Chapter 10: Battle of Xiangjiang (I)

  Finally repelled the enemy's attack, Yang Chengwu kept the newly recovered position, and with a "hiss" sound, he inserted his knife into the ground and fiercely spat out saliva. Unexpectedly, his mouth was dry, and only a small amount of mud and sand came out. He then remembered that he hadn't drunk water for an entire night. The intense battle made him forget his thirst and fatigue. After the enemy retreated, he felt like his whole body had fallen apart, and the wound on his left abdomen began to ache terribly. The wound on his left abdomen was inflicted by an enemy soldier during the previous round of fighting, but fortunately, it wasn't deep, and after bandaging it, he continued to fight.

  Due to the constant fierce battle with the enemy, his wound continued to bleed, resulting in severe blood loss, and he was now extremely weak. He drank two mouthfuls of water with a "gurgling" sound, and insisted on going to inspect the troops again. This 21-year-old regiment commander, one year younger than Liu Hua, truly deserved to be the youngest and bravest main force regiment commander in the Red Army!

  This battle has cost the lives of over a hundred more soldiers, what good soldiers they are! His young face grew even more stern, for his Red Fourth Regiment had fewer than six hundred men left, including the wounded. In fact, almost everyone was wounded, except for those who were severely injured and unable to move, everyone continued to fight with their injuries, just like him, if it were someone else, they would have been bedridden with such severe injuries.

  He ordered the warriors to quickly gather their weapons and ammunition and return to their positions to continue waiting in formation.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, in less than half an hour, the enemy started firing again. One of the shells happened to land on the trench in front of him, and the explosion buried him under a thick layer of mud. He vaguely heard someone shouting "Oh no, the captain has been buried!" before losing consciousness. By the time the soldiers dug him out from the mud, the enemy's infantry had launched another attack.

  Yang Chengwu shook his head, which had just barely cleared up, and gave the order: "Fire, give it to them with all your might." He picked up a rifle and started firing, hundreds of guns opening fire at the same time. The enemy fell in batches, only to be replaced by another batch, before falling again in droves. Perhaps the bullets they had picked up from the enemy were more effective against them, almost every shot hitting its mark, the cries of agony unending. Although the Xiang Army was brave, it was ultimately pinned down by this fierce firepower and unable to advance any further.

  Yang Chengwu was about to give the order to attack when Geng Biao rushed over and pressed him down, saying: "Commander, the army's orders are to withdraw."

  "Retreat? Why?" Yang Chengwu asked in disbelief.

  "I don't know, it's a legion order, withdraw immediately."

  Obeying orders is a soldier's duty, Yang Chengwu stared fiercely at the enemy who was pinned down in front of the position, and reluctantly ordered: "First Company, fall back and withdraw."

  The Hunan Army soldiers, who were pinned down by the Red Army's firepower, suddenly found that the Red Army's firepower had weakened and then completely stopped. The Hunan Army was worried that the Red Army was plotting something, so they did not dare to charge recklessly. Under the cautious command of their officers, they carefully pursued the enemy. When they were only 50 meters away from the trenches, the Red Army still showed no signs of movement. Some soldiers became bolder and slowly quickened their pace. As they approached the trenches, they suddenly charged forward with a loud shout, but unfortunately, there was not a single living soul left on the Red Army's position.

  Behind the scenes, the commander of the 16th Division of Hunan, Zhang Liangji, rushed to the Red Army's position and saw that the ground was littered with corpses, both from the Red Army and his own troops. He picked up a rifle dropped by a fallen Red Army soldier, pulled back the bolt, and found it empty. Suddenly, he felt great joy in his heart, convinced that the Red Army had retreated in defeat, forced to withdraw due to lack of ammunition, and had done so hastily, leaving behind even their own comrades' bodies without proper burial, which was rare for the Red Army.

  Zhang Liangji, eager to make a name for himself, made a prompt decision and immediately ordered his 16th Division to pursue the enemy with all its might, while also sending someone to report to Commander-in-Chief Li Jue.

  The enemy's 16th division followed closely behind the Red Fourth Regiment, rushing towards Jieshou in a mighty torrent. Little did they know that they were running headlong into a death trap.

  The purpose of war is to win victory. War must follow two principles: one is to save oneself to the greatest extent; the other is to kill the enemy to the greatest extent.

  Liu Hua led his Red Tenth Regiment to ambush not far from Huangdi Gang, in a low-lying pine forest by the roadside. Due to continuous marching and fighting, now rushing for more than 20 miles, the soldiers were extremely tired, regardless of the gunfire and shouting sounds ahead, hiding well and taking advantage of the time to rest for a while.

  Now, just a few people in Liu Hua's class have been promoted due to the large number of captives. Liu Xiaogang, who made meritorious service in Xing'an, was changed to be the leader of the reconnaissance platoon. Because Liu Hua planned to cultivate them into special soldiers for future generations, there were not many people, only 24, and they were all old Red Army men.

  Li Xiaolong is the captain of the guard squad.

  The cadres and soldiers of the Red Tenth Regiment have now admired their regimental commander with all their might, and through these two days of victory, everyone is thinking of making new contributions.

  Li Xiaolong beside him asked: "Captain, why don't we go behind the enemy and have another butt-blooming flower?"

  Liu Hua heard Xiao Long's words and quickly said, "You little devil wants to die, that's tens of thousands of people, we go to the back, can't move the enemy, maybe the enemy will eat us up. Fighting must be flexible, can't be rigid."

  Xiao Long listened and stuck out his tongue at Liu Hua, staring at the road surface just a few inches away.

  Soon, the Red First Regiment arrived, and looking at them carrying the wounded, Liu Hua felt a wave of anger, all caused by Li De.

  Ten minutes after the army corps passed by, the 16th Division of Hunan rushed over. The Hunan army was seen running in two columns, neatly and quickly chasing after them. Zhang Liangji walked at the back of the team, constantly shouting loudly: "Hurry up, hurry up, catch up with the Communist Army, don't let the Communist Army escape, and don't give the Communist Army time to breathe." "Hurry up, capture a Communist soldier and get a reward, capture a Communist cadre and get a big reward."

  When the officer said there was a reward, the Xiang Army soldiers ran even harder, and while running, they encouraged each other: "Brothers, run fast, earn big money to open a restaurant." "It's best to catch a high-ranking official, then we'll have money to marry a wife." "If it were me, I'd rather go back home and buy a piece of land to farm."

  The 16th Division of Xiang quickly passed by. Liu Hua secretly calculated that the enemy's 16th division also suffered heavy losses, with about two regiments left, which should be manageable.

  Originally, after capturing a large amount of supplies, the Military Commission had planned to use the Red Tenth and Eleventh Regiments to launch an ambush against the enemy. And right in front of them, the entire Red Eleventh Regiment was lying in wait, along with captured mortars and heavy machine guns, their firepower now surpassing that of the 16th Division. This left Liu Hua feeling deeply moved.

  Just 20 minutes after the defeat of the Sixteenth Division, Li Jue led his Nineteenth Division to arrive in succession, followed by the remnants of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Divisions.

  Perhaps they thought there were sixteen divisions ahead, the vanguard regiment of the 19th division was walking slowly in a neat formation. They didn't know that they had already walked into Liu Hua's line of fire.