Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 497 Just because of a pile of poop
At Beijige, Wang Yaowen could clearly see through his binoculars that the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag was lowered and the red flag was raised.

"Officer, the outer city has been completely occupied by the G army, and the remaining troops of each unit have retreated into the inner city."

"I understand." Wang Yaowen put down the binoculars with a gloomy expression.

"Send a telegram to Nanjing and Pengcheng immediately."

"yes!".
Upon receiving Wang Yaowen's telegram, Chang Ruiyuan was extremely anxious.

"Niang Xipi!"

"Where are the reinforcements? Where are they?!"

"Immediately send a telegram to Du Guangting, ordering him to lead Qiu Feng and Huang Huanran's troops northward and reach Quancheng as quickly as possible."

"Order the Air Force to conduct area bombing of all areas in Quancheng where the G Army is concentrated, except for our own positions!"

Subsequently, the Kuomintang bombers began to bombard the outer city of Quancheng.

Because of the anti-aircraft machine guns, the KMT pilots dared not easily lower their altitude and could only include the entire outer city as a bombing target.

Fortunately, the G army evacuated the civilians in an orderly manner during the attack, so there were not many casualties.

However, the buildings in the outer city were almost completely destroyed.

Just as the Guo army's air force was bombing the outer city of Quancheng, Chang Ruiyuan disregarded his staff's objections and personally flew over Quancheng to speak with Wang Yaowen.

"Yaowen? Yaowen? Answer me at once!"

Looking at the planes circling overhead, Wang Yaowen shouted into the walkie-talkie, "This is Wang Yaowen, this is Wang Yaowen, I am currently directing the operation!"

"Yaowen, the battle of Quancheng has been going on for four days. Under your command, the defending Guo army has thwarted the G army's frenzied attack."

"I hope you can protect Jinan and create miracles for the world."

"Understood, student understands!"

"Yaowen has followed the Chairman for many years with unwavering loyalty. Since the start of the war in Jinan, I have been determined to live and die with Jinan!"

"Please rest assured, Chairman! Please rest assured, Chairman!"

"My only hope now is that reinforcements arrive quickly, very quickly!"

"Yaowen, I have given strict orders to all reinforcements to travel day and night, and to ensure their arrival within five days! I guarantee their arrival!"

Upon hearing that the arrival would take place within five days, Wang Yaowen's heart sank.

The support from the Guo army was never timely, let alone ahead of time.

In reality, of the reinforcements Chang Ruiyuan mentioned, only Qiu Feng's troops had already assembled and departed.

Huang Huanran's and Li Bingwen's corps each had only one division's vanguard advancing north along the Jinpu Railway.

However, when Qiu Feng set off, it was rainy, and the troops advanced as slowly as turtles, sometimes not even covering twenty li a day.

Qiu Feng also learned of the Huaye's main force gathering at this time. He knew that continuing north would be extremely dangerous and he was afraid of following in Qu Jieming's footsteps.

In addition, Qiu Feng had done a thankless job in the Battle of Yudong, and was even reprimanded and punished by Chang Ruiyuan for his efforts in the rescue. So he began to deliberately delay the march.

Even after Quancheng was completely liberated, Qiu Feng did not encounter the East China Field Army.

This infuriated the East China Field Army's reinforcement-fighting forces.

After all, it's unbearable to watch others eat meat while you don't even get a sip of soup.

On the battlefield of Quancheng, after a day of bombing, at dusk, the various units of the East China Field Army once again deployed.

Chen Chengxing concentrated all the artillery fire of the Second Headquarters and began to bombard the southeast corner.

The flames from the explosion completely engulfed the entire Guo army position.

Half an hour after the artillery barrage began, the engineering companies started to forcibly erect pontoon bridges.

The inner city of Jinan is the old city, and the highest point of the city wall is twelve meters high.

Wang Yaowen moved all the weapons onto the city wall, including a large number of light and heavy machine guns, as well as dozens of flamethrowers that spewed out streams of fire.

However, the morale of the Guo army had already been severely damaged, and it was still difficult to withstand the fierce attack from the Second General.

Thanks to their superior skills and daring, the Second Division's independent artillery regiment continued to fire relentlessly even as the assault team advanced.

With the cover of artillery fire, the assault team quickly advanced to the base of the city wall by stepping on the pontoon bridge.

Only then did the artillery regiment cease fire, switching to close-range support from various infantry guns and anti-tank guns at the front lines.

"Sky ladder! Sky ladder!"

"Quickly! Class One! Move out!"

"Covering fire!"

At close range, the suppressive effect of a submachine gun is not much worse than that of a machine gun.

Several submachine guns began firing continuously at the Guo soldiers on the city wall.

The soldiers of the first squad immediately climbed up the ladder.

Despite their repeated counterattacks, the Guo army was simply no match for them.

After suffering over thirty casualties, the 3rd Battalion of the 24th Detachment was the first to scale the inner city wall.

The commander of the 15th Brigade of the Guo Army on the front line was very anxious as he watched the G Army soldiers climb the city wall.

"Counterattack! Counterattack! Everyone, attack! Drive the G army back!"

Once the G army gains a foothold on the city walls, they will definitely be the next target for a major breakthrough.

Without the protection of the city walls, they might not even survive tonight, let alone five days.

Upon hearing the order, the KMT troops hidden in the bunkers behind the city wall poured out and launched a fierce attack on the 3rd Battalion.

The 3rd Battalion's lines were constantly compressed as they faced fierce counterattacks.

"Damn it, we can't stay here!" Seeing the position being constantly compressed, the third battalion commander realized that things were going badly.

The density of the three battalions is too high now. Once the Nationalist artillery comes to its senses, the consequences will be unimaginable.

"Rappell! Rappell into the city immediately!" the battalion commander shouted.

"Battalion Commander! The rope hasn't been brought up!"

The soldiers who carried the ropes have already been killed, and they no longer have any ropes in their hands.

"Jump! Jump right now!" If there were enough time, the soldiers could make ropes out of their leg wraps, but now time was too tight, and shells could come at any moment.

"Company Commander, you lead the 1st Company to stay on the city wall and support friendly forces as they scale the walls. I'll take the rest of the men to hold them off inside the city!"

After the battalion commander finished speaking, he was the first to risk jumping off the city wall.

Without a word, the soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd companies jumped down one after another.

Upon witnessing this, Guo Jun thought his eyes were playing tricks on him: "Damn! Has the G army gone mad?!"

The two companies that jumped down had nearly 250 men. More than ten of them died on the spot, and the rest were all wounded.

However, the soldiers paid no heed to their injuries, and those who could get up immediately launched a fierce attack on the Guo army.

The soldiers who remained on the city wall also stubbornly resisted the attack of the Guo army, which outnumbered them several times over.

As time went on, more and more people climbed the city walls, and the Guo army began to retreat in defeat.

Inside the Beijige Command Post, Wang Yaowen tossed the battle reports from various units onto the table; he no longer needed to read them.

After looking around, Wang Yaowen said, "As you all saw in the Battle of Quancheng, the G Army was only one step away from us."

"As the highest-ranking officer, I bear some responsibility, but I do not admit that I, Wang Yaowen, am incompetent!"

"There's corruption within the Guo army! They're afraid to die! They're preserving their strength and refusing to help those in distress!"

"Now that things have come to this, I will not force anyone to surrender with me."

"That's just how things are. You have no responsibility. Get out of here."

After hearing Wang Yaowen's words, the people in the command post exchanged glances.

"Si Ling, take care!"

"Take care of yourself!".
When disaster strikes, the only right thing to do is to save one's own life; whether or not one sacrifices oneself is not within their consideration.

Watching the group leave, Wang Yaowen didn't say much. He quickly changed into civilian clothes with several loyal guards and rushed out of the command post.

When the attacking troops advanced to Beijige, there was only one empty command post.

This made the commando soldiers at the forefront slap their thighs in exasperation.

However, Wang Yaowen ultimately could not escape.

After spending the night in the outer fortifications, the group went out of the city and hired a donkey cart to go to Qingdao.

On the way, Wang Yaowen had a stomachache and defecated by the roadside. As a result, he was forced to the ground by the militiamen because he used a piece of toilet paper to wipe his bottom.

As for the other high-ranking officials of the Kuomintang army who fled, they were captured one after another because their behavior was incompatible with that of the people.

After the liberation of Jinan, the Kuomintang troops in Shandong were terrified and fled the city.

While attacking the inner city of Quancheng, Ye Si, who was blocking the air force on the southern front, was already discussing the next battle objective with the central government.

After the liberation of Jinan, Du Guangting had already realized that the Guo army was rapidly collapsing in the Central Plains.

Du Guangting was unwilling to sit idly by and wait for his death.

"Commander Liu, although the G Army's attack on Quancheng is swift, its continuous attacks will inevitably lead to the exhaustion of its troops."

"Our army still has a large number of mobile combat forces in the Central Plains. As long as we can concentrate our forces and take the initiative to attack, we have a chance to turn the tide."

“Deputy Director Du, I will naturally give my full support to your idea.” Liu Jingfu knew his own abilities.

He could understand Guo Jun's current predicament, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Seeing that Liu Jingfu agreed with his idea of ​​counterattack, Du Guangting immediately took out a document and handed it to him: "Commander Liu, this is my plan."

"Abandon Shangdu, Bianliang, Guide and other places, and concentrate all our troops in the Central Plains in the Pengcheng area."

"After ensuring the safety of Pengcheng, the four army groups led by Qiu Feng, Huang Huanran, Li Bingwen, and Sun Yunliang, totaling twelve armies, jointly launched an attack to the north."

"A part of the army will feign an attack on Yanzhou to lure the G army to its aid. After eliminating the reinforcements, the main force can seize the opportunity to recapture Quancheng."

"Furthermore, the key to our victory in the Central Plains lies in preventing the Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army from joining forces in one place," Du Guangting added.
"I need Commander Liu to coordinate with Commander Bai of the Central China Suppression Headquarters to transfer Huang Peiwu's Corps to contain and block the Central Plains troops."

Looking at the battle plan in his hand, Liu Jingfu hesitated for a long time before saying, "Deputy Commander Du, I agree to your plan in principle."

"But according to your plan, Pengcheng will only have Feng Zhitai's troops left, and its defenses will be somewhat weak."

Feng Zhitai had two armies, but both were ragtag troops, and Liu Jingfu was really not comfortable letting them defend Pengcheng alone.

After thinking about it, Du Guangting realized that handing Shangdu over to Feng Zhitai was indeed a bit inappropriate.

"Commander Liu, how about this, transfer Li Bingwen's 13th Army Corps to guard Pengcheng."

"Feng Zhitai's troops were transferred out of Pengcheng and were responsible for establishing defense lines in places such as Taierzhuang, north of Pengcheng."

"Yes, that's foolproof." Liu Jingfu nodded.

"I will immediately send this battle plan by special plane to Commander Bai and report it to the General Staff."

Bai Jiansheng looked at the situation map, next to which was the battle plan that Liu Jingfu had airlifted.

"Sir, what do you think of Du Guangting's plan?"

“The plan is good.” Bai Jiansheng nodded. “However, his vision is too narrow.”

"what do you mean?"

“Currently, the greatest threat to our Central Plains is not the Huaye, but the Zhongye,” Bai Jiansheng said, pointing to the map.

"As long as we can take down the central battlefield, the likes of CS are no threat. They are absolutely incapable of unifying the Central Plains battlefield."

"I have decided to mobilize all available troops for a joint attack on western Henan!"

"all?"

"All of them!" Bai Jiansheng said decisively.
"Abandon all non-essential cities, and even a dog, drag it to the battlefield!"

With Bai Jiansheng's proactive attack, they quickly and successfully locked down the area around Zhongye and Xinye.

Bai Jiansheng immediately ordered the Guo army to encircle the enemy with overwhelming force.

On Pengcheng's side, Du Guangting saw that Bai Jiansheng had taken the initiative to launch an offensive against Nakano, and immediately began to launch an active attack.

The plan is to catch the G army off guard before the East China Field Army completes its rest and reorganization.

However, Du Guangting, full of enthusiasm, never expected that someone would play a huge joke on him.

(End of this chapter)