After receiving the news that the flank was under attack, the commander of the 36th Army quickly added troops to the flank.
However, the attack of the four columns was too sudden, and the defense line was torn apart before reinforcements could arrive.
After Li Qiufan learned that the fourth column had occupied the enemy's flank position, he immediately ordered the second column to press forward against the enemy position.
The commander of the 36th Army knew that the situation was over and directly ordered the troops to retreat.
Under alternating cover, they quickly withdrew from their position, but they encountered a vertical blockage before escaping far.
Faced with such a predicament, the enemy troops began to launch a fierce attack on the first vertical line of defense, and everyone swarmed towards the first vertical position.
Erhu had anticipated this scene, and when he ordered the troops to start counterattack according to the plan, he withstood the attack of about 40,000 people.
Seeing this, the commander of the 36th Army immediately ordered the troops to retreat southward and escape across the river from Xicun.
After Li Qiufan discovered the enemy's intention, he also sent a division from the second column to rush towards the West Village and block the river bank before the enemy arrived.
Both sides were competing to see who was faster. The commander of the 36th Army seemed to have guessed Li Qiufan's actions and directly ordered the troops to throw away all their baggage and heavy weapons and rush towards the West Village with all their strength.
This move directly caused the speed of the pursuing troops to slow down sharply. The soldiers could not move their legs looking at the heavy weapons discarded on the ground.
Fortunately, the commanders and fighters at all levels did not lose their heads. Some troops were left to collect weapons and equipment, while others continued to pursue them with all their strength.
But in the end, the enemy was one step faster and arrived at the West Village before the second column and had already started crossing the river.
By the time the division from the second column arrived, nearly ten thousand people had passed through.
Seeing this, the division commander also became furious, saying that he could not let the remaining enemies escape, even if he led a division to fight against the enemy who had not yet crossed the river.
It was this fierceness that successfully held back the enemy so that no one could cross over again.
When the large forces arrived, the enemy troops who had not crossed the river were already in despair.
They have now lost all their heavy weapons and have less than 30,000 troops left, so they have no ability to resist.
It didn't take long for all the enemy troops to surrender and put down their weapons.
"Commander, let more than 10,000 enemy troops escape!"
After the division commander under his command reported, Lu Ming informed Li Qiufan of the news.
"It doesn't matter, these 10,000 people won't be able to achieve anything, they will probably run back to Baoji!"
Li Qiufan didn't care after hearing this, nodded and said to Lu Ming.
"Then what should we do now? Should we go back and attack Baoji?"
Lu Ming breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Li Qiufan's words. After all, the interception mission was carried out by his troops. Now, the responsibility for the escape of more than 10,000 people is naturally his.
Seeing that Li Qiufan had no intention of blaming him, Lu Ming also let go of his worries.
"Don't worry, let them live a good life for a few more days, and first deal with the enemy forces in Mei County!"
"Li Xiping, you immediately lead the fourth column to Mei County and cooperate with the third column to eliminate all the enemies in Mei County!"
Li Qiufan did not order the pursuit of the enemy, but asked the fourth column to rush to Mei County to support the third column.
"Lu Ming, your second column and first column will work together to clean the battlefield and count the seizures as soon as possible. I'm afraid we will go to Xi'an soon!"
After arranging the four columns, Li Qiufan turned around and continued to talk to Lu Ming.
"yes!"
Lu Ming's eyes lit up instantly when he heard Li Qiufan's words, and he was finally going to take action against Xi'an.
After this battle, there were nearly 30,000 prisoners alone, and there were countless weapons and equipment.
What excites Li Qiufan the most is the newly captured large-caliber howitzers, including a total of 28 of 150 mm and 105 mm calibers.
There were countless artillery shells. This time, the 36th Army simply moved all their belongings here. The soldiers responsible for counting did not finish counting them for a long time.
There are also various other artillery pieces, among which Li Qiufan was given a little surprise. There were more than a dozen anti-aircraft guns inside.
Li Qiufan was also a little confused as to why the enemy would bring anti-aircraft guns. After all, they didn't have planes.
The commander of the 36th Army did not bring the anti-aircraft cannon just for masturbation, but was fully prepared to move to Xi'an.
After the situation in Xi'an fell into crisis, the old fox asked him to rush to Xi'an with all his family resources for support, and planned to defend Xi'an.
But unexpectedly, he encountered Li Qiufan, a stumbling block, and gave up all his family fortune.
In this way, Li Qiufan's men finally assembled an anti-aircraft artillery regiment, and distributed all the captured artillery to each column, except of course the heavy artillery.
After Li Qiufan provided artillery, the artillery regiments of the four columns were expanded one after another, and all of them established their own artillery brigades.
The heavy artillery division is worthy of its name this time. The entire heavy artillery division has nearly 80 large-caliber howitzers.
There are also six large-caliber field cannons, various heavy mortars, etc., and most importantly, an anti-aircraft artillery regiment.
Nowadays, in terms of weapons and equipment, it can be said that the old man's direct troops cannot compare with Li Qiufan's first regiment.
After the other four columns rushed to Mei County, they cooperated with the three columns to completely annihilate the enemies there and captured nearly 10,000 soldiers.
Afterwards, Li Qiufan ordered the troops to rest and reorganize, and reported the situation to the boss.
After receiving the telegram from Li Qiufan, the boss was very surprised by the situation on his side. He did not expect such a great result.
However, since other units have not yet dealt with the enemies they are facing, the general attack on Xi'an cannot yet be carried out.
Then the boss gave Li Qiufan an order to rest and replenish his troops on the spot to prepare for the general attack on Xi'an.
At the same time, let him liberate Baoji smoothly and completely eliminate the remaining enemy forces in Baoji.
After receiving the order, Li Qiufan immediately dispatched two columns, the second column and the fourth column, and marched towards Baoji.
The first and third columns continued to rest and replenish their troops while continuing to carry out the blockade of Xi'an.
Li Qiufan did not go to the liberation of Baoji this time. He arranged for Heizi to lead the team and stayed in Fufeng County himself.
Eight days later, news finally came back from Heizi that Baoji was completely liberated.
The 36th Army put up a desperate resistance in Baoji. After suffering nearly 5,000 casualties, the two columns completely wiped out more than 10,000 enemy troops and captured only a few hundred people.
Li Qiufan was silent for a moment after learning the news, and then looked at the sky and sighed.
Since then, the west of Xi'an was completely liberated. After Li Qiufan recalled the second and fourth columns, he made full preparations for the general attack on Xi'an.
