The first forty-eight chapters of the Battle of the Big Teng Gorge
A battle is like a game of Go. You have the upper hand with the white stone, but you may not be the final winner. The most important thing depends on other factors on both sides.————“Kongchen Quotations”
In the southeastern part of Guangxi, night has completely fallen on this land. The sun rises and sets, and the people here continue the ancient traditional way of life.
On a moonless night, it is so dark that one cannot see even one's fingers. When the sun sets in the west, people working outside the village go home. Smoke rises from the kitchen stoves, and soon the village falls into silence.
This is Dadeng Gorge, also known as Duanteng Gorge. It is located about eight kilometers northwest of Guiping City, Guangxi. It is the largest and longest canyon in Guangxi.
The river in the gorge is fast and tortuous, with dangerous shoals and rocks on the other side. The walls of the river are covered with hidden reefs, and the waves are as turbulent as thunder. Because of the high mountains and dangerous terrain in this gorge, it has become a battleground for military strategists throughout the ages.
When the Japanese soldiers rushed into the village at night, the peaceful village was instantly shattered, and disaster and misfortune befell the villagers.
The red-orange flames reflected the entire night, and with the ferocious laughter of the Japanese soldiers, the most primitive animal nature of human beings was staged here. Screams, curses, and the cries of children lingered over the village, but as the
As time goes by, these are gradually swallowed up by the fire.
At dawn, in an open area fifteen kilometers away from Dadeng Gorge, in the headquarters of the Third Regiment of the Hainan Army, Zhang Yuchao was studying the nearby military terrain map under the faint kerosene light.
I saw him looking at the map thoughtfully, while constantly evolving the terrain in his mind, sliding his fingers along the map, and finally stopped at the location of Dateng Gorge.
Even if he is not a native of Guangxi, he can determine the importance of Dateng Gorge based on the information on the map. The dangerous terrain means that it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Hundreds of people are blocked on the mountain road, and even if thousands of people come to attack, they can only attack.
There is nothing you can do.
Zhang Yuchao, formerly known as Zhang Liuwa, is a graduate of the first batch of accelerated military academy of the Nanjun Academy. Because he was born in the military and did not know much about literacy, his cultural classes were only so-so when he graduated, and his grades were certainly not as high as those of the proud students.
However, he led a battalion of troops who dared to fight hard and was famous for being tenacious and not afraid of death in battles. He once led less than a hundred men under the city of Guangzhou to withstand the crazy counterattack of a thousand-man Japanese army, and he suffered no less than seven or eight injuries all over his body.
However, he resolutely led his men to fight.
Because of his outstanding commanding performance, he was favored by the commander-in-chief Li Weidong. After coming out of the military academy, he personally promoted him to the rank of commander of the third regiment of the first division. This also made him the highest-paid among their graduates.
Position.
Later, after I became the group leader, the original name was not suitable. I was always called Zhang Liuwa and it felt very awkward, so I later found an old gentleman who was a scholar and gave it to my deceased parents.
Zhuxiang took the name Zhang Yuchao again.
After a long while, Zhang Yuchao yawned and put away the map. Because this map was different from other maps, it had marching arrangements on it, so it could only be kept by the army chief alone.
Then, he stood up, moved his shoulders, straightened his collar and walked out. When the guard at the door saw him, he quickly saluted and shouted: "Seat down the regiment!"
Zhang Yuchao nodded, then took out his watch, looked at it, and said: "Send the order to the whole regiment, the troops will set off in ten minutes!!"
Half an hour later, the officers and soldiers of the Third Regiment of the Hainan Army were walking on the rugged cliffs. On the right was a cliff with an almost ninety-degree angle, while on the left was a cliff with endless waves at the bottom.
The huge gap tested the mental endurance of every Hainan Army soldier. The narrow road did not dare to be congested, and the logistics soldiers could only blindfold the pack horses. Seeing this, Zhang Yuchao immediately issued an order to widen the distance between the units.
As we got closer and closer to Dateng Gorge, the group leader Zhang Yuchao's face became calmer and calmer. He didn't speak and had no unnecessary expression, because he gradually had an unknown premonition in his heart.
At ten o'clock at noon, the commander of the second battalion who was scouting the road in front ran over and said: "Team! We have captured a few local refugees. They have been following us sneakily since the morning! Now they are clamoring to see you!"
When asked, Zhang Yuchao couldn't help but be a little curious, and then said: "Okay, bring them here, I just want to ask about some local news!"
Soon, under the leadership of the commander of the second battalion, a middle-aged man led several young boys to Zhang Yuchao. Judging from their sallow and thin appearance, it was easy to tell that they had not eaten for a long time.
"Come here, give them some food!" Zhang Yuchao couldn't bear to see the looks of these people. After all, they are all Chinese.
After they were almost full, the older middle-aged men began to talk about their experiences. It turned out that they were residents of a village near Dateng Gorge. The Japanese army burned, killed and looted their village. Many people died. They were the only ones who escaped. People who go to the county town to ask for help.
When he heard about the brutal acts committed by the Japanese, Zhang Yuchao punched a stone. He only regretted why he lost the first move due to delay yesterday and also caused disaster to the residents of Dateng Gorge.
"It's useless to talk about this now. The first thing we have to do is how to seize Dateng Gorge from the Japanese army!" Cheng Xian, the regimental staff officer behind him, patted Zhang Yuchao on the shoulder and consoled him.
He is different from officers like Zhang Yuchao, who fought with swords and guns on the battlefield. He was born in the student army. After hearing that the Hainan Army was fighting the Japanese, he left school and entered the Nanjun Army Academy as a trainee.
Therefore, he considered it more comprehensively and clearly understood the primary problem they had to face. The Japanese army occupied Dadeng Gorge, which had a negative impact on the entry of the Hainan Army's First Division into Guangxi.
And Zhang Yuchao also understood that the top priority now was to determine how many troops the Japanese army stationed in Da Teng Gorge. Just as he learned in the military academy, only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in every battle.
Immediately, the order was given: "Order the reconnaissance company to disguise themselves as poor people and go to Dateng Gorge to inquire about the situation. There is no need to get close, as long as they can get the exact number of Japanese troops!"
Zhang Yuchao prayed in his heart that the Japanese army must not exceed a thousand men. If it were a Japanese regiment, in the narrow place of Dateng Gorge, even his regiment might not be able to break this hard nut.
It was not far from Dateng Gorge. The Japanese army blocked the valley. The disguised soldiers of the reconnaissance company did not go into the canyon. They could only observe secretly on the cliff outside for a while, so they came back soon.
Perhaps the gods and Buddhas in the sky heard his inner prayer. The Japanese army in Dateng Gorge was only one brigade, and this brigade was stationed in two places.
One part is the entrance of the Grand Canyon facing Zhang Yuchao. There are about 700 Japanese troops stationed there, and the remaining 300 troops are distributed in other places to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos and Hainan troops to come in.
Zhang Yuchao was in an excited mood. Fortunately, it was still possible to regain the advantage. The next step was to see how they would seize Dateng Gorge.
Cheng Zixian, on the other hand, half-closed his eyes and stroked his chin with his fingers, looking thoughtful. Seeing this, Zhang Yuchao immediately asked: "What's wrong? What do you think?"
He knew his own affairs, and when it came to charging into battle, he could knock Cheng Zixian down with one hand. But when it came to battle strategy, he knew he could not compare with this top student from the fourth batch of the military academy.
The headquarters said that Cheng Zixian was assigned to the Third Regiment to make up for his shortcomings in this aspect. With the cautious Cheng Zixian as his deputy, he combined both civil and military skills to fight against the Japanese army.
Soon Cheng Zixian came back to his senses and saw the regiment leader Zhang Yuchao asking, and simply replied: "We can't act recklessly this time, otherwise even if we capture Dateng Gorge, our troops will suffer heavy casualties. Afterwards, the commander will scold him. of!"
"You're right! You have to use your head when fighting a war!" After being the leader of a regiment for a while, he had the air of being a regiment leader, and he wouldn't think about being on the front line every time.
Continuous intelligence came to Zhang Yuchao's hands one after another. The Japanese army was small in number but occupied a favorable location. They could only break through the Japanese defense line and join up with the Hainan Army's Second Division on the west route. It would be easy to capture Guangxi.
After hearing this, Cheng Zixian continued: "For the current plan, it is best to quickly break into the Dateng Gorge before the Japanese troops in the gorge know about our arrival, and recover the Dateng Gorge in one fell swoop!"
"Yes! I know this! But how should we implement it?" Zhang Yuchao asked. He had seen the topographic map of Dadeng Gorge. It was not suitable for a raid at all. If it was not done well, the troops would be lost.
"Sir! Sir!" Suddenly Zhang Yuchao heard someone calling him. He couldn't help but turn his head and found out that it was the youngest child among the refugee villagers, about thirteen or fourteen years old.
Just now, I only remembered discussing the attack plan with Cheng Zixian, but ignored these people. Without his order, these people did not dare to leave, so they stayed here until now.
Seeing this timid and nervous expression, Zhang Yuchao thought he wanted something, so he asked strangely: "What's wrong? Do you need anything?"
But the child's answer was beyond his expectation. He only heard him say: "Da..., sir! I know..., I know how not to enter Dapan Gorge through the exit."
Unexpectedly, this child gave Zhang Yuchao a smooth road. It turns out that in ancient times, there were big vines here like buckets, spanning both sides of the river bank, sinking and floating during the day and night, for people to climb across the river, and the Big Teng Gorge got its name from this.
There is a section of the river where the river is narrow, and there are large vines spanning both sides of the river. There is no problem in carrying a relatively thin person across the river.
He found it because he was playful and got lost. Later, he often went there with his friends to play, and even the adults in the village didn't know.