walls of Huaxi City have been blown black, and the positions have also been bombed into craters.
But this did not scare the soldiers of the 33rd Regiment.
