Chapter 102: It’s Our Turn To Take The Stage
What Chi Fengcheng did not know was that when he put down the phone, Sun Lianzhong turned around and found Li Zongren, who had come to inspect his headquarters.
“Commander Li, the 31st Division has been stationed in Taierzhuang for a week. Last night I sent a regiment to reinforce inside the town, but when they withdrew this morning, only a dozen men were left, and the reinforcements are still nowhere to be found.”
Sun Lianzhong walked up to Li Zongren and pleaded, “Commander Li, for the sake of our brotherhood, please let us withdraw to the south bank of the Yunhe River and leave some seed for our Second Army Group? All of us brothers will be deeply grateful for your great kindness!”
Li Zongren held a pencil in his hand and pondered for a moment, then looked up at him and said softly, “Brother Fang Lu, if we withdraw from the position now, wouldn’t the blood of the fallen soldiers have been shed in vain?”
With that, he threw away the pencil in his hand. “Use all of the reserve troops. You must hold out until dawn the day after tomorrow.”
Sun Lianzhong plopped down in a chair and said irritably, “The battle has reached this point; where are there any reserve troops left?”
Looking at Sun Lianzhong’s deeply sunken eye bags and fatigued expression from days of exhaustion, Li Zongren thought for a moment, reached for the phone on the table, and said, “Hello… Nanjing Security Regiment? Let your regiment commander come to the phone.
Mingxi, come to the Second Army Group headquarters right away. Commander Sun and I are waiting for you here.”
As soon as he put down the phone, he was met with Sun Lianzhong’s curious gaze.
“Commander Li, are you planning to send that Nanjing Security Regiment to reinforce inside the town?”
“Mm.”
Li Zongren nodded. “Originally, I planned to save this unit for the counteroffensive, but now it seems I have no choice but to send them out early.”
Sun Lianzhong hesitated and said, “Commander Li, although this unit has been hyped up by those newspapers these days, no one knows if they can actually fight. Sending them into the town—who knows if it will work?”
Li Zongren smiled faintly. “Whether they can or not is not for us to say. Let the Japanese be the ones to judge.”
As the two spoke, time passed quickly.
More than an hour later, a loud voice rang out at the door.
“Report… Nanjing Security Regiment Commander Su Yaoyang reporting for duty as ordered!”
“Come in.”
Accompanying the voice, a young officer wearing a German-style military uniform with the rank of colonel strode in and snapped a salute to the two men. “Hello, Commander Li! Hello, Commander Sun!”
“Mingxi… you’ve arrived.”
Seeing Su Yaoyang, Li Zongren slowly stood up and said solemnly, “Mingxi… today the Japanese 10th Division is fiercely attacking Taierzhuang, and many positions inside the town have fallen. Chi Fengcheng’s 31st Division has already been fighting bitterly for seven days.
But now their division has suffered heavy losses, so I have decided to order you to lead your unit to take over the 31st Division’s defense inside the town. Do you have confidence?”
Without hesitation, Su Yaoyang said loudly, “Don’t worry, sir. I dare not boast about anything else, but I can guarantee one thing: where our men are, the position is. As long as not every man in our Security Regiment is dead, Taierzhuang will absolutely not fall!”
“Good!”
Li Zongren threw away the pencil in his hand, his face full of relief. “I hope you can live up to your words. When you return in triumph, Commander Sun and I will personally toast you!”
Su Yaoyang said loudly, “Guaranteed to complete the mission!”
“Come here.” Li Zongren beckoned and pointed to the map on the table. “Let me test you. How do you plan to deploy your forces?”
Su Yaoyang had already discussed this issue in detail with several deputy regiment commanders and battalion commanders in the regiment over the past two days. Without hesitation, he stepped forward, picked up a wooden stick from the table, and pointed to the center:
“This is Taierzhuang, but its core area is only about 2 square kilometers. The area inside the town walls is limited, the streets in the town are narrow, and the houses are densely packed.
According to intelligence, only one-fifth of the area is still in our army’s hands; the rest has all been occupied by the Japanese. So sending too many troops in now would only turn them into live targets for Japanese artillery fire.
Therefore, I plan to first send three infantry battalions across the Yunhe River pontoon bridge at night to take over the 31st Division’s defensive line, and then deploy the artillery battalion and air defense battalion south of the Yunhe River.
At the same time, have the engineer company build another steel pontoon bridge over the Yunhe River at night, which must be completed before 5 a.m.
Once it’s built, the tank company will move to the south bank of the Yunhe River at night. At dawn tomorrow, launch a full-scale counterattack against the Japanese and recapture all of Taierzhuang in one stroke!”
After hearing Su Yaoyang’s words, even Li Zongren and Sun Lianzhong, with their half-lifetimes of battle experience, looked at him with some surprise.
In fact, Li Zongren and Sun Lianzhong had fought battles for half their lives—what kind of tough or perilous battles hadn’t they fought? To be honest, they didn’t take a regiment-level battle like this seriously.
What shocked them was not only the luxurious assets Su Yaoyang revealed, but also his courage to break the cauldrons and sink the boats.
In their view, Su Yaoyang must have exhausted his family wealth and efforts to build such a unit, yet he dared to go all-in without blinking—an act of courage and boldness that ordinary people wouldn’t dare.
After a long while, Li Zongren took a deep breath. “Mingxi… this is a huge gamble. If you lose, the unit you built with your life’s savings will be completely gone.”
“Hahaha…”
Su Yaoyang laughed. “What are you saying, Commander Li? Country comes before family. If there’s no country, what’s the use of a small family? Leave the family assets to the Japanese?
Now, our Chinese nation has reached the final moment. If we don’t even have the courage to fight the Japanese invaders to the end, then I would have lived this life in vain!”
“Good!” Sun Lianzhong slapped the table. “For that statement alone, I, Sun Lianzhong, salute you as a real man.
When you return in triumph, Commander Li and I will personally toast you!”
“Hahaha… it’s a deal! My unit is waiting for that drink from you and Commander Li!”
“It’s a deal!”
………..
It was already dusk when Su Yaoyang left the headquarters and returned to the Security Regiment’s outpost in the suburbs. He immediately summoned all officers above battalion level and announced the mission to everyone.
After speaking, he scanned the faces in the crowd. “Everyone heard the mission. Now I want to hear, who is willing to be the first unit to enter the town?”
“Sir, I’ll go…”
“Our battalion will go!”
As soon as he finished speaking, all the battalion commanders stood up.
Fifth Battalion Commander Liang Zefeng spoke first. “Regiment seat, these days the battles have all been fought by Fourth Battalion and First Battalion. Our Fifth Battalion is about to rust. Even by rotation, it should be our turn, right?”
“Bullshit… our Sixth Battalion is the one. When is it your Fifth Battalion’s turn?” Sixth Battalion Commander Hou Tianyou retorted on the spot.
“Don’t argue… in terms of combat power, our First Battalion is the strongest, okay? This entry into the town definitely has to include our First Battalion.” Li Gaoyuan was not to be outdone.
The crowd began arguing noisily, each chiming in…
