Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 236 Fighting the Elite

In response to Situ Leideng's sarcastic remarks, the old man retorted:
"Mr. Ambassador, the Liberation Army has different sources of information, but I don't know if this is the outcome you hoped for!"

Ambassador Stuart bluntly stated the following:
"This time, Madam Jing deviated from international practice and chose to bypass me, the ambassador to Hualien, and contact the Secretary of State directly. I want to help her now, but to be honest, I don't know where to start!"

However, the old man was not afraid of Situ Leideng at all, and said very firmly:
"Speaking of international practice, Mr. Ambassador, didn't you also violate it? You bypassed the President and had close contact directly with the Deputy President. Am I right?"

In response, Situ Leideng retorted firmly:

"Do you understand? You must have some misunderstanding about the Liberation Army!"

However, the old man still confidently said:
“Mr. Situ Leideng, you think you know the government of the country very well, but I think you don’t know the country of Hua, and you certainly don’t know the Liberation Army! I believe that Madam’s visit to the United States this time will change the attitude of the government towards Hua. I believe that!”

Faced with the old man's confidence, Situ Leideng simply shook his head speechlessly and said:

I wish you good luck!

It is obvious that Situ Leideng understands Du Lu and his ilk and knows their character. Du Lu and his ilk will not give a good look to an old man who betrays them.

Otherwise, Situ Leideng wouldn't have gone to contact Li Zongren.

Sure enough, not long after, Lao Zi received news that Du Lu and his men were unwilling to meet his wife.

Without outside help, Lao Jing was completely helpless. He tried to mobilize Fu Zuoyi from Beiping, but the Fourth Field Army kept a close watch on him.

Hu Zongnan was also closely watched by Yiye in Xibei, and although Bai Chongxi seemed to be unattended, he would never listen to Lao Zi.

Although Lao Jing is nominally the president of the government, the government is actually divided into factions. Lao Jing only holds the most power because he is the head of the Huangpu Military Academy.

However, once he became president, he did nothing but help the landlords and rich people to exploit the common people. So when the Liberation Army distributed the landlords' land to the peasants, it was naturally the time when the peasants supported the Liberation Army.

While Lao Zi was worried about his elite 12th Army Corps, Fu Zuoyi was also having a hard time. Although Fu Zuoyi's core army, the 35th Army, had withdrawn from Zhangjiakou, the army commander, Guo Jinyun, was still suffering from personal motives.

In order to bring along the wealthy merchants of Zhangjiakou, the march was slowed down. They rested for one night in Xinbao'an, giving the pursuing 2nd Column of the Fourth Field Army a night's opportunity. Thus, Fu Zuoyi's core 35th Army was besieged in Xinbao'an.

This drove Fu Zuoyi crazy, because the 35th Army was his precious darling!

However, what Fu Zuoyi didn't know was that the Jiefang Army had already been eyeing his elite 35th Army even before the war began. While the smoke of the Liaoshen Campaign was still lingering in the air, the Huaihai Campaign started, adding fuel to the fire. Naturally, the movements of hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in Huabei became the focus of everyone's attention.

Especially regarding Fu Zuoyi, many people are worried that he might suddenly make a major relocation, either taking his troops westward back to his hometown of Suiyuan, or southward to the sea, or simply disbanding and going their separate ways.

Speaking of Suiyuan, that was Fu Zuoyi's stronghold. If he really withdrew his troops, it would definitely be a troublesome matter for the Liberation Army. But the problem was that Suiyuan was extremely poor and could not support an army of hundreds of thousands, let alone a group of picky old loyalists. They had no intention of retreating to that desolate west.

As for fleeing south, although Lao Zi's direct troops were quite willing, Fu Zuoyi knew that once they left their base, they would be homeless wandering troops, and in the end, they would be at the mercy of others.

After considering the situation, Fu Zuoyi figured that the Fourth Field Army needed rest after just finishing the Liaoshen Campaign, and given the cold weather, the enemy was unlikely to move south. So he decided to hold out in Pingjin for the time being, protect the port, expand his forces, and also get some rice and weapons as aid.

This delay served two purposes: firstly, to prevent the relief forces of the Fourth and Third Field Armies from merging, thus giving Lao Zi more time to prepare on the Yangtze River defense line; secondly, Fu Zuoyi also wanted to see how the situation would change, and with American weapons, at least his voice could be stronger.

However, from the perspective of the Liberation Army, Fu Zuoyi's presence was actually quite to their liking. What the Liberation Army least wanted was for him to escape; what they hoped for was to encircle and annihilate him there. This would allow their strategic deployment to be executed more smoothly, saving them the trouble of chasing him around.

Therefore, the Liberation Army's tactic was to pin Fu Zuoyi and his men down in Huabei, then draw a wide circle around them and wipe them out in one fell swoop. This task was no easy feat, and with the limited forces of the Third Field Army's Liberation Army, it was truly a stretch. The most troublesome thing was that if Fu Zuoyi panicked, the Suiyuan Army would retreat westward, and Lao Jing's direct troops would flee southward, leaving the Liberation Army caught in the middle, which would be a huge disadvantage.

In this situation, the key move is to get the main force of the Fourth Field Army into the pass as soon as possible, join forces with the Third Field Army's relief forces, and properly deal with Fu Zuoyi and his gang.

Logically, after the Liaoshen Campaign, the Fourth Field Army should have rested for a few months before entering the pass the following spring. However, historically, every brilliant battle was achieved through a surprise attack, catching the enemy off guard.

Ideally, the Fourth Field Army should rest and recuperate before entering the pass, but they cannot hesitate at crucial moments. Especially when Fu Zuoyi thought the Liberation Army wouldn't act so quickly, the Liberation Army should have entered the pass swiftly with its main force to give him a surprise.

In fact, even before the Liaoshen Campaign ended, the advance troops of the Fourth Field Army had already quietly entered the interior of China. By the time the main force of the Northeast Field Army also began its operations, Fu Zuoyi's side was still completely unaware.

By the end of November 1948, when the Third Column of the Fourth Field Army began its siege of Zhangjiakou, the Pingjin Campaign had begun. Fu Zuoyi thought the opponent was just the Third Field Army's relief force, but little did he know that the main force of the Fourth Field Army had already quietly set up its formation.

By the end of 1948, the balance of the war was teetering on the brink, and it seemed that it was still uncertain who would have the last laugh.

At that moment, Fu Zuoyi slapped his thigh, feeling he needed to add fuel to the fire in the Huabei campaign. So he dispatched his trusted elite troops, the 35th and 104th Armies, to quickly board cars and trains to support Zhang Jiakou. This move was like throwing a large stone into the battlefield, creating quite a splash.

Fu Zuoyi was a straightforward man. He looked at the Third Field Army's relief forces with an expression that read "not worth mentioning." He thought that as long as he could defeat these people and then take care of the Fourth Field Army's relief forces, he would have accomplished his mission. He genuinely believed that his troops could easily defeat the relief forces.

(End of this chapter)