Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 372 The Main Force, Absolutely the Main Force
"Based on the radios we captured earlier, the enemy's movements are basically clear."

“The enemy forces in Pingyang, Qingcheng, and Xiangling are the first wave of the attack.”

"The enemy troops in Xintian and Wenxian are the reserve force for the attack; the troops in Anyi area are responsible for ensuring logistical security."

The enemy's movements are clearly marked on the map.

Although the Jin-Sui Army had a tendency to move south, no one thought they would actually come to help.

Therefore, Chen Sijin did not withdraw his main force, but instead ordered the local troops in the Shuncheng and Yong'an areas to block Yan Xishan's troops.

"The units that fought against us this time were the 1st Division, the 167th Division, and the 27th Division."

"The enemy has three divisions, while we have six brigades. We don't have a significant advantage in troop strength."

"Therefore, we must use a brigade to hold off two enemy divisions, and then concentrate our forces to wipe out their 1st Division."

This task is not easy.

However, none of them backed down, and their eyes were filled with determination.

They all wanted to tear a piece of flesh from the Central Army.

"The enemy has not yet taken any action; the main force is currently secretly assembling in the Pingxiao area."

"Once the situation turns in our favor, strike immediately!" Chen Sijin ordered.

"yes!".
The various units began to hide and await orders in the mountainous areas around Xiaoyi.

A few days later, the 27th and 167th Divisions were ready.

They split into two groups and advanced towards Xiaoyi in a pincer movement.

However, the Central Army was unaware that their supposedly secure encrypted calls had already been cracked.

"Hu Shoushan is really good at keeping his composure. He only played two small cards and still managed to hold onto his trump card," Chen Chengxing said.

According to their initial plan, Guo Jun would advance from three directions simultaneously.

As a result, the most important path has yet to emerge.

“Since he’s not playing his card, then we’ll play ours,” Chen Sijin said.

Having decided to target the 1st Division, Chen Sijin had no intention of changing his mind.

Since the 1st Division won't come out, let's lure them out.

"Li Yunlong!"

"To!"

"You lead the 13th Brigade to the line between Lijiazhuang and Qingshuihe," Chen Sijin ordered.
"Occupy advantageous terrain, construct defensive fortifications, and repel the enemy attacking Xiaoyi."

The brigade numbers have now been determined; the Independent Brigade has been changed to Brigade 13, and Brigade 386 has been changed to Brigade 14.

"Yes!"

Although they didn't get the battle they wanted, the mission of blocking the 167th and 27th Divisions was still very important.

Therefore, Li Yunlong, who considered himself the strongest brigade in the D column, didn't say a single unnecessary word.

After all, with greater ability comes greater responsibility.

The next day, the vanguard of the 167th Division was the first to leave Mengcun and began to march north along the highway.

We plan to bypass Maojialing and head straight for Xiaoyi County.

Meanwhile, the reconnaissance platoon of the 13th Brigade was on the hilltop of Maojialing.

"Platoon leader, Guo Jun is here!" a soldier ran up to Duan Peng and reported.

"How many people?" Duan Peng immediately raised his binoculars.

"Judging from the number of people, it should be a battalion, but they are not equipped with heavy weapons."

"Everyone, prepare for battle!" Duan Peng ordered, picking up the submachine gun beside him.

As instructed by Li Yunlong, if the situation was appropriate, the reconnaissance platoon needed to give the Guo army a warning.

A dozen minutes later, the vanguard battalion of the 167th Division marched toward them in neat and uniform formation.

"Damn it, what are you doing with such a neat line?" Duan Peng pointed the muzzle of his submachine gun at them.

This is a battlefield, not a training ground!
"Da da da".
As Duan Peng pulled the trigger, the soldiers around him opened fire as well.

The effective range of the submachine gun is less than 100 meters; any further and the hit rate cannot be guaranteed. But what can you do when these KMT troops are lined up so densely?

Even if a bullet misses its target, it can still hit other people in the air.

Although Duan Peng only brought thirty men, he had two Czech-made rifles and six submachine guns.

The concentrated firepower caught the KMT troops off guard, and many soldiers were taken away by the stray bullets without even realizing it.

"Take cover! Counterattack immediately!" Battalion Commander Guo shouted, lying on the ground.

"Mortars ready!"

Although he did not carry a heavy machine gun, he did carry the two 60mm mortars belonging to the battalion with him.

This is their core support firepower.

"Boom!" "Boom!"
After firing a few shots at the hilltop, taking advantage of Duan Peng and his men taking cover from the artillery fire, Battalion Commander Guo ordered a halt to the shelling, followed by a full-scale charge.

With only a few dozen men, they dared to attack his main battalion; they were simply courting death.

"Brothers, follow me!" Battalion Commander Guo led the charge.

"kill!".
The rest of the soldiers followed closely behind.

However, it's unclear whether the soldiers rushed too fast or the battalion commander ran too slowly.

After a mere few dozen meters, the battalion commander fell to the very back.

Duan Peng and his men were helpless against the mortars, but they could overwhelm the charging infantry with firepower.

"Attack!" Duan Peng shouted.

"Da da da".
Once the distance closes to within fifty meters, the reconnaissance platoon's firepower advantage immediately becomes apparent.

The firepower of thirty men was not much less than that of a whole battalion of the Guo army.

After two rounds of fighting, seeing that Guo Jun was about to be within 30 meters, Duan Peng decisively drew his bayonet from his waist.

We can't let the KMT troops get any closer. If they get any closer, they'll be within range of our grenades, and the reconnaissance platoon won't be able to hold them off.

"Comrades, kill me!"

Duan Peng charged out with a bayonet in one hand and a pistol in the other.

"Kill!"
The Guo army was stunned to see that the G army dared to launch a counter-charge.

Faced with the reconnaissance platoon that was like a tiger descending the mountain, the vanguard battalion of the Guo army was no match at all.

Upon discovering the enemy's sudden attack, the Guo army retreated frantically.

"How dare these G Army soldiers?" Standing in a safe place, Battalion Commander Guo looked at the situation on the hilltop with some doubt.

According to his thinking, the G army should primarily focus on defense.

"Commander, something's definitely up to no good. Could there be a large G Army force on the mountain?" the deputy battalion commander said.

"Yes, that makes sense. Otherwise, where would the G army get such audacity?" The battalion commander agreed wholeheartedly.

Counter-attacks are simple, but if the KMT troops cannot be driven down, the KMT troops will lose their cover and be more easily annihilated.

"Send someone to report to the division commander and ask him what he means."

"yes!".
Upon learning of the situation at Maojialing, Guo Cheng, the commander of the 167th Division, also realized that something was wrong.

"Fortunately, the vanguard battalion was quick-witted, otherwise they might have really suffered losses," Guo Cheng said.

Maojialing is not located in a dangerous area. If the main force of the G Army were to hide here, the 167th Division might not have been suspicious when it passed through the foot of the mountain.

"Commander, should we order the main force to deploy?" Chief of Staff Zhong Rui asked from the side.

Now that we know there's a problem with Maojialing, we can't just march like this; we have to remove the thorn in our side.

"No rush," Guo Cheng shook his head.

"Order the troops to withdraw and send out reconnaissance troops to investigate the situation at Maojialing in detail."

"We cannot fight a battle unprepared," Guo Cheng ordered.

"yes!".
The 167th Division began its return journey along the same route.

At the same time, a telegram was sent to the 27th Division explaining the situation.

The 27th Division immediately halted its advance.

At this point, advancing alone would be suicidal.

However, by evening, Guo Cheng was grinding his teeth as he looked at the intelligence sent back by the reconnaissance troops.

"The G army is going too far!"

If word gets out, how will he ever face anyone again?

An entire division was scared away by a single platoon of the enemy?

"Pass on my order! Troops, prepare yourselves! I'm going to flatten Maojialing!" Guo Cheng shouted.

"yes!".
Early the next morning, the 167th Division charged aggressively toward Maojialing.

But by this time, Duan Peng on the position had already led his men to flee.

Apart from being hit by a series of mines, the 167th Division found nothing else.

The veins on Guo Cheng's forehead bulged.

"Keep moving! Destination: Xiaoyi! I am sworn enemies with the G army!"

Urged on by Guo Cheng, the 167th Division rushed for 30 li (approximately 15 kilometers) and then encountered Li Yunlong's 311th Regiment at Lijiazhuang.

At the same time, the 27th Division also encountered the 312th Regiment along the Qingshuihe line.

Because Chen Sijin's order to Li Yunlong was to launch a fierce and forceful attack to confuse the enemy and create the illusion that the main force of the G army was in Xiaoyi.

Therefore, the two regiments of the 13th Brigade fought very fiercely.

The 167th and 27th Divisions launched dozens of attacks over two days, but failed to advance an inch.

Even after bringing up the division's mountain artillery battalion, they still couldn't push the 13th Brigade's lines forward.

They were even counterattacked by the 13th Brigade several times.

If it weren't for Zhao Gang guarding him, Li Yunlong would probably have grabbed his submachine gun and charged in.

When the battle report was delivered to Dong Shengjie, he was overjoyed.

Great success is just around the corner!

He was certain that the main force of the G army was in Xiaoyi.

Otherwise, with his two divisions, how could the progress be so slow?
"Such a relentless and fearless attack suggests there must be a big fish in the Xiaoyi area!"

"Send orders to the 1st Division to immediately reinforce Xiaoyi and annihilate the main force of the G Army!"

The moment the order for the First Division to reinforce was issued, the D Column immediately received it.

Immediately, Chen Sijin ordered the 13th Brigade to retreat, preparing to let the enemy into the heart of the territory.

"Damn it, the First Division has finally shown itself!" Li Yunlong put down the telegram.

Despite the fact that the 13th Brigade had defeated two divisions of the KMT army, preventing them from advancing an inch, the brigade still managed to hold them back.

However, the casualties in the two days of blocking battles were considerable, with one-third of the entire brigade already wiped out.

"Zhang Dabiao!"

"Have!"

"Order the troops to retreat in shifts and withdraw from the battle from the direction of Nianhuailing."

"yes!".
With Li Yunlong leading the retreat, the 167th and 27th Divisions successfully occupied Xiaoyi.

He then immediately sent a telegram to Hu Shoushan in Anyi to report the good news.

"Report! The G army has retreated, and two of our divisions have entered Xiaoyi County!"

"Retreat?"

Hu Shoushan looked at the map with some confusion, as it was different from the G Army he knew.

"The G army built a lot of fortifications along the Qingshui River, but retreated after only two days of resistance?"

"G Army's decision to abandon Xiaoyi, what kind of conspiracy is this?"

Just as Hu Shoushan was racking his brains trying to figure it out, another operations staff officer ran over.

"Report! A call from Xiaoyi!"

"The 167th and 27th Divisions report that the main force of the G Army has been spotted near Xiaoyi and has now surrounded Xiaoyi!"

"Hmph, as expected, there's a trick up their sleeve!" Hu Shoushan said disdainfully.

The trick of luring the enemy deep into our territory won't work here!

"Order Huang Zhencheng's First Division to speed up and provide immediate reinforcements!"

"Yes!"

At this moment, outside Xiaoyi, Li Yunlong was ordering his artillerymen to fire from all sides.

Regardless of the actual effect, the 13th Brigade and local troops have certainly created a great deal of momentum.

(End of this chapter)