Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 212 Surprise Attack on the Airport
With the heavy artillery sent by Chu Yunfei, Huang Baitao's army will surely be defeated even faster.

However, this artillery barrage was merely the final straw that broke the camel's back. The most important factor was that the Third Field Army commander changed their tactics, no longer resorting to charging into fortifications.

Instead, they learned the fighting style that Li Yunlong used when he fought against the Yamazaki Brigade at Lijiapo.

That's right, it's earthwork. Huang Baitao's garrison in Nianzhuang has complete defensive fortifications, which were left behind when Li Mi's army retreated.

Therefore, they were unable to launch an attack and suffered a setback on their first offensive. As a result, the Third Field Army commander changed tactics and adopted the method of digging communication trenches to shorten the distance between the two sides, so that the soldiers would not have to charge at the risk of bullets.

Of course, in this battle, Wang Gensheng, leading thousands of men, also suffered considerable losses while resisting the attack of Chu Yunfei's eighty-nine lions and tens of thousands of men.

In just half an hour, Wang Gensheng lost eleven Marine Corps special forces soldiers.

There was no way around it. Although all the soldiers wore the three-piece set of bulletproof helmets, vests, and face shields, some still died from rapid blood loss after being hit by bullets in the femoral artery under the heavy firepower. There were even some unlucky guys whose heads were blown off by bullets that went through the small hole in the face shield, which was no bigger than a thumb.

Of course, there's only one such case, and it's a very small probability, since it's quite difficult to shoot a bullet into a hole slightly larger than a thumb.

After all, if such incidents occur frequently, Wang Gensheng would have to consider improving the bulletproof mask.

Wang Gensheng selected a number of Thompson submachine guns, M3 submachine guns, and M1918 light machine guns. Actually, the M1918 should be classified as an automatic rifle, but unlike the Garand, this gun has a 20-round magazine and can fire in full automatic mode. It also weighs 7 kilograms, so it can be defined as a light machine gun.

In addition to submachine guns and M1918 automatic rifles, Wang Gensheng also took a lot of mobile phones. After all, these devices could make calls within a range of several kilometers, which would be very convenient for Wang Gensheng to make some tactical arrangements. After taking these items, Wang Gensheng led the Marines away.

As for the artillery king and the artillery soldiers in the artillery regiment, they didn't take a single one; they left them all to Li Yunlong, who then used them to bombard Huang Baitao's army.

Of course, Li Yunlong also left and returned to the Zhao Village position to continue defending. He had no choice but to leave, otherwise they would likely be surrounded. This time, Wang Gensheng launched a surprise attack on the Eighty-Nine Lions' command post, catching them off guard. If they had stayed, Wang Gensheng and Li Yunlong would have been surrounded by enemies by the time they realized what was happening.

Of course, the Battle of Zhaozhuang was just a microcosm of the battlefield in which Qiu and Li's army rescued Huang Baitao's army. It should be noted that Qiu and Li's two army groups together had more than 200,000 men, so the loss of a mere 10,000 men in the Eighty-Nine Lions was actually nothing.

It was just a minor pain, not even a serious injury. Of course, the annihilation of Chu Yunfei's eighty-nine lions in one night served as a reminder to the other lions in Qiu Li's army: they couldn't set up their command posts too far removed from the main force, otherwise the command posts would be wiped out, causing chaos throughout the entire lion group.

Despite this being a major victory, the commander of the Third Field Army was far from happy, because his staff handed him a thick list of casualties, all of whom had died in the battle.

After handing the list of casualties to the Third Field Army commander, the staff officer sighed and said:
"The battle between the enemy and ourselves has now reached a stalemate. Every foot and every meter is being fought for. If this continues, the ammunition consumption will be too great, and our logistics will not be able to keep up!"

After hearing the chief of staff's report, the commander of the Third Field Army sighed, stood up, looked at the map, pondered for a moment, and then said:
"Since both sides are focused on the front, why don't we change our strategy and stab Du Yuming in the back? Let's send a surprise force through Daxujia to Pantang Town, outflank Qiu Li's army!"

Upon hearing the commander's words, the Third Field Army's chief of staff asked in confusion:
"Why Pantang Town?" In response to the chief of staff's question, the Third Field Army commander explained:

"If we attack the enemy, they will have to defend it. Pantang Town is only eight kilometers away from Xuzhou Airport, which is the air corridor connecting Xuzhou and Nanjing. Once it is threatened, Qiu Li's army will definitely divide its forces to come to the rescue, and will not dare to come to the rescue with all its strength, nor will it dare to go east with all its strength. This will not only delay the advance of Qiu Li's army and cut off their retreat, but will also pose a threat to Xuzhou. At that time, the situation of the Xudong blocking battle may undergo new changes!"

After hearing the battle plan from the Third Field Army, the chief of staff thought it was a good plan and immediately smiled and said:
"We've always attacked reinforcements head-on, but this time you need to jump out and attack them from the side!"

The commander of the Third Field Army also decisively said:
"This operation must be carried out by surprise. Quickly notify the troops to set off! And keep the radio silent; we must not expose ourselves!"

Just as the commander of the Third Field Army was about to launch a surprise attack, Du Yuming, the nominal deputy commander of the Xuzhou battlefield but in reality the commander, looked at the stalemate on the battlefield and knew that this stalemate was not a solution, so he also wanted to launch a surprise attack.

So naturally, they also thought of flanking and launching a sneak attack, and the route they chose was similar to the route commanded by the Third Field Army, both aiming to take Pantang Town and then flanking and launching a sneak attack.

Of course, this matter still needed to be discussed with Liu Zhi, the general commander of Xuzhou, since he was the general commander. However, in Xuzhou's general command room, Liu Zhi complained to Du Yuming:

"There are countless eyes watching this battlefield in Xuzhou. Back then, that slippery Bai Chongxi stood me up, which is why I came to Xuzhou to fill the hole! But now that the fighting has turned out like this, I'm afraid that if I don't fill the hole, I might end up burying myself!"

Du Yuming, upon hearing Liu Zhi's words, showed no sign of admitting defeat; instead, he encouraged him:

"The outcome is still uncertain, teacher. You must have confidence, and more importantly, patience!"

As for why Du Yuming called Liu Zhi "teacher," it was mainly because Liu Zhi was an instructor at Whampoa Military Academy, and Du Yuming, as a student of the first class at Whampoa, should naturally call him "teacher." It was also because of this that Liu Zhi, despite not being particularly skilled in commanding battles, was still able to serve as the commander of Xuzhou.

After all, in Huaguo, where respect for lions and the Way has been valued since ancient times, the mere fact that he was an instructor or teacher was enough to put other Huangpu students in a superior position.

But Liu Zhi, upon hearing Du Yuming's words, sighed and laughed:

"Patience, the old man is putting us on the spot! I'm both dreading the phone ringing and hoping for it to ring, afraid that the old man will be nagging me every day, asking several times a day, 'Why haven't you rescued Huang Baitao yet?' I'm hoping! I'm hoping for Qiu Qingquan's victory report! Why hasn't it come yet!"

Upon hearing this, Du Yuming immediately said:
"Victory is never something that comes by waiting. Since ancient times, heroes have taken risky paths. In extraordinary times, we must use extraordinary measures!"

As he spoke, Du Yuming walked to the sand table in the command room and picked up his baton.

(End of this chapter)