Back to the Republic of China as a commander

He Chengjun, the head of the 104th Infantry Regiment, was the first to raise objections: "Commander, there is no favorable terrain for defense in this area at all. We have three difficulties in defense here, which are difficult to solve. What about the Beiyang Navy on the Yangtze River?" What to do? According to the report of the reconnaissance troops, the enemy army has already set off from Wuhu, and it takes only a day or two to get here. Entering positional warfare, even if we are not afraid of outflanking, we can't afford the 1.1-meter delay, and we will suffer a lot if we fight like this, Commander-in-Chief!"

Tao Zhiyue took a look at the extremely excited He Chengjun and said, "Commander He, I know everything you said, but this is an order. Now please tell me, commanders, what is the bounden duty of a soldier?"

"Obey the order," the four regiment leaders immediately replied loudly.

Tao Zhiyue nodded in satisfaction and said, "I also don't understand this battle plan, but from the perspective of the overall situation, we must suffer for our military flag and our commander. So let's not say anything more about this. , we still use our minds to see how to win this battle under such conditions is more practical."

Then Tao Zhiyue said again: "I ordered that each regiment deploy a company and a division guard battalion to form a special detachment, commanded by Chief of Staff Zhang Xuguang, and all go out to the Fanchang area to harass the enemy's vanguard and logistics troops. In short, do everything possible to win three days for our army. During these three to five days, I will try my best to give you as much cement and steel as possible. Look at the work. As for the navy, I don't think you need to worry about it, there will be changes soon, they will no longer be a problem, go implement it!"

The four heads exchanged glances, then saluted and left, the battle was about to begin. . .

Chapter 256 The Great Showdown ([-])

While Tao Zhiyue was preparing for the start of the war, Bai Chongxi did not rest. In contrast, the preparations for offense were definitely no less than defense.

Bai Chongxi hasn't slept well these past few days, and spends every day perfecting the battle plan with a group of staff officers.The various terrains, enemy situations, and intelligence sent back by the reconnaissance troops were also continuously sent back to the headquarters.The staff staff also compared and summarized very efficiently, and then based on this, they further improved the combat plan.With the passage of time, a clear map of the battlefield began to slowly appear in front of Bai Chongxi, which is why Bai Chongxi dared to say proudly and proudly during the third lecture at the Army University: "My staff team can say It is the most professional and efficient in the whole army."

Ye Qi, Hu Zongduo, Deng Yulin, and Fang Benren, the four main regiment leaders of the Seventh Division, are all in front of Bai Chongxi at this moment, waiting for Bai Chongxi's order.Over the past few years, Bai Chongxi, who is usually unsmiling, has established a prestige of being unambiguous in front of his subordinates.Moreover, Bai Chongxi has always emphasized that kindness does not control soldiers, and he is often more ruthless to his own people who do not obey orders than to enemies.Therefore, as long as there is an order issued by Bai Chongxi in every battle, no matter whether it is right or wrong, it will be regarded as a deadly order by the officers below, and it will be executed immediately without any discount.Of course, Bai Chongxi's prestige certainly did not depend entirely on his strict military laws. All battles he commanded would definitely end in great victories.

The staff sent two very critical pieces of information: "Report to Commander Bai, according to the information sent by Axe (the code name of the Yangtze River Intelligence Network), the actual strength of the Dingwu Army under the personal command of Zhang Xun is 4, and it has rushed to the front line of Chaohu Lake. Shenxiang's army is currently only half, but it is expected that in the next two or three days, all the Dingwu troops will be in place, but their fortifications are also progressing slowly due to the lack of civilians. Division security, reconnaissance, spy three companies) reported that Zhang Huaizhi of the Fifth Division preemptively conscripted more than [-] civilians to dig fortifications on the east bank of the Yuxi River, but from fishing to Dongguan, the total length is five kilometers, and the The fortifications are not up to standard."

After thinking for a while, Bai Chongxi said: "Invite Commander Cheng Qian, Commander Liao Lei, and Acting Commander Li Pinxian of the Third Division together. I have combat missions to issue."

After a while, all the three division commanders arrived, and Bai Chongxi stood quietly in front of the sand table and said, "Everyone, the current enemy situation is in front of us. Zhang Huaizhi obviously made a small calculation and put his fifth division 2 More than [-] people nestled in Chaohu Lake, relying on Taihu Mountain and Yuxi River to resist us. From this terrain, I saw that even if we concentrated our superior forces to attack, it would be nonsense. The entire front is only five kilometers away, and we cannot use it at all. In contrast, Zhang Huaizhi threw almost [-] kilometers of front to Zhang Xun, and it gave us a front that is enough to deploy troops. This Zhang Huaizhi is not a good person, he actually put himself on our waist, if we attack It’s okay if the attack goes well, but if the attack doesn’t go well, he’s probably going to stick a knife in our left rib. So I’m thinking about a question, who will restrain Zhang Huaizhi so that he doesn’t dare to act rashly. And who will be the commander of the whole army? A sharp knife to penetrate Zhang Xun's Dingwu army?"

Cheng Qian is the most thoughtful person here. Originally, he had stayed well in Jiangxi and was planning to make Jiangxi Wang Dangdang, but Wang Zhenyu sent him to the front line to serve as reinforcements with a telegram.At this time, Cheng Qian's wings were not yet fully fledged, and he had no contact with the north, so he didn't even dare to think about supporting troops to rebel, and obediently obeyed the order and went to the front line.Cheng Qian's Ninth Division is much better than Zeng Jiwu's Tenth Division and Lu Diping's No.11 Division in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness.So the ambition increased along with the capital, Cheng Qian determined to make a great contribution in this battle, and strive to win a good position for himself when the youth army dominates the world in the future.It was with such vulgar psychological support that Cheng Qian was the first to shout: "I am willing to command the eleventh division as the vanguard of the whole army, and take the head of the old thief Zhang Xun for the commander-in-chief."

Bai Chongxi was stunned for a moment, and took a closer look at the older teacher, his eyes rolled, and he immediately understood what Cheng Qian was thinking.He smiled slightly, then shook his head and said in an unquestionable tone: "Let's leave the vanguard's errands to the third and fourth divisions. In my opinion, we need a strong team like the ninth division to watch over Zhang Huaizhi for everyone." The troops. That’s it, let’s see what needs to be changed in the staff’s combat plan.”

Cheng Qian was so angry that his lungs were going to explode, but he didn't like to have an attack, after all, he had only joined the gang not long ago.He held back his anger and said to himself: "What you Bai Chongxi said is that you see Zhang Xun's place is easy to fight, and you just think about taking care of your fellow Guangxi fellow. You think that no one knows about your little thoughts. Hmph, just wait and see!"

However, I was not happy at all. I had the entire battle plan in hand. After Cheng Qianzai looked at it carefully, I could only say that I admired it. It was actually specific to the use of each company.With such a plan in hand, all you can do is to execute it desperately at all costs, because such a detailed plan is like a combination of punches in a boxing match.

It's no wonder that Bai Chongxi is notoriously strict in governing the army, and he has a bad reputation for not taking soldiers' lives seriously. The root cause is here, Cheng Qian thought to himself. . .

On the side of the Beiyang Army, Zhang Xun was looking at the other side of the canal in this place called Shenxiang at the moment, his whole old face was wrinkled like a bitter melon, and he was about to wring out water.

The time went back to March 3, before Feng Guozhang set off for Wuhu, Zhang Xun personally visited him at his patrolling mansion.There is only one purpose, Zhang Xun needs to replenish his arms.

Looking back on this war to protect the country, from beginning to end, the Beiyang Army was truly selfless, and there was actually only one person who fought for Lao Yuan wholeheartedly, and that was Zhang Xun from Jiangxi.And which of the other generals didn't have the idea of ​​sitting back and watching the situation to preserve their strength?No, they are all greedy and selfish ghosts, and they all say that the northerners are real, but at this level, the most real one is Zhang Xun, a Jiangxi native, unexpectedly!

But the conversation with Feng Guozhang was obviously unpleasant. When Zhang Xun came out, his face was full of clouds, he jumped on the horse, and then lashed the horse with a whip.The frightened war horse galloped out immediately, and galloped along the street.Seeing this, the guards got on their horses and gave chase, but the passers-by and vendors on the street saw the galloping horses and dodged one after another. They jumped up and down, but they dared not speak out.

Zhang Xun's anger was justified. As a non-mainstream of the Beiyang Army, the Dingwu Army was almost wiped out by the Soviet-Zhejiang Allied Army with the New Army's Ninth Division as the backbone during the [-] Revolution.And after receiving the secret support from the princes of the Zong-Social Party, especially the first batch of arms that Wang Zhenyu sold to the Zong-Social Party (it seems that these two are destined people), Zhang Xun began to revive.And soon reorganized the Dingwu Army in the Xuzhou area.After the Second Revolution, Zhang Xun finally fought back to Nanjing, but because of his contacts with the Zong-Socialists, Yuan Shikai deducted the title of military plunder and relieved him of the job of the Jiangsu Governor.This also caused the Dingwu Army to immediately become non-mainstream, and the supply of weapons and equipment lagged far behind other troops.Usually, if it is a weapon, it is almost fine, but Zhang Xun is a person who has fought against the Eight-Power Allied Forces, so how could he not know the importance of weapons.So he came to Feng Guozhang for no other reason than to fight this battle well, and asked to allocate some of the supplies that Lao Yuan brought down from the north to himself.The opening is fifty mountain cannons, two hundred heavy machine guns, and some ammunition.

But Feng Guozhang also has his own ideas at this moment. This batch of materials only has [-] cannons and [-] heavy machine guns. If Zhang Xun's Dingwu Army is satisfied, what will the second and fourth divisions think? .So even though Zhang Xun rubbed his lips dry, Feng Guozhang did not agree. In the end, Zhang Xun was about to turn his face, and Feng Guozhang reluctantly agreed to allocate [-] heavy machine guns. As for the mountain guns, sorry, there are none.If Zhang Xun and Zhang Shaoxuan were not angry with such a result, it would be a ghost. Later, when Zhang Xun went to live in Tianjin, he mentioned this to his friends: "Although the palms and backs of his hands are all flesh, the flesh is not the same thickness. ! If Lao Yuan can be less selfish and give me more support, how can it be Wang Wenzheng's turn to sit in the court now?"

If you have the conditions, you have to go, and if you don’t have the conditions, you have to go.Although Zhang Xun had many opinions and dissatisfaction with the coach Feng Guozhang, he still commanded his Dingwu army westward without hesitation.

But when he arrived at Shenxiang, he saw the situation of the army and was so angry that he almost jumped up and scolded his mother: "Zhang Huaizhi, you lack virtue."

With such a wide front and a full 60-mile wide defense line, even if one soldier stands one meter, Zhang Xun does not have so many soldiers to stand on.Zhang Huaizhi leaned to the side very lightly, and as a result Zhang Xun was completely in front of the [-] Youth Army. Anyone who encountered this situation would have to scold his mother.

But scolding is scolding, and battles still have to be fought.Zhang Xun called several generals under his command to a meeting to see what method is more appropriate.

Most of Zhang Xun's subordinates are officers who can fight, but not many are good at strategy. However, the three commanders standing in front of him, Su Xilin, Li Futing, and Zhang Wensheng, are all good at military affairs, so the four of them began to plan.

After tinkering for a long time, Zhang Xun said: "Yushu (Su Xilin's writing), you fought against the Germans at Niangziguan in the year of Gengzi, and we may be in big trouble this time. Tell me, what should we do?"

Su Xilin and Zhang Wensheng looked at each other and said: "Commander, we have less than [-] people in total, and we don't have enough heavy weapons. If we fight hard here, we may suffer a big loss. So, Commander, we must focus on defense, otherwise All we have to do is collapse across the board."

Zhang Xun nodded when he heard this, then stroked his mustache with his hand and asked, "Then tell me, where should our focus be?"

Chapter 257 Deadly Assault

The camera still returns to Tongling, Dongjin's special detachment in charge of blocking is in the process of intense selection, and Zhang Xuguang, chief of staff and head of the 101st regiment, will be in charge of commanding this force to carry out blocking operations.

In front of nearly [-] Beiyang elites, using such a small force to delay for three days can be said to be a terrifying mission with ten deaths and no lives.In order to avoid a rout, Zhang Xuguang still decided to tell everyone the danger of the whole mission and the probability of survival in a realistic manner, so that at least people have a certain degree of psychological preparation.

Zhang Xuguang was mobilized group by group. Whenever he told everyone the truth, there would be a deathly silence in the whole scene.But then there were more active registrations, which surprised and touched Zhang Xuguang. He excitedly asked a young soldier who signed up, what's your name, aren't you afraid of death?

The young soldier was taken aback when he heard the words, stood at attention and saluted, "Report sir, my name is Li Weidong. I am afraid of death, because I have parents, brothers and sisters in my family, and I have not married a wife, so I am not only afraid of death, but also don't want to die." die."

Zhang Xuguang was very surprised when he heard the words. He calmly glanced at the soldier who was still immature: "Then why did you sign up for such a dangerous mission?"

The soldier replied without hesitation: "My mother and father said that it is the Marshal who gave us a new life. Without the Marshal, it is impossible for my family to live in the city, and it is impossible for my brothers to have jobs and wives." I have been a soldier for more than a year, and the commander has never treated us badly. Now it’s time to work hard. If I don’t work hard or die, am I still a human? I didn’t say it. I die. I do it. That’s why we are so handsome.”

Zhang Xuguang, who originally thought it was a brainwashing cadre of the National Socialist Party, was stunned when he heard this answer. What is this?

Soon this special detachment consisting of nine companies was formed, with a total of more than 500 people.Before the team set off, Tao Zhiyue reviewed the team with Li Zongren, who must come.Every soldier was very excited to shake hands with His Excellency the General, and Li Zongren was also very moved to meet their request, because he knew that very few of these lovely young people would come back alive in the end.Maybe brother Jiansheng is right, kindness does not command soldiers, I must regard these soldiers as numbers on the statistics table, otherwise how can I drive them to face cruel death?

Among these 103 men stood a man who wanted to die. This man was Wang Zhenyu's original bodyguard Zhao Chong. The second platoon leader of a certain company of the Infantry Regiment.This is the most legendary low-ranking officer in this war. . .

The attack started quickly after the review, and the special detachment was required to rush to the Fanchang area as soon as possible, and then divided into nine parts, each fighting for one purpose, to slow down the advance of the Beiyang Army as much as possible.As for the method, there is no restriction at all, no matter what method is effective, it will do.So that afternoon, the special detachment set off, but Tao Zhiyue insisted that each special team be equipped with eight grenades, and each company was equipped with three mortars in order to ensure the effectiveness of the mission. a mortarer.

The following is the diary of Li Weidong, a secretary of a company of the 103rd Infantry Regiment who followed Zhao Yong to participate in this attack on the brothers. Many years later, Li Weidong became the editor-in-chief of the Youth Army Military Daily, and then published this diary in a serial form on the Military Daily. It caused a sensation across the country.

On March 3, it was sunny, the sky was cloudless, and the temperature was cool.

We were ordered to attack on March 3. After the troops set off, everyone gradually calmed down from the high enthusiasm before the departure.Because each of us knows how dangerous the mission we are about to perform is.Since we set off from Anjiang at the end of December last year, although we have traveled to the three provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Hubei, and participated in seven or eight battles, unfortunately, we have not been able to fight the real Beiyang army.Regarding the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army, our deepest impression is the brothers of the 22th Division stationed in our adjacent units.It is said that their 401 Infantry Regiment fought two Beiyang armies successively, and more than 40.00% of their soldiers after they set off from Anjiang were later supplementary soldiers.So it would be a lie to say that I am not afraid, but I started to get scared. I even wanted to go home and see the mother who was mending my clothes under the lights in the hallway of the factory dormitory.As an aside here, my father is a stingy old guy, he doesn't allow the light in the dormitory to be turned on, because there is an electricity bill, and this stingy old guy plans to save every penny for Our brother will marry a good wife in the future.

These are not important, the important thing is that I may not be able to marry a wife in this life.We followed our company commander Zhao Zhao and the party representative Wang Shuaiyu and separated from the main force two hours after leaving the camp. Each company got a blocking mission, but I don't know where our blocking mission is.

Company Commander Zhao Zhao is a cheerful company commander, 21 years old, from Shaodong.Two years older than me, and like me, my parents were also recruited into Anjiang.It is said that his biggest regret is not being admitted to the Army University, so he plans to review and take the exam again after this war is over.As a clerk, I heard from the party representative that Company Commander Zhao hadn't married a wife yet, and he didn't even talk about a girlfriend, nor did he have a sweetheart.This is not like me, I already have Xiaocui in my heart. . .

The Wang Party representative is half a year older than me, and only twenty this year. Although he is younger than Company Commander Zhao, he is quite knowledgeable. He told us many stories about the Marshal.It was because of him that I realized that our family’s good life came because of the commander in chief, and as long as we fight well, the commander in chief can bring us more good days in the future (Wang Zhenyu occasionally read this Duan Houju Khan, Grandma’s, this is back to the question of later generations, whether the country feeds the workers or the workers feed the country, who brings a happy life to whom, don’t get it wrong).So each of us is determined to use our lives and blood to fight for the victory of the commander (Wang Zhenyu lamented: Stupid boy, you have been brainwashed, you believe what the officials say), use the blood of the enemy to cast the Glory to our youth army.

As it was getting dark, Company Commander Zhao decided to rest on the spot and light a fire to cook after hearing the news of a few sharp knives.

Today, the second platoon is in charge of the security mission. Their platoon leader, Zhao Yong, is a very stout man, but also a guy with a weird personality.The training is very hard on weekdays, and the leadership is also very serious. He doesn't smile at anyone, as if we all owe him money.We all hated him and wanted to drive him away, but we didn't know where he came from, and the party representatives also checked with his classmates who stayed in the Xiangxi Army Military Academy. This guy didn't graduate from the military academy.This is a very strange thing, because we all know that all military officers have to go through a military academy and get accreditation before they can enter the army.But this is not the strangest thing. The strangest thing is that when I went to the regiment headquarters to do business last time, I especially asked Chief Sun of the Staff Unit to check the files of our platoon leader Zhao.It turns out that there is no file for him at the regiment level, which is a bit scary.What's even more frightening is that Chief Sun told me very clearly at the time that Zhao Yong's personnel appointment did not go to the regiment and division levels at all, but came directly from the army's first-level staff.After I came back and told the company commander and the party representative about this, they didn't say anything more. In addition, although the platoon leader Zhao didn't fit in with the group, he didn't cause trouble, so everyone got used to his existence over time.

And this Zhao Yong Zhao platoon leader is indeed a talent, military quality is harder than ordinary people, and he is very principled.Therefore, the soldiers he leads are also stronger than other units in daily competitions.This point saved Company Commander Zhao a lot of worry, and the battalion commander also praised him a lot.The most admirable thing is his bravery. I don’t usually talk about it. This time, he was the first one to sign up for the special detachment. As a result, our company was selected. . .

After dinner, those who were in charge of the security guard went to the field tents to rest one after another. I sneaked into the tent of a row leader Cui Fei while no one was paying attention. This guy is three years older than me, and his personality is different from that of Platoon Leader Zhao. , very cheerful.Even though he is a platoon leader, he is a veteran of the Xiangxi garrison who joined the army in Jingzhou. Many of his comrades are now officers at the battalion and company level.The head of our regiment's military reserve unit is his fellow countryman and comrade-in-arms, so when distributing supplies, he bought three times the standard cans at once, and I'm going in now to share his spoils.

To be honest, I don't like canned bayberry very much. Although it is sweet, it is also very sour. On the contrary, I prefer canned lychee, which is sweet and fleshy.

There is no moon tonight, but the sky full of stars makes us forget for a moment that we are at the front line. I wonder if my Xiaocui can see such a starry sky in Anjiang, especially the brightest Polaris.

When I was about to get up and go back to the tent to sleep, I suddenly found that the platoon leader Zhao, who rarely interacted with us, was looking up at the starry sky outside the tent at this moment.At first, I didn't think there was anything surprising. After all, the starry sky tonight is really beautiful, like a dream.But I was stunned suddenly, because I was surprised to find that the usually taciturn platoon leader Zhao actually contained tears in his eyes. . .

Chapter 258 Deadly Assault ([-])

On March 3, the cloudy weather turned sunny and the spring breeze was blowing.

Today is the most boring day. Our entire company is marching. There are probably a few villages passing by, and one of the villages was passed by us on foot.Residents in the village closed their doors tightly, as if they were afraid that we would rob them.I really wanted to leave the team, knock on the door and tell these Anhui fellows that we are not the Beiyang Army, we are disciplined and civilized.But time does not allow, because this morning Company Commander Zhao suddenly told us the location of this combat mission, Xiaotuanshan.This means that we still have at least forty miles to go, so everyone started the boring march.

In fact, we don't know where the Beiyang Army has arrived, but when we reached a village called Fengdun, we heard gunfire coming from a long distance.This is undoubtedly telling us that the brother troops who set off first have already exchanged fire with the enemy, and this also means that we are getting closer and closer to the enemy.At this time, the representative of the Royal Party measured the military map distributed by the division headquarters and said that we were still six miles away from Xiaotuan Mountain, so everyone accelerated their marching pace.