Chapter 54: Give Me a Straight Answer—Are You Surrendering or Not?

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Only after Long Wencheng arrived did he realize that this place was actually one of Liu Wenhui’s military supply depots.

In order to block the main force of the Red Army, Liu Wenhui had ordered his troops—twelve regiments in all—to establish defensive positions along the line from Dechang to Huili.

Xichang lay behind them and served as a transfer station for military supplies. The various materials Liu Wenhui had transported from north of the Dadu River were stockpiled there, making it convenient to replenish the supplies consumed at Dechang and Huili.

Apart from five hundred thousand rounds of ammunition, the depot contained grain, fodder, and other consumables.

What delighted Long Wencheng most was an entire warehouse filled with winter clothing.

Liu Wenhui’s troops belonged to the Sichuan-Kang Border Defense Army and often operated along the Sichuan-Tibet frontier.

Those regions were bitterly cold, so the troops had been issued special cold-weather clothing, along with ointments specifically intended to treat frostbite.

It could not have been better. What the Central Red Army needed most at that moment was precisely this kind of protection against the cold.

In truth, the Central Red Army had not yet realized that it would soon require vast quantities of winter clothing. Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan lay in the south, and even winter there was not especially cold.

The Red Army probably had never imagined, when it first set out, that one day it would have to cross snow mountains at high altitude, where the air was thin and freezing.

After placing the cold-weather supplies under heavy guard, Long Wencheng divided his forces once more.

He dispatched three companies disguised as Sichuan-Kang Border Defense troops to seize Mianning, north of Xichang.

If units of the Sichuan-Kang Border Defense Army came south to reinforce the area, his men could intercept them there.

The main force advanced southward, with Yang Gang’s Second Regiment serving as the vanguard and attacking the enemy garrison troops in the direction of Dechang.

The two strategic strongholds of Dechang and Huili were defended by two brothers of the Liu family—Liu Yuanzhang and Liu Yuantang.

Neither man was particularly dependable. Otherwise, twelve regiments defending two naturally fortified positions like Dechang and Huili would hardly have been breached by the Red Army in such a short time.

Yet in history, the two brothers were practically the army’s comic duo. Whenever they saw the Red Army, they had only one response: run.

At that moment, Liu Yuanzhang and Liu Yuantang still had no idea that their stronghold in Xichang had already fallen. They were in the command post at Dechang, discussing how to deal with the Red Army troops that had crossed the river.

“Didn’t we have all the boats scuttled? How did so many of the enemy manage to cross? And how did they cross so quickly? Their advance units are almost at Huili already.”

The speaker was Liu Yuantang, whose three regiments were stationed at Huili.

As for why their commander himself was in Dechang, the primary reason was to discuss with his elder brother Liu Yuanzhang how to respond to the Red Army. The secondary reason was that he was afraid of dying.

“We certainly had them all scuttled. Who knows where they managed to find more boats?”

Liu Yuanzhang looked equally bewildered.

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Neither man knew that when they had ordered the boats along the riverbanks to be scuttled and burned, Wang Baoqing, director of the Jiaoping Ferry Revenue Bureau, had suddenly seen an excellent opportunity to make money.

The reason was simple. Since the Liu brothers had scuttled all the other boats, why not secretly keep a few for himself? Then, no matter who wanted to cross the river, they would have to come to him.

He could charge whatever price he pleased. Wouldn’t that be a fortune?

With so many ferries operating along both banks of the Jinsha River, the market had once been highly competitive. But once all the other boats had been burned or sunk, and only his own few remained, Wang Baoqing suddenly had a complete monopoly.

It had to be said that this commercial genius did not make much money in the end, but he did give the Red Army a way to escape across the river.

It was those few boats he had hidden that enabled the Red Army to cross successfully.

Moreover, the Nationalist forces had boats of their own, used specifically to carry scouts across the river to investigate the Red Army’s movements.

But the Red Army’s vanguard company moved so quickly that when it reached Jiaoping Ferry, it seized those two boats as well. In effect, the Red Army acquired four boats outright.

“Wasn’t there a river-defense unit at Jiaoping Ferry?”

Liu Yuanzhang asked coldly.

“Though it consisted of only two companies, they should have been able to keep watch over the river. With the light and heavy machine guns we gave them, the Red Army shouldn’t have been able to cross the Jinsha so easily.”

Liu Yuantang spread his hands.

“Who knows how those men were guarding the Jinsha? I suspect they were smoking opium and playing mahjong that night.”

It had to be admitted that although Liu Yuantang had accomplished little as a soldier, he understood his own men remarkably well.

After capturing the boats, the Red Army’s vanguard company crossed the river that very night in a surprise attack, sending only two platoons.

The first platoon attacked the security company. Everyone inside was playing mahjong. When asked who they were, the platoon replied that they were the border-defense company.

The second platoon attacked the border-defense company. Everyone inside was smoking opium. When asked who they were, the platoon replied that they were the security company.

And so, without shedding a drop of blood, the two platoons eliminated the troops guarding the opposite bank.

As for why the Jinsha River had been defended with so few men, that had been a carefully considered decision by the Liu brothers.

The Jinsha was too long, stretching in a single line, while the Red Army might cross anywhere along it.

So the two men had improvised. Guarding the entire line was difficult, but guarding a single point should present no problem.

They therefore concentrated their forces at the strategic points of Huili, Dechang, and Xichang.

All they had to do was hold out for several days. Once the main army arrived, the Red Army would naturally collapse.

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“What do we do now? I have only three regiments at Huili. There’s no way I can hold it. The Red Army is too good at fighting. We might last three days at most.”

Liu Yuantang spread his hands again.

Liu Yuanzhang looked at his younger brother and thought for a long while before saying, “How about this? You hold out for three days, then retreat to Dechang.

“I have plenty of troops here at Dechang. Holding for seven or eight days shouldn’t be a problem.

“Even if those Central Army fellows are nothing but a pack of tortoises, they can crawl across the Jinsha in ten days.”

Given the situation, Liu Yuantang felt there was probably no other choice.

Just then, the telephone in Liu Yuanzhang’s command post rang.

An aide went over to answer it, then hurriedly turned toward the two Liu brothers.

“C-Commander, this is bad! The Red Army has taken Huili County!”

“What?!”

Liu Yuantang thought he must have misheard. He had only just arrived in Dechang and barely had time to warm his seat, yet Huili had already fallen to the Red Army?

He rushed over and snatched up the telephone. Even through the receiver, he could hear the thunder of gunfire and explosions, as though the enemy had already stormed his command post at Huili.

“What’s happening? Speak!”

Liu Yuantang shouted into the phone.

At that moment, footsteps sounded inside the room, followed by cries of, “Lay down your arms and you’ll be spared!”

A moment later, a deep, powerful voice came from the other end.

“You damned warlord, I’ll see you in hell! Give me a straight answer—are you surrendering or not?!”

Liu Yuantang slammed down the receiver. There was no need to ask. The Red Army had launched a surprise attack and overrun his command post.