Chapter 9: The Collision of Great Han Soul and "Great Harmony Soul" (Part 1)
At 4 am, in the living room of the headquarters of Cheng Jiaji's detachment in Dawangzhuang, under the dim and flickering light of the kerosene lamp, Xu Zude and Pang Bingxun were sitting upright and listening to the sound of gunfire that had been going on for half the night. The expressions on their faces grew increasingly solemn.
Although everyone present, except for Pang Bingxun, are non-combatant staff generals, having been in the army for so many years, they must have seen their fair share of battles. The intense gunfire and artillery sounds from the front lines at Zhuangkou have been going on for four hours now, not only showing no signs of stopping but also growing more ferocious by the minute. Yu Juncai has once again ordered the lightly wounded soldiers and a small number of personnel from Pang's army to leave and join the battle under the name of Cheng Jiaji. Even if Cheng Jiaji didn't complain again, everyone knew in their hearts that Cheng's detachment was probably on the verge of being completely wiped out. If Cheng's detachment is defeated, then relying on Xu's chief of staff bringing a majority of new recruits from Guangxi who are not very reliable, the guard company would be unable to withstand anything.
Today, among the people in Dawangzhuang, the most anxious and disheartened ones are these empty-headed generals with few soldiers under their command. Programmers like Cheng Jiaji and Yu Juncai, who are mid-to-low-level officers, are at the center of the chaos and can't think about anything else. As for ordinary soldiers, they wouldn't even think about anything other than surviving on the battlefield. But these generals, who should be high above, have fully tasted the helplessness in this not-so-large-scale battle. The saying "soldiers are the general's guts" is now deeply understood by all of them - no matter how prestigious their position is, a general without soldiers under his command is not a true general. Even if they had just one or two more regiments under their command, they wouldn't be stuck here waiting anxiously!
"The combat effectiveness of Cheng Zhi's team is indeed extraordinary, it seems that Xia Yun has invested enough in this little nephew! The Japanese have not yet entered the village after four hours of fighting!" Unexpectedly, Pang Bingxun, who was usually silent and taciturn, spoke up first.
To be honest, Pang Bingxun was amazed that Cheng Jiaji's troops could withstand the Japanese attack for so long. As a veteran of 40 years who had fought against almost all warlords in China and had clashed with the Japanese army in the bloody battle of Linyi, Pang Bingxun had a deep understanding of the firepower, equipment, tactics, and combat effectiveness of both sides. If any of his third army corps' regiments were to face an attack by at least one battalion of Japanese troops, Pang Bingxun wondered which of his regiments could withstand such a fierce assault for so long. This realization filled the old general with a sense of sadness, wondering when his own troops would become even weaker than Xia Weiwen's forces.
At the time of the Central Plains War, Xia Weimin was nominally his subordinate. As for Xia Weimin's troops, which were a third-rate unit reorganized from Lu Yongxiang's Zhejiang Army, he had some understanding of their combat effectiveness, which was far inferior to that of his own Northwestern Army. However, after seven or eight years, not to mention other things, just the fighting power of Cheng Jiaji's detachment, equivalent to a small regiment, seemed much stronger than his own main force regiment. Although his troops had been downsized and their combat effectiveness had shrunk dramatically over the past few years, compared to the Temporary 16th Army, which was also converted into a security force after the Central Plains War and upgraded to a regular army just a few months ago, there was such an obvious gap in combat effectiveness. This couldn't help but make this old general, who had been a soldier all his life, feel depressed. In his heart, he wanted to say that if he had known about today's situation, he would rather not have betrayed Old General Feng back then. At least now, he could have a place for his troops within the 29th Route Army, and wouldn't have been slowly weakened by the Military Commission to the point where they were today.
"The combat effectiveness of the Chengzhi detachment is not weak, but the Japanese have been attacking almost continuously for four hours, and dawn is approaching. The Japanese attack will only become more frenzied, and the Chengzhi detachment is not at an advantage in terms of troop strength compared to a Japanese regiment. After fighting all night, they may not be able to hold on much longer."
Everyone who heard this was speechless and at a loss for words. This situation was clear to everyone present, but the reinforcements from the 59th Army would not arrive for some time, and there was no news of the cavalry that had lost contact with Cheng's brigade. They had plenty of strategies in mind, but without any troops, they were useless.
The door to the living room was pushed open, and Gao Shiying walked into the room filled with generals. Facing the flashing stars in front of him, he, a newly promoted lieutenant, couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. After hesitating for a moment, Gao Shiying gave a standard military salute to the generals and opened his mouth, looking slightly tense: "Gentlemen, the battle between our army and the Japanese at Qianzhuang has reached a white-hot state. Our casualties are heavy, and the Japanese may break through into Zhuangzi at any time. Commander Cheng ordered me to lead all personnel from the detachment and the guard company to participate in the battle at Qianzhuang. Commander Cheng asked me to convey a message to you: if Qianzhuang is breached, our detachment will fight to the last man with the Japanese. Please, gentlemen, under the protection of the guard company, break through the weak link of the Japanese army and escape." After finishing his words, Gao Shiying stood at attention for a moment before turning around and leaving without waiting for any response from the generals in the room. He couldn't afford to worry about these formalities now. News from Qianzhuang had reported that the defenders were already more than half dead or wounded, with fewer than 300 men remaining. Commander Cheng, who was known for his cautiousness, had reportedly clashed with the Japanese several times with bayonets, according to the messenger who brought the order. The battle at Houzhuang was not as brutal as Qianzhuang, but Wen Congyuan's unit had also suffered heavy losses against the Japanese company. This couldn't be blamed on Wen Congyuan's incompetence; his regiment was far inferior to Yu Juncai's in terms of numbers and combat strength. Moreover, the Japanese had employed a suicidal meatball attack tactic that caught everyone off guard. Under the sudden attack, Wen Congyuan's regiment suffered heavy casualties, with nearly an entire company wiped out by the Japanese meatballs. However, Wen Congyuan proved himself to be Commander Cheng's most loyal subordinate. Despite his own unit suffering over 50% casualties and being on the verge of collapse, he still managed to scrape together a full-strength platoon from the remnants of two companies and send it to the detachment headquarters under Gao Shiying's command to join forces with him in relieving Commander Cheng's siege.
When Gao Shiying led his motley crew of about 130-140 men forward to Qianzhuang under the enemy's artillery fire, the battle in Qianzhuang had reached its most tragic and desperate moment.
