Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 235 No more outside help

After pushing open the door, Wang Cuishan looked at Yang Baitao and said:

"Commander, didn't you say last time that you didn't have a contact person?"

However, Yang Botao's expression turned grim as he said:
"What nonsense are you spouting!"

However, Wang Cuishan continued speaking regardless of the consequences:
"Commander, I've already made contact with them. As long as you write a reply, I can deliver it by tomorrow morning!"

When Yang Botao saw that Wang Cuishan still didn't understand the meaning behind his words, he could only say it plainly:

"Tiedan, there are ears everywhere now. If you want to live, never mention this again!"

However, before Yang Botao could finish speaking, Hu Lian, the deputy commander of the 12th Army Corps who had been temporarily dispatched by Lao Zi, caught him red-handed at the door. Hu Lian, with a cold face, said to Yang Botao:
"Commander, what is it?"

Upon seeing this, Wang Cuishan wanted to destroy the evidence immediately, but he was restrained by the guards brought by Hu Lian.

Of course, it wasn't just Hu Lian who came in; Huang Wei was also there. Although Wang Cuishan was under control, he still stubbornly insisted on saying:
"You'd better kill me, or none of you will escape when the Liberation Army invades!"

At this moment, in order to protect himself, Yang Baitao immediately walked up to Wang Cuishan and said:

"You idiot Tiedan! I never imagined you'd be so easily misled by the Liberation Army and become a communist!"

Wang Cuishan did not hold a grudge against Yang Baitao, after all, Yang Baitao had just given him a heads-up.

However, Wang Cuishan was too impatient and casually blurted out such an important matter. Unfortunately, he was caught red-handed by Huang Wei and Hu Lian. Otherwise, even if Yang Botao, the commander of the 18th Army, had any suspicions, no one would have dared to really touch Wang Cuishan.

Therefore, Wang Cuishan did not make baseless accusations at this moment, but instead spoke very sincerely to Yang Botao:
"Commander, you'll understand someday!"

"What will I understand!"

However, no sooner had Yang Botao finished speaking than Huang Wei interjected:

"Get out and shoot him!"

Just then, Wang Cuishan pushed aside the guards who were restraining him, drew his gun, and aimed it at Huang Wei, preparing to shoot him. However, Yang Botao struck first and killed Wang Cuishan.

Thus, Wang Cuishan, an underground party member, sacrificed himself. After Hu Lian did this, he flew back to Lao Jing to ask for reinforcements, but Lao Jing had no reinforcements to send at that time!
The group led by Du Yuming has been besieged in Chenguanzhuang. As for the remaining Jin-affiliated Fu Zong in Beiping, there are still more than 500,000 troops, but they are being closely watched by the Fourth Field Army, which has quietly entered the pass.

As for the Guangxi clique forces heading southwest, they also had a considerable number of troops, approximately 170,000. However, unfortunately, these troops were all Guangxi's core forces, and naturally, they could not be used to fill the gaps left by Lao Jing. Therefore, Lao Jing was essentially out of troops at this point.

Meanwhile, the Du Yuming Group, which was originally sent to rescue Huang Wei's army, was in Chenguanzhuang discussing the next steps with three army commanders: Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 16th Army Corps, Li Mi, the commander of the 13th Army Corps, and Qiu Qingquan, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps.

The combined strength of these three corps reached nearly 300,000, forming the Du Yuming Group, but the Third Field Army's forces were also weak.

The first to speak was Du Yuming, who said with a worried expression:
"Everyone, we are now surrounded. Please feel free to speak your mind!"

The first to speak was Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 16th Army Corps. Sun Yuanliang said:
"Our defeat in the Xuzhou-Bengbu battlefield is inevitable. The only difference is whether it's a minor or major defeat—a major defeat in battle, a minor defeat in retreat! We're currently trapped here. If this drags on, our resources will likely be wiped out. Fortunately, the organization of each army corps is still relatively intact. Rather than waiting to be killed, we should take the initiative and break out separately. As long as we can create an opening, we have a chance to escape!" After listening to Sun Yuanliang's words, Du Yuming turned to Li Mi, the commander of the 12th Army Corps, and said:

"Where is Bingren?"

Li Mi, however, said with an indifferent expression:

"I have no objections, I'll just do as you say!"

Upon hearing Li Mi's agreement, Du Yuming turned his gaze to Qiu Qingquan and said to him:
"Yu'an!"

In response to Du Yuming's question, Qiu Qingquan replied with a look of utter despair:
"The commander keeps changing his mind. One minute he's telling us to provide support and rescue Huang Wei, the next he's telling us to preserve our strength and retreat back to Jiangnan. How can we carry out orders like this? I don't see any need to carry them out!"

That's right. In the beginning, when Lao Zi wanted Du Yuming to turn around and save Huang Wei, Du Yuming was extremely unwilling to go, because he knew that going there would be suicide.

However, Qiu Qingquan was still fiercely loyal to Lao Zi at the time, even going so far as to threaten him with a gun.

Left with no other choice, Du Yuming went to rescue Huang Wei, which resulted in him being besieged in Chenguanzhuang.

However, in response to Qiu Qingquan's ambiguous answer, Sun Yuanliang stated directly:

"Are you saying you're pulling the trigger, or not pulling it back?"

After all, Du Yuming isn't the only one making decisions now; the opinions of the three Corps Commanders must be sought.

Seeing that the three corps commanders had all agreed to retreat, Du Yuming continued, "..."

"Alright, in that case, let's each regroup our troops and break out separately!"

However, the breakout at this time was very different from the breakout in Xuzhou. Back then, due to intelligence and Du Yuming's feint attack tactics, the main force that was retreating had an extra day.

But now that Xuzhou City is gone, Du Yuming's attempt to use a feint attack is useless, since Chenguanzhuang has been essentially besieged.

Although Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 16th Army Corps, led the 16th Army Corps to break out of the encirclement, they were attacked from both sides by the Third Field Army, resulting in a complete collapse of the entire army. Sun Yuanliang himself almost lost his life, and the 16th Army Corps was annihilated as a result.

While Du Yuming and Huang Wei were besieged, Lao Zi sent his wife to visit Mi Guo. His purpose was simple: to get Mi Guo to sponsor, invest, and provide support.

However, Mrs. Mikoto's visit to the United States put the American ambassador to China in an awkward position, so he hurriedly sought out Old Mikoto and asked him:

"Madam Mi has been in Mi Guo for some time now, and I'm very curious to know how effective it has been!"

In response to Ambassador Stuart's greeting, the old man confidently replied:
"The lady told me in her last phone call that she had a very pleasant conversation with Mr. Marshall, the Minister of Agriculture. Mr. Marshall has always been her most trusted friend, and he also said he would do his utmost to help the flower industry."

Upon hearing this, Situ Leideng immediately said:
"I know Marshall, your old friend. Good heavens, Marshall had surgery and was discharged so quickly. He just had surgery, Du Lumen, and it seems he didn't invite Mrs. Jing to give a speech! Mrs. Jing didn't even get a red carpet treatment!"

(End of this chapter)