Chapter 32: The Reinforcements Arrive (Part 1)
"Rat-a-tat-tat", two heavy machine guns opened fire.
The Chen army soldiers who were advancing from a distance did not expect that this unit was also carrying heavy machine guns, and more than 20 of them were killed on the spot, and more than 20 others were injured.
A force of over a hundred men was repelled under the fire of two 37mm infantry guns and two Maxim machine guns.
The troops then took advantage of the opportunity to quickly dig in and prepare to ambush Chen's soldiers.
Sun Xinghua looked at the Chen army soldiers in disarray in the distance and knew they no longer posed any threat to him. He immediately ordered two 37mm infantry guns to intensify their attack on the Chen army soldiers.
"Pass down the order: artillery and machine guns fire, infantry take no action." Sun Xinghua put down his binoculars and immediately gave the command.
As Sun Xinghua's orders were passed down, the four 75mm field guns, four 37mm infantry guns and four Maxim heavy machine guns continuously fired at the distant and chaotic Chen army soldiers.
Faced with the impact of artillery and machine guns, Chen Jun's soldiers completely lost their ability to attack. Most infantrymen hid, while a few took advantage of the chaos to hastily leave the area.
After ten minutes of artillery and machine gun fire, Sun Xinghua ordered a ceasefire.
"The troops unfolded the charge, light machine guns, and Thompson submachine guns were deployed in front. For those who abandoned their weapons, shooting was strictly prohibited." Sun Xinghua took out his own Mauser pistol and gave orders again.
Equipped with twelve Browning automatic rifles and six Madsen light machine guns, the soldiers were equipped with Thompson submachine guns for the squad leaders and deputy squad leaders, all of whom were deployed on the front line, slowly attacking Chen's soldiers.
Machine guns were firing in bursts, suppressing the firepower of Chen's soldiers.
In fact, by now, Chen Jun's soldiers had completely lost their will to fight.
Under the artillery's strike, they had long abandoned the idea of fighting back.
Some soldiers watched as the party army troops launched an attack, hastily threw their rifles to the ground and raised their hands high, choosing to surrender.
As for those who were unwilling to surrender, they held their rifles and ran back and forth. These soldiers also knew that a large army could not break through from the front and rear, but one person might still be able to break through.
The battlefield gradually quieted down.
The sun shone on the earth, and some corpses emitted a nauseating stench under its rays.
Yuan Chujiu slowly came to, his first instinct was to quickly pull out the Mauser pistol from his waist, after pulling out the pistol, he pushed away the guard on top of him.
"Abnormal." This was Yuan Yijun's first reaction after he came to.
It's too quiet all around; it should be a fierce battle at this moment.
Yuan Xiaoju looked around at the surroundings for a while, and her eyebrows furrowed tightly.
Wearing gray military uniforms and red scarves, the party army troops are clearing the battlefield, while only a portion of their own soldiers lie on the ground.
"Don't move, surrender and we won't kill you." The soldiers saw Yuan Yujiu, quickly pulled the bolt, the black muzzle of the gun aimed at Yuan Yujiu's chest.
Yuan Jiujiu looked into the distance, his own more than 300 subordinates were all squatting on the ground, with five or six machine guns set up around them. An officer-like person seemed to be giving a speech.
"It's all over, it's all finished." Yuan Yijiu sighed and put his pistol back on the ground.
Two soldiers rushed over and tied up Yuan Yijiu, taking him directly into town.
At 2:00 pm on February 6, 1925, Sun Xinghua used less than eight hours to defeat the more than 1,000 troops led by Yuan Yeh-nung, annihilating over 400 people and capturing over 400 people, with only over 100 people escaping. As for these fleeing defeated soldiers, Sun Xinghua did not pursue them.
After sending a report to Principal Chiang, Sun Xinghua and three battalion commanders analyzed the reasons for this battle's success.
Among them, their own troops were well-rested, while Yuan's nine brigades had marched long distances and morale was low, which became the main reason for this battle. As for the advantage in weapons, Sun Xinghua only mentioned it briefly.
He didn't want Principal Chiang to know that his own battalion's firepower was even stronger than that of other battalions.
To alleviate Chiang's punishment on himself, Sun Xinghua handed over the newly captured five light and heavy machine guns, together with one thousand rifles, as well as a large batch of ammunition that had been captured.
As for He Yingqin, Sun Xinghua handed over 15 flower-shaped mortars and 200 rifles to him, as well as some ammunition. As for the 1st Battalion of the Training Regiment, Sun Xinghua also prepared some weapons and ammunition, which were sent separately to Shen Ying's 1st Company and Chen Jicheng's 2nd Company.
However, before this batch of weapons and ammunition was sent out, Sun Xinghua received a report from the Third Company.
Chen Jun's reinforcement of over a thousand people, carrying part of the heavy weapons, has arrived at Dongkeng Town, only eight kilometers away from Liaobu Town, and its vanguard of over 300 people is less than five kilometers away from Liaobu Town.
Liaobu Town, Sanying Command Center.
"Comrade representative, our troops have suffered casualties. It seems that we still need to replenish the captured soldiers into the troops and distribute them to each company. The main force of the regiment doesn't know when it will arrive, so this time we must be careful in defense." Sun Xinghua said to Cai Guangjie, the party representative beside him, while looking at the map.
Cai Guangju nodded and pointed to the map, saying: "This time, there are over a thousand reinforcements, with twice our strength. Although we successfully defeated Yuan Shao's defeated soldiers, this situation is different. This army of over a thousand men is not Yuan Shao's defeated soldiers, we must be careful in dealing with them."
Deploy three companies on the outskirts, with a machine gun company as combat support. The first company is in charge of defending the city, and the second company serves as a reserve team." Sun Xinghua immediately issued the order.
The orderly hastily saluted and walked out towards the outside.
This reinforcement force was the troops of Yan Yun-chang, who this time had been assigned by Hong Zhaolun two German 120mm heavy howitzers produced in 1886.
Don't look at these two old-fashioned cannons being clumsy, the power is still good, but the range is only half that of the American 75mm field gun, more than 5,000 meters.
However, Yan Yunqi was very cunning and did not follow the troops to Laozhai Town. Instead, he established a command center in Dongkeng Town and ordered his more than 800 men to directly reinforce Laozhai Town.
"The journey is long, and it's not good. The Huangpu troops have been discovered in Lao Botown, probably Yuan Shikai's forces. It's uncertain whether we'll be lucky or unlucky." The chief of staff walked quickly from outside to report the situation.
As early as when the troops were in action, the chief of staff had sent a few people to disguise themselves as civilians and go to Liǎobù Town for reconnaissance. Now the chief of staff has already got the situation, on the city wall of Liǎobù Town, the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag has been hung long ago, as for Yuǎn Yījiǔ's troops, not even a shadow can be seen.
"What?" Yan Fengyi heard and hastily stood up, walking to the front of the map.
Looking in the direction of Lao Bu Town, Ye Xuan suddenly realized a serious problem, that is, Yuan Miaojiu's troops may have been completely annihilated.
Yan Hong didn't dare to be careless, and hastily ordered the rescue troops to withdraw back to Dongkeng Town. As for himself, he had made contact with Hong Zhaolin, asking for instructions on the next course of action.
