Chapter 4: The Xiangjiang Campaign (Part 2)

  At this time, the Red Eighth Company had finally repelled the enemy's last attack after a day of arduous blocking. The battlefield, which had been noisy all day, began to quiet down. The Red Eighth Company started counting its numbers and casualties. After a day of fighting, the Red Eighth Company had lost more than 40 men, leaving only 84 people, almost all of whom were wounded. The regiment commander arrived at the position. Liu Hua hurried over to report the casualty figures. When the regiment commander heard that Liu Hua had lost more than 40 men but killed nearly 600 enemies, he thought it was a ratio of 1:10 or more. Thinking of this, the regiment commander hastily ordered: "Now I order Liu Hua to officially become the company commander of the Red Eighth Company. The entire Red Eighth Company will withdraw to the rear as the reserve team for the whole regiment." "Yes, I guarantee to complete the task!" Liu Hua replied loudly and gave a standard military salute. Watching the departing back of the Red Eighth Company, Regiment Commander Shen Shuqing shed tears. After a day of fierce battle, the Red Tenth Regiment had lost more than half its men, with only the Red Eighth Company under Liu Hua's leadership achieving victory. It could be said that only the Red Eighth Company was the most intact in organization, the most spirited in morale, and the strongest in combat effectiveness. This might be the last hope of the Red Tenth Regiment. Shen Shuqing looked at the back of the Red Eighth Company and muttered to himself.

  At this time, Liu Hua led the remaining 83 people to retreat. He didn't know what the captain was thinking at that moment. He just thought about quickly letting his company reorganize and take advantage of the rare period of time to train those immature tactics.

  At this time, Liu Hua suddenly saw a forest behind the position, as a researcher in later generations, he knew that tonight, the Gui army had done something that the Red Army thought was impossible, and broke through the position at once. Liu Hua quickly led the company to walk towards the forest.

  "Section Chief Lian, what's wrong?" Chen Geming hastily asked as he had already been promoted to squad leader due to the heavy casualties among the 8th Company's junior officers.

  Liu Hua turned his head to look at the exhausted Revolutionary and said, "Do you see that forest over there? If the enemy sneaks up from there tonight, our position will..." Chen Revolutionary was very quick-witted and immediately understood what the company commander meant. He hurried back to his own squad and mobilized the soldiers to hold on a little longer.

  Very soon. When they arrived at the edge of the forest, Liu Hua found Lao Sun and asked: "Lao Sun, tonight the enemy may sneak over from here, now the whole regiment has no reserve team, so I didn't get the approval of the regiment commander, and pulled the troops to here, can you help me think about what to do?" Because Lao Sun was a mid-level general in our army before being purged, he had rich combat experience, and Liu Hua also had later historical significance, so they often consulted with each other on matters. This also made Lao Sun very moved.

  Lao Sun took a look at the terrain and said, "General Lian, this forest is lush with trees and grass. If the enemy arrives, we'll use fire to attack and burn them all to death." Upon hearing this, Liu Hua couldn't help but feel a wave of excitement, as it was in line with his own thoughts, and he was also delighted to have such an excellent general under him.

  Having thought it through, he began to arrange tasks and had his warriors gather flammable materials. Make some preparations.

  After everything was ready, one shift of guards remained on duty while the others began to rest.

  It was almost midnight when Liu Hua, who was on duty, was suddenly startled by the sound of breaking branches. He quickly ordered the whole company to prepare for battle. A moment later, a scout reported that a group of enemy soldiers were approaching through the woods. The soldiers all raised their spirits and took up their pre-arranged positions. When they saw the enemy enter the designated firing zone, Liu Hua gave a loud shout and the soldiers threw out the prepared firebombs together. At this time, because the grass on the ground was dry and yellow, in an instant, the enemy was surrounded by flames on three sides.

  At this time, Quan Lian's only three machine guns with all the bullets, and 10 sharpshooters from the sniper squad had already circled to the enemy's rear.

  After Liu Hua was officially appointed as the company commander, he reorganized the entire company. Because there were too few people in the company and many platoon leaders had sacrificed themselves. The company was divided into 3 platoons with 2 squads in each platoon, 11 people in each squad, with a squad leader and deputy squad leader, 23 people in each platoon, with a platoon leader. He also formed a firepower group consisting of the four best machine gunners in the company, with three light machine guns. All the sharpshooters in the company were also concentrated to form a sniper squad. The company had a total of 84 people, and he was the company commander.

  "With a single command from the enemy regimental commander: 'We've been ambushed, brothers, retreat quickly!' The light machine guns and all the sharpshooters had opened fire. The enemy commander was the first to be hit, falling to the ground with terror and unease."

  As the light machine gunners received orders from the company commander not to save bullets, the three best machine gunners in the company went crazy with their guns. Almost every bullet hit its target because they didn't have to worry about their own safety, as 11 marksmen protected them.

  Here is the translation:

  And so, under the double blow of the big fire and light machine guns, this Gui army corps quickly dispersed. An hour passed, and the big fire was finally extinguished. The soldiers began to sweep the battlefield. At that time, a tragic scene appeared before their eyes: in the places burned by the big fire, there were charred corpses lying in various postures. All the firearms and ammunition here had been destroyed, which made the soldiers of Red Ninth Company regret for a while. When they walked up to the machine gun position, the soldiers cheered because it had not been burned by the big fire. There, hundreds of enemy corpses lay intact, including the guard company of the enemy army commander. It is worth noting that in the Nationalist Army, the guards of all officers were equipped with the most advanced weapons. Soon, the results of the battle were counted. In this battle, an entire enemy regiment was annihilated, while only two snipers from our side were injured by stray bullets. We captured 253 rifles, 45 submachine guns, 15 light machine guns, several pistols, a batch of ammunition, and other equipment that had not been destroyed in the fire.

  Looking at the results of the battle, every soldier was excited. Liu Hua quickly gave a calm order: "Now select one machine gunner from each squad to form a firepower class, with 9 machine guns in total. The squad leader and deputy squad leader will be equipped with submachine guns, pistols, and rifles, and bring enough ammunition. Each soldier will carry 100 rounds of bullets, 5 hand grenades, and execute the order." After finishing speaking, the soldiers began to tidy up their equipment.

  At this time, the commander of the 24th Division of the Guangxi Army, Qin Lianfang, stared blankly in the direction of the big fire, saying repeatedly: "It's all over, it's all over, that was one of my regiments, a regiment, just gone like that, not a single one escaped, what kind of battle is this?" The guards around him didn't dare to get close.

  When the regiment commander Shen Shuqing learned about this matter, he was secretly delighted with his own decision. Liu Hua not only brought a large amount of ammunition but also brought machine guns that the Red Army lacked badly. What made him most happy was that an entire enemy battalion was annihilated by just one of their companies, and they only had two men lightly injured, which was unprecedented in the history of the Red Army. Regiment Commander thought to himself that Liu Hua would definitely have a bright future ahead of him. At this time, Liu Hua only saw the regiment commander's delight but did not know that his position in the commander's heart was no longer just a company commander. This also laid the groundwork for his later appointment as acting regiment commander.

  When the news reached the division headquarters, everyone was excited because a victory at this time was a great encouragement to the Red Army who had been defeated all along. At that time, the name Liu Hua also left a deep impression on Commander Peng's mind.

  When the news of this victory reached headquarters, Bogu, who had not smiled for a long time, also smiled, because he saw that his command and deployment had won the battle. In fact, he did not know that the battle was not won by his subordinates according to his plan. He quickly said: "Immediately report this great victory to the whole army."

  Some warriors were still passing on the good news they had just received as they walked by:

  "We've wiped out an entire enemy division, what a wonderful feeling!"

  "No, it should be a regiment that annihilated the enemy, and that fire was so fierce that it burned for an entire night before being extinguished."

  "I heard that the 18th Regiment of the 10th Division has produced a capable person, who not only knows how to calculate and fight, but also knows how to cast spells. That flame is a divine fire, which can burn wherever he wants it to, without burning indiscriminately."

  "I heard that Guanghua Pu is filled with charred corpses all over the mountains and fields, in all sorts of shapes, it's really terrifying!"

  "This time, when Guizhou army heard our Red Army, their legs were trembling!"

  ……

  Yes, just when various troops were frequently reporting emergencies, the 10th Regiment gave an unexpected surprise this time, which was a very encouraging thing. Li De and Bo Gu were even more excited and had already ordered to report to the whole army. They didn't think that they would face a serious situation soon, but they were still marching slowly. Although the First and Second Columns of the Military Commission claimed to be lightly equipped, they were still carrying heavy machine guns, cannons, and important documents, etc., and their pace was only slightly faster than that of the baggage team.

  "What's the use of this?" Zhu De sighed.