The straight-line distance between Xuzhou and Suzhou was more than 150 kilometers. For the Liberation Army, this distance was only a two-or three-day outing. The troops also arrived at Suzhou City three days after they left.
"Political Commissar, should we surround Suzhou City?" the two commanders asked.
The political commissar of the Liberation Army had a higher status than the executive officer. Similarly, the commander had the right to speak in the battle. If the political commissar and the commander were to argue, the commander had every reason to ignore the political commissar. Of course, the political commissar could also convene a party committee meeting to discuss the removal of the commander. If the party committee passed this resolution, the second commander could still completely oppose the political commissar's order.
This seemed to be a completely contradictory system, but this worst case scenario had never happened. Unless the system was rotten to the core, the chances of the party committee, headquarters, and staff making a mistake together were too small. Not to mention, if they lost the war, they would lose their heads. At this time, a very interesting situation appeared. Between the political commissar who was the secretary of the unit and the commander who was the deputy secretary of the party committee, everyone would listen to who was better at fighting.
If the political commissar was better at fighting, it was called the party committee's decision. If the commander was better at fighting, it was called professionalism. Of course, all the members of the party committee meeting had to be party members. There had been no precedent of a non-party member becoming a commander.
As a veteran soldier for more than ten years, Lei Hu looked at the cavalry division commander after hearing this question. "Will they choose to escape?"
This was a problem discussed before the battle. If the enemy fled in panic, they would send the cavalry to chase after them. This time, the four armies didn't attack the center. The two armies of Xuzhou went straight to Suzhou one after the other. The two armies of Anhui attacked Mengcheng and Fuyang. In the original plan, after the three cities were taken, the four armies would join forces to attack Huoyang and liberate Cao Cao and Hua Tuo's hometown, Hao Province. After leaving Shangqiu, the battle would basically be over. The southern part of Henan would be liberated by the Hubei Military District, so the Distant Huaihe Defense Command would no longer be responsible.
The troops believed that the Xuzhou Military District would definitely participate in the battle in northern Henan, and the cavalry would have ample space to fight. The Xuzhou Military District didn't have the experience of using cavalry on a large scale. In the past, the cavalry division was basically infantry on horseback, not charging cavalry. This battle was also planned for actual combat.
The people in GCH looked at each other. The commanders said, "This isn't the same as the original military plan." "There's no need to deliberately let the enemy escape."
The commanders used such a serious reason to oppose Lei Hu's opinion. The others had similar thoughts. If at this time the Qing army saw the Restoration Army killing their way to the city walls, they would immediately open the city gates and flee into the wilderness; then naturally the cavalry would give chase. Deliberately creating an opportunity for the enemy to escape would be too careless. A pursuit might be able to wipe out most of the enemies, but a siege could wipe out all of them. If there were any important figures of the Huai Army who escaped during the pursuit, then the losses would be great.
Lei Hu himself didn't particularly want to create an opportunity for the cavalry to attack. Since everyone objected, he gave the order, "Surround the city!"
The Huai army in Suzhou was in a panic. If it was the Huai army, it wasn't impossible to travel 150 li in three days, but it had to be a small unit. But it had to be a small unit, like Jiang Zhongyuan's emissary, which consisted of seven or eight people. When they saw a large number of Liberation Army troops, they could run away as fast as they could and return. But the march of tens of thousands of soldiers was completely different. Marching, eating, and resting. If any of these arrangements were not done properly, the mobility of the troops would be greatly reduced.
Before the Liberation Army besieged the city, Jiang Zhongyuan's subordinates suggested escaping Suzhou first. Jiang Zhongyuan rejected this suggestion without hesitation. If a strong city like Suzhou could escape without a fight, which city in Huaibei could defend? He sent Liu Kunyi to lead a group of people and leave Suzhou to gather troops and horses at Huoyang and other places. There are about fifty thousand soldiers from the Xiang and Huai armies there, and about ten thousand soldiers from the Huai army are stationed there. If this force could be used, Jiang Zhongyuan felt that they could at least fight with the Liberation Army.
After letting Liu Kunyi leave the city, Jiang Zhongyuan personally led the troops to the city. Apart from closing the city gates, he also had to watch the Liberation Army's movements. The troops marched for three days and walked at least 60 li to Suzhou every day. This must be extremely exhausting. Jiang Zhongyuan saw the Liberation Army setting up their positions and firing cannons through the binoculars. The soldiers were all full of energy and didn't seem tired at all.
Jiang Zhongyuan thought that he might have a chance to send troops to launch a sneak attack, but he didn't see any opportunity until the Liberation Army completed the encirclement.
When they returned to the Inspector-General's Office, the Huai army was dumbfounded. Ignorance was bliss most of the time. If the Huai army hadn't been forced to do this kind of training by the foreign instructors, they could still laugh at the Liberation Army's inexplicable military arrangements. When watching the Liberation Army's preparations at the top of the city wall, the Huai army felt that some of the Liberation Army's arrangements were very familiar. When the Huai army was forced to train by the foreign instructors, they were full of complaints and dragged their feet. Seeing the Liberation Army's troops doing more complicated work, their nimbleness and competence made these knowledgeable fellows feel a chill.
The cannons and positions were arranged reasonably, and the defense was tight. Not to mention that approaching during the day was a dead end, even if they attacked at night, they wouldn't gain anything. "Sir, will we be able to wait for reinforcements?" This was the only question they could ask.
"Do you still not trust Liu Kunyi?" Jiang Zhongyuan asked this group of subordinates.
Liu Kunyi was one of the first to follow Jiang Zhongyuan. If even he couldn't be trusted, then no one in the entire Huai army could be trusted.
"Will Sir Liu be able to reach Huoyang safely?" The generals of the Huai army began to worry about this. However, they could only worry. The Liberation Army had surrounded Suzhou City, and the Huai army was afraid of being attacked by the Liberation Army, so all four gates were locked. Other than arranging to send people out at night, there was nothing else they could do.
After assigning the night duty, the generals of the Huai army went their separate ways. Jiang Zhongyuan ate his meal with an ashen face and returned to the backyard. His family didn't dare disturb him during the day. Now that Jiang Zhongyuan appeared, his wife immediately went up and asked, "Master, why did they start fighting?"
These words made Jiang Zhongyuan extremely unhappy. The peace over the past few years had really numbed Jiang Zhongyuan. Although he knew that the Huai army and the Liberation Army would fight sooner or later, the situation in Huaibei became much worse after Xuzhou was occupied by the Liberation Army. The Liberation Army didn't show any signs of attacking, and Jiang Zhongyuan believed Ceng Guofan's strategic judgment that the Liberation Army wanted the imperial court and the Taiping Rebellion to fight each other, so he didn't make any special preparations. Especially after Li Hongzhang led his troops south and suffered heavy losses, the Huai army no longer had the intention to attack. Putting all these together, the news of the Liberation Army's sudden attack had indeed caught Jiang Zhongyuan off guard.
However, since things had come to this, Jiang Zhongyuan could only accept it. He said with a dark face, "If we can get through this, then everything will be fine. But if we can't, I'm prepared to be loyal to the country. "
Hearing this, Jiang Zhongyuan's family burst into tears. His wife grabbed Jiang Zhongyuan's arm and burst into tears. "Master, you can't do that!"
Seeing his family crying so sorrowfully, Jiang Zhongyuan's lips trembled a few times, and his eyes also turned red. After letting his family sit down, Jiang Zhongyuan said in a hoarse voice, "Mother passed away last year, and as her son, I finally fulfilled my filial piety by her bedside. Although the Liberation Army has been clamoring about killing my entire family, I've never really heard of them doing so. If I die, you guys have to live well. "
Jiang Zhongyuan's mother, Mrs. Chen, was originally in her hometown in Hunan. When Hunan was liberated by the Liberation Army, Mrs. Chen actually paid for a training camp in her hometown to try to resist. Of course, this kind of meaningless resistance was ineffective. The training camp was easily dealt with, and Mrs. Chen was also captured. The old lady was quite unyielding and actually went on a hunger strike to commit suicide.
The Liberation Army didn't want to kill this old lady, who had a good reputation in the countryside, but they couldn't let her go either. In the end, they could only send her to Suzhou so that Jiang Zhongyuan's family could be reunited. Jiang Zhongyuan himself was determined to be loyal to the Manchu Qing to the end, but he couldn't not think about his descendants. After all, they were family. It was enough for Jiang Zhongyuan to be loyal to the Manchu Qing alone, because his own actions had caused the Jiang family bloodline to be severed. This was not something that this righteous, generous, and chivalrous man could do.
Listening to the crying of this big family, Jiang Zhongyuan wanted to say something, but the crying made him upset. Jiang Zhongyuan simply got up and left the back hall, preparing to patrol the camp.
When he walked into the courtyard, he heard a sharp whistle. It sounded like the sound of a cannon, but it didn't sound like it at all. It was impossible for the sound of a cannon to come from so high up in the sky. Raising his eyes to look in the direction of the sound, Jiang Zhongyuan saw several extremely bright stars suddenly appear in the sky. The pale light was so dazzling that he couldn't look at it directly. Jiang Zhongyuan subconsciously closed his eyes. Even so, he still felt a bright flash on his retina, as if he was looking directly at the sun.
After another moment, the rumbling sound of cannons rang out.
Lei Hu and the others had long known the power of the flares, so the troops were all prepared. The purpose of using the flares was to bombard the city walls, so it wouldn't be difficult to easily take down Suzhou. This kind of battle was ranked third in the Liberation Army's plans. The first was naturally to surround the city and attack the reinforcements, using Suzhou to mobilize the Huai army in other places. The Huai army coming to their doorstep would save the Liberation Army too much energy.
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