Chapter 48: The Great Battle of Mianhu (7)

  Zengtang Village, Headquarters of the First Regiment's Command Center.

  He Yingqin looked at Principal Chiang in front of him, with a helpless expression on his face.

  The troops of his two camps, although they held the outer village, could only barely defend themselves against Chen Jun's attack and were unable to launch a counterattack.

  "What about the third battalion? What about Sun Xinghua's third battalion?" Principal Jiang bellowed angrily, staring at the map.

  He Yingqin lowered his head and said in a low voice: "The third battalion, according to your order, is responsible for the flanking maneuver. When the battle unfolded, the third battalion had already lost contact."

  Chiang Kai-shek's eyebrows furrowed tightly upon hearing He Yingqin's words.

  "How can you command when you can't even contact your own troops?" Chiang looked at He Yingqin, his face filled with anger, especially after hearing He shift the blame onto himself, which made Chiang even more displeased.

  He Yingqin did not dare say anything else, lowering his head and not daring to look directly at Chiang's gaze.

  "Principal Chiang, Chen's troops have stopped attacking us. On the flank of Chen's troops, intense gunfire was heard, which should be the 3rd battalion's troops." Director Zhou walked over from outside and said to Principal Chiang.

  Principal Chiang's eyebrows were tightly furrowed as he walked to the front of the map, looking at the blue line representing Chen's army. His face was expressionless, but one thing was clear: the third battalion had been surrounded by Chen's forces.

  "Order, Chen Cheng's artillery company, in coordination with Liu Zhen's second battalion, to swiftly launch an attack on Chen Jun's troops and rescue Sun Xinghua's third battalion." Principal Chiang fell silent for a moment before rapidly issuing the order.

  He was worried that if time went on, Chen Jun's troops would devour Sun Xinghua's third battalion. Once that happened, it would be too late for regrets.

  "General, Chen Jun's troops have the advantage in numbers and our defense is having difficulties. How can we continue to attack?" Galen muttered, and the interpreter hastily translated Galen's words into Chinese.

  "He Yingqin, carry out the order." Principal Chiang said angrily.

  "Yes, Principal." He Yingqin hastily saluted and ran out towards the outside.

  The Second Battalion, under Liu's command and with the cover of artillery fire, launched more than a dozen attacks in succession, but in front of Chen's numerous troops, Liu's Second Battalion did not gain any advantage.

  The attack lasted for two hours, Liu Zhen's second battalion suffered dozens of casualties, but made no progress. Under the repeated persuasion of his entourage, Chiang Kai-shek reluctantly ordered a retreat, and had Liu Zhen's Second Battalion assist Jin Fuzhuang's First Battalion in defending Cengtang Village.

  "The three battalions are finished." Principal Jiang said helplessly, looking in the direction of the flank.

  The people around all fell silent, they knew that even if the three battalion troops were strong enough, falling into the encirclement of several times more enemies, the probability of survival was zero.

  Are three regiments really finished?

  Heshun Town, Chen Jun Command Post.

  "Rubbish." Wang Dinghua glared at his deputy officer and directly smashed the teacup into pieces.

  The deputy officer hastily retreated several steps, fearing that Wang Dinghua would shift his anger onto himself.

  "A troop of over 3,000 people attacked a village guarded by only a few hundred people and fought for four whole hours without being able to enter the village. Instead, they lost more than 700 men! How are those useless frontline troops fighting? Are they all stupid pigs? Even if they were stupid pigs, can't 3,000 pigs take down one village?" Wang Dinghua shouted loudly in front of the map.

  These more than 6,000 troops were his own forces, while he, Wang Dinghua, was an enemy force absorbed by Chen Jiongming and did not count as one of Chen's own forces. One thing Wang could be sure of: if his own troops were exhausted, he would probably have no status at all with Chen Jiongming.

  But if he didn't fight seriously, Chen Jiongming wouldn't let him off either, and Lin Hu's army of over 10,000 men wouldn't let him live comfortably either.

  "Order the follow-up troops to join the battle. Deploy more than 2,000 people to hold against Huangpu Village, and deploy 4,000 troops to surround and annihilate Huangpu Army. We must annihilate the surrounded Huangpu Army before nightfall." Wang Dinghua said angrily, deploying all of his more than 6,000 troops into the battle at once.

  Wang Dinghua still did not understand the situation at the front line and continued to use the old method of fighting, thinking that as long as there were more people, they could win.

  Inside the village, the 3rd Battalion Headquarters.

  Sun Xinghua looked at the report in front of him, a smile spreading across his face. The four-hour battle had left only a dozen or so soldiers from the three battalions wounded, with no fatalities, while Chen Jun's troops' two outdated cannons were directly blown to scrap metal by the artillery company.

  As for the issue of sending troops to break through, it was directly rejected by Sun Xinghua. Because sending a small number of troops to break through would be suicidal, and sending a large number of troops would reduce the defensive strength in the village. So Sun Xinghua stopped contacting the higher-ups and defended the village with all his might, inflicting heavy casualties on Chen's army.

  "Captain, the attack intensity of Chen Jun's troops has weakened significantly, and their morale has also suffered a heavy blow. Now that we are breaking out, our chances of winning are still very great." Zheng Dongguo walked to Sun Xinghua's side and put forward his own opinion.

  Sun Xinghua shook his head, looking at Zheng Dongguo and said: "Now our troops are stationed here, the location is very good, and we have built fortifications here. Relying on solid fortifications to defend the village, even if Lin Hu's 20,000-strong army comes, wanting to take down our village, it will be a pipe dream in just a few days."

  Sun Xinghua is now ready to make a stand here, waiting for the two wing troops to launch an attack on Chen Jun's troops, and then cooperate with the two wing troops to surround and annihilate Chen Jun's troops.

  However, Sun Xinghua did not know that the right-wing troops of Xu Jizai's brigade, due to the lack of accurate maps, went further and further away, failing to make contact with the enemy, which in turn alleviated the enemy's concerns on the left wing. The Second Instructional Regiment on the right wing arrived at Lihu (now Lihu Town) only to find that the enemy had already moved towards Heshun, rendering their efforts useless.

  By two o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Hu led the main force troops to arrive at the front line and joined the battle.

  For a time, the troops of the First Division were tasked with withstanding the attack of Lin Heng's more than 20,000 soldiers.

  After Lin Hu arrived at Heshun Town, he immediately ordered Wang Dinghua's troops to withdraw from the front line and surround Sun Xinghua's three battalions. Meanwhile, his main force attacked Zengtang Village, which was defended by the First Instruction Team.

  This means that Sun Xinghua's three battalions will face an attack by Wang Dinghua's more than 6,000 troops, and the main force of the First Division stationed in Zengtang Village will face an attack by Lin Hu's more than 10,000 troops.

  The curtain of a great war has been opened, and the First Legion is about to face an enemy ten times our size.