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The escort team had first-rate skills. The probability of a Type 58 grenade being detected by the Japanese detectors was less than percent. Yet these guys were so mean as to bury some small pieces of iron in a pit in order to confuse the Japanese.

Xu Le even saw Xu 110 shitting in a pit. Such a disgusting behavior, Xu Le directly liked it.

In such a confusing situation, the Japanese thought they had cleared all the mines, but they triggered a minefield every time they walked a distance. Every time a mine exploded, seven or eight people were killed or injured, half of whom were Japanese engineers.

From the outer defense positions of Zhaozhuang to the second line of defense in the middle, the Japanese lost more than half of an infantry battalion and several armored vehicles.

But the Japanese had to move forward because Zhaozhuang was in the heart of their jurisdiction and they had to ensure the safety of their surroundings.

Otherwise, when Zhaozhuang was captured by the 176th Division, the Japanese would not have gathered troops to counterattack so quickly.

Until the Japanese occupied Zhaozhuang completely, they did not find anyone except a small number of wide wheel marks, which were all circling within a certain range and did not extend outward.

This was of course left behind by the soldiers of the 666th Regiment while practicing driving.

The iron mine was emptied, all the equipment was gone, no information about the enemy was found, and an entire battalion of troops was lost, with almost all the armored vehicles and tanks damaged.

The most important thing is that not all the casualties were killed in the explosion. Two-thirds were injured. This indirectly caused at least 3000 people to be affected because people had to be transferred to take care of the injured.

"Well, that's not bad! I actually gained 1000 military merit points. I didn't do anything, but I still gained something. Not bad!"

Xu Le checked the military merit points on his personal panel. From the increased amount, he could roughly see the damage done to the Japanese.

"Xu Da, how far are we to Nan Yao Village? What's the situation of the other troops?"

"Young Marshal, we moved on the 1st. We have been crossing mountains and rivers for the past few days. It is now the 10th day. We only need half a day to reach Nanyao Village!

The main force is marching faster. They have already arrived at the mountain village, Baozidong and the surrounding areas of Nanyao two days ago. They have prepared all the offensive deployments. The division headquarters is temporarily deployed in the mountain village. They are just waiting for your order, and the troops can start to encircle Meidong Mountain!"

"It took us so long to reach the destination, just over 100 kilometers away. Fortunately, I put all the vehicles into the space. The heaviest equipment in the army is the disassembled mountain artillery.

These places are all enemy-occupied areas. The longer the troops stay here, the more likely it is that something unexpected will happen. Inform Brigade Commander Jiang to launch a general offensive at dusk today and try to end the battle before dawn!"

"Yes!"

.....

On the evening of August 8, the general attack on Meidong Mountain began!

The three regiments first opened fire with their artillery battalions, launching a fierce attack on the mountain village, Baozidong and Nanyao strongholds. The troops wanted to encircle Meidong Mountain and control the transportation lines, so these three strongholds had to be taken as a priority.

There were a total of 108 mountain cannons, which made the Japanese completely confused!

You have to know that the artillery regiment of a Japanese packhorse division only has 48 artillery pieces. This is enough to make the Japanese proud. When have they ever endured such fierce artillery fire?

Moreover, the defense of a stronghold is different from the defense of a city. There are only a small number of troops stationed there, and they are troops with weak combat effectiveness. The number of people is also relatively small. At most, there is a squadron of Japanese devils and puppet troops.

After the bombardment, it took less than half an hour to occupy three strongholds.

Subsequently, the three regiments were divided into two parts under the leadership of Jiang Feng. One part built defensive fortifications at the stronghold, while the other part quickly launched a fierce attack on the Meidongshan Iron Mine.

Because the battle was taking place in the mountains, the M1 mortar, which was small in size, light in weight, and had a flexible firing angle, finally demonstrated its power.

It seemed that because Meidong Mountain was close to Pu County, there were only two squadrons of Japanese troops stationed in Meidong Mountain. The strongest firepower they were equipped with was only two Type 2 infantry guns, but there were dozens of heavy machine guns.

But this was not enough in front of the 176th Division. One battalion was enough to deal with it, not to mention the main force siege of three regiments.

Xu Le never dreamed that he had been planning and discussing for so long, thinking about how to fight in order to win.

Jiang Feng, in particular, thought that it would be troublesome to capture Meidong Mountain, so he was hesitant at the beginning.

It was not yet midnight until all the Japanese were wiped out and Meidong Mountain was completely occupied. It only took three hours from the beginning of the battle against the stronghold to the end.

Half of the time was spent marching towards the center.

"If I had known this, why would I be so hesitant? I should have just suggested this to the young commander in the morning, instead of rushing to hold a meeting..."

Jiang Feng sighed as he stood in the Japanese command post on Meidong Mountain.

Liu Quanhua said: "That's what I said. When it's time to fight, we should fight. Why worry about this and that?"

Wang Dafu seldom stood on Liu Quanhua's side: "Yes, Lao Jiang, since the establishment of the three major departments in the army, you have focused all your energy on them, so you don't know the current strength of our army, so you are cautious, and it's not your fault. How are you now? You commanded the battle from beginning to end this time. What do you think?"

They are the only ones who can handle the issue equally and the regiment commander dares to point out the problems of the brigade commander.

Jiang Feng also breathed a sigh of relief again: "Yes, I have been in the rear for too long, and I don't even know my own troops! I guess, the strength of one of your regiments can fight against the Japanese brigade!"

"No, no, no!" Liu Quanhua waved his hand in denial: "If we don't count the support, in a one-on-one fight, the firepower of one of our regiments can be comparable to that of a four-unit division of the Japanese. Although we can't destroy them, they can't do anything to us either. If we fight hard, we will both suffer losses!"

"That's right. If we calculate further, it will be no problem for one of our battalions to take down a Japanese infantry regiment. The gap between our regiment and the Japanese division is the lack of heavy firepower and armored vehicles!"

"Yes, although the Japanese infantry divisions do not have armored units, they are equipped with a small number of armored vehicles and tanks, as well as large-caliber rapid-fire artillery. Our troops do not have the equipment to deal with them, so we are at a disadvantage in this regard!"

.....

The three regiment commanders and Jiang Feng had a lot of discussions about this battle. Although there were four people, there were actually only three people, because the commander of the 4th Regiment, Zhen Zhiying, was promoted from the position of battalion commander of the original unit, and he did not come from the initial warlord period with Jiang Feng and others, so he did not dare to interrupt casually.

"By the way, where is the young commander now?"

"The young marshal had already arrived at Nan Yao in the afternoon. He said he would not participate in this command. He should be here soon."

Jiang Feng said, and suddenly pointed to a place not far away and said: "Look, the young commander is here!"