Before Ye Ting’s return to N4C headquarters, Chen Yi, on June 15th, 1940, decided to concentrate his troops to the north of Yangtze for dealing a blow to Haan Deqing’s troops in lieu of attacking Leng Xin's 2nd Guerrilla District.
To lower government troops’ vigilance, Chen Yi ordered Su Yu, his newlywed young wife Zhang Xi and the troupe to go to Leng Xin’s 2nd Guerrilla District command center for a condolence performance.
After solidifying Mt Maoshan base, Chen Yi crossed the Yangtze for Ye Fei’s beachhead strongholds on the night of June 28th. North of Yangtze, communist forces, in observance of Liu Shaoqi’s order of replaying Bantaji trick, had taken over Guocun on May 17th and drove a wedge into Li Mingyang and Li Changjiang’s territories.
On July 14th, Chen Yi, in observance with Liu Shaoqi’s “advance east, advance east, and further advance east” slogan, reported to N4C and CCP Central about the pending military action against 4th Constabulary Brigade at Huangqiao.
On the pretext that Haan Deqing had convened a meeting at Dongtai in regards to forbidding rice flow to the south from Haian-Taizhou line, Liu Shaoqi authorized a once-for-all solution to Northern Jiangsu issues with a promise of nine strike battalions attacking south from behind Haan Deqing’s Xinghua-Dongtai rears.
On September 12th, Chen Yi ordered a siege campaign against electricity-wired Jiangnian stronghold.
Haan Deqing, having devised a fake attack plan against Jiangnian, dispatched Li Shouwei’s 89th Corps and Weng Da’s 6th Independent Brigade against Huangqiao from Qutang-Haian direction. With advance information of Haan Deqing’s three-route attack plan, communist forces concentrated on fighting against 89th Corps and 6th Independent Brigade.
On October 4th, 6th Independent Brigade, coming towards the north of Huangqiao from Guxi direction, was ambushed, intercepted and encircled by N4C 2nd Column and 1st Column along the two sides of Guxi-Huangqiao Highway.
Brigade commander Weng Da committed suicide.
N4C 2nd Column and 1st Column, after routing Weng Da’s Brigade, circumvented to the hind of 33rd Division and 117th Division at midnight. On October 5th, communist forces launched a three-direction general attack. On the rooftops, communist forces, including one battalion from the Old 4th Regiment that just crossed the Yangtze, claimed to have engaged in 8-9 bayonet battles, and after piercing dead 1000 government troops, drove back 33rd Division. By midnight, 2nd Column and 3rd Column routed 33rd Division. Under joint attacks by communist 1st Column and 2nd Column, Corps Chief Li Shouwei ordered a general pullback. At Bachihe River, Li Shouwei got drowned after losing hold of the horse tail, with his body identified by wife Ma Bangzhen [using an odd button that was knit on the clothes prior to the campaign] among thousands of corpse retrieved by fishing nets months later
At least 5000 government troops lost their lives during the Huangqiao-Xinghua Battle.
Though, Comintern and I.P.R agents, embedded with communist N4C since 1938, continued to broadcast the fake news of N4C fighting against Japanese through the relay of news agencies in Shanghai's international settlement.
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