Chapter 32: Capture of Guangxi and Siege of Nanning

  It wasn't long before the troops for the second assault were assembled.

  "Here!! Warriors prepare for battle!" Chen Gangpeng said to the warriors beside him as he saw the enemy charging again.

  "Yes!"

  The attacking force was still two regiments, although the current military formation did not have as many auxiliary units as later generations of armies, but the two regiments also had more than 5,000 people.

  This time the enemy launched a battalion-level charge, and this time the enemy also placed three heavy machine guns at the foot of the mountain, firing upwards to provide firepower support.

  The enemy opened fire at 120 meters, and after the light and heavy machine guns fired, the soldiers also started firing freely. Because the Mauser 98K rifle had only five rounds in its magazine, they couldn't afford to use up all their ammunition at once and let the enemy rush over easily. The Chinese Type 2 semi-automatic rifle was not yet equipped with troops.

  The second battle also ended soon, the warriors basically only fired two rounds of bullets, not because the enemy was incompetent, but because the warriors were too ruthless. After the initial battle earlier, the warriors were no longer as tense as before, under the orderly command of the squad leader, some people continued to shoot while others quickly reloaded their guns, and after psychological stability, the super training volume of 30 rounds per day began to play a surprising role. The high-level shooting played the greatest lethal effect, many enemies fell down and died silently, and the mid-bullet position was basically the chest and abdomen.

  Huang Bai observed through binoculars that the warriors basically had guns and bullets, almost no one could rush within 50 meters.

  Although the battle this time was not much longer than the first one just now, under the efficient killing of the warriors, in less than 20 minutes, the two regiments that rushed up with several thousand people earlier were able to retreat alive with only half of their men. Some soldiers were struggling to climb down the mountain slope, but some stopped crawling after a short distance and left behind a bloody road paved with their own blood.

  On the hillside, Huang Bai held a telescope and watched the battle situation while listening to the report of the communication soldier beside him.

  "Commander, the 2nd and 3rd battalions have reported back, the encirclement is complete, awaiting orders on when to launch the attack."

  "Pass on the order, 2nd and 3rd battalions, attack in ten minutes after seeing the signal." Huang Bai put down his binoculars and said.

  Yes

  "Call in the air force for support. This time I'm going to cook a pot of steel dumplings. Order the artillery to launch indiscriminate bombardment on the enemy's main forces 10 minutes later. Don't save any ammo, stop only when I say so."

  It is.

  "Pass the order to assemble the troops, and when the artillery opens fire, I want to see the troops charging right up to the enemy's face. This time I've left him with 10 tanks, plus a tank company of my own with 18 tanks as vanguard, to charge into the enemy's position."

  Yes

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  "Two gentlemen, this won't work, call the troops back, we'll build a defensive position here, have someone go back and bring the artillery, then attack again, how's that?"

  "It can't be helped."

  "Damn it, wasn't it said that they were just a bunch of barefooted soldiers? There are such powerful barefooted soldiers, that intelligence gathering bastard should be caught and shot." A division commander panted and said.

  Alas, it's all come to this, and saying those things is useless now.

  Orderlies called for the troops attacking in front to fall back, and ordered each regiment to start constructing defensive positions.

  Yes

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  Seeing the enemy's vanguard retreat and start building a formation, Huang Bai sneered: "Too late, I'm going to attack now."

  Signalman, fire signal flare.

  It is.

  A red flame with a long tail rose into the sky, emitting a loud roar.

  "Each gun position, start firing, open fire."

  Rumble... rumble... rumble...

  Second team, attack

  "Armored corps, advance."

  Third squad, attack!

  "Boom"; Three division commanders under Li Zongren were discussing countermeasures together, when a loud noise came and before they could figure out what it was, or even distinguish the sound, they only felt that after a fierce explosion, they lost consciousness.

  "Well done! Those young whippersnappers haven't wasted these few years of practicing cannonballs after all."

  On this mountain, look closely at those enemy military officers being blown up by shells. That place had already been noticed by Huang Bai, who knew it was the enemy command center. Huang Bai put down his binoculars and couldn't help but applaud the performance of the previous bombardment.

  "Commander, each group has already begun the attack. The air force reports that they will arrive in five minutes." Huang Bai looked at the enemy army in the distance, which was engulfed in a sea of flames. After hearing the communication soldier's words, he said: "Call the artillery, just bombard them for 5 minutes."

  Listening to the distant wailing sounds, Huang Bai couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow: it's too brutal, such intense bombardment doesn't know how many can survive. Moreover, the other side has no defensive positions, alas, cruel war.

  "Ah!" Ah!!! Run quickly! A soldier witnessed his comrades being blown up, and then saw the company commander 7-8 meters away from him being blown into flying fragments. He immediately went soft, rolled a few times, got up and started running.

  What's the point of fighting? The commanders and officers have all been blown up. They've got so many cannons. This battle can't be fought.

  "Charge!"

  Three infantry regiments responsible for the attack, a tank regiment, after the artillery fire ended, had already rushed to the garrison of three divisions. The tank guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns on the tanks that charged forward also fired. The warplanes that just arrived in the sky also dived down one by one to launch an attack.

  As soon as they heard the enemy's heavy machinery, it was like a iron pot stir-frying beans, clattering and crackling non-stop. Our side ran even faster, no one thought of dying to block them, without a leader, lacking training, with poor equipment, shocked in the first battle

  When the three troops rushed up, what they saw was only the enemy army running around like ducks everywhere. The clever People's Army soldiers had already started chasing after them to capture the enemy.

  "Alright! With this little accomplishment, order the troops to board the vehicles immediately. Capture these trash on the spot. After disarming them, assign soldiers to watch over."

  Huang Bai helplessly watched the fleeing enemy army and issued a command with a sigh of relief. If he had known that the opponent was so vulnerable, he wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble.

  Two of them were unable to outrun the cars, and in less than ten minutes, most of the cavalrymen were captured.

  No choice, the enemy troops who were running with almost broken waistbands, when they heard the sound of engines and loudspeakers behind them. Curiously turned their heads, just to see a large truck carrying heavy machinery coming towards them, in less than half a minute, those who still dared to run were knocked down by bursts of machine gun fire.

  "Put down your weapons and surrender, we won't kill you. If you run again, we'll shoot."

  This time in the battle, Li Zongren's three divisions were either killed or wounded or captured, and none of them escaped.

  At this time, outside Nanning City, one division had arrived and surrounded Nanning City, leaving only one city gate open.

  The commander of the artillery regiment, Wang Yunshan, watched as his soldiers built their artillery positions and told his three battalion commanders: "Once our cannons are aimed at the city walls, be sure not to harm the bosses inside."

  Yes

  After the handover was completed, Wang Yunshan walked to the command vehicle of Kong Wenhu in the back of the First Division's position and said to Kong Wenhu, who was having a meeting with several regimental commanders: "Big Brother Kong, do you want our heavy artillery brigade to fire a few shots first, call out Li Zongren to surrender, and avoid harming innocent people."

  Kong Wenhong thought for a moment and said: "Well, if all else fails, we'll just have to launch a strong attack. A small city like Nanning shouldn't be able to withstand us."

  "Alright, I'll go prepare." After finishing speaking, Wang Yunshan got down from the command vehicle and walked towards the artillery position.

  In Nanning City, the voice of Li Zongren's roar came from the military governor's mansion: "A group of useless people, others have been beaten to their doorstep, only to find out what use I am raising you for."

  A city defense officer explained to Li Zongren: "The other side was too sudden, we didn't have time to react at all. Moreover, the other side was all on trucks, and we couldn't even report in time!"

  Li Zongren suppressed his anger: "Who is the other party, have you figured it out?"

  "Commander, it's still unclear, we've been shouting at the other side but they haven't responded, they're just building fortifications, looks like they're preparing for a strong attack."

  "How many people are there on your side?"

  "Over ten thousand, and there are also many big guns and machine guns."

  "Hmph, over 10,000 people think they can take down Nanning? Foolish fantasy! We have big guns and machine guns too, let's go take a look. I want to see who has eaten the heart of a bear or leopard and dares to be reckless in my territory."

  As for the Garrison Commander's words, Li Zongren neither confirmed nor denied them. The big guns and machine guns of the domestic warlords were all the same, let alone this being his own old haunt, and the opponent only had over 10,000 people. So now he was only angry, without a hint of fear.

  Just as Li Zongren was about to leave the Military Governor's Mansion, several loud explosions were heard, and several people almost fell over. The cannon fire lasted for about a minute before stopping. At this time, Li Zongren was no longer calm, although he also had several 75mm field guns, but the noise was completely different from his own. According to his estimate, at least a 120mm or larger caliber gun would be needed to produce such a loud sound. Who in the country has such large cannons? Could it be that foreigners have arrived?

  After the cannon fire stopped, Li Zongren hastily led his men to rush towards the city gate. Just as Li Zongren and his group arrived at the city gate, a loud voice came: "People inside the city listen up! We are the First Division of the Chinese People's Army. Our division commander has said that if you walk out of the city gate and surrender your arms to us, we will guarantee your safety. Otherwise, we will start our fierce attack, and at that time, we will no longer guarantee your safety. You have 10 minutes to consider."