Chapter 96: Jiang-Gui War 4

On the other side, inside a hotel room, the curtains were tightly drawn. Li Mingrui paced anxiously in the room, occasionally glancing at the wall clock. This Seventh Division commander of the Gui faction, recently rebuked by Li Zongren for a battlefield defeat, felt quite displeased.

A knock sounded, and Li Mingrui, alert, walked to the door and asked, "Who?"

"It's me, Zheng Jiemin."

After the door opened, a sharply dressed man in civilian clothes slipped in. He was the Chairman's Special Envoy, tasked specifically with subversion work.

"Division Commander Li, what have you decided?" Zheng Jiemin got straight to the point.

Li Mingrui hesitated, "Officer Li has been generous to me, and if I do this…"

"Division Commander," Zheng Jiemin cut him off, "A good bird chooses a suitable tree. The Chairman has already promised that once the matter is settled, not only will you continue to lead troops, but you will also be promoted to Army Commander. Moreover…" he lowered his voice, "there is a special fund of five hundred thousand yuan."

The figure made Li Mingrui gasp sharply. He remained silent for a long while, then finally said, "What do you want me to do?"

Meanwhile, Liu Zhi's Central Route Army launched an offensive toward Eastern Hubei, and the Jiang-Gui War officially broke out. In the early stage, the fighting favored the Gui faction; Li Zongren personally commanded troops in Eastern Hubei, stubbornly resisting and repeatedly repelling Central Army attacks.

In April 1929, the Qianshan hills were drenched by continuous spring rain, soaking the battlefield in mud. First Division's 3rd Regiment commander Zhang Linfu stood in a hastily erected command post, watching the front line through a telescope. Artillery repeatedly ripped across the slope, and the charred earth was littered with the bodies of fallen soldiers.

"Report, commander: the Second Battalion has seized the left high ground, but casualties exceed half; requesting reinforcements!" the messenger, covered in mud, ran in to report.

Zhang Linfu furrowed his brow, "Tell the Second Battalion commander to hold for another two hours. The First Battalion is maneuvering around and will soon break through the enemy's right flank."

At this moment, behind the Gui army's defensive line, Division Commander Zhong Zupei paced anxiously.

"Division Commander, the Central Army's artillery is too fierce; the brothers can't hold much longer!" the Chief of Staff, bloodied all over, rushed into the command post.

Zhong Zupei slammed his fist onto the ammunition box, "Even if we can't hold, we must hold! Officer Li is organizing reinforcements; we must defend this spot!"

The frontline situation was far more brutal than the command post realized. Gui soldiers crouched in mud‑filled trenches, building cover out of the bodies of fallen comrades. Machine‑gunner Li Ergou had been fighting continuously for ten hours, his barrel so hot it could ignite a cigarette. He watched comrades keep falling around him, his eyes growing numb.

"Damn Central Army, fight them to the death!" a fresh recruit shouted, only to be ripped to pieces by an incoming shell.

At the same time, on the Beijing-Hankou Railway at Qijiawan, Gui's Seventh Division commander Li Mingrui paced back and forth in his command post, a handwritten surrender‑urging letter from the Chairman lying on the desk.

"Division Commander, we can't hesitate any longer," the Adjutant whispered, "Li Zongren has been generous to us, but… the Chairman's offer is just too great."

Li Mingrui halted, gazing out the window at the blood‑soaked soldiers fighting below, his expression complex. The Chairman's promise of promotion to Army Commander plus five hundred thousand yuan was an overwhelming temptation.

"Send orders to all regiments, prepare… to shift positions," Li Mingrui finally made up his mind.

At three p. m., while the frontline Gui army was locked in a bloody clash with the Central Army, Li Mingrui's unit suddenly opened fire on friendly forces. The sudden betrayal caused the entire Gui defensive line to collapse instantly.

"What's happening? Why is Li Mingrui's unit firing on our own?" frontline commander Huang Ruihua could not believe his eyes.

The communications soldier cried out, "Brigade Commander, Li Mingrui has defected! Our rear has been cut off!"

Chaos spread through the Gui army like a plague. Soldiers panicked; some kept resisting, others began to flee. The Central Army seized the momentum to launch a general assault, tanks rolling over trenches, infantry charging with bayonets into the positions.

Under the Railway Bridge, Gui soldier Li Dayou and several comrades were surrounded. Back to back, they faced Central Army forces surging in from all directions.

"Brothers, today we'll die right here!" Li Dayou shouted in a hoarse voice.

A savage melee erupted beneath the bridge. The clatter of bayonets, dying moans, and angry shouts intertwined into a hellish symphony. When the last Gui soldier fell, the river beneath the Railway Bridge had turned red.

On the surface of the Yangtze River, the Central Navy's Hao Gunboat rained shells onto the Gui positions on shore. Captain Chen Shaokuan stood on the bridge, observing the impact points through a telescope.

"Left side fifteen degrees, range eight hundred, fire!"

Another shell whooshed out of the barrel, striking a Gui machine‑gun nest with pinpoint accuracy. A flash erupted on the shore, and the shattered limbs of blown‑away soldiers were faintly visible.

Along the riverbank, the Gui army was in a frantic retreat. Soldiers scrambled onto hastily requisitioned civilian boats, many falling into the water due to overloading. Those who couldn't swim struggled in the river, soon disappearing in the swift current.

"Clear the way! Let the officer go first!" an officer waved his pistol, trying to keep order.

But the instinct to survive had driven the soldiers mad. Some began shooting at the boats already away from shore, while more leapt directly into the river, hoping to swim to the opposite bank.

Old boatman Zhao Laosan watched the tragedy, tears streaming. His small boat already held over thirty people, far exceeding its load limit.

"Boss, we can't take any more; the boat will sink!" he pleaded.

A Gui soldier banged the butt of his rifle against a wounded comrade trying to board, shouting, "Set sail! Hurry, set sail!"

The small boat rocked unsteadily toward the river's center; a wave struck, and the vessel capsized instantly. Cries and pleas blended together, but were soon drowned out by the sound of artillery.