Chapter Twelve: Accepting the Mission

  "Report, Comrade Liu Hua, commander of the Red Tenth Regiment, has arrived to report." A young soldier shouted at the door.

  Peng Dehuai looked at the young cadre in front of him with a bookish air. Peng, who rarely smiled, smiled because this young comrade had brought too many miracles to him and the Red Army.

  Mr. Peng smiled and said: "Oh, Liu Hua, come in quickly, today I finally see our hero. Come in quickly." After that, he wanted to go over and pull Liu Hua in.

  Liu Hua was a university student of later generations, but after all, it was the first time she saw the founding general, and her mood... When she heard General Peng speak to her in such a serious tone, she suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

  The chief of staff next to him saw Liu Hua's expression and quickly said.

  "Director Peng, look at you, you've made our hero's face all red, haha..."

  "Comrade Liu Hua, come in quickly. General Peng hasn't smiled for a long time, and as soon as you arrive, General Peng's face is all smiles." After that, he also came to pull Liu Hua.

  "Really? It seems I saw our hero being too happy, haha"

  The whole headquarters burst out laughing after he finished speaking.

  At this time, Liu Hua was even more embarrassed, and under the circumstances of being at a loss, he was pulled by General Peng and the Chief of Staff to sit down near the command center.

  The atmosphere in the command post became relaxed due to a few words.

  Back to normal, General Peng asked in a hurry: "Comrade Liu Hua, how many people are left in the Red Tenth Regiment now? What's the organization like?"

  Liu Hua listened and gave a standard salute, saying: "Reporting to Commander Peng Jun."

  "Sit down, don't be so serious, just sit and talk." Peng said hastily as he saw Liu Hua stand up.

  "Yes," said Liu Hua as he sat down.

  "Report to the Legion Commander, my unit currently has over 1,100 people with two infantry regiments, one machine gun company, plus a guard platoon, reconnaissance platoon, and sniper platoon. Each infantry regiment has three infantry companies..."

  At this time, General Peng's face was beaming with joy. After listening to Liu Hua's report, he patted his shoulder and kept saying: "Good, good, the Red Tenth Regiment is doing a great job."

  It should be known that according to Liu Hua's report, the Red Tenth Regiment is now one of the most elite regiments in the Third Army Corps. Thinking of Vice Chairman Zhou's order, Peng hesitated.

  Liu Hua saw General Peng's worried eyes and immediately guessed that there was some task.

  "Report to General Peng, the Red Tenth Regiment is now strong and vigorous, but there are many captured soldiers who need practical combat training. Please assign a combat mission to the Red Tenth Regiment, a tough battle that I will definitely win." Liu Hua said hastily.

  "Alright, a tough battle is what I need, and with me, we will surely win." Hearing Liu Hua's last few words, General Peng also became excited and hastily said.

  "Comrade Liu Hua, the Military Commission has given our army a glorious and arduous task. I hope to entrust it to your Red Tenth Regiment to complete." After finishing speaking, Peng looked at Liu Hua.

  "Report to the commander of the legion, a hard battle requires me, use me and I will surely win, please give the order." Liu Hua stood up straight and said.

  "Now, I order Comrade Liu Hua to lead the Red Tenth Regiment back to the east bank of the Xiang River immediately, to receive and escort the troops retreating from the east bank, most importantly the International Brigade of the Young Communists"

  Liu Hua's heart sank as he listened, oh no. To think that the unit they were supposed to meet up with had been completely annihilated. It turned out that this arduous task was originally assigned to the First Army Corps, but since they suffered heavy casualties, it naturally fell on their Third Army Corps' shoulders. History was playing a joke on him, and because of his previous success, he now had to pay the price.

  "Comrade Liu Hua, what's wrong...?" Looking at the dazed Chief of Staff Liu Hua, he hastily reminded.

  "Yes, I guarantee to complete the task." Liu Hua quickly came back to his senses and said.

  Seeing Liu Hua's hesitant eyes, General Peng asked

  "Comrade Liu Hua, is there something difficult?"

  Liu Hua thought that later generations, such as Bo Gu and others, fearing the enemy's pursuing troops would arrive, ordered the army to blow up the bridge ahead of time, resulting in many troops being left stranded on the east bank of the river, ultimately either killed or captured.

  "Report to the commander of the legion, I request that the commander personally lead the troops to guard the pontoon bridge. When we return, under no circumstances should the bridge be blown up."

  "Who told you that the bridge is going to be bombed? I didn't know!" Peng asked hastily after hearing Liu Hua's words. To think that he, as the commander of the army corps, didn't even know about it, yet a small team leader like him actually knew.

  This is terrible, this command was given later on, but I accidentally let it slip out myself, sigh...

  Thinking of this, Liu Hua hastily replied

  "Reporting to the legion commander, this is what I guessed."

  "Guess what? Want to hear?"

  Mr. Peng heard and immediately became interested in asking questions.

  "Commander of the Legion, I think that after the main force of the Red Army crosses the river, the Military Commission will definitely have such an idea to shake off the pursuing troops behind, so I guess the Military Commission will blow up the bridge."

  After listening to Liu Hua's words, General Peng also fell into deep thought. To think that if it were true, his Red Tenth Regiment had yet to return, then the losses of his Red Third Army would be no ordinary ones.

  Thinking of this, General Peng immediately replied: "Alright, I will lead the 12th battalion to guard the bridgehead and wait for your return."

  "Also, Commander, I hope we have enough ammunition." Liu Hua hastily replied after hearing the commander's assurance.

  Liu Hua mentioned ammunition, and General Peng smiled.

  "Comrade Liu Hua, ammunition is not a problem. Ever since you annihilated the Guangxi Army, our military's ammunition has never been so abundant. We should thank you for that... Hehe..."

  "Ammunition, bring as much as you can."

  "Yes, Legion Commander. The Red Tenth guarantees completion of the mission." With that, he gave a standard military salute to the Legion Commander and the Chief of Staff before walking out.

  Looking at Liu Hua's back, the chief of staff said to Peng: "Chief Peng, it seems that our army has produced another young general."

  Mr. Peng did not speak and resumed his usual serious expression, watching Liu Hua's back until it disappeared from view.

  Liu Hua soon returned to his own unit and found the two regimental commanders, Old Sun and Chen Revolution, whom he had promoted with his own hands, as well as several battalion commanders, and simply told them about his conversation with Peng Zong at the Military Commission.

  Chen Geming, who had always followed Liu Hua, immediately said: "Captain, we'll listen to you, whatever you say is what we'll do."

  Under Liu Hua's leadership, the Red Tenth Regiment had won several victories in a row, and both soldiers and cadres showed unconditional obedience to Liu Hua. They believed that their regimental commander would bring them miracles again.

  Thinking of this, Liu Hua smiled at Chen Revolution and looked at Old Sun who had been silent all along.

  "What's on your mind, Old Sun?" Liu Hua asked.

  "Squad leader, if it's true what you said that the central will blow up the bridge, then there is a great possibility that we'll be left on the east bank, so we must make preparations for this."

  Listening to Old Sun's analysis, Liu Hua nodded secretly, it seems that Old Sun, who had been a commander, was different after all, and Chen Revolutionary and others still needed to be tempered.

  Seeing the team leader listening seriously to his analysis, Old Sun continued; "I think the team leader asked the army commander for ammunition, it's out of this consideration! But the specific aspect, we'll have to take it one step at a time."

  After finishing speaking, he looked at the team leader who had been puzzling him all along. Liu Hua saw Old Sun finish speaking and continued to say.

  "Old Sun's analysis is very correct, we must be prepared to stay on the east coast. So I request: each soldier must bring enough ammunition, 150 bullets per person, 5 hand grenades, machine gun squad only brings two mortars, two heavy machine guns, all other heavy weapons are handed over to the army department, and all other people who have been emptied out bring ammunition. Go to the logistics department to get ammunition immediately, and set off in half an hour."

  "Yes, Captain." Several people saluted and walked out. Only Chen Guangrong stood alone.

  "Squad leader, we've left so many heavy weapons behind, what are we going to do?" Chen Guangrong said, staring at Liu Hua with a pair of big eyes, as if he wanted to swallow him whole.

  Liu Hua looked at Chen Guangrong's appearance and smiled, saying: "How come your brain is so single-minded? There are so many Central Army troops on the east bank, so many Xiang Army troops, and you're still worried about not having heavy weapons. Just bring me the people, and when the time comes, don't have each person operating a cannon without ammunition. See how I'll deal with you! If you don't go get more ammunition for the cannons, be careful or I'll kick you."

  Having said that, he lifted his foot.

  Chen Guangrong was delighted after hearing the captain's words, and ran off with a smile, not forgetting to say: "Captain, you must keep your promises!"

  Soon, a battalion fully replenished its ammunition. At Liu Hua's command, the first one walked towards the Xiangjiang River.

  Liu Hua led his team back to the town of Jieshoutun. As he walked with his head down, deep in thought, trying to come up with a strategy, he suddenly heard a loud and piercing shout. He looked up to see a blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner wearing a Red Army uniform punching and kicking a Red Army soldier. Without thinking, he knew it was undoubtedly the advisor Li De. Unexpectedly, Li De was just like in the TV dramas, not considering the Red Army soldiers as human beings, and even pulled out his pistol. Liu Hua's anger flared up instantly, shouting "Stop!" as he rushed forward, grabbing Li De's hand and twisting it with force, taking away the pistol.

  The guard next to Li De saw someone dare to lay hands on the supreme consultant, and immediately pulled out his pistol at Liu Hua. But his hand was fast, and Liu Hua's guard got his hand even faster.

  To know that Liu Hua's guard squad was selected from the whole regiment, each person had 3 guns. In an instant, thirty or so submachine guns were pointed at Li De and others.