Chapter 24: Every Family Has Its Own Difficult Scripture

  The militia squad that annihilated more than a dozen people, the only obstacle left in front of the 25th Army's advance was just one independent regiment of the Northwestern Army above the three counties. And this unit also had sufficient explanation in the intelligence of the Shangluo Prefectural Committee, it was a miscellaneous bandit force that was reorganized, without even a single machine gun (at that time, local miscellaneous forces at the regimental level only had one or two heavy machine guns, and those at the battalion level only had light machine guns, with poor equipment, such as non-regular units of the Northwestern Army which did not have any). Even rifles were a bunch of single-shot rifles made by the Northwestern Army itself, with bullets that were a mix of heavy, light, and round ammunition!

  If it weren't for the intelligence sent by the underground party, Gaoquan would have thought that this was a report on the Nationalist Party's own armament. Looking at Wu Zhengzhi's smiling face, Gaoquan knew he had another chance to shine! His rapid rise over the past few months was largely due to his own abilities, but also thanks to Wu Zhengzhi's promotion and recognition. Among so many capable generals, why should Gaoquan be the only one to reap the benefits?

  "Political commissar, don't talk big, I alone can encircle this bandit army!" The young face was full of confidence and pride, which was rare even in the Red Twenty-fifth Army, known for its tough battles.

  The battle went as smoothly as expected, and in less than two hours, they annihilated or captured more than half of the over 300-strong battalion. However, Gaoquan was not going to let these small fries off easy either. The thirty-plus men led by Jiuzhe rounded up the sixty-odd disheveled officers who had escaped from the pass wall, including those with their concubines, sedan chairs, and mules, and wrapped them all up in one go.

  Looking at the disheveled and disarrayed battalion commander, whose clothes were in shambles and had even lost a shoe, Gaoquan waved his hand indifferently and let the soldiers take him away. As for those charming concubines, although Gaoquan was very interested, the Red Army didn't have this tradition, and besides, wasn't he only 16? It seemed his body hadn't fully developed yet...

  The northwest army's handmade single-shot rifle is like garbage, with no rifling, and even the three-line sight is a bit inaccurate. It can probably only be used to shoot wild boars within 30-40 meters... Moreover, Gaoduan discovered that nearly half of the soldiers were still holding cold weapons - big knives! Looking at their pale faces filled with fear, even the opium-addicted soldiers who kept yawning, Gaoduan muttered to himself: "Is this damn battalion commander promoting the tradition of the northwest army's big knife squad or selling off a large number of guns and ammunition?"

  Although the defeated soldiers' weapons and equipment were quite outdated, in accordance with the Nationalist Party army's consistent tradition, Gao Quanwan captured a large number of other spoils of war, including 17,800 yuan, 100 taels of gold, and a large box of jewelry. Even food was seized from seven or eight large warehouses, including high-quality Baishi brand cigarettes and low-quality Shanxi cigarettes, as well as over 100 kilograms of Henan tobacco! Other dried meats, game, and furs were countless! Fortunately, the "one in ten" tax collection sign set up by the Three Wantons at the pass saved Gao Quanwan from being puzzled for a long time.

  "This Nationalist Party's miscellaneous taxes are really numerous! Even going out of the province, they have to pay 10% of their income! And there's also the smuggling of guns and ammunition. This bandit-turned battalion commander is indeed very bandit-like!" High Daquan's words, walking into the Third Division Headquarters with Jiuzhe who had already become a squad leader, won continuous nods of approval from Jiuzhe. As one of the victims of the increasingly corrupt Nationalist Party, Jiuzhe was extremely resentful of the party's exploitation of ordinary people! Otherwise, the battalion commander would not have been beaten black and blue earlier. Originally, violating prisoner-of-war policies was overlooked due to High Daquan's negligence, but his unfathomable eyes had warned Jiuzhe, who didn't dare look directly at him.

  "Hey, Lianzhang! Look at this pile of colorful papers with our political commissar's photo on them!" The soldier, who had been squatting over the makeshift toilet and was feeling quite uncomfortable, was about to use the papers to make some toilet paper. But when he saw Lianzhang, who always emphasized the importance of culture, he slyly handed over the pile of papers. However, Gaoduan didn't miss a beat and clearly recorded the fleeting cunning expression on the young soldier's face. "You little devil!" Gaoduan laughed and scolded, giving the soldier a slap on the head. But wasn't he himself still without a fully grown beard?

  After taking over more than ten kilograms of newspapers, Gao Quan took the newspapers to read under the kerosene lamp after arranging for soldiers to report to the military department and guard the warehouse. The blurry oil print, the unfamiliar complex characters, and the extremely unconventional layout could not stop Gao Quan's thirst for information from the newspaper in this era! Weren't the major decisions made by countless Red Army troops at that time based on public information provided by newspapers?

  However, the newspapers of this era obviously did not have as much information as the print media in the 21st century. Apart from some big victories and defeats, they were just some trivial gossip about ordinary people. For such entertainment for the common people, Gaoduan was directly ignoring them. In the past year's newspapers, Gaoduan only found out that the Nineteenth Route Army failed in Fujian and the People's Government, as well as the Long March of the Central Red Army and their defeat at the Xiang River. This outdated information might be useful for military leaders who had not yet decided on their next course of action, but for Gaoduan, who was already familiar with some history, it was like a chicken rib.

  However, when he saw the newspaper on December 9th, Gao Quan suddenly felt a bright light in front of him. The blurry oil-printed newspaper actually had an extra edition that read: "Great victory in Henan! Over 10,000 Communist bandits annihilated!" "National Army General Li Zifa led two extermination squads with over 10,000 men and defeated the Hubei Communist bandits in the Funiu Mountain area. They killed or wounded tens of thousands of enemies, captured over a thousand, seized over a thousand guns, and even captured more than ten cannons from the Communist bandits! It is said that the leaders of the bandit army, Commander Xu Haifeng and Political Commissar Wu Huanxian, have already been shot dead by our army. The remaining remnants of over 400 people are fleeing towards Shaanxi Province. But I believe that under the sniping of our brave National Army, the bandits will surely be annihilated!"

  "Over 10,000 people? Are you kidding me! We only have a little over 3,000 men! And more than ten cannons! You can't be counting those old relics I discarded as part of the tally, can you?! Gao Quan was utterly fascinated by the Nationalist Party's mouthpiece, who was even more shameless than himself! He had been brewing his words for a long time and it took him over a minute to get them out!"

  "KMT, you've really blown this out of proportion! Even if you want to stabilize the people's hearts, do you have to do it like this?!" Gao Quan was unable to help but carefully read the newspaper while lamenting the KMT's bureaucratic class as hopeless. It's simply more self-deceiving than the little Japan of WWII!

  "Pack it up! Send it to the military commander and political commissar!" Gaoduan shouted loudly at the outside duty soldiers and guards, while trying to digest the information he had just received, attempting to find something that would have an impact on future battles. He cherished this rare piece of news in this isolated era.

  "Commander, how should we deal with these remnants of the Communist bandits who have sneaked into our province?" asked the Northwest Army's high-ranking advisor, a lieutenant general wearing a khaki uniform, respectfully to his superior, Yang Hucheng, Commander-in-Chief of the 17th Land Army.

  Yang Hu-Cheng, who had long lost his former prestige as a Northwest warlord, was weighed down by the declining 17th Route Army. His eyes were filled with wrinkles. He rubbed his sore eyes and said listlessly: "What's the big deal about 400-500 bandits? Although they defeated the motley crew of the Three Wanting Office, they're still just bandits. Just send a reinforced battalion from Liu Zi-Peng's Special Task Regiment stationed in Shangluo! I don't believe this bunch of cripples can withstand our 800-strong rifle regiment! We'll wipe them out with just a snap of our fingers!"

  "Now it's that Liu Zhidan from northern Shaanxi, getting more and more intense! But after all, these are internal wars! We're just fighting among our own brothers behind closed doors! It's not a glorious thing! On the other hand, those little Japanese devils! They occupied the three eastern provinces two days ago, took over Rehe and Chahar yesterday, and now they're eyeing our northern China! Today they take five cities, tomorrow ten cities, if this goes on, our China will be destroyed and our people annihilated! I really don't know what the Chairman is thinking! Always saying 'internal first, external second' - isn't it just to use the Communist bandits to eliminate us local warlords?"

  Looking at Yang Hucheng's bitter smile, the high-ranking officials around him were also very uncomfortable. Since the Central Plains War, the Northwestern Army could only shrink to the northwest corner and struggle to survive! Song Zheyuan, Han Fuju, Shi Yousan, under Chiang Kai-shek's comfort, indeed had a good life, but more were like Yang Hucheng, Sun Lianzhong, who were struggling in poverty. Even their old superior Feng Yuxiang was not driven out of the country by Old Chiang?

  The once-famous Northwest Army has completely fallen! Although Song Zheyuan's 29th Route Army achieved great merits in the Great Wall War, wasn't the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army led by the old general in Chahar still defeated by Old Chiang?

  Here comes, vote for me