Chapter 27: After Fainting

  Six mortars were dug out of the mud and placed steadily on steel plates, and the machine gun squad also brought out more than 100 shells from their homes. Nearly a hundred soldiers with short guns and shotguns were fully armed and waiting behind temporary stone fortifications, ready to charge forward as soon as the artillery fire began! The urgency of time made them unable to wait for the artillery preparation to be completed, and they had to take the risk of being hit by shells at any moment.

  Gaoquan, who was observing from behind a rock, suddenly felt a heat in front of his eyes, and it was as if his head had been hit by a heavy object. He fell down softly: "Lianzhang, Lianzhang!" The panicked cries of the crowd did not wake Gaoquan from his dream. The battle ended quickly with the help of the reinforcements.

  "Doctor! Doctor! Save our squad leader!" A dozen or so soldiers with anxious expressions rushed into the hospital, carrying a stretcher wrapped in a quilt. The other doctors and medical staff who saw the urgency of the situation quickly made way for them. The wounded soldier on the stretcher had his head wrapped up like a package, with blood seeping through and shocking to behold.

  "Who is this wounded guy? The soldiers are all so arrogant!" Looking at those with gunpowder on their faces and brand new rifles slung over their shoulders, the surrounding injured soldiers couldn't help but glance over. "Isn't it just those kids from the guard company? I bet their commander is that self-proclaimed hero!" "Ah! No way! Is that really that combat hero?" The old soldier's words drew in all the other wounded men, who looked on with regret.

  The crude operating environment and the scarcity of medicines made it extremely difficult for Dr. Gao to perform the surgery, and if he hadn't already fainted, the doctors wouldn't have known how to remove the shrapnel from his skull. The massive blood loss left the doctors feeling hopeless even after the surgery was over. Faced with the anxious inquiries of the soldiers, they felt a deep sense of powerlessness: "Let's just leave it to fate!" A long sigh escaped their lips.

  Although Gao Quan was in a coma after the operation, the progress of the 25th Army's foothold in southern Shaanxi did not slow down at all. On the contrary, because they had defeated the Northwest Army's most elite special operations battalion, their momentum soared!

  In 1932, many people who were scattered, wounded or sick, and those who had fallen behind during the Red Fourth Front Army's march from Shaanxi to Sichuan, made contact with the Twenty-Fifth Army. The leaders of the Red Twenty-Fifth Army were overwhelmed by the large number of people coming to join them, including peasants, artisans, vagrants, small merchants and others who wore all sorts of clothes and had unusual appearances. Especially, Wang Ma Zi, a beggar leader from southern Shaanxi, brought more than 100 skilled beggars to join the Red Army, providing a significant supplement to the Twenty-Fifth Army which had suffered heavy losses during its long march.

  Not to mention the underground party led by Henan-Shaanxi Special Committee Secretary Ruan Yingcheng, and that guerrilla team of three or four hundred people. The scene was so exciting and warm, no one expected to meet their long-lost relatives and comrades in this foreign land, nor did they expect to have their own brother unit within the Nationalist-controlled area.

  Although the guerrilla fighters who emerged from the mountain gullies were shabbily dressed, although their guns were scattered and broken, not even a single machine gun could be found, although they were pale and thin carrying those miscellaneous guns. However, everyone was warmly embracing each other! The Red Twenty-Fifth Army, which had captured a large number of guns, ammunition, and supplies along the way, under the command of several leaders with excited faces, hastily gave away three hundred brand-new Hanyang-made rifles, three machine guns, and numerous guns and ammunition to the Henan-Shaanxi Special Committee's subordinate guerrilla troops.

  However, those guerrillas were fond of the new weapons they had changed into, but what made them happiest was their brand-new Red Army uniforms! If the name is not correct, then the words are not smooth! Without proper military uniforms, they were simply bandits in the Nationalist Party's propaganda! Even if revolutionary slogans were painted everywhere, it only made the old masters in the county town think that it was just a show of force by bandits.

  So they cherished the military uniforms that were hard to come by! In the guerrilla troops where only the captain and the political commissar had the precious eight-cornered red army hat, those soldiers who wore sheepskin coats, even satin and silk, envied all the Red Army uniforms very much! The red five-pointed star, the old gray Red Army uniform, were all their treasured possessions!

  A team of soldiers put on brand new military uniforms, extremely happy and together with the warriors of Red Twenty-Fifth Army, celebrating the victorious assembly of their own troops!

  At one time, the rapidly expanding base area was led by Red Army soldiers everywhere, and the excited peasants began to divide the land. This is the first time in hundreds of years that local farmers have taken back their most beloved land from the hands of landlords! This excitement cannot be described even with the most beautiful words! In order to defend the hard-won victory, many parents sent their sons, wives sent their husbands, and joined the Red Army ranks!

  In the Lounan Coal Mine, thousands of poor and landless workers also joined under the strong political mobilization of the Red Army. As a result, the original 1,700-1,800-strong force expanded dramatically to over 3,400 in just one month! This was only the main force, not including local "anti-donation armies" (five anti's: anti-donation, anti-tax, anti-grain, anti-labor, and anti-debt) as slogans for struggle. The various forms of militia armed forces, tax police teams, and small-scale regular troops of the Nationalist Party in the locality were instantly emptied!

  With seven counties as the main body, having a population of 500,000, the Su District's brief history quickly attracted the attention of the Kuomintang. If we say that the previous small skirmishes had not yet caught the attention of the Kuomintang Provincial Department in Shaanxi Province, then now such a large momentum has given Old Chiang sufficient reason to demand that Yang Hucheng lead his Northwestern Army to strangle this still nascent Red Su District in its cradle!

  Nine guerrilla divisions and three guerrilla brigades, as well as the combat regiments directly under the command of the guerrilla headquarters, were established as the main force and local troops, rapidly expanding the influence of the Red Twenty-Fifth Army! The young leaders, facing the masses' enthusiastic support for our army, the large-scale elimination of enemy forces (mainly local troops and militia), and their own rapid expansion (many new recruits), suddenly became dizzy. In order to take the initiative in propaganda, the Red Twenty-Fifth Army even began to publicize that it would follow the road of the Fourth Red Army entering Sichuan and merge with the Fourth Red Army in Sichuan!

  The severe situation led the KMT local governments to exaggerate their difficulties, and reports of tens of thousands of "red bandits" were submitted to Chiang Kai-shek's desk! If the leaders of the Red 25th Army knew that the Sichuan warlords of the KMT were gathering heavy troops to encircle and annihilate the Fourth Red Army, while they themselves were exaggerating their strength, adding a heavy weight to Old Chiang's mind, one wonders what they would think.

  Anyway, Yang Hucheng was quickly promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Northwest Bandit Suppression, and Xi'an also quickly established the Shaanxi Pacification Office. Yang Hucheng, who was having a headache over Liu Zhidan's troops in the Shaan-Gan-Ning region, had no choice but to quickly gather the 400,000-strong Northwestern Army in the Shangluo area, preparing to surround and annihilate the newly established Eyu-Shaan base! For the Northwestern Army, if the mountainous and impoverished Shaan-Gan-Ning was a chicken rib that was tasteless to eat and a pity to discard, then the Eyu-Shaan base was a sharp sword constantly threatening the rich Guanzhong Plain!

  But Yang Hu-cheng also deeply knew that this was very likely to be Chiang Kai-shek's killing with a borrowed knife. As for the tactic of killing one thousand enemies at the cost of losing eight hundred, Yang Hu-cheng was unwilling to do it. However, now the 25th Red Army's propaganda and Chiang Kaishek's strict orders forced the Northwestern Army to take action!

  But all this was just the beginning of a nightmare for the Northwestern Army, whether it was the ace army in Shaanxi, the First Garrison Brigade, or the Second and Third Brigades, or even the 42nd Division. Within just three months, Yang Hucheng paid the price for his recklessness! The loss of tens of thousands of men, Chiang Kai-shek's words that the troops were not worth fighting and should be disbanded, made him deeply feel the bitterness of defeat, a kind of indescribable bitterness, and heartache.

  His own country was being invaded by the enemy, and he had to fight a civil war, and after defeat, he was even betrayed by the highest leader of the state! This kind of absurdity made Yang Huicheng feel deeply helpless and heartbroken in the cold spring of 1935, and a sense of confusion about the country's future. "The rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of every individual!" But what can I do now? Continue to fight against the Red Army? Yang Huicheng had thought painfully on his office balcony countless times.

  And the news of the Central Red Army's march north was also transmitted through newspapers at this time, and it reached the hands of the 25th Red Army, which had just won a decisive victory over the Shaanxi army and police in Bayi Goukou, and was threatening Xi'an after breaking out of Zhongnan Mountain. After an emergency meeting of the Provincial Committee, Gao Quan was demoted to commander of the combat battalion of the Guerrilla Command, while the main force of the 25th Red Army was about to march north to meet the Central Red Army!

  Do you know how long it takes to open a webpage? Four minutes! Great China Mobile, great wireless network card! You've created a miracle!