Chapter Fifty-two: Interference
Chiang Kai-shek, upon learning of Liu's defeat and retreat, was thoroughly disappointed in him. He immediately ordered Hu Zongnan to stop attacking the Soviet Zone so that he could concentrate his forces against the 15th Red Army Corps which seemed reluctant to leave Hangzhou. Chiang also feared that Hu would again disobey orders as he had done before, so while ordering him to advance northward at once, he also instructed him to take command of Liu's remaining troops.
Although Wei Lihuang was very disappointed that the "bandit suppression" campaign had been abandoned halfway, under Chiang Kai-shek's pressure and persuasion, he still went north to take over and reorganize Liu Zhi's defeated army. However, given Wei Lihuang's cautious military style, it would have taken at least ten days to half a month for him to lead his troops to Hangzhou. This made Chiang Kai-shek extremely anxious, as the Red Army had occupied Hangzhou but had yet to be eliminated, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to his prestige. If local warlords took advantage of the situation and caused trouble, he would really have to worry. Especially in the past two days, the Japanese ambassador had come to protest and demand compensation several times, threatening to send troops to "assist" in the suppression campaign, which made Chiang Kai-shek furious...
What really made the old Chiang feel at ease was the return of Xue Yue's 200,000 elite troops who had been pursuing the Central Red Army. At least Nanjing and Shanghai were now safe. In fact, Xue Yue gave up pursuing the Central Red Army because the Red Army had ventured into the legendary Ji Jin Mountain, where even birds could not fly over. The Nationalist army was stunned, and no one dared to follow them again. Moreover, as soon as the warlords in Sichuan saw the threat from the Red Army lifted, they began to squeeze out Xue Yue's Central Army. Xue Yue had no choice but to withdraw his troops back east with a heavy heart. Chiang Kai-shek was not very satisfied with this outcome, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The reinforcements added to the Yangtze River Delta region, which was severely short of troops, included Hu Zongnan's First Army and Sun Lianzhong's troops, who had been ordered to move to southern Anhui earlier. Chiang Kai-shek could finally sleep soundly.
After that, the National Army suspended all offensives, but instead caught the attention of Hu Weidong and Su Yu. In order to disrupt the enemy's steady reinforcements and also to gain a buffer zone, Hu Weidong divided his forces and quickly occupied several counties around Hangzhou that had long been unguarded by the National Army, putting on a show of preparing to stay in Hangzhou for a long time. This time, Old Chiang finally couldn't sit still. However, at this moment, the only troops that could immediately rush to Hangzhou and were strong enough to guarantee not being easily defeated by the Red 15th Army were the Central Military Academy's Instructional General Headquarters. But German advisor General Alexander von Falkenhausen strongly opposed Chiang sending this elite force to the battlefield, because even an ordinary soldier in this unit would be a future National Army officer, and letting them die as soldiers would be a crime. When surrounding the Central Soviet Area, he had strongly opposed it despite having a high chance of winning, let alone this time when the situation was much more difficult. However, Chiang still insisted on his own views, because he had to show sufficient strength to the various domestic factions, otherwise if those local warlords were also encouraged to rise up against the central government, the situation would be even more uncontrollable. Nevertheless, the Instructional General Headquarters, which Chiang had high hopes for, fell into the encirclement of the main force of the Red 15th Army due to a leaked National Army telegram...
But the Instruction Corps was indeed the Instruction Corps, although it was surrounded by the superior forces of the 15th Red Army and had some inferior equipment (although the Instruction Corps' equipment was excellent, after all, it was only a division-level unit). Even its formation was disrupted again by the "side-by-side encirclement" tactics repeatedly employed by the 15th Red Army, forcing the officers and soldiers to fight separately. After several days of fierce battle, the 15th Red Army still failed to eliminate all the enemy forces within the encircled area, but instead suffered more than 10,000 casualties itself, with ammunition consumption reaching a new high since its establishment.
"No, we can't fight like this. We can't just fight a war of annihilation for the sake of it. After all, there are still Japanese people lurking around, and the situation is completely different from that during the Liberation War. The importance of 'development' far outweighs that of 'annihilating the enemy'. If a battle cannot strengthen our own power, then we shouldn't fight it.
The Teaching Regiment is a very special unit, and its ordinary soldiers will all become officers in the future. It's extremely difficult to transform them, which means that continuing this battle will definitely be a loss, with the only difference being how much of a loss. Considering our future resistance war, our current goals are to develop and protect ourselves. Therefore, it's enough to defeat the Teaching Regiment and make it unable to threaten us for a period of time. There's no need to fight to the death like we did during the Liberation War when we annihilated the 74th Brigade at all costs, which would only lead to unnecessary casualties and waste too much ammunition."
Hu Weidong suddenly came to his senses and immediately took back command from Su Yu. He then ordered the surrounding troops to open up a gap, and the Teaching Regiment saw that they had a way out. Their determination to fight to the death dissipated, and they fled in all directions. The 15th Red Army pursued them, annihilating most of the enemy army, while their own losses decreased significantly compared to when they were surrounding the enemy..."
Su Yu and Hu Weidong each commanded half of the troops, and the result was quite satisfactory. However, in general, it's a hurtful practice to delegate command authority only to suddenly withdraw it. Fortunately, Su Yu had a generous heart, or else the two might have developed animosity towards each other afterwards.
Another advantage of Su Yu's was that he never avoided illness or hid from doctors, and he could admit his mistakes. After listening to Hu Weidong's analysis, he also believed that his emphasis on "annihilating the enemy" did not match the current situation of the Red 15th Army being surrounded by strong enemies. Although Hu Weidong's command ability was average, his strategic vision was better than Su Yu's. It was undeniable!
After this battle, the cooperation between Hu Weidong and Su Yu became more and more seamless, gradually forming a golden partnership that made any enemy feel intimidated...
Hu Weidong's intervention not only changed the course of this battle, but also caused the Nationalist Army's First Army, which was rushing to reinforce, to crash head-on into a brick wall. The Red Fifteenth Army, now freed from other battles, concentrated its entire force of over 100,000 men against Hu Zongnan's single army, making it an easy and pleasant victory. This time, Su Yu finally had the satisfaction of winning a decisive battle. After intense fighting, the entire army took less than two days to completely crush the resistance of Hu Zongnan's First Army at the cost of over 5,000 casualties, killing or capturing over 30,000 Nationalist soldiers. Although Hu Zongnan managed to break through with his troops' protection, when he saw that his "number one army in the land" was now reduced to less than a thousand men, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with grief and burst into tears on the spot.
By this time, the Red Fifteenth Army had won five battles in a row, killing or capturing over 100,000 enemy soldiers. The wealthy people of Nanjing and Shanghai were so afraid of the arrival of the Red Army that they fled en masse, causing shockwaves throughout the land. Chiang Kai-shek was so anxious that he urged the Ministry of Finance to increase military spending again and ordered all regions to speed up recruitment to make up for the huge losses on the front lines.
However, after a string of victories, Hu Weidong surprisingly found that the situation of the Red Fifteenth Army had become even more precarious than before...
