Liu Yuantang immediately decided to leave immediately while the encirclement of the Yunnan army was not tight enough, but He Chao objected. He Chao was the last few people to escape from the other side of the Jinsha River, and he was shot in the arm, but his behavior greatly increased his prestige in these two brigades, and the reason for his opposition was very simple, Chen Guangzao was gone, and An Enpu's model brigade, which had the strongest combat effectiveness in the Yunnan army, was chasing him, and An Enpu chased him there, and they didn't know, that is to say, they didn't know how many Dian troops there were on the road from Huili to Dechang, so instead of risking out of the city, it was better to stick to the spot.

"Sticking to Huili seems to be an adventure, but we have six regiments in Huili City, in addition, we are not without external rescue, the Southwest Development Team also has a detachment in the city, we have more than 10,000 people in one place, and we are not without rescue, although the boss has no soldiers, but the Southwest Development Team has Wow, Captain Zhuang will never watch his escort team and development team being surrounded and annihilated by the Dian army, so sticking to Huili looks quite risky, but the actual risk is very small."

He Chao's analysis made the voice of wanting to leave immediately quiet, and several deputy regiment commanders who came back from Yucheng changed their attitudes and began to support and wait for help, Liu Yuantang's attitude also became uncertain, Li Anding and Fan Hanjie rushed to the headquarters together, and Li Anding told Liu Yuantang that they decided to stick to Huili with Liu Yuantang.

"We have a brigade of more than 6,000 troops," Fan Hanjie said calmly: "The chasing Yunnan army is only about 40,000 people, and the defense is one to four, and the gap in strength should not be large, and more importantly, Captain Zhuang is organizing reinforcements, and we only need to hold for half a month, and the reinforcements will arrive." ”

Of course, Fan Hanjie didn't tell the truth, the only visible reinforcements were a regiment in Xichang, and the other reinforcements had to be transferred from Yucheng, Xikang's road construction was the whole of Sichuan, except for the worst in northern Sichuan and Nanba, only one main road in Huili-Dechang-Xichang-Ya'an-Chengdu could be passed by car, and this line was built in the past two years after the decision to develop Panzhihua the year before last, Zhuang Jihua wanted to scold Liu Wenhui for embezzling his road repair money every time he saw this road, but in the end he still endured it, so that these warlords were not corrupt, I'm afraid only the sun comes out in the west.

20,000 troops want to come around such a big circle from Yucheng to Chengdu, how can it take more than half a month, it is the rainy season now, if there is a landslide or something, I am afraid it will not be a month.

But Fan Hanjie's words made Liu Yuantang and others feel hopeful, He Chao immediately said that they should stay, and at the same time he warned that once they were attacked out of the city, the soldiers were eager to flee for their lives, and it was likely that the troops would disperse, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

He Chao's words made more people who were inclined to stay, this was a telegram from Zhuang Jihua that completely solved the matter, Zhuang Jihua's telegram was to Fan Hanjie and Liu Yuantang, in the telegram he first told Liu Yuantang that all the Sichuan troops in the Daliangshan area were under his command, and from now on, the orders of others, including Liu Wenhui, would not count; He appointed Fan Hanjie as the commander of the Huili garrison and Liu Yuantang as the deputy commander, they must hold the Huili, and the two of them are only asked.

There was no need to discuss it anymore, Liu Yuantang immediately said that he accepted Zhuang Jihua's order and obeyed Fan Hanjie's command. Fan Hanjie didn't talk nonsense, he immediately appointed He Chao as the chief of staff, and Wei Yingnong (Huangpu Phase III), the chief of staff of the escort team, as the deputy chief of staff, and then began to discuss the issue of defense.

"Huili is a small county town, more than 10,000 people are all shrunk in the city and are beaten and do not fight back, this is not good, Baolin Mountain in the north of the city is the commanding height of the whole city, it must be controlled, this is carried out by the two regiments of the escort team, and the remaining detachment (equivalent to the regiment) guards the north gate, Brigade Commander Liu, you and Brigade Commander Yang control the other three gates."

"Okay," Liu Yuantang immediately agreed, the mountain outside the city is four miles away from the city, the Dian army is different from the Red Army, the Red Army has no artillery, and the effect of occupying this hill is not great, but the Dian army has artillery, if the cannon is mounted on the mountain, the threat to the city is great.

Therefore, a regiment was placed in each of the remaining three gates, leaving one regiment and the troops directly under the brigade as reserves, and the brigade units directly under the escort team were also left as reserves, and the artillery set up positions at the commanding heights in the city.

Fan Hanjie personally commanded the escorts of the three detachments to attack Baolin, because he did not know how many Yunnan troops were on the mountain, he divided the troops into three groups, one detachment attacked from the front, and one detachment was divided into two ways to attack the mountain from the left and right, leaving one regiment as a vigilance force, ready to resist the counterattack of the Yunnan army at any time.

The attack speed of the troops was very fast, after successfully taking a few small mountain bags at the foot of the mountain, they charged to the top of the mountain non-stop, the firepower of the Yunnan soldiers on the mountain was not very strong, but extremely tenacious, despite the fierce artillery fire of the escort team, but the Yunnan soldiers still did not retreat, and the attacking troops were suppressed on the mountainside.

The detachment responsible for the frontal attack was Wang Guobin, who was dug up from Hu Zongnan, and Zhuang Jihua's old first division was a descendant. He was the regiment commander who grew up from the war, fought from Niuxing to northern Sichuan, fought countless vicious battles and bitter battles, and couldn't take down such a mountain, and suddenly became angry, scolded and ran to the front mountain artillery with the artillery, and then set up the cannon and bombarded the mountain, ordering the commando to chase the artillery point and rush up.

This time the Dian army guarding the mountain could not stand it, the assault team took the main peak with a charge, the Yunnan army on the top of the mountain was in chaos and retreated, Wang Guobin still refused to give up, commanded the troops to chase, annihilated most of the Dian army, and returned satisfied.

The two armies that went up from the left and right flanks had nothing to do, so they turned around and captured the small peaks on both sides, forming a defensive line with the main peaks that were horns of each other.

Liu Yuantang was still in command in the city, he didn't expect that the guards would take Baolin Mountain so easily, not only took it, but also captured more than a hundred prisoners, and now he knew how strong the combat effectiveness of the escort team was. The interrogation of the prisoners revealed that it was a reinforced company of the An Enpu Model Brigade of the Yunnan Army guarding Baolin Mountain, and An Enpu led the main force to pursue Chen Guangzao, while the main force of the Yunnan Army commanded by Sun Du had not yet arrived. This result surprised Fan Hanjie a little, he didn't expect the Dian army to be so far away.

Sun Du didn't arrive because he didn't want to, he was unwilling to go deep into Xikang to attack Huili, after forcibly crossing the Jinsha River, he sent a telegram to Long Yun in Kunming, suggesting that he should not attack Huili, but only strike at Lixi's own house, and immediately withdraw his troops after the fight, so as to avoid conflict with the development team in the southwest.

But Long Yun disagreed, he thought that Liu Wenhui provoked the conflict, and he must capture Huili to deter Liu Wenhui, as for the southwest development team, isn't it just a few escort teams, just fight, it's not a big deal, what Chiang Kai-shek wants now is to let him attack Guangxi, it won't be like him.

However, after Sun Du received Long Yun's telegram, he still disagreed, thinking that if this continued, it would be ruined by the Southwest Development Team, and then conflict with the central government, and it would be better not to ignore it; He reminded Long Yun that judging from several small conflicts, the combat effectiveness of the Southwest Development Team was not weak, and once the army crossed the river, it would be in a backwater formation, and once the attack failed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Long Yun was furious, his reply was very harsh, and he severely reprimanded Sun Du for why he was so prestigious, did he not take him as the provincial chairman in his eyes after colluding with Chiang Kai-shek? In the end, he threatened that if he was unwilling to command the troops to attack Huili, he could hand over the command to An Enpu.

Sun Du couldn't, so he had to drive north, but he was still very careful to leave one brigade to build a bridge at Kyaukpyeongdu, and then led the remaining three brigades north, so that a delay would leave a day's journey between him and the pursuing An Enpu.

After An Enpu defeated Chen Guangzao, he urged Sun Du to enter the army, but Sun Du was entangled with Long Yun, An Enpu simply led his troops to catch up, and when he arrived at Huili, he found that the four doors were closed, and Liu Yuantang had retreated to Huili, he judged that Liu Yuantang would not go out of the city, so he boldly left a reinforced company to defend Baolin Mountain, and he led his troops to continue to chase north, but he didn't expect that the guards in Huili City actually had three full regiments, and the level of firepower equipment and training far exceeded that of the 24th Army.

Fan Hanjie knew that he had made a mistake, he thought that Sun Du should be the whole army, but he didn't expect that there was only one brigade of An Enpu, he knew that this was the case, he should have gone out to meet the battle, not to mention the total annihilation, and completely defeated Long Yun's precious heart, Long Yun may have to be honest, but now it is too late.

After Long Yun forced Sun Du to go north, Zhuang Jihua's telegram also arrived, in the face of Zhuang Jihua's conditions, Long Yun was so angry that he smoked, this is simply too deceitful, the Yi people have the habit of kidnapping people, you can ask me for people, but the compensation is as high as eight million, and the generals will be punished, what do you think of me Long Yun.

Long Yun was furious and did not call back to Zhuang Jihua, and directly ordered Sun Du to attack Huili immediately, and take Huili within three days, otherwise the military law would be engaged, Sun Du would no longer dare to delay and speed up and rush to Huili City, but he was still late, Baolin Mountain had been taken by the escort team, and Huili City formed a corner.

The first time the Huili was besieged proved to be exaggerated, Zhuang Jihua received Chen Guangzao who fled back in embarrassment in Dechang, seeing his embarrassed appearance, Zhuang Jihua almost wanted to shoot him on the spot, but he still suppressed the fire and ordered him to immediately gather his troops and prepare to hold Dechang, but Zhuang Jihua looked at his dejected soldiers, and he was completely unsure in his heart, and he was not at ease until the escort team of Xichang arrived in the evening.

It is definitely unrealistic to counterattack now, and we can only wait for when the main force led by Du Yuming will arrive.

After Zhuang Jihua's telegram was known to Hu Ying, he, Zhou Zhongyue, Lu Han and others hurried to Wuhua Mountain and resolutely demanded that Long Yun stop his military operations in Huili.

"Zhizhou, Zhuang Wenge is not easy to provoke," Hu Ying persuaded bitterly: "It is no accident that he can gain a foothold in such a complicated place as Sichuan, if he is so easy to deal with, Liu Xiang will hand over Yucheng to him so easily?" We know too little about him, be careful! ”

"Cousin, Hu Lao is right, even if we don't agree with the last two, people can be put back immediately, and the troops can be withdrawn first, not to mention that we can also garrison near Kyaukpingdu, so that we can avoid sending troops to Guangxi." Lu Han also did not approve of sending troops to Xikang this time, he believed that Sichuan's military strength was very strong, although Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui had contradictions, but after all, they were uncles and nephews, Liu Wenhui was really in trouble, and Liu Xiang could not ignore it.

(To be continued)