Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 451 This is where Chen Chengxing met his end.
"Commander, the forward positions have been attacked by the G army. Our brothers have suffered heavy casualties and have now retreated across the board."

Upon hearing the report from the operations staff, Zhang Zhonglin's expression remained unchanged; he had long anticipated that the G army would launch a night attack.

Therefore, he did not deploy many troops on the front lines, and even if they were all annihilated, it would not have any impact on the 74th Division.

"What about the G army? Have they continued their advance?" Zhang Zhonglin asked.

Having guessed that the G army might launch a night attack, he naturally wouldn't leave it unprepared.

"No, the opponent retreated immediately after making that attack."

"Chen Chengxing is quite capable." Zhang Zhonglin nodded, indicating that he understood.

"Commander, I have a feeling something's not right," Wei Zhenwen suddenly said.

"What's wrong?"

“The time… the time is wrong,” Wei Zhenwen explained.
"Based on past experience, the G army's small-scale night raids usually take place between midnight and 4 a.m., so why is it earlier this time, at 10 a.m.?"

Wei Zhenwen had read many battle reports and knew that the G army only engaged in large-scale night battles, which were launched after nightfall in order to improve combat efficiency.

However, this time the G army retreated after a single attack, and it was not a large-scale night battle.

"You mean the G army might retreat?" Zhang Zhonglin immediately realized.

Indeed, this night raid by the G army was different from previous ones.

At 10 p.m., the soldiers on the front lines were still awake.

The G army's early night raid must have been for a purpose.

"Very likely." Wei Zhenwen nodded.

"If we disregard the fact that Langya is the Shandong capital of the G Army, then their actions are very much in line with their style."

"Yes, will the G Army really not give up Langya?" Zhang Zhonglin pondered.

The plan for the Lunan Campaign formulated by the Kuomintang army had a very important basis: the Kuomintang army would not abandon their capital.

But what if the G army gives up?
"Pass on my order: have the 58th Brigade immediately send a battalion to attack Langya!" Zhang Zhonglin commanded.

Whether the G army has withdrawn or not, we'll find out soon enough.

"yes!".
Half an hour later, the battle report from the front came back.

"Commander, the 172nd Regiment reports that Langya is deserted; it's an empty city!"

Although he had already guessed it, Wei Zhenwen was still somewhat shocked to learn that the G army had abandoned Langya.

"Order the 57th Brigade to advance and pursue them. Find Chen Chengxing's unit and engage them!"

"The rest of the troops, advance into the city!"

Zhang Zhonglin is now certain that there was only one Chen Chengxing in Langya City before.

However, the most important thing now is to report the good news to the Chairman upon entering Langya.

It wouldn't be too late for the 74th Division to pursue Chen Chengxing after the 57th Brigade finds him.

Two legs can never outrun a car wheel.

Upon receiving Zhang Zhonglin's telegram, Chang Ruiyuan was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to capture Langya, the capital of the G Army, so quickly.

But some people are happy and some are sad.

Li Yaozong, who remained inactive throughout, was severely reprimanded by Tang Keqin.

"The 83rd Division is stuck in place, not moving an inch. How dare you defy the will of Heaven! What is your crime?"

"Commander, it's not God's help; the road collapsed, and I can't walk," Li Yaozong explained.

In fact, Li Yaozong had long been regretting it to the core.

If he had known that the G army was just feinting, he would have run faster than the 74th Division.

"What's the use of you expecting me to explain? Go explain to Chen Chengbo, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Chairman!"

"Incompetent! Utterly incompetent!" Tang Keqin roared.

"I think Zhang Zhonglin is braver than you; he's willing to gamble with his life and fortune!"

“Commander, the winner takes all, the loser is nothing. Zhang Zhonglin won the gamble, and now we're just nobody,” Li Yaozong said helplessly.

This time, he didn't get to drink the soup, but he watched Zhang Zhonglin take the credit, which was worse than being killed.

"Now, Zhang Zhonglin is enjoying immense prestige in front of the Chairman."

This is why Tang Keqin was most dissatisfied with Li Yaozong's inaction.

If Zhang Zhonglin continues to make such contributions, it's hard to say who will be the commander of the First Army Corps in the future.

"In addition to capturing Langya, another important task of this Lunan Campaign is to annihilate the main force of the Lunan G Army."

"The G army is now in complete defeat, and the next step is to pursue and wipe out the remaining G army forces."

"Let me tell you, you better not sit back and relax, or don't blame me for being impolite!"

If the 74th Division were to defeat the remaining G Army troops in the pursuit, Tang Keqin would be truly devastated.

"Please rest assured, Commander, the 83rd Division is ready and will set off immediately upon spotting the G Army troops!"

This time, Li Yaozong made no attempt to shirk his responsibility.

If he can't achieve any merit in pursuing and eliminating the remnants of the G Army, it's questionable whether he can continue to serve as the commander of the 83rd Division.

Inside Langya City, Li Yunliang ran to Zhang Zhonglin and reported:

"Commander, the 57th Brigade reports that they discovered Chen Chengxing's troops after dawn and have now caught up with them."

Upon hearing Li Yunliang's report, Zhang Zhonglin was not overjoyed, but instead fell into deep thought.

"Chen Chengxing's retreat this time was voluntary, and his intentions are still somewhat unpredictable."

"Moreover, apart from Chen Chengxing's troops, none of the other main forces of the G Army have appeared."

Zhang Zhonglin was arrogant, but no one expected that his single division could take on hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in East China.

He dared to advance recklessly in Langya because the 25th Division was already sending reinforcements to this area.

Now that he was being asked to chase after Chen Chengxing on his own, he was actually a little hesitant.

"Yunliang, report this message to the Corps Headquarters."

"Tell them that my 74th Division has located the remnants of the G Army, and have Commander Tang send the 83rd Division to take over the defense of Langya City." "Yes, sir!"
When Li Yaozong learned of Zhang Zhonglin's telegram, he was so angry that he trembled.

This isn't just about pooping on someone's neck; it's like pooping in their mouth.
"Zhang Zhonglin is simply going too far!"

"Commander Tang, as a direct descendant of the Central Army, how can my 83rd Division lag behind? I have decided to immediately send troops to pursue the G Army!"

"Alright, lead your troops out immediately and make sure to block the retreat route of the G Army before the 74th Division," Tang Keqin ordered.

"I will order the 74th and 25th Divisions to depart tomorrow morning!"

"Thank you, Commander Tang!"
Zhang Zhonglin immediately learned that Li Yaozong had set off ahead of him, but he just smiled slightly and didn't care.

Chen Chengxing, who had already set up observation posts, immediately learned of the movements of the Guo army.

Inside the temporary command post, Luo Ping frowned as he looked at the map.

"A part of the 83rd Division is using its mechanized speed to pursue us in parallel, with the 74th and 25th Divisions following closely behind."

"The enemy has surrounded us from three sides and wants to wipe out our army."

Chu Yunfei, who was standing to the side, was also feeling that things were getting complicated as he watched the latest developments of the Guo army.

“In this situation, we can escape the enemy’s pursuit by heading north, but we can’t take this route,” Chu Yunfei said.

The East China Field Army is making significant moves on the northern front. If the troops continue northward, they will attract the attention of the Kuomintang army.

This could very well expose the entire battle plan orchestrated by the Huaye.

Upon hearing Chu Yunfei's words, Luo Ping set the tone without hesitation:

"In order to win the battle on the northern front, we must overcome any difficulties, no matter how great they may be."

"At worst, we can prepare a fight and battle with the Guo army!"

"Now is not the time to fight to the death," Chen Chengxing said.

“We can’t go north, but we can continue west.” Chen Chengxing drew a line on the map.

"First, cross the canal to the west, using the natural barrier to avoid the enemy's main force, and then take advantage of the complex terrain between the two rivers to cross the river a second time and return to southern Shandong."

"This way we can completely break free from the enemy's encirclement."

As soon as Chen Chengxing finished speaking, everyone immediately understood that he wanted to imitate the story of the Four Crossings of the Chishui River.

Looking at the lines drawn by Chen Chengxing, Luo Ping nodded.

"I think this plan is feasible, but there is a problem: we must not let the enemy discover our intention to cross the canal to the west."

“Look here,” Chen Chengxing said, pointing to a location on the map.

"This is Longmen Ferry. When we crossed the Grand Canal to the east, the special forces team scouted this place."

“This is a small ferry crossing, the river is not wide, and there is an old bridge,” Chen Chengxing explained.

"I think we should first send an engineering corps over to quietly repair and reinforce the bridge, while the main force will hold off the KMT troops to prevent them from discovering our intention to cross the river."

"Great! As soon as the bridge is built, we'll shake off the enemy and leap across the Dragon Gate!" Luo Ping exclaimed excitedly. This plan was perfect.

"What do you guys think?" Chen Chengxing asked, looking at the others.

"No objections." Everyone shook their heads.

If you ask them to think, the only solution they can come up with is a direct confrontation.

"Alright, it's settled then. The engineering corps will depart immediately."

That evening, the 74th Reorganized Division halted its advance.

Wei Zhenwen strode into the temporary command post.

"Commander, our reconnaissance planes have spotted G Army soldiers reinforcing bridges over the canal!"

"What location?" Zhang Zhonglin asked immediately.

He had noticed something was wrong as soon as Chen Chengxing suddenly slowed down.

To this end, Zhang Zhonglin mobilized all the aircraft he could.

"Dragon Gate Crossing!"

"Longmen Ferry? Chen Chengxing and his ilk want to cross the Grand Canal to the west and break out of our encirclement."

Looking at the location on the map, Zhang Zhonglin immediately deduced Chen Chengxing's strategic intentions.

“Crossing the canal to the west is indeed the best way to break free from our encirclement. Further northwest, we can also cross the Yellow River,” Wei Zhenwen said, looking at the map.

"Not only that, according to intelligence, although the main force of the G Army in southwestern Shandong went to Shanxi, one of the columns left behind is trending towards the southeast."

"I think Chen Chengxing might want to return to Nakano," Li Yunliang analyzed.

“Since Chen Chengxing wants to cross the canal, let’s lure him into a trap,” Zhang Zhonglin said, gesturing on the map.
"Let Li Yaozong press down from the northeast, and we'll press up from the southeast. This will create an encirclement, trapping Chen Chengxing at Longmen Ferry and annihilating him on the spot."

"Commander, what if Chen Chengxing gets there first and crosses the river before us?"

"Have Huang Huanran secretly cross the canal and detour to the other side of Longmen Ferry to set up an ambush."

"If Chen Chengxing, this carp, wants to leap over the Dragon Gate from here, wouldn't he just jump straight into the net?" Zhang Zhonglin laughed.

"Hahahaha." The people next to him also thought of Chen Chengxing's fate and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Having confirmed the battle plan, Zhang Zhonglin immediately called the 25th Division.

At this time, the 25th Division was still traveling overnight.

"Commander Huang, this is Zhang Zhonglin. According to intelligence, Chen Chengxing's troops want to cross the river at Longmen."

"I think the 25th Division can ambush on the west bank of the river, while the 74th Division can surround it on the east bank."

"If Chen Chengxing crosses the canal, he will be in your encirclement; if he does not cross the canal, then I will annihilate him on the spot!"

At this point, Zhang Zhonglin didn't mention Li Yaozong at all.

Despite the 83rd Division's speed, if they were to complete the encirclement at Longmendu, Li Yaozong wouldn't even be able to catch up with the hot shit.

“Commander Zhang, I will lead the 25th Division across the river at Zhoujiawan, but there is one more thing you haven’t said.”

“If Chen Chengxing is crossing the river, then we’ll attack him from both sides and blast him into the river!” Huang Huanran laughed.

"Hahahaha. That's right, this Longmen Ferry is where Chen Chengxing died!"

(End of this chapter)