Chapter 36: The Battle of Xikou (5)

  During the Republic of China period, a considerable number of high-ranking military officers had complex experiences, and Tao Guang, the commander of the 62nd Division, was no exception.

  Tao Guang is a native of Liling, Hunan Province. At the age of 18, he went to a porcelain shop to learn painting on porcelain. If it weren't for the tumultuous era at the beginning of the 20th century, Tao Guang's cleverness might have made him a master craftsman of his generation. However, the turbulent times swept Tao Guang into the tide of revolution. He successively attended the Beijing Constabulary School and the Nanjing Jiangnan Military Academy, graduating to serve as a staff officer under General Cai E, commander of the National Protection Army. During the Northern Expedition, he was a regimental commander, leading his troops in fierce battles at Tingzi Bridge, Hesheng Bridge, and Wuchang, earning great military merit and rising through the ranks to become a brigade commander and division commander. At that time, he was also a vanguard of the revolutionary army, but unfortunately later participated in the encirclement campaign against the Central Red Army with He Jian, almost always taking part in battles, becoming a pioneer in suppressing communism. Especially Tao Guang continuously commanded the pursuit and suppression of the Sixth Red Army Corps, making him a standard example of an evil white dog head in the eyes of Red Army soldiers.

  Historically, Tao Guang was promoted to Major General of the 28th Army in 1935 for his contributions in suppressing the Red Army. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Tao led his troops to participate in the Battle of Shanghai and engaged in a fierce battle with Japanese landing forces at Jinshanwei. He was later promoted to Deputy Commander of the Group Army and conducted guerrilla warfare in the Zhejiang-Western Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area, coordinating well with the New Fourth Army. However, due to his unwillingness to participate in the Anhui Incident, he was suspected by Chiang Kai-shek and many of his troops were transferred away. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he retired and lived in seclusion in Hangzhou. On the eve of liberation, he was arrested for participating in Li Jishen's anti-Chiang activities but was rescued from prison by Cheng Qian's camp. After liberation, he followed Song Shilun to Shanghai to visit Chen Yi, Commander-in-Chief, and passed away in 1951.

  But all this may change with the arrival of Liu Yimin.

  At this time, Tao Guang's heart was filled with a mixture of emotions.

  Early this morning, Tao Guang received a command from Commander Liu Jianxu to order the 62nd Division and the 16th Division to intercept the Red Bandits in the Tongdao area.

  Compared to the idea of rushing for credit with Zhang Jingyao, the newly promoted division commander, Tao Guang's thinking was a bit more complicated. As a veteran general of the Xiang Army, he considered how to both eliminate the Red Army and maintain the interests of the small Xiang Army group. Tao Guang believed that as long as they blocked the Red Army and did not allow it to merge with He Long's troops in the north, it would be enough, and whether the Red Army went to Guizhou or somewhere else was a matter for Chiang Kai-shek and the Central Army to consider. The task of the Xiang Army should be to quickly eliminate the red bandits in western Hunan, He Long and Xiao Ke's troops. This idea Tao Guang had explicitly stated when Chiang Kai-shek appointed He Jian as the commander-in-chief of the pursuit and suppression army, and He Jian also deeply agreed with it. However, under the driving force of thoroughly eliminating the Red Army and building a great achievement, the high-level Xiang Army still formed a consensus to eliminate Zhu Mao's Red Army first and then return to eliminate He Long's troops in western Hunan. He Jian specially convened an oath-taking ceremony for his inauguration as the commander-in-chief of the suppression army, and the Xiang Army generals were overjoyed, clenching their fists and rubbing their palms together. On the one hand, they launched a propaganda campaign to deceive the people; on the other hand, they mobilized their main forces to rush out and kill their way to the Xiang River. As a result, in the Battle of the Xiang River, 100,000 Xiang Army troops clashed on the front line, and although they paid a huge price in casualties, they still allowed the Red Army to break through the encirclement.

  Although the Red Army is now a weak and exhausted army, Tao Guang did not have the arrogance of Zhang Liangji and Xiang 16th Division. Therefore, after receiving the order, he divided his troops into two parts, Wang Yuying's brigade as the vanguard, and Zhong Guoren's brigade as the rear support. Once the vanguard encountered the main force of the Red Army, Zhong's brigade could quickly respond; similarly, if Zhong's brigade encountered the main force of the Red Army, Wang's brigade could return to rescue them. Unexpectedly, his deployment, which he thought was a clever move, gave Liu Yimin an opportunity to take advantage of.

  Just now when Hu Lao Hu began to intercept the 62nd Division's cavalry company, Tao Guang did not take it seriously. The sound of gunfire was only about forty or fifty people, and there was only one light machine gun. His years of experience fighting against the Red Army told him that this must be a rearguard unit of the main force of the Red Army. These people had been thoroughly redified, ferocious and fearless of death, daring to launch an attack on the 62nd Division with just a few dozen people, it was simply seeking death.

  Seeing Zhong Guangren directing the vanguard, Tao Guang was completely at ease. He didn't want to comment on the combat effectiveness of other National Army troops, but he had a good grasp of his own 62nd Division's fighting strength. He believed in his troops and trusted General Zhong Guangren's abilities.

  Things quickly went wrong, Tao Guang saw his mortar position destroyed at the rear of the marching column, then heard intense machine gun fire from the mountain in front, followed by Zhong Guangren's order to retreat. Tao Guang immediately realized that something was amiss and that he might have run into the main force of the Red Army.

  Tao Guang immediately ordered the radio station to start, reporting to Commander Liu Jianxu of the First Army that they had encountered the main force of the Red Army and requesting reinforcements; ordering Wang Yuying's brigade to return immediately to rescue. Still uneasy, he again ordered the radio station to contact the 16th Division, asking them to move towards him immediately and attack the Red Army in a pincer movement.

  After the war, many people in the National Army blamed Tao Guang's order, thinking that it was his order that led to the annihilation of Wang Yuying's brigade and the main force of the 63rd Division. However, some radical journalists did not think so, among them a journalist named Sanwen wrote: As a commander, Tao Guang reported the enemy situation to a higher-level commander and requested reinforcements when encountering the enemy's main force, which was a matter of course. Ordering his own vanguard brigade to retreat also made sense. The problem is not whether Tao Guang's order was correct or not, but who can violate the iron law that "those who kill will always be killed". Since the Xiang Army had the courage to drive the Red Army into the Xiangjiang River to feed the fish, they should have the consciousness to stretch their heads and take the knife. As the saying goes, "heavenly justice is clear, and retribution is not late!"

  Just as Tao Guang's troops were seeking reinforcements, the two regiments that had been attacking the front hill and the east side of the highway had collapsed. The soldiers who escaped from the slope swarmed onto the highway, in a state of complete disarray and loss of organization.

  The battalion commander, who was ordered to organize the troops for a blocking operation, jumped up and cursed loudly: "Son of a turtle, what are you panicking about? Haven't you ever fought before? Get down and fire, get down and fire, all of you get down and fire for me!"

  The enemy commander had just finished speaking, and the Red Army's mortar shells landed on the heads of Xiang Army soldiers on the highway. The dense crowd was so crowded that one shell fell, and four or five mutilated bodies flew into the air; dozens of shells fell together, bringing up a sky full of blood mist.

  The Xiang Army soldiers were completely blown away, no one listened to the officer's command, and it was impossible for them to think about lying down or shooting. The old soldiers in their hearts scolded the regimental commander who ordered them to lie down and shoot: "Joke, those are cannonballs, can you safely lie down? You try resisting by lying down for me to see?" All the soldiers basically had only one word in their minds: run. So, the chaotic soldiers swarmed, shouted, and fled along the way they came. A blind military officer tried to stop the soldiers from fleeing, just as he was about to use his pistol to shoot the leading fugitives, he was pushed to the ground by the crowd and trampled into a bloody pulp.

  This was enough for Li Chang and his artillerymen to indulge in a good laugh.

  Li Chang had studied artillery in the Soviet Union, but at that time, the Red Army's conditions did not allow him to open fire like this! Only the 18th Regiment of the Red Army, and only Liu Yimin's theory that if it could be solved with shells, they would never solve it with bullets; if it could be solved with bullets, they would never solve it with hand grenades; and if it could be solved with hand grenades, they would never solve it with bayonets, could allow Li Chang, who was deeply influenced by the Soviet artillery doctrine, to make a big show.

  In this way, Li Chang commanded his mortar group, and the four mortars assigned to the 4th and 5th battalions on the other side of Li Qing responded remotely, chasing after the fleeing Xiang Army soldiers, wherever they gathered, they bombarded them, until the Xiang Army on the highway was devastated, with no whole body left, completely destroying the fighting will of the Xiang Army soldiers.

  Tao Guang and Zhong Guangren stood by the roadside, staring blankly at the chaotic retreating soldiers in front of them, as if they didn't recognize that this was their own army.

  Originally, Zhong Guangren had ordered the Traveling Police Guard Regiment to protect the division and brigade headquarters as they retreated, and had also commanded the Rear Guard Battalion to turn around and occupy key points to cover the retreat of the troops. However, he did not expect that his own main force would collapse so quickly, without waiting for the division and brigade headquarters to retreat, nor waiting for the Rear Guard Battalion to occupy key points, the defeated soldiers rushed up, directly disrupting the marching formation of the Police Guard Regiment and the Rear Guard Battalion. By the time he joined forces with Tao Guang, the defeated soldiers had already swept away the Rear Guard Battalion, the Traveling Police Guard Regiment, and the division's direct-affiliated units along the highway in a chaotic retreat, as for the division headquarters, brigade headquarters, and logistical supplies, no one was in charge of them anymore.

  Tao Guang's eight-character mustache is shaking, is this still the elite he trained himself? It's simply a group of bandits! No, not even as good as bandits.

  It's actually true that Tao Guang was right. After the Nationalist Party retreated to Taiwan, they reflected on their defeat and summarized the lessons learned. A military theorist concluded that one of the main reasons for the National Army's failure was its bandit-like behavior. He believed that the National Army could only win battles, not lose them. Once they lost a battle, their troops would collapse, and often, in just one retreat, tens of thousands of soldiers would disperse completely. The Central Army exhibited this characteristic more prominently than the miscellaneous army. What this military theorist said was correct, and high-ranking National Army generals who retreated to Taiwan also acknowledged that the National Army's way of fighting was similar to that of bandits - when they had the upper hand, they would charge forward with loud shouts, but as soon as they suffered a setback, they would immediately scatter like birds and beasts. The current 62nd Division is just like this.

  Indignant and ashamed, he was at a loss for words, unable to express his emotions.

  The bugle call of the Red Army on the mountain top has blown loudly, and the Red Army who came down from the front of the mountain to attack from behind and those who came down from the eastern slope to intercept have all reached the highway. However, they were all left behind by the fleeing soldiers, only cannonballs could keep up with the pace of the fleeing soldiers, constantly exploding above their heads, each cannon shot taking away several lives.

  Zhong Guangren was puzzled, where did the Red Bandits get so many recoilless guns and why were they so accurate. He didn't know that these guns belonged to the 16th Division of Hunan, most of the gunners were well-trained soldiers from the Guangxi Army and the Hunan Army, but now they are Red Army soldiers, new soldiers eager to make achievements, naturally hitting the Hunan Army is a sure hit.

  Tao Guang's heart was as sharp as a knife, and it seemed that his military career was about to come to an end. He looked at the retreating soldiers with a sense of reluctance, raised his pistol, and aimed it at his own temple.

  Zhong Guangren, who was standing beside him, hastily snatched the pistol from Tao Guang's hand, his eyes brimming with tears, and shouted: "Master, as long as the green mountain is still there, we don't have to worry about having no firewood to burn!"

  "We're done for!" Tao Guang sighed.

  Zhong Guangren saw Tao Guang's gloomy mood, beckoned with one hand, and the remaining guards rushed up together, lifted Tao Guang and ran away, joining the fleeing troops. As for the radio station, it was no longer a concern.

  In front is Beishan Village, rush through the village, and I guess the red bandits won't be able to catch up. The defeated soldiers' footsteps are getting faster and faster.

  Under the half stone wall of Cun Kou, Lei Meng, the commander of the 6th battalion of the 18th regiment, looked at the defeated troops of the 62nd division with a cold eye. At this moment, Lei Meng could see through the battlefield situation: The Xiang army had been thoroughly defeated, the troops were scattered, the howitzer was destroyed, the light and heavy machine guns were abandoned, the logistics supplies were abandoned, some soldiers even threw away their rifles and grenades because they thought they would affect their running speed. Lei Meng's conclusion was that this was a group of sheep waiting to be slaughtered!

  Look, the defeated soldiers have rushed to the village entrance and are now under our guns. Lei Meng's mouth utters a curse that Liu Yimin used during the ambush at Xiao Shui, "stupid cunt". He raises his hand and fires a shot. The battlefield erupts in gunfire as five heavy machine guns and nine light machine guns form a web of fire that envelops the defeated soldiers, causing them to fall to the ground with a thud.

  The routed soldiers, seeing that the road ahead was impassable, became even more chaotic. Some turned their heads and ran back, some turned around and climbed up the mountain on the east side of the highway, while others started jumping down from the highway to run towards the flat ground on the opposite side.

  Soon, the fleeing soldiers realized that wherever they ran was a dead end. Those who ran back were met with the muzzles of the pursuing Red Army guns, those who ran up the mountain slope were beaten back to the highway by the Sixth Regiment's Second Battalion, and those who ran into the fields on the west side of the highway were shot by the machine guns of the Sixth Regiment's Third Battalion like a drunk stumbling around.

  Listening to the echoes of "Lay down your arms, we won't kill you; the Red Army treats prisoners well" ringing out across the mountains and fields, seeing the dense crowds of Red Army troops gathering around them, the defeated soldiers of the 62nd Division, who were familiar with the ways of the Red Army, knew that there was only one posture that could save their lives: kneeling on the ground with both hands raised.

  Tao Guang and Zhong Guangren were also among the fleeing soldiers. Looking at the postures of his own soldiers and the approaching Red Army soldiers with their black gun muzzles, Tao Guang's eyes dropped two murky tears, muttered a sentence "Time, luck, fate", threw down his pistol, and raised his hands.