Chapter 309: Regiment Commander Su’s Noble Righteousness
After Yang Aiyuan said the words “I agree,” the tense atmosphere in the conference room finally deflated like a punctured balloon and quickly eased.
After a fierce round of haggling, during which Yang Aiyuan repeatedly sent telegrams to Yan Xishan far away at Kunnan Slope for instructions, the three sides finally reached an agreement.
The contents of the agreement were quickly recorded: Shanxi Militia, Eighth Route Army, and Jin-Sui Army would jointly send troops to retake Taiyuan.
Among them, the well-funded Shanxi Militia, as the main assault force, would deploy two armored regiments, two infantry regiments, two artillery regiments, and two flight squadrons.
On the Eighth Route Army side, the brigade commander made the decision, and the 386th Brigade would send five regiments to participate in the battle.
On the Jin-Sui Army side, Yang Aiyuan gritted his teeth and promised to mobilize the more capable 61st Army and 19th Army under Yan Xishan to assist in the battle.
The combined forces of the three sides totaled roughly sixty to seventy thousand men, planning to seize Taiyuan, which had been occupied by the Japanese for three years, in three to five days.
With the agreement settled, Yang Aiyuan’s expression improved somewhat. As if trying to regain some face, he immediately switched roles, stood in front of the huge sand table in the center of the command post, picked up a long pointer, and regained some of the bearing of a senior general.
“Now the 61st Army has arrived at Fenyang, and the 19th Army has arrived at Yushe.”
He tapped the positions representing the two county seats on the sand table with the pointer and loudly introduced the deployment of the Jin-Sui Army to everyone. “They are expected to reach the designated attack positions tomorrow. Once they all arrive, we can launch the general assault on Taiyuan.”
As he spoke, he subconsciously straightened his back, trying to show that the Jin-Sui Army was still strong and capable of shouldering heavy responsibilities.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, he was met with three distinctly different but equally skeptical gazes.
Su Yaoyang spoke first. He was still leaning back in his chair, hands crossed in front of him, a hint of suspicion on his face, and asked flatly, “Commander Yang, can the 61st Army and 19th Army really arrive on schedule?”
Before he finished speaking, the brigade commander on the side snorted coldly. Although he didn’t say anything, the look in his eyes clearly asked the same question as Su Yaoyang.
On the other side, Bai Chongxi was even more shrewd. He didn’t express doubt directly but covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed lightly with a half-smile, the playful look in his eyes more embarrassing than a direct question.
Seeing the clearly distrustful gazes from the three men, Yang Aiyuan’s face, which had just regained some color, flushed red in an instant, as if he had been slapped loudly in public.
“What’s the matter with you?” he said displeased. “Don’t you trust me, Yang?”
“Brother Xingru.”
Bai Chongxi put down the handkerchief and spoke slowly. He addressed Yang Aiyuan by his style name, giving him full face. “It’s not that we don’t trust you; it’s just that this kind of thing…” He deliberately dragged out his tone, shook his head, with a “you know” expression.
It wasn’t surprising that Su Yaoyang and the others reacted this way; the Jin-Sui Army had a glorious “tradition” in this regard.
Not to mention the distant past, take the Pingxingguan Battle three years ago. Although the 115th Division achieved brilliant results that shocked China and the world, it also suffered considerable casualties.
The root cause was that the friendly forces responsible for striking reinforcements and providing flank support, especially the Jin-Sui Army and Gao Guizi’s troops, fought independently or even stayed put, watching as the 115th Division fought bloody battles with the Japanese elite, ultimately preventing the results from expanding further and missing the perfect opportunity to annihilate a portion of the Kitagami Division.
This “friendly forces in trouble, unmoving as a mountain” style had long been etched into the impression of all the troops.
Yang Aiyuan also cared about face. Being “face-to-face blasted” like this by these friendly forces, especially a junior and a nemesis, right in front of him, even someone with thick skin couldn’t stand it. The anger that had just been suppressed surged up again, making his face flush red.
He immediately rebuked angrily: “Don’t talk nonsense… In this battle, I, Yang, will personally supervise the battle here. There will absolutely be no desertion on the battlefield or ignoring friendly forces!
I am willing to issue a military order on the spot. If such a thing really happens… I…”
His voice trembled with agitation, but at the end, he got stuck, momentarily unsure what kind of vicious oath to use to prove his determination.
“Brother Xingru… you’re too serious…”
Seeing that Yang Aiyuan was about to lose face, Bai Chongxi quickly stepped forward, gently pressed Yang Aiyuan’s arm, and stopped his follow-up words.
After all, he was the deputy commander of the theater. It was fine for the three of them to joke and prod a bit earlier, but forcing him to issue a military order would be going too far and could sour the atmosphere.
“Commander Yang, we’re all friendly forces; it was just a little joke. Don’t take it to heart.”
The brigade commander immediately caught on, dropped his aggressive demeanor, squeezed out a smile, and chimed in with a laugh, giving Yang Aiyuan a way out.
Su Yaoyang, who had been leaning back in his chair watching this “big drama” with great interest, now slowly sat up straight. He knew the prodding and testing had hit the mark; it was time to bring the topic back on track.
“Commander Yang… let’s not mention the past,” Su Yaoyang naturally took over the conversation, pulling everyone’s attention away from the earlier awkwardness. “Now let’s study how to fight this battle.”
He pointed at the model representing Taiyuan City on the sand table.
“The Japanese won’t just watch Taiyuan fall back into our hands; they’ll definitely come to reinforce at all costs.
Although I sent all our planes a few days ago to bomb the Japanese 27th Division and 7th Independent Mixed Brigade to halt their advance, there’s no guarantee that Xiao Tsukasa Yoshio won’t go all-in and pull all other mobile troops in Shanxi over.”
He glanced around at everyone and continued, “That way, even if my flight squadron lads had three heads and six arms, they couldn’t handle it. So, we must detach some forces to block enemy reinforcements. What do you think—which troops should we send?”
Su Yaoyang threw out this most critical and difficult task.
Fighting to block reinforcements meant using inferior forces to hard-face the Japanese elite, with inevitably heavy casualties, and it was a thankless, grueling job.
As soon as he finished speaking, the always silent and observant Bai Chongxi stroked his chin and spoke thoughtfully.
“I think, regardless of which troops to send, the unit responsible for blocking enemy reinforcements must be one skilled in defensive warfare…”
As soon as Bai Chongxi said “skilled in defense,” the conference room instantly fell into a strange silence. The atmosphere, which had slightly eased due to Yang Aiyuan’s compromise, became heavy again.
Blocking action?
Any soldier who had rolled through a few battles knew what that meant.
These three words sounded simple, but behind them was a bottomless pit filled with lives.
A blocking battle was the toughest fight, gnawing the hardest bone, facing Japanese reinforcements several times stronger and better equipped.
If you win, the merit book lightly notes “effectively supported the main assault force.”
If you lose, it’s total annihilation, not even anyone to collect the bodies. This was purely thankless, using your own brothers’ lives to pave the way for the main assault force.
For a moment, no one spoke.
The brigade commander’s stern face was taut, his brows knotted, his gaze fixed on a point on the sand table, as if calculating how many men his 386th Brigade would need to plug the Japanese breach.
Meanwhile, Yang Aiyuan kept his eyes on his nose and nose on his heart, hands behind his back, looking like a meditating monk, as if he hadn’t been the one to suggest sending troops earlier.
They were all sharp; no one wanted to be the first to grab this hot potato.
Seeing these two competing in silence, the usually quiet Su Yaoyang cleared his throat and broke the silence.
“Since the brigade commander and Commander Yang aren’t speaking, let me do it.” His voice wasn’t loud but clearly reached everyone’s ears. “We’ll take this mission—Shanxi Militia accepts…”
“No…”
Before Su Yaoyang could fully say “accept,” two voices, in unison and full of urgency, cut him off abruptly.
The brigade commander and Yang Aiyuan almost simultaneously raised their heads, their movements and expressions so in sync it was as if they’d rehearsed countless times.
“Regiment Commander Su, no need to corner me and Commander Yang like this.”
The brigade commander reacted first, looking at Su Yaoyang with a helpless smile.
He knew he’d been outmaneuvered by this young man. He let out a long sigh, his tone carrying a sense of resignation: “Alright, we’ll take this mission—386th Brigade accepts. I’ll arrange two regiments to conduct the blocking action around Jinyuan. If it’s not enough, I’ll request reinforcements from headquarters.”
“Two regiments of yours won’t be enough!”
Yang Aiyuan also sighed, knowing he was committed to bleeding today.
He couldn’t let the Eighth Route Army take all the hard work and credit, nor let Su Yaoyang look down on the Jin-Sui Army. Gritting his teeth, he said gravely: “I’ll detach a division from the 19th Army to form a defensive line around Xinkai, blocking the Japanese attack.”
Seeing this dramatic scene, Bai Chongxi, who had been standing by observing, couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement.
This Su Yaoyang was clever as a monkey!
Everyone knew that for this assault on Taiyuan, the Shanxi Militia was the true main force.
Without those two enviable armored regiments and the heavy artillery regiment that could demolish city walls, attacking Taiyuan’s solid defenses with just infantry would increase the difficulty by more than tenfold, with incalculable casualties.
Su Yaoyang “volunteering” for the blocking action at this moment wasn’t volunteering at all—it was pressuring the brigade commander and Yang Aiyuan: if you don’t take it, don’t expect me to go all-out on the main assault!
Seeing the brigade commander and Yang Aiyuan—who had been reluctant moments ago—now eagerly jumping to “volunteer,” Su Yaoyang smiled at them.
“Commander Yang, no need to worry too much.
I know blocking is tough work, mainly facing threats from Japanese planes, artillery, and armored vehicles.”
Su Yaoyang pinpointed the biggest difficulty in blocking battles, making the brigade commander and Yang Aiyuan both nod, their expressions turning grave.
They knew Su Yaoyang was right; these three things were the eternal pain for their poorly equipped Chinese forces.
At this point, Su Yaoyang paused deliberately, scanned the crowd, then continued unhurriedly: “The Japanese 60th Flying Regiment was just badly hit by my flight squadron, so aerial threats won’t be a big worry short-term.
The only real troubles are Japanese artillery and armored vehicles. Here’s what we’ll do…”
He pretended to ponder, tapping the table lightly twice, drawing all eyes in the conference room to him.
“I’ll have them allocate two hundred anti-tank rifles each to the brigade commander and Commander Yang, plus ten bases of ammunition. These guns can’t handle Japanese heavy tanks, but against those thinly armored ‘bean tank’ light tanks, they should be fine.”
“Hiss…”
As soon as he spoke, the conference room filled with gasps.
Two hundred anti-tank rifles? And a hundred each to both sides?
These were prime weapons against Japanese armored vehicles, extremely valuable—they’d barely even seen a few, and Su Yaoyang offered four hundred at once!
But the real shock was yet to come.
“Then allocate to each of you twenty thousand German-made M24 grenades, a hundred Czech light machine guns, and thirty Maxim heavy machine guns to bolster your defenses.”
If the anti-tank rifles were shocking, this string of numbers was like a bombshell exploding in the brigade commander and Yang Aiyuan’s hearts. Their eyes bulged like copper bells, mouths agape enough to fit an egg, completely stunned, hardly believing their ears.
Twenty thousand German grenades? A hundred Czechs? Thirty Maxims? This… this was striking it rich.
“Regiment Commander Su, your great righteousness!”
The straightforward brigade commander reacted first, giving Su Yaoyang a big thumbs-up. That “great righteousness” came from the heart, full of admiration and gratitude.
Even Yang Aiyuan, who usually thought highly of himself and had been full of grievances against Su Yaoyang earlier, now looked at him differently.
The look in his eyes no longer held previous scheming or resentment, replaced by full approval and a trace of indescribable complex emotion.
He knew that with this batch of weapons, his division’s defensive line at Xinkai would truly have backbone.
Seeing their excited reactions, Su Yaoyang just waved dismissively, saying nothing more.
The reason for such generous allocation was purely self-interest.
He knew better than anyone that the stronger the blocking forces, the more solid the line, the safer the main assault forces would be.
No one wanted to be halfway through assaulting Taiyuan, in the fiercest fighting, only for a fresh Japanese force to strike from behind. After all, no one wanted to taste the flavor of being attacked from both sides and total collapse.
