On the road leading to Yangquan County, more than 4,000 Japanese soldiers formed four formations and rushed over Chaoyangquan.

More than 30 tanks and tanks walked in the middle of the team, making a dull roar, and wherever the tanks went, a lot of dust was rolled up.

The captain of the regiment, Colonel Takahashi, was originally sitting in an armored vehicle, but the road conditions were too bad, so he was almost disbanded. He had to give up the armored vehicle and switch to the horse to continue moving forward.

"Report to the wing captain, the road ahead was destroyed by the National Salvation Army!" A messenger came to report on horseback.

"Take me to the front and take a look!" Colonel Takahashi frowned and ordered.

The military headquarters gave him the task of raiding all the way and capturing Yangquan County before dark.

The main forces of the National Salvation Army were trapped in the territory of Pingding and had no time to take care of Yangquan.

If the troops can capture Yangquan County before dark, they will definitely end the battle with the minimum cost, and there will be no accidents in the middle.

But if this battle is dragged to tomorrow, there will be more likely changes on the battlefield.

The National Salvation Army would not watch the Imperial Army capture Yangquan County. During the day, there were planes staring at the sky, so they did not dare to move.

After dark, they will definitely march urgently to reinforce Yangquan. It will not be so easy for the troops to capture Yangquan again.

Colonel Takahashi was fine on the train: the troops got off the train and marched forward quickly, without delaying the road at all. They could rush to the outside of Yangquan City before 4 pm, and spend two hours to capture Yangquan County, which had empty troops, and then complete the commander's raid mission.

Unexpectedly, I got into trouble after getting off the train for more than an hour.

He had encountered this trick of destroying the highway when fighting with the Eighth Route Army. In order to ensure that the baggage and artillery units do not fall behind, the road must be repaired before marching normally.

Today he is in a hurry to reach Yangquan County, so he will definitely not have time to build roads.

So when I heard this bad news, I hurried forward, wanting to know how much the road was destroyed by the National Salvation Army.

As soon as Colonel Takahashi arrived at the vanguard squadron, he raised his telescope. A large number of earth pits and deep trenches were dug out on the flat road. If there were large trucks and artillery in the team, they would definitely have to fill the earth pits and deep trenches before they could continue to move forward.

But Colonel Takahashi was very lucky. In order to prevent the National Salvation Army from slowing down its marching speed by destroying the road, the commander specially replaced the artillery brigade and baggage troops that cooperated with his actions with the chariot brigade.

Compared with artillery and large baggage vehicles, the dirt pits and deep ditches on the road ahead did not affect the normal movement of the tank.

The only upset is that the chariots will be very bumpy when walking on such roads.

But as long as the troops do not affect the speed of the marching, these are not problems for Colonel Takahashi.

The frowning brows on his face quickly relaxed, looking at the front with a confident command: "Let the chariot brigade transfer a tank to cooperate with the squadron to open the way. As long as the tank can advance normally, the troops should not stop, and march to the outside of Yangquan City in a hurry!"

The team that had stopped for less than ten minutes started moving again. Compared with the moment, the speed was only fast but not slow.

"Boom..."

Less than half an hour after leaving, an explosion suddenly rang in front of the team.

Colonel Takahashi raised his telescope and saw a ball of black smoke rising from the vanguard squadron. The fast-moving team also stopped at this moment. The guards escorting around thought the troops were attacked, so they immediately held the rifle flat in their hands, quickly dispersed with Colonel Takahashi as the center, staring at the surroundings with a vigilant look on their faces...

"It's a landmine!" Colonel Takahashi analyzed with a calm face.

This weapon is also often encountered when fighting with the Eighth Route Army. Colonel Takahashi is very familiar with it and once again led the guards to the vanguard squadron.

There were two corpses and three wounded people lying around the explosion site. The bomb craters that were blown out were one meter deep, and the surrounding soil was burned by the flames produced by the explosion... It looked very tragic.

The squadron leader of the engineer squadron who had looked around the crater twice quickly ran to Colonel Takahashi to report: "Sir, this is not an ordinary infantry mine!"

"Analysis of the power of the explosion, it is either an anti-tank mine or an anti-infantry mine with explosive packs, otherwise it would not be able to explode such a deep bomb crater!"

"As long as you give an order, you will take people to the front to clear the mines!"

Colonel Takahashi frowned, and did not answer the request from the squadron leader of the engineering squadron, turned his head to look at the slope next to the road, and then asked the captain of the chariot brigade for a few words, and his frown brows suddenly stretched.

Seeing the squadron leader of the Engineer Squadron refused without hesitation: "The engineers are too slow to clear mines, we don't have time."

"Order the vanguard troops to change the route immediately and walk the slopes on both sides of the highway to bypass the minefield. Although the slopes cannot be made of large trucks and artillery, tanks and armored vehicles can be taken."

"No matter how powerful the landmines of the National Salvation Army are, it is impossible to bury all the mountains on both sides of the road! Let everyone be faster, and the enemy has less time left for us to march!"

Landmines and destruction of roads are two important means for the National Salvation Army to slow down its marching speed.

Now that both of these methods have been dismantled by themselves, Colonel Takahashi feels that the National Salvation Army will definitely not be able to think of other methods in a short period of time.

The next march will definitely go very smoothly

As long as the troops arrive outside Yangquan City on time, with the terrifying assault ability of the chariot brigade, they can definitely capture Yangquan County before dark.

The more I thought about it, the happier I became, the happier I felt. The corners of my mouth were slightly raised, and I couldn't help but smile from the bottom of my heart.

The following march was indeed very smooth, and the troops walked forward for more than an hour without stopping.

Colonel Takahashi looked at his watch and the smile on his face became stronger.

As expected, the troops would be able to reach the outside of Yangquan City in three hours. It was only 3:30 in the afternoon, and there were at least two and a half hours to attack the county town. It would be difficult for me to not win.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Colonel Takahashi seemed to have seen Victory wave to him, and the normally moving team stopped again.

This was definitely a naked slap in the face. Colonel Takahashi's anger was like a flood breaking through the dam.

Just as he was about to ask his troops to go to check in front, the messenger of the forward squadron was already standing in front of him with gasps, and was very anxious: "Sir, the stone bridge in front has been destroyed."

"Although the river is not very fast and the troops can easily cross the river by swimming, the chariots attacking with the team cannot swim across the river. They must build a temporary wooden bridge based on the ruins of the stone bridge to cross the river!"

Colonel Takahashi immediately looked at the squadron leader of the engineering squadron standing by: "How long does it take for you to build a temporary wooden bridge that can pass through combat vehicles and armored vehicles!"

The engineer squadron looked at the stone bridge that had been blown into ruins in front of him and replied: "Use the remaining ruins of the stone bridge to build it, and the foundation of the wooden bridge is available, and there is no need to spend time. However, the raw materials needed to build the wooden bridge require on-site cutting and processing, so the time we build the wooden bridge cannot be reduced much!"

Speaking of this, the squadron leader of the Engineer Squadron made great determination and loudly promised in response to Colonel Takahashi's gaze: "Four hours!"

"As long as you give me four hours, you can ensure that you build a temporary wooden bridge that can pass through tanks and armored vehicles!"

After hearing this, Colonel Takahashi's face was full of disappointment, and then he ordered in an undisputed tone: "It's too slow, I can only give you two hours."

"If the troops are not strong enough, I will transfer two infantry squadrons to cooperate with your actions and must complete the task on time."

The engineer squadron leader wanted to refuse, but Colonel Takahashi looked at him with too strict eyes, so he could only grit his teeth and take the order: "Please rest assured, I will try my best to build the wooden bridge within two hours.

Next is a difficult wait.

No one in the entire team was more anxious than Colonel Takahashi.

If the troops are delayed here for one more minute, the attack time will be reduced by one minute after everyone reaches outside Yangquan City.

So he ran to the river every half an hour to see the progress of the construction of the wooden bridge.

Fortunately, the engineer squadron leader did not speak loudly to himself, and the wooden bridge was being built at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Before two hours arrived, Colonel Takahashi could not wait: "The troops were ready to set off. After passing through the wooden bridge, everyone's march speed would be faster, and they would try to grab the time we had to return for half an hour, so that we would have an hour to attack the county town."

Although the rest of the past two hours has been delayed a lot of time, the troops' physical strength and mental energy have also recovered a lot. This is the only ground that Colonel Takahashi is glad to be.

When the morale and physical strength of the troops are high, the marching speed will naturally increase a lot.

Seeing this scene, Colonel Takahashi became more and more confident about whether the next emergency march could be regained for half an hour.

"Boom..."

At this moment, a series of explosions suddenly rang out on the temporary wooden bridge that had just been built.

At least ten shells hit the wooden bridge from different locations, half of the shells hit the water, and half of the shells hit the wooden bridge.

If this is a stone bridge, the mortar shells will be blown up and left at most a crater, but now there is a temporary wooden bridge on the river surface. Each shell will cause some damage to the wooden bridge.

Dozens of engineers who had not yet retreated from the wooden bridge were also blown upside down, and several engineers were blown away and finally smashed into the river...

Faced with this sudden artillery fire, Colonel Takahashi was so anxious that he almost knelt down, his eyes were red!

The wooden bridge took two hours to build the engineer squadron. If it is destroyed, it will take at least more than an hour to repair.

At that time, no matter how fast the troops ran, they would not have the intention to reach Yangquan County before dark.

Colonel Takahashi was not afraid of the troops slandering the county town. Once he hit the flares he brought, the battlefield was no different from the daytime.

But compared to the daytime, the attack at night is definitely full of variables.

After all, the National Salvation Army is better at night battles than the Imperial Army.

Moreover, if the National Salvation Army can blow up the wooden bridge once through artillery fire, it will definitely blow up the second time.

If the wooden bridge cannot be repaired properly, the team will be blocked here, and even the shadow of Yangquan County cannot be seen, let alone the attack.

Thinking of this scene, Colonel Takahashi was not in time to feel heartbroken by the collapsed wooden bridge, and was very anxious to order: "What are you still standing stupidly? The mortar squadron counterattacks immediately and must destroy the artillery that had just been exposed by the National Rescue Army, otherwise no matter how many wooden bridges we build, they would blow up."

"All three mortar squadrons participated in the battle and used the advantage of artillery fire to kill the opponent in one battle!"

"Boom..."

The fourth round of artillery shells shot by the National Salvation Army fell from the sky, and a wooden beam was blown off on the spot. The broken wooden bridge began to collapse from the broken wooden beam, and the range became larger and larger.

By the time the fifth round of shells fell from the sky, the entire wooden bridge had been blown into a pile of ruins, and many of the collapsed wood on the wooden bridge had drifted downstream along the river.

Colonel Takahashi saw it and was anxious, so he quickly ordered: "The Second Squadron quickly stopped the floating wood, otherwise he would have to cut down the wood again to build the wooden bridge, which would take too much time."

"What do artillery troops do for food? Why don't they fight back!"

The artillery staff on the side quickly reported: "Report to the chief, they are ready and can fight back soon!"

"Boom boom boom..."

Before he finished speaking, a series of explosions came from a distance, and the explosion at the wooden bridge in front also came to an abrupt end at this moment. Colonel Takahashi thought his artillery counterattack had worked and immediately ordered: "The engineer troops repair the wooden bridge immediately, and the construction must be completed within an hour!"
To be continued...