Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Soldiers from the 104th and 105th Regiments rushed over like a tide.

"Surrender your weapons and we will not kill you! You are all Chinese! Surrender your weapons and we will not kill you!"

The soldiers of the two regiments of the 122nd Brigade who survived the artillery fire had completely lost the will to resist. Looking at the soldiers of the Northwest Revolutionary Army who were like tigers descending from the mountains, they threw away their guns one by one and squatted on the ground with their heads in their hands.

At the headquarters of the 3rd Brigade, the messenger hurried to Hao Zhao and said excitedly, "Brigade Commander, there is news from Gushan Town. The 104th and 105th Regiments completely defeated the two regiments of the 122nd Brigade in less than an hour, capturing 1275 people and killing 1132 people. The chief of staff of the 122nd Brigade, Pan Long, was captured alive by our soldiers!"

"Good! Xu Ke and Zhou Dayang really didn't let me down! This is an exciting victory. Notify them immediately, clean up the battlefield, count the spoils, and temporarily detain the prisoners in Gushan Town. I want to meet this Chief of Staff Pan Long in person later. He is a talent!"

"Also, tell the reinforcement regiment to speed up the action! There is only one 33rd Regiment left in Hengshui County. If we can't take it down tonight, I will skin Liu Dazhuang alive!"

On the outskirts of Hukou Mountain, Liu Dazhuang, commander of the 3rd Brigade's reinforced regiment, led the entire regiment's combat troops and rushed towards Hengshui County in the dark.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, Liu Dazhuang had led his troops to the outskirts of Hengshui County.

The city wall of Hengshui County is low and dilapidated. Not to mention compared with Zhenyuan City, even compared with the city defense of Mocheng County, it is far inferior.

In the darkness of the night, Liu Dazhuang looked at the lazy soldiers of the 33rd Regiment who were gathered in groups of three or four on the city wall and talked. He grinned and said, "With this level of defense, it won't take us an hour to plant the flag of the Northwest Revolutionary Army in the garrison of his 122nd Brigade."

"Tell the artillery battalion to prepare. The city wall of Hengshui County will collapse if it is hit by a round of artillery fire. The other combat units should be organized into battalions. Once a breach is made in the city wall, rush in immediately and wipe out the 33rd Regiment. I will rip off the head of Brigade Commander Xing Jun and hang it on the Hengshui city wall!"

The commander of the 122nd Brigade, Xing Jun, was a native of Hengshui. Compared with the Du family of Sanjiang County, what Xing Jun did in Hengshui was even worse. The people were all afraid of him like a tiger. Xing Jun was greedy for money and lustful, and was cruel. I don't know how many people he had caused to be separated from their wives and children and their families destroyed.

At this time in the headquarters of the 122nd Brigade, Xing Jun was restless, like an ant on a hot pan, running around in a panic. The 31st and 32nd Regiments had completely lost contact, as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth. Over in Zhenyuan City, Yue Zhongxiang's telegrams came one after another, constantly urging for reinforcements.

Xing Jun had already vaguely realized that something might have gone wrong with the two regiments, but he did not dare to say this to Yue Zhongxiang, for fear that Yue Zhongxiang would scold him for being incompetent.

Xing Jun had already made up his mind. If there was no news from Pan Long in two hours, he would run away with his family and belongings. Whoever was willing to take the position of brigade commander could do so. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that it was a foregone conclusion that the 76th Division would be captured by the Northwest Revolutionary Army.

Suddenly, a series of loud rumbling noises were heard. Xing Jun looked at the flames rising from the city wall and realized that it might be the troops of the Northwest Revolutionary Army attacking.

Not only did Xing Jun fail to organize his troops to build a defensive line to fight the reinforced regiment, but he quickly found an excuse to leave the brigade headquarters and went straight back to his own house. Xing Jun took a few confidants with him, packed up his finances, got on a carriage with his two concubines, and fled the city directly from the opposite gate on the other side.

The southern wall of Hengshui County was reduced to ruins under continuous artillery bombardment. The four fully-strength battalions of the reinforced regiment began to launch a full-scale attack on the county town.

The sound of gunfire and shouts of killing were incessant. The defenders of the 33rd Regiment in the city had long been frightened by the continuous artillery fire. After receiving no response from the brigade headquarters, the commander of the 33rd Regiment rushed directly to the command center, only to find that their brigade commander, Xing Jun, had already abandoned his troops and fled.

The highest commander had fucking run away, and the officers at all levels decided that the 76th Division was going to be finished anyway, so they might as well surrender with their troops. These days, it didn't matter where you served as a soldier, and to have a brigade commander like Xing Jun was really the worst luck they had.

In this way, the 33rd Regiment put up almost no decent resistance and surrendered directly under the leadership of officers at all levels.

The reinforced regiment suffered no casualties in this battle and captured almost half of the enemy regiment's soldiers.

At daybreak, Hao Zhao rushed to Hengshui County in his command vehicle.

"You are really good, kid. I asked you to capture Hengshui County before dawn, but you broke into the city in less than an hour, and you suffered zero casualties. You made our 3rd Brigade proud. I will treat you to a meal in person later."

Liu Dazhuang straightened his back and said, "It's all thanks to the brigade commander's good teaching! Although our 3rd Brigade is composed of soldiers who have never been to the battlefield and seen blood, they are just as brave! No worse than anyone else."

Hao Zhao patted Liu Dazhuang on the shoulder and nodded with satisfaction.

Liu Dazhuang, this kid, can hardly read a single word, but he has a courageous and hard-working spirit. It was because of this trait in Liu Dazhuang that Hao Zhao, against all odds, promoted him to be the commander of the reinforced regiment.

"Send a telegram to the division headquarters immediately! Our 3rd Brigade has successfully completed the task of blocking the 122nd Brigade. The three regiments of the 122nd Brigade have been annihilated by us, and Hengshan County has also been captured by the 3rd Brigade's reinforced regiment. Now we can let the 2nd Brigade launch a general attack on Zhenyuan City!"

At the headquarters of the First Combat Division of the Northwest Revolutionary Army in Sanjiang County, Liu Chengxu read the telegram sent by Hao Zhao, his face filled with smiles: "The man recommended by General Staff Qin is really capable. He fought such a brilliant battle the first time he led the new recruits of the Third Brigade to the battlefield. I will personally help Brigade Commander Hao to ask our commander for credit later."

"Notify the 2nd Brigade immediately and attack Zhenyuan City with all your strength, destroy the 76th Division headquarters, and capture their top commander, Division Commander Yue Zhongxiang! From today on, the 76th Division will become history."

"Yes, Commander!"

"The commander asked us to take down the 76th Division within a month, but it's been less than seven days and the old man Yue Zhongxiang is no longer able to do it. The troops under the 76th Division are as soft as eggs and break at the slightest touch. If this continues, our Northwest Revolutionary Army will sooner or later bring down that old fellow Guo Qicheng."

Gu Chenghai nodded in agreement, then changed the subject and asked, "How about Yuanshan City, which is guarded by Zheng Jiahai of the 121st Brigade?"

Liu Chengxu waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about this commander without troops. Believe it or not, as long as we take over Zhenyuan City, Zheng Jiahai will immediately wave the white flag and hand in the letter of surrender."