The Japanese squadron leader Lieutenant Yoshino's request for artillery support was quickly sent outside the town. Although Captain Ueno Murao was very dissatisfied with the slow progress of the attack, he finally nodded and allowed the artillery strike.
The two Type 92 infantry cannons were sent into the barrel with a bang as the metal friction of the shells occurred. With two "boom" sounds, the recoil generated by the shells stirred up a burst of smoke and dust, which enveloped the artillery operators, and they began to load new shells.
The shells arced across the sky in a graceful arc and fell into the river bridge. Then the ground began to tremble again, huge columns of smoke rose up, the gray tiles on the houses fell down, and the smoke filled the air.
Lao Wang leaned his head against the corner of the wall, and the dust on his head fell down, covering his body layer by layer, eventually turning into the same earth color as the wall.
The remaining soldiers held their guns and looked at the shaking tiles above their heads from time to time, fearing that they would hit their heads.
"Why are you saying that the little devil is so prodigal? He just bombards you. You don't know how to be diligent and thrifty." Old Wangtou wiped the dust with his hat while scolding the little devil as a prodigal son.
In fact, the Japanese have a complete industrial system and assembly lines to manufacture weapons and ammunition. They do not need to be frugal at all. What they care about is only their soldiers, not these shells.
Yang Ling ignored Lao Wangtou's complaints, unscrewed the kettle, and gurgled cold water down his throat, cherishing this short rest.
The Japanese only fired half of the base number of shells and then stopped. It was not that they were unwilling to continue fighting, but that after three months of fierce fighting, their ammunition consumption was too great and they could not keep up with the replenishment in a short period of time.
Lieutenant Yoshino also transferred another infantry team from his squadron to Jiangqiao Town to increase the strength of the Chinese defenders.
This time Lieutenant Yoshino learned the lesson and did not rush to pursue the guerrilla group when encountering the Chinese defenders as he had done before. Instead, he organized his men into squads as combat units, starting from South Street and dragging the net from street to house.
During the clearing campaign, their machine guns were set up on the streets and at commanding heights. As long as the defenders showed up, they would definitely not get any favors.
Several guerrilla groups continued to fight the Japs as they had done before, but as soon as they emerged, the Japs' machine guns from the commanding heights came over, forcing them to retreat and hide.
However, the Japs are clearing them out from street to house, and the living space of the defenders is constantly being compressed. Soon, the Japs will push them into a corner, and they will be unable to resist.
Liu Yidao led several soldiers holding swords over a wall and landed in a dilapidated courtyard. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a gun sticking out of the window, which frightened him to death.
"Platoon Leader Liu?" Lao Wangtou stretched his head out of the window and shouted at Liu Yidao who was hiding behind the water tank.
Liu Yidao heard a familiar voice, raised his head and saw Lao Wangtou's dusty face, and cursed: "Old Wangtou, why are you hiding in this lump? I was scared to death. I thought they were Japanese soldiers.
.”
Liu Yidao and several brothers quickly entered the house where Yang Ling and others were hiding, and the two guerrilla groups took turns.
"Weren't you fighting in the east, and you came here like this?" Lao Wangtou looked at the embarrassed few people and approached them and asked.
"We were not forced by the little devils. They were clearing house after house. The machine guns were set up upstairs over there. As soon as we showed our heads, we would be shot. We couldn't shoot over there."
Yang Ling frowned when he heard Liu Yidao's narration. No wonder they had been lying in wait here for a long time and there was no movement from the Japanese. They learned their lesson and started to clear out the enemy with a net.
A strong sense of crisis enveloped Yang Ling's heart. If the situation continued as expected, they would be forced out by the Japanese sooner or later, and then the situation would be really doomed.
Yang Ling stood up with a gun in hand: "We must break the enemy's game, otherwise we won't survive."
"There are ghosts everywhere and we can't get out, so how can we break through?"
Yang Ling's eyes passed over the roof with a big hole, and pointed in the east direction: "The dragnet-style clearing must have been the idea of the Japs commander. As long as we kill the Japs commander, then the situation will naturally be over. As long as we kill the Japs commander, the situation will be over."
If we hold on until dark, I guess the order to retreat will come out. There is no need for us to fight with the Japanese here, as long as we hold on until dark."
Liu Yidao scratched his dusty head: "Easier said than done. Now the streets are full of Japanese soldiers. How do we know where the Japanese commander is?"
Yang Ling pondered for a moment and then analyzed: "The Japs came from the east, and their infantry artillery is also on the east side of the town. I guess their commander is on the east side of the town."
"But there must be a large number of Japs around the Japs Commander. It would be useless for a few of us to go there."
"How will you know if you don't try." Yang Ling said, holding the gun and walking out of the door.
"Mom, just give it a try!" Seeing Yang Ling and the others filing out, Liu Yidao gritted his teeth and followed with his brothers.
…
Japanese Lieutenant Yoshino led a large number of Japanese soldiers to conduct a search in a leisurely and unhurried manner. The outside of the town was already surrounded by the friendly Takahashi Squadron. The Chinese defenders in the town were like grasshoppers after the autumn. The trapped beasts still fight.
That's all.
The Japanese infantry used teams and groups as combat units, covering each other and clearing the streets. Every house, street corner, and firewood pile was not spared, leaving a mess everywhere.
According to Lieutenant Yoshino, let alone the Chinese army hiding, not even a mouse could escape their carpet-like search.
Facing the insidious advance of the Japanese and compressing their living space, the various guerrilla groups hiding in the town felt more and more restricted. Although they shot the Japanese coldly, they would capsize if they were not careful because the Japanese soldiers reacted quickly and their marksmanship was accurate.
Just as Liu Ming, the deputy of the supplementary regiment, was frowning because of the Japanese's carpet search, a soldier with a jet-black face rushed to Liu Ming with a gun in hand.
"Regimental deputy, Captain Yang has led people to the headquarters of the Japanese soldiers. He asked us to use firepower to contain the Japanese soldiers and cover them."
"The guy surnamed Yang must have gone crazy. He wants to take over the headquarters of the Japanese soldiers. I think he was taken over by the Japanese." The disgraced Li Tiezhu suddenly started shouting.
Liu Ming stood up holding the shell gun: "Order each guerrilla group to take action, take the initiative to attack the Japanese, and attract firepower."
Li Tiezhu grabbed Liu Ming and said, "Vice-General, did you really listen to that man named Yang?"
"How will you know if you don't try? What if he succeeds?"
Liu Ming now has an inexplicable trust in Yang Ling, mainly because he led his people to destroy the Japanese advance team and proposed street fighting guerrillas that were also good, so he habitually chose to trust Yang Ling.