Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 233 A Wrong Victory

Upon hearing that Du Yuming had been detained in Chenguanzhuang, the deputy commander of the Third Field Army said with lingering fear:

"After chasing for three days and three nights, all the columns arrived at their designated positions, trapping Du Yuming's group in the Chenguanzhuang area. Chenguanzhuang is only eighty kilometers away from Shuangduiji. If we had been any later, Du Yuming and Huang Wei would have joined forces. It's really frightening to think about it now!"

In fact, Du Yuming's original plan was to first deceive the deputy commander of the Third Field Army into dropping his troops to the southeast of Xuzhou, and then retreat to the southwest with his troops. However, he did not intend to rescue Huang Wei.

Instead, after retreating a sufficient distance, they immediately headed south across the river and returned directly to Nanjing.

However, Lao Zi naturally couldn't just stand by and watch Du Yuming ignore Huang Wei, so he wanted Du Yuming to lead 300,000 troops to rescue Huang Wei's army, which was besieged by the Second Field Army.

Unfortunately, his indecisiveness backfired, leading to further trouble. Old Mi's intentions were good, but unfortunately, he was overtaken by the Third Field Army and surrounded at Chenguanzhuang.

Although both the defenders of Xuzhou and Chenguanzhuang had 300,000 troops.

However, the level of defense in the two cases is completely different.

Xuzhou has sturdy city walls and complete fortifications. The numerous bunkers and trenches outside Xuzhou can effectively defend against the Third Field Army's attacks.

Chenguanzhuang, on the other hand, was a different story. It was just a small village with a few dilapidated houses and tiled roofs, and it was incomparable to the defensive fortifications that Xuzhou had painstakingly built over many years.

...............

However, just as the Third Field Army and the Second Field Army joined forces to fight the Huaihai Campaign, the Fourth Field Army, which had finished the Liaoshen Campaign and had been resting for a period of time, quickly entered the pass and captured Miyun City with lightning speed.

Taking Miyun City would mean that we are very close to Beiping City.

However, the capture of the smuggling operation made Fu Siling, who was in Beiping, feel threatened, and he immediately ordered the 35th Army stationed at Zhangjiakou to return to Beiping City.

This behavior naturally angered the commander-in-chief.

It should be understood that the general's plan was to first eliminate most of Fu Siling's forces, thereby achieving the goal of peacefully taking Beiping.

After all, Beiping is an ancient capital that has existed for more than 600 years during the Ming and Qing dynasties!

If Fu Siling had too many troops, such as more than 500,000 men, all guarding Beiping City, then Beiping City would naturally be very difficult to take.

However, forcibly taking it over would destroy this ancient capital with hundreds of years of history.

Although we captured the secret transport and annihilated the defending troops, it was a victory of mistake. The mistake was that we alerted the enemy, were greedy for small gains, and failed to follow the general's plan to rush to Huailai and Nankou to cut off the Pingzhang line!

More importantly, the Battle of Miyun alarmed Fu Siling, who ordered his trusted 35th Army to withdraw to Beiping.

However, the Third Column of the Fourth Field Army did not follow the instructions of the General Headquarters and misjudged the situation. It did not carry out a strong blocking action in the Zhangjiakou area. As a result, the 35th Army broke through the Third Column's defense line with little resistance and had already reached Xinbao'an.

Therefore, if the 35th Army cannot be stopped in time and annihilated at Zhangjiakou, the plan to deliver a fatal blow to Fu Siling before negotiating peace will fall through.

However, although plans can change, Zhangjiakou is a full 200 kilometers away from Beiping, so even if it is too late, there will still be some room for recovery.

So, in an attempt to salvage the situation, the General Headquarters had no choice but to expend even more manpower and resources to block Fu's 38th Army from ever seeing Beiping again. Fortunately, as the saying goes, it's not the enemy's mistakes that are to be feared, but rather one's own bigger mistakes.

This statement couldn't be more fitting for the commander of the 38th Army. Even though Fu had already noticed the secret transport operation, he quickly ordered the 38th Army to return.

However, although the commander of the 38th Army was Fu Siling's staunch confidant, he was straightforward and impulsive. He was able to take up the position of commander of the 38th Army entirely because of his loyalty to Fu Siling.

In essence, he had absolutely no ability to serve as a military commander and lead tens of thousands of men.

Thus, what should have been a crucial moment of escape was instead thrown into disarray by a small group of relief troops.

They wouldn't be satisfied until they eliminated this small group of harassing relief troops, rather than taking the opportunity to escape the encirclement.

However, it must be said that although the commander of the 38th Army was not good at commanding large-scale troops and had no strategic vision, his military skills were still excellent.

This person can hit a target with a single shot from over 300 meters away, even without a scope, simply by holding a rifle.

It has to be said that his marksmanship is comparable to that of Baili Xiu, one of Wang Gensheng's subordinates.

Moreover, not only that, during the battle, this commander of the 38th Army actually led a charge against the Jiefang Army with a submachine gun.

Despite the fact that the commander of the 38th Army was not good at commanding large forces and lacked strategic vision, he still had a firm grasp on morale.

After all, no soldier dislikes having a superior who leads the charge rather than one who sits in the back and issues orders.

Just as the Pingjin Campaign was about to begin, the Second Field Army, which was heavily besieging Huang Wei's army group in the Huaihai Campaign, also began to prepare for its final general offensive.

That's right, unlike the Liaoshen Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign took place around the same timeframe.

After annihilating Huang Baitao's army, in order to prevent Fu Siling from feeling sorry for him and turning her attention to the Huaihai battlefield, Zongbu had no choice but to send the Fourth Field Army, which had just finished the Liaoshen Campaign, to quickly enter the pass to keep an eye on Fu Siling.

After all, Xuzhou is only 700 kilometers away from Pingjin, and in addition to the land route, there is also a sea route that allows Fu Siling's more than 500,000 troops to quickly reinforce Xuzhou.

However, Fu Siling was not stupid. She understood that if she went to reinforce the troops as Lao Jing had suggested, then the troops under her command in the south would definitely belong to Lao Jing, since the south was Lao Jing's stronghold!
Therefore, for Fu Siling, holding onto Beiping and fully utilizing her diagnostic and treatment abilities is the only way to secure better treatment.

The Liberation Army also needs to peacefully liberate Beiping, but it is unwilling to be manipulated and led by Fu Siling at will. Therefore, it is natural to weaken Fu Siling's power before the peace talks.

Of course, this was just as Siye entered the pass and targeted Fu Siling, trying to clip her wings.

The Second Field Army also decided to launch a final all-out attack on Huang Wei's army group.

After all, Huang Wei's army group and the three army groups led by Du Yuming are only 80 kilometers apart. To avoid any unforeseen complications, it is only natural to deal with one of them first.

Otherwise, if something unexpected happens and the two army groups merge together, it will be difficult to handle.

Compared to Du Yuming's group, which had just been besieged, Huang Wei's army had been besieged for many days, resulting in low morale and nearly depleted food supplies. Therefore, prioritizing the elimination of Huang Wei's army was a very appropriate course of action.

(End of this chapter)