Chapter 2: Fierce Battle

  Several loud explosions slowly brought Chen Hai back to consciousness, and the clear and crisp ** sounds and waves of shouting around his ears made him deeply puzzled. I was rescued, how did it turn into a real battle?

  He opened his eyes with force, still in the cold winter, still on the banks of the Dasaha River, only the snow had melted a lot, and there were only some white shadows visible in the high ridge behind the shade.

  There were some soldiers in gray coarse cloth clothes lying around, using old rifles to shoot at a distance, firing one shot and pulling the bolt, a bright yellow shell jumping out of the snow, this is absolutely live ammunition shooting, and it's the K98 rifle that's firing.

  The warriors, how are they dressed like this? In the middle of winter, some are wearing single-layer clothing, and some are even barefoot with straw shoes on. Who is in front of him? He wants to sit up and take a look. His brain spins dizzily, as if his head was injured. There's a deep knife wound on his left arm. What happened to me?

  Chen Hai's movement startled the soldier next to him, who was intently aiming at a distant target. He immediately crawled over and exclaimed excitedly: "Commissar, you're awake! That's great! You scared us to death! That's great!"

  Then he shouted loudly towards the distance: "Comrades, the political commissar has woken up! The political commissar has woken up!"

  A distant cheer came, more Sichuan, Hubei and Shaanxi accents together transmitted "Zheng Wei woke up" to the distance.

  The morale on this side suddenly soared, and the voices also rose. Before long, perhaps the opponent retreated, and the battlefield gradually returned to silence.

  A red army cadre ran over with a low posture and knelt down beside Chen Hai, excitedly saying: "Commissar, you're awake, that's great."

  Chen Hai asked in confusion: "What happened here? Why are we here? Who is that person opposite us?"

  The officer looked at him in surprise, and after a long time, he suddenly realized: "Commissar, the previous shell blasted you unconscious. We received an order from headquarters to go to Linze to rescue the Red Fifth Army. You led our Ninth Army Guard Regiment and Artillery Regiment to set out from Shahebao to provide support."

  As soon as we arrived at Gudong, we met the Red Fifth Army's Huang Chao, Political Commissar and Zheng Yizhai, Director of the General Headquarters, who had broken out of the encirclement. They crossed the river to Ni Jia Yingzi. You lead us in blocking the enemy and covering their retreat.

  Across from us were the mounted bandits, you were really fierce just now, with one big knife you killed three cavalrymen and forced the enemy to retreat. You also earned a decoration, but the enemy called in artillery, and one shell exploded beside your bunker. We dug you out of the dirt, but you had already stopped breathing.

  "We thought you had sacrificed, just now we repelled the enemy's attack twice, but Captain Zhao of the Guard Regiment was killed. It's all right now. No, the enemy is coming again."

  "Comrades, charge!" The chaotic gunfire sounded again all around.

  Familiar terrain, familiar names, real scenes, flying bullets and sparse explosions made Chen Hai have to admit that he had crossed over.

  Arrived at the most tragic battle of Hebei in our military history, Chen Haisong, who became the youngest military cadre in our military history, had one more word in his name, but how much heavier and harder it was.

  Can I reverse the defeat under strategic mistakes? Can I retrieve the lives of more than 10,000 brave and fearless soldiers who died generously? Can I avoid the tragic ending of being shot eight times at Liyuan Gate and dying young?

  The battlefield fell silent again, and that cadre came running over, anxiously asking: "Commissar, how are you feeling now?"

  Chen Hai, who had been resting for a while, slowly sat up from his concussion and said to him: "I was stunned by the shell, I'm a bit dizzy, who are you?"

  The warrior beside him hastily said: "He is Zhang Yingchang of the artillery camp, and I am your guard squad leader Li Yi. My name was also given by you."

  "Oh, Director Zhang, how's the situation now?"

  "Report to the political commissar, we set out with over 800 people, now there are only more than 600 left. We have more than 300 rifles and the rest use big knives and long spears. Bullets are also running low."

  The enemy in front has about a thousand people, possibly a militia armed force, with average combat effectiveness, having three machine guns and three mortars. They are very cunning, in the first battle, you led the guard battalion to charge into the enemy group, personally beheading three people, the enemy lost more than 100 people, we captured some weapons and ammunition, then kept a distance from us, only harassing on the periphery, when attacking it was also a touch-and-go, as if waiting for reinforcements or wanting to exhaust our ammunition.

  "After the battle of Gu Lang, you concluded that the enemy retreated and did not allow pursuit, so we did not launch a counterattack." He thought for a moment and said: "We blocked here for three or four hours, and I estimate that our comrades in the Fifth Army are also safe. The soldiers are cold and hungry, let's withdraw too."

  Chen Hai listened carefully, quickly searching his mind for records of the Hexi campaign. Lack of food and ammunition, weak firepower were the objective reasons why the Western Route Army was defeated by Ma's cavalry.

  He knew from modern times that cavalry had gradually withdrawn from the main sequence after World War I with the equipment of automatic firearms, but he could not use firepower to control the swift and ruthless Ma's cavalry.

  There are only two options now, either to eliminate this group of people and remove the worry from behind, then return to headquarters, or to stay here and defend until nightfall, and retreat back to headquarters under the cover of darkness. However, if they do so, once the enemy's reinforcements arrive, it will be difficult for their troops to escape.

  The battle on the high platform may have ended, and the commanders of the Red Fifth Army, Dong Zhentang, Yang Keming, Ye Chongben, Liu Peiji, as well as the commander and political commissar of the cavalry division that went to reinforce them, Dong Junyan and Qin Xiandao, are all likely to have been killed.

  Linze County was also lost, and the headquarters' logistics organs were overthrown. The Red Army now had only more than 13,000 people and could no longer afford major losses. The passive and disorganized situation of being beaten, losing this and that, and being isolated and unable to coordinate must be changed.

  We must preserve this unit in front of us, take it out of the enemy's encirclement, maneuver and hide behind the enemy, look for opportunities to fight, and change the situation from now on.

  Having thought this through, he said: "Li Yi, have the guards go and invite the company commanders of each battalion to come over. We'll arrange a battle plan."

  Then, based on memories of past lives and observations at the scene, a simple sandbox was made in the desert.

  Before long, six company cadres rushed over and, after being introduced by Battalion Commander Zhang, got to know the main cadres in his hand.

  Guard Company Captain Wang Dayong, a veteran from Huang'an, Hubei, fought bravely in battle and loved to charge forward.

  Li Shuangfei, the second-in-command of the Longsun, was brave and resourceful, with exceptional marksmanship.

  Sanlian Longchuan Wen Junshou Xiaojinggan, Jing Yu Fangshou.

  The commander of the artillery battalion, Zhang Zhenyu, was a regular artilleryman who followed General Dong Ning to start the uprising. He had strong military skills and was transferred from the Fifth Army to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Ninth Army after the Western Expedition.

  Huang Shiying was also from Ningdu Uprising and excelled in artillery skills.

  Deputy Battalion Commander He Dacheng and Third Battalion Commander Shi Junfu were both old soldiers of the Ninth Army, who had been transferred from infantry battalions to learn artillery technology with Zhang Zhenyu when the artillery battalion was expanded.

  It was just the ancient wave battle due to unfamiliarity with the combat characteristics of Ma's cavalry, lack of ideological preparation for the barbaric stubbornness of Ma's bandit army, and deployment of battles according to the route of fighting against Sichuan warlords. As a result, the Red Ninth Army suffered heavy losses, losing one-third of its personnel, and Commander Sun Yuqing was removed from office, with Wang Shusen, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, concurrently serving as Commander of the Ninth Army.

  He then served as a rear guard in the Western Hubei Campaign for a long time, with personnel reduced by half and artillery losses almost exhausted. The artillery battalion had to follow the army department's actions as infantrymen. This task was urgent and was sent out to reinforce.

  Each unit reported its existing personnel and equipment, with 500 combatants, more than 130 wounded who could not fight, three light machine guns without bullets; 300 Hanyang-made rifles, over a thousand rounds of ammunition, 200 hand grenades, and another 43 shotguns with over a thousand rounds of ammunition.

  After a moment of contemplation, Chen Hai said firmly: "Comrades, we are now far away from the main force, fighting independently, exhausted and short of ammunition. If we continue to let the enemy chase us like this, we will be eliminated sooner or later. We must uphold the fine tradition of the Red Army, flexibly and mobilely outmaneuvering the enemy, using mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare to preserve ourselves and eliminate the enemy."

  Seeing everyone nodding in agreement, he said: "Our top priority is to eliminate the horse bandits in front of us. They ride horses and we can't outrun them, so let's eliminate them here."

  Watching the Military Commission's powerful waving of arms, the cadres responded in unison: "Yes."

  Chen Hai pointed to the sand table, "Now the deployment is as follows: Zhang Yingchang leads the first and second artillery companies to rescue the wounded and withdraw from the position, cross the sandy river, and establish a defensive position 500 meters away on the opposite bank of the river;

  The guard company, the third artillery company and the guard platoon led by Wang Dajun withdrew from their positions, carrying all hand grenades to gather at Shagou Village two miles south of Shagou, where they lay in ambush. After the battle started, they attacked the enemy from the side and rear, trying to prevent them from escaping.

  The guard platoon lay in ambush behind enemy lines under cover of a precipice and annihilated the enemy's artillery units.

  The guards of the 2nd and 3rd companies concentrated within a range of 300 meters around the withdrawal point, concentrating bullets in the hands of snipers, with one person holding two rifles taking turns to fire, assigning a soldier to load bullets for them, responsible for blocking the enemy.

  As soon as we retreat, the enemy will realize it and take advantage of the situation to launch a surprise attack. Our sniper team has fewer guns, which will give them a false impression and they will press on with full force. At that time, we will launch a pincer movement from both front and rear, and we must be able to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy.

  "The key to this battle is to confront the strong enemy head-on without fear, select the best shooters to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, and have the flanking troops launch a decisive attack with determination to fight to the death, hold off and annihilate the enemy. Are the tasks for each unit clear?"

  Commanders at all levels looked at each other and said in unison: "Resolutely complete the task."

  "Alright, go and assemble the troops, carry out the execution separately."