Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 414 Chasing After Him

"A mere few hundred soldiers dare to try and snatch teeth from the jaws of death from my 11th Brigade?! What audacity!"

Yang Buyuan, the brigade commander of the 11th Brigade, slapped his hand on the map.

"Pass on my orders! Concentrate artillery fire! Send in tank units to seal this breach!"

"Then wipe out all the G troops that have broken in!"

The G army has already transferred its troops here. If this gap remains, it won't be long before the entire 11th Brigade falls into chaos.

With the 11th Brigade concentrating its firepower in a fierce attack, the previous gap was quickly closed again.

However, the 11th Brigade also suffered casualties, losing two tanks and nearly a battalion.

"Commander, something terrible has happened! The enemy has blocked the breach!"

Upon hearing that the breach had been sealed, Li Chishui immediately gave the order:

"Everyone, don't panic! Immediately grab a few houses!"

"Mount the light machine gun on the wall, and set up the mortar too!"

Li Chishui knew very well that once the breach was sealed, the enemy would soon surround them.

However, as long as they can hold out, the outer defenses will be much easier to defeat, and it will only be a matter of time before they break through the defensive line again.

Inside the two command posts, everyone was extremely busy.

"What's the situation in Jiangzhuang?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"The defensive line still hasn't been breached. The enemy's firepower is very strong, and they also have tanks to support them," Xu Wu reported.

Several tanks were destroyed at the front, but the remaining tanks of the Kuomintang army learned their lesson and became more cautious.

They all hid behind various bunkers, with only the turrets exposed.

In this situation, the rocket launcher has virtually no chance of hitting its target.

"Divide the 2nd Artillery Battalion in two: the 1st and 2nd Companies to the east, and the 3rd Company to the west!"

"Push all the mountain guns and the M3 rapid-fire guns from each unit to the front line and fire directly," Chen Chengxing ordered.

Fixing bayonets to cannons is extremely dangerous; they could easily be destroyed by the enemy.

However, Chen Chengxing couldn't care less about that now.

The 201st Regiment is fighting desperately in Jiangzhuang, and the Second Detachment absolutely cannot waste the opportunity that the soldiers have won with their lives.

"yes!".
As the second unit continued to pour in firepower, the eastern part of Jiangzhuang was almost completely covered by artillery fire.

In the end, the entire 11th Brigade and the 2nd Detachment deployed almost the entire majority of their artillery to this area.

Li Chishui, wearing a helmet he had just captured, lay on a rooftop to observe the situation of the Guo army's defenses.

"This is real artillery warfare!"

"Mortars! Let's fire too!" Li Chishui shouted, turning his head.

Now he and Guo Jun's front-line troops are both caught in a pincer movement, it remains to be seen who can hold out.

"Commander, we're running low on ammunition!"

A normal 60mm mortar crew consists of only 4 people, and each crew can carry a maximum of 40 rounds of ammunition, excluding essential items.

They had already used quite a few of their previous attacks and counterattacks after being surrounded.

"Damn it! Can't you guys be a little more frugal?! This time we brought six mortars, a total of 240 rounds of ammunition! And you're telling me that's not enough?!"

"Commander, when we launch an assault, we should bombard enemy strongpoints with artillery fire, and wasn't that what you were the one who ordered?"

"How come it's now considered a waste on our part!" The artillery crew looked unwilling.

If it weren't for the mortars, would the assault have gone so smoothly?

"You," Li Chishui nearly choked to death.

"Stop your nonsense, quickly adjust the cannons and coordinate with the comrades attacking outside to strike the Guo army's firing positions!"

"The rest of you, prepare for the attack!"

"As long as they can reach the main force, the Guo army will inevitably be defeated!"

"yes!".
After making all the preparations, Li Chishui did not immediately coordinate with the outer troops to attack; he was waiting, waiting for the real opportunity.

An hour later, Li Chishui's eyes lit up.

"The opportunity has arrived! Fire all the shells!"

"Comrades! Follow me and kill!"

"Kill!"
"Damn it! Why did these G soldiers have to show up now of all times?!"

The deputy regimental commander of the Guo army on the position gritted his teeth and said.

This is the strongest wave of attack from the G army on the outside, and he has no spare troops at all.

They can't even spare a single person.
Faced with attacks from both sides, even though the Kuomintang troops on the front lines fought desperately, they were powerless to turn the tide.

Just over ten minutes later, the Guo army withdrew to both flanks.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the second force pressed forward and quickly captured a large area of ​​territory.

"Commander! Commander! The front-line positions have been captured by the G Army, and they are now advancing deeper into enemy territory!"

"Our regiment has suffered heavy casualties, and Deputy Regiment Commander Zhang has been killed in action!" Duan Dongchen, the commander of the 31st Regiment, shouted into the phone.

"Dongchen! Don't rush! The 31st Regiment will retreat immediately and re-establish a defensive line in the village!" Yang Buyuan ordered.
"Use all the bazookas! Hold off the G army's offensive! Logistics will supply you with ammunition!"

As the G army advances, continuing the bloody battle on the eastern front is not in their best interest.

Moreover, losing some positions will not have a significant impact on the 11th Brigade, as aircraft will come to support them during the day.

We can make a decision based on the situation at that time.

Throughout the night, the two sides engaged in a protracted tug-of-war within the village.

As dawn broke, both units began to switch to a defensive posture.

"Commander, the planes have arrived. Should we order all units to counterattack the G army?"

After hearing the chief of staff's words, Yang Buyuan fell silent.

Although the fierce fighting throughout the night held off the G army, the 11th Reorganized Brigade suffered heavy casualties, and Yang Buyuan was already somewhat alarmed.

After a moment of silence, Yang Buyuan spoke:

"After a night of fierce fighting, our troops are exhausted. Even if we launch a counterattack, I estimate that we can only achieve a situation similar to Caojiaji, which is meaningless to the overall battlefield situation."

"Send orders to all units: We are retreating westward!"

Continuing to fight at Jiangzhuang is a risky move.

If we can repel the G army, that's fine, but if we can't repel them during the day, things will get complicated at night.

Rather than taking risks, it's better to retreat strategically and rebuild a solid defense.

Seeing the Guo army retreating westward in an orderly manner under the cover of aircraft, Chen Chengxing did not order a pursuit.

That night, the Second Division also suffered significant casualties. Faced with the stubbornness of the 11th Reorganized Division, the General Headquarters, after a day of discussion, decided to change tactics.

The C column made a large-scale flanking maneuver and infiltrated behind enemy lines, cutting off communication between the 11th Brigade and other Kuomintang troops.

The second team will continue to be the main attackers, targeting Xiaojialou and Zhangzhuang.

The G column then launched an attack on the enemy forces in Fengzhen, while simultaneously covering the flanks of the second column.

At the same time, the troop strength of the reorganized 11th Division was also constantly being mobilized.

After nightfall, C secretly infiltrated Xiwangzhuang, but once again they didn't see a single hair.

"Damn it! I refuse to believe it! Does that mean the C Column couldn't capture a single Kuomintang soldier throughout the entire battle?!"

"Order the troops to continue the attack on Zhangjiaying!"
The second vanguard team also missed their target.

"Reporting to the detachment commander, the 2nd team has called and reported that they have not found any enemy troops in the forward warehouse!"

"Continue the pursuit, target Zhangzhuang!"

Chen Chengxing was not surprised that the enemy had retreated again.

Before they attacked the 11th Division, the Kuomintang army would always shrink their defensive lines every night.

Now that the two sides have fought tooth and nail, the Guo army will inevitably be more cautious.

"yes!".
Team 2 pursued the enemy for almost half the night, until 11 p.m., when they finally found traces of the enemy at Xiaojialou.

However, the enemy forces at Xiaojialou were not only numerous, but they also had set up a complete defensive line relying on the ditches.

After attempting to attack a few times, the two teams stopped and instead began to encircle the enemy.

When Chen Chengxing arrived with his main force, he discovered that something was wrong.

"No, this isn't yesterday's 11th Brigade!" Chen Chengxing said seriously.

Yesterday, the battle with the 11th Brigade was so fierce that both sides suffered heavy casualties.

Although Chen Chengxing couldn't see clearly through the binoculars because of the darkness.

However, based on the other party's actions, Chen Chengxing was able to determine that there were no injured people on the other side.

If the opposing force is the 11th Brigade, and given the possibility of battle at any moment, it would be impossible to allow all the wounded to rest.

"Xu Wu, immediately send a telegram to the C and G columns to inquire about the situation," Chen Chengxing said.

If possible, the general command's order was to suppress the entire 11th Brigade and attack them.

"I'll go right now." Xu Wu immediately ran out.

A few minutes later, Xu Wu ran back.

"Commander, both the C and G columns have encountered enemy forces."

"C Zong said that they encountered an enemy force at Zhangjiaying, but they fought for a long time and couldn't break through at all."

"The G column has discovered the entire 11th Brigade in Fengzhen and is now pressing forward with all its troops, launching a four-sided attack on Fengzhen."

"The 11th Brigade ran fast enough, they went straight to the rear flank," Luo Ping said, looking at the map.

On the map, the three enemy forces discovered tonight are still distributed in a triangular pattern.

However, the 11th Brigade, which was originally the spearhead, relinquished its position and moved to the right flank.

"Order Team 2 to continue the siege, the rest of the troops follow me to Fengzhen!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

Take advantage of their weakness to kill them.

This time, we'll team up with G Zong to give the 11th Brigade a good beating.

Meanwhile, G Zong was already in trouble in Fengzhen.

The G column consisted of six regiments. Except for one regiment responsible for intercepting reinforcements and blocking the enemy's retreat, and one regiment serving as a reserve, the other four regiments launched an attack from all sides.

However, the 11th Brigade had clearly marked the coordinates in advance this time.

Once G launches an attack, it will inevitably be met with a barrage of artillery fire.

Before the G column could even get close to the enemy's position, it had already been bombarded by artillery fire.

Once they got closer, the amount of ammunition launched by the entire 11th Brigade, equipped with American weapons, far exceeded that of the G column.

Putting aside everything else, the 11th Brigade alone was equipped with over a thousand submachine guns, more than the entire G Army on the battlefield.

Despite a fierce battle that lasted all night, G Zong did not manage to penetrate Fengzhen even once.

Just as Zhu Shaohua, the commander of the G-rank, was pacing anxiously, Chen Chengxing arrived with two teams.

"Great! You've finally arrived!" Zhu Shaohua exclaimed excitedly.

"Zhu Siling, what's the situation now?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"It's the 11th Brigade on the other side, but they've reinforced their firepower, and the G column is under heavy artillery fire."

"Heavy artillery? It seems that Hu Ziqi has divided the division's artillery battalion into three parts."

Previously, when they were at Xiaojialou, Team 2 also suffered heavy artillery fire.

"Chief Chen, from which direction do you intend to launch the attack?" Zhu Shaohua asked.

Whether Zhu Shaohua likes it or not, the second team will become the main force in attacking, and the G column will become the supporting force.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Chengxing said, "Give me the north side. The Second Detachment will attack the enemy from the northeast and northwest corners."

"Good!" Zhu Shaohua immediately sent someone to relay the order, moving the regiment from the north to the western position.

After taking over the battlefield, Teams 1 and 4 of the second division immediately dispatched small groups of troops to conduct probing attacks.

Although the soldiers of the Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment almost broke their backs from exhaustion, they still managed to pull the mountain guns to their designated positions.

If the attack doesn't go smoothly, they'll definitely unleash their fury.

Just as a small force from the Second Detachment went forward to probe, Yang Buyuan, the commander of the 11th Brigade, immediately sensed something was wrong.

Yang Buyuan risked rushing to a high point, raised his binoculars, and after only a few glances, immediately gave the order:
"The G Army in the north has been reassigned! Have the 32nd Regiment prepare! Artillery battalion, adjust your direction!"

"A change of personnel? It seems the offensive from the north has slowed down," said the chief of staff of the 11th Brigade.

"It's just the calm before the storm!"

“If you look closely, the opponent’s offensive rhythm is clearly different from that of the previous G army.”

"Although our firepower is strong, the casualties caused are not many."

Yang Buyuan noticed the difference in the opposing G army simply by the light from the explosion of the shells.

After Yang Buyuan's reminder, the chief of staff of the 11th Brigade also noticed something was wrong.

The opposing G army clearly came with a purpose.

Moreover, their movements were quite methodical.

"I'll go and relay the order right away!"

(End of this chapter)