Wu Ming made a serious mistake by underestimating the determination and resilience of the Red Army.

The Reds also made the mistake of underestimating the intelligence analysis and reflexes of their opponents.

At 4 p.m. on 28 March, the Red Army's three corps, with a total of 50,000 troops, suddenly appeared in three directions eight kilometers outside Nanfeng City and launched a fierce attack on Chen Cheng's headquarters stationed outside the city.

Chen Cheng, who received the urgent report, was taken aback, the generals and schools were in chaos, how could the three repeatedly defeated divisions with low morale withstand twice the morale of the enemy?

In desperation, Chen Chengli, who was in charge of the crime, refused to withdraw from the north, where the Red Army had not yet formed an encirclement, and made a decision that made everyone extremely happy after the war:

Ordered all the troops in the city to take out all the light and heavy machine guns and mortars, and set up a temporary defense line three kilometers out of the city, and at the same time ordered the artillery regiment directly under his command and two temporary patchwork artillery battalions to pull out the east, west, and south gates to build positions outside the three city gates, and once the attacked troops on the periphery retreated to within three kilometers outside the city, the artillery immediately opened artillery bombardment, blocking the passage between the enemy and us with intensive artillery fire, and then repelled the communist pursuers!

Forty kilometers to the north, in Nancheng, Wu Qiwei and Yu Jishi, who received an urgent report from the south, were also shocked, no one expected that the Red Army, which had been fighting for a month, would be able to launch a campaign of such a scale in the blink of an eye, and the two immediately convened the generals and colonels of various departments for urgent consultation, and finally thought that it would be difficult for the communist army to break through Nanfeng City, which was defended by three main divisions, so it was only necessary to send a brigade of the 90th Division south to reinforce it, and the purpose of deterring the communist army and containing its all-round development could be achieved.

At 6:30 p.m., Ou Zhen, deputy commander of the 90th Division and commander of the 268th Brigade, led his headquarters to the south to support Nanfeng.

When Wu Ming received the telegram, he was visiting the two wounded at the old village chief's house, and he was not surprised after reading the telegram, but smiled at the two Red Army wounded men who were in a complicated mood and said:

"Your main force has gathered again to besiege Nanfeng City, if my estimate is good, you can't beat this battle, but you can force our three divisions to be in a hurry, and we have to abandon Nanfeng and retreat north to Nancheng. In fact, even if you don't fight, our three divisions that have basically completed their rest in Nanfeng City will take the initiative to withdraw, because it will be the rainy season, and we have no strength to fight again, it is estimated that our regiment will also withdraw in a few days, so you can rest assured and recuperate. ”

The two wounded watched Wu Ming leave, and the room suddenly fell silent, the fire pit in the middle was blazing, and the room was filled with the good smell of pine wood burning, but everyone didn't seem to feel warm.

The old village chief's wife, daughter-in-law and a few juniors quietly retreated, the two wounded looked at each other, and the older one asked timidly: "Uncle Zhou, tell me, what is the idea of this white bandit's head Wu?" Why did he tell us so many military secrets? ”

The old village chief put down his long pipe, pondered for a long time, and sighed long: "Child, this person, no matter where there are good people and bad people, I don't dare to say how good Commander Wu is, but after all, he doesn't bully us ordinary people, his subordinates are as good as him, they buy things and money and goods, they are very fair, they were killed so many people, they cried and buried, and even what you left behind was buried......"

"Tsk, they don't distinguish between the enemy and me, they burn paper with incense, and give back the tree tablet, these days to help us repair the canal that was washed away by the flood, don't charge a penny, and help the people in the village to see a doctor for free, the broken leg of the two of you is also cured by others, and you come to visit every day, only with this heart, this affection, what should you say to let me this old bone?"

"Don't look at most of the people in the village who don't know a single word, but their hearts are open, alas!"

"Uncle Zhou, if our team calls, will you and the villagers help us?" The other young wounded man asked unceremoniously at some point.

The old village chief silently turned to the firepit, and the flickering flames illuminated his face in a flickering light, looking extremely sad.

After smoking a bucket of cigarettes, followed by a long sigh, the old village chief finally said what was in his heart: "It stands to reason that you also have a few of my sons and nephews in your team, as well as the sons of more than a dozen people in the village, who will we not help you?" But if we want to calculate the head of Wu, it is estimated that few people in the village are willing to do it...... Captain Wu, they are not like other white dogs, no matter what they do, they have a conscience, just like the songs they sing every day, they are also from the common people! ”

The two wounded soldiers stopped talking, and in the past few days, they have heard the loud singing of the Kuomintang troops outside when they assembled, and the song "I am a soldier" with a simple melody but very majestic and proud, deeply moved the two of them:

"I am a soldier, from the common people, to eliminate the Japanese dog bandits, to eliminate the invading army! I am a soldier, I love the country and the people, the revolutionary war has tested me, and my position is firmer! Hey! Hey! The barrel of the gun is clenched, the eyes can see clearly, and the enemy dares to invade and resolutely kill him......"

Wu Ming, who returned to the tent of the temporary regiment headquarters, could not hear the conversation of the old village chief, but smelled the slightest danger from the telegram sent by Yu Jishi, he ignored Dai Ziran's joke that he was too suspicious, insisted on sending heralds to each company, asking each company to cheer up from now on, and then sent someone to call Yin Dizhong, Zhang Dongning and Lu Kuiyuan, the commander of the spy company who led his troops stationed in Baiguozhai, and also gave a rare order to the cooking squad to stew the two peeled yellow monkeys hanging outside.

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After dinner, the overcast sky looked like it was going to rain, and the air was damp.

Yu Jishi and the chief of staff Ma Zhizhai and Chen Shizheng walked out of the sentry posts and morale of the two regiments of the inspection post outside the city, and before they arrived at Wanfang Town, a fast horse quickly caught up, and the herald immediately jumped off the horse, saluted Yu Jishi, sent the latest information received, and said again:

"Chief Yu, we still have a message from the military seat, so you can go back and discuss it together."

After reading the telegram, Yu Jishi immediately reported to Ma Zhizhai and Chen Shizheng, who stopped beside him...... I'll go back to the city at once, and I'll work hard for you two to get to the town and command the troops to set up defensive positions at once. ”

Ma Zhizhai and Chen Shizheng were all taken aback, seeing that Yu Jishi had already beaten his horse and left, he immediately turned his horse's head and rushed towards the town, no one remembered that he should inform Wu Ming's regiment, which was more dangerous than them, and they didn't know that after the encounter between the 1st Army of the Red Army and Ou Zhen's Division, three of the main regiments had quietly bypassed Houjiawan, nine kilometers southeast of Nancheng, and took advantage of the night to go north along the foot of the mountain far from the avenue.

Ou Zhen led his troops to retreat eight kilometers back to Nancheng, Wu Qiwei had already commanded the remaining two brigades and a reserve regiment to arrange two lines of defense inside and outside, and the defense of the north gate was also handed over to the two security regiments that Yu Jishi urgently withdrew from Wanfang Town.

Wu Qiwei sent his own special service group to reconnoitre, of which the south and southwest directions were eight kilometers away, and the communist army was not found, and there was no movement throughout the night.

In the early morning of the next day, Wu Qiwei, Yu Jishi and others, who had only slept for three hours, were woken up at the same time by the faint sound of gunfire.

When they arrived at the headquarters, they received news that Yu Jishi and Ma Zhizhai were taken aback: the main force of the Red Army had already driven to a place about five kilometers in the east, south, and west directions of Nancheng, and judging from all the results of the flag and the reconnaissance at the approach, the enemy's strength was not below 10,000 even if he bluffed.

Yu Jishi quickly thought of the question of whether to take the initiative to attack or shrink the defense, only Ma Zhizhai exclaimed loudly, and lamented with great regret: "I forgot to inform Wu Mingtuan!" ”

Yu Jishi immediately regretted it, and immediately sent his chief guard to Maopai Ling, who knew that in less than half an hour, the chief guard with a face full of gunpowder ran back to the headquarters in embarrassment, and shouted bitterly at Yu Jishi: "The East Pass is occupied by the Red Army, and there is at least one regiment there!" ”

This bad news was like a thunderbolt from the sky, and the whole school suddenly fell silent, and they all looked at Yu Jishi and Ma Zhizhai who were in pain and blamed themselves worriedly.

Yu Jishi's body shook, and he waved his hand before Wu Qiwei came up: "Brother Qingyun, junior brother needs to contact Wu Ming first, and then he can attend the meeting." ”

"The radio station is in the back, I'll go with you."

Wu Qiwei also blamed himself, blaming himself for forgetting this yesterday? As a temporary commander-in-chief, there should simply be such a big oversight!

Yu Jishi immediately followed Wu Qiwei inside, and Ma Zhizhai, who reacted, also immediately followed up, who knew that as soon as he arrived at the communications department, Wu Ming had already sent a report with a universal password:

"At 6:45 a.m., the reconnaissance squad of our regiment engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the communist reconnaissance unit in six directions: due east, southeast, southwest, southwest, and northwest. Another: The primary target of the communist army in this battle should be Nanfeng, and if Nancheng is attacked, it should be a feint. Five regiments, Wu Ming respectfully! ”

Wu Qiwei was completely out of ideas, the east pass of Maopai Ling, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, had been occupied by the elusive communist army, and it was simply impossible to divide troops to rescue, let alone pull out artillery to bombard the pass to defend the enemy, and he had to face the siege of the main forces of the Red Army in three directions outside the southern city.

Ma Zhizhai's face was dark, his eyes were red, he held his head and sat on the rattan chair with his head in regret, Yu Jishi closed his eyes tightly, and spit out eighteen words for a long time:

"Call back: abandon the baggage, break through immediately, set your own direction, and go all out!"

The captain quickly wrote it down, signed it for Yu Jishi, and distributed it in person.

Yu Jishi turned to Ma Zhizhai, who was holding his head: "Old Ma, you are more familiar with Wu Ming, tell me, which direction will he choose to break through?" ”

Ma Zhizhai raised his head and subconsciously put on his military hat: "It's hard to predict, but one thing I know is that Wu Ming will never throw his soldiers down, unless he is killed, none of them will be thrown down, this is the unwritten rule of Wu Ming's regiment since its formation, they have a saying, officers and soldiers training is often on their lips - don't abandon, don't give up!" ”

"Don't abandon, don't give up ......"

Yu Jishi was extremely moved, straightened his military hat, and said loudly: "I have confidence in Wu Ming, even if only one person escapes this time, I will not let his five regiments disappear!" Let's go, go back! Don't worry too much, Wu Ming knows better than any of us what to do. ”