"Grenade!" Zhou Pingyuan stretched out his gun and pulled the trigger several times. Several rounds of rifle bullets flew away randomly, and he turned to shout to several of his subordinates.

Several soldiers fired the captured melon grenades and the grenades they carried and threw them out with all their strength.

Taking advantage of the explosion, Zhou Pingyuan shouted to his subordinates: "Quick, get on the roof!"

After saying that, he put the rifle on his shoulder, leaned his back against a wall, and put his hands together to signal a soldier to pay attention to him and go up the wall.

The soldier understood, and immediately hung the submachine gun in his hand around his neck, trotted to help, and climbed to the roof with the help of Zhou Pingyuan.

Then Zhou Pingyuan took a few steps away and trotted forward. The soldier stretched out his hand and pulled him, and both of them successfully climbed onto the roof.

Several other soldiers followed suit, climbed onto the roof, and immediately moved away.

After a group of Japanese soldiers rushed over with guns in hand, they were nowhere to be seen.

After not walking far along the alley, they were ambushed by Zhou Pingyuan and others, causing heavy casualties.

Small-scale street fighting like this occurred everywhere in the city. Although the Japanese army had superior military strength, its artillery units outside the city were unable to provide artillery support due to their lack of air superiority.

Therefore, we had to fight house by house and lane by lane with the Northeastern New Army in the city.

In the street fighting, the Japanese army's superiority in strength could not be exploited. The Northeastern New Army, relying on its familiarity with the terrain and the help of the people in the city, seemed to be able to do so with ease. The Japanese suffered heavy casualties and were unable to advance even an inch.

In the city, the Northeast New Army Headquarters.

Zhang Xinghan was sitting in front of the map, smoking a cigarette, frowning, even though he stayed in Haicheng for the sake of the strategic overall situation.

But Zhang Xinghan couldn't be worried at all because he was in danger. He only had less than one regiment of troops around him.

Whether it can hold on is full of unknowns.

At this time, there was a sound of slight footsteps behind him. Zhang Xinghan turned around when he heard the sound and saw a cook from the kitchen walking in carrying a tray.

"Commander, it's time for dinner." The cook came over respectfully.

"Huh?" Zhang Xinghan raised his head and looked outside, and then realized that the sky had darkened slightly.

"Is it getting dark?" Zhang Xinghan looked back at the cook who was placing the food in front of him and asked.

"Commander, it's already past five o'clock. It gets dark very fast in the Northeast. It will probably be pitch black in less than half an hour." The cook subconsciously answered.

Zhang Xinghan didn't say anything. He stood up and walked out in a solemn mood.

"Commander, you don't want to eat anymore?" the cook asked doubtfully.

"I'm not going to eat. I'll wait until this battle is over!" Zhang Xinghan had just walked out of the room when a communications soldier came up to him.

After saluting, he reported: "Commander, there is a call from the 4th Division of the Jinzhou Army. They have arrived at the Daliao River, but were blocked by the Japanese army. They are currently fighting fiercely with the Japanese."

"I understand. Call Liu Jianguo right away and attack the Japanese army's western front in Yingkou at all costs to relieve the pressure on Haicheng!" Zhang Xinghan said.

"yes!"

After walking out of the headquarters, the guard battalion commander Guo Zhong hurried over with several guards.

Before the disgraced Guo Zhong could speak, Zhang Xinghan said first, "Zhongzi, how is the battle going?"

Guo Zhong saluted with a slap and said with a little breath: "Commander, the situation is not bad, the Japanese are basically blocked by us, and two-thirds of Haicheng is still under our control."

Zhang Xinghan was a little relieved, nodded, and said: "It's getting dark, and the air force is probably going to return. You should inform me immediately. Once the Japanese stop attacking, retreat. Don't attack. Spread out as much as possible to guard against the Japanese."

artillery strikes."

"Shelling?" Guo Zhong was a little surprised.

"Yes, haven't you noticed that the Japanese only used infantry to attack throughout the afternoon, and the scale of the only artillery fire did not exceed the squadron level. There was no large-scale artillery attack at all.

This is because our air force put great pressure on their artillery units, forcing them to not be able to engage in the attack at all.

Now that it is getting dark and the air force threat is gone, the Japanese will definitely deploy artillery units to carry out retaliatory fire strikes.

We need to spread out the brothers as much as possible to dilute the damage caused by the Japanese artillery fire," Zhang Xinghan explained.

"Yes!" Guo Zhong immediately stood up and responded, leading several of his subordinates to leave without stopping.

Zhang Xinghan then turned around and walked back to the headquarters.

……………………

In a forest south of the city, as night fell, a large number of torches and vehicle lights appeared in the forest.

There was a lot of people and an unusual amount of noise.

It can be seen by the firelight that hundreds of Japanese troops are pulling out artillery pieces of different calibers hidden in the woods from camouflaged bunkers.

Put on the military truck and drive toward the preset artillery position.

This is the hiding spot of the 114th Field Artillery Regiment directly under the Japanese 114th Division.

The 114th Artillery Regiment has a total of thirty 70 field guns and eight Type 92 infantry guns.

In a corner of the woods, Lieutenant Commander Himei Daichi, the current artillery regiment commander, was sitting on a three-wheeled motorcycle and smoking a cigarette.

Standing next to him were two Japanese soldiers, one of whom held the rank of captain.

"Captain, the damn Chinese air force has finally withdrawn. Now we can show off our skills and help the infantry teach the stubborn Chinese army in the city a lesson." The Japanese captain said courteously.

Ji Jing Dazhi smoked a cigarette and nodded, looking at Haicheng County with a trace of invisible viciousness in his eyes.

At this time, a cavalryman galloped forward on horseback. When he got there, he dismounted and saluted Himei Daichi: "Captain Himei Regiment, I have been ordered by the division commander to inform you that the 114th Field Artillery Regiment must arrive at six o'clock.

Preparations were completed before half an hour and bombarded Haicheng for an hour on time. Regardless of whether Haicheng can be captured or not, we must withdraw to the Dashiqiao defense line before ten o'clock."

"Yo Xi, I understand." Himei Daichi nodded happily and returned the gift casually.

After the Japanese cavalry saluted, he got on his horse and drove away.

After the messenger left, Himei Daichi threw away the cigarette butts in his hand and wiped them out with his leather military boots. He raised his head and said, "Linye-kun, you must have heard the division commander's orders, right?"

"Yes, captain." Captain Lin Ye lowered his head and said.

"Then execute the order quickly." Himei Daichi waved his hand.

"Hai!" Captain Linye lowered his head suddenly and immediately took the order and left.

At 6:35 pm, the Japanese 114th Artillery Regiment finally completed all preparations for the bombardment.

Following Captain Linye's order, the Japanese's thirty-eight 70mm artillery fired one after another.

In an instant, dozens of artillery shells pierced the night sky with extremely dazzling red light in the dark night and crashed towards the dark Haicheng County.

In a private house in Chengbei District, Zhou Pingyuan and two soldiers were carefully hiding behind a stone trough in the corner of the yard.

This is the stone trough where people feed their cattle, and it is now being used as a bunker.

Because of Zhang Xinghan's order to evacuate, Zhou Pingyuan hid his other subordinates in several other houses.

There were only two people around.

The three of them were leaning against the stone trough, smoking cigarettes one after another.

Suddenly, a harsh whistling sound sounded. The three of them turned around when they heard the sound, and looked up into the night sky where they could only see dozens of dazzling fireballs flying down rapidly.

"Don't fucking look at it. If you die, your eggs will fall into the sky, and you will die for tens of millions of years. Whether you will be hit by a cannonball depends on your fucking luck." Zhou Pingyuan withdrew his gaze with a cigarette in his mouth.

Although the two soldiers were still frightened, they both knew that Zhou Pingyuan was right.

If you can be accurately hit by artillery shells during such a large-scale artillery attack by the Japanese, it can only be because you are "too lucky".

Generally speaking, during such shelling, the best option is to find a place to hide quietly. Running around will only increase the chance of being hit by artillery shells.

The reason why Zhou Pingyuan is so calm is because he knows that if a cannonball unfortunately falls next to them, no matter how strong you are, you will not be able to escape the fate of being bombarded to pieces.

So this is also a kind of gambling, but the stakes are lives.

"Boom...boom boom...boom..." Violent explosions sounded one after another throughout the city.

Then there was thick black smoke and fire shooting into the sky, which was so dazzling in the dark night.

In the headquarters compound, Zhang Xinghan stood under the eaves and looked up at the groups of fires rising into the sky.

Guo Zhong hurriedly ran in from outside. Without even saluting, he said: "Commander, there is some danger outside. You'd better go inside."

Zhang Xinghan smiled slightly and said: "Zhongzi, tell me can you tell the caliber of the Japanese artillery?"

Guo Zhong listened carefully and said uncertainly: "It should be the 70th field artillery group, right?"

"Yes, it's a 70mm field gun." Zhang Xinghan nodded and asked: "Have you forgotten the power of the 70mm shell? If the Japanese were lucky enough to hit it with one shot, it would fall down. When I stand here, it will be no different from the house.

Bar?"

Guo Zhong scratched his head and said with an embarrassed look on his face: "But, Commander, the room is a little better. After all, it is blocked by a wall."

"Okay, don't you trust my skills? There really is a shell falling. I can definitely hide in the house before it explodes." Zhang Xinghan waved his hand to stop him.

Said: "Little Japs, there are no tigers and monkeys in the mountains. Our heavy artillery brigade is not in Haicheng. Otherwise, even one battalion of artillery can blast the little Japs' 70mm artillery group into rubbish!"

"By the way. Where are the 9th and 10th Divisions now?"

"We have passed Liaoyang, and there are still more than fifty kilometers left at most from Haicheng." Guo Zhong replied.

Zhang Xinghan nodded and said: "Inform them that we need to speed up the march. The sooner we get here, the better! In addition, you should pay attention next. The Japanese will have artillery to help them, and their offensive will become much more fierce and swift."

"Yes!" Guo Zhong stood up and saluted, followed the order and left.
To be continued...