Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 230 Minefield Obstacles
The chief of staff, convinced of the situation, immediately arranged for the deployment of troops.

However, things were not going well here, because with Liu Zhi's departure, most of the residents of Xuzhou City thought that he was going to abandon Xuzhou!
As a result, everyone tried to escape the city, and for a time, the entire city of Xuzhou was in chaos.

However, when Du Yuming retreated to the southwest, he still pretended to send a small group of Qiu Qingquan's soldiers to impersonate the majority of the soldiers and retreat to the southeast.

This subtle action, combined with previous intelligence, left the deputy commander of the Third Field Army somewhat puzzled. After glancing at the map, he muttered to himself:

"Could it be that I really made a mistake?!"

The chief of staff then offered some advice:

"Commander, you're fighting a god-like battle, while Du Yuming is fighting a student's battle. In critical moments, he still has to listen to Lao Jing. Our main force is currently deployed in the southwest, and we must withdraw immediately. The troops on the eastern front are outnumbered and are about to collapse!"

Only after the deputy commander of the third field army looked at the map again and again did he speak:

"and many more!"

The chief of staff, however, was anxious and said:

"If we wait any longer, it will really be too late!"

However, after looking at the map, the deputy commander of the Third Field Army became even more certain of his guess:
"His current attack is likely a smokescreen. Even if Du Yuming really retreats to the southeast, large-scale troop movements are slow, and with the dense river network, we can easily catch up by turning around!"

Faced with the Third Field Army's deputy commander's firm stance, the chief of staff could say no more.

As the deputy commander of the Third Field Army had predicted, the troops that were originally advancing in the southeast direction suddenly stopped at night and then disappeared as if they had vanished.

The deputy commander of the Third Field Army also spoke up at this moment:

"Not a single telegram or phone call in so long. The artillery fire on the eastern front has cooled down. Could it be that Du Yuming's 300,000 troops have all gone down to the bottom?"

Although the deputy commander of the Third Field Army said this, he already knew what was going on in his heart. But just then, the phone in the command room rang.

Upon receiving the call, I learned that Du Yuming had indeed led a large force to retreat southwest.

At this moment, the deputy commander of the Third Field Army relaxed.

This means that his calculations as the deputy commander of the Third Field Army were correct, and that he understood that the route chosen by Du Yuming was in the southwest direction.

So this was like walking right into a trap set by the deputy commander of the Third Field Army.

After hanging up the phone, the deputy commander of the Third Field Army looked relaxed and said to the chief of staff:

"We have indeed accurately diagnosed Du Yuming's condition!"

At this moment, the chief of staff said with admiration:

"Si Lingyuan, you're amazing! They really did retreat to the southwest!"

There's no way to deny their respect! You have to understand that, with top-secret intelligence and Du Yuming's smokescreen, the General Staff believed that the retreat would be towards the southeast, and the Chief of Staff himself also thought that the retreat direction towards the southeast was very likely.

However, the deputy commander of the Third Field Army withstood the pressure and insisted that Du Yuming would definitely retreat southwest, which was truly admirable. However, the deputy commander of the Third Field Army was not pleased, but instead said:
"However, we are now affected by Qiu Qingquan's feint attack, and we are a full day behind the enemy in our actions. Du Yuming is now using a diversionary tactic, and we must not let him escape again. I order all units to march day and night, in multiple routes and multiple layers. Those that are close can pursue in parallel or intercept by outflanking maneuvers, while those that are far away can launch a tail attack, cutting off the head, the middle, and the tail! We must make up for this day's lost time!"

Clearly, although the deputy commander of the Third Field Army was not fooled, his original plan to move troops to intercept the enemy in the southwest was delayed due to top-secret intelligence and Du Yuming's deliberate diversion.

Therefore, we have no choice but to have the team go all out in the pursuit.

At this moment, Wang Gensheng volunteered:

"Deputy Commander, then I will lead my Marines to detour to Du Yuming's likely route and lay mines to slow down their march! Our Marines are all equipped with two horses per person, so it will be easy for us to catch up with them."

However, we need a large number of landmines and grenades to set up the traps.

"Okay, no problem, we at the Third Field Army will provide you with all the hand grenades and landmines you need!"

The deputy commander of the Third Field Army readily agreed. Actually, it wasn't that the Third Field Army had no cavalry; it was just that most of the cavalry were being used as communications troops. After all, although radios had reached the regiments, communications at the lower levels still relied on foot communication.

Therefore, there is no need to form any cavalry regiment, let alone a cavalry regiment with one rider and two horses, since no matter how powerful the cavalry is, they cannot charge head-on on the battlefield.

At Wang Gensheng's special request, he asked for a large number of MK2 grenades, also known as American pineapple grenades, because they were superior to the domestically produced pull-cord grenades and the melon grenades left behind by the Japanese.

The MK2 hand grenade produced by the United States is more suitable for making traps.

Unlike pull-cord grenades and the Japanese melon grenades that required a tap to explode, this was different.

The US MK2 grenade has a built-in firing pin. Once the safety pin is pulled, the firing pin safety spring will automatically fly off under the action of the spring, and then the firing pin inside the grenade will automatically strike, thus detonating it.

After obtaining tens of thousands of pineapple grenades and more than three thousand others, Wang Gensheng rode his warhorse with these grenades towards Chenguanzhuang in the southwest.

The reason Wang Gensheng rushed to Chenguanzhuang was naturally because, in both the plot and history, Du Yuming was besieged in Chenguanzhuang.

Xuzhou was only a hundred kilometers away. With Wang Gensheng's Marine Corps' marching ability of one person on two horses, he covered more than a hundred kilometers in just the middle of the night and arrived at Chenguanzhuang.

Of course, Wang Gensheng did not place landmines inside Chenguanzhuang, but instead placed them along the road that Chenguanzhuang was bound to pass through. As for the bushes and trees on both sides of the road, they were booby traps set up using MK2 pineapple grenades.

After all, if they didn't do that, Du Yuming might have ordered his troops to take a detour through the woods to bypass the minefield.

Therefore, placing tens of thousands of pineapple grenades in the forest and bushes to create booby traps would effectively prevent Du Yuming's troops from taking a detour.

The landmines Wang Gensheng carried included both powerful anti-tank mines and less powerful anti-personnel mines, which he mixed together when laying them.

It involves burying several low-powered landmines and then burying a high-powered landmine.

The sole purpose of this was to prevent Du Yuming from using tanks to clear a path. It should be noted that the power of those anti-personnel mines with small explosive charges is so great that they can't even break through the tracks of a tank. Therefore, if Du Yuming used tanks to clear a path, the consequence would be the direct destruction of the entire minefield, making Wang Gensheng's hard work in setting up the minefield go to waste.

Moreover, the minefield where Wang Gensheng laid three thousand landmines stretched for a full ten kilometers, averaging one landmine every three meters or so.

(End of this chapter)