Chapter 260 Battle with Hezhou

At 8:55, Chen Mingshu's artillery team fired on time.

When he heard the gunshots of the patrol team twenty minutes ago, he realized that Hezhou was being attacked. The patrol battalion commander Li Zhiting ordered the whole city to be martial law, and dispatched a battalion troops to set up defenses on the official road from Hejie to Hezhou to delay the pace of the enemy's attack and gain more time for the rest of the troops to form defense lines in the city. Li Zhiting forced the requisition of the county people to dig a gully on the only street, robbed several barrels of butter and coal, and poured them into the gully. This street connects the east and west ends of the county town. If the enemy charges from here, it will be able to penetrate the city in less than twenty minutes, so it must block here.

Li Zhiting didn't know how many enemies there were outside the city. The patrol team was frightened to escape when they encountered firefights. The only news they found was that He Street was really occupied. In addition, he didn't even know what the enemy's accent was. He didn't dare to take risks, so he decided to waste it by street fighting. After blocking the streets in the city, if the enemy wanted to break through any urban area in the east and west, he could only detour from the alleys on both sides of the street, and at that time he happened to be ambushed.

The combat route arranged by Wei Rucon was to attack from the east to the west of the city. Hezhou County was an ancient county town, but the city wall was disrepaired for so long, leaving only a dirt city wall to the east, and the city walls in other directions had long disappeared. In theory, it was easier to penetrate from any direction than the east, even a dirt city wall was a layer of defense. However, he realized that geographical factors were a serious problem, not only referring to the terrain in the city, but more importantly, his subordinates were not familiar with the journey in this area for the first time. The East City Wall connected the main road in the city from the city gate, and with the East City Wall as a reference, the route of the soldiers' attack must be clearer.

The artillery team correctly bombed a base. Under the cover of artillery fire, the first battalion advanced along the official road towards Hezhou, and the second battalion detoured from the woodlands in the southeast.

As soon as the first battalion came out of He Street, the scouts immediately discovered the enemy position not far ahead. One of the patrol battalions cuts directly across the center of the official road and sets up a "convex" defense circle. Unfortunately, time is too hasty, and this position was only temporarily built, and there is no tunnel to defend against artillery attacks. The vanguard company did not rush to launch an attack and immediately contacted the artillery team to provide artillery support.

Ten minutes later, Chen Mingshu fired two rounds of volleys at the official road, and six shells bombed the defense line of the patrol battalion to shaking. Before the patrol battalion could fill the gap in the bombing, the Guangdong vanguard company seized the opportunity to launch an attack. The first round of charge allowed the vanguard company to break into the position smoothly. Both sides almost fired a few shots and soon entered the hand-to-hand combat stage. Unfortunately, the soldiers of the patrol battalion were caught off guard, and most of the soldiers had not yet installed bayonets, so they directly allowed the Guangdong soldiers to overturn several people.

Another company of the first battalion surrounded the flanks and used the forward company to attract firepower to attack. The patrol battalion was attacked from the beginning and the end, and he was still counting on the troops in the middle to come to support him. But at this moment, the troops in the middle began to flee. The defense line collapsed instantly, and the Gui soldiers dropped their weapons and raised their hands to surrender. The entire battle lasted only half an hour, and achieved a victory in the first battle with very little losses.

A platoon of guarding prisoners was left behind. The vanguard company only rested for a few minutes and charged towards Hezhou City again. However, at this time, the vanguard company made a thinking mistake. They did not detour the East City and met the Second Battalion according to the established route. Instead, they chased the soldiers of the patrol battalion who had escaped and advanced directly from the south to Hezhou City. To the south was a low mountain, with some houses scattered. After finally crossing the mountain, they encountered a lake blocking the road ahead and lost their way. The soldiers who had escaped were nowhere to be seen.

Li Wensheng, the company commander of the Forward Company, is a student of the first phase of Huangpu. After judging the location, he immediately realized that he had taken the wrong path. Fortunately, the map marked the direction of the lake. As long as you bypass the lake and head north, you will soon reach Hezhou County. Li Wensheng walked to a hillside on the shore of the lake, took out a thousand-mile mirror and looked north. He saw a sparse hillside in front of him. If the map guides well, Hezhou City will be behind the hillside.

"Brothers, find a way to go around, and Hezhou is ahead." Li Wensheng said immediately.

At this time, Deputy Company Commander Li Wangjin hurried over and said anxiously: "Company Commander, the regiment headquarters ordered us to attack from Dongcheng. The map marked it to continue north and then go to the south of Hezhou. This is a violation of the regiment headquarters' orders."

Li Wensheng said calmly: "I know that we have taken the wrong path now. If we want to return the same route, our forward company will inevitably become a back line company. The most urgent task is to rush to Hezhou immediately and respond to the attack of the Second Battalion. We will decide as appropriate after we climb over the hillside."

Li Wangjin was a little reluctant, but when he was about to continue persuasion, Li Wensheng had already turned around and waved to the team to move forward. After sighing, he had to follow him in a muffled voice.

Finally, he bypassed the lake and climbed up the hillside. Li Wensheng looked down the hillside. Hezhou City was indeed in front. At the same time, fierce gunfire came from the east, and it was obvious that the Second Battalion and the other two companies of the First Battalion began to attack. He calmly observed the situation in the south of Hezhou. The direction of artillery teams of the previous teaching regiment was the southwest. Many houses were collapsed, and several places were still burning. The fire was not effectively controlled, and only a few soldiers and civilians were extinguishing the fire. The whole Hezhou was in chaos, and the people were fleeing to the northwest. The bustling sound reflected the panic atmosphere.

After barely recording the terrain in the south, Li Wensheng immediately ordered an assault from this direction and to reunite with other friendly forces when he arrived in the city. Deputy Company Commander Li Wangjin had no time to persuade him, and the vanguard company had already rushed down the hillside.

At the same time, the Second Battalion successfully broke through the defense line of the East City Gate and rushed into the county town first.

The battalion commander Lin Guangli stood at the gate of the earthen city wall and shouted loudly: "Did anyone see the forward company?"

The deputy company commander of the Third Company ran over, wiped the blood and sweat from his face, and gasped and said, "Report to the battalion commander, after we took the intersection just now, I saw the forward company heading south."

Lin Guangli frowned and said in shock and angrily: "What? Who the hell asked them to go to the south? The regiment headquarters ordered it to repeatedly reiterate that it would go to the east to gather for the attack! You can send someone to get the forward company back for me immediately."

The deputy company commander of the Third Company was stunned and said, "Battery Commander, according to the situation, the vanguard company tenth ** has entered the county town from the south. If you ask me to look for it now, I can only start looking for it from the city."

Lin Guangli was silent for a while, thinking that the main force had entered the city, he could not focus on the forward company. He snorted and said unhappily: "Tell me this matter and go back to settle the score with Li Wensheng. Ask brothers to rest on the spot for ten minutes, and we will follow after the Second Battalion opened the city gate."
Chapter completed!