Chapter 3: The Wind Rises in Guangdong Section 36: Battle of Dongguan (2)

  Cao Yuan's arrival means that currently there is only one battalion of the 9th Regiment of Yuan Xia's troops in Dongguan City, and the main force of this regiment is fighting against Zhang Mingda's Guangdong Army in the Shilong and Shitang areas.

  Although he guessed that there were not many troops in Dongguan City, but only one regiment? It was still a bit unexpected for Zhuang Jihua, but Hu Zongnan, Song Xilian and Du Yuming were very excited. Taking down Dongguan was no problem at all.

  Zhuang Jihua then opened the map and began to think. In order to ensure the success of the attack on Dongguan, in addition to instructing the Second Regiment, he also arranged for the First Regiment to advance along the eastern slope of Daling Mountain, via Xiashanmen and Niutou, to attack Dongguan; There was also the Guangdong Army's Zhang Yidong Regiment attacking from the Shigudao direction. The original garrison at Humen, Lin Shuwei's division of the Guangxi Army, deployed defensive positions on the Houjie and Taiping lines, preparing to head north and join the central battlefield at any time. Such a large deployment only annihilated an enemy battalion. Thinking of this, Zhuang Jihua muttered to himself: "A cow knife killing a chicken, it should be a cannon shooting a mosquito."

  "What did you say about the Cultural Revolution?" Cao Yuan hadn't heard Zhuang Jihua's words clearly.

  "You all come and see." After gathering the four people, Zhuang Jihua pointed to the map and said to the four: "Such a large deployment can only wipe out an enemy battalion, it's a bit frustrating."

  Hu Zongnan and others only then realized that so many troops had been mobilized to capture Dongguan, and they couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Cao Yuan suggested reporting the enemy situation to their superiors and revising the battle plan. Zhuang Jihua nodded in agreement.

  Afterwards, Zhuang Jihua wrote a report and had Cao Yuan deliver the captured and wounded soldiers to the battalion headquarters, handing it over to Battalion Commander Wang Jun. At the same time, he asked Cao Yuan to suggest to Wang Jun that while reporting the enemy situation to the regimental headquarters, they should also report to the school headquarters. Here, Zhuang Jihua played a trick, hiding behind the scenes and letting Cao Yuan make the suggestion, so that Wang Boling's suppression could be avoided as much as possible.

  Wang Jun, after reading Zhuang Jihua's report and Cao Yun's explanation, personally interrogated the captives again. After being convinced that the intelligence was accurate, he submitted an enemy situation report to the school headquarters and regimental department. He wasn't stupid either; although Zhuang Jihua didn't show his face, Wang Jun understood what he meant. Although he understood, he was unwilling to be the one to take the lead, so he only reported the enemy situation to his superiors, leaving other matters for them to decide on their own.

  Wang Bailin received the report and didn't say anything, filing it away; but Chiang Kai-shek and Galen were not Wang Bailin.

  Chiang Kai-shek received this report on his way to Longwangbu in the afternoon, and after getting the report, he was suspicious and cursed, "Niang Xipai, one regiment, I mobilized more than 5,000 troops just for this one regiment." He stood there and whipped the tree trunk with a horse whip; he told Yu Jishi: "Go and ask Galen Gu to come, and also tell the radio station to ask Zhang Damin how many enemies are there."

  Soon Zhang Damin wired back a report, stating that the enemy he faced was estimated to be around 800 men, and also reported that the enemy army had been defeated and was advancing towards Hengli. After Galen arrived, Chiang Kai-shek handed over the received report to Galen with an expressionless face. After listening to the translated words, Galen calculated for a moment and said: "The Guangdong Army Zhang Damin's division reported that there were nearly 800 enemies in the Shilongshi area, this intelligence is likely to be accurate."

  Then he took the map, and Chiang Kai-shek also came over. The two of them understood in their hearts that since Dongguan only had one regiment, changing the battle deployment was inevitable. After Galen marked the positions of each regiment, he carefully calculated again and said to Chiang Kai-shek: "General, I think we can let the first and second regiments give up attacking Dongguan City; the first regiment will advance towards Changping via Liangbu, and the second regiment will attack Xiangmu via Shangshanmen, Daling, and Shuixie."

  "Isn't the Second Division's attack distance too far?" Chiang Kai-shek asked doubtfully.

  "The distance between the two troops is quite far, but there's no way around it. Look." Galen drew a line on the map with his hand, which curved through Liangbu, Dongkeng, Changping, Zhangmutou to Shenzhen.

  "General Chiang, the enemy troops in Dongguan can only retreat through two routes. One is to follow the Guangzhou-Kowloon railway southward, and the other is to follow this route southward. Changping and Zhangmutou are key points; besides, if the enemy wants to reinforce Dongguan, they will necessarily come along Zhangmutou and Changping."

  "If the First Battalion can hold off the enemy at Changping, then the Second Battalion will be able to block the enemy's reinforcements at Zhangmutou; if the enemy is entrenched at Changping, then the Second Battalion will become a dagger thrust into the enemy's rear."

  After listening to Galen's words, Chiang Kai-shek was still somewhat uneasy: "Can the Second Regiment arrive on time?"

  "It depends on whether the second battalion can arrive at Zhangmu on time."

  "What if a single regiment cannot stop the enemy, and the enemy does not follow the usual rules?"

  "If so, it can only be considered their good fortune."

  Chiang Kai-shek thought for a moment and made up his mind, ordering changes in the deployment of troops.

  Intelligence shows that the Dongguan garrison is less than one battalion, and the enemy's main force was defeated by Zhang Mingda's division of the Guangdong Army in the Shilong Stone Beach area. The Dongguan garrison has signs of escaping south through Jingmen to Changping, so our combat plan has been changed as follows:

  1. Instruct the troops to march from Xingning to Changping via local roads, striving to capture Changping before the enemy; if Changping is occupied by the enemy, join forces with Guangdong Army's Zhang Dameng's division to attack Changping.

  2. The Second Regiment will be instructed to advance from the current location via Shangshanmen, Daling, and Shuiwei to attack Zhangmutou; arrive at Zhangmutou within two days.

  3. The Guangdong Army's Zhang Wo Dong Regiment is responsible for attacking Dongguan and must capture it by tomorrow.

  4. Kwei's detachment continues to be on guard against the enemy in the direction of Pao-an.

  When the regiment received the order, it was not far from the designated departure point of Niushan. From Niushan to Liaobu, there were more than ten kilometers away. Regimental Commander He Yingqin immediately ordered the troops to turn east and advance towards Liaobu. The 1st Regiment quickly advanced towards Liaobu, with the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion led by Jiang Xianyun as the vanguard of the entire regiment.

  It is said that the enemy in Dongguan is wavering and about to flee south, the whole army's morale has greatly increased, with a forced march speed advancing towards Laos, ten or more kilometers of road, arrived in just two hours.

  When the vanguard arrived at Liao Bu, they found that inside Liao Bu Town, chickens were flying and dogs were jumping, it was noisy everywhere, and from time to time, people were fleeing from the town. The squad leader immediately led the team to hide in a small forest outside the town and then immediately reported to Captain Luo Kai Ping: "There is enemy situation in Liao Bu."

  Upon receiving the report from the vanguard team, Company Commander Luo Kai-ping and Party Representative Jiang Xian-yun immediately rushed over, and the troops also immediately entered combat readiness. Just as Luo Kai-ping was observing, the vanguard squad leader brought over a fellow villager in his thirties with a child of seven or eight years old. The villager told Luo Kai-ping that a group of soldiers had come to the town and were looting; Luo Kai-ping immediately realized it might be the remnants from Dongguan, and he quickly asked the villager if he knew where this group of soldiers came from and how many there were. The villager said they entered the town from the north, with about a hundred people.

  This made Luo Ruiqing certain that the enemy was from Dongguan. The enemy's movements were very fast, and although Chiang Kai-shek's response was already quite quick, the enemy somehow managed to arrive at Lao Bu almost simultaneously with them.

  Luo Kai-ping decided to fight, this group of enemies was a flock of frightened birds, and it was impossible for them to have the will to fight. "Fight!" Jiang Xianyun hated this army that harmed civilians very much, his political education after joining the company mainly talked about loving the people, and dealt heavily with behavior that harassed civilians, the military discipline of the 4th company was one of the best in the school.

  Luo Kai-ping nodded and said firmly: "Fight." Then he called the three platoon leaders, ordered the second and third platoons to launch an attack on the town, with the first platoon advancing to stand guard. Luo Kai-ping reminded the leader of the first platoon, Wang Gong-liang, that there were only about a hundred enemy soldiers here, and the enemy army from Dongguan had a whole battalion, while other enemy forces were likely still behind, so they must choose their defensive positions carefully, otherwise they might not only fail to hold off the enemy but also be attacked by the enemy from both sides. Wang Gong-liang loudly promised not to let the enemy outside the town enter.

  Then Luo Kai-ping led the second and third rows to sneak into the town quietly, this enemy did not expect to meet the instructional team here, and since there were still their troops behind, they didn't even put up a sentry post. The soldiers were scattered all over the town, and the officers didn't know where they went either.

  After entering the town, Luo Kai-ping and Jiang Xian-yun divided their troops into two routes, each leading a squad, and launched a simultaneous attack from both sides. Jiang Xian-yun led the third squad to the right, while Luo Kai-ping led the second squad to the left. Both of them were walking at the front of their respective teams with carbines slung over their shoulders, seemingly carefree.

  They hadn't gone far when they saw two soldiers sitting at the corner of the wall resting. Hearing a commotion from this side, one of them opened his eyes to take a look and found that it was a group of soldiers with red ribbons approaching him. The officer in charge was staring at him, so he instinctively grabbed his gun, but his arm was held back. Then he heard someone shouting "Officer, spare our lives!" He immediately came to his senses, realizing that if his comrade hadn't held him back, he would have probably seen the King of Hell already. So he quickly knelt down, holding his gun above his head and shouted: "Officer, spare our lives!"

  Just then there was a gunshot from the opposite side, and the two of them shuddered. After a while, they found out that nothing had happened to them, but several soldiers who came out of the alley were shot dead. From these few gunshots, the town was filled with gunfire.

  Luo Kai-ping grabbed the soldier who was kowtowing and loudly asked, "Where is your superior officer?" The soldier stammered and pointed to the teahouse in front. Luo Kai-ping pushed him aside and waved his hand, ordering the second squad leader Li Xian-zhou to lead the team in a fan-shaped formation towards the teahouse. Several bullets were fired from the window on the second floor, and two soldiers immediately fell down. The others quickly took cover. Luo Kai-ping shouted, "Machine gun!" The machine gunner quickly aimed at the second floor and fired a burst of shots. Then Li Xian-zhou ordered the soldiers to charge up.

  Jiang Xianyun also launched a counterattack on the right flank, and enemy soldiers poured out from all directions. After being dispersed, they fled in disarray towards the outskirts of the town, with no ability to fight back.

  Li Xianzhou brought down the enemy company commander not long after, and a burst of gunfire came from behind. Luo Kai Ping knew that one row had fired outside, he looked at the town and estimated that the enemy could no longer organize effective resistance. He then said to Li Xianzhou: "I'll take a squad and machine gun to support the first row, you hurry up and clear out the enemies in the town." After finishing speaking, Luo Kai Ping took the machine gun and a squad of men and ran towards the outside of the town.

  Luo Kai-ping's judgment was accurate, the follow-up troops of the Dongguan escape enemy arrived and were in a row with the town on fire. The enemy's offensive was somewhat disorganized, and after shooting for a while, they retreated. Luo Kai-ping found Wang Gong-liang, who was lying on the side of the grave mound, firing at the retreating enemy.

  "A whole row of them, how is it, how many enemies are there?"

  "About one hundred and seventy-eight. Fortunately, they can't rush over. Battalion Commander, how's the town?" Wang Gongliang looked at Luo Kai Ping and replied loudly.

  "The enemy in the town has become a loose sand, and Wushan will soon be able to end the battle." Luo Kai-ping said, turning around to order the machine gunner to set up the machine gun on top of the mound. To be honest, Wang Gong-liang had found a pretty good spot, which could just block the road into the town.

  The enemy in front of us quickly charged under the organization of the officer, and this time the enemy's determination seemed to be very big. When the enemy rushed to about 100 meters away, Luo Kai Ping raised his gun and aimed at a soldier, firing a shot, and saw that the soldier fell to the ground with a thud. He didn't like the recoilless rifle, which shook too much and was difficult to aim at, but this time his luck seemed to be good.

  The machine gunner immediately opened fire, and the enemy seemed to have not expected a sudden burst of gunfire, and they panicked all at once. Several people turned around and ran towards the back, but soon, the ones running in front were shot dead by the officer. The officer waved his pistol loudly and shouted, which made the already shaken enemy regain their courage and charge towards this side again.

  The warrior's rifle killed two more, and the enemy fell motionless again. The officer behind continued to shout loudly to boost morale. Luo Kai Ping was somewhat angry, grabbed a nearby soldier's gun, estimated the distance, moved the sight back two grids, took aim, held his breath, and lightly pulled the trigger. With a crisp gunshot, that officer also fell down.

  "Damn it, you're lucky." Luo Kai Ping knew that his shot hadn't killed the officer, only wounded him.

  After the officer's shout disappeared, the machine gun's rattling sound made those soldiers even more terrified and dared not to attack.

  The gunfire in the town gradually subsided and moved further away, the soldiers on the opposite side were almost desperate, but just then an even more desperate voice came from the flank.

  "Honk..." A sudden, urgent bugle call came from the flank and rear of the enemy army, followed by a chorus of battle cries. A large group of soldiers with red ribbons tied to their arms, holding gleaming bayonets, charged forward.

  On February 1st, the Dongguan garrison was annihilated in Liao Bu.