"Sir, we will reach the river five kilometers ahead!" The Chief of Staff walked beside Colonel Takahashi to remind him.

Colonel Takahashi didn't talk nonsense, looked at him with a serious order: "Everyone keep moving forward at a speed and let the troops behind the palace be more vigilant. If the National Salvation Army defending Yangquan County sends troops to chase us, send someone to report to me immediately!"

"As long as we cross the river smoothly and blow up the wooden bridge, the raid troops will be considered really safe."

Colonel Takahashi was very glad because he was worried that the pursuers of the National Salvation Army had never appeared. This means that if everything went well in the next march, the remaining troops around him could safely evacuate the National Salvation Army defense zone and return to Taiyuan.

Thinking of this, Colonel Takahashi's tense nerves unconsciously relieved.

"Report to the commander, there is something happening ahead!" At this moment, a second lieutenant of the forward squadron suddenly rushed towards him, running and reporting, with a very solemn expression.

Colonel Takahashi's heart skipped a beat. He realized that something big had happened before. Before the second lieutenant could stand firm, he asked in a hurry: "What unexpected situation? Could something happen to the wooden bridge where we crossed the river?"

"Sir, wise!" The lieutenant nodded quickly!

"The infantry squadrons and engineer squadrons that we left behind on the wooden bridge were completely destroyed, and the wooden bridge was also destroyed. On the battlefield, the enemy left no clues!"

Colonel Takahashi panicked as soon as he heard this.

The wooden bridge is the only passage for the troops to cross the river in a short period of time. Now that the wooden bridge has been destroyed, the retreat for everyone to evacuate the National Salvation Army will be cut off. At this time, the fool can see that the National Salvation Army wants to leave all the raid troops here.

He took the huge risk of being held accountable by the military headquarters and finally withdrew the remaining troops of the corps from the battlefield and ran all the way to the river. If the wooden bridge was destroyed, all these soldiers were blocked by the river and could not be returned, and finally eliminated by the National Rescue Army, Colonel Takahashi would definitely be particularly unwilling to accept it.

He raised his eyebrows and began to give an order: "Let the troops be more vigilant, and everyone is ready to go to the battlefield at any time."

"I have a premonition: the enemy who blew up the wooden bridge was still hiding nearby! They were staring at us, killing us at any time to give us a fatal attack!"

"The Third Infantry Battalion Speeds Up and immediately arrives by the river to repair the wooden bridge. The faster the better!"

Under the order of Colonel Takahashi, the Japanese army's march speed suddenly accelerated. In ten minutes, they walked nearly two kilometers and rushed to the river with corpses everywhere.

Many people from the third squadron that rushed over in advance had already jumped into the river to salvage the raw materials of the wooden bridge that fell into the water.

Colonel Takahashi's face was very serious. The bodies of the engineer squadron and dozens of infantry soldiers were in front of him. Judging from the degree of stiffness of the corpses, they were killed about two hours ago, and some soldiers were killed by artillery shells, which shows that the National Salvation Army that raided the wooden bridge was equipped with mortars.

Colonel Takahashi instantly thought of the National Salvation Army who used mortars to stop him from building a wooden bridge.

They used mortars to attack the wooden bridge from a distance, causing the raid troops to delay here for several hours before they all crossed the river.

Unexpectedly, this lingering national rescue army came again. Although it also prevented the troops from crossing the river, the meaning was obviously different.

The ultimate goal of doing this now is to take everyone's lives, and Colonel Takahashi will definitely not agree.

As soon as he sank his face, he began to give orders: "The artillery troops immediately set up all the remaining mortars, and the National Salvation Army that blew up the wooden bridge must be staring at us around! If they fired fire again and destroyed the wooden bridge we built, the artillery troops must fight back and kill them as soon as possible!"

"The chariot brigade and all the remaining troops are ready to cross the river. After the wooden bridge is set up, hurry up and cross the river. The faster the speed, the better."

Zhou Cheng was indeed hiding on a mountain bag less than two kilometers away from him, as Colonel Takahashi analyzed, holding a telescope to look for fighter planes.

In order to repair the wooden bridge as soon as possible, the Japanese prepared a large number of torches to illuminate the riverside like in the daytime, so Colonel Takahashi's every move could not escape Zhou Cheng's eyes.

Seeing the Japanese mortars erecting by the river, Zhou Cheng's eyes suddenly lit up.

Chen Zhengyu and Mingrui captured this change and immediately asked: "Captain, is the fighter plane to counterattack the Japanese?"

Zhou Cheng did not respond and directly ordered with a serious expression: "Notify the artillery troops that the tasks of the two heavy mortar companies will not change. Let's blow up the official road first, and then fire in places with a large number of Japanese people on the battlefield!"

"All ordinary mortars aimed at the artillery positions just established by the Japanese army, and blew up the Japanese there, and there was no way to fight back against us in a short time."

"After three minutes, all artillery units fired artillery, infantry attacked, approaching the Japanese. Once the artillery was over, they immediately launched a counterattack on the remaining Japanese by the river, forcing them to give up the chariot brigade and swim across the river!"

Colonel Takahashi personally guarded the riverside and urged the troops to repair the wooden bridge. He glanced at his watch from time to time, and his expression was very anxious.

The main force of the National Salvation Army is already on the way to reinforce Yangquan. If they arrive early and the troops they command have not crossed the river, the ending of us that welcoming ourselves will definitely be the destruction of the entire army.

Colonel Takahashi shook his head, putting those bad ideas behind his head, and looking at the Chief of Staff, he was anxious to order: The repair speed of the wooden bridge is too slow, and the speed of the Third Battalion needs to be accelerated!"

The chief of staff quickly took the order, turned around and had no time to step out of his right foot, an explosion of "Room..." sounded not far away, sounding like thunder, and his ears were buzzing.

"Boom boom boom boom..." Before the Chief of Staff could react from the sudden accident, more than ten explosions suddenly came from the pipeline not far away. More than a dozen orange-red fireballs mixed with rolling smoke rose into the air on the official road, illuminating the surroundings like in the daytime.

With the bounce point as the center, all soldiers within a radius of 10 or 20 meters were blown up. Some fell to the ground and some fell to the ground and screamed...

At this time, the Chief of Staff was truly frightened. He was so shocked that he almost jumped up from the ground and immediately ordered the guards: "The ambush of the National Salvation Army is indeed hidden around us? The artillery troops counterattack immediately, and be sure to turn defeat into victory for me and kill the National Salvation Army that sneaked into attacks us!"

"The guards' protection wing captain is transferred, it's too dangerous here!"

"Boom..." Before the Chief of Staff had finished speaking, a series of explosions that were denser than before, but much smaller than before, suddenly came from the artillery position.

More than a dozen groups of fireballs, much smaller, soared into the air in the black-waste artillery positions, like gorgeous fireworks, looking particularly dazzling.

Although these shells are not as powerful as the large-caliber shells fired at the beginning of the heavy mortar company.

But the Japanese on the artillery positions were half-squatting on the ground, and there was no way to hide around them, which was equivalent to half of their bodies being exposed to the flying rain of bullets.

After more than a dozen mortar shells exploded, countless pieces of shells flew everywhere, intertwined with each other, sweeping across the entire battlefield like a storm.

Almost all the Japanese gunners who exposed half of their bodies were affected!

The more lucky gunner was hit by a piece of fragments and did not hit the vital point.

The Japanese gunner, who was less lucky, was directly hit by several fragments, and his body was covered with blood. He could hardly see a complete piece of skin, and he was blown away on the spot and his life was killed!

The guards reacted very quickly. The Chief of Staff woke them up from the condom with a loud shout. The recent guards immediately rushed towards the corps captain and used their bodies to block the shells that might have flew over around them. The two guards rushed directly to Colonel Takahashi, and carried him on the left and right and ran to a concave not far away, intending to avoid the sudden artillery fire there.

When the transfer was made, Colonel Takahashi's eyes were not idle. He first looked at the artillery position that could counterattack immediately, and then a look of disappointment appeared on his face.

The mortar fires very fast. The artillery troops were attacked before they could counterattack. They were hit by three rounds of shells. In the blink of an eye, they exploded there and the gunpowder was filled with fire.

Faced with the increasingly dense rain of artillery shells, the fool knew that the artillery positions under his feet could not be kept at any longer, otherwise he would be a living target for the artillery troops of the National Savior Army.

As a result, the Japanese living on the position carried mortar parts and followed their commanders to the places where they were not bombarded, causing the entire artillery position to quickly become a mess, and the order could not be restored in a short period of time, let alone counterattacking the national rescue army.

The chariot brigade and the remaining infantry stayed on the road further away. Each large-caliber shell falling from the sky would take away many soldiers' lives. An armored vehicle was hit by a shell and overturned on the spot...

Colonel Takahashi became more and more shocked as he saw it, and at the same time overturned the judgment of his opponent in his heart.

After learning that the wooden bridge was destroyed, the first thing he thought of was the National Salvation Army who had prevented him from building the wooden bridge, because they were also equipped with a lot of mortars.

But judging from the current battle situation, this National Salvation Army is definitely not the troops that prevented themselves from building wooden bridges before, because their equipment level and artillery fire strength are much stronger than the National Salvation Army I encountered before.

Colonel Takahashi became more and more shocked as he saw it. When he racked his brains to think about ways to break the situation, the artillery staff suddenly caught up and reported.

"Sir, the enemy who attacked us is equipped with large caliber mortars, with at least sixteen. If a chariot is hit by the shells they shot, one can destroy one of our chariots!"

"The troops must leave here immediately, otherwise the national rescue army can destroy all our troops and tanks with just artillery shells!"

After hearing this, Colonel Takahashi's face became even worse. He stared at the communications staff and asked: "You are sure that the National Salvation Army uses large-caliber mortars, and there are two artillery companies' equipment!"

"Hayi, I dare to use my own head to guarantee it!" Seeing that the commander did not believe it, the artillery staff directly used his head to establish a military order.

Colonel Takahashi believed it and suddenly became desperate, shouting with an incredible look: "How is this possible? Shouldn't the heavy artillery troops of the National Salvation Army be pacified? Why did they run here so quickly? How did they do it? Could it be that the main force of the National Salvation Army has reached Yangquan!"

No one can answer Colonel Takahashi's question.

Because not only him, including the Chief of Staff, everyone was stunned by the bad news, and even if they wanted to break their heads, they couldn't figure out the reason.

"Sir, a large number of national-savior troops suddenly appeared on our left wing, and they were quickly coming towards us. The firepower and offensive were very strong!" A second lieutenant suddenly ran over and looked at Colonel Takahashi with a panic report.

"How many of them are there?" Seeing that the captain of the corps did not speak, the chief of staff crossed directly and asked anxiously.

"There are hundreds of people, almost one battalion of troops!" The second lieutenant quickly reported.

When the Chief of Staff was about to continue asking, another second lieutenant hurriedly ran towards them, and before he could stand firm, he reported with fear: "Sir, there is a National Salvation Army on our right wing, and there is at least one battalion of troops, and he is quickly rushing towards us!"

The two sudden accidents made everyone even more panicked. The Chief of Staff forced himself to calm down and used his last bit of rationality to analyze Colonel Takahashi: "Sir, the National Salvation Army defending Yangquan County has not left the city. Then the National Salvation Army that appeared around us must be the main force of the National Salvation Army who came to pacify and kill!"

"They blew up the wooden bridge, blocked us by the river, and sent troops to surround us and eliminate us!"

"I think everyone must cross the river immediately, otherwise the raid troops will die here!"

The heavy artillery troops that suddenly appeared on the battlefield, as well as the main force of the National Salvation Army that suddenly emerged from both wings of the troops, must not belong to the Yangquan Garrison of the National Salvation Army, so they could only be the reinforcements sent by the National Salvation Army from the Punishment Army.

Colonel Takahashi couldn't figure out how they had taken a few hours to cross fifty or sixty kilometers to get here, but he agreed with the Chief of Staff's analysis just now.

The raid troops have been surrounded by the National Savior Army here. If everyone cannot cross the river quickly, the encirclement of the National Savior Army will shrink and smaller, the chance of everyone breaking out will become smaller and smaller, and they will eventually be eliminated here.

But the wooden bridge has not been restored yet, and the only way for everyone to cross the river is to swim, but the chariot brigade cannot swim.

If you choose to swim across the river, you will have to leave all the remaining tanks and armored vehicles in the chariot brigade. This is too expensive. Even Colonel Takahashi, as the leader of the regiment, would not dare to give up more than a dozen chariots rashly.

The Chief of Staff saw the concerns of the corps captain at a glance, and pointed at his subordinates who were constantly killed and injured in the artillery fire.

"Sir, give orders, but He and we all will die here!"

Colonel Takahashi looked in the direction of the Chief of Staff’s finger and suddenly reacted.

The choice left for me now is not whether I can save more than a dozen chariots in the chariot brigade, but whether I can save more than a thousand soldiers remaining on the battlefield.

Given the chariots and swim across the river, these more than a thousand infantry soldiers still have the opportunity to rush out of the national rescue military defense zone.

If we were reluctant to give up the chariot, we would delay a few more minutes here and these soldiers would not be able to rush out.

This is a multiple-choice question that doesn't need to be thought about. As long as Colonel Takahashi is not a fool, he will choose to give up the chariot brigade swimming across the river.

Under the anxious waiting of the Chief of Staff, the captain of the wing finally spoke.

Seeing the murderous orders of his subordinates: "I inform the troops to swim across the river, and the chariot brigade gave up all equipment and swam with the infantry."

"But we must not let the equipment left by the chariot brigade fall into the hands of the National Salvation Army for their use."

"After ordering the chariot brigade to give up the chariot, it is necessary to destroy all equipment!"

As soon as Colonel Takahashi finished speaking, the guard next to him took him to the river.

When the order to abandon the chariot and swim across the river was passed to the chariot brigade, the mobile battalion on the flank attack had already reached the near the official road.

The large-caliber mortar shells still hit the pipes like it was raining, causing panic among the chariots.

After receiving the retreat order, the Japanese seemed to have caught a life-saving straw in despair. Without saying a word, they got out of the chariot and ran to the river, fearing that the nearby national rescue troops would come to kill them.

As for destroying the chariot, many Japanese devils chose to ignore it in the face of life and death.

The surrounding national rescue troops were rushing closer and closer, and bullets were already hitting the chariot, making a crisp metal impact sound. Everyone delayed this for an extra second, and maybe they wouldn't have the chance to swim across the river.

Moreover, the battle situation was so tense that the commander retreated faster than them, and no one came to check whether they destroyed the chariots.

So, most of the dozen chariots brought by the Japanese to the river were preserved intact.
Chapter completed!