Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 465 The G Army will inevitably employ a strategy of besieging the enemy's stronghold and attacking reinforcements.
On the battlefield of Diecui Mountain, as time went by, the outer positions of the 74th Reorganized Division were successively captured.

All that's left of the 74th Division is the summit of Diecui Mountain, where tens of thousands of people have gathered.

Seeing the outer defensive positions being taken down one after another, Li Yunliang, who had originally suggested going up the mountain, panicked.

"Commander, at this rate, the combined forces on both flanks probably won't even get close before my 74th Division can't hold out any longer."

Li Yunliang's words almost made Zhang Zhonglin explode with anger.

"That's a ridiculous notion!" Zhang Zhonglin retorted angrily.

"Li Yaozong and Huang Huanran are only ten kilometers away from my division. Even if they fight a slippery battle, retreating as they go, it won't take them more than half a day!"

"What's more, we have a powerful air force to support us!"

"In addition, Qiu Feng and Hu Ziqi are only a day's journey away from us."

"Can't my 74th Division hold out for 24 hours?!"

After being reprimanded, Li Yunliang nodded repeatedly: "The commander is right."

"Hmph! What I dislike most is being hesitant and indecisive!"

It was you, Li Yunliang, who initially suggested going up the mountain, and it was also you, Li Yunliang, who first said discouraging things.

Just as Zhang Zhonglin was about to say a few more words to him, Chang Ruiyuan's telegram arrived.

"Give it to me." Li Yunliang quickly took it.

After taking a look, Li Yunliang's face lit up with joy: "Commander, the Chairman has personally come to Zhuolu to oversee the battle! The divisions are now advancing from the east and west!"

"Excellent! Excellent! The Chairman is wise!" Zhang Zhonglin exclaimed excitedly.
"It's not that I, Zhang Zhonglin, am acting like a hero; it's the G Army opposite me and Chairman Chiang Kai-shek behind me who together propelled me to the pinnacle of history!"

Just when Zhang Zhonglin felt he was about to reach the summit and survey all the mountains below.

At Chang Ruiyuan's urging, Guo Jun's various reinforcements have set off one after another.

However, their advance was extremely slow, and the East China Field Army's blocking forces fought very tenaciously against them.

This caused unease among the various factions.

At the headquarters of the 83rd Division, Li Yaozong received a call from Tang Keqin.

Li Yaozong immediately launched into a tirade of complaints: "It was Zhang Zhonglin's own desire to show off that led to him getting surrounded by the G army."

"As a result, the principal not only did not punish him, but also listened to his arrogant words and started to promote the idea of ​​'blossoming in the center'."

"Hmph! Now look what's happened, they've dragged us all in!"

"Commander Li, the military order has already been issued. It's too late to say anything now," Tang Keqin said.

Although Tang Keqin also disapproved of Zhang Zhonglin's actions, Chang Ruiyuan has now personally intervened and specifically requested that the First Army Corps take the lead.

"Alright, let's go!" Li Yaozong gritted his teeth and said, "I, Li Yaozong, am not one to fear death!"

Upon hearing Li Yaozong's words, Tang Keqin laughed and said, "Commander Li, why are you in such a hurry today? I haven't even said anything yet. What's going on? Are you about to charge into battle?"

"Commander Li, I'm not calling you to send you into battle, but to warn you to be on high alert!"

"Commander Tang, what do you mean by this?" Li Yaozong asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Now, besides your 83rd Division, the 25th, 57th, and 65th Divisions are also encountering fierce resistance."

"I suspect that the Battle of Diecui Mountain was a trap set by the G Army to besiege the enemy and attack their reinforcements. Their real intention was not Zhang Zhonglin, but the First Army Corps."

At this moment, Tang Keqin's mind was incredibly sharp, while Li Yaozong broke out in a cold sweat after hearing the news.

If the G army really intends to besiege the point and attack reinforcements, wouldn't he become Zhang Zhonglin's scapegoat if he rushed in rashly?
He would have no objection to dying for the Chairman; but to die for Zhang Zhonglin was absolutely impossible.

"Commander Tang, isn't Zhang Zhonglin going to develop a central hub with multiple branches? Let him get those branches up and running first."

Once the 74th Division has achieved its goal, it won't matter if the 83rd Division continues its advance.

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief Gu just called to ask about the specific actions of the First Army Corps and ordered us to immediately move closer to Zhang Zhonglin. Commander Li, what do you think about the specific timing?"

"Commander Tang, please tell Commander-in-Chief Gu that my 83rd Division will be able to break through the G Army's blockade tomorrow afternoon and meet up with Division Commander Zhang at Diecui Mountain."

"Okay, it's up to you now." Tang Keqin hung up the phone.

Unlike Li Yaozong, who was slacking off, Huang Huanran's 25th Division was genuinely launching a fierce attack on the A column's positions.

Under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the 25th Division launched several mass assaults using human wave tactics, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat several times.

The fierce fighting didn't even stop at night.

Because the main force of the A column had already participated in the attack on Zhang Zhonglin, only the 1st Division was involved in the blocking action.

With the 1st Division's frontline blocking troops almost wiped out, the 25th Division advanced five kilometers at the cost of heavy casualties.

Now the 25th Division and the reorganized 74th Division are separated only by Tianma Mountain.

After advancing to the Tianma Mountain position, Huang Huanran did not stop for a moment and immediately ordered his troops to launch a full-scale attack on Tianma Mountain.

The two sides clashed again at Tianma Mountain.

Seeing the enemy retreat again, Yang Fei, the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division, leaned against the trench and shouted, "Communicator! Contact Commander Zhao immediately!"

"The Tianma Mountain troops have suffered heavy casualties. Please send reinforcements immediately!"

The 25th Division has been attacking relentlessly since morning, and it's been six hours now. His regiment is starting to falter.

"Correspondent! Your ears are stuffed with donkey hair! Did you hear me?!"

Seeing no response, Yang Fei got up and shouted towards the location of the communications officer.

However, before he could finish speaking, Yang Fei's voice abruptly stopped.

The communications officer was lying face down on the walkie-talkie, lifeless.

A shell from the 25th Division had just flown by, and to protect the radio, the communications officer shielded it with his body.

Crouching low, Yang Fei crawled to the walkie-talkie, picked up the receiver and earpiece, and shouted, "Headquarters! Headquarters! This is Tianma Mountain! Can you hear me?!" "This is Zhao Lecheng. What's the situation on the position now?"

"Commander, our casualties have exceeded two-thirds. Please send reinforcements immediately!"

"Yang Fei! I have no reinforcements at my disposal! You must hold this position for me!"

The 1st Division has sent not only reinforcements, but also logistics personnel to the front lines. He can't spare a single person now.

"Commander, our regiment is now full of wounded, and I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on for much longer." Yang Fei's voice was already trembling with tears.

"Even if you're the only one left, you have to hold this position! If you lose the position, I'll shoot you!" Zhao Lecheng ordered sternly.

The final offensive is about to begin. If Tianma Mountain is lost, the battle will be reversed instantly.

"Yes! Promise to complete the mission!"

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Lecheng paced around the division headquarters several times before finally unable to resist calling the corps headquarters.

Tianma Mountain will continue to provide support, even if it's just some firepower.

Inside the headquarters, Chen Chengxing kept glancing at his watch.

Following the command of the commander, the general offensive officially began at 1 p.m.

"Ten minutes left, is the makeshift mountain artillery regiment ready?"

In an effort to accelerate the advance, the heavy mortars had been firing frequently, and they were running out of ammunition.

However, the top of Diecui Peak was all rocks, so the 74th Division could not dig a position and could only set up defenses in the gaps between the rocks.

In this situation, the 75mm mountain gun would be very effective.

The stones that fly up from the explosion are almost as lethal as shrapnel.

"It's all ready." Chu Yunfei nodded.

The 74th Division had air superiority, so its artillery positions had to be dispersed and camouflaged to prevent the smoke and dust kicked up by the guns from revealing their location.

"Alright, this time I'm going to go on a killing spree!"

Previously, on the outer perimeter, everyone was just engaging in small-scale skirmishes, mostly at the battalion or company level.

But in the final assault, it will escalate directly to a battle at the division and brigade level.

During the final lull in the wait, the soldiers on the front lines began to shout messages.

"Brothers of the 74th Division, surrender now! You are surrounded!"

"Brothers of the Second General Corps! Surrender your weapons! You are surrounded!"

"Put down your weapons! We will treat prisoners of war well!"

The KMT soldiers on the hilltop didn't reply, but instead fired a burst of bullets at the direction of the shout.

The soldiers of the Second Division didn't waste any words and immediately launched a counterattack.

The two sides fought for two minutes, then stopped at the same time.

"If you don't surrender, you're all going to die!" shouted the soldiers of the Second Division.

The 74th Division, not to be outdone, immediately shouted, "If you don't surrender, you're all doomed!"

"Within a day, the artillery barrage from Guo Jun, Qiu Feng, and Hu Ziqi will be raining down on you!"

"I'll make sure your entire Second Commander's army is wiped out!"

"Within a day, I will annihilate your entire 74th Division!"

"The 74th Division is invincible!"

"My second boss is the most invincible in the world!"

"Mortars, fire on him!"

"Brothers, fire!"

Just as Chen Chengxing felt the clock was moving a little slowly, the phone next to him rang.

Chu Yunfei answered the call immediately.

"This is the Second Commander. Good! Good! I'll report immediately."

After hanging up the phone, Chu Yunfei said, "Commander-in-Chief, the commander of the A column said that the situation at Tianma Mountain is extremely critical and asked if we could provide some fire support."

"Tianma Mountain? Huang Huanran?"

"That's right. The 25th Division's offensive was very fierce. The 1st Division had to block both the 25th and the 65th Divisions, and suffered heavy losses."

The most important task now is to besiege Zhang Zhonglin. Without orders from the field headquarters, not a single soldier can be withdrawn to the blocking position.

At this point, the advantage of having more artillery pieces became apparent, as the artillery could provide long-range support.

Chen Chengxing thought for a moment and said, "I originally wanted Zhang Zhonglin to experience what it means to be covered by firepower, but now it's the same with Huang Huanran."

"Call the rocket artillery company and send out a reconnaissance team to guide the fire strike!"

"yes!".
Upon learning that Chen Chengxing had chosen to use rocket artillery instead of mountain guns, Zhao Lecheng, who was unaware of the situation, was somewhat disappointed.

However, the 1st Division is now exhausted, and any fire support is precious to it.

After the observation team of the rocket artillery company arrived at the Tianmashan position, they immediately used the telephone to confirm the firing parameters with the rocket artillery positions behind them and conducted a fixed-point test firing.

The few scattered shells did not alert Huang Huanran.

After a brief preparation, Huang Huanran deployed two more regiments, preparing to launch a group assault.

(End of this chapter)