After taking down the unnamed mountain head, Lu Rongting made his latest misjudgment under a series of previous misjudgments. The Xiangxi army had no fighting power left, and the resistance on the unnamed mountain head was their last strength.

  Since it's like this, let's continue moving forward then.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Sure enough, in just one day's time, there was no longer any strong resistance like the unnamed mountain stronghold. In just one day, Lu Rongting, the commander-in-chief, lost around 4,000 troops and reached the exit controlled by Baipeng Town."

  Now even a fool in the Kweichow army knows that if they can capture this town of Paipeng, the whole gateway to Liuchow will be thoroughly opened.

  Victory is within sight. The morale of the Guangzhou army, which had been low, was once again boosted to its peak. Officers and soldiers were eager to make a final stand in this damned war.

  At this time, the 102nd Infantry Regiment of Zhang Xu Guang's division was responsible for defending Baipeng Town. This unit did not participate in the mountainous tiered defense and the entire army was in a state of conserving energy. Through the division's engineer corps, defensive fortifications were built in Baipeng Town for almost seven or eight days. The whole town was solidly defended like a golden soup. Now they just waited for the Gui Army to come and crash into it.

  The fifty mountain guns of the Heavy Artillery Regiment also entered the camouflaged artillery positions. The plan proposed by Xu Yuanquan and Wan Yaohuang was to use the 102nd Division to inflict effective casualties on the Guangxi Army in Baipeng Town, and then push the exhausted Guangxi Army into the plain area, followed by a full-scale counterattack. The 303rd Infantry Regiment under Liao Xue's command and the 304th Infantry Regiment under Li Pinxian's command had already built strong fortifications about five miles away from Baipeng Town as the last line of defense before the counterattack. Even more favorable news was that Li Zongren personally led two regiments of the Third Division, which would arrive at Liujiang by tomorrow morning at the latest and become the backbone force of the entire counterattack operation.

  Bai Chongxi, on the other hand, was a bit depressed. He had gotten himself into the same kind of trouble as in the previous Changde battle. With two more regiments from the 3rd Division, he took great pains to cross mountains and rivers, winding his way towards the logistics supply depot of the Guangxi Army in Laibin.

  This was a very dangerous in-and-out operation. In an era without wireless communication, daring to carry out such large-scale long-distance in-and-out operations required high trust in friendly neighboring troops.

  First, your neighboring troops must have the ability and determination to overcome all difficulties and unexpected events and resolutely complete the original combat plan; taking this infiltration as an example, if the First Division is defeated in front of Gui Army's offensive and cannot hold on for even one day on the 26-kilometer straight mountain road, then Bai Chongxi's infiltration will become a suicide.

  Secondly, your neighboring troops must be trustworthy, otherwise it will affect your determination and will to infiltrate. After all, things on the battlefield change in an instant, and a slight hesitation can lead to completely different outcomes.

  Bai Chongxi didn't quite trust Xu Yuanquan because his intuition told him that this wasn't a straightforward and honest person, but he still believed the First Division would achieve the first point because Wang Zhenyu was definitely holding down the front line at this moment.

  "Move faster and let the following troops move even faster to gather in the town ahead. We are only thirty miles away from Lai Bin now, and what follows is a plain area. We must capture Lai Bin before the enemy discovers us. I don't want too much bloodshed."

  Bai Chongxi instructed the officers beside him: "The war should end here, we need to bring our brothers back home safely. The guest army will make a night raid and the military situation will open the city gate. You must act quickly and civilizedly. The Guilin army has only 2,000 soldiers but has more than 10,000 militia. If it weren't for luring the enemy deep in, Lu Rongting, this old river and lake, should have retired."

  Unfortunately, this is not a case of luring the enemy in deeply, but rather a thorough and utter loss of momentum. With the appearance of Wang Zhenyu, the big butterfly, Lu Rongting began his decline six years ahead of schedule.

  Lu Rongting's mindset at this moment is more like a gambler who has already lost half of his property and is eager to use the remaining half to win back what he has lost, without considering whether he will lose the remaining half.

  The lesson of history is that small gains lead to big losses. That's nonsense, the correct interpretation is that gambling always leads to defeat.

  On the night of October 14, Bai Chongxi, the chief of staff of the 3rd Division of Xiangxi Army, personally commanded the 303rd Infantry Regiment led by Liao Xue and the 304th Infantry Regiment led by Li Pixian to launch a surprise attack on Laibin, which was successful. Although the Guangxi Army defending Laibin put up a desperate resistance, they were all annihilated without any surrender. The city of Laibin fell. Lu Rongting lost the first round of this life-and-death gamble thoroughly. Bai Chongxi's name began to be known throughout the country with this series of victories, including the surprise attack on Changde, the capture of Liuzhou and the night raid on Laibin.

  Lu Rongting received news of the fall of Laibin on the afternoon of October 15, and the Guangxi Army had already clashed with the enemy in Baipeng Town.

  The battle of Baipeng Town started on the morning of October 15th, according to Lu Rongting and other Guangxi warlords' wishes, it would be best to concentrate all firepower and take down this damned Baipeng Town in one go.

  Kwei's army fired all the shells saved from reduced military rations and transportation power at Baitunzhen, a small town. The town was immediately filled with smoke, broken bricks and stones, and limbs were blown into the sky. Even with the support of solid fortifications, the defenders suffered some casualties in the face of Kwei's artillery fire.

  The defender of Baipeng Town was Zhang Xu Guang, the regimental commander of the 102nd Regiment of the First Division. He was from the Second Battalion's instructional team and belonged to a group of people who rose quickly in the Xiangxi military system. However, he later ended his military career due to taking the wrong side in political struggles. Nevertheless, on October 15th of the second year of the Republic of China, Zhang Xu Guang's name was forever etched in the war history of the First Division. This 22-year-old regimental commander led the 102nd Regiment with nearly three thousand soldiers and fought a fierce battle against the nearly twenty-thousand-strong Gui Army for an entire day.

  In Nanning, Guangxi, Gong Peng received news of the successful uprising in Laibin through radio transmission. He immediately passed it on to Wei Changrong and Chen Zhaopeng, who were just about to make their final decision.

  "The two commanders, you can't afford to lose this opportunity. When it comes to business, timing is everything. If you miss this chance, there won't be another one. You can wait until my army defeats the enemy commander, but by then, the price won't be the same as today." Gong Peng's words were a mix of persuasion and intimidation.

  Wei Changrong fell silent for half a day, then suddenly stood up as if he had made up his mind and said: "What broken governor does Wei not want? As long as General Wang is willing to give Wei the opportunity to continue leading troops, Wei will do it today. From the Guangxu years to now, three dynasties of emperors and presidents have changed. I cannot let this old turtle Lu Lao Song (Lu Rongting's original name before he rose to prominence) trample on my feet for the rest of my life."

  Chen's eyes rolled around in circles as he said, "Director Gong, Chen is a timid person. Such a big thing, if he doesn't grit his teeth, he wouldn't dare to do it. As for Provincial Director Chen, he knows that his learning is shallow and he can't handle it, so naturally he wouldn't dare have any improper thoughts. In the future, Guangxi will definitely be General Wang's domain. However, Chen has one concern, I'd like to ask you clearly, don't you know?"

  Gong Peng burst out laughing and said: "Commander Chen has come this far, what's there to hide?"

  Chen Chaozheng glanced at Wei Changrong and said in a low voice, "Then Chen Mou will be very impolite to ask if General Wang will not take care of both me and Commander Wei after the event."

  Gong Peng had long known what the two were worried about, so he didn't answer immediately. After a moment of silence, he said: "If you two are truly following our General, then this is not an issue. However, if you still want to interfere with local governance like Director Lu, then I can only bid farewell. The future fortune or disaster will depend on your own actions."

  Having said that, he was about to get up, and Wei Changrong and Chen Zhaopeng hastily got up to persuade him: "Sir, calm down, sir."

  Gong Peng finally sat down with a satisfied smile, and this was exactly what he wanted.

  Wei Changrong and Chen Zhaopin whispered to each other for a while, then Wei Changrong made a request that surprised Gong Peng: "Gong Station Master, I and Brother Chen are also people who have been on the scene for many years. We've seen all sorts of storms and ups and downs. In the past, Governor Feng and later Governor Su held military power in their hands, but look at how they ended up - not one of them is better off than the others. To be honest, we didn't know about Wang Da's abilities before, and we still had hopes of becoming a governor or provincial civil affairs chief. But the world is full of talented people, and new generations surpass old ones. Now it seems that I, Wei Changrong, am indeed getting old, and it's not suitable for me to continue leading troops. So, if Wang Da can give me and Brother Chen some retirement pay, so we don't end up empty-handed on this trip, I'll be satisfied. As for the army, there's no need to discuss - we'll hand it over to you, whether it's reorganized or disbanded, we'll follow your arrangements. We've been worried sick about paying military salaries for over a year. You don't know that even with three-tenths of our pay, we're still struggling to make ends meet in Guangxi. If we were stationed in another province, the soldiers would have deserted long ago. I'm tired of living this life and don't want to continue it anymore. So, Gong Mr., what do you think?"

  The final result of the negotiations between the two parties, in addition to the original promise of 200,000 yuan per person, Wei Rongchang and Chen Zhaopeng each received an additional 100,000 yuan. The original planned activity expenses for the Military Affairs Bureau were one million.

  On the night of October 15, the first and sixth armies of Gui Jun's Xunfu suddenly returned to Nanning, swiftly entering the city with the help of internal responses, quietly surrounding the 2,000 cavalrymen of Lu Yuguang's troops, controlling the Provincial Governor's Office, the Provincial People's Government, and the Provincial Post Office. Almost without bloodshed, they occupied the entire city of Nanning. Then, a telegram was sent nationwide announcing that Guangxi had appointed Wei Rongchang as the military governor, Chen Zhaopin as the head of civil affairs, and offered a reward of 100,000 to capture the traitor Lu Rongting.