After listening to Bai Chongxi's plan, Li Zongren was stunned for half a day before spitting out one sentence: "Jiansheng, when it comes to deploying troops and fighting battles, I'm not as good as you, let's do it your way."

  Bai Chongxi smiled leisurely: "Deputy officer, when Li Dachao and the others return, please invite the guest from just now to come over."

  Li Zongren suddenly remembered something: "Right, Jian Sheng, I noticed something last time, but I was too busy and didn't ask you."

  Bai Chongxi chuckled: "Big brother must be asking about my reconnaissance company, right?"

  Li Zongren nodded, and Bai Chongxi said in a low voice: "That was the commander-in-chief himself who came to my mountainous second division. At first, I didn't quite understand why he wanted these soldiers to smear black mud on their faces, branches and tree bark. Later, when we entered the mountains, I found out that it had a great effect - I couldn't find these people at all. Brother, let me reveal one more thing to you: these scouts were selected from the entire army as top-notch fighters, each of whom was skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, personally instructed by Commander-in-Chief's boxing master, Long Tingjiu. By the way, there are two people inside, Wang Chenhao and Guo Meng, who were sent by the commander-in-chief himself, said to be closed-door disciples of Master Long. I saw it with my own eyes - these two men could easily take down three or five people at once."

  Li Zongren hastily raised his hand: "Stop, stop, you just brag about it. Isn't it just a reconnaissance company? The reconnaissance company of our Mountain First Brigade has also been praised by the commander-in-chief..."

  Just then, the deputy officer came in to report: "Report to Commander Bai, Li Dachao and his men have returned, they've caught over twenty people and are currently interrogating them."

  Bai Chongxi recalled and said: "Go ask, is there a person named Tao Er? If so, bring him over to me. Also, send someone to invite Mr. Liu, that guest from just now."

  Liu Zhenhuan put on the new uniform of the Xiangxi Guard Brigade after washing and drying it. Although he felt a bit strange about this style, overall he thought that the clothes were first-rate in terms of workmanship and design.

  As soon as he stepped into the small thatched cottage where the forward command post was located, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi both smiled at him, with Li Zongren leading the way: "Commander Liu, we're all fellow provincials, so let's speak directly. Why don't you just forget about being commander of the Guangxi army against Yuan, and serve General Wang instead?"

  Liu Zhenhuan had also thought about this problem, now the situation is stronger than people, a fallen phoenix is not as good as a chicken. He nodded and replied: "As long as I can avenge Shen Hongying's arrow, Zhenhuan will trouble De Lin brothers to introduce him to General Wang."

  Li Zongren smiled and patted Liu Zhenhuan's shoulder, saying: "Come on, our classmate Bai Jiansheng has a clever move, taking Liuzhou is like taking something from a pocket, but we need your cooperation, Brother Liu."

  Liu Zhenhuan looked at Bai Chongxi with some confusion: "What a wonderful move, Brother Bai, please tell me quickly. My uncle's life is hanging in the balance now, and I am anxious like burning fire!"

  Bai Chongxi coughed twice: "This plan is also simple, Liuzhou is a thousand-year-old ancient city, the city wall is high and large, and three sides are surrounded by water, this is a typical easy-to-defend-and-hard-to-attack place. Although Shen Hongying has less than a thousand people, relying on this geographical advantage, as long as we grit our teeth, it's not difficult to hold out until the reactionary governor Lu Rongting comes to reinforce. Moreover, Liu's uncle is also among them, if we brutally take down the city, I'm afraid it will be a case of 'burning jade and stone together'. So for Liuzhou City, we can only use clever strategy, not forceful attack."

  Liu Zhenhuan hesitated for a moment: "De Lin brother and Jian Sheng brother don't know, this Shen Ze is an outlaw from the beginning, cunning and cautious. Generally, a surprise attack may not work, I'm afraid..."

  "Hey, what's the sneak attack for? If it's a real sneak attack, then it doesn't count as a clever strategy." Bai Chongxi waved his hand with satisfaction and continued: "Isn't he sending Lan Ba and Tao Er to pursue and kill Brother Liu? Now we'll let these pursuers escort you back, take advantage of the darkness to open the city gate, and charge in with our troops. Then we'll occupy all the key points. Shen Ze's bandit soldiers may have numbers, but they lack quality, what can they do to me? So, we asked Brother Liu to come for two reasons: first, to perform a self-sacrificing act, which carries some risk; second, to draw out the map of the terrain around Liu Zhou, otherwise my men would be charging in blindly."

  Liu Zhenhuan shook his head and said, "This is naturally no problem. If it weren't for your army's help, I, Liu Zhenhuan, would have been a dead man too. What's difficult about playing the role of a captive? But isn't Lan Ba already killed by that Li Dachao lieutenant from your army? Tao Er is a fierce bandit and now who knows where he is?"

  Bai Chongxi waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, Tao Er and his gang have just been caught by us. Later, I'll let my brothers take good care of him. With a little promise of benefits, he should cooperate with us to perform this play."

  Liu Zhenhua listened and thought this was a good thing, just nodded his head, when he saw Li Dachao carrying a human head excitedly came in, while walking still shouting: "Traveler, I found the Tao Er you wanted, this little devil is not honest, I cut off his head, do you want it?"

  Bai Chongxi heard this and saw the head, immediately became stupid, then did not say a word, staring angrily at Li Dachao who felt good about himself.

  Li Zongren was rarely seen to be outsmarted by Bai Chongxi, and he felt a sudden surge of joy, but he couldn't show it on his face, so he just pursed his lips and remained silent.

  Liu Zhenhua also saw Bai Chongxi's embarrassment, he is now in a difficult situation and cannot show his bad mood, so he can only stand there pretending to be stupid.

  Bai Chongxi took a deep breath, smiled and patted Li Dachao's shoulder, affectionately calling out: "Dachao! I heard you have a good relationship with Chief of Staff Li from the Security Regiment?"

  Li Da Chao saw the traveler's strange questions, and also thought that this monk was not quite right in the head. He could only answer truthfully in a dull tone: "Yes, I used to be his squad leader, he was my company commander."

  Bai Chongxi's face suddenly changed: "Dachao, you've done a great job with this matter. Why don't you just go serve in the security forces after this war is over?"

  Li Dachao rubbed his head with one hand: "Traveling, it's not good, I'd better follow you. I've heard that the treatment of the security guard troops is not as high as our field troops. Besides, old Li didn't do anything wrong, why do you want me to go to the security guard troops? This isn't right!"

  Bai Chongxi burst out laughing: "You Li Dachao haven't done anything wrong yet, you kill Tao Er and I'll have nothing to use to deceive the city. Otherwise, you can go back now and I'll write a transfer order for you."

  Li Dachao knew he had made a mistake, so he immediately shouted: "Commander, I was wrong! Please don't drive me away, I'm fine in the second battalion..."

  "Don't you want to go to the security team?" After listening to Li Dachao's nagging for half a day, Bai Chongxi asked with a gloomy face, and Li Dachao nodded vigorously.

  Bai Chongxi suddenly put on a smiling face again, nodded and said: "Then you take this dirty thing in your hand and roll as far as you can, roll!"

  Li Dachao ran away in a flash and disappeared without a trace.

  Bai Chongxi's face turned awkward as he said to Liu Zhenhuan, "Sorry about this, Brother Liu. Most of my men are strong but not smart. Since something unexpected happened, we might need to make some adjustments to our plan to pretend to surrender."

  The headquarters of the First Division of Tongdao County, Xu Yuanquan reported to Wang Zhenyu: "General, the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Mountain Division have lost contact with us for two days. It's been so long and no communication soldiers have come back to report. Could something have happened?"

  Wang Zhenyu rubbed his chin, and it had only been a few days since he hadn't shaved. He grew so much: "What can happen?"

  Let's not mention Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi's abilities for now, just relying on the first and second divisions with nearly 10,000 guns. Not to mention Shen Hongying, even if you add Lu Rongting, they can't do anything to them. Moreover, from the performance of the Changde War, these two divisions are currently considered elite troops in the country. If anyone wants to take advantage of them, it's likely that they will lose their shirt trying to steal a chicken.

  But it's been two days without contact, which is indeed a bit unusual. Could it be that they encountered some opportunity and rushed out in a hurry without having time to report back to themselves?

  It must be something wrong with Liu Guoxiang's side.

  Having understood this point, Wang Zhenyu immediately stood up and asked Xu Yuanquan: "Old Xu, what is the current marching situation of our first division?"

  Xu Yuanquan reported truthfully: "Commander, the mountain road is rugged and treacherous. For this military operation involving nearly 30,000 troops, there are also many types of heavy equipment. We have indeed done our best. Currently, the 101st Regiment led by Tao Zhuoyue has just entered Guangxi Province, while the division headquarters and many directly affiliated units have not yet departed from the communication channel."

  Wang Zhenyu stood up, walked to the front of the military map drawn by the survey team with his hands behind his back, and took a look: "It's too long, Yuanquan, don't worry about the logistics for now, prioritize sending part of the troops over first. I feel that the situation in Guangxi may eventually exceed our expectations. After all, we are not locals in Guangxi, and a hero like Lu Rongting will not tolerate anyone sleeping by his side. Send an orderly to find Li Zongren and tell them that after capturing Liu Zhou, do not attack again, hold on to Liu Zhou and wait for the main force to arrive, that is victory."

  Xu Yuanquan heard Wang Zhenyu say this, and immediately asked nervously: "General, if Lu Rongting has really arrived in the Liuzhou area, or Liu Guoxiang has already joined forces with him, what should we do?"

  Wang Zhenyu shook his head in his heart, if Liu Guoxiang and Lu Rongting could merge, there was only one explanation, one of them had been crossed over. Obviously this was impossible, what he really worried about was, how big would this battle be?

  The original purpose of launching the Guangxi North campaign was to find sufficient resources for the development of the steel industry, rather than taking over Guangxi Province, which is mountainous, poor and backward. At present, the development of Xiangxi has just started, and every step is very difficult. If we drag along Guangxi, it may not be able to move forward.

  Thinking of this, Wang Zhenyu suddenly turned his head and asked Xu Yuanquan: "Old Xu, what do you think will happen if we take down the entire Guangxi in one go?"