Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 360 Responding to All Changes with Unchanging Principles (Last Day, Please Vote)

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Xu Wu led the 203rd Regiment to rush to Yuejia Village.

To increase speed, the 203rd Regiment didn't even bring heavy machine guns or 82mm mortars.

Meanwhile, the Second Independent Detachment and other ambush units were also marching rapidly behind.

Upon receiving Chen Chengxing's telegram, the command immediately made a judgment.

The reinforcements will inevitably take the route between Qilishan and Tutaishan to reach Chongqing.

Therefore, an order was immediately issued to change the deployment.

There are two advance teams.

In addition to the 203rd Regiment, Li Yunlong also led some elite troops drawn from the Independent Brigade to advance directly towards Lianhua Village.

If the 203rd Regiment cannot complete the ambush at Yuejia Village, Li Yunlong will launch a blocking attack at Lianhua Village.

However, less than half an hour after setting off, Li Yunlong felt that he might have made a wasted trip.

"Damn it, are all these guys in the Second Independent Detachment animals?"

Li Yunlong looked at the 203rd Regiment, which had already left him two miles behind, and was somewhat speechless.

At this rate, if the 203rd Regiment can't stop the Jin-Sui Army, then they're doomed too.

"Brigade Commander, stop talking and let's get going," Zhang Dabiao said.

"Damn it! Zhang Dabiao, tell the comrades to give it their all!"

"We can't let the Second Independent Detachment leave us this far behind, can we?" Li Yunlong said through gritted teeth.

"Yes!"

"Everyone, speed up!" Zhang Dabiao shouted.

"Discard everything unnecessary! Carry only weapons and ammunition!"

However, even though Li Yunlong led the way and ran for his life, he still couldn't see the taillights of the 203rd Regiment.

Only the footprints in the muddy road indicate that the 203rd Regiment has been here.

After they parted ways at the fork in the road, Li Yunlong had no idea where the 203rd Regiment was.

After running for two hours, Xu Wu received intelligence from the forward reconnaissance team.

"Chief of Staff, enemy troops have been spotted at Feilongpo ahead!"

"The Jin-Sui Army is moving rather slowly. How many men do they have?" Xu Wu asked.

Xu Wu originally thought he would encounter the enemy in the Yuejia Village area, but he did not expect that the Jin-Sui Army had only just reached Feilongpo.

"The advance force numbered about a thousand men, which we saw on the hilltop, followed by a long line of troops."

Although the reconnaissance team was equipped with binoculars, it was still raining, and they couldn't see very far on the winding mountain road.

"Over a thousand people? That's a regiment," Xu Wu said.

"Give the order: Prepare for battle!"

"Tell everyone, don't go all out for a bit, fire two shots and then retreat!" Xu Wu ordered.

The mission of the 203rd Regiment was to hold off the Jin-Sui Army's speed and buy time for the main force to outflank and encircle the Jin-Sui Army.

Therefore, the 203rd Regiment had to fight and retreat simultaneously, both to prevent the Jin-Sui Army from moving too fast and to create the illusion that they were outmatched.

If a single regiment defeats an entire division, what happens if the Jin-Sui Army escapes?
C Zongke learned this lesson the hard way before; the prize was right in front of him, but it slipped away.

Upon receiving the order, the soldiers, despite their exhaustion, immediately prepared for battle in the mud.

A few minutes later, seeing the approaching vanguard of the Jin-Sui Army, Xu Wu fired the first shot.

"Snapped!"

"Slap!" "Slap!"
Gunfire erupted immediately from the 203rd Regiment.

"Enemy attack!"

"It's the G Army."

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

Upon hearing the gunshot, the first person to react was Du Zhencheng, the commander of the vanguard regiment of the Jin-Sui Army.

Regardless of how many troops were in front of him, Du Zhencheng instinctively wanted to retreat.

"Commander, Commander!" The chief of staff grabbed Du Zhencheng.

"Commander, it seems the G army has withdrawn!" the chief of staff said, pointing to the hilltop where the fighting had ceased.

"Withdrawn?" Du Zhencheng adjusted his hat, regaining his dignified bearing.

After holding up the binoculars and looking around for a long time, Du Zhencheng looked confident.

"So this is all G-Dragon is made of. Judging from the gunshots, there must have been over two thousand men just now."

"But they were easily repelled by our more than a thousand people."

"This is all thanks to the regimental commander's skillful command," the chief of staff said, giving a thumbs up.

Neither of them mentioned the earlier incident where their troops had been routed and were forced to flee in disarray.

Wouldn't it be even more powerful to subdue the enemy without fighting?

"Send a messenger to inform Peng Sijin of the good news."

"Tell me that my unit was attacked by more than 3,000 G troops, and we have now defeated them."

"My unit is in pursuit!" Du Zhencheng said.

"yes!".
Peng Yulin breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the report.

"It seems the G army is nothing special after all."

He was on edge when the gunshot rang out.

"Sir, if the G Army is really as strong as Commander Shi says, Chongqing would probably have been taken over long ago."

“Yes, you’re right.” Peng Yulin nodded.

This must be Shi Anguo bluffing.

"Send orders to the vanguard regiment to continue the pursuit, but make sure to send out more scouts to prevent ambushes."

"The main force should speed up and try to get out of here as soon as possible," Peng Yulin ordered.

"yes!".
"Chief of staff, the enemy is catching up."

"But something's not right," the scout reported, running back panting.

"Something's not right?" Xu Wu frowned.

The main force has not yet arrived. If the Jin-Sui Army retreats, the plan to intercept reinforcements will fall through.

"The Jin-Sui Army has more than seven thousand men! The deeper they pursue, the more men they have."

"I hadn't seen the tail by the time I came to report," the scout said.

"Send a message to the brigade headquarters, and we will proceed according to the established plan," Xu Wu ordered.

The enemy has a few ways to fight, and a lot of ways to fight.

However, these are not things I should consider.

His task was to maintain speed and shorten the Jin-Sui Army's ranks as much as possible, thus creating favorable conditions for encirclement.

Upon receiving the telegram, Chen Chengxing didn't waste any words and immediately forwarded it to the headquarters.

The change in circumstances immediately caught the attention of the command.

However, the enemy situation is currently unclear, and the command has not made any changes, still instructing all units to operate according to the original plan.

It wasn't until the encirclement was completely completed that everyone realized the reinforcements numbered over 30,000.

"I was hoping to get some wontons, but instead I got soup dumplings." Mr. Liu put down the telegram with a smile on his face.

"The soup dumplings are delicious, but they're also a bit too hot to eat," the political commissar said.

Currently, only the C Column, D Column, and the Second Independent Detachment are participating in the encirclement, with a total of about 50,000 people.

If the Jin-Sui Army wanted to escape, it would be impossible to stop them all.

If they don't run away and instead use the terrain to hold their ground, it will be difficult to achieve a quick decisive battle.

"Don't worry about whether it's too hot to eat, just eat it!" General Manager Liu said decisively.

"Let's skip the tough nut in Chongqing and focus on this piece of fat meat first!"

"Send orders to Column A and Column B to immediately move south to participate in the siege. Just hand over the encirclement mission to the local troops."

"Tell the two Sijin that the enemy's body is now held down, and tell them to go and take out the enemy's testicles as quickly as possible!"

As long as we can eliminate the reinforcements, the equipment of each column will immediately undergo a leap forward. At that time, the reorganization of the field army will be much easier.

"Commander-in-Chief, are we marching during the day?" asked the clerk recording the events.

If they marched during the day, the enemy in Yu would be able to see them clearly.

"We'll march during the day! The enemy forces in Chongqing won't escape!" General Liu said.

"Yes!"

On the city wall of Chongqing, watching more than 10,000 people rapidly advancing south, Shi Anguo said he couldn't understand it.

"Why did the G army suddenly withdraw? Does the intelligence department have any information?"

Shi Anguo put down his binoculars and looked at Wei Wenjie, who was standing to the side.

"Commander, we haven't received any special intelligence."

Looking at the scene before him, Wei Wenjie was also somewhat puzzled.

"Do you think the G army knew our reinforcements were coming, so they ran away in fear?" Wei Wenjie guessed.

Shi Anguo nodded: "That's very likely."

"However, there is another possibility."

“That means the G army wants to lure us out,” Shi Anguo analyzed seriously.

He had already received the telegram from the reinforcements and knew their location.

At this point, the G army's sudden withdrawal could only mean one of two things.

"That's unlikely, isn't it? Our reinforcements consist of eight divisions."

Wei Wenjie felt that the possibility of the G army resorting to underhanded tactics was not very high.

If it were a field battle, the Jin-Sui Army would have nearly 50,000 men. How could they possibly be afraid of the G Army, which only had 60,000 to 70,000 men?
With those few broken guns, how dare the G Army engage in a head-on field battle with the Jin-Sui Army, which has an artillery regiment?
"One should always be wary of others," Shi Anguo said.

"Tell the brothers to stay calm and not fall into the G army's trap!"

"As long as we hold Chongqing, we will have won."

"As for the G army outside, we can leave them to the reinforcements to deal with."

In Shi Anguo's view, if the G army ran away, then he didn't need to move; if the G army wanted to lure him out, then he shouldn't move at all.

"yes!".
Unlike Shi Anguo's relaxed demeanor, Peng Yulin had already started cursing.

"How come there are so many people? Could it be that the entire G Army has come here?"

"Where is the 19th Army? What is Shi Anguo doing?"

If the G army chooses to encircle and annihilate itself, then the 19th Army can completely outflank the G army's rear.

With attacks from both sides, the G army is bound to suffer a crushing defeat.

"Sir, according to the reply from the 19th Army, there are still a large number of G Army activities around Chongqing."

"There are still a large number of G troops? How many G troops are there?!" Peng Yulin frowned deeply.

The previous telegram stated that there were fifty or sixty thousand men, but now just the troops surrounding us must number that many, right?
How could there possibly be any G army troops around Chongqing?
"According to the telegram, there are still 20,000 to 30,000 troops on the outskirts of Chongqing."

Shi Anguo: Forget about whether the people outside have guns or not, just tell me if there are that many people.

"Damn it, where did all these people come from?" Peng Yulin was very puzzled.

This isn't the only location of the G Army.

According to intelligence, there are large units of the G Army active in several other places in Shanxi.

After careful consideration, Peng Yulin finally issued the order to defend.

"Pass on my order: seize the high ground at Qilishan and Tutaishan, and use the mountains to build a defensive line!"

Regardless of how many PLA troops are still around Chongqing, Chongqing is at least safe now.

Now I can fully utilize the terrain and firepower advantages to fight a decisive battle against the G army.

As long as the G army is kept here, both Commander Yan and Yu will become the breakthrough point for us.

After the A and B columns arrived, the various units launched an attack under cover of night.

However, the Second Independent Detachment did not exert its full strength, but only deployed a small number of troops to contain the enemy.

With continuous rain and poor visibility at night, the Second Independent Detachment's firepower advantage could not be fully utilized.

The two sides exchanged fire all night, and at dawn, the Second Independent Detachment officially launched its attack.

Although at the beginning, the Second Independent Detachment only launched platoon-by-platoon attacks in turn.

However, the Jin-Sui Army, which was holding the hilltop, felt immense pressure.

"Boom!" "Boom!"
After several shells, another heavy machine gun of the Jin-Sui Army was destroyed.

As the front lines were constantly bombarded by artillery shells of all sizes, Shi Wenjun, the commander of the 23rd Army, was filled with astonishment.

"Is this the Chinese army?"

Judging from the numbers, there are fewer than three thousand people on the front lines, and they don't have any large-caliber heavy artillery.

However, the casualties of the 23rd Army were rising rapidly.

"Ring ring ring"

"This is the military headquarters!"

"Commander, it's Division Commander Zhang on the phone!"

Shi Wenjun put down his binoculars, walked over from the observation port, and took the phone call.

"I am Shi Wenjun!"

"Commander! Requesting reinforcements! Requesting reinforcements!"

Zhang Zhenhong was covered in mud, and his face was pitch black.

He was squatting in a muddy trench, shouting into the phone.

"The G army's firepower is too strong. Half of our division's heavy machine guns have been destroyed."

"Commander, please request artillery support from the ranks command!"

The heavy machine guns could not be moved frequently, so they were the main target of the 82mm mortars.

The 49th Provisional Division had a total of 36 heavy machine guns, and in less than three hours, half of them were gone.

A light machine gun on the front line would not dare to stay in one place for more than a minute.

They would immediately be subjected to a barrage of artillery fire from the 60mm mortars accompanying the attack.

The Provisional 49th Division also used mortars to retaliate.

However, Zhang Zhenhong was embarrassed to discover that his entire division's mortars combined did not even amount to as many as the enemy's single regiment.

The G army's mortars can suppress their own mortars while diverting firepower to attack machine gun positions.

Furthermore, the G army also possessed a type of direct-fire shoulder-mounted small cannon that could be used in troop charges.

At a distance of just over 100 meters, two or three shots are enough to take down a light machine gun firing position.

Under these multiple blows, the Provisional 49th Division could no longer hold on.

If the G army hadn't refrained from launching a full-scale attack, their first line of defense would probably have been breached long ago.

"Commander Zhang, you know how important the artillery regiment is; it cannot be moved lightly."

"The Provisional 49th Division must hold out for 24 hours! Otherwise, I'll dismiss you!"

The Jin-Sui Army was well aware that the G Army possessed heavy mortars.

They are now holding several high points, and if the artillery regiment opens fire too easily, they will be easily discovered by the G army.

Once the artillery regiment is discovered, it will be immediately countered.

Without the artillery regiment as a threat, the G army could point their artillery at their heads.

Then it will be even harder to fight.

"Commander! Commander!"
Ignoring Zhang Zhenhong's pleas, Shi Wenjun hung up the phone immediately.

After observing from the observation post for a while, Shi Wenjun suddenly spoke up:
"Have the artillery battalion of the military dependents get ready to open fire to support the Provisional 49th Division in a moment."

Yan Xishan didn't have many mountain guns, but after the Japanese surrendered, he still took over some Type 92 infantry guns and Type 94 90mm mortars.

These artillery pieces were reinforced in the army's artillery battalions.

Among the artillery battalions under the 23rd Army, there were 8 Type 92 mountain guns.

These eight infantry guns were Shi Wenjun's prized possessions; he wouldn't have used them if the Provisional 49th Division hadn't been in a critical situation.

(End of this chapter)