HCB Chapter 277 Sweeping the Southern Warlords
Chapter 277 Sweeping the Southern Warlords
Early the next morning, inside the temporary command post of the Second War Zone of the Nanshan Army.
Cai Yanwu yawned, looked at Zhao Linyu and said, "Old Zhao, you lead a division to guard the prisoners and continue to clean up the battlefield. I will lead the remaining troops to the south to provide support."
"Commander, the soldiers were very tired after cleaning the battlefield until early morning last night." Zhao Linyu said worriedly.
"Will there be any accidents if we rush over like this?"
Didn't we agree yesterday that we would let the troops rest for a while before heading south to provide support?
Cai Yanwu smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. Although we didn't capture Lu Yuanjia last night, we almost wiped out the South Vietnamese army. He no longer poses a threat."
"Now our army only has Yang Shude, Xue Chengguang, and Yun Zhilong left in the south. Yun Zhilong is not a concern. As long as we defeat Yang Shude and Xue Chengguang, there will be no more obstacles in the southern provinces."
"To avoid any trouble, we should defeat these two armies first. Besides, Panlong Mountain is not far from us."
"Okay, then the commander must be more careful and don't make a mistake in the last battle." In the end, Zhao Linyu agreed with Cai Yanwu's idea and even made a joke with him.
Cai Yanwu did not delay. After completing the discussion, he immediately mobilized the troops and led the Second Army, the 19th Division and the 2nd Armored Division south, leaving the 20th Division to clean up the battlefield and guard the prisoners.
The main force was only five kilometers away from Panlong Mountain, and Cai Yanwu arrived at the Panlong Mountain Command Center in just ten minutes by car.
At this time, Wang Zhixian, Li Weiling and Sun Yuhua were all in the command center. The Third Army had entered Panlong Mountain last night and deployed troops in various places in Panlong Mountain, greatly relieving the pressure on the Eighteenth Division.
Seeing Cai Yanwu coming, everyone stood up and saluted, "Commander Cai."
"The Second Army and the Nineteenth Division are about to enter the battlefield to participate in the encirclement and annihilation of the Nanhai and Guangnan armies." Cai Yanwu waved his hand to signal everyone not to be polite, and said at the same time.
"There is no unusual movement in the Nanhai and Guangnan armies at this time, right?"
Wang Zhixian said: "The enemy has not made any unusual movements today, but we must speed up our actions. Lu Rongqing has been eliminated, and I think they will soon notice it."
"Okay, let's speed up the action." After saying that, Cai Yanwu immediately made deployments to each division.
This time, the Nanshan Army had eight infantry divisions and one armored division. The armored division had bypassed Panlong Mountain and attacked the Nanhai and Guangnan armies from both wings. It only needed to wait for the four infantry divisions behind to arrive before launching an encirclement and annihilation campaign.
At this time, in the Nanhai and Guangnan military headquarters, Yang Shude looked at Xue Chengguang and asked, "Old Xue, there is no news about Old Lu yet. Do you think he will..."
The Nanshan Army is powerful and has been able to quickly resolve previous encirclement and annihilation battles. Although Lu Rongqing has 200,000 troops, he may not be able to hold out for long.
But Yang Shude also hoped that Lu Rongqing could hold on longer, as he had an army of 200,000.
This is when he asked Xue Chengguang, his purpose was to get Xue Chengguang to comfort him.
"The radio station has lost contact. Lu Rongqing either retreated or was defeated." Xue Chengguang did not do as Yang Shude wished and said the result that he was most reluctant to face.
Yang Shude sighed and instructed the staff officer: "Contact Lu Yuanjia and ask where the South Vietnamese army is currently located."
Twenty minutes later, the staff officer re-entered the command center. He looked at Yang Shude as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Yang Shude asked unhappily.
Seeing Yang Shude's dissatisfaction, the staff officer said carefully: "General, the radio station can't contact General Lu."
"What?" Yang Shude was shocked. How come Lu Yuanjia couldn't be contacted either?
Xue Chengguang couldn't help but tremble in his heart. He looked at Yang Shude and said, "Old Yang, why don't we withdraw from Jiyang Province first and make plans after we understand the situation in Jiyang."
"Okay." Yang Shude also had a bad feeling in his heart and immediately agreed with Xue Chengguang's idea.
Before the two men had time to issue the order to retreat, an officer came to report: "General, the Nanshan Army has counterattacked."
Upon hearing the news, Xue Chengguang panicked. Although Yang Shude appeared to be calmer, he was not much better.
"Let the front army switch from defense to offense, the central army quickly build defensive positions, and the rear army quickly come to support." After forcing himself to calm down, Yang Shude gave the order.
Since the Nanshan Army has launched a counterattack, retreating at this time is obviously not a wise move.
The eight divisions of the Nanshan Army surrounded the Nanhai and Guangnan armies, and they collapsed after a short resistance. Their front troops had less than 40,000 men.
The collapse of the front army bought some time for the central army, allowing them to begin deploying defenses based on the terrain.
Although the Nanhai and Guangnan armies did not dig trenches, they were able to barely resist the attack of the Nanshan army by relying on the hilly terrain.
Before the two armies could be happy, the Nanshan Army's armored division appeared on the battlefield from both sides of Panlong Mountain and launched an attack on the positions of the two armies.
As the tanks advanced, the positions of the Nanhai and Guangnan armies were broken through. The Nanshan army's infantry followed the tanks, entered the positions of the two armies, and began to divide and encircle the two armies.
Yang Shude and Xue Chengguang, who were in the rear, were frightened when they saw the situation at the front take a sharp turn for the worse.
Xue Chengguang said: "Brother Yang, the situation is hopeless now, let's run away."
Yang Shude smiled bitterly. Even if the Nanshan Army did not have those iron lumps to help them, it would only be a matter of time before they could break through their central position. Those powerful iron lumps only accelerated their advance.
Yang Shude sighed, feeling helpless, and had to flee the battlefield with his confidants and Xue Chengguang.
As the Nanshan Army broke into the position, the Nanhai and Guangnan Armies were surrounded and quickly destroyed.
Inside the command center, Cai Yanwu and others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the battlefield situation had become clear and the Nanshan Army had defeated the enemy with great ease.
"The battle is finally over, and the soldiers can sleep well now." Wang Zhixian couldn't help but say.
Defeat the Southern Army, Lu Rongqing, Lu Yuanjia, Yang Shude, and Xue Chengguang, and large tracts of land in the South will be within our grasp.
Zhao Linyu, Li Weiling and others smiled knowingly, but Cai Yanwu frowned.
Wang Zhixian saw this and asked, "Commander Cai, what's wrong? After defeating the southern warlords, our army has no rivals in the south. Why are you so worried?"
"We fought these battles very smoothly, but we also captured a lot of prisoners. There are too many prisoners, and the commander must be having a headache about how to deal with them." Cai Yanwu sighed.
Even after being appointed commander of the Second War Zone, Cai Yanwu still showed great respect to Fang Ji'an.
Hearing Cai Yanwu's words, everyone frowned.
More than 140,000 Southern Army prisoners were killed, more than 130,000 were captured by Lu Rongqing's troops, nearly 70,000 were captured by Lu Yuanjia's troops, and more than 140,000 were captured by Yang Shude and Xue Chengguang's troops.
Nearly half a million prisoners were captured on the southern battlefield alone. If a great victory was also achieved on the northern battlefield, there would be even more prisoners.
Finally, Cai Yanwu said helplessly: "Forget it, report the results of the battle, and let the commander worry about how to deal with the prisoners."
When Fang Jian received Cai Yanwu's battle report, he was indeed very troubled, not only because there were nearly 500,000 prisoners in the south who needed to be dealt with urgently, but also because there were prisoners captured after the great victory in the north.