Chapter 241 Li Yunlong: You Didn't Joke With Lao Tzu
While both the enemy and ourselves were making final arrangements for tonight's decisive battle, in a hilly area three kilometers away from Jinniu Mountain, Huang Yu was leading an engineer platoon to experiment with the newly developed flying thunder cannon.
Kong Jie, Li Yunlong, and Ding Wei stood aside, looking at the explosive bag the size of a millstone, the gun barrel made of gasoline barrels, and the boss with his mouth open. They were so shocked that they didn't react for a while.
"Huang Yu... aren't these gasoline barrels the trump card you're talking about?" Li Yunlong thought he had seen a big joke. He patted the thin iron sheet of the gasoline barrel and asked with disdain.
"It's not that I look down on these gasoline barrels..."
"The iron sheet is so thin that if you throw a few grenades into it, it can blow it into scrap metal. Can it be used as a gun barrel?"
"As long as the amount of propellant is controlled, safety will definitely be fine!"
Then he said to Kong Jie: "Captain, for the sake of safety, you should step back thirty meters first... I will arrange for someone to practice our new weapon for you: the flying thunder cannon!"
The operation of the flying thunder cannon is very simple...
Place the propellant, insert the fuse, put a baffle close to the inner wall of the oil barrel, and finally put in an explosive package the size of a millstone...
Ignite the explosive pack and propellant pack fuse at the same time!
If the fuse of the propellant package is shorter, it will explode first, and the huge thrust generated by the combustion will push the explosive package out instantly...
When it was about to land, the fuse of the explosive pack burned to the end, and an explosion occurred...
A loud "Boom..." sounded like thunder to the ears of Kong Jie and the others, leaving them dumbfounded...
"Huang Yu is such a genius... He can transform a gasoline barrel into a cannon. It's amazing!" Li Yunlong reacted from the shock and said with envy.
As soon as Kong Jie heard the tone of Li Yunlong's words, he knew that he was trying to win over Huang Yu again, and quickly reminded him: "Old Li... look at it, don't play tricks on me..."
"Xiao Huang is from an independent group, there is absolutely no way he will join your new second group!"
Then he walked towards Huang Yu: "Xiao Huang, please introduce to us this murder weapon...how do you plan to use it to attack Jinniu Mountain!"
"Report to the leader, I call this weapon a flying thunder cannon..."
"A thunder cannon is made from two gasoline barrels!"
"Through the engineers' precise calculations, we have developed three propellants that can launch the explosive package to 150 meters, 200 meters, and 250 meters respectively!"
"Each explosive package is filled with twenty kilograms of high explosives, which is more powerful than heavy artillery shells. As long as it falls next to the bunker built by the Japanese, even if it cannot directly destroy the bunker, the powerful shock wave will kill the Japanese inside.
"
"If the amount of gunpowder in the explosive package is reduced and the overall weight is reduced to fifteen kilograms, the range can be increased by fifty meters..."
"The weight is reduced to ten kilograms, and the range can be increased by one hundred meters!"
"So the maximum range of the flying thunder cannon can reach 350 meters..."
When attacking Jinniushan, first cover the Japanese positions with artillery fire and blow up the small Japanese on the surface. Then the infantry assaults, establish a defense line 150 to 200 meters away from the Japanese, and kill the Japanese hiding in the bunker.
Force them all out!"
"Flying thunder cannons are mounted behind the attacking troops. Two or three cannons are aimed at a bunker and fire continuously. Even if a blind cat kills a mouse, two or three rounds of explosive packets can still destroy the target..."
Li Yunlong immediately made a calculation: "One explosive pack packs twenty kilograms of gunpowder, and ten explosive packs weigh two hundred kilograms... If we can use two hundred kilograms of gunpowder to destroy a bunker and kill seven or eight Japanese soldiers, we will not lose this battle!"
Ding Wei's eyes lit up and he answered: "Not only did I not lose money, I also made a lot of money!"
"Without thunder cannons, we use the old method of blasting. Facing the cross fire from the Japanese, we may not be able to capture the bunker even if we lose even one platoon!"
"With the flying thunder cannon, soldiers can take it down without charging into battle..."
"Destroying a bunker will cost you at least one platoon of soldiers!"
"Don't talk about two hundred kilograms of gunpowder, even if you use five hundred kilograms of gunpowder to exchange the lives of a platoon, it is still worthwhile!"
After saying that, he turned his attention to Huang Yu and said with excitement: "How many flying thunder cannons can you build before dark..."
"The Japanese have built at least thirty bunkers halfway up the mountain... If the number of flying thunder cannons is too small, I'm afraid we won't have enough time to attack Jinniu Mountain!"
Huang Yu quickly replied: "Captain Ding, don't worry, flying thunder cannons are easy to produce!"
"If there are enough gasoline barrels, we can produce forty or fifty doors without any problem!"
"But the empty oil barrels we brought from Taiyuan are limited. We can only produce twenty-four thunder cannons at most!"
Kong Jie suddenly interrupted: "That's enough..."
"According to the way you played just now, three flying thunder cannons can attack a bunker, and twenty-four flying thunder cannons can attack eight bunkers at once. At most, four attacks can blow up all thirty bunkers!"
Li Yunlong immediately interjected: "Kong Er is stupid...you can't eat alone!"
"When we take Jinniu Mountain and successfully break through and retreat to the base area... I must divide the flying thunder cannons created by Xiao Huang into eight... and tell me the amount of propellant and the method of producing explosive packets..."
Kong Jie laughed and scolded directly: "Well, you old Li, before the attack has even started, you are thinking of dividing the spoils!"
"Don't worry, I, Kong Jie, have never been a solitary eater..."
"As long as the flying thunder cannon is useful, I will tell you how to make it when I return to the base...and report it to the brigade and headquarters by the way for promotion throughout the army!"
"Our Eighth Route Army is most lacking in heavy siege weapons. If the flying thunder cannon can really destroy the bunker from a long distance, it will definitely greatly reduce the losses of our Eighth Route Army!"
At six o'clock in the afternoon, the last batch of planes left the battlefield.
The Eighth Route Army, which had been hiding for a day, gradually emerged from their hiding spots and began to assemble towards Jinniu Mountain. The battle was about to break out.
The Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, Yoshio Shinozuka, also focused all their attention on this battle.
The radio stations contacting the three brigades have been sending and receiving telegrams to inquire about their latest progress...
The chief of staff is not idle either and is busy compiling the latest battle reports sent by the aviation force...
Information sent by the intelligence department was also continuously collected into his hands.
Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger.
If you want to stop the Eighth Route Army and annihilate them in Jinniu Mountain, you must first find out their true strength.
"Your Excellency, Commander, after on-site investigation and confirmation by the intelligence department, all aviation units reported... During the day today, we bombed a total of eleven Eighth Route Army hiding spots!" the chief of staff put down his pen and walked to Yoshio Shinozuka to report.
"Three of the hiding spots hide the Eighth Route Army artillery units..."
"A total of ten mountain guns and infantry guns were destroyed, and more than twenty mortars were destroyed!"
"Is this true?" Yoshio Shinozuka suppressed his excitement and stared at the chief of staff and asked anxiously.
"It was confirmed by intelligence personnel who risked their lives on the battlefield. There must be no problem!" the chief of staff replied firmly.
"Other hiding spots must have also lost a lot of artillery. The total should be no less than ten!"
"Yoshi..." Yoshio Shinozuka's face suddenly lit up with joy.
I am very happy to analyze: "The Eighth Route Army captured a large number of artillery pieces in Taiyuan and Jinzhong. The total number of artillery pieces of various calibers should exceed 80."
"If we really destroy more than 40 artillery pieces during the daytime bombing, their artillery strength will be directly halved!"
"In previous deductions, the artillery strength between the enemy and ours was about the same. Now that the artillery strength of the independent regiment has been halved, the artillery strength of the Jinniushan blocking force can completely crush the Eighth Route Army's offensive force!"
"With good artillery, the three brigades can not only block the Eighth Route Army's attack, but also severely damage them at the minimum cost!"
"Create conditions for gathering and annihilating the Eighth Route Army from behind!"
"Communications staff officer, immediately inform the Jinniushan garrison of this good news."
"Let them designate a battle plan immediately..."
"After the Eighth Route Army begins its attack, it must first find a way to destroy all their artillery."
The chief of staff did not raise any objection after listening.
The statistical results in hand have been confirmed by the aviation and intelligence departments, so there must be no problem.
Since the Jinniushan blocking force has overwhelming artillery firepower, it must take a preemptive strike and kill the Eighth Route Army artillery force first.
Not only was there nothing wrong with Yoshio Shinozuka's order just now, it was actually very timely and accurate!
After the communications staff officer left, he continued to report: "The remaining eight troop hiding spots bombed by the aviation force are all infantry..."
"There are a lot of lurking posts hidden in the surrounding area, making it difficult for our intelligence personnel to get close to the bombing site!"
"However, a few intelligence agents risked their lives to get closer and found a large number of "bodies" of the Eighth Route Army killed in the bombing."
"It can be concluded from this that during the day today, the aviation force's casualties to the Eighth Route Army should be no less than a thousand!"
"Yoshi..." The smile on Shinozuka Yoshio's face grew stronger... and he became more and more confident about tonight's decisive battle.
At this time, the three protagonists of the Eighth Route Army also began to make final preparations for tonight's attack.
Ding Wei first said: "Lao Kong, according to your suggestion, I took all the mortars and infantry artillery that were destroyed in the ambush last night and moved them to false positions for the Japanese to blow up. I also deliberately released water so that the two Japanese intelligence officers could see that they were being destroyed.
Exploded weapons..."
"I guess this good news has been delivered to Yoshio Shinozuka!"
Li Yunlong was not to be outdone and said: "I also prepared a dozen damaged artillery pieces for the little devil!"
"If Yoshio Shinozuka really believes that our artillery has been severely damaged, tonight's artillery battle will definitely create a huge surprise for him!"
Kong Jie answered confidently: "Yoshio Shinozuka has no reason not to believe it!"
"No matter how cautious he is, he has no reason to doubt what his subordinates see!"
"And he is in urgent need of a victory to boost his morale. When this good news is delivered to him, he is too late to be happy, and he will definitely not doubt it!"
"To put it bluntly, even if he wants to doubt it, he can't find a reason!"
"As long as the Japanese believe that we have lost more than half of our artillery strength, we will be able to catch the Japanese artillery by surprise in tonight's artillery battle!"
"Destroy the Japanese artillery force. Under the cover of absolute artillery fire, Xiao Huang's flying thunder cannon can hit the bunker at close range, increasing the hit rate... Capture Jinniu Mountain at the minimum cost and as quickly as possible, and break through the last blockade of our return to the base area.
Wire!"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
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