Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 405 Losses and Defeat ×, Victory √

"Sir, the G Army is back again, and it looks like it's the Second Detachment again."

"I've already seen it!" Yan Xishan shouted angrily from the gate tower of Yunzhong City, putting down his binoculars.

He wasn't blind, so he could naturally see the G army marching along the Ping-Sui Railway in a mighty procession.

It's obvious without even thinking that this was the Second Detachment that wiped out Fu Yi's army.

The Jin-Sui Army was already no match for the G Army outside the city, and now that the Second Detachment has arrived, they are even less likely to win.

Upon returning to Yunzhong, the Second Detachment did not immediately participate in the attack, but instead took a break on the spot.

As soon as Chen Chengxing entered the field headquarters, he heard someone inside laughing:
"Our great hero has arrived."

"Compared to you, this is nothing," Chen Chengxing quickly said.

"Hehe. You did a really good job this time. The commander even asked me to commend you."

"Forget about awards or commendations, it's all because our comrades fought well."

"Hehe. You kid, have a seat," General Manager Liu gestured.

Chen Chengxing agreed and was about to sit down.

Mr. Liu's next words made Chen Chengxing, who had just sat down on the bench, jump up again instantly.

"Chen Chengxing, congratulations on your fortune."

"What kind of fortune are you talking about? We're so poor we're practically selling our pants." Chen Chengxing didn't even have time to process what he was saying before he blurted out the answer instinctively.

However, Chen Chengxing realized what he had just said.

The second detachment is basically fully equipped.

Most of the weapons captured this time have been transported back, except for a small portion used to replenish battle losses.

Why congratulate yourself?

"Boss, I've already arranged for those supplies to be transported back to Taiyuan," Chen Chengxing immediately changed his tune.

“I know that,” Mr. Liu nodded.

"I'm talking about Fu Yi's artillery regiment. Those are 105mm heavy guns. Can you handle them?"

No column in the entire G Army was equipped with a 105mm heavy artillery regiment.

"Hey, I just wanted to test how effective it was," Chen Chengxing said, a little embarrassed.

His original idea was to leave it at that for now, and after returning to Taiyuan from Yunzhong, he could at least leave a few sects behind.

I never expected to be dragged away as soon as I got back.

"This isn't something I wanted; it's something the higher-ups wanted to establish as an independent artillery column," General Liu explained.

"In addition to these 105mm howitzers, the two 155mm howitzers in the D column are also within the scope of allocation."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chengxing immediately nodded: "Don't worry, the Second Detachment will fully cooperate!"

Chen Chengxing was indeed very envious of these 105mm howitzers, but to be honest, the Second Detachment really couldn't handle them.

Putting everything else aside, there's no way to replenish the artillery shells.

The shells that Taiyuan could produce were all Japanese-made shells of various calibers.

As for American artillery shells, they couldn't even produce 75mm caliber ones.

The captured artillery regiment was short of ammunition, with each cannon averaging less than thirty rounds.

If a war really breaks out, it won't last more than a few days.

"Yes, I'm glad you understand." Mr. Liu nodded.

"But don't be sad. After careful consideration, the higher-ups have decided to expand the supplementary regiment that you set up into two regiments."

"Your troops have been restored to eight regiments, and these are eight main force regiments."

"I will allocate some of the soldiers who have completed their ideological education to the Second Detachment. The weapons captured this time will also be prioritized for the Second Detachment."

"Thank you, sir!" Chen Chengxing said, standing at attention.

After a few days of rest, the Second Detachment began its assault on the city amidst the terrified gazes of the Jin-Sui Army.

"Sir! The G army has advanced to the city walls!"

"Report! G Army is retreating and has begun artillery fire!"

"Report! The East Gate has been blown up! The 209th Regiment used tanks to seal the gate, but the tanks have been destroyed!"

"report!"

One piece of information after another reached Yan Xishan's ears.

"Stop reporting! Is there not a single good news?!" Yan Xishan roared.

What he needed was to stop the G army's offensive, not to tell him how powerful the G army was.

Upon hearing Yan Xishan's roar, the command post fell completely silent.

Unfortunately, they really didn't have any good news to report.

"Damn it! Useless! All of you are useless!" Yan Xishan stormed out of the command center.

A moment later, the command center was busy again.

The news doesn't just come because they don't want to.

Although Yan Xishan has left, the G army continues to send messages here.

After quickly dealing with the matter, Yang Xingru hurried to find Yan Xishan.

At that moment, Yan Xishan was sitting in his office with a pistol on his desk. Hearing the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, Yan Xishan quickly picked up the pistol.

As soon as Yang Xingru entered the room, he saw something that left him speechless.

"Sir! You can't do something foolish!" Yang Xingru rushed in and grabbed Yan Xishan's hand.

"Xingru! Don't stop me!"

"Taiyuan is gone, and now Yunzhong is going to be gone too!"

"The world is so vast, there is no place for me to stand!"

"Just let me die in Shanxi!"

Yan Xishan's face was filled with grief and indignation, and he seemed to be filled with the will to die.

"Sir, as long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood!" Yang Xingru pleaded desperately.

"Didn't you get reinstated after stepping down during the Central Plains War?"

Although Yang Xingru and Yan Xishan both knew that Shanxi would be completely different after it was occupied by the Communist Party.

However, the two of them tacitly avoided mentioning the matter.

"Ah, Xingru, you're right. As long as the green hills remain, there's no fear of running out of firewood." Yan Xishan put the pistol back on the table.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Yang Xingru immediately said, "Sir, the plane is ready. Chairman Chang wants us to fly to Chang'an."

The demolition of houses and the leveling of roads were all for this purpose.

"go!"

"With the help of the Central Army, we can fight back sooner or later!" Yan Xishan said confidently.

As Yan Xishan left, his trusted bodyguard immediately picked up the unsafeted pistol from the table and followed him.

The Jin-Sui Army soldiers, who were engaged in combat, became excited as they watched the planes that had been stationary suddenly take off.

"Great, it's an airplane! The G army is most afraid of airplanes!"

"This plane can fly? Wasn't it covered with a tarpaulin the whole time?"

"Who knows? But this plane flew over. There must have been a reason why it wasn't moving before. It's good that it can take off in a critical moment!"

Ordinary soldiers can't distinguish between fighter jets, bombers, and transport planes.

I thought the planes were taking off to support combat operations.

However, before the Jin-Sui Army soldiers could say a few more words, the plane flew straight south.

As they watched the plane disappear into the distance, the soldiers of the Jin-Sui Army were speechless with joy.

"The plane has flown away?"

"Could it be that an even more powerful G army has arrived over there?"

"What the hell! You still can't see that? The officers ran away! They ran away!"

"Ran away? Damn it, didn't they issue orders just five minutes ago that we should live and die with Yun?"

"Yes, we may perish, but our commander cannot perish!"

"That's just bullshit!"

"I surrender! I surrender!"

The high command of the Jin-Sui Army absconded with their valuables by plane, but the remaining soldiers weren't fools either.

It's impossible to risk your life for a piece of scrap paper.

In particular, when the division commanders tried to contact the command headquarters to dispel the rumors but found that they could not get in touch with them, all the troops collapsed.

The gates of Cloud City immediately swung open.
With the liberation of Yunzhong City, the Battle of Northern Shanxi came to an end, and the threat to northern Shanxi was completely eliminated.

As the main force moved south, the Jinan Guo Army, which had been jumping around, immediately became docile.

Guo Jun withdrew to the Tongpu Railway line, preparing for a defensive counterattack.

During the Jinbei Campaign, fighting was taking place everywhere else as well.

The Kuomintang army was tightly tied down in the Huaihe River Basin and the central Jiangsu region, forcing Chiang Kai-shek to send reinforcements in units of reorganized divisions on multiple occasions.

At the same time, the Guo army's attempts to encircle and suppress the G army, which had broken out of the Central Plains, repeatedly failed, forcing them to commit more troops while pursuing the enemy westward.

Although the G army was winning battles in terms of casualties, the Guo army was advancing steadily on the eastern front, except for northern Shanxi.

The Guo army used heavy casualties to continuously gain territory; the G army, on the other hand, used the depth of space to continuously annihilate the enemy.

Although both sides won from the perspective of their respective strategic objectives.

However, Chiang Kai-shek believed that he had won unilaterally.

Having achieved a strategic victory, Chiang Kai-shek naturally wanted to continue down this path.

The number of Guo soldiers in western Henan, northern Henan, northern Huaihe River Basin, southern Huaihe River Basin, and central Jiangsu region continued to increase.

Under Chiang Kai-shek's meticulous planning, a dumbbell-shaped formation emerged in the central region, stretching from northern Shaanxi in the west to Subei in the east.

At the western and eastern ends, the Guo army deployed hundreds of thousands of troops on each side.

The connecting point in the middle, on the Longhai Railway, a vital transportation artery for the Guo army, was only manned by two reorganized divisions.

After analyzing the enemy situation, General Liu believed that this was an opportunity to launch an attack, and therefore sent an operational request to the Central Committee.

After receiving approval, the Second Detachment and the C Column set off from Shanxi and quietly assembled in Caozhou, preparing to join forces with the troops in northern Henan.

Southern Shanxi was still the responsibility of the D Column and the B Column, while the Suiyuan region was the responsibility of the A Column and local regiments.

(End of this chapter)