Chapter 993
Xu Chuan Leads His Army in Pursuit of the "Rebels"
After a long gap of four chapters, let's turn our attention back to the battlefield of the Xudong blocking battle.
With the dispatch of a plaintext telegram from the Special Forces, both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were stunned.
Upon receiving the telegram, our army immediately began verification to determine whether the uprising of the Special Forces was credible. Ever since Sun Tzu said that war is about deception, the test of humanity in war has been immense. Faced with the reputation of Zheng Yaoxian as a major spy, our army naturally dared not make a decision lightly.
But at this time, the comrade in charge of the covert operations quietly approached Mi Gu.
Upon learning that Zheng Yaoxian was trustworthy, Mi Gu immediately ordered the vanguard of the Subei Corps to go and meet the highly mobile Special Forces.
There's a very interesting place here:
Pantang Town has a special location, situated between the Eastern Expeditionary Force and Xuzhou. If we launch an attack from Pantang, we can attack our blocking positions from the side. If our troops cross Pantang to launch an attack, we can strike the Eastern Expeditionary Force from the rear.
Both sides' commanders and soldiers keenly noticed the Pantang point. The Nationalist army sent Special Forces to infiltrate—in fact, the Special Forces were the vanguard, followed by the 74th Army. However, the rebuilt 74th Army had lost its original edge and its assembly was slower. It is currently still assembling and advancing.
Our side chose the Northern Jiangsu Corps, intending to have it cut into the Pantang defense line, creating the impression of cutting off the Eastern Reinforcement Corps' rear, forcing the Eastern Reinforcement Corps to turn back and defend its rear at all costs.
However, this critical juncture has not been long in coming. Our Northern Jiangsu Corps has not yet arrived, and only half a column is currently approaching. Fortunately, it is more than enough to support the special forces.
But the Nationalist army was dumbfounded.
……
Traffic Police Force (a temporary organization formed after the reorganization of the Traffic Police Corps), Headquarters.
Looking at the telegram in his hand, Xu Baichuan's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
You little rascal, Zheng Laoqi, you actually went home first!
We agreed to walk together, but you actually left me behind and went home first—just wait and see how I deal with you!
Of course, this reflects Xu Baichuan's joy at his friend's return.
After all, his garrison troops were different from the special forces. The special forces were small and easy to turn around, but his garrison troops were used by the General Headquarters as a logistics support force, with the brigade (reinforced regiment) as the unit, to carry out various logistics support tasks. They could not go home as easily as the special forces.
But Xu Baichuan also understood that he would be able to return during this period.
After putting down the telegram, he focused his gaze on the enormous sand table, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
Okay, okay!
Zheng Laoqi chose a good time. At present, the only thing that can pose a threat to the Special Forces is the 74th Army. However, the 74th Army is now just a name, since its soul and body are both left in Menglianggu. As long as our side provides timely assistance, the Special Forces will definitely have no problem returning home.
Just as he was secretly happy for Zheng Yaoxian, Zhao Gang, nominally his advisor, rushed into the headquarters.
As soon as he entered, he said, "Commander-in-Chief, I have received the battlefield intelligence—in my opinion, the 74th Army will probably find it difficult to cross Pantang and wipe out this rebel force in a short period of time!"
Ok?
Xu Baichuan looked at Zhao Gang with a puzzled expression. What did he mean?
Zhao Gang explained: "Under the current circumstances, most of the available troops have been assigned to the Eastern Reinforcement Corps. At present, apart from the 74th Army, we have no way to mobilize troops to eliminate this rebel force in a short period of time. However, the 74th Army has only been rebuilt for a short time. I am afraid that they will wipe out this rebel force before they can provide support over there!"
afraid?
You're worried, aren't you?
Xu Baichuan understood Zhao Gang's meaning—it was true that the 74th Army was rebuilt, but it was the main force from the beginning, so the soldiers were not newly recruited, but directly supplemented by veterans.
Zhao Gang's implication was that the 74th Army still had combat capability. If they were to march quickly across Pantang at this point and catch up with Zheng Yaoxian's troops, wiping them out before our army could provide support, then it would be too late to regret it.
Having figured this out, Xu Baichuan immediately said:
"Your concerns are not unfounded. The 74th Army is ultimately a rebuilt force—you want us to send troops, don't you?"
"Correct!"
Zhao Gang said, "Since our army was reorganized and rushed to Xuzhou, we have not fought a single battle. The General Headquarters also has many doubts about our army. Why don't we take the initiative tonight and use the two columns in the direction of the airport as the spearhead to first engage this rebel army and prove our army through this bloody battle!"
Zhao Gang's reasoning was perfectly justified—the traffic police brigade was treated as a logistical support force upon arrival, and even the armored brigade that Zhang Anping had invested heavily in was transferred away by the General Headquarters under various pretexts. At this time, Xuzhou was unlikely to send troops to pursue Zheng Yaoxian's forces in a short period of time, so it was reasonable for the traffic police brigade to volunteer at this time.
What Zhao Gang really meant was:
Let the traffic police give chase. Seeing this, the 74th Army next door will surely be able to leisurely assemble again. After all, someone has to suffer, and the 74th Army is probably willing to lie low for a while longer.
This would buy Zheng Yaoxian's troops valuable time.
After understanding Zhao Gang's meaning, Xu Baichuan immediately shouted:
"Someone, prepare the car! I'm going to the General Headquarters of the Suppression Headquarters!"
"Notify Chief of Staff Tan at the airport to immediately assemble the two brigades at the airport—and tell Liu Xinjie to immediately dispatch one brigade to the airport for troop rotation!"
……
Headquarters for the Suppression of Enemy Personnel.
A group of elites of the Party and the State are looking at the map with worried expressions.
Special forces must be eliminated; otherwise, it will have a huge impact on morale.
Which unit can be used?
Despite the large army gathered inside and outside Xuzhou City, they were unable to mobilize even a single division in such a short time.
It's very simple. The mobile forces that were previously established as the Eastern Expeditionary Force have all been transferred there. The remaining troops each have their own defense zones and lines of defense, so it's impossible to gather them together immediately to pursue the special forces.
But time was on the side of the special forces.
At present, it seems that only the 74th Army and the garrison of the Pantang defense line are capable of making any moves.
But the troops at the Pantang defense line cannot be moved.
Not to mention that their numbers are far fewer than those of the Special Forces, if they go after the Special Forces and our army attacks at that time, the entire defensive line will collapse.
The 74th Army, which was supposed to go to Pantang, instinctively slowed down its march and assembly after learning that the Special Forces were to be sent as cannon fodder. To this day, it is feared that not even a single division has been assembled!
But now there is no choice but to urge the 74th Army, whose advance troops are scheduled to arrive in Pantang tomorrow morning according to the original plan.
"What's the situation with the 74th Army? Can we send troops to pursue them immediately?"
"Less than one division has completed assembly, and they don't even have heavy weapons. If we send them, I'm afraid..."
The staff officer's words seemed to have more to say, but Commander Du understood the subtext.
"Bastard!"
Commander Du slammed his fist on the table in anger.
What should I do?
We can't just stand by and watch the special weapon get away, can we?
Actually, the biggest problem isn't that they escaped. The biggest problem is that if the special forces are positioned at key points and nodes east of Pantang and then support the PLA troops, the 74th Army's operational objectives will not only fail to be achieved, but they may also be met with a head-on attack by the PLA and its special forces, ultimately leading to the breach of the Pantang defense line.
At that point, let alone rushing to the aid of Nianzhuangwei, it's hard to say whether the Eastern Rescue Corps will become the second Yellow Corps!
Faced with this situation, Commander Du's gaze involuntarily drifted to Mao Renfeng, who was covered in sweat.
After all, the intercepted plaintext telegram clearly stated:
Mao Renfeng deliberately framed me and tried to harm me;
Unable to bear seeing his brothers purged and slaughtered from within;
After careful consideration and recognizing the general trend, I will now lead my 10,000 troops in an immediate uprising, break away from Chiang Kai-shek's puppet regime, and submit to the People's Liberation Army, awaiting the dispatch of personnel from the front lines to take over and reorganize the troops.
Faced with the gaze directed at Commander Du, Mao Renfeng, panicked to the extreme, instinctively lowered her head.
After listening to the operations staff's explanation, he fully realized the enormous impact of the special forces' sudden rebellion.
All he wants to say right now is:
I really didn't know it would turn out like this. If I had known that Zheng would rebel, how could I have forced him? "Useless! Ever since Dai Chunfeng died, the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics has become a complete bunch of useless idiots! The only one with any ability is still just fighting and fighting!"
"We can't gather any useful intelligence at all—the Party-state has been supporting one intelligence agency after another, but apart from reporting on each other, they can't do anything of any use now!"
"waste!"
Commander Du finally couldn't help but criticize Mao Renfeng.
Moreover, he had wanted to criticize it for a long time.
The Jiawang Uprising involved two deputy commanders who were Communists—this was different from Zheng Yaoxian, who was forced to rebel; those two could only be Communists. Yet, the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics didn't hear a single word about it!
Another point is that battlefield intelligence was a complete mess. During the War of Resistance, the Military Intelligence Bureau would send out all kinds of intelligence immediately if the Japanese made any big moves—although some of the intelligence contained false information, the commanders and soldiers could understand this.
But what about the Xuzhou-Bengbu battlefield now?
The Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (BIS) couldn't give any definite information about how many PLA soldiers there were, where they came from, or where they were going to attack. When pressed, they would give the PLA a piece of intelligence, but when the KMT army verified it on the battlefield, it turned out to be complete nonsense!
Mao Renfeng felt wronged. "If I had known about Zheng Yaoxian's rebellion in advance, would I have allowed it to happen?"
Besides, in addition to the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, there was also the Party Communications Bureau, the Second Bureau, the Intelligence Department of the General Headquarters for Suppressing Rebellion, and the Chief of the Suppression Corps. Why are you only criticizing me?
No matter how aggrieved he felt, Mao Renfeng could only respond with "yes, yes" at this moment—even the Mao Renfeng of the original timeline could only respond with "yes, yes" when faced with Commander Du's angry outburst, let alone him who had become a laughing stock several times in this timeline.
The more he acted this way, the angrier Commander Du became.
"More trouble than they're worth!"
Mao Renfeng continued to lower his head, pretending that he was not in the headquarters. At this moment, he was thinking about how to report on me. I am, after all, the director of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics. You can scold me however you want.
Do you really think Chairman Mao was made of clay?
Commander Du angrily withdrew his gaze from Mao Renfeng and returned it to the map—Xuzhou had hundreds of thousands of troops, but at the crucial moment, they couldn't even spare a single division. How laughable, how laughable!
However, as his gaze fell on the airport, a face suddenly popped into his mind.
Traffic police officer Xu Baichuan.
There are two traffic police brigades guarding the airport. Can they quickly assemble and rush towards Pantang?
As the saying goes, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," and just as Commander Du was pondering, a guard announced:
"Report: Xu Baichuan, commander of the Transportation Preparation Army, requests an audience."
Commander Du was overjoyed upon hearing this. As expected of the loyal and righteous army, they appeared just as I had thought of them. Liu Jingfu, you are such a mediocre general who has brought disaster to the country. Such a good army has been used as a logistical support force in front of you. It is truly absurd.
"Let him in!"
Xu Baichuan strode into the headquarters. Sensing the heavy atmosphere within, he felt a surge of joy. His gaze swept over the bowed Mao Renfeng before landing on Commander Du, who then stood at attention.
"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, our two detachments at the airport are assembling. Please give the order! Our troops are ready to rush to the battlefield at any time and wipe out the rebels!"
Commander Du was overjoyed upon hearing this, but a senior officer raised a question:
"Xu Baichuan, the airport only has two brigades from your unit. If they are all transferred away, what will happen to the airport's safety? Do you know that the airport is only eight kilometers away from the Pantang front line!"
"Report, the Army Preparation Command will be relocated to the airport immediately! In addition, one of our brigades is assembling and is expected to be back at the airport by dawn."
Upon hearing Xu Baichuan's words, Commander Du waved his hand to stop the others and said in a solemn voice:
"Xu Baichuan, I don't expect you to completely crush this rebel army, but you must hold them off until noon. I will urge the 74th Army to speed up. It is expected that at noon tomorrow, the entire 74th Army will launch an attack from the Pantang line. Can you do that?"
Xu Baichuan shouted, "Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief, the Commander will personally lead the team into battle!"
"Good! You immediately take the two detachments from the airport to pursue this rebel force. We must not allow them to build a defensive line on the flank of Pantang."
"Yes!"
As soon as Xu Baichuan left, Commander Du breathed a sigh of relief and glared fiercely at Mao Renfeng. He thought to himself that if the chief of staff had taken down this good-for-nothing earlier and let the young Zhang Anping take over, the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics would not be in this state!
At this moment, Mao Renfeng glanced at Xu Baichuan's departing figure and thought to herself:
Xu Baichuan and Zheng Yaoxian were close friends, and he volunteered to pursue Zheng Yaoxian...
No, we have to keep an eye on him!
[By the way, Wang Tianfeng once established a secret intelligence group within the traffic police force. The person in charge was apparently named Zheng Yingqi? I'll secretly contact him later and have that group keep a close eye on Xu Baichuan. If Xu Baichuan dares to let us off the hook…]
[Hmph, I'll report that guy surnamed Du too!]
[You insulted me! I'll teach you to insult me!]
……
airport.
Both brigades have completed their assembly.
Upon seeing Xu Baichuan who had rushed over, Tan Zhongshu pulled him aside:
"Old Xu, there's a supply depot on the left side of the airport, prepared by Xuzhou for the 74th Army. I'm planning to order our men to take all the supplies with them—do you think we can cover this up?"
Xu Baichuan was overjoyed upon hearing this: "My troops risked their lives to carry mines for the 74th Army. What's there to hide? Just go ahead and do it!"
Tan Zhongshu glanced at Xu Baichuan knowingly and nodded. He knew that the traffic police headquarters wouldn't be so proactive—I've already been recruited as a party member, how could I not know what's going on in the traffic police headquarters?!
He left with immense joy, personally leading his men to "rob" military supplies.
No, that's not robbery, it's clearly requisition!
……
74th Army.
The headquarters was bustling with activity, with all the staff officers working frantically on the maps, and orders being issued one after another.
Just then, the phone rang, and the person in charge answered it.
"Commander Du!"
"Yes—to repeat, my unit will complete its assembly by noon tomorrow, cross the Pantang defense line, and continue to infiltrate to cooperate with the Eastern Expeditionary Force in relieving Nianzhuangwei!"
After hanging up the phone, the person in charge paced back and forth in the headquarters.
Damn it, the Eastern Expeditionary Force of over 100,000 men is blocked by the Communist army. Every step forward will result in the death of a large number of people. So far, they have only taken a few steps.
Now everyone is counting on the 74th Army under my command!
The question is, are there any Communist troops in Pantang?
If it's just a special weapon, it's not a big problem. But what if there are Communist troops guarding there? Can I break through?
Besides, it's only been a little over a year since the reconstruction started, and the equipment and treatment are nowhere near what they used to be. But how easy was it for him to beg and plead for such limited equipment?
What if the Communist army manages to outflank us during our infiltration...
Just as he was pondering how to wage a passive war, the phone rang again. After answering the call, the staff officer immediately reported in a fit of rage:
"Reporting to the commander, our supplies point at the airport was completely taken away by those bastards from the traffic police!"
The staff officer was a veteran of the 74th Division, used to being second only to the heavens and the earth, and the 74th Division was third in rank. Now that their supplies had been hijacked, he was naturally furious.
But the commander was overjoyed upon hearing this.
Just when I was really sleepy, this was the perfect opportunity!
Okay, now we have a reason!
I'll take a look at the battlefield first. If I'm sure the Communist army isn't planning to make a move here, then I'll lead my team to infiltrate. If the Communist army comes, then I'll just fight a positional war.
I'm not confident in infiltration tactics, but when it comes to positional warfare, Qiu has never been afraid.
So he calmly said:
"Okay, I understand—we'll put this aside for now and report it to the General Headquarters tomorrow." (End of Chapter)