Chapter 971: Battle against Meng Gong, Change of Tactical Thinking
On the other side, Takeuchi Renzan was holding a combat meeting in the conference room.

The purpose of this meeting was to figure out how to eliminate this mysterious Sichuan Army. After all, this was the first time that the Takeuchi Corps had suffered such a big loss since entering Myanmar.

"Colonel, I think we should take the initiative instead of passively defending!" The only remaining infantry battalion captain stepped forward and said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the captain of the machine gun squadron shook his head and refuted:
"Major, I think it's better for us to hold on and wait for help. We only have less than 1,500 soldiers now. If we take the initiative to attack, what will happen to Menggong City? We can't just hand it over to the rebels. More importantly, we don't know what the enemy is like yet."

Ever since their captain Ono-kun died in the gold mine, the machine gun squadron of the battalion was directly incorporated into the regiment's direct units, which is why he had the confidence to speak like this.

Otherwise, with the strict hierarchy in daily life, if you dare to speak like this, you will definitely be slapped in the face.

"You are a coward." The infantry battalion captain was a little annoyed, but he also knew that the other party had the support of the regiment commander.

"Major, we haven't rested for a long time. Not only that, but the logistical supplies are extremely scarce. Many soldiers' daily rations have been reduced to one rice ball. Do you want to let the warriors of the empire go to war on an empty stomach?"

"Baka~!" When the captain was about to say something, Takeuchi Lianshan interrupted:
"Everyone, sit down. Miyamoto-kun is right. Our supplies are indeed very scarce. We should focus on defense from now on."

At this moment, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and the communications staff quickly said with a telegram:

"Your Excellency, urgent message. Ten minutes ago, two fighter planes of the aviation force lost contact at the Novitz Airport. According to the latest news, the planes we sent this time are still no match for the enemy."

"What?" Takeuchi Lianshan was immediately furious:
"This is impossible. This is absolutely impossible. That is the Empire's newest aircraft. How can we not defeat it? What is going on?"

Not only was Takeuchi Lianshan stunned, but everyone else was dumbfounded as well.

It is unbelievable that such a brave and invincible air force was shot down.

"The intelligence department reported back that the enemy is equipped with a new fighter plane that is more advanced than the P47. Its speed is estimated to be over 700 kilometers per hour, and its practical ceiling is over 12800 meters. It also has very strong firepower and high maneuverability. Our planes are no match for them at all."

"Damn it, those guys in the intelligence department deserve to die." After hearing this, Takeuchi Lianshan became even more furious. They sent the intelligence back only after the incident had already happened. It's like eating shit while it's still hot.

"Report, Colonel, enemy reconnaissance troops spotted outside the city!"

······
Outside Menggong City, at the artillery position of the Sichuan Army Corps, the M1 Long-legged Tom heavy artillery could be towed, so it moved very quickly.

The motor company used trucks to tow the heavy artillery to the front line.

"Hurry up, hurry up." Krupp looked at the heavy artillery in front of him, feeling a sense of heroism, and urged at the same time.

"Please try your best. After the battle, I will treat you to a feast in Menggong City!" Krupp promised.

"Company commander, is the money you have enough for our entire company to have a meal?" an artillery commander couldn't help but say.

"That's right, aren't you going to keep it to get married?"

"Yes, he told us last time that he had a crush on the youngest daughter of the Wang family and that he was saving money for a betrothal gift."

After being teased by everyone, Krupp's face turned even redder. He wanted to argue something, but he didn't know what to say because he was tongue-tied.

"Everyone, get moving. Hurry and set up the heavy artillery."

"There are also 120mm mortars. Set them up for me. This time we are going to let Xiao Shi have a good taste of what it feels like to be bombed."

"Yes!" everyone in the artillery company responded in unison.

On the other side, at the front-line command post of the Sichuan Army, Lin Hao glanced at his watch, paced back and forth, and looked at the map again.

"No news yet?" Lin Hao was waiting for news from the Air Force. According to intelligence, there were still several Type 92 infantry guns in the city, which was also a threat to them.

Moreover, Lin Hao planned to capture Meng Gong in one go, so he had to wait until all the troops were ready.

This siege is a good opportunity to practice air-ground coordinated combat.

Although the P51D Mustang is a fighter, it does not have air superiority now, so it can temporarily act as a bomber to bully the opponent.

After all, the P51 Mustang is a multi-purpose fighter. Whether it is a 12.7mm Browning or a 7.92mm Browning machine gun, it can smash a person into pieces if it hits him.

Moreover, with the support of the Air Force, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Army will be greatly boosted.

"Report, the fighter jets have arrived!" The communications staff officer who had been responsible for communicating with the fighter jets immediately stood up and reported.

"Very good, notify the artillery company to fire in five minutes!" A hint of surprise appeared on Lin Hao's face.

"Yes!"

Five minutes later, the artillery company that had been prepared gave an order and dozens of artillery pieces of various calibers fired simultaneously at different distances.

On the opposite side, outside Menggong City, at the first line of defense of Xiao Rizi, the commander of Xiao Rizi was carrying out pre-war mobilization.

Suddenly, there were bursts of "whoosh" and "swoosh" sounds from the sky, and his face changed drastically.

"Baga, it's artillery fire, it's artillery fire, quickly hide."

"Find cover, find cover quickly."

"We just reacted now, but it's too late!" Ma Dazhi, who was in charge of the main attack, was leading the 1st Infantry Battalion less than a thousand meters away from Xiaorizi's position.

According to the battle plan, there will be ten minutes of artillery bombardment time.

When he heard that he had to bomb the enemy for ten minutes first, Ma Dazhi felt like he was going to fly. Ten minutes of artillery bombardment was something he had never dared to think about in the past.

"Fuck your life, now you have come to this day!" Ma Dazhi laughed and cursed.

At this moment, ten 155mm heavy artillery shells were flying towards Xiao Rizi’s position.

Some of the common soldiers subconsciously raised their heads to look at the sky and immediately shouted loudly:

"Baga, heavy artillery, why are there so many heavy artillery?"

"Get out of the way! Do you want to die?"

"Run! The heavy artillery is coming!"

"Boom! Boom..."

Suddenly, all the soldiers on the front line were in panic. They either looked for cover or tried their best to run away. They all wished their parents gave them two more legs so that they could run faster.

It’s just that the ten heavy artillery shells were moving too fast and hit the front-line positions of Xiao Rizi mercilessly.

In an instant, the entire Xiao Ri position collapsed like a mountain collapse, the excavated trenches were blown away, and large pits appeared one after another, accompanied by thick black smoke, and the power of the 155mm heavy artillery was fully demonstrated.

"Woo woo, who will save me..."

"I don't want to die!"

"Woo woo woo, Mama-san..."

"Woooo..."

The ordinary soldiers within the range of the heavy artillery explosion were basically all killed, and those who barely survived looked at the sky blankly because there were still 120mm and 80mm mortar shells coming.

At this time, they were very confused. Why did this happen? They had always bombed others, so why was it their turn to be bombed today?

"Baga, where are our artillery? Let's fight back quickly!" The captain of the artillery squadron in the rear received the telegram and immediately ordered the artillery to open fire.

"Captain, our artillery can't reach the enemy."

"Nani?"

"The enemy has heavy artillery, with a range of at least 20 kilometers. Our artillery can't reach it."

"Baga, if we can't use heavy artillery, can we use mortars? Aim at the enemy's mortar position, quickly."

"Hi!"

At this time in the sky, Wang Wei and Li Hai, who had been waiting impatiently in the air, showed an excited smile on their faces.

"I finally found you." Li Hai said excitedly as if he had found prey.

"Follow me!" After counting the number of artillery on the ground, Wang Wei rushed forward in his fighter plane without saying a word.

At this time, the captain of the Xiao Rizi squadron, who was adjusting the gun position, heard the roar of the engine in the sky and subconsciously looked up at the sky.

"What? When did the air force be sent?"

After seeing the flag of the Sichuan Army Corps on the fighter plane, the captain of Xiao Rizi's team turned pale.

"Baga, it's an enemy plane, it's an enemy plane, find cover quickly." In the blink of an eye, Wang Wei had already pulled the trigger.

"Go to hell, little life."

"Da da da!"

A burst of machine gun bullets came directly over, and the shells of a Type 92 infantry gun were blown up, and several artillerymen around were blown to pieces.

After a pull-up and another reversal, Wang Wei attacked Xiao Rizi's artillery again.

Another burst of machine gun bullets, but unfortunately this time it didn't hit the shell pile. Since it didn't explode, I'll just reward it with an aerial bomb.

"Boom, boom, boom~!" At this time, it was not known whether it was the power of the aerial bombs or the explosion of the shell pile, but loud explosions were heard in the artillery position. Unfortunately, several aerial bombs did not achieve their full effect, and there were still a few artillery pieces remaining.

The captain of the artillery squadron was in tears. What kind of fighter plane was this? Why was it able to attack and bomb? Why was it so brutal?
"Retreat quickly, retreat quickly!" According to military regulations, abandoning artillery will be accountable, but facing the enemy planes' strafing, they have no way to do anything. With gritted teeth, the captain of the artillery squadron ordered a retreat.

But it was too late. The artillery company of the Sichuan Army Corps, which received the coordinates, immediately allocated five heavy artillery pieces to serve the Xiaorizi artillery position.

A sharp whistling sound came and hit the Xiao Rizi artillery position hard.

“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!”

"It's over. The artillery squadron is gone."

Takeuchi Renzan, who was supervising the battle, saw this scene, covered his chest and said with heartache.

Without the artillery squadron, it would be wishful thinking to defend the city of Menggong.

"Sir Daisaku, we still have a tank squadron. Let us go out. We will definitely destroy the Sichuan Army." At this time, the captain of the tank squadron stood up and said loudly.

Seeing the first line of defense being bombarded by artillery fire, Takeuchi Lianshan gritted his teeth and said immediately: "Mr. Aso, please."

"Hey, don't worry, the tank squadron will not let you down." Taro Aso saluted immediately.

After ten minutes of artillery bombardment, Ma Dazhi was still not satisfied. He was obviously not satisfied with the artillery company's offensive. He looked at the communicator beside him and immediately gave the order:
"Have the battalion's artillery platoon prepare to target the Xiaorizhi position. Fire a round of volleys. All mortars must not stop. Fire hard until the defense line is broken."

"Yes! Camp seat."

According to the equipment plan formulated by Lin Hao, each infantry battalion has a direct artillery platoon, which is mainly equipped with 10 82mm mortars, and each infantry company has an artillery squad, which is mainly equipped with 6 60mm mortars.

In this way, each infantry battalion has 16 mortars of various calibers.

This is several times more powerful than the firepower of a squadron of Xiao Rizi, and it can even fight against a battalion of Xiao Rizi.

"Brothers, Menggong City is right before our eyes. It is our honor to be the main attacking battalion!"

"Brothers, now it's our turn. Follow me and kill." Ma Dazhi shouted to the people behind him.

"Kill~!"

"Kill Xiao Dongyang!"

"Little day, here I come, grandpa!"

"Come on~!"

With the assault of the 14st Battalion of the Sichuan Army Corps, equipped with M fully automatic rifles and the support of mortars, the first line of defense of Xiao Ri had been completely torn apart.

When encountering a bunker used by Xiao Ri, they would directly report the coordinates to the M1 heavy artillery in the rear, and then a few heavy artillery shells would land and the bunker would be reduced to ashes.

"Damn, this battle is going too smoothly. It feels like we have nothing to do." This thought flashed through the minds of many officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Army.

With the intensive artillery bombardment, the daily life on the first line of defense completely collapsed, and even decent counterattacks became rare.

Zhao He, who was in the second echelon, also put down the telescope hanging on his chest, looked at the six A32 tanks and ten infantry fighting vehicles behind him, and then shouted loudly:
"All tanks are divided into three routes: north, south and center. Infantry fighting vehicles will protect the tanks and attack eastward. They will meet up in the east of the city and rush forward at full speed in coordination with the infantry."

"Remember, you must hurry up. This broken city is only a few kilometers away. Hurry up and attack with all your strength. Don't be stingy with ammunition and don't stop. Within an hour, I want to see the battle of Menggong City end."

"Yes!" The commanders of the other six tanks and infantry fighting vehicles replied excitedly.

At the command, the A32 tank started up, and the rumbling sound of the engine echoed throughout the venue. Then the infantry fighting vehicle protected the tank from harassment by the daily infantry.

Ma Dazhi was leading his troops to charge forward when he heard the sound of a tank. He turned his head to glance and then cursed.

"These bastards in the tank company, we should have taken down the first line of defense before attacking, but they are launching now? They are trying to steal our credit."

After being equipped with advanced weapons, the troops' original way of calculating merit naturally changed.

At the beginning, the first line of defense was bombarded by artillery for ten minutes, during which it was also accurately bombed by aircraft, so there were not many troops left. Then the battalion artillery opened fire again, and there was little meat left. Now the tank company also came to attack. What a joke.

"Reporting to the battalion commander, Captain Zhao of the tank company said that our attack speed is too slow and he wants us to make way for them and let us follow them." The communicator ran over and said.

Hearing this, Ma Dazhi wiped the black dust off his face and shouted angrily:
"Shut up, you idiot. Who the hell does Zhao He think he is? How dare he steal my main attack?"

"Pass on my order. All companies must speed up their attack. I want to show the tank company that they are only fit to follow us and eat our ass."

"Yes!"

However, the main problem encountered by the 1st Battalion where Ma Dazhi was located was that the bunkers on the first line of defense were too densely packed, and Takeuchi Lianshan himself graduated from civil engineering.

Since he sensed that something was wrong, he ordered his troops to repair the fortifications overnight, especially building dozens of bunkers on the first line of defense.

Although many were destroyed in the first round of artillery fire, there were still a dozen left.

Because it was built of cement, there was no reaction when the 60mm mortar hit it, and it felt no pain at all.

An 82mm mortar can only make a hole, but it is still difficult to destroy it.

Fortunately, there were heavy artillery fire, and basically one shell was enough to destroy the bunker.

But invisibly, it also slowed down their offensive speed.

The key is that tanks and infantry fighting vehicles run faster than humans, and a speed of 80 kilometers per hour is no joke.

After receiving Ma Dazhi's words, Zhao He shook his head. He had seen through the telescope that the attack speed of the first battalion had slowed down. It was obviously because of those bunkers, but Ma Dazhi kept insisting on being stubborn.

"Company commander, what should we do now?" a tank commander couldn't help but ask.

"Ignore them and keep moving forward!" Zhao He put down the telescope, waved his hand, and signaled the tanks to continue moving forward.

"Captain of the First Company, what's going on? Why has the attack speed slowed down?" Ma Dazhi came to the front battlefield and yelled at the captain of the First Company.

"Commander, is my speed considered slow?" The company commander complained:
"In the past, it would take at least half a day to attack these cross-protection bunkers. Now, more than half of them can be knocked down in half an hour. This is not slow. If it were slow, it would be a turtle's pace."

The company commander is also a veteran with rich combat experience. In the past, he would never dare to be so arrogant. If the whole company were to attack him, he would die.

But now it’s different. A mere bunker is nothing. It can be dealt with by heavy artillery or tank assault. The only thing is that it takes time.

The point is, we already have tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, but we still have to use their flesh and blood to fill up bunkers?

"Okay, stop complaining to me. The iron bastards from the tank company are crowding behind us. They've said that if we can't take it down, they'll take it over." Ma Dazhi said unhappily.

"Commander, how about we let them pass first, let them be the vanguard, and we follow behind?" The company commander also felt that these bunkers were troublesome, and it would be better to let the tanks lead the way.

"How can we do this? We are the main attack battalion, why should we let them take the lead? We got it with great difficulty!" Ma Dazhi was immediately dissatisfied. Why should such a good opportunity to make a contribution be given to the tank company?

The company commander could not help but retort: ​​"Battalion Commander, according to the established tactics, we should have followed the tanks. How could infantry clear the way for tanks and block their guns?"

You are not a Type 08 tank, and you let the infantry attract artillery shells and let the tanks hide behind and fire blindly.

Obviously, Ma Dazhi has not yet completed the transformation of his tactical thinking, and his combat thinking is still stuck in the domestic tactics of risking lives.

At this moment, the correspondent came again to report:

"Reporting to the battalion commander, the regimental commander ordered us to send the tank company over, and we will follow behind them to coordinate the attack."

"What?" Ma Dazhi was fed up and was about to say something.

"Battalion Commander, the regimental commander said this is an order and asked you to execute it. Otherwise, you will be dismissed immediately and will be subject to military law afterwards!" The communicator seemed to know what he wanted to say next and spoke again.

"Yes, follow the order!" Ma Dazhi said listlessly.

(End of this chapter)