Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 540 There's a Big Fish

"Commander, the G Army has deployed several thousand heavy artillery pieces and has seized the Majiabang Heights in Cambridge!"

"What did you say?!" Upon hearing the staff officer's report, Tang Keqin's expression changed drastically.

Although he felt that the following might be an exaggeration, since the heavy artillery dared to report several thousand pieces, there must have been at least several hundred pieces.

Such firepower was beyond what the 52nd Army could withstand on its own.

Moreover, Majiabang is the only high point in the Cambridge area, making its geographical location extremely important.

Once the G army has established a foothold, their artillery will pose a deadly threat to all the firing points in the Cambridge position.

Cambridge will be impossible to defend at that time.

"Pass on my order to transfer the 23rd Army from the Wusongkou position to support Kangqiao. The bomber squadron should take off immediately to bomb the G Army's artillery positions."

"Send a telegram to the naval command, instructing them to move closer and bombard Majiabang!"

"We must take back Majiabang no matter what!"

Whether the G army has hundreds or thousands of heavy artillery pieces, its artillery positions must be quite large.

Once we find their positions, we can suppress them.

Even if they couldn't destroy all the artillery, they were forced to withdraw from the battlefield.

After the G Army's artillery withdrew from the battlefield, with the firepower density of aircraft, naval guns, and heavy artillery, plus the support of the 23rd Army, taking Majiabang should not be difficult.

Upon receiving the order, the 23rd Army immediately began a forced march toward Cambridge.

However, when the 23rd Army left the position, they did not notice that two pairs of eyes were watching them from the rice paddies not far away.

"01! 01! This is 05, this is 05! A whole army of Guo Jun is marching rapidly towards Cambridge!"

"01 received. Continue to observe from the shadows."

"Yes!"

The rice paddies fell silent once again.

At this time, the 23rd Army was unaware that their whereabouts were being reported every kilometer along the way.

"Commander, the Special Operations Battalion reports that the enemy's 23rd Army is heading to support Kangqiao."

"Forward the telegram to the artillery staff officer, and have him coordinate the communication between the special operations team and the artillery group, so that the rocket artillery regiment can launch a rapid fire attack on the enemy's 23rd Army."

Rocket artillery is most effective against arrayed or densely marching troops, where covering fire can achieve the greatest effect.

"yes!".
Along the way, Chen Chen of the 23rd Army kept urging the troops to speed up their progress.

After the G Army occupies Majiabang, they will definitely rush to build fortifications. The earlier the 23rd Army arrives, the less time the G Army will have to build its positions.

If the battle drags on until night, the 23rd Army will have to pay several times the price to take the position.

Just as Chen Chen was standing on the jeep shouting, he suddenly stopped and turned his head to look ahead.

He seemed to hear a dense shrieking sound.

"Bombardment!"

Chen Chen suddenly jumped off the still-moving jeep and landed in the mud beside it.

"Boom!" "Boom!"
A series of explosions then covered a large section of the 23rd Army column.

Just a dozen seconds later, the explosion stopped, leaving only a mess and a large number of wounded people groaning.

"This...this..." Chen Chen, covered in mud and water, got up and stared blankly at the terrible scene before him.

He never expected that the 23rd Army would suffer heavy losses before he even saw the enemy.

A few minutes later, the chief of staff of the 23rd Army ran over with a heavy expression and said, "Commander, the casualties are huge. The count is not yet complete, but there are already more than 4,000 casualties."

"The G army's artillery barrage this time was extremely accurate; it was a direct strike along our lines."

"How is that possible!" Chen Chen exclaimed urgently, "The G Army doesn't have any planes, how did they know our exact whereabouts?"

A normal artillery barrage should produce a circular or elliptical shape.

He had never even heard of a long, narrow barrage of artillery fire.

There is only one possibility: their movements have been kept under surveillance by the G army.

"The entire army must retreat immediately! Check all places where radios or miniature radios may be hidden."

"Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find the person who leaked this information!"

In this situation, Chen Chen dared not go any further.

A single barrage of firepower wiped out 20% of his troops. If another barrage of firepower were to come, would the 2nd Army even survive?

After the 23rd Army carried the wounded away in a chaotic manner, two more heads emerged from a ditch a kilometer away: "What a pity, they're withdrawing already."

"They can't escape. The rocket artillery regiment should be able to fire another round before they return to the Wusongkou position."

In order to better strike, the rocket artillery regiment deliberately risked moving forward to the second-line positions.

This area is frequently visited by KMT aircraft.

However, after being coated with mud, twigs, and grass, the rocket launcher didn't look like a weapon at all.

Two planes flew by before the launch, but no one noticed anything.

It wasn't until the rockets were launched that planes began to swarm over, trying to find a position.

However, the planes flew over the position several times, but still did not detect anything.

Even after the rocket artillery regiment launched its second attack, the aircraft still failed to locate the artillery position.

According to their deduction, the G army must have obtained rocket launchers from the Soviet Union.

With such a large number of launches, there would definitely be dozens of trucks gathered together.

But several planes flew all over the Kangqiao Town area, and there wasn't a single truck or even a donkey cart in sight.

On the other hand, when Tang Keqin learned that the 23rd Army had been beaten twice as soon as they left the house, he was devastated.

Before even seeing the enemy, they've already lost a third of their troops.

Before understanding the situation, even though the 52nd Army was already in imminent danger, Tang Keqin dared not send any more reinforcements. Or rather, even if he wanted to send reinforcements, no one would go.

Without reinforcements, even with repeated heavy artillery fire from the Wusong Fortress, the Kuomintang army's positions in Kangqiao were repeatedly breached by the Second General Headquarters.

After holding out for a day and a night, the 52nd Army could no longer hold out and began a large-scale retreat.

At this point, Liu Yuzhen dared not open fire to suppress the attack.

If things go wrong, the fleeing soldiers will take his life first.

"Commander, the 52nd Army has retreated, and the 222nd Regiment has entered Kangqiao Town."

"Good! Order all units to continue the pursuit!"

"Send a telegram to Wei Dayong, instructing the Special Operations Brigade to send an observation team to the vicinity of Wusongkou."

"We need to be able to observe the Wusong Wharf, guide artillery fire to strike the wharf, and block the entire waterway."

"yes!".
Upon learning that the dock had been shelled, Tang Keqin's face turned grim, as a large amount of machinery and raw materials were waiting to be transported out of Shanghai.

The blockade of the docks by artillery fire meant that loading supplies would become dozens of times more difficult.

"Where is the Taikang now? Has it entered the open sea?" Tang Keqin suddenly asked.

Compared to the equipment and raw materials for Shanghai, this ship was what he cared about most.

The staff officer beside him fell silent.

"Are you mute? Where is the ship?!" Tang Keqin shouted angrily.

He had received a telegram earlier informing him that the Taikang had already set sail, and judging by its speed, it should have already passed the mouth of the Yangtze River by now.

"Sir, the Taikang and three other warships have been intercepted by Director Chen's men."

"What?! Why did Chen Rongqing try to stop him?!" Tang Keqin was so anxious he was jumping up and down.
Just like Tang Keqin, Chen Rongqing is also extremely anxious.

"Twenty minutes! Just twenty more minutes until the ship leaves Wusongkou!"

"I told you long ago, we don't need those unnecessary things! If I hadn't stopped you, how long were you going to keep up this act?"

"Rongqing, those clothes were all custom-made. There's nowhere to get them made again later."

"Alright, alright, I'm not going to talk to you about this anymore. The ship is blocked now, so there's no point in saying anything more."

The Chen family's assets have been deposited in foreign banks, and those that could be airlifted have already been airlifted. What remains are large items that they are reluctant to throw away.

However, if they are forced to do so, they can simply lose it; the loss to the Chen family will not be significant.

Chen Rongqing was unaware that one of the warships he had randomly seized from the Huangpu River contained important supplies.

It's just that Tang Keqin's secrecy measures were so good that even Chen Rongqing didn't know.

After Tang Keqin understood the specific situation, he was speechless.

But he really didn't dare to cause trouble for Chen Rongqing.

The Chen family's position within the Party and the state was beyond his control.

Therefore, Tang Keqin could only swallow his anger and suffer in silence.

"Send orders to the fleet to wait until nightfall, then sail out of Wusongkou as quickly as possible. The First Fleet will meet them in the open sea."

"Yes!"

That night, just when the special forces observation team thought nothing would happen, they suddenly heard a roaring sound.

"It's a ship!"

"There's a boat on the river!"

"What's going on? Why aren't the ship's lights on?"

"Never mind that, report it immediately!"

"01, 01, this is 03. There are some strange boats on the Huangpu River."

"They are driving stealthily without their lights on, and have now arrived at Zone Two."

Upon receiving the report from the special operations brigade, Chen Chengxing immediately concluded, "This is the Nationalist army trying to sneak across the border under the cover of night."

"Immediately call the howitzer regiment to guide the artillery fire."

"Yes!"

One minute later, after a test firing, the howitzer regiment began firing continuously at the Huangpu River.

Several warships were caught off guard and hit one after another. Seeing that the ships were smoking from the damage, the helmsmen disregarded everything else and immediately chose to run aground.

They were cargo ships, not warships, and couldn't withstand the continuous shelling.

Moreover, the crew members did not know what was being transported on the ship; they only assumed it was furniture and clothes.

In any case, they wouldn't risk their lives for these pieces of furniture.

When Tang Keqin learned that the ship had chosen to run aground, he was so angry he almost vomited blood.

"Send orders to the First Fleet to immediately dispatch reinforcements. They must tow the Taikang out of here no matter what!"

The unusual actions of the Guo Army Navy immediately attracted the attention of the Second General Staff.

"Has the Guo army gone mad? Warships entering the Wusongkou?" Chu Yunfei expressed his bewilderment at Tang Keqin's actions.

"It's not that Tang Keqin has gone mad, but rather that something has forced him to go mad." Chen Chengxing looked at the report and stroked his chin.

"I think there are big fish in those stranded ships."

"Tell Wang Chengzhu that the howitzer regiment will take turns firing tonight to maintain firepower around the ships."

"Move the mountain guns and rocket launchers forward to provide cover fire in conjunction with the howitzers at any time."

Upon hearing that the mountain guns were being moved forward, Chu Yunfei immediately reminded them, "If the mountain guns and rocket launchers want to reach Wusongkou, they have to be moved to the front line. This would put them under enemy fire, which is too dangerous."

"We can't worry about that now. Let's push it over first. When the Guo army's warships come close to tug the boat, we'll launch a surprise attack."

"What's already in my pocket, how can I let them take it away?"

(End of this chapter)