Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Chapter 283: The Perfect Defense Position in the Battle of Yuancheng

Two days later, under the command of Su Zhengyang, the 500,000-strong Northern Expedition Army began to make major moves. On the west side near Yuancheng City, with the Viking Division as the vanguard, they aggressively attacked the defensive positions of the Fuso Kwantung Army. On the east side of the battlefield in Hanbian City, Jiang Yanlin personally commanded the 100,000 Northeastern Army, cooperating with the 100,000 Guanzhou Army, to advance steadily and step by step.

Jiang Yanlin strictly implemented Su Zhengyang's strategy. He did not seek to open a gap in Hanbian City in the east, but only to prevent the two Class A divisions and four Class B divisions on the eastern battlefield from launching rescue operations on the western battlefield.

Facing the aggressive Northern Expedition Corps this time, Fuso has obviously made thorough preparations. First of all, there is a large defensive position south of the city of Genshima, stretching for more than ten kilometers from east to west and reaching a depth of three kilometers. On the defensive position, there are gathered three Class A divisions of Fuso, namely Chishima, Fujitsu, and Oda, as well as the Tianjing Division, an armored special division that the Kwantung Army has spent countless efforts to build. In addition, there are three Class B divisions scattered on the positions. In the city, there is also a Tokyo Division, known as the First Division of the Kwantung Army, which is ready to provide personnel and firepower support to the front line at any time.

There were as many as twenty-five artillery cluster positions arranged in advance on the battlefield, scattered in different locations in the rear. They included 75MM artillery, 105MM howitzers, 81MM indirect-fire infantry guns, 150MM heavy artillery, and 120MM field howitzers, with a variety of calibers and more than three thousand guns. It is conceivable what a terrible scene it would be when more than three thousand guns from twenty-five artillery positions fired at the same time.

In addition, there are small mortar positions, including countless 80MM light mortars, 120MM medium mortars, and even 150MM heavy mortars.

Fuso also obviously put a lot of effort into the construction of fortifications. First of all, there were trenches that were criss-crossed and interconnected, with a depth of 20 meters, a width of meters, and a length of several kilometers at the longest. Secondly, there were concrete bunkers built around the trenches, with one every meters or so, equipped with a large amount of heavy firepower. In order to guard against the armored forces of the Northwest Revolutionary Army, Fuso even prepared more than a thousand Type MM anti-tank machine guns, forming a dense firepower network on the position.

In order to prevent the Northwestern Revolutionary Army from using smoke bomb tactics to obscure vision and break into the trench positions as they did last time on the western battlefield of Fu'an City, Fuso divided the trench positions from front to back and from east to west into positions 1-12, and buried a large amount of explosives and set up detonators in each trench position.

Even if the Northwest Revolutionary Army used special means to break into the front-line trench positions, once the situation was unfavorable to Fuso, Fuso would not hesitate to detonate the explosives buried in the trenches to cause serious losses to the Northwest Revolutionary Army.

After several battles with Su Zhengyang's combat troops, the Fuso Kwantung Army no longer dared to underestimate the Northwest Revolutionary Army. Even the concrete bunker they built, the entire top and wall thickness exceeded 2.5 meters. Even the 203MM Thor's hammer might not be able to blow it to pieces with one blow.

It can be said that the Fuso Kwantung Army attached great importance to the Northwest Revolutionary Army. The fortifications they built were so impenetrable that even a fly could hardly fly over.

In the south of Yuancheng City, Guangda County, Fuso has completely abandoned all the small towns south of the two main cities in order to concentrate its forces to deal with the Northern Expedition Corps. Now the forward headquarters of the Western Route Army of the Northern Expedition Corps is located here.

In the headquarters' combat meeting room, after the observer sent back information about the approximate deployment of the Fuso position and some fire distribution points, everyone present had a solemn expression on their faces.

Under such circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to break through Fuso's blockade head-on. There were countless heavy firepower bunkers and twelve large trench positions, one inside another. If one attacked from the front, the losses that would be incurred could be imagined with one's heels.

For a moment, high-level commanders including Su Zhengyang were like a tiger trying to eat the sky, unable to know where to start.

"Commander! In the current situation we are facing, a strong attack will definitely not work. Fuso has gathered at least thousands of artillery pieces and countless heavy firepower points. Even with our Northwest Revolutionary Army's systematic trench attack tactics, we can only occupy one of the positions at a certain cost. If Fuso is a little more ruthless and does not care about the safety of its own soldiers in the trenches, and directly concentrates its artillery fire on the ground, even if we occupy one of the trench positions, it will be meaningless."

As Liu Chengxu expressed his views with a frown, other generals also began to express their opinions.

Yang Chengjun pondered and said, "Commander, since Fuso has made all the preparations in Yuancheng, we are helpless. Shouldn't we change our war strategy and try to go west and go north from Yuanxian? Fuso's main forces are stationed in the southern position of Yuancheng. According to the specific information sent back by our observers, there are only two infantry regiments from Fuso stationed in Yuanxian. We can completely attack Yuanxian and send a group of elite troops deep behind enemy lines to cooperate with the main force from the flank and rear to take down Yuancheng."

Behind Su Zhengyang, a young man with short flat hair and medium to thin build, wearing the black uniform of the Northwest Revolutionary Army but without any military rank, spoke up: "Not right. How could Fuso not think of a breakthrough that we can think of? In my opinion, Yuan County seems to be a flaw left by the enemy specifically, just to let us divide our troops and advance deep into Yuan County alone. The enemy situation north of Yuan County is still unclear. If the enemy sets an ambush, the troops we send out will never return."

The generals present all cast their eyes on the young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. As if realizing his mistake, the young man hurriedly explained, "Generals, I am just a soldier under the commander. What I just said was just my opinion. Please don't blame me."

This person was the talent recommended by He Qingzhu to Su Zhengyang. He was also the second of their four sworn brothers, Zhou Weiguo, who had returned from studying abroad at the Berlin Military Academy.

At this time, the other three had already rushed to Linzhou to report. Only Zhou Weiguo, after much pleading, asked He Qingzhu to intercede with Su Zhengyang so that he could follow Su Zhengyang to the Northeast battlefield to observe the actual combat conditions of the Northwest Revolutionary Army.

Su Zhengyang waved his hand, looked at Zhou Weiguo with deep eyes and said: "Your opinions are very reasonable. It's okay. We are all family members here. As long as we can come up with suggestions that are beneficial to the war, we can speak freely."

With Su Zhengyang's encouragement, Zhou Weiguo finally gained some confidence. He stood straight and spoke again after a moment's silence: "At present, Fuso's defensive position is indeed flawless, but in this world, there is no defense line that can find the slightest loophole. Give me some time, maybe I can come up with a plan to defeat the enemy."