Chapter 26: Breaking Out of the Encirclement

  "General? How did you get here?" Xue Yue's face was covered with the scars of gunpowder and smoke, holding an old-fashioned Soviet-made rifle in his hand, looking at Liu Yuan with a disbelieving expression.

  Outside of the First Division, many people called Liu Yuan "General", because his position was Deputy Commander of the First Army, and he had also trained them before. So in the eyes of many soldiers in the First Division, Liu Yuan's status was second only to He Yingqin. Xue Yue had always admired few people in his life, and Liu Yuan was one of them, so he respected him very much.

  The Third Division itself never considered the First Army to be a big deal, and most people had an idea that the Third Division would eventually become independent from the First Army and form its own army. Therefore, soldiers of the Third Division generally got used to calling Liu Yuan "Division Commander" rather than "Army Commander".

  Liu Yuan waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want to hear any more useless talk, and instead asked, "Where are your superiors? What's going on?"

  Liu Yuan asked this, Xue Yue's face turned red to the roots of his ears, and his expression was very rich. He said helplessly, "Shizhang, when we went to Qingyin Xiaoban to perform music, I had a relapse of my illness, and I was carried there, unable to command the battle, and was carried away by the guards."

  After hearing Xue Yue's words, Liu Yuan couldn't help but sigh, he had known that Wang Boling was such an unambitious guy, and he should have caught him last time at the brothel, what a waste.

  "What about Cheng Qian? How could he have run away too?" Liu Yuan didn't quite believe the soldier's words, thinking that Cheng Qian was probably still somewhere.

  "General Cheng, the 19th Division was annihilated by the enemy, suffering heavy losses. I'm disheartened and demoralized. Disguised in peasant clothes, I managed to slip out of the city. Originally, I had planned to lead the remaining brothers of the division to hold their ground, but that scoundrel Sun Yuanliang actually fled the battlefield." Xue Yue cursed loudly, not knowing whether he was cursing Sun's shamelessness or his own betrayal.

  "Grass, Liao Bin? Won't he also flee in panic? He is a party representative." Du Yuming stood up, sizing up Xue Yue. This was a real man, still holding firm in this situation. This was the spirit of Huangpu military personnel.

  Xue Yue nodded, "Also deserted at the critical moment."

  Liu Yuan thought for a moment and said, "They deserted at the critical moment, and we don't have much to do with them. Since they will be punished by military law, what we are thinking now is how to withdraw from Nanchang City, after all, we are currently surrounded by the enemy."

  "Unless we head south, where defenses are weaker." Du Yuming proposed.

  Liu Yuan immediately refused, "The south is a residential area. Letting the flames of war reach the heads of the common people would be unwise. However, I have a plan. Everyone look, just now I had my scouts investigate, and the enemy's command center is located in the Dong District's Chenghuang Temple. We'll follow Shunmin Avenue all the way, then break through the enemy's defenses, and rush straight to their command center. Give them a good beating, making the enemy hasten back to provide support. Then we'll return to the West District and withdraw from there."

  "It's good, but it's already the third watch of the night. If we wait until dawn, we'll be buried in Nanchang City." Xue Yue nodded in agreement with Liu Yuan's battle plan.

  "Believe me, we can do it. Now that the enemy knows our position, it's impossible to muddy the waters anymore. Let's concentrate our forces and launch a direct attack on their command center. If we take down their command center, they'll definitely lose." Liu Yuan's confident mood infected everyone present.

  "Damn it, our three regiments have never climbed over anyone!" Guan Linzheng waved the gun in his hand and began to assemble the troops.

  Wang Yuanyi is now very confident, as he has assembled more than 40,000 people to complete the encirclement of the enemy in the western district. No matter who they are, they must die in front of him at that time.

  At this moment, the gunfire in the western district suddenly stopped. Wang Yuan-yi frowned and said to his aide, "Tell the soldiers on the front line that the enemy is trying to break through, let them be vigilant, when dawn breaks, those opposite will have to die." Wang Yuan-yi gritted his teeth, hating this suddenly appearing troop to the bone.

  In an instant, the sound of gunfire rang out again, and the sound was getting closer and closer. At this time, a bloody officer rushed in, "Commander-in-chief, hurry up and retreat, the enemy is too fierce, we can't hold on."

  "Fart, my 40,000 troops have them surrounded in Nanchang, even if they fly they can't get out, how can they not hold on?" Wang Yuanyi went up and gave that officer a kick, too damn unlucky.

  "Commander, it's not like that, they're the ones who are surrounded by us, but they're charging towards our command center, looks like they want to go down with us in a fight to the death! Our brothers have already sacrificed over 2,000 men, the enemy is too fierce, we can't hold on!" The officer said, panting and covering his injured brother.

  At this time, Wang Yuanyi suddenly remembered the fear, "What, they are rushing towards the command center, aren't there more than 3,000 people in front of our command center? Can't we hold them back?" Wang Yuanyi simply didn't dare to believe his ears.

  "Commander, we have 3,000 men and they also have 3,000 men. Their combat effectiveness is not comparable to ours at all. As soon as the battle started, several flares flew up in the sky, followed by a round of mortar fire. Colonel Liu was killed by cannon fire before he could even speak." The officer said with difficulty.

  "What, you say Old Liu is dead? Thinking of this, Wang Yuan-yi was trembling with fear. Although he was the commander-in-chief, with high status and power, but the more such people are, the more they fear death. He knew that as long as the enemy broke through the defense line and rushed to his location, his chances of dying would be very high. Hurry up and transfer soldiers from other districts to reinforce us. Quick! Quick!" Wang Yuan-yi loudly scolded his staff officer.

  "Commander, could this be an enemy's diversionary tactic? If so, won't we let them escape?" the staff officer expressed his own opinion.

  Seeing someone refuting himself, Wang Yuanyi didn't get annoyed, but instead said, "You think I don't know, but this move of theirs is called 'breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat'. If we don't reinforce them, it's very likely that they'll be wiped out by them, and at that time, the entire army may collapse. Hurry up and let them reinforce! Even if they temporarily retreat, it doesn't matter. I'll immediately telegram the commander to reinforce, I just don't believe they can fly out of our trap."

  On the battlefield.

  Liu Yuan took out the machine gunner on the opposite side with one shot, and looked at Guan Linzheng with disdain. "You're just good for close combat, look at me, I'm a hundred shots, a hundred hits."

  Guan Lin didn't get angry, "I'm not a general, I'm not a sniper, my requirements aren't that high. However, boss, I found out the enemy's firepower is getting stronger and stronger, it seems like we can't win anymore. Now I really want to kill Wang Yuanyi."

  "What's the rush? There will be plenty of opportunities later. Everyone follow me and retreat according to plan, leave them a little souvenir before we go, make all the grenades into cluster bombs."

  The remnants of the three armies and one army retreated, leaving behind an empty battlefield, as if they had never appeared before. Wang Yuan-yi's eyes showed a hint of fatigue and fear, and he said to his adjutant, "The commander on the other side is very decisive, it seems that this battle will not be easy to fight. Order the soldiers to continue pursuing, but be careful, beware of enemy ambushes."

  The words had just been spoken when a burst of flames erupted on the position of the Third Regiment, and an entire squad of soldiers suddenly went to heaven.