Chapter 319 Lechang’s defeat

After receiving the news that Xiao Yaonan sent troops from Yizhang County, Li Yaohan's 8th Regiment decisively chose to retreat.

It was not because the Eighth Regiment was afraid of the two temporary regiments in Xiao Yaonan's hands. If Li Yaohan and Xu Haiying's Ninth Regiment cooperated to fight, they would be very sure of dealing with Xiao Yaonan's personal expedition.

However, the Shaoguan Division Headquarters issued a new combat order, requiring Li Yaohan's troops to join forces with Sun Jizhi's troops and Liu Yonghao's troops to encircle Lechang County, recapture Lechang County in one fell swoop, and wipe out the main force of the Lechang County's southern army.

Since the defeat of Sheling, the main force of the Conquest South Army has been disabled and finally retreated to Lechang County. Not only has it been unable to resolve its own crisis, it has instead implicated the situation in Lechang County.

Since Laopingshi Town was blocked for a full month, the subsequent military rations and materials were not available. Lechang County originally had an infantry battalion, two cavalry battalions and two baggage battalions were already in short supply. Now Schling has removed five battalions that were short of food for half a month, and they were also disabled battalions without morale, which has doubled the burden at once.

Especially in the cavalry battalion, more than 800 war horses eat more than people every day. What’s more important is that the horse feed has long been empty, and the food for feeding war horses is still picked out from the human mouth.

When the military ration is gone, they can only rob the people's food. Since December, the lives of the people of Lechang County have become more and more difficult. The soldiers and gangsters will come to disturb the people every now and then, and they will rob them of all the robbers. If they resist, they will kill them on the spot. For a moment, the people in Lechang County are full of grievances and people are indignant. As a Guangdong native, they will be humiliated by the northerners. This hatred is beyond ordinary.

On December 5, Sun Jizhi and the Second Teaching Regiment approached Lechang County from the southwest and southeast directions. In the evening of that day, Li Yaohan's Regiment also appeared in the north of Lechang County.

Lechang County was immediately surrounded by three sides, and the ten battalions of the expedition soldiers guarding Lechang County were in panic. Although they had barely more than 3,000 troops in terms of military strength, their real combat effectiveness was at best not as good as that of the Guangdong Army.

Senior officers of the Southern Army gathered together and had a fierce discussion. There was only one choice before them, that was, to defend Lechang and wait for Commander Xiao's support. Once Commander Xiao arrived from the north, a pincer attack could be launched inside and outside the city, and the Eighth Regiment of the Guangdong Army in the north would be destroyed. At that time, the situation would turn into danger.

The Guangdong army did not launch an attack that night, but carried out two other operations in secret.

The Second Teaching Regiment drew five elite snipers, and according to the specifications of the beheading operation of sniping Mo Rong's new division in Wuzhou, the five people also called the "hidden sniping group". The five people disguised themselves and mixed into Lechang County with their disassembled sniper rifles. Of course, they could not rush into the enemy headquarters openly, but just lurked beside the main street outside the command department.

On the other hand, the Eighth Regiment also sent several non-commissioned officers to mingle into the city. However, these people were not snipers, their mission was to instigate the people of Lechang County.

When the people of Lechang County learned that the Revolutionary Guangdong Army had been fought back, every household was full of expectations and hope. After experiencing the disaster of the Beiyang Army, the people truly understood the military discipline and style of the Revolutionary Guangdong Army. Even if the Guangdong Army did not send people to contact and instigate, the people would sooner or later revolt.

After some twists and turns, an uprising broke out in Lechang County on December 8. The bankrupt farmers and vendors, who were organized by the Party of the City, relied on more than a dozen broken guns and most of the farm tools to launch an attack on the southern expedition camp in the city. The number of people at the beginning was only a few hundred, and by noon, it quickly grew to more than 3,000.

The people of the uprising spontaneously assembled from their respective towns and attacked the Nanzheng Army camp stationed at the nearest location. Almost all camps and defense lines of the Nanzheng Army were harassed to varying degrees. However, the Nanzheng Army was a soldier, and the uprising was a civilian. Faced with the increasingly fierce situation, the Nanzheng Army battalions directly ordered fire without any discussion.

For a time, Lechang County was bleeding, and the Southern Expedition Army quickly stabilized the situation and forced the rebels to disperse the people.

It seemed that this was just a short and useless civil unrest. However, when the uprising was defeated, seven senior officers in the Southern Expedition Command died inexplicably.

It was also at noon on this day, before the uprising was defeated, the Guangdong army launched a strong attack on Lechang from three directions.

Under the situation of internal and external troubles, in just a few hours of battle, the Southern Expedition Army lost all the outer defense line in Lechang.

The Shaoguan Division issued the latest order. Since the Beiyang Army in Jiangxi has marched from Meiguan to Nanxiong, the Lechang war must end as soon as possible. Therefore, the 7th, 8th Regiment and the 2nd Regiment of Teaching adopted a 24-hour uninterrupted attack, using wheel tactics to quickly consume the combat power in the city.

After a night of fierce fighting, the Southern Expedition Army lost all positions outside the city and retreated into the city to resist desperately.

During the siege, the 7th, 8th and 2nd Teaching Regiments encountered certain difficulties. The soldiers of the Third Division had almost no experience in attacking, and the command of generals at all levels was unable to be prepared to be implemented, resulting in the long-term failure of Lechang County to capture.

The war was delayed until December 10th. Xiao Yaonan's reinforcements had arrived in Laopingshi Town. After a little rest in Laopingshi Town, they immediately rushed to Lechang County for assistance. Fortunately, Xu Haiying's 9th Regiment was ambushed in the southwest of Laopingshi Town. When Xiao Yaonan's reinforcements passed by, the 9th Regiment followed him and launched a sneak attack from the rear.

Xiao Yaonan stopped to fight, and the Ninth Regiment retreated and put on a defensive posture; Xiao Yaonan continued to move forward, and the Ninth Regiment came up like a ghost, clenching it.

It was just eighty miles from Laopingshi Town to Lechang County, and I was dragged to death.

Xiao Yaonan finally failed to arrive in Lechang in time. On the night when he was entangled with the Ninth Regiment, the people of Lechang County broke out again, and broke through the last city defense line of the Southern Expedition Army through cooperation with the revolutionary Guangdong Army.

The southern expedition troops of the ten battalions of Lechang County fled, died, and surrendered. After the Revolutionary Guangdong Army entered the city, they used a lot of manpower and material resources to control the prisoners and carry out the aftermath. The leaders of the Seventh Regiment, the Eighth Regiment and the Second Teaching Regiment set up a joint command center in the city to discuss taking advantage of the victory and join forces with the Ninth Regiment to directly eat Xiao Yaonan's headquarters.

Just as the commanders of the three regiments were discussing the plan to attack Xiao Yaonan's headquarters, a telegram from the Shaoguan division headquarters disrupted their overall plan.

Liu Yonghao was the first to read the telegram and couldn't help but exclaim: "Nanxiong is in a hurry? In just a few days, the first regiment can't hold it anymore? The first regiment is the main force of the First Division, how could it be so vulnerable?"

Sun Jizhi had been in a group before, and when he heard Liu Yonghao say this, he was also surprised. He immediately said, "Let me see." Before he finished speaking, he had already snatched the telegram from Liu Yonghao.

After carefully reading the telegram, he frowned and said, "The two regiments of the First Mixed Brigade of Jiangxi and an artillery battalion launched a fierce attack on Nanxiong on the 8th. The front line of the first regiment was only held for two days, and was forced to evacuate because of the excessive casualties. The combat effectiveness of the Jiangxi Beiyang Army was so strong!" The last sentence was a sigh of relief.

Liu Yonghao's face was heavy and said, "We were not dealing with the main players before. The first town is not considered an elite. The third town is just a serious Beiyang Army. Now there is a fight."

Li Yaohan, who was standing by, finally read the telegram, sighed and said, "The Second Regiment has gone north from Shixing County to reinforce the First Regiment. The division headquarters ordered Lao Sun's Regiment to stay in Lechang for the aftermath. Our regiment and the Second Teaching Regiment rushed to Shixing County as soon as possible to support the First Division's war in Nanxiong."

Liu Yonghao shook his head helplessly, with a feeling of unwillingness on his face, and said, "Let us take down Lechang County, Xiao Yaonan's troops are in the jar. If we kill us now, we will ensure that Xiao Yaonan will never be able to leave Guangdong alive. According to this order, the above is deliberately letting Xiao Yaonan go."

Sun Jizhi suddenly said, "Xiao Yaonan is only half a day away from Lechang County, otherwise we will kill Xiao Yaonan first, and then go to Shixing County."

Li Yaohan is the oldest among the three people and is the most calm in his work. He immediately emphasized: "The order is to let us set off to Shixing County immediately. Not to mention that we can reach Xiao Yaonan in half a day, even if Xiao Yaonan is outside the city now, we should obey the order. Xiao Yaonan has at least four or five thousand people in his hands. We have used seven or eight days to fight Lechang. If we spend time with Xiao Yaonan, it will be a big mistake!"

Liu Yonghao nodded and agreed: "Li Tuan is right, you can't do this randomly."

Sun Jizhi had no choice but to sigh helplessly and said, "Okay. You are about to set off. I will coordinate the supply of materials in the city now and give priority to you to use."

After dawn, the Eighth Regiment and the Second Teaching Regiment drove out of the city one after another and headed towards Shixing County.

Sun Jizhi continued to be busy with the aftermath of Lechang County, while settled the people's livelihood, and detained the prisoners. The Information Department of the Guangzhou Governor's Office also sent people to Lechang County to collect materials, and bravely resisted the people of Lechang County to cooperate with the deeds of the revolutionary Guangdong Army to record the deeds of the revolutionary Guangdong Army. He even added fuel to the fire and promoted the tragedy of the Lechang people, which not only inspires the people but also angers the people.

Xu Haiying's 9th Regiment also retreated in accordance with the orders of the division headquarters and no longer bothered Xiao Yaonan.

After hearing that Lechang fell, Xiao Yaonan sighed to the sky: "God doesn't help me, God doesn't help me. Even if I just want to keep a little bit of decency, it's hateful, hateful!"

He knew that the failure of Lechang County meant that the Southern Expedition Army had lost its last stronghold in northern Guangdong. Although he could insist on sending troops to continue attacking Lechang County and trying to retake Lechang County, he could almost think of the chances of winning if he did this. The Ninth Regiment of the Guangdong Army was eyeing him behind him. If he attacked Lechang County, the Ninth Regiment could have many ways to restrain himself. He could attack Laopingshi Town to surround Wei to rescue Zhao, or directly attack his rear and attack Lechang County in front and back.

Now that the Ninth Regiment deliberately retreats, it means that the Guangdong army is going to set aside a path of survival. If the Guangdong army really wants to kill them all, Xiao Yaonan believes that he will never escape unscathed.
Chapter completed!