Back to the Republic of China as a commander

Lu Diping immediately thanked him, but Zhang Zizhong and others came here with the determination to die, but they met such a noble person as Lu Diping. As a result, not only the teacher was released, but also himself and others had a future. Among them, Zhang Zizhong was appointed by Lu Diping As the commander of the first battalion of the 111th Regiment, in the ensuing decisive battle, this appointment was considered by Lu Diping to be the most proud appointment in his personal military career. . .

Chapter 243 The Battle of Purgatory

Due to the scheduling of the army, the second phase of the battle was finally postponed to March 3, which also provided more time for the preparations of the two warring parties, which also led to this battle that later historians called the Southeast Campaign. The tragedy of the war was no less than a battle in the European War.Many novel combat methods also emerged in this battle, which greatly subverted the traditional perception of the Chinese army's combat effectiveness by the great powers.

On the night of March 1916th in the fifth year of the Republic of China (AD [-]), outside Anqing City, the surrounding fields were vast and silent.Ni Sichong, the commander of the Beiyang Anwu Army, did not feel sleepy. He sat alone in the living room thinking quietly, and the western wall clock in the living room was consciously striking eleven o'clock.

"Master, it's time to rest." It was Ni Sichong's wife who spoke. From her point of view, since her husband came back from Hunan, he has been in a bad mood, so he is very careful about his work and rest.

"Ah, it's Madam, you go to bed first, I really can't sleep!" Although Ni Sichong's nickname is "Living Hades", everyone in Anhui is not afraid, but what everyone doesn't know is that this Ni Sichong is a man who loves his wife. No matter how many concubines he has, he is always polite to his wife.

Madam Ni did not leave, but sat down together very worriedly and said, "Master, what happened to bother you so much?"

Ni Sichong was also a figure during the period of the Republic of China. He suppressed rebellious parties, supported restoration, and surrounded the president (Feng Guozhang was surrounded by soldiers in Anhui in 1918). He never missed any of these messy major events.Although the final ending is very miserable, but if a person lives like him, then it is really a blessing and a sin, so there is nothing to worry about.

But he is not bothered by the current situation. If he supports Yuan Shikai's restoration, this Anhui boss is the number one activist. He has signed almost every call to persuade him. He is the number one loyal minister under Yuan Shikai's command. look like.Yuan Shikai naturally reciprocated his loyalty to him, and made Ni Sichong the first-class duke.

Ni Sichong was then ordered to go to Hunan to suppress the Hunan guards led by Cheng Qian, Lin Xiumei and others. The pressure is outside Hengyang.But I never thought, the situation changed suddenly, and Wang Zhenyu, Cheng Yaojin, was killed halfway.First, the first division of the Youth Army crossed Xuefeng Mountain and entered the Hengyang area through Baoqing Mansion, which led to a reversal of the enemy's strength.Then there was news that Ma Jizeng's Sixth Division was wiped out. At this time, Ni Sichong, a veteran leader of the army, would be a pig if he couldn't see the situation clearly.Our old Comrade Ni thought about it, and the 2 people who stayed in Hunan would be regarded as unfamiliar with the place, and the situation could not be changed.So Ni Sichong made a decisive decision and withdrew, and before he left, he gave Tang Xiangming a hard time by throwing the first division of the Hunan Army into it.

Moreover, Ni Sichong's Anwu army withdrew not so cleanly, they didn't even enter Wuhan, and went directly back to Anhui.The speed and distance of the retreat were definitely not worse than Ye Zhichao during the Sino-Japanese War.

Everyone must be very surprised, isn't Ni Sichong afraid of being held accountable by Lao Yuan?Ni Sichong is not a child either. He has been an official for many years, and his ability to see the direction of the wind is first-rate.This old Yuan was at a time when he was losing ahead, and when his own side was employing people, he would only pretend to win over a general like Ni Sichong who held military power, instead of playing the trick of beating Ma Su with tears.

Sure enough, as soon as Feng Guozhang interceded here, the telegram of Lao Yuan's crime and meritorious service came down.

But this little bit of caution is just fooling Lao Yuan, Ni Sichong's biggest headache now is the youth army.It's really unexpected that this kid Wang Zhenyu has accumulated such a strong strength in just a few years. After taking over the territory of Jiangxi and Hubei, he will continue to move eastward, and he is about to break into his own territory, Anhui.

Ni Sichong knows better than anyone else that you have land to have money, money to have soldiers, and soldiers to have power.Therefore, Anhui is no better than Hunan, and the trick of running away is not good, but judging from the situation of the Sixth Division and Hubei and Jiangxi, this youth army is probably different from the civilian army during the Second Revolution. He is still slightly better than his own army, which makes it very difficult for him.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid our family's good times are coming to an end. I'm thinking about cleaning up tomorrow. The old and the young will go to Tianjin to escape. The south will soon become a battlefield. For my husband I don’t know what will happen tomorrow?” Although Ni Sichong made up his mind to stick to Anqing (note that during the Republic of China, the provincial capital of Anhui was Anqing, and the governor of Anhui was Zhang Xun, and his Dingwu Army was stationed in Xuzhou, and Ni Sichong’s identity was Anhui Governor, the Anwu Army under his command is stationed in Anqing), but the emotion of failure is still completely exposed in front of his wife.

Madam Ni is a very traditional woman, she never asks about her husband's official affairs, so she can only nod silently: "Understood, I will arrange for someone to pack things tomorrow, but it may take some time."

Ni Sichong shook his head and said: "Don't clean up those pots and jars, but mainly clean up valuable gold and silver jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings. In addition, I will give you a 150 million HSBC cashier's note for you, This is what I withheld from this year's tax. You guys set off as soon as possible. I have booked a British freighter to go directly to Shanghai. When you arrive in Shanghai, you will transfer to Tianjin. I am busy organizing labor to dig fortifications every day. , but God knows that Anqing can guard for a few days, maybe Zhang Dashuai's army will be lost before it arrives, and it may be too late to leave, so I will leave tomorrow, and now I will go and wake up my family, pack things overnight, and immediately ..."

The Tiger Banner of the Youth Army appeared in Pengze County eight days ago, the place where Tao Yuanming, who picked chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and saw Nanshan leisurely, served as the county magistrate.It is said that Tao Yuanming was unwilling to bend his waist for five buckets of rice that day, so he lost his official seal and ran away.But I didn't expect that more than 1000 years later, descendants are still calling for this official seal.

Ni Sichong felt that before he could recover from his escape from Hunan, the young army caught up again.So he didn't plan to run away anymore, he wanted to defend Anqing to the end, even if he would wipe out the Anwu army he had pulled out with his own hands.

Of course, guarding Anqing does not necessarily mean guarding Anqing City. Ni Sichong's plan is to use Wangjiang County, which is [-] miles away from Anqing City, and Qianshan County, which is [-] miles away from Anqing City, as fulcrums, with the Yangtze River as the back, forming a defensive line, and starting to resist from the periphery. and consumption, try to delay time, and then wait for Zhang Xun's Dingwu army to come up before making plans.

Wangjiang County is located in the southwest of Anqing, with the broad Yangtze River on the left and a large lake area consisting of Longgan Lake, Daguan Lake, Huanghu Lake, Mihu Lake, Wuchang Muhu Lake and Qingcao Lake on the right.

These lakes next to the Yangtze River and the Yangtze River have been complementary for a long time. When the Yangtze River is full of water, the water flows into the Great Lakes to prevent flooding.Wang Zhenyu vaguely remembers that later generations built the world's first dam on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which destroyed this ecological relationship, causing these lakes to dry up and become a grassland where cattle and sheep can't be seen. Wang Zhenyu can only agree with the same time Like most Chinese people in modern times, if they know it, they can only draw a circle and play curses helplessly.

Ni Sichong is still a soldier. He set up the defense line at Wangjiang with this in mind. It is March at the moment, and the lake is very shallow, so it is not easy to sail. Heavy weapons cannot be transported by water, and the lake is wide, so there is no need to worry about the young army's attack. One's own rear.Another advantage of deploying defense here is that military supplies can be transported up by water, which is relatively easy.So Ni Sichong decisively decided to send his younger brother Ni Min to command the Tenth Battalion of the Anwu Army to deploy defenses along Mishui to stop the youth army here.

Ni Min is also considered a character. After the Shuaijun arrived, he didn't care about anything. He directly conscripted [-] civilians, provided them with food and drink, and forced them to build various fortifications.Regarding the firepower advantage of the youth army, the Beiyang Army probably knows a little bit at present, so the degree of emphasis on fortifications has naturally been greatly increased.

And the one who confronted this guy An Wujun was the Seventh Division of the Youth Army under the personal command of Bai Chongxi. At this moment, Lao Bai looked at the situation around Anqing and just wanted to scold his mother.Moreover, the civil construction that is going on across Mishui can only admire the labor force of many parties. Since many heavy weapons have not yet been brought up, it is impossible to even fire artillery to interfere.

Compared with the Beiyang Army, the Youth Army does not have so many civilians available, but everyone has received some rigorous training, so although there are half as many people as the opponent, the efficiency in building fortifications is not worse than the opponent.

As a result, there was a competition between the two sides to repair fortifications on the front line in northern Anhui. Everyone knew that the next one must be a bitter battle.

On March 3, Liao Lei's Fourth Division was finally in place, while Li Zongren's Third Division bypassed the lake area and moved towards Qianshan County, northeast of Anqing, where Ni Sichong also placed ten battalions.The Anwu Army had a total of 9 battalions. Ni Sichong sent out all the other 25 battalions except for five battalions in Anqing, his hometown, as a reserve team.Feng Guozhang also knew about Anqing's difficulties, and now he urged Zhang Xun to reinforce Anqing three times a day, but the fifteen battalions of the Dingwu Army with [-] troops had not yet arrived in Nanjing.It's not that Zhang Xun is playing tricks, it's that the brothers below are fighting for salary, and they won't move without paying the starting fee.And this money is really impossible to get out (the generals are rich in private, but no one wants to post it).

While Ni Sichong was trying to arrange for his family, at 3:11 on March 11, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division of the Youth Army secretly entered the attacking position, waiting for the shelling of their own artillery to start.

Chapter 244 The Battle of Purgatory ([-])

The 401st Regiment of the Fourth Division and the 701st Regiment of the Seventh Division were the main forces of this charge. To be honest, fighting at night was a last resort. Bai Chongxi had sent scouts to sneak into the enemy's positions to check. They can't even cross the river. And if they don't cross the river, then this battle will become a cross-bank shootout.

The scouts of the first-line assault force have observed the rise and fall of the Mishui for three consecutive nights, and have explored more than a dozen areas that can be waded through on foot.

Liu Xuyi, the head of the 401 regiment, is on the attacking position at the moment. Needless to say, if the war is over, if he is still alive, Gao Sheng must be waiting for him. Rarely, more battles are as easy as opening a cheat.

Liu Zhenhuan, the former head of the 701 regiment, has been transferred to the tenth division, so the current military chief is the acting head Lin Hu. This person has a complicated identity, has a background in the League, but is an old subordinate of Lu Rongting, so the formation of the seventh division At that time, his position was the deputy head and chief of staff of the 701 regiment.But this person is very talented, and he performed outstandingly in several battles with Bai Chongxi, so this time after Liu Zhenhuan was promoted, Lin Hu was appointed as the acting head of the 701 regiment by Bai Chongxi, and the original practice should be the 702 regiment Long took over.

It is worth noting that, as the first batch of troops wading across the river, the officers and soldiers of the sharp knife companies of the two regiments were all issued steel helmets.This is a rare item, designed and promoted by Wang Zhenyu himself, and its style is close to that of the German Army.At first, everyone didn't like to wear this thing, because the neck hurts after wearing it for a long time.But as the effect of this thing effectively reducing casualties came out, this thing became popular.It's a pity that due to the relationship between production capacity, at present, this helmet named "Zhenyu style" can't be equipped with one helmet, but all the sharp knife troops have been distributed, and other troops, officers above the platoon are also distributed. , This situation also caused steel helmets to become a fashion item for the youth army.

Lin Hu is from Guangxi. He is 29 years old this year. He is still very satisfied to be promoted to the head of the regiment before the age of 30. After all, this is no better than the youth army, and all the positions are full of people.Lin Hu's character is straightforward and righteous, and he admires capable people, so he has a lot of admiration for Liu Xuyi.The reason is naturally the battle of Zhujiaqiao. The "Youth Army" military newspaper reported this battle in great detail.Or how to say that those who play with guns are no better than those who play with pens. According to the reporters of these military newspapers, this battle was fought in a shocking way, and Ma Jizeng's Beiyang Sixth Division rushed over like a wave, and Liu Xuyi led the battle. The 401st Infantry Regiment is like an indestructible rock, no matter how crushed it is by the enemy, I will not move.In this way, in the eyes of Lin Hu, who has never experienced a battle, Liu Xuyi is like a god.

This is also a kind of culture of the youth army. Anyone who participated in the surprise attack on Yudaimen is the best master, and those who participated in the war to protect the country are also very awesome. After the war against Japan and the Soviet Union, this The culture has only been changed, which is beside the point. . .

Lin Hu's respect was written on his face, which made Liu Xuyi very comfortable, and naturally he was more polite to Lin Hu.In order to facilitate coordination, Liu Xuyi and Lin Hu discussed and placed the regiment headquarters of the two regiments in adjacent firepower points.The youth army in this period is no better than the later period of the National Defense Forces. It is a tradition of this period that the regiment-level command department is fronted, and it is considered a performance of bravery.But later, because of a tragedy in the war against Japan, after Wang Zhenyu's repeated emphasis and repeated punishment, this fashionable tradition was changed.

There was still some time before the attack, and Liu Xuyi and Lin Hu were leaning against the trench wall, chatting while smoking special cigarettes and special canned fish.

"Brother Lin Hu, your 701 regiment is said to have participated in battles in Guangxi. Why do I feel a little nervous when I see the brothers under your command? Everyone is staring at the front, aren't you tired?"

Hearing this, Lin Hu observed carefully, and it was true that the assault company of his 701st Regiment all had serious expressions at this moment, holding steel guns tightly in both hands, and staring straight ahead, as if trying to find an enemy in the dark night.And look at the assault company of the 401st Regiment, all of them were sitting cross-legged against a wall on the floor, without helmets, all on their laps, closing their eyes and resting their minds.

"Brother Liu, what you said is true. In fact, we fought a few battles in Guangxi and Guangdong, but our Master Bai is very powerful. In these few battles, we relied on our strength to suppress our opponents. So think about it carefully. , It was very easy, just like the battle in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, just catch up and capture the prisoners, and save shooting.”

Liu Xuyi was stunned and said: "Chief of Staff Bai is so powerful? I heard that Long Jiguang's Jijun is very capable of fighting. During the second revolution, they just beat the Cantonese army that was three times their size and took Guangzhou to pieces. !"

Lin Hu took another deep breath: "Who says it's not! That..."

"Who is smoking? Don't you know about the blackout?" Before Lin Hu finished speaking, he was interrupted by a loud shout from the law enforcement team of the Seventh Division. Lin Hu was so frightened that he quickly threw the cigarette butt on the ground , stamped out with the foot.

At this time, the member of the law enforcement team who was in charge of patrolling this area said viciously: "We will launch an attack later, and then expose the target, and the military law will proceed."

After finishing speaking, he left the stunned Liu Xuyi and left. Liu Xuyi asked in surprise: "Who are these people? They are so powerful that even your regiment leader dares to reprimand you?"

Lin Hu smiled wryly and said: "This is our division's law enforcement team. It's amazing. They have Master Bai as their backer, and they have a pale face to everyone. The last time a team leader went out to commit suicide, he was caught by these grandsons." , I was forced to become the battalion commander and received thirty military sticks. But as long as you don't violate the military regulations, they won't trouble you."

Liu Xuyi nodded, secretly thankful that the Fourth Division did not have such a unit, and was still thinking about it. A young orderly jumped into the trench and asked softly: "Password Liming, Commander Liu of 401 and Commander Lin of 701 Are you here? I am the orderly of the Left Army Command."

Liu Xuyi quickly replied in accordance with the military regulations: "The password is dawn, I am Liu Xuyi, the commander of the 401st Regiment of the Fourth Division of the Tiger Youth Army, and Lin Hu of the 701st Regiment is by my side."

The young messenger paused for a moment to salute and said: "Convey the verbal order of the Left Army Command. Within half an hour, when you see three flares rising from the rear of the position, it means that the attack is initiated; one minute after the artillery attack starts, the firepower will be extended." , the headquarters asked the infantry to start the assault, there must be no mistakes, and the order has been conveyed."

Liu Xuyi replied: "One minute after the artillery attack, our department began to attack, and resolutely carried out the command of the headquarters, it's over!"

After the messenger left, Lin Hu and Liu Xuyi stopped chatting, and they shook hands and said, "See you in Nanjing..."

At 11:29, three dazzling red signal flares suddenly rose from the night sky. At almost the same moment, the divisional and regimental artillerymen of the [-]th and [-]th Divisions unceremoniously let out their roars, throwing The four-pound shells, symbolizing death and bad luck, were sent to the Beiyang army across the river.

Although Liu Xuyi had fought tough battles, he was a little nervous at the moment. After all, it was a night battle, and he had never played it before. Once the operation was not done properly, it was very likely that the enemy would collapse before the enemy was defeated.Therefore, Liu Xuyi repeatedly urged the company platoon leaders not to be too eager to make a surprise attack, but to maintain the organizational system at all times to avoid the dispersion of the team.

1 minute passed quickly for the infantry waiting to attack, but it was as long as a year for the Beiyang Army hiding in the trench and being bombed.

The artillery fire began to extend to the rear of the enemy's position. With two beeps, all the officers and soldiers of the assault company jumped out of the trenches and started the assault.If you observe carefully, these assault troops did not wear pants and shoes.

After rushing out of the position less than 30 meters away, everyone jumped into the knee-high river one after another, and then waded through the Mihe River, which was less than 80 meters wide.As soon as they landed, the sound of the guns became less and less loud. Everyone quickly put on their pants. After all, it was still March, and the river was as cold as the weather. It would be bad if they got wet and caught a cold.

As soon as they put on their trousers, the soldiers of the Youth Army bravely plunged into the positions of the Beiyang Army. The concept of being brave in combat has penetrated into the bones of each of them through political cadres and generous treatment.Wang Zhenyu's point of view on this is very good. People know propriety, righteousness, honesty and shame. That is after they have enough food and clothing.