The gunfire and artillery finally stopped.

The highway is in shambles. Everywhere were the corpses of Hunan soldiers, weapons and baggage vehicles.

The Red 18th Regiment, which had experienced the baptism of Xiaoshui Battle, was naturally handy in cleaning the battlefield. The soldiers gathered the prisoners, first screened out the officers, and guarded them individually, and then organized the captured soldiers into teams and guarded them separately. Then there is the collection of weapons and ammunition and the counting of baggage and supplies.

The results of the battle were quickly counted, and the battle eliminated a total of 4,600 people from one division headquarters, one brigade headquarters and two regiments of the 62nd Division of the Hunan Army. Among them, 1,424 enemy people were killed, 560 people were wounded, 2,616 people under the enemy's division commander Tao Guang were captured, two radio stations were captured, 30,000 pieces of ocean, and more than 4,000 light and heavy machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, and pistols.

Liu Yimin ordered He Xinghua to immediately check the radio report records of the 62nd Division, and when he learned that Tao Guang had ordered Wang Yuying's brigade to return to help and ask Liu Jianxu and the 16th Hunan Division for help, Liu Yimin's eyes lit up. It seems that when you are lucky, someone gives you a pillow when you sleep. He immediately ordered the 62nd Division radio to send a telegram, ordering Wang Yuying's brigade to speed up the return and flank the red bandits at Xikou; The order was sent to Liu Jianxu in the name of the 62nd Division, saying that it had been ambushed by the 15th Division and the 9th Army of the 1st Red Bandit Army, and that the troops had lost nearly one regiment. In the name of the 16th Hunan Division, he sent a telegram to Liu Jianxu, saying that he had received a telegram from the commander of the 62nd Division, Tao Guang, asking for help, and that the troops were now at the mouth and were ready to set off for reinforcements immediately, and it was estimated that they could rush to Xikou in 3 to 4 hours; sent a telegram to the three battalions, seven companies and one platoon that were carrying out the task of harassing the enemy's Wang Yuying brigade, ordering them to intensify their efforts to harass the rear guard units of the enemy's Wang Yuying brigade, creating the false impression that our army was blocking the enemy's return to help, but they were only harassing and were not allowed to fight hard with the enemy; He sent a telegram to Wu Zheng, who was at the entrance, and ordered the regimental teaching team and guard platoon that accompanied him to be commanded by the teaching captain Li Yimo, disguise the 16th Hunan Division, carry more torches, and advance towards Xikou, creating the false impression that the 16th Division was reinforcing Xikou.

Cai Zhonghe, the recruit battalion, and two mountain artillery companies arrived only after the battle. It's not that they arrived late, the key is that the 62nd Division collapsed too quickly and the battle ended too quickly.

Looking at the results in front of him, Cai Zhong was silent, his partner is too amazing, it is not too much to say that he expects the enemy to take the lead everywhere, since he met him in Xinwei, it seems that victory has always been accompanied by the Red 18th Regiment. Advanced tactical thinking, novel tactical movements, and bold and neat battlefield command have made almost every battle a model, and it seems that there are too many things to learn from him.

Hearing that the two mortar companies and the four mortars attached to the fourth and fifth battalions had done a miraculous feat in this battle, the commanders of the two mountain artillery companies immediately ordered the soldiers to assemble the mountain artillery without saying a word, and then ran to Liu Yimin together to ask who to fight next.

Liu Yimin looked at the two old Red Armymen whose eyes were bloodshot, and knew that the troops were extremely tired, so he told them to let the soldiers rest on the spot and stand by.

He called Cai Zhong, Liu Jianjian, and Li Qing, and told them about the situation they had obtained from the radio station and the measures they had taken, and then told them that they were determined to ambush Wang Yuying's brigade south of Xikou, and then return to the division to ambush the enemy's possible reinforcements and expand the results of the battle.

Cai Zhong, Liu Jianjian, and Li Qing all listened with bright eyes. Cai Zhong proposed that the battle just now did not catch up, and the next ambush should lead troops to participate in the battle no matter what.

Liu Yimin directly vetoed Cai Zhong's proposal, telling him that he had a more important task. Then there was a direct division of labor, Cai Zhong led the recruit battalion to escort the prisoners and supplies to Xikou, mobilized the masses to boil water and cook in Xikou, treated the wounded, buried the 24 martyrs who died in the 18th regiment, reorganized the original soldiers of the recruit battalion into one Dalian, distributed machine guns and submachine guns according to the standards of the combat battalion, and reorganized all the captured soldiers according to the Xiaoshui model, and were respectively incorporated into the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th companies of the new barracks. Li Qing led two mountain artillery companies, a sniper platoon, and an engineer battalion to be responsible for transporting the corpses of the enemy soldiers on the highway to the farmland on the west side of the highway, moving as far away as possible, preferably covering the corpses with some hay, and then occupying the hillside on the east side of the highway, building mountain artillery positions, and equipping the engineer battalion with machine-gun fire according to the standards of the combat battalion. The cavalry company still occupied the hill in front, but had to go to the mouth of the stream to collect firecrackers and set them off every half an hour, creating the illusion that the 62nd Division was still blocking the Red Army and luring the enemy to take the bait. Liu Jianli arranged for six combat battalions, a heavy machine gun battalion, and two mortar companies to rest on the spot for one hour to allow the soldiers to recover their strength. The reconnaissance platoon immediately moved out of the south of Xikou and reconnoitred the enemy along the road. An hour later, he and Liu Jianjian led the main force out of Xikou to ambush Wang Yuying's brigade.

After the task was assigned, several people immediately took action and went their separate ways.

The headquarters of Liu Jianxu's First Corps in Jingxian County had become a pot of porridge at this time.

Lieutenant General Liu Jianxu, commander of the 28th Army of the National Revolutionary Army and commander of the First Corps of the Pursuit Army, has been in high spirits recently. He is He Jian's deputy, the veritable No. 2 person in the Hunan army. Since He Jian assumed the post of commander-in-chief of the pursuit and suppression army, Liu Jianxu has risen to the top and performed the command task of the entire Hunan army on behalf of He Jian, and there are 8 elite divisions under his command for him to drive.

Different from He Jian's habit of touching his mustache when he has nothing to do, Liu Jianxu's military appearance is majestic, his big eyes are shining on his white round face, and he walks calmly and powerfully. It is no wonder that he is 42 years old this year, in the prime of life, graduated from the third phase of the artillery college of the Baoding Military Academy, and He Jian and Bai Chongxi were classmates at the same time.

After receiving Tao Guang's telegram for help, Liu Jianxu hurriedly walked into the war room and pondered over the battle map.

Judging by the map, the Red Army in the area of the passage has fallen into [***] encirclement. On the south side of the Red Army's marching route, the Seventh Army and the 15th Army of the Gui Army pursued and intercepted at the end, and the main force of the Guangdong Army behind the Gui Army was the Austrian aid; Behind the Red Army's marching route, its three main divisions, the 16th, 62nd, and 63rd, pursued and intercepted at the end, and behind these three divisions was the Zhou Hunyuan column of the Central Army for support; On the north side of the Red Army's marching route, three divisions led by himself were already in full array, and behind them was Wu Qiwei's column led by Xue Yue to support; To the west of the Red Army's marching route, there was a Guizhou army to defend it. No matter how you look at it, the main forces of the Red Army have already entered their own encirclement.

Yesterday, after receiving the information that the main force of the Red Army was occupying the county seat, Liu Jianxu ordered the three divisions of the First Route to be dispatched urgently this morning, of which the 63rd Division Chen Guangzhong held the line from Jingxian to Zhaiya, and with a part of his troops, he entered the water boundary at the Yanmen Gate to prevent the Red Army from fleeing northward; The base of the 16th Division Zhang Liang went out of Suining, and intercepted along Xiaoshui and riding horses to Linkou; Tao Guangbu of the 62nd Division intercepted Jingwuzhou through Le'anbu, Xikou, and Zhaitoubao. The 63rd Division reported several times throughout the day that there was no sign of the Red Army's northward movement; At noon, the 16th Division reported the defeat of the Red Army Guards Regiment at Xiaoshui and continued to advance towards the Linkou attack. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the 62nd Division reported that Wang Yuying's brigade had advanced through Xikou to Jingwuzhou, and that the main force of the Red Army had not been found. Aircraft reconnaissance also did not reveal the march of the main forces of the Red Army in the area of the passage. Based on these circumstances, the Corps Headquarters judged that it was very likely that the main force of the Red Army would abandon its attempt to go north to Xiangxi to join the Helong Division, and transfer its troops westward to Guizhou. Why did Tao Guang's 62nd Division Zhong Brigade encounter the main force of the communist army now?

I took Tao Guang's telegram asking for help, and read it again, it was still the same simple sentence: "The vocational department encountered the main force of the red bandits on the road at the north end of Xikou, and quickly came to the rescue." ”

This message is really fucking concise enough, how many people are in the main force of the red bandits, what are their numbers, the progress of the battle, etc., nothing. Could it be that Tao Guangbu has encountered an accident? It's impossible, the Red Army after the Xiangjiang War didn't have time to run away, where would it still have the ability to plot one of its main divisions! Could it be that the main force of the Red Army was really hidden near Xikou, waiting for Tao Guang to send it to the door? Impossible, impossible, if so, why did the main forces of the Red Army let go of the 62 Division Advance Guard Brigade? Besides, even if you encounter the main force of the Red Army, with Tao Guang's shrewdness and experience, can't you still run if you can't beat it?

Studied but cannot comprehend. Liu Jianxu ordered the chief of staff to keep in touch with the 62nd Division to try to understand the battle situation, and to contact the 16th and 63rd Divisions, ordering them to prepare for battle and wait for further orders.

About half an hour later, the chief of staff came in with a telegram from the 62 Division. When Liu Jianxu looked at it, Tao Guang reported that they were ambushed by the 15th Division and the 9th Army of the 1st Red Bandit Army, numbering about 6 or 7,000 people, and there was no artillery. The Zhong Brigade of the 62nd Division has lost nearly one regiment, and has now occupied the commanding heights on the east side of the road at the northern end of Xikou, forming a confrontation with the enemy and holding on to it for reinforcements.

As the former enemy commander of the Hunan Army, Liu Jianxu knew [***] and the Red Army very well.

Different from the devilish image of the Red Army and the Communist Party as blue-faced fangs and communist wives, in Liu Jianxu's view, [***] is a political party with doctrine, organization, and policy, and will constantly call on the masses and expand its political influence. At the same time, there are few rich people and many poor people in Chinese society, and the most of them are peasants, and [***] adopting the policy of cracking down on local tyrants and dividing up the land, it is very easy to incite the masses, create hatred between the poor and the rich, and coerce the masses to increase their strength, and the development of the Soviet areas is an example. If such political parties and organizations are not banned and eradicated, once they gain power in the future, they will inevitably subvert the traditional order of Chinese society.

He believes that the main force of the Red Army has high morale, strict discipline, strict training, and flexible tactics, and what is lacking is the lack of guns, ammunition, clothing, and food, and if the equipment of the Red Army is exchanged, Liu Jianxu cannot think of any other unit in China that is the opponent of the main force of the Red Army.

Now is the best time for the complete destruction of the Red Army. As the former enemy commander of the Hunan Army in the Xiangjiang Campaign, Liu Jianxu knew that the Red Army was at its weakest now, with planes bombing in the sky and encirclement and interception on the ground, and the main force of the Red Army was already under siege and had no plan. Only by seizing the road to the west and going to Guizhou, there may still be a glimmer of life. But that requires great wisdom to decide. According to the captives, the current leaders of the Communist Party are all student babies who have returned from Moscow, and what kind of climate can they achieve with these dolls.

The chief of staff came in again to report that he had received a telegram from the commander of the 16th Division, Zhang Liangji, that the 16th Division had received a telegram from the 62nd Division asking for help, and was now preparing to rush to help.

Liu Jianxu took the telegram and looked at it, and then studied the map carefully for a while, and an idea suddenly jumped into his mind: "Lose the pawn and protect the car!" ”

After calling the chief of staff and asking the guards to put the horse lantern closer to the map, Liu Jianxu explained his thoughts and thoughts: "Chief of staff, judging from the current situation, there are Gui and Yue [***] in the south of the passage area, the main force of our army and the commander-in-chief of Xue Yue in the north, the three divisions of our corps and Zhou Hunyuan's column in the east to pursue, and the Guizhou army in the west to block the attack, and the red bandits have become turtles in the urn. Judging from the telegram of the 62nd Division asking for help, it was the 15th Division of the Red First Army and the Red Ninth Army that ambushed them, of which the 15th Division was the Red Bandits' Young Communist International Division, which was a group of dolls; The Red Ninth Army was a newly expanded unit before the retreat of the Red Bandit Soviet District, with many new recruits and extremely poor combat effectiveness. Both of these units suffered blows from our army in the Xiangjiang Campaign, and the casualties were extremely heavy, and the combat effectiveness that was already not strong was greatly reduced. Judging from the battle report of the 16th Division in the past day, it was only a rearguard regiment that eliminated the Red Bandits, and no other main forces of the Red Army were found. The reason why the 62nd Division's Wang Yuying Brigade was able to attack and advance to Jingwuzhou so quickly shows that it did not encounter decent resistance at all. To sum up, I judged that the 15th Division and the Ninth Army of the 1st Army of the Red Bandits were the largest rearguard units of the main force of the Red Bandits, and the reason why they ambushed Tao Guang at Xikou at this time should be that they passed by the 16th Division when they moved from the Chang'an Battalion to Linkou, and understood that there were large troops of our army on the line of Xiaoshui and Linkou, so they turned to Xikou and advanced, and met the Zhong Brigade of the 62nd Division. It is a pity that the red bandits discovered the 62nd Division first, took the lead in firing, and caught the 62nd Division by surprise. This also confirms that the main forces of the Red Army are not in the area, and if the main forces of the Red Army are there, it is estimated that the headquarters of the 62nd Division and the Zhong Brigade formed by the two regiments have already ended. ”

Speaking of this, Liu Jianxu glanced at the chief of staff, and seeing that the other party had no objections, he continued: "Then where is the main force of the red bandits?" Judging from the situation of Wang Yuying's brigade occupying Jingwu Prefecture, the main force of the red bandits has already left the county seat of the channel, otherwise, the county seat of the passage is so close to Jingwu Prefecture, and the red bandits would not have allowed the Wang Brigade to occupy Jingwu Prefecture so easily. Therefore, yesterday's judgment made by the Corps headquarters that the main force of the red bandits might flee westward was valid. From this point of view, the red bandits who ambushed Tao Guang were lone soldiers, and this was a strategy for the main force of the red bandits to lose their pawns and protect their cars, so as to attract the attention of our army with these tired and weak brigades and cover the westward movement of their main forces. ”

The chief of staff of the enemy felt that this was indeed the case, and said that the commander had analyzed it very thoroughly, and it should be so.

Liu Jianxu looked at the map again, turned around and said, "Since the red bandits left such a big abandoned pawn, it would seem that our appetite is too small if we don't eat it." Chief of Staff, record orders: 1. Order Tao Guangbu to shrink its position and strictly prevent night attacks by red bandits; 2. Order Wang Yuying's brigade to quickly return to reinforcements along the original route; 3. Order the whole division of the 16th Division to advance to Xikou, and must arrive within 3 hours to form a flank attack with Wang Yuying's brigade; 4. Order the 63rd Division to set off immediately to reinforce the 62nd Division, and hand over the remaining defensive tasks to the 19th Division to take over; After the encirclement, all participating units will be under the command of Tao Guang, commander of the 62nd Division, and the corps will send planes to help in the battle after dawn to completely eliminate this group of red bandits. ”

After recording the order, the chief of staff asked cautiously: "What if the main force of the red bandits did not flee westward, but hid near the mouth of the stream and carried out encirclement and reinforcements?" ”

Liu Jianxu said: "Impossible, first, so far, the red bandits have not formed a siege of Tao Guang, and Tao Guang can retreat at any time. Second, my 16th Division is fully equipped with more than 10,000 men and horses of the 3rd Brigade and 6th Regiment, and it carries the only mountain artillery battalion in the whole army, and its firepower is strong, so it is not afraid of the main force of the red bandits. If there is really the main force of the red bandits who dare to carry it hard with the 16th Division, we will wave the army and fight another battle of the Xiangjiang River, in that case, it is estimated that the main force of the red bandits will really be finished. Don't hesitate to send a report to execute. ”

The chief of staff of the enemy went out to make a report, and the adjutant moved a chair and asked Liu Jianli to sit down and rest, and then quietly walked out.

Silence returned to the war room, only the bright horse lamp shone on Liu Jianxu's face that seemed to be very smart, the breeze blew, and the flame of the horse lamp flickered and flickered, casting a few shadows on Liu Jianxu's broad forehead.