Chapter 31: The Annihilation Battle of Guangxi

  In the afternoon, one by one, military camps' gates opened and out came trucks loaded with soldiers, behind them were artillery pieces being towed, and behind them were tanks following closely. This made passersby curious.

  "What's going on? I've never seen such a formation before, are they going to fight?"

  "Yes! I heard that there are bandits coming over and they're going to suppress the bandits."

  "Eliminate the bandits, why use so many big cannons? Look at those strange vehicles behind, wrapped in iron plates, rumbling loudly, what a huge commotion."

  I heard people say that it's a chariot, just like the heavy cavalry of ancient times, and when charging, it's quite fierce.

  ";……";

  The three divisions of the People's Army were all mechanized, so in less than half a day after Li Zongren's three divisions set out, the third division of the People's Army that was welcoming them was already within 10 kilometers.

  In the command vehicle of the Third Division, Huang Bai sat on the command vehicle and dozed off. At this time, a communication soldier ran over to wake him up and said: "Division Commander, the air force reconnaissance plane has brought back the latest news. Our straight-line distance from the enemy army's three divisions is already less than 10 kilometers, with nearly 30,000 people, and no artillery." Huang Bai nodded, indicating that he understood.

  "Guard, bring me the map."

  It is.

  After looking at the map, Huang Bai already had a clear idea in his mind.

  "Signalman, order the troops to halt and have each battalion commander report to me for a meeting."

  Yes

  In no time, all five team leaders arrived at the command vehicle.

  "Now the three regiments in front of us are less than 10 kilometers away. I'm assigning combat tasks now: The first regiment will set up a sniper position on the mountain ahead, while the second and third regiments will leave their artillery to flank left and right, paying attention not to be discovered by the enemy. Watch for my signal flare; when it goes off, we'll start attacking from both flanks. The armored regiment will divide into two parts to follow the second and third regiments in executing the flanking task. The artillery regiment will provide cover fire for all three regiments, setting up an artillery position behind the first regiment. This time I'm going to catch them off guard like a turtle in a jar."

  It is.

  Before long, the long marching column was divided into three teams, one team stopped, and two teams separated to the left and right.

  Yangjiao Slope, a small place that can't be found on the map, only known to locals as a mountain pass. At this time, Yangjiao Slope slowly emerged in the distance with a long column of troops, but these people were dressed in a disorderly manner, like a group of bandits, which was Li Zongren's three divisions.

  At this time, three battalion commanders were chatting idly in the team when a soldier ran over.

  "Report, sir! Ahead of us, a force of about 1,000 men has been discovered constructing fortifications, apparently preparing to charge at us."

  "What? Have our movements been exposed?" one of the senior officials said in surprise.

  "Who cares if he blows up or not, there are only a thousand people, we have almost 30,000 people here now, what's he got to be afraid of? Just one charge and it'll be settled in seconds."

  "Yes! I think the supervisor is too cautious, a small Huashi County can have so many troops, we passed by, that's not even a handful."

  Another two masters looked disdainful, and upon hearing the words of these two people, the master who had just started speaking thought about it and felt that he might have been worrying too much for nothing.

  "Let's speed up our march, we'll take care of the opposite side first and then head to Huashi County."

  Yes

  On the hillside of Yangjiao Slope, Huang Bai stood on the slope, looking through binoculars to see the other side quickly moving towards here, and his mouth slowly curled up. If he wasn't afraid that the other side would know there were several thousand people here and didn't dare come, he wouldn't have let them hide. It seems he was overthinking things.

  "A battalion commander ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle and sent a company forward first, lest they scare off the enemy."

  Yes

  Chen Gengpeng was assigned to the 3rd Division as a company commander after graduation, which is also a treatment for people who graduated from military school. After receiving the order from the regimental commander, he led a company of soldiers and lay in a simple trench, now he can see the enemy rushing towards here in the distance.

  "Haha, not even a greeting before starting the battle, how direct, I like it." Huang Bai said to himself after putting down his binoculars and seeing that the opponent had already made their attacking preparations. But this is good too, the opponent isn't blind or stupid, they can see that with over a hundred people placed here in a combat formation, we're not here to make soy sauce.

  As a shrill whistle pierced the air, about two battalions of enemy troops began to attack from the foot of the mountain slope. Although they had fought against bandits before, this was their first time fighting against real troops. Whether it was Huang Bai or Chen Gengpeng, they all felt a thread of tension in their hearts, having faced these old veterans who had undergone years of training.

  "Communicator, inform the artillery, wait for my order. Once I give the order, within a 200 to 400 meter range in front, no corrections, five rapid shots." Huang Bai gave new combat orders to the communicator beside him. If he let all the soldiers on the position open fire, he believed the soldiers would put up a beautiful defensive battle. However, this might scare off the enemy behind, so Huang Bai only arranged less than one company of troops on the front line. If the soldiers couldn't hold out and the enemy charged forward, Huang Bai didn't want to reserve any strength either, directly letting the artillery behind him cover the area in front of the position with a barrage.

  Li Zongren's three divisions rushed to Yangjiaoping and directly ordered two regiments of soldiers to charge up the mountain, hoping to take down the entire mountain slope in one breath. However, the price of underestimating the enemy was very severe.

  Chen Gangpeng watched as several thousand people rushed up like a mighty wave, and cursed under his breath, saying:

  "Don't be afraid, get closer and fight! They are also just one head, two arms, and two legs, just like you, nothing to fear." Chen Gengpeng loudly encouraged the soldiers on the front line. As a commander, he could also feel the tension of the soldiers, although Chen Gengpeng was confident that this unit's training was absolutely first-class in China, but the training ground would always be different from actual combat, and good psychological quality and rich combat experience sometimes could better protect the soldiers.

  The soldiers who were encouraged by their superiors felt a little comforted, although the tension in their hearts was not alleviated much, after all, the superiors were still with them.

  "Brothers, behind us is our home, where we have built houses with our own hands, cultivated fields with our own labor. There are also our loved ones, our parents, our sisters. In front of us are people who want to occupy our homes, seize our fields, oppress our parents and harm our sisters. Can we let them pass?!!?" The voice was not loud, but it carried far in the tense and oppressive atmosphere.

  "No way!!!" A chorus of shouts erupted from the crowd!

  "Brothers, follow me!"

  "To hell with it!!!" A surge of mobilization, the tense emotions of the warriors were swept away, replaced by a heroic passion for a common enemy.

  "Chen Gangpeng, what a handsome guy!" Huang Bai exclaimed from the telescope, seeing that the person who had just made such an excellent speech was none other than Regimental Commander Chen Gangpeng.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!!!" The enemy at the front of the formation finally started firing, but because they were all shooting while moving, their aim was really off. There weren't many shots that could hit the ground in front of the trenches and kick up dust, let alone hit the soldiers themselves.

  Two hundred meters, no command!

  One hundred and fifty meters, no command!

  One hundred meters, still no command!

  At eighty meters, the warriors could see the faces of their enemies clearly.

  "Fire!!!" Finally, when the opponent entered the final sprint from eighty meters away, Chen Gangpeng finally gave the order. A burst of gunfire passed by, and the bullets with priority rights ruthlessly knocked down a dozen or so objects that were rushing forward, their bodies rolling down the slope.

  "Light machine gun!!! Take aim!!! Fire!!!" Chen Gangpeng shouted hoarsely, issuing orders. For the defenders, the machine gun could maintain sufficient firepower density and shooting speed, which was absolutely lethal for the current human wave tactics.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, after being shot by the People's Army, more than half of the over a thousand enemy soldiers in the vanguard of the first two battalions that charged forward had been knocked down. The remaining soldiers of the other two battalions did not hesitate and ran down at an even faster speed than when they were attacking. However, escaping was not easy for the Chinese Z-type heavy machine gun either. When the two battalion commanders retreated to the foot of the mountain with their soldiers, more than a thousand people had already fallen on the mountain.

  "Woohoo!!!" Cheers erupted from the battlefield, the warriors cheering for their small victory, although it was a tiny one that couldn't be any smaller. Chen Gangpeng didn't stop this behavior, but instead smiled and let everyone hurry to reload their rifles, preparing for the next battle.

  "How was the fight just now? Were there any casualties among our soldiers?" Huang Bai ran to Chen Gangpeng's side at the front line and asked.

  "Not even a scratch." Chen Gangpeng's face showed a hint of pride and arrogance.

  It is not yet known in China that a bayonet charge against machine guns is suicidal, but this lesson has already been learned in Europe; however, the three regimental commanders under Li Zongren also know it now, and as they watch one soldier after another fall to the ground, all three are bleeding in their hearts.

  Looking at the two battalion commanders who still had a fearful look on their faces, the three regimental commanders did not blame them. In fact, they were also a little afraid in their hearts. They could see that the other side had only deployed one company on the mountain and yet caused such heavy casualties. If the other side had several thousand men, wouldn't it be possible to annihilate this entire unit?

  "What should we do now? Shall we go back?"

  "Go back? The other side only had about a thousand people and they scared us off, what's the point of continuing?"

  "Alright, let's do it again, but this time call the brothers, and have them all scatter. The reason we had so many casualties last time was because the brothers were too close together. Unfortunately, I didn't bring any cannons over."

  "Alright, let's set up and go down immediately, this time we must take down this small hill."