Five minutes passed quickly. Mountain artillery and heavy mortars fired more than 400 shells on each high ground.
Every time an explosion is heard, a large amount of floating soil will be blown up on the top of the mountain.
Li Hao felt that the height of the hilltop had been reduced by at least half a meter in the explosion just now.
In addition to the crater caused by the artillery shell, there must be one meter.
"Captain, it should be soon!" Hong Linfeng reminded with his eyes shining.
Li Hao also became excited and stared at the battlefield order: "All offensive troops and light mortars are ready for assault. The Japanese and puppet troops on the top of the mountain will start attacking as soon as they get on the ground plane. I will kill all the troops on the high ground in one battle."
Japanese and puppet troops.”
After another two minutes, an orange-red fireball soared into the sky from the top of the mountain.
The fireball was so big, dozens of meters high.
The orange-red flames, thick gunpowder smoke, and rolled up smoke were like a storm, quickly sweeping around and shrouding the puppet troops for many days.
It took another three seconds before an explosion like the earth was shaking reached everyone's ears.
Li Hao immediately ordered: "Chief of Staff, send a signal to the attacking troops now to start the attack..."
After the first line of defense was breached, the second line of defense where the commander was hiding immediately became the first line of defense.
Too dangerous.
The squadron leader and group leader in the team... are not worried about him continuing to stay here.
In order to allow his men to fight with peace of mind, the commander of the regiment could only move to the third release line that was still under construction.
Unfortunately, the place where he stayed was the closest to the top of the mountain.
The moment the explosive exploded, he was immediately enveloped in billowing smoke and orange-red flames.
He was shocked to death without saying a word.
At the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, the commander was pacing back and forth in the room, very anxious.
In the telecommunications room next to the headquarters, two operators wore earphones and constantly used the radio to call the two front-line mopping up troops.
But no matter how they called, there was no response from the other party.
The deputy chief of staff stood behind them, asking every five minutes if they had received a call back.
Each time I came back disappointed.
I glanced at my watch and saw that the hour hand was already pointing to three o'clock in the morning. It had been almost two hours since the central sweep troops broke through.
Knowing that the army commander was also waiting for news at the headquarters, he immediately ordered: "You continue to call, and I will report to the army commander."
He walked to the army commander with his head lowered, shook his head and reported: "Your Excellency, army commander, we haven't contacted the central mopping up troops yet."
"More than an hour ago, the East Road mopping up troops who were under siege in Wushan'ao also lost contact. No matter how they called the radio, there was no response from several radio stations equipped by the East Road mopping up troops."
"Something must have happened to them!" the military commander replied, staring at the sand table with a gloomy face.
The deputy chief of staff also had this hunch, but he did not dare to admit it or believe this fact.
The total strength of the two mopping up troops exceeds 11,000. If the garrison regiment has the strength to swallow up so many troops at once, why not fight this battle during the previous mopping up battle.
If they had fought like this, their base area would not have been burned down by mopping up troops so many villages.
This is what the Deputy Chief of Staff most confused about.
But if they didn't have an accident, why did so many radio stations lose contact together?
If it's a coincidence, this is definitely smaller than the chance of pie in the sky.
Seeing that the expression on the commander's face was getting heavier and heavier, the deputy chief of staff was filled with confusion and didn't know how to comfort him.
At this moment, a communications chief of staff ran in with excitement on his face and began to report from a distance: "Sir, the troops who broke out from Pingshui Town have received a call back."
"It was a telegram from a brigade captain. He commanded an infantry squad to successfully break through and escape the pursuit of the Eighth Route Army."
"Where is their commander?" the deputy chief of staff grabbed the telegram and asked expectantly while reading it.
"Not found!" the communications officer replied with his head lowered.
At this time, the deputy chief of staff had already read the telegram in his hand, and the look of expectation on his face immediately disappeared, and he regained his dignity.
Report to the commander.
"Your Excellency, Army Commander, the one who successfully broke through was the captain of the second brigade of the central mopping up force. He only waited for more than 300 people at the agreed assembly point."
"None of his wing captain, wing chief of staff, and other group captains successfully broke through."
The commander had already anticipated this result, and his expression did not change much.
The deputy chief of staff looked at him in confusion and asked, "Did the telegram say anything about why they fought like this?"
"According to the planned breakout plan, as long as there are no accidents, the troops will be able to break out at least half. Now it is only one-tenth. This disparity is too big."
The deputy chief of staff quickly handed the telegram to the army commander: "I said it."
"The garrison not only deployed a large number of heavy artillery, chariots, and cavalry on the Pingshui Town battlefield, but also deployed a lot of infantry."
"After we started to break through, the cavalry of the garrison divided into squad units to pursue us."
"The tanks are all dispersed, and each tank is protected by at least one infantry squad along the way to ensure the safety of the tank."
As a result, most of the dozens of breakout troops that dispersed were chased by cavalry and chariots."
"Their pursuit speed is too fast and their firepower is fierce, especially the tanks."
"After you kill our first line of breakout troops, you still have a chance to kill our second line of breakout troops."
"So only one-tenth of the more than 3,000 people escaped."
"Pah..." the commander punched the table in front of him and cursed through gritted teeth.
"Bagya Road, this is definitely a shame for the empire. I must make the garrison pay for it with blood!"
The chief of staff reminded: "Sir, they asked in the telegram whether the troops should continue to reinforce Wushan'ao."
"Of course I want to go!" the military commander replied without hesitation.
"There are only more than 300 of them. The possibility of successfully evacuating the garrison base by themselves is too low, almost zero."
"Only by joining the East Road mopping up troops, will they have a chance to survive?"
The deputy chief of staff asked in confusion: "But the East Road mopping up troops have lost contact, and you just said that something happened to them."
"If we let these more than 300 people be killed now, wouldn't it be a waste of time and meaningless?"
The military commander answered confidently: "It must be meaningful, otherwise I wouldn't let them pass."
"More than 300 people retreating alone will definitely not be able to get out of the garrison base. Since they can't survive, then before they die in battle, help us figure out what happened in Wushan'ao? How were the East Road mopping up troops killed by the garrison."
"In case they still have troops surviving, joining the two troops together can increase the chance of them running out of the garrison base."
The chief of staff was dumbfounded. He didn't expect the army commander to say such a thing.
In his eyes, the more than 300 imperial troops who successfully broke through were already dead, and what he had to do now was to make their deaths more meaningful.
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