Chapter 15: Relief of the Red 34th Division (Part 1)

  Just as Liu Hua said, the 34th Red Army was undergoing a trial by fire and ice. Although the Guangxi army had been annihilated several times by Liu Hua, Li Zongren was not one to be taken advantage of. Seeing that he had finally caught up with the tail of the Red Army, he could avenge his past grievances. Under his strict orders, even the only heavy artillery battalion in the Guangxi army was dispatched to bombard the Red Army positions wildly.

  The originally full-strength Red 34 Division, after several days of blocking, had already lost more than half its men, and all the high-ranking cadres except Chen Shuxiang were seriously injured.

  In terms of personnel, there are less than 1,000 people who can move on the position, and ammunition is extremely scarce. The reason why we can hold on until now is that the soldiers have been fighting against the enemy with bayonets one after another, replacing each other.

  At this time, looking from the sky to the ground, on the road from Gulingtou to Xinyu, a team of troops in neat formation was running forward, with the arrow direction pointing directly at Xinyu.

  This team is the Red Tenth Regiment led by Liu Hua. Under Liu Hua's encouragement, whether it was the soldiers of the Red Tenth Regiment or the Red Eighteenth Regiment, they were all full of confidence in the battle to rescue the Red 34th Division. Everyone shouted and ran forward, even the prisoners carrying supplies were infected and no one complained of fatigue.

  Liu Xiaogang and others who had gone out for reconnaissance, as they all had some martial arts skills, quickly arrived at Xinhuang. Liu Xiaogang immediately arranged for the troops to conduct reconnaissance.

  After a reconnaissance, he made a big jump and found that the 34th Division was surrounded by three enemy divisions, and even added a heavy artillery battalion. He knew the situation was more severe than expected, so he immediately sent all the scouts to explore the enemy's position, and himself ran to the middle army to report the situation to the regiment commander.

  Liu Hua quietly listened to Liu Xiaogang's report, without speaking. The four battalion commanders who rushed over hastily also fell into deep thought after hearing the report. To know that this was an enemy of 10,000 to 20,000 people, even if Liu Hua had the courage, he wouldn't dare fight against them.

  Chen's revolution broke this atmosphere.

  "Comrade Commander, why don't we do it like the first time? Take out the enemy's artillery and then launch a barrage against them. The whole regiment will charge forward, just like when we fought against Tan Lianfang last time." After finishing speaking, he looked at the commander with a smile, seemingly waiting for praise.

  Liu Hua was worried, hearing Chen Geming come up with such a crazy idea, and immediately said: "You little devil, are you tired of living? That's nearly 20,000 people, just relying on our thousand or so men to launch a surprise attack, we'll all die without knowing how." After finishing speaking, he continued to think of a solution.

  Chen Revolted listened to the team leader's words and stuck out his tongue, continuing to think.

  "Wait! Liu Xiaogang, you just said that Gui Jun has strengthened an artillery battalion." Liu Hua suddenly looked at Liu Xiaogang with a smile.

  The old Sun and others were baffled.

  "Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander, there are 18 mountain guns and several dozen mortars." Liu Xiaogang replied seriously, looking at the battalion commander's strange expression.

  "Haha, I've got it! Liu Hua exclaimed loudly." Seeing Lao Sun and others staring at him with strange eyes, he immediately calmed down and said to Lao Sun.

  "Old Sun, do you know how many heavy artillery the entire Gui army has?"

  Old Sun shook his head.

  "As far as I know, the entire Gui army only has one heavy artillery battalion, and today they're all deployed here. Think about it, if we capture the enemy's artillery positions and keep bombarding them non-stop, what do you think the enemy will do?"

  "The enemy will surely launch a fierce counterattack and retake the heavy artillery. After all, it's not easy to buy such heavy artillery even in our own country." Old Sun raised his head and replied with doubt.

  "That's right! I want to confuse the enemy, and once they're confused, we'll have a chance to open up a path. When we find the opportunity to rescue the 34th Division, we'll launch a counterattack and take advantage of it to break away from the enemy's encirclement. And we'll blow up all their artillery too! Do you think the enemy will still dare to pursue us?" Liu Hua exclaimed excitedly.

  "Right! Just like that!" Several people exclaimed excitedly at the same time, even Old Sun, who had been silent and didn't like to talk, called out in excitement.

  The order was soon passed down to all the regiments.

  The first battalion, the old base of the Red Tenth Regiment, occupies the enemy's artillery position, captures as many enemy artillerymen as possible, assists the firepower battalion in building an artillery position, and holds the artillery position together with the second battalion. Resolutely repel the enemy's counterattack, all heavy machine guns are deployed in the first and second battalions. Listen to my order, launch a counterattack at the right moment, and break away from the enemy army.

  Everyone follows me in opening the rescue channel, try to solve the problem with bayonets as much as possible, and don't let the enemy notice. The reconnaissance team is the main force to open the channel. Execute immediately.

  The Red Tenth Regiment immediately became like a war machine, operating in an orderly manner.

  Lao Sun led a battalion under the leadership of the reconnaissance platoon, and soon approached the enemy's artillery position. Under the influence of the regimental commander, they made full use of their firepower advantage, and all automatic firepower in the entire battalion opened fire at the same time. Almost instantly, everyone standing on the artillery position was knocked down.

  Soon, the Charging Regiment also remembered, and one regiment shouted slogans and killed them. Because most of the artillery were not equipped with infantry weapons, and the enemy army did not think that the Red Army would raid its own artillery, only a symbolic infantry company was arranged.

  Take a infantry company, how can it be the opponent of Liu Hua's most elite first regiment? Soon, that infantry company disappeared, and the remaining artillery could only raise their hands and kneel on the ground, waiting for the Red Army's disposal.

  Occupying the artillery position, Old Sun did not feel happy about capturing a large number of guns, but instead hurriedly worked with Chen Revolution to build defensive lines around the artillery position, preventing the enemy's counterattack.

  Those captives and cannons, naturally had Chen Guangrong to deal with. Commander Chen was still the same old way, not listening to orders would be shot, after shooting a few battalion commanders and company commanders, the remaining captives could only obey obediently.

  Reluctantly pointing the muzzle at his own troops, waiting for the order of the Red Army officer.

  At this time, the command headquarters of the Gui army was in a mess. When gunfire sounded on the artillery position, they thought it was just guerrillas causing trouble, but as they listened more, it didn't feel right, because those firepower were almost equal to their own two regiments.

  As a division commander who climbed to his position through military merit and now serves as the commander-in-chief, Wang Zanbin of the 44th Division of the Guangxi Army immediately judged that the main force of the Red Army had arrived. He immediately requested a phone call to the artillery positions and dispatched an elite regiment to provide support. However, he did not know that at the time he was thinking, the 10th Regiment of the Red Army had already occupied the artillery positions.

  The phone somehow got through. Just as the first and second battalions were building fortifications, a supporting battalion arrived. After consultation between the two battalion commanders, they launched a counterattack only after the enemy approached within 50 meters. A burst of firepower, plus a barrage of hand grenades, immediately caused the enemy's battalion to lose more than half its men, who fled back.

  Now the Red Tenth Regiment is short of everything, but not ammunition. After the rescue of the Red Eighteenth Regiment, a large amount of ammunition was captured, allowing the Red Army soldiers who had been worried about ammunition to no longer conserve it and fire wildly.

  After receiving the report from the front line, Wang Zanbin was about to go crazy. To think that it was the only heavy artillery battalion in his own Guangxi Army! If Li and Bai found out, they would surely kill him.

  Just as Wang Zanbin was lost in thought, a familiar shrill whistle reached his ears.

  "Artillery fire, get down quickly, get down quickly..." someone suddenly shouted loudly.

  But he himself did not know who was pressing down on him. The sound of "Boom, boom, boom..." explosions came from his ears, and Wang Zanbin quickly judged that this was his own heavy artillery battalion firing.

  "Detestable*, you've seized our cannons, now give them back to us so we can use them against ourselves... I will never let you off..." Wang Zanbin muttered to himself.

  Just as Chen Guangrong's artillery fire was intensifying, Wang Zanbin arrived at a shooting blind spot under the escort of his own guards. Watching his troops die and dwindle under their own artillery bombardment, his heart bled again.

  "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Order the troops to retake the artillery positions. If this goes on, the troops will disperse. Quickly pass on my orders, at all costs retake the artillery positions..." Wang Zanbin loudly shouted to his staff officers beside him.

  "But, Commander-in-Chief, we only have one regiment of reserve troops. The other units are all attacking the Red Army on the mountain." a staff officer said in a low voice.

  "Then withdraw the troops and pass on the order quickly." Wang Zanbin, watching more and more of his own men fall under their own artillery fire, was thoroughly enraged.

  "What about those on the mountain? What if they launch a counterattack?" reminded another staff officer.

  At this time, Wang Zanbin finally calmed down and looked at the troops who were constantly being injured under the artillery fire, giving a decisive order.

  "Leave two brigades to keep watch on the Red Army in the mountains, all troops take back the artillery positions for me, annihilate the enemy, I want to see who dares to touch our Guilin army." After finishing speaking, he showed a fierce expression that made the staff around him not dare to get close.

  Just as Wang Zanbin thought he could eliminate Liu Hua, Liu Hua smiled because after listening to Liu Xiaogang's reconnaissance report, he knew that the Guangxi army was withdrawing from the position, leaving only two regiments on guard. How could Liu Hua not smile at such a good opportunity?

  At this time, the 34th Division Commander Chen Shuxiang, who was seriously injured, looked at the artillery fire on the Guangxi Army's position and was confused. If someone said that their reinforcements had arrived and were shelling the enemy, Chen Shuxiang would not believe it even if he died, because he knew that although the entire Red Army had heavy artillery, they did not have any shells, let alone dozens of large cannons firing together at once.

  Could it be that the Guangxi Army and the Central Army are at it again? General Chen Shuxiang couldn't help but laugh at his own ridiculous thoughts. What's going on, anyway?

  Just as Chen Shuxiang insisted on analyzing the enemy situation, a staff officer ran over to report that the Guangxi Army had retreated, leaving only two regiments to guard and surround themselves.

  Chen Shuxiang smiled wryly, even if the enemy only left two regiments, it would be impossible for him to break through himself. Now, there were only over 500 troops in the entire division that could still move, and ammunition was extremely scarce, with each soldier having an average of only two bullets. The light machine gun that had been providing firepower support for them didn't have a single bullet left. Thinking of this, Chen Shuxiang smiled bitterly and ordered his soldiers to rest well and prepare to give the enemy a final blow.