Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 190 Hesitation
Wang Gensheng naturally had no objection to this order. To be honest, he had been the commander of the Haijun Division for almost a year.

However, they didn't fight many real, decent battles, and it could even be said that they never appeared on the front lines. Apart from sneak attacks in the dark, they never fought any head-on.

Now is the perfect time to showcase the might of the H-class submarines in the Battle of Tashan.

Let the old pheasant taste the power of the secret weapon that Wang Gensheng created.

Although the headquarters issued the order to attack Jinzhou based on the overall situation, the commander of the Fourth Field Army, who was responsible for carrying out the order, hesitated.

The reason for this is that the plan to attack Jinzhou is too risky; if one is not careful, they will be passively surrounded.

Therefore, in the early stages, the Fourth Field Army only deployed two columns to conduct probing attacks on the outskirts of Jinzhou, responsible for clearing out the strongholds outside Jinzhou City.

It's important to understand that a large city like Jinzhou wasn't simply defended within the city walls; rather, numerous strongholds and positions were established around its perimeter to protect it.

However, even though only two columns were deployed, that still amounted to nearly 100,000 men. Moreover, due to the reform and the "speaking out" movement, most of the soldiers in the Fourth Field Army were victims who had been severely bullied by landlords.

Therefore, the old man was deeply resentful of the landlords. One company of soldiers infiltrated too aggressively and took over Bai Laohutun, a small village very close to Jinzhou City.

However, because they penetrated too deeply, the follow-up troops failed to establish a foothold and were instead encircled.

The Fourth Field Army's command headquarters, which had been stationed on the train, naturally received this news as well. The Fourth Field Army's chief of staff pointed to the map and said:
"Without reinforcements, Bai Laohutun is attacked from both sides. The soldiers of the First Company have held out since morning, and the position is still there!"

After hearing the chief of staff's explanation, the commander of the Fourth Field Army asked:

Has the Ninth Column sent reinforcements?

Upon hearing the commander's question, the chief of staff immediately replied:
"Under extremely difficult circumstances, the leaders of the Nine Columns and Twenty-Five Lions sent several waves of reinforcements, but there were too many enemies and they simply couldn't break through!"

After hearing the chief of staff's words, the commander of the Fourth Field Army looked at the map and sighed:

"Even though they knew this battle was unwinnable, the company never gave up!"

Seeing that the commander was still hesitant, the chief of staff advised him:
"Commander, the soldiers of the First Company have shown us with their own flesh and blood what kind of iron will they have. Can't you just make a decision quickly?!"

However, the commander frowned upon hearing this and said:

"Are you determined to use the blood and flesh of more soldiers to show the enemy our iron will? Do you really understand my predicament?!"

Regarding command, the chief of staff said:
"You're worried about losing Dongbei's old capital!"

The commander nodded in agreement.
"Yes, that's the main reason, but isn't that enough?"

The chief of staff continued to persuade him:

"Our past achievements were earned through hard work. What's the point of keeping all these past achievements if we don't achieve even greater victories?"

The commander retorted to the chief of staff, "But what if we can't win?"

"There's no way we can lose!"

However, upon hearing the chief of staff's affirmative command, he immediately said:

"Do you dare to guarantee it? Do you dare! I admit, the General Headquarters' strategic goal is very clear, and it considers the overall situation, but it's too reckless. Starting a decisive battle rashly, no one has an absolute chance of winning. And then there's Jinzhou. If we go to Jinzhou to trap the enemy, won't the cornered dog jump over the wall? Will Wei and Fu not desperately reinforce us? If we can't take it after a long siege, Siping is easy to retreat from, Changchun is easy to withdraw from, but Jinzhou will be difficult. When the enemy reinforcements arrive, we'll be attacked from multiple sides and our transportation lines will be cut off. Will we be able to leave? Will all the things we've worked so hard to build up over the years, and all those good soldiers who have just grown up, just be sacrificed like this?!"

It is clear that the commander of the Fourth Field Army was a cautious man who would not fight a battle he was not confident of winning. The Battle of Jinzhou was an extremely risky battle, and if the battle was lost, the sacrifices would be enormous.

This is precisely why the Fourth Field Army commanders were so hesitant and reluctant to issue the final order for the operation.

The chief of staff naturally understood the immense pressure of command, but still advised:
"Commander, I understand what you're saying, but things are different now than when we fought in Siping. We need to have confidence in our troops and in the strategic decisions of the headquarters!"

"Confidence is certainly important, but can confidence alone lead hundreds of thousands of troops to make a desperate gamble?"

Clearly, the Fourth Field Army commanders were still unwilling to risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a desperate attack on Jinzhou, but the chief of staff continued to persuade them:
"Commander, I know that if the Fourth Field Army launches a full-scale attack on Jinzhou now, the danger we face will be unprecedented. Every step we take from now on will be like walking on thin ice. But I believe that the soldiers of the Fourth Field Army are ready. We lack nothing but your confidence! Your confidence can be transformed into determination. With this determination, we can overcome even the most difficult battles!"

However, just as the commanders of the Fourth Field Army were hesitating about whether or not to attack Jinzhou.

Despite being surrounded, the company that captured Bailaohutun fought to the death and held out for sixteen hours, resisting multiple attacks from more than ten times its own strength, that is, a regiment, until reinforcements arrived.

Of course, this battle also resulted in heavy losses for the company. Originally, there were more than 100 men in the company, but by the end of the battle, only 37 men remained.

These thirty-seven men were also known as the Thirty-Seven Warriors of the White Tiger Company.

Of course, the incident at Bailaohutun also shocked the Fourth Field Army commander. They never expected that the newly recruited company would be so resilient and tenacious, able to withstand an attack from ten times the strength of the enemy.

It was precisely because of this that the Fourth Field Army commanders, who had initially been wavering and hesitant, began to become resolute and determined to attack Jinzhou and complete a major battle.

We must devour all of the old medaka's gang in Dongbei.

However, Lao Zi was naturally aware of the plans of the Jiefang Army in Dongbei. After all, how could he not know about such a large-scale troop movement involving hundreds of thousands of people?

Commander Fan, who was in charge of defending Jinzhou, naturally understood that he was the target of this battle.

So when Lao Jing arrived at Jinzhou and planned to have Commander Fan lead the troops to withdraw from Dongbei, Commander Fan not only did not agree with Lao Jing's withdrawal plan, but instead came up with a battle plan for a super-large-scale battle involving more than a million troops from both sides.

This plan is called the Battle of Jinshen. Obviously, although the Battle of Jinan in Shandong a month ago failed, it did not dampen the morale of Lao Jing's side, because he did not think that the fighting strength of the Jiefang Army was very high.

This was especially true of Commander Fan of Jinzhou, because in his view, anyone who dared to attack Jinzhou was clearly making a risky move.

(End of this chapter)