Chapter 168: Sudden Situation
The night was deep,
“Ding ling ling…”
The urgent phone rang in the bedroom, a snow-white slender arm stretched out from under the covers, lazily picking up the phone.
“Hello… who is it?”
“Mingxi… looking for you.”
In a daze, Song Mei handed the receiver to Su Yaoyang, who had just fallen asleep not long ago.
Su Yaoyang struggled to open his eyes, his left hand effortfully moving the other soft delicate body leaning in his arms to the side, his right hand taking the phone and lazily placing it by his ear.
“This is Su Yaoyang, what’s the matter?” Su Yaoyang’s voice became a bit clearer; he knew that if there wasn’t something particularly urgent, his subordinates wouldn’t call his bedroom at this time.
An urgent voice came from the receiver: “Commander, this is duty staff officer Liu Kai. We just received an urgent telegram. In today’s Japanese aircraft bombing, Regiment Commander Li Gaoyuan was wounded by an aerial bomb and is still in a coma.”
“What?”
Su Yaoyang almost jumped up from the bed, pushing the large cotton quilt to the middle of the bed, drawing two coquettish curses.
“Okay… I’ll head to the command post right away.”
Su Yaoyang quickly got out of bed, quickly put on his military uniform, then said to the two women on the bed: “Song Mei, Xiao Lu, you sleep first. Li Gaoyuan is wounded, I need to rush over immediately.”
Just as he pushed open the door to leave, Song Mei called out to him, hesitating for a while, her beautiful eyes filled with all kinds of reluctance, finally forming one sentence.
“Mingxi… be careful.”
“Young master… you must be careful, Sister Mei and I will wait for you at home.” Xiao Lu also sat up clutching the brocade quilt, her eyes red as she instructed.
Su Yaoyang turned his head and gave the two women a deep look, smiled and waved his hand, then pushed the door and went out.
When he arrived at the command post, Pi Ruoyu had already arrived ahead of him.
“Old Pi… how’s the situation?”
“The situation is very bad.”
Pi Ruoyu’s face was somewhat gloomy: “Regiment Commander Li was hit by the Japanese aircraft bombing at noon today. A 250-kilogram bomb exploded dozens of meters away. Although he hid in the trench, he was still injured by the shockwave and vomited blood.
But he still forced himself to command the troops to evacuate and take cover until evening when he couldn’t hold on anymore and collapsed. He’s now being sent to Wutaishan. Estimated to arrive in a few hours. I’ve already notified the hospital to check him and arrange surgery as soon as Regiment Commander Li arrives.”
“These bastards!”
Su Yaoyang slammed his fist heavily on the table, angrily saying: “What is the anti-aircraft battalion doing? How could they fail to protect their own commander?”
“This can’t be blamed on the anti-aircraft battalion. In fact, they did their best.”
Pi Ruoyu explained: “The Japanese planes suddenly launched the bombing on us. They suddenly emerged from the clouds, and the ground troops had no time to react.
Moreover, the anti-aircraft battalion immediately counterattacked when the Japanese planes were bombing. If not for fearing the anti-aircraft battalion’s artillery fire, the ground troops’ losses wouldn’t be just over a hundred men, and they also achieved results: at least downing one and damaging two.”
Su Yaoyang irritably cursed: “What’s the use? If Old Li suffers a loss, even downing a hundred planes couldn’t make up for our loss!”
Pi Ruoyu didn’t speak; he knew very well how deep the friendship between Su Yaoyang and Li Gaoyuan was.
The two met in humble beginnings; they were true friends who had gone through hardships together, killing their way out of Nanjing, that hellish place. Their bond was extremely deep.
Nominally subordinate, but in reality like brothers. Now suddenly hearing that Li Gaoyuan was wounded with unknown fate, some loss of composure was normal.
He sighed lightly, took out a cigarette and gave one to Su Yaoyang, lit it for him, then said: “Commander, we’re all heartbroken that Regiment Commander Li is wounded, but the most important thing now is the defense of Wild Wolf Valley.
After Regiment Commander Li was wounded, although the newly arrived Second Regiment Commander Huang Guantao took over command, this is only temporary. We need to quickly send someone to replace him.”
“Yes, indeed.” Su Yaoyang nodded slightly. “Huang Guantao’s ability is no problem, but his temperament isn’t tough enough. Commanding troops for defense is fine, but if we ask him to lead the troops to hold off a Japanese division’s attack and also look for opportunities to counterattack, it’s somewhat insufficient. We do need someone to replace Li Gaoyuan.”
“How about… I go.” Pi Ruoyu said hesitantly after a moment.
“You can’t go.” Su Yaoyang said without thinking: “The affairs in Wutaixian County are myriad and complicated, all relying on you, the chief of staff, to oversee the overall situation. If you leave, things here would be paralyzed at least halfway.”
“Then who else can we send?” Pi Ruoyu said helplessly: “We still have too few people who can stand on their own. Are we going to send Third Regiment’s Regiment Commander Lu?”
Su Yaoyang still disagreed. “Lu Shaobin and the Third Regiment still need to handle Wutaixian County’s defense. How can they leave?”
After saying that, he slammed the cigarette butt on the ground. “Since there’s no one, then I’ll go.”
“You go… Commander, if you leave, who will oversee the overall situation here? No, no…” Pi Ruoyu shook his head repeatedly.
“Oversee what overall situation?” Su Yaoyang waved his hand: “The biggest overall situation now is Wild Wolf Valley. If we hold it, all is well; if we lose it, all is lost. We’d have to prepare to retreat to the mountains and live hard days.
Seeing Su Yaoyang’s determined eyes, Pi Ruoyu knew he had made up his mind. No point in persuading further, he could only say helplessly: “Commander, since you’re determined to go, I can’t stop you. I just want to know, which troops do you plan to take?”
Su Yaoyang thought for a moment: “I’ll take the guard battalion and an anti-aircraft battalion. After all, Wutaixian County also needs troops for defense.”
“Still not enough.”
Pi Ruoyu pondered for a long time. “Here’s an idea… take Cannon Second Regiment too. That way, with two cannon regiments deployed in Wild Wolf Valley, it can offset the pressure from the Japanese numerical advantage. Here we have the Third Regiment and anti-aircraft battalion, which is sufficient.
If… if…”
At this point, Pi Ruoyu paused, gritted his teeth: “If the frontline forces aren’t enough, I can also transfer the Third Regiment to reinforce Wild Wolf Valley. I think that should be enough.”
“No, no matter what happens, even if Wild Wolf Valley falls, the Third Regiment absolutely cannot move!”
Su Yaoyang rejected without hesitation. Once the Third Regiment was also transferred, Wutaixian County would really be an empty city. Then, not to mention if the Japanese attacked, even bandits like Xie Baoqing could loot Wutaixian County clean.
Stepping back ten thousand steps, even if all other troops were wiped out, as long as they had one regiment’s worth of force, they could retreat to the mountains and fight guerrilla warfare. Otherwise, if even the Third was gone, they would truly be meat on the chopping block, to be slaughtered, and even mountain bandits could bully them.
“Alright… that’s it then. Situation is urgent, I’m leaving first!”
After saying that, Su Yaoyang left without looking back…
