Chapter 19: A Busy Day 3

  Chen Haisong gradually fixed his gaze on Dong Shiliu, as the front line moved south, Ma Yuanhai had already transferred the frontline command post to a small temple outside Dong Shiliu Village.

  Because it is located in the rear, there are only more than 1,300 Hainan cavalrymen of his own second brigade stationed in the village.

  This location is only over ten miles away from the Zhangye county seat, making it convenient for a surprise attack. Once successful, he could use his radio to mobilize enemy troops and carry out large-scale "decapitation operations", gradually achieving the goal of ceasefire.

  It's settled then!

  With a clear mind and combat goal, Chen Haisong's expression relaxed.

  Zhang Zhenyu sat opposite him, looking at him who had already recovered from his contemplation and said: "It seems that the political commissar has already made up his mind."

  "We have a general direction, but the specific plan still needs to be formulated by you all. No rush for now, let's talk about the situation of the troops."

  Zhang Zhenyu said without worry: "At present, the troops' personnel and weapons are already equipped, the formation sequence is stable, but generally tired, physically poor."

  A large number of battalion regimental cadres were formerly company platoon cadres, and their ability to organize troops and command battles is still lacking.

  A large number of new personnel have been added, and they are unfamiliar with each other, between classes, between companies, and between regiments, and need a period of integration.

  Many of the fighters were formerly logistics or support personnel, and their combat skills were relatively weak. There were many who had never fired a gun before. The tactical thinking of the combat troops was not clear, and many people thought that fighting just meant opening fire, charging forward, without understanding the importance of concentrated firepower, mutual cover, and coordination between infantry and artillery.

  Therefore, it is impossible to form a stronger combat effectiveness in a short period of time."

  "How is the equipment of the troops?"

  "This raid captured a complete set of equipment for 600 regiments, including one mortar company, one light machine gun company, one guard company and three infantry battalions with nine companies. This enabled our first and second regiments to be fully armed and equipped with both light and heavy weapons."

  The troops of the divisional communication battalion, logistics regiment, women's battalion and some units have not been fully equipped with rifles and are still using cold weapons. The Muslim detachment has not been issued any weapons.

  Chen Haisong listened to the report on the situation of the troops and was also worried. "I learned about some similar situations in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment this morning. This is not a small problem, it concerns the fate of our troops, and must be solved. Do you have any plans?"

  Zhang Zhenyu said: "At present, it is not suitable to adopt an enemy attack strategy, and we should focus on doing a good job in troop training. We plan for all troops except those on duty to start normal training from tomorrow, including running, formation, gun handling, bayonet fighting, shooting, single soldier attacking, etc. In the evening, organize battalion-level commanders and above to study battlefield command and daily management."

  Chen Haisong nodded and said, "The training content is reasonable and necessary. Let's arrange it this way for now. What I'm worried about is that the enemy won't give us ample time to focus on our training. Do you have any judgments or countermeasures regarding the enemy's dynamics?"

  Liu Gang said: "We detained the soldiers transporting supplies, and tomorrow the enemy troops will raise questions. At the latest, the day after tomorrow, someone will come to inquire or reflect on Ma Yuanhai, and the fact that we occupied Zhangye will be exposed, and it is possible to face the enemy's siege attack."

  Although we can rely on city defense fortifications when ammunition is sufficient or let the enemy in and eliminate them one by one, with our current combat level and combat skills, after eliminating 20,000 to 30,000 enemies, we will be exhausted.

  If there is a radio station, if the main grain and ammunition are ready, contact with the main force, two-sided attack can be made, but it will still be a chaotic battle, unable to achieve a decisive victory, still exhausting, finally everyone together defend Zhangye City, continue to be surrounded.

  So we are considering attacking the enemy's command headquarters. However, each brigade of the Ma family army is directly under the command of Ma Bufang, and Ma Yuanhai's former forward commander-in-chief only coordinates in the middle, and he can command only the Hainan Cavalry First Brigade, Cavalry Second Brigade, Liu Chengde's 596th Regiment, and the Xining South River Thirteen Camp Militia, etc.

  "Eliminating Ma Yuanhai has little impact on the overall situation, we are studying other valuable targets for attack."

  Chen Haisong nodded in relief: "Your analysis took into account various factors, made many inferences, and considered the problem from the perspective of minimizing losses and delivering a fatal blow. This is good."

  However, comrades, the situation on the battlefield is constantly changing. When the situation is unfavorable to us, we must take the initiative to attack, create opportunities to force the enemy to change, and make the situation develop in a direction favorable to us. This is our usual magic weapon for winning during the period of base areas - annihilating the enemy in motion, leading the enemy by the nose, dispersing the enemy's forces with superior strength, and striking at the enemy's weak points.

  There is no ready-made opportunity waiting for us at any time, and we can only create it by ourselves.

  Our occupation of Zhangye is the embodiment of this idea, and in the subsequent battles, we will continue to carry out this effective strategy and tactics. Thoroughly mobilize the enemy, let them automatically send themselves to our door in batches.

  Seeing everyone's confusion, Chen Haisong continued: "Ma Yuanhai is our key point in mobilizing the enemy.

  Firstly, although his direct troops were not many, he was after all the frontline commander-in-chief and the coordinator of battles, and through him the enemy's troops could be mobilized.

  Secondly, he has a radio station. With the radio station, I can use it to issue orders for troop deployments and military meetings in the name of Ma Yuanhai, as well as commands for troops to change shifts and switch positions.

  Thirdly, in the final stage, he ordered his troops to accept a ceasefire with better results."

  "So, we must capture Ma Yuanhai alive, seize the enemy's radio station and codebook. Create a false impression that the enemy's frontline command post has entered Zhangye."

  Further mobilize the enemy, and lead the main officials of each brigade into the city to capture them, leaving the enemy without a leader.

  Further withdraw the enemy's technical troops to Zhangye for reorganization, weakening the enemy's technical advantage on the front line. You can formulate a plan based on this combat idea, striking Ma Yuanhai does not require mobilizing large forces, at most one battalion, continuing to disguise and launch surprise attacks during the day.

  Chen Haisong left the group of officers from the General Staff Department who had just reacted from the shock, walked to the logistics department and sat down at a few people's table, asking Zhu Liangcheng: "How is the material inventory going?"

  "Commissar, we've won a great victory! Chiang Kai-shek really spared no expense in surrounding and annihilating the Red Army. He deployed an entire regular division's worth of equipment, although it was all old gear, but still much stronger than what we used to have, and it's all fully equipped."

  There were 82 mortars in an artillery battalion, 24 pieces of light machine guns, 224 heavy machine guns, 72 rifles, 4,000 shotguns, 500 shotguns, 300 pistols, and ammunition was issued according to a base number of 5.

  "We've struck it rich."

  "With just this little thing, you're so happy. In the base period, Chiang Kai-shek was already our transportation chief. This time it's still considered timely delivery. First, give him credit for one achievement, and next time strive to do better."

  "Haha, Commissar, you're really good at joking. But seriously, we should thank him properly, not just for the weapons, but also for a division's worth of standard equipment for 10,000 people, including cotton clothes, shoes, hats, quilts, water bottles and so on, it's really enviable."

  "Alright, keep everything safe, we'll distribute them when everyone is together."

  "We also captured 200,000 yuan allocated by the Military Affairs Department and 80,000 yuan raised by Ma's army, all in cash. We suddenly became rich."

  "Also, unify and collect well, don't move lightly, when the time comes, all will be handed over to the central. Hmm, is it an ambush?"

  Zhu Liangcheng smiled sincerely: "Our school has just been established, and our family is thin. I left the tens of thousands of dollars and dozens of gold bars that I received from the county government, county party committee, and Nian Guangyuan as bribes. They are all accounted for by Peng Zhenrui."

  "Alright, I'll let it pass this time. How much food is there?"

  "Lanzhou and Xining have sent two batches, with 5 million jin of wheat, 3 million jin of millet, 5 million jin of corn, soybeans and black beans. There are also 3 million jin of wheat and beans in the Zhangye warehouse."

  "It's just enough to sustain for a while, so be frugal and prepare for a long-term battle. You, the great leader, must take good care of it, otherwise, everyone will starve and eat you up."

  "Send down the weapons as soon as possible, re-equip and fill up according to the organizational number, first send a base number of ammunition, and let the soldiers familiarize themselves with the structure and usage of the weapons in the afternoon."

  With a pleasant mood, stepping to the faintly audible melody of "The March of the PLA" from the female soldiers' barracks, Chen Haisong walked out of the division headquarters and arrived at the Army Hospital with the guard platoon.

  The army hospital was ordered by Zhu Shao-liang, director of the Gansu Pacification Office, to move from Lanzhou to Zhangye half a month ago. There are more than 20 doctors and 40 or so female nurses, with complete medical equipment, capable of performing ordinary surgical operations.

  Upon arriving at the hospital entrance, a squad leader in charge of guarding immediately ran to the horse's front and saluted to report. Chen Haisong dismounted and asked about the operation of the hospital, requiring them to take good care of safety and security work, not to interfere with the actions of doctors and nurses, and to provide help for them as much as possible.

  Then he walked into the ward, one by one to check, he was wearing a militia uniform, so no one paid attention to him.

  After visiting the wounded of Ma's army, he asked a nurse where the wounded from the Huaizhong militia were being accommodated. The nurse said: "They came late and there was no room in the ward, so they are temporarily accommodated in the warehouse at the back."