newbobooks Chapter 22 The outcome lies somewhere outside the battlefield
Chapter 22 The outcome lies somewhere outside the battlefield
Chen Zijun read the telegram in his hand again at the Ma'anshan Railway Marshalling Yard.
Su Guiying secretly reports: Ma'anshan is a trap. Two cavalry brigades of the Fengtian clique have already detoured south from Bengbu and are heading towards your location to encircle you.
He folded the telegram and put it in his pocket, showing no sign of panic.
"Shen Li."
"arrive!"
"Send a telegram to Shanghai. Have Moranzhi find out the exact unit numbers, commanders, marching routes, and encampment locations of these two Fengtian brigades. Give her two hours."
Shen Li was taken aback.
"Young Marshal, can you find it in two hours?"
Chen Zijun leaned back in his chair, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"You don't understand Lanzhi. You don't understand Su Guiying either. When these two women are together, there's no secret that can be kept from them anywhere south of the Yangtze River."
"More importantly, you've forgotten where that is."
"That's Shanghai!"
"What in all of China can be kept secret in Shanghai?"
Haha, don't even mention your small Fengtian clique's two brigades, even the contents of the secret negotiations between the two countries by the National Revolutionary Army in later generations could spread throughout China overnight in Shanghai.
At the same time. Shanghai.
Headquarters of the Military Intelligence Bureau of the Longhua Road Garrison Command.
Moranzhi, dressed in his signature black military uniform, sat behind his desk, which was covered with telegrams and codebooks.
In front of her was a state-of-the-art radio receiver, redeemed from the system, emitting a series of faint beeping sounds.
The door was pushed open.
Su Guiying walked in quickly.
She had changed out of her cheongsam. She was now dressed in a dark gray military intelligence uniform, with her ever-present revolver tucked into her waistband.
"Lanzhi, the Fengtian clique's telegraph frequency has been found."
Su Guiying slammed a note on the table.
Mo Lanzhi glanced up at it, then took it and scanned it for a couple of seconds.
How did you get it?
"People from the dock workers' union."
Su Guiying said, "I placed more than a dozen stevedores at the Pukou Wharf in Nanjing. Yesterday afternoon at three o'clock, a communications platoon from the Fengtian clique got off at Pukou Railway Station, carrying four boxes of wireless equipment. My men followed them for two hours, noting down the location of their radio station and the transmission frequency."
Moranzhi tapped her fingers lightly twice on the telegram.
"Are these people all your old contacts from the Green Gang?"
"Not entirely."
Su Guiying sat down in the chair. "A few of them are new workers recruited by the dockworkers' bureau. Feng Yong helped me screen them; they're all old hands who've worked on the Pukou Railway for seven or eight years. They can tell what kind of soldiers are coming and going at the train station with their eyes closed."
Mo Lanzhi didn't speak, but picked up the codebook and began to listen to the frequencies given by Su Guiying.
Beep... beep beep... beep beep beep...
The radio receiver's sound became increasingly dense.
Ten minutes later.
Mo Lanzhi took off her headphones, and a smile appeared on her face.
"They used an old-fashioned four-digit replacement password."
She said, "The first layer of the dictionary uses the eight characters of 'Long Live the Republic of China' to correspond to the numbers one through eight. The second layer uses homophones from the Fengtian dialect."
Su Guiying frowned. "Can it be broken?"
"It's already broken."
Moranzhi pushed a handwritten translation of a telegram over.
Su Guiying picked it up and glanced at it, her pupils suddenly contracting.
The telegram contained the following:
"The 7th and 11th Independent Cavalry Brigades, totaling over 6,000 men, departed from Bengbu early this morning. They will pass through Quanjiao and Chaoxian, detouring southeast. They are expected to arrive in the Luoyan Valley area northwest of Ma'anshan the night after tomorrow. Objective: Cut off the Wuhu railway line, surround the Ma'anshan marshalling yard, and annihilate the advance troops of Chen's army."
"The night after tomorrow." Su Guiying repeated these four words in a low voice.
"Six thousand men. Two cavalry brigades." Moranzhi drew a line on the map with her pen. "They marched south from Quanjiao to Luoyan Valley, choosing a mountain path, thinking they could avoid our sight."
She looked up at Su Guiying.
"Unfortunately, they don't know that there's one of our informants every five miles along this mountain path."
Su Guiying's lips twitched slightly.
"I just set those up the day before yesterday. The tea stall owners, peddlers carrying loads, and a few old farmers driving oxcarts along the way are all short-term laborers recruited by the dockworkers' bureau from southern Anhui."
Moranzhi stood up and walked to the huge military map on the wall.
The area was covered with densely packed arrows and symbols in red and blue. Each blue triangle represented a confirmed outpost of the Fengtian clique. Each red circle represented the deployment position of Chen Jiajun's army.
And between these markers, there are countless small green dots.
Those are Su Guiying's eyeliners.
They are found along railway lines, at docks, in teahouses, hotels, and even at roadside wonton stalls.
"From Bengbu to Luoyan Valley, their campsite tonight should be... "Mo Lanzhi circled a point on the map with a pencil, " "Lijiazhuang, twelve li south of Quanjiao County."
Just as he finished speaking, the phone on the table rang.
Su Guiying answered the call, listened for half a minute, and then hung up.
"Information has arrived from Quanjiao. The Fengtian cavalry have indeed encamped in Lijiazhuang tonight. They've requisitioned the entire village's grain and fodder. The regimental commander leading the group is surnamed Zhao, and he has only one eye; he's known as 'Zhao the One-Eyed.'"
Moranzhi took the pencil out of her mouth.
"It's down to the regimental commander's nickname."
"I saw it with my own eyes; my men were selling eggs among the villagers."
Moranzhi picked up his pen and began writing a telegram.
She wrote quickly, her handwriting neat and cold:
"To the Ma'anshan Forward Command: The Fengtian Army's 7th and 11th Independent Cavalry Brigades, totaling over 6,000 men, are lodging tonight at Lijiazhuang in Quanjiao. Their marching route passes through Chaoxian to Luoyan Valley. They are expected to arrive late the night after tomorrow. The regimental commander is Zhao Duzi. It is recommended to set up an ambush at Luoyan Valley. Intelligence certainty level: Level A. — Mo Lanzhi, Military Intelligence Bureau; Su Guiying, Intelligence Department."
Two hours later.
Ma'anshan.
After reading the telegram, Chen Zijun handed it to Shen Li.
After reading it, Shen Li gasped.
"This... they even found out which village they're camping in tonight? They even know the nickname of the team leader?"
Chen Zijun unfolded the map and laid it on the table. He traced a line from Ma'anshan northwestward, stopping at a narrow valley.
"Luoyan Valley. A valley nestled between two mountains, narrow at the entrance and wide at the exit. A typical pocket-shaped terrain."
He tapped the spot.
"The Fengtian clique chose this route because Luoyan Valley avoids the visible sentries along the Wuhu railway line. They thought that by passing through here, they could directly cut off our rear and block the armored trains at Ma'anshan."
Shen Li gritted his teeth. "Young Marshal, should we retreat? The armored train is still at the marshalling yard; we can still leave now."
Chen Zijun glanced at him.
Shen Li was all too familiar with that look in his eyes.
During the Jiangzhe War, every time the Young Marshal showed that look in his eyes, a bloody massacre would follow.
"Withdraw what?!"
Chen Zijun placed his palm on the location of Luoyan Valley on the map.
"Since they've come to me willingly, I'll turn this valley into their graveyard."
He turned to look at Shen Li.
"Order. First, the engineering company shall immediately proceed to lay all 1,500 S-shaped bounding mines at the entrance of Luoyan Valley and on both sides of the mountainside. They shall be spaced three meters apart, staggered, to cover the entire valley floor."
Shen Li's pupils contracted sharply.
1,500 bounding mines. Spacing together at 3-meter intervals.
That means the entire surface of Luoyan Valley will become an impenetrable net of death. Once triggered, the S-shaped bounding mines will bounce to a height of one meter before exploding, with fragments having a kill radius of fifteen meters. At a density of three meters between each fragment, no living thing that steps into the valley floor can possibly escape alive.
"Secondly, eight MG34 general-purpose machine guns will be deployed on the ridges on both sides of the valley entrance. Four will block the front of the valley entrance, and four will be deployed in a crisscross pattern to block the valley floor."
"Third, order He Maofeng's 6th Independent Mixed Brigade, stationed in Lishui, to march at full speed and proceed overnight to the southern exit of Luoyan Valley to block their retreat."
Fourth, the armored train will not move. It will remain stationary at Ma'anshan.
Shen Li suddenly raised his head.
"Not moving?"
"Yes." Chen Zijun's tone was as cold as a knife. "The armored train is bait. The two brigades of the Fengtian clique are after it. If I move the train away, they will change their route. Only by leaving the train in place will they proceed with their original plan to cross Luoyan Valley."
Shen Li took a deep breath.
He got it.
The young coach wasn't on defense.
He set a trap to kill.
"Don't worry, young marshal, I'm here!" Shen Li snapped to attention, saluted, and strode out of the command post.
Chen Zijun stood alone in front of the map, his gaze fixed on the three characters "Luoyan Valley".
Two cavalry brigades, each with six thousand men.
come on.
He thought coldly to himself.
These pampered soldiers of the Beiyang Army probably never dreamed that what awaited them was not an encirclement battle, but a meat grinder paved with 1,500 German-made bounding mines and eight MG34s.
Who dares to mess with my Chen family army?
Then don't even think about going back standing up.
Late the night after tomorrow.
Luoyan Valley.
The moonlight was completely obscured by thick clouds. The valley floor was pitch black. Even the chirping of insects had ceased.
The vanguard regiment of the 7th Independent Cavalry Brigade of the Fengtian Clique is quietly advancing along the valley path.
All the warhorses had their hooves wrapped in cloth. The soldiers were silenced, each holding a small stick in their mouth. The entire army, like a silent black serpent, slowly slid into the valley.
Zhao Duzi, who was leading the group, rode on his horse, his one eye gleaming with excitement in the night.
Thirty miles further ahead is the Ma'anshan marshalling yard.
According to reliable intelligence, Chen Jiajun's armored train, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, is parked there. If they can cross the valley before dawn, they can strike from behind.
They captured Chen Zijun alive.
Thinking of this, Zhao Duzi grinned silently.
Imagine the merit of bringing this young marshal to Marshal Zhang's presence! He'd be promoted to division commander!
The scout in front suddenly raised his fist.
The procession stopped.
Zhao Duzi frowned and spurred his horse forward.
"What's wrong?"
The scout crouched down and quickly shone his flashlight around.
"Commander, there are some round metal lids on the ground ahead. I don't know what they are."
Zhao Duzi waved his hand impatiently.
"What iron lid? What could possibly be in this wretched ravine? Let's hurry! Don't waste time!"
The first row started moving again.
More than two thousand pairs of military boots rustled on the muddy ground of Luoyan Valley.
In the darkness, a Fengtian soldier's foot slammed heavily onto a slightly raised metal surface.
Click...