Chapter 22: The Hero's Dusk

  Liu Yuan thought that sometimes he really felt helpless, since Chiang Kai-shek had withdrawn the three divisions from the main force, other troops should have been sent to fill in, but it didn't turn out that way. These people were still stuck in Changsha, while the Battle of Hengshan Bridge had already begun.

  As the three divisions had no battles, Cao Yun was transferred away. His new combat unit was the Independent Regiment, and he became a regimental commander under Ye Ting's command. This was a drop from heaven to earth. However, Cao Yun wanted to lead troops personally. Liu Yuan repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay, but failed to retain this stubborn man. When leaving, Liu Yuan repeatedly emphasized that he must be careful, but he never thought that this separation would be forever.

  Last time at Dingxi Bridge, Wu Peifu suffered a great blow. As the first Chinese person to appear on the cover of Time magazine, he had never experienced such a setback in his life.

  So, disregarding others' advice, he personally came to Hengshan Bridge to deploy troops and arrange battle formations. He gathered his trusted 13 mixed brigades, the remaining troops of Chen Jiajun, Liu Yuquan's 8th Division, and some other units, totaling 100,000 men, to engage in a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army.

  Wu Peifu was a native Chinese general, who understood yin and yang, knew the eight trigrams, and was well-versed in the strange gates and hidden jiazi. He even used the six Ding and six Jia numbers in this battle. In Taolinpu, Yindoushan, and Heshengqiao, he established three defensive lines, using heavy troops to hold down the defenses, facing off against the Northern Expeditionary Army.

  Although General Wu had a lifetime of military campaigns, there were times when he made mistakes. According to the elderly, this time General Wu's deployment was a major taboo in the art of war, and it should have resulted in heavy casualties and loss of generals.

  Actually, Da Shuai also knew, but now that things have come to this point, Da Shuai has no way out either. Moreover, Da Shuai is concerned about saving face and cannot bring himself to ask Sun Chuanfang for help, so he grits his teeth and prepares to fight a decisive battle with the revolutionary army.

  He believes in heaven but not fate, he firmly believes that he has survived all these years and the final victory will definitely belong to him.

  At this time, the independent group that had been suppressed for a long time finally stepped onto the historical stage and burst forth with unprecedented brilliance on the historical stage of the Republic.

  The three divisions were not present, and the most powerful troops belonged to the Independent Regiment. Therefore, the main attack task fell on the Independent Regiment. On August 29th, the first stop was Xianning, a great victory.

  On the thirtieth day, the general offensive against Heisei Bridge began.

  Ye Ting personally commanded the battle on the front line, adopting a central breakthrough tactic, and launched a strong attack directly on He Sheng Bridge.

  At this time, a thick fog began to rise and grew thicker. Even friend and foe could not be distinguished, and under such circumstances, the second battalion commander Xu Jishen was brave and fierce.

  This guy is also a member of the Tiger General in Huangpu, along the railway to the right side of the insertion, hoping that the troops can gather together, and at the same time can also strike the enemy.

  They charged all the way to Huangjiakou, and Xu Jishen was depressed to find that he had rushed too fast and had actually entered the enemy's hinterland. He took out the map and looked at it, his eyes lit up, and found that this place was very close to Yindoushan. As long as he could take down Yindoushan, this battle would be won.

  Originally, the top of Yindou Mountain was not only equipped with artillery positions, but Wu Peifu's forward command post was also located here. At the same time, the west side of Yindou Mountain is a cliff, and the enemy did not even have an escape route. As long as Yindou Mountain is captured, it would be a huge blow to Wu Peifu.

  However, Xu Jishen's good thoughts were not given the opportunity by the enemy. Wu Peifu had a tiger general named Liu Yuchun under his command, who had never been defeated before. Today, he actually had a lone army rushing horizontally and vertically in his own formation, as if entering a territory without people. For a time, anger filled his crown, and immediately led the Eighth Division to surround Xu Jishen tightly.

  Machine guns fired at Xu Jishen's position like they were free, a bullet pierced through Xu Jishen's ribs, and he fell to the ground immediately.

  "Company commander, company commander." Several soldiers tightly surrounded Xu Jishen, hastily bandaging him and putting him on a stretcher. Xu Jishen directed the battle from the stretcher.

  "Commander, let's retreat. The entire 8th Division has surrounded us here. If we don't break out, we'll be done for." One of Xu Jishen's anxious subordinates said to him.

  Xu Jishen, despite being seriously injured, was still lucid and lay on the stretcher, panting heavily as he said, "Retreat, retreat and we'll all be done for. The soldiers are mutinying, our only chance of turning things around is to take down Yindoushan."

  "But Captain, in your current state, how can you lead the battle?" The soldier asked anxiously.

  "Kid, you're underestimating our independent regiment too much. Just wait and see, I don't believe Cao Yun can't understand the situation. He's the chief of staff from the Third Division, what kind of place is that? I'll tell you, with this level of ability, he can at most be a deputy regiment commander. It won't take half an hour, Cao Yun will definitely support us."

  Xu Jishen's men were a bit fierce, but what they thought was not wrong at all. Ye Ting was commanding the battle from the rear and saw Xu Jishen moving frantically towards Yindou Mountain, so he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

  "Xu Jishen is indeed a capable guy. We're completely letting him take the lead in commanding this battle. Who among you is willing to go and support him?"

  "My subordinates are willing to go." The speaker was Zhou Shidi, also a Huangpu graduate. He had participated for such a long time and hadn't made any impression. Ye Ting asked somewhat doubtfully, "Are you up to it?"

  "Although I, Zhou Shidi, may not be a great talent, I am not one to boast idly. If I fail to take down Yindoushan, I am willing to accept military punishment." Zhou Shidi said firmly.

  "Good, you see, Cao Yuan is also moving towards Yindou Mountain. He must have seen through Xu Jishen's strategic intentions as well. Your goal is to unite with them and take down Yindou Mountain." Ye Ting nodded and said.

  "I'm leaving now." Zhou Shidi led his men and was about to depart.

  "Come back, you met Cao Yuan and Xu Jishen told them that if they couldn't take down Yindoushan, they would hand over their party certificates."

  Cao Yuan spent a long time in the three armies, he fully understood the importance of firepower, all the machine guns in the whole camp were concentrated by him, and they rushed out from the defense of the Eighth Army, beating Liu Yuquan to abandon his troops and flee in disarray.

  At this time, Zhou Shidi finally arrived, and the three battalion commanders led all members of the independent regiment to launch a strong attack on Yindoushan.

  Chen Jiaxuan was also on Yindou Mountain. He vaguely remembered the defeat at Tingxi Bridge last time, but he didn't expect that the enemy would try to defeat him again so soon. With so many people defending, why could they still break through the defense line? How did they manage to climb up Yindou Mountain?

  His subordinates advised Chen Jiaxiang to retreat, but Chen Jiaxiang cried bitterly on the ground and was eventually dragged away by soldiers.

  Liu Yuchun was beaten by three thousand people until he was in a sorry state, his whole body covered in blood. When he saw Wu Peifu, he knelt on the ground and wept bitterly, "General, please spare them, if you want to kill someone, kill me instead. My men can't hold out any longer, don't kill them."

  Wu Peifu was enraged when he saw the soldiers retreat, personally took a big knife and beheaded more than a dozen people, hanging their heads on the telegraph line. However, with the defeat like a mountain collapse, even if he were Sun Wu, he could not save the situation. At He Sheng Bridge, Wu Peifu lost.

  At this moment, the independent regiment rushed up to Yindou Mountain, cutting off Wu Peifu's military flag, and the real general attack began. There was no tactic, no coordination, just endless charges. Soon, all of Wu Peifu's positions were occupied.

  As Wu Peifu himself said, in the past, one stop at Tingxian Bridge determined the fate of two lakes, today one stop at Tingxian Bridge determines the fate of the whole world, from now on, the world has nothing to do with Wu Peifu again.

  Wu Peifu suddenly felt that he had really grown old, and he felt that the Nationalist Party might actually be able to conquer the world because they had in their hands China's most outstanding young people.