At 6 pm, when the plane could no longer provide reinforcements to Jinzhong County, gunfire from outside the city suddenly became dense.

Colonel Jiangchuan knew that the main force of the National Salvation Army had come out as soon as he heard this.

Sure enough, he waited at the command center for less than half an hour before the phone rang in the room.

"Sir, Dongmen City Defense Force reported: About a battalion of national rescue troops appeared outside the city, and were dividing troops to attack the Imperial Army that we were deploying outside the city!" The messenger reported with a serious expression.

"Sir, at least one battalion of the National Salvation Army appeared outside Ximen City. They also brought mortars and mountain cannons. The offensive was very fast. The Imperial Army stationed at the levels and checkpoints was about to collapse. Even a single attack by the National Salvation Army could not stop the National Salvation Army... At most twenty minutes, the National Salvation Army could reach the outside of the city!"

Colonel Jiangchuan did not wait for the next telephone to speak, and directly began to issue an order: "The general attack of the National Salvation Army will be tonight! Order all the garrisons in the city to be ready for battle, and no matter who approaches the city wall, they will be killed!"

At 7:30 p.m., the front command of the National Salvation Army had been transferred to a small mound less than 800 meters away from Jinzhong County.

All four garrisons rushed outside Jinzhong City and surrounded Jinzhong County!

"Captain, the siege troops from all four directions have all reached a three hundred meters outside the city. They are catching up on digging trenches and building an offensive position!" Chief of Staff Chen Zhenyu looked forward to the report.

After saying that, he said in a low voice: "The six tunnels we hid outside the city have been found. I just sent someone to go down to the tunnel to confirm the situation inside. The news will be sent back at most ten minutes!"

Zhou Cheng's expression on his face was particularly serious, and his eyes had never left the black Jinzhong city wall hundreds of meters away. His mind was running rapidly, and he was analyzing Chen Zhengyu's report just now.

After hearing this, I started to give orders without any delay: "These tunnels are related to whether we can successfully take Jinzhong. It is very important. There must be no mistakes! You can immediately draw a company from the guard battalion to protect all tunnel entrances. Even if we successfully take back Jinzhong, these tunnel entrances cannot be exposed!"

Chen Zhengyu heard something in Zhou Cheng's words.

But the national salvation army's top priority is to regain Jinzhong, and it has reached the point where the arrow is on the string.

No matter how curious the implicit meaning in Zhou Cheng's words, I have to wait until the battle is over before solving the problem.

I immediately received the order: "I will make arrangements later to ensure that the location of the tunnel entrance will not be leaked."

After saying that, he stared at Zhou Cheng and continued to ask: "When will we launch a general attack on Jinzhong County!"

"Two hours later!" Zhou Cheng glanced at the offensive position that was closer to him and replied.

"The offensive troops built the offensive position within two hours!"

"The artillery companies directly under the garrison are directly under their command. The two mountain artillery companies in the artillery battalion are responsible for suppressing the Japanese mountain artillery brigade, the field artillery company and the heavy mortar company are responsible for suppressing the Japanese heavy artillery brigade, and strive to use two hours to hurt the Japanese and puppet troops on the city, and they have to transfer the reserve team to the city."

"The three main battalions were divided into six routes, two infantry companies as units. When the garrison siege, they moved to the near the tunnel entrance. They entered the city on time at 1:00 a.m. and arrived in the city smoothly. Then they raided the Japanese command, military police, arsenal, warehouse, reserve, and artillery positions in the company..."

"Their assault speed must be fast. Concentrate all the submachine guns equipped by the four garrisons to three battalions, increase their melee firepower, and strive to eliminate all Japanese and puppet troops in the city within two hours!"

"After the commando began to operate, the four garrisons strengthened their offensives at the same time and took out all their own assets. Don't save ammunition, but you can attack the city hard, so that you can't let a Japanese and puppet army return to the city to create opportunities for the assault troops!"

Within the Japanese command center, as the county town was slowly surrounded by the national rescue army, the atmosphere here became more and more depressing.

Of course, most officers are still very confident in defending Jinzhong, but they hope that the troops will suffer less losses in the next bloody battle, because no one knows how long this offensive and defensive battle will last.

"Sir, the National Salvation Army that besieged us all built offensive positions 300 meters outside the city. There are one or two thousand people in each direction, and the total number is definitely more than seven thousand people!" The Chief of Staff took the report of the results he had just counted.

The results of the report from his subordinates were similar to those of Colonel Jiangchuan's heart, so after listening to the report, he had no fluctuations on his face, and he looked at the city defense map and ordered calmly: "This is just a situation that our eyes can see, and no one knows whether the National Salvation Army hides the strength we don't know!"

"Order the troops to hold their troops and wait until the National Rescue Army starts attacking before counterattacking, and counterattack with each move. After we understand the true strength of the National Rescue Army, we will formulate targeted defense and counterattack plans."

At about ten o'clock, an explosion of "rumbling..." suddenly reached Colonel Jiangchuan's ears.

Colonel Jiangchuan was lying in a chair with his eyes closed and resting. The fierce battle tonight would last until at least the second half of the night. Maybe it would last until dawn tomorrow. He must reserve enough physical strength and energy to ensure that he can be energetic and rational all night!

As soon as the explosion sounded, he realized that the general attack of the National Salvation Army had begun.

He stood up from the chair and walked quickly to the command department to look towards the east of the city where the sound of artillery came.

The sporadic explosions at the beginning have become dense, and the fireballs that exploded from shells unknowingly dyed the sky where the battlefield was located red.

"Boom..." Several explosions came from the west of the city, then the south of the city, and finally the north of the city...

In less than two minutes, the command center located in the city was surrounded by explosions, and the command center's phone became lively at this moment.

The Chief of Staff hurriedly walked behind Colonel Jiangchuan: "Sir, the garrison in the east of the city just called. The National Salvation Army gathered at least two mountain cannons, two infantry cannons, and six mortars attacked the city head, and the artillery fire was very fierce. The troops defending the east of the city were only equipped with three mortars, which was not an opponent of the National Salvation Army. They hoped that the command center could provide them with some artillery fire support immediately, otherwise the city defense forces would suffer too much casualties!"

Colonel Jiangchuan went to the command center while giving an order: "Take two mortar teams from the reserve team to reinforce the east gate, and then let a mountain artillery squadron participate in the battle, and use the fastest speed to destroy the artillery troops of the National Salvation Army in the east of the city!"

"Appoint a humble position now!" The chief of staff shouted.

He quickly called a staff officer to arrange tasks around him. After finishing, he waved his hand and rushed out of the command center like the wind...

In the next ten minutes, Colonel Jiangchuan received all the news that the city defense forces were hit by artillery fire from the National Salvation Army and suffered heavy losses.

He did not favor one and the other. Like the East Gate, the city defense forces in the other three directions received fire support from two mortar squadrons and a mountain artillery squadron.

After more and more artillery joined the battle, the combat pressure of the troops garrisoned at the city wall finally dropped and the losses were greatly reduced.

Colonel Jiangchuan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The chief of staff responded particularly exaggeratedly. After confirming that the garrison on the city wall had stabilized the situation, a proud expression appeared on his face.

He looked at the sand table and shouted arrogantly: "Captain of the Rescue Army, if the National Salvation Army attacked us, only this is the ability: he planned to use guns to bombard the infantry assault first, and the artillery bombarded the infantry assault without any technical content. Then we can definitely kill and injure the attacking troops of the National Salvation Army in the offensive and defensive battle, and easily defend the county town!"

Colonel Jiangchuan vaguely felt that the National Salvation Army was not that simple.

But he was more willing to believe what he saw and decided to regard the worries in his heart as thinking too much.

Just as I was about to return to my position to relax, a scream of shells whistling across the sky came from above the command center.

The sound was very harsh, it came quickly and ended very quickly. Then I heard a violent explosion from the artillery position hundreds of meters away.

Colonel Jiangchuan's nerves that had just soothed were tense again, and then rushed towards the command department.

More than ten minutes ago, when the city was bombarded by the National Salvation Army, Colonel Jiangchuan heard the sound of artillery and walked towards the command department.

After hearing the explosion from the artillery position this time, he rushed directly to the command department. It can be seen how anxious Colonel Jiangchuan was and how much impact this artillery bombardment might have on the Jinzhong garrison.

Colonel Jiangchuan, who had run to the door, just raised his telescope, and the sound of the observation post sounded on the roof: "Sir, the explosion came from the artillery position of the Shantian Artillery Brigade!"

Colonel Jiangchuan raised his telescope and saw that it was true.

Although the artillery positions are several hundred meters away from here, and you can't see the scene after the artillery positions are bombed when standing on the ground, the flames rising from the artillery positions can still be seen clearly.

Put down the telescope and shouted at the command center: "Contact the mountain artillery brigade immediately, let them transfer the artillery positions immediately, and find out their losses..."

He returned to the war room after saying that, but his face was obviously not as good-looking as before.

The sudden artillery fire attack made him realize that the National Salvation Army outside the city was indeed hiding its strength, and it was an artillery with long-range attack capabilities.

If the mountain artillery brigade suffers heavy losses in this sudden artillery fire attack, the city defense forces' artillery advantage will be gone. In the following battle, everyone on the city will be suppressed by siege artillery fire, with heavy casualties!

"Sir, do you want to order the heavy artillery brigade to fight back!" The artillery staff at the command suddenly stood up and proposed.

"Judged from the sound of artillery, the National Salvation Army dispatched twelve mountain cannons to raid our artillery position. Although these twelve mountain cannons were divided into two artillery positions, they were completely within the attack range of our army's heavy artillery."

"The power of heavy artillery is far greater than that of mountain artillery. We only need to dispatch two heavy artillery squadrons to kill them!"

Colonel Jiangchuan was very moved after hearing this, but he did not immediately give an order.

No one knows whether the twelve mountain cannons that the National Salvation Army had just dispatched were their last trump card.

What if the National Rescue Army still has a trump card and is an artillery, and it is a heavy artillery brigade, then he will hit the gun of the National Rescue Army and die in vain?

Seeing Colonel Jiangchuan hesitating, the artillery staff became anxious: "Captain of the Rescue Army, this is an excellent opportunity for us to counterattack the mountain artillery troops of the National Rescue Army. If they stop the artillery and transfer the artillery positions, it will be difficult for us to find them again!"

The Chief of Staff saw the concerns of the corps captain and asked in response to the anxious gaze of the artillery staff: "If the National Salvation Army hides other artillery units and the heavy artillery brigade is targeted as soon as the artillery brigade is fired, will our heavy artillery brigade be attacked by the opponent like the mountain artillery brigade?"

The artillery staff officer had never thought about this issue. He was just a staff officer. Considering the issue was definitely not as long as Colonel Jiangchuan, but it did not mean that he had no solution.

After all, he is a professional artillery soldier. When it comes to artillery battles, no one in the command center can compare with him, and Colonel Jiangchuan is no exception.

After thinking for a moment, he replied to the Chief of Staff: "Please rest assured, if the things you were worried about just now really happened, the heavy artillery brigade is not afraid."

"The heavy artillery brigade has four squadrons. We only dispatch two squadrons to counterattack this time, and the remaining two squadrons are on standby!"

"If the National Salvation Army has hidden artillery troops, as long as they dare to fire artillery, the remaining two heavy artillery squadrons will definitely fight back immediately!"

"As long as the heavy artillery brigade kills the opponent, they can free up their hands to attack other artillery units of the National Saving Army, and finally completely suppress the National Saving Army artillery units and reduce the defensive pressure of the infantry!"

After saying that, he turned his attention behind Colonel Jiangchuan again, and was very anxious to remind him.

"Captain of the United Nations, please give orders quickly? If it is too late, it will be too late!"

Colonel Jiangchuan still didn't dare to make a decision rashly.

The artillery of the National Salvation Army is too strong. In the next battle, they must have matching artillery fights head-on, which makes them worry a lot, otherwise the combat pressure of the city defense forces will definitely be particularly high and the casualties will be great.

But he didn't want to miss the strength of the mountain artillery unit that severely damaged the national rescue army.

Although I don’t know how strong the artillery of the National Salvation Army is, based on his understanding of the Chinese army, the proportion of the twelve mountain artillery in the National Salvation Army artillery must be very large.

Maybe the heavy artillery brigade will kill these twelve mountain cannons and will seriously damage the artillery unit of the National Salvation Army.

In this way, the losses of the city defense troops in the subsequent offensive and defensive battles will definitely be greatly reduced!

After struggling for a while, Colonel Jiangchuan decided to ask the artillery staff the last question: "You are sure that we can kill the mountain artillery troops of the National Saving Army by only half of the heavy artillery brigade, and the remaining half of the heavy artillery brigade can also destroy the artillery that the National Saving Army may be hidden in a short period of time!"

"Hi! I dare to issue military orders!" The artillery staff officer replied confidently.

Colonel Jiangchuan no longer hesitated and ordered on the spot: "Then fire a counterattack and destroy the two mountain artillery positions that had just been exposed by the National Rescue Army as quickly as possible.

Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.

How many Japanese, puppet troops were stationed in Jinzhong City, and how many artillery were equipped. From the moment the Japanese and puppet troops entered the city, the National Salvation Army had a clear understanding of the investigation troops and intelligence personnel.

Therefore, the artillery battalion was prepared to be prepared for heavy artillery attacks since the establishment of positions.

The power of heavy artillery is very great. In order to reduce the losses caused by heavy artillery attacks by the troops, the artillery positions are particularly scattered.

Under normal circumstances, the mountain cannons are only more than ten meters apart.

In order to prevent heavy artillery attacks, the space between the two mountain artillery positions was more than 30 meters, and an anti-aircraft hole was dug next to each mountain artillery.

In case the position is attacked, the gunner will immediately abandon the artillery and drill into the anti-aircraft shelter to save his life...

Therefore, the two mountain artillery companies were ready to withstand the attack of heavy artillery by the Japanese army from the moment they fired.

The field artillery company and the heavy mortar company were also ready to fight back, waiting for the Japanese heavy artillery troops to hit their guns themselves.
Chapter completed!