Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 393 There is no fastest, only faster.
"Comrades, give it your all! Once we get past the next hill, we'll reach the Three Ridges!" shouted Tian Cheng, commander of the 204th Regiment.

As the regimental commander, Tian Cheng naturally had a horse assigned to him.

However, in order to carry more ammunition, he gave his horse to the transport team.

Just as Tian Cheng was urging them on, the first scouts ran back.

"Commander, something terrible has happened! There's a large number of KMT troops ahead! There are at least five or six thousand of them, and they're all cavalry!"

Although cavalrymen dismount for battle, the herd of horses does not stray far from the troops.

Upon hearing the scout's report, Tian Cheng immediately frowned.

"How could Guo Jun be here? Could it be that Guo Jun anticipated the detachment commander's plan?!"

Unable to figure it out, Tian Cheng immediately ordered the telegraph operator to send a telegram to the division headquarters.

Looking at the telegram sent by the 204th Regiment, Chen Chengxing shook his head helplessly.

"A place with auspicious feng shui, it's something everyone covets."

The Three Ridges area is absolutely wonderful.

It's so good that if someone wanted to set up an ambush, they would see this place first.

“The five or six thousand cavalrymen should be the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions that fled from Zhuozishan Mountain before,” Xu Wu analyzed.

The Guo army cavalry was a lightly armed force, generally not equipped with heavy machine guns, but they would be equipped with several 82mm mortars.

Judging from the telegram, the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions had already arrived and had probably constructed some basic fortifications.

Using simple fortifications, light machine guns and mortars were enough to have a significant impact on the 204th Regiment.

"The 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions had previously engaged in fierce battles with the main force of our army in Sulim."

“They are currently hiding in Sandaoji, and they must have gone directly from Sulim.”

"In other words, they didn't receive any supplies," Chen Chengxing asserted.

According to Chen Chengxing's understanding, Fu Yi's non-direct-line troops did not have sufficient ammunition.

During the War of Resistance against Japan, even Fu Yi's cavalry unit borrowed Type 79 ammunition from the Eighth Route Army's Jinbei Military Region.

Even though conditions are better now, it's unlikely that each person will be equipped with more than thirty rounds of ammunition.

After three hours of fierce fighting, it's uncertain how many soldiers will have left.

After thinking it over, Chen Chengxing made up his mind; he trusted his judgment.

"Xu Wu, send a telegram to the 204th Regiment, instructing them to seize the high ground and launch a dive attack on the enemy!"

As long as the 204th Regiment has a height advantage, its twenty-odd heavy machine guns can keep the enemy from raising their heads.

"yes!".
Upon receiving the order, Tian Cheng breathed a sigh of relief; the detachment leader was indeed going to attack.

"Comrades! Prepare for battle!"

By this time, the 204th Regiment had already seized the northernmost and highest ridge of the three ridges.

"Machine gun team, aim at the enemy's assembly point and fire hard!"

"Da da da".
Although the 204th Regiment could not be deployed entirely on the front line due to the terrain, the presence of just a portion of its light and heavy machine guns was enough to give the Nationalist army a hard time.

The Guo army, which had been hiding on the reverse slope of the first ridge, suffered heavy casualties while attempting to ambush the enemy.

The reverse slope facing the highway is the front of the 204th Regiment.

In their eyes, the Guo army cavalry was practically defenseless.

"Enemy attack!"

"Where did these bullets come from?!"
The enemy troops who were lying in ambush were suddenly attacked and immediately thrown into chaos.

"Retreat! Withdraw from the position! To the south slope of the second ridge!"

"The enemy is to the north!"

Looking at the chaotic battlefield, Liu Wanfang, commander of the 4th Cavalry Division, immediately gave a loud order.

Heavy machine guns fire in a direct line of fire, so they can simply hide in the blind spot to avoid being hit.

Upon hearing the shouts, the soldiers closest to Liu Wanfang immediately ran north in a frantic rush.

Upon seeing this, the other soldiers, like sheep seeing their leader, immediately followed suit.

When they reached the blind spot on the south slope of the second ridge and saw that the G army's machine guns had stopped firing, the Guo army soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.

"Machine gun team, immediately construct the reverse slope position and prepare for fire support!"

"The 3rd Cavalry Regiment, flank and attack the rear of Sandao Ridge from the right flank through the mountain gully!" Liu Wanfang immediately issued the order for a counterattack.

The surprise attack by the G army just now killed more than 300 people.

Most of them were from the 4th Cavalry Division, and Liu Wanfang was trembling with pain.

“Commander Chai, our troops must fight together.” Liu Wanfang looked at Chai Yongsan, the commander of the 5th Cavalry Division, who was standing next to him.

"Commander Liu, rest assured, I'm handing over command of the 5th Cavalry Division to you!" Chai Yongsan nodded.

Chai Yongsan knew his own limitations very well; Liu Wanfang was several levels above him.

"Thank you very much, Brother Chai!" Liu Wanfang breathed a sigh of relief.

If Chai Yongsan doesn't cooperate, things will really be difficult for him.

We now have over five thousand men at our disposal, which is enough to fight against the opposing G army.

"First and Fourth Regiments, prepare to attack the G Army from both flanks!"

"Yes!" the people who received the order responded in unison.

Ten minutes later, seeing that preparations were almost complete, Liu Wanfang gave the order to attack.

"attack!"

"kill!".
Faced with the Nationalist army attacking from both sides, the soldiers of the 204th Regiment did not waste any words and directly used heavy machine guns to make it impossible for them to move an inch.

As for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the Guo Army, which wanted to flank and launch a surprise attack from the side.

Before they even left the ravine, they were met with a barrage of mortar fire from the artillery observation team that had been set up in advance.

A dozen minutes later, the Guo army, which had been attacked from both sides, was the first to retreat in disarray.

A dozen minutes later, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment also abandoned more than two hundred corpses and retreated in a sorry state.

"Useless! All of you are useless!" Liu Wanfang cursed angrily.

It's only been a few minutes, and they haven't even gotten close to the G army yet. "Commander, it's not that the brothers are unwilling to fight, it's just that the G army's firepower is too strong!"

"That's right, Commander. The G army on the other side not only has more men, but also a large number of heavy machine guns. The brothers really can't break through."

This isn't an excuse being made by these cavalry regimental commanders.

On the battlefield, the suppressive power of heavy machine guns is simply too strong; no one can charge forward while enduring a barrage of heavy machine gun fire.

The light machine guns they were equipped with had a significantly shorter sustained firepower compared to the heavy machine guns.

Moreover, the soldiers are currently short of ammunition, and they dare not even fire their rifles at full power.

Liu Wanfang knew, of course, that what the others said was true, so he only cursed a few times before stopping.

"Pass on my order: prepare the mortars and launch a sweeping attack on the G Army's positions in ten minutes!"

Liu Wanfang didn't expect the mortars to kill many G troops.

His aim was to use the smoke generated by exploding shells to cover the troops' advance.

"Second Regiment, Fifth Regiment, get ready! Once the shelling is over, charge onto the G Army's position!"

"Once we can break the deadlock, the rest of the troops will immediately join the battle."

"yes!".
Ten minutes later, after a test shot, the mortars of the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions began rapid fire.

The 204th Regiment's position was covered by an explosion.

The dust and smoke it stirred up reached over ten meters high.

Tian Cheng, huddled in the trench, wasn't too worried.

He had already deployed flanking fire in advance, so even if the Nationalist army dared to attack under artillery fire, the crossfire would teach them a lesson.

And things unfolded exactly as Tian Cheng had predicted.

The Guo army wanted to take advantage of the smoke and the fact that the G army could not see clearly, and quietly sneak up to the position.

Therefore, the Guo troops participating in the attack made no noise.

As soon as they reached the halfway point, they were cut off by flanking fire from both sides of the G army's position.

However, the casualties of the Guo army this time were less than last time.

As soon as they were hit by gunfire, they didn't utter a sound and ran back home.

Liu Wanfang looked at the retreating troops and felt like his head was about to explode.

The 5th Cavalry Division, in particular, was completely useless, charging from the back and retreating from the front.

But it wouldn't work without the 5th Cavalry Division.

Even with his confidence, he knew that the 4th Cavalry Division alone could not defeat the G Army in front of him.

However, the problem that had been troubling Liu Wanfang was soon resolved.

An even more troublesome problem arose before him.

"Commander! Commander! Something terrible has happened!"

"The observation post to the east has spotted a large number of G troops, at least six or seven hundred!"

"They have crossed the mountain and are moving towards our flank!"

"What did you say? Why are you only reporting this now!" Liu Wanfang said angrily.

The hill to the east is less than 500 meters away. It will probably take less than a minute for the G army to arrive.

"Commander, the observation post we set up was on one ridge. Even if we changed the direction later, we could only see three ridges."

"But this batch of G troops came from the east, so they must have taken a long detour!"

Upon hearing the staff officer's report, Liu Wanfang's face turned green.

"Order the First and Third Regiments to immediately move to the east and drive the G Army down!" Liu Wanfang urgently ordered.

"yes!".
However, just as the First and Third Regiments of the Guo Army received their orders, before they had even reached their positions, Liu Wanfang heard the bugle call of the G Army.

"Haha. The First Battalion is in position!" Tian Cheng also heard the bugle call.

"Comrades! Attack!"

"Beep beep beep beep."

"kill!".
Hearing that the G army had also launched an attack from the direction of the Three Ridges, Liu Wanfang's expression grew increasingly grim, but he did not panic too much.

This was all within his expectations.

The biggest threat to the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions at present is the G Army's flanking attack.

If we can stop it, then everything is fine.

If we can't stop it, then everything will be over.

On the position, Liu Wanfang held up his binoculars and stared intently at the battlefield on the flank.

Liu Wanfang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a team arrive to provide support at top speed.

However, just five minutes later, Liu Wanfang saw the cavalry unit collapse and retreat at an even faster pace than before.

Even the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, which had just arrived on the battlefield, collapsed along with them.

"Damn it! Useless! Utterly useless!"

Liu Wanfang was so angry that he smashed the binoculars.

"Commander Liu, the situation is not good!" Chai Yongsan said with a serious expression.

In terms of command ability, Chai Yongsan was not as good as Liu Wanfang, but when it came to understanding the battlefield situation, Chai Yongsan was very clear about it.

Those who cannot see the battlefield situation clearly cannot escape even if they want to.

Chai Yongsan believes that it is time to retreat.

Liu Wanfang had known Chai Yongsan for many years and knew very well what Chai Yongsan meant by those words.

If the 4th Cavalry Division doesn't withdraw, the 5th Cavalry Division will probably have to run away on its own.

Once the 5th Cavalry Division retreats, the 4th Cavalry Division will collapse 100% regardless of Liu Wanfang's wishes.

"Send a telegram to the Provisional 3rd Army! We're retreating!" Liu Wanfang said through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)