Chapter 46: Annihilating the Reinforcements

  Being able to send a telegram for help from Zhongding City indicates that the reinforcements from Chuxian are not small and may be carrying heavy weapons. Chen Jifan didn't have time to think much before ordering the first company and machine gun platoon to set out immediately to reinforce the Quzhou-Chuzhou highway.

  In the city, a car was found, and Chen Jifan let Li Anju load all the mortars and heavy machine guns onto the vehicle. The soldiers who had been through positional warfare were not afraid of the enemy's attack from a psychological perspective. As soon as they heard that there would be another battle, the soldiers, despite their fatigue, smiled and followed their superiors on the journey.

  Chen Jifan didn't say anything, he just patted Song Guantao's shoulder before they left, "Be careful yourself."

  After seeing off several brigades, only Hu Yunfeng's three companies, Su Jingwei's assault team and Zhao Jun's special warfare squad remained in Quanzhou. The three companies were responsible for patrolling the city to maintain order, fortunately, most people stayed at home at night, so there weren't many people on the streets. Meanwhile, the assault team received orders to catch up on sleep as soon as possible.

  Chen Jifan naturally couldn't sleep, because Special Warfare Squad Leader Zhao Jun led a few people to the temporary command center.

  Xia Xiande brought his own six hundred men and horses to wait outside the city for several hours, personally witnessing the entire process of Quanjiao City being attacked by the troops in front of him. When he heard that the original attacker was actually the "Divine Eagle" unit that had been famous for a long time, he was thrilled. At first, when Xia Xiande was a peasant, he didn't know about this unit, but later when he formed his own team, he gradually heard some rumors about this unit. In fact, anyone who has formed a team, whether it's the Nationalist Party's security regiment, the New Fourth Army's guerrilla force, or the green forest that gathers in the mountains and forests to do business without capital, doesn't know about the "Divine Eagle".

  Xia Xiande said that he couldn't miss the opportunity to meet a hero, and if the other party was trustworthy, he would be willing to bring his team over. Why? Because they were good at fighting against the devils.

  After Xia Xian De entered the city, one of the scenes that left a deep impression on him was that many soldiers were patrolling the streets, and not a single soldier went to knock on the doors of ordinary people. When he walked to the temporary command department, he found that 70 or 80 soldiers were sleeping neatly on the ground, which moved him deeply. In the past, when he was an ordinary person, he often saw the ferocious appearance of the National Army, but now these soldiers entered the city and slept on the streets, the difference was too great.

  Chen Jifang saw this man who dared to organize people to attack the devils' county town, he was quite plain-looking, not very tall, but very sturdy.

  "This must be the commander, I'm Xia Xiande. During the day, my troops attacked the county town but didn't succeed and were killed by the devils. Your army cleaned up the devils in just one night, I came to thank you on behalf of my brothers for avenging us."

  Chen Jifan was aware of this team, before Zhao Jun's telegram to Quan Chai said that a mysterious unit was attacking the county city, it should be him.

  After the exchange of pleasantries, they talked about their respective situations. Chen Jifang couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for the tragic experience of the man in front of him. He stepped forward and shook Xia Xiande's hand, saying: "Don't worry, we will remember your grievances in our hearts, not just yours, but also those of tens of millions of Chinese people. As long as we unite, we will definitely eliminate the devils and avenge ourselves."

  Since the misfortune of his family until today, Xia Xiande has never shed a tear. Now this strong man's tears finally couldn't hold back, he was like seeing a loved one, unreservedly using tears to vent the sadness hidden in his heart for several months.

  Chen Jifan didn't think this man was a coward, on the contrary, he put himself in his shoes and thought that if his own family members were brutally killed by the devils, losing loved ones overnight, he might not be any better than him.

  He silently watched Xia Xiande cry, and when he was almost done, Chen Jifan handed him a handkerchief and asked: "By the way, your weapons are so poor, why do you still risk your lives to attack the county city?"

  "Sir, although I'm a rough man, I wouldn't take the lives of my brothers lightly. We've been cut off from food supplies and after the devils came to our village, they kept going down to the countryside to rob us of our grain. Many people couldn't make ends meet and followed me around. We don't kidnap or become bandits, we just rely on fighting the devils and robbing them of their grain to survive. But it's still not enough to feed the mouths of these 700-800 brothers of mine. Luckily, everyone comes from poor families, so going hungry for a few days isn't a big deal. However, I couldn't bear to see my brothers go hungry without doing something about it. With the encouragement of several brothers, we heard that there are only over 300 devils in the county town, so we thought of taking a risk and making a move. The grain we robbed is all stored in the county town!"

  "Wait a minute, you said your brothers haven't eaten yet?" Chen Jifan asked.

  "It's not just my brothers, many villages nearby have also run out of food. The young and strong go up the mountain to forage for wild food, while the old and weak can only suffer from hunger."

  "Xia Yishi," Chen Jifan paused, "there are indeed 20,000 catties of grain in the county town. Now, hurry up and call some people from outside the city to come in and carry the grain out, first cook it outside to make do with one meal, wait until dawn and we'll divide the grain again, the troops will take some as military rations, and the rest is up to you to distribute to the villagers."

  "Ah?" Xiahende didn't expect it to be like this, one of his purposes for entering the city was to thicken his skin and ask for some grain, but he didn't expect that before he even opened his mouth, others would take the initiative to let him carry grain, and also say they want to distribute the grain to their fellow villagers.

  Xia Xiande wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and turned back to say, "Officer, great kindness doesn't need to be thanked. I'll go notify my brothers to come carry the grain right away. Don't worry, officer, my brothers were originally farmers and know how to show gratitude."

  After Xia Xiande left, Chen Jifan instructed Zhao Jun: "You're in charge of their affairs from now on! Make sure they eat their fill, and we'll talk again when it's daylight. I wonder how things are going with Old Zhong?"

  Things didn't go well on Lao Zhong's side, the devils brought two field battalions with heavy weapons, nearly 500 people. A few months ago, "Shenying" saw that they could only circle around and leave, but today Lao Zhong will lead two companies armed with light weapons to block this enemy force.

  Zhongding City and the second company commander Hu Yunfeng led his men to arrive, the fourth company had already engaged in fire with the devils who came to reinforce, the fourth company was very passive. There was no way not to be passive, being bombarded by artillery shells in turns, heavy machine guns continuously sweeping the position. Fortunately, Shang Changfu's fortifications were well-built, so the casualties caused by the devil's cannon fire were not large.

  The four consecutive times the devils have been repelled, Shang Changfu kept shouting that the better we fight here, the sooner our main force can enter Quzhou City, and when the time comes, all the little devils' things in the city will belong to the troops, and everyone's bullets will be used up.

  The warriors all knew the arduousness of their mission. When fighting against the Pearl Dragon, the 4th Company or the 4th Regiment, they had won victory for the main force at the cost of their own great sacrifice. Shang Changfu said that the regiment commander entrusted us to block the enemy because he trusted the 4th Company, and we cannot tarnish the military flag of the 4th Company.

  Zhongding City did not let the second company directly go to reinforce, but instead selected more than 40 people from the second company, loaded with hand grenades and carrying only two light machine guns, quietly sneaking into the back of the enemy's position at night. Since the weapons in their hands were not automatic, they could not launch a surprise attack like a raiding party, otherwise, their 40 or so men would definitely die at the hands of the devils.

  Zhong Dingcheng and Hu Yunfeng, carrying two machine guns, suddenly threw out hand grenades from behind the enemy's back. Seventy or eighty hand grenades fell from the sky without any warning, exploding in the enemy's position one after another. The first round of explosions immediately triggered a reaction from the enemy, but the enemy's chaotic and disorderly retreat gave the second round of hand grenades the opportunity to strike. More than thirty devils were killed on the spot, and nearly fifty devils were seriously injured. However, the third round of hand grenades could not be thrown again because the enemy had discovered their whereabouts.

  A small team of devils immediately chased after, firing as they went. Zhong Dingcheng ordered the others to quickly retreat under the cover of night, and he and Hu Yunfeng took machine guns to block the rear. The devils were fierce, but under the counterattack of two automatic rifles and two light machine guns, they couldn't get away with it, leaving behind more than 20 corpses before stopping their pursuit.

  Zhongding City They had just withdrawn, and the place where they were hiding was heavily bombarded by the devils' howitzers. The dense shells seemed to want to turn the earth upside down.

  The night raid was successful, and Zhong Dingcheng hastily led his men to withdraw, taking advantage of the enemy's confusion to switch with the 4th Company. The 4th Company had already sacrificed more than 30 soldiers, and the wounded urgently needed to be taken down for treatment.

  The next thing was that the devils again launched an attack under the cover of fierce artillery fire, were beaten back, attacked again, and were beaten back again, with heavy casualties. Until the arrival of the first company, machine gun platoon and mortar platoon.

  The reinforced devils have now decreased from the initial 500 people to less than three hundred, but the devils are not willing to give up and organize a new attack. However, this time they were met with a barrage of mortar shells that exploded continuously among the attacking crowd, almost every shell causing casualties among the devils. When the devils charged close, the reinforced light and heavy machine guns opened fire together, recklessly harvesting the lives of the devils.

  The devils found that there were mortars on this side, and the infantry guns immediately counterattacked, but the mortars had already moved their positions and did not cause any losses.

  This time the attack on the devils resulted in more than sixty casualties. Zhong Dingcheng began to have an extremely bold plan - to annihilate this group of devils.

  To annihilate this group of devils, a unit must be inserted into the rear of the devils to cut off their highway. Now "Divine Eagle" still has more than 300 troops and is not at a disadvantage in firepower. Annihilating these devils is somewhat difficult, but as long as command is proper, it's still manageable.

  The second company took the lead, and the first, fourth companies and machine gun platoon and artillery platoon were ready. The devils seemed to have lost their strength to attack, so Zhong Dingcheng decided to blow up the devils' cars first and block the road. The mortar moved quietly 500 meters away and fired three rounds at the devils' cars, which immediately caught fire and exploded, illuminating the devils' position with a fierce blaze.

  Zhongding City sent a telegram to the headquarters, briefly explaining the battle plan. Chen Jifan's reply was only four words: Must be completely annihilated!

  The devils below seem to have learned the news of Quanbei's occupation, seeing that the attack is not strong, and there are signs of withdrawal. This is exactly what Zhongding City wants. If the devils don't withdraw, even if they are annihilated, it won't be a good thing to go. But now the devils want to run! As long as the devils leave their position, it will be easy to handle.

  The devils withdrew, and at the time of withdrawal, they fired more than a dozen shells at this position. Zhong Dingcheng ordered not to move, waiting for the devils to board the car, anyway, there was the second company in front, he couldn't escape.

  The devils never expected that there was another troop ambushing behind. The news of the fall of Quzhou and the death of more than 300 Imperial warriors, including Captain Ishikawa, made Xuchang extremely angry. Now the top priority is to withdraw and strengthen the forces in Xuchang, and wait for the arrival of the main force of the imperial army before making further plans.

  The defeated devils had traveled less than two kilometers when the car hit a landmine buried in the road. The destroyed vehicle blocked the road, and the frightened devils jumped out of the car and started shooting in all directions. Hu Yunfeng ordered his troops to open fire, and all the weapons of the second company fired at the devils together. The devils' attention was completely drawn to the second company's side.

  As soon as Zhong Dingcheng saw the devils withdrawing, he immediately ordered the entire army to pursue with light equipment. When the gunfire was loud in front, the two companies led by Zhong Dingcheng also sneaked to the back of the devils.

  The devils' formation was in great disorder due to the pincer attack from both sides. Since the infantry guns were still on the vehicles, they couldn't be used, so now the devils only had a few light machine guns and no other firepower support. Now there were only over 100 devils who could fight, while Zhongding City also included lightly wounded soldiers to make up for over 200 people, plus the second company on that side, the ratio of forces was three to one, and it was another pincer attack, this battle would definitely be won without any surprise.

  The battle continued until dawn, and the devils were finally compressed to a section of less than 50 meters on the highway, with paddy fields on both sides of the road, making it impossible to consider breaking through from there.

  The moment of victory finally arrived, when the first ray of sunlight came out from the eastern mountain, the three regiments of "Divine Eagle" launched their final attack on the remaining devils. The devils' terrain was extremely passive, and the narrow highway could not deploy troops at all, being peeled off by the "Divine Eagle" like a corn one layer at a time, leaving only less than fifty people to make a desperate resistance.

  When the "Divine Eagle" rushed in, the devils had already retreated with their bullets, and three people formed a bayonet array. The power of this bayonet array was very great, coupled with the fact that the devils were good at close combat with bayonets. According to Song Guantao, a bayonet array of three men could take down seven or eight National Army soldiers.

  Zhōng Dǐng chéng duān qǐ shǒu zhòng de zì dòng bù qiāng shàng qù jiù shì yī zǐ zi, qí tā jūn guān yě yǒu yàng xué yàng, cāo qǐ bó qiào qiāng shè ji, guǐ zǐ wàn méi xiǎng dào duì miàn zhè xiē zhī nà rén bù jiǎng guī zé, qì jí bài huài de xiǎng zhè biān chōng guò lái.

  More than thirty devils no matter how powerful they were could not defeat the opponent's two or three hundred people, and the battle ended without any suspense.

  Zhongding City led three more battalions, with roughly the same number of troops as the enemy, and annihilated this group of devils. They also paid a huge price, sacrificing 149 people, equivalent to one battalion, and over 200 wounded. However, they captured a car full of shells, four intact infantry guns, and over ten trucks from the devils. Of course, the devils' more than 400 rifles, six machine guns, and countless bullets also fell into the hands of the "Divine Eagle".

  Zhong Ding Cheng ordered a sweep of the battlefield, and all troops loaded up and returned to Quan Qiao.

  "Divine Eagle" after fierce battle, arrived at Quanjiao and annihilated over 800 devils, captured countless weapons and supplies. Caused a whirlwind in the entire Wan Zhong area.