Chapter Thirteen: The Plan Unfolds

  Zhang Zhenyu pointed at the map and introduced: "The entire plan is divided into four parts, namely confusing the enemy, sneaking in, occupying the city, and defending."

  Confuse the enemy to clear up the tail left by Ma Bufang's troops, disturb the enemy's vision, and make the enemy concentrate their attention on the Linze line, further emptying the enemy forces around Zhangye.

  The specific plan is that tomorrow afternoon, a full-scale live-fire exercise will be held in Dujiabao, using half of the remaining ammunition for training to improve the accuracy of shooting and coordination between troops. Dujiabao will be destroyed, creating the illusion that the main force of the Red 9th Army broke through and raided Dujiabao to rescue prisoners after breaking out of Shahe Town, causing the enemy to misjudge and deploy troops to surround and annihilate them.

  "The exercise plan will be formulated separately."

  The approach to the combat objective is a deployment, Dujiabao to Zhangye City is 46 kilometers in a straight line on the map, passing through Shahe Town, Shajingzi, Xiayu Village, Jiahe Village and Baita Village, and the cavalry needs about four hours to march.

  Considering the warriors' horse riding skills and carrying the wounded and combat supplies, the marching time is limited to six hours.

  After departing at noon, we arrived at Baita Village in the northern part of Zhangye City around 7 pm to await further instructions.

  Marching order: guard platoon, first battalion, logistics team, wounded personnel, rear headquarters, second battalion, artillery company, female soldier company, third battalion. All wearing Hua Xian Min Tuan uniforms, artillery company and female soldier company disguised as prisoners of war.

  "When the troops set out, the political commissar led a guard company to gallop ahead to Zhangye and report to Ma Quanyi that our army had come for reorganization and replenishment, requesting arrangements for quarters. They also reconnoitered the enemy's deployment and then went to Baita Village to rendezvous."

  "Occupying the city, then making specific arrangements based on the intelligence brought back by the political commissar. The initial plan is for three battalions and one company to escort prisoners of war and occupy the prisoner-of-war camp, rescuing all captured comrades."

  One battalion and one company took over the ammunition depot under the pretext of receiving ammunition.

  The Second Battalion's Third Company occupied the grain warehouse under the pretext of receiving food supplies.

  Three battalions and three companies escorted the wounded under the pretext of sending the wounded, occupying the Army Hospital and controlling the enemy's medical treatment.

  The First Battalion Second Company occupied the Ma Quanyi Brigade headquarters.

  One battalion and three companies occupied the enemy government agencies.

  The Second Battalion's First and Second Companies captured the enemy's garrison barracks.

  Three battalions and two companies control four city gates and advance on high alert.

  The guard regiment and the logistics regiment controlled each main intersection, cutting off enemy contact at all points.

  "It is advisable to launch an attack on the 25th during the day. To prevent accidents, first eliminate the enemy command center and ammunition depot, and then have all other routes launch simultaneously."

  "On the defensive, it is necessary to clear out the enemy forces and government personnel in the city, control supplies, rescue captured Red Army personnel, and then adopt a defensive strategy."

  If the battle goes smoothly and the enemy is not alarmed, continue to disguise as the enemy, capture the various enemy troops who come to receive supplies, understand the location, personnel, and weapons of the enemy, gain time for the captured comrades to recover, reorganize, train and prepare for the next action, and make good intelligence preparations.

  If the enemy appears unexpectedly and a fierce battle ensues, it will inevitably attract the enemy's attention and cause panic, and they will send heavy reinforcements to rescue them. Then, we must immediately arm our captured comrades, organize a defensive position with the existing city defense fortifications, keep a battalion of mobile troops outside the city, and attack the enemy from the side at any time. Meanwhile, contact headquarters, take advantage of the opportunity to break through the siege, join forces with our troops, replenish and rest, and then engage in a decisive battle with the enemy.

  "That's all for the introduction."

  "Very good, the entire plan is well thought out, with distinct combat characteristics, clear objectives, clear thinking, and reasonable allocation of troops, making it easy to operate."

  I approve your plan and you may proceed with targeted training accordingly.

  Only when encountering the enemy along the way, there should be specific arrangements for response. The hiding of excess weapons and artillery, the binding of prisoners, all need to be carefully considered. The entire operation should avoid bloodshed if possible, and avoid triggering fierce street battles if possible. The emphasis of surprise attacks is on catching the enemy off guard, striking when they are unprepared.

  Inform all units to grasp the combat characteristics of fake raids, use the disguise identity of the militia, take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, first control key points and key figures, make a false show of force, and win in the midst of chaos.

  "The enemy's troop deployment and personnel equipment situation in Zhangye and surrounding areas are not very clear yet. Tomorrow night, we will continue to supplement and improve at Baita Village. Everyone has worked hard, go and make arrangements."

  On January 25th in the early morning, each battalion of the Independent Regiment lay in ambush around the empty Dujiabao according to the exercise plan.

  At 9:00 am, the exercise began.

  First stage fixed target precise shooting: Each unit uses dense and accurate firepower to suppress and destroy the "cavalry targets" that are charging, with each rifleman firing 5 rounds and machine guns firing 20 rounds.

  The second stage of the battalion's offensive tactical exercise began 500 meters away, attacking the "targets" on the four defensive lines spaced 100 meters apart. The defensive breakthrough point was selected, and the infantry company coordinated with the artillery to suppress the enemy with machine guns and cannons. The infantry platoon alternated between covering fire and charging forward, occupying and consolidating one defensive line after another. After each company completed its exercise, a summary evaluation was conducted, checking the effectiveness of the artillery and rifle fire, and correcting individual soldiers' actions.

  Then launched a new round of offensive exercises, and practiced four rounds in a row.

  In the third stage of the siege and assault exercise, at 11:00 in the morning, the troops launched a general offensive against Dujiabao from the last defensive line outside the village wall.

  Machine guns and artillery cleared the machine gun bunkers in front of the village gate, each company's rifles checked the "resistance targets" on the village wall. Infantry crawled close to the village gate, using cluster hand grenades to blast open the city gate. Artillery fired into the village, covering infantry controlling the village walls separately.

  The troops outside the wall continued to suppress firepower, preventing the enemy from escaping. The troops that charged into the village immediately established a fire support point, covering the troops with hand grenades and machine gun sweeps, taking over the houses occupied by the enemy.

  At 11:30, the entire exercise ended, with a total of 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 92 shells consumed.

  The troops withdrew quickly and in an orderly manner, leaving the village of Dujiabao a scorched earth, riddled with bullets and shells, with nearly a thousand mutilated corpses scattered inside and outside the fortifications.

  In the afternoon at more than two o'clock, a disheveled militia team turned from a small road onto the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Highway outside of Shahebao and quickly headed in the direction of Zhangye.

  Along the way, the militia and civilians saw the white characters on a green flag in the team, knowing that it was the Huizhou Upper Fourth Workers' Militia withdrawn from the front line.

  Look at the momentum, fighting hard enough, most people can't ride horses as easily as they did when they marched to Linze High Platform earlier, holding the reins tightly, their bodies shaking back and forth on the horse, colliding with guns and knives clanging.

  From time to time, someone rides a horse to inspect and guide them to relax the reins, lean forward with their body, and adjust their posture according to the horse's movements, but the effect is not great.

  Several horse-drawn carriages were carrying not only ammunition and provisions but also people lying down, apparently they were truly exhausted or all injured.

  In the middle of the team, a large pile of horses, every two horses tied together, with a thick canvas stretcher in between, on which the wounded were lying under quilts, it is estimated that they had encountered hard ice, and there were more than 400 wounded.

  But they must have won, otherwise why would there be so many red bandits tied up on horseback? Good guys, and even female red bandits, how pitiful can you get? With disheveled hair and a hastily wrapped cotton-padded jacket, their small faces were frozen bright red. Alas, what a sin!

  The troops ignored the curious eyes of the people along the way and struggled to advance southwest, they were the mixed forces of the independent regiment that had just completed the exercise mission in Dujiabao and joined with the Longhua civilian team.

  After the exercise, Political Commissar Chen Haisong praised everyone's military quality and teamwork spirit, affirming the project design of the exercise and the training process of each unit.

  Everyone is required to carry forward the glorious tradition of continuous combat, hard work and plain living, continue to conduct mounted marching training and Qinghai dialect training, and approach the combat target.

  After a simple meal of dry rations, the troops set out in their current order under the arrangement of the combat team.

  Li Yi walked in front of the troops with a row of guards, and he was now the best speaker of Qinghai dialect in the entire army except for the political commissar. Although he still had a slight accent from southern Shaanxi, he could generally cope with it.

  At this time, he was communicating with a Han nationality team member next to him in the looped civilian team using Qinghai dialect, and they had been communicating like this for more than two days. The conversation was already quite smooth.

  There were also several squadrons of Han Chinese soldiers beside the other warriors, who were sent here to help identify potential enemies they might encounter in front, and to come forward to rescue them when Li Yi and others could not cope. As for riding skills, the guard squadron was already able to gallop easily.

  Li Yi spoke while looking at the familiar scenery around him. Half a month ago, he followed the 9th Army headquarters and the Western Route Army headquarters to be besieged by Ma's cavalry in Ganquan.

  The enemy was so fierce that after a bloody battle, the troops were scattered and the communication department suffered heavy losses. They retreated while fighting and walked along this road to Shahe Town.

  In just a few days, they annihilated a powerful militia and wiped out a regular cavalry regiment without suffering any casualties. They put on the enemy's warm military uniforms, took up the enemy's weapons and ammunition, and rode the enemy's horses to attack another strong enemy force. It was like something out of a dream.

  Commissioner Chen is still resourceful and skilled in battle. With his excellent marksmanship and high-level martial arts skills, following him will definitely complete the mission and rescue the main force.