Chapter Thirty-One: Annihilating Two Enemy Brigades

  The deputy commander was riding on his war horse with great enthusiasm, constantly urging the troops to speed up their march. Perhaps knowing that the Communist army had the strength to annihilate an enemy division, this time he gathered his two divisions into one group, only dispatching a single company as vanguard, rapidly advancing towards Changsha. The dozens of miles of road quickly passed for the fast-marching troops.

  Liu Hua, who had been lying in ambush at the rear, could already vaguely see the shadow of the enemy army through his binoculars. The enemy army, except for sending out a company of vanguard, had all its troops lined up in neat rows, with heavy machine guns carried on shoulders by four men each, and mortars disassembled and scattered on mules. Liu Hua's eyes widened as he looked at the boxes of shells. Although his own shells were sufficient, they would be depleted with each shot, and his logistics transportation capacity had already been very strong. Liu Hua was indeed a generous man who welcomed all comers.

  "Commander, the reconnaissance battalion and guard battalion have moved into position, the enemy has entered the ambush circle, all troops are ready." The communication officer promptly reported the latest situation to the commander.

  "With a loud 'bang', Liu Hua's first shot rang out, and the independently prepared howitzers and heavy machine guns of the division began to speak out, spitting out tongues of flame that took lives."

  That was 40 mortars, and with the fall of 40 shells, the dense marching column immediately appeared with many blood holes. In an instant, the Central Army was stunned, to know that only the Communist Army had been bombed all along, when did it become this batch of old soldiers' turn to be bombed? The National Army was immediately stunned by the bombing, but the Central Army was indeed well-trained, facing the bullets that were constantly harvesting their lives, they quickly lay down on the ground, although most of their superiors had already been knocked to the ground by the first round of gunfire.

  Although Liu Hua's first round of blows caused great casualties to the enemy, those Central Army soldiers who were knocked down were all new recruits, while the old soldiers, due to their experience, had already lain down on the ground early.

  Slowly, the enemy began to fire at their own company commanders and independent regiments, the enemy's light machine gunners started to return fire intermittently, however, they did not last for too long. The snipers began to aim at these high-value targets, as the machine gunners continued to fall, no one dared to approach these weapons again.

  But among those enemy riflemen, who could survive the bombardment of their own artillery and heavy machine guns, must be very experienced old soldiers. Under their attack, casualties began to appear in his troops, and Liu Hua started to get anxious.

  "Chen Guangrong, what are you doing, hurry up and order the artillery to bombard the enemy's dense area, we must not let them gather together, hurry up!" Liu Hua shouted urgently.

  Soon, the mortar began another round of intense bombardment. Soon, the enemy soldiers who were lying on the ground jumped up due to the bombing, but were immediately knocked down by dense machine gun fire. Liu Hua revealed a smile, "This is exactly what I wanted." Liu Hua smiled lightly.

  Soon after several rounds of artillery fire, the enemy troops who were resisting on the ground had become very few, but there was still sporadic resistance, however, it did not cause much harm to their own troops.

  "Bugler, sound the charge!" Liu Hua's crisp command.

  "Drip, drip, drip......" "Charge......" The thrilling sound of the charge bugle and the shouting of the charge slogans started. Liu Hua stood up, looking at the battlefield in front of him, and smiled.

  "Little Wang, send a report to the political commissar and tell him that we have annihilated two enemy regiments. Ask him to start acting according to the original plan." Liu Hua thought for a moment, "Also, order High Battalion Commander and Wang Battalion Commander to quickly clean up the battlefield and report on the number of enemies killed and our losses."

  "Reporting to the superior officer, the battle results have been counted." Several military directors rushed to Liu Hua's side in a flurry.

  "Go ahead and read it."

  "Commander, in this battle we annihilated two enemy regiments totaling 8,000 men. We captured less than a thousand prisoners and seized the equipment and ammunition of three artillery battalions as well as the equipment of two heavy machine gun battalions. Other weapons and ammunition are still being counted."

  Having said that, he smiled and looked at his superior with a smile.

  Liu Hua did not smile, and said lightly, "Were there casualties?" Now Liu Hua was most afraid that his troops would suffer too many casualties. After all, he was currently in the midst of a battle, and if there were too many wounded, it would definitely affect his future deployments.

  "After listening to the words of their superiors, the expressions of several people changed immediately. 'Report to the team leader, we have a total of 612 comrades who died in battle, only 12 were seriously injured, and there are very few lightly wounded, less than 100 people.'"

  Liu Hua asked incredulously, "How can the mortality rate be so high?" Generally, in battles, there are more wounded than killed, but this time, with so many killed, how could Liu Hua not be shocked?

  "Master, you'll understand once you take a look."

  Liu Hua walked to the front of the martyrs' bodies, saw that most of the fallen soldiers were shot in the head, and it was a terrible sight. Seeing this, Liu Hua suddenly realized: The Central Army is different, everyone's marksmanship is fed with bullets, so many people's marksmanship is very good. I didn't expect that. Liu Hua sighed.

  Immediately bury the bodies of the warriors, and also, from each supplementary camp, draw personnel to fill up their own main force's three camps, which cannot affect the battle behind. The new recruits are all supplemented from the captives, and Chen Guangrong, go to the captives to pick some who can fire artillery, organize the enemy's artillery battalion, still under your command. Zhu Ping is the same, immediately form two heavy machine gun companies. Half an hour later, assemble the troops, there is a new task.

  "All" the officers stood at attention for a moment and then rushed back to their respective troops.

  "Communications officer, send a telegram to Commander Sun, telling them to continue the feint attack on Changsha, avoid heavy casualties, and not to retreat until I give the order."

  Soon all troops reached full strength. Several regimental commanders came before Liu Hua once again.

  "Colonel Kō, how many prisoners of war are left now?!"

  "There are still 300 of us left, and we're being guarded by the garrison."

  "Alright, Comrade Battalion Commander, I'm ordering you to take the 2nd battalion, reconnaissance company, sniper platoon and escort the captured materials, remaining prisoners, as well as the newly formed artillery battalion and heavy machine gun battalion to meet up with the Political Commissar at a point 10 kilometers ahead along the river. Assist the Political Commissar in crossing the river, then hand over the materials to him. After that, take your troops and launch a surprise attack on Anhua. If you can capture it, take it; if not, surround it for me. I'll lead the main force to arrive immediately. Remember, we cannot afford too many casualties."

  "Yes, sir! I won't let Independent Regiment lose face!" Gao Yuan said with a crisp and powerful salute.

  "Alright, go!" Liu Hua nodded in satisfaction.

  "Alright, those who are left follow me to attack Zhuzhou. Let's set off immediately." Liu Hua said with a smile as he saw the remaining pairs of expectant eyes.

  "Report to the commander, something's gone wrong!" The duty officer rushed into the room of the 3rd Division Commander.

  The 3-star general, who was having lunch, was thinking about his own promotion and saw the staff officer rushing to disturb him. He immediately became angry and shouted: "What's the hurry? It's not like the sky is falling! Look at you, you're so anxious that I might just kill you!"

  "Commander, commander, it's really... really... the sky is falling." The staff officer saw his commander get so angry that he couldn't even speak clearly.

  "What's gotten into you? If you don't have anything important going on, I'll beat you to death!"

  "Commander, it's not good! A Communist army division is heading towards Zhuzhou, the scout says they'll be at the city gate in half an hour." The staff officer finally spoke up.

  "Cough! Cough..." "What did you say? The Communist army is heading towards Zhuzhou, with an entire division?" The division commander was startled by the staff officer's words and almost spat out the food he had just put in his mouth.

  "Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier!" He said, and hastily rushed towards the combat room.

  "Chief of Staff, contact the Deputy Commander immediately and have him bring back the troops, quickly, hurry up and contact." The commander shouted loudly before even entering the command room.

  "Chief of Staff, why haven't you sent out the telegram yet? You're delaying our military operation! Be careful or I'll have you shot! Hurry up!"

  "Reporting to the superior officer, I just contacted the deputy commander, but the contact was interrupted. The connection with the first and second brigades has also been interrupted."

  "What?" The teacher sat down on a stool with a plop.

  Seeing his superior sitting blankly on the bench, the chief of staff immediately reminded him: "Superior, what should we do next? The Communist army will be at the city gate in less than half an hour."

  "What else can we do? Order the troops to reinforce the city defenses, and withdraw all the troops outside the city back to me to assist in the defense." The division commander said angrily.

  "Master, what about the river defense?"

  "Defend? Defend your head? You'll lose your life! What's left to defend? Hurry and pass the order, let them rush back to reinforce." The commander said anxiously.

  "Report to the commander-in-chief, our reinforcements have not arrived yet."

  "What? The 3rd Division is being reinforced, send a telegram quickly," He Jian listened to the continuous sound of cannons on the city wall, becoming more and more anxious, pacing back and forth in the combat room.

  "Commander, something's happened! Something's happened!" The staff officer rushed over hastily.

  "What else is going on?! Tell me everything at once." He Jian couldn't help but get angry after hearing a whole day's worth of bad news.

  "Yes, yes, Commander-in-Chief. Just now the division commander of the 3rd Division called and they too have lost contact with the reinforcement troops. The reinforcement troops are estimated to have been annihilated by the Communist Army..." The staff officer choked back his words.

  "Get out! Get out of here! Am I really going to have to..."

  "Commander, we still have reinforcements. There are two battalions of reinforcements in Anren County, and if they hurry, they should be able to arrive by tomorrow morning." The chief of staff reminded him quietly.

  "What are you still standing there for? Go and get them to come and support us!" He Jian bellowed.

  They completely forgot that the Communist Army could annihilate two of its own regiments, let alone two brigades. However, this helped Gao Yuan with a big favor.