Chapter 23: Two Plans (Part One)

  "Captain, Yuan Miaojiu has retreated into the village, and the villagers have not been evacuated yet. The artillery cannot fire." Company commander Shen Jian quickly walked to Sun Xinghua's side and reported the situation in front of him.

  Sun Xinghua now has a company with two 75mm mountain guns, two light machine guns and two heavy machine guns, as well as four infantry platoons, namely the second and third platoons of the first company, the fourth platoon of the second company, and the ninth platoon of the third company, with a total strength of over 200 people.

  While the battalion guard company was on standby, one company and one platoon were stationed at Humen, while the remaining four infantry companies and two battalion headquarters were under the leadership of Party Representative Cai Guangju, responsible for intercepting the defeated Chen Jun troops from Dongguan and blocking the reinforcements of the Chashan Chen Jun troops.

  Sun Xinghua immediately opened the map, carefully looking at the map of Dongguan, Chashan is located in the northeast direction of Dongguan, a certain distance from Dongguan. According to the current situation, Chen Jun's troops in Chashan should be around 300 people, but they also need to deal with Shi Long's Guangdong army, and the possibility of rushing to aid Dongguan is not great.

  "Shen Lianchang, now we have two plans to choose from. First, quickly annihilate the Chen army troops in the village and then go on high alert towards Chashan. This plan is more conservative and has no danger. Second, quickly assemble all officers and soldiers, march east to Liubotun, occupy Liubotun and defend against the Chen army's defeated troops from Dongguan and Chashan. This plan is riskier, once Shilong is attacked by the Guangdong army, the defenders of Shilong will definitely retreat to Chashan, at that time we not only have to block the attack of the Chen army from Shilong and Dongguan but also face the counterattack of the Chen army's reinforcements."

  Sun Xinghua pointed to the map and put forward his own opinions. For him, annihilating Chen's troops in the village was an easy task, and he could even temporarily give up Dongguan, concentrate the whole regiment to advance eastward, occupy Liao Bu Town, and cut off Chen's retreat route.

  As long as the occupation of Liangbu Town, all Chen Jun troops west of Liangbu Town will fall into the joint attack of the Guangdong Army and the Party Army, surrounding and annihilating this Chen Jun troop, which has a great impact on clearing the Chen Jun troops along the Guangzhou-Kowloon railway line afterwards.

  However, the battle plan to occupy Liǎobù Town has great danger. Firstly, Sun Xinghua's order was only to attack Dongguan, without any authority to march towards Liǎobù Town. Secondly, after occupying Liǎobù Town, they would face a pincer movement from Chen's army, and the three regiments would suffer heavy blows.

  "Regimental commander, the command from the division headquarters only requires us to attack Dongguan. If we rashly march towards Liao Bu Town, it's likely to cause chaos throughout the entire army. Moreover, now that we've lost contact with the main force of the division, if we advance alone into Liao Bu Town, we'll probably be met with a concentrated attack from Chen's army." Shen Jian immediately expressed his concerns.

  Sun Xinghua's plan was good, but after all, their troops only had one infantry battalion. Moreover, without the consent of the higher-ups, taking away the main force of the troops in secret was a big taboo. Furthermore, with the third battalion deeply entrenched in Lao Botown, it meant that the third battalion had become an isolated army.

  "Immediately assemble a meeting of all battalions and above, first surround the Chen army troops in the village." Sun Xinghua quickly gave the order.

  Several orderlies quickly ran off to deliver Sun Xinghua's orders.

  At this time, the main force of the First Division, which was teaching, had approached Dongguan.

  Taiping Village, Fang Family Ancestral Hall.

  Principal Chiang was somewhat restless at this moment, sometimes sitting on the chair to observe the map, and sometimes standing up to pace back and forth in the room.

  This battle in Dongguan is the first battle of the Party Army, and it's crucial to see if the Allied Army can look up to the Party Army. Although Sun Xinghua annihilated more than 100 Chen troops in the last battle, the achievement was ridiculed by Yang Ximin and others after being reported.

  They thought that Chiang Kai-shek was exaggerating his military achievements and had spread the word that if Chen's troops were so easy to defeat, Chen Jiongming would have been killed long ago. The Whampoa military school had just been established, how could they achieve such results?

  As for the doubts of these warlords, Principal Chiang did not argue anything. In his heart, however, he had already made up his mind to let the party army troops fight out their own glory, and this attack on Dongguan was the most crucial part of the entire campaign.

  "Headmaster, the Guangdong Army troops have sent a telegram. The main force of Zhang Mingda's division has made preparations to attack Chashan. Wang Ruzhou's brigade has also accelerated its march. They plan to surround and annihilate Chen Jun's troops near Dongguan, then advance eastward, capture Liubu and Dongkeng, and clear the Guangzhou-Kowloon railway of Chen Jun's troops." Director Zhou walked over from outside and handed the telegram he had just received to Principal Jiang.

  "Damn it." Principal Jiang couldn't help but curse.

  Taking over the telegram from Director Zhou's hand, Principal Jiang's body trembled and directly tore the telegram into pieces.

  Zhang Mingda's meaning was simple, the Guangdong Army wanted to complete the battle independently, throwing the Instruction Corps aside. As for whether the Instruction Corps would participate in the war, the Guangdong Army did not care, but as long as the troops of the Instruction Corps did not cause trouble for the Guangdong Army, it would be fine.

  This is a naked mockery, and it slaps the face of Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang trained the Whampoa Academy's instructional corps and established party army units in order to give Sun Yat-sen an advantage over other warlords, but now not only are Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan's warlord troops mocking them, even the Guangdong Army looks down on them.

  "Principal Chiang, calm down." Director Zhou hastily said a sentence.

  Principal Chiang nodded and walked up to the map.

  "Order the First Division to accelerate its march towards Dongguan, and the Second Division to march towards Chashan. It is imperative to capture Dongguan before the Guangdong Army." Principal Chiang immediately issued the order.

  "Yes." The orderly saluted and walked out towards the outside.

  Near Dongguan, on the road surface.

  Three battalion commanders and Party Representative Cai Guangju rushed over quickly after receiving the order.

  When Sun Xinghua presented the plan, Cai Guangju and others supported the first scheme, and expressed great doubts about the second combat plan.

  It was Guan Linzheng, a representative of the Three People's Principles party, who expressed support for Sun Xinghua's second combat plan at the first time.

  "Comrade representative, although this plan is somewhat risky. But once we occupy Lao Botown, it's equivalent to cutting off Chen Jun's retreat route, which is beneficial for our army and friendly forces to annihilate Chen Jun's troops completely." Guan Linzheng said, looking at Cai Guangjie.

  "But..." Cai Guang raised an eyebrow, his brow furrowed slightly, and a look of difficulty appeared on his face.

  "Go east, you continue to say." Seeing Guan Linzheng support his second combat plan, Sun Xinghua's face showed a smile.

  "The regimental commander, Chen Jun's troops are now stationed in various towns, which is a good opportunity for us to attack them one by one. However, if we let them retreat and gather their forces, it will be very difficult for us to surround and annihilate them. Currently, Chen Jun's troops are deployed from Huizhou all the way to Dongguan, with a long battle line and scattered forces. As long as we occupy Liao Bu Town, the Chen Jun troops west of Liao Bu Town will fall into the encirclement of our party's army and the Guangdong Army."

  However, these people are all soldiers and have been to military school. As long as they annihilate the Chen army west of Lao Beitown, not only will it be a major blow to Chen Jun's forces, but also a huge impact on their morale.

  War is not just about the number of people and weapons, but also about morale. A team with high morale can often create miracles on the battlefield.

  "Colonel, you are the military commander, I reserve my own opinion." said Cai Guang.

  After all, Sun Xinghua was an instructor at Huangpu and deputy commander of the First Instructional Regiment. He graduated from Japan's Military Academy and Germany's Army Officer School. The halo of this series alone made these people dare not disobey his plan.

  Updated early with one more chapter, please click, collect and recommend...