"12 minutes, too slow." Fu Chenghang looked at his watch and shook his head and said, "If we were to fight against the first-class army of this era, 12 minutes would be enough for them to regroup their military forces after the shelling and organize the defense line to resist. Even if we can finally break through the enemy's defense line, it will inevitably cause a large number of casualties."

Cao Zhenyu advised: "The first time the infantry and artillery coordinated combat is perfect, and our army has only been in less than a year. It is very good to have such a level. We still need to accumulate experience in actual combat, but this is not something that can be completed in one or two days. This time it is just right to use the Qing army to practice."

Fu Chenghang also sighed and said, "We can only think like this. However, our cannons are indeed too few and we don't practice much. After this battle is over, we must find a way to get more cannons from Qingdao."

Cao Zhenyu said: "The Military Commission has its own arrangements. Let's fight the current battle first."

Fu Chenghang was the leader of the First Volunteer Regiment, and Cao Zhenyu was the chief of staff of the regiment. Both of them were the second batch of time-travel officers who came to the base. Although both of them were promoted to regiment-level officers in the base area, the quality, conditions and weapon assembly of the Volunteer Army were much worse than that of the People's Army, so Fu Chenghang often complained.

Moreover, since this was the first time the Volunteers carried out this type of infantry and artillery coordinated combat mode and did not train much in normal times, there was a major problem with the cooperation between infantry and artillery. 12 minutes after the artillery stopped, the infantry rushed into the Qing army's position. The artillery distance was only about 5 kilometers, and this speed was indeed very unsatisfactory. Fu Chenghang couldn't help but vomit again.

At this moment, a communication soldier rushed over and said, "Report that the first battalion has broken through the defense line at the entrance of the village and is expanding into the village."

Fu Chenghang and Cao Zhenyu looked at each other, and Fu Chenghangdao said, "This breaks through the defense line at the entrance of the village, it's too fast."

Cao Zhenyu said: "No matter what, it is always a good thing to make a breakthrough, but it only breaks through the defense line at the entrance of the village. There is probably a fierce battle in the village, so we should not be careless. We should immediately order the Second Battalion to follow up, concentrate our strength, and defeat the Qing army in one fell swoop."

Fu Chenghang also nodded and said, "But Li Zhuangyong is indeed a kid. He has been in the People's Army. OK, order the Second Battalion to attack immediately, reinforce the First Battalion, and the Third Battalion are ready."

"Ah beg!"

Li Zhuangyong beat up, wiped his nose, and then ordered loudly: "The second company is on the left, the third company is on the right, the first company is in the center, and attack the center of the village with all his strength."

After receiving the order from the second company and the third company immediately took action separately. Li Zhuangyong was also very satisfied. He waved the Type 96 pistol in his hand and said, "Come with me in the first company."

The First Regiment of the Volunteer Army was responsible for attacking the village head, and the first battalion was the first battalion. After the establishment of the Volunteer Army, Li Zhuangyong was promoted very quickly. In a year, he was promoted from platoon leader to battalion commander, and he was the strongest battalion in the entire regiment. Because Li Zhuangyong had been in the People's Army for more than half a year, his military qualities were very solid, and he had rich experience. He participated in the Boxer Regiment and launched an uprising with Jing Tingbin and Zhao Sanduo. Among the Volunteer Army, he was a rare military talent with all theories and experiences. Moreover, in various battles in the base area, Li Zhuangyong was very brave and made many military achievements. Therefore, although he had experience as a deserter in the People's Army, he was still valued by Li Wenfei, Fu Chenghang, Cao Zhenyu and others, and he was burdened with him.

Although the infantry and artillery cooperation did not work well this time, the progress of the Volunteer Army after launching an attack was very smooth. Although the Qing army arranged guard troops at the entrance and the village, they were stunned by the artillery attacks of the volunteers, and the order of the Qing army in the village was also disrupted by the artillery attack. Therefore, when the Volunteer Army launched an attack, the Qing army was in a state of unleading organization, and the defense at the entrance of the village was useless. As soon as the battalion launched a charge, the Qing army, which had not many guards, dispersed suddenly, and most of the remaining ones fell under the muzzles or bayonets of the volunteer soldiers. The first battalion successfully broke through the Qing army's village defense line and attacked the village.

Even Li Zhuangyong was very surprised. The Qing army was too vulnerable, but he still followed the tactical knowledge he learned and immediately expanded the entire battalion's troops and advanced towards the depth of the village.

Although the Qing army in the village had no power to resist, the Volunteer Army was not very fast. This was because there were too many Qing army in the village. Although Taishantun Village was a larger village, the population of the whole village did not exceed 2,000 people. More than 7,000 Qing troops were squeezed in at once, and the density increased by more than three times. Although the Qing army had been in chaos, the number of people was too large after all, so the Volunteer Army's advancement was blocked by a large number of Qing troops. Although the Qing army was vulnerable, it did limit the speed of the Volunteer Army's advancement.

The battle lasted for more than ten minutes. Li Zhuangyong had led a battalion and advanced more than 200 meters to the village. But at this moment, a burst of dense gunfire suddenly came from the front. The volunteer soldiers rushing in front fell down a row, and two bullets almost flew past Li Zhuangyong.

Li Zhuangyong couldn't help but feel shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. It seemed that the Qing army was not completely vulnerable and had the power to resist, so he hurriedly shouted: "Secret, hide quickly."

As he said that, Li Zhuangyong jumped behind a big stone mattress, then raised his gun and shot in the direction of gunfire ahead, and exhausted all the magazines of the two pistols in one breath. The other soldiers also looked for cover to avoid them, and then shot and fought back. For a moment, the two sides immediately launched fierce fire with each other.

It turned out that this was the resistance organized by Xie Baosheng, the commander of the Qing army in Henan. Although Xie Baosheng was very clear that at this time, the defeat was basically decided, but he was not willing to admit defeat like this and wanted to fight again. Therefore, after the Volunteer Army's artillery was over, Xie Baosheng immediately gathered soldiers again, rectified the army, and prepared to resist the Volunteer Army's attack.

But at this time, the Qing army was in chaos and there was not much time left for Xie Baosheng, so Xie Baosheng only gathered a few hundred people, and the Volunteer Army launched an attack. It was too late to arrange guards at the entrance of the village, so Xie Baosheng simply gave up the entrance of the village and arranged these hundreds of people in the middle of the village, preparing to make a final try. Fortunately, Xie Baosheng gathered basically the army directly commanded by him, and his quality was stronger than other Qing troops, and his equipment was better. All were equipped with rifles, and some soldiers were even equipped with "Hanyang Made".

Under the command of Xie Baosheng, the Qing army quickly used houses as bunkers in the middle of the village to lay out defense lines. The Volunteers were somewhat relaxed and careless, so they were caught off guard by the Qing army, and there were no casualties. However, the Volunteers immediately stabilized their positions, and the two sides temporarily formed a situation of resistance.

Li Zhuangyong changed the magazines for both pistols, then poked his head out from behind the stone mattress to observe the enemy's situation. Although the sky was not yet clear, there were fires everywhere in the village, so he could see it clearly.

After watching for a while, Li Zhuangyong also basically saw that the firefighting distance between the two sides was very short, about 150 meters, and the nearest place was only more than 100 meters. If a charge was launched, it would only take more than 20 seconds to break into the Qing army's position. However, the Qing army's position was not large, so the firepower was very dense. Firepower points were arranged on many roofs to form three-dimensional cross-fire. If you attack rashly, the loss would definitely be quite large.

However, the Qing army's bunkers basically used house buildings and did not have artificial fortifications, so they only used a few mortars. Even if they were 60 mortars bombarded for a period of time, they could easily cross the Qing army's defense line. After all, the houses and buildings in the village were all civil structures.

So Li Zhuangyong ordered a guard and said, "Go to the back and find the mortar company and ask them to come over immediately. If all of them cannot come, at least one mortar platoon must be transferred to come over."

Not long after, the guard came back and said, "Battery Commander, the mortar company has not entered the village, and the brothers behind him don't know where the mortar company is. If they want to transfer mortars, they can only go back to the regiment headquarters to get the regiment headquarters to give orders."

Li Zhuangyong was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but curse: "Damn it, when you don't use them, you just shook in front of you. When you want to use them, you can't find them."

In fact, Li Zhuangyong did wrongly accuse the mortar company. Now the mortar company is waiting not far from the village to order to join the war, because the artillery army needs the cover of the army, and the direct command of the mortar company is directed by the regiment headquarters. Based on the principle of concentrated use of artillery, the mortar company was not dismantled and sent to the various battalions. However, Li Zhuangyong's troops did not know the stationing location of the mortar company, and the communication equipment of the Volunteer Army was limited, so the walkie-talkie could only be sent to the regiment level. All factors combined together have caused the situation where the troops who did not know when they needed mortars were there.

Of course, in the final analysis, it is because of the insufficient firepower configuration of the Volunteer Army and the limited actual experience of the commander. Fu Chenghang and Cao Zhenyu were all promoted to battalion level officers in the People's Army. Under normal circumstances, they had to hone at battalion level for at least one year. Even if they were promoted to regiment level, they would organize short-term training regularly to teach some management experience. However, these conditions were not met in the base area, and the two of them jumped from battalion level to regiment level at once. It was indeed a bit inexperienced. It was the first time that they commanded such a regiment-level battle, and there would inevitably be some inadequate considerations.

But at this point, Li Zhuangyong had no choice. If he sent people back to the regiment headquarters to transfer the mortar troops, it would take at least 30 minutes, and it would not be impossible to delay it for an hour. During this period, Li Zhuangyong was also considering whether there would be any changes in the battlefield.

At this moment, another communications soldier came over and said, "Battery Commander, the Second Battalion has come up and asked us where we need reinforcements, and they attack from that direction."
Chapter completed!