Chapter Thirty-Seven Victory

  "This battle annihilated 3 enemy regiments, a division headquarters, totaling 5200 people, of which 1200 were captured, and countless weapons and ammunition were seized, including 12 howitzers, 5 bases of shells, 18 heavy machine guns with 5 bases of ammunition, nearly 100 light machine guns, rifles, and submachine guns have not been counted yet..."

  Another shock, Guan Xiang should have known that he had been carrying troops for so long and had never had such a big harvest! How could he not be shocked? At this time, the battle to annihilate the enemy's second division was also about to start.

  The enemy's second division, upon receiving the rescue telegram from the first division, immediately suspected that He Long wanted to ambush his vanguard division. He knew that in order to annihilate one of his divisions with He Long's forces, it would take some time. Thinking this, he immediately ordered the middle echelon to rush forward on foot to reinforce his vanguard division. However, there was still a distance of nearly 10 li, and by the time he had covered half of it, the battle had already ended. But the commander of the 15th Division could never have imagined that one of his elite divisions would be completely annihilated, and ordered his troops to continue advancing at full speed, even forgetting to send inquiry telegrams.

  Looking at the panting enemy rushing into the ambush circle, Liu Hua couldn't help but curse a modern version of "idiot", but didn't forget to pull the trigger of his rifle. Immediately, all the big guns on the position began to roar, machine guns spewed out deadly flames, and the panting enemy fell down one after another, without even having time to react, their rifles still not in hand. Liu Hua felt a hint of mercy, and once again blew the charge horn ahead of schedule.

  The enemy troops were probably really exhausted, and with all the officers basically being killed in the first wave, when they heard the Red Army's charge, it seemed like everyone let out a sigh of relief, immediately dropping their rifles and kneeling on the ground, raising their hands. Looking at the rows of prisoners, Liu Hua smiled wryly, now there were even more troops to supplement his forces.

  After leaving one camp to sweep the battlefield, Liu Hua led the remaining five camps to rush forward to support the three battalions that were blocking the rear guard brigade. Although the three battalions had the support of heavy machine guns, they had already suffered heavy casualties under the cover of enemy artillery companies. The battle had entered a white heat, but both sides were holding on with their last bit of strength.

  Liu Hua rushed to the battlefield and immediately ordered a regiment to support the 3rd Regiment. The remaining two regiments flanked the enemy's wings, and after the reinforced regiment arrived, the 3rd Regiment finally stabilized its position. The artillery regiment also arrived and quickly constructed an artillery position. After several rounds of cannon fire, they finally destroyed the artillery position that posed the greatest threat to the Red Army and began firing at the enemy's heavy machine gun position. At this point, the 3rd Regiment had gained the upper hand. The enemy's rear guard brigade, without the sniper company's attack, had most of its officers surviving. The brigade commander was a very experienced general, who immediately judged that the main force of the 15th Division might have been annihilated after receiving the interrupted telegrams from his own and the vanguard brigades' commanders. With the sudden increase in firepower on the blocking position, he became even more certain of his speculation and decided to withdraw troops.

  Perhaps it was a joke of fate, just as he was about to give the order, intense gunfire suddenly erupted from all sides, and mortars began to fiercely bombard the most concentrated area of the rear guard brigade. Listening to the continuous sound of gunfire all around, watching his own troops suffer casualties under the bombardment, the commander of the enemy's rear guard brigade finally couldn't take it anymore. After learning that more than half of his troops had been wounded or killed, the commander's will to resist was completely gone. Under his lead, the remaining troops of the rear guard brigade quickly surrendered.

  When Liu Hua heard that the enemy's rear guard brigade had surrendered with nearly a regiment of troops under the leadership of the brigade commander, and hearing the sound of the political commissar attacking Taoyuan, Liu Hua's eyes lit up and he immediately came up with an idea.

  Under the threat of Wang Nanhu and others, the enemy's signal corps quickly sent a telegram to the defenders of Taoyuan, with simple content: "My department was ambushed by the Communist army, and only two regiments of the rear guard broke out of the encirclement and are retreating towards Taoyuan, arriving in an hour."

  After the telegram was sent, Sun Xingbang led a group of soldiers who had changed their clothes under the leadership of the rear guard brigade commander to approach Taoyuan County. Due to Liu Hua's order, the political commissar did not attack the west gate of Taoyuan County, and the troops quickly entered the city gate. The gatekeeper was a regimental commander, possibly knowing the rear guard brigade commander, opened the gate from afar.

  As soon as the city gate was opened, Sun Xingbang was overjoyed and immediately ordered his troops to enter the city according to plan. Just as the regiment commander was smiling and welcoming the rear guard brigade commander at the city gate, he was indeed met with a bayonet charge by the soldiers. Under the threat of the bayonets, except for some who were stabbed to death, the rest surrendered meekly. Liu Hua's second battalion had been following far behind the first battalion. Upon learning that the first battalion had quietly captured the west gate, he immediately ordered his troops to advance at a run and took over the west gate. He then ordered the remaining troops of the first and second battalions to split into several routes, like arrows shooting out in all directions towards Taoyuan.

  The battle was very fierce, from noon to evening, before the city's Hunan army garrison was completely cleared. Looking at the soldiers with gunpowder on their faces, one by one, and the bodies of martyrs lying on the ground, Liu Hua shed tears again, what good soldiers they were. As he watched the bodies of the martyrs being transported out of the city, and saw the wounded being carried into temporary hospitals, Liu Hua silently wept.

  Liu Hua did not rush the soldiers to count the spoils of war, clean up the battlefield, but only ordered the logistics to bring out the best things and let the soldiers rest well, because they were really too tired.

  The next day, all the cadres came to the temporary division headquarters for a meeting. Some had gloomy faces, while others were smiling from ear to ear.

  "Chief of Staff, read out the results and casualties!"

  "Yes, sir!" Guan Xiang stood up and gave a military salute to all the cadres.

  "Comrades, in this battle we annihilated the Central Army's 15th Division, a garrison brigade of the Hunan Army in Taoyuan County, totaling 19,000 people. Among them, about 6,500 were captured (including lightly wounded), and 800 were seriously injured. We also captured one division commander, two regiment commanders of the Central Army's 15th Division."

  Looking at the smiling officials below, the Chief of Staff continued

  "Captured a large number of ammunition and materials, including 50 mortars, 66 heavy machine guns, nearly 200 light machine guns, over 10,000 rifles, pistols, and submachine guns, as well as countless rounds of ammunition. Moreover, we also captured all the logistical supplies stored by the 15th Division in Taoyuan, making this a battle with extremely great results."

  Liu Hua did not speak after hearing it, and sat quietly there, "Chief of Staff, read out the casualty data."

  "Yes, sir. In this battle, our army has lost over 1,500 men, with more than 300 seriously injured and over 1,000 lightly injured. Among them, the first regiment lost 400 men, the second regiment lost 350 men, and the third regiment lost the most, with 600 men lost. The new recruit regiment lost around 150 men. The main losses of the first and second regiments were caused by the street fighting against the Xiang Army, while the third regiment's losses were mainly due to the enemy's artillery fire during the blocking battle against the Liu Ju's rear guard brigade."

  After hearing the casualty report, everyone fell silent. To know that this was the largest casualty since the independent division was established, how could they not be heartbroken? Looking at one familiar comrade after another falling under the enemy's gunfire, so many comrades, after one battle, could no longer be seen again.

  "Comrades, I know this is the biggest casualty since the establishment of our independent division. I know you are all heartbroken, but we are the highest commanders of the troops, and there are still so many cadres and soldiers under us. If you all lose your spirit, what about them? Lift up your heads!" Liu Hua finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted loudly.

  "Very well, now I command that the personnel missing from each of the three main regiments be supplemented by their own new recruit regiments. The fighting capacity of the three main regiments must be guaranteed. Each regiment's new recruit regiment is to be expanded to 5 companies with 800 men. Artillery companies are to have 12 mortars, and each battalion's heavy machine gun company is to be fully equipped with 12 heavy machine guns. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the close combat firepower of each fighting squad, I now require that the firepower equipment of the independent division be unified. A fighting squad consists of 14 men: the squad leader and deputy squad leader are each equipped with a pistol for charging forward; there is one light machine gun; two men carry rifles; there are also two submachine gunners and eight riflemen. All main regiments are to be fully equipped according to this standard. If not enough weapons can be purchased, find the political commissar."

  "The second order was that Li Xiaowu would no longer serve as the head of the logistics department, and the position would be taken over by Political Commissar Li Qing. Li Xiaowu would serve as the commander of the combat team under the logistics department, with a thousand people under his command, expanded from the original combat battalion. The logistics department had a combat team of a thousand people, two supply battalions of a thousand people each, totaling 3,000 people. The missing personnel were selected from among the captives and 20 cadres brought by the chief of staff were selected to serve as the backbone."

  "Fourth, the artillery regiment and the heavy machine gun regiment each have only three battalions under their jurisdiction. The excess equipment is handed over to the logistics department, and the other two regiments each have a baggage company."

  "Fourth, each regiment has one radio station, the division headquarters has two, and the logistics department has two. The remaining seven are all handed over to the logistics department for safekeeping. That's it, Chief of Staff, take a look and report how many people there are in total in the whole division." Liu Hua looked at the Chief of Staff sitting next to him taking notes.

  "Comrades, our independent division has a total of 16,000 people according to the plan of the division commander. Haha, I really can't believe it, we are still a division." The chief of staff laughed and started joking.

  In this way, the Independent Regiment began a new round of rest and training, but the time was very short, only 3 days. "Three days is enough," said one regimental commander. "With so many old soldiers here, the combat effectiveness of the Independent Regiment will definitely improve rapidly."

  Looking at the bustling military training in Taoyuan County, the chief of staff felt like he was dreaming. Thinking about the current hardships of the 26th Army, with a lack of guns and ammunition, Guan Xiang's brow furrowed again.

  "Chief of Staff, you look worried. Is it about the 26th Army Corps?" Liu Hua asked, noticing the Chief of Staff's furrowed brow. The Chief of Staff didn't say a word, just nodded. Liu Hua handed him a piece of paper.

  150,000 sets of cotton-padded uniforms, 2 million catties of grain, 36 mortars, 3,600 shells, 36 heavy machine guns, 36,000 rounds of ammunition, 200 light machine guns, 50,000 rounds of ammunition, 10,000 rifles, 500,000 rounds of ammunition... Looking at the data above, Guan Xiang Yun looked at his smiling instructor with a puzzled expression.

  "Chief of Staff, why are you looking at me like that? I'm not a beauty. Hehe, these are gifts for the 26th Army Corps, I just got them from the Political Commissar. Take a look, if you agree, we can give them to them when we meet Commander He in a few days. What do you think?"

  "Master, so many? My goodness! Quickly tell me, how many more good things are there in the Independent Division that I don't know about?" Xiao Ke asked with a face full of surprise and delight.

  "Haha, Chief of Staff, you've got the wrong person. You should go ask Commissar Li Zheng, he knows more about it than I do." Liu Hua looked at the Chief of Staff with a mischievous grin.