Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain are two ridges, located about ten miles southwest of Lanzhou, and the two mountains are connected. On the west side of the ridge, a highway leads directly to the Xiguan of Lanzhou. To the east of Shenjialing, there is also a simple highway, leading from Lanzhou to Agan Town, and further east is the higher Gaolan Mountain.

The winding highway is sandwiched between the mountains and the valley exit along the north road is the Xiguan in Lanzhou. The Gansu army guards Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain, and can cut off the two highways. If the People's Liberation Army takes these two highlands, it can directly attack Xiguan along the highway, cut off the iron bridge of the Yellow River, and encircle the main force of the Gansu army from all sides to Lanzhou City, and close the door and beat the dog.

Standing on the PLA position, looking from south to north, Shenjialing is shaped like a gourd handle, extending towards the direction of the PLA's attack. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are difficult cross-ditch obstacles in narrow areas, and there are some minefields in front of the ditch. It is conceivable to break through such terrain and obstacles to attack the enemy's positions.

It is difficult to choose a breakthrough to attack Shenjialing. The mountains on both sides are high and deep, with steep slopes and cliffs. Not only is there no way to go, but it is also attacked by firepower on both sides of the east and west, so it cannot be broken through. The only way is to attack head-on. But this gourd-shaped position is like a hedgehog with a shrinking head, and it is very difficult to take it off.

The Shenjialing position shared the survival and demise of the Lanzhou Gansu army, and its strategic position was very important. Zhang Zhaoke led 10,000 Gansu troops to defend Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain with his direct descendants Liu Fusheng, and led 5,000 Gansu troops to defend Qilihe and Xiaoxihu. The narrow road leading to Xiguan along the Yellow River, and appointed the Gansu army of Kong Fanjin to stationed in Hualin Mountain to control the only passage to Lanzhou Xiguan as the second line of defense.

The PLA's garrison division and the 3rd Division, which attacked Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain, launched attacks again and again at four o'clock in the afternoon on Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain defending enemies, and fought very tenaciously, but the enemy was cruel and stubborn, and they organized a counterattack to the death. The PLA's charges were repeatedly blocked and made little progress.

Before nightfall, the two sides fought fiercely and were temporarily in a confrontation.

Yingpanling, the main peak of Gaolan Mountain, is a barrier to the south of Lanzhou. There is a road from the inner city of Lanzhou to the top of the peak. Various artillery, ammunition and other combat materials can be directly sent to the position by vehicles. The fortifications on the mountain were built as early as the Zhang Guangjian period. Later, Liu Yufen entered Gansu and sent migrant workers to repair them for more than a month. If the army stationed in northern Gansu had not had too few troops and insufficient ammunition and other materials, relying on these fortifications, the Zhang and Kong coalition forces would have to confront each other for at least several months before it could be possible.

The main position consists of open forts and hidden houses to form the core cluster fortifications. Around the ridge of the main position, Sanyingzi, there are three natural circular cliffs from top to bottom, each of which is about two to three zhang high. Outside the cliff, there are outer trenches more than two zhang wide, and there are some minefields inside and outside the outer trenches. On the entire position, the firepower of the open and hidden houses forms a cross-fire network and colludes with each other through tunnels. This kind of fortification can be both attacked and hidden.

There are Gouwa Mountain and Shenjialing on the left, and Majiashan on the right, forming a complete firepower system. If the People's Liberation Army captures Yingpanling, it can be condescending, and light and heavy weapons can directly control the entire urban area of ​​Lanzhou, and at the same time threaten the Yellow River Iron Bridge. This is the only way for the enemy to retreat.

Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin dispatched the Longdong Army and the most elite troops of the Longnan Army to guard Yingpanling, and were directly commanded by Kong Fanjin. Of course, Kong Fanjin did not have the courage to go to Yingpanling personally, but only issued combat orders through military radio stations. This was also a helpless move. There were both Longdong Army and Longnan Army here, both of which were elite troops, and only Zhang Zhaoguan. Kong Fanjin could suppress all kinds of dissatisfaction. If it were others, there would always be a discount when the order was executed.

Zhang Zhaoshen and Kong Fanjin have a basic understanding of Yingpanling. This is the southern gate that defends Lanzhou. Once the People's Liberation Army breaks through Yingpanling, the two must lead their troops out of Lanzhou as soon as possible. Whether they go to Hexi, go from Qing to Xin, Tibet, or Sichuan, they can no longer stay in Lanzhou, because once Yingpanling is lost, Lanzhou will be impossible to preserve it.

The main attack on Yingpanling was Li Zhang's Fourth Division. Before the attack on the whole line began, the Fourth Division had already sent hundreds of soldiers to approach the Gansu Army's position calmly and alertly. The Gansu Army would never have dreamed that under the cliff dozens of meters ahead of their position, nearly a hundred People's Liberation Army soldiers were lurking under the cliff dozens of meters ahead of their position.

Similarly, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Li Zhang ordered the attack to begin.

After a fierce artillery fire, the Fourth Division rushed straight to Yingpanling in two directions. Although the soldiers were fearless and bravely killed the enemy, in the fierce battle, the Fourth Division suffered many casualties and their attacks were blocked for a while. Supporting artillery fire could only destroy the enemy's fortifications exposed to the front, but could not completely destroy the castle. When the artillery fire was transferred, the enemy hiding in the castle came out again and tried hard to stop it with firepower.

Due to the limitation of terrain, only sniper rifles can achieve some results, and the bazooka and mortars are not very effective. Li Zhang originally wanted to send a team to approach the cliff, carry out blasting operations, and destroy the enemy's batt, but when artillery fire is suppressed, the enemy enters the batt, and the soldiers also need to avoid bombs. However, the artillery fire is a little rest, and the enemy comes out again and blocks the path with machine guns and grenades, and the blasting team is still difficult to get close to.

The assisted troops were blocked by the enemy's front and the terrain was unfavorable. During the movement, they were fired by fire from both sides of the Third Battalion and Majiashan. Although the soldiers caused many casualties to the enemy during the battle, they could not achieve the purpose of effective assists.

From Guchengling to Yingpanling, for several hours of fierce fighting, the People's Liberation Army launched a full-line reconnaissance attack on the Nanshan position of the Gansu Army did not achieve great results. It can be seen that Zhang Zhaoshen and Kong Fanjin were not incompetent after all, and although the Gansu Army was weak, they were definitely not a group of candids and a bunch of tofu shit.

In fact, the heads of various divisions of the People's Liberation Army had expected this result and did not feel frustrated or unacceptable.

At night, Wu Anping ordered the attack to be suspended across the board.

This is the first and only time the People's Liberation Army has been blocked since Dong Zhiyuan's oath. On the front dozens of miles long, 30,000 People's Liberation Army launched a full-scale attack and repeatedly charged. After several hours, even a relatively large gap was not torn open on the enemy's defense line. This shows that Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin relied on the dangerous and strong city in Lanzhou, and they did have the will to fight to the death. The People's Liberation Army must not underestimate the enemy.

On the evening of June 27, the People's Liberation Army's senior management, led by Wu Anping, summarized the attack in the afternoon and discussed the general offensive again.

Although the attack made little progress, it was not without gains. During the reconnaissance attack, the PLA found out the command system, fortification facilities, troop deployment and firepower cooperation of the Gansu army, which provided the necessary basis for the formulation of the general offensive plan. Moreover, it also made the soldiers realize that Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin were desperate to defend Lanzhou, and they were strong enemies and could not be underestimated at all. Knowing oneself and enemy, they would never be defeated in a hundred battles. This attack at least allowed the PLA to achieve the goal of "knowing the enemy".

Although it was just a reconnaissance attack, everyone was thinking about the reasons for being blocked. Is it because of the wrong position of the offensive breakthrough, or because of insufficient military investment, or because the artillery fire was not fully launched, or because the soldiers underestimated the enemy? After searching, everyone found that these factors had an impact, but none of them were the main reasons. It should be said that the main reason for the offensive was that the People's Liberation Army did not maximize its advantages.

The Gansu Army has three main advantages: dangerous terrain, many fortifications and sufficient troops; and the People's Liberation Army also has three advantages: fierce firepower, advanced equipment and high individual quality. To win the war, we must suppress the use of the Gansu Army's advantages while fully leveraging the People's Liberation Army's advantages.

In terms of infantry, the advantages of the PLA and the Gansu army are offset against each other, so they cannot achieve greater results. But in addition to infantry, the PLA also has armored troops and fighter jet formations. Even if the scale is not large, if used properly, it can break the deadlock on the battlefield and push the battle situation toward the PLA.

After realizing the role of tanks and fighter jets again, the senior leaders of the People's Liberation Army immediately had a new plan for the general attack.

Before tank assault, more than a dozen vanguard fighters of the Flight Detachment needed to be put into combat in advance. In this way, the ground bombing of fighter jets can be used to destroy enemy artillery positions first, so that infantry attacking troops and tank assault troops can be freed from the enemy's artillery threat, and various types of artillery of the People's Liberation Army can provide artillery fire support nearby.

The Flight Detachment is stationed at the Baimiao Military Airport in Pingliang, and the air distance from Pingliang to Lanzhou is more than 200 kilometers, which is exactly within the cruise radius of the vanguard fighter. However, the vanguard fighter's bomb load is not large and the bomb cannot be wasted. Before bombing, ground artillery fire is required to indicate the direction. The Gansu army does not have many artillery artillery. If the bombing effect is ideal, it is estimated that only one round can completely destroy those artillery positions.

However, after getting rid of the threat of artillery, the tank troops were still unable to launch an assault immediately. The simple highway to Lanzhou was not only dug many trenches by the Gansu army, but also buried mines in some sections. This requires the use of artillery to clear the road with artillery before the tanks are dispatched. The large trenches and deep pits, under the action of artillery shells, will also reduce the slope and span, making it easier for the tank to pass smoothly. After all, the Gansu army is only digging trenches on the road, and there are blank areas outside the road. As long as the minefield is cleared, there is no difficulty in passing the tank.

After the tank troops are put into the battlefield, it will cause a series of changes in the situation in the battlefield in Lanzhou. For the People's Liberation Army, the most favorable change is that the tank troops can cross Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain's front-line positions without fear of the light and heavy machine gun firepower of the Gansu Army in the mountains on both sides of the road, cross the Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain's front-line positions, advance wildly and reach the Xiguan of Lanzhou.

Although other PLA troops still need to conquer the Nanshan position before they can pass through Lanzhou safely, the appearance of tank troops in Lanzhou Xiguan is itself a great blow to the morale of the Gansu army. What's more, this unit is located between Lanzhou and Nanshan positions, and can isolate the two traffic and cut off the material supply of Lanzhou to the Nanshan position. Even if the PLA does not attack, the Gansu army will not stay on the mountain for many days.

Of course, the tank troops will have another effect when they arrive at the city of Lanzhou. Neither Zhang Zhaoke nor Kong Fanjin will have a chance to escape. They only have two choices left, either to die in battle or become prisoners.

At this time, Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin in Lanzhou City had just issued a commendation order to the various departments in the Nanshan position. They were very satisfied with successfully preventing the People's Liberation Army from attacking, and believed that the advance arrangement played a role, and the People's Liberation Army would suffer a severe blow in Lanzhou next.

This is ironic. More than ten hours before falling into a desperate situation, Zhang Zhaoguan and Kong Fanjin saw the hope of defeating the People's Liberation Army for the first time.
Chapter completed!