Chapter 28: The Enemy Takes the Bait

After the soldiers stormed the Bai family mansion, they began to ransack the place, seizing grain to distribute to the impoverished locals of Kaili. They were quite practiced in this by now; in less than two hours, they had turned the entire estate upside down. Truth be told, the Bai family was incredibly wealthy. The total amount of grain, silver dollars, and gold bullion recovered exceeded the combined spoils from the local tyrants of Jianhe and Taijiang. The amount of gold was particularly staggering—over a hundred kilograms—so much that Yang Gang could barely carry it.

Once this was done, they did not linger in Kaili but set off to rendezvous with the main force. Naturally, there were lackeys of Bai Jiasheng in Kaili who fled to Taijiang to report the news. Watching the man gallop past his ambush site on horseback, Long Wencheng did not order his men to fire; instead, he let him pass. He calculated that even if Bai Jiasheng led his troops to reinforce Kaili, he would not arrive until at least tomorrow morning. By then, the entire 18th Red Regiment would be rested and waiting, ready to ambush a weary, panicked army hurrying back to save their home. There was no way they could lose such a battle.

At six o'clock in the evening, dusk fell, and Bai Jiasheng arrived at Taijiang County with his main force. He was just about to order his soldiers to storm the county seat for some looting and to sever a few heads to show off his might when his adjutant arrived with one of the Bai family servants.

"M-m-master, t-t-terrible..." The servant was gasping for air, unable to speak clearly.

Bai Jiasheng grew impatient and slapped him across the face. "Speak properly, or I'll cut out your tongue!"

The servant burst into tears. "A disaster, sir! The Red bandits have looted everything in our mansion!"

"What!!!"

Bai Jiasheng was livid, his eyes bloodshot, his voice cracking with rage. Kaili was his stronghold, and his mansion held the accumulated wealth of many years—had it all been handed over to the Red bandits in a heartbeat? Only now did he realize that when these Red bandits left Taijiang and Jianhe, they hadn't been running away at all; they had accurately anticipated that he would empty his nest, and they had gone straight for his home.

Bai Jiasheng lacked experience in fighting the Red Army and did not understand their tactics. Having fallen into the trap, he had no choice but to lead his troops back to reinforce his home. If he allowed the Red Army to develop in Kaili for any longer, his own downfall would be imminent.

"Order the troops to return to Kaili immediately!" he commanded decisively.

The soldiers, who had just finished a forced march to reach Taijiang, were naturally exhausted, but with the order given, they had no choice but to hang their heads and trudge back toward Kaili.

This was another journey of over a hundred li; even if they marched through the night, they would not arrive until the next day. Little did Bai Jiasheng know that Long Wencheng had already led his men to set an ambush on the only road between Taijiang and Kaili. The Red Army assault team, having completed their mission in Kaili, had already force-marched back.

The ambush site was in the area of Nangaocun, adjacent to the Qingshui River. The road southwest of the village connected Taijiang and Kaili, while the village itself sat just west of the river. Long Wencheng had already led his men to ambush the high ground on both sides of the road in the southwest, while also positioning two companies in the forest on the opposite bank of the Qingshui River.

With the southwest entrance cut off, the enemy had only two options: march north along the river to take Nangaocun, or attempt to cross the river to escape the 18th Red Regiment’s assault. There was no need to worry about Nangaocun; Long Wencheng had already ordered defensive preparations there. If the enemy tried to cross the river, the firepower of the two companies in the woods on the opposite bank would be more than enough to suppress them. It could be said that this place was a net from which there was no escape, and it was the only way back to Kaili from Taijiang.

It was past one o'clock the following afternoon before the straggling队伍 began to enter the ambush zone. On the high ground southwest of Nangaocun, Long Wencheng looked through his binoculars and could see from the enemy's formation that they were utterly exhausted. After all, they had been running for dozens of kilometers, much of it over mountain roads; one could only imagine how sore their feet must be.

Little Stone kept his eyes fixed on the path below, constantly holding up his thumb to calculate the range using the thumb-jump method. Wen Song, nearby, said in a lazy voice, "Stop putting on a show. I already calculated the range for you earlier. You still need to practice that thumb-jump method."

Little Stone retorted, "You're a prisoner—less talk."

Wen Song chuckled. "A prisoner? I'm still your company commander. If you make me unhappy, I'll send you back to serve as a bodyguard for the regiment commander."

"You... you wouldn't dare."

Little Stone’s voice grew quieter as he spoke; clearly, he would never give up firing this flat-trajectory cannon to return to duty as a bodyguard. While the two bickered, more and more soldiers of the Security Brigade entered the ambush zone. Looking further back, there was no one left to be seen.

Yang Gang came running from the reverse slope, breathless, and reported to Long Wencheng, "Regiment Commander, there's no one left behind. We’ve got them all."

Watching the loose formation of the enemy below, Long Wencheng said coldly, "Proceed according to the original plan."

"Yes!"

After answering, Yang Gang rolled and continued to run along the reverse slope.

In Nangaocun, Qi Delong was puffing on a pumpkin vine, imitating the act of blowing smoke rings, though in reality, it was just a dried-up piece of plant. "Company Commander, they're here. Are we opening fire?" his bodyguard asked, leaning in.

"No. If they don't run toward us, we don't shoot," Qi Delong said in his Henan dialect.

At that moment, looking out from the window of the outermost house in Nangaocun, one could see the enemy troops had reached the banks of the Qingshui River and were moving south along the shoreline. On the high ground overlooking the river, Peng Hongsen of the Fourth Company was ready for battle; they would fire the first shot, waiting only for a signal flare.

Finally, as the pale morning light filtered through the gaps in the valley, a signal flare whistled from the southwestern high ground, soaring toward the sun.

"Fire!!!!"

Peng Hongsen roared, and the four light machine guns and two Maxim heavy machine guns of his company began to roar. Bullets crisscrossed as they poured into the lead ranks of the enemy.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft!"

Bullets pierced the fragile bodies of the Security Brigade soldiers, and the heavy machine gun fire tore people apart, turning them into fragmented flesh and blood scattered across the riverbank.

"Enemy attack! They're on the hill!"

The enemy commander in the front shouted, but a moment later, a heavy machine gun bullet blew his entire head apart. The entire formation fell into chaos until the roars of the督战队 (battle-supervision team) and the sound of their gunfire rang out. Several soldiers who tried to flee were gunned down by the supervision team.

"Don't run! The brigade commander has ordered: the First Regiment is to take Nangaocun to the north, and the Second Regiment is to take the southwestern high ground!" a messenger on horseback roared.