Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 504. Such exquisite coordination.
"Officer, the 89th Division has retreated. The suicide squad has been completely wiped out, and even three of the tanks that went to provide support have been destroyed."

"I understand." Qiu Feng nodded: "Order the artillery to continue firing, and keep the waves of attacks going."

The initial attack went poorly, which was not unexpected for Qiu Feng.

If he could be defeated so easily, he wouldn't be Chen Chengxing.

The fierce fighting continued into the night, and the Fifth Army made no progress.

"What's the situation on your end? How many casualties?" Qiu Feng called the 89th Division.

"Please rest assured, sir, I am reorganizing the organization and preparing to launch the general offensive again tomorrow!"

"I'm asking about the numbers!"

"Reporting to the Siren, our unit suffered over 2,300 casualties during the day!"

After hanging up the phone, Qiu Feng kept shaking his head: "It's too big, the casualties are too great."

The 89th Division had a total of over 10,000 men, but apart from artillery, heavy machine guns, and logistics units, the actual front-line infantry numbered only about 5,000 to 6,000.

Even if the 89th Division sends its logistics personnel to the front lines, the casualties of 2,300 men would be enough to affect its combat effectiveness.

"We can't fight Chen Chengxing to the death here!" Qiu Feng walked to the map.

"chief of staff!"

"To!"

"Send orders to the 70th Army to organize elite troops to infiltrate through the defensive junctions of Chen Chengxing's various units."

"Tear a hole in me and stop!"

As long as a gap can be torn in the defensive line, the tank units of the Second Army Corps can plunge deep into Chen Chengxing's rear, at which point the G Army will be thrown into chaos even if it is not defeated.

"yes!".
Although the 70th Army's combat strength was not as good as the 5th Army, it was still a direct descendant of the Central Army and its combat strength was second only to the five elite units.

The Guo army's actions were very sudden, and the junctions between the various detachments were also the weakest points in the defense, so the Guo army's operation went very smoothly.

However, Chen Chengxing had long been on guard against this move by the Fifth Army.

Just as the Guo army broke through the front line, the second-line troops quickly moved in and pushed the Guo army back.

Chen Chengxing wasn't the type to just take a beating without fighting back; the two sides traded blows, constantly launching attacks and counter-attacks.

The Second Army suffered considerable casualties, and the Fifth Army suffered even greater losses; of the more than forty tanks in one tank regiment, more than a dozen have been destroyed.

Two days later, seeing that he could not break through the frontal defense, Qiu Feng chose to split his troops into three routes, attacking the frontal positions as well as the N and F columns simultaneously.

However, the resistance from the N and F columns was equally tenacious, and the forward positions were repeatedly contested, preventing the Fifth Army from advancing.

That night, at the Taipingzhuang position, when the 3rd Battalion of the 23rd Detachment was resting, some soldiers suddenly heard a rustling sound.

Find a bowl, turn it upside down on the ground, put your ear to it and listen. You can't be wrong, someone is digging in the dirt.

"Commander, commander, it looks like someone is digging up our fortifications!"

"where?"

"there!"

The battalion commander immediately dispatched a three-person reconnaissance team.

A dozen minutes later, the three people returned.

"Battalion Commander, about seventy meters away, there is a company of soldiers digging trenches. It looks like they want to shorten the attack distance."

"Damn it, trying to show off his skills in front of Guan Yu!"

"Pass on my order! Prepare for attack!"

A few minutes later, several heavy machine guns opened fire to suppress the enemy, and then two companies of soldiers rushed out.

The two sides were already close to each other, and the Guo soldiers were carrying their rifles on their backs while digging in the dirt, with only a few light machine guns set up there.

However, faced with the suppressive fire of heavy machine guns, light machine guns had no chance to speak at all.

By the time Guo Jun reacted, the soldiers of the Third Battalion were already upon them.

Unable to escape, Guo Jun did not hesitate and decisively lay down on the ground to surrender.

The second platoon leader rushed to the machine gun position of the Guo army and snatched the gun away.

The deputy squad leader of the Guo army, who was lying behind the machine gun, was so scared that he almost peed his pants.

"No, no, don't shoot! I have another submachine gun, you can have it all."

At daybreak, the enraged 70th Army, with a regiment of soldiers under artillery cover, rushed towards the Third Battalion.

However, before the enemy could even reach the position, they were forced to retreat by the crossfire of the Third Battalion.

In the afternoon, Guo Jun brought in seven more tanks and launched repeated assaults on the Third Battalion's position.

After several days of fierce fighting, the position remained firmly in the hands of the Second General.

Qiu Feng's 5th and 70th Armies were already the spearhead of this attack. Even the 5th Army couldn't break through, so the other Kuomintang troops were even more helpless.

Seeing that progress was slow, Du Guangting personally went to Li Bingwen's army group to supervise the battle.

Li Bingwen dared not delay and issued a strict order, demanding that the 8th Army must capture the two villages in front of them.

Du Guangting personally went to the front line to watch the battle.

As a result, Du Guangting witnessed a fierce battle between the two sides inside the village.

Despite having superior numbers and artillery support, the KMT army was repeatedly driven out of the village by the KMT army.

Left with no other choice, Li Bingwen dispatched a supervisory team and ordered the division commander to personally oversee the battle from the front lines.

In the end, the KMT soldiers, with heavy machine guns pointed at them, gritted their teeth and pushed forward, spending a whole day to finally capture two villages.

Having witnessed the battle firsthand, Du Guangting was speechless.

"Li Siling, be careful to control casualties in the future." Du Guangting said before turning and leaving. Today, in order to capture these two villages, a division of the 8th Army was basically rendered ineffective.

This is one-sixth of the strength of Li Bingwen's army.

There are still dozens of villages ahead. At this rate, even if we wipe out all our men, we still won't be able to relieve Huang Huanran's siege.

Li Bingwen breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Du Guangting leave.

Throughout the entire day, not only was Du Guangting heartbroken, but Li Bingwen's heart was also bleeding.

However, since Du Guangting was personally at the front lines, he couldn't remain silent.

Judging from the situation over the past few days, it won't be easy to get Huang Huanran out of trouble.

Once Huang Huanran is completely wiped out, his superiors will definitely hold him accountable. If he doesn't perform well, he will definitely be the one to take the blame.

As for whether Qiu Feng would take the blame, Li Bingwen hadn't even considered it.

Given Qiu Feng's madness, he won't stop until he wipes out the entire army.

At this moment, Chang Ruiyuan was extremely anxious in Nanjing.

The battle has been going on for four days, and they have only advanced two miles. At this rate, by the time reinforcements arrive at Nianwei, Huang Huanran's body will probably be completely rotten.

"Send a telegram directly to Pengcheng, not to the front lines," Chang Ruiyuan couldn't help but say.

"The survival of the Party and the nation depends on this battle. My brother should carry forward the spirit of Whampoa, be loyal to the country and filial to the nation, and spare no effort to defeat the enemy in front of us and relieve the siege of the Whampoa Corps."

"Order: Support troops must rendezvous with Huang Huanran within one day."

After the chief of staff finished reading the telegram, Du Guangting immediately became irritable.

"Easy for you to say! Why doesn't the old man come himself?"

"Even if Pengcheng is dangerous, he can still command from the plane!"

If he could quickly defeat the blocking G army, would he still be spouting nonsense here? He would have already charged in.

Meanwhile, just as the East China Field Army surrounded Huang Huanran's army group and formed a stalemate with Qiu and Li's army groups, the Central Plains Field Army also launched an attack simultaneously.

Their chosen target was Liu Ziliang's army corps stationed in the southwest of Pengcheng.

According to the plan, the C Column of the East China Field Army, together with the Guangdong and Guangxi Columns, and the A, C, D, and I Columns of the Central Plains Field Army, would launch a pincer attack.

However, before Zhongye launched his attack, Liu Ziliang had already begun retreating towards Zhucheng according to the battle plan.

Liu Ziliang, who hadn't received Chang Ruiyuan's call, ran as fast as a rabbit.

Nakano rushed as fast as he could, but in the end he only managed to capture the last division.

Just as Nakano was cleaning up the battlefield, the Central Committee approved the plan of the Chinese Field Army Director and decided to turn 'Little Huaihai' into 'Greater Huaihai'.

Nakano's original role changed instantly.

They were no longer supporting characters responsible for the feigned attack on Pengcheng, but became the key protagonists in cutting off the retreat of Guo's army.

The central government sent three consecutive telegrams to Nakano, demanding that he quickly seize Suxian County.

On the map, it looks like an incredible task.

The 120,000 men of Nakano had to force their way into the very center of the 400,000-strong Guo army and hold out until the enemy was annihilated.

Because of the urgency of the mission, Nakano did not delay for a moment. He led the main force and charged into the midst of the enemy forces without hesitation, advancing at full speed towards Suxian.

After swiftly clearing out the surrounding forces of Suxian County, Nakano immediately launched a general offensive against the county.

Upon hitting it, they discovered something was wrong.

There were hardly any garrison troops in Su County. Even including the garrison regiment and patrolmen, there were only 13,000 men.

Faced with the strong attack of 120,000 main force troops, these 120,000-plus men were annihilated before they could make much of a splash.

"So you're the leader of Suxian County?"

"Yes, yes, I am Yu Hetai, the commander of the 148th Division."

Where is Sun Yunliang?

As a crucial point in the retreat from Pengcheng, Suqian was previously guarded by Sun Yunliang's army corps.

"I was summoned back to Pengcheng by General Manager Liu a week ago," Yu Hetai said honestly.

Just a week ago, when Huaye captured Huang Huanran, Liu Jingfu was called away by Sun Yunliang as soon as Pengcheng was attacked.

The leaders were at a loss for words.

Although this is highly advantageous to our side, sometimes, it's not very satisfying to dominate weaker opponents.

"Doesn't Sun Yunliang know the importance of Suxian County? And what about Liu Ziliang, who went south a couple of days ago? Why didn't he defend Suxian County?"

“Officer Sun knew the importance of Su County.” Yu Hetai nodded: “It is said that he said something when he left.”

“Since Liu Jingfu wants everyone to go back to Pengcheng to wait for death, then let’s go.” Yu Hetai’s performance was incredibly lifelike.

"As for Commander Liu, he did send a division over."

"But I only said one sentence, and before I received the order to switch positions, they withdrew."

"And they run very fast." Yu Hetai said this with a hint of helplessness.

He did not receive the order to switch garrisons, but later Pengcheng called and the General Headquarters said that the two divisions should guard the area together.

But by then, Sun's army had already run twenty miles away without looking back.

The three commanders looked at each other, surprised by the exquisite coordination among the various units of the Guo army.

Before the battle officially began, the Central Committee was confident that Huang Huanran would be eliminated in the first phase, but it dared not make such an estimate as cutting off Pengcheng and Zhucheng and completely isolating the enemy in Pengcheng.

No one could have predicted that the battle would proceed so smoothly.

(End of this chapter)