Chapter Fourteen: Rescue of the 18th Regiment

  Liu Hua led his over a thousand soldiers to the riverbank, where they saw the Xiangjiang River filled with corpses and the floating bridge dyed red by blood. Everyone fell silent.

  How much blood of warriors is needed to dye it red, all caused by Bo Gu's recognized "snail" marching speed. Liu Hua thought secretly.

  The warriors walked quietly, looking at the miserable scene beside them, and many people shed tears.

  Along the floating bridge, we arrived at the east bank. Looking far away, there was no army to be received, only a few scattered Red Army soldiers carrying some luggage and pursuing the main force.

  But the sound of gunfire could be faintly heard coming from the direction of Xin Yu and Gu Ling. Liu Hua immediately judged based on his memory that the New Universe should be Chen Shuxiang's Red 34th Division, and the ancient ridge head should be the Red 18th Regiment. It is worth noting that these two troops were almost completely annihilated, and several leaders including Chen Shuxiang were killed in battle.

  He hoped his arrival could change something, so he set out with these few heroic troops. Liu Hua thought.

  "The whole army advances in a run, marching towards the direction of Gulingtou, rescuing the besieged Red 18th Regiment. The scouting team advances 2,000 meters ahead to scout out the way." Liu Hua's decisive order arrived.

  Soon, Liu Xiaogang, who had gone out for reconnaissance, ran back.

  "Report to the team leader, after reconnaissance, it is confirmed that the Red 18th Regiment is ahead. Judging from the gunfire, there don't seem to be many people and they have very little ammunition. The attack was carried out by two regiments of the Guangxi Army, which also suffered heavy losses, with nearly 2,000 casualties. They are currently reorganizing and preparing for the next attack. Report complete."

  Liu Hua stopped Liu Xiaogang's report, nodding secretly, and was able to clarify the enemy situation in such a short period of time. It seemed that the reconnaissance platoon leader he had chosen was indeed impressive. Liu Hua felt secretly pleased with himself.

  "Alright, continue scouting, notify me immediately if you encounter any enemies." Liu Hua replied.

  "The whole team forms a combat formation and disperses, with all light machine guns and submachine guns in the front, advancing stealthily." After listening to Liu Xiaogang's enemy situation report, Liu Hua thought of giving the Guangxi Army a surprise attack here, and gave a decisive order.

  Maybe it was the blessing of heaven, or maybe Liu Hua's luck was too good. After the troops dispersed, they had just arrived at the edge of the Gui army's position when they heard the Gui army blowing the assembly call.

  Perhaps Gui Jun thought that the * on the mountain had become the last straw, and he actually gathered everyone together. An officer stood in front of them to give a pre-battle speech, while the wounded sat beside him chatting, completely unaware of the danger that was approaching them.

  Liu Hua saw such a good opportunity, how could he let it go? He immediately ordered the bugle to sound the charge.

  "Drip, drip, drip ......................." With the sound of the horn, dozens of light machine guns and dozens of submachine guns lined up in a row suddenly spewed out dense flames, and the dense bullets were like rain.

  The firepower density was too great, and a magazine hadn't been fired yet, and dense hand grenades were thrown over.

  Due to the extremely dense formation of the Guangxi Army and their lack of vigilance, as soon as the guns fired, the soldiers standing outside fell down row by row. They didn't even have time to hold their guns before they fell under the Red Army's gunfire with all sorts of discontent.

  The soldier standing in the middle of the troops had just reacted and was about to open fire, but a hail of hand grenades came down again, also bringing him down amidst the deafening explosions.

  This can be said to be a standard massacre, only the ones holding knives are the Red Army, and those being killed are the Guangxi Army. The soldiers of the Guangxi Army were completely frightened out of their wits, the clever ones immediately lay down on the ground pretending to be dead, while those running around wildly were chased by machine guns and fell to the ground one after another.

  The 18th Regiment on the heights, just as they were preparing to muster their last bit of strength, suddenly heard the long-awaited bugle call for charging, followed by a burst of intense gunfire. The seriously wounded regimental commander Zeng Chunjian somehow summoned up the energy to shout: "Comrades, our reinforcements have arrived, charge!"

  The 300-strong Red 18th Regiment charged down from the heights at the scattered fleeing Guangxi troops.

  The battle ended with a complete victory for the Red Army, and soon Old Sun came to report on the results with a smile.

  "Report to the commander, this battle annihilated two enemy regiments, captured 120 people, seized 12 mortars, 12 heavy machine guns, and countless ammunition."

  Liu Hua listened to Lao Sun's report and also became excited. The happiest one was Chen Guangrong, after all, this was the equipment of an artillery company and a heavy machine gun company.

  Liu Hua hastily ordered the formation of a heavy firepower battalion, and Chen Guangrong became the battalion commander as he had wished. However, he furrowed his brow again.

  "Captain, so much equipment and no one is here! Think of a way for me!" He looked at his captain Liu Hua with full expectation.

  "How can you be so stupid? Don't we still have captives? Not one of them will be spared, let them all move ammunition. Then find some people from the whole regiment who know how to fire artillery and heavy machine guns, isn't that enough? Go execute it quickly." Liu Hua said with a smile.

  "Yes, I'll definitely complete the task." Chen Guangrong smiled and ran off.

  At this time, seeing several people carrying a stretcher walking in this direction, Liu Hua guessed that it must be the leaders of the 18th Regiment and hurried to welcome them.

  Old Sun beside him saw the wounded on the stretcher and said in Liu Hua's ear: "He is Regimental Commander Zeng Chunjian."

  Liu Hua hurried forward, grasping his hand and saying: "Zeng Tuanzhang, I am Liu Hua, the commander of the Red Tenth Regiment. We arrived late, which led to the Red Eighteenth Regiment being defeated like this."

  Zeng Chunjian listened to Liu Hua's words and said with force: "Commander Liu, it's not too late... I think... myself... won't make it... you... must help me... take care of the 18th Regiment."

  After a pause, he continued: "From now on... eighteen... eighteen brigades... listen to... Commander Liu's... command..."

  After finishing speaking, she quietly closed her eyes.

  "Commander Zeng, Commander Zeng..." As the cries echoed, all the soldiers of the 18th Regiment knew that their commander had sacrificed himself, and they wept softly.

  "The 18th Regiment assemble as a whole." Liu Hua shouted loudly at the sorrowful soldiers.

  Soon, nearly three hundred people gathered in front of Liu Hua.

  "Comrades, your squad leader has sacrificed himself. I know you are deeply grieved, and so am I. But can we afford to be grieved? Will the enemy give us time to grieve? No, they only want to wipe us out completely. Many of our comrades have fallen on this land, under the enemy's gunfire. Can we just let it go? Answer me."

  "We can't," the warriors replied in unison.

  "Alright! Can't, then what should we do, tell me."

  "Revenge! Revenge..." The soldiers of the 18th Regiment were all angrily shouting, and even the soldiers in their own regiment followed suit. Liu Hua saw that the morale of the soldiers had been restored, and waved his hand to say...

  "I order, the 18th Red Regiment to follow my unit now, forming a battalion of three companies. Soldiers elect squad leaders, squad leaders elect platoon leaders, platoon leaders elect company commanders, and company commanders elect battalion commander. Immediately replenish ammunition from captured weapons, each person must carry sufficient ammunition. Depart in half an hour."

  Soon, another elite infantry regiment appeared in front of Liu Hua. Zhao Dahai was the regimental commander and Sun Manxi was the instructor.

  Liu Hua now has ample ammunition and sufficient personnel, the whole regiment's firepower is among the best in the entire Red Army, and it is not inferior to the Central Army.

  Liu Hua took a look at the three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment under his command, feeling like he was dreaming, not to mention Old Sun, Chen Revolutionary, Zhao Dahai and others.

  Liu Hua came to his senses and loudly commanded: "Our Red 34 Regiment is now in a fierce battle with the enemy, so we can't just stand by. Because we are the Red Army, the Red Army will never abandon its comrades. So we must go to rescue them. Comrades, do you have confidence to follow me to rescue the Red 34 Regiment?"

  "Yes!" the warriors chorused in unison.

  "Alright, comrades are all good, are real men, I command."

  "Liu Xiaogang led the scouting team to scout ahead, Lao Sun led a battalion as the first echelon, the guard platoon escorted the prisoners of war, carrying captured materials and Zhao Dahai's third battalion, the firepower battalion was in the middle, Chen Geming led the second battalion to cover the rear. Now set off immediately, advancing towards Xinyu." With Liu Hua's order, the troops marched towards Xinyu in an orderly manner.