Back to the Republic of China as a commander

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.

After arriving at Xiaotuan Mountain, Company Commander Zhao and the representative of the Wang Party left the team and went to inspect the terrain. The sharp knives were also released. They were asked to conduct reconnaissance and vigilance five miles away from Lixiaotuan Mountain.

It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at Xiaotuan Mountain. After we had a quick lunch, we were ordered to build a simple fortification according to the request of Company Commander Zhao.Company Commander Zhao had a lot of ideas. We were asked to build fortifications in the woods on the side of Xiaotuan Mountain near the road. There was no requirement for sturdiness, but for concealment.

We dug the fortification around 104 o'clock in the afternoon, but saw dozens of guys in youth army uniforms running towards us. I was ordered to take ten soldiers to stop them.After asking, I found out that they belonged to the 20th regiment. Their company set off half a day earlier than us, and they marched in a hurry. In the morning, they had a fierce exchange of fire with the vanguard of the Beiyang Army at a place more than 30 miles away from us. Obviously they did not They can take advantage of too much, because their company commander, party representatives and several platoon leaders are all honored, and the remaining [-] or so people broke out under the leadership of a squad leader.The squad leader is Zhang Zipei. I chatted with him for a while before I found out that he graduated from Anjiang Middle School just like the representative of the Royal Party, but he was two grades lower than the representative of the Party. It was just because of bad luck that he was not admitted to the Xiangxi Army Military Academy.But he still signed up to join the army, and the recruit training is actually at the same base as me, but unfortunately I don't know him.But these are not important. According to him, the Beiyang soldiers are very powerful. After being hit suddenly, they shrink very quickly, and they will quickly find out the enemy's situation, and then use outflanking tactics to surround them from both sides.It was for this reason that they even suffered a big loss. Facing an enemy with a superior force, standing on a geographical advantage and relying on the courage of the officers and soldiers, they only persisted for less than three hours before collapsing.

Company Commander Zhao and the representative of the Royal Party attached great importance to this, because I saw that their brows were always furrowed. Obviously, the strength of the Beiyang soldiers had exceeded their expectations.More than 30 of Zhang Zipei and the others were subsequently incorporated into our battle sequence, because Company Commander Zhao said that although they were defeated, their fighting spirit was still there, and it would be wasted if they were not used.

Maybe Zhang Zipei and his team fought too tenaciously. We didn't see any Beiyang soldiers this afternoon and night.However, it was around dinner time that we heard violent gunfire, which seemed to be less than seven or eight miles away from us. The gunfire lasted for more than two hours and then stopped. We all know that there is another company Glory to the brother army, it may be our turn next. . .

On March 3, cloudy to cloudy with strong wind

In the early morning, the crows rang out in the mountains, which made me feel very bad, because everyone knew that there would be a fierce battle here today, but we didn't mind the magpies coming out and crowing twice.

The sharp knives came back an hour ago and reported that the enemy had camped less than ten miles away from us last night and was on the way now.There is a full regiment of troops, but they experienced at least three battles yesterday, and we don't know how much they lost, but we know that what we have to do is to stop them for as long as possible.

Everyone began to check their equipment nervously. All the camouflages were in place, and a fierce battle was about to start.

Next, let’s look at the memoirs of Zhang Zipei, who joined Li Weidong’s company with more than 30 soldiers yesterday afternoon. Zhang Zipei’s later career was even smoother than Li Weidong’s. With outstanding performance in a series of operations, he has served as company commander, battalion commander, regiment commander, division commander and other positions.When he wrote this memoir titled "Hot-Blooded Youth", it was already after he had honorably retired from the post of Vice Admiral Chief of Staff of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Federation.

Obviously, the company commander and party representative whose surname I can no longer remember valued the experience of those of us who had fought with Beiyang soldiers, but I really wanted to tell them that I was just a squad leader of the cooking squad.But what's the use of saying anything now, in all honesty, they are much better than my hapless company commander, at least they have the intention of ambush, instead of foolishly deploying troops to block.

And what I admire the most is that the company commander actually watched the enemy's leading regiment pass by under our noses but didn't order to fire. This laid a solid foundation for our great achievements later.Many years later, thinking back on this guy who can no longer remember his face, if he can survive, with his ability, the marshal dare not say that it is no problem to be an admiral, but it is a pity that he is honored.So he became a martyr, but I became the general of the navy. Many things in this world really cannot be explained clearly, which is really amazing.

Still returning to reality from the memoirs, as soon as possible the representatives of the royal party were very dissatisfied, but Zhao Zhao did not give an order. He, a political cadre at the same level, did not have the power to command troops to fight.This is also stipulated by Marshal Wang Zhenyu himself. The final decision-making power of military operations belongs to the military director, and the political cadres are more responsible for the assessment and recommendation of the responsible personnel and the ideological and political work of the unit.

So now everyone can only wait for Zhao Zhao's order, and Zhao Zhao is still looking at the road down the mountain without saying a word.

An hour later, the battle started about seven or eight miles behind them. Obviously, another company's brother troops and the vanguard of the Beiyang Army fought. . .

The Second Division of the Beiyang Army was the vanguard of Feng Guozhang's attack on Tongling this time. From the division commander Wang Zhanyuan down, all officers and soldiers were determined to go forward desperately, and wash away their shame of losing Hubei with the victory and the blood of the youth army.

At this moment, the vanguard of the second division is Wang Jinjing, the brigade commander of the third brigade. Historically, this brigade commander Wang should have been promoted to the commander of the second division, but because of Wang Zhenyu, he has no chance in this time and space.

Leading the battle for Wang Jinjing was Shi Zhensheng, the head of the Fifth Regiment of the Titans under him. This kid wiped out four or five hundred youth troops in one day yesterday. Everyone should have arrived in Tongling.But now?I actually walked less than twenty miles a day.

The chief of staff of the second division, Wan Muzhong, was with Wang Jinjing at this moment. Both of them were generals, so naturally they both marched in sedan chairs, which was much more comfortable than riding a horse.

Before they knew it, they entered the ambush circle of Zhao Zhao's company.

Party representative Wang Shuaiyu took a telescope and saw Zhang Jiarui, head of the Sixth Beiyang Regiment, riding on a horse, and quickly saw from his epaulettes that he was a colonel.Big fish, Wang Shuaiyu immediately suggested to open fire and kill the kid immediately, this time his death was not in vain.But for some reason, this suggestion was rejected by Zhao Zhao again.

Wang Shuaiyu said angrily: "Company Commander Zhao, what do you mean? We just watched the enemy pass by under our noses but did nothing. This is against the order of the superior. I have the right to take battlefield measures against you."

Hearing this, Zhao Zhao sighed and said, "My party representative, don't get excited, take a binoculars and look behind you, isn't there still two sedan chairs?"

Wang Shuaiyu took a look, and sure enough, he asked in amazement: "What's the matter with the sedan chair? The one I saw just now riding on the horse is the Colonel."

Zhao Zhao said with a smile: "This is the difference between your political department and our command department. My instructor told me that this Beiyang Army is different from ours. High-ranking officers don't ride horses, they all ride sedan chairs. You Think about it, this colonel is riding a horse, how big an official must be in this sedan chair?"

Wang Shuaiyu slapped his head, yes!

Zhao Zhao stopped laughing, but ordered in a low voice: "Give me the order, listen to my gunshots, and aim the mortars at the two sedan chairs. After the firing, kill the two sedan chairs as soon as possible. We will withdraw after a while, we have few people, and we can't stand a long battle."

The order was quickly conveyed, and at this time, the sedan chair was getting closer and closer to the ambush point. . .

"Boom" Zhao Zhao fired the first shot, followed by rifles and machine guns frantically covering the mighty Beiyang soldiers on the road, the bullets were shot out like raindrops, there was no need to aim at all, the enemy was there, too many too dense.

And the three mortars also fired righteous shells at the two sedan chairs (is the property of the shells divided in this way?), so the tragedy happened. The battle report issued by the Second Division of the Beiyang Army on that day truthfully recorded: "Yes On that day, our army defeated thousands of youth troops and killed countless enemies. However, Lieutenant General Wanmu, the chief of staff, and Major General Wang Jinjing, commander of the third brigade, were accidentally hit by stray bullets and died heroically for the country. The whole army mourns. Our generation will inherit his legacy ..."