Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 524 Get Me a New Car

At the front lines, all the commanders were checking their watches.

Chen Chengxing put down his watch and picked up the binoculars.

"Time's up, fire!"

"Fire!"

Following Chu Yunfei's message, the artillery battalion and rocket artillery battalion of the Second General Headquarters, and the artillery regiments of the four detachments began to fire fiercely.

"Boom!" "Boom!"
The artillery of the Second Division and the Central Field Army, along with more than 400 Flying Thunder Cannons, engulfed the entire KMT position at the edge of the hill in a violent explosion.

In particular, the sharp mounds that Chen Chengxing targeted were reduced in size by several meters, even though the original hills were only a few dozen meters high.

Yang Buyuan, who was in charge of defending the spiked mound, simply could not withstand such a fierce attack.

"Hey! Corps Headquarters! Corps Headquarters! Requesting support! Requesting support!" Yang Buyuan shouted until his voice was hoarse.

The G army's firepower was too strong; the 18th Army's artillery simply couldn't defeat it.

The various bunkers and trenches that were originally built have now been leveled, and if the G army launches another attack, it will be difficult for them to hold their ground.

"Listen up! The fortified position must be held!" Huang Peiwu shouted. "Otherwise, the entire army will be exposed to the G army!"

"Sir! I've already changed three regimental commanders, the casualties are too high!" Yang Buyuan said helplessly.

If he could have held on, he wouldn't have made that call.

"Special operations battalion, engineer battalion, artillery battalion—as long as they're still breathing, drag them all up!"

"You must hold the summit no matter what!"

Huang Peiwu's orders were very firm, but holding the line wasn't something that could be accomplished with just a few words.

Yang Buyuan led the 18th Army in a desperate resistance, but faced with the Second General Headquarters' all-out attack, the number of casualties increased sharply.

During this time, Yang Buyuan made several calls for help, but the entire Jianduiji was under attack and Huang Peiwu couldn't spare a single person.

As time went on, the core positions of the 12th Army Corps were breached one after another.

Huang Peiwu's corps headquarters had even entered the artillery range of the G army.

Hearing the continuous explosions, Huang Peiwu had completely given up on commanding.

"It seems the old man has done all he could."

"Even the second young master personally led the armored forces into battle."

Beard Qi, standing to the side, couldn't help but shake his head: "It's over, it's too late."

If he were in command, the 12th Army Corps would not have appeared at Jianduiji.

Inserting a lone force into the heart of the G army could indeed pose a significant threat to them.

However, this can also lead to a precarious situation, resulting in what we see now.

"Forget it, let's go." Huang Peiwu got up and picked up the helmet on the table.

By this time, everyone in the corps headquarters had already changed into soldiers' uniforms.

Huang Peiwu prepared to gather the last troops and force a breakout.

Of course, Huang Peiwu knew that breaking through was impossible, but all he needed was to create chaos. Only when things got chaotic could they possibly break through.

Huang Peiwu, Hu Ziqi, and the others each got into a tank, and then took advantage of the chaos to break out separately.

However, Hu Ziqi's professionalism far surpassed Huang Peiwu's. After breaking through the most dangerous core position, Hu Ziqi decisively chose to abandon the vehicle and escape alone.

Huang Peiwu, who was always riding in a tank, and several other high-ranking officials became the focus of attention.

Once the observation ports of the tank were blocked, the people inside had no choice but to open the hatch and surrender.

"Commander-in-Chief! We've struck it rich! The 18th Army is rolling in money!"

Chu Yunfei and Luo Ping were overjoyed as they read the reports from the various units.

18军作为12兵团的拳头，不但有军属的24门榴弹炮团，还有黄陪悟加强给他们的战车营和民33式120毫米迫击炮营。

As for the 75mm mountain guns, there were three battalions of them.

As for the other rocket launchers, light and heavy machine guns, rifles, and submachine guns, they are not worth mentioning.

Although much of the equipment was damaged, it was enough for the Second Boss to have a prosperous New Year.

After glancing at the reports from various departments, Chen Cheng thought for a moment and then said, "Old Luo, this is what I think."

“The Nakano army was tied down in the Dabie Mountains, which really dragged them down and weakened them. Therefore, I plan to leave all the spoils to the Nakano army.”

After joining the encirclement of Huang Peiwu, Chen Chengxing read Nakano's battle report.

During the battle, Nakano consumed far more grenades and explosives than the normal standard, but fired very few artillery shells.

This is quite different from the situation when the Second General Staff and the East China Field Army fought against Du Guangting's troops.

During the battles, the East China Field Army almost used artillery fire to push through the enemy, and it was common for them to fire thousands of shells at a single village.

Upon hearing Chen Chengxing's words, Luo Ping also realized what was going on.

“Old Chen, I agree with you. Zhongye has indeed suffered for too long. If they can get the equipment of the 12th Army Corps, they can immediately upgrade from ragtag to artillery.”

"But shouldn't we consult with the commander about this?"

The leader Luo Ping was referring to was the leader of the East China Field Army. After all, the Second Division was still nominally under the command of the East China Field Army.

"Send the message," Chen Chengxing said.

Chen Chengxing was confident that Huaye Shi would agree to his request.

Sure enough, just ten minutes later, Chen Chengxing received a telegram from Ye Si.

The field commander fully agreed to Chen Chengxing's request and also stated that he would transfer 600 mortars of various sizes from various units to the Nakano Field Army for reorganization.

"Old Chu, send an order to all units: all the spoils captured in this siege of Huang Peiwu's army, from prisoners and weapons to clothing and food, not even a piece of toilet paper, are to be taken."

"All the spoils will be left to Nakano."

"Yes!" Upon learning that Chen Chengxing had sent everything to the command post, the leaders smiled.

"Who would have thought that Chen Chengxing, who has always been greedy and greedy, would do something like this?"

"Hehe. This time, our Chen Da Si Ling seems to have miscalculated a bit."

"With howitzers and tanks and armored vehicles, the Central Field Army can also form a special column."

On the other side, soldiers from the 12th Army Corps were deployed to various columns of the Central Plains Field Army, while officers were all transported to the rear by car.

Yang Buyuan was about to get into the car when he suddenly stopped.

"I'm not getting on this bus! Get me another one!"

The young soldier next to him looked displeased: "You motherfucker, do you think you're still a high-ranking Kuomintang official? You're a prisoner now!"

The G army did indeed treat prisoners of war well, but this treatment applied to prisoners who cooperated.

If you don't cooperate, you're not a good prisoner.

"Either kill me or give me a new car!" Yang Buyuan was unusually tough at this moment.

The reason he didn't get on the bus was simple: Huang Peiwu was sitting in the bus.

"You!" The young soldier was furious.

At this moment, a security officer in charge of escorting the shipment saw the situation and ran over.

"what happened?"

"Boss, he insists on getting a new car!"

"Why change vehicles?" The security officer looked at Yang Buyuan.

"There are people I don't want to see in this car, so just get me any other car to ride in!"

Seeing that Yang Buyuan was not deliberately causing trouble, the security officer was also unwilling to create unnecessary complications.

"Xiao Liu, there are still empty seats on bus number 8, let him sit on bus number 8."

"yes!".
On the way, Yang Buyuan silently gazed at the scenery outside, even though it was all withered and yellow.

He didn't know if he would ever see the sky or the land again.

Suddenly, Yang Buyuan's gaze froze.

The caravan was passing through a market town, a place he had passed through before, where the thatched huts were still faintly visible.

But at that time, the entire market was closed and deathly silent.

But now, not only are there people in every household and smoke rising from every chimney, but even the shops sell steamed buns, peanuts, and even cigarettes and alcohol.

Moreover, along the road, there were horse-drawn carriages passing by, many of which carried slaughtered and cleaned fat pigs.

This surprised Yang Buyuan. When he led his team through this area before, he didn't see a single pig hair, let alone a fat pig.

Moreover, he saw G Army soldiers in many villages along the convoy's route.

These soldiers lived and ate with the local people.

"Can I ask you a question?" Yang Buyuan looked at the soldiers in the carriage who were escorting them.

"Speak," said the squad leader.

"Look at those soldiers, are they from this village?" Yang Buyuan asked, pointing outside.

Those soldiers chatted and laughed with the civilians, looking just like a family.

"Hehe. Never seen it before, have you?" the class monitor laughed.

"Every one of us soldiers is a member of the people's family. Wherever we go, we belong to the locals."

Listening to the squad leader's explanation and looking at the scene outside, Yang Buyuan said with some emotion:

"I never expected that I, as a prisoner, would witness such a scene. It seems that the defeat of the 18th Army was not due to a lack of combat skills."

Yang Buyuan had to face the fact that the same place was completely different when the G army was there and when the KMT army was there.

Upon receiving news of the complete annihilation of Huang Peiwu's army in Jinling, Chang Ruiyuan sat there motionless.

Even if he was stubborn, he knew that there was no way to reverse the current situation in the Central Plains.

After a moment of silence, Chang Ruiyuan said, "Liangzhen, send orders to Li Yishou and Liu Ziliang, instructing them to retreat to Zhucheng at full speed and to build defenses along the Huai River."

The defeat of Du Guangting's group was inevitable, and Chang Ruiyuan did not want to drag Li Liu's 100,000 people down with him.

If they are slow, they might be caught up and surrounded by the Central Plains army that has devoured Huang Peiwu.

Chang Ruiyuan really couldn't handle the loss of 100,000 people.

Seeing that Li and Liu's corps were retreating quickly, the General Front Committee also learned of Chang Ruiyuan's plan.

The Central Committee immediately ordered the East China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army to cease their attacks on Du Guangting.

At this time, the million-strong army of the Northeast Field Army had begun to enter the pass, but the main force had not yet fully arrived at the battlefield. The troops in North China were limited and could not completely cut off the enemy's escape route in Beiping.

In order to prevent the enemy in Beiping from retreating to Jiangnan by sea, we must give them something to look forward to.

At this time, Chang Ruiyuan had not yet decided to give up Beiping and Tianjin, but once Du Guangting's last main force in the Central Plains was completely annihilated, it might force Chang Ruiyuan to make a decision.

This is not good news for the G army.

After receiving the order from the Central Committee, the Central Plains battlefield fell silent, and the Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army, which had been fighting continuously for more than a month, began to rest and recuperate.

Each department actively carried out supplementary training and simultaneously launched a political offensive.

In order to ensure that the soldiers who had been fighting hard for days received adequate nutrition, the Central Committee specifically instructed the East China Bureau and the Central Plains Bureau to provide the soldiers with proper nutrition.

According to the standard, each person is entitled to one pound of pork and five packs of cigarettes; those who do not smoke will receive other items in return.

This immediately revealed the gap between the two sides.

The soldiers in the trenches on the front lines were eating meat buns and even braised pork with gusto, but the Kuomintang troops didn't even have anything to eat.

(End of this chapter)