After coming down from the Jianmen, Hu Zongnan kept all the way and hurried in the direction of the county seat of Jiange.

As soon as I got out of the canyon and entered the Cuiyun Corridor, I heard the gunfire in front of me. Hu Zongnan was taken aback, at this time, in this place, how could the red bandits dare to make a move against their first division? You must know that since 1930 when he defeated Sun Liangcheng of the Northwest Army, which was known for its bravery, at the rape mill on Jinpu Road, the name of the first division was unparalleled for a while, not to mention that after he took over as the division commander, he vigorously expanded, and the strength of the troops was significantly enhanced. This red bandit really ate the leopard's gall, and his mantis arm was used as a car, and he couldn't do anything he could!

In fact, Hu Zongnan overestimated his first division. Historically, this Chiang Kai-shek-based army was purely an insider in the civil war and an outsider in the foreign war. Needless to say, the Northern Expedition was naturally a brilliant result of the First Division. Needless to say, the first division was naturally in the vanguard, however, the first division did not win favor in the hands of the Red Army, and the first division suffered more than half of the casualties in the Battle of Songpan, Hu Zongnan himself was almost captured, and the Battle of Mountain Castle lost his troops and lost his generals. "I. 28 "Songhu Anti-Japanese War, the first division was transferred to the Soviet Union, stationed in Nanjing, Changzhou, Wuxi, as a reserve, watching the 19th Route Army and Zhang Zhizhong's troops fight with Yuekou. As soon as the Songhu War of Resistance ended, the First Division hurriedly went to encircle and suppress the Soviet area. After eight years of all-out war of resistance, the First Division and the main force of the First Army, which had been expanded by him, only participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Lanfeng, and the Battle of Wuhan in the early days of the war, and their results were mediocre. Later, this elite unit was transferred back to Shaanxi to undertake the dual tasks of defending the Yellow River and monitoring Yan'an. Until the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the army finally struck a death blow and launched the Battle of Henan-Xianggui, Jiang Dingwen fled in embarrassment in the first war zone, and Hu Zongnan blocked the army in Shaanxian County and Lingbao area of Henan. At first, the fight was good, but then the entire division and army fled frantically, forcing the US planes in charge of battlefield reconnaissance to strafe them with machine guns to prevent them from retreating. Fortunately, the army did not have a plan to enter Guanzhong in the west, and the main force was quickly transferred. Otherwise, Hu Zongnan's joke will be big.

Without further ado. When Hu Zongnan heard the sound of gunfire, he immediately realized that the good ones did not come, and they did not come well. This red bandit dared to attack at this time and in this place, and he must have made all arrangements. However, out of a high degree of trust in the combat effectiveness of the First Division, Hu Zongnan still hoped in his heart that this was just a blocking operation carried out by the red bandits in order to delay his rescue of Mianyang. He believed that with the combat effectiveness of the 1st Brigade, the enemy who was blocking it would soon be destroyed and pursued.

After all, Hu Zongnan was also promoted from platoon commander all the way after graduating from the Whampoa Military Academy, although he was promoted too quickly, but it was not all in vain. Although he had the hope that the 1st Brigade would repel the enemy, he still took what was the right measure at the time: he ordered a regiment of the 2nd Brigade to deploy on the spot in the Cuiyun Corridor, and the main force quickly turned back and seized the key points on the hill close to the Cuiyun Corridor in case of accidents.

As soon as the order was given, a telegram was received from Peng Jinzhi, deputy division commander and commander of the Reading Brigade, saying that the second echelon had been hit by powerful artillery fire.

In fact, without Peng Jinzhi's telegram, Hu Zongnan had already seen the cannonballs flying like fireworks in front of him at this time, illuminating the sky incomparably gorgeous and colorful.

The last trace of luck in Hu Zongnan's heart was completely dispelled, and he had completely believed that the red bandits had laid a big trap more than ten kilometers long, making his first division jump in. It seems that the principal ordered himself to go south this time because he fell for the red bandits. The red bandits abandoned Leshan and Chengdu, surrounded Mianyang, Zhanjiangyou, attacked Nanchong and Peng'an, and seemed to attack the North Road troops of the Sichuan Army between the Fujiang River and the Jialing River.

What a big deal! What a gloomy scheming! What a ruthless deployment!

[***] Ah [***], you're too ruthless, aren't you? I want to swallow my first division, and I'm not afraid to burst your stomach!

Since the red bandits want to be tough, let's compare whether it is my first division in the world, or your red bandits' appetite!

Hu Zongnan, who was mustering up his fighting spirit, pondered for a while, and then sorted out his thoughts: the first brigade did not see the telegram, and it may have been under siege, and I am afraid that it is waiting for rescue; Under such a strong artillery fire, the Reading Brigade and the Supplementary Brigade were already unable to protect themselves, and it was impossible to expect them to rescue the 1st Brigade. Only the 2nd Brigade led by himself desperately assaulted forward could save the Reading Brigade, the Supplementary Brigade and the 1st Brigade. However, now is not the time for blind rescue, and the top priority at the moment is to quickly occupy the key points, stabilize the position, see the situation on the battlefield clearly, and then decide how to rescue. As long as the ministries can hold out until dawn and let the principal dispatch all the planes to participate in the battle, the red bandits will naturally not be attacked.

Hu Zongnan, who had sorted out his thinking, urged the Second Brigade to quickly seize key points and deploy troops, and ordered the radio station to send a direct report to the principal to report the information that the First Division was ambushed, and asked the principal to immediately order the Sichuan army along the Jialing River to reinforce quickly, and asked the principal to order the air force to dispatch all the planes that could participate in the battle at dawn to come to reinforcements.

Hu Zongnan's thinking and arrangement should be said to be remarkable, if he let his Second Brigade deploy troops and occupy key points, the Red Army would have suffered most casualties in this battle, and even caused the elimination of Hu Zongnan's Second Brigade here, and the defeat of the Red 11th Division on that side. It's a pity that Hu Zongnan didn't have this opportunity.

Liu Yimin comes from the era of great military changes in the world in the 21 st century, and his research is on unrestricted warfare and asymmetric warfare. In the several battles he organized after the crossing, the emphasis was on attacking the enemy's main force on the march, and the timing was always before the enemy launched the battle formation. At this time, the enemy, with all the heavy fire weapons on the pack horse, is equal to nothing, and it is the weakest time. The reason why his troops were able to win and grow rapidly at a very small cost was the product of this tactical thinking. As for what kind of interspersed detours, division and encirclement, and forcible attack on key points, Liu Yimin is not interested in it, and he can't afford it. Not to mention the time of the 18th Regiment, that is, the time of the Guard Division, a few times like this, and the troops will be beaten back to their original shape.

Gao Yuan, the commander of the Red 11th Division, has been leading the most elite troops of Liu Yimin's department since he met Liu Yimin by the Xiangjiang River, from the first battalion to the first guard regiment, and then to the Red 11th Division, and he still has a deep understanding of Liu Yimin's tactical thinking. No, just when Hu Zongnan ordered the troops to seize the key points and spread out the formation, Gao Yuan made a move.

Gao Yuan knew that the key to the Red 11th Division's encirclement and annihilation of the enemy's third echelon was to seal the mouth, that is, to block the enemy's retreat to Jianmen Pass. As long as the enemy is blocked, then he will become a turtle in an urn, no matter how he tosses, he will not be able to escape the fate of being surrounded and annihilated. He predicted that as soon as the front was fought, the enemy would be bound to desperately seize the key point at the entrance of the Cuiyun Corridor, and when the time came, this would be the grave of the enemy's third echelon. Therefore, he ambushed the most elite 31st Regiment and the division's artillery battalion and heavy machine gun battalion on the hillside at the entrance of the Cuiyun Corridor, as long as the enemy entered the encirclement, they would become the target of the heavy fire of the Red 11th Division.

The only thing to worry about is that the enemy's marching route is too long, and when the front starts, the enemy's third echelon has not yet entered the ambush circle, and turns around and retreats towards Jianmen Pass. In that way, although they could not escape from the Sword Gate, the ambush battle would become a pursuit battle, or even a mountain battle.

Now that the enemy's third echelon had been ambushed, the fears of the plateau had come to naught, and the order to attack was immediately issued.

On the hillside at the entrance of the Cuiyun Corridor, all the mortars of the Red 11th Division were erected, and heavy machine guns were also erected, and just when Hu Zongnan's Second Brigade turned around to seize the high ground, rows of mortar shells rose into the sky and landed in the enemy's dense formation. Immediately afterwards, the heavy machine guns fired, and the enemy with torches in the dark night was the best target, and the machine gun bullets shot through like beams, sweeping towards the enemy's 2nd Brigade head-on.

For a time, the Cuiyun Corridor in the night became a slaughterhouse, and the shells brought broken arms and legs, and the bullets caused bloody arrows. The legendary purgatory on earth is nothing more than that.

The 2nd Brigade, which was hit suddenly, did not panic, and when the troops in front were wiped out, the troops in the rear quickly gave up the unrealistic idea of capturing the mountain, retreated into the Cuiyun Corridor, leaned on the trees of the Cuiyun Corridor, covered their figures, and began to shoot at the Red Army.

Cuiyun Corridor this place, the roadside is full of ancient cypresses, many big trees need several people to hug, the branches are intrigued, covering the sky, usually traveling is beautiful, this war is not good, because many bullets are shot into the tree body, affecting the results.

Fortunately, the 11th Division had sufficient ammunition, and the shells kept firing and exploding, blasting many branches in all directions, and becoming a sharp weapon for wounding people.

Hu Zongnan now knows how wrong he was in calling the Red Army bandits in the past. Where in the world are there such powerful bandits? Look at the heavy casualties of the troops, and if they don't decide, I'm afraid that the destruction of the whole army is just around the corner.

Yuan Pu, commander of the Second Brigade, left the unit at this time to participate in the officer training regiment, and before leaving, Hu Zongnan temporarily designated Peng Qibiao, deputy division commander, to command the troops.

As soon as he saw that the troops were heavily damaged by the Red Army's firepower, Peng Qibiao ran to Hu Zongnan's side and asked what to do. Hu Zongnan looked at Chief of Staff Hu Shouqian, who was hiding behind a tree to avoid bullets, and motioned for him to express his opinion.

At this time, the 32nd and 33rd regiments of the 11th Red Division had surrounded them from both flanks, and machine guns and rifles were separated from the trees in the middle of the Zhongshu Road, and the casualties of the Second Brigade continued to increase, and the situation became more and more difficult.

Hu Shouqian, who was hiding behind a big tree, shouted: "At present, the whole division is divided into several sections, and the enemy's firepower is so strong, there is only one way to break through." If we hesitate a little longer, I'm afraid we will all have to be prisoners! ”

Hu Zongnan said in his heart that Lao Tzu had long wanted to break through, and he wanted to seize the key points, but he could break through with the support, but who expected that the red bandits would take the lead and deploy troops and heavy firepower in advance, and it seemed that it would not work to seize the key points. He shouted, "Where do you say you want to break through?" ”

Hu Shouqian, chief of staff, believed that it was necessary to attack southward, and as long as it broke through the enemy's interception, it would be possible to join forces with the second echelon and wait for reinforcements.

Peng Qibiao glanced at his mouth and shouted loudly: "Chief of Staff, if you take a closer look, the firepower of attacking the second echelon is much stronger than the firepower of attacking us, and the red bandits regard them as our main force and are carrying out a fire assault." I think that eighty percent of the Reading Brigade and the Supplementary Brigade have now collapsed. We had only one dead end in the south. Now there are only two ways to go, either hold on to the spot and wait for the whole army to be destroyed, or break through to the two flanks, as long as you can break through one aspect, you can take advantage of the cover of night and escape. ”

Hu Zongnan is still relatively shrewd, knowing that wanting to break through at this time is tantamount to a fool's dream, but he can't help but be a bo. He ordered Peng Qibiao to organize the troops, so that one regiment with slightly lighter losses was in front and two regiments with heavy losses were behind, and he gave up his baggage, formed an attack arrow, and broke through to the east side of Shu Road. The target is the Jialing River, where it will join the Sichuan army.

Gao Yuan knew that the enemy would definitely force a breakthrough next, but it was difficult to say where to break through. It is common sense to break through to the south, and it is also common sense to break through to the east and west, and the key is to see how the enemy chooses, whether he wants to join forces with other troops or escape alone. Therefore, he ordered the regiments to consolidate their positions, advance steadily, squeeze forward little by little, and prevent the enemy from breaking through. And ordered the heavy machine-gun battalion to move forward and approach the enemy.

After the troops were organized, Peng Qibiao ordered to break through to the left, and he was sandwiched in the middle of the team, waving a pistol to supervise the battle.

Leading the charge was Liu Chaohuan, acting commander of the Fourth Regiment of the Second Brigade. When the Red 11th Division was attacking with fire just now, because Liu Chaohuan's four regiments were ordered to deploy on the spot, the losses were slightly smaller. After receiving the order to break through to the east, Liu Chaohuan knew that at this time, it was a life-and-death crisis for the whole brigade, and he could not make small calculations. He ordered one battalion to go ahead, and then two battalions followed, and the whole regiment concentrated on throwing grenades to form a barrage cover, and then concentrated all the light machine guns, submachine guns, shell guns, and other automatic firearms in the whole regiment to fight their way out.

Defending the east side is the Red 32nd Regiment, that is, the Fourth Guard Regiment formed with Hong Chaoyuan's old fourth battalion as the backbone. This time, the Red Seventh Army was established, and the original 1st, 4th, and 7th Guard Regiments were combined into the 11th Red Division, and Hong Chaoyuan served as the deputy division commander and chief of staff, but his regiment commander was not exempted for the time being.

As soon as he saw the enemy approaching his position, Hong Chaoyuan knew that the enemy had chosen the direction of the breakthrough on his side, with the purpose of breaking through to the Jialing River and joining the Sichuan army.

Hong Chaoyuan sneered: Rabbit cub, I'll let you touch a steel plate! Knowing that the enemy's breakthrough would inevitably be a decisive blow, he reported to the plateau and ordered all light and heavy machine guns and regimental mortars to open fire to form a dense network of fire and prevent the enemy from approaching within 70 meters.

Liu Chaohuan saw that there was no difference between breaking through the encirclement in this way and sending him to death, and the battalion that rushed in front was wiped out in a short time, and if he did it again, it was estimated that the remaining two battalions would also be buried without suspense. He ordered to stop the charge and set up heavy machine guns to fire at the red bandits.

When Hu Zongnan and Peng Qibiao saw that they couldn't rush to the east, they knew that there was no hope of breaking through, needless to say, it was impossible to stand out from the west, let alone the south. The only hope now is for the idea to stay there until dawn, waiting for help. He urged the troops to find shelter and think of building fortifications.

After receiving Hu Zongnan's telegram, the guard room did not dare to stay, and the staff officer on duty directly woke up Yan Daogang, the director of the guard room.

After reading the telegram, Yan Daogang's face turned pale and he sat down on the chair.

After stabilizing his mind, Yan Daogang decided to wake up the chairman of the committee, the matter was too big for him to handle.

Chiang Kai-shek, who was woken up from his sleep, read the telegram, his hands trembled, and with one flying kick, he kicked a precious vase to the ground and smashed it. After thousands of calculations, in the end, he was calculated by the red bandits, needless to say, this must be Liu Yimin's life again, and he teamed up with [***] to perform this big drama.

Damn the gangsters! Damn the Red Bandits! Damn vermilion! Damn Liu Bandit Yimin! Niang Xipi! Niang Xipi! Niang Xipi!

Chiang Kai-shek, who scolded again and again, was extremely out of control, like an angry lion, walking around the bedroom and waking up his wife. The lady opened her sleepy eyes and asked, "Darling, what's wrong, it's so noisy that people can't sleep?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek's usual gentleness towards his wife disappeared, and he roared: "Hu Zongnan's first division is surrounded by red bandits, and its demise is imminent. Niang Xipi! ”

Madame said, "Darling, restrain your anger." Hu Zongnan is your best student, and the first division is the elite, so it won't all be wiped out overnight, right? You calm down and think about how to rescue it. ”

Only then did Chiang Kai-shek feel the pain in the muscles on his face, grabbed a towel and wiped his face, and went out of the bedroom to the study.

When he arrived at the study, Chiang Kai-shek calmed down and asked Yan Daogang: "What do you think?" ”

Yan Daogang was already very calm at this time, sorted out his thoughts, and said: "Report to the committee, judging from Hu Zongnan's telegram asking for help, the situation is already very critical. At present, only the Sichuan troops on the banks of the Guangyuan and Jialing rivers can save Hu Zongnan, but these Sichuan troops have extremely low combat effectiveness and are not opponents of the red bandits. If Hu Zongnan can hold out until dawn, the plane can take off, and there is still a glimmer of life. I'm afraid that he won't stay up until dawn. ”

Chiang Kai-shek's face was cloudy, he knew that Yan Daogang was telling the truth, Xue Yue had just arrived near Chengdu now, and the distance was too far to save Hu Zongnan. The problem is that according to Hu Zongnan's report, the firepower of the red bandits is extremely strong, and such firepower is only available to Liu Yimin's department, which has captured three divisions of the Hunan army and tens of thousands of weapons from Xue Yue's department. With Liu Yimin's habit of fighting a war and pursuing total annihilation and dragging mud and water, he must have completely wiped out the First Division. If Pan Wenhua is asked to save Hu Zongnan, regardless of whether he will take active action, even if Pan Wenhua acts quickly, he may become the next target of the red bandits. If this continues, their own troops will be broken by the red bandits.

Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek's face was cloudy, Yan Daogang boldly said: "Commission, now there is a way to save the first division." ”

Chiang Kai-shek's eyes lit up: "What does Zu Rong mean?" ”

Yan Daogang said carefully: "Armistice negotiations." Let Hu Zongnan contact the red bandits, and tell them that the political axe agrees to negotiate with them. We can also invent code telegrams at once and tell Zhu Mao that the political axe is willing to negotiate with them. Didn't they keep saying that they were going north to fight? As long as they can spare our first division, let them go to the northeast. ”

Chiang Kai-shek was furious: "Confused, confused, how can you have such dangerous thoughts!" sent a report, asked Hu Zongnan to stand by and wait for reinforcements, and ordered Chen Cheng and Xue Yue to go north for reinforcements under the starry night. Ordered Liu Xiang to ask Pan Wenhua's troops and Xue Yue's troops to go hand in hand and obey Chen Cheng's command. Tian Songyao was ordered to command the troops on the west bank of the Jialing River in a unified manner and quickly dispatch reinforcements. Ordered the army stationed in Guangyuanchuan to move south quickly and fight in the south of Huzong. Order the Air Force to dispatch all the planes that can be dispatched after dawn to blow up a bloody road for me and cover Hu Zongnan's breakthrough. ”

Yan Daogang hesitated for a moment, but still said: "I'm afraid it's too late, if it's really Liu Yimin who didn't die, and it was his troops, I estimate that before dawn, Hu Zongnan's first division would be over." ”

Chiang Kai-shek was extremely irritable and shouted: "Are we going to watch the First Division being wiped out by the Red Bandits?" That is the old foundation of the Whampoa Army, and it is a unit that has made great contributions. If the first division is wiped out, how will the face of the political axe remain? Where is the majesty of our army? Hurry up and send a telegram ordering the troops to move quickly. Tell Chen Cheng, Xue Yue, Tang Enbo, and Liu Xiang that if the first division fails, I will enforce military discipline against the generals who are not able to reinforce! ”

Yan Daogang left in a panic, Chiang Kai-shek was still angry, waved his arm, swept everything on the book case to the ground, and then made it to the chair, silently praying in his heart, so that God, Allah, Buddha, and the Jade Emperor could bless his first division to be in distress and break out of the siege.

At this time, the Hanyang ambush was nearing its end. The enemy's second-echelon Reading Brigade and New Taipei Supplementary Brigade had completely collapsed under the powerful firepower, and the 12th Division was busy catching prisoners and cleaning up the battlefield. Liu Yimin ordered the 12th Division, which had been freed up, to send two regiments, together with an artillery regiment and a heavy machine gun regiment, to reinforce the 13th Division and encircle and annihilate the enemy's 1st Brigade. Feng Dafei was ordered to lead the baggage regiment, cavalry battalion, guard battalion and engineer regiment to converge, compress from south to north, cooperate with the 11th Division, and completely eliminate Hu Zongnan's second brigade.

Considering that Hu Bu is already a turtle in an urn, it is useless to kill more. Liu Yimin ordered all troops to launch a political offensive, shouting to the enemy and urging him to surrender. If you don't surrender, you will be resolutely eliminated.

After the enemy's 1st Brigade broke through to the south and was blocked, it was besieged by the 13th Division, and retreated in a narrow area no more than 2 kilometers before and after the Shu Road and no more than 200 meters to the left and right, and was suffering under the fire of the 13th Division's mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and various weapons.

As soon as Liu Jianli led the main force of the 12th Division and the heavy firepower of the corps to join the battle, the First Brigade immediately experienced what hell was like. The powerful artillery fire tore apart the soldiers' bodies and their determination to hold on to their desperate efforts.

The enemy's deputy brigade commander was originally arrogant and wanted to use the combat effectiveness of the First Brigade to fight his way out and save himself and the fate of the whole division being annihilated. After the breakout was repulsed, he organized several more breakouts to the east, west, and north, all of which were beaten back without exception. Only then did he know that the Red Army unit he had encountered was still above the First Brigade in terms of combat effectiveness. The intensity of firepower far exceeded that of its own 1st Brigade. After Liu Jianli led the corps to carry out the attack with heavy firepower, the enemy's deputy brigade commander completely understood that the fate of himself and the first brigade was irreversible. Not to mention an ambush, even if you let yourself stick to the mountain, such firepower will also knock you down.

Therefore, when, after a round of artillery fire, the Red Army shouted that the Reading Brigade and the Supplementary Brigade had surrendered, the fighting spirit of the officers and men of the 1st Brigade collapsed. No matter how much the officers threatened and shouted, no one of the soldiers took the initiative to shoot. In desperation, the enemy deputy brigade commander had no choice but to order surrender.

(To be continued)