Chapter 27: House Arrest

  Lying in the warm bed on a winter day, eating decent food, I'm contentedly enjoying this rare leisure time; the only regret is that Yún Yàn is not by my side. As for participating in the idle chatter of the big shots? Sorry, I'm sick, really caught a cold, the consequence of sleeping on the stone of Mount Li in December, haha! "Life is short, and leisure days are hard to come by!"

  "Good brother, good elegance!" Jiang Baili led Chen Cheng in through the door.

  "Hello gentlemen! I'm ill..."

  "Alright, Zian, stop pretending! It's just a minor cold. There are many doctors here who understand medicine. Your little tricks won't work!"

  Isn't this too straightforward? It's so awkward.

  Jiang Baili, however, was nonchalant. "Zi'an, Zixiu has a high opinion of your 'Field Fortification Construction Method'. The several divisions he commanded have been practicing it repeatedly and are now called the 'Earthwood' army, haha!"

  Is that how the term "Tumu" originated? I questioned: "General Chen, didn't I hear it's a combination of eleven and eighteen to be called 'Tumu'?"

  Chen Cheng's troops were originally from the 11th Division and the 18th Corps, with the 11th being a combination of earth and the 18th being a combination of wood. However, this unit was also skilled in construction work, so Chen Cheng's Central Army was called the "Construction Group".

  "That's just a rumor," Chen Cheng said with a smile, "I have always admired your brother's skills and tactics. I've been busy until now, but since I finally have some free time, I came to ask for your advice!"

  "General Chen has long been experienced in battlefields, while I am just a reclusive strategist and dare not offer any advice."

  Jiang Baili interjected, "No need for mutual flattery! We've discussed many places that are not suitable for building field fortifications, such as the southern lands with shallow groundwater or even paddy fields, and the northern rocky mountains. What's your solution, younger brother?"

  "These landforms are indeed not suitable for building earthwork field fortifications. If you insist on building, you can only move the soil to form a hill, consuming a large amount of manpower and time to pile up and build; or adopt blasting operations, but large-scale construction is limited and impossible in reality. At the beginning of this year, I have already asked Yu Shu Zhang to be responsible for organizing the production of several types of landmines, as well as ** packages, which can serve as auxiliary measures. As for the main defensive battle, it can only be chosen in suitable terrain."

  "Yes, that's what people say; but if we really want to fight a defensive war in the water towns of Jiangnan or the rocky mountains of North China, I'm afraid we'll have to think of other ways. Landmines are just auxiliary means, and blasting is just a decoration."

  "Yes, constructing a stronghold by moving earth and building mounds requires a lot of time and manpower, opportunities for deployment will be limited."

  "Elsewhere it's easy to say, but from Shanghai to Wuxi, this line has been cultivated for thousands of years and almost no useful mountains or hills exist; yet this area is a must-defend place for our army and cannot be easily abandoned."

  Listening to Jiang Baili, I suddenly thought of the Xicheng Line. "Since the 'Xicheng Line' has been changed into a pre-set defense line combining reinforced concrete forts and field earthworks, can our army imitate it? In these places, prepare in advance, before the war, 'move earth to build hills' to construct field fortifications?"

  Chen Cheng thought for a moment and said: "This is of course possible, but field fortifications cannot be preserved for a long time, wind and rain..."

  "How is the Xicheng Line arranged?"

  "Right! The Xicheng line is because the engineering troops are building reinforced concrete forts, so the field fortifications between the strongholds are also frequently maintained. If it's not for a long time, I think we can have the field troops choose favorable terrain in the above-mentioned places to build field fortifications first, and after completion, leave behind a small number of teams for daily maintenance, and during wartime, just make some adjustments before using them; but when exactly should we start building?" Chen Cheng said with a smile, looking at us.

  Jiang Baili smiled and said, "Hehe, next summer or autumn, it's a secret!"

  Chen Cheng also smiled, "Zi An younger brother, I have read the materials you organized for equipment and tactics against the Japanese army, and I also learned some from Mr. Bai Li and Wen Bai. Younger brother, your explanations on field battles, defensive positions, urban attacks, and raids are all very brilliant! Don't be modest, you're doing great!" Chen Cheng smiled and stopped my courtesy, continuing to say: "I just want to ask for your advice on field battle offense!"

  Facing such a direct question, I smiled wryly and said: "General, you overestimate me! In the face of such an overwhelming disparity in strength, under normal circumstances, I would not agree to our army launching a large-scale attack; raids and small-scale attacks will be the main form of attack in future wars. Large-scale warfare, except for individual special cases, should basically be positional defensive battles. Only through layered defense aimed at consuming the enemy's forces, and raid-style attacks serving the defense, can we drag the war into a stalemate phase; waiting for an international situation to change in my favor.

  "Excellent argument, brother! But I don't know how you specifically define 'blitzkrieg'?"

  "Raids, in the current state of our army, should mainly include nighttime raids and daytime ambushes, primarily carried out by infantry and cavalry; there are also artillery raids, generally conducted at dusk. The participating troops are small but elite, prioritizing quality over quantity; except for a few main force units, all other units should establish a special assault team within the unit, mainly using twenty rounds, submachine guns, hand grenades, and hand-held explosives; the rest of the troops mainly undertake defensive tasks and supplement the former. As mentioned earlier, in the southern water network area, raids often rely on rivers and lakes to conduct, retreating or even attacking by waterway. In the northern rocky area, you can use a pre-set ambush method to ambush the enemy, or use explosive means to cover your own retreat; in addition, landmines are also a good way to raid enemy troops and cover retreats."

  "Will it ambush during the day?"

  "Daytime ambushes mainly target enemy troops in marching formation, especially enemy logistics and supply convoys, at close range implementing 'roadside ambushes' using landmines, ***, light machine guns, small cannons, plus snipers."

  "As you said, brother, how should the officers and soldiers be arranged?"

  As expected, Chen Cheng's leadership ability is still top-notch! I said: "We can only adopt a rotation system, first select elite officers and soldiers to take action, and then lead the old with the new. In an ideal state, we can finally reach the point where most of our officers and men have both command and combat capabilities; at that time, we can launch a comprehensive counterattack!"

  Jiang Baili sighed: "As you said, brother, the officers can command, the soldiers can fight; facing strong enemies, they ambush during the day and attack at night, defend during the day without chaos, retreat without panic; this is a powerful army!"

  Chen Cheng sighed, "In an ideal state of the army, we just think about it and at most consider how to train to approach these goals; Zǐ ān xiān dì (Younger brother) is thinking about how to achieve these goals through tactics and strategy, truly awe-inspiring!"

  "Gentlemen, this young man is just thinking behind closed doors; it still needs your efforts to make it happen!"

  "Come on! Let's do it!" said Wei Lihuang, who stepped forward, followed by Shao Lizi.

  "General Wei!"

  "We are imprisoned here, yet you all still have such grand ambitions, truly worthy of being pillars of the nation!"

  "Mr. Zhonghui!" (Shao Lizi, courtesy name Zhonghui. One of the two old men of both KMT and CPC; currently serving as Chairman of Shaanxi Province.)

  "To be honest, the atmosphere in the lower hall is gloomy! I had to come up here to avoid it. Does anyone have any thoughts on the current situation? I've come specifically to ask for your guidance?"

  "Does Chairman Shao advocate for negotiations? Wasn't he invited away by Vice Commander Zhang? How come..."

  "Now the enemy party members have arrived in the city, several parties are negotiating prices, I can't bear to watch, so I'm back to guard the prison. Oh! Little brother's big brother from Nanjing has come and is persuading the chairman to agree to the terms!"

  "Now that several parties have entered the bargaining stage, Ziwu has also arrived, and a peaceful resolution is already a foregone conclusion!"

  Chen Cheng suddenly asked: "Who benefits?"

  "Enemy! Or should I start calling you 'friend' in a few days!"

  "At least the civil war can end and we can jointly resist foreign enemies."

  "Just because of 'friendship'? I'm afraid it's Liu Bei at the time of the Battle of Red Cliffs!"

  "I wish there would be an 'East Wind'!"

  "Gentlemen, trust me, 'Dongfeng' will be there!"

  "Hahaha!"

  I'm still lying in bed, but I'm properly dressed; continuing to eat the decent food, won't it be over in a dozen or so days? Ah, I miss Yunyan! Little Liu (Zhang Xueliang's nickname) you scoundrel! You're going to be under house arrest at Song Gongguan next, humph! I'll get my revenge!

  But such days should be coming to an end; here comes Third Sister. As soon as she entered the door, she rushed over and hugged me tightly, her eyes brimming with tears, "Little brother! Fortunately, you're fine, otherwise how could I live?"

  "Third sister, I'm not doing anything wrong, be careful that your husband gets jealous! Haha!"

  "You're still smiling! Do you know that more than half of the people on the Lin Tong side were killed or injured, and even Jiang Xiaoxian is dead! Qian Dajun was also injured!"

  "Anyway, San Jie, you're here, which means it's all over. Of course, I'm smiling. All I know is that Mu Yin was injured, but not seriously; how did Xiao Shou die? He shouldn't be at the Huaqing Pool, right?"

  "Alas, Xiao Sheng was ambushed by mutinous soldiers on his way back to Xi'an and was shot dead multiple times; Shao Yuanzhong also died from severe injuries." said the third sister dejectedly.

  "Has this time's Xiao Liu made a big deal out of it? Is the matter resolved?"

  "Of course, once some details are finalized, I can return to Nanjing; these days, oh, I'm worried and frightened, don't know how I've managed to get by!"

  "Isn't it just people like Jing who want to take his place? A group of people all wanting to seize the chairman's throne, how can they possibly succeed?"

  "Haha!! Little brother has really grown up! Sister is being unreasonable! Come on, pack your bags and move in with us!"

  "No need, Han Ying's place is already crowded." I said casually.

  Soong Mei-ling sighed lightly, "Many people have said that Zian has a way with words, now I believe it too."

  Looks like speaking too much will lead to trouble! I quickly made a joke: "Brother-in-law thinks I'm a fortune-telling master! Sister, do you have anything that needs me to calculate for you? Hahaha!"

  The third sister left happily, and I should also get out of my nest and move around. First, I went to see Jiang Baili and handed over the information that San Jie had told me. Then, one by one, I went to visit the big shots: Chen Cheng, the future commander of the Sixth War Zone; Zhu Shaoliang, the future commander of the Eighth War Zone; Wei Lihuang, the future commander of the First War Zone. It's convenient to get close to them now! Unfortunately, I just found out that Jiang Dingwen, who was supposed to be the commander of both the Tenth and First War Zones, had already been released. This guy, he actually escaped faster than me?

  Although the house arrest has been lifted, I know that Xi'an is still in a mess, so it's better to hide in Xijing and wait for our return to Nanjing; finally, on the third day after Old Chiang flew back to Nanjing, we also left Xi'an.