Chapter Eleven: The Final Battle at Yellow Stone Cliff (New Book Seeking Attention)

  The next afternoon, Feng Keshan indeed sent 50,000 yuan and 100,000 kilograms of grain to the Security Regiment headquarters, along with 200 rifles, 20 light machine guns, and some ammunition.

  Apart from the 100,000 catties of grain which were collected as taxes by the county, everything else belonged to Feng Kaiyan himself. Xinghe County was not a large county to begin with, its population was less than 2 million and the amount of taxes it collected each year was limited. Apart from having to hand over a large portion to the provincial capital, the county itself did not have much left over.

  So the former security regiment was indeed a regiment number, but in fact, it was just an enlarged battalion, and even with the regimental commander, there were only more than 600 people, so they would be completely wiped out by the bandits at once.

  Chen Feng had his sights set on the Japanese from the very beginning, so he would only be dissatisfied with having too few soldiers and would never engage in anything like eating empty rations. Fifty thousand dollars is indeed a significant amount, but one hundred thousand kilograms of grain is not much. Take the security team of over 1,100 people as an example: if each person consumes one kilogram of grain per day, then ten days' worth would be eleven thousand kilograms, and this hundred thousand kilograms of grain would only be enough for three months' rations for the security team.

  Besides, the food standard set by Chen Feng for the troops is not just one catty of grain per person per day. Whether it's the security regiment in the county seat or the troops on Mount Daqing, they have to kill a fat pig every day and make white buns. Except for not being able to drink or gamble, the soldiers' lives are much better than those of other troops. Ten thousand catties of grain may not necessarily be enough to support them for three months.

  However, Chen Feng knew that Feng Kaisan had done his best. He had inquired about it earlier and there were less than 150,000 catties of grain left in the county's warehouse. It was already very good for Feng Kaisan to take out 100,000 catties at once.

  The batch of weapons and equipment brought by Feng Keshan also solved a not small problem for Chen Feng. Last time when Chen Feng went to Beiping to buy weapons and equipment, he wanted to get a batch of handguns, but unfortunately the Germans didn't have any in stock, which made Chen Feng very depressed. He didn't expect that the Feng family had so much inventory.

  Chen Feng didn't know much about the Feng family, and he wasn't aware that they weren't a small or insignificant household either. Although Feng Kaisan was obsessed with officialdom, the Feng family also had people engaged in commerce, and their tea leaves and salt almost monopolized all the salt-tea trade on the Xilinguole grasslands. The Feng family's militia may not have been as numerous as the Chen family's, but their weapons were very well-equipped, which is why Feng Kaisan was able to produce so many guns and ammunition at once.

  For the remaining two days, Chen Feng stayed in the troops, leading the security team to conduct tactical exercises. When fighting against cavalry, they must not be intimidated by the momentum of the cavalry charge. Therefore, every day, Chen Feng let Chen Jia's ration team ride war horses and repeatedly charge in front of the security team. At first, some soldiers saw the incoming war horses and turned around to run away, while others were so frightened that they fell to the ground and couldn't even run.

  However, after repeated drills, the guards finally overcame their fear of war horses. Then Chen Feng took them to do blocking drills, and the best weapons against cavalry were undoubtedly light and heavy machine guns and mortars. The security team was originally equipped with 18 light and heavy machine guns and two mortars, which would be enough if the bandits' cavalry did not exceed 2,000 people.

  Moreover, Chen Feng had already inquired from the mouths of those who escaped back to the Feng family that the number of bandits was not many, about a thousand people, and the leader was a woman wearing a flower-faced mask.

  Recalling what Zhou Tiedan said last time, Chen Feng can be sure that this cavalry must be the same unit as the one that attacked Li Deguang's unit.

  To ensure that nothing went wrong, Chen Feng immediately brought down 3 more mortars from Daqing Mountain and equipped the troops with the 20 light machine guns sent by Feng Kaisan. With a total of 38 light and heavy machine guns and 5 mortars, such powerful firepower would be enough to take on not only a group of ordinary bandits but also an army of equal strength from Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army or even the Japanese army.

  At 3:00 pm on March 23, 1937, the Special Warfare Squadron reported that they had discovered the lair of this cavalry bandit in Saiwusu Duanjia Village yesterday. In order not to startle the snake, they did not dare to take action and only monitored the cavalry bandit troops from a distance.

  The number of bandits is not small, with over 1,400 people, each with two good horses. Moreover, the ethnic groups are also different. In addition to the Han nationality, there are Mongolians and ***, even foreigners with blonde hair and blue eyes were found.

  As for the bandits' weapons and equipment, they were not bad either. Each of them had a long gun in hand, and each person also held a cavalry saber. However, there were no light or heavy machine guns, nor were there mortars.

  After listening to the report of the special warfare team members, Chen Feng ordered the special warfare team to arrive at Yushu Camp five kilometers north of Huangshi Cliff before Ma's bandits set out. They would take the sound of cannons as a signal and immediately set out from Yushu Camp to launch a surprise attack on Ma's bandits from behind.

  On the morning of March 24, 1937, Chen Feng set out with two infantry regiments and a cavalry company of the Security Regiment, as well as a special warfare detachment, leaving behind a guard company to garrison the county seat.

  The cavalry regiment opened the way in front, and Chen Feng extended the warning line to five kilometers away to prevent the mounted bandits from launching a surprise attack on the marching troops.

  The whole way was very calm, and the bandits did not expect Chen Feng to march at midnight, so the security team arrived safely at Huangshi Cliff at 3:00 in the morning.

  Huangshi Cliff is called a cliff, but in fact it's just several small earth mounds. There are more than ten of them, rising and falling, which makes them stand out from the surrounding flat land, so locals call it a cliff.

  After the troops arrived at their destination, they didn't even have time to rest and immediately began building defensive fortifications. In order to block the bandits' group charge, Chen Feng ordered the troops to build defensive fortifications along the small earth mound, with both sides of the main road needing to be fortified, one battalion on the left and two battalions on the right, and a special warfare team armed with sniper rifles acting freely. The cavalry company withdrew to the Yu tree camp five kilometers away before dawn and merged with the special warfare detachment that came down from the Daqing Mountain.

  The defensive fortifications built by the security team are very characteristic and professional. Starting from the lower part of the small earth package, three blocking defense lines were laid out, and the three defense lines were connected by traffic trenches. On each defense line, Chen Feng placed an infantry squad, and on the top of the hill, artillery positions were also built, and all the firing elements within a range of five kilometers in front were marked, waiting for the arrival of the bandits.

  At 6 o'clock, the sky was still dimly lit, and the cavalry in charge of reconnaissance sent back a message that they had discovered the shadow of horse thieves' cavalry fifteen kilometers north of Huangshi Cliff.

  Chen Feng ordered Chen Tiehao to immediately take two people to negotiate, and must let the bandits hand over Feng Xiaochen before the war starts. If not, who would care about her, a weak woman, after the war started?

  The bandit leader also sent over a dozen or so people to investigate the situation, and saw that the security team of 700-800 people was standing on the yellow stone slope, with their grass-green camouflage uniforms being very conspicuous against the black-yellow soil.

  Learning that most of the security team's forces had arrived, the leader of the horse bandits very readily let Feng Xiaochen return and also asked her to bring a letter to Chen Feng.

  Without looking at Chen Feng, he knew what was written in this letter. It was nothing more than asking the security team to surrender, otherwise something would happen.

  As expected, after opening the letter, the content inside was consistent with Chen Feng's judgment. The leader of the bandits demanded that Chen Feng and the entire security team surrender immediately, and also said that Huangshi Cliff, a small mountain package with a vertical height of less than 50 meters, could not withstand the impact of cavalry at all. Not long ago, they annihilated the security team in Xinghe County right there. She gave Chen Feng half an hour to consider, and if Chen Feng did not surrender after half an hour, she would order the troops to launch an attack.

  "Brothers, those damned bandits are asking us to lay down our arms and surrender to them. We are dignified government soldiers, while they are bandits. It's always been the case that bandits surrender to government soldiers, never the other way around. Has anyone ever seen government soldiers surrendering to bandits? Is this reasonable or not?" Chen Feng said loudly.

  "Yes!"

  "The commander is right. If anyone should surrender, it's those bandits who have suffered a thousand cuts who should surrender to us, not the other way around."

  "Commander, give the order, brothers are all ready, and make sure those bastards never return."

  "Brothers, since everyone is unwilling to surrender, then aim your guns at the commander, sharpen your bayonets, and wait for a moment to fiercely attack that dog. Whoever is afraid, don't blame the commander for not showing mercy." Chen Feng shouted loudly again.

  "Yes, beat him to death."

  "I don't believe it, with so many machine guns and cannons, they still can't kill this group of bastards."

  Seeing the morale of the warriors lifted, Chen Feng stopped talking and ordered the troops to prepare for battle.

  The leader of the bandits, wearing a flower-patterned mask, couldn't be seen clearly, but from her attire, it was evident that she was a woman. Through binoculars, seeing that the security team had been quiet for so long, the bandit leader understood that they were not going to surrender.

  The female bandit leader didn't say a word, she waved her hand and drew out the horse knife that was hanging at her waist, then pointed it at the security team on the small mound.

  As the female bandit leader moved, the horse bandits following behind also drew out their cavalry sabers in unison, their movements neat and uniform, seemingly having some semblance of a regular cavalry unit.

  Chen Feng stood still on the hillside, staring at the horse bandits. Seeing that they had drawn their swords, Chen Feng loudly commanded: "The horse bandits are going to attack, get ready for battle, wait a moment and listen to my orders, I'll say 'fire' and you'll shoot, do you all understand?"

  "Understood!" everyone shouted in unison.

  The rumbling sound of horse hooves shattered the tranquility of the northern grasslands at dawn, the neighing of war horses, the shouting of knights, accompanied by the gleaming sabers, wove a tragic and bloody melody.

  The bandits began to accelerate three kilometers away and at this speed, the bandits would be able to rush to the small mound in just five minutes.

  "Order the artillery to open fire immediately! After adjusting the shooting elements, ten rounds of rapid fire!"

  "Yes!"

  "Boom boom boom" The five 80mm mortars made some slight adjustments to their firing data, and then the gunners quickly loaded the shells inside.

  Through the telescope, Chen Feng found that the effect of this bombardment was not very ideal. Although a large number of bandits were killed or injured, it did not reach Chen Feng's expectation of defeating at least one-third of the bandit forces in the first round of artillery fire.

  After the bombardment, Chen Feng found that Ma's bandits had entered the range of light and heavy machine guns. However, what made Chen Feng feel depressed was that before he gave the order to fire, someone had already opened fire, and soon everyone started firing.