Even if I'm a useless bum at Whampoa Military Academy, I'll be invincible in the War of Re

20th Army Corps Command

After reading the telegram, Tang Enbo casually put it down, pondered for a moment, and then said:

"Reply to Commander Li: The 5th Division is already showing signs of advancing south; launching an attack at this time would be too risky."

Wang Zhonglian, a graduate of the first class of the 85th Army Commander, chose to remain silent. He was the top general under Tang Enbo. As early as when Tang Enbo was the commander of the Second Division, he was a brigade commander. He was known as one of the "Four Great Vajras" of the Tang faction, along with Shi Jue, Chen Daqing, and Zhang Xuezhong.

Lieutenant General Guan Yudong, commander of the 52nd Army and also a graduate of the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy, was different. He was a senior member of the Whampoa Military Academy, while Tang was an instructor from the sixth class and more of a colleague. Therefore, he volunteered for the battle:

"Commander, the main force of the Fifth Division has been tied down by Zhao Yunwen's troops. Even if it moves south, it will only be a part of it, and its combat power will be limited."

With a force of 6, the army is well-equipped. I am willing to lead the 52nd Army to stay behind and block the southward advance of the Itagaki Division. Commander, please obey orders and rush to the aid of Taierzhuang, coordinating with the Second Army Group from both inside and outside to annihilate the Setani Detachment in one fell swoop!

Tang Enbo, as one of the three giants of the Whampoa clique alongside Chen Cixiu and Hu Zongnan, spoke with great confidence in front of Whampoa students:

"Yu Dong, calm down. I naturally believe you can hold off a part of the Itagaki Division, but I don't trust Zhao Yunwen. He doesn't have a good reputation in your class."

Zhao Yunwen is a well-known good-for-nothing, and the Itagaki Division has a notorious reputation. As long as they go south with all their might, Zhao Yunwen's half-division won't be able to hold them back.

I must take responsibility for the 52nd Army and even the entire 20th Army Corps. This matter is not to be mentioned again; execute orders!

Guan Yudong was speechless. After all, he was a subordinate, so he could only leave angrily.

Upon returning to headquarters, Zheng Guiting, the commander of the 2nd Division who had accompanied him to the meeting, said with great displeasure:

"Commander Tang is just afraid of the enemy. He tells us to carry out orders, but why doesn't he carry out Commander Li's orders himself?"

The Second Army Group is almost wiped out, and our 6 elite Central Army troops can only watch helplessly. What kind of battle is this?

Although Guan Yudong was also very annoyed, he still had to maintain appearances of unity, so he could only appease his subordinates:

"Brother Guiting, calm down. Commander Tang is not cowardly. He led us in real battles against the Japanese in Nankou. He just has too many ulterior motives and is always hesitant."

"Don't worry, Commander Li will put pressure on him. We can hold out in the Taierzhuang area. The Seya Detachment won't escape. Our good-for-nothing classmate has already dug a pit for the Japanese."

Zheng Guiting asked with an unfriendly expression:

"Brother Yudong, you also think Brother Yunwen is a good-for-nothing?"

Guan Yudong laughed and said:

"Brother Yunwen held off the 11th and 9th Divisions with only one regiment in Luodian and Dachang. After breaking through the Songhu siege, he liberated Kunshan, fought a major battle against the 101st Division, and captured the chess pieces of the 101st Regiment. He blocked the 16th Division in Tangshan and led 20,000 defeated soldiers out of the encirclement in Nanjing. If he is useless, then we are not even worth calling ourselves useless!"

I have great respect for Brother Yunwen. Among my fellow disciples in the same class, he ranked second, and no one dared to rank first.

Zhang Yaoming, commander of the 25th Division, also said:

"That's right. Everyone says that Hu Shoushan is undoubtedly the number one in our first class, but when it comes to the record against Japan, Brother Shoushan is not even worthy of carrying Brother Yunwen's shoes."

"Capturing two regimental flags, single-handedly taking on the 9th Division, and leading a powerful charge out of Nanjing—for these reasons alone, I'm impressed. Think about it, inside Nanjing, Sun Yuanlang, Yu Liangzhen, and others—weren't they all abandoning their troops and fleeing for their lives?"

Guan Yudong spoke up to stop him:

"Brother Yaoyan, be careful what you say! Praising Brother Yunwen is fine, but don't imply anything about others. If word gets out, it will be bad for you. Some people are quite petty."

Zhang Yaoming snorted coldly:

"You think I'm afraid of them? You did it yourself, and now you won't let anyone talk about it!"

Although Zhang Yaoming was outspoken, he didn't say anything more, preferring to offend a gentleman rather than a petty person.

Zheng Guiting couldn't help but sigh:

"No wonder Commander Tang said Brother Yunwen was a good-for-nothing. He was just too good at hiding his talents. Now it seems he was just concealing his abilities. But as a fellow townsman of the principal and the eldest son of a wealthy family from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, does he really need to play this trick of concealing his talents?"

Guan Yudong roughly guessed that the reason was that he didn't want to fight a civil war, but he didn't want to point it out, so he just said jokingly:

"I guess Brother Yunwen has a wicked sense of humor!"

The crowd burst into laughter, completely dispelling the previous oppressive atmosphere. They were angry, but they still had to carry out Commander Tang's orders.

Tang Tou, Kunisaki Noboru was not in such a good mood; his face was as black as if his father had died.

The 107th Division launched a frenzied attack on the 9th Brigade's defenses, unleashing a hail of bullets and deploying thousands of troops. All units were in dire need of assistance.

"You bunch of good-for-nothings! Has Zhao Yunwen gone mad?"

Kunisaki Noboru's almost roaring outburst left Senior Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Kuroda with no choice but to respond:

"Zhao Yunwen has always been cunning and audacious. He probably guessed that the Imperial Army was going south to support Taierzhuang. This was a strategy of relieving the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao."

Kunisaki Noboru snorted coldly:

"Does he think his single division is worthy? My Itagaki Division can go wherever it wants, and nobody can stop it!"

Kunisaki Noboru remained defiant, but the front lines were not so resolute. The 107th Division launched a relentless offensive, and the commander of the 11th Infantry Regiment complained repeatedly, once again requesting tactical guidance from the brigade headquarters. The reply he received was simply, "Hold on!"

"You idiot! What am I supposed to use to defend myself?"

Regimental Commander Yuichiro Nagano couldn't help but swear. Through his binoculars, he saw the Chinese soldiers surging towards the 11th Regiment's position like a tidal wave. He had no choice but to give the order again:

"Fire! Fire! Blow them up!"

In front of the Japanese positions, the soldiers of the 644th Regiment charged forward under a hail of bullets, but they did not charge mindlessly like other Nationalist troops; instead, they were very methodical.

The three infantry battalions were arranged in a triangular formation, attacking the Japanese defenses from the left, center, and right.

They were all in groups of three, and the three groups formed a triangular attack formation, with a large triangle inside a smaller triangle, filling the entire front of the battlefield. The actual number of troops was not large, but the sense of oppression was overwhelming.

The enemy's shells rained down, and the soldiers quickly and efficiently fell to the ground, resulting in minimal casualties.

Brigade Commander Zhang Yi did not allow the Japanese artillery to be arrogant for long. The mountain artillery group of the division's directly subordinate artillery regiment launched a counterattack. The shells seemed to have eyes and crashed into the Japanese artillery positions. The coordinates were all provided by the reconnaissance battalion.

The Japanese artillery suffered heavy losses and was completely suppressed. The remaining troops hurriedly retreated and no longer dared to fire recklessly.

Seeing that the Japanese firepower was being suppressed, the battalion commander blew his whistle again, and his soldiers got up from the ground and continued their assault in coordination.

"Tap tap tap..."

"Tap tap tap!"

A machine gun emplacement blocked the battalion's advance, and the artillery company immediately opened fire to suppress it. Unfortunately, the Japanese bunkers were very sturdy, and the mortar shells hitting them were like tickling.

The battalion commander had no choice but to send out rocket launchers to remove the nails. Under the cover of artillery fire, the three rocket launcher teams rushed towards the bunker in a triangular formation. Before long, three rockets flew straight towards the target.

The rocket accurately hit the bunker and destroyed it. Nagano Yuichiro screamed in terror:

"Baka yarou, what kind of cannon is that?"