Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 421 G Army, utterly vulnerable.

Faced with the rapidly deteriorating situation, Chiang Kai-shek started banging on his table again.

"Damn it! Why did the G Army suddenly appear in southwestern Shandong?!"

"Isn't this entire area under our control? Is that how you control it?"

Chiang Kai-shek was well aware that the Kuomintang's management of local areas was inadequate, so his solution was to co-govern with the landlords.

To this end, the Guo Party specially organized a group to return to their hometown.

Once the main forces occupy the county seat, the returning militia will immediately begin to clear and control the rural areas.

Previously, all the reports were good news.

Every day, it's about how many G-party members have been eliminated from which areas, and where complete control has been achieved.

How can the G army still appear silently in the heart of the KMT army?
After venting his anger for a while, Chiang Kai-shek declared firmly, "No matter what, Dongmin cannot be lost!"

Chiang Kai-shek knew that Xue Xiaosong had a grudge against Fang Zishan, so he decided to take matters into his own hands!
"Send a telegram to Xue Xiaosong, instructing him to reinforce the 140th Brigade with the 88th Division of Fangzishan as the main force, forming the eastern column; also reinforce him with the artillery battalion of the 57th Division."

"Liu Zitao's three regiments of the 68th Division, along with Zhang Lanfeng's troops, formed the Western Route Column."

"Both units must depart immediately, without fail!"

"Send out the air force to supply the 21st Brigade in Dongmin City with air ammunition, and tell them to hold out until reinforcements arrive," Chiang Kai-shek ordered.

Looking at the telegram sent by Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Lanfeng of Taoqiu felt extremely helpless.

"Oh dear, what should we do?"

When Lincheng was besieged, the two regiments inside Lincheng repeatedly asked him for help, but he simply ignored them.

Even when the telegram from the Pengcheng Pacification Headquarters arrived, he could still delay setting off.

However, Zhang Lanfeng could not ignore Chiang Kai-shek's telegram.

After all, it was only by kneeling before Chiang Kai-shek that he was able to return to the Kuomintang army.

"Commander, the Chairman's telegram demands that support for Dongmin be provided immediately without any excuse for delay."

"What should we do?" Chief of Staff Chen Qingfeng asked from the side.

"What else can we do? We have no choice but to set off immediately," Zhang Lanfeng said.

Fortunately, the 68th Division and the Provisional 4th Column were not operating together this time, so Zhang Lanfeng decided to set off immediately, but at a slightly slower pace.

Whether the G Army defeated the 21st Brigade or the 21st Brigade cooperated with other units to defeat the G Army, the Provisional 4th Column only needed to arrive on time.

The 4th Provisional Column has very few troops left and cannot afford any further losses.

If this continues, he, a lieutenant general, will be less than a dog.

"Reinforcements have finally shown up!"

Chen Chengxing breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the intelligence sent back by Wei Dayong.

These past few days, the exhibition matches for the two teams have also been tough.

In response to Dongmin's offensive, we must maintain a seemingly impenetrable stance.

The goal is to leave the enemy with hope while simultaneously making them feel that the city might fall at any moment.

Only in this way can we put enough pressure on them to make them desperately seek help.

"Old Chen, no matter what, it's a good thing the enemy has shown themselves. We should move on to the next step of the plan," Luo Ping said.

"Yes, Xu Wu, pass on my orders."

"Team 1 will continue to encircle Dongmin, while Teams 2, 3, and 4 will advance to the south side of Dongmin and ambush them, preparing to annihilate the reinforcements from the south."

"yes!".
Just as the second column was advancing south, the G column had already set off from Dongchang and was rapidly moving towards the west side of Dongmin. At the same time, the D column also began to move towards the west side of Dongmin.

From the beginning of the War of Resistance against Japan, Shandong Province was the only complete provincial base area of ​​the Eighth Route Army.

The Guo army's operations in Shandong Province were completely clear to the G army, as if they had access to the entire map.

However, the Guo army itself lacked both intelligence and vision, and could only bury its head in its own defenses.

Two days later, Fang Zishan led the 88th Division headquarters to Fangyu County.

The 62nd Brigade of the 88th Division was reorganized and assembled in Fangyu to the north, while the 140th Brigade was reorganized and assembled in Fangyu to the west.

The two brigades formed a defensive triangle, jointly protecting the 88th Division command post.

That evening, Fang Zishan held a military meeting.

"After crossing the Yuhe River, we are now only twenty kilometers away from Dongmin. We will inevitably encounter resistance from the G Army. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Should we just push forward like this? Or should we find another way?" Fang Zishan asked.

"Commander, the enemy situation is unclear. It would be better to continue along the Fangdong Highway and advance eastward towards Dongmin," said Dai Cheng, commander of the 62nd Brigade.

The 88th Division was not purely infantry; in addition to the reinforced divisional howitzer battalion, the 62nd Brigade and the 140th Brigade both had Japanese-style mountain artillery battalions.

“I think Brigade Commander Dai is right.” Xie Maoquan, Brigade Commander of the 140th Brigade, also expressed his opinion.

This 140th Brigade was just transported from Frog Island to the mainland.

Chiang Kai-shek said he would enjoy a life of luxury in Xuzhou, but he was sent directly to the front lines in Shandong as soon as he arrived on the mainland.

Having suddenly moved from the small island to the mainland, the 140th Brigade had not yet adapted.

For Xie Maoquan at this moment, the best battle tactic is the one that allows them to unleash their full potential.

Upon hearing that Dai Cheng and Xie Maoquan both believed that the road should be pushed along the highway, Fang Zishan nodded, as this was also his idea.

He was not clear about the situation of the G Army in the Dongmin area, and traveling along the highway would be beneficial for the deployment of firepower.

"Since everyone agrees that we should proceed along the highway, tomorrow morning, the 140th Brigade will advance along the left flank of the highway, and the 62nd Brigade will advance along the right flank of the highway."

"yes!".
At dawn the next day, all units of the 88th Division began to move out as planned.

"The enemy has moved out. Order the 2nd Company to hold off the 62nd Brigade and prevent them from advancing an inch!"

"Team 3 let the 140th Brigade in, Team 4 is ready to trap them!"

In the past two days, Chen Chengxing has already figured out the situation of the enemy reinforcements.

The 140th Brigade has come from afar and has never fought against the G Army, so they are bound to be unsure of their own strength. If we give them a little taste of victory, they will surely lose their bearings.

After a day of fighting, the outcome was just as Chen Chengxing had predicted: the 140th Brigade broke through and advanced rapidly.

By evening, they had advanced halfway, while the 62nd Brigade was still fighting the 2nd team at the entrance of Fangyu County.

“Something’s not right. How can there be such a big gap between the 62nd Brigade and the 140th Brigade?” Fang Zishan looked at the battle report and couldn’t believe it.

As for the combat effectiveness of the 140th Brigade, it certainly had it, after all, it was trained by the Japanese army.

But if you say they crushed the main force of the G Army or even the 62nd Brigade, Zhou Yun would absolutely not believe it.

"You mean the 140th Brigade might have fallen into a trap?" Chief of Staff Zhou Yun also realized what was going on.

"I'm afraid it's not just possible, it's certain," Fang Zishan said seriously. "The only question is whether the G Army's target is the 140th Brigade or the 62nd Brigade."

"Of course, there's another possibility: the G army's target is Fangyu County!"

Because of the rapid advance of the 140th Brigade, the distance between them has now narrowed to 10 kilometers, which is a very dangerous sign.

"Commander, the 62nd Brigade must withdraw to Fangyu immediately!" Zhou Yun said urgently.

Fang Yu is the commander-in-chief of the southern reinforcements; he absolutely cannot be lost.

"Go and issue the order to the 62nd Brigade." Fang Zishan nodded.

"Furthermore, the 104th Brigade is ordered to halt its advance, establish a defensive position in Yuhua Town, and await further orders!"

"yes!".
"Hmph! This 88th Division is utterly cowardly!"

The Xie Maoquan of today is completely different from the Xie Maoquan of last night.

Along the way, the 140th Brigade advanced with unstoppable momentum, and the defenses organized by the G Army were simply no match for it.

"Brigade Commander, these troops from the mainland have absolutely no combat capability," said Deputy Brigade Commander Qiao Zhenyu disdainfully.

"In 44, the main force of the Kuomintang army, numbering two million, could not defeat the army of the Kuomintang, which numbered five hundred thousand."

"Without the United States, mainland Chinese would probably be considered third-class citizens."

As for the second tier, that would definitely be my mighty Frog Island.

"You're right, they're just too weak in combat and don't know how powerful my 140th Brigade is."

Xie Maoquan tossed the telegram to the staff officer next to him, telling him to file it first.

However, although Xie Maoquan disregarded Fang Zishan's caution, he did not disobey orders.

Subordinates overthrowing superiors is a practice of the author, and Frog Island, as a second-class island, should not engage in such behavior.

Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't work.

After the 62nd Brigade safely withdrew to Fangyu, the 140th Brigade established a defensive line in Yuhua Town, and Fang Zishan breathed a sigh of relief.

A new order was then issued.

The entire army rested for a day, and on the second night, they bypassed the main force of the G army and advanced eastward in a flanking maneuver.

The next day, by noon, seeing that the 140th Brigade had not yet taken action, Luo Ping said with some surprise:

"Why isn't Guo Jun moving? Are they not going to rescue Dong Min? Could they be plotting something?"

“There’s definitely a trick involved, but we don’t know what it is yet,” Chen Chengxing said. “But we can’t worry about that now, we’ll attack tonight.”

No matter what schemes or tricks the Kuomintang army has, we'll find out after a battle.

"Xu Wu, have all units proceed according to plan."

"yes!".
As night fell, the command post was brightly lit. Just as Chen Chengxing was looking at his watch, preparing to issue the order for the general offensive, an urgent telegram arrived.

"Commander, the 4th team reports that enemy troops have emerged from Yuhua Town."

"At this moment, the enemy has emerged?" Luo Ping frowned, not understanding the enemy's intentions.

Guo Jun has always avoided night battles, so why is he suddenly launching a nighttime operation now?
"How many people came out?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"The advance force, which is about a battalion, is searching eastward, while the main force is behind. Judging from the situation, it seems that the entire army has been mobilized," Xu Wu reported.

"This 140th Brigade is trying to take a detour to the east."

"I just don't know if we're going to Dongmin or to escape the Second Team's retreat route." Luo Ping stroked his chin.

"Don't worry about where he goes, once he's out, he can forget about going back," Chen Chengxing said firmly.

"Tell the 3rd and 4th squads to set up an ambush around Da Xiao Hu Lou and give the 140th Brigade a good beating!"

"yes!".
The 140th Brigade was already unfamiliar with the Dongmin area, and traveling at night made it even more difficult for them to figure out the situation.

They were completely blind the whole way, plunging headlong into the trap.

Teams 3 and 4 didn't hold back either, launching a direct attack right from the start.

"No! How could the vanguard battalion be wiped out so quickly!" Qiao Zhenyu exclaimed in shock.

Yesterday, the 140th Brigade advanced with unstoppable momentum, with a single vanguard battalion sweeping through the G Army.

How could the situation have changed so much in just one day?

It's been less than ten minutes since we received news that the vanguard battalion had encountered the enemy, and the main force hasn't even deployed yet.

"Damn it! The G army is terribly bad!" In his anxiety, Xie Maoquan even spoke in Chinese.

"This must be the G army concentrating all its firepower in an attempt to scare us away!" Xie Maoquan asserted.

"Since the G Army wants to fight, then let's fight!"

"Pass on my order! The 279th Regiment will maneuver south to coordinate with the 280th Regiment in a pincer attack on the G Army!"

"Order the artillery battalion to prepare, and let the G army know what real firepower is!"

Once the G army here is wiped out, the 140th Brigade will no longer need to take the long detour with the 88th Division.

We will then advance straight to Dongmin and successfully join forces with the 21st Brigade.

(End of this chapter)